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 />
Foster, an attorney, and Clark, a tradesman, out <strong>of</strong> blind zeal, resolved that Mass should be<br />
celebrated, in all its superstitious forms, in the parish church <strong>of</strong> Hadley, on Monday before<br />
Easter. This Dr. Taylor, entering the church, strictly forbade; but Clark forced the Doctor out<br />
<strong>of</strong> the church, celebrated Mass, and immediately informed the lord-chancellor, bishop <strong>of</strong><br />
Winchester <strong>of</strong> his behavior, who summoned him to appear, and answer the complaints that<br />
were alleged against him.<br />
<strong>The</strong> doctor upon the receipt <strong>of</strong> the summons, cheerfully prepared to obey the same; and<br />
rejected the advice <strong>of</strong> his friends to fly beyond sea. When Gardiner saw Dr. Taylor, he,<br />
according to his common custom, reviled him. Dr. Taylor heard his abuse patiently, and when<br />
the bishop said, "How darest thou look me in the face! knowest thou not who I am?" Dr.<br />
Taylor replied, "You are Dr. Stephen Gardiner, bishop <strong>of</strong> Winchester, and lord-chancellor,<br />
and yet but a mortal man. But if I should be afraid <strong>of</strong> your lordly looks, why fear ye not God,<br />
the Lord <strong>of</strong> us all? With what countenance will you appear before the judgment seat <strong>of</strong> Christ,<br />
and answer to your oath made first unto King Henry VIII, and afterward unto King Edward<br />
VI, his son?"<br />
A long conversation ensued, in which Dr. Taylor was so piously collected and severe<br />
upon his antagonist, that he exclaimed:<br />
"Thou art a blasphemous heretic! Thou indeed blasphemist the blessed Sacrament, (here<br />
he put <strong>of</strong>f his cap) and speakest against the holy Mass, which is made a sacrifice for the quick<br />
and the dead." <strong>The</strong> bishop afterward committed him into the king's bench.<br />
When Dr. Taylor came there, he found the virtuous and vigilant preacher <strong>of</strong> God's Word,<br />
Mr. Bradford; who equally thanked God that He had provided him with such a comfortable<br />
fellow-prisoner; and they both together praised God, and continued in prayer, reading and<br />
exhorting one another.<br />
After Dr. Taylor had lain some time in prison, he was cited to appear in the arches <strong>of</strong> Bowchurch.<br />
Dr. Taylor being condemned, was committed to the Clink, and the keepers were charged<br />
to treat him roughly; at night he was removed to the Poultry Compter.<br />
When Dr. Taylor had lain in the Compter about a week on the fourth <strong>of</strong> February, Bonner<br />
came to degrade him, bringing with him such ornaments as appertained to the massing<br />
mummery; but the Doctor refused these trappings until they were forced upon him.<br />
<strong>The</strong> night after he was degraded his wife came with John Hull, his servant, and his son<br />
Thomas, and were by the gentleness <strong>of</strong> the keepers permitted to sup with him. After supper,<br />
walking up and down, he gave God thanks for His grace, that had given him strength to abide<br />
by His holy Word. With tears they prayed together, and kissed one another. Unto his son<br />
Thomas he gave a Latin book, containing the notable sayings <strong>of</strong> the old martyrs, and in the<br />
end <strong>of</strong> that he wrote his testament:<br />
"I say to my wife, and to my children, <strong>The</strong> Lord gave you unto me, and the Lord hath<br />
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