Acts and Monuments Volume 2 Part 2, Book 11 · Account 13 · Letter 9 – Letter 10
¶The aunsweare of Doctor Ridley to the letter abouesayd.
BLessed be God our heauēly father which enclined your hart to hauehave such a desire to write vntounto me,An aunswere of B Ridley to M. Grindals letter sent from Franckford. & blessed be he againe which hath heard your request, & hath brought your letters safe vntounto my handes: and ouer all this, I blesse him through our Lorde Iesus Christe, for the great comfort I hauehave receiued by the same, of the knowledge of your state, and of other our dearely beloued brethren and countreymen in those parties beyond the sea.
Dearely beloued brother Grindall, I say to you and all the rest of our brethren in Christe with you, reioyce in the Lord, and as ye louelove me and the other my reuerend fathers and concaptiues (whiche vndoubtedly are Gloria Christi,) lament not our state, but I beseech you and them all to geue to our heauenly Father for his endlesse mercies and vnspeakeable benefits euen in the myddest of all our troubles geuen vntounto vsus,Experience of Gods strength toward his Saintes in their imprisonment. most harty thankes. For knowe ye, that as the weight of his crosse hath increased vpō vsus, so he hath not nor doth not cease to multiply his mercies to strengthen vsus, and I trust, yea by his grace I doubt nothing, but he will so do for Christe our Maisters sake, euen to the end. To heare that you and our other brethren doo finde in your exile fauour and grace with the Magistrates, Ministers, and Citizens, at Tigury, at Frankford, and other where, it doth greatly comfort (I dare say) all here that do in deede louelove Christe and his true woorde. I ensure you it warmed my hart, to heare you by chaunce to name some, as Scory and Coxe. &c. Oh that it had come in your mynde to hauehave sayd somewhat also of Cheeke, of Turner, of Leauer, of Sampson, of Chambers, but I trust in God they be all well. And sir, seeyng you say, that there be in those parties with you of studentes and Ministers so good a number, nowe therefore care ye not for vsus, otherwyse then to wish that Gods glory may be set forth by vsus. For whensoeuer God shall call vsus home (as we looke dayly for none other, but when it shal please God to say, come) you, blessed be God, are enough through his ayde, to light and set vp againe the lanterne of his worde in Englande. As concerning the copies ye say ye hauehave with you, I wonder how euer they did and could find the way to come to you. My disputation, except he hauehave that whiche I gathered my selfe after the disputation done, I can not thynke ye hauehave it truly. If ye hauehave that, then ye hauehave therwithall the whole maner after the which I was vsed in the disputation.
As for the treatise in English. Contra transubstantiationem, vix possum adduci vt credam operaepretium fore vt in latinum transferatur. Caeterum quicquid sit nullo modo velim vt quicquam quocun que modo meo nomine ederetur, donec quid de nobis dominus constituerit fieri, vobis prius certo constiterit: and thus much vntounto your letters. Now although I suppose ye know a good parte of our state here (for we are forth commyng, euen as when ye departed. &c.B. Ridley prisoner in the Tower halfe a yeare and more.) You shall vnderstande that I was in the Towar about the space of two monethes close prisoner, and a…ter that had graunted to me without my labour, the liberty of the Tower, and so continued about halfe a yeare, and then because I refused to allow the Masse with my presence, I was shut vp in close prison agayne.
The last Lent saue one,Canter▪ Ridley, Latimer, Bradford, prisoners together in the Tower. it chaunsed by reason of the tumult styrred vp in Kent, there was so many prisoners in the Tower, that my Lord of Canterbury, M. Latimer, Maister Bradford, and I were put altogether in one prison, where we remayned still almost to the nexte Easter, and then we three, Canterbury, Latimer and I, were sodenly sent a litle before Easter to Oxford, and were suffered to hauehave nothing with vsus, but that we caried vponupon vsus. About the Whitsontide followyng was our disputations at Oxford, after the which was all taken from vsus, as pen and inke. &c.Canter. Ridley, Latimer, remoued to Oxford. Our owne seruauntes were taken from vsus before, and eueryevery one had put to hym a straunge man, and we eche one appoynted to be kept in seuerall places, as we are vntounto this day.
Blessed be God, we three at the writing hereof, were in good health, and (in God) of good cheare. We hauehave looked long agoe to hauehave bene dispatched,D. Weston condemner of Canter. Ridley, and Latimer. for we were all three on one day within a day or two of our disputations, of D. Weston being the head Commissioner, condemned for heretikes, and since that tyme we remayne as we were of hym left. The Lordes will be fulfilled in vsus, as I do not doubt, but by his grace it shal be to his glory, and our endles saluation through Iesus Christ our Lord.
