John Bradford
(5) The fifth leading Reformer who suffered in Mary's reign was
John Bradford, Prebendary of St Paul's and Chaplain to Bishop
Ridley. He was burned in Smithfield on Monday, July the 1st, 1555, at
the age of forty-five. Few of the English martyrs, perhaps, are
better known than Bradford, and none certainly deserve better their
reputation. Strype calls Bradford, Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer, the
"four prime pillars" of the Reformed Church of England. He
was by birth a Manchester man, and to the end of his life retained a
strong interest in the district with which he was connected. At an
early age his high talents commended him to the notice of men in high
quarters, and he was appointed one of the six royal chaplains who were
sent about England to preach up the doctrines of the Reformation.
Bradford's commission was to preach in Lancashire and Cheshire, and he
seems to have performed his duty with singular ability and success.
He preached constantly in Manchester, Liverpool, Bolton, Bury, Wigan,
Ashton, Stockport, Eccles, Prestwich, Middleton, and Chester, with
great benefit to the cause of Protestantism, and with great effect on
men's souls. The consequence was what might have been expected.
Within a month of Queen Mary's accession Bradford was in prison, and
never left it until he was burned. His personal holiness, and his
extraordinary reputation as a preacher, made him an object of great
interest during his imprisonment, and immense efforts were made to
pervert him from the Protestant faith. All these efforts, however,
were in vain. As he lived, so he died.1)
On the day of his execution he was led out from Newgate to Smithfield
about nine o'clock in the morning, amid such a crowd of people as was
never seen either before or after. A Mrs Honywood, who lived to the
age of ninety-two, and died in 1620, remembered going to see him
burned, and her shoes being trodden off by the crowd. Indeed, when he
came to the stake the Sheriffs of London were so alarmed at the press
that they would not allow him and his fellow-sufferer, Leaf, to pray
as long as they wished. "Arise," they said, "and make
an end; for the press of the people is great."
"At that word," says Foxe, "they both stood up upon
their feet, and them Master Bradford took a faggot in his hands and
kissed it, and so likewise the stake." When he came to the stake
he held up his hands, and, looking up to heaven, said, "O
England, England, repent thee of thy sins! Beware of idolatry; beware
of false antichrists! Take heed they do not deceive you!" After
that he turned to the young man Leaf, who suffered with him, and said,
"Be of good comfort, brother; for we shall have a merry supper
with the Lord this night." After that he spoke no more that man
could hear, excepting that he embraced the reeds, and said,
"Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, that leadeth to
eternal life, and few there be that find it." "He endured
the flames," says Fuller, "as a fresh gale of wind in a hot
summer day." And so, in the prime of life, he passed away.
Notes
- Bradford seems to have had a very strong
feeling about the causes for which God permitted the Marian
persecution. Writing to his mother from prison, he says:
"Ye all know there never was more knowledge of God, and
less godly living and true serving of God. God, therefore, is
now come, and because He will not damn us with the world He
punisheth us." Foxe, iii. p. 255.
Previous: Robert Ferrar
Next: Nicholas Ridley & Hugh Latimer
Back to Christian Stuff |
 |
Webmaster
Last modified: Fri Dec 10 23:57:58 1999