Letter 36. To certain godly men, whom he exhort to be patient under the cross, and constant in the true doctrine which they had professed
My dearly beloved in the Lord, as in him I wish you well to fare, so I pray God I and you may continue in his true service, that we may perpetually enjoy the same welfare, here in hope, and in heaven indeed and eternally.
You know this world is not your home, but a pilgrimage, and place wherein God tries his children; and therefore as it knows you not, nor can know you, so I trust you know not it, that is, allow it not, nor in any point seem so to do, although by many you are advised thereto. For this hot sun, which now shines, burns so sorely that the corn, which is sown upon sand and stony ground begins to wither; that is, many who beforetimes were taken for hearty gospellers, begin now, for the fear of afflictions, to relent, yea, to turn to their vomit again thereby declaring, that though they go from amongst us, yet were they never of us, or else they would have still tarried with us; and neither for gain nor loss have left us either in word or deed. As for their hearts, which undoubtedly are double, and therefore in danger of God's curse, we have as much of them with us as the papists have; and more too, by their own judgment; for they play wilybeguile themselves; and think it enough inwardly to favour the truth, though outwardly they curry favour. They say, "What though with my body I do this or that, God knows my heart is whole in him."
Ah, brother! if your heart be whole with God, why do not you confess and declare yourself accordingly, by word and fact? You believe in your heart either that what you say is good or not. If it is good, why are you ashamed of it? If it is evil why do you keep it in your heart? Is not God able to defend you while adventuring yourself for his cause? Or will he not defend his worshippers? Does not the scripture say, that the eyes of the Lord are on them that fear him, and trust in his mercy? And whereto? why truly, to deliver their souls from death, and to feed them in time of hunger.
If this is true, as it is most true, why are we afraid of death, as though God could not comfort or deliver us, or would not, according to his promise? Why are we afraid of the loss of our goods, as though God would leave them that fear him destitute of all good things, and so do, against his most ample promises? Ah! faith, faith, how few feel thee nowadays! Full truly, said Christ, that he should scarcely find faith when he came on earth. For if men believed these promises, they would never do anything outwardly which inwardly they disallow. No example of men, how many soever they are, or how learned soever they are, can prevail in this behalf; for the pattern which we must follow is Christ himself, and not the more numerous company or custom. His word is the lantern to lighten our steps, and not learned men; company and custom are to be considered according to what they allow; learned man are to be listened to and followed according to God's lore and law; for else the greater part go to the devil. Custom causes error and blindness; so learning, if it is not according to the light of God's word, is poison, and learned men are most pernicious. The devil is called daemon, for his cunning, and the children of the world in their generation are much wiser than the children of light; and I know the devil and his darlings have always, for the most part, more helps in this life, than Christ's church and her children. They, the devil and his synagogue I mean, have custom, multitude, unity, antiquity, learning, power, riches, honour, dignity and promotions plenty, as they always have had, and shall have commonly, and for the most part, until Christ's coming, much more than the true church has at present, heretofore has had, or hereafter shall have. For her glory, riches, and honour, are not here; her trial, cross, and warfare, are here.
And therefore, my dear hearts in the Lord, consider these things accordingly: consider what you areonot worldlings, but God's children. Consider where you are, not at home, but in a strange country. Consider among whom you are conversant, even in the midst of your enemies, and of a wicked generation; and then I trust you will not much grieve at affliction, which you cannot be without, being, as you are, God's children, in a strange country, and in the midst of your enemies; except you would leave your Captain, Christ, and follow Satan for the muck of this earth, or for rest and quietness, which he may promise you; and you indeed may think you shall receive it by doing as he would have you to do, but, my dear hearts, he is not able to pay what he promises: peace and war come from God, riches and poverty, wealth and woe. The devil has no power but by God's permission. If then God permit him a little to attack your goods, body, or life; I pray you tell me, what can much hurt you, as Peter says, you being followers of godliness? Think you that God will not remember you in his time, as shall be most to your comfort? Can a woman forget the child of her womb? and if she should, yet will I not forget thee, says the Lord. Look upon Abraham in his exile and misery; look upon Jacob, Joseph, Moses, David, and the prophets, apostles, and all the godly from the beginning: and, my good brethren, is not God the same God? Is he a changeling? You have heard of the patience of Job, says St. James, and you have seen the end, how that God is merciful, pitiful, and longsuffering; even so I say unto you, that you shall find accordingly, if you are patientothat is, if you fear him, set his word before you, serve him thereafter; and if when he lay his cross on you, you bear it with patience, which you shall do when you consider it not according to the present sense, but according to the end. Heb. xii. 2 Cor. iv.
