* 1.1THe same grace and peace (dearely beloued in Christe) doe I intirely desire and wish vnto you, which the Apostle S. Paule wisheth to all them, vnto whome he did write and send hys Epi∣stles, then which 2. things no better can be wished and desired of God. Grace is throughout all the Epistles of Paule, taken for the free mercy and fauour of God, wherby he saueth vs freely, with∣out any deseruings or workes of the lawe. In like maner peace is taken for the quietnes and tranquillitie of the conscience, be∣ing throughly perswaded that through the only merits of Chri∣stes death and bloudshedding, there is an attonement and peace made betweene God and vs, so that God will no more impute our sinnes vnto vs,* 1.2 nor yet condemne vs.
Dearely beloued, I wil not be negligent to put you alwaies in remembraunce of things, though that yee knowe them your selues, and be also established in the present truthe: notwithstan∣ding, I thinke it mete (as long as I am in this tabernacle) to stirre you vp, by putting you in remembraunce. Wherefore I beseeche you brethren, and exhort you in the Lord Iesus, that ye encrease more and more, euē as ye haue receiued how ye ought to walke and to please God. And as Barnabas that good man, & full of the holy ghost,* 1.3 exhorted the Antiochiās, with purpose of hart, cleaue ye continually vnto the Lord. And stand fast, & be not moued frō the hope of the Gospell, whereof (God be thanked) ye haue had plenteous preaching vnto you these yeares past, by the faithfull Ministers of Iesus Christ, Leiuer, Pilkenton, Bradford, Saunders, and others like,* 1.4 which now when persecution ariseth because of the worde, doe not fall away like shrinking children and forsake the truthe, but are prest and ready for your sakes, which are hys mysticall body, to forsake the chiefe & principall delites of this life, and some of them in geuing place to the outragious tyran∣nie of the world, to forsake their liuings, frends, natiue land, and other chiefe pleasures of this life, and to commit themselues to painefull exile,* 1.5 that if it please God, Christ may come againe out of Egypt. And other some are ready to fulfil their ministerie vnto the vtmost: that is to witte, with their painfull imprisonmentes and bloudshedding (if neede shall so require) to confirme and seale Christes Gospell, whereof they haue bene ministers: and as S Paul sayth: not onely to be cast into prison, but also to die for the name of the Lord Iesus.
Be ye not therefore ashamed of the testimonie of our Lorde Iesus, neither be yee ashamed of vs which are his prisonners, but suffer ye aduersitie with the gospel, for which worde we suffer as euil doers, euen vnto bonds: but the word of God is not bound with vs. Therefore we suffer all things for the elect sake, that they also may obtaine the saluation which is in Christ Iesu, with eter∣nall glory: wherefore stand ye fast in the faith, and be not moued from the hope of the Gospell,* 1.6 and so shall ye make vs euen wyth ioy to suffer for your sakes, and as the Apostle sayeth. To fulfill that which is behinde of the passions of Christ in our flesh, for his bodies sake, which is the congregation. Saint Paul doth not here meane, that there wanteth any thinge in the passion of Christe, which may be supplied by man, for the passion of Christ (as tou∣ching his owne person) is that most perfecte and omnisufficient sacrifice, wherby we are all made perfect, as many as are sanctifi∣ed in his bloud: but these his words ought to be vnderstande of the elect and chosen, in whome Christ is and shall be persecuted vnto the worldes ende. The passion of Christ then, as touching his mysticall body which is the Church, shall not be perfecte till they haue all suffered, whome God hath appoynted to suffer for his sonnes sake. Wherefore stablish your selues and be of good, comfort, & be not mooued in these afflictions, knowing that we are appoynted therunto. For on your partes nothing cā be grea∣ter consolation & inwarde ioy vnto vs in our aduersitie, then to heare of your faith and loue, and that yee haue a good remem∣brance of vs alwaies, praying for vs as we doe for you, as the A∣postle wryteth of the Thessalonians, saying:* 1.7 Nowe are we aliue if ye stand stedfast in the Lorde: for good shepheardes doe alwayes count the welfare and prosperous estate of Christes flocke to be their owne: for while it goeth well with the congregation, it go∣eth wel with them also in whatsoeuer affliction or aduersity they be: but when they see the churche in any pearill or weakenesse, then be they wearie of their owne liues, then can they haue no rest nor ioy. Who is weake, sayeth S. Paule, and I am not weake? Who is offended and I do not burne? But this affection is not in them that seeke their owne luker and glory.
And for asmuch as the life of man is a perpetual warfare vp∣on earth, let vs run with ioy vnto the battell that is set before vs,* 1.8 & like good warriours of Iesus Christ, please him, who hath cho∣sen vs to be soldiors, & not like shrinking children faint and fall away from the truth nowe in time of aduersitie and tribulation, wherewith all that wil liuely godly in Christ Iesu, must be tried, euen as golde & siluer is prooued in the fire,* 1.9 and whereof all the scriptures haue geuen vs so much forewarning For God is wōt for the most part, to warne his electe and chosen what affliction and trouble shal happen vnto them for his sake, not to the entent to fray them thereby, but rather to prepare their mindes against the boistrous stormes of persecution. As we haue a notable exā∣ple in the Apostle S Paule, vnto whome God sent Agabus, who prophecied vnto him of the imprisonment and bandes, that hee should suffer at Ierusalem: In whom we haue also a good example of constancie & stedfastnes, which regarding nothing the teares of his familiar frēds, nor yet the peril of his own life, did through fire & water go on stil to set forth the glory of God; and he being deliuered frō the hands of his vngodly & bloudthirsty enmies, & that so many times, is in cōclusion fain to commit himself to the rough waters of the sea, where he was a long season in great peril & ieoperdy of his own life. But God was alwais (to the great cō∣fort of all that shal heare of it) most ready to help & succor hym. First he did send him a most frendly and swete cōpanye, I meane Aristarchus and Lucas, so ruling the heart of the vnder captaine Iulius, that he courteously intreated him,* 1.10 & gaue him liberty to go to his frendes, and to refresh him selfe, and he was beneficiall vnto him at all times. In like manner was God with Ioseph, and deliuered him from all his aduersities, and gaue him fauoure and wisedom in the sight of Pharao king of Egypt, in so much that he made him Gouernour ouer all Egypt, and ouer all his houshold. In like manner was hee with Ieremie, and Daniel in theyr great troubles, and appoynted men for them in their most troubles, to relieue, succour, and helpe them to their singular comfort.
Also when Peter was in Herodes prison,* 1.11 sleeping betwene 2. soldiours, bound with 2 chaines, and the kepers before the dore keeping the prisone, the same night that Herode had intended to haue brought him out vnto the people the day following, and to haue put him vnto death to please the Iewes withal, as a litle be∣fore he had killed Iames the brother of Iohn with the sword: god sent his angel, and the chaines fell off from Peters hands, and the yron gate opened vnto him by his owne accorde, and so was Pe∣ter wonderfully deliuered by God. For it is the true liuing God that looseth al bandes, and deliuereth out of prison, and not that fained God S. Leonard. On that true God did S. Peter call: vnto him did he ascribe the glory of his deliuerance, saying: Nowe I know of a truth that God hath sent his Angel. &c.
These things are written for our learning, that we through patience and comforte of the scriptures might haue hope. The God of patience and comfort, graūt that we be like minded one towardes an other, after the ensample of Christe Iesu, that we all agreeing together, may with one mouth glorifie God the father of our Lord Iesus Christ.
A poore prisoner for Christ, George Marsh.