N20568:4791
The new and complete book of martyrs; or, An universal history of martyrdom: being…
The new and complete book of martyrs; or, An universal history of martyrdom: being Fox's Book of martyrs, revised and corrected, with additions and great improvements. : Containing an authentic account of the lives, persecutions and sufferings of the holy martyrs; and the many dreadful persecutions against the Church of Christ in all parts of the world, by pagans, Jews, Turks, papists, and others, from earliest ages of the church to the present period. ... The whole forming at once a general Christian martyrology, and a complete history of persecutions. / By the Rev. Mr. John Fox, M.A. late of Magdalen College, Oxford. ; Now revised, corrected and improved, with many additional articles, relating to the acts and monuments of the church. By Paul Wright, D.D. ; Embellished with forty elegant copper plate engravings. ; In two volumes. Vol. I[-II].The new and complete book of martyrs; or, An universal history of martyrdom: being Fox's Book of marytrs, revised and corrected, with additions and great improvements. : Containing an authentic account of the lives, persecutions and sufferings of the holy martyrs; and the many dreadful persecutions against the Church of Christ in all parts of the world, by pagans, Jews, Turks, papists, and others, from earliest ages of the church to the present period. ... The whole forming at once a general Christian martyrology, and a complete history of persecutions. / By the Rev. Mr. John Fox, M.A. late of Magdalen College, Oxford. ; Now revised, corrected and improved, with many additional articles, relating to the acts and monuments of the church. By Paul Wright, D.D. ; Embellished with forty elegant copper plate engravings. ; In two volumes. Vol. I[-II].
New-York: printed by William Durell, 1794
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Volume 1 › Book 2 › Chapter 1 › Letter 9: LETTER IX. To his WIFE, Mr. HARRINGTON, and other FRIENDS.
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.
LETTER IX. To his WIFE, Mr. HARRINGTON, and other FRIENDS.
GRACE and comfort, &c. Dear wife, rejoice in our gracious God, and his and our Christ; and give thanks most humbly and heartily to him for this day's work, that in any part I most unworthy wretch should be made worthy to bear witness unto his everlasting verity, which Antichrist with his main force, I perceive, and by most impudent pride and boasting will go about to suppress. Remember God always, my dear wife, and so shall God's blessing light upon you and your Samuel. O remember always my words for Christ's sake; be cheerful, grudge not against God, and pray, pray. We are all merry […] thanks be unto our God, who in his Christ hath given us great cause to be merry, by whom he hath prepared for us such a kingdom, and doth and will give unto us some little taste thereof, even in this life, and to all such as are desirous to take it. "Blessed (saith our Christ) are they which hunger and thirst after righteousness, for such shall be satisfied." Let us go▪ yea, let us run to seek such treasure, and that with whole purpose of heart to cleave unto the Lord, to find such riches in his heavenly word through his Spirit obtained by prayer. My dear friends and brethren, Mr. Harrington and Mr. Hurland, pray, pray. "The spirit is ready, but the flesh is weak." When I look upon myself, being astonished and confounded, what have I else to say but those words of Peter, "Lord, go from me, for I am a sinful man?" But then I feel that sweet comfort, "The ⟨p. 448⟩word of the Lord is a lantern unto my feet, and a light unto my paths:" and this is my comfort in my trouble. Then am I bold with the same Peter to say, "Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of everlasting life." This comfort have I, when the giver thereof doth give it. But I look for battles, which the root of unfaithfulness, which I feel in me, will most eagerly give unto my conscience, when we come once to the combat. We are (I think) within the sound of the trump of our enemies. Play ye that are abroad the part of Moses, "Praying in all places, lifting up pure hands:" and God's people shall prevail: yea, our blood shall be their perdition who do most triumphantly spill it, and we then being in the hands of our God, shall shine in his kingdom, and shall stand in great steadfastness against them which have dealt extremely with us: