Death
On 31 January 1555 Bradford was tried and condemned to death with all the others, and on 1 July he was brought to Newgate Prison to be burned at the stake. A large crowd delayed the execution, which had been scheduled for 4 o'clock in the morning as many who admired Bradford came to witness. He was chained to the stake at Smithfield with a young man, John Leaf. Before the fire was lit, he begged forgiveness of any he had wronged, and offered forgiveness to those who had wronged him. He subsequently turned to his fellow and said, "Be of good comfort brother; for we shall have a merry supper with the Lord this night!" A century later, in his Worthies of England, Thomas Fuller wrote that he endured the flame "as a fresh gale of wind in a hot summer's day, confirming by his death the truth of that doctrine he had so diligently and powerfully preached during his life." Bradford is commemorated at the Marian Martyrs' Monument in Smithfield, London.
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Famous quotes containing the word death:
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Ease me with death by bidding me got too.
Oh, if it have, let my word work on me,
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Except it be too late to kill me so,
Being double dead: going, and bidding go.”
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