¶ A godly letter sent too the fayethfull in London / Newcastell / Barwyke / and to all other within the realme off Englande / that loue the coÌ„minge of oure LORDE Iesus by Ihon Knox. Math. 10. ☞ He that continueth vnto the ende / shall be saued ¶ Imprinted in Rome before the Castel of s Aungel / at the signe of sainct Peter In the moneth of Iuly / in the yeare of our Lord. 1554. ⧠Ihon Knox To the faythfull in LondoÌ„ / Newcastell / Barwyke / to all others / within the Realme of Englande / that leuith the comming of our Lord Iesus / Wissheth continuance in godlines too the ende With a declaration of prayer / annexeth to the same WHeÌ„ I remeÌ„ber the fearthfull threathninges of God / proâ—oficed against Realmes / Leuit. xx Matth. x. and nacions / to whom the light of Gods worde hath ben offered / and contemptiously by them refused / as my hart vnfaynedly / morneth for your present estate / dearly beloued in our sauiour Ihesus Christ / so doth the hole powers / of body soule / trymble and shake / for the plagues that are to come But that Gods trew worde hath ben offered to the realme of England can none denye / except suche as by the dyuel holden in boÌ„dage God iustly so punishing their proud inobediens hath neither eyes to se / Timo. ij nor vnderstaÌ„ding to dycerne good from bad / nor darkenes from light Against whome no otherwise will I contend at this present / then dyd the Prephete Ieremie / against the styffe necked stubborne people of Iuda / sayinge Ierem. xxiii The wrath off the Lord shall not be turned awaye till he haue fulfilled the thoughtes of his hart And thus leaue I them as of whose repeÌ„tauÌ„ce there is small hope to the handes of hym that shall not forget their horrible blasphemis spoken in dispitte of Christes truthe / and of hys trew ministerâ— And with you that vnfainedly morneth for the greate shipwrake of goddes trew relygion / purpose I to communicat suche counsailer / and admonicious / now by my writinge / as sometymes it pleased God / I dyd proclaime in your cares The ende of whiche my admonicion is / that euin as that you purpose / and entend to auoid Gods vengeaunce / bothe in this lyfe / and in the lyfe to come / that so ye auoid and flee aswell in body as in sprete al felowship / and societye with Idolaters in their Idolatrye You shrynke I know euin at the fyrst But yf an orator / had the matter in haÌ„dlinge / he wolde proue it honeste / profytable / easye / and necessary to be done / and in euery one poynte were store ynough / for a longe oration But as I neuer labored to perswade any man in matters of religion God I take to record in my conscience except by the very simplicitie plaine infallable truthe of Gods worde No more mynde I in this behaulfe But this I affyrme / that to fle froÌ„ idolatrye / is so profytable and so necessary to a Christian / that onles he so do / all worldly profyth turneth to his perpetuall disprofeit / and condemnacion Profijt aperteyning / either to the bodyes / or to the soules / of our selues / and our posteritie / corporall commodities consisteth in such thinges as man chiefly couetith for the body / as ryches / estimacion / longe lyfe / health and quietnes in earth The only comfort and ioye of the soule is God by his worde expelling ingoraunce / synne / and death / and in the place of those / planting trew knowledge of hym selfe / and with thesame iustice and lyfe / by Christ his sonne Yf any off these forsaide moue vs / then of necessitie it is / that we auoyde Idolatry / for playne it is / that the soule hath neither lyfe nor comfort / but by God alone / with whome Idolatours / 1. Cor. vl hath no other participacion â—hen hath the deuils / and albeit that abhominable Idolatours / for a moment â—rysiphe yet approcheth the houre / when Gods vengeaunce shall stryke / not onely their soules / but euin their vile carcasies / shal be plagued / as God before hath threatned Leui. xxv Their cyties shal be burned / their laÌ„de shal be layd wast / their enemies shall dwell in their stronge holdes / their wyues and doughters shal be defyted their chyldreÌ„ shall fall in the edge of the swerd / mercy shall they fynde none / because they haue refused the God of all mercye / when louingly and longe he called vpon theÌ„ / you wolde know the tyme / and what certitude I haue here off To God wil I appoint no tyme / but that these and mo plagues / shall fall vpon England and that ere it he long I am so sure / as that I am that my God lyueth This my affirmacion / shall displease many / and shall content few / God knowith the secretes of all hartes / knoweth that also / it displeaseth myselfe / and yet lyke as before I haue ben compelled to speake in your presens in presens of others suche thinges / as were not pleasable to the eares of men / wherof alas a great part this daye are come to passe / so I am coÌ„pelled now to wryte with the teares of my eyes / I know to your displeasur But deare brethreÌ„ / be subiect vnto God / and geue place vnto his wrath / that ye may escape his euerlastinge vengeaunce My penne I trust / shall now be no more vehemeÌ„t / then my tounge hath bene after then ones / not onely before you / but also before the chief of the Realme What was sayd in Newcastel Barwyke before the sweat I trust yet som in those places beareth in mynde / What vpoÌ„ the daye of all Sainctes / â—et Newâ—â—stel witâ—â—es the yeare that the duke of Somerset was last appreheÌ„ded What before hym / that then was duke of Northumberland / in the towne of Newcastell / other places moo What before the kynges maiestye at Wynsore / Hamptoncourt / and Westmynster / fynally what was spoken in London / in moo places then one / when fyers of ioye ryotous bankettinge were made at the Proclamacion of Mary your quene Yf men will not speake / the stones and tymber of those places / shal crye in fyer / and beare record that the truthe was spoken / and shal absolue me / in that behalfe in the daye of the Lord. Suspect not brethreÌ„ / that I delyte in your calamities / or in the plagues that shal fal vpoÌ„ that vnthankefull nation No / God I take to recorde / that my hart mourneth within me / and that I am crucyet for remembraunce of youre troubles / but if that I shoulde ceasse / then dyd I agaynste my conscience / as also agaynste my knowledge / Eze. xxxiij and so shoulde be gyltie of the bloud of
IerusaleÌ„ escape the punishmeÌ„t of God Bevvare â—â—â— dissembling gospelers vvhich for the safegarde off â—oure vvorld lij pelfe defile four selfes vvith all popishe abhominacions Shall we then beleue that England maye auoide the vengeaunce that is threatned / No deare brethren Yf Idolatrie continew / as it is begonne / no more can England escape Gods vengeaunce / then God hym self may lease his iustice And therfore dearly beloued in our sauiour Iesus Christ Yf profit to your selfe or to your posteritie can moue you any thinge / then muste ye avoide and fle Idolatrie For if the Lordes messengers / that shal be sente too execute hys wrath / fynde you amongst fylthie Idolators / your bodies committing lyke abhomination with them Ye haue no warrant that ye shall escape the plagues / prepared for the wicked But rather it is to be feared that ye shall be plagued with them Iudi. 20 The hole trybe of Beniamin perished with the adulterers / yet were they not all adulterers in faict 1. Reg 15 Hole Amalek was commaunded to be destroyed / yet was not one of those lyuiÌ„g that trobled the Israelites / in their passage from Egipte Pharao was not drouned alone as in another letter / I haue more plainly writteÌ„ neither yet fouÌ„d Ionathas mercy / as touchinge lyfe corporal / in the daye when Gods vengeaunce punished Saule the repobater / and why the Apostle aunswereth Rom. 1. Because men knowing the iustice of God sayeth he and doing the coÌ„trary are worthy of death / not only those that doth wickedly / but also suche as consenteth to thesame Who coÌ„senteth And no man can be excused / but that he consentes / who dayly frequenting in the companye of wicked men / geuinge neither signe in woordes nor in dede / that iniquitie displeaseth hym And therefore yet I saye / yf profyt may moue vs. c. most profytable shall it be euen for the body in this present lyfe too auoide Idolatrye / for so doinge / As we shal esscape the plagues / whiche the vngodlye shall suffer / so is God by hys promis oblished vnto vs to be our father / our portioÌ„ / Esai 49. Zacha. 2. our iÌ„heritauÌ„ce defence / he promiseth wil not disceaue to cary vs vppon hys owne wynges from all daunger Psal lij Psalm c.xlvi. Psalm c.xl. To plant vs our posteritie in euerlasting memorial To feade vs in the tyme off huÌ„ger / and fynally to fight for vs / and to saue vs from all miseries and mischaunces But now to the subsequent As it is most profytable for body and soule to auoyde Idolatry / so is it so necessary / that onles we so do / we refuse to be in leage with God What we doo when we ioyn our selfs with idolaters Exo. xx We declare ourself to haue no faythe / we â—enye to be Gods witnes / and so muste he of this iustice expressed in his worde denye vs to apertaine to hym or to hys kyngdom And then alas what