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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	authority_n	church_n	see_v	1,737	5	3.7569	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51699	A cloud of witnesses, or, The sufferers mirrour made up of the swanlike-songs, and other choice passages of several martyrs and confessors to the sixteenth century, in their treatises, speeches, letters, prayers, &c. in their prisons, or exiles, at the bar, or stake, &c. / collected out of the ecclesiastical histories of Eusebius, Fox, Fuller, Petrie, Scotland, and Mr. Samuel Ward's Life of faith in death, &c. and alphabetically disposed by T.M., M.A.; Cloud of witnesses. Part 1	Mall, Thomas, b. 1629 or 30.; Flavel, John, 1630?-1691.	1665 (1665)	Wing M329; ESTC R21709	379,698	602

into thy hands I commend my Spirit Amen Keyser Leonard Keyser as he was led to the place where he was to be burnt said O Lord Jesus remain with me sustain and help me and give me force and power When the wood was ready to be set on fire he cried with a loud voice O Jesus I am thine have mercy upon me and save me Knox. Mr. Iohn Knox wearied with removing from place to place by reason of the Persecution that came upon him by the Bishop of St. Andrews was determined to have left Scotland and to have visited the Schools of Germany he had then no pleasure in England by reason that although the Popes Name was suppressed yet his Laws and Corruptons remained in full vigour but was prevailed with by some Gentlemen for their Childrens sake whose Education he had undertaken to go to St. Andrews that he might have the benefit of the Castle which was fortified against the Papists since the death of the Cardinal in it Thither he came An. 1547. where he was called to the Ministry after this manner Mr. Rough having shew'd in a Sermon what power the Congregation how small soever passing the number of two or three had to elect any man in the time of need as that was in whom they espied the gifts of God and how dangerous it was to refuse to hear the voice of such as desire to be instructed he directed his words to Mr. Knox saying Brother you shall not be offended although that I speak unto you that which I have in charge even from all those here present which is this In the Name of God and of his Son Jesus Christ and in the name of these that presently call you by my mouth I charge you that you refuse not this holy Vocation but as ye tender the glory of God the encrease of Christs Kingdome the edification of your Brethren and the comfort of me whom ye understand well enough to be oppressed by the multitude of labours that you take upon you the publick office and charge of preaching even as you look to avoid Gods heavy displeasure and desire that he shall multiply his graces upon you And in the end he said to those that were present was not this your charge to me and do ye not approve this Vocation They answered it is and we approve it Besides this Vocation that which necessitated Mr. Knox to enter in the publick place was his beating by his Pen Dean Annan a rotten Papist that had long troubled Mr. Rough in his Preaching from all defences that he was compelled to flie to his last refuge the Authority of the Church which said the Dean damned all Lutherans and Hereticks and therefore he would not dispute Whereupon Mr. Knox in the open audience of the Parish-Church of St. Andrews told the Dean thus As for your Roman Church as it is now corrupted and the Authority thereof wherein stands the hope of your victory I no more doubt but that it is the Synagogue of Satan and the head thereof called the Pope to be that man of sin of whom the Apostle speaks then I doubt that Jesus Christ suffered by the procurement of the visible Church of Ierusalem yea I offer my self by word or writing to prove the Roman Church this day farther to degenerate from the purity which was in the daies of the Apostles then was the Church of the Iews from the Ordinance given by Moses when they consented to the innocent death of Jesus Christ. The people hearing the offer cried with one consent We cannot all read your writings but we can all hear your preachings therefore we require you in the Name of God that ye let us hear the Probation of what you have affirmed for if it be true we have been miserably deceived The next Lords Day he preached on Dan. 7. And another King shall rise after them and he shall be unlike unto the first and he shall subdue three Kings and shall speak words against the most High and shall consume the Saints of the most High c. In the beginning of his Sermon he shewed the great love of God towards his Church whom he pleased to forewarn of dangers to come so many years before they came to pass After he made a short Discourse of the four Empires the Babylonian Persian Grecian and Roman in the destruction of the fourth rose up that last beast which he affirmed to be the Roman Church for to none other power that ever hath been yet do all the Notes that God shewed to the Prophets belong except to it alone and to it they do properly appertain as such as are not more then blind may clearly see Then he shewed that the Spirit in the New Testament gives to this King other new names as the man of sin the Antichrist the whore of Babylon which he proved to belong to the Papists and their head the Pope Hereupon he was with Mr. Rough convented before the Sub Prior of St. Andrews c. and several Articles were read against them The strangeness said the Sub Prior of these Articles which are gathered forth of your Doctrine have moved us to call for you to hear your Answers Mr. Knox said I for my part praise my God that I see such an Auditory but because it is long since that I have heard that ye are one that is not ignorant of the Truth I may crave of you in the Name of God yea and I appeal your conscience before that supreme Judge that if ye think any Article there expressed contrary to the Truth of God that ye oppose your self plainly unto it and suffer not the people to be therewith deceived but if in your conscience you know the Doctrine to be true then will I crave your Patr●cinie thereto that by your Authority the people may be moved the ●ather to believe the Truth The Sub Prior answered I come not here as a Judge but onely familiarly to talk and therefore I will neither allow nor condemn but if ye list I will reason Why may not the Church for good causes devise Ceremonies to decore the Sacraments and other Gods Service K. Because the Church ought to do nothing but in faith and ought not to go before but is bound to follow the voice of the true Pastor S. It is in faith that the Ceremonies are commanded and they have proper significations to help our faith they have a godly signification and therefore proceed from faith and are done in Faith K. It is not enough that man invent a Ceremony and then give it a signification according to his pleasure for so might the Ceremonies of the Gentiles and of Mahomet be maintained but if any thing proceed from faith it must have the Word of God for its assurance for faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God Now if ye will prove that your Ceremonies proceed from faith and do please God

