good experience of these manner of Temptations both by your self and other whom you know well were the beloved of God Satan overcome in Gods Saints Be of good chear therefore dear heart be of good chear for now Satan hath wrought all his malice he hath done all that he can and hath shot off all his last Pieces wherewith he had thought to have done most mischief but now he seeth he cannot prevail the strong Tower of your Faith being so invincible he will pluck up all his Tents and get him to some other place to practise the like assaults and then will the Angels of God come and minister unto you the most sweet and heavenly Consolations of the holy Ghost To him therefore who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that ever we can desire or think I do most heartily commit you with all the rest of your Godly Prison-fellows who comfort strengthen and defend you with his grace mighty operation of his holy Spirit as he hath hitherto done that you having a most glorious Victory over the subtile Serpent and all his wicked seed may also receive the Crown of Glory and Immortality prepared for you before the foundations of the World were laid and is so surely kept for you in the hands of him who is infallible that the Devil Sin Death or Hell shall never be able to deprive you of the same The blessing of God be with you now and for evermore Amen Pray pray pray for me Your own for ever John Careles To my good Sister Mrs. Cotton THe Peace of God in Jesus Christ the eternall Comforts of his sweet Spirit be with you my dear and faithfull Sister to the full accomplishment of that good work which he hath most graciously begun in you that the same may be effectuall to the setting forth of his glory and to your everlasting Consolation in him Amen My loving and faithfull Sister in the Lord I thank you for all your loving kindness shewed unto me but especially for your godly remembrance of me in your fervent and faithfull Prayers and for your most godly and comfortable Letter whereby you do not onely much increase my joy and comfort but also put me in remembrance of my duty towards you Blessed be the Lord our God Gods great gift in women which of his great mercy hath so beautified his Church in these dayes that even unto many godly women he hath given most excellent gifts of knowledge and understanding of his Truth so that they are not onely well able to inform their own Consciences in all things necessary to Salvation but also most sweetly to comfort their sorrowfull Brethren and Sisters that sustain any trouble for the Testimony of Gods Truth yea and that which is more even in the middest of their great Conflicts of Conscience Of which most happy number of godly and virtuous women my dear heart you are one and that of the chiefest being plentifully endued with the gifts of Gods most gracious Spirit as it doth full well appear in your daily doings God onely have the praise therefore Forasmuch then as God hath given you the gift to write Note how God sometime giveth comfort by weaker vessels I shall most heartily desire you to let me hear from you sometimes be it never so little for truly I tâ—ke great Comfort and Courage thereby specially in my poor Conscience which is sore assaulted of subtile Satan and in a manner oppressed of my sin Pray dear S ster that God may give me true hearty and earnest Repentance and increase my Faith for they are both the good gifts of God onely and farre pass the reach of my power to take at my pleasure Therefore dear Sister if you w ll help me to beg the same of our dear loving Father I am sure that he both can and will gâ—ve them me in his good time And as for the fear of Death or terrour of the Fire I most heartily thank my good God I feel it not onely it is mine own sins and unthankefulness which holdeth hard battel and wageth strong warre against me which onely goeth about to separate me from my good Captain Christ that I should not enjoy his glorious victory but God being on my side as I am sure he is that cannot continually prevâ—il against me Though God for a time permit Satan to take his pleasure on me as he did upon Job yet I doubt not but in the end all shall turn to my profit through the Merits of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ To whose most mercifull defence I commit you dear Sister with all the rest of the Lords Elect. Farewell in Christ Your unfeignedly John Careles Pray pray pray pray To my dear Brother T. V. THe everlasting peace of God in Jesus Christ the continual Comforts of his most pure and holy Spirit be with you my most dear friend and faithful Brother V. to the increase of your Faith and comfort of your sorrowful Spirit which is to the Father a sweet Sacrifice through Christ for whose sake he will never despise your humble and contrite heart but doth favourably accept the same and will in most ample wise perform the desire thereof to his Glory and your eternal Comfort in him In the mids of my manifold Crosses and Troubles wherein I am constrained to flee unto God for refuge and succour by earnest and faithful Prayer I cannot forget you my dear heart in the Lord but esteeming your state for mine own I do pour forth my complaint for yâ—u as I do for my self and rather more as I think present need doth require desiring most heartily to hear of the good success of the same in yâ—u The Lord God for his mercy sake accomplish my desi e as I doubt not but he will when he seeth it good and most to his glory and to your comfort and commodity O that I might once see you so merry in Christ Psal 57. as you have just cause to be that you might say with David Awake my glory awake lute and harp bring forth the psaltery with the merry song that I might sing a new song of praise and thanksgiving unto the Lord for the light of his favourable countenance his help and deliverance Oh! Psal 45. that would refresh me as a most precious Oyle and gladden my poor heart which is assaulted with sorrow moe wayes then one Comfort for a sick Conscience I doubt not but the same shall by your means receive much comfort though for a time it doth mourn with you that we may be made both glad together yea and that with such gladness as shall continue for ever But in the mean space I say most happy are you Mat. 9. that so heartily mourn the absence of the Bridegroom If you were not a wedding-childe you could never do it Onely Christs true Disciples do mourn for his absence therefore shall they doubtless rejoyce at his
Lord and Master Christ But yet let us be of good chear for Christ hath overcome the World The pain is but short that we can feel here but the pleasure is perpetual that we shall feel elsewhere Let us set before us the Example of Christ which abode the Cross and despised the shame Consolation under the Cross in respect of the joy that was set before him even so let us consider for whose sake we suffer whose Cause we defend and what glorious Reward we shall have at the day of our victory and then doubtless the consolation of these things will make sweet all our sufferings and soon swallow up all the sorrows that we are sowled in for Gods sake I could recite divers Texts of the Scriptures to confirm this point but I need not for I am well assured that you do know them most perfectly already The Lord give you strength and assist you with his holy Spirit that you may continually walk in all points according to your godly knowledge And then shall you do not as the most part of your Gospellers do now adayes the more is the pity There are a great many in England that do perfectly know that the Idolatrous Mass is abominable devillish and detestable in the sight