1To write my mind plainly unto you, beloved brethren: This wind that always hath blown against the Church of God, is the malice and hatred of the devil, which rightly in this case is compared to the wind: For as the wind is invisible, and yet the poor disciples feel that it troubleth and lettereth their Ship;2 So is the pestilent envy of the devil working always in the hearts of the reprobate so subtle and crafty, that it cannot be espied by Gods Elect, nor by his Messengers, till first they feel the blasts thereof to blow their Ship backward: And as the vehement wind causeth the waves of the Sea to rage,3 and yet the dead water neither knoweth what it doth, neither yet can it cease nor refrain; so that both it is troubled by the wind, and also it self doth trouble Christs disciples in their poor Ship: So by the envy and malice of the devil, are wicked and cruel, as well subjects as Princes (whose hearts are like the raging Sea) compelled to persecute and trouble the true Church of Christ; and yet so blinded are they, and so enthralled under the bondage of the devil, that neither can they see their manifest iniquity, neither yet can they cease to run to their own destruction. And hereof, England, hast thou manifest experience: For in the time of King Henry the eighth,4 how the wolf, that wicked Winchester, and others, by the vehement wind of six bloody Articles (by the devil devised) intended to have overthrown the poor Ship and Christs disciples, is evidently known already. But then had we Christ Jesus with us sleeping in the Ship, who did not despise the faithful crying of such as then were in trouble: But by his mighty power, gracious goodness, and invincible force of his holy Word, he compelled those wicked winds to cease, and the raging of those Seas to be stilled and calm:5 So that all the hearts of Gods Elect within the Realm of England did wonder at that sudden change, while that under a lamb the fearful edge of that devouring sword was taken from the necks ⟨p. 51⟩of the faithful; and the tyranny of those ravening and blood-thirsty Wolves (I mean of wily Winchester, and of some other his Brethren, the sons of Belial) was repressed for a time:6 But yet ceased not the Devil to blow his wind, by his wicked Instruments, who found the means, how against nature the one brother should assent to the death of the other;
1To write my minde plainly unto you, beloved brethren: This winde that alwayes hath blown against the Church of God, is the malice and hatred of the devill, which rightly in this case is compared to the winde: For as the winde is invisible, and yet the poor disciples feel that it troubleth and letreth their Ship;2 So is the pestilent envie of the devill working alwayes in the hearts of the reprobate so subtill and crafty, that it cannot be espied by Gods Elect, nor by his Messengers, till first they feel the blasts thereof to blow their Ship backward: And as the vehement winde causeth the waves of the Sea to rage,3 and yet the dead water neither knoweth what it doth, neither yet can it cease nor refrain; so that both it is troubled by the winde, and also it self doth trouble Christs disciples in their poor Ship: So by the envie and malice of the devill, are wicked and cruell, as well subjects as Princes (whose hearts are like the raging Sea) compelled to persecute and trouble the true Church of Christ; and yet so blinded are they, and so enthralled under the bondage of the devill, that neither can they see their manifest iniquity, neither yet can they cease to run to their own destruction. And hereof, England, hast thou manifest experience: For in the time of King Henry the eighth,4 how the wolf, that wicked Winchester, and others, by the vehement winde of six bloody Articles (by the devill devised) intended to have overthrown the poor Ship and Christs disciples, is evidently known already. But then had we Christ Jesus with us sleeping in the Ship, who did not despise the faithfull crying of such as then were in trouble: But by his mighty power, gracious goodnes, and invincible force of his holy Word, he compelled those wicked windes to cease, and the raging of those Seas to be stilled and calm:5 So that all the hearts of Gods Elect within the Realme of England did wonder at that sudden change, while that under a lamb the fearfull edge of that devouring sword was taken from the necks ⟨p. 51⟩of the faithfull; and the tyrannie of those ravening and blood-thirsty Wolves (I mean of wily Winchester, and of some other his Brethren, the sonnes of Belial) was repressed for a time:6 But yet ceased not the Devill to blow his winde, by his wicked Instruments, who found the means, how against nature the one brother should assent to the death of the other;
- 1The malice of the devil compared to the wind.The malice of the devill compared to the winde.
- 21 Simile.
- 3The Sea cannot be quiet when the wind bloweth outrageously.The Sea cannot be quiet when the wind bloweth outragiously.
- 4The wind that blew in the days of King Hen. 8.The winde that blew in the dayes of King Hen. 8.
- 5A quiet calm wa under King Edw 6.
- 6The first secret pestilent wind that blew in the time of good K. Edward 6. The Devil raged when the Mass mischief was disclosed.The first secret pestilent winde that blew in the time of good K. Edward 6. The Devill raged when the Masse mischief was disclosed.
