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
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
Careles through Christ the Beloved Say therefore with David Praise the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me praise his holy Name for he hath forgiven thee all thy sins as truely he hath And hereof I desire to be a Witness God make me worthy to hear from you the like true Message for my self Mine own dearly Beloved you have great cause to thank God most heartily that hath given you such Repentance and Faith The Lord increase the same in you and me a most miserable wretch whose heart is harder then the Adamant stone or else I could not thus long have stayed from writing unto you If I live and may I purpose and promise you to make amends Pray for me my most dear Brother I heartily beseech you and forgive me my long silence God our Father be with us for ever Amen Yours in the Lord John Bradford John Careles his Letter to Mr. Bradford THe Peace of God in Jesus Christ A sweet Letter of John Careles to Mr. Bradford a little before his Martyrdome the Eternal Comfort of his sweet Spirit which hath surely sealed you unto Eternal Salvation be with you and strengthen you in your joyful journey towards the Celestial Jerusalem my dear Friend and most faithful Brother Mr. Bradford to the setting forth of Gods glory and to your eternal joy in Christ Amen Ever since that good Mr. Philpot shewed me your last Letter my dear heart in the Lord I have continued in great heaviness and perplexity He mourneth for the loss and lâ—ck of Mr. Bradforâ— in the Church not for any hurt or discommodity that I can perceive coming towards you unto whom doubtless Death is made life and great felicity but for the great loss that Gods Church here in England shall sustain by the taking away of so godly worthy and necessary an instrument as the Lord hath made you to be Oh that my life and a thousand such wretched lives moe might go for yours Oh why doth God suffer me and such other Catterpillers to live that can do nothing but consume the Alms of the Church and take away you so worthy a Workman and Labourer in the Lords Vineyard But woe be to our sins and great unthanfulness which is the greatest cause of the taking away of such worthy instruments of God as should set forth his Glory and instruct his People If we had been thankful unto God for the good Ministers of his Word we had not been so soon deprived both of it and them The Lord forgive our great ingratitude and sins and give us true Repentance and Faith and hold his hand of Mercy over us for his dear Son Christs sake Take not away all thy tâ—ue Preachers forth of this Realm O Lord but leave us a Seed lest Englâ—nd be made like unto Sodom and Gomorrah when thy true Loâ—â— be gone But what go I about to mingle your mirth with my mourning and your just joy with my deserved sorrow If I loved you indeed as I have pretended I should surely rejoyce with you most heartily and praise God on your bâ—half from the very bottom of my heart He rejoyceth for the honour of Mr. Bradfords Martyrdome I should praise God day and night for your excellent Election in and through his great Mercy and should give him most humble thanks for your Vocation by his Gospel and your true Knowledge in the same I should earnestly praise him for your sweet justification whereof you are most certain by Gods Gâ—ace and Spirit and should instantly pray unto him for your Glorification which shall shortly ensue I should rejoyce and be glad to see you dignified by the Crown of Martyrdome and to be appointed to that honour to testifie his Truth and to Seal it with your Blood I should highly extoll the Lord who hath given you a glorious vâ—ctory over all your enemies visible and inv si le and hath given you Grace and Strength to finish the Tower that you have begun to build Finally if I loved you I should most heartily rejoice and be glad to see you delivered from this body of sin and vile person of the Flesh and brought into that heavenly Tabernacle where you shall be safely kept and never offend him more This and much more should I do if I had a good heart towards God or you his dear childe But alas I am an hypocrite and do seek nothing but mine own commodity I would have Gods everlasting Providence give place to my peevish will and purpose although it were to the hindrance of his glory and your sweet commodity God forgive me my horrible ingratitude sins and offences against him and good Brother do you forgive me my great negligence and unthankfulness towards you and henceforth I promise you I will put my will to Gods will and pray that the same may be fulfilled in you so long as you be on this earth and when you are taken hence I will most heartily praise the Lord for you so long as I have my being in this world Ah my dear heart now I must take my leave of you and