The Letters of the Martyrs

You have here before you, Christian reader, the choicest portion of the Book of Martyrs in the Letters of the Reformers, gathered by that eminent servant of God Myles Coverdale, Bishop of Exeter, the same to whom we are indebted for the first printed English Bible, which was completed October 4, 1535. The present volume was published by Coverdale in 1564. It contains the most spiritual letters of the Martyrs, written during their sufferings, and it is much to be regretted that this excellent work should have become so scarce and costly as to have been till now almost inaccessible.

The publisher, kindly acceding to the request of the author of these remarks, undertook to reprint it, and that at so reasonable a price, that it is hoped it may soon be in the possession of every Christian family in our country, preserving among us the hallowed memory of those faithful Martyrs for Christ, through whose sufferings, by the loving kindness of our God, the pure Gospel of Christ has been continued amongst us for 300 years.

This publication seems eminently seasonable at a period when some in our country seem relinquishing without regret, and rather hailing the change as a mark of freedom, those characters of our Constitution to which we owe, under God who gave all to us, so much of our national greatness, liberty and blessedness; I mean the truly Christian foundations of the English government in the profession and national maintenance of a pure Protestant form of religion, and in a constitution requiring those in authority avowedly to act as God's ministers for good.

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