N20568:9563
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.
RIDLEY. My lord, I acknowledge an unspotted church of Christ, in which no man can err, without which no man can be saved, which is spread throughout all the world, that is, the congregation of the faithful; neither do I alligate or bind the same to any one place, as you said, but confess the same to spread throughout all the world; and where Christ's sacraments are duly administered, his gospel truly preached and followed, there doth Christ's church shine as a city upon a hill, and as a candle in a candlestick: but rather it is such as you that would have the church of Christ bound a place, who appoint the same to Rome, that there and no where else is the foundation of Christ's church. But I am fully persuaded that Christ's church is every where founded, in every place where his gospel is truly received, and effectually followed. And in that the church of God is in doubt, I us• herein the counsel of Vincentius Lyrinen•is, whom I am sure you will allow, who giving precepts how the catholic church may be in all schisms and heresies known, writeth in this manner: When (saith he) one part is corrupted with heresies, then prefer the whole world before that one part; but if the greatest part be infected, then prefer antiquity. IN like manner now when I perceive the greatest part of christianity to be infected with the poison of the see of Rome, I repair to the usage of the primitive church, which I find quite contrary to the pope's decrees; as in that the priest receiveth alone, that it is made unlawful to the laity to receive in both kinds, and such like, wherefore it requireth, that I prefer the antiquity of the primitive church, before the novelty of the Romish church.
LINCOLN. Mr. Ridley, these faults which you charge the see of Rome withal, are indeed no faults. For first, it was never forbid the laity, but that they might, if they demanded, receive under both kinds. You know also, that Christ after his resurrection, at the time he went with his apostles to Galilee, op•ned himself by breaking of bread. You know that St. Paul after his long failing towards Rome, brake bread, and that the apostles came together in breaking of bread, which declareth that it is not unlawful to administer the sacrament under the form of bread only. And yet the church had just occasion to decree, that the laity should receive in one kind only, thereby to tke away an opinion of the unlearned, that Christ was wholly both flesh and blood, under the form of bread. Therefore to take away their opinion and to establish better the people's faith, the Holy Ghost in the church thought fit to decree, that the laity should receive only in one kind; and it is no news for the church upon just consideration to alter rites and ceremonies. For you read in the Acts of the Apostles, that St. Paul writing to certain of the Gentiles, who had received the gospel biddeth them to abstain from things stifled, and from blood, so that this seemeth to be an express commandment; yt who will say but tha it is lawful to eat bloodings? How is it lawful but by the permission of the church?