Marginalia1555. December.of Christ our Sauiour. For whose sake in that it hath pleased thee to bryng me forth now as one of his witnesses, and a record bearer of thy veritye & truth taught by him, to giue my life therfore (to which dignitie I do acknowledge deare God, that there was neuer any so vnworthy and so vnmete, no not the theefe that hanged with him on the Crosse): I most humbly therfore pray thee that thou wouldest, accordingly aide, helpe, and assiste me with thy strength and heauenly grace, that with Christ thy sonne I may finde cōfort, with Steuen I may see thy presence & gracious power, with Paule and all others which for thy names sake haue suffred afflictiō and death, I may finde so present with me thy gracious consolations, that I may by my death glorifie thy holy name, propagate and ratifie thy veritie, comfort the harts of the heauy, confirme thy Church in thy veritie, conuert some that are to be conuerted, and so depart forth of this miserable world, where I do nothyng but dayly heape sinne vpon sinne, & so enter into the fruitiō of thy blessed mercy: wherof now geue and encrease in me a liuely trust, sense, and feeling, wherethrough the terrors of death, the tormēts of fire, the panges of sinne, the dartes of Sathan, and the dolours of hell may neuer depresse me, but may be driuen away thorough the working of that most gracious spirite: which now plenteously endue me withall, that through the same spirite I may offer (as now I desire to do in Christ and by him) my selfe wholy soule and body, to be a liuely sacrifice, holy and acceptable in thy sight. Deare father, whose I am, and alwayes haue bene, euen from my mothers wombe, yea euen before the world was made, to whom I commend my selfe, soule and body, familie, and frendes, countrey, and all the whole Church, yea euen my very enemyes, accordyng to thy good pleasure, beseechyng thee entirely to geue once more to this Realme of England,MarginaliaHe prayeth for restoring of the Gospel and peace in England. the blessing of thy word agayn, with godly peace, to the teachyng and settyng forth of the same. Oh deare father, now geue me grace to come vnto thee. Purge and so purifie me by this fire in Christes death and Passion thorough thy spirit, that I may be a burnt offeryng of sweete smell in thy sight, whiche liuest and raignest with the Sonne and the holy Ghost, nowe and euermore world without end. Amen. I. B.

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MarginaliaA letter of M. Philpot to the Congregation.It is a lamentable thing to behold at this present in England, the faythles departyng both of men and women frō the true knowledge & vse of Christes sincere religiō, which so plentifully they haue bene taught and do know, their own consciences bearyng witnesse to the veritie thereof. If that earth be cursed of God, MarginaliaHeb. 6.which eftsoones  

receiuyng moisture & pleasaunt dewes from heauen, doth not bryng forth fruite accordyngly: how much more greuous iudgement shal such persons receiue, which hauyng receiued from the father of heauen the perfite knowledge of his word by the ministery therof, do not shew forth Gods worship after the same? MarginaliaMat. 25.If the Lord will require in the day of iudgement a godly vsury of all maner of talentes whiche he sendeth vnto men & women: how much more will hee require the same of his pure Religion reueled vnto vs (which is of all other talentes the chiefest and most pertaining to our excercise in this life) if we hide the same in a napkin and set it not forth to the vsurie of Gods glory, and edifying of his Church by true confession? God hath kindled the bright light of his Gospell, whiche in times past was suppressed & hid vnder the vile ashes of mās traditiōs, and hath caused the brightnes therof to shine in our harts, to the end that the same might shine before mē to the honour of his name.MarginaliaMath. 5. It is not onely geuen vs to beleue, but also to confess & declare what we beleue in our outward cōuersation. For as S. Paule writeth to the Romaines: MarginaliaRom. 10.The beliefe of the hart iustifieth, and to acknowledge with the mouth, maketh a mā safe. It is all one before God, not to beleue at all, & not to shew forth the liuely workes of our belief. For Christ sayth: MarginaliaMath. 11.Either make the tree good and his fruites good, or els make the tree euill & the fruits euill, because a good tree bringeth forth good fruits: MarginaliaLuke. 12.So that the person which knoweth his maisters will & doth it not, shal be beatē with many stripes. And not all they which say Lord Lord, MarginaliaMath. 7.shall enter into the kingdome of God, but hee that doth the will of the father. And MarginaliaLuke. 9.whosoeuer in the tyme of triall is ashamed of me (sayth Christ) and of my wordes, of him the sonne of mā wilbe ashamed before his father. After that we haue built our selues into þ^e true church of god, it hath pleased him by geuing vs ouer into the hāds of the wicked sinagoges, to proue our building, & to haue it knowē as wel to þ^e world as to our selues, þ^t we haue ben wise builders into the true church of God vpō þ^e rocke,MarginaliaMath. 7. & not on the sand, & therfore

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now the tempest is risen, and the stormes doe mightely blow agaynst vs, that we might notwithstandyng stand vpright and be firme in the Lorde, to his honour and glory, and to our eternall felicitie. There is no new thing happened vnto vs, for with such tempests and dangerous weathers the church of God hath continually bene cxercised. Now once agayne as the Prophet Aggeus telleth vs: MarginaliaAggeus. 2.The Lord shaketh the earth, that those might abide for euer, whiche be not ouerthrowne.

