the Apostles and vndoubtedly all the aunciente Ecclesiasticall writers whiche haue written vntyll of late yeares paste Lette vs bee hartye and of good courage therefore and throughlye comforte oure selues in the Lorde Be in no wyse afrayde of youre aduersaries Phil. 1. for that which is to them an occasion of perdition is to you a sure token of saluation and that of God For vnto you it is geuen that not only ye should beleue on him but also suffer for hys sake And when ye are railed vppon for the name of Christ remember that by the voyce of Peter yea and of Christe oure Sauioure also ye are counted with the Prophetes 1. pet 4 wyth the Apostles and wyth the holye Martyrs of Christe happy and blessed therfore for the glory and spirite of god resteth vpon you On theyr parte our sauiour Christ is euell spoken of but on your parte he is glorified For what can they els do vnto you by persecuting you and workyng all crueltye and vilanye agaynste you but make your crownes more glorious yea beautify multiply the same and heape vpon themselues the horrible plagues and heauy wrath of god and therfore good brethren thoughe they rage neuer so fiercely against vs yet let vs not wyshe euill vnto them agayne knowyng that whiles for Christs caufe they vexe and persecute vs they are lyke madde men most ouragious and cruell agaynst themselues heapyng hotte burnyng coales vppon theyr owne heades but rather let vs wyshe well vnto them knowyng that we are therunto called in Christ Iesu 1. pet 3. that we should be heyers of the blessyng Let vs praye therfore vnto god that he woulde dryue out of their hartes thys darkenes of errours and make the light of his truth to shyne vnto them that they acknowledging their blyndnesse may with al huÌ„ble repentaunce be conuerted vnto the Lorde and together with vs confesse him to be the only true God which is the father of light and his only sonne Iesus Christ worshipping hym in spirite and veritye Amen The spirite of our Lord Iesus Christe comforte your hartes in the loue of God and patience of Christ Amen Your brother in the Lord whose name this beares shall signify vnto you ready alwais by the grace of god to liue and die with you Ad fratres qui Christum cum cruce amplectuntur GRatia vobis pax a Deo domino nostro Iesu Christo multiplicetur Amen Licet a vobis fratres nihil nuper accepimus neque vobis aliquid noui nunc nuÌ„tiandum habemus tamen ideo vi sum est nobis aliquid vohis scribere vt intelligatis nos memoriam vestri bonam habere perpetuam sicut vos de nobis habere mimine dubitamus Veniente nuper ad nos harum latore anuntiante nobis vestraÌ„ omnium in domino constantiaÌ„ fortitudinem patientiam multam repleti sumus consolatione gaudio gratias agentes deo patri per dominum nostrum Iesum ChristuÌ„ qui ita illuminauit vultum suum sup vos lumine intelligentiae spiritualis ita illustrauit corda vestra vt quod nuper duÌ„ essetis in muÌ„do liberi verbo doctrina passim prestare sategi stis nunc propter Christum captiui quaÌ„tum licet verbo sed multo magis opere atque vestro exemplo prestare non cessastis hoc est sermonem vitae sustinentes phil 2 lucetis tanquam luminaria in munda in medio nationis prauae tortuosae idque taÌ„to cum maiore domini nostri Iesu Christi gloria fratrumque vestrorum emolumento vtilitate quanto nunc Satan magis saeuit maioresque luci euangelicae conatur inducere tenebras De tenebris autem quas nunc ecclesiae Anglicanae Satan offundit quis potest dubitare Nuper Christus saluator Apostoli prophetae doctores ipsius in teÌ„plo loquebantur populo Anglicano anglice ita vt ab eis qÌ„ pij erant rerum coelestium studiosi in ijs que ad vitae eternae redemptionem de necessitate salutis pertinebant clare absque enigmate facile intelligi poterant nunc vero quae ab illis olim in edificationem ecclesiae scripta sunt leguntur in lingua peregrina citra interpretationeÌ„ manifeste contra preceptum Pauli Apostoli ita vt a nemine prorsus qui alienaÌ„ peregrinaÌ„ illaÌ„ linguam non didicerit intelligi possint Nuper sacro sancta illa mysteria coelestia quibus nos sibi Christus inseuit suo corpori complantauit atque nos inter nos mutuo colligauit quibus natos deo aluit auxit atque corroborauit denique quibus aut ordinem inter sanos docuit aut egrotis velaia vel corpore veluti salubria pharmaca tradidit oïa populo clare in sua lingua tradebaÌ„tur ita vt quisque quaÌ„ta quam immeÌ„sa a deo accepisset quid cuique ex dei prescripto deberet quid in sua quis que vocatione professus esset obseruare teneretur vnde languenti remedium esset petendum facile is cui deus mentem animum hec intelligendi auâ—dum dedit quaÌ„ facillime intelligere poterat nunc vero omnia hec ita traduntur vt eorum omnium populus Christi saÌ„guine redemptus cui hec maxime a Christo in stituta sunt ne tantillum quidem intelligere possit Nuper quum quid orare debemus vt oportet nescimus dominus noster Iesus christus in sua quam omnibus tradi voluit oratione atque etiam spiritus sanctus in psalmis hymnis cantionibus spiritualibus quae in sacris biblijs reperiuntur vniuersum populum Anglicanum anglice docuit vt quae petenda essent iuxta voluÌ„tateÌ„ patris petereÌ„t corda cuÌ„ labijs in oratione coÌ„iuÌ„gereÌ„t nunc vero oiÌ„a sub inuolu croliÌ„guae peregrinae iubeÌ„tur claudi vnde necessario sequi oportet populuÌ„ neque quid orat neque quid orare debeat posse intelligere quomodo potest cor voci coÌ„iungere quuÌ„ quid vox valeat magis quà m brutuÌ„ intelligere nequeat Postremo audio passim in pulpitis nunc damnari catechesim illaÌ„ editaÌ„ nuper in sermone vulgari Oh malitiam demoniacam humani generis per Christum salutâ— partae plane inuidam Omnino Satan tantam lucem vulgari ê‘ orâ— beÌ„ diu sustinere noÌ„potuit nihil equae in suo regno subuertendo effi cere posse intellexit quà m si à teneris annis sacris iuâ—buti pueri Christum didicissent vnde non tantum pueros sed senes atque aetate prouectiores qui ab infaÌ„tia christuÌ„ prius noÌ„ didicisseÌ„t vna cuÌ„ pueris christuÌ„ discere necesse erat Ergo nuÌ„c exclamat nociferae tur Sed quid faciuÌ„t aliud fratres qui satanae in hac impietate ope raÌ„ impendunt atque ministraÌ„t quaÌ„ illi quibus Christus seruator no ster in euangelio dirum illud interminatur intonat dicens
now fil vp the measure of their fathers which flew the prophets and Apostles that al righteous blood from Abell to Bradford shed vpō the earth may be required at their hands Of this therfore I thoughte good before my death as time liberty wold suffer me for the loue and duty I beare vnto thee to admonishe thee good mother and my sister the towne that ye woulde cal to minde from whence ye are fallen and study to do the first woorkes Ye knowe if you will these matters of the Romysh supremacye and the Antichristian transubstantiation wherby Christes Supper is ouerthrowen his priesthoode euacuate hys sacrifyce frustrate the ministery of his worde vnplaced repentaunce repelled fayth fainted godlines extinguished the masse maintayned Idolatrye supported and all impietye chearyshed you know I say if you will that these opinions are not only besides Gods word but euen directly againste it and therfore to take part with them is to take part against god agaynst whom you can not preuayle Therfore for the tender mercye of Christ in his bowells and blood I besech you to take Christes collyrium and eye salue to annoynte your eyes that ye maye see what ye doe and haue done in admittinge as I heare ye haue admitted yea alas authorised and by consent confirmed the romyshe rotten ragges whiche once ye vtterly expelled Oh be not canis reuersus ad vomitum be not sus lota reuersa ad volutabrū coeni Beware least old Sathā enter in with seuen other spirites and so the laste shall bee worse then the firste It had bene better ye had neuer knowē the truth then after knowledge to runne from it Ah woe to this world the thyngs therin which hath now so wrought with you Oh that euer this dirt of the deuill should daube vp the eye of the realme for thou O mother art as it were the eye of the realme If thou be light and geue shine al the body shalfare the better but if thou the lyght be darkenes alas how great will the darkenes be What is man whose breath is in hys nose-threls that thou shouldest thus be affrayd of hym Oh what is honour life here but plain bubbels What is glory in thys world but shame Why arte thou affrayde to carye Christes ccosse Wilt thou come into his kingdome and not drinke of his cup Dost thou not knowe Rome to be Babilon Doste thou not know that as the old Babilon had the children of Iuda in captiuitye so hath this true Iuda that is the confessours of Christ Dost thou not know that as destruction happened vnto it so shall it do vnto this And trowest thou that God wil not deliuer his people now when the tyme is come as he did then Hath not God commaunded hys people to come out from her and wilt thou geue ensample to the whole realme to runne into her Hast thou forgottē the woe that Christ threatneth to offence geuers Wilt thou not remember that it were beter a mylstone were hanged about thy necke and thou throwen into the sea then that thou shouldest offend the litle ones And alas how hast thou offended Yea how dost thou stil offend Wilt thou consider things according to the outward shew Was not the Sinagoge more seemely like to the true churche then the simple flocke of Christes Disciples Hath not the whore of Babilon more costly aray and riche apparel externally to set forth her self then the homely housewife of Christ Where is the beautye of the Kinges doughter the Church of Christ Withoute or within Doth not Dauid say within Oh remember that as they are happy which are not offended at Christ so are they happy which are not offended at his poore church Can the pope his prelates meane honestly which make so much of the wife and so litle of the husband The churche they magnifie but Christ they contemne If this church were an honest womā that is Christes wife except they woulde make much of her husband Christ and hys word she would not be made much of of thē Whē Christ and his Apostles wer vpon earth who was more like to be the true church They or the prelates bishops and Sinagoge If a man shoulde haue followed custome vnity antiquitie or the more parte should not Christ and his company haue bene cast out of the dores Therfore badde Christ search the scriptures And good Mother shal the seruaūt be aboue his maister shal we loke for other intertainemente at the handes of the worlde then Christ and his deare Disciples founde Who was taken in Noes time for the church Poore Noe and his family or others Who was taken for gods church in Sodome Lot or others And doth not Christ say as it went then so shall it go now towardes the comming of the sonne of man What meaneth Christ when he saith iniquitie shal haue the vpper hand doth he not tel that charitie shal waxe colde And who seeth not a wonderfull great lacke of charitie in those which would now be taken for Christes church All that feare god in this Realme truly can tel more of this then I can write Therfore dere Mother receaue some admonitiō of one of thy poore children now going to be burned for the testimony of Iesus Come agayne to Gods truth come out of Babilon confesse Christ and his true doctrine repent that whiche is past make amendes by declaring thy repentaunce by the fruites Remember the readinges and preachings of Gods Prophet and true preacher Martyne Bucer Call to mynde the threatninges of God nowe some thynge seene by thy children Leauer and others Let the exile of Leauer Pilkinton Gryndall Haddon Horne Scorye Pouet c some thing awake thee Let the imprisonmente of thy deare sonnes Cranmer Ridley and Latimer moue thee Consider the Martyrdome of thy Chickens Rogers Saunders Taylour And nowe cast not awaye the poore admonition of me going to be burned also to receaue the like crowne of glorye with my fellowes Take to harte Gods callyng by vs. Be not as Pharao was for then wil it happen vnto thee as it dyd vnto hym What is that Hardenesse of hart And what then Destruction eternally both of bodye and soule Ah therefore good Mother awake awake repente repent bustell thy self and make haste to turne to the Lord for elles it shal be more easye for Sodome and Gomorre in the day of iudgement then for thee Oh harden not your harts Oh stop not your eares to day in hearing gods voice though it be by me a most vnworthye messenger Oh feare the Lord for his anger is begonne to kindle Euen now the are is layde to the roote of the tree Ye know I prophecyed truely to you before the swet came what woulde come if ye repented not you carnall gospelling and now I tel you before I depart hence that the eares of mē wil tingle to heare of the vengeaunce of God that will fal vppon you all both towne and vniuersitie if
to God alone Moreouer themperial lawes customes of this realme the king in his CoronatioÌ„ The oth of the king Iustices the duty of subiectes al Iustices wheÌ„ they receaue theyr offices be sworne and all the whole realme is bound to defend and maintayn But contrary hereunto the Pope by his authority maketh voyde and commaundeth to blot out of our bokes all lawes and customes beyng repugnaÌ„t to hys lawes and declareth accursed all rulers and gouernours all the makers wryters and executors of such lawes or customes as it appeareth by many of the Popes lawes wherof one or two I shall rehearse In the decrees distin .x. is written thus CoÌ„stitutione contra canones decreta praesuluÌ„ Romanorum vel bonos mores nullius sunt momenti That is The constitutions or statutes enacted against the Canons and decrees of the bishops of Rome or their good customes are of none effect Also Extra de sententia excommunicationis nouerit Excommunicamus omnes haereticos vtriusque sexus quocuÌ„que nomine censeantur fautores receptatores defensores eorum nec non qui de caetero seruari fecerint statuta edita consuetudines contra ecclesiae libertatem nisi ea de capitularibus suis intra duos menses post huiusmodi publicationem sententiae fecerint amoueri Item excommunicamus statutarios scriptores statutorum ipsorum nec non potestates consules rectores consiliarios locorum vbi de caetero huiusmodi statuta consuetudines editae fuerint vel seruatae nec non illos qui secunduÌ„ ea praesumpserint iudicare vel in publicam formaÌ„ scribere iudicata That is to say we excoÌ„municate al heretikes of both sexes what name soeuer they be called by and their fauourers receptours and defendours and also them that shall hereafter cause to be obserued statutes and customes made against the liberty of the church except thei cause the same to be put out of their bokes or records within two monethes after the publication of thys senteÌ„ce Also we excommunicate the statute makers and writers of those statutes also the potestates consuls gouernours counsailours of places where suche statutes and customes shall bee made or kepte and also those that shall presume to geue iudgement according to them or put in to publyke forme of writing the matters so iudged Now by these lawes if the bishop of Romes authority which he claimeth by God be lawfull al your graces lawes and customes of your Realme being contrarye to the popes lawes be naught and aswell your maiesty as your iudges iustices and all other executours of the same stand accursed among heretickes which God forbid And yet this curse can neuer be anoyded if the Pope haue such power as he claimeth vntill such times as the lawes and customes of this realm The Popes lawes the lawes of England are contrary being contrary to his lawes be taken away and blotted out of the law bokes And although ther be many lawes of this Realme contrary to the lawes of Rome yet I named but a few as to conuict a clarke before any temporall iudge of this Realme for debte felony murther or for any other crime which clarks by the Pops lawes be so exempte froÌ„ the kings lawes that they can be no where sued but before theyr Ordinary Also the pope by his lawes may geue al bishoprikes benefices spirituall which by the lawes of this realme can be geueÌ„ but only by the kings other patrones of the same except they fal into the lapse By the popes lawes ius patronatus shal be sued onlye before the ecclesiastical iudge but by the lawes of this realme it shal be sued before the temporal Iudge and to be shorte the lawes of this Realme do agre with the Popes lawes like fire and water And yet the kings of this Realme haue prouided for theyr lawes by the premunire so that if anye man haue let the excecution of the lawes of this Realme by any authority from the sea of Rome he falleth into the premunire But to mete with this the popes haue prouided for theyr lawes by cursinge For who so euer letteth the Popes lawes to haue full course within this realme by the Popes power standeth accursed So that the Popes power treadeth all the lawes and customes of this Realme vnder his fete cursing al that execute them vntil such time as they geue place vnto his lawes But it may be said that notwithstanding all the popes decrees yet we do execute still the lawes and customes of this Realme Nay not all quietlye without interuption of the pope And where wee do execute them yet we do it vniustly if the popes power be of force and for the same we stande excommunicate and shal do vntill we leaue the execution of our owne lawes customes Thuâ—â—o â—e be well reconciled to Rome allowing such authority 〈◊〉 â—hy the Realme standeth accursed before God if the p◠〈◊〉 â—ue any such autority These things 〈◊〉 â—uppose were not fully opened in the parliament house wheÌ„ the popes authority was receiued agayn within this Realme for if they had I doe not beleue that either the king or Quenes maiestye or the nobles of this Realme or the commons of the same woulde euer haue consented to receaue againe suche a forraine autoritye so iniurious hurtefull and preiudiciall aswell to the crowne as to the lawes and customes and state of this realme as wherby they muste needes acknowledge themselues to be accursed But none could open this matter wel but the clergy and that such of them as had red the popes lawes whereby the pope hath made himself as it were a God These seeke to maintain the pope whome they desired to haue their chief head to the intent they might haue as it were a kingdom lawes wythin theÌ„selues distinct from the lawes of the crowne and wherwyth the crowne maye not meddle and so beinge exempted from the lawes of the crowne mighte liue in thys realme lyke Lordes and kinges wythout dammage or fear of any man The papists to set vp a kingdom of theyr own disseÌ„ble the knowne truth and are false to the crowne so that they please theyr hyghe and supreame heade at Rome For thys consyderation I weene some that knewe the truthe helde theyr peace at the Parliamente where as if they had done theyr duetyes to the crown and whole realme they should haue opened theyr mouthes declared the truth shewed the perils dangers that myght ensue to the crowne realme And if I should agre to allow suche autoritye within thys realme wherby I must needes confesse that your most gratious hyghenes and also youre Realme shoulde euer continue accursed vntyl you shall cease from the execution of youre owne Lawes and customes of youre realme I coulde not thyncke my selfe true eyther to youre highnes or to thys my naturall countrye knowyng that I do know Ignoraunce I know may excuse
other men but he that knoweth howe preiudiciall and iniurious the power and autoritye which he chalengeth euery where is to the crown lawes and customes of thys realm and yet wil allow the same I cannot se in any wyse how he can kepe hys due allegeaunce fydelity and truth to the crowne and state of this realme An other cause I alleged The thyrde cause why he could not allow the Pope why I could not allow the autoritye of the pope whyche is thys That by hys authoritye he subuerteth not only the lawe 〈…〉 realme but also the lawes of God The popes religion is agaynst Christs religion so that whosoeuer be vnder hys authority he suffereth them not to be vnder Christes religion purely as Christ did commaunde And for one example I brought forth that wheras by Gods lawes al christiaÌ„ people be boundeÌ„ diligently to learne hys word that they may know how to beleue and liue accordingly for that purpose he ordayned holy daies when they ought leauyng apart all other busines Why latin seruice oughte not to be restored in Englande to geue themselues wholy to knowe serue God Therfore Gods wyll and commaundement is that when the people be gathered together the ministers shuld vse such language as the people maye vnderstand and take profite therby or els hold theyr peace For as an harpe or lute if it geue no certaine sound that men may know what is striken who can daunce after it for all the sounde is in vayne so is it vayne and profiteth nothyng sayeth almighty god by the mouth of S. Paule if the priest speake to the people in a language which they knowe not for els he may profite hymselfe but profiteth not the people sayeth S. Paule But herein I was answered thus that S. Paul spake only of preachyng that the preacher should speake in a tongue which the people did know or els hys preachyng auayleth nothing But yf the preachyng auayleth nothing being spoken in a language which the people vnderstande not how should any other seruice auayle them beyng spoken in the same language And that yet S. Paule ment not only of preachyng it appeareth plainly by his own words for he speaketh by name expressely of praying singyng laudyng and thankyng of God and of al other thynges which the Priestes say in the churches wherunto the people saye Amen which they vsed not in preaching but in other diuine seruice that whether the Priestes rehearse the wonderfull workes of god or the great benefites of god vnto mankind aboue all other creatures or geue thaÌ„ks vnto god or make open profession of theyr faith or humble confession of theyr synnes wyth earnest requeste of mercy and forgeuenes or make sute or request vnto god for any thyng then al the people vnderstandyng what the Priestes say myght ioyne theyr myndes and voyces wyth them and say Amen that is to saye allowe what the Priestes saye that the rehersall of Gods vniuersall workes and benefites the geuyng of thankes the profession of faith the confession of synnes and the requestes and petitions of the Priestes and the people might ascend vp into the eares of god altogether and be as a swete sauour odour and incense in hys nose thus was it vsed many hundred yerrs after Christes ascension But the aforesayde thynges cannot be done when the priestes speake to the people in a language not knowen and so they or theyr clarke in theyr name say Amen but they cannot tell wherunto where as saint Paule saith how can the people say Amen to thy well saying when they vnderstand not what thou saiest And thus was S. Paule vnderstanded of all interpretours both the Grekes and Latines olde and new scholeautors and others that I haue redde vntyll about xxx yeres past at which time one Eckius with other of hys sort began to deuyse a new expositioÌ„ vnderstanding S. Paule of preachyng only But when a good number of the best learned men reputed wythin thys realme some fauouryng the old some the new learnyng as they terme it where in dede that which they call the old is the newe and that which they call the new is in dede the old but when a great number of such learned men of both sortes were gathered together at wynsor for the reformatioÌ„ of the seruice of the Churche It was agreed by bothe wythout controuersie not one sayeng contrary that the Seruyce of the Church ought to be in the mother tongue and that Sainct Paule in the .14 chapter to the Corynthians was so to bee vnderstanded And so is sainct Paule to be vnderstanded in the ciuil law more then a thousand yeres past where Instinianus amoste godly Emperour in a synode writeth on thys maner Iubemus vt omnes episcopi pariter praesbyterî non tacito modo sed clara voce quae a fideli populo exaudiaÌ„tur sacram oblationem preces in sacro baptismate adhibitas celebreÌ„t quo maiori exinde deuotione in depromendis Domini Dei laudibus audientium animi efferantur Ita enim Diuus Paulus docet in epistola ad Corinth Si solummodo benedicat spiritus quomodo is qui priuati locum tenet dicet ad gratiarum actionem tuam Amen quandoquidem quid dicas non videt Tu quidem pulchre gratias agis alter autem non aedificatur That is to say we commaund that all byshops and Priests celebrate the holy oblation and praiers vsed in holy baptisme not after a stil close maner but wyth a cleare loud voyce that they may be plainly heard of the faithful people so as the hearers mindes may be lifted vp therby with the greater deuotion in vtteryng the prayses of the Lord God For so Paule teacheth also in the epistle to the Corinthians 1 Cor. 14. Yf the spirit doe onely blesse or say wel howe shall he that occupieth the place of a priuate person say Amen to thy thankes geuyng for he perceiueth not what thou saiest Thou doest geue thaÌ„kes wel but the other is not edified And not onely the ciuile lawe al other writers a thousand fyue hundreth yeres continually together haue expouÌ„ded S. Paule not of preaching onely but of other Seruice saide in the churche but reason also geueth the same that if men bee commaunded to heare any thyng it must be spoken in a language whiche the hearers vnderstand or els as S. Paule sayth what auayleth it to beare So that the Pope geuyng a contrary commaundement The Pope coÌ„mauÌ„deth â—oth against God natural reasoÌ„ The sacrameÌ„t oughte to be receaued in both kinds of all christians that the people comming to the churche shall heare they wot not what and answer they know not wherto taketh vpon him to commaund not only against reason but also directly against god And againe I said wheras our sauiour Christ ordained the Sacrament of his most precious body and bloud to be receaued of all christian people vnder the formes both of
the Sacrament I saide that forasmuch as the whole matter standeth in the vnderstandyng of these wordes of Christ Thys is my body Thys is my bloud I saye that Christ in these wordes made demonstratiō of the bread and wyne and spake figuratiuely The sacraments haue the names of those thyngs wherof they are sacramentes callyng bread hys bodye and wyne hys bloud bicause he ordeyned them to be the sacramēts of his body bloud And where the Papists say in these two pointes contrary vnto me that Christ called not bread hys body but a substaunce vncertayne nor spake fyguratiuely herein I sayde I woulde be iudged by the olde church and which doctrine could be proued the elder that I would stand vnto And forasmuch as I haue alleaged in my booke many olde autors both Grekes and Latynes which about a thousand yeres after Christ continually taught as I do if they could bryng forth but one old author that saith in these two poyntes as they say I offred vi or vij yeres agoe and doe offer yet styl that I will geue place to them But when I bryng for the any author that sayeth in moste playne termes as I do yet sayeth the other parte that the authors mente not so as who shoulde say that the authors spake one thyng and mente cleane contrarye And vppon the other parte when they cannot fynde any one authour that sayeth in wordes as they say yet saye they that the authors mēt as they say Now whether thei or I speake more to the purpose herein I refer it to the iudgemēt of all indifferent hearers Yea the old church of Rome aboute a thousād yeres together nether beleued nor vsed the Sacramēt as the church of Rome hath done of late yeares For in the beginning the church of Rome taught a pure a sound doctrine of the sacramēt but after that the church of Rome fell into a new doctrine of trāsubstantiatiō with the doctrine they chaūged the vse of the sacramēt cōtrary to that Christ cōmaūded the old church of Rome vsed aboue a M. yeares And yet to deface the old thei say that the new is the old wherin for my part I am cōtent to the tryal to stand But their doctrine is so fonde and vncomfortable that I marueile that any man would allowe it if he knewe what it is and what so euer they beare the people in hand The Papists make Christ two bodyes that which they write in theyr bookes hath nother truth nor comforte For by their doctrin of one body of Christ is made two bodies one naturall hauing distance of members with forme and proporcion of a mannes perfite body and thys bodye is in Heauen but the bodye of Christe in the Sacramente by theyr own doctrine must nedes be a monstruous body hauing neyther distance of members nor forme fashion or proporcion of a mans naturall body and such a body is in the sacrament teache they and goeth into the mouth with the forme of breade and entreth no farther than the forme of bread goeth nor tarieth no lōger thā the forme of bread is by natural heate in digesting so that when the forme of breade is digested that bodye of Christe is gone And forasmuch as euil men be as long in digesting as good mē the body of Christ by theyr doctrine entreth as far tarieth as long in wicked as in godly mē And what cōforte cā be herein to any Christian mā to receaue Christs vnshapē body and it to entre no father than the stomake and to depart by and by as sone as the bread is consumed It semeth to me a more sound and comfortable doctrine that Christe hath but one body that hath forme and fashion of a mans true body which body spiritually entreth into the whole mā body and soule and though the sacrament be consumed yet whole Christe remayneth and fedeth the receauer vnto eternal lyfe if he continue in godlines and neuer departe vntill the receauer forsake him And as for the wicked they haue not Christ within thē at al who cā not be wher Belial is And this is my faith and as me semeth a sound doctrine according to Gods word and sufficient for a Christian to beleue in that matter And if it canne be shewed vnto me that the popes authority is not preiudicial to the thinges before mencioned or that my doctryne in the sacrament is erronious whych I thinke can not be shewed then I was neuer nor wil be so peruerse to stand wilfully in mine owne opinion but I shall wyth al humility submit my self vnto the Pope not only to kisse hys feete but an other part also An other cause why I refused to take the B. of Gloucestre for my iudge was the respect of his own persō being more than once periured Fyrste for that he beynge diuerse times sworne neuer to consent that the B. of Rome shoulde haue any iurisdiction with in thys realme but to take the king and his successours for supreame heades of thys realme as by gods lawes they be contrary to this lawful oth the said B. sate then in iudgement by autority frō Rome wherin he was periured and not worthy to sit as a iudge The second periury was that he toke his bishoprike both of the Queenes Maiestye of the Pope makyng to eche of thē a solemne oth which othes be so cōtrary that in the one he must nedes be periured And furthermore in swering to the Pope to mayntayne his lawes decrees a constitutions ordinances reseruations and prouisions he declareth him selfe an enemye to the Imperial crowne and to the Lawes and state of this Realme whereby he declared himselfe not worthy to syt as a iudge within this Realme and for these considerations I refused to take him for my Iudge ¶ This was written in an other letter to the Quene J Learned by D. Martin that at the day of your maiesties coronacion you toke an othe of obedience to the pope of Rome and the same time you tooke an other othe to this realme to maintayne the lawes liberties and customes of the same And if your Maiesty did make an oth to the pope I think it was acording to the other othes which he vseth to minister to princes which is to be obedient to him to defend hys person to mayntayn his autority honour lawes landes priuileges And if it be so than I besech your maiestye to looke vppon youre othe made to the Crowne and the realme and to expende and way the two othes together to see how they agree and then to do as your graces conscience shall geue you for I am surelye perswaded that willingly your maiesty will not offend nor do against your conscience for nothyng But I feare me there be contradiction in your othes and that those which should haue enformed your grace throughly did not their dutyes therin And if your maiesty ponder the two othes diligently I thynke you shall
veritate adorent Amen Vester in Domino frater quem tabellarius vobis denunciabit per Dei gratiam ad conuiuendum commoriendum The same in English ☞ To the Brethren remaynyng in Captiuitie of the flesh and dispersed abroade in sundry prisons but knit together in vnity of spirite and holy religion in the bowels of the Lord Iesus GRace peace and mercy be multiplied among you What worthy thāks can we render vnto the Lord for you my brethrē namely for the great consolation which throughe you we haue receaued in the lorde who notwithstandyng the rage of Satan that goeth about by all maner of subtil meanes to begyle the world and also busilye laboureth to restore and sette vp his kingdome agayne that of late beganne to decaye and fall to ruyne ye remayne yet still vnmoueable as men surely grounded vpō a strōg rocke And now albeit that Satan by hys souldiours and wycked ministers daily as we heare draweth numbers vnto him so that it is said of him that he plucketh euen the very starres out of heauen whiles he dryueth into some men the feare of death and losse of all theyr goods and sheweth and offereth to other some the pleasaunte baites of the world namely riches wealth and all kynd of delights and pleasures fayre houses great reuenewes fatte benefices and what not all to the intent they should fall down and worship Apoc. xii not in the lord but in the dragon the old Serpent which is the diuell that great beast and his image and should be enticed to commit fornication wyth the strompet of Babilon together wyth the kynges of the earth wyth the lesser beast Apo. xvii◠and with the false prophets and so to reioice and be pleasaunt with her and to be dronkē with the wine of her fornication yet blessed be god the father of our Lord Iesus Christ which hath geuen vnto you a manly courage hath so strengthned you in the inward man by the power of his spirite that you can contemne aswell all the terrors as also the vayne flatteryng allurements of the world estemyng them as vanities mere trifles thinges of nought who hath also wroughte planted and surely stablished in in your hearts so stedfast a faith and loue of our lord Iesus Christ ioyned with suche constancie that by no engines of Antichrist be they neuer so terrible or plausible ye will suffer any other Iesus or any other Christ to be forced vppon you besydes hym whome the Prophets haue spoken of before the Apostels haue preached and the holye Martyrs of God haue confessed and testified with the effusion of theyr bloode In this faith stand ye fast my brethren Gal. 5 and suffer not your selues to be brought vnder the yoke of bondage and superstition any more For ye knowe bretherne howe that oure Sauioure warned hys before hande that suche shoulde come as would poynt vnto the worlde an other Christ and would set hym out with so many false myracles and with such deceaueable and subtyle practises that euen the very electe if it were possible should be thereby disceaued suche strong delusion to come dyd our Sauiour geue warnyng of before But continue ye faithfull and constante and be of good comfort and remember that our graūd captayn hath ouercome the worlde 1. Iohn 4. for he that is in vs is strōger then he that is in the worlde and the Lorde promiseth vnto vs that for the electes sake the dayes of wickednesse shall be shortned In the meane season abide ye and endure with patience as ye haue begun endure I say Virgil eneid 1. Phil. 1. Heb. 10. and reserue youre selues vnto better times as one of the Heathen Poetes said Cease not to shewe your selues valiaunt Souldiors of the lord and healpe to maintayne the trauelyng faith of the gospell Ye haue nede of patience that after ye haue done the will of god ye may receaue the promises For yet a very little while and he that shall come will come and wil not tary and the iust shal lyue by faith but if any withdraw himselfe my soule shall haue no pleasure in him saieth the Lord. But we are not they which do withdraw our selues vnto damnatiō but beleue vnto the saluation of the soule Let vs not suffer these wordes of Christ to fall oute of oure heartes by anye manner of terrors or threatnynges of the world feare not them which kil the body the rest ye know 1. Iohn 2 For I write not vnto you as to men which are ignoraunt of the truth but which knowe the truthe and to this ende only that we agreeyng together in one faith may take comfort one of an other and be the more confirmed and strengchened therby We neuer had a better or more iuste cause either to contēne our life or shed our blood we can not take in hand the defence of a more certayne cleare and manifest truth For it is not any ceremony for the which we contend but it toucheth the very substāce of our whole religion yea euen Christe him selfe Shall we either can we receaue and acknowledge any other Christ in stead of him who is alone the euerlastyng sonne of the euerlasting father and is the brightnes of the glory and liuely image of the substaunce of the father in whom only dwelleth corporally the fulnes of the godhed who is the onely waye the truthe and the lyfe Let such wickednes my brethren let such horrible wickednes be farre from vs. For although there bee that are called gods 1. Corin. 8. whether in heauen either in earth as there be manye gods and many Lordes yet vnto vs there is but one God which is the father of whom are all thinges and we in him and one Lorde Iesus Christ by whom are all thynges and we by him but euery mā hath not knowledge This is life eternal saith s Iohn the they know thee to be the only true god whom thou hast sent Iesus Christe Iohn 17. Yf any therfore would force vpon vs any other God besydes hym whome Paule and the Apostles haue taught let vs not heare hym but let vs flye from hym hold hym accursed Brethren ye are not ignoraunte of the deepe and profound subtilties of Sathan for he wyll not cease to raunge about you seeking by all meanes possible whome he maye deuoure but playe ye the men and be of good comforte in the Lorde And albeit your ennemies and the aduersaries of the truthe armed with al worldly force and power that may be do set vppon you yet be not ye fainte harted nor shrink not therfore but truste vnto your captayne Christe trust vnto the Spirite of truthe and trust to the truth of your cause which as it may by the malice of Sathan bee darkened so canne it neuer be cleane put oute For we haue hygh prayse be geuen to God therfore moste playnly euidently and clearly on oure side all the Prophetes all
