It happened that Dr. Gardiner, secretary, and Dr. Fox, defenders of the
King in the above suit, came to the house of Mr. Cressy to lodge, while the King
removed to Greenwich.
At supper, a conversation ensued with Dr. Cranmer, who suggested that the question
whether a man may marry his brother's wife or not could be easily and speedily
decided by the word of God, and this as well in the English courts as in those of
any foreign nation.
The King, uneasy at the delay, sent for Dr. Gardiner and Dr. Fox to
consult them, regretting that a new commission must be sent to Rome and the
suit be endlessly protracted.
Upon relating to the King the conversation which had passed on the previous evening
with Dr. Cranmer, His Majesty sent for him and opened the tenderness of conscience
upon the near affinity of the Queen.
Dr. Cranmer advised that the matter should be referred to the most learned divines of
Cambridge and Oxford, as he was unwilling to meddle in an affair of such weight.
But the King enjoined him to deliver his sentiments in writing, and to repair for
that purpose to the Earl of Wiltshire's, who would accommodate him with books and
everything requisite for the occasion.
This Dr. Cranmer immediately did, and in his declaration not only quoted the
authority of the scriptures, of general councils and the ancient writers,
but maintained that the Bishop of Rome had no authority whatever to dispense with the
word of God.
The King asked him if he would stand by this bold declaration, to which,
replying in the affirmative, he was deputed Ambassador to Rome, in conjunction
with the Earl of Wiltshire, Dr. Stokesley, Dr. Kahn, Dr. Bennet, and others,
previous to which the marriage was discussed in most of the universities of
Christendom and at home.
When the Pope presented his toe to be kissed, as customary, the Earl of
Wiltshire and his party refused.
Indeed, it is affirmed that a spaniel of the Earl's, attracted by the littler of
the Pope's toe, made a snap at it, whence his holiness drew in his sacred
foot and kicked at the offender with the other.
Upon the Pope demanding the cause of their embassy, the Earl presented Dr. Cranmer's
book, declaring that his learned friends had come to defend it.
The Pope treated the embassy honourably, and appointed a day for the discussion,
which he delayed as if afraid of the issue of the investigation.
The Earl returned, and Dr. Cranmer, by the King's desire, visited the Emperor
and was successful in bringing him over to his opinion.
Upon the Doctor's return to England, Dr. Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury,
having quitted this transitory life, Dr. Cranmer was deservedly, and by Dr.
Warham's desire, elevated to that eminent station.
In this function, it may be said that he followed closely the charge of St. Paul.
Diligent in duty, he rose at five in the morning, and continued in study and prayer
until nine.
Between then and dinner, he devoted to temporal affairs.
After dinner, if any suitors wanted hearing, he would determine their business
with such an affability that even the defaulters were scarcely displeased.
Then he would play a for an hour, or see others play, and at five o'clock he
heard the common prayer read, and from this until supper he took the recreation
of walking.
At supper, his conversation was lively and entertaining.
Again, he walked or amused himself until nine o'clock, and then entered his study.
He ranked high in favour with King Henry, and even had the purity and the interest
of the English Church deeply at heart.
His mild and forgiving disposition is recorded in the An ignorant priest in the
country had called Cranmer an ossler, and spoken very derogatory of his
learning.
Lord Cromwell, receiving information of it, the man was sent to the fleet,
and his case was told to the archbishop by Mr. Chertsey, a grocer and a relation of
the priest.
His Grace, having sent for the offender, reasoned with him and solicited the priest
to question him on any learned subject.
This the man, overcome by the bishop's good nature, and knowing his own glaring
incapacity, declined and entreated his forgiveness, which was immediately
granted, with a charge to employ his time better when he returned to his parish.
Cromwell was much vexed at the lenity displayed, but the bishop was ever more
ready to receive injury than to retaliate in any other manner than by good advice
and good offices.
At the time that Cranmer was raised to be archbishop, he was king's chaplain and
archdeacon of Taunton.
He was also constituted by the pope, the penitentiary general of England.
It was considered by the king that Cranmer would be obsequious, hence the latter
married the king to Anne Boleyn, performed her coronations, took godfather
to Elizabeth, the first child, and divorced the king from Catherine.
Though Cranmer received a confirmation of his dignity from the pope, he always
protested against acknowledging any other authority than the king's, and he
persisted in the same independent sentiments when before Mary's
commissioners in 1555.
One of the first steps after the divorce was to prevent preaching throughout his
diocese, but this narrow measure had rather a political view than a religious
one, as there were many who invade against the king's conduct.
In his new dignity Cranmer agitated the question of supremacy, and by his powerful
and just arguments induced the parliament to render to Caesar the things that are
Caesar's.
During Cranmer's residence in Germany, 1531, he became acquainted with Ossiander
and Nuremberg, and married his niece, but left her with him while on his return
to England.
After a season he sent for her privately, and she remained with him until the year
1539, when the six articles compelled him to return her to her friends for a time.
It should be remembered that Ossiander, having obtained the approbation of his
friend Cranmer, published the laborious work of the Harmony of the Gospels in
1537.
In 1534, the archbishop completed the dearest wish of his heart, the removal of
every obstacle to the perfection of the reformation by the subscription of the
nobles and bishops to the king's sole supremacy.
Only Bishop Fisher and Sir Thomas More made objection, and their agreement not to
oppose the succession Cranmer was willing to consider as sufficient, but the monarch
would have no other than an entire concession.
Not long after, Gardiner, in a private interview with the king, spoke inimically
of Cranmer, whom he maliciously hated, for assuming the title of primate of all
England as derogatory to the supremacy of the king.
This created much jealousy against Cranmer, and his translation of the Bible
was strongly opposed by Stokely, Bishop of London.
It is said, upon the demise of Queen Catherine, that her successor Anne Boleyn
rejoiced, a lesson this to show how shallow is the human judgment,
since her own execution took place in the spring of the following year, and the
king, on the day following the beheading of this sacrificed lady, married the
beautiful Jane Seymour, a maid of honour to the late queen.
Cranmer was ever the friend of Anne Boleyn, but it was dangerous to oppose the
will of the carnal, tyrannical monarch.
In 1538, the holy scriptures were openly exposed to sale, and the places of worship
overflowed everywhere to hear its holy doctrines expounded.
Upon the king's passing into a law, the famous Six Articles, which went nearly
again to establish the essential tenets of the Romish creed, Cranmer shone forth with
all the luster of a Christian patriot, in resisting the doctrines they contained,
and in which he was supported by the bishops of Serum, Worcester, Ely and
Rochester, the two former of whom resigned their bishoprics.
The king, though now in opposition to Cranmer, still revered the sincerity that
marked his conduct.
The death of Lord Cromwell in the tower in 1540, the good friend of Cranmer,
was a severe blow to the wavering Protestant cause, but even now Cranmer,
when he saw the tide directly adverse to the truth, boldly waited on the king in
person, and by his manly and heartfelt pleading, caused the Book of Articles to
be passed on his side to the great confusion of his enemies, who contemplated
his fall as inevitable.
Cranmer now lived in as secluded a manner as possible, until the ranker of
Winchester preferred some articles against him, relative to the dangerous opinion he
taught in his family, joined to other treasonable charges.
These the king himself delivered to Cranmer, and believing firmly the fidelity
and assertions of innocence of the accused prelate, he caused the matter to be deeply
investigated, and Winchester and Dr. Lendon, with Thornton and Barber,
of the bishop's household, were found by the papers to be the real conspirators.
The mild, forgiving Cranmer would have interceded for all remission of
punishment, had not Henry, pleased with the subsidy voted by Parliament,
let them be discharged.
These nefarious men, however, again renewing their plots against Cranmer,
fell victims to Henry's resentment, and Gardiner forever lost his confidence.
