N20568:9774
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.
AND therefore, as St. Paul teacheth us, "We fight not against flesh and blood," that is, we fight not with bodily weapons to kill the man, but with the weapons of God to put to flight his wicked errors and vice, and to save both body and soul. Our weapons therefore are faith, hope, charity, righteousness, truth, patience, prayer unto God, and our sword wherewith we smite our enemies, beat and batter and bear down all falsehood, is the Word of God. With these weapons, under the banner of the cross of Christ, we do fight, ever having our eye upon our grand master and captain, Christ; and then we reckon ourselves to triumph and to win the crown of everlasting bliss, when enduring in this battle without any shrinking or yielding to the enemies, after the example of our grand captain Christ, our master, after the example of his holy prophets, apostles, and martyrs, when (I say) we are slain in our mortal bodies by our enemies, and are most cruelly and without all mercy murdered down like a flock of sheep. And the more cruel, the more painful, the more vile and spiteful the kind of death is whereunto we be put, the more glorious in God, the more blessed and happy we reckon (without all doubts) our martyrdom to be.
AND therefore, as St. Paul teacheth us, "We fight not against flesh and blood," that is, we fight not with bodily weapons to kill the man, but with the weapons of God to put to flight his wicked errors and vice, and to save both body and soul. Our weapons therefore are faith, hope, charity, righteousness, truth, patience, prayer unto God, and our sword wherewith we smite our enemies, beat and batter and bear down all falshood, is the Word of God. With these weapons, under the banner of the cross of Christ, we do fight, ever having our eye upon our grand master and captain, Christ; and then we reckon ourselves to triumph and to win the crown of everlasting b•iss, when induring in this battle without any shrinking or yielding to the enemies, after the example of our grand captain Christ, our master, after the example of his holy prophets, apostles, and martyrs, when (I say) we are slain in our mortal bodies by our enemies, and are most cruelly and without all mercy murdered down like a flock of sheep. And the more cruel, the more painful, the more vile and spiteful the kind of death is whereunto we be put, the more glorious in God, the more blessed and happy we reckon (without all doubts) our martyrdom to be.