restith for vs / but perpetuall death ordeined for those that wil not continew in leage with God The leage betwene God vs conteyneth these conditions / that God shall be our God / and we shal be his people / he shal communicat with vs / of his graces goodnes we shal serue hym in bodye soule / he shall be our sauegarde from death and damnacion / we shal sticke too hym / and fle from all straunge Goddes This is the leage in making whereof we swear solempnedly / neuer to haue felowship with any religioÌ„ / except with that which God hath auctorisâ—d by hys manifest worde Yf by Gods scriptures these presydents be so playne / that reasonably no man can deâ—ye any point therof Then haue I good hope that ye wil admitte it to be necessarie / that you auoide Idolatry / yf the leage betwene God and you shal be kept sure And fyrst it is to be obserued / that Goddes iustice / beyng infinite in matters of religion / requireth lyke obediens of al those that be within hys leage at all tymes / that he requireth of any one nation / or particular maÌ„ in any one age / for al that byde with iÌ„ his leage / Deu. 29. are one body as Moyses doth witnes recompting men / wemen / chyldren / seruauntes / prynces / priestes / officers / and straungers within the couenaunt of the Lorde Then what God requireth of one as touching this leage he requireth of all / for hys iustice is immutable / what he dampneth in anye one that he muste dampne in others / for he is righteous without parcialitie Then let vs consider what God hath requyred of suche as hathe bene in leage with hym / and what he pronounceth dampnable Deu. xiij Moyses the mouth of God to his people of Israel speaketh as foloweth Yf thy brother the soÌ„ne of thy mother / or the wyfe of thy own bosome / or thy neyghbour / whom thou louest as thy own lyfe / shal priuely solyst the / Sayng let vs go and serue other Goddes whome thou hast not knoweÌ„ c. Obey hym not / hear hym not / neither yet let thy eye spare hym / be not merciful vnto hym / nor hyde him not / but kyll hym / let thy hand be the fyrst vpon hym / that suche a one maye be kylled / and then the handes of the holy people stone hym with stones / vntil he dye And likewise commaundeth he to be donne with a hole citie / if the indwellers therof turne backe to Idolatrie / addinge also / that the citie and the whole spoyle therof shal be brent That no portioÌ„ shal be saued / nor yet that the citie shal be buylded foreuer again because it is accursed of God Here is a playne declaracion / what God requyreth of them that wil continew in leage with him / and what he hath dampned by his exprest wordes And do we esteme beloued brethren that the immutable God will wincke at our Idolatrie / as that he saw it not seing he commaundeth iudgement to be executed so seuerly against Idolators / and againste suche as onely prouoked or solisted others to Idolatrie / that neither should blood nor affinitie neither multitude nor ryches / saue suche as offendeth / neither yet that we should couÌ„sayll their offences / but that we should be the fyrst that should accuse brother / sonne / doughter / or wyfe / and why because he entendeth saith Moyses to bring the froÌ„ the Lorde thy God / Who led thy furth from the land of Egipte / and therfore let hym dye / that all Israel hearing / maye feare / and presumed not after too commit the lyke abhomination Let nothing apertayninge to suche a man or citie / cleaue vnto thy hande / that the Lord may turn froÌ„ the furor of his wrath be moued ouer thy with most tender mercy and affeccion /
For no maÌ„ coÌ„meth to the father sayith Iesus Christ / but by me he is the right way / who declineth froÌ„ him errith and goyth wronge / he is oure leder / whome without we folowe / we shal walke in darknes / he alone is our captain / without whome neither praise nor victory we shal obtayne agaynst such as depend vpon the intercession of sayntes / no otherwyse wil I coÌ„tend / but shortly touche the propertis of a perfyt mediatour ¶ Intercession to sayntes FIrst are the wordes most sure of Paule / a mediatoure is not the mediatour of one / that is / wheresoeuer is required a mediator / there are also two parties / to wyte one party offendant the other party / which is offendid whiche partise by theÌ„selfe maye in no wise be reconsiled Secondly the mediator / Mediator which taketh vppon hym the recoÌ„siling of these two parties / must be suche one as haue truste and fauor of both parties in some thinges / And differre frome bothe / and muste be cleane and innocent / also of the cryme / committed agaynst