FOX. 337 Mr. Fox, during his residence at Basil, preaching to his fellow exiles, confidently declared in his sermon, " Now is the time foryour return to England, and I bring you the news by the command of God." For these words he was sharply reproved by some of his brethren ; but, remarkable as it may appear, they afterwards found that Queen Mary died the very day preceding the delivery of this sermon, and so a waywas open for their return home.. It was Mr. FoX who had the niemorable interview with Mrs. Honiwood, often related by historians. This pious lady was under most distressing doubts and fears about the salva- tion of hersoul, and hersorrow became so grievous, that she sunk in despair. This so affected her bodily health, that she appeared to be in a deep consumption, and even on the very brink of death, for about twenty years. In vain did the ablest physicians administer their medical assistance; and in vain did the ablest ministers preach comfort to her soul. At length, Mr. Fox was sent for ; who, on his arrival, found her in a most distressed and languishing condition. He prayed with her, and reminded her of the faithfulness of God's promises, and of the sufferings ofChrist for her soul. But all he could` say appeared ineffectual. Not in the least discouraged, he still proceeded in his discourse, and said,, " You will not only recover of your bodily disease, but also live to an exceeding great age ; and which is yet better, you are interested in Christ, and will go to heaven whenyou die." She, looking earnestly at him as he spake these words, with great emotion, answered, " Impossible; I am as surely damned, as this glass will break," and immediately dashed a Venice glass, which she had in her hand, with great violence to the ground ; but the glass received not the smallest injury. The event, indeed, proved according to the words of Mr. Fox. Though Mrs. Honiwood was then sixty years old, she recovered from her sickness, and lived the rest of her days, being upwards of thirty years, in much peace and comfort.f S Fuller's Abel Bed. p. 380.-Clark'sMarrow of Ecd. Hist. p. 793. Mrs. Honiwood, in thedays of Queen Mary, used to visit the prisons, and to comfort and relieve the confessors. She was present at the burning of Mr. John Bradford in Smithfield, and was resolved to see the end of his sufferings. But the press of the people was so great, that her 'shoes were trodden off her feet ; and she was obliged to go barefoot from Smithfield to St. Martin's, before she could procure a new pair for money. This excel- lent lady had three hundred and sixty-seven children lawfully descended e from her sixteen from her own body, one hundred and fourteen grand- children, two hundred and twenty-eight great-grandchildren, and Woo VOL. I. 2
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=