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Therfore my dearely beloued, be stable and immoueable in the worde of God, and in the faythfull obseruation therof, and let no man deceiue you with vayne wordes: saying, that you may keepe your fayth to your selues, & dissemble w^t Antichrist, & so liue at rest & quietnes in þ^e world, as most mē do, yeldyng to necessity. MarginaliaWisedome of the fleshe not to be harkened vnto.This is þ^e wisedome of þ^e flesh, but þ^e wisdome of þ^e flesh is death & enmitie to God, MarginaliaRom 8. 1. Cor. 6. Math. 16.as our sauiour for ensāple aptly did declare in Peter, who exhorted Christ not to go to Ierusalē to celebrate þ^e passeouer & there to be slayne, but counselled him to looke better to himselfe.

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Likewise the worlde woulde not haue vs to forsake it, neither to associate our selues to the true Church which is the body of Christ, whereof we are liuely members, and to vse the sacramentes after Gods worde with the daunger of our liues. But we must learne to aunswere the worlde as Christ did Peter, and say: go behynde me Sathan, thou sauourest not the thinges of God. Shall I not drynke of the cuppe which the father geueth me?MarginaliaHeb. 11. Psal. 116. For it is better to be afflicted and to be slayne in the Churche of God, then to bee counted the sonne of the kyng and the Sinagoge of false religion. MarginaliaDeath for righteousnes bringeth felicitye.Death for righteousnes is not to be abhorred, but rather to be desired, whiche assuredly bryngeth with it the crowne of euerlasting glory. These bloudy executioners do not persecute Christes Martyrs, but crowne them with euerlastyng felicity, Wee were borne into this worlde to bee witnesses vnto the truth, both learned and vnlearned.

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Now since the tyme is come that we must shew our fayth and declare whether we will be Gods seruantes in righteousnes and holynes, as haue bene taught and are bound to follow, or els with hypocrisy serue vnrighteousnes: let vs take good heede that wee be found faythfull in the Lordes couenaunt and true members of his Churche: in the which through knowledge we are ingraffed, from the which if we fall by transgression with the commen sort of people, it will more straitly be required of vs, then many yet do make accompt therof. Marginalia
Godly counsell.
Luke. 18. 3. Reg. 18. Apo. 3.We can not serue two Masters: we may not halt on both sides, and thinke to please God: we must be feruent in Gods cause, or els he will cast vs out from him. For by the fyrst commaundement we are commaunded to loue God with all our hart, with all our minde, with all our power and strength: but they are manyfest transgressours of this commandement, which with theyr hart, mynde, or bodely power do communicate with a straunge religion, contrary to the worde of God, in the Papisticall Sinagoge, which calleth it selfe the Church, and is not. As greatly do they offend God nowe which so do, Marginalia3. Reg. 31.as the Israelites dyd in times past by forsaking Ierusalem the true churche of God, and by goyng to Bethell to serue God in a congregation of their owne settyng vp, and after theyr owne imaginations and traditions: MarginaliaGod will not be serued after mans imaginations but as him selfe prescribeth.for the whiche doyng God vtterly destroyed all Israell, as al the Prophetes almost do testify. This happened vnto them for our ensample, that we mght beware to haue anye fellowship with any like congregation to our destruction.

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God hath one Catholicke churche dispersed throughout the worlde, and therfore we are taught in our Creede to beleue one catholicke Church, and to haue communion therewith: which catholicke church is grounded vpō þ^e foundation of the Prophetes and of the Apostles, and vpon none other, as S. Paule witnesseth to the Ephesians.MarginaliaEphe. 2. Therefore where soeuer we perceiue any people to worship God truly after þ^t worde, there we may be certayne þ^e church of Christ to be: vnto the which we ought to associate our selues, and to desyre with the Prophet Dauid, to prayse God in þ^e middest of this church.MarginaliaPsal. 21. But if we behold thorough iniquitye of tyme, segregations to be made with counterfait religion, otherwise then the worde of God doth teach, wee ought then if we be required, to be companions thereof, to say agayne with Dauid: I haue hated the Sinagoge of the malignant, & wil not sit with the wicked.MarginaliaPsal. 26. In the ApocalypsMarginaliaApoc. 2.the church of Ephesus is highly cōmended, because she tryed such as sayd they were Apostles, and were not in deede, & therfore would not abyde the company of them. Further, God commaunded his people þ^t they should not seeke Bethell, neither enter into Gilgall where idolatrye was vsed by the mouth of his Prophet Amos.MarginaliaAmos. 5.Also we must consider that our bodies be þ^e tēple of god, & whosoeuer (as S. Paul teach) doth prophane the tēple of god, him the Lord will destroy.Marginalia1. Cor. 3.May we thē take þ^e tēple of Christ & make it þ^e mēber of an harlot

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