the seconde night of my trauell J could not sleape but taried a seuen night in the same place then came backe againe ill at ease thus it pleaseth God to deale with me and such a body he hath giuen me to the ende I am sure J should not loue this present vanitie but remember him that liueth euer desire to bee dissolued to see his glorie And this I beseeche you thinke to be the only cause that I haue not of longe time seene you and others with whom otherwise I would wishe to dwell and if it bee the good will of God to prosper my iourneys in time conuenient J trust to see you oftener hereafter but his will bee done who appoynteth our wayes and numbreth our steppes and doeth all things for the best to those that loue him and to him if J can commit you in my daily prayers that so my spirit bee present with you how longe soeuer J be absent in body yet my duetie I owe you shall not bee altogither vnperformed and that piece of it which yet is wantinge that in daily exhortation J might by the grace of God stirre vp your minde that in the meane time let me supplie with these letters In which most hartily I beseech you good Madame goe on forwarde and faint not in the course of godlines increase stil in faith in loue in hope til with a wise hart you haue such a feeling of the glory of God of eternall life that you haue made your account vp with the world are at a point with all that is vnder the Sun While God shall prolong your dayes reioyce in him that hath giuen you life and vse all his gifts to his glory and whē his appointed time shal come and bring death into your doores let this be the preparation of your heart you desire to be loosed to bee with Christ and let this be the answere of your tongue Lord nowe lettest thou thy seruant departe in peace Surelie then it shall come vnto you that a happie life shal haue a blessed end Your former times haue found their wished issue the entrance of your graue shal be the beginninge of your glorie Hee hath spoken it that can not deceyue vs That euerie one that beleeueth in him shall not taste of death but shall passe from death to life This good Madame is the crowne garlande of all our pleasures reioyce in feeling it and be glad in louing it knit it faste to all the thoughtes of your hart neuer forget it it shal giue you more pleasure in one day of your life thē without it you can find in a thousande yeares and all the men of the worlde which feele their pleasure in this life know nothing better then to followe their owne concupiscence they shall perish when you shall abyde they shall mourne when you shall reioyce because they haue forgotten the liuinge God whom you haue loued Manie tentations shal be continuallie against you but God is able to set you free from them cast your care on him you haue wonne the victorie And to the ende you may knowe him how to trust in him as the Prophet Dauid did so let vs doe that is Let vs make his testimonies to be our delight excercise our selues in thē day night for they onely can make vs wise and renue in vs the image of God that we may be perfect as our heauenlie father is perfect This hope J thanke God hath bine before me that J haue not feared in any trouble and in a good conscience of this doing I had rather haue the displeasure of the worlde then with losse of this desire or any hurt of it to winne the fauour of all mortall men And so I am sure it shall be with you that day in which you shall so feele Gods glorie eternall life that you will consecrate your life for euer vnto him loue hi◠feare him longe after him Jt shal be more ioyfull vnto your thē the daie of your birth your heart shal be see as Saint Paule saith to vse the world as though you vsed it not not to forsake the world or worldly things for they are the gifts of god for the cōforte of our life but as though wee forsaked it so let our loue bee taken from it and be euer with him who is the giuer of all hath all immortalitie There is not a day that passeth ouer our heades but it afflicteth the body maketh it a day shorter liuing then it was Let there not be a day but shall strenghthen our faith that we may be glad we are one daie neerer the presence of our God then wee were before And I beseech god who only can do what he will worke his good will with you in all spirituall blessings that you may abounde and in the cōdition of this life that you may reioice till your accounted times bee all fulfilled Amen Yours in the Lord Iesu Ed. Deringe A Letter of M. Ed. De. to the Ladie M. THE Lorde God who hath onely power to worke his will and hath shewed mercy vnto vs in an eternall couenant make vs perfect in all our ways to abound in righteousnes and loue his glorie that in life and death we may be happie and haue ioy in his presence who liueth euer Amen Good Madame tbe dutie that J haue long owed vnto you doth much binde me the experience of your good inclination sufficientlie doth emboulden me to write at this time vnto you and J trust the Lord God who hath giuen you his grace and called me to this worke will blesse the labour that it