To My Beloved Wife, Treatise
TO MY BELOVED WIFE HELENER PENRY, partaker with me in this life of the ſuffrings of the Goſpel in the kingdome and pacience of Ieſus Chriſt: And reſting with me in vndowbted hope of the glory that ſhalbe revealed: all ſtrenght and comfort, with all other ſpirituall graces be multiplyed through Chriſt Ieſus our Lord.
I ſee my blood layed for (my beloved) and ſo my daies and teſtimonies drawing to an end for ought I knowe: and therfore I think it my dutie to leave behinde me this teſtimonie of my love towards ſo deare a ſiſter and ſo loving a wife in the Lord as you have ben vntounto me. Firſt then I beſech you ſtand faſt in that truth which you and I profeſſe at this preſent in much outward diſcomforte and danger. Let nothing drawe you to be ſubiect to antichriſt in anie of his ordinances. Let your ſoule and pour bodie be far frō thoſe aſſemblies which yelde either knowne or ſecrete ſubmiſſion vntounto the ordinances of the beaſt. that is to receave his marks eyther in the right hand or the forhead / as the ſpirit of God ſayeth. Rev. 13.16. For this are you forbidden to doe vnderunder the payne of Gods eternal wrath. Rev. 14.9.10.11. 2 Cor. 6.14.15.16. & 1 Cor. 3.16.17. Rev. 22.18.19. Deu. 12.30.31.32. &c. Againe (my beloved) / continewe a member of that holy ſocietie whereof nowe you are / where the Lord in his ordinances raigneth: for here and in all ſuch aſſemblies the Lord dwelleth by the preſence and power of his ſpirit Mat. 18.20. & 28.20. Exod. 29.45. Leui. 26.11.12. Here he is a mightie protection and defence readie at hand Iſay. 26.1. & 4.6.. And his ordinances you knowe / hath he greatlie comaunded to be kept and obſerved. Pſal. 119.4. Oh our ſoules are to reioyce in theſe waies more then in all ſubſtance and treaſure Pſal. 119.14. And the loving kindnes of the eternall is for ever and ever towards them and theyr ſeed that remember his ordinances to doe them. Pſal. 103.17 18. Whereas all thoſe are accurſed that err from his ſtatutes and diminiſhe from the obedience they owe vntounto his Maieſtie. Pſal. 119.21. Reu. 22:19. Pſal. 119.118. I pray you mark theſe places with all ſuch like in the word / againſt all thoſe that maketh a ſlayght matter eyther not to walke in the wayes of God or to be ſubiect vntounto ſmall corruptions as they accōpte them & be enarmed with the power of the word againſt all ſuch lying deluſions. Lok. 2 Cor. 6.14.15.17. In concluſion my dear wife and ſiſter / loke not at anie earthlie thingh / conſecrate your ſelfe wholly / both ſoule / bodie / huſband / children / and whatſoever you have vntounto the Lord your God / let them not be dearer vntounto you then his worſhip and ſervice / knowe / it knowe it to be an vnſpeakable preferment for you / that he voutchſafeth to take eyther your ſelfe / or anie of yours to ſuffer affictions with him and his goſpel here vponupon earth. Luk. 18.30. Mat. 19.29. And I am perſwaded that you have vndergone the profeſſion of the truth vponupon the condition ſet downe by our ſaviour Chriſt. Luk. 14.26.27. that is to hate all in reſpect of his goſpel. Fear not the want of outward things / for the Lord careth for you and yours. Remember what is ſet downe. Heb. 13.5. Luk. 12.31. The Lord is my God and yours / and the God of our ſeed. I knowe if you and our pore children continewe / that they ſhall ſee a bleſſed reward evē in this life for theſe ſmale and weak ſuffrings of ours for the intereſt and right of Chriſt Ieſus / for I am aſſuered that the Lord wil give a breathing time / a cō fortable reſt vntounto his pore Church in this life. And my good wife / if you or anie of mine live to ſee thoſe daies: remēber and let my pore children remēber to declare in Syon the vengeance of the Lord our God and the vengeāce of his temple againſt babel: and that the Lord God hath brought forth our righteouſnes in rewarding that wicked antichriſtian religion as it hath done vntounto vsus. Ier. 50.28. and 