yet loke for none other I exhort you as my frēdes but to be charged with them at gods hand This conscience and the loue that I beare vnto you biddeth me now say vnto you both in gods name feare god and loue not the world for god is able to cast both body and soule into hel fire Psa 2. When hys wrath shal sodenly be kindled blessed are al they that put their trust in him And the saieng of S. Iohn is true Iohn 2. al that is in the world as the lust of the flesh the lust of the eies and the pryde of life is not of the father but of the world the world passeth away and the lust thereof but he that doth the wyl of god abideth for euer If this gift of grace which vndoubtedly is necessarily required vnto eternall saluation were truely and vnfainedly graffed and firmely stablished in mens harts they would not be so light so sodainly to shrinke from the mainteynaunce and confession of the truth as is now alas sene so manifestly of so many in these days But here peraduēture you would know of me what is the truth Syr gods word is the truth as s Iohn saith Iohn 17. Eccl. 27 and that euen the same that was heretofore For albeit man doth vary and chaunge as the moone yet Gods word is stable abideth one for euermore and of Christ it is truly said Christ yesterday and to day the same is also for euer Heb. 13 When I was in office all that were estemed learned in gods word agreed this to be a truth in gods word written that the common praier of the Church should be had in the common tongue You know I haue conferred with manye I ensure you I neuer found man so far as I do remember neyther olde nor newe Gospeller nor Papist of what iudgement so euer he was in this thyng to be of a contrary opinion If then it were a truth of gods worde thinke you that the alteration of the world canne make it an vntruthe ▪ If it cannot why then doe so manye men shrinke from the confession and maintenaunce of thys truthe receyued once of vs all For what is it I pray you els to confesse or deny Christ in this world but to maintayne the truth taught in gods word or for any worldly respecte to shrynke from the same This one thyng haue I brought for an ensample other thynges be in like case which now particularly I nede not to rehearse For he that wil forsake wittingly either for feare or gayne of the world any one open truthe of gods word if he be constrained he wil assuredly forsake god and all his truth rather then he will endaunger himselfe to lose or to leaue that he loueth better in deede then he dothe God and the truth of his word I like very wel your playn speaking wherin you saye I must either agree or dye and I thynke that you meane of the bodily deathe whiche is commō both to good bad Syr I know I must dye whether I agree or no. But what folly were it then to make such an agreement by the which I could neuer escape thys deathe which is so common to al and also incurre the gilte of death and eternall damnation Lord graunt that I maye vtterly abhorre and detest this damnable agreement so long as I liue And bycause I dare say you wrote of frendship vnto me this shorte earnest aduertisement and I thinke verelye wishyng me to lyue and not to die therfore bearing you in my hearte no lesse loue in god than you do me in the world Apostata was he which fled from hys captaine to the enemy He was also so called that departed from the chrystyans to the Iewes Gentiles I say vnto you in the worde of the lorde and that I say to you I say to all my frendes and louers in god that yf you doe not confesse and maintayne to your power and knowledge that which is grounded vpon gods word but will either for feare or gayne of the world shrinke and play the Apostata in dede you shall dye the deathe you know what I meane And I beseche you al my true frendes and louers in God remember what I saye for this maye be the laste tyme peraduentute that euer I shall write vnto you From Bocardo in Oxford the 18. day of Aprill 1554. N.R. Chariss fratri venerabili in Christo compresbytero Ioanni Hopero gratiam pacem DIlecte frater venerabilis in Christo compresbyter cōdonet mihi precor tua dilectio quod hactenus a tua captiuitate tua simul mea tuam dilectionem meis literis non salutauerim quando ingenue fateor mihi abs te quae tua erat humanitas binae literae datae fuerūt diuersis quidem temporibus sed eis sēper profecto in quibus aut mihi per iniquitatem temporis rescribere bene non licuit aut si rescripsissem de literis ad te tuto perferendis multum dubitaui Iam vero charissime frater quum ex illis tuis lucuhrationibus quas mihi non nisi obiter videre contigit facile intelligo nos in ijs quae sunt nostrae religionis fundamenta bases omium aduersus quas mundus hodie tantopere insanit probe conuenire in vnū conspirare vtcūque in rebus minoribus religionis appēdicibus olim tua prudentia mea simplicitas in alîquibus fateor vterque suum sēsum habebat iam inquam cognoscat tua dilectio quod ex animo deus mihi testis est in viscerihus Christi te diligam frater in veritate propter veritatem quae permanet in nobis vt mihi per suasum habeo per gratiam dei per manebit nobiscum in aeternū Quoniam autem vti video frater mundus causam suam igere nō cessat cōtra Christum seruatorē quantū potest maximis munitionibus cōspirat 1. Corin. 10 sūmas conatur erigere altitudines a duersus cognitionē Dei iungamus frater dextras in Christo pro nostra viriliquantumque in nobis situm erit non armis carnalibus sed spiritualibus si non possumus demoliri saltem pulsemus illas altitudines simul nos iam Frater praeparemus ad diem dissolutionis nostrae per quam cum Christo post momentaneam carnis iftius nostrae afflictionem in aeternum gratia Domini Iesu Christi simul cum illo triumphabimns in gloria sempeterna Ohsecro frater saluta meo nomine venerandum illum tuum concaptiuum mihi vere venerahilem patrem D. Cromerum de quo mihi crede ex primo die quo de eius sanctissima grauiss constantia in confessione veritatis euangelicoe audiui semper maximā consolationem maximumque gaudium concepi in domino integritatem enim eius viri grauitatem innocentiā iāpridē vniuersa pene credo nouit Anglia Benedictus
igitur deus qui nobis in tanta abundantia iniquitatis in tanta ruina pietatis talem nobis dedit in isthac veneranda canitie testeÌ„ sui Euangelij veritati Infoelix quem tanti viri tam grauis innocentis pietas constans confessio nihil permouere possuÌ„t ad cognoscendam veritatem dei Non peto iam frater vt mihi quicquam rescribas multum enim vereor ne literae intercipiantur quanquaÌ„ scias mihi de tua constantia fortitudine in Domini caussa audire semper fore gratissimum Et vt tuae fraternitati hactenus non rescripserim bis tameÌ„ vt potui tibi significandum curaui quod a me in tuis literis cognoscere voluisti Nec adhuc profecto frater possum animum meum mutare tot enim mihi videre videor pericula quae me impellunt vt consulam ne tuarum lucubrationum editionem festinare velis saltem sub titulo nominis tui Multum enim vereor ne hac occasione tibi os obstruatur in posterum alijs quoque captiuis omnia anferantur quihus alioqui multis deo ita volente poterunt ê“ desse Bene vale in Domino Chaaiss frater si qui alij in vestris aedibus suÌ„t vobiscum in causa Christi concaptiu ï precor illis meo nomine salutem vti possis velis impartiri et omnium uestruÌ„ precibus apud dominum me atque meos concaptiuos in domino etiaÌ„ atque etiam humillime commendo rursus atque in aeternum in Christo bene vale frater Chariss The same in english ¶ To my most deare brother and reuerend fellow Elder in Christe Iohn Hoper grace and peace MY dearely beloued brother and fellow Elder whoÌ„ I reuerence in the lord pardon me I besech you that hitherto since your captiuitie and myne I haue not saluted you by my letters wheras I do in deede confesse I haue receiued from you suche was your gentlenes two letters at suÌ„dry tymes but yet at such times as I could not be suffred to write vnto you againe or yf I might haue writeÌ„ yet was I greatly in dout lest my letters shuld not safely come vnto your haÌ„ds But now my dere brother for as much as I vnderstaÌ„d by your workes which I haue yet but superficially sene that we throughly agree wholy consent together in those thynges which are the groundes substaÌ„tial points of our religioÌ„ against the which the world so furiously rageth in these our dais howsoeuer in time past in smaller matters circuÌ„staÌ„ces of religion your wisdom my simplicity I coÌ„fesse I haue in som points varied Now I say be you assured that euen with my whole heart God is my witnes in the bowels of Christ I loue you in truth for the truthes sake which abideth in vs and as I am perswaded shall by the grace of God abyde with vs for euermore And because the world as I perceiue brother ceaseth not to play his pageant 1. Cor x. busely conspireth against Christ our sauior with all possible force and power exaltyng high thinges against the knowledge of god let vs ioyne handes together in Christ and if we cannot ouerthrowe yet to our power and as much as in vs lieth let vs shake those hyghe thinges not with carnal but with spiritual weapoÌ„s withall brother let vs prepare our selues to the day of our dissolution wherby after the shorte time of this bodely affliction by the grace of our lord Iesus Christ we shall triumphe together with him in eternall glory I pray you brother salute in my name that reuerend father Of this good fathers godly ende and constant coÌ„fession of the truth you shall read in the next editioÌ„ of the boke of martyrs your fellow prisoner Doctor Crome by whom since the first day that I heard of his most godly fatherly constancy in confessing the truth of the gospel I haue conceiued great consolation and ioy in the lord For the integritie and vprightnes the grauitie innoceÌ„cy of that maÌ„ al EnglaÌ„d I think hath knowen long ago Blessed be God therfore whiche in such abundance of iniquity decay of all godlinesse hath geuen vnto vs in this reuerend old age such a witnes for the truth of his gospel Miserable hard harted is he whoÌ„ the godlines constant confession of so worthy so graue innocent a maÌ„ wil not moue to acknowledge coÌ„fesse the truth of god I doe not nowe brother require you to write anye thing to me againe for I staÌ„d much in feare lest your letters should be intercepted before they can come to my hands Neuertheles know you that it shal be to me great ioy to heare of your constancie and fortitude in the lords quarel And albeit I haue not hitherto writen vnto you yet haue I twise as I could seÌ„t vnto you my mind touching the matter which in your letters you required to know neither can I yet brother be otherwise persuaded I see me thinkes so many perils wherby I am earnestly moued to couÌ„sel you not to hasteÌ„ the publishyng of your workes especially vnder the title of your own name For I feare greatly least by this occasion both your mouth should be stopped hereafter al things taken awaye from the reste of the prisoners whereby otherwise if it so please god they may bee able to doe good to many Farewell in the lord my most deare brother and if there be any more in prison with you for Christes cause I besech you as you may salute them in my name to whose praiers I do most humbly and hartely commeÌ„d my selfe and my fellow prisoners concaptiues in the lord and yet oâ—ce againe and for euer in Christ my most deare brother Farewell ☞ A letter of M. Edmunde Grindal then being in exile for the testimony of the truth and now bishop of London to D. Ridley prisoner in Oxforde whiche we thoughte good here to place for that the letter followyng is an aunswer therof GRatiam consolationem a Domino seruatore nostro Iesu christo Syr I haue often bene desirous to haue written to you and to haue heard from you but the iniquity of the tymes haue hitherto always put me forth of all hope and comfort Now at thys present god semeth to offer some likelyhode that these might come to your handes which I thought to vse referring the rest to Gods dispositioÌ„ Your present state not I only who of all other am most bouÌ„d but also all other our brethreÌ„ here do most hartely lament as ioyned with the most miserable captiuitie that euer anye church of Christ hath suffred Notwithstanding we geue god most humble thankes for that he hath so strengthened you and others your concaptiues to professe a good professioÌ„ before so many witnesses And I doubt nothyng but he that hath called you and them not onely to beleue vpon hym but also to suffer for hym dothe not leaue you
agayne The last Lent saue one it chaunced by reason of the tumult stirred vp in Kente there was so manye prisoners in the Tower that my L. of Canterb. M. Lacimer M. Bradforde and I were put altogether in one prison where we remained still almost to the next easter and then we three Caunterb Latymer and I were sodainly sent a little before Gato Oxford and were suffred to haue nothyng with vs but that we caried vpon vs. About the Whitsontide folowyng was our disputations at Oxford after the which was al taken from vs as penne and ynke c. our owne seruauntes were taken from vs before and euery one had put to him a straunge man and we eche one appointed to be kept in seuerall places as we are vnto this day Blessed be god we three at the writyng hereof were in good health and in god of good cheare We haue loked long ago to haue bene dispatched for we were all three on one daye within a day or two of our disputations of D. Weston beyng the head commissioner condemned for heretykes and synce that tyme we remayne as we were of hym leaft The Lordes will bee fulfilled in vs as I doe not doubte but by his grace it shall be to hys glory and our endles saluation through Iesus Christ our Lord. Likewise the Lord hitherto hath preserued aboue al our expectation our deare brother and in Christes cause a strōg Champion I Bradford He is likewise condemned and is already deliuered vnto the seculer power writtes as we haue heard say geuen oute for hys execution and called in again Thus the lord so long as hys blessed pleasure is preserueth whom he lysteth notwithstandyng the wonderfull ragyng of the world ▪ Many as we heare say haue suffred valiauntly confessyng Christes truth and nothyng yelding to the aduersary yea not for the feare or paynes of death The names of them which I knew haue now suffered are these Farrer the B. of S. Dauids Hoper the B. of Worceter Rogers tuus olim comprebendarius D. Taylor of Hadley M. Saunders and one Tomkyns a weauer and now this last day M. Cardmaker with an other were burnte in Smithfield at Londō many other in Essex kent whose names are writtē in the boke of life whō yet I do not know West your old companion sometime mine officer alas hath relented as I haue heard but the lord hath shortned hys daies This West whē he had relented sayd masse against his conscience shortly after pined away and died for sorow for anone he died and is gone Grimbolde was caught by the heele and cast into the marshalsee but now is at liberty agayne but I feare me he escaped not withoute some beckyng and bowyng alas of hys knee vnto Baal My deare frende Thomas Ridley of the Bulheade in cheape which was to me the most faithful frend that I had in my trouble is departed also vnto god My brother Ship syde that hath maryed my syster hathe bene almoste halfe a yere in pryson for deliueryng as he was accused of certain thynges I weene from me but now thankes be to god he is at liberty agayne but so that the bishop hath taken from hym hys parke Of al vs three cōcaptiues at Oxford I am kept most strait and with least libertie vel quia viro in cuius edibus ego custodior vxordominatur licet modo sit prefectus ciuitatis mulier vetula morosa superstitiosiss quae etiā hoc sibi laudi ducit quod me dicatur arctissime cautissime custodire vir autem ipse Irischius nomine mitis satis est omnibus vxori vero plusquam obsequentiss Licet vxorem vti nosti nunquam habuerim tamen ex hac quotidiana consuetudine quam cum istis coniugibus habeo videor mihi non nihil posse intelligere quà m graue malum intollerabile iugum sit cum mala mulierein coniugio colligari Recte ergo sapiens dixit vxor bona donum Dei iterum mulieris bonae beatus vir Vel haec inquam causa est vel quia a magnis magistratibus nescio quas ob causas illud est vt ita fieret ipsis mādatum id quod illi si quando de meanimia seruitute apud eos conqueror sedulo soepe rursus mihi inculcant At Cambridge as I heare say Omnes studiorū statutorū reformationes nuper factae nunc sunt denuo deformatae deletae omnia sunt in pristinum chaos in antiquum papismum reducta omnes collegiorum prefecti qui synceritati euāgelij fauebāt vel qui coniugati erāt loco moti sunt alij papisticae factionis in eorum loca surrogati quod de socijs collegiorum qui noluerunt flectere genu Baall factū esse audio Nec mirū nā istud passim factū est in vniuerso regno angliae in omnibus Archiepiscopis Episcopis Decanis prebēdarijs Sacerdotibus ecclesiarum in toto clero and to tel you much naughty matter in a few wordes Papismus apud nos vbique in pleno fuo antiquo robore regnat The Lord be merciful and for Christes sake pardon vs our olde vnkindnesse and vnthankefulnesse for when he powred vppon vs the giftes of hys manifolde graces and fauour alas we dyd not serue him nor rendered vnto hym thankes according to the same We pastors many of vs wer to cold and bare to much alas with the wycked world our magistrates did abuse to theyr owne worldlye gayne bothe gods Gospell and the ministers of the same the people in many places was waywarde and vnkynd Thus of euerye syde and of euery sort we haue prouoked Gods anger and wrathe to fall vppon vs but blessed might he be that hathe not suffred hys to continue in those wayes which so wholy haue displeased hys secrate maiesty but hath awaked them by the fatherly correctiō of his own sons crosse vnto his glory and our endles saluation through Iesus Christ our Lord. My daily prayer is as god doth knowe and by gods grace shal be so lōg as I liue in this world for you my deare brethren that are fled out of your own countrey bicause ye wil rather forsake al worldly things thē the truth of gods word It is euen the same that I vse to make to God for all those churches abroad through the world which haue forsakē the kingdō of Antichrist professed opēly the purity of the gospel of Iesus Christ that is that god our eternall father for our sauior christs sake wil daily encrease in you the gratious gift of his heauenly spirit to the true setting forth of his glory of his gospel make you to agre brotherly in the truth of the same that there ryse no rote of bitternes amōg you that may infect that good sede that god hath sowē in your hartes already and finally that your life may be so pure and so honest accordyng to the rule of
with me in that I may do conueniently in this mater armed with your earnest and zelous letters then any rhetorike either of Tullye or Demosthenes I ensure you therof With vs it is said that M. Grymbold was adiudged to be hanged drawen and quartered of whome we heare now Note the lyeng spirit of the papistes whereby you may se whose children they are that he is at liberty So we heard of late that M. Hooper was hanged drawen and quartered in dede not for heresy but for treason but blessed be god we here now that all is true in like False tongues wil not cease to lie and mischeuous hartes to imagine the worst Farewel in Christ token for token now I send you not but knowe this that as it is told me I haue two scarlet gownes that scaped I cānot tel how in the spoil wherof you shal haue your part Commende me to all our brethren your felow prisoners in the Lord. Yours in Christ. N R ¶ To Augustine Berneher then seruaunt to M. Latymer and nowe a faithfull minister in Christes churche to whom because he might not come to the prison to speake with hym he wrote as followeth BRother Austine you are hartelye welcome to Oxford again you haue made good spede in dede and blessed be god for his gratious goodnes that al is well with you That our dearly beloued brethren in Christ are al in good cōfort harty in christs cause stand stedfast in the confession of his true doctrine it reioiseth I ensure you my hart in god to hear of it This day was D. Croke with me and both he mystres Irish mine hostes told me that M. Hoper is hanged drawn and quartered for treasō but I did not beleue them for it is not the firste tale that mine hostes hath told me of M. Hoper And I trust the tydings that wer here spread abroad since your departure that M. Grymbold also should haue bene arraigned condemned for treason to be hanged and quartered was not true let me heare if there be any such thyng Not three dais agoe there was a priuy warning geuen me from a man of god one Lisley a glouer that we prisoners here al iij. shuld be shortly and sodenly conueied into iij. seueral colleges for what purpose how to be ordred god knoweth At the which time and at the earnest request of that forenamed mā of god I did deliuer vnto him some of the thynges I had in hand to write out what they be you shall know of hym Besides the things which he hath I haue some thynges els which if it please god I wold wish might come to light if perchaūce any therby might receaue the light to loue the truth the better and to abhorre the falsehode of Antichriste I haue written annotations in priorem librū Tonstalli plenius in secundum verò parcius optarem vt transcriberēturne fortassis vna mecum fiant subito Vulcani cihus I haue also many things but as yet confusedly set together of the abhominable vsurpatiō pride arrogancy and wickednes of the sea and bishop of Rome and altogether in Latine If those thynges were written out I would wyshe that M. Bradford would take them translate and order them as he should thinke mighte beste helpe to open the eyes of the symple for to se the wickednes of the Synagoge of Sathan But that at your last beyng here you cast cold water vpō mine affection towards Grimbold els me thinke I could appoint wher he might occupy himselfe to hys owne profite in learnyng which he lyketh to no small profytte whych myghte ensue to the church of Chryst in England as if he woulde take in hand to interprete Laurentius Valla which as he knoweth is a mā of singuler eloquence his boke I mean which he made wrote against that false fained fable forged of Constātinus magnus his dotatiō glorious exaltation of the sea of Rome whē he hath done that let him translate a work of Eneas Siluius de gestis Basiliensis consilii In the which although there be many thinges that sauoureth of the pan and also he hymselfe was afterwarde a bishop of Rome yet I dare say the papistes would glory but a lyttle to see suche bookes goe forthe in Englyshe If you wil know where to haue these bokes or treatises you may haue them both together and many lyke treatises whiche painteth oute the wickednesse of the sea of Rome in a boke set forth by a papist called Ortwinus Gratius intitled Fasciculus rerum ex petendarum fugiēdarum In that boke you shal haue confessionem fratrum Waldensium men of much more learnyng godlynes sobernes and vnderstandyng in Gods word then I would haue thoughte them to haue bene in that tyme before I dyd reade theyr workes If suche thinges hadde bene set forthe in our English tong heretofore I suppose surely greate good might haue come to Christes churche thereby To my good Ladies grace and to my Ladye Vane what thankes can I geue but desyre almyghtye God to lyghten comforte and strengthen them euermore in hys wayes The other two whome you mention I know not but the Lord knoweth them to whom in them all and for all their kyndnesse I geue most harty thanks Maister Bradford desireth that thāks should be rendred vnto you for your comfortable ayd wherwyth you comforte hym but you must tell hym that he must byd them thanke you for hym whyche are not bound to thanke you for them selues and yf he doe so then I weene all we prisoners of Oxford shall so stoppe hys mouth Brother Austine you for our comforte doe runne vp and downe and who beareth your charges God knoweth I knowe you muste needes in so doyng take muche paynes I pray you take thys poore token of my good wil towardes your charges To Augustine Bernher BRother Augustine I blesse god with all my harte in hys manyfold mercifull giftes giuen vnto our deare brethrē in Christ especially to our brother Rogers whome it pleased to setforth first no doubt but of his gratious goodnes fatherly fauor towardes hym And likewise blessed be God in the rest as Hoper Saunders and Taylor whome it hath pleased the Lord likewise to set in the forefrount of the battayle against his aduersaries and hath endewed them al so far as I can here to stand in the confession of his truth and to be content in his cause for his gospels sake to lose their life And euermore and without end blessed be euē the same our heauenly father for our deare and entierly beloued brother Bradford whome now the Lorde I perceiue calleth for for I wene he wil no longer vouchsafe him to abide amonge the adulterous and wycked generation of thys world I do not doubt but that he for those giftes of grace which the Lord hath bestowed on him plenteously hath holpen those which are gone before in their iorney that is hath animated
the glorye of the world and a bragginge victorye But besides the innumerable raylinges rebukes and taunts wherwith I was bayted on euery side least our cause which in deede is gods cause and his churches should also by the false exāples of our disputations be euel spoken of slaundered to the world so the verity sustayne hurt hinderāce therby I haue thought good to wryte my aunsweres my selfe that whosoeuer is desirous to know them and the truth withall maye thereby perceyue those thinges whiche were chiefly obiected against me and also in effect what was aunswered of me to euerye of them Howebeit good Reader I cōfesse this to be most true that it is impossible to set forth either al that was God knoweth tumultuously spoken like as of mad men obiected of so many whiche spake oftētimes hudle so that one could not well heare an other eyther all that was aunswered of me briefly to such and so diuerse opponentes Moreouer a great part of the time appointed for the disputations was vaynly spente in most contumelious tauntes hyssinges clapping of handes and triumphes more then tolerable euen in stage playes and that in the english tounge to get the peoples fauor withall All which thinges when I with godly griefe did suffer and therwithall did openly bewayle and witnes that that companye of learned men and scholes which were appoynted to graue men and to graue matters were contaminate and defiled by such folish and Robinhode pastimes and that they which were the doers of such things did but therby openly shew theyr vanity I was so far by my such humble complaynt from doinge good or helping any thing at al that I was enforced what wyth hissing showting and what with authority to heare such great reproches and slaunders vttered agaynste me as no graue man without blushing could abide the herynge of the same spokē of a most vile knaue against a most wretched ruffiane At the beginning of the disputatiō when I should haue confirmed mine answer to the fyrst proposition in few woordes and that after the maner of diputations before I could make an ende of my probation whiche was not verye longe euen the doctours them selues cried oute he speaketh blasphemies blasphemies blasphemies And whē I on my knees most humbly hartly besought thē that they would vouchsafe to heare me to the end wherat the Prolocutor something moued as it seemed cried out let him reade it let him read it Yet whē I again began to read it there was by by such a cry and noyse blasphemies blasphemies as I to my remembrance neuer heard or redde the like except it be one which was in the actes of the Apostles stirred vp of Demetrius the siluer smith and others of his occupation cryenge out agaynst Paule greate is Diana of the Ephesians great is Diana of the Ephesians and excepte it were a certayne disputation which the Arrians had against the Orthodoxes such as were of godly iudgment in Affricke where it is said that such as the presidents rulers of the disputatiō were such was also that end of the disputatiō Al was done in hurly burly and the slaunders of the Arrians wer so outragious that nothyng coulde quietly be hearde So wryteth Victor in the sebooke of his historye And thus the cryes and tumultes of these men agaynste me nowe so preuayled that whether I woulde or no I was inforced to leaue of the readinge of my probations although they were but short And of the truthe herof I haue al those that were present beyng of any discretion or honestye to be my witnesses But hereof wil I cease to complayne any further c. ¶ To Doctor Weston requiring performaunce of certaine promises made vnto him but neuer fulfilled according to thaccustomed wily vnfaythful dealyng of the papistes MAyster Prolocutor ye remember I am sure how you promised me openlye in the Scholes after my protestation that I should see how my aunsweres were there taken and written of the notaries whome you appoynted Me fateor neminem recusante to write what should be sayd and to haue had licence for to haue added vnto them or for to haue altered them as vpon more deliberation shoulde haue seemed me beaste Ye graunted me also at the deliuerye of myne aunswere vnto your fyrste proposition a copye of the same What promises he made openly in the scholes that were neuer performed reade in the booke of Martyrs Folio 958. These promyses be not performed If your suddeyne departure be any part of the cause therof yet I pray you remēber that they maye be performed for performance of promyses is to be looked for at a righteouse iudges handes Now I send you here myne aunswers in writynge to your seconde and thyrde propositions and doe desire and require earnestlye a copye of the same and I shall by Gods grace procure the paynes of the writer to be payde for and satisfyed accordinglye When I woulde haue confyrmed my sayenges with authorities or reasons you sayde there openlye that I shoulde haue hadde time and place to saye and brynge what so euer I could an other time And the same your sayenge was then there confyrmed of other of the Commissioners Yea and I dare say the audience also thought then that I shoulde haue had another daye to haue broughte and sayd what I could saye for the declaration and confyrmation of mine assertions Now that this was not done but so sodēly sentence geuen before the cause was peefectlye heard I can not but merueil at all and the due reformation of all things which are amisse I commit vnto almighty god my heauenly father which by hys deare son our sauiour Christ whome he hath made the vniuersall iudge of all flesh shall truely rightuously iudge both you and me Mayster Proloquutor I desire you and in Gods name require you that you truly bring forth and show al my thre aunswers writen subscribed with mine own hand vnto the higher house of the cōuocatiō specially vnto my lord chauncelor my Lordes of Duresme Elie Norwich Worcetor Chichester and also to show and exhibite this my writynge vnto them which in these few lines I write herevnto you And that I do make this request vnto you by this my writyng know you that I dyd take witnes of thē by whom I did send you this writing of those which were then with thē present that is of the baylifes of Oxford and of Maister Irish Alderman than there called to be a witnes By me N. Rydley 23. Aprilis 1554. To a Cosin of hys GOds holye spyrite be with you nowe and euer Amen When I cal to remēbrabnce beloued cosine the state of those that for fear of trouble either for losse of goods wil do in the sight of the world those thinges that they know and be assured are contrary to the will of God I can do no lesse but lament theyr case beyng assured that the ende
therof wyll be so pitifull withoute spedye repentaunce that I tremble and feare to haue it in remembraunce I woulde to God it lay vpon some earthly burden so that fredome of conscience mighte begenen vnto them I write as god knoweth not of presumption but onlye lamentinge they re state whome I thought nowe in thys daungerous time should haue geuen bothe you and me comfortable instructions But alas in stede therof we haue perswasions to follow I lament me to rehearse it superstitions idolatrye yea that worste of all is they will seeke to proue it by the scripture The Lord for his mercy turne theyr hartes Amen Yours N. R. A letter which he wrote as his last farewell to al his true and faythefull frendes in God a little before he suffred with a sharpe admoniton by by the way to the papists the enemies of the truth AT the name of Iesus let euery kne bow both of thyngs in heauen and things in earth and thinges vnder the earth and let euerye tonge confesse that Iesus Christ is the lord vnto the glory of God the father Amen As a man minding to take a farre iourney and to depart from his familiar frendes commenly and naturally hath a desire to byd his frendes farewell before hys departure so likewise now I loking dayly when I shoulde be called for to departe hence from you O al ye my dearely beloued brethren and sisters in oure Sauioure Christe that dwel here in this world hauing a like mind towardes you all also blessed be God of this such time leasure whereof I right hartely thank his heauenly goodnes do byd you all my deare brethren and sisters I say in Christ that dwel vp on the earth after such manner as I can Farewell Farewel my deare Brother George Shypside whome I haue euer found faythfull trusty and louinge in all state and condicions and now in the time of my crosse ouer all other to me most frendly and steadfast that which liked me best ouer all other thinges in Gods cause euer harty Farewell my deare sister Alice his wyfe I am gladde to beare of thee that thou doest take Christes crosse whiche is layed now blessed be God both on thy backe and mine in good parte Thanke thou GOD that hathe geuen thee a godly and a louing husband se thou honor him and obey hym according to Gods lawe Honour thy mother in lawe his mother and loue al those that perteyne vnto hym being ready to do them good as it shall lye in thy power As for thy chyldren I doubte not of thy husbande but that he whyche hathe geuen hym a hearte to loue and feare God and in God them that pertayne vnto hym shall also make hym frendely and benefyciall vnto thy children euen as yf they had bene gotten of hys owne body Farewell my welbeloued brother Iohn Rydley of the Waltowne and you my gentle and louyng Syster Elizabeth whome besydes the naturall league of amitye your tender loue whiche you were sayde euer to beare towardes me aboue the reste of youre brethren dothe bynde me to loue My mynde was to haue acknowledged this youre louyng affection and to haue acquyted it wyth dedes and not wyth woordes alone Youre daughter Elizabeth I byd farewell whom I loue for the meeke and gentle Spiryte that God hath geuen her which is a precious thyng in the syght of God Farewell my beloued Syster of Vnthancke wyth all youre chyldren my nephewes and nices Synce the departure of my Brother Hughe my mynde was to haue beene vnto them in the steade of theyr father but the Lorde god must and will be theyr father if they wil loue hym and feare him and lyue in the trade of hys law Farewell my welbeloued and worshipfull Cosyns maister Nicholas Ridley of Wyllimountswick and your wife and I thanke you for all youre kyndnesse shewed bothe to me and also to all youre owne kynsefolke and myne Good Cosyn as GOD hath sette you in that oure stocke and kyndred not for anye respecte of youre personne but of hys aboundaunte grace and goodnesse to bee as it were the Belweather to order and conducte the reaste and hathe also endued you wyth his manyfold gyftes of grace bothe heauenlye and worldlye aboue others so I praye you good Cosin as my truste and hope is in you continue and increase in the mayntenaunce of truthe honestye rightuousnesse and all true godlynesse and to the vttermost of your power to wythstande falsehode vntruthe vnryghteousnesse and all vngodlynesse whych is forbid and condempned by the word and lawes of God Farewel my yong Cosin Rafe Whitfield Oh your tyme was verye shorte wyth me my mynde was to haue done you good and yet you caughte in that little tyme a losse but I truste it shall bee recompenced as it shall please almighty god Farewell al my whole kyndred and countreymen farewell in Christ altogether The Lorde which is the searcher of secrets knoweth that accordyng to my hartes desire my hope was of late that I should haue come among you and to haue brought wyth me aboundaunce of Christes blessed Gospell accordyng to the duetye of that office and ministerye wherevnto among you I was chosen named and appoincted by the mouth of that our late piereles Prince king Edwarde and so also denounced openly in hys court by his priuye counsayle I warne you all my welbeloued kynsfolke and countreymen that ye be not amased or astonied at the kynde of my departure or dissolution for I ensure you I thynke it the most honour that euer I was called vnto in all my life and therfore I thanke my Lorde GOD hartely for it that it hath pleased hym to cal me of hys great mercye vnto this hyghe honour to suffer deathe wyllynglye for hys sake and in hys cause vnto the which honour he called the holy Prophets hys dearly beloued Apostels and hys blessed chosē martyrs For knowe ye that I doubte no more but that the causes wherefore I am put to deathe are gods causes and the causes of the truthe then I doubte that the Gospell whyche Iohn wrote is the Gospell of Christe or that Paules Epystles are the verye worde of GOD. And to haue a harte wyllyng to abyde and stande in gods cause in Christs quarell euen vnto death I ensure thee O man it is an inestimable and an honourable gyft of GOD geuen onely to the true electes and dearely beloued children of GOD and inheritoures of the kyngdome of heauen For the holye Apostle and also Martyr in Christes cause Sayncte Peter sayeth ◠Pet. 4 yf ye suffer rebuke in the name of Chryste that is in Christes cause and for hys truthes sake then are ye happye and blessed for the glorye of the Spirite of God resteth vppon you If for rebukes sake suffered in Chrystes name a man is pronounced by the mouthe of that holye Apostle blessed and happye howe muche more happye and blessed is he that hathe
