Christs Victory over Satans Tyranny, Book 6 · Part 7 – Part 12
These Articles were obiected against GEFFREY LON, for which he was abiured.
FIrst for hauing and dispersing abroad bookes of Luther, for affirming and beleeuing that Faith onelyonly iustifieth, and that men be not bo…nd to obserue the constitutions of the Church; That we should pray onelyonly to God, not to Saints: That pilgrimages are not profitable to mans soule: That we should not offer nor set vp lights to Images: That no man is bound to keep the Fasts of the Church: That Popes pardons profit not a man: and Thomas Garnet Master of Art. Curat of all Hallowes in Hony Lane, for hauing and distributing Luthers Bookes, and them of that sect: For affirming Faith onelyonly iustifieth: That Pardons profit neither the dead nor liuing: That the Constitutions of the Church binde vsus not: for calling Bishops Pharisies: That fasting daies are not to bee obserued: That eueryevery man that is able may preach the Word and no Law to the contrarie: for thes… and such like he was abiured before Cutbert Bishop of London.
But the aforesaid Bilney, notwithstanding his recantation: Hee abated not any part of his desire & study to preach, but was the more vehement against the Bishops corrupt life: but whilst he was occupied in that godly enterprise, to allure all men to saluation, Thomas Moore, and Richard Nickes, the blind Bishop of Norwich, who was as blind in body as Soule, they laid hands on him, and condemned him of heresie, and iudged him to the fire; because he had preached since his abiuration, and because he taught Saints should not be worshipped, nor called vponupon as Mediators. He would many times proue the paine of the fire by holding his finger neere the Candle: but the night before he suffered martyrdome hee held his finger so long that he burnt off the first ioynt. Hee was burned in Lollards yit in Norwich, with great ioy falling downe before the stake, and rising kist it, & bound himselfe with the Chaine, confessing his Faith, and animating the people to stand fast in the truth of Gods Word, and to suffer for it.
Sir Thomas Moore beeing Chancellor of England; when those, should burne Bilney, required of him a Letter of his hand, whereby they might …ee discharged after his death: He said goe too fellowes burne him first, then come to me after for a Bill of my hand.
The Story of the valiant Martyr Maister BAYFIELD.
THis Bayfield was a Monk of Bury, and for his Religion he was … in the prison of his house, and whipped with a gagge in his mouth, and then …ocked and continued in the same torments thrée quarters of a yeere; and then hee was committed to Doctor Barnes to go… to Cambridge with him: when he had been the…e a whole yeare, he tasted good learning so well that he neuer returned vntounto his Abbey againe, but went to London to Maxwell and Stacy, & they kept him secret a while, and conuayed him beyond Sea. Doctor Barnes being in the Fléete for Gods Word; This Bayfield mightily prospered in the knowledge of God, and was veneficiall to Maister Tindall, and Frith, for he brought substance with him, and sould their works for them. And at last comming to London to M. Smithes house in …cklers Bury, he was betrayed and dogged to his Book-…inders house in Marke Lane, & there taken & carried vntounto Lolards Tower, & from thence taken & carried to the Cole-house; because one Patmore Parson of Much-Haddam in Essex, then liuing in Lolards tower, was confirmed in the Doctrine of Christ by him; there hee was tyed by the neck, middle and legges, standing vp…ight by the walles, diuers times manacled to accuse others that had bought his Bookes, but he accused none, but stood in his Faith vntounto the end: He was in the Consistory of Paules put to his tryall, whether he would abiure or no: he said he would dispute for his Faith, and so did to their great shame. Stokesley being their Iudge with others, hee was condemned for bringing ouer and selling hereticall Bookes, and because before time he was accused to the Bishop of London for affirming certaine Articles contrarie to the Church: and especially that all land should be giuen to God, and not to Saints or Creatures; and that eueryevery Priest might preach the Word of God, by the authoritie of the Gospell, and néed not to runne to the Pope or Cardinals for licence; and that hee ab…ured, and hath since preached the like Doctrines: When they asked him what he had to say, why he should not hauehave his Iudgement; Hee said with a vehement spirit to the Bishop of London, your liuing of the spiritualty is so euill, that you be hereticks, and you maintaine euill liuing, and let that true liuing may not be knowne: and that their liuing, neither their beleefe, is according to Christs Gospell: Then the Bishop read the sentence against him, and disgraded him▪ hee knéeling vponupon the highest step of the Altar in Paules; He tooke the Crosie… staffe, and smote him on the brest, that he threw him downe backwards and brake his head, and he sounded: and when he came to himselfe againe, he thanked God that he was deliuered from the malignant Church of Antichrist, and that he was come into the true Church, and that he trusted anon to bee in heauen with Iesus Christ, and the triumphant Church for euer: Then he was led againe to Newgate, & continued there in prayer an houre, and thence went to the fire ioifully, and was thrée quarters of an houre aliue in the fire, and when the left arm was burned, he rubbed it with his right hand, & it fell from his body, and he continued in prayer to the end without mouing.
The History of Mr Iohn Tewxbury Cittizen and Lether-Dresser of London.
IN all points of Religion, and the point of iustification, he disputed most openly in the Bishops Chappell, with such prompt and expert answers that Tunstall and all his learned men were ashamed: This disputation continued a senight, then he was sent to my L. Chancellor, Sir Thomas Moore to Chelsey, and there he lay in the porters Lodge, hand, foote, and head in the stockes six daies. Then he was carried to Iesus Tree in the Garden, where he was whipped, and also twisted in his browes, with small ropes, that the bloud start out of his eyes, and yet would accuse no man. Then he was racked in the Tower, and there promised to retant at Paules Crosse. After he came to S. Austens with a new Testament in his hand, and stood vp before the people in a Pew, and declared openly with teares that he had denied God, and prayed the people to forgiue him, and to beware of his weaknesse not to doe as he had done: for if I should not turne againe to this truth, hauing the New Testament in his hand, he said, this Booke Gods Word would damne mee body and soule, and he prayed eueryevery body to doe as hee had done: for hee would not feele such a hell againe as he had done not for all the worlds good: and immediately hee was carried to the Bishop of London; and after he was burned in Smithfield, and died a glorious Martyr.
