pour upon the diligent hearers of his Word as was in David who desired being a King Rather to be a door-keeper in the House of God then to dwell in the tents of the ungodly lamenting nothing so much the injuries done to him by his Son Absalom which were not small as that he was deprived of the comfortable exercises in the Tabernacle of the Lord which then was in Sion Neither doth there appear in such persons that greedy desire whereof Isaiah makes mention which ought to be in the Professours of the Gospel who never would cease or rest till they should climb up to the Lords hill meaning the Church of Christ saying one to another Let us ascend to the hill of the Lord to the house of the God of Iacob and he will teach us his wayes and we shall walk in his footsteps for the Law shall come forth of Sion and the Word of the Lord from Ierusalem Which zeal the Prophet doth not mention in vain but to shew what a thirst and earnest desire should be in true Christians and how the same appeareth in seeking and resorting to those places where it is set forth in greatest abundance and perfection as was after Christs Ascension in Ierusalem And as that zeal shewed them to be of Christ by the like must we be judged Christians also that if we flee for Christ the places whereunto we flee may bear witness for what cause we are fled Neither is it a sufficient excuse which many alledge that they believe to be saved by Christ that they have sufficient knowledge of their duty and the rest they can supply by their own diligence I dare say their faith is not so much but they had need to desire with the Apostles Lord encrease our fâ—ith And if they will so confess why do they forsake the chiefest means that God hath ordained which is the open Congregations of his people where his Word the fountain of Faith is most purely preached and where the godly Examples of others may be a sharper spur to prick them forward and as for the knowledge and diligence of such there may be no buckler to defend their doings for if they have those gifts whereof they boast where may they better bestow them then in the Church of God except they will say they are born to themselves and have the gifts of God which he would have common to others applied to their own private fancy which is to lap them up in a clout and not to put them forth to the vantage of the owner as did the unprofitable Servant and as do all they to whom God hath given either learning counsel or worldly substance who either for the strength of Cities pleasantness of the air traâ—fick or merchandize or for any other worldly respect or policy do absent themselves from the Congregation and company of their poor Brethren where Christ hath advanced his Standard and blown his Trumpet If God then give you not strength at the first to stand in his Profession to the death nor that you cannot be quiet in conscience abiding in your Countrey you see how his mercy hath given you liberty to kill and what places he hath appointed you to flee unto that is where you may do good to your selves and others where ye may be free from Superstition and Idolatry where your faith may be encreased and not diminished and your selves strengthened and confirmed and more strongly armed But if you in tarrying will neither stand manfully to Christ your Master but betray him doing as the Papists do nor yet with thanks use this remedy that God hath granted to our infirmity to resort to his Churches godlily instituted what answer shall ye be able to make to his Majesty when he shall call for an account of your doings How shall you avoid his wrathful indignation now ready to be poured upon his enemies For in taking part with their impiety you must be partakers of their Cup likewise Neither is this any new or hard Doctrine that may exceed your capacity but may rather be termed your A. B. C. and first Principles wherein none ought to be ignorant That if we will be Christs Scholars we must learn to bear his Cross and to follow him not to cast it off our shoulders with the enemies and run from him Be no more deceived in so plain a matter If the Lord be God follow him if Bâ—al be God go after him Let not the example of any lead you into errour for men are but mortal Trust in the Lord for he is a sure rock Trust not your own shifts for they will deceive you Mark the end of others and in time be warned These Lessons are hard to the flesh but eaâ—â—e to the spirit The way of the Lord is a strait path but most faithful sure and comfortable From Geneva this first of Ian. An. 1558. Goose. Iohn Goose burnt in England An. 1473. being prest by the Sheâ—â—ff of Lâ—ndon to recant and so deliver himself from death answered That for his Religion he was at a pass and neither could nor would recant the same When the Sheriff gave him some meat of which he did eat heartily he said to the standers by I eat now a good and competent Dinner for I shall pass a sharp shower before I go to Supper Gordius When a solemn Feast was celebrated in Caesarea in honour to Mars Gordius a Citizen thereof who had been a Centurion and had chosen exile for sometime in the heat of Persecution left the Desert wherein he lived in exile and got him up into the chief place of the Theater and with a loud voice cried out Behold I am found of them that sought me not and to those that asked not for me have I openly appeared The Sheriff asking him who he was from whence he came and for what he came thither I am come said he to publish that I set nothing by your desires against the Christian Religion but that I profess Jesus Christ to be my hope and safety The Sheriff threatning him with all kind of torments It would be to me a damage said he if I should not endure divers torments for Christs Cause When he was tormented he lifted up his eyes to Heaven saying The Lord is my helper I will not fear the thing that man can do unto me I will learn no evil for thou Lord art with me He blamed the Tormentors if they favoured him at all The Sheriff promising great things if he would deny Christ It lieth not in you said he to place any in Authority which be worthy to have a place in Heaven When he was led out of the City to be burnt many with tears beg'd him to save himself but he said Weep not I beseech you for me but rather for those that bring us to the fire and thereby purchase Hell fire to themselves Truly I am ready for the Name of Christ to suffer
and ready to be burned for the testimony of the Truth O dear Brethren and Sisters how much have you to rejoyce in God that he hath given you such faith to overcome this blood-thirsty Tyrant thus far And no doubt but he that hath begun that good work in you will fulfill it to the end O dear Hearts in Christ what a Crown of Glory shall ye receive with Christ in the Kingdome of God Oh that it had been the good will of God that I had been ready to have gone with you I lie in my Lords Little-ease in the day and in the night in the coal-Cole-house alone and we look every day when we shall be condemned but I lie still at the Pools brink and every man goeth in before me but we abide patiently the Lords leisure with many Bands in Fetters and Stocks by the which we have received great joy in the Lord. And now fare you well dear Brethren and Sisters in this World but I trust to see you in the Heavens face to face How blessed are you in the Lord that God hath found you worthy to suffer for his sake O be joyfull even unto death Fear it not saith Christ for I have overcome death Be strong let your hearts be of good comfort and wait you still for the Lord. He is at hand The Angel of the Lord pitcheth his Tent round about them that fear him and delivereth them which way he seeth best for our lives are in the Lords hands and they can do nothing unto us before God suffer them Therefore give all thanks to God O dear Hearts you shall be clothed with long white Garments upon the Mount Sion with the multitude of Saints and with Jesus Christ our Saviour who will never forsake us O blessed Virgins you have played the wise Virgins part in that you have taken Oyl in your Vessels that ye may go in with the Bridegroom when he cometh c. but as for the foolish they shall be shut out because they made not themselves ready to suffer with Christ neither go out to take up his Cross. O dear Hearts How precious shall your death be in the sight of the Lord for dear is the death of his Saints O fare you well and pray The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all Amen Amen Pray pray pray By me R. R. written with mine own blood The Bishop asking him what he thought of his Fellow-Prisoner Ralf Allerton He answered That he thought him to be one of the elect Children of God and if he were put to death for his Faith and Religion he thought he should die a true Martyr The Bishop asking him how he did like the Order