if she will condemn me to perpetual imprisonment I will thank her The Chancellor pressing him to do as they had done in hopes of the Queens mercy and pardon My Lord said he I desire mercy with Gods mercy i. e. without doing or saying any thing against God and his Truth pag. 290. but mercy with Gods wrath God keep me from Gods mercy I desire and also would be glad of the Q●eens favour to live as a Subject without clog on Conscience but otherwise the Lords mercy is better to me then life Life in his displeasure is worse then death and death with his favour is true life He having refused again and again to answer to the Chancellors Quaeries said That no fear but the fear of perjury made him unwilling to answer he having been six times sworn not to consent to the practising of any Jurisdiction or any Authority on the Bishop of R●me's behalf within the Realm of England I am not afraid of death I thank God I look and have looked for nothing else from your hands a long time but I am afraid when death cometh I should have ma●ter to trouble my Conscience by the guilt of perjury As for my death as I know there are twelve hours in the day so with the Lord my time is appointed and when it shall be his good time then I shall depart hence but in the mean season I am safe enough though all the reople had sworn my death into his hands have I committed it and do his good will be done The Earl of Derby sending one of his Servants to him willing him to tender himself He told the Messenger that he thanked his Lordship for his good will towards him but in this case I cannot tender my self more then Gods honour The same Servant saying also Ah Mr. Bradford consider your Mother Sister Friends Kinsfolk Countrey what a great discomfort it will be to them to see you die as an Heretick Mr. Bradford replied I have learned to forsake Father Mother Brother Sister Friends and all that ever I have yea and my own self for else I cannot be Christs Disciple Being askt by a good Gentlewomans Servant that was sent to him How he did he answered Well I thank God for as men in Sailing which be near to the Shore or Haven where they would be would be nearer even so the nearer I am to God the nearer I would be In a Letter to his Mother and Brethren I am at this time in Prison sure enough from starting to confirm that I have preached unto you As I am ready I thank God with my life and blood to seal the same if God vouchsafe me worthy of that honour If we suffer with him we shall also reign w●th him Be not therefore faint-hearted but rather rejoyce at the least for my sake who now am in the right and high way to Heaven for by many afflictions we must enter into the Kingdome of God Now will God made known his Children When the wind doth not blow the Wheat cannot be known from the Chaffe but when the blast cometh then flieth away the Chaffe but the Wheat remaineth and is so far from being hurt that by the wind it is more cleansed from the Chaffe Gold when it is cast into the fire is the more precious so are Gods Children by afflictions Indeed I thank God more for this Prison then for any Parlour yea then for any pleasure that eyer I had for in it I find God my most sweet good God alwayes Of all deaths it is most to be desired to die for Gods sake such are sure to go to Heaven Death nor Life nor Prison nor Pleasure I trust in God shall be able to separate me from my Lord God and his Gospel Rejoyce in my sufferings for it is for your sakes to confirm the truth I have taught Howsoever you do be obedient to the Higher Powers that is in no point either in hand or tongue Rebel but rather if they command that which with good conscience you cannot obey lay your head on the Block and suffer what they shall do or say By patience possess your souls In his Letter to the City of London I ask God heartily mercy that I do no more rejoyce then I do having so great cause as to be an instrument wherein it may please my dear Lord and Saviour to suffer Although my sins be manifold and grievous yet the Bishops and Prelates do not persecute them in me but Christ himself his Word his Truth and Religion Let the anger and plagues of God most justly fallen upon us be applied to every one of our deserts that from the bottome of our hearts every one of us may say It is I Lord that have sinned against thee It is my hypocrisie my vain-glory my covetousness uncleanness carnality security idleness unthankfulness self-love c. which have deserved the taking away of thy Word and true Religion of thy good Ministers by Exile Imprisonment Death c. Prepare your selves to the Cross be obedient to all that be in Authority in all things that be not against God his Word for then answer with the Apostle It is more meet to obey God then man Howbeit never for any thing resist or rise against the Magistrates Avenge not your selves Commit your Cause to the Lord. If you feel in your selves an hope and trust in God that he will never tempt you above that he will make you able to bear be assured the Lord will be true to you and you shall be able to bear all brunts but if you want this Hope flee and get you hence rather then by your tarrying Gods Name should be dishonoured In his Letter to Cambridge Thou my Mother the University hast not onely had the truth of Gods Word plainly manifested unto thee by Reading Disputing and Preaching publickly and privately but now to make thee altogether excuseless and as it were almost to sin against the Holy Ghost if thou put to thy helping hand with the Romish Rout to suppress the Verity and set out the contrary thou hast my life and blood as a Seal to confirm thee if thou wilt be confirmed or else to confound thee if thou wilt take part with the Prelates and Clergy which now fill up the measure of their Fathers which slew the Prophets and Apostles that all the righteous blood from Abel to Bradford may be required at their hands For the tender mercy of Christ in his bowels and blood I beseech you to take Christs eye-salve to anoint your eyes that you may see what you do and have done in admitting the Romish rotten Rags which once you utterly expelled O be not the Dog returned to his vomit be not the Sow that was washed returning to her wallowing in the mire Beware least Satan enter in with seven worse Spirits c. It had been better you had never known the truth then after knowledge to have run

unto us but also personally to visit the Poor oppressed and see that nothing be lacking unto them but that they have both ghostly comfort and bodily sustenance notwithstanding the strait inhibition and terrible menacing of these worldly Rulers even ready to abide the extreamest jeopardies that Tyrants can imagine This is an evidence that you have prepared your selves to the Cross of Christ according to the Counsel of the Wise man which saith My Son when thou shalt enter into the way of the Lord prepare thy self unto tribulation This is an evidence that you have cast up your accounts and have wherewith to finish the Tower which ye have begun to build and I doubt not but he that hath begun this work in you shall for his Glory accomplish the same even unto the coming of the Lord which shall give unto every man according to his deeds And albeit God of his secret Judgements for a time keep the rod from some of them that ensue his steps yet let them surely reckon upon it for there is no doubt but all which will live devoutly in Christ must suffer persecution for whom the Lord loveth he correcteth and chasteneth every child that he receiveth If ye be not under correction of which we are all partakers then are ye bastards and not children Nevertheless we may not suppose that our most loving Father should do that because he rejoyceth in our blood or punishment but he doth it for our singular profit that we may be partakers of Holiness and that the remnants of sin which through the frailty of our Members rebel against the Spirit and Will causing our works to go unperfectly forward and may some deal be suppressed least they should subdue us and reign over us Of these things God had given me the speculation before and now it hath pleased him to put in ure and practise upon me I ever thought yea and do think that to walk after Gods Word would cost me my life at one time or another and although the Kings Grace should take me into his Favour and not suffer the bloody Edomites to have their pleasures upon me yet will I not think that I am escaped but that God hath onely deferred it for a season to the intent that I should work somewhat that he hath appointed me to do and so to use me to his Glory And I beseech all the faithful followers of the Lord to arm themselves with the same supposition marking themselves with the sign of the Cross not from the Cross as the superstitious multitude do but rather to the Cross in token that they be ever ready willingly to receive the Cross when it shall please God to lay it upon them The day that it cometh not count it clear won giving thanks to the Lord who hath kept it from you and then when it cometh it shall nothing dismay you for it is no new thing but that which you have continually looked for And doubt not but that God who is faithful will not suffer you to be tempted above what you are able to bear but shall ever send some occasion