of God and yet alas they be not afraid to pollute and defile their bodies which ought to be the Temples of the holy Ghost with being present at it so sinning against God and their own Conscience But dear Sister K. do you fly from it both in body and Soul as you would fly from the very Devil himself Drink not of the Whore of Babylons Cup by no means for it will infect the Body and poison the Soul Be not partakers of her sins saith the Angel lest you be partakers of the Plagues that shortly shall be poured upon her O what an array is this that so many that know Gods Truth will now turn again and defile themselves in the filthy Puddle of Antichrists stinking Religion They go about to save their lives with their double dissimulation but doubtless they shall lose everlasting life by it if they do not Repent in time and turn unto the Lord. But dear sister my trust is that you do utterly abhorre the coming to any such thing I hope that you will not by any means turn back into Egypt now but that you will boldly venture through the Wilderness of Trouble and Persecution that you may come into the Land that floweth with all kinde of Heavenly pleasures and joyful delectations and possess the same for ever Let us consider how that every one of us doth owe unto God a death by nature and how soon the Lord will require it of us we know not Oh how happy are we then if God of his goodness appoint us to pay Natures debt with suffering for his Truth and Gospel sake and so making us his faithful Witnesses with the Prophets Apostles Martyrs and Confessors yea with his dearly beloved Son Jesus Christ to whom he doth here begin to fashion us like in suffering that we might be like him also in glory Thus my dearly beloved Sister I have been bold to trouble you a little with my rude and simple Letter being made in haste as it doth appear Yet I desire you to take it in good worth as a token of my poor zeal unto you and do accept my good will And if it please God to spare me life and liberty I trust hereafter to write unto you more largely Fare ye well dear Sister E. K. the Lord bless you and all yours and pour upon you the heavenly dew of his Grace The Lord indue you with plentiful knowledge of his Verity and fill you with his holy and mighty Spirit that you may continually rejoyce in the Comforts of the same now and ever Amen Pray pray pray with stedfast Faith Your daily Oratour John Careles Prisoner of the Lord. A Letter of John Careles to Mrs. Agnes Glascock THe everlasting peace of God in Jesus Christ the continuall ayd strength and comforts of his most pure holy and mighty Spirit be with you my dear and faithfull Sister Glascock to the good performance of that good work which God hath so graciously begun in you to his glory and the commodity of his poor afflicted Church and to your own eternal comfort in him Amen In our Lord I have most humble and hearty commendations unto you my dear Sister and most faithful Mother Glascock with all remembrance of you in my daily Prayers giving God most hearty land praise and thanks for you and on your behalf in that he of his great mercy hath hitherto so mightily strengthned you constantly to cleave unto your Captain Christ notwithstanding the great assaults and manifold temptations that you have had to the contrary Doubtless dear heart it cannot be expressed what joy and comfort it is unto my very Soul to see how mightily the Lord hath magnified himself in you and other his dear elect darlings whom he will shortly glorifie with himself as he hath done other of his sweet Saints that are gone before you Rejoyce therefore and be glad for verily you have good cause if you diligently consider the great dignity that God hath called you unto even in your old age to be one of his worthy Witnesses unto the World and I think you shall with me and other your Brethren in Bonds seal the Lords Verity with the Testimony of your Blood Surely sweet Sister What an high honour it is to suffer for Christ this is the greatest promotion that God can bring you or any other unto in this life and an honour that the highest Angel in Heaven is not permitted to have Therefore happy are you Oh faithful daughter of Abraham that the Lord will now preferre you before many other yea or any other of your age that I do know in England Oh faithful and virtuous Matron which wilt not be moved from the sure Rock Christ upon whom you have so firmly built your house that neither storms nor tempests neither yet Hell gates or any other temptations shall ever be able once to prevail against it Full well doth it appear by your constant continuance that you have played the part of a wise builder in counting the Cost aforehand belonging to the finishing of your Tower and I doubt not but through Gods gift you have sufficient to the performance thereof that the Hypocrites of their part shall have no just cause to triumph against you or to mock you saying Lo this woman began to build but is not able to make an end Therefore go on boldly and fear not for God is faithfull as S. Paul saith which will not suffer you to be tempted above your strength but either will he give you grace and strength to stand unto the death which is the gate and entrance into life or else he will make such an out-scape for you as shall be to the setting forth of
presence which will be so much more joyful by how much the absence is more sorrowful Therefore my good Brother take a good heart unto you and be of good chear Say with the Prophet David O my Soul Psal 42. why art thou so heavy and why art thou so disquieted within me O put thy trust in God for I will yet give him thanks for the help of his loving countenance and because he is my God Read the 41 42 Psalm for your comfort and consider that the holy King and Prophet at the making and first saying of them was even in the same case that you are now in but he still comforted himself with the sweet promises of God and so do you my dear heart for to you they do as well pertain as they did to him and as surely shall they be performed upon you as they were upon him for he is one God and dear Father unto you both and for his Mercy Truth and Promise sake Gods love goeth not by our deservings but by Faith in Jesus he must needs make good unto you all that he hath said If his love toward you stood in respect of your own merit and worthiness you might well mourn lament and complain yea you had good cause to doubt fear and mistrust but seeing he loveth you onely for and in Jesus Christ who is your whole Holiness Righteousness and Redemption lay away all mourning lamenting and complaining banish from you all fear mistrust and infidelity and know that as long as Christ doth continue Gods Son so long must the love of the Father continue towards you immutable and his good will unchangeable and cannot be altered through any of your infirmities For this is most true that as long as the Cause of any thing doth last so long must the Effect remain but Christâ—s the whole Cause why the Father loveth you and he also continueth for ever Christ onely is the cause why his Father loveth us Then must I needs conclude that the love of the Father continueth towards you for ever and as the Psalmist most joyfully so often singeth His mercy endureth for ever and ever This is most true mine own dear heart although the Lord for a time hide it from your senses that you might be the more earnest in Prayer to him for the feeling of it and also the more thankfull for it when he doth give the lively taste of it Why God sometime hideth himself from us as doubtless he will do ere ever it be long and then shall you be well able to comfort