N20568:9363
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.
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.
I take God to witness, I would hurt no man, but it grieveth me to see such abuse continue without remedy: I cannot understand what they mean by the pope's pardoning of purgatory, but by way of suffrage, and as for suffrage, unless he do his duty, and seek not his own, but Christ's glory, I had rather have the suffrage of Jack in the scullery, who in his calling doth exercise both faith and charity; but as for his mass, that is as good of another simple priest as of him. As for authority of keys, it is to loose from guiltiness of sin and eternal pain, due to the same, according to Christ's word, and not to his own private will: and as for pilgrimage, you would wonder what juggling there is to get money withal. I dwell within half a mile of the Foss-way, and you would wonder to see how they come by flocks out of the west-country to many images, but chiefly to the blood of the Hails. And they believe verily that it is the very blood that was in Christ's body, shed upon the mount of Calvary for our salvation, and that the sight of it with their bodily eye doth certify them, and putteth them out of doubt, but they be clean in life, and in a state of salvation without spot of sin, which doth embolden them to do many things. For you would wonder if you should commune with them both coming and going, what faith they have. For as for forgiving their enemies, and reconciling their christian brethren, they cannot away withal; for the sight of that blood doth quit them for a time.
I take God to witness, I would hurt no man, but it grieveth me to see such abuse continue without remedy: I cannot understand what they mean by the pope's pardoning of purgatory, but by way of suffrage, and as for sufferage, unless he do his duty, and seek not his own, but Christ's glory, I had rather have the suffrage of Jack in the skullery, who in his calling doth exercise both faith and charity; but as for his mass, that is as good of another simple priest as of him. As for authority of keys, it is to loose from guiltiness of sin and eternal pain, due to the same, according to Christ's word, and not to his own private will: and as for pilgrimage, you would wonder what juggling there is to get money withal. I dwell within half a mile of the Foss-way, and you would wonder to see how they come by flocks out of the west-country to many images, but chiefly to the blood of the Hailes. And they believe verily that it is the very blood that was in Christ's body, shed upon the mount of Calvary for our salvation, and that the sight of it with their bodily eye doth certify them, and putteth them out of doubt, but they be clean in life, and in a state of salvation without spot of sin, which doth embolden them to do many things. For you would wonder if you should commune with them both coming and going, what faith they have. For as for forgiving their enemies, and reconciling their christian brethren, they cannot away withal; for the sight of that blood doth quit them for a time.