we LIVES OF THE PURITANS. various hands, so large a mass of information, and all be tbund perfect truth, and when digested to be found without the least trait of error. What is the weight of all the objections offered in contempt of the Foxian martyrs, to overthrow so solid and immoveable a fabric ? It is com- piled of so many undeniable evidences of popish bar- barity, that its reputation will remain unsullied to the latest period of time. The Acts and Monuments of the Martyrs have long been, they still remain, and will always continue, substantial pillars of the protestant church ; of more force than many more volumes of bare argu- ments, to withstand the tide of popery ; and, like a Pharos, should be lighted up in every age, as a warning to all posterity.. The indefatigable Strype passes the following encomium on the work :---" Mr. Fox," says lie, "bath done suchexqui- site service tothe protestant cause, in shewing from abundance of ancient books, records, registers, and choice manuscripts, the encroachments of popes and papelins, and the stout oppositions that were made by learned and good men in all ages, and in all countries, against them ; especially under King Henry and Queen Mary in England. He bath pre- served the memoirs of those holy men and women, those bishops and divines, together with their histories, acts, sufferings and deaths, willingly undergone for the sake of Christ and his gospel, and for refusing to comply with the popish doctrines and superstitions. And Mr. Fox must not pass without the commendation of a most painful searcher into records, archives, and repositories of original acts, and letters of state, and a great collector of manu- scripts. The world is infinitely indebted to him for abundance of extracts thence, and communicated in these volumes. And as he hath been found most diligent, so most strictly true and faithful in his transcriptions."+ No book ever gave so deep a wound to the errors, superstitions, and persecutions of popery ; on which account the talents, virtues, and labours of Mr. Fox rendered him a fit object of papal malice and enmity. No man could be more hated and calumniated than he was byhis enemies. His name, together with some others, was inserted at Rome in a " bede-roll," or list of persons who were appointed to bedispatched ; and theparticular mode ofhis death, as by Biog. Briton. vol. ii. p. 556. Edit. 1718. Strype's Annals, vol. i. p. 239, 241.
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