❧Ihon Knox To the faythfull in Londō / New­castell / Barwyke / & to all others / with­in the Realme of Englande / that le­uith the comming of our Lord Ie­sus / Wissheth continuance in godlines too the ende With a declaration of prayer / annexeth to the same.

WHē I remēber the fearthfull threathninges of God / pro­ [...]oficed against Realmes / Leuit. xx Matth. x. and nacions / to whom the light of Gods worde hath ben offered / and con­temptiously by them refused / as my hart vnfaynedly / morneth for your present estate / dearly beloued in our sauiour Ihesus Christ / so doth the hole powers / of body & sou­le / trymble and shake / for the plagues that are to come. But that Gods trew worde hath ben offered to the realme of England can none de­nye / except suche as by the dyuel holden in bō ­dage (God iustly so punishing their proud in­obediens) hath neither eyes to se / Timo. ij. nor vnderstā ­ding to dycerne good from bad / nor darkenes from light. Against whome no otherwise will I contend at this present / then dyd the Pre­phete [Page] Ieremie / against the styffe necked & stubborne people of Iuda / sayinge: Ierem. xxiii The wrath off the Lord shall not be turned awaye, till he haue fulfilled the thoughtes of his hart. And thus leaue I them (as of whose repētaūce there is small hope) to the handes of hym that shall not forget their horrible blasphemis spo­ken in dispitte of Christes truthe / and of hys trew minister [...] And with you that vnfained­ly morneth for the greate shipwrake of goddes trew relygion / purpose I to communicat suche counsailer / and admonicious / now by my wri­tinge / as sometymes it pleased God / I dyd pro­claime in your cares. The ende of whiche my admonicion is / that euin as that you purpose / and entend to auoid Gods vengeaunce / bothe in this lyfe / and in the lyfe to come / that so ye auoid and flee (aswell in body as in sprete) al fe­lowship / and societye with Idolaters in their Idolatrye. You shrynke (I know) euin at the fyrst. But yf an orator / had the matter in hād­linge / he wolde proue it honeste / profytable / easye / and necessary to be done / and in euery one poynte were store ynough / for a longe oration. But as I neuer labored to perswade any man in matters of religion (God I take to record in my conscience) except by the very simplicitie & plaine infallable truthe of Gods worde. No more mynde I in this behaulfe. But this I affyrme / that to fle frō idolatrye / is so profytable and so necessary to a Christian / that onles he so do / all worldly profyth turneth to his perpetuall disprofeit / and condemnacion. Profijt aperteyning / either to the bodyes / or to the sou­les [Page] / of our selues / and our posteritie / corporall commodities consisteth in such thinges as man chiefly couetith for the body / as ryches / estima­cion / longe lyfe / health and quietnes in earth. The only comfort and ioye of the soule is God by his worde expelling ingoraunce / synne / and death / and in the place of those / planting trew knowledge of hym selfe / and with thesame iu­stice and lyfe / by Christ his sonne. Yf any off these forsaide moue vs / then of necessitie it is / that we auoyde Idolatry / for playne it is / that the soule hath neither lyfe nor comfort / but by God alone / with whome Idolatours / 1. Cor. vl. hath no other participacion [...]hen hath the deuils / and albeit that abhominable Idolatours / for a moment [...]rysiphe yet approcheth the houre / when Gods vengeaunce shall stryke / not onely their soules / but euin their vile carcasies / shalbe plagued / as God before hath threatned. Leui. xxv Their cy­ties shalbe burned / their lāde shalbe layd wast / their enemies shall dwell in their stronge hol­des / their wyues and doughters shalbe defyted their chyldrē shall fall in the edge of the swerd / mercy shall they fynde none / because they haue refused the God of all mercye / when louingly and longe he called vpon thē / you wolde know the tyme / and what certitude I haue here off. To God wil I appoint no tyme / but that these and mo plagues / shall fall vpon England (and that ere it he long) I am so sure / as that I am that my God lyueth. This my affirmacion / shall displease many / and shall content few / God knowith the secretes of all hartes / kno­weth that also / it displeaseth myselfe / and yet [Page] lyke as before I haue ben compelled to speake in your presens (& in presens of others) suche thinges / as were not pleasable to the eares of men / wherof (alas) a great part this daye are come to passe / so I am cōpelled now to wryte with the teares of my eyes / I know to your displeasur. But deare brethrē / be subiect vnto God / and geue place vnto his wrath / that ye may escape his euerlastinge vengeaunce. My penne I trust / shall now be no more vehemēt / then my tounge hath bene after then ones / not onely before you / but also before the chief of the Realme. What was sayd in Newcastel & Barwyke before the sweat. I trust yet som in those places beareth in mynde / What vpō the daye of all Sainctes / [...]et New­ [...]stel wit [...]es. the yeare that the duke of Somerset was last apprehēded. What before hym / that then was duke of Northumberland / in the towne of Newcastell / & other places moo: What before the kynges maiestye at Wynsore / Hamptoncourt / and Westmyn­ster / & fynally what was spoken in London / in moo places then one / when fyers of ioye & ryotous bankettinge were made at the Pro­clamacion of Mary your quene. Yf men will not speake / the stones and tymber of those places / shal crye in fyer / and beare record that the truthe was spoken / and shal absolue me / in that behalfe in the daye of the Lord.

Suspect not brethrē / that I delyte in your calamities / or in the plagues that shal fal vpō that vnthankefull nation. No / God I take to recorde / that my hart mourneth within me / and that I am crucyet for remembraunce of [Page] youre troubles / but if that I shoulde ceasse / then dyd I agaynste my conscience / as also a­gaynste my knowledge / Eze. xxxiij and so shoulde be gyl­tie of the bloud of those that peryshed for lack of admonicions / and yet shal the plague not a moment the longer be delayed / for the Lorde hath apoynted the daye of hys vengeaunce / before the whiche he sendeth trompettes and messingers / that hys electe / watchynge with prayers / and sobrietie / maye be hys mercye es­scape the vengeaunce that shal come. But now you wolde knowe the groundes of my certitude / God graundt that hearinge them / you maye vnderstande / and stedfastlye beleue the same. My assurances are / not the maruailes of Marlynge / neither yet the darke sentē ­ces of prophaine Prophetes / but the playne 1 truthe of Gods holy worde. The immuta­ble 2 iustice of the euerliuing God. And the or­denary 3 course of hys plagues from the begin­ning are my assuraunces & groundes. Gods worde threatneth distrucciō to the inobediēt. Deu. xxvii Ierem v. Amos. iij. Hys immutable iustice muste require the­same. The ordenarye punishmentes and pla­gues sheweth examples / What menne then hauynge vnderstandynge / can cease to pro­phecye?

The worde of God playnely speaketh / Deut [...]9. that yf a man shal heare the curses of Gods law / and yet in his hart shal promys to hym selfe / felicitie and good lucke / thinckinge / he shall haue peace / albeit he walcke after the Imagi­nacions of hys owne wil and hart. To suche [Page] a man the Lord will not be mercifull / but hys wrath shalbe kyndled against him / and he shal destroye hys name frō vnder the heauen / how the Lord threathneth plagues after plague / and euer the last to be the fyrst / whill fynally / he will consume realmes / and nations / if they repent not / reade the .26. Chapter off Leuiticus / which chapter / oft I haue willed you to marke / as yet I do vnfainedly / anh thinke not / it apre­tāneth to the Iewes only / No brethern. The Prophetes are the interparatours of the law / and they make the plagues off God commō to all offendore / the punyshment euer beginning at the houshold of God. The wic­ked prote­statiō of the late duke off Northu­berlād / at the hour of his de­ath / aga­ynste hys owne conscience in hope off [...]yfe. Esai. xiij.xv.xviij.cvij.xix. Ieremi. l lj. Ezech. xxv xxvi. [...]7. And here I must tou­che a poinct off that deuillishe confession made (a late) by that miserable man / whose name for sorow I can not recyte. This argumēt he vseth to proue the doctrine of late yeres done / taught amongest you / to be wicked / Trobles and pla­gues (sayth he) hath folowed the same / not only here in England / but also in Germany / as he willeth you to marke. This fragill / and vaine argument at this tyme / no otherwyse will I labor / to confute / then by plaine scriptures de­claring / that plagues apertayneth to all inobe­dient / beginninge firste / where Gods mercies hath bene offered / and obstinatly refused / & that may aunswere the blynde rage of ignoraūces.

The Prophetes Esai, Ieremi, Ezechieli, af­ter they had proclaymed plagues to fall vppon the people off Israel / and vpon the house of Iuda / prophecyeth particularlye againste certeyn nations and cyties / not onely adiacēt in circute about Ierusalem / but also againste suche / as [Page] were far distant / as against Moah, Ammon, Palestina, Aegipt, Tirus, Damascus, and Ba­bilone. And in conclusion generall prophesies / are spoken against all inobedient / and synfull natiōs / as in the .24. chapter off Esaye plainly apeareth / Ierem. xxv as also the Lord commaunding Iere­mye / to geue the cuppe off hys wrath / to al na­tions / one after another / who sholde drinke off the same / although they refused it of his hand / That is albeit / they wolde not beleue the voyce off the prophet / yet sholde they not escape. Ierem. [...]. The plagues that he spake. For euery nation lyke vnto this / shal I punisshe saith the Lord of ho­stes / with thesame agreeth Amos saing: Amos. ix. The eyes of the Lord are vpon euery sinfull na­tion, to roote it out of the earthe. These and many mo places euidētly proueth that plagues spoke in the law of God / apertaineth to euery rebellions people / be they Iew / or be they Gen­tile / Christians intytel / or Turkes in professiō / And the grounde off the Prophetes / was the­same / The iustice of God whiche before I haue rehersed for my assuraunces / that Englande shall be plagued / which is Godes immutable and inuiolable iustice / whiche can not spare in one Realme and nation / those offences that moste seuerally he hath punisshed in another / for so were he in e­quall and made differēs / as touching executiō off his iust iudgementes / betwixte parson and parson / whiche is most contrarious to the in­tegritie off his iustice / for thus he speaketh by Ieremy his prophete: Behold, Ierem. xxv I haue begōne to punisshe in the house where my name is in­called / and shall I spare the rest, as the Lorde [Page] wolde saye / howe can my iustice permit those crymes vnpunished in proude contemptnors / that neither regardeth me / nor yet my lawe / seing I haue not spared my own people / that externally beareth some reuerēs to my name.

