A67927:1152
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. 2, part 2] 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. 2, part 2] 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
No title page in the transcription: set from the catalogue record.
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.
I name nor appoint no person nor persons, but remit your Grace to the rule of our Saviour Christ, as in Matthew the seventh Chapter:1 By their fruits ye shall know them. As touching the words that our Saviour Christ spake to his Disciples when he sent them to preach his Gospel, they be read in Matthew the fifteenth Chapter, where he showeth,2 that here they shall be hated and despised of all men worldly, and brought before the Kings and Rulers, and that all evil should be said by them, 3for their preaching sake, but he exhorteth them to take patiently such persecution by his own example, saying: It becometh not the servant to be above the Master. And seeing they called me Belz• bub, what marvel is it, if they call you Devilish persons and heretics? Read the fourteenth Chapter of Saint Mathews Gospel,4 & there your Grace shall see that he promised to the true Preachers no worldly promotions or ⟨p. 1753⟩dignity, but persecution and all kinds of punishment, and that they should be betrayed even by their own brethren and children. In John also he sayeth: In the world ye shall have oppression, and the world shall hate you: but in me you you shall have peace. 5And in the 10. Chapter of S. Mathews Gospel saith our Saviour Christ also: Lo I send you forth as sheep among Wolves. So that the true Preachers go like sheep harmless, and be persecuted, and yet they revenge not their wrong,6 but remit all to God: so far it is of that they will persecute any other but with the word of God only, which is their weapon. And so this is the most evident token that our saviour Jesus Christ would that his Gospel and the Preachers of it should be known by, and that it should be despised among those worldly wise men, and that they should repute it but foolishness and deceivable doctrine, and the true Preachers should be persecuted and hated, and driven from town to town, yea and at the last lose both goods and life.