Therefore, I heartily beseech you, and out of my bonds, which I suffer for your sake, I pray you, my own dear hearts in the Lord, that you would cleave in heart, and humble obedience, to the doctrine taught you by me, and many others my brethren. For we have taught you no fables, nor tales of men, nor our own fantasies, but the true very word of God, which we are ready to confirm with our lives, God so enabling us, as we trust he will, and by the shedding of our blood, in all patience and humble obedience to the superior powers, to testify and seal up; as well that you might be more certain of the doctrine, as that you might be ready to confess the same before this wicked world; knowing that if we confess Christ, and his truth, before men, he will confess us before his Father in heaven; but if we are ashamed hereof, for loss of life, friends, or goods, he will be ashamed of us before his Father, and his holy angels in heaven.
Therefore take heed, for the Lord's sake; take heed, take heed, and defile not your bodies or souls with this Romish and antichristian religion now set up amongst us again, but come away; come away, as the angel cries, from amongst them, in their idolatrous service, lest you be partakers of their iniquity. Hearken to your preacher, as the Thessalonians (he means the Bereans, editor) did to Paul: that is, compare their sayings with the scriptures; if they are not found according therewith, the morning light shall not shine upon them. Use much and hearty prayer for the spirit of wisdom, knowledge, humbleness, meekness, sobriety, and repentance, which we have great need of, because our sins have thus provoked the Lord's anger against us; but let us bear his anger, and acknowledge our faults with bitter tears and sorrowful sighs, and doubtless he will be merciful to us, after his wonted mercy. The which may he vouchsafe to do for his holy name's sake, in Christ Jesus our Lord; to whom, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, be all honour, glory praise, and everlasting thanks, from this time forth evermore. Amen. Out of prison, by yours in the Lord to command.
John Bradford.
Letter 37. To my dear friend and brother in the Lord, Master George Eaton
Almighty God, our dear Father, give to you daily more and more the knowledge of his truth, and a love and life to the same, for ever in all things, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
I should begin with thanksgiving to God, and to you as his steward, for the great benefits I have oftentimes received from you, and specially in this time of my greatest need, far above my expectation. But because thankfulness lies not in words or letters, and because you look not to hear of your well doing from man, I purpose to pass it over with silence, and to give myself at present to that which is more profitable unto you; that is, briefly to labour, as God shall lend me his grace, or at least to show my good will to help you, from God's gift to me, as you by your doing the like from God's gift unto you have already done and so occasioned me greatly hereto. I would gladly have done it heretofore, but I have been discouraged to write unto you, lest hurt might come unto you thereby, which is the only cause why I have not hitherto written, and now would not have done so, but that I stand in doubt whether ever hereafter I shall have liberty to write unto you. And therefore, whilst I may, I thought good to do thus much, to declare unto you, that, I think myself much bound to God for you, and I desire to gratify (recompense, editor) the same, as God shall enable me.
The days are come, and approach more and more, in which trial will be made of such as have unfeignedly read and heard the gospel; for all others will abide no trial but as the world will. But because I have better hope of you, I cannot but pray to God, to confirm you in him, and to beseech you to do the same. I know it will be a dangerous thing indeed to declare that which you have confessed in word and have believed in heart, especially concerning the papistical mass; but notwithstanding, we must not for dangers depart from the truth, except we will depart from God; for inasmuch as God is the truth, and the truth is God, he that departs from the one departs from the other.
