the Lord, Neh. iii. 5 and, shortly,
of all such as have no courage for the truth, Jer. ix. 3, but seek their
own things, not the things which are Jesus Christ's, Phil. ii. 21, and,
finally, taking to heart how the Lord Jesus, when he cometh in the glory
of his Father with his holy angels, Mark viii. 38, will be ashamed of
every one who hath been ashamed of him and his words in the midst of a
sinful and crooked generation, you would, with a holy zeal and invincible
courage, against all contrary error, superstition, and abuse whatsoever,
set yourselves both to speak and do, and likewise (having a calling) to
suffer for the truth of Christ and for the purity of his worship, being in
nothing terrified by your adversaries, Phil. i. 28, 1 Pet. iii. 14, which,
that ye may the better perform, I commend to your thoughts these wholesome
admonitions which follow--

I. When you see so much diversity both of opinion and practice in things
pertaining to religion, the rather ye ought to give all diligence for
trying the things which are different, Phil. i. 10. If you judge us before
you hear us, then do you contrary to the very law of nature and nations,
John vii. 51, Acts v. 16. Neither will it help you at your reckoning to
say, We believed our spiritual guides, our prelates and preachers, whom
God had set over us. Nay, what if your guides be blind? then they not only
fall in the ditch themselves, but you with them, Matth. iv. 14. Our Master
would not have the Jews to rest upon the testimony of John Baptist
himself, but would have them to search the Scriptures, John v. 33, 34, 39,
by which touch stone the Bereans tried the Apostle's own doctrine, and are
commended for so doing, Acts xvii. 11. But as we wish you not to condemn
our cause without examining the same by the Word, so neither do we desire
you blindly to follow us in adhering unto it, for what if your seeing
guides be taken from you? How, then, shall you see to keep out of the
ditch? We would neither have you to fight for us nor against us, like the
blind sword players, Andabatae, a people who were said to fight with their
eyes closed. Consider, therefore, what we say, and the Lord give you
understanding in all things, 2 Tim. ii. 7.

II. Since the God of heaven is the greatest king, who is to rule and reign
over you by his Word, which he hath published to the world, and, _tunc
vere_, &c., then is God truly said to reign in us when no worldly thing is
harboured and haunted in