other in the same state that you are now in with the same comfort wherewith you are and further shall be comforted of God Therefore lift up your hands that are now a little fallen down and stretch forth the weak knees of your troubled minde Heb. 12. which now mourneth with a godly mourning and therefore shall it be full well comforted with that sweet peace of God which passeth all understanding and you are sure already to enjoy the blessing that Christ gave unto the godly mourners of Sion upon the mount Eccles 7. at the first Sermon that he made O happy V. in whose mourning company I had rather be then in the house of mirth and banquetting of such as see not what cause they have to mourn and be sorry Measure ought to be in mourning But yet my good Brother use a measure in this your godly mourning and make not your faithful Friends too much sorry for you Let the perswasions of such godly lovers as you do daily company withal or rather the perswasions of the holy Ghost by them move you to some godly mirth and rejoycing Consider that you are commanded by the mouth of Saint Paul Phil. 4. thereto Rejoyce in the Lord saith he and I say again Rejoyce Mark how he doubleth the Sentence that we may perceive it is a most earnest and necessary thing he requireth Obey the Commandment of God in this behalf wherein as you cannot but highly please him so I assure you Example of Christian Charity and compassion towards his afflicted Brother you shall very much rejoyce my poor heart and the hearts of other which pray for you with mourning tears and make that cruel enemy Satan and all your adversaries sorry which will rejoyce and laugh to see you mourn Oh my good Brother let it manifestly appear that the Lord of his great mercy hath heaâ—d our faithful and hearry requests for you Oh how would that rejoyce me in the mids of my troubles Therefore now to conclude because the darkness constraineth me to make an end for this time I say my dear and faithful Brother V. in respect of the great cause you have of your own part through Christ and for the glory and honour of almighty God the comfort joy and rejoycing of your dear Brethren and Sisters in Chrâ—st also your own duety by the Commandment of God and last of all to vex molest and grieve Satan withal Rejoyce in the Lord and be most heartily glad in him who is wholly yours and you are his and shall be for evermore Selah Farewel mine own Bowels in the Lord and praise God with joyful lips and a merry heart and pray for me his most unprofitable Servant which have more cause concerning my self to lament then any one man living but my good bridegroom is present and biddeth me cast away my mourning garments and therefore I must needs be merry with him and so he biddeth you to be by my mouth for he is present with you although for sorrow you cannot know him as Magdalen could not in the garden until he spake unto her The Lord God speak these words of comfort in your heart and open the eyes of your minde that you may perfectly perceive and feel his blessed presence and so rejoyce in the same for evermore Amen Comfort your heart in Christ and cast your care upon him for he careth for you Your Brother in the Lord abiding his good pleasure John Careles To my dear and faithful Brother Augustine Bernher THe peace of God in Jesus Christ the help comfort and assistance of his eternal Spirit be with you my dear and faithful Brother Augustine and with all the rest of my good Brethren and Sisters of the houses of Bâ—xterly and Manceter which mourneth for the misery of Gods People to your everlasting Consolation in him Amen Right glad I am to hear my dear and faithful Brother Augustine that God of his great mercy and infinite goodness hath yet so graciously delivered and preserved you out of your enemies hands beseeching Almighty God also from the bottom of my heart to be your continual defence unto the end as hitherto he hath most graciously been that you may live and dye both to Gods Glory the commodity of his Church and to the increase of your own everlasting joy and comfort in him Know you dear Brother that I
your self which thing I would wish you to do if need require or else not good Wife take heed how you bestow your self that you and my poor Children be not compelled to wickedness But if you sh ll be able well to live Gods true Widow I would counsel you so to live still for the more quietness of your self and your poor Children Take heed Margaret and play the wise womans part you have warning by other if you will take an example And thus I commit you and my sweet Children unto Gods most mercifull defence The Blessing of God be with you and God send us a merry meeting together in Heaven Farewell in Christ farewell mine own dear hearts all Pray pray To my most dear and fâ—ithful Brethren in Newgate Condemned to dye for the Testimony of Gods everlasting Truth THe everlasting pâ—ace of G d in Jesus Christ the continual joy strength and comfort of his most pâ—re holy and mighty Spirit with the encrease of Faith and lâ—vely feeling of his Eternal Mercy be with you my most dear and faithful lov ng B other Tyms and with all the rest of my dear hearts in the Lord your faithful Fellow-souldiers and most constant Companions in Bonds yea of men condemned most cruelly for the sincere Testimony of Gods everlasting Truth to the full finishing of that good work which he hath so graciously begun in you all that the same may be to his glory the commodity of his poor afflicted Church and to your everlasting comfort in him Amen Ah my most sweet and loving Bâ—ethren and dearest hearts in the Lord what shall I say or how shall I write unto you in the least point or part to utter the great joy that my poor heart hath received in God through the most godly example of your Christâ—an Constancy and sincere Confession of Christs Verity truely my tongue cannot declare Example of true love and charity among the Martyrs nor my pen express the abundance of spiritual mirth and gladness that my minde and inward man hath felt ever since I heard of your hearty boldness and modest behaviour before that bloody Butcher in the time of all your crafty Examinations especially at your cruel Condemnation in their cursed Consistory place Blâ—ssed be God the Father of all mercy and praised be his Name for that he hath so graciously performed upon you his dear darlings his most sweet and comfortable promises in not only giving you the continual ayd strength and comfort of his holy and mighty Spirit to the faithful confession of his Christ for whose cause O most happy men ye are condemned to dye but also in giving you such a mouth and wisdome as all your wicked Enemies were not able to resist The Enemies not able to withstand the w sedome of God in his Saints but compelled to bid them hold their peace but were fain to cry Peace peace and not suffer you to speak As truly as God liveth my dear Brethren this is not only unto you a most evident probation that God is on our side and a sure certainty of your everlasting Salvation in him but also to your cruel Adversaries or rather Gods cursed Enemies a plain demonstration of their just eternal woe and damnation which they shall be full sure shortly to feel when ye shall full sweetly possess the place of felicity and pleasure prepared for you from the beginning Therefore my dearly beloved cease not so long as ye be in this life to praise the Lord with a lusty courage for that of his great mercy and infinite goodness he hath vouched you worthy this great dignity to suffer for his sake not onely the loss of goods Wife and Children long imprisonment and cruel oppression c. but also the