The English martyrology abridged from Fox

I THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, |
f Princeton, N. J. 1

1| Case, ' Dws\6o -4|-

p> '*>''' <^'/? Section.... "l|'

BR 1607 Tf67 1843 v. 2
Foxe, John, 1516-1587.
The English martyrology
abridged from Fox

THE

ENGLISH MARTYROLOCIY

ABRIDGED FROM FOX,

BY CHARLOTTE ELIZABETH. yo'V^VNCv..

" HEES IS THE PATIBNCK AND FAITH OF THE SAIHTS."

IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. II.

PHILADELPHIA:
PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION.

PAUL T. JONES, PUBLISHING AGENT.

1843.

ENGE-AVINGS.

VOLUME II.

The Degradation of Ridley, face Title.

Philpot in Newgate, piig^ 94

Cranmer's Confession, " 125

The Bund Boy at Gloucester, • . " 143

Printed by

WM. S. MARTIEN.

Stereotyped by s. douqlas wyeth,
\o. 7 Pear St., Philadelphia.

"> *« Board bv the ,ibe„,i ' ™« '"" P-^->'e<i

moderaie price. <-lir,si,a„ p„(,|jc 3, ^ ^^^^,

CONTENTS OF VOLUME II.

CHAPTER I.
Bishops Ridley and Latimer, . . * . 5

CHAPTER II.

fiisliops Ridley and Latimer, - - - - 21

CHAPTER IIL

Bishops Ridley and Latimer, .... 43

CHAPTER IV.
Winchester's death — Martyrs — John Philpot, - • 56

CHAPTER V.

John Philpot, ----.. 82

CHAPTER VI.
Archbishop Cranmer, - . - . . 106

CHAPTER VII.

Fierce persecutions and numerous Martyrdoms, - . 127

3

4 CONTENTS.

PAoa.
CHArTER VIII.

Julius Palmer, ...... 156

CHAPTER IX.

Persecutions — Joan Waste and others — Prisoners famished
— Visitation of Cambridge — Bucer and Phagius — More
Martyrdoms, - - . . - .177

CHAPTER X.

Gratwick— Allen— Other Martyrs, - . • . . 201

CHAPTER XL
Ricliard Woodman, ..... 220

CHAPTER XII.

Various Martyrdoms, ..... 252

CHAPTER XIII.

The filling up of the measure of iniquities in Mary's reign, 278

CHAPTER XV.

The cup brimmed and the Church delivered, . . 299

PEiiu;

ENGLISH MARTYROLOGY.

■ CHAPTER I.

BISHOFS RIDLEY AND LATIMER.

Man is a polluted being: his best righteousnesses are as
filthy rags ; and whatever degree of relative and compara-
tive holiness he may exhibit among his fellow men, not one
of our race ever did or ever can take his stand before the
throne of God, until washed in the blood of the Lamb from
innumerable sins and defilements. It is especially needful
to bear this truth in mind, when dwelling on the Acts and
Monuments of our blessed martyrs. God, for his own
glory and praise, endued many of them with such singular
gifts and grace, that we are in danger of overlooking what
they never forgot ; and while they, in the act of giving their
tortured bodies to the burning flames for their Lord's sake,
uttered their last breath in supplications for mercy, abhor-
ring the very idea of merit, and knowing that the reward
was reckoned unto them not of debt but of grace, we, look-
ing only on that which God effectually wrought in them,
are in peril of forgetting that all the praise must be to the
glory of his grace.

We now, thus guarded, enter upon the story of one of
these vessels of mercy, in whose life and death the Lord
was pleased alike to magnify himself. Dr. Nicholas Rid-
ley was a native of Northumberland, born of an ancient
and honourable family, and distinguished from childhood
by great aptness and dexterity in learning. Being early
sent to Cambridge, he soon became famous for his profi-
ciency in all knowledge, and was rapidly promoted to the
higher functions of the university, obtaining the degree of
doctor in divinity, and the headship of Pembroke Hall. He
then travelled on the continent, visited Paris, and on his
return was made chaplain to king Henry VIIL, who shortly

1+ 5

b BISHOP RIDLEY.

promoted him to the bishopric of Rochester; whence he was
translated to that of London, by good king Edward.

Such was bishop Ridley in the exercise of his pastoral
functions, so diligent, so laborious, so devoted, in preach-
ing the true doctrine of Christ, that, as Fox observes, never
good child was more singularly loved of his dear parents,
than he of his flock and diocese. Every Sunday and holi-
day he preached to them in some place or other, unless un-
avoidably prevented ; and wheresoever his sermon was
delivered, thither the people resorted, swarming round him
like bees, coveting the sweet flowei's and wholesome juice
of the iruitful doctrine which he not only preached but ex-
hibited in the v/liole course of his life. He was so blame-
less and harmless, shining as a light in the dark world,
that no one could fasten a reproach upon him. His learn-
ing was very great, his reading extensive, and his memory
such as to rank him among the first of our sages and
divines. Of this his sermons and disputations afford proof;
nor did his worst enemies deny it.

To all this he added great wisdom in counsel, sharpness
of wit, and deep political knowledge. In winning souls
from error, his custom was ever to use the greatest gentle-
ness and tenderness: he delighted in mercy; and when,
during Edward's reign, an obstinate opposer. Heath, who
had been suspended from his archbishopric in York, was
committed to Ridley's care for twelve months, the kindness
and courtesy of the good bishop towards his refractory guest
sufficiently bespoke the principle of universal love which
reigned in his heart, and ruled his life. But the most remark-
able instance of this, rendered more striking by the infa-
mous requital he experienced, was his conduct to the aged
mother of Bonner. She dwelt in a house adjoining the
bishop's palace at Fulham, and invariably, at the hour
of dinner and supper. Dr. Ridley would say, " Go for my
mother Bonner." A chair was reserved for her at the
head of his table, and from that she was never displaced :
even when, as was often the case, some of the king's coun-
cil dined with him, the bishop would say, " By your lord-
ship's favour, this place, of right and custom, is for my mo-
ther Bonner." In every respect, he treated her as though
she had been his own parent ; and to her daughter Mrs.
Mungey, Bonner's sister, he extended the same hospitality,
with all brotherly love and respect. In frightful contrast
to this appears Bonner's extreme cruelty to the sister of Dr.

BISHOP RIDLEY. 7

Ridley, whom, with her husband, he stripped of every pos-
session, and sought with rancorous malice the life of the
latter, George Shipside. What recompense Ridley himself
received at Bonner's hands may appear from the course
of his story. Never did tiger more insatiably thirst for the
blood of his prey, than Bonner for that of Ridley. AVell
might the good bishop adopt the language of the Psalmist,
" For the love that I bare unto them, they now take my
contrary part."

The more we examine the character of Ridley, the darker
appears their enmity. He was in every way formed to
command the love and respect of his fellow men. In per-
son and features most comely and pleasing ; gentle, cheer-
ful, and forgiving an offence as soon as it was committed
against him. To his kindred most kind ; but never allow-
ing natural affection to deaden his keen sense of right and
wrong. . He gave it as a general rule to his own brother
and sister, that if at any time they did evil, they must look
for nothing further at his hand : they would become as
strangers and aliens to him, while such as lived an honest
and godly life should be considered his brother and sister
in their stead — so jealous was he for the honour of that
gospel which his own life adorned.

He loved to mortify his flesh ; and lived much in prayer
and contemplation. Every morning, when dressed, he de-
voted half an hour to secret prayer; then went to his study,
where he continued till ten o'clock, the hour at which the
morning service of the liturgy was regularly attended by
all his household. After this, he went to dinner, not talk-
ing much ; but in what he said, sober, discreet, and wise ;
and often merry. Dinner was soon removed, and then he
allowed an hour at the table, in conversation or chess ; after
which, if not called to attend suitors, or other business, he
would return to his study until five, when the household
were again summoned to the evening service of the church.
Supper followed ; then another hour at chess, of which he
appears to have been fond ; and again to his study until
eleven, when, after another half hour passed on his knees,
he retired to rest. This was his daily course ; and at Ful-
ham he also expounded to his family, in order, the Acts
and Epistles : a portion every day. To each one who
could read, he gave a copy of the Scriptures, encouraging
them by rewards to commit the word of God to memory.
The thirteenth chapter of the Acts was a favourite portion

O BISHOP RIDLEY.

with him, and the hundred and first psahn, which he very
frequently read to his family, labouring to make them a
pattern of honesty and virtuous living. Jesus Christ was
the food of his soul ; and with that food he desired that all
about him should be nourished to eternal life.

He had been first converted to the truth by means of a
book on the sacrament, written by Bertram; and greatly
confirmed therein by conference with Cranmer and Peter
Martyr, As, in his Ibrmer ignorance, he had been zealous,
so was he now faithful and constant in upholding true doc-
trine, and very extensive good was wrought through his
means, in the church, while the authority of external power
upheld its peace, and defended the proceedings of those
who loved the gospel. But when it pleased God to call
away that precious prince, king Edward, the English
church was left desolate ; a prey to the enemy's hate ; and
after the coming in of Mary, this excellent bishop Ridley
was among the first on whom they laid hands, and com-
mitted to prison. To the tower he was conveyed, and there
confined until, as has before been stated, he was sent, with
Cranmer and Latimer to Oxford, and all were enclosed in
the common gaol, called Bocardo, for a time. They were
then separated, and bishop Ridley was committed to the
custody of a man named Irish, where he remained to the
day of his martyrdom.

Many were the letters written by this excellent prelate
during his captivity. Some were addressed to individuals ;
others to those imprisoned for Christ's sake, and to the
afflicted church generally. Nothing can exceed the energy
with which he denounces the antichristian religion of Rome,
or the earnestness of his exhortations to courage and con-
stancy in the holy warfare of Christ's people against the
abominations of great Babylon. Yet the gentleness of
Ridley's spirit never failed to shine forth even in the midst
of his most awful warnings. He thus concludes a letter
to his fellow captives, wherein he had drawn a faithful por-
trait of popery, working against God's people. " On their
part our Saviour Christ is evil spoken of; but on your part
he is glorified. For what can they else do unto you by
persecuting you, and working all cruelty and villany
against you, but make your crowns more glorious, yea,
beautify and multiply the same, and heap upon themselves
the horrible plagues and heavy wrath of God : and there-
fore, good brethren, though they rage never so fiercely

BISHOP RIDLEY. 9

against us, yet let us not wish evil unto them again ; know-
ing that whiles for Christ's sake they vex and persecute us,
they are like madmen, most outrageous and cruel against
themselves, heaping hot burning coals upon their own
heads: but rather let us wish well unto them, knowing that
we are thereunto called in Christ Jesus, that we should be
heirs of the blessing. Let us pray, therefore, unto God,
that he would drive out of their hearts this darkness of
errors, and make the light of his truth to shine unto them,
that they, acknowledging their blindness, may with all
humble repentance be converted unto the Lord, and together
with us confess him to be the only true God, which is the
Father of light, and his only Son Jesus Christ, worshipping
him in spirit and verity; Amen. The Spirit of our Lord
Jesus Christ comfort your hearts in the love of God, and
patience of Christ. Amen."

One more specimen must be given ; it is an outpouring
of the bishop's very heart to his dear friend John Brad-
ford, then about to suffer for the truth's sake, and expect-
ing to be sent for that purpose into Lancashire, his birth-
place.

" Oh, dear brother, seeing the time is now come, where-
in it.pleaseth the heavenly Father for Christ our Saviour's
sake, to call upon you, and to bid you to come, happy
are you that ever you were born, thus to be found awake
at the Lord's calling. Well done, good and faithful ser-
vant ; because thou hast been trusty in small matters, he
shall set thee over great things, and thou shalt enter into
the joy of thy Lord.

" 0 dear brother, what meaneth this, that you are sent
into your own native country? The wisdom and policy of
the world may mean what they will, but I trust God will
so order the matters finally by his fatherly providence, that
some great occasion of God's gracious goodness shall be
plentii'ully poured among his, our dear brethren, in that
country, by this your martyrdom. Whence the martyrs
for Christ's sake shed their blood, and lost their lives, oh
what wondrous things has Christ afterwards wrought for
his glory and confirmation of their doctrine ! If it be not
the place that sanctifieth the man, but the holy man doth
by Christ sanctify the place, brother Bradford, then happy
and holy shall be that place wherein thou shalt suffer, and
shall be with thy ashes, in Christ's cause, sprinkled over
withal. All thy country may rejoice in thee, that ever it

10 BISHOP LATIMER.

brought forth such a one, which would render his life again
in his cause of whom he had received it. Brother Bradford,
so long as I shall understand thou art in thy journey, by
God's grace I shall call upon our heavenly Father, for
Christ's sake, to set thee safely home : and then, good bro-
ther, speak you, and pray for the remnant which are to
suffer for Christ's sake, according to that thou then shalt
know more clearly.

" We do look now every day when we shall be called
on, blessed be God, I ween I am the weakest, many ways,
of our company; and yet I thank our Lord God, and hea-
venly Father, by Christ, that since I heard of our dear bro-
ther Rogers' departing, and stout confession of Christ and
his truth even unto the death, my heart, blessed be God,
is rejoiced of it, that since that time I never felt any
lumpish heaviness in my heart, as I grant I have felt
sometimes before. Oh good brother, blessed be God in
thee ; and blessed be the time that ever I knew thee.
Farewell, farewell.

" Your brother in Christ,

" Nicholas Ridley.

" Brother farewell."

Who can read such effusions as the above, addressed
from one Christian in a prison, to another expecting an im-
mediate, fiery death, without emotion? " If God so loved
us, we ought also to love one another," is an inspired de-
claration, to which no believer refuses his assent: but it is
among those who are called to suffer indeed for Christ's
sake that we trace the deep and fervent affection springing
from a full appreciation of what Christ suffered for them.
There is something unspeakably touching in the reiteration
of that endearing word, brother, in the beautiful letter of
bishop Ridley; and the repeated farewell, in reference to a
parting, painful indeed to flesh, but promising a speedy, a
rejoicing and an eternal reunion before the throne of God
and of the Lamb. Would tliat we drank more deeply into
the spirit of our blessed martyrs ! If we knew more of the
cross, which we are so unwilling to take up, we should
have clearer and brighter views of the crown to which it
IS the appointed way.

We now proceed to the story of Ridley's companion, that
eminent servant and true soldier of Christ, Hugh Lati-
mer, bishop of Worcester. His father was a respectable

BISHOP LATIMER. 11

yeoman in Leicestershire; and he being the only surviving
son, with six daughters, and displaying at the age of four
years remarkable talents, his parents resolved to give him
a literary education ; such as the common schools of the
country could afford. So well did he profit by it, that at
fourteen he entered at Cambridge, where, after exercising
himself in various things, he settled to the study of such
school divinity as the darkness of that ignorant age ad-
mitted.

Latimer was then most zealously devoted to the Romish
relio-ion ; and so scrupulously exact in its services, that as
he afterwards confessed, he used to think, when officiating
as a priest, he could never mingle his massing wine and
water enough ; or pay sufficient attention to the observances
and decrees of his church. Moreover, he was convinced
that if once he became a professed friar, his soul could
never be lost. Proportioned to this blind servility to erro-
neous doctrines, was his bitter enmity against the truth.
The gospel and those who professed it, were the object of
his abhorrence ; he wrote against Philip Melancthon, and
railed perpetually against a good man named Stafford, at
that time lecturer in divinity at Cambridge ; warning the
young men of the university to give no heed to his
teaching.

But the counsel of the Lord shall stand, and he will do
all his pleasure. Latimer was a chosen vessel unto him ;
and when the time arrived for taking away the veil from
his heart, God stirred up the blessed martyr Thomas Bil-
ney to attempt the conversion of this zealous opposer. The
means adopted were singular ; Bilney was at that time
working cautiously and secretly, trying out Satan's subtil-
ties, and undermining the kingdom of antichrist. A direct
attack on the prejudices of Latimer would not have been
expedient; but Bilney, touched with brotherly love and
pity, bethought himself of a beautiful device. He came to
Latimer's study, asking him to hear his confession, to
which the other, of course, agreed ; and Bilney pouring out
of the fulness of a truly contrite heart and sanctified spi-
rit such things as had never before entered Latimer's mind,
he was by the gracious operation of the Holy Ghost, so
touched, that, forsaking at once the study of the school
doctors, and other such idle nonsense, he betook himself
zealously to true divinity, profiting in it greatly; forsaking
his former way of caviling and railing, for quiet and dili-

12 BISHOP LATIMER.

gent conference with Bilney and others. He also visited
Mr. Stafford, and besought his dying forgiveness of all the
evil he had ibrmerly spoken concerning him. But Latimer
did not stop here : his zeal, mercifully turned into a right
direction, increased with his light, and he became both a
pubHc preacher and a private instructer of his brethren, in
the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus. With the
learned he conferred in Latin : the simple and vulgar he
delighted to teach in their native tongue; and thus, for
three years, he laboured in the university, with great suc-
cess. Satan, however, watchful for the preservation of
his kingdom, did not long leave this vigorous assailant
unopposed ; but stirred up some of his own brood to molest
him.

Latimer had preached certain sermons, about Christmas,
1529, in the churches of St. Edward and St. Augustine, in
Cambridge, wherein, alluding to the common usage and
games of the season, he spiritualized the cards, giving the
people, instead of the idle sport connected with them, texts
from the sermon on the mount, ingeniously adapted to the
different suits and court cards. The heart he named a^
trump, being the principal thing wherewith they should
serve God ; overthrowing all hypocritical, external ser-
vices, not tending to the furtherance of God's word and sa-
craments ; and the better to attain this trump, or triumph,
he recommended the study of the Scriptures in English,
whereby the common people might best learn their duty to
God and to their neighbours. This quaint device, accord-
ing well with the habits and humour of the times, produced
such an efl^ect, that a certain Augustine friar took great
umbrage at it, as well he might ; for Latimer had with his
trump card, the heart, effectually swept the board of all
others, as men's traditions, pardons, pilgrimages, ceremo-
nies, vows, devotions, voluntary works, or works of super-
erogation, the pope's supremacy, and the whole host of tools
belonging to the craft by which the priests of Rome have
their living. He also showed the corruption of man's na-
ture, his perpetual offence against God ; repentance wrought
by the Holy Spirit, and salvation by faith in the Lord Jesus,
To quiet the stir occasioned in Cambridge by Latimer's
cards, the prior of the black friars, named Buckenham,
preached upon dice ; and taking for his throw a cinque,
and a quatre, attempted to prove from five places in the
New Testament, and from four doctors of his church, the

BISHOP LATIMER. 13

inexpediency of allowing the common people to study Scrip-
ture. Some of the ill effects to be apprehended from so
doing were these : that the ploughman, reading in the gos-
pel that no man having laid his hand on the plough, and
looking back, is fit for the king of God, might perhaps
cease irom ploughing. The baker, when he heard how a
little leaven corrupts a whole lump of dough, might per-
chance have his bread unleavened, to the disadvantage of
our bodies. A simple man, too, taking literally the pre-
cept, "If thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it
from thee," might make himself blind, and so fill the world
with beggars. These were three of the five points brought
forward by the learned friar, to prove the danger of giving
the Bible to the laity.

Latimer, hearing this curious sermon preached in the
morning, came to the church the same aflernoon, for the
avowed purpose of answering it. A great multitude flocked
to hear him ; not only of doctors and under-graduates from
the university, but of all classes among the towns-people.
In the midst, right opposite to the pulpit, and close before
the preacher, friar Buckenham planted himself, his black
cowl thrown over his shoulders, a very conspicuous object,
both to pastor and people. Latimer commenced by recit-
ing the friarly reasons of Dr. Buckenham, and then in a
strain of powerful argument seasoned with no little humour
and keen wit, exposed their absurdity. After denying the
existence of such danger as the friar apprehended, he de-
manded, on the part of the people, that at least the reading
of the Scriptures should be allowed them, until Englishmen
became so mad, that the ploughman durst not look behind
him, or the baker leaven his bread. He then proceeded to
explain the use of figurative language in the Bible ; declar-
ing such phrases to be in no wise difficult to understand ;
and that they abounded not only in the Hebrew, but in
every speech and language; metaphors being so common,
that the very painters placed them on walls and houses.
" For instance," said he, looking full at the friar who sat
over against him, " when they paint a fox preaching out
of a friar's cowl, none is so mad as to take this to be a fox
that preacheth, but know well enough the meaning of the
matter, which is to point out to us what hypocrisy, crafts,
and subtle dissimulation lieth hid many times in these fri-
ars' cowls; willing us thereby to beware of them," In short,
so completely was the poor friar put to shame, that he was

MARTYBOLOGY.— -VOL, II. 2

14 BISHOP LATIMER.

never known to mount a pulpit again in opposition to Lati-
mer. There was, however, another, a foreign grey friar,
named Venetus, who, in his sermons, raged and railed
against Latimer, calling him mad and brainless, and ex-
horting the people not to give heed to his preaching. To
this the reformer opposed a very solemn discourse on our
Lord's words. Matt. v. 21, 22, showing the heinousness
of the offence, in calling a brother Raca, or fool. He then
turned to other scriptures, to prove that it is the appointed
lot of God's true people to be accounted fools and madmen,
by the wise of this world ; and setting forth the contrast
that shall appear, when they who now revile his servants
shall be, too late, convinced that the folly and madness
were their own. This he declared must be the lot of such
railers, except they repented. The effect of this answer
was to drive the conscience-stricken opposer out of the uni-
versity.

All this, as may well be supposed, stirred up most violent
enmity against the bold reprover. Fox says, after enu-
merating some who distinguished themselves by their open
hostility, " almost as many as were heads there of houses,
so many impugners did this worthy standard-bearer of the
gospel sustain." At length, Dr. West, bishop of Ely,
thought fit to deliver a sermon against Latimer, at Bar-
well abbey; and to prohibit his preaching again within the
churches of the university. It was then that Dr. Barnes,
at that time prior of the Augustines, came forward in aid
of the Lord's oppressed cause. He not only licensed Lati-
mer to preach in his church, but himself took the duty in
St. Edward's, on the same day, which was both a Sunday
and Christmas day. There, for the first lime, did Barnes
set forth Jesus Christ, and him crucified, as the sinner's
only hope ; and for that sermon the informations were laid
against him, which proved the beginning of his troubles in
the flesh, gloriously ending in the crown of martyrdom.

Notwithstanding all the efforts of the adversaries, Lati-
mer continued to preach and teach Jesus Christ in the uni-
versity, for a considerable time. His chief companion was
Bilney, and their favourite resort, where they used often to
walk, and to take sweet counsel together in the fields, was
long after known by the name of the Heretics' Hill. An
event occurred during this period which shows these holy
men no less zealous in following His steps who went about
doing good, than they were in denouncing, as vain and sin-

BISHOP LATIMJER. 15

ful, the doctrine that would attach any saving merit to the
best of human works.

Among the prisoners confined in the gaol of Cambridge,
was a woman charged with the murder of her child. In
the course of their charitable visits to the captives they
noticed this woman, whose denials of her guilt were so
strong and steadfast, that Latimer and Bilney resolved fully
to search the matter out. They found that the child had
been sick of lingering consumption, for a year, and at last
died, during the busiest time of harvest, so that when she
went to summon help from her neighbours to prepare the
child for its burial, not one was at home ; and she was
forced to set about the melancholy task alone. Her hus-
band, who never had any love for her, coming in while she
was thus employed, accused her of murdering the child.
On his wicked and cruel charge she was thrown into pri-
son, and condemned to die. Having fully satisfied himself
of her innocence, Latimer took advantage of being called
to preach before Henry VIIL, at Windsor, and of the kind-
ness with which the king afterwards discoursed with him,
to intercede for the poor creature. He kneeled down, rela-
ted all the circumstances, and earnestly craved for her the
royal pardon ; which was graciously granted, and the offi-
cial notification of it committed to Latimer. In the mean
time the poor woman gave birth, in the prison, to another
child, to which Latimer stood godfather; but all the while
he carefully concealed from the mother the good news that
he had to communicate, hoping that if in any way she was
really guilty, the extremity of her circumstances, looking
forward to a speedy execution, would induce her to confess
it. Instead of this, the only weight on her mind seemed to
be a dreadful fear of everlasting perdition, if she should be
brought to death before she had gone through the rites of
purification, as ordained in the popish church; and most
earnestly did she implore Latimer to administer to her those
rites. He, however, and Bilney, took occasion from these
superstitious apprehensions to preach to her the only true
purification from all sin and uncleanness in the atoning
blood of Christ; and having seen her brought into what
they considered a hopeful state of mind, they showed her
the king's pardon, and restored her to liberty.

Many such acts of mercy did these two brothers per-
form ; insomuch that they were greatly remarked, and, of
course, roused the haters of the truth to livelier diligence

16 BISHOP LATIMEK.

in opposing it. Dr. Redman took the more charitable
course of trying by argument to win Latimer from what
he supposed erroneous ways, and was ably answered;
others bestirred themselves in preaching and writing hard
things against him, until, by their procurement, he was
cited to appear before Warham, archbishop of Canterbury,
and Stokesley, bishop of London, in 1531; against which
citation Latimer appealed to his ordinary, but was, not-
withstanding, taken to London, where he underwent a
most tedious persecution, being obliged to appear thrice
every week, before the ignorant and bigoted prelates, to
answer a long string of charges and propositions. Find-
ing no prospect of an end to their trifling, and that they
would neither preach themselves nor sutler him to do his
own duty, he addressed an expostulatory letter to one of
their number. How he escaped the devices by which they
constantly sought to make out matter of more serious accu-
sation against him, and to bring his life into jeopardy, is
not exactly known ; but as Latimer, at a later period, in
adverting to the snares and traps to which he was then
exposed, makes glad mention of the goodness of Almighty
God in giving him wisdom to answer, and to avoid the
dangers then besetting him, it is not likely that he swerved,
in any wise, from his usual bold and honest course; or
was guilty of any prevarication. At length the king was
led to show him such favour and countenance, that his ene-
mies durst no further molest him; and being also greatly
honoured by the good lord Cromwell and Dr. Butts, he was
shortly advanced to the bishopric of Worcester.

Here Latimer found a wide field for the exercise of his
manifold gifls ; and he used it to the best of his knowledge
and power. As a faithful and vigilant pastor, he instruct-
ed his flock with wholesome doctrine, confirmed by an ex-
ample of perfect conversation, adding thereto all the exer-
cises of visiting, exhorting, correcting, and reforming, as
far as the dangerous and variable character of the times
would admit. Many vain superstitions were yet enforced
in the church, which he had not power to do away with:
he therefore directed the ministers in his diocese to give as
spiritual a turn as they could, to the foolish customs of
sprinkling with holy water, giving holy bread, and the like,
that the minds of the people might be, as much as possible,
weaned from placing any reliance on those things. The
trouble into which his enemies endeavoured to bring him,

BISHOP LATIJIER. 17

he afterwards related in a sermon preached before the
young king Edward, as follows.

" In the king's days that is dead, a great many of us
were called together before him, to say our minds in cer-
tain matters. In the end one kneeleth down and accuseth
me of sedition : and that I had preached seditious doctrine :
a heavy salutation, and a hard point of such a man's do-
ing, as if I should name, ye would not think. The king
turned to me and said, " What say you to that, sir ?"

" Then I kneeled me down, and turned mc first to my
accuser, and required him ; ' Sir, what form of preaching
would you appoint me, in preaching before a king? would
you have me preach nothing as concerning a king in the
king's sermon? have you any commission to appoint me
what I shall preach?" Besides this, I asked him divers
other questions, and he would make no answer to any of
them all ; he had nothing to say.

" Then I turned me to the king, and submitted myself to
his grace, and said, ' I never thought myself worthy, nor did
I ever sue to be a preacher before your grace, but I was
called to it, and would be willing (if you mislike me) to
give place to my betters; for I grant there be a great many
more worthy of the room than I am. And if it be your
grace's pleasure so to allow them for preachers, I could be
content to bear their books after them. But if your grace
all(DW me for a preacher, I would desire your grace to give
me leave to discharge my conscience, give me leave to
frame my doctrine according to my audience. I had been
a very dolt to have preached so at the borders of your
realm, as I preach before your grace."

" And I thank Almighty God (which hath always been
my remedy) that my sayings were well accepted of the
king; for like a gracious lord, he turned unto another com-
munication. It is even as the Scripture saith. Cor regis
in manu Domini, that is, ' The Lord directeth the king's
heart.' Certain of my friends came to me with tears in
their eyes, and told me they looked I should have been in
the tower the same night."

The character of Latimer, simple, faithful, and undaunt-
ed, is admirably set forth in the preceding extract; which
derives additional interest from having been uttered in the
presence of Henry's successor; clearly giving the royal
hearer to understand that he must expect the like plain-
dealing, at his preacher's hands. But a far bolder thing

2 +

18 BISHOP LATIMEK.

was done by Lalimer, and such as, probably, no other man
in the kingdom would have ventured upon, with a monarch
like Henry the Eighth. An old Roman custom still pre-
vailed in those times, of each bishop in the realm present-
ing a handsome gift to the king on New Year's day. Some
gave rich articles of gold or silver plato, some a well-filled
purse; each endeavouring, as far as his power went, to
gratify his sovereign. Among the rest came Latimer,
bishop of Worcester, and presented Henry with a New
Testament, folded in a napkin, round which was imprinted
this awful warning, from the twelfth chapter of the Epistle
to the Hebrews, " Fornicators and adulterers God shall
judge." Thus, exercising the functions of his high and
holy office, reproving, rebuking, exhorting, with such an
abiding fear of God upon him as utterly cast out all fear
of man, this good bishop walked in the steps of Jeremiah,
and enjoyed the fulfilment of the promise given to the pro-
phet, " Be not afraid of their faces; for I am with thee to
deliver thee, saith the Lord." He remained unmolested,
and indeed evidently favoured by the king; until, on the
enactment of the iniquitous six-articles act, he saw that he
must either lose the blessing of a good conscience, or re-
sign his bishopric. He chose the latter; and giving up the
pastoral charge, in which he was imitated also by Shaxton,
bishop of Salisbury, he retired into private life. It is re-
lated of Latimer, that when, among friends in his own
chamber, he first put oif his episcopal rochet, he gave a
skip on the floor for joy, feeling his shoulder lightened, as
he said, of so heavy a burden. That weight did not con-
sist in the duties of an office which he, as a faithful pastor
loved; but in the burden laid on his conscience, of ad-
herence to the many superstitions and idolatrous cus-
toms retained under Henry's nominal reformation of the
church.

But, "in the world ye shall have tribulation" is the heri-
tage of God's dear people; and so Latimer found it. Scarcely
had he disentangled himself from the snare of his bishopric,
when, by the fall of a tree, he was so bruised and injured,
as to endanger his life, occasioning him to suffer great
bodily pain to the end of his days. Then, coming up to
London, he was again molested by the bishops, and at last,
committed to the tower, where he remained, until the
coming in of blessed king Edward opened both his prison
and his mouth. During the short reign of that godly young

BISHOP LATIMER. 19

pnnce, Lalimer was to be found labouring in every possi-
ble way for the promotion of undefiled religion throughout
the land. Alike in his own diocese, in the convocation-
house, and at court, his diligence was made manifest. In
the royal garden, which in Henry's time had been made
the scene of many a licentious revel, the venerable bishop
would assemble the king and all his court, to hear the doc-
trine that distilled as the dew, to refresh and invigorate all
within its influence. He preached twice every Sunday, not-
withstanding his age, then sixty-seven, and the effects of
his severe hurt. Every morning, summer and winter, he
was up and at his book by two o'clock; and he not unfre-
quently travelled to other parts of the realm, there to spread
the lio-ht of divine knowledo-e.

It is remarkable that, during these times he never ceased
to predict what should shortly come upon the church and
kingdom. In the midst of their prosperity, while the young
king was still in health, with the promise of many length-
ened years before him, Latimer seemed to have a constant
foreshowing of the evil to come. He always affirmed that
the preaching of the gospel would cost him his life, and
that Winchester, then in the tower, was reserved to effect
it. A few years proved the correctness of these impres-
sions. Edward died; and very shortly after the proclama-
tion of Mary, a pursuivant was sent into the country to
summon Latimer to London, who having some hours' pre-
vious intimation of it, was so far from seeking to escape,
that he got all things in readiness for the journey. The
officer finding him prepared to set out, expressed some sur-
prise, on which the venerable prelate remarked, " My
friend, you be a welcome messenger to me: and be it
known to you, and to all the world, that I go as willingly
to London at this present, being called by my prince to ren-
der a reckoning of my doctrine, as ever I was at any place
in all the world. I doubt not but that God, as he hath
made me worthy to preach his word before two excellent
princes, so will he enable me to witness the same unto the
third, either to her comfort or discomfort eternally." The
pursuivant however, having delivered his letters, abruptly
departed, saying he had orders not to tarry for him. From
this, it is clear that the wish of his guilty enemies was to
drive him to self-exile, by flight; not to meet his bold and
godly answers to their false charges; well knowing that
his wisdom and constancy would rather confirm the Lord's

20 BISHOP LATIMER.

people, and confound his foes, than answer the ends of
their crafty devices.

But flight was the last thing that would have occurred
to bishop Latimer: he obeyed the summons, and repaired
to London. Passing through Smithfield on his way, he
merrily remarked that Smithfield had long groaned for
him ; and then, appearing before the council, he quietly en-
dured their unseemly mocks and taunts ; and in a spirit
alike valiant and cheerful, took up, once more, his abode in
the tower as a state prisoner. The extremity of cruel usage
that he there experienced, fully confirmed what was before
apparent, that the persecutors wished for nothing so much
as privately to get rid of him : but the Lord had decreed to
his faithful servant the prize of a glorious martyrdom, and
who could wrest it away?

The tender mercies of popery — which most falsely as-
sumes the name of a religion, while it is in fact only a sys-
tem of political craft and worldly aggrandisement, traffick-
ing in men's souls that it may have their bodies in more
hopeless subjection — the tender mercies of popery afforded
to this aged and wounded father in the church of Christ no
better accommodation, during a long and piercing winter,
than a damp cell, without one spark of fire, to keep life in
his trembling limbs. One day, as he sat nearly perishing
with cold, the lieutenant's man entered his dungeon, when
Latimer bade him tell his master that if he did not look
better to him, perchance he might deceive him. The lieu-
tenant of the tower, on hearing this, hastened to examine
whether his prisoner was preparing any means for escape ;
at the same time upbraiding him with what he had spoken
to his man. The bishop replied, " Yea, Mr. Lieutenant,
so I said ; for you look, I think, that I should burn ; but ex-
cept you let me have some fire, I am like to deceive your
expectation; for I am here like to starve with cold."

In the like spirit of calm and cheerful endurance did
the old man meet all their cruelty and threats, until, un-
able to touch his life otherwise than as God had appointed,
they were obliged to transport him, with Cranmer and Rid-
ley, to Oxford; where, in the month of April they were
condemned, as has been already related, and remanded to
several prisons. In October, the mother of abominations
resolved to replenish the cup of her drunken rage with the
blood of these saints and martyrs of Jesus.

RIDLEY AND LATIMER. 21

CHAPTER II.

BISHOPS RIDLEY AND LATIMER.

The archbishop of Canterbury having been called alone
before the pope's delegates and the queen's commissioners,
at Oxford, on the 12th of September, of whose examina-
tion we shall hereafter speak, it was judged expedient to
send down another commission from cardinal Pole, on the
28th of the same month, directed to the bishops of Lincoln,
Gloucester, and Bristol, to this effect : that they should
have full power and authority to cite, examine, and judge
Dr. Hugh Latimer and Dr. Nicholas Ridley, pretended
bishops of Worcester and London, for the divers and sun-
dry erroneous opinions which they had held and maintain-
ed in open disputation at Oxford. The instrument pro-
ceeded to empower the commissioners to receive them back,
if penitent, and forthwith minister unto them the reconcilia-
tion of the holy father the pope ; but if they proved stub-
born in defending their opinions, then the judges should
pass sentence on them, degrade them, and clean cut them
off from the church; yielding them to receive the punish-
ment due to all such heresy and schism.

In pursuance hereof, these lords repaired on the last day
of December to the divinity school, placing themselves in
the lofty seats erected for public lecturers and disputants.
Here being set, in pompous trim, with cloth of tissue and
cushions of velvet, they sent for the two captive bishops, who
presently appeared; but choosing to examine them apart,
and to begin with Ridley, these inhuman tormentors sent
the aged and feeble Latimer back, not to his prison, where
he might have rested a while, but into the outer room, ex-
posed to the rudeness of such as had no right to approach
nearer.

Dr. Ridley being placed before them, stood bareheaded,
to hear the supposed royal commission publicly read by a
notary; but no sooner was cardinal Pole, legate a latere,
named than he put on his cap. The reading being finish-
ed, the bishop of Lincoln addressed the prisoner, telling
him that neither he nor the other lords, in respect of their
own persons, looked for cap or knee ; yet as representing
the lord cardinal's grace, legate a latere from the pope's

22 BISHOP RIDLEV.

holiness, as well as that he was of a notable parentage,
descending from regal blood, (here Ridley moved his cap,
and did obeisance) as also worthy to be reverenced for his
great knowledge, learning, and virtues, and especially as
being in England deputy to the pope, he ought at his name
to have uncovered his head. Ending by a threat that if
he refused so to do, they would have his cap plucked off.

The scene deserves to be recorded in this day of weak
and unfaithful concession : the more so, as Ridley was a
man remarkable for meekness, charity, forbearance, and
coutesy to all. He replied,

"As touching that you said, my lord, that you in your
own persons desire no cap nor knee, but only require the
same in consideration that you represent the cardinal's
grace's person, I do you to wit, and thereupon make my
protestation, that I did put on my cap at the naming of the
cardinal's grace, neither for any discourtesy that I bear
towards your own persons, neither for any derogation of
honour towards the lord cardinal's grace. For I know
him to be a man worthy of all humility, reverence and ho-
nour, in that he came of the most regal blood, and in that
he is a man indeed with manifold graces of learning and
virtue; and as touching these virtues and points, I with all
humility, (therewith he put off his cap and bowed his knee)
and obeisance that I may, will reverence and honour his
grace : but in that he is legate to the bishop of Rome (and
then he put on his cap) whose usurped supremacy and
abused authority I utterly refuse and renounce, I may in
no wise give any obeisance or honour unto him, lest that
my so doing and behaviour might be prejudicial to mine
oath, and derogation to the verity of God's word. And
therefore that I might not only by confession profess the
verity in not reverencing the renounced authority, contrary
to God's word, but also in gesture, in behaviour, and in all
my doings express the same, I have put on my cap, and
for this consideration only; and not for any contumacy to
your lordships, neither contempt of this worshipful audience,
neither derogation of any honour due to the cardinal his
grace, both for his noble parentage, and also his excellent
qualities, I have kept on my cap."

" Master Ridley," said the bishop of Lincoln, " you ex-
cuse yourself of that with the which we pressed you not,
in that you protest you keep on your cap neither for any
contumacy towards us, which look for no such honour of

BISHOP RIDLEY. 23

you, neither for any contempt of this audience, which,
although justly they may, yet, as I suppose, do not in this
case require any such obeisance of you ; neither in dero-
gation of any honour due to my lord cardinal's grace, for
his regal descent [at which word Mi', Ridley moved his
cap) and excellent qualities ; for although in all the pre-
mises honour be due, yet in these respects we require none
of you ; but only in that my lord cardinal's grace is here in
England deputy of the pope's holiness, (at which word the
lords and others put off their caps, and Mr. Ridley put
on his,) and therefore we say unto you the second time,
that except you take the pains yourself to put your hand to
your head, and put off your cap, you shall put us to the
pain to cause some man to take it from you, except you
allege some infirmity or sickness, or other more reasonable
cause, upon the consideration whereof we may do as we
think good."

Ridley answered, " The premises I said, only for that it
might as well appear to your lordship as to this worshipful
audience, why and for what consideration I used such kind
of behaviour, in not humbling myself to your lordships
with cap and knee; and as for my sickness, I thank my
Lord God that I am as well at ease as I was this long sea-
son: and therefore I do not pretend that which is not, but
only this, that it might appear by this my behaviour that I
acknowledge in no point that usurped supremacy of Rome,
and therefore contemn and utterly despise all authority
coming from him. In taking off my cap, do as it shall
please your lordships, and I shall be content."

Then the bishop of Lincoln, after the third admonition,
commanded one of the beadles, an officer of the university,
to pluck his cap from his head. Mr. Ridley bowing his
head to the officer, gently permitted him to take away his
cap.

After this scene, alike memorable and instructive, as
showing how strictly the fathers of the Reformation guarded
every outpost of the ground which we so madly throw open
on every side, the examination proceeded. Our limits com-
pel us to give only a summary, although each word de-
serves to be weighed and pondered by all who profess the
faith for which these noble champions earnestly contended;
and in which they became more than conquerors, while
loving not their lives unto the death.

The bishop of Lincoln began a long and well-arranged

24 BISHOP RIDLEY.

speech, by setting forth the authority vested in the com-
mission, to re-admit bishop Ridley into the unity of what
he was pleased to term the catholic and apostolic church,
" which tirst was founded by Peter at Rome immediately
after the death of Christ, and from him by lineal succes-
sion hath been brought to this our time," which, he said,
the king, queen, and all the nobles and commons of the
realm, and all Christian people confessed, while Ridley
stood alone in his errors. He exhorted him to renounce
his heretical opinions, and, after due penance enjoined, to
receive the offered reconciliation. To this intent, he bade
him consider that he had once been one of them ; had taken
degrees in their school, had been made a priest and became
a preacher, setting forth their doctrine; and a bishop ac-
cording to their laws; from which he had lately separated
himself, and in the time of heresy became a setter forth of
the devilish and seditious doctrine in those days preached.
He then asserted that at the time when the new doctrine of
faith only began to spring up, Ridley being deputed by the
council to win over Stephen Gardiner, had addressed the
latter in these words, " Tush, my lord, this matter of jus-
tification is but a trifle, let us not stick to condescend here-
in to them ; but for God's love, my lord, stand stoutly to
the verity of the sacrament ; for I see they will assault that
also." From this Lincoln sought to prove that Ridley was
still of their mind respecting the mass, and dissembling
with Edward's council. Moreover, he reminded him of
having, in a sermon at Paul's cross, as effectually and ca-
tholicly spoken of the blessed sacrament as any man might
do; summing up all by a final entreaty to return to his old
belief, to acknowledge the infallibility of the Romish
church; and the supremacy of the pope, lineally taking
his descent from Peter, upon whom Christ promised to
build his church. In proof of this supremacy being univer-
sally recognized by the ancient fathers and doctors, he
quoted a place or two out of their writings, with one from
Augustine, which he twisted to suit his purpose.

Bishop Ridley, in proceeding to answer this artful ora-
tion, thanked Lincoln for his gentleness, for his sober lan-
guage, and his good and favourable zeal, in trying to prevail
on him to leave his religion, " which," said he, " I per-
fectly know, and am thoroughly persuaded to be grounded
not upon man's imagination and decrees, but upon the in-
fallible truth of Christ's gospel, and not to look back, and

BISHOP RIDLEY. 25

to return to the Romish see, contrary to mine oath, con-
trary to the prerogative and crown of this realm, and espe-
cially— which moveth me most — contrary to the expressed
word of God."

He then divided Lincoln's argument into three points:
" First, That the see of Rome, taking his beginning from
Peter, upon whom you say Christ hath builded his church,
hath in all ages, lineally from bishop to bishop, been brought
to this time. Secondly, That even the holy fathers from
time to time have in their writings confessed the same.
Thirdly, That I was once of the same opinion, and, together
with you, I did acknowledge the same."

His answer to these three points was to this effect: first,
as to the foundation of the church, that not Peter himself,
a mortal man, was chosen, so frail and brittle, for the
foundation of a stable and infallible church, but upon the
rock-stone of Peter's confession, "Thou art the Christ, the
Son of the living God," had the Lord declared that he
would build his church. " For," Ridley continued, " this
is the foundation and beginning of all Christianity, with
word, heart and mind to confess that Christ is the Son of
God. Whosoever believeth not this, Christ is not in him ;
and he cannot have the mark of Christ printed in his fore-
head, which confesseth not that Christ is the Son of God.
Therefore Christ said unto Peter that upon this rock, that
is, upon this confession that he was Christ the Son of God,
he would build his church ; to declare that without this faith
no man can come to Christ: so that this belief, that Christ
is the Son of God, is the foundation of our Christianity, and
the foundation of our church. Here you see upon what
foundation Christ's church is built; not upon the frailty of
man, but upon the stable and infallible word of God.

" Now, as touching the lineal descent of the bishops in
the see of Rome, true it is that the patriarchs of Rome in
the apostles' time, and long after, were great maintainers
and setters forth of Christ's glory, in the which, above all
other countries and regions, there was preached the true
gospel, the sacraments were most duly ministered ; and, as
before Christ's coming, it was a city so valiant in prowess
and martial affairs, that all the world was in a manner sub-
ject to it, and after Christ's passion divers of the apostles
there suffered persecution for the gospel's sake; so, after
that the emperors, their hearts being illuminated, received
the gospel and became Christians, the gospel there, as well

MARTYROLOGY. VOL. II. 3

26 BISHOP KIDLEV.

for the great power and dominion as for the fame of the
place, flourished most; whereby the bishops of that place
ivere had in more reverence and honour, most esteemed in
all councils and assemblies, not because they acknow-
ledged them to be their liead, but because the place was
most reverenced, and spoken of, for the great power and
strength of the same. As now here in England, the bishop
of Lincoln in sessions and sittings, hath the pre-eminence
of the other bishops, not that he is the head and ruler of
them, but for the dignity of the bishopric. (At this the
people smiled.) Wherefore, the doctors, in their writings,
have spoken most reverently of the see of Rome, and in
their writings preferred it; and this is the prerogative which
your lordship did rehearse the ancient doctors to give the
see of Rome. Semblably, I cannot, nor dare not but com-
mend, reverence, and honour the see of Rome, as long as
it continued in the promotion and setting forth of God's
glory, and in the due preaching of the gospel, as it did
many years after Christ. But after that the bishops of
that see, seeking their own pride, and not God's honour,
began to set themselves above kings and emperors, chal-
lenging to them the title of God's vicars, the dominion and
supremacy over all the world, I cannot, but with St. Gre-
gory, a bishop of Rome also, confess that the bishop of that
place is the very true antichrist, whereof St. John speaketh
by the name of the whore of Babylon, and say with the
said Gregory, he that makelh himself a bishop over all the
world, is worse than antichrist."

The second point, consent of the fathers to the assumed
supremacy of Rome, he disposed of, by showing that Lin-
coln had misinterpreted the passage in Augustine, in whose
time there were four patriarchs; of Alexandria, Constan-
tinople, Antioch, and Rome: the jurisdiction of each ex-
tending only to the boundaries of his own province. By
wilfully overlooking this, Lincoln had given to Augustine's
words a meaning altogether foreign to them, for the sake
of forcing a testimony in favour of papal supremacy; where-
as he only spoke of his local and prescribed jurisdiction.
He thus wound up his argument: " For this pre-eminence
also the other doctors, as you recited, say that Rome is the
mother of churches, as the bishopric of Lincoln is mother
to the bishopric of Oxford, because the bishopric of Oxford
came from the bishopric of Lincoln, and they were once
both one; and so is the archbishopric of Canterbury mother

BISHOP RIDLEY. 27

to the other bishoprics which are in her province. In like
sort, the archbishopric of York is mother to the north bish-
oprics; and yet no man will say that Lincoln, Canterbury,
or York is supreme head to other bishoprics ; neither then
ought we to confess the see of Rome to be supreme head,
because the doctors, in their writings, confess the see of
Rome to be mother of churches."

Coming to the third point, he continued, " Now, where
you say 1 was once of the same religion that you are of,
the truth is I cannot but conless the same. Yet so was St.
Paul a persecutor of Christ. But in that you say I was
one of you not long agone, in that I doing my message to
my lord of Winchester should desire him to stand stout in
that gross. opinion of the supper of the Lord; in very deed
I was sent, as your lordship said, from the council to my
lord of Winchester, to exhort him to receive also the true
confession of justification ; and because he was very refrac-
tory, I said to him. Why, my lord, what make you so great
a matter herein? you see many anabaptists rise against the
sacrament of the altar; I pray you, my lord, be diligent
in confounding of them; for at that time my lord of VVin-
chester and 1 had to do with two anabaptists in Kent. In
this sense, I willed my lord to be stiff in defence of the
sacrament, against the detestable errors of anabaptists, and
not in the confirmation of that gross and carnal opinion
now maintained,

" In like sort, as touching the sermon which I made at
Paul's cross, you shall understand that there were at Paul's,
and divers other places, fixed railing bills against the sacra-
ment, terming it Jack of the box, the sacrament of the hal-
ter, round Robin, with such like unseemly terms; for the
which causes I, to rebuke the unreverend behaviour of cer-
tain evil disposed persons, preached as reverently of that
matter as I might, declaring what estimation and reverence
ought to be given to it, what danger ensued the mishandling
thereof, affirming in that sacrament to be truly and verily
the body and blood of" Christ, effectually by grace and
spirit: which words the unlearned understanding not, sup-
posed that I had meant the gross and carnal being which
the Romish decrees set forth, that a body having life and
motion should indeed be under the shapes of bread and
wine."

Here the bishop of Lincoln found it expedient to inter-
rupt his prisoner, by returning to the former cavil about

28 BISHOP RIDLEY.

Augustine's expression ; but there too Ridley made good
his interpretation so soundly and convincingly that he was
glad to shift his ground again, and, adverting to their in-
structions, proceeded to allege the visibility and universali-
ty of his church ; and to plead that an acknowledgment of
the fancied supremacy could not be prejudicial to the crown,
since the king and queen had renounced what he termed
the usurped power, taken by their predecessors. He set
forth that there were two powers, of the sword and of the
keys : the former being given to kings and rulers, the latter
delivered by Christ to Peter, and of him left to all his suc-
cessors. As touching their worldly goods, possessions, and
lives, he said they acknowledged themselves subjects to the
king and queen; but in spiritual and ecclesiastical matters
they owned another head. To this doctrine he finally
called on Ridley to subscribe, after the example of their
majesties, who had yielded to it; assuring him that, by so
doing, he would delight the pope and all Christendom, bring-
ing quietness and health to his soul; while they would
gladly receive him again, as no longer a rotten but a lively
member of Christ's church. Otherwise they must do their
duty, by delivering him up to the temporal judges, to receive
at their hands the punishment due for his heresy. In con-
clusion he added these words, " Wherefore, Mr. Ridley,
consider your state, remember your former degrees, spare
your body, especially consider your soul, which Christ so
dearly bought with his precious blood: do not you rashly
cast away that which is precious in God's sight : enforce
us not to do all that we may do, which is only to publish
you to be none of us, to cut you off from the church. We
do not nor cannot condemn you to die, as most untruly
hath been reported of us ; but that is the temporal judge's
office : we only declare you to be none of the church, and
then must you, according to the tenor of them, and plea-
sure of the rulers, abide their determination ; so that we,
after we have given you up to the temporal rulers, have no
further to do with you. But I trust. Master Ridley, we
shall not have occasion to do that we may. I trust you
will suffer us to rest in that point of our commission which
We most heartily desire, that is, upon recantation and re-
pentance to receive you, to reconcile you, and again to ad-
join you to the unity of the church."

After much interruption, bishop Ridley obtained a hear-
ing, and spoke as follows : " My lord, I acknowledge an

BISHOP RIDLEY. 2#

unspotted church of Christ, in the which no man can err,*
without the which no man can be saved, the which is
spread throughout all the world ; that is, the congregation
of the faithful : neither do I alligate or bind the same to
any one place, as you said; but confess the same to be
spread throughout all the world. And where Christ's sa-
craments are duly ministered, his gospel truly preached
and followed, there doth Christ's church shine as a city
upon a hill, and as a candle in the candlestick : but rather
it is such as you that would have the church of Christ
bound to a place, and appoint the same to Rome, that there
and nowhere else is the foundation of Christ's church. But
I am fully persuaded that Christ's church is everywhere
founded in. every place where his gospel is truly received,
and eflectually followed. And in that the church of God
is in doubt, I use herein the wise counsel of Vincentius Li-
rinensis, whom I am sure you will allow, who giving pre-
cepts how the catholic church may be, in all schisms and
heresies, known, writeth in this manner : When, saith he,
one part is corrupted with heresies, then prefer the whole
world before that one part; but if the greatest part be in-
fected, then pi'efer antiquity.

" In like sort now, when I see the greatest part to be infect-
ed with the poison of the see of Rome, I repair to the usage
of the primitive church, which I find clean contrary to the
pope's decrees ; in that the priest receiveth alone, that it is
made unlawful to the laity to receive in both kinds, and
such like. Wherefore it requireth that I prefer the anti-
quity of the primitive church before the novelty of the
Romish church."

The bishop of Lincoln contended that the faults thus
alleged against the church of Rome were no faults. He
absurdly adduced the fact of our Lord's manifesting him-
self after his resurrection, in the breaking of bread, of Paul
breaking bread on the passage towards Rome, and of the
apostles' coming together to break bread, as warrants for
obliging the laity to receive in one kind only: adding that
il was rightly done to compel the people to believe that
Christ v/as wholly, both flesh and blood, under the form of
bread. To establish the right of the church thus to alter
commandments, he referred to Paul's injunction to the Gen-

* He obviously means, that no one being a child of God, and
taught of him, will be permitted finally and fatally to err from tlie
truth.

3*

30 BISHOP RIDLEY.

tiles, to eat no blood; and asked by what authority it was
now made lawful to the Gentile Christian to eat blood, un-
less by the permission of the church. Ridley replied, that
St. Paul's injunctions to the Gentiles were meant as a suf-
ferance, by little and little to win the Jews to Christ. They
were for the time, not respecting those who should come
after. But Christ's commandment, " Do this," applied to
what He then did, which was not to minister in one kind
only; neither was it a commandment for a time, but to be
persevered in to the world's end.

But Lincoln affected not to hear this, and proceeded in
his oration, setting forth, that power had been vested by the
Holy Ghost in what he called the church to alter scripture.
He then declared that they did not come to reason the mat-
ter with the accused, but to propose certain articles, to each
of which he must answer either affirmatively or negatively,
either denying them or granting them, without farther dis-
putation or reasoning. These articles he must answer by
eight o'clock the next morning, for which purpose he
might have a copy of them, with pen, ink and paper, and
such books as he might demand, if they were to be had in
the university.

The articles were then read, as follows : —

I. We do object to thee, Nicholas Ridley, and to thee,
Hugh Latimer, jointly and severally, first, that thou, Nicho-
las Ridley, in this high university of Oxford, An. 1554, in the
months of April, May, June, July, or in some one or more
of them, hast affirmed, and openly defended and maintain-
ed, and in many other times and places besides, that the
true and natural body of Christ, after the consecration of
the priest, is not really present in the sacrament of the
altar.

IL Item, that in the year and months aforesaid, thou
hast publicly affirmed and defended, that in the sacrament
of the altar there remaineth still the substance of bread
and wine.

in. Item, that in the same year and months, thou hast
openly affirmed, and obstinately maintained, that in the
mass is no propitiatory sacrifice for the quick and the
dead.

IV. Item, that in the year place and months aforesaid,
these, the aforesaid assertions, solemnly had been con-
demned by the scholastical censure of this school, as hereti-
cal and contrary to the catholic faith, by the worshipful Dr.

BISHOP RIDLEY. M"

Weston, prolocutor then of the convocation house, as also
by other learned men of both the universities.

V. Item, that all and singular the premises be true, no-
torious, famous, and openly known by public fame, as
well to them near hand, as also to them in distant places
far off.

When the paper had been read, Lincoln, after private
conference with the other bishops, asked Ridley what he
said to the first; requiring him to answer, either affirma-
tively or negatively. He replied, " Why, my lord, I sup-
posed your gentleness had been such that you would have
given me space until to-morrow, that upon good advisement
I might bring a determinate answer." Lincoln assured
him that what he might then say should not be prejudicial
to his answers on the morrow; but that he should have
liberty to add, diminish, alter and change of his answers
what he would. Ridley replied, " Indeed, in like manner,
at our last disputation I had many things promised, but few
performed. It was said that after disputation I should
have a copy thereof, and license to change mine answers as
I should think good ; it was meet also that I should have
seen what was written by the notaries at that time. So your
lordship pretended great gentleness in giving me a time;
but this gentleness is the same that Christ had of the high
priest. For you, as your lordship saith, have no power
to condemn me, neither at any time to put a man to death :
so in like sort the high priest said, that it was not lawful for
them to put any man to death, but committed Christ to
Pilate, neither would suffer him to absolve Christ, although
he sought all the means therefore that he might."

On this Dr. Weston exclaimed, "What! do you make
the king Pilate?" " No, Mr. Doctor," replied the bishop,
" I do but compare your deeds with Caiaphas' deeds, and
the high priest's, which would not condemn any man to
death, as ye will not, and yet would not suffer any man to
absolve and deliver Christ."

Lincoln, unabashed by the just severity of this exposure
of their treacherous deeds, renewed his demand for imme-
diate answers, and his hollow promise of liberty to change
on the morrow; Ridley, seeing them resolved on entrap-
ping him, made this declaration : " I require the notaries
to take and write my protestation, that in no point I acknow-
ledge your authority, or admit you to be my judges, in which
point you are authorized from the pope. Therefore, what-

33 BISHOP RIDLEY.

soever I shall say or do, I protest, I neither say it neither
do it willingly, thereby to admit the authority of the pope;
and if your lordship will give me leave, I will show the
causes which move me thereunto."

As may be supposed, Lincoln refused such permission.
" No, Mr. Ridley, we have instructions to the contrary; we
may not suffer you." " I will be short," said the martyr,
" I pray your lordship suffer me to speak in few words."
" No, Master Ridley, we may not abuse the hearers' ears."
" Why, my lord, suffer me to speak three words." "Well,
Mr. Ridley," said Lincoln, " to-morrow you shall speak
forty. The time is far past; therefore we require your
answer determinately. What say you to the first article?"
— which he thereupon rehearsed.

Bishop Ridley, renewing his protestation against the
pope's usurped authority and theirs, made answer to the
first article, showing that while they and he confessed one
thing in words — that in the sacrament is the very true and
natural body and blood of Christ, they differed altogether
in the manner of its presence. Ridley held it to be there
by spirit and grace, so that whosover worthily receiveth
that sacrament, receiveth effectually Christ's body, and
drinketh his blood; that is, he is made effectually partaker
of his passion. But the papists made a grosser kind of be-
ing, enclosing a natural, livelj^ and movable body, under
the shape or form, of bread and wine. This he twice re-
peated, varying his expressions to enable the notaries the
better to take in his exact meaning, and they then penned
his answer affirmatively.

To the second article, again reserving his protestation,
he replied, " In the sacrament is a certain change, so that
that bread which was before common bread, is now made
a lively presentation of Christ's body; and not only a
figure, but effectually representeth his body, that even as
the mortal body was nourished with that visible bread, so is
the internal soul fed with the heavenly food of Christ's body,
which the eye of faith seeth, as thp bodily eyes see only
bread. Such a sacramental mutation I grant to be in the
bread and wine, which truly is no small change, but such
a change as no mortal man can make, but only that omni-
potency of Christ's word."

The bishop of Lincoln, not satisfied with this, desired
him to give a direct answer, either affirmatively or nega-
tively: he then replied more distinctly, that notwithstand-

BISHOP RIDLEY, 33

ing the sacramental mutation of which he spake, the true
substance and nature of bread and wine remained, with
which the body was in like sort nourished, as tlie soul, by-
grace and spirit, with the body of Christ. He then alleo-cd
a similar operation in baptism, where, notwithstanding its
saci'amental use, the water ceased not to be water. Lin-
coln allowed not the analogy; and the notaries recorded
the answer to the second article affirmatively of the charge.
To the third, he replied, " Christ, as St. Paul writeth,
made one perfect sacrifice for the sins of the whole world ;
neither can any man reiterate that sacrifice of his; and yet
is the communion an acceptable sacrifice to God, of praise
and thanksgiving: but to say that sins are thereby taken
away, (which wholly and perfectly was done by Christ's
passion, of the which the communion is only a memory)
that is a great derogation of the merits of Christ's passion.
For the sacrament was instituted that we, receiving it, and
thereby recognizing and remembering his passion, should
be partakers of the merits of the same. For otherwise doth
this sacrament take upon it the office of Christ's passion,
whereby it might follow that Christ died in vain." This
answer was also written down affirmatively; while the
bishop of Lincoln made an attempt to parry the force of
Ridley's argument, by asserting that Christ lefl the un-
bloody sacrifice of the mass in remembrance of the bleed-
ing sacrifice on the cross.

To the fourth article, Ridley answered that in some part
it was true, and in some false ; true, that his assertions were
condemned as heresies, though unjustly: false that the con-
demnation was scholastically ordered.

To the fifth he said, that the premises were in such sort
true as in those his answers he had declared. Whether
all men spake evil of them he knew not, in that he came
not so much abroad to hear what every man said.

He was then remanded till eight o'clock the next morn-
ing, Lincoln wishing him to write his answer to the first
article, which seemed to perplex them ; but adding that if
he wrote any thing saving his answers, they would not re-
ceive it.

Bishop Ridley being committed to the mayor's custody,
Latimer was brought in by the bailiff, and placed before
what his brother martyr had justly likened to the seat of
Caiaphas. The venerable prelate appeared, bowed down
by age, infirmity, and cruel usage, and clad in striking con-

34 BISHOP LATIMER,

trast to their proud and pompous array. He had on him
an old thread-bare gown of Bristol frieze, confined to his
body with a penny leather girdle, to which hung by a
long strap of leather his Testament, while his spectacles,
without a case, were suspended from his neck ; his head
was wrapped in a kerchief, over that a night-cap or two,
and lastly a large coarse cap or hood, such as the lower
order of townspeople used to wear, with two great flaps,
buttoning under his chin. On entering, he exclaimed, "My
lords, if I appear again, I pray you not to send for me until
you be ready. For I am an old man, and it is great hurt
to mine old age to tarry so long, gazing upon the cold
walls." Lincoln replied, " Mr. Latimer, I am sorry you
are brought so soon, although it is the bailiff's fault and
not mine : but it shall be amended."

On this the good old man bowed his knee to the ground,
holding his hat in his hand, a spectacle to angels and men,
of one of those described by St. Paul, " of whom the world
was not worthy." Lincoln commenced a long harangue
by setting forth his commission from my lord cardinal Pole's
grace, and our most reverend father, the pope's holiness, to
sit in judgment on God's people. He used the same exhor-
tations as with Ridley, urging the example of royalty, and
so forth, the late terrible schism of the English church, in
daring to throw off the papal yoke, and the general recan-
tation of that error. That the supremacy of the Romish
see was no usurped power, he undertook to prove not only
by divers places of the ancient fathers, but also by the ex-
press word of God.

Latimer had remained quiet so far, leaning his head on
his hand ; but when the bishop talked of proving his point
by Scripture, he began to remove the cap and kerchief
from his ears.

Lincoln continued, and assuming that our Lord had com-
missioned Peter to rule or reign over his flock, averred that
Peter by hand delivered the same authority to Clement,
since which, in all ages, it had remained in the see of Rome.
Then he extolled the king and queen, in that their majes-
ties, though personally innocent of any dissent from popery,
had humbly submitted themselves to my lord cai'dinal's
grace; and, calling on Latimer to renounce his errors and
heresies, with an assurance that otherwise he should be put
to death, he concluded by an earnest exhortation couched
in these words, " Consider, that if you should die in this

BISHOP LATIMER. 35

State, you shall be a stinking sacrifice to God ; for it is the
cause that maketh the martyr, and not the death : consider,
that if you die in this state, you die without grace, for with-
out the church can be no salvation. Let not vain-glory
have the upper hand ; humiliate yourself, captivate your
understanding, subdue your reason, submit yourself to the
determination of the church : do not force us to do all that
we may do, let us rest in that part which we most heartily
desire. And I, for my part, (then he put off his cap) again
with all my heart exhort you."

After a pause, Latimer lifted up his head, which he had
again leaned on his elbow, as he stood, or rather knelt be-
fore them, and asked if his lordship had said all ? Being
answered. Yea, he craved permission to speak a few words,
which was granted by Lincoln, " Provided you use a mo-
dest kind of talk, without railing or taunts." Latimer pro-
ceeded, " I beseech your lordship, license me to sit down."
This also was permitted. He then commenced a pungent
commentary on the popish version of Peter's commission,
showing how, in a book lately set forth, this point was argu-
ed by citing the authority given to the levitical priesthood,
where, in Deuteronomy it is commanded that if there arise
any controversy among the people, the priests shall decide
the matter according to the law of God. The author of
the book in question, he said, had transferred this authority
to the bishops and clergy of the new law; but, leaving out
the obligation of deciding according to the law of God, he
had only recited, that as the priests of the order of Levi
should decide the matter, so it should be taken of the peo-
ple. This he called a clipping of God's coin ; at which
expression the people smiled : and he added, " Nay, nay,
my lords, we may not give such authority to the clergy to
rule all things as they will. Let them keep themselves
within their commission. Now, I trust, my lord, 1 do not
rail yet."

Lincoln answered that his talk was more like taunts than
railing; adding that he had not seen the book, nor knew of
any such. " Yes, my lord," said Latimer, " the book is
open to be seen, and is intituled to one which is bishop of
Gloucester, whom I never knew, neither did at any time
see him to my knowledge." At that the people laughed
out, for the bishop of Gloucester sat there in commission ;
who, rising, said the book was his.

36 BISHOP LATIMER.

" Was it yours, my lord ?" said Latimer ; " indeed I
knew not your lordship, neither ever did I see you before ;
neither yet see you now, through the brightness of the sun
shining betwixt you and me." Again the people rudely
laughed; and the good old bishop turning to them said,
" Why, my masters, this is no laughing matter : I answer
upon life and death" — then he added in Latin, " Woe unto
you that laugh now, for you shall weep."

Lincoln, commanding silence, said, that if he had kept
within his bounds, and not used taunts, this had not hap-
pened. Then Gloucester, speaking in defence of his book,
began, " Mr. Latimer, hereby every man may see what
learning you have." Latimer interrupted him; "You look
for learning at my hands, which have gone so long to the
school of oblivion, making the bare walls my library, keep-
ing me so long in prison, without book, or pen and ink?
And now you let me loose to come and answer to articles.
You deal with me, as though two were appointed to fight
for life and death, and over night the one, through friends
and favour, is cherished and hath good counsel given him,
how to encounter with his enemy. The other, for envy
or lack of friends, all the whole night is set in the stocks.
In the morning, when they shall meet, the one is in strength,
and lusty; the other is stark of his limbs, and almost dead
for feebleness. Think you, that to run through this man
with a spear is not a goodly victory?"

The bishop of Gloucester proceeded, saying that he had
only used that passage of Scripture as an argument to
prove that if the Jewish priests had power to decide con-
troversies among the people, much more should the Chris-
tian priesthood have that power. What availed it, he
asked, to recite the words, " according to God's law?"
Latimer answered. Very much; for though he acknow-
ledged that authority was given to the spirituality to decide
in matters of religion, they must do it, he said, according
to the word and law of God, and not after their own will,
after their own imaginations and fancies. Gloucester
would have spoken farther, but Lincoln saying they came
not there to dispute with Mr. Latimer, but to take his de-
termination to their articles, went on to propose the same
articles that had been objected against Ridley. Latimer
however continued, addressing the bishop of Gloucester,
" Well, my lord, I could wish more faithful dealing with

BISHOP LATIMER. 3T

God's word ; and not to leave out a part, and snatch a part
here, and another there, but to rehearse the whole faith-
fully."

The articles were then proceeded in, and Latinner before
answering the first, made a stout protestation against ac-
knowledging the bishop of Rome's authority, saying that
he was the king's and queen's majesties' subject, and not
the pope's ; neither could serve two masters at one time,
except he should now renounce one of them. He required
the notaries so to record his protestation, that whatever he
should say or do, it should not be taken as though he did
thereby agree to any authority that came from the bishop
of Rome.

This being understood, he gave answer to the first arti-
cle. " I do not deny, my lord, that in the sacrament, by
spirit and grace, is the very body and blood of Christ,
because that every faithful man by receiving bodily that
bread and wine, spiritually receiveth the body and blood of
Christ, and is made partaker thereby of the merits of
Christ's passion: but I deny that the body and blood of
Christ is in such soi't in the sacrament as you would have
it." This answer was taken affirmatively of the first
charge against him.

To the second article he made reply, " There is, my
lord, a change in the bread and wine, and such a change
as no power but the omnipotency of God can make, in that
that which before was bread should now have the dignity
to exhibit Christie body; and yet the bread is still bread,
and the wine still wine ; for the change is not in the nature
but the dignity, because now that which was common
bread hath the dignity to exhibit Christ's body: for whereas
it was common bread, it is now no more common bread,
neither ought it to be so taken, but as holy bread, sanctified
by God's word."

Here the bishop of Lincoln smiled, saying, " Lo, master
Latimer, see what steadfastness is in your doctrine. That
which you abhorred and despised most, you now most esta-
blish ; for whereas you most railed at holy bread, you now
make your communion holy bread." He alluded to one
of the idle superstitions of his church, in distributing to the
people what went by that name : an abuse which bishop
Latimer had endeavoured to put down in his diocese. The
martyr indignant at his quibbling, replied, " Tush, a rush
for holy bread. I say the bread in the communion is holy

MARTYROLOGY. VOL. II. 4

38 BISHOP LATIMER,

bread indeed." Lincoln interrupted him ; " O, ye make a
difference between holy bread and holy bread;" at which
the audience again laughed. " Well, master Latimer, is
not this your answer. That the substance of bread and
wine remaineth after consecration?" He replied, "Yes,
verily, it must needs be so. For Christ himself calleth it
bread, St. Paul calleth it bread, the doctors confess the
same, the nature of a sacrament confirmeth the same; and
I call it holy bread, not in that I make no diflference be-
twixt your holy bread and this, but for the holy office
which it beareth; that is, to be a figure of Christ's body:
and not only a bare figure, but effectually to represent
the same." This answer was, of course, also taken
affirmatively. Lincoln then asked what he said to the
fourth article, and recited it. Latimer giving no reply, he
asked if he had not heard him ; to which he answered that
he heard, but did not understand what he meant. Lincoln
said that it meant that his assertions had been condemned
by Weston as heresies; on which Latimer observed, " Yes,
I think they were condemned; but how unjustly, he that
shall be judge of all knoweth." The notaries took this an-
swer affirmatively. To the fifth article, stating that these
his assertions were notoriously evil spoken of, and yet com-
mon and frequent in the mouths of the people, the good
bishop replied, " I cannot tell how much, nor what men
talk of them. I come not so much among them, in that I
have been secluded a long time. What men report of them
I know not, nor care not." When this answer was taken,
Lincoln said they did not mean his replies to be prejudicial
to him : on the morrow he should have liberty to alter what
he pleased; trusting he might then have pondered the mat-
ter so well as to confess what they call the truth.

" Now, my lord," said Latimer, " I pray you give me
license in three words to declare why I have refused the
authority of the pope." " Nay, Mr. Latimer," replied Lin-
coln, " to-morrow you shall have license to speak forty
words." The martyr entreated that he might not be com-
pelled to appear again on the morrow, assuring them that
any respite was vain; but he was told there was no re-
medy; he must needs appear at eight o'clock on the follow-
ing morning. He was then dismissed, in custody of the
mayor.

The next day, being the first of October, the lords re-
paired to St. Mary's church, seating themselves on a high

BISHOP RIDLEY. 39

throne, well trimmed with tissue and silk. At some dis-
tance from their feet was placed a framed table, covered
with a silken cloth, where sat bishop Ridley: while benches
on the four sides around it accommodated the heads of the
university, with many gentlemen who, on account of its
being also sessions' day, were in town, and attended the
trial. A frame surrounded the seats, to keep off the press;
for the whole university, and the townspeople too, were as-
sembled to see the end of these two confessors. Silence be-
ing commanded, Lincoln addressed Ridley as before, touch-
ing his lack of cap-service to the lord cardinal's grace, as
legate to the pope. At the mention of his holiness' name,
all the bishops uncovered their heads, save Ridley, who
moved not. He was then menaced with a forcible removal
of the obnoxious cap, as before; to which he replied, by
repeating his quiet but firm protestation, and the cap was
hastily and rudely snatched off by an attendant beadle.

Then the bishop of Lincoln referred to his answer to the
first article, on the preceding day, as having been unsatis-
factory to them ; stating that they had allowed him the use
of pen, ink, and paper, with books, with leave to alter his
former answers; and they were then assembled to learn if
he was still in the same mind, or would revoke his former
assei'tions, and in all points submit to the determination of
the church. With cap in hand, he very earnestly besought
Ridley so to do ; not, he said, because his conscience pricked
him, as Ridley supposed, but because he saw him to be a
rotten member, and in the way of perdition. He then en-
deavoured to establish the correctness of his former inter-
pretation of St. Augustine. Ridley maintained his first
opinion of it; and after long disputation Lincoln pro-
posed to decide the point by a reference to other doctors,
from several of whom he rehearsed passages: but Ridley
demanded both a refei'ence to the places and an exact
recital of the very words used by each author, to avoid
a misinterpretation. It then appeared that the book from
which Lincoln was reading, was only a compilation of
extracts, made by some student; and those not literally
given. He next offered to show that Philip Melancthon
had adjudged the matter of the sacrament against Ridley,
and called for the book to pi'ove it : but as they had
taken good care, a short time before, to burn all Melanc-
thon's works, it was not forthcoming. His last essay was
to prove, by an argument so absurd that it made Rid-

40 BISHOP RIDLEY.

ley smile, that if altars were pulled down in England, Christ
was not come ; because Cyrillus had endeavoured to prove
to the Jews that Christ was come, by the fact of altars
being erected to his name, in Britain and far countries.
The martyr not only explained the true sense of the pas-
sage, but strengthened his own argument by it ; saying in
conclusion, " As for the taking down of the altars, it was
done upon just considerations, for that they seemed to come
too nigh to the Jews' usage. Neither was the supper of
the Lord at any time better ministered, more duly received,
than in those latter days when all things were brought to
the rites and usage of the primitive church." Lincoln rude-
ly exclaimed, "A goodly receiving I promise you, to set an
oyster table instead of an altar, and to come from puddings
at Westminster to receive ! and yet when your table was
constituted you never could be content, in placing the same
now east, now north, now one way, now another, until it
pleased God of his goodness to put it clean out of the
church."

Ridley replied, "Your lordship's unreverent terms do
not elevate the thing. Perhaps some men came more de-
voutly from puddings, than other men do now from other
things." Here Lincoln told him he should judge no man;
and proceeded in all haste to call over the articles, saying
that if he had brought his answer to the first in writing
they would receive it ; but if he had written any other mat-
ter, they would not receive it. Ridley took a sheet of
paper out of his bosom, and commenced reading it, but a
beadle was ordered to take it from him. He demanded
license to go on, saying it was nothing but his answers ;
and on being refused, he remonstrated against the injustice
of requiring his answer and then denying him liberty
to publish it, for the audience to judge between them. He
was told by the bishops they would examine it, and if it
seemed good to them, it should be published ; if he refused
this, they would not take his answer at all. Seeing no
remedy, he gave it up to the officer, who handed it to Lin-
coln, who, after privately communicating with the other
bishops, declared the purport of the paper, but said he would
not read what was written, as it contained blasphemy, with
which he would not fill the ears of the audience, and abuse
their patience. Ridley very earnestly pressed its publica-
tion, declaring that, except a line or two, it contained no-
thing but the sayings of the ancient doctors in confirmation

BISHOP RIDLEY. 41

of his assertion. All his entreaties were vain: Lincoln
persisted that it was blasphemous, and unfit to be read ;
reciting again the first article, and requiring an answer.
Ridley relerred him to what he had written, both then, and
at his former examination before Weston. The like refer-
ence he gave, on being questioned as to the second article;
and so on of all the rest.

Then the bishop of Gloucester thus commenced an
harangue, " If you'd once empty your stomach, captivate
your senses, subdue your reason, and together with us con-
sider what a feeble ground of your religion you have, I do
not doubt but you might easily be perduced to acknowledge
one church with us, to confess one faith with us, and to be-
lieve one religion with us. For what a weak and feeble
stay in religion is this, I pray you — Latimer leaneth to
Cranmer, Cranmer to Ridley, and Ridley to the singularity
of his own wit : so that, if you overthrow the singularity
of Ridley's wit, then must needs the religion of Cranmer
and Latimer fall also." He reminded him of the prophet's
denunciation of woe to them that are wise in their own
conceits, which he declared Ridley to be, because he refused
the determination of the church, and brought Scripture to
prove his assertions; they also, he said, brought Scripture;
but Ridley understood the Scriptures in one sense, they in
another ; who was to judge between them 1 If he followed
his own interpretation, then he was wise in his own con-
ceit : if he said he would be led by the ancient doctors and
fathers, he also differed from themselves in the construc-
tion to be put on their writings, and abiding by his private
views of them he was still wise in his own conceit. On
this pithy argument he grounded the necessity of blind sub-
mission to the church in all matters of controversy, remind-
ing him how the Arians and other heretics had been there-
by convinced. Of these materials he made a very long
oration, still urging Ridley to escape the prophetical woe
by submitting his judgment and reason to the church.
When he had finished, bishop Ridley answered briefly that
he saw not how that woe affected him ; and denied that
Cranmer leaned to him, being greatly before him in years,
and learning; and meet to be his schoolmaster. Glouces-
ter replied that Latimer had referred to Cranmer, and he
to Ridley: and then Lincoln again, holding his cap in
hand, most affectionately urged him to recant. He an-
swered, firmly, that he was fully persuaded the religion he
4*

42 BISHOP RIDLEY.

defended was grounded upon God's word ; and therefore
without great offence to God, great peril and damage of
his soul, he could not forsake his Master and Lord God ;
but he desired the bishop to perform his grant, having pro-
mised the day before that he should have license to show
cause why he could not, with a safe conscience, admit the
authority of the pope. Lincoln acknowledged that, where-
as he had demanded to speak three words, he was content
to let him speak forty, and would perform the grant.

Here Weston stepped forth, saying, " Why, my lord, he
hath spoken four hundred already." Ridley admitted this,
but pleaded that they were not of the prescribed number,
nor of that matter. Lincoln, with a treacherous and insult-
ing mockery for which there is no parallel, bade him take
his license; and added he should speak but forty, as he
would tell them on his fingers. Ridley began to speak;
but before he had ended half a sentence, the doctors sitting
by cried that his number was out; and he was instantly
silenced. The bishop of Lincoln then regretted that they
must proceed in their cornmission, taking God to witness
that he was sorry for Mr. Ridley: who replied, " I believe
it well, my lord ; forasmuch as it will one day be burden-
ous to your soul," Lincoln denied this, and forthwith read
the sentence of condemnation, setting forth that Nicholas
Ridley, for stubbornly affirming and defending certain her-
esies, first, in denying the true and natural body of Christ
and his natural blood to be in the sacrament of the altar ;
secondly, in affirming the substance of bread and wine to
remain after consecration ; thirdly, in denying the mass to
be a lively sacrifice of the church, for the quick and the
dead, and' as he could by no means be persuaded from his
heresies, was adjudged a heretic, sentenced to be degraded
from the degree of a bishop, from priesthood, and all eccle-
siastical order, and, as being no longer a member of the
church, to be delivered over to the secular powers, of them
to receive due punishment, according to the tenor of the
temporal laws : and further excommunicating him by the
great excommunication.

RIDLEV AND LATIMER. 43

CHAPTER III.

BISHOPS RIDLEY AND LATIMER.

Having so far completed their crime against God's faith-
ful servant, Ridley, and given him into the custody of the
mayor, these wretched men proceeded to call before them
the aged Latimer, for the same wicked purpose. But as
nothing is too trivial to engage the attention of the apostate
church, where she can exhibit the bitterness of her deadly
hatred against Christ, in the persons of his saints, the cloth
which had. covered the table where Ridley sat was removed,
on the plea that Latimer had never, like him, obtained the
degree of a doctor. When the good old bishop appeared,
and found only the bare table before him, he composedly
laid down his hat, an old felt, and resting his elbows upon
it, he immediately addressed the commissioners, saying,
" My lords, I beseech your lordships to set a better order
here at your entrance: for I am an old man, and have a
very evil back, so that the press of the multitude doth me
much harm." Lincoln replied, that he was sorry for his
hurt; and promised to see to better order at his departure.
Latimer thanked him with a very low obeisance; and Lin-
coln went on to exhort, and to inquire whether he was still
the same man as yesterday, or whether he would recant,
revoke his errors, and return to the catholic church. He
was soon interrupted by the prisoner, who said, " Your
lordship often doth repeat the catholic church, as though 1
should deny the same. No, my lord, I confess there is a
catholic church, to the determination of which I will stand ;
but not the church which you call catholic, which rather
should be termed diabolic. And whereas you join together
the Romish and catholic church, stay there, 1 pray you:
for it is one thing to say Romish church, and another thing
to say catholic church. I must use here in this mine answer,
the counsel of Cyprian, who, at what time he was cited
before certain bishops that gave him leave to take determi-
nation and counsel, to try and examine his opinion, he an-
swereth them thus: In sticking and persevering in the truth,
there must no counsel or determination be taken. And
again, being demanded of them sittmg in judgment, which
was the most like to be the church of Christ, whether he

44 BISHOP LATIMER.

which was persecuted, or they which did persecute? Christ,
said he, has foreshowed that he that doth follow him must
take up his cross and follow him. Christ gave knowledge
that the disciples should have persecution and trouble. How
think you then, my lords, is it like that the see of Rome,
which hath been a continual persecutor, is rather the
church, or that small flock which hath continually been
persecuted of it, even to death 1 Also, the flock of Christ
hath been but few in comparison to the residue, and ever
in subjection." This he proved, beginning at Noah's time,
even to the apostles.

Lincoln denied that his cause and Cyprian's were the
same : but Latimer interrupted him saying, " Yes, verily,
my cause is as good as St. Cyprian's: for his was for the
word of God, and so is mine." Lincoln continued main-
taining that before Christ's coming, there were very few
who served God : that at the beginning of -what he called
the time of grace, it could not be but that the apostles must
suffer some persecution, but that now, the church having
arrived at perfection, and obtained the jurisdiction which
unchristian princes formerly resisted, there was a great
change in its estate. Having thus, to his own satisfaction,
disposed of tribulation, as being no longer a mark of
Christ's church, he informed Latimer that he must answer
again to the articles, in the hope of showing some change
in his opinions. They were recited; and answered as be-
fore. To the third article, respecting the mass, a determi-
nate reply being demanded, he said, " Christ made one
oblation and sacrifice for the sins of the whole world, and
that a perfect sacrifice : neither needeth there to be any
other, neither can there be any other propitiatory sacri-
fice."

To this followed a final exhortation to recant, which he
answered by saying that he neither could nor would deny
his Master, Christ, and his verity. The condemnation was
read, and then the bishops broke up their session and dis-
missed the audience. Bishop Latimer reminded Lincoln
of his promise to let him declare why he refused the pope's
authority; but Lincoln said he could not now hear him,
neither ought to talk with him. Latimer asked if it was not
lawful for him to appeal from this judgment : Lincoln in-
quired, to whom he would appeal? " To the next general
council," said Latimer, " which shall be truly called in
God's name." To this appellation the other assented; add-

BISHOP RIDLEY. 45

ing, however, that it would be a long season before such a
convocation as he meant would be called.

The people still pressed in undiminished numbers, ex-
pecting some further process; but the mockery of a trial
was concluded: Lincoln delivered his innocent victim to the
mayor, commanded the people to disperse, and directed that
Latimer should wait till the crowd was thinned, lest he
should take hurt at his egress as he did at his entrance.
He was then led to prison.

Nearly a fortnight having elapsed since the condemna-
tion of these faithful pastors, and no hope appearing that
their constancy might be shaken, it was deemed expedient
to perpetrate forthwith the crowning act of murder. Pre-
paratory to this, they must be degraded ; for the church of
Rome is too cunningly watchful over the immunities of her
privileged order to deliver them up to a temporal jurisdic-
tion, until she has formally cast them out of her ecclesias-
tical pale. Brooks, bishop of Gloucester, being entrusted
with the office, went on the 15th of October to the house
of Mr. Irish, where bishop Ridley was closely imprisoned,
taking with him the vice-chancellor of Oxford, and other
principal men of the university. He told Ridley the pur-
pose of their coming, and again endeavoured to turn him
away from the faith, offering the royal pardon on that con-
dition: otherwise they must proceed according to law,
though against their wills. " We have," said he, " been
oftentimes with you ; and have requested that you would
recant this your fantastical and devilish opinion, which
hitherto you have not, although you might in so doing win
many, and do much good." These words account for the
anxiety evinced by the persecuting party for the recantation
of men whom they personally hated, and whose blood
they longed to shed. Proportioned to their high standing
in the estimation of Christ's flock, was the power of their
example: and as their constancy unto death was blessed
to the confirmation of many in the truth for which they
willingly suffered, so would their apostasy have led a yet
greater multitude to follow them in doing evil. It is griev-
ous to find, that, even where charity would hope to discern
a reluctance to shed innocent blood on the part of those
unrighteous judges, they frequently betrayed that their ob-
ject was, by compassing sea and land to gain one prose-
lyte, in order to strengthen their party, and more speedily
and effectually to quench the light of truth. Gloucester

46 BISHOP RIDLEY.

continued, " Therefore, good Mr. Ridley, consider with
yourself the danger that shall ensue both of body and soul,
if that you shall so wilfully cast yourself away in refusing
mercy offered unto you at this time."

The martyr replied, " My lord, you know my mind fully
herein ; and as ibr the doctrine which I have taught, my
conscience assurelh me that it was sound, and according to
God's word (to his glory be it spoken); the which doctrine,
the Lord God being my helper, I will maintain so long as
my tongue shall wag, and breath is within my body, and
in confirmation thereof seal the same with my blood."

" Well, you were best, Mr. Ridley, not to do so, but to
become one of the church with us. For you know this
well enough, that whosoever is out of the catholic church
cannot be saved : therefore, I say once again, that whiles
you have time and mercy offered you, receive it ; and con-
fess with us the pope's holiness to be the chief head of the
same church."