flaming fyre quicke and aliue whosoeuer will goe aboute to bewray their falshed The kind of fight against these church robbers is also of an other sorte and kinde then is that whiche is agaynste the theues of the borders For there the true men go forth against theÌ„ with speare launce with bow and byl and al such kind of bodelye weapons as the true men haue but here as the enemyes be of an other nature so the watchmen of Christs flocke the warriours that fight in the Lordes warre muste be armed and fight with an other kinde of weapons and armour For here the enemies of God the souldiors of Anti-Christ although the battel is set forth against the churche by mortall men being flesh and bloud and neuerthelesse members of theyr father the deuil yet for that theyr graund maister is the power of darknesse theyr members are spirituall wickednes wicked spirites spirites of erroures of heresies of all deceate and vngodlines spirites of idolatry Ephe 6 superstition and hipocrisye which are called of S. Paule Principates powers Lordes of the world rulers of the darknesse of this world and spiritual subtilties concerning heaueÌ„ly things therfore our weapons must be fit and mete to fyght agaynst such not carnall nor bodely weapons as speare and launce but spiritual and heauenly we must fight agaynst such with the armor of God not entendinge to kill they re bodyes but their errours theyr false craft and heresies theyr idolatry superstitioÌ„ and hipocrisy Eph 6. and to saue as much as lieth in vs both theyr bodies and soules And therfore as S. Paule teacheth vs we fighte not against fleshe and bloude that is we fyght not with bodely weapon to kyll the man but with the weapons of God to put to flight his wicked errours vice and to saue both body and soule Our weapons therfore are faythe hope charitye righteousnesse truthe pacience prayer vnto God and our sword wherwyth we smite our enemies we beate and batter and beare down all falshed is the word of God With these weapons vnder the banner of the crosse of Christ we do fyght euer hauinge our eye vpon our graunde Maister Duke and captayne Christe and then we recken our selues to triumphe and to winne the crown of euerlastinge blesse when enduringe in this battaile withoute anye shrinking or yelding to the enemies after the example of our graund Capitaine Christ our Mayster after the exaÌ„ple of his holy Prophetes Apostles and Martyrs when I say we are slayne in oure mortall bodyes of our enemies are most cruelly and without all mercy murdered down like a me any of shepe And the more cruel the more payneful the more vyle and spitefull is the kind of the death whereunto we be put the more glorious in God the more blessed and happye wee recken withoute all doubtes oure Martyrdome to be And thus much dere loeuers frends in god my country men kinsfolk I haue spoken for your comfort least of my deathe of whose life you loked peraduenture sometimes to haue had honestye pleasures and commodities ye myghte be abashed or thinke any euill whereas ye haue rather cause to reioyse if ye loue me indeede for that it hathe pleased God to call me to a greater honoure and dignitye than euer I did enioye before eyther in Rochester or in the Sea of London or euer shoulde haue had in the Sea of Durham whereunto I was last of all elected and named yea I count it greater honoure before God in deede to die in his cause whereof I nothynge doubte then is any earthlye or temporall promocion or honoure that canne be geuen to a man in thys worlde And who is he that knoweth the cause to be Goddes to be Chrystes quarell and of hys Gospell to bee the common weale of all the elect and chosen children of God of all the inheritoures of the kingdome of Heauen who is he I saye that knoweth this assuredlye by Goddes woorde and the testimonye of hys owne conscience as I through the infinite goodnes of god not of my self but by hys grace acknowledge my self to do who is he I say that knoweth this both loueth fereth god in dede in truth loueth beleueth hys maister Christ and hys blessed gospel loueth his brotherhode the chosen children of god and also lusteth and longeth for euerlastinge life whoe is he I say againe that woulde not or can not fynde in his harte in thys cause to be content to dye The Lord forbid that any such shoulde be that shoulde forsake this grace of God I truste in my Lord God the God of mercies and the father of all comfort throughe Iesus Chryste oure Lorde that he whiche hathe put thys mynde will and affection by hys holye spirite in my harte to stande agaynste the face of the enemie in hys cause to chose rather the losse of all my worldly substaunce yea and of my life to then to denye hys knowne truthe that he well comfort me ayd me and strengthen me euermore euen vnto the ende and to the yelding vp of my spirite and soule into hys holye handes wherof I most hartely besech hys moste holye sacred Maiestye of hys infinyte goodnes and mercye throughe Iesus Christe our Lord. Amen Now that I haue taken my leaue of my countrey menne and kinsfolke and the Lorde doth lende me life and geueth me leysure I wyll bydde my other good friendes in God of other places also farewell And whome fyrste or before other then the Vniuersytye of Cambridge whereas I haue dwelte longer founde more faythfull and hartye frendes receyued more benefites the benefytes of my naturall parentes onlye excepted then euer I did euen in mine owne natyue countrey wherein I was borne Farewel therfore Cambrydge my louyng mother and tender nurse If I shoulde not acknowlege thy manyfold benefits yea if I shold not for thy benifits at the lest loue the agayn truly I were to be counted vngrate vnkind What benyfytes hadst thou euer that thou vsest to geue bestow vpon thy best beloued childreÌ„ that thou thoughtest to good for me Thou diddest bestowe on me all thy Schole degrees of thy common offyces the Chaplaynshyppe of the vniuersity the office of the Pâ—ortorship of a coÌ„mon reader and of thy priuate coÌ„modyties emolumeÌ„tes in colledges what was it that thou madest me not partner of Fyrst to be Scholer then Fellow and after my departure froÌ„ thee thou calledst me agayne to a Mastership of a right worshipful colledge I thanck thee my louing mother for all this thy kindnes and I pray God that his lawes the syncere Gospel of Christ may euer be truly taught faythfully learned in thee Farewell Pembroke hall of late mine own Colledge my cure my charge what case thou artin now God knoweth I know not well Thou wast euer named sithens I knewe thee which is nowe a .xxx. yeares agoe to be studious well learned and a greate
to Daniels Prophecy and finally with all falshed deceyte hypocrysy and all kind of vngodlines are as cleane contrarye to Gods word as darknesse is vnto lyghte or lighte to darkenesse white to blacke or blacke to white or as beliall vnto Christ or Christe vnto Antichrist him selfe I know my Lords foresaw whē I wrote this that so manye of you as shoulde see this my writing not beinge before indued with the spirite of grace and the lighte of Gods word so many I say would at these my wordes Lorde like stampe and spurne and spit thereat But sober your selues with pacience and be still and knowe ye that in my writing of this my mind was none other but in God as the liuing God doth beare me witnes both to do you profite and pleasure And otherwise as for your displesure by that time this shal come to your knowledge I trust by gods grace to be in the hands and protection of the almighty my heauēly father and the liuing Lorde which is as S. Iohn sayth the greatest of all and then I shall not nede I trow to feare what any Lord no nor what king or prince can do vnto me My Lordes if in times past ye haue bene cōtented to hear me sometimes in matters of relygion before the Prynce in the pulpit and in the Parliament house and haue not semed to haue dispised what I haue sayd when as els if ye had perceaued iust occasion ye might thē haue suspected in my talk thoughe it had bene reasonable either desire of worldly gain or feare of displeasure howe hath then youre Lordeshyppes more cause to harkē to my word to hear me paciētly seing now ye cannot iustly thinke of me being in this case appointed to dye and loking daylye when I shall be called to come before the eternall iudge otherwise but that I only study to serue my Lord God and to say that thinge which I am perswaded assuredly by Gods worde shal and doth please him and profite all them to whome God shal geue grace to heare and beleue what I do saye and I doe saye euen that I haue sayd heretofore both of the sea of Rome and of the bishoppe therof I meane after this theyr presente state at this daye Wherin if ye will not beleue the ministers of God and true preachers of hys woorde verelye I denounce vnto you in Verbo domini except ye do repēt betime it shal turne to your confusion and to youre smarte on the latter day Forget not what I saye my Lordes for Goddes fake forgette not Psal 4. but remember it vpon youre bedde For I tell you moreouer as I know I must be countable of thys my talke and of my speakinge thus to the eternall iudge who will iudge nothing amisse so shall you be countable of your duety in hearing and you shal be charged if ye wil harkē to gods word for not obeing to the truth Alas my Lordes how chaunceth this that this matter is now a new agayne to be perswaded vnto you who would haue thought of late but your Lordshyps had bene perswaded in deede sufficientlye or els that ye coulde euer haue agreed so vniformelye with one consent to the abolishmēt of the vsurpatiō of the bishop of Rome If that mater were then but a matter of policy wherein the prince must be obeied how is it now made a mater wherin as your clergy sayeth now and so sayth the popes lawes in deede standeth the vnity of the catholike church and a matter of necessitye of oure saluation Hathe the time being so shorte since the deathe of the two last kinges Henry the .viij and Edward his sonne altered the nature of the matter If it haue not but was of the same nature and daunger before God then as it is now be now as it is sayd by the popes lawes and the instructiōs set forth in english to the curates of the dioces of Yorke in deede a matter of necessitye to saluation howe then chaunced it that ye were all O my Lords so lighte and so little passed vpon the catholick faith and the vnity therof without the which no mā can be saued as for your princes pleasures which were but mortal men to forsake the vnitye of youre catholike faith that is to foresake Christ and his holy gospell And furthermore if it were both then and now so necessary to saluation how chaunced it also that ye all the whole body of the Parliamēt agreing with you dyd not only abolish and expel the byshop of Rome but also did abiure him in your own parsons and did decree in your actes great othes to be taken of both the spiritualty tēporalty whosoeuer shold entre into any waighty charge able offyce in the common wealth But on thother syde if that law and decree which maketh the supremacye of the sea and Bishop of Rome ouer the vniuersal church of Christ a thing of necessity required vnto saluation be an Antichristian law as it is in deede and such instructions as are geuen to the dioces of Yorke be in deede a settinge forth of the power of that beast of Babilon by the craft and falshod of hys false prophets as of truth compared vnto Gods word truly iudged by the same it shal playnly appere that they be then my Lordes neuer thinke other but the daye shall come when ye shal be charged with this your vndoing of that that once ye had well done with this your periury breach of your oth which oth was done in iudgement iustice truth agreable to Gods law The whore of Babilō may wel for a time dally with you make you so dronkē with the wine of her filthy stewes whoredom as with her dispensations promises of pardon A pena culpa that for dronkennes blinnes ye may thinke yourselues safe But be ye assured when the liuing Lorde shall trye the matter by the fyre and iudge it according to his word when all her abhominations shall appeare what they be then ye my Lords I geue your Lordships warning in time repent if ye be happy and loue your owne soules health repent I say or els without all doubte ye shall neuer escape the handes of the liuinge Lorde for the gilt of your periury the breach of your oth As ye haue bāketed and layne by the whore in the fornication of her whorysh dispensations pardons idolatry such like abhominations so shall ye drinke with her excepte ye repent betime of the cuppe of the Lords indignation euerlasting wrath which is prepared for the beast his false prophetes al their partakers For he that is partner with thē in they re whoredome abhominatiōs must also be partner with thē of theyr plagues on the latter daye shal be throwne with them into the lake burning with brimstone and vnquenchable fyre Thus fare ye well my Lordes all I praye God geue you vnderstanding of hys blessed
place for me to bryng in franlkely all that I could for the confyrmation of mine answers Now when he had promised all these thynges openly in the hearyng of other Commissioners and of the whole vniuersity of Oxforde yet good reader marke thys that in very deede he perfourmed nothyng of all that he promysed what faythe then shall a man looke to fynde at such iudges handes in the secrete mysteries of God which in theyrs promises so openly made and so duely det I will not speake of the witnesses of the matter are found to be so faithlesse both to God and man well I will leaue it to the iudgemente of the wyse And now for that is leste for vs to do let vs pray that God would haue mercy on his churche of Englande that yet once when it shall be hys good pleasure it may clearely see and gredely embrace in the face of Iesus Christ the wyl of the heauenly father and that of hys infinite mercye he would eyther turne to hym the ragyng and rauening wolues and most subtyll seducers of his people whiche are by them altogether spoyled and bewitched eyther that of hys most rightuous iudgement he would dryue these faythlesse feeders from hys flocke that they may no more bee able to trouble and scatter abroad Christes shepe from their shepeherd and that spedely Amen Amen And let euery one that hath the spirite as S. Iohn sayeth say Amen Yet further know thou that when Maister Prolocutour did put forth three propositions he dyd commaund vs to answer particularly to them all After our answers neyther he nor hys fellowes did euer enter into any disputation of any one of thē sauyng only of the fyrst Yea when that he had asked vs after disputations of the fyrst as ye haue heard for my part whether we would subscribe to the whole in such sort forme and words as there are set forth withoute further disputation whych thynge we denied by and by he gaue sentēce against vs all that is against me Doctour Cranmer Doctour Latimer my most dere fathers brethrē in christ cōdemning vs for hainous heretikes cōcerning euery of these propositiōs and so separated vs one from another sending vs seuerally into sundry and diuerse houses to be kept moste secretlye to the day of our burning and as before so still commaunded that all and euerye one of our seruauntes shoulde be kepte from vs wherto he added that at his departure thence pen inke and paper should depart from vs also He meaneth here that godlye and fruitefull report of his disputation in Oxford whiche he penned with his own hand But thanks be to God that gaue me to write thys before the vse of suche thinges were vtterly taken awaye Almyghty God whyche beholdeth the causes of the afflicted is wonted to lose loke mercifully on the bonds gronings of the captiues he vouch safe now to looke vpō the causes of hys pore church in Englād of his great wisdome vnspeakable mercy wyth speede to make an end of our misery Amen Amen Amen ⧠Letters of mayster Iohn Hoper late Byshoppe of Glocester wher after his long and cruel imprisonmente in the flete he was burnte wyth most terrible kindes of tormentes as you may reade in the boke of martyrs fol. 1062. for the defēce of the syncere truth of the gospell the 9. day of Ianuary in the yeare of our Lord. 1555. ¶ A letter which he wrote to certayn godly persons professours and louers of the truth instructing them howe they shoulde behaue them selues at the beginnynge of the chaunge of religion THe grace mercy and peace of God the father throughe our Lorde Iesus Chryste be wyth you my deare brethren and wyth al those that vnfaynedly loue and embrace his holye gospell Amen It is tolde me that the wycked Idole the masse is stablyshed agayne by a law passed in the Parleament house Lerne the truth of it I pray you what penalty is appointed in the act to such as speake agaynst it Also whether there be any cōpulsion to constraine men to be at it The statute throughlye knowne such as be abroade at liberty maye prouide for them selues and auoyd the daunger the better Doubtles there hath not bene sene before our tyme such a parleament as thys is that as many as were suspected to be fauourers of gods worde shoulde be banyshed out of both houses But we must geue god thankes for that truth he hathe opened in the time of hys blessed seruaunte kynge Edwarde the syxte and praye vnto hym that we denye it not nor dyshoner it with idolatrye but that we maye haue strength and patience rather to dye tenne tymes then to deny him once Blessed shall we be if euer god make vs worthye of that honoure to shede oure bloode for hys names sake And blessed then shall we thinke the parentes whiche broughte vs into thys worlde that we shoulde from thys mortalitye be caried into immortalitye If we followe the commaundemente of Saynte Paule that sayth if ye be risen agayne wyth Chryste Col. 3. seeke the thynges that be aboue where Chryste sytteth at the righte hande of God we shall neyther departe from the vayne transitorye goodes of thys worlde nor from thys wretched and mortall lyfe wyth so greate paynes as other doe Let vs praye to our heauenlye father that we maye knowe and loue hys blessed wyll and the gloryous ioye prepared for vs in time to come and that we maye knowe and hate all thynges contrarye to hys blessed wyll and also the payne prepared for the wicked men in the world to come There is no better waye to be vsed in thys troublesome tyme for your consolation then many tymes to haue assemblies to gether of suche menne and women as be of your religion in Chryste and there to talke and renewe amonge your selues the truth of youre religion to see what ye be by the woord of God and to remembre what yee were before yee came to the knowledge thereof to waygh and conferre the dreames and false lyes of the preachers that nowe preache wyth the woorde of God that retayneth all truth and by suche talke and familiar resortinge together ye shall the better fynde out all their lyes that nowe goe aboute to deceyue you and also both knowe and loue the truth that God hath opened to vs. It is muche requisite that the members of Chryste comforte one an other make prayers together conferre one with another so shall ye be the stronger and Gods spirite shall not be absent from you but in the myds of you to teach you to comfort you to make you wise in al godly thyngs patiente in aduersity and strong in persecution Ye se how the congregatiō of the wicked by helping one an other make their wicked religion themselues strong against Gods truth hys peple It ye may haue some lerned mā that can out of the scriptures speak vnto you of faith
mortall man may be Oh Lord how slipper the loue of man yea man him self is It were better for them to pray for vs rather then to credite or reise rumours that bee vntrue vnlesse they were more certaine thereof then euer they shall be able to proue we haue enemies enough of such as knowe not God Truly this report of weake brethern is a double trouble and a triple crosse I do wyshe you eternall saluation in Chryste Iesu and also require your continuall prayer that he whyche hath begonne in vs may saue vs to the ende I haue taught this truth wyth my tounge and penne heretofore and hereafter shortly will confyrme by Gods grace the same wyth my bloode Pray for me gentle brethern haue no mistrust From New gate 2. February Your brother Iohn Hoper To maistres Wilkinson a woman harty in gods cause comfortable to his aflicted members THe grace of God and the comfort of hys holy spiryte be with you Amen I am very glad to heare of your health doe thank you for your louing tokeÌ„s But I am a great deale more glad to heare how christianly you auoyd idolatry prepare your selfe to suffer the extremity of the world rather theÌ„ to endaunger your selfe to God You do as you ought to do in this behalfe and in suffrynge of transitory paynes you shall auoyde permanent torments in the world to come Vse your life and keepe it with as much quietnes as you canne so that you offeÌ„d not God The ease that coÌ„meth with hys displeasure turneth at length to vnspeakable paynes the gaines of the world with the losse of his fauour is beggary wretchednes Reason is to be ameÌ„ded in this cause of religioÌ„ for it wil choose follow an errour with the multitude if it may be allowed rather then turne to fayth and follow the truth wyth the people of God Moses found the same fault in himselfe did amend it choosyng rather to be afflicted with the people of God Heb. 11. then to vse the libertye of the kynges daughter that accounted hym as her sonne Praye for contentation and peace of the spryte and reioyce in such troubles as shall happeÌ„ vnto you for the truthes sake for in that part Christ saith you be happy Math. 5. Pray also for me I pray you that I may do in al things the wil of our heauenly father to whose tuition and defence I commend you To my dearely beloued Syster in the Lord maistres A. W. THe grace of god be with you AmeÌ„ I thank you for your louing token I pray you burden not your self to much it were mete for me rather to beare a payn then to be a hinderance to many I did reioice at the coÌ„ming of this bearer to vnderstaÌ„d of your constaÌ„cy how that you be fully resolued by gods grace rather to suffer extremity theÌ„ to go froÌ„ that truth in God whych you haue professed He that gaue you grace to begyn in so infallible a truth wil followe you in the same vnto the end But my louing Sister as you be traueling this perillous iourney take this lessoÌ„ with you practised by wyse men whereof ye may reade in the seconde of Sayncte Mathewes gospel Such as traueled to fynde Chryst followed onely the starre and as long as they sawe it they were assured they were in the right way and had greate mirth in thery iourney But when they entred into Ierusalem wher as the starre led them not thether but vnto Bethelem and there asked the citizens the thinge that the starre shewed before as long as they taried in Hierusalem and would be instructed where Christ was borne they were not only ignoraunt of Bethelem but also lost the syghte of the starre that ledde them before Whereof we learne in any case whiles we be going in this life to seeke Christ that is aboue to beware we lose not the starre of Gods word that only is the marke that sheweth vs where Christe is and which waye we maye come vnto hym But as Ierusalem stode in the way was an impedimentte to these wise menne so doth the sinagoge of Antichryste that beareth the name of Ierusalem whiche by interpretacion is called the vision of peace and amonges the people now is called the catholike church standeth in the way that pilgrymes must go by through thys world to Bethelem the house of saturity and plentifulnes and is an impediment to al Christian trauellers yea and except the more grace of God be will kepe the pilgrimes stil in her that they shall not come wher Christ is at al. And to stay them in dede they take away the starre of light which is Gods word that it can not be sene as as ye maye see howe the celestiall starre was hyd froÌ„ the wyse men wheÌ„ they asked of the Phareseis at HierusaleÌ„ wher Christ was borne Ye may see what great daungers happened vnto these wise men whyles they were a learning of liers where Christ was Fyrst they were oute of theyr way and next they lost their guide and conductour the heauenly starre Christ is mounted from vs into heauen and there we seke hym as we say let vs therfore go the theâ—ward by the starre of hys worde and beware we happen not to come into Hierusalem the church of men aske for him If we do we go out of the way lose also our conductor guide that only leadeth vs strayght thether The Poetes write in fables that Iason wheÌ„ he fought with the dragoÌ„ in the I le of Colchis was preserued by the medicines of Medea and so wan the golden fleese And they write also that Titan whom they fayne to be sonne and heyre of the highe God Iubiter woulde neades vpon a day haue the conducting of the Sun round about the world but as they fayne he missed of the accustomed course wherupon when he went to hygh he burned heauen wheÌ„ he went to low he burned the earth the water These prophane histories do shame vs that he christiaÌ„ men Iason agaynst the poison of the dragon vsed onlye the medicine of Medea What a shame is it for a Christian man agaynste the poyson of the deuyl heresye and synne to vse any other remedye then Christ and hys woorde Titan for lacke of knowledge was afearde of euerye signe of the Zodiake that the sonne passeth by wherfore he now went to low and now to high and at length fell down and drowned him selfe in the sea Christian men for lacke of knowlege and for feare of such daungers as ChristiaÌ„ men must nedes passe by goe cleane out of order at length fall into the pitte of hel Sister take heede you shall in your iourney towardes heauen mete with manye a moÌ„strous beast haue salue of gods word therfore ready Ye shall mete husband children louers frendes that shal if god be not with them as god be praysed he is I would it were with al other
a like be very lettes impedimēts to your purpose You shal meete with slaūder contēpt of the world and be accōpted vngracious vngodlye you shal heare mete with cruell tyranny to doe you al extremities you shal now thē see the troubles of your own consciēce fele your own weaknes you shal heare that you be cursed by the sentence of the catholike church wit suche like terrours but praye to God followe the starre of hys word you shall ariue at the port of eternall saluaciō by the merites only of Iesus Christ to whome I commende you and all yours most hartely Yours in Christ Iohn Hoper To mayster Ferrar byshop of S. Dauids D. Taylor maister Bradford and mayster Philpot prisoners in the kinges Bench in South warke THe grace of God be wyth you Amen I am aduertised by diuerse aswell suche as loue the truth as also by such as yet be not come vnto it that ye I shall be caried shortlye to Cambrige there to dispute in the faith for the religion of Christe which is moste true that we haue do professe I am as I doubt not ye be in Christe redy not only to goe to Cambridge but also to suffer by gods helpe death it selfe in the mayntenance thereof Weston and hys complices haue opteined forth the commission already and spedely most lyke he wyl put it in execution Wherfore deare brethren I do aduertyse you of the thing before for diuerse causes The one to comfort you in the Lorde that the tyme draweth nygh and is at hand that we shall testifye before gods enemies gods truth The next that ye shuld prepare your selues the better for it The thirde to showe you what wayes I thinke were beste to vse our selues in thys mater also to hear of euery one of you your better aduise if mine be not good Ye know suche as shal be Censours and Iudges ouer vs breath thurst our blood whether we by gods help ouercome after the word of god or by force subtilty of our aduersaryes be ouercome this wil be the conclusyon our aduersaryes will saye they ouercome as you perceaue how they report of those great learned men and godly personages at Oxford Wherfore I mynd neuer to aunswere them except I haue the bookes present because they vse not only false allegation of the doctors but also a pece of the D. against the whole course of the doctors mind The next that we may haue sworne notaries to take thinges spoken indifferētly which will be very hard to haue for the aduersaries wyll haue the ouersyght of al thynges and then make theirs better then it was and ours worse then it was Then if we see that two or three or more will speake together or with scoffes and tauntes illude and mocke vs I suppose it were beste to appeale to be heard before the Quene and the whole Coūsel that would much setforth the glory of god For many of them know already the truth manye of them erre rather of zeale then malice and the others that be iudurate should be aunsweared fully to theyr shame I doubt not although to our smarte and bloodsheedyng For of thys I am assured that the commissioners appointed to hear vs iudge vs meane nothyng lesse then to heare the cause indifferentlye for they be enemies vnto vs vnto our cause and be at a poynt alredy to geue sentence agaynst vs so that if it were possible wyth Saynte Stephen to speake so that they could not resyst vs or to vse such sylence pacience as Christ did they wil procede to reuenging Wherfore my deare brethren in the mercye of Iesus Chryste I would be gladde to know your aduyse thys daye or to morrowe for shortlye we shall be gone and I verelye suppose that we shall not companye together but be kepte abroade one from the other They wyll denye oure appeale yet let vs challenge the appeale and take wytnesse therof of such as be present and require for indiffencye of hearynge and iudgemente to be hearde eyther before the Quene and the Counsell or els before all the parleamēt as they were vsed in kyng Edwards dayes Further for my parte I will requyre both bookes and tyme to aunsweare We haue bene prisoners now three quarters of a yeare and haue lacked oure bokes and oure memories by close keepynge and ingratitude of they re partes be not as present and quicke as theyrs be I trust God wil be with vs yea I doubte not but he wyll and teache vs to doe all things in hys cause godly and constātly If our aduersaries that shal be our iudges may haue theyr purpose we shal dispute one day be condēned the next day suffer the third day And yet is ther no law to cōdēne vs as far as I know so one of the cōuocatiō house sayd thys weke to D. Westō To whome Weston made thys aunswere it forceth not quoth he for a law wee haue commission to proceede wyth them when they be dispatched let theyr frendes sue the law Now how sone a man may haue such a comission at my Lord chaūcellours hād you knowe it is as hard to be opteined as an inditement for Christe at Cayphas hande Besides that the byshops hauinge the Quene so vpon theyr sydes may do all thinges both without the aduise and also the knowledge of the reast of the Lords of the temporalty who at this present haue founde out the marke that the byshops shoote at and doubtles be not pleased with theyr doings I pray you helpe that our brother Saūders the rest in the Marshalsey may vnderstād these things send me your aunswere be tyme. Iudas non dormit nec scimus diem neque horam Dominus Iesus Christus suo sancto numine nos omnes consoletur adiuuet Amen 6. Maii. 1554. Yours and with you vnto death in Chryste Iohn Hoper To my deare frendes in God mayster Iohn Hall and hys wyfe THe grace of God bee withe you Amen I thanke you for your louing and gentle frendship at all tymes praing god to shew vnto you such fauour that whatsoeuer trouble aduersity happen ye go not backe from hym These dayes be daungerous and full of peril but yet let vs comforte our selues in callinge to remembrance the dayes of our forefathers vpon whome the Lord sente such troubles that many hundrethes yea many thousandes died for the testimony of Iesus Christ both men women suffring with pacience constācy asmuch cruelty as Tyrannes could deuise so departed out of thys miserable world to the blisse euerlasting where as now they remayn for euer loking alwayes for the end of this sinful world whē they shal receiue their bodies again in immortality and see the number of the elects associated with them in ful and consummate ioyes Heb. 11 And as vertuous men suffring martyrdom and tarieng a litle while in this worlde with paines by
