MarginaliaAn. 1555. February.no remedy, man beyng of such corruption and hatred towardes God, but that the euill shalbe deceaued and persecute the good: and the good shall vnderstand the truth and suffer persecution for it vntill the worldes end. For as he that was borne after the flesh, persecuted in tymes past, hym that was borne after the spirite: euen so it is now.MarginaliaGene. 4. Galat. 4.

Therefore, for somuch as we liue in this lyfe amongest so many great perils & daūgers, we must be wel assured by Gods word, how to beare them, & how patiētly to take them, as they be sent to vs frō God. We must also assure our selues that there is no other remedy for Christians in þ^e tyme of trouble, then Christ hym self hath appoynted vs. In S. Luke he geueth vs this cōmaundemēt: MarginaliaLuke. 2.Ye shall possesse your lyues in patience, sayth he. In þ^e which wordes, he geueth vs both cōmaundement what to do, and also great consolation & comfort in all troubles. MarginaliaPatience in troubles, onely the Christian mans remedy.He sheweth also what is to be done & what is to be hoped for in troubles: and whē troubles happen, he biddeth vs be patient, and in no case violently nor seditiously to resiste our persecutours, because God hath such care and charge of vs, that MarginaliaMath. 10.he will kepe in the myddes of all troubles the very heares of our head, so that one of them shall not fall away without the will and pleasure of our heauenly father. Whether the heare therfore tary in the head, or fall from the head, it is the will of the father. And seyng he hath such care for the heares of our head, how much more doth he care for our life it self? Wherfore let Gods aduersaryes do what they lust, whether they take the lyfe or take it not, they can do vs no hurt: for theyr cruelty hath no further power then God permitteth them: and that which commeth vnto vs by the will of our heauenly father, can be no harme, no losse, neither destruction vnto vs, but rather gayne, wealth, and felicity. For all troubles and aduersity that chaunce to such as be of God by the will of the heauenly father, can be none other but gayne and aduauntage.MarginaliaRom. 8.

MarginaliaPrayer necessary. Iam. 1. 1. Cor. 1. 8.That the spirite of man may feele these consolations, the geuer of them the heauenly father must be praied vnto for the merites of Christes passion: for it is not the nature of man that can be contented vntill it be regenerated and possessed wyth Gods spirite, to beare patiently the troubles of the minde or of the body. When the mind and hart of a man seeth of euery syde sorrow and heauynes, and the worldly eye beholdeth nothing but such thinges as bee troublous and wholy bent to robbe the poore of that he hath, and also to take from hym his lyfe: except the man waygh these brittle and vncertayne treasures that be taken from hym, with the riches of the lyfe to come: and this lyfe of the body, with the lyfe in Christes precious bloud, and so for the loue and certaintye of the heauenly ioyes contemne all thinges present, doubtles he shall neuer be able to beare the losse of goods, life, or any other things of this world.

Therefore Sainct Paule geueth a very godly and necessary lesson to all men in thys short and transitorye lyfe, and therein sheweth how a man may best beare the iniquitie and troubles of this world: MarginaliaColoß. 3.If ye be rysen agayne with Christ (sayth he) seeke the thinges which are aboue, where Christ sitteth at the ryght hand of God the father. MarginaliaA lesson how to beare trouble.Wherfore the Christian mans fayth must bee alwayes vpon the resurrection of Christ, when he is in trouble, and in that glorious resurrection hee shall not onely see continuall and perpetuall ioy and consolation: but also the victory and triumph of all persecution, trouble, synne, death, hel, the diuell, and all other Tyrants and Persecutors of Christ and of Christes people, the teares and weepinges of the faythfull dryed vp, theyr woundes healed, theyr bodyes made immortall in ioy, theyr soules for euer praysing the Lord, and coniunction and societie euerlasting wyth the blessed company of Gods electes in perpetuall ioy. But the words of S. Paule in that place, if they be not marked, shall doe litle profit to the reader or hearer, and geue him no patience at all in thys impatient and cruell world.

MarginaliaTwo thinges commaunded by S. Paule writing to the Colossians.MarginaliaThe first is to see and know what thinges are aboue, and what are beneath, and to discerne rightly betwene them.In the fyrst part S. Paule commaundeth, vs to thinke or set our affections on thinges that are aboue. When he byddeth vs seeke the thinges that are aboue, he requireth that our mindes neuer cease from praier & study in Gods woord, vntill we see, know, and vnderstand the vanities of this world, the shortnes and misery of this lyfe, and the treasures of the world to come, the immortality thereof, and the ioyes of that lyfe, and so neuer cease seekyng, vntyll such time as we know certainly, and be perswaded what a blessed man he is that seketh the one and findeth it, and careth not for the other though he lose it: and in seekyng to haue right iudgement betwene the life present and the lyfe to come, we shall finde how litle the paynes, impri-

sonment, sclaunders, lyes, & death it self is in this world, in respect of the paynes euerlasting, the prison infernall, and dungeon of hell, the sentence of Gods iust iudgement, and euerlasting death.

