CHRISTOPHER WAID
Christopher Waid was a linen weaver from Dartford, Kent, condemned by Maurice, the bishop of Rochester. On the day of his execution in July, the stake, reeds, and wood for the fire were taken out to Brimth, a gravel pit outside the village of Dartford.
At ten that morning, Waid and Margery Polley, of Tunbridge, passed by the site on their way into Dartford with the sheriffs. Seeing the crowd that was gathering at Brimth, Margery called to Waid, “Rejoice, Waid! Look at the crowd gathering to celebrate your marriage today!”
In town, Margery was locked up until the sheriff was done with Waid. Wait took off his clothes at an inn and put on a long white shirt brought by his wife. Then he was tied up and taken out to Brimth. Going right to the stake, he embraced it, set his back to it, and stepped into the pitch barrel. He was fastened to the stake by the smith with a hoop of iron.
As soon as he was set, Waid loudly recited the last verse of Psalm 86: ” ‘Shew me a token for good; that they which hate me may see it, and be ashamed: because thou, LORD, hast holpen me, and comforted me.’ “
Near the stake was a little hill with a makeshift pulpit on it. As Waid was praying a friar entered the pulpit with a book in his hand, but Waid warned the people not to listen to the doctrine of the Catholic Church. He urged them to embrace the religion of King Edward’s days, instead. While Waid spoke, the friar stood still in his pulpit; when Waid was done, he left without saying a word.
As the reeds were placed around him, Waid pulled them close, leaving an opening around his face so he could speak. The fire was lit, and Waid could be heard to say, “Lord Jesus, receive my soul!” Even when he was no longer able to speak, Waid continued to hold his hands up over his head toward heaven.
CARVER AND LAUNDER
On July 22, 1555, Dirick Carver was burned at Lewes, Sussex; the following day John Launder suffered at Stening. These two men were arrested about the end of October 1554, along with other men who were praying at Carver’s house. After examination they were sent to Newgate Prison to wait for a hearing before Bonner, the bishop of London, which occurred on June 8, 1555.
There they were examined on many points of religion, writing and signing their own confessions of faith. After the bishop spoke with them for some time, trying to convince them to recant and accept the Catholic Church, they were dismissed and returned to Newgate until June 10.
Dirick Carver confessed to the following points:
He did not believe Christ’s physical body was present in the sacrament.
He did not believe there was any sacrifice in the Mass and no salvation in a Mass said in London.
He believed in seeing a good priest for advice but not for confession, which did nothing to save a man.
He did not believe the Catholic doctrine agreed with God’s Word. He believed that Bishop Hooper, Cardmaker, Rogers, and others recently burned were good Christians, martyrs who preached the true doctrine of Christ.
Since the queen’s coronation, he had kept his Bible and psalter in English and read them. He had also had English prayers and services said in his home. Thomas Iverson, John Launder, and william Vesie, his fellow prisoners in Newgate, were arrested with him while hearing the gospel read in English.
John Launder confessed to the following:
He was present in Carver’s house with twelve other to hear the English service and prayers, being in town on business and hearing of the service.
He believed that all the services, sacrifices, and ceremonies of the Catholic Church are full of errors, worth nothing, and against God’s Word.
He believed tht the bread and wine were only a remembrance of Christ, not His actual body and blood.
He believed the Mass was directly against God’s Word and church.
He believed confession to a priest was useless and no man could absolve another from his sins. A sinful man who regrets his sins before God and sins no more is forgiven.
On June 10, 1555, Carver, Launder, and others were brought before the bishop again. Carver was asked if he would recant or stand by his confession. “Your doctrine,” he replied, “is poison and sorcery. If Christ were here, you would put Him to a worse death than He was put to before. You say that you can make a god. You can make a pudding, too. Your ceremonies in the church are beggary and poison, and confession is contrary to God’s Word. It’s poison.”
John Launder also remained firm in his confession, and both men were condemned.
When Dirick was brought to the stake, his book was thrown into the pitch barrel to burn with him, but he reached down, picked it up, and tossed it into the crowd. The sheriff ordered the book returned on pain of death, but Dirick immediately began to speak to the crowd.
“Dear brothers and sisters, I am here to seal Christ’s gospel with my blood because I know it is true. You know the gospel — it’s been preached to you here and all over England, even though it’s not preached now. Because I will not deny God’s gospel to obey man’s laws, I am condemned to die. Dear brothers and sisters, if you belive in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, do the works of your belief and you will have everlasting life. If you believe in the pope and his laws, you are condemned. Unless God has mercy on you, you will burn in hell forever.”
