A Cloud of Witnesses, Part F
F.
Fabrianus.
W…rd, pag. 160.First better, (said Christopher Fabrianus) the sweet; First the Battel, the Victory when I … dead. Every drop of my blood shall preach Christ and set forth his Praise.
Faninus.
Ward, pag. 155.Faninus an Italian kissed the Apparitor tha… brought him word of his Execution.
To one reminding him of his Children, he said I have lest them to an able and faithful Guardian.
To his Friends weeping, he said, That is we… done, that you weep for joy with me.
To one objecting Christs agony and sadness t… his chearfulness: Yea (said he) Christ was sad, tha… I might be merry. He had my sins, and I have … merits and righteousness.
To the Friers offering him a woodden Crucif… he said, Christ needs not the help of this Piece, … imprint him in my mind and heart, where he ha… his Habitation.
Farellus.
Cl…ks fi…st V…lum… of Lives, pag. 674.Mr. William Farellus, being questioned by … Magistrates of Metis, by what Authority, or … whose request he preached, answered, By … Command of Christ, and at the request of h… Members.
Farrar.
Fox V…. 3. pag. 216.Mr. Richard Iones, coming to Dr. Robert Farra… Bishop of St. David, a little before his death, a… seeming to lament the painfulness of the death he was to suffer, the Bishop said to him, That if he saw him once to stir in the pains of his Burning, he should then give no credit to his Doctrine. Accordingly he never moved, but even as he stood, holding up his stumps, so he continued still, till Richard Gravell with a staffe dashed him upon the head, and so strook him down.
Filicu.
Iohn Filicul and Iulian L…ville (who suffered in France) being threatned if they constantly persisted,The Mirrour of Marty…s, pag. 595. to be burnt alive, and to have their tongues cut out, or otherwise onelyonly to be strangled, and to have the use of their tongues, contemned the offer, saying, You would fain have us renounce our God for saving our selves from a little pain, but it shall not be so; and looking one upon another, said, We are ready not onelyonly to lose one or two of our Members, but the whole Body, and to be burned and burned again in the defence of the Truth.
When the time of their execution came,Fox, Vol. 2▪ pag. 144. the Officer put into their hands, being tyed, a Wooden Cross, which they flung away with their teeth, saying, That they were now to bear a more noble and excellent Cross then that.
When their tongues were cut, God gave them utterance, insomuch that they were heard to say, We bid Sin, the Flesh, the World farewel for ever, with whom we shall never have to do hereafter.
At last when the Tormenter came to smear them with Brimstone and Gunpowder, Go to (said Filiolus) salt on, salt on the rotten and stinking flesh.
Fillula.
By these Ladders (said Iohn Fillula to his Fellows) we ascend the Heavens,Ward, pag. 153. now begin we to trample under feet, Sin, the World, the Flesh, and the Devil.
Filmer.
Fox. Vol. 2. pag. 555.Henry Filmer said to Person and Testwood (his fellow Martyrs) Be merry my Brethren, and lift up your hands to God, for after this sharp break-fast▪ I trust we shall have a good dinner in the Kingdom of Christ our Lord and Redeemer.
Flower.
Fox, Vol. 3. pag. 242.William Flower (alias Branch) being told his death was near, said, I hunger for the same, dear Friend, being fully ascertain'd that they can kill but the body, which I am assured shall receive again life everlasting, and see death no more.
Bishop Bonner perswaded him to recant, promising him thereupon great things, he answered, That which I have said I will stand to, and therefore I require that the Law may proceed upon me.
At another time, Do what you will, I am at … point; for the Heavens shall as soon fall, as I will forsake mine opinion.
In his Prayer. — Have mercy upon me for thy dear Son our Saviour Jesus Christs sake, in whom I confess onelyonly to be all salvation and justification and that there is none other mean, nor way, no… holiness, in which, or by which any man can be saved in this World.
Burning in the fire, he cried out three times…punc; O the Son of God have mercy upon me, O the Son of God receive my soul.
Folks.
Fox. Vol. 3. pag. 832.Elizabeth Folks being examined, whether she believed the presence of Christs Body to be in the Sacrament substantially and really? answered, That she believed that that was a substantial and real l…e.