Now, I need not tell you, what a thing it is to depart from God, because you know it is no less than a departing from all that is good, and not only so, but also a coupling of yourself to all that is evil. For there is no mean; either we depart from God, and cleave to the devil, or depart from the devil, and cleave to God. Some men there are, who, for fear of danger and loss of that which they must leave, when, where, and to whom they know not, deceive themselves after the just judgment of God, and believe the devil, (because they have no desire to believe God,) by hearkening to Satan's counsel of parting stakes with God, so as to be persuaded that it is not evil, or else no great evil, inwardly in heart to conceal the truth, and outwardly in fact to betray it. And therefore, though they know the mass to be abomination, yet they esteem it but a straw to go to it as the world do. In which the Lord knows they deceive themselves to damnation, and dream as they lust. For surely the body departing from the truth, and so from God, will draw and drown in damnation the soul also; for we shall receive according to that we do in the body, good or bad, and therefore the matter is more to be considered than men make of it, the more it is to be lamented. But I trust (my right dearly beloved) you will consider this with yourself, and call your conscience to account, as God's word makes the charge.
Beware of false auditors, which, making a false charge, can get no quietness of the conscience according to God's word; therefore cast your charge, and there shall you see that no belief of the heart justifies, which has not confession of the mouth to declare the same. No man can serve two masters: he that gathers not with Christ (as no mass-seer [spectator of the mass, editor], unreproving it, does) scatters abroad. God's chosen are such as not only have good hearts, but also kiss not their hand, nor bow their knee to Baal. Christ's disciples are none but such as deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow him. He that is ashamed of Christ and of his truth in this generation, must look that Christ will be ashamed of him in the day of judgment; he that denies Christ before men, shall be denied before God. Now there are two kinds of denial, yea, three kinds; one in heart, another in word, and the third in deed: in which three kinds all mass-gospellers are so bitten, that all the surgeons in the world can lay no healing plaster thereto, till repentance appear, and draw out the matter of using it, and resorting to the mass; for we should be pure from all spots, not only of the flesh, but also of the spirit.
And our duty is to depart not only from evil, that is, the mass, but also from the appearance of evil; that is, from coming to it. Woe unto them that give offence to the children of God; that is, which occasion by any means any to tarry in the church at mass-time; much more then they which occasion any to come thereto; most of all, they which enforce any thereto. Assuredly, a most heavy vengeance of God hangs upon such. Such as decline to their crookedness, God will lead on with wicked workers, whose portion shall be snares, fire, brimstone, and stormy tempests, (Psa. xi.,) whose palace and home shall be hell-fire and darkness, whose cheer shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, whose song shall be Woe, woe, woe, from which the Lord of mercy deliver us.
My dearly beloved, I write not this as one that thinks not well of you, but as one that would you did well. And therefore, to help you thereto, I write as I write, beseeching God to open your eyes to see the dangers men are in that dissemble with God and man, to the end you do not the like, and also to open your eyes to see the high service you do to God, in adventuring yourself, and what you have, for his sake. Oh! that men's eyes were opened to see that the glory of God rests upon them that suffer any thing for his sake! Oh! that we considered, that it is happiness to suffer any thing for Christ's sake, which have deserved to suffer so much for our sins and iniquities! Oh! that our eyes were opened to see the great reward they shall have in heaven, who suffer the loss of anything for God's sake!
If we knew the cross to be as a purgation most profitable to the soul, as a purifying fire to burn away the dross of our dirtiness and sins, as an oven to bake us in, to be the Lord's bread, as soap to make us white, as a stew (a pool of water, editor), to mundify and cleanse us, as God's framehouse, to make us like to Christ here in suffering, that we may be so in reigning; then should we not so much care for this little short sorrow, which the flesh suffers in it, but rather in consideration of the exceeding endless joy and comfort which will ensue, we should run forwards in our race after the example of our captain Christ, who comfort us all in our distress, and give us the spirit of prayer, therein to watch and pray, that we be not led into temptation, which God grant to us for ever. Amen.
And thus much I thought good to write to you at this present, to declare my carefulness for the well doing of you and all your family, whom I commend with you into the hands and tuition of God our Father. So be it.
Your own in the Lord,
John Bradford.