and Rites of the Church then used here in England He said That he ever had and then did abhor the same with all his heart Being perswaded to recant and ask mercy of the Bishop No said he I will not ask mercy of him that cannot give it Rought A Suffolk man so called and his Wife and several others being rebuked for going so openly and talking so freely Their answer was They acknowledged and believed and therefore they must speak and that the tribulation was by Gods good will and providence and that his Judgements were right to purâ—â—â— them with others for their sins and that of very faithfulness and mercy God had caused them to be troubled bled and that one hair of their heads should not perish before the time but all things should work unto the best to them that love God and that Christ Jesus was their life and onely righteousness and that onely by faith in him and for his seke all good things were freely given them also forgiveness of sins and life everlasting Rupea You may said Castalia Rupea throw my body from this steep Hill yet will my soul mount upward again Your blasphemies more offend my soul then your torments do my body Russel Ieremy Russel being apprehended in the Diocess of Glasgow in Scotland A. 1539. and railed upon answered This is your hour and power of darkness Now sit ye as Judges and we stand wrongfully accused and more wrongfully to be condemned but the day shall come when our innocence shall appear and that ye shall see your own blindness to your everlasting confusion Go forward and fulfill the measure of your iniquity He comforted his Fellow-Prisoner Alexander Kennedy of whom see the second Part under K. saying Brother fear not more mighty is he that is in us then he that is in the world the pain that we shall suffer is short and shall be light but our joy and consolation shall never have end and therefore let us contend to enter in unto our Master and Saviour by the same strait way which he hath taken before us Death cannot destroy us for it is destroyed already by him for whose sake we suffer Rycetto Mr. Anthony Rycetto of Vincence being condemned to be drowned his Son about twelve years of age comieg to visit him besought him with tears to yield and to save his life that he might not be left fatherless A true Christian said his Father is bound to forego Goods Children yea and life it self for the maintenance of Gods honour and glory A Captain telling him That Francis Sega was resolved to recant What tell you me said he of Sega I will perform my vows unto the Lord my God A Priest presenting him with a wooden Crucifix exhorting him to return and to die in the favour of God reconciling himself to the Church of Rome the holy Spouse of Christ But he rejected the Crucifix and besought the Priest to come out of the snare of the Devil to cleave to Jesus Christ and to live not according to the flesh but after the Spirit If you do otherwise said he assure your selves your unbelief will bring yâ—u into that Lake of fire that shall never be quenched for though yâ—u confess with your mouth that you know Iesus Christ yet you not onely deny him by your works but you persecute him in his Members being bewitched by the Pope the open enemy of the Son of God As he was carrying to be drowned because it was very cold he called for his Cloke which they had taken from him Whereupon the Wherry-man said unto him Fearest thou a little cold What wilt thou do when thou art cast into the Sea Why art not thou carefull to save thy self from drowing Dost not thou see that the poor Flea skips hither and thither to save her life His answer was And I am now flying to escape eternal death Being arrived at the place where he was to suffer the Captain put a Chain of Iron about his middle with a very heavy Stone fastned thereto Then Rycetto lifting his eyes to Heaven said Father forgive them for they know not what they do And being laid on the Planck he said Lord Iesus into thy hands I commend my spirit FINIS These are the
Rolph take heed of him he is a blood-sucker c. I fear not said Aâ—cock he shall do no more to me then God will give him leave and happy shall I be if God will call me to die for his Truths sake In his first Letter to Hadley he writes thus O my Brethren of Hadley why are ye so soon turned from them which called you into the Grace of Christ to another Doctrine Though those should come unto you that have been your true Preachers and preach another way of salvation then by Jesus Christs death and passion hold them accursed yea if it were an Angel came from Heaven and would tell you that the sacrifice of Christs body upon the Cross once for all were not sufficient for all the sins of all those that shall be saved accursed be he Why cometh this plague upon us Cometh not this upon thee because thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God Thine own wickedness shall reprove thee and thy turning away shall condemn thee that thou mayest know how evil and hurtful a thing it is that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God Algerius Pomponius Algerius whilst he was a Prisoner at Venice before he was burnt at Rome writ thus in his comfortable Letter to the Christians departed out of Babylon into Mount Sion To mitigate your sorrow which you take for me I cannot but impart unto you some portion of my joyes which I feel to the intent you may rejoyce with me I shall utter that which scarce any will believe I have found a nest of honey an honey-comb in the entrails of a Lion In the deep dark Dungeon I have found a Paradise of pleasure In the place of sorrow and death tranquility of hope and life where others do weep I do rejoyce when others do shake and tremble there I have found plenty of strength and boldness in strait bands and cold irons I have had rest Behold he that was once far from me now is present with me whom once I could scarce feel I now see most apparently whom once I saw afar off now I behold near at hand whom once I hungred for the same now approacheth and reacheth his hand unto me he doth comfort me and heapeth me up with gladness he driveth away all bitterness he ministreth strength and courage c. O how easie and sweet is the Lords yoke Learn ye well-beloved how amiable the Lord is how meek and merciful who visiteth his servants in temptations neither disdaineth he to keep company with us in such vile and stinking Caves Will the blind and incredulous world think you believe this or rather will it not say thus No thou wilt never be able to abide long the burning heat the pinching hardness of that place c. The rebukes and frowning faces of great men how wilt thou suffer Dost not thou consider thy pleasant Countrey the Riches of the World thy Kinsfolk the delicate pleasures and Honours of this life Dost thou forget the solace of thy Sciences and fruit of all thy Labours Wilt thou thus lose all thy labours which thou hast hitherto sustained Finally fearest thou not death which hangeth over thee O what a fool art thou which for one words speaking mayest salve all this and wilt not But now to answer Let this blind world hearken to this again What heat can there be more burning then that fire which is prepared for thee hereafter What things more hard and sharp and crooked then this present life which we lead What thing more odious and hateful then this world here present And let these worldly men here answer me What Countrey can we have more sweet then the Heavenly Countrey above What treasures more rich or precious then everlasting life and who be our Kinsmen but they which hear the Word of God Where be greater riches or dignities more honourable then in Heaven And as touching the Sciences let this foolish world consider Be not they ordained to know God whom unless we do know all our labours our night-watchings our studies and all our enterprises here serve to no purpose all is but labour lost Furthermore let the miserable worldly men answer me What remedy or safe refuge can there be unto him who lacks God who is the life medicine of all men how can he be said to fly from death when he himself is already dead in sin If Christ be the way verity life how can there be any life without Christ The solely heat of the Prison to me is coldness the cold winter to me is a fresh spring in the Lord. He that feareth not to be burned in the fire how will he fear the heat of weather Or what careth he for the pinching frost which burneth for the love of the Lord The place is sharp and tedious to them that be guilty but to the innocent it is mellifluous Here droppeth the delectable dew here floweth the pleasant Nectar here runneth the sweet milk here is plenty of all good things In this world there is no mansion firm to me and therefore I will travel up to the New Ierusalem which is in Heaven and which offereth it self to me without paying