by the which ye shall stand stedfast for either he shall blind the eyes of your enemies and diminish their Tyrannous Power or else when he hath suffered them to do their best and that the Dragon hath cast a whole flood of waters after you he shall cause even the Earth to ope● her mouth swallow them up So faithful is he an● careful to ease us when the vexation shall be too heavy for us he shall send a Ioseph before you again●● ye shall come into Egypt yea he shall so provide fo● you that ye shall have an hundred Fathers for one an hundred Mothers for one an hundred House for one and that in this life as I have proved b● experience and after this life everlasting joy wit● Christ our Saviour Notwithstanding since thi● steadfastness comes not of our selves as St. Austi● saith there was never man so weak or frail no no● the greatest offender that ever lived but that every man of his own nature should be as frail and commit as great enormities except he were kept from it by the Spirit and Power of God I beseech you Brethren in the Lord Jesus Christ to pray with me that we may be Vessels to his land and praise what time soever it pleaseth him to call upon 〈◊〉 The Father of Glory give us the Spirit of wisdome understanding and knowledge and lighten the eyes of our mind that we may know his waye● praising the Lord eternally Amen John Frith the Prisoner of Iesus Christ at all times abiding his pleasure In his Letter to his Friends concerning his troubles I doubt not dear Brethren but th●● it doth some deal vex you to see the one part 〈◊〉 have all the words and freely to speak what they list and the other to be put to silence and not to be heard indifferently but refer your matter unto God who shortly shall judge after another fashion The Archbishop of Canterbury having sent one of his Gentlemen and one of his Porters to fetch Mr. Iohn Frith out of the Tower to be examined The Gentleman pitying him endeavoured to perswade him to relent to Authority and to give place for a time and not to cast himself away and suffer all his singular gifts to perish with him with little profit to the world c. Mr. Frith gave him thanks for his good will but told him farther thus My Cause and Conscience is such that in no wise I either may or can for any worldly respect without danger of damnation start aside c. If I be demanded what I think of the Supper of the Lord otherwise called the Sacrament of the Altar I must needs say my Knowledge and my Conscience though I should presently lose twenty lives if I had so many And if I may be indifferently heard I am sure mine Adversarie cannot condemn me or mine Assertion c. Yea marry quoth the Gentleman you say well if you might be indifferently heard but I much doubt thereof for that our Master Christ was not indifferently heard neither should be as I think if he were now present again in the world c. Well well quoth Frith unto the Gentleman I know very well that the Doctrine of the Sacrament which I hold and have opened contrary to the Opinion of this Realm is vety hard meat to be digested both of the Clergy and Laity but this I will say to you That if you live but twenty years more you shall see this whole Realm of mine Opinion c. and if it come not to pass then account me the vainest man that ever you heard speak with a tongue All things well and rightly pondered my death in this Cause which is Gods and not mine shall be better unto me and all mine then life in continua● bondage and misery The Gentleman was 〈◊〉 wrought upon that he contrived a way

misery for felicity continual vexation and trouble for perpetual rest and quietness chusing rather to die with shame of the world being the Servants of God then to live among men in honour being the servants of Satan and condemned of God Otherwise if you give place to the wickedness of men to escape their malice and bodily dangers you shew your selves therein to fear man more then the mighty and dreadful God him that hath but power of your body and that at Gods appointment then God himself who hath power after he hath destroyed the body to cast both soul and body into hell-fire there to remain everlastingly in torments unspeakable And moreover that which you look to obtain by these sinful shifts you shall be sure to lose with grief and trouble of conscience for this saying of your Master being true and certain that They which seek to save their life meaning by any worldly reason or policy shall lose it What shall be their gains at length when by dissimulation and yielding to Popish Blasphemy they dishonour the Majesty of God to enjoy this short miserable and mortal life to be cast from the favour of God and company of his heavenly Angels to enjoy for a short time their goods and possessions among their fleshly and carnal Friends whenas their conscience within shall be deeply wounded with hell-like torments when Gods curse and indignation hangeth continually over the heads of such ready to be poured down upon them when they shall find no comfort but utter despair with Iudas who for this worldly riches as he did have sold their Master seeking either to hang themselves with Iudas to murther themselves with Francis Spira to drown themselves with Justice Hales or else to fall into a raging madness with Justice Morgan What comfort had Iudas then by his money received for betraying his Master was he not shortly after compelled to cast it from him with this pitiful voice I have sinned in betraying innocent blood Then dear Brethren in Christ what other reward can any of you look for committing the like offences There is no trust but in God no comfort but in Christ no assurance but in his promise by whose obedience onely you shall avoid all danger And whatsoever you lose in this world and suffer for his Name it shall be here recompenced with double according to his promise and in the world to come with life everlasting which is to find your life when you are willing to lay it down at his Commandment I am not ignorant how unnatural a thing it is and contrary to the flesh willingly to sustain such cruel death as the Adversaries have appointed to all the Children of God who mind constantly to stand by their prosession yet to the Spirit notwithstanding is easie and joyful for though the flesh be frail the Spirit is prompt and ready Whereof praised be the Name of God you have had notable experience in many of your Brethren very Martyrs for Christ who with joy patiently and triumphing have suffered and drunk with thirst of that bitter Cup which nature so much abhorreth wonderfully strengthened no doubt by the secret inspiration of Gods holy Spirit so that there ought to be none among you so feeble weak or timerous whom the wonderful examples of Gods present power and singular favour in those persons should not encourage bolden and fortifie to shew the like constancy in the same Cause and Profession Nevertheless great cause we have thankfully to consider the unspeakable mercy of God in Christ who hath farther respect to our infirmity that when we have not that boldness of Spirit to stand to the death as we see others he hath provided a present remedy that being persecuted in one place we have liberty to flee into another When we cannot be in our own Countrey with a safe conscience except we would make open profession of our Religion which is every mans duty and so be brought to offer up our lives in sacrifice to God in testimony that we are his he hath mollified and prepared the hearts of Strangers to receive us with all pity and gladness where you may be also not onely delivered from the fear of death and the Papist●cal Tyranny practised without all measure in that Countrey but with great freedom of conscience hear the Word of God continually preached and the Sacraments of our Saviour Christ purely and duely ministred without all dregs of Popery or Superstition of mans invention to the intent that you being with others refreshed for a space and more strongly fortified may be also with others more ready and willing to lay down your lives at Gods appointment for that is the chiefest grace of God and greatest perfection to sight even unto blood under Christs Banner and with him to give our lives But if you will thus flee Beloved in