A67922:6581
Acts and monuments of matters most special and memorable, happening in the Church. [vol.…Actes and monuments of matters most speciall and memorable, happenyng in the Church. [vol.…
Acts and monuments of matters most special and memorable, happening in the Church. [vol. 1] with an universal history of the same, wherein is set forth at large the whole race and course of the Church, from the primitive age to these latter times of ours, with the bloody times, horrible troubles, and great persecutions against the true martyrs of Christ, sought and wrought as well by heathen emperors, as now lately practised by Romish prelates, especially in this realm of England and Scotland. Newly revised and recognised, partly also augmented, and now the fourth time again published and recommended to the studious reader, by the author (through the help of Christ our Lord) John Fox, which desireth thee good reader to help him with thy prayer.Actes and monuments of matters most speciall and memorable, happenyng in the Church. [vol. 1] with an vniuersall history of the same, wherein is set forth at large the whole race and course of the Church, from the primitiue age to these latter tymes of ours, with the bloudy times, horrible troubles, and great persecutions agaynst the true martyrs of Christ, sought and wrought as well by heathen emperours, as nowe lately practised by Romish prelates, especially in this realme of England and Scotland. Newly reuised and recognised, partly also augmented, and now the fourth time agayne published and recommended to the studious reader, by the author (through the helpe of Christ our Lord) Iohn Foxe, which desireth thee good reader to helpe him with thy prayer.
London: printed by John Daye, 1583London: printed by Iohn Daye, 1583
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
And with such devilish subtlety, y• Pope with all his priests hath deceived, spoiled and disherited kings, princes, Lords and knights, & good householders and many other, of their lawful inheritances, because their ancestors & progenitors gave it to Colleges, monasteries & churches, that they might make memorials of them & to sing or say prayers or masses for their souls,1 that they might be redeemed out of Purgatory. And with such goods, Bishops, Canons, and Monasteries have made themselves so rich, that now they fall at variance with cities, & princes: & whereas they should procure peace betwixt cities and rulers, there they are the first that begin war: and as long as they have such goods, they will never cease to be at strife with Lords and cities,2 neither will they begin to teach you the true foundation of the truth: For they do as a dog, which as long as he holdeth a bone in his mouth and knaweth it: so long he holdeth his peace & cannot bark. Even so, as long as they have this bone of pleasant riches, it will never be well in the world. Wherefore all kings, princes and imperial Cities should do a great work of godliness and mercy, if by them they were compelled to do this, as the dog is when the bone is taken from him. And therefore ye noble men, Kings, princes, Lords, imperial Cities,3 and all the commonalty, both rich and poor, if ye have been a sleep yet now awake and open your eyes and behold the subtlety of the devil, how he hath blinded the Church of Rome, and take again that is yours, and not theirs. And if you will make a good memorial for your souls, then do as the wise man saith, Eccle. 19: Lay up alms. &c. The 6. article is, that they are full of pride and of high mind,4 which is manifestly known by their long, costly and superfluous garments, wherein they walk very unlike to Christ our Lord, who had a garment without a seam and to the well beloved John Baptist, who had a garment of Camels hear, and they will be honoured and worshipped, and they preach and say that Priesthood ought to be honoured, and so it ought in deed to be, but there is none that do so much slander and abase it, as they themselves, with their evil works, gay apparel, and with their evil words wherein they pass all other men.