An account of a disputation at Oxford, anno dom. 1554 with A treatise of…

There is no good Protestant but will be glad to meet with any Relic, tho' never so small (a Finger or a Tooth, if I may so speak) of our Blessed Martyrs, especially such Eminent ones as Bishop Ridley and Mr. Bradford: I mean any of their Writings that never yet were Printed, cannot but find a very hearty welcome amongst them; and such is a good part of what is now published. Bishop Ridley's Treatise indeed hath been Printed long since, and is in our Libraries, and hath been again lately Re-printed; but any account of the Disputation with him at Oxford in Latin, I have not met with but in this Manuscript; neither is the Letter of Mr. Bradford's, now published, in Foxes History. However there is no Impartial Reader will have reason to suspect either of them to be spurious: They are of the same Spirit and Temper, which we find from our Histories, to have animated and governed those great Men. And what is now Printed, I do assure the Reader, is exactly according to the Manuscripts I found in my Fathers Study presently upon his Death, 1671.

THere is no good Protestant but will be glad to meet with any Relic, tho' never so small (a Finger or a Tooth, if I may so speak) of our Blessed Martyrs, especially such Eminent ones as Bishop Ridley and Mr. Bradford: I mean any of their Writings that never yet were Printed, cannot but find a very hearty welcom amongst them; and such is a good part of what is now published. Bishop Ridley's Treatise indeed hath been Printed long since, and is in our Libraries, and hath been again lately Re-printed; but any account of the Disputation with him at Oxford in Latin, I have not met with but in this Manuscript; neither is the Letter of Mr. Bradford's, now published, in Foxes History. However there is no Impartial Reader will have reason to suspect either of them to be spurious: They are of the same Spirit and Temper, which we find from our Histories, to have animated and governed those great Men. And what is now Printed, I do assure the Reader, is exactly according to the Manuscripts I found in my Fathers Study presently upon his Death, 1671.

Our Adversaries boast, the Relics of their Saints work Miracles, (indeed as they have been, and which is more, are still managed; they are Full of Wonders) I hope these of ours will Do some Good, partly by showing the World how consonant the Church of England is, and always hath been, to her Principles, particularly in that concerning the Presence in the Eucharist, (in managing of which she always walked after the Scripture Phrase, with great Fear and Reverence, and expressed her self in the Interpretation, with so much Nicety and Caution, as to have given occasion, perhaps, to have been misunderstood by some weak, or to be artificially misrepresented, by some Evil Men, to I know not what purposes) partly by setting before us Examples, not only of suffering if it be the will of God, but also, of all good and dutiful behaviour towards our Superiors, with meekness and fear; for whom we do, and will always implore the Throne of Grace to support their Authority over us, let the Sceptre held out, be what it will.