51.10.35.36. and 50.15. Reu. 18.6. In the meane tyme wait pacientlie the Lords leaſure / he is not forgetful of you and yours eſpeciallie of his pore Church / he cannot denie himſelf and the truth of his promiſes you know 2 Tim. 6.5. Be much and often in prayer day and night / much in reading and meditation of his word / and you ſhall find that he will graunt you yours harts deſiere / according to his good pleaſure & will. Pray with your pore familie & children morning and eavening as you doe. Inſtruct them and your maide in the good waies of God. See that no day paſſe over your head wherin you have not taught them (eſpecially her) ſome one principall of the truth. Think the tyme greatlie gained / as I have often told you that is ſpent in the word of the Lord. Pſal. 1.1.2. Ioſh. 1.8. Amongſt other places of the word wherin I would have you to be converſant in regard of theſe tymes / I pray you to read Mat. 10. Luc. 12. Iohn. 14.15.16. and 17. chapters. Pſal. 37. Iſay. 60.61.62.63. chapters: Marke everie day what petitions you make vntounto the Lord / that you may have eyther ſtrenght and cōfort of your faith in the inioyng of the things you aſke and ſo may returne thankfulnes vntounto him / or continewance of pacience in expecting and wayting for his merciemercy / And be not wearie in attending vponupon his good leaſure / for in due tyme ſhall we receave if we faynt not / for yet a verie little while / and he that ſhall come will come and will not car…e. Heb. 10.37. Above all things pray that the Lord would reſtore bewtie vntounto his Church and ſo would overthrowe the curſed religiō of the Gomaine Antichriſt in everie parte thereof / obſerve your owne eſpeciall infirmeties and wants / and be earneſt with the Lord that he would doe them away / and conſume them by the power of his ſpirit. Remember me alſo and my brethren nowe in bonds / that the Lord would aſſiſt vsus with the ſtrenght and comfort of his ſpirit to kepe a good conſcience and to beare a glorious teſtimonie vntounto the end: yea be not void of hope / but I may be reſtored agayne vntounto you by your praiers / and therfore alſo be earneſt with him for my deliverāce. If the Lord ſhall end my days in this teſtimonie / as bleſſed be his name howſoever it goeth / I am readie and content with his good pleaſure / kepe your ſelf my good Helen here with this pore Church / you may make as good refuge and ſtay here as anie where elſe for your outward eſtate / though you could not / yet I knowe that you had rather dwell vnderunder the wings of the God of Iſraell in povertie with godlie Ruth / then to poſſeſſe kingdomes out of the land of Canaan / and whatſoever ſhift you make kepe our pore children with you that you may bring them vp your ſelfe in the inſtructiō and informatiō of the Lord Epheſ. 6.4. I leave you and them indeed nothing in this life / but the bleſſing of my God and his bleſſed promyſes made vntounto me a pore wretched ſinner / that my ſeed / my habitatiō and familie ſhould be bleſſed and happie vponupon the earth / and this my ſiſter I dout not ſhalbe fownd an ample portion both for you and them / though you knowe that in hunger often in could often / in povertie and nakednes we muſt make an accompt to profeſſe the Goſpell in this life. And teach them I beſeech you even nowe in their youth that leſſon indeede / which was the laſt that I taught them in word / and that is / that / If they will raigne with Chriſt they muſt ſuffer with him: and acquaynt them now in theyr youth with the baſenes and meanes of the Goſpel: teach them that they are not to loke for great things in this life / but everie day to make accompt that they are to yeeld theyr lyves and whatſoever they have for the truth. Break their affections betymes while they are yet greene / by inſtructions out of the word and corrections meet for them yet you knowe that parents muſt not be bitter vntounto their children. Eph. 6.4. eſpeciallie ſmiete not the elder