“Bloody Mary,” daughter of Henry VIII died November 17, 1558

American Minute with Bill Federer

“Bloody Mary,” daughter of Henry VIII, reigned 5 years, during which time her government sentenced 300 people to death.

On October 16, 1555, facing their execution, Bishop Hugh Latimer exhorted Nicholas Ridley:

“Play the man, Master Ridley. We shall this day light such a candle, by God’s grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out.”

When Mary died, NOVEMBER 17, 1558, her half-sister Elizabeth became Queen.

Elizabeth, the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, replied at her Coronation in 1558, when questioned as to the presence of Christ in the Sacrament:

“Christ was the Word that spake it,
He took the bread and brake it,
And what that Word did make it,
I do believe and take it.”

Elizabeth continued the Church of England begun when her father, Henry VIII, separated from Rome, though “Puritans” objected to many rituals being retained.

During Elizabeth’s 45 year reign, Shakespeare wrote plays, Francis Bacon began the scientific revolution and Sir Walter Raleigh began a colony he named Virginia, in honor of the “Virgin Queen Elizabeth.”

Virginia’s Charter, 1584, stated:

“Elizabeth, by the Grace of God of England…Defender of the Faith…grant to our trusty and well beloved servant Walter Raleigh…to discover…barbarous lands…not actually possessed of any Christian Prince, nor inhabited by Christian People…

Upon…finding…such remote lands…it shall be necessary for the safety of all men…to live together in Christian peace…

Ordinances…agreeable to…the laws…of England, and also so as they be not against the true Christian faith.”

In 1588, the Invincible Spanish Armada sailed to invade England with 130 ships, 1,000 iron guns, 1,500 brass guns, 7,000 sailors, 18,000 soldiers, plus 30,000 soldiers from the Spanish Netherlands.

Queen Elizabeth told her troops, August 19, 1588:

“Let tyrants fear…I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too, and think foul scorn that…Spain, or any prince of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realm…

I myself will take up arms, I myself will be your general…Your valour…shall shortly have a famous victory over those enemies of my God, of my kingdom, and of my people.”

The smaller, more maneuverable English vessels proved difficult for the Spanish to catch.

At midnight, July 28, 1588, Sir Francis Drake set eight English ships on fire and floated them downwind to the closely anchored Spanish ships.

In a panic, the Spanish ships cut anchor, and then were hit by a hurricane.

With Spain’s Armada destroyed, its monopoly of the seas ended, England was established as a major European power, and Holland, Sweden, and France joined in founding colonies in America.

Queen Elizabeth, the last Tudor monarch, stated in 1566:

“I am your Queen. I will never be by violence constrained to do anything. I thank God I am endued with such qualities that if I were turned out of the Realm in my petticoat I were able to live in any place in Christendom.”

Queen Elizabeth told the House of Commons in The Golden Speech, November 30, 1601:

“Though God hath raised me high, yet this I count the glory of my Crown, that I have reigned with your loves…

I do not so much rejoice that God hath made me to be a Queen, as to be a Queen over so thankful a people…

The title of a King is a glorious title, but…we well know…that we also are to yield an account of our actions before the Great Judge.”

When rumors arose of a plot to assassinate her, Elizabeth executed dozens, including her cousin who was under her protection, Mary Queen of Scots – the mother of England’s next monarch, King James I.

Of her epitaph, Elizabeth said:

“I am no lover of pompous title, but only desire that my name may be recorded in a line or two, which shall express my name, my virginity, the years of my reign, and the reformation of religion under it.”

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The Moral Liberal contributing editor, William J. Federer, is the bestselling author of “Backfired: A Nation Born for Religious Tolerance no Longer Tolerates Religion,” and numerous other books. A frequent radio and television guest, his daily American Minute is broadcast nationally via radio, television, and Internet. Check out all of Bill’s books here.

179 — June 27 – This Day in Baptist History Past

 

Living Sacrifices for God’s Honor

 

Roger Holland had come from the affluent family of Sir Robert Holland, and in the first year of the reign of Bloody Mary, Roger married Elizabeth, a Christian maid of Master Kempton to which Roger was an apprentice. Apparently, Roger Holland became a member of the Hill Cliffe Baptist Church about this time. “Two of the signatories to the letter of 1654 from Hill Cliffe are of the same name, Holland. This points to, at any rate, a probability of his having been a Hill Cliffe Baptist, perhaps minister there.”

 

On one occasion as forty people gathered for a service of prayer and the expounding of the Word, twenty-seven of them were carried before Sir Roger Cholmly. Some of the women made their escape, twenty-two were committed to Newgate, who continued in prison seven weeks. Previous to their examination, they were informed by the keeper, Alexander, that nothing more was requisite to procure their discharge, than to hear Mass. Easy as this condition may seem, these martyrs valued their purity of conscience more than loss of life or property; hence, thirteen were burnt, seven at Smithfield, and six at Brentford; two died in prison, and the other seven were providentially preserved…They were sent to Newgate, June 16, 1558, and were executed on the twenty-seventh.

 

As was so often the case, Roger Holland’s death at Smithfield instead of destroying the faith of the Baptists only made it stronger. His relatives and friends were afterward more determined than ever to uphold the principles for which he died! May we with these heroes of the faith and with the hymn writer state and mean, “Thou (my Lord) art more than life to me,” for then our lives shall be in a true sense “living sacrifices” for God’s honor.

 

Dr. Dale R. Hart From: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I. (Thompson/Cummins) pp. 261 – 262.

 

 

 

178 — June 27 – This Day in Baptist History Past

 

Living Sacrifices for God’s Honour

Roger Holland had come from the affluent family of Sir Robert Holland, and in the first year of the reign of Bloody Mary, Roger married Elizabeth, a Christian maid of Master Kempton to which Roger was an apprentice.  Apparently, Roger Holland became a member of the Hill Cliffe Baptist Church about this time. “Two of the signatories to the letter of 1654 from Hill Cliffe are of the same name, Holland. This points to, at any rate, a probability of his having been a Hill Cliffe Baptist, perhaps minister there.”

On one occasion as forty people gathered for a service of prayer and the expounding of the Word, twenty-seven of them were carried before Sir Roger Cholmly. Some of the women made their escape, twenty-two were committed to Newgate, who continued in prison seven weeks. Previous to their examination, they were informed by the keeper, Alexander, that nothing more was requisite to procure their discharge, than to hear Mass. Easy as this condition may seem, these martyrs valued their purity of conscience more than loss of life or property; hence, thirteen were burnt, seven at Smithfield, and six at Brentford; two died in prison, and the other seven were providentially preserved…They were sent to Newgate, June 16, 1558, and were executed on the twenty-seventh.

As was so often the case, Roger Holland’s death at Smithfield instead of destroying the faith of the Baptists only made it stronger. His relatives and friends were afterward more determined than ever to uphold the principles for which he died! May we with these heroes of the faith and with the hymn writer state and mean, “Thou (my Lord) art more than life to me,” for then our lives shall be in a true sense “living sacrifices” for God’s honor.

Dr. Dale R. Hart: Adapted from: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I. (Thompson/Cummins) pp. 261 – 262.