When Sentence of Condemnation was rea… against her, she kneeled down, lifting up her eye and hands to Heaven, she praised God that ever she was born to see that most blessed and happy day, that the Lord would count her worthy to suffer for the testimony of Christ; and Lord, if it be thy will, forgive them that have done this against me, for they know not what they do.
At the Stake she being hindred from giving her Petticoat to her Mother (who kissed her, and exhorted her to be strong in the Lord) threw it away from her, saying, Farewel all the World, farewel Faith and Hope; and so taking the Stake in her hand, said, Welcome Love, &c.
When she and the other five that suffered with her, were nailed to the Stakes, and the fire about them, they clapped their hands together for joy in the fire.
Fox.
The day after Queen Mary's death Mr. Iohn Fox preaching at Basil to the English Exiles,She his Life before his second Vol. of Acts and Monun. did with confidence tell them, That now was the time come for their return into England, and that he brought that News by command from God.
The Lady Anne Hennage being given up for dead, He told her, she had done well in fitting her self for death, but that she should not die of that Sickness; and being blamed by her Son in Law for disquieting her mind with hopes of life, He answered, that he had said no more then was commanded h…m; for it seemed good to God that she should recover, and so she did.
Mrs. Honywood having been sick of a Consumption almost twenty years, was scarce able to speak when Mr. Fox came to her, onelyonly faintly she breathed forth a desire to end her dayes. Mr. Fox, after he had prayed with her, told her, That she should not onelyonly grow well of that Consumption, but also live to an exceeding great age. As well might you have said (quoth Mrs. Honywood) that if I should throw this Glass against the Wall, I might believe it would not break to pieces; and holding a Glass in her hand, out of which she had newly drunk, she threw it forth, but the Glass falling first on a Chest, and then on the ground, neither brake nor crackt. Accordingly this eminent Christian Gentlewoman being then Sixty years of age, recovered and lived till she was above Ninety, and could reckon above three hundred and sixty of her Children and Childrens Children.
He also foresaw his own death, and therefore sent away his sons that they might not be present.
Frith.
Fox, Vol. 2: pag. 304.Mr. Iohn Frith with some others, (chosen into Christs Church Oxford, whose Foundation was laid by Cardinal Wolsey) conferring together upon the abuse of Religion, then crept into the Church, were therefo…e accu…ed of Heresie unto the Cardinal, and cast into Prison, within a deep Cave under the ground of the same Colledge, where their salt Fish was laid. Through the filthy stinch thereof they were all infected, and some took their death, but Mr. Frith was wonderfully preserved; and was translated from that University (after many miseries undergone both beyond Sea and in his own Land) to another School, namely, to a more setled Discipline of affliction, the Tower of London; where, as he remained a Patient in regard of the Persecution, which he suffered, so did he also the office of a Physician, in prescribing to others Preparatives and Remedies in the like case. To which end A.D. 1532. he employed his pen in writing those Treatises, which now go under the name of Vox Pisces, or the Book-Fish.
Concerning which (the Author of the Preface thereunto) observes,See the preface to Vo… Pisces, or the Book-Fish. that in some sort they ran the Fortune of the Author, being held in captivity in the Sea, and kept in Iohah's Prison, the belly of a Fish, being in danger there to be consumed, as the Author was like to have perished in the Dungeon at Oxford by the noysome stinch of Fish.
The Wine therein offered (saith the same Author) is the purest juyce of a Grape of the Vine (Christ Jesus) trode in the Wine-press of Persecution about an hundred years since:It was found in the Maw of a Codfish in Cambridge Market, 1626. and Printed 1627. Which being put in a Paper Vessel, and formerly miscarrying by wrack in the transporting, is now beyond expectation in a strange Living Vessel brought back again to Land, no doubt to the end, that it might after long lying hid in store, be anew broached and dispersed abroad for the refreshing of many thirsty souls; to whom it is like to taste not the worse, but the better for the long lying in so salt a Cellar, as is the bottome of the Sea, wherein, by all probability, it hath been buried for many years.
