shalbe done according to the rule thereof we must learne to worshyp him according to the same in no case to go one foote farther For as Moses was not to do any thyng about the Tabernacle or for the geuing of lawes statutes ordinances rites ceremonies or whatsoeuer according to his owne wyl or fantasie but in all thinges to do according to the paterne and prescription shewed him in the Mount and elswhere by the Lord no more must we in the very smallest thing we take in hand concerning the worshyp of the Lorde but in all thinges therein must we also be directed by the most pure perfect worde of God For as the Cloude was a direction to their Iornies in the Wildernesse and they not to steppe one foote forwarde or backwarde farther then by it they were ledde Euen so the Lawes there geuen by the Lord are a most perfect rule for men to walke by whyle the worlde shall stande For wherewithall sayth the Prophet shall a young man clense his way The holy Ghost doth answere Euen in taking heede thereto according to the worde of God and therefore did the holy Prophetes and Apostles alwayes pray that it woulde please the Lord to direct their steps according to the same For in no case can the Lord abide any will worship seeme it neuer so holy but in all thynges wyll he be worshypped according to his holy wyll layde downe in his holy worde for otherwyse we worshyppe him in vayne as our Sauiour sayth If insteade of the doctrine of his holy worde we obserue the preceptes and foolysh traditions of men so that To obey his holy worde as the Prophet Samuel sayth is better then al kind of sacrifice and to hearken therunto is better then the fatte of Rams Therefore let vs pray with the holy Prophet that it woulde please the Lord to encline our hartes vnto his law not vnto couetousnesse and that we may esteeme al his preceptes most pure and iust hate al false wayes and abhor al vaine inuentions Seeing that euery man is but as a beast by his owne knowledge we must learne to be made wyse by the worde of God NOw that we know the Lord hath created vs to none other ende but to set foorth his prayse glory and seeing we know also that no prayse or worshyppe wyll please him but that which shalbe done accordyng to his holy worde let vs pray vnto him with the holy Prophet that euen as it hath pleased him to make vs and to fashion vs euen so it woulde please him therefore to geue vs vnderstandyng that we may learne his commaundementes and chuse the way of trueth And agayne seeing that euery man is but as a Beast by his owne knowledge as the Prophet Ieremie doth say and seeing also the Prophet Dauid confessed him selfe so to be vntyll he went into the house of the Lorde and so through his holy worde became wyse We ought therefore to pray vnto the Lorde to geue vs grace to leaue of from leaning any longer vnto our owne wysedome as the holy Ghost vs warneth and onely to hearken withall the holy Prophetes and Apostles what the Lorde wyll say vnto vs that so his holy worde may be a Lanterne to our feete and a lyght vnto our pathes and that by his counsell alone we may be guyded as the Prophet saith euen vnto righteousnes iudgement equitie and to euery good path which thing being done and preceptes kept it shalbe vnto the Lorde a sacrifice of a more sweete smelling sent then the fatte of thousandes of Rammes and Goates or riuers of Oyle Wherefore I beseeche al you that are as my selfe euen of the simpliest sort vnto whom onely I direct my speeches and such as feare the Lord that you woulde cause your eares to hearken vnto wysedome and incline your hartes to vnderstandyng But what am I that I shoulde so beseeche you since that Wysedome her selfe doth intreate you and dayly offereth her selfe vnto you And yet because the holy Ghost commaundes that we should one exhort another I can not chuse but with the holy Prophet euen desire you to taste and see how sweete the Lord is Now if you aske me what this wysedome is that you shoulde hearken so vnto her and this vnderstanding that you shoulde so incline your hartes thereto the Lord himselfe doth tell you Behold sayth he the feare of the Lord is wysedome and to depart from euill is vnderstanding And in an other place the Knowledge of holy thinges is vnderstanding and the only way for you to finde the feare of God which is to haue wysedome and to finde the knowledge of holy thinges which is to haue vnderstandyng is for to repayre vnto the worde of God for the Lorde onely geueth wysedome and out of his mouth commeth knowledge and vnderstanding So that if you searche and seeke in the Booke of God you shall be sure to finde the knowledge of the Lord and then as he is knowen of you euen so shall you feare him and also by your continuall meditation therein you shall be sure to be made wyse vnto saluation for the worde of God is fully able so to do as sayth the Apostle and therefore in any wyse see that you alwayes pray vnto the Lorde that it woulde please him to geue you such a taste therein as that it may be more sweeter vnto your hart then the Hony or the Hony combe vnto your mouth yea and more desired for your necessitie then golde yea then much fine golde or treasures for your plentie The which the Lord for his mercies sake graunt vnto vs euery one whereby we may haue suche a feeling and knowledge therein as that the bryghtnesse of the glorious Gospel may shyne most cleerely in our mindes euen to the vtter abolishyng of our former and most damnable darkenesse Certayne Obiections vpon the former exhortation answered PEraduenture you wyl now say vnto me yf it be so that we can not attayne vnto Wisedome which is to vnderstande holy thynges and those holy thinges not to be founde vnlesse we read and meditate in the Booke of God alas that is so hard that we cannot attayne vnto the vnderstandyng thereof and agayne it is for great Clarkes and not for vs simple soules to meddle withall for many tymes the vnlearned peruert the Scriptures euen to their owne destruction and so I haue heard some say that S. Peter sayth they do so But I may say vnto you in the name of God Be not deceyued for it is the subtiltie of Satan that so perswadeth you and not you onely but almost all men generally throughout the whole world And wherfore trow you doth he so Surely to none other ende but that his owne kingdome may be the better thereby maynteyned for euen as the kingdome of God is dayly inlarged where his worde is