child over hard / becauſe you knowe the leaſt word will reſtrayne her / when they are capabell of anie handie labour / I knowe you will not let them be idell Yf poſſiebell you cā / let them learne / both to read and alſo to wryte / howſoever it be whether theyr bringing vp be better or worſe vnderunder your hand or under the hands of others I their father doe here chardge them whē they come to yeares of diſcretiō as they ſhall anſwer in that great daie of iudgement that they ioyne themſelves with the true profeſſion and Church of Chriſt / wherin nowe I goe before them / the which charge of myne that they may kepe / I beſech you my good wife to put them often in mynde of the fame and what a bleſſing will enſue vntounto them if they keepe it / as alſo what a iudgement will ſurelie followe if they neglect it. Ier. 15.18. And withal be carefull in caſe you ſhould not be able to kepe them all with you that they be brought vp with ſome of the Church with bread and water rather then be clad with gould with anie (howe forward ſoever they ſeeme to profeſſe) that yeeld anie obedience vntounto the antichriſtian ordinances / for with ſuch they cannot chuſe but be leveaned with corruptiōs. I knowe my good Helen that the burden which I laie vponupon thee of. 4. infāts wherof the elder is not. 4. years olde will not ſeeme anie wiſe burdenſome vntounto thee / yea thou ſhalt fynd that our God willbe a father vntounto the fatherleſſe and a ſtaie vntounto the widowe.
But here my moſt dear ſiſter and wife / I agaiene adviſe you not to be a widowe long after my daies / for you knowe the ordinance of God / that it is good for a man not to be alone / ſo is it a great bleſſing for a woman to have an head. And although to be maried bringeth care and troble with it outwardlie / yet is that holie order accompanied with that comfort in this life / as of all outward things I judg it to be one of the greateſt bleſſings for man or woman to be maried in the Lord if they cannot conteine. Onelie take heed in your choyſe / that firſt he with whom you match be of the ſame holy faith and profeſſion with you / next that he be meet to be your h…ad / even ſuch a one as you think fit to governe you as a head and rule you as a Lord: And in this choiſe loke not vntounto welth or eſtimation in the world / yet rather chuſe many bleſſings then one if you may but onelie reſpect the feare of God and the meetnes of the party. Thus having hethervnto diſburdened my ſelf of my dutie towards you and care over you and your pore children / in ſome part / nowe to come vntounto my ſelfe / I am I thank my God in great comfort in him though vnderunder great trialls of my weakneſſes / not for feare of anie fleſh I thank my God but in conſideration of myne owne wants / rebellion / diſobedience and vnthākfulnes vntounto his maieſtie / but in regard of men and in reſpect of the cauſe of my GOD wherin I ſtand. I feare not anie power or ſtrenght of man whatſoever and I am this howre moſt willing to laie downe my life for the word of my teſtimony / and I truſt ſhall be onto the end. I was taken you knowe at Ratliffe the 22. of the 3. month March 1592. caried the 24. before M. yong comitted by him cloſe vntounto the Counter Poultry: caried before M. Yong agayne the 26. of the ſame month 1593. wher was D. …angham and his brother preachers both / ſent as M. Yong ſayd by my Lord Keeper to confer with me. I anſwered that I reverenced the authoritie of my Lord Keeper and the reſt of her Maieſties Counſel / but as for pryvate conference / in as much as my cauſe was made publik and that my adverſaries had my writtings in ther hands / wherby I moved the Parlement in the cauſe / I ſaw no reaſon why I ſhould yeeld vntounto any. I deſyred publike vpō …quall conditiōs: heare after great heat vttered by M. vaugham / and ſome warmnes on my part I was ſent agayne cloſe whence I came. The 28. of the ſame month I was called for by M. Yong to confer with M. D. Balgue