Sir G.
Gostwick soon after laid charges against the archbishop, which Henry quashed,
and the primate was willing to forgive.
In 1544, the archbishop's palace at Canterbury was burnt, and his
brother-in-law, with others, perished in it.
These various afflictions may serve to reconcile us to a humble state,
for of what happiness could this great and good man boast, since his life was
constantly harassed, either by political, religious, or natural crosses.
Again, the inveterate Gardiner laid high charges against the meek archbishop,
and would have sent him to the tower, but the king was his friend, gave him his
signet that he might defend him, and in the council not only declared the
bishop one of the best affected men in his realm, but sharply rebuked his accusers
for their calumny.
A peace having been made, Henry and the French king, Henry the Great, were
unanimous to have the mass abolished in their kingdom, and Cranmer set about this
great work.
But the death of the English monarch in 1546 suspended the procedure, and King
Edward, his successor, continued Cranmer in the same functions.
Upon his coronation he delivered a charge that will ever honour his memory for its
purity, freedom, and truth.
During this reign he prosecuted the glorious reformation with unabated zeal,
even in the year 1552, when he was seized with a severe ague, from which it pleased
God to restore him, that he might testify by his death the truth of that seed he had
diligently sown.
The death of Edward, in 1553, exposed Cranmer to all the rage of his enemies.
Though the archbishop was among those who supported Mary's accession, he was
attainted at the meeting of Parliament, and in November adjudged guilty of high
treason at Guildhall, and degraded from his dignities.
He sent a humble letter to Mary, explaining the cause of his signing the
will in favour of Edward, and in 1554 he wrote to the council, whom he pressed to
obtain a pardon from the queen, by a letter delivered to Dr. Weston,
but which the letter opened, and on seeing its contents, basely returned.
Treason was a charge quite inapplicable to Cranmer, who supported the queen's right,
while others who had favoured Lady Jane were dismissed upon paying a small fine.
A calumny was now spread against Cranmer, that he complied with some of the popish
ceremonies to ingratiate himself with the queen, which he dared publicly to disavow,
and justified his articles of faith.
The active part which the prelate had taken in the divorce of Mary's mother had
ever rankled deeply in the heart of the queen, and revenge formed a prominent
feature in the death of Cranmer.
We have in this work noticed the public disputations at Oxford, in which the
talents of Cranmer, Ridley and Latimer shone so conspicuously, and tended to
their condemnation.
The first sentence was illegal, inasmuch as the usurped power of the pope
had not yet been re-established by law.
Being kept in prison until this was effected, a commission was dispatched from
Rome, appointing Dr. Brooks to sit as the representative of his holiness,
and Drs.
Storey and Martin as those of the queen.
Cranmer was willing to bow to the authority of Drs.
Storey and Martin, but against that of Dr. Brooks he protested.
Such were the remarks and replies of Cranmer, after a long examination,
that Dr. Brooks observed, We come to examine you, and methinks you examine us.
Being sent back to confinement, he received a citation to appear at Rome
within eighteen days, but this was impracticable, as he was imprisoned in
England, and as he stated, even had he been at liberty, he was too poor to employ
an advocate.
Absurd as it must appear, Cranmer was condemned at Rome, and on February 14,
1556, a new commission was appointed, by which Thurlby, Bishop of Ely,
and Bonner of London, were deputed to sit in judgment at Christchurch, Oxford.
By virtue of this instrument, Cranmer was gradually degraded, by putting mere rags
on him to represent the dress of an archbishop, then stripping him of his
attire they took off his own gown, and put an old worn one upon him instead.
This he bore unmoved, and his enemies, finding that severity only rendered him
more determined, tried the opposite course, and placed him in the house of the
Dean of Christchurch, where he was treated with every indulgence.
This presented such a contrast to the three years hard imprisonment he had
received, that it threw him off his guard.
His open, generous nature was more easily to be seduced by a liberal conduct than by
threats and fetters.
When Satan finds the Christian proof against one mode of attack, he tries
another, and what form is so seductive as smiles, rewards, and power after a long,
painful imprisonment?
Thus it was with Cranmer.
His enemies promised him his former greatness, if he would but recant,
as well as the Queen's favour.
And this, at the very time they knew that his death was determined in council.
To soften the path to apostasy, the first paper brought for his signature
was conceived in general terms.
This, once signed, five others were obtained as explanatory of the first,
until finally he put his hand to the following detestable instrument.
I, Thomas Cranmer, late Archbishop of Canterbury, do renounce, abhor,
and detest all manner of heresies and errors of Luther and Sphinglius,
and all other teachings which are contrary to sound and true doctrine.
And I believe most constantly in my heart, and with my mouth I confess, one holy and
Catholic Church visible, without which there is no salvation, and therefore I
acknowledge the Bishop of Rome to be supreme head on earth, whom I acknowledge
to be the highest Bishop and Pope, and Christ Vicar, unto whom all Christian
people ought to be subject.
And as concerning the sacraments, I believe and worship in the sacrament of
the altar, the body and blood of Christ, being contained most truly under the forms
of bread and wine, the bread, through the mighty power of God, being turned into the
body of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and the wine into his blood.
And in the other six sacraments, also alike as in this, I believe and hold
as the universal Church holdeth, and the Church of Rome judgeth and
determineth.
Furthermore, I believe that there is a place of purgatory, where souls departed
be punished for a time, for whom the Church doth godly and wholesomely pray,
like as it doth honour saints and make prayers to them.
Finally, in all things I profess that I do not otherwise believe than the Catholic
Church and the Church of Rome holdeth and teacheth.
I am sorry that I ever held or thought otherwise, and I beseech Almighty God that
of his mercy he will vouchsafe to forgive me whatsoever I have offended against God
or his Church, and also I desire and beseech all Christian people to pray for
me.
And all such as have been deceived, either by mine example or doctrine,
I require them by the blood of Jesus Christ that they will return to the unity
of the Church, that we may be all of one mind without schism or division.
And to conclude, as I submit myself to the Catholic Church of Christ and to the
Supreme Head thereof, so I submit myself unto the most excellent Majesties of
Philip and Mary, King and Queen of this realm of England, etc., and to all other
their laws and ordinances, being ready always as a faithful subject ever to obey
them.
And God is my witness that I have not done this for favour or fear of any person,
but willingly and of mine own conscience as to the instruction of others.
Let him that standeth take heed lest he fall, said the Apostle, and here was a
falling off indeed.
The Papists now triumphed in their turn.
They had acquired all they wanted short of his life.
His recantation was immediately printed and dispersed, that it might have its due
effect upon the astonished Protestants.
But God counterworked all the designs of the Catholics by the extent to which they
carried the implacable persecution of their prey.
Doubtless the love of life induced Cramer to sign the above declaration,
yet death may be said to have been preferable to life to him who lay under
the stings of a goaded conscience and the contempt of every gospel Christian.
This principle he strongly felt in all its force and anguish.
The Queen's revenge was only to be satiated by Cramer's blood, and therefore
she wrote an order to Dr. Pole to prepare a sermon to be preached March 21 directly
before his martyrdom at St. Mary's, Oxford.
Dr. Pole visited him the day previous and was induced to believe that he would
publicly deliver his sentiments in confirmation of the articles to which he
had subscribed.
About nine in the morning of the day of sacrifice, the Queen's commissioners,
attended by the magistrates, conducted the amiable unfortunate to St. Mary's church.
His torn, dirty garb, same in which they habited him upon his degradation,
excited the commiseration of the people.
In the church he found a low, mean stage erected opposite to the pulpit,
on which being placed he turned his face and fervently prayed to God.