remember the counsell of S. Paule 1. Cor. 7. where he speaketh to suche as be coupled in matrimoy and be of two sundry and diuers religions If the vnbeleuinge man will dwell with the faythfull woman the wife cannot forsake him Or in case the vnbeleuing woman wil dwell with her beleuing husband the husband cannot forsake her But if the vnbeleuing party whether it be husband or wife will departe the beleuing partye is at libertye Now in this time to beleue that the priest can make God or to beleue that which was not God yesterday can be both God and man to daye so to honor that which was but very bread yesterdaye for the true God that made both heauen and earth and al that be in them and for the body and soule of Christe that suffred for oure redemption and toke from vs our sinnes vpon the crosse is very idolatry to be committed of no christian man for the payne of it with out repentance is euerlasting dampnation In matrimonie it is mete therefore that which partye so euer be perswaded knoweth the truth be it the husband or the wife the truth be spoken taught and opend vnto the party that is not perswaded For as Saint Paule sayeth howe knowest thou O man whether thou shalt saue thy wife or how knowest thou O woman whether thou shalt saue thy husband Therefore let the best and more godly partye be diligent in sauinge by his or her laboures the party that is not instructed nor perswaded in the truth If it preuayle then is the worse part amended and the best part hath done his or her duty and office as it is commaunded Ephesi 4. Colloss 3. 1. Pet. 3. In case the worse part will not be amended but tary still in errour and so offend the almighty God the author of mariage let the beste parte that is perswaded and knoweth the truth as in this case the woman labour with her cōpaniō to be free and at liberty and not to be compelled to honour any false God or to serue God otherwise then shee knoweth she maye do with a good conscience as she is taughte by the word of God And if she may thus obteyne to be at libertye and be not compelled to do thinges agaynst her conscience she may not in any wyse depart from him that she is maried vnto If this woman cannot wyn her husband to the truth nor obtayne to liue freelye and at libertye in the faythe of Christe her selfe lette her cause some godlye and graue men or women to perswade with her husbande as well for hys owne better knowledge as for the freedome and libertye of her selfe and let her and whosoeuer entreateth of the mater vse modesty sobernes and charitye and pray vnto God that their doinges maye take vertuous and godlye successe In case which God forbidde the husband will not reforme himself of his error nor suffer his wife to refrain the company and fellowship of such as be present at the masse whereas an idoll is honored for God this wyfe muste make aunswere soberly and christianly that she is forbidden by gods lawes to cōmit Idolatrye Actes 5. Exod. 20. and that gods is more to be obeyed then man and so in any case beware she offēd not against the firste commaundemente whiche is thou shalte haue no other Gods but me It maye come to passe that when the husbande shall perceaue the wifes loue and reuerence towardes him and also her constancye and strengthe in the truthe and true religion of GOD althoughe he be not conuerted vnto the truthe by her yet he will be contented to suffer her to vse the libertye of her conscience without compulsion to any religion that she doth by Gods worde detest and abhorre But if there bee no remedye but either the wife muste followe in idolatry her husbandes commaundement or elles suffer the extremitye of the law here must the wife remember and learne whether there bee anye lawe or not that can compell her ordinarilye to come to the masse whereas idolatrye is committed If there be no lawe or other meanes to compel her then her husbands foule words which be nothing els but threatninges to put her in feare she muste if she can wyth wisedome and womanhode amende the same if she cannot then must she christianly and pacientlye beare them as a woman of God that for his sake muste suffer as muche as hys pleasure is to lay vpon her In case there be a lawe to compel her and al other if otherwyse she will not obey to come to the masse firste she muste wisely and discretly way her husbandes nature whether he is wont to be in deede workes and offers cruell as he is in wordes If she can fynd that his nature is as the most part of mens be more churlish cruel in words then in workes then howsoeuer he threatneth by daungerous woordes he will not accuse his wife to harme her but rather excuse her In case eyther for lacke of loue or for feare of losing of hys goodes she perceaue verely that he mindeth to bring her in daunger by a law then must she pray to God and vse one of these two extreme remedies First if she finde by prayer her selfe strong to abyde the extremity of the lawe yea though she should dye let her in no case depart frō her husband In case she find her self to weake to suffer suche extremitye then rather then to breake company and mariage betwene God and her conioyned by the precious blood of Christ she must conuey her self into some such place as idolatry may be auoided For if the husbād loue the wife or the wife the husband more thā Christ he nor she be not mete for christ Math. 10.16 Luke 14.9 Yea if a man loue his owne life more then Christ he is not mete for Christ And what doth it auaile a mā to win all the world to lose his soule But here the womā must take heede that incase for the keping of the mariage betwene god and her she depart from her husband that she be alwayes in honest vertuous godly company that she may at al times haue record for her godly behauiour if any thinge shoulde be layde to her charge and let her liue a sole sober and modest life with prayer and sobernes to god that it may please him to banishe suche wicked lawes and wicked religion as make debate betwene God and man husbande and wife then God shall from tyme to tyme geue counsell to euery good man woman what is best to be done in such pitifull cases to his honoure to the saluation of our wofull troubled cōsciences Out of the Flete by the prisoner of the lord Iohn Hoper To my beloued in the Lord. W. P. THe grace of God be with you I haue sent you letters for my wife who is at Franckford in high Almayne I pray you conuey them trustely and spedelye and seale
them close after the marchaūts fashion that they be not opened William Dounton my seruant hath the fyrst copy of that I wrote concerning mayster Hales hurt I woulde mayster Bradforde did se it and then the copy to be well kept least anye man of malice should adde any thing to the matter more and worse then I haue made it I passe not of that maye come of it I thanke God and my conscience beareth me recorde that I did it of zeale to the word of God which the byshop of Winchester called the doctryn of desperation Not only my hart but also my mouth my penne and all my power shall be agaynste him euen till death by Gods helpe in this case let god do with the matter as it pleaseth his highe maiestye to whom I commend you 29. April 1554. Yours Iohn Hoper To my dearely beloued frende in Christe mayster Iohn Hal. THe grace of God be with you Amē It was much to my comfort I assure you when I vnderstoode by thys bearer my faithful seruant William Doūton that you and your wife were in health Many times I had occasion to enquire for you before the departure of my poore wife to haue holpē her out of the land from the hands of the cruel but I coulde heare nothing wher you were It was told me you abode in the coūtrey with your wife to whom make my harty commendations and to the rest of al your house that feare God and my trust is you do not forget your duty towardes God in this troublesome worlde See that you tarye with him in one howre of trouble and doubtles he will kepe you for euer with him in the ioyes euerlasting I would write more but this bearer can tel what nede I haue to make hast Fare you well as my self be stronge in Christ for I thanke him for my part I am not ashamed of his gospel neither afeard of the Pope the deuill nor the gates of hel The lordes will be done Written the .4 day of August Anno. 1554. Your poore frend Iohn Hoper ☞ An exhortation to patience sent to his godlye wife Anne Hoper wherby all the true members of Christe may take comforte and courage to suffer trouble and affliction for the profession of his holy Gospell OVr sauiour Iesus Christ derely beloued my godlye wife in S. Mathewes gospell said to his disciples Math. 18. that it was necessary slaūders should come and that thei could not be auoyded he perceiued as well by the condition of those that should perish and be lost for euer in the worlde to come as also by theyr affliction that should be saued For he saw the greatest part of the people would contempne and neglect what soeuer true doctrine or godlye wayes shoulde be shewed vnto them or els receaue it vse it as they thought good to serue theyr pleasures without any profit to their soules at all not caringe whether they liued as they were commaunded by Gods word or not but would thinke it sufficient to be coūted to haue the name of a Christian man with such workes and frutes of his professiō and christianity as his fathers elders after their custome and maner esteme and take to be good frutes faythfull workes will not trye them by the word of God at all These men by the iuste iudgemente of God be deliuered vnto the craft and subteltye of the deuill that they may be kept by one slaunderous stumblinge block or other that they neuer come vnto Christ Math. 2 4 who came to saue those that were lost as ye may see how god deliuereth wicked men vp vnto theyr owne lustes to do one mischief after an other careles vntil they come into a reprobate mind Rom i 1. Thes 2. that forgetteh it selfe and cannot knowe what is expediente to be done or to be left vndone because they close theyr eyes wyl not see the lighte of Gods word offered vnto them and being thus blinded they preferre theyr owne vanities before the truth of Gods word Whereas such corrupt mindes be there is also corrupt election and choise of Gods honour so that the mind of manne taketh falshode for truth supersticion for true religion death for life dampnation for saluatiō hell for heauen and persecution of Christes members for Gods seruice and honoure And as these menne wilfullly and voluntarily reiecte the woorde of God euen so God most iustly deliuereth them into the blyndnes of mynd Iohn 8.9 and hardnes of hart that they cannot vnderstand nor yet consēt to any thing that God would haue preached and setforth to his glory after his owne wil and word wherfore they hate it mortally and of all thinges most derest gods holy worde And as the diuel hath entred into their hartes that they thē selues cannot nor will not come to Christe to be instructed by his holy word euen so can they not abyde any other man to be a christian man and to leade his life after the worde of God but hate him persecute him robbe him imprison him yea kil him whether he be man or woman if God suffre it And so much are those wicked mē blinded that they passe of no lawe whether it be gods or mans but persecute suche as neuer offended yea do euell to those that dayly haue prayed for them and wish thē Gods grace In their Pharaonicall and blinde fury they haue no respecte to nature for the brother persecuteth the brother the father the sonne moste deare frendes in deuelishe slaunder and offence are become most mortall enemyes And no maruayle for whē they haue chosen sundrye maysters the one the deuill the other God th one shall agree with the other as god and the diuell agre betwene thēselues For thys cause that the more parte of the world doth choose to serue the deuil vnder cloked hipocrisy of Gods title Christ sayd it is expedient and necessary that slaunders should come and many means be deuised to kepe the little babes of Christ frō the heauenly father Math. 18. But Christ sayeth wo be vnto him by whome the offence commeth yet is there no remedy man being of such corruption and hatred towardes God but that the euell shal be deceaued and persecute the good and the good shall vnderstande the truthe and suffre persecution for it Gene. 4 Gala. 4 vntill the worldes ende For as he that was borne after the fleshe persecuted in tymes paste hym that was borne after the spiryte euen so it is now Seyng therefore we liue for this life emonges so many greate perils and daūgers we must be well assured by gods word how to beare them and how pacientlye to take them as they be sent to vs from God We must also assure our selues that ther is no other remedy for christians in the time of trouble Luke ij then Christ him self hath appointed vs. In S. Luke he geueth vs this commaundemente ye shall
without the other then fire can bee without heate saying these wordes with the hart man beleueth vnto righteousnes with the mouth he confesseth vnto saluation Wherein he declareth that euen as the cause of our acceptation through Christ is the confidence and faithe of the hart in the promises of god so is the confession outwardlye of the same fayth by the mouthe the fruite that all christian faythfull hartes brynge forthe throughe the same gyfte of GOD. And where as thys effecte of confession of faythe is not there wanteth also the cause of confession whiche is true faythe for as the tree is knowen by her fruites so is faythe by her effectes And as the wante of fruite is a demonstration that the tree is vnprofitable so the wante of true confession of faythe is a token that the faith is dead The ende of the vnprofitable tree Math. x. 1. Pet. 3. is cuttyng down and castynge into the fyre the ende of the fruitles faythe is death and castyng to eternall dampnation Wherefore Saincte Peter requyreth vs to make aunswere to euerye man that demaūdeth of vs of such hope as is in vs with gentlenes reuerence which is a very testimony that we sanctify god in our hartes as it is before expressed in the same chapter For the greatest honour that man can geue to god is to confesse in the tyme of trouble truly and faithfully hys holy worde and fayth Wherfore it is the duty of euery christian to pray study to haue a through knowledge of his faith in Christ and as the glory of god shall requyre the cause of his religion to bee readye to make aunswere for the same howe soeuer the world feare displeasure frendship or other lettes shall moue vs to the contrary vppon payne saieth Christe in the x Math. x. of Mathew that I will deny hym before my father which is in heauen But how harde a thyng it is to confesse Christe in the dayes of trouble not onely the scripture but also daily experiēce in good men and women doth declare True confession is warded on euery side with many daungers on the righte hande and on the lefte hande now with fayre meanes then wyth foule threatnynges fearefull and daungerous as it is sayde by Christe our Sauioure they shall betray you to the iudges and of them ye shall be beaten and iudged to deathe Of the other syde shall pull vs backe the loue of wyfe childrē brother Syster kin frends and the loue vnto our selues But he that is ouercommen by any of these meanes hath his iudgemēt he is not meete for me sayth Christ These thynges be impossible vnto men yet to christian men in Christ possible and so necessary that christianity and true religion cannot bee in hym that is a fearde to confesse Christ and his gospell in the tyme of persecution The wisdome of the world doth say although I accomplishe the desyre of my frendes and to the sight of the worlde am present at the masse and with my body do as other men do or as I may do yet my hart is clean contrary to their belief I do detest such Idolatry beleue that the thing that I am present at is mere idolatry and abhominatiō Here be fayre words for an euill purpose and pretenced excuse for a iust condemnation before God For if it be true that ye know the thing which ye resort vnto to be the dishonor of god why doe ye honour it with your presence If ye know it to be euil why refrayne ye not from it If your conscience saye it is Idolatry why serueth your body such things as your fayth abhorreth If in your hart you know but one God why with your exterior presence serue ye the thing that ye knowe is not God If your fayth see idolatrye why doth your silence cōfesse and allow the same Two mē in one god loueth not If the inwarde man knowe the truth why doth the outward man confesse a falsehode If your spirite be perswaded that the masse is idolatry why do ye with your bodely presence vse it as a God and geue godly honoure to it Do ye not perceaue that it is written Esay 25. Math. 15. these people honor me with theyr mouth but their harts be farre frō me The cause why God was offended with these people was that outwardly they confessed him serued him but their hartes were farre frō him inwardly Wherfore ye may see what it is to beare two faces in one hoode outwardly to serue God and inwardly to serue the deuil Now marke of thys place if it be so horrible damnable a thing to be false in the hart which none knoweth but God and is worthy also of damnatiō what is to be iudged of the outward and manifest vse of idolatry which not only God but also euery good man knoweth and abhorreth There is no coulor nor cloked hipocrisie that God cā away with If the hart thinke not as the tong speaketh or els the tong speake otherwise thē the hart thinketh both be abhominable before God 2. Cor. 6. Read ye the .3 and the .6 Chapters of the fyrst Epistle of S. Paul to the Corinth where as S. Paule sayth know ye not that your bodie is the temple of the holy ghost If your body be the temple of the holy ghost what agrement hath it with idolatry Can one body at one time bee the temple of the holy ghost and be present at such idolatry as god abhorreth and detesteth Can a mā serue two masters If he do he loueth as Christ saith the one and hateth the other Math. 6. As god requireth of a faithful man a pure hart euen so requyreth he that his external profession in al thinges be according therunto for both body and soule be detters vnto god he redemed them both The woorde of God sayth vnto vs 1. Cor. 6. glorifye and beare God in your bodies If we be present at such idolatry as God forbiddeth and our own knowledge in conscience is assured to be euill do we glorifye God in our bodies No doutlesse we dishonour him and make our bodyes the seruauntes of idolatry not only to Gods dishonoure but also to the great daunger both of body and soule For this is a true saying of S. Augustine he that doth against his conscience buildeth to hell fyre It is not enough for a Christian man to say I know the masse is nought but to obey ciuill lawes and orders I wil do outwardly as other men do yet in my hart abhorre it neuer thinke it to be good Doutlesse these two mindes the spirite to thinke wel the body to do euil in this respect be both naught god wil spue that whole mā out of his mouth as he did the minister of the cōgregatiō of Laodicia Apo. 3. The 8. chap. the .10 of the fyrst to the Corinthians in thys matter in this time be places very
muche expedient to lead gouerne the iudgement of euery Christian mā where we may see that the Corinthians in dede had knowlege perceaued right well that neither the idoles amongest them neyther the meate dedicated vnto the idoles were any thing passed as light of both as of thinges of nothing vppon that knowledge vsed to be present and also to eate at the feast of the meate dedicated vnto Idoles Wherewithall Paule was so sore offended that he gaue this sentence if a man see thee which hast knowledge 1. Cor. 8 sit at table in the Idoles tēple shal not the conscience of him which is weake be boldened to eate those things which are sacrificed to Idoles and through thy knowledge shall the weake brother perish for whō Christ died Now when ye sinne so against the brethren and wound their weake conscience ye sinne against Christ This iudgement of Paul is more to be followed thē al our own fayned and wrested defences which would fayne seme to do wel whē we halt on both sides which god abhorreth Paule hath a profounde depe consideration of that mans fault that hath knowledge perceaueth his dissimulation to be daūgerous perilous to al persons which he dwelleth with al. First such as be of a right and stayed iudgement and will not prostrate their bodies to an Idole do condemne nedes must such dissimulation The very Idolaters themselues haue a defence of their abhomination by the presence of him that the Christiā congregatiō knoweth to haue knowledge The weaker sort that would gladly take the best way by a dissemblers halting playing of both handes embraceth both in body and in soule the euil that he abhorreth in hys hart and though he haue knowledge yet with his presence he estemeth it as other do which haue no knowledge If S Paule sayd that the weake brother doth perish for whō Christ died by him that abused knowledge in meates and drinkes that of themselues be indifferent how muche more by the knowledge of him that vseth manifeste Idolatry forbidden of God as a thing not indifferent Take hede what s Paule meaneth and what he would proue against this man which had knowledge that neither the Idoles neither the meates dedicated to Idoles were any thing Forsooth this would he proue that a poore man that wanteth knowledge by the example of him that hath knowledge doth there aduenture to do euil which he would not do in case he sawe not those that he hath good opinion of to go before him as authors of the euill And in dede the ignoraunte people or those that be halfe perswaded in a truth yea or els throughly perswaded what is euill when they haue any notable men or women for an example to follow they thinke in following of them they be excused yea although peraduenture they do it against their consciences as ye may see how many good men by the example of Peter began to dissemble yea Barnabas hymselfe the Apostle of the Gentiles Gala. 2 But how great offence this is before god so to make a doubtful cōscience or striuig against knowledge to do any thing that is not godly let the iudgement of men passe and measure it from gods word Christ sayth Math. 18 it were better a milstone were hanged about such an offenders necke cast into the sea And doutlesse the payne must be the greater bycause we geue offence willingly and agaynst our owne consciences and thys before God is a wicked knowledge that causeth an other to perishe Woe be vnto hym that is learned to bring his brother to destruction Doth a Christian man know the truth to bring his brother to a lye For those weaklinges that we make to stomble Christ died as S. Paul sayth God defend we should confyrme any mans conseience in euil Let euery mā of god waye with himselfe the doctrine of S. Paul that cōmaundeth vs to flye Idolatrye 1. Cor. 10 And marke what s Paul in that place calleth Idolatrye It is to be sene plainly that he speaketh not of such idolatry as men that lacke knowledge in their hartes what god is and what god is not do commit For in the .8 chapter before he sayth that men knowe that the idoles were no gods and that although by name the gentiles had many gods yet they knew that there was but one god Therfore he meaneth nothing by this cōmaūdement fly idolatry but to auoyd such rites ceremonies and vsages as outwardly wer vsed in the honour reuerēce of the idoles that wer no gods and waying the right vse of the Lords supper and the dignitie therof with the manner and vse of the Gentiles towards their gods he would bring the church of the Corrinthians to vnderstand how that as the diuine and sacrate rites ceremonies and vse of the sacrament of Christes body and blood did sanctifye him and declare hym that vsed it to be the seruaunt and child of God so dyd the rites sacramentes of the Gentiles defile the vsers therof and declared them to be the seruauntes and children of the idole notwithstanding that they knew in their harts the idole was nothing God by his sacrament doth couple vs vnto him let vs pray therfore to him that we pollute not our selues with any rites ceremonies or vsages not instituted by god and so diuide our selues from him In this cause if a faithful man should be at the masse it is to be considered with what mind those that he doth there accompany himselfe withal do come thyther and what the ende is of the worke that the priest doth The people come to honour the bread and wine for god and the priest purposeth to consecrate bothe god and man and so to offer Christe to the father for remission of sinne Nowe do they that adioyne them selues vnto those people professe and declare a societie and fellowship of the same impietye as s Paul layd to the Corrinthians charge S. Paule was not offēded with the Corinthians bicause they lacked knowledge of the true God but bicause contrary to their knowledge they associated thē selues with idolaters For this is true that in al rites sacraments honorings whether they be of god or of the deuil there is a professiō of a communion so that euery man protesteth to be of the same religiō that the rest be of that be pertakers with him I know there be many euasions made by men that iudge a mā may with sauegard of conscience be at the masse But forasmuch as M Caluine M. Bullynger and other haue throughlye aunsweared them suche as be in doubte maye reade theyr bookes This is my cōscience after Gods woorde Iohn Hoper ¶ An epistle of the famous learned man M. Henry Bullinger written to M. Hoper in the tyme of hys trouble which for the worthines of the matter we thought not impartinent here to place emonges hys letters Reuerendissimo VVigorniae Glocestriae Episcopo D. Ioanni
know not sayde my Lorde that is a good question for I am sure that booke stoppeth all their mouthes Then said I my Lorde I thynke manye thinges be farre wyde from the truth of Gods word in that booke Then my lord sayd thou art a very varlet To that I aunswered that is as yll as Racha or Fatue Then my Lord sayd thou art an ignoraunt betyll browe To that I aunswered I haue redde ouer and ouer agayne the holye Scriptures and Saint Austines workes throughe and Saynct Cyprian Eusebius Origene Gregory Nazianzen with dyuers other bookes through oute therfore I thanke God I am not vtterly ignorauÌ„t Besides these my lord I professed the Ciuil lawe as your Lordship dyd and I haue redde ouer the Cannon law also Then my lorde sayd with a corrupte iudgemente thou readest all things Touchyng my profession it is Diuinitie in whiche I haue written diuers bookes Then I saide my Lorde ye dyd wryte one booke De vera obedientia I would you had bene constant in that for in deede you neuer did declare a good conscieÌ„ce that I heard of but in that one booke Then my Lord said tut tut tut I wrote against Bucer in priestes mariages but such bookes please not such wretches as thou art which hast bene maried many yeres To that I answered I am maried in dede I haue had .ix chidreÌ„ in holy matrimony I thanke god this I am sure of that your procedings now at this present in this realme against priestes mariages is the mainteinauÌ„ce of the doctryne of deuils against natural law Ciuil law CanoÌ„ law generall CouÌ„cels CanoÌ„s of the apostles auÌ„cieÌ„t doctors gods lawes TheÌ„ spake my lord of Duresme saying you professed the Ciuil lawe as you saye then you knowe that Iustinian writeth that priestes at their takyng of Orders shoulde sweare that they were neuer maried and he bryngeth in to proue that Canones Apostolorum To that I aunswered that I dyd not remember any suche lawe of Iustinian but I am sure that Iustinian writeth in Titulo de indicta viduitate in cod that if one would bequeath to his wife in his testament alâ—egacie vnder a condition that she should neuer marye agayne and take an othe of her for the accomplyshyng of the same yet she shall marye againe if he dye notwithstandyng the aforesayd condition and othe taken and made agaynst mariage and an othe is an other manner of obligation to God then is a papisticall vowe Moreouer in the Pandectes it is contayned that if a man doe manumit his handmayd vnder a condition that she shall neuer marye yet she maye mary her Patrone shal loose ius patronatus for his adding of the vnnatural vnlawful conditioÌ„ against matrimony Then my Lorde Chauncelour saide thou sayest that priestes maye be maryed by gods lawe howe prouest thou that I aunswered by the playne wordes and sentences of S. Paule bothe to Timothy and to Titus where S. Paule doth speake most euidently of the mariage of priestes Deacons and bishops And S. Chrysostome writing vpon the Epistle to Timothy saithe it is an heresy to say that a Bishop may not be maried Then my lorde Chauncellour said thou lyest of Chrisostome but thou doest as all thy companions do belye euer without al shame both the scriptures the doctors Diddest thou not also saye that by the Cannon law priestes may be maried which is most vntrue and the contrary is most true I answered we reade in the decrees that the fower generall counsels Nicene Constantinopolitane Ephesme and Calcedon haue the same autoritye that the foure Euangelistes haue And we reade in the same decrees which is one of the chiefe bookes of the Canon lawe that the Councell of Nice by the meanes of one Paphnutius dyd allowe Priestes and bishops mariages therefore by the best part of the Canon law priestes may be maryed Then my Lorde Chauncellor said thou falsifiest the generall councel for there is expresse mention in the said decree that priests should be diuorced from their wyues which be maried TheÌ„ sayd I if those words be there as you say theÌ„ am I content to lose thys great head of myne let the booke be fetched Then sayd my lord of Duresme thoughe they bee not there yet they may be in Ecclesiastica historia which Eusebius wrote out of which boke the decree was takeÌ„ Then sayd I it is not like that the pope would leaue out any such sentence hauing such authoritie making so much for hys purpose Then my lord Chauncelor sayd Gracian was but a patcher and thou art glad to snatch vp such a patch as maketh for thy purpose I aunswered my Lord I can not but maruaile that you do cal one of the chiefe papistes that euer was but a patcher Then my lord Chauncelor sayd Nay I call thee a snatcher a patcher To make an end wilte thou not returne againe with vs to the Catholike church and with that he rose And I said By gods grace I wil neuer depart froÌ„ Christes church Then I required that I might haue some of my frendes to come to me in prison And my lord ChauÌ„celor sayd thou shalt haue iudgemeÌ„t within this weke My lord of Durreme would that I should beleue as my father and my mother I alledged S. Augustine that we oughte to preferre gods word before al men And so I was deliuered againe vnto my keper R. T. The copy of a writing that D. Taylour sent to a frende of hys concerning the causes vvherfore he vvas condemned IT is heresie to defend any doctrine against the holy scripture therfore the Lord Chauncelor and byshops consenting to his sentence against me be heretikes for they haue geueÌ„ sentence against the mariage of priests knowing that S. Paule to Timothe and Titus writeth playnly that Byshops priestes and Deacons may be maried knowing also that by S. Paules doctrine it is the doctrine of deuilles to inhibite matrimony and S. Paule willeth euery faythfull minister to teach the people so least they be deceaued by the marked marchauntes 1. Tim. 4. These bishops are not ignorant that it is not only S. Paules counsel and lawful but gods coÌ„maundemeÌ„t also to marry for such as can not other wise liue chast neither auoyde fornicatioÌ„ 1. Cor. 7 Gene. 2. They know that such as do marry do not sinne They know that god before sinne was ordained matrimony and the in paradise betwene two of his principal creatures MaÌ„ Woman They know what spirite they haue whiche say it is euil to marrye seing God sayd Gene. 2. it is not good for maÌ„ to be alone without a wife hauing no speciall gift contrary to the generall coÌ„maundement and ordinaunce diuerse times repeted in the booke of Genesis Gene. 1. which is to encrease multiply They know that Abraham caried into the land of Chanaan his old yet barraine wife the vertuous womaÌ„ Sara with him Gene. 12. leauing father mother
countrey being otherwise at gods cōmaundement For though father and mother and other frendes are deare and nere yet none are so derely and nerely ioyned together Ephe. 5. Heb. 13. as mā and wife in matrimony which must nedes be holy for that it is a fygure and similitude of Christ hys church They know that S. Paule geueth a great prayse to matrimony calling it honourable and that not to among many but to and among al men without exception whosoeuer haue nede of that Gods remedy for mans and womās infirmitie They know that if there were any sinne in matrimony it were chiefly to be thought to be in the bedcompanye but S. Paule sayth that the bed company is vndefyled Gene. 18. Exod. 18. Genes 25. Gene. 31. 2. Reg. 7. Math 1. They know that the hauing of a wife was not an impediment for Abraham Moyses Isaac Iacob Dauid c. to talke with God neither to the Leuites bishops priestes office in the tyme of the olde Testamente or the newe They know that Christ would not be conceaued or borne of the blessed mother the Virgine Mary before she was espoused in mariage his own ordinance They know by S. Ciprian and S. Austine that a vowe is not an impediment sufficient to let matrimony or to diuorce the same They knowe that S. Chrisostome sayth it is heresie to affyrme that a Byshop may not haue a wife They know that S. Ambrose wil haue no cōmaundement but counsell only to be geuen touchyng the obseruing of virginitie They know that Christ with his blessed mother and Apostles were at a mariage Iohn 2. beautifyed honoured the same with his presence and fyrst miracle To be short they know that al that I haue here written touching the mariage of priestes is true and they know that the papistes thēselues do not obserue touching that matter theyr own lawes canons and yet they continue marked in consciēce with an hote iron as detestable heretikes in this behalf The lord geue thē grace to repēt if it be his good wil Amē My second cause why I was cōdemned as an heretike is that I denied the transubstantiation concomitation two iugling words of the papistes by the which they do beleue and wil cōpel al other to beleue that Christs natural body is made of bread that the godheade by by is ioyned therunto so that immediatly after the words called the wordes of consecration there is no more bread and wine in the sacramēt but the substance only of the body and bloud of Christ together with his godhead so that the same being now Christ both god man ought to be worshipped with godly honour to be offred to god both for the quicke and the dead as a sacrifice propitiatory and satisfactory for the same This matter was not long debated in words but bycause I denyed the foresaid papistical doctrine yea rather plainly most wicked Idolatry blasphemy and heresye I was iudged an heretike I dyd also affyrme the pope to be Antichrist poperye Antichristianitie and I cōfessed the doctrine of the Bible to be a sufficiēt doctrine touching al singular matters of Christian religion and of saluation I also alledged that the othe against the Supremacy of the byshop of Rome was a lawful othe and so was the othe made by vs all touchyng the kings or Queenes preeminence For Chrisostome saieth that Apostles Euangelistes and all men in euery Realme were euer ought to be euer touching both body goods in subiectiō to the Kingly authority who hath the sweard in his hand as gods principall officer gouernour in euery Realme I desired the Bishops to repent for bringing the Realme frō Christ to Antichrist frō light to darkenes from verity to vanitie Thus you know a sūme of my last examination condemnation Pray for me I wil pray for you God be praysed since my condemnation I was neuer affraid to die Gods wil be done If I shrinke frō gods truth I am sure of an other māner of death thē had iudge Hales But God be praysed euen frō the bottome of my heart I am vnmoueably setled vpō the rocke nothing douting but that my dere god wil performe and finish the worke that he hath begon in me other To him be al honour both nowe and euer through Christ our only whole Sauiour Amen R. T. A letter which he sent to his wife and children and other of his frends in Hadley as his farewel and last testament I Say to my wife to my children the Lord gaue you vnto me the Lord hath taken me from you and you frō me blessed be the name of the Lord. I beleue that they are blessed which die in the Lord. Apoc. i4 Luke 12. God careth for sparowes and for the heares of our heades I haue euer found him more faythfull and fauourable then any father or husband Trust ye therfore in him by the meanes of our deare Sauiour Christes merites beleue loue feare and obey him pray to him for he hath promised to helpe Count me not dead for I shal certainly liue and neuer die I go before ye shall followe after to our long home I go to the rest of my childrē Susan George Ellē Robert and Zacharie I haue bequethed you to the only omnipotent I say to you my deare frēds of Hadley to al other which haue heard me preach that I depart hence with a quiet conscience as touching my doctrine for the which I pray you thanke god with me for I haue after my litle talent declared to other those lessons that I gathered out of gods boke the blessed Bible Therfore if I or any Angel from heauen should preach to you any other gospel Gala. 1 then that ye haue receaued Gods great curse vpon that preacher Beware for Gods sake that ye denie not God neither decline from the word of fayth least god decline from you and so ye do euerlastingly perish For gods sake beware of popery for though it appeare to haue in it vnitie yet the same is in vanity and Antichristianitie and not in Christes fayth and veritie Beware of the sinne against the holy ghost now after such a light opened so playnly and simply truly throughly and generally to al England The Lord graunt all men his good holy spirit encrease of his wisedome encrease of contempning the wicked worlde encrease of desiring hartely to bee with God and the heauenly company through Iesus Christ our only mediatour aduocate ryghteousnesse lyfe sanctification and hope Amen Amen Pray Pray ¶ Rowland Taylour departing hence in sure hope without all doubting of eternal saluation I thanke god my heauenly father through Iesus Christ my certayne sauiour Amen 5. Februarye Anno. 1555. ⧠Letters of Maister Laurence Saunders parson of Alhollowes in Bredstrete in London who after faythfull testimonye of hys doctrine by long imprisonment was condemned to the fyre