Mr. Frith did not light his Candle at the Lamp of Mr. Calvin, which then was not extant; nor of great Luther, who was then but in the beginning of his growth. And yet (saith the same Author) How judiciously is there shewn the use of the Cross among Christians to consist in the due preparation for it, and constant patience under it? How foundly are we taught that our Election and Justification are of Gods meer mercy, and not for any thing foreseen in us? — That remission of sins is through Christ onelyonly. — That no man can merit for others. — That true Believers do sin, yet fall not away utterly from Christ. — As the Work commends the Author, so the Author much more the Work. When he wrote of the Cross, he fought valiantly under the Cross; he turned his words of patience into the perfect work of patience. He had the like happ…ness to that of St. Paul, to bring forth children unto Christ in his bands. Whilst he was kept close Prisoner in the Tower, by his Letters and Treatises he gained many souls to Christ, and among others (which is most observable) he converted one R…s…l to the Truth, who had formerly dipped his Pen in Gall, and wrote most bitterly against the Truth of the Gospel, and against the Writings of this Prisoner of Christ, then … bands for the Gospel. Like a Swan he sang most sweetly before his death, and foretold both particularly his own Martyrdome, and the propagation of the Gospel through all England within twenty years after his death; which accordingly came to pass in the Reign of King Edward. He was as it were a Pr…mrose in the new Spring of the Gospel: And though he wrote in the twilight between the night of Popery, and the day of Reformation, yet God so enlightned him, that his Tre…ise of the Sacraments, was the Candle at which that great Torch Archbishop Cranmer was lighted, as Mr. Fox reporteth.
A prep. to the Cross. pag. 7, 8.That is the true Cross (saith Mr. Frith in his Treatise called, A preparation to the Cross) which God doth lay upon us — For the Word of God to suffer all scorns, mocks, lyes, and persecutions, and not to fear the most cruel, yea even the most shameful death.Pag. 13. — That we may be prepared to bear the true Cross, we must consider that no calamity falleth on us by fortune or chance, but by the counsel and appointment of God,Pag. 16. See also ch. 13. of the Prep. l. 1. as witnesseth the holy Scripture. — It is undoubtedly no sma… comfort to be assured, that the Cross is of God, and that we are chastened of God, and not of the Devil, or of any wicked man, who utterly can have no power upon us, not so much as to move one hair of our head,A Prepar. pag. 27, 28 beside the will of ▪the Lord. — But it is not enough to consider that we are afflicted through the counsel and will of God, but must moreover mark the cause and intent of his godly will; for reason judgeth that we are punished, to the end to be hurt or destroyed, &c. but we must forsake Reason, and cleave to the Word of God, which teacheth that we suffer affliction to our health and salvation; for afflictions are not signs of wrath and displeasure, but of grace and favour. — This is no small comfort to them that bear the Cross,Pag. 33. that they are not punished of the Lord to their hurt or destruction, but to their health and salvation; and that their afflictions, poverty, &c. are not signs of Gods wrath, but instruments by which God is glorified. — When God doth afflict his people for their sins,Pag. 40. he doth not therefore afflict them, that by their afflictions they should satisfie for their sins: for the passion and suffering of Jesus Christ is the ransome and expiation of our sins; but that by affliction he may bring sinners to repentance.Pag. 41, 42, 43. — When a Christian seeth himself forsaken of all men, he must pray, and not cease to pray, but pray in faith mistrusting nothing.Psal. 49. — God calleth Invocation or crying on him in trouble, a Sacrifice, the true and most acceptable honour. — So likewise he calleth the Hope, whereby we tarry his help in affliction, Sacrifice.Psal. 4. Sacrifice you the sacrifice of Justice, and hope ye in the Lord, q. d. that Hope is a Sacrifice, whereby we yield justice to God, that (seeing he hath so promised) he will pluck us out and deliver us,Pag. 59, 60, &c. for so much as he is righteous and true. — Of patience to God-ward, springeth forth patience toward men; for when the heart is at peace with God, it tarrieth help of him, and utterly setteth aside lust to revenge.Pag. 66, 67, &c. — Our reason is therefore troubled and vexed in persecution, because it thinketh that we are afflicted because God either hateth us, or doth not regard us, neither will help us. These false opinions God plucketh from us, and teacheth us, that we are afflicted, not because he hateth us, but because he will either amend us, or when we be amended, continue us so. — And that in our affliction he will help us, and keep us, and also comfort us with the Holy Ghost, and set our Conscience at peace, and make us be glad in God,Pag. 69, &c. &c. — Christian patience hath certain conditions, whereby it is known to be true patience. (1) It grudgeth not, neither excuseth it self, as though it should suffer unworthily for his sins, wherefore he sitteth down and holdeth his peace, as I…remiah saith. — (2) Is casteth all carefulness on God, and committeth it self wholly to God, that Gods will be done and not his. (3) It humbleth himself, and casteth off the pleasures of the World. (4) He is merry and ready to suffer yet more heavy and g…ievous evils.A Pr…p. to the Cross, pag. 70. — We must look for help in all afflictions; for God promiseth his help, saying, I am with you, F…ar ye n…t, I will strengthen you. Pag. 72.