Englande synfull.That God hath punished other realmes & nations / men of smal vnderstāding / wil easly confes. But whether that lyke crymes hathe ben / and yet are committed within the realme of Englande / as were before the laste plagues of God among those nations / that is to be in­quyred / in this case can nothing better instruct vs then Gods plaine woorde / rebuking the vi­ces / whiche raigned in those dayes / And omit­ting all such as prophesied before / it shal suffice for this tyme / to reherse some places of Iere­mye. The tyme of whose prophecie wel consy­dered / shal make the matter more sensible. He beginneth in the .13. yeare of the raigne of king Iosias and contine with tyll after the destrucciō of Ierusalem / whiche came in the .11. yeare of Zedechias / Longe preached this godly man to wite .39. yeares and sixe monethes / before the vttermost of the plagues apprehēded this stub­born nation and that he did with much troble and iniurie susteined / as in his prophesyes / is to be sene. Be all lykelyhold then / there were some Cob Carles / that were not pleased with the proffit / neither yet with hys preachinges. And yet plaine [...]t is / that no Kyng so truly tur­ned vnto God with all hys hart / with all hys soule / and with all hys strength / accordinge to all the law of Moyses / as did Iosias / & yet as sayd is. The prophet of God was trobled / not [Page] by no smal number / for I fynd hym complain / vniuersally & generally vpon the peoples ini­quitie / for thus iudgeth he Gods speakinge. My people haue committed dubble iniquitie. Ierem. ij. They haue forsaken me / the fountaine of ly­ning water / and haue digged to thē selfes Se­stornes / that can holde no water. Why wilt thou iustefye thyselfe? Vnder thy wynges is founde the bloud of the soules of the poore in­nocentes / whome thou founde not in corners / and yet thou sayest / I am innocent. Ierem. iij. Thou hast gotten a whores forehead / thou canst not think shame / my people is folish / they know me not / Ierem. iiij. Ierem i.ix. they are folysh chyldren / and haue no wysdō / wise they are to committe mischiefe / but to do good they are all together ignorant. Euery mā may beware of his neyghbor / and no man as­suredly maye truste in hys brother / for euery man is becōme dis [...]eatfull / they haue practesed their toūges to lyes / and guyle. They haue lef [...] my law (sayth the Lord) and haue folowed the wicked imaginaciōs of their owne hartes / they haue folowed after Baalam / whome their fa­thers taught them. The offē ­ces of Iuda before the capti­uitie. Of this and of many moo places lyke apeareth the generall offences / off that people to haue ben defectiō frō God / shed­ding of innocēt bloud / Iustifiyng of thē selfes / & defence of their iniquitie / while yet they abeū ded in reaf / murder / oppressiō / lyes / crafte / pra­ctise / deceat / & manifest idolatrye / folowing the trade of their fathers / who vnder Manasses, & Ammō / of whom the one in the beginning / thother all his lyfe mantaineth Idolatrie / had ben the ringleders of all abhominacion.

[Page]The prophetes off God wōdering at so ma­nifest iniquitie iudged that suche ingnorauncy and inobediēce was only amonges the rascals sorte off men / and therfore he sayth: Ierem. v. These be but poore ones / they are folisshe / they knowe not the waye of the Lord / nor the iudgemēt off their God / I will goo to the nobils and I will talke with them / for they know the waye off theyr Lord / and the iudgemētes of their God. But what findeth he amonges them / he declared in these wordes, Ierem. v. They haue all brokē the yocke, they haue heaped synne vpō synne / and one misschefe vpon another / frō the least vnto the moste / all are bent vpon auaryce / and gape for lucre / from the priest to the prophet / euery man dealth deceatfully. Ierem. vi. Beholde / theyr eares be incircūcised / they can not aduert / The word of God is a rebuke vnto them / they delite not in it. They haue committed abhominable mis­schiefe / What this abhomination was / God sheweth to Ezechiel / E [...]k viii. all had forsaken God in their hartes / in so muche that a great number openly / had turned their backes vnto God / and made sacrifice to the sunne / euery man in hys owne secret closet. Yea / wemen mourned for that they were not permitted to commit open abhomination / is it not to be wondered that al estates were so corrupte vnder so godly a prin­ce. Ierem. v. But our prophet Ieremie proceadith in his complainte / sayinges / they can not repent / nei­ther yet thinke shame. They haue denied the Lord / and sayd it is not he / we shall neither se sweard nor hūger. You heare the obediens that the prophet founde amonges the princes off [Page] Iuda / and yet I saye / it is not to be wondered that the vineyarde / which was so well mannured / brought forth no better grapes. Herken England. They had a kyng most godly mynded / they had prophetes (for Ieremy was not alone) most faithful and feruēt. They were admonisshed by diuers pla­gues / and alwaies the prophetes called for re­pentaunce / and yet folowed nothing / but open contēpt off God / and of hys messingers. Osel. vl. Their repentaunce were lyke the mornyng dewe / it remayned not / although they cold saye in their mouthe / the Lord lyueth / yet were their othes nothinge but lyes. Ierem. v [...] Fynde me one man / that doth equitie & iustice &c. to hym will I be mer­cifull sayth the Lord. Here was narow and sharpe inquisition amonges so great a multi­tude be lyke / there hath not bene very manye / when he that knoweth the secrete thoughtes searcheth so diligētly. But before we proceade further in this matter / it shall be profytable / to se how these procedīges doth agree with our estate and tyme. Compa­ryson be­twixte England and Iuda before the distruc­tion. Kyng Ed­ward the sixte. And firste that we had not Gods woorde offered vnto vs / will none (ex­cepte arrant papist) alledge. We had a kynge off so godly disposition towardes vertew / and chiefly towardes Gods truthe / that none frō the begynninge passed hym / and to my know­ledge / none of hys yeare did euer matche hym in that behalfe / iff he might haue bene lorde of hys owne will. In this meane tyme / if synnes dyd abound / let euery man accuse hys owne cō science for here I am not mynded to specefie all that I knowe / neither yet is it necessarye / seynge some crymes were so manifeste and so [Page] heighnous that the earthe colde not hydde the innocent bloud / nor yet could the heauēs with­out shame / behold the craft / the deceat / the vio­lens and wronge / that openly was wroughte. And in the meane ceason / the hande off God was busye ouer vs / & his trew messingers is kept not sylence. You know that the realme off Englande was visited with straunge plagues and whether that it was euer prophesied / that the worse plagues were to folow / I appeale to the testemony of your own consciēce / but what ensewed here vpon? Alas I am ashamed to re­herse it / vniuersal contempt of all godly admo­nitions / hatered of those that rebuked their vyces: Autoresing of suche / as colde inuente most vylanye agaynste the preachers of God. Witnes certeyne ballates. In this matter I maye be admitted for a sufficiēt witnes / for I hard and saw / I vnderstood and knew / with the sorow of my hart / the manifest contempt and the crafty deuices of the deuil a­gainst those most godly and learned preachers, that this laste Lent / Anno. 1553. were apoyn­ted to preache before the Kynges maiestie / as also against all others / whose toūges were not tempered by the holy water of the courte too speake it plainlye / who flatteringe agaynste their owne conscience / coulde not saye / all was well / and nothinge neded reformacion.

What reuerēce and audience was geuen vnto preachers / this laste Lent / by such as then were in autoritie / their owne countinaunces declared assuredly / euen suche as was geuen to Ieremye / they hated suche / as rebuked their vyce / and stubbernlye they sayde: We [Page] wil not amende / and yet howe boldely theyr synnes were rebuked / suche as were presente / can witnes with me / almoste there was none / who dyd not prophesye and plainly spake the plagues that are begonne / and assuredly shall ende. Mayster Grindall plainlye spake the death of the Kynges maiestie / Mayster Grindal. complayninge vppon hys housholde seruauntes / who / ney­ther feared to raile agaynste the woorde off God / and agaynste the trewe preachers of the same.