The church was crowded with persons of both persuasions, expecting to hear the
justification of the late apostasy, the Catholics rejoicing, and the
Protestants deeply wounded in spirit at the deceit of the human heart.
Dr. Pole, in his sermon, represented Cranmer as having been guilty of the most
atrocious crimes, encouraged the deluded sufferer not to fear death, not to doubt
the support of God in his torments, nor that masses would be set in all the
churches of Oxford for the repose of his soul.
The doctor then noticed his conversion, and which he ascribed to the evident
working of almighty power, and in order that the people might be convinced of its
reality, asked the prisoner to give them a sign.
This Cranmer did, and begged the congregation to pray for him, for he had
committed many and grievous sins, but of all there was one which awfully lay
upon his mind, of which he would speak shortly.
During the sermon Cranmer wept bitter tears, lifting up his hands and eyes to
heaven and letting them fall, as if unworthy to live.
His grief now found vent in words.
Before his confession he fell upon his knees, and in the following words unveiled
the deep contrition and agitation which harrowed up his soul.
O Father of Heaven, O Son of God, Redeemer of the World, O Holy Ghost,
Three Persons, All One God, have mercy on me, most wretched, cative, and miserable
sinner.
I have offended both against heaven and earth more than my tongue can express.
Whither then may I go, or whither may I flee?
To heaven I may be ashamed to lift up mine eyes, and in earth I find no place of
refuge or succor.
To Thee, therefore, O Lord, do I run, to Thee do I humble myself, saying,
O Lord my God, my sins be great, but yet have mercy upon me for Thy great
mercy.
The great mystery that God became man was not wrought for little or few offences.
Thou didst not give Thy Son, O Heavenly Father, unto death for small sins only,
but for all the greatest sins of the world, so that the sinner returned to Thee
with his whole heart, as I do at present.
Wherefore, have mercy on me, O God, whose property is always to have mercy.
Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for Thy great mercy.
I crave nothing for my own merits, but for Thy name's sake that it may be
hallowed thereby, and for Thy dear Son Jesus Christ's sake.
And now, therefore, O Father of heaven, hallowed be Thy name.
etc.
Then rising, he said he was desirous before his death to give them some pious
exhortations by which God might be glorified and themselves edified.
He then discounted upon the danger of a love for the world, the duty of obedience
to their majesties, of love to one another, and the necessity of the rich
administering to the wants of the poor.
He quoted three verses of the fifth chapter of James, and then proceeded,
Let them that be rich ponder well these three sentences, for if they ever had
occasion to show their charity, they have it now at this present,
the poor people being so many, and vital so dear.
And now, forasmuch as I am come to the last end of my life, whereupon hangeth all
my life past, and all my life to come, either to live with my Master Christ
forever in joy, or else to be in pain forever with the wicked in hell,
and I see before mine eyes presently either heaven ready to receive me,
or else hell ready to swallow me up, I shall therefore declare unto you my very
faith how I believe, without any colour of dissimulation, for now is no time to
dissemble whatsoever I have said or written in times past.
First, I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth,
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 I come to the great thing which so much troubleth my conscience, more than
anything that ever I did or said in my whole life, and 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 my heart,
and written for fear of death and to save my life, if it might be.
And that is, all such bills or papers which I have written or signed with my
hand since my degradation, wherein I have written many things untrue.
And for as much as my hand hath offended, writing contrary to my heart, therefore my
hand shall first be punished, but when I come to the fire, it shall first be
burned.
And as for the Pope, I refuse him as Christ's enemy and Antichrist with all his
false doctrine.
Upon the conclusion of this unexpected declaration, amazement and indignation
were conspicuous in every part of the Church.
The Catholics were completely foiled, their object being frustrated,
Cranmer, like Samson, having completed a greater ruin upon his enemies in the hour
of death than he did in his life.
Cranmer would have proceeded in the exposure of the Popish doctrines,
but the murmurs of the idolaters drowned his voice, and the preacher gave an order
to lead the heretic away.
The savage command was directly obeyed, and the lamb about to suffer was torn from
his stand to the place of slaughter, insulted all the way by the revilings and
taunts of the pestilent monks and friars.
With thought's intent upon a far higher object than the empty threats of man,
he reached the spot dyed with the blood of Ridley and Latimer.
There he knelt for a short time in earnest devotion, and then arose that he might
undress and prepare for the fire.
Two friars, who had been parties in prevailing upon him to abjure,
now endeavoured to draw him off again from the truth, but he was steadfast and
immovable in what he had just professed and publicly taught.
A chain was provided to bind him to the stake, and after it had tightly encircled
him, fire was put to the fuel, and the flames began soon to ascend.
Then were the glorious sentiments of the martyr made manifest.
Then it was that stretching out his right hand, he held it unshrinkingly in the fire
until it was burnt to a cinder, even before his body was injured,
frequently exclaiming, This unworthy right hand!
His body did abide the burning with such steadfastness that he seemed to have no
more than the stake to which he was bound.
His eyes were lifted up to heaven, and he repeated this unworthy right hand
as long as his voice would suffer him, and using often the words of Stephen,
Lord Jesus, receive my spirit, in the greatness of the flame he gave up
the ghost.
THE VISION OF THREE LADDERS When Robert Samuel was brought forth to be burned,
certain there were that heard him declare what strange things had happened unto him
during the time of his imprisonment, to wit that after he had famished or pined
with hunger two or three days together, he then fell into a sleep, as it were one
half in a slumber, at which time one clad all in white seemed to stand before him,
who ministered comfort unto him by these words, Samuel, Samuel, be of good cheer
and take a good heart unto thee, for after this day shalt thou never be
either hungry or thirsty.
No less memorable it is, and worthy to be noted, concerning the three ladders which
he told to divers he saw in his sleep, set up toward heaven, of the which there
was one somewhat longer than the rest, but yet at length they became one,
joining, as it were, all three together.
As this godly martyr was going to the fire, there came a certain maid to him,
which took him about the neck and kissed him, who, being marked by them that were
present, was sought for the next day after to be had to prison and burned,
as the very party herself informed me.
Howbeit, as God of his goodness would have it, she escaped their fiery hands,
keeping herself secret in the town a good while after.
But as this maid, called Rose Nottingham, was marvellously preserved by the
providence of God, so there were other two honest women who did fall into the rage
and fury of that time.
The one was a brewer's wife, the other was a shoemaker's wife, but both together now
espoused to a new husband, Christ.
With these two was this maid aforesaid very familiar and well acquainted,
who, on a time giving counsel to the one of them, that she should convey herself
away while she had time and space, had this answer at her hand again.
I know well, saith she, that it is lawful enough to fly away, which remedy you may
use if you list, but my case standeth otherwise.
I am tied to a husband, and have besides young children at home, therefore I am
minded for the love of Christ and his truth to stand to the extremity of the
matter.
And so the next day after Samuel suffered, these two godly wives, the one called Anne
Potten, the other called Joan Trunchfield, the wife of Michael Trunchfield,
shoemaker of Ipswich, were apprehended and had both into one prison together.
As they were both by sex and nature somewhat tender, so were they at first
less able to endure the straightness of the prison, and especially the brewer's
wife was cast into marvellous great agonies and troubles of mind thereby.
But Christ, beholding the weak infirmity of his servant, did not fail to help her
when she was in this necessity.
So at length they both suffered after Samuel in 1556, February 19, and these,
no doubt, were those two ladders which, being joined with the third, Samuel saw
stretched up into heaven.
This blessed Samuel, the servant of Christ, suffered the 31st of August,
1555.
The report goeth among some that were present, and saw him burn, that his body
in burning did shine in the eyes of them that stood by, as bright and white as
new-tried silver.