very deprivation of this mortal life with the dissolution of your bodies in the fire The which in the greatest promotion that God can bring you or any other unto in this vale of misery yea so great an honour as the highest Angel in Heaven is not permitted to have and yet hath the Lord for his dear Son Christs sake reputed you worthy of the same yea and that before me and many other which have both long looked and longed for the same John Careles longeth to dye a Martyr in the Gospels cause Ah my most dear Brother Tyms whose time resteth altogether in the hands of the Lord in a full happy time camest thou into this troublesome world but in a much more blessed houâ— shalt thou depart forth of the same so that the sweet saying of Solomon or rather of the Holy-ghost shall be full well verified upon thee yea and all thy faithful fellows Better is the day of death saith he then the day of birth Eccles 7. This saying cannot be verified upon every man but upon thee my dear Brother and such as thou art whose death is most precious before God and full dear shall your blood be in his sight Blessed be God for thee my dear Brother Tyms and blessed be God again that ever I knew thee for in a most happy time I came first into thy company Pray for me dear Brother pray for me that God will once vouch me worthy of that great dignity whereunto he hath now brought you Ah my loving Brother Drake whose Soul draweth now nigh unto God of whom you have received the same full glad may you be that ever God gave you a life to leave for his sake full well will he restore it to you again in a thousand fold more glorious wise Praise God good Brother as you have great cause and pray for me I beseech you which am so much unworthy so great are my sins of that great dignity whereunto the Lord hath called you and the rest of your godly Brethren whom I beseech you to comfort in the Lord as you can full well praised be God for his gifts which you have heartily applied to the setting forth of his glory and the commodity of his poor afflicted Church Which thing shall surely redound to your everlasting joy and comfort as you shall most effectually feel or ever it be long though the wicked of the World judge far otherwise Ah mine own Hearts and most dearly beloved Brethren Cavell Ambrose and both the Spurges Blessed be the Lord on your behalf and praised be his Name which hath given you such a glorious victory Full valiant have you shewed your selves in the Lords fight and full faithfully in your painful service Faint not but go on forward as you have most godly begun for great shall your reward be at the end of this your travel Ah my good faithful Brethren all what shall I say or what shall I write unto you but even the same that good Elizabeth did say to her godly kinswoman Mary the blessed Mother of Christ Luke 1. Happy art thou quoth that good woman which hast believed for all things which the Lord hath spoken to thee shall be
your good heart my most faithful and dear Brother Tyms to the full quieting of your Conscience and beating back of all the fiery darts of the wicked that you may shortly receive the glorious Crown of Victory and in the same triumph over all your Enemies for evermore Amen I cannot express the exceeding great joy and consolation of my poor heart considering the marvellous works of God most graciously wrought upon you not onely in proving you and trying your Faith by his great and huge Crosses both inwardly and outwardly but also in giving you so great Consolation and Constancy in the midst of the same Faithful is God and true of his Promises Gods Children never tempted above their strength who hath said That he will never suffer his chosen children to be tempted above their strength but in the midst of their temptation will make an out-scape for them by such means as may make to his glory and their everlasting consolation My dear heart great cause have you to be of good comfort for I see in you as lively a token of Gods everlasting love and favour in Jesus Christ as ever I perceived in any man in respect whereof I do even with my heart love honour and reverence you beseeching God for his glorious Name sake in the Bowels and Blood of our Lord and onely Saviour Jesus Christ He confirmeth W. Tims being condemned to the day of his Martyrdome to finish his good work in you as I doubt not but he will do according to his infallible Promises yea I am well assured thereof forasmuâ—h as you have so effectually received his holy Spirit into your heart as a pledg and sure Seal of your eternal Redemption and a Testimony of your Adoption in Christ Jesus For which cause Satan so sore envieth you that he hath now bent all his fierce Ordnance against you thinking thereby utterly to destroy the invincible Fort of your Faith founded most firmly upon the unmoveable Rock CHRIST against the which the Devil Sin nor yet Hell gates shall never prevail Selah Therefore mine own Bowels in the Lord be not discomforted for this your Conflict which doubtless shall greatly increase your Crown of Glory Triumph and Victory but take a good heart unto you and buckle boldly with Satan both in himself and in his subtile Members It is the nature of Gods Children to be tempted It is the very divine Ordinance of God that all his regenerate Children shall be tempted proved and tryed as we see by the Example of our Saviour Christ who as soon as he was Baptized was straightwayes led of the Holy Ghost into the Wilderness there to be tempted of the Devil But there got he such a glorious victory over Satan that he could never since finally prevail against any of his poor Members but in every assault that he maketh either inwardly or outwardly he getteth a foyle and taketh shame so that now he rageth with all the spight possible specially because he knoweth his time is but short James 4. St. James testifieth that he is but a very Coward that will soon flie if he be faithfully resisted And as for his tempting Tools the Lord hath made them manifest unto us so that he cannot deceive us though he assault us Satans tempting tools 2 Cor. 2. for as St. Paul saith his very thoughts are not unknown unto us as it doth in you largely appear praised be the Lords Name therefore You see dear Brother that now to molest you and such as you are that be even passing from this Vale of Misery he hath but two wayes or two pieces of Ordnance to shoot at you Two principal pellets of Satan whereby he assâ—ulteth Gods Servants 1. Fear of sin and death and Infidelity of Gods promises Remedy against Fear and Infidelity with the which he cannot hurt you because you have two bulwarks to defend you The first of these terrible Guns that Satan hath shot at you is the very same that he continually shooteth at me that is to say Fear and Infidelity for the uglysomness of death and horrour of my sins which be so many grievous and great but this Pellet is easily put away with the surer shield of Faith in the most precious death and bloodshedding of our dear Lord and onely Saviour Jesus Christ whom the Father hath given unto us wholy to be ours for evermore and with him hath given us all things as Paul saith So that though we be never so great sinners yet Christ is made unto us Holyness Righteousness and justification He hath clothed us with all his Merits Mercies and most sweet sufferings and hath taken unto him all our misery wretchedness sin and infirmity So that if any should now be condemned for the same it must needs be Iesus Christ which hath taken them upon him But indeed he hath made satisfaction for them to the uttermost jot so that for his sake they shall never be imputed to us if