" I marvel," answered Ridley, " that you will trouble me
with any such vain and foolish talk. You know my mind
concerning the usurped authority of that Romish Antichrist.
As I confessed openly in the schools, so do I now, that both
by my behaviour and talk I do no obedience at all unto the
bishop of Rome, nor to his usurped authority, and that for
divers good and godly considerations." Here he attempted
to reason with Brooks on the subject, but the latter would
not suffer it; nevertheless Ridley continued to speak so
earnestly against the pope that the other told him if he did
not hold his peace, he should be compelled against his will
to do so. The gag was no unusual weapon of defence
against those who spoke with a wisdom and power not to
be gainsaid or resisted otherwise. Gloucester added that
seeing he would not receive the queen's mercy, they must
go on to degrade him from the dignity of priesthood : say-
ing moreover, " we take you for no bishop, and therefore
we will the sooner have done with you, committing you to
the secular power: you know what doth follow." " Do with
me as it shall please God to suffer you," was the reply; " I
am well content to abide the same with all my heart."

Brooks desired him to put off his cap and put upon him
the surplice: he answered, " I will not." " But you must."
" I will not." " You must: therefore make no more ado,
but put this surplice upon you." " Truly, if it come upon
me, it shall be against my will." "Will you not put it upon

BISHOP RIDLEY. 47

you?" " No, that I will not." " It shall be put upon you
by someone or other." " Do therein as it shall please you;
I am well contented with that, and more than that ; the
servant is not above his Master. If they dealt so cruelly
with our Saviour Christ, as the Scripture maketh mention,
and he suffered the same patiently, how much more doth
it become us, his servants'?"

The surplice was then forcibly put on him, with all the
trinkets appertaining to the mass : during which he vehe-
mently inveighed against the Romish bishop, calling him
Antichrist, and the apparel foolish and abominable, too
fond for a vice in a play. This made Dr. Brooks very
angry: he bade him hold his peace, for that he did but rail.
The Christian martyr replied, so long as his tongue and
breath would suffer him, he would speak against their
abominable doings whatsoever happened unto him for it.
Here the Greek lecturer of the university standing by,
counselled that he should be gagged. Dr. Ridley looked
earnestly at him, shook his head, and with a sigh ejacula-
ted, " Oh, well, well, well." Nevertheless, as they pro-
ceeded in their fantastic tricks, he continually spoke the
most unwelcome things, in spite of their reproaches, and
menaces of gagging him.

When they came to the place where he should hold the
chalice and wafer-cake, they bade him take them into his
hands: he replied, " They shall not come into my hands :
and if they do, they shall fall to the ground for me." An
attendant was obliged to hold them fast in his hands while
Brooks read a certain thing in Latin, appertaining to that
part of the performance. Next they placed a book in his
hand, while Brooks recited the passage, " We do take from
you the ofRce of preaching the gospel," &;c. At these
words Dr. Ridley gave a great sigh, and looking up towards
heaven, said, " O Lord God, forgive them this their wick-
edness!" The massing garments being taken off one by
one, till the surplice only was left, they proceeded to the
last step of the degradation, by deposing him from being a
singing-man. Here he deridingly exclaimed at their won-
derful power, at being able to take from a man that which
he never had ; saying that he never was a singer in all his
life, yet they were taking that office from him.

When this ridiculous business had been solemnly ended,
Ridley asked Brooks if he had done; as, if so, he wished to
talk a little with him of those matters : but Gloucester re-

48 BISHOP RIDLEY.

plied that he was now out of the church, and the law for-
bade his talking with any such. Ridley observed, " See-
ing that you will not suffer me to talk, neither will vouch-
safe to hear me, what remedy but patience? I refer my
cause to my heavenly Father, who will reform things that
be amiss, when it shall please him." As they prepared
to go, he entreated Brooks to read a little book of Ber-
tram's concerning the sacrament, promising he would find
much good learning in it, if he would read it with indiffer-
ent judgment. No answer being returned to this, he re-
marked, " Oh, I perceive that you cannot away with this
manner of talk. Well it boots not ; I will say no more, I
will speak of worldly affairs." He then requested Glou-
cester to be a means of supplicating the queen on behalf of
many poor persons, particularly his own sister and her
husband then present : they had, he said, a poor living
granted to them by him, when he was bishop of London,
which was taken away by him who now occupied his place,
without law or conscience. It has already been stated
how barbarously the ungrateful Bonner acted in this mat-
ter: Ridley had drawn up a petition to the queen, which he
now requested Brooks to hear him read, but when he came
to name his poor sister, he wept, and for a time could not
speak for weeping. Recovering himself he said, " This
is nature which moveth me; but I have done now;" and so
read to the end : after which he delivered the paper to his
brother, charging him to make the same supplication for all
who had any leases or grants from him, and were deprived
by Bonner, that he should do for himself. This scene ap-
pears to have touched the stony heart of Brooks ; for he
kindly said, " Indeed, Mr. Ridley, your request in this sup-
plication is very lawful and honest : therefore I must needs
in conscience speak to the queen's majesty for them." " I
pray you for God's sake to do so," said Ridley; to which
Brooks artfully rejoined. " I think your request will be
granted, except one thing let it ; and that is, I fear, because
you do not allow the queen's proceedings, but obstinately
withstand the same, that it will hardly be granted." But
the martyr's constancy was not to be shaken by the plead-
ings of brotherly tenderness in his heart : he replied " What
remedy? I can do no more but speak and write. I trust
I have discharged my conscience therein, and God's will
be done."

" I will do what lieth in me," said Brooks, and immedi-

BISHOP RIDLEY. 49'

ately calling the bailiffs he delivered the prisoner to them,
with this charge, that they should keep him safely from
any man speaking to him, and bring him to the place of
execution whenever they were commanded. On hearing
this, God's dear servant burst out into tliese expressions,
" God, I thank thee, and to thy praise be it spolcen, there
is none of you all able to lay to my chai'ge any open or no-
torious crime; for if you could, it should surely be laid in
my lap, I see very well." Brooks told him he played the
jiart of a proud pharisee, exalting and praising himself.
" No, no," he answered, " as I said before, to God's glory
be it spoken. I confess myself to be a miserable, wretched
sinner, and have great need of God's help and mercy, and
do daily call and cry for the same; therefore, I pray you,
have no such opinion of me."

As they departed, a warden of one of the colleges ex-
horted him to repent, and to forsake his erroneous opinion.
The bishop replied, " Sir, repent you; for you are out of
the truth; and I pray God, if it be his blessed will, have
mercy upon you, and grant you the understanding of his
word." The other in anger said, " I trust that I shall never
be of your erroneous and devilish opinion, either yet to be
in that place whither you shall go:" adding, " He is the
most obstinate and wilful man that ever I heard talk since
I was born."

Approaching so near the blessed consummation of all
his hopes. Dr. Ridley became not only joyous, but merry.
He caused himself to be washed; and as he sat at supper,
the night before he suffei-ed, he bade his keeper, Mr. Irish,
with his wife and all present, to his marriage, saying, "To-
morrow I must be married." Speaking of his sister, whom
he so tenderly loved, he wished her there, and asked her
husband, who was present, whether she could find in her
heart to be there, or no ; who answered, " Yea, I dare say,
with all her heart." On that Ridley observed he was glad
to hear so much of her. Then seeing his hostess weeping
much at this discourse, he sweetly said, " Oh, Mrs. Irish,
you love me not now, I see well enough ; for in that you
weep, it doth appear you will not be at my marriage, nei-
ther are content therewith. Indeed you be not so much
my friend as I thought you had been. But quiet yourself:
though my breakfast shall be somewhat sharp and painful,
yet I am sure my supper shall be most pleasant and sweet."
When they rose from table, his brother offered to watch all

MARTYROLOGY. VOL. II. 5

50 RIDLEY AND LATIMER.

night with him ; but he said, " No, no, that you shall not.
For I mind, God willing, to go to bed, and to sleep as qui-
etly to night as ever I did in my life." His brother there-
fore left him, exhorting him to be of good cheer, and to
take his cross quietly, for the reward was great.

On the north side of the town of Oxford, over against
Baliol college, in a ditch or hollow, the stake was set and
all prepared for these faithful pastors to follow the steps of
the good Shepherd who laid down his life for the sheep.
The guilty queen, dreading an attempt at rescue, had com-
manded lord Williams to attend, with a sufficient guard to
hold the people in check ; and this being done, the prison-
ers were brought forth by the mayor and bailiffs. First
came Dr. Ridley, habited as a bishop was wont to be, in
a fair black gown, furred, and faced, a velvet tippet, also
furred, about his neck ; on his head a velvet night cap,
with a cornered cap over it, and slippers on his feet. He
walked between the mayor and an alderman, towards the
stake.

After him appeared the venerable form of old Latimer,
clad in a poor threadbare frock of Bristol frieze, with his
buttoned cap, and a kerchief, on his head ; all made ready
for the lire, as appeared by the new long shroud that hung
over his hose to his feet. A spectacle, which, says Fox,
stirred men's hearts to rue upon them, beholding, on the
one side the honour they sometime had, and on the other,
the calamity whereunto they were fallen."

Bishop Ridley, as he passed near Bocardo, looked up to
the window, hoping to have seen and spoken to Cranmer,
whom he knew to be there confined. But friar Scott and
his fellows were holding Cranmer in disputation, which
prevented his being seen by his brethren. Ridley then
looking back espied Latimer following, and said, " Oh, be
ye there?" " Yea," answered the old man, " have after,
as fast as I can follow." However, he could not make all
the haste he wished; and Ridley first reached the place,
where with a wonderful earnestness he lifted up his hands,
looking towards heaven : then, seeing Latimer arrive, with
a most cheerful look he ran to him, embraced and kissed
him; speaking words of comfort and encouragement ; " Be
of good heart, brother ; for God will either assuage the fury
of the flame, or else strengthen us to abide it."

He then went to the stake, kneeled down by it, kissed
it, and fervently prayed; Latimer kneeling behind him, as

KIDLEY AND LATIMER. 51

earnestly called upon God as he. After this they arose,
and had a little space for private conversation together,
while the men who were to witness their torments in the
burning flame, consulted their own ease, by shifting their
seats to a place less exposed to the rays of the sun. Dr.
South, who had recanted in king Edward's time, was now
chosen to preach against the martyrs ; he entered a pulpit,
and took for his text the words, " Though I give my body
to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing ;"
alleging that the goodness of the cause, not the order of the
death, made the holiness of the person, confirming it by
the examples of Judas, and of a woman in Oxford who had
lately hanged herself He said that they, and other crimi-
nals whom he named, might as well be adjudged righteous,
for desperately sundering their souls from their bodies, as
he feared those men who stood before him would do; still
crying to the people to beware of them, for they were he-
retics, and died out of the church. Then he declared the
diversities of opinion among the reformers, classing them as
Lutherans, Qlicolampadians, and Zuinglians, of which latter
sect he said the prisoners were, and that it was the worst ;
the old church of Christ, and catholic faith, holding far other-
wise. At this, and similar passages of his discourse, the
martyrs lifted up their hands and eyes to heaven, as calling
upon God to witness for His truth. South ended his ser-
mon, of scarcely a quarter of an hour's duration, by very
briefly exhorting them to recant, and come home again to
the church, to save their lives and souls, which else were
both condemned.

Ridley asked Latimer, " Will you begin to answer the ser-
mon, or shall I ?" Latimer replied, " Begin you first, I
pray you." " I will," said he ; and so, both kneeling to-
wards lord Williams, the vice-chancellor of Oxford, and
the other commissioners, who sat on a form together, bishop
Ridley addressed them, " I beseech you, my lord, even for
Christ's sake, that I may speak but two or three words :"
but while lord Williams bent towards the mayor and vice-
chancellor, seemingly inquiring whether the request might
be complied with, the latter, with the bailiffs, ran hastily to
Ridley, stopping his mouth with their hands, and saying,
" Master Ridley, if you will revoke your erroneous opinions,
and recant the same, you shall not only have liberty to
speak, but also the benefit of a subject, that is, have your
life." " Not otherwise?" asked Ridley. " No," said Mar-

52 HIDLEY AND LATIMER.

shall, the vice-chancellor; " therefore if you will not do so,
then there is no remedy, but you must suffer your deserts."
Ridley answered, " Well ; so long as the breath is in my
body, I will never deny my Lord Christ and his known
truth. God's will be done in me." Then, rising up, he
said with a loud voice, " Well, then, I commit our cause to
Almighty God, which shall indifferently judge all." To
which Latimer added a frequent saying of his, " Well,
there is nothing hid but it shall be opened." He also
remarked that he could answer South well enough, if he
might be allowed : but immediately they were commanded
to make themselves ready, and with all meekness they
obeyed. Bishop Ridley, taking off his gown and tippet,
gave them to his brother-in-law, Shipside, who during the
whole time of his imprisonment, though not suffered to be
with him, had yet at his own expense lodged hard by, pro-
viding him with necessaries, which he sent by the Serjeant
who guarded him. Other parts of his apparel he gave
away; and the rest the bailiffs took : and to some gentle-
men standing by, he delivered various little tokens of re-
membrance, which they received with much weeping. To
Sir Henry Lee he gave a new groat; to others a napkin, a
nutmeg, a race of ginger, his dial, and whatever trifling
thing he had about him. Such was the eagerness of those
who stood near him to secure a memorial of this blessed
martyr, that some to whom he gave nothing plucked the
points off his hose. Happy was he who could get any rag
of him.

Bishop Latimer gave nothing, but quietly suffered the
keeper to pull off his hose, and the rest of his simple array;
and being stripped to his shroud, a remarkable change was
observed in his appearance ; for whereas he had hitherto
seemed a withered, decrepit, and even a deformed old man,
he now stood perfectly upright, a straight and comely per-
son. Ridley was disposed to remain in his truss, or trou-
sers; but on his brother observing that it would occasion
him more pain, and that the article of dress would do some
poor man good, he yielded to the latter plea, and saying,
" Be it, in the name of God," delivered it to his brother.
Then, being stripped to his shirt, he stood upon a stone
by the stake, and holding up his hand, said, " O, hea-
venly Father, I give unto thee most hearty thanks, for
that thou hast called me to be a professor of thee, even
unto death: I beseech thee, Lord God, take mercy upon

RIDLEY AND LATIMER. 63

this realm of England, and deliver ihe same from all her
enemies."

The smith now brought a chain, and passed it round the
bodies of the two martyrs, as they quietly stood on either
side of the stake: while he was hammering the staple into
the wood, Ridley took the chain in his hand, and shaking
it, said, " Good fellow, knock it in hard, for the flesh will
have its course." This being done, Shipside brought him
some gunpowder in a bag to tie round his neck ; which he
received as sent of God, to be a means of shortening his
torment; at the same time inquiring whether he had any
for his brother, meaning Latimer, and hastening him to
give it immediately, lest it might come too late; which was
done. One more instance of the tender concern for others
which filled the sweet spirit of this holy man, remained to
be given : he addressed Williams, entreating his interest
with the queen on behalf of those poor men dispossessed of
their leases by Bonner, respecting whose hard case he had
drawn up a petition, and referred him to his brother. Ship-
side, whom he pointed out, as having the paper in his care,
ending with these words, " I beseech you, my lord, be a
mean for them : you shall do a good deed, and God will
reward you." A lighted fagot was then brought, and laid
down at his feet, on which Latimer turned and addressed
him in those memorable, and we humbly hope, prophetic
words, " Be of good comfort, Mr. Ridley, and play the man :

WE SHALL THIS DAY LIGHT SUCH A CANDLE, BY God's

GRACE, IN England, as, I trust, shall never be put

OUT."

The flames rose ; and Ridley in a wonderfully loud voice
exclaimed in Latin, " Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend
my spirit," often repeating in English, " Lord, receive my
spirit !" Latimer on the other side as vehemently crying
out, " O Father of heaven, receive my soul !" and welcom-
ing, as it were, the flame, he embraced it, bathed his hands
in it, stroked his venerable face with them, and soon died,
seemingly with little pain, or none. So ended this old and
blessed servant of God his laborious works, and fruitful life,
by an easy and quiet death in the midst of the fire, into
which he cheerfully entered lor Christ's sake.

But it pleased the Lord to glorify himself otherwise in

Ridley: his torments were terrible, and protracted to an

extent that it sickens the heart to contemplate. The fire

had been made so ill, by heaping a great quantity of heavy

5*

54 BISHOP RIDLEY.

fagots very high about him, above the hghter combustibles,
that the soUd wood kept down the flame, causing it to rage
intensely beneath, without ascending. The martyr finding
his lower extremities only burning, requested those about
him, for Christ's sake, to let the fire come to him; which
his poor brother Shipside hearing, and in the anguish of his
spirit not rightly understanding, he heaped more fagots on
the pile, hoping so to hasten the conflagration, which of
course, was further repressed by it, and became more vehe-
ment beneath, burning to a cinder all the nether parts of
the sufferer, without approaching the vitals. In this horri-
ble state, he continued to leap up and down under the
wood, praying them to let the fire come, and repeatedly
exclaiming, " I cannot burn," writhing in the torture, as
he turned from side to side, the bystanders saw even his
shirt unconsumed, clean, and unscorched by the flame,
while his legs were totally burnt off. In such extremity
his heart was still fixed trusting in his God, and ejacula-
ting frequently, " Lord, have mercy upon me !" interming-
ling it with entreaties, " Let the fire come unto me — I can-
not burn." At last one of the bill-men with his weapon
mercifully pulled away the fagots from above, so giving the
flame power to rise; which the sufferer no sooner saw,
than with an eager effort he wrenched his mutilated body
to that side, to meet the welcome deliverance. The flame
now touched the gunpowder, and he was seen to stir no
more; but afier burning awhile on the other side, and, as
some reported, requesting the guards to hold his body to
the stake with their bills, he fell over the chain at the feet
of Latimer's corpse.

It was a sight that moved hundreds to tears and lamen-
tations, even among those who considered him as an evil
doer : the agony of his affectionate brother may well be
conceived, who innocently increased and lengthened his
torments, while seeking to terminate them. Fox dwells
upon the scene with a touching lament. Whoso consider-
ed their preferment in times past, the places of honour that
they sometime occupied in this commonwealth, the favour
they were in with their princes, and the opinion of learning
they had, could not choose but sorrow with tears, to see so
great dignity, honour, and estimation, so necessary mem-
bers sometime accounted, so many godly virtues, the study
of so many years, such excellent learning, to be put into
the fire and consumed in one moment. Well, dead they

BIDLEY AND LATIMER. 55

are, and the reward of this world they have already. What
reward remaineth for them in heaven, the day of the Lord's
glory, when he cometh with his saints, shall shortly, I trust,
declare.

And, indeed, it is only by turning to that sure promise
of the Lord's righteous judgment that the heart can be re-
strained from uttering the language of burning indignation
against those savage murderers, who have long since gone
to their awful account: it cannot, nor ought it to be kept
from beholding with horror the nature of the Antichristian
mystery of iniquity, manifested in these its deadly fruits.
The very uttermost that could be alleged against the two
good bishops, was a dissent from the church of Rome, up-
held by an appeal to the written word of God : and for this
they were doomed to suffer all that the unrestrained bar-
barity of man could inflict upon his fellow, even to a most
agonizing death. Woe unto us, if, with these examples before
us, we shrink not from touching even the outermost fringe
of that harlot's polluted garments! There is that mingled
with the dust of Oxford which will rise up in the judgment,
a terrible witness against those who, while trampling on the
ashes of the martyrs, shall dare to suggest any, even the
slightest measure of approximation to the apostate church
— any recognition of her, otherwise than as the deeply ac-
cursed enemy of Christ and his saints.

It is remarkable that the venerable Latimer, whose fer-
vency in prayer was such that he often continued kneeling
until he was unable to rise without assistance, had particu-
larly dwelt on three things, concerning which he made con-
stant supplication to God during his imprisonment. The
feebleness of age, added to his bodily ailments, disabled him
from using his pen so much as his brothers in tribulation
did: but this seemed to add to the urgency and perse-
verance of his prayers. The three requests on which he
chiefly insisted were these. First, that as God had appoint-
ed him to be a preacher of his word, so also he would give
him grace to stand to his doctrine until his death, that he
might shed his heart's blood for the same. Secondly, that
God of his mercy would restore his gospel to England once
again ; and these words, once again, once again, he did so
inculcate and beat into the ear of the Lord God, as though
he had seen God before him, and spoken to him face to
face. Thirdly, he prayed for the preservation of the prin-
cess Elizabeth, whom he was accustomed to name, and even

56 WrNCHESTER's DEATH.

with tears to desire God to make her a comfort to this com-
fortless realm of England. These were his chief petitions;
and that they were all graciously heard and granted is
apparent. With regard to the first he gave proof of the
grace received, in his patience and constancy when standing
at the stake, just before the tormentors applied the fire, by
repeating with a sweet and placid countenance, his eyes
being raised joyfully to heaven, " God is faithful who doth
not suffer us to be tempted above our strength;" and his
heart's blood was literally shed, in a somewhat extraordi-
nary manner ; for, his body being forced open by the vio-
lence of the fire, his heart was exposed; and in the sight
of all the people such a profusion of blood burst from the
heart, as excited the astonishment of those who saw it. The
other two petitions were granted together: Elizabeth was
preserved, amid all the snares and perils that constantly sur-
rounded her steps, to become the means of restoring the
gospel to England, of comforting the afflicted people of God,
and of establishing the realm in a state of security and pros-
perity beyond what it had ever before enjoyed.

CHAPTER IV.

Winchester's death. — martyrs. — john philpot.

The measure of Stephen Gardiner's iniquities was now
full: God would no longer suffer him upon earth, and the
manner of his death was calculated to imprint a lesson on
the consciences of his brother persecutors, had they not
been seared with a hot iron. This wretched man, hav-
ing succeeded to the utmost of his hopes and desires, in
seeing the light of the gospel quenched throughout Eng-
land, and the chief authority for tormenting the Lord's peo-
ple vested in his own hands, had fully set his heart on ac-
complishing the murder of Latimer and Ridley. The day
being fixed for their execution, he was so anxious to be as-
sured of their death, that although the duke of Norfolk
was at his house, waiting for dinner, he refused to have it
served up until he should be satisfied that the two bishops
were slain. It was four o'clock in the afternoon, several

ROPER WEBB PARKE. 57

hours beyond the regular meal-time, when his servant ar-
rived, having ridden post from Oxford with the desired in-
formation ; of whom Winchester having carefully inquired,
and being certified that fire was set to them, he came re-
joicingly to the duke, saying, " Now let us go to dinner."
They sat down, and Winchester began merrily to regale
himself: but " while the meat was yet in his mouth the
wrath of God came upon him," and so smote him, that he
was carried from the table to his bed, where for the space
of fifteen days, he continned suffering intolerable anguish
from an internal obstruction that could by no means be
overcome, and which occasioned the most burning inflam-
mation, insomuch that his tongue, which in his torment was
continually thrust out, appeared swollen, and black as a
coal. In this plight, he was visited by Day, bishop of Chi-
chester, who sought to console him with the word of pro-
mise, repeating to him some scriptures that set forth the
sinner's justification through faith in Christ's blood. Even
the extremity to which he was reduced could not throw this
vigilant hinderer of God's word off his ground : he saw the
danger that menaced the power of Rome, if such truths
were proclaimed, and said, " What ! my lord, will you open
that gap now? then farewell altogether. To me, and such
other in my case, you may speak it ; but open this window
to the people, then farewell altogether." Thus perished
Stephen Gardiner ; and to God's judgment we leave him.

John Roper, George Webb, and Gregory Parke,
gentlemen, were the next to follow in the steps of Ridley
and Latimer. They were tried before Harpsfield and the
bishop of Dover, and, for maintaining the scriptural doc-
trine of the sacrament, were adjudged heretics, and con-
demned to the fire in Canterbury. They went to the stake
singing psalms; Roper, a young and sprightly person, on
coming to the stake put off his gown and leaped for joy;
then, when fire was set, he spread out his arms in the form
of a cross, and never moved until they were so burned as
to drop from his body. They all died counting themselves
happy and blessed of the Lord that they were permitted to
suffer for Christ's sake and the gospel. William Wiseman,
a clothworker of London, died in the Lollards' tower, as it
was supposed by violent means. Having been imprisoned
for heresy, his dead body was cast out naked into the
fields, to be torn by dogs and birds; but some poor believers
ventured in the night to dig a grave and bury him, the

58 GORE PHILPOT.

archers or bowmen standing by, and singing psalms over
the spot, as they often did on similar occasions. James
Gore also died in prison, at Colchester, for the truth of
God's word.

Next in order comes one of the most renowned and pow-
erful champions of the faith that the antichristian church
had to contend with in Mary's days. This was John Phil-
pot, archdeacon of Winchester, who has already appeared
in the history, as withstanding the introduction of false
doctrine on the queen's accession, when disputing in the
convocation-house. He was the son of an honourable
house; his father being a knight of Hampshire, and stu-
died at Oxford with distinguished success, being a great
proficient in the Hebrew and other tongues, no less than in
the liberal arts. He was of a ready wit, singular courage,
fervent in spirit, and in religion most zealous : a well-prac-
tised divine, by nature plain and honest ; far from all flat-
tery, farther still from hypocrisy and dissimulation: and
how deeply learned, his enemies could well testify, who
never in argument gained an advantage over him.

On leaving Oxford, Mr. Philpot, desirous of seeing other
countries, travelled on the continent: at Padua he was in
some danger from a Franciscan friar, who having con-
versed with him on the journey, threatened to accuse him
of heresy. He returned to England, and becoming bolder
as the prosperous times of king Edward gave him more
liberty, he held various disputations with Stephen Gardi-
ner, whose successor. Dr. Poiret, appointed him to the
archdeaconry of that see, where, during the rest of Ed-
ward's reign, he continued greatly to profit and instruct
the people. When that blessed king was taken away,
Mary's first step, on ascending the throne, was, as we have
seen, to forward her plan of destroying true religion through-
out the realm, by assembling a convocation of prelates and
learned men. Perfect freedom of speech was granted, with
a promise of imm.unity, but only, as it afterwards appeared,
to ascertain who were likely to prove the most able cham-
pions of the faith, in order to put them forthwith out of the
way, by imprisonment and death. They found, in arch-
deacon Philpot, an unanswerable opponent: he, of course,
was immediately charged with heresy, and, on the unal-
terable principle of popery, that neither promises nor oaths
are binding when pledged to those out of her communion,
the liberty officially given was set at nought, and he was

PHILPOT. 59

committed to prison for having dared to give, when called
on by authority, a reason for the hope that vi'as in him.

The examinations to which he was brought, all penned
by himself, were so numerous and so long, that to give
them entire is impossible, and to abridge them is to lose a
great deal of valuable matter. Philpot was a man of most
unconquerable spirit, shrewd, ready-witted, and so com-
pletely master of the controversy, that it is probable ihey
never had so troublesome a subject to deal with. His first
examination took place at Newgate, on the 2d October,
1555, before the queen's commissioners, with the infamous
Dr. Story at their head. This man, before Philpot was
called into their parlour, came out into the hall to view
him, where he stood among other victims, and staring at
him, insolently remarked that he was fat indeed ; to which
the archdeacon replied, " If I be fat, and in good liking,
Mr. Doctor, it is no marvel, since I have been stalled
up in prison this twelve months and a half, in a close cor-
ner." He then demanded the cause of his imprisonment,
and was told that his suspected heresy was the cause;
which Story desired him to revoke, adding threats, if he
continued obstinate. Being then brought into the inner
room, he was taxed with being out of the catholic church,
and a disturber of the same. To this he pleaded the liberty
of speech granted in the convocation-house, represented his
long and unjust confinement, and demanded the privileges
of an English subject, to be openly charged if he had trans-
gressed any law of the realm, fairly tried, and either con-
demned or acquitted. Roper maintained the right of any
magistrate to commit a supposed felon on suspicion, and
Story taxed him with the crime of heresy, which he de-
nied. Story asserted that he had spoken against the mass :
Philpot again insisted on the liberty given by the queen and
her council, for every man openly to speak his mind in the
convocation. Story told him he should go to Lollards'
tower, to be handled like a heretic; to answer to all that he
spoke in convocation, and to be judged by Bonner. Phil-
pot refused any authority but that of his own ordinary, the
bishop of Winchester, saying that if he chose to take his
life away, as he had done his liberty and living, he might.
To this Story replied, that the convocation-house, " in
which he had spoken words against the blessed mass," was
in the bishop of London's diocese; therefore he should be
judged by him. He still protested, but received only

60 PHILPOT.

taunts, except from one, who besought him to turn, and save
his life. After a mild reply, Philpot addressed Story:
" And you, master doctor, of old acquaintance in Oxford,
I trust will show me some friendship, and not extremity."
" I tell thee," said Story, " if thou wouldst be a good ca-
tholic man, I would be thy friend, and spend my gown to
do thee good; but I will be no friend to a heretic, as thou
art, but will spend both my gown and my coat but I will
burn thee. How sayest thou to the sacrament of the altar?"
Philpot declined entering on the subject just then, as he
came not there to dispute with him, but to answer to any
charge lawfully laid against him. Story repeated that he
should go to Lollards' tower ; and he then desired to see their
commission, before he submitted to their authority. Roper
was willing to show it; but Story cried, "Shall we let
every vile person see our commission?" Cholmley would
have remanded him to the place whence he came, till they
could show him their authority; but Story savagely said,
" No, let him lie in the meanwhile in the Lollards' tower;
for I will sweep the King's bench, and all other prisons
also of these heretics ; they shall not have that resort as
they have had, to scatter their heresies."

Philpot replied, " You have power to transfer my body
from place to place at your pleasure ; but you have no
power over my soul. And I pass not whither you commit
me, for I cannot be worse entreated than I am, kept all
day in a close chamber: wherefore it is no marvel that my
flesh is puffed up, whereat master doctor is offended."

It was finally arranged that he should be taken back by
the marshal, to be brought up again on the Thursday after;
and after some more persuasions from the others, and rail-
ing from Story, he was led away.

It was, however, three weeks before they again sent for
Philpot; to whom, as he was going, an acquaintance dwell-
ing in Aldgate said, " God have mercy on you, for you are
already condemned in this world; for Dr. Story said that
my lord chancellor had commanded to do you away." So
completely did the lives of the protestanls hang upon the
malicious caprice of a single popish prelate! When brought
to the commissioners, he was assailed by Cholmley with
the promise of great favour and reputation if he would re-
cant, to which he shortly replied, " I shall do, as it be-
cometh a Christian man to do." Story then broke forth,
" This man is the rankest heretic that hath been in all my

PHILPOT. 61

lord chancellor's diocese, and hath done more hurt than any
man else there: and therefore his pleasure is that he should
have the law to proceed against him ; and I have spoken
to my lord herein, and he willeth him to be committed to
the bishop of London, and there to recant or else burn.
He howled and wept in the convocation-house, and made
such ado as never man did ; as all the heretics do, when
they lack learning to answer. He shall go after his fel-
lows. How sayest thou, wilt thou recant?" To this rail-
ing speech Philpot quietly answered, " I know nothing that
I have done that I ought to recant." " Well then," said
Story, " I pray you let us commit him to the Lollards'
tower, there to remain until he be further examined before
the bishop of London; for he is too fine fed in the King's
bench, and he halh too much favour there: for his keeper
said at the door yesterday that he was the finest fellow,
and one of the best learned in England," And after bear-
ing this singular testimony to the prisoner's character, Story
departed.

The commissioners then proceeded in the usual way,
taunting, reviling, and harassing him ; setting at nought his
protestation at being called to account for what he had
spoken under the queen's licence, and asking if the queen
gave him leave to be a heretic. They denied his right to
be considered an archdeacon, saying that a notorious here-
tic needed not the formality of a deprivation to displace
him : they refused to show him their commission, although
Roper wished to do so ; and ordered him away to the Lol-
lards' tower. The close of the scene may serve as a spe-
cimen of all that passed. On being told by Dr, Cook, that
he should go to that noisome cage, he said, " Sir, I am a
poor gentleman; therefore I trust of your gentleness you
will not commit me to so vile and strait a place, being
found no heinous trespasser." " Thou art no gentleman,"
said Cook. " Yes, that I am." " A heretic is no gentle-
man," proceeded the doctor, " for he is a gentleman that
hath gentle conditions." Philpot answered, " The offence
cannot take away the state of a gentleman as long as he
liveth, although he were a traitor : but I mean not to boast
of my genllemanship, but will put it under my feet, since
you do no more esteem it," Story, who had returned, here
exclaimed, " What, will you suffer this heretic to prate with
you all this day?" Cook observed, " He saith he is a gen-
tleman." Story replied, " A gentleman, quoth he? he is a

MARTYROLOGY. VOL. II, 6

62 PHILPOT.

vile heretic knave, for a heretic is no gentleman. Let the
keeper of the Lollards' tower come in, and have him away."
The keeper appearing, he added, " Take this man with you
to the Lollards' tower, or else to the bishop's coal-house."
" Sir," said Philpot, " if I were a dog you could not appoint
me a worse and more vile place: but I must be content
with whatsoever injury you do offer me. God give you a
more merciful heart: you are very cruel upon one that hath
never offended you." He then appealed to Cholmley,
whose bearing had been far more gentle than his fellows ;
and he, calling him aside, privately declared that he under-
stood neither their laws nor their doings ; and wished he
could do him good. Philpot then said to them, " I am con-
tent to go whither you will have me. There was never man
more cruelly handled than I am at your hands, that with-
out just cause known should thus be entreated." " Shall
we suffer this heretic, thus to reprove us?" cried Story:
" have him hence." Philpot replied, " God forgive you,
and give you more merciful hearts, and show you more
mercy in the time of need. ' That ye do, do quickly.' "
Story at this exclaimed, " Do ye not hear how he maketh
us Judases?" "That is after your own understanding,"
said Philpot, and was led away.

Such was the treatment experienced at the hands of men
calling themselves Christian divines, and just judges, by
one whose rank, by birth, education, and church dignity,
was fully on a par with the best of them. After he, with
four others, had supped at the keeper's house in Paternos-
ter Row, Philpot was called up stairs by a servant of the
archdeacon of London, who offered him a bed ; for which
he expressed his thanks, but said, " It would be a grief to
me to lie well one night, and the next worse ; wherefore I
will begin as I am like to continue, and take such part as
my fellows do." They were then conducted to the place
called the bishop's coal-house, hard by which, in a small dark
house, was exhibited a great pair of stocks, made to confine
both feet and hands, as a specimen of what they might fiir-
ther expect. However, Philpot writes, "thanks be to God,
we have not played of those organs yet, although some
before us have tried them ; and there we found a minister
of Essex, a married priest, a man of godly zeal, with one
other poor man. This minister, at my coming, desired to
speak with me, and did greatly lament his own infirmity,
for that through extremity of imprisonment he was con-

PHILPOT. 63

strained by writing to yield to the bishop of London ; where-
upon he was once set at liberty, and afterward felt such a
hell in his conscience, that he could scarce refrain from
destroying himself; and never could be at quiet until
he had gone unto the bishop's register, desiring to see his
bill again ; the which as soon as he had received, he tore
it to pieces; after which he was as joyful as any man might
be. Of the which, when my lord of London had under-
standing, he sent for him, and fell upon him like a lion ;
and like a manly bishop buffeted him well, so that he made
his face black and blue, and plucked away a great piece of
his beard. But now, thanks be to God, he is as joyful
under the cross as any of us, and very sorry of his former
infirmity. I write this, because I would all men to take
heed how they do contrary to their conscience ; which is to
fall into the pains of hell."

On the second evening, Bonner, who saw the importance
of gaining over such a man as the archdeacon, sent him a
mess of meat, and a pot of drink, for himself and his com-
panions, protesting that he had no knowledge of Mr. Phil-
pot being kept there, and was very sorry for it. This relief
he received very gratefully, giving God thanks for having
disposed the bishop to show such charity to poor prisoners,
and took it immediately to his fellow captives : as he says,
" praising God for his providence toward his afflicted flock,
that he stirred their adversaries up to help the same in their
necessity." The bishop's man then asked the cause of his
confinement, saying that his lord wondered why he should
be troubled with prisoners of other dioceses than his own.
Philpot showed him the matter; and soon after the messen-
ger's departure, he was summoned to the bishop's presence,
who received him with every appearance of courtesy and
commiseration, saying he had only heard within two hours
of his being there. " I pray you," added the bishopj " tell
me what was the cause of your sending hither ; for I pro-
mise you, I know nothing thereof as yet, neither would you
should think that I was the cause thereof; and I marvel
that other men will trouble me with their matters ; but I
must be obedient to my betters ; and I fear men speak
otherwise of me than I deserve." This was a fair speci-
men of the dragon's bleat, when it served his purpose to
speak as a Iamb. Throughout the interview, Bonner main-
tained the same appearance of simplicity, candour, and
good-will ; most cunningly seeking thereby to draw from

64 PHILPOT.

Philpot some confirmation of what he had spoken in the
discussion, or an admission that he had since maintained
the same doctrines: but the prisoner, though returning his
civility with all possible gentleness, was too wary to be so
entrapped. Thus baffled, the bishop turned to another topic,
which is thus related by Philpot. " I marvel," said he,
" that you are so merry in prison as ye be, singing and
rejoicing, as the prophet saith, rejoicing in your naughti-
ness. Me thinketh you do not well herein ; you should
rather lament and be sorry." " My lord, the mirth that we
make is but in singing certain psalms, according as we are
commanded by St, Paul, willing us to be merry in the Lord,
singing together in hymns and psalms ; and I trust your
lordship cannot be displeased with that." Bonner answer-
ed, " We may say unto you, as Christ said in the gospel,
' Tibiis cecinimus vobis, et non planxistis ;" but here, says
he, my lord stumbled, and could not bring forth the text,
and required his chaplains to help, and to put him in remem-
brance of the text better ; but they were mum : and I reci-
ted out the text unto him, which made nothing to his pur-
pose, unless he would have us to mourn, because they, if
they laugh, sing full sorrowful things unto us, threatening
fagots and fire. " We are, my lord, in a dark, comfortless
place, and therefore it behoveth us to be merry, lest, as
Solomon says, sorrowfulness eat up our heart. Therefore
I trust your lordship will not be angry for our singing of
psalms, since St. Paul saith, ' If any man be of an upright
mind, let him sing.' And we therefore, to testify that we
are of an upright mind to God, though we be in misery, do
sing." The bishop had no answer to give ; so he repeated
his fair words, and bidding him good night, ordered that he
should go to the cellar and drink a cup of wine. One of
the chaplains used this interval to persuade him to recant ;
but Philpot, having taken the wine, returned to the coal-
house, " where," he writes, " I with my six fellows, do
rouse together in straw, as cheerfully, we thank God, as
others do in their beds of down."

Not long after, the bishops of London, Bath, Worcester,
and Gloucester dining together at the house of the arch-
deacon of London, they sent for Philpot, and desired to talk
with him. Bonner expounded the cause of their summon-
ing him, Bath declared they meant to bring him back to
the church, and Worcester said, *' Before he beginneth to
speak, it is best that he call upon God for grace, and to

PHILPOT, 65

pray that it might please God to open his heart, that ho
may receive the truth." Philpot, on hearing this, directly
fell on his knees, praying aloud in these words, "Almighty
God, which art the giver of all wisdom and understanding,
I beseech thee of thine infinite goodness and mercy in Jesus
Christ, to give me, most vile sinner in thy sight, the spirit
of wisdom to speak and make answer in thy cause, that it
may be to the contentation of the hearers before whom I
stand, and also to my better understanding, if 1 be deceived
in any thing."

Bonner said, "Nay, my lord of Worcester, you did not
well to exhort him to make any prayer. For this is the
thing they have a singular pride in, that they can often
make their vain prayers, in the which they glory much.
For in this point they are very much like unto certain
arrant heretics, of whom Pliny maketh mention, that did
daily sing praise unto God before dawning of the day."
" My lord," said Philpot, " God make me and all you here
present such heretics as those were that sung those morn-
ing hymns: for they were right Christians, with whom the
tyrants of the world were offended for their well doing."
" Proceed to that he hath to say," said the bishop of Bath :
" he hath prayed I cannot tell for what." •

They then questioned him, with the usual view to engage
him in some declaration on which to build a charge ; but
Philpot remained firm in rejecting the jurisdiction of Bonner,
and demanding to be sent to his own ordinary. As with
Bradford, however, they at last prevailed, insinuating that
he had no just ground for differing from them, and attri-
buting to obstinacy and self-will his singularity of opinion,
to lead him into a discussion on the assumed authority of
the Romish church. Cole offered to prove from Athana-
sius that in his time a universal council decreed that Rome
was in all things to be followed throughout the Christian
world: Philpot, after protesting against any other authority
than that of the Scriptures, called them to the proof; being
assured that no such decree had then passed. The book
was brought, and after a long search, wherein Harpsfield
helped the perplexed bishops to very little purpose, they hit
upon a passage and handed the volume to Philpot, who
found that it had no such bearing as they pretended. This
he showed ; whereupon Bonner exclaimed, " So will you
say still, it maketh nothing for the purpose, whatsoever
authority we bring ; and will never be satisfied." " My
6*

66 PHILPOT.

lord," said Philpot, " when I do by just reason prove that
the authorities which be brought against me do not make to
the purpose, as I have already proved, I trust you will
receive mine answer." Worcester then asserted, " It is to
be proved most manifestly by all ancient writers, that the
see of Rome hath always followed the truth, and never was
deceived, until of late certain heretics defaced the same."
" Let that be proved," said Philpot, " and I have done."
*' Nay," returned the other, " you are of such arrogancy,
singularity, and vain-glory, that you will not see it, be it
never so well proved." This drew from the martyr a well
deserved rebuke, "Ah! my lords, is it now time, think you,
for me to follow singularity and vain-glory, since it is now
upon danger of my life and death, not only presently, but
also before God to come? And I know if I die not in the
true faith, I shall die everlastingly: and again I know, if I
do not as you would have me, you will kill me, and many
thousand more: and yet I had rather perish at your hands
than to perish eternally. And at this time I have lost all
my commodities of this world, and lie in a coal-house, where
a man would not lay a dog; with the which I am well
contented."

The argument', if such it could be called, when on one
side nothing was advanced but assertion wholly devoid of
proof, and on the other unanswerable proofs, thrust aside
by the opponents, without notice, was continued at great
length; until Cole, seeing how little his party was likely to
gain, interposed, saying, " My lords, why do you trouble
yourselves to answer him in this matter? It is not the
thing which is laid to his charge, but his error of the sacra-
ment; and he, to shift himself of that, brought in another
matter." When Worcester remarked, " It is wonder to
see how he standeth with so few against a great multi-
tude," Philpot retorted, " We have almost as many as you;
for we have Asia, Africa, Germany, Denmark, and a great
part of France; and daily the number of the gospel doth
increase: so that I am credibly informed that for this reli-
gion in the which I stand, and for the which I am like to die,
a great multitude doth daily come out of France, through
persecution, so that the cities of Germany be scarce able
to receive them: and therefore your lordship may be sure
the word of God will one day take place, do what you can
to the contrary!" Worcester jeeringly replied, " They were
well occupied to bring you such news ; and you have been

PIIILPOT. 67

well kept to have such resort unto you. Thou art the
arrogantest fellow, and stoutest fond fellow that ever I
knew." Philpot meekly replied, " I pray your lordship to
bear with my hasty speech : for it is part of my corrupt
nature to speak somewhat hastily: but for all that, I mean
with humility to do my duty to your lordship. This led to
some exchange of mild language between the bishops and
their victim: after which they rose up, consulted together,
and caused a writing to be made, wherein he had reason to
believe his blood was bought and sold. He was then re-
manded to his dungeon.

The fifth examination of this constant man was conduct-
ed in Bonner's palace, by himself, the bishops of Roches-
ter, Coventry, St. Asaph, and another; doctors Story, Cur-
top, Saverson, Pendleton, with various chaplains, gentle-
men of the queen's chamber, and others. Bonner began
by saying he had requested them to take some pains with
Philpot, as he was to sit in judgment on him on the mor-
row; at which information the prisoner expressed great
gladness, remarking that speedy trial had before been
falsely promised him, and adding, " I look for none other
but death at your hands; and I am as ready to yield my
life in Christ's cause as you be to require it." Then fol-
lowed a brisk argument on the subject of his privilege of
speech in the convocation-house; one trying to make out
that dissent from popery was treason against the queen;
another disputing his title to the liberty granted, because
" he had not spoken under reformation, like others, but
as earnestly and persuasively as any man could do."
At last Rochester asked him if he would stand to what
he had there said, and if he thought he had then spoken
well or no: to which treacherous question Philpot wisely
answered, " My lord, you are not mine ordinary to pro-
ceed ex-officio against me; and therefore I am not bound
to tell you my conscience, of your demands." Then they
questioned him of the sacrament, with no better success;
he still stood on the point of law, regarding their authority:
until Bonner lost all patience, gave him the lie, and called
him the veriest beast that ever he heard; to which he an-
swered, "Your lordship may speak j^our pleasure of me:
but what is this to the purpose which your lordship is so
earnest in?" Having completely foiled them on the point
of civil and ecclesiastical law, he called on them to prove
the Romish to be the catholic church. The bishop of St,

68 PHILPOT.

Asaph declared it most evident that Peter built the catholic
church at Rome; that Christ had said to Peter, " Thou art
Peter; and upon this rock I build my church;" and that
as the succession of bishops in the see of Rome could be
proved from time to time, as it could of no other place so
well, therefore the Romish church was the catholic church
of Christ. Philpot told him that what he would represent
as undoubted was most uncertain : what Christ said to Peter
proving nothing, unless he would have the rock to be Rome;
" And although," said he, " you can prove the succession
of bishops from Peter, yet this is not sufficient to prove
Rome the catholic church, unless you can prove the pro-
fession of Peter's faith, whereupon the catholic church is
builded, to have continued in his successors at Rome, and
at this present to remain."

Being called on to show, if he could, what the word "cath-
olic" signifies, he answered, " Yes, that I can, I thank God.
The catholic faith, or the catholic church, is not, as now-
a-days the people be taught, to be that which is most uni-
versal, or of most part of men received, whereby you do
infer our faith to hang upon the multitude, which is not so:
but I esteem the catholic church to be as St. Augustine de-
fineth the same. " We judge as the catholic faith, that
which hath been, is, and shall be." So that if you can be
able to prove that your faith and church hath been from
the beginning taught, and is and shall be, then you may
count yourselves catholic, otherwise not. And catholic
is a Greek word, compounded of xari, which signifieth after,
or according to, and omv, a sum or principal, or whole.
So that catholic church, or catholic faith, is as much as to
say, as the first, whole, sound or chiefest faith."

This definition of the word, given by one of the most
learned men and soundest divines that the church can boast,
deserves attentive consideration. A right understanding
of it would tend to check modern protestants in the mis-
application of the term, into which they have been beguiled,
through false delicacy to their deluded fellow-creatures ;
who, taught by their crafty guides, insist on the concession
lo them of a title which we cannot allow without compro-
mising our conscience and principles. It was a point on
which the martyrs were always found ready to yield their
lives : nor would they use the term Roman Catholic, see-
ing that it implies an admission of the first, whole, sound,
or chiefest faith, being taught in the church of Rome.

PHILPOT. 69

The explanation given by Philpot was, of course, unac-
ceptable to the bishops : Bonner, whose reading was nothing
to boast of, asked those around if the passage was really
to be found in Augustine, as cited ; and Dr. Curtop ac-
knowledged that it was so ; and Coventry demanded that
the book should be examined : but Bonner knowing by
experience that such references tended to the greater tri-
umph of the protestants, got angry, declaring he would break
all off unless they were quiet. The argument then pro-
ceeded at great length, Philpot being enabled to answer
every objection, speaking, like Stephen, with a wisdom and
spirit which none could gainsay or resist : while on their
part some moderation was exhibited, until Dr. Story came
in, to whom he spoke on the cruelty of his imprisonment,
and delay of trial. Story commenced a torrent of the most
disgusting language, calling him a beast, fool, ass-head, and
beastly heretic, scoffing at his assertion that the word of
God was the appointed judge between them. Philpot, how-
ever, persisted in maintaining it. " It is the saying of
Christ, in St. John, ' The word which I have spoken shall
judge in the last day.' If the word shall judge in the last
day, much more it ought to judge our doings now. And I
am sure I have my judge on my side, who shall absolve
and justify me in another world. Howsoever now it shall
please you by authority, unrighteously to judge of me and
others, sure lam in another world to judge you." "What!"
exclaimed Story, " you purpose to be a stinking martyr,
and to sit in judgment with Christ, at the last day, to judge
the twelve tribes of Israel?" "Yea, sir, I doubt not there-
of, having the promise of Christ, if I die for righteousness'
sake, which you have begun to persecute in me."

The close of this scene exhibits in an awful light the
hardened blindness of the wretched persecutor Story, con-
trasted with the quiet resignation of his victim. It is a
solemn thought, that the record remains in that book out of
which the dead shall be judged. After much railing, Story
said, "Well, sir, you are like to go after your father Lati-
mer, the sophister, and Ridley, who had nothing to allege
for himself but that he had learned his heresy of Cranmer.
When I came to him with a poor bachelor of arts, he trem-
bled as though he had the palsy; as these heretics have
always some token of fear whereby a man may know them,
as you may see this man's eyes do tremble in his head.
But I dispatched them; and I tell thee that there hath been

70 PHILFOT.

yet never a one burnt, but I have spoken with him, and
have been a cause of his dispatch." To this horrible avowal
Philpot replied, " You have the more to answer for, Mr.
Doctor, as you shall feel in another world, how much so-
ever you do now triumph of your proceedings," " I tell
thee," continued the wretch, " I will never be confessed
thereof. And because I cannot now tarry to speak with
my lord, I pray one of you tell my lord that my coming
was to signify to his lordship, that he must out of hand rid
this heretic out of the way." Then, as he left the room he
said to Philpot, " I certify thee that thou mayest thank none
other man but me." " I thank you therefore, with all mine
heart," answered the martyr, " and God forgive it you."
" What !" cried the other, " dost thou thank me ? If I had
you in my study half an hour, I think I should make you
sing another song." " No, Mr. Doctor, I stand upon too
sure a ground to be overthrown by you now." One by
one, the persecutors then slunk away, till Philpot was left
alone. When his keeper afterwards was conducting him to
his coal-house, they were met by Bonner, vvho in the smooth
phrase that he generallly used towards him, told him to
require any thing he pleased, in his house. Philpot replied,
" My lord, the pleasure that I will require of your lordship
is to hasten my judgment which is committed unto you,
and to dispatch me forth of this miserable world, unto my
eternal rest." Writing, a fortnight afterwards, he says,
" for all this fair speech, I cannot attain hitherto either fire
or candle, neither yet good lodging. But it is good for a
man to be brought low in this world, and to be counted
among the vilest, that he may in time of reward receive
exaltation and glory. Therefore, praised be God that hath
humbled me, and given me grace to be content therewithal.
Let all that love the truth say, Amen."

The sixth appearance of the archdeacon was before sun-
dry noblemen: the queen's chamberlain, the lords Ferrars,
Rich, St. John, Windsor, and Chandois; Sir John Bridges,
and two others unknown to him, with the indefatigable Bon-
ner and Dr. Chedsey, on the 6lh of November. They were
seated at a table, before which the prisoner stood, and after
a private injunction from Bonner to conduct himself pru-
dently, before these lords of her majesty's council, he was
openly called on by the bishop to say what he could, that
it might appear to them whether he and his brethren had
done what they could to win him from his errors. Philpot

PHILPOT. 7l

commenced stating his case; but before he could proceed
he was required to say whether Bonner had been the cause
of his imprisonment, and whether he had experienced any
cruel usage at his hands. He answered both queries in
the negative. The subject of his privilege in the convoca-
tion-house was then discussed, and got rid of by a misera-
ble quibble : nevertheless they offered to overlook what had
there been spoken, provided he would express his regret for
it, and acknowledge their idolatrous sacrament, against
which Bonner assured them he had uttered many wicked
things. He was invited to declare his mind upon it; and
when he mentioned that it was a matter of life and death so
to do, Rich assured him they would take no advantage of
his words. Philpot replied that he did not mistrust them;
but ihere sat one among them, pointing to Bonner, who
would lay it to his charge, even to the death. However,
he declared himself willing to speak fully, if Bonner did
not hinder him; and he having promised not to interrupt,
Philpot spoke freely on the two principal points where, as
he said, ihe clergy did then deceive the whole realm : the
sacrament, and the assumed catholicity of the Romish
church. He ended by offering to stand against the best in the
realm, if they would prevail with the queen to give him a
public trial; and if they could prove themselves to be the
catholic church, he would revoke all his former opinions,
and consent to them in all points, Bonner strove repeat-
edly to interrupt him; but was held to his pledge by the
rest, sorely against his will. Rich then compared Philpot to
Joan of Kent, who was burned in Edward's days; and Bon-
ner, with a great parade of learning, undertook to prove
the insufficiency of Scripture, by defying him to reconcile,
by the help of Scripture alone, the two texts, " My Father
is greater than I," and " I and my Father are one." This
he did beautifully; and after being fully answered in all
points where he hoped to perplex this sound divine, and
truly spiritually minded Christian, he turned to his fellows,
saying, " You see, my lords, that this man will have his
own mind, and wilfully cast away himself. I am sorry for
him." Philpot rejoined, " The words that I have spoken
be none of mine, but the gospel, whereon I ought to stand.
And if you, my lord of London, can bring better authority
for the faith you will draw me unto, than that which I
stand upon, I will gladly hear the same by you, or by any
other in this realm." Here Philpot, from whose own nar-

72 PHILPOT.

rative this is taken, adds, Wherefore I, kneeling down, be-
sought the lords to be good unto me a poor gentleman, that
would fain live in the world if I might, and testify as you
have heard me to say this day, that if any man can prove
that I ought to be of any other manner of faith than that
of which I now am, and can prove the same sufficiently, I
will be neither wilful, nor desperate, as my lord of London
would make you believe me to be. No reply was given.

The lord Rich asked him if he was of the Philpots of
Hampshire; and on his replying that he was, being sir P.
Philpot's son, Rich exclaimed, " He is my near kinsman !
Wherefore I am the more sorry for him." Philpot thank-
ed him for challenging kindred of a poor prisoner; and he
replied, " In faith I would go a hundred miles on my bare
feet to do thee good." Sir John Bridges also claimed him
as a countryman, wishing him to do well: but all this
kindness did not succeed in throwing him from his sure
ground, the word of God, to which he continued to appeal,
notwithstanding their persuasions to submit to some other
umpire. Rich laid hold on this to tax him with refusing
to believe the express words of Christ, "This is my body,"
which he answered by showing the spiritual meaning both
of that, and of the text cited by Bonner from John vi., " I
am the bread that came down from heaven." When foiled
here, Bonner took up other ground, alleging the omnipo-
tency of God, and asserting, " I tell thee that God, by his
omnipotency, may make himself this carpet if he will."
Philpot proved this to be blasphemy, and maintained his
argument, until, appointing Chedsey to carry on the argu-
ment, Bonner invited the lords to drink wine with him, and
to leave them alone together. Bonner having quitted the
room for a short time, Rich requested the other lords to
allow the poor prisoner to drink also, for he was thirsty:
they assented, and Philpot thus records it. With that he
called for a cup of drink, and gave it me, and I drank be-
fore them all : God requite it him, for I was athirst indeed.

Chedsey now began his harangue, prefacing it by a state-
ment that so far from Philpot being wronged, by not being
allowed to bring forth his arguments sooner, he had leave
to speak in the convocation-house, and being soon answer-
ed in what he could say, he fell to weeping for lack of mat-
ter: also that he had put forth a book of that disputation,
in which there was never a true word. He then promised
to show him the truth of transubstantiation, but Philpot,

PHILPOT. 73

roused by his calumnies, interposed, saying, " It is a shrewd
likelihood that you will not conclude with any truth, since
you have begun with so many untruths as to say that I
was answered whiles I had any thing to say, and that I
wept for lack of matter to say, and that the book of the
report of the disputation is not true. God be praised, there
were a good many of noblemen, gentlemen, and worshipful
men, that heard and saw the doings thereof, which can tes-
tify that you have made an unjust report before these hon-
ourable lords. And that I wept, was not for lack of mat-
ter, as you slander me: for, I thank God, I have more
matter than the best of you all shall ever be able to answer,
as little learning as I have: but my weeping was as Christ's
was upon Jerusalem, seeing the destruction that should fall
upon her. And I foreseeing then tfie destruction which
you, through violence and unrighteousness which you there
declared, would work against the true church of Christ, and
her faithful members, as this day beareth witness, was com-
pelled to weep in remembrance of that which I, with infi-
nity more, have felt and shall feel." Here lord Rich per-
suaded him to be silent; and they proceeded to discuss the
sacramental question, on the usual grounds, Philpot admi-
rably maintaining and elucidating the spiritual meaning of
the thing, until Bonner returned; who, as usual, interposed,
profaning the subject by his gross language, comparing
it to a fat capon, and so forth: and then suddenly dissolv-
ing the sitting, with an apology for having troubled them
so long with such an obstinate man. The lords, however,
appeared struck and amazed with what they had heard
from this noble champion of the truth, and left him without
speaking an uncivil word. A token for good, over which
Philpot devoutly prayed on their behalf.

When next he was called to appear before the bishops
of London and Rochester, with the chancellor of Lichfield
and Dr. Chedsey, Bonner saluted him with, "Sirrah, come
hither. How chance you come no sooner? Is it well done
of you to make Mr. Chancellor and me tarry for you this
hour? By the faith of my body, half an hour before mass,
and half an hour even at mass, looking for your coming."
Philpot mildly replied, that being a prisoner, and the doors
shut on him, he could not come out when he listed; but as
soon as the doors were open he came immediately. Bon-
ner then repeating that they sent for him to attend mass,
demanded whether he would have done so: he replied, that

MARTYROLOGY. — VOL, II. 7

74 PHILPOT,

was another manner of question; whereat the bishop began
to rail, telling the chancellor that he was an ignorant fool,
who wanted to appear learned, but had nothing to answer
when called on. Again he asked if Philpot would have
come to mass : he replied that if his lordship could prove
his mass to be the true service of God, to which a Chris-
tian man ought to come, he would attend it. After re-
marking that the king and queen and all the nobility of
the realm came to mass, Bonner added, " By my faith thou
art too well handled : thou shalt be worse handled here-
after, I warrant thee." He replied, " If to lie in a blind
coal-house may be counted good handling, both without
fire and candle, then may be it be said I am well handled.
Your lordship hath power to entreat my body as you list."
The bishop then protested to the chancellor of Lichfield
that he had handled them all most gently; that he allowed
their friends to visit them ; and that a few days before they
had mounted the leads with a party of prentices, gazing
abroad, as though they were at liberty. Philpot replied,
that there were no leads to the coal-house, and of prentices
he knew not one. This vile falsehood exposed, Bonner
proceeded, adverting to Gardiner's recent death, " Nay,
now you think, because my lord chancellor is gone, that
we will burn no more; yes, I warrant thee, I will dispatch
you shortly unless you recant." Philpot replied, " My lord,
I had not thought I should have been alive now; neither
so raw as I am, but well roasted to ashes."

The chancellor of Lichfield then besought him not to
cast himself wilfully away; but to be ruled by Bonner and
other learned men. He answered, " My conscience bear-
eth me record that I seek to please God, and that the love
and fear of God causeth me to do as I do; and I were of
all other creatures most miserable, if for mine own will
only I do lose all the commodities I might have in this life,
and afterwards be cast to damnation. But I am sure it is
not my will wherein I stand, but God's will, which will not
suffer me to be cast away, I am sure." Bonner, impatient
to finish the work, proceeded, ex oficio, to read some arti-
cles that he had framed, insisting on his answer: Philpot
at once stated the former objection, as to his not being of
that diocess, as the first article declared him to be: nor
could all their sophistry bring him to admit the usurped
jurisdiction of Bonner; they were therefore obliged to pass
on to the second article, which charged him with being out

nriLPOT. 75

of the catholic faith, and not of the same church as he was
baptized in. He replied, I am of the same catholic faith;
and of the same catholic church which is of Christ the
pillar and establishment of truth." They told him his god-
fathers and godmothers were of another faith than he now
was: "I was not baptized either into my godfathers' faith
or my godmothers', but into the faith and into the church
of Christ." " How know you that?" " By the word of
God, which is the touchstone of faith and the limits of the
church." " How long has your church stood, pray you?"
said Bonner. " Even from the beginning, from Christ, and
from his apostles, and from their immediate successors."
" He will prove his church to be before Christ," observed
the chancellor: Philpot replied, " If I did so, I go not amiss;
for there was a church before the coming of Christ, which
maketh one catholic church." To this the chancellor as-
sented. He then offered to prove his church by fhe boasted
rule of theirs: antiquity, universality, and unity; at which
Bonner exclaimed, " Do you not see what a bragging, fool-
ish fellow this is? he will seem to be very well seen in the
doctors, and he is but a fool. By what doctor art thou
able to prove thy church ? Name him, and thou shalt have
him." " My lord," said Philpot, " let me have all your
ancient writers, with pen and ink and paper, and I will
prove both my faith and my church out of every one of
them."

Bonner refused this: and proceeded to adduce a passage
from Cyprian, to prove the pope's supremacy; but Philpot
showed how grossly they wrested the meaning of these old
writers to serve their purpose. One after another, the
whole company tried their skill, and were successively put
to silence by this acute disputant, whose learning appears
to have been most extraordinary. When any passage was
cited from one of the so-called fathers, Philpot immediately
brought the context, showing the real bearing of the re-
mark, Cyprian, Augustine, Eusebius, Theophylact, with
various councils and popes, were brought forward; but of
each he was too perfectly master to be blinded or silenced
by any of their glosses. At last, after a very long discus-
sion, Chedsey being put down, the chancellor said, " Well,
Mr. Doctor, you see we can do no good in persuading of
him: let us minister the articles which my lord hath left us
unto him. How say you Mr. Philpot to these articles? Mr.
Johnson, I pray you write his answers." But Philpot re-

76 PHILPOT.

plied, " Mr. Chancellor, you have no authority to inquire
of me my belief in such articles as you go about, for that
I am not of my lord of London's diocess; and to be brief
with you, I will make no further answer herein than I have
already to the bishop. ' " Why then," said the disappointed
doctor, " let us go our ways, and let his keeper take him
away." So ended what Philpot called " the seventh part
of this tragedy."

Early the next morning, ihe bishop's man came to sum-
mon Pliilpot to mass ; who replied, " My stomach is not
very good this morning; you may tell my lord I am sick."
However, he got another summons immediately after, from
the keeper, who told him he must rise and go to the bishop.
He obeyed ; and as he left the prison, the keeper asked
him, " Will ye go to mass?" Philpot answered, " My sto-
mach is too raw to digest such raw meats of flesh, blood,
and bone, this morning." When they came to the bishop's
hall, he ordered Philpot to answer the articles that his chap-
lain and register were about to read against him ; but he
demanded an open judgment before a lawful assembly, say-
ing that he would not answer in corners. " Thou art a
foolish knave, I see well enough; thou shalt answer whe-
ther thou wilt or no; go thy ways with them, I say." " I
will go with them at your lordship's pleasure; but I will
make them no further answers than I have said already."
Bonner, enraged, exclaimed, " No, wilt thou not, knave?
Have him away, and set him in the stocks. What, foolish
knave !" Philpot rejoined, " Indeed, my lord, you handle
me, with others, like fools ; and we must be content to be
made fools at your hands. Stocks and violence be your
bishop-like alms. You go about by force in corners, to op-
press, and be ashamed that your doings should come to light;
God shorten your cruel kingdom, for his mercies' sake!"
And the martyr thus concludes his record of this day's
work: I was put, by and by, into the stocks, in a house
alone, separate from my fellows. God be praised that he
hath thought me worthy to suffer any thing for his name's
sake! Better it is to sit in the stocks of this world, than to
sit in the stocks of a damnable conscience.

An hour before day-break, on the following morning,
the poor prisoner was called on by the keeper to go to the
bishop ; but he, suspecting some purpose of secret violence,
refused to go. Two of Bonner's men then came, and for-
cibly led him to the tyrant's presence ; who, after a long

PHILPOT. 77

fit of railing, told him he was blamed for suffering such a
frantic fellow to dispute openly, seeing that it was his glory
so to do: and reported some things said against him by
White, bishop of Lincoln ; for which Philpot easily accounted
by remarking that he, as archdeacon, had formerly excom-
municated White for preaching evil doctrine within his ju-
risdiction; adding, "If Christ, my Master, were called a
madman, it is no marvel if ye count me frantic." Bonner
then asked him, " Hadst thou not a pig brought thee the
other day, with a knife in it? Wherefore was it, I pray
thee, but to kill thyself? or, as it is told me, (marry, I am
counselled to take heed of thee) to kill me? But I fear thee
not. I trow I am able to tread thee under my feet, do the
best thou canst." " My lord, I cannot deny but there was
a knife in the pig's belly that was brought me. But who
put it in or for what purpose, I know not, unless it were
because he that sent the meat thought I was without a
knife, and so put it in. But other things your lordship
needeth not to fear : for I was never without a knife since
1 came to prison. And touching your own person, you
should live long, if you should live until I go about to kill
you: and I confess by violence your lordship is able to
overcome me." After this calm and dignified reply to so
preposterous a charge, he was commanded to swear pre-
paratory to giving his answers to the articles ; but he stood
on his former objection of Bonner not being his ordinary.
This enraged the bishop, who pronouncing himself by his
own authority to be Philpot's ordinary, and him of his dio-
cess, seized one of his servants, appointing him notary, and
ordering the other prisoners to be fetched, that they might
be witnesses against their companion. While he was thus
raving, one of the sheritTs of London came in, to whom he
made a great complaint against Philpot, in confirmation
whereof, he read over a long string of articles containing
the most unfounded falsehoods. These the martyr indig-
nantly denounced, saying he might as well charge him
with having killed his father: declaring moreover that if he
maintained the abominable blasphemies rehearsed by Bon-
ner, he were well worthy to be counted a heretic, and
burned a hundred times, if it were possible. Again Bon-
ner ordered him to answer to the articles; again he refused,
on the same ground as before ; and then the bishop turned
to the other suflferers, who had been brought by the keeper
at his command, saying, " Come hither, sirs — hold them a

7*

78 PHILPOT.

book — you shall swear by the contents of that book that
you shall, all manner of affections laid apart, say the truth
of all such articles as you shall be demanded of, concern-
ing this man here present, which is a very naughty man;
and take you heed of him, that he doth not deceive you : as
I am afraid he doth you much hurt, and strengtheneth you
in your errors." The prisoners with one consent replied,
" My lord, we will not swear, except we know whereto :
we can accuse him of no evil ; we have been but a while
acquainted with him." Philpot remarked, " I wonder your
lordship, knowing the law, will go about, contrary to the
same, to have infamous persons to be witnesses : for your
lordship doth take them to be heretics, and by law a heretic
cannot be a witness." " Yes," said Bonner, " one heretic
against another may be well enough. And, Mr. Sheriff', I
will make one of them to be a witness against another."
" You have the law in your hand, and you will do what
you list!" observed Philpot: while the prisoners firmly an-
swered, " No, my lord." " No, will you not?" cried Bon-
ner; " I will make you swear whether you will or no. I ween
they be anabaptists, Mr. Sheriff"; they think it not lawful
to swear before a judge." Philpot said, " We think it
lawful to swear for a man judicially called; as we are not
now, but in a blind corner." The bishop went on, " Well,
then, seeing you will not swear against your fellow, you
shall swear for yourselves: and I do here in the presence
of Mr. Sheritr object the same articles unto you as I have
done unto him; and do require you under pain of excom-
munication, to answer particularly unto every one of them,
when ye shall be examined, as ye shall be by and by ex-
amined by my register, and some of my chaplains." The
prisoners again replied, " My lord, we will not accuse our-
selves. If any man can lay any thing against us, we are
here, ready to answer thereto: otherwise we pray your
lordship not to burthen us; for some of us are here before
you, we know no just cause why."

For this, the whole party was forthwith ordered to be
placed in the stocks : but at night through the compassion
of his keeper, Philpot was taken out for a time.

On the following Sunday, the bishop visited the coal-
house at night, and viewed it, saying he never was there
before. Whereby, writes Philpot, a man may guess how
he hath kept God's commandment, in visiting the prisoners,
seeing he was never with them who have been so nigh his

PHILPOT. 79

nose. After supper, he sent for Philpot, told him that the
queen and council blamed him for keeping him so long;
that as he injured the other prisoners by strengthening
them in their errors, he would separate him from them :
and that if he did not conform, he would dispatch him out
of hand. Philpot declared his desire to be brought speedily
to judgment; and also his willingness to conform to what-
ever could be proved to be better truth than what he pro-
fessed. He then addressed the wretched tyrant in these
solemn words : " My lord, I will speak my mind freely
unto you, and upon no malice I bear you, before God.
You have not the truth, neither are you of the church of
God ; but you persecute both the truth and the true church
of God, for the which cause you cannot prosper long. You
see, God doth not prosper your doings according to your
expectations : lie hath of late showed his just judgment
against one of your greatest doers, who, by report, died
miserably. I envy not your authority you are in ; you that
have learning should know best how to rule. And seeing God
hath restored you to your dignity and living again, use the
same to God's glory, and the setting forth of his true reli-
gion; otherwise it will not continue, do what you can."
Bonner seemed confounded for a while ; then said, " That
good man was punished for such as thou art. Where is
the keeper?" Having given his secret directions to the
gaoler, they brought Philpot to the private door, leading
into the church, where two of the bishop's men were com-
manded to accompany him, and see him placed.

They then conducted their patient victim through St.
Paul's, and round to a tower, near Lollards' tower, and
passing through six or seven doors, arrived at his destined
lodging through many strait passages, where, as he says,
he called to remembrance that strait is the way to hea-
ven. It was a room thirteen feet by eight, almost over
what had formerly been his prison, and exposed to the
view of the bishop's household. On his arrival he was
strictly searched, and deprived of his pen, ink-horn, girdle
and knife. Having a suspicion of what was intended, he
had contrived to make away with many a sweet and friendly
letter; no doubt, to save the writers from being brought
into trouble on his account ; but the particulars of his last
examination he thrust into his hose, whence it fell down
his leg, which the keeper feeling, demanded what it was.
He answered, certain letters: and drawing up the papers

80 PMILPOT.

contrived to slip the more important one into another part
of his dress, taking out two letters, of small moment,
which he, to give them an appearance of consequence, be-
gan to tear. They were snatched away; and by this means
he secured vvhat he would have been grieved to lose. How-
ever, as they left him, he heard a suspicion uttered by one,
that the writings in his hose were not all delivered up;
whereupon it was resolved to return and search him more
closely. He immediately slipped the important papers into
a place near his bed, and taking some old letters out of his
purse, began tearing and throwing them out at the win-
dow; telling the searchers when they came back and found
him so employed, that he had overheard them. This so
effectually blinded their eyes that they left him, for which
he praised God, since the record of his examinations was
likely to be, as indeed it has proved, of great service to
the cause of the gospel. To such shifts was this innocent,
faithful, and persecuted servant of Christ reduced, through
the savage and insolent cruelty of men every way his in-
feriors.

The recorded examinations of this martyr amounted to
fourteen, besides private interviews such as have been de-
scribed, with his wicked tormentor. On the morning after
this last outrage, he was brought down to the wardrobe,
and kept wailing the whole day. In the afternoon he was
called before Bonner, and harassed as usual, in presence of
the bishop of St. David's, Mordaunt, and others ; but as
fruitlessly as before. He steadily refused to recognize Bon-
ner's authority over him ; and after receiving the usual por-
tion of bullying, abuse, and misrepresentation, he was sent
back to the coal-house.

The next scene was of a different kind; Bonner, finding
he would neither answer the articles nor listen to the read-
ing of them, began to use persuasions; on which Philpot
resolved to hold out some hope of being prevailed on to re-
cant, to the intent, as he writes it, that he might give him
and his hypocritical generation a further foil: for they
dared reason openly with none but such as for lack of learn-
ing were unable to answer, or with those of whom they had
a hope that the love or fear of the world would induce them
to recant. He therefore told Bonner that having openly,
in the audience of many, stood to his opinions, and by
learning endeavoured to defend them, he wished it openly
to appear to the world that he was won by learning, lest

PHILPOT. 81

they should say that from an unworthy motive he was,
without any ground, turned from the truth. Bonner ex-
pressed great delight, at hearing him speak like a reason-
able man; promised him all possible indulgence and good
entertainment in his house ; and finally asked what it was
that he would openly, by learning, be somewhat satisfied
in? Philpot replied, that he had said and believed that
their sacrifice of the mass was no sacrament : and imme-
diately the bishop, with his chaplains and officials, set about
converting him. Harpsfield, Cosins, and others, laboured
to make good their point; but were foiled completely. A
few of the concluding passages of this discussion will suffice
to show how it went. " I pray you, Mr. Harpsfield," said
Philpot, "tell me what this pronoun, hoc, doth demonstrate
and show, in this indicative proposition, as you call it. Hoc
est corpus meum, this is my body?" Harpsfield replied,
" It doth demonstrate the substance of bread, which by the
words spoken by the priest, and by the omnipotency of
God, is turned into the substance of Christ's very body."
" Is the substance of bread, as you say, turned into Christ's
body?" " Yea, that it is." •' Why, then," rejoined Phil-
pot, " Christ's body receiveth daily a great increase of
many thousand pieces of bread into his body; and that is
become his body now which was not before; and by this you
would seem to make that there is an alteration in Christ's
glorified body, which is a wicked thing to think." Harps-
field now began to reconsider the matter ; and seeing the
consequences of his first assertion retracted it; saying that
the substance of bread, after the words spoken by the
priest, was evacuated, or vanished away, by the omnipo-
tency of God. Philpot observed, " This is another song
than you sang first: and here you may see how contrary
you are to yourselves. For indeed your schoolmen do hold
that the very substance of bread is really changed into the
substance of Christ's body. And now you, perceiving of
late the inconvenience which is objected against you in that
opinion, are driven to imagine a new shift, and say, the
substance of bread is evacuated, contrary to that your
church hath first believed and taught. Oh what contra-
riety is there among you; and all to deface the sincere
truth !" " Is not God omnipotent," asked Harpsfield, " and
cannot he do as he hath said?" Philpot replied, " But his
omnipotency will not do as you say, contrary to his word
and to his honour. It is not God's honour to include him

82 PHILPOT.

bodily into a piece of bread, and of necessity to tie him
thereto. It is not God's honour for you to make a piece
of bread God and man, which you see before your face
doth putrefy after a certain time. Is not God's omnipo-
tency as able to give his body with the sacramental bread,
as to make so many turnings away of the bread as you do,
and that directly against the Scripture, which calleth it
bread many times after the consecration? Are you not
ashamed to make so many alterations of the Lord's holy
institution as you do, and to take away the substantial parts
of the sacrament, as, " Take ye, eat ye, drink ye all of
this: do ye this in remembrance of me:" and to place in
their stead, Hear ye, gaze ye, knock ye, worship ye, offer ye,
sacrifice ye for the quick and the dead ? If this be not blas-
phemy to God and his sacraments, to add and to pluck away
in this sort, and that contrary to the mind of all ancient
writers, and contrary to the example of Christ and all his
apostles, tell me."

Harpsfield could only reply, " I know you have gathered
the sayings of the doctors together, which make for your
purpose; 1 will talk no longer with you." Philpot said,
" I pray God open both our hearts, to do more his will than
we have done in times past." To which Harpsfield re-
joined, " Ho, keeper, take him away with you !"

CHAPTER V.

JOHN PHILPOT.

The Holy Spirit, who divideth to every man severally as
he will, the gifts of grace, seems to have imparted to Phil-
pot a more than common measure of courageous zeal.
" To testify the gospel of the grace of God," particularly
as opposed to the dark devices of popery, was the object in
pursuit of which he not only, like Paul, counted not his life
dear unto him, but in the midst of such cruelties as would
have broken any spirit not divinely sustained, it was his
perpetual study to force or to entrap his adversaries into an
argument, where he might expose the rotten foundation of
their refuge of lies. Himself an ecclesiastic of high order

PHILFOT. 83

in ihe church, he maintained a point of its established law
with a cool, settled firmness, that set at nought the autho-
rity, and baffled all the stratagems of Bonner, who seems
to have been sometimes overawed by his dignity, at others
frightened by his bursts of righteous indignation. Arch-
deacon Philpot was evidently a man of fiery temperament,
with no small measure of natural wit and humour : but
every high imagination that might have exalted itself against
Christ, had been cast down, and the whole man brought
into a beautiful subjection to the humbling power of the
gospel. He had a singular talent for exposing the igno-
rance and hypocrisy of his opponents; or rather of com-
pelling them to expose themselves : patiently resigned to
all that could befal his body, unshrinkingly firm in what
concerned his faith, quick, ardent, energetic, where the
honour of God was concerned. It is matter of regret that
the limits of our volume forbid the full insertion of what he
recorded of his examinations; for no abstract can do jus-
tice to his learning, ability, constancy, and zeal.

On the day following the discussion into which he had
led them, for the purpose of putting one of their false doc-
trines utterly to shame, he was sent for by Bonner, whose
disappointment and chagrin at the turn the argument had
taken may be imagined. The bishop had his register,
Chedsey, and others assembled; and upon these he called
to bear witness against Philpot; but in vain, for the pri-
soner entered as usual his appeal, being of Winchester dio-
cess, out of Bonner's jurisdiction ; and as he knew not who
had succeeded Gardiner in that see, he appealed to the
archbishop of Canterbury. Bonner being forced to repair
to the parliament, a foolish priest claimed kindred with
Philpot, wishing by that means to influence him ; and on
having his ignorance exposed, went off in a rage, to irri-
tate Bonner further against his victim.

The eleventh examination was conducted under circum-
stances more favourable to him: the bishops of Durham,
Chichester, and Bath being present, with Chedsey, Chris-
topherson, Harpsfield, Weston, Morgan, Cosins, and others.
He was permitted to speak out, despite of the railing accu-
sations of London, and was treated by the other bishops
with gentleness and courtesy. With Durham and Chiches-
ter he argued the point of the catholic church ; until Bon-
ner interrupted, with some foolish charges, which being
easily disproved, he went on to accuse Philpot of having

84 PHILPOT.

killed his own father, and brought down upon himself his
mother's dying curse. This, of course, he repelled as a
slanderous lie ; while Chichester observed they were mat-
ters beside the purpose; and Durham, in disgust, bade his
lordship farewell. Bonner however detained him to hear
some important matters, and then produced a letter, sub-
stituted by Phiipot for a more important paper, when he
was searched, and which he tore, the better to mislead the
keeper. The bishop had been at the trouble of pasting the
fragments together, and now tried to make out a case
against the prisoner upon it: but it was overthrown at once,
by the very witness whom he produced on his behalf.
Then came the story of the pig, and of a bladder of black
powder, which proved to be ink-powder, and lastly the old
charge of a false report of their proceedings in the convo-
cation-house. Durham would hear no more, but departed,
speaking very kindly to Phiipot ; Bonner following him,
and the bishop of Chichester soon going also, Christopher-
son took the case in hand, and tried to establish the supre-
macy of the Romish see, swearing not a little as he went
on. When he was silenced, Morgan assailed the martyr
with scoffs, mocks, and jeers, until Christopherson had
plucked up courage to resume the argument on the subject
of the mass. When, however, Phiipot proved that the
altar, which they conceived to be of lime and stone, signi-
fies the sacrifice on the cross, his opponent could only pray
God to bless him out of the company of such an obstinate
heretic. Bonner meanwhile had, as he hoped, discovered
a new plot to allege against him ; but this was again over-
thrown by his own witness: and all departed except Harps-
field, Cosins, and Morgan. The latter seems to have been
a genuine ruffian, who, after some taunting sneers at Phil-
pot's church and religion, at length roused the martyr to
address him in terms but too well merited by him and his
wicked fellows. The occasion was this: Phiipot had avow-
ed that his teaching, and that of all who held the truth,
came by the Spirit of God. Morgan asked him, " How
know you that you have the Spirit of God?" He replied,
" By the faith of Christ which is in me." The blasphemer
retorted, " Ah, by faith do you so? I ween it be the spirit
of the buttery, which your fellows have had that have been
burned before you, who were drunk the night before they
•went to their death, and I ween went drunken unto it."
Phiipot answered, " It appeareth by your communication

PHILPOT. 85

that you are better acquainted with the spirit of the buttery
than with the Spirit of God ; wherefore I must now tell thee,
thou painted wail and hypocrite, in the name of the living
Lord, whose truth I have told thee, that God shall rain fire
and brimstone upon such scorners of his word and blas-
phemers of his people as thou art." " What, you rage now?"
said the scoffer: he replied, "Thy foolish blasphemies have
compelled the Spirit of God which is in me to speak that
which I have said to thee, thou enemy of all righteousness."
"Why do ye judge me so?" asked the other. " By thine
own wicked words I judge of ihee, thou blind and blas-
phemous doctor; for, as it is written, 'By thy words thou
shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shall be condemn-
ed.' I have spoken on God's behalf; and now I have done
with thee." Morgan resumed, " Why then I tell thee, Phil-
pot, thou art an heretic, and shall be burned for thine here-
sies, and afterwards go to hell-fire." The martyr replied,
" I tell thee, thou hypocrite, that I regard not thy fire
and fagots; neither, I thank God my Lord, stand in fear
of the same ; my faith in Christ shall overcome them. But
the hell-fire with which thou threatenest me is thy portion;
and is prepared for thee unless thou speedily repent, and
for such hypocrites as thou art." Morgan shamelessly
went on; "What! thou speakest upon wine; thou hast tip-
pled well to-day, by likelihood 1" " So said the accursed
generation, of the apostles, being replenished with the Holy
Ghost, and speaking the wondrous works of God : they
said they were drunk when they had nothing else to say,
as thou doest now."

After some further sneers and reproaches, on the part
of the banded persecutors, which moved not the undaunted
champion of God's truth, Bonner came in, and asked how
they went on; Christopherson said it was folly to reason
with him ; he was incurable : and being again committed
to his keeper, he took an opportunity to request of the bishop
the indulgence of candle-light during the long nights, which
was insultingly refused, Bonner telling him he could say
his paternoster without a candle. His parting remark was
in reply to Chedsey's question whether he did not think
other men had souls to save as well as he. " Every man
shall receive according to his own doings. Sure I am you
are deceived, and maintain a false religion ; and as to my
casting away, I would my burning day were to-morrow ;
for this delay is every day to die, and yet not to be dead."

MARTYROLOGY. VOL. II. 8

86 PHILPOT.

" You are not like to die yet, I can tell you." " I am the
more sorry thereof. But the will of God be done of me to
his glory. Amen."

After being thus baited, a night's respite was barely
allowed the martyr: three of the bishop's chaplains came
to him, in the Wardrobe, where he had been early taken
down, with a summons to attend mass : Philpot told them
he wondered they were sent on so fruitless an errand, since
he, as a man excommunicated, was by their law excluded
from hearing mass. To this they replied that the bishop
would give him a dispensation: but he again objected that
the bishop of London, not being his ordinary, could not do
it. This was one of the many childish devices whereby
Bonner sought to beguile him into some recognition of an
authority without which he could not judicially proceed
against him; while Philpot's strenuous resistance of his
claims arose not from any desire of escaping the flames,
but from a determination to compel Bonner to bring him to
an open trial before such judges as their wicked laws
allowed. After mass, the bishop called him, and having
vented his displeasure, as usual, recited the old articles,
asking what he had to say that sentence should not be
given against him as a heretic. Philpot answered, that to
proceed to judgment before witnesses had been examined,
was against the law, as all his former proceedings had
been. After some more vain efforts to entangle him, Bon-
ner ordered him away: but he was presently called back,
in the presence of the bishops of Worcester and Bangor,
before whom Bonner told him that they were sent from the
synod to offer him grace, if he would at once turn to the
church of Rome, and become conformable : if not, his time
drew near to an end. The two others also exhorted him,
Bangor commending his own example, as having dissem-
bled during Edward's days, and again avowed himself a
Romanist when the times changed. Both were answered,
respectfully and firmly; and then Bonner complained to
them of his having urged his excommunicate state as an
excuse for not coming to mass : comparing him to Lati-
mer, who, he said, hearing the chancellor of Oxford was
coming to his prison to take him to mass, sent him word
that he was sick of the plague, and so deluded the chancel-
lor. However, after a little talk, the other bishops seemed
to judge somewhat favourably of Philpot, and promised
him leave to converse with Chichester, whom he well liked.

PHILPOT. 87

and others of their body. Worcester exhorting him in the
mean season to pray to God for grace, he answered, " Prayer
is the comfortablest exercise I feel in my trouble, and my
conscience is quiet, and I have the peace of mind which
cannot be the fruit of heresy."

After dinner they again called him, and had a short de-
bale respecting the catholic church ; when they departed,
the archdeacon of Oxford, Dr. Chedsey, and many more
came in. Wright urged him to become one of the catholic
church ; he asserted that he already was of the unfeigned
catholic church, and would live and die in it : adding, "and
if you can prove your church to be the true catholic church,
I will be one of the same." " What proof would you have?"
said Chedsey: "I will prove unto you our church to have
its being and foundation by the Scriptures, by the apostles,
and by the primitive church; confirmed with the blood of
martyrs, and with the testimony of all confessors." At this
Philpot exclaimed, "Give me your hand, master doctor;
prove that, and have with you."

" If I had my books here," said Chedsey, " I would soon
prove it. I will go and fetch them." However, he found
it not convenient to bring them; so he only produced his
book of annotations, and slid from his proposed wide field
into a question respecting the real presence. Philpot soon
setting him right, in the ordinary plan of misinterpreting
or misquoting Augustine, he could only swear at him for a
subtle fellow. Philpot, after vindicating his own reading,
quietly retorting the charge of subtlety, observing, " What
subtlety is this of you, to say that you will prove your mat-
ter of the church even from the beginning, promising to
show your books therein, and when it cometh to the show-
ing, you are able to show none; and for want of proof
slip into a by matter, yet faint in the proof thereof. Afore
God you are barefaced in your religion." Chedsey an-
swered, " You shall be constrained to come to us at length,
whether you will or no." " Hold that argument fast," said
Philpot: " it is the best you have; for you have nothing but
violence."