any Fine or Income I have travelled hitherto laboured and sweat early and late watching day and night and now my travels begin to come to effect What man can now cavil that these our labours are lost which have followed and found out the Lord and Maker of the World and which have changed death with life If to die in the Lord be not to die but to live most joyfully where is this wretched worldly Rebel which blameth us of folly for giving away our lives unto death O how delectable is this death to me to taste of the Lords Câ—p. I am accused of foolishness for that I do not rid my self out of these troubles when with one word I may But doth not Christ say Fear not them which kill the body but him which killeth both body and soul and whosoever shall confess me before men him will I also câ—nâ—ess before my Father which is in Heâ—vâ—n and he that denieth me before men him will I also deny before my Heavenly Father Seeing the words of the Lord be so plain how or by what authority will this wise Counsellor approve this his counsel which he doth give God forbid that I should relinquish the commandements of God and follow the counsels of men for it is written Blessed is the man that hath not gâ—ne in the way of sinners and hath not stood in the counsel of the ungodly c. Psal. 1.1 God forbid I should deny Christ where I ough to confess him I will not set more by my life then by my soul neither will I exchange the life to come for this world here present This Letter he underwrit thus From the delectable Orchard of Leonine Prison 12 Calend. August An. 1555. Allen. Sir Edmond Tyrrel bidding Rose Allen to give her Father and Mother
pure Law of God which proveth the best of us all damnable sinners in the light of God and that our best works are polluted in such sort as the Prophet describes them with the which manner of speaking our free-will Pharisees are much offended for it felleth all mans righteousness to the ground In his Letter to Mr. Augustine Bernher Pray for me that I may be strong and hardy to lay a good load on that bloody beast of Babylon O that I might so strike him down that he should never be able to rise again but that stroke belongeth onely to the Lord to strike at his coming which I hope will be shortly Carpenter All Bavaria said George Carpenter is not so dear to me as my wife and children yet for Christs sake I will forsake them cheerfully Carver Mr. Derick Carver being asked by Bonner whether he would stand for his Confession answered He would for your Doctrine is poyson and sorcery If Christ were here you would put him to a worse death then he was put to before At the stake he spake thus Dear Brethren and Sisters I am come here to seal with my blood Christs Gospel because that I know it to be true As many of you as do believe upon the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost unto everlasting life see you do the works pertaining to the same As many of you as do believe on the Pope of Rome you do believe to your utter condemnation and except the great mercy of God prevent not you shall burn in Hell perpetually In his Prayer O Lord my God thou hasâ— written He that will not forsake wife children house and all that ever he hath and take up his cross and follow thee is not worthy of thee Lord thou knowest that I have forsaken all to come unto thee Lord have mercy upon me for unto thee I commend my Spirit and my soul doth rejoyce in thee Chrysostome Eud xia the Emperess having sent him a very threatning message he gave this answer Go tell her Nil nisi peccatum timeo I fear nothing but sin When she had procured his banishment as he went forth of the City he said None of these things trouble me but I said within my self if the Queen will let her banish me the Earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof if she will let her cast me into the sea I will remember Ionah if she will let her cast me into a burning fiery Furnace or among wild beasts the three children and Daniel were so dealt with if she will let her stone me or cut off my head I have St. Stephen and the Baptist my blessed Companions if she will let her take away all my substance Naked came I out of my Mothers womb and naked shall I return thither again He used to say the Devil 's first assault is violent resist that and his second will be weaker and that being resisted he proves a Coward Clarebachius I believe said Adolphus Clarebachius that there is not a merrier heart in the world at this instant then mine is Behold you shall see me die by that faith I have lived in Colham See Sir Iohn Oldcastle under the Letter O Clark When Roger Clark was sentenced he said with much vehemency Fight for your God for he hath not long to continue At the Stake he cried out to the people Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world Coligni Iasper Coligni great Admiral of France who was slain in the Massacre at Paris August 24. 1572. being shot in the left Arm with two Bullets and the fore-finger of the right hand broke off with a third and being told by a Gentleman that it was to be feared the Bullets were poysoned he said All must be as it pleaseth God Seeing his Friends weep which held his Arm whilst the Incisions were made he said My Friends why do you weep I judge my self happy that bear these wounds for the Cause of my God To Mr. Merlin his Chaplain he said These wounds my Friend are Gods blessings The smart indeed is troublesome but I acknowledge the will of my Lord therein and I bless his Majesty who hath been pleased thus to honour me and to lay any pain upon me for his holy Names sake Let us beg of him that he will enable me to persevere to the end Speaking concerning those that wounded him I know assuredly said he that it is not in their power to hurt me No though they should kill me for my death is a most certain passage to eternal life N When the Blood-hounds brake open the house where he lay wounded he spake thus I perceive what is a doing I was never afraid of death and I am ready to undergo it patiently for which â— have long since prepared my self I bless God that I shall die in the Lord. â— now need no longer any help of man therefore my friends get ye hence The presence of God to whose goodness I commend my soul is abundantly sufficiently for me Coâ—vâ—r Sheep we are for the slaughter said Francâ— Co'ver to his two Sons massacred together with himself this is no new thing let us follow millions of Martyrs through temporal death unto eternal life Coo. Roger Coo being asked by the Bishop of Norâ—ichâ— whether he would not obey the Kings Laws answered As far as they agree with the Word of God I will obey them Whether they agree with the Word of God or no we are bound to obey them said the Bishop though the King were an Infidel Coo replyed If Shadrach Mâ—shach and Abednâ—go had so done Neluchadnâ—zzar had neveâ— confessed the Living God Constantine Being carried with other Martyrs in a Dungâ— Cart to the place of Execution he spake thusâ— Well yet are we a precious odour and a sweeâ— savour to God in Christ. Cornford Iohn Cornford one of the last five that suffered Martyrdome in Queen Mary's dayes when thâ— Sentence should have been passed and they should have been executed by the Papists being moveâ— in Spirit with a vehement zeal for God in the namâ— of them all pronounced Sentence of Excommunication against the Papists in these words In the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ the Son of the most mighty God and by the power of the holy Spirit and the authority of his holy and Apostolick Church We do hereby give into the hands of Satan to be destroyed the bodies of those Blasphemers and Hereticks that do maintain any errour against his most holy Word or do condemn his most holy Truth for Heresie to the maintenance of any false Church or feigned Religion so that by this thy just judgement against thy Adversaries thy true Religion may be known to thy great glory and our comfort and to the edifying of all our Nation Lord Jesus So be it It is observable that within six dayes after this Excommunication Queen Mary died and the tyranny of all
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 Papistâ—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 Sâ—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 Bâ—ethren is and his Word openlâ— 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