gayne-sayers For so strong and mightie is the worde of God in operation that if it be rightly expounded or propounded it is sharper then any two edged sworde and entreth through euen to the deuiding a sunder of the very hart and soule of the hearers thereof as the Apostle sayth You see also by these former examples of Schollers and Guydes what is both your duetie and also theirs Yours how diligent you ought to be in reading of the holy Scriptures and also conferring of Christ and his kingdome And your Guydes what course they ought to take in teaching of you when as you shall demande to be resolued of your doubtes and that is to teache you Christ by the Scriptures and thyther to sende you to finde him out your selfe and not els where for no where els is he rightly to be found For searche the Scriptures sayth our Sauiour for they be they that testifie of me So that when you shall be thus instructed by your Guyde eyther priuatly at home or publikely abroade and that you haue perfourmed the one part of your duetie which is to heare them with all diligence and willingnes you must alwayes remember with the Noble men of Berea to performe the other part which is that hauyng heard the worde of God with all willingnes went and searched the Scriptures dayly them selues to see whether those thynges were so or no whereby you may learne that you are not onely to beleeue that this is Christ or that is Christ or he is here or there in the wildernes I know not where because such and such a man telleth you so Or yf he do tel you aright which is he you are not to beleeue him onely because he telleth you so for you see they of Berea went and searched the Scriptures them selues to see whether it were so or no Euen so must you for otherwyse you disobey that which our Sauiour Christ hath commaunded you to do for sayth he Search the Scriptures Yea but you wyll say he spake that to such as woulde not beleeue him but we beleeue them that tell vs. I thinke so in deede for a great many beleeue too much them that tell them vnles they tolde them a more trueth But although they were vnbeleeuers that our Sauiour commaunded to search the Scriptures doth he therefore commaunde you that you shall not search them Thinke not so in any wyse for doth not the holy Ghost pronounce a blessing on al those that reade the worde of God continually And doth not S. Peter wyll them whom he had taught that notwithstandyng they had knowledge and were established in the trueth yet to geue more heede vnto the Prophetes as vnto a most sure worde and as to a light that shineth in a darke place vntyl the day did dawne and the Daystarre shyne more cleere in their hartes And likewyse doth not S. Paule commende those whom he had taught vnto the worde of God as vnto a Schoolemaister which was able to buylde them further yes forsooth So that by these examples you may see that you are not onely bounde to heare the worde of God but you are also bound to search and read the Scriptures dayly your selfe for you see in geuing credite onely to the Teachers thereof many thousande soules goe to destruction as specially amongst the Papists they do Therefore yf you loue to keepe your selfe from destruction you were best to beare in minde that which our Sauiour hath geuen you in charge that is to take heede what you heare as also to take heede of false Prophetes and that you beleeue them not no although their comming wyll be with such signes woonders as that yf it were possible the very elect shoulde be deceyued thereby Yet notwithstanding I say he commaundeth you not to beleeue them but to search the Scriptures because in deede they are the true touchstone whereby you may easely trie the true Christ from the false as also the true Prophet from the false Prophet Now it may be that you wyll aske me here agayne whether you may read no other Booke but the Scriptures only The answere is that yf you wyll you may but yf it be for matters of saluation the Booke of God is the onely Apothecaries shoppe for you to resort vnto because there you may be sure to haue a most precious medicine for euery disease or curing salue for euery sore And surely the Prophet Dauid found it so to be for sayth he I had euen perished in the middest of mine afflictions had not the booke of God been my delyght and therefore made he that his only meditation both day and nyght So that when you haue bestowed long time with lyke delight and diligence therein as he did and that your wittes thereby are quickened so that you may be well able to discerne of Spirites that is betwixt good and euyll then you may if your leysure serue you reade other Bookes and catch no hurt Or yf it be so that you haue not as yet heard of the Booke of God you may also reade some bookes and take no harme for some Bookes there