Likewise the Lord hitherto hath preserued aboue all our expectation, our deare brother, and in Christes cause a strong Champion Iohn Bradford.Writtes for the burning of Iohn Bradford called in agayne. He is likewyse condemned, and is already deliuered to the secular power, and writtes (as we hauehave heard say) geuen out for his execution, and called in agayne. Thus the Lord, so long as his blessed pleasure is, preserueth whom he listeth, notwithstanding the wonderfull raging of the world. Many (as we heare say) hauehave suffered valiauntly, confessyng Christes truth, and nothyng yeeldyng to the aduersary, yea not for the feare or paynes of death.
The names of them whiche I knewe,Names of Martyrs. and hauehave nowe suffered, are these, Farrar the Bishop of S. Dauides, Hooper the Bishop of Worcester, Rogers tuus olim comprebendarius. D. Tailour of Hadley, M. Sanders, and one Tomkins a weauer, and now this last day M. Cardmaker, with an other, were burnt in Smithfielde at London, and many other in Essex and Kent, whose names are written in the booke of lyfe, whom yet I do not know.
West, your olde companion and sometyme myne officer (alas hath relented (as I hauehave heard) but the Lorde hath shortned his dayes, for anone he dyed and is gon.This West, when he had relented and sayd Masse agaynst his conscience, shortly after pined away and dyed for sorrow. Grimbolde was caught by the heele and caste into the Marshalsey, but now is at liberty againe, but I feare me he escaped not without some becking and bowyng (alas) of his knee vntounto Baall.
My deare friende Thomas Ridley of the Bulhead in Cheape, which was to me the most faythfull friende that I had in my trouble, is departed also vntounto God. My brother Shipside that hath maried my sister, hath ben almost halfe a yeare in prison, for deliuering (as he was accused) of certayne thynges, I wene, from mee: but now thankes be to God, he is at libertie agayne, but so that the Bishop hath taken from him his *Note how Boner here requited the kindnes of B. Ridley shewed to his mother▪Parke.
Of all vsus three concaptiues at Oxford, I am kept most strait, and with least libertie, Vel quia viro in cuius aedibus, ego custodior, vxor dominatur (licet modo sit Prefectus ciuitatis) mulier vetula, morosa, & superstiosiss. quae etiam hoc sibi laudi ducit quod me dicatur arctissime & cautissime custodire, vir autem ipse Irischius nomine, mitis satis est oībus, …xori vero plusquam obsequentiss. Licet vxorem (vti nosti) nunquam habuerim, tamen ex hac quotidiana consuetudine, quem cum istis coniugibus habeo, videor mihi nonnihil posse intelligere quam graue malum & intolerabile iugum sit cum mala muliere in coniugio coll…cari. Recte ergo sapiens dixit, vxor bona donum Dei: & iterum mulieris bonae beatus vir. Vel haec inquam causa est, vel quia á magnis magistratibus (nescio quas ob causas) illud est, vt ita fieret, ipsis mandatum: id que illi si quando de mea nimia seruitute apud eos conqueror, All the statutes of reformation in Cambridge broken, and all thinges reduced agayne into the olde s…ate of Popery.sedulo saepe rursus mihi inculcant.
At Cambridge (as I heare say) Omnes studiorum & statutorum reformationes nuper factae, nunc sunt denuo deformatae & delete, & omnia sunt in pristinum chaos & in antiquum papismum reducta: omnes collegiorum prefecti qui synceritati Euangelij fauebant, vel qui coniugati erant, loco moti… sunt, & alij Papisticae factionis in eorum loca surrogati, quod & de socijs collegiorum qui noluerunt flectere genu Baal factum esse audio. Nec mirum, nam & illud passim factum est in vniuerso regno Angliae, in omnibus Archiepiscopis, Episcopis, Decanis. Prebendarijs, Sacerdotibus Ecclesiarum, & in toto cl…o: and to tell you muche naughty matter in fewe woordes, Papismus apud nos vbique in pleno suo antiquo robore regnat.
…The Lord be mercyfull, and for Christes sake pardon vsus our olde vnkyndnesse and vnthankefulnesse: for when he powred vppon vsus the gyftes of his manifolde graces and fauoure (alas) we did not serue him nor render vntounto hym thankes according to the same. We pastors manye of vsus were to colde and bare to much (alas) with the wicked worlde,… our Magistrates did abuse to their owne worldly gayne, both Gods Gospell and the ministers of the same. The people in many places was wayward and vnkynde. Thus of eueryevery side and of eueryevery sorte we hauehave prouoked Gods anger and wrath to fall vppon vsus: but blessed myght he be that hath not suffered his to continue in those wayes, which so wholly hauehave displeased his secrete Maiestie, but hath awaked them by the fatherly correction of his owne sonnes crosse, vntounto his glorie and our endlesse saluation, through Iesus Christe our Lorde.
