the church as then established? which they refusing, were declared obstinate heretics, and delivered over to the secular power. Mr. Rogers was burnt in Smithfield, Feb. 4, a par. don being offered him at the stake, which he refused, though he had a wife and ten small children unprovided for. Bishop Hooper was burnt at Glocester, Feb. 9. He was not suffered to speak to the people; and was used so barbarously in the fire, that his legs and thighs were roasted, and one of his hands drept off, before he expired his last words were, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. While he was in prison he wrote several excellent letters, full of devotion and piety, to the foreign divines.* In one to Bullinger, dated Dec. 11, 1554, about two months before his martyrdom, are these expressions," With us the wound which Antichrist had "received is healed, and he is declared head of the church, "who is not a member of it. We are still in the utmost "peril, as we have been for a year and half. We are kept "asunder in prison, and treated with all kinds of inhuma"nity and scorn. They threaten us every day with death, "which we do not value. We resolutely despise fire and "sword for the cause of Christ. We know in whom we "have believed, and are sure we have committed our souls "to him by well-doing. In the mean time, help us with "your prayers, that he that has begun the good work in "us would perform it to the end. We are the Lord's, let "him do with us as seemeth good in his sight."

About the same time Mr. Saunders, another minister, was burnt at Coventry. When he came to the stake, he said, Welcome the cross of Christ; welcome everlasting life. Dr. Taylor, parson of Hadley, suffered next: Gardiner used him very roughly, and after condemning and degrading him sent him to his own parsonage to be burnt; which he underwent with great courage Feb. 9, though he had barbarous usage in the fire, his brains being beat out with one of the halberts.

Gardiner seeing himself disappointed, meddled no further, but committed the prosecution of the bloody work to Bonner bishop of London. This clergyman behaved more

* Hist. Ref. vol. iii. in Records, numb. 38.

like a cannibal than a christian; he condemned without mercy all that came before him; ordering them to be kept in the most cruel durance till they were delivered over to the civil magistrate. He tore off the beard of Tomkins a weaver in Shoreditch, and held his hand in the flame of a candle till the sinews and veins shrunk and burst, and the blood spurted out in Harpsfield's face, who was standing by. He put others in dungeons, and in the stocks, and fed them with bread and water; and when they were brought before him insulted over their misery in a most brutish manner.

In the month of March were burnt, bishop Ferrars, at St. David's; Mr. Lawrence a priest, at Colchester; Mr. Tomkins a weaver, in Smithfield; Mr. Hunter an apprentice of 19 years of age, at Brentwood; Mr. Causton and Mr. Higden, gentlemen of good estates, in Essex; Mr. William Pigot, at Braintree; Mr. Stephen Knight, at Malden; Mr. Rawlins White, a poor fisherman, at Cardiffe. In the next month, Mr. March a priest, at Chester; and one Flower, a young man in St. Margaret's church-yard, Westminster.

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These burnings were disliked by the nation, which began to be astonished at the courage and constancy of the martyrs; and to be startled at the unrelenting severity of the bishops, who, being reproached with their cruelties, threw the odium upon the King and Queen. At the same time a petition was printed by the exiles beyond sea, and addressed to the Queen, putting her in mind, "That the "Turks tolerated Christians, and Christians in the most places tolerated Jews. That no papist had been put to "death for religion in King Edward's time. And then "they beseech the nobility and common people, to inter"cede with her majesty, to put a stop to this issue of blood, "and at least to grant her subjects the same liberty she "allowed strangers, of transporting themselves into for"eign parts." But it had no effect.-King Philip, being informed of the artifices of the bishops, caused bis confessor Alphonsus to preach against these severities, which he did in the face of the whole court; Bonner himself pretended to be sick of them; but after some little recess he

went on. And though Philip pretended to be for milder measures, yet on the 24th of May he and the Queen sign

ed a letter to Bonner, to quicken him to his pastoral duty; whereupon he redoubled his fury, and in the month of June condemned nine protestants at once to the stake in Essex; and the council wrote to the sheriffs, to gather the gentry together to countenance the burnings with their presence.

In the month of July Mr. John Bradford, late prebendary of St. Paul's, and a most celebrated preacher in King Edward's days, suffered martyrdom. He was a most pious christian, and is said to have done as much service to the reformation by his letters from prison, as by his preaching in the pulpit. Endeavors were used to turn him, but to no purpose. He was brought to the stake with one John Lease, an apprentice of 19 years old; he kissed the stake and the faggots; but being forbid to speak to the people, he only prayed with his fellow-sufferer, and quietly submitted to the fire. His last words were, Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, that leadeth unto eternal life, and few there be that find it. From Smithfield the persecution spread all over the country; in the months of June and July eight men and one woman were burnt in several parts of Kent; and in the months of August and September, twenty-five more in Suffolk, Essex, and Surry.