In his Disputations, the Bishop proposed these Articles out of the Booke called the Booke of the wicked Mammon: and hee affirmed them.
TEwxbery, A man should doe good works for the louelove of God onelyonly, and for no hope of reward higher or lower in heauen, for if he should it were presumption, & being asked whether faith only iustifieth: he said if he should desire heauen by works hee were greatly to blame, for workes followe Faith, and Christ redéemed vsus by his death: the diuell holdeth our hearts so hard that it is impossible for vsus to consent to Gods Law: and that the Law of God suffereth no merits, nor any man to bee Iustified in the sight of God: and that the Law of God commandeth things impossible; and as the good tree bringeth forth good fruit: so there is no Law to him that beleeueth and is iustified by faith, and all good workes must be done without respect of any profit thereby, for they deserue no reward of God, and that the Diuel is not east out by the merits of fasting and prayer.
Item, We cannot louelove God, except we sée first his louelove and kindnes to vsus: whilst we are vnderunder the Law, wee sée nothing but …inne and damnation, and the wrath of God, and cannot but hate him as a tyrant, and flée from him as Cain, and that wée are damned by Nature as a Toade, and a Serpent are so by Nature.
Item, LoueLove in Christ putteth no difference betwixt one man and another.
Item, The sects of Saints Francis, Saint Dominick & others be damnable: Then the Bishop asked him whether he would renounce these heresies, and he prayed the Bishop to reforme himselfe: Then the Bishop gaue him respite, and when hee came before him againe.
First, he affirmed that Christ & all his merits were his, and that he was knit to him so inseperably that he could not be damned, except Christ were damned.
He that séeketh by his almes more then to be mercifull, and to succor his brother… and neighbours need he is blind, and seeth not Christs bloud, so God is honoured on all sides in that we count him righteous in all his lawes, and to worship him otherwise is Idolatry: he concluded to them all, he found no fault throughout all the booke, but it is all good, and hath giuen him great light of conscience.
The next Sessions he was intised to recant▪ but shortly after he was moued by the example of one that was burned in Smithfield, and after did constantly abide in the testimonie of the truth, and suffered in Smithfield.
Lastly for these Articles he was condemned.
1 THat Faith onelyonly iustifieth which lacketh not Charitie.
2 That Christ is a sufficient Mediator for vsus, therefore no prayer to be… made to Saints.
3 That Christ is our sufficient purgatory; and that there is no purgatory after this life.
4 That the soules of the faithfull departing this life rest with Christ.
5 That a Priest receiuing orders, receiueth more grace, if his Faith be increased, or else not.
Lastly, hee beléeueth that the bloud and flesh of Christ is not in the Sacrament: wherevpon he was condemned and burnt as aforesaid.
IOHN RANDALL.
THis IOHN RANDALL was of Christs Colledge in Cambridge, and for the louelove that he had to the Scriptures, and sincere Religion, hee was suspected and hated; the yong man being studious and about one & twenty yéeres old was long lacking of his companions, and through the stench of his corps, his study door… being broken vp, he was found hanged with his owne girdle within the study, in such maner, that he had his face looking vponupon the Bible, and his finger pointing to a place of Scripture: whereas predestination was intreated of, surely this matter lacked no singular policie, of some old naughty man, that it should seeme for feare of pred…stination, he was driuen to despaire, that it might keep their yong men from the study of the Scriptures as a thing most perilous.
In this yeare an old man in the County of Buckingham, for eating of Bacon in Lent,1531 was condemned to the fire and burned.
EDWARD FRESE.
EDward Frese, a Painter, was hired to paint certaine cloaths for the new Inne in Colchester, and in the vpper boarder of the cloaths, he wrote certaine sentences of the Scripture: then some of the Towne which had seene his worke, apprehended him, and brought him to London to the Bishop, where he was cruelly imprisoned, with others of Essex. One Iohnson and his wife, and one Willy, his wife, and his son, and one Father Bate of Rowshedge, & they were fed with fine Manchet, made of sawdust, or the most part therof: the said Frese being at the Bishops at Fullam, his wife being desirous to see him, came to the gate being big with Childe, the Porter kicked her on the belly, that on the same she died, and the childe died immediatly: after for writing against the wall, his hands were manacled, that the flesh of his armes were higher then the Irons: and they kept him thrée daies without meat, when he should come to his answer, he could say nothing, but looked on the people like a wilde man, and if they asked him any question, he could say nothing, but my Lord is a good man: an… when they had spent his body and wits, they sent him to Bearsie-Abby, but hee would not tarry there, but he neuer came to his wits againe, vntill his death: And his brother Valentine Frese was burned for the testimony of Christ in Yorke.
Also the wife of the aforesaid Father Bate, made a Supplication to the King, and deliuered it vntounto him, who appointed her to go to one M. Seliard, of him she gat a letter to the Bishop, she hoped some good should come to her Husband, but some of her friends would néeds sée the contents of her letter, which was to this effect: look what you can gather against Father Bate, send me word, that I may certifie the Kinges Maiesty: but shortly after he gat out of prison in a darke night, and was caught no more.
In this yeare Fryer Roy was burned in Portugale, what his doctrine was, may easily be gathered by his testimony that he left here in England.