are which are good and tende to very good purpose because their dryft is as I suppose to draw you to the Booke of God euen to that fountayne of all ioy but otherwyse yf their drift be to draw your delight vnto them selues they can in no wyse be good For Iohn the Baptist being tolde that more Disciples followed Christ then followed him he taketh them selues to witnes that he had tolde them plainely that him selfe was not the Christ but that he was sent to shew them which was he and hauing once shewed him vnto them that he him selfe was then to ceasse and therfore when he heard that all men ran to Christ he sayth that then was his only ioy fulfilled because in deede that was his onely drift and purpose So that yf any man write to that ende as of late most learnedly one hath done in a lytle Booke called a Consent of Scripture you are to be thankefull vnto God for such a one and when he or any other haue by their wrytinges thus led you vnto Christ in saying Come and see the Booke of God for there we haue founde the Messias Then may you say also with the Samaritans when you haue so done Now we beleeue not onely for your sayinges but also muche more because of his owne worde for we haue heard him speake our selues now whom before you told vs of and we know now by his owne worde that this is in deede the very CHRIST the only Sauiour of the worlde Againe some Bookes there are which in respect of the holy stories conteined in the Booke of God we cal prophane Stories as the Macchabees Iosephus and the Roman stories the which prophane stories yf you reade you may learne thereby yf you know the Scriptures before how iust the Lord is in
all his sayinges because that some Prophecies in y e holy Scriptures there are whose euent is not altogether in Scripture shewed and yet by those Prophane stories you may see they tooke effect as namely the Prophet Daniel and also the Reuelation of S. Iohn the which by eye sight we are also able to witnes how that Booke is fulfilled by the Popes in all their dealinges But yf you thinke that you can not attayne vnto perfect wysedome and knowledge of Christe without the helpe of other Books then are you greatly deceyued for the Worde of God is an absolute perfect rule sayth the Apostle and fully able to make you wyse in Christ and by it onely may you attayne to the perfect knowledge of Christ without the helpe of any other and is also playne and easie of it selfe for your vnderstanding yf you wyll the Lord beleeue as I sayde before especially yf you wyll come in simplicitie of hart and cast off your owne wysedome for in very deede that is the onely hinderance of the attayning thervnto Agayne some Bookes there are which take vpon them to lay downe preceptes for your lyfe conuersation which bookes yf you thinke you are bounde to read as well as the Scriptures then are you also as greatly deceiued for the Lord hath commaunded you vpon payne of damnation to reade the Scripture because in deede it is the very lyfe and norishment of your soule but as for the reading of such kinde of Bookes you haue no such charge neyther was it needefull for you so to haue because there is nothing that the hart of man can thinke on eyther for vertue to imbrace or vice to eschew but the Booke of God doth contayne a rule and precept for it and therefore what neede we the helpe of man to lay downe preceptes for our lyfe when as the Lorde him selfe hath taken vppon him to be our Guyde and Teacher Therefore in the name of God take heede of the subtiltie of Satan in this poynt aboue all others that is that he deceiue you not so herein as to make you beleeue that you shall attayne vnto as great wysedome or holynes by the wrytinges of men as you shall do by the booke of God or that the booke of God is not perfect of it selfe to instruct you fully in all thinges touching your saluation for then hath he you euen as he woulde therefore rather then he shoulde make you so to thinke better were it for you with them of Ephesus to burne them all yea though the price of all such Bookes were founde to be in value worth fiftie thousande peeces of siluer And God doth know a most heynous sinne it is and reigneth most abundantly amongst vs here in Englande euen this that we esteeme a great deale more of the preceptes and doctrines of men then we do of the Booke of God so that as that hath been the very cause of the destruction of all the worlde greatly it is to be feared least the lyke plague wyll befall vs and our Nation for how fewe haue we that doth take so great delight in the booke of God as to make it the chiefe ioy and reiocing of their hartes as the Prophet Ieremie did make it vnto his Therefore much more fewe there be to be founde that do make so rare accompt thereof as the holy man Iob did that is to esteeme of the wordes of God euen much more then he did of his appoynted foode but in the contrary multitudes do take euen that delyght therefore take heede of that in any wyse Now it may be that you wyll aske me agayne What part of the Scripture it is that you were best to reade The answere is euen all for so you may learne by the last Commaundement of our Sauiour that I spake of for be commandeth to search the Scriptures so that al which is called Scripture you must search for all that doth testifie of him And so you see S. Luke sayth he began at Moses and all the Prophetes that is from the beginning of Genesis to the ende of Malachie for the old Testament which only then was written and all that was nothing els but to teach Christ And now you haue also the new Testament which tendeth to none other ende then