That godly and feruent man mayster Le­uer / playnlye spake the desolacion off thys common wealthe. Mayster Leuer. Mayster Bradford And mayster Bradforde (whome God for Christes hys sonne sacke comforte to the ende) spared not the proudest of them / but boldely declared / that Goddes vengeaunce shortlye shoulde strycke / those that then were in auctoritie / because they lothed & abhorred the trew worde of the euerlastinge God / & willed thē to take example by a noble man / who became so colde in hearing Gods worde / that the year before his death / he wold not disease hym self to heare a sermō / God punisshed hym (sayde that godly preacher) and shall he spare you that be dubble more wicked? No / ye shal saye / will ye / or will ye not / ye shal drinke of the cup of the Lordes wrathe / Iudi­cium domini, Iudiciū domini. Mayster Haddon. The iudgemēt of the Lord / the iudgement of the Lorde / cryed he with a lamentable voyce / and weaping tea­res. Master Haddon / most lernedly opened the causes of the byepassed plagues / and assured them / that the worse was after to come / If re­pentaunce [Page] shortly were not founde. Muche more I harde of these foure / and of others / which now I maye not rehearce / & that (which is to be noted) after that the hole counsail had sayd they wolde heare no mo of their sermōs / they were vndiscrete felowes / yea / & pratynge knaues / but I will not speake all / for yf God contynew me in this troble. I purpose to pre­pare a dysshe / forsuche as then ledde the ryng / yea / who but they [...] but nowe they haue bene at the skoole of Placebo / and ther they haue lerned amongst ladyes to daunse as the deuill lyst to pype. Agaynst those / whom God hath stryken / seing now resteth to them no place of repentaunce / nothing mynd I to speake. But such as lyue to this dai / wold be admonisshed that he that hath punished the one / wil not spare the rest But to our matter. This presi­dents I iudge sufficient to proue this oure age to haue bene / & yet to remayne lyke wic­ked (if it be not worse) with the tyme of Iere­mye. Now let vs searche what folowed in Iuda? Mischefe vpon mischefe / notwithstādinge the continuall and long cryeng of the prophe­tes / whil fynally God in his anger toke away good king Iosias / liij. Regum xxllj. because he was determened to destroye Iuda / as before he had destroyed Israel. After the death of this godly Kynge / great was the troble / diuers & sondry were the alteracions in that commē wealth. Three kynges taken prysoners / one after other in short space / what other were the miseries of that stubbern nation. O God, for thy greate mercies sake, let neuer thy smal and troubled [Page] flocke / within the realme of Englande / learn in experiens. But in all those trobles / no re­pentaunce appeared / as by the prophet ye may learne / for thus he crieth: Ierem. v. [...] Esai. 1. Thou haste stryken them o Lorde / but they haue not mourned / thou hast destroyed them / but they haue not receaued discipline. Ieremi. xij. They haue hardened their faces harder then stones / they will not cōuert: The hole lād is wasted / but no man wil wyn / Ierem. xiij. ponder & consider / the cause. This people will not heare my worde / They walke in the wic­ked inuention of their owne hartes: They go after other goddes to worship and serue them and of the prophetes naturall frendes of the men of Anathotes / some plainly said. Speake no more to vs in the name of the Lorde / leaste thou dye in our handes / belyke these men had smal fantasye to Gods prophet. But yet shall a sermon (and that whiche ensewid the same) made in the beginning of the raigne of Iehoiakim / sonne to Iosias / make euident / and better knowne / how muche the people were bent to Idolatrye / and to heare false prophetes / after the death of their good kyng. The prophet is commaunded by God to stande in the court or entres of the Lordes house / and to speake to all cities of Iuda / that then came to worshippe / in the house of the Lorde / and is commaunded to kepe no worde backe / yf peraduenture (sayeth the Lorde) they will herken and tourne euery man from his wicked waye. The tenor of hys sermon / is this / Thus fayth the Lorde: Iere. xxvi. yf ye wil not obey me to walke in my lawes / which I haue geuen you / and to heare the wordes of [Page] my seruauntes the prophetes whome I sente vnto you / rysing vp betymes and styl sending / yf ye wil not heare thē (I sayde) then wil I do to this house / as I dyd vnto Silo / & will make this citie / to be abhorred of al the people in the earth. Heare not the wordes of the prophetes / that said vnto you / you shal not serue the king of Babylon / Iere. 27. I haue not sent them (sayeth the Lorde) howbeit / they are bold to prophesye lyes in my name / yf you geue eare vnto them / both you and your false prophetes shal perish: Denie vvil I nothīg ex­cepte Idola­tors. But the li [...]e vvas done in Englande. Here is first to be noted / that the people was alredy entered in to iniquitie / and especially straighte after the death of their king / into Idolatry / frō which the Lorde by his prophet labored to call them backe / threatning vnto them desolation / yf they procede to rebel. Suche false prophetes at this pre­sente are muche este­med in Englande. Secondarely / it is to be obserued / that amongest them were false prophetes / not that they were so knowen / & holdē of the people / no / they were holdē and estemed for so they boasted them selfes to be. The trew churche of God that colde not erre / for howe should the law perish from the mouthe of the preasts. Ierem. 18 These false prophetes were mayntay­nors of Idolatrie / and yet boldelye promised to the people prosperitie and good lucke. Where­with the people were so abused and blinded / that the wordes of Ieremye / dyd rather hardē their hartes / then prouoke any to repētaunce / as the consequentes declared / for his sermon ended / the priestes / prophetes / and the hole peo­ple apprehended Ieremye / and with one voyce cryed / he is worthye of the death. Greate was [Page] the vprore agaynst the poore prophet / Ierem. 26 in which appearinglye / he coulde not haue escaped the death. Yf the princes of Iuda / had not hastelye comme from the kynges house / in to the tēple / and had taken vppon them / the hearinge of the cause / in which after much debate (while some defendid and some accused the prophet most vehemently) the text sayth / that the hāde of Ahi­kan the sonne of Saphan, In Englāde the true prechers are caste into prison, & no cause kno­vven vvhi. was with Ieremye / that he should not be geuen into the handes off the people / to be kylled. Hereof you may easlye consider (beloued brethren) what were the mā ­nours of that wicked generacion immediatly / after the death of their good kynge / and howe they were encoraged to Idolatrye by false pro­phetes / but in all this tyme / the prophete cea­seth not most faythfully / to execute his office / for albeit after this he mighte not enter in the temple (for he was forbidden to preache) Ier [...]. 36. yet at Gods commaundement / he writinge hys ser­mons / and causing them to be openly redde in the temple (alas I feare we lacke Baruck) and after they come to the eares of the counsail / & laste to the kynge. And albeit in dispyte they were ones brent / Yet is Ieremy commaunded to writte agayn / and boldely to say: Iehoiakim shall haue no sede, that euer shall sit vppon the seate of Dauid. Their carion shalbe casten to the heate of the daye / and to the fr [...]st in the night / and I shal viset sayeth the Lord the ini­quitie of hym / of his sede and of hys seruasites / and I shal bring vpon them / vpon the dwellers in Ierusalem and vpon all Iuda / all the cala­mities that I haue spoken agaynst them.

[Page]Albeit / when these wordes were spokē and written / so they were contempned / that they d [...]st crye / Let the counsaill of the holy one of Israell come, Iere. xviij. we will folow the deuises of our owne hartes / yet no worde of his threat­ninges were spoken in vayne / for after many plagues susteyned by the misschefes father / the wicked and myserable sonne in the thyrde moneth of his raigne was led prysoner to Ba­bylon. iiij. Regum xxiiij. But now when the tyme of their deso­lation approcheth / There are to many off suche prea­chers, novv in Englande. God styred aboue thē suche a kyng / suche prophetes and priestes / as their owne hartes wished / euen suche as shoulde without repugnaunce / leade them to their vo­met agayne / that they who neuer delyted in the truthe / might fyll their bellyes with horryble lyes. Ieremie. xxx viii. Zedechias was kyng / and suche as longe had resisted poore Ieremye / had now gotten in their hande / the fearfull whippe of correction Paschar / and hys companyons ledde the kynge as they lyft / vn goith Topeth (a place of Idola­trie) the hill Aulters smoketh with incense: Aduertie Englāde / th [...]s dyd Iuda. Ba [...]l and hys bellye G [...]ddes / before the venge­aunce of God / was poured vpon them / & vpō them whome they deceauid / gettet the day theī longe loked for. Inconclusion / so horrible were the abhominations that newly were erected / As Pas [...] ruled the Kyng than at his plea­sur, so doth the B. of Vvinche­ster rule the quene novv, and doth vvhat him lusteth in Englād. O vviccednes intolle­rable, Iere. xi. that the Lord cryeth to hys sore trobled flocke / what hath my welbeloued too do in my house (meaning in the temple of Ierusalem) seynge the multitude committeth such abhominatiō / they haue prouoked me to anger / burninge in­cense vnto Baäl.

