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>of</strong> gold, and said, "Be <strong>of</strong> good comfort; before that one whole year be past, God shall give<br />
you a child, a boy." This came to pass, for, that day twelve-month, wanting one day, God gave<br />
her a son.<br />
Scarcely had he arrived at Antwerp, when he learned that King Philip had sent to<br />
apprehend him. He next flew to Augsburg, in Cleveland, where Dr. Sands tarried fourteen<br />
days, and then travelled towards Strassburg, where, after he had lived one year, his wife came<br />
to him. He was sick <strong>of</strong> a flux nine months, and had a child which died <strong>of</strong> the plague. His<br />
amiable wife at length fell into a consumption, and died in his arms. When his wife was dead,<br />
he went to Zurich, and there was in Peter Martyr's house for the space <strong>of</strong> five weeks.<br />
As they sat at dinner one day, word was suddenly brought that Queen Mary was dead,<br />
and Dr. Sands was sent for by his friends at Strassburg, where he preached. Mr. Grindal and<br />
he came over to England, and arrived in London the same day that Queen Elizabeth was<br />
crowned. This faithful servant <strong>of</strong> Christ, under Queen Elizabeth, rose to the highest distinction<br />
in the Church, being successively bishop <strong>of</strong> Worcester, bishop <strong>of</strong> London, and archbishop <strong>of</strong><br />
York.<br />
Queen Mary's Treatment <strong>of</strong> Her Sister, the Princess Elizabeth<br />
<strong>The</strong> preservation <strong>of</strong> Princess Elizabeth may be reckoned a remarkable instance <strong>of</strong> the<br />
watchful eye which Christ had over His Church. <strong>The</strong> bigotry <strong>of</strong> Mary regarded not the ties <strong>of</strong><br />
consanguinity, <strong>of</strong> natural affection, <strong>of</strong> national succession. Her mind, physically morose, was<br />
under the dominion <strong>of</strong> men who possessed not the milk <strong>of</strong> human kindness, and whose<br />
principles were sanctioned and enjoined by the idolatrous tenets <strong>of</strong> the Romish pontiff. Could<br />
they have foreseen the short date <strong>of</strong> Mary's reign, they would have imbrued their hands in the<br />
Protestant blood <strong>of</strong> Elizabeth, and, as a sine qua non <strong>of</strong> the queen's salvation, have compelled<br />
her to bequeath the kingdom to some Catholic prince. <strong>The</strong> contest might have been attended<br />
with the horrors incidental to a religious civil war, and calamities might have been felt in<br />
England similar to those under Henry the Great in France, whom Queen Elizabeth assisted in<br />
opposing his priest-ridden Catholic subjects. As if Providence had the perpetual establishment<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Protestant faith in view, the difference <strong>of</strong> the duration <strong>of</strong> the two reigns is worthy <strong>of</strong><br />
notice. Mary might have reigned many years in the course <strong>of</strong> nature, but the course <strong>of</strong> grace<br />
willed it otherwise. Five years and four months was the time <strong>of</strong> persecution alloted to this<br />
weak, disgraceful reign, while that <strong>of</strong> Elizabeth reckoned a number <strong>of</strong> years among the highest<br />
<strong>of</strong> those who have sat on the English throne, almost nine times that <strong>of</strong> her merciless sister!<br />
Before Mary attained the crown, she treated Elizabeth with a sisterly kindness, but from<br />
that period her conduct was altered, and the most imperious distance substituted. Though<br />
Elizabeth had no concern in the rebellion <strong>of</strong> Sir Thomas Wyat, yet she was apprehended, and<br />
treated as a culprit in that commotion. <strong>The</strong> manner too <strong>of</strong> her arrest was similar to the mind<br />
that dictated it: the three cabinet members, whom she deputed to see the arrest executed,<br />
rudely entered the chamber at ten o'clock at night, and, though she was extremely ill, they<br />
could scarcely be induced to let her remain until the following morning. Her enfeebled state<br />
permitted her to be moved only by short stages in a journey <strong>of</strong> such length to London; but the<br />
princess, though afflicted in person, had a consolation in mind which her sister never could<br />
purchase: the people, through whom she passed on her way pitied her, and put up their prayers<br />
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