MarginaliaAn. 1555. August.and saw him burne, that his body in burnyng did shyne as bright and white as new tried siluer in the eyes of them that stoode by: as I am informed by some which were there, and did behold the sight.

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A repeat of the image used for Thomas Wattes.

¶ A letter or exhortation to the pacient sufferyng of afflictions for CHRISTES cause.  

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Robert Samuel's Letters

Robert Samuel's two letters to a congregation of protestants, one exhorting them to constancy in the face of persecution and the other providing a statement of doctrine, were both first printed in Letters of the Martyrs and were then printed in the 1570 edition and all subsequent editions. The first letter was printed in Letters of the Martyrs, pp. 504-11.

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MarginaliaEccle. 9.A Man knoweth not his tyme, but as the fish is taken with the angle, and as the byrdes are caught with the snare: euen so are men caught and taken in the perilous time when it commeth vpopn them. The tyme commeth: the day draweth neare. Ezechi. 7. Better it were to dye (as the Preacher saythMarginaliaEccle. 4.) then to lyue and see the miserable workes which are done vnder the Sunne: such sodeine and straunge mutations, such wofull, haynous, and lamentable diuisions so fast approcheth, and none or very few thoroughly repēteth. MarginaliaEsay. 1.Alas for this sinnefull nation, a people of great iniquitie & seede of vngraciousnes, corrupting their wayes. MarginaliaComplaynt against England and that not vndeserued.They haue forsaken the Lord, they haue prouoked the holy one of Israell to anger, and are gone backward. Who now liueth not in such security and rest, as though all daūgers were cleane ouerpast? Who now blindeth and buffeteth not CHRIST, with seest me and seest me not? Yea who liueth not now in such felicitie, worldly pleasures, and ioyes, wholy seekyng the world, prouidyng and crafily shiftyng for the earthly clodde and all carnall appetites, as though sinne were cleane forgottē, ouerthrowen, and deuoured? MarginaliaMath. 8.MarginaliaEnglish people rightly resembled to the Gergesites.MarginaliaMarke. 5.Like hoggysh Gergesites now are we more afrayd & ashamed of CHRIST our Messias, fearyng the losse of our filthy pygges, I meane our trāsitory goods, and disquietyng of our sinnefull and mortall bodyes in this short, vncertaine, and miserable life, then of a legiō of Deuils seducyng and driuyng vs from hearyng, readyng, and beleuyng CHRIST Gods eternall sonne and his holy word, the power to saue our soules:MarginaliaRom. 10. vnto vanities, lyes and fables, and to this bewitchyng world.

MarginaliaAboundance of goodes is a thing perilous.Oh perilous aboundaunce of goodes, to much saturity of meates, wealth and quietnes, which destroyed with so many soules, those goodly Cities MarginaliaGene. 19.Sodome and Gomorre. Ieroboam, so long as he was but a poore man, not yet auaunced to his dignitie, liued in the lawes of God without reprehension: but brought once to wealth and prosperous estate, he became a wicked and most shamefull Idolatour. And what made the couetous young māMarginaliaMath. 19. so loth to folow CHRIST, when he was bydden to forsake but worldly wealth which he then enioyed? Wo be vnto these false elusions of the world, baites of perditiō, hokes of the Deuill, which haue so shamefully deceiued and seduced full many from the right path vnto the Lord, into the high wayes of confusion and perpetuall perdition.

We might now worthily (deare Christians) lament and bewayle our heauy state, miserable condition, and sorrowfull chaunce: yea I say we might well accuse our selues, and with IobMarginaliaIob. 3. curse these our troublous, wicked, and bloudy last dayes of this world, were it not that we both see and beleue, and finde in Gods sacred booke, that a remnaunt God hath in all ages reserued,Marginalia
Esay. 10.
God hath alwayes a remnant, whom he polisheth with hard aduersities. I meane the faithfull, as many as haue bene from the begynnyng of the world, exercised, whetted, and pullished with diuers afflictions, troubles, and tossynges, cast and dashed agaynst all perils and daungers, as the very drosse & outcastes of the earth, and yet will in no wise halt betwene God and Baal: for God verely abhorreth two men in one: Marginalia
1. Cor. 4.
Two men in one, God abhorreth.he cannot away with them that are betwene both, but casteth them away as a filthy vomite. MarginaliaApoca. 3.CHRIST will not part spoile with his mortall enemy the deuill: he wil haue all or lose all: he will not permit the Deuill to haue the seruice of the body, and he to stand contented with the harte and mynd: but he will be glorified both in your bodyes and in your spirites, which are his, as S. Paul sayth. 1. Cor. 6. For he hath made all, bought all and dearely payd for all. As S. Peter sayth: Marginalia1. Pet. 1.With his owne immaculate body hath hee cleane discharged your bodies frō sinne, death, & hell, & and with his most precious bloud payd your raūsome & full price once for all & for euer.