Whiche great abhominations / when God [Page] had shewin / not onlye to Ieremie / who then was in Ierusalem / but also to Ezechiel being prisoner in Babylon. Their bodies being sepe­rated / in prophecie they did bothe agre / that hole Israel & Iuda should be destroied. Thus writeth Ezechiel / Ah / vpon all the abhomina­tions of the house of Israel / they shal fal by the swearde / by pestilence and hunger / he that is far of shall dye of the plagues / he that is [...]ye / shal fal by the swearde / he that is lefte / and is beseaged / shal dye by hunger / and I shall cōplet my wrath vpon them. A [...]d Ieremie sayth: Be­hold / I wil geue this citie in the handes of the Caldees / in the hande of Nabuchod [...]ser / kyng of Babylon / who shal take it. Ieremie xxxij. The Cal­dees verely shal entre in to it / & they shal burn i [...] with fyre / & the houses in which they burnt incense to Baal. &c. The chyldren of Israell & the chyldren of Iuda had done nothinge frome their youth / but wickednes & that before my eyes to prouoke me to anger / They haue tur­ned vnto me their backes / and not their faces: They / their kynges / their princes / All the gly­stering ceremonies off the papistes are very donge [...] and abhomina­cion before God. their prophetes / their priestes / hole Iuda and all the citie of Ierusalem / they wolde not heare / and be reformed. They haue set vp their dōge (so tearmeth he their Idols) in the place that is consecrate to my name. And where the kyng of Babylon was lyeng about the citie / he sayth to the mes­syngers of Zedechias (who were sente to de­maunde of the prophete / what should become of the citie). Ierem [...]e. xxxvij. The Caldees shall take this citie and shall burne it with fyre: Yea / if you had kylled al the hoste of the Caldees that besageth [Page] you / Vvho vvolde not haue called the prophet a traitour Iere. 38. & if they kylled / mē were left / euery man should ryse in hys tent / and should burne this citie with fyre / he that abideth in this citie shal dye / either by sweard / by hūger / or by pestilēs / but he that shal go furthe to the Caldees / shal lyue / & shal wynne hys soule for a praye / And to the kynge in secret askinge hys counsaile / he boldly sayeth / yf sodenly thou shalt go forth to the princes of the Babylonians. Thy soule shal lyue / and this citie shall not be brent with fyre / but and yf thou go not forthe to the cap­taines of the Babylonians / this citie shalbe geuen ouer into the hādes of the Caldees / who shal burne it with fyre / neither shalte thou es­cape their handes. Thus did these two prophe­tes (as also did others) before them plainlye speake the desolation of that place / for such of­fences / as before hath bē rehearsed. But how pleaseth such messaige the citie of Ierusalem? the priestes / princes & people of Iuda? & what reward receaueth Ieremie for hys longe tra­uayle and painfull preachinge. The cry­mes layd againste Ieremy Iere, 9.23 Ezec. 20. Verely / euin such as Pashur & his counsail iudgeth mete. He spake against the temple, he prophecied mischief against the citie, he fainted the hartes of the souldiours, and of the people, but principally, Such vve­althe do the papistes promis the people for receauinge the Idola­trous masse, againe into Englande. Iere. 28. he was vnfrendly to the faythe, that Passhur taught the people: To weke / the fayth of their forefathers / who alwaies re­belled agaynst God. And therefore he was re­puted a heretycke / accused of sedicion / and dampned of treason. Playne preachinges were made agaynste all that he had spoken / and suche felicitie was promised / that within [Page] twoo yeares shoulde the yocke of Nabucho­nosor be broken from the neckes of all people and the vessels of the lordes house (together with all prysoners) should be brought agayne to Ierusalem. Iere. 13. Habōdaūce cam before the destruc­cion. Iere. 38. Now dyd this habound with wyne & oyle / O pleasing and blessed amōgst the people were such prophetes / Ieremy had trobled them, and therefore he must dye. To pryson shall he go / for the kyng can denye no­thing to his princes / of whome Pashur apeareth / to haue ben chief chaūcelour / by whom was not only the kyng / but also the hole mul­titude so blinded / that boldly they durst crye: No mischaunce shall come too vs, we shall neither se pestilens nor hunger. The kynge of Babylon shall neuer come againste thys lande. Iere. 27 In the middest of these stormy trob­les / no other comfort had the prophet / then to complayn to hys God / at whose commaundement he had spoken. And in this his cōplaint he is so kyndled agaynst their Idolatrie / and great vnthankefulnes that he crieth / as in a raige. O thou Lord of hostes, Iere. [...]0. the tryar of the iust, thou that seith the reynes and the hart, Let me se thy vengeaunce taken vpon thē, for vnto the haue I referred my cause▪ [...] this prayer was most fearful to his enemyes / yf they had sene the effiaccie therof so by the­same was the prophet assured / that Goddes wrath was kyndled against that sinful natiō & that it shoulde not turne backe / till he had performed the cogitations of his owne hart. I appeale to the consciēce / of euery indifferēt mā / in what one point differeth the regiment [Page] manners / A cōpari­son be­twene Englāde & Iuda. and estate of Englande this day frō the aboue rehearsed estate off Iuda in those dayes / except that they had a kynge / a man (as apeareth) of nature / more facied / nor cruell / who sometymes was entreated in the prophe­tes fauour / and also requyred hym of counsail in some daungers. The quene stubburne against the truthe of gods vvord and hateful to the preachers of the same. And you haue a Quene / a woman of a stoute stomack / more styffe in opynion / then flexible too the truthe / who in no­wyse maye abyde the presens of Gods prophetes. In this one thing you disagre in al other thinges so lyke as one nut is too another. Their kyng led by pestilence priestes / who guides your quene / it is not vnknowē / Vnder such came Idolatrie to the highte agayne. O wold to God / that the worse were not amōgst you / In Ierusalem was Ieremie persecuted / for speakinge the truthe / & for rebuking their Idolatrie. What pryson within London / tor­menteth not some trew prophet of God? The Idola­trous masse of late. first erected in the tovver of London. for the same causes: And o thou doungeon off darkenes where that Idole of late dayes was fyrst erected (thou Tower of London) in the doth moo Ieremies then one suffer iniurye & trouble / The B. of Canterb. D. Ridleye. M. Latimer Bradforde. Sandes. Becon. Veron. &c. Preachers and priso­ners in the Tovver of London. whome God shal comfort according to hys promyse / and reward their persecutors euen as they haue deserued / and in that daye shalt thou trymble / and suche as shal purpose to defende the / shal perishe with the / because thou waste fyrst defyled with that most abho­minable Idol.

Consider (deare brethern) if all thinges / as appertayninge to iniquitie be a lyke betwixte Englande and Iuda / before the destruccion [Page] therof / yea / Yf Englande be worse then Iu­dea was in those dayes / seing God spared not them / shal we thinke that the Lordes venge­aunce shal slepe / mans iniquitie beyng so rype? No deare brethren: Iere. ix. He that hath vnderstan­dinge muste know the contrary, And he to whome the Lordes mouth hath spokē / must shew the causes / why the lande shalbe waste.

It maye offende you / that I cal Englande worse / then was vnthankeful Iudea / but yf good and euident reasones aduised maye take place / then I feare not iudgement. Wherein Iudea was bet­ter then England is now. From Ie­rusalem / many passed at admonition of the prophetes / leauing all that they had / rather then they wolde abyde the daunger of Gods plagues that were threatned. Goddes prophetes hath cryed. but I heare not of many that prepareth to flye / God graunte they repent not. In Ierusalem were princes / & noble men who defended Ieremy, and also that dyd ab­solue hym / when wrongfully he was accused by the priestes. But howe many now of the nobilitie within Englande boldely speaketh in in the defence of Gods messinger is easy too be tolde. Amongest them had Gods prophet ly­berty / to speake in maintenaunce of his doc­trine. How such as seketh a tryal of their do­ctrine / hath bene and are entreated amongest you / it is hard of in straunge countries. In Ierusalem was Abdemelech / why when the prophet was cast in prysō (as worthy of death) boldly past to the king / and defending the innocency of the innocent / obtayneth hys liberty / but in Englād I hear of none (God stur some) [Page] that dare be so bolde / as to put their handes betwixt the Lyons / and their praye / the poore sainctes of God / & those cruell murtherers. In Ierusalem / Ieremy beyng dampned to pryson / was fedde of the kynges charges / & that when great hunger and scante of bread was in the hole citie: In London where all plenty haboundes / are Gods messingers permitted to hunger. Yea / (O horrable to be harde) and aunciente fathers / are so cruelly entreated / that lyke extremetye hath seldom bene vsed vpon theues and murtherers. In this behalf do I not blame you (beloued brethren) for I assuredly know your hartes to mourn for the trobles of your brethren / and faythfull prea­chers, and that you seke all meanes possible / how they maye be comforted & releaued / but these thinges to thende that you mayese / that more abhominacion / & lesse fear of God / more in iust dealing / and lese shame more cruel per­secucion against Gods messengers / and lesse mercy and gentlenes / is now amongst youre chief rulars within Englande / then in those dayes was in Iudea / and yet did not Ierusalē escape the punishmēt of God. Bevvare [...] dissem­bling gospe­lers, vvhich for the safe­garde off [...]oure vvorld lij pelfe defile four selfes vvith all popishe abho­minacions. Shall we then beleue that England maye auoide the venge­aunce that is threatned / No deare brethren, Yf Idolatrie continew / as it is begonne / no more can England escape Gods vengeaunce / then God hym self may lease his iustice. And therfore (dearly beloued in our sauiour Iesus Christ) Yf profit to your selfe or to your posteritie can moue you any thinge / then muste ye avoide and fle Idolatrie. For if the Lordes [Page] messengers / that shalbe sente too execute hys wrath / fynde you amongst fylthie Idolators / your bodies committing lyke abhomination with them. Ye haue no warrant that ye shall escape the plagues / prepared for the wicked. But rather it is to be feared that ye shall be plagued with them. Iudi. 20 The hole trybe of Beniamin, perished with the adulterers / & yet were they not all adulterers in faict. 1. Reg 15 Hole Amalek was commaunded to be destroyed / & yet was not one of those lyuīg that trobled the Israe­lites / in their passage from Egipte. Pharao was not drouned alone (as in another letter / I haue more plainly writtē) neither yet foūd Ionathas mercy / as touchinge lyfe corporal / in the daye when Gods vengeaunce punished Saule the repobater / and why? the Apostle aunswereth: Rom. 1. Because men knowing the iu­stice of God, (sayeth he) and doing the cōtrary are worthy of death / not only those that doth wickedly / but also suche as consenteth to the­same. Who cō ­senteth. And no man can be excused / but that he consentes / who dayly frequenting in the companye of wicked men / geuinge neither signe in woordes nor in dede / that iniquitie dis­pleaseth hym. And therefore yet I saye / yf profyt may moue vs. &c. most profytable shall it be euen for the body in this present lyfe too auoide Idolatrye / for so doinge / As we shal es­scape the plagues / whiche the vngodlye shall suffer / so is God by hys promis oblished vnto vs to be our father / our portiō / Esai. 49. Zacha. 2. our īheritaū ­ce & defence / he promiseth (& wil not disceaue) [Page] to cary vs vppon hys owne wynges from all daunger. Psal. lij. Psalm. c.xlvi. Psalm. c.xl. To plant vs & our posteritie in euer­lasting memorial. To feade vs in the tyme off hūger / and fynally to fight for vs / and to saue vs from all miseries and mischaunces, But now to the subsequent.