and at Couentrie by gods prouidence no doubt to confirme that he had in that countrey also fruitfully taught suffred with most valiant and chereful courage as ye may read in the boke of marters Fol. 1048. The .8 day of Febr. In the yere of our Lord. 1555. ¶ To my most deare and reuerend fathers in Christ D. Cranmer D. Rydley and D. Latimer prisoners in Oxforde IN my most humble wyse I salute you moste reuerend Fathers in Christ Iesus our Lord. Immortall thankes euerlasting prayses be geuē vnto that our father of mercies Collo 1. which hath made vs mete to be pertakers of the inheritaunce of saintes in light which hath deliuered vs from the power of darkenes and hath translated vs into the kingdome of his beloued sonne by whom we haue redemption through his bloud c. Oh most happie estate Collo 3. that in an vnspeakeable wise our life is hid with Christ in God but whensoeuer Christ which is our life shall shewe hymselfe then shall we also appeare with him in glory 1. Cor. i3 2. Cor. 5. In the meane seasō as our sight is but in a glasse euē in a darke speaking so we walke in fayth not after outwarde appearaunce The which fayth although for want of outward appearaunce reason reputeth but as vaine yet the chosen of God do know the effect therof to bring a more substantiall cast liuely fruition of very felicitie and perfect blessednes then reasō can reache or senses conceaue By this fayth we haue in our professiō all good things yea euen those which the eye hath not sene the eare hath not heard 1. Cor. 2. neyther haue entred into the hart of man c. Then if hereby we do enioy al good things it followeth that we must nedes possesse haue and inioy you most reuerend fathers who be no small part of our ioy good things geuen vs of God We heretofore haue had the fruitiō of you by bodily presence to our inexplicable benefite praysed be that our gracious God therfore and now in spirit we haue the experience of vnspeakeable cōfort by your reuerend fatherhodes Math. 5. for that in this so glorious sort ye become a towne set vpon a hill a candle vpon a Candlesticke 1. Cor. 4. Phi. 1. a spectacle vnto the world to the Angels and vnto men So that as we to our great comfort do fele ye also maye assuredly say with S. Paule that the thyngs which happē vnto vs do chaūce vnto the great furtherance of the Gospel so that our bondes in Christ are manifest not only throughout al the iudgement hal but in all whole Europa in so much that many of the brethren in the Lord being encouraged through our bondes dare more boldlye speake the woord without feare And herein as you haue with S. Paule greatly to reioyce so we do reioyce with you we do in dede with you geue thankes for this excellent worthy fauour of our God towards you that Christ is thus magnifyed in you yea and hereafter shal be magnifyed in your bodyes whether it be through life or death Of whiche thing truely we are assured in our prayers for you and ministring of the spirite And although for your owne partes Christ is vnto you life and death aduantage and that your desire is as in dede it were better for you to be loosed Phil. 1. and to be with Christ yet for the church of Christ were it muche more necessary that ye should abide in the flesh Yea that merciful god euen for his Christs sake graūt that ye may abide continue for the furtheraunce of the churche reioysyng of fayth that the reioycing thereof may be the more aboundaūt through Iesus Christ by your restoring again Amen Amen But if it seme better otherwise vnto the diuine wisedome that by spedy death he hath appoynted you to gloryfye him the Lordes wil be done Yea euen as we do reioyce both on your behalfes also on our own that god is magnifyed by lyfe should be more aboundauntlye glad for the continuaunce therof so we shall no lesse reioyce to haue the same wrought by death We shall geue thankes for thys honour geuē vnto you phi 1. reioycing that ye are accompted worthy to suffer for the name of Christ that it is geuen to you of god not only that ye should beleue in him but also that ye should suffer for his sake And herein we shal haue to reioyce in the be halfe of the church of Christ whose fayth may be the faster fixed vpō gods veritie being cōfyrmed with three such worthy witnesses Oh thanks be to god for thys hys vnspeakeable gift And now moste reuerend fathers that ye may vnderstande the truth of vs and oure estate how we stand in the Lorde I doe assure your reuerences partlye by that I perceaue by suche of oure brethren as bee here in bondes with me partly by that I heare of them which be in other places and partly by that inward experience which I most vnworthy wretch haue of Gods good comfort more abundaunce wherof I know there is in others ye may be assured I say by gods grace that ye shall not bee frustrate of your hope of our cōstant continuaunce in the chereful confession of Gods euerlasting veritie Ephe. i. For euen as we haue receaued the word of truth euen the Gospell of our saluation wherin we beleuing are sealed with the holy spirite of promyse which is the earnest of our enheritaunce Rom. 8 the whiche spirite certifyeth our spirit that we are the children of God and therefore God hath sent the spirite of his Sonne into oure heartes crying Abba father Gal. 4. so after suche portion as God measureth vnto vs we with the whole churche of Christ and with you reuerend Fathers receauing the same spirit of fayth according as it is written I beleued therefore I haue spoken we also beleue and therfore speake 2. Cor. 4. Psa 116. For the which we in this daungerous bondage and other afflictions hauing euen such a fyght as we haue sene in you and haue heard of you phil 1. we are in no wyse affrayde of our aduersaryes And forasmuch as we haue such an offyce euen as God hath had mercy on vs we go not out of kinde but euē with you after our litle power we labour to mainteyne the faith of the gospel knowing most certainly 2. Cor. 4. that though we haue this treasure in earthē vessels that the excellency of the power might be gods not ours yet shal we not be dashed in peeces for the lord wil put his hād vnder vs. When we are troubled on euery side yet are we not wtout shift when we are in pouerty we are not vtterly without somthing when we suffer persecution we are not forsaken therin when we are cast down yet we shal not perish but to communicate with
and that with whole purpose of harte to cleaue vnto the Lord to fynde such ryches in hys heauenly worde through hys spirite obtayned by prayer My deare frendes and brethren Maister Harrington and Maister Hurlande Praye pray Math. 26. Spiritus quidem promptus est caro autem infirma When I loke vpon my self quid ego stupidus attonitus habeo quod dicam Luke 5. Psa 119. nisi illud Petri exi a me domine quia homo peccator sum But then fele I that swete comfort lucerna pedibus meis verbum domini lumen semitis meis hec mea est consolatio in humilitate mea Iohn 6. Then waxe I bolde with the same Peter to say domine ad quem ibimus verba vitae eternae habes Thys comfort haue I when the geuer therof doth geue it But I loke for battailes which the rote of vnfaithfulnes the which I feele in me will moste egerlye geue vnto my conscience when we come once to the combate We be I weene within the sounde of the trompe of oure enemyes playe ye that be abroade the part of Moyses orantes in omni loco sustollentes puras manus Gods people shal preuayle yea oure bloode shal be their perdition who doth most triumphantly spil it and we thē being in the handes of our god Sapien. 5. shal shine in his kingdome shal stand in greate stedfastnes agaynste them which haue dealt extremely with vs. And whē these our enemyes shal thus see vs they shal be vexed with horrible feare shal wonder at the hastines of the sodayne health and shal say with thēselues hauing inwarde sorrow mourning for very anguish of mind these are they whō we sometime had in derisiō iested vpon we fooles thought their liues to be very madnesse and theyr end to be without honour but loe how they are accompted among the children of God The blessyng of God be with you al. Salute I pray you my sister B. S. with other our frendes in the same house gods grace keepe thē with al the reast of our godly acquaintance louers of the truth furtherers of the true confession of the same whō al I bid most hartely to be mery in the lord reioycing in hope preparing them selues to be pacient in tribulation with cōtinuaunce in prayer Let some bodye bye for me a pensill of lead to write with al for I shal hardly haue pen and Inke here sith al libertye of writyng is taken away from vs. L. S. An other letter to hys wyfe and to Maister Harrington and Maister Hurland GRace and comfort c. Wyfe you shal do best not to come oftē vnto the grate where the porter may see you Put not your self in daunger where it nedes not you shal I thinke shortly come farre enough into daunger by keping fayth and a good conscience which deare wife I trust you do not slacke to make rekoning accompt vpon by exercising your inward man in meditation of Gods most holy woorde being the sustenaunce of the soule and also by geuing your selfe to humble prayer for these two things be the very meanes how to bee made mēbers of our Christ mete to inherite his kyngdome Do thys deare wife in earnest not leauing of and so we two shal with our Christ and all his chosen children enioy the mery world in the euerlasting immortalitie where as here wil nothing els be found but extreme misery euē of thē which most greedely seke thys worldly wealth and so if we two continue Gods children graffed in our Christ the same Gods blessing which we receaue shal also settle vpon our Samuell Though we do shortly depart hence and leaue the poore Infant to our seeming at al aduentures yet shal he haue our gracious God to be hys God for so hath he sayd and he can not lye I will be thy God sayeth he and the God of thy sede Yea if you leaue him in the wild wildernes destitute of all helpe being called of God to do hys wyll eyther to dye for the confession of Christ eyther any worke of obedyence that God whiche heard the crye of the litle poore infante of Agar Saraes handmaiden and dyd succour it wil doe the like to the chylde of you or any other fearyng hym and putting your truste in hym And if we lacke fayth as we doe indeede many tymes let vs call for it and we shall haue the encrease both of it and also of any other good grace nedefull for vs and bee merye in GOD in whom also I am very merye and ioyfull O Lorde what greate cause of reioysyng haue we to thynke vppon that Kingdome which he voucheth safe for hys Christes sake frelye to geue vs forsakyng oure selues and following hym Deare wyfe thys is truely to followe hym euen to take vp our crosse and follow hym and then as we suffer with hym so shall we reygne with hym euerlastingly Amen Shortly shortly Amen My deare frendes Maister Harrington and Maister Hurland Praye praye and bee merye in God and I beseche you as you maye let the good brethren abroade be put in mynde of oure deare tryed brethren and sisters who haue the Lorde be praysed made knowen theyr constancye in confessyng the truth to the glorye of GOD and comforte I doubt not of hys Churche abroade Thus haue they sowen spirituall thynges confessing Christ I trust they wil not be forgetfull that they may reape of them whiche are of habilitie and at libertye theyr carnall thynges Hereof I speake now bycause of my tender desyre towardes these deare brethren here now in bondes and in other places and also for that I doubte whether I maye haue wherewith to write hereafter The keper sayeth he muste needes see that we write not at al. The deuil roreth but be of good cheare he will shortly be troden vnder foote and the rather by the bloude of Martyrs Salute in my most hartye manner good Maisters Harrington and my good Ladye F. I am theyrs as longe as I lyue and praye for them desyre them to do likewyse for me and for al vs shepe appointed to the slaughter A prisoner in the Lorde Laurence Saunders An aunsweare to a frende of hys who sent to knowe what Doctor VVeston dyd at the Marshalse MAister Weston came to conferre with M. Grymbold what he hath with hym concluded I know not pray that it maye bee to Gods glory Amen Maister Weston of his gentlenes visited me offred me frendship in hys worldlye wilye sort c. I had not so much maner to take it at his hāds saying that I was well enough and ready chearefully to abide the extremitie to kepe therby a good consciēce You be a slepe in synne sayd he I would awake qoth I do not forget vigilate orate what church was there qoth he .xxx yeres past What church was there in Helias time quoth I c. Ioane of Rente quoth he was of
their pastour who though he be vnworthy of suche a ministery yet Christ theyr high pastour is to be regarded whose truth hath bene taught them by me is witnessed by my chaines and by hys power shal be by my death also Be not carefull good wyfe cast your care on the Lord and commend me vnto hym in repentaunt prayer as I do you and oure Samuell whom euen at the stake I wyl offer as my selfe vnto God Fare ye well all in Christ in hope to be ioyned wyth you in ioy euerlastyng This hope is layed vp in my bosome Amen Amen pray pray Out of the Counter in Breadstreate L. Saunders To hys VVyfe and other of hys frendes GRace and comforte in Christ Amen Deare wyfe be mery in the mercies of our Christe ye also my deare frendes Pray pray for vs euery body We be shortly to bee dispatched hence vnto oure good Christ Amen Amen Wyfe I would you sent me my shirte which you know wherunto it is consecrated Let it be sowed downe on both the sydes and not open Oh my heauenly father looke vpon me in the face of thy Christ or els I shal not be hable to abide thy countenance such is my fylthines He wyll doe so and therefore I wyll not be afrayde what sinne death hel and damnation can do agaynst me O wife alwayes remember the Lorde God blesse you yea he wyll blesse thee good wyfe and thy poore boy also onelye cleaue thou vnto hym and he wyll geue thee all thinges Praye praye praye ¶ To mayster Robert Glouer and Iohn Glouer two worthy brethren as in the fleshe so in the Lorde the one afterward a Martyr the other a faythfull confessour MY dearly beloued and mine own hartes in the lord M. Glouers with al yours and the rest which with you vnfaynedly feare god comfort your selues in his swere Christ I besech you be thankeful vnto that merciful Lorde alwaies for his vnspeakeable goodnes among other for me hys most vnworthy minister I thanke my God Christ I was neuer better acquainted with him in al my life and I perceaue he is no lesse louing then his woorde warranteth him to bee Be thankefull I say and pray pray multum valet deprecatio iusti I was at this presente muche occupied elles I would haue enlarged in some matter needefull c. The deuill roreth bicause he can not haue hys foule will he must bee at lengthe I weene eased by the bloode of Gods Saints and yet that shall bee his bane bee he sure and that shortely by gods goodnes Be mery feare not litle flocke saieth our swete comforter Luki 12. for it pleaseth your father to prouyde a kingdome for you Etiam Amen Veni domine Iesu veni cito The heauenly blessing of god be with you all In the Marshalse 28. Octob. 1553. A prisoner of the Lorde the Lordes name be blessed foreuer Laurence Saunders An other letter to M. Glouers written the same morning that he was burnte GRace and consolation in our swete sauiour Christ Oh my deare brethren whom I loue in the Lord being loued of you also in the Lorde be merye and reioyce for me nowe ready to goe vp to that myne inheritaunce which I my self in dede am most vnworthy of but my deare Christ is worthy who hath purchased the same for me with so deare a price Make haste my deare brethren to come vnto me that we may be mery eo gaudio quod nemo tollet a nobis Oh wretched sinner that I am not thankful vnto thys my Father who hath vouched me worthye to bee a vessell vnto hys honoure But O Lorde nowe accepte my thankes though they proceede out of a not enough circumcised hart Salute my good sisters your wiues and good sisters feare the Lorde Salute all other that loue vs in the truth Gods blessing be with you alwaies Amen Euē now towardes the offeryng of a burnte sacrifice Oh my Christe helpe or elles I peryshe Laurence Saunders A letter written to a certayne backeslyder from the truth of Gods woorde whiche he had both professed and taught the whiche bicause it is thought of some albeit not certaynly knowen to be written by M. Saunders we haue here annexed vnto hys letters IN mine own name and in the name of manye other your old familiars and acquaintance I do write vnto you in heuines of hart for that we haue heard of your fal Oh how much better had it beene for you neuer to haue set your hand to the plough then negligently to looke backe yea and folishly to follow that plough that tilleth not gods fielde but turneth vp the rootes of that seede which in times past you your self haue sowē Alas how folish a builder were you that woulde enterpryse to builde vppon the rocke Christ seing in your selfe not onely the lacke of those thinges which be requyred to the finishyng of that worke but also the lacke of a will to haue them as appeareth by that that you goe aboute to ouerthrowe that little whiche you seemed to haue myghtely builded vppon that rocke Howe folyshe a virgine haue you declared your selfe to bee which haue gone forth to meete the bridegrome and taryed so long for hys comming not hauing oyle in stoore Math. 25. but are nowe driuen when you heare the voyce of the forerunner to seke at them that sell You bancketed with the children of the bridegrome so long as he was with vs but now he is gone you leaue vs alone to faste You were contented to be fedde at Christes hand with fyue thousand but whē he willeth you not to seeke the meate that perysheth you depart The children of Israell were muche to be blamed for that they desired to be in Egipt agayne and yet was their lacke and laboure then more in deserte then yours in London Alas wretched man what hath caused thee thus to caste awaye thy selfe once knowing the truth and to take in hande to be a minister in Antichristes Church Arte thou so sone wery of the heauenly Manna and so readye to returne to thy olde vomite agayne we thought thou haddest beene so cleane escaped through the woorde of grace that thou haddest bene a worthy man to be a comforte to them that stand a succour to the weake and an helpe to them that fall and art thou now roled in thy filthye pudle agayn and art become an helper to put other into the same Oh more then damnable doings the forgeuenes wherof farre passeth the hope of man And were it not that things impossible to man are possible with God we shoulde vtterly despayre of thy returne But knowing that with God there is no impossibilitie we wil not only aduertyse thee to remember frō whence thou arte fallen that thou mayest seeke to ryse agayne but we will also praye that he to whom thy returne is possible will vouchsafe of hys infinite mercyes to worke it in thee Thou haste with Iudas solde thy moste
my sister wyth Christ for euer Loke therfore that you continue a faithfull syster as you are called and are godlye entered not onely to me but to all the churche of Christe yea to Christ hymself who voucheth you in this your vnfained faith worthy to be his sister Consider this dygnitye to surmounte all the vayne dignitye of the worlde and let it accordynglye preuayle more wyth you then all earthely delyghtes for thereby you are called to an equall portion of the euerlastyng inheritaunce of Christe yf nowe in no wyfe you doe shewe your selfe an vnnaturall syster to hym in forsakyng hym in trouble whiche I trust you wyll neuer for no kynde of worldly respecte doe You are vnder daungerous temptations to bee turned from that naturall loue you owe vnto Christ and you shall be tryed with gods people through a sieue of greate affliction for so Sathan desyreth vs to be sifted Luke 22 that through feare of sharpe troubles we myght fall from the stablenes of our fayth and so be depryued of that honour ioy and rewarde which is prepared for suche as continue faythfull brothers and systers in the Lordes couenaunte to the ende Therefore the wyse man in the booke of Ecclesiasticus byddeth them that come to the seruice of the Lord to prepare them selues to suffer temptations Synce then that for the glory of God and oure fayth we are called nowe to abyde the bronte of them and that when our aduersarye hathe done all that he can yet we maye be stable and stande thys Christ oure fyrste begotten brother looketh for at oure handes and all our brethren and systers in heauen desyre to see our faythe throughe afflictions to be perfecte that we myghte fulfyll theyr number and the vniuersall churche here militaunte reioyseth at our constancye whome all by the contrarye we shoulde make sorye to the daunger of the losse bothe of bodye and soule Feare not therefore what so euer be threatned of the wycked worlde prepare your backe and see it bee readye to carye Christes crosse And yf you see any vntowardnes in you as the fleshe is continuallye repugnaunte to the wyll of GOD aske wyth faythfull prayer that the good spiryte of GOD maye leade youre synnefull fleshe whether it woulde not Iohn 21 for yf we wyll dwell in the flesh and follow the counsel thereof we shal neuer do the wyll of God neyther worke that tendeth to our saluation You are at thys present in the confynes and of Babilon where you are in daunger to drinke of the whores cup vnlesse you be vigilāt in prayer Take hede the serpent seduce you not from the symplicity of your fayth as he dyd our fyrst mother Eue. Let no worldly felowshippe make you pertaker of iniquitie He that toucheth tarre cannot but be defyled thereby and with such as be peruerse a man shall soone be peruerted with the holy you shall be holy Psa 15. Therfore say continually with the prophet Dauid vnto the sainctes which be on the earth all my will is on them You haue bene sanctifyed and made pure through the truth take hede you be not vnholied and defyled least the laste be worse then the first I write not this bicause I stande in any doubt of your syncere continuance of the which I haue had so good experience but because the dayes be euyl and in the same it is the duty of euery one of vs to exhorte another I am bold to put you my good sister in remēbraunce of that which doth not a litle cōfort me to remember in my troubles daily temptations Wherfore I doubt not you wil take that in good part which commeth from your brother both in spirit and bodye who tendreth your saluation as earnestlye as his owne that we might ioy together eternally with such ioye as the world shall neuer be able to take from vs. Thankes be vnto god you haue begunne to runne a good and greate tyme well in the waies of the lord runne out the race to the ende which you haue begunne and then shall you receyue the crowne of glory None shal be crowned but such as law fully stryueth 2. Tim. 2. Be not ouercome of euyl but ouercome tuill wyth good and the Lord shall make you one of those faythfull virgins that shall followe the Lambe wheresoeuer he goeth Apo. 4. the which Christ graunt both you and me Amen This was for the fyrst fruits of his Archdeaconry wherof al the tyme of his imprisonment he had no commodity and yet his sureties were compelled to pay the same Cōmend me to all thē that loue me in the Lord vnfaynedly God encrease our faith geue vs grace neuer to be ashamed of his gospel That same request which I haue made to my brother Thomas I make also to you desiring you by al meanes you can co accomplish my request that my sureties myghte be satiifyed wyth that is myne owne to the contentation of my mynde whyche cannot be quiet vntill they bee discharged therefore I pray you helpe to purchase quietnes that I myghte departe oute of this worlde in peace My dissolution I loke for daily but the Lord knoweth how vnworthye I am of so high an honour as to dye for the testimony of hys truth Pray that God would vouchsafe to make me worthy as he hath done of long imprisonmente for the which his name be praysed for euer Praye and looke for the comming of the Lord whose wrath is great ouer vs and I wil praye for you as long as I liue The .ix. of Iulye in the Kinges Benche Your owne louyng brother as well in Fayth as in bodye Iohn Philpot. To my deare frende and brother in the Lord. M. Robert Harrington GEntle maister Harrington I can not tel what condigne thankes I maye geue vnto God for you in respecte of that great gentlenes and payn which you haue takē for the relief of me of other our afflicted brethrē in Christ God be praysed for his mercy whose louing prouidēce we haue sene towards vs by such faythful stewards as you haue bene towards a great many Blessed be you of god for the louing care which you haue takē for his pore flocke God hath reserued your reward of thankes in heauē therfore I do not go about to render you any lest I might seme to iudge that you loked for that here which is reserued to a better place I thāke god for that I haue foūd by your faithful diligent industry god forgeue me my vnworthines of so great benefites god geue me grace to serue him faithfully to rūne out my race with ioy Glorious is the course of the martyrs of Christ at thys day Neuer had the elects of god a better time for their glory thē this is now may they be assured vnder the crosse that they are Christs disciples for euer Me thinke I see you desiring to be vnder the same the fleshe draweth backe Iohn
iourney to heauen warde found as ye nowe fynde are like to finde if ye goe on forwarde as I truste ye will yet ye haue your maister and your captaine Iesus Christ the dere derlyng and onelye begotten and beloued sonne of God in whom was al the fathers pleasure ioye and delectation ye haue hym to go before you no fayrer way but much fouler into this our city of Ierusalē I nede not I trust to reherse what maner of way he found Beginne at his birth and till ye come to his buriall ye shall finde that euerye foote and stryde of his iourney was no better but muche worse then yours now is Wherfore my derely beloued in the Lord be not so deinty as to loke for that at gods handes your dere father whiche the fathers Patriarckes Prophets Apostles Euangelists Martyrs Saincts and his own sonne Iesus Christ did not fynde Hetherto we haue had fayre way I trow and fayre weather also nowe bicause we haue loitered by the waye and not made the speede we should haue done our louyng lord and swete father hath ouercast the weather and styrred vp stormes and tempestes that we mighte wyth more hast rūne out our race before night come and the dores be sparred The deuil standeth now at euery Inne dore in hys city and countrey of this worlde cryeng vnto vs to tarye and lodge in thys or that place till the stormes be ouerpast not that he would not haue vs wette to the skinne but that the tyme might ouerpasse vs to our vtter destruction Therfore beware of his entisemēts cast not your eyes on things that be present phi 3. how this man doth and how that man doth but caste your eies on the gleue ye runne at or els ye wil loose the game Ye know that he which rūneth at the gleue doth not looke on other that stande by and goe thys waye or that waye but altogether he looketh on the gleue and on them that runne wyth hym that those whiche bee behinde ouertake him not and that he maye ouertake them which be before euen so should we do leaue of lookyng on those which will not runne the race to heauens blisse by the pathe of persecution with vs and cast our eyes on the ende of our race and on them that goe before vs that we maye ouertake them and on them whiche come after vs that we may prouoke them to come the faster after He that shooteth will not cast his eies in his shooting on them that stād by or ryde by the wayes I trowe but rather on the marke he shooteth at for els he were like to wynne the wrōg way Euen so my derely beloued let your eies be set on the marke ye shoote at euen Christe Iesus who for the ioye he set before hym dyd ioyfully cary his crosse contēning the shame and therfore he now sitteth on the right hande of the throne of god Let vs followe hym for this did he that we shoulde not be faynt harted For we may be most assured Hebr. 12 Rom. 8 2. Tim. 3 Math. 12 that if we suffer with him we shall vndoubtedlye raigne with hym but if we denye hym surely he will denye vs for he that is ashamed of me sayeth Christ and of my gospel in this faithles generation I will bee ashamed of hym before the Aungels of God in heauen Oh how heauye a sentence is this to al such as know the Masse to be an abhominable idol ful of idolatry blasphemy sacrilege against god and his Christe as vndoubtedly it is and yet for feare of men for losse of lyfe or goodes yea some for aduantage and gayne wyl honest it with their presence dissemblyng both with God and man as their owne harte and conscience doth accuse them Better it were that such had neuer knowne the truthe then thus wittinglye and for the feare or fauour of man whose breath is in his nosethrelles Esay 2 2. Pet. 2 Heb. 6.10 to dissemble it or rather as in dede it is to deny it The ende of suche is like to bee worse then their beginning Suche had nede to take heede of the two terrible places to the Hebrewes in the vi and x. Chapters leaste by so doyng they fall therein Let them beware they play not wily beguile themselues as some doe I feare me which goe to Masse and because they worship not nor knele not nor knocke not as others doe but sit still in their pues therfore they thinke thei rather do good to others thē hurt But alas if these men would loke into their own consciences there should they se that they are very dissemblers and in seking to deceaue others for by this meanes the magistrates thynke them of their sorte they deceaue thēselues They thinke at the eleuation time al mens eies are set vpō thē to marke how they do They thynke others hearyng of such mē going to masse do see or enquyre of their behauiour there Oh if there were in those men that are so presente at the masse eyther loue to god or to theyr brethern thē would they for the one or both openly take gods parte and admonishe the people of their idolatry Math. 10 3. Reg. 8 Apoc. 3 they feare man more then him which hath power to cast both soule and body into hell fyre they halte on bothe knees they serue .ij. maisters God haue mercy vpon suche and open theyr eyes wyth hys eye salue that they may see that they whiche take not part with god are against God and that they which gather not wyth Chryste doe scatter abroade Oh that they woulde reade what Saincte Iohn sayeth wyll bee done to the fearefull Apoc. 21 Apo. 3. The counsell geuen to the churche of Laodicea is good coūsell for suche 2. Tim 1 Rom. 1 But to returne to you agayn derely beloued be no tye ashamed of gods gospel It is the power of god to saluatiō to al those that do beleue it Be therfore pertakers of the afflictions as God shall make you hable knowyng for certayne that he wyll neuer tempte you farther then he wyll make you able to beare 1. Cor. 10. phi 1. 1. pet 3. Math. 5 And thinke it no smal grace of god to suffer persecution for gods truth for the spiryte of god resteth vpon you and ye are happy as one day ye shall see Reade 2. Thess 1. and Hebr. 12. As the fyre hurteth not golde but maketh it fyner so shall ye bee more pure by suffering wyth Christ 1. Pet. 1. The flaile and wynde hurteth not the wheat but clenseth it from the chaste And ye dearely beloued are gods wheate feare not therfore the flayle feare not the fannyng wynde feare not the milstone feare not the ouen for all these make you more meete for the lordes owne toothe Sope though it be blacke soileth not the clothe but rather at the length maketh it more cleane so doth the blacke crosse helpe vs to more
then they would lose worldlye thinges as experieÌ„ce teacheth certeinly it should be muche to our shame which in Baptisme haue vowed and solempnely sworn to forsake the world if we dare not ieoperd a iointe wyth man rather then we woulde lose a good conscience and spirituall treasures He that will not haue gods blessyng it shall be taken from him sayeth Dauyd Therfore my derely beloued beware you are now the temple of the holy ghost defile it not for the lordes sake but kepe it pure not only from all vncleannes of the spirit but also of the flesh 2. Cor. 7. as I trust you wil and crye vppon your father for his strength and ayde which I beseche him of his mercy alwais to geue vnto you my own good frend euen as I desyre to my selfe If in any thyng I could helpe you you may be as assured thereof as of your brother My prayer to god nyght and day you shall haue that for his holy names sake he would blesse you in al thinges kepe you with my good syster your wyfe vnto the verye ende as hys deare elect children Amen Amen From my lodging you knowe where thys v. of August By your owne to vse in the Lorde for euer Iohn Bradford ¶ An other letter to Maister Humfrey Hales and his VVyfe THe euerliuing merciful god our deare father through Christ be with you both my most dearely and entierly beloued in the Lorde now and for euer I cannot forbeare but signify vnto you both that my hart is carefull and heauy for the crosse which is come vpon you by the heauy and feareful iudgement of god fallen vpon your father iustly for his denying of god for feare of men loue of these things which he hath left behind him vnto you others God graunt his fact be so imprinted in the hartes of al men especially of you both that his fall maye be vnto you I wil not say arising for yet I trust ye are not fallen but an establishing in the veritie of god whereof who so is ashamed shal at length feele such shame as I beseche God kepe vs all from Happy are they that marke the iudgemeÌ„ts of god vpon other to come and encrease in repentance Luke 13. to feare gods wrath and iudgements which is alwayes lyke hymsefe if we follow the steppes of them on whom he taketh punishment I nede not to tell you the cause of thys that hath happened vnto your father if it be as I with sorrow haue heard For you know wel enough that tyl he forsoke god gaue eare to the Serpents couÌ„sel began to mamber of the truth to frame hymselfe outwardly to doe that which his conscience reproued inwardly for that which he myngled with the loue of god I meane the loue of the world cannot be in any man without the expulsion of gods loue til then I say god did not departe and leaue him to himselfe to the example of you and me and al others that we should feare euen our selues and our owne handes more then man all the powers of the world yf we therfore should do any thing which should wouÌ„d our conscieÌ„ce The conscieÌ„ce I tel you is sone wouÌ„ded yea soner theÌ„ we beware of The deuil vseth al kind of desceite to blynd vs from seyng that whiche might wound it but when the stripe is geuen then eyther shutteth he stil vp our eies with contempt to our hardning or els openeth theÌ„ to bring vs to vtter dispairing In your father as ye may see the later so in many worldlye gospellers you maye if you will see the other God might deale with al such as he hath done now with your father but because the time of his iudgement is not yet come his wisedome hath thought good to set your father forth as an exaÌ„ple to al meÌ„ as he did in the first world Cain in the .2 worlde Cham in the .3 age Chore c. in christes tyme Iudas in the Apostels time Ananias c. althoughe none wil hartely coÌ„sider it but such as be gods children in dede But heare in comparyng your father thus my derelye and vnfaynedlye beloued in the Lorde I muste praye you not to bee offended or thynke that I doe deâ—ermynatelye iudge to God I leaue all iudgement but because the fruite to vs declareth no lesse to the admonishment of vs all I trust ye wyll accordyngly consider my collation For your partes as I thynke godly of you both that in dede ye are bothe the the children of god so I pray you comforte yourselues as Dauyd dyd though hys sonne Absolon perished so desperately and thoughe hys father in lawe Achitophell â–ª father to Bethsabe as the Hebrewes wryte peryshed so miserablye Ye knowe Ionathas was not the worse because hys father slew hymselfe nor Bethsabe because of her father Achitophel they bothe were the children of god and so I am assured as man can bee that ye are As they vsed gods iudgements vppon their parentes so doe ye to feare god and loue god the more to flye froÌ„ those things which in your father ye dyd see displeased God Oh that I were with you but one halfe houre not only with you to lament but also as god should lend me hys grace to comforte you who by thys iudgement doth tempt your patieÌ„ce faith to the coÌ„fort of you both as you shal find I am assured My dere hartes in the lord if I could by any meanes comforte you certainly if my lyfe lay on it I thynke you should forthwith perceiue it but because I can do no more then I can therefore as I can I do that is as to wryte so to send this messeÌ„ger my good frend and brother with the same to learne certainly the truth herein and the conditioÌ„ of your estate My other letter was made before I knewe of thys matter I pray god thys whych by reporte I vnderstande be otherwyse but gods good wyll bee done who geue vs patience and comforte in hym To whome I commende you bothe euen as hartelye as anye frendes I haue in thys life of your estate From my lodging you knowe where thys eight of August Anno Domini 1554. By your owne to vse in the Lorde for euer Iohn Bradford ¶ To certayne of hys faythfull frendes in God exhortyng them to bee ioyfull vnder the crosse as a token of gods synguler fauour towardes them GOd our deare and most merciful father through Christe be wyth you my good brother and Syster as wyth hys children for eÌ„uer and in all thynges so guide you wyth hys holy spirite the leader of his people as may be to his glory and your owne euerlasting ioye and comfort in him Amen Because I haue often tymes receyued from eyther of you comfort corporally for the which I besech the Lord as to make me thankefull so to recompence you both now and eternally I cannot but go about lord helpe hereto for thy mercies sake