as I think John Careles taketh his leave of M. Bradford my Vltimum Vale in this life but in the life to come I am right well assured we shall merrily meet together and that shortly I trust And in taking of my leave of you my dear heart in the Lord I shall desire you faithfully to remember all the sweet messages that the Lord our good God and most dear loving Father hath sent you by me his most unworthy Servant which as they are most true so shall they be most truly accomplished upon you eternally and for the more assurance and certificate thereof to your godly Conscience he hath commanded me to repeat the same unto you again in his own Name and Word Therefore now give ear and faithful credence Hearken Testimony of Gods Spirit O ye Heavens and thou earth give ear and bear me witness at the great Day that I do here faithfully and truely the Lords mâ—ssâ—ge unto his dear Servant John Careles doth Gods message to M. Bradford his singularly beloved and elâ—ct Childe â—â—â—n Bradford John Bradford thou man so specially beloved of God I pronounce and testifie unto thee in the Word and Name of the Lord Jehovah that all thy sins whatsoever they be be they never so many so grievous or so great be fully and freely pâ—â—doned released and forgiven thee by the mercy of God in Jesus Christ thine onely Lord and sweet Saviour in whom thou dost undoubtedly believe Power and practise of the keyes of the Gospel Christ hath cleansed thee with his Blood and clothed thee with his Righteousness and hath made â—hee in the sight of God his Father without spot or wrinckle so that when the fiâ—e doth his appointed office thou shalt be received as a sweet burnt Sacrifice into Heaven where thou shalt joyfully remain in Gods presence for
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
blood for that onely is good But of this be you sure the Lord will shortly call you to account for all the innocent blood that is shed within this Realm which you have brought into a most woful case and made many a heavy heart in the same and moe I perceive you will make so long as the Lord for our sins will suffer you to prosper and untill the time that your own iniquity be full ripe But then be you sure the Lord will sit in Judgement upon you as well as you do now upon his Saints and will reward you according to your deservings To whom with my whole heart I commit my cause and he will make answer for me when the full time of my refreshing cometh In the mean space I will keep silence with this that I have said trusting that I have sufficiently discharged my conscience in confessing my Faith and Religion to you declaring of what Church I am even of the Catholick Church of Jesus Christ which was well known to be here in England in our late good Kings dayes by two special tokens which cannot deceive me nor suffer me to be deceived that is to say The pure Preaching of his holy Word and the due administration of the holy Sacraments which is not to be seen in your Romish Church and therefore cannot be called the Church and Spouse of Christ I believe in the holy Trinity and all the other Articles of the Christian Faith contained in the three Creeds and finally all the Canonicall Scripture to be true in every sentence and I detest all Sects both of Arrians and Anabaptists or any other that divide themselves from the true Church of Christ which is his Mysticall Body the Ground and Pillar of Truth and the very House of the living God And if for these things you take away my life and make your selves guilty of my Blood you may for I am in your hands as the Sheep brought to the Shambles abiding the grace of the Butcher And be you sure your judgement sleepeth not but when you cry Peace peace and all is safe then shall your plagues begin like the sorrows of a woman travelling with childe 1 Thes 5. according to Christs infallible Poâ—mise This kinde of answer my dear heart it shall be best for you to make and by Gods grace I do intend to take the same order my self in time to come when the Lord shall vouch me worthy of that great dignity whereunto he hath called you And if they shall laugh you to scorn as I know they will saying thou art a Fool and an unlearned Ass-head and art able to make answer to nothing c. care not you for it but still commit your Cause unto God who will make answer for you tell them that they have bin answered again and again of divers godly and learned men but all will not help for you have one solution for all manner of questions even a fair Fire and Fagots this will be the end of your disputations Therefore I pray you to trouble me no more but do that which you are appointed when God shall permit the time I am no better then Christ his Apostles and other of my good Brethren that are gone before me This kinde of answer will cut their combs most and edifie the people that stand by so that the same be done coldly with sobriety meekness and patience as I heard say our sweet Brethren Thomas Harland and John Oswald did at Lewes in Sussex to the great rejoycing of the children of God that were in those parts and I heard say that they were dissolved from this earthly tabernacle at Lewes on Saturday last and were condemned but the Wednesday before so that we may perceive the Papists have quick work in hand 2 Chron. 