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. 
 
 " 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.'