A67927:850
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.
Grace, peace & mercy be multiplied among you. What worthy thanks can we render unto the Lord for you my brethren,1 namely for the great consolation which through you we have received in the Lord, who notwithstanding the rage of Satan that goeth about by all manner of subtle means to beguile the world, and also bu•l• laboureth to restore and set up his kingdom again, that of late began to decay and fall to ruin: ye remain yet still […], as men surely grounded upon a strong rock. And now, albeit that satan by his soldiers and wicked ministers, daily (as we hear) draweth numbers unto him, so that it is said of him that he plucketh even the very stars out of heaven, whiles he driveth into some men th• fear of death and loss of all their goods, and showeth and offereth to other some the pleasant baits of the world, namely richesse, wealth, and all kind of delights and pleasures, fair houses, great revenues, •at benefices, and what not? and all to the intent they should fall down & worship, not the Lord, but the Dragon the old Serpent, which is the devil, that great beast and his image,2 and should be enticed to commit fornication with the strumpet of Babylon, together with the kings of the earth, with the lesser beast, and with the false Prophets, and so to rejoice and be pleasant with her, and to be drunken with the wine of her fornication: yet blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which hath given unto you a manly courage,3 and hath so strengthened you in the inward man by the power of his spirit, that you can contemn as well all the terrors, as also the vain flattering allurements of the world, esteeming them as vanities, mere trifles, & things of nought: Who hath also wrought, planted, and surely stablished in your hearts so steadfast a faith and love of the Lord Jesus Christ, joined with such constancy, that by no engines of Antichrist, be they never so terrible or plausible, ye will suffer any other Jesus or any other Christ to be forced upon you▪ besides him whom the Prophet• have spoken of before, the Apostles have preached, the holy Martyrs of God have confessed and testified with the effusion of their blood.