When Agnes Bonger saw herself separated from her prison fellows, what piteous moan
that good woman made, how bitterly she wept, what strange thoughts came into her
mind, how naked and desolate she esteemed herself, and into what plunge of despair
and care her poor soul was brought, it was piteous and wonderful to see,
which all came because she went not with them to give her life in the defence of
her Christ, for of all things in the world life was least looked for at her hands.
For that morning in which she was kept back from burning had she put on a smock
that she had prepared only for that purpose, and also having a child,
a little young infant, sucking on her, whom she kept with her tenderly all the
time that she was in prison, against that day likewise did she send away to another
nurse, who prepared herself presently to give herself for the testimony of the
glorious gospel of Jesus Christ.
So little did she look for life, and so greatly did God's gifts work in her
above nature, that death seemed a great deal better welcome than life.
After which she began a little to stay herself, and gave her whole exercise to
reading and prayer, wherein she found no little comfort.
In a short time came a writ from London for the burning, which according to the
effect thereof was executed.
Hugh Laverick and John Aprice.
Here we perceive that neither the impotence of age nor the affliction of
blindness could turn aside the murdering fangs of these Babylonish monsters.
The first of these unfortunates was of the parish of Barking, aged sixty-eight,
a painter, and a cripple.
The other was blind, dark indeed in his visual faculties, but intellectually
illuminated with the radiance of the everlasting gospel of truth.
Inoffensive objects like these were informed against by some of the sons of
bigotry, and dragged before the prolatical shark of London, where they underwent
examination, and replied to the articles propounded to them as other Christian
martyrs had done before.
On the ninth day of May, in the consistory of St. Paul's, they were entreated to
recant, and upon refusal were sent to Fulham, where Bonner, by way of a dessert
after dinner, condemned them to the agonies of the fire.
Being consigned to the secular officers, May 15, 1556, they were taken in a cart
from Newgate to Stratford-le-Beau, where they were fastened to the stake.
When Hugh Laverick was secured by the chain, having no further occasion for his
crutch, he threw it away, saying to his fellow martyr, while consoling him,
Be of good cheer, my brother, for my lord of London is our good physician.
He will heal us both shortly, thee of thy blindness, and me of my lameness.
They sank down in the fire, to rise to immortality.
The day after the above martyrdom, Catherine Hutt of Bocking, widow,
Joan Horne, spinster of Billerica, Elizabeth Thackwell, spinster of Great
Burstead, suffered death in Smithfield.
Thomas Dowery.
We have again to record an act of unpity and cruelty exercised on this lad,
whom Bishop Hooper had confirmed in the Lord and the knowledge of his word.
How long this poor sufferer remained in prison is uncertain.
By the testimony of one John Paylar, Register of Gloucester, we learn that when
Dowery was brought before Dr. Williams, then Chancellor of Gloucester,
the usual articles were presented him for subscription.
From these he dissented, and upon the doctor's demanding of whom and where he
had learned his heresies, the youth replied, Indeed, Mr. Chancellor,
I learned from you in that very pulpit, on such a day, naming the day,
you said in preaching upon the sacrament, that it was to be exercised spiritually by
faith, and not carnally and really as taught by the papists.
Dr. Williams then bid him recant as he had done, but Dowery had not so learned his
duty, though you said he can so easily mock God, the world, and your own
conscience, yet will I not do so.
Preservation of George Crowe and his Testament This poor man of Malden,
May 26, 1556, put to sea to laid in Lent with full as earth, but the boat,
being driven on land, filled with water, and everything was washed out of her.
Crowe, however, saved his testament, and coveted nothing else.
With Crowe was a man and a boy, whose awful situation became every minute
more alarming, as the boat was useless, and they were ten miles from land,
expecting the tide should in a few hours set in upon them.
After prayer to God they got upon the mast, and hung there for the space of ten
hours, when the poor boy, overcome by cold and exhaustion, fell off and was drowned.
The tide having abated, Crowe proposed to take down the masts and float upon them,
which they did, and at ten o'clock at night they were borne away at the mercy of
the waves.
On Wednesday, in the night, Crowe's companion died through the fatigue and
hunger, and he was left alone, calling upon God for succour.
At length he was picked up by a Captain Morse, bound to Antwerp, who nearly
steered away, taking him for some fisherman's boy floating in the sea.
As soon as Crowe was got on board, he put his hand in his bosom, and drew out
his testament, which indeed was wet, but not otherwise injured.
At Antwerp he was well received, and the money he had lost was more than
made good to him.
Executions at Stratford-le-Beau At this sacrifice, which we are about to detail,
no less than thirteen were doomed to the fire.
Each one refusing to subscribe contrary to conscience, they were condemned,
and the 27th of June, 1556, was appointed for their execution at Stratford-le-Beau.
Their constancy and faith glorified their Redeemer equally in life and in death.
Rev.
Julius Palmer This gentleman's life presents a singular instance of error and
conversion.
In the time of Edward, he was a rigid and obstinate papist, so averse to godly and
sincere preaching that he was even despised by his own party.
That this frame of mind should be changed, and he suffer persecution and death in
Queen Mary's reign, are among those events of omnipotence at which we wonder and
admire.
Mr. Palmer was born at Coventry, where his father had been mayor.
Being afterward removed to Oxford, he became, under Mr. Harley of Magdalen
College, an elegant Latin and Greek scholar.
He was fond of useful disputation, possessed of a lively wit and a strong
memory.
Indefatigable in private study, he rose at four in the morning,
and by this practice qualified himself to become Reader in Logic in Magdalen
College.
The times of Edward, however, favouring the Reformation, Mr. Palmer became
frequently punished for his contempt of prayer and orderly behaviour, and was at
length expelled the house.
He afterwards embraced the doctrines of the Reformation, which occasioned his
arrest and final condemnation.
A certain nobleman offered him his life, if he would recant.
"'If so,' said he, '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?' Palmer thanked him very courteously, but very modestly and
reverently concluded 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 perceived that he would by no means relent, "'Well,' Palmer saith
he, 'then I perceive one of us twain shall be damned, for we be of two faiths,
and certain I am there is but one faith that leadeth to life and salvation.'
Palmer replied, "'Oh, sir, I hope that we both shall be saved.' "'Sir Richard,
how may that be?' Palmer answered, "'Right well, sir, for as it hath pleased
our merciful Saviour, according to the Gospel's 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
this your old age, and give you everlasting life for your portion.' Sir
Richard questioned, "'Sayest thou so?' "'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 shouldst convert me.' Then said
Master Winchcombe, "'Take pity on thy golden years and pleasant flowers of lusty
youth before it be too late.' Palmer countered, "'Sir, I long for those
springing flowers that shall never fade away.'" He was tried on the 15th of July,
1556, together with one Thomas Askin, fellow prisoner.
Askin and one John Gwynne had been sentenced the day before, and Mr. Palmer,
on the 15th, was brought up for final judgment.
Execution was ordered to follow the sentence, and at five o'clock in the same
afternoon, at a place called the Sandpits, these three martyrs were fastened to a
stake.
After devoutly praying together, they sung the Thirty-First Psalm.
When the fire was kindled and it had seized their bodies, without an appearance
of enduring pain, they continued to cry, "'Lord Jesus, strengthen us!
Lord Jesus, receive our souls!' until animation was suspended and human
suffering was passed.
It is remarkable that when their heads had fallen together in a mass, as it were,
by the force of the flames, and the spectators thought Palmer as lifeless,
his tongue and lips again moved, and were heard to pronounce the name of
Jesus, to whom be glory and honour for ever.
Joan Waste and Others This poor, honest woman, blind from her birth and
unmarried, aged twenty-two, was of the parish of All Hallows, Derby.
Her father was a barber and also made ropes for a living, in which she assisted
him and also learned to knit several articles of apparel.