losse of this life which in dede is neuer founde til it be so loste excepte the graine of wheate fal and be dead it remaineth fruitles You know how that he which was rapte into the third heauen did know what he wrote doth say that as the corne liueth not excepte it bee dead and cast into the earth so truly our bodyes And therefore the crosse should so litle feare vs that euen death it selfe shold altogether be desired of vs as the taylour which putteth of our ragges and arayeth vs with the royall robes of immortalitie incorruptioÌ„ and glory Great shame it should be for vs that al the whole creatures of God should desire yea grone in their kinde for our libertie Rom. 8. we our selues to loth it as doubtles we do if for the crosse yea for death it self we with ioye swallow not vp all sorrow that myght let vs from followyng the Lordes calling and obeying the lords prouidence wherby doubtles all crosses and death it selfe doth come and not by hap or chauÌ„ce In consideratioÌ„ wherof righte deare Mother in that this prouidence stretcheth it self so vnto vs and for vs that euen the heares of our heads are numbred with GOD not one of them to fall to oure hurt surely we declare our selues very faint in faith yf we receiue not such comfort that we can willinglye offer oure selues to the Lord and cast our whole care vpon his backe honouring him wyth this honour that he is euer wyll be carefull for vs and all we haue as for hys deare chyldren Be therfore of good chere euen in the myddest of these miseries be thankefull to the Lorde and prepare your selfe for a further trial which if god send you as I hope so do you beleue that god therin will helpe and comfort you and make you able to beare whatsoeuer shall happen And thus much hauyng this oportunitie I thoughte good to wryte praying god our father to recompence into your bosome all the good that euer you haue done to me especially and to many others bothe in this tyme of trouble and alwaies heretofore Your owne in the Lorde Iohn Bradford To Maystres VVylkinson THe Lorde of mercye in Christe his sonne our Sauiour and only comforter be with you all now and for euer Amen Although preseÌ„tly I haue litle tyme by reason of this bringers short departing lesse occasioÌ„ of necessary mater to write vnto you yet in that it hath pleased god to offer me more liberty to write theÌ„ before I had as this reader can report I thought good to signifye vnto you the same with the acknowledging of the receipt of your tokens for the which I neither can nor wil go about to flatter you with thankes in that I know you loke for none at myne hands god beyng the cause and his word the ende wherfore you dyd so to him I know you woulde haue me thankefull and I beseche you praye that I may so bee and not onelye thankefull for my selfe and his benefites towardes me but also thankefull for you to whome God hath geuen to feare his name and loue his truth The which giftes farre passe the riches of the world for they shal perish and be left we know not vnto whoÌ„ but these gifts of god as they last for euer so they make happy the possessours of the same Go to therfore and pray god to encrease them of hys goodnes as of his mercy he hath beguÌ„ne theÌ„ in you in dede so he wyll For to whome he geueth the earnest of wyllyng to the same he will geue the grace of continuyng yf we reiect not the same as we do when we bee double harred â—4 Reg. 17. and parte our feare and loue as dyd the Samaritanes which feared god and their Adramelech loued gods religion and their olde countrey customes c. If this doublenes come on vs that we feare more the worlde and couple it wyth the feare of God yf we loue the mucke of this molde and couple it wyth the loue of Gods religion then parte we stake then marre we the markette then the spiryte of GOD wyll departe Act. 5. then playe we as Ananias and Saphyra dydde and so sooner or later shall fall to perdition wyth them But as I sayde I thynke no suche thynge of you I thynke of you as of Gods deare chyldren whose hartes are whole wyth the Lorde And therefore I wryte not thys as thoughe you were suche but because it is Gods goodnes you bee not suche because Sathan woulde haue you suche and because manye that were as you nowe bee are suche Therefore to make you as thankeful so carefull to continue but yet so that youre care bee caste all on the Lorde is the onelye cause I write thys and woulde wryte more but that the brynger can not carye And therfore hastely and abruptlye I make an ende besechynge almyghty GOD in our redemer Iesus Christ to bee wyth you and wyth hys holye spiryte comforte you all and helpe my good Syster Maistres W. to bee an happye and a good mother of the chylde of whiche as yet I heare God hathe not deliuered her By your owne to vse in the Lorde for euer Iohn Bradford ¶ To my deare Brother in the Lorde Mayster Rychard Hopkyns and hys wyfe dwellyng in Couentrye and other my faythfull bretherne and Systers professours of gods holye Gospel there and theraboutes THe peace whiche Christe lefte to hys churche and to euerye true member of the same Iohn 14. Rom. 8 the holye spirite the guide of Gods chyldren so engrafte in youre harte and in the harte of youre good wyfe and of all my good bretherne and systers aboute you that vnfaynedlye ye maye in respecte thereof contempne all worldlye peace whyche is contrarye to that peace that I speake of and dryueth it vtterlye oute of the hartes of all those whiche woulde patche them both together For we cannot serue two maisters Math. 6 no man can serue GOD and mammon Christes peace cannot bee kepte with this worldes peace God therfore of hys mercy doe I beseche to geue vnto you his peace whiche passeth all vnderstandyng and so kepe your hartes and mynds phil 4. that they may be pure habitacles and mansions for the holye spirite yea for the blessed trinitie Iohn 14 who hathe promised to come and dwell in all them that loue Chryste and keepe hys sayenges My dearely beloued the tyme is nowe come wherein tryall is made of men that haue professed to loue Chryste and woulde haue beene counted kepers of hys testimonyes But weale awaye the tenthe person perseuereth not the more parte doe parte stakes wythe the papistes and protestantes so that they are become maungye Mongrelles to the infectynge of all that company wyth them and to theyr no smale peryll For they pretend outwardly popery The Mongrels excuse goyng to Masse with the papistes tarying with them personallye at theyr Antichristian and
idolatrous seruyce but with their haâ—â—s say they and wyth theyr spirites they serue the lorde Math. 8. And so by this meanes as they saue theyr pygges which they would not lose I meane their worldlye pelfe so they would please the protestantes and bee counted wyth them for gospellers Company not with MoÌ„grels yea mary would they But mine owne beloued in the Lord flee from such persones as from men most perilous and pernicious bothe before God and man Mongrels are false both to god and man for they are false to bothe and true to neyther To the magistrates they are false pretendyng one thyng and meanyng cleane contrary God wil haue the whole seruice of soule and body He made both He kepeth both He redemed both To god they are most vntrue geuing him but a peese whych shoulde haue the whole I woulde they woulde tell me who made their bodyes Dyd not GOD as well as theyr sprites and soules And who kepeth bothe Dothe not be still And alas shall not he haue the seruice of the body but it must be geueÌ„ to serue the new found god of Antichristes inuention Dyd not Christe bye both our soules and bodies And wherwith wyth any lesse pryce then wyth hys precious blood Ah wretches theÌ„ that we be if we wyll defyle either parte with the rose coloured whore of Babylons fylthye Masse abhomination Apoc. 18 2. pet 2 Hebr. 6.10 Math. 12 Luke 11 Mongress sinne againste their owne consciences It had ben better for vs neuer to haue bene washed then so to wallow our selues in the fylthy puddle of popery It had bene better neuer to haue knowen the truth then thus to betray it Surely surelye let such men feare that their later ende be not worse then the begynnyng Their owne conscience now accuseth them before god yf so be they haue any conscience that they are but dissemblers and hypocrites to God and man For all the clokes they make they cannot auoyde this but that their going to church and to Masse is of selfe loue The onely cause why Mongrels goe to Masse is to auoyde the crosse 1 Cor. 10. Actes 5 Deut. 12. that is they go thether because they would auoyde the crosse They go thether because they woulde be out of trouble They seke neither the Quenes highnes nor her lawes which in thys poynte cannot bynde the conscience to obey because they are coÌ„trary to gods lawes which bid vs often to flee Idolatrye and worshipping hym after mens deuises they seke neither I say the lawes if there were anye neyther theyr brethernes commoditie for none commeth therby neyther godlines or good example for there can be none found in goyng to Masse c. but horrible offences and woe to them that geue them but they seeke their owne selues their own ease theyr escapyng the crosse c. Math. 15. when they haue made all the excuses they can theyr owne conscience wyll accuse them of this that their goyng to church is onely because they seeke themselues For yf there woulde no trouble ensue for taryeng awaye I appeale to their conscience woulde they come thether Neuer I dare say Therfore as I sayd they seke themselues they would not cary the crosse And hereof their own conscience if they haue any conscience doth accuse them Now if their conscience accuse them at this present what will it doe before the iudgemente seate of Christe who wyl then excuse it when Christ shall appeare in iudgement Luke 9.12 Mark 8. and shall begynne to be ashamed of them then which now here are ashamed of him who then I say wyll excuse these Masse gospellers consciences wyll the quenes hyghnes She shal then haue more to do for her selfe then without harty and spedye repeÌ„tauÌ„ce she can euer be able to aunswer though Peter Paule Marye Iames Iohn the Pope and all hys Prelates take her parte with all the syngyng Syr Iohns that euer were are and shall bee Wyll the Lorde Chauncellour and prelates of the realme excuse them there Nay nay they are like then to smarte for it so sore as I woulde not bee in theyr places for all the whole world Wil the lawes of the realme the nobilitie gentlemen Iustices of peace c. excuse oure gospell Massemongers conscience then Nay God knoweth they can do little there but quake and feare for the heauy vengeaunce of God lyke to fall vppon them Will their goodes landes and possessions the which they by theyr dissemblyng haue saued wyl these serue to excuse them No no god is no merchaunte as our Masse priestes be Will Masses or treÌ„tals such trash serue No verily the haunters of thys geare then shall be horribly ashamed Wyll the Catholike church excuse them Nay it wyll most of all accuse them as will all the good fathers Patriarkes Apostles Prophetes Martyrs coÌ„fessors and saintes with al the good Doctors and good general counsels The most abhominatioÌ„ oâ—â—aeth is the Masse al these alredy condeÌ„ne the Masse al that euer vseth it as it is now beyng of all idoles that euer was the most abhominable and blasphemous to Christ and hys priestehode manhode and sacrifice for it maketh the prieste that sayth Masse the Masse priest is Christes fellow gods fellow and better then Christ for the offerer is alwayes better or equiualent to the thyng offred If therfore the priest take vpon him there to offer vp Christ as they boldly affyrme they do theÌ„ must he nedes be better or equal with Christ Hebr. 5. Oh that they would shew but one iote of the scripture of god calling theÌ„ to this dignitie or of their authority to offer vp Christ for the quicke and dead to apply the benefyt vertue of his death and passion to whom they wyll The Masse priestes frendship is better-then christes Surely if this were true as it is most false and blasphemous prate they at their pleasure to the contrarye then it made no matter at all whether Christe were our frende or no if so be the Masse priest were our frende for he can apply vs Christes merites by his Masse if he wyll and when he wil The Masse priest is aboue god for he can make god Math. 24. and therfore we nede litle to care for Christes frendship They can make hym when they will and where they wyll Loe heare he is there he is saye they but beleue them not saith Christ beleue them not beleue them not sayth he For in hys humane nature and body which was made of the substaunce of the virgins body and not of breade in thys body I say he is sitteth on the right hand of God the father almighty in heauen from whence and not from the pixe shal he come to iudge both the quicke dead Act. 3. Rom. 8 Hebr. 7 Hebr. 9. 1. Thess 5. In the meane season heaueÌ„ saith S. Peter must receiue him And as Paule saith
we to all the children of God and all the children of God to vs Amen Amen Commend me to our good brother Skelthrop for whom I hartely prayse my God whiche hath geuen him to see hys truth at the lēgth to geue place to it I dout not but that he wil be so heedye in al his cōuersatiō that his old acquaintance may euer therby thinke thēselues astray Woe woe again shold be vnto vs if we by our exāple should make mē to stūble at the truth Forget not salutatiōs in Christ as you shal thinke good to Trewe hys fellowes The Lord hath his time I hope for them also although we perchaunce thinke otherwise A droppe maketh the stone hollow not with once but with often dropping so if with harty prayer for them and good example you stil and droppe vpon them as you can you shal see gods worke at the length I besech God to make perfect all the good he hath begonne in vs all Amen I desire you all to pray for me the most vnworthy prisoner of the Lord. Your brother Iohn Bradforde To Maister Iohn Hall and hys wife prysoners in Newgate for the testimonye of the Gospell ALmightie god our heauenly father throught Iesus Christ be with you both my dearlye beloued as with hys deare children for euer and he so blesse you with his holy spirite that you maye in thys youre crosse for hys cause doubtles reioyce and gladlye take it vp to beare it so long as he shall thinke good I haue heard my good brother sister how that God hath brought you both into hys Scholehouse where as you were both purposed by hys leaue to haue playd the Trewands that therby you might see hys carefulnes and loue toward you For if it bee a token of a louinge and careful father for hys children to preuent the purpose and disapoynte the intente of hys children purposing to departe a while frō the schole for feare of beating which thyng they would not do if they dyd asmuch consider the comoditie of learning which there they might get how shoulde you take thys worke of the Lord preuentyng your purpose but as an euidente signe of loue and fatherly carefulnes that he beareth towards you If he should haue wincked at your willes then would you haue escaped beating I meane the crosse but then should you haue loste the comoditie of learning which your father wil now haue you to learne feele therfore hath he sent to you his crosse He I say hath brought you where you be thoughe your reason and wit will tell you it is by chaunce or fortune or or otherwyse yet my derelye beloued know for certayne that whatsoeuer was the meane GOD your father was the worker hereof and that for your weale althoughe otherwyse your olde Adam doth tell you and you feele yet I say of truthe that your duetye is to thynke of thys crosse that as it is of gods sendyng and commeth from him so although your desertes be otherwise it is of loue and fatherly affection for your weale and commodities sake What commoditie is hereby you will perchaunce obiect You are now kept in close prison you wyl say your family and children be without good ouerseers your substāce deminisheth by these meanes pouertye will approche and perchaunce more perils also as losse of lyfe c. these are no commodities but discommodities and that no smal ones so that iustly you woulde be glad to know what commoditie can come to you by thys crosse wherby commeth so greate discommodities To these thinges I aunswer that in dede it is true you say of your bodies families chyldren substaunce pouertye lyfe c. Which thynges if you would consider a while wyth inward eyes as you behold them wyth outward then perhappes you should fynd more ease Do not you now by the inward sense perceyue that you must part from al these and all other commodities in the world Tell me then haue not you this commoditye by your crosse to learne to lothe and leaue the world and to long for and desyre an other world where is perpetuitie You oughte of your owne heade and freewyll to haue accordyng to your profession in baptisme forsaken the world and al earthly thynges vsing the world as though you vsed it not your hart only sette vppon your hourde in heauen or els you coulde neuer be Christes true disciples that is be saued and be where he is And trow you my good hartes in the lord trow you I say that this is no commoditye by this crosse to be compelled hereto that you myght assuredly enioy wyth the lord endles glory How now doth god as it were fatherly pul you by the eares to remēber your former offences concernyng these thinges and all other thynges that repentance and remission myght ensue How doth god now compell you to cal vpon hym and to be earnest in prayer Are these no commodities Doth not the fcripture say that God doth correcte vs in the worlde because we shall not bee dampned wyth the worlde that god chasteneth euery one whome he loueth that the ende of this correction shall be ioy and holines Doth not the scripture saye that they are happye that suffer for rightuousnes sake as you now doe that the glorye and sprite of God is vpon them that as you are now made lyke vnto Christe in sufferyng so you shall bee made lyke to him in raignyng Doth not the scripture say that you are now going the high and ryghte waye to heauen that your suffryng is Christes sufferyng My dearely beloued what greater commodities then these can a godlye harte desyre Therefore ye are commaunded to reioyce and be glad when ye suffer as nowe ye doe for through the goodnes of god great shal be your rewarde Where Forfoth on earth first for your chyldren for now they are in gods mere and immediate protection Neuer was father so carefull for hys chylderne as God is for yours presently Gods blessyng which is more worth then all the worlde you leaue in dede to your chyldern Though all your prouidence for them should be pulled away yet god is not poore he hath promysed to prouyde for them moste fatherly Psalm 55 Caste thy burthen vppon me sayth he and I wil beare it Do you therfore cast them and commend them vnto god your father and doubte not that he wyll dye in your dec He neuer yet was found vnfaythfull and he wyl not now begynne wyth you The good mannes sede shall not go a beggyng hys breade Psal 37 for he wyll shewe mercye vppon thousandes of the posteritie of them that feare hym Therfore as I said gods rewarde fyrst vpon earth shal be felt by your children euen corporally and so also vpon you if God see it more for your commoditie at the least inwardly you shal feele it by quietnes and comforte of conscience and secondly after this lyfe you shal fynd it so plentifullye as the
Rom. 8 The Angels are ministers vnto them Their names are writtē in the boke of lyfe therfore Christ bad them reioyce as Paul doth the Philippians for nothing shall seperate them from the loue wherwith god loueth them in Christ Iesu who sayeth that it is impossible for them to erre finally to damnation Mat. 24 Psalm 18. Iohn 6.10 Heb. 3. Iohn 5.6 Iohn 17 Heb. 5. Rom. 8 Ioh. 10. 1. Cor. 6 1. Cor. 1. 1. Ioh 4 Psalm 67. Ose 6. for he is their lyght to illumine their darkenes They are geuē to hym to kepe he is faythful ouer al gods children He saith he wil kepe them so that they shal neuer peryshe After they beleue they are entred already into euerlasting life Christe hath set thē there already he hath cōmitted them into his fathers hands by prayer which we know is sure therefore death hel deuils nor all power sinnes nor mischiefe shall neuer pull vs out of oure heades hands whose mēbers we are therfore receauing of hys spirite as we do we cannot but bring forth the fruites therof though now then the flesh fayle vs. But the Lord euen our Lord be praysed whiche is more strong in vs then he which is in the world He alwaies putteth vnder his hand that we lye not styll nor shal do as the reprobate whose pietie is as the mornyng dewe sone come sone gone and therfore they can not continue to the ende Cānot No they wil not if they could because they hate god hys glory and therfore al thē that seeke it or set it forth wheras the elect loue all men and seke to do al men good in God suspending their iudgements of others Rom. 14 that they may stand or fall to the Lord and not to them Hetherto out of this one place of Paule to the Ephesiās if the matter of election predestination be so fully set forth to gods glory and to the cōfort of hys church how may we suppose is this matter set forth in the whole body bookes of the canonicall scripture Whereto I had rather send you with this cādell lighte which I haue now geuē you then in a matter so manifest to make more a do then nedeth Iohn Bradforde To a woman that desyred to know hys mynde whether she refrayning from the Masse myght be present at the popyshe Mattyns or no. I Besech almightye God our heauenly father to bee merciful vnto vs to encrease in you my good sister the knowledge loue of his truth and at thys present geue me grace so to write to you somthyng of the same as may make to hys glory and our own comforte and confyrmation in hym through Christ our Lord Amen Whether you may come with safe cōscience to the church now that is to the seruice vsed comonly in part as at Mattins or at Euēsong or noe is your desire to haue me to write somthing for your further stay My derely beloued although your benefites towards me might perchaunce make you to thinke that in respect therof I would beare with that which els were not to be borne withal yet by gods grace I am purposed simply without al such respect in this matter to speak to you the truth accordinge to my conscience as I maye be able to stand vnto when I shall come before the Lorde Fyrste therefore goe aboute to learne perfectly the fyrst lesson to bee learned of all that professe Christe that is to denye your selfe and in nothing to seke your selfe Secondly learne after thys to begynne at the next lesson to it which is to seeke God in all thynges you doe and leaue vndone Thirdly know that then you seke God whē in hys seruice you followe his worde and not mans fantasies custome multitude c. and when with your brother you follow the rule of charitie that is to do as you would be done by In these is a sūme of al the counsell I can geue you if that hereto I admonyshe you of the seruice now vsed which is not accordyng to gods word but rather against gods word directly and in maner wholy So that you going to the seruice is a declaration that you haue not learned the fyrst lesson nor neuer can learne it so long as you go thether therfore the second lessō you shal vtterly lose if you cease not the seeking your self that is if for cōpanye custome father or frend life or goods you seme to allow that which god disalloweth And this that you the better maye perceaue I purpose by gods grace brieflye to shewe First the Mattens Euensong is in a toūg forbiddē publikely to be vsed in the cōgregatiō that perceaueth not the toung Read how Paul affirmeth it 1. Cor. 14. to pray in an vnknowē toung to be against gods cōmaūdement This one I trow were enough if nothīg els were For how cā gods glory be sought where his word cōmaūdemente is wilfullye brokē How cā charitie to mā stande when charitie to god which is obedience to his word is ouerthrowē Againe both in Mattins in Euensong is idolatrye maintained for gods seruice for there is inuocation and prayer made to Sainctes departed this life which robbeth god of that glory which he wil geue to none other Esay 5. Moreouer thys seruice the setters forth of it condempneth the Englysh seruice as heresie therby falling into Gods curse which is threatned to al such as cal good euil and euil good wherof they shal be pertakers that do cōmunicate with thē Besides this this latten seruice is a plaine marke of Antichrists catholike Sinagoge so that the Cōmunicātes approuers of it thereby declare thē selues to be mēbers of the same Sinagoge so cut of frō christ his church whose exteriour marke is the true administratiō of gods worde sacraments Furthermore the exāple of your going thither to allow the religiō of Antichrist as doubtles you do in dede howsoeuer in hart you thinke occasioneth the obstinate to be vtterly intractable the weake papistes to be more obstinate the stronge Gospellers to be sore weakened and the weake gospellers to be vtterly ouerthrowen whiche thinges howe greate offences they bee no penne is able to vtter by letters All these euilles you shall hee giltye of that companye wyth these in religion exteriourly from whom you are admonyshed to fly If Christ be Christ followe hym gather with hym least you scatter abroade Serue God not only in spirite but also in body Make not your body now a mēber of Christ a mēber of Antichrist Come out from amongest thē sayth the Lord touch no vncleane thing Confesse Christe and hys truth not onely in hart but also in toung yea in very deede which fewe gospellers do In dede they denye him therefore had nede to tremble least that Christ wil denie thē in the last day the which day if it were set before our eyes often then would the
hys true seruice that perpetually we maye enioye the same welfare as here in hope so in heauen in deede and eternallye You knowe thys worlde is not your home but a pilgrimage and place wherin God tryeth hys children and therfore as it knoweth you not nor can know you so I trust you know not it that is you allowe it not nor in any poynte wyll seme so to do althoughe by manye you be occasioned therto For thys whote sunne which now shineth burneth so sore that the corne which is sowen vpon sand and stonye ground beginneth to wyther that is many which before tymes we toke for hartye Gospellers beginne nowe for the feare of afflictions to relente yea to turne to their vomytte agayne thereby declaring that thoughe they go from amongest vs yet were they neuer of vs for els they would haue still taryed with vs 1. Ioh. 2 and neyther for gayne nor losse haue left vs eyther in word or deede As for their hart whiche vndoubtedly is double and therfore in daunger to Gods curse we haue as muche with vs as the papistes haue with them and more too by theyr owne iudgenente For they playing wilie begile themselues thynke it enough inwardlye to fauour the truth though outwardly they currye fauour What though with my body say they I do this or that GOD knoweth my harte is whole wyth hym Ah brother if thy harte be whole with GOD why doest not thou confesse and declare thy selfe accordynglye by woorde and facte Eyther that whiche thou sayest thou beleuest in thy hart is good or no. If it be good whye arte thou ashamed of it If it be euill whye doest thou keepe it in thy harte Is not GOD hable to defende thee aduenturing thy selfe for hys cause Or wyll not he defende hys worshippers Doth not the Scripture saye that the eyes of the Lorde are on them that feare hym and truste in hys mercye Psal 33 And whereto Forsoth to deliuer theyr soules from death and to feede them in the tyme of hunger If thys bee true as it is moste true whye are we afrayde of death as thoughe GOD coulde not comforte or deliuer vs or woulde not contrarye to hys promyse Whye are we afrayde of the losse of oure goodes as thoughe GOD woulde leaue them that feare hym destitute of all good thynges and so doe agaynste hys moste ample promyses Ah faythe faythe howe fewe feele thee nowe a dayes Luke 18. Full trulye sayde Christe that he shoulde scarcelye finde faythe when he came on earth For if men beleued these promyses they woulde neuer doe anye thynge outwardlye whiche inwardlye they dysallowe No example of men howe many so euer they bee or howe learned so euer they bee can preuaile in thys behalfe for the paterne which we must follow is Christ hym selfe and not the more companye or custome Hys woorde is the lanterne to lyghten oure steppes Psalm 118 and not learned men Companye and custome are to bee considered accordinge to the thyng they allowe Learned men are to be listened to and followed accordyng to Gods lore and lawe for elles the more parte goeth to the deuill As custome causeth erroure and blyndnesse so learnyng if it bee not accordinge to the lighte of Gods woorde is poyson and learned men moste pernicious The deuill is called Demon for hys cunnynge and the children of this worlde are muche wyser then the children of lyghte in theyr generation Luk. 16. and I knowe the deuill and his dearelynges haue alwayes for the moste parte more helpes in this life then Christes Churche and her children They the Deuill and hys Sinagoge I meane haue custome multitude vnitye antiquitye learning power riches honoure dignitie and promotions plentye as alwaies they haue hadde and shall haue commonlye and for the moste parte vntyll Christes comminge muche more then the true Churche haue presentlye heretofore haue hadde or hereafter shall haue For her glorye riches and honoure is not here her triall crosse and warrefare is here And therefore my deare hartes in the Lorde consider these thinges accordinglye Consider what you bee not worldlynges but Gods children Consider where you bee not at home but in a straunge countreye Consider among whom you are conuersante euen in the middest of youre ennemies and of a wicked generation and then I truste you will not muche muse at affliction which you can not be without being as you bee Gods children in a straunge countreye and in the middest of youre ennemies excepte you woulde leaue youre Captaine Christe and followe Sathan for the mucke of this moulde reste and quietnesse whiche he maye promyse you and you in dede thinke you shal receaue it by doing as he woulde haue you to doe but my sweete hartes he is not hable to paye that he promiseth Peace and warre come from GOD riches and pouertye wealth and woe The deuill hath no power but by Gods permission If then GOD permitte him a little on youre goodes bodye or life I praye you tell me what can muche hurte you as Peter sayeth you being followers of godlynesse 1. Pet. 3. Thinke you that GOD will not remember you in hys tyme as moste shall bee to youre comforte Can a woman forgette the childe of her wombe Esay 49. And if shee shoulde yet will not I forgette thee sayeth the Lorde Loke vppon Abraham in his exile and miserye looke vppon Iacob Iosephe Moses Dauid the Prophettes Apostles and all the Godlye from the beginning and my good brethren is not GOD the same God Is he a chaungeling You haue heard of the patience of Iob saith Saint Iames and you haue sene the ende howe that God is mercifull Iacob 5 patiente and longe suffering euen so saye I vnto you that you shall fynde accordinglye if so bee you bee patiente that is if so bee you feate hym sette hys woorde before you serue hym thereafter and if he laye hys crosse on you you beare it with pacience the which you shal do whē you consider it not according to the presente sense but accordyng to the end Hebru 12.2 Corin. 4. Therefore I hartely beseche you and oute of my bondes which I suffer for your sake pray you mine own swete hartes in the Lord that you would cleaue in harte humble obedience to the doctrine taughte you by me and many other my brethren For we haue taught you no fables nor tales of mē or our own phantasies but the very word of god which we are ready with oure liues God so enhabling vs as we truste he will to confirme by the sheding of our bloodes in all pacience humble obedience to the superiour powers to testifye and seale vp as wel that you mighte be more certaine of the doctrine as that you myght be ready to confesse the same before this wicked world knowing that if we confesse Christ and his truth before men he will confesse vs before hys father in heauen if so be
10. Heb. 6.10 Mar. 8. Luke i1 that they returne not to their vomyte stumblyng on those synnes from the which there is no recouery causing thee to deny theÌ„ before thy father making their later end worse theÌ„ the beginning as it chauÌ„ced to Lothes wife Iudas Iscariot FrauÌ„ces Spira and to many others But rather strengthen them and vs all in thy grace and in those thynges which thy worde teacheth that we may here hazarde our lyfe for thy sake and so shal we be sure to saue it as yf we seke to saue it Math. 6 we cannot but loose it and that beyng lost what profyte can we haue yf we wynne the whole worlde Oh set thou alwayes before our eyes not as reason doth thys lyfe the pleasure of the same death of the body and prysonment c but euerlastyng lyfe and those vnspeakable ioyes which vndoubtedlye they shall haue which take vp the crosse and follow thee and eternal hell fire and destruction of soule and bodye for euermore which they must nedes at leÌ„gth fal into the which are afrayde for the hoare froste of aduersitye that man or the Deuil styrreth vppe to stoppe or hynder vs for goyng forward our iourney to heauens blisse to the which do thou bryng vs for thy names sake Amen Your owne in the Lorde Iohn Bradford ¶ To my deare frende and brother in the Lorde Maister George Eaton ALmightye God our deare father geue to you dailye more and more the knowledge of hys truth and a loue and lyfe to the same for euer in all thynges throughe Iesus Chryste oure Lorde Amen I shoulde begynne with thankes geuyng to god and to you as hys steward for the great benefites I haue oftentymes receyued from you and speciallye in this tyme of of my most nede farre aboue my expectatioÌ„ but because thankfulnes lyeth not in wordes or letters and because you loke not to heare of your wel doyng of man I am purposed to passe it ouer wyth sylence and to geue my selfe presentlye to that whiche is more profitable vnto you that is as god shall lend me hys grace briefly to labour or at least to shew my good wyl to helpe you in gods gifte to me as you by your doyng the lyke in gods gyfte vnto you haue as alreadye done so occasioned me greatly hereto I woulde gladlye haue done it heretofore but I haue bene discouraged to write vnto you leaste hurte thereby mighte come vnto you which is the only cause I haue not hetherto writted nor now would not haue done but that I stand in adout whether euer herafter I shal haue liberty to write vnto you And therfore whilest I somthing may I thought good to doe thus much to declare vnto you howe that as I thynke my selfe muche bounde to God for you so I desyre to gratifye the same as God should enable me The dayes are come and more and more do approch in the whych tryal wyl be of such as haue vnfainedly redde and hearde the gospel for all others wyll abyde no tryall but as the worlde wyll But of you because I haue better hope I cannot but as pray to god in hym to confyrme you so to beseche you of the same I knowe it will be a daungerous thinge in deede to declare that whiche in woorde you haue confessed and in harte haue beleued speciallye concernyng the papisticall Masse but notwithstandyng we must not for daungers departe from the truth excepte we wyll depart from God For in as muche as GOD is the truth and the truth is God he that departeth from the one departeth from the other Nowe what a thyng it is to departe from God I nede not to tell you because you know it is no lesse then a departyng from all that good is and not onely so but also a coupling of your selfe to all that euill is for there is no meane eyther we departe from god and sticke to the deuill or departe from the deuyll and sticke to God Some men there be whiche for feare of daunger and loâ—le of that they must leaue when where and to whom they knowe not doe deceaue them selues after the iuste iudgement of God to beleue the deuill because they haue no luste to beleue God in harkenyng to Sathans counsaile of partynge stake with God as to be persuaded that it is not euyll or elles no great euill inwardlye in harte to conceale the truth and outwardly in facte to betraye it And therefore thoughe they know the Masse to be abhomination yet they make it but a strawe in going to it as the world doth in whiche thynge the Lorde knoweth they deceaue them selues to dampnation dreame they as they luste For surely the bodye departyng from the veritye and so from god wil drawe and drowne in dampnation the soule also For we shall receaue accordyng to that we doe in the body good or badde And therefore the matter is more to bee considered then men make of it the more it is to bee lamented But I trust my ryghte dearely beloued you wyll consider thys with your self and call your conscience to accompt as gods word maketh the charge Beware of false Auditours which makyng a false charge can get no quietnesse of the conscience after gods woorde Therefore caste your charge and there shall you see that no beliefe of the harte iustifyeth whiche hath not confession of the mouth to declare the same No man can serue .ii. Maisters He that gathereth not with Christ as no masse seer vnreprouyng it doth scattereth abroade Gods chosen are such as not only haue good hartes but also kisse not their hands nor bowe their knee to Baal Christes Disciples are none but such as deny theÌ„selues take vp their crosse folow him He that is ashamed of Christ his truth in thys generation must loke that Christ wil be ashamed of him in the day of iudgement He that denyeth Christ before men shal be denyed before God Now two kindes of denial there be yea three kindes one in hart an other in worde the thirde in deede In the which kindes al masse gospellers be so bitten that all the Surgeons in the world can laye no healing playster therto till repentaunce appeare and drawe out the matteâ— of vsing the euill and resorting to the Masse For pure should we be froÌ„ all spottes not onely of the flesh but also of the spirite And our dutye is to departe not only from euill that is from the Masse But also from the appearaunce of euil that is from coÌ„ming at it Woe vnto theÌ„ that geue offence to the children of God that is which occasion by any meanes any to tarye in the church at Masse time much more then they which occasioÌ„ any to come therto most of all they which enforce any therto Assuredly a most heuie vengeaunce of goâ— hangeth vpon such Suche as decline to their crokednes God wil lead on with wicked workers whose portion shal be snares Psa 11. fyre
