Thomas Hudson Thomas Carman And William Seamen
Were condemned by a bigoted vicar of Aylesbury, named Berry. The spot of
execution was called Lollard's pit, without Bishopsgate, at Norwich.
After joining together in humble petition to the throne of grace, they
rose, went to the stake, and were encircled with their chains. To the
great surprise of the spectators, Hudson slipped from under his chain,
and came forward. A great opinion prevailed that he was about to recant;
/>
others thought that he wanted further time. In the mean time, his
companions at the stake urged every promise and exhortation to support
him. The hopes of the enemies of the cross, however, were disappointed:
the good man, far from fearing the smallest personal terror at the
approaching pangs of death, was only alarmed that his Saviour's face
seemed to be hidden from him. Falling upon his knees, his spirit
wrestled with God and God verified the words of his Son, "Ask, and it
shall be given." The martyr rose in an ecstacy of joy, and exclaimed,
"Now, I thank God, I am strong! and care not what man can do to me!"
With an unruffled countenance he replaced himself under the chain,
joined his fellow-sufferers, and with them suffered death, to the
comfort of the godly, and the confusion of antichrist.
Berry, unsatiated with this demoniacal act, summoned up two hundred
persons in the town of Aylesham, whom he compelled to kneel to the cross
at Pentecost, and inflicted other punishments. He struck a poor man for
a trifling word, with a flail, which proved fatal to the unoffending
object. He also gave a woman named Alice Oxes, so heavy a blow with his
fist, as she met him entering the hall when he was in an ill-humour,
that she died with the violence. This priest was rich, and possessed
great authority; he was a reprobate, and, like the priesthood, he
abstained from marriage, to enjoy the more a debauched and licentious
life. The Sunday after the death of queen Mary, he was revelling with
one of his concubines, before vespers; he then went to church,
administered baptism, and in his return to his lascivious pastime, he
was smitten by the hand of God. Without a moment given for repentance,
he fell to the ground, and a groan was the only articulation permitted
him. In him we may behold the difference between the end of a martyr and
a persecutor.
In the month of May, William Harris, Richard Day, and Christiana George,
suffered at Colchester, and there humbly made an offering of themselves
to God.