A day or two after this, he was brought before the arch-
bishop of York, and the bishops of London, Bath, and Chi-
chester. The latter began, in a mild strain, exhorting him
to humility and teachableness, to which Philpot replied, that
we must all be taught by God: and he would with humility

88 PHILPOT.

learn of them who would inform him of his duty by that
word. Acknowledging the bishop's superior learning, he
yet extolled the simplicity of believing what God's word
teacheth. He would, he said, gladly and thankfully hear
of his lordship whatever he or any other had been taught
by the revelation of God's word. The bishop tried to over-
throw this doctrine of divine teaching, asking how we be-
lieved the gospel but by the authority of the church. On
this point they reasoned for a time, until the archbishop
came up, and civilly addressing Philpot, assured him of
their willingness to take pains with him, inquiring on what
matter he wished to be satisfied. Philpot mentioned the
subject they were already on, of the church's authority to
declare what was the truth : and York asked for a detini-
tion of the church — what it is. Philpot answered, " It is
a congregation of people dispersed through the world, agree-
ing together in the word of God; using the sacraments,
and all other things according to the same." The arch-
bishop would not admit this; but asked if the church was
visible or invisible. He replied, " It is both visible and in-
visible. The invisible church is of the elect of God only;
the visible consists both of good and bad." They then en-
tered on the meaning of the word catholic, which Philpot
defined, as on a former occasion, while York insisted that
it was so called from being universally received of all na-
tions for the most part. He and Chichester brought the
succession of bishops in the Romish see as a main argu-
ment; but Philpot said, " I deny, my lord, that succession
of bishops is an infallible point to know the church by: for
there may be a succession of bishops known in a place, and
yet there be no church; as at Antioch and Jerusalem, and
at other places, where the apostles abode, as well as at
Rome. But if you put to the succession of bishops suc-
cession of doctrine withal, as Augustine doth, I will grant it
to be a good proof of the catholic church; but a local suc-
cession only is nothing available." They asked him if
there were two catholic churches: he answered, " No, I
know there is but one catholic church ; but there have been,
and be at this present, that take upon them the name of
Christ and of his church, which be not so indeed ; as it is
written, ' There be they that call themselves apostles, and
be not so indeed, but the synagogue of Satan, and liars.'
And now it is with us as it was with the two women in

PHILPOT. 89

Solomon's time, which lay together, and the one supprest
her child, and afterward went about to challenge the true
mother's child."

This apt illustration was of course unpalatable to the
Romish prelates : York reproached him for babbling, and
he apologised for any hastiness of speech, but said he
wished them to understand all his mind, that they might sat-
isfy him through better authority. Chichester then asserted
that Ridley, with all his learning, was never able to show
succession of bishops in his church; the argument having
troubled him greatly. Philpot repelled this, saying the
argument had no force, since he had denied that local suc-
cession of bishops in one place was a necessary point; and
also reproved him for making Ridley appear so ignorant.
They then taunted him with his full assurance of faith ; on
which he said with admirable force, " Let him doubt of
his faith that listeth; God giveth me always grace to be-
lieve that I am sure of true faith and favour in Christ."
Bath asked, " How will you be able to answer heretics, but
by the determination of the known catholic church?" He
replied, " I am able to answer all heretics by the word of
God, and convince them by the same." While they were
conversing, York found a passage in Augustine, which he
considered as conclusive on the authority of his church ;
but Philpot directly showed that it had no exclusive refer-
ence to the see of Rome. They now began to call him
names, and received a reproof for their blindness, and per-
secuting spirit ; on which Chichester said, " Have we this
thank for our good-will, coming to instruct thee?" He an-
swered, '"• My lords, you must bear with me, since I speak
in Christ's cause ; and because his glory is defaced, and
his people cruelly and wrongfully slain by you, because
they will not consent to the dishonour of God, and to hypo-
crisy with you: if I told you not your fault, it would be
required at my hands at the day of judgment. Therefore
know you, ye hypocrites indeed, that it is the Spirit of God
that telleth you your sin, and not I. I regard not, I thank
God, all your cruelty. God forgive you, and give you
grace to repent !" They then departed.

This was not considered enough for one day: for before
supper, Philpot was called a third time to Bonner, sitting
with Harpsfield, Chedsey, and others, who demanded of
him once more if he would conform, and received the same
reply that he must prove his church to be catholic. Harps-
8*

90 PHILPOT.

field brought out again his four points, antiquity, univer-
sality, consent of nations, and succession of bishops ; but
Philpot claimed them for his own church, denying that
they belonged to that of Rome. It ended with the usual
declaration that he was irreclaimable; and so they sent him
back to his stocks. No more of his examinations were
found recorded by himself. Either he was prevented wri-
ting, or they were made away with. The account of his
last appearance before the commissioners is taken from
the bishop's registry; affording, of course, an imperfect state-
ment, such as they thought fit to make ; but no other can
be found. It was on the thirteenth of December, 1555, that
Philpot was brought before Bonner, sitting judicially in the
consistory of St. Paul's ; who addressed him, stating these
three things as being specially laid to his charge: " I. That
you, being fallen from the unity of Christ's catholic church,
do refuse, and will not come to be reconciled thereunto.
II. That you have blasphemously spoken against the sacri-
fice of the mass, calling it idolatry. III. That you have
spoken against the sacrament of the altar, denying the real
presence of Christ's body and blood to be in the same."
Bonner then reminded him how often he had been invited
and required to go from his said errors and heresies ; giv-
ing him once more the offer of pardon and reception into
their church ; and finally assuring him that should he remain
obstinate, sentence would forthwith be pronounced against
him. Philpot replied, under his usual protestation against
the bishop's usurped power, to the first, that he never was
out of the catholic church : and as for the sacrifice of the
mass, and sacrament of the altar, he never spake against
them. So says the register ; and care was taken to make
away with any statement of his own to the contrary: but
all his examinations, penned by his own hand, show that he
constantly spoke against both; and the sequel of his reply
proves that he was not disposed to retract any thing: for
the report goes on, " And as concerning the pleasure of
the synod, I say that these twenty years I have been brought
up in the faith of the true catholic church, which is con-
trary to your church, whereunto you would have me to
come: and in that time I have been many times sworn — as
well in the reign of king Henry VIII. as in the reign of
good king Edward, his son — against the usurped power of
the bishop of Rome. Which oath I think that I am bound
in my conscience to keep. But if you or any of the synod

PHILPOT. 91

can by God's word persuade me that my said oath was
unlawful, and that I am bound by God's law to come to
your church, faith and religion, whereof ye be now, I will
gladly yield, agree, and be conformable unto you : other-
wise, not."

This being beyond the power of Bonner and his learned
doctors, they began to urge him with large promises and
bloody threatenings to come to their terms : but his reply
was, " You and all other of your sort are hypocrites; and
I would all the world did know your hypocrisy, tyranny,
ignorance and idolatry." He was then dismissed, with an
order to be brought up on the 10th of the month for the de-
finitive sentence of condemnation, if he remained in his for-
mer constancy.

When the time came, Bonner presided as usual in the
seat of Caiaphas-like judgment, assisted by his brethren
of Bath, Worcester, and Lichfield. . Bonner began, "My
lords, Stokesley, my predecessor, when he went to give
sentence against a heretic used to make this prayer, which
I will follow," — then he recited one in Latin, with a loud
voice ; on which Philpot said, " I would ye would speak in
English, that all men might hear and understand you : for
Paul willeth that all things spoken in the congregation to
edify should be spoken in a tongue that all men might un-
derstand." The bishop on this read it in English, and
when he came to the concluding word, " to refuse those
things that be foes to his name," Philpot exclaimed, " Then
they all must turn away from you. You are enemies to
that name; God save us from such hypocrites as would
have things in a tongue that men cannot understand !" He
then warned the people, telling them to beware of the bish-
ops and all their doings, which was contrary to the primi-
tive church; and again addressing Bonner, demanded by
what authority he proceeded against him. He replied, " as
bishop of London:" and Philpot repeated that he was not
his bishop, and moreover that he had appealed from him :
asking, " My lord, is it not enough for you to worry your
own sheep, but you must also meddle with other men's
sheep ?" Two books, of the civil and the canon law, were
delivered to him, that he might there see the proof of the
bishop's disputed authority; but he found none satisfactory;
their law being, as he said, no better than their divinity.
He compared them to men dancing in a net, and fancying
none could see them. The bishops conferred, and then

92 PHILPOT.

tried to establish their point, by their own interpretation ;
but he still declared it false, as it unquestionably was ; and
when the mayor and others came in, Bonner proceeded to
rehearse again his prayer, which was the collect for the
third Sunday after Easter, then recited the articles against
Philpot, and delivered an exhortation to him, wherein he
set forth the enormity of his heresy, and formally invited
him to recant, as he must otherwise be at once condemned.
Philpot answered him not, but turned to the lord mayor, as
bearing the sword, expressing his regret that the authority
which had defended the gospel and the truth of God's word,
should now be changed, and at the commandment of anti-
christ. He then more fully replied to the articles, repeat-
ing that he was never out of the catholic church of Christ,
though he was not of the Babylonish church of Rome. As
to the mass, he had not spoken against the true sacrifice,
but of their private masses, used in corners, which were
blasphemy against the true sacrifice, the death of Christ.
That the abominable thing which they set upon the altar,
was idolatry, which they never could justify by God's
word. With respect to his denial of the body and blood
of Christ being in the sacrament of the altar, he could not
tell what altar they meant, whether the altar of the cross,
or the altar of stone: if they meant it of the latter, he de-
nied their Christ, as a rotten (or corruptible) thing. Touch-
ing their transubstantiation, he said, he utterly denied it,
for it was brought up first by a pope : and as to the synod,
gathered together in antichrist's name, let them prove that
to be of the catholic church, and he would follow them.
He taxed them with being not only idolaters, but traitors ;
railing in their pulpits against good kings, as Henry and
Edward, who withstood the usurped power of the bishop of
Rome, against whom he also had taken an oath, and
abusing the mind of their present queen, whose heart, with
the king's, he prayed God to turn from their synagogue
and church. The bishop of Lichfield then began to extol
the true catholic church, set upon a high hill, and to dis-
parage Martin Luther's church, with that at Geneva. A
long disputation ensued, which is not related; but when
Bonner found it going against his friends, he interposed,
with an argument worthy of himself. He produced a knife,
and a bladder full of powder, and, showing them to the lord
mayor, said, " My lord, this man had a roasted pig brought
unto him, and this knife was put secretly between the skin

PHILPOT, 93

and the flesh thereof, and so it was sent him being in pri-
son. And also this powder was sent unto him, under pre-
tence that it was good and comfortable for him to eat or to
drink, which powder was only to make him ink to write
withal. For when his keeper did perceive it, he took it,
and brought it unto me. Which when I did see, I thought
it had been gunpowder, and thereupon I put fire to it, but
it would not burn. Then I took it for poison, and so gave
it to a dog, but it was not so. Then I took a little water,
and it made as fair ink as ever I did write withal. There-
fore, my lord, you may understand what a naughty fellow
this is." When he had finished, the martyr said, " Ah,
my lord, have you nothing else to charge me withal, but
these trifles, seeing I stand upon life and death ? Doth the
knife in the pig prove the church of Rome to be a catholic
church?"

Bonner then brought forth his other grievances; a copy
of the articles of religion agreed upon at the universities, to
which Philpot was a party: two printed books, one the
catechism set forth in king Edward's days, the other the
report of what passed in the convocation-house, so often
referred to. To these were added some of the papers that
Philpot designedly allowed his keeper to seize ; but which
contained no matter of accusation, and out of all these he
strove to strengthen his miserable case against the faithful
witness for God's truth. Growing weary, at length, he
cut all short, just repeating the stale offer of pardon at the
price of his soul, and then going on to read the final sen-
tence. When he came to the words, that described the
victim as an obstinate, pertinacious, impenitent heretic,
Philpot exclaimed, "I thank God that I am a heretic out
of your accursed church ; I am no heretic before God.
But God bless you, and give you once grace to repent your
wicked doings; and let all men beware of your bloody
church."

It also appears, that when Bonner vvas about the middle
of the wicked sentence, the bishop of Bath pulled him by
the sleeve, saying, " My lord, my lord, know of him first
whether he will recant or no." Bonner replied, " Oh, let
him alone;" and so finished reading it, after which he de-
livered him to the sheriffs, who brought him through the
bishop's house to Paternoster-row, where his poor servant
seeing him led along, cried out, "Ah, dear master!"
" Content thyself," said his master, " I shall do well enough ;

94 PHILPOT.

for thou shall see me again." The officers thrusting the
man away, proceeded to Newgate with their captive, who
said to the people as they went along, " Ah, good people,
blessed be God for this day!" When they came to the
prison, the poor servant pressed forward to enter with his
master, but was violently repulsed by the officers, Mr. Phil-
pot endeavouring to reconcile him to it by saying he should
speak with him on the morrow : but the under-keeper com-
passionately gave him permission to enter with him. They
were first shown into a small room, until Alexander, the
principal gaoler, came to them. He saluted the archdeacon
with, " Ah, hast thou done well to bring thyself hither?"
Philpot replied, " Well, I must be content, for it is God's
appointment ; and I shall desire you to let me have your
gentle favour, for you and I have been of old acquaint-
ance." The gaoler said he would show him favour if he
would be ruled by him: and on being asked what he would
have him do, he replied, " to recant." " Nay," said Mr.
Philpot, " I will never recant, whilst I have my life, that
which I have spoken: for it is most certain truth, and in
witness thereof I will seal it with my blood." Alexander
remarked, " This is the saying of the whole pack of your
heretics," and then barbarously commanded him to be set
upon the block, and as many irons to be put upon him as
he could support.

The clerk then whispered to Alexander that Mr. Philpot
had given his man money: on which the gaoler asked him
what sum his master had given him : he said, none. The
other threatened to search him; and he told him he might
do so, for his master had only given a token or two for his
friends, such as his brothers and sisters. The savage keeper
then reproached his victim with being a maintainer of he-
retics, saying his man should be known well enough; but
he mildly answered him, and requested him to allow the
irons to be taken offi Alexander said if he would give him
his fees, they should be taken off; if not, he might wear
them still ; and named four pounds as the price. " Ah,"
said Philpot, " I have not so much : I am a poor man and
have been long in prison." "What will you give me then?"
asked the harpy. " Sir," he replied, " I will give you
twenty shillings, and that I will send my man for; or else
I will lay my gown in gage; for the time is not long, I am
sure, that I shall be with you; for the bishop said to me
that I should be soon dispatched." " What is that to me?"

PHILPOT. 95

exclaimed the inhuman gaoler, as he walked away, giving
orders to lay him in close confinement; yet before he was
taken down, thus manacled, from the block, the clerk
would have a groat as his fee.

Whose heart does not throb with indignation while peru-
sing this? Yet it was their Master's cup of which His ser-
vants thus drank, and highly did they esteem the privi-
lege— sweet to them is the remembrance now of the cross
that preceded their crown.

The steward of the house took the fettered captive on
his back, and carried him down, his servant knew not
where : but Philpot bade him go to the sheriff and tell him
how he was used — probably more to relieve the faithful do-
mestic's distress than his own. The man took another witness
with him, and went straightway to Mr. Matcham, one of the
sheriffs, who no sooner heard how Mr. Philpot was handled,
than he took off a ring from his finger, and delivered it to
the servant's companion, bidding him show it to Alexander,
and in his name command him to take off the irons, to
treat him kindly, and to restore what he had been deprived
of. When the insolent keeper received the message, and
saw the ring, he said, " Ah, I perceive that Mr. Sheriff is
a bearer with him and all such heretics as he is; therefore
to-morrow I will show it to his betters." However, at ten
o'clock at night, he thought fit to go to the dungeon to take
off the irons, and to restore again what he had robbed the
prisoner of.

Next night, at supper-time, there came a messenger from
the sheriffs, bidding Mr. Philpot make him ready, for the
following day he should suffer and be burned at a stake
with fire. He said, " I am ready; God grant me strength,
and a joyful resurrection." Then going to his chamber,
he poured out his spirit unto the Lord God; giving him
most hearty thanks that he of his mercy had made him
worthy to suffer for his truth. In the morning the sheriffs
came, about eight o'clock, and called for him ; and he most
joyfully came down to them. His affectionate servant then
met him, saying, " Ah, dear master, farewell ;" to whom
he said, " Serve God, and he will help thee." As they
came up to Smithfield the way was foul, and two officers
took him up, to bear him to the stake; on which he mer-
rily said, " What, will ye make me a pope? I am content
to go to my journey's end on foot." On first reaching the
place, so famous as the altar on which God's dear servants

96 PHILPOT.

offered their lives, a willing sacrifice to His name and
cause, Philpot kneeled down, saying, " I will pay my vows
in thee, O Smithfield," Coming to the stake he kissed it,
and said, " Shall I disdain to suffer at this stake, seeing
my Redeemer did not refuse to suffer most vile death upon
the cross for me?" and then meekly he recited the cxvi.
and two following Psalms, When he had ended he turned
to the officers, asking what they had done for him ; and as
each told him what had been his portion of the cruel office,
he gave them money, according to their services.

Then they bound him to the stake, and set fire to that
constant martyr, who in the midst of the burning flames
yielded his soul into the hands of Almighty God, like a
lamb giving up his breath, as like a lion he had been bold
and courageous in defence of the gospel.

The manner in which his examinations were penned by
his own hand, and preserved for the church, in spite of the
great efforts of his persecutors to hinder it, is extraordinary.
It shows that the Lord would neither suffer the words of
such a witness to fall to the ground, nor the example of his
great patience and steadfastness to be lost to his fellow-
Christians. The wretched Bonner lived to see Fox's spi-
rited narrative published, and that record of his atrocious
cruelties set up in parish churches beside the Bible, for the
public use of the people.

Archdeacon Philpot was the last who suffered in that
memorable year, 1555 : he was burned on the 18th of De-
cember, and the next butchery occurred in the same place,
towards the end of January following. They had already
put to death nearly all the principal men, bishops and pas-
tors, over the fold of Christ ; and now they turned their
cruel hands upon the poor of the flock with merciless vio-
lence; people inferior in degree, though, blessed be God,
not in steadfastness, and having among them some who
were both learned and of good estimation. The following
individuals were in one day condemned, and burned in one
fire. Thomas Whittle, Baetlet Green, John Jud-
soN, John Went, Thomas Brown, Isabel Foster, and
Joan Waene. Of these, Whittle was a priest. Green
a lawyer, Judson and Went were artificers, and Joan
Warne was the daughter of two martyrs, whose story has
been already related. The usual articles were exhibited
against them, charging them with leaving the catholic
church and the faith of their godfathers, speaking against

WHITTLE. 97

the mass, and remaining obstinate in their errors : to which
they answered, as their brethren slain before them had
usually done.

Whittle was that priest of whom John Philpot made
mention, as having found him in the stocks, rejoicing ex-
ceedingly in having been brought back, after his recanta-
tion. When first apprehended, he had been taken before
Winchester by his captor, who hoped for some preferment
in reward of his zeal ; but Gardiner was then on his death-
bed, and so far from thanking him, asked him in a great
rage if there was no man to whom he might bring such
rascals but to him. " Hence," said he, " out of my sight,
thou varlet; what, dost thou trouble me with such matters?"
The greedy preferment-hunter, repulsed in this quarter,
took his prisoner to Bonner, who at first treated him most
barbarously, beating and bruising him about the face; but
afterwards by smooth speeches, mingled with threats, pre-
vailed on him to set his hand to a bill of recantation. How
his conscience tormented him for this, and how he, by
tearing the paper, brought himself again under the cross,
has been related. He was then, after being most savagely
assaulted and wounded by Bonner, kept in prison till the
14th of January, when, being brought to the consistory
with others, he was first called on by the bishop of Lon-
don, who said, that whereas in time past Whittle had said
mass, according to the order then used, he now of late had
spoken and railed against the same, saying it was idolatry
and abomination. To which Whittle replied, that at such
time as he so said mass, he was ignorant ; adding that the ele-
vation of the host at the mass giveth occasion of idolatry to
them that be ignorant and unlearned. Having vainly endea-
voured to shake his resolution, Bonner first degraded him, by
divesting him of his priestly trinkets and clerkly habit. In
the midst of these foolish ceremonies. Whittle said, " Paul and
Titus had not so much ado with their priests and bishops:
my lord, your religion standeth most with the church of
Rome, and not with the catholic church of Christ." When
asked what fault he found with the administration of the
sacrament of the altar, he answered, " It is not used ac-
cording to Christ's institution, for that it is privately and
not openly done. And also for that it is ministered but in
one kind to the lay people, which is against Christ's ordi-
nance. Further, Christ commanded it not to be elevated
or adored ; for the adoration and elevation cannot be ap-

MARTYROLOGY. — VOL. 11. 9

98 BAKTLET GREEN.

proved by Scripture." He was again offered favour, if he
would return to the Romish persuasion ; but strengthened
by the grace of God, he stood firm, and was committed to
the secular power, a condemned man, in a few days to seal
his testimony with his blood. He wrote some beautiful
letters from the prison, to various persons, which prove
him to have been a Christian of no ordinary gifts, enabled
unfeignedly to rejoice in the tribulation from which he, in
the infirmity of the flesh, had once for a little space shrunk.

Bartlet Green was the son of highly respectable
parents, who gave him a fair education. At Oxford, he
proved himself a good scholar, profiting much in secular
studies, but greatly opposed to the truth, through the igno-
rance that was in him. During the latter period of his
studies, he had, however, attended the lectures of Peter
Martyr, then the divinity lecturer in Oxford, which was
made instrumental to his conversion from double darkness
to the clear light of the gospel. Removed from the univer-
sity, he became a student in the Temple, where, by evil
example and want of watchfulness, he was gradually
led into some worldly follies and excesses, which occa-
sioned him much grief and self-reproach, when God again,
by his inexhaustible mercy, recovered him from those
crooked paths. The young man's chief support was de-
rived from his grandfather. Dr. Bartlet, a zealous member
of the Romish communion, who assailed him with large
offers of worldly advantages if he would recant, and return
to his old superstition ; but in vain. Green was of a very
sweet, amiable disposition, meek, humble, discreet, and
benevolent : beloved by all, save those who hated him for
the truth which he followed. Among the many whom he
benefitted was a faithful Christian, named Christopher
Goodman, who had been his companion and friend at Ox-
ford, in Edward's days ; but was now a poor exile beyond
the seas, banished by the popish government. With him'
Green continued to correspond ; as it proved, to the grief
of both, for Goodman thereby lost his friend, and the other
his liberty, and ultimately his life.

A report, it seems, had been spread of Mary's death,
among the banished Protestants, and Goodman wrote to
Green to inquire concerning it: Green simply answered,
that the queen was not dead. This letter, with many others
from the flock in England to their exiled brethren, fell into
the hands of the council, by the apprehension of their mes-

BARTLET GKEEN. 99

senger. Green's expression, " the queen is not dead," ap-
peared so treasonable to these careful investigators, that he
was immediately taken into custody; but as they could not
found such a charge upon words so easily explained, they
taxed him with favouring the gospel, and on that ground
detained him in prison, until it seemed good to them to send
him to Bonner, for judgment as a heretic. He found the
bishop with two other prelates, Harpsfield, Welch, Dean,
Roper, and others, seated together, and Bonner commenced
by asking the cause of his apprehension, which he fully
detailed, but Bonner affirmed that there was another reason
for it, and asked if he had not, since his committal to the
Fleet, written or spoken somewhat against the natural pre-
sence of Christ in the sacrament of the altar. Green, in
reply, begged the bishop to allege no new matters against
him till he should be discharged of the old ; and when he
persisted herein, Welch justified the order of proceeding;
saying that if he had been imprisoned for treason, and had,
while in durance, maintained heresy, it was no objection
to the ordinary examining him : as his acquittal or con-
demnation on the latter point would not affect the former.
So artfully could they entangle a victim whom they had
resolved to destroy! Finding all protestation vain. Green
desired, according to law, to hear his accusers: when Ched-
sey was summoned, who reported that in the presence of the
lieutenant of the tower and another, he had spoken against
the real presence, and the sacrifice of the mass; also affirm-
ing that their church was the church of antichrist. Bon-
ner asked him, " Was this true?" He answered, " Yea."
" Will you continue therein ?" " Yea." " Wilt thou main-
tain it by learning?" said he again. Green replied,
" Therein I show myself to have little wit, knowing mine
own youth and ignorance, if I would take on me to main-
tain any controversy against so many grave and learned
men. But my conscience is satisfied in the truth, which is
sufficient for my salvation." " Conscience !" cried Roper,
" so shall every Jew and Turk be saved." A great deal of
talk followed; and then Welch called him aside, telling him
how sorry he was for his case, dwelling on his youth, and
acknowledged want of learning ; assuring him that he had
read all which the reformers had written, and had also been
present when learned men conferred with them, and that
he found there was one truth, which from the beginning
had been maintained ; while all who swerved from that

100 BARTLET GREEN.

unity were answered again and again. With great subtil-
ty, and no lack of eloquence or wit, this man strove to
draw Green into his net. To this, Green gave an admira-
ble reply, meekly acknowledging the other's superiority
and his own deficiencies ; but adding that God was not
bound to time, wit, or knowledge, rather choosing the weak
things of the world to confound the strong. " Neither can
men appoint bounds to God's mercy; for " I will have com-
passion," saith he, " upon whom I will show mercy."
There is no respect of persons with God, whether it be old
or young, rich or poor, wise or foolish, fisherman or bas-
ket-maker. God giveth knowledge of his truth, through
his free grace, to whom he list. James i. Neither do I
think myself only to have the truth, but steadfastly believe
that Christ hath his spouse, the catholic and universal
church, dispersed in many realms, where it pleaseth him.
Spiritus ubi vult spiral: no more is he addicted to any
one place than to the person and equality of one man. Of
this church I nothing doubt myself to be a member, trust-
ing to be saved by the faith that is taught in the same.
But how this church is known is, in a manner, the end of
all controversy. And the true marks of Christ's church
are the true preaching of his word, and ministering of his
sacraments. These marks were sealed by the apostles,
and confirmed by the ancient fathers, till at length they
were, through the wickedness of men and the devil, sore
worn, and almost utterly taken away. But God be praised
that he hath renewed the print, that his truth may be known
in many places. For myself, I call God to witness, I
have none hope in my own wit and learning, which is very
small ; but I was persuaded thereto by him,* as by an in-
strument, that is excellent in all good learning and living.
And God is my record that chiefly I sought it of Him, by
continual prayer with tears." He concluded in these
words, " Now I am brought hither before a great many of
bishops and learned men, to be made a fool and a laugh-
ing-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 man's pleasure or displeasure."

Welch spoke him very fair; and on his saying that be-
fore he could judge whether he had any thing to learn of
them, he must, as Welch boasted of having done, read what
was written on both sides, he returned to Bonner, with an
» He probably alludes to Peter Martyr.

BARTLET GREEN 101

assurance that the young man was willing to learn ; and in
the hope of ensnaring him, he was forthwith received into
Bonner's house, well lodged, well fed, and kindly treated,
with only the annoyance of frequent disputations, in which
Bonner tried to overpower him with logic and tricks of the
schools. Thus far Green himself related the casein a let-
ter to Philpot, which, however, did not reach him: it ap-
pears by the sequel, that Bonner perceiving his learning,
over which his humility had cast a veil, to be such as he
could not, with all his chaplains and doctors, confute, and
his constancy immovable, brought forth his best argument
— the rigour of the law, and murderous execution; an ar-
gument which, without the special grace of God, is to our
weak flesh unanswerable. He therefore caused a confes-
sion of true faith, by him deemed heresy, to be drawn out,
to which Bartlet Green willingly set his hand on the 27lh
of December, nearly six weeks from his first examination.
On the 15th of January, 1556, he was brought with the
others before the consistory in Paul's, where Bonner sat in
judgment, accompanied by Fecknam, then dean, and some
of his chaplains. Green was the last of the seven called
up for judgment; and Bonner in presenting him, made a
speech to vindicate himself from the charge of seeking his
blood, on the ground of the council's letter concerning him.
Then he objected the articles, as to the rest of the martyrs,
and a long discussion ensued between Fecknam and the
prisoner, as to the interpretation of some passages in the
old doctors; but when the question was put, whether he
would recant, he said, " Nay, I will not. But, my lord, in
old time there were no men put to death for their con-
science, until such time as bishops found the means to
make it death to believe contrary to them ; but excommu-
nication, my lord, was the greatest penalty which men had
for their conscience : yea, insomuch that Augustine wrote,
and commanded that no man should be put to death for
his opinion." Bonner said, that when Augustine saw what
inconveniences followed of that commandment, he wrote
again to the temporal rulers, commanding them to punish
their bodies also. " But," said Green, " he bade not put
them to death." " He bade punish them," quoth Bonner.
" Yes," said Green, " but not put them to death." " That
they should be punished," repeated Bonner. He then asked
Green if he would recant, and return to the Romish unity;
which when he declined, Bonner pronounced the definitive

9*

102 BARTLET GREEN.

sentence, and so committed him to the sheriffs, who took
him to Newgate. On his way thither, there met him two
gentlemen, both of whom were his especial friends, who in-
tended to offer some comfort to their persecuted brother ;
but on seeing him, their sorrow and affection overflowed in
abundance of tears. The martyr, in gentle reproof, said,
" Ah, my friends, is this your comfort you are come to
give me in this my occasion of heaviness? Must I, who
needed to have comfort ministered to me, become now a
comforter of you ?" Then declaring his peaceable mind
and conscience, he continued to speak cheerfully to them
and others till they came to the prison door, into which he
joyfully entered, and there gave himself to prayer, in which
he constantly delighted, and to other godly exercises, until
the day of his martyrdom, to which he went cheerfully
along, repeating by the way, and also at the stake, some
Latin verses, thus rendered into English;

O Christ, my God, sure hope of health beside thee have I none :
The truth I love, and falsehood hate ; be thou my guide alone.

Bartlet Green who was only twenty-five years of age,
was singularly gifted with the most unaffected lowliness of
mind, looking on himself so humbly, that nothing grieved
him like language of praise or commendation. Fox re-
lates the fact, as having heard it from his own mouth, that
he was cruelly beaten and scourged with rods by savage
Bonner; at which he did indeed greatly rejoice, but through
the modesty of his nature avoided making mention of it,
lest he should seem to glory too much in himself. Besides
this, the tenderness and compassion that constantly showed
themselves in him, towards all who were distressed, and his
zealous efforts to interest his friends on behalf of some re-
pentant criminals in his prison, proved him to be one of
those of whom the world was not worthy. Among other
beautiful pieces of writing, the following penned just be-
fore he suffered, affords a sweet picture of the state of his
mind.

"Better is the day of death, says Solomon, than the day
of birth. Man that is born of a woman liveth but a short
time, and is replenished with many miseries ; but happy
are the dead that die in the Lord. Man of woman is born
in travail, to live in misery; man through Christ doth die
in joy, and live in felicity. He is born to die, and dieth to
live. Straight as he cometh into the world, with cries

THOMAS BROWN. 103

he uttereth his miserable estate ; straight as he departeth,
with songs he praiseth God for ever. Scarce yet in his
cradle, three deadly enemies assail him; after death, no ad-
versary may annoy him. Whilst he is here, he displeaseth
God ; when he is dead, he fulfilleth his will. In this life
here, he dieth through sin ; in the life to come, he liveth in
righteousness. Through many tribulations on earth he is
still purged; with joy unspeakable in heaven he is made
pure for ever. 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.
Here is corruption ; there is immortality. Here we see
vanity, there shall we behold the majesty of God, with tri-
umphant and unspeakable joy, in glory everlasting. Seek
therefore the things that are above, where Christ sitteth at
the right hand of God the Father; unto whom, with the Son
and the Holy Ghost, be all honour and glory, world with-
out end. Amen."

Fox, who seems to have regarded this young Christian
with peculiar affection, thus quaintly concludes his eulogy,
after adverting to his profession of the temporal law; "I
would to God he were not among the lawyers such a
phoenix, that he had very few or no fellows to fly with him,
or to follow his steps. But God is to be praised, that though
we read of few or none among that sort who died as he did,
yet good witnesses do spring up daily of the same pro-
fession, to such towardness and godly zeal, that some hope
appeareth shortly to come to pass, that this goodly phcenix
shall not fly alone."

Thomas Brown was reported by the constable of St.
Bride's parish to Bonner, for not coming to the church ;
and was taken to Bonner's house at Fulham, to be exa-
mined. While there he was summoned one morning to
mass, which he refused to attend, and, going into the war-
ren, kneeled down to pray among the trees, while they
celebrated their idolatrous service in the chapel. He was
kept prisoner from September to the following January,
then brought up for judgment with the other six. Bonner
addressed him, with a boast of the pains he had taken to
convert him; "yet," said he, "thou and such like have
and do report that I go about to seek thy blood." The poor
man boldly answered, " Yea, my lord, indeed ye be a
blood-sucker ; and I would I had as much blood as there

104 JUDSON WENT ISABEL FOSTER.

is water in the sea for you to suck." He was then called
on to forsake his heresies, which he promised to do if they
would prove them to he such : but instead of attempting
this, they tried to win him by fair words and promises of
pardon; until he finally said, " Prove it to be heresy that I
do hold and maintain, and I will turn to you. But you
condemn me because I will not confess and believe the
bread in the sacrament of the altar, as you call it, to be the
body of Christ; and therefore ye spill mine, and such like
innocent blood, being the queen's true subjects ; for which
ye shall answer, and thai shortly." He was then con-
demned.

JuDsoN, a native of Ipswich, afterwards apprenticed in
London, was complained of to Cholmley and Story, who
sent him to Bonner. The like persuasions were resorted to,
as with the others ; but he, constantly persisting in what
he had received by faithful preachers in Edward's time,
could not be moved therefrom. He maintained that he had
not offended; and that his belief was no heresy; and so
received sentence of death.

John Went was born in Langham, Essex, a poor man,
who, being examined of his faith by Story, was pronounced
a heretic, and sent to Bonner. He withstood, calmly and
resolutely, all their solicitations, neither flinched from their
threats, but said he would not recant : by the leave of God,
he would stand firm and constant in what he had said.
Sentence was presently given.

Isabel Fostek was a native of Grafstock, near Carlisle,
married to a cutler in Fleet street, and informed against for
not coming to church. Bonner tried to overcome her de-
termination, during her imprisonment, but in vain. She
appeared before the consistory with the others ; and her
reply to all their exhortations to forsake her former an-
swers, was, " I will not go from them, by God's grace."
The condemnation was pronounced, which, in a few days
after, ended her troubles here, to find a better rest in the
kingdom of Christ, her Saviour.

Joan Warne, or Lashford, was the last of the seven: her
story has already been related.* They all ended their lives
in the flames of Smithfield, rejoicing, and praising God, on
the 27th of January, 1556.

On the 31st of the same month, a fire was kindled in
Canterbury, for five more of the Lord's chosen ones. John
* Vol. i. page 339.

JOHN LOMAS AGNES SMITH. 105

LoMAS, a young man being cited, and asked if he believed
the catholic church, replied that he believed so much as is
contained in God's book, and no more. On his next ex-
amination, he was asked if he would confess to a priest:
and said that he found it not written in God's book that he
should be confessed to any priest : neither would he be
confessed, unless he were accused by some man of sin.
Again examined, as to whether he believed the body of
Christ to be in the sacrament of the altar, under the forms
of bread and wine, after the consecration, he answered that
he believed no reality of Christ's body to be in the sacra-
ment; neither found he written that he is there, under form
or tressel, but he believed so much as is written. No other
reply would he give.

Agnes Smith, a widow, was also accused and cited for
the true profession of Christ's religion. She denied con-
fession to a priest, admitting the propriety of confessing
our offences one to another, as God has enjoined. Of the
sacrament, she said that if she or any other did receive it
so as Christ and his apostles after him did deliver it, then
she and they did receive it to their comfort : but as it is
now used in the church, she said that no man could other-
wise receive it than to his damnation, as she thought. She
denied penance to be a sacrament; declared the popish
manner of absolution to be not consonant to God's word ;
and in this faith stood fast.

Joan Sole, for not allowing auricular confession, and for
denying the real substance of Christ's body to be in the
wafer ; Anne Albright, for objecting to auricular con-
fession, and for calling their sacrament of the altar a
naughty and abominable idol ; and Joan Catmer, widow
of one who had before received the crown of martyrdom,
who maintained the same truth, completed the number.
The man and four women were fastened to two stakes, in
one fire, and while the flames raged above their heads,
sung psalms to Almighty God. Sir John Norton, being
present, wept bitterly at the spectacle ; but as for them,
they wept no more: God wiped away all tears from their
eyes, and brought them into his own presence, with ever-
lasting gladness and joy.

106 ARCHBISHOP CRANMER.

CHAPTER VI.

ARCHBISHOP CRANMER.

The time had now arrived, when the highest dignitary of
the English church must fall a prey — offered up, in flames,
to the insatiahle Moloch of popery; and snatched by spe-
cial grace, even at the last, as a brand from unquenchable
burning. The history of that amiable and estimable man,
Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, is one of no
ordinary interest. By the singular providence of God, he
was brought from the retirement of private life, to become
one of the most conspicuous characters of that eventful
period; to promote, beyond any other individual, the sacred
cause of the gospel in England ; and finally after a
grievous fall to rise again, and stand at the post of martyr-
dom, a witness for the truth.

Cranmer was of a good and ancient family, born in Not-
tinghamshire ; he entered at Cambridge, where, prospering
well in the higher orders of study, he was chosen fellow of
Jesus College. By marrying, however, he soon forfeited
his fellowship, and became reader in Buckingham College.
His wife dying soon afler, he was re-elected fellow, by his
former companions, where he soon attained the degree of
doctor and lecturer in divinity, and from his high reputa-
tion was generally chosen one of the heads, whose office it
was to examine the candidates for degrees, either admitting
them, or suspending the admission until they should be bet-
ter furnished with learning. Dr. Cranmer, early impressed
with the importance of scriptural knowledge, would never
admit any to proceed in divinity, until they were thoroughly
acquainted with the Bible history; so that he gave much
offence, and provoked no little resentment among those
whom he sent back to study this neglected branch. Ne-
vertheless, in afler time, some of these individuals becoming
famous and useful to the church through their scriptural
knowledge, were in the habit of highly extolling Cranmer's
firmness in this point, to which they owed all their attain-
ments. When Wolsey's famous college, at Oxford, was
in progress, Cranmer was greatly solicited to accept a fel-

ARCHBISHOP CRANMER. 107

lowship in it; but he refused, though at the hazard of in-
curring the haughty cardinal's displeasure : and this was
the first evident link in the remarkable chain of his future
eminence. Remaining at Cambridge, he was exposed to
the dangers of the plague, which broke out there; and hav-
ing the two young sons of a Mr. Cressy under his charge,
in college, he took them home to their father's house, at
Waltham Abbey, from the peril of the infection ; himself
remaining there as a guest.

It was just at this time that Henry VIII., who had been
for two or three years agitating the subject of his divorce
among the canonists and learned men, found himself trifled
with by the two cardinals, Campeius and Wolsey, who
suddenly closed their commission, when he expected an
immediate sentence, pretending that it was not allowable to
hold courts on ecclesiastical matters during harvest. The
king, exasperated at this, had despatched Campeius back
to Rome, and in very bad humour left London, to pass a
night or two at Waltham. His two chief helpers in the
cause, Stephen Gardiner, then secretary, and Dr. Fox,
almoner, accompanying him, were lodged in the house of
Mr. Cressy, where, meeting Dr. Cranmer at supper, the
discourse turned upon the king's business, which was freely
discussed by them, being old college acquaintances. Cran-
mer, on his opinion being asked, said he had not studied
the matter, but it seemed to him they were taking a wrong
course. Instead of pursuing the case in ecclesiastical courts,
he thought the better way would have been simply to pro-
pound the question, whether a man may marry his bro-
ther's wife or no ? and to let the divines discuss it by the
authority of the word of God, whereby the king's conscience
might be better satisfied than by these uncertain proceed-
ings. He spoke much of the certainty that Scripture would
declare and show the truth ; which might as well be dis-
covered in England as at Rome.

The next day Henry removed to Greenwich, and being,
as usual, very restless on the subject, he sent for his two
favourite counsellors, asking them what he should now do:
whether he must send a new commission to Rome; lament-
ing the impossibility of foreseeing when there would be an
end of it. Dr. Fox, anxious to set his master's mind at
rest, told him there was a hope of settling it with less
labour; and repeated Cranmer's advice. Gardiner showed
no little vexation at this honest proceeding, for he intended

108 ARCHBISHOP CRANMER.

to have taken the credit of it on themselves, and endeavour-
ed still to give that colour to the affair, but the impetuous
mind of Henry had caught what he rightly judged would
be a clue to guide him out of the labyrinth : he ordered
that Cranmer should forthwith be sent for, adding, " That
man hath the sow by the right ear; and if I had known
this device but two years ago, it had been in my way a
great piece of money, and had also rid me of much disqui-
etness."

Cranmer, who greatly disliked the summons, entreated
his friends by some means to excuse him to the king,- and
they strove so to do; but Henry scolded and insisted, and
showed how vain it was to oppose his despotic will. Cran-
mer was introduced, and Henry, both requesting as a friend,
and commanding as a king, that he would set apart all
other business and affairs to see his cause furthered, he was
obliged to assent, suggesting, however, that it would be best
to commit the examination of the matter by the word of
God to the principal men in the universities. Henry agreed
to this, still insisting that Cranmer should write out his own
mind concerning it. He then called the earl of Wiltshire,
giving him charge to entertain Cranmer in his house for
this purpose ; and to provide him with books and all other
requisites. This was done ; Scripture, general councils,
and ancient writers, were all adduced in support of Cran-
mer's individual opinion, which was this — that the bishop
of Rome had no such authority as whereby he might dis-
pense with the word of God and the Scripture,

When the king saw this book, he asked, "Will you abide
by this that you have here written, before the bishop of
Rome ?" " That I will do, by God's grace," replied Dr.
Cranmer, " if your majesty do send me thither." Thus,
by his means, learned men having been sent abroad to dis-
cuss the matter in foreign universities, it was also solemnly
disputed in Oxford and Cambridge ; and by them it was
concluded that no such matrimony was, by the word of
God, lawful. The next step was the sending of an embas-
sage to Rome, consisting of the earl of Wiltshire, Cranmer,
Stokesby, Came, Bennet, and other learned doctors and
gentlemen. Such a mission had never before approached
the wearer of the triple crown : such a blow had never been
aimed at his authority. Henry, recently the pope's cham-
pion against Luther, had laid hold on the weapon beneath
which alone the mighty power of the papacy crumbles into

ARCHBISHOP CRANMEK. 109^

dust ; and little did the selfish, despotic king foresee what
consequences would ensue from this daring step, of send-
ing to inform him who exalteth himself above all that is
called God and is worshipped, that the word of inspiration
was of higher authority than the thundered dicta of his in-
fallibility!

The interview with the pope was marked by an incident
which Fox records with much glee, as ominous of what was
shortly to take place between the Romish see and England.
When they came into the presence, the bishop of Rome,
seated on high in his cloth of estate, richly apparelled, of-
fered his sandaled foot to be kissed by the ambassadors.
The earl of Wiltshire, not choosing so to degrade himself,
stood still, and the rest followed their leader's example. It
happened that the earl had brought with him a favourite
spaniel of a large breed, which accompanied him on this
occasion, and he, being somewhat in advance of his mas-
ter when the pope's foot was graciously put forth, took the
liberty of applying thereto not only his nose but his teeth,
and pinched the pontifical great toe, so smartly, that his
holiness lost no time in drawing it in from the sacrilegious
salute ; and while the ambassadors smiled in their sleeves
at the incident, he tacitly dispensed with any further cere-
mony of that sort, and gave ear at once to their message.
Strange to say, no direct opposition was offered to their
plea against his authority for dispensing with the precepts
of God's word; and after divers promises, and frequently
appointing days for debating the question, he sent them
away complimented and uncontradicted.

The rest returning to England, Cranmer went to the em-
peror's court, to make good his argument, even in presence
of queen Katharine's nephew, and succeeded in silencing
all his doctors. On his return home, Warham's death left
the see of Canterbury vacant; and Henry justly conferred
the dignity on the best friend and ablest advocate he had
ever found within his realm. In this high pastoral charge,
Cranmer so deported himself as to answer St. Paul's de-
scription of a bishop; while his fulfilment of the duties an-
nexed to it, as a great office of state, was admirably cor-
rect. So forgiving was he, and so careful to return good
for evil, that it became a common saying, " Do my lord of
Canterbury an ill turn, and you may be sure to have him
your friend while he liveth." His personal character was,
indeed, most lovely, the qualities of his mind rare, his ac-

MARTYROLOGY. VOL. 11, 10

110 ARCHBISHOP CRANMER.

quirements singularly great, and his integrity, fidelity, and
disinterestedness in the service of his king, such as even
the caprice of that suspicious tyrant could never call in
question. Indeed the attempts that were frequently made
to shake his confidence in Cranmer, only served to show
how fixed it was. The Lord doubtless gave him this favour
in the king's eyes, that he might the better fulfil his ap-
pointed task of building up again the prostrate church of
Christ. His opposition to the enactment of the flagitious
Six Articles, proved a great trial of Henry's friendship for
the archbishop : Stephen Gardiner, his secret and most im-
placable enemy, continually practised against him ; and on
one occasion so far prevailed, by means of his emissaries
who abused the king's ear with tales that Cranmer and
his chaplains by their preaching were filling the whole
realm with pernicious heresies, that Henry allowed them
to commit him to the tower, and to proceed so far as to
make their envious malice fully apparent ; but he had taken
care, by privately instructing Cranmer how to proceed,
and giving him his ring to produce at the proper moment,
to ensure him a triumphant deliverance from their toils.
So openly was the shield of royal favour thrown over this
upright prelate, that it soon became a hopeless task to as-
sail him: for whosoever slandered the archbishop of Can-
terbury was sure to receive some of the king's pungent re-
bukes, accompanied with menaces that no one liked to pro-
voke at the hands of such a monarch. Such was Henry's
affection for Cranmer, that he even connived at his living
in the state of wedlock, notwithstanding the Six Articles;
and faithfully kept the secret.

When Edward ascended the throne, Cranmer who had
recently been convinced through Ridley's means, of the
true doctrine of the sacrament, on which he never till then
had been rightly persuaded, wrote five books on the sub-
ject, for public instruction, wherein he overthrows the cor-
poreal presence, transubstantiation, adoration, the receiving
of Christ's body by the ungodly, and the blasphemous sa-
crifice of the mass. Stephen Gardiner, then at leisure in
the tower of London, took on himself to answer this publi-
cation, to whose sophistical work Cranmer again learnedly
and copiously replied. This did not silence Gardiner, who
wrote another book, which Cranmer was employed in con-
futing, during his subsequent imprisonment in Oxford. Rid-
ley also, being deprived of pen, ink and paper, broke a

ARCHBISHOP CRANMER. Ill

piece of lead from the frame of his prison window, and
wrote with it his annotations on the margin of the book, in
refutation of its falsehoods.

Cranmer also wrote a work on the Reformation, the cate-
chism of the church of England, and great part of the book
of homilies, with other works. His share of the compila-
tion of the common-prayer, with the thirty-nine articles, is
well known: and, as under his tuition the character of Ed-
ward was formed, so by his influence and direction was the
glorious work of the reformation in England achieved. It
was Cranmer who first dared to assert that the bishop of
Rome had no authority to set aside God's commandments :
it was under Cranmer's guidance that Henry flung from
the neck of his country, the yoke of popish supremacy:
and it was by Cranmer's hand that God established his
pure worship in the place of her ancient idolatrous abomi-
nations. Neither was the prosperous course of events in
Elizabeth's reign uninfluenced by this extraordinary man :
he was the friend and counsellor of her early years ; and
doubtless was commissioned to sow the seed which yielded
such precious fruit to the famished and scattered flock of
Christ, during her long and glorious sovereignty.

One sore blot is indeed found on the fair page of this
record of Cranmer's prosperous days. The manner in
which he perverted his power over the youthful mind of
Edward, to force upon that gentle king the stain of blood-
guiltiness, in the case of the poor foolish Kentish girl, can-
not, nor ought to be forgotten. It was a fearful crime, un-
speakably aggravated by the degree of light that Cranmer
possessed, and the high responsibilities with which he was
invested. If none among the pastors of the awakened
church soared so high as Cranmer, none fell so low: and
the eye that is uplifted to gaze upon the spectacle of this
exalted character, can but sink again to earth, under the
sad exemplification of that truth, " There is none righteous ;
no, not one."

In the matter of Mary's succession, the archbishop
showed a scrupulous regard to his oath, and a tenderness
of conscience that no other of the council displayed. They
had all sworn to her title, as rightful heir of the crown, yet
he alone refused subscription to Edward's appointment of
the Lady Jane as his successor, and it was not until he had
conferred with the lawyers, and received their unanimous
assent to the lawfulness of the thing, that, with much re-

112 ARCHBISHOP CRANMER.

luctance, he at length subscribed : and he alone, of all the
nobles, could obtain no pardon of Mary for so doing. She,
of course, remembered the part he had taken in forwarding
her mother's divorce, and in changing the religion of the
realm; and anxiously watched for an opportunity of de-
stroying him. This was soon found. A report being spread
abroad that Cranmer, to conciliate the queen, had offered
to say a dirge mass for king Edward's soul, he lost no
time in writing a full contradiction of the calumny, and
left the paper open on the window of his chamber. Story,
bishop of Rochester, coming in, read it, and desired a copy,
which was given to him; and in a very short time, almost
all the scriveners in London were occupied in transcribing
this bill, which was in great request among the people.

This soon came to the knowledge of the queen's coun-
cil, who forthwith issued a summons for the archbishop to
appear before them, bringing an inventory of all his goods.
He did so, and when they had received it, a bishop ques-
tioned him as to this bill of his, in which he seemed to be
aggrieved with the setting up the mass again ; adding that
of course he was sorry that it had gone abroad. Cranmer
answered, "As I do not deny myself to be the very author
of that bill or letter, so must I confess here unto you con-
cerning the same bill, that I am sorry the said bill went
from me in such sort as it did. For when I had written it,
Mr. Story got the copy of me, and it is now come abroad,
and, as I understand, the city is full of it. For which I am
sorry that it so passed my hands : for I had intended other-
wise to have made it in a more large and ample manner,
and minded to have set it on Paul's church-door, and on
the doors of all the churches in London, with mine own
seal joined thereto."

The lords, not knowing what to say to this bold avowal,
dismissed him, promising he should soon hear further; and
so he did ; for he was shortly afterwards committed to the
tower on a charge of treason. But as all the rest were
pardoned, it would not do to maintain the indictment against
him alone, who was known to have subscribed last, and
with the greatest repugnance, to Edward's paper : so they
dropped the treason, and retained him on a charge of here-
sy, sending him speedily afterwards to Oxford, to dispute
with the divines there, that under some show of fair discus-
sion, the intended murder might be veiled. What occurred
there, has already been related. The first condemnation

ARCHBISHOP CRANMER. llS

of the three prelates having been invalid, as the pope's
authority had not yet been formally recognized again in
the land, a new commission was sent from Rome ; and
Brooks, bishop of Gloucester, had the honour of represent-
in o- the pope on this occasion, being perched on a scaflbld
ten feet high, seated in great state just under the little idol
wafer which hung in its box over the altar. On his right
and left, at a proper distance below the chief actor, sat doc-
tor Martin and doctor Story; and under them a number of
officials and others.

All being prepared, the bishops in their pontificals, the
archbishop of Canterbury was sent for to appear before
them. He came from his prison to St. Mary's church,
guarded with bills and other weapons, habited in his gown
and hood, and entering their presence, neither moved his
cap, nor took any other notice of them, but stood still. One
of them then called, " Thomas, archbishop of Canterbury,
appear here, and make answer to that shall be laid to thy
charge, that is to say, for blasphemy, incontinency, and
heresy; and make answer here to the bishop of Gloucester,
representing the pope's person." He then advanced, qui-
etly viewing the whole array, until espying whei'e the king's
and queen's proctors sat, he bowed his knee to the ground,
and putting off his cap, made reverence to each of them :
then looking the pope's proxy full in the face, he delibe-
rately put it on again ; showing him no token whatever of
recognition or respect. This highly offended the bishop,
who said to him that it might well beseem him, weighing
the authority that he represented, to do his duty unto him :
but Cranmer answered, that he had once taken a solemn
oath never to consent to the admitting of the bishop of
Rome's authority into this realm of England again ; and
that he had done it advisedly, and meant, by God's grace
to keep it ; and therefore would commit nothing either by
sign or token, which might argue his consent to the receiv-
ing of the same: and so he desired the bishop to judge of
him, and that he did it not for any contempt of his person,
which he could have been content to have honoured as
well as any of the other, if his commission had come from
as good an authority as theirs. This he said modestly and
quietly, standing covered, never once bowing or moving so
as to betoken any respect for the pope's representative : and
this was especially noticed by all the people, who pressed
as near as possible to observe his deportment.

10*

114 ARCHBISHOP CRANMER.

Then proceeded bishop Brooks to make an oration, ac-
cusing Cranmer of apostasy from the church, treason
against the queen, and adultery, in that he had married.
He traced his fall to the great sin of schism, in forsaking
his allegiance to the pope. God, he said, then forsook him,
allowing him to fall " from schism to apostasy, from apos-
tasy to heresy, from heresy to perjury, from perjury to
treason, and so in conclusion into the full indignation of
our sovereign prince, which you may think a just punish-
ment of God, for your other abominable opinions." The
speech was very long, but none of it worth a repetition ;
and when he sat down Dr. Martin began to plead, in tech-
nical phrases, stating to Cranmer that they had reported
his case to the pope, who had graciously decreed that
though of late time he had excluded both justice and chari-
ty, yet his holiness would have both charity and justice
shown him; and had therefore appointed the bishop of
Gloucester his high commissioner, before whom the arch-
bishop was to answer the articles of accusation; he, Mar-
tin, with Dr. Story, attending on behalf of their majesties,
to accuse him.

When this speech was ended, the archbishop having
leave to reply, first repeated the Lord's prayer, kneeling;
then stood up and recited the apostles' creed; and thus
spoke, " This I do profess, as touching my faith, and make
my protestation, which I desire you to note : I will never
consent that the bishop of Rome shall have any jurisdiction
within this realm." " Take a note thereof," cries Story;
while Martin said, " Mark, Mr. Cranmer, how you an-
swer for yourself. You refuse and deny him by whose
laws ye do remain in life ; being otherwise attainted of
high treason, and but a dead man by the laws of the
realm." Cranmer protested before God that he was no
traitor, adding, he had confessed more at his arraignment
than was true. Martin repeated his assertion, and bade
him proceed. Cranmer then went on, " I will never con-
sent to the bishop of Rome ; for then should I give myself
to the devil; for I have made an oath to the king, and I
must obey the king by God's laws. By the Scripture the
king is chief, and need no foreign person in his own realm
above him. There is no subject but to a king. I am a
subject ; I owe my fidelity to the crown. The pope is con-
trary to the crown. I cannot obey both ; for no man can
serve two masters at once, as you in the beginning of your

ARCHBISHOP CRANMER. 115

oration declared of the sword and the keys, attributing the
keys to the pope, and the sword to the king; but I say the
king hath both." He proceeded in the same concise, point-
ed, energetic strain to show how contrary the pope's laws
are both to the laws of England and of God. He defended
the orthodox faith of the sacrament in the same manner,
continuing thus, " Christ commanded all to drink of the
cup; the pope taketh it away from the laymen, and yet
one saith that if Christ had died for the devil that he should
drink thereof. Christ biddeth us to obey the king; the
bishop of Rome biddeth us to obey him: therefore, unless he
be antichrist, I cannot tell what to make of him. Where-
fore, if I should obey him, I cannot obey Christ. He is
like the devil in his doings; for the devil said to Christ, ' If
thou wilt fall down and worship me, I will give thee all the
kingdoms of the world." Thus he took upon him to give
that which was not his own. Even so, the bishop of Rome
giveth princes their crowns, being none of his own ; for
where princes either by election, by succession, or by in-
heritance obtain their crown, he saith that they should
have it from him. Christ saith that antichrist shall be.
And who shall he be ? Forsooth he that advanceth him-
self above all other creatures. Now if there be none al-
ready that hath advanced himself after such sort besides
the pope, then in the mean time let him be antichrist."

" Pleaseth it you to make an end ?" interrupted Dr.
Story. Cranmer went on : " For he will be the vicar of
Christ, he will dispense with the old and new testament
also ; yea, and with apostasy." He then disavowed all
personal ill-will to the reigning bishop of Rome ; and said
he spoke not so for his defence, but to declare his con-
science for the zeal that he bore to God's word, trodden
under foot by the bishop of Rome. He quoted our Lord's
testimony, as to what would be the lot of his faithful ser-
vants in persecuting times; and set forth again the utter
illegality of the pope's interference in this land, requiring
the king's and queen's proctors to make known to their
majesties what he had said. Then, addressing Gloucester
in his high place, he went on, " And you, for your part,
my lord, are perjured; for now ye sit judge for the pope,
and yet you did receive your bishopric of the king. You
have taken an oath to be adversary to the realm : for the
pope's laws are contrary to the laws of the realm." Glou-
cester retorted, " You were the cause that I did forsake the

116 ARCHBISHOP CRANMEK.

pope, and did swear that he ought not to be supreme head,
and gave it to king Henry the eighth, that he ought to be
it ; and this you made me to do." To this Cranmer replied,
that the question was settled three quarters of a year be-
fore he had the archbishopric, in the time of his predeces-
sor VVarham; so that he had nothing to do with influencing
Brooks, who, as a doctor of divinity, had signed his assent
to the giving of the supremacy to Henry, along with the
other learned divines of Oxford and Cambridge ; " so that
here ye have reported of me that which ye cannot prove,
which is evil done," continued the intrepid metropolitan,
still standing erect before them, with his cap on his head.

Gloucester now remarked, " We come to examine ypu ;
and you, methinks, examine us." Then Story commenced
an oration, the purport of which was to express his regret
that Cranmer had laeen allowed to talk so much, to rail at
him, and to demand that he should directly be compelled
to answer to the articles they were about to lay against
him. Martin undertook the office of examiner, whose chief
object it was to exhibit Cranmer as having been a zealous
Romanist in former days, and to implicate him in Henry's
proceedings against Lambert. He then assailed the arch-
bishop with some intricate queries respecting the temporal
head of the church ; but through the unfairness of the scribe
who took down the examination, Cranmer's answers are
not intelligibly given. Then followed the interrogatories,
to the number of sixteen, of the choice style of which the
first is a specimen. " That he, the aforesaid Thomas
Cranmer, being yet free, and before he entered into holy
orders, married one Joan, surnamed Black or Brown, dwell-
ing at the sign of the dolphin in Cambridge." He answered,
that whether she was called Black or Brown he knew not ;
but that he married there one Joan, that he granted. All
the articles were in the same impertinent and vulgar style;
his answers all concise, and confirmatory of his doctrine.
The notary having entered them, the judges were about to
rise and depart, but Gloucester seeing the people somewhat
moved with the words of the archbishop, pronounced an-
other very long harangue, setting forth the greatness of his
heresy and sin ; ending in these terms. " Thus much have
I said, not for you, Mr. Cranmer, for my hope that I con-
ceived of you is now gone and past ; but somewhat to
satisfy the rude and unlearned people, that they, perceiv-
ing your arrogant lying, and lying arrogancy, may the

ARCHBISHOP CRANMER. 117

better eschew your detestable and abominable schism." In
conclusion, they appointed eight witnesses to depose what
they knew against the archbishop, calling on him to say if
he had an objection to any one of them. He refused them
all, as being perjured men, and not Christian in their reli-
gion ; but this was not regarded. On going out, Cranmer,
as before, made low obeisance to the queen's commission-
ers, Martin and Story, whereat the latter, pointing to the
bishop of Gloucester, said that he ought rather to give rev-
erence unto him ; but the archbishop departed without taking
any notice of the pope's representative.

After this, he was cited to appear at Rome, within eighty
days, and answer for himself; which he said he would do,
if it pleased the king and queen to send him there ; but
before the fourth part of that time had expired, their majes-
ties received the pope's commands to degrade him. Being
also kept in close confinement, with no means of leaving
it, he was, of course, prevented from answering the cita-
tion, yet his non-appearance at Rome was pronounced con-
tumacious, and for such contempt of the pope's authority,
he was condemned to suffer death. Thurlby, bishop of
Ely, was chosen to sit on this new commission: he had
been the beloved and cherished friend of Cranmer, whose
palace had ever been open to him, and whose bounty he
had most largely received ; and with hirn was joined Bon-
ner himself. These two delegates appeared in Oxford on
the 14th of February, in Christ's church, sitting in pontifi-
cal state, where they opened their commission, setting forth
how that the accused had wanted nothing appertaining to his
necessary defence ; on hearing which Cranmer exclaimed,
" O Lord, what lies be these! that I being continually in
prison, and never could be suffered to have counsel or ad-
vocate at home, should produce witnesses, and appoint my
counsel at Rome ! God must needs punish this open and
shameless lying." They, however, read to an end, and
then proceeded to degrade him. When he was robed and
garnished as a priest, " What!" said he, " I think I shall
say mass." " Yea," replied Cosins, " My Lord, I trust
to see you say mass for all this." " Do you so?" returned
Cranmer, " that shall you never see, nor will I ever do it."

Then were added to these garments all manner of robes,
of a bishop and archbishop, as he appears at his installa-
tion; saving that as every thing then is most rich and costly,
so on the present occasion, all was formed of canvas and

118 ARCHBISHOP CBANMER.

old rags. A mitre and pall of the same materials were
then put upon him ; and in his hand the crosier stafT. Bon-
ner, who of a long time had hated the archbishop, and to
whose malignant spirit this spectacle of mockery was a
choice regale, now stretched out his hand towards the ven-
erable and dignified object of their antichristian cruelty, and
spoke as follows : " This is the man that hath ever despised
the pope's holiness, and now is to be judged by him. This
is the man that hath pulled down so many churches, and
now is come to be judged in a church. This is the man
that contemned the blessed sacrament of the altar, and now
is come to be condemned before that blessed sacrament
hanging over the altar. This is the man that like Lucifer
sat in the place of Christ, upon an altar to judge other, and
now is come before an altar to be judged himself" Here
the archbishop interrupted him, saying, that in that he be-
lied him ; for if, on the occasion to which he alluded, when
a scaffolding was erected for him and some others, to sit in
commission in Paul's church, there was any altar under it,
he neither knew nor suspected it. But Bonner went on, in
his usual strain of low scurrility, reviling him; commen-
cing each sentence with "This is the man;" until every
person present was weary and disgusted with his ruffian-
ism. Thurlby repeatedly pulled him by the sleeve to stop
him, and afterwards reproached him with breach of pro-
mise; for he had entreated him earnestly to use him with
reverence.

Bonner having ended his scoffs, they proceeded to the
degradation, the first act of which was to take away the
crosier; which he held fast, refusing to deliver it up; and
following the example of Martin Luther, drew from his
left sleeve a formal appellation, which he put into their
hands, saying, " I appeal to the next general council ; and
herein I have comprehended my cause and form of it,
which I desire may be admitted." He then called on the
bystanders to be witnesses that he had so appealed. The
bishop of Ely at first refused to receive the paper, saying
that their commission was to proceed against him : but
when Cranmer reminded him that the matter was immedi-
ately between him and the pope, and that no man ought to
be a judge in his own cause, Ely took the paper, saying
that if it might be admitted it should. He then implored
Cranmer to consider his state ; and referring to the part he
was himself acting, and to the great love and friendship

ARCHBISHOP CRANMER. 119

that had been between them, he wept so bitterly that for a
long while he could not proceed. After recovering a little
composure, he stepped forward, and solemnly declared that
if it had not been for the royal commandment, which he
could not disobey, no earthly gain should have induced
him to have done it : protesting it was the saddest thing
that ever happened to him. It is very probable that the
brutal conduct of Bonner had roused for the moment some
better feeling on the part of his fellow-persecutor. The
archbishop kindly comforted his friend with much gentle-
ness ; saying he was very well content : so they proceeded
in their silly ceremonies. When they attempted to remove
the pall, which is the solemn and exclusive vesture of an
archbishop, Cranmer asked, " Which of you hath a pall,
to take off my pall?" implying that they, being of an infe-
rior order, could not degrade him. One of them replied,
that as bishops they were indeed below his order, and could
not do it; but as the pope's delegates, they might take his
pall, which they did. Then a barber clipped his hair round
about, and the bishops scraped the tops of his fingers, where
he had been anointed: Bonner indulging his usual savage
disposition, by paining him as much as he could ; while
Ely was soft and gentle as possible. The archbishop, in
the midst of their fooleries, remarked, "All this needed
not ; I had myself done with this gear long ago." They
ended by stripping him of his own gown, to his jacket, and
putting on him a poor beadle's old thread- bare gown, with
a townsman's cap on his head. Then Bonner exulting-
ly cried out, " Now you are no lord any more !" and in his
repeated bursts of spite, which continued till they departed,
he spoke of him as, " This gentleman here," and so forth.
When the captive was led back to his prison, habited in
so unseemly a fashion, every spectator was moved to pity;
and an incident occurred which proves to what utter desti-
tution he was reduced. A gentleman of Gloucestershire
had taken charge of the archbishop's gown; and now car-
rying it along, entered into conversation with him, remark-
ing that the bishop of Ely had protested his friendship with
tears ; to which Cranmer replied, that he might have used
a great deal more friendship towards him, and never have
been the worse thought on; for he had well deserved it.
When they reached the prison the gentleman asked him to
drink: he answered, that if he had a piece of salt fish he
had better will to eat ; for that he had been that day some-

120 ARCHBISHOP CRANMER.

what troubled with that matter, and had eaten little ; " but
now that it is past," added he, " my heart is well quieted.''
It was a fact that this man, the highest dignitary of the
church in England, whose liberality had been renowned
through the whole realm, and whose influence was such
that not only the gentle Edward but the fierce and untrac-
table Henry could deny him nothing ; this good and vene-
rable archbishop had been so persecuted for Christ's sake,
that he had not at his command a single penny whei'ewith
to purchase a morsel to appease his hunger. The gentle-
man told him he would, with all his heart give him some
money; but suddenly recollecting the case of a man named
Farmer, who had lately been stripped of all his possessions
for showing compassion to a prisoner similarly situated, he
dared not relieve him in a direct way, but gave money to
the bailiffs standing by, and said, if they were good men,
they would bestow it on him : and so left him, the arch-
bishop earnestly bidding him farewell, commending him-
self to his prayers, and those of his friends. That very
night was the gentleman arrested by command of Bonner
and Ely; and had not powerful interest been exerted on his
behalf, he would have been sent up before the council, to
be dealt with as a favourer of heresy.

We now come to the most painful event that has yet
been recorded. Cranmer had been the first to move the
overthrow of the pope's usui'ped dominion in England ; he
had stood forth as chief standard-bearer throughout the
reformation, and had hitherto presented an undaunted front
of opposition to the antichristian proceedings of Mary's
reign. The fall of such a man from his steadfastness would
afford so great a triumph to the enemies of Christ, inflict
such a blow upon his cause, and so dishearten its uphold-
ers, that all the craft and subtlety of the devil and man was
sure to work against him to this end. He had been in
prison now three years, without giving them a hope of
turning him away from the truth ; and they pursued the
wisest plan in making their last assault on bis constancy.
They took him from his place of confinement, lodged him
in tbe house of the dean of Christ's church, replenished
him with delicate food, induced him to play at bowls, and
take his pleasure in walking, and all such indulgences as,
after so long endurance of hardship and privation, might
assist the flesh in its war against the spirit. What argu-
ments they used, or how they beguiled him, it is bootless

ARCHBISHOP CRANMEK. 121

to inquire : they succeeded ; and the paper of recantation
which he signed and ratified was as fijU and ample as their
hearts could desire. In this, he renounces and detests all
the errors and heresies of Luther, Zuinglius, and others ;
acknowledges the church of Rome as the only true church,
and the pope as supreme head, Christ's vicar, to whom all
Christian people should be subject. He believes, and wor-
ships, in the sacrament, the very body and blood of Jesus
Christ : he acknowledges the other six sacraments, accor-
ding to the determination of Rome ; he craves pardon for
his past errors, exhorts all whom he has deluded to return
to the unity of the church; and submits himself to the pope,
the king and the queen ; ending with a protestation that he
has not done this tor favour or fear, but willingly, for the
discharge of his conscience, and the instruction of others.

Such was the wicked declaration drawn up by his artful
deceivers, to which the unhappy archbishop subscribed his
name.

" O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is
thine help." Many a backsliding child of God has been
taught to appropriate those precious words ; and so it was
with Cranmer. Marvellous indeed was the Lord's work,
displayed in his rescue, and he who had branded his own
forehead with the accursed stamp of apostasy, was yet to
wear the crown of martyrdom : a willing, though indeed
most guilty victim at the foot of that cross which he had
madly strove to cast from him. It pleased the Lord to turn
the counsel of those wicked Ahithophels into foolishness ;
for, instead of taking the advantage that such a conquest
would have afforded them, and setting Cranmer up on high,
to be a stumbling-block to others, they determined to re-
venge on him their old grievances; and Mary, ever on the
alert to shed the blood of her people, without giving the
unhappy renegade any notice of her purpose, directed Dr.
Cole to go down to Oxford, and preach a funeral sermon
preparatory to his burning. After him she sent some noted
characters, experienced in the slaughter of Christ's sheep,
lord Williams, lord Chandois, sir John Brydges, justice
Brown, and others, to guard against any tumult that might
arise on the unexpected burning of the archbishop.

The 21st March was the time appointed for this unpa-
ralleled piece of treachery, and on the preceding day Cole
visited the unsuspecting victim, who still rested on their
positive assurance of sparing his life; and questioned him

MARTYROLOGY. VOL. II. 11

122 ARCHBISHOP CRANMEE.

as to whether he still abode in the catholic faith ; to which
Cranmer replied, that by God's grace he would be daily-
more confirmed in the catholic faith. On the morrow, Cole
came again, and asked him if he had any money; Cran-
mer replying that he had none, he gave him fifteen crowns
to give to the poor, to whom he would; and exhorting him
to constancy in the faith, he departed.

Cranmer now began to suspect the real state of the
matter : and was confirmed therein, when a Spanish friar,
one of the witnesses to his recantation, came to him, bring-
ing a paper with articles, for him to recite in his open re-
cantation before the people ; earnestly desiring that he
would write them out with his own hand, and put his name
to it ; which when he had done, the friar requested another
copy, which was to remain with him. Cranmer complied :
but resolving how he would now proceed, he secretly put
into his bosom his prayer and exhortation written on an-
other paper, which he meant to recite to the people, before
he made his last confession of faith ; fearing lest, if they
heard the confession first, they would not suffer him to ad-
dress the people. Soon afi;er nine o'clock, lord Williams
and his fellow murderers arrived, and a great multitude of
persons assembled, full of expectation ; one party longing
to hear the confirmation of Cranmer's apostasy from his
own lips ; the other yet trusting that the Lord would recal
his wandering sheep, and give him grace to seal the testi-
mony of that doctrine which he above all other men had
helped to set forth throughout the land. The greatest ex-
citement prevailed on all sides,

St. Mary's church was the place appointed for Cole's
sermon ; before the pulpit was set a stage, or scaffolding,
raised half way between the people and the preacher, on
which the prisoner was to stand. He had again been sent to
Bocardo, and thence he now came in the following order.
First the mayor, and the corporation : then Cranmer, led
between two friars, mumbling some chant, through the
streets, alternately, until they came to the church door,
when they began the Nunc Dimittis, singing it while they
conducted him to the scaffolding, and there left him.
The language of old Fox, in describing the scene, is too
striking to be altered : — " The lamentable case and sight of
that man gave a sorrowful spectacle to all Christian eyes
that beheld him. He that late was archbishop, metropoli-
tan, and primate of England, and the king's privy counsel-

ARCHBISHOP CHANMER. 123

lor, being now in a bare and ragged gown, and ill-favour-
edly clothed, with an old square cap, exposed to the con-
tempt of all men, did admonish men not only of his own
calamity, but also of their estate and fortune. For who
would not pity his case, and bewail his fortune, and might
not fear his own chance, to see such a prelate, so grave a
counsellor, and of so long continued honour, after so many
dio-nities, in his old years to be deprived of his estate, ad-
judged to die, and in so painful a death to end his life ; and
now presently from such fresh ornaments to descend to
such vile and ragged apparel ? In this habit, when he had
stood a good space upon the stage, turning to a pillar near
adjoining thereunto, he lifted up his hands to heaven, and
prayed unto God once or twice, till at length Dr. Cole,
coming into the pulpit, began his sermon."

This discourse was just what might have been expected
from a cunning priest, whose business it was to gloss over
a murder. He set about it in so orderly a way, as to prove
that he had bestowed no small pains to acquit himself to
the queen's satisfaction. After some prefatory apocry-
phal matter, he turned the story to Cranmer, whom he re-
proached as having once forsaken the true faith, and
mightily promoted heresy through the land. Then, ad-
verting to the justice of God, which was mingled with his
mercy, as in the case of David, he blasphemously compared
with it the dealings of his sanguinary mistress, who, while
pardoning Cranmer, nevertheless judged it fitting to put him
to a cruel death. First, as a traitor, who had dissolved
the lawful matrimony between her father and mother, be-
sides driving the pope's supremacy out of the land: se-
condly, that he had been a heretic, from whom, as from a
fountain, all the heretical doctrines and schismatical opi-
nions that so many years had prevailed in England did rise
and spring : and further that as the death of the duke of
Northumberland had lately made even sir Thomas More,
chancellor, who, as Cole said, died for the church, so should
there be one who should make even for the death of Fisher,
bishop of Rochester; and because that Ridley, Hooper,
Farrar, and Latimer were not equivalent to the said Fisher,
it seemed that Cranmer should be joined to them, to make
up an equality! There were, he added, other weighty
causes, moving the queen and council, not meet to be
opened to the common people. Then the doctor wound up
his monstrous discourse with a significant application to

124 ARCHBISHOP CRANMER.

the hearers, reading them a lesson of passive obedience to
the queen ; who, if she spared not so notable a person as
Cranmer, would much less spare any of them, should they
oppose her supreme will. He drew a lamentable picture
of Cranmer's present degraded, forlorn, and hopeless state,
contrasted with what he had been ; and, lastly, bestowed
some comfort on the victim, exhorting him to take his
death well, reminding him of the thief on the cross, the
three Jews in the furnace, St, Andrew and St. Lawrence;
exalting the pains that had been taken for his conversion,
rejoicing in their success, and lest he should have any un-
easiness about his soul, promising in the name of the
priests there present, a multitude of dirges, masses, fune-
rals, and so forth, in all the churches of Oxford for its
succour.

It cannot be doubted that the hearing of this infamous
effusion inflicted more pain on Cranmer than all the flames
ever kindled for God's martyrs could have done. There
he stood the very image of sorrow and self-reproach : now
lifting up his hands and eyes to heaven, and again for
shame dropping them towards the earth. More than twenty
times a fresh gush of tears bespoke his renewed grief; those
who were present testifying that they never saw such
weeping in a little child, as in this venerable father of the
English church. Well do we know that rivers of tears
could not have washed out the sin he had recently com-
mitted; but those bursts of sorrow were the overflowings
of a heart smitten by the hand of the Lord; and already
melted under the sense of the immeasurable love that had,
in the blood of Christ, as we most assuredly believe, made
him clean from the guilt of his transgression. It was the
bitter weeping of Peter, over his treacherous denial of his
pardoning Lord.

When Cole had finished his harangue, the people were
departing ; but he prayed them to wait, to hear from Cran-
mer's lips the confirmation of what he had stated : then he
called on the archbishop to fulfil his promise of addressing
them ; who, with alacrity, answered, " I will ;" and beseech-
ing them to join in asking Almighty God to forgive him,
commenced with a most touching prayer, full of the deep-
est self-abhorrence, confession of iniquity, and fervent en-
treaties for mercy. He offered it up on his knees with
floods of bitter tears, while every one seemed moved to the
liveliest compassion. He followed this by a long exhorta-

ARCHBISHOP CRANMER. 126

tion, in which he enjoined them, first, to renounce the
world and serve God; secondly, that next to God they
should obey the king and queen, as being by him appointed
to rule over them; thirdly, to live in brotherly love, to do
good to all men, and hurt none: fourthly, to wean their
hearts from riches, and show much pity on the poor. He
then adverted to his own case, with heaven ready to re-
ceive him, or hell ready to swallow him up : wherefore he
would declare to them his very faith ; for it was then no
time to dissemble, whatsoever he had said or written in
times past. He rehearsed the apostles' creed, addin^r,
" And I believe every article of the catholic faith, every
word and sentence taught by our Saviour Jesus Christ, his
apostles and prophets, in the New and Old Testament.

"And now," he continued "I come to the great thino-
which so much troubleth my conscience, more than any
thing that ever I did or said in my whole life; that is, the
setting abroad of 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 iny heart,
and written for fear of death, and to save my life, if it
might be ; and that is all such bills and papers which I
have written or signed with my hand since my degrada-
tion ; wherein I have written many things untrue. 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.

" And as for the pope, I refuse him, as Christ's enemy,
and Antichrist, with all his false doctrine. And as for the
sacrament, I believe, as I have taught in my book a(Tainst
the bishop of Winchester ; the which my book teacheth so
true a doctrine of the sacrament, that it shall stand at the
last day before the judgment of God, where the papistical
doctrine contrary thereto shall be ashamed to show her
face."

He certainly would not have been allowed to proceed so
far, had not astonishment held the hearers mute ; so unex-
pected was this avowal by the deceived and deceitful ene-
mies of Christ, Some presently began to remind him of
his recantation, and to accuse him of falsehood ; but the
rage of the disappointed doctors, who saw so great a tro-
phy wrested from them in the moment of assured victory,
was grievous. They could take no revenge ; he could die
but once, and to death he was doomed that day. The ut-
11*

126 ARCHBISHOP CEANMEK.

most stretch of their power could not kill him twice ; nor
could they hinder that from being a martyrdom, which was
likely to have been the disgraceful execution of an apos-
tate. They took the only means left of venting their anger,
by bitterly reproaching him with dissimulation : to which
he answered, " Ah, my masters, you do not take it so.
Always since I lived hitherto, I have been a hater of false-
hood, and a lover of simplicity; and never before this time
have I dissembled." While he spoke this, all the tears that
remained in his body seemed to burst from his eyes. He
attempted to say more of the papacy and the sacrament ;
but they saw the danger, and began to shout and yell ;
Cole, especially, bawling out with others, " Stop the here-
tic's mouth, and take him away."

Then the archbishop, being pulled from the stage, was
hurried away to the fire ; the friars who had so unwittingly
met his case, by chanting over him the song of Simeon,
now vexing, troubling, and threatening him most cruelly.
Cranmer paid no regard to them, addressing all his talk to
the people ; excepting that to one friar who was very trou-
blesome, he gave advice to go home to his study, and apply
diligently to his book ; telling him that if he earnestly called
upon God, by reading more he would get knowledge.

Thus, coming to the place where the holy bishops and
blessed martyrs Ridley and Latimer had given their bodies
to the flames five months before, he kneeled down, prayed
fervently, but briefly, and then rising, quickly undressed
himself to his shirt, which was made long, reaching to his
feet : they were bare ; and his head so perfectly bald, that
when his caps were off, not a single hair appeared upon it.
His beard, long and thick, covered much of his face, add-
ing an appearance of gravity to his venerable countenance
that moved all hearts. The Spanish friars, who had chiefly
wrought on him to recant, and had been so busy about him
since, tried once more to draw him from the faith, but in
vain. He gave his hand to some old men standing by,
and offered it to a priest named Ely, but he refused, saying
it was not lawful to salute a heretic, particularly one who
had returned to his erroneous opinions after renouncing
them. He regretted having been so familiar with him, and
reproved those who gave him their hands.

An iron chain was next put round Cranmer, and, seeing
there was no hope of moving him from his steadfast mind,
they kindled the fire, which blazed up towards him ; and

AGNES POTTEN — JOAN TRUNCHFIELD. 127

as soon as he saw it rise, he stretched out his arm, put his
right hand into the flame, and there held it, unflinching and
immovable, except that once he applied it to his face, until
in the sight of all men it was consumed before his body-
was even scorched. When the fire reached him, he stood,
as fixed and motionless as the stake to which he was
bound, his eyes uplifted to heaven and the words frequently
escaping him, " That unworthy right hand !" This he
repeated as long as voice was left, intermingling with it the
prayer, " Lord Jesus, receive my spirit !" until in the great-
ness of the flame he gave up the ghost.

CHAPTER VII.

FIERCE PERSECUTIONS AND NUMEROUS MARTYRDOMS.

It would seem as though the rageof disappointment excited
by Cranmer's recovery from his fearful lapse, and his ad-
mission into the noble army of martyrs, had traversed the
whole land, in a paroxysm of madness, to collect Christ's
sheep for the slaughter. Those who followed were, gene-
rally, from the inferior ranks of society, but no whit less
precious in the sight of God. It may be remembered that,
at the burning of Robert Samuel, in Ipswich, two women
were marked out for destruction, because they kindly greet-
ed their pastor, as he went to the stake. Their names were
Agnes Potten, and Joan Trunchfield, wives of two
humble artisans in Ipswich, whose offence consisted in
affirming that Jesus Christ was in heaven on the right
hand of the Father, and not bodily present in the sacra-
ment. For this they were condemned and burnt. At
the fire, having made themselves ready, they addressed the
people with much scriptural exhortation and encourage-
ment; earnestly desiring them to credit and lay hold on
the word of God, and not on man's devices and inventions:
bidding them despise the ordinances and institutions of the
Romish Antichrist, with all his superstitions and corrupt
religion. They held up their hands in the fire, calling
upon God ; and showing a marvellous example of courage-
ous consistency to the end. Trunchfield had appeared

128 MAUNDREL — SPICER — COBERLEY.

much less ardent and zealous than her companion in the
prospect of death ; but when actually brought to the place
of suffering, her joy and comfort abounded even above the
other's. God was glorified in both.

Salisbury was the scene of the next murders. Three
men, John Maundrel, John Spicer, and William Co-
BERLEY, were brought to the flames together. Maundrel
was the son of a farmer, and himself of the same calling.
He became a hearer of the gospel, by means of Tindal's
Testament, which he always carried about with him ; and
being unable to read, he produced it whenever he found
himself in company with those who could. By this means,
with the help of an excellent memory, he nearly learned it
all by rote; his life and conversation testifying that he was
savingly influenced by what he knew. On one occasion,
in Henry's days, he was reported as having spoken against
holy bread, holy water, and other Romish follies, and for
this crime he did penance in a white sheet, at Devizes.

When, under Mary, popery was restored, and true reli-
gion put to silence, Maundrel for a while left his home in
Wiltshire, but shortly resolved to return. A friend urged
him to follow the counsel, "When they persecute you in
one city, flee to another;" but he replied by quoting what
is said of the fearful and unbelieving in Revelation xxii. On
his return, Spicer, a mason, and Coberley, a tailor, often
resorted to him for conference ; and thus together built
themselves up in their most holy faith. Filled with zeal,
they determined soon after to bear a public testim.ony against
the abominations that prevailed ; and going to the parish
church of Revel, remonstrated with the people who were
following in procession the idol wafer : but they gave little
or no heed. When the vicar came to the pulpit, he began
to read his bead-roll, and to pray for the souls in purgatory;
which Maundrel with an audible voice, called the pope's
pinfold, the other two affirming the same. For this they
were placed in the stocks during the remainder of the ser-
vice, then brought before a justice, and finally sent off, the
next day, to bishop Capon at Salisbury. After several
private examinations, they were publicly questioned, in the
parish church of Fisherton Angel, concerning their belief.
They said they believed as Christian men should and ought
to do, — in God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost ;
in the twelve articles of the creed, and in holy Scripture
from the first of Genesis to the last of the Apocalypse.

MAUNDREL SPICER COBERLEY, 129

This did not content the chancellor ; he therefore demand-
ed whether they believed, that in the sacrament, after con-
secration, there remained no substance of bread or wine,
but Christ's body, flesh, and blood, as he was born of the
Virgin Mary. They answered negatively, saying, that the
popish mass was abominable idolatry, and injurious to the
blood of Christ: confessing, however, that in a faithful con-
gregation, receiving the sacrament of Christ's body and
blood, being duly ministered according to Christ's institu-
tion, Christ's body and blood is spiritually received of the
faithful believer. Being asked as to the pope's supremacy,
they replied that the bishop of Rome usurped over empe-
rors and kings, being Antichrist and God's enemy. Being
asked, "Will ye have the church without a head?" they
answered, Christ was head of his church ; and under Christ,
the queen's majesty. " What a woman head of the church?"
They said. Yea, within her grace's dominions. As to pur-
gatory, they replied that they believed faithfully that the
blood of Christ had purged their sins, and the sins of them
that were saved, unto the end of the world ; so that they
feared nothing of the pope's purgatory, nor esteemed his
pardons. To the question, whether images were necessary
to be in the churches, as laymen's books, and saints to be
prayed to and worshipped, they answered negatively,
Maundrel adding that wooden images were good to roast a
shoulder of mutton, but evil in the church; thereby idola-
try being committed.

The articles being thus answered, the chancellor read
their condemnation, and delivered them to the sheriff; to
whom Spicer said, "Oh, master sheriff, now must you be
their butcher, that you may be guilty also with them of in-
nocent blood before the Lord." The next day, three days
after Cranmer's burning, they were brought out of the gaol
to a place between Salisbury and Wilton, where two posts
were set for them. Here they kneeled, and prayed secretly
together; then being undressed to their shirts, Maundrel
was heard to say in a very loud voice, " Not for all Salis-
bury;" in answer, no doubt, to the sheriff's offer of the
queen's pardon, if he would recant. Spicer observed, " This
is the joyfullest day that ever I saw." They were then
fastened to the stakes and burnt, rendering their souls
gladly and trustfully to the Lord their Redeemer. Coberley
suffered long and dreadfully; but without complaint or im-
patience. His wife was likely to have partaken of the same

130 DRAKES.

cup, for she also was imprisoned with them; but a device
of the keeper's wife overcame her constancy. This woman
heated a large key red hot, and laid it down in the grass
behind the house, then sent Alice Coberley to fetch her the
key with all speed. Alice ran to obey her; and hastily
taking it up, was severely burnt in the hand, which made
her cry out. The other asked her, since she could not
endure that pain, how she would bear the burning of her
whole body? The unhappy woman recanted.

On the 23d of April, Smithfield was again lighted up with
the flame that consumed the bodies of six faithful martyrs.
These were Robert Drakes, William Tyms, Richard
and Thomas Spurge, John Cavel, and George Am-
brose, all of Essex, within the Diocese of London. They
had been sent up at sundry times to Stephen Gardiner, then
lord chancellor, who, in the month of March, 1555, after
examination, committed them to the king's bench and Mar-
shalsea, where they remained nearly a year. After his
death. Heath, archbishop of York, succeeded him in the
chancellorship; and then four of the sufferers, the two
Spurges, Cavel, and Ambrose, sent up a supplication to
him, that they might appear, and be judged. Sir Richard
Read was accordingly sent to the prison to examine them:
he began with Richard Spurge, a shearer, whose offence
was absenting himself from the mass, which he said he
misliked, as well as the Latin service. Thomas Spurge,
a fuller, was accused lor the same matter: he said that he
absented himself from church because the word of God was
not there truly taught, or the sacraments of Christ duly
ministered. Ambrose, also a fuller, added to the same tale,
that after he had read Winchester's book, De vera obedi-
entid, with Bonner's preface annexed, both inveighing
against the authority of the bishop of Rome, he set less by
their doings than before. Cavel, a weaver, agreeing with
the former, also said that he staid from church because the
parson preached contrary doctrines: for first, in a sermon
on the queen's accession, he had called on the people to
believe the gospel, for it was the truth; and if they did not
believe it they should be damned: but in a second sermon,
he preached that the Testament was false in forty places.