As it is most profytable for body and soule to auoyde Idolatry / so is it so necessary / that onles we so do / we refuse to be in leage with God. What we doo when we ioyn our selfs with idolaters Exo. xx. We declare ourself to haue no faythe / & we [...]enye to be Gods witnes / and so muste he of this iustice expressed in his worde denye vs to apertaine to hym or to hys kyngdom. And then (alas) what restith for vs / but perpetuall death ordeined for those that wil not continew in leage with God. The leage betwene God & vs conteyneth these conditions / that God shall be our God / and we shal be his people / he shal communicat with vs / of his graces & goodnes we shal serue hym in bodye & soule / he shall be our sauegarde from death and damnacion / we shal sticke too hym / and fle from all straunge Goddes. This is the leage in making whereof we swear solempnedly / neuer to haue felow­ship with any religiō / except with that which God hath auctoris [...]d by hys manifest worde. Yf by Gods scriptures these presydents be so playne / that reasonably no man can de [...]ye any point therof. Then haue I good hope that ye wil admitte it to be necessarie / that you auoide Idolatry / yf the leage betwene God and you shalbe kept sure. And fyrst it is to be obserued / that Goddes iustice / beyng infinite in matters of religion / requireth lyke obediens of al those [Page] that be within hys leage at all tymes / that he requireth of any one nation / or particular mā in any one age / for al that byde with ī his leage / Deu. 29. are one body (as Moyses doth witnes) recomp­ting men / wemen / chyldren / seruauntes / pryn­ces / priestes / officers / and straungers within the couenaunt of the Lorde. Then what God requireth of one (as touching this leage) he re­quireth of all / for hys iustice is immutable / & what he dampneth in anye one that he muste dampne in others / for he is righteous without parcialitie. Then let vs consider what God hath requyred of suche as hathe bene in leage with hym / and what he pronounceth dampnable. Deu. xiij Moyses the mouth of God to his people of Israel speaketh as foloweth: Yf thy brother the sōne of thy mother / or the wyfe of thy own bosome / or thy neyghbour / whom thou louest as thy own lyfe / shal priuely solyst the / Sayng let vs go and serue other Goddes, whome thou hast not knowē. &c. Obey hym not / hear hym not / neither yet let thy eye spare hym / be not merciful vnto hym / nor hyde him not / but kyll hym / let thy hand be the fyrst vpon hym / that suche a one maye be kylled / and then the handes of the holy people stone hym with sto­nes / vntil he dye. And likewise commaundeth he to be donne with a hole citie / if the indwel­lers therof turne backe to Idolatrie / addinge also / that the citie and the whole spoyle therof shalbe brent. That no portiō shalbe saued / nor yet that the citie shalbe buylded foreuer again because it is accursed of God.

Here is a playne declaracion / what God re­quyreth [Page] of them that wil continew in leage with him / and what he hath dampned by his exprest wordes. And do we esteme (beloued brethren) that the immutable God will wincke at our Idolatrie / as that he saw it not: seing he commaundeth iudgement to be executed so seuerly against Idolators / and againste suche as onely prouoked or solisted others to Ido­latrie / that neither should blood nor affinitie neither multitude nor ryches / saue suche as offendeth / neither yet that we should coūsayll their offences / but that we should be the fyrst that should accuse brother / sonne / doughter / or wyfe / and why? because he entendeth (saith Moyses) to bring the frō the Lorde thy God / Who led thy furth from the land of Egipte / and therfore let hym dye / that all Israel hea­ring / maye feare / and presumed not after too commit the lyke abhomination. Let nothing apertayninge to suche a man or citie / cleaue vnto thy hande / that the Lord may turn frō the furor of his wrath & be moued ouer thy with most tender mercy and affeccion / and that he maye multiplye thy / as he hathe sworne vnto thy fathers.

Vvliij Ido­latrie is too be esche­vved. & the mainteners therof.In these wordes most euidently is expres­sed vnto vs / why God wil that we auoide all felowship with Idolatrie / & with the maintai­ners of the same: In whiche are thre thinges chiefly to be noted / fyrste that the holy Ghost instruct vs / that maintaynours of Idolatrie / & prouokers to the same / intēdeth to draw vs frō God / & therfore he cōmaūdeth vs / that we shal not coūsail their īpietie / but that we shall [Page] make it knowen / & that we shall punishe it / if we will haue the leage betwixte vs & God too stande sure. And here is the firmamente of my fyrst cause / why / it is necessary to auoyde Idolatrie / because that otherwise we declare oure selfes litell to regard / yea / to haue broken / and plaīly denied that holy leage / which is betwen vs & God / through Christ Iesus. Secōdarely it is to be noted / that Idolatrie so kindleth the wrath of God / that it is neuer quenched / vn­till the offendors / & all that they poses / be de­stroyed frō the earth / & that by fyre. It may appeare that this is seueare & rygorous iudge­ment / but let the cause be cōsidered / & thē shall we vnderstāde / that in the same / God sheweth vnto vs his most singuler loue / declaring him selfe enemye vnto oure enemies / for all those that wold draw vs frō God (be the kynges or quenes) beīg of the diuels nature / Dravvers of men frō God are of the deuils nature. are enemies vnto God / & therfore wil God that in such cases / we declare our selfes enemies vnto them. And last it is to be noted / that obediēs geuē vn­to God / in taking vēgeaūce vpō Idolatours / by suche meanes / as God hath appointed / is a cause why God sheweth his mercye / why he multiplieth vs / & enbraseth vs with brotherly loue / where cōtrary wyse / by cōsentinge with Idolatrye / are the mercies of God shut vp frō vs / & are cutted of the bodie of Christ / to wy­ther and roote / as trees withoute moysture. But nowe shall some demaunde / what then? shall we go too / and kyll all Idolatours. Questiō Aūswere That were the office & dutye of euery ciuell magi­strate within hys realme and Iurisdiccion. [Page] But of you is requyred only to auoyd partici­pacion and company of that abhominacion / as wel in body as in soule / as Dauid and Paule plainly teacheth. Psal. xvi Dauid in his exile / in the middes of Idolatours sayth: I will not offer their drinke offeringes of bloud, neyther yet will I take their name into my mouthe, & Paule sayth: 1. Cor. x. You maye not be partakers of the Lordes table, and of the table of deuils, you may not drinke the Lordes cup / and the cup of deuils. As these two places / of scriptur plainly resolueth the former question / so do they con­firme that which is before sayd. That the leag betwixt vs and God requireth / auoydinge off all Idolatrye. 1. Regū. xxvij. Fyrst playne it is / that in Gathe and in Corinthus / were no smal number off Idolatours / when Dauid was there in exile / & when Paule wrote hys Epistle / yet neither sayth Dauid / that he wil kyl any in that place because he was their magistrate / neither ge­ueth Paule any suche commaundement / but in one thing they both agre / that suche as hath socitie & leage with God / must so abhorre Idolatrye / that no parte of the bodye be defyled therwith. For Dauid sayeth: I will not take their names in my mouth. As he wolde saye / so odious are the names of false & vaine God­des / that the mencion of them is righteouslye compared to stinckinge donge / & vile carion / whiche neither can be eaten / neither yet smel­lid without displeasur of suche that hath not lost the iudgemente of their sences / & therfore sayeth Dauid / I wil not defyle me mouth with thē / that is / I wil neuer speake one fauorable [Page] worde of them. I thinke much lesse / wolde he haue croched and kneled before them for anye mans pleasure. Aduert brethren / Shyfte makers are dou­ble dissemblers. that Dauid inspyred with the holy Ghoste knew no such sheftes / as worldly wyse men imagyn nowe a dayes: That they maye kept their hartes pure and cleane to God / howbeit / their body daūse with the diuel: Not so deare brethrē, not so, The temple of God hath nothing to do with Idols. The cause expresseth Dauid in their wordes: The Lorde hym selfe is my portion and my enheritaunce. Greate is the cause / yf it be deaply considered. Dauid illuminated by the holy Ghost seyth euē the selfe same thing / which before we haue aleaged of the Apostles wordes / that God will not parte spoyle with the deuil / promitting hym to haue the seruaūt of the body / & he too stande contente with the soule / harte and mynde. No brethren / Dauid marketh this / the fundament & reason / why / he wil neither offer sacrefice to Idols / neither yet defyle hys mouthe with their names / be­cause (sayeth he) the Lorde is my porcion, Vvhat the leage be­tvvene vs and God requireth. as he wolde saye / suche is the cōdiciō of the leage betwene me and my God / that as he is my to­wer of defence against my enemies / preseruing and norishing bothe the body & soule / so muste I be hole his in bodye and soule / for my God is of that nature / that he will suffer no portiō of hys glory to be geuen to another. In confir­mation of this sayeth Esay / Esai. 57. after he had rebuked their Idols and vayne inuecinons. These are thy porcion, and Ieremy likewise, in moc­kinge of thē sayth / let thy bedfellowes deliuer [Page] thy / call vpon them / and let them heare thy / thou hast committed fornicacion & whordome with stocke and stone. Ierem. 3. The prophetes meaning thereby / that Idolators can haue no leage nor couenaunt with God / in so farre / that their hartes be alyenated from hym / which the ser­uice of their bodies doth testefye / and therfore renounceth God suche leage / & bounde as was before offered for Esay wolde saye / euen suche as thou hast chosen / suche shalbe the portion. And Ieremye wolde say / thou put thy trust to them / which he meaneth / by the lyēg with thē in bed / & therfore let them shewe their power in thy deliueraunce / and thus he sendeth them as it were to sucke water from hote burninge coles. Note wel It shall nothing excuse / to saye we trust not in Idols / for so will euery Idolatour al­leage / but if either you or they in Gods honor / do any thing contrary to Gods woorde / you shew your selfe to put your trust / in somwhat els besydes God / and so are you Idolatours. Marke brethren / Trusting in mans vvis­dome is Idolatrie. that many maketh an Idoll of their owne wisedom or fantasye / more tru­sting to that / which they thinke good / nor vn­to God / who plainly sayeth not that thinge / which seameth good in thy eyes / do vnto thy God / but what thy Lord God hath commaunded them. But of this some other tyme / God willing / more shalbe spoken herof / I suppose it be plaine / that lyke as God is immutable / who / by his law / hath not only forbiddē all fe­lowship with Idolators in their Idolatrie / but also hath cōmaūded that vengeaūce / & pu­nishment [Page] be taken vpō thē. And as the saintes of God were inspired with the holye ghoste / who wolde not so much as ones fauourablye speake of Idols / Marke. & laste as the scriptures be in­fallable / which promiseth that God maye not abyde / that our bodies serue the deuill / in ioy­ning our bodies with Idolatrie / so is it off more necessitie / that both in bodye & soule / we abstaine frō thesame / yf we wil haue the leage betwene God & vs to stande sure. I will not troble this tyme with aūswering to any such obiections / as men sekinge to leue as they liste / dothe now a daies inuent / seing that partely in another letter: I haue aūswered thesame / & yf God shal graūt any rest in this wicked world / I purpose by the grace of God / as occasiō shal be offered fully to aunswere what can be sayd for their defence / whiche in very dede / when all is sayde that they can / they haue sayde no­thing that God will admit. By frequen­tin of Idola­latrie, men shevv them self to haue no faith.

