Page images
PDF
EPUB
[graphic][subsumed][merged small][merged small]

THE

YOUTH'S INSTRUCTER

AND

GUARDIAN.

DECEMBER, 1852.

ANECDOTES OF JOHN FOXE.

(With an Engraving.)

THE birth-place of John Foxe was Boston, in Lincolnshire. The day of his birth is not known. The year was 1517. In that year Luther published his theses against the Church of Rome.

66

At the age of sixteen he was sent to Oxford. His father was dead; and a step-father, perhaps not of so good estate" as the deceased parent, could not, or did not, provide all the expenses, but accepted assistance from friends who admired the youth's "good inclinations and towardness to learning." He took his Bachelor's Degree in 1538, his Master's in 1543, and was elected Fellow of Magdalen College in the same year. He entered College a decided Romanist, and so continued for a long time. Alexander Nowell, known by the admirable Catechism that bears his name, was his chamber-fellow, senior by several years, and probably led him into habits of careful study and vigorous thought.

From this College, from the University, and even from the county, he was expelled for heresy, so called, in the year 1545. That glorious heresy, the knowledge of God, whom to know is everlasting life, was drawn by him from the fountains of eternal truth. He spent whole nights in stud and laboured hard in gathering spiritual wisdom from the original Hebrew VOL. XVI. Second Series.

[ocr errors]

and Greek Scriptures, adding prayer to study. His son relates, briefly, his conversion to real Christianity. "He would leave his study or his bed, and retire to a neighbouring grove, where the students delighted to walk, and spend some hours of recreation; and there, amidst darkness and solitude, ponder deeply over what he had been reading, so that he might confirm his mind in the truths he had embraced. How many nights he watched in these solitary walks! What combats and wrestlings he suffered within himself! How many heavy sighs, and sobs, and tears he poured forth with his prayers to Almighty God!" Some of his acquaintances, at length, who had become aware of those extraordinary exercises of mind, reported him to the heads of the College as an abettor of the new faith. Spies were placed around him, who feigned themselves friends, and pried into his inmost thoughts, which their affectation of sympathy induced him to disclose. At length unable, in conscience, to unite in the idolatry of the mass, he absented himself from the College chapel and from the church, except on necessary and official occasions. They accused him of heresy, and after being examined by the heads of the College, and convicted, he was expelled. The Judges bade him be thankful for their gentleness in being satisfied with expulsion only, whereas the law empowered them to deliver him to the flames.

After suffering extreme distress, he obtained a situation as private tutor in the family of Sir Thomas Lucy, at Charlecote, in Warwickshire, where he married a visiter in the house, daughter of a citizen of Coventry; but, on the termination of his tutorship, was again plunged into profound poverty. At Coventry he found shelter with his wife's father, until searchers for heretics discovered his retreat. Then he asked refuge of his father-in-law in Boston, who told him that he might just come for a short visit; or, if he would "alter his mind," offered him a permanent abode. He could not alter his mind, because God had changed his heart. Reproaches of heresy

* As quoted by Prebendary Townsend, in the "Life of John Foxe," prefixed to his invaluable edition of the "Acts and Monuments," the fullest extant biography of Foxe, and the source of this article.

embittered the brief interview with his mother and step-father; the people of Boston pointed at him as a heretic, expelled from Oxford, accursed and fugitive; and he therefore resolved to hide himself among the crowds of London, and endeavour, by some honest means, to earn his bread.

"As Master Foxe one day sate in St. Paul's Church, spent with long fasting, his countenance thin, and eyes hollow, after the ghastly manner of dying men, everyone shunning a spectacle of so much horror, there came to him one whom he never remembered to have seen before, who, sitting down by him, and saluting him with much familiarity, thrust an untold sum of money into his hand, bidding him be of good cheer; adding withal, that he knew not how great the misfortunes were which oppressed him, but supposed it was no light calamity; that he should therefore accept in good part that small gift from his countryman which common courtesy had forced him to offer; that he should go and take care of himself, and take all occasions to prolong his life; adding, that within a few days, new hopes were at hand, and a more certain condition of livelihood." Foxe never knew this benefactor. He could not trace the charity to its human source, but no doubt he acknowledged God to have sent that present help in time of need.

Within three days the presage was fulfilled. Some one waited upon him from the Duchess of Richmond, who invited him, on fair terms, to enter into her service. The fact was, that the Duke of Norfolk and his son, the Earl of Surrey, were thrown into the Tower for some state offence, and the Earl's children (Thomas, afterwards Duke of Norfolk; Henry, afterwards Earl of Northampton; and Jane, afterwards Countess of Westmoreland) were confided to their aunt, the Duchess of Richmond, to be brought up. She chose Foxe to be their tutor, not ignorant of his principles, nor unwilling that those principles should be brought into the family. The young Duke always regarded his tutor with veneration, and showed him great kindness.

Foxe remained at Reigate, in Surrey, at a residence of the Dukes of Norfolk, during the whole reign of King Edward VI.; and, while there, was ordained Deacon by Ridley, Bishop of

« PreviousContinue »