MarginaliaAn. 1555. October.which be truly his. For the father which doth guyde thē that be CHRISTES to CHRIST, is more mighty then all they, and no man is able to pull them out of the fathers handes: except I say it please our father, it please our Master CHRIST to suffer them, they shal not styrre one heare of your heades.

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My brother P. the bearer hereof, and Master Hoopers letters, would that we should say what we thincke good concerning your *Marginalia* This matter was concerning the deliberation of the prisoners in London, what to do if they were called to open disputations, mentioned before. pag. 1640. minde:  

that is, not for to aunswere except ye might haue somewhat indifferent   Iudges. We are (as ye know) separated, and one of vs cā not in any thing consult with an other, and much straite watching of the Bailiffes is about vs, that there bee no priuy conference amongest vs. And yet as we heare, the Scholers beareth vs more heauely then the townes men.   A wonderfull thing: among so many, neuer yet Scholler offered to any of vs (so farre as I knowe) anye maner of fauour, either for or in CHRISTES cause. Now, as concerning your demaund of our counsell, for my part I do not myslike that which I perceiue ye are mynded to do. For I looke for none other, but if ye aunswer afore the same Commissioners that we did, ye shall be serued and handled as we were, though ye were as well learned as euer was either Peter or Paule. And yet further I thinke that occasion afterward may bee geuen you, and the consideration of the profit of your auditory may perchaunce moue you to do otherwise.   Finally determinately to say what shall bee best, I am not able, but I trust hee, whose cause ye haue in hand, shall put you in minde to do that which shal be most for hys glory, the profit of hys flocke, & your owne saluation. This letter must bee common to you and Master Hooper, in whom and in his prison fellowe good father C. I blesse God, euen from the bottome of my hart: for I doubt not but they both do to our Master CHRIST, true, acceptable, and honourable seruice, and profitable to his flocke: the one with his penne, and the other with his fatherly example of pacience and constancy and all maner of true godlynes. But what shall I nede to say to you: let thys be common among your brethren, MarginaliaCommunion of Saintes in B. Ridley, B. Hooper, D. Taylour, and other.among whom (I dare say) it is wyth you as it is with vs, to whom all thinges here are common, meat, money, and whatsoeuer one of vs hath that cā or may do an other good. All though I sayd þ^e Baliffes & our Hostes   straitly watch vs, that wee haue no conference or intelligence of any thing abroade, MarginaliaGods prouision for hys Saintes.yet hath God prouyded for euery one of vs in stede of our seruauntes, faythfull fellowes, which will be content to heare and see, and to do for vs what so euer they can. It is Gods worke surely, blessed be God for hys vnspeakeable goodnes. The grace of our Lorde IESVS CHRIST, and the loue of God, and the communicatiō of the holy Ghost be with you al, Amē, Amen.

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As farre as London is from Oxforde, MarginaliaThe christian charitie of certayne godly brethren of London toward the prisoned Bishops in Oxford.yet thence wee haue receiued of late, both meate, money and shertes, not onely from such as are of our acquaintaunce, but of some (whom this bearer can tell) with whom I had neuer to my knowledge any acquaintaunce. I knowe for whose sake they do it: to him therefore bee all honour, glory and due thankes.

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And yet I pray you do so much as to shew them that we haue receiued their beneuolence, and (God be blessed) haue plenty of all such thinges. This I desire you to do: for I know they be of Master Hoopers, and your familiar acquaintaunce.  

Master Latimer was crased:   but I heare now (thankes be to God) that hee amendeth agayne.

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Nicholas Ridley.

MarginaliaThis letter of B. Ridley was writen to M. Bradford soone after his condemnation, when it was thought that he should be had to Lankeshire.OH deare brother, seyng the time is now come, wherin it pleaseth the heauenly father, for CHRIST our Sauiour his sake, to call vppon you, and to byd you to to come, happy are you that euer you were borne, thus to be foūd awake at the Lordes callyng. Euge serue bone & fidelis: quia super pauca fuisti fidelis, super multa te constituet, & intrabis in gaudium Domini. i.  