poor Prisoners I make this my humble suit and prayer to you all my especial good Friends beseeching you by all the bonds of amity in the bowels of mercy to tender the cases of miserable Captives Help to cloath Christ visit the Afflicted comfort the Sorrowful and relieve the Needy The very God of peace guide your hearts to have mercy on the poor and love faithfully together Amen This present Monday when I look to die and to live for ever Yours for ever Bartlet Green In his Letter to Mrs. Elizabeth Clark I shall not cease with continual Prayer to labour for you desiring Almighty God to increase that which he hath long since begun in you of sober life and earnest zeal towards his Region She that is a true Widow and friendless putteth her trust in God continuing day and night in supplication and prayer but she that liveth in pleasure is dead even yet alive And verily she is a true widow that hath married Christ forsaking the vanities of the world and the lusts of the flesh For as the married woman careth how to love and serve and please her Husband so ought the Widow to give all her soul and heart thoughts and words studies and labours faithfully to love God vertuously to bring up her children and houshold and diligently to provide for the poor and oppressed Not to live in pleasure but to watch unto prayer stedfastly laying up all her trust in God Of Anna it is written That she never went out of the Temple but served God with fasting and prayer night and day to â—ring up her children and houshold godly in the nurture and information of the Lord. There are most manifest examples against Parents for the offences of Children Contrariwise how greatly might Hanna rejoyce over Samuâ—l her Son whom she had brought up in the House of the Lord But above all Widows thrice blessed was the happy Mother of the seven Sons that so had instructed them in the fear of the Lord that by no torments they would sâ—rink from the love of his Truth To be liberal to Strangers to wash the Saints feet and minister to them in their adversity Saint Paul as though they onely had been therefore meet appointed onely Widows to minister to the Saints and to gather for the poor Alas That Christ so hungreth and no man will feed him is so sore opprest with thirst and no man will give him drink destitute of all lodging and not relieved sick and not visitted imprisoned and not seen In times past men could bestow large sums of money on Copes Vestments and Ornaments of the Church why rather follow we not St. Ambrose his example who sold the same for the relief of the poor or Chrysostom's command who willed first to deck and garnish the living Temple of God But alas such is the wickedness of these our last dayes that nothing moves us neither the pure Doctrine the godliness of life nor good examples of the Ancient Fathers If in any thing they erred that will their charitable children embrace publish and maintain with sword faggot and fire but all in vain they strive against the stream for though in despite of the Truth by force of the ears of crafty perswasion they may bring themselves into the haven of Hell yet can they not make all men believe that the banks move while the ship saileth nor ever shall be able to turn the direct course of the stream of Gods Truth In another Letter Better is the day of death saith Solomâ—n then the day of birth Happy are the dead that die in the Lord. Man of woman is born in travel to live in misery man through Christ doth die in joy to live in felicity he is born to die and dieth to live Strait as he cometh into the world with cries he uttereth his miserable estate strait as he departeth with Songs he praiseth God for ever Scarce yet in his cradle three deadly enemies assault him after death no Adversary may annoy him whilst he is here he displeaseth God when he is dead he fulfilleth his will Here he dieth every hour there he liveth continually here is sin there is righteousness here is time there is eternity here is harted there is love here is pain there is pleasure here is misery there is felicity Seek therefore the things that are above c. Grey The Lady Iane Grey Daughter to the Duke of Suffolk whose Mother was Daughter to Mary King Henry the Second's Sister having personated a Queen for ten dayes and upon Queen Mâ—ries Proclamation being imprisoned the Queen sent Mr. Fecknam to her two dayes before her death to commune with her and reduce her from the Doctrine of Christ to Queen Maries Religion The effect which communication here followeth Madam said Fecknam I lament your heavy Case c. You are welcome unto me Sir said the Lady Iane if you come to give me Christian Exhortation And as for my heavy Case I thank God I do so little lament it that rather I account the same for a more manifest Declaration of Gods favour towards me then ever he shewed me at any time before and therefore there is no cause why either you or other which bear me good will should lament or be grieved with this my Case being a thing so profitable for my souls health I am here come said he from the Queen and Council to instruct you in the true Doctrine of the right Faith c. I heartily thank the Queen said she who is not unmindful of her humble Subject and I hope no less that you will do your duty therein both truly and faithfully What is then said he requried of a Christian To believe said she in God the Father Son and holy Ghost three Persons and one God What said he is there nothing else required or looked for in a Christian but to believe in him Yes said she We must love him with all our heart with all our soul and with all our mind and our Neighbour as our self Why then said he faith justifies not and saveth not Yes verily said she Faith as Paul saith onely justifies Why said he St. Paul saith If I have all faith without love it is nothing True said she for how can I love him whom I trust not or how can I trust him whom I love not Faith and love go both together and yet love is comprehended in faith How must we love our Neighbour said he To love our Neighbour said she is to feed the hungry to cloath the naked and give drink to the thirsty and to do to him as we would do to our selves Why then said he it is necessary unto salvation to do good works also and it is not sufficient onely to believe It is meet said she that a Christian in token that he follows his Master Christ to do good works yet may we not say that they profit to our salvation for
be not lost Of adversity judge the same Imprisonment is painful but yet liberty upon evil conditions is more painful The Prisons stink but yet not so much as sweet Houses where the fear and true honour of God is lacking I must be alone and solitary It is better to be so and have God with me then to be in company with the wicked Loss of Goods is great but loss of Gods grace and favour is greater I am a poor simple creature and cannot tell how to answer before such a great sort of noble learned and wise men It is better to make answer before the pomp and pride of wicked men then to stand naked in the light of all Heaven and Earth before the just God at the later day I shall die then by the hands of the cruel man He is blessed that loseth his life full of miseries and findeth the life of eternal joyes It is pain and grief to depart from Goods and Friends but yet not so much as to depart from grace and Heaven it self Wherefore there is neither felicity nor adversity of this world that can appear to be great if it be weighed with the joyes or pains in the world to come I can do no more but pray for you do the same for me for Gods sake For my part I thank the heavenly Father I have made mine accounts and appointed my self unto the will of the heavenly Father as he will so I will by his grace I am a precious jewel now and daintily kept never so daintily for neither mine own man nor any of the Servants of the House may come to me but my Keeper alone Ian. 21. 1555. In another Letter The grace mercy and peace of God the Father through our Lord Jesus Christ be with you my dear Brethren and with all those that unfeignedly love and embrace his holy Gospel Amen We must give God thanks for the Truth he hath opened c. and pray unto him that we deny it not nor dishonour it with idolatry but that we may have strength and patience rather to die ten times then to deny him once Blessed shall we be if ever God make us worthy of that honour to shed our blood for his Names sake and blessed then shall we think those Parents which brought us into this world that we should be carried from this mortality into immortality If we follow the command of Paul that saith If ye be risen with Christ sâ—ek those things which are above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God we shall neither depart from the vain transiâ—ory goods of this world nor from this wretched and mortal life with so great pains as others do There is no better way to be used in this troublesome time for your consolation then many times to have Assemblies together of such men and women as be of your Religion in Christ and there to take and renew among your selves the truth of your Religion to see what ye be by the Word of God and to remember what ye were before ye came to the knowledge thereof to weigh and confer the dreams and false lyes of the