— But the manner, time, and kind of help is unknown unto us, that Faith and Hope may have place, which sticketh to these things which are not seen nor heard.Pag. 76. — God delivereth when most need is, that his glory may shine the brighter. — He will therefore help,Pag. 89. when we be in a manner compelled to despair in all humane help, and when all carnal counsel deceiveth us; for God only will be glorified.Pag. 91. — He doth prolong help for our utility and profit, that he might exercise and prove Faith by temptation, so that he onelyonly might possess the title and name of Helper.Pag. 92, 93. — He that believeth makes not haste. He which yet seems afar off, shall appear at the end, and shall not lye: although he tarry, yet look for him, for he is coming, and at the last he shall come and shall not be slow. — It is also a great comfort to them that be in affliction, to remember that they have Christ, and his Prophets,See cha. 12. of the prep. to the Cross, l. 1. and c. 12. l. 2. See pag. 105 and Apostles, and all good and holy men for their examples, — Furthermore, it is a great comfort to the godly, that the wicked (whom God doth use as a rod to scourge the godly) go not clear away without punishment, whom he maketh either shamefully ashamed, or through their own counsel he doth take them, and bringeth them into the same destruction, which they themselves have studied and found out for others. — The cause is,Pag. 109.110. For he that hurteth one faithful, wrongeth not onelyonly him, but God, who doth revenge the injury and wrong done to the faithful, as injury done to himself. — He that toucheth you, toucheth the apple of mine eye. — Saul, Saul, why persecuteth thou me.Pag. 136, &c. — If thou beest tempted concerning the Gospel, or suffering persecution for the Gospel, think of these Scriptures, He that receeveth not my Cross, and follows not me, is not worthy of me. If any man will come after me, let him forsake himself, and take his Cross and follow me. For he that will save his soul shall lose it. Contrariwise he that loseth his soul for my sake, shall find it. He that will confess me before men, I will confess him before my Father. — The Apostles rejoyced that they were counted worthy. — The Servant is not above his Lord: all they that will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution. — If thou must die, and leave Wife and Children and thy dear Friends, say, The Lord shall be their Defender; for G… both will, and is able to cherish mine, to nouri… and defend them; for he is the Father of the fa…therless, and the Widows Husband. I forget thing… behind my back,See also chap. 16. l. 2. and endeavour my self to th… things that are before my face. They that ha… Wives, let them be as though they had none, an… they that weep as though they wept not. — If Satan say thou must forsake the world, what then Answer thou contrariwise: I shall attain Heaven For blessed are the dead that die in the Lord. All th… world lyeth in wickedness. All that are born … God overcome the world, and this the victor… which overcometh the world, our faith. All th… world shall perish with its lusts and desires. Lo… not the world, nor the things of the world. We are strangers in this world, and citizens of Heaven▪ — Ye sons of men, why love ye vanities, and seek lies? how long love you infancy or childhood? —
See p. 176, &c. of the Preparation, &c.— The godly have most comfort; though i… this life they be as sheep ordained to be slain, and seem forsaken of God, &c. yet they do not despair▪ no not in death, but are sure they shall pass through death to life eternal, &c. Also they have this comfort, that their death is good and precious; the… also know, that through Christs death, death is overcome and abolished.Pag. 180. — Christ by his death hath changed their death into a sleep. — Such as be at the point of death,Pag. 184. ought to take comfort and be strong, in that they know that they carry with them both Letter and Token, which is Baptisme, whereby their death is incorporate with the death of Christ, and that it is not their death, so much as the death of Christ. Wherefore let them surely trust, that they shall overcome, as that death of Christ hath overcome.Pag. 191. Unto the godly it is a great comfort, that they know that death is not in the power of Tyrants, nor put into the hand of any Creature, least they should be much troubled, &c. they shall onelyonly die when it pleaseth the Lord. — We cannot live any longer then the Lord hath appointed,Pag. 193. and we shall not die, though we be in the greatest peril, and extreme jeopardy before our hour.Pag. 202. — Then wherefore should they fear death? they cannot live longer then God hath appointed, nor die any sooner.See page 205, &c. — It is the comfort of the godly in all adversity, that through the Grace of God, they shall be revived, and raised up, as well the body as the soul; the souls to Justice, the bodies to Glory. This hope the wicked have not,Pag. 223, 224. &c. — It is a great comfort that affliction shall not endure continually, and the afflictions of this time are not worthy of the Glory which shall be shewed upon us. — Our trouble, which is but temporal and light, worketh an exceeding and eternal weight of Glory unto us, who look not on the things that are seen, but on them which are not seen. —
If a man praise a very fool (saith Mr. Frith in his Preface to his Mirrour) and think his wit good and profound, he is indeed more fool then the other. Thus seeing man praiseth and commends riches, honour, &c. and such other vain and transitory things, which are but as a dream, and vanish like a flower of the field; when a man should have most need of them, he himself is more vain then those things which are but vanity.