the party offended / let thys be more playne by thys subsequent declaration ¶ Aungels may not be mediators THe eternall God standeth vppon the one parte / and all naturall men / desceÌ„ding of Adam vpon the other / the infinite iustice of God is so offended with the traÌ„sgession of all men / that in no wyse can amyte be made / excepte suche one be founde as fully maye make satisfaccion / for mans offences / amonge the sonnes of men none was founde able For all they were founde criminall in the faulte of one / and God infinite in iustice must abhorre the societie and sacrifice of sinners And vnto aungelles / what preuailed the preuarication of man / who albeit / they wolde haue interponed them selfes mediators / had not the iustice infinite / who shall here be fouÌ„d peace maker The infinite goodnes and mercy of God / might not suffer the perpetuall losse and repudiacioÌ„ of his creature / therfore his eternall wysedome / prouyde such an medyator hauing wherwith to satisfy The iustice of God differeth also froÌ„ the godhead / his onely sonne / cledde in the nature of manhead / who interponed him self mediator / not as maÌ„ only ¶ Iesus Christ / God man is mediator FOr the pure humanitie of Christe of it selfe / might neither make intercessâ—oÌ„ nor satisfaccioÌ„ for vs / but God man in that that he is God / he might complete the will of the father / in that / that he is man pure and cleane / without spot or sinne he might offer sacrifice / for purgacion of our synnes satisfaction of Gods iustice / without sainctes Haue these twoo godhead equale with the father / humanite without synne / the office of mediators they may not vsurpe / ObiectioÌ„ but here wil be obiected / who knoweth not Iesus Christ / to be the onely mediator of our redemcioÌ„ / AuÌ„swere but that impedites or letteth nothing Sainctes and holy men / to be mediators to make intercession for vs / as though that Iesus Christe had bene one houre or mediator / after had resined thoffice vnto his seruauntes ¶ Who maketh other mediators then Iesus Christ / taketh ouer from hym DO not such men ientelly intreate Iesus Christ / detracting froÌ„ him such porcion of his honor / otherwise speaketh the scriptures of God / testefying hym to be made maÌ„ / to haue proued oure infirmites to haue suffred death willingly / to haue ouercome the same / all to this ende / that he might be oure perpetuall hyghe souerayne pryse / Heb. 6.7.9.10 in whose place or dignitie none other mighte entre / as Ihon sayth / yf any man sinne / we haue an aduocate with the father / euen Iesus Christ the iust / marke well this wordes / Ihon sayth / Ioh. 3. Rom. 8. we haue presently a sufficiente aduocate / whome Paule affirmeth to sit / at the righte hande of God the father / and to be the only mediator betwene God and man / for he alone sayeth Ambrose is our mouth / by whome we speake to God / he is our eyes / by whome we se God / also oure righte hande / by whome we offer any thinge vnto the father / who onelesse he make intercession / neither we / neither any off the sainctes maye haue any societe or felowship with God Libro de Isaac de anima True membres Note diligently What creator may say to God the father / let mankinde be receyued into thy fauoure / for the payne of hys transgression that haue I sustayned in my owne bodye / for hys cause coÌ„passed with all infirmety became I the most contempted dispraysed of all meÌ„ / and yet in my mouth was fouÌ„d no disceyt nor gyle / but always obedient to thy will / suffred death / that for mankynd Obedience of Christ And therfore behold not the sinner / but me / who by my infinitie iustice / haue perfetly satisfied for hys offences / maye any other Iesus Christ / except I / in these wordes make intercession for sinners / yf they may not then / are they not neither mediators nor intercessors Libro coÌ„tra parme niz ca For albeit / sayeth Augustine Christians do coÌ„mend one another vnto God in theyr prayers / yet not make intercission / or dare vsurpeth office of a mediator / not Paule albeit vnder the head / he was a principale meÌ„bre / yet because he commendeth hym selfe too the prayer of faithfull men ObiectioÌ„ yf any do obiecte Such is not the condicions of the saynctes departed / who nowe hathe put of immortalite / and beareth no lenger the fragilite of the flesh AuÌ„swer Which albeit / I graunte to be moste true / yet are they all compelled to caste theyr crounes before hym that dothe sitte in the throne / Apoc. 6. knowleginge them selfes to be deliuered from greate affliccion / too haue bene purged by the bloud