Now restith to shew that in haunting Ido­latrie / we declare oure selfes too be withoute fayth / and dothe denye to beare witnesse vnto God / but that fayth purgeth the hart / I trust none of you will denye. But whether that in­warde fayth requyreth an eternal confession / and yf a man maye not haue faythe / and yet doo in ceremonies of the Churche / as the worlde dothe / herein perchaunce you doubte. As too the fyrste the Apostle aunswereth in these woordes / Rom. 10. in the harte it is beleued vnto Iustice / but by the mouthe is confession vnto saluacion.

[Page]And Dauid sayth: I haue beleued / & therefore I haue spoken / but I was sore trobled / as Dauid wolde saye / I wolde not counsaile the confession of my faith / howbeit / troble did ensew thesame. Thus the holy Ghost ioyneth fayth and confession / as thinges that be inseperable the one from the other / and therefore dare I not take vpon me to disceauer them / but muste saye / that where trew faith is / there is also cō fession of the same / Note wel when tyme and necessitie requireth / & that where confession is not foūd that their faithe is a slepe / if we be not frome home.

Now is it to be considered / if this tyme re­quireth the confession of our faith. Vvhether this tyme requireth confessiō of our faith. Christ and his Euangile are oppugned / his holye sacra­mētes are prophaned. Christes messengers are some exiled / some cruelly tormented in pryson / our aduersaries hath gotten the vpperhande / and an execrable Idol / the masse erected vp in confirma­tion of all iniquitie. What now shall I do? that am assured that all this is abhominaciō / here Christ is in battaile / shal I do as the mul­titude / or as Christes enemies doth / what cō ­fession geue I then? Assuredly euen such as the rest doeth / for neither doeth foote / hande / eye / nor mouth witnes the contrary. Note. The feete ca­rieth the bodye to serue an Idoll. The eye be­holdeth it with a certayn reuerēce. The mouth dare not whisper what the hart thīketh / yea / the handes are extended / and geueth significacion of humble obedience. Haue I not nowe iustefied the deuell / and damned Christ? it can not be denyed. But let me haue no credit / one­lesse [Page] thesame be yet proued by moste plaine de­monstrations of Gods sacred scripture. The Lord by hys prophete Esaye / sayeth his people of Israel / and this is aunswer also to the secōd question / yf I may not do as the worlde doth / and yet haue faithe / You are my witnesses, Esai 44. whether there be anye God but I alone / is there any creator that I should not know him These woordes were spoken / as it were ma­king an entresse too rebuke all Idolatrie & the vaine inuētours of the same / as the Lord wold saye. Thou house of Iacob / and your naturall chyldren / discending from Abraham. You are my people / whom peculiarly I haue chosen to shew in you the greatnes of my name / and for that ende haue I spoken vnto you / hidde thin­ges from the beginning / that you may vnder­stande and knowe that there is no knowlege but in me alone / that you perswaded of my in­finet wisedome / power and goodnes may testefye / and beare witnes of thesame / too suche as hath not then lyke vnderstanding with you. Hereof it is playne / that of suche as to whom God geueth knowlege / he requireth a confes­sion to prouoke the ignoraūce to embrace God and his worde / or at least that by the vnderstā ­ding man / the vanitie of the folishe shoulde be rebuked. So zelous is God ouer hys giftes / that yf we labour not to employe them to the glorie of God / and to proffit of others his creatours / he will according to the threatning of Christ / take the talent from vs / and will geue it to suche as will labor there vppon. Some perchaūce wolde gladly labo [...] / but theyse not [Page] what frute shall succede / & therfore iudge they better to cease. Euen as God could bring forth no fruite / except he make vs fyrst of counsaile. God is to be obeyed in his commaundemen­tes / and the successe is to be committed to him / whose wisedome is vnsearcheable / he cōmaundeth vs refraine Idolatrie / to let other mē see that thei do wrōg. Vvhy vve should ab­steine from Idolatrie. This ought we obey / albeit the present death should folow / for we are cal­led as witnes betwene God & the blind world / as is beforesaid: Israel thou arte my witnes. The world asketh / Note. is the mans Gods seruice / or is it Idolatrie? God hath opened to vs / that it is abhominable Idolatrie / but when that we for feare of our vyle carkases / The masse is abhomi­nable Idola­trie. do as the blinde world doth. What witnes beare we? Assuredly false witnes against God / for that we iustefye and mayntaine that with our presence / which God condemneth against our neyghbour / for that we confirme hym in errour to bothe our condemnacions. But when we abstaye from all felowship of Idolatrie / what euer ensewe there vpon / we do our dueties vnto Gods glorie. Let no man thinke that I am more seuear then necessitie requireth. No brethren / I al­wayes contein my affirmations / within the boundes of Gods scriptures / and that shal Ie­remie the prophet witnes / who writing to the Iewes / being prysoners in Babylon / after he had forbidden them to folowe the vaine rely­gion of that people / amongest whome they wexe then conuersant by many reasons / pro­uinge that their Idols were no Goddes / at [Page] laste he sayth / you shall saye to them: Ierem. 10 The Goddes that made neither heauen neither earthe, shall perish from the earthe / and from vnder the heauen. Here is to be obserued / as Ihon Caluine / that singular instrumente off God moste diligently noteth.

That the reste of the prophetes worke was written in the Hebrew tounge / The pro­phet cōstraineth the Ie­vves, to de­clare their confessiō a­gainst Idols & that chaū ginge their natural tōg. whiche then was peculiar to the Iewes / but these verses and woordes aboue rehersed / were written in the Caldee tounge / in the tounge of that peo­ple / when the Iewes were then in thraldome as that the prophet woulde constrein them to chaunge their naturall tounge / and in plaine woordes declare the hatered and alienation / whiche they had from all worshippynge off Idols. I beseche you brethren / marke the woor­des of the prophete / he sayeth not / you maye thinke in your hartes / that they are vayne / & that they shall perishe / but you shall saye it / & that not preuely / but to them / who putte their truste in suche vanitie / as that the thre chyl­dren openly spake / denyenge to geue the reue­rence of their bodies before an Idoll. And Da­niel that wolde not kepe secrete the confession of hys fayth onely thyrty dayes / as in my for­mer letter more plainely is express [...]d / hereof it is playne that requyringe that you prophaine not your bodyes with Idolatrie. I requyre no more then Goddes scriptures by plaine preceptes and exāples teacheth. Neither yet requyre I of euery man / and at all tymes so muche. For I constraīne no man to go to Idolators / [Page] in the tyme of their Idolatrie / and to say that all that they do / is abhominable and naughte. But onely that we kepe our owne bodyes (called of the Apostle the tēples of the holy Ghost) 1. Cor. 5. cleane from all such diabolicall conuencions / which that we do is most profitable / and also necessary to the preseruation of our selfes / and of our posteritie / of whome somwhat (now at thende) must I speake.

Euery man that is not degenerated too the nature of a brute beaste / will appeare to beare suche loue to his chyldren / that to leaue them riche / in rest / and in good state / he paciētly will suffer troubles / and without grudge will doo many thinges / that otherwise are contrary to hys owne pleasure. And with my hart I wish to God / that the perfection of this were more deaply grounded in mans hart / I meane very loue / 1. Cor. 13 & not fonde folishnes / whiche vnder the name of loue / procureth destruction of bodye and soule / where cōtrariwise / trew loue most carefully laboureth for saluation of bothe / yf this loue I saye / towardes our chyldren / which euery man pretendeth to haue / be in vs. Then of necessitie it is / that for these causes we shall aduoid all societie of those fylthye abhomina­tions. This my affeccion may apeare straūge but if it be with indifferencye perceaued / it shalbe very easy to be vnderstande.