they were a Thousand times so many moe as they be This do you most effectually feel and know dear Brother a great deal better then I can tell you blessed be God therefore And now Satan seeing he cannot prevail with his boisterous Battery against this Bulwark of Faith which doth so quench all his fiery darts that they can do you no harm but rather do you good service to cast you down under the mighty hand of God The second pellet of Satan is confidence and trust in our own good works that he may take you up by his onely grace and power and so you may render him all the glory by Iesus Christ which thing the Enemy cannot abide in no wise therefore he shooteth off his other Piece most pestilent to provoke you to put some part of your trust and confidence in your self and in your own holiness and righteousness that you might that way rob God of his glory Christ of his honour and dignity of his death Remedy against the second Pellet But blessed be the Lord God you have also a full strong Bulwark to beat back this pestiferous Pellet also even the pure Law of God which proveth the best of us all damnable sinners in the sight of God if he would enter into judgement with us according to the severity of the same and that even our best works are polluted and defiled in such sort Isay 64. as the Prophet describeth them With which manner of speaking our free-will Pharisees are much offended for it felleth all mans Righteousness to the ground I had like to have said to the bottom of Hell and extolleth onely the Righteousness of Jesus Christ which is allowed before God and is freely given to all those that firmly believe as blessed be God you do Ah my good brother Tyms Satan hath put his hand in a wrong box when he beginneth to tempt you either to Vain-glory or mistrust for you are an old beaten souldier and have had
have received your Letter for the which I heartily thank you Indeed I think it very short although it seemeth something sharply to rebuke me in the beginning for the breach of my promise in not writing to you of this long time Well Brother I am content to bear it with patience considering that you are troubled otherwise the Lord comfort you and all heavy hearts neither will I spend Ink and Paper for my purgation in this point God be knoweth whether I be so mindless of my promise as it appeareth in your sight I am Your request I will truly perform to the uttermost of my power as gladly as any poor wretch shall do in the World and I thank God I have done no less of long time And as my poor Prayer shall be a handmaid to wait upon you which way soever you ride or go so I beseech you that my simple counsel may take some place in you in this time of your pilgrimage which you pass in no small peril God keep and preserve you for his Names sake He counselleth Augustine to be circumspect not rashly to thrust himself in danger I do not disallow but much praise and commend your hearty boldness in putting your self in prease when any one of Gods People needeth your help in any point But yet I would not have you thrust your self in danger when you can do them no good or at least wise when they may well enough spare that good you would do them for if you should then chance to be taken you shall not onely be no comfort unto them but also a great discomfort adding sorrow unto their sorrow I do not perswade you to absent your self from any place â—here your presence of necessity is required for in all such places I know God will preserve you as he hath hithe to wonderfully done praised be his Name therefore or if it shall please him to permit you in any such place to be taken I know he will most sweetly comfort your Conscience with this consideration That it is the very Providence and Appointment of God that you should there and then be taken up for a Witness of his Truth unto the world But I cannot allow nor be contented that you should rashly or negligently thrust your self into that place where your wicked enemies do continually haunt yea and lay wait for you when no necessity of your self nor of any other of Gods people doth require your company If they need any of your godly counsel you may write unto them that thing that you think good which I dare say will be sufficient unto them For continuall thanks and praises be given unto the Everlasting God there is none of those that be cruelly condemnâ—d for Gods Truth that now be weaklings for they have manfully passâ—d through the Pikes and they have boldly abidden the brunt of the Battel and therefore I reckon the worst is past with them already So that now and then a godly Letter from you to them shall do as much good as your company shall do and perchance more too for writing sticketh longer in the memory then word do yea though your Letters were as short to them as your last was to me so that the same be something sweeter and not all thing so sharp This dear Brother is the simple counsel which I would gladly have you observe partly for that I heartily pray for your preservation to the commodity of Christs Church and partly for that I unfeignedly wâ—sh the peace comfort and tranquility of your own Conscience which I know will be quickly ready to accuse you A good Conscience is soon troubled if you do any thing wherein you have not the Word of God for your warrant For in a glass that is clear a small mote will soon appear even so the good Conscience of Gods chosen children being more clear then Chrystal will quickly accuse them at the least fault they do commit whereas the wicked worldlings have their Conscience so clogged and corrupted through the custome of sin that they cannot see nor perceive their own shameful deeds and wicked works until God set the same before them for their utter â—â—struction and then despair they immediately But seeing that God hath given you a clear Conscience and a pure sharp quick and lively sight in your Soul I would wish you to beware that you do nothing unadvisedly Conscience of sin is sometimes taken where none is committed but upon a good ground for an accusing Conscience is a sore thing when death doth approach and then Satan will not stick to tell you that you have too much tempted God when peradventure you have done nothing so at all For this cause I say partly I have thought it good to admonish you as I have done often to be circumspect according to the counsel of Christ which biddeth you to beware of men Matth. 10. Other things I have not to write for I know this Bearer can certifie you of all things at large better then I can declare it by writing I beseech you good Augustine help me forward by your hearty Prayers for I trust I have but a small time in this troublesome World Dr. Story told our Marshal that we should all be dispatched so soon as he came from Oxford whither he and other bloody Butchers be gone to make slaughter of Christs sheep that lye there appointed to be slain God for Christs sake put them and such like besides their cruel purpose if it be his good wâ—ll and pleasure Amen good Lord. I pray you do my most hearty commendations to my good Sister and faithful Friend good Mris. Mary Glover I beseech God be her comfort as I doubt not but he is I am very glad to hear that she doth so joyfully and so patiently bear this great Cross that God hath laid upon her I pray God strengthen her and all other his dear Saints unto the end Amen Commend me unto my dear and faithful Sister Elizabeth B. I thank her most heartily for her Napkin and so I do you dear Brother for my shirt Truly that day that we were appointed to come to our Answer before the Commissioners which had sent word the same morning that they would come to the Kings Bench by eight of the clock and the house and all things were trimmed and made ready for them I got that Shirt on my back and that Napkin in my hand The Christian courage of Jâ—hn Careles and me thought that they did help to harness me and weapon me well to go fight against that Bloody Beast of Babylon And trust me truly if they had come I would have stricken three strokes the more for your two sakes as well as God would have abled me to have set them on as by Gods grace I will not fail to do at the next Skirmish that I come to wherefore I pray you pray for me that I may be strong and hardy to lay on