Robert Drakes was a minister of the gospel, first made
deacon by Dr. Rowland Taylor, at the command ofCranmer,
and afterwards ordained priest by bishop Ridley. He was
then presented by lord Rich to the living of Thundersley, in

TYMS. 131

Essex, where he faithfully fulfilled his office, until, by the
the same lord Rich, he was sent to the bishop of Winches-
ter, to answer for heretical doctrines. Gardiner asked him
if he would conform himself like a subject to the laws of
the realm, then in force ; he answered that he would abide
all laws which stood with the laws of God. On this, he
was committed to prison.

William Tyms was a deacon, curate of Hockley, in
Essex : his accuser was Mr. Tyrrel, to whom appertained
two woods, called Plumborough wood, and Beeches wood ;
and under shelter of these trees, two sermons were preached
for the comfort of the Lord's poor hunted flock, in Mary's
days. An honest servant of Tyrrel's, named John Gye,
with his wife, went to hear them, which was reported to
his master, with the fact that his woods were polluted by
sermons. Mr. Tyrrel being greatly displeased thereat,
came to Hockley, in the hope of laying hold on the offend-
ers; for he was in the commission of the peace, appointed
to keep down the gospel in that district ; which he did to
the best of his ability, as by his acts fully appears. He
ascertained that about a hundred persons had attended the
sermons ; and sending for Gye, reprimanded him severely,
asking where was the naughty fellow who served the pa-
rish, Tyms ; who was, he said, the cause of bringing the
people there. He charged Gye to fetch him; but he de-
clared he did not know where he was ; nor could he be
persuaded to betray him. Another man, however, offered
to do so ; and the constables were dispatched for the
deacon.

Tyrrel commanded Tyms to be left alone with him that
he might the more freely reproach and revile him: a part
of their conversation was as follows. Tyrrel said that
when he saw the blessed rood, it made him think of God.
" Why, sir," answered Tyms, " if an idol that is made
with man's hands doth make you remember God, how
much more ought the creatures of God, as man, being his
workmanship, or the grass, or the trees that bring forth
fruit, make you remember God ?" Tyrrel replied, by call-
ing him traitorly knave. " Why, sir," said Tyms, " did
you not in king Edward's days affirm the truth that I do
now ?" Tyrrel swore a blasphemous oath that he never
thought it with his heart. " Well," rejoined Tyms, " then
I pray you master Tyrrel bear with me ; for I have been
a traitor but a while, but you have been a traitor six years."

132 TYMS.

He was then sent to the bishop of London. Mr. Tyrrel
deprived Gye of his livery, appointing another in his place;
and so the matter rested at Hockley.

When Tyms came to Bonner, the bishop of Bath was
with him ; and for the space of six or seven hours he stood
before them, enabled to answer all their subtleties, and to
maintain his profession of the faith so steadfastly, that the
constables who attended him declared they never heard
the like: and when the bishop, as if anxious to save Tyms,
asked these men to give him good counsel, they assured
him that it was useless, for he would never turn. At last
the bishops, willing to flatter him, said, "Ah, good fellow,
thou art bold, and thou hast a good fresh spirit : we would
thou hadst learning to thy spirit." " I thank you, my
lords," said he: "and both of you be learned, and I would
you had a good spirit to your learning." They then sent
him to Gardiner, who received him, sitting in all the
pompous pride of his office. Tyms being only a deacon,
was simply habited in a coat, his hose being of a rustic
make: and Gardiner scoffingly saluted him, " Ah, sirrah,
are you a deacon ?" " Yes, my lord, that I am." The
proud prelate returned, " So methinketh, you are decked
like a deacon." " My lord," said the fearless man, " my
vesture doth not so much vary from a deacon, but methink-
eth your apparel doth as much vary from an apostle."
Winchester forthwith committed him to the King's Bench,
where he found many brethren to strengthen him in the
faith.

It was not long before he was returned to Bonner by
Gardiner, who took no further trouble about him ; and thus
he was placed with the other five, and brought up with
them for examination five months after Stephen Gardiner
had gone to his awful account. The principal charge
against them was, of course, their disbelief of transubstan-
tiation, on which they were questioned by the bishop's
chaplain; and two days afterwards, on the 23d March, Bon-
ner sent for Drakes and Tyms in his ex-officio capacity, and
objected against them the articles before objected to Green,
and his fellow martyrs: the same proceeding was used on
the 26th towards the other four; and finally on the 28th
they were all brought up together for judgment, to the open
consistory in Paul's church.

Bonner began by addressing Tyms as the ringleader and
perverter of his companions ; he said, if his fault had not

TYMS. 133

reached to the hurt of others, he would have followed
Christ's rule, told him of it privately, and if that failed, be-
fore two or three others ; and if that served not, then he
would have told the church: but because of the greatness
and notoriety of his fault, he had thought good to follow
St. Paul's injunction, " Such as sin, rebuke openly, that
others may fear." Therefore, he was brought before the
people, to receive judgment according to his deserts. This
impudent speech he concluded by asking what Tyms could
say, why he should not proceed to do so. He answered,
" My lord, I marvel that you will begin with a lie ; you
call me the ringleader and teacher of this company; but
how untruly you have said shall shortly appear ; for there
is none of all these, my brethren, which are brought hither
as prisoners, but when they were at liberty and out of pri-
son they dissented from you and your doings as much as
they do at this present ; and for that cause they are now
prisoners. So it is evident that they learned not their re-
ligion in prison. And as for me, I never knew them till
such time as I, by your commandment, was prisoner with
them. How could I then be their ringleader and teacher?
So that all the world may see how untruly you have
spoken. As for my fault, which you make so grievous,
whatsoever you judge of me, I am well assured that I hold
none other religion than Christ preached, the apostles wit-
nessed, the primitive church received, and now of late the
apostolical and evangelical preachers of this realm have
faithfully taught; for the which you have cruelly burned
them, and now you seek our blood also. Proceed on hardly
by what rule you will; I force not, I do not refuse you for
my ordinary."

Bonner then exhorted him to recant, telling him if he so
did he should be forgiven; if not, he should have judgment
as a heretic. On this, one of the prisoners cried out, "My
lord, you are no upright judge; for you judge after your
own lust. But if you will judge us according to the holy
testament of Christ, which is the word of truth, we will
accord to your judgment; for unto that word we wholly
submit ourselves. But as for your judgment without the
truth, God shall condemn it." This prisoner was very
urgent to be tried by the word of God ; which angered the
bishop, who called him busy knave; commanding him to
hold his tongue, or he should be had away to a place of
smaller ease. Tyms then proceeded, saying, " My lord, I

MARTYROLOGY. VOL. II. 12

134 TYMS.

doubt not but I am of the catholic church, whatsoever you
judge of me; but as for your church, you have before this
day renounced it, and by corporeal oath promised never to
consent to the same : contrary to the which you have receiv-
ed into this realm the pope's authority; and therefore you
are falsely perjured and forsworn, all the sort of you.
Besides this, you have both spoken and written very earnestly
against that usurped power; and now you do burn men
that will not acknowledge the pope to be supreme head."

Bonner asked where he had written any thing against
the church of Rome; and Tyms referred him to his pre-
face to Winchester's book, where he had inveighed against
the bishop of Rome, calling his power false and pretended.
Bonner seemed for a little space confounded ; then address-
ing the bystanders very meekly, he made his defence to
them; telling them that he and Winchester had so done
because of the perilous world that then was; for it was
made treason, he said, by the laws of the realm, to main-
tain the pope's authority: adding the monstrous falsehood,
that if any man uttered his conscience respecting that au-
thority, he suffered death for it. Then turning to Tyms he
continued, " But since the coming in of the queen's majes-
ty, when we might be bold to speak our conscience, we
have acknowledged our faults; and my lord of Winches-
ter himself shamed not to recant the same at Paul's cross.
And also, thou thyself seest that I stand not in it, but willing-
ly have submitted myself. Do thou also as we have done."
" My lord," said Tyms, " that which you have written
against the supremacy of the pope may be well approved
by the Scriptures. But that which 5'ou now do, is against
the word of God, as I can well prove."

Here one of the doctors, supposed to be Coke, interposed,
telling Tyms he was like a man who passed the whole day
hunting over hill and dale, and came home at night having
taken nothing. So he laboured in reading the Scripture,
but never could take the meaning thereof. Tyms answer-
ed that the similitude was not well applied; for, he praised
God, he had not read the Scriptures unprofitably, God,
he was thankful, had revealed to him so much of them as
he doubted not was sufficient for his salvation. Bonner,
repeating the assertion of his ignorance, asked how he knew
that thing to be the word of God, which he called Scrip-
ture? Drake instantly answered to this, saying, that he
knew it to be the word of God, for that it did show unto

TYMS. 1 35

men their salvation in Christ; and did revoke and call
back all men from wicked life, into a pure and undefiled
conversation. The bishop replied that heathen writers had
taught precepts of good living as well as the Scripture; and
yet their writings were not esteemed to be God's word.
Tyms answered, "The Old Testament beareth witness of
those things that are written in the new: for there is no-
thing taught in the New Testament, but it was foreshown
in the law and prophets." This Bonner positively denied;
and Drakes began to quote Isaiah in support of it: till Bon-
ner, who never could long brook any appeal of that kind,
turned to Dr. Pendleton, requesting him to devise some-
thing to do these men good. But while the Dr. sat with
his face buried in his hands, considering how best to com-
mend his own example of apostasy to these fervent spirits,
Bonner saved him any further trouble by proceeding in all
haste to other talk, and then to condemn them to the flames;
preparatory to which he caused the articles to be read,
demanding their answers thereto. Tyms gave his very
clearly and scripturally: after which Bonner entreated him
to revoke his heresies, to reform himself unto the church
of Rome, and not to stick so much to the literal sense of
the scriptures, but to use the interpretations of the old
fathers. Tyms refused; thanking God for that day, trust-
ing he would turn all their curses into blessings. " And,"
he asked, " what have you to maintain the real presence
of Christ in the sacrament, but only the bare letter?" "We
have," quoth Bonner, " the catholic church." " No," said
Tyms, " you have the popish church of Rome for you, for
which you be perjured and forsworn. And the see of Rome
is the see of Antichrist; and therefore to that church I will
not conform myself, nor once consent unto it." Then
Bonner, seeing his constant boldness to be immovable, pro-
ceeded to his condemnation, pronounced the sentence defi-
nitive upon him, and gave him over to the secular power.

When Robert Drakes was called, and in like manner
exhorted, he answered, "As for your church of Rome, I
utterly defy and deny it, with all the works thereof, even
as I deny the devil and all his works." He too was pre-
sently condemned, and delivered to the sheriff.

Thomas Spurge was next asked if he would return to
the catholic church, and said, " As for your church of
Rome, I do utterly deny it; but to the true catholic church
I am content to return, and continue in the same, where-

136 HARPOLE BKACH HULLIER.

of I believe the church of Rome to be no part or mem-
ber." The rest were found in the like constant state; and
all were together sentenced by Bonner; who ridding his
blood-stained hands of them, gave them into the custody
of the sheriffs of London, by whom they were lodged in
Newgate; whither they went most joyfully, abiding there
the Lord's good time, when he should permit them to seal
their faith with the shedding of their blood. On the twen-
ty-third of April, they were led toSmithfield, and with great
willingness gave their lives in the cause of Him who had
redeemed them with his most precious blood.

Some letters remain of Tyms' which prove him to have
been an eminently gifted and most spiritually minded man,
with a strong, clear view of the abominations that defile
the papacy, throughout its iniquitous mystery, which it is
greatly to be wished was more generally enjoyed in our
day. The martyrs considered that church to be no part
of the church of Christ; the very name of Antichrist con-
veyed so much to their plain apprehension ; and therefore
to touch that most unclean thing was in their sight, as it
ought to be in ours, an actual renunciation of their Lord
and Saviour.

John Harpole, of Rochester, and Joan Beach, a widow
of Tunbridge, were about this time accused before the
bishop of Rochester, and both remaining firm in their de-
nial of transubstantiation, they were committed to one fire
in the town of Rochester.

The next martyrdom was that of John Hullier, a min-
ister. He was educated at Eton, and thence elected scho-
lar of King's college, Cambridge. After studying and
taking orders there, he obtained a curacy three miles dis-
tant, and was afterwards removed to Lynn. Here he had
many contests with the papists, who at last apprehended
him, and took him to Thurlby, the bishop, at Ely, and he,
after several examinations, sent him to Cambridge Castle,
which being perhaps deemed too good a lodging, he was
shortly after removed to the tolbooth, or common prison,
where he remained almost three months. At length being
brought to examination at St. Mary's church, before a
number of Doctors and others, and being found constant
in professing the truth, sentence was read against him
by Dr. Fuller; and the foolish ceremony of degradation
performed. When they had done, Hullier said, " This is
the joyfulest day that ever I saw ; and I thank you all,

HULLIER. 137

that ye have delivered and lightened me of all this paltry."
While it was doing, one standing by, and seeing a book in
Hullier's hand, asked what it was: he said, " A Testa-
ment." Whereupon this man snatched it away in a rage,
and threw it violently to a distance. HuUier was then de-
livered to the mayor, who conducted him back to prison,
taking away all his books, writings, and papers.

On Maundy Thursday this gentle martyr was brought
to the stake, near Jesus' college, and exhorted the people
to pray for him. Then he prayed silently for a time, until
a bystander said, " The Lord strengthen thee," and was
sharply reproved for it by a serjeant, who bade him hold
his tongue, or he should repent it. HuUier then said,
" Friend, I trust that as God has hitherto begun, so also he
will strengthen me, and finish his work upon me. I am
bidden to a Maundy, whither I trust to go, and there to
be shortly. God has laid the foundation, as I, by his aid,
will end it." Then sitting down to have his hose taken off,
he desired the people again to pray for him; and also to
bear witness that he died in the right faith, and would seal
it with his blood; certifying them that he died in a just
cause, and for the testimony of the truth ; and that there
was no other rock but Jesus Christ to build upon, under
whose banner he fought, and whose soldier he was.

While thus he addressed the people on all sides, a stu-
dent who stood near called out to a proctor of the univer-
sity, " Hear ye not, master proctor, what blasphemies this
fellow uttereth? Surely it is evil done to suffer him." On
which the proctor called out to the mayor, asking what he
meant; threatening to report him to the council, as un-
friendly to the queen, if he allowed that pernicious person
to go on. Hereupon Hullier was silent, and went meekly
to the stake, where being chained, fire was brought to the
wood and reeds round the pitch-barrel in which he stood.
The wind was unfavourable, and he suffered much : but
just then a number of books were cast into the fire, and he
catching one in his hands, and finding it to be a book of
the communion, joyfully held it before him, reading until
from the force of the flame and smoke he could see no more.
He then fell to prayer, holding up his hands to heaven, the
book being pressed between his arm and heart, while he
thanked God for sending it to him. When for a long time
he had been seemingly dead, in the intenseness of the fire,
12*

138 VARIOUS MAETYES.

he suddenly uttered the words, " Lord Jesus, receive my
spirit !" and died most meekly.

The people being greatly touched by his sufferings and
patient demeanour, all prayed for him, shedding many tears.
The chief men seeing this, cried out that he was not to be
prayed for ; and being but a condemned soul it would pro-
fit him nothing. Nevertheless, the populace went on pray-
ing, which enraged the others so much that they uttered
terrible threatenings to deter them. When all the flesh
was consumed from the martyr's bones, the lifeless skele-
ton remained standing, in a remarkable way; and the peo-
ple, in defiance of all menaces, strove who should secure a
relic of one whom they could not but regard as a murdered
saint of God.

Then followed six from Colchester and its neighbour-
hood: CHEisTornER Lyster, husbandman; John Mace,
apothecary; John Spencer, weaver ; Simon Joyne, saw-
yer; Richard Nichols, weaver; and John Hammond,
tanner. These were together sent to Bonner, who, having
his hands now so full of murders that he scarcely knew
how to perpetrate them fast enough, made very quick work
with them. He had these prisoners brought to his house
at Fulham, and at once propounded to them in the open
church the same articles that had been ministered to the
others. To the first, the existence of one, true, catholic
church, they all consented; John Spencer adding, that the
church malignant, which is the church of Rome, is no part
of Christ's catholic church; and that he neither hath nor
doth believe the doctrine and religion taught and set forth
in the same Romish and malignant church. Nichols, in
answering the fourth article, said also, that he had more
plainly learned the truth of his profession by the doctrine
set forth in King Edward the sixth's time; and thereupon
he had builded his faith, and would continue in the same
to his life's end; God assisting him. They all, in reply-
ing to the fifth, acknowledged having greatly misliked and
spoken against the sacrifice of the mass, and against the
sacrament of the altar ; affirming that they would not come
to hear, or be partakers thereof, because they believed that
they were set forth and used contrary to God's word and
glory. They moreover granted that they had spoken against
the usurped authority of the bishop of Rome, as an oppres-
sor of Christ's church and gospel ; and that he ought not

VARIOUS MARTYRS. 139

to have any authority in England. For all which sayings
they protested they were no whit sorry, but rather rejoiced
and were glad. They answered to the sixth article, that
they never refused, nor did then refuse, to be reconciled to
the unity of Christ's catholic church : but they had, and did,
and so ever would hereafter utterly refuse, to come to the
church of Rome, or to acknowledge the authority of the
seat thereof, but did utterly abhor the same for putting
down God's book, the Bible, and setting up the Babylonish
mass, with all other of Antichrist's merchandize. In re-
plying to the next article, Joyne declared that the cause of
his refusing to be partaker of their trumpery was, for that
the commandments of God were there broken, and Christ's
ordinances changed and put out, and the bishop of Rome's
ordinances instead thereof put in. Lyster affirmed that in
the sacrament there is the substance of bread and wine, as
well after the words of consecration as before; and that
there is not in the same the very body and blood of Christ,
really, substantially, and truly, but only sacramentally, and
spiritually, by faith in the faithful receivers: and that the
mass is not propitiatory for the quick and the dead, but mere
idolatry and abomination.

On the afternoon of the same day, they were again sum-
moned, to undergo the usual assault on their constancy.
The persecutors found how truly the blood of the martyrs
became the seed of the church ; while an act of apostasy
tended to the disheartening of all Christ's people. There-
fore, they laboured the more diligently to win a revocation
from such as had with the greatest boldness professed their
dissent from Romish idolatry. They succeeded with a man
named Roger Grasbroke, who was at first joined with these
six confessors; but they all remained unmovably fixed on
the Rock, which is Christ. The bishop, therefore, at once
condemned them all, on the evening of the day when first
they came before him ; and procuring the queen's writ,
sent them back to Colchester, where they were burned to-
gether on the 28th of April; most cheerfully ending their
lives to the glory of God's holy name, and the great en-
couragement of others.

And now appears another variety, displaying both the
grace of God, bestowed without respect of persons, and the
horrible cruelty of his enemies, whom no degree or kind
of human misery might move from their merciless determi-
nation to hunt out of the world every soul that they could not

140 HUGH LAVEROCK JOHN APPRICE.

delude. Hugh Laverock, a painter, sixty-eight years of
age, and crippled in his limbs, with John Apprice, a poor
man, totally blind, were accused to Bonner and the other
commissioners, by some active heretic-hunter. On the first
of May these helpless creatures were presented before the
mitred chief inquisitor, at his palace in London, where
he objected against them the usual articles; to which
they answered in effect as their brethren who were already
slain had done. They were then remanded to prison, until
the ninth of the same month ; when they were produced in
the consistory, and admonished to revoke their erroneous
opinions concerning the mass. Laverock said, " I will
stand to mine answers, and to that I have confessed; and
I cannot find in the scriptures that the priests should lift
up over their heads a cake of bread." Bonner then turned
to Apprice, asking what he would say; the blind man an-
swered, " Your doctrine that ye set forth and teach, is so
agreeable with the world, and embraced of the same, that
it cannot be agreeable with the scripture of God. And ye
are not of the catholic church, for ye make laws to kill
men, and make the queen your hangman."

Bonner, not a little nettled, as it seemed, at this plain-
ness of speech, ordered them to be immediately brought
after him to Fulham, where he was going to dinner ; and
the same afternoon, in the church, publicly pronounced the
definitive sentence of condemnation against them; and so,
delivering them into the hands of the temporal officer, dis-
patched them out of his own, but not so can he dispatch
from his conscience, before the judgment seat of God, the
guilt of their innocent blood.

On the fifteenth of May, the poor men were taken in a
cart from Newgate to Stratford-le-bow, where the fire was
prepared for their burning. When old Laverock was safely
chained to his new support, the stake, he threw away his
crutches, saying to his fellow martyr, " Be of good com-
fort, my brother, for my lord of London is our good phy-
sician : he will heal us both shortly, thee of thy blindness,
and me of my lameness." The flame was kindled, and
they both stood quietly in it, praising God, and testifying a
lively faith in Christ Jesus, until the burning element had
done its work, and the blind man was enabled to see his
Saviour for himself, and the lame man, without impedi-
ment, to follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth.

As a meet supplement to this wicked butchery, on the

KATHERINE HUT JOAN HORNS. 141

very next day after it three poor women were burned in
Smithfield. Katherine Hut, Joan Horns, and Eliza-
beth Thackvel; the first a widow, the other two maids.
Sir John Mordaunt and Mr. Tyrrel had the merit of deli-
vering them into Bonner's hands. Margaret Ellis was
joined with them in the same accusation, and with them
also condemned, but she slept in the Lord before she could
be brought from her prison to the stake. At their exami-
nation they showed such simplicity and ignorance on some
points, as would have moved any judge to pity, save the
wretch who presided; for when Bonner recited the second
article, they answered that they did not know what a sa-
crament was. Hut and Thackvel adding that matrimony,
baptism, and the Lord's supper were sacraments ordained
in the church; but whether the other specified in this arti-
cle be sacraments, as they heard them called, ordained by
God or not, they could not tell. Margaret Ellis, being ex-
amined separately, as indeed ihey all were, as to the num-
ber of sacraments, answered, she could not tell : she had
heard that there was one sacrament, but what it was she
did not know. On the fourth article they showed a happy
knowledge; for Hut remarked that though at fourteen years
of age she was of the faith in which she had been chris-
tened, yet it was a dead faith; for she did not then under-
stand what she believed. Horns said that she began at
eleven years of age to learn the faith set forth in king Ed-
ward's days: in which faith and religion she had hitherto,
and then did, and would hereafter continue, God so assist-
ing her. To the fifth article they all replied to tliis effect,
that as touching the mass, they knew no goodness in it;
and as touching the sacrament of the altar, they believed
Christ's natural body to be in heaven, and not in the sacra-
ment of the altar.

As to the see of Rome, they acknowledged no such su-
premacy in that see; neither had they any thing to do
therewith. In answering the sixth, they all refused to be
reconciled or united to the church of Rome; or to any
other church contrary to that wherein they then stood,
and which they did profess. Katherine Hut, replying to
the next, said that the reason of her not going to church
was, because neither the service in Latin, mass, matins, or
evensong, were used and ministered according to God's
word; and furthermore, that the mass was an idol; neither
was the true body and blood of Jesus Christ in the sacra-

142 HUT HORNS THACKVEL.

ment of the altar, as they made men believe. She also
stated that she was of the jurisdiction of Canterbury, not
of London. How little that weighed with Bonner, the case
of archdeacon Philpot had proved.

They were sent back to prison till the thirteenth of April,
when being brought up for final judgment, the widow Hut,
standing before the bishop, boldly and constantly stood to
her former confession, neither yielding to his promises nor
cast down by his threats. Being required to say her mind
respecting the sacrament, and to return to the catholic faith,
she said, " I deny it to be God, because it is a dumb God,
and made with men's hands." In this she simply persisted,
and received her sentence. The young girl, Horns, in like
manner, showed herself a true follower and martyr of
Christ. When urged upon the subject of their great idol,
and pressed to acknowledge the wafer God, she said, " If
you can make your god to shed blood, or to show any con-
dition of a true and lively body, then will I believe you:
but it is but bread, as touching the substance thereof, and
that which you call heresy I trust to serve my Lord God
in." Concerning the Roman see, she said, " My lord, I
forsake all his abominations ; and from them good Lord de-
liver us!" From this, her stable and constant assertion,
says Fox, who most tenderly and feelingly relates what he
very probably witnessed, when the bishop was too weak
to remove her, and too ignorant to convince her, he knocked
her down with the butcherly axe of his sentence. And so
the holy virgin and martyr, committed to the shambles of
the secular sword, was offered up with her other fellows, a
burnt sacrifice to the Lord, in the savour of a sweet and
pleasant smell. No less his strength and grace appeared
in the other maid, Elizabeth Thackvel, whose heart and
mind the Lord had so confirmed in his truth, so armed with
patience, that as her adversaries could by no sufiicient
knowledge of scripture convict her affirmation, so by no
forcible attempts they could remove her confession. Where-
upon she standing to the death, being in like sort con-
demned, by the same unbishop-like persecutor, gave her life
willingly and mildly for the confirmation and sealing up of
the sincere truth of God's word.

These three innocent and godly women, thus falsely and
wrongfully by men condemned, for the just quarrel and
cause of God's gospel, were had to Smithfield, and there,
cruelly bound to the stake, gave their bodies to the tor-

THOMAS DROWRY. 143

mentors; their spirits they commended to God: for whose
glory they were willing and ready to sutler whatsoever the
cruel hands of their enemies should work against them,
dying more joyfully in the flaming fire than some of them
that burned them did, peradventure, in their beds. Such
a Lord is God ; glorious and wonderful in all his saints.

In the story of bishop Hooper, mention was made of a
blind boy, who earnestly pressed to be admitted to that
blessed martyr shortly before he suffered, and was by him
confirmed in the faith. The boy's name was Thomas
Drowry. How often, or how long, he had endured im-
prisonment for the truth's sake, is not known : but on his
final examination he was brought before Dr. Williams,
chancellor of Gloucester, sitting judicially with the register
of the diocese in the consistory, near the south door of the
cathedral church, who administered the usual articles,
chiefly urging that on transubstantiation, and saying,
*' Dost thou not believe that after the words of consecration
spoken by the priest, there remaineth the very real body of
Christ in the sacrament of the altar?" " No," answered
the blind boy, " that I do not," " Then," said the chancel-
lor, " thou art an heretic, and shalt be burned. But who
taught thee this heresy]" " You, master chancellor."
" Where, I pray thee?" " Even in yonder place," replied
the boy, turning, and pointing with his hand towards where
the pulpit stood. The chancellor again inquired, "When
did I teach thee so?" Drowry answered, " When you
preached there (naming the day) a sermon to all men as
well as to me, upon the sacrament. You said, the sacra-
ment was to be received spiritually, by faith, and not car-
nally and really, as the papists have heretofore taught."
The shameless apostate answered, " Then do as I have done,
and thou shalt live, as I do, and escape burning." The
blind boy said, " Though you can so easily dispense with
yourself, and mock with God, the world, and your con-
science, yet will I not do so." " Then God have mercy
upon thee," rejoined the chancellor ; " for I will read the
condemnation sentence against thee." " God's will be ful-
filled !" answered the young martyr.

Hereupon the register, being moved with the scene, stood
up, and said to the chancellor, " Fie, for shame, man! will
you read the sentence against him, and condemn yourself?
Away, away, and substitute some other to give sentence
and judgment." " No, register," said the fearfully harden-

144 CROKER SPICER DENNY POOLE.

ed man; " I will obey the law, and give sentence myself,
according to mine office." He did so ; delivering him to
the secular power, who on the very same day led the blind
boy to the place of execution at Gloucester, together with
one Thomas Croker, a poor bricklayer, condemned also
for the like testimony of the truth : when both, in one fire,
most constantly and joyfully yielded their souls into the
hands of the Lord Jesus.

About a fortnight after this, three poor men were immo-
lated at Beccles, in Suffolk ; — Thomas Spicer, John Den-
ny, and Edmund Poole. Spicer was a youth of nineteen,
taken from his bed at day-break, in the house of his mas-
ter, at Winston ; and was with the other two brought before
Dunning, the. chancellor of Norwich. The articles exhi-
bited against them and others in that diocese, charged them
with disbelief of the pope's supremacy; and of holy bread,
holy water, ashes, palms, and the like : with disbelief in
transubstantiation; with holding the worship of the wafer
to be idolatry; with making the Lord's supper a comme-
morative ordinance ; with refusing to follow the cross in
procession, or to confess to a priest; and, lastly, with hold-
ing that man has in himself no free will. All these they
confessed ; and withstood the efforts of Dunning to turn
them from the faith, who, practised and delighting in cru-
elty as he had long been, is recorded to have burst into
tears while earnestly reasoning with them ; and when Mings
the register, hastened him to pronounce their condemna-
tion, he could scarcely read the sentence for weeping. The
following day they were burned at Beccles; although it was
not possible for the writ to have come down from London,
where the lord chancellor then was: but the laws of man
were little regarded, in butchering Christians for obeying
the laws of God.

The martyrs coming to the stake, having prayed, recited
the apostles' creed; and when they came to the article,
" the holy catholic church," Sir John Silliard, the sheriff
who superintended their execution, exclaimed " That is well
said: I am glad to hear you say you do believe the cath-
olic church. That is the best word I have heard of you
yet." To this Poole answered, that though they believed
the catholic church, yet did they not believe in the popish
church, which was, he said, no part of Christ's catholic
church, and therefore no part of their belief. They were
then bound to the slake, and the fire kindled ; when they

CASE OF GREGORY CROW. 1 45

began to praise God in so loud and joyful a voice as
amazed all who heard them. A wretch named Bacon,
a noted persecutor, who stood by, ordered a fagot to be
thrown at them, to stop the knaves' breath, as he said; but
they, not regarding this cruelty, continued their praises and
thanksgivings to the end.

A violent persecution was again at this time carried on
in the diocese of Norwich ; so that besides those who were
compelled to yield, and those who proved faithful unto
death, there were no fewer than thirteen persons driven out
of the small town of Winston, and twenty-one from Men-
dlesham, to wander as fugitives wheresoever they might find
a hiding-place. Among them was a gentlewoman of eighty-
four years old, with her two servants ; and a poor man with
his wife and five children. Their usual answer, when re-
buked and persecuted for declaring their principles, was,
that they acknowledged, confessed, and believed, and there-
fore must speak : that their tribulation was God's good
will and providence, whose judgments were right to pun-
ish them and others for their sins ; and that of very faith-
fulness and mercy, God had caused them to be troubled,
so that one hair of their heads should not perish before the
time; but all things should work unto the best to them that
love God : that Jesus Christ was their life and only right-
eousness; and that only by faith in him and for his sake,
all good things were freely given them, together with for-
giveness of sins, and life everlasting.

Many of these exiles were of considerable substance,
and had large possessions, which they freely abandoned for
Christ's sake and the gospel's : and surely ihey do not now
regret having so done.

We may now rest for a little space from the recital and
contemplation of these barbarities, to record an event which
happened about this time, to a poor faithful labouring man
named Gregory Crow, He embarked at Maiden, in a
small coasting vessel, for Kent, where he expected to ob-
tain some work ; but the weather being foul, the boat was
driven on a sand-bank, so that the men were obliged to
cling to the mast, while the water washed away from the
vessel all that would float. Among the rest, Crow saw his
Testament swimming away, which he caught and placed in
his bosom. Within an hour after, the ebbing tide left the
boat dry; but she was so broken as to be useless, and the
little party, two men and a boy, got upon the sand-bank,

MAUTYROLOGY. VOL. II. 13

146 CASE OF GREGORY CROW.

where they prayed to God to send some ship to succour
them, for they knew that in half an hour the spot would
again be overflowed; and they were ten miles from the
land. Here they found their chest, containing all Crow's
fortune, five pounds six shillings and eightpence, which the
other man who found it, delivered to him : but Crow at
once cast it into the sea, saying, " If the Lord will save our
lives, he will provide us a living." The tide now advanced ;
and the poor creatures mounting the mast, their only refuge,
clung to it by their arms and legs for the space of ten
hours; the boy, weary and exhausted, fell off, and was
drowned.

When the water subsided again. Crow proposed to take
down the mast and to sit upon it, as it might please God
that they should drift into the way of some ship, that would
take them up. They accordingly did so; and at ten o'clock
at night the tide bore up the mast, which floated with the
two men upon it : but Crow's companion died the next
night, and he remained alone, driving up and down among
the troubled waves, not daring to sleep lest they should
beat him ofl^. It was on Tuesday that the boat was wrecked ;
on the Friday following a vessel bound to Antwerp from
Lee, was obliged by stress of weather to go out of her
course; and about six o'clock in the evening they descried
an object afar off, which they took to be one of the small
buoys, laid by fishermen with their hooks. Some of the
men proposed to go and have the fish : but captain Morse,
who afterwards wrote the story, said to the helmsman,
" Keep your course away; for we shall but hinder the fish-
ermen, and have no fish neither." The helmsman obeyed;
but after regarding the object some time, said, " Methinks,
master, it is a man." The rest thought otherwise and they
went on.

Poor Crow, seeing the ship steering away from him,
and being ready to perish with fatigue, watching, and fa-
mine, and miserably beaten too by the billows, took off' his
cap, holding it as high as he possibly could, shaking it ;
and the steersman perceiving him, declared that he plainly
saw a man's arm, in which the others agreeing, the cap-
tain instantly made for the spot, and took him up ; a
pitiable object, sodden with the waters, till his flesh was
like that of a drowned corpse, bruised all over, and his
eyes, nose, and mouth nearly closed up with the incrusta-
tion of salt, caused by the weather and the heat of his skin.

VARIOUS MARTYRS. 147

The moment he found himself on board, he eagerly put his
hand into his bosom ; on which a bystander asked him if
he had any money there. " No," said he, " I have a book
here; I think it be wet;" and so, anxiously drew out his
Testament, giving it to them to dry. After a good night's
rest. Crow, greatly recovered from the effects of his four
days' dreadful peril, buffetings and starvation, related his
story: which being repeated at Antwerp by the good cap-
tain, excited great interest among the people there, who
supplied him with clothes and money. So that he who
cast away his earthly treasure, and saved his Bible, lost
nothing even of this world's good thereby. Fox concludes
this narrative by remarking : " In this story, this under-
stand, good reader, which rightly may be supposed, that if
this poor man thus found and preserved in the sea with a
New Testament in his bosom, had had instead of that a pix
with a consecrated host about him, no doubt it had been
rung ere this time all Christendom over, for a miracle, so
far as the pope hath any land."

On the last day of May, William Sleck, being a pri-
soner in the King's Bench, for the Lord's truth, died there:
of whom this testimony is given to his faithfulness, that he
was put into the ground at the back of the prison, in the
same fashion that a dog would have been, by those who,
as the martyrologist says, thought him not worthy to come
within their pope-holy churchyards.

The next slaughter took place at Lewes ; where four
men were burned together. Thomas Harland, a car-
penter, John Oswald, husbandman, Thomas Avington,
turner, and another poor man named Thomas Read. Har-
land said he had not come to church since the mass was re-
stored ; and the service being in Latin, he was never a whit
the better for it. Oswald refused to answer any article,
unless his accusers were brought face to face with him; he
remarked that fire and fagots could not make him afraid:
but as the good preachers which were in king Edward's
lime had suffered and gone before, so was he ready to suf-
fer and come after; and would be glad thereof After long
imprisonment in the King's Bench, they were sent to Lewes,
and committed to the flames.

A faithful minister, named William Adherall, and
John Clement, a wheelwright, died in the King's Bench,
prepared, had God so willed it, to suffer fire for his name's
sake.

148 VARIOUS MARTYRS.

At Leicester, a godly young man, servant to a merchant,
whose name is not mentioned, was persecuted, imprisoned,
and finally burned for confessing Christ.

Essex, which had already sent so many martyrs to tes-
tify and sutler for the truth, now yielded no fewer than
thirteen to feed one dreadful blaze. The heart trembles at
such details ; but these things are recorded for our solemn
warning; and on our heads will be the consequences if
they be repeated in vain. The names of these victims
were H. Adlington, a sawyer; L. Parnam, a smith; H.
Wye, a brewer; W. Hallywel, a smith; J. Bowyer, a
weaver; G, Scarles, a tailor; E. Hurst, a labourer; L.
Cawch, a broker; R. Jackson, a servant; J. Derrifall,
a labourer; and J. Routh, the same; with two women,
Elizabeth Pepper, wife of a weaver, and Agnes George,
the wife of a husbandman, whose former wife was burned
also at Colchester. Of these Henry Wye had been servant
to Higbed, the martyr, which circumstance led to his first
being suspected. Adlington coming to Newgate to speak
with a friend who was then prisoner there for the testimony
of Jesus Christ, was seized on suspicion of holding the same
doctrines. They all answered clearly and decidedly to
the articles, holding fast the faith which they professed.
Some circumstances attended this case, of aggravated atro-
city; for after Bonner had pronounced their condemnation,
when they were taken to Stratford-le-Bow, the place of
their martyrdom, they were separated into two parties, and
each was told by the sheriff that the other party had re-
canted; to persuade them to do the same. He received,
however, the same answer from all, that their faith was not
builded on man, but on Christ crucified. Finding his pur-
pose defeated by their constancy, he led them without fur-
ther delay to the immense pile prepared for this awful sa-
crifice of human life to the great Antichrist of Rome, where
the eleven men were fastened by long chains to three
stakes, which they embraced and kissed, all together pray-
ing earnestly to God, and rejoicing that none were missing
from their blessed company, who had all been so foully
belied to each other by the sheriff. The two women had
neither stake nor chain, but were left loose among the
fagots, where they stood as quietly as though they had
been fettered ; the precious bands of love which bound
them to Christ and to each other, being stronger than links
of iron. But this was not all: Elizabeth Pepper was ad-

THIRTEEN MARTYRS. 149

vanced in pregnancy, which she mentioned to a woman who
assisted her to prepare for the fire; and on being asked
why she had not told it to the murderers, she replied,
" Why, they knew it well enough." Their bodies were all
consumed together; and thirteen spirits joined at once the
noble army of martyrs in heaven.

Three others had been condemned with them, and were
ready to go to the same death : but for some reason, car-
dinal Pole sent them a dispensation for their lives, although
it does not appear that they recanted. Their names stand
with the foregoing thirteen at the foot of a confession of
faith which they all signed, in consequence of Fecknam
having falsely reported in a sermon of his, that they greatly
differed from each other in their doctrine. In this docu-
ment, after having contradicted Fecknam's calumny, and
declared their perfect unity and agreement, they state the
five following points in their belief " I. That there are
but two sacraments in Christ's church, that is, the sacra-
ment of baptism, and the Lord's supper. For in these is
contained the faith of Christ's church ; that is, the two tes-
taments, the law and the gospel. The effect of the law is
repentance; and the effect of the gospel remission of sins.
II. We believe that there is a visible church, wherein the
word of God is preached, and the holy sacraments duly
ministered, visible to the wicked world, although it be not
credited; and by the death of saints confirmed; as it was
in the time of Elias the prophet, as well as now. III. The
see of Rome is the see of Antichrist, the congregation of the
wicked, whereof the pope is head, under the devil. IV. The
mass is not only a profanation of the Lord's supper, but
also a blasphemous idol. V. God is neither spiritually
nor corporeally in the sacrament of the altar (meaning the
elements) ; and there remaineth no substance in the same,
but only the substance of bread and wine. For these arti-
cles of our belief, we being condemned to die, do willingly
offer our corruptible bodies to be dissolved in the fire: all
with one voice assenting and consenting thereunto, and in
no point dissenting or disagreeing from any of our former
articles. Apparent also let it be, and known, that being
of the former articles before the bloody bishop examined,
the said day and time, we affirmed to believe all that he or
they would prove by the scriptures. But he said that he
would not stand to prove it with heretics; but said they
themselves were the holv church, and that we ought to be-

13*

150 BERNARD FOSTER lAVVSON.

lieve them, or else to be cut off like withered branches."
To this were subscribed the names of the thirteen martyrs,
with those of Thomas Freeman, William Stannard, and
William Adams: the three who were rescued by the inter-
vention of Pole.

Three of Christ's imprisoned people died in the King's
Bench within two days, named Parret, Hunt, and Norice;
of whom it is recorded that Hunt was intentionally starved
to death. All were buried with the usual dishonour put on
the bodies of those who believed.

At St, Edmund's Bury, Dr. Hopkins, bishop of Norwich,
sent three to the fire : Roger Bernard, Adam Foster,
and Robert Lawson. Bernard, a poor labourer, was of
a very bold spirit; and when asked by the bishop whether
he had been to the priest at Easter, to be shriven, and whe-
ther he had received the blessed sacrament of the altar or
no, answered, " No : I have not been with the priest, nor
confessed myself unto him ; but I have confessed my sins
to Almighty God, and I trust he hath forgiven me; where-
fore I shall not need to go to the priest for such matters,
who cannot help himself." " Surely, Bernard," said the
bishop, " thou must needs go and confess thyself unto him."
" That shall I not do, by God's grace, while I live," replied
Bernard. The bishop exclaimed, " What a stout burly
heretic is this ! how malapertly he answereth I" " My
lord," said Bernard, " it grieveth me no whit, I thank God,
to be called heretic at your hands : for so your fathers
called the prophets and confessors of Christ long before the
time."

At these words, the bishop rose up in great heat, bidding
Bernard follow him. He then went and kneeled down be-
fore what they called the sacrament of the altar; and in
the midst of his prayers, looked back, and asked Bernard
why he did not come and do the same. He replied, " I
cannot tell why I should do so." " Why, thou vile fellow,
whom seest thou yonder?" asked the bishop, pointing to the
pix over the altar. " I see nobody there : do you, my lord?"
"Why, naughty man," cried the bishop again, "dost thou
not see thy Maker?" " My Maker ! no, I see nothing but a
few clouts, hanging together in a heap." Thereupon, the
bishop rose up in sore displeasure, commanding the gaoler
to take him away, and to lay irons enough on him ; " for,"
said he, " I will tame him ere he go from me, I trow."
Bernard vi^as then led away and fettered, until the next day,

JOHN FORTUNE. 151

when, being brought up again, the bishop asked him if he
did not remember himself since the day before. " Yes, my
lord," said he, " I have remembered myself very well ; for
the same man I was yesterday, I am this day, and I hope
shall be, all the days of my life, concerning the matter you
talked with me of." Then one of the guards standing by,
said, " My lord, I pray you trouble not yourself any more
with him, but let me have the examining of him ; I shall
handle him after another sort, I trow, and make him a fair
child ere he go, you shall see." The prisoner was imme-
diately delivered over to the care of this new teacher, who
took him to an inn, where a number of priests were assem-
bled, who began by flattering and persuading him with all
the pleasant and enticing words they could command : but
the Lord so assisted the poor good man, that they could
nothing prevail. They then had recourse to threats of
whipping, putting him in the stocks, burning him, and all
that they thought might terrify him, making a wonderful
to do; but he said, "Friends, I am not better than my
master, Christ, and the prophets, which your fathers served
after such sort ; and I for his name's sake am content to
suffer the like if God shall so permit ; trusting that he will
strengthen me in the same according to his promise, in spite
of the devil and all his ministers." Finding it impossible
to overcome him, they exclaimed, " Behold a right scholar
of John Fortune ;" whom they then had in prison. He was
taken back to the bishop, who immediately condemned him
for a heretic, and delivered him to the secular power. Fos-
ter was a husbandman, and Lawson a weaver: they were
both sentenced in the same cause, and taken to their death
with Bernard, the eldest of them being but thirty years of
age. On coming to the stake, they prayed together, while
the fire was preparing; and ended their lives in such tri-
umphant joy, amid the torments of the burning flame, that
it ministered no small comfort and encouragement to the
lovers of the gospel.

John Fortune, to whom the priests compared Bernard,
was a blacksmith at Thirtlesham in Suffolk, whom they
had lately had in examination before them, and whom they
found so zealous and ardent in spirit, so ready in the scrip-
tures, in Christ's cause so stout and valiant, and in his an-
swers so marvellous, that none could move him ; nor was
he less patient in his wrongful suffering, than sound and
constant in doctrine.

152 JOHN FORTUNE.

When before Parker and Foster, two of the bishop's offi°
cials, he displayed great point, as well as intrepidity in his
answers. Parker asked him how he believed in the cath-
olic faith : he replied by asking in turn, what faith he
meant? whether the faith that Stephen had, or the faith of
them who put Stephen to death 1 " What a naughty fel-
low is this," cried Parker : " you shall see, anon, he will
deny the blessed sacrament of the altar." Foster also re-
proached him, and then inquired his opinion of the blessed
mass : to which he gave no reply. When rebuked for this,
he said, " Silence is a good answer to a foolish question."
After declaring that he knew no sacrament of the altar, be-
cause no such thing was written in God's book, " Then you
will not believe unwritten verities ?" said Parker. He an-
swered, " I will believe that those unwritten verities which
agree with the written verities be true ; but those unwritten
verities that be of your own making, and invented of your
own brain, I do not believe." Foster said, "Well, you
shall be whipped and burned for this gear, I trow." He
replied, " If you knew how these words do rejoice my
heart, you would not have spoken them." " Why, thou
fool, dost thou rejoice in whipping?" asked Foster. "Yes;
for it is written in the scriptures that Christ sailh, Thou
shalt be whipped for my name's sake ; and since the sword
of tyranny came into your hands, I heard of none that was
whipped. Happy were I, if I had the maidenhead of this
persecution !" " Away with him," they cried ; " for he is
ten times worse than Samuel." His second examination
was before the bishop, who asked him if he did not believe
in the catholic church : he said. Yes, that church of which
Christ is the head. Did he not believe the pope to be su-
preme head of the church? " No," he said, " Christ was
the head of the true church." " So I believe also," observed
the bishop, " but the pope is God's vicar upon earth, and
the head of the church ; and I believe that he hath power
to forgive sins also." Fortune said, " The pope is but a
man; and the prophet David saith, that ' no man can deli-
ver his brother, or make agreement for him unto God : for
it cost more to redeem their souls, so that he must let that
alone for ever.' " To this the bishop could only answer
by asserting that like the bell-wether to the flock, and the
queen-bee to the hive, so is the pope to the true church.
The blacksmith pressed him hard with scripture, against
their doctrines and ceremonies : but though he quoted texts

JOHN CARELESS. 153

correctly, the bishop gave him the lie, declared there were
no such words in the Bible; and in a rage remanded him
to prison.

Next day, he was questioned upon his articles ; he gave
them scripture again; and when the bishop boasted that
he was appointed by law to teach, and demanded obedience,
Fortune reminded him how they had burned up the true
bishops and preachers. When charged with resisting the
higher powers, he said, " I resist not the higher powers
concerning my body; but I must resist your evil doctrine
wherewith you would infect my soul." Respecting the
wafer, he said, " If it be not God before the consecration,
it is not God after: for God is without beginning, and with-
out ending." He also declared the deified wafer to be the
god Mauzzim that robbeth God of his honour. So sorely
were they galled by his answers, that they could not hear
him to the end of the articles, but sent him away till the
morrow.

On that occasion, in answer to the bishop's violent threats
of burning him, he objected to being judged by him ; quot-
ing the civil law, that no perjured person should sit in judg-
ment; whereas, he said, the bishop was perjured, having
taken the oath against the pope's supremacy in Henry's
days. Finally, he rejected the worship of the wafer, as
being contrary to the words of God's book.

Whether Fortune was burned, or died in prison of hard
usage, is not correctly known. His condemnation is re-
corded in the bishop's register at Norwich ; and it is cer-
tain that he never recanted. Fox believes that he was
burned ; but of his right to be numbered among the mar-
tyrs, there is no doubt.

One of the most remarkable instances of divine know-
ledge imparted to a man of lowly rank, is the case of John
Careless ; who, being but a weaver, proves by his beau-
tiful letters, that he was not a whit behind the chiefest of
God's dear servants in the graces of the Spirit, or in the
gift of expressing his devotional feelings. He was greatly
beloved by Bradford, Philpot, and others of the Lord's true
martyrs ; and proved a mighty strengthener of the afflicted
saints. In the depth of his views he much resembled Law-
rence Saunders ; as also in the fervency of his devout spi-
rit. It pleased God to spare him the trial of a fiery death,
which he was most fully bent to undergo, by taking him to
himself while yet in the prison of the King's Bench: but his

?54 JOHN CARELESS.

name is enrolled among the faithful martyrs; and doubt-
less their crown is also his.

He was a native of Coventry, where also he followed his
calling. His examinations before Dr. Martin are not fully
recorded ; but a few passages may show the strong assur-
ance of faith wherein he stood. Dr. Martin, after some
prefatory remarks, said to him that he was a handsome
man, and it was pity but he should do well, and save that
which God had bought. Careless answered, " I thank
your good mastership most heartily; and I put you out of
doubt that I am most sure and certain of my salvation by
Jesus Christ; so that my soul is safe already, whatsoever
nains my body suffer here for a little time." " Yea, mar-
ry," returned Martin, jeeringly, " you say truth. For thou
art so predestinate to life that thou must not perish; in
whatsoever opinion thou dost die." Careless rejoined,
" That God doth predestinate me to eternal life in Jesus
Christ, I am most certain ; and even so I am sure that his
Holy Spirit, wherewith I am sealed, will so preserve me
from all heresies and evil opinions, that I shall die in none
at ail." " Go to," said Martin, " let me hear your faith in
predestination ; for that shall be written also." " Your
mastership shall pardon me herein," replied Careless, " for
you said yourself erewhile, that you had no commission to
examine my conscience. I will trouble myself with an-
swering no more matters than I needs must, until I come
before them that shall have more authority to examine me."
However, on being further pressed, and on condition that
his exact words should be taken down, he proceeded to
state his views : " I believe that God Almighty, our most
dear loving Father, of his great mercy and infinite good-
ness through Jesus Christ, did elect and appoint in him,
before the foundation of the earth was laid, a church, or
congregation, which he doth continually guide and govern
by his grace and Holy Spirit, so that not one of them shall
ever finally perish." When this was written Martin read
it, and said, "Why, who will deny this?" Careless repli-
ed, " If your mastership do allow it, and other learned
men when they shall see it, I have my heart's desire."
" And do you hold none otherwise than is there written ?"
asked Martin. " No, verily, nor ever did." Martin turn-
ed to the scribe, saying, "Write what he saith, otherwise
he holdeth not. It was told me, also, that thou dost affirm
that Christ did not die effectually for all men." He an-

JOHN CARELESS. 155

swered, "Whatsoever hath been told you, is not much ma-
terial to me. Let the tellers of such tales come before my
face, and I hope to make them answer. For indeed I do
believe that Christ did effectually die for all those that do
effectually repent and believe, and for no other." Martin
then asked him what was Trew's faith of predestination :
whether he did not believe that all men were predestinate,
and that none should be damned ? Careless replied that he
did not. " How then ?" said Martin. " Truly I think he
doth believe as your mastership and the rest of the clergy
do believe of predestination ; that we be elected in respect
of our good works, and so long elected as we do ihem, and
no longer." Martin directed the scribe, " Write what he
saith ; that his fellow Trew believeth of predestination as
the papists do believe." Careless interrupted, "Ah, master
doctor, did I so term you ? Seeing that this my confession
shall come before the council, I pray you place my terms
as reverently as I speak them." "Well, well," says Mar-
tin, " write that Trew is of the same faith as the catholics
be." " I did not so call you, neither," said Careless, " I
wonder what you mean." Here the marshal kindly inter-
posed, remarking, " You said the clergy, did you not. Care-
less?" " Yes, forsooth did I," and it was so written.

Martin, whose carnal mind could perceive nothing of the
spiritual things on which Careless spoke at once so candid-
ly and so discreetly, was possessed with a sudden convic-
tion that he held no other than what he and his fellows did ;
and the rest of his conversation was, on his part, altogether
professions of regard, and a desire to serve him : on that
of Careless, declarations of his readiness to do whatever
his conscience and the word of God should approve.

This estimable man was kept for two years a prisoner,
destined by the persecutors to the stake, and earnestly
longing for it: but his end was to depart from the captivity
of their gaols to the perfect freedom of heaven, without any
intermediate Svep: and his body was buried in a dunghill.
His letters are among the most valuable and interesting of
the precious collection left by the martyrs.

156 JULIUS PALMER.

CliAPTER VIII.

Jl'LIUS PALMER.

Julius Palmer, who, at the age of twenty-four, yielded his
life for the testimony of Jesus, furnishes us with one of the
most affecting instances of God's mighty working, and vic-
torious grace, ever beheld. One cannot read the story
without thinking of the young man in the gospel, on whom
Jesus looking, loved him, though as yet he lacked the one
thing indispensable, which He only could supply. Palmer's
history is so beautifully told by old John Fox, that we
shall herein deviate as little from his words as the neces-
sary abridgment of a redundant style will allow. He cer-
tainly is a gem of the first water among the many spark-
ling jewels which he has enshrined for the church to con-
template.

Julius Palmer was a native of Coventry, where his father,
by his calling an upholsterer, had been chief magistrate,
and was a considerable merchant. Julius was a pupil in
the free school of Magdalen college, Oxford, where he be-
came an excellent scholar, in prose and verse. He had a
very prompt and ready memory, a sharp and pregnant
wit ; he spoke Latin fluently, and was so well versed in the
Greek, that when the regular reader in that branch was
absent from college, Julius supplied his place. He was a
subtle disputant in the schools; and when at home used to
say that he was never so pleasantly occupied as while de-
bating hard questions in philosophy. He often spent the
whole night in this his favourite occupation. Nor was he
less inclined to familiar converse, greatly delighting to ex-
ercise his mind and learning by friendly argument, and
close discussion with his equals; yet so devoid was he of all
self-conceit and love of contradiction, that his unostenta-
tious, modest way of carrying on an argument, the sober-
ness of his reasoning, and gentleness of his manner, were
no less remarkable than his dexterity and learning. In his
behaviour he was unaffected, of a cheerful countenance,
pleasant speech, courteous, affable, and lowly as a child.
Of deceit he was incapable, and so unsuspicious of it in
others, that he was frequently deceived by them. He never
reproached an enemy, nor resented an ill office, for he used

JULIUS PALMER, 157

to say that none were to be accounted valiant but such as
could despise an injury.

His diligence in study was great ; he rose at four o'clock
in the morning, and pursued his employment till ten at
night — a very late hour in those times ; and by dint of
such close application was admitted as a reader in logic at
the age of eighteen. Such was young Palmer, in the days
of king Edward; and withal, throughout that reign, as bit-
ter an enemy to the gospel of Christ as his blind and bigot-
ed devotion to popery could make him. His chosen com-
panions were such as hated the truth; and the extreme
openness of his character rendered his hostility apparent to
all. If he came to common prayer at any time, it was be-
cause the college rules compelled him so to do; and as to
sermons from the faithful preachers, he not only absented
himself, but dissuaded his pupils from hearing them ; tell-
ing them they could be much better occupied at home. The
king's preachers, and all others who set forth sound doc-
trine, he openly disdained and despised ; insomuch that he
■was continually under reproof for his contumacy, and by the
officers of the college so frequently punished by fine, short
commons, or severe impositions of tasks, that they remark-
ed he sought how to expose himself to suffering in the cause
that he deemed so holy.

At length, shortly before the death of Edward, some
slanderous libels and railing verses against Dr. Haddon,
president of that college, were found affixed to the doors
and walls; and Palmer, who was known to have expressed
himself with great severity against the president, was sus-
pected of being their author. This he stoutly denied, and
cleared himself of the charge; but in so doing bespoke so
many reproachful things concerning the officers who ex-
amined him, and in so many ways showed his active en-
mity against the truth, that finding him obstinate and in-
corrigible, they expelled him the house.

Thus thrown on his own resources, Julius engaged him-
self as tutor in the family of sir Francis Knolles; where
he continued until the coming in of Mary. When her visit-
ors were despatched to Oxford, to reform the university —
that is, to displace the godly and learned men established
there, and to appoint others of an opposite character in their
room — then came Julius Palmer, as a claimant for his for-
feited privileges, truly asserting that the religion then
brought back he had to the uttermost of his ability de-

MARTYROLOGY. — VOL. II. 14

158 JULIUS PALMER.

fended and maintained. His plea was allowed: and he
was restored again, to experience the amazing power of
God's grace, under circumstances as unfavourable to his
conversion, as his former state in that college had been
advantageous.

During his expulsion he had heard, particularly in the
house of sir Francis Knolles, so much of the truth, as did
by the operation of the Holy Spirit, excite some doubt and
inquiry in his mind : and this became evident, through the
extreme ingenuousness of his temper, which could not en-
dure the least shadow of disguise. Whatever his heart
thought, that did his tongue utter; and to this was owing
his exposure to suspicions that, by a little reserve, he might
have avoided. When God began to work the change with-
in him, he became very inquisitive to know how the mar-
tyrs were apprehended, what articles they died for, and
how they took their death. He sent a scholar of his, with
another young man, at his own expense, into Gloucester-
shire, to witness, and truly to report to him, all the parti-
culars of bishop Hooper's martyrdom. He had often, in
king Edward's time, said of the gospellers, that none of
them all would stand to death for their religion; and for
this cause, it was supposed, he inquired so narrowly into
their conduct; thereby becoming aware with what extreme
and horrible cruelty the martyrs of God were tried ; and
how valiantly they overcame all kinds of torments, en-
during to the end. At last he was made a personal wit-
ness of it; in the examinations and death of those dear
servants of Christ who in Oxford were burnt before his
eyes. The first hope that godly persons conceived of him,
was at his return from the martyrdom of the bishops Rid-
ley and Latimer ; when he was greatly agitated, and in the
hearing of several broke out into strong expressions, " O
raging cruelty! O tyranny tragical and more than barba-
rous !" Indeed this lovely phcenix may have been said to
spring from the ashes of those blessed men : his darkness
was illumined by the first rays of the candle which they,
by God's grace, then lighted in England. From that very
day he gave himself to the diligent study of the truth, im-
mediately borrowing from a college friend Peter Martyr's
commentaries upon the epistle to the Corinthians, and other
good books of different pious men.

A very striking account was written out for Fox, by one
whose own history was not a little remarkable. This Mr.

JULIUS PALMER. 169

BuUingham was at college with Palmer, and quite of his
mind; so that towards the end of Edward's reign, he exiled
himself to France for his religion. In Mary's days he re-
turned, and was appointed chaplain to Stephen Gardiner ;
and after the happy establishment of queen Elizabeth on
the throne, he continued so perverse, contumacious, and
mischievous, that he was dispossessed of all his livings.
Nevertheless, Fox, praising God, declares that at the time
he was writing, BuUingham was become a most constant
professor and earnest teacher of the word of God. This is
his recital of what took place between him and Palmer.

" I, BuUingham, intended to forsake England, and to flee
into France, for the wicked pope's sake ,* (which came to
pass, indeed, for in Rouen, I was for a time,) this Julius
Palmer and Richard Duck brought me outwards in my
journey till we came to London; where on a day Julius
Palmer and I walked to St. James', the queen's palace;
and as we leaned at the great gate of that palace. Palmer
spake thus unto me : ' BuUingham, you know in what
misery and calamity we are fallen, for the pope and his re-
ligion. We are young men abhorred of all men now pre-
sently, and like to be abhorred more and more. Let us
consider what hangeth over our heads. You are departing
into a strange country, both friendless and moniless, where
I fear you shall taste of sourer sauces than hitherto you
have done. And as for me, I am at my wit's end. The face
of hell itself is as amiable unto me as the sight of Magda-
len college; for there I was hated as a venomous toad.
Would God I were raked under the earth! And as touch-
ing our religion, even our conscience beareth witness that
we taste not such an inward sweetness in the possession
therefore, as we understand the gospellers to taste of their
religion. Yea, to say the truth, we maintain we wot not
what, rather of will than of knowledge. But what then?
rather than I will yield unto them, 1 will beg my bread.'
So Palmer bequeathed himself to the wide world, and I
passed over into Normandy. At my return into England
again, my chance was to meet Palmer in Paul's, where a
rood was set up. This our meeting was in the beginning'
of queen Mary's reign, and our miserable departing had
been not long before the end of king Edward's days. Then,
after our greeting, thus said Palmer; BuUingham, is this
our god, for whom we have smarted?' 'No, Palmer,' quoth
I, ' it is an image of him.' ' An image?' quoth he, ' I tell

160 JULIUS PALMER.

thee plainly, Bullingham, John Calvin, whose Institutes I
have perused since our departure, telleth me plainly by
God's word, that it is an idol ; and that the pope is Anti-
christ, and his clergy the filthy sink-hole of hell. And now
I believe it, for I leel it sensibly. Oh, that God had re-
vealed these matters unto me in times past ! I would have
bequeathed this Romish religion, or rather irreligion, to the
devil of hell, from whence it came. Believe them not, Bul-
lingham; I will rather have these knees pared off than I
will kneel to yonder jackanapes, (meaning the rood.) God
help me, I am born to trouble and adversity in this world."
" Well, Palmer," said I, " is the wind in that corner with
you 1 I warrant you it will blow you to little ease at the end.
I will never have to do with you again." So I left Palmer
walking in Paul's: who, through the element of fire, is ex-
alted above the elements, where eternal rest is prepared for
persecuted martyrs. Thus much is true ; and let it be
known that I, Bullingham, affirm it to be true. More I
have not to say. In these words and deeds it appeareth that
God had elected him."

It would appear that at the time of this meeting. Palmer
had attained to a full knowledge of the abominable charac-
ter of popery; but not to that joy and peace in believing
which soon followed on a close and prayerful study of God's
word. His happiness then became so great that it was
apparent in all his words and actions : he never before so
hated the truth as now he loved it ; and his only trouble
was in being compelled outwardly to join in the idolatrous
services of the church, for which he had aforetime gloried
in suffering rebuke, censure, and loss. At length, through
God's grace, he grew up to such maturity and ripeness in
the truth, that he failed not to declare certain sparks thereof
in his outward behaviour ; for sometimes he would absent
himself from the confiteor, when he was obliged to bow in
different directions, knock his breast, and perform other
idle ceremonies against which his heart rose : and some-
times being there, he would leave the church at sacring
time, as they term it, out of the way of the idolatrous ado-
ration. These things were noted by the president. Cole,
who both suspected and hated him, as did others of his for-
mer friends. His conscience also suffered great torment ;
for his new life and old living but ill agreed together, and
he resolved to depart voluntarily to avoid a second expul-
sion. To a particular friend, who besought him to remain

JULIUS PALMER. 161

a while longer, asking where he would go, or how he could
live, he made answer, " The earth is the Lord's, and the
fulness thereof: let the Lord work: I will commit myself
to God and the wide world."

Two instances are related of the extreme difficulty that
he found in even tolerating the necessary intercourse with
what then constituted the nominal church. After quitting
Magdalen college, as a student, he had occasion to be there
on a time, and hearing that the Spanish friar John, who
succeeded Dr. Peter Martyr as divinity lecturer, was to
preach there that Sunday, he refused to attend ; till by the
earnest persuasion of a friend, a fellow of the college, he
was induced to accompany him. But suddenly, as the friar
vehemently inveighed against God's truth, in defending
certain popish heresies. Palmer, on whom many eyes were
turned, left the church, and was found in his friend's cham-
ber weeping bitterly. When it was demanded of him why
he had slipped away so abruptly, he said, " O, if I had
not openly departed, I should have openly stopped mine
ears. For the friar's blasphemous talk, in disproving, or
rather depraving the verity, made not only mine ears to
glow, but mine heart worse to smart, than if mine ears had
been cut from mine head." On another occasion, the same
friend of his, Mr. Shipper, invited him to dinner in his
chamber. Palmer went, not knowing that he was to meet
this friar John, Smith, Tresham, and others of the like
mind, whose company he could ill bear. On seeing them,
he whispered his friend that he would be gone, for that was
no place for him ; but Shipper, by representing that such
a step would needlessly betray and endanger him, with
other persuasions, induced him to stay. When he came
to the fireside, the friar, who could not speak English, sa-
luted him cheerfully in Latin, to which Palmer, with a
mild and kind countenance, returned a courteous answer;
but when the friar offered him his hand, he turned his eye
aside, as though he had not seen it, and spoke to another,
so avoiding to give, even in semblance, the right hand of
fellowship to an opposer of Christ's gospel. When they
were set, and had eaten, the friar with a pleasant look, offer-
ing him the cup said, " I drink to you, learned young man."
Palmer, deeply blushing, answered, " I acknowledge no
such name, O sir." Then taking the cup, he set it down,
as though he meant by and by to pledge him ; but it was
well marked that he took care to forget it. Afterwards
14*

162 JULIUS PALMER.

being sharply rebuked by his friend Shipper for what he
called unwise and unseemly behaviour, Julius replied,
" The oil of these men doth not supple, but breaketh my
head."

On his last visit to Oxford, not long before his death, one
Barwich, a fellow of Trinity college, meeting him in his
friend's chamber, began to reason with him ; and finding
him very zealous and earnest in defending the truth, said
to him, "Well, Palmer, well ; now thou art stout and hardy
in thine opinion ; but if thou wert once brought to the stake,
I believe thou wouldest tell me another tale. I advise thee,
beware of the fire; it is a shrewd matter to burn." " Tru-
ly," said Palmer, " I have been in danger of burning once
or twice, and hitherto, I thank God, I have escaped it.
But I judge verily it will be my end at the last ; welcome
be it, by the grace of God ! Indeed it is a hard matter for
them to burn that have the mind and soul linked to the
body, as a thief's foot is tied in a pair of fetters ; but if a
man be once able, by the help of God's Spirit to separate
and divide the soul from the body, for him it is no more
mastery to burn, than for me to eat this piece of bread."

This same open simplicity and godly sincerity was made
the means, before long, of bringing him to the immediate
presence of his God. After resigning his fellowship in
Oxford, Palmer obtained the mastership of the grammar-
school at Reading, where he was highly esteemed and fa-
voured among those who loved the truth, no less for his
zeal in God's service than for his great learning and know-
ledge. But certain artful hypocrites, hating him for the
same cause, resolved on his destruction ; to accomplish
which, they feigned an extraordinary love for the gospel,
with much affection for himself; so that they found no dif-
ficulty in gaining the entire confidence of the open-hearted
young man, who desired nothing so much as to encourage
others in the path where he found such increasing plea-
santness and peace. Having thus got access, both to his
secret thoughts and to his home, these traitors took occa-
sion in his absence to rifle his study of certain godly books
and writings, among which was some poetry, and other
productions of Palmer, written against the popish proceed-
ings, and especially against their unnatural and inhuman
treatment of the martyrs. Having done this, they had the
hardihood to inform him of it, threatening to lay the papers
before the council, unless he would instantly and quietly

JULIUS PALMER. 163

depart, resigning the school to a friend of theirs. The in-
nocent victim of this odious deceit, taking patiently the
spoiling of his goods, left all that belonged to him, with
his quarter's salary, in their hands, and took his departure
from Reading, determining to go to Ensham, where his
mother dwelt, hoping to obtain from her certain legacies
due to him by his father's will, which he should have re-
ceived some years before ; and taking his journey by Ox-
ford, sent his friend Shipper, with his brother, lo prepare
her for his visit, and entreat her favour. He then follow-
ed, and his mother no sooner saw him on his knees, asking
her blessing, as usual, than she exclaimed, " Thou shalt
have Christ's curse and mine, wheresoever thou go." The
poor youth, amazed at so cruel a greeting, paused a while,
and then said, " O mother, your own curse you may give
me, which God knoweth I never deserved ; but God's curse
you cannot give me, for he hath already blessed me."
" Nay," replied she, " thou wentest from God's blessing
into the warm sun, when thou wast banished for a heretic
out of that worshipful house in Oxford ; and now for the
like knavery art driven out of Reading too." " Alas, mo-
ther," said he, " you have been misinformed ; I was not
expelled or driven away, but freely resigned of my own
accord. And heretic I am none, for Island not stubbornly
against any true doctrine, but defend it to my power. And
you may be sure they use not to expel or banish, but to
burn heretics, as they term them." She answered, " Well,
I am sure thou dost not believe as thy father and I, and all
our forefathers have done ; but as we were taught by the
new law in king Edward's days, which is damnable here-
sy." " Indeed, I confess," said Julius, " that I believe that
doctrine which was taught in king Edward's time, which
is not heresy, but truth ; neither is it new, but as old as
Christ and his apostles." " If thou be at that point," said
she, " I require thee to depart from my house, and out of
my sight, and never more take me for thy mother hereaf-
ter. As for money and goods, I have none of thine : thy
father bequeathed nought for heretics. Fagots I have to
burn thee ; more thou gettest not at my hands." " Mother,"
he replied, " whereas you have cursed me, I again pray
God to bless you, and prosper you all your life long."
And with other soft and sweet words, the tears abundantly
trickling down his cheeks, he meekly departed from her.
The sight so far tbuched her hard heart, that she flung after

164 JULIUS PALHER.

him a piece of gold, saying, " Take that to keep thee a true
man."

Thus poor Palmer, being destitute of worldly help, and
cruelly repelled of her whom he took to be his surest friend,
wist not where to turn his face. He at last resolved to re-
turn secretly to Magdalen college, where he knew that he
had some private friends ; and so it proved, for, through
their kind interest he obtained, even from president Cole, a
recommendation to a school in Gloucestershire, for which
place he again started, commended to the divine blessing by
his friends, of whom some accompanied him to Ensham,
and others to Burford. As he proceeded on his way alone,
musing and pondering on these things, it suddenly came
into his mind to return privately to Reading; hoping by
the aid of some trusty person, to secure his little property
of household stuff, and to obtain the quarter's salary due to
him. To Reading therefore he came ; and taking up his
lodging at the sign of the Cardinal's Hat, desired his hostess
to assign him a retired room. But in spite of his precau-
tion, some of the generation of vipers had knowledge of his
coming ; and they immediately conferred together how to
complete his destruction. It was determined that one Mr.
Hampton, a double-faced professor, should visit him ; and
under colour of friendly zeal in his service, fish out the
cause of his unexpected return to Reading.

Palmer, in the integrity of his own simple and confiding
heart, opened to this treacherous friend his whole design,
from which the other strove to turn him, representing what
great danger he would bring on himself thereby. Palmer
replied, insisting on his own plan, until Hampton, in a fury,
went oflf, saying, that as he had fished so he might fowl,
for him. Palmer, still suspecting nothing, called for his
supper, and went quietly to bed : but quiet he was not to
remain long time, for soon after his chamber was broke
open by officers and their retinue, who came rushing in,
with lanterns and weapons, requiring him in the name of
the king and queen to come peaceably away with them.
The harmless young man arose, and without speaking one
word, suffered himself to be led away, as a lamb to the
slaughter. He was brought to prison, taken to a vile,
damp, filthy dungeon, prepared for thieves and murderers,
and there left, with his hands and feet made fast in such
high stocks, that his body could scarcely touch the ground
as he hung. And so for about ten days he remained.

JULIUS PALMER. 165

When at last he was brought before the mayor, the
charges laid against him were not, as he expected, for
heresy, but for treason, sedition, surmised murder, and
adultery. On hearing which, he exclaimed that if such
horrible and heinous crimes might be proved against him,
he would patiently submit to all kinds of torments that could
be devised ; adding, with a burst of righteous indignation,
" O ye cruel blood-suckers, ye follow the old practices of
your progenitors, the viperous and wolvish generation of
pharisees and papists; but be yc well assured, that God
already seeth your subtle devices and crafty packing, and
will not suffer the outrageous fury of your venomous tongues,
and fiery hearts to remain unpunished."

The charge of treason was grounded on some remarks
that he was stated to have made respecting the queen's use
of the sword put into her hand ; that of sedition, because,
it was said, some servants of sir Francis Knolles had fallen
out, and made a disturbance among themselves, from at-
tending his lectures. The other two were built on a letter
from his landlady, which they pretended to have intercept-
ed, and on some other equally false and absurd report.
This indictment being read, the mayor ordered him in the
cage, for a public spectacle to the people, while he went to
dinner; and in the mean time care was taken to spread
through the whole place the nature of the accusations. In
the afternoon Palmer was brought to his answer, when he
so easily and clearly proved his innocence, showing also,
on the face of the letters themselves that they were palpa-
ble forgeries, as to make the mayor ashamed that he had
given credit to them : and measures were taken to convey
him privately out of the country, to save their own charac-
ters.

While this was going on, a zealous professor of the gos-
pel, named Galant, visited him in the prison, where he
found him a little better treated than before, and said, "Oh,
Palmer, thou hast deceived divers men's expectations, for
we hear that you suffer not for righteousness' sake, but for
your own demerits." To which the martyr replied, " Oh,
brother Galant, these be the old practices of that satanical
brood. But be you well assured, and God be praised for
it, I have so purged myself, and detected their falsehood,
that henceforth I shall be no more molested therewith."
And then he wrote, for his friend's satisfaction, what con-
firmed the statement already made.

166 PALMER ASKIN GWIN.

His wicked adversaries, seeing their first plan entirely
defeated, and fearing that if he should secretly escape, both
themselves and the magistrates might be exposed and
endangered, resolved on the extreme refuge that alone
was left. They had not dared to accuse him of heresy,
because they still kept on the mask of godliness themselves,
and were accounted earnest brethren by the Lord's people:
but now they laid aside both shame and fear; and no longer
concealing the disgraceful act of robbing his study, pro-
duced the writings which they had stolen, and charged him
with heresy. Palmer was then again called before the
mayor, and other justices, to render an account of his faith,
and to answer these new articles and informations. Hav-
ing gathered enough from his own lips to entrap him, they
devised a bill of instructions against him, to be delivered to
Dr. Jeffrey, who was to hold his next visitation on the fol-
lowing Tuesday, at Newbury. This indictment, and the
prisoner, were then ordered to be conveyed together to the
place of his trial. An example occurred at this time, both
of charitable affection towards Palmer, and disinterested
modesty on his part. A Mr. Ryder, a faithful witness of
God's truth at Reading, hearing how cruelly Palmer was
dealt with in the prison, and that he was pining away for
lack of necessaries, and how fully he had proved his inno-
cence before the officers, of the crimes laid to his charge,
sent his servant secretly, the night before his departure for
Newbury, with a bent groat, in token of his goodwill, re-
quiring him to let him know if he lacked necessaries, as he
would provide for him. Palmer answered, " The Lord
reward your master for his benevolence towards me, a
miserable object in this world ; and tell him that, God be
praised, I lack nothing." The next morning, when pre-
paring for the journey, Thomas Askin, his fellow-prisoner
and companion in suffering for Christ's sake in the fire,
was sitting at breakfast; and seeing Palmer very sad, lean-
ing against the window, asked why he came not to break-
fast. Palmer replied, " Because I lack money to discharge
the shot." " Come on man," said the other, " God be prais-
ed for it, I have enough for us both." This being after-
wards related to Mr. Ryder, it grieved him excessively that
he had so readily taken Palmer's modest answer.

On Monday night, they came to Newbury, and there
found, in the dungeon to which they were committed, John
GwiN, their faithful brother martyr. When brought before

JULIUS PALMER. 167

Dr. Jeffreys in consistory, the following was the order of
the examination, as gathered from the notes of Mr, Ship-
per, and four other faithful reporters who were present
throughout.

The choir of the parish church was the place, where
seats were set for Dr. Jeffreys, representing the bishop of
Salisbury; Sir Richard Abridges, the high sheriff'; Sir
William Ramsford, Mr. Winchcomb, and the parson of In-
glefield. The prisoners being presented, the commission
opened, and other things arranged. Dr. Jeffi'eys addressed
Palmer, saying, " Art thou that jolly writer of three-half-
penny books that we hear of?" Palmer answered, " I know
not what you mean." " Have you taught Latin so long,"
said the rude examiner, " that now you understand not
English ?" To this he gave no reply. Jeffreys then rose
up, and stated that they had received certain articles against
him from the mayor of Reading, whereby he had been con-
victed of heresies. These were : " I. That you deny the
pope's holiness' supremacy. II. That there are but two
sacraments. III. That the priest showeth up an idol at
mass ; and therefore you went to no mass since your first
coming to Reading. IV. That there is no purgatory. V.
That you be a sower of sedition, and have sought to divide
the unity of the queen's subjects."

Here the sheriff" suggested, " You were best see first
what he will say to his own handy- work." "Ye say truth,"
replied Jeffreys. " Tell me. Palmer, art thou he that wrote
this fair volume ? Look upon it." " I wrote it indeed,"
said Palmer, " and gathered it out of the Scriptures." " Is
this doggish rhyme yours also'.' Look." " I wrote this, I
deny not." " And what say you to these Latin verses, en-
titled Epicedion, dfc. Are they yours too ?" " Yea, sir."
"Art thou not ashamed to affirm it?" continued Jeffreys;
" it came of no good spirit, that thou didst both rail at the
dead, and slander a learned and catholic man yet alive."
Palmer answered, " If it be a slander, he hath slandered
himself; for I do but report his own writing, and open the
folly therein declared. And I reckon it no railing to in-
veigh against Annas and Caiaphas, being dead." " Sayest
thou so ?" cried the angry judge ; " I will make thee recant
it, and wring peccavi out of your lying lips, ere I have
done with thee." "But I know," returned Palmer, "that
although of myself I be able to do nothing, yet if you and
all mine enemies, both bodily and ghostly, should do your

168 JULIUS PALMER.

worst, you shall not be able to bring that to pass ; neither
shall ye prevail against God's mighty Spirit, by whom we
understand the truth, and speak it so boldly." "Ah, are
you full of the Spirit ?" said Jeffreys ; " are you inspired
with the Holy Ghost?" " Sir," answered Julius Palmer,
" no man can believe, but by the inspiration of the Holy
Ghost. Therefore, if I were not a spiritual man, and in-
spired with God's Spirit, I were not a true Christian. ' He
that hath not the Spirit of Christ is none of his.' " To this,
Jeffreys could only reply, " I perceive you lack no words;"
and was admirably answered by the young martyr, "Christ
hath promised not only to give us store of words necessary,
but with them such force of matter as the gates of hell
shall not be able to withstand, or to prevail against it."
Jeffreys remarked, " Christ made such a promise to his
apostles ; I trow you will not compare with them." "With
the holy apostles I may not compare," replied Palmer ;
" neither have I any affiance in my own wit or learning,
which I know is but small : yet this promise I am certain
pertaineth to all such as are appointed to defend God's truth
against his enemies, in the time of their persecution for the
same." " Then it pertaineth not to thee," said Jeffreys.
Palmer rejoined, "Yes, I am right well assured that through
his grace it pertaineth at this present to me, as it shall, no
doubt, appear, if you give me leave to dispute with you
before this audience, in the defence of all that I have there
written." Jeffreys replied, "Thou art but a beardless boy,
started up yesterday out of the schools ; and dost thou pre-
sume to offer disputation, or to encounter with a doctor?"
Palmer answered, " Remember, master doctor, ' The wind
bloweth where it listeth ;' and in another place, ' Out of the
mouths of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise:'
and ' Thou hast hidden these things from the wise and pru-
dent, and hast revealed them unto babes.' God is not tied
to time, wit, learning, place, or person. And although your
wit and learning be greater than mine, yet your belief in
the truth, and zeal to defend the same is no greater than
mine."

Before any reply could be made to this beautiful speech,
the register interposed saying, " Sir, if you suffer him thus
impudently to trifle with you, he will never have done."
Jeffreys took the hint, and went on : " Well, ye shall un-
derstand that I have it not in commission at this present
to dispute with you : neither were it meet that we should

JULIUS PALMER. 169

call again into question such articles as are already dis-
cussed, and perfectly defined, by our holy mother the
church, which we ought to believe without any why or
wherefore as the creed lelleth us. But the cause why ye
be now called hither, is that ye might be examined upon
such articles as are ministered against you, and such mat-
ter as is here contained in your hand-writing, that it may
be seen whether you will stand to it or nay. How say you
to this?" Palmer answered, "By your holy church, you
mean the synagogue of Rome, which is not universal, but
a particular church of shavelings. The catholic church I
believe, yet not for her own sake, but because she is holy;
that is to say, a church that groundeth her belief upon the
word of her spouse, Christ." " Leave railing," said Jef-
freys, "and answer me directly to my question. Will you
stand to your writing, or will you not?" "If you can
prove any sentence therein comprised not to stand with
God's word, I will presently recant it," replied Palmer.
" Thou impudent fellow," cried Jeffreys, " have I not told
thee that I came not to dispute with thee, but to examine
thee?" Here the priest of Inglefield came to his assistance;
and pointing to the pix, asked Julius, " What seest thou
yonder?" He replied, "A canopy of silk broidered with
gold." " Yea," said the priest, " but what is within it?"
" A piece of bread in a clout, I trow." On this the other
exclaimed, " Thou art as froward a heretic as ever I talked
withal." He then spake much of the confiteor, and other
parts of the mass ; then asked, " Do you not believe that
they which receive the holy sacrament of the altar, do truly
eat Christ's natural body?" Palmer answered, " If the sa-
crament of the Lord's supper be ministered as Christ did
ordain it, the faithful receivers do indeed, spiritually and
truly, eat and drink in it Christ's natural body and blood."
"The faithful receivers!" cried the priest; "ye cannot
blear our eyes with such sophistry. Do not all manner of
receivers, good and bad, faithful and unfaithful, receive
the very natural body in form of bread?" " No, sir."
" How prove you that?" demanded the priest. Palmer re-
plied, " By this place, ' He that eateth me, shall live by
me.' " The priest then said, " See that fond fellow; while
he taketh himself to be a doctor of the law, you shall see
me prove him a stark foolish daw. Do you not read like-
wise, ' Whosoever calleth upon the name of the Lord shall
be saved?' Do none but the godly call upon him? There-

MARTYROLOGY. VOL. 11. 15

170 JULIUS PALMER.

fore you must mark how St. Paul answereth you. He
saith that the wicked do eat the true body to their con-
demnation."

Palmer wished to give him a full answer, but the priest
would not hear it; crying out still, " What sayest thou to
St. Paul ?" " I say," replied Palmer, " that St, Paul hath
no such words." " See," cries the priest, " the impudent
fellow denieth the plain text — ' He that eateth and drinketh
the body of the Lord unworthily is guilty of judgment,' "
" I beseech you, lend me your book," said Palmer. " Not
so," replied the priest. But the sheriff entreated him to do
so, and at last it was handed to Palmer, who said, " Your own
book hath, ' He that eateth this bread,' " " But St, Jerome's
translation hath ' body,' " said the priest, " Not so, Mr, Par-
son," answered Palmer ; " and God be praised that I have
in the mean season shut up your lips with your own book,"
Jeffreys now resumed, saying, " It skilleth no matter whe-
ther ye write bread or body, for we are able to prove that
he meant the body. And whereas you say they eat it, spi-
ritually, that is but a blind shift of descant." " What
should I say else?" asked Palmer. Jeffreys replied, " As
holy church saith, really, carnally, substantially." Palmer
observed, " And with as good scripture I may say, grossly,
monstrously," " Thou speakest wickedly," said Jeffreys.
"But tell me, is Christ present in the sacrament, or no?"
Palmer said, "He is present." "How is he present?"
Jeffreys inquired. Palmer answered, " The doctors say,
modo ineffahili. Therefore why do you ask me? Would
God you had a mind ready to believe it, or I a tongue able
to express it unto you!"

Jeffreys then asked him, what he said to the baptism of
infants; he replied, "I say, that it standeth with God's
word ; and therefore it ought of necessity to be retained in
the church." Jeffreys remarked, "Ye have forgotten your-
self, I wis ; for ye write that children may be saved with-
out it." " So I write, and so I say," answered Palmer.
" Then it is not necessary to be frequented and continued in
the church," said Jeffreys, " Your argument is not good,
master doctor," observed Palmer, " Will you stand to it?"
says Jeffreys, " Yea, master doctor, God willing,"

No more of the examination was preserved ; but it ap-
pears that the sheriff. Sir Richard Abridges, who had al-
ready shown some kind feeling for the prisoner, sent for
him to his house the same day, after dinner, and in the pre-

JULIUS PALMER. 171

sence of several gentlemen, his guests, in the most friendly
way entreated him to revoke his opinion ; to spare his
young years, wit, and learning. " If thou wilt be conform-
able," said he, " and show thyself corrigible and repentant,
in good faith 1 promise thee before the company, I will give
thee meat and drink, and books, and ten pound yearly, so
long as thou wilt dwell with me. And if thou wilt set thy
mind to marriage, I will procure thee a wife and a farm,
and help to stuff and fit thy farm for thee. How sayest
thou ?" For this offer, which appears to have been made
through a real good will, and compassionate feeling for the
interesting young martyr, Palmer thanked him very courte-
ously, and farther enlarged, but very modestly and reve-
rently, on the great truths of the religion which he held :
concluding by declaring that as he had already in two
places renounced his living for Christ's sake, so he would,
with God's grace be ready to surrender and yield up his
life also for the same, when God should send time. When
Sir Richard had heard him out, and perceived his steadi-
ness, he said. " Well, Palmer, then I perceive one of us
twain shall be damned. For we be of two faiths, and cer-
tain I am that there is but one faith that leadeth to life and
salvation." " O sir," said Julius, " I hope that we both
shall be saved." Sir Richard asked, " How may that be?"
He sweetly replied, " Right well, sir. For it has pleased
our merciful Saviour, according to the gospel parable, to
call me at the third hour of the day, even in my flowers,
at the age of four-and-twenty years ; even so I trust he hath
called, and will call you at the eleventh hour of your old
age, and give you everlasting life for your portion." " Say-
est thou sol" returned the kind old man: "Well, Palmer,
well, I would I might have thee but one month in my
house : I doubt not but I would convert thee, or thou should-
est convert me."

Mr. Winchcomb was also moved to say, " Take pity on
thy golden years, and pleasant flowers of lusty youth, be-
fore it be too late." But Julius Palmer answered, " Sir, I
long for those springing flowers that shall never fade away."
" If thou be at that point," said Winchcomb, " I have done
with thee."

Palmer was led back to the dark cell ; but the two other
simple believers, Askin and Gwin, were called before the
consistory the same afternoon, condemned, and delivered
to the sheriff.

