and treason, by force of the aforenamed act;[1] he rendering thanks unto God, that he had so appointed him to suffer for his name's sake.
And, upon the day appointed, he was brought out of the tower with his arms bound behind him, having a very cheerful countenance. Then was he laid upon a hurdle, as though he had been a most heinous traitor to the crown, and so drawn forth into St. Giles's-fields, where they had set up a new pair of gallows. As he was coming to the place of execution, and was taken from the hurdle, he fell down devoutly upon his knees, desiring Almighty God to forgive his enemies. Then stood he up and beheld the multitude, exhorting them, in most godly manner, to follow the laws of God written in the Scriptures, and, in any wise, to beware of such teachers as they see contrary to Christ in their conversation and living; with many other special counsels. Then was he hanged up there by the middle, in chains of iron, and so consumed alive in the fire, praising the name of God, so long as his life lasted. In the end he commended his soul into the hands of God, and so departed hence most christianly, his body being resolved into ashes. And this was done A. D. 1418, which was the fifth year of the reign of king Henry V.; the people, there present, showing great dolour. Not the pope's servant, but Christ's.How the priests that time fared, blasphemed, and accursed, servant, requiring the people not to pray for him, but to judge him damned in hell because he departed not in the obedience of their pope, it were too long to write.
This terrible kind of death, with gallows, chains, and fire, appeareth not very precious in the eyes of men that be carnal, no more than did the death of Christ, when he was hanged up among thieves. "The righteous seemeth to die" (saith the wise man) "in the sight of them which are unwise, and their end is taken for very destruction. Ungodly souls think their lives very madness, and their passage hence without all honour; but, though they suffer pains before men," saith he, "yet is their expectation full of immortality. They are accounted for the children of God, and have their portion among the saints. As gold in the furnace doth God try his elect, and as a most pleasant burnt offering, receiveth he them to rest." The more hard the passage be, the more glorious shall they appear in the latter resurrection. Not that the afflictions of this life are worthy of such a glory, but that it is God's heavenly pleasure so to reward them. Never are the judgments and ways of men like unto the judgments and ways of God, but contrary, evermore, unless they be taught of him. "In the latter time," saith the Lord unto Daniel, "shall many be chosen, proved, and purified by fire; yet shall the ungodly live wickedly still, and have no understanding that is of faith." By an angel from heaven was John earnestly commanded to write that "blessed are the dead which hence departed in the Lord," "Right dear," saith David, "in the sight of God, is the death of his servants."
Thus rested this valiant christian knight, sir John Oldcastle, under the altar of God, which is Jesus Christ, among that godly company, who, in the kingdom of patience, suffered great tribulation with the death of their bodies, for his faithful word and testimony, abiding there with them, He, fulfilling of their whole number and the full restoration- ↑ "Aforenamed act." See page 353 of this Volume. "A new and cruel law, which, at that time, was made by king Henry V., against the Wickliffites." Edition 1563, p. 281.—Ed.
