He loved God, his congregation, and his wife
After the death of the godly teenage king Edward VI and the nine-day reign of the likewise godly teenager Lady Jane Grey in 1553, Mary Tudor, the Roman Catholic daughter of King Henry VIII, became queen of England. She insisted on restoring Catholicism as the state religion of England and in 1555 gave the courts of the Roman Catholic Church the power to burn heretics. All Protestants were considered heretics, and the burning began – thus earning the queen her name “Bloody Mary”, Robert Samuel found himself among the ranks of the heretics.
Robert Samuel was the pastor at Barfolde, England, where he was known during the reign of King Edward VI for his sincere faith, holy life, and dedication to preaching the Word of God. As part of Queen Mary’s quest to eliminate Protestantism, Samuel and the other Protestant ministers were removed from their parishes and forbidden to preach. Putting his commitment to serve God above his personal safety, Samuel decided to continue to minister to his congregation secretly.
The English clergy under the Roman Catholic Church had been celibate but under the influence of the Reformation had been allowed to marry. Now, adding insult to injury, the queen ordered that all married clergyman to leave their wives and return to celibacy. Samuel was not willing to leave his wife. In his judgment he would be breaking God’s law if he left her, and he was not willing to break God’s law for man’s tradition. As a result, he risked arrest and refused to leave his wife.
One night when he returned home to his wife, the authorities were waiting for him and arrested him. He was immediately taken to prison, never to see his wife again.
While in prison the bishop ordered that he be tortured with the cruelest techniques of the times. Many of the prisoners succumbed to such torture and either renounced their faith or lost their minds. Samuel was chained upright to a post, so that he had to support his weight with only the tips of his toes. At the same time, he was deprived of food and drink, given only 2 or 3 mouthfuls of food and a few sips of water each day, just enough to keep him alive to endure more pain. But Samuel showed great tenacity in enduring the pain, and he remained true to his faith.
On August 31, 1555, Samuel was taken from prison to be burned at the stake. He was eager to put an end to his torment and to be with his Savior. Before his execution he told the assembled crowd how, after he had been deprived of food and water for a few days, he had fallen asleep and a man dressed all in white appeared to him and said, “Samuel, take heart; for after this day you shall never be hungry or thirsty.” He reported that after he awoke, he did not suffer from hunger or thirst for the rest of his imprisonment and torture!
Robert Samuel was burned at the stake and went to meet his Savior.
REFLECTION:
Although many of God’s people have suffered and died under similar circumstances w/o having a divine visitation like Robert Samuel had, his experience demonstrates how God is concerned for the sufferings of his people. If we are ever called upon to suffer in a similar way, let us remain faithful unto death, whether or not we have a visit from heaven.
Verse to remember:
All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. (Matt 10:22)