may bee profitable to his glorie your cōfort For if his worde haue so great strength in his Saintes when they are yet vnbeleeuing and ignorant that it reuealeth euen the secretes of their hartes that it maketh them fall down to worship him and to acknowledge his mightie power in it J am sure it can not be but the same worde shall haue strength in you wholy altogither to consecrate your selfe vnto the Lord till all your delight be in him alone So that I am nowe more to praye for my selfe then for you that I may rather speake the trueth then you heare it for of this I am sure your heart is prepared as the Prophete sayth to a good purpose the Lord make my hande as the penne of a good writer And nowe good Madame this is the summe of all Feare God loue him your goods your credit your thoghts your desires your body your life giue it all vnto him that he only may please you nothing but he only delight you his worde instruct you his wil perswade you that whether you liue or whether you die you may be wholy his A short lesson soone learned harde J confesse of the worlde to practise but not harde to you whom God hath loued for what is it can call away your
desire that wholy and altogither it should not be in this Jt is onely the worlde that hath taken vp enimitie against vs and striueth dailie to separate vs from the Lorde But what is in the worlde why the perswasions of it should please vs especiallie you who haue had experience of it whose life God hath filled with worldlie things You knowe what is the comfort of houses and landes you haue weighed them well and found them light You knowe the gladnes of a mother and haue in your sight Sōnes Daughters the triall of it is in you hath entred deepe euē as they haue bin the fruite of your owne wombe but in them you haue no such ioye as in the spirit of adoption by which you knowe your selfe to be the childe of God You knowe the treasure of a good husband with whom you haue had peaceable and louinge dayes but howe much is it a greater ioye of vnspeakeable gladnes to feele your selfe ioyned to Jesus Christ made a chaste member of his glorious body with whom you shal be ioyned for euer You haue seene a great many yeares of the age of man and haue measured the length of them so that if you might liue the dayes of Abraham yet you might account your houres and see the time at hande when in the ende of your course you shall take your rest and what were this to immortalitie To be short and to pretermit manie things wherewith God hath made your life as a blessing you haue seene fauour Credite Landes Authoritie Friendes Seruauntes the pleasures of these God hath giuen you You haue seene fulnesse of such delights but this and all els that you haue seene what is it to the grace of God the fellowshippe of Saintes the forgiuenes of your sinnes the loue of his countenance the assurance of your life the brightnes of his glorie your eternall blessinges Sith then in the world is no sure refuge the more I haue seene the fruit of your faith the more assuredlie J knowe the constancie of your minde readie to leaue the worlde to approch nearer vnto God and to account all these thinges to be but dunge to the ende you may winne Iesus Christ in whom you shal be so much more blessed as light is more bright then darknesse health is more excellent then sicknesse and life more precious then cruell death This good Madame you haue long knowen and with prayse professed it among men And nowe especiallie reape the fruite of it in these dayes of Gods visitation in which in a weake body you haue had a sharpe sickenesse to teach you that your life is in the handes of God the nature of your body that it is but dust so that you should not loue it but in the Lorde nor be pleased with it but as it pleaseth him readie to laye it downe when he shall call you This is that great and high commandement To loue God aboue all and this is the greatest obedience required of man to be readie to dye at the will of God Vnto which commaundement when I doe beseech you willinglie to yeelde I feele in my selfe howe the nature of man striueth against it all those delightes of which I spake before the pleasures of this present life they arise against it although we had no other comfort yet life it self is sweete vnto vs we are loth to make our beds in the darke our eyes they would yet see the sunne our eares would heare the sounde of worldly elements though our fleshe be grasse yet grasse hath a flower our fraile bodyes haue vanishinge fantasies agreeable vnto them as earth vnto earth and from which most hardlie you shall pull it away the Patriarkes Prophetes were sometime afraide Paule and Peter were not alwayes bolde they loued euer that life which they sawe in hope but they did feele the death whichc did fight in their members And howe should I then saye vnto you a weake woman feare not death or if I say it howe can you performe it beeing so weake a vessell of fleshe and bloud yet good Madame giue me leaue to intreate you J hope you shall haue a heart to graunt it J most humblie