my good and most deare Mother geue thankes for me to god that he hath made the fruite of your wōbe to be a wytnes of hys glory and attend to the truth whiche I thank god for it I haue truly taught out of the pulpit of Manchester Vse often and continual prayer to God the father through Christ Harken as you may to the scriptures serue God after hys worde and not after custome beware of the Romyshe religion in Englande defyle not your selfe wyth it cary Christes crosse as he shall saye it vppon your backe forgeue them that kyll me pray for thē for they know not what they do committe my cause to god our father bee myndeful of both your daughters to help them as you can I send all my writinges to you by my brother Roger doe wyth them as you will because I cannot as I woulde he can tel you more of my mynd I haue nothyng to geue you or to leaue behind me for you onely I pray God my father for hys christes sake to blesse you and kepe you from euyll He geue your patience he make you thankeful as for me so so for your selfe that wyll take the fruite of your wombe to witnesse hys verity wherin I confesse to the whole worlde I dye and departe thys lyfe in hope of a much better which I loke for at the hands of god my father through the merytes of hys deare sonne Iesus Christ Thus my deare Mother I take my laste farewell of you in this life besechyng the almighty and eternall father by Christ to graunte vs to mete in the lyfe to come where we shall geue hym continuall thankes and prayse for euer and euer Amen ¶ Out of pryson the .24 of Iune 1555. Your sonne in the Lord Iohn Bradforde To one by whom he had receiued much comfort and reliefe in hys trouble and imprisonment THe mercy of god in Christ peculier to hys children be euer more felt of you my derely beloued in the lord Amē When I consider with my selfe the benefites which God hath shewed vnto me by your meanes if I had so good and thankfull a hart as I would I had I could not wyth drye eyes geue him thākes for certainly they are very many and great And nowe beyng yet still the lordes prisoner I perceiue from him moe benefits by you For the which I thinke my self so much bounde to you my good brother althoughe you were but the instrumēt by whō god wrought and blessed me that I loke not to come out of your dette by anye pleasure or seruice that I shal euer be able to do you in this life I shal hartely pray vnto god therfore to requite you the good you haue done to me for his sake for I knowe that which you haue done you haue done it simply in respect of god his word He therfore geue you dailye more more to be tonfirmed in his truth word so plētifully poure vpō you the riches of his holy spirit and heauēly treasures laid vp in store for you that your corporal earthly riches may be vsed of you as sacraments significations thereof the more to desire the one that is the heauēly and the lesse to esteme the other that is the earthly For Satans sollitation is so to set before you the earthly that therin and thereby you should not haue accesse to the consideration of the heauenly but as one bewitched should vtterly forgette them and altogether become a louer worshipper of the erthly Māmon so to fal to couetousnes a desire to be rich by the meanes to bring you into many noisom and hurtful lustes as now adais I heare of many which haue vtterly forsakē god al his heauēly riches for Antichrists pleasure the preseruing of their worldly pelf which they imagine to leaue to their posterity wherof they are vncertain as they may be most certain they leaue to thē gods wrath vēgeaūce in his time to be sent by visitation if they in time hartely repēt not preuēt not the same by earnest praier Wherin my good brother if you be diligēt harty perseuer I am sure god wil preserue you frō euyll frō yelding your self to do as the world now doth by allowing in bodely fact in the Romish seruice that which the inward cogitatiō mind doth disalowe But if you be cold in prayer come into cōsideration of earthly present thinges simply thā shal you fal into faithles folies woundyng of your conscsēce from which god euermore preserue you with your good wife your babe Leonard al your family to that which I wish the blessing of God now and for euer through Christ our Lord Amen I pray you geue thankes for me to your old bedfellow for his greate frendship for your sake shewed to me when I was in the Tower Iohn Bradford To my dearely beloued Syster Mystres A. VV. THe euerlasting peace of Christ be more more liuely felt in our hartes by the operatiō of the holy ghost now and for euer Amen Although I know it to be more then nedeth to write any thing vnto you good Syster beīg as I dont not you be diligētly exercised in reading of the scriptures meditating the same harty praier to god for the helpe of his holy spirit to haue the sense feelyng especially of the comfortes you reade in gods swete boke yet hauing such opportunitie knowing not whether hereafter I shall haue the like as this bringer can declare I thought good in few wordes to take my farewel in writing because otherwise I can not And now me thinkes I haue done it For what els can I or should I say vnto you my derely beloued in the lord but farewel Farewel dere Sister farewell How be it in the lord our lord I say farewel In him shal you farewel so much the better by how much in your self you fare euil shal fare euil Whē I speake of your self I meane also this world this life al things properly perteining to this life In thē as you loke not for your welfare so be not dismaide when accordinglye you shall not feele it To the lord our god to the Lambe our Christ which hath borne our sinnes on his back and is our mediator for euer do I send you In him loke for welfare that wtout all wauering because of his owne goodnes and truth whiche our euilnes and vntruth cannot take awaye Not that therefore I woulde haue you to flatter your selfe in any euill or vnbeliefe but that I would comfort you that they should not dismay you Yours is our Christe wholye Yours I say he is wyth all that euer he hath Is not thys welfare trow you Mountaynes shall moue and the earthe shall fall before you fynde it otherwyse say the lyer Sathan what he lyste Therfore good Sister farewel and be merye in the Lord be mery I say for you
that it is not seemely for vs to conclude according to that which semeth appeareth to vs in things but rather as godlynesse requireth to referre all thynges to the wil of God This wil if it be expressed in holy scripture then may we simplye determine that which we read expressed there But if it be not so then ought we frely to confesse our ignoraunce and not prescribe to God what he ought to doe of hys workes by that which alreadye he hath done God is of power infinite of nothīg did he not only make al things but also will doe what pleaseth him both in heauen and in earth sayth Dauid The foresayd Thomas bringeth forth also other reasons but which he hym selfe counteth not for inuincible One is if beastes and plantes shall bee restored eyther all or some shall be restored If al shal be restored then must the resurrectiō be cōmunicate vnto them that the same in nūber be restored which is not cōueniēt If some shal be restored there appeareth no reason why these shoulde be restored more then other therefore saith he they shal not be restored But here what would he aunswere if one shoulde aske him howe he knoweth it is not conuenient that eyther al in number bee restored as mā shal aryse eyther only some in the thys thing wholye resteth in the hand and wil of God An other reason he maketh out of Aristotle and out of a grounde whiche is vncertayne Aristotle affyrmeth the perpetuitie of thinges to hang on the continual mouing of heauen Thomas now hereto gathereth thus but the mouing of heauē shall cease therfore he concludeth that in these inferiour things no perpetuitie maye be looked for But here what answere wil he make if a man shall say that all thynges hange at the becke and pleasure of God who nowe for the conseruation of his creatures whiche now aryse and spring and nowe dye and fall downe vseth the mouyng of heauen and can afterwardes not vse it for thys purpose Thys is a truth that all thynges of them selues are nothyng muche more then can they not doe any thyng Now men may coniecture that the mouyng of heauen shall cease but yet by the certaine word of God they can not proue it In like manner is hys laste reason which he maketh of the ende of beastes and plantes but which end he knoweth not Beastes and plantes sayth he were made for the sustentation of the mutual life of mā but thys lyfe shall cease therefore shall they also But here hath he no aunsweare if a man shoulde demaunde who knoweth whether GOD haue made them to none other ende or vse Seing therfore these thynges be as you see I suppose it not to pertayne to a godly man to denye the beastes and plātes to be restored in that the Apostle doth here expressely say that euery creature which is now subiecte to vanitie shal bee deliuered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of god In that the holy ghost doth affirme thys of euery creature by what reason dare a godly mind exempt any part frō this deliuerance to come Howbeit neyther wyll the Godlye mynde contende whether euery creature shal be renewed For the holy ghost spake of the creature generally and not perticulerly and therfore we maye not otherwyse affirme because we muste not speake but gods worde Therfore it is the parte of a godlye man and of one that hangeth in all thynges vppon the worde of god to learne out of thys place that whatsoeuer corruption deathe or griefe he seeth in anye thyng wheresoeuer it bee that I saye he ascribe that wholye vnto hys synnes and thereby prouoke hymselfe to true repentaunce Nowe as soone as that repentaunce compelleth hym to goe to Christe lette hym thynke thus but thys my Sauiour and my head Iesus Christ dyd for my synnes and therewith as he toke away death so hath he taken away all the corruption and labour of all thynges and wyll restore them in his tyme whether so euer they be in heauen or in earthe Now euery creature trauayleth and groneth wyth vs but we beyng restored they also shal be restored There shall be newe heauens newe earth and all thynges newe Thus I wyshe that our myndes myght staye in thys generalitye of the renouation of the worlde and not curiously to searche what partes of the worlde shal be restored and what shall not or how al thyngs shal be restored much more then I would not haue vs curious nor inquisitiue of theyr place where they shall be of theyr action what they shall doe or of theyr properties and suche lyke For if to haue fore knowen these thynges woulde haue made muche to godlines surely the holy ghost woulde moste playnely haue tolde them For accordyng to christes promise he bringeth vs into all truth all truth I saye suche as the knowledge of it would profite vs. Al the scripture is geuen to vs for this purpose that the man of god might be made perfect and enstructed to al good workes and truely that can be no good worke which we do except god teach vs the same He hath prepared the good workes wherin we walke Ephesi 2 But the certayne and bottomles fountayne of these good workes is in all thynges to hange on the becke and pleasure of god and throughe our Lorde Iesus Christ to looke for with remission of synnes lyfe euerlastyng and the glorye of the resurrection To the ende therefore that we maye more fully know our synnes and more make of our redēption from them by Christ let vs set before oure eyes death the hyre of synne and that not only in our selues but also in euery creature of the world Howbeit this let vs do wyth a hope of so ample a restauration and neuer enough to be merueled at which shal be euen in al thinges for our renouation by the Lord Iesus Christ the renewer of all things whatsoeuer be in heauen or in earth He that with true faith wayeth cōsidereth these things wil be as it were swallowed vp in the admiration of so excedyng great beneuolence and loue of God our heauenly father that he can neuer admitte to yelde to thys curiositie of searchyng what kynde of thyngs shal be renewed and how they shall be renewed or what state or condition they shall be in when they are renewed These be thynges of the lyfe to come wherof thys foreknowledge is sufficient that all these thynges shall be more perfect and happy thē the reach of reason is hable to loke vpon the glory of them For the eye hath not sene nor the eare hath heard nor it cannot ascend into mans hart that God hath prepared for them that loue hym For concernyng our resurrection what other thyng do we knowe before hand but that we shall be most happy euen so therfore let vs not doubt but that there shall be a deliueraunce of the creature from the seruitude of
my answere of the Maisters cōtrarye to the lawes of the Realme they hauyng neither statute lawe proclamation letter warrante nor commaundement for my apprehension They would haue layed al the matter vpon the Summer Who being examined denyed it before theyr faces as one of my frendes told me saying that he had no comaundemente concerning me but for my elder brother God lay not their extreme doinges agaynste me to their charge at the great day The second day after the bishops coming to Couentry M. Warren came to the Yeldhaule willed the chiefe Iayler to cary me to the Byshop I layed to M. Warrens charge the cruell seekyng of my death and when he woulde haue excused hym self I tolde hym he coulde not wype hys hands so he was as giltye of my blood before God as though he had murthered me with his own hands And so he parted frō me saying I nede not to feare If I wold be of his beliefe God open hys eyes if it be his will and geue hym grace to beleue thys which he all of hys inclination shall finde I feare to true for their partes that is that all they whiche cruelly maliciously and spytefully persecute molest afflict the mēbers of Christ for their conscience sake and for the true testimonye of Christes word and cause them most vniustly to be slayne and murthered without spedy repentance shal dwel with the deuil hys Angels in the fiery lake euerlastingly where they shall wysh desire crye call but in vaine as their ryghte companion Epulo did to be refreshed of them Luk. 16 whom in this world they contemned despised disdayned as slaues misers and wretches When I came before the Byshop in one Dentons house he began wyth this protestation that he was my bishop for for lacke of a better and willed me to submit my selfe I said to hym I am not come to accuse my selfe what haue you to lay to my charge He asked me whether I was learned I answered smally learned M. Chaūcelor standyng by sayd I was a maister of Arte. Then my Lord layd to my charge my not commyng to the curch Here I myght haue dalyed wyth hym and put hym to his proofes for asmuch as I had not bene for a long season in hys diocesse neither was anye of the Citizens hable to proue any suche matters against me Notwythstandyng I aunswered him thorough gods merciful helpe that I neither had nor would come at their church as long as their masse was vsed there to saue if I had thē v. hundreth liues I wylled hym to shew me one iote or tytle in the scripture for the profe and defence of the masse He answered he came to teach and not to be taught I was cōtēt I told him to learne of hym so farre as he was able to teach me by the word of god Who shal iudge the worde said my Lorde I answered Christ was content that the people should iudge hys doctryne by searchyng the scriptures and so was Paule me thynketh ye should clayme no further priuiledge or preeminence then they had I offered hym further that I was contente the primitiue church next to the Apostles tyme shoulde iudge betwixt hym and me He refused also to be iudged by that Then he was my Bishop he said and therfore I must beleue hym If you saye blacke is whyte my lord must I also say as you saye and beleue the same because you say it is so M. Chauncelour noted me to be arrogant because I would not geue place to my byshop I said to my lord if you wil be beleued because you be a byshop why fynd you fault wyth the people that beleued M. Latymer M. Rydley M. Hoper and the residue of them that were bishops He aunswered because they were heretykes And may not you erre quoth I as wel as they I loked for learnyng at my lordes hand to persuade me and he oppressed me onely wyth hys authority He sayd I dissēted from the church and asked me where my churche was before kynge Edwardes tyme. I desired hym to shewe me where their churche was in Helias tyme and what outward shew it had in christes tyme. My lord said that Helias complaint was onely of the tenne tribes that fell from Dauids house whom he called heretykes You be not able to shew said I any prophets that the other ij tribes had at the same tyme. My lorde makyng no aunswer to that M. Rogers one of the maisters of the City commeth in the meane season taking vpon hym as though he would aunswere to the text But my lord forthwith commaūded me to be committed to some toure if they had any besides the cōmon Iaile saying he wold at the end of hys visitatiō of his diocesse wede out such wolues M. Rogers wylled hym to content hymselfe for that night tyll they had taken further order for me Euē where it pleaseth you said I to my lord I am contēt so I was returned at that tyme to the commō Iayle again from whence I came On the Friday mornyng beyng the next day after I had warning by one of the prisoners to prepare my selfe to ride wyth my fellow prisoners the same day to Lychfield there to be bestowed at the bishops pleasure Which tidings at the firste somethyng discouraged me fearyng lest I should by the meanes of my great sicknes through extreme handling which I loked for haue died in the pryson before I should come to my aunswer But I rebuked immediatly with gods worde this infidelity in my selfe and by the same corrected myne owne mistrust and fantasy after this manner What make I of God Is not his power as great in Lichfield as in Couentry Doth not hys promyse extend as wel to Lichfielde as to Couentry was he not with Abacucke Daniel Misach and Ieremy in their moste daungerous imprisonments He knoweth what things we haue nede of He hath numbred all the heares of our head The sparow falleth not on the groūd wtout our heauēly fathers wil much more wyl he care for vs if we be not faithlesse whō he hath made worthy to be witnesses of his truth So long as we put our trust in hym we shall neuer be destitute of hys helpe neyther in pryson neyther in sicknes nor in healthe neyther in life nor in death neither before kynges nor before bishops nor the Deuill hymselfe muche lesse one of hys ministers shal be able to preuayle agaynst vs. wyth such lyke meditations I waxed chereful and of good consolation and cōfort So that hearyng one say that they could not prouide horses enough for vs I sayd let them cary vs in a donge carte for lacke of horses if they list I am well content for my part Notwithstandyng at the requeste of my frendes I wrote to maister Maior and hys bretherne briefly requiring them that I might make aunswer here to such thynges as shoulde be layde to my charge but I receyued no aunswer of my
death for hys sonnes sake What a spectacle shall it beto the worlde to beholde so godlye a fellowshippe as you seruauntes of god in so iust a quarrel as the gospel of Christ is with so pure a conscience so stronge a fayth and so liuelye a hope to offer your selues to suffer moste cruell tormentes at the handes of Gods enemyes and so to ende your dayes in peace to receaue in the resurrection of the ryghteous life euerlasting Heb. 11. Be stronge therfore in your battayle The Lord God is on your syde and hys truth is your cause phi 3 and agaynst you be none but the enemies of the crosse of Christ as the Serpent and hys seede the Dragon wyth hys tayle Math. 3. Iohn 8. the marked mē of the Beast the ofspring of the Pharisees the congregation malignaunt the generation of Vipers murtheters as theyr father the deuyll hath bene from the beginnynge To conclude such are they are the Lord God hath alwayes abhorred and in all ages resisted and ouerthrowen God from whom nothing is hid knoweth what they are He that searcheth the hartes of men Psal 34. Heb. 4. he hath founde them oute to be craftye subtyll full of poyson proude disdaynefull stifenecked deuourers rauenees and barkers agaynste the truthe fylthye and shamelesse and therefore doth the spirite of God by the mouthes of his holye Prophettes and Apostles call them by the names of Foxes Iude. 1. Serpents Cockatrices Lions Leopardes Bulles Beares Wolues Dogges Swine Beastes teaching vs thereby to vnderstande that their naturall inclination is to deceaue poyson and destroye as muche as in them lyeth the faythfull and elect of God Psalm 76. But the Lord with his right arme shall defende hys little flocke agaynste the whole rabblement of these worldlings Matth. 20. Luk. 2i Math. 10. 1. Pet. 2. whiche haue conspired against him he hath numbred all the heares of hys childrens heades so that not one of them shall peryshe withoute hys fatherly will He keepeth the sparowes muche more will he preserue them whom he hath purchased with the bloode of the immaculate Lambe He wil keepe them vnto the houre appoynted wherein the name of God shall bee glorifyed in his Sainctes In the meane tyme let them woorke theyr willes Math. 10 Sapi. 3. let them enuye let them maligne let them blaspheme let thē curse banne betraye whyppe scourge hange and burne for by these meanes God will trye his electe as golde in the furnace and by these fruites shall they also bring themselues to be knowen what they be for all theyr shepes skinnes For as he that in suffering patiently for the Gospell of God is thereby knowen to be of Christe euen so in likewise is the persecutour of hym knowen Psal 7. to be a member of Antichriste Besydes thys their extreme crueltye shall be a meane the sooner to prouoke god to take pitie vppon hys seruauntes and to destroye them that so tyranouslye entreate hys people as we maye learne by the historyes as well in the bondage of Israell vnder Pharao in Egypte Exod. 13. Esd 3.13 as also in the miserable captiuitie of Iuda in Babilon Where as when the people of God were in moste extreme thraldome then did the Lord stretch forth his mighty power to deliuer hys seruauntes 2. Mach. 7. Iacob 4. i Pet. 5. Apo. 9. Heb 12. Iacob 2 Though God for a time suffer them to bee exalted in theyr owne pride yet shall they not scape hys vengeaunce They are hys roddes and when he hath worne them to the stumpes then wil he caste them into the fyer thys shall bee their fynall rewarde Our dutie is in the meane while paciently to abide the wil of god which worketh all thinges for the beste Thus dealeth he wyth vs partly for our trial 2 Cor i2 Esdras 36 partly also for our synnes which we most greuously haue committed to the great slaunder of hys gospel wherby the name of God was euill spoken of amonge his enemies Roma 2. for the whiche he nowe punisheth vs wyth hys fatherly corrections in this worlde i. Cor i Luke 15 that we should not be dampned wyth the worlde By thys meanes seeketh he hys sheepe that were lost to bryng them home to the folde agayne By this way seketh he to reforme vs that we may be like vnto him Ephesi 4 after the image of his sonne Iesus Christ in all holines and righteousnes before hym Finally thys way vseth his godly wisdome to make vs therby to know hym Ose 13. our selues in hym that afore tyme had in a maner forgotten him praysed bee his name therefore And as for these Balaamites which now do molest vs commit thē to the handes of god geue hym the vengeaunce and he will reward them Rom. 12. phil 2 Luke 8. Marke 4. psal 8. psal 4. Ieremy 12. Fal ye to prayer and let these belly gods prate For he is in heauen and slepeth not that kepeth Israell He is in heauen that made the seas calme when the Disciples were afraid Let vs now faithfully call vpon hym and he will heare vs. Let vs cry vnto the Lord for he is gratious and merciful When we are in trouble he is wyth vs he wyll deliuer vs and he wyll glorify vs. If we come vnto hym we shal fynde hym turned vnto vs. If we repent vs of our wickednes done against hym Ieremy 18 then shal he take away the plague that he hathe deuised against vs. Let vs therfore earnestly repent bryng forth the worthy frutes of repentaunce Let vs study to be hys then shall we not nede to feare what these hypocrites do agaīst vs Matth. 12. which with their pretensed holines deceiue the hartes of the symple and abuse the authoritie of god in hys Prynces causing them by their procurement to testify their ambicious prelacie and to erect vp their Idole agayne wyth the Romish Masie God in whose handes are the hartes of kynges Iob. i2 pro. 15.22 opē the harte of the Quenes hyghnes to espye them out what they be so to wede them out that they no longer be suffred to trouble the congregation of God to poyson the realme wyth Pope holy doctrine psal 24.30 78. God almighty for hys sonne Iesus Christes sake deliuer the Quenes highnes and this her church realme from these proude prelates which are as profitable in the churche of Christe as a polecatte in the myddes of a warren of connies To conclude my bretherne I commit you to God and to the power of hys worde whiche is hable to establysh you in all truth Hys spirite be wyth you and worke alway that ye maye be myndful of your dueties towardes hym whose ye are both bodye and soule Whome see that ye loue serue dreade obey aboue all worldly powers and for nothyng vnder the heauens defyle your conscience before God Dissemble not wyth hys worde
Marke 6 Matth. 10. Apo 5. God wyl not be mocked naye they that dissemble with him deceiue themselues Such shal the lord deny and caste oute at the laste daye such I say as beare two faces in one hoode such as play on both handes such as deny the knowen truth such as obstinately rebel agaynst hym All such with theyr partakers shall the lord destroy God defend you from al such and make you perfecte vnto the ende Iohn 16. Your sorow shall be turned into ioy A letter sent to a frende of hys THe eternall God kepe you in hys feare I haue me hartely commended vnto you your husband besechyng almighty god to preserue you in well doyng and in perfect knowledge of hys Christ that you may be soūd fautles in the day of the Lord. I haue heard say that my frend is geuē ouer to vanity It breaketh my hart not only to heare that he so dothe but also teacheth other that it is vnhurtfull to go to all abhominations whyche now stande in the Idoles temples Neuerthelesse deare frend be not moued to followe synners for they haue no inheritaunce wyth GOD and Christe But looke that by goyng into the Idoles temple you defyle not the temple of God for lyghte hath no fellowshyp wyth darkenes but looke what the Lord hath commaunded that doe For yf not goyng to church were wythout persecution they woulde not learne you that lesson But all thing that is swete to the flesh is allowed of the fleshly The Lord shal rewarde euery man accordyng to hys works he that leadeth into captiuity shal go into captiuity and he that by the fleshly man is led in the flesh shall of the flesh reape corruption The lord Iesu geue you hys holy spirit Amen Seke peace and ensue it Feare god loue god with al your hart wyth al your soule and wyth all your strength Your frend and all mens in Christ Iesus R. Smith Scribled in hast from Newgate the .12 of May. To hys VVyfe THe God and father eternal which brought againe frō death our Lord Iesus Christ kepe thee deare wyfe nowe and for euer wyth thy Parentes and all thy frendes Amen I prayse God for hys mercye I am in the same state that you lefte me in rather better then worse lokyng daylye for the lyuyng GOD before whome I hunger full sore to appeare and receyue the glorye of whyche I trust thou art wyllyng to be a partaker I geue GOD most harty thankes therefore desyryng thee of all loues to stande faste in that fayth which thou hast receyued and let no man take awaye the seede that almighty god hath sowē in thee but lay hands of euerlastyng lyfe which shal euer abide whē both the earth al earthly frends shal peryshe desyryng them also to receiue thankfully our trouble which is momentane light as S. Paule saith not worthy of the things which shal be shewed on vs that we patiētly carying our crosse may attayne to the place whether our Sauiour Christ is gone before to the which I besech god of his mercy bring vs spedely I haue bene much troubled about your deliueraūce fearyng much the persuasions of worldlings haue found a frend which wil I trust find a meane for you if you be not alredy prouided desiring you in any case to abide suche order as that my frende shall appoint in god And bear wel in mind the words which I spake at our departīg that as god hath chosē vs made vs worthy to suffer with him we may endeuour our selues to folow vprightly in thys our vocation desiryng you to present my hartye commendations to all our frendes and especiallye to your Parentes kepyng youre matter close in anye wyse Geue moste hartye thankes to my frende whiche onelye for our cause is come to Windsor Continue in prayer Do wel Be fautles in al thyngs Beware of abhominations Keepe you cleane from synne Praye for me as I doe for you I haue sente you a piece of golde for a token and moste entierlye desire you to sende me worde yf you lacke any thyng The lord Iesu preserue you and yours Amen From Newgate the .15 of Apryll Yf you wyll mete wyth me agayn Forsake not Christ for any payne By your faithfull husband Robert Smyth ⧠Letters of Maister Bartelet Grene a gentleman and professour of the Lawe who for gods cause and the mayntenaunce of hys holy Gospel suffred martyrdome the .13 of Ianuarye In the yere of our Lord. 1556. To hys dearely beloued in the lord Mystres Elizabeth C. WOuld God if it were hys pleasure that with this letter I might send you my hart mind and whatsoeuer there is in me elles that pertaineth vnto god So should I thynke it the best message happiest letter that euer I could wryte But though I obtaine not my desyre yet shal I not cease with continual praier to labour for you desiring almighty god to encrease that which he hath long sith begon in you of sober life earnest zeale towards his religiō In faith as saith S. Paule she that is a true widow frēdles putteth her trust in god i. Cor 7 cōtinuing day and nyght in supplication and prayer but she that liueth in pleasure is dead euen yet alyue And verely a true widowe is she that hathe maried Christ forsakyng the vanities of the world and lust of the fleshe For as the maried woman careth how to loue please and serue her husband i. Tim 5 so ought the widowe to geue all her harte and soule thoughtes and wordes studies and labours faythfully to loue god vertuously to bring vp her children and householde and diligentlye to prouide for the poore and oppressed Therfore Sainte Paule firste instructeth a widowe howe to behaue her selfe that is to beginne wher Paule leaueth not to lyue in pleasure then to watch vnto prayer as the onely meanes to obtaine al our desires stedfastly laying vp all our trust in God as Salomō ryght well saith psalm 34. Luk. 2. first escheue euill then do good Of Anna the praise is wrytten that she neuer went out of the temple but serued God wyth fastyng and prayer nyght and daye so well had she espoused Christ Iudith 8. Iudith ware a smocke of heare contynuyng in fastyng and had good reporte of al men The next care that belongeth vnto a wydow is that she bring vp her chrildrē and household godly Ephes 6. in the nourture and informacion of the Lord. Wherof Sainct Paule sayth if any widow haue chyldren or Nephewes 1. Tym 5. let them learne firste to rule theyr owne house godlye and to recompence theyr elders The incontinency coueteousnes of Phynees and O phny not corrected by Ely their father ◠Reg. 2 prouoked gods vēgeaūce vpō him all his kynred The ouer tender loue of Absolon expelled Dauyd from his kyngdom 2. Regū 15 The vnrebuked sinnes of Ammon encouraged Absolon to
