MarginaliaAn. 1555. February.follow her good counsell in all things. Beware of lewd company of yong men that feare not God, but followe their leude lustes & vaine appetites. Flie from whoredome, and hate all filthy liuing, remembring that I thy father doe dye in the defence of holy mariage. And an other day when God shall blesse thee, loue and cherishe the poore people, & count that thy chiefe riches is to be rich in almes: and when thy mother is waxed old, forsake her not, but prouide for her to thy power, and see that she lacke nothing: For so wil God blesse thee, and geue thee long life vpon earth and prosperitie: which I pray God to graunt thee.

Then turning to his wyfe: MarginaliaD. Taylour counselleth his wyfe.My deare wyfe (quoth he) continue stedfast in the feare & loue of God: keepe your selfe vndefiled from their Popish idolatries, and superstitions. I haue bene vnto you a faithful yokefellow, and so haue you bene to me, for the which I pray God to rewarde you, and doubt you not deare wyfe, but God wyll reward it. Now the time is come that I shall be takē from you, and you discharged of the wedlocke bond towardes me: therefore I will geue you my counsell what I thinke most expedient for you. You are yet a childbearing woman, and therefore it wyll be most conuenient for you to marry. For doubtles you shall neuer be at a conuenient stay for your selfe & our poore children, nor out of trouble, tyll you bee maryed. Therefore as soone as God will prouide it, marry with some honest faythfull man that feareth God. Doubt you not, God will prouide an honest husband for you, & he wyll be a mercyfull father to you and to my Chyldren: whom I pray you, bring vp in the feare of God, and in learning, to þ^e vttermost of your power, & keepe them from this Romish idolatry. When he had thus sayd, they with weeping teares prayed together, & kyssed one the other: and he gaue to his wyfe MarginaliaHis last token to his wife and his sonne.a booke of the church seruice, set out by king Edward, which in the time of his imprisonment he dayly vsed. And vnto his sonne Thomas he gaue a latine booke, contayning the notable sayinges of the old Martyrs, gathered out of Ecclesiastica historia: and in the end of that booke he wrote hys Testament and last Vale, as here after followeth.

¶ The last wyll and Testament of Doctor Rowland Taylour, Parson of Hadley.  

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This was first printed in Rerum, pp. 422-23, and then in all editions of theActs and Monuments. Copies of this are BL, Lansdowne 389, fos. 187r and 292v. ECL 260, fol. 143r is a copy of this annotated by Bull.

MarginaliaD. Taylours wyll and testament written in the booke which he gaue to hys sonne.I Say to my wyfe, and to my children: MarginaliaIob. 1. 2.The Lord gaue you vnto me, and the Lord hath taken mee from you, and you from me: blessed be the name of the Lord. I beleue that MarginaliaApoc. 14.they are blessed which die in the Lord. MarginaliaLuke. 12.God careth for Sparowes, and for the heares of our heades. I haue euer found hym more faythfull and fauourable, then is any father or husband. Trust ye therfore in hym by the meanes of our deare Sauiour Christes merites: beleue, loue, feare and obey him: pray to him, for he hath promised to helpe. Count me not dead, for I shall certainly lyue, and neuer die. I go before, and you shal folow after, to our long home. I go to the rest of my children, Susan, George, Ellen, Robert, and Zacharie: I haue bequeathed you to the onely omnipotent.

I say to my deare friendes of Hadley, and to all other which haue heard me preach: MarginaliaA pure conscience fully quieted.that I depart hence wyth a quiet cōscience, as touching my doctrine: for the which I pray you thanke God with me. For I haue after my litle talent declared to other, those lessons that I gathered out of Gods booke, the blessed Bible. Therefore if I or any Aungel from heauen should preach to you any other Gospell, then that ye haue receiued, Gods great curse vpon that Preacher.

MarginaliaA graue warning against Popery.Beware for Gods sake, that ye denie not God, neither decline from the worde of fayth, lest God decline frō you, and so ye do euerlastingly perish. For Gods sake beware of Popery: for though it appeare to haue in it vnitie, yet the same is in vanitie, and Antichristianitie, and not in Christes fayth and veritie.

MarginaliaThe sinne against the holy ghost.Beware of the synne against the holy Ghost, now after such a light opened so plainly and simply, truly, thorowly, and generally to all England.

