Acts and Monuments Volume 2 Part 2, Book 11 · Account 18 · Letter 9
An exhortation to his owne sister, constantly to sticke to the truth, which she had frutefully professed.
GOd the eternall Father,An other letter of M. Philpot to his owne Sister, full of fruitfull exhortation. who hath iustified you by the bloud of his sonne Iesus Christ, and called you to hallow his name through a good conuersation and profession of life, he sanctifie you with daily encrease of vertue & faith by his holy spirit, that you may appeare a vessell of sanctification, in the middest of this wicked & peruerse generation, to the laud and praise of the Gospel, Amen.
I hauehave occasion (mine owne deare sister) to praise God in you for 2. causes: the one, that to your habilitie you are ready to shew your self a naturall louing sister to me your poore afflicted brother, as by your gētle tokens you hauehave eftsoones testified being absent, as also presently visiting me: which wel declareth that you be a very naturall sister in dede, and to be praised in this behalfe. But in the other, yt you be also a sister to me in faith after Christes Gospell, I am occasioned to thanke God so muche the more,Spirituall consanguinitye and naturall, compared. howe much the one excelleth the other, and the spiritual consanguinitie is more perdurable then that which is of flesh & bloud, & is a worker of that which is by nature: for commonly such as be vngodly, be vnnatural & only louers of themselues, as daily experience teacheth vsus. The lyuing Lord, which through the incorruptible sede of his worde, hath begotten you to be my liege sister, geue you grace so to growe in yt generation, that you may encrease to a perfect age in the Lord, to be my sister with Christ for euer.
Looke therfore that you continue a faythfull sister as you are called and are godly entered, not onelyonly to me but to all the Church of Christ, yea to Christ himselfe, who voucheth you in this your vnfayned fayth, worthy to bee his sister. Consider this dignitie to surmount all ye vayne dignities of the worlde, & let it accordingly preuayle more with you, then all earthly delightes: For therby you are called to an equall portion of the euerlasting inheritaunce of Christ, if now in no wise you do shew your selfe an vnnaturall sister to him in forsaking him in trouble, which I trust you will neuer for no kinde of worldly respect doe. You are vnderunder daungerous temptations to be turned frō that naturall louelove you owe vntounto Christ, and you shalbe tryed with Gods people thorough a siue of great afflictiō:The Sieue of afflictions. Luke. 22. for so Sathan desireth vsus to be sifted, that through feare of sharp troubles we might fall from the stablenes of our fayth, and so be depriued of that honour, ioy, and reward, which is prepared for such as continue faythfull brothers and sisters in the Lordes couenant to the ende. Therfore the wise man in the booke of Ecclesiasticus: biddeth them that come to the seruice of the Lorde,Eccle. 2. To prepare them selues to suffer temptations.
Since then yt for the glory of God and our faith, we are called now to abide the brunt of them, and that when our aduersary hath done all that he can, yet wee may be stable and stand: this Christ our first begotten brother loketh for at our handes, and all our brethren and sisters in heauen, desire to see our faith thorough afflictions to be perfecte, that we might fulfil their number:Christ our first borne brother. and ye vniuersal church here militant, reioyceth at our constancie, whom al by the contrary we should make sorie, to the daunger of the losse both of body and soule. Feare not therfore, what soeuer be threatned of the wicked world: prepare your back, and see it be ready to carye Christes crosse. And if you see any vntowardnes in you (as the flesh is continually repugnant to the will of God) aske with faithfull praier that the good spirit of God may lead your sinful flesh whether it would not:A Christen mans backe should alwayes be ready to beare Christes crosse. for if we will dwell in the flesh and folow the counsell therof, we shall neuer doe the will of God, neither worke that tendeth to our saluation.
You are at this present in the confines and borders of Babylon, where you are in danger to drink of the whores cup, vnles you be vigilant in praier. Take hede the Serpent seduce you not frō the simplicitye of your faith, as he did our first mother Eue.Vngodly fellowship to be eschewed. Let no worldly felowship make you partaker of iniquitie. He yt toucheth tarre can not but be defiled therby. With such as be peruerse, a mā shall sone be peruerted: with the holy you shalbe holy. Therfore say continually with the Prophete Dauid:Psal. 15. VntoUnto the Saints that be on the earth, al my wil is on them. You hauehave bene sanctified and made pure thorough the truth: take heede you be not vnholied and vndefiled, lest the last be worse then the first. I wryte not this because I stand in any doubt of your sincere continuance (of the which I hauehave had so good experience): but because the daies be euil, and in the same it is the duety of eueryevery one of vsus to exhort an other.
I am bold to put you (my good sister) in remembrance of yt which doth not a litle comfort me to remember, in my troubles & daily temptations. Wherfore I doubt not, you will take yt in good part which commeth frō your brother both in spirit & body, who tendreth your saluation as earnestly as his owne, that we might ioye together eternally with such ioy as the world shal neuer be able to take from vsus. Thankes be vntounto God, you hauehave begon to run a good & great time wel in the waies of the Lorde: run out of the trace, to ye end which you hauehave begon, & then shall you receiue ye crown of glory.2. Tim. 2. None shalbe crouned but such as lawfully striueth. Be not ouercome of euill, but ouercome euil wt good,Apoc 4. & the Lorde shall make you one of those faithfull virgines that shal follow the Lambe wheresoeuer he goeth: the which Christ graunt both you and me, Amen.
Commend me to all them that louelove me in ye Lord vnfainedly. God encrease our faith, and geue vsus neuer to be ashamed of his Gospell. That same request which I hauehave made to my brother Thom. I make also to you, desiring you by all meanes you can to accōplish my request,This was for the first fruites of his A…chdeaconry, whereof all the tyme of his imprisonmēt he had no commoditye, and yet his suretie… were compelled to pay the same. yt my sureties might be satisfied with that is mine owne, to the contentation of my minde, which can not be quiet vntill they be discharged: therefore I pray you help to purchase quietnes that I might depart out of this worlde in peace. My dissolution I looke for daily, but the Lorde knoweth howe vnworthy I am of so high an honour, as to die for the testimony of his truth. Pray that God would vouchsafe to make me worthy, as he hath don of long imprisonment, for ye which his name be praised for euer. Pray and looke for the comming of the Lorde, whose wrath is great ouer vsus, and I wil pray for you as long as I liue. The 9. of Iuly in the kings Bench.
Your owne louing brother as well in faith as in body. Iohn Philpot.