N20568:9508
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.
FOR what other thing is it to be a stranger unto the truth, than to be a traitor and a Judas unto Christ, who is the very truth, and cause of all truth? Who saith, that whosoever denieth him before men, he will deny him before his Father in heaven. Which denying ought more to be feared and dreaded, than the loss of all temporal goods, ⟨p. 870⟩honour, promotion, fame, prison, slander, hurts, banishments, and all manner of torments and cruelties, yea, and death itself, be it ever so painful and shameful. But alas! how little do men regard those sharp sayings of these two holy men! And how little do they fear the terrible judgment of Almighty God! And especially they who boast themselves to be guides and captains unto others, and challenging unto themselves the knowledge of holy scripture, yet will neither show the truth themselves (as they be bound) or suffer them that would. So that unto them it may be said, that which our Saviour Christ said to the pharisees, Matth. xiii. Woe be unto you, scribes and pharisees, who shut up the kingdom of heaven before men, and neither will you enter in yourselves, neither suffer them that would to enter in. And they will, as much as in them lieth, debar not only the word of God, which David calleth, a light to direct and show every man how to order his affections and lusts, according to the commandments of God, but also by their subtle wil•ness they instruct, move, and provoke in a manner, all kings in Christendom, to aid, succour, and help them in this their mischief; and especially in this your realm they have so blinded your liege people and subjects with their laws, customs, ceremonies, and Banbury glosses, and punished them with cursings, excommunications, and other corruptions (corrections I would say) and now at the last, when they see they cannot prevail against the open truth (which the more it is persecuted, the more it increaseth by their tyranny) they have made it treason to your noble grace to have the scripture in English.
FOR what other thing is it to be a stranger unto the truth, than to be a traitor and a Judas unto Christ, who is the very truth, and cause of all truth? Who saith, that whosoever denieth him before men, he will deny him before his Father in heaven. Which denying ought more to be feared and dreaded, than the loss of all temporal goods, ⟨p. 870⟩