Letter 38. Another letter to Master George Eaton
Almighty God, our heavenly Father, recompense abundantly into your bosom, my dearly beloved, here and eternally, the good which from him by you I have continually received since my coming into prison; otherwise I never can be able to requite your loving-kindness here, than by praying for you, and, after this life, by witnessing your faithowhich is declared to me by your fruitsowhen we shall come and appear together before the throne of our Saviour Jesus Christ, whither, I thank God, I am even now going; ever looking when officers will come and fulfil the precept of the prelates, whereof, though I cannot complain, because I have justly deserved a hundred thousand deaths at God's hands, by reason of my sins; yet I may and must rejoice, because the prelates do not persecute in me my iniquities, but Christ Jesus and his verity; so that they persecute not me, they hate not me, but they persecute Christ: they hate Christ. And because they can do him no hurt, for he sits in heaven, and laughs them and their devices to scorn, as one day they shall feel, therefore they turn their rage upon his poor sheep, as Herod their father did upon the infants. (Matt. ii.) Great cause therefore have I to rejoice, that my dear Saviour Christ will vouchsafe amongst many, to choose me to be a vessel of grace, to suffer in me, who have deserved so often and justly to suffer for my sins, that I might be most assured I shall be a vessel of honour, in whom he will be glorified.
Therefore, my right dear brother in the Lord, rejoice with me; give thanks for me; and cease not to pray that God for his mercy's sake would make perfect the good he has begun in me. And, as for the doctrine which I have confessed and preached, I do confess unto you in writing, as to the whole world I shortly shall, by God's grace, in suffering, that it is the very true doctrine of Jesus Christ, of his church, of his prophets, apostles, and all good men; so that if an angel should come from heaven and preach otherwise, the same were accursed.
Therefore waver not, dear heart in the Lord, but be confirmed in it; and, as your vocation requires, when God so win, confess it, though it be perilous so to do. The end shall evidently show another manner of pleasure for so doing than tongue can tell. Be diligent in prayer, and watch therein; use reverent reading of God's word; set the shortness of this time before your eyes; and let not the eternity that is to come depart out of your memory. Practise in doing what you learn by reading and hearing: decline from evil, and pursue good: remember them that are in bonds, especially for the Lord's cause, as members of your body and fellow-heirs of grace. Forget not the affliction of Sion, and the oppression of Jerusalem, and God, our Father, shall give you his continual blessing, through Christ our Lord. May he guide us, as his dear children, for ever. Amen. And thus I take my farewell of you, dear brother, for ever in this present life, till we shall meet in eternal bliss, whither may our good God and Father bring us shortly. Amen. God bless all your babes for ever. Amen. Out of prison, this 8th of February.
Your afflicted brother for the Lord's cause,
John Bradford.
Letter 39. Another letter to Mistress Ann Warcup
Almighty God, our heavenly Father, for his Christ's sake, increase in us faith, by which we may more and more see what glory and honour is reposed and safely kept in heaven for all them that believe with the heart, and confess Christ and his truth with the mouth. Amen.
My dearly beloved, I remember that once heretofore I wrote unto you a farewell upon conjecture, but now I write my farewell to you in this life,. indeed, upon certain knowledge. My staff stands at the door. I continually look for the sheriff to come for me, and I thank God I am ready for him. Now go I to practise that which I have preached: now am I climbing up the hilloit will cause me to puff and to blow before I come to the cliff. The hill is steep and high, my breath is short, my strength is feeble; pray, therefore, to the Lord for me, that as I have now, through his goodness, even almost come to the top, I may by his grace be strengthened, not to rest till I come where I should be. Oh, loving Lord! put out thy hand, and draw me unto thee; for no man comes but he whom the Father draws. See, my dearly beloved, God's loving mercy; he knows my short breath and great weakness. As he sent a fiery chariot for Elijah, so sends he one for me; for by fire my dross must be purified, that I may be fine gold in his sight! O unthankful wretch that I am! Lord, do thou forgive my unthankfulness. Indeed I confess (right dear to me in the Lord) that my sins have deserved hell fire, much more then this fire. But, lo! so loving is my Lord, that he converts the remedy for my sins, the punishment for my transgressions, into a testimonial of his truth, and a testification of his truth, which the prelates persecute in me, and not my sins; therefore they persecute not me, but Christ in me, who, I doubt not, will take my part unto the very end. Amen.
