Foxe - The Book of Martyrs
The mystery of history is not completely dark, since it is a veil which only partially conceals the creative activity and spiritual forces and the operation of spiritual laws. It is commonplace to say that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church yet what we are asserting is simply that individual acts of spiritual decision bear social fruit …For the great cultural changes and historic revolutions that decide the fate of nations or the character of an age is the cumulative result of a number of spiritual decisions … the faith and insight, or the refusal and blindness, of individuals. No one can put his finger on the ultimate spiritual act that tilts the balance, and makes the external order of society assume a new form… Persecution, powerless to destroy or even to shake this new community, made it only the more sensible of its own strength, and pressed it into a more compact body.
The mystery of history is not completely dark, since it is a veil which only partially conceals the creative activity and spiritual forces and the operation of spiritual laws. It is commonplace to say that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church yet what we are asserting is simply that individual acts of spiritual decision bear social fruit …For the great cultural changes and historic revolutions that decide the fate of nations or the character of an age is the cumulative result of a number of spiritual decisions … the faith and insight, or the refusal and blindness, of individuals. No one can put his finger on the ultimate spiritual act that tilts the balance, and makes the external order of society assume a new form… Persecution, powerless to destroy or even to shake this new community, made it only the more sensible of its own strength, and pressed it into a more compact body.
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<strong>Foxe</strong>’s <strong>Book</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Martyrs</strong><br />
before nine o'clock in the morning, he commended himself to God with this devout prayer:<br />
"My heavenly Father, eternal and merciful God! Thou hast manifested unto me Thy dear<br />
Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. I have taught Him, I have known Him; I love Him as my life, my<br />
health and my redemption; Whom the wicked have persecuted, maligned, and with injury<br />
afflicted. Draw my soul to <strong>The</strong>e."<br />
After this he said as ensueth, thrice: "I commend my spirit into Thy hands, Thou hast<br />
redeemed me, O God <strong>of</strong> Truth! 'God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son,<br />
that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have life everlasting.'" Having<br />
repeated <strong>of</strong>tentimes his prayers, he was called to God. So praying, his innocent ghost<br />
peaceably was separated from the earthly body.<br />
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