of the Lam / and therfore none of them do attempt to be a mediator / seynge they neyther haue being / nor iustice of them selfe / but in so great light of the Gospel prayse be to the omnipotent it is not necessary vpoÌ„ such matter longe to remayne Note this wel Some say / we will vse but one mediator Iesus Christ to God the father / but we muste haue sainctes / and chiefly the virgin Mary / mother of Iesus Christ too praye for vs vnto hym ¶ Agaynste suche as wolde haue mediators too Iesus Christe A Lace / whosoeuer is so miÌ„ded / sheweth playnly them self to know nothing of Iesus Christ righteously / is he who discended froÌ„ heauen / conuersed among sinners Commaunded all / vexid sore / Math. 11. seke too come vnto hym / who hanginge vppon the crosse / prayde fyrst for hys enemies / become newe so vntractable /
that he will not heare vs withoute a parson to be a meane O Lorde / open the eye of suche / that they maye clearly perceyue thy infinete kyndnes / gentelnes and loue towardes mankynde Aboue all precidentes is to be obserued / that what we aske of God / oughte too de proffitable to oure selfe and too others / and hurte or daunger of no man Secondarely / we muste consider whether our peticions extenditeth to spirituall or corporall thinges Spirituall thinges shoulde be axid vvithout coÌ„ditioÌ„ Spirituall thinges / such as are deliuerance from impiete / remission of their sinnes / the gifte of the holy ghoste / and of lyfe euerlasting should we desire absolutely / without any condicion by Iesus Christ / in whome alone all these are promised / in asking hereof / we should not pray thus O father forgeue our sinnes / yf thou wilt / for his will he hath expressed / sayinge as I lyue / I desire not the death of a synner / but rather that he conuert and lyue / mark wel which in mutable and soleÌ„pned o the / who calleth in doubt / maketh God a liar / and so farre as in hym lyeth / wolde spoyle God of hys godhead / for he caÌ„ not be God / but he must be eternal infallible veritie / as Ihon sayth 1. Ioh. 5. This is the testimony / which God hath testified of hys sonne / that who beleueth in the sonne / hath eternal lyfe to the verite whereof we shoulde stedfastly cleue / although calamite and worldly dolor apprehendith vs / 2. Reg. 15 as Dauid exiled from hys kyngdom / and depriued of all hys glorie / secluded not frome God / but stedfastly beleued reconsiliacion by the promyse made / notwithstandinge that all creators in earth had refused / obiected / rebelled agaynst hym / happy is the man whome thou shalle inspire o Lorde Corporal thinges In asking corporal thinges / first let vs inquire / yf we be at peace with God in our conscience by Iesus Christe / Fyrmly beleuinge our sinnes to be remitted in hys bloud Secondly / let vs inquire our owne hartes / yf we know temporall ryches or substaunce / not to come to man by accideÌ„te fortune or chauÌ„ce / neither yet by the industre diligence of maÌ„s labor / but to be the liberall gyft of God onely / wherof we ought to lande prayse hys goodnes / wysedome / prouidence alone ¶ What should be prayed for ANd yf this we do truly knowlege confesse / let vs boldely aske of him / whatsoeuer is necessary for vs / as sustentacion of the body / health therof / defence froÌ„ misery deliueraunce from troble / tranquilite peace to our coÌ„mon wealthes / prosperous successe in our vocacioÌ„s / labours affaires / whatsoeuer which God wil / we aske all of hym too certify vs / that all thing stande in his regimeÌ„t and dispocition And also by asking and receyuinge this corporall commodites / we may tast of hys sweatnes / and be inflamed with hys loue / that therby our fayth of reconciliation remission of our synnes maye be exercised and take increace But in asayng suche temporal thinges / we must obserue Note we Vvhy Goâ— differreth or prolongeth to graunt vs our peticion Fyrst / that yf God differrith or prolonge to graunt our peticions / euen so long that he doth apparantly reiecte vs / yet let vs not seace to call / prescribing to hym / neither tyme nor maner of deliuerance / as it is written / yf he prolonge tyme abyde paciently vpon hym / and also let not the faythful be to hasty For God sometyme differreth / and will not hastely graunt to the probacion of oure eontinuauÌ„ce / as the wordes of Iseus Christ testefie / also that we may receiue with greater gladnes / which with hardent desire we long haue loked for / as Anna / Sara Elizabeth / after great ingnontye of their barranenes sterilite / receiued frute of their bosumes with ioye Secondarely / because