the Lord you must not chuse unto your selves places according as you fancy as many of us who have left our Countrey have done dwelling in Popish places among the enemies of God in the midst of impiety some in France as in Paris Orleance Roan some in Italy as in Rome Venice Padua which persons in fleeing from their Queen run to the Pope fearing the danger of their bodies seek where they may poyson their souls thinking by this means to be less suspected of Iezebel shew themselves afraid and ashamed of the Gospel which in times past they have stoutly professed And lest they should be thought favourers of Christ have purposely ridden by the Churches and Congregations of his Servants their Brethren neither minded to comfort others there nor to be comforted themselves wherein they have shewed the coldness of their zeal towards Religion and given no small occasion of slander to the Word of God which they seemed to prosess This manner of fleeing then in ungodly c. Neither is it enough to keep you out of the Dominions of Antichrist and to place your selves in corners you may be quiet and at ease and not burthened with the charges of the poor thinking it sufficient if you have a little exercise in your houses in reading a Chapter or two of the Scriptures and then will be counted zealous persons and great Gospellers No Brethren and S●sters this is not the way to shew your selves manful souldiers of Christ except you resort where his Banner is displayed and his Standard set up where the Assembly of your B●ethren is and his Word openl● preached and Sacraments faithfully ministred for otherwise what may a man judge but that such either disdain the company of their poor Brethren whom they ought by all means to help and comfort according to that power that God hath given them for that end onely and not for their own ease or else that they have not that zeal to the House of God the Assembly of his Servants and to the spiritual gifts and graces which God hath promised to

and necessities as also charitably to pray for them that persecute them So doth the Word of God command all men to pray charitably for them that hate them and not to revile any Magistrate with words or to mean him evil by force and violence They also may rejoyce that in well doing they were taken to Prison Thus fare you well and pray God to send his true Word into this Realm again amongst us which the ungodly Bishops have now banished In his Letter to those Christians so taken Prisoners The grace favour consolation and ●●d of the Holy Ghost be with you now and ever So be it Dearly Beloved in the Lord ever since I ●eard of your imprisonment I have been marvellously moved with great affections and passions as well of mirth and gladness as of heaviness and sorrow Of gladness in this that I perceived how ye be bent and given to prayer and invocation of Gods help in these dark and wicked proceedings of men against Gods glory I have been sorry to perceive the malice and wickedness of men to be so 〈◊〉 devillish and tyrannical to persecute the 〈◊〉 of God for serving of God c. These 〈◊〉 doings do declate that the Papists Church is 〈◊〉 bloody and tyrannical then ever was the 〈◊〉 of the Ethnicks and Gentiles Trajan the Emperour commanded That no man should be persecuted for serving of God but the Pope and his Church have cast you into Prison being taken doing the Work of God and one of the excellentest Works that is required of Christians viz. whilest ye were in Prayer O glad may ye be that ever ye were born to be apprehended whilest ye were so vertuously occupied Blessed be they that suffer for righeeousness sake If God had suffered them that took your bodies then to have taken your life also now had you been following the Lamb in pertual joyes away from the company and assembly of wicked men But the Lord would not have you suddenly so to depart but reserveth you gloriously to speak and maintain his Truth to the world Be ye not careful what ye shall say for God will go out and in with you and will be present in your hearts and in your mouths to speak his wisdome though it seems foolishness to the world He that hath begun this good work in you continue in the same unto the end Pray unto him that ye may fear him only that hath power to kill both body and soul and to cast them into hell fire Be of good comfort all the hairs of your head are numbred and there is not one of them can perish except your heavenly Father suffer it to perish Now you be in the field and placed in the fore-front of Christs battel Doubtless it is a singular favour of God and a special love of him towards you to give him this preheminence as a sign that he trusteth you before others of his people Wherefore dear Brethren and Sisters continually fight this Fight of the 〈◊〉 Your Cause is most just and godly ye stan● 〈◊〉 the true Christ who is after the flesh in He●●●● and for his true Religion and Honour 〈…〉 amply fully sufficiently and abundantly contained in the holy Testament sealed with Christs own blood How much be ye bound to God who put● you in trust with so holy and just a Cause Remember what lookers on you have to see and behold you in your fight God and all his holy Angels who be ready alwayes to take you up into Heaven if ye be slain in his Fight Also you have standing a● your backs all the multitude of the Faithful who shall take courage strength and desire to follow such noble and valiant Christians as you be Be not afraid of your Adversaries for he that is in you is stronger then he that is in them Shrink not although it be pain to you your pains be not now so great as hereafter your joyes shall be Read the comfortable Chapters to the Romanes 8.10 15. Hebrews 11.12 And upon your knees thank God that ever ye were accounted worthy to suffer any thing for his Names sake Read the second Chapter of Luke and there you shall see how the Shepherds that watched their Sheep all night as soon as they heard that Christ was born at Bethlehem by and by went to see him They did not reason nor debate with themselves who should keep the Wolf from the Sheep in the mean time but did as they were commanded and committed their Sheep unto him whose pleasure they obeyed So let us do now we be called commit all other things to him that calleth us He will take heed that all things shall be well He will help the Husband he will comfort the Wife he will guide the Servants he will keep the House he will preserve the Goods yea rather then it should be undone he will wash the Dishes and rock the Cradle Cast therefore all your care upon God for he careth for you Besides this you may perceive by your imprisonment that your Adversaries weapons against you be nothing but flesh and blood and tyranny for if they were able they would maintain their Religion by Gods Word but for lack of that they would violently compel such as they cannot by holy Scripture perswade because the holy Word of God and all Christs doings be contrary unto them I pray you pray for me and I will pray for you Fleet Ian. 14. 1555. In a Letter to certain of his Friends Now is the time of trial to see whether we fear more God or man It was an easie thing to hold with Christ whilst the Prince and world held with him but now the world hateth him it is the true trial who be his Wherefore in the Name and in the Vertue Strength and Power of his holy Spirit prepare your selves in any case to adversity and constancy Let us not run away when it is most time to fight Remember none shall be crowned but such as fight manfully and he that endureth to the end shall be saved Ye must now turn all your cogitations from the peril you see and mark the felicity that followeth the peril either victory in this world of your enemies or else a surrender of this life to inherit the everlasting Kingdome Beware of beholding too much the felicity or misery of this world for the consideration and too earnest love or fear of either of them draweth from God Wherefore think with your selves as touching the felicity of the world it is good but yet none otherwise then it standeth with the favour of God It is to be kept but yet so far forth as by keeping of it we lose not God It is good abiding and tarrying still among our friends here but yet so that we tarry not therewithal in Gods displeasure and hereafter dwell with the Devils in fire everlasting There is nothing under God but may be kept so that God being above all things we have