Preachers that now preach with the Word of God that retaineth all truth and by such talk and familiar resorting together ye shall the better find out all their lyes that now go about to deceive you and also both know and love the Truth that God hath opened to us It is much requisite that the Members of Christ comfort one another make prayers together confer one with another so shall ye be stronger and Gods Spirit shall not be absent from you but in the midst of you to teach you to comfort you to make you wise in all godly things patient in adversity and strong in persecution Ye see how the Congregation of the wicked by helping one another make their wicked Religion and themselves strong against Gods Truth and his people Ye may perceive bâ—â— the life of our fore-fathers that Christs words In the world ye shall have trouble Hâ— that will live godly in Christ must suffer persecution be true for none of all his before our time escaped trouble then shall ye perceive that it is but a folly for one that professeth Christ truly to look for the love of the world Ye be no better then your fore-fathers Be glad that ye may be counted worthy Souldiers for this War and pray to God when ye come together that he will use and order you and your doings 1 That ye glorifie God 2 That ye edifie the Church and Congregation 3 That ye profit your own souls In all your doings beware ye be not deceived for although this time be not yet so bloody and tyrannous as the time of our fore-fathers that could not bear the Name of Christ without danger of life and goods yet is our time more perillous for soul and body Therefore of us Christ said Think ye when the Son of man cometh he shall find faith upon the earth He speaks not of being christened and in name a Christian but of saving Faith and doubtless the scarcity of Faith is now more and will I fear increase then it was in the time of the greatest Tyrants that ever were In Rev. 6. ye may perceive that at the opening of the fourth Seal came out a pale Horse and he that sate upon him was called Death and Hell followed him This Horse is the time when Hypocrites and Dissemblers entred into the Church under pretence of the true Religion c. that have killed more souls with heresie and superstition then all the Tyrants that ever killed bodies by fire sword or banishment c. and all souls that trust to these Hypocrites live to the Devil in everlasting pain as is declared by Hells following the pale Horse These pale Hypocrites have stirred up Earthquakes i. e. the Princes of the world against Christs Church They have darkned the Sun and made the Moon bloody and have caused the Stars to fall from Heaven i. e. they have darkned with mists and daily darken the Sun of Gods Word imprisoned and chained and butchered Gods true Preachers which fetch only light at the Sun of Gods Word that their light cannot shine unto the world as they would Whereupon it comes to pass that many Christians fall from Gods true Word to hypocrisie most devillish superstition and idolatry In his Letter to Bishop Farrar Doctor Tailor Mr. Bradford and Mr. Philpot Prisoners in the Kings Bench in Southwark I am advertised that we shall be carried shortly to Cambride there to dispute for the Faith and for the Religion of Christ which is most true that we have and do profess I am as I doubt not ye be in Christ ready not onely to go to Camâ—ridge but also to suffer by Gods help death it self in the maintenance thereof I write this to comfort you in the Lord that the time draweth near and is at hand that we shall
that you be cursed by the sentence of the Catholick Church with such like terrours that pray to God and follow the Star of his Word and you shall arrive at the Port of Eternal Salvation by the merits onely of Jesus Christ. Hudson When Thomas Hudson of Ailesham in Norfolk saw the Constables come to his house to apprehend him he said Now mine hour is welcome friends welcome you be they that shall lead me to life in Christ. I thank God therefore and the Lord enable me thereto for his mercies sake for his desire was and he ever prayed if it were the Lords will that he might suffer for the Gospel of Christ. When Berry threatned him saying I will write to the Bishop my good Lord c. O Sir said he there is no Lord but God though there be many lords and many gods Wilt thou recant said Berry the Priest or no The Lord forbid said Hudson I had rather die many deaths then to do so When he came first to the Stake he was very sad not for his death but for lack of feeling his Christ and therefore came from his Fellow-sufferers under the Chain and fell down upon his knees and prayed and at last he rose with great joy as a man new changed even from death to life and said Now I thank God I am strong and pass not what man can do unto me Hullier Mr. Iohn Hullier Conduct in Kings Colledge at Cambridge suffered martyrdome at Cambridge April 2. A. 1556. In his Letter to the Christian Congegation It standeth now most in hand O dear Christians all them that look to be accounted of Christs flock at the great and terrible day when a separation shall be made c. faithfully in this time of great afflictions to hear our Master Christs voice the onely true Shepherd of our souls who saith Whosoevâ—r shall endure to the end shall be saved In this time we must needs either shew that we be his faithful Souldiers and continue in his battel to the end putting on the armour of God the buckler of Faith the breast-plate of Love the helmet of Hope and Salvation and the Sword of his holy Word with all instance of supplication and prayer or else if we do not work and labour with these we are Apostates and false Souldiers shrinking most unthankfully from our Gracious and Sovereign Lord and Captain Christ and leaning to Beliaâ— for he saith plainly Whosoever beareth not my Cross and followeth me cannot be my Disciple and No man can serve two Masters for either he must hate the one and love the other or else he shall lean to the one and despise the other Elias also said unto the people Why halt ye between two opinions If the Lord be God follow him or if Baal be he follow him If Christ be that onely good and true Shepherd that gave his life for us then let us that bear his mark and have our consciences sprinkled with his blood follow altogether for our salvation his heavenly voice and calling according to our profession and first promise If we shall not certainly say what we can though we bear the Name of Christ we are none of his Sheep indeed for he saith manifestly My sheep hear my voice and follow me A stranger they will not follow but will flee from him for they know not the voice of a stranger The craft and wiliness of our subtile enemy is manifold and divers and full of close windings At this present day if he cannot induce one throughly as others do to savour his devillish Religion and of good will and free heart to help to uphold the same yet he will inveigle him to resort to his wicked and whorish School-house and to keep company with his Congregation there and to hold his peace and say nothing whatsoever he think c. by that subtile means flattering him that he shall both save his life and also his goods and live in quiet But if we look well on Christs holy Will and Testament we shall perceive that he came not to make any such peace upon Earth nor that he gave any such peace to his Disciples I leave peace with you saith he my peace I give you not as the world giveth it give I unto you Let not your heart be troubled and fearful These things have I spoken unto you that in me ye should have peace in the world ye shall have affliction but be of good cheer I have overcome the world The Servant is not greater then his Lord and Master if they have persecuted me they shall also persecute you If any man come to me and hateth not his father and mother c. yea and moreover his own life it is not possible for him to be my Disciple Blessed be ye that now weep for ye shall laugh and woe be unto you that now laugh for ye shall mourn and weep He that will find his life shall lose it Therefore the God of that true peace and comfort preserve us that we never obey such a false Flatterer who at length will pay us home once for all bringing for temporal peace and quietness everlasting trouble c. for these vain and transitory goods extream loss of the eternal treasure and inheritance for this mortal life deprivation of the most joyful life immortal and endless death most miserable c. I judge it better to go to School with our Master Christ and to be under his Ferula and Rod although it seems sharp and grievous for a time that at length we may be inheriters with him of everlasting joy rather then to keep company with the Devils Scholars the adulterous generation in his School that is all full of pleasure for a while and at the end to be payed with the wages of continual burning in the most horrible Lake which burneth evermore with fire and brimstone c. What doth he else I pray you that resorteth to the Ministration and Service that is most repugnant to Christs holy Testament there keeping still silence and nothing reproving the same but in the face of the world by his very deed it self declare himself to be of a false fearful dissembling feigned and unfaithful heart discouraging as much as lies in him all the residues of Christs Host and giving a manifest offence unto the weak and also confirming encouraging and rejoycing the hearts of the adversaries in all their evil doing by which he sheweth himself neither to love God whom he seeth to be dishonoured and blasphemed of an Antichristian Minister nor yet his Neighbour before whom he should rebuke the evil according to the command Thou shalt not hate thy Neighbour but reprove him c. But God hath not given us the spirit of fear but of power and love Be not ashamed to testifie our Lord but suffer adversity with the Gospel through the power of God c. Fear not them that
