J Wysh you helth in Christ, true knowledge of his worde, and a faythfull obedient hart vnto the same: it is shewed me my brother, that ye wylled me by a letter made to a frende of yours, to perswade with me, that I should be ruled by myne vncle MarginaliaMy Vncle hath ben with me & hath made great promises & great threates also. (which sayth hee will bestowe his goodes very largely vpon mee if I would not stand to high in mime owne conceyt:)  

but my good brother I truste ye do not iudge so euyll of me, that I should haue a faith to sell for mony: for though he or you were able to geue me the treasure of the hole country yet I thanke my lord god, I do iudge it but an heape of donge, in respecte of that treasure hid with in: yet do I esteme a buckle of your shoe, if it come with good wil, and for to be coūseled & ruled by him or you, or any other of my frēds. I do not, nether haue refused it, if they require no more of me thē my power, and that which belongeth to mortall men: but if they require of me any thing which pertaineth to God only, there is nether hygh nor low, frend, nor foe I trust in God shal get it of me, MarginaliaI woulde be loth they should make of me such a conuerte, as they dyd M. Hale. no nor yet the Aungelles in heauen: for though I be not learned (as the vaine men of the word cal lerning)   yet I thanke my Lord God, I haue so learned out of gods booke to know god from his creatures, & to know Christ from his sacramentes and to put a difference betwene the merytes of Christes passion and his supper, and a difference betwene the water of baptime, and the holy Ghost, and not to myxe and myngle all thinges confusely to gether: so that if one aske me a question, or a reason of my fayth, I must say, I beleue as holy church beleueth: if he aske me what is the order of that fayth, I should be so ignoraunt, that I could not discerne God from hys creatures, nor Christ from hys sacramentes: if I should so monsterously vtter my fayth that I were not able to iudge betwene Christes byrth, and his burial, nor which were fyrst of hys mortificacion, and hys gloryfycacion, who woulde beleue that my faythe were sound? MarginaliaSo should hys glorified bodye, or he haue. ii. bodies at once, one glorified, & another mortal.For som affirme that Christ did not giue to his Apostles a mortal & a passible bodye, but an immortal & a glorified body, so that he shuld haue a glorified body before his death, & so his glorification was before his resurrection, and that he was risen before he was crucified, & crucified before his Baptisme, & then they may as wel saye, he was baptised before his birth, and borne before he was conceiued, and conceyued before he was promised, & that wer euen right Antichrist to turne al thinges backeward: and then say they: Oh ye must beleue. for God is al mighty, he can do al things &c. Truth it is that God is almighty in deede, and yet I maye not beleue thinges contrary to his word, that Christes bodye was glorifyed before hee dyed: for gods omnipotency doth not stande in thynges contrary to his wil, but in performing his wil at his pleasure in time. Nether doth he require of vs to iudge or beleue of his almightye power, that he hath made the ende of the worlde to come, before the beginning, nor yet the fruit to come before the blossome, and yet is he neuertheles almighty. But if peraduenture ye shall thinke with your selfe: why? they are learned, it were marueile but they should know what is the truth, aswel as other which neuer kepte no suche studye. &c. To that I aunswer: that if they had studied gods word, the autor of truth, as they haue done Logike, & Duns,  with the

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Legend of lies, 

they should haue ben as expert in the truth, as they be nowe in balde reasons. MarginaliaHe speketh not against the true vse of Logyke. But thus hath God fulfilled his promis, that such should be deluded with lies, which would not beleue nor walke iu his truth. And again, this is a good cause to make vs thinke surely, that this was the cause that God gaue them ouer at the first to error, after the Apostles time by litle and litle, as they grew in sinne. For seing we had his truth nowe amonge vs a fewe yeares, & because we dyd not obey vnto it, we see what a sodaine chaunge God hath brought vpon vs for our sinnes sake. And why should not we thinke that this and such like disobedience was the cause that God tooke his woord from al christendom at the first, and cast a darknes vpon them that woulde not walke in hys light. For it is euident inough to see how lyke their doinges be to Christes & his Apostels, & that sene, eyther we muste iudge Christes doinges verye slender, & theirs good, or els that in dede they be the very Antichristes, whyche should come and turne al things out of frame. Thus I haue bene bold to trouble you, whych I trust shall not be altogether in vayne. Pray for me as I do for you.

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By your brother Nicolas Shetterden, priso-
ner for the truth in Westgate. 

GOd, which is the geuer of al goodnes, and that frely for his loue to vs (not onely with out oure desertes, but contrarye to the same) graunt you my brother such encrease of godlye knowledge and loue vnto the vertues ther vnto belonging, as maye geue you such a taste in heauenly thinges, that all treasure of earthlye thinges maye fauoure to you, as in dede they are most vayne and vncertayne: so shall ye neuer take them for no better then they bee. Ye whether god take from vs, or geue them vnto vs, we shall know our selues neyther rycher nor porer before god: but if we laye vp in our hartes the treasure of his worde, we shall not only enrich our selues against the time of nede but also arme our selues against þ^e battell with weapon & harnes, which is inuincible, & cloth our selues agaynst the mariage: for behold the Lord hath called vs of long time to the feast, & blowen the trumpet to prepare the battell. Let vs knowe the time of our visitation, least the Lord sitting on his moūt, bewaile our destruction, whiche hee desireth not, but because he is iust to punish such as cōtinue in syn, euen as he is merciful to forgeue the repentant that turne in time: for so is God that cannot denye himselfe. Let vs therefore in this daye while it is called to day, heare his voice, aud not harden oure hartes by resistance of his wyll, least hee sweare in his wrath, that we shall not enter in to his rest. Let vs count that sufficient, that we haue spent the time past (as s. Peter saith) after the wil of the Gētils in eating & drinking, chābering & wantonnes, & in abhominable idolatry. &c. And now let vs assay a new life, & trade our mēbers in vertue another while, least peraduēture we might run past any return in the contrary. But if we may now returne and laye hand of his word in dede & verity, as we haue long tyme done in talke and liberty, then wyll God heape vp vpon vs such certificat of conscience, as shal kindle our consolation in hym, so that al treasure shalbe doung, to that excellent kuowledge of our sauiour. Deare brother, my harts desire & prayer to God is, that we maye

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