Marginalia1556. Iuly.vttered, haue a wonderfull power and efficacie working in my harte at the hearing or reading of them. Reioyce therfore my deare brother, and be thankefull vnto God: for verily he both is & wil be mightely magnified in you, and that diuers and many wayes, both to the strengthening of them that stand in his truth, and also to the raising vp of such as are fallen from the same. God make me thankefull for you and on your behalfe, for verily great is the goodnes of God towardes me in geuing me acquaintaunce in faithfull loue & amitie with you: Gods name for euer be praised therfore, and he performe all his mercifull promises vpō you, as I doubt not but he will, for his sake in whom you trust.

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MarginaliaHe geueth hym thankes.I thanke my God most hartely, and also you my good brother, for that you are carefull for me in your faithfull prayers, remembring my iust deserued sorrowes, as though they were your owne, and labouring so much to solace the same. Ah my gracious good God, what am I, for whom thou and thy deare children should be so carefull? Oh swete Lord, forgeue me my great ingratitude and sinne, and graunt that I neuer abuse thy great benefites. Oh let the loue of thine elect, which loue me for hy sake, be a sure signe and token, yea a most firme testimonie and a seale to my sinnefull conscience of thine euerlasting loue and mercie towardes me in CHRIST: as verely it would and ought to be, if mine infidelitie did not let it. Oh circumcise therfore the foreskinne of my hart, þ^t I may with liuely faith behold thy great loue towrdes me in all thine elect, that I may alwayes be thankefull for the same, and loue thee and them againe most hartely and vnfainedly.

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MarginaliaWhat a treasure a trusty frend is.Ah my deare hart, how swetely and how truly, yea how godly and how comfortably haue you rehearsed the swete saying of Salomon cōcerning prosperitie with true & godly frendes? I will ioyne with it the sentence which goeth a litle before, for doubtles it may be well verified on you. A sure frend (saith the wise manMarginaliaEccle. 6.) will be vnto thee euē as thine owne soule, and deale faithfully with thy household folke. If thou suffer trouble and aduersitie, hee is with thee and hideth not his face from thee. A faithfull frend is a strong defence: who so findeth such a one, findeth a treasure. A faithfull frend hath no peere: the waight of gold is not to be compared to the goodnes of his fayth. A faythfull frend is a medicine of life, and they that feare the Lord, shall finde him. &c. Lo (my deare hart in the Lord) here is a liuely image or description of you: for verely such a one haue I alwayes found you vnto me, not onely sorrowyng for my great sorrow: but also oftentimes makyng me mery and ioyfull, with such ioyes as the world can not feele. Now let the world brag of his fained frendship: but I will boast of this true frendship in God,MarginaliaThere is no true frendship but amongest godly persons. and esteme it a more treasure then all transitorie thinges. And as for my mourning, deare brother, GOD hath made you to turne it vnto mirth: for God hath put you in the stede of them to be my comfort, whom he hath in his great mercy taken away. I trust henceforth to leaue the mourning for my great losse, and to praise God for gainyng vnto him selfe so great glorie by his chosen children. MarginaliaSuch mourners should we be continually with thys and other gods deare children: and blessed be they that so mourne.GOD make me a true mourner of Sion, both for mine owne sinne and wickednes, and also to see his honor defaced, that I may be made meete and apt to beare the ioyfull and comfortable message that your beautifull feete shall bring me.  

God blesse thee my deare hart and faithfull louing brother, and increase his good giftes of grace in thee, as he hath most happely begon, that you may dayly more effectually feele and liuely perceiue the certaintie of Gods grace wherin you stand, and firmely to testifie the same, to the conuersion or confounding of all gainsayers, and to the comfort and confirmation of all Gods deare children, Amen. Farewell mine owne swete brother, farewell as mine owne hart.

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Your owne in Christ, Iohn Careles.

MarginaliaAn other Letter of Iohn Careles to a godly Christian woman.THe grace and free mercy of God in IESVS CHRIST, the swete consolations of the holy Ghost the guide of all Gods deare children, be with you, strengthen and comfort you my dearely beloued swete sister E. K. now and euer, Amen.

Albeit, my dearely beloued sister in CHRIST, that as yet we did neuer see one an other personally to any knowledge, yet by the vertuous reporte that I haue heard of you, and also by the large louing token that I haue receaued from you, me thinke that I do euen pre-

sently see you, and behold your person, faithfully walking in the feare and loue of God, ioying and reioycing with you in the spirite as though we were swetely talking together of CHRISTES veritie. The Lord God do I humbly besech in the bowels and bloud of our Lord and Sauiour IESVS CHRIST, that he will strengthen vs both with his holy and mightie spirite, that we may cōstantly continue in the confession of his truth vnto the ende: that like as we now see one an other presently in spirite, we may also see one an other personally in the glorious presence of God, and his holy aungels, where vndoubtedly, we shall know one anothers personage, to our great ioy, felicitie, and endles comfort.

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MarginaliaPreparatiō to the Crosse.And now therfore deare sister K. be strong in the Lord our God, for doubtles the time of triall is at hand: a great persecution with cruel murthering of Gods deare Saintes is like to be very shortly in this wofull wicked Realme of Englād. Therfore deare sister, for the loue of God, prepare you to the crosse with all diligence, & make your selfe ready to dye with CHRIST, that you may also liue with him for euer. There is no remedy, if you wil be CHRISTES Disciple, you must needes take vp your crosse and folow him, for the Disciple must not looke to be aboue his master, nor the seruaunt to be better intreated then his Lord. If we were of the world (good sister) no doubt, the world would loue vs. But for as much as CHRIST hath chosen vs out of the world, to serue God in spirit and veritie, let vs be well assured the world will hate vs and persecute vs, as it hath done our Lord and master CHRIST. But yet let vs bee of good chere, for CHRIST hath ouercome the world. The payne is but short that we can feele here, but the pleasure is perpetuall that we shall feele elswhere.

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MarginaliaConsolatiō vnder the crosse.Let vs set before vs the example of CHRIST, which abode the crosse and despised the shame in respect of the ioy that was set before him: Euen so let vs consider for whose sake we suffer, whose cause we defend, and what glorious reward we shal haue at the day of our victorie, and then doubtles the consolation of these thinges will make swete all our sufferinges, and soone swallow vp al the sorrowes that we are sowsed in for Gods sake. I could recite diuers textes of the Scripture to confirme this point. But I neede not, for I am well assured that you do know them most perfectly already. The Lord geue you strength and assiste you with his holy spirite, that you may continually walke in all pointes according to your godly knowledge: And then shall you not do as the most part of our Gospelers do now adayes, the more is the pitie. MarginaliaAgainst Massing Gospellers.There are a great many in England, that do perfectly know, that the idolatrous Masse is abominable, deuilish, and detestable in the sight of God. And yet, alas they be not afrayd to pollute and defile their bodies, which ought to bee the temples of the holy ghost, with beyng present at it, so sinning against God and their owne conscience.

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MarginaliaExhortation to flye from the Masse.But deare sister K. do you flie from it, both in body and soule, as you would flie from the very deuill him selfe. Drinke not of the whore of Babylons cuppe by no meanes, for it will infect the body and poison the soule. Be not partakers of her sinnes (saith the aungell) lest you be partakers of the plagues that shortly shalbe powred vppon her. O what an aray is this? that so many that know Gods truth, will now turne agayne and defile them selues in the filthie puddle of Antichristes stinking Religiō? They go about to saue their liues with their double dissimulation: but doubtles, they shall lose euerlasting life by it, if they do not repent in time and turne vnto the Lord. But deare sister, my trust is, that you do vtterly abhorre the comming to any such thing. I hope that you will not by any meanes turne backe into Egypt now, but that you will boldly venter through the wildernes of trouble and persecutiō, that you may come into the land that floweth with all kinde of heauenly pleasures and ioyfull delectations, and possesse the same for euer.

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Let vs consider, how that euery one of vs doth owe vnto God a death by nature, and how soone the Lord will require it of vs, we know not. O how happy are we then, if God of his goodnes appoint vs to pay natures det with suffring for his truth and Gospels sake, and so making vs his faithfull witnesses with the Prophetes, Apostles, Martyrs, and Confessours, yea with his dearely beloued sonne IESVS CHRIST, to whom he doth here begyn to fashion vs like in suffering, that we might be like him also in glory. Thus my dearely beloued sister, I haue ben bold to trouble you a litle with my rude and simple letter, beyng made in hast as it doth ap-

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