before of these dolorous dayes fore-spake also the everlasting joy prepared for such as should continue to the end The trouble is come O dear Brethren look for the comfort and after the example of the Apostle abide in resisting this vehement storm a little space The third watch is not yet ended Remember that Christ came not to his Disciples till the fourth watch Observe next that the Disciples at the presence of Christ were more afraid then they were before That Christ useth no other instrument but his Word to pacifie their hearts That Peter in a fervency first left the Ship and yet after feared That Christ permitted neither Peter nor the rest of his Disciples to perish in that fear but gloriously delivered all and pacified the tempest There were three causes why the Disciples knew not Christ but judged him to be a Spirit The darkness of the night that letted their eyes to see him The unaccustomed Vision that appeared and it was above nature that a massy weighty and heavy body of a man such as they understood their Master Christ to have should be born up of and walk upon the water of the raging Sea and not sink And finally the horrour of the tempest and great danger they were in perswaded them to look for none other but certainly to be drowned What here hapned to Christ himself daily hapneth to the verity of his blessed Word c. The truth and sincere preaching of his glorious Gospel sent by God for mans deliverance from sin c. is judged to be Heresie and deceiveable Doctrine sent by the Devil to mans destruction The chief note is this The more nigh deliverance and salvation approacheth the more strong and vehement is the temptation of the Church of God and the more nigh that Gods vengeance approacheth to the wicked the more proud cruel and arrogant are they Whereby it commonly comes to pass that the Messengers of Life are judged to be the Authors of all mischief Thus the Israelites cursed Moses alledging that he and Aaron was the whole cause of their last extreme trouble This I write to admonish you that although you see tribulation so abound that no hope be left that yet you decline not from God And that albeit sometimes ye be moved to hate the Messengers of Life that therefore ye shall not judge that God will never shew mercy after No dear Brethren as he hath dealt with others before you so will he deal with you One cause why God permitteth such blood-thirsty Tyrants to molest his Church is this Such is his justice that he will not pour forth his extreme vengeance upon the wicked until such time as their iniquity be so manifest that their very flatterers cannot excuse it Pharaoh was not destroyed till his own houshold Servants and Subjects abhorred and condemned his stubborn disobedience If Gardener Tunstal and Bonner had suffered death when first they deserved it Papists would have alledged as they did that they were reformable neither thirsted they for the blood of any man And of Lady Mary who hath not heard that she was sober merciful and one that loved the Commonwealth of England Had she and her pestilent Council been dead before these dayes their iniquity and cruelty had not so manifestly appeared to the world Thus dear Brethren must the Sons of the Devil declare their own impiety and ungodliness that when Gods vengeance which shall not sleep shall be poured forth upon them all tongues shall confess and say That God is righteous in all his judgements The means Christ used to remove the Disciples fear is onely his Word he said Be of good comfort it is I be not afraid The natural man that cannot understand the power of God would have desired some other present comfort in so great a danger as either to have had the Heavens to have opened and to have shewed them such a light in that darkness that Christ might have been fully known by his own face or else that the winds and raging waves of the Sea suddenly should have ceased or some other miracle that had been subject to all their senses whereby they might have perfectly known that they were delivered from all danger And truly equal it had been to Christ Jesus to have done any of these or any work greater as to have said It is I be not afraid but he would hereby teach us the dignity and effectual power of his holy Word This I write Beloved in the Lord that ye knowing the Word of God not onely to be that whereby were created Heaven and Earth but also to be the Power of God to Salvation to all that believe c. may now in this hour of darkness and most raging tempest thirst and pray that ye may hear yet once again this amiable voice of your Saviour Christ Be of good comfort it is I be not afraid Exercise your selves secretly in revolving that which sometimes you have heard openly proclaimed in your ears and be every man now a faithful Preacher to his Brother If your communication be of Christ assuredly he will come before ye be aware What comfort was in the hearts of the Disciples when they heard these words It is I your Master your Master most familiar whose voice you know whose work you have seen who commanded you to enter into this journey it is I be not afraid cannot be exprest but by those that have experienced the comforts of the Spirit after great conflicts c. It is certain Christs voice had wrought in Peter's heart not onely a forgetting and contempt of the great tempest but such boldness and love that he could fear no danger following but assuredly did believe that nothing could resist his Masters Command and therefore he saith Command me to come q. d. I desire no more then the assurance of thy command If thou wilt command I am determined to obey The waters cannot prevail against me if thou speak the word so that whatsoever is possible unto thee by thy Will and Word may be possible unto me Such as bear reverence to Gods most holy Word are drawn by the power and vertue of the same to believe and follow and obey that which God commandeth be it never so hard and contrary to their affections and therefore are they wonderfully preserved when Gods vengeances are poured forth upon the disobedient In Peter's being afraid seeing a mighty wind and when he began to sink crying Lord save me Three things are principally to be noted From whence cometh the fear of Gods Elect Why they faint in adversity What resteth with them in the time of their fear and down-sinking The cause of our fear who would through the storms of the Sea go to Christ is that we more consider the dangers and lets that are in our journey then we do the Almighty Power of him that hath commanded us to come to himself This I note

unless the reading of the New Testament which is common to all men be an offence More then this I know not The Bishop of Winchester asking him What helpers he had in setting forth his Concordance None my Lord said he None said the ●ishop how can that be It is not possible that thou shouldst do it without help Truly my Lord said he I did it without the help of any man save God alone Nay said the Bishop I do not discommend thy diligence but what shouldst thou meddle with the thing which pertaineth not to thee And then speaking to one of his Chapl●ins said This Fellow hath taken upon him to set out the Concordance in English which Book when it was set out in Latine was not done without the help and diligence of a dozen learned men at least and yet he will bear me in hand that he hath done it alone The Bishop of Salisbury asking him How he could invent such a Book or know what a Concordance meant without an Instructer I will tell your Lordship said he what Instructer I had to begin it When Thomas Matthews Bible came first out in Print being not able to buy one I borrowed one and intended to have writ it out and was gone as far as I●shua which when Mr. Turner understood he told me it would be a more profitable work to set out a Concordance in English A Concordance said I what is that He told me it was a Book to find out any word in the whole Bible by the letter and that there was such an one in Latine already and that it required not so much learning as diligence This