June 20. John Frith. Frith was a brilliant scholar and a man who loved God. And he was willing to die rather than endorse a church rule he knew to be untrue.
All he had to do was agree that the church authorities were right about some things like communion and hell, and he could have had a long, productive life. Instead, he kept telling the truth, and when he was 30 years old, on this day in 1526, he was declared a heretic and sentenced to be burned to death.
It’s better to die for the truth than to live a lie.
After several discouraging weeks in isolation, Frith was glad to visit his friend and fellow Reformer William Holt. When Holt asked Frith about recent activities among Protestants Reformers, Frith told him about the teachings of two prominent Swiss Reformers.
Frith said that—after much thought—he had firmly rejected the Roman Catholic’s position. He had prayed and studied and consulted other scholars, and he had decided the position of the Protestant Reformers was true.
Holt cleverly appeared enthusiastic to agree with Frith’s position on the disputed doctrine. And he asked Frith to put his argument down in writing, so that Holt could better understand it.
At first, Frith hesitated. If he wrote that down and it fell into the wrong hands, Frith could be branded a heretic, arrested, convicted, and executed. But Holt was his friend. He had never let the writing out of his sight. And he was persuasive. So Frith, who wanted his friend to have a correct understanding of the disagreement, finally agreed to write out his argument. And he did.
But Holt was a spy. Without delay, he delivered what Frith had written to Lord Chancellor Thomas More—the main persecutor of so-called heretics in England. After reading what Frith had written, a confession of heresy, Thomas More declared Frith’s teaching heretical and confusing to those not capable of discerning theological truths. He immediately had Frith arrested.
Frith was stunned.
“For it is not an enemy who taunts me—then I could bear it; is not an adversary who deals insolently with me—then I could hide from him. But it is you, a man, my equal, my companion, my familiar friend” (Psalm 55:12–13 ESV).
When faced with the price of his friend’s betrayal, Frith determined it was better to die for the truth than to live a lie. Frith would not deny what he had written.
Thomas More had Frith delivered to Winchester for examination. But the two archbishops, who were supposed to take him to Winchester, contrived a plot to let Frith escape. One of them said, “Mr. Frith, I am ordered to bring you to Croydon; and knowing the rage of your enemies, I consider myself as bringing you like a lamb to the slaughter.”
The archbishops couldn’t bear the thought of what was ahead for Frith. In their distress, they disregarded any hazard to themselves and conspired to deliver Frith out of the “lion’s mouth.” But Frith refused to escape.
With a smile, he said, “Do ye think I am afraid to deliver my thoughts that are clearly founded on the absolute accuracy of divine revelation before the bishops of England?”
Frith said that while he was free, he cherished his freedom as long as it was for the benefit of the church of Christ. But now, by the providence of God, having been delivered into the hands of the bishops, Frith consider himself bound by the ties of gratitude and love for his Redeemer, to fight for the purity of the faith.
He believed if he ran away, he would be running away from God and the testimony of His Word. Even worse, he would be denying the Lord who had bought him, and he would grieve the hearts of Christ and the faithful Christians who had lived before him.
Frith vowed to the bishops if they would not take him to the place appointed, he would travel there by myself. So the reluctant bishops conceded.
Has the betrayal of a close friend or family member ever caused you to question your faith? It’s better to die for the truth than to live a lie.
A Puritan’s Mind. “Memoirs of the Reformers—John Frith (1503–1533).” Accessed May 8, 2020. https://www.apuritansmind.com/the-reformation/memoirs-of-the-reformers/memoirs-of-the-reformers-john-frith/.
Samworth, Dr. Herbert. Tyndale’s Ploughboy. “John Frith—Part 1.” Published April 23, 2019. https://www.tyndalesploughboy.org/john-frith-part-1/.