Hunter you can do no more then God will permit you Well said B. will you recant indeed by no means No said H. never while I live God willing Bonner asking him how old he was he said He was Nineteen years old Well said B. you will be burned ere you be Twenty if you will not recant H. answered God strengthen me in his Truth Bonner even after Sentence was past offering him if he would then recant to make him a Freeman of the City and to give him Forty pound in money to set up with or to make him Steward of his House c. Hunter said unto him My Lord if you cannot perswade my Conscience by Scriptures I cannot find in my heart to turn from God for the love of the world for I count all things worldly but loss and dung in respect of the love of Christ. If thou diest in this mind said B. thou art condemned for ever God judgeth righteously said H. and justifieth them whom man condemneth unjustly When he was brought to Burntwood to be burned his Father and Mother came to him and desired heartily of God that he might continue to the end in that good way which he had begun and his Mother said unto him That she was glad that ever she was so happy to bear such a Child which could find in his heart to lose his life for Christs Names sake Then said he to his Mother For my little pain which I shall suffer which is but short Christ hath promised me a Crown of Joy May you not be glad of that Mother With that his Mother kneeled down on her knees saying I pray God strengthen thee my Son to the end Yea I think thee as well bestowed as any Child that ever I bare His Father said I was afraid of nothing but that my Son should have been killed in the Prison for hunger and cold the Bishop was so hard to him The night before his Execution he had a dream that he was where the Stake was pitcht where he should be burned and that it was at the Towns end where the Butts stood which was so indeed and that he met his Father going to the Stake and that there was a Priest at the Stake which went about to have him recant and that he said to him Away false Prophet and that he exhorted the people to beware of him and such as he was which things came to pass accordingly Whilst he was led to the Stake the Sheriffs Son came to William and embraced him saying William be not afraid of these men who are here present with Bills and Weapons ready prepared to bring you to the place where you shall be burned William answered I thank God I am not afraid for I have cast my account what it will cost me already Then the Sheriffs Son could speak no more to him for weeping When he met his Father according to his dream his Father said unto him God be with thee Son William William answered God be with you good Father and be of good comfort for I hope we shall meet again when we shall be merry At the Stake the Sheriffe told him That there was a Letter from the Queen if he would recant he should live if not he must be burned No said William I will not recant God willing Mr. Brown telling him upon his desire to the people to pray for him as long as he was alive I will pray no more for thee then I will pray for a Dog Mr. Brown said William now you have that you sought for and I pray God it be not laid to your charge in the last day howbeit I forgive you I ask no forgiveness of thee said Mr. Brown Well said William if God forgive you not I shall require my blood at your hands Then said William Hunter Son of God shine upon me Immediately the Sun in the Firmament shined out of a dark cloud so full in his face that he was constrained to look another way When the Priest came according to his dream he said Away thou false Prophet Beware of them good people and come away from their abominations lest that you be partakers of their plagues Then said the Priest look how thou burnest here so shalt thou burn in Hell William answered Thou lyest thou false Prophet away thou false Prophet away When the fire was kindled his Brother said to him William think on the holy Passion of Christ and be not afraid of Death William answered I am not afraid Then lift he up his hands to Heaven and said Lord Lord Lord receive my spirit Higbed Mr. Higbed of Essex being prest by Bonner to recant answered I will not abjure for I have been of this mind these sixteen years and do what ye can ye shall do no more then God will permit you to do and with what measure ye measure unto us look for the same again at Gods hands When his Articles and Answers were read he said Ye go about to trap us with your subtilties and snares and though my Father and Mother and other my Kinsfolk did believe as you say yet they were deceived in so believing and whereas you say Doctor Cranmer and others c. be Hereticks I do wish that I were such an Heretick as they were and be Then Bonner asked him again Whether he would turn from his error and come to the unity of their Church No said he I would ye would recant for I am in the truth and you in error Hus. Mr. Iohn Hus preaching at the honourable and very solemn Funeral of three in Prague who had been put to death in Prison for calling the Pope Antichrist and speaking against Indulgences at whose Funeral was sung on this wise These be the Saints which for the Testament of God gave their bodies c. much commended them for their constancy and blest God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who had hid the way of his Verity so from the prudent of the world and had revealed it to the simple who chose rather to please God then man This occasioned his expulsion out of Prague being before excommunicated by the Pope The Emperour having given safe conduct to Mr. Iohn Hus to come to the general Council at Constance he promised to come professing he was ready alwayes to satisfie all men which shall require him to give a reason of his faith and hope c. and giving notice to all that could object any error or heresie to him to appear and not spare him The Twenty sixth day after he came to Constance two Bishops c. were sent to him to bring him before the Pope and his Cardinals To whom he answered I am not come to defend my Cause particularly before the Pope and his Cardinals but to appear before the whole Council and there answer for my defence openly c. unto all such things as shall be demanded or required of me Notwithstanding forasmuch as
stopt Romes breath And dead will be Romes death In this last Prayer Feb. 18. 1546. I pray God to preserve the Doctrine of his Gospel among us for the Pâ—pe and the Council of Trenâ— have grievous things in hand O heavenly Father my gracious God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ thou God of all consolation I give thee hearty thanks that thou hast revealed to met thy Son Jesus Christ whom I believe whom I profess whom I glorifie whom the Pope and the reut of the wicked persecute and dishonour I beseech thee Lord Jesus Christ receive my soul. O my heavenly Father though I be taken out of this life and must lay down this frail body yet I certainly know that I shall live with thee eternally and that I cannot be taken out of thy hands Lord into thy hands I commend my Spirit Thou O God of Truth hast redeemed me In this last Will. O Lord God I thank thee that thou wouldst have me live a poor and indigent person upon earth I have neither house nor lands nor possessions nor money to leave Thou Lord hast given me Wife and children Them Lord I give back unto thee Nourish instruct and keep them O thou the Father of Orphans and Judge of the Widow as thou hast done to me so do to them When he saw his Daughter Magdalen ready to die he read to her Isa. 26.19 Thy dead men shall live together with my dead body shall they arise c. Adding My Daughter Enter thou into thy Chamber in peace I shall ere long