Refusing to communicate with those who maintained doctrines contrary to those she
had learned in the days of the pious Edward, she was called before Dr. Dracot,
the Chancellor of Bishop Blaine, and Peter Finch, official of Derby.
With sophistical arguments and threats they endeavoured to confound the poor
girl, but she proffered to yield to the bishop's doctrine if he would answer for
her at the day of judgment, as pious Dr. Taylor had done in his sermons,
that his belief of the real presence of the sacrament was true.
The bishop at first answered that he would, but Dr. Dracot, reminding him that
he might not in any way answer for a heretic, he withdrew his confirmation of
his own tenets.
And she replied that if their consciences would not permit them to answer at God's
bar for that truth they wished her to subscribe to, she would answer no more
questions.
Sentence was then adjudged, and Dr. Dracot appointed to preach her condemned sermon,
which took place August 1, 1556, the day of her martyrdom.
His fulminating discourse being finished, the poor sightless object was taken to a
place called Windmill Pit near the town, where she for a time held her brother by
the hand, and then prepared herself for the fire, calling upon the pitying
multitude to pray with her, and upon Christ to have mercy upon her,
until the glorious light of the everlasting sun of righteousness beamed
upon her departed spirit.
In November, fifteen martyrs were imprisoned in Canterbury Castle,
of whom all were either burned or famished.
Among the latter were J.
Clark, D.
Chittenden, W.
Foster of Stone, Alice Potkins, and J.
Archer of Cranbrook, Weaver.
The two first of these had not received condemnation, but the others were
sentenced to the fire.
Foster, at his examination, observed upon the utility of carrying lighted candles
about on Candlemas Day, that he might as well carry a pitchfork, and that a gibbet
would have as good an effect as the cross.
We have now brought to a close the sanguinary prescriptions of the Merciless
Mary in the year 1556, the number of which amounted to above eighty-four.
The beginning of the year 1557 was remarkable for the visit of Cardinal Pole
to the University of Cambridge, which seemed to stand in need of much
cleansing from heretical preachers and reformed doctrines.
One object was also to play the popish farce of trying Martin Butzer and Paulus
Fagius, who had been buried about three or four years, for which purpose the churches
of St. Mary and St. Michael, where they lay, were interdicted as vile and unholy
places, unfit to worship God in until they were perfumed and washed with the Pope's
holy water, etc., etc.
The trumpery act of citing these dead reformers to appear, not having had the
least effect upon them, on January 26, sentence of condemnation was passed,
part of which ran in this manner and may serve as a specimen of proceedings of this
nature.
We therefore pronounce the said Martin Butzer and Paulus Fagius excommunicated
and anathematized, as well by the common law as by letters of process, and that
their memory be condemned, we also condemn their bodies and bones, which in that
wicked time of schism and other heresies flourishing in this kingdom were rashly
buried in holy ground, to be dug up and cast far from the bodies and bones of the
faithful, according to the holy canons, and we command that they in their
writings, if any be there found, be publicly burned, and we interdict all
persons whatsoever of this university, town or places adjacent, who shall read or
conceal their heretical book, as well by the common law as by our letters of
process.
After the sentence thus read, the bishop commanded their bodies to be dug out of
their graves, and being degraded from holy orders, delivered them into the hands of
the secular power, for it was not lawful for such innocent persons as they were,
abhorring all bloodshed and detesting all desire of murder, to put any man to death.
February 6, the bodies, enclosed as they were in chests, were carried into the
midst of the marketplace at Cambridge, accompanied by a vast concourse of people.
A great post was set fast in the ground, to which the chests were affixed with a
large iron chain, and bound round their centres, in the same manner as if the dead
bodies had been alive.
When the fire began to ascend and caught the coffins, a number of condemned books
were also launched into the flames and burnt.
Justice, however, was done to the memories of these pious and learned men in Queen
Elizabeth's reign, when Mr. Aquus, orator of the university, and Mr. J.
Pilkington pronounced orations in honour of their memory and in reprobation of
their Catholic persecutors.
Cardinal Pole also inflicted his harmless rage upon the dead body of Peter Martyr's
wife, who, by his command, was dug out of her grave and buried on a distant
dunghill, partly because her bones lay near St. Fridewide's relics, held once in
great esteem in that college, and partly because he wished to purify Oxford of
heretical remains, as well as Cambridge.
In the succeeding reign, however, her remains were restored to their former
cemetery, and even intermingled with those of the Catholic Saint, to the utter
astonishment and mortification of the disciples of His Holiness the Pope.
Cardinal Pole published a list of fifty-four articles, containing
instructions to the clergy of his Diocese of Canterbury, some of which are too
ludicrous and puerile to excite any other sentiment than laughter in these days.
Persecutions in the Diocese of Canterbury In the month of February, the following
persons were committed to prison.
R.
Coleman of Walden, labourer, Joan Winsley of Horsley Magna, spinster, S.
Glover of Raleigh, R.
Clark of Much Holland, mariner, W.
Munt of Much Bentley, sawyer, Marjorie Field of Ramsey, spinster, R.
Bonger, courier, R.
Jolly, mariner, Alan Simpson, Helen Uwire, C.
Pepper, widow, Alice Wally, who recanted, W.
Bonger, glazier, all of Colchester, R.
Atkin of Holstead, weaver, R.
Barcock of Wilton, carpenter, R.
George of West Barnholt, labourer, R.
Debenham of Debenham, weaver, C.
Warren of Coxhall, spinster, Agnes Whitlock of Dovercourt, spinster,
Rose Allen, spinster, and T.
Ferrisands, miner, both of Colchester.
These persons were brought before Bonner, who would have immediately sent them to
execution, but Cardinal Poel was for more merciful measures, and Bonner,
in a letter of his to the Cardinal, seems to be sensible that he had
displeased him, for he has this expression, I thought to have them all
hither to Fulham, and to have given sentence against them, nevertheless
perceiving by my last doing that your grace was offended, I thought it my duty
before I proceeded further to inform your grace.
This circumstance verifies the account that the Cardinal was a humane man,
and though a zealous Catholic, we as Protestants are willing to render
him that honour which his merciful character deserves.
Some of the bitter persecutors denounced him to the Pope as a favourer of heretics,
and he was summoned to Rome, but Queen Mary, by particular entreaty, procured his
stay.
However, before his latter end, and a little before his last journey from
Rome to England, he was strongly suspected of favouring the doctrine of Luther.
As in the last sacrifice four women did honour to the truth, so in the following
autodafé, we have the like number of females and males who suffered,
June 30, 1557, at Canterbury, and were J.
Fishcock, F.
White, N.
Pardew, Barbara Finell, widow, Barbridge's widow, Wilson's wife,
and Bendon's wife.
Of this group we shall more particularly notice Alice Bendon, wife of Edward Bender
of Staplehurst, Kent.
She had been taken up in October 1556 for non-attendance, and released upon a strong
injunction to mind her conduct.
Her husband was a bigoted Catholic, and publicly speaking of his wife's
contumacy, she was conveyed to Canterbury Castle, where, knowing when she should be
removed to the bishop's prison, she should be almost starved upon three
farthings a day, she endeavoured to prepare herself for this suffering by
living upon Tuppence-Hapenny per day.
On January 22, 1557, her husband wrote to the bishop that if his wife's brother,
Roger Hall, were to be kept from consoling and relieving her, she might turn.
On this account she was moved to a prison called Monday's Hole.
Her brother sought diligently for her, and at the end of five weeks
providentially heard her voice in the dungeon, but could not otherwise relieve
her than by putting some money in a loaf, and sticking it on a long pole.
Dreadful must have been the situation of this poor victim, lying on straw between
stone walls without a change of apparel, or the meanest requisites of cleanliness
during a period of nine weeks.