Oh! that I had a heart so open that it could receive, as I should do, this great benefit and unspeakable dignity, which God my Father offers to me. Now pray for me, my dearly beloved, pray for me, that I may never shrink; I shall never shrink, I hope: I trust in the Lord I shall never shrink; for he that always has taken my part, I am assured will not leave me when I have most need, for his truth and mercy's sake. O Lord help me! Into thy hands I commend me wholly. In the Lord is my trust; I care not what man can do unto me. Amen. My dearly beloved, say you Amen also, and come after, if so God call you. Be not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, but keep company with him still. He will never leave you; but, in the midst of temptation, will give you an outscape, to make you able to bear the brunt Use hearty prayer; reverently read and hear God's word; put it in practice; look for the cross; lift up your heads, for your redemption draws nigh; know that the death of God's saints is precious in his sight; be joyful in the Lord; pray for the mitigation of God's heavy displeasure upon our country. God keep us for ever; God bless us with his spiritual blessings in Christ. And thus I bid you farewell for ever in this present life. Pray for me, pray for me. God make perfect his good work begun in me. Amen. Out of prison, the seventh of February. Yours in the Lord,
John Bradford.
Letter 40. To a certain godly gentlewoman, troubled and afflicted by her friends for not coning to the mans
(A certain gentlewoman, being troubled by her father and mother for not coming to mass, sent her servant to visit Master Bradford in prison; who, attending to the woeful case of the gentlewoman, and to the intent partly to confirm her with counsel, and partly to relieve her oppressed mind with some comfort, directed this letter unto her. Fox.)
I wish unto you, right worshipful, and my dearly beloved sister in the Lord, as to myself, the continual grace and comfort of Christ, and of his holy word, through the operation of the Holy Spirit, who strengthens your inward man with the strength of God, that you may continue to the end in the faithful obedience of God's gospel, whereto you are called. Amen.
I perceived by yourself, the last day when you were with me, how that you are in the school-house and trial-parlour of the Lord, which to me is a great comfort, at the least it should be to see the number of God's elect by you increased, who are in that state to which God has not called many, as Paul says; and as it is a comfort to me, so should it be a confirmation unto me, that the Lord, for his faithfulness' sake, will make perfect and finish the good he has begun in you to the end.
If, then, your cross be to me a comfort, or token of your election, and a confirmation of God's continual favour, my dearly beloved, how much more ought it to be so unto you unto whom he has not only given to believe, but also to come into the track of suffering for his sake; and that not commonly of common enemies, but even of your own father, mother, and all your friends; I mean kinsfolk, as you told me. By which, I see Christ's words are true, how he came to give his children such a peace with him; as the devil might not, nor may abide; and therefore stirs up father and mother, sister and brother, rather than it should continue. But, my dear sister, if you cry, with David, to the Lord, and complain to him, how that, for conscience to him, your father and mother have forsaken you, you shall hear him speak in your heart, that he has received you; and by this would have you to see, that he makes you here like to Christ, that elsewhere, in heaven, you might be like unto him. Of this you ought to be most assured, knowing that in time, even when Christ shall appear, you shall be like unto him; for he will make your body, which now you defile not with idolatrous service in going to mass, to be like unto his own glorious and immortal body according to the power whereby he is able to do all things. He will/n confess you before his Father, who do not deny his verity, in word or deed before your Father: be will make you reign with him; who now suffer for him, and with him. He will reward you, with himself and all the glory he has, who now for his sake deny yourself with all that you have; he will not leave you comfortless, that seek no comfort but at his hand. Though for a little time you are afflicted, yet therein will he comfort and strengthen you; and at the length make you to be joyful with him, in such joy as is infinite and endless. He will wipe all the tears from your eyes; he will embrace you as your dear husband; he will, after he has proved: you, crown you with a crown of glory and immortality, such as the heart of man shall never be able to conceive in such sort as it is. He now beholds your steadfastness and striving to do his good will; and shortly he will show you how steadfast he is, and will be ready to do your will after you have fully resigned it to His will.
