GRACE and peace, with all spiritual and heavenly feeling be with you for

ever.

Dearly beloved in the Lord, after most humble wise, with most harty thanks for your great kindness and heavenly comfort; the Lord reward you for it. It is no small grief to my heart to hear the news that is with you, how that the Queen is broken forth of prison and hath 4,000 men with her. The Lord our God, for Christ's sake, turne it to the best, and to the comfort of his poor flock, and give grace to the rulers with all wisdom to consider well with all speed.

Our brethren do give harty thanks for your gentle letter written unto them; but, to be plain with you, it is not in all points liked; and for my part, if I had known the tenor of it, when I was with you, I would have said many words that I never spake. We all agree well with your judgment that they shall not escape the judgments of God, without harty repentance, for molesting and troubling the hearts and consciences of the godly, and for mainteyning things in the Church for which, by the Word of God, they have no ground. But when you say that you cannot allow those that obstinately do refuse to hear the message of salvation at such men's mouths as please not us in all things; so say we. I know no man in our Congregation that doth obstinately refuse the Word of life. But when you say at such men's mouths, no doubt there be many men that be authorized to preach that are both hereticks and wicked Papists, which the Church of England doth allow; and if you mean them, then we say we utterly refuse to hear them, and also all those that do maintain this minglemangle ministry, Popish order and Popish apparel, which is to the great grief of the godly, and can take no comfort of such doctrine.

Whereas you bring that Paul was offended with Peter and sharply rebuked him, and in that he did very well, you say that for all that he dissuaded none of his auditors from his preaching. Most true it is, and we confess no less with you-but this example toucheth nothing our matter. But if Peter would willingly have maintained, as our men do after a hun

dred warnings, and brought Christians back from sincerity [purity], sure I am that Paul would not have suffered him, neither would the Apostolic Church have let him remain among them. But Peter yielded and held the true doctrine. And also the contention of Paul and Barnabas; that contention was about Marcus John; but yet they both held the truth, and might both be very well heard, for neither of them preached false doctrine, neither maintained anything against the ordinances of Christ. Although godly men have many infirmities, as I know no man hath not, yet God forbid that any should forsake hearing the Word truly and sincerely taught. But how doth this example touch our time, or doing which is maintained in England?

And also concerning Paul his purifying at Jerusalem. Purifying had his first ground out of the Word of God, and had his end, as all other ceremonies had, in Christ; but it was for confirming the Jews, and therefore Paul, for their infirmities' sake, that he might preach Christ, did it. Sure I am Paul did it not to maintain or allow it to be kept among them, and to persecute for it, and that no man shall preach Christ unless he do it; for many things that are maintained here had never any law of God for them, at any time or in any age, but the law of God ever standing against them. If it were true, as you say, that the Gospel were truly preached, and Sacraments truly administered, and true discipline maintained, it were no matter, neither for the man, neither for the coate. The hearing cannot hurt one, neither his ministry nor any man else.

Whereas you wish that our consciences had a better ground, truly we cannot see by these Scriptures that should alter our consciences from a Reformed Church that hath those marks, to go back to mixtures. Although it be but a poor Church and under perils and persecutions, and have many enemies both open and familiar friends against it, and have no authority to defend it, and since our departure from you more enemies we have a great many, which seem somewhat to take hold of you for the defence of them, that they may the more cruelly handle us, as some of our brethren feeleth it, and is grown by the party that went away from us, which now is in great favour of the Bishop, which never was before, and hath told him and all others that you are flat against us and condemn all our doings. But this is our comfort, the Lord Jesus is with us. At his coming home he did openly stand against the whole Church with many reviling words, and no gentle nor honest means could persuade him, whereupon the Church hath excommunicated him.

Also where you say, "God forbid that we should damn all for false prophets and heretics that agree not with us in our apparel and other opinions, that teacheth the substance of doctrine and salvation in Christ Jesus;" we heartily thank you for your good desire, but we never were of that mind to condemn any man's person; and I trust in the Lord that he will never let us fall in such a gulf. What art thou, saith Paul, that judgest

another man's servant? Either he standeth or falleth to his Lord.

But

this we do; when we see a manifest fact done by any man, either in religion or in manners, that is not good and may be condemned by the Scriptures, we also condemn all such facts; as for the person we leave to God; for Christ saith-The tree is known by the fruit.

Dearly beloved, in the first letter that ye wrote in answer to our letter when we were in the Fleete, it seemeth that ye are not well contented that we did not communicate with other Churches. That is known both to God and men, and other good Churches, and by four years-what troubles a great many godly suffered in that space, how we were handled by the Popish court both in Popish excommunication and imprisonment, for that we would not go back again to the wafer-cake and kneeling, and to other knackles of Popery. That persecution grew so fast as that it brought many a hundred to know one another that never knew before; and we joined all with one heart and mind to serve God with pure hearts and minds according to his Word. And where ye say, The matter is weighty for it condem neth the publicministry of England, let them take heed of that with your Church in Scotland, and the French and Dutch Church in England. We desire no other order than you hold ; and to come back from an Apostolical Church, by God's grace we mind not, but rather to take imprisonment, exilement, or what other crosses the Lord shall lay upon us. And if God justify our doings, if all men in the world were against us, it is no matter. And if the Lord condemn us, and all men should justify our doings, we were in a miserable case. I do confess that it is extraordinary and no general rule; but the Lord be praised, we have the testimony of a good conscience, and the open and manifest Word of God to defend our doings, although it be gotten by many tribulations. The God of our fathers direct us in all our doings for his Son Christ his sake, that it may redound to his glory, to the comfort of our own consciences, leaving a good example behind us to posterity. Beseeching you to have us in your hearty prayers.

NOTE.

The date and the occasion of this letter to Knox have already been stated in the Narrative. It would have been well if anything could have been added here touching the name of the writer; but not a single trace has as yet been found that might lead to its discovery. The whole subsequent history of the party which first seceded from the Elizabethan Church is extremely obscure; none of their leaders appear to have risen to any distinction or celebrity.

Compelled to conceal their meetings and movements as much as possible from the eyes of the Church's rulers, and separated by their own act from the counsels of the chief body of their brother Puritans, they came little before the public eye, except on those lamentable occasions when their religious assemblies were discovered to the magistrates by worthless informers, and they were dragged off to prisons and tribunals, to suffer more and worse for being religious and God-fearing after their own manner than ordinary criminals had to endure of condign penalty for their immoralities and crimes.