On March 25, she was summoned before the bishop, who, with rewards, offered her
liberty if she would go home and be comfortable.
But Mrs. Benden had been inured to suffering, and showing him her contracted
limbs and emaciated appearance, refused to swerve from the truth.
She was, however, removed from this black hole to the West Gate, whence about the
end of April she was taken out to be condemned, and then committed to the
castle prison until the 19th of June, the day of her burning.
At the stake she gave her handkerchief to one John Banks as a memorial, and from her
waist she drew a white lace, desiring him to give it to her brother, and telling him
that it was the last band that had bound her, except the chain, and to her father
she returned a shilling he had sent her.
The whole of these seven martyrs undressed themselves with alacrity, and being
prepared, knelt down and prayed with an earnestness and Christian spirit that even
the enemies of the cross were affected.
After invocation made together, they were secured to the stake,
and being encompassed with the unsparing flames, they yielded their souls into the
hands of the living Lord.
Matthew Plays, Weaver, a sincere and shrewd Christian of stone, Kent,
was brought before Thomas, Bishop of Dover, and other inquisitors, whom he
ingeniously teased by his indirect answers, of which the following is a
specimen.
Dr. Hopsfield began.
Christ called the bread his body, what dost thou say it is?
Plays said, I do believe it was that which he gave them.
Dr. H, what was that?
Plays, that which he break.
Dr. H, what did he break?
Plays, that which he took.
Dr. H, what did he take?
Plays, I say what he gave them, that they did eat indeed.
Dr. H, well then thou say'st it was but bread which the disciples did eat.
Plays, I say what he gave them, that did they eat indeed.
A very long disputation followed, in which Plays was desired to humble
himself to the bishop, but this he refused.
Whether this zealous person died in prison, was executed or delivered,
history does not mention.
The Reverend John Hullier Reverend John Hullier was brought up at Eton College,
and in process of time became curate of Babram, three miles from Cambridge,
and went afterward to Lynn, where opposing the superstition of the Papists,
he was carried before Dr. Thirlby, Bishop of Ely, and sent to Cambridge
Castle.
Here he lay for a time, and was then sent to Tolbooth Prison, where after three
months he was brought to St. Mary's Church, and condemned by Dr. Fuller.
On Maundy Thursday he was brought to the stake.
While undressing he told the people to bear witness that he was about to suffer
in a just cause, and exhorted them to believe that there was no other rock than
Jesus Christ to build upon.
A priest named Boyes then desired the Mayor to silence him.
After praying he went meekly to the stake, and being bound with a chain and placed in
a pitch barrel, fire was applied to the reeds and wood, but the wind drove the
fire directly to his back, which caused him, under the severe agony, to pray the
more fervently.
His friends directed the executioner to fire the pile to windward of his face,
which was immediately done.
A quantity of books were now thrown into the fire, one of which, the communion
service, he caught, opened it, and joyfully continued to read it,
until the fire and smoke deprived him of sight.
Then, even in earnest prayer, he pressed the book to his heart, thanking God for
bestowing on him in his last moment this precious gift.
The day being hot, the fire burned fiercely, and at a time when the
spectators supposed he was no more, he suddenly exclaimed, Lord Jesus,
receive my spirit, and meekly resigned his life.
He was burnt on Jesus Green, not far from Jesus College.
He had gunpowder given him, but he was dead before it became ignited.
This pious sufferer afforded a singular spectacle, for his flesh was so burnt from
the bones, which continued erect, that he presented the idea of a skeleton
figure chained to the stake.
His remains were eagerly seized by the multitude, and venerated by all who
admired his piety, or detested inhuman bigotry.
Simon Miller and Elizabeth Cooper, in the following month of July,
received the crown of martyrdom.
Miller dwelt at Lynn, and came to Norwich, where planting himself at the door of one
of the churches, as the people came out, he requested to know of them where he
could go to receive the communion.
For this, a priest brought him before Dr. Dunning, who committed him to ward,
but he was suffered to go home and arrange his affairs, after which he returned to
the bishop's house, and to his prison, where he remained until the 13th of July,
the day of his burning.
Elizabeth Cooper, wife of a puterer of St. Andrew's, Norwich, had recanted,
that tortured for what she done by the worm which dieth not, she shortly after
voluntarily entered her parish church during the time of the popish service,
and standing up audibly proclaimed that she revoked her former recantation,
and cautioned the people to avoid her unworthy example.
She was taken from her own house by Mr. Sutton, the sheriff, who very reluctantly
complied with the letter of the law, as they had been servants and in
friendship together.
At the stake, the poor sufferer feeling the fire, uttered the cry of, Oh!
upon which Mr. Miller, putting his hand behind him towards her, desired her to be
of a good courage, for said he, Good sister, we shall have a joyful and a
sweet supper.
Encouraged by this example and exhortation, she stood the fiery ordeal
without flinching, and with him proved the power of faith over the flesh.
Executions at Colchester It was before mention that twenty-two persons had been
sent up from Colchester, who upon a slight submission were afterwards released.
Of these, William Munt of Much Bentley, husbandman, with Alice his wife and Rose
Allen her daughter, upon their return home abstained from church, which induced the
bigoted priest secretly to write to Bonner.
For a short time they absconded, but returning again, March 7, one Edmund
Tyrrell, a relation of the Tyrrell who murdered King Edward V and his brother,
with the officers, entered the house while Munt and his wife were in bed,
and informed them that they must go to Colchester Castle.
Mrs. Munt, at that time being very ill, requested her daughter to get her some
drink.
Leave being permitted, Rose took a candle and a mug, and in returning through the
house was met by Tyrrell, who cautioned her to advise her parents to become good
Catholics.
Rose briefly informed him that they had the Holy Ghost for their advisor,
and that she was ready to lay down her own life for the same cause.
Turning to his company, he remarked that she was willing to burn, and one of them
told him to prove her and see what she would do by and by.
The unfeeling wretch immediately executed this project, and seizing the young woman
by the wrist, he held the lighted candle under her hand, burning it crosswise on
the back until the tendons divided from the flesh, during which he loaded her with
many opprobrious epithets.
She endured his rage unmoved, and then, when he had ceased the torture,
she asked him to begin at her feet or head, for he need not fear that his
employer would one day repay him.
After this, she took the drink to her mother.
This cruel act of torture does not stand alone on record.
Bonner had served a poor blind harper in nearly the same manner, who had steadily
maintained a hope that if every joint of him were to be burned, he should not fly
from the faith.
Bonner, upon this, privately made a signal to his men to bring a burning coal,
which they placed in the poor man's hand, and then by force held it closed until it
burned into the flesh deeply.
George Eagle's tailor was indicted for having prayed that God would turn Queen
Mary's heart or take her away.
The ostensible cause of his death was his religion, for treason could hardly be
imagined in praying for the reformation of such an execrable soul as that of Mary.
Being condemned for this crime, he was drawn to the place of execution
upon a sledge with two robbers, who were executed with him.
After Eagles had mounted the ladder and had been turned off a short time,
he was cut down before he was at all insensible.
A bailiff, named William Swallow, then dragged him to the sledge,
and with a common blunt cleaver hacked off the head.
In a manner equally clumsy and cruel, he opened his body and tore out the heart.
In all this suffering, the poor martyr repined not, but to the last called upon
his Saviour.
The fury of these bigots did not end here.
The intestines were burnt and the body was quartered, the four parts being sent to
Colchester, Harwich, Chelmsford, and St. Rouse's.
Chelmsford had the honour of retaining his head, which was affixed to a long pole in
the market place.
In time, it was blown down and lay several days in the street, until it was buried at
night in the churchyard.
God's judgment not long after fell upon Swallow, who in his old age became a
beggar, and who was affected with a leprosy that made him obnoxious even to
the animal creation.
