No. 110.*

TO CERTAIN GODLY MEN,

Relievers and Helpers of Bradford and others, in their imprisonment.

THE peace of Christ, which passeth all pleasure and worldly felicity, be daily more and more felt in your hearts, my right dearly beloved in the Lord, by the inward working of the Holy Spirit, the earnest of our inheritance, and guider of God's elect; with the which, may God, our dear Father, more and more endue us all unto the end, for his beloved Son's sake, our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.

Praised be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is a Father of mercy, and a God of all consolation; who hath blessed you with the knowledge and love of his truth, not only to your own comforts; but also the great ease and comfort of many, who without the help of God, by you hitherto, had been in much more misery. By your relieving the Lord's prisoners, I am brought to see the root whereof the work doth spring, even the knowledge and love of God's truth, wherefore we are in bonds. The which knowledge and love, in that it is a blessing of all blessings the greatest, for it is even eternal life, John xvii.; I cannot but praise God for you on this behalf, that it hath pleased him to vouch you, worthy so excellent and singular a benefit; which is more to be esteemed, desired, and cared for, than any thing else.

The world, for all that ever it hath, cannot attain by any means to this blessing, which God, our Father, hath given you freely of his own good will through Christ, even before ye were purposed to desire it. Therefore I beseech you all to be thankful with me, and to rejoice in the Lord. For if he have given us such a gift unasked, undesired, yea, unthought upon; how can it be that he will deny us any good thing now, which may be necessary for us? Will he, trow ye, sow his seed in the ground of your hearts, and not keep

* Cov. 460.

He hath be

away the fowls from picking it up? Would he so bestow his seed in you as he hath, if that he would not hedge in your hearts, his field, from common paths, and from breaking in of beasts to destroy it? Will he be more careless than a good husbandman to weed out the weeds which are in us, lest they should overgrow the corn of his word? Will not he bestow muck and marl upon us, that we may bring forth more fruit? If in a good husbandman this be not lacking, alas, how should we think then, but that the Lord God, a good husbandman, and nothing but good, and only good; how, I say, should it be, but that he is most careful to keep his seed, already sown in your hearts, by the ministry of us and other his preachers; and that to the bringing forth of just and full fruits? He that hath begun with you, will happily make an end with you. gan to sow his seed in you, as I dare say you feel it. Be sure then that all this will follow; first, he will have scarecrows in your hearts; I mean, such sparkles of his fear will he drop, yea, already he hath dropped into you, that the birds of the air, vain and evil cogitations, shall not be cherished of you, but expelled, by crying to the Lord for his help. Secondly, he will make such hedges, as shall keep you, as well from by-paths of all evil customs and usages; as also preserve you from the power of evil and dominion of sin, which would have the upper hand of you. Thirdly, he will doubtless pour such showers upon you, to supply you, so weed you, so muck and marl you by temptation and other exercises, that the sunshine of persecution shall make more to the ripening of his seed in you, than to the withering of it away.

These things, my dearly beloved, the Lord God, who hath begun them in you and for you, will continue with you; that in the end you may be brought into his barn, there to rest with him in eternal felicity. For God's sake, therefore, wait and look for no less than I have told you at his hands; a greater service can you not give him. If God keep not the order I have told you, but perchance begin to muck and marl you, to pour his showers upon you; to nip you with his weeding tongs, &c.; rejoice and be glad, that God will do that in you and with you at once, which a long time he hath been working in and for others. Now undoubtedly great showers are fallen, to supply our hearts, that God's word might enter therein and take

root. Now the Lord goeth a weeding, to weed out of us our carnality, security, covetousness, self-love, forgetfulness of God, and love of this world. Now the Lord doth muck and marl us, loading us with heaps and burdens of crosses, that our hearts might be made good ground, to bring forth fruit to God's glory by patience; as well in suffering inward temptations and griefs, whereof we must complain to the Lord, for his scarecrows to drive then forth of us, as also in suffering outward assaults; for the which we must cry to our master, for his hedges and defence, which hath two parts; the one concerning us, to help and deliver us; and the other concerning our, or rather his, obstinate adversaries, to take vengeance upon them, which he will do in his time.

Therefore let us by patience possess our souls, knowing that they who persevere to the end, shall be saved. Let us not be weary of well-doing, for in our time we shall reap the fruits thereof. But rather, while we have time, let us redeem it in doing well to all men, but especially to the household of faith; which thing hereto you have done, the Lord therefore be praised, and in the days of his coming may he recompence you; and in the rest I hope well; I mean that you have declared no less, in confessing the truth planted in your hearts, by your words and works, after your vocation, to the glory of God.

