verified in them, which their persecutours wer wont to sing in their Hymnes.

Cæduntur gladijs more bidentium.
Non murmur resonat, nec querimonia:
Sed corde tacito mens bene conscia,
Conseruat patientiam. &c.

Briefly, so great was their pacience, or rather so great was Gods spirit in them, that some of them in the flamyng fire moued no more, then the Stake whereunto they were tyed. In fine, in them most aptly agreed the speciall tokens whiche moste certaynely folowe the true chyldren of God: that is, MarginaliaTwo speciall notes of the true Church of Christ.outward persecution, and inward comfort in the holy Ghost. In the worlde (saith Christ our Sauiour) ye shall haue affliction, but in me ye shal haue peace. &c.MarginaliaOutward affliction peace of conscience.

And likewise the wordes of S. Paull be playne: Who soeuer (saith he) studyeth to lyue godly in Christ, shal suffer persecution. &c.

Marginalia2. Timoth. 3.But thē what foloweth with this persecutiō, þ^e said Apostle againe thus declareth, saying: As the passions of Christ abound in vs: so aboundeth also our consolation by Christ. &c.Marginalia2. Cor. 1. accordyng as by the examples of these godly Martyrs right perfectly we may perceyue. For as their bodyes outwardly lacked no persecutions by the handes of the wicked: so amongest so many hundredes of them that stoode and dyed in this Religion, what one man can be brought foorth, whiche eyther hath bene founde to haue kylled hym selfe, or to haue dyed otherwise, then the true seruaunt of God, in quiet peace and muche comfort of conscience?

MarginaliaThe wretched end of Papistes giue testimonie against their owne doctrine. Admonition to persecutours which yet remaine alyue.Whiche beyng so, what greater proofe can we haue to iustifie their cause and doctrine agaynste the persecutyng Church of Rome, then to beholde the endes of them both: Firste, of the Protestantes, howe quietly they tooke their death, and chearefully rested in the Lord: and contrarywise to marke these persecuters, what a wretched end commonly they doo all come vnto.

Experience wherof we haue sufficient in the examples aboue declared: MarginaliaThe end and death of Edmund Boner.and also of late in Boner, who albeit he dyed in his bed vnrepentant, yet was it so prouided by God, that as he had bene a persecuter of the light, and a chylde of darkenes, so his carkase was tumbled into the earth in obscure darknes at mydnight, cōtrary to the order of al other Christians: and as he had bene a murderer, so was he layd amonges theeues & murderers, a place by Gods iudgemēt rightly appoynted for hym.

And albeit some peraduenture that haue bene notable persecutours in tyme past, doo yet remayne alyue, who being in the same cause as the other were, haue not yet fealt the weight of Gods mighty hand, yet let not them thinke, that because the iudgement of God hath light sooner vppon other, therefore it wyll neuer light vppon them: or because God of his mercy hath graunted them space to repent, let not them therefore of Gods lenitie buyld to them selues an opinion of indemnitie. The bloud of Abell cryed long, yet it wrought at length. The soules of the Saintes slayne vnder the altar, were not reuenged at the first. Apocal. 6. but read forth the Chapter, and see what folowed in the ende. Bloud, especially of Christes seruaunts, is a perilous matter, and cryeth sore in the eares of God, and wyl not be stylled with the lawes of men.

Wherfore let such bloud gyltie homicides beware, if not by my counsell, at least by the examples of their felowes. And though Princes and Magistrates, vnder whose permission they are suffered, doo spare their lyues, let them not thinke therefore (as some of them shame not to say) that man hath no power to hurt them, and so thinke to escape vnpunished, because they be not punished by man, but rather let them feare so much the more. MarginaliaGod maketh the persecutors of his people commonly to bee their owne persecutours.For oftentymes such as haue bene persecutours and tormentours to Gods chyldren, God thinketh them not worthy to suffer by man, but either reserueth them to his owne iudgment, or els maketh them to be their owne persecuters, & their own handes most commonly hangmen to their owne bodyes.

MarginaliaSaul murderer of him selfe.So Saul after he had persecuted Dauid, it was vnnedful for Dauid to pursue hym agayne, for he was reuenged of hym more then he desired.

MarginaliaAchitophell murtherer of him selfe.It was needelesse to cause Architophell to be hanged, for he hym selfe was the styfeler or strangler of his owne lyfe.

MarginaliaIudas murderer of him selfe.Neyther for the Apostles to pursue Iudas that betrayed their Maister, for he hym selfe was his owne hangman, and no man els, that his body brust, and his guttes brast out.

MarginaliaSenacherib murdered of hys own sonnes.Senacherib, had he not for his persecutours his owne sonnes, and cost Ezechias nothing to be reuenged of him for his tyrannie.

MarginaliaHerode and Antiochus murdered by lyse.Antiochus and Herode, although the chyldren of God whom they so cruelly persecuted, layd no hand vpon them, yet they escaped not vnpunished of Gods hande, who sent Lyse and Wormes to be their tormenters, which consumed and eate them vp.