172 JULIUS PALMER.

The next morning, the sixteenth of July, Palmer was
summoned, and required to subscribe to certain articles,
which they had drawn out, touching the cause of his con-
demnation : in the beginning of which were heaped together
many grievous terms, respecting his faith, as horrible, he-
retical, damnable, devilish, and execrable doctrine. To this
Palmer refused to subscribe; affirming that the doctrine
which he professed was not such, but good and sound doc-
trine. Jeffreys said, " Ye may see, good people, what shifts
these heretics seek, to escape burning, when they see jus-
tice ministered unto them. But I tell thee, this style is
agreeable to the law, and therefore I cannot alter it."
" Then I cannot subscribe to it," said Palmer. Jeffreys
asked, " Wilt thou then crave mercy, if thou like not jus-
tice, and revoke thy heresy?" Palmer replied, "I forsake
the pope, and his popelings, with all popish heresy."
" Then subscribe the articles," said Jeffreys. " Alter the
epithets, and I will subscribe." At last Jeffreys bade him
subscribe, and qualify the matter with his own pen; which
he immediately did. Jeffreys then proceeded to read the
popish sentence of his cruel condemnation ; and delivered
him to the secular power, to be burned the same afternoon,
at five o'clock.

Within one hour before they went to the place of their
execution, Palmer, in the presence of many people, thus
addressed his fellow martyrs. " Brethren, be of good cheer
in the Lord, and faint not. Remember the words of our
Saviour Christ, where he saith, Happy are ye when men
shall revile you and persecute you for righteousness' sake.
Rejoice and be glad, for great is your reward in heaven.
Fear not them that kill the body, and be not able to touch
the soul. God is faithful, and will not suffer us to be
tempted farther than we shall be able to bear it. We shall
not end our lives in the fire, but make a change for a better
life. Yea, for coals we shall receive pearls. For God's
Holy Spirit testifieth our spirit that he hath even now pre-
pared for us a sweet supper in heaven, for his sake which
suffered first for us."

With these and many like words, he not only comforted
the hearts of his poor brethren who were as sheep appointed
to be slain with him, but drew plentiful tears from the
eyes of many who heard him. While they were singing
a psalm, came the sheriff, Sir Richard Abridges, and the
bailiffs of the town, with a great company of harnessed and

JULIUS PALMER. 173

weaponed men, to conduct them to the fire. When they
were come to the place where they should suffer, they tell
all three to the ground ; and while the other two made
their prayers secretly to Almighty God, Palmer with an
audible voice, rehearsed the thirty-tirst psalm. As he rose
from the earth, there came behind him two popish priests,
exhorting him yet to recant and save his soul. Palmer
answered, " Away, away; tempt me no longer. Away, I
say, from me, all ye that work iniquity; for the Lord hath
heard the voice of my tears." They then put off their
raiment, went to the stake and kissed it ; and when they
were bound to the post, Palmer said, " Good people,
pray for us, that we may persevere to the end. And for
Christ's sake beware of popish teachers, for they deceive

As he spake this, a servant of one of the bailiffs threw
a fagot at his face, causing the blood to gush out in seve-
ral places: on which Sir Richard Abridges not only reviled
the wretch as a cruel tormentor, but with his sheriff''s statf
dealt him such a blow as broke his head, and made the
blood run down his ears. When the fire was kindled, and
began to take hold on their bodies, they lifted up their
hands towards heaven, as quietly and cheerfully as though
they felt no smart, and cried, " Lord Jesus strengthen us :
Lord Jesus assist us : Lord Jesus receive our souls !" and
so continued without any struggling, holding up their
hands, knocking on their hearts, and calling on the name
of Jesus.

It was remarked as an extraordinary thing that after their
three heads, by the raging force of the fire had fallen to-
gether, and formed as it were one lump of cinder, so that
no one doubted they were all dead, suddenly Julius Pal-
mer, as if waked out of sleep, moved his tongue and jaws,
and was heard to pronounce this word, JESUS. So, being
resolved into ashes, he yielded to God as joyful a soul, con-
firmed with the sweet promises of Christ, as any one that
ever was called beside, to suffer for his blessed name. God
grant us all to be moved with the like spirit, working in our
hearts constantly to stand in defence and confession of
Christ's holy gospel to the end. Amen.

And now, in place of any other remark, we will lay be-
fore the reader at the close of this most affecting history,
the observations with which John Fox prefaces it. Modern
liberality might recoil from the force of his language if in-
15*

174 JULIUS PALMER.

serted in its proper place : but who shall quarrel with it,
after accompanying him through the foregoing details ?

" As all God's works are wondrous, in calling of all sorts
of men to confirm his truth, and to bear witness unto his
assured and infallible word, which the adversaries have de-
praved and corrupted with their false glosses, to establish
the fleshly kingdom of Antichrist, and to purchase security
in the world, which they seek to keep in their possession
by all means possible, rather cursing with the thunderbolt
of excommunication, burning, hanging, drowning, racking,
scourging, and persecuting by secret practice and open vio-
lence the simple sheep of our Saviour Christ than that their
false, forged packing should be detected, their estimation
impaired, their kitchen cooled, or their rents, revenues,
goods, lands and possessions abated ; I say, as God's works
be wonderful, which chooseth some of all sorts to confess
his gospel, so there is no one example in the whole godly
fellowship of martyrs, more to be marked, yea, more to be
wondered at, than this : that one which all king Edward's
days was a papist within the university of Oxford, and so
obstinate as that he did utterly abhor all godly prayer and
sincere preaching, and almost of all them with whom he
lived was therefore likewise abhorred, and, as I may say,
pointed at with the finger, yet did after, in queen Mary's
time, suffer most cruel death at the papists' hands at New-
bury, in Berkshire, for the most ready and zealous profes-
sion of the blessed truth."

Fox gained his information from those who intimately
knew Julius Palmer; and who were personally present
during his false accusation, cruel imprisonment, subsequent
examinations, and final murder. The story presents an
awful picture, or rather the reality of what popery is. Let
those who would qualify the expression by saying rather,
what popery was, produce some sufficient testimony that
the church of Rome has ever yet rescinded those sangui-
nary decrees, which, until formally set aside by an equally
public and authoritative council with that of Trent, are,
and MUST be the standing laws of her antichristian syna-
gogue.

The story which follows that of Julius Palmer, presents
a fearful variety in the scene of bloodshed ; and leaves per-
haps a darker blot upon the page than any which has yet
stained it. There was not even the semblance of a proof
that the poor victims had offended against the papal power.

THE GUERNSEY VICTIMS. 175

The facts are these. In the isle of Guernsey a woman of
very abandoned character, named Vincent Gosseti, stole a
silver cup, which she took to an honest simple neighbour,
Perotine Massey, desiring her to lend her sixpence upon it.
Perotine, convinced that it was stolen, gave her the six-
pence, and took the cup, in order to discover the owner
and restore it. She did so ; and the person who was rob-
bed apprehended Vincent, who at once confessed the fact,
and otiered, if sixpence was given her, to redeem and re-
store the vessel. This was done.

The officers who had accompanied this thief to the house
where Perotine dwelt with her mother and sister, reported
to have seen there a pewter dish, from which some name
or inscription had been scratched out ; which led them to
surmise that the article had been stolen. On this supposi-
tion, the three women were taken into custody and impri-
soned. After some time they were, at their earnest entrea-
ty, brought to trial ; when it appeared from the testimony
of all their neighbours and acquaintance, that their lives
were irreproachably honest ; their characters above sus-
picion, and the only fault found with them by those who
knew them, was that they failed in obedience to the com-
mands of " holy church." The result of the trials was, that
Vincent Gosset was whipped, set in the pillory, and banish-
ed from the island ; while the three women, Catherine Caw-
ches, Guillemine Gilbert, and Perotine Massey, were re-
manded to prison for not coming to mass.

This matter appertaining to the spiritual power, their
worthy coadjutors of the temporal arm sent a notification
to Jacques Amy the dean and his curates, apprising them
that the women were suspected of heresy. The poor crea-
tures were then examined by the justices touching their
faith, when they said they would obey and keep the ordi-
nances of the king and queen, and the commandments of
the church; notwithstanding that they had said and done
the contrary in the time of king Edward, in showing obe-
dience to his ordinances and commandments before. They
were then sent back to prison, till an answer should arrive
from the dean and his accomplices, which answer was a
condemnation of the parties for heresy, without having
heard a word even of the foregoing examination. When
the bailiff and jurates found that the women had not been
questioned by the clergy, they refused to confirm the sen-
tence that day; and sent them to these wolves in shepherds'

176 THE CUERNSEY VICTIMS.

guise, who, after a separate private examination, of which
no account on record was ever given, recommitted them to
the castle; and within a fortnight afterwards, directed this
final sentence to the secular power; that Catherine Caw-
ches and her two daughters were found heretics, and con-
demned and judged on that day to be burned, until they be
consumed to ashes, in the place accustomed, with the con-
fiscation of all their goods, movables, and heritages to be
in the hands of the king and queen's majesties, according
and after the effect of a sentence delivered in justice by Mr.
Dean and the curates, the 13lh day of July, 1556.

The poor unoffending, ignorant creatures at once appeal-
ed to the king and queen against this horrible act of blood-
thirsty malice: but of this the murderers would not hear:
and they were directly led to the place of slaughter. To
enter fully on what ensued is impossible — human nature
recoils from it. Three stakes were set up; to the central
one was fastened the mother, her two daughters being on
either side. An attempt was made to strangle them; but
the rope broke, probably from being burnt, and they all
fell alive into the fire, the intenseness of which was suffi-
cient to burst their tortured bodies.

It was then that a fourth victim was discovered : a fine
little boy, the offspring of Perotine, was seen lying among
the flames, and thence was snatched unhurt by a bystander,
who laid the poor babe on the grass. But who should dare
to rescue a heretic from the strong grasp of the holy
catholic church? Without a judicial order nothing could
be done; so the little innocent was taken up and carried to
the provost, who declining to decide on so difficult a point,
sent it to the bailiff: and he too orthodox to err on the side
of mercy, humanity, or common justice, gave orders to
take it back, and throw it into the flames. And so, to
quote the exquisite language of Fox, the infant, baptized
in his own blood, to fill up the number of God's innocent
saints, was both born and died a martyr; leaving behind
to the world, which it never saw, a spectacle wherein the
whole world may see the Herodian cruelty of this graceless
generation of catholic tormentors.

In the early part of Elizabeth's reign, Matthew Cawches,
brother of the elder victim, presented a supplication to her
majesty's commissioners, relating the above facts attested
by the neighbours. The queen ordered an immediate in-
quiry into the matter, which ended in the dispossession of

THOMAS MOOR.

177

the villanous dean of all his livings, and his committal to
prison. The accessories to this " bloody murder," as it
was rightly termed, were obliged publicly to acknowledge
their crime in wrongfully condemning the three women
and the infant, and having at the same time also knowingly
acquitted a wilful murderer; and on this open confes-
sion and submission their pardon was granted. It was
perhaps necessary ; for had queen Elizabeth commenced
executing justice upon all who could be proved to have
committed barbarous murders, with their accessories before,
at, and after the fact, she must have well nigh depopulated
the whole realm of England: which may God, of his infi-
nite mercy, even yet preserve from the withering curse of
popery, for his dear Son's sake ! Amen.

CHAPTER IX.

PERSECUTIONS — JOAN WASTE — AND OTHERS PRISONERS FAMISHED

VISITATION OF CAMBRIDGE — BUCER AND PHAGIUS — MORE MARTYR-
DOMS.

The bloody rage of this persecution spared neither man,
woman, nor child, wife nor maid, lame, blind, nor cripple :
and so through all, men and women, as there was no
difference either of age or sex considered, so neither was
there any condition or quality respected of any person.
Whosoever he were who held not as they did, of the pope
and sacrament of the altar, were he learned or unlearned,
wise, or a simple innocent, all went to the fire: as may
appear farther, by the instance of a poor young man,
named Thomas Moor, a servant, in Leicester, who, for
saying that his Maker was in heaven, and not in the pix,
was apprehended, and brought before his ordinary, who
began by asking whether he did not believe his Maker to
be there, pointing to the high altar : he said, " No." " How
then dost thou believe?" said the bishop. The young man
answered. As his creed did teach him. The bishop went
on ; " And what is that yonder, that thou seest above the
altar?" Moor answered, " Forsooth, I cannot tell what you
would have me to see. I see there fine clothes, with golden
tassels, and other gay gear, hanging about the pix : what

178 JOAN WASTE.

is within, I cannot see." " Why," said his spiritual pastor,
" dost thou not believe Christ to be there, flesh, blood and
bones?" " No, that I do not," he replied.

Upon this, without further preface, the bishop read the
sentence, condemning the poor, but faithful servant of the
Lord, to death. He was burnt ; suffering with much joy,
and glorying in his Saviour.

About the same time, two men and a woman, named
Thomas Dungate, John Foreman, and mother Tree,
were burned at Grinstead, in Sussex ; who patiently
endured, for Christ's sake, all the torments that men's
rage could inflict, and departed to their eternal rest.

The next victim selected was a young woman of twenty-
two, named Joan Waste, blind from her birth. She lived
in Derby; the bishop of the diocese, Ralph Baine, with
Dr. Draycolt, his chancellor, Sir John Port, and a whole
party of officials, gentry and bailiffs, sat in judgment to
condemn the innocent blood of this afflicted girl. She was
the daughter of a barber, an honest, industrious poor man :
and Joan, notwithstanding her blindness, contrived, while
yet very young, to add something to the earnings of her
parents, by knitting, or turning ropes with her father, who
occasionally worked at that business also ; and it was
remarked of her, that in no case would she be idle. When
deprived of both parents, she resided with her brother;
and in the days of king Edward of blessed memory, she
embraced the privilege of hearing the church service in a lan-
guage that she could understand. It became her daily delight
to hear sermons and homilies, and to join in public worship ;
until, by the influence of the Holy Spirit, she became well
grounded and settled in the saving faith of the gospel.
Redoubling her diligence, she earned money enough to buy
a New Testament, and being unable to use it, because of
her total blindness, she went to a man named John Hurt,
seventy years of age, who was a prisoner for debt in the
castle of Derby. This poor old captive daily read to her
a chapter from her beloved book, unless by illness, or other
unavoidable cause, he was hindered; in which case the
blind girl took her testament to the parish clerk, or some
other person who could read. When she found none
willing to do it freely, she would bargain for so many
chapters, for a price; devoting the few pence saved from
her earnings to the purchase of this greatest of all bless-
ings : and thus, every day she had her portion of that

JOAN WASTE, 179

which to her, as to David, was more to be desired than
gold; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.

Another thing was remarked of Joan Waste ; that she
could, without a guide, readily find her way to any church
in the town of Derby, or to any place or person where she
had once enjoyed the hearing of God's word. It cannot
be wondered at, that, thus constantly exercised in the
blessed scriptures, she was able to repeat whole chapters
with ease ; and could reprove sin, and impugn errors in
doctrine, by unanswerable arguments drawn from the
source of all her knowledge. Her life also was fully
accordant with the profession that she made ; and when the
accession of Mary spread darkness again over the land,
she continued steadfast, unmovable, abounding in the work
of the Lord, and maintaining an open protest against the
abominations that were done. For this she was called to
account, before the wretched bishop and his guilty accom-
plices. The articles exhibited against her were, first, that she
did hold the sacrament of the altar to be only a memorial or
representation of Christ's body, and material bread and
not his natural body unless it were duly received. And
that it ought not to be reserved from time to time over the
altar, but immediately to be received. Secondly, that she
held, that in receiving the sacrament of the altar she did
not receive the same body, that was born of the virgin
Mary, and suffered upon the cross for our redemption.
Thirdly, she held that Christ at his last supper did not
bless the bread that he had then in his hands, but was
blessed himself: and by the virtue of the words of conse-
cration the substance of the bread and wine is not converted
into the substance of the body and blood of Christ.

To these she answered, that she believed therein so
much as the holy scripture taught her, and according to
what she had heard preached unto her by divers learned
men : whereof some suffered imprisonment, and others suf-
ered death for the same doctrine. Amongst these she named
Dr. Taylor, who, she said, took it upon his conscience
that the doctrine which he taught was true; asking them
if they would do so, in like case, for their doctrine? If not,
she desired them for God's sake not to trouble her, a blind,
poor, and unlearned woman, with any further talk : and
she ended by saying that she was ready, with God's assist-
ance, to yield her life for that faith, in such sort as they
should appoint. The bishop and Dr. Draycott pressed her

180 JOAN WASTE.

with arguments on the omnipotency of Christ, asking why
was not Christ able as well to make the bread his body, as
to turn water into wine, to raise Lazarus from the dead,
and perform other miracles? To their sophistry they added
grievous threats of imprisonment, torture and death, if
she continued obstinate. The poor girl then, probably
thinking to convict them of their insincerity in a belief
that no rational person could really entertain, told the
bishop that if he would before that company take it upon
his conscience that the doctrine which he would have her
to believe concerning the sacrament was true, and that he
would in the dreadful day of judgment answer for her
therein, — as Dr. Taylor, in divers of his sermons had
offered, — she would then further answer them.

The bishop immediately said that he would do so: but
Draycott, the chancellor, who seems to have thirsted for
her blood, said, " My lord, you know not what you do :
you may in no case answer for a heretic." Then he
demanded of Joan whether she would recant or no ; telling
her she should answer for herself; the bishop at once
yielding to the chancellor's correction. The poor girl
perceiving how matters stood, said that if they refused to
take on their conscience the truth of what they would have
her believe, she would answer no further : but desired them
to do their pleasure j which they did, by pronouncing sen-
tence against her, and committing her to the bailiffs. By
them she was kept in prison for a month or five weeks,
when they received a writ from the bishop, requiring them
to bring her to the parish church of All-hallows, where
Dr. Draycott was to make a sermon.

On the appointed day, the doctor came to the church,
attended by a train of his worthy associates. The inno-
cent martyr was then led thither, and placed before the
pulpit, where the doctor began to denounce the poor blind
creature, declaring to the people that she was condemned
for denying the sacrament of the altar to be the very body
and blood of Christ, really and substantially, and was
thereby cut off from the body of the catholic church. He
said, that she was not only blind of her bodily eyes, but
also blind in the eyes of her soul : and that as her body
should be presently consumed with material fire, so her
soul should be burned in hell with everlasting fire, as soon
as it left the body, and there remain world without end.
He also informed his congregation that it was not lawful to

VARIOUS MARTYRS. 181

pray for her; and so, with many terrible threats, made an
end of his sermon, commanding the bailiffs and attendant
gentlemen to see her executed. The blessed young believer
was then taken direct from the church, to a place called
the Windmill Pit, near the town ; and there, holding her
poor brother Roger by the hand, she prepared herself for
the fire, desiring the people to pray with her, saying such
prayers as she had learned, and calling on Christ for mercy
as long as her life lasted. In the mean while Draycott
went to his inn, and indulged himself with a comfortable
sleep while his victim endured the torturing death of the
flames. Who now, of the two, we cannot but ask, is com-
forted, and who tormented?

On the first of September, a godly, aged and devout
person, born in Wiltshire, named Edmund Sharpe, was
condemned to martyrdom at Bristol, where he constantly
and manfully persisted in the just quarrel of Christ and
his gospel against the ordinances of the Romish apostasy.
He was tried, as pure gold, and made a lively sacrifice in
the fire ; in whose death, as in that of all his saints the
Lord was glorified, for the great grace of steadfastness
bestowed on him.

In the same month, four suffered at Mayfield in Sussex,
the names of two only being recorded. These were John
Hart, and Thomas Ravensdale; their companions were
a shoemaker and a currier. They all four died in one fire,
praying and praising God, while they yielded their lives
for the testimony of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ.

The day after this, a young man, a carpenter, was
butchered in like manner at Bristol for the same cause ;
who gave up his life to the Lord with such joyful constancy
and triumph that all the church of Christ had reason to
praise God on his behalf.

Then, at Wotton Underedge in Gloucestershire, one
John Horn, and a woman, were burned together, and died
very gloriously ; proving that unto them death was life,
whereas life with a defiled conscience would have been
death. But fire was not the only weapon found for the
destruction of the Lord's little flock, as appears in the
story of a poor family named Dangerfield, in the same
parish where the last martyrs suffered. The husband, a
godly and honest poor man, having been absent from home
for a while, and hearing that his wife had just given birth
to her tenth child, hastened home to see her. He was

MARTYROLOGY. VOL. II. 16

182 THE DANGERFIELDS.

presently accused by his neighbours, and brought to bishop
Brooks, who committed him to prison, where he lay till his
legs were nearly fretted away by the irons.

The woman was taken soon after his apprehension, from
her bed, with her babe, then just fourteen days old, and
placed in the common gaol, amongst thieves and murderers,
where the merciless creatures would not even allow her to
come near a fire, and her sufferings were of course very
great. Brooks, determining to effect by deceit what he had
no prospect of otherwise accomplishing, sent for the man,
representing to him that his wife had recanted, and work-
ing on the anxious feelings of the husband and father until
he obtained from him a promise of signing a form of
recantation, which Brooks drew out. He did not then
recant, but engaged so to do after a while, as the price of
being permitted to see his wife and child. On visiting them
in the gaol, he discovered the wicked cheat that had been
practised, finding his poor wife not only steadfast in the
faith, but exceedingly afflicted at the sight of his intended
recantation. " Alack," said she, " how long have we con-
tinued one, and hath Satan so prevailed, to cause you to
break your first vow, made to Christ in baptism?" The
poor man, deeply grieved for his sin, departed, praying to
Almighty God that he would not suffer him to live so long
as to call evil good, and good evil, or to put darkness for
light and light for darkness. His prayer was heard ; for,
worn out by cruel imprisonment, and sorrow of heart, he
fell sick on the way home to his desolate house, and died
before the time arrived for fulfilling his promise to the
bishop.

Joan Dangerfield continued in prison, till she was brought
before the bishop for examination, of which no account
remains : however, she pleased him so little by her answers,
that he sent her back to her dungeon, with increased
severities, where her tender babe, deprived of the nourish-
ment that she had no longer strength to yield, and perish-
ing with famine and cold, was taken away from her and
shortly died; the mother following soon, of a broken heart.
In addition to this, the mother of Dangerfield, a helpless
old woman of eighty, died for want of the attention and
comforts that there was no one to bestow on her in the
house where she was left alone: and thus were four inno-
cent persons put to death, by lingering pains, without
bringing them to public trial, or to a public execution. The

VARIOUS MARTYRS. 183

nine young children were dispersed, no one knew where,
to live as they could, or to perish as they might.

The month of October was mari<ed by the burning of
John Kudre, a shoemaker, at Northampton. One who,
by the grace of God, had renounced the false doctrines of
Rome, and endured to the end, earnestly contending for the
true faith, even in the fire of martyrdom.

In the castle of Chichester, three who were waiting their
crown, through the like sufferings, died of cruel handling;
and were buried in the fields ; and one Hooke was mar-
tyred at Chester.

In November, the following atrocity marked the tender
mercies of Nicholas Harpsfield, archdeacon of Canterbu-
ry, who, excepting Dunning, of Norwich, was the most
barbarous persecutor of that rank in the whole nominal
church. Some of his victims in that diocese, who suffered
at his instigation, by sentence of Thornton, bishop of
Dover, and his active assistance in harassing God's people
while under Bonner's hand, have been recited ; the follow-
ing exceeds in cruelty all that has yet been related
concerning him. There were in Canterbury castle fifteen
godly persons, in bonds for the gospel, of whom not one
escaped with life; all being either burned, or deliberately
starved to death in the prison. Of the first who suffered
by fire, the story will follow by and by; they were ten in
number. The five who remained were John Clerk and
DuNSTAN Chittenden, not yet condemned ; with Williaji
Foster, Alice Potkins, and John Archer, lying under
sentence of death. They had all stood most boldly to the
confession of faith which was laid against them as the
crime of heresy : the woman, when asked her age, replied
that it was forty-nine years, according to her old age ; and
according to her young age, since she learned Christ, she
was one year old. They were all in humble life, and of
small learning, according to this world's fashion; but they
had so learned Christ crucified as to prefer suffering affliction
with his people before all that the world could give. What
became of them, let the reader gather from this letter,
which was thrown by them out of the window of their
prison, after which they were never heard of more.

" Be it known to all men that shall read or hear read
these our letters, that we, the poor prisoners of the castle
of Canterbury for God's truth, are kept and lie in cold
irons ; and our keepers will not suffer any meat to be

184 VISITATION TO CAMBKIDGE.

brought to us to comfort us. And if any man do send us
any thing, as bread, butter, cheese, or any other food,
the said keeper will charge those that so bring us any
thing, except money or raiment, to carry it them again ;
or else if he do receive any food for any of us, he doth
keep it for himself, and he and his servants do spend it, so
that we have nothing thereof: and thus the keeper keepeth
away our victuals from us. Insomuch that there are four
of us, prisoners there for God's truth, famished already;
and thus it is his mind to famish us all. And we think he
is appointed thereunto by the bishops and priests, and also
of the justices, so to famish us ; and not only us of the
said castle, but also all other prisoners in other prisons for
the like cause, to be also famished : notwithstanding we
write not these letters to the intent that we might not afford
to be famished for the Lord Jesus' sake ; but for this cause
and intent, that they having no law to famish us in prison,
should not do it privily, but that the murderers' hearts
should be openly known to all the world ; that all men may
know of what church they are, and who is their father."

It was, indeed, from no feeling of revenge, neither from any
unwillingness tosufferthatGod's dear martyrs always sought
to give every publicity to the proceedings of their enemies :
but as the Lord had solemnly warned his church to beware
of false teachers, who should come to them in sheep's
clothing, while inwardly they were ravening wolves, and had
moreover, emphatically given a rule by which to discover
them, "Ye shall know them by their fruits," the Christians
of those days felt what Christians in every age ought to feel,
that it was a solemn duty owing to the whole body of Christ's
church, to reveal the poisonous fruit, that all might know
and shun the deadly tree which bore it. False charity to
Christ's enemies is the sinofourday: in other words, the beset-
ting sin of our day is, to commit high treason against Christ.
It has already been noticed that cardinal Pole's zeal
against heresy found a vent, which, though alike ridiculous,
disgusting, and contemptible, was less cruel than that cho-
sen by his coadjutors. They loved to suck the warm
blood from the veins of the living: murder was their trade.
He generally contented himself with mumbling the bones
of the dead: his pursuit was exhumation. The year 1557
was opened by cardinal Pole, with a solemn visitation
of the university of Cambridge, which, as he rightly
judged, stood greatly in need of reformation, according to

VISITATION TO CAMBRIDGE. 185

his sense of the word. Cambridge had been one of the
first among public bodies to cast off the Romish yoke ; and
had also proved a nursery of true religion, where the greater
number of those distinguished divines who had already en-
dured the flames of martyrdom, first imbibed the pure milk
of the word. Martin Bucer, too, had lately laboured there;
and by his public interpretation of Scripture, had done no
small damage to the craft of the shrine-makers.

The persons appointed to conduct this important visita-
tion, were Scott, bishop of Chester, Watson, bishop of Lin-
coln, Christopherson, of Chichester, Cole, provost of Eton
college, with one Nicholas Ormanet, an Italian priest, high
in favour with the pope, and by him sent into England with
Pole, to watch his proceedings. A citation was sent to the
vice-chancellor of Cambridge, willing him, with the whole
body of divines and graduates, to be at St. Mary's church
on the morning of the eleventh of January, there to receive
the visitors, and to be prepared to lay before them such
things as should seem necessary to the proposed reforma-
tion of their university. Great preparations were made:
it was resolved that the expenses of the visitors should be
borne by the university and colleges ; and some days be-
fore the appointed meeting, the queen's commissioners sat
in form, consisting of some high officers of the place and
town, who swore the high constables, and appointed two
for every parish, to make inquisition, on oath, for heresy,
lollardy, conspiracy, and seditious words, tales, and ru-
mours, against the king and queen : also for heretical and
seditious books, for negligence and misdemeanour in the
church ; for observation of ceremonies, for ornaments, and
stock of the church.

The visitors arrived on the ninth ; and the first day was
passed in bandying compliments between the entertainers
and their guests. The second they devoted to seeing sights,
just, by the way, stopping to interdict two churches, St.
Mary's, where Martin Bucer lay buried, and St. Michael's,
which was similarly contaminated by the bones of Paul
Phagius. The latter of these had departed to a blessed
rest so long before as 1549, when he had but lately com-
menced what promised to be a course of eminent useful-
ness. Old Bucer lived longer, and by his laborious dili-
gence in the Lord's work, never sparing himself, nor al-
lowing the infirmities of age to slacken his ardour, toge-
ther with so singularly holy and blameless a life that even
16*

186 VISITATION TO CAMBRIDGE,

his popish adversaries could find no evil thing to say of
him, he had won such universal love and respect, that his
funeral exhibited an extraordinary spectacle of all ranks,
degrees, and parlies, vying who should most contribute to
honour his memory. Three or four years had elapsed
since that time, and the priests had never shown any scru-
ple of conscience in celebrating their masses and other
things in the churches where these holy men lay interred.
However, the cardinal's visitors discovered that pollution
was contracted by the vicinity of their heretical bones; and
an order was given that in future all the pageantries of
Romish devotion should be celebrated in the chapel of
King's College.

The day being come, a grand procession took place, the
great cross being borne before the visitors and commission-
ers ; but somewhat of effect was lost, by the students' dis-
obeying the order issued for them to come in their surplices.
However, they all assembled in great pomp, and the vice-
chancellor, richly habited, gave them a sprinkling of holy
water at Trinity. At Queen's College they underwent the
warmer process of fumigation, or being incensed, as it is
called. Mr. Stokes then welcomed them in a lengthy Latin
oration, for which the bishop of Chester returned thanks,
saying among other things, that their right reverend father,
the lord cardinal, desired nothing so much as with his own
hand to sustain and hold up, now ready to fall, or rather to
raise up, already fallen to the ground, the university where-
of he gladly took unto himself the name and duty of guar-
dian. He would rather have come in person to salute the
university, than have sent visitors to correct it: but the lat-
ter being needful, he had appointed them. Then the bishop
proceeded to admonish all offenders to return to the right
way, to confess their fault, and amend it. He promised them,
in that case, all kinds of humanity and gentleness at their
hands ; with an intimation of what might be expected,
should they prove refractory. This passed at Queen's Col-
lege : they then proceeded to King's, where a grand mass
was sung, during which the Italian priest was observed to
use sundry gestures and ceremonies, till then unknown in
the service, which were set forth as a pattern to be ever-
more observed by all who saw them. Then they went to
St. Mary's, which being interdicted, no mass could be there
performed : but a virulent sermon was preached by one
master Peacock, against Bilney, Cranmer, Latimer, Rid-

VISITATION TO CAMBRIDGE. 187

ley, and such heretics : after which they proceeded to the
business of the visitation. One of the first formalities
included the reading of a document, wherein was named
every member of the university, among whom was Robert
Brassy, master of King's College, a venerable, worthy old
man, who, hearing his name recited next after the vice-
chancellor's, said he was there present, as all the others
were; nevertheless, as the reformation of his house was
wholly reserved to the bishop of Lincoln, both by the king's
patent, and by confirmation from the bishop of Rome, under
a penalty if he should suffer any strangers to intermeddle,
he openly protested in discharge of his duty, that unless
their commission gave them authority and jurisdiction upon
his college, either by express words or manifest sense, he
utterly exempted himself from being present. This symp-
tom of independence mightily displeased the visitors, who
told him that no places or persons were exempted from the
jurisdiction of my lord cardinal, by whom they were depu-
ted: wherefore he had done evil to call into question autho-
rity so well known to all men. Chester seemed especially
angry; for old Brassy had a little before obtained the
honours of that oflice, in despite of the bishop, who had
done all he could against him.

Next day they sat in King's College; probably because
it had obtained the evil repute of never having been without
a heretic or two, time out of mind : and their business be-
ing to smell out heresy, it appeared a fair field for starting
the game. There, however, they met with somewhat of a
discomfiture at the outset. An order had been given as to
the manner in which they should be received at each col-
lege: the members of every house being directed to adorn
themselves in full habits ; the master harnessed like a priest
going to mass, was to advance, followed by every indivi-
dual belonging to his college, robed, and ranged according
to rank, degree, and seniority, to the outward gate of the
college, and there meet the cardinal's delegates. A cross
was to be carried before him, with holy water to sprinkle
the commissioners, and incense to fumigate them: and so,
after these necessary services, they were to be brought
with all pomp and solemnity to the chapel. Now, whether
old Dr. Brassy was tainted by the infectious air of this here-
tical college over which he presided, as the bishop of Ches-
ter surmised, is not fully known; certain it is that he laid
himself open to such suspicion, for when the great person-

188 VISITATION TO CAMBRIDGE.

ages, at the appointed hour, arrived at the outer gate of
King's College, neither master, fellow, nor student, neither
cross, holy water, or censer, was there to welcome them ;
and they were obliged to proceed alone to the church-door,
where they perceived a great bustle; the whole college party
were just commencing in all haste to put on their vestments ;
and were interrupted in the operations of the toilet by the
sudden entrance of the offended dignitaries.

Brassy immediately tendered his excuses, first, acknow-
ledging that he ought to have been sooner ready; secondly,
he declared himself glad to see them; promising in his own
name, and in that of all the others, as much reverence as
might be, in all matters concerning their common welfare;
but thirdly, repeating in his own college the same protes-
tation against their interference as he had uttered the day
before in St. Mary's church. He softened this, by beseech-
ing them not to be offended; for that since he only did it
in discharge of his duty, he had the juster cause to be ex-
cused. The bishop of Chester interrupted him with a
frowning look and angry countenance, saying, he needed
not to repeat the things that he had protested before, nor
they to make further answer to those things wherein they
had sufficiently informed him before. He rather feared
that their quarrel was not good, since they made such ado
about it, and sought such starting holes ; for so were dis-
eased persons wont to do, when for the pain and grief they
are not able to abide a strong medicine. As though, said
he, any man were able to grant so strong a privilege as to
withstand the pope's authority! finally admonishing Brassy
to desist from such unprofitable altercation, and to conform
himself to the things that were then in doing. After this,
they went to mass : which finished, says Fox, first they
went with great solemnity to the high altar of their church,
and having there saluted their god, and searching whether
all were well about him or no, they walked through all the
inner chapels of the church: the church goods, the crosses,
the chalices, the mass-books, the vestments, and whatso-
ever ornaments were besides, were commanded to be
brought out to them. When they had satisfied themselves
with the view of these, and called over by name every fellow
and scholar of the house, they went to the master's lodging,
swearing them all to answer every interrogatory that should
be put ; and so proceeded to the examination. Some of
the collegians, however, refused to be sworn, alleging that

VISITATION TO CAMBRIDGE. 169

they had already given the necessary guarantee of their
faith to the university; and that it was moreover contrary
to all reason and justice to swear a man to criminate him-
self. Finally, after much disputation, they took the oath,
reserving a condition of not impeaching their faith already
given to the college.

The grand matter, however, reserved for the decision of
these papal delegates, was the case of Bucer and Phagius.
Long and grave was the deliberation, at the end of which
the vice-chancellor and heads of colleges were called on,
severally, to give their verdict, as to what should be done
to Martin Bucer. The general sentence was this ; " that
forasmuch as Bucer, while he lived, had not only sowed
pernicious and erroneous doctrine among them, but also
had himself been a sectary and famous heretic, erring from
the catholic church, and giving others occasion to fall ft-om
the same likewise : a supplication shoul'd be made to the
lords commissioners, in the name of the whole university,
that his dead carcase might forthwith be digged up, — for
so it was needful to be done, — to the intent that inquisition
might be made as touching his doctrine, the which being
brought in examination, if it were not found to be good and
wholesome, the law might proceed against him. For it
was against the rule of the holy canons that his body should
be buried in Christian burial. Yea, and besides that, it
was to the derogation of God's honour, and the violating of
his holy laws, with the great peril of men's souls, and the
offence of the faithful, especially in so difficult and conta-
gious a time as that was. Wherefore it was not to be suf-
fered, that they, which utterly dissented from all other men
in the trade of their living, laws, and customs, should have
any part with them in the honour of burial. And there-
fore the glory of God, first and before all things ought to be
defended ; the infamy which through this thing riseth on
them, with all speed put away; and no room at all left for
those persons to rest in, who, even in the same places
where they lay, were injurious and noisome to the very
elements : but the place ought to be purged, and all things
so ordered as might be to the satisfying of the consciences
of the weak. In executing whereof, so notable an exam-
ple ought to be given to all men, that no man hereafter
should be so bold to attempt the like."

The foregoing is a faithful transcript of what, from the
raving absurdity that runs through it, would scarcely be

190 VISITATION TO CAMBRIDGE.

credible, even as a specimen of the drunken pranks of that
great Harlot, when gorged to the full with the contents of her
abominable cup. The precious document was drawn up
in the form of a petition of the university, to which was
appended their common seal ; the commissioners cunning-
ly ordering it so, that it might appear they would not
have gone about it, unless supplicated thereto. However,
it unhappily came out, that in drawing up this ridiculous
petition, the vice-chancellor had only used instructions
given him in writing, by their lordships. This vice-chan-
cellor, Andrew Perne, was judged the meetest man in
Cambridge to have the ordering of the weighty affair in
hand, being considered the most popish among them ; and
when he appeared before the commissioners with his sup-
plication, its prayer was not only granted, instanter, but full
authority vested in Perne to exhume the heretics : for the
examination instituted, and the sentence pronounced on
Bucer, had also, in like form, been extended to Phagius.
It is not to be supposed that the whole university concurred
in this disgraceful and inhuman puerility,* but care had been
taken, after Edward's death, so to drive out the godly and
learned men, supplying their places with the very dregs of
ignorance and impiety, that the few who might be found to
raise a voice against the proceeding, were soon overpower-
ed by the majority, and an appearance of unanimity put
upon the matter.

The affair of Bucer and Phagius being so far disposed of,
the visitors went next day to King's College, and had mass,
with various ceremonies ; after which old Brassy repeated
his protestation, to which Chester made a reply, wonder-
ing what he meant ; but saying that they would bear with
him and receive his protestation. After some more inves-
tigations of their chalices and other things, they went to
dinner, and finished the day's work by affixing the univer-
sity seal to the instrument of the dead men's condemnation.
Proceeding in regular order, the following day they pub-
lished a citation enjoining Bucer and Phagius, on pain of
contumacy, to appear before the commissioners in St.
Mary's church on a given day : permission being also ex-
tended for the like appearance on the part of any one who
should choose to stand forth and defend their doctrine.
This citation was affixed to the market cross, the church
door, and to those of the schools. A great number of these
absurdities were carried on; evident care, however, being

VISITATION TO CAMBKIDGE. 191

taken to provide against the possible appearance of some
champion of God's truth. Had John Philpot been alive
and at liberty, they never would have dared to publish such
a challenge: but they had put to death the pastors; and
knew that the unlearned flock could not venture into their
halls of disputation. The day being come, and neither
Bucer nor Phagius appearing, the delegates, to show their
extraordinary lenity, actually extended the time allowed to
six days later, when, should they still remain contuma-
ciously absent, judgment must assuredly be executed upon
them.

This postponement was to the twenty-sixth of January,
when the pageant took place with all possible effect. All
the learned body of the university, headed by their superi-
ors and the mayor, with his officials and townsmen, met
together at St. Mary's, where after a long delay the com-
missioners came forth, and mounted a scaffolding raised
above the rest for their occupation. Then stood up Dr.
Perne, the vice-chancellor, and with exemplary gravity of
countenance detailed the whole process of the citation, with
the contents thereof. This being done, Scott, bishop of
Chester, arose, and after contemplating for a while the vast
assembly before him, delivered an oration, to the disparage-
ment of the lives, doctrines and writings of the defunct; and
greatly to the enhancement of the tenderness that char-
acterized all the doings of holy church, and of the bishops
in particular. " For," saith he, " howsoever we of ourselves
are inclined to mercy in our hearts, than the which, we
protest, there is nothing under the sun to us more dear and
acceptable, yet notwithstanding the very law riseth tfp to
avengement; so that the common salvation of you all,
which the law provideth for, must be preferred before the
private charity of our minds. Neither ought any such neg-
ligence to overtake us for our parts, that we, being scarce
yet escaped out of the shipwreck of our former calamity,
should now suffer this inexpiable mischief to disquiet any
longer the consciences of the weak." Again quoth the
tender-hearted prelate, " If we had desired revengement,
we might have showed cruelty upon them that are alive:
of the which, alas, the more pity! there are too many that
embrace this doctrine. If we thirsted for blood, it was not
so to be sought in withered carcases and dry bones." He
ended a long speech in these impious and impudent words:
" But if God, as he is slow to wrath and vengeance, will

192 VISITATION TO CAMBRIDGE.

wink at it for a time, yet notwithstanding if we, upon whom
the charge of the Lord's flock leaneth, should permit so
execrable crimes to escape unpunished, we should not live in
quiet one hour." He then recited the sentence in barbarous
Latin ; and ordered the bodies to be digged out of their
graves, to be degraded from holy orders, and delivered to
the secular power. It was not of course lawful for such
innocent persons as they were, abhorring bloodshed and
detesting the desire of murder, to do violence to any man.
Then Perne preached a sermon against Bucer, railing ex-
ceedingly at him: with what degree of sincerity may be
understood from the fact that this same Perne, either just
before or immediately after his sermon, was seen in his
own house to strike himself on the breast, weeping, and
wishing with all his heart that God would grant that his
soul might even then depart, and remain with Bucer's;
adding that he very well knew his life to have been such
that if any man's soul were worthy of heaven, Bucer's es-
pecially was so. Yet, in his open discourse he did not
scruple to vilify this good man most foully, pretending to
quote Bucer's confessions to him, in private conference, in
proof thereof.

The next step taken was to send an express to the car-
dinal in London, requesting the issue of a writ, authorizing
the mayor of Cambridge to burn those condemned heretics.
Meanwhile, by way of an interlude, Dr. W'atson preached
so ridiculous a sermon, as to excite the laughter of his audi-
ence: his object being to show in what order of procession
Joseph and Mary, with wax candles in their hands, brought
the Utile babe to the temple. The messenger returned from
town with the writ; and the sixth of February was ap-
pointed for the solemn deed, in preparations whereto nearly
a month had been devoted. Perne, the vice-chancellor,
was chosen, as has been said, to superintend the business:
he went in due state to St. Michael's church, and having
sworn three of the parishioners to dig up Phagius' bones,
and bring them to the place of execution, while a like en-
gagement was entered into respecting Bucer at St. Mary's,
he sent the mayor to burn them : for no stain of blood must
touch their ecclesiastical fingers. Bucer's coffin was found
in sufficient repair to admit of his being removed in it; Pha-
gius required a new one; which being provided, the two
criminals were borne to the market-place, closely guarded
by a phalanx of armed men, who, with glittering weapons,

VISITATION TO CAMBRIDGE. 193

surrounded the coffins, bound as they were with ropes, and
laid on the shoulders of men. It was market day; and a
multitude of simple country people had assembled in the
town ; who, seeing this warlike array, guarding two crimi-
nals to execution, and learning that the parlies had already
been dead some years, made themselves not a little merry
on the occasion. Some, indeed, expressed the utmost ab-
horrence and detestation of such extreme and disgusting
cruelty towards the mouldering remains of their fellow-
creatures, but the rest laughed openly, asking what need
there was for weapon or chain : " were they afraid the
dead bodies would assault them, or that they could not
be burnt loose without peril ? Surely they would not run
away."

So, followed by the people, they came to the great post
that was fixed in the middle of the market-place, with a pile
of wood about it. The coffins were then set on end, bound
with a long chain to the stake, as though they had been
alive; and as soon as fire was applied, great numbers of
their own, with other books of the like sort, which had been
condemned to the same fate, were thrown into the flames,
amid the scoffs and indignant remarks of the disgusted
populace. While the bodies were thus roasting, Watson,
in St. Mary's church, preached a sermon against Bucer,
railing at him for holding those very doctrines to which he,
Chester, and others there present, had, in king Edward's
days, unreservedly subscribed.

There remained now but one act of this disgraceful farce
to be performed : this was the purification and reconcilia-
tion to holy church of the two desecrated temples, St. Ma-
ry's and St. Michael's, where the heretical bodies had been
interred. So on the following day the commissioners took
their wafer-god, who had remained in his box under their
especial care in Trinity college all this while, and the bishop
of Chester, wrapping the idol in a towel consecrated by the
pope himself, which Ormanet had lately presented to the
university, lodged it in his bosom; and in procession more
showy, and no less ridiculous than that of the preceding
day, made a tour of all the streets in Cambridge, until they
reached the church. The order of procession was this:
first went the masters regent, loudly singing a hymn; then
the bishop of Chester with his precious charge; after him
Ormanet and the other commissioners; next came the
heads of colleges, each bearing g long lighted taper in his

MARTYROLOGY. VOL. II. 17

194 VISITATION TO OXFORD.

hands ; a liltle space behind, was marshalled the whole
body of the university; the rear being brought up by the
mayor and townsmen. Beadles preceded the party, crying
out to the people to bow humbly before the host; threaten-
ing any who should refuse so to do, with a lodging in the
tolbooth. The little idol being replaced over the altar, and,
as they hoped, appeased by the sacrifice of the heretical re-
mains that had defiled the sanctuary, Chester made a long
prayer; and so the matter ended.

However, the reformation of the university was not for-
gotten : for before their departure the cardinal's deputies
arranged with scrupulous exactness all things pertaining to
their spiritual duties. It was prescribed at how many
masses each man should daily attend; how many paters
and aves every one should say on entering the church, and
aiter what sort he should, at such entrance, bow to the altar,
how to the master of the house, what he should do while
there, how long he should stop; how many, and what
prayers he should say; what, and how he should sing;
what meditations should be used while the priest was se-
cretly mumbling his memento; at what part of the mass a
man should stand, when he should sit down ; when he should
curtsey, whether exclusively, inclusively, or how: with
such other minute particulars as defy enumeration. Not to
be behindhand in showing such favours as they could, the
university conferred its honorary degrees with a prodigal
hand upon the actors in this extraordinary drama ; and so
they parted, mutually edified and benefited by four weeks'
intercourse.

No attempt has been made to throw a veil of serious-
ness over the broad farce of these doings. Shocking as they
are, when viewed in the light of their assumed Christianity,
and loathsome in the perpetration of such indecent outrages
upon the dead bodies of God's saints, still they afford a con-
trast to the sanguinary scenes of the preceding and follow-
ing pages, whereon the harassed mind can rest, and at
which reason cannot but smile.

Oxford enjoyed a visitation also, at the cardinal's com-
mand : and having there no person of greater importance
to exhume, the wretched commissioners violated the grave
where an honest and worthy woman was laid, the wife of
that eminent servant of God, Peter Martyr, who in blessed
king Edward's days had so effectually wrought in the work
of national reformation. <They dug up her bones, and with

TEN MARTYRS. 195

every species of contumely thrust them into a dunghill.
This act operated strongly against the credit of the apostate
church; for the gentlewoman was a stranger, a foreigner,
not only inoffensive to all, but so remarkable for her ten-
derness and charity towards the poor, that her death had
been a cause of grievous mourning to all the needy people
around; and her fame was that of a Dorcas. Yet these
popish ecclesiastics considered it an affair worthy of their
gravest deliberation and most diligent zeal, lo rake her in-
nocent ashes out of the ground, and re-inter them in a heap
of rubbish and defilement ! Verily, by their fruits ye shall
know these teachers.

But while the comparatively harmless fooleries of the
cardinal's visitors were being enacted at the universities,
Harpsfield and his fellow-helpers took care that the fires
of martyrdom should not too long smoulder beneath the
ashes. They were kindled into violence to consume, in the
middle of that month of January, 1557, the martyrs re-
maining in Canterbury castle after the death, by famine, of
those five already mentioned. Ten survived; and of these,
six, that is to say, S. Kempe, W. Waterer, W. Prout-
iNG, VV. LowicK, T. Hudson, and W. Hay, were burnt
together at Canterbury, on the fifteenth of January : N.
Final, and M. Bradhridge, at Ashford, on the sixteenth,
and T. Stevens, with J. Philpot, about the same time, at
Wye. The articles objected against these men were in-
creased to the number of twenty-two ; containing various
new matters, deemed important to the maintenance of the
Romish see. Their answers agreed in effect, whatever
slight difference might appear in the wording, granting the
church of Christ, denying the church of Rome, refusing the
mass, and Latin services, rejecting the superfluous five sa-
craments, and disclaiming the doctrines of justification by
works, the invocation of saints, and the like. For this
confession they were content to yield their lives, which the
bloody persecutors were perfectly willing to take ; and thus
they entered into the joy of the Lord.

The month of February was ushered in by a proclama-
tion or commission given forth by Mary and her consort,
the purport of which may show how necessary it is to
bear in mind the apostolic injunction, " to pray for kings
and all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and
peaceable life in all godliness and honesty." This dreadful
instrument gave, to use the words employed in it, full power

196 PROCLAMATION.

and authority unto any three of the commissioners, " to in-
quire, as well by the oaths of twelve good and lawful men,
as by witnesses, and all other means and politic ways you
can devise, of all and singular heretical opinions, Lollardies,
heretical and seditious books, concealments, contempts,
cons[)iracies; and all false rumours or tales, seditious and
slanderous words or sayings, raised, published, bruited, in-
vented, or set forth against us, or either of us," and so on:
*' giving unto you, and three of you, full power and autho-
rity, by virtue hereof, to search out and take into your
hands and possessions, all manner of heretical and sedi-
tious books, letters and writings, wheresoever they or "any
of them shall be found, as well in printers' houses and shops
as elsewhere ; willing you, and every one of you, to search
for the same in all places, according to your discretions."
Then follows some direction concerning a vigilant guardian-
ship of the ecclesiastical possessions; and it goes on:
"Also, to search out all such persons as obstinately do re-
fuse to receive the blessed sacrament of the altar, to hear
mass, or to come to their parish churches, or other conve-
nient places appointed for divine service ; and all such as
refuse to go on procession, to take holy bread or holy wa-
ter, or otherwise misuse themselves, in any church or other
hallowed place, or wheresoever any of the same offences
have been, or hereafter shall be committed, within this our
said realm." This sweeping commission, having thus fully
established the utmost latitude of inquisitorial search, con-
cludes by placing the liberties and lives of all who shall
fall under suspicion, at the entire disposal of the commis-
sioners.

The first fruits of this terrible proclamation were mani-
fested in the diocese of Canterbury and the town of Colches-
ter. In the latter place twenty-three innocent persons were
apprehended at once: one escaped; and the remaining
twenty-two, fourteen men and eight women, were together
driven up to London, like a flock of lambs to the slaughter-
house, with two or three leaders at most, among them; all
ready to give their bodies to the tormentors for the gospel's
sake. They were fastened in semblance only; for the cord
passed about their arms was held by themselves, and escape
would have been perfectly easy. On approaching London,
the keepers called them together and pinioned them ; and
thus they entered the great city. Bonner endeavoured to
get them privily to his house; but, as he complained to car-

LOSEBY— RAMSAY THURTELt, ETC. 197

dinal Pole, they insisted on going publicly through Cheap-
side, all the way exhorting the people, and received great
comfort from them. Bonner greatly desired their destruc-
tion; but Pole, who was certainly of a very different dis-
position from his more sanguinary agents, and who had
been a favourer of protestantism until worldly ambition led
him to enact the part of a zealous Romanist, interfered in
their behalf. In so doing he was not much opposed by the
bishops, who seemed to consider their number rather too
large to be summarily dealt with: and they were, at last,
permitted to draw up such submission as they themselves
deemed right, which was, in fact, no renunciation of their
doctrine, and on the merit of this they were set at liberty.
But the lynx eye of persecution was upon them; and many
of the number were afterwards severally apprehended again,
and put to death, as occasion served, and as will hereafter
appear.

On the twelfth of April, five martyrs were burned to-
gether in Smithfield; J. Loseby, H. Ramsay, T. Thur-
TELL, Margaret Hyde, and Agnes Stanley. They were
apprehended by lord Rich and others, and sent to Bonner,
whose chancellor, Darbishire, examined them upon the
usual articles ; their answers to which proved them to be
simple unlearned people ; and thus they were exposed to
some of the deep snares of their examiners, who by a pe-
culiar craftiness of sophistry drew from them a confession
that " they had separated themselves from the true faith."
The manner of doing it was this : the first article proposes
the belief of one, true, catholic church of Christ, to which
they all, of course, readily assented, admitting that into
such church they had been baptized ; that is, into the nam»
of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Grounding
their assumption of being the catholic church on the ex-
ternal confession of the Trinity, these artful doctors con-
trived to make it appear that all their idolatrous and vain
superstitions were to be adduced from that fundamental
point of faith ; and so by the mere abuse of words, drew the
simple people to admit what they had not the least intention
of granting, — that they had separated themselves from the
_ faith into which they were baptized; whereas they only
meant to say that though the Romish church retained the
confession of the Trinity, into which they were also bap-
tized, they had separated from that church on account of
the manifold abominations whereby the light that was in
17*

198 LOSEBY RAMSAY THURTELL, ETC.

her had been turned into black darkness. In all their an-
swers they constantly affirmed the mass to be most wicked
blasphemy against Christ Jesus, contrary to the truth of
the gospel, and tiierefore to be utterly refused and rejected:
yet, since they ignorantly granted that " when they came
to years of discretion, and understood the light of the gos-
pel, they did separate themselves from the faith of the
church," it was laid hold on as an admission of error, if
not as a recantation, by the chancellor, who for that time
dismissed them.

But they had another to deal with, whose delight in hu-
man blood was too great to admit of his conniving at such
an escape. Bonner took the matter into his own hands,
and added thirteen new articles to those already in use,
which enabled these dear servants of God to give a right
exhibition of their scriptural belief, and so secured to them
the martyr's crown, which they had no desire or intention
of losing, howsoever their words had been wrested by Dar-
bishire and others. Among the new articles of Bonner
were these : " Thou has thought, believed, and spoken,
within some part of the city and diocese of London, that
the faith, religion, and ecclesiastical service here observed,
and kept, as it is in the realm of England, is not a true and
a laudable faith, religion, and service, especially concerning
the mass, and the seven sacraments ; nor is agreeable to
God's word and testament; and that thou canst not find in
thy heart, without murmuring, grudging or scruple, to re-
ceive and use it, and to conform thyself unto it, as other
subjects of this realm customably have done and do. Thou
hast thought, &c. that the English service set forth in the
time of king Edward the sixth, here in this realm of Eng-
land, was and is good and godly, and catholic in all points;
and that it alone ought, here in this realm, to be received,
used and practised, and none other. Thou has thought,
&c. that thou art not bound to come to procession to the
church upon days and times appointed, and to go in the
same with others of the parish, singing or saying then the
accustomed prayers used in the church, nor to bear a ta-
per or candle on candlemas-day, nor the ashes upon Ash-
vVednesday, nor bear palms upon Palm-Sunday, nor to
creep to the cross* upon days accustomed, nor to receive

* This is one of the grossly idolatrous practices of the Romish
church, in which the people approach the crucifix creeping and
crawling like reptiles, in the lowest attitude of prostration, to kiss

LOSEBY RAMSAY THURTELL, &C. 199

and kiss the pix at mass-time, nor to receive holy water or
holy bread, nor to accept and allow the ceremonies and
usages of the church, after the manner and fashion as they
are used in this realm. Thou hast thought, &c. that in
matters of religion and faith thou must follow and believe
thine own conscience only, and not give credit to the deter-
mination and common order of the catholic church, and the
see of Rome, nor to any member thereof. Thou hast
thought, &c. that all such as in the time of king Henry
VIII, or in the time of queen Mary in England, have been
burned as heretics, were no heretics at all, but faithful and
good Christian people; especially Barnes, Ganet, Jerome,
Frith, Rogers, Hooper, Card maker, Latimer, Taylor, Brad-
ford, Philpot, Cranmer, Ridley, and such like; and that thou
didst and dost allow, like and approve all their opinions, and
dost mislike their condemnations and burnings." These were
a part of Bonner's additional articles ; in some of which they
werealsochargedwith holding the doctrineof fatal necessity,
that infant baptism is unscriptural, that the soul sleeps till
the day of judgment, that a judicial oath is unlawful, and
fasting or abstinence not allowable by God's word. These
calumnious accusations they utterly denied; but to those
first specified they fully assented: allowing that they were
bound to believe the true catholic church, so far as it in-
structed them according to God's holy word; but not to
follow the determinations of the erroneous and Babylonical
church of Rome. They denied being of the absurd opin-
ion of fatalism; but granted that man of himself, without
the help and assistance of God's Holy Spirit, hath no power
to do any good thing acceptable in God's sight. True fast-
ing and prayer, they said, used according to God's word,
are allowable and available in his sight; and that by the
same word every faithfljl man may eat all meats at all
times, with thanksgiving to God for the same.

On the first day of April the bishop had them again be-
fore him, to try if they would stand to these answers; and
finding them steadfast, in refusing to recant, he remanded
them for two days ; then in open consistory, he produced
them, demanding of each separately, what he or she could

the foot of the crucifix, and to address the senseless block in lan-
guage of unequivocal adoration, calling upon it even by the name of
" wood," to pardon their sins and to save their souls. See the Romish
ritual.

200 LOSEBY RAMSAY THURTELL, ETC.

say, why he should not pronounce the sentence of condem-
nation. Thomas Loseby first answered, " God give me
grace and strength to stand against you and your sentence:
and also against your law, which is a devouring law: for it
devoureth the flock of Christ. And T perceive there is no
way with me but death, except I would consent to your de-
vouring law, and believe in that idol, the mass." Thomas
Thurtell said, " My lord, I say thus ; if you make me an
heretic, then you make Christ and all the apostles here-
tics: for 1 am in the true faith and right belief, and I will
stand in it ; for I know full well I shall have eternal life
therefore." Henry Ramsay's reply was, " My lord, will
you have me to go from the truth that I am in? I say unto
you, that my opinions be the very truth, which I will stand
unto, and not go from them: and I say unto you farther,
that there are two churches upon the earth, and we be of
the true church, and ye be not." Then spoke Margaret
Hyde, " My lord, you have no cause to give sentence
against me ; for I am of the true faith and opinion, and
will never forsake it; and I do wish that I were more strong
in it than I am." Lastly, Agnes Stanley witnessed this
good confession, saying, " I would rather every hair of
my head were burned, if it were never so much worth, than
that I will forsake my faith and opinion, which is the true
faith."

They were left until the afternoon, when Bonner first
called for Loseby, and, after the usual form, commanded
the articles with his answers to be read, previous to passing
sentence. When, in the reading, mention was made of the
sacrament of the altar, the bishop and his colleagues put
off" their caps ; whereupon the faithful Christian poor man,
said, "My lord, seeing you put off your cap, I will put on
my cap," which he did. Bonner entering upon the usual
persuasions to recant, which were a part of the formality
of mock judgment, Loseby answered him, " My lord, I
trust I have the Spirit of truth, which you detest and abhor;
for the wisdom of God is foolishness unto men." On this
the bishop condemned and delivered him to the sheriff ;
calling next for Margaret Hyde, who said, in reply to his
hacknied phrases of exhortation, "• I will not depart from
my sayings till I be burned: and, my lord, I would see
you instruct me with some part of God's word, and not to
give me instructions of the holy bread and holy water, for

MORANT — GRATWICK KING. 201

it is no part of the scripture." But Bonner, being unable to
do this, used his best argument by forthwith condemning
her to the flames.

Agnes Stanley next came, who answered him, " My lord,
where you say I am a heretic, I am none ; neither yet will
I believe you; nor any man that is wise will believe as you
do. And as for those that ye say be burnt for heresy, I
believe they are true martyrs before God : therefore I will
not go from my opinion and faith as long as I live." For
this she received the usual reward, of being sentenced
to die.

Thurtell's final answer was, " My lord, I will not hold
wit 1\ your idolatrous ways, as you do: for I say the mass
is idolatry, and will stick to my faith and belief so long as
the breath is in my body." He was condemned as a he-
retic. Ramsay, being the last, shortly said, " I will not go
from my religion and belief as long as I live ; and, my lord,
your doctrine is naught: for it is not agreeable to God's
word." His sentence being given, this noble little company
of martyrs were led away by the sheriffs, who, on the
twelfth of the month, brought them to Smithfield, where they
joyfully yielded up their lives : being kept by the power of
God, through faith unto salvation ; and receiving the end
of that faith, even the salvation of their souls.

CHAPTER X.

GRATWICK — ALLEN AND OTHER MARTYRS.

The next burning took place in St. George's fields, South-
wark; and the sufferers were, W. Morant, S. Gratwick,
and one named King. The case of Gratwick is extraor-
dinary, if any thing perpetrated by the Romish bishops
could be considered so ; and the statement written by him-
self gives evidence of the most hardened, barefaced dis-
regard even of their own partial and unjust laws : for it
appears that, first, he was condemned by the bishops of
Winchester and Rochester, who were not his ordinaries:
secondly, on appealing from their incompetent judgment,
his appeal was not admitted ; thirdly, when they had no

202 GRATWICK.

other screen for their scandalous proceeding, they suborned
a priest to personate the bishop of Chichester, Gratwick's
proper ordinary; fourthly, they would neither yield to the
force of his arguments, though unable to answer them, nor
even object the true articles against him; but forged some
that were false and had made no part of his examination ;
and sixthly, with no other ground against him than speak-
ing the words, " That which I said, I have said," they put
him to death. And this, says Fox, was the dealing of
these men, which needs will be reputed for catholic fathers
of the spirituality, successors of the apostles, disciples of
Christ, pillars of the holy church, and leaders of the people;
— of whose doings and proceedings, how agreeable , they
are to the example of Christ and his apostles, I leave to
discuss ; referring the judgment hereafter to them which
know the institution of Christ's religion and doctrine.

It does not appear what was Gratwick's calling; but his
recital shows great ability. It seems that he had been for
some time the object of persecution ; for coming before
White, bishop of Winchester, at St. George's church, South-
wark, the bishop asked him if he was contented to revoke
the heresies which he had oftentimes maintained and de-
fended before him ; reproaching him with having repeated
his erroneous doctrines publicly on the Sunday before ; and
threatening to excommunicate him if he did not recant.
Then he read some articles, demanding Gratwick's answer,
who told him that those articles were not his, but of the
bishop's devising, to take his life. He appealed to his
proper ordinary, declaring he had nothing to do with the
diocese of Winchester, having been apprehended by his own
bishop, and sent a prisoner into that diocese. While he was
speaking the bishop of Rochester came in, and after him
Harpsfield, archdeacon of Canterbury, both of whom came
by a preconcerted scheme, and were received with great
joy by White, who said, " I am very glad of your coming:
for here I have one before me, who hath appealed unto you,
being his ordinary." Harpsfield replied that he knew the
man very well ; having had him several times before him;
but Gratwick said, " My lord, I am not of his diocese, not
by five miles ; for his diocese reacheth, on that part, but to
the cliffs of Lewes, and I am of Brighthelmstone, five miles
beyond, in the diocese of the bishop of Chichester." On
this the three bishops consulted together, and laughed: they
then said, his ordinary would be there by and by: but when

GRATWICK, 203

he saw them sending out on some message, and laughing
acrain, the martyr addressed them, " Why do you laugh 1
Are ye confederate together for my blood, and therein tri-
umph? You have more cause to look weightily upon the
matter, for I stand here before you upon life and death. But
you declare yourselves what you are : for you are lapped
in lamb's apparel, but I would to God ye had coats accord-
ing to your assembly here, which is scarlet gowns ; for I
do here perceive you are bent to have my blood." Just
then came hurrying in a fellow habited as a bishop ; Win-
chester, taking care to inquire of a servant who was com-
ing, and receiving for answer, " My lord of Chichester," wel-
comed him with great respect, saying to the prisoner, " Lo,
here is your ordinary: what have you to say unto him?"
Gratwick, who at once detected the cheat, answered, " 1
have nothing to say unto him. If he have nothing to say
unto me, I pray you let me depart." Then the counter-
feit bishop said, " Here you stand before my lords and me,
in trial ot your faith; and if you bring the truth, we shall
by compulsion give place unto you, as it is to be proved by
the word, and your doctrine to be heard and embraced for
a truth." Gratwick asked if the argument was to be de-
cided by authority, or by the judgment of the Spirit of
God in his members : the mock bishop replied. By both.
Then, said Gratwick, " Now will I turn your own argu-
ment against you; for Christ came before the high priests,
scribes, and pharisees, bringing the truth with him, being
the very truth himself, which truth cannot lie, yet both he
and his truth were condemned, and took no place with
them: and also the apostles, and all the martyrs that died
since Christ." He seems to have adduced this to show the
inefficiency of any body of men to decide on points of doc-
trine otherwise than by the written word : and repeated his
challenge to answer it if they could. However the coun-
terfeit got into a rage, and instead of replying, desired the
bishop of Winchester to object some articles against him,
to prevent his getting out of their hands. He began to
read again the forged articles, which Gratwick once more
refused to acknowledge ; and the sham Chichester then
directed to examine him on the sacrament of the altar, to
which he answered, " My lord, I do believe that in the sa-
crament of the supper of the Lord, truly ministered in both
kinds, according to the institution of Christ, unto the wor-
thy receiver, he eateth mystically by faith the body and

204 GRATWICK.

blood of Christ." He asked the counterfeit if this were not
the truth, who answered, "Yea;" but Winchester being
more subtle, said that he separated the sacrament of the
altar from the supper of the Lord, not allowing the former
to be the true sacrament : condemning also the ministra-
tion in one kind, and allowing that the unworthy receiver
did not eat and drink the body and blood of Christ. Grat-
wick objected to the forced construction always put on his
words ; but demanded a proof that their's was the true sa-
crament, or their church the true church: in which case
he would go with them. But it seems that, on a former
occasion, of which there is no account, Winchester had
been shamed in the argument, which made him unwilling
to enter upon it again: however, he alleged the words,
" Take, eat, this is my body," adding, " these are the words
of Christ; wilt thou deny them?" He answered, "My lord,
they are the words of scripture; I affirm and do not deny
them." " Why, then," said Rochester, "thou dost confess,
in the sacrament of the altar to be a real presence, the
self-same body that was born of the Virgin Mary, and is
ascended up into heaven." Gratwick asked, if he meant
a visible body: for if it were a real presence, and a
material body, it must be a visible body also. Winches-
ter asserted it was a real and material, but invisible body:
he observed, then it must be a fantastical body, if it
were both material and invisible ; for it was manifest that
our Lord's human body was visible and seen. Here the
bishop broke in, and asked where he had seen Christ?
Gratwick asked if it followed that Christ was invisible
because their corporeal eyes could not comprehend him.
The bishop then took another line, and referred to Judas,
who, he said, in eating the sacrament, ate Christ wholly,
as the apostles did. Gratwick asked if he meant Christ's
flesh and blood, spoken of in the sixth of John, where it is
written, " He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood
hath eternal life in me." The bishop replied he did.
" Then," said Gratwick, " of necessity Judas must needs
be saved, because he did eat the flesh and drink the blood
of Christ as you have affirmed : and also all the un-
godly who die without repentance, because they have eaten
your sacrament, which you say is the flesh and blood of
Christ : therefore of necessity they shall receive the benefit
thereof, that is, eternal life ; which is a great absurdity to
grant. And then of necessity it must follow, that all who

GRATWICK. 205

eat not, and drink not, of your sacrament, shall finally
perish and be condemned : for Christ saith, " Except ye
eat my flesh and drink my blood, ye can have no life in
you." And you have afore said that of your sacrament,
which you say is the same flesh and blood that Christ
speaketh of: and here I prove, that all children then that
die under age to receive the sacrament, by your own argu-
ment must be damned : — which is horrible blasphemy to
speak. Now here I turn your own argument upon you :
answer it if you can." Winchester here accused him of de-
ceit, sophistry, and perverseness ; then asserted that St. Paul
had plainly opened the sixth of St. John, saying, " They
eat Christ's body and drink his blood unworthily," and
that was the cause of their condemnation. But Gratwick
at once corrected him ; " My lord, take heed ye do not add
unto the text, for he that addeth unto the text is accursed
of God ; and I am sure you have brought more than Paul
hath spoken: for he saith not, because they have eaten his
body and drank his blood unworthily; but St. Paul saith,
" Whosoever shall eat of this bread, and drink of this cup
unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of Christ."
Note, my lord, he saith not as you have affirmed, but clean
contrary."

At this they were greatly enraged, Winchester saying
that he belied the text ; on which he called for a Testa-
ment, but Winchester tried to evade it, by reminding him
how he had objected to Latin, insisting on English being
used for the people's sake. When, however, Gratwick per-
sisted in demanding a Testament, whether Latin or Eng-
lish, the bishop stood up, and asked whether any of the
audience could lend him an English Testament. The man
who should have produced one, would presently have been
laid in prison, on a charge of heresy: but the poor flock
were now too wary to be so easily ensnared. No answer
was given to the treacherous inquiry, and Winchester then
turned to railing at Gratwick, saying he gloried in his talk,
and in the support of the people, who were come about him
to be encouraged in their heresy: that when last before him
at St, Mary's church, Gratwick had reproved his sermon ;
and had at least a thousand by him to pray God strength-
en him : " but now," he continued, " let me see him here
that dare open his mouth to bid God strengthen thee ; he
shall die the death that thou shalt die." The martyr re-
plied, " My lord, I know your cruelty doth extend more

MABTyROLOGY. VOL. II. 18

206 GRATWICK.

largely than your pity. Good experience have I so to say:
for you keep men in prison a year or two, taking their
books from them, permitting them not so much as a Tes-
tament to look upon for their soul's comfort, the which all
men ought to have : and so you treat them more like brutes
than Christian men." " No, sir," answered the worthy
successor of Stephen Gardiner, " we will use you as we use
the child : for if the child will hurt himself with the knife,
we will keep the knife from him. So, because you will
damn your souls with the word, therefore you shall not
have it." Gratwick asked him if he was not ashamed to
make the word of God the cause of their condemnation :
observing, it were as good an argument to say, that because
some men did abuse drink, therefore meat and drink should
be taken from all men. Here the counterfeit bishop of
Chichester, who had been dosing all this while, waked up,
and hastily desired them to read his articles once more ;
and if he would not answer them, to take him on his first
words, " That which I have said I have said." Winches-
ter began to read them, but Gratwick assured him he would
not answer those articles, as they were altogether false,
forged, and different from his real examinations; merely
invented to shed his blood. Then the counterfeit charged
him, in St. Peter's words, to render a reason of the hope
that was in him: to which he answered, " So can I do,
and yet I shall not please you ; for here I now render my
hope as St. Peter willeth me : I believe only in Jesus Christ,
to have my salvation in him, by him, and through him ;
but I perceive you would have me render my faith in such
sort as you would have my blood ; and therefore you bring
good scriptures, and evil apply them." Winchester pro-
posed to pronounce sentence at once, and lose no more time
about him; on which Gratwick desired to say a few words for
himself, and told the bishop that on the last Sunday preach-
ing against him and other prisoners, he had taken the text
of St. James, " If an,y man among you seem to be religious,
and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth himself, that man's
religion is vain ;" and had then with his own tongue slan-
dered the prisoners, accusing them of Arianism, and Pela-
gianism ; calling them Herodians and Anabaptists. When
they stood up to justify themselves from heresies against
which they would give their lives, even as he would give
his life for the cause in which he there stood before that
company, the bishop had threatened to cut out their tongues,

GRATWICK. 207

and to have them pulled out of the church by violence.
He showed how awfully, in this, the wretched prelate had
offended against the very scripture that he had undertaken
to expound.

Winchester, in a rage, here caught up the condemnation,
declaring he would sentence him for his former words,
" I have said," if he refused to answer those articles.
Gratwick said he would answer them, if they could prove
them to be any part of his former examinations: that
is, of the original charge against him, which he had already
answered. Winchester replied, " Have at thee now: if thou
wilt not yield, I will pronounce sentence against thee;"
and then went on to curse and ban in Latin, at such a rate,
that the martyr told him, if the people might hear it in
English, they would think him an uncharitable bishop :
also bidding him take heed what he did, for that he had
neither temporal nor spiritual law against him, in any cause.
A gentleman repeated this to the bishop again, when Win-
chester paused, and asked if he would recant : Gratwick
inquired whereof he should recant; to which the bishop re-
plied, " Ah, are you there? nay, then I know what I have
to do ; and so finished reading the sentence. However,
the bishop's chaplains, misunderstanding some quiet, and
even playful reply given by the martyr to a man who was
scoffing and railing at him, cried out, " Stop, stop, my lord:
for now he will recant." Winchester asked him if he
would ; he replied, "My lord, my faith is grounded more
steadfastly than to change in a moment; it is no process of
time can alter me, unless my faith were as the waves of the
sea." On this he was delivered to the sheriffs, loudly
praying to God not to lay his blood to their charge, if it
were his good will. As he was led away, he spoke to those
around him, when a cry was raised, " Cut out his tongue,
or stop his mouth." He was taken to the Marshalsea, and
laid in irons where he wrote the foregoing account, ending
thus: " Therefore I pray unto God that they unto whom
this present writing shall come, may take example by my
death, and soldier fare. So be it."

Winchester had acted throughout a Satanic part; for,
unable to intimidate this steadfast confessor, he had used
every allurement to seduce him from the faith. He praised
his eloquence, learning, and knowledge; commended his
personal comeliness, as being fitted to grace a court; and
by such means sought to draw him unawares into some

208 SHARPE HALE ALLIN.

concession that should establish his right to judge him, as
his ordinary. But the Lord strengthened his servant, who
endured the short though cruel pains of martyrdom with
the two others, and went to his eternal rest.

Two were delivered to the flames at Bristol, in the same
month — Richard Sharpe, and Thomas Hale. Sharpe,
a poor weaver, had been terrified and persuaded by Dalby,
the chancellor, into an act of recantation, more than a year
before ; after which he became so miserable that the suffer-
ings of his mind and conscience were not to be endured:
his flesh wasted, his countenance changed, and he could no
longer labour, as before, at his occupation. Led by the
Spirit of God, whom he had so deeply grieved, the repent-
ant offender came soon after to the Temple church, in Bris-
tol, after high mass, and at the door of the choir said, with
a loud voice, pointing to the altar, " Neighbours, bear me
record that yonder idol is the greatest and most abominable
that ever was ; and I am sorry that ever I denied my Lord
God." The constables were ordered to apprehend him in-
stantly, but no one moved; so he left the church. He was
afterwards seized in the night, and, remaining true to his
confession, they condemned and sent him to his pardoning
God.

Hale was a shoemaker : they took him also in the night,
from his bed, on a charge of heresy; when he remarked,
" You have sought my blood these two years, and now
much good do you with it." On his examination, he avow-
ed the sacrament of the altar to be idolatrous, and was sen-
tenced. These two, being bound back to back at one stake,
gladly received the fire: Hale embracing it with his arms,
as a friend whom he delighted to welcome.

Thornton and Harpsfield, whose fiery hatred to the flock
of Christ sent many a soul to lie under the altar,* and
neeeded no stirring up by such a proclamation as that lately
issued, had soon after the gratification of burning seven
martyrs at once, two men and five women, in Maidstone.
Walter Appleby, and Petroni, his wife; Edmund Al-
LI3V, and Katharine, his wife; Joan Bracebridge, a
woman named Mannings, and a blind girl, called Eliza-
beth, formed this company. Nothing is preserved of their
examinations, except that of Edmund Allin, who was a
miller, in Kent, and in a year of great scarcity fed the
poor, selling his corn at half the market price ; also sup-
• Rev. vi. 9.

EDMUND ALLIN. 209

plying their souls with the bread of life, by reading and
explaining to them the Holy Scriptures. This coming to
the knowledge of the neighbouring priests, Allin and his
wife were summoned before the magistrate, named sir John
Baker, who committed them to prison ; from which, soon
after, they got out and escaped to Calais. Here, however,
Allin could not rest : his mind was uneasy; and he told a
friend that he knew not what caused it, but he supposed
God had something for him to do in England. Under this
impression he returned to his native village, Fytenden.

Taylor, the priest of the parish, who had been the first
to report them before, heard of their return, and finding
they were not at mass on the next Sunday, he suspended
the service, a little before the elevation of the wafer, and,
turning to the people in a great rage, ordered them to go to
the house of the miller, and to apprehend him and his wife,
promising to be with them himself as soon as possible.
Then, hurrying over the rest of his mass-work, and throw-
ing ofT his vestments, he went with all speed to assist in
haling the innocent people again before justice Baker : he
committed them to Maidstone gaol, and then sent some of
his men to their house to search it, who, by breaking a
lock, possessed themselves of a sum of money, which they
kept ; making also a seizure of Bibles, psalters, other good
books, and writings : these were taken by the priest of the
next parish, and by law recovered from him in the reign
of queen Elizabeth. The good miller and his wife, being
thus maliciously accused, wrongfully imprisoned, and rob-
bed, were exposed to the taunts and revilings of justice
Baker, who commenced by asking Allin, " Who gave thee
authority to preach and interpret ? Art thou a priest 1 Art
thou admitted thereunto ? Let me see thy license ?" To
which one Collins, his worship's chaplain or schoolmaster,
added, " Surely he is an arrant heretic, and worthy to be
burned." The miller made this reply: — " An it may please
your honour to give me leave to answer in the cause of my
faith, I am persuaded that God hath given me this autho-
rity, as he hath given to all other Christians. Why are we
called Christians, if we do not follow Christ — if we do not
read his law — if we do not interpret it to others that have
not so much understanding? Is not Christ our Father?
Shall not the son follow the Father's steps ? Is not Christ
our Master ? And shall the scholar be inhibited to learn
and preach his precepts "? Is not Christ our Redeemer ?
18*

iilO EDMUND ALLIN.

And shall not we praise his name that hath redeemed us
from sin and damnation ? Did not Christ, being but twelve
years old, dispute with the doctors ; and interpret the pro-
phet Isaiah 1 And yet, notwithstanding, he was neither of
the tribe of Levi, which were priests, but of the royal
tribe of Judah, neither had taken any outward priesthood :
wherefore, if we be Christians, we must do the same," "An
it shall like your honour," quoth Collins, " what a knave
is this, that compareth himself with Christ?" Baker repli-
ed. "Let him alone; he will pump out anon an infinite
heap of heresies. Hast thou any more to say for thyself?"
" Yea, that I have," answered Allin. "Adam was licensed
of God, and Abraham was commanded to teach his children
and posterity, and so David teaches in divine psalms ; and
Solomon also preached to the people, as the book of ' The
Preacher' proveth very well ; where he teacheth that there
is no immortal felicity in this life, but in the next. And
Noah taught them that were disobedient in his days ; and
therefore is called the eighth preacher of righteousness, in
the second epistle of Peter. Also in the second of Num-
bers, where Moses had chosen seventy elders to help him to
teach and rule the rest, Eldad and Medad preached in the
tents; wherefore Joshua, being offended, complained to
Moses that Eldad and Medad did preach without license.
To whom Moses answered, and wished that all the people
could do the like. Why should I be long ? Most of the
priests were not of the tribe of Levi and Aaron." Collins
said, " These are authorities of the Old Testament, and
therefore abrogated ; but thou art a fool, and knowest no
school points. Is not the law divided into the law ceremo-
nial, moral, and judicial ?" " I grant," replied Allin, " that
the ceremonies ceased when Christ came, as St. Paul prov-
eth to the Hebrews and to the Colossians, where he saith,
* Let no man judge you in any part of the Sabbath day,
new moon or other ceremonies, which are figures of things
to come : for Christ is the body.' "

" And are not the judicials abrogated by Christ ?" asked
Collins. " They are confirmed," he replied, " both by
Christ in the fifth of Matthew, and by Paul in the first epis-
tle to Timothy, iv. The law saith he, is not set forth for
the virtuous and godly, but for manslayers, perjui'ers, adul-
terers, and such like." Collins exclaimed, "thou art an
heretic. Wilt thou call the judicials of Moses again ? —
wilt thou have adultery punished with death? — disobedient

EDMUND ALLIN. 211

children to their parents to be stoned? — wilt thou have legem
talionis? But thou art an ass. Why should I speak Latin
to thee, thou erroneous rebel 1 Shall we now smite out eye
for eye, tooth for tooth 1 Thou art worthy to have thy
teeth and tongue plucked out." To this Allin answered,
" If we had that law, we should neither have disobedient
children, neither adulterers, neither false-witness bearers,
neither ruffians." Here Baker interrupted. " Master Col-
lins, let us return to our first matter. Why didst thou
teach the people, whom thou saidst thou didst feed both
bodily and spiritually, being no priest?"

" Because that we are all kings to rule our affections,
priests to preach out the virtues and word of God as Peter
writeth, and lively stones to give light to other ; for as out
of flint-stones cometh forth that which is able to set all the
world on fire, so out of Christians should spring the beams
of the gospel, which should inflame all the world. If we
must give a reckoning of our faith to every man, and now
to you demanding it, then must we study the scriptures and
practise them. What availeth it a man to have meat, and
will eat none; and apparel, and will wear none; or to have
an occupation, and to teach none? Shall every artificer be
suffered, yea, and commanded, to practise his faculty and
science, and the Christian forbidden to exercise his ? Doth
not every lawyer practise his law? Is not every Christian
a follower of Christ ? Shall ignorance, which is condemned
in all sciences, be practised of Christians ? Doth not St.
Paul forbid any man's spirit to be quenched ? Doth he pro-
hibit any man that hath any of these gifts, which he re-
peateth, 1 Cor. xiv. to practise the same ? Only he forbid-
deth women, but no man. The Jews never forbade any:
read the Acts of the Apostles. And the restraint was made
by Gregory, the ninth pope of that name, as I have heard
one, a learned man, preach in King Edward's days." Col-
lins here said to the justice, " This villain, an it like your
honour, is mad. By my priesthood, I believe that he will
say, that a priest hath no more authority than another man.
Doth not a priest bind and loose?" Allin answered, " No ;
my sin bindeth me, and my repentance looseth. God for-
giveth sin only, and no priest ; for every Christian, when
he sinneth, bindeth himself, and when he repenteth looseth
himself: and if any other be loosed from his sin by my ex-
hortation, I am said to loose him ; and if he persevere in
sin, notwithstanding my exhortation, I am said to bind him,

212 EDMUND ALLIN.

although it is God that bindeth and looseth, and giveth the
increase. Therefore, saith Christ, ' Wheresoever two or
three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the
midst of them.' And again, ' Whosoever sins ye forgive,
they are forgiven; and whosoever sins ye retain, they are
retained.' Neither hath the pope any keys, save the keys
of error ; for the key that openeth the lock to God's myste-
ries and to salvation, is the key of faith and repentance ;
and, as I have heard learned men reason, St. Augustine
and Origen, with others, are of this opinion."

It may be supposed that all this was more than usually
shocking in the ears of poor Allin's examiners ; they reviled
him, and laid him in the stocks that night. Some, how-
ever, who were not so cruel, gave him what they considered
good counsel; appealing to a part of what the Romish
church receives as scripture; but which is, in truth, so full
of blasphemy and falsehood that it is a great marvel the
framers of the English liturgy have allowed it to be read in
the church — the apocrypha. In the forged book of Baruch,
it is written, " Wherefore, when ye see the multitude of
people worshipping them, behind and before, say ye in your
hearts, O Lord, it is thou that ought only to be worshipped."
The simple miller was beguiled by this appeal to what he
found bound up with his Bible ; and resolving to follow the
Jesuitical counsel, so wickedly attributed to Baruch, he
agreed to be present at mass, with a mental reservation —
that darling loop-hole of popish consciences — against what
he should outwardly conform to. The Spirit of God, how-
ever, strove too mightily within him, against this treache-
rous subterfuge, to allow it to prevail, and Allin suddenly
left the church, before the grand act of idolatry was com-
mitted. He considered that a little cake between the priest's
fingers could not be Christ, nor a material body; neither
having soul, life, sinews, bones, flesh, legs, arms, nor
breast; and he lamented having been seduced by that
which his conscience testified to be no scripture. He did
not return to the church ; and was of course summoned be-
fore Baker to answer for his contumacy, who asked him
why he refused to worship the blessed sacrament of the
altar? " It is an idol," said Allin. " It is God's body,"
returned CoUins. " It is not," repeated the martyr. " By
the mass it is," says the priest. " It is bread," said Allin.
" How provest thou that?" asked the other. AUin replied,
" When Christ sat at the supper, and gave them bread to

EDMUND ALLIN. 213

eat," — but Collins angrily broke in, " Bread, knave?"
" Yea, bread," he repeated, " which you call Christ's body.
Sat he still at the table, or was he both in their mouths and
at the table ? If he was in their mouths and at the table,
then had he two bodies or else a fantastical body; which is
an absurdity to say it." Baker remarked, " Christ's body
was glorified, and might be in more places than one."
" Then he had more bodies than one, by your own placing
of him," saith Allin. Collins exclaimed, " Thou ignorant
ass ! the schoolmen say that a glorified body may be every
where." But Allin rejoined, " If his body was not glorified
till it rose again, then was it not glorified at his last supper;
and therefore it was not at the table and in their mouths, by
your own reason." " A glorified body occupieth no place,"
quoth Collins : to which the miller replied, " That which
occupieth no place is neither God nor any thing else: but
Christ's body, say you, occupieth no place: therefore it is
neither God nor any thing else. If it be nothing, then is
your religion nothing: if it be God, then have we four in
our trinity, which is the person of the Father, the person
of the Son, the person of the Holy Ghost, and the human
nature of Christ. If Christ be nothing, which you must
needs confess if he occupieth no place, then is our study
in vain, our faith frustrate, and our hope without reward."
Collins again cried out, " This rebel will believe nothing
but scripture. How knowest thou that it is scripture, but by
the church ? And so saith St. Augustine."

Allin answered very beautifully, " I cannot tell what St.
Augustine saith ; but I am persuaded that it is scripture by
divei-s arguments: first that the law worketh in me my
condemnation. The law telleth me that of myself I am
damned ; and this damnation, Mr. Collins, you must find
in yourself, — or else you shall never come to repentance.
For as this grief and sorrow of conscience, without faith,
is desperation; so is a vain-glorious and Romish faith, with-
out the lamentation of a man's sins, presumption. The se-
cond is the gospel, which is the power and Spirit of God:
this Spirit, saith St. Paul, certified my spirit, that I am the
son of God; and that these are the scriptures. The third
are the wonderful works of God, which caused me to be-
lieve that there is a God, though we glorify him not as
God ; (Rom. i.) the sun, the moon, the stars, and other his
works, as David discourseth in Psalm xix. declare that
there is a God, and that these are the scriptures ; because

214 EDMUND ALLIN.

that they teach nothing else but God and his power, ma-
jesty and might ; and because the scripture teacheth no-
thing different from this prescription of nature. And,
fourthly, because that the word of God gave authority to
the church in paradise, saying, that the seed of the woman
should break the serpent's head. This seed is the gos-
pel;* this is all the scriptures, and by this we are as-
sured of eternal life ; and these words, ' the seed of the wo-
man shall break the serpent's head,' gave authority to the
church, and not the church to the word."