is all the instruction that ever I had before or after of any man Being asked How he could with this instruction bring it to this order and form as it is He answered I borrowed 〈◊〉 Latine Concordance and began to practise my wit and at last with great labour and diligence brought it into this order But I marvel greatly why I should be so much examined about this Book Have I committed any offence in doing it or no If I have I am loth any other should be molested or punished for my fault Therefore to clear all men in this matter this is my request That ye will try me in the rest of the Book that is undone You see I have onely done with letter L. Now take what word you will of M. and so in every letter following and give me the words in a piece of Paper and let me be any where alone with Pen Ink and Paper the Latine Concordance and the English Bible and if I bring you not those words written in the same order and form as the rest be then it was not I did it but some other This is honestly spoken said the Bishop of Ely and then shalt thou bring many out of suspition Accordingly he writ in a dayes time in the same order and form as he had done the rest all the words they gave him which contained three sheets of Paper and more Being threatned if he did not discover what he knew his fingers should be made to tell If you do tear said he the whole body in pieces I trust in God you shall never make me accuse any man wrongfully If thou art stubborn said Dr. Oking thou wilt die for it Die for it said Marbeck wherefore should I die You told me the last day before the Bishops that as soon as I had made an end of that piece of the Concordance they took me I should be delivered and shall I now die This is a sudden mutation You seemed then to be my Friend but I know the cause you have read the Ballad I made of Moses Chair and that hath set you against me but whensoever ye shall put me to death I doubt not but I shall die Gods true man and the Kings This worthy Confessor was of so sweet and amiable nature That all good men did love and few bad men did hate him yet was he condemned in the year 1544. to be burnt at Windsor which his Pardon prevented of which divers causes were assigned 1 That Bishop Gardner bare him a special affection for his skil in the Mystery of Musick 2 That such who condemned him procured his Pardon out of remorse of conscience because of the slender evidence against him 3 That it was done out of design to reserve him for a discovery of the rest of his Party and if so their plot failed them for being as true as Steel whereof his Fetters were made which he wore in Prison for a good time he could not be frighted or flattered to make any detection Marcus v. Arethusius Part. 1. Marcus of Arethuse being hung up in a Basket anointed with honey and so exposed to the stinging of Wasps and Bees said to his Persecutors that stood and beheld him How am I advanced despising you that are below on Earth Marlorate Mr. Augustine Marlorate Minister of Roan when in the Civil Wars of France that City was taken by storm was taken also and brought before Mon●orency the Constable of France who said unto him Thou art he who hast seduced the people If I have seduced them said he it is God that hath done it rather then I for I have preached nothing to them but his divine Truth You are a seditious person said the Constable and the cause of the ruine of this City As for that imputation said he I refer my self to all that have heard me preach be they Papists or Protestants whether I ever medled with matters of the Politick State or no. The Constable told him swearing a great Oath we shall see within a few dayes whether thy God can deliver thee out of my hands or no. It is observable how speedily Gods Judgements found out his Persecutors The Captain that apprehended him was slain within three weeks by one of the basest Sou●diers in all his Company The Constables Son was shortly after slain in the Battel of Dreux Two of his Iudges also died very strangely soon after viz. The President of the Parliament by a Flux of Blood which could be by no means stanched The other being a Councellor voiding his Urine by his Fundament with such an intolerable stink that none could come near him Villeben that switched him with a Wand as he was carried on the Hurdle to Execution● a while after escaped death by the loss of his hand wherewith he had so basely smitten this Servant of the Lord. Marsake Sir L●wis Marsake was so glad of the Sentence of Condemnation that he went out praising God and singing of Psalms To a Souldier that would have hindred him from stepping aside to call upon God What said he will you not let us pray in that little time which we have When Halters were put about the necks of his two Fellow-sufferers he seeing himself to be spared because of his Order and Degree called to the Lieutenant

422. Acts 4. Isa. 29. Fuller's Eccles H●st Cent. 16. l. 5. pog 229. Fox Vol. 2. pag. 424. See his Eccles. Hist Cent. 16. l. 5. pag. 229. See his Worthies of England pag. 319. Fox Vol. 2. pag. 426. Pag. 427. See None but Christ. Fox Vol. 3. pag. 457. Pag. 458. Pag. 459. Pag. 462. Pag. 461. Pag. 462. Fuller 's Ecclesiastiastical History Cent. 16. l. 7. pag. 405. Fox Vol. 3. pag. 462. Pag. 49. Pag. 80 81. Pag. 84. Pag. 85. Pag. 92. Pag. 463. Pag. 465. Pag. 468. Pag. 470. Pag. 47. Rom. 3. Pag. 472. Phil. 1. Pag. 473. Pag. 474. Pag. 475. Pag. 476. Pag. 477. Matt. 17. Hieron Tom. 5. in Ieremiam c. 26. Pag. 478. Pag. 479. Matt. 23. Pag. 480. Matt. 5. Matt. 7. Matt. 15. Iohn 16. Matt. 10. Pag. 481. Iohn 3. ☜ Pag. 482. ☞ Pag. 483. Pag. 486. Fox Vol. 3. pag. 433. Iohn 15. Pag. 434. ☞ Pag. 435. Pag. 439. Pag. 441. Col. 2. 2 Tim. 1. Rev. 2. Pag. 485. Pag. 486. Pag. 499. Pag. 502. Pag. 503. Fox Vol. 3. pag. 701. Fox Vol. 2. p. 129 130. Pag. 131. Gal. 1. Iohn 8. Fox Vol. 1. pag. 92. Pag. 93. Fox Vol. 3. pag. 200. Fox Vol. 3. pag. 393. Fox Vol. 3. pag. 916. Fox Vol. 3. pag. 306. Fox Vol. 3. pag. 838. Pag. 839. Ward pag. 139. See his Epistle to the Reader before the first Tome of his Works printed at Jena An. 1612. See the first Tome of his Works fol. 164. Fol. 66. Clark 's first Volume of Lives pag. 230. See his Works Tom 1. fol. 163. See his Works Tom. 1. fol. 176. Oper. Tom. 1. fol. 385. Fol. 386. See his Works Vol. 2. fol. 258. See his Works Tom. 2. fol. 259. Fol. 316 317. Fol. 320. ☞ Fol. 321. Fol. 379. Fol. 412 Fol. 413. Fol. 414. Fol. 415. 1 Thes. 5. Gal. 1. Fol. 416. Act● ● See his Works Tom 2. fol. 477. Fol. 478. Fol. 515. Fol. 516. Mr. Cla●k saith he concludes That he returned to Wittenberg under stronger Protection then the Elector could give him for saith he God alone can order and prom●te the Truth without any mans helping hand therefore in this Cause he that most strongly trusts to Gods assistance he most surely defends himself and others See his Relation of Luther 's Life p. 237. Fol. 517. Fol. 518. Fol. 520. Fol. 531. Clarks first Volume of Lives pag. 240. Fol. 534. Clarks first Volume of Lives pag. 241. Fox Vol. 2. pag. 80. Clark ● pag. 239. Pag. 240. Pag. 244 245. Pag. 246. Pag. 249. Thee O Christ have I taught thee have I trusted thee have I loved into thy hands I commend my Spirit Ward pag. 152. Pag. 250. Pag. 251. Pag. 252. Pag. 256. Acts and Mon. Vol. 2. pag. 88. See M. Clark in the life of Myconius pag. 313. Pag. 254. Ward pag. 153. Fox Vol. 2. pag. 29. Fuller 's Englands Wo●●●es in B●●kshire pag. 91. Fox Vol. 2. pag. 547. Pag. 548. Pag. 550. Pag. 5●● Fuller c. pag. 91. Ward pag. 142. Fox Vol. 3 cont pag. 25. Clark 's first Vol. of Lives pag. 577. Fox Vol. 2. pag. 141. The Mirrour of Martyrs pag 315. Fox Vol. 3. pag. 224. Pag. 225. Pag. 226. Pag. 227. Pag. 228. Pag. 229. Pag. 230. Pag. 231. Pag. 232. ☞ Acts 11. Acts ●● Iam. 2. Mat. 7. Mat. 16. 1 Thes. 2. 2 Tim. 3. Acts 14. Mat. 5. Mat. 7. Mark 8. 2 Thes. 1. 1 Tim. 2. 1 Cor. 3. 1 Pet. 2. Pag. 234. Mat. 14. Hebr. 6. 1 Iohn 2. Hebr. 10. Iohn 8. Pag. 235. Acts 5. Matth. 7. Acts 18. Phil. 1. 1. C●r 7. 1 Iohn 2. Coll. 3. Pag. 238. Pag. 239. Pag. 240. Ward pag. 152. Fuller 's Englands Worthies in Huntshire pag. 5. Ward pag. 140. Clarks first Volume of Lives pag. 562. Pag. 571. Pag. 563 564. See Luthers Works Tom. 2. fol. 427. Pag. 428. 