I hope you have godly behaved yourselves, not being as too many be now-a-days, even mongrels, giving half to God, and half to the world; balting on both knees, going two ways; I mean it of the mass-gospellers, who are worse than any papists. In this point I hope well of you, my dearly beloved, that you have not contaminated yourselves; that you have both confessed the truth as oft as need hath required, and also have refrained from coming to church now, where is nothing but idolatrous service. I hope you have glorified God, both in soul and body. I hope you have gathered with Christ, and not scattered abroad. I hope you have drawn no yoke with unbelievers, nor communicated with other men's sins, but have abstained from all appearance of evil; confessing in heart, confessing in tongue, confessing in deed and act, the true knowledge of God, which he hath of his great mercy given unto you; not to be as a candle under a bushel, but upon the candlestick, to give light that men may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in

heaven. All this I hope of you, my beloved, and also of all purity of life and godly conversation; not doubting, but in this behalf also, you have declared God's verity in your heart, and for the Lord's sake do so still, in all points; that is, in your vocations be diligent and righteous, towards yourselves be sober and pure, towards your neighbours be charitable and just, towards God be faithful and thankful, loving and obedient.

Meditate much upon,

Use earnest and often hearty prayer. and often hearken to, the Word of God. If you be called, give with modesty an account of the hope which is in you. Be not ashamed of God's true service, allow not that with your presence, which is contrary to God's will. Make not the members of Christ's Church, that is yourselves, members of antichrist's church. Be not ashamed of the gospel, or of such as be bound therefore, but rather be partakers thereof; first inwardly, by compassion, prayer, &c.; then outwardly, by giving, according to that the Lord hath lent you to that end; and last of all, by suffering with us if God so will, and if it be needful for you. For, my dearly beloved, be certain that no man can touch you, or lay hands upon you, but by the will of God, who is all good towards you ; even as the will of a most dear father, who cannot always be angry, or otherwise use his rod, than only to chastise and correct, not to destroy his children.

Again, be certain that no cross shall come unto you before you need it. For God is our physician, and when he seeth our souls in peril, he preventeth the peril by purgation, and ministering physic, which is the cross. As therefore for the body, we follow the advice of physicians for the health thereof, thankfully using their counsel and following their precepts; so for God's sake, let us for our souls, being sick, thankfully receive the heavenly physician's physic and diet; so shall we wax strong men in God, and in his Christ; which thing I beseech thee, O Holy Spirit, to work in us all, Amen.

My dearly beloved, this have I briefly written unto you, not as one that seeketh any gifts, as Paul saith; but as one that seeketh abundant fruits on your behalf, and to your commodity. For it is better to give than to receive, saith Christ, by his apostle St. Paul; who testifieth, That according to that we sow, so shall we reap. He

that soweth little, shall reap little; he that soweth much, shall reap much. Never should we forget, how that the Lord Jesus, being rich, for our sakes became poor, that we might be made rich by him. Again, never should we forget that we are dead to sin and alive to righteousness. Therefore should we live wholly unto God and for God, and not for ourselves. In all things, therefore, we must avoid the seeking of ourselves, as well in doing, as in leaving things undone. If the cross come upon us, therefore, then are we happy, for the Spirit of God, and glory of God, resteth upon us. Therefore rejoice, saith Christ, for your reward is great in heaven. In this we are made like to Christ here; therefore, we shall be so elsewhere, even in eternal joy and endless glory.

The highway to heaven, you know, is affliction; so that all that will live godly in Christ Jesus, must suffer persecution. If we were of the world, the world would love us; but we are not of the world, but bear witness against the world, and therefore the world doth hate us. But let us rejoice, our Lord hath overcome the world. He suffered out of the city, bearing our rebuke, saith the apostle. Let us then go out of our tents, and bear his rebuke; that is, let us deny ourselves, take up our cross, which is his also, and follow him. Let us know and esteem this more riches than all the treasures of the world, as Moses did. Let us know, that he that saveth his life shall lose it. Let us know, that the way to salvation is a straight way, and a way wherein we cannot carry our bags and chests with us. Let us know, that no excuse of wife, farm, house, or child, will excuse us. Let us know, that in this case we must be so far from loving father, mother, wife, and children, that we must hate them, and our own selves also.

Though this be a hard saying, yet we must not leave our loads-man for a little foul way. Yea, rather we should know indeed, that it is but hard to the flesh, which, if she be handled daintily, will be imperious; under must she be kept, that the spirit, which is a precious thing in God's sight, may have her commodities. If we should follow the fancy of the flesh, we could not please God. Against it we have made a solemn profession, as also against the devil and the world in our baptism. And shall we now look for easy things of our enemies? Shall we