If God hath opened the eyes of thy mind (saith the Mirrour it self) and have given thee Spirit and Wisdome through the knowledge of his Word,See the glass to know thy self, p. 13, 14, &c. boast not thy self of it, but rather fear and tremble, for a chargeable Office is committed unto thee which (if thou fulfil it) is like to cost thee thy … at one time or other, with much trouble and pers…cution: but if thou fulfill it not, then shall t… Office be thy Damnation. For St. Paul saith, W… to me if I …each not. And by the Propher Ezek… God saith, If I say unto the wicked that he shall die t… death, and thou shew him not of it, the wicked shall … in his iniquity, but I shall require his blood at thy ha… But peradventure our Divines would expou… these Texts onelyonly of them that are sent and ha… cure of souls. Whereunto I answer, That eve… man that hath the light of Gods Word revealed unto him, is sent wheresoever he seeth necessity, an… hath the cure of his Neighbours soul, e. g. If Go… hath given me my sight, and I perceive a blin… man going in the way, which is ready for lack … sight to fall into a pit, wherein he would likely perish, I am bound by Gods Command to guide hi… till he be past that jeopardy, or else if he peris… therein, his blood shall be required at my hand… Thus if I perceive my Neighbour like to perish … lack of Christs Doctrine, then am I bound to instruct him with the knowledge God hath given me▪ or else his blood shall be required at my hand▪ Peradventure they will say, that there is already one appointed to watch the Pit, &c. and therefor… I am discharged and need take no thought. Where unto I answer, I would be glad that so it were, notwithstanding if I perceive that the Watchmen b… asleep, or run to the Ale-house, &c. and through his negligence espie my Neighbour in danger o… the Pit, then am I nevertheless bound to lead him from it. I think that God hath sent me at that time to save that soul from perishing, and the Law o… God and Nature that bindeth me thereunto, which chargeth me to love my Neighbour as my self, to do unto him as I would be done unto.Hag. 1. — If God hath given thee riches, &c. thou art yet the very owner of them, but God is the Owner, who saith by the Prophet, Gold is mine, and silver is mine, and he hath for a season made thee a Steward of them, so see whether thou with be faithful in the distribution of them, according to his Commands. — Our spiritual Possessionaries are double Thieves and Murtherers, as concerning the body, besides their murthering of the soul, for lack of Gods Word, which they will neither preach, or suffer any other to do it purely, but persecute them, and put them unto most cruel death: First, they are Thieves and Murtherers, because they distribute not what they have from charitable Forefathers, to the intent it should have been ministred unto the Poor, but upon Horses, Coaches, &c. gorgeous apparel, and delicate fare, &c. Thus they defraud the Poor of their bread, and so are Thieves; and (because this bread is their life) they are Murtherers also. — Besides they are Thieves and Murtherers for withdrawing their perfect Members from labour, whereby they might minister unto their Neighbours necessities (I speak of as many as are not occupied about preaching Gods Word.)
Besides these and many other Treatises, he wrote also several choice Letters, whilest he was Prisoner in the Tower.