〈◊〉 pag. 564 565 Pag. 569. Pag. 566. Pag. 567. Pag. 568. Pag. 570. For Martyr V●l. 3. com p. 50. Fox Vol. 2. pag. 625. Pag. 626. See the Ecclesiastical History of Scotland Praef. pag. penult See the Mirrour of Martyrs pag. 563. ☜ Pag. 392. Hab. 2. Heb. 10. Pag. 393. Fox Vol. 3. cont pag. 33. Fox Vol. 3. pag. 851. 2 Tim. 3. 2 Cor. 1. Matth. 6. See his Life in Melch. ●dam pag. 55.56 Ward pag. 152. Ward pag. 153 154. Fox Vol. 3. con● pag. 2. Hebr. 10.14 Matt. ●5 9 Matt. ●8 20 Pag. 3. Matt. 17.5 Pag. 4. Matt. 7.12 Matt. 11. ●● Iob 5.13 Fox Vol. 1. pag. 727. Pag. 728. Pag. 729. Pag. 730. Pag. 731. Pag. 732. Mat. 23. Pag. 733. Pag. 735. Pag. 775. Fox Vol. 3. cont p. 28. Mat. 10.12 Iohn 16.3 2 Tim. 3.12 Phil. 1.24 Mat. 5.11 12. 1 Pet. 2.21 Heb. 12.2 2 Cor. 8.9 Rom. 5.2 Heb. 12. Prov. 3.11 12. Acts 14.22 Phil. 1.21 Rom. 7.24 Pag. 29. Lam. 3.26 Psal. 37.39 2 Pet. 1.5 6 7 8. Fox Vol. 1. pag. 70. See his life in Clarks Marrow of Eccles. Hist. pag. 32. Whites little Bo●k for Children p. 47. Pag. 48. Pag. 49. Pag. 50. Pag. 51. Pag. 52. Pag. 53. Pag. 54. Pag. 55. Pag. 56. Pag. 58. Clark pag. 36. Psal. 50.16 Pag. 37. Pag. 38. Pag. 39. Pag. 40. Pag. 41. Fox Vol. 3. pag. 852. Pag. 853. Fox Vol. 3. pag. 706. Fox Vol. 3. pag. 734. Pag. 735. Pag. 736. Pag. 737. Pag. 739. Pag. 740. Pag. 741. Pag. 742. Iullus Palma● slorebit Shaw 's Tomb-stone pag. 33. See his Life in Clark 's first Volume of Lives pag. 917. Ward pag. 160. Fox Vol. 3. pag. 350. Ward pag. 161. Fox Vol. 2. pag. 554. Pag. 555. Fox Vol. 1. pag. 45. Ward pag. 138. Fox Vol. 1. pag 103. Fox Vol. 3. pag. 537. Pag. 543. Pag. 544. Pag. 545. Pag. 546. Pag. 547. Pag. 551. Pag. 558. Pag. 560. Pag. 562. Pag. 565. Pag. 572. Pag. 573. Pag. 574. Pag. 578. Pag. 593. Pag. 594. Pag. 595. Pag. 596. Pag. 597. Pag. 598. Pag. 599. Pag. 600. Pag. 601. Pag. 602. Pag. 603. Pag. 604. Pag. 605. Pag. 606. Pag. 607. Pag. 610. Fox Vol. 3. pag. 879. Fox Vol. 3. cont pag. 62. Ward pag. 139. Fox Vol. 1. pag. 55. Pag. 56. S●e Mr. Cl●rks first 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 p 5. c. Melchior Adam in vita ejus pag. 466. Fox Vol. 3. pag. 889. Pag. 890. Pag. 891. The History of the Worthies of England p. 249 250. Fox Vol. 3. pag. 678. Ward pag. 142. Fox Vol. 3. cont pag. 5. Vide vitam ejus a Theophilo B●●●sio descriptam in P. R Comment de Relig. Christ. See the Ecclesiastical History of Scotland pag. 2. Pag. 3. Pag. 4. Fox Vol. 2. pag. 788. Fox Vol. 3 pag. 16 Pag. 42. Pag. 43. Pag. 49. Pag. 82. Pag. 83. Pag. 91. Pag. 93. Pag. 433. Luke 9. Gal. 2. Pag. 434. Pag. 435. Pag. 438 439. Pag. 440. Pag. 441. Pag. 442. Pag. 444. Pag. 445. Pag. 447. Pag. 448. Pag. 449. The other two he means are the Protamartyr Rogers and the Exile Grindal Pag. 487. Pag. 488. Pag. 489. Pag. 490. Pag. 491. Pag. 492. Pag. 498. Pag. 500. Pag. 501. Pag. 502. Pag. 503. Pag. 505. Pag. 507. Pag. 508. Pag. 509. Pag. 510. Pag. 511. Pag. 512. Pag. 513. Pag. 514. Pag. 518. Pag. 519. Pag. 520. Pag. 521. Pag. 522. Pag. 523. Rev. 12. Mat. 16. Mark S. Rev. 22. Pag. 524. Mat. 10. Pag. 992. Pag. 993. Deut. 7. 1 Cor. 14. Pag. 994. Pag. 995. Pag. 996. Pag. 147. Pag. 148. Fox Vol. 2. pag. 128. Fox Vol. 3. pag. 119. Pag. 120. Pag. 122. Pag. 123. Pag. 124. Pag. 125. Pag. 126. Pag. 127. Acts 5. Pag. 128. Ier. 12. Iohn 1. Acts 16. Acts 17. Acts 21. Acts 22. Pag. 129. Pag. 130. Pag. 131. Fox Vol. 1. pag. 115. Pag. 116. Pag. 117. Euseb. E●c● H●st G● Lat. pag. 320. Fox Vol. 3. pag. 537. Fox Vol. 3. pag. 860. Pag. 862. Pag. 863. Pag. 864. Pag. 865. Fox Vol. 3. pag. 933. Pag. 934. Pag. 935. Fox Vol. 3. pag. 848. Fox Vol. 3. pag. 704. The Mirrour of Martyrs pag. 310. The Ecclesiastical History of Scotland pag. 24. Foo Vol. 3. cont pag. 44.

will have his course When his Brother brought him Gun-powder he said I will take it to be sent of God therefore I will receive it as sent of him To my Lord Williams he said My Lord I must be a Suitor to you for divers poor men and my Sister c. There is nothing in all this world troubleth my conscience I praise God this onely excepted When he saw the fire flaming towards him he said Into thy hands O Lord I commend my Spirit Lord receive my soul Lord have mercy upon me In his Letter to all his true Friends I warn you all that ye be not amazed or astonied at the kind of my departure and dissolution for I assure you I think it the most honour that ever I was called to in all my life and therefore I thank my Lord God heartily for it c. For know ye that I doubt no more but that the causes wherefore I am put to death are Gods causes and the causes of the Truth then I doubt that the Gospel which Iohn wrote is the Gospel of Christ or that Paul's Epistles are the very Word of God And to have an heart willing to abide and stand in Gods Cause and in Christs Quarrel even unto death I assure thee O man it is an inestimable gift of God given onely to the true Elect and dearly beloved Children of God and Inheritors of the Kingdome of Heaven for the holy Apostle and also Martyr in Christs Cause St. Peter 1 Pet. 4. saith If ye suffer rebuke in the Name of Christ i. e. in Christs Cause and for his Truths sake then are ye happy and blessed for the glory of the Spirit of God resteth upon you and if for rebukes suffered in the Name of Christ a man is pronounced blessed and happy how much more blessed and happy is he that hath the grace to suffer death also Wherefore all ye that be my true Lovers and Friends rejoyce and rejoyce with me again and render with me hearty thanks to God our heavenly Father that for his Sons sake my Saviour and Redeemer Christ he hath vouchsafed to call me being so vile and sinfull a wretch in my self unto the high dignity of his true Prophets of his faithfull Apostles and of his holy Elect and chosen Martyrs to die in defence and maintenance of his eternal and everlasting Truth If ye love me indeed you have cause to rejoyce for that it hath pleased God to call me to a greater honour and dignity then ever I did enjoy before either in Rochester or London or should have had in Durham whereunto I was last of all elected yea I count it greater honour before God indeed to die in his Cause then is any earthly or temporal promotion or honour that can be given to a man in this world And who is he that knoweth the Cause to be Gods to be Christs Quarrel and of his Gospel to be the Commonweal of all the Elect and chosen Children of God of all the Inheritors of the Kingdome of Heaven Who is he I say that knoweth this assuredly by Gods own Word and the Testimony of his Conscience as I through the infinite goodness of God not of my self but by his grace acknowledge my self to do and doth in deed and in truth love and fear God love and believe his Master Christ and his blessed Gospel and the Brotherhood the chosen Children of God and also lusteth and longeth for eternal life who is he I say again that would not that cannot find in his heart in this Cause to be content to die Farewell Pembrohe Hall in C. of late mine own Colledge my Cure and my Charge what cafe thou art in now God knoweth I know not well Wo is me for thee mine own dear Colledge if ever thou suffer thy self by any means to be brought from setting forth Gods true Word In thy Orchard I learned without Book all Pauls Epistles yea and I ween all the Canonical Epistles save only the Apocalyps Of which study although in time a great part did depart from me yet the sweet smell thereof I trust I shall carry with me into Heaven The Lord grant that this zeal and love to that part of Gods Word which is a Key to all the Scripture may ever abide in that Colledge so long as the world shall endure O thou now wicked and bloody See of London c. hearken thou whorish Bawd of Babylon thou wicked limb of Antichrist thou bloody Wolf why slayest thou and makest havock of the Prophets of God why murthereft thou so cruelly Christs poor silly Sheep which will not hear thy voice because thou art a stranger and will follow none other but their own Pastor Christ his voice Thinkest thou to escape or that the Lord will not require the blood of his Saints at thy hands Instead of my farewell to thee now I say fie upon thee fie upon thee silthy Drab and all thy false Prophets To you my Lords of the Temporality will I speak c. Know ye that I had before mine eyes onely the fear of