This is the amazing testimony of a born again believer and preacher from the 16th century, the last man to be sentenced for “heresy” and execution at the hands of Queen Mary, a devout Roman Catholic, whom is better known by her character and sobriquet, “Bloody Mary.” These murders became known as the Marian Persecutions, though such persecution has been occurring regularly throughout the entire two millennia since the time of the Lord's own martyrdom for the sins of man.
His name is Bernard Gilpin and his story is remarkable and sings the praises of God's glory. Old Bernard's story of course is only one of many. The earth could not contain the books that would tell the story of God's "mysterious" ways in the lives of His redeemed children from generation to generation. Joseph was sold into Egypt, purchased as a slave and imprisoned as a criminal, but God was with Him and moved in care and love for His child so that His wonders to perform would be glorified. The LORD did "send [Joseph] before [his family] to preserve life," and although young Joseph's brothers “thought evil against [Joseph]; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.” (Gen 50:20).
This is Bernard Gilpins story, but first a wee bit on who Queen Bloody Mary was.
Queen Mary I Claim to Fame
Mary Tudor the 1st became England's first female monarch in 1553. She became infamously known as “Bloody Mary” for burning nearly 300 Protestants and Baptists/Anabaptists at the stake during her short reign. She ruled for a mere five years (Feb 18, 1516 - Nov 17, 1558), killing an average of 60 non-Catholic professing Christians per year, which is over 1 per week on average. The execution squad was busy. The fire was kept burning.
On top of that, dozens more died in prison, and some 800 fled to Protestant strongholds in Germany and Geneva, from whence they would later import the Calvinist tenants of English Puritanism.
This was Mary's vigorous attempt to reverse the English Reformation, which had begun during the reign of her father, king Henry VIII.
If one person could be held responsible for Mary’s reputation, besides Mary herself, it would be the Protestant “martyrologist,” John Foxe. His bestselling work, The Actes and Monuments, better known as Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, is a detailed account of each and every martyr who died for his or her faith under the Catholic Church. It was first published in 1563 and went through four editions in Foxe’s lifetime alone, a testament to its popularity.
Mary Tudor was the only surviving child past infancy (of five children) of king Henry VIII and his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. Henry desperately wanted a son as heir and sought permission from the papacy to end his marriage, but when Pope Clement VII refused to grant the annulment, Henry declared himself exempt from papal authority, asserting that England’s king should be the sole head of its church. Thus, in 1533 Henry VIII married Anne Boleyn, who bore him a daughter, the future Queen Elizabeth I. Mary was demoted from her own household and forced to take up residence with her infant half-sister. In 1536, Mary's mother Catherine of Aragon died at her castle in Cambridgeshire, Anne Boleyn was subsequently accused of treason and executed, and Mary was forced to deny the pope’s authority and her own legitimacy. The adulterer Henry married four more times (six in total) before his death in 1547. He got his longed-for male heir in the future Edward VI, son of his third wife, Jane Seymour.
Upon Henry’s death, the official order of succession was Edward, followed by Mary and then Elizabeth. Mary would end up taking the throne after the brief reign of her half-brother, Edward VI, who remained a minor for his entire six-year reign.
The lords of Somerset and of Northumberland served as Edward's regents, working to expand his father’s ecclesiastical changes. They also altered the order of succession to favour the Protestants, placing Henry VIII’s niece Lady Jane Gray next in line to the throne. When Edward died in 1553, however, Mary had her own succession strategy planned: Proclamations were printed and a military force assembled in her Norfolk estates. Pushed by Edward’s regents, the Privy Council made Jane queen but reversed course nine days later in the face of Mary’s popular support.
After taking the throne, Mary quickly reinstated her parents’ marriage and executed Northumberland for his role in the Jane Gray affair. Mary sought to return England to the Catholic Church and immediately stirred rebellion by marrying a Spanish Habsburg prince. Her initial ruling council was a mix of Protestants and Catholics, but as her reign progressed she grew more and more fervent in her desire to restore English Catholicism.
Mary soon moved from simply reversing her father’s and Edward’s anti-Catholic policies to actively persecuting Protestants. In 1555 she revived England’s heresy laws and began burning offenders at the stake, starting with her father’s longtime advisor Thomas Cranmer, the archbishop of Canterbury. Almost 300 convicted heretics, mostly common citizens, were burned.
After her death in 1558, the country quickly rallied behind Henry VIII’s second daughter and England’s second reigning queen, Elizabeth I.
It’s during the course of her short but bloody reign that our story unfolds.
