LITMIR.BIZ

      THough a man had a precious iuell and a rich/ yet if he wiste not the value therof nor wherfore it served/ he were nother the better nor rycher of a straw. Eyen so though we read the scripture & bable of it never so moch/ yet if we know not the vse of it/ and wherfore it was geven/ and what is theim to be sought/ it profiteth vs nothinge at all. It is not ynough therfore to read and talke of it only/ but we must also desyre god daye and night instantly to open oure eyes/ ãd to make vs vnderstond and feale wherfore the scripture was geuen/ that we maye applye the medicyne of the scripture/ every mã to his awne sores/ inlesse then we entend to be ydle disputers/ and braulers aboute vayne wordes/ ever gnawenge vppon the bitter barcke with out and newer attayninge vnto the swete pith with in/ and persequutinge one an other for defendinge of lewde imaginacions and phantasyes of oure awne invencyon

      ¶ Paule in y^e thyrde of y^e secõde epistle to Tymothe sayth/ y^t the scripture is good to teache (for y^t ought mẽ to teach & not dreames of their awne makĩge/ as y^e pope doth) & also to improve/ for y^e scripture is y^e twichstone y^t tryeth all doctrynes/ & by y^t we know the false from y^e true. And in the .vi. to the ephesians he calleth it the swerd of the spirite/ by cause it killeth hyppocrites and vttereth ãd improveth their false inventyons. And in the .xv. to the Romayns he sayth all that are wryten/ are wryten for oure learninge/ that we thorow pacyence and cõsorte of the scripture myght have hope. That is/ the ensamples that are in the scripture comforte vs in all oure tribulacyons/ and make vs to put oure truste in god/ and pacyently to abyde his leysure. And in the .x. of the firste to the Corinthyans he bringeth in examples of the scripture to feare vs and to bridle the fleshe/ that we caste not the yoke of the lawe of god from of oure neckes/ and fall to lustynge and doinge of evill.

      ¶ So now the scripture is a light and sheweth vs the true waye/ both what to do/ and what to hope. And a defence from all erroure/ and a comforte in adversyte that we despayre not. and feareth vs in prosperyte that we synne not Seke therfore in the scripture as thou readest it first the law/ what god cõmaundeth vs to doo. And secundarylye the promyses/ which god promyseth vs ageyne/ namely in Christe Iesu oure lorde. Then seke ensamples/ firste of comforte/ how god purgeth all them that submitte them selves to walke in his wayes/ in the purgatorye of tribulatyon/ delyveringe them yet at the latter ende/ and never soferinge any of them to perysh/ that cleave faste to his promyses. And fynallye/ note the ensamples which are writen to feare the flesh that we synne not. That is/ how god suffereth the vngodlye and weked synners that resiste god and refuse to folow him/ to contynue in their wekednesse/ ever waxinge worse and worse vntyll their synne be so sore encreased and so abhomynable/ that if they shuld longer endure they wold corrupte the very electe. But for the electes sake god sendeth thẽ preachers. Neverthelesse they harden their hartes agenste the truth/ and god destroyeth thẽ vtterlye and begynneth the world a new.

      ¶ This comforte shalt thou evermore finde in the playne texte and literall sense. Nether is there any storye so homely/ so rude/ yee or so vyle (as it semeth outwarde) wherin is not exceadinge greate comforte. And when some which seme to them selves great clarkes saye: they wott not what moare profite is in many geftes of the scripture if they be read with out an allegorye/ then in a tale of robenhode/ saye thou: that they were wryten for oure consolacyon and comforte/ that we despayre not/ if soch like happen vnto vs. We be not holyer then Noe/ though he were once dronke. Nether bettter beloved then Iacob/ though his awne sonne defyled his bedde. We be not holyer then lot/ though his doughters thorow ignorance deceaved him/ nor paradventure holyer then those doughters. Nether are we holyer then David/ though he brake wedlocke and vppon the same commytted abhomynable murther. All those men have witnesse of the scripture that they pleased god and ware good men both before that those thinges chaunsed them and also after. Neverthelesse soch thinges happened them for oure ensampler not that we shuld contrafayte their evill/ but if whyle we fight with oure selves enforsynge to walke in the law of god (as they did) we yet fall likewise/ that we despayre not/ but come agayn, to the lawes of god and take better holde