But the greatest sacrifice to popish cruelty was yet to come; For on the 16th of October the Bishops Ridley and Latimer were burnt at one stake in Oxford. Latimer died presently; but Ridley was a long time in exquisite torments, his lower parts being burnt before the fire reached his body. His last words to his fellow-sufferer were, Be of good heart, brother, for God will either assuage the fury of the flame, or enable us to abide it. Latimer replied, Be of good comfort, for we shall this day light such a candle in England, as Itrust by God's grace shall never be put out. The very same day Gardiner, their great persecutor, was struck with the illness of which he died; it was a suppression of urine, which held him in great agonies till the 12th of November, when he expired. He would not sit down to dinner till he had received the news from Oxford of the burning of the two bishops, which was not till four of the clock in the afternoon; and

* Rapin, p. 184, 188.

while he was at dinner he was seized with the distemper that put an end to his life. When Bishop Day spoke to him of justification through the blood of Christ, he said, If you open that gap to the people, then farewell all again. He confessed he had sinned with Peter, but had not repented with him. On the 18th of December Mr. Archdeacon Philpott was burnt, and behaved at the stake with the courage and resolution of the primitive martyrs.

On the 21st of March following Archbishop Cranmer suffered. He had been degraded by the Bishops Thirlby and Bonner on Feb. 14th. Bonner insulted him in an indecent manner, but Thirlby melted into tears. After this, by much persuasion, and in hopes of life, he set his hand to a paper, in which he renounced the errors of Luther and Zuinglius, and acknowledged his belief of the corporal presence, the pope's supremacy, purgatory, and invocation

* This is said on the authority of Fox, after whom most historians repeat it. Dr. Warner, however, gives no credit to the story. He observes, "That the bishops were burnt on the 16th of Oct. on the 21st the parlia ment was opened by a speech from the Lord Chancellor, and on the 23d he appeared again in the house of lords: and had he been seized with a retention of urine on the 16th, he would scarcely have been able to come abroad on those days, neither would he probably have held out till the 12th of Nov. following, which was the day he died. And Bishop Godwin, who takes no notice of this report, says he died of a dropsy."

Warner's Ecclesiastical History, v. ii. p. 382. ED. + It is not pleasing to dwell on the failings of good men, especially of those to whose zeal and integrity the cause of religion and truth is, in a great degree, indebted: yet the impartiality of an Historian, and the instruction and warning of future times, require some notice of them. Mr. Neal, in this view, would not have done amiss, had he informed his readers, that this eminent protestant divine and martyr incurred the blame of his friends, and discovered a very illiberal, and intolerant spirit, by an highly insulting and passionate behavior towards some of his fellow-prisoners, who denied the doctrine of the Trinity and of the Deity of Christ. It gave, even in those times, so much offence, that he judged it proper to attempt a vindication of himself in a little tract, entitled, "An apology "of JOHN PHILPOT, written for spitting upon an Arian; with an invective "against the Arians, the very natural children of Antichrist: with an ad"monition to all that be faithful in Christ, to beware of them, and of oth"er late sprung heresies, as of the most enemies of the Gospel." The title of this piece plainly indicates, that no calm investigation of the truth, or candid retracting of intemperate language and spirit, is to be expected in it. Mr.Lindsey has given it at length, in his "History of Unitarian Worship," with pertinent, judicious and valuable remarks. To which with pleasure we refer the reader, p. 84 to 494. ED.

mers.

of saints, &c. This was quickly published to the world with great triumph among the papists, and grief to the reforBut the unmerciful Queen was still resolved to have his life, and accordingly sent down a writ for his execution: She could never forgive the share he had in her mother's divorce, and in driving the pope's authority out of England. Cranmer, suspecting the design, prepared a true confession of his faith, and carried it in his bosom to St. Mary's church on the day of his martyrdom, where he was raised on an eminence, that he might be seen by the people, and hear his own funeral sermon. Never was a more awful and melancholy spectacle; an archbishop, once the second man in the kingdom, now clothed in rags, and a gazing-stock to the world! Cole the preacher magnified his conversion as the immediate hand of GoD, and assured him of a great many masses to be said for his soul. After sermon he desired Cranmer to declare his own faith, which he did with tears, declaring his belief in the holy scriptures, and the Apostles' creed; and then came to that, which he said troubled his conscience more than any thing he had done in his life, and that was his subscribing the above-mentioned paper, out of fear of death and love of life; and therefore, when he came to the fire, he was resolved that hand that signed it should burn first. The assembly was all in confusion at this disappointment; and the broken-hearted archbishop, shedding abundance of tears, was led immediately to the stake; and being tied to it, he stretched out his right hand to the flame, never moving it but once to wipe his face, till it dropt off. He often cried out, That unworthy hand! which was consumed before the fire reached his body. His last words were, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. He died in the 67th year of his age, and 23d of his archbishopric, and was succeeded by cardinal Pole.

It is not within the compass of my design to write a martyrology of these times; nor to follow bishop Bonner and his brethren through the rivers of protestant blood which they spilt. The whole year 1556 was one continued persecution, in which popery triumphed in all its false and bloody colors. Bonner, not content to burn heretics singly, sent them by companies to the flames. Such as were