The Testimony of the Bernard Gilpin
One of the nearly 300 men and women who were to be executed by fire, was a man by the name of Bernard Gilpin. Bernard was commonly known as the "Apostle of the North" (not that he thought himself to be an apostle, but so named by the people because of his work in preaching the gospel and helping the poor of northern England). Gilpin was deeply loved by the poor villagers to whom he ministered. He made many long and successful missionary journeys into the North of England, collecting a large following. Pitying the ignorance of the common people, he would ride in winter through districts which were without pastors and preach to them, distributing alms to the poorest. In this way he exerted great influence on Northumberland and Yorkshire. The people adored him. Clerics resented him. They denounced him as a heretic. Especially Bishop Edmund Bonner, who would draw up many of the heresy charges and perform the degradation ceremonies.
Gilpin himself was a man of godliness and mercy and kindness. Once he saw a poor farmer's horse drop dead at the plow. He immediately dismounted from his own and gave it to the man. More than once he covered some beggar or another by stripping off his own cloak. On Sundays he fed everyone in his parish at his own expense. When he founded a grammar school, he personally defrayed the cost of attendance for poorer lads. When rebels plundered and burnt his house and barn, he pleaded with the authorities to spare their lives.
Bernard had a favourite Bible verse he loved to quote, and it was Rom 8:28,
"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God..."
One day, as Bernard Gilpin was deep into his study of the Bible, there was a knock on his door. A detachment of soldiers had been sent by the queen to arrest him for heresy. He was to be taken to London, there to be charged with treason and given the typical mock trial that all received who were suspected of heresy, and then put to the stake. While Gilpin was preparing to go with the soldiers, the word of his arrest spread rapidly. Soon a large group of villagers had gathered to mourn the loss of their pastor and to bid him farewell. As he was preparing to leave them, nothing doubting that he would soon die at the martyr’s stake, Gilpin tried to encourage them with the words of his favourite verse.
Upon his arrest, for being a Protestant and alleged heretic and especially for his attacks on clerical corruption which led to trouble with the Marian Church authorities, he quoted it to the Queen's officers. When he was jailed he quoted it to the jailer. When he was tried he quoted it to the magistrate. When he was kept in prison for months on end, he quoted it to the guards.
One guard in particular hated Bernard Gilpin above all others and despised his favourite verse. He was also the captain. When the Queens guard's came to take him away to die, he quoted his verse and the captain laughed out loud at Gilpin's faith.
On his way to his mock kangaroo trial and execution Bernard rested in the truth of his favourite verse and other Scripture and trusted that the will of his Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ be done. By horseback, Bernard was taken to Smithfield Market in London where he was to be burned at the stake. On the second day near sunset, about half way to the place of execution and as always, Bernard was faithfully preaching the gospel to his captors, the guard who in particular hated Bernard violently jerked the chain that bound Bernard Gilpin so hard that he fell off his horse. This so spooked the horse that it bolted down the cobblestone street, dragging Gilpin behind, for his leg was still tied to the chain that had snagged on the horse. When they finally managed to stop the horse, Bernard's leg was broken and he suffered severe lacerations and abrasions. The captain was furious. He knew that this meant a delay in their traveling. What was Bernard's response, even as the guard angrily mocked him about his favourite verse? You guessed it. Even in pain he unreservedly believed that "all things work together for good to them that love God..." Turning to Gilpin, the captain angrily had said, “I suppose that you will tell me that this is all for good?” “Sir, I make no question that it is,” Gilpin meekly replied. The rough captain laughed as he looked at the man who was soon going to lose his life for preaching against the established religion of England.
But Bernard's fractured leg presented a problem beyond delay. The guards were obligated by royal law to deliver him to the stake sound in life and limb, thus they feared for their lives that his crippled condition might cause him to die before he reached his place of execution. If that was to occur they would be held liable, and they certainly didn't want to get on the bad side of “Bloody Mary.” Worse, they could be put to death for causing the death of a prisoner not by command of royal decree. So the guard that so hated Bernard Gilpin and caused his fractured extremity, took him up in his arms and carried him to an inn where a doctor could set his leg and he could heal. And Bernard as he was being carried by his enemy, leaned his head on the captain's shoulder and softly whispered in his ear, "all things work together for good to them that love God."
You might be thinking,
“Here's a man – a professing Christian – scheduled to be burned alive; why would his Loving Saviour allow him to fall off the horse and break a leg in addition to all else that he was suffering. What good could come out of all this?"
But it was good. It was very good, and Bernard truly understood the meaning that "all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution" (2 Tim 3:12), and of course Rom 8:28, “All things work together for good to them that love God...”
After a number of days of regaining some of his health, Bernard Gilpin finally rode into Smithfield Market with the guards where he was to be martyred for his faith. But upon arriving they heard a glorious noise: the ringing of the coronation bells! 🔔🔔 This meant England had a new head of state! Elizabeth the 1st had come to the throne and the death sentence passed by “Bloody Mary” was banished forever.