Then Baker said, " I heard say that you spake against
priests and bishops." "I spake for them," he replied:
" for now they have so much living, and especially bish-
opss archdeacons, and deans, that they neither can nor Avill
trust to God's word. If they had a hundred pounds a-piece,
then would they apply their study; now they cannot for
their affairs." Collins asked, " Who then will set his chil-
dren to school ?" He answered, " Where there is one now
set to school for that end, there would be forty; because that
one bishop's living divided into thirty or forty parts, would
find so many well learned men as the bishops be now, who
have all this living: neither had Peter or Paul any such
revenue." " Let us despatch him," said the justice: "he
will mar all." But the schoolmaster, having nothing to
lose, and every thing to gain, in such a scramble as the
miller proposed, remarked, " If every man had a hundred
pounds, as he saith, it would make more learned men."
Baker objected, "But our bishops would be angry, if they
knew it." AUin said, " It were for the common wealth to
have such bishoprics divided, for the farther increase of
learning." "What sayest thou to the sacrament?" demand-
ed Baker. " As I said before." " Away with him!" And
so the innocent and godly servant of Christ was taken to
prison, and with his wife and the other six, burned to
ashes.

In the same diocese, and in the town of Canterbury,
these wretched persecutors next sacrificed another com-
pany of seven, of whom four were women. They seem to
have particularly delighted in trying the faith and tor-
turing the weak bodies of poor females ; but the omnipo-
tency of God endued them with strength and fortitude con-

* Here Allin is in evident error : not the gospel but Christ, is the
woman's seed ; not the written word, but the living Word : not the
church, but her Spouse and Head.

ALICE BENDEN AND OTHERS. 215

stantly to withstand the utmost extremity of this pitiless per-
secution. The names of the victims were as follows : John
FisHCOoK, Nicholas White, Nicholas Pardue, Alice
Benden, another married woman named Wilson, and a
widow, Bradbridge. The case of Alice Benden may
serve as a sample of the rest. She was brought before a
magistrate, in October, 1556, who demanded why she did
not go to church : she answered that she could not do so
with a good and clear conscience, because there was much
idolatry committed against the glory of God. She was
then, with many mocks and taunts, sent to prison ; but her
husband having some interest with his wealthy neighbours
at Staplehurst, got them to write to the bishop of Dover,
who had the chief power of the sword of spiritual tyranny
in that part of the country. He, on receiving the letter,
sent for Alice, asking if she would go home, and go to the
church : she replied, " If I would have so done, I need not
to have come hither." " Wilt thou go home," said he,
" and be shriven of thy parish priest !" She said, No, that
she would not. However, he repeated, " Well, go thy ways
home, and go to the church when thou wilt." She made
no answer to this ; but a priest standing by, said, " She
saith that she will, my lord: wherefore let her go." On
this, she was set at liberty, and returned to her home;
where her husband, as he before had done, urged her to go
to mass, which she constantly refused to do. After a fort-
night's unsuccessful persuasion, he went on Sunday to the
church, and by his talk among his neighbours there, occa-
sioned his wife to be again apprehended, and taken before
Sir John Gilford, who sent her once more to prison. Shock-
ing to relate, her husband agreed, for some trifiing sum of
money, to save the constable the trouble of taking her to
the gaol, by guarding her thither himself; but the poor wo-
man, unwilling to let him so disgrace himself, went to the
constable's house, and desired him to go with her. He said
he had not time ; but at her entreaty sent his boy to walk
beside her ; and in this custody the poor creature walked at
once to her prison in the castle of Canterbury.

There she found another woman, a neighbour of her's,
named Potkins, also in prison for the truth: and these two
agreed together to live on twopence-halfpenny per diem; as
they heard it was a custom there to starve the prisoners,
when it could be done, and they wished thus to prepare
themselves for greater privations. They succeeded in mak-

216 ALICE BENDEN.

ing that trifling sum suffice for their daily support, during
the fortnight that they remained together ; at the end of
that time Alice was removed, and Potkins was one of the
five afterwards famished in the castle, whose letter has
already been given. The occasion of Alice Benden's re-
moval was this : her husband went to the bishop, and asked
her release ; but was told that she was an obstinate heretic,
who could not be reformed : therefore he could not deliver
her, Benden then said, " My lord, she hath a brother
whose name is Roger Hall, who resorteth unto her. If
your lordship would keep him from her, she would turn ;
for he comfortelh her, giveth her money, and persuadeth
her not to return or relent." The hint was presently taken,
and cruelly acted upon : Alice was ordered to closer impri-
sonment, with a strict charge that if her brother came, he
should be taken into custody. Alice was carried into a
dungeon, or vault, the window of which looked into a court;
before this window was a wooden paling, or fence, four
feet high, and three feet removed from it. Her lodging
was between a pair of stocks and the stone wall, a little
short straw being strewed on the damp ground. Her allow-
ance was a halfpenny's worth of bread, and a farthing's in
drink, each day: and thus she continued for nine weeks,
without a change of apparel, until she became a loathsome
spectacle. Meanwhile Roger Hall frequently visited the
place in search of his sister, at the imminent peril of his
life ; but owing to the situation of her dungeon, the fence
before the window, and its not being generally used as a
prison, it was long before he found her. One morning
early, when the keeper, who was also a bell-ringer was ab-
sent ringing for early mass. Hall came near the spot, and
heard his sister's voice, singing forth her sorrowful com-
plaint in some of David's psalms. On this he put money
into a loaf of bread, and reached it to her on the end of a
pole : but neither meat nor drink could he convey; and the
keeper's orders being to allow but one halfpenny worth of
bread, the poor prisoner could not purchase more at any
price. At her first coming into this noisome place, she was
exceedingly cast down, and with many grievous lamenta-
tions inquired why the Lord God laid so heavy a hand on
her, separating her from her loving companions, and bring-
ing her into such extreme misery; still, in all her com-
plaints and supplications, she would ever repeat the verse,
" Why art thou so cast down, O my soul?" adding, " The

ALICE BENDEN. 217

right hand of the Most High can change all." She soon
received such comfort, being strengthened with strength in
her soul, that she became very joyful in the tribulation,
and continued so to the time of her deliverance. After
five months' imprisonment, more than two of them passed
in this dreadful plight, she was again called before the
bishop, who asked her whether or no she would now go
home, and to the church ; promising her great favour if she
would conform to their doings. She answered, " I am
thoroughly persuaded by the great extremity you have al-
ready showed me, that you are not of God ; neither can
your doings be godly; and [ see that you seek my utler
destruction ;" at the same time showing them how she
was crippled and nearly disabled from moving, by the
cold taken in that frightful lodging. The bishop ordered
her to be removed from the filthy hole, and sent lo West-
gate, where, after she had been a little cleansed, and new
clad, the whole of her skin peeled off, as though it had
been destroyed by some deadly application. Here she
continued for one month, when she was again called be-
fore the mitred monster, condemned and sent to Canter-
bury castle, to be kept with the rest until their slaughter
day, which was the 20th of June, when she, with the other
six, passed through a fiery portal to the green pastures of
heaven.

When Alice was at the stake, she cast her handkerchief
to one John Banks, desiring him to keep it in remembrance
of her; then from about her waist she took a white lace,
charging the keeper to deliver it to her brother, Roger Hall,
and to tell him that it was the last band that she was bound
with, except the chain. Moreover, a shilling of Philip and
Mary, which her father had bent, and sent to her when
first she went to prison, she requested that Roger would,
with her obedient salutations, return to her dear father, to
satisfy him that she had kept it, the first piece of money
sent to her after her troubles began ; and also to prove, for
his satisfaction, that she had never lacked money while in
prison. Her six companions had, with her, kneeled down,
and prayed v»'ith such zeal and affection, that even the ene-
mies of Christ could not but admire it: they then undress-
ed, and went most cheerfully and joyfully to the fire. One
of them, the widow Bradbridge, had two children, named
Patience and Charity. When the bishop condemned her,
she told him that if he must needs burn her, she hoped he

MARTYROLOGY. VOL. II. 19

218 MATTHEW PLAISE.

would take and keep Patience and Charity. " Nay,"
quoth the bishop, "by the faith of my body, I will meddle
with neither of them both."

A man named Matthew Plaise, of whom it is not cer-
tainly known whether he was burned, famished or escaped,
gave some shrewd replies to this bishop Thornton, and his
sanguinary colleagues, Harpsfield and Collins, with the
other inquisitors. Plaise was a weaver, learned in nothing
but the word of God ; and by his knowledge thereof, under
divine teaching, able to baffle all the Jesuitical subtlety and
sophistry of these school-bred theologians, and to resist their
idolatrous superstitions. A kw passages only need be cited,
Plaise himself wrote the account. " Then the bishop began
with me again, and charged me in the king's and queen's
name, and the lord cardinal's, to answer yea or nay to the
articles that followed. Then I commanded in His name that
should come in flaming fire with his mighty angels, to render
vengeance to the disobedient, and to all those that believed
not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, which should be pun-
ished with everlasting damnation, that he would speak no-
thing but the truth, grounded upon Christ and his apostles;
and then I would answer him, or else not. Then he was
very angry, and said if I would not answer he would con-
demn me indeed, unless I would answer every article. Well,
said I, if you do, you shall be guilty of my blood, and prove
yourself a murderer." After a while, Harpsfield under-
took the argument; and this is a part of the dialogue.
" Then I saw whereabout they went, granting to answer
them by the word, or else I think they would have con-
demned me for holding my peace; and this was my begin-
ning: I believe that Christ took bread, and when he had
given thanks, he brake it, and gave it to his disciples, and
said, ' Take, eat ; this is my body which is given for you :
this do in remembrance of me.' The archdeacon asked,
Dost thou believe that Christ meant even as he said ? I
said, Christ was no dissembler, but he spake the very truth.
Thou hast very well said ; we will make the best of thy
words. Then he praised me with many words, going about
to prove it his body, real and substantial, and said, Christ
called himself bread : and this to prove, when Christ said
' This is my body,' the bread was his body, said he, real
and substantial, not so long and so big as it hung on the
cross, as the Capernaites did think; but we eat it as man's
weak nature can eat Christ. Therefore, when he said,

MATTHEW PLAISE. 219

• This is my body,' the bread was his body in very deed.
Then I asked him what Christ meant by these words,

* Which is given for you.' He said, Christ spake that of
the bread also, but it was not written in Matthew, though
Luke had these words. Then I asked him, if Christ's body
was made of bread, whether that was given for our redemp-
tion, or whether the bread was crucified for us or no. Then
he said. No, by St. Mary, I say not so. I said, You have
spoke the truth indeed, and even as I believe. Then he
stood up with a great many words, and said that I did think
it but bare bread still, as other bread is ; but he was sure
Christ called it his body, and then it was his body indeed ;
for he would believe Christ. When he had spoken his
pleasure by me, thinking to have condemned me by their
law, I said he had not judged right of me: for I had not
so spoken, but did believe the words of Christ as well as
he; and as much as he could prove by the word. Then
he would hear what I did say it was. I said I did believe
it was what he gave them. Then he asked me, what was
that he gave them ? I said, that which he brake. He asked
me. What was that he brake? I said. That he took. What
was it that he did take? I said, The text saith, he took
bread. Well then, thou sayest it was but bread that his
disciples did eat, by thy reason. I said. Thus much I
say, Look what he gave them, they did eat it indeed. Why
then was not that his body that they did eat ? It was that
which he brake. Well said he, ' I perceive thy meaning
well enough: for thou dost think it but bread still, and that
he was not able to make it his body.' " That is your ex-
position upon my mind."

After this the archdeacon thought to establish his grand
point of transubstantiation by an example from the Old Tes-
tament. "Then he began with Moses' rod, how God com-
manded him to lay it down, and it was turned into a ser-
pent. Seeing that this was done by Moses, being but a
man, how much more Christ, being both God and man,
took one thing and gave to his disciples another. I said,
his comparison was nothing like; for Moses' rod, when it
was laid down, he saw that it was turned into a very ser-
pent indeed : but in this sacrament, no man can see either
quality or yet quantity to be changed. Then said the
bishop, that mine opinion and faith was like unto the Caper-
naites. I said theirs was more like their opinion than
mine."

220 .MATTHEW PLAISE

It is interesting and important to observe how firmly even
tlie poorest and most ignorant of tlie people maintained
their ground, in opposition to the monstrous doctrine so
strenuously insisted upon in the Romish church. In the
great majority of cases, our martyrs suffered chiefly for
that point: often for that alone. In our day, an extraordi-
nary opinion has been broached by a new sect in the church,
which has sprung up where Ridley and Latimer suffered,
but certainly not from any seed of their sowing. This no-
tion is, that in the controversy with Romanism we are not
to touch on the point of transubstantiation, lest peradven-
ture, we be led to speak too lightly or irreverently of the
sacramental ordinance. Our blessed reformers thought
otherwise ; and we shall do well to take heed that we be
not beguiled from following in their steps. To shrink from
approaching the subject, is to invest it with a character that
belongs not to it, any more than to the other sacrament of
baptism; and such restraint would lead to two evils, both of
the broadest complexion of popery: it would leave the mat-
ter in the hands of the priesthood, as though the laity had
nothing to do but to yield a blind assent to ecclesiastical
dicta; and it would gradually, but effectually, enwrap the
element itself in that mystification which is supposed to rest
like a cloud upon the Romish pix, where, enveloped in some
consecrated napkin, as too holy for profane eyes to behold,
lies the wafer divinity of the apostate church. With due
reverence let us treat all holy things; — and all God's ordi-
nances are, like his blessed word, most holy: but with no
such scrupulosity need we draw back from investigating,
handling, dissecting, and exposing the most impious inven-
tion that ever was coined to desecrate what God has sanc-
tified and to render the most touching memorial of our Sa-
viour's everlasting love to his church, an abomination.

CHAPTER XI.

RICHARD WOODMAN.

How well the good soldiers of Christ endured hardness in
these days of the church's great conflict, we have in many
instances seen : another follows, inferior to none in the mani-

RICHARD WOODMAN. 221

festation of such powerful faith, such an earnest contending
for the truth, and such a gifl of utterance conferred on an
unlearned man, brought before rulers for Christ's sake, as
God alone can bestow.

Richard Woodman was an iron-worker, dwelling at
Warbleton, in Sussex, and at the time of his apprehension
about thirty years of age. The curate of his parish, one
Fairbanke, had taken a wife, and throughout King Ed-
ward's days he preached the true doctrine, greatly persua-
ding the people never to give heed to any other. In the
very beginning of Mary's reign he veered about, and taught
his flock just the contrary to what he had aforetime pro-
claimed. Richard Woodman, hearing him thus belie the
truth, admonished him of his inconstancy, and for so doing
was forthwith apprehended, and committed to the King's
Bench, where he remained a year and a half. Thence, by
Dr. Story, he was transferred to Bonner's coal-house, and
kept there a month, after which he underwent twenty-six
examinations, and was expecting the stake, when, on the
day that the noble martyr, Philpot, was burned, he, with
four others, was suddenly set at liberty. His notice of this
is given in language equally severe and just; highly expres-
sive of the indignation and abhorrence excited in the minds
of God's people by the murder of that holy man. After
saying that Bonner sent for them and discharged them,
only requiring them very earnestly to speak well of him,
Woodman goes on : " And no doubt he was worthy to be
praised, because he had been so faithful an aid in his mas-
ter the devil's business: for he had burnt good master Phil-
pot the same morning, with whose blood his heart was so
drunken, as I supposed, that he could not tell what he did,
as it appeared to us both before and after. For but two
days before he promised us we should be condemned that
same day that we were delivered; yea, and the morrow
after he had delivered us he sought for some of us awain,
yea, and that earnestly. He waxed dry after his great
drunkenness, wherefore he is likely to have blood to drink
in hell, as he is worthy, if he repent it not with speed. The
Lord turn all their hearts, if it be his will!"

Woodman wrote down all his former examinations; but
the bishop of Chichester got hold of them, and either con-
cealed or destroyed them. The persecutors then proclaim-
ed that Woodman had recanted; but this he disproved, by
going and talking so openly, from parish to parish, and
19*

222 KICHAKD WOODMAN.

among the principal people too, that it was resolved to ap.
prehend him again immediately. They forged a charge
against him of usurping the office of the ministry, in bap-
tizing and marrying persons, from which he so fully clear-
ed himself, that they could not even execute on him the
warrants already drawn up. However, they soon issued
others, and the queen's chamberlain sent three of his men
to take him, while ploughing his land. These men being
friends of Woodman's, he had no suspicion of them, and so
was easily arrested; but going home to change his appa-
rel, it occurred to him to demand a sight of their warrant,
when they confessed having none with them ; and he, plead-
ing the right of an Englishman, refused to go with them
unless they produced one. They locked him into his house,
and guarded the door, while one went to fetch a warrant;
and he, profiting by the opportunity, escaped from the rear
of the dwelling.

Of course, a strict search was set on foot, which Wood-
man eluded by taking up his abode under the trees in a
thick plantation, within a bowshot of his own house: here,
with his bible, pen, and ink, he contentedly staid six or
seven weeks, his wife daily bringing him food. " I thought
myself blessed of God," writes this simple and fervent soul,
" that I was counted worthy to lie in the woods for the
name of Christ." Meanwhile the seacoast, from Ports-
mouth to Dover, was guarded, to prevent the poor man's
escape; but failing in their search, they gave it over, con-
cluding he had gone abroad: and so he did, when they
had ceased watching. But such was his longing for his
native land, that he says, " I thought every day seven
years, or ever I were at home again." So in three weeks
he returned, and notwithstanding the eager hunt the enemy
set on foot after him, he often abode for a month or five
weeks openly in his own house, following his accustomed
occupation. His enemies, as he remarks, could lay no hands
on him till the hour was fully come. It arrived at last, and
by the villany of his own father and brother he was betrayed
into their grasp. Theoccasion was this: Richard Woodman
had entrusted property, of the value of filty pounds a year,
to his father and brother, wherewith to pay his debts, and
to maintain his wife and children. They wickedly report-
ed that it was not sufficient for the former purpose, where-
as it was more, by two hundred pounds, than all his debts
amounted to; and Woodman anxious to do justice, applied

RICHARD WOODMAN, 223

to them to restore the money and writings, and to come to
a settlement with him. A day was appointed, on which
a full reckoning should be sent in to him, with the balance;
and to avoid this restitution, the wretched brother went and
apprized his enemies, that at such a time they might cer-
tainly seize him in his own house. The sheriff according-
ly sent a strong parly of men, who concealed themselves
all the night in bushes near the dwelling. A workman in
Woodman's employ, and two of his little children, falling
in with them were detained, lest they should give the alarm;
and in the forenoon, while the poor man was reclining on a
bed, making shoe-thongs, his little girl who saw them ap-
proaching, ran into the room crying out, "Mother, mother,
yonder cometh twenty men." Woodman started up, and
thought to have slipped out of the door, but they were too
near, and his wife instantly shut and bolted it, while he did
the same by another door. The house was immediately
surrounded, the officers calling out to have the doors open-
ed, or they would break in.

Woodman's house had been searched at least twenty
times, by night and by day, sometimes with nearly a score
of men at once examining it. There was, however, a
place which they had never been able to discover, being
formed for concealment: into this he went, while his wife,
knowing him to be now safe, opened the door, and telling
the men he was not there, excused herself for having bar-
red it, on the ground of having often been frightened by
the men sent to search, and also supposing that the dis-
pleasure against her husband extended to her and her chil-
dren. They demanded a candle, saying there were many
secret places in the house; and after a most minute search
they gave over, some of the party going down to the church-
yard, where they stood talking with the unnatural father of
the persecuted man. The conductor of these officers was
a next door neighbour, and particular friend of Richard
Woodman's, who had been persuaded by his wicked bro-
ther thus to betray him. He knew of the hiding-place,
which his friend had often mentioned to him in confidence;
but it happened that he had never shown him the way to
it, only that the entrance was over a window in the hall.
On this they renewed the search, and one spied a little loft
with three or four chests in it, between two of which the
entrance really lay; but as they could not discover it, they
insisted on his wife pointing it out. She misled them to an-

224 RICHARD WOODMAN.

Other quarter, then gave Woodman a token to escape, by
which he supposed there was no further hope of his lying
concealed. He could not descend into the house without
coming into the midst of them; and his only resource was
to break out through a boarding, which he did by setting
his shoulders against it; but unhappily the noise occasion-
ed by this attracted their attention, and caused them to
look out at a window, just as he jumped down to escape.

Poor Woodman had not found time to put on his shoes,
when the alarm was first given by his child: he had now
to run along a lane strewn wiih sharp cinders, while a
shout was raised, and a pursuit commenced with cries of
" Strike him, strike him." He looked backed and saw
only one man within a hundred yards of him; and had he
been shod, he might have got easily away, being strong,
swift, and courageous; but just then his naked foot came
upon a hard pointed cinder, and starting from it, he step-
ped into a hole full of mire, which threw him down. Be-
fore he could recover himself, the pursuer, a very power-
ful man, came upon him, and he was taken. On this he
remarks, " It was not God's will ; for if it had been, I should
have escaped from them all, if there had been ten thousand
of them." While they were conducting him to his home,
to put on his shoes, and complete his dress, one of them
scoffingly said, "Now your Master hath deceived you;
you said you were an angel ; and if so why did you not
flee away from us?" He asked who had ever heard him
say he was an angel? " It is not," he added, " the first lie
by a thousand that they have made of me. Angels were
never of mortal birth; but if they had said they heard me
say I do trust I am a saint, they had not said amiss."
"What! do you think to be a saint?" asked the other.
" Yea, that I do, and am already in God's sight, 1 trust in
God ; for he that is not a saint in God's sight already, is a
devil. Therefore, he that thinketh scorn to be a saint, let
him be a devil."

At his own door he met his father, who desired him to
remember himself; meaning to consider the consequences
of persisting in his religious faith: to whom Woodman an-
swered, " I praise God, I am well remembered whereabout
I go. This way was appointed of God for me to be deliv-
ed into the hands of mine enemies, but woe to him by whom
I am betrayed ! It would be good for that man he had never
been born, if he repent not with speed. The scriptures are

RICHARD WOODMAN. 225

now fulfilled on me ; ' For the father shall be against the son ;
and the brother shall deliver the brother to death,' as it is
this day come to pass." One of the men remarked that
he was a good chilil to accuse his father: he answered, " I
accuse him not, but say my mind ; tor there was no man
knew me to be at home but my father, my brother, and
one more; the which I dare say would not hurt me for all
the good in this town." After some further talk, and cruel-
ly refusing to let him even enter the door of his house, at
which he was obliged to put on his shoes and the rest of his
clothes, they bound him by putting a hound's slip over his
arms : which, he says, rejoiced his heart, that he was count-
ed worthy to be bound for the name of God. He then took
leave of his poor wife, his children, and his wretched fa-
ther, and was led away.

On the 12th of April, the sheriffs sent him to London,
where, two days after, he was brought before his ordinary,
the bishop of Chichester, to whom he had appealed, Story,
Cook, and others for examination. The bishop told him
he was sorry for him, and so were all the gentlemen of
his country: where he had a good report among rich and
poor. Wherefore he wished him to consider himself,
his family and friends: not to think himself wiser than all
the realm; but to receive instruction. Woodman disclaim-
ed any wish to seem wiser than others, being willing to
learn of any man who could or would teach him the truth.
" For my wife and children, God doth know how I love
them in him, and my life also. My life, my wife, and my
children are all in God's hands, and I have them all as
though I had not, I trust, according to St. Paul's words.
But if I had ten thousand pounds of gold, I had rather fore-
go it all than them, if I might be in choice, and not dis-
please God." He then told Chichester that he had appeal-
ed to him, that if any fault was found in him, he might be
reformed at his hands: and also, that if his blood was shed
unrighteously, it might be required at his hands, who had
undertaken to be the physician of that part of the country.
On this Story broke in as usual, saying, "Is not this a per-
verse fellow, to lay to your charge that his blood shall be
required at your hands. Thinkest thou that thou shalt be
put to death unjustly, that thy blood shall be required? No,
if he should condemn a hundred such heretics as thou art.
I helped to rid a good sort of you : and I promise thee I will
help to rid thee too, the best that I can." Woodman would

226 RICHARD WOODMAN.

have replied; but Chichester enjoined them both to be si-
lent; and then kindly addressing Woodman, calling him
neighbour, told him that he, as his spiritual pastor, was
about to give him spiritual counsel : therefore he must list-
en to him. Woodman begged first to ask him a question;
which was, whether he was sure that he had the Spirit of
God. The bishop said no; swearing by St. Mary that he
dared not be so bold as to say so. Then Woodman told him
he was like the waves of the sea, unstable; and threatened
him with the doom of the Laodicean church ; which put
Story into a great rage, who stormed at him, saying he had
the devil within him, and was mad; and that he was worse
than Satan ; and so forth : while Chichester remarked that
the man was sent to him to learn, but took upon him to
teach him. The poor fellow on seeing their blindness,
burst into tears and said, " The Jews said to Christ he had
a devil, and was mad, as ye have said here by me : but I
know the servant is not above his Master. And God for-
bid that I should learn of him that confesseth that he hath
not the Spirit of God," " Why," said the bishop, "do you
think that you have the Spirit of God?" " I believe verily
that I have the Spirit of God," was the reply. Chichester
observed, " You boast more than ever Paul did, or any of
the apostles ; the which is great presumption." Woodman
answered, " I boast not in myself, but in the gift of God,
as Paul did; for he said he believed verily that he had the
Spirit of God; making no doubts, in 1 Cor. vii." " It is
not so," says the bishop ; " you belie the text." " If it be
not so, let me be burned to-morrow." Story said, " Thou
shalt not be burned to-morrow, but thou shalt be burned
within these six days, I promise thee." Chichester next
qualified his denial of the quotation, by saying that if it
was so, it was wrong translated ; as it was, he said, in a
thousand places more. They then consulted the Latin and
Greek versions, and told him that in both Paul said he sup-
posed he had the Spirit of God, but was not sure: the bish-
op adding, " Even so I hope and suppose that I have the
Spirit of God, but I am not sure."

Woodman said, if men had translated the Bible wrong,
woe unto such false translators! However, he warned
them to beware that they did not slander the translators,
whom he believed to have had the fear of God before their
eyes. He olTered to prove, by places enough, besides the
one quoted, that Paul had the Spirit of God; as he himself,

RICHARD WOODMAN. 227

and all the elect, had. This he did by citing, " No man
can believe that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost,"
and went on : "I do believe that Jesus Christ is my Re-
deemer, and that I shall be saved from all my sins by his
death and blood-shedding, as Paul and all the apostles did,
and as all faithful people ought to do, which no man can
do without the Spirit of God ; and as there is no damnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus, so there is no salvation to
them that are not in Christ Jesus: for ' He that halh not
the Spirit of Christ is none of his,' but is a cast-away. And
again: 'We have not received the Spirit of bondage, to
fear any one; but we have received the Spirit of adoption,
whereby we cry Abba, Father. The same Spirit certifieth
our spirits that we are the sons of God,' Besides all this,
St. John saith, ' He that believeth in God, dwelleth in God,
and God in him.' So it is impossible to believe in God,
unless God dwell in us. Oh, good God ! what more inju-
ry can be done unto thee than to mistrust that we have
received thy Holy Spirit by thy gift? Thus may all men
see their blindness, and whose servants they be, as they do
declare themselves both by their words and deeds."

Here Dr. Story cried out, " Oh my lord, what a heretic
is this same ! Why do you hear him? Send him to prison
to his fellows in the Marshalsea, and they shall be dis-
patched within these twelve days." " When I heard him
say so," writes Woodman, from whose recital of his last
examinations this account is taken, " I rejoiced greatly in
my heart, desiring God, if it were his will, to keep him in
that mind : for I looked surely to have gone to the bishop of
London's coal-house, or to Lollards' tower; but it pleased
God to put it in their hearts to send me to the Marshalsea,
amongst our brethren, and my old prison fellows, so mer-
cifully hath God dealt with me, in easing me of my burden
that I looked for," They observed his satisfaction, and
the bishop said, " Methinkshe is not afraid of the prison:"
to which Woodman replied, " No, I thank the living God,"
This again roused Story's savage spirit, who said, " This
is an heretic indeed : he hath the right terms of all here-
tics. The living God! I pray you be there dead gods,
that you say the living God?" Woodman mildly replied,
" Be you angry with me because I speak the words which
are written in the Bible?" " Bibble-babble, bibble-babble,"
quoth the dignified divine, " What speakest thou of the
Bible ? There is no such word written in all the Bible.

228 KICHARD WOODMAN.

" Then I am much to blame if it be not so written," said
Woodman, and quoted texts in support of his assertion.
Chichester owned it was so written, and that it was the
truth; but added, that such was the speech of all heretics.
He was supported by Story, who sagely said, " My lord, I
will tell you how you shall know a heretic by his words,
because 1 have been more used to them than you have been ;
that is, they will say, ' The Lord,' and ' We praise God,'
and ' The living God.' By these words you shall know a
heretic," " All these words," returned Woodman, " are
written lor our learning, and we are commanded of the pro-
phets to use them daily, as thus: 'The Lord's name be
praised, from the rising up of the sun even to the going
down of the same.' Also: ' As many as fear the Lord say
always. The Lord be praised.' " After a little more rail-
ing. Dr. Story went off to mass; and then the bishop said
to Woodman, " I would not have you use such speeches
as you do, as ' the Lord be praised,' and ' the living God,'
with such like words. Can you not say as well, our
Lord, or our God, as otherwise 1" Woodman, after de-
claring that he did not see how he could deserve to be cen-
sured for using the plain language of Scripture, added, " It
seemeth to me that you mistrust that I believe not as you
do." " Yea, that is my meaning indeed," said the bishop.
•' I believe in the living God," repeated Woodman; " if you
do not so, then our belief is not alike, indeed. But if it
please you to examine me on any particular matter now,
or at any other time, I will make you answer thereto., by
God's help." The bishop then charged them with erring
from the church, and in proof of it showed him a great
bundle of writings, which Woodman immediately saw and
acknowledged to be his own, privily stolen from his house
by the sheriff's men. They contained his examinations
and discussions during his former imprisonment, and he
expressed his gladness that the bishop might now see, under
his own hand, a full statement both of what had been said
and what had been done against him, referring him to the
parties named there for a confirmation of its truth. Then
followed a very long conversation, in which the bishop
manifested a spirit so different from that of his brethren in
general, that if he was sincere in it, his mind must have
been ill at ease under the burden of such companionship in
evil. Gently, kindly, and candidly he both spoke and lis-
tened, as one who was far from desiring to turn away his

RICHARD WOODMAN. 229

ears frotn the truth ; and even admitted, with evident satis-
faction, Woodman's refutation of all the false charges
against him. Having cleared himself, the martyr thus
spoke : " Wherefore look ye to it, for I am now in your
hands, and you ought to be a house of defence against mine
enemies ; for if you suffer them to kill me, my blood shall
be required at your hands. If you can find any just cause
in me worthy of death by God's word, you may condemn
me yourself, and not offend God : wherefore look to it; the
matter is weighty; deliver me not into their hands, and look
to be so discharged." Chichester told him he was not yet
fully invested with the authority of his office, but he would
do what he could for him. They then entered on the ques-
tion, whether or no St. Paul was married, and Woodman
proved that he was not : speaking also very fully on the
subject, and in a way that seemed greatly to please the
bishop, who said he was very glad to have heard him so
speak, and repeated warmly his assurance of a sincere
wish to serve him. Woodman told him he was willing to
renounce any thing that he held, which could be proved
contrary to God's word. " And the truth is," continued he,
" I have talked with a dozen priests at the least, since I
was delivered out of prison, of certain matters, and they
have not been able to certify me in any thing that I have
asked them ; and therefore they have complained of me to
the sheriff and justices, making tales and lies on me, to
turn me to displeasure, as much as in them lieth. I pro-
mise you, there be as many unlearned priests in your dio-
cese as in any one diocese in England, I think : the more
it is to be lamented." The bishop's answer was greatly to
his credit : " I promise you I do much lament it myself,
for I hear say no less ; but it is true as you say. I would
I could remedy it, but I cannot ; but I will do the best that
I can when I come into the country: and I will be glad to
talk with you some other time, when I shall be somewhat
better at ease. You see, I am very tender now, as I have
been this half year and more. Come to dinner; our dinner
is ready. I caused you not to tarry for any great cheer
that you shall have ; nor would I that you should think I
go about to win you with my meat : but you be welcome,
with all my heart : come, sit down."

How unlike to Bonner and his brother ruffians ! The
Lord gave his poor faithful servant this favour in the sight
of one to whom he seemed sent with a message of admoni-

MARTYROLOGY. VOL. II. 20

230 RICHARD WOODMAN.

tion and instruction. After partaking of a plentiful
meal with the bishop, a merchant, and one of the sheriff's
officers who guarded him, he was told by the bishop that
he must deliver him to Story's man, but that he would soon
send for him again, and prayed God he might do him good.
Woodman begged that he might have nothing to do with
Story, requesting the bishop to examine him himself; and
then they began on the subject of the sacraments, when he
would acknowledge only two ; and the bishop engaging to
convince him by God's word that there were seven, kindly
bade him farewell. Thus does the bold and faithful Pro-
testant conclude this part of his narrative : " And so 1 was
brought to the Marshalsea, where I now am merry — God
be praised therefore! — looking for judgment of my flesh,
for they intend to dispatch me shortly, if God will give
them leave : but God hath their hearts in his hand, and
they can do nothing to me but as God will give them leave.
Wherefore I commit my cause to God only, and I am sure
there shall not one hair of my head perish without my
heavenly Father's will, although I bide never so much
trouble. Job perished not for all his trouble, though God
gave the devil leave to trouble and try him divers and many
ways, as God hath suffered his members to trouble and try
me divers and many ways, I praise God. They shall as
little prevail against my faith, I have no mistrust, as the
devil prevailed against Job, whatsoever they do with my
goods, body, or life. For he that kept Job in all his trou-
ble neither slumbereth nor sleepeth, but keepeth me and all
his elect, that whether we live or die it shall be to the praise
and glory of God. For if we live, we live at the Lord's
will ; and if we die, we die at the Lord's will : so whether
we live or die we are the Lord's — blessed be his name there-
fore ! Wherefore, dear brethren and sisters, to whom this
my writing shall come, be of good cheer, and fear not what
man can do unto you, for they can but kill the body: but
fear Him that hath power to kill both body and soul. And
yet once again I bid you be of good cheer, for the sheriff,
with divers other gentlemen and priests, when I was at the
sheriff's house, said to me, that all the heretics in the
country hung on me, as the people did in times past upon
St. Augustine, or St. Ambrose, or such like. Wherefore,
said they, look well on it ; you have a great thing to an-
swer for. To the which I answered, I pray God lay no-
thing more to my charge than he will do for heresy, as I

RICHARD WOODMAN. 231

am sure he will not; for He hath set my sins as far from
me as it is from the east to the west, so that I am sure they
shall never come near me any more. Yea, and that they
call heresy, we serve God withal. And I am sure there is
no man nor woman that hangeth on me, but on God. But
yet that is their imaginations and thoughts, that if they
might win me to them, they should win a great many like-
wise : and thinking to kill me if they cannot win me, as I
trust in God and am sure they shall never, by God's grace,
if it were possible for them to kilt me ten times: for I am
so linked to Christ in a chain by faith, that it is impossible
for men to loose us asunder, neither for life nor death, I
praise my Lord God therefore: and no doubt their full in-
tent and purpose is to kill me, thinking thereby to make
other afraid, which death of my body were best of all for
me, if God were so pleased. But if I may live for the
comfort of other, His name be praised therefore. I know
what he can do, but what he will do I know not. But if
death be offered me, so that I cannot refuse it without dis-
pleasing of God, I trust in God I shall not offend my breth-
ren in receiving of death, but shall be rather an occasion
of strengthening their faith, by choosing and receiving of
it, and that with joy. For as Christ hath given his life for
us, so ought we to give our lives for the defence of the gos-
pel, and comfort of our brethren. And whereas the bishop
saith he will prove seven sacraments, be you out of doubt
he shall never be able to do it, no more than he hath pro-
ved other arguments with me already. Thus fare ye well.
From the Marshalsea, where I now am, as a sheep appoint-
ed to be slain, God be praised therefore."

Of all the English army of martyrs, Richard Woodman
seems the most to have resembled Martin Luther in the cast
of his natural character, and the peculiarity of his spi-
ritual gift. This will appear more plainly as we proceed
in the story, and find him applying the hammer of God's
word to the hardened iron that formed the sinews of his
enemies' necks, with as much force and as little ceremony
as he was wont to exercise, when working the metal, in the
way of his worldly calling. In archdeacon Philpot, this
boldness of speech, and energy of thought, appeared under
the polish of rank, education, learning, and ecclesiastical
dignity: in Woodman it stands forth rough and unmiti-
gated, save by the subduing influence of true piety, which,
however, in his case, added emphasis to the impulse of holy

232 RICHARD WOODMAN,

indignation, when he looked upon those whose hearts were
really, as he had before expressed it, made drunit by the
blood of the saints and martyrs of Jesus ; the blood of
men by whom he had been taught the way of salvation,
whose dungeons he had shared, whose sufferings he had wit-
nessed, and the smoke of whose cruel burning had hardly
ceased to darken and infect the air. Strong must have been
the power of that grace which withheld from bitter revilings
the tongue of one whose natural courage shrunk from no-
thing ; and who was so keenly sensible of the wrongs in-
flicted on his murdered pastors, the blasphemous dishonour
heaped upon the name of his God ! Richard Woodman, the
humble ironmonger of Sussex, made more than one mitred
head cower beneath his righteous rebukes; and forced them
to wince under the scornful irony that touched the idola-
trous priests of Baal from the inspired lip of Elijah. We
do not intend to soften down any part of the recital ; but to
give it, with as few curtailments as our limits will allow, in
the very words of the martyr.

His second examination was in the bishop of Chiches-
ter's house, where Story sent him. He returned the bish-
op's courteous greeting with the most respectful salutation
he could render; at the same time thanking him for his
former kindness : and then Chichester begged he would be
brief in his discourse, as the length of their former conver-
sation had impaired his health. The seven sacraments
were proposed ; and on Woodman denying five, and re-
quiring the bishop to prove them by scripture, he got into
a great fume, swearing in a very coarse and shocking man-
ner ; for which his prisoner reminded him that he was not
setting a right example to the flock. Chichester seems to
have been exposed to evil influence since their last meet-
ing : for when Woodman justified his rebuke by quoting
the command to reprove an offending brother, he and the
priests pronounced him past cure ; and the bishop desired
Dr. Story to be called, as he would talk no more with him:
adding that the company of his fellows in the Marshalsea
had made him worse than he was: for before, he had some
hope of him. After some more hard speeches, the bishop
a little moderated his displeasure, and consented to pro-
ceed in the matter of the sacraments. They began with
matrimony, where Chichester fortified himself with the word
sacramentum used in the Latin version; and Woodman
holding to the English rendering, '* a great mystery," as

RICHARD WOODMAN. 233

typifying the union of Christ with his church, showed, very
beautifully, that the " nnystery," or unseen thing, was the
union of heart, invisible to the eye; whereas a sacrament
was a visible sign. He asked the bisho]), " My lord, I
pray you what is a sacranrient?" " It is the sign of a holy
thing," replied the bishop, who had parried his last argu-
ment by insisting that the ceremony being seen, and the
man and woman also seen, it was not an invisible mys-
tery. Woodman, then, on this new ground of the bishop's
choosing, disproved his assertion, saying, " There need not
be a sign of a holy thing where the holy thing itself is.
Matrimony is a holy thing in itself, and is ended outward-
ly, and needs no more signs but themselves : wherefore it
cannot be a sacrament as others be." To this the bishop
returned a singularly ridiculous answer. " Lo, now you
speak against yourself; and for an example, I came by an
hosier's, and there hangeth a pair of hose, the which be
hose, and be the sign of hose, that be to sell within." At
this the priests chuckled, and Woodman answered indig-
nantly, he wondered they were not ashamed of themselves.
When taunted by the priests for being angry, he replied,
" I am not angry, but I am earnest, I tell you, to see your
blindness and folly. I talked of the scriptures that be
written, and it is God's word, to prove my matter true by;
and you will prove your matter true by a pair of hose.
And as well can you prove it by that as by God's word."
" Why," said a priest, " is there nothing true but what is
written in the Bible?" Woodman replied, "St. Paul saith
to the Galatians, ' If an angel come from heaven and hold
any other doctrine than may be proved by God's word, hold
him accursed :' and so do I tell you plainly." The priest
resumed, " Here is a Testament in my hand ; if I hurl him
in the fire and burn him, have I burned God's word or no ? I
will buy a new one for sixteenpence." Woodman answered,
" I say you have burned God's word ; he that would burn
a Testament willingly would burn God himself if he were
here, if he could : for he and his word are all one." They
made a great jest of this ; and he continued, " Laugh on.
Your laughing will be turned to weeping, and all such joy
will be turned to mourning, if you repent not with speed."
Chichester, to cover the folly of his priests, said, " Why,
if my counting-house were full of books, and if my house
were on fire by chance, and so burned, is God's word
burned V " No, my lord, because they were burned against
20*

234 RICHARD WOODMAN.

your will ; but yet if you should burn them willingly, or
think it well, or not be sorry for it, you burn God's word
as well as he. For he that is not sorry for a shrewd turn,
doth allow it to be good." Chichester remarking that he
had little learning, then asked him what St. Paul meant by
the passage, " We have an altar whereof you may not eat."
He answered, " There is no man so foolish as to eat stones,
I trow." This greatly annoyed the bishop, who said it
was a plain mock; but Woodman reminded him he had
just accused him of having no learning or knowledge, or
understanding, wherefore he ought to make things more
plain to him, and not ask him such dark questions, and
blame him too. The bishop declared the greatest fool in
his house would understand his meaning; and calling by
his name a servant who stood a little way off, " Come
hither, I say to thee, thou shalt not eat of this table. What
do I mean thereby?" " Forsooth, my lord, you would not
have me eat of this table," answered the man, laying his
hand on it. This made all the party laugh ; including
Woodman, who said, " He hath expounded the matter
almost as well as I." "He meaneth well enough," said the
bishop, " if you would understand him. Answer me again,
to make it more plain. I say thou shalt not eat of this
table. What mean I thereby?" "Forsooth you would not
have me eat this table." At this they laughed again; and
the bishop, almost angry, said, " He meaneth that I would
not have him eat of the meat that is set upon the table.
How sayest thou, dost thou not mean so?" The man re-
plied, " Yes, forsooth, my lord, that was my meaning in-
deed :" and Woodman observed he had answered accord-
ing to the prompting ; showing that he could have replied
to the first question. They then passed on to the sacra-
ment of the altar; Chichester asking what he said to it.
He replied, " You mean the sacrament of the body and
blood of Jesus Christ?" " I mean the sacrament of the
altar, and so I say." " You mean Christ to be the altar,
do you not?" asked Woodman : the bishop answered again,
" I mean the sacrament of the altar in the church. What,
is it so strange to you?" " It is strange to me, indeed, if
you mean the altar of stone," returned Woodman. " It is
that altar that I mean," said the bishop. Woodman re-
marked that he understood not the altar so; and craving
permission to show his belief, brought some scriptures to
prove that Christ, in the midst of his assembled people, is

RICHARD WOODMAN. 236

the true altar, where Christians, at peace with each other
and all the world, should come and offer their gift of prayer
to God. After hearing him out, Chichester said, " Do you
understand the offering and the altar so ? I never heard any
man understand it so; no not Luther, the great heretic, that
was condemned, by a general council, and his picture burnt."
To which Woodman shrewdly replied, " If he were an he-
retic, I think he understood it not so indeed : but I am sure
all Christians ought to understand it so." The bishop
maintained his own view; which was quite a Jewish one;
and when Woodman showed him so, he said, " Who shall
be judge betwixt us in this matter?" Woodman observed,
" The twelfth of John declareth who shall be judge in the
last day." " You mean," said Chichester, " the word shall
judge the word. How can that be?" Woodman replied,
" St. Peter saith, the scripture hath no private interpreta-
tion: but one scripture must be understood by another."
He also said, " The true church of God is able to discuss
all doubts: to whom I refer it." The bishop of course, took,
this as an admission in favour of his false church. Wood-
man asked what he offered up on his altar? he said, " We
offer up in the blessed sacrament of ihe altar, the body of
Christ to pacify the wrath of God the Father." And at that
they all put off their caps in honour of the idol. Woodman
proved, from Paul to the Hebrews, that the one offering of
Christ was sufficient; and added, " As far as I can see, you
be priests after the order of Aaron, that offered up sacrifice
for their own sins, and the sins of the people." The bishop
said, " No ; they were priests after the order of Melchise-
dec, who offered bread and wine in remembrance, to signify
the giving of Christ's body in bread and wine, which he, at
the last supper, gave to his disciples, and ordered to be used
to the end of the world." Woodman liked this exposition:
he said the bishop had made it very plain to him, that as
Christ was the end of all sacrifice, so was he the beginning
of the sacraments, willing them to be used in remembrance
of him to the world's end. The bishop, however, insisted
on more than a remembrance; on transubstantiation : but
desired him to be brief. Woodman said, " My lord, if you
will answer me to one sacrament I will answer you to an-
other. If you say the words of baptism over the water,
and there be no child there, is it true baptism?" "No;
there must be the water, the word, and the child ; and then
it is a baptism." " Very well," rejoined Woodman ; " then

236 RICHARD WOODMAN.

if a child be baptized in the name of the Father and of the
Son, it is not truly baptized." " No : the child must be
baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of
the Holy Ghost, or else it is not truly baptized." " Then,
there may be nothing added or taken away from the sacra-
ments, may there 1" "No," said the bishop.

" Now, my lord, I will answer to you, if it please you."
"Well," replied the bishop, " how say you ? 'Take, eat,
this is my body;' is it not Christ's body as soon as the
words be said?" "My lord, replied Woodman, "I will
answer you by your own words, that you answered me,
which is true. The water, the word, and the child, all
these together make baptism : the bread, the wine, and the
word, make the sacrament; and the eater, eating in true
faith, maketh it his body. Here I prove it is not Christ's
body but to the faithful receiver. For he saith, ' Take, eat,
this is my body.' He called it not his body before eating,
but after eating. And St. Augustine saith, ' Believe, and
thou hast eaten.' And St. John saith, ' He that believeth
in God, dwelleth in God, and God in him :' wherefore it is
impossible to dwell in God, and to eat his body, without a
true faith." The priest said, " Then the faith of the re-
ceiver maketh it his body, and not his word, by your say-
ing. I pray you, what did Judas eat?" Woodman replied,
" Judas did eat the sacrament of Christ, and the devil
withal." " He did eat the body of Christ unworthily, as
St. Paul saith," returned the priest. " Nay," said Wood-
man, " St. Paul sayeth no such thing. He spake not of
eating his body unworthily, but of the sacrament unwor-
thily. For he saith, ' Whosoever eatelh this bread, and
drinketh this cup unworthily, eateth and drinketh his own
damnation, because he maketh no difference of the Lord's
body;' and not because he eateth the Lord's body. If Judas
did eat Christ's body, it must needs follow that Judas is
saved ; for Christ saith, in the sixth of John, ' Whosoever
eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life;
and I will raise him up at the last day.' " On this, the
priest and bishop agreed that it was lost labour to talk any
more with him: so the latter demanded a final answer as
to his belief in the matter, and received this reply: " I do
believe that if I come to receive the sacrament of the body
and blood of Christ truly ministered, believing that Christ
was born for me, and that he sufl^ered death for me, and
that I shall be eaved from my sins by his blood-shedding;

RICHARD WOODMAN. 237

and so receive the sacrament in that remembrance, then I
do believe I do receive wholly Christ, God and man, mys-
tically, by faith: this is my belief." Chichester observed,
" Why, then, it is no body without faith ; God's word is
of no force, as you count it." " My lord," he replied, " I
have told you my mind without dissimulation; and more
you get not of me, without you will talk with me by the
scriptures ; and if you will not do so, I will begin anew
with you, and prove it more plainly, three or four manner
of ways, that you shall not say nay to that I have said,
yourself."

At this they began to laugh heartily, saying to one an-
other, " This is an heretic indeed: it is time he were burn-
ed." Their ridicule and malignity moved him to a very
severe rebuke. " Judge not, lest you bejudged : for as you
judge me, you shall be judged yourselves. For that you call
heresy, I serve God truly with, as you all shall well know,
when you shall be in hell, and shall be compelled to say,
for pain, This was the man that we jested on, and whose
talk we thought foolishness, and his end to be without
honour: but now we may see how he is counted among the
saints of God, and we are punished. These words shall
you say, being in hell, if you repent not with speed, if you
consent to the shedding of my blood: wherefore look to it,
I give you counsel." The priest taxed him with being
angry; and went on to repeat some words that he had
spoken against their idols, and in answer to Stephen Gardi-
ner. He answered, " That I said, I said : and where you
said I was angry, I take God to my record I am not, but
am zealous in the truth, and speak out of the Spirit of God
with cheerfulness." The priest mockingly repeated, " The
Spirit of God ! — hough, hough, hough; think you that you
have the Spirit of God?" " I believe surely," answered
the martyr, " that I have the Spirit of God, I praise God
therefore: and you be deceivers, mockers, and scorners be-
fore God, and be the children of Satan, all the sort of you,
as far as I can see. Here Story came in, and after rail-
ing as usual, advised the bishop to have nothing more to
do with him, and ordered him back to the prison without
further question. When they were all gone to receive a
party come to dine with the bishop, a priest began to flatter
Woodman, urging him to recant ; but with no success : and
after a few words, he was conducted again to the Marshal-
sea,

238 RICHARD WOODMAN.

Soon after this, the marshal came to the prison, and
questioned Woodman as to his having been abroad speak-
ing seditious words, both of which he so clearly disproved,
that the officer owned it must be a false report ; and then
took him away for another examination, to lord Montague's
house, in Southwark, where Dr. Langdale, the bishop's
chaplain, was waiting for him. A very long conversation
ensued ; which Langdale began, by charging him with for-
saking the faith of his fathers ; and so forth. Woodman
answered wisely and scripturally, and the doctor after blam-
ing him for quoting the Bible too much, tried by the assur-
ance of much good will to induce him to speak his mind
freely. The martyr, in a strain of admirable prudence,
mingled with his natural frankness, told him that he knew
not how to trust his fair words, when he could not trust
his own father and brother, and others who had been his
familiar friends : that Christ had bade him be wise as the
serpent, and as innocent as the dove, and also to take heed
of men, for they would betray. He added, that the doc-
tor's dislike to his quoting scripture made him suspect him:
therefore he must not be angry if he found him circumspect
in his answers; for, said he, " It shall not be said, by God's
help, that I run wilfully into mine enemies' hands ; and yet,
I praise God, my life is not dear unto myself; but it is dear
with God: wherefore I will do to the uttermost that I can
to keep it." Langdale then made a misstatement of what
had taken place before Woodman's last apprehension, which
he very calmly and soberly answered, fully showing in what
he had been wrongfully charged. He was next taxed with
baptizing his child, and in the same breath, with leaving
it unbaptized. Woodman indignantly proved the utter
falsehood of both these contradictory tales: and referring
to some part of Langdale's speech, where he had mention-
ed that if the child had died before baptism it must have
been eternally lost, he asked him, " How think you ? Be
all condemned that receive not the outward sign of baptism?"
" Yea," said the doctor, " that they be." Woodman ask-
ed, " How prove you that?" Langdale replied, by repeat-
ing our Lord's words which command baptism, assuring
eternal life to such as are baptized and believe, and con-
demnation to them that believe not. " Then," observed
Woodman, "by your saying baptism bringeth faith; and
all that be baptized in the water shall be saved shall they?
Howsay you?" " Yea, that they shall," replied the doctor;

RICHARD WOODMAN, 239

" if they die before they come to discretion, they should be
saved everyone of them; and all that be not baptized,
shall be damned, every one of them." This roused the
other, who exclaimed, " How dare you speak such blas-
phemy against God and his word, as you do? How dare
you for your life take upon you to preach, and teach the
people, and understand not what you say? For I pro-
test before God you understand not the scriptures, but as
far as natural reason can comprehend: for if you did, you
would be ashamed to speak as you do." Langdale told
him to take heed, for he had a toy in his head that would
make him despair; and asked why he reproved him as he
did. Woodman answered, " Because you blaspheme God :"
and then challenged him to prove his doctrine by scripture,
which made the other turn pale and tremble. Woodman
then proceeded to show that the perdition threatened was
not to them that are not baptized, but to such as believe
not ; adducing the words of St. John, " He that believeth
not is condemned already, because he believeth not." He
went on, " I dare not say for all the goods under heaven,
that all they that receive no material baptism by the water
shall be condemned, as you have said: yet I would
you should not gather of these words that I deny baptism,
as you were about to lay to my charge, ere ever I had
half told out my tale. But I would not have you, nor any
man, so rash in judgment, to condemn the thing that they
are not able to disprove by the word ; and to make it seem
to the simple that the outward washing of the water were
the cause of faith." " Why, is it not so?" said Langdale :
" will you deny it? how say you, will you deny it? I say
the child hath no faith before it is baptized ; and therefore
the baptizing bringeth the faith. How say you to it ? Make
me a plain answer to this question." " Now," said Wood-
man, " I perceive you go about nothing else but to take van-
tage of my words. But, by God's help, I will answer you
so that you shall well see your sayings untrue. And yet I
will not speak mine own words, but the words of the Holy
Ghost, out of the mouth of the prophets and apostles ; and
then ask them whether they will deny it." He then ask-
ed where Jacob was baptized before he had faith ; alleging
the passage that speaks of his election before his birth : but
Langdale parried this, as it was before the institution of
baptism. He demanded an answer to his former question,
observing, that Woodman denied original sin, and freewill:

240 RICHARD WOODMAN.

for, said he, " if children can be saved without baptism, it
must needs follow that children have no original sin ; the
which is put away in the baptizing. But I think you know
not what original sin is, or free will either." Woodman
told him, he thanked God, he thought he could tell him
better than he could: then asked him, " What free will hath
man to do good of himself?" Langdale answered, " I say
that all men have as much free will as Adam had before the
fall." " I pray you how prove you that ?" " Thus I prove
it," quoth the doctor, " that as sin entered into the world,
and by the nature of one that sinned all men became sin-
ners, the which was by Adam : so by the obedience of one
man, righteousness came upon all men that had sinned,
and set them as free as they were before their fail : the
which was by Jesus Christ. See Rom. v."

Woodman exclaimed, " Oh, what an overthrow have
you given yourself here in original sin, and yet cannot see
it ! For, in proving that we have free will, you have quite
denied original sin. For here you have declared that we
be set as free by the death of Christ, as Adam was before
his fall; and I am sure that Adam had no original sin be-
fore his fall. If we be as free now, as he was then, I mar-
vel wherefore Paul complained thrice to God to take away
the sting of it, God making him answer, and saying, 'My
grace is sufficient for thee.' These words, with divers
other, prove original sin in us ; but not that it shall hurt
God's elect people, for his grace is sufficient for all his.
But you say in one place that it is not without baptism ;
and in another place you put it away quite by the death of
Christ ; and in very deed you have spoken truer in the mat-
ter than you are aware of For all that believe in Christ
are baptized in the blood of Christ, that he shed on the
cross ; and in the water that he sweat for pain, and putting
away of our sins at his death. And yet I say with David,
In sin was I born, and in sin hath my mother conceived
me : but in no such sin as shall be imputed, because I am
born of God by faith, as St. John saith, 1 John iii. There-
fore I am blessed, as sailh the prophet. Psalm .xxxii. ' be-
cause the Lord imputeth not my sin,' and not because I
have no sin ; but because God hath not imputed my sins.
Not of our own deserving, but of his free mercy, he hath
saved us. Where is now your freewill that you speak of?
If we have free will, then our salvation cometh of our own
selves and not of God : the which is great blasphemy

RICHARD WOODMAN. 241

against God and his word." He quoted St. James, St.
John, and St. Paul, and went on to apply those scriptures.
" Seeing then, that every good and perfect gift cometh from
above, and lighteneth upon whom it pleaselh God, and
that he vvorketh in us both the will and the deed, methink
all the rest of our own will is little worth, or naught at all,
unless it be wickedness."

He then craved leave to answer to the matter of Jacob's
faith, which Langdale had put aside, as having nothing to
do with baptism: the doctor consented, probably as Wood-
man suspected, hoping to lay hold on some of his words ;
and he proceeded, "First, if you be remembered, you said
that if my child had died without baptism, if I had been the
cause that it had not been baptized, the child should have
been damned, and I too. How say you ?" " Yea, that you
should," answered the doctor. Woodman returned, " That
is most untrue, for the prophet saith, The father shall not
bear the child's offences; nor the child the father's offences;
but the soul that sinneth shall die. What could the child
have done withal, if it had died without baptism? the child
could not do withal. How say you unto this? And I am
sure that what I brought in, in the old law to prove that
faith is before baptism, is not disagreeable unto the word.
For circumcision was a figure of baptism ; and that I may
bring to prove baptism by, as well as St. Peter did : for he
brought in Noah's flood, which was a long time before Jacob
and Esau, to prove baptism ; saying, ' While the ark was
a preparing, wherein kw, that is eight souls, were saved
by water ; like as baptism also now saveth us ; not in put-
ting away the fillh of the flesh, but there is a good con-
science consenting to God." Here Peter proveth that water
had not saved Noah and the other seven, no more than it
saved all the rest, if it had not been for their faith; which
faith now saveth us ; not in putting away the filthy soil of
the flesh by the washing of the water, but by a good con-
science consenting unto God. But you say, if they be bap-
tized with the water, if they die before they come to years
of discretion, they be all saved: the which St. Peter is clean
against, unless you grant that children have faith before
they be baptized. Now, I ask you what consent of con-
science the children have, being infants? For you say
they believe not before they be baptized ; er^o, then they
consent not to be baptized, because they believe not. And
by this it foUoweth that none shall be saved, although they

MARTYROLOGY. VOL. II. 21

242 RICHARD WOODMAK.

be baptized. I would fain see how you can answer this."
Langdale replied, " You are the most perverse man that
ever I knew: you wot not what you say. The children
are baptized in their godfathers' and godmothers' faith, and
that is the good conscience that St. Peter speaketh of: and
the christening is the keeping of the law that St. Paul
speaketh of, saying. Neither is circumcision anything worth,
nor uncircumcision, but the keeping of the law is altoge-
ther. Like as circumcision was the keeping of the old law,
so is baptism the keeping of the new law." To this Wood-
man replied, " Ah, melhought if you would talk with me,
you should be fain to bring in the old law, to maintain
your sayings by; for all that you refused it when I brought
it in. But yet it servelh not for your purpose so much as
you think for. For here you have confessed that neither
circumcision availeth, nor uncircumcision; the which you
yourself have coupled with baptism, proving that none of
them prevaileth, but keeping of the law is all together: the
which law is kept, you say, by the outward signs ; which
is nothing so: for Abraham believed God, and that was
counted to him for righteousness, and this was before he
was circumcised." After a little more on this point, he
asked, "Where you said the children be baptized in their
godfathers' and godmothers' faith, they being all unbe-
lievers, in what faith is the child baptized, then 1 In none
at all by your own saying." This greatly moved the doc-
tor, who exclaimed, "What ! then you would count that
there are very few believers, if there be not one of three
that beiieveth. You enter into judgment against the peo-
ple. Belike you think there be none that believe well, un-
less they be of your mind. Indeed, then, Christ's flock
were a very little flock." Woodman replied, " Indeed,
these be Christ's words, in Luke xii., the which we may
see to be very true. Yea, you said, if there were not one
amongst three, that were very kw. But there is not one
amongst three hundred for any thing that I can see ; for
if there were, there would not be so many that would seek
their neighbours' goods and lives as there be." Langdale
cunningly asked him how many he thought there were of
that little flock : but he got not the information he wanted,
for Woodman told him it would be making himself equal
with God to answer it ; he then quoted many passages, to
show that the great mass of mankind are in error, and
Christ's believing people a small number, ending by an

RICHARD WOODMAN. 243

offer to prove it further, and also that the doctor and his
party were not in that small number. Langdale then be-
gan to stamp and rage, railing at him for a long while.
When he had finished, Woodman asked wherefore he was
so angry at his answering the questions proposed '.' Lang-
dale said he had not answered him to original sin ; that he
denied original sin. Before the other could reply, a gen-
tleman came in, Mr. Gage, who had been kind to Wood-
man. He acted as a peace-maker, and persuaded the angry
doctor to resume the examination, suggesting that he should
question him on the sacrament of the altar .; and here the
former discussion with Chichester and the priest was, in
substance, repeated. It ended, of course, by remanding
the prisoner to the Marshalsea.

Woodman did not, in the foregoing argument, intend to
oppose infant baptism ; he had already acknowledged it as
scriptural and proper: but besought to combat that popish
error wherein liawkes had so ably resisted Bonner, and
which asserts that the mere outward rite is so indispensa-
ble to the salvation of the soul, that an infant dying before
it can be sprinkled must be eternally lost. Woodman, it is
evident, had some singular views of the Holy Scriptures,
as, for instance, his supposing the symbol, " lively stones,"
to refer to flint stones, out of which fire might be struck to
enlighten the darkness of others. A beautiful idea, though
a strange one. Salvation by faith alone, and through grace
alone, was the point which the Lord's people guarded with
excessive care, in contradiction to the merit-mongeringand
will-worshipping of the persecuting church. This gives
them occasionally the appearance of too lightly regarding
those outward ordinances which their enemies exalted into
saviours ; but in reality they did not so.

Woodman's next examination took place at St. George's
church, in Southwark, before the bishops of Winchester
and Rochester, with others. Winchester commenced by
giving a long history of his former imprisonment and re-
lease, his alleged offences since, and his capture. In this
he made just as many mistakes as he made statements ;
and at the end Woodman showed him the utter falsehood
of all he had said. The whole time was occupied in re-
peating stories of Woodman's reported sayings and actions,
contrary to the laws, not one of which charges could they
maintain ; and he was sent back to prison, when there
seemed a greater probability of their being compelled to

244 RICHARD WOODMAN.

release him. But what can the lamb's innocence avail,
when the hungry wolf has it under his paw ?

Three weeks afterwards, he was brought to St. Mary's,
in Soulhwark, where sat the bishop of Winchester, Harps-
field, Langdale, and other commissioners, in the presence
of above three hundred people. Winchester began by re-
buking him for defending himself so stoutly on the last occa-
sion, when Woodman had maintained that he was not sent
to prison for any heresy, but for the breach of a statute in
speaking to a priest in the pulpit. The bishop now tried
to disprove this ; but Woodman told him he had bought a
statute-book since he was imprisoned, and had made out the
whole case, confirming what he had before asserted, and
proving the bishop's charge to be false. Finding this would
not answer, Winchester then produced the account, in the
prisoner's own writing, of his former examinations before
the commissioners, and proceeded to question him of his
belief in their sacrament of the altar. Woodman, seeing
that the bishop only wanted to make him utter, in his dio-
cese, something that he might catch hold of, to assume the
character of his ordinary, replied,"! will answer you to no
such thing, for I am not of your diocese; therefore I will
not answer to you." Winchester said, " Thou art within
my diocese, and thou hast offended within my diocese ; and
therefore I will have to do with thee." " Have to do with
me if you will," returned the martyr ; " but I will have
nothing to do with you, I tell you plainly: for though I be
now in your diocese, I have not offended in your diocese,
if I have, show me wherein." He was told of his own
hand-writing, there present, which stated his heretical opi-
nions. He owned it as his, but said that, being merely a
relation of the talk between him and the commissioners, it
was no offence, nor had they any thing to do with it. The
bishop then ordered him to be sworn, that he might ques-
tion him as to where he wrote it, and whether he still held
the same doctrines ; but Woodman refused to be sworn by
him, not being his ordinary; and also protested he wrote
no word of the paper in that diocese. Langdale then assert-
ed that it was written in the King's Bench. Wood-
man declared he did not write it there. A fat priest next
demanded where he wrote it. He answered, that he owed
him not so much service as to tell him : they must find it
out how they could, for they only sought his life. Win-
chester then went on to quote from his paper the replies

RICHARD WOODMAN. 245

that he had formerly given to the commissioners, and seve-
ral times sought to entrap him into some expression of his
opinion there; but Woodman was too wary to be caught.
When the bishop, afier reading his remarks on the giving
forth of false doctrine in pulpits and churches, asked him
where it took place, he replied, " In the synagogue of Satan,
where God is dishonoured with false doctrine." " I pray
you, where is one of them V asked Winchester. " Nay,"
he replied, " that judge yourself; I came not hither to be a
judge." Having, in like manner, baffled all the attempts
to make him commit himself, he answered the bishop very
severely to some of his railing speeches, quoting the book
of Revelation, and also the apocryphal one called the book
of Wisdom. When he named this, Winchester cried out,
" Wisdom? what speakest thou of Wisdom? thou never
hadst it, for thou art as very a fool as ever I heard speak."
Woodman answered, ".Do you not know that the foolish
things of the world must confound the wise things? Where-
fore, it grieveth me not to be called a fool at your hands."
" Nay, thou art none of those fools," returned the bishop:
" thou art an obstinate fool, and a heretic. Lay hand on
the book, and answer to such things as I will lay against
thee." Woodman refused, repeating that he was not of
that diocese. W^inchester exclaimed, " This man is with-
out law; he carelh not for the king nor queen, I dare say,
for he will not obey their laws. Let me see the king's
commission. I will see whether he will obey that or not."
The martyr remarked, " I would you loved the king and
queen's majesty no worse than I do, if it pleased God: you
would not do as you do, then." " Hold him a book," re-
peated the angry bishop, " he is a rank heretic. Thou shalt
answer to such things as I will demand of thee."

Woodman then said, " I lake heaven and earth to wit-
ness that I am no heretic; neither can I tell wherefore I am
brought to prison, no more than any man here can tell."
He looked round upon the people, and then continued, ad-
dressing the bishop, " If you have any just cause against
me worthy of death, lay it against me, and let me have it ;
for I refuse not to die, I praise God, for the truth's sake, if
I had ten lives. If you have no cause, let me go home, I
pray you, to my wife and children, to see them kept ; and
other poor folk that I would set to work, by the help of
God. I have set to work a hundred persons ere this, all
the year together, and was unjustly taken from them ; but

21*

246 RICHARD WOODMAN.

God forgive them that did it, if it be his will !" The inhu-
man bishop now said, " Do you see how he lookelh about
for help? But I would see any man show thee a cheerful
countenance, and especially you that be of my diocese. If
any of you bid God strengthen him, or take him by the
hand, or embrace him, or show him a cheerful counte-
nance, you shall be excommunicated, and shall not be re-
ceived again till you have done open penance ; and there-
fore beware of it." The martyr replied, " I look for no
help of man, for God is on my side, I praise him there-
fore: and therefore I need not to care who be against me ;
neither do I care." The judges called out, " Away with
him, and bring us another." So he was carried back to
prison.

The sixth and last examination of this bold champion
took place, also at St. Mary Overy's, two days after the pre-
ceding one ; where were present the bishops of Winchester
and Chichester, Harpsfield, Langdale, Roper, and the same
priest who had formerly assisted them. Winchester told
him he had affirmed certain heresies the last time he was
before them ; and asked if he held them still, or would re-
voke them. He answered that he held no heresies, as the
Lord knew. " No !" said the bishop, " Did you not affirm
that Judas received bread ? which is a heresy, unless you
tell what more than bread." Woodman replied, " Is it
heresy to say that Judas received no more than bread ? I
said he received more than bare bread, for he received the
same sacrament that was prepared to show forth the Lord's
death ; and because he presumed to eat without faith, he
ate the devil withal, as the words of Christ declare ; after
he ate the sop, the devil entered into him, as you cannot
deny." " Hold him a book," said the bishop, " 1 will have
you answer directly whether Judas did eat the body of
Christ, or no." Rut Woodman refused to be sworn, main-
taining that the bishop of Winchester had no jurisdiction
over him in the cause : and to this he stood inflexibly. He
also pleaded that the bishop of London had discharged him
of all the matters laid against him ; and that it was unlaw-
ful as well as unjust, to imprison and try him over again
on ihe same charges. Winchester, said, if he was again
suspected of being a heretic, they had a right to call him
before them and examine him of his faith, upon suspicion.
" Indeed," said Woodman, " St. Peter willeth me to ren-
der account of my hope that I have in God ; and I am con-

RICHARD WOODMAN.

24ir

tented so to do, if it please my bishop to hear me," " Yes,
I pray you let us hear it," said the bishop of Chichester.

" I do believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of
heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible;
and in one Lord Jesus Christ, my Saviour, very God and
very man. I believe in God the Holy Ghost, the Comforter
of all God's elect people, and that he is equal with the Fa-
ther and the Son. I believe the true catholic church, and
all the sacraments that belong thereto. Thus have I render-
ed account of my hope that I have of my salvation." Win-
chester asked, " And how believe you in the blessed sacra-
ment of the altar?" And at that word they all put off their
caps to the abominable idol. Woodman replied, " I pray
you be contented, for I will not answer to any more ques-
tions ; for I perceive you go about to shed my blood."
" No?" said the bishop, " hold him a book. If he refuse
to swear, he is an anabaptist, and shall be excommuni-
cated." Woodman firmly repeated, " I will not swear for
you, excommunicate me if you will. For you be not meet
to receive an oa!h; for you laid heresies to my charge in
yonder pulpit, the which you are not able to prove; where-
fore you be not meet to take an oath of any man. And as
for me, I am not of your diocese, nor will have any thing
to do with you." Winchester repeated that he would have
to do with him ; and that he was a strong heretic. Wood-
man remarked, that all truth was heresy with them : but
offered to show them his belief concerning the sacrament,
and then repeated what he had before declared, as to his
coming in faith that Christ suffered for his sins, and that
he should be saved by his blood-shedding ; and so receiving
whole Christ, mystically, by faith. They all cried out on
the last words; and the fat priest calling him a fool, de-
manded what he meant by mystically. He replied, " I take
mystically to be the faith that is in us ; that the world seeth
not, but God only."

Here Winchester remarked that he knew not what he
said ; and demanded once more a direct answer, as to the
real presence in the sacrament. Woodman replied, " I
have said as much as I will say; excommunicate me if you
will. I am none of your diocese. The bishop of Chiches-
ter is mine ordinary. Let him do it if you will needs have
my blood, that it may be required at his hands." Chiches-
ter said, " I am not consecrated yet; I told you when you
were with me." On which Woodman, recollecting that a

248 RICHARD WOODMAN.

bull from Rome must arrive before he could receive con-
secration, quaintly remarked, " No, indeed, your kine bring
forth nothing but cow-calves, as it chancelh now." This
put the pope's churchmen in a rage : they all railed at him
together, telling him that he was out of his wits. " So Fes-
tus said to Paul, when he spake the words of soberness and
truth, out of the Spirit of God, as I do. But as you have
judged me, you shall be judged yourselves. You shall go
to hell all the sort of you, if you condemn me; if you re-
pent it not with speed." After some commotion, Winches-
ter and Harpsfield said, " We go not about to condemn
thee, but go about to save thy soul, if thou wilt be ruled,
and do as we would have thee." " To save my soul V re-
peated the martyr; " Nay, you cannot save my soul. My
soul is saved already: I praise God therefore. There can
no man save my soul, but Jesus Christ; and he it is that
has saved my soul, before the foundation of the world was
laid." On this the priest cried out, " What a heresy is
that, my lords I He saith his soul was saved before the
foundations of the world were laid. Thou canst not tell
what thou sayest. Was thy soul saved before it was?"
*' Yes, I praise God, I can tell what I say, and 1 say the
truth. Look at the first of the Ephesians, and there you
shall find it, where Paul saith, ' Blessed be God, the Fa-
ther of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according
as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and without blame before
him in love ; having predestinated us unto the adoption of
children.' These be the words of Paul, and I believe they
be most true. And therefore it is my faith, in and by
Jesus Christ, that saveth; and not you, or any man else."
"What!" said the priest, " faith without works? St. James
saith, ' Faith without works is dead;' and we have free will
to do good works." Woodman replied, " I would not that
any of you should think that I disallow good works. For a
good faith cannot be without good works. Yet not of our-
selves, for it is the gift of God, as saith St, Paul to the
Philippians, ' It is God that worketh in us both to will and
to do, of his good pleasure.' "

Winchester, not enduring to hear so much sound doctrinej
now interposed, saying, " Make an end ; answer to me.
Here is your ordinary, the archdeacon of Canterbury, he
is made your ordinary by my lord cardinal, and he hath

RICHARD WOODMAN, 249

authority to examine you of your faith upon a book, to an-
swer to such articles as he will lay to you. And I pray
you refuse it not, for the danger is great if you do. Where-
fore we desire you to show yourself a subject in this mat-
ter." Then the rest, having by this time discovered that
nothing was to be done with their resolute victim by harsh-
ness, all joined, saying, " Lo, my lord desireth you gently
to answer him, and so do we all. For if you refuse to take
an oath, he may excommunicate you. For my lord car-
dinal may put whom he will in the bishop's office, until he
is consecrated," But Woodman was not to be so led : he
answered, " I know not so much. If you will give me
time to learn the truth of it, and if I can prove it to be as
you say, I will tell you my mind in any thing he shall ask
of me, without any flattering." The priest said, " My lord
and we all tell thee it is true; and therefore answer to him."
" I will believe none of you all," replied Woodman, " for
you be turncoats and changelings, and be wavering-minded,
as sailh St. James ; you be neither hot nor cold, as saith St.
John, therefore God will cast you out of his mouth. Where-
fore I can believe none of you all, I tell you truth."
" What !" said Winchester, " be we turncoats and change-
lings? What meanest thou by that?" " 1 mean," answered
the plain-spoken prisoner, " that in king Edward's days you
taught the doctrine that was set forth then, every one of
you ; and now you teach the contrary; therefore I call you
turncoats and changelings, as I may well enough." These
words made them quake, and Winchester said, " Nay, not
all, as it chanced." " No ! I pray you, where were you
then ?" asked Woodman. The bishop replied, " I was in
the Tower, as the lieutenant will bear me record." " If
you were in the Tower," said Woodman, " it was not
therefore, I dare say; it was for some other matter." Then
the others took heart, and said, " My lord, he cometh to
examine you, we think : if he will not answer to the arti-
cles, you were best to excommunicate him." The bishop
replied, " He is the naughtiest varlet heretic that ever I
I knew: I will read the sentence against him." After some
more angry speaking, and being told again by Woodman
that if he condemned him he would be punished everlast-
ingly; with the assurance that he himself was not afraid
to die for God's sake, if he had a hundred lives, the bishop
repeated, " For God's sake ? nay, for the devil's sake.
Thou sayest thou art not afraid to die ; no more was Judas

250 RICHARD WOODMAN.

that hanged himself, as thou wilt kill thyself wilfully, be-
cause thou wilt not be ruled." Woodman said, " Nay, I
defy the devil, Judas, and all their members. And Judas'
flesh was not afraid, but his spirit and conscience was
afraid, and therefore he despaired and hung himself. But,
I praise God, I feel no lothsomeness in my flesh to die, but
a joyful conscience and a willing mind thereto. Wherefore
my flesh is subdued to it, I praise God ; and therefore I am
not afraid of death."

The bishop of Chichester now said, " Woodman, for
God's sake be ruled. You know what you said at my
house. I could say more, if I would." " Say what you
can," replied the undaunted martyr ; " the most fault that
you found in me was, because I praised the Living God ;
and because I said, I praise God, and The Lord : which
you ought to be ashamed of, if you have any grace; for I
told you where the words were written." Winchester spoke
next: " Well, how say you? Will you confess that Judas
received the body of Christ unworthily? tell me plainly."
" My lord," he replied, "if you, or any of you all, can prove
before all this audience, in all the Bible, that any man ever
ate the body of Christ unworthily, then I will be with you
in all things that you will demand of me ; of the which
matter I desire all these people to be witness." " Will you
so?" said the priest, " then we shall agree well enough,
St. Paul saith so." Woodman said, " I pray you where
saith he so? Rehearse the words." The priest answered,
" In the eleventh chapter of the first epistle to the Corinthi-
ans, he saith, ' Whoso eateth of this bread, and drinketh of
that cup, unworthily, eateth and drinketh his own damna-
tion, because he maketh no difference of the Lord's body.' "
Woodman then said, " Do these words prove that Judas
ate the body of Christ unworthily? I pray you let me see
them." They gave him the book, and he went on: " These
be the words, even that you said : good people hearken
well to them : ' Whoso eateth of this bread, and drinketh
of this cup unworthily:' he saith not. Whoso eateth of
this body unworthily, or drinketh of this blood unworthily;
but he saith, ' Whosoever eateth of this bread, and drink-
eth of this cup unworthily (which is the sacrament) eateth
and drinketh his own damnation,' because he maketh no
difference between the sacrament which representeth the
Lord's body, and other bread and drink. Here, good people,
you may all see they are not able to prove their sayings

WOODMAN AND OTHERS. 251

true. Wherefore, I cannot believe them in any thing that
they do."

Winchester exclaimed, "Thou art a rank heretic indeed!
Art thou an expounder? Now I will read sentence against
thee." " Judge not, lest you be judged," said the martyr,
again; "for as you have judged me, you be yourself."
Winchester commenced reading, and he asked, " Why,
will you read the sentence against me, and cannot tell
wherefore?" " Thou art an heretic," answered the wicked
prelate, "and therefore thou shall be excommunicated." "I
am no heretic, I take heaven and earth to witness, I defy
all heretics ; and if you condemn me, you will be damned,
if you repent not. But God give you grace to repent it, if
it be his will."

" And so," writes Woodman, in closing his story, " he
read forth the sentence in Latin, but what he said God
knoweth, and not I. God be judge between them and me.
When he had done, I would have talked my mind to them,
but they cried. Away, away with him ! So I was carried
to the Marshalsea again ; where I am ; and shall be, as
long as it shall please God. And I praise God most hear-
tily, that ever he hath elected, and predestinated me to come
to so high dignity, as to bear rebuke for his name's sake ;
his name be praised therefore, for ever and ever. Amen."

Woodman was not burned alone ; he made one out of
ten who were consumed in the same pile. George Ste-
vens had been some time also in prison for the truth ; but
the remaining eight were only apprehended two, or at most
three days before they received sentence at the mouth of
these ravening wolves. W. Maynard, and A. Hosman,
his servant : J. Morris, with his aged mother, Margery
Morris; Thojiasine Wood, Mr. Maynard's maid-servant;
Dennis Burgess ; and two married women, named Ash-
downe and Grove, were all at large, some say the very
day before they were committed to the flames. No time
was allowed for a writ to come down from London, to
Lewes, where they suffered. Such legal proceedings were
now scarcely thought of: the process of the murderers was
like that of the Babylonian tyrant on the plains of Dura.
Whosoever would not worship their senseless gods, was
seized, bound, and cast into the fire.

252 SIMON MILLER.

CHAPTER XII

VARIOUS MARTYRDOMS.

Two cases occurred about this time, where the condemned
servants of God expired in prison, before they could come
to the stake. One Ambrose, at Maidstone, and R. Lush,
in the diocese of Bath and Wells. At Norwich, two vic-
tims were offered up in the month of July. Simon Miller
dwelt at Lynn; he was a godly zealous man, and there-
fore exceedingly opposed to popery. Coming to Norwich,
and seeing a great concourse of people in the act of leaving
their church, where the mass-service was just ended, he
stood among them, and asked aloud where he might go to
have the communion of the Lord's supper. Many were
amazed at his boldness ; and one, a bigoted slave of the
priests, said that if he must needs go to a communion, he
would bring him where he should be sped of his purpose.
He was then conducted to chancellor Dunning, and while he
was under examination, they espied the edge of a bit of pa-
per appearing above his shoe. It was seized, and found to
contain an orthodox confession of faith. The chancellor then
inquired whether he would stand to what was there writ-
ten, and Miller, declaring his purpose so to do, was com-
mitted to the bishop's prison-house. Through favour of
the keeper, however, or by some means not explained, he
got away, returned to Lynn, and staid long enough to set
his house in order, and to dispose of all his worldly con-
cerns: then going back to Norwich, he again delivered
himself up, and quietly awaited his martyrdom.

Elizabeth Cooper was a pewterer's wife, dwelling in
the parish of St. Andrews, Norwich. She had before been
in trouble for the truth, and recanted to save her life. But
life, under the burden of God's displeasure, she found to be
more intolerable than any kind of temporal death ; so, com-
ing to her parish church, during the celebration of the popish
service, she stood up, and publicly revoked her former re-
cantation made in that place. She declared her sorrow for
that wicked act, and exhorted the people not to take exam-
ple by her denial of the truth. This of course was imme-
diately followed by her apprehension ; sorely against the
will of the sheriff, who was compelled to take her into cus-

WILLIAM MUNT. 253

tody. She was condemned, and brought to the stake with
Simon Miller ; and on first feeling the scorching flame upon
her poor weak flesh, she shrunk a little, uttering a cry.
Miller heard it, and putting his hand behind him towards
her, entreated her to be strong and of good cheer ; " for,
good sister," said he, " we shall have a joyful and a sweet
supper." Strengthened by his words, she showed no more
alarm or unquietness ; but patiently and joyfully endured
the raging fire, committing her soul into the hands of her
heavenly Father, and so, with her steadfast companion, she
passed into a blessed eternity.

Mention has been made of twenty-two prisoners, sent up
from Colchester to London in bonds, who were set at liberty
upon a mere nominal submission. Among these was one
William Munt, with Alice his wife, and their daughter,
Rose Ailen, a young maiden. This godly family, return-
ing to their home in Essex, continued as before, to worship
God according to their consciences, never entering a place
of idolatrous worship. Their absence from the church
greatly vexed the parish priest, one Tye, who complained
heavily of them to lord Darcy, and then, in another letter,
to Bonner, representing them as most pestilent heretics.
This brought a storm of persecution about God's poor peo-
ple ; so that they were forced to hide themselves. How-
ever, it did not avail : on a Sunday, at two o'clock in the
morning, the house was entered by Edmund Tyrrel, a de-
scendant, Fox says, of the Tyrrel who murdered king Ed-
ward v., and his brother, attended by the bailiff" of the
hundred, two constables, and a great number of followers,
who beset the house, while Tyrrel, with a few of his com-
panions, went to the chamber where Munt and his wife
were lying, and ordered them to rise up and go with him
to Colchester castle. The poor woman was sick, and being
faint, she requested that her daughter might bring her a
little drink before she got up. This was granted, and Rose,
taking a stone pot in one hand and a candle in the other,
went to draw the drink. As she returned, Tyrrel met her
in another room, and desired her to give her father and
mother good counsel, that they might be better " catholic"
people. " Sir," answered the maiden, " they have a better
Instructor than I : for the Holy Ghost doth teach them, I
hope, who I trust will not suffer them to err." On this
Tyrrel exclaimed, "Why, art thou still in that mind, thou
naughty hussey? Marry, it is time to look after such her-

MARTYROLOGY. VOL. II. 22

254 ROSE ALLEN.

etics indeed." " Sir," replied Rose, " with what you call
heresy, do I worship my Lord God, I tell you truth." Tyr-
rel observed, " Then I perceive you will burn, gossip, with
the rest, for company's sake." " No, sir, not for compa-
ny's sake, but for my Christ's 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."

Tyrrel, hearing this, turned to his friends, and said,
" Sirs, this gossip will burn; do you not think it?" One
of them replied, "Marry sir, prove her, and you shall see
what she will do by and by." This appeal to the tender
mercies of popery was not lost upon the inhuman scoffer.
He took the candle from the young girl, and seizing her by
the wrist, held the back of her hand over the flame, burn-
ing it across, until the sinews cracked asunder. This fact,
almost incredible under all the circumstances, was attested
by one who stood by and saw it ; as also by two persons
who dressed the wound, at a house where the innocent
family rested the next night on their journey. During this
dreadful infliction, the wretch Tyrrel kept exclaiming,
" Wilt thou not cry ?" addressing her by a vile epithet
each time: she answered that she had no cause, she thanked
God, but rather to rejoice. He had more cause, she said,
to weep than she, if he considered well the end of the mat-
ter. When the sinews had burst with a sound that might
be heard through the house, he thrust her from him, with
a torrent of the foulest language that could be uttered : and
she, when he paused, quietly said, " Sir, have you done
what ye will do?" " Yea," answered this monster, " and
if you think it be not well, then mend it." " Mend it !" re-
peated Rose ; " may the Lord mend you, and give you re-
pentance, if it be his will. And now if you think it good,
begin at the feet, and burn the head also ; for he that set
you to work shall pay you your wages one day, I warrant
you." She then carried the drink to her mother. During
her imprisonment. Rose describing to a friend the manner
of burning her hand, said, " While it was burning, I, hav-
ing a pot in my other hand, might have laid him on the
face with it, if I would, for no man held my hand, to let
me therein. But, I thank God with all my heart, I did it
not." Being asked by another how she could endure such
torture, she said it was at first some grief to her; but after-
wards, the longer she burned the less she felt it, or well
near none at all.

ROSE ALLEN. 255

After this horrible cruelty, the party searched the house
further, and finding there a man named John Thurston,
with Margaret, his wife, carried them also to Colchester, on
suspicion. Thurston died there. In the castle was a pri-
soner named John Johnson, who was joined with the
Munts in their condemnation and death. On being brought
to examination before Chedsey and others, Munt said that
the sacrament of the altar was an abominable idol, and
that if he observed any part of their popish proceedings he
should displease God, and bring his curse upon him : and
therefore, for fear of his vengeance, he durst not do it. He
was examined on many points ; but, by the grace of God,
he stood firm to the truth, and heard his sentence read.
Johnson, who was from Thorpe, in Essex, bore a similar
testimony, and was also condemned. Alice Munt confirm-
ed, in all respects, what her husband had declared, and was
made partaker of his doom. Last came Rose, who, at the
age of twenty years, had been already permitted to make
trial of the Lord's faithfulness in supporting his poor peo-
ple under the torment of fire. She answered very boldly,
when examined on the seven sacraments of the Romish
church, and their other ordinances, that they stunk in the
face of God, and she durst not have to do with them for
her life : neither was she any member of theirs, for they
were, she told them, the members of Antichrist, and so
should have, if they repented not, the reward of Antichrist.
Being asked what she could say of the see of the bishop of
Rome, whether she would obey his authority or no, she re-
plied, that she was none of his: adding, " As for his see,
it is for kites, owls, and ravens to swim in, such as you be;
for, by the grace of God, I will not swim in that sea while
I live, neither will I have any thing to do therewith." They
condemned her, and sending her back to prison with the
rest, she continued singing for joy, to the wonder of many
who heard and saw her gladness of heart. In the castle
they remained continually praising God, and looking for
the day of their deliverance, which was not far distant; for
Bonner hastened to send down the writ, with his trusty
agent Cosins to see it put into cruel execution, and the 2d of
August was fixed for the murder.

