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K. Henry. 8. A Table of the French Martyrs.

Persecuters. Martyrs. The Causes.

ther should bind cōscience, or could not be altered at their arbitremēt: but onely for an order or cōmoditie for publike resort to heare the word of god: according as ancient kings & tēporal magistrates haue vsed in old tyme to do, in congregating the people together, not to put any holynes in þe day, or to bind cōscience to any obseruatiō (as þe pope maketh his lawes) but only for orders sake, seruyng vnto commoditie.

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And as touching that any thing should be left for doctors & Coūcels to be decided, without þe expresse word of God, that is not so, for that al things be expressed and prescribed by the woorde, whatsoeuer is necessary eyther for gouernmēt of the churche, or for the saluation of men, so that there is no neede for doctours of the church or Coūcels, to decide any thing more then is decided already.

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Paul saith, that he durst vtter nothing, but that the MarginaliaRom. 15. Lord had wrought by hym. Rom. 15. S. Iohn speaking of the doctrine of Christ Iesu, wylleth vs to receiue no man, Marginalia2. Iohn. vnlesse he bring with hym the same doctrine. 2. Ioan. S. Paul warneth þe Galat. not to beleue an angel from heauen, bringyng an other doctrine thē that which they had MarginaliaThe Church ought to be gouerned only by the voyce of the Lordes word. already receiued. Gal. 2. Christ calling him self þe good shepherd, noteth thē to be his sheepe which heare his voyce, & not the voyce of others. Ioh. 11. And s. Peter admonishing þe pastors of þe church forewarneth them, to teache only the word of god, without any sekyng of Marginalia1. Pet. 5. lordship or dominiō ouer the flocke. Frō þe which moderatiō how far þe forme of the popes church doth differ, the tyranny which they vse doth well declare.

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The fryer.

In the old church, priests & ministers of þe church were wont to assemble together for deciding of such things as perteyned to the gouernment & directiō of the church, wheras in Geneua no such thing is vsed, as I can proue by this your own Testamēt here in my hands, that you the better may vnderstand what was then the true vse and manner of the Churche.

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The martyr.

MarginaliaChurches may be instituted without the Pope. What was the true order & maner that þe apostles did institute in the church of Christ, I wold gladly heare, & also would desire you to consider the same, & whē you haue wel cōsidered it, yet shal you find the institution and regimēt of the church of Geneua not to be without the publike counsel and aduisement of the magistrates, elders, & ministers of that church, wt such care and diligence, as Paul and Silas toke, in ordering þe churche of Thessalonica, Birrhæa. &c. Wherin nothing was done without the authority of Gods word, as appeareth, Act. 17. As likewise also in stablishing the church of Antioch, when the Apostles were together in councel for þe same, there was no other law nor doctrine folowed, but only þe word of God. as may appeare by the words of the Councel: Quid tentatis Deum, iugum imponere, &c. And albeit the ministers of the Church of Rome, and the Pope were not called to þe institutiō of the foresayd church of Geneua: yet it foloweth not therfore, that there was no lawfull order obserued, eyther in stablishing that Church, or any other.

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The fryer.

You were firste baptised in the Churche of the Pope, were ye not?MarginaliaBaptisme in the popes cChurch, no necessarye cause to folow all the Popes errours.

The Martyr.

I graunt I was, but yet that nothyng hyndereth the grace of God, but he may renouate and call to further knowledge whom he pleaseth.

A Counseller.

I woulde wishe you not to sticke to your owne wisedome and opinion. Ye see the churches in Germanie, howe they dissent one from an other. So that if you shoulde not submit your iudgement to the authoritie of Generall Councels, euery day you should haue a newe Christianitie.

The Martyr.

MarginaliaAgreement in the principal pointes of doctrine in the churches reformed. To myne own wisedome I do not sticke, nor euer wyl, but onely to that wisedom which is in Christe Iesu, although the worlde doth accōt it foolishnes. And where ye say, that þe churches of Germanie dissent among thēselues one frō another: that is not so, for they accord in one agremēt al together, touchyng the foundation and principal groundes of Christian fayth. Neither is there any suche feare, that euery day shoulde rise vp a newe Christianitie, vnlesse the church be ballanced with authoritie of the Coūcels,

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Persecuters. Martyrs. The Causes.

as you pretēd. For so we reade in þe prophet Dauid psal. 33. and in other MarginaliaPsal. 33. places of Scripture moe: That the counsels of the nations and people shalbe ouerthrowen & subuerted of the Lord, &c. Wherefore the best is that we folow þe coūsel of God & his worde, & preferre the authoritie therof before al other counsels & iudgemēts of men. And MarginaliaParuus Christianismus potior populoso Papatu. thus doing, I for my part had rather dwel and settle me self in this litle Christianitie be it neuer so small, then in that populous Papalitie, be it neuer so great in multitude.

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And thus was this godly Feurus commaunded againe by the Deputie, to the Bishops prison, and from thence shortly after remoued to Lions, not by the open and beaten way, but by secrete and priuie iourneys, least perhaps he should be taken from thē agayne, as he was before.

MarginaliaTignacius, D. Fumosus, Sorbonistes. After he was come to Lions, he was brought before Tignacius the Iudge, and a Doctour of Sorbone called Fumosus, who questioned with hym touching sundry articles of religion. But in cōclusion, when they neyther with argumentes could conuict him, nor with promises allure him, nor with threatnyng terrours styrre hym, eyther to betray the truth which he knewe, or to bewray them whom he knewe not, which tooke hym awaye before his keepers: they proceded at last to the sentence, condēnying hiym firste to haue his tongue cut out, and then to be

[Back to Top]MarginaliaThe Martyrdome of Richard Feurus.
The martydome of Richard Feurus.

woodcut [View a larger version]

burned. Al which he receyued willingly and quietly for righteousnes sake, thus finishying his martyrdome. Iul. 7. an. 1554. Ex Crisp. Pantal, & alijs.

MarginaliaNicolas Chesne, Martyr. An Inquisi
tor Monke.
Nicolas du
Chesne.
The cause and oc-
casiō why this Ni-
colas came in troble,
was for þt he goyng
frō Lausāna (where
he abode for his con-
science) to fet his si-
ster & her husband, &
certaine other of his
frends, as he [illegible text]
Bezāson, towarde þe
town of Gry did not
homage to a certaine
crosse in þe way, wher
a certain monk whi
che was an inquisi-
tor ouertooke him, &
therby suspected him.

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He
KKk.iiij.