10. Rawlins White
Explanatory Notes
pelting chafe: violent rage.
consecration: according to Roman Catholic doctrine, the elements of bread and wine undergo transubstantiation into the body and blood of Christ when the priest consecrates the sacramental elements during the sacrifice of the Mass.
'This do in the remembrance of me': Zwingli and other Protestants base their view of Holy Communion as a commemorative celebration on these words (Luke 22: 19).
he is a vine, a door: John 15: 1 and 10: 9. Protestants base their rejection of transubstantiation on Jesus' description of himself by means of figurative language of this kind.
109 'you can do no more than God will permit you': see John 19: 11.
110 substance . . . accidences: substance refer to the immaterial presence of Jesus Christ within the accidents of bread and wine. Accidences (accidents) is a Scholastic term for the material nature of sacramental bread and wine that undergo immaterial transubstantiation into the body and blood of Jesus Christ.
111 'I thank you . . . the love of Christ': see Philippians 3: 8.
crown of joy: 1 Corinthians 9: 25. The crown is a traditional emblem of martyrdom.
112 Master Higbed: a fellow prisoner condemned to die as a heretic.
113 groundsel: a threshold.
'the sacrifice of God . . . thou wilt not despise': Psalm 51: 17.
'an humble spirit': William Tyrrell claims that William reads a Protestant mistranslation of Psalm 51: 17.
114 element: the sky.
10. RAWLINS WHITE
115 light: enlightenment.
116 vouching: quoting.
the leaf . . . sentence: the exact page and sentence of White's quotations from the Bible.
117 'I will by his favourable grace confess . . . everlasting life': Matthew 10: 32,
John 6: 40.
reporter: John Dane, a confidant who brought gifts to Rowland White during his imprisonment and wrote this narrative.
118 in quiet: inactive.
beware of false prophets . . . sheep's clothing: Matthew 7: 15.
by-dwellers: neighbours.
119 'Whereas two or . . . midst of them': Matthew 18: 20.
'pray to your God . . . perform my desire': an allusion to 1 Kings 18: 24.