The sheriff scoffed, “If you don’t believe in the pope, you are damned, body and soul! Speak to your God. Ask Him to deliver you now or strike me down as an example!”
“The Lord forgive you for your words,” Dirick replied. “Dear brethren, if I have offended anyone by word or deed, I ask you to forgive me. And I forgive all you who have offended me in thought, word, or deed.
“O Lord, my God, You have written, ‘He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me’ (Matthew 10:37-38). But You know I have forsaken all to come to You. Lord, have mercy upon me, for unto You do I commend my spirit, and my soul rejoices in You.”
THOMAS IVESON
Thomas Iveson was burned at Chichester the same month, having been arrested and tried with Carver and Launder.
When he was being urged to recant by Bishop Bonner, Iveson said, “I would not recant my beliefs for all the goods of London. I appeal to God’s mercy and will ahve none of your church or submit to it. What I’ve said before I will say again. Even if an angel came from heaven to teach me another doctrine, I would not believe him.”
Iveson was condemned and burned, maintaining his faith until the end.
JAMES ABBEYS
One of the many who labored to keep his conscience clear in those troublesome times was James Abbeys, a young man forced to wander from place to place to avoid being arrested for practicing his faith. But when the time came that the Lord had another type of service for him, Abbeys was captured and brought before Dr. Hopton, the bishop of Norwich.
The bishop examined Abbeys on his religion, using both threats and promises, until Abbeys finally yielded to the persuasion. When he was dismissed and about to leave the bishop, Abbeys was called back and given a sum of money; but once he left, his conscience bothered him terribly, since he knew he’d displeased the Lord by his actions.
Abbeys immediately returned to the bishop, threw the money at him, and said he was sorry he’d recanted and accepted the gift. The bishop and his chaplains went back to work, but this time Abbeys stood firm and was burnt to ashes on August 2, 1555.
JOHN DENLEY
In the midst of the persecutors destroying the flock of God, there were many who were not clergymen but laymen supporting the persecution. One of them was Edmund Tyrel, a lawyer serving as justice of the peace in Essex.
One day as Tyrel was returning from the burning of some martyrs, he met John Denley, a gentlemen, and John Newman, both from Maidstone, Kent. The two men were traveling to visit some godly friends that day. Thinking they looked suspicious, Tyrel stopped them, searched them, and found written confessions of faith on both. He sent them to the queen’s commissioners, who sent them to Bishop Bonner. On June 28, Denley made the following answers to the charges against him:
He was of the diocese of London.
Denley said that was true.
He did not believe there was a Catholic Church of Christ on earth.
Denley replied that was not true. He believed there was a church built on the prophets and apostles, with Christ as its head. This church preaches God’s Word truly and ministers the sacraments of baptism and communion according to the Word.
He did not believe in the Church of England was part of the Catholic Church.
The Church of England presently is not part of the church. It is now the church of the antichrist because it changed the testament of God and set up its own testament of blaphemy and lies.
He believed the Mass was full of idolatry, evil, and against God’s Word.
As it stood now, Denley said, the Mass was idolatry where the bread and wine themselves were worshiped. Christ’s body is in heaven, not in the sacramental bread and wines, so we should not worship them.
He believed confession was contrary to God’s Word.
Denley said that the church had the power to punish him for his sins but not to forgive him. Only God could do that.
He did not believe a priest could absolve him of sins.
He agreed to that charge.
He did not believe inthe present forms of baptism, confirmation, orders, matins, evensong, the anointment or absolution of sick people, or making bread and wine holy.
Denly replied that the church had changed the sacrament of baptism and other sacraments by adding to them.
He believed there were only two church sacraments — baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
Denley agreed to this.
He believed that Christ was in heaven, not in the bread and wine, and he refused to accept communion at the Mass.
Denley said that was also true.
On July 5, Denley was condemned and turned over to the sheriffs. On August 8, he went to the stake cheerfuly singing a psalm as the flames rose around him. One of his singing a psalm as the flames rose around him. One of his tormentors threw a piece of wood at him, hitting him in the face. “Truly,” Denley said, “you have spoiled a good old song.” He spread his arms again and continued singing until he died.
Around August 28, Patrick Packingham died in Uxbridge. He had been charged with refusing to remove his hat during Mass. When Bonner urged him to recant, Packingham told the bishop that the Catholic Church was the church of Satan and he wuold never return to it.
