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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	let_v	lord_n	see_v	4,698	5	3.6890	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

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

the Truth the bitter pangs of death c. To die in Christs Cause is an high honour to the which no man should aspire but to whom God vouchsafeth that priviledge for no man is allowed to presume to take to himself any office of honour but he which is thereunto called of God Iohn saith well speaking of them which have obtained the Victory by the blood of the Lamb and by the Word of his Testimony that they loved not their lives even unto death And our Saviour Christ saith He that shall lose his life for my Cause shall find it This manner of speech pertaineth not to one kind of Christians as the worldly do wickedly dream but to all that truly pertain to Christ for when Christ had called unto him the multitude together with his Disciples he said unto them Mark he said not this unto his Disciples or Apostles only but unto all Whosoever will follow me let him forsake or deny himself c. for whosoever will to save his life forsake me and my Truth shall lose it and whosoever shall lose c. Whosoever shall ●e ashamed of me and my words i. e. to confess me and my Gospel before this adulterous generation of him shall the Son of man be ashamed c. Know thou O man of God that all things are ordained for the furtherance of thee towards thy salvation All things saith Paul work with the good to goodness c. It is not as the wicked think That poverty adversity sickness tribulation yea painfull death of the godly be tokens that God doth not love them but even the clean contrary Now thou O man of God for the Lords sake let us not for the love of this life tarry here too long and be occasion of delay of that glorious consummation of all Christs Sufferers in hope and expectation whereof the former Martyrs have departed in the Lord and the which also the living indued with Gods Spirit ought so earnestly to desire c. crying out Come Lord Iesus come Then shall our weak body be transfigured and made like to Christs glorious body and then shall we see and have the unspeakable joy and fruition of the glorious Majesty of our Lord even as he is Who or what then shall let us to jeopard yea to spend this life which we have here in Christs Cause in our Lord God his Cause O therefore thou man of God that art loaden and so letted like unto a great bellied woman that thou canst not flie the plague yet if thou lust after such things as I have spoken of stand fast whatsoever shall befall thee in thy Masters Cause and take this thy letting to flie for a call from God to fight in thy Master Christs Cause Of this be thou certain they can do nothing unto thee which thy Father is not aware of or hath not foreseen before they can do no more then it shall please him to suffer them to do for the furtherance of his glory edifying of his Church and thine own salvation O be not afraid and remember the end What I have spoken for the comfort of the big-bellied woman I mean to be spoken likewise to the Captive and Prisoner in Gods Cause for such I count to be as it were already summoned and pressed to fight under the Banner of the Cross of Christ and as it were Souldiers allowed and taken up for the Lords Wars to do their Lord and Master good and honourable service and to stick to him even unto death c. To conclude I say unto all that love Christ Jesus our Redeemer and Saviour that love to follow the wayes of the holy Ghost who is our Comforter and Sanctifier that love Christs Spouse and Body c. yea that love life and their souls health Hearken my dear Brethren and Sisters c. to the Word of our Saviour Jesus Christ spoken to his Apostles and meant to all his in St. Matthew's Gospel Fear not them which kill the body for they cannot kill the soul but fear him c. The Lord grant us of his heavenly grace and strength that here we may so confess him in this world amongst this adulterous generation that he may confess us again at the last day before his Father c. In his Reasons why Images should not be placed and erected in Churches First the words of the Command Exod. 20. repeated more plainly Deut. 27. where observe those words Thou shalt not make to thy self mean to any use of Religion and those And setteth it in a secret place imply that no man durst then commit Idolatry openly The reason why God gave this general Prohibition is lest thou being deceived shouldst bow down to them and worship them This general Law is generally to be observed though some be not hurt by them Moses was not deceived or seduced by Iethro's Daughter nor Boaz by Ruth a woman of Moab yet the general Law was to be observed Thou shalt not joyn thy children in marriage with strangers least she seduce thy Son c. If by vertue of the second Commandment Images were not lawfull in the Temple of the Jews then by the second Command they are unlawfull in the Churches of Christians but c. in the Tabernacle and Temple of God no Images were appointed openly to beset nor by practice afterwards used or permitted so long as Religion was purely observed therefore c. For the second Command is moral and not ceremonial c. The Jews by no means would consent to Herod Pilate or Pe●ronius that Images should be placed in the Temple at Jerusalem but rather offered themselves unto death then to consent unto it Besides that Iosephus commends them for observing the meaning of the Law sure they would not have endangered themselves so far if they had thought Images had been indifferent in the Temple of God Ath●nasius tells us The invention of Images came of no good but of evil and whatsoever hath an evil beginning can never in any thing be judged good seeing it is wholly naught T●rtullian expounding those words Little Children beware of Images saith That the meaning is as if he had said Little Children keep your selves from the shape it self or form of them Images in the Church either serve to edify or to destroy If they edify then there is one kind of edification which the Scriptures neither teach nor command but alwayes disallow if they destroy they are not to be in the Church The Command of God is Thou shalt not lay a stumbling-block before the blind and cursed is he that maketh the blind wander in his way Images are snares and traps for the feet of the ignorant Images do not stir up the mind to Devotion but distract the mind from Prayer hearing of Gods Word c. Hence in the Council-chamber of the Lacedemonians no picture was suffered least in Consultation of the weighty matters of the