2. that they make such haste to have us home to our heavenly Father Therefore let us make our selves ready to ride in the fiery Chariot leaving these sorry Mantles and old Clokes behinde us for a little time which God shall restore unto us again in a more glorious wise My good Brother Harry you shall understand that bragging John T. hath beguiled his Keepers who trusted him too well and is run away from them and hath brought the poor men into great danger by the same The one of them is cast by the Councils Commandment into the Gate-house at Westminster the other is fled forth of the Country for fear Thus you may see the fruits of our Free-will men that made so much boast of their own strength But that house which is not builded surely upon the unmoveable Rock will not long stand against the boisterous winds and storms that blow so strongly in these dayes of Trouble But my dearly beloved Brother blessed be God for you and such as you be which have played the parts of wise Builders You have digged down past the sand of your own natural strength and beneath the earth of your own worldly wisdome and are now come to the hard Stone and unmoveable Rock Christ who is your onely Keeper and upon him alone you have builded your Faith most firmly without doubting mistrust or wavering Therefore neither the storms nor tempests winds nor weathers that Satan and all his wily workmen can bring against you with the very Gates of Hell to help them shall ever be able once to move your House much less to overthrow it for the Lord God himself and no man is the Builder thereof and hath promised to preserve and keep the same safe for ever Unto his most merciful defence therefore I do heartily commit you and all your good company desiring him for his sweet Son Jesus Christs sake to confirm and strengthen you all that you may be constant unto the very end that after the final victory is once gotten you may receive the immercessible Crown of Glory of Gods free gift through his great mercy in Jesus Christ our alone Saviour To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all honour glory praise thanks power rule and dominion for ever and evermore Amen The Blessing of God be with you all John Careles To my most dear and faithfull Brother T. V. THe everlasting peace of God in Iesus Christ the continual joy and comfort of his most pure holy and mighty Spirit with the increase of Faith and lively feel ng of his mercy be with you my dear heart in the Lord and faithful lovâ—ng brother T. V. to the full accomplishing of that good work whâ—ch â—e â—ath so graciously begun in you that the same by all means may be to the setting forth of his glory to the commodity of his poor afflicted Congregation and to the sweet comfort and quietness of your Conscience in him now and evermore Amen With such due honour love and reverence as it becometh me to bear unto the sweet Saints dearly beloved children of God I have me most heartily commended unto you my dear Brother V.
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
our good Father for his mercies sake in Christ with his Eternal Consolation so comfort you as I desire to be comforted of him in my most need yea he will comfort you my dear Sister onely cast your care upon him and he never can nor will forsake you For his calling and gifts be such that he can never repent him of them Rom. 11. Whom he loveth he loveth to the end none of his chosen can perish Of which number I know you are my dearly beloved Sister God increase the faith thereof daily more and more in you he give unto you to hang wholly on him and on his Providence and Protection Gods Providence and Protection For who so dwelleth under that Secret thing and help of the Lord he shall be cock-sure for evermore He that dwelleth Psal 31.90 I say for if we be flitters and not dwellers as was Loâ— a flitter from Segor Gen. 19. where God promised him protection if he had dwelled there still we shall remove to our loss as he did into the Mountains Dwell therefore that is trust and that finally unto the end in the Lord my dear Sister and you shall be as Mount Sion As Mountains compass Jerusalem so doth the Lord all his people How then can he forget you which are as the apple of his eye for his dear Sons sake Ah dear heart that I were now but one half hour with you to be a Simon to help to carry your Cross with you God send you some good Simon to be with you and help you You complain in your