N20568:916
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.
DURING his confinement, they proposed to him to redeem his liberty with the sum of 3000 l. and persuade the king to purchase their departure out ⟨p. 96⟩of the kingdom, with a further sum of 10,000 l. Alphage's circumstances would not allow him to satisfy the exorbitant demand: they bound him, and put him to severe torments, to oblige him to discover the treasure of his church; upon which they assured him of his life and liberty. The prelate knew, that what they insisted on was the inheritance of the poor, not to be thrown away upon the barbarous enemies of the christian religion; and therefore persisted in refusing to give them any account of it. They remanded him to prison again, confined him six days longer, and then taking him with them to Greenwich, brought him to a trial there. He still remained inflexible with respect to the church treasures; but exhorted them to forsake their idolatry, and embrace christianity. This so greatly incensed the Danes, that the soldiers dragged him out of the camp, and beat him unmercifully. Alphage bore this usage patiently, and even prayed for his persecutors. One of the soldiers, who had been converted and baptized by him, was greatly afflicted, that his pains should be so lingering, as he knew his death was determined on: he, therefore, with the fury of a desperate zeal, and a kind of barbarous compassion, cut off his head, and thus put the finishing stroke to his martyrdom, on April 19, A. D. 1012. This transaction happened on the very spot where the church at Greenwich, dedicated to him, now stands. After his death his body was thrown into the Thames, but being found the next day, it was buried in the cathedral of St. Paul's, by the bishops of London and Lincoln; from whence it was, in the year 1023, removed to Canterbury by Aethelmoth, the archbishop of that province.
GERARD, a Venetian, devoted himself to the service of God from his tender years; entered into a religious house for some time, and then determined to visit the Holy Land. Going into Hungary, he became acquainted with Stephen, the king of that country, who, at once, acted the parts of prince and preacher, and not only regulated his subjects by wholesome laws, but taught them religious duties. Finding Gerard every way qualified to instruct his people, he tried, by every means, to detain him in his kingdom; and, at length, founding several churches, he made Gerard bishop of that of Chonad.