“In witness of this, we have ourselves caused our letters patent to be executed, and have signed them at Westminster, the sixth day of July, in the sixth year of our reign, coinciding with A. D. 1428.” See John Fox, Angl., p. 607.
In old records we find that by virtue of this commission of the King, John Extor, who was one of these commissaries, shortly afterwards apprehended six persons at Bungay, in the bishopric of Norwich, and delivered them into the custody of William Day and William Rowe, constables of the city of Bungay, to be brought within ten days to the castle of Norwich.
“The names, however, of these six persons,” writes John Fox, “owing to the age of the writing, had almost entirely faded out, so that they could not well be read, except three or four.” But what further transpired with them, and what sufferings or death befell them, we do not find clearly expressed.
In the meantime there were also apprehended and brought to Norwich, three eminent and virtuous men, namely, William White, formerly a priest, Father Abraham of Cholchester, and John Waddon, who, after preceding examination, made confession of the following articles:
CONFESSION OF FAITH OF SAID THREE MARTYRS, TOUCHING THEIR BELIEF AGAINST THE ROMAN CHURCH.
1. “That the children of Christians are sufficiently baptized in the blood of Christ, and, hence, need not be baptized with water.
2. “That no tithes need be given to the pastors of the Roman church.
3. “That marriage properly consists in the consent or agreement of union between man and woman (with rejection, as it seems, of the superstitions which the Romanists are wont to observe in connection with it).
4. “That auricular confession is not necessary, and that one need not go and confess to the priests, but to God alone; since no priest has power to forgive a sinner his sins.
5. “That no priest has power to make the body of Christ, or to consecrate it in the sacrament of the altar; but that after the words are pronounced, there still remains purely material bread, just as it was before.