John Newman was burned August 31 at Saffron Walden, and Richard Hook gave his life about the same time in Chichester.
WARNE, TANKERVIL, AND OTHERS
After this came the persecution of ten other true servants and saints of the Lord. Not saints that the pope made those mentioned in The Legend of the Saints or in The Lives of the Fathers, but those spoken of in Revelation: “These be they that follow the Lamb withersoever he goeth, and who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” In a way, the pope did make these people saints, for if he had not killed them, they would not be martyrs.
The ten were: Elizabeth Warne, George Tankervil, Robert Smith, Stephen Harwood, Thomas Fust, William Hall, Thomas Leyes, George King, John Wade, and Joan Lashford.
Now that the prisons of London were full and more prisoners were still arriving, the council and commissioners sent these ten people to Bonner at once, to make room for others.
Elizabeth Warne was the wife of John Warne, who had been burned earlier as a heretic. She was captured with others on January 1 in a house in Bow Churchyard, London, as they gathered for prayers, then was imprisoned until June 11 before being transferred to Newgate, where she stayed until July 2. Only July 6, Elizabeth appeared before Bishop Bonner, along with the nine others listed above.
The chief charge against them all was not believing that the physical body and blood of Christ were present in the bread and wine, although there were othercharges, such as not going to church, speaking against the Mass, and hating the Catholic ceremonies and sacraments.
After being brought before Bonner several times, Elizabeth Warne told him, “Do whatever you want. If Christ was in error, then so am I.” On July 12 she was condemned as a heretic and burned at Stratford-le-Bow in August.
George Tankervil, born in the city of York, lived in London. He was a Catholic in King Edward’s days, but when the persecutions began under Queen Mary, Tankervil was disgusted by them and began to doubt the church. He asked God to show him the truth about transubstatiation — something he’d always had doubts about — and came to believe as the Protestants did on the subject. Moved to read the New Testament for himself, Tankervil soon turned from the Catholic Church entirely and began to try to convert his friends, work that soon brought him before the bishop of London, who condemned him.
Tankervil was brought to St. Albans to die on August 26 and was locked in an inn there while the sheriffs attended a local wedding. Since he was forbidden communion, he asked for and received a pint of malmsey and a loaf of bread, knelt down to make his confession to God, and read the institution of the Last Supper from the gospel. “Lord,” he prayed, “You know I don’t do this to usurp anyone’s authority or in contempt of Your ministers, but only because I cannot have it administered according to Your Word.” When he had finished, he received the bread and wine with thanksgiving.
Then Tankervil asked his host to built him a good fire. He took off his shoes and stockings and stretched his leg into the flame, pulling it back when the flames hit it, showing howh is flesh wanted one thing and his spirit another.
About two o’clock the sheriffs returned to take Tankervil to Romeland, a gree near the west end of abbey church. A priest approached while the wood was being arranged around him, and Tankervil called out, “I defy the whore of Babylon! Fie on that abominable idol! Good people, do not believe him!” Embracing the fire, he bathed himself in it and, calling on the name of the Lord Jesus, was quickly out of pain.
Robert Smith was brought to Newgate on November 5. He was a tall, slender man, active in many things, especially painting, which he found relaxing. Once he was converted by the preaching and reading of Mr. Turner and others, he was very ferent in his religion. When Queen Mary came to the throne, Smith was fired from his clerkship in Windsor College, arrested, and brought before Bishop Bonner. Smith saw Bonner four times, answering all his questions boldly, arguing theology without fear — perhaps even a little rashly — until Bonner realized he would get nowhere and condemned him on July 12.
While he was in prison, Smith had been used by God to comfort those suffering with him. At the stake on August 8, he determined to do the same, telling everyone present he was sure his body would rise again. “And,” he added, “I’m sure God will show you some sign of that.” By the time he was nearly half burned and black from the fire, everyone thought Smith was dead, but he suddenly rose upright, lifted the stumps of his arms, and clapped them together joyfully before sinking back into the flames.
Stephen Harwood and Thomas Fust died about the same time as Robert Smith and George Tankervil, being tried and condemned with them. One was burned at Stratford and the other at Ware. William Hall died at Barnet.
Of the ten people sent to Bonner at once, six were executed at various places. Three others — George King, Thomas Leyes, and John Wade — became so sick in prison that they were moved to houses in London, where they all died. Their bodies were thrown out into the fields and secretly buried at night by the faithful. The last of the ten was Joan Laysh or Layshford. She was reprieved for a while but eventually martyred, too.
(To be continued …)
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