of the Temple / where agayne I deſyred an equall tryall ſet downe 4. of the ſpeciall heads / and the conditions / toke a copy of them / and ſo departed / after manie reaſonable words given vntounto me by M. Yong The 2. of the 5. month Aprill came M. D. Crook. M. Grennham and M. Temple vn… the priſon to confer with me, both of chriſtian charitie / and alſo having authoritie thervnto as they ſayd: I refuſed all private intermedling in ſo publik an action / ſhewed them the things offred by me vntounto M. Yong and accepted for the tyme in good parte by him / demanded whether they had authority to condeſcend vntounto thoſe equall conditions / and ſo I would confer with them or with any: They ſayd no: and therfore after much needles ſpeech departed / M. Temple very jniuriouſly taking away whether I would or not / the copy of that which I gave vntounto M. Yong / wherof he ſent me a copy the 5. of the ſame month but retayned myne owne. VponUpon which day I was ſent for to the ſeſſions houſe wher was Syr Georg Barnes as I take it M. Yong M. Dale the Deane of weſtmynſter and an other of the Clargy / they offred me an othe which I refuſed becauſe it was againſt conſcience and lawe: proteſting notwithſtanding that I heald lawfull to take an othe before a magiſtrate: then they examined me of my going with Edward Graves / I āſwered in deed that I lay at an jnn at Hodſden with him about the tyme then ſpake / but I would goe no f…rther to anſwer them in this poynt thus far but no further I anſwered he… both becauſe they knewe of it before and eſpecially for ſome other reſpects then moving me. After this they dealt with me about my being in Scotland and / in the middeſt of which diſcourſe they ſent me away / It was playne with the but eſpecially with M. Yong: Herin this is moſt memorable that alleaging Numb 35. 33. they ſet it downe as an article againſt me though I read the very words vntounto them they are ſo lamentablie ignorant / and lay wayt for blood ſo cruellie that certaynlie th… Lords hande is not far of. The Lord ſhew mercy vntounto vsus and them / from my har… I wiſh it. I cannot ſee but that they thirſt after my blood: Therfore pray for me and deſyre all the Church to doe the ſame.
To drawe to an end / ſalute the whole Church from me eſpeciallie thoſe in bunds / and be you all much and hartely ſaluted in the Lord. Let none of you be diſmayed. Th… Lord will ſend a glorious iſſue to Syons troubles. Yet you muſt all be prepared for ſuffrings / I ſee no other likelyhood: Let not thoſe which are abroad myſſe to frequen… the holy meetings: Salute my mother and yours in Wales: my brethren / ſyſters an… kindered ther. And my God knoweth / yea your ſelf knoweth howe earneſtlie and often I have deſyred that he would voutchſafe my ſervice in his Goſpell among them t… the winning of ther ſoules for evermore vntounto him. Salute your parents and myne i… Northampthone / with my poore Kinſmā Ienkin Iones and M. David alſo / thoug… I had not thought that anie owtward reſpects would have made him withdrawe hi… ſhowlders from the Lords wayes / but the Lord will drawe him forward in his goo… tyme. Salute all ours in Scotland vponupon the borders and every way northward / eſpecially M. I…ell / always deare vntounto me. Chriſt Ieſus bleſſe thee and them all my beloved even for ever and ever. Let it not be knowne vntounto anie ſave vntounto the party tha… ſhall read this vntounto you / that I have written at all as yet / I gote meanes this day t… writte thus much wherof no creature lyving knoweth. The 6. of the 4. month April 1593. in great haſte with manie teares and yet in the great ſpirituall comfort of my ſoule
Your huſband nowe for a ſeaſon / and your beloved brother for evermore Ihon Penry an vnworthy witneſſe of Chriſts Teſtament / againſt the abhominations of the Roman Antichriſt and his ſouldyers / ſure of the victory by the blood of the lamb.
End of the text · John Penry, To My Beloved Wife (1593)