They were not, however, to be the only victims : six
other faithful followers of the Lamb were to undergo the
like fiery trial on the same day. These were confined in
Mote-hall, another prison in Colchester, and had all been

256 VARIOUS MAHTYRS.

condemned together. William Bongear, a glazier, na-
tive of that town, said that the sacrament of the altar was
bread, is bread, and so remaineth bread ; and for their con-
secration it is not the holier, but rather the reverse. He
stood to this, and his sentence was read. Thomas Benold,
a tallow-chandler, also of Colchester, held the same, and
received the like condemnation. W. Purcas, a youth of
twenty years, of Booking, in Essex, said that when he re-
ceived the sacrament he received bread in a holy use, that
preacheth the remembrance that Christ died for him. From
this he could not be moved, nor from his other scriptural
doctrine: so they condemned him. Agnes Silverside,
widow, of Colchester, said that she loved no consecration
(meaning the pretended transubstantiation of the elements),
for she thought the bread and wine rather the worse than
the better for it. This poor woman answered them to
all they said with equal boldness and judgment, so as to
rejoice the hearts of all who loved the truth. She bore pa-
tiently many mocks and taunts, and received her sentence.
Helen Ewring, a miller's wife, of the same town, was
one of the twenty-two prisoners already mentioned ; and
after her deliverance had returned home, where she enjoy-
ed not long her liberty, for, meeting with a bailiif of the
place, whom she knew to be a special enemy to Christ's
gospel, he came up, saluted her, and welcomed her back
from London. She remarked to him that it was but a
Judas' kiss he had given her, for in the end he would, she
knew, betray her. And so it came to pass : he apprehend-
ed her a few days afterwards, and lodged her in prison.
When put on her examination, although very hard of hear-
ing, she was distinct enough in her declarations, denying
with her whole heart all the laws set forth by the pope.
She, too, was condemned. Last came a young servant maid-
en, named Elizabeth Folks, who, having been examined
separately on only one article, whether she believed there
was a Catholic church of Christ or no, and answering yea,
was delivered to her uncle, who was told to take her home.
But a report being spread that she had recanted, she could
by no means rest: she wept in great anguish of mind and
terror of conscience, until she hastened back to the house
of Cosins, and made such a statement of her faith that they
brought her up again with the foregoing five, and examined
her as to whether she believed the presence of Christ's
body to be in the sacrament substantially and really, or no?

ELIZABETH FOLKS. 257

She answered that she believed it was a substantial lie, and
a real lie. At this the priests were greatly chafed, and
again asked her whether, after consecration, there remain-
ed not the body of Christ in the sacrament 1 She replied,
that before consecration, and after, it is but bread ; and that
which man blesseth without God's word, is cursed and
abominable by the word. Then they asked her of con-
fession to a priest, of going to hear mass, of the authority
of the bishop of Rome, and other matters; to all which she
answered, that she would neither use nor frequent any of
them all, by the grace of God, but from the bottom of her
heart utterly detested and abhorred all such trumpery.
When sentence was read against her Chedsey wept much ;
but she, at the conclusion, kneeled down, and lifting up
her hands and eyes to heaven, with fervent prayer, audi-
bly praised God that ever she was born to see that most
blessed and happy day, that the Lord would count her wor-
thy to suffer for the testimony of Christ. " And, Lord,"
she said, " if it be thy will, forgive them that they have
done this against me, for they know not what they do."
Then, rising up, she exhorted all those on the bench to re-
pentance, especially marking out Maynard, the bailiff, who
had betrayed Helen Ewring, and many others ; a man
whose feelings were so seared, that when sitting in judg-
ment with the rest on his victims, he usually slept the
while. She also warned all halting gospellers to beware
of blood, for it would cry for vengeance; and, in conclu-
sion, laying her hand on the bar at which she stood, the
courageous girl told them all, that if they did not repent
their wicked doings therein, undoubtedly that very bar
would witness against them, in the day of judgment, that
they had on that day shed innocent blood.

When the appointed time came, it was resolved to have
two of these hideous exhibitions, instead of one ; to burn
six in the morning, and four in the afternoon ; so before
seven o'clock on the morning of August the second, the
Lord's poor little flock, imprisoned in Mote-hall, were
brought to a plot of ground just outside the town-wall,
where all was prepared for their suffering. Here the mar-
tyrs kneeled down, making their humble prayers to God,
being greatly interrupted by the tyrannous cruelty of those
about them : one, in particular who had apostatized from
the true faith, showed himself very forward in molesting
them; they therefore concluded shortly, and undressed for
22*

258 THE HUNTS GEORGE EAGLES.

the fire. Elizabeth Folks wished to give her petticoat to
her poor mother, who came and kissed her as she stood at
the stake, exhorting her to be strong in the Lord ; but the
inhuman tools of Satan who surrounded them would not
suffer it. The girl therefore threw the garment from her,
saying, " Farewell all the world — farewell faith — farewell
hope;" and, taking the slake in her hand and kissing it,
" welcome love." While she was being fastened to the
stake, the man who nailed the chain, missed striking the
staple, and the hammer gave her a heavy stroke on the
shoulder-bone: on feeling it, she suddenly looked round,
then lifting her eyes to the Lord, prayed smilingly awhile,
and again gave herself to exhorting the people.

When all these six were nailed, and the fire kindled about
them, they with one accord began clapping their hands for
joy, which so affected the people, that they cried out aloud,
with a general voice, " The Lord strengthen them ; the
Lord comfort them; the Lord pour his mercies upon them;"
with such like exclamations, that the outcry was wonder-
ful to hear. Meanwhile the blessed martyrs yielded their
bodies and their souls into ihe loving hands of Him who
is the Saviour of both, and before whom they now re-
joice, with joy unspeakable and full of glory.

The other fire was prepared in the Castle-yard that same
afternoon, and there good old Munt, with his sick wife, and
constant daughter, and Johnson, who left behind him three
motherless little babes, were made fast to their slakes.
They called upon God, exhorted the spectators to flee from
idolatry, and met the flames with such triumphant joy, that
the people were no less moved than in the morning, and
responded to their prayers and praises with such shouts as
they had uttered before. Thus entered ten souls into glory
on that day, to receive the kingdom prepared for them be-
fore the foundation of the world.

At Bristol, ihey put to death a weaver named Thomas
Benion, who asserted that in the sacrament, as they used
it, was nothing but bread ; and also, that, of the seven which
they held, only two were really sacraments — baptism, and
the Lord's supper. The chancellor, Dalby, condemned
him, and he suffered most patiently, with his last breath
rehearsing, in the flames, the articles of his Christian
fai'h.

George Eagles was a man of small learning, and by
occupation a tailor ; but God, who often chooses the weak

GEORGE EAGLES, 259

and base things of the world by whom to magnify his
great power, gifted this poor artisan with such heavenly
wisdom and eloquence, that he became a teacher of many.
It was in the bright and happy days of blessed young Ed-
ward that Eagles first exercised this gift; and when all
became dark and dangerous he ceased not, but wandered
abroad through the land, seeking out the dispersed sheep of
the Lord's pasture, in order to comfort and strengthen them
in the faith. So constantly was he seen thus employed,
now lodging in a town, now lying in fields and woods,
that he obtained the nickname of Trudgeover. His diet
was spare and simple in the extreme, water being his only
drink; and not only while compelled by persecution so to
do, but at times when he might have fared better, he chose
to inure himself to hardship by such privations. For some
years the enemy had been actively trying to lay hold on
Eagles, and those who resorted to his society ; but, by God's
providence, they were long able to elude their adversaries,
hiding themselves in thickets, barns, holes, and whereso-
ever they could creep for shelter. At last an edict was
issued by the unhappy queen, and proclaimed through Nor-
folk, SutFolk, Essex, and Kent, offering twenty pounds, a
good sum in those days, to any one who would apprehend
George Eagles. This set many upon devising plans to en-
trap him, and at length they succeeded. He was seen at a
fair, or mart, kept at Colchester, and would then have been
seized had he not escaped, first to a grove, thence to a
field of standing corn, where he lay down, concealed, until
his pursuers, giving up all hope of discovering him, were
obliged to depart. One of them, however, more subtle or
more covetous than the rest, staid behind and mounted a
high tree, to look about for his victim. Eagles, supposing
all to be now safe, rose to his knees, and lifting up his
hands, prayed to God. The lurking enemy either saw or
heard him ; and, descending from the tree, suddenly laid
hold on him, and brought him into Colchester a prisoner.
He was, however, disappointed of the expected reward,
getting only a trifling sum, and hardly obtaining that.

Eagles, followed by the lamentations of all devout peo-
ple, and amid great sorrow of the church of Christ, was
committed, first to the castle of Colchester, and, after four
days, sent to Chelmsford, where he passed the night in
prayer, not sleeping, and taking only bread and water; and
next day was removed to London, to be brought before the

260 GEORGK EAGLES.

bishop, or the council, who sent him back to Chelmsford,
to take his trial for treason. The act on which they in-
dicted him was the same whereby the duke of Somerset
had been made way with : it provided, that if men, above
the number of six, should secretly assemble together, they
should be attached as traitors against the state. It pleased
the sanguinary persecutors to vary their favourite amuse-
ment of butchery, and to put this victim to a dreadful death,
without the aid of fire: cloaking, too, their religious zeal
for once under an affectation of loyal devotion to the civil
laws. Eagles made a full and bold confession of his faith,
proving himself to be what they accounted a pestilent he-
retic, but by no means could he induce them to transfer the
charge to that ground. The indictment accused him of
having, on such a day, made a prayer that God would
turn queen Mary's heart, or else take her away. He de-
nied having prayed that God should take her away; but
confessed the prayer that God would turn her heart. How-
ever, he was condemned for a traitor, and the sentence
pronounced that he should be hanged, drawn, and quar-
tered.

When the time came, he was laid on a hurdle, as good
lord Cobham had been, and drawn to the place of execu-
tion, fettered, with a psalm-book in his hand, from which he
devoutly read, with a loud voice, all the way along. Two
thieves were condemned to suffer with him ; and to them
he addressed much earnest exhortation, which one of them
received with a mocking scorn, saying, " Why should we
doubt to obtain heaven, forasmuch as this holy man shall
go before us, as captain and leader unto us in the way.
We shall flee thither straight, as soon as he hath once made
us the entry." Eagles, and also his companion, strongly
reproved him ; for the other criminal had given great heed
to what was said, and earnestly bewailed his own wicked-
ness, crying to Christ for mercy. But the hardened crea-
ture could by no means be silenced; he continued to scoff
till they came to the gallows, and Eagles was led on to an-
other place. When the two felons ascended the ladder, the
repentant one went first ; and having exhorted the people
against transgressing God's laws, he committed his soul
into the hands of the Saviour, whom Eagles seems to have
been sent to direct him to in this extremity, and died qui-
etly. The mocker's turn then came ; and when he was
called on to put up a dying prayer, he was found to be

EICHARD CRASHFIELD. 261

suddenly rendered unable to utter two connected words :
though the under-sheriff even repeated the Lord's prayer
for him, bidding him follow him in it, he could not; his
tongue was paralyzed ; and with a few muttered sounds,
quite unintelligible, he ended his course.

This produced a strong effect on the people ; they saw
the just judgment of God on one who had scorned and
mocked the preacher of his truth ; while the change wrought
in the other criminal appeared a striking testimony of that
preacher's blessedness. We cannot enter into the details
of George Eagles' cruel murder: aggravated by all that
the wantonness of the tormentors could inflict. He died
calmly, uncomplainingly, and in the full assurance of
faith.

The bailiff who had drawn him to execution, and had
most barbarously butchered him with his own hands, was
soon after stricken with a frightful leprosy; and at the time
Fox wrote the story, was a beggar, with all belonging to
him.

At Norwich, about the same time, suffered a godly man
named Richard Ceasiifield, of Wymondham. Dunning,
the savage chancellor examined him in his usual strain of
overbearing insolence, beginning with, " How say you,
sirrah, to the ceremonies of the church?" After drawing
from him a confession of orthodox faith, he remanded him
till the following day, then rehearsed the words that Crash-
field had spoken, asking if they were not his ? to which he
assented. Then said Dunning, " How say you, can you
not find in your heart, when you come to the church, to
kneel down before the rood, and make your prayer?"
Crashfield answered, " No ;" and repeated the second com-
mandment. " Have you not read or heard," said the
chancellor, " that God commanded an image to be made?"
Crashfield asked, " What image?" He replied, " The bra-
zen serpent." " Yes," said the martyr, " I have heard it
read how that God did command it to be made, and like-
wise to be broken down." Dr. Bridges then asked,
" Wherefore did God command the seraphims and cheru-
bims to be made?" He said he could not tell, and would
fain learn. The chancellor said, " Can you find in your
heart to fall down before the picture of Christ, which is the
rood ?" He answered, " No, I fear the curse of God : for
it is written that God curseth the hands that make them,
yea, and the hands that make the tools wherewith they are

262 RICHARD CRASHFIELD.

carved." This made Dr. Bridges very angry, who said,
"List now, what a piece of scripture he hath here gotten
to serve his purpose; for he will not allow but where he
listeth." The chancellor next asked him what he said to
confession to the priest : when was he last confessed ? He
replied, " I confess myself daily unto the eternal God,
whom I most grievously offend." " Do you not then take
coniession to the priest to be good 1" inquired Dunning.
" No, but rather wicked." He was next asked about the
music of their church, which he also disapproved, as not
being the right use of spiritual songs and hymns, com-
manded in the scripture.

A day or two after this. Bridges was sent to the prison
to examine him, who began by saying that the lord bishop,
in his love, had sent him, because the morrow being Crash-
field's appointed day, he did not wish them to have much
ado with him. Crashfield replied that it was not to him he
was much disposed to show his mind : but Bridges desired
him to say what he thought of the sacrament of the altar ;
assuring him that unless he believed as the church had
taught, he was condemned both body and soul. Crashfield
answered, " Judge not, lest you be judged ; condemn not,
lest you be condemned." " Lo," cried Bridges, " we shall
have a traitor as well as a heretic ; for he will disallow the
king's judgment." " No," said Crashfield, " I do not dis-
allow the king's judgment ; but yours I do disallow. For
I pray you tell me, how came you by this judgment?" Dun-
ning answered, "By the church : for the church hath power
to save and condemn: for if you be condemned by the
church, be ye sure that you are damned both body and soul."
" If you have this power," returned the martyr, " I am
sore deceived ; for I believe that Christ shall be our judge.
But now I perceive you will do so much for him, that you
will not put him to the pain." After some disputation con-
cerning those who murmured at our Lord's saying, in
the sixth of John, when the doctor, as usual, was opposed
to the true reading, he asked Crashfield, " What shall I
tell my lord of you ?" To which he replied, " If you
have nothing to tell him, your errand shall be sooner
done."

On the Tuesday after this, Crashfield was brought before
Dunning and others, for a final examination. They went
over the question of the sacrament, in which he differed no-
thing from the martyrs who had gone before himj only he

MRS. LEWES. 263

made a striking remark on the subject of the priest's as-
sumed power of offering up Christ's body in sacrifice, in
the mass : he said, " Christ saith, ' I give my life for the
redemption of the world. No man taketh my life from me,
saith he, but I give it of my own power ; and so I have
power to take it again.' Therefore Christ, the Son of God,
did offer his body once for all. And if you will presume
to offer his body daily, then your power is above Christ's
power." This put the judges into a chafe ; and they lost
no time in condemning him ; after which he was soon
brought to the stake, ending his testimony with his life in
glorious martyrdom.

At Rochester, at the same time, they laid hold on a man
named Fryer, and a woman who was a sister of George
Eagles, and burnt them together, for resisting the wicked
doctrine of Antichristian Rome.

Then followed the martyrdom of a most interesting per-
son. This was Mrs, Joyce Lewes, of Mancetter, the birth-
place of the Glovers, whose especial friend she was. Mrs.
Lewes had been delicately brought up, delighting in gay
apparel, and all the vanities of the higher rank of society,
to which she belonged. She was twice married ; her first
husband being a gentleman named Appleby; the second
Thomas Lewes. She went to mass, and did as others, in
the beginning of Mary's reign; but on hearing the particu-
lars of the burning of that holy man Lawrence Saunders,
at Coventry, she began to give some heed to the great mat-
ter of religion, earnestly inquiring of those who she knew
feared God, the cause of Saunders' death. She found it
was for refusing to attend mass ; and this made her anxi-
ous and unquiet. The house was close by John Glover's,
and to him she very often resorted, requesting him to show
her what was wrong in the mass, and in the other things
that were urged as being necessary to salvation.

Glover, perceiving both the disturbed state of her mind,
and her earnest desire to know the truth, diligently instruct-
ed her in the ways of the Lord; not only showing, from
his word, that the mass and all other popisli inventions were
odious in God's sight, but also reproving in her the love of
the world and its sinful follies. Under his godly instruc-
tion, the Lord working thereby a thorough conviction of
her lost estate by nature, and her manifold transgressions,
she grew in grace, renouncing all that before had been so
ensnaring to her, and showing the most earnest desire to

264 MRS. LEWES.

devote herself in all things to God ; whose love was large-
ly shed abroad in her heart. As a necessary consequence
of spiritual knowledge and true faith, she began to hate the
mass, as an evil and abominable thing. Her husband,
however, was a furious bigot ; and when his violence con-
strained her to attend the church, she could not endure the
sprinkling of what they call holy water, considering it to
be injurious to the blood of Christ. So she turned her back
upon the sprinkler ; and for this was accused to the bishop,
as one who despised the sacraments, A citation was im-
mediately sent, commanding her to appear forthwith before
the bishop ; but her husband, to whom it was delivered,
became enraged, and told the summoner that if he did not
directly take it back, he would oblige him to eat it. The
officer refusing to withdraw it, the intemperate man pre-
sently held a dagger to his heart, and in that way compel-
led him to swallow the paper, and afterwards to drink to
what he had eaten : then sent him away, Lewes and his
wife were, of course, peremptorily commanded to appear
before the bishop; when the gentleman found means, by a
full submission and apology, to obtain pardon, on condition
that his wife should also submit herself: but she stoutly
told the bishop that by refusing the holy water, she had
neither offended God nor any part of his laws. This griev-
ously displeased him ; but in consideration of her being a
gentlewoman, he would not, as he said, take her at the
worst ; so gave her a month's respite, binding her husband,
under a penalty of a hundred pounds, to bring her again
before him at the end of that time. They were then both
allowed to depart.

Mrs. Lewes now gave herself to prayer, with increased
diligence, calling upon the Lord without ceasing, and resort-
ing still to John Glover, who carefully instructed her in
God's word, exhorting her above all things to do nothing
in a spirit of vain glory, or for the hope of getting herself
a name : for that the danger was extreme, if she should
engage in the cause otherwise than as Christ himself might
lead her. She was, however, so taught of God in the mat-
ter, that the event could be no other than martyrdom.

When the month was nearly expired, and the time drew
very near for her appearance before the bishop, Mr, Glover
and others earnestly entreated her husband not to take her
to certain destruction, but to seek some way of saving her;
or, at the worst, to forfeit the penalty, rather than to cast

MRS. LEWES. 265

his own wife into the fire. To this he answered that he
would not lose or forfeit any thing for her sake ; and so,
with the spirit of a murderer, he carried her to the cruel
bishop, who examined her, and found her more firm and
resolute than she was before. He threatened her with
death; and for a beginning of her troubles, sent her to such
a loathsome prison, that a maid-servant who was appointed
to attend her there, fainted away through the intolerable
stench of the place. In this dungeon was the lady long
kept, who found it, with the presence of Christ, far sweeter
than all the luxurious delicacies in which she once delight-
ed had ever been.

Many times was Mrs. Lewes examined by the persecu-
tors; but as she grew in grace and in the knowledge of her
Saviour, she increased in boldness and constancy; so that,
after a long while, she was brought up for judgment. The
bishop attempted once more to move her, reasoning, and
asking her why she could not come to the mass, to receive
the sacraments and sacramentals of the Holy Ghost. She
replied, " Because I find not these things in God's word,
which you so urge and magnify as things most needful for
men's salvation. If these things were in the same word
of God commanded, I would with all my heart receive,
esteem, and believe them." The bishop then said, " If
thou wilt believe no more than is in the scripture concern-
ing matters of salvation, thou art in a damnable case."
At this shocking declaration she appeared very much
amazed; and, moved by the Spirit of God to rebuke such
blasphemy against the revelation of his holy will, told the
bishop that his words were ungodly and wicked.

Sentence was then passed on her, and she was delivered
to the sheriff to be put to death: but he, affirming that no
one should compel him to commit such a deed, and being
also recently chosen to the office, she continued during a
whole year in prison, until his shrievalty expired. For this
his own life was endangered ; and he suffered great trouble
and persecution while the evil party continued in power.
Her long imprisonment was overruled to the good of many;
for such was the feeling excited by her deportment there,
that all who were not utterly hardened against every good
impression, bitterly lamented her sufferings ; and must of
necessity have abhorred the cruelty that inflicted them, and
the accursed root of error whence it sprung. At length
the appointment of another sheriff" brought deliverance near

MARTYROLOGY. VOL. II. 23

266 MKS. LEWES.

to this persecuted child of God. The writ de comburendo,
as they called it, was fetched down from London, and she,
hearing it, summoned some of her friends to meet in her
prison, that they might together consult how she should so
behave herself on the occasion as to render her death most
glorious to the name of God ; most comfortable to his peo-
ple, and discouraging to his enemies. " As for death," said
she, " I do not greatly regard it : when I behold the amia-
ble countenance of Christ my dear Saviour, the ugly face
of death does not greatly trouble me." She seemed to draw
great consolation from a very full and rich assurance of
God's love, in electing her to eternal life.

On the evening preceding the day appointed for her
slaughter, two priests repaired to the house of the under-
sheriff, where she then lay, and sent him to inform her that
they were come to hear her confession ; as they would be
sorry that she should die without making it. She sent them
word, in answer, that she had made her confession to Christ
her Saviour ; at whose hands she was sure to have forgive-
ness of her sins. And as concerned the cause for which
she was to die, she had no reason, she said, to confess that,
but rather to give unto God most humble praise, that he
did make her worthy to suffer death for his word ; and as
for any absolution that ihey were able to give to her, by the
pope's authority, she defied it from the bottom of her heart.
This message the sheriff repeated to the priests, who ob-
served : "Well, to-morrow her stoutness will be proved
and tried ; for although, perhaps, she hath now some
friends that whisper her in the ear, to-morrow we will see
who dare be so hardy as to come near her." And away
they went, in no small anger at having their confession and
absolution thus set at nought. During that evening the mar-
tyr was wonderfully cheerful and animated ; yet with a
mixture of such holy seriousness as showed the majesty of
the Spirit of God working in her to glorify Him. All fear
was expelled: death had no terrors for her; and the time
was happily spent in praying, reading, and conversing with
the friends who purposely came to comfort and strengthen
her out of the word of God.

But about three o'clock in the morning, Satan, who never
sleeps, and who is particularly busy with the Lord's people
on the approach of death, began to assail her, by shooting
the same fiery dart wherewith he had grievously harassed
Robert Glover under the same circumstances. He put her

MRS. LEWES, 267

upon questioning how she could tell that she was chosen to
eternal life, and that Christ died for her. " I grant that he
died," was the thought suggested ; " but that he died for
thee, how canst thou tell ?" It is, perhaps, a natural con-
sequence of so much exercise in those matters which are
too high for us, and limiting within bounds of man's fixing,
the efficacy of the Redeemer's sacrifice, that those who do
it should at times be perplexed as to their personal accep-
tance before God, even when lying low at the foot of that
cross where none ever perished ; and John Glover, her
principal teacher, had been well nigh drowned in despair
by venturing beyond his depth in those matters. Be that
as it may, Mrs. Lewes felt the same terrors; but some of
her friends gave her wise counsel, referring her not to the
inscrutable decrees of the Most High, but to her own expe-
rience of his love to her soul, in calling her to the know-
ledge of himself in his blessed word ; and also to the evi-
dent working of the Holy Spirit in her heart, producing a
love to God, a desire to please him, and a wish to be justi-
fied by him, through the righteousness of his Son. By
these arguments and persuasions, with many promises
drawn fi'om the Scriptures, the enemy was driven back,
and comfort restored to her soul.

At eight o'clock the sheriff entered her room, and thus
bluntly addressed her : — " Mrs. Lewes, 1 am come to bring
you tidings of the queen's pleasure, the which is, that you
shall live no longer but one hour in this world ; therefore
prepare yourself thereto ; it standeth you in hand." The
suddenness of the announcement, so rudely, grossly, and
unfeelingly made, by an officer of his authority, somewhat
disconcerted the martyr, who seemed for a moment dis-
mayed ; but one of her friends standing by, immediately
said, " Mrs. Lewes, you have great cause to praise God,
who will vouchsafe so speedily to take you out of this world,
and make you worthy to be a witness of his truth, and to
bear record unto Christ that he is the only Saviour." These
seasonable words at once revived her; and she said, "Mas-
ter sheriff, your message is welcome to me, and I thank my
God that he will make me worthy to adventure my life in
his quarrel." The sheriff then departed; and returning
within an hour with weapons and attendants, went to the
chamber to fetch his willing victim. One of her friends
requested permission to go with her to the stake, there
to comfort her; and for granting this indulgence the sheriff

268 MRS. LEWES.

was afterwards greatly accused and troubJed : for there was
no crime more unpardonable in the sight of Christ's ene-
mies than that of showing common humanity to his suffer-
ing servants.

The lady was led through the town, guarded by many
billmen, in the sight of a great multitude of people, by two
faithful friends, M. Michael Reniger, and that blessed suc-
courer of God's poor hunted sheep, Augustine Bernher.
She came to the place of execution; but the fresh air prov-
ing too overpowering after her very long confinement in a
close prison, she became faint, and one of her friends sent
to the sheriff's house for some drink. Before taking the
cup into her hand this bold and fervent confessor prayed
thrice and loudly, that God would most instantly abolish
the idolatrous mass, and deliver the realm from papistry;
at which nearly all the people present cried out, amen ;
yea, the very sheriff who stood by, ready to cast her into
the fire for not allowing the mass, uttered a distinct amen
to her prayer for its instant destruction. She then receiv-
ed the cup at her friend's hand, and said, " I drink to all
them that unfeignedly love the gospel of Jesus Christ, and
wish for the abolishment of papistry." When she had
drunk, her friend did the same ; and very many especially
the women of the place, pressed round to take the cup,
and pledge her in the sentiment that she had uttered. For
this they were severely plagued by the cruel papists; but
no enemy could hinder the prayer of his persecuted saints
from entering into the ears of the Lord God of Sabaoth.
He prompted the petition, for it was his merciful purpose
soon to answer it : for which be His holy name blessed and
praised evermore !

The martyr was chained to the stake, and showed at the
time such cheerfulness as none could account for : it pro-
ceeded from the peace which passeth all understanding.
She had also, even after her long and wasting imprison-
ment, so bright a colour in her cheek, and showed such
perfect patience, that all who had any feeling left, lamented
with tears the merciless tyranny of those blood-thirsty men.
When the fire reached her, she neither struggled nor mov-
ed, but just lifted up her hands to heaven, and was dead
almost immediately; for the under sheriff had, at the re-
quest of her friends, provided such materials for the fire
as ensured her speedy dispatch. It was always in the
power of the murderers to shorten, if they chose it, the suf-

RALPH ALLERTON. 269

ferings of Iheir victims : how far they were pleased to do
this, let the lingering torments of which we have been com-
pelled to give recital declare. It will be a fearful day
when God returns to the great mother of harlots and abo-
minations of the earth the cup that she filled for his saints,
and fills it to her double, as he has declared that he will
do!

The miserable instruments of Satan's malice hired others
to be the ministers of their own, by railing at and reviling
this innocent and godly lady, both on her way to execu-
tion, and when she came to the stake. Among these was
an old priest who took out tablets, to note down the names
of such as drank with Mrs. Lewes; and when he could not
discover the names of any of her friends, he wrote out a
description of their apparel which afterwards helped him to
ascertain who they were. By this means, processes were
drawn out, and sent after them to Coventry, and other
places; but the wrath of man could go no step beyond the
limits assigned by the Most High, and through his mercy
they all escaped.

Soon after this butchery, four martyrs were burned at
Islington. The first of these was Ralph Allerton, no
regular minister, but a preacher of the gospel, who coming
into his own parish of Bentley, and seeing the people per-
fectly idle, gazing about or gossiping together, exhorted
them to fall to prayer, and to meditate on God's holy word.
They willingly consented : and he, to help them therein,
led the prayer, and read a chapter in the New Testament,
and so departed. In this exercise he continued from time to
time, until being told that he could not lawfully do so, not be-
ing regularly ordained, he left off doing it, and kept close
in his own house. However, he was there visited by some
informers, or sworn men, who attacked him for reading
publicly; but finding that he had not done so since he was
cautioned, and also that he had earnestly exhorted the peo-
ple to obedience, they let him go. Notwithstanding, he so
well knew the danger, that he left his house, and concealed
himself in woods, and other obscure places, until the search-
ers discovered and apprehended him. Lord Darcy sent
him, after an examination, to the council ; and they, to save
themselvestrouble, made him over to Bonner, who, by threats
and other means so wrought upon his mind, that he was in-
duced to revoke and recant publicly, at Paul's cross, the truths
which he had held and taught. This brought freedom to

23*

270 RALPH ALLERTON.

his body, but laid his soul and conscience in such a bon-
dage of terror and despair, that, had not the immeasurable
mercy of God, who never suffers his elect children utterly
to fall, interposed to restore him, he must soon have sunk
under it, and have perished everlastingly. The Lord did
so cast his gracious eye upon this lost sheep, as upon Peter
of old ; and after exercising him with fatherly chastise-
ment, once more raised him again ; adding to the gift of
hearty repentance that of constancy and boldness to pro-
fess, even unto death, the holy name and glorious gospel
which he had falsely denied. Tye, the priest who cruelly
persecuted the Munts, was the means of again laying hold
on their neighbour, Allerton, and once more sent him to
Bonner.

The story of his first examination, at Fulham, written
with his own hand, in blood, for lack of ink, displays Bon-
ner, in his profane coarseness, and the prisoner in his calm
wisdom, so strikingly, that we will give it in the words of
the latter; omitting only some epithets applied to him by
the bishop, too disgustingly gross and low to be repeated
here. Bonner began, " Ah, sirrah, how chanceth it that
you are come hither again on this fashion ? I dare say thou
art accused wrongfully." Allerton replied, " Yea, my lord,
so I am. For if I were guilty of such things as I am ac-
cused of, then I would be very sorry." B. " By St. Mary,
that is not well done. But let me hear, art thou an honest
man? for if I can prove no heresy by thee, then shall thine
accusers do thee no harm at all. Go to, let me hear thee;
for 1 did not believe the tale to be true." A. " My lord,
who did accuse me? I pray you let me know, and what is
mine accusation, that I may answer thereunto." B. " Ah,
wilt thou so? Before God, if thou hast not dissembled, then
thou needest not be afraid, nor ashamed to answer for thy
self. But tell me in faith, hast thou not dissembled ?" A. " If
I cannot have my accusers to accuse me before you, my
conscience doth constrain me to accuse myself before you:
for I confess that I have grievously offended God in my
dissimulation, at my last being before your lordship : for the
which I am right sorry, as God knoweth." B. " Wherein,
I pray thee, didst thou dissemble, when thou wast before
me?" A. "Forsooth, my lord, if your lordship remember,
I did set my hand upon a certain writing, the contents
whereof, as I remember, were, that I did believe in all things
as the catholic church teacheth, &c. In the which I did

RALPH ALLERTON. 271

not disclose my mind, but shamefully dissembled, because
1 made no difference between the true church and the un-
true church." B. " Nay, but I pray thee let me hear more
of this gear ; for I fear me thou wilt smell of a heretic, anon.
Which is the true church, as thou sayest? Dost thou not
call the heretic church the true church, or the catholic
church of Christ? Now which of these two is the true
church, sayest thou? Goto, for in faith I will know of thee
ere I leave thee." A. " As concerning the church of he-
retics, I utterly abhor the same, as detestable and abomi-
nable before God, with all their enormities and heresies :
and the church catholic is it that I only embrace, whose
doctrine is sincere, pure and true." B. " By St. Augus-
tine, but that is well said of thee: for, by God Almighty,
if thou hadst allowed the church of heretics, I would have
burned thee with fire for thy labour." Here a priest, named
Morton, said, " My lord, you know not what church it is
that he calleth catholic: I warrant you, he meaneth naugh-
tily enough." B. " Think you so? Now, by our blessed lady,
if it be so he might have deceived me. How say you, sir-
rah; which is the catholic church?" A. " Even that which
hath received the wholesome sound, spoken of by Isaiah,
David, Malachi, and Paul, with many other more. The
which sound, as it is written, hath gone throughout all the
earth in every place, and unto the ends of the world." B.
" Yea, thou sayest true, before God. For this is the sound
that hath gone throughout all Christendom, and he that be-
lieveth not the sound of the holy church, as St. Cyprian
saith, doth err. For he saith, that whosoever is out of the
church is like unto them that were out of Noah's ship, when
the flood came upon the whole world; so that the ark of
Noah is likened unto the church : and therefore thou hast
well said in thy confession. For the true church is not alone
in Germany, nor was here in England in the time of the
late schisms, as the heretics do affirm. For if the church
should be there alone, then were Christ a liar ; for he pro-
mised that the Holy Ghost should come to us to lead us
unto all truth, yea, and remain with us unto the end of the
world. So now if we will take Christ for a true sayer,
then must we needs affirm that the way which is taught
in France, Spain, Italy, Flanders, Denmark, Scotland, and
all Christendom over, must needs be the true catholic
church." A. " My lord, if you remember, I spake of all
the world, as it is written, and not of all Christendom only,

272 RALPH ALIERTON.

as methinks your lordship taketh it : the which kind of
speaking you do not find in all the Bible. For sure I am,
that the gospel hath been both preached and persecuted in
all lands. First in Jewry, by the scribes and pharisees ;
and since that time by Nero, Dioclesian, and such like ;
and now here in these days, by — your lordship knowelh
whom. For truth it is that the church which you call catho-
lic, is none otherwise catholic than was figured in Cain,
observed of Jeroboam, Ahab, Jezebel, Nebuchadnezzar,
Antiochus, Herod, and innumerable more of the like: and
as both Daniel and Esdras make mention of these last days
by a plain prophecy, and now fulfilled, as appeareth, and
affirmed by our Saviour Christ, and his apostles, saying,
There shall come grievous wolves to devour the flock."
B. " Now, by the blessed sacrament of the altar, Mr. Mor-
ton, he is the rankest heretic that ever came before me !
How say you, have you heard the like?" Morton. "I
thought what he was at the first, my lord." B. " Now,
by All-hallowes, thou shalt be burned with fire for thy

lying; thou (Here he reviled him foully.) Dost thou

find a prophecy in Daniel of us? Nay, you knave, it is
you that he speaketh of, and of your false pretended holi-
ness. Go to, let me hear what is the saying of Esdras ;
and take heed ye make not a lie, I advise you." A. " The
saying of Esdras is this : ' The heat of a great multitude is
kindled over you, and they shall take away certain of you,
and feed the idols with you; and he that consenteth unto
them shall be had in derision, laughed to scorn, and trod-
den under foot: yea, they shall be like madmen, for they
shall spare no man; they shall spoil and waste such as
fear the Lord.' " B. " And have you taken this thing to
make your market good? Ah, sirrah, wilt thou say so?
By my faith, a pretty instruction, and a necessary thing
to be taught among the people! By my troth, I think there
be more of this opinion. I pray thee tell me, is there any
that understandeth this scripture on this fashion ? Before
God, I think there be none in all England but thou." A.
" Yes, my lord, there are in England three religions." B.
" Sayest thou so? which be those three?" A. " The first
is that which you hold ; the second is clean contrary to the
same; and the third is a neuter, being indiflTerent; that is
to say, observing all things that are commanded outward-
ly, as though he were of your part, his heart being set
wholly against the same." B. " And of these three, which

RALPH ALLERTON. 278

art thou? for now thou must needs be of one of them." A.
" Yea, my lord, I am of one of them ; and that which I am
of is even that which is contrary to that which you teach
to be believed, under pain of death." B. *' Ah, sir, you
were here with me at Fulham, and had good cheer; you had
money in your purse when you went away; and by my
faith I had a favour unto thee ; but now I see thou wilt be
a naughty knave. VVhy, wilt thou take upon thee to read
the scripture, and canst understand never a word 1 For
thou hast brought a text of scripture, the which maketh
clear against thee. For Esdras speaketh of the multitude
of you heretics, declaring your hate against the catholic
church, making the simple or idle people believe that all is
idolatry that we do, and so entice them away till you have
overcome them." A. " Nay, not so, my Lord. For he
maketh it more plain, and saith on this wise, ' They shall
take away their goods, and put them out of their houses,
and then shall be known who are my chosen, saith the
Lord: for they shall be tried, even as silver or gold, in the
fire.' And we see it so come to pass, even as he hath said.
For who is not now driven from house and home ; yea,
and his goods taken up for other men that never toiled for
ihem, if he do not observe as you command and set forth?
Or else, if he be taken, then must he either deny the truth,
as I did, in dissembling, or else he shall be sure to be tried,
as Edras saith, even as gold and silver is tried, in the fire.
Wherefore all the world may know that you are the bloody
church figured in Cain the tyrant, neither yet are ye able
to avoid it."

On hearing this, Morton said, " I promise you, my lord,
I like him better now than ever I did when he was here be-
fore you the other time. For then he did but dissemble, as I
perceived well enough; but now methinks he speaketh plain-
ly." Bonner replied, "Marry, sir, as you say, indeed he is
plain ; for he is a plain heretic, and shall be burned. Have
the knave away; let him be carried to Little-ease in Lon-
don, till I come." So Allerton was taken to that dreary
prison, so aptly named by the scoffing persecutors who put
up the Lord's flock in it. The next day he again appear-
ed before Bonner, who had with him the dean of St. Paul's,
and the chancellor of London. Some writings were pro-
duced, to which Allerton had set his hand, and which he
readily acknowledged to be his. They contained the con-
fession of his faith, and he firmly maintained it. Tye, the

274 RALPH ALLERTON.

wicked priest, brought a long list of false and frivolous
charges against him, which he easily disposed of, showing
the malice and cruelly that had prompted them. Bonner
answered his vindication of himself, by saying, " Ah, sir-
rah, before God thou shalt be burnt with fire. Thou know-
est Richard Roth, dost thou not? Is he of the same mind
as thou art of, or no? Canst thou tell?" Allerton wisely
replied to this cunning inquiry, in the words of the parents
of him who had been born blind : " He is of age to answer,
let him speak for himself; for I hear say that he is in your
house." Bonner, after some more railing, said, " Sirrah, did
you not set your hand to a writing, the tenor whereof was,
that if thou shouldst at any time say or do heretically, then it
should be lawful for me to take thee with a relapse, and to
proceed in sentence against thee?" "Yea, that is so,"
answered Allerton. " But here it is to be asked whether it
be sufficient that my hand or name in writing be able to
give authority to you, or to any other, to kill me? For if
1, by writing, can do so much, then must my authority be
greater than yours. Nevertheless, I have neither said nor
done heretically ; but like a true Christian man I have be-
haved myself"

A fortnight after this, he was again brought before Bon-
ner, lord North, Story, and others : they held a long talk
respecting him in Latin ,* and then Bonner put to him this
question : " How say you, sirrah, tell me briefly, at one
word, wilt thou be contented to go to Fulham with me, and
there to kneel thee down at mass, showing thyself outward-
ly as though thou didst it with a good will ? Go to, speak."
Allerton replied, "I will not say so;" and then Bonner
cried out, " Away with him, away with him !" and he was
taken back to prison for another week. At the end of it,
he was again called to appear before this bishop, and three
noblemen of the queen's council. After some boasting of
his own great lenity and generosity, Bonner began to ques-
tion him respecting their idol sacrament, on which he an-
swered scripturally and truly. In the course of the dis-
cussion, Bonner brought out one of his gross illustrations,
in proof of the rationality of his church's absurd doctrine
of the transubstantiated wafer. He said, " I will show thee
a parable. If I should set a piece of beef before thee, and
say. Eat; it is beef: and then take part of it away, and
send it to my cook, and he shall change the fashion there-
of, and make it look like bread ; what, wouldst thou say

RA.LFH AliliERTON. 275

that it were no beef, because it hath not the fashion of beef?"
Instead of reproving his coarse simile, as others had done,
Allerton answered the fool according to his folly, quietly-
saying, "Let me understand a little further, my lord: shall
the cook add nothing thereto, nor take any thing there-
from ?" Bonner said, " What is that to the matter, whether
he do or no, so long as the shape is changed into another
likeness ?" The martyr having thus made him expose the
wretchedness of his sophistry, took no further notice of it
than to say that truth would have the victory ; quoting
some texts, which induced a learned doctor to observe,
" By my lord's leave, here methinks thou speakest like a
fool. Wilt thou be a judge of the scripture? Nay, thou must
stand to learn and not to teach ; for the whole congrega-
tion hath determined the matter long ago." Here a priest
hastily interposed : " No, by your leave, we have a church
and not a congregation. You mistake that word, master
doctor." Allerton, turning to his fellow-prisoners, said,
" My brethren, do ye not hear how these men help one
another ? Let us do also." But the persecutors took care
they should not have opportunity so to do : for they seldom
allowed them to appear together.

Nearly three weeks afterwards, when Allerton was again
brought before Bonner, he had with him the Bishops of Ro-
chester and Chichester, with others. Rochester asked him,
" Were you a companion of George Eagles, otherwise call-
ed Trudgeover? my lord of London telleth me that you
were his fellow-companion." " I knew him very well, my
lord," said Allerton. " By my faiih," returned the bishop,
" I had him once, and then he was as drunk as an ape ;
for he stank so of drink, that I could not abide him and so
sent him away." To this enormous falsehood Allerton re-
plied, " My lord, I dare say you took your mark amiss.
It was either yourself, or some of your own company; for
he did neither drink wine, ale or beer, in a quarter of a
year before that time ; and therefore it was not he, for-
sooth."

No more of Allerton's examinations have been preserv-
ed: but it appears from the bishop's register that they
brought many articles against him, some founded on his
doctrines, some on letters of most godly import, written in
blood, to his friends and fellow-martyrs, which they inter-
cepted; and the rest on charges so utterly absurd and tri-
vial, such as his having shaped a piece of an old board into

276 ALLERTON AND OTHERS.

the likeness of a weapon, to amuse himself in his dungeon,
that if it were not for the atrocious spirit which prompted
them they would only excite derision. At the close of these
harassing and contemptible proceedings, Bonner asked him
the bootless question, whether he would believe in all points
touching the sacrament of the altar, as is contained in the
general council, holden and kept under Innocent III : at the
same time reading their decree touching that sacrament.
To this AUerton answered, " I believe nothing contained in
the same council, neither have I any thing to do therewith ;
and it were also very necessary that no man else should
have to do therewith." " Then," said Bonner, " thou art
of the opinion that the heretics lately burnt at Colchester
were of?" " Yes," said he, " I am of their opinion ; and I
believe that they be saints in heaven." Seeing no hope of
prevailing against his faith, Bonner then read sentence
against him ; and he was delivered to the temporal officers,
who kept him two months before the fire was prepared for
dispatching him and his three fellow-martyrs.

These were James Austoo, with Margery Austoo, his
wife, and Richard Roth. Austoo was a simple man ; his
wife had more knowledge and fervency; but God had abun-
dantly gifted them both with saving faith and holy courage.
When Bonner asked Austoo whether he did not believe as
they would have him, that the true body and blood of
Christ was in their sacrament, he answered, " No, not in
the sacrament of the altar ; but in the supper of the Lord,
to the faithful receiver, is the very body and blood of
Christ by faith." His wife was next asked how she liked
the religion then used in the church of England ; she repli-
ed, that she believed the same not to be according to God's
word, but false and corrupted ; and that they which went
thereunto did it more for fear of the law than otherwise.
He asked her again, if she would go to the church and hear
mass, and pray for the prosperous estate of the king, who
was then abroad, in his affairs? She answered, that she
defied the mass with all her heart ; and that she would
not come into any church wherein were idols. Articles
to the number of eighteen, many of them as frivolous and
vexatious as could be, were then objected to them; which
they both answered, as well as any who came before them
had done. On the tenth of September, they were finally
brought to Fulham, with Allerton ; and being in Bon-
ner's chapel, he said, " Austoo, dost thou know where thou

ALLERTON AND OTHERS. 277

now art, and in what place, and before whom, and what
thou hast to do?" " Yea," replied the poor man, "I know
where I am : for I am in an idol's temple." On this, they
were condemned by Bonner, who, as Fox says, delivering
them unto the sheriff there present, did rid his hands, as he
thought, of them ; but the Lord in the end will judge that,
to whom I refer his cause. Some cruel attempts were
made to terrify the woman, by startling her in the dead of
night with frightful sights and sounds: but the Lord's grace
is all-sufficient for his people. Out of weakness they were
made strong: and though their frail bodies were given to
the tormentors, no weapon formed against their souls could
prosper.

With Roth the bishop took great pains, to win him from
Christ, but with no better success: he never wavered. So
at last, by way of an article, Bonner laid against him that
he was a comforter and emboldener of heretics ; at the same
time producing a beautiful letter, which Roth had written
in his own blood, to the Munts, and the other condemned
servants of God at Colchester. This letter he readily owned.
Bonner then asked his opinion of Ralph Allerton, to which
he answered, that he thought him to be one of the elect
children of God; and that if at any time hereafter he hap-
pened to be put to death for his faith and religion, he
thought he would die a true martyr. He also charged the
bishop with being afraid to make his doings against Christ's
people public; for he sent for them to Fulham under cover
of night, to examine and condemn. Several who stood by,
entreated him to recant, and to ask mercy of Bonner : " No,"
said he, " I will not ask mercy of him that cannot give it."
He was then condemned, and delivered to the temporal
officers; and on the 17th day of September, 1558, he, with
Allerton and the Austoos, joyfully ended their mortal lives
in one fire at Islington, for the testimony of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and of the everlasting gospel of his grace.

MARTYROLOGY. — VOL. II. 24

278 THURSTON BONGEOK.

CHAPTER XIII.

THE FILLING UP OF THE MEASURE OF INIQUITIES IN MARY's REIGN.

On the same day, two women were martyred at Colches-
ter. One, Margaret Thurston, was the widow of a
faithful servant of God, who had died in Colchester castle:
the other, Agnes Bongeor, was among the prisoners in
Mote hall. Both were condemned to suffer with the other
ten; but Agnes being wrongly named in the writ, the sheriff
kept her back. It seems that Margaret had wavered, and
shrunk when the hour of trial came ; and so was left be-
hind; but her hesitation was only the momentary weakness
of the flesh, and she at last witnessed a good confession.

When Agnes Bongeor saw herself separated from the
party led forth to die, her anguish of spirit was extreme:
she wept most bitterly, imagining herself denied of the
Lord the privilege of suffering for His holy name : it was
a spectacle of pity and wonder to all who came near
her, to behold her deep affliction. On the morning of the
burning, she had put on a long new garment, for the stake;
and having a little infant at her bosom, which she had most
tenderly nursed and nourished during her imprisonment,
she delivered it up to a nurse, and so, breaking the last and
tenderest of her earthly ties, expected to enter on that day
into the presence of Him for whom all was forsaken. While
she thus lamented and bewailed herself under the unwel-
come respite, a pious friend came to her, and asked whe-
ther Abraham's obedience was accepted before God; for
that he did sacrifice his son Isaac in being willing to offer
him? She replied, "I know that Abraham's will before
God was allowed for the deed, in that he would have done
it, if the angel of the Lord had not stayed him: but I am
unhappy, the Lord thinketh me not worthy of this dignity,
and therefore Abraham's case and mine are not alike."
" Why," said her friend, " would you not willingly have
gone with your company, if God should so have suffered
it?" She replied, " Yes, with all my heart; and because
I did not, it is now my chief and greatest grief" Then said
her friend, "My dear sister, I pray thee consider Abraham
and thyself well ; and thou shalt see thou dost nothing
differ from him in will at all." " Alas !" she answered.

JOHN NOYES, 279

<' there is a far greater matter in Abraham than in me, for
Abraham was tried with the offering of his own child, but
so am not I; and therefore our cases are not alike." "Good
sister," returned the other, " weigh the matter but indilFer-
ently. Abraham, I grant, would have offered his son: and
have not you done the like in your little sucking babe? But
consider further than this, my good sister; when Abraham
was commanded but to offer his son, you are heavy and
grieved because you offer not yourself; which goeth some-
what more near you than Abraham's obedience did : and
therefore before God, assuredly, is no less accepted and
allowed in his holy presence : which, further, the preparing
of your shroud doth also argue full well." This talk af-
forded some encouragement to the Lord's dear mourning
child : she moderated her grief, and giving herself wholly
to reading and prayer, found therein great comfort.

But her crown was sure : in little more than three weeks
the writ came down for the slaughter of these two poor
lambs of Christ; and then Margaret Thurston, greatly
lamenting her former backsliding, and endued with strength
from on high to bear a constant testimony to the truth, with
Agnes Bongeor, rejoicing in the attainment of her earnest
desire, went to the fire together. There they kneeled down,
making their humble prayers to the Lord : which done,
they arose, welcomed the chain that bound them to the
stake, and, encompassed in flames, with singular joy and
triumph gave up their souls into the hands of their loving
Saviour, Who can doubt that they had an immediate and
joyful meeting with the blessed spirits who had lately trod
before them the fiery path to heaven!

John Noyes was a shoemaker, dwelling at Laxfield, in
Suffolk. He was reported for not coming to mass, and his
house being surrounded by the crafty management of the
cruel persecutors, he was taken when leaving it to visit his
neighbours. One of the captors said to him, " Your Mas-
ter "hath deceived you." Noyes answered, " No : but take
you heed your master deceive not you." The justices,
before whom they carried him, sent him to the dungeon in
Eye, whence he was brought to Norwich, and examined
by the bishop as to his approval of the ceremonies used in
the church, his admission of the pope's supremacy, and his
belief in transubstantiation. His replies were not what
they wanted, therefore he was forthwith condemned to the
flames. In the Guildhall of Norwich, where Noyes was

280 JOHN NOYES.

imprisoned, his brother-in-law visited him, and asked whe-
ther, when the bishop pronounced sentence, he did not fear
death, considering what a terrible one it was? Noyes told
him that, he thanked God, he feared death no more at that
time than he, or any other person then at liberty, did. He
was then sent back to Eye, and to Laxfield. When he was
brought to the stake no fire could be procured : it had been
extinguished by the people in all their houses; but Lovel,
the high constable, espying a little smoke issuing from one
chimney, gave orders to break open the door, and there
they found sufficient to afford a spark for their diabolical
purpose. Noyes kneeled down at the stake, and repeated
the fiftieth psalm, with other prayers; then, being chained,
he said, " Fear not them that can kill the body; but fear
Him that can kill both body and soul, and cast it into ever-
lasting fire." When he saw his sister weeping and bewail-
ing him, he told her not to weep for him, but to weep for
her sins. Then a wretch named Cadman, the hastier — that
is, the person who was to hasten the fire, for they had even
found a name for that butchering office — who was a great
champion in the pope's affairs, brought a fagot and set it
up against the martyr, who lifted it, kissed it, and said,
" Blessed be the time that ever I was born to come to this !"
He then delivered his psalter to the under sheriff, request-
ing him to be good to his wife and children, and to give
the former that book from him : the officer promised, but
never performed it. Noyes then addressed the people :
" They say they can make God of a piece of bread ; believe
them not." " Good people," he again said, " bear witness
that I do believe to be saved by the merits and passion of
Jesus Christ, and not by mine own deeds." The fire was
then kindled, and he cried, " Lord, have mercy upon me !
Christ, have mercy upon me ! Son of David, have mercy
upon me !" And so died this simple but fervent Christian.

A poor servant-man standing by, and looking on, ex-
claimed, " Good Lord, how the sinews of his arms shrink
up !" These words were so reported to the sheriff that he
took him into custody, bound the poor fellow's father and
master under a penalty to have him forthcoming, and then
bringing him to trial, set him in the stocks, and whipped
him round the market-place before they let him go.

When Simon Miller and Elizabeth Cooper were burned
at Norwich, as has already been related, there stood by
them, in Lollards' pit, a poor woman named Cicely Ormes,

CICELY ORMES. 281

wife of a worsted-weaver, dwelling in St. Lawrence's parish,
in that city. She was heard to say, that she would pledge
them in the sanae cup that they drank of; and for this she
was taken before the chancellor, who asked her what she
said to the sacrament of Christ's body. She said she be-
lieved it was the sacrament of the body of Christ. "Yea,"
repeated the chancellor ; " but what is that which the priest
holdeth over his head ?" She replied, " It is bread ; and if
you make it any better, it is worse." At this the chancel-
lor, in a great heat, and with many threatening words, sent
her off to prison. When next he summoned her before him
he had with him Bridges, and others. He then offered her
liberty to believe as she would, providedshe attended church,
and kept her tongue quiet. Cicely told him she would not
consent to his wicked proposal, for if she did, God would
surely plague her. The chancellor said he had shown
more favour to her than he had ever done to any, being
loth to condemn her, as she was but an ignorant, unlearn-
ed, and foolish woman. She immediately told him, that if
he did, he should not be so desirous of destroying her sin-
ful flesh, as she, by God's grace, would be content to give
it in so good a quarrel. On this he rose up, read the sen-
tence, and delivered her to the secular officers, who kept her
prisoner in the Guildhall till the day of her death.

Cicely Ormes was one of those poor ones, rich in faith,
who are often chosen to be the heirs of God's kingdom.
Her father was a tailor, at East Dereham. She had once
recanted, and for a whole year conformed to the reigning
abomination; but her mind was so troubled by it, that at
the time of her apprehension she had about her a letter,
which she had just written to the chancellor, declaring that
she would no longer dissemble, that she repented her recan-
tation from the bottom of her heart, and would never again
be guilty of the like while she lived. On the fifth of July she
was apprehended ; and on the twenty-third of September,
between seven and eight o'clock in the morning, she was
brought out to execution by the sheriffs, people to the num-
ber of two hundred being assembled to witness the murder.
Having kneeled at the stake, in prayer to God, she said, on
rising, " Good people, I believe in God the Father, God
the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, three persons, and one
God. This do I not, nor will I recant: but I recant utterly,
from the bottom of my heart, the doings of the pope of
Rome, and all his popish priests and shavelings. I utterly
24*

282 VARIOUS MARTYRS.

refuse, and never will have to do with them again, by God's
grace. And, good people, I would you should not think of
me that I believe to be saved in that I offer myself here
unto the death for the Lord's cause ; but I believe to be
saved by the death and passion of Christ ; and this my
death is and shall be a witness of my faith unto all you
here present. Good people, as many of you as believe as
I believe, pray for me." She then went up to the stake,
and laid her hand upon it, saying, " Welcome the cross of
Christ." This stake being the same at which Miller and
Cooper had been burned, was still black with the smoke
of their fire, and soiled her hand; which, when she saw,
she quietly wiped it with her shroud. Then again touch-
ing the stake with her hand, she drew nearer, and kissed
it, repeating, '' Welcome the sweet cross of Christ !" When
she was bound to it, and the flames rose, she broke out into
praise, saying, " My soul doth magnify the Lord ; and my
spirit rejoiceth in God my Saviour." She then joined her
hands together, held them before her breast, cast her eyes
upwards, and slowly and gradually raising her joined hands
higher and higher, as the shrinking sine\vs compelled her
to do, she so stood till the sinews burst, the arms fell, and
she died, as motionless, as calm, and quiet, as if she had
been all the while in a gentle slumber.

Thus, O Lord, hast thou chosen the weakest things of
the world to confound those things that be mighty: and in
thy saints thou art glorified !

We must now record the names of some individuals who
had, at various times, suffered in the diocese of Chiches-
ter ; but concerning whom no other account remains.
Christopherson, the bishop, who had, in Woodman's case,
shown something of a kindlier feeling than his brethren,
became as fierce a persecutor as any. They were these: —

John Foreman, Thos. Avington,

John Warner, Dennis Burgis,

Christian Graver, Thos. Ravensdale,

Nigh. Holden, John Miles,

John Oswald, John Hart,

James Morrice, Thomas Harland,

John Ashdon, Thomas Deagate,

Ann Try, Margery Morrice,
And Athoth, a priest; all of whom were martyred.

At Bury, in the month of November, suffered a servant

THOMAS SPURDANCE.

283

of the queen's own household, within the very confines of
which, it seems that, as in the court of Nero, God had some
to witness to the truth of Christianity. Thomas Spur-
dance was first brought to Dunning, the active chancellor
of Norwich, who asked if he had been with the priest, and
confessed his sins to him. Spurdance said, " No : I have
confessed my sins to God ; and God saith, in what hour
soever a sinner doth repent, and be sorry for his sins, and
ask. him forgiveness, willing no more so to do, he will no
more reckon his sin unto him ; and that is sufficient for
me." " Then," said the chancellor, " thou decriest the sa-
crament of penance." He answered that he denied not
penance, but confessing of sins to a priest; but Dunning
said it was the same thing. When asked why he had not
received the sacrament at Easter, he said, " 1 dare not
meddle with it as you use it." •' Why, do we not use it
truly?" said the chancellor. " No : for the holy supper of
the Lord serveth for the Christian congregation ; and you
are none of Christ's members : and therefore I dare not
meddle with you, lest I be like unto you." " Why are we
none of Christ's members ?" asked Dunning. " Because
you teach laws contrary to God's laws." " What laws are
those?" said the chancellor. " These three articles that
you swear the people unto here," replied Spurdance, " be
false and untrue ; and you do evil to swear the people unto
them." Here the chancellor cautioned the people to give
no heed to him ; for that he was a heretic, and would teach
them disobedience. Then he asked him of his belief in
transubstantiation. Spurdance said he did not believe it to
be the same body in substance, for that Christ's body had
flesh, blood, and bones : and that the true sacrifice was a
bloody one, but theirs was dry. He then, in turn, asked
the chancellor if he called the mass a sacrifice? A doctor,
who sat by, said it was a sacrifice both for the quick and
the dead. " No," answered Spurdance, " it is no sacrifice;
for St. Paul saith that Christ made one sacrifice once for
all: and I do believe in none other sacrifice, but only in
that one sacrifice that our Lord Jesus Christ made once for
all." The doctor then said, "That sacrifice which Christ
made was a wet sacrifice ; but the mass is a dry sacrifice."
Spurdance remarked, " Then that same dry sacrifice is a
sacrifice of your own making ; and it is your sacrifice ; it
is none of mine." The chancellor declared him a heretic,
for denying the sacrament of the altar : Spurdance pro-

284 THOMAS SPURDANCE.

ceeded to tell him how he believed in the matter. " I be-
lieve if I come rightly and worthily, as God hath com-
manded me, to the holy supper of the Lord, I receive him
by faith, by believing in him. But the bread being received
is not God; nor the bread that is yonder in the pix is not
God. God dwelleth not in temples made with hands, nei-
ther will be worshipped with the work of men's hands.
And therefore you do very evil to cause the people to kneel
down and worship the bread ; for God did never bid you
hold it above your head, neither had the apostles such
use." Dunning again declared him a very heretic, and
bade it to be so written. Spurdance said, " The servant is
not greater than his master: your predecessors killed my
Master, Christ, the prophets and apostles, and holy virtu-
ous men ; and now you also kill the servants of Christ ;
so that all the righteous blood that hath been shed, even
from righteous Abel to this day, shall be required at your
hands."

The next examination of Spurdance was at the bishop's
house, who said to him, " Sirrah, dost thou not believe in
the catholic faith of holy church?" He answered that he
believed in Christ's catholic church. " Yes," said the
bishop, " in Christ's church, of which the pope is the head.
Dost thou not believe that the pope is supreme head of the
catholic church?" He replied, " No, I believe not that he
should be above the apostles, if he take them to be his pre-
decessors. For when there came a thought among the apos-
tles, who should be the greatest when their Master was gone,
Christ answered them unto their thoughts : ' The kings of
the earth bear dominion above others, but ye shall not
so do, for he that will be greatest among you shall be-
come servant unto you all.' How is it then, that he will
climb so high above his fellows? And also we were sworn,
in my master king Henry's time, that we should, to the
uttermost of our power, never consent unto him again.
And therefore as he hath nothing to do here in England,
so neither in his own country more than a bishop in his
diocese." The bishop without noticing the weighty argu-
ment adduced from scripture against papal arrogance, said
that the kingdom had all been in error, in rejecting the su-
premacy; and in civil terms invited Spurdance to acknow-
ledge it again; who replied, "No, I warrant you, by the
grace of God, not as long as I live: for you cannot prove
by the scriptures that the pope is head of the church, and

THOMAS SPURDANCE. 285

may do therein what he listeth." To this his lordship
answered in a speech, which he himself no doubt thought
very fine: it was this, " As the bell-wether which weareth
the bell, is head of the flock of sheep, even so is the pope
the head of the church of Christ : and as the bees in the
hive have a master-bee when they have gone out to bring
them home again to the hive, even so the pope, when we be
gone astray, and have wandered from the fold, from the
hive, then is ordained our head, by succession of Peter, to
bring us home again to the true church: even as thou now,
my good fellow, hast wandered long out of the way, like a
scattered sheep, or bee, hear that bell-wether, that master-
bee, and come home with us to thy mother the church
again." Spurdance replied, " My lord, all this is but natu-
ral reason, and no scripture ; but since ye cannot prove the
pope to be authorized by scripture, ye answer me not as I
thought you would."

The bishop then used a stronger argument, telling him
that as he would not be answered, he should be compelled
by law, whether he would or no. To which he returned,
" My lord, so did your forefathers entreat Christ and his
apostles. They had a law, and by their law they put him
to death ; and so likewise you have a law which is tyranny,
and by that would ye enforce me to believe as you do : but
the Lord, I trust, will assist me against all your beggarly
ceremonies; and make your foolishness known to all the
world one day." Then said the bishop, "When were you
at church, and went in procession, and did the ceremonies
of the church?" "Never since I was born," was the re-
ply. " No !" said the bishop ; " how old are you V " I
think about forty." " Why, how did you use yourself at
church twenty years ago?" "Even as you do now," re-
plied Spurdance. " And even now," replied the bishop,
" you said you did not use the ceremonies since you were
born !" " No more I did," said Spurdance, " since I was
born anew : as Christ said to Nicodemus, ' Except ye be
born anew, ye cannot enter into the kingdom of hea-
ven.' " A doctor, sitting by, here remarked to the bishop
that he was an anabaptist ; for such were their opinions :
the martyr answered that he was not so: for that they
denied infant baptism, which he did not. The bishop
then asked why he did not go to the church, and do
the ceremonies : he said, " Because they be contrary to
God's word and laws, as you yourself have taught : but

286 THOMAS SPURDANCE.

now you say it is good, again ; and I think if there were
a return to-morrow, you would say that false again, which
you hold now. Therefore I may well say, there is no truth
in you." The bishop called him a stubborn fellow, a
heretic, and a traitor. He repelled the charge of trea-
son; saying, "There is no man alive, I thank God, that
can accuse me justly that ever I was disobedient to any
civil law. But you must consider, my lord, that I have a
soul and a body, and my soul is none of the queen's, but
my body and my goods are the queen's. And I must give
God my soul, and all that belongeth unto it ; that is, I must
do the laws and commandments of God ; and whosoever
commandeth laws contrary to God's laws, I may not do
them for losing of my soul ; but must rather obey God than
man," The bishop said he could prove their laws to be
agreeable to God's laws, Spurdance replied, "If you can
prove by the word of God that you should have any graven
images made to set in your churches for laymen's books,
or to worship God by them, or that you should have any
ceremonies in your church as you have, prove them by the
word of God, and I will do them." The bishop answered,
" It is good and decent to furnish the church; as when you
shall go to dinner, you have a cloth upon the table to fur-
nish the table, before the meat shall come upon it, so are
these ceremonies a comely, decent order, to be in the
church before Christian people,"

" These," said Spurdance, " are inventions and imagi-
nations out of your own brain, without any word of God
to prove them. For God saith, Look, what you think good
in your own eyes, if I command the contrary, it is abomi-
nable in my sight. And these ceremonies are against God's
laws: for St. Paul saith they be weak and beggarly; and
reproveth the Galatians for doing them." The bishop at-
tributed these opinions to his being a heretic, and disobedi-
ent; and invited him to confess having been in error, and
to come home to them. He replied, " No, I have been in
no error ; for the spiritual laws were never trulier set forth
than in my master king Edward's time ; and I trust in God
I shall never forsake them while I live." A gentleman
then sought to persuade him to save his life, as the bishop
would have him: advising him at least to take a day for
consideration, as the bishop would give it him : but he wise-
ly and steadfastly answered, " If I save my life, I shall
lose it ; and if I lose my life for Christ's sake, I shall find

HALLIN6DALE SPARROW. 287

it in life everlasting. And if I take a day, when the day
cometh, I must say then even as I do now, except I will
lie; and therefore that needeth not."

The usual sentence was passed on this faithful witness ;
and he ended his mortal course in the flames, a willing
sacrifice to the Lord, whom he served.

Smithfield was the scene of the next butchery. Three
men named John Hallingdalk, William Sparrow, and
Richard Gibson, suffered there together. Hallingdale
was charged with having changed his religion in king Ed-
ward's days, and continuing in the reformed faith ever
since; with absenting himself from the parish church: and
the last article stated that when his wife gave birth to a
boy, he caused the child to be christened in English, after
the same manner and form, in ail points, as was used in
the time of king Edward the sixth ; and caused it to be call-
ed Joshua; and would not have the said child christened in
Latin, after the prevailing form and manner; nor intended to
have it confirmed by the bishop. To all these articles Hal-
lingdale most readily assented; he plainly denied their doc-
trine of the sacrament, and told Bonner that Cranmer, Lat-
imer, Ridley, Hooper, and generally all that had of late
been burned for heretics, were no heretics at all, because
they preached fully the gospel ; upon whose preaching he
grounded his faith and conscience, as he said, according to
the saying of St. John, in the eighteenth chapter of his Re-
velation, where he saith that the blood of the prophets and
of the saints, and of all that were slain upon earth, was
found in the Babylonical church; by the which, he said, is
understood the church where the pope is the head. When,
after being remanded for a day, he was again assailed
with persuasions and perversions of scripture, he main-
tained his faith with the same boldness, saying that he
would persevere in it to the death. He was therefore
condemned.

Sparrow was accused of having fallen again into heresy,
after recanting his errors ; and of selling certain heretical
and blasphemous ballads to the people; which ballads were,
in truth, hymns and godly poems taken from the Holy
Scriptures. He confessed it readily ; and said of his for-
mer submission, " I am sorry that ever I made it ; and it
was the worst deed that ever I did." He also said to his
examiner, Bonner, " Hold up your abomination as long as
you can. That which you call truth, I do believe to be

288 RICHARD GIBSON.

heresy." He also said that he had openly declared his ha-
tred of the Romish doctrines, as set forth in his accusa-
tion ; and would do so again, if he were at liberty. Being
finally asked by the bishop whether he would renounce his
opinions, he said he would not, adding, " That which you
call heresy is good and godly ; and if every hair of my head
were a man, I would burn them all, rather than go from
the truth." He once more repeated that the mass was
naught and abominable; and then Bonner sentenced him to
the stake.

Gibson had been imprisoned two years for debt, as sure-
ty for some other ; and was accused on suspicion, for that
he had never during that space gone to confession, nor re-
ceived at the popish altar. The articles against this gen-
tleman declared that he had behaved himself in words and
deeds, in divers conditions and points, contrary to the order,
religion, and faith of Christ's catholic church, and so
forth : and that he had irreverently spoken against the pope,
against the see of Rome, against the seven sacraments, with
other like matters: that he had defended, allowed, commend-
ed, and liked Cranmer, Latimer, Ridley, and all other here-
tics here in England : that he had comforted, aided, and
encouraged heretics to persist in their errors : that he had
approved king Edward's prayer-book, desiring its general
use : that he had declared he would not, if he were at liber-
ty, attend mass, matins, or even-song, go in procession,
bear a taper, receive ashes or pax, holy water, or holy
bread, nor observe any of the ceremonies of the church:
that he had denied the obligation of confessing to a priest,
or of receiving the sacrament of the altar : and finally that
he denied the propriety of praying for the dead, or the ne-
cessity of fasting and will-worship; and declared the adora-
tion of the host to be unlawful.

After this, he was kept six months in the Compter; at the
end of which time Bonner sent a low fellow to fetch him,
who could scarcely reach to Mr. Gibson's shoulder, yet in-
sisted on violently haling and dragging him through the
most public streets. The gentleman, who was of a very
tall and powerful frame, mildly requested this catchpole
either to choose a more private way, or let him walk, so
as not to attract the eyes of all passengers, promising to
go quietly with him wheresoever he would. Bonner's de-
puty, however, continued to drag at his arm, adding in-
sulting language to his rude bearing ; on which Mr. Gib-

RICHARD GIBSON JOHN ROUGH. 289

son, looking down on him, told him that if he did not loose
his hold he would wring his head off. The fellow immedi-
ately shrunk away, and the prisoner calmly walked on into
the bishop's presence. After a great deal of unjust and
illegal shuffling, Bonner not being the rightful ordinary
of Gibson, and after vainly trying to tamper with him, and
to shake his fidelity, during several examinations, Bonner
went on to condemn him. The martyr said, " Blessed am
I, that am cursed at your hands. We have nothing for it
now, but ' Thus will I ;' for, as the bishop saith, so must
it be. And no heresy it is to turn the truth of God's word
into lies and that do you."

On the eighteenth of November these three bold and
faithful soldiers of Christ were brought to the stake in
Smithfield, where they gave their flesh to be consumed in
the flames, and their souls into the hands of their redeem-
ing God.

A month afterwards were burned at the same place John
Rough, minister of the gospel; and Margaret Mearing.
The former was a native of Scotland, and being unjustly
deprived of his inheritance, at a very early age he enter-
ed the order of the black friars at Sterling ; where he re-
mained until the earl of Arran prevailed with the archbishop
of St. Andrew's to dispense with his vows, and allow him
to join his household as a domestic chaplain. During the
year of his abode with lord Arran he became enlightened,
and after preaching for four years at Ayr, with a pension
from Henry VIII., he came into England in Edward's
days, under the patronage of the lord protector, Somerset,
who employed him to preach the gospel at Carlisle, Ber-
wick, and Newcastle. Here he married a Scottish lady,
and was shortly afterwards presented by the archbishop of
York to a benefice near Hull, where he continued till the
end of king Edward's happy reign.

When Mary ascended the throne he saw the danger that
must ensue, and at the beginning of the persecution, fled
with his wife, to the continent, and there supported himself
by his industry, knitting caps, hose, and such articles, un-
til, in the month of October, 1537, he ventured over to
England to buy yarn, and other necessary things for his
business ; and hearing of the congregation of God's chil-
dren, which secretly assembled there, he joined himself to
them, and was soon elected their minister, which sacred
office he continued diligently to exercise, teaching and con-

MARTYROLOGY. VOL. II. 25

290 JOHN ROUGH.

firming them in the truth of the gospel. At length he, and
Cuthbert Sympson, were betrayed by the treacherous craft
of a base hypocrite, named Sergeant, a tailor, and were
apprehended at Islington by the vice-chamberlain of the
queen's household. The congregation had appointed to
meet there for prayer and celebration of the holy commu-
nion, at a house called the Saracen's Head ; but, in order
to screen their brethren, they took advantage of a play, or
device, being performed there, as though they had gone to
witness it. Rough was immediately sent to Bonner, wiih
a letter from the queen's council ; and he, sending for him
to his palace, presently objected articles to him. First, that
he had spoken against the seven sacraments, especially
condemning the sacrament of the altar, denying it to con-
lain the real substance of Christ's body: and also had de-
clared confession to be unnecessary, and the priest's abso-
lution to be of no avail. To this he answered, that he al-
lowed two sacraments, baptism, and the Lord's supper :
the other five he denied to be sacraments, therefore he had
spoken against them. He acknowledged having said and
taught that the Lord's body is not present, substantially, in
the sacrament of the altar, but that the substances of bread
and wine do remain without any transubstantiation at all.
As to confessing sins to a priest, he thought it necessary,
if the sin to be confessed were committed against the
priest : but if the offence were done to another, it is not
needful to confess it to the priest, but to the party offended.
Secondly he was charged with having misliked and re-
proved the religion and ecclesiastical service then used in
the realm, allowing those used in the later years of king
Edward the Sixth : that he had by word, writing, and deed,
set forward and taught that the English service and doc-
trine therein contained were agreeable in all points to God's
word, condemning utterly the Latin service then in use.
This he fully admitted. Thirdly, that he had commended
and approved the doctrines of Cranmer, Ridley, and Lati-
mer, concerning the sacrament of the altar. He said to
this, that he had approved their doctrine, as agreeable to
God's word; and that they were godly, learned men, and
such as had perfect understanding of the subject. Fourthly,
that he had, in sundry places, during the queen's reign,
ministered and received the communion, as it was used in
the days of king Edward : and that he knew of some who
yet kept books of the same communion, and used them in

JOHN ROUGH. 291

private houses, and whose opinion was against the sacra-
ment of the altar. He replied to this, that he liked that
communion well, but had not ministered or received it in
England in the queen's reign ; neither knew any that had
books of it: but on the other side of the sea he knew many
who had them, and that he had there received the commu-
nion in sundry places. Fifthly, that in various places in
England he had spoken against the pope of Rome, and liis
apostolic see, plainly contemning and despising the autho-
rity of the same; not allowing the faith and doctrine there-
of, but directly speaking against it, and inducing others to
do the same. He granted this to be quite true. Sixthly,
that he knew all, or a great part, of those Englishmen who
had fled out of the realm for religion : that he had agreed
with them, succoured, maintained, and helped them, and
conveyed their seditious books and letters into the realm.
He confessed being well acquainted with about a hundred
English men and women who had fled to the continent for
their religion, using there the order set forth in king Ed-
ward's days: the rest of the allegation he denied. Seventh-
ly, that he had said he had been at Rome, for about a
month or more, and had seen little good or none there, but
very much evil. Among the which he saw one abomina-
tion, that is to say a man, or the pope, carried on the shoul-
ders of four men, as though he had been God, and no man;
also, a cardinal to have a woman of improper character
riding openly behind him : and, moreover, a pope's bull,
that gave express licence for the public practice of licen-
tiousness. This he granted in every point to be true.
Eighthly, that since his last coming into England he had
perniciously allured and comforted divers of the subjects
of this realm, both young and old, men and women, to have
and use the book of communion set forth by king Edward,
and had himself set forth and read it, causing others to do
the like, and to leave ofl" from going to hear the Latin ser-
vice at their parish churches. He admitted having both
prayed and read the service of king Edward's book, and
desired others to do the same. He did not cause any to
leave the Latin service, but told them it was better to pray
in a tongue that they understood than in an unknown
tongue. The last charge related to his being at Islington,
as before stated.

Having thus answered the articles, he was recommitted
till the next day; when, being still found steadfast, they re-

292 JOHN ROUGH- — MARGARET MEARING.

solved on the morrow to have him up in the consistory, and
condemn him. Accordingly, Bonner, the bishop of St.
David's, Fecknam, and others, assembled for this devout
purpose: and Bonner read over his articles; charging him
also that he, having received the orders of the church,
had married unlawfully; and that he had refused to con-
sent to the Latin service then used. He told them in
reply, that their holy orders were nothing at all: that he,
being a priest, might marry; and that his children, which
he had by his wife, were lawful. As to the service then
used, he assured them he utterly detested it ; and that if
he should live as long as Methusaleh, he would never come
to the church, to hear the abominable mass, and other ser-
vice, being as it was then. On this the bishop proceeded
to degrade him from the ecclesiastical rank ; then passed
sentence, and delivered him to the secular power to be
burned.

This excellent minister had, in the days of king Edward,
saved the life of Dr. Watson, who was near being put to
death for a seditious sermon that he made in the north.
Watson became bishop of Lincoln, and being present at
Rough's examination before Bonner, at once bore testimony
to his having been a most pernicious heretic, who had done
more hurt in the north than a hundred others of his opinion.
Rough remarked, " Why, sir, is this the reward I have
for saving your life, when you preached erroneous doctrine
in the days of king Edward?" When he made his obser-
vation respecting the pope's doings at Rome, Bonner started
up from his seat, pretended to rend his robes, and exclaim-
ing, " Hast thou been at Rome, and seen our holy father
the pope, and dost thou blaspheme him after that sort!" he
sprang upon the prisoner, and plucked out a good piece of
his beard; and so hastened his death that he had him burnt
before half past six o'clock in the morning.

It was observable, that when Austoo, and his fellow-
martyrs were burned, Mr. Rough being among the specta-
tators was met on his way home, by a friend, who asked
him where he had been. He answered, " I have been
where I would not for one of mine eyes but have been,"
" Where?" " Forsooth," said he, " to learn the way."
Then he told him he had been at the burning of Austoo :
and in the same place it was shortly his turn to pass through
the same fiery trial.

Margaret Mearing was brought forth to her examination

CUTHBERT SYMSOIV. 293

with Mr. Rough : she had been one of his congregation;
and so far was he from expecting lo find in her a stake-
fellow, that he entertained, as did many others, strong sus-
picions of her sincerity. She was always too busy; and
frequently brought in strangers among them, and appear-
ances were so much against her that Rough had proceeded
so far as to excommunicate her from their little Christian
company, only on the Friday before he was taken. This
exceedintjly grieved and offended the poor woman ; and in
the first warmth of her displeasure she said to a friend that
she would remove them all: but shortly after, the news of
their pastor's capture dispelled all her anger. She found
that none of his friends were permitted to see him in the
bishop's prison ; so, taking a clean shirt in a basket, she
presented herself as his sister, got admission as such, and
afibrded him no small comfort. When she heard that Ser-
geant was suspected of having betrayed him, she went to
his house, and inquired if Judas dwelt not there. She was
answered that there dwelt no such person there. "No?"
said she, " dwelleth not Judas here that betrayed Christ?
his name is Sergeant." Finding that she could not speak
with him, she went away. A few days afterwards, while
standing at the end of Marklane, she saw Cluny, Bonner's
summoner, enter her house; and immediately following him,
she readily delivered herself into his hands. When brought
before the bishop, she answered to the usual articles, with
great honesty and simplicity, denouncing the mass as the
cup of abominations mentioned by St. John ; and their
church as that of Antichrist. All her replies were equally
distinct, and when, after the usual short interval, she was
again called on to say whether she would stand to those
answers ; she replied, " I will stand to them unto the death;
for the very angels of heaven do laugh you to scorn, to see
your abominations that you use in the church." She was
then condemned, taken to Newgate, and, on the next day
but one, partook the crown of martyrdom with the pastor
who had little hoped to find in her such constancy of faith.
CuTKBERT Symson has been named, as being taken with
Rough, at Islington: he was a deacon in the same congre-
gation, for zeal, diligence, and affectionate carefulness among
the poor persecuted flock, most remarkable. He appears
to have been a very pattern of godliness, patience, and sin-
cerity: nor was it a small measure of grace that enabled
him ta endure, as he did, the dreadful barbarities inflicted
25*

294 CUTHBERT aYMSON.

on him, which he has thus briefly recorded with his own
hand. He had been sent by the council to the Tower, on the
thirteenth of December. " On the Thursday after," he
writes, " I was called into the warehouse, before the con-
stable of the Tower, and the recorder of London, Mr. Cholm-
ley: they commanded me to tell whom I did will to come
to the English service. I answered, I would declare no-
thing. Whereupon, 1 was set in a rack of iron, the space
of three hours, as I judged. Then they asked me if I
would tell them: I answered as before. Then was 1 loosed,
and carried to my lodging again. On the Sunday after, I
was brought into the same place again, before the lieuten-
ant and the recorder of London, and they examined me.
As before I had said, I answered. Then the lieutenant did
swear a great oath, I should tell. Then did they bind my
two fore-fingers together, and put a small arrow betwixt
them, and drew it through so fast that the blood followed,
and the arrow brake. Then they racked me twice. Then
was I carried to my lodging again; and ten days after, the
lieutenant asked me if I would not confess that which before
they had asked me. I said, I had said as much as I would.
Then five weeks after he sent me unto the high priest (mean-
ing Bonner) where I was greatly assaulted, and at whose
hand I received the pope's curse, for bearing witness of the
resurrection of Jesus Christ, And thus 1 commend you
unto God, and to the word of his grace, with all them that
unfeignedly call upon the name of Jesus; desiring God of
his endless mercy, through the merits of his dear Son Jesus
Christ, to bring us all to his everlasting kingdom. Amen,
I praise God for his great mercy showed upon us. Sing
hosanna unto the Highest with me, Cuthbert Symson, God
forgive me my sins ! I ask all the world forgiveness, and
I do forgive all the world ; and thus I leave this world, in
hope of a joyful resurrection,"

It pleased God to force from the wretch Bonner himself
a testimony in favour of this meek and holy man ; even
besides the strong testimony that the pope's curse, and his
church's ban, must always afford to those who are so hap-
py as to fall under it. When Symson was brought before
the consistory, to receive sentence, the bishop turned to the
people, and bade them observe the comeliness of his fine
person ; then added, " And furthermore, concerning his
■patience, I say unto you, that if he were not a heretic he
ia a man of the greatest patience that ever yet came before

VARIOUS MABTYRS. 295

me ; for I tell you he hath been thrice racked upon one
day in the Tower. Also in my house he hath felt some
sorrow; yet I never saw his patience broken." The " some
sorrow" which this savage bishop admitted the gentle mar-
tyr had felt in his house, consisted in most cruel torturing,
which Symson alludes to as having been " greatly assault-
ed." It is not possible to dwell upon the conduct of such a
grievous wolf, while rending Christ's innocent sheep : but
as Cuthbert Symson's afflictions abounded above those of
many his dear brethren, so likewise did his consolations
much more abound. The Lord vouchsafed him very sin-
gular tokens of his divine presence, and filled his soul with
rejoicing. Of this he has left some note in his writings.

Three months elapsed between the first racking of this
martyr and his public appearance before his wicked judges.
It is very probable, that he was not in a stale to be produced
in the sight of the people f for even popish England, in
Mary's days, had not attained to that eminence in piety
which could render the mangled flesh and dislocated joints
of Christ's servants a gratifying spectacle to the populace.
When, at last, Symson was brought forth, and Bonner had
spoken as we have declared, of his patience, articles were
ministered, of the usual purport; and he fully assented to
all, excepting the last, which having a tendency to impli-
cate others, he refused to reply to.

Together with Rough and Symson had two others of the
Lord's congregation been apprehended ; Hugh Fox, and
John Devenish. They were examined with Symson, and
holding the same faith steadfastly unto the end, they were
with him sentenced, and all consumed in one fire, near the
end of March, 1558.

At Haverfordwest, in Wales, the merciless tormentors
laid hold on a poor man, named William Nichol, who
was so simple as to be esteemed half foolish. He was
charged with having spoken some words against the cruel
kingdom of Antichrist. The particulars are not known;
but as the Romish church judged him worthy to suffer a
most dreadful death, there is good ground to hope that the
Lord Jesus Christ had made him worthy of eternal life.

The next sacrifice fell to the lot of bishop Hopton, of
Norwich, to offer. William Seaman, a husbandman, of
Mendlesham, in Suffolk; Thomas Hudson, a glover, of Ayl-
sham, in Norfolk; and Thomas Carman, who had pledged
Crashfield at his burning, were the three victims provided.

296 THOMAS HtTDSON.

Seaman had long been sought after, by the command of sir
John Tyrrel, but escaped, although that persecuting knight
himself searched the house for him one night. At length,
however, he was taken, by means of a traitor, whom he
considered his friend. That portion of their Master's cup
very often fell to the lot of the disciples in those days: and
it was observed, that Baulding, the treacherous betrayer,
although in the vigour of life and health at the time, never
after seemed to thrive, but pined and withered away. When
Seaman came to sir John Tyrrel, who asked him why he
would not go to mass, and receive the sacrament, and wor-
ship it, he replied, that it was no sacrament, but an idol;
therefore he would not receive it. He was forthwith sent
to bishop Hopton, who lost no time in condemning him.
Seaman was only twenty-six years old: he left a wife with
three little infants; and she, for maintaining the same truth,
was driven from her native place a beggar.

Thomas Hudson was also a young man, an honest, in-
dustrious artisan, who, in the happy times of Edward, pro-
fited greatly in true religion. About two years before the
king's death he learned to read, and by that meatjp secured
to himself the use of God's pure lamp, when all the land
became wrapt in darkness. When the service of the
church was changed by Mary, chaff being substituted for
wheat, and in place of good preaching a blasphemous cry
against truth and godliness, Hudson forsook the parish
church, left his house and travelled to and fro in Suffolk.
At length being anxious about his wife and three little chil-
dren, he returned home, where they contrived to form a
sort of chamber inside a pile of logs, in which he could sit
all day concealed, his poor wife taking great care the
while; and thus he remained for the space of six months,
continually reading and praying.

The vicar of the town was one Berry, an evil man, one
of Bonner's commissioners: he came to Hudson's wife, and
asked for her husband ; and on her affecting ignorance of
bis abode, he railed at, and threatened to burn her. When
Hudson heard of this, his zeal and devotion seemed to in-
crease daily: he read, and sang psalms, almost without
ceasing ; and many of the people resorted to him for in-
struction and encouragement. After a little time, he left
his concealment and walked about the town, openly crying
out against the mass, and all their trumpery: then, return-
ing home, he placed himself on his knees, with his book

THOMAS HUDSON. 297

beside him, and so remained for three days, refusing meat,
and incessantly engaged in prayer or praise. His next
door neighbour, perceiving this, went for the constables,
who, coming into his house at break of day, easily laid
hold on him.