be all honour and glory for ever and ever So be it A short Prayer which Mr. Gilby made for t●● faithful in those dayes O Lord God and most merciful Father we beseech thee for the honour of th● Holy Name to defend us from that Antichrist 〈◊〉 Rome and from all his detestable enormities manners laws garments and ceremonies Destroy tho● the counsel of all the Papists and Atheists enemi●● of thy Gospel and of this Realm of England D●●●close their mischiefs and subtile practises C●● found their devices Let them be taken in the● own wiliness And strengthen all those that mai●tain the Cause and Quarrel of thy Gospel with i●vincible force and power of the Holy Spirit so th● they fail not to proceed and go forward to that tr●● Godliness commanded in thy Holy Word with 〈◊〉 simplicity and sincerity to thy Honour and Glor● the comfort of thine Elect and the confusion 〈◊〉 thine enemies through Jesus Christ our Lord an● Saviour Amen Amen And say from the hear●● Amen Glee When the Friers told Madam La Glee that 〈◊〉 was in a damnable estate It seems so indeed sai●●sne being now in your hands but I have a 〈◊〉 that will never leave me nor forsake me for 〈◊〉 that Thou hast said they renounced the Faith It is true said she I have renounced your faith which I am able to shew is rejected and accurse● of God and therefore deserves not so much as 〈◊〉 be called Faith When news was brought her that she was co●●demned to be hang'd she fell down upon he● knees and blessed God for that it pleased him 〈◊〉 snew her so much mercy as to deliver her by such kind of death out of the troubles of this wretche● world and to honour her so far as to call her 〈◊〉 die for his Truth and to wear his Livery meaning the Haltar which the Hangman had put about her neck Then sitting down at Table to break her fast with the three other condemned Servants of Christ giving thanks to God she exhorted them to be of good courage and to trust unto the end in his free and onely mercy She then called for a clean linen Wastcoat making her self ready as if she had been going to a Wedding Mr. W●rd tells us that she put on her Bracelets for I go said she unto my Husband Being commanded as she was led to execution to take a Torch into her hand and to acknowledge she had offended God and the King Away away said she with it I have neither offended God nor the King according to your meaning nor in respect of the cause for which I suffer I am I confess a sinful woman but I need no such light for helping me to ask forgiveness of God for my sins past or present Life such things your selves who sit and walk in the darkness of ignorance and errour Then one of her Kinsfolks met her in the way and presented to her view her little children praying her to have compassion on them I must needs tell you said she that I love my children dearly but yet neither for the love I bear to them or any thing else in this world will I renounce the Truth or my God who is and will be a Father unto them to provide better for them then I should have done and therefore to his providence and protection I commend and leave them When she saw the three men about to die silent and not to call on God she ex●orted then thereto and gave them an example Glover