Nor did Richard Potts, who troubled Eagles in his dying moments, escape the visiting
hand of God.
Mrs. Joyce Lewis This lady was the wife of Mr. T.
Lewis of Manchester.
She had received the Romish religion as true until the burning of that pious
martyr Mr. Saunders at Coventry.
Understanding that his death arose from a refusal to receive the Mass, she began to
inquire into the ground of his refusal, and her conscience, as it began to be
enlightened, became restless and alarmed.
In this inquietude, she resorted to Mr. John Glover, who lived near, and requested
that he would unfold those rich sources of gospel knowledge he possessed,
particularly upon the subject of transubstantiation.
He easily succeeded in convincing her that the mummery of potpourri and the Mass were
at variance with God's most holy word, and honestly reproved her for following
too much the vanities of a wicked world.
It was to her, indeed, a word in season, for she soon became weary of her former
sinful life, and resolved to abandon the Mass and deleterious worship.
Compelled by her husband's violence to go to church, her contempt of the holy water
and other ceremonies was so manifest that she was accused before the bishop for
despising the sacramentals.
A citation addressed to her immediately followed, which was given to Mr. Lewis,
who in a fit of passion held a dagger to the throat of the officer and made him eat
it, after which he caused him to drink it down and then sent him away.
But for this the bishop summoned Mr. Lewis before him as well as his wife.
The former readily submitted, but the latter resolutely affirmed that in
refusing holy water she neither offended God nor any part of his laws.
She was sent home for a month, her husband being bound for her
appearance, during which time Mr. Glover impressed upon her the necessity of doing
what she did, not from self-vanity, but for the honour and glory of God.
Mr. Glover and others earnestly exalted Lewis to forfeit the money he was bound
in, rather than subject his wife to certain death.
But he was deaf to the voice of humanity and delivered her over to the bishop,
who soon found sufficient cause to consign her to a loathsome prison when she was
several times brought for examination.
At the last time the bishop reasoned with her upon the fitness of her coming to Mass
and receiving as sacred the sacrament and sacramentals of the Holy Ghost.
If these things were in the word of God, said Mrs. Lewis, I would with all my heart
receive, believe, and esteem them.
The bishop, with the most ignorant and impious effrontery, replied, If thou wilt
believe no more than what is warranted by scriptures, thou art in a state of
damnation.
Astonished at such a declaration, this worthy sufferer ably rejoined that
his words were as impure as they were profane.
After condemnation, she lay a twelve month in prison, the sheriff not being willing
to put her to death in his time, though he had been but just chosen.
When her death warrant came from London, she sent for some friends, whom she
consulted in what manner her death might be more glorious to the name of God and
injurious to the cause of God's enemies.
Smilingly, she said, As for death, I think but lightly of.
When I know that I shall behold the amiable countenance of Christ my dear
Saviour, the ugly face of death does not much trouble me.
The evening before she suffered, two priests were anxious to visit her,
but she refused both their confession and absolution when she could hold a better
communication with the high priest of souls.
About three o'clock in the morning, Satan began to shoot his fiery darts by
putting into her mind to doubt whether she was chosen to eternal life, and Christ
died for her.
Her friends readily pointed out to her those consolatory passages of scripture
which comfort the fainting heart and treat of the Redeemer who taketh away the sins
of the world.
About eight o'clock, the sheriff announced to her that she had but an hour to live.
She was at first cast down, but this soon passed away, and she thanked God that her
life was about to be devoted to his service.
The sheriff granted permission for two friends to accompany her to the stake,
an indulgence for which she was afterwards severely handled.
Mr. Reniger and Mr. Burner led her to the place of execution, in going to which,
from its distance, her great weakness and the press of the people she had nearly
fainted.
Three times she prayed fervently that God would deliver the land from potpourri and
the idolatrous mass, and the people for the most part, as well as the sheriff,
said Amen.
When she had prayed, she took the cup which had been filled with water to
refresh her and said, I drink to all them that unfeignedly love the gospel of Christ
and wish for the abolition of potpourri.
Her friends and a great many women of the place drank with her, for which most of
them afterward were enjoined penance.
When chained to the stake, her countenance was cheerful, and the roses of her cheeks
were not abated.
Her hands were extended towards heaven until the fire rendered them powerless,
when her soul was received into the arms of the Creator.
The duration of her agony was but short, as the undersheriff, at the request of her
friends, had prepared such excellent fuel that she was in a few minutes overwhelmed
with smoke and flame.
The case of this lady drew a tear of pity from everyone who had a heart not callous
to humanity.
Executions at Islington About the 17th of September suffered at Islington the
following four Professors of Christ, Ralph Allerton, James Austu, Marjorie
Austu, and Richard Roth.
James Austu and his wife, of St. All Hallows, Barking, London, were sentenced
for not believing in the Presence.
Richard Roth rejected the Seven Sacraments and was accused of comforting the heretics
by the following letter, written in his own blood, and intended to have been sent
to his friends at Colchester.
O dear Brethren and Sisters, How much reason have you to rejoice in God,
that he hath given you such faith to overcome this bloodthirsty tyrant thus
far!
And no doubt, he that hath begun that good work in you will fulfil it unto the end.
O dear hearts in Christ, what a crown of glory shall you receive with Christ in the
Kingdom of God!
O that it had been the goodwill of God that I had been ready to have gone with
you!
For I lie in my Lord's little ease by day, and in the night I lie in the coal-house
apart from Ralph Allerton or any other, and we look every day when we shall be
condemned, for he said that I should be burned within ten days before Easter,
but I lie still at the pool's brink, and every man goeth in before me.
But we abide patiently the Lord's leisure, with many bonds, in fetters and stocks,
by which we have received great joy of God.
And now fare you well, dear brethren and sisters, in this world, but I trust to see
you in the heavens face to face.
O brother Munt, with your wife and my sister Rose, how blessed are you in the
Lord that God hath found you worthy to suffer for his sake, with all the rest of
my dear brethren and sisters, known and unknown!
O be joyful, even unto death.
Fear it not, saith Christ, for I have overcome death.
O dear heart, seeing that Jesus Christ will be our help, O tarry you the Lord's
leisure.
Be strong, let your hearts be of good comfort, and wait you still for the Lord.
He is at hand.
Yea, the angel of the Lord pitcheth his tent round about them that fear him,
and delivereth them which way he seeth best.
For our lives are in the Lord's hands, and they can do nothing unto us before God
suffer them.
Therefore give all thanks to God.
O dear heart, you shall be clothed in long white garments upon the mount of Zion,
with the multitude of saints, and with Jesus Christ our Saviour, who will never
forsake us.
O blessed virgins, ye have played the wise virgin's part, in that ye have taken oil
in your lamps, that ye may go in with the bridegroom when he cometh, into the
everlasting joy with him.
But as for the foolish, they shall be shut out, because they made not themselves
ready to suffer with Christ, neither go about to take up his cross.
O dear hearts, how precious shall your death be in the sight of the Lord,
for dear is the death of his saints.
O fare you well, and pray, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
Amen, amen.
Pray, pray, pray.
Written by me with my own blood, Richard Roth.
This letter, so justly denominating Bonner, the bloodthirsty tyrant,
was not likely to excite his compassion.
Roth accused him of bringing them to secret examination by night, because he
was afraid of the people by day.
Resisting every temptation to recant, he was condemned, and on September 17,
1557, these four martyrs perished at Islington for the testimony of the Lamb,
who was slain, that they might be of the redeemed of God.
John Noyes, a shoemaker of Laxfield, Suffolk, was taken to Aye, and at
midnight, September 21, 1557, he was brought from Aye to Laxfield to be burned.
On the following morning, he was led to the stake, prepared for the horrid
sacrifice.
