From the Foleys
How did the author of Foxe's Book of Martyrs respond to the Coronavirus of His Time?
John Foxe never liked being called a martyrologist (he regarded his work as church history), but the author of Acts and Monuments of the Christian Church, popularly called Foxe's "Book of Martyrs", turned to the martyrs as exemplars when in 1563 he wrote a pamphlet to encourage and comfort Londoners caught in the grip of plague:
And thus being armed with the power and strength of Christ, pass through this storm, be it never so rough and sharp to the flesh, having before your eyes so many examples of good men which passed the same way before you: the Prophets, Apostles, and Martyrs of Christ, who in their extremities passed through greater torments, some racked, some torn to pieces, some sawed asunder, some stoned to death, some hanged by one member, some by another, some broiled upon coals, some burned with flaming fire; which they notwithstanding abode with patience. But especially casting up your mind and beholding the death of Christ, learn thereby to die and not to fear death, not to murmur against God. For if he did abide a smarting passion, and that in his middle and best age: think yourself not better than he.
Just as with his "Book of Martyrs" (the first English edition of which was published that same year), Foxe urged Londoners not to fear
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