MarginaliaThe secōd is to set our affectiō vpon thē that be aboue, & not vpō the other. And this lessō is harder then the other.When a man hath by seeking the word of God, found out what the thinges aboue be: then must he (as S. Paule sayth) set hys affections vpon them. And thys cōmaundement is more hard then the other. For mans knowledge many tymes seeth the best, and knoweth that there is a lyfe to come, better then this lyfe present, as you may see, how dayly men and women can prayse and cōmend, yea and wish for heauen, and to be at rest there: yet they set not their affection vpō it, they do more affect and loue in deede a trifle of nothing in thys world that pleaseth their affection, then the treasure of all treasures in heauē, which theyr own iudgement saith is better then al worldly things. Wherefore we must set our affections vpon the things that be aboue: that is to say, when any thing worse thē heauen vpō þ^e earth offereth it self to be ours, if we will geue our good wyls to it, and loue it in our hartes: then ought we to see by the iudgement of Gods word, MarginaliaHow thinges of this world may be possessed and how not.whether we may haue the worlde without offence of God, and such thinges as be for thys worldly lyfe, without his displeasure. If we can not, S. Paules cōmaunnement must take place: set your affections on thinges that are aboue. If the ryches of this world may not be gottē nor kept wyth gods law, neyther our lyues be continued without the denyal of hys honour, we must set our affection vpon the riches and lyfe that is aboue, and not vpon thinges that be on the earth. Therefore this second commaundement of S. Paule requireth, that as our myndes iudge heauenly thinges to bee better then thinges vppon the earth, and the lyfe to come better then the life present: so we should chuse them before other, and preferre them, and haue such affection to the best, that in no case we set the worst before it, as the most part of the world doth and hath done, for they choose the best and approue it, and yet followe the worst.

MarginaliaScriptures would be mused vpō rather then talked vpon.But these thinges (my godly wyfe) requyre rather cogitation, meditation and prayer, then wordes or talke. They be easy to be spoken of, but not so easie to bee vsed and practised. Wherefore seing they be Gods giftes, and none of ours to haue as our own when we would, wee must seeke them at our heauenly fathers hand, who seeth and is priuy how poore and wretched we bee, and how naked, how spoyled, and destitute of all his blessed giftes we be by reason of synne. He dyd commaund therefore hys Disciples, MarginaliaMath. 24. Luke. 2.when hee shewed them that they shoulde take patiently the state of this present lyfe full of troubles and persecution, to pray that they might wel escape those troubles that were to come, and be hable to stand before the sonne of man. When ye finde your selfe to much oppressed (as euery man shall be sometime with the feare of Gods iudgement) vse the. lxxvij. Psalme that begynneth: MarginaliaPsal. 77. Read also Maister Hoopers exposition vppon this Psalme, most comfortable for all broken and afflicted hartes.I wyll cry vnto God wyth my voyce, and he shall harken vnto me. In which Psalme is both godly doctrine and great consolation vnto the man or woman that is in anguish of mynde.

Vse also in such trouble the. lxxxviij. Psalme, wherein is contayned the prayer of a man that was brought into extreme anguish and misery, and being vexed wyth aduersaries and persecutions, saw nothing but death and hell. And although he felt in hym selfe, that hee had not onely man, but also God angry towardes hym: yet hee by prayer humbly resorted vnto God, as the onely porte of consolation, and in the myddest of hys desperate state of trouble, put the hope of hys saluation in hym, whom he felt hys enemy. How be it no man of him selfe can do thys, MarginaliaRom. 8.but the spirite of God that striketh the mans hart with feare, prayeth for the man stricken and feared, wyth vnspeakeable gronings. And when you feele your selfe or know any other oppressed after such sort, be glad: for after that God hath made you to know what you bee of your selfe, he wyll doubtles shew you comfort, and declare vnto you what you bee in Christ hys onely sonne: and vse prayer often, for that is the meanes whereby God wyll bee sought vnto for hys gyftes. These Psalmes bee for the purpose, when the mynde can take no vnderstanding, nor the hart any ioy of Gods promises: MarginaliaWhat Psalmes are to be vsed in distresse and tribulatiō.and therefore were these Psalmes also made, vi. xxij. xxx. xxxj. xxxviij. lxic.MarginaliaRead also the fourth chapter of Eccle. frō the which you shal learne both patience and consolation. Remember that MarginaliaColloß. 3.although your lyfe (as all Christian mens be) be hyd and appeareth not what it is, yet is it safe (as S. Paule sayth) wyth God in Christ: and when Christ shall appeare, then shall our lyues be made open wyth hym in glory. But in the meane tyme wyth see-