Mr. Robert Glover in his Letter to his Wife ha● many memorable passages the chief I shall collec● I thank you heartily most loving Wife 〈◊〉 your Letters sent to me in my imprisonment read them with tears more then once or twic● with tears I say for joy and gladness that Go● hath wrought in you so merciful a work 1 〈◊〉 unfeigned repentance 2 An humble and heart reconciliaton 3 A willing submission and ob●●dience to the will of God in all things The●● your Letters and the hearing of your godly pr●●ceedings have much relieved and comforte● me c. and shall be a goodly Testimony for you at the great Day against many worldly and dain●● Dames which set more by their own pleasure an● praise in this world then by Gods Glory little re●garding as it appeareth the everlasting health 〈◊〉 their own souls or others So long as God shal● lend you continuance in this miserable world above all things give your self continually to Prayer lifting up pure hands without anger wrath o● doubting forgiving as Christ forgives And that w●● may be the better willing to forgive it is good ofte● to call to remembrance the multitude and greatness of our sins which Christ daily and hour●● pardoneth and forgiveth us And because God● Word teacheth us not onely the true manner ●● praying but also what we ought to do or not to 〈◊〉 in the whole course of our life what pleaseth 〈◊〉 displeaseth God and that as Christ saith The Wo●● of God that he hath spoken shall judge us Let you● Prayer be to this end especially that God of hi● great mercy would open and reveal more and mor● daily to your heart the true sense knowledge an● understanding of his most holy Word and gi●● you grace in your living to express the fruit thereof And forasmuch as Gods Word is as the Holy Ghost calleth it The Word of affliction i. e. it is seldome without hatred persecution peril danger of loss of goods and life c. Call upon God continually for his assistance casting your accounts what is like to cost you endeavouring your self through the help of the Holy Ghost by continuance of prayer to lay your foundation so sure that no storm or tempest shall be able to overthrow it remembering alwayes as Christ saith Lots wife i. e. to beware of looking back to that thing that displeaseth God and nothing more displeaseth God then Idolatry that is false worshiping of God otherwise then his Word commandeth They object they be the Church c. My answer was The Church of God knoweth and acknowledgeth no other head but Jesus Christ the Son of God whom ye have refused and chosen the man of sin the Son o● perdition enemy to Christ the Devils Deputy and Lieutenant the Pope Christs Church heareth teacheth and is ruled by his Word as he saith My Sheep hear my voice If you abide in me and my Word a●ide in you you be my Disciples Their Church repelleth Gods Word and forceth all men to follow their traditions Christs Church dares not adde nor diminish alter or change his blessed Testament but they be not afraid to take away all that Christ instituted and go a whoring as the Scripture saith with their own inventions c. The Church of Christ is hath been and shall be in all ages under the Cross persecuted molested and afflicted the world ever hating them