Now what harme I pray you, or what losse sustaine you by this? Why are you, O vayne men, more afrayd of IESVS your gentle Sauiour, and his Gospell of saluation, then of a legion of cruell deuils, goyng about with false delusions vtterly to destroy you both bodyes and soules? Thinke you to be more sure thē vnder your captaine CHRIST? MarginaliaNo true quietnes in Satans seruice.Do you promise your selues to be more quiete in Sathans seruice, then in CHRISTES Religion? Esteeme you more these transitory and pernicious pleasures, then God and all his heauenly treasures? Oh palpable darkenes, horrible madnes, and wilfull blyndnes, without comparison, to much to be suffred any longer. We see and will not see: we know & will not know: yea we smart and will not feele, and that our owne conscience well knoweth. MarginaliaThe miserable madnes of worldly mē lamented.Oh miserable & brayneles soules, which would for foolish pleasures and slippery wealth, lose the royall kyngdome and permanent ioyes of God, with the euerlastyng glory which hee hath prepared for them that truly loue him, and renounce the world.Marginalia2. Cor. 4. The childrē of the world lyue in pleasure and wealth, and the deuill, who is theyr God and Prince of this world, keepeth their wealth which is proper vnto thē, and letteth them enioy it. MarginaliaIoh. 12.But let vs which be of CHRIST, seeke & enquire for heauenly thinges, which by Gods promise & mercy in CHRIST, shalbe peculier vnto vs. MarginaliaTransitory pleasures of this life not to be passed vpon.Let (I say) the Cretians, Epicures and such other beastly Belials  

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Belial is a demon mentioned several times in the Bible, but this usage is derived from 2 Corinthians 6: 15-16, where Belial's followers are characterized as idolators as contrasted with the followers of Christ. Epicureans are technically followers of the ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus who saw the attainment of pleasure as the chief human goal, but in the sixteenth century the term was a synonym for atheism and unbelief. The term Cretian is obscure.

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Let vs therfore passe for those things that do perteine to the spirite, and be celestiall.MarginaliaColoß. 3. We must be here (sayth PaulMarginaliaHeb. 13.) not as inhabitours and home dwellers, but as straungers: not as straungers onely, but after the mynd of Iob,MarginaliaIob. 7. as payneful souldiours appointed of our gouernour to fight agaynst the gouernour of darkenes of this world, agaynst spirituall craftines in heauenly thynges.MarginaliaEphes. 5. The tyme is come: we must to it: Marginalia1. Pet. 4.the iudgemēt must begyn first at the house of God. MarginaliaLuke. 14.Began they not first with the grene and sappy tree? and what folowed then on the dry braunches? Ieremy speakyng in the person of God, sayth: MarginaliaIere. 25.In the City wherin my name is inuocate, will I begin to punishe: but as for you (meaning the wicked) you shall be as innocentes & not once touched: for the dregges of Gods wrath the bottome of all sorrowes, are reserued vnto them in the end: but Gods houshold shall drinke the flower of the cup of his mercy. And therfore let vs say with Ezechias:Marginalia2. Para. 3. Play the men and shrinke not: let vs comfort our selues, for the Lord is with vs our helper, and fighteth for vs. The Lord is (sayth he) with you when you be with hym, and when you seeke hym he will be founde of you: and agayn, whē you forsake him he wil forsake you.

Wherfore we ought not to be dismayde or discourage our selues, but rather to bee of good comfort: not to be sadde but mery: not sorrowfull, but ioyfull, in that God of his goodnes will vouchsafe to take vs as his beloued children, to subdue our sinfull lustes, our wretched flesh & bloud vnto his glory, the promotyng of his holy word, and edifying of his Church. Marginalia2. Cor. 5.What if the earthly house of this our habitatiō (Paul meaning the body) be destroyed? We know assuredly we shal haue a building of God not made with handes, but euerlastyng in heauen, with such