Note ye fathers.The onely way to leaue our chyldren blessed and happy is to leaue thē righteously instruc­ted in Gods trew religion / for what auayleth all that is in earth / Note. if condēnacion folow death yea / & Goddes vengeaunce goo before thesame [Page] as of necessitie they muste / where the trewe knowlege of God is absent. The trevv knovvlege of god is not borne vvith man. Playne it is / that the trew knowlege of God is not borne wyth man / neither yet commeth vnto him with na­turall power / but he must haue scoolemasters to trayne hym vp in that / whiche he lacketh / The chief scholemayster, (the holy Ghost ex­cepted) of the age folowing / is the worke prac­tesies & lief of the forefathers / where vnto commonly we se the chyldren so addict & bound / & especially / if it be in Idolatrie. That God cry­eng by the mouthes of his messingers / haue muche to do / to ryffe or plucke any man backe from their forefathers footesteppes.

Now if that you altogether refusinge / Note and despise not. God stoupe vnder Idolatrie / what schoolemaisters are you to your posteritie / what [...]mage shewe you to your chyldrē? Yea / in what estate leaue you them / bothe touching bodye & soule. 3. Reg. 1 [...] Assu­redly / you are euen suche scholemaisters / as were those fathers / who consentinge to Iero­boam / to his Idolatrie left vnto their chyldrē a patrone of perdicion. To speake it plainly / you leaue them blynded in Idolatrie / & bound slaues to the deuell without hope of redemp­tion or light to be receaued. Euas you Aūswere Tusshe wilsome saye. The Lord knoweth his owne: Trewe it is. But this ordenary meanes to come by hys knowledge / are not to contempned. He com­maundeth you to teache your chyldren his la­wes / statutes and ceremonies. That they like­wise maye teache the same to the generations folowing. But yet will some obiecte / what taught our fathers vnto vs? O deare breathrē [Page] be not so ingrate and vnthankefull vnto god. Neither yet I wolde that you shoulde flatter your selfes / thinking that suche a trōpet shall be blowen to your posteritie / as hath bene blo­wen vnto you. Let the reader vnder­stande. Yf all come to so close sylence / as che Lordes messengers fonde the beginning of this our age. When this hole realme of Englāde was drouned in so deadly a slepe / that the sounde of the Lordes trompet was not vnder­stande / while fyrste the moste parte of the blo­wers gaue their bloude in a testimonie / that their doctrine was the same / which begā with bloud / was planted and kept in mynde by the­same / and by bloud encreased / and did fructe­fye / will the Lord haue his messengers to fight alone? Note. will he bestowe suche abundaunce off bloude vpon your chyldren / to encorage them / as that he did vpon you / for your instruction & encoragement / yf that ye all so traytorously fle frō hym / in the daye of this his battaile. The contrary is greatly to be feared. Oft re­uoluinge howe God hath vsed my tounge (my tounge I say / being most wretched of others) plainly to speake the trobles that are perfet. There occurreth to my mynde a certein admonicion / that God wolde / I commonly shoulde vse in all congregations. The admonitiō was this / that the laste trompet was in blowynge within the realme of Englande / and therfore ought euery man to prepare him for battaile / for if the trompet should cease / and be put too sylence / then shoulde it neuer agayne blowe with lyke force in Englāde / tyll the comming of the Lorde Iesus. O deare brethren / howe [Page] sore these threatninges perseth my owne hart this daye / onely God knoweth / & in what agonye of harte I wryte this same / God shall de­clare / when the secretes of all hartes shalbe disclosed. I wyshe my selfe to be accursed of God / as touching all earthly pleasure or comforte for one yeare of that tyme / which (alas) ney­ther you nor I dyd righteously esteme / whē all abounded with vs. I sob and grone / I cal and I praye / that in that point I may be deceaued. But I am commaunded to stande content / for it is God hym self / that perfourmeth the wordes of his trew messengers / hys iustice & order can not be peruerted. The sunne kepeth hys ordenary course / and leapeth not backe frome the West to the South / but whē it goith doun we lacke the light of it tyl it ryse the next day towards the East again. And so is it w [...]th the light of the gospel / which hath his day apoin­ted by God / Ioh. 12. as witnesseth Christ saying while ye haue the light / beleue in the light / that dar­kenes apprehēd you not. Rom. 13. Heb. 3. And Paul / the night is passed / & the day is come (meanīg of the gospel) & also this day / yf you heare his voice harden not your hartes. And albeit that this daye be all tyme frō Christes incarnacion / tyll his last cōming again. Note. Yet euidēt it is / that all na­tiōs hath not had at one siene the light of god­des worde. But by the cōtrary most euidēt it is / that where the light of the gospell for mās vnthākfulnes / hath ben takē away / there is it not to this day yet restored again / witnes hole Israel / & all the congregatiōs of the gentylles where Christ was first preached by thapostels. [Page] What is in Asya? ignoraunce of God / what in Affrika? Examples of gods vengeaunce: [...] ­gainst vnthā kefulnes. abnegation of Christe / what in those most notable Churches of the Greciās / wher Christ was planted by Paule & long after / vt­tered by others? Mahomet and his false secte / Yea / what is in Rome? the most Idol of all o­thers / that aduersary to Christe / that man of synne extolled aboue all that is called God. Hath God punisshed those natiōs before vs / not onely the first offendors / but euen their posteritie to this day / & shal he spare vs? yf we be lyke vnthankefull as they were / yea / if we be worse then they were? for of them no smal nū ­ber suffered persecution / banishment / sclaun­der / pouertye / & fynally the death for the pro­fessiō of Christ / who hauing only this know­ledge / that Idols were odious before God / could neither for lose of temporal goodes / for honours offered if they wolde obeye / nor yet for most cruel tormentes suffered in resisting ones be perswaded to bowe before Idols. And (alas) shal we after so many graces that God hath offered vnto vs for pleasure / or for vaine threatning of those / whom your hartes kno­weth / & your mouthes hath confessed to be o­dious Idolatours / ronne backe to Idolatrie / to the perdicion of your selfes / & of your posteritie to come. Shall goddes holy preceptes worke no greater obedience in you? shall na­tur no otherwise mollifye your hartes? shall not fatherly pitie ouercome that cruelnes. O behold your chyldern / and consider thende of their creation / greate crueltie it were to saue your selfes / & to dampne them. But o more [Page] then crueltie and madnes / that can not be ex­pressed / yf for the pleasure of a momente / you depriued your selfe / & your posteritie of that eternall ioye / that is ordeyned for those that continueth in confession of Christes name / & truthe to the ende / which assuredly you do / yf without resistaunce al together / you retorne to Idolatrie againe. Note. Alas / then the trompet hath lost the sound / the sunne is gone doune / and the light vanished / but & if that God shall strengthen you / boldely to withstand all suche impietie / thē is their but a darke mystie cloude ouerspred the sunne for a momēt / which short­lye shall vanishe / so that the beames of the sunne / afterward shalbe seuēfolde more bright and amyable then they were before. Your pa­cience & constauncie shalbe the lowdar trom­pet to your posteritie / god graunt you may vnderstande. then were all the voy­ces of the prophetes that cryed vnto you / and therfore for the tendre mercye of God. Arme your selfe to stand with Christ / Flie frō that abhominable Idol. The mayntaynors therof shall not escape the vengeaunce of God. Let it be knowen to your posteritie / that you were Christians / and no Idolatours / and so is not the trompet ceased so longe as any boldely re­sisteth Idolatrie. The obsec­cion of the fleshe. Answer. These preceptes are sharpe & harde to be obserued will some obiect. And yet agayn I affirme that / compared with the plagues / which assuredly shal fal vpon the cō tempnours / they shalbe founde easye & light for auoyding Idolatrie / Note this Antithesis, and cōsider it vvel. it maye chaunce that you be contempned in the world / but obeyers of Idolatrie / as before God thei are abhomi­nable [Page] / so shall they be cōpelled body & soule to burne in hell / for auoyding of Idolatrie / your worldly substaūce shalbe spoyled / but for obe­yng Idolatrie / heauenly ryches shalbe lost for auoyding Idolatrie / you maye fall in the han­des of earthly tyrauntes / but obeyers / consen­ters and mayntaynors of Idolatrie shall not escape the handes of the liuing God / for auoi­ding Idolatrie / your chyldern shalbe depriued of father / frendes / ryches / & earthly rest / but by obeyeng Idolatrie / they shalbe left without God without the knowlege of his worde / and without the hope of his kyngdome.

Consider deare brethren / that how muche more dolerous it is to be tormēted in hel / then to suffer troble in earth / to be depriued of heauenly ioye / then to be robbed of transitory ryches. To fall in the hādes of the lyuing God / then to abyde mans vayne / & vncertein dis­pleasure. So muche more fearfull & daunge­rous it is / to obey Idolatrie or dissēbling to cō sent too that abhomination / then auoydinge the same / to suffer what inconueniēs may fo­low therupon by mans tyrāny. O be not like to Esau / that solde and lost his byrthright for a mease of potage. I am not preiudiciall too Gods mercies / as that suche as after shall re­pent / shall not fynd grace. God forbidde / for here in am I most assuredly perswaded. That in what so euer houre a synner shall repente / God shall not remēber one of hys iniquities / but albeit / his offences were as redde as Skarlette / they shall be made as whyte as snowe. ze. 18.33 And albeit in multitude they passed number / [Page] yet so shall they be blotted out / that none of thē shall appeare to the dānacion of the very repē tant / for hys promises be infallible / Esai. 1. that suche as truly beleue in Christ / shall neuer entre in to iudgement / for the bloud of Christe Iesus / Ioh. 3.5 purgeth them frō all synne / so that how farre the heauen is dystant from the earth / so farre doth he remoue the synnes from the penitēt. But consider dearly beloued brethren, 1. Ioh. 1. that these and lyke promisies are made to penitent sinners / & dothe nothing apertaininge to pro­phaine parsons / Idolatours / The confutable promises of God are made to penitent sinners onely. nor too fearfull shrinkers from the truthe / for feare of worldly troble. And yf any alleage / God may cal them to repentaunce / how wicked that any man be. I aunswere that I acknowlege / and doth cen­ses Gods omnipotensye / to be so free / that he maye do what pleaseth hys wysedom / but yet is he not bounde to do / all that our fantesie re­quyreth. Note. And likewise I know that God is so louing and so kinde / to suche as feareth hym / that he will performe their willes and plea­sures / although kynges & princes had sworne to the contrary. But herein stādeth the doubt whether that suche as for pleasure of men / or for auoydinge tempo all punishment / defyleth them selfes with Idolatrie. Feareth God / and whether they with all their lyues / denyeth Christ by consentinge to Idolatrie / shal at the laste houre / be called to repentaunce. No suche promese haue we within the scriptures of god but rather the exprest contrarie. And therfore God is not to be tempted / but is too be harde / feared and obeyed.

