JOHN BLAND
JOHN BLAND
John Bland was a teacher before becoming the vicar of a congregation in Relvendon, Kent. Thrown into Canterbury Prison for preaching the Gospel during Queen Mary’s reign, he was freed once or twice by his friends’ petitions, yet as soon as he was freed, he always returned to his Protestant preaching. Arrested a third time, Bland refused to promise his friends that he wouldn’t preach his beliefs again, and they were no longer able to help him.
On November 26, two of Bland’s parishioners, Richard and Thomas Austen, approached him after the service. “Parson,” Richard Austen said, “you took down the tabernacle where the rood hung and other things. The queen has ordered that they be put up again, and we think you should pay for that. You go against the queen’s laws when you say these are abominations.”
“Mr. Austen,” Bland replied, “if that’s what I said, I’ll say it again.”
Thomas Austen replied, “Tell us what’s devilish in the Mass, then!”
“I often preached it to you. You didn’t believe me then, and you won’t now.”
“You pulled down the altar. Will you rebuild it?”
“No. Not unless I’m ordered to, because I was ordered to take it down,” Bland insisted.
On December 28, the priest of Stodmarsh was invited to say Mass by the Austens. He was well into matins when Bland arrived, and when he finished, he said to Bland, “Your neighbor asked me to say matins and Mass. I trust you won’t disobey the queen’s law?”
“No,” Bland replied, “I won’t disobey the queen’s laws, God willing.”
Pretending he couldn’t hear Bland’s reply, the priest asked the question twice more, until Bland raised his voice so the whole congregation could hear his answer. The priest then sat down while Bland stood in the chancel door to give his address to the congregation. Bland explained his beliefs about the bread and wine, how Christ instituted the sacrament, and how it had been perverted by the Catholic Church. In a few minutes, he was stopped by the church warden and constable and locked in a side chapel until the Mass was over.
On February 23 or 24, Bland was locked in Canterbury Castle for ten weeks before being allowed to post bail. On May 18, he appeared before the archdeacon of Canterbury, who demanded to know what Bland preached on Communion. Bland refused to answer, saying they were trying to gather material to use against him and that English law said he did not have to speak against himself. He was called again on May 21, again refusing to state his beliefs and requesting a lawyer.
On June 28, Bland reported to the secular authorities as ordered. They said they had nothing against him and ordered him to reappear seven weeks later, but when the date came, Bland was before the church authorities and missed his court date. He was locked in Maidstone Prison for that until February 18 or 19. After he would not promise to reform and be a good Catholic, Bland was sent to Canterbury Castle until March 2.
Bland continued to be tossed to and fro, from prison to prison, session to session, until on June 13 he was brought before Richard Thornton, the bishop of Dover; Robert Collins, the commissary; and Nicholas Harpsfield, archdeacon of Canterbury. Under these three men, a great number of Protestants were cruelly treated and killed at Canterbury, John Bland being one of the first. With him that day the following men were also tried: John Frankesh, Nicholas Sheterden, Thomas Thacker, Humphrey Middleton, and William Cocker.
Bland pleaded guilty to the following charges:
He believed the physical body of Christ was in heaven not in the bread and wine.
He believed it was against God’s Word to have the sacraments administered in Latin, and no one should accept any sacrament he could not understand.
On June 25, Bland appeared before the authorities for the last time and refused to accept the pope’s authority. He was condemned as a heretic and turned over to the secular authorities for burning.