God and Christian charity toward you that moved me to write for of you hereafter I look not in this world either for pleasure or displeasure if my talk shall do you never so much pleasure or profit you cannot promote me nor if I displease you can you harm me for I shall be out of your reach I say unto you as St. Paul saith unto the Galatians I wonder my Lords what hath bewitched you that ye so suddenly are fallen from Christ unto Antichrist from Christs Gospel unto mans Traditions from the Lord that bought you unto the Bishop of Rome I warn you of your perill be not deceived except you will be found willingly consenters to your own death Understand my Lords it was neither for the priviledge of the Place or Person thereof that the See and Bishop of Rome were called Apostolick but for the true trade of Christs Religion which was taught and maintained in that See at the first of those godly men and therefore as truly and justly as that See then for that true trade of Religion and consanguinity of Doctrine with the Religion and Doctrine of Christs Apostle was called Apostolick so as truly and as justly for the contrariety of Religion and diversity of Doctrine from Christ and his Apostles that See and the Bishop thereof at this day both ought to be called and are indeed Antichristian The See is the Seat of Satan and the Bishop of the same that maintaineth the Abominations thereof is Antichrist himself indeed As for your displeasure by that time this shall come to your knowledge I trust by Gods grace to be in the hands and protection of the Almighty my heavenly Father the living Lord the greatest of all and then I shall not need I trow to fear what any Lord no nor what King or Prince can do unto me Much cause have you to

hear me patiently seeing I am appointed to die and look daily when I shall be called to come before the eternal Judge and therefore you cannot think but that I onely study to serve my Lord God and to say that thing which I am perswaded assuredly by Gods Word shall and doth please him and profit all to whom God shall give grace to hear and believe what I do say If the Popes supremacy be necessary to salvation to be owned How chanced it that ye were all my Lords so light as for your Princes pleasures H. 8. and E. 6. which were but mortal men to forsake the Unity of your Catholick Faith i. e. to forsake Christ and his Gospel How chanced it also that ye and the whole Parliament did not onely abolish and expell the Bishop of Rome but also did abjure him in your own persons and did decree in your Acts great Oaths to be taken for that purpose On the other side if the Law and Decree which maketh the supremacy of the See and Bishop of Rome over the universal Church of Christ be a thing of necessity required unto salvation by an Antichristian Law as it is indeed then my Lords never think other but the day shall come when ye shall be charged with this your undoing that which once ye had well done and with this your perjury and breach of your Oath which Oath was done in judgement justice and truth agreeable to Gods Law The Whore of Babylon may for a time dally with you and make you so drunken with the wine of her filthy stews and whoredomes as with her dispensations and promises of pardon a poena culpa that you may think your selves safe but be ye assured when the Living Lord shall try the matter by fire and judge it according to his Word unless ye repent without all doubt ye shall never escape the hands of the Living God for the guilt of your perjury and breach of your Oath then shall ye drink of the Cup of the Lords indignation and everlasting wrath which is prepared for the Beast his false Prophets and all their partakers For he that is partner with them in their whoredomes and abominations must also be partner with them in their plagues and be thrown with them into the Lake burning with brimstone and unquenchable fire In his Letter to the Prisoners c. and Exiles For the fervent love that the Apostles had unto their Master Christ and for the great commodities and increase of all godliness which they felt by their faith to ensue of afflictions in Christs Cause And thirdly For the heaps of heavenly joyes which the same do get unto the godly which shall endure in Heaven for evermore for these causes they rejoyced that they were accounted worthy to suffer contumelies and rebukes for Christs Name And Paul was so much in love in that which the carnal man loatheth so much i. e. with Christs Cross that he judged himself to know nothing else but Christ crucified he gloried in nothing else but Christs Cross. Why should we Christians fear death Can death deprive us of Christ who is all our comfort our joy and our life Nay forsooth But on the contrary Death shall deliver us from this mortal body which loadeth and beareth down the Spirit that it cannot so well perceive heavenly things in the which so long as we dwell we are absent from the Lord. And who that hath a right knowledge of Christ our Saviour that he is the eternal Son of God life light the wisdome of the Father all goodness all righteousness and whatsoever heart can desire yea infinite plenty of all these above that that mans heart can conceive or imagine for in him dwelleth the fulness of the Godhead bodily and also that he is given us of the Father and made of God to be our wisdome our righteousness our holiness and our redemption who I say is that believeth this indeed that would not gladly be with his Master Christ To die in the defence of Christs Gospel is our bounden duty to Christ and also to our neighbour to Christ for he died for us and rose that he might be Lord of all and seeing he died for us we also saith St. Iohn 1 Ioh. 3. should jeopard yea give our life for the Brethren Farewell dear Brethren farewell and let us comfort our hearts in all troubles and in death with the Word of God for Heaven and Earth shall perish but the Word of the Lord endureth for ever In his Lamentation for the change of Religion in England Of late in every Congregation throughout all England was made Prayer and Petition unto God to be delivered from the Tyranny of the Bishop of Rome and all his detestable enormities from all false doctrine and heresie and now alas Satan hath perswaded England by his fal●hood and craft to revoke her old godly prayer c. This is one maxime and principle in Christs Law He that denieth Christ before men him shall Christ deny before his Father and all his holy Angels in Heaven Now then seeing the doctrine of Antichrist is returned again into this Realm and the higher Powers alas are so deceived and bewitched that they are perswaded it to be Truth and Christs true Doctrine to be errour and heresie and the old Laws of Anticrist are allowed to return with the power of their Father again What can be hereafter looked for of Christians abiding in this Realm but extreme violence of death or else to deny their Master Therefore prepare and arm thy self to die for both by Antichrists accustomable Laws and Scripture Prophesies there is no likelyhood of any other thing except thou wilt deny thy Master Christ which is the loss at the last of body and soul unto everlasting death My counsel to such as are yet at liberty is to flie from the plague and get them hence I consider not onely the subtilties of Satan and how he is like to deceive it it were possible even the chosen of God and also the great frailty which is oftentimes more in a man then he doth know in himself and which in the time of temptation will utter it self but also the examples of Christ Paul Elias c. and Christ saith When they persecute you in one City flie unto another Truly before God I think that the abomination that Daniel prophesied of so long before is now set up in the holy Place the Doctrine of Antichrist his Laws Rites and Religion contrary to Christ and to the true serving and worshipping of God I understand to be that abominition therefore now is the time in England for those words of Christ Then saith Christ they that be in Jewry let them flie into the Mountains then saith he mark this then for truly I am perswaded and I trust by the Spirit of God that this then is commanded By those in Iewry I understand such who truly confess one Living God and the