we knowe the churche at all tymes to be vnder the crosse / in askynge temporall commodites / and specially deliueraunce frome troble let vs offer vnto God obedience / 2. Re. 15. yf it shall please hys goodnes we loÌ„ger be exercised / that we may paciently abyde it / as Dauid desired to be restored to his kyngdome / what tyme he was exiled by his owne sonne offereth vnto God obedience / saying yf I haue founde fauoure in the presence of the Lorde / he shall bryng me home agayne / and yf he shall saye / thou pleasest my not longer too beare auctorite / I am obedieÌ„t / let hym do what semed good vnto hym Dani. 3. And the thre chyldren vnto Nabuchodonosor saye we knowe that our God / whome we worship / maye deliuer vs / but if it shall not please hym so to do / let it be knowen to the o kynge / that thy Gods we will not worship ¶ Better it is to obey God then man HEre geue they a true confessioÌ„ of their perfit fayth / knowing nothinge to be impossible to the omnipoteÌ„cy of God / affirming also themself to staÌ„de in his mercy for otherwise the nature of man coulde not willingly geue it self to so horrible a torment / but offer they vnto God moste humble obedience to be deliuered at hys pleasure godly will As we shoulde do in all afflictions / for we knowe not what too aske / or desire as we ought / that is the frayle flesh / oppresseth with feare and payne / desireth deliueraunce euer abhorring and drawing backe from obedience geuen O Christen brother / I write by experience but the sprite of God calleth backe the mynde to obedience / that albeit / it doth desire and abyde for deliueraunce / yea / wolde it not repyng the goodwil of God incessantly asketh that it may abyde with pacience Howe harde is the battail / no man knoweth but he / whiche in hym selfe hath suffred triall / Note wel it is to be noted that God sometime doth graunt the peticion of the sprete / wyle he yet defferreth the desired of the flesh ¶ The peticion of the sprete Gene. 9 AS who doubteth / but God did mitigate the heauines of Ioseph / althoughe he sent not hasty deliueraunce in his longe imprisonemeÌ„t / that as he gaue hym fauour / in the sighte of his iaylour / so inwardly also gaue he vnto hym consolation in sprite And more ouer / God sometime grauÌ„teth the peticioÌ„ of the sprite / where all vtterly he repelleth the desyre of the flesh / for the peticion always of the sprete is / that we may obtayn to felicite wherunto we nedes must enter by tribulacioÌ„ / and the finall death / both which doth euer the nature of man abhorre / and therfore the fleshe vnder the crosse / at the sight of death / callâ—â—h and trusteth
for hasty deliueraunce / but God who alone knoweth what is expedieÌ„t for vs. ¶ Flesh striueth agaynste the sprete PercecucioÌ„ of the fayâ—â—ful Sometyme prolongeth the deliuerauÌ„ce of hys chosen / and sometime permitteth them to drinke / before the maturite of age / the bitter cuppe of corporal death / that therby they may receyue medicine and care from all infirmite / but who doubtith / but Ihon the Baptiser / desired to haue sene more dayes of Iesus Christ / and to haue bene longer with hym in conuersacion 〈◊〉 7. Or that Steuen wolde not haue labored more dayes in preaching Christes gospell / whome neuerthelesse / both he suffered hastely to vnderlye the statute and generall sentence And albeit / we se therfore no apparant / helpe to oure selfe / nor yet to others afflicted / let vs not cease to call / thinkinge oure prayers to be in vayne / whatsoeuer become of oure bodies CoÌ„forte to the afflictyd God shall geue vnspeakable comforte too the sprete / and shall turne all to our commodite / by our owne expectacion The cause I am so longe and tedious in this matter is / I knowe how harde the battaill is betwixt the fleshe the sprete ¶ Impedimentes coÌ„mith of the weakenes off the fleshe SPrete vnder the heauy croceÌ„ of affliccion / where no worldely defence / but presence death doth appeare / I know the grudging and murmoringe complayntes of the fleshe / I know the anger wrathe indignacion / which it conceiueth agaynst God / calling all hys promises into doubte / beinge redy euery houre / vtterly to fall from hym Agaynst whiche all resteth in faith / prouoking vs to call instantly and to praye for assistaunce of Gods sprete Whereunto / yf we continew our moste desperat calamites / shall he turne to gladnes ioye and prosperous fyne ¶ To the o Lorde alone be prayse / for with experience I write this speake it is not too be permitted / where / for whome / and at what tyme we ought to praye PRiuate