MarginaliaMath. 25.VVell good seruaunt and faithfull, because thou hast bene trusty in small matters, he shall set thee ouer great thynges, and thou shalt enter into the ioy of thy Lord. O deare brother, what meaneth thys, that you are sent into your own natiue countrey?   The wisedome and policy of the world may meane what they will, but I trust God will so order the matter finally by his fatherly prouidence, that some great occasion of Gods gracious goodnes shall be plenteously poured abroad amō

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gest his, our deare brethren in that coūtrey, by this your Martyrdome. Where the Martyrs for CHRISTES sake shed their bloud, and lost their lyues, O what wondrous things hath CHRIST afterward wrought to his glory, and confirmation of their doctrine? If it be not the place that sanctifieth þ^e man, but the holy man doth by CHRIST sanctifie the place: brother Bradford, then happy and holy shalbe that place, wherin thou shalt suffer, and shalbe with thy ashes in CHRISTES cause sprynkled ouer withall. All thy countrey may reioyce of thee, that euer it brought forth such a one, which would render his lyfe agayne in his cause, of whom he had receiued it. Brother Bradford, so long as I shal vnderstād thou art in thy iorney, by Gods grace I shall call vpō our heauenly father for CHRISTES sake, to set thee safely home: and then good brother speake you, and pray for the remnaunt that are for to suffer for CHRISTES sake, according to that thou then shalt know more clearely.

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We do looke now euery day whē we shalbe called on: blessed be God. I weene I am the weakest many wayes of our company: and yet I thanke our Lorde God and heauenly father by CHRIST, that since I heard of our deare brother Rogers departing and stoute confession of CHRIST and his truth euen vnto the death, MarginaliaThe reioysing of B. Ridley at the constancy of Master Rogers.my hart (blessed be God) so reioyced of it, that since that time, I say, I neuer felt any lumpish heauines in my hart, as I graunt I haue felt sometymes before. O good brother, blessed be God in thee, and blessed be the time that euer I knew thee. Farewell, farewell.

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Your brother in Christ, Nicholas
Ridley. Brother farewell.

MarginaliaA letter of B. Ridley to all the persecuted flocke of Christ, written in Lattin and translated into English.GRace, peace, and mercy be multiplied among you. What worthy thankes can we render vnto the Lord for you my brethren, namely for the great consolation which through you we haue receaued in the Lord, who notwithstādyng the rage of Sathan that goeth about by all maner of subtill meanes to begyle the world, and also busily laboureth to restore & set vp his kyngdome agayne that of late began to decay and fall to ruine: ye remaine yet still vnmoueable as men surely grounded vppon a strong rocke. And now, albeit that Sathan by his souldiours & wicked ministers, dayly (as we heare) draweth numbers vnto him, so that it is sayd of him that he plucketh euen the very starres out of heauen, whiles he dryueth into some mē the feare of death and losse of all their goods, and sheweth and offereth to other some the pleasaunt baites of the world, namely riches, wealth and all kynd of delightes and pleasures, fayre houses, great reuenewes, fat benefices, and what not? and all to the intent they should fall downe and worshyp, not the Lorde but MarginaliaApoc. 12.the Dragon the olde Serpent which is the deuill, that great beast, and his image, and should be enticed to commit fornication with the strompet of Babylon, together with the kynges of the earth, with the lesser beast, and with the false Prophetes, and so to reioyce and be pleasaunt with her, and to be drunken with the wyne of her fornication:MarginaliaApoc. 17. yet blessed be God the father of our Lord IESVS CHRIST, which hath geuen vnto you a manly courage and hath so strengthned you in the inward mā by the power of his spirite, that you can contemne aswel all the terrours, as also þ^e vayne flattering allurementes of the world, estemyng them as vanities, mere trifles, and thynges of nought: Who hath also wrought, plāted, & surely stablished in your hartes so stedfast a faith & loue of þ^e Lord IESVS CHRIST, ioyned with such cōstancie that by no engines  

of Antichrist, be they neuer so terrible or plausible, ye will suffer any other IESVS or any other CHRIST to be forced vpon you, besides him whom the Prophetes haue spoken of before, the Apostles haue preached and the holy Martyrs of God haue cōfessed and testified with the effusion of their bloud.

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MarginaliaGal. 5.In this faith stand ye fast my brethrē, & suffer not your selues to be brought vnder þ^e yoke of bondage & superstition any more. For ye know, brethren, how þ^t our Sauiour warned his before hād, Marginalia
Math. 24.
He exhorteth the brethren to stand fast.þ^t such should come as would point vnto the world an other CHRIST, and would set him out with so many false miracles, & with such deceaueable and subtile practises, that euen the very elect (if it were possible) should be therby deceaued: such strong delusion to come did our Sauiour geue warning of before. But continue ye faithfull and constant, and be of good

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