Hudson, on seeing them enter, said, " Now mine hour
is come: welcome, friends, welcome. You be they that
shall lead me to life in Christ; I thank God therefore."
And so he continued from that time to pray that, if it were
the Lord's will, he might suffer for the gospel of Christ.
When Berry saw him, he asked him where he kept his
church for four years before. Hudson replied, that where-
soever he was, there was his church. Berry inquired whe-
ther he did not believe in the sacrament of the altar, and
what he took it to be? " It is worm's meat," answered he :
" my belief is in Christ crucified." Dost thou not believe
the mass to put away sins ?" said the vicar. " No ; God
forbid. It is a patched monster, and a disguised puppet;
longer a piecing than ever was Solomon's temple." At this
Berry stamped, raged, stormed, and at last said, " Well,
thou villian, thou; I will write to the bishop, my good lord;
and trust unto it, thou shall be handled according to thy
deserts." " Oh, sir," said Hudson, " there is no Lord but
God, though there be many lords, and many gods." Berry
then gave him a furious thrust with his hand; and a per-
son who, standing by, and seeing his violence, ventured to
say, " I pray you, sir, be good to the poor man," immedi-
ately fell under suspicion of heresy. Berry requiring him to
be bound under a penalty of forty pounds for his good con-
duct both in word and deed ; which, however, was not done.
Then he asked Hudson if he would recant, who answered,
" The Lord forbid ! I had rather die many deaths than to
do so." He was then bound like a thief, and sent off to the
bishop, singing all the way to Norwich; and during a
month's imprisonment there he was ever studying God's
word, and praising his name.

This devoted man, along with Seaman and Carman,
were taken to Lollards' pit, where the blessed martyr Eil-
ney had yielded his life, and having humbly prayed to the
Lord, they rose and went to the stake, where, after the
chain was cast round them, they stood for a little space ;
and then, to the great wonder and alarm of many, who
feared he was going to renounce the faith, Hudson slipped
from under his chain, and came forward. While the

298 HAINS DAY — GEORGE.

standers-by were forming different opinions about him, the
two men at the stake earnestly cried out to comfort and
strengthen him, under his evident affliction. It was not
the fear of death, but a lack of feeling of that full assurance
of Christ's love to his soul, which he had before enjoyed,
that now dismayed him. He fell on his knees, humbly and
vehemently crying to the Lord, who, according to his infi-
nite mercies, sent him the comfort he needed. Then he
arose with great joy, as one endued with new life, and said,
" Now, I thank God, I am strong, and care not what man
can do unto me." He returned to the stake ; and all three,
most joyfully, constantly, and manfully, endured the tor-
ment that set their spirits free.

That miserable persecutor, Berry, continued most fiercely
to torment God's people at Aylsham. He caused two hun-
dred at one time to do public penance, murdered a poor
man of his parish with a blow from a flail, and felled a
woman with his fist, who died the next day. A godly man,
named Norgate, he so hunted and harassed that he died in
consumption : and all the while Berry lived a life of such
open, scandalous profligacy, squandering his great riches on
vile characters, as to be a wonder to the people : he was
also a dreadful swearer. Thus he went on, until the un-
welcome news of queen Mary's death arrived, when, in-
stead of paying any respect to her memory, this man, who
doubtless intended to be whatever the next government
might approve, made, on the following Sunday, a great
feast at his house, having with him a companion of vile
character, until the hour of even-song, when he went to the
church, administered baptism, and going homeward, fell
down in the church-yard. With one heavy groan he then
passed into the eternal world.

The mother of Seaman, a very aged and godly woman,
was so persecuted for the faith, that she was glad to lie
in the fields, groves, and bushes; which, having lived al-
ways in respectability and comfort, no doubt hastened her
death.

At Colchester three martyrs suffered, very soon after
those at Norwich. They were William Hains, Richard
Day, and Christian George. The woman last named
had married the widower of Agnes George, who had been
burned at Stralford-le-Bow with twelve others. She was
not long in attaining the same glorious crown. After her
martyrdom, her husband took a third wife, also a godl.y

THE CUP BRIMMED. 299

woman; and was, with her apprehended and laid in pri-
son : but it pleased God to save them, with many more,
from the flames, by the removal of their great enemy.
These three, who suffered at Colchester, left no account of
their examinations. They died gladly with prayer and
praise upon their lips; and their record, with their souls,
is on high.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE CUP BRIMMED, AND THE CHURCH DELIVERED.

The Lord was now about to answer the groaning of his
captive people, and according to the greatness of his mercy,
to preserve many who were appointed to die. Midsummer
had arrived; and before the close of the year, already half
past, the last prayer of the blessed young Edward was to be
granted, and his realm delivered from papistry. Philpot's
ofl-repeated aspiration, "God shorten your cruel kingdom,
for his mercies' sake !" was more frequently in the mouths
of the martyrs. The Lord taught them so to pr«y, because
he will always be inquired of by his people, for the mer-
cies that he is about to bestow. Many a blazing pyre was
yet to redden the sky of England : but in a few short
months the wearied and scattered church was destined to
see the savage murderess of God's people taken from her
blood-stained throne into a fearful eternity. Mary's days
were numbered; and as their time shortened the rage of
the persecutors seemed to increase.

Early in the month of June, a proclamation, short but
sharp, came out by royal authority, commanding that who-
soever possessed heretical books, whereof, of course, the
Bible was chief, should immediately burn them, without
showing or reading them to any other person; or failing so
to do, should, on discovery, be taken up, and without delay
be executed as a rebel and traitor, according to martial law.

It was not long before an opportunity was given to
manifest the fresh ardour of persecution, which these san-
guinary edicts»never failed to enkindle in the willing instru-
ments of papal cruelty. Within a few days from the pro-

300 VARIOUS MARTYRS.

mulgation of the foregoing a party of forty innocent and
godly persons having ventured to assemble in a back close
or thicket, situate in the field by Islington, seated them-
selves on the ground, for mutual exhortation, prayer, and
study of God's word. While they were thus employed, a
stranger came up, who looking at them, stopped, saluted
them, and observed they looked like men who meant no
hurt. One of the company asked him whether he could
tell whose close it was; and if they might be so bold as to
sit there. He answered, " Yea, for ye seem unto me such
persons as intend no harm." He then departed; and the
poor flock continued their employment. In less than a
quarter of an hour afterwards, the constable of Islington,
named King, accompanied by six or seven armed men,
approached. He left his attendants in a covert hard by,
and proceeding alone, walked through the party, observing
what they were doing, and what books they had. When
he had thus passed along, he returned in the same way,
calling on them to deliver their books. They knew him
to be the constable, and therefore, with the obedience ever
shown by the Lord's people to legal authority, they gave
up the books ; on which the concealed band came forth,
ordering them to stand, and not to depart. They replied,
they were ready to obey, and to go wheresoever they were
commanded ; and so were taken first to a brew-house near
the spot, while some of the soldiers ran for a neighbouring
justice. He was from home ; and then they took their
prisoners to Sir Roger Cholmley. The women escaped by
the way: so, indeed, nearly the whole party might have
done, had they chosen it : but twenty-two men remained
in custody, and were by this Cholmley committed to New-
gate. Two died in prison: seven escaped with their lives,
without renouncing the faith: probably through the changes
that soon followed: and thirteen were burnt, in two com-
panies, one at Smithfield, and the other at Brentford.

The first were brought before Bonner on the fourteenth
of June. Their names were as follows : Henry Pond,
Reynold Eastland, Robert Southam, Matthew Ri-
CARBY, John Floyd, John Holliday, and Roger Hol-
land. The story of Holland is particularly interesting :
he had been apprenticed to a merchant tailor in London,
to whom he caused no small trouble, being a most wild and
licentious youth. His early training had been evil, and all
the efforts of his master could not break his dissipated habits,

ROGER HOLLAND. 301

or win him from courses that had seemed to promise any
end rather than that to which God called him. He was a
bigoted Romanist; given to reveling, gambling, and the
worst company: yet, finding him perlectly honest, his mas-
ter still trusted him with his accounts. One day, having re-
ceived for him a sum of thirty pounds, Holland, falling, as he
usually did, into bad company, lost every groat at dice ;
and having no possible way to replace it, resolved to escape
beyond sea. Having thus made up his mind, he went home
very early in the morning, and called to him a servant of
the house, named Elizabeth, a steady woman, a true fol-
lower of Christ, who had never failed to reprove both the
idolatrous religion and the profligate life of young Holland.
He said to her, " Elizabeth, I would I had followed thy
gentle persuasions and friendly rebukes; which if I had
done, I had never come to this shame and misery which I
am now fallen into; for this night have I lost thirty pounds
of my master's money, which to pay him, and to make up
my accounts, I am not able. But this much I pray you
desire my mistress, that she would entreat my master to
take this note of hand, that I am thus much indebted to
him; and if I be ever able, I will see him paid : desiring
him that the matter may pass in silence, and that none ot"
my kindred or friends may ever understand this my wicked
part. For if it should come unto my father's ears, it would
bring his gray hairs oversoon to the grave." He was then
departing, but Elizabeth, touched with pity, and led by the
Spirit of God, cried out, "Stay:" and having a sum of
money in her possession, bequeathed by a kinsman, she
ran and brought thirty pounds, saying, " Roger, here is
thus much money; I will let thee have it, and I will keep
thy bill. But since I do thus much for thee, to help thee,
and to save thy honesty, thou shalt promise me to refuse
all loose and wild company, all swearing, and unchaste talk;
and if ever I know thee to play one twelve-pence at either
dice or cards, then will I show this bill unto thy master.
And furthermore, thou shalt promise me to resort every
day to the lecture at All-hallows, and the sermon at Paul's
every Sunday, and to cast away all thy books of papisty
and vain ballads, and get the Testament, and book of ser-
vice, and read the Scriptures with reverence and fear, call-
ing unto God still for his grace to direct thee in his truth.
And pray unto God fervently, desiring him to pardon thy
former offences, and not to remember the sins of thy youth ;

MARTYROLOGT. VOL. II. 26

302 ROGER HOLLAND.

and ever be afraid to break his laws, or offend his majesty.
Then shall God keep thee, and send thee thy heart's de-
sire."

Who can avoid being touched by this lovely instance of
Christian bounty in an humble servant-maid ? There is
one point in it where we desire to pause, and gather an im-
portant lesson. In our day it is not unfrequent, particu-
larly in Ireland, to hear the remark made by Protestants,
that they cannot accompany their charitable alms to the
poor Romanists by the better gift of spiritual instruction,
because they might lay themselves open to the charge of
bribing them to renounce their religion. That such accu-
sation will be brought by God's enemies is certain ; but it
is equally certain that the Christian, in doing his Master's
work, must pass through good report and evil report too.
Now, we have seen, in this instance, that Elizabeth used
the desperate state from which young Holland could only
be delivered by her bounty, as a means to bring -him from
popery; and even to make him attend the preaching of the
gospel in her parish church; for this took place in Edward's
reign. Whether or no God blessed the act to the object
of her generous and faithful efforts, let the sfequel of the
story show. And may it sink deep into the hearljfe of those
who fear to make God's temporal gifts a means for bring-
ing the poor and needy to hear the joyful sound of his
gospel ! ■ I "^

Roger Holland promised, and fulfilled it; and within
one half year, says Fox, God had wrought such a, change
in this man, that he was an earnest professor of thp trutn,
and detested all papistry and evil company, so that he wSs
an admiration to all them that had known him, syid seeft-
his former life and wickedness. Then he repairec^ into
Lancashire, unto his father, and brought with him many
good books, which he bestowed on his friends ; so that his
parents and others began to taste the sweets of the gospel,
and to detest the mass, with all idolatry and superstition.
When they parted, his father gave him the sum of fifty
pounds, wherewith to begin the world. Roger hastened to
London, with this treasure, and coming to his first, best
earthly friend, he said, " Elizabeth, here is thy money I
borrowed of thee ; and for the friendship, good will, and
good counsel I have received at thy hands, to recompense
thee I am not able, otherwise than to make thee my wife."
They were married in the first year of queen Mary ; and

ROGER HOLLAND. 303

Elizabeth bearing a child, Holland had it baptized in his
own house by a godly minister; and then carried it into the
country, to save it from the contaminating hands of the
priests. For this he was reported to the enemies, who, in
his absence, searched the house, and seized his goods;
while his wife suffered most cruel usage at the hands of
Bonner. Holland, on his return, concealed himself in the
city, until, assembling with the congregation of the faith-
ful, at Islington, near St. John's Wood, he was taken with
the rest.

When brought before Bonner, Chedsey, the Harpsfields,
and others, he was assailed with many fair words and
crafty persuasions; the bishop himself thus commencing :
" Holland, I for my part do wish well unto thee, and the
more for thy friends' sake. And Dr. Standish telleth me
you and he were both born in one parish, and he knoweth
your father to be a very honest catholic gentleman: and
Mr. Doctor told me that he talked with you a year ago;
and found you very wilfully addict to your own conceit.
Divers of the city also have showed me of you, that you
have been a great procurer of men's servants to be of your
religion, and to come to your congregations ; but since you
be now in the danger of the law, I would wish you to play
a vvise man's part : so shall you not want any favour I can
do or procure for you, both for your own sake, and also
for your friends', which be men of worship and credit, and
wish you well ; and by my troth, Roger, so do I." Then
said Mr. Eaglestone, a Lancashire gentleman, and near
kinsman to Holland, who was present, " I thank your good
lordship : your honour meaneth good unto my cousin. I
beseech God he have the grace to follow your counsel."
" Sir, you crave of God you know not what," said Hol-
land: " I beseech God to open your eyes to see the light
of his word." "Roger, hold your peace," exclaimed the
kinsman, " lest you fare the worse at my lord's hands."
" No," said Holland, " I shall fare as it pieaseth God; for
man can do no more than God doth permit him."

Then the bishop, the doctors, and Johnson the register,
consulted for a while; after which Johnson spake: " Roger,
how sayest thou? wilt thou submit thyself unto my lord,
before thou be entered into the book of contempt?" Holland
answered, " I never meant but to submit myself to the ma-
gistrate, as I learn of St. Paul's to the Romans, chap, xiii:"
and so recited the text. " Then I see you are no anabap-

304 KOGER HOLLAND.

tist," remarked Chedsey. Holland replied, " I mean not
yet to be a papist ; for they and the anabaptists agree in
this point, not to submit themselves to any other prince or
magistrate than those that must first be sworn to maintain
them and their doings." Chedsey bade him remember what
he had said, and what the bishop had promised: and also
to take heed, for that his ripeness of wit had brought him
into these errors. After some further whispering together,
Bonner said, " Roger, I perceive thou wilt be ruled by no
good counsel, for any thing that I or your friends, or any
other can say." Holland answered, " I may say to you,
my lord, as Paul said to Felix, and to the Jews, as doth ap-
pear in the two-and-twentieth of the Acts, and in the fif-
teenth of the first epistle to the Corinthians. It is not un-
known unto my master whom I was apprentice withal, that
I was of this your blind religion that is now taught, and
therein did obstinately and wilfully remain, until the latter
end of king Edward, in a manner; having that liberty un-
der your auricular confession, that I made no conscience
of sin, but trusted in the priest's absolution ; he, for money,
also doing some penance for me ; which after I had given,
I cared not what further offences I did, no more than he
passed, after he had my money, whether he tasted bread
and water for me or no: so that uncleanness, swearing,
and all other vices, I accounted no ofl^ence or danger, so
long as I could for money have them absolved. So straitly
did I observe your rules of religion, that I would have
ashes upon Ash Wednesday, though I had used never so
much wickedness at night: and albeit I could not in con-
science eat flesh upon Friday, yet in swearing, drinking,
or dicing, all the night long, I made no conscience at all.
And thus was I brought up ; and herein have I continued
till now of late, that God hath opened the light of his word,
and called me, by his grace, to repentance of my former
idolatry and wicked life : for in Lancashire their blindness
and licentiousness is overmuch more than may with chaste
ears be heard. Yet these, my friends, which are not clear,
in these notable crimes, think the priest with his mass can
save them, though they blaspheme God, and are unfaithful
to their marriage-vow as long as they live. Yea, I know
some priests very devout, my lord ," and then he de-
clared how deeply those priests were themselves guilty of
the sins for which they dispensed their pretended absolu-
tions to the laity.

ROGER HOLLAND. 305

He proceeded : " Master doctor, now to your antiquity,
unity, and universality (three points alledged by Chedsey
in proof of their religion). I am unlearned. I have no
sophistry to shift my reasons withal ; but the truth I trust
I have, which needeth no painted colours to set her forth.
The antiquity of our church is not from pope Nicholas, or
pope Joan, but our church is from the beginning, even from
the time that God said unto Adam, that the seed of the wo-
man should break the serpent's head: and so to faithful
Noah, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to whom it was pro-
mised that their seed should multiply as the stars in the
sky: and so to Moses, David, and all the holy fathers that
were froin the beginning, unto the birth of our Saviour
Christ. All they that believed these promises were of the
church, though the number were oftentimes but few and
small, as in Elias' days, when he thought there was none
but he that had not bowed their knees to Baal, when God
had reserved seven thousand that never had bowed their
knees to that idol; as I trust there be seven hundred thou-
sand more than I know of, that have not bowed their knees
to the idol your mass, and your god Mauzzim : the uphold-
ing whereof is your bloody cruelty, whiles you daily per-
secute Elias and the servants of God, forcing them — as
Daniel was, in his chamber — closely to serve the Lord
their God: even as we, by this your cruelty, are forced in
the fields to pray unto God that his holy word may be once
again truly preached among us, and that he would mitigate
and shorten these idolatrous and bloody days, wherein all
cruelty reigneth. Moreover, of our church have been the
apostles and evangelists, the martyrs, and confessors of
Christ, that have at all times and in all ages been perse-
cuted for the testimony of the word of God. But for the
upholding of your church and religion, what antiquity can
you show? Yea, the mass, that idol and chief pillar of
your religion, is not yet four hundred years old ; and some
of your masses are younger, as your mass of St. Thomas
a Becket, the traitor, wherein you pray that you may be
saved by the blood of St. Thomas. And as for your Latin
service, what are we of the laity the better for it? I think
he that should hear your priests mumble up their service,
although he did well understand Latin, yet should he un-
derstand few words thereof: the priests do so champ and
chew them, and post so fast, that neither they understand
what they say, nor they that hear them : and in the mean

28*

306 ROGER HOLLAND.

time, the people, when they shotild pray with the priest,
are set to their beads, to pray our lady's psalter. So crafty
is Satan to devise these his dreams, which you defend with
fagot and fire, to quench the light of the word of God,
which, as David saith, should be a lantern to our feet.
And again : ' Wherein shall a young man direct his ways,
but by the word of God?' And yet you will hide it from
us in a tongue unknown. St. Paul had rather in the
church to have five words spoken with understanding, than
ten thousand in an unknown tongue; and yet will you have
your Latin service, and praying in a strange tongue, where-
of the people are utterly ignorant, to be of such antiquity.
The Greek church, and a good part of Christendom be-
sides, never received your service in an unknown tongue,
but in their own natural language, which all the people un-
derstand : neither yet your transubstaniiation, your receiv-
ing all alone, your purgatory, your images, &c. As for
the unity which is in your church, what is it else but trea-
son, murder, poisoning one another, idolatry, superstition,
wickedness ? What unity was in your church when there
were three popes at once? Where was your head of unity
when you had a woman pope?" Here he was interrupted by
Bonner exclaiming, " Roger, these thy words are very blas-
phemy; and by means of thy friends thou hast been suffered
to speak, and art over malapert to teach any here. There-
fore, keeper, have him away."

So Holland was taken back to prison, after telling them
a greater variety of unwelcome truths than they were usu-
ally in the habit of hearing. When he and the other pris-
oners were brought to their second examination, Chedsey
said, " Roger, I trust you have now better considered of
the church than you did before." He replied, " I consider
thus much: that out of the church there is no salvation, as
divers ancient doctors say." " That is well said," quoth
Bonner. " Mr. Eaglestone, I trust your kinsman will be
a good Catholic man. But, Roger, you mean, I trust, the
church of Rome?" Holland answered, "I mean that
church which hath Christ for its head ; which also hath his
word, and his sacraments according to his word and insti-
tutions." Chedsey interrupted him, by asking, " Is that a
Testament you have in your hand?" " Yea, master doctor,
it is the New Testament. You will find no fault with the
translation, I think. It is of your own translation ; it is
according to the great Bible." Bonner asked, " How do

ROGER HOLLAND. 307

you know it is the Testament of Christ, but only by the
church? For the church of Rome hath and doth preserve
it; and out of the same hath made decrees, ordinances, and
true expositions." " No," said Holland, " the church of
Rome hath and doth suppress the reading of the Testament.
And what a true exposition, I pray you, did the pope
make thereof, when he set his foot on the emperor's neck,
and said, ' Thou shalt walk upon the lion and the asp : the
young lion and the dragon shalt thou tread under thy
feet.' Psalm xci." Then said the bishop, " Such unlearn-
ed, wild-heads as thou and other would be expositors of
the scriptures ! Wilt thou, then, the ancient learned — as
there be some here as well as I — should be taught of you?"
Holland answered, "Youth delighteth in vanity. My wild-
ness hath been something more by your doctrine than ever
I learned out of this book of God. But, my lord, I sup-
pose some of the old doctors say, " If a poor layman bring
his reason and argument out of the word of God, he is to
be credited afore the learned, though they be never so great
doctors. For the gift of knowledge was taken from the
learned doctors, and given to poor fishermen. Notwith-
standing I am ready to be instructed by the church."

" That is very well said, Roger," replied Bonner : " but
you must understand that the church of Rome is the catho-
lic church. Roger, for thy friends' sake, I promise thee I
wish thee well, and I mean to do thee good. Keeper, see he
want nothing. Roger, if thou lack any money to comfort
thee, I will see thou shall not want." This was spoken to
him apart from his fellow-sufferers to win him over if pos-
sible : and so with many fair words, he was sent back to
his prison.

The last examination of this sensible and intrepid man,
was on the occasion of their being brought up for judgment.
All the rest were excommunicated, and ready to receive
sentence of death, while many threatening words were
used to strike terror into them. But a strong party of
Holland's kinsmen, including the lord Strange, Sir Thomas
Jarret, Mr. Eaglestone, and others of rank and property,
both in Cheshire, and Lancashire, with many friends, were
earnest suitors to spare his life. Bonner, who showed a
desire to do so, by winning him over to their way, made
this oration : ' Roger, I have divers time called thee before,
home to my house, and have conferred with thee ; and be-
ing not learned in the Latin tongue, it doth appear to me

308 ROGER HOLLAND.

thou art of a good memory, and of a very sensible talk,
but something over-hasty, which is a natural disease to
some men. And surely they are not the worst-natured
men ; for I myself shall now and then be hasty ; but mine
anger is soon past. So, Roger, surely I have a good opin-
ion of you, that you will not, with these loose fellows, cast
yourself, headlong from the church of your parents, and
your friends that are here; very good catholics as it is
reported unto me. And as I mean thee good, so, Roger,
play the wise man's part, and come home with the lost
son, and say, I have run into the church of schismatics and
heretics, from the catholic church of Rome ; and you shall,
I warrant you, not only find favour at God's hands, but the
church, that hath authority, shall absolve you, and put new
garments upon you, and kill the fatling to make thee
good cheer withal ; that is, in so doing, as meat doth re-
fresh and cherish the mind, so shalt thou find as much
quietness of conscience in coming home to the church, as
did the hungry son that had been fed afore with the hogs ;
as you have done with these heretics that sever themselves
from the church. I give them a homely name, but they
be worse than hogs :" and therewith he put his hand to his
cap : " for they know the church and will not follow it. If
I should say thus much to a Turk, he would, I think, be-
lieve me. But, Roger, if 1 did not bear thee and thy friends
good-will, I would not have said so much as I have done;
but I would have let mine ordinary alone with you."
At these words, the friends of Holland gave many thanks
to the bishop for his good-will, and the pains he had
taken on his behalf and theirs. He then went on : " Well
Roger, how say you ? Do you not believe that after the
priest hath spoken the words of consecration, there remain-
eth the body of Christ really, and corporally, under the
forms of bread and wine? I mean the self-same body that
was born of the virgin Mary, that was crucified upon the
cross, and rose again the third day."

Holland replied, " Your lordship saith, the same body
which was born of the virgin Mary, which was crucified
upon the cross, which rose again the third day: but you
leave out, which ascended into heaven; and the scripture
saith he shall there remain until he come to judge the quick
and the dead. Then he is not contained under the forms
of bread and wine, by the words Hoc est corpus meum.'^
" Roger," said the bishop, " I perceive my pains and good-

ROGER HOIiLAND. 309

will will not prevail; and if I should argue with thee, thou
art so wilful, as all thy fellows be, standing in thine own
singularity and foolish conceit, that thou wouldest still talk
to no purpose this seven years, if thou mightest be suffered.
Answer whether thou wilt confess the real and corporeal
presence of Christ's body in the sacrament, or wilt not."
" My lord," said the martyr, " although God, by his suffer-
ance, hath here placed you, to set forth his truth and glory
in us his faithful servants, notwithstanding, your meaning
is far from the zeal of Christ; and for all your words, you
have the same zeal that Annas and Caiaphas had, trusting
to their authority, traditions, and ceremonies, more than to
the word of God." Bonner remarked, " If I should suffer
him, he would fall from reasoning to raving, as a frantic
heretic." " Roger," said lord Strange, " I perceive my lord
would have you tell him whether you will submit yourself
to him or no." " Yea," added Bonner, " and confess this
presence that I have spoken of."

On this, Roger Holland, turning towards lord Strange
and his other friends, with a cheerful aspect, kneeled down,
and said, " God, by the mouth of his servant St. Paul, hath
said, ' Let every soul submit himself unto the higher pow-
ers: and he that resisteth, receiveth his own damnation :"
and as you are a magistrate, appointed by the will of God,
so do I submit myself unto you, and to all such as are
appointed for magistrates." "That is well said," observed
Bonner ; " I see you are no anabaptist. How say you then
to the presence of Christ's body and blood, in the sacra-
ment of^ the altar ?" Holland replied, " I say, and beseech
you all to remark and bear witness with me, for so you
shall do before the judgment seat of God, what I speak ; for
here is the conclusion. And ye, my dear friends, (turning
to his kinsmen) I pray you show my father what I do say,
that he may understand I am a Christian man. I say, and
believe, and am therein fully persuaded by the scriptures,
that in the sacrament of the supper of our Lord, minister-
ed in the holy communion according to Christ's institution,
I being penitent and sorry for my sins, and minding to
amend and lead a new life, and so coming worthily unto
God's board in perfect love and charity, do there receive
by faith the body and blood of Christ. And though Christ,
in his human nature, sit at the right hand of his Father,
yet by faith, I say, his death, his passion, his merits, are
mine; and by faith I dwell in him, and he in me. And as

310 ROGER HOLLAND,

for the mass, transubstantiation, and the worshipping of the
sacrament, they are mere impiety, and horrible idolatry."

" I thought as much," exclaimed Bonner, not suffering
him to speak any longer ; " how he would prove a very
blasphemous heretic as ever I heard. How unreverently
doth he speak of the blessed mass !" And straightway he
read the sentence of condemnation, adjudging him to be
burned. Holland heard it in silence, patiently and quietly;
and when about to be removed, he said, " My lord, I be-
seech you suffer me to speak two words." Bonner refused,
ordering him away; but on the intercession of one of his
friends, he said, " Speak ; what hast thou to say?" The mar-
tyr, just ready to be offered, then uttered these memorable
words: "Even now I told you your authority was from
God, and by his sufferance : and now I tell you, God hath
heard the prayer of his servants, which hath been poured
out with tears for his afflicted saints, which daily you per-
secute, as now you do us. But this I dare be bold in God
to speak, which by his Spirit I am moved to say, that God
will shorten your hand of cruelty, that for a time you shall
not molest his church. And this shall you in short time
perceive, my dear brethren, to be most true; for after this
day, in this place, shall there not be any by him put to the
trial of fire and fagot." Certain it is, that his words were
verified; for after Holland and his companions, no more
suffered in Smithtield for the testimony of the gospel.

The boasting tyrant, however, believed it not : he replied,
" Roger, thou art as mad in these thy heresies as ever was
Joan Boucher. In anger and fume thou wouldest become
a railing prophet. Though thou and all the sort of you
would see me hanged, yet I shall live to burn, yea, I will
burn all the sort of you that come in my hands, that will
not worship the blessed sacrament of the altar, for all thy
prattling." And then the bishop went out, in no small dis-
pleasure.

Holland next began to exhort his friends to repentance,
and to think well of them that suffered for the testimony of
the gospel. Bonner quickly came back, charging the keep-
er that no one should be permitted to speak to the prisoners
without his license; and that any who did should be com-
mitted to prison. Meanwhile, Holland and Henry Pond
continued to address the people, exhorting them to stand in
the truth; and adding, that God would shorten those cruel
and evil days for his elect's sake.

ROGER HOLLAND. 311

In their examination, the other six had borne a most open
and unflinching witness to the truth. They not only an-
swered affirmatively to all the articles that set forth their
utter dissent from the popish worship and doctrine, but
strengthened their protest as much as possible, by plain
denunciations of the errors and idolatry, in testifying against
which they were ready to yield up their lives. Only Rey-
nold Eastland refused to be sworn, alleging that although
to end a strife an oath is lawful, yet to begin a strife it is
not so. To this singular opinion he adhered ; but readily
consented to suffer whatever should be adjudged to his breth-
ren. When called on, at the last, to reconcile himself
again to the " catholic" faith, and go from his opinions, he
said he knew nothing why he should recant: and therefore
would not conform himself. So sentence was pronounced
on him. John Holiday being next called, said that he was
no heretic, neither held any heresy or any opinion contrary
to the catholic faith; but as he persisted in holding the
scriptural not the Romish faith to be the catholic, he too
was condemned. The others were disposed of in like man-
ner: Roger Holland being reserved to the last.

On the twenty-seventh of June the fire was prepared for
these brethren: and such was the dread entertained of their
influence over the people, that a proclamation was made
that day, forbidding any to be so bold as to speak or talk
any word unto them, or to receive any thing of them, on
pain of imprisonment without bail or mainprize, with other
cruel threatenings. Notwithstanding, the people cried out,
beseeching God to strengthen them; while the martyrs also
prayed for them, and for the restoring of God's word. At
last, Roger Holland, embracing the stake and the reeds,
spoke these words aloud: " Lord, I most humbly thank
Ihy majesty, that thou hast called me from the state of
death unto the light of thy heavenly word; and now unto
the fellowship of thy saints, that I may sing, and say, Holy,
holy, holy Lord God of hosts! And, Lord, into thy hands
I commit my spirit. Lord, bless these thy people, and save
them from idolatry." So, looking up to heaven, praying
to God and praising Him, he ended his life, with his dear
and faithful brethren.

Oh that all who have this world's good, would be ready to
bestow a portion on the poor victims of popish delusion, in the
spirit and with the object of the maid Elizabeth, when she
placed her thirty pounds in the hands of Roger Holland !

312 THOMAS HENSHAW — JOHN WILLES.

Six others of the company who were apprehended at
Islington were cruelly burnt at Brentford, shortly after
their brethren had been slain in Smithfield. These were
Robert Willes, Stephen Cotton, Robert Dynes,
Stephen Wright, John Slade, and William Pikes,
The articles were ministered to them by Bonner's chan-
cellor, Darbyshire, at various times, each having the
same articles objected against him separately: but their
answers were uniform, showing that one Spirit taught them
all. They declared, that as the rites, customs, and cere-
monies of the Romish religion were against the word of
God, they would observe no part of them : they would not
attend the church, so long as idolatry was there practised,
and a strange language used: they declared that if they
might receive the sacrament as they did in king Edward's
time, they would with all their hearts do so. On the final
examination, they were all brought up together, and asked
if they would turn from their opinions to the holy mother
church: they all answered that they would not go from the
truth, nor renounce any part of it while they lived. They
were sent back till the afternoon, when the chancellor sit-
ting in the pomp and pride of his office, with two of the
queen's household officers present, passed the murderous
sentence upon these poor lambs, delivering them up to the
appointed slaughterers. The same day he applied for a
writ; and caused the martyrs to be conveyed to Brentford,
and burned on the morrow. They went quietly and glad-
ly to the place, made their prayers to the Lord Jesus, un-
dressed themselves, and being bound to the stake, with
flames rising about them, yielded their souls into the hands
of their Saviour.

Before dismissing the story of these sufferers for God's
truth, we must relate what befell two of the seven who es-
caped the flames, out of these twenty-two, of whom thirteen
were burned. These were Thomas Henshaw, and John
Willes. The former was a youth of nineteen or twenty
years, apprenticed to a tradesman in Paul's church-yard.
After eight weeks' solitary imprisonment in Newgate,
Henshaw was sent for by Bonner to be examined by him,
Harpsfield, and Cole. He was remanded for three weeks
longer, then brought up again before Bonner, who had
with him much talk but to no purpose. The next day,
being Sunday, the bishop went to Fulham, in the after-
noon; and having, in the morning, made another unsuc-

THOMAS HENSHAW. 313

cessful attempt to shake the youth's constancy, he took
him there, and extended to him the hospitality which he
was wont to show God's people in that house, by setting
him in the stocks for the night, with a pittance of bread
and water. The next morning Bonner came to him, with
many persuasions, which took no effect on his steadfast
mind : so Harpsfield was sent for, to try his hand, who, after
a long discussion lost his temper, called him peevish boy;
asking him whether he thought he went about to destroy
his soul, and so forth. Henshaw answered, that he was
persuaded that they laboured to maintain their dark and
devilish kingdom ; and not from any love to truth. This
put Harpsfield into a mighty rage : he told the bishop ; who,
swelling with passion so as scarcely to be able to speak,
said, " Dost thou answer my archdeacon so, thou naughty
boy? I shall handle thee well enough, be assured." He
then sent for a couple of rods, and ordered the young man
to kneel down against a long bench, in an arbour in his
garden ; which he readily doing, the bishop beat and scour-
ged him, until his bloated and unwieldy body was so
wearied with that right catholic exercise, that he was fain
to give over, before he had quite wasted both his willow-
rods.

After this specimen of the tenderness with which the
holy mother church of Rome cherishes the lambs whom
she undertakes to lead back to her fold, articles were pre-
pared against Henshaw, and he was brought to examina-
tion in the chapel at Fulham. He kept a clear conscience,
not assenting to any of their idolatrous doctrines, though he
refused to answer to many of the artful questions propound-
ed. Soon after he fell sick of fever and ague, and Bonner,
who thought him at the point of death, was prevailed on to
give him into the care of his master, who must have pro-
duced him again on his recovery: but by the Lord's mer-
cy, he remained sick until after the accession of Elizabeth,
and so escaped. He was alive when Fox wrote the story,
and furnished him with the facts.

John Willes was brother to one of those burnt at Brent-
ford. He was examined with Henshaw, and shared his
lodging in the stocks, during eight or ten days, at Fulham;
and often was he questioned by Bonner, who, on those
occasions always held a stick in his hand, with which he
would rap him on the head, and strike him under the chin,
and on the ears, saying he looked down like a thief. One

MABTYROLOGY.-— vol,. II. 27

314 WILLES YEOMAN.

day, after trying all ways to make him revoke, the bishop
asked him when he had crept to the cross : he answered,
not since he came to years of discretion, neither would he,
though he should be torn by wild horses. Then Bonner
ordered him to make a cross on his forehead, which he
refused to do, and thereupon he was taken to the orchard,
placed in the arbour, and obliged to strip his back, while
Bonner scourged him with a willow rod, until it was worn
to a stump ; then he called for one of birch, and used it in
like manner, as long as he could raise his arm. After this,
Willes was examined with Henshaw at Fulham chapel, but
little to the bishop's contentment : for he sent to the prison
an old priest lately come from Rome, to conjure the evil
spirit out of him; at whom and his incantations, Willes
only laughed. Bonner took great pains with him, talking
a vast deal of the most childish nonsense, by way of ex-
pounding scripture, but all in vain. One of his speeches
was this : " They call me bloody Bonner: a vengeance on
you all, I would fain be rid of you, but you have a delight in
burning. If I might have my will, I would sew your
mouths and put you in sacks to drown you."

At last Willes was delivered: not by any relentings on
Bonner's part, but by the perseverance of his wife, who
came to the house, and declared she would not stir from it
until her husband was given up to her. She was in a
condition to render her rather an inconvenient and awk-
ward guest in the palace: so for fear of what might hap-
pen, Bonner was forced to release his prisoner from the
stocks, and let him go, for a day, as he said; but it was
managed to get him fully delivered, by signing a paper that
contained nothing contrary to his faith. The happy change
of affairs soon after placed Bonner's captives in glad secu-
rity; while he, iu)prisoned in the Marshalsea, with liberty
to go out, but never daring to pass its gates for fear of the
people's vengeance, lived a long while in gluttony, drunk-
enness, and every sinful excess, and died a confirmed in-
fidel.

The next martyr who comes under review is Richard
Yeoman, a devout old minister, who had long been curate
to good Dr. Rowland Taylor, at Hadleigh. That blessed
martyr left his parish in Yeoman's charge: but the succes-
sor appointed to the cure, Newall, soon drove away the
godly teacher, and set a right popish curate in his place,
to maintain and enforce the doctrine of his evil patrons,

KICHARD YEOMAN JOHN DALK. 315

which they thought to be now fully established. Expelled
from his home, the aged pastor wandered from place to
place, exhorting all the brethren whotti he met to stand
faithfully to God's word, to give themselves earnestly unto
prayer, patiently bearing the cross now laid on them for
their trial, and boldly confessing the truth before their ad-
versaries, and with undoubting hope waiting for the crown
and reward of eternal felicity. When he perceived the ene-
my was lying in wait to seize him, he procured a little
basket of laces, pins, and other such small merchandize,
with which he went into Kent, travelling from one village
to another, selling his humble wares, and by this poor shift
getting a trifle towards the sustenance of himself, his help-
less wife, and children. While thus he passed through
Kent, a certain justice of that county took him, and kept
him for a day and night in the stocks ; but having no evi-
dence against him, was obliged to let him go. Yeoman
then returned to Hadleigh, coming privately and cautiously ;
and for more than a year his poor faithful wife concealed
him in a chamber of the town house. Here the patient old
man, now nearly seventy years of age, remained, spend-
ing his time in devout prayer and reading the scriptures;
and in carding wool which his wife spun. She also went
out to beg bread and meat for herself and the children: and
by such poor means they contrived to exist. This was the
lot of God's saints, while the prophets of Baal lived in jollity,
and were pampered at Jezebel's table.

At length Newall discovered the retreat of his victim,
and taking with him the bailiffs' deputies and servants,
came in the night time, breaking open five doors to reach
the place where Yeoman was in bed with his wife and chil-
dren. The persecutor immediately uttered some gross and
slanderous language against them, founded on the wicked
rule of priestly celibacy, and behaved with savage insult
to the poor gentlewoman; while her husband, in the spirit
of his martyred friend Rowland Taylor, replied, " Nay,
parson, no ill character, but a married man and his wife,
according unto God's ordinance ; and blessed be God for
lawful matrimony. I thank God for this great grace, and
I defy the pope and all his popery." He was then led to
the cage, and placed in the stocks until day. Here he
found another aged sufferer, named John Dale, who had
been there three or four days, because when Newall and
his curate openly performed the Romish service in the

316 JOHN DALE.

church, he publicly reproved their blindness, idolatry, and
cruelty to God's martyrs. They were both brought to-
gether before Sir Henry Doyle, a justice of the peace, and
Nevvall urged him to commit them to prison. Sir Henry
strove hard to move the inhuman man to pity: representing
their age, their poverty, that they were no preachers, nor
men of great repute : wherefore he besought him to be con-
tent to punish them for a day or two, and then to let them
go ; at least Dale, who was no priest, and who had sat so
long in the cage that it seemed punishment enough. At
this the vicar went into a great rage, calling them pestilent
heretics, unfit to live in a commonwealth of Christians; and
finally demanded of Sir Henry that he should, according
to his office, defend holy church, and help to suppress these
sects of heretics which were false to God, and boldly set
themselves, to the evil example of others, against the
queen's gracious proceedings. Sir Henry seeing he could
do no good, and knowing that it was at his own peril if he
stood between the Lord's sheep and the wolves who were
whetting their teeth to rend them, was forced to make out
a commitment to Bury gaol, whither the constables carried
them both. The justices were, in fact, though armed with
the sword of civil power, as much in fear of every shaven
crown as Pilate was of Annas and Caiaphas, and the pha-
risaical generation who cried out, " Crucify him. Crucify
him. If thou let this man go, thou art not Csesar's friend."
Such is the policy of that unfathomable mystery of iniquity,
the Romish church : and so will it ever be where that church
is ascendant. Magistrates, and laymen of every degree,
must needs be slaves and vassals to the popish bishops ; as
was Sir Henry Doyle now proved to be, when, sorely
against his conscience, he permitted the two innocent vic-
tims to be bound like thieves, placed on horseback with
their legs tied under the horses' bodies, taken to prison, and
there heavily ironed. All this could not prevent their re-
buking the anti-christian apostasy; so that they were thrust
into the lowest dungeon, where Dale soon died, and was
cast forth, and put into a hole dug in the fields. He was a
weaver, well learned in the holy scripture, and steadfast in
maintaining the true doctrine set forth in king Edward's
time. For it he joyfully suffered prison and fetters; and
from an earthly dungeon departed to a mansion of eternal
glory, where Christ is the light of his people for ever-
more.

JOHN ALCOCK. 317

When Dale was dead, Mr. Yeoman was removed to Nor-
wich, and very cruelly handled in that prison. When
brought to examination, he steadfastly declared himself to
be of the faith and confession set forth by the holy king Ed-
ward the Sixth, of blessed memory; and from that he would
nothing vary. Being required to submit himself to the
holy father, the pope, he replied, " I defy him, and all his
detestable abominations: I will in no wise have to do with
him, nor any thing that appertaineth to him." The chief
articles objected against him were his marriage, and the
mass sacrifice: and as he continued immovable in the truth,
he was condemned, degraded, and not only burnt, but most
barbarously tormented in the fire. He ended his life of
sorrow, want, and pain, to enjoy with Lazarus, in the bo-
som of Abraham, the sweet rest and quietness that God
hath prepared for his saints.

Another martyr of Hadleigh was John Alcock. He
was a shearman, a young man, and in the employ of a per-
son named Rolfe. He had been accustomed to the Eng-
lish service in Hadleigh church : and when Newall came
there with his procession, Alcock stood by, neither moving
his cap, nor doing any sort of reverence to the idol which
they carried. Newall seeing this, in a fit of devout rage
ran after him as he left the church, seized him, and called
for the constable. Then came up Rolfe, and asked the
priest what his servant had done to make him so angry.
Newall replied, " He is a heretic and a traitor, and despiseth
the queen's proceedings. Wherefore I command you, in
the queen's name, have him in the stocks, and see he be
forthcoming." " Well," answered Rolfe, " he shall be
forthcoming. Proceed you in your business, and be quiet."
" But," the priest repeated, " have him in the stocks." " [
am constable," said Rolfe, " and may bail him, and will
bail him : he shall not come in the stocks ; but he shall be
forthcoming." So the priest returned to his holy proces-
sion, and celebrated his mass.

Rolfe said to his young man, " I am sorry for thee, for
truly the parson will seek thy destruction, if thou take not
good heed what thou answerest him." " Sir," answered
Alcock, " I am sorry that it is my hap to be a trouble to
you. As for myself I am not sorry; but I do commit my-
self into God's hands, and I trust he will give me a mouth
and wisdom to answer according to right." " Well," re-
peated Rolfe, " yet beware of him; for he is malioious, and'
27*

318 TH03IAS BENBRIDGE.

a blood-sucker, and beareth an old hatred against me; and
he will handle you the nnore cruelly, because of displeasure
against me." The young man replied, " I fear him not.
He shall do no more to me than God will give him leave;
and happy shall I be, if God will call me to die for his
truth's sake."

After this discourse, they went to the priest, who at once
asked him, " Fellow, what sayest thou to the sacrament of
the altar?" " I say," answered he, " as ye use the matter,
ye make a shameful idol of it : and ye are false, idolatrous
priests, all the sort of you." " I told you he was a stout
heretic," remarked Newall. He committed him for the
night, to prison, and next day, riding up to London, took
the young man with him, who, after long confinement in
Newgate, with repeated examinations and many troubles,
remaining steadfast, was cast into the lowest dungeon, where
he died. His body was buried in a dunghill.

Thomas Benbridge was a gentleman of good estate, in
the diocese of Winchester, where he had means to live as
easy and luxurious a life as any: but the Lord gave him
grace to prefer the reproach of Christ before all the joys
of this world, and to seek an entrance through the strait
gate of persecution into the heavenly kingdom. He stood
manfully against the papists for the defence of the gospel,
conforming himself to it in all things. He was, of course,
apprehended, as an enemy to the Romish religion, and sus-
tained many conflicts with White, the bishop of Winches-
ter, and his colleagues. He objected against their baptism,
as not being ministered in the English tongue; denied tran-
substantiation; condemned confession to the priest; declared
he believed not the bishops to be successors of the apostles,
for that they be not called as they were, nor have that
grace; asserted that not the pope but the devil was supreme
head of their church; rejected purgatory; and said that
Martin Luther died a good Christian man, whose doctrine
and life he approved.

He was condemned, and when brought to the place of
execution cheerfully prepared himself for the fire, dividing
his clothes, which were befitting a wealthy gentleman,
among those who claimed them, and was made fast to the
stake. While he stood quietly there, his hands joined toge-
ther. Dr. Seaton came and exhorted him to recant; but he
answered, " Away, Babylonian, away." A bystander pro-
posed to cut out his tongue, and another railed most vio-

BENBRIDGE — AND OTHERS. 319

lently at him: but finding no prospect of prevailing, they
devised to torture him with such slow burning, that it pro-
cured them a short triumph over his constancy; for, having
kept on his hose, which were of leather, when the fire, that
burned him elsewhere without causing him to shrink, got
hold on them, the agony produced by that heated leather
was so intolerable, that he cried out," I recant," and thrust
the fire from him; while a few of his friends who stood by,
at their own peril stepping into the fire, helped him out of
it. For this they were sent to prison. The sheriff" also,
on his own responsibility, had him taken from the stake,
and re-conducted to prison: and he was likewise sent to the
Fleet for his humanity. Before Benbridge was removed,
Seaton wrote articles of recantation, and offered them for
his signature; but he objected so strongly that the doctor
commanded him to be again put into the fire. He ihen,
very unwillingly, and with great grief, subscribed the paper,
which was laid on a man's back; and so had his gown
given to him again, and went to his prison, whence he wrote
a letter to Seaton, revoking what he had said at the stake,
and what he had subscribed. From this resolution none
could move him: and after suffering a week's pain from
the burns he had received, he was once more taken to the
fire, where he endured all the slow torments that their bar-
barity could inflict, and died a martyr.

Next, the persecutors burned four of God's servants at
St. Edmund's Bury, by sentence of Hopton, bishop of Nor-
wich. They were John Cooke, a sawyer ; Robert Miles,
a shearman; Alexander Lane, a wheelwright; and a
young man named James Ashley. They all answered
very boldly, clearly, and decidedly, to the bishop and his
helpers; and being condemned, suffered together gladly in
the fire, in the month of August, just before the Lord
stretched forth his hand to smite queen Mary with the sick-
ness that proved to be unto death.

There was one Noone, a justice in Suffolk, who did good
service to the antichristian church, by hunting out and
destroying God's people. He heard of two, Alexander
GoucH, of Woodbridge, and Alice Driver, the wife of a
man dwelling at Grosborough, near which he resided; and
learning that they were then both in the neighbourhood, he
commenced a careful search for them. The poor people
went into a heap of hay to hide themselves; but by piercing
it with pitchforks, the adversaries discovered and took them

320 ALICE DRIVER.

to Molton gaol; and thence to the assizes at Bury, where
they stood most boldly to the confession of Christ crucified,
rejecting the pope and all his pernicious doings. Alice
Driver was particularly earnest: and for likening queen
Mary in her persecutions to Jezebel, who slew the prophets
of the Lord, the presiding judge ordered her ears to be cut
off, which was done; she cheerfully submitting to it. After
this they were taken back to Molton; and last to Ipswich
for examination before Spenser, then chancellor of Nor-
wich, Like Woodman, Alice Driver certainly used great
plainness of speech, putting her thoughts into language as
unceremonious as it was true. She entered the presence
of her judges with a smiling countenance; on which the
chancellor exclaimed, " Why, woman, dost thou laugh us
to scorn?" She answered, "Whether I do or no, I might
well enough, to see what fools ye be." He then demanded
why she was brought before him, and for what she had
been laid in prison; she said he knew better than she; but
he declared he did not ; on which she observed, " Then
have ye done me much wrong, thus to imprison me, and
know no cause why:" adding a declaration of her innocence.
Spenser then asked her, " Woman, woman, what sayest
thou to the blessed sacrament of the altar ? Dost thou not
believe that it is very flesh and blood, after the words be
spoken of consecration ?" To this she gave no reply: so a
great priest standing by, asked her why she answered not
the chancellor? She turned short upon him, telling him
she came not to talk with him, but with his master. The
chancellor then ordered her to speak, and she said, " Sir,
pardon me though I make no answer, for I cannot tell what
you mean thereby: for in all my life I never heard or read
of any such sacrament in all the scripture." " Why, what
scriptures have you read, I pray you ?" said Spenser. " 1
have, I thank God, read God's book," she replied. " Why,
what manner of book is that you call God's book ?" " It
is the Old and New Testament: what call you it?" "That
is God's book indeed, I cannot deny," said the chancellor.
Alice went on: the same book I have read throughout,
but you never could find any such sacrament there : and
for that cause I cannot make you answer to that thing I
know not. Notwithstanding, for all that, I will grant you
a sacrament, called the Lord's supper: and therefore see-
ing I have granted you a sacrament, I pray you show me
what a sacrament is." Spenser replied, " It is a sign :"

ALICE DRIVER. 321

and one Dr. Gascoigne standing by, confirmed it, saying
that it was the sign of a holy thing. " You have said the
truth, sir," said Alice, " it is a sign indeed, I must needs
grant it : and therefore, seeing it is a sign, it cannot be the
thing signified also. Thus far we do agree; for I have
granted your own saying." Gascoigne then made a long
speech, setting forth his offensive doctrine; and in conclu-
sion asked her if she did not believe the omnipolency of
God, and that he was almighty, and able to perform that
he spake. She answered that she believed he was able to
perlbrm all that he spake and promised. He then urged
the usual argument, that Christ saying, "This is my body,"
was able to make the bread what he declared it to be : but
she denied that he had ever said he would do so. She asked,
" Was it not bread that he gave unto them ?" " No, it was
his body." " Then was it his body they did eat overnight"
said she. " Yea, it was his body," answered the doctor.
" What body was it then that was crucified the next day?"
demanded Alice. " It was Christ's body," replied the doc-
tor. " How could that be," said she, " when the disciples
had eaten him overnight? except he had two bodies, as by
your argument he had : one they did eat overnight, and the
other was crucified the next day! Such a doctor, such a
doctrine! Be you not ashamed to teach the people that
Christ had two bodies?" She then quoted St. Luke and
St. Paul; adding, " I marvel you blush not, before all this
people to lie so manifestly as ye do." The doctor had not
another word to say: and the chancellor lifting his head
from his cushion, commanded the gaoler to take her away.
*' Now," said Alice, " that ye be not able to resist the truth,
ye command me to prison again! Well ; the Lord in the
end shall judge our cause, and to him I leave it. I wis, I
wis, this gear will go for no payment then."

On the following day she was taken before them again,
when the chancellor asked her what she said to the blessed
sacrament of the altar. She replied, " I will say nothing
to it ; for you will neither believe me nor yourselves. For
yesterday, I asked you what a sacrament was, and you
said it was a sign, and I agreed thereto, and said it was the
truth, confirming it by the scriptures ; so that I went not
from your own words. And now ye come and ask me
again of such a sacrament as I told you I never read of in
the scriptures." To this the chancellor replied, " Thou
liest, naughty woman ; we did not say that it was a sign."

322 ALEXANDER GOUCH.

" Why, masters," she exclaimed, " be ye not the men that
you were yesterday? Will ye eat your own words? Are
you not ashamed to lie before all this multitude here pre-
sent, who heard you speak the same?" Then Dr. Gas-
coigne stood up, and said she was deceived, for there were
three churches, the malignant church, the church militant,
and the church triumphant : but when he tried to make
something out of this text, he was bewildered and could not
get on. Alice asked him to show her a place in the scrip-
tures, where these churches were mentioned ; which he un-
dertook to do, but of course failed. He pretended to search
about him for a New Testament, but not producing any,
Alice asked him, " Have ye none here, sir?" He said,
" No ;" and she proceeded, " I thought so much indeed,
that ye were little acquainted withal. Surely ye be a good
doctor : you say you sit here to give judgment according
to the law; and how can you give judgment, and have not
the book of the law with you ?" Gascoigne, who seemed
greatly out of countenance, asked her if she had one; she
answered. No. " Then," said he, " I am as good a doctor as
you." She replied, " Well, sir, I had one, but you took it
from me, as you would take me from Christ if you could,
and since would not suffer me to have any book at all, so
burning is your charity. But you may well know, I thank
God, that I have exercised the same ; else could I not have
answered you, to God's glory be it spoken, as I have."
The doctors looked one to another, but no one attempted
to say a word. The martyr waited a while, then resumed:
" Have you no more to say? God be honoured, you be not
able to resist the Spirit of God in me, a poor woman. I was
an honest poor man's daughter, never brought up in the
university as you have been ; but I have driven the plough
before my father many a time, I thank God. Yet, not-
withstanding, in the defence of God's truth, and in the
cause of my Master, Christ, by his grace I will set my foot
against the foot of any of you all, in the maintenance and
defence of the same : and if I had a thousand lives, they
should go for payment thereof." So the wretched chan-
cellor, unable to answer this fearless champion of God's
verity, rose, read in Latin the sentence condemning her to the
flames, and committed her to the secular power. Alice then
returned to her prison, praising and glorifying the name of
God, as joyful as the bird of day.

Alexander Gouch was chiefly examined on the sacra-

VARIOUS MARTYRS. 323

ments and ceremonies of their church; and for rejecting
these, with the pope's supremacy, he was condemned also.
On the fourth of JNfovember, the month of England's happy-
deliverance from queen Mary, these two were brought to
the stake at Ipswich, and their martyrdom was marked by
the foulest act of impious tyranny that liad been perpe-
trated: for the sheriff, one Sir Henry Dowell, would not
allow them to pray. They had come six miles that morn-
ing, singing all the vvay, to their death; and when they
kneeled down on a broom fagot, to commend themselves
to God, this monster commanded the bailiff" to stop them,
and to nail them instantly to the stake. Still they prayed :
and the sheriff sent one of his men to them, with an order
to leave off. Gouch stood up, and said, " I pray you, mas-
ter sheriff, let us pray a while, for we have but a little time
to live here." But he cried, " Come ofl'; have them to the
fire." They both said, " Why, master sheriff, and master
bailiff, will you not suffer us to pray?" " Away!" repeated
Sir Henry; " to the stake with them." Gouch said, " Take
heed, master sheriff; if you forbid prayer, the vengeance
of God hangeth over your heads." They were immediately
fastened to the stake ; and when the chain was passed round
Alice Driver's neck, "Oh," said she, " here is a goodly
neckerchief; blessed be God for it!"

All being ready, several persons came and took them by
the hand, as they stood at the stake; whom the sherifT no
sooner saw, than he called out, " Lay hands on them — lay
hands on them!" On hearing this, so great a number of
people ran to the stake, that he thought it more prudent
not to molest them, -so none were taken. The Lord's arm
was already uplifted to smite the destroyer of his people ;
and surely such a scene as this did not retard the blow. It
was observed, that a fellow named Bate, a barber in Ips-
wich, was particularly bitter and violent against those mar-
tyrs ; and, having on him a frieze gown at the time, he
presently sold it, saying it stank of heretics. Very shortly
after, he died miserably; and the people failed not to trace
a just judgment in the event.

At Bury, a few days after this, were burned for God's
word, Philip Humfrey, John David, and Henry Da-
vid ; the two last being brothers. At the time of their
condemnation, the queen was given over; yet did the blood-
thirsty persecutor, Higham, sue out a writ, and make all
haste to dispatch them, while yet the power to murder God's
saints remained in the bauds of their enemies.

324 PREST.

Another victim, the exact date of whose suffering is not
precisely known, gave striking evidence of the power of
divine grace, working in one of the weakest of God's crea-
tures. Her name was Prest; she dwelt near Launcesion,
and was the wife of a man in humble life. Her husband
and children were greatly addicted to popery, who often
rebuked and grieved her, because her mind was greatly
alienated from the evil way in which they delighted. They
drove her to mass, to confession, and to return thanks for
the re-establishment of antichrist's kingdom in the land ;
and when, after long trouble for conscience' sake, she made
her earnest prayer to God for help and direction, she was
led to resolve on forsaking all, and committing herself to
the world, rather than thus to dishonour the Lord by join-
ing in their idolatrous doings. Accordingly she departed,
taking nothing with her, and by labour and spinning earned
enough to support herself, still openly declaring her mind,
wherever she could. After a time, however, some officious
persons brought her home to her husband, where the neigh-
bours soon accused of her heresy, and had her taken be-
fore the bishop of Exeter, who said, " Thou foolish woman,
I hear say that thou hast spoken certain words against the
most blessed sacrament of the altar, the body of Christ.
Fie for shame: thou art an unlearned person, and a wo-
man, and wilt thou meddle with such high matters, which
all the doctors in the world cannot define? Wilt thou talk
of so high mysteries 1 Keep thy work, and meddle with that
thou hast to do. It is no woman's matter, at cards and
low to be spoken of. And if it be as I am informed, thou
art worthy to be burned." She replied, that she was a poor
woman, earning a penny truly, and giving part of what she
got to the poor: and on his asking whether she had not a
husband, she said, she had a husband and children, and
had them not. So long as she was at liberty, she refused
neither husband nor children; "but now standing here as
I do," said she, " in the cause of Christ and his truth,
where I must either forsake Christ or my husband, I am
contented to stick only to Christ, my heavenly Spouse, and
renounce the other." Here she quoted the words of our
Lord, " He that leaveth not father or mother," &c. : but the
bishop interrupted her, saying that Christ spake it of the holy
martyrs, which died because they would not do sacrifice to
the false gods. " Surely, sir," she answered, " and I will
rather die than I will do any worship to that foul idol which
with your mass you make a god." The bishop, in a rage,

PREST. 325

asked if she would so call the sacrament of the altar ; she
replied, " Yea, truly, there never was such an idol as your
sacrament is made of your priests, and commanded to be
worshipped of all men, with many fond fantasies, when
Christ did command it to be eaten and drunken in remem-
brance of his most blessed passion for our redemption."
After some scolding from the bishop, she asked his leave
to give a reason for refusing to worship the sacrament ; and
he replied, " Marry, say on ; I am sure it will be goodly
gear." " Truly, such gear as I will lose this poor life of
mine for," said she. " Then you will be a martyr, good
wife?" " Indeed, if the denying to worship that bready
god be my martyrdom, I will suffer it with all my heart."
The bishop desired her to say her mind, and after re-
questing him to bear with her, as a poor woman, she thus
spoke. " I will demand of you, whether you can deny
your creed, which doth say that Christ perpetually doth sit
at the right hand of his Father, both body and soul, until
he come again, or whether he be there in heaven, our Ad-
vocate, and do make prayer for us unto God, his Father?
If it be so, he is not here on the earth in a piece of bread.
If he be not here, and if he do not dwell in temples made
with hands, but in heaven, what, shall we seek him here?
If he did offer his body, once for all, why make you a new
offering? If with once offering he made all perfect, why
do you, with a false offering, make all unperfect? If he be
to be worshipped in spirit and in truth, why do you worship
a piece of bread? If^ he be eaten and drunken in faith and
truth, if his flesh be not profitable to be among us, why do
you say you make his body and flesh, and say it is profit-
able for body and soul? Alas, I am a poor woman; but
rather than I would do as you do, I would live no longer,
I have said, sir." The only answer the bishop could give,
was, "I promise you, you are a jolly protestant. I pray
you in what schools have you been brought up?" She re-
plied, " I have upon the Sundays visited the sermons, and
there have I learned such things as are so fixed in my
breast, that death itself shall not separate them." " O fool-
ish woman !" said the bishop, " who will waste his breath
upon thee, or such as thou art? But how chanceth it that thou
went away from thy husband? If thou wert an honest wo-
man, thou wouldst not have left thy husband and children,
and run about the country as a fugitive." " Sir," she replied,
" I laboured for my living; and as my Master, Christ,

MARTYROLOGY. VOL. II. 28

326 PREST,

counselleth me, when I was persecuted in one city, I fled
into another." " Who persecuted thee?" " My husband
and my children. For when I would have them to leave
idolatry, and to worship God in heaven, he would not hear
me, but he with his children rebuked me, and troubled me.
I fled not for unchastity, nor for theft, but because I would be
no partaker of that foul idol, the mass. And wheresoever
I was, as oft as I could, upon Sundays and holidays, I made
excuses not to go to the popish church." " Belike then,"
said the bishop, " thou art a good housewife, to flee from
your husband, and also from the church." " My house-
wifry is but small," said the simple, faithful creature, " but
God give me grace to go to the true church !" " The true
church?" repeated the bishop: "what dost thou mean?"
" Not your popish church, full of idols and abominations ;
but where two or three are gathered together in the name
of God, to that church will I go, as long as I live." " Be-
like then you have a church of your own," observed the
bishop : " well let this mad woman be put down to prison,
until we send for her husband." " No," she replied, " I
have but one Husband, which is here already in this city,
and in prison with me ; from whom I will never depart."
Blackstone, the chancellor, with others, laboured to per-
suade the bishop that the poor creature was crazed : which
was no strange thing, seeing how the wisdom of God ap-
pears foolishness to the carnal mind. They agreed among
themselves to let her have some liberty ; and directed the
keeper of the bishop's prison to give her employment in his
house, as a servant; which she cheerfully performed, hav-
ing leave to go out into the city when she would, and find-
ing many who delighted to talk with her. However, her
bold speaking against the mass-worship annoyed the govern-
ing party greatly: they sent for her husband to take her
home, but she refused to go with him, lest it should blem-
ish the cause wherein she stood. Then a good party of
priests took it in hand to persuade her from her wicked
opinions, but with as little success. She told them their
sacrament was nothing but very bread and wine; and that
they might be ashamed to say that a piece of bread should
be turned by a man into the natural body of Christ; which
bread doth corrupt, and mice oftentimes do eat it, and it
doth mould, and is burned. "And," said she, " God's own
body will not be so handled, nor kept in prison, or boxes,
or such like. Let it be your god, it shall not be mine; foi
my Saviour sitteth on the right hand of God, and doth pray

PREST. 327

for me. And to make that sacramental or significative
bread, instituted for a remembrance, the very body of
Christ, and to worship it, is very foolishness and devilish de-
ceit." They remarked. The devil had deceived her. " No,"
said she, " I trust the living God hath opened mine eyes,
and caused me to understand the right use of the blessed
sacrament, which the true church doth use, but the false
church doth abuse." Then stepped forth an old friar, and
asked her what she said of the holy pope? She answered,
" I say that he is antichrist, and the devil :" whereat they all
laughed. "Nay," continued she, "you have more need
to weep than to laugh, and to be sorry that ever you
were born to be chaplains of that harlot of Babylon : I defy
him and all his falsehood. And get you away from me:
you do but trouble my conscience. You would have me
follow your doings; I will first lose my life. I pray you
depart."

" Why, thou foolish woman," said they, " we come to
thee for thy profit and soul's health." She asked what
profit could arise by them who taught nothing but lies for
truth: or how could they save souls, who preached nothing
but lies dangerous to destroy souls. " You teach them,"
she said, " to worship idols, stocks and stones, the works of
men's hands; and to worship a false god of your own
making out of a piece of bread; and teach that the pope is
God's vicar, and hath power to forgive sins; and that there is
a purgatory, whereas God's Son hath by his death, purged
all. You say you make God and sacrifice him, when
Christ's body was a sacrifice once for all. Do you not
teach the people to number their sins in your ears, and say
they be damned if they confess not all: when God's word
saith, 'Who can number his sins?' Do you not promise
them trentals, and dirges, and masses for souls, and sell
your prayers for money, and make them buy pardons, and
trust to such foolish inventions of your own imaginations?
Do you not altogether against God? Do ye not teach us
to pray upon beads, and to pray unto saints, and say they
can pray for us? Do you not make holy bread, and holy
water to frighten devils? Do you not a thousand more
abominations? And yet you say you come for my profit,
and to save my soul. No, no; One hath saved me. Fare-
well you with your salvation." And no better encourage-
ment could they get from her.

One day, using her liberty, this extraordinary woman,
who never put the smallest restraint on her tongue when

328 PREST.

popery came in her way, walked into St. Peter's church,
in Exeter, and there found a Dutch sculptor busily engaged
in fitting new noses upon some of the graven images that
had been disfigured in king Edward's days. She accosted
him with, " What a madman art thou, to make them new
noses, which within a few days shall all lose their heads !"
The Dutchman accused her for this; besides reviling her.
But she had scripture for retorting upon his false church
the disgraceful name that he applied to her. However,
from this time, she was laid fast in prison, and allowed no
more indulgence. Many came to see her during her im-
prisonment; and all received instruction. To one, who had
been a faithful preacher in Edward's days, but recanted
through fear, she addressed strong and affectionate exhor-
tations to be more bold in Christ's cause. Among others,
came a wealthy and accomplished gentlewoman, who was
disposed towards the truth : to her, Prest recited the creed ;
and on coming to the words, " he ascended into heaven,"
she there paused, and bade the lady seek his body in hea-
ven, not upon earth; telling her plainly that God dwelleth
not in temples made with hands; and that the sacrament
was for nothing else but to be a remembrance of his bless-
ed passion : whereas, as they used it, it was but an idol,
and far wide from any remembrance of Christ's body;
" which," said she, " will not long continue: and so, take
it, good mistress." The lady on returning to her husband
said that in her life she never heard a woman, of such sim-
plicity to behold, talk so godly, so perfectly, so sincerely,
and so earnestly. Adding, " Insomuch, if God were not
with her, she could not speak such things, to the which I
am not able to answer her, who can read, and she cannot."
The like testimony was borne by all who resorted to her.
While the adversaries assailed her character and afflicted
her body, always asserting that she was out of her wits,
the Lord mightily strengthened and aided her, giving proof
to many of her great wisdom in spiritual things, and per-
fect knowledge of scripture, though in what pertained to the
present life she was simple as a child. At last, tired of
fruitless attempts to move her constancy, they brought
against her the new charge of being an anabaptist, and had
her again before the bishop upon it. She was sent from
one prison to another; and some gentlemen of the place
urged her to make a submission, and go home to her family,
telling her she was an unlearned woman, and unable to
answer in such high matters. She admitted this, saying,

THE LAST MARTYRS. 329

" Yet with my death I am content to be a witness of Christ's
death: and I pray you make no longer delay with me; my
heart is fixed ; I will never otherwise say, nor turn to their
superstitious doings." Then the bishop observed, the devil
did lead her. " No, my lord," said she, " it is the Spirit
of God which leadeth me." There was one vile fellow,
Blaxton, treasurer of the church, who used, when in com-
pany with a disgraceful female associate, to send for the
martyr to his house, and make great sport of her earnest
replies and admonitions, while he mocked at and reviled
the truth. For a long time this continued: at last they all
became anxious to get rid of her, so passed the judgment,
and delivered her to the temporal officers. When she had
heard the whole sentence read, which detailed the manner
of her approaching death, the poor happy Christian lifted
up her voice and praised God, saying, " I thank thee, my
Lord, my God ; this day have I found what I have long
sought." Great mockings and outcries then assailed her,
which she patiently bore; and again they pretended, that
if she would recant, her life should still be spared. She
answered, " No, that will I not: God forbid that I should
lose the life eternal for this carnal and short life. 1 will
never turn from my Heavenly Husband to my earthly hus-
band: from the fellowship of angels to mortal children:
and if my husband and children be faithful, then am I
theirs. God is my father; God is my mother; God is my
sister, my brother, my kinsman ; God is my friend most
faithful."

She was then delivered to the sheriff, and in the sight of
innumerable people was led to execution, without the walls
of Exeter. Again the priests assaulted her, but she desired
them to have no more talk with her, and went on praying,
" God be merciful to me a sinner : God be merciful to me
a sinner !" Her cheerful countenance and lively manner
showed her as one prepared to attend the marriage-supper
of the Lamb: and to Him she went, having long had sharp
trial of bitter mockings, and then of burning flames: but
the Refiner sat by, to watch his precious metal, and secured
it for himself.

Canterbury was chosen to be the scene of the last cruel
murder perpetrated openly in these realms by judicial au-
thority, on Christ's people, for His name's sake. Five
Christians were burned at that place, within six days before
England's happy deliverance of queen Mary. These were
28*

330 THE LAST MARTYRS.

John Corneford, ofWortham; John Hurst, of Ashford ;
Christopher Brown, of Maidstone ; Alice Snoth ; and
an aged woman, named Katiierine Tinley. They crown-
ed the mighty pile of slaughtered saints that had been accu-
mulating, from the martyrdom of blessed John Rogers, on
the fourth of February, 1555, to this tenth of November,
1558.

It is said that Harpsfield, knowing the hopeless state of
the Queen, made all possible haste from London to Can-
terbury, to dispatch these victims, lest by deferring their
fate for a little while he should lose the opportunity of add-
ing yet this butchery to the long and fearful list recorded
against his soul. His character renders it but too probable:
howsoever it may be, he has long since gone to his terrible
account. The five martyrs above named were chiefly con-
demned for denying transubstantiation, maintaining that an
evil man does not receive Christ in the communion, and
denouncing as idolatrous the worship of images and saints.
When the sentence of excommunication was read against
them, John Corneford, filled with holy zeal against the
blasphemous abominations that they had good cause to hope
were now about to be expelled from this weary land, thus
uttered a counter-excommunication. " In the name of our
Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Most Mighty God, and
by the power of His Holy Spirit, and the authority of His
holy, catholic, and apostolic church, we do here give into
the hands of Satan, to be destroyed, the bodies of all these
blasphemers and heretics that do maintain any error against
his most holy word, or do condemn his most holy faith for
heresy, to the maintenance of any false church, or feigned
religion : so that by this thy just judgment, O most mighty
God, against thine adversaries, thy true religion may be
known, to thy great glory and our comfort, and to the edi-
fying of all our nation. Good Lord, so be it. Amen."

This extraordinary effusion of faith and hope was taken
down and registered: and the death of Mary within less
than a week afterwards, could not but produce a powerful
effect on some who heard it uttered. The old woman. Tin-
ley, had a pious son, who was the means of bringing her
to the knowledge of that truth for which she at last gave
her body to the flames. While yet in an ignorant and care-
less state, she met, in a book of prayers, with a quotation
from the prophet Joel, " It shall come to pass in those days,
saith the Lord, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all
flesh," &c. This she took to her son, asking him what it

CONCLUSION. 331

meant ; and from his exposition of the passage she obtained
the first gleam of spiritual light, which God brought to per-
fect day. The five martyrs, having prayed, and prepared
themselves for the slake, besought the Lord that their blood
might be the last that should be so shed: and their prayer
was granted.

Many interesting notices are contained in the valuable
work of Fox, of those who, by God's providence, were
saved from the fire ; queen Mary's death intervening be-
tween the victims and the cruel designs of their persecu-
tors. Our business has been to present the reader with a
view of such as actually suffered; and here we must close
the painful yet joyful task. Painful indeed has it been, to
trace the bloody hand of persecution through its desolating
work: to follow God's afflicted saints through every variety
of suffering, and to record their trials of whom the world
was not worthy. Painful it is to know, too assuredly, that
the same enemy, unchanged, save only the shortening of
his power compels him to assume a more peaceable de-
meanour, is again winding the fearful snare around our
rescued church, too unwatchful in her prolonged security.
Joyful the task has been, while the eye of faith, uplifted
from the scenes so vividly portrayed by the venerable
martyrologist, was enabled to behold the present blessed-
ness of those " called, and chosen, and faithful" ones, now
before the throne of the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with
palms in their hands; or reposing under the altar, typical
of their character as accepted sacrifices, awaiting the ar-
rival of their brethren who are yet to be slain, even as
they were. And joyful it indeed is, to possess this great
privilege of sounding, in our humble measure, an alarum
to the children of God in this perilous day: to set before
them a faithful representation of what has been, that they
may better understand what will yet be, if they arouse not
themselves to greater watchfulness and more earnest prayer.
The story is told, the warning is given : and may God, the
Father of lights, by the operation of the Holy Spirit, deep-
ly engrave it on the heart, memory, and conscience of
every professing Protestant, for his dear Son's sake !
Amen.

THE Ein>.

332

A TABLE

OF THE VARIOUS MARTYRDOMS RECORDED IN THESE
VOLUxMES.

WITH THE PLACE AND DATE OF THEIR OCCURRENCE.

Those marked t are supposed to have been privately murdered.

NAME.

PLACE.

DATE.

William Sautre, Priest,

Smithfield,

Feb.

1401

J. Badby, Tailor,

Mar.

1409

J. Claydon, Currier,

Feb.

1415

Lord Cobham,

St. Giles' Fields,

,Feb.

1418

W. Taylor, Priest,

Smithfield,

Mar.

1422

R. Pecock,-\ Bishop,

Prison,

—

1457

J. BouGHTON, Gentlewoman,

. Smithfield,

1494

\V. SWEETI>G, } n

, „ i Poor men,
J. Brewster, ^

Oct.

1511

R. }ivyyB,'\ Merchant tailor, Lollards' Tower

,Dec.

1514

J. Browne,

Ashford,

1517

Pat. Hamilton, Abbot,

St, Andrews,

Mar.

1527

T. Bilney, Priest,

Norwich,

1531

R. Bayfield, Priest,

Smithfield,

Nov.

1531

J. Tewksbury, ZeafAerseZZer,

Dec.

1531

J. Bennet, Priest,

Exeter,

Jan.

1532

J, Bainham, Lawyer,

Smithfield,

April

I 1532

J. Frith, Scholar,

July

1533

Andrew Hewet, Tailor,

—

—

W. Tindal, Priest,

Filford,

1536

J. Lambert, Priest,

Smithfield,

1538

— Puttenden,

Suffolk,

July

1538

W. Leiton, Monk,

Norwich,

—

N. Peke,

Ipswich,

—

T. Forret, Priest,

Edinburgh,

1540

R. Barnes, D. D.

Smithfield,

July

1541

J. Garret, Priest,
W. Hierome, Priest,

LIST OF MARTYRS.

333

J. Porter, t Newgate,

— SoMERS, Merchant, Tower,
R, Testwood, Citizen, Windsor,

H. FiLMER, Churchwarden,

A. Pierson, Priest,

A. Damlip, Priest, Calais,

G. WisEiiEART, Gentleman, St, Andrew's,

— Kerby, Labourer, Ipswich,
R. Clarke, Labourer, Bury,
Anne Askew, Gentlewoman, Smithfield,

A. Belenian, Priest,

J. Adams, Tailor,

J. Lascelles, Gentleman,

A. Wallace, Edinburgh,

W. Gardiner, Merchant, Lisbon,

Lady Jane Grey, Tower Hill,

J. Rogers, Priest, Smithfield,

L. Saunders, Priest,

Dr. J. Hooper, Bishop, Gloucester,

T. ToMKiNs, Weaver, Smithfield,

Dr. R. Taylor, Priest, Aldenham,

W. Hunter, Apprentice, Brentwood,

T. Higbed, Gentleman, Horndean,

T. Causton, Gentleman, Raleigh,

W. Pygot, Butcher, Braintree,

S. Knight, Barber, Maiden,

J. Laurence, Priest, Colchester,

Dr. R. Farrar, Bishop, Carmarthen,
Rawlins White, i^is/iermara, Cardiff,

G. Marsh, Farmer, Chester,

W. Flower, Priest, Westminster,
J. Cardmaker, Prebendary, Smithfield,

J. Warne, Upholsterer,

J. Simpson, Husbandman, Rochford,

J. Ardley, Husbandman, Raleigh,

T. Hawkes, Gentleman, Cox Hall,

T. Watts, Linendrape.r, Chelmsford,

J. Osmond, Fuller, Manningtree,

W. Bamford, Weaver, Harwich,
N. Chamberlain, Weaver, Colchester,

J. Bradford, Priest, Smithfield,

J. Leaf, Apprentice,

J. Bland, Priest, Canterbury,

Date.

July 1541
1544

1545

1546

June 1546

1550

1552

Jan. 1554

Feb. 1555

Mar. —

April —
May 1555

June —
July —

334

LIST OF MARTYRS.

J. Frankish, Priest,
N. Sheterden,
H. Middleton,
N. Hall, Bricklayer,

C. Waid, Weaver,

D. Carver, Brewer,

J. Launder, Husbandman,

T. IvESON, Carpenter,

J. Abbes,

J . Denley, Gentleman,

J. Newman, Fewterer,

P . Pack INGHAM,

R. Hook,

W. CoKER,

W. Hopper,

H. Lawrence,

R. Collier,

R. Wright,

W. Store,

Eliz. VVarne, Widow,

G. Tankerfield, Cook,

R. Smith, Artist,

S. Harwood,

T. Fust,

W. Hale,

G. King,

T. Leyes,

J. Wade,

W, Andrew,

R. Samuel, Priest,

W. Allen, Labourer,

R. Cox,

J. Cobb, Butcher,

G. Catmer,

R. Streater,

A. BuRWARD,

G. Breadbridge,

J, Tutty,

T. Hayward,

J. Gareway,

R. Glover, Gentleman,

C. Bungay, Capper,

W. WoLSEY, Constable,

DATE.

July 1555

Rochester, —

Dartford, —

Lewes, —

Steyning, —

Chichester, —

Bury, Aug.

Uxbridge, —
Saffron Walden, —

Uxbridge, —

Chichester, —

Canterbury, —

Strafford,

St. Alban's,

Uxbridge,

Stratford,

Ware,

Barnet,

Newgate,

Ipswich,

Walsingham,

Yoxford,

Thetford,

Canterbury,

Lichfield,
Lichfield,
Coventry,

Sept.

Ely,

LIST OF MARTYRS.

335

R. Pygot, Painter,

Dr. N. Ridley, Bishop,

H. Latimer, Bishop,

J. Roper, i

G. Webbe, > Gentlemen,

G. Parke, )

W. Wiseman, f Cloth-work.

J. Gore,

J. Philpof, Archdeacon,

T. Whittle, Priest,

B. Green, Lawyer,
J. TuDsoN, Artificer,
T. Went, Artificer,
T. Browne,
Isabel Foster,
Joan Warne,

J. LoMAS,

Agnes Smith, Widow,

Anne Albright,

Joan Catmer,

Joan Sole,

Dr. J. Cranmer, Archhp.,

Agnes Potten,

Joan Trunchfield,

J. Maundrel, Farmer,

J. Spicer, Mason,

W. Coberley, Tailor,

R. Drakes, Priest,

W. Tyms, Curate,

R. Spurge, Sheerman,

T. Spurge, Fuller,

J. Cavel, Weaver,

G. Ambrose, Fuller,

J. Harpole,

Joan Beach, Widow,

J. Hullier, Priest,

C. Lyster. Husbandman,
J. Mace, Apothecary,

J. Spencer, Weaver,
S. Joyne, Sawyer,
R. Nicholas, Weaver,
J. Hammond, Tanner,
H. Laverock, a cripple,

Ely,
Oxford,

Sept.
Oct.

1555

Canterbury, Nov.

Lollards' Tower, Dec.
Colchester Gaol, —
Smithfield, —
Jan.

1556

Canterbury, —

Oxford,
Ipswich,

March —

Salisbury,

Smithtield,

April —

Rochester,

Cambridge,
Colchester,

Stratford-le-bow, May

336

LIST OF MARTYRS.

J. Apprice, Poor and blind,

Katherine Hut, Widow,

Joan Horns,

Elizabeth Tackvel,

Margaret Ellis,

T. Drowry, a blind boy,

T. Croker, Bricklayer,

T. Spicer, ^

J. Denny, V Labourers.

E. Poole, )

W. Sleck,

T. Harland, Carpenter,

J. Oswald, Husbandman,

T. AviNGTON, Turner,
T. Read, Labourer,

W. Adherall, Priest,

J. Clement, Wheelwright,

H. Adlington, Sawyer,

R. Jackson, Servant,
L. Parman, Smith,
L. Cawch, Broker,
H, Wye, Brewer,
J. Derrifall, Labourer,
W. Hallywell, Smith,
J. BowYER, Weaver,
Ct. Scarles, Tailor,
E. Hurst, Labourer,
J. RouTH, Labourer,
Eliz. Pepper,
Agnes George,
R. Bernard, Labourer,
A, Foster, Husbandman,
R. Lawson, Weaver,
J. Fortune, Blacksmith,
J. Careless, Weaver,
J. Palmer, Scholar,

T. ASKIN,

J. GwiN,

T. Moor, Servant,

T, Dungate,

J. Foreman,

— Tree, Widow,

Joan Waste, Blind Girl,

PLACE. DATE.

Stratford-le-bow, May 1556
Smiihfield, — —

Newgate,
Gloucester,

Beccles,

King's Bench, — —

Lewes, June —

King's Bench, —

King's Bench, —
Stratford, —

Bury,

Norwich, —

King's Bench, July
Newbury, —

Leicester,
Grinstead,

Derby,

Aug. —

list of martyrs.

337

NAME.

PLACE.

DATE.

E. Sharpe,

Bristol,

Sept. 1556

J. Hart,

T, Ravensdale,

*** ***, Shoemaker,

Mayfield,

— —

*** ***, Currier,
*** ***, Carpenter,
J. Horn,

Bristol,
Wotton,

— —

*** ***, A woman,

*** ***, Shoemaker,

J. Clark, ) Starved

Northampton,
Cant. Castle,

Oct. —

Nov. —

D. Chittenden, ^ to death
W Foster, ^ ^^^^^^^

J Archer, > ,o i?ea<^
Alice Potkins, J
S. Kempe,
W. Waterer,

Cant. Castle,

Nov. 1556

'.

Canterbury,

Jan. 1557

W. Prouting,
W. LowicK,
T. Hudson,
W. Hay,
N. -Final,
M. Bradbridge,
T. Stevens,

Ashford,

— —

Wye,

J. Philpot,

— —

T. Losebey,

Smithfield,

April —

H. Ramsay,
T. Thurtell,
Margt. Hyde,

___

Agnes Stanley,

— —

W. MORANT,

St. George's Fi.

May —

S. Gratwick,

John King,

Joan Bradbridge,

Maidstone,

June —

W. Appleby,

Petronel Appleby, his wife

J

E. Allin, Miller,
Cath. Allin, His wife.

^"~ "~"

— Mannings,

— —

Elizabeth, A blind girl.

— —

R. Sharpe, Weaver,

Bristol,

— —

T. Hale, Shoemaker,
J. Fishcook,
N. White,

Canterbury,

— —

MARTYROLOGY. VOL. II.

29

338 LIST OF MARTYRS.

N. Pardue, Canterbury, June 1557

Alice Benden,

— Wilson, Married woman,

Mary Bradbridge, Widow,

Barb. Final, Widow,

R. Woodman, Lewes,

G. Stevens, June 1557

W. Maynard,

A. HosMAN, Maynard^s serv.,

Thomasine Wood, the same,

J. Morris,

Marg. Morris, His mother,

D. Burgess,

— AsHDOwNE, Married wo.,

— Grave, the same,

— Ambrose, Maidstone Gaol, — —
R. Lush, Bath Prison, — —
S. Miller, Norwich, July —

Eliz. Cooper, Married wo. —

W. Munt, Husbandman, Colchester Aug. —

Alice Munt, His wife,

Rose Allen, Their davght. -^

J. Johnson, Labourer,

W. BoNGEOR, Glazier, —

T. Benold, Chandler, —

W. Purchas, _

Agnes Silverside, Wirfou), —

H. EwRiNG, Married wo, —

E. Folkes, Maid servant, —

T. Benton, Weaver, Bristol, — —

G. Eagles, Tailor, Chelmsford, — —

R. Crashfield, Norwich,

— Fryer,

G. Eagles' Sister, Rochester, — —

Joyce Lewis, Gentlewoman, Lichfield, — —

R. Allerton, Islington, Sept. —

J. AUSTOO,

Marg. Austoo, His wife, — —

R. Roth, —

Marg. Thurston, Widow, Colchester, — —

A. BoNGEOR, Married wo. — —

J, Noyes, Shoemaker, Laxfield, — —

C. Ormes, Married woman, Norwich, — —

LIST OF MARTYRS. 339

— Athoth, Priest, Chichester, Sept. iSf Oct.

J. Foreman, Oct. 1557

J. Warner, — —

C. Graver, — —

N. HoLDEN,

J. Oswald, — —

J. Morrice, — —

J. ASHDON,

T. AviNGTON,

D. BURGIS,

T. Ravensdale, — —

J. Miles, — —

J. Hart, — —

T. Harland, — —

T. Dougate, — —

Ann Try, — —

Marg. Morrice, — —

J. Spurdance, Queen's serv. Norwich, Nov. —

J. Hallingdale, Smilhfield, — —

W. Sparrow, — —

R. Gibson, Gentleman, — —

J. Rough, Priest, Dec. —

Margaret Mearing, — —

C. Symson, Deacon, March 1558

H. Fox, — —

J. Devenish, — —

W. NicHOL, Haverfordwest, — —

W. Seaman, Husbandman, Norwich, May —

T. Hudson, Glover, — —

T. Carman, — —

W. Haines, Colchester, — —

R. Day, — —

C. George, Married worn. — —

Walter Mill, Priest, St. Andrew's, — —

H. Pond, Smithfield, June —

R. Eastland, — —

R. SOUTHAM, — —

M. RiCARBY, — —

J. Floyd, — — — —

J. HoLLIDAT,

R. Holland, — —

R. WiLLEs, Brentford, July —

S. Cotton, — —

340 LIST OF MARTYRS.

R. Dynes, Brentford, July 1558

S. Wright, — —

J. Slade, — —

W. Pikes, — —

R. Yeoman, Priest, Norwich, — —

J. Dale, Weaver, Bury Gaol, — —

J. Alcock, Servant, Newgate, — —

T. Benbridge, Gerdleman, Smithfield, — —

J. Cooke, Sawyer, Bury, Aug. —

R. Miles, Sheerman, — —

A. LajVE, Wheelwright, — —

J. Ashley, — —

A. GoucH, Ipswich, Nov. —

Alice Driver, — —

P. HuMFREY, Bury, — —

J. David, — —

H. David,

E. Prest, Married Woman, Exeter,

J. Corneford, Canterbury,

J. Hurst,

C. Brown,

Alice Snoth,

Katharine Tynley,

■The noble army of Martyrs praise Thee.'