â—e with thee for God will not permit me to see the punishment which hangs over the head of Germany When the Elector gave him a new Gown he said I am made too much of for if here we receive a full recompence for our labours we shall hope for none in another life I say flatly That God shall not put me off with these low things In the Cause of God said he I am content to undergo the hatred and violence of all the world When his head was out of order as it used to be towards his later end he would usually say Strike Lord strike mercifully I am prepared because by thy Word I am forgiven mine iniquities and have fed upon thy body and blood He used to say that three things would destroy Christian Religion Forgetfulness of the Blessings received by the Gospel security which reigns every where and worldly wisdome which will seek to bring all things into Order and to support the publick Peace by wicked counsels Erasmus said of him God hath given to this later age a sharp Physician and that because of the greatness of its diseases Mr. Fox saith of him That Luther a poor Fryer should be able to stand against the Pope was a great miracle that he should prevail against the Pope was a greater and after all to die in peace having so many enemies was the greatest of all When Myconius fell into a Consumption 1541. and wrote to Luther That he was sick unto life and not unto death Luther wrote back I pray Christ our Lord our salvation and health c. that I may not live to see thee and some others of our Colleagues to die and go to Heaven and leave me here among the Devils alone I pray God I may first lay down this dry exhausted and unprofitable Tabernacle Farewell and God forbid that I should hear of thy death while I live The Lord prolong thy life for me This I desire this I will and let my will be done Amen for this will hath the glory of God not my pleasure nor advantage for its end By and by hopeless Myconius recovered and lived six years longer even till after Luther's death Hence Iustus Ionas speaking of him saith That man could have of God what he pleased He would by no means endure that any should be called after his Name for said he the Doctrine which I teach is none of mine neither did Idie for any man neither would Paul 1 Cor. 3.4 c. endure such terms Besides we are all Christians and profess the Doctrine of Christ And lastly because the Papists use to do so calling themselves Pontificians whom we nought not to imitate M. Mallot Often have we hazarded our lives said Iohn Mallot a Souldier for the Emperour Charles the Fifth and shall we now shrink to die for the King of Kings Let us follow our Captain Man Thomas Man having broken Prison after his recantation said If I be taken again of the pild knave Priests I wist well I shall go the holy Angel and then be an Angel in Heaven Accordingly the Sheriffe of London when he had brought him into Smithfield to be burnt put him into Gods Angel He thanked God that he had been instrumental to convert seven hundred persons Marbeck Iohn Marbeck was a skilfull Organist in the Quire of Windsor a man of admirable industry and ingenuity His English Concordance the first that ever was in English Bishop Gardiner himself could not but commend as a piece of singular industry King Henry the Eighth hearing thereof said That he was better imployed then those Priests that accused him Being prest to discover Hereticks and being told he could not do God and the King greater service If I knew said he who were Hereticks indeed it were somewhat But if I should accuse him to be an Heretick that is none What a worm would that be in my conscience so long as I live Yea it were a great deal better for me to be out of this life then to live in such torment He being called a Dolt who would not discover them who should be sent for and would utter then all they can of him Whatsoever said he they shall say of me let them do it in the Name of God I will say no more of them nor of any man else then I know Being further prest to write down what he knew of such he thus prayed unto God O most merciful Father of Heaven thou that knowest the secret doings of all men have mercy upon thy poor Prisoner that is destitute of all help and comfort Assist me O Lord with thy special grace that to save this frail and vile body which shall turn to corruption in its time I have no power to say or to write any thing that may be to the casting away of my Christian Brother but rather O Lord let this vile flesh suffer at thy will and pleasure Grant this O most merciful Father for thy dear Son Jesus Christs sake Then he rose up and began to search his Conscience what he might write and at last writ thus Whereas your Lordship will have me to write of such things as I know not of my Fellows at home May it please your Lordship to understand that I cannot call to remembrance any manner of thing whereby I may justly accuse any one of them
Christ may be glorified in us and in them both by life and death In his Letter to his Sister Fear not whatsoever is threatned of the wicked world prepare your back and see it be ready to carry Christs Cross and if you see any untowardness in you as the flesh is continually repugnant to the Will of God ask with faithfull Prayer that the good Spirit of God may lead your sinfull flesh whither it would not My dissolution I look for daily but the Lord knoweth how unworthy I am of so high an honour as to die for the Testimony of his Truth Pray that God would vouchsafe to make me worthy as he hath for long imprisonment for the which his Name be praised for ever In his Letter to certain godly Brethren It is an easie thing to begin to do well but to continue out in well doing is the onely property of the Children of God and such as assuredly shall be saved Blessed are they that persevere to the end God in Rev. 3. doth signifie to the Church That there shall come a time of temptation upon the whole world to try the dwellers on earth from the danger of which temptation all such shall be delivered as observe his Word which Word there is called the Word of patience to give us to understand that we must be ready to suffer all kind of injuries and slanders for the profession thereof Oh how glorious be the Crosses â—f Christ which bring the Bearers of them unto so blessed â—n end Shall we not be glad to be partakers of such shame as may bring us to so high a dignity It is commanded us by the Gospel not to fear them that can kill the body but to fear God who can cast both soul and body into Hell fire so much are we bound to observe this Commandment as any other which God hath given us Now it will appear what we love best for to that we love we will stick What loseth he which in this life receiveth an hundred for one with assurance of eternal life O happy exchange Even now he is of the City and Houshold of the Saints with God he possesseth the peace of God which passeth understanding and is made a fellow of the innumerable company of Heaven and a perpetual friend of all those that have died in the Lord from the beginning of the world Is not this more then an hundred fold Stand and be no cowards in the Cause of your Salvation for his Spirit that is in us is stronger then he which in the world doth now rage against us I beseech you with St. Paul to give your bodies pure and holy sacrifices unto God God tempteth us now as he did our Father Abraham commanding him to sacrifice his Isaac which signifieth mirth joy c. He by obedience preserved his Isaac alive God commands us to sacrifice our Isaac our joy which if we be ready to do as Aâ—raham was our joy shall not perish but live and be increased the Ram shall be sacrificed in the stead thereof onely the concupiscence of the flesh intangled with the cares of this stinging world shall be mortified To withstand the present temptations set before your eyes how our Saviour Christ overcame them in the desert and follow his example if the Devil tempt you to take a worldly wise way that you may have your fair Houses Lands and Goods to live on still say Man liveth not onely by bread c. If the Devil tempt you to forsake the Faith to be conformable to the learned men of the world say It is written a man shall not tempt his Lord God If the Devil offer you large promises of honour dignity c. so that ye will worship Idols say Go behind me Satan it is written a man must worship his Lord God and serve him onely If your Mother Brother Sister Wife Child Kinsman or Friend do seek of you to do otherwise then the Word of God hath taught you say with Christ That they are your Mothers Brothers Sisters Wives Children and Kinsmen which do the will of God the Father In his Letter to Mr. Harrington Glorious is the course of the Martyrs of Christ at this day never had the Elect of God a better time for their glory then this is A man that is bid to