prayer / Priuate prayer Matt. 6. such as men secretly offer vnto God by them selfe / require no speciall place / althoughe that Iesus Christe commauÌ„deth / when we praye to enter in our chaumber / and to close the dore after vs / so to pray secretly vnto oure father / To enter in to thi chamber to pray whereby he wolde we shoulde chuse to our prayers suche place as might offer least occasion too call vs backe from prayer / and also that we shoulde expell forthe of our myndes in tyme of oure prayer all vayne cogitacions / for otherwyse Iesus Christ hym selfe doth obserue no special place of prayers / for we finde hym sometyme pray in mounte Oliuete / sometyme in the deserte / sometime in the temple ActuÌ„ 10. Peter coueteth to praye vppon the toppe of the house / Paule prayeth in pryson / was harde of God / who also commaundeth men to pray in all places / Priuate places to praie in lifting vp vnto God pure and cleane handes / as we fynde that the Prophetes muste holy men did / wheresouer daunger or necessitie requyred ¶ Apoynted places too praye in / maye not be neglectd BVt publike coÌ„mon prayers shuld be vsid in place apoynted / for assemblye of the coÌ„gregacion / from whence / whosoeuer negligentlye extracte theym selfe is in nowyse excusable / I meane not that to absent frome that place is sinne / because it is more holy than another For the hole earthe created by God / is equal holy / but the promise made / that whersoeuer two or thre be gathered together in my name / there shall I be in the middes of them / condemneth all suche as contemneth the coÌ„gregation / gathered in hys name / but marke wel gathered / I saye not to heare pyping / singing or playing / not to patter vpon beades or bokes / wherof they haue no vnderstanding / not to coÌ„mit Idolatrie / honoring that for God / which is no God indede / for with such wil I neither ioyne my selfe in coÌ„mon prayer / nor receyuing of the externall sacramentes / for in so doyng I should affirme their supersticion and abhominable Idolatrie / which I neuer wil do nor couÌ„sail other to do to the ende ¶ What is to be gathered in the name of Christ THis coÌ„gregacion / which I meane / should be gathered in the name of Iesus Christ / that is to laude magnefye God the father for the infinite benefites they had receiued by his onely sonne our Lord / in thys congregacion should be distributed the misticall and last supper of Iesus Christ / without supersticioÌ„ / or any more ceremonies then he hym selfe vsed / hys apostels after hym indistribution thereof / in thys congregacion should inquisicioÌ„ be takeÌ„ of the poore among them / sufficient support whyle the tyme of their next conuencioÌ„ / shuld be prouided and distributed In this congregacion shoulde be made common prayers / suche as all men hearing might vnderstande that the hartes of all subscribing to the voyce of one / mighte with vnfayned ferfent mynde say AmeÌ„ Whosoeuer do withdrawe them selfe from suche a congregacion / but allace where shall it be founde / do declare them selfes too be no members of Christes bodye ¶ For whome and at what tyme we shoulde praye FOr all men / 1. Tim. 2. Vvhen and for vvhome vve should praie at all times doth Paule commaund that we shall praye / principally for suche of the housholde of fayth / as suffer persecucion / and when coÌ„mon wealths tyranniously we oppressed / then incessantly shoulde we call that God of hys infynite mercy and power woll withstande the violence of suche tyrauntes ¶ Gods sentence maye be chaunged ANd when we se the plagues of God / huÌ„ger / pestilence / or warre / commynge or apearing to raygne / then should we with lamentable voyces repeÌ„ting hartes call vnto God / that it wolde please hys mercy to withdrawe his haÌ„des / for with suche as do aleage / that God may not chauÌ„ge hys senteÌ„ce oure prayers / therefore to be in vayne / can I in no wyse agree / beynge otherwyse taughte in the scripture by hys infallable eternall veritie He sayeth I shall destroye this nacion frome the face of the earth / and when Moyses adressed to pray for theÌ„ the Lorde procedeth saying Suffer me that I may vtterly destroy them / and then Moyses falleth on hys face flatling / and fourtye dayes contineweth in prayer / for the saluation of the people / to whome at the laste obtayned forgeuenes Dauid in the vehement plague / lamentable calleth vnto God / the kynge of Niniue sayeth 2. King last who knoweth / yf God shal be conuerted and led backe by repentaunce Iona. 3. And be tourned from the furor of hys wrath / that we perish not / which examples