the life of the Gospel and bring our sheaves full of Corn. Yea the death of the Martyrs which is most precious in his sight shall be the life of the Gospel spight of the Papists hearts Pray for me dear heart that I may be counted worthy to sowe some seed amongst the sweet Saints of the Lord that I may reap the same again without ceasing A sowing time is Christs Church at the Harvest It is now sowing time of the year men say in the Country and I think I shall make an end of sowing before all March be past for I hear say that I shall prove how my Plough will enter into the stony ground of the hard hearted Papists within these four dayes I hope to hold fast and not to look back neither for fear nor flattery until I have made an end of sowing and then will I set me down and rest me and ask them all no leave and look for the lively fruit and increase thereof with joy and gladness My dear Brother the time approacheth near I praise God therefore that I must put off this siâ—ful tabernacle and go home to my heavenly Father where divers of my dear Brethren are already looking and wishing for me I beseech you therefore that you will help me forward with your faithful Prayers as I know you doe for I do feel the comfort and commodity thereof That you have observed my simple Counsell I am right glad This counsel was that he should marry notwithstanding certain lets whereby Satan sought to hinder his Marriage and I trust in the Lord God you shall finde comfort in the same And that you may so doe indeed I have been so bold to write these few words unto you because I shall see you no more in this corruptible life therefore mark them well First and above all things you must be very circumspect to keep the band of love and beware that there never spring up the root of bitterness between you If at any time there happen to rise any cause of unkindness between you as it is unpossible alwayes to be free from it see that you weed up the same with all lenity gentleness and patience The root of bitterness to be weeded out with the Spade of Patience and never suffer your self nor your wife to sleep in displeasure If you have cause to speak sharply and sometimes to reprove How and when the husband ought to reprove beware that you do not the same in the presence of other but keep your words until a convenient time which is the point of a wise man saith Solomon and then utter them in the spirit of meekness and the groaning spirit of perfect love which you must also let sometimes to cover faults and wink at them if they be not intollerable Whatsoever loss and mischance shall happen unto you Faults somtime must be covered with love take it patiently and bear it merrily and though the same should come partly through your wifes negligence yet let it rather be a loving warning to take heed in time to come then a cause of sorrow for that which is past and cannot be holpen I know by mine own experience that we are in this life subjâ—ct to many inconveniences and that of nature we are prone to displeasure Not to take unkindness for every trifle and ready to think unkindeness for every little trifle and specially with our best friends yea soonest with our loving wives which be most lothest to displease us But let us beware of this cankered corruption and consider that wrought most of all in love to bear with them according to Christs example towards his Congregation for whom he gave himself to cleanse it c. I had thought to have treated this matter at large but even now I am interrupted and otherwise letted I doubt not but you know your duty therein a great deal better then I can declare it unto you and as you know it so will do it but I love to be bold with you I intend also to write to your wife very shortly and so take my last farewel of you forever in this World And thus in great haste I am now constrained to make an end The blessing of God be alwayes with you Your own forever John Careles Pray pray pray with Faith Another Letter of John Careles to Elizabeth Wife of the said A. B. containing likewise certain godly Precepts of Matrimony pertaining to her duty THe everlasting peace of God in Iesus Christ the continual ayd strength and comfort of his most holy and mighty Spirit with increase of knowledge faith and perfect feeling of Gods eternal mercy be with you my dear and faithful loving Sister E. B. and with your godly loving husband and my dear and faithful Brother to the full performance of that good which he hath so graciously begun in you that in all things you may be madâ— rich and blessed in him and your seed after you now and ever Amen As I have been long desirous to write unto you my dear heart iâ— the Lord not onely being thereto bound of duty but also ofteâ— provoked of him to whom I owe my self and all that I am able to do I mean even that blessed of the Lords own mouth whom God hath joyned with you in that holy and Christian state of Matrimony even so at the last I have obtained time and occasion in some part to perform that which I have long purposed And forasmuch as the Lord of his great mercy and fatherly Care and Providence over you his dear childe hath now graciously accomplished that good work among many other which I as a friend of the Bridegroom have full heartily wished and often prayed for I think it good yea and my bounden duty to treat of such things as may be profitable to preserve mutual love and faithful amity between you Satan an enemy to all godly affairs which I know Satan will chiefly labour to diminish if he cannot altogether destroy the same lest by many joyful occasions you should be provoked continually to praise God for his good gâ—ft which that enemy hath by all means sought to hinder from you As for all other things I know you are sufficiently instructed and also have a most godly learned Companion who is well able further to teach you if need do require But in this thing I know my Experience is more then his Therefore my good Sister first and before all things see that you do diligently consider that as every good and perfect gift pertaining to Soul and Body is given from above and cometh from the Father of Light Even so to whomsoever the Lord dealeth any of his benefits of them he doth chiefly require alwayes a thankful heart for the same for else he will either take away his good gifts again or turn the same to their great discommodity and in the end to the increase of their condemnation So detestable in his
