N20568:7330
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 10 › Letter 5: LETTER V. From Mr. BRADFORD to the Town of WALDEN.
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 V. From Mr. BRADFORD to the Town of WALDEN.
TO the faithful, and such as profess the true doctrine of our Saviour Jesus Christ, dwelling at Walden and thereabouts, John Bradford, a most unworthy servant of the Lord, now in bonds and condemned for the same true doctrine, wisheth grace, mercy, and peace, with the increase of all godliness in knowledge and living, from God the Father of all comfort, through the merits of our only Redeemer Jesus Christ, by the mighty working of the most Holy Spirit, the Comforter, for ever. Amen.
WHEN I remember, how that by the providence and grace of God I have been a man by whom it hath pleased him, through my ministry, to call you to repentance and amendment of life, something effectually, as it seemed, and to sow amongst you his true doctrine and religion, lest that by my affliction, and storms now arisen to try the faithful, and to conform them to the image of the Son of God, into whose company we are called, you might be faint-hearted; I could not but out of prison secretly (for my keepers must not know that I have pen and ink) write unto you a signification of the desire I have, that you should be more confirmed in the doctrine I have taught you, which I am assured is the plain and infallible truth of God, and also that you be warned to govern your lives and conversation agreeable thereto. Dearly beloved in the Lord, had I taught you fables, tales, or lies, instead of this truth, I should not so willingly seal it with my blood.