MarginaliaA godly prayer.The Lord graunt all men his good and holy spirite, encrease of his wisdome, contemning the wicked world, harty desyre to be with God and the heauenly company,

through Iesus Christ our onely Mediatour, Aduocate, righteousnes, lyfe, sanctification, and hope, Amen, Amen, Pray, pray.

¶ Rowland Taylour departing hence in sure hope, without all
doubting of eternall saluation, I thanke God my heauenly
father, through Iesus Christ my certaine sauiour, Amen.
The. 5. of February. Anno. 1555.

The Lord is my light and my saluation: whom then shall I feare?  

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These concluding three lines do not appear in the Rerum version of thisdocument. This suggests that in 1563 the printers worked from a copy of thedocument and did not work from a translation of the Rerum version.

God is he that iustifieth: who is he that can condemne?

In thee O Lord haue I trusted, neuer let me be confoūded.

On the next morrow, after that D. Taylour had supped with his wife in the Counter (as is before expressed) which was the fift day of February, MarginaliaDoctour Taylour lead frō the Counter by night toward Hadley.the Shiriffe of London, with his Officers, came to the Counter by. ij. of the clocke in the morning, and so brought forth Doctor Taylour, & wichout any light lead him to the Woolsacke, an Inne without Algate. D. Tailours wyfe suspecting that her husband should that night be caryed away, watched all night within S. Butolphes Churchporch beside Algate, hauing with her two children, the one named Elizabeth of. xiiij. yeares of age (whom being left without father or mother, Doctor Taylour had brought vp of almes from three yeares olde) the other named Mary, D. Taylours own daughter.

Now, when the Shiriffe and his company came against S. Butolphes church, MarginaliaThe last meeting & leaue taking wyth his wife & children.Elizabeth cryed saying: O my deare father. Mother, mother, here is my Father lead away. Then cried his wife: Rowland, Rowland where art thou? for it was a very darke morning, that the one could not see the other. D. Taylour aunswered: deare wyfe, I am here, and stayed. The Sheriffes men would haue led him forth, but the MarginaliaThys Shrieffe was M. Chester.Sheriffe sayd: stay a litle maisters, I pray you, and let him speake wyth hys wyfe, and so they stayed. Then came shee to him, and he tooke his daughter Mary in his armes, and hee, hys wyfe, and Elizabeth kneeled downe & sayd the Lords prayer. At which sight the Shrieffe wept apase, and so did diuers other of the company. After they had prayed, he rose vp and kissed his wyfe, and shooke her by the hand, and sayd: Farewell my deare wyfe: be of good comfort, for I am quiet in my conscience. God shall styrre vp a father for my children. And then hee kyssed his daughter Mary and said: God blesse thee, and make thee his seruaunt: and kissing Elizabeth, he sayd: God blesse thee. I pray you all stand strong and stedfast vnto Christ and his word, and keepe you from idolatrye. Then sayd his wyfe: God be with thee deare Rowland. I wyll with Gods grace meete thee at Hadley.

And so was he lead forth to the Woolsacke, and hys wyfe followed him. As soone as they came to the Woolsacke, he was put into a chamber, wherin he was kept with. iiij. Yeomen of the Gard, and the Shrieffes mē. Doctor Taylour, as soone as hee was come into the chamber, fell downe on his knees and gaue him selfe wholy to prayer. MarginaliaThe Shiriffes gentlenes shewed to the woman.The Shrieffe then seing D. Taylours wyfe there, woulde in no case graunt her to speake any more with her husband, but gently desired her to go to his house and take it as her own, and promised her she should lacke nothing, and sent two Officers to conduct her thether. Notwithstanding, she desired to go to her mothers, whether the Officers lead her, and charged her mother to keepe her there, till they came again. MarginaliaDoctour Taylour brought to the signe of the Woolsacke.Thus remained D. Taylour in the Woolsacke, kept by the Sheriffe and his company, tyll a. xj. of the clocke. At which tyme the Sheriffe of Essex was ready to receiue him: and so they set him on horsebacke within þ^e Inne, the gates being shut.

At the comming out of the gates, Iohn Hull  

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As at other times, John Hull appears; he is probably Foxe's source for this encounter.