sight is the Sin of Ingratitude The sin of ingratitude But to such as be thankful for his benefits he doth not onely to the old ever adde new but also maketh the commodity of his former gifts ever more and more to increase untill by them they are fully perswaded and throughly certified of his everlasting love in Christ Jesus which is eternal life it self so much doth he of his great mercy delight in a thankful heart Therefore I do yet once again earnestly require you that above all things you be thankful to God for his benefits God loveth a thankful hoart not onely for your Election Creation Redemption and Preservation but also for his other temporal gifts wherewith he hath endued you amongst the which the chief and most excellent is as testifieth the holy Ghost your good godly and faithful loving Husband For as the Wiseman saith Goods and possessions may come to a man by the death of his friends but a good Wife is the gift of God A good wiâ—â—tâ—e gift of Goâ— which the Lord will give for a good portion to such as fear him And the like is of a good Husband as the Lord hath now given you praised be his Name therefore He hath not given you an ignorant froward churlish brawling wastful rioting drunken Husband wherewith he hath plagued many other as he might also have done you but he hath given you a most godly leaâ—ned gentle loving quiet patient thrifty diligent and sober Husband by whom he will nourish cherish keep and defend you instruct and teach you yea care and provide for you and your Children the which he will also by him give you such things as be necessary for you He hath not dealt so with every body and yet he hath done this and much more for you my dear Sister and will thereto increase joy and love between you God delighteth in the agreement between Man Wife for as he delighteth in the love godly agreement of man wife together so is it he only that maketh them and all the whole houshold to be of one mind Unto the which his gracious work he requireth your diligence and will use you as his instrument and mean the more effectuously to accomplâ—sh the same And therefore I now require you to observe this my simple counsel the which I have here written as a testimonial of my good will towards you because I think in this life I shall never more see you Now as I have shewed you how you should be thankful unto God for his good gifts so I exhort you and as much as in me lieth charge you to be evermore thankful unto your dear loving husband who hath given himself unto you which is a more precious jewel in the Church of God then perchance you are yet aware of The duty of Wives toward their Husbands Think your self unworthy to be matched with such an Instrument of God and also reverence evermore the gifts of God in him and seek with true obedience and love to serve him in recompence of his true and painful heart towards you Be loth in any wise to offend him yea rather be careful and diligent to please him that his Soul may bless you If at any time you shall chance to anger him or to do or speak any thing that shall grieve him see that you never rest until you have pacified him and made him merry again If at any time he shall chance to blame you without a cause or for that you cannnot do therewith which thing happeneth sometimes of the best men living see that you bear it patiently and give him no uncomely or unkinde word for it but ever more look upon him with a loving and chearful countenance and rather take the fault upon you then seem to be displeased A chearful countenance Be alwayes merry and chearful in his company but not with too much lightness Beware in any wise of swelling powting or lowring for that is a token of a cruel and unloving heart except it be in respect of sin or in the time of sickness Be not sorrowful for any adversity that God sendeth but beware that nothing be spilt or go to waste through your negligence In any wise see rhat you be quick and cleanly about his meat and drink and prepare him the same according to his diet in due season Temperance in apparrel Go cleanly and well favouredly in your Apparel but beware of of Pride in any wise Finally in word and deed shew your self wise humble merry and loving towards him and also towards such as he doth love and then shall you lead a blessed life I could speak of many other things the which I have learned and proved true by experience but I know that you will do in all things much better then I can teach you because you have that anointing that teacheth you all things who hath also given you an heart to obey and serve him Yet I trust you will not be offended for this which I have written but rather accept my good will towards you whom I love in the Lord as well as I do my daughter Judith Thus as mine own Soul I commend you both to God desiring him to bless you with all manner of Spiritual blessings in heavenly things and also with the dew of Heaven and fatness of the Earth that in all things you may be made rich in Jesus Christ our Lord and onely Saviour The Lord increase and bless the fruit of your bodyes that your Children may stand round about your Table thick fresh and lusty like the Olive branches God give you both a long life that you may see and bless your Childrens Children unto the third and fourth Generation and teach them the true fear and love of God and that Faith for the which they shall be accepted in his sight God let you see the prosperity of Sion for whose lying in the dust let your hearts mourn The Lord make perfect your love together in him and alwayes increase the same Note that both these departed in quiet peace the one 1565. the other 1568. and bring you both in peace to your graves at a good age And now I bid you both most heartily farewel and I think I shall now take my leave of you for ever in this life I beseech you both to aid me with your continual Prayers as I will not forget you in mine that I may have a joyful victory through Jesus Christ To whose most mercifull defence I do most heartily for ever commend you to be kept unblameable untill his coming The which I beseech him to hasten for his Mercies sake Your own unfeignedly John Careles Prisoner of the Lord. Here endeth the Letters of John Careles A Letter of Mr. John Bradfords which he wrote to a faithfull Woman in her heaviness and trouble most comfortable for all those to reade that are afflicted and broken-hearted for their sins GOd
see Nay I should have said You shall feel he will turn to you You know that Moses when he went into the Mount to talk with God he entred into a dark Cloud and Elias had his face covered when God passed by Both these dear friends of God heard God but they saw him not but you would be preferred before them See now my dear heart how covetous you are Ah be thankful be thankful But God be praised that your covetousness is Moses covetousness Well with him you shall be satisfied But when Forsooth when he shall appear Here is not the time of seeing Psal 16. but as it were in a glass Isaac was deceived because he was not content with hearing onely Therefore to make an end of these many words wherewith I fear me I do but trouble you from better exercises inasmuch as you are indeed the childe of God elect in Christ before the beginning of all times inasmuch as you are given to the custody of Christ as one of Gods most precious jewels inasmuch as Christ is faithful and hitherto hath all power so that you shall never perish no one hair of your head shall not be lost I beseech you Learn here to put away doubting all tender hearts that seek after Christ I pray you I desire you I crave at youâ— hands with all my very heart I ask of you with hand pen tongue and minde in Christ through Christ for Christ for his Name Blood Mercies Power and Truths sake my most entirely beloved Sister that you admit no doubting of Gods finall Mercies towards you howsoever you feel your self but complain to God and crave of him as of your tender and dear Father all things and in that time which shall be most opportune you shall finde and feel far above that your heart or the heart of any creature can conceive to your eternal joy Amen Amen Amen The good Spirit of God alwayes keep us as his dear children he comfort you as