not perfectly know You haue had the pure worde of God plentifully preached amōgest you yea and the same sealed praysed be god therfore wyth good store of bloode You haue also the blessed Bible and al other good bokes of godly mens doings among you so that I thynke you are ignoraunt of nothyng that perteineth to the life of a perfect christian Therfore I wyl not here take vpon me to teache you any thing syth I know that the most part of you perceiueth of the mind of God as much or more then I do But I wil now most hūbly pray you hartely besech you that by the mercifulnes of god in Iesus Christ and as we shal al assemble shortly before him that you will in no wise do contrary to your knowlege least your owne conscience become also a swifte witnes at the great day against you I wyl not meddle with secret maters but speak of those things which be to much apparant and yet not of all but namely of one the which as it semeth to be least regarded amongest you so am I sure the same is yet most horrible odious in the sight of god that is to say the beyng present wyth the papistes at any of their Antichristian and idolatrous seruice whiche is not only a wicked dissemblyng of your fayth and a verye outward deniall of the gospell of God but also a manifest committyng of idolatry wyth the wycked and doth depely deserue gods heuy wrath and displeasure which is not farre of vnlesse you hartelye repente in tyme and turne to the Lord comming cleane away from the filthines aforesaid as he doth louingly call you Ah my dere hartes what shal I say to you or how shall I temper my pen to persuade you Al the godly preachers that in tymes past haue taken paines amongest you haue fully agreed and wholy concluded yea and by the holy scriptures plainly proued that it is not lawful for any of you to be personally present with the papistes at any part of their Antichristiā seruice This haue they truly taught you this haue they largely and learnedly written vnto you and this haue they most godly confirmed with their blood before you What wold you haue more Yea many a faithful hart hath folowed them and to their power done the lyke and yet alas all wil not now serue Howe happeneth this my dere frendes of Londō that neither the louing admonitiōs of al gods good Prophets nor the earnest warnings of hys deare witnesses and worthy Martyrs wil take no place amongest you Do you thynke that they haue not told you the truthe but some dreame or vayne tale that shal not so come to passe Do you thinke that they did but dallye with you to delude you and to make you afraid of a flea bityng or vayne shadow wher no nede of fear is Certainly you shal find it otherwise shortly if you so thinke as you maye see if you wil by experience of that which is already come to passe euen as they did truly tel you in their preachyng or rather prophesye for youre for warning Be you sure the Lorde is no lesse myghtye to-performe his word pronounced by these his fore runners before his latter comming then he was true to poure forth his plagues vpō the Iewes prophecied both by Iohn Baptist other hys forerūners before hys first comming Latymer Rydley Hoper Rogers Bradforde Saunders wyth the rest of their blessed bretherne that are fled or burned are as well to be beleued in this pointe as Helias Esay Ieremy or Iohn Baptist in those thinges that they warned the world of It is al one word which they al haue preached in the power of one spirit that they haue ministred And as verely as they were the lordes messengers to Israel for that age so surely were these later sort the lordes ministers to warne England for this age I feare the last that euer shal be sent vnto it But I aske againe how hapneth it that you pretending to be of the flocke of Christ do not now harken to the voyce of your head pastour Christ pronounced by hys seruauntes to obey follow it Verely I feare me because you be but wilde goates none of christes true elect shepe For if you were Christes shepe in dede you woulde surelye geue more regard to the voice of your shepeharde speakyng in his godly preachers and not presume to follow straungers as I here say you do which entise you to lewdnes and backeloking from the plough on which you had once layd hand Luke 17 but Christ byddeth you remember Lottes wife I here saye that there is amongest you nowe adaies a sort of worldly wise men whose doinges will proue folishnes before god one day wtout doubt which haue so diligently sought the scripture that they haue found out that whiche none of our good preachers euer coulde doe thoughe their whole studye was only therin day and nighte And what is that Forsoth as some say they haue found there that it is permitted lawful for christian men that know the truth to be presente with the papistes at their Anitchristian and idolatrous seruice and that they maye cloke their knoweledge and dissemble their faythe seeke what shiftes they can to saue their life lādes goodes so that they do not vtterly deny the truth in their hartes or by expresse wordes in the way of recanting Ah sirrha haue they so Yea Syr I warrant you they haue not had the Bible in their houses al this while for naught They haue found one tricke to serue their turne whē the time of trial cōmeth that al our folish preachers coulde not perceaue for had they knowē that knacke they would not fo hedlong haue runne into the fire as they haue done But with your leue I wil now a while talke with these worldly wise Diuines which haue found out this hyd mystery I myght say of iniquitie wel inough I praye you my Maisters Massemongrel gospellers where do you find that any faythful christiā may dissemble the profession of his Maisters religion to frame and fashion hym self lyke vnto the wicked world where out the Lord hath chosen hym to serue hym in spirit truth You finde it be like in the bottome of your bagges of gold siluer for in gods Bible boke I am sure you finde it not but altogether the contrary You here there how god doth byd you not to beare a straūge yoke with the vnbeleuers but to come out frō amongest them to seperate your selues frō thē but many mens hearing wil not serue them on that syde You here there also that God wyll spue out suche luke warme gentlemē as be neither hote nor colde forth of his mouthe Apo. 3. but I weene you doe not beleue it well I saye no more but marke the ende of thys geare I will not denye but that you maye wryng and wrest some places of the holy scripture
turnest all things to thy glory the commoditie of thy chosen children Oh make me so much to reioyce in the respecte of thy glory whiche thou so mightely hast magnifyed in thy swete Martyrs that the same may sone swallow vp my deserued sorrowes Amen Commend me to my good sister C. and bring her with you if you can Iohn was wonte to cōfort Mary but now good swete Maryes come comfort Iohn Written in hast with plentifull teares by your own in Christ Iohn Careles To my dere faithful brother Augustine Bernher THe peace of god in Iesus Christe the helpe comfort and assistance of his eternal spirit be with you my dere and faythful brother Augustine and with al the rest of my good brethren sisters of the houses of Baxterley Mancetur which mourneth for the miserye of gods people to your euerlasting consolation in him Amē Right glad I am to heare my deare faythfull brother Augustine that god of his great mercy infinite goodnes hath yet so graciously deliuered preserued you out of your enemies hands beseching almighty god also from the bottome of my hart to be your continual defence vnto the end as hetherto he hath most graciously bene that you may both liue die to gods glory the cōmodity of his church to the encrease of your own euerlasting ioy comfort in him Know you dere brother that I haue receaued your letter for the which I hartely thanke you Indede I thinke it verye short although it semeth somthing sharpely to rebuke me in the beginning for the breach of my promyse in not writing to you of this long time Wel brother I am cōtent to beare it with pacience cōsidering that you are troubled otherwise the Lord cōfort you and al heuie harts neither wil I spēd ynke paper for my purgatiō in this point God he knoweth whether I be so mindles of my promise as it appeareth in your sight I am Your request I will trulye performe to the vttermoste of my power as gladly as any poore wretch shall doe in the worlde and I thanke GOD I haue done no lesse of longe tyme. And as my poore prayer shall be a hand mayde to wayte vppon you whiche waye so euer you tyde or goe so I beseche you that my simple counsell maye take some place in you in thys time of your pilgrimage whiche you passe in no small parell GOD keepe and preserue you for his names sake I doe not disalowe but muche prayse and commende your hartye boldenesse in puttyng your selfe in preasse when any one of Gods people needeth your helpe in anye poynte But yet I woulde not haue you thruste your selfe in daunger when you can doe them no good or at least wyse when they maye well enoughe spare that good you woulde doe them For if you shoulde then chaunce to bee taken you shall not onelye bee no comforte vnto them but also a greate discomforte adding sorrowe vnto their sorrowe I doe not persuade you to absente your selfe from anye place where your presence of necessity is requyred for in all such places I know GOD will preserue you as he hath hetherto wonderfullye done praysed be his name therefore or if it shal please him to permitte you in any such place to bee taken I know he will moste sweetelye comforte your conscience with this consideration that it is the verye prouidence and appointmente of GOD that you shoulde there and then bee taken vppe for a witnesse of hys truth vnto the worlde but I can not allowe you nor bee contented that you shoulde rashelye or negligentlye thruste your selfe into that place where your wicked enemies doe continually haunte yea and laye waite for you when no necessitie of your selfe nor of anye other of Gods people doth require your companye Yf they neede anye of your Godlye counsell you maye write vnto them that thing that you thinke good whiche I dare saye will be sufficient vnto them For continuall thankes and prayses bee geuen vnto the euerlasting God there is none of those that be cruellye condemned for Gods truth that now be weakelings for they haue manfully passed through the pikes and they haue boldely abidden the brunte of the battel and therfore I recken the worst is past with thē alreadie So that nowe and then a Godlye letter from you to them shall doe as muche good as your companye shall doe and perchaūce more too For writing sticketh longer in the memorye then wordes doe yea thoughe your letters were as shorte to them as your laste was to me so that the same bee something sweter and not all thing so sharpe This deare brother is the simple coūsel which I would gladly haue you obserue partely for that I hartely pray for your preseruation to the commoditie of Christs church and partly for that I vnfainedly wish the peace comfort tranquilitie of your own conscience which I know will be quickly ready to accuse you if you do any thing wherein you haue not the worde of God for your warrante For in a glasse that is cleere a small mote wil sone appeare euen so the good conscience of Gods chosen children being more cleere then Christ all wil quickely accuse them at the least faulte they do commit where as the wicked worldlings haue their conscience clogged and corrupted throughe the custome of sinne that they can not once see nor perceaue their owne shameful deedes and wicked workes vntil GOD set the same before them for their vtter destruction and then dispayre they immediatly But seing the god hath geuē you a cleere conscience a pure sharpe quicke liuely sight in your soule I wold wishe you to beware that you do nothing vnaduisedly but vppon a good grounde For an accusing conscience is a sore thing whē death doth approche then Sathā wil not sticke to tel you that you haue to much tēpted god whē peraduēture you haue done nothīg so at all For this cause I saye partly I haue thought it good to admonish you as I haue done often to be circumspecte according to the counsel of Christ Math. 10. which biddeth you beware of men Other thinges I haue not for to write for I know this bearer can certefye you of al things at large better then I can declare it by writyng I beseche you good Augustine helpe me forwardes with your hartye prayers for I truste I haue but a smal time to tarye in this troublesome world Doctor Storye tolde oure Marshal that we should al be dispatched so sone as he came frō Oxforde whether he other bloodye butchers be gone to make slaughter of Christs shepe the lye there appointed to be slaine God for Christes sake put them and such lyke besides their cruell purpose if it bee his good will and pleasure Amen good Lord. I praye you doe my moste hartye commendations to my deare sister and faythfull frende good Mystres Marye Glouer I beseche GOD be her
doctrine with their bloode from whom I will dissente in no poynte for I am a poore man without learning but am commaunded of GOD to followe the counsel of his constante Preachers and so doe I entend to doe god geuing me grace and assistance thereto As for you I know you to be none of Christes shepeheards but rauening wolues whiche come to kill and scatter the flocke of Christe as the Lorde sayde you shoulde and doth will vs to beware of you and your poysoned doctrine bidding vs to iudge you accordyng to your fruites whereby all men maye see and knowe what you bee that will not be wilfullye blynd But the good shepeheardes haue geuen their liues for the defence of Christes flocke and I am commaunded to followe their faythfull and Godlye example and to confesse with them one truth euen to the fyre if GOD shall see it good and thys as a true Christian I haue hetherto done and hence forth by Gods grace entende for to doe And if for the same GOD shal suffer you to take away my lyfe as you haue done theirs I am contented therewith â–ª hys will bee done for that onelye is good But of thys be you sure the Lorde wil shortelye call you to accompte for all the innocente bloode that is shedde with in thys Realme which you haue brought into a most wofull case and made many a heauye harte in the same and moe I perceaue you will make so long as the Lord for our sinnes wil suffer you to prosper and vntill the time that your owne iniquitye be full rype But then be you sure the Lord will sitte in iudgement vpon you as well as you do now vpon his Saincts and will reward you according to your deseruings to whoÌ„ with my whole harte I commit my cause and he will make aunswere for me when the full tyme of my refreshyng commeth In the meane space I will keepe silence with thys that I haue sayde trusting that I haue sufficiently discharged my conscience in confessing my fayth and religion to you declaring of what Church I am euen of the catholyke Church of Iesus Christ which was wel knowen to be here in â—â—glande in our late good Kings dayes by two speciall tokens which can not deceaue me nor suffer me to be deceaued that is to say the pure preaching of his holy worde and the due administratioÌ„ of the holy sacramentes which is not to be sene in your Romyshe church and therfore it can not iustly be called the Church and spouse of Christ I beleue in the holy Trinitie and al the other articles of the Christian faith contained in the three Credes and finally al the canonicall Scripture to be true in euerye sentence And I detest al sectes both of the Arrians and Anabaptistes or any other that diuide themselues froÌ„ the true church of Christ whiche is his mysticall body the ground and piller of truth and the very house of the liuing God And if for these things you take away my life and make yourselues giltye of my blood you may for I am in your handes as the shepe brought to the Shambles abyding the grace of the Butcher And bee you sure your iudgement stepeth not but when you crye peace peace 2. Thes 5. and all is safe then shall your plagues beginne lyke the sorowes of a woman trauelyng with child according to Christes infallible promise This kinde of aunsweare my deare harte it shall bee beste for you to make and by Gods grace I doe entende to take the same order my selfe in tyme to come when the Lorde shall vouche me worthye of that greate dignitye wherunto he hath called you And if they shall laugh you to scorne as I know they wil saying thou arte a foole and an vnlearned asseheade and arte able to make aunswer to nothing c care not you for it but stil coÌ„mmit your cause vnto god who will make aunswer for you and tell them that they haue bene answered again again of diuers godly and learned men but al wil not helpe for you haue one solution for all maner of questions euen a faire fyre and fagots this will be the ende of your disputations Therfore I pray you to trouble me no more but do that which you are apointed wheÌ„ god shal permitte the time I am no better theÌ„ Christ his Apostels and other of my good bretherne that are gone before me This kind of answer wil cut their combes most and edify the people that stand by so that the same bee done coldly with sobrietie mekenes and patience as I heard say out swete bretherne Thomas HarlaÌ„d Iohn Osward did at Lewes in Suffex to the great reioycing of the childreÌ„ of god that were in those parties I heare say that they were dissolued from this earthly tabernacle at Leawes on Saterday last wer condeÌ„ned but the wednisday before so that we may perteine the papistes haue quicke worke in hand that they make such haste to haue vs home to our heauenly father Therfore let vs make our selues redy to ride in the fiery chariot 4. Reg. 2. leauing these sory mantels and old clokes behinde vs for a little time which god shal restore vnto vs againe in a more glorious wise My good brother Harry you shal vnderstaÌ„d the bragging Iohn T. hath begilde his kepers who trusted him to wel and is runne away from them hath broughte the poore men into great daunger by the same The one of them is cast by the Councels commaundemeÌ„t into the gate house at Westminster the other is sted forth of the countrey for feare Thus you may see the fruites of our freewil men that made so much boast of their owne strength But that house whiche is not builded surelye vppon the vnmoueable rocke wil not long stand against the boistrous windes and stormes that blow so strongly in these dais of trouble But my derely beloued brother blessed be god for you and suche as you be which haue plaied the partes of wise builders You haue dygged downe paste the sande of your owne naturall strength beneath the earth of your own worldly wisdom are nowe come to the harde stone and vnmoueable rocke Christ who is your only keper and vppon him alone you haue builded your faith most firmly without doubting mistrust or waueryng Therfore neither the stormes nor tempestes wyndes nor weathers that Sathan and all his wily workemen can bryng against you wyth the verye gates of hel to helpe theÌ„ shal euer be able once to moue your house much lesse to ouerthrowe it for the lord god himselfe and no man is the builder thereof hath promised to preserue and kepe the same safe for euer Vnto hys most merciful defence therfore I do hartely commit you and all your good comapany desiring him for his swete sonne Iesus Christes sake to confirme and strengthen you all that you maye bee constant vnto the very ende that after the finall
mercy and not sacrifice Reade the 25. chap. of Math. The third is wheÌ„ we make our body a quick sacrfice holy acceptable vnto God that is when we mortify and kil our fleshly concupisâ—nces and carnall lustes so bring our flesh through the helpe of the spirite vnder the obedience of Gods holy law This is a sacrifice to god most acceptable which the apostle calleth our reasonable seruing of God And let vs be sure that vnlesse we doe nowe at thys present take better hede to our selues and vse thankefullye the grace of God offred to vs by the gospell preaching these yeares past wherby we are induced brought to the knowlege of the truth Ephes 3 vnlesse I say we kepe Christ and his holy word dwellyng by faith in the house and teÌ„ple of our harts the same thyng that Christ threatneth vnto the Iewes shal happen vnto vs Math. 14 that is to wytte the vncleane spirite of ignoraunce superstition idolatry and infidelitie or vnbeliefe the mother and head of all vices which by the grace of god was cast out of vs bringyng with him seuen other spirites worse then hymself shal to our vtter destruction returne again into vs so shal we be in a worse case then euer we wer before 1. Pet. 2 For if we after we haue escaped from the fylthines of the world through the knowlege of the lord and sauiour Iesus Christ be yet tangled therin agayne ouercome then is the latter ende worse then the beginning it had bene better for vs not to haue knoweÌ„ the way of ryghteousnes then after we haue knowen it to turne from the holy coÌ„maundemeÌ„t geueÌ„ vnto vs Prouer. 26 for it happeneth theÌ„ vnto vs according to the true prouerbe the dogge is turned to his vomite agayne and the sow that was washed to wallowyng in the myre And thus to continue and perseuer in infidelitie to kicke against the manifest and knowen truth and so to dye without repentaunce and with a dispayre of the mercye of god in Iesu Christ is to sinne agaynst the holy ghost which shal not be forgeuen neither in thys worlde neyther in the world to come Math. 23 Heb. 6 For it is not possible saieth S. Paule that they which were once lighted and haue tasted of the heauenly gyft and were become partakes of the holy ghost haue tasted of the good word of god of the power of the world to come if they fal away should be renued again â–ª by repentaÌ„ce for asmuch as they haue as concernyng themselues crucified the sonne of god againe makynge a mockynge of hym Sainct Paules meaning in this place is that they that beleue truly vnfainedly gods word do continue abide sted fast in the knoweÌ„ truth If any therfore fal away froÌ„ Christ and his word it is a plaine tokeÌ„ that they were but dissembling hypocrites Math. 26 for al their faire faces outwardly neuer beleued truely as Iudas Simon Magus Demas Hymeneus Philetus others wer which al fel away froÌ„ the knowen verity made a mocke af Christ which S. Paule dothe cal here to crucify Christ a newe because that they turning to their old vomit again did most blaspemously tread the benefites of christes death passion vnder their fete They that are such caÌ„ in no wise be cenued by repeÌ„tance for their repeÌ„tance is fleshly as the repeÌ„tance of Caine Saule and Iudas was which being without godly coÌ„fort breedeth desperatioÌ„ vnto death These are not of the nuÌ„ber of thelect as S Iohn doth say they went out froÌ„ vs but they were not of vs 1 Iohn 2. for if they had bene of vs they woulde haue remained with vs vnto the ende Also the apostle saith in an other place Heb. 10 yf we sinne willingly after that we haue receiued the knowlege of the truth ther remaineth no more sacrifice for sinne but a fearful loking for iudgemeÌ„t violent fyre which shal deuoure the aduersaries They sinne willingly which of a set malyce and purpose do wthold the truth in vnrighteousnes lying Rom. 1. kyâ—kyng against the manifest open knowen truthe which although they do perfectly know that in all the worlde there is none other sacrifice for sinne but only that omnisufficieÌ„t sacrifice of christes death yet notwithstanding they wyll not commit theÌ„selues wholy vnto it but rather despise it allowyng other sacrifices for synne â—inueÌ„ted by the imaginatioÌ„ of man as we see by daily experience vnto whoÌ„ yf they abide stil in their wickednes and sinne remaineth a most horrible and dreadful iudgement This is that synne vnto death for whych S. Iohn would not that a man should pray Wherfore my derely beloued in Christ 1. Iohn 5 1. Cor. 10 Apoc. 12 Math. 24. Rom. 1 let vs on whoÌ„ the endes of the worlde are come take diligeÌ„t hede vnto our selues that now in these last perilous tymes in the which the Deuil is come doune hath great wrath because he knoweth his time is but short wherof the prophets Christ the apostles haue so much spokeÌ„ geueÌ„ vs so earnest forewarning we wthold not the truth in vnrighteousnes beleuing doing or speaking any thing against out knowlege coÌ„scieÌ„ce or wtout faith For if we do so for what cause soeuer it be Iohn 8. phi .. 2. Math. 3 it is a wilful obstinate infidelity a sinne vnto deathe as our Sauiour Christ saieth if ye beleue not ye shall die in your sinnes For vnlesse we hold fast the word of life both beleuing it also bring forth fruit worthy of repeÌ„tance we shal with that vnprofitable figge tree which did but cuÌ„ber the ground Luke 13 bee cut doune our talent taken froÌ„ vs geuen vnto an other that shal put it to a better vse we through our own vnthaÌ„kfulnes put froÌ„ the mercy of god Matth. 18. shal neuer be able to pay our debts that is to say we shall altogether bee lost and vndone Heb. 6. For the earth that drinketh in the rayne that commeth ofte vppon it and bryngeth foorth herbes meete for them that dresse it receyueth blessing of God But that grounde that beareth thornes and brears is reproued and is nygh vnto cursyng whose ende is to be burned Neuertheles dere frendes we trust to see better of you and such things as accompany saluation and that ye being that ground watered with moistnes of gods word plenteously preached amongs you Luke 8 Iames. 1. wil with a good hart heare the worde of god kepe it bringing forthe fruite with patience and bee none of those forgetfull and hypocritishe hearers whiche althoughe they heare the worde Math. 13 yet the Deuil commeth and catcheth away that which was sowen in the hart eyther hauyng no roote in themselues endure but a season and as sone as tribulation or persecution aryseth because of the worde by and by they are
wil be our helpe tary ye the lordes laysure Be strong let your hartes be of good comfort waite you still for the lord He is at hand yea the angel of the lord pitcheth his tent round about theÌ„ that feare him and deliuereth theÌ„ which way he seeth best for our liues are in the lords handes and they can doo nothing vnto vs before God suffer them therefore geue al thankes to god Oh my dere hartes nowe shal you be clothed wyth long white garments vppon the Mount Sion wyth the multitude of Saints and wyth Iesus Christ our sauiour which wil neuer forsake vs. Oh blessed Virgyns ye haue played the wise Virgins part in that ye haue taken oyle in your laÌ„pes that ye may enter with the brydegrome when he commeth into the euerlasting ioy But as for the folysh they shal be shut out because they made not themselues redy to suffer wyth Christ neither go about to take vp hys crosse Oh how precious shall your death be in the syght of the Lord for deare is the death of his saints Farewel mine owne deare harts and praye The grace of our lord Iesus Christ he with you al. AmeÌ„ AmeÌ„ Pray p.p. By me Richard Roth written with myne owne blood The copy of a letter written and cast out of the Castle of Caunterbury by the prisoners there in bandes for gods woâ—â— declaring how the papistes went about to famish the 〈◊〉 death of the which company fyue were famished amongest them already BE it knowen vnto all men that shall rede or heaâ—e redde these oure letters that we the poore prysoners of the Castell of Cauntorbury for gods truth are kept and lye in colde irons and our keper will not suffer any meate to bee brought to vs to comfort vs. And if any man do bryng anye thing as bread butter chese or any other foode the said keper wil charge them that so bring vs any thing except money or raiment to cary it with them againe or els if he do receiue any fode of any for vs he kepeth it for himselfe and he his seruantes do spend it so that we haue nothing therof There were fiue famyshed in that pryson whose names were these Iohn Clarke Dunston Chettenden W. Foster A. Fotkins Iohn Archer And thus the keper withholdeth kepeth away our vitails froÌ„ vs in so muche that there are .iiij. of vs prisoners there for gods truth famished alredy And thus is it his mynd to famishe vs al and we thinke he is apointed of the bishops priests and also of the iustices so to famish vs not only vs of the said Castle but al other prisoners in other prisoÌ„s for the lyke cause to be also famished NotwithstaÌ„ding we write not these our letters to that entent we myght not aforde to be famished for the lord Iesus sake but for this cause and entent that they hauing no law so to famish vs in prison should not do it priuely but that the murtherers harts should be openly knowen to all the world that al men may know of what churche they are who is their father Out of the castell of Caunterbury A letter of that true pastour and worthy Martyr D. Ridley wherin you may see the singular zeale he had to the glory of God and the furtherance of hys Gospell wrytten to Maister Cheke in Kyng Edwardes dayes here placed as it came to our hands MAister Cheke I wish you grace and peace Syr in Gods cause for Gods sake and in his name I besech you of your helpe furtherance towards gods word I did talke with you of late what case I was in concerning my Chaplens I haue gotten the good will graunt to be with me of three preachers men of good learning and as I am perswaded of excellent vertue whiche are able both with life and learning to set forth Gods worde in London and in the whole diocesse of the same where is most nede of al partes in Englande for from thence goeth example as you know into al the rest of the Kings Maiesties whole Realme The mens names be these M Grindall whom you know to be a man of vertue and learning M. Bradforde a man by whom as I am assuredlye enformed God hath and doth woorke wonders in setting forth of hys woorde The thirde is a preacher the whiche for detecting and confuting of the Anabaptistes and papistes in Essex both by his preaching and by his writing is enforced nowe to beare Christes crosse The two first be Scholers in the Vniuersitie The thirde is as poore as either of the other twayne Nowe there is fallen a Prebende in Paules called Cantrelles by the death of one Layton Thys Prebend is an honest mans liuing of .xxxiiij. poundes and better in the Kings bookes I woulde with all my harte geue it vnto M. Grindall and so I should haue hym continuallye with me and in my diocesse to preache But Alas Syr I am letted by the meanes I feare me of suche as do not feare God One M. William Thomas one of the Clarkes to the Counsell hath in tymes past sette the Counsaile vpon me to haue me to graunte that Layton mighte haue alienated the sayde Prebend vnto him and his heires for euer God was mine ayde and defendour that I dyd not consent vnto his vngodly enterprise Yet I was so then handled before the Counsel that I grauÌ„ted that wheÌ„soeuer it should fall I shoulde not geue it before I shoulde make the Kinges Maiestie preuye vnto it and of acknowledge before the collation of it Now Layton is departed and the Prebend is fallen certaine of the Counsell no doubt by this vngodly mans meanes haue writteÌ„ vnto me to stay the collatioÌ„ And where as he dispaireth that euer I would assent that a preachers liuing shoulde be bestowed on hym he hath procured letters vnto me subscribed with certaine of the Counselles hands that now the Kings Maiestie hath determined it vnto the furniture of his highnes stable Alas Syr this is a heauy hearing When papistrye was taught there was nothing too litle for the teachers When the Bishop gaue his benefices vnto idiotes vnlearned vngodlye for kindred for pleasure for seruice other worldly respectes all was then wel allowed Now where a poore liuing is to be geuen vnto an excellent Clarke a maÌ„ knowen tryed to haue both discretioÌ„ also vertue such a one as before god I do not know a man yet vnplaced vnprouided for more meete to set forth gods word in al Englande when a poore liuing I say which is founded for a preacher is to be geueÌ„ vnto such a man that then an vngodly persoÌ„ shal procure in this sorte letters to stoppe lette the same alas M. Cheke this seemeth vnto me to be a ryght heauy hearing Is thys the fruite of the gospel Speake M. Cheke speake for gods sake in gods cause vnto whom soeuer you thinke you may do any good withall And
England but also vnto the great reioycing encouraging of the most godly learned men in al couÌ„treis wil as I desire and trust geue you suche comforte in conscience as shall easely beare the paines of your imprisonmeÌ„t If you desire to suffer or do that thing whiche mighte testifye the truth aduaunce the glory edifye the church of Christ truly you haue your desire yea and I ensure you very many godlye men in diuers places geue daily thankes vnto god in praier for you You know your cause is good your frendes be in fauour your aduersaries in displeasure wyth the almightye god your heaueÌ„ly father your sufferyng for the truth shall not be vnrewarded your hope in Christ shall neuer be confounded For although your bodies bee kepte within prysons yet your testimony vnto the truth shyneth farre abroad in the world and your faythfull prayers in charitable vnitie ioyned wyth many others be continually presented afore the throne of god God graunt you grace to finde vse comfortable meditation of his worde in diligent obedience vnto hys wyl Christ be your keper in comfort Amen From Zurich the .52 of Octob. by yours faithfully in Christ Thomas Leauer Sap. 3. They are punished in few things but in many things shall they be rewarded He trieth them as the golde in the fornace receiueth them as a hurnt offring Gratia sancte pater tua det quò in firma ferendae Hee caro victrici nostra sit apta cruci Thy holy spirite grace graunt vs O father deare wherby we may be stroÌ„g thy crosse alway to beare ⧠A Table of the letters conteyned in thys booke declaryng by whome and to whome they were written Letters of D. Cranmer Archb. of Cant. A Letter to Quene Mary 1 An other letter to Quene Mary 3 To the Lordes of the Councell 16 A letter wherin he reproueth the slaunderous reportes that he had sette vp Masse agayne at Caunt 17 To a certaine Lawyer 19 To Mistres Wilkinson 23 Letters of D. Ridley B. of London TO the brethren dispersed abroad in sundry prisons c. 28 To the bretherne which constantly cleaue vnto Christ c. 34 To Quene Mary 38 An aunswer to West 40 To maister Hoper 45 A letter sent vnto him by maister Grindal beyng in exile 49 An answer writeÌ„ by him to the former letter 15 A letter to D. Cranmer D. Latymer 56 Viii. seueral letters to M. Bradford 58 iii. letters to Augustine Berneher 70 To mistres Mary Glouer 74 To a frend that came to visit him in the prisoÌ„ 75 A letter of his cruel haÌ„dling in Oxford 76 To D. Weston 78 To a Cosin of hys 79 A letter written to all hys faithfull frends as hys last farewel 80 An other farewel to the prisoners in the cause of christes gospel 103 A letter of his cruel handling in the scholes at Oxford and of his condemnation c. 112 Letters of M. Hoper B. of Glocester TO certayne godly persons enstructing them how to vse themselues at the chaunge of religion 114 To certain of his relieuers and helpers in the City of London 117 An aunswer to a letter wherby he was certified of them that were taken at Bowe 120 To the prisoners in both CouÌ„ters which were taken at Bowe 121 To certaine of his frendes exhorting theÌ„ to sticke to the truth 123 An other letter to the same effecte 125 To a merchant man by whome he had receiued comfort in the Flete 127 A letter of his cruell handlyng in the Flete 128 A letter againste false reportes that he had recanted 130 To mystres Wilkinson 131 To mistres A. W. 132 To maister Farrar D. Taylor M. Bradford M. Philpot. 134 To M. Hall and hys wyfe 136 To one that was falleÌ„ froÌ„ the truthe of the Gospell 137 To the faithful in the city of LoÌ„don 140 To a certaine woman teaching her how to behaue her self in her widowhode 142 A letter concerning a woman that was troubled wyth her husband in matters of religion 143 To hys beloued W.P. 146 To M. Iohn Hall 146 An exhortation to hys wyfe 147 To the christian congregation 157 A letter of M. Bullinger to M. Hoper 166 Letters of D. Taylor TO D. Cranmer D. Rydley and D. Latymer 171 To a frend of his concerning hys talke with the commissioners 172 A letter concerning the cause of hys condemnation 175 To his wife and children 178 Another letter to hys wyfe 641 Letters of M. Laurence Saunders TO D. Cranmer D. Ridley and D. Latymer 179 To the professours of the gospell in the towne of Lichfield 182 To mystres Lucie Harrington 191 An other to mistres Harrington 192 To his wyfe M. Harrington and M. Hurland 193 An other letter to them 195 A letter concernyng D. Westons comming to him to the Marshalsee 197 To hys wife and certayne other of hys frendes 197 ii other letters to his wife 200 To S. Gardiner B. of Winchester 201 To his wife other of his frendes 204 An other letter to his wyfe and certayne other of his frendes 205 ii letter to M. Robert Glouer Iohn Glouer 205 To a certayne backeslider froÌ„ the truth of gods worde 208 To M. Ferrâ—r D Taylour M. Bradforde and M. Philpot. 211 A letter to mistres L. Harrington 212 Letters of M. Iohn Philpot. A Letter written to the christian congregation 216 To Iohn Careles prisoner in the kings Benche 224 An other letter to Iohn Careles 226 An answer of I. Careles to the former letter 230 To certayne godly women goyng beyond the seas 234 An exhortation writeÌ„ to a Sister of his 236 To M. Robert Harrington 239 To M. Robert Glouer prisoner in CoueÌ„ 241 To mistres Heath 243 To Iohn Careles 245 To mistres A. Hartipole 247 To a faithful woman exhorting her to be patient vnder the crosse 249 To certain of his freÌ„ds as his last farewel 645 Letters of M. Iohn Bradford To the faythful professours of gods worde in the City of London 251 To the true professours of gods worde in the vniuersitie and towne of Cambridge 257 To the professours of the true religioÌ„ of christ in Lankeshyre and Chesshire 263 To the vnfayned professours of the truth dwellyng at Walden 269 To the honourable L. Russell 275 An other letter to the L. Russell 278 To Maister Warcup mistres Wilkinson and other his frendes 280 To Sir Iames Hales 286 To hys Mother 290 To D. Hill Phisition 294 To Mistres M. H. 298 An other letter to her 303 To his beloued W. P. 305 To mistres I. H. 306 To M. Humphrey Hales 309 An other letter to maister H. Hales 312 To certayne of his frendes encouraging to be ioyful vnder the crosse 314 To M. Laurence Saunders prisoner in the Marshalsee 319 An other letter to M. Saunders 321 A letter of comfort to a faithful woman in her heauines and trouble 322 To hys louing brethren B.C. 330 To the Lady Vane 334 ii other letters to the L. Vane