beseeche you feare not death The Apostles were men as we are yet Paule obteyned at last to be dissolued be with Christ if we be weaker then he the graces of God shal be more exalted in vs and we also shall say at the last Let thy seruaunt O Lord departe in peace It is the Lorde that hath promised this blessing vnto vs let vs heare it with faith and it will make death vile in our eyes it is enough if we knowe God will giue this victorie to his people lett vs be bolde though we feare a litle while yet feare shall be cast out and we shall say with a free spirit O death where is thy stinge c. trie your selfe therefore euery day and if your harte be bolde reioyce good Madame reioyce for euer the last and greatest enimie which is death is troden vnder your feete and what els can hurt you all other things of the world they are but seruauntes of death and serue to make his power more fearfull vnto vs friendes or kinsefolke golde siluer pretious stones or al other pleasures all labour vnto one ende to make vs more loth to die vanquish death and you haue vāquished all height depth life and death all is yours you are Christes And see I beseeeh you what glorie you haue gotten you are but a weake and sicke woman whom God hath shut vp into your chamber and tyed to your bedde and yet the great tyrant of the world that holdeth in bondage Kings Princes and woundeth them all with feare terror he is confounded before you the Lord of life he hath crushed him in pieces vnder you A blessed day that brought you first into this battell a blessed sickenesse that made you endure the fight most blessed ende in which you get the victorie for who hath giuen you this strength or who raigneth in you in such a day but he who hath saied and done it O death I wil be thy death and if he be in you who hath abolished death and in whose sight death shall neuer haue any rule what treasure what depth of ioy and gladnes shall he bring with him while you liue you shal liue in him no man shall take your ioy from you and whē you die you shall die in him and death shal be no death but you shall passe to eternall life and all that is fearfull shal be farre from you the burthen of sinne the malice of the deuill the terrour of hell the dreadfull words goe ye cursed into eternall fire All this is abolished troden down in the crosse of Iesus Christ who reigneth in you giueth you his spirit that you feare not death and all things that fill with ioy not the earth onely but the heauens also you haue destroyed death you shall feele thē all within you the fellowship of Saints Angels the forgiuenes of sinns the resurrection of the body the life euerlasting
eyelyddes payned with being open or are our eares wounded with the sounde of the ayre or what griefe what care what sorrowe is it why we wishe our time forgotten past Surely Iob knewe not this when hee saide His time passed faster thē a poste nor Dauid knewe it not whē he thought his life but a spanne longe and surely he hath but a wretched lyfe let him not loue it who is fayne to runne to the birdes of the ayre and the beastes of the fielde to seeke some comfort against it And therefore good Maistres B. let pastime alone and be not wearied with your good dayes your tymes are passed meetely well and you haue seene 40. yeares filled and gone the residue behinde will passe with them You shall not holde them if you would but pastyme and they will dwell togither till our appointed time shall come and one ende shal be vnto all But then you shall see another state and this enimitie betweene vs and it shal be taken away we shall not be wearie of it to wishe it gone and it will not bee wearie of vs to weare vs away but Tyme and we shall dwell togither and the glorie of God shal be eternally before vs and we before his Maiestie in Jmmortalitie A blessed state a hope of lyfe a glorious body a heauēly minde and woe be to all these tyme passers of that know how to delight in this but haue more pleasure in all vncleannes when the end of their labour shall come vppon them they shall feele more griefe in one day then after shal be eased world without ende And in one sentence of an angrie Judge goe you cursed into eternall fire they shal be wounded with that miserie whiche worlde without end shall rest vpon them and their olde pastime shall neuer more be founde but this is the portion of them that knowe not God But you good Maistres B. haue alreadie passed the dayes of your ignorance and the kingdome of heauen is come vnto you with power you loue the trueth of the Lorde Jesus and all false wayes you doe abhorre you doe feele the hope of the Elect of God and it hath quenched the desires of vngodlie Pray still that you may haue increase and read the Scriptures in whiche you shall haue comfort these will leade you in a perfect way and neyther Paule nor Peter haue a more blessed end then is for vs in a like pretious faith and J as J am bounde will beseeche the God of mercie and father of our Lord Iesus Christ that he will looke vpon you to fill you with his grace and holy spirite that