In his Letter to the faithful Followers of Christs Gospel, he thus expresseth himself.See his Works, pag. 81, 82.— It cannot be express'd, Dearly Beloved in the Lord) what joy and comfort it is to my heart to perceive how the Word of God hath wrought, and continually worketh among you; so that I find no small number walking in the wayes of the Lord, according as he gave us Commandment, willing that we should love each other, as he loved us. Now have I experience of the faith which is in you, and can testifie, that it is without simulation, that ye love not in word and tongue onelyonly, but in deed and truth. What can be more trial of a faithful heart, then to adventure not onelyonly to aid and succour by the means of other (which without danger may not be admitted unto us) but also personally to visit the Poor oppressed, and see that nothing be lacking unto them, but that they have both ghostly comfort and bodily sustenance, notwithstanding the strait inhibition and terrible menacing of these worldly Rulers, even ready to abide the extreamest jeopardies that Tyrants can imagine. This is an evidence that you have prepared your selves to the Cross of Christ, according to the Counsel of the Wise man, which saith, My Son, when thou shalt enter into the way of the Lord, prepare thy self unto tribulation. This is an evidence that you have cast up your accounts, and have wherewith to finish the Tower, which ye have begun to build: and I doubt not but he that hath begun this work in you, shall for his Glory accomplish the same, even unto the coming of the Lord, which shall give unto every man according to his deeds. And albeit God of his secret Judgements for a time keep the rod from some of them that ensue his steps, yet let them surely reckon upon it; for there is no doubt, but all which will live devoutly in Christ must suffer persecution; for whom the Lord loveth he correcteth, and chasteneth every child that he receiveth. — If ye be not under correction, of which we are all partakers, then are ye bastards, and not children. Nevertheless we may not suppose that our most loving Father should do that, because he rejoyceth in our blood or punishment, but he doth it for our singular profit, that we may be partakers of Holiness, and that the remnants of sin, which (through the frailty of our Members) rebel against the Spirit and Will, causing our works to go unperfectly forward, and may some deal be suppressed, least they should subdue us and reign over us. — Of these things God had given me the speculation before, and now it hath pleased him to put in ure and practise upon me. I ever thought, yea and do think, that to walk after Gods Word, would cost me my life at one time or another; and although the Kings Grace should take me into his Favour, and not suffer the bloody Edomites to have their pleasures upon me, yet will I not think that I am escaped, but that God hath onelyonly deferred it for a season, to the intent that I should work somewhat that he hath appointed me to do, and so to use me to his Glory. And I beseech all the faithful followers of the Lord to arm themselves with the same supposition, marking themselves with the sign of the Cross, not from the Cross as the superstitious multitude do, but rather to the Cross, in token that they be ever ready willingly to receive the Cross, when it shall please God to lay it upon them. The day that it cometh not, count it clear won, giving thanks to the Lord who hath kept it from you, and then when it cometh, it shall nothing dismay you; for it is no new thing, but that which you have continually looked for. And doubt not but that God, who is faithful, will not suffer you to be tempted above what you are able to bear, but shall ever send some occasion by the which ye shall stand stedfast, for either he shall blind the eyes of your enemies, and diminish their Tyrannous Power, or else when he hath suffered them to do their best, and that the Dragon hath cast a whole flood of waters after you, he shall cause even the Earth to ope… her mouth, & swallow them up. So faithful is he an… careful to ease us, when the vexation shall be too heavy for us, he shall send a Ioseph before you, again… ye shall come into Egypt; yea he shall so provide fo… you, that ye shall have an hundred Fathers for one an hundred Mothers for one, an hundred House for one, and that in this life, as I have proved b… experience, and after this life everlasting joy wit… Christ our Saviour. Notwithstanding since thi… steadfastness comes not of our selves (as St. Austi… saith) there was never man so weak or frail, no no… the greatest offender that ever lived, but that every man of his own nature should be as frail, and commit as great enormities, except he were kept from it by the Spirit and Power of God. I beseech you Brethren, in the Lord Jesus Christ, to pray with me, that we may be Vessels to his land and praise▪ what time soever it pleaseth him to call upon … The Father of Glory give us the Spirit of wisdome, understanding, and knowledge, and lighten the eyes of our mind, that we may know his waye… praising the Lord eternally. — Amen.