MarginaliaPilate murderer of him selfe.Pilate, after he had crucified Christe our Saueour, within fewe yeares after was he not driuen to hang hym selfe?

MarginaliaNero murderer of him selfe.Nero, after his cruell murders and persecutions styrred vp agaynste the Christians, when he shoulde haue bene taken by the Romanes, GOD thought hym not so worthy to be punished by the handes of them, but so disposed the matter, that Nero hym selfe when he could finde no frende nor enemie to kyll hym, made his owne handes to be his owne cutthrote.

MarginaliaDioclesianus and Maximinianus Emperours deposed themselues.Dioclesianus, with Maximinian his felow Emperors which were the authours of the tenth and last persecution against the Christians, beyng in the myddest of their furious tyrannie agaynst the name of Christe, needed no mans helpe to bridle them and plucke them backe: for God of his secret iudgement put such a snaffle in the mouthes of these tyrants, that they them selues of their owne accord deposed and dispossessed them selues of their imperiall function, and lyued as priuate persons all their lyues after: And notwithstandyng þ^t Maximinian after that sought to resume his Imperiall state agayne, yet by Maxentius his sonne he was resisted, and shortly after slayne.

MarginaliaMaximinus eaten vp with lyse.What shoulde I here speake of the cruell Emperour Maximinus, who when he had set forth his Proclamation engrauen in Brasse, for the vtter abolishyng of Christ and his Religion, was not punished by man, but had Lyce & vermyne gushyng out of his entrals, to be his tormenters, with such a rotting stinch layd vpon his body, that no Phisitions could abyde to come neare, & were caused to be slaine for the same. pag. 82.

MarginaliaMaxentius, and K. Pharao both drowned in their owne harnes.Maxentius the sonne of Maximinian, & Pharao kyng of Egypt, as they were both like enemies agaynst God and his people, so dranke they both of one cup, not perishyng by any mans hand but both in like maner after were drowned with their harneys in the water.

MarginaliaAchaz. Achab. Iesabell. Manasses. Ioachim. Sedechias punished of God for their persecutions.Furthermore, and briefly in this matter to conclude, if the Kynges among the Iewes, whiche were bloudye and wicked, were not spared, as Achaz, Achab, Iesabell, Manasses, Ioachim, Sedechias, with many other, but had at length, although it was long, the hyre of their iniquitie: let not these bloudy Catholiques then thinke, whiche haue beene persecutours of Christes Saintes, that they beyng in the same cause as the other were aboue recited, shall escape the same iudgement, which the longer it is deferred, the sorer many tymes it striketh, vnlesse by due repentaunce it be preuented, in tyme: which I pray God it may.

Innumerable examples moe to the same effecte and purpose might be inferred, whereof plentifull store we haue in all places, and in all ages of men to be collected. But these hitherto for this present may suffice, which I thought here to notifie vnto these our bloudy chyldren of the murderyng mother Churche of Rome,MarginaliaThe murdering mother Church with her bloudy children admonished. of whom it maye well be sayde: Manus vestræ plenæ sunt sanguine &c.  

Latin/Greek Translations     Close

Foxe text narrative, citing Isaiah. 1. 15.

Foxe text Latin

Manus vestrae plenae sunt sanguine &c.

Foxe text translation

Your handes be full of bloud.

Actual text of Isaiah. 1. 15.

[et cum multiplicaveritis orationem non audiam] manus vestrae sanguine plenae sunt.

[Accurate citation]

Lauamini, mundi estote. &c.  

Latin/Greek Translations     Close

Foxe text narrative, citing Isaiah. 1. 16.

Foxe text Latin

Lauamini, mundi estote &c.

Foxe text translation

Be you washed, and make yourselues cleane &c.

Actual text of Isaiah. 1. 16. (Vulgate)

lavamini mundi estote

[Accurate citation]

Be you washed, and make your selues cleane. &c.

I knowe and graunt, that man hath no further power vpon any, then God from aboue doth geue. MarginaliaWhat the lawes of this Realme could say against the persecutors in Q. Maryes tyme.And what the lawes of this Realme could make agaynst them, as against open murderers, I wyll not here discusse, nor open that I could say (because they shal not say that we desire their blood to be spylled, but rather to bee spared:) but yet this I say, & wish thē wel to vnderstand, that the sparyng of their liues which haue bene murderers of so many, is not for want of power in magistrates, nor for lacke of any iust law agaynst thē, wherby they might iustly haue ben condēned, if it had so pleased the magistrates to proceede (as they might) against thē: MarginaliaThe nature of the church is not to persecute with bloud.but because almighty God peraduenture of some secret purpose hauyng some thing to doo with these persecuters, hath spared them hytherto, not that they should escape vnpunished, but that peraduenture he wyl take his owne cause in his own hand, eyther by death to take them away (as he dyd by Boner and by al Promoters in a maner of Queene Maryes tyme) or els to make them to persecute thē selues with their owne handes, or wyl styrre vp their conscience to be their owne confusion, in such sort as the church shal haue no neede to lay handes vpon them.