it may guyde you and all your children before you and your houshold committed to your charge that you may dwell in the newe and blessed Testament of the forgiuenes of sinnes through faith in Christ Iesus who hath destroyed the workes of the Diuell and is able to keepe you for euer more And to his gracious defence J hartely leaue you and all yours Yours in the Lord Ed. Dering To Maistres B. THe grace of our Lord Iesus Christ be with you euer Amen Good Maistres Baret howe fayne J would be with you God knoweth and howe I am indebted to doe good in your house if J should not confesse I must needes accuse my selfe of much vnthankefulnes but God alone disposeth all our wayes to be so as pleaseth him whom hartily I beseeche for his sonnes sake blesse vs with that blessing whiche hee gaue his Apostle that in all places wee may bee vnto him in Iesus Christ a sweete sauour of life vnto life to all his saints with whom wee are So shall I more gladlie walke all the wayes of his appointment and you more willinglie beare with myne absence the will of God bee done in all thinges When you are at Braye if the Lorde will I shal be more quiet with you In the meane time good Maistres so beleeue as you haue seene and hearde and praye for me that I may liue to his glorie who hath shewed me such mercie that I may say with the Prophet Dauid What shall I giue againe for all that he hath giuen mee And so doe you reioyce in the blessing that GOD hath giuen you that more and more your estate here may be a sure testimonie of a more blessed hope that shall one day bee reuealed when honor and glorie shall succeed in the place of labour and sorrowe that nowe aboundeth The Lord blesse you and all yours keepe you and giue you a plentifull blessing in his newe Testament and in his kingdome which is righteousnes and peace and ioye in the holy Ghost the glorie whereof shall not bee darkened when the Sunne and Moone shall lose their light and faine men with desire of it that shall fill vs once with the countenance of the Lorde A glorious hope in an earthly tabernacle but a more glorious performance in a heauenly creature when we shal be free from sinne and death and be made like vnto him that sitteth at the right hande of maiestie and power Which tyme the Lorde God fulfill in the goodnes of his pleasure for our soules hope in whom we haue setled our hope Commendations c. Yours Ed. Deringe To Maistres B. THe grace of our Lord Iesus Christ bee with you euer Amen J am sorie that hitherto I could not come vnto you I would be more sorie if you should thinke I had leuer be any where then in your house I had thought shortly to haue come and I felte my selfe somewhat stronge and able to trauell but nowe on friday last the eleuēth of this moneth I had a feauer and fiue or sixe dayes after I felte it and my stomacke is very ill euer since and my cough much increaseth This is my health that God giueth me But let him do his will he is the God of life and one day will abolishe these troublesome thinges and make vs feele health in immortalitie and I beseeche him for his Christes sake to remember vs in his goodnes that wee may knowe all his mercies and then J am well assured both you and I and all weake bodyes shall so little care for the frayeltie of these tabernacles that we will reioyce in the remembrance of putting them of to thinke that wee shall see and take holde of him that liueth euer and will one day make these mortall bodyes like vnto the glorious body of his beloued sonne This we knowe in this we are comforted and holde it fast good Mistresse B. euen as you will holde your happie dayes for the hope of it shall not be confounded but when all our enimies haue spentt their euill willes and can doe no more hurt vnto vs he shal be on our right hande whom we haue looked for and he shall call vs with that blessed voyce Come ye blessed of my Father Let vs praye to vnderstande this for it hath pleasure effectuall gladnes more then all the faire
and the God of glorie your eyes lightened with a pure faith shall see these things in so perfect beautie that you shall cast out death the feare of it yea you should thinke your time wearines if your dayes should be prolonged and you should bee yet many yeares a soiorner in this bodie in which you are a straunger from the presence of the Lorde And the nearer your time approcheth the gladder you shal be of the ende of your iourney when your harte shall feele it And when the earthlie house of this tabernacle shal be destroyed you haue a building giuen of God a house not made with hands but eternall in the heauens In this faith you shall not onely not feare death but you shall sigh and moane as Paule saith till you see your glorie and the lot of the saints that is in light where there is no more sorrow nor care nor feare nor death but the God of all mercie and father of our lord Jesus Christ shal be before vs for euer Thus Madame as my duetie is J haue written vnto you and God will blesse it as his promise is that it shall be for the best in the wisdome of his word we