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 />
felt sorrow, and yet never have I seen his patience broken."<br />
<strong>The</strong> day before this pious deacon was to be condemned, while in the stocks in the bishop's<br />
coal-house, he had the vision <strong>of</strong> a glorified form, which much encouraged him. This he<br />
certainly attested to his wife, to Mr. Austen, and others, before his death.<br />
With this ornament <strong>of</strong> the Christian Reformation were apprehended Mr. Hugh <strong>Foxe</strong> and<br />
John Devinish; the three were brought before Bonner, March 19, 1558, and the papistical<br />
articles tendered. <strong>The</strong>y rejected them, and were all condemned. As they worshipped together<br />
in the same society, at Islington, so they suffered together in Smithfield, March 28; in whose<br />
death the God <strong>of</strong> Grace was glorified, and true believers confirmed!<br />
Thomas Hudson, Thomas Carman, and William Seamen<br />
Were condemned by a bigoted vicar <strong>of</strong> Aylesbury, named Berry. <strong>The</strong> spot <strong>of</strong> execution<br />
was called Lollard's Pit, without Bishipsgate, at Norwich. After joining together in humble<br />
petition to the throne <strong>of</strong> grace, they rose, went to the stake, and were encircled with their chains.<br />
To the great surprise <strong>of</strong> the spectators, Hudson slipped from under his chains, and came<br />
forward. A great opinion prevailed that he was about to recant; others thought that he wanted<br />
further time. In the meantime, his companions at the stake urged every promise and exhortation<br />
to support him. <strong>The</strong> hopes <strong>of</strong> the enemies <strong>of</strong> the cross, however, were disappointed: the good<br />
man, far from fearing the smallest personal terror at the approaching pangs <strong>of</strong> death, was only<br />
alarmed thathis Savior's face seemed to be hidden from him. Falling upon his knees, his spirit<br />
wrestled with God, and God verified the words <strong>of</strong> His Son, "Ask, and it shall be given." <strong>The</strong><br />
martyr rose in an ecstasy <strong>of</strong> joy, and exclaimed, "Now, I thank God, I am strong! and care not<br />
what man can do to me!" With an unruffled countenance he replaced himself under the chain,<br />
joined his fellow-sufferers, and with them suffered death, to the comfort <strong>of</strong> the godly, and the<br />
confusion <strong>of</strong> Antichrist.<br />
Berry, unsatiated with this demoniacal act, summoned up two hundred persons in the<br />
town <strong>of</strong> Aylesham, whom he compelled to kneel to the cross at Pentecost, and inflicted other<br />
punishments. He struck a poor man for a trifling word, with a flail, which proved fatal to the<br />
un<strong>of</strong>fending object. He also gave a woman named Alice Oxes, so heavy a blow with his fist,<br />
as she met him entering the hall when he was in an ill-humor, that she died with the violence.<br />
This priest was rich, and possessed great authority; he was a reprobate, and, like the<br />
priesthood, he abstained from marriage, to enjoy the more a debauched and licentious life.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Sunday after the death <strong>of</strong> Queen Mary, he was revelling with one <strong>of</strong> his concubines,<br />
before vespers; he then went to church, administered baptism, and in his return to his<br />
lascivious pastime, he was smitten by the hand <strong>of</strong> God. Without a moment given for<br />
repentance, he fell to the ground, and a groan was the only articulation permitted him. In him<br />
we may behold the difference between the end <strong>of</strong> a martyr and a persecutor.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Story <strong>of</strong> Roger Holland<br />
In a retired close near a field, in Islington, a company <strong>of</strong> decent persons had assembled,<br />
to the number <strong>of</strong> forty. While they were religiously engaged in praying and expounding the<br />
Scripture, twenty-seven <strong>of</strong> them were carried before Sir Roger Cholmly. Some <strong>of</strong> the women<br />
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