      ¶ We read sens the tyme of Christes deeth/ of virgins that have bene brought vnto the comẽstues/ and theye defyled/ and of martyrs that haue bene bounde and hores haue abvsed their bodyes. Why? The iudgemẽtes of god are bottõlesse. Soch thinges chaunced partely for ensamples/ partely God thorow synne healeth synne Pryde can nether be healed nor yet appere but thorow soch horrible deades. Paraduenture they were of y^e popes secte ãd reioysed fleshly/ thinkinge that heaven came by deades and not by Christ/ and that the outwarde dead iustyfyed them & made them holy and not the inward spirite receeved by fayth and the consent of the harte vnto the law of god.

      ¶ As thou readeste therfore thinke that every sillable pertayneth to thyne awne silf/ and sucke out the pithe of the scripture/ and arme thy silf ageynst all assaultes. Firste note with stronge faith the power of god in creatinge all of nought Then marke the grevous fall of Adam and of vs all in him/ thorow the light regardĩge of the commaundement of god. In the .iii. Chapitre God turneth him vnto Abel and then to his offeringe/ but not to Cain and his offeringe. Where thou seest that though the deades of the evel apere outwardly as gloryous as the deades of the good: yet in the sight of god which loketh on the harte/ the deade is good because of the man/ and not the man good because of his deade. In the vj. God sendeth Noe to preach to the weked and geueth them space to repent: they wax hard herted/ God bringeth them to nought And yet saveth Noe: even by the same water by which he destroyed them. Marke also what folowed the pryde of the buyldinge of the toure of Babel

      Consydre how God sendeth forth Abrahã out of his awne contre in to a strange lande full of weked people/ and gave him but a bare promesse with him that he wold blesse him and defende him. Abraham beleved: and that worde saued and delyuered him in all parelles: so that we se/ how that mannes life is not mayntayned by bred onlye (as Christe sayeth) but moch rather by belevinge the promyses of god. Behold how soberly and how circũspectly both Abraham and also Isaac behaue them selves amõge the infideles. Abraham byeth that which might have ben geven him for nought/ to cutte of occasions. Isaac when his welles which he had digged were taken from him/ geveth rowme and resisteth not. More over they creand sowe and fede their catell/ and make confederacyons/ ãd take perpetuall truce/ and do all outward thinges: Even as they do which have no faith/ for god hath not made vs to be ydle in this world Every man must worke godly and truly to the vttmoste of the power that god hath geven him: and yet not truste therin: but in goddes worde or promesse: and god will worke with vs and bringe that we do to good effecte. And thẽ when oure power will extend no further/ goddes promesses wyll worke all alone

      ¶ How many thinges also resisted the promesses of god to Iacob? And yet Iacob coniureth god with his awne promesses sayenge: O god of my father Abraham: and god of my father Isaac/ O lorde which saydeste vnto me returne vnto thyne awne contre/ and vnto the place were thou waste borne and I wil do the good I am not worthy of the leste of those mercyes/ nor of that trouth which thou haste done to thy seruant I went out but with a staffe/ and come home with ij droves/ delyver me out of the handes of my brother Esau/ for I feare hym greatly &c. And god delyvered him/ and will likewyse all that call vnto his promesses with a repentinge herte/ were they never so great synners. Marke also the weake infirmites of the mã He loveth one wife more then a nother/ one sonne more then a nother. And se how god purgeth him. Esau threteneth him: Laban begyleth him. The beloued wife is longe baren: his doughter is ravyshed: his wife is defyled/ and that of his awne sonne. Rahel dieth/ Ioseph is taken a way/ yee and as he supposed rent of wild beastes And yet how gloryous was hys ende? Note the wekenesse of his Children/ yee and the synne of them/ and how god thorow their awne wekednes saved them. These ensamples teach vs that a man is not attonce parfecte the firste daye he beginneth to lyve wel They that be stronge therfore muste

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