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 />
gave him a prebend in his cathedral Church <strong>of</strong> St. Paul.<br />
In this preaching <strong>of</strong>fice Mr. Bradford diligently laboured for the space <strong>of</strong> three years.<br />
Sharply he reproved sin, sweetly he preached Christ crucified, ably he disproved heresies and<br />
errors, earnestly he persuaded to godly life. After the death <strong>of</strong> blessed King Edward VI Mr.<br />
Bradford still continued diligent in preaching, until he was suppressed by Queen Mary.<br />
An act now followed <strong>of</strong> the blackest ingratitude, and at which a pagan would blush. It has<br />
been recited, that a tumult was occasioned by Mr. Bourne's (then bishop <strong>of</strong> Bath) preaching<br />
at St. Paul's Cross; the indignation <strong>of</strong> the people placed his life in imminent danger; indeed a<br />
dagger was thrown at him. In this situation he entreated Mr. Bradford, who stood behind him.<br />
to speak in his place, and assuage the tumult. <strong>The</strong> people welcomed Mr. Bradford, and the<br />
latter afterward kept close to him, that his presence might prevent the populace from renewing<br />
their assaults.<br />
<strong>The</strong> same Sunday in the afternoon, Mr. Bradford preached at Bow Church in Cheapside,<br />
and reproved the people sharply for their seditious misdemeanor. Notwithstanding this<br />
conduct, within three days after, he was sent for to the Tower <strong>of</strong> London, where the queen<br />
then was, to appear before the Council. <strong>The</strong>re he was charged with this act <strong>of</strong> saving Mr.<br />
Bourne, which was called seditious, and they also objected against him for preaching. Thus<br />
he was committed, first to the Tower, then to other prisons, and, after his condemnation, to<br />
the Poultry Compter, where he preached twice a day continually, unless sickness hindered<br />
him. Such as his credit with the keeper <strong>of</strong> the king's Bench, that he permitted him in an evening<br />
to visit a poor, sick person near the steel-yard, upon his promise to return in time, and in this<br />
he never failed.<br />
<strong>The</strong> night before he was sent to Newgate, he was troubled in his sleep by foreboding<br />
dreams, that on Monday after he should be burned in Smithfield. In the afternoon the keeper's<br />
wife came up and announced this dreadful news to him, but in him it excited only thankfulness<br />
to God. At night half a dozen friends came, with whom he spent all the evening in prayer and<br />
godly exercises.<br />
When he was removed to Newgate, a weeping crowd accompanied him, and a rumor<br />
having been spread that he was to suffer at four the next morning, an immense multitude<br />
attended. At nine o'clock Mr. Bradford was brought into Smithfield. <strong>The</strong> cruelty <strong>of</strong> the sheriff<br />
deserves notice; for his brother-in-law, Roger Beswick, having taken him by the hand as he<br />
passed, Mr. Woodr<strong>of</strong>fe, with his staff, cut his head open.<br />
Mr. Bradford, being come to the place, fell flat on the ground, and putting <strong>of</strong>f his clothes<br />
unto the shirt, he went to the stake, and there suffered with a young man <strong>of</strong> twenty years <strong>of</strong><br />
age, whose name was John Leaf, an apprentice to Mr. Humphrey Gaudy, tallow-chandler, <strong>of</strong><br />
Christ-church, London. Upon Friday before Palm Sunday, he was committed to the Compter<br />
in Bread-street, and afterward examined and condemned by the bloody bishop.<br />
It is reported <strong>of</strong> him, that, when the bill <strong>of</strong> his confession was read unto him, instead <strong>of</strong><br />
pen, he took a pin, and pricking his hand, sprinkled the blood upon the said bill, desiring the<br />
reader there<strong>of</strong> to show the bishop that he had sealed the same bill with his blood already.<br />
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