Pledge Christ in his cup of the cross, and you shall pledge him in the cup of his glory. Desire to drink it before it come to the dregs, whereof the wicked shall drink; and all those who for tear of the cross, and pledging the Lord walk with the wicked, by betraying in fact and deed, that which their heart embraces for verity. Which if you should do, which God forbid, then, my dear mistress and sister in the Lord, you should not only lose all that I have before spoken, and much more infinitely of eternal joy and glory, but also be a castaway, and a partaker of God's most heavy displeasure in hellfire eternally; and so for a little ease, which you cannot tell how long it will last, would lose for ever and ever all ease and comfort. For he that gathers not with me, says Christ, and no mass-gospeller does so, scatters abroad. According to that we do in this body, we shall receive, be it good or bad. If of our words we shall be judged to condemnation or salvation, much more then of our facts and deeds. You cannot be a partaker of God's religion and antichrist's service, whereof the mass is most principal. You cannot be a member of Christ's church, and a member of the pope's church. You must glorify God, not only in soul and heart, but also in body and deed. You may not think that God requires less of you, his wife now, than your husband did of you. If your husband would have both heart and body, shall Christ have less, think you, who has so bitterly and dearly bought it? If your husband could not admit an excuse, that your heart is his only, if your body was not; do you think that Christ will allow your body at mass, although your heart consent not to it?
God esteems his children, not only by their hearts, but by their pure hands and works; and, therefore, in Elijah's time, he counted none to be his servants and people, but such as had not bowed their knees to Baal; as now he does not, in England, account any to be his dearlings, which know the truth in heart, and deny it in their deeds, as our mass-gospellers do.
We ought to desire, above all things, the sanctifying of God's holy name, and the coming of his kingdom; and shall we then see his name blasphemed so horribly as it is at mass, by making it a sacrifice propitiatory, and setting forth a false Christ, of the priests' and bakers' making, to be worshipped as God, and say nothing? The Jews rent their clothes asunder, at seeing or hearing any thing blasphemously done or spoken against God; and shall we come to church where mass is, and be mute? Paul and Barnabas rent their clothes, at seeing the people of Lycaonia offer sacrifice unto them; and shall we see sacrifice and God's service done to an inanimate creature, and be mute? What helps more, or so much, antichrist's kingdom, as does the mass? And what destroys preaching, and the kingdom of Christ upon earth, more than it does? And how can we then say, Let thy kingdom come, and go to mass? How can we pray before God, Thy will be done on earth, when we will do our own will, and the will of our father or friends? How pray we, Deliver us from evil, who, knowing the mass to be evil, come to it?
But why go I to light a candle in the noon-day; that is, to tell you that we may not go to mass, or to the congregation where it is, except it is to reprove it, since all men, in so doing, dissemble both with God and man? And is dissembling now to be allowed? How long will men yet halt on both knees? says God. Halting, says Paul, brings out of the way; that is to say, out of Christ, which is the way; so that he which is not in him, shall wither away, and be cast into hellfire. For Christ will be ashamed of them before his Father, which are now ashamed of his truth before this wicked generation.
Therefore, my good mistress, take good heed, for it had been better for you never to have known the truth, and thereby to have escaped from papistical uncleanness, than now to return to it, making your members, beheld members of righteousness, members of unrighteousness, as you do, if you do but go to the church where mass is. Be pure, therefore, and keep yourself from all filth of the spirit and of the flesh: abstain not only from all evil, but from all appearance of evil.
And so the God of peace shall be with you; the glory of God shall govern you; the Spirit of God shall sanctify you, and be with you for ever, to keep you from all evil, and to comfort you in all your distress and trouble; which is but short, if you consider the eternity you shall enjoy in glory and felicity in the Lord; which undoubtedly you shall not fail, but inherit for ever, if you, as the elect child of God, put your trust in his mercy, call upon his name unfeignedly, and yield not to the wicked world, but stick still against it unto the end. God, for his holy name's sake, which is properly the God of the widows, be your good and dear Father for ever, and help you always, as I myself would be helped at his hands in all things, and especially m this his own cause. Amen, Amen.