shal be strengthned in his grace that death sicknesse shal be forgotten all the desirs of our heart shal be with him And the Lord God for his Sonnes sake so haue mercie vpon vs that all euill taken from vs we may reioyce in him and see his blessed age that is in immortality is sealed in our heartes with his blessed spirit To whom be glorie for euermore Amen From Saint Ellens the tenth of Ianuarie Anno Domini 1576. Yours bounden in the Lord Iesu the onely forgiuenes of all our sinnes Ed. Deringe A Letter written by M. Edward Deringe to his Lord Maister the Duke of Northfolke Gratia et pax a Deo patre et domino nostro Iesu Christo THE longe good will that I haue borne vnto you as to one that earnestlie professed the Gospell and the great duetie I owe vnto you as to my Lord Master make that nowe I should write vnto you not knowing whether opportunitie shal be such that hereafter J may doe you any seruice God the author of all life he hath shutte both you and me vp in his handes that there is great likelihood our liues in this worlde they are but short The Prince that executeth the iudgement of the Lord she hath found you out in your great sinnes and sickenes that raigneth ouer all fleshe it hath taken now longe holde vpon me So that as I saide we are both in the handes of the Lord we are summoned paremtorilie death hath giuen an assault and the weake holdes of our life they are violentlie shaken Nowe therefore my good Lord let it vs take counsell togither and as a wise Maister learne of a faithfull seruaunt what is best to be done the worst that our sinnes can doe vnto vs is to lay vpon vs the iust rewarde of death my disease which thus afflicteth me for many thousand sinns it can but take away my life which J haue so abused And all your deepe dissimulation and hypocrisie your great ambitions your faithlesse religion which haue so bewitched you what can they doe more then this The remedie nowe is to make of necessitie a vertue that is to beare it wisely which you must needes abide J haue I thanke God founde that grace that I can loue this saying Cupio dissolui esse cum Christo the Lord also open your hearte and guide your vnderstandinge that with all saintes you may doe likewise and praye Veni Domine Iesu And now for asmuch as this is the last duetie that J am like to doe vnto you as God shall giue grace I will so aduice you as I may testifie myne owne faith and make you strong against the daye of triall trusting that our God shall so remember vs both in mercie that after a little while we shall see better dayes and raigne with him that abideth King for euer There is now but one thing necessarie for you to learne in this life that is how you may willinglie desire to die a hard lesson for a natural mā for death is our last enimie his assault most violent to the triall of our faith but Christ who hath ouercome death and hell hee hath broken the strength of this battell and set vp the songes of triumph vnto all that beleeue that we may haue the fulnesse of ioy and say with gladnes ô death where is thy sting Nowe that this ioye may be yours and this gladnes your inheritāce prepare your selfe not in your own wisdō for that hath alredie deceiued you but in the wisdome of god that your hope may be sure Jf you will now haue the hart that shal cōdemne the force of death cōsider wherfore you are called to die It is laid to your charg that you haue delt traytrously with your Prince with your coūtry with the religiō of God and vpon these crimes you are cōdemned to die If you be guiltles ô my Lord blessed are you blessed is your portion he hath spokē it that neuer will change Jf whē you do well you suffer wrōgfully take it patiētly for this is acceptable to god but if you be guilty you haue not your hope in death for that you haue deserued but your hope is this that you die so as it becōmeth you which if god shal grāt vnto you then blessed is the howre that God shall bring vpon you you shal make that change which god for his Christes sake lay speedily vpon all his children you shal die once that you may liue euer Now that you may know how you ought to die learne this of the lord which he hath so plainly taught you The first part of your true repētāce must be an hūble cōfessiō what soeuer your own conscience can vtter more thē is reuealed O my Lorde speake opēly the trueth sathan is enimie vnto vs his slightes are many if you will treade the malicious serpent vnder your feete triumph with Christ who hath spoiled hell tell the trueth my Lord conceale nothing so shall you shunne the diuel If my words seeme but light to perswade you heare the wisest counsellour that euer raigned in Israel He that hideth his sinne saieth Salomon shall neuer prosper but he that cōfesseth forsaketh them shall finde mercie Whē Acan had transgressed in Israel deserued death when he was brought into iudgemēt Ioshua said vnto him My Son J beseech thee giue glory to the lord God of Israel make cōfession vnto him shew me now what thou hast done Loe my Lord this is to giue glorie vnto God to cōfesse your sin