of our head,MarginaliaMath. 10. so that one of them shal not fall away without the wyll and pleasure of our heauenly father. Marginalia1555. Februa.Whether the heare therfore tarry in the head, or fal from the head, it is the wyl of the father. And seing he hath such care for the heares of our head, how much more doth he care for our life it selfe? Wherfore let Gods aduersaries do what they lust, whether they take the life or take it not, they can doo vs no hurt: for their crueltie hath no further power then God permitteth them: and that which commeth vnto vs by the wyl of our heauenly father, can be no harme, no losse, neither destructiō vnto vs, but rather gaine, wealth, and felicitie. For al troubles and aduersitie that chance to such as be of God by the wyl of the heauenly father, can be none other but gaine and aduantage.MarginaliaRom. 8.

MarginaliaPrayer necessary. Iames. 1. 2. Cor. 1. 8.That the spirite of man may feele these consolations, the geuer of them the heauenly father must be prayed vnto for the merites of Christes passion: for it is not the nature of man that can be contēted vntill it be regenerated and possessed with Gods spirite, to beare paciently the troubles of the minde or of the body. When the mynd and hart of a man seeth of euery side sorowe and heauines, and the worldly eye beholdeth nothing but suche thinges as be troublous and wholy bent to robbe the poore of that he hath, and also to take from him his life: except the man weigh these brittle and vncertaine treasures that be taken from him, with the riches of the life to come: and this life of the body, with the life in Christes precious bloud, and so for the loue and certaintie of the heauenly ioyes contemne all thinges present, doubtles he shall neuer be able to beare the losse of goodes, life, or any other things of this world.

Therefore Saint Paul geueth a very godly and necessarie lesson to all men in this short and transitorie life, and therein sheweth howe a man may best beare the iniquitie & troubles of this world: If ye be risen againe with Christ (sayth heMarginaliaCollos. 3.) seeke the thinges which are aboue, where Christ sitteth at the right hande of God the father. MarginaliaA lesson how to beare trouble.Wherfore the Christian mans fayth must be alwayes vpon the resurrection of Christ, when he is in trouble, and in that glorious resurrection he shall not onely see continuall and perpetuall ioy and consolation: but also the victorie and triumph of al persecution, trouble, sinne, death, hell, the diuell, and al other tyrantes and persecuters of Christe and of Christes people, the teares and weepinges of the faythfull dryed vp, their woundes healed, their bodyes made immortall in ioy, their soules for euer praysing the Lord, and coniunction and societie euerlasting with the blessed company of Gods electes in perpetual ioy. But the wordes of S. Paul in that place, if they be not marked, shall doo litle profite to the reader or hearer, and geue hym no pacience at al in this impacient and cruel world.

MarginaliaTwo things commaūded by S. Paule writing to the Collossians.In the first part S. Paul cōmaundeth vs, to thinke or set our affections on things that are aboue. Whē he biddeth vs seeke the thinges that are aboue, he requireth that our mynds neuer cease frō prayer & study in Gods word, vntill we see, knowe, & vnderstand the vanities of this world, the shortnes & miserie of this life, & the treasures of the worlde to come, the immortalitie therof, and the ioyes of that life, & so neuer cease seeking, vntyll such tyme as we knowe certainly, and be perswaded what a blessed man he is that seeketh the one & findeth it, and careth not for the other though he loose it: and in seeking to haue right iudgement betwene the life present & the life to come, we shal find howe litle the paynes, imprisonment, sclaunders, lyes, & death it self is in this world, in respect of the paines euerlasting, the prison infernal, & dungeon of hell, the sentence of Gods iust iudgement, and euerlasting death.

When a man hath by seeking the woorde of God, found out what the thinges aboue be: then must he (as S. Paul saith) set his affections vpon them. And this comaundement is more harde then the other. For mans knowledge many tymes seeth the best, and knoweth that there is a life to come, better then this life present, as you may see, howe dayly men and women can prayse and commende, yea and wishe for heauen, and to be at rest there? yet they set not their affection vpon it, they doo more affect and loue in deede a trifle of nothing in this worlde that pleaseth their affection, then the treasure of all treasures in heauen, which their owne iudgement saith is better then al worldly thinges. Wherfore we must set our affections vpon the thinges that be aboue: that is to say, when any thing worse then heauē vppon the earth, offereth it selfe to be ours, if we wyll geue our good wylles to it, and loue it in our hartes: then ought we to see by the iudgment of Gods word, whether we may haue the worlde without offence of God, and such thinges as be for this worldly life, without his displeasure. If we can not, S. Paules commaundement must take place: Set your affections on thinges that are aboue. If the riches of this world may not be gotten nor kept by Gods lawe, neither our lyues be continued without the denyall of his ho-

nor, we must set our affection vpon the riches and life that is aboue, & not vpon things that be on the earth. MarginaliaHow thinges of this world may be possessed and how not.Therfore this second commaundement of S. Paul requireth, that as our mynds iudge heauenly thinges to be better then things vpon the earth, and the life to come better then the life present: so we should chuse them before other, and preferre thē, 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 folowe the worst.

But these thinges (my godly wife) require rather cogitation, meditation, and prayer, then wordes or talke. MarginaliaScriptures would be mused vpon rather then talked vpon.They be easie to be spoken of, but not so easie to be vsed and practised. Wherefore seeing they be Gods gyftes, and none of ours, to haue as our owne when we would, we must seeke them at our heauenly fathers hand, who seeth and is priuie how poore and wretched we be, and how naked, how spoiled, and destitute of all his blessed gyftes we be by reason of sinne. He dyd commaund therefore his Disciples, MarginaliaMath. 24. Luke. 2.when he shewed them that they shoulde take paciently the state of this present lyfe full of troubles and persecution, to praye that they might well escape those troubles that were to come, and be able to stand before the sonne of man. When ye finde your selfe too muche oppressed (as euery man shal be sometime with the feare of Gods iudgement) vse the. 77. Psal. that beginneth: I will cry vnto God with my voyce, and he shall harken vnto me.MarginaliaPsal. 77. Read also M. Hoopers exposition vpon this Psalme, most comfortable for all broken and afflicted hartes. In whiche Psalme is both godly doctrine and great consolation vnto the man or womā that is in anguish of mind.

Vse also in such trouble the. 88. Psalme, wherein is conteyned the prayer of a man that was brought into extreme anguish & miserie, and being vexed with aduersaries & persecutions, saw nothing but death and hel. And although he fealt in him selfe, that he had not onely man, but also God angry towards hym: yet he by prayer humbly resorted vnto God, as the only port of consolation, and in the middest of his desperate state of trouble, put the hope of his saluation in hym, whom he fealt his enemie. Howebeit no man of hym selfe can doo thys, MarginaliaRom. 8.but the spirite of God that striketh the mans hart with feare, prayeth for the man striken and feared with vnspeakeable gronynges. And when you feele your selfe or knowe any other oppressed after suche sort, be glad: for after that God hath made you to know what you be of your selfe, he wyll doubtles shew you comfort, and declare vnto you what you be in Christ his onely sonne: and vse prayer often, for that is the meanes whereby God wyll be sought vnto for his gyftes. MarginaliaWhat Psalmes are to be vsed in distresse and tribulation.These Psalmes be for the purpose, when the minde can take no vnderstanding, nor the hart any ioy of Gods promises: and therfore were these Psalmes also made, vi. xxij. xxx. xxxi. xxxviij. lxix. from the which you shall learne both patience and consolation.MarginaliaRead also the fourth chapter of Eccle. Remember, that although your life (as all Christian mens be) be hyd and appeareth not what it is, yet is it safe (as saint Paul saithMarginaliaCollos. 3.) with God in Christ: and when Christe shall appeare, then shall our liues be made open with him in glory. But in the meane tyme wyth seeking and setting our affections vppon the thinges that be aboue, we must paciently suffer whatsoeuer God shal send vnto vs in this mortall life. Notwithstanding it might fortune some woulde say, Who is so perfect, that can let al thynges passe as they come, & haue no care of thē: suffer al things, & feele nothing: be attēpted of þ^e diuel, the world, & þ^e flesh, and not be troubled? Verily no mā liuyng. MarginaliaNote thys well to thy comfort that are afflicted.But this I say, that in þ^e strength of Iesus Christ, things that come may passe w^t care, for we be worldly, & yet are we not caried w^t thē frō Christ, for we in him godly. We may suffer things & feele them as mortall men, yet bare thē & ouercome thē as christen men. We may be attēpted of the deuil, þ^e flesh, & þ^e world: but yet although those thynges pinche, they doo not pierce, and although they worke sinne in vs, yet in Christ no damnation to those that be grafted in him.MarginaliaRom. 8.Hereof may the christian mā learne both cōsolatiō & pacience. MarginaliaConsolation.Cōsolation, in that he is cōpelled both in his body & goodes to feele paine & losse, & in the soule heauines & anguish of mynd: howbeit none of thē both shall separate him frō þ^e loue that God beareth him in Christ. He may learne MarginaliaPatience.paciēce, for as much as his enemies both of þ^e body & soule, & þ^e paines also they vexe vs withall for þ^e tyme, if they tary w^t vs as lōg as we liue, yet whē death cōmeth they shall auoid, & geue place to such ioyes as be prepared for vs in Christ: for no paines of the world be perpetuall, and whether they shall afflict vs for all the tyme of our mortall lyfe, we know not, MarginaliaAfflictions be the messengers and seruauntes of God.for they be thee seruauntes of God to goe and to come, as he commaundeth them. But we must take heede we meddle not forceably nor seditiously, to put away the persecution appoynted vnto vs by God, but remember Christes saying: Possesse you your liues by your pacience.MarginaliaLuke. 2. And in this commaundement God requireth in euery man and woman this pacient obedience. He sayth not,