Protestantism in England From the Times of Henry VIII - James Aitken Wylie

ordeal to which the author of Utopia had subjected
Tewkesbury. He was tied to the Tree of Truth,
scourged, and then sent to the Tower to be racked.
The chancellor was exceedingly anxious to
discover who of the gentlemen of the Temple, his
acquaintance, had embraced the Gospel, but no
disclosure could these cruelties extort from
Bainham. On his trial he was drawn by the arts of
his enemies to abjure. He appeared a few days after
at St. Paul's Cross with his fagot; but recantation
was followed by bitter repentance. He too felt that
the fires which remorse kindles in the soul are
sharper than those which the persecutor kindles to
consume the body. The fallen disciple, receiving
strength from on high, again stood up. Arrested and
brought to trial a second time, he was more thorn a
conqueror over all the arts which were again put
forth against his steadfastness. On May-day, at two
o'clock (1532), he appeared in Smithfield. Going
forward to the stake, which was guarded by
horsemen, he threw himself flat on his face and
prayed. Then rising up, he embraced the stake, and
taking hold of the chain, he wound it round his
body, while a serjeant made it fast behind.
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