For believeing the Gospel of Christ and the truth of the Scriptures, Thomas Hauker was condemned to be burned to death. As he was being led to his place of burnng, many of the faithful in the crowd that followed asked him to somehow give them a sign if the grace of God was sufficient inthe fire. His persecutors tied him to the stake, piled faggots around him, and set them on fire. For a while Hauker prayed aloud, but the violence of the flames soon took away his voice, and he stood silent in the flames, unmoving, even as his flesh turned black and his fingers bust into fire. He stood that way for so long that most thought he was dead. Then suddenly and unexpectedly, this blessed servant of God stretched his arms up over his head toward the living God, his hands flaming like torches, and, with an act of rejoicing that all could sense, struck his hands together three times–as if for the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then his hands fell to his sides and he slumped forward into the flames.
~Coggeshall, 1555
Tears came to my eyes as I read this moving passage. I questioned myself inwardly “Am I willing and ready to die for my Lord? And am I willing to “die” to myself everyday, to die to my hopes, desires and dreams, to die to my own way? Am I willing to surrender myself completely to Him, every day, every moment?
Is my life more dear to me, than what He would have it be?
Would I gladly lay aside each dream I hold?
Would I count my gain as loss, and take up my given cross,
Am I willing to be spent for Christ my Lord?
~Count the Cost
