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 />
abominations? And yet you say, you come for my pr<strong>of</strong>it, and to save my soul. No, no, one<br />
hath saved me. Farewell, you with your salvation."<br />
During the liberty granted her by the bishop, before-mentioned, she went into St. Peter's<br />
Church, and there found a skilful Dutchman, who was affixing new noses to certain fine<br />
images which had been disfigured in King Edward's time; to whom she said, "What a madman<br />
art thou, to make them new noses, which within a few days shall all lose their heads?" <strong>The</strong><br />
Dutchman accused her and laid it hard to her charge. And she said unto him, "Thou art<br />
accursed, and so are thy images." He called her a whore. "Nay," said she, "thy images are<br />
whores, and thou art a whore-hunter; for doth not God say, 'You go a whoring after strange<br />
gods, figures <strong>of</strong> your own making? and thou art one <strong>of</strong> them.'" After this she was ordered to<br />
be confined, and had no more liberty.<br />
During the time <strong>of</strong> her imprisonment, many visited her, some sent by the bishop, and<br />
some <strong>of</strong> their own will, among these was one Daniel, a great preacher <strong>of</strong> the Gospel, in the<br />
days <strong>of</strong> King Edward, about Cornwall and Devonshire, but who, through the grievous<br />
persecution he had sustained, had fallen <strong>of</strong>f. Earnestly did she exhort him to repent with Peter,<br />
and to be more constant in his pr<strong>of</strong>ession.<br />
Mrs. Walter Rauley and Mr. William and John Kede, persons <strong>of</strong> great respectability, bore<br />
ample testimony <strong>of</strong> her godly conversation, declaring, that unless God were with her, it were<br />
impossible she could have so ably defended the cause <strong>of</strong> Christ. Indeed, to sum up the<br />
character <strong>of</strong> this poor woman, she united the serpent and the dove, abounding in the highest<br />
wisdom joined to the greatest simplicity. She endured imprisonment, threatenings, taunts, and<br />
the vilest epithets, but nothing could induce her to swerve; her heart was fixed; she had cast<br />
anchor; nor could all the wounds <strong>of</strong> persecution remove her from the rock on which her hopes<br />
<strong>of</strong> felicity were built.<br />
Such was her memory, that, without learning, she could tell in what chapter any text <strong>of</strong><br />
Scripture was contained: on account <strong>of</strong> this singular property, one Gregory Basset, a rank<br />
papist, said she was deranged, and talked as a parrot, wild without meaning. At length, having<br />
tried every manner without effect to make her nominally a Catholic, they condemned her.<br />
After this, one exhorted her to leave her opinions, and go home to her family, as she was poor<br />
and illiterate. "True, (said she) though I am not learned, I am content to be a witness <strong>of</strong> Christ's<br />
death, and I pray you make no longer delay with me; for my heart is fixed, and I will never<br />
say otherwise, nor turn to your superstitious doing."<br />
To the disgrace <strong>of</strong> Mr. Blackston, treasurer <strong>of</strong> the church, he would <strong>of</strong>ten send for this<br />
poor martyr from prison, to make sport for him and a woman whom he kept; putting religious<br />
questions to her, and turning her answers into ridicule. This done, he sent her back to her<br />
wretched dungeon, while he battened upon the good things <strong>of</strong> this world.<br />
<strong>The</strong>re was perhaps something simply ludicrous in the form <strong>of</strong> Mrs. Prest, as she was <strong>of</strong> a<br />
very short stature, thick set, and about fifty-four years <strong>of</strong> age; but her countenance was<br />
cheerful and lively, as if prepared for the day <strong>of</strong> her marriage with the Lamb. To mock at her<br />
form was an indirect accusation <strong>of</strong> her Creator, who framed her after the fashion He liked<br />
best, and gave her a mind that far excelled the transient endowments <strong>of</strong> perishable flesh. When<br />
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