My dayly prayer is (as God doth know) and by gods grace shall be so long as I lyue in this worlde, for you my deare brethren that are fled out of your owne Coun…y, because you will rather forsake all worldly thynges … the truth of Gods worde. It is euen the same that I … to make to GOD for all those Churches abroad through the worlde, which hauehave forsaken the kyngdome of Antichrist, and professed openly the puritie of the Gospell of Iesus Christ:… that is, that God our eternall father for our Sauiour Christes sake, will dayly encrease in you the gracious gifte of his heauenly spirite to the true settyng forth of his glory and of his Gospell, and make you to agree brotherly in the truth of the same, that there arise no rote of bitternesse among you that may infect that good seede which God hath sowen in your hartes already, and finally that your lyfe may be so pure and so honest, accordyng to the rule of Gods worde, and according to that vocation whereunto we are called by ye Gospell of Christ our Sauiour, that the honesty and purity of the same may prouoke all that shall see or knowe it, to the louelove of your doctrine, and to louelove you for your honesty and vertues sake, and so both in brotherly vnity of your true doctrine and also in the Godly vertue of your honest lyfe, to glorifie our father which is in heauen.
Ex nostratibus magni aliquot magistratus, Cancellarius Wint. Comes Arundellus, & Dominus Pachetus iam legatione funguntur, vna cum Cardinali Polo, in partibus transmarinis, ad componendam (vt aiunt) pacem inter imperatorem, regem nostrum, B. Ridley … for Q. Mary.& Francorum regem. Post illorum magistratuum nostrorum reditum, & partum reginae, quem iam quotidie expectamus & iam aliquandiu expectauimus, quem que Deus pro sui nominis gloria dignetur bene illi fortunare: nos tunc statim nihil aliud quam nostrae confessionis de hoste nostro antiquo triúmphales in domino coronas expectamus.
Omnium vestrûm precibus me humillime ex toto corde commendo: In primis, tuis o chariss. in Christo frater, & delectiss. Grindalle, & chariss. fratrum & vnicè mihi in domino delectorum, Checi, Coxi, Turneri Leueri, Sampsonis, Chamberi, & omnium fratrum nostrorum & conterraneorum qui apud vos degunt & deligunt dominum nostrum Iesum Christum in veritate. Commendo etiam vobis reuerendiss. patres & concaptiuos meos in domino Thomam Cranmerum, iam veri magni pastoris & Archipresulis nomine digniss. & veteranum illum Christi & nostrae gentis Anglicanae verum Apostolum Hugonem Latimerum. Condona mihi frater harum prolixitatem, non enim post hac credo charissime frater, meis literis iam amplius aliquando turbaberis. Oxonij.
N. R.
¶To Augustine Bernher.
…BRother Augustine, I blesse God with all my hart in his maninifolde mercifull gyftes, geuen vntounto our deare breathren in Christ, especially to our brother Rogers, whom it pleased to set forth fyrst, no doubt but of his gracious goodnes and fatherly fauour towardes hym. And likewyse blessed be God in the rest, as Hoper, Saunders, and Taylour, whom it hath pleased the Lord likewyse to set in the forefront of the battayle agaynst his aduersaries, and hath endued them all (so farre as I can heare) to stand in the confession of his truth,… and to be content in his cause, and for his Gospels sake to lose their lyfe. And euermore and without ende blessed be euen the same our heauenly father for our deare and entirely beloued brother Bradford, whom nowe the Lorde (I perceiue) calleth for: for I weene he will no longer vouchsafe him to abide among the adulterous and wicked generation of this worlde,. I do not doubt but that he (for those giftes of grace whiche the Lorde hath bestowed on hym plenteously) hath holpen those which are gon before in their iourney, that is, hath animated and encouraged them to keepe the hygh way, & sic currere vti tandem acciperent praemium. The Lord be his comfort, whereof I do not doubt, and I thanke God hartely that euer I was acquainted with him, and that euer I had such a one in my house.Protomartyr is the first martyr▪ whom he …o called, because he was the first that suffered here in those bloudy dayes. And yet agayne I blesse GOD in our deare brother, and of this tyme Protomartyr Rogers, that he was also one of my calling to be a Prebendary Preacher of London. And now because Grindall is gone (the Lorde I doubt not hath and knoweth wherein he will bestow him) I trust to God it shall please him of his goodnes to strengthen me to make vp the trinitie out of Paules Churche, to suffer for Christe, whom God the father hath annoynted, the holy spirite doth beare witnes vntounto, Paule & all the Apostles preached. Thus fare you well. I had no paper: I was constrayned thus to write.
Besydes these letters of Byshop Ridley, diuers other tractations also were written by hym, partly out of prison, partly in prison: as namely amongest certaine other, there remayneth in my handes, certayne notes answearing to the two notable Sermons of D. Watson▪ Bishop of Lincolne. &c.