The.xxiii. Chapter. Of the shame that i • ioyned vvith the death in the persecucion for the fayth

HOwe can any faythful wyse man d[…]eade that death so sore for any respect of shame, whā his reason & hys fayth together may shortly make hym p[…]c[…]ue, yt there is therin no pe[…]e of very shame at al. For how can that death be shameful that is glorious? or how can it be but glorious to dye for the fayth of Christ (if we dye both for the fayth and in the fayth ioyned with hope and charitie) while the Scripture […]o playnely […]ayeth: pre[…]iosa in conspectu domini mors sanctorū eiu[…] precious is in ye sight of god, the death of hys saintes[…] […]ow if the death of his Saintes be glorious in ye sight of god, it can n[…]uer be sham[…]full in verye d[…]de, howe shamefull so euer it seme here in the sighte of men for here we maye see and be sure that not at the death of Saint Stephin onely (to whom it lyked him to shew himself with the heauen open ouer his head) but at the death also of euery man that so dieth for the faith, god with hys heauenly company, beholdeth his whole passion & verely loketh on. Now if it so were Cosin, that you shoulde be brought thorowe the brode hie strete of a greate long Citie and that all a long the waye that you were goyng there w[…]re on the tone syde of ye way a rabble of ragged beggers, and mad men that woulde dispise you, & disprayse you with al ye shameful names that they could cal you, and al the villanous woordes that they could saye to you: and that there were than al a long the o[…]her syde of thesame strete, where you should come by a goodly company standyng in a fayre raunge a rowe, of wyse and worshipful folke, allowing you & cōmending you mo than.xv. times, as many as that rabble ragged beggars and rayling madde men are. Would you let your way by your wil, wening that you wente vnto your shame for the shamefull iestyng and rayling of those madde foolishe wretches, or holde on your way with a good chere and a glad heart[…] thynkyng youre selfe muche honoured by the laude and approbacion of that other honorable sort.

Vincent. Naye by my trueth vncle, there is no doubt, but I woulde muche regarde the commendacion of those commendable folke, and not regarde of a rishe y• railing of all these ribauldes.

Anthony. Than Cosin can there no mā that hath faith, accompte hymselfe shamed here by any maner death that he suffereth for the fayth of Christe, whyle howe vile and howe shamefull soeuer it seme in the syghte here of a fewe worldly wretches, it is alowed & approued for very precious and honorable in the sighte of god, and all the glorious company of heauen, which as perfectly stande and behold it as these peuishe people doe, & are in nomber moe than an hundred to one: and of that hundred euery one an hundreth tymes more to be regarded and estemed than of the tother, and hundred suche whole rabbles. And now if a man would be so madde as for feare of ye rebuke that he should haue of such rebuke ful beastes, he would be ashamed to cō fesse the fayth of Chri[…]t, than with fleing from a shadowe of shame he should fall into a very shame and a deadly painfull shame in dede: for than hath our Sauiour made a sure promise that he wil shewe himselfe ashamed of that man before the father of heauen & al his holy angels, saying in ye.ix. Chapter of. S. Luke. Qui me erubuerit & meo sermones huncfilius homini[…] erubesset quum venerit i[…] maiestate sua & patris & sanctorum angelo[…]um. He that is ashamed of me and my wordes, of him shal the sonne of man be ashamed when he shall come in the maiestie of hymselfe and of his father, and of the holy Aungels. And what maner a shamefull shame shall that be than, if a mannes chekes glowe some tyme for shame in thys worlde? they will fall on fyer for shame when Christe shall shewe hymselfe ashamed of them there, to suffer the thing for Christes faith that we worldly wretched fooles wene were villanie and shame, the blessed Apostles reckened for greate glory. For they when they were with dispite and shame scourged, and therupon cōmaunded to speake no more of the name of Christ, wente their waye fro the counsayle, ioyfull and glad that god had vouchesafed to doe them the worship to suffre shamefull dispite for the name of Iesu, and so proude were they of that shame, and vilanous payne put vnto them, that for all the forbidding of that great coūsaile assembled, thei ceased not eueri day to preache out the name of Iesu stil, not in the temple onely oute of which they were fet and whipped for thesame before, but also to double it with, went preachyng that name about from house to house to. I would, sith we regard so greatly thestimacion of worldly folkes, we woulde among many noughtie thinges that they vse, regarde also some such as are good: for it is a maner among thē in many places, yt some by handy crafte, some by marchandise, some by other kinde of liuyng[…] aryse & come forward in ye world, & cōmonly folke are inowe set forth to conuenient masters vnder whō they be brought vp and growe: but whensoeuer nowe they fynd a seruaūt suche as disdaineth to doe suche thynges as he that is his master did while he was seruaunte hymselfe, that seruaunt euery mā accompteth for a proude vnthrifte, neuer like to come to good proofe. Let vs so marke & consider this, and waye well therwithal, that oure master Christe, not the master onely, but the maker of all this whole worlde, was not so proude to disdayne for oure sakes the moste villanous and moste shamefull death after the worldly accompte that then was vsed […] the worlde, and the moste dispightefull mockyng therwith ioyned to most greuous payn, as crownyng hym with sharpe thorne, that the bloud ranne downe about his face: than they gaue hym a rede in his hand for a septre and kneled downe to hym, and saluted hym lyke a king in scorne, and bet then the rede vpon the sharpe thornes about hys holy head, now saith our sauiour that the disciple or ye seruaunt is not aboue hys master, and therfore sith our master endured so many kyndes of paynfull shame[…] very proude beastes maye we w[…]ll thynke our selfe if we disdayne to doe as our master did. And wheras he thorow shame ascended in to glory, we would be so madde that we rather wil fall into euerlastyng shame, both before heauen and hell, than for feare of a short worldly shame to folowe him […]nto euerlasting glory.