John Frith the Prisoner of Iesus Christ, at all times abiding his pleasure.
Fox, Vol. 2. pag. 306.In his Letter to his Friends concerning his troubles. — I doubt not, dear Brethren, but th… it doth some deal vex you, to see the one part … have all the words, and freely to speak what they list, and the other to be put to silence, and not to be heard indifferently; but refer your matter unto God, who shortly shall judge after another fashion. —
The Archbishop of Canterbury having sent one of his Gentlemen,Fox, Vol. 3. pag. 990, 991. and one of his Porters to fetch Mr. Iohn Frith out of the Tower to be examined; The Gentleman pitying him, endeavoured to perswade him to relent to Authority, and to give place for a time, and not to cast himself away, and suffer all his singular gifts to perish with him with little profit to the world, &c. Mr. Frith gave him thanks for his good will, but told him farther, thus, My Cause and Conscience is such, that in no wise I either may or can for any worldly respect without danger of damnation start aside, &c. If I be demanded what I think of the Supper of the Lord, otherwise called the Sacrament of the Altar, I must needs say my Knowledge and my Conscience, though I should presently lose twenty lives, if I had so many. — And if I may be indifferently heard, I am sure mine Adversarie, cannot condemn me or mine Assertion, &c. Yea marry, quoth the Gentleman, you say well, if you might be indifferently heard; but I much doubt thereof, for that our Master Christ was not indifferently heard, neither should be (as I think) if he were now present again in the world, &c. Well, well, (quoth Frith unto the Gentleman) I know very well that the Doctrine of the Sacrament, which I hold and have opened, contrary to the Opinion of this Realm, is vety hard meat to be digested, both of the Clergy and Laity: but this I will say to you, That if you live but twenty years more, you shall see this whole Realm of mine Opinion, &c. and if it come not to pass, then account me the vainest man that ever you heard speak with a tongue.—All things well and rightly pondered, my death in this Cause (which is Gods and not mine) shall be better unto me and all mine, then life in continua… bondage and misery. The Gentleman was … wrought upon, that he contrived a way for Mr. Frith's escape, and prevailed with the Porter … agree with him in the suffering thereof, and then told him, that the business which he had undertaken, viz. to lead him as a sheep to the slaughter, … grieved him, that he was overwhelmed with care and sorrows; whereupon he was resolved, wh… danger soever he incurred, to find out a way to deliver him out of the Lyons mouth, and so acquainted him with the way that he and the Porter ha… agreed upon. Mr. Frith having diligently hearkened to his Speech, said with a smiling countenance▪ And is this the effect of your secret consultation all this while, surely you are like to lose your labour, for if you should both leave me here, and g… to Croydon, declaring to the Bishops that you ha… lost Frith, I would surely follow after as fast as … could, and bring them news that I had found an… brought Frith back again. Do you think that I am afraid to declare mine Opinion before the Bishop in so manifest a Truth? You are a fond man (sai… the Gentleman) thus to talk. Do you think th… your reasoning with the Bishops will do any good▪ I much marvel that you were so willing to flie the Realm before you were taken, and now so unwilling to save your self when you may. Marry (sai… Frith) there is a great difference between escapin… then and now, then I was at liberty, and not attached; but now being taken by the Higher Po… ers, and that by Almighty Gods permission an… providence, I am fallen into the Bishops hand… onelyonly for Religions sake, and for such Doctrine, … I am bound in conscience under pain of damnatio… to maintain. If I should now start aside, and run away, I should run from my God, and from the testimony of his Word, whereby I should deserve a thousand hells.
At the time of his burning Dr. Cook admonished all the people,Fox, Vol. 2. pag. 310. that they should no more pray for him, then they would do for a Dog. Whereupon Mr. Frith smiling, desired the Lord to forgive him.
Fulgentius.
An Arian Bishop offering to punish the Priest that had most mercilesly beaten him,Clark's first Volume of Lives, p. 167, &c. if he desired it, he said, It is not lawful for a Christian to meditate revenge, our Lord Christ well knows how to repay the injuries offered to, and inflicted on his Servants. If my case be avenged, then lose I the reward of my patience. It may also scandalize many little ones, if I a Catholick should require judgement at an Arians hands.
In the midst of his greatest sufferings he used to say; Plura pro Christo toleranda, We must suffer more then this for Christ.