While Bernard had been lying in a rough bed regaining his strength, “Bloody Mary” had died and Protestant Queen Elizabeth I claimed the throne of England. When Elizabeth came to the throne she revoked all of Mary's death sentences. Bernard Gilpins life had been spared, by mere hours. He would have been the last man executed by Bloody Mary, had he not been pushed off the horse and broken his leg. Thus the crook leg saved his life, and that only occurred because he was faithful to God's Word and obeying the great commission (Mk 16:15; Matt 28:18-19; 2 Cor 5:18-20). Indeed, all things work together for good to them that love God!
So what did Bernard Gilpin have to say about this surprising turn of events? You got it,
“All things work together for good to them that love God...”
Trials and persecutions do not destroy true born again Christians, but they temper them and make them stronger in their faith. Don’t get this wrong — Bernard Gilpin was not scared of suffering for Christ.
1 Pet 4:12-14,
"Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified."
Bernard Gilpin was “to be” executed. But by Gods grace and his love for God demonstrated by faithful obedience and preaching, he wasn’t. Faithfully he preached the gospel and earned an unwanted enemy. The enemy hated him and caused him harm. The harm stalled the journey and saved his life.
By now you will perceive that Old Bernard was not the type that sought the honour that comes from men, but that which comes from God alone.
“How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?” (Jn 5:44)
This question asked by the Lord Jesus of a group of religious people who professed faith in God is the question all professing Christians should ask themselves in our modern times of great apostasy, contemporary perversion of Scripture and Christian living, and allegiance to utter heresy and worldliness. The predominant loyalty to an ecclesiastical system of unBiblical Christianity and beliefs that abides by an unwritten pledge to honour fellow man over truth (whether that be their fellow church members, pastor, friends, family, spouses, etc -- though they might deny that, their speech, actions, decisions and direction of life speaks plainly contrariwise) begs this question asked of our Lord, for they do not actually truly believe, its a faux faith that centres on the honours and accolades of this life, and not actually on the King of kings and Lord and lords and the whole truth of His Word, a pseudo-belief on another Jesus and gospel that abhors any form of suffering or persecution or conflict.
This was not Bernard Gilpin. His heart was not set on pleasing man but his Lord and Saviour, even if that brought a vicious death, for he actually truly loved his Redeemer. Contemporary professing Christians for the most part understand not what this means, nor will they ever, though they have hijacked the word "love," lest they be genuinely converted.
At some point after his release by Mary's guards, Gilpin was offered, but declined, preferment under Elizabeth I.
Who Loves God?
Again, Rom 8:28 says that “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
The passage can only apply to people that are truly and genuinely born again. They love God which they demonstrate by obeying and keeping His Word (see Evidence of Salvation in John's Epistle’s). It is only these that are under the promise of all things working out for good that are genuinely called (saved) and the children of God.
There are people that love God, which then means there are people that don’t love God. The people that don’t actually love God can be divided into two classes: those that have no religious pretence but are lost, such as the younger son whom they call prodigal, in the parable of the prodigal son (Lk 15), and those that claim religious pretence, yet unsaved likewise, such as the elder son in the same parable. People might say they love God, but by their beliefs, doctrines and actions, we can know whether they actually love God. Doctrine tells us whether a teacher is true or false. Beliefs, along with their testimony, tells us whether they’ve been genuinely regenerated or are false believers. Actions or the practice of their life tells us further what side of the spectrum they fall.
Those that truly love God are those who are called according to His purpose. Who are these people? Only the genuinely saved, which is what “called” here is referring to. Saved people were called to salvation to fulfill Gods purposes.
God loves those who love Him, "shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments." (Ex 20:3; De 5:10). In Proverbs 8 the Lord Jesus Christ explicitly in the first hand says, "I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me." (v. 17).
True born again believers love God and they demonstrate it by obeying His Word. Obedience to Gods Word is a massive proof of love for God and thus true conversion. Jn 14:21, 23-24:
"He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. . . . Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me." (Jn 14:21, 23-24)
A saved heart is a heart full of love for his Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, so he has a thankful heart and an obedient life.
There is a world of difference between those who say they are Christian and those who are indeed genuinely born again. The latter are nearly extinct, while the former, the world and the world of churches is absolutely loaded with them. They are dime a dozen, and more. No, it’s not because we say it or have some monopoly on the truth, but because this is evident in their loves and hates (both of which are opposite to what they should be) and beliefs and unsound doctrine and manner of living, reflective of hardened, deceived and unrepentant hearts. And also because of what God's Word says, and yes, we can certainly judge a man's profession. It doesn’t have to be like that (Calvinism’s unconditional election is a damnable heresy and unsubstantiated excuse) but it is like that because professing Christians don’t really desire true biblical Christianity. They are “happy” with the counterfeit, and so in this manner they can keep control of their own life, love the world, and get to go to “Heaven.” They are the ones mentioned in Jn 3:19-21.
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