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Article THE LIFE OF MRS. ANNE AYSCOUGH, OR ASKEW. ← Page 4 of 5 →
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The Life Of Mrs. Anne Ayscough, Or Askew.
But her liberty was of short duration ; for she was again apprehended by order of council , and examined at the board then sitting at Greenwich . Here fhe was closely and severely interrogated by the Chancellor Wriothesly , the bishop of Winchester , Dr . Cox , and Dr . Robinson ; but neither their menaces nor reasonings could , draw from her a recantation of her reli gious sentiments , nor any confession prejudicial to the queen or the ladies of the court . She replied very smartly and pertinently
to the arguments of her examiners , and was particularly witty upon Gardiner . Some were pleased with the wk and freedom of her dis-, course , but others thought she was too forward . The council ordered . her to be committed to Newgate , though at the same time her health was in a very declining state . In this dismal situation , and with nothing but the flames in view , this extraordinary woman , employed her time in writing devotional pieces and letters , the perusal of which cannot but excite in the reader the most lively surprize and admiration .
The first of these that strikes our attention is her confession of faith , than which few divines of that period could have framed a better . It runs in the following terms : " Concerning my belief , I find in the " Scriptures that Christ took the bread , and gave it to his disciples ,, < c saying : " Take , eat , this is my body ivbkh shall be , broken for you ,, < c meaning , in substance , his own very body , the bread being thereof
* ' an only sign or sacrament . For after like manner of speaking , he " said he would break down the temple , and in three days build it up " again , signifying his own body by the temple , as St . John declareth < it , John ii . and not the stony temple-itself . So that the bread is but " a remembrance of his death , or a sacrament of thanksgiving for it , { e whereby we are knit unto him b y a communion of Christian love . «* Although there may be many that cannot perceive the true meaning * . ' thereof ; for the veil that Moses put over his face before the children * ' of Israel , that thev could not see the clearness thereof , Exod . xxiv .
* ' and 2 Cor . iii . I perceive the same veil remained ! to this day . Bur ¦*¦ ' when God fhall take it away then shall these blind men see . For it < s is plainly expressed in the history of Bell in the Bible , that God < dwelleth in no thing material . O king ( saith Daniel ) be mt deceived , ' _ ' for GodwiU be in nothing that , is made < v : itb the hands of men . Dan . xiv , «< Oh what stiff-necked people are these , " that will always resist the
' . ' Holy Ghost ? But as their fathers have done so do they , because they ; «* have stony hearts . Written by me Amie Askew , that neither wish-¦ «* eth death nor yet feareth his might ,, and as merry as one that is * ' bound towards heaven . " 1 am struck with awful respect at the dignity of soul expressed in the concluding sentence of this confession . Persisting thus zealously
in the profession of what she esteemed the truth of Christianity , her persecutors , for the benefit of her soul , passed sentence of death upon Jfc ' r as a contumacious heretic . Of this condemnation she herself has left an account , which it would be unjust not to g ive exactly iu her own words ;
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Life Of Mrs. Anne Ayscough, Or Askew.
But her liberty was of short duration ; for she was again apprehended by order of council , and examined at the board then sitting at Greenwich . Here fhe was closely and severely interrogated by the Chancellor Wriothesly , the bishop of Winchester , Dr . Cox , and Dr . Robinson ; but neither their menaces nor reasonings could , draw from her a recantation of her reli gious sentiments , nor any confession prejudicial to the queen or the ladies of the court . She replied very smartly and pertinently
to the arguments of her examiners , and was particularly witty upon Gardiner . Some were pleased with the wk and freedom of her dis-, course , but others thought she was too forward . The council ordered . her to be committed to Newgate , though at the same time her health was in a very declining state . In this dismal situation , and with nothing but the flames in view , this extraordinary woman , employed her time in writing devotional pieces and letters , the perusal of which cannot but excite in the reader the most lively surprize and admiration .
The first of these that strikes our attention is her confession of faith , than which few divines of that period could have framed a better . It runs in the following terms : " Concerning my belief , I find in the " Scriptures that Christ took the bread , and gave it to his disciples ,, < c saying : " Take , eat , this is my body ivbkh shall be , broken for you ,, < c meaning , in substance , his own very body , the bread being thereof
* ' an only sign or sacrament . For after like manner of speaking , he " said he would break down the temple , and in three days build it up " again , signifying his own body by the temple , as St . John declareth < it , John ii . and not the stony temple-itself . So that the bread is but " a remembrance of his death , or a sacrament of thanksgiving for it , { e whereby we are knit unto him b y a communion of Christian love . «* Although there may be many that cannot perceive the true meaning * . ' thereof ; for the veil that Moses put over his face before the children * ' of Israel , that thev could not see the clearness thereof , Exod . xxiv .
* ' and 2 Cor . iii . I perceive the same veil remained ! to this day . Bur ¦*¦ ' when God fhall take it away then shall these blind men see . For it < s is plainly expressed in the history of Bell in the Bible , that God < dwelleth in no thing material . O king ( saith Daniel ) be mt deceived , ' _ ' for GodwiU be in nothing that , is made < v : itb the hands of men . Dan . xiv , «< Oh what stiff-necked people are these , " that will always resist the
' . ' Holy Ghost ? But as their fathers have done so do they , because they ; «* have stony hearts . Written by me Amie Askew , that neither wish-¦ «* eth death nor yet feareth his might ,, and as merry as one that is * ' bound towards heaven . " 1 am struck with awful respect at the dignity of soul expressed in the concluding sentence of this confession . Persisting thus zealously
in the profession of what she esteemed the truth of Christianity , her persecutors , for the benefit of her soul , passed sentence of death upon Jfc ' r as a contumacious heretic . Of this condemnation she herself has left an account , which it would be unjust not to g ive exactly iu her own words ;