I desire to be comforted my dearly beloved for evermore Amen This 8. of August by him that in the Lord desireth to you as well and as much felicity as to his own heart John Bradford A worthy Answer of a constant Martyr called Guy de Brez Anno Dom. 1566. GVy de BreZ a minister of the Gospel being committed Prisoner into the Castle of Tournay was visited by many Ladies and Gentlewomen only out of a desire to see him in regard he was a man so highly esteemed Some at the first view scoffed others railed on him but others were moved to take pitty and compassion on him Amongst the rest the Countess of Ren accompanied with certain Gentlewomen coming into the Prison and at her first entrance beholding the Iron chain to which was fastned Mr. Guy said she I wonder how you can either eat drink or sleep in quiet for wer I in your case the very terrour thereof would goe nigh to kill me O Madam said he the good cause for which I suffer and that inward peace of Conscience with which God hath endued mee makes me eat and drink with greater contentment then my enemies can which seek my life yea so far off is it that my bonds or chain do any way terrifie me or break off my sleep that on the contrary I glory and take delight therein esteeming them at a higher rate then chains and rings of Gold or any other Jewels of price whatsoever for they yield me much more profit Yea when I hear the ratling of my chains me thinks I hear as it were some sweet instrument of musick sounding in mine ears not that such an effect comes meerly from my chains but in regard I am bound therewith for maintaining the truth of the Gospel The same Martyr in a letter to his wife acquaints her with Gods graciâ—us dealing with him in all his assaults SPeaking of his apprehension he shews how carnal reason began to play its part against the Providence of God for saith he these thoughts came thronging into my head what meant we to go so many in company together as we did had it not been for such and such we had never been discovered or taken Under such like cogitations I lay for a while saith he even in a manner overwhelmed till by the assistance of Gods holy Spirit my minde was raised up to meditate on Gods Providence After which my heart began to feel wonderful rest and contentment saying thus in my self O my God the day and hour of my birth was before ordained by thee ever since thou hast preserved and kept me in great perils and dangers and hitherto delivered me out of them all And if now the hour be come wherein I must pass out of this life into thy kingdome thy holy will be done I cannot escape out of tâ—y hands yea though I could yet Lord thou knowest I would not seeing all my felicity depends upon conforming my Will unto thine From these considerations I received no small consolation and therefore dear wife rejoyce with mee I pray you and bless our good God for these his mercies towards me for he doâ—h nothing but that which is equal and right You have been privy to and acquainted with all the travels crosses and persecutions which have befallen me yea and have your self been partaker with me therein when you accompanied me in my voyages during the time of my exile and now after all these you see my welbeloved in the Lord how he holdeth forth to mee his hand of Providence to drive me home to himself into his blessed Kingdome I now lead you the way and when his will is you shall follow me thither Our separation shall not be for ever it will not be long ere we be gathered under one head Jesus Christ This World is not the place of our rest no Heaven is our home this is but the place of our banishment Let us therefore aspire after our true Country namely Heaven and long to be received into the mansions of our heavenly Father where we shall see our Head and Brother our Husband and Saviour Jesus Christ with the noble triumphant assemblies of the Patriarchs Prophets Apostles and so many millions of Martyrs to whom I hope shortly to be gathered having finished the course of that administration which I have received of the Lord Jesus Wherefore dear wife be you comforted in the meditation of these things Take into consideration the honour the Lord doth you in giving you a Husband who is not only called to be a Minister of Christs Gospel but also so highly advanced of God as to be accounted worthy to partake of the Crown of Martyrdome It is an honour which the Angels in Heaven are not capable of Angels not capable of Mâ—rtyrdome I now rejoyce in my sufferings my heart leapeth within me in my Afflictions I finde nothing wanting unto mee I am filled with the abundant riches of my God yea so farre am I comforted therewith that I have sufficient store not only for my self but to impart thereof also to as many as I have opportunity to speak unto which bounty and favour I beseech my eternal Lord God to continue unto me his poor Prisoner yea Gods goodness to his afflicted children is oft above and beyond their expectation I am perswaded that he will perform it unto the end For by good expeience I feel that be never forsakes them that trust in him I could never have imagined that God would have been so gracious as he hath been to me his poor creature I now taste of the fidelity and bounty of Christ my Saviour I am here taught to practise what I have preached unto others Yea let me not be ashamed to confess that when I heretofore preached I spake but as a Parrat in regard of that which I have now better learned by proof and experience Prisons prove Gods School-houses to the faithful I have profited more in the Schoolhouse of this prison then ever I did in all my life before for I have the Holy Ghost who is my constant instrâ—cter and Schoolmaster teaching me how to handle my weapons in this fight of afflictions Satan on the other side who is the sworn enemy of all Gods Elect compasseth me about on every side as a roaring Lyon thinking to devour me But he who hath said Fear not John 16.33 I have overcome the World puts as it were new courage into me and then I see the Lord bruising Satan under my feet Rom. 16.20 feeling the power of God perfected in my weakness 2 Cor. 12.9 and that the Lord causeth me one while to feel my infirmity and weakness It is profitable for the godly so câ—iâ—es to feel their infirmities that so I may take knowledge how I am but a poor earthen vessel even weakness it self to humble me that God may have all the glory and then by and by he fortifies and comforts me I may truly say incredibly above all I could ask or think For I would not change my condition with theirs who persecute me I take my rest eat and drink with more hearts case then they I am indeed lodged in the strongest and vilest Prison they have dark and obscure which for the darkness thereof is called Brunaâ—â— Brunain a Prison of the Valencians where I have no ayre to breathe at but a little stinking hole where they lay all their rubbish and where the drunkards commonly vent their Urine I am laden with Irons both on my hands and feet By reason wherof he complains he wrote with â—uch difficulty and therefore could not write as otherwise he would have done which are a continual torment unto me the irons eating through the flesh even to the bare bones The Provost-Marshal comes to view my Fetters twice or thrice 〈◊〉 day fearing lest I should make an escape for preventing whereof he hath placed three Guards of Fourty men before the Prison door c. And thus having given to his Wife his Advice how to behave her self during her Widowhood and how to train up her Children with his loving Salutations remembred to her self and other his special Friends he closeth up his Letter FINIS