MarginaliaAnno. 1556. Iuly.fites. Oh let the loue of thine elect, which loue me for thy 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, that I maie with liuely faith behold thy great loue towardes me in all thine elect, that I may alwayes be thākefull for the same, and loue thee and them againe most hartely, and vnfainedly.

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MarginaliaWhat a treasure a trusty frēd isAh my deare hart, how swetely & how truly, yea how godly & how comfortably haue you rehersed the sweete saying of Salomon concerning prosperitie with true and 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 wisemanMarginaliaEccle. 6.) will be vnto the euen as thyne owne soule, and deale faithfully with thy houshold folke. If thou suffer trouble and aduersitie, he is with the and hideth not his face from the. A faithfull frēd is a strōg 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 faithfull 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 descriptiō of you: for verely such a one haue I alwayes foūd you vnto me, not only sorrowyng for my great sorrow: but also oftentimes makyng me mery & ioyfull, with such ioyes as the world cā not feele. MarginaliaThere is no true frendship but amongest godly persons.Now let the world brag of his fained frendship: but I will boast of this true frendship in God, 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 hee hath in his great mercy taken away. I trust henceforth to leaue the mourning for my greate losse, and to praise God for gainyng vnto him selfe so great glorie by his chosen childrē. MarginaliaSuch mourners should we be continually with this and others gods deare children: and blessed be they that so mourne.God make me a true mourner of Syon, 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 the my deare hart & faithful louing brother, and increase his good giftes of grace in the, 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 Iesus Christ, the swete cōsolatiōs 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 presently 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 wee were swetely talking together of Christes veritie. The Lord God doe I humbly besech in the bowels and bloud of our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ, that he will strengthen vs both with his holy and mightie spirite, that we may constantly continue in the confession of his truth vnto the ende: that like as wee 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 shal know one an others personage, to our great ioy, felicitie, and endles comfort.

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MarginaliaPreparation to the Crosse.And now therfore deare sister K. be strong in the Lord our God, for doubtles the tyme of triall is at hande: a great persecution with cruell murthering of Gods deare Saintes is like to be very shortly in this wofull wicked Realme of England. Therfore deare sister, for the loue of God, prepare you to the crosse with all diligēce, & make your self ready to dye with Christ, that you may also liue with him for euer. There is no remedy, if you will bee

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Christes Disciple, you must needes take vp your crosse and folow him, for the Disciple must not looke to bee aboue his master, nor the seruaunt to be better intreated then his Lord. If we were of the world (good sister) no doubt, the worlde would loue vs. But for as much as Christ hath chosen vs out of the world, to serue God in spirite 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 be 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 all the sorrowes that we are sowsed in for Gods sake. I could recite diuers textes of the Scriptures to confirme this point. But I neede not, for I am well assured that you doe know them most perfectly already. The Lord geue you strength and assiste you with hys holy spirite, that you may continually walke in all pointes accordyng to your godly knowledge: And then shall you not doe as the moste parte of our Gospellers doe nowe adayes, the more is the pitie. MarginaliaAgainst Massing Gospellers.There are a great many in England, that doe perfectly know, that the idolatrous Masse is abominable, deuilish, and detestable in the sight of God. And yet, alas they bee not afrayd to pollute and defile their bodies, which ought to be 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. doe you flie from it, both in body and soule, as you would flie from the very deuill hym 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 Aungel) lest you bee partakers of the plagues that shortly shalbe powred vpō 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 loose euerlasting life by it, if they do not repēt in time & turne vnto the Lord. But deare sister, my trust is, that you doe vtterly abhorre the comming to any such thing. I hope that you wil not by any meanes turne backe into Egypt nowe, but that you will boldly venter through the wildernes of trouble and persecution, 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, howe 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 Iesus Christ, to whom hee doth here begyn to fashion vs like in suffering, that wee might bee like him also in glory. Thus my dearely beloued sister, I haue beene bold to trouble you a little with my rude and simple letter, beyng made in hast as it doth appeare: Yet I desire you to take it in good worth, as a token of my poore zeale vnto you, and to accept my good will. And if it please God to spare me life and libertie, I trust heereafter to write vnto you more largely. Fare ye well deare sister E. K. the Lord blesse you and all yours, and powre vppon you the heauenly dewe of his grace. The Lorde endue you with plentifull knowledge of his veritie, and fill you with his holy and mightie spirite, that you maye continually reioyce in the comfortes of the same now and euer, Amen. Pray, pray, pray, with stedfast fayth.

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Your dayly Oratour Iohn Careles
prisoner of the Lord.

MarginaliaRead before pag. 1792.¶ In the letters of William Tymmes, ye heard before pag. 1792. much mencion made of Agnes Glascoke.  

This Agnes Glascoke, through infirmitie, and her busbandes persuasion, was allured too goe too Masse. For which cause shee fallyng in great sorrow and repentaunce was raised vp agayne by the comfortable letters of W. Tymmes and Iohn Careles, as before you

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