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 />
<strong>The</strong>y both ended this mortal life, July 12, 1555, like two lambs, without any alteration <strong>of</strong><br />
their countenances, hoping to obtain that prise they had long run for; to which may Almighty<br />
God conduct us all, through the merits <strong>of</strong> Christ our Savior!<br />
We shall conclude this article with mentioning that Mr.<br />
Sheriff Woodr<strong>of</strong>fe, it is said, within half a year after, was struck on the right side with a<br />
palsy, and for the space <strong>of</strong> eight years after, (until his dying day,) he was unable to turn himself<br />
in his bed; thus he became at last a fearful object to behold.<br />
<strong>The</strong> day after Mr. Bradford and John Leaf suffered in Smithfield William Minge, priest,<br />
died in prison at Maidstone. With as great constancy and boldness he yielded up his life in<br />
prison, as if it had pleased God to have called him to suffer by fire, as other godly men had<br />
done before at the stake, and as he himself was ready to do, had it pleased God to have called<br />
him to this trial.<br />
Rev. John Bland, Rev. John Frankesh, Nicholas Shetterden, and Humphrey<br />
Middleton<br />
<strong>The</strong>se Christian persons were all burnt at Canterbury for the same cause. Frankesh and<br />
Bland were ministers and preachers <strong>of</strong> the Word <strong>of</strong> God, the one being parson <strong>of</strong> Adesham,<br />
and the other vicar <strong>of</strong> Rolvenden. Mr. Bland was cited to answer for his opposition to<br />
antichristianism, and underwent several examinations before Dr. Harpsfield, archdeacon <strong>of</strong><br />
Canterbury, and finally on the twenty-fifth <strong>of</strong> June, 1555, again withstanding the power <strong>of</strong> the<br />
pope, he was condemned, and delivered to the secular arm. On the same day were condemned<br />
John Frankesh, Nicholas Shetterden, Humphrey Middleton, Thacker, and Crocker, <strong>of</strong> whom<br />
Thacker only recanted.<br />
Being delivered to the secular power, Mr. Bland, with the three former, were all burnt<br />
together at Canterbury, July 12, 1555, at two several stakes, but in one fire, when they, in the<br />
sight <strong>of</strong> God and His angels, and before men, like true soldiers <strong>of</strong> Jesus Christ, gave a constant<br />
testimony to the truth <strong>of</strong> His holy Gospel.<br />
Dirick Carver and John Launder<br />
<strong>The</strong> twenty-second <strong>of</strong> July, 1555, Dirick Carver, brewer, <strong>of</strong> Brighthelmstone, aged forty,<br />
was burnt at Lewes. And the day following John Launder, husbandman, aged twenty-five, <strong>of</strong><br />
Godstone, Surrey, was burnt at Stening.<br />
Dirick Carver was a man whom the Lord had blessed as well with temporal riches as with<br />
his spiritual treasures. At his coming into the town <strong>of</strong> Lewes to be burnt, the people called to<br />
him, beseeching God to strengthen him in the faith <strong>of</strong> Jesus Christ; and, as he came to the<br />
stake, he knelt down, and prayed earnestly. <strong>The</strong>n his <strong>Book</strong> was thrown into the barrel, and<br />
when he had stripped himself, he too, went into a barrel. As soon as he was in, he took the<br />
<strong>Book</strong>, and threw it among the people, upon which the sheriff commanded, in the name <strong>of</strong> the<br />
king and queen, on pain <strong>of</strong> death , to throw in the <strong>Book</strong> again. And immediately the holy<br />
martyr began to address the people. After he had prayed a while, he said, "O Lord my God,<br />
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