Marginalia1557. Septemb.uaunt be as his Lord is. If they haue called the maister of the house Belsebub, how much more shall they call them of hys houshold so: feare not them therefore.
S. Paule sayth: Marginaliaij. Cor. vj.Set your selues therefore at large, and beare not a straungers yoke with the vnbeleuers: for what company hath light with darckenes? eyther what part hath the beleuer with the Infidell? &c. Wherefore come out from among them, and seperate your selues now, sayth the Lord, and touch none vncleane thyng: so will I receiue you: And I will be a father vnto you, and ye shalbe my sonnes and daughters, sayth the Lord almighty.
[Back to Top]Marginaliai. Cor. ij.For neither eye hath seene, nor the eare hath heard, neyther can it enter into the hart of man, what good thinges the Lord hath prepared for them that loue hym.
Marginaliaj. Pet. j.Ye are not bought neither with siluer nor golde, but with the precious bloud of Christ.
MarginaliaAct. iiij.There is none other name geuen to men, wherein we must be saued.
So fare ye well wife and children, and leaue worldly care, and see that ye be diligent to pray.
MarginaliaMath. vj.Take no thought (sayth Christ) saying what shall we eate or what shall we drinke, or wherewith shall we be clothed: (for after all these thinges seeke the Gentils) for your heauenly father knoweth that ye haue neede of all these thinges: but seeke ye first the kingdome of heauen, and the righteousnes thereof. And all these things shalbe ministred vnto you.
[Back to Top]This entire account first appears in the 1563 edition and it was based entirely on testimony from an individual informant or informants. It was unchanged in subsequent editions.
MarginaliaSeptēb. 23.MarginaliaCicelie Ormes, Martyr.ABout the xxiij. day of the sayd moneth of September, next after the other aboue mencioned, suffered at Norwich Cicelie Ormes, wife of Edmund Ormes worstedweuer, dwelling in S. Laurence parish in Norwich. She being of the age of xxxij. yeares or more, was taken at the death of Simon Miller and Elizabeth Cooper aboue mencioned, in a place called Lollardes pit without Bishops gate, at the sayd Norwich, for that she sayd she would pledge them of the same cup that they dranke on. MarginaliaM. Corbet of Sprowson, persecutor.For so saying, one master Corbet of Sprowson by Norwich, tooke her and sent her to the Chaūcellor.MarginaliaThe Chauncellors name was Dūning. Whē she came before him, he asked her, what she sayd to þe sacrament of Christes body. And she sayd, she did beleue, that it was the sacrament of the body of Christ. Yea sayd the Chauncellor? but what is that that the priest holdeth ouer hys head? She answered him and sayd, it is bread: and if ye make it any better, it is worse. At which wordes the Chauncellor sent her to the bishops prison to the keeper called Fellow, with many threatning and hote wordes, as a man being in a great chafe.
[Back to Top]The xxiij. day of Iulye she was called before the Chauncellor agayne, who sat in iudgement with MarginaliaBrigges a popishe persecutor.Master Brigges and others. The Chauncellor offered her if she would go to the church and keepe her toung, she should be at libertie, and beleue as she would. But she tolde him she would not consent to his wicked desire therin, do with her what he would: for if she should, she sayd God would surely plague her. Then þe Chauncellor told her, he had shewed more fauour to her, then euer he did to any, and that he was loth to condemne her, considering that she was an ignorant, vnlearned, and folish woman. But she not weying hys wordes, tolde him if he did, he should not be so desirous of her sinfull flesh, as she would (by Gods grace) be content to geue it in so good a quarell. Then rose he and red the bloudy sentence of condemnatiō against her,
The sentence condemning Ormes, dated 23 July 1557, survives among Foxe's papers (BL, Harley MS 421, fos. 152r-153r).
This Cicely Ormes was a very simple woman, but yet zelous in the Lords cause, being borne in East Deram, and was there the daughter of one Thomas Hawnd, Tailor. She was taken the v. day of Iuly, and
did for a tweluemoneth before she was taken, recant,MarginaliaCicelie Ormes first recanted. but neuer after was she quiet in conscience, vntill she was vtterly driuen frō all their Popery. Betwene the tyme she recanted, and that she was taken, she had gotten a letter made, to geue to the Chauncellour, MarginaliaCicelie Ormes repenteth her recantation.to let hym know that she repented her recantation from the bottome of her hart, and would neuer do þe like againe while she liued. But before she exhibited her bill, she was taken & sent to prison, as is before sayd. She was burnt the 23. day of September, betwene vij. and viij. of the clocke in the morning, the sayd two Sheriffes beyng there, and of people to the number of 260. Whē she came to the stake, she kneled downe and made her prayers to God. That being done, she rose vp, and said: good people, I beleue in God the father, God þe sonne, and God the holy ghost, three persons and one God. This do I not, nor will I recant, but I recant vtterly from the bottome of my hart, the doinges of the Pope of Rome, and all his popish priestes and shauelinges. I vtterly refuse, and neuer will haue to do with them agayne by Gods grace. And good people, I would you should not thinke of me, that I beleue to be saued in that I offer my selfe here vnto the death for the Lordes cause, MarginaliaNote well this saying of Cicelie Ormes.but I beleue to be saued by the death of Christes passion: and this my death is and shall be a witnes of my faith vnto you all here present. Good people, as many of you as beleue as I beleue, pray for me. Then she came to the stake and laid her hand on it, and said: welcome the crosse of Christ. Which being done, she loking on her hand, & seing it blacked with the stake, she
[Back to Top]wiped it vpō her smocke, for she was burnt at the same stake that Simon Miller & Elizab. Cooper was burned at. Thē after she had touched it with her hand, she came and kissed it, and sayd welcome the sweete crosse of Christ, and so gaue her selfe to be bound thereto. After the tormentors had kindled the fire to her, she said: MarginaliaThe last wordes of Cicelie Ormes at the stake.My soule doth magnifie the Lord, and my spirite reioyceth in God my Sauiour, and in so saying, she set her hāds together right against her brest, casting her eyes and head vpward, and so stoode, heauing vp her handes by little and litle, till the very sinowes of her armes brast asunder, and then they fell: but she yelded her life vnto the Lord as quietly as she had ben in a slumber, or as one feeling no paine: So wonderfully did the Lorde worke wyth her: hys name therefore be praysed for euermore, Amen.
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