Mr. Noyes, on coming to the fatal spot, knelt down, prayed, and rehearsed the
fiftieth psalm.
When the chain enveloped him, he said, Fear not them that kill the body,
but fear him that can kill both body and soul, and cast it into everlasting fire.
As one cadman placed a faggot against him, he blessed the hour in which he was born
to die for the truth, and while trusting only upon the all-sufficient merits of the
Redeemer, fire was set to the pile, and the blazing faggots in a short time
stifled his last words, Lord have mercy on me, Christ have mercy upon me.
The ashes of the body were buried in a pit, and with them one of his feet,
whole to the ankle, with the stocking on.
Mrs. Cicely Ormes This young martyr, aged twenty-two, was the wife of Mr.
Edmund Ormes, worsted weaver of St. Lawrence, Norwich.
At the death of Miller and Elizabeth Cooper before mentioned, she had said that
she would pledge them at the same cup they drank of.
For these words she was brought to the Chancellor, who would have discharged her
upon promising to go to church and to keep her belief to herself.
As she would not consent to this, the Chancellor urged that he had shown
more lenity to her than any other person, and was unwilling to condemn her because
she was an ignorant, foolish woman.
To this she replied, perhaps with more shrewdness than he expected, that however
great his desire might be to spare her sinful flesh, it could not equal her
inclination to surrender it up in so great a quarrel.
The Chancellor then pronounced the fiery sentence, and September 23, 1557,
she was brought to the stake at eight o 'clock in the morning.
After declaring her faith to the people, she laid her hand on the stake and said,
Welcome thou cross of Christ.
Her hand was sooted in doing this, for it was the same stake at which Miller
and Cooper were burned, and she at first wiped it, but directly after again
welcomed and embraced it as the sweet cross of Christ.
After the tormentors had kindled the fire, she said, My soul doth magnify the Lord,
and my spirit doth rejoice in God my Saviour.
Then crossing her hands upon her breast, and looking upwards with the utmost
serenity, she stood the fiery furnace.
Her hands continued gradually to rise, until the sinews were dried, and then they
fell.
She uttered no sigh of pain, but yielded her life, an emblem of that celestial
paradise in which is the presence of God, blessed for ever.
It might be contended that this martyr voluntarily sought her own death,
as the Chancellor scarcely exacted any other penance of her than to keep her
belief to herself.
Yet it should seem in this instance as if God had chosen her to be a shining light.
For a twelve months before she was taken, she had recanted, but she was wretched
until the Chancellor was informed by letter that she repented of her
recantation from the bottom of her heart.
As if to compensate for her former apostasy, and to convince the Catholics
that she meant to more than compromise for her personal security, she boldly refused
his friendly offer of permitting her to temporize.
Her courage in such a cause deserves commendation, the cause of him who has
said, Whoever is ashamed of me on earth, of such will I be ashamed in heaven.
Reverend John Ruff This pious martyr was a Scotchman.
At the age of seventeen he entered himself as one of the Order of Blackfriars at
Stirling in Scotland.
He had been kept out of an inheritance by his friends, and he took this step in
revenge for their conduct to him.
After being there sixteen years, Lord Hamilton, Earl of Arran, taking a
liking to him, the Archbishop of St. Andrews induced the Provincial of the
House to dispense with his habit and order, and he thus became the Earl's
Chaplain.
He remained in this spiritual employment a year, and in that time God wrought in him
a saving knowledge of the truth, for which reason the Earl sent him to
preach in the Freedom of Air, where he remained four years.
But finding danger there from the religious complexion of the times,
and learning that there was much gospel freedom in England, he travelled up to the
Duke of Somerset, then Lord Protector of England, who gave him a yearly salary of
twenty pounds, and authorised him to preach at Carlisle, Berwick, and
Newcastle, where he married.
He was afterwards removed to a beneficent hull, in which he remained until the death
of Edward VI.
In consequence of the tide of persecution then setting in, he fled with his wife to
Friesland, and at Norden they followed the occupation of knitting, hose, caps,
etc., for subsistence.
Impeded in his business by the want of yarn, he came over to England to procure a
quantity, and on November 10 arrived in London, where he soon heard of a secret
society of the faithful, to whom he joined himself, and was in a short time elected
their minister, in which occupation he strengthened them in every good
resolution.
On December 12, through the information of one tailor, a member of the society,
Mr. Ruff, with Cuthbert Simpson and others, was taken up in the Saracen's
Head, Islington, where, under the pretext of coming to see a play, their religious
exercises were holden.
The Queen's Vice-Chamberlain conducted Ruff and Simpson before the Council,
in whose presence they were charged with meeting to celebrate the Communion.
The Council wrote to Bonner, and he lost no time in this affair of blood.
In three days he had him up, and on the next, the 20th, resolved to condemn him.
The charges laid against him were that he, being a priest, was married, and that he
had rejected the service in the Latin tongue.
Ruff wanted not arguments to reply to these flimsy tenets.
In short, he was degraded and condemned.
Mr. Ruff, it should be noticed, when in the North, in Edward VI's reign,
had saved Dr. Watson's life, who afterwards sat with Bishop Bonner on the
bench.
This ungrateful prelate, in return for the kind act he had received, boldly accused
Mr. Ruff of being the most pernicious heretic in the country.
The godly minister reproved him for his malicious spirit.
He affirmed that during the thirty years he had lived he had never bowed the knee
to Baal, and that twice at Rome he had seen the Pope borne about on men's
shoulders, with the false-named sacrament carried before him, presenting a true
picture of the very Antichrist.
Yet was more reverence shown to him than to the wafer, which they accounted to be
their god.
"'Ah!' said Bonner, rising and making towards him, as if he would have torn his
garment.
"'Hast thou been at Rome, and seen our Holy Father the Pope, and dost thou
blaspheme him after this sort?' They said he fell upon him, torn off a piece of his
beard, and that the day might begin to his own satisfaction, he ordered the object of
his rage to be burnt by half-past five the following morning.
Cuthbert Simpson Few professors of Christ possessed more activity and zeal than this
excellent person.
He not only laboured to preserve his friends from the contagion of popery,
but he laboured to guard them against the terrors of persecution.
He was deacon of the little congregation over which Mr. Ruff presided as minister.
Mr. Simpson has written an account of his own sufferings, which we cannot detail
better than in his own words.
On the 13th of December, 1557, I was committed by the Council to the
Tower of London.
On the following Thursday I was called into the wardroom before the Constable of
the Tower and the Recorder of London, Mr. Cholmley, who commanded me to inform
them of the names of those who came to the English service.
I answered that I would declare nothing, in consequence of my refusal I was set
upon a rack of iron, as I judge for the space of three hours.
They then asked me if I would confess.
I answered as before.
After being unbound, I was carried back to my lodgings.
The Sunday after, I was brought to the same place again before the Lieutenant and
Recorder of London, and they examined me.
As I had answered before, so I answered now.
Then the Lieutenant swore by God I should tell, after which my two forefingers were
bound together, and a small arrow placed between them.
They drew it through so fast that the blood followed and the arrow break.
After enduring the rack twice again, I was retaken to my lodgings, and ten days
after the Lieutenant asked me if I would not now confess that which they had before
asked of me.
I answered that I had already said as much as I would.
Three weeks after, I was sent to the priest, where I was greatly assaulted,
and at whose hand I received the Pope's curse for bearing witness of the
resurrection of Christ.
And thus I commend you to God and to the Word of His Grace, with all those who
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 shown upon us.
Sing Hosanna to the Highest, with me, Cuthbert Simpson.
God forgive my sins.
I ask forgiveness of all the world, and I forgive all the world.
And thus I leave the world, in the hope of a joyful resurrection.