Letters of the blindness of your minde and the troubles you feel My dearly beloved God make you thankful for that which he hath given unto you he open your eyes to see what and how great benefits you have received that you may be less covetous or rather impatient for so I fear me it should be called and more thankful Have not you received at his hands sight to see your blindeness and thereto a desirous and seeking heart to see where he lyeth in the mid-day as his dear Spouse speaketh of her self in the Canticles Oh Joyce my good Joyce what a gift is this Many have some sight but none this sobbing and sighing none this seeking which you have I know but such as he hath married unto him in his mercies You are nor content to kiss his feet with the Magdalen but you would be kâ—ssed even with the kisses of his mouth Canâ— 1. You would see his face with Moses forgetting how he biddeth us seek his face Psal 27. yea and that for ever Psal 10â— which signifieth no such si ht as you desire to be in this present life which would see God now face to face God cannot be se n but covered under something How faith seeth God where flesh seeth Hell whereas he cannot be seen but covered under something yea sometime in that which is as you would say clean contrary to God as to see his Mercy in his Anger In bringing us to Hell Faith seeth him bring us to Heaven in darkness it beholdeth brightness in hiding his face from us it beholdeth his merry countenance How did Job see God but as you would say under Satans cloke for who cast the fire from Heaven upon his goods who overthrew his house and stirred up men to take away his Cattel but Satan And yet Job pierced through all these and saw Gods work saying The Lord hath give he Lord hath taken away c. In reading of the Psalms how often do you see that David in the shadow of death saw Gods sweet love And so my dearly beloved I see that you in your darkness and dimness by Faith to see clarity and brightness by Faith I say because Faith is of things absent of things hoped for of things which I appeal to your Conscience whether you desire not And can you desire any thing which you know not And is there of heavenly things any other true knowledge then by Faith Therefore my dear heart be thankful for before God I write it you have great cause Ah my Joyce how happy is the state wherein you are The state of Gods Children described Verily you are even in the blessed state of Gods Children for they mourn and do not you so and that not for worldly weal but for spiritual riches Faith Hope Charity c. Do you not hunger and thirst for righteousness And I pray you saith not Christ Matth. 5. who cannot lye that happy are such How should God wipe away the tears from your eyes in Heaven if now on earth you shed no tears How could Heaven be a place of rest if on Earth you did finde it How could you desire to be at home if in your journey you found no grief How could you so often call upon God and talk with him as I know you do if your enemy should sleep all day long How should you elswhere be made like unto Christ I mean in joy if in sorrow you sobbed not with him If you will have joy and felicity you must first needs feel sorrow and misery The way to heaven is to go through hell If you will go to Heaven you must sayle by Hell If you will embrace Christ in his robes you must not think scorn of him in his rags If you will sit at Christs Table in his Kingdome you must first abide with him in his Temptations If you will drink of his cup of glory forsake not his cup of Ignominy Can the head Corner-stone be rejected and the other more base stone in Gods building be in this World set by you are one of his lively stones be content therefore to be hewn and snagged at that you might be made the more meet to be joyned to your fellows which suffer with you Satans snatches the Worlds wounds contempt of Conscience Frets of the flesh and frets of the flesh where-through they are enforced to cry Oh wretches that we are who shall deliver us Rom. 6. You are of Gods Corn fear not therefore the Flayle the Fan Milstone nor Oven You are one of Christs Lambs look therefore to be fleeced hayled at and even slain If you were a Market sheep you should go in more fat and grassy Pasture Gods sheep must feed on the bare Common where the devils ctatel are st â—â—â—d If you were for the Fair you should be stalfed and want no weal but because you are for Gods own occupying therefore you must pasture on the bare Common abiding the storms and tempests that will fall Happy and twice happy are you my dear Sister that God now haileth you whither you would not John 21. that you might come whither you would Suffer a little and be still Let Satan rage against you let the World cry out let your Conscience accuse you let the Law load you and press you down yet shall they not prevail for Christ is Emanuel