N20568:905
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 › Chapter 3 › An Account of the Persecutions in the Eleventh Century.
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.
An Account of the Persecutions in the Eleventh Century.
ALPHAGE▪ archbishop of Canterbury, was descended from a considerable family in Gloucestershire, and received an education suitable to his illustrious birth. His parents were worthy christians, and Alphage seemed to inherit all their virtues. He was prudent and humble, pious and chaste: he made a rapid progress both in polite literature and scripture learning, and was, at once, the admired scholar, and devout christian: he strove to make the arts useful to the purposes of life, and to render philosophy subservient to the cause of religion. In order to be more at leisure to contemplate the divine perfections, he determined to renounce his fortune, quit home, and become a recluse. He accordingly retired to a monastery of Benedictines, at Deerhurst, in Gloucestershire, and soon after took the habit.
CONSIDERING that the principal business of a christian was to subdue his passions, and mortify his appetites, he lived with the utmost temperance, and spent the greatest part of his time in prayer. But not thinking the austerities he underwent in this monastery sufficiently severe, he retired to a lonely cell near Bath, and lived in a manner still more rigid and mortifying. Here he thought to remain unknown, but some devout persons finding out his retreat, his austere life soon became the subject of conversation in the neighbouring villages, where many flocked to him, and begged to be taken under his pastoral care. He yielded to their importunities, raised a monastery near his cell, by the contributions of several well-disposed persons; formed his new pupils into a community, and placed a prior over them. Having prescribed rules for their regulation, he again retired to his beloved cell, fervently wishing to pass the remainder of his days in religious security; when the following affair once more drew him from his retreat: