MarginaliaAnno. 1555. October.(O all ye my dearely beloued brethren, and sisters in our Sauiour Christe, that dwell here in this worlde) hauyng a like minde towardes you all (and blessed bee God for suche tyme and leasure, whereof I right hartely thanke his heauenly goodnesse:) to bidde you all my deare brethren and sisters (I saie in Christe) that dwell vppon the yearth, after suche maner as I can, Farewell.

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Farewell my deare brother George Shipside, MarginaliaCommendation of George Shipside his brother in law.wh? I haue euer founde faithfull, trustie, and louyng in all state and conditions, and now in the tyme of my crosse, ouer all other to me moste fr?dly and stedfast, and that whiche liked me beste, ouer all other thynges, in Gods cause euer hartie.

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Farewell my deare sister Alice his wife. I am glad to heare of thee, that thou dooest take Christes crosse, which is laied now (blessed be God) bothe on thy backe and myne, in good parte. Thanke thou God that hath giuen thee a godlie and a louyng houseband: se thou honour hym, and obeye hym, accordyng to Gods Lawe, Honour thy mother in Lawe his mother, and loue all those that pertaine vnto hym, beyng ready to doe them good, as it shall lye in thy power. As for thy children, I doubt not of thy housebande, but that he which hath giuen hym a harte to loue and feare God, and in God them that pertaine vnto him, shall also make him fr?dly, and beneficiall vnto thy children, euen as if thei had been gotten of his owne bodie.

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MarginaliaTo his brother Iohn Ridley.Farewell my welbeloued brother Iohn Ridley, of the Waltoune, and you my gentle and louyng Sister Elizabeth: whom besides the naturall league of amitie, your tender loue, whiche you wer said euer to beare towardes me, aboue the reste of your brethren, doeth binde me to loue. My mynde was to haue acknowledged this your louyng affection, and to haue acquited  

it with deedes, and not with wordes alone. Your daughter Elizabeth I bidde farewell, whom I loue for the meeke and gentle spirite, that GOD hath giuen her, whiche is a precious thyng in the sight of God.

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MarginaliaTo his sister in lawe of Vnthanke, wife to Hugh his brother.Farewell my beloued Sister of Vnthanke, with al your childr?, my Nephewes and Nices. Since the departyng of my brother Hugh, my mynde was to haue been vnto them in the steede of their father: but the Lorde God must and will be their father, if thei will loue him and feare hym, and liue in the trade of his lawe.

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MarginaliaTo his Cosin M. Nicholas RidleyFarewell my welbeloued and worshipfull Cosins, Maister Nicholas Ridley of Willimountswicke, and your wife, and I thanke you for all your kindnes shewed bothe to me, and also to all your owne kinsfolke and myne. Good Cosin, as GOD hath set you in our stocke and kindred (not for any respect of your person, but of his abundaunt grace and goodnesse, to bee as it were the Belweather  

to order, and conducte the reste, and hath also endued you with his manifolde giftes of grace, bothe heauenly and worldly aboue others: so I praie you good Cosin (as my trust and hope is in you) continue and increase in the maintena?ce of the truth, honestie, righteousnesse, and all true godlinesse, and to the vttermoste of your power, to withstande falsehoode, vntruthe, vnrighteousnesse, and all vngodlines, which is forbidden, and condemned by the woorde, and Lawes of God.

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MarginaliaTo his Cosin Rafe Ridley.Farewell my yonge Cosin Raufe Whitfielde. Oh your tyme was verie short with me. My minde was to haue dooen you good: and yet you caught in that little tyme a losse, but I truste it shall bee recompensed, as it shall please almightie God.

MarginaliaTo all his kindred.Farewell all my whole kindred, and countreimen: farewell in Christe altogether. The Lorde whiche is the searcher of secretes, knoweth that accordyng to my hartes desire, my hope was of late, that I should haue come among you, and to haue brought with me abundaunce of Christes blessed Gospell, accordyng to the duetie of that office and ministerie, MarginaliaBishop Ridley appoynted to be Bishop of Durham.whereunto among you I was chosen, named, and appointed by the mouth of that our late perelesse Prince kyng Edward, and so also denounced  

openly in his Courte, by his priuie Counsaill.  

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I warne you all my welbeloued kinsfolke and co?treim?,  

that ye be not amased or astonied, at the kind of my departure or dissoluti?: for I ensure you, I thinke it the moste honour that euer I was called vnto in al my life, and therefore I thanke my Lorde GOD hartely for it, that it hath pleased hym to call me of his greate mercie vnto this high honour, to suffer death willyngly for his sake, and in his cause: vnto the which

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honour he called the holie Prophetes, and his dearely beloued Apostelles, and his blessed chosen Martyres.MarginaliaMartyrdome Gods singular and rare promotion. For knowe ye that I doubt no more, but that the causes wherefore I am put to death, are Goddes causes, and the causes of the truth, then I doubt that the Gospell, which Iohn wrote, is the Gospell of Christ, or that Paules Epistles are the verie woorde of GOD. And to haue a harte willyng to abide, and stande in Gods cause, and in Christes quarell euen vnto death, I ensure thee (O manne) it is an inestimable and an honourable gifte of God, giuen onely to the true electes, and dearely beloued children of God, and inheritours of the Kyngdome of heauen. For the holie Apostell, and also Martyr in Christes cause, Saincte Peter saieth: If ye suffer rebuke in the name of Christ that is, in Christes cause, and for his truthes sake, then are ye happie and blessed, for the glorie of the spirite of God resteth vpon you.Marginalia1. Peter. 4. If for rebukes sake suffered in Christes name, a man is pronounced by the mouthe of that holie Apostle, blessed and happie: How muche more happie, and blessed is he that hath the grace to suffer death also?MarginaliaA blessed thing to suffer death for Christ. Wherefore, all ye that bee my true louers and frendes, reioyce, and reioice with me again, and render with me hartie thankes to God our heau?ly Father, that for his Sonnes sake my Sauiour and redemer Christe, he hath vouchsafed to call me, beeyng els without his gracious goodnes, in my self but a sinfull and a vile wretch, to call me (I saie) vnto this high dignitie of his true Prophettes, of his faithfull Apostles, and of his holy elect and chosen Martirs, that is, to dye and to spende this temporall life in the defence and maintenaunce of his eternall & euerlastyng truth.

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Ye knowe that bee my Countreymen dwellyng vppon the borders,  

where (alas) the true manne suffereth oftentymes muche wrong at the Theeues hande, MarginaliaIf it be a point of a faithfull fr?d to die with his frend vppon theues for worldly goods: howe muche more then to die in Christes quarell vpon the enemies of his church?if it chaunce a man to bee slaine of a theefe (as it oft chaunceth there) whiche went out with his neighbour to help hym to rescue his goodes againe, that the more cruelly he bee slaine, and the more stedfastly he stucke by his neighbour, in the fight against the face of the Theefe, the more fauour and frendship shall all his posteritie haue for the slaine mannes sake, of all them that bee true, as longe as the memorie of his facte,   and his posteritie dooeth endure: Euen so, ye that bee my kinsefolke and countreimen, knowe ye (how soeuer the blind ignoraunt, and wicked worlde hereafter shall raile vppon my death,   whiche thing thei can not doe worse then their fathers did, of the death of Christ our Sauiour, of his holie Prophettes, Apostles, and Martyres:) knowe ye (I saie) that bothe before God, and al them that bee godly, and that truely knowe, and followe the lawes of God, ye haue, and shall haue by Gods grace, euer cause to reioyce, and to thanke God highly, and to thinke good of it, and in GOD to reioyce of me your fleshe & bloud, whom God of his gracious goodnes hath vouchsafed, to associate vnto the blessed companie of his holie Martyres in heauen, and I doubte not in the infinite goodnesse of my Lorde God, nor in the faithfull fellowship of his elect, and chosen people, but at bothe their handes in my cause, ye shall rather finde the more fauour and grace: For the Lorde saith, that he will be bothe to them, and theirs that loue hym, the more louyng againe in a thousande generations: MarginaliaDeuter. 7.the Lorde is so full of mercie to th? (I saie) and theirs whiche doe loue hym in deede. And Christ saith again, MarginaliaIohn. 15.that no man can shewe more loue, then to giue his life for his frende.

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Now also knowe ye, all my true louers in GOD, my kinsfolke and Countreymen, that the cause wherefore I am putte to death, is euen after the same sorte and condition, but touchyng more nere Goddes cause, and in more waightie matters, but in the general kind all one, for bothe is Goddes cause, bothe is in the maintenaunce of righte, and bothe for the Common wealthe, and bothe for the weale  

also of the Christian brother: although yet there is in these twoo no small difference, bothe concernyng the enemies, the goodes stolne, and the maner of the fighte. MarginaliaTo die in any right, whatsoeuer it be, is to die in Gods cause.For knowe ye all, that like as there, when the poore true manne is robbed by the Theefe of his owne goodes truely gotten (where vppon he and his housholde should liue) he is greatly wronged, and the Theefe in stealyng and robbyng with violence the poore mannes goodes, dooeth offende God, dooeth transgresse his lawe, and is iniurious bothe to the poore man, & to the c?mon wealthe: so I saie, knowe ye all that euen here in the cause of

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