Notes |
- Rowland was burned at the stake during the reign of Bloody Mary.
Per J.C. Ryle, c.1890 A.D.;http://www.williamtyndale.com/0reformersburned.htm; From the Book -Five English Reformers; F r i e n d s o f W i l l i a m T y n d al e, H i s t o r y o f t h e E n g l i s h
B i b l e
"Indeed, the faggots never ceased to blaze whilst Mary was alive, andfive martyrs were burnt in Canterbury only a week before her death.Out of these 288 sufferers, be it remembered, one was an archbishop,four were bishops, twenty~ne were clergymen, fifty-five were women,and four were children. It is a broad fact that these 288 suffererswere not put to death for any offence against property or person. Theywere not rebels against the Queen's authority, caught red-handed inarms. They were not thieves, or murderers, or drunkards, orunbelievers, or men and women of immoral lives. On the contrary, theywere, with barely an exception, some of the holiest, purest, and bestChristians in England, and several of them the most learned men oftheir day."
"(3) The third leading Reformer who suffered in Mary's reign wasRowland Taylor, Rector of Hadleigh, in Suffolk. He was burned onAldham Common, close to his own parish, the same day that Hooper diedat Gloucester, on Saturday, the 9th February, 1555. Rowland Taylor isone of whom we know little, except that he was a great friend ofCranmer, and a doctor of divinity and canon law. But that he was a manof high standing among the Reformers is evident, from his being rankedby his enemies with Hooper, Rogers, and Bradford; and that he was anexceedingly able and ready divine is clear from his examination,recorded by Foxe. Indeed, there is hardly any of the sufferers aboutwhom the old Martyrologist has gathered together so many touching andstriking things. One might think he was a personal friend.
Striking was the reply which he made to his friends at Hadleigh, whourged him to flee, as he might have done, when he was first summonedto appear in London before Gardiner: -What will ye have me to do?. Iam old, and have already lived too long to see these terrible and mostwicked days. Fly you, and do as your conscience leadeth you. I amfully determined, with God's grace, to go to this Bishop and tell himto his beard that he doth naught. I believe before God that I shallnever be able to do for my God such good service as I may do now.''Foxe's"Acts and Monuments," vol. iii. p.138.
Striking were the replies which he made to Gardiner and his otherexaminers. None spoke more pithily, weightily, and powerfully than didthis Suffolk incumbent.
Striking and deeply affecting was his last testament and legacy ofadvice to his wife, his family, and parishioners, though far too longto be inserted here, excepting the last sentence : -"For God's sakebeware of Popery: for though it appear to have in it unity, yet thesame is vanity and Antichristianity, and not in Christ's faith andverity."-Foxe's"Acts and Monuments," vol. iii.p.144.
He was sent down from London to Hadleigh, to his great delight, to beburned before the eyes of his parishioners. When he got within twomiles of Hadleigh, the Sheriff of Suffolk asked him how he felt. "Godbe praised, Master Sheriff," was his reply, "never better. For now Iam almost at home. I lack but just two stiles to go over, and I ameven at my Father's house."
As he rode through the streets of the little town of Hadleigh, hefound them lined with crowds of his parishioners, who had heard of hisapproach, and came out of their houses to greet him with many tearsand lamentations. To them he only made one constant address, "I havepreached to you God's Word and truth, t and am come this day to sealit with my blood."
On coming to Aldham Common, where he was to suffer, they told himwhere he was. Then he said,-" Thank God, I am even at home."
When he was stripped to his shirt and ready for the stake, he said,with a loud voice,-" Good people, I have taught you nothing but God'sHoly Word, and those lessons that I have taken out of the Bible; and Iam come hither to seal it with my blood." He would probably have saidmore, but, like all the other martyrs, he was strictly forbidden tospeak, and even now was struck vio- lently on the head for sayingthese few words. He then knelt down and prayed, a poor woman of theparish insisting, in spite of every effort to prevent her, in kneelingdown with him. After this, he was chained to the stake, and repeatingthe 51st Psalm, and crying to God, "Merciful Father, for JesusChrist's sake, receive my soul into Thy hands," stood quietly amidstthe flames without crying or moving, till one of the guards dashed outhis brains with a halberd. And so this good old Suffolk incumbentpassed away."
"3) Hear what Rowland Taylor said: The second cause why I wascondemned as a heretic was that I denied transubstantiation, andconcomitation, two juggling words whereby the Papists believe thatChrist's natural body is made of bread, and the Godhead by and by tobe joined thereto, so that immediately after the words ofconsecration, there is no more bread and wine in the sacrament, butthe substance only of the body and blood of Christ."
"Because I denied the aforesaid Papistical doctrine (yea, ratherplain, wicked idolatry, blasphemy, and heresy) I urn judged aheretic."-Foxe in loco, vol. iii. p.141.
And therefore he was condemned and burned."
[Transcribed 08 May 2007, SLJuhl, compiler]
Books written referring to Rowland Taylor
Fox's (or Foxe's) Book of Martyrs. Many editions available.
The LIFE OF ROWLAND TAYLOR, BY Rev William James Brown.
The Impact of the English Reformation 1500-1640 (Arnold Readers inHistory)
by Peter Marshall (see page 45).
Daniel Defoe: The Life and Strange, Surprising Adventures
by Richard West (Page 300)
The Mammoth Book of Eyewitness Britain: Eyewitness Accounts of GreatHistorical Moments from 55 B.C. to A.D. 2000
by Jon E. Lewis
Bloody Mary's Martyrs: The Story of England's Terror
by Jasper Ridley (Page 61)
The Lollards, by Richard Rex (Page 124)
Please refer to the following book for further information on thisfamily; Joseph Washington McCoy 1766-1840 of Coshocton County, OhioHis Descendants and Related Families, by B. Isabel Lockard, 1935,copyright April 2002, Closson Press of PA.
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