a glorious Feast wisheth his Friend to go with him and to be partaker thereof God doth call me most unworthy among others to drink of the Bride-Cup of his Son c. I wish you be as I am except these horrible bands but yet most comfortable to the Spirit Praised be the Lord for the affliction which we suffer and he gives us strength to continue to the end Though my Lords Cole-house be but very black yet it is more to be desired of the Faithfull then the Queens Palace In his Letter to the Lady Vâ—ne The Spirit confirm strengthen and stablish you in the true Knowledge of the Gospel that your faithfâ—ll heart may attain and tast with all the Saints what is the heighth the depth the length and the breadth of the sweet Cross of Christ. Amen Ah! great be the plagues that hang over England yea though the Gospel should be restored again Happy shall that person be whom the Lord shall take out of this world not to see them Ah the great perjury which â—en have run into so wilfully by receâ—ving Antichrist again and his wicked Laws Oh that the Lord would turn his just judgements upon the Authors of the truce-breaking between God and us c. The world wondreth how we can be merry in such extream misery but our God is omnipotent which turneth misery into felicity Believe me Dear Sister there is no such joy in the world as the people of Christ have under the Cross I speak by experience therefore believe me and fear nothing that the world can do unto you for when they imprison our bodies they set our souls at liberty with God when they cast us down they lift us up yea when they kill us then do they bring us to everlasting life What greater glory can there be then to be at conformity with Christ which afflictions do work in us God open our eyes to see more and more the glory of God in the Cross of Jesus Christ and make us worthy partakers of the same Let us rejoyce in nothing with St. Paul But in the Cross of Iesus Christ by whom the world is crucified unto us and we unto the world Death why should I fear thee since thou canst not hurt me but rid me from misery to eternal glory J. P. Dead to the world and living to Christ. In another Letter to the same Lady I have felt under the Cross thanks be given to God therefore more true joy and consolation then ever I did by any benefit that God hath given me in my life before For the more the world doth hate us the â—igher God is
unto us and there is no perfect joy but in God In a fourth Letter to the same Lady Satan hath brought me out of the Kings Bench into the Bishop of London's coal-Cole-house a dark and an ugly Prison as any is about London but my dark body of sin hath welâ— deserved the same and the Lord hath now brought me into outward darkness that I might the more be enlightned by him who is most present with his Children in the midst of darkness where I cannot be suffered to have any candle-light neither ink nor Paper but by stealth Pray Dear Lady that my Faith faint not which at present I thank God is more lively with me then it hath been in times past I tast and feel the faithfulness of God in his promise who hath promised to be with his in their trouble and to deliver them I thank the Lord I am not alone but have six other faithfull Companions who in our darkness do cheerfully sing Hymns and Praises unto God for his great goodness We are so joyfull that I wish you part of my joy Let not my strait imprisonment any thing molest you for it hath added and daily doth unto my joy but rather be glad and thankfull unto God with me Cheerfull and holy Spirits under the Cross be acceptable Sacrifices in the sight of God In another Letter to the same Lady This is the day that the Lord hath made let us be glad and rejoyce in the same this is the way though it be narrow which is full of the peace of God and leadeth to eternal bliss O how my heart leapeth for joy that I am so near the apprehension thereof God forgive me mine unthankfulness and unworthiness of so great glory I have so much joy of the reward that is prepared for me most wretched sinner that though I be in place of darkness and mourning yet I cannot lament but both night and day am so joyfull as though I were under no cross at all yea in all the dayes of my life I was never so merry the Name of the Lord be praised therefore for ever and ever and he pardon mine unthankfulness Pray instantly that this joy be never taken from us for it passeth all the delights of this world it surmounteth all understanding I trust my Marriage-garment is ready In his Letter to a Friend in Prison that writ to him concerning Infant-baptisme The same night I received your Letter as I was musing on it I sell asleep and in the midst of my sweet rest I saw a great beautifull City all of the colour of Azure and White and four-square in a marvellous beautifull composition in the midst of the Sky The sight hereof so inwardly comforted me that I am not able to express the consolation I had yea the remembrance thereof causeth as yet my heart to leap for joy and as Charity is no Churl but would others to be partakers of his delight so methought I called to others and when we together had beheld the same by and by to my great grief it vanished This Dream I take to be of the working of Gods Spirit I interpret the City the Church and the appearance of it in the Sky the heavenly state thereof and that according to the Primitive Church which is now in Heaven men ought to measure and judge of the Church of Christ and on earth the marvellous Quadrature of the same the universal agreement in the same that all here in the Church Militant ought to consent to the Primitive Church throughout the four parts of the world the wonderfull joy I conceived the unspeakable joy which they have that be at Unity with Christs Primitive Church and my calling others to the fruition of this Vision my moving you and others to behold the Primitive Church in all your Opinions concerning Faith and to conform your self in all points to the same which is the Pillar of Truth Let the bitter Passion of Christ which he suffered for your sake and the horrible torments which the godly Martyrs of Christ have endured before us and also the inestimable reward of your life to come which is hidden yet a little while from you with Christ strengthen comfort and encourage you to the end of that glorious race which you are in Amen Pikes William Pikes some while before he was last taken he was in his Garden reading the Bible and about twelve a clock of the day his face being towards the South there fell down four drops of fresh blood upon his Book he not knowing from whence it came Calling his Wife to him he said What meaneth this will the Lord have four Sacrifices I see well enough the Lord will have blood His will be done and give me grace to abide the triall Wife let us pray the day draweth nigh Afterward he daily looked to be apprehended till the time came indeed Being at the point of death in Newgate so that no man looked he should live six hours he declared to them that stood by that he had been twice in persecution before and that now he desired the Lord if it were his will that he might glorifie his Name at the Stake Place Monsieur Pierre de la Place President of the Court of Requests in France when out of that entire love which his Wife bore him fell down at the feet of one of those bloody Instruments of that barbarous Mâ—ssacre 1572. to intreat some favour for her Husband He rebuked her and told her That it is not the arm of flesh we must stoop unto but unto God onely Perceiving in his Sons Hat a White Cross which through infirmity he had placed there thinking thereby to save himself he sharply chid him and commanded him to pluck that mark of sedition thence telling him We must now submit to bear the true Cross of Christ. Pothnius Pothnius Bishop of Lions to the President asking him in the midst of his torments What that Christ was answered If thou wert worthy thou shouldst know Polycarp This famous Bishop of Smyrna St. Iohn's Disciple having been in Prayer three dayes before his apprehension in a Vision by night he saw the Bed set on fire under his head and suddenly to be consumed When he awoke he gave this exposition of the Vision to them that were present That in the fire he should lose his life for Christs Cause When the Pursuers were brought to the Inne where he was he might have escaped but would not saying The will of God be done As he was going to the place of Judgement there came a voice from Heaven heard by several of his Church saying Be of good cheer Polycarpus and play the man When the Proconsul bid him say Destroy these naughty men he looked up to Heaven saying Thou thou it is that wilt destroy these wicked naughty men The Proconsul bidding him defie Christ and he should be discharged he answered Fourscore and six years have I