A Bit o' the Book

As I work on editing a book of 16th century letters, I daily find bits that I think are spectacular in their focus on God's glory and His promises. Invariably, I want to share these parts with someone.

Here is a part of a letter by John Bradford to London Christians in the 1550s:

Let the life you lead be in the faith of the Son of God, for the just live by faith; this faith flies from all evil, and follows the word of God, as a lantern to her feet and a light to her steps. Her eyes are above where Christ is; she beholds not the things present, but rather things to come; she glories in afflictions; she knows that the afflictions of this life are not to be compared to the glory which God will reveal to us and in us. Of this glory God grant us here a lively taste; then shall we run after the scent it sends forth. It will make us valiant men to take to us the kingdom of God: where the Lord of mercy brings us in his good time, through Christ our Lord; to whom, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, three Persons and one God, be all honor and glory, world without end. Amen.