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

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

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

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

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

glory my care in my great temptations was to have the senses of my soul open to perceive the Voice of God saying Whosoever denieth me before men him will I deny before my Father and his Angels And to save the life corporal is to lose the life eternal and he that will not suffer with Christ shall not reign with him Therefore most tender Ones I have by Gods Spirit given over the flesh with the fight of my soul and the Spirit hath the victory The flesh shall now ere it be long leave off to sin the Spirit shall reign eternally I have chosen Death to confirm the Truth by me taught What can I do more Consider with your selves that I have done it for the confirmation of Gods Truth Pray that I may continue to the end The greatest part of the assault is past I praise my God I have in all my assaults felt the present aid of my God I give him most hearty thanks therefore Look not back nor be ye ashamed of Christs Gospel nor of the bonds I have suffered for the same It is no time for the loss of one man in the Battel for the Camp to turn Back Up with mens hearts blow down the dawbed Walls of Heresie Let one take the Banner and the other the Trumdet I mean not to make corporal resistance but pray and ye shall have Elias defence and Elizeus company to fight for you The Cause is the Lords My heart with pangs of death is assaulted but I am at home yet with my God alive Pray for me c. From Newgate Prison in haste the day of my Condemnation I. R. In his Letter to the Congregation two dayes before he suffered Whosoever will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution for it is given unto them not onely to believe but to suffer and the Servant or Scholar cannot be greater then his Lord or Master but by the same way the Head is entred the Members must follow My dear soul is departing this Life to my great advantage I make change of morality for immortality of corruption to put on incorruption to make my body like to the Corn cast into the ground which except it die first it can bring forth no good fruit Happy are they that die in the Lord which is to die in the Faith of Christ professing and confessing the same before many Witnesses What a Journey by Gods power I have made these eight dayes is above flesh and blood to bear but as Paul saith I may do all things through him who worketh in me Iesus Christ. My course Brethren I have run I have fought a good fight the Crown of Righteousness is laid up for me my day to receive it is not long to Pray Brethren for the enemy doth yet assault Be not ashamed of the Gospel of the Cross by me preached nor of my suffering for with my blood I affirm the same I go before I suffer first the baiting of the Butchers Dogs yet I have not done what I should have done What was undone impute that to frailty and ignorance and with your love cover that which was and is naked in me God knoweth ye are all tender to me My heart bursteth for the love of you Ye are not without the great Pastour of your souls who so loveth you that if men were not to be found as God be praised there is no want of them he would cause stones to minister unto you Cast your care on that Rock the wind of temptation shall not prevail Past and pray for the dayes are evil Look up with your eyes of hope for your redemption is not far off but my wickedness hath deserved that I shall not see it and also that which is behind of the blood of our Brethren which shall also be laid under the Altar shall cry for your relief The Friday at night before Mr. Rough was taken being in his Bed he dreamed That he saw two of the Guard leading Cuthbert Sympson Deacon of the said Congregation and that he had the Book about him wherein were written the Names of all them that were of the Congregation Afterwards he awaked and having told the dream unto his Wife after some time spent in reading he fell asleep again and dreamed the same dream again and awaking told his Wife his dream and said O Brother Cuthbert is gone And whilst he was making ready for to go and see how it was with him Mr. Sympson came into Mr. Rough's House and brought the Book with him Mr. Rough having told him his dream perswaded him to carry the Book no more about with him which he was loth to promise because said he dreams are but fancies and not to be credited Then Mr. Rough straitly charged him in the Name of the Lord to do it Whereupon Mr. Sympson left the Book with Mrs. Rough. And so the Congregation was preserved The next night Mr. Rough dreamed That he himself was forcibly carried to the Bishop and that the Bishop pluckt off his beard and cast it into the fire saying these words Now I may say I have had a piece of an Heretick burned in my House And so accordingly it came to pass Rose Mr. Thomas Rose born at Exmouth in Devon when he was first taken was sorely stocked in Prison The Stocks were very high and great so that day and night he did lie with his back on the ground upon a little straw with his heels so high that by means the blood was fallen from his feet his feet were without sense for a long time His Mother might not be suffered to see him Afterwards Cranmer set him at liberty When he was brought before Gardiner being taken at Bow in London with five and thirty more Winchester told him That he would know who were his Maintainers or else he would make him a foot longer My Lord said he you shall do as much as pleaseth God and no more yet the Law is in your hand but I have God for my Maintainer and none other At his second Examination the Chancellour ask'd him What he said to the real presence in the Sacrament I wist right well said he you are made an instrument to seek innocent blood Well you may have it if God permit it is present and at hand for I came not hither to lie but to die if God see it good in defence of that which I have said Wherefore you may begin when you think good c. At his third Examination the Bishop saying Ah Sirrah you will admit nothing but Scripture I see well No truly my Lord said he I admit nothing but Scripture for the Regiment of the Soul for Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God and where the Word of God is not there ought no belief to be given for whatsoever is not of Faith is sin Roth. Richard Roth in his Letter to certain Brethren and Sisters condemned at Colchester

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

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