[Page]When thus earnestly he calleth & threatneth not withoute cause. Apoc. 18. Passe from the middest of her / o my people (saith the Lorde) that you be not partakers of her plagues / and that is ment of that abhominable whore / and of her abhomination. 3. Reg 18 1. Cor. 10 Math. 10 How long will you halte on bothe partes, you maye not bothe be parta­kers of the cup of the Lorde / and of the cup of the deuel. He that denieth me before men / I will denye hym before my father / he that re­fuseth not hym selfe / & taketh vp hys crosse & folow me / is not worthy of me. No man put­ting his hande to the plough / & lokinge back­warde is worthie of the kyngdome of God. And Paule to the Hebrewes only meaneth of this synne / where he sayeth: heb. 6.10 who willinglye synneth after the knowledge of the trueth / cā not be renewed to repentaunce. O deare bre­thren / remember the dignitie of your vocatiō / you haue folowed Christ / you haue proclay­med warre against Idolatrie / you haue laide hande vpō the trueth / and hath communicat at the Lordes table. Will you now sodenlye slyde backe? will ye refuse Christ & his truth? and make paccion with the dyuell & with his deceauable doctrine? Will ye treade the pre­cious bloud of his testament vnder your fete / and set vp an Idoll before the people / whiche thinges assuredly you doo / as ofte as euer you present your bodies amongst Idolatours / be­fore that blasphemous Idoll. God the father of all mercies for Christ his sonnes sake pre­serue you from that sore temptation / whose dolours and daungers / very sorowe will not [Page] suffer me to expresse. Alas brethren / it is to be feared / that if you fall once a slepe / you lye to long before you be wakened. Note. Yet some shall obiect / Peter the Denyar obteyned mercye. A compari­sō betvven Peter & our dissembling gospelers. To whome I aunswer particular examples / maketh no common law / neither yet is there any resemblance or lykelyhodde betwene the fall of Peter / and our daily Idolatrie. Peter vpon a sodayn / without any former purpose / thus denyed Christe within the space of a houre or two. We vpon determined purpose / and aduised mynde dayly deny Christ. Peter had Christes assurance and promyse / that af­ter hys deniall he should be conuerted. We haue Christes threatninges / that if we denye we shalbe denyed. Peter in the bishops hall / and amongst wicked men of warre / commit­ted hys offence for feare of lyfe. We in oure citie and housholde / onely for the loose of the wicked Mammon / dothe no lesse. Peter at the warninge of the Cocke / and at Christes looke / left that companye / that prouoked hys synne. We after Christes admonitions yea / after gentle exhortations / and fearfull threatninges / will continew in the middest of Ido­latours / and for their pleasures will crocke & knele / as the deuel commaundeth / what lyke­lyhode is here / let euery mā iudge. But much I wonder / that men that can espye so narow thiftes / as to hyde them selfes frome the pre­sens of God / behynde a busshe with Adam their father / can not also espye that Iudas was an Apostle in presens of men / of no les [Page] auctoritie then Peter was / that Cayn was the fyrst borne in the world. 1. Reg. 10 That Saule was the first anoynted king by Gods commaundement / and by his prophete / and that Achito­phel was a man of moste singular wysedom / and yet none of these foūd place of repentāce. 2. Reg. 16 Haue we any other assuraunces and particuler warrantes within the scriptures of God / then they had that all our lyfe we maye be in leage with the deuell / Note. and then at oure plea­sure that we maye laye hande vppon Christe / and clothe vs with hys iustice: Ioel. 2. Rom. 10. 2. timo. 2 Be not decea­ued brethren, for albeit moste / trewe it is / that who soo euer incalleth the name of the Lorde / shalbe saued / Yet lyke trew it is / that whosoeuer incalleth the name of the Lorde / shall auoyde and esschewe all iniquitie / & that whosoeuer contine with in open iniquitie / the­same man incalleth not the name of the Lord / neither hath God any respecte to hys prayer / Ioh. 9. Ioh. 38. The masse the deuels sacrament and seale. and greater iniquitie was neuer from the be­ginninge of the worlde / then is contayned in that abhominable Idoll / for it is the seale off that leage / whiche the deuell hath made with the pestilent sonnes of Antechriste / and is the very chief cause / why the bloud of the sainctes of God / hath ben shed nere the space of a thou­sand yeare / for so longe almost hath it bene in deuising / and in deckinge with that whorishe garmēt / The longe parching of the popisshe [...]asse. wherein it now triumpheth / against Christ / againste the onely one sacrifice of hys death / & merites of hys passion / which whole abhomination you confirme / and sheweth [Page] youre selfes / consentinge to the murther of those that hath suffered for speaking againste it / as oft as euer you decore that Idoll wyth your presens. Note. And therfore auoyde it / as that ye will be partakers with Christ / with whom ye haue sworne to dye and to lyue in baptisme and in his holye supper. Shame it were to breake promys vnto man / but is it not more shame too breake it vnto God? foolishnes it were to leaue that kynge / whose victorie you did se presente / and too take parte with hym / whome vnderstode & perceaued to be so van­queshed and ouerthrowen / that he neither might withstande / neither yet abyde the com­ming of his aduersarie. Ioh. 12.16 O brethren / is not the deuel the prince of this worlde / vanquished & cast out? hath not Christe made conqueste off hym? hath he not caryed our selfe vp to glorie in dispite of sathans malice. Acto. 1. Shall not oure champion retorne? you vnderstande that he shall and that with expedition / when sathan and his adherentes Idolatours / Apo. 20. worshippers of that blasphemous beast / fylthie personnes / and fearefull shrinkers frome the truthe of God shalbe caste in the lake burninge fyre and brimstone / which neuer shalbe quenched. Folishe feare. But in the meane tyme / you feare corporall death / yf nature admitted any man too lyue euer / then had your feare some aparēce of rea­son / but yf corporall death be common to all / why will you leoperde to lese the lyfe euerla­stinge? to decline and escape / that whiche ney­ther ryche / neither poore / neither wyfe / ney­ther [Page] foolishe / proude of stomake / nor feable of coraige / and fynally no earthly creature / by no craft nor mene of man did euer escape / yf any hath escaped the horrible feare of deathe / it was suche as boldely did withstande mennes iniquitie in the earthe.

The fleshe can doo no­thing but grudge. But it grudgeth the flesshe (saye you) for feare of the torment / let it do the owne nature and office / for so must it do tyll it be burdened with Christes crosse / and then no doubte / shall God sende suche comforte / as now we looke not for. Let vs not torne backe from Christe / albeit the fleshe cōplaine / and feareth the tor­ment. Wonder it is that the waye too lyfe is so fearfull vnto vs, considering that so greate a number of our brethren / hath passed before vs in at the same gatte / that we so muche al­horre. Hath not the moste parte of the sainc­tes of God entred in to their rest / by tormente & trobles of whome witnesseth Paule / some were racked / Others be­fore vs hath past to lyfe by torment. some heawin a sonder / some slayne with swerdes / some walked vp & doun in shepe skinnes / in neade, tribulatiō & vexa­tion, Heb. 11. in mountaines / dennes / and in caues off the earthe / and in all those extremities / what complaintes heare we of their mouthes / ex­cept it be that they lament the blindnes of the world / and the perdition of their persecutors. Did God comforte them / and shall he despise vs yf in obediens to him / we folow their foot­steppes / he shall not do it / for he hath promy­sed the contrarye. And therfore dearly belo­ued in the Lorde, As that you purpose too [Page] auoyde the vengeaunce of God / that sodenly shall strike all obstinate Idolatours. As that you wolde hane the leage betwene God and you to stande sure / and as that you will de­clare your selfes to haue true faith / withoute whiche no man euer shall entre in lyfe. And fynally / as that you wil leaue the true know­ledge of God / in possession to youre chyldren. Auoyde Idolatrie / & all participation there­of / for it is so odious before Gods presens / that not onely dothe he punishe the inuentours / and fyrste offendours / but oftentymes theyr posteritie are stryken with blindenes and da­synes of mynde. Deut. 28. The battaylle shall apeare stronge / which you are to suffer / but the Lord hym selfe shall be youre cōforte / he shall come in youre defence with hys mightie power / Zacha. 2 [...] Psal 46.57.61. he shall geue you vittorie / when none is hoped for / he shall tourne your teres to euerlastynge Ioye / he shall confounde your enemyes with the breath of hys mouthe / Apoc. 7.22. Psal. 55. he shall set you se their destruction that now are most proude.

The God of all comforte & consolation for Christ Iesus / his sonnes sake / graūt that this simple & plaine admonition / yea / rather the warning of the holy ghoste maye be receaued / & accepted of you with no les feare & obediēce then I haue written it vnto you with vnfay­ned loue / and sorowfull hart / & then I doubte not / but we shall be comforted / when all suche as now motesteth vs / shall trymble & shake by the comming of our Lord Iesus / whose omni­potent sprete perserue and kepe you vndefiled bodye and soule to the ende. Amen.