Some excerpts from soldiers that went ahead of us and paved the way for the reformation of the church...
Each of these tell the same story of suffering and pain and eventual death for the love of their LORD and faith in HIM
Surely He was with them no matter where they suffered, giving them HIS strength and patience to endure unto eternal glory, just as He endured and is now waiting with open arms for all who die in HIS name. Foxes Book of Martyrs pg 47-48
John Wycliffe 1377-1384
Wycliffe was commanded by church authorities to stop teaching his doctrines, but that did not stop him. He continued to teach the truth with more boldness. He was brought before the council several times, but he never stopped being faithful to God's Holy Word. He was continually harassed and threatened, even banished for a time, but he was able to return to the parish at Lutterworth and become the parish priest. John Wycliffe died in his sleep on December 31, 1384 at the age of fifty-six.
persecution of Jerome of Prague 1416
While he was thus praying, the tormentors took him up, and lifting him up from the ground spoiled him of all his garments, and left him naked, and afterwards girded him about the loins with a linen cloth, and bound him fast with cords and chains of iron, to the said image which was made fast unto the earth; and so standing upon the ground, when they began to lay the wood about him, he sung Salve festa dies. And when the hymn was ended, he sung again with a loud voice, Credo in unum Deum, unto the end. That being ended, he said unto the people in the German tongue, in effect as followeth: "Dearly beloved children, even as I have now sung, so do I believe and none otherwise. And this creed is my whole faith, notwithstanding now I die for this cause, because I would not consent and agree to the council, and with them affirm and hold that Master John Huss was by them holily and justly condemned, for I did know well enough that be was a true preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ."
After that he was compassed in with the wood up to the crown of the head, they cast all his garments upon the wood also, and with a firebrand they set it on fire. The which being once fired, he began to sing with a loud voice, In manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum. When that was ended, and that he began vehemently to burn, he said in the vulgar Bohemian tongue, "O Lord God, Father Almighty, have mercy upon me, and be merciful unto mine offences, for thou knowest how sincerely I have loved thy truth." Then his voice by the vehemency of the fire was choked and stopped, that it was no longer heard, but he moved continually his mouth and lips, as though he had still prayed or spoken within himself.
When in a manner his whole body with his beard was burned round about, and that there appeared, through the great burning, upon his body certain great bladders as big as an egg, yet he continually very strongly and stoutly moved, and shaked his head and mouth, by the space almost of one quarter of an hour. So burning in the fire, he lived with great pain and martyrdom, whilst one might easily have gone from St. Clement's over the bridge unto our Lady church; he was of such a stout and strong nature. After that he was thus dead in the fire, by and by they brought his bedding, his straw-bed, his boots, his hood, and all other things that he had in the prison, and burned them all to ashes in the same fire. The which ashes, after that the fire was out, they did diligently gather together, and carry them in a cart, and cast them into the river Rhine, which ran hard by the city.
Tyndale...
...early in the morning of one of the first days of October 1536, Tyndale was executed. Tradition has it that it was the sixth of the month, and the Anglican Church has always commemorated his death on that day. We have only Foxe's meager account of what happened. He was not burned alive, a fiercer punishment reserved for lesser creatures. He was strangled at the stake, and his dead body then burned.
John Hooper
All John Hooper wanted to do was to pray. He went to bed at five the evening before, then rose early, on this day, February 9, 1555, so that he might pray in the early hours of the morning. When it was light, he asked that no one be allowed into his room until the hour of his execution, as he wished to continue in prayer.
When he arrived at the stake, John knelt and prayed yet again. He was shown what was said to be a pardon from the queen: his--if only he would change his religious opinions. "If you love my soul, away with it!" he exclaimed, repeating the words for emphasis. He then asked the people to pray the Lord's prayer with him, which they did.
It was a cold morning and the reeds that were supposed to kindle the fire were wet, so John was in torment for a long time. Despite this, he stood quietly, speaking only to plead for more fire so that he could die quicker. The fire had to be rebuilt three times. During his ordeal, John repeated many times, "O Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me and receive my soul," and similar pleas.
And so he made a brave end. The stump of the stake at which he was burned was rediscovered in the twentieth century and shown to the curious. His writings influenced generations of Puritans and evangelicals.
May the LORD have Mercy on us all and may we have courage to stand..
in Him
Frannie
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Frannie
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