the former did and that is to teache Christ. For so the Apostle sayth I taught nothing but what Moses and the Prophetes did say shoulde come And in an other place I kept nothing backe but haue shewed you all the counsell of God and what was that To wit that Christ shoulde suffer and that he shoulde be the fyrst that shoulde rise from the dead and shoulde shewe lyght vnto the people and to the Gentiles So that you may see that all the Scripture tendeth to none other purpose but to teach you that and therefore you must of necessitie reade all that so you may as S. Luke sayth Acknowledge the certaintie of those thinges whereof you haue been instructed not onely by the Euangelistes and the Apostles who haue declared vnto you the thinges of Christe from the day that Zacharias went into the Temple and that the Angell tolde Marie concerning her conception but also what you haue been instructed by Moses and the Prophetes euen from the day that he was first promised that so you may be able to deliuer the glory thereof from poynt to poynt and to stande firme your selfe agaynst all the assaultes of the Deuyll Yea but you wyll say agayne S. Paule of whom you spake before forbids vs Genealogies and commaundes that we shal geue no heede vnto them because they are endles and breede questions rather then godly edifiyng which is by fayth And so in deede a great number of our Guydes wyll tell vs. For many times because we fynd them very hard we go to them to aske the meaning thereof then their answere is that the Genealogies tende not to edification but rather to strife and contention and therefore is it that S. Paule forbiddes them And so likewyse for many other harde places in the Bible when we goe to aske them whose lyppes shoulde preserue knowledge What is the meaning of such and suche places in steade of resoluing vs they cast them off as superfluous not tending to our saluation Therefore why do you say that all the Scripture testifieth of Christ and is profitable for our saluation and must of necessitie of vs be read and learned I wyll tel you why no not I but the holy Ghost wyll tell you how that all the Wordes of the Lorde are most pure wordes yea more pure then golde which in the fire seauen times is tryed And moreouer the same Apostle that you say speaketh agaynst them wyll tell you the contrarie for sayth he What so euer thinges are written aforetyme meaning in the Scriptures are written for our learnyng Therefore woo be vnto those blinde Guydes
continually taught and soundly vnderstoode euen so also where that doth want the kingdome of Satan is dayly more and more increased Heare therefore I beseeche you what the Lord doth speake vnto vs He commaundeth that we should not let his Booke depart out of our mouthes but to meditate therein both day and nyght and hath also tolde vs that the very entraunce thereunto will shewe light and geue vnderstanding to the simple yea to the very simpliest sharpnes of witte and to the lytle childe euen such a one as Timmothy was knowledge and discretion yea and that a very wyse man shall increase in learnyng there and also a man of great vnderstanding shall attayne vnto wyser counsels So that you may see that wysedome doth not onely beseeche you to hearken vnto her as before I tolde you but also the Lorde doth straightly commaunde you yf you will obey him and doth also tell you if you will beleeue him How chat his word will geue you lyght and shew vnderstanding in greater measure vnto all sortes whereby the simpliest shoulde haue no cause at all of discouragement nor that the great wyse men should loath or ouerreach Therefore whereas S. Peter saith that the vnlearned do peruert the Scriptures you must learne to knowe who those vnlearned be not the simpliest Clarkes as you woulde thinke but euen suche as haue not had their wittes as yet exercised in the booke of God For be it that a man had all the learning in the worlde in humane artes yet if it be so that such a one be inexpert in the worde of God the holy Ghost doth count him as a Babe but that simple man which through long custome hath had his wittes exercised therein the holy Ghost doth count him to be of a most ripe age and to be suche a one as is able to discerne betwixt good and euyll Therefore who so euer that he be vntyll he make the worde of God his continuall meditation he may well be sayd to be vnlearned and vnstable also and no maruell is it though by such the Scriptures be peruerted euen to their owne destruction Yea but you wyll say agayne if the Lord haue thus bound vs by commaundement to reade the Scriptures we must needes then haue a Phillip to be a guyde vnto vs as the Eunuch had to him True it is that you must haue a guyde but then your Phillip must not be such a one as when you shall aske him what is ment of this place or that or what way Sir shal I take to finde this Christ of whom you speake that so I may beleeue that he is the Sonne of God and may haue my conscience comforted in him and also my fayth so surely setled as that if tryall come the very gates of Hell shall not preuayle against me I say he must not be such a one when as you shall aske him these thinges that shall appoynt you fyrst to reade this mans Booke and then that vpon such and such places of Scripture and when you haue read them then direct you to others as such and such great Uolumes I know not what but sure I am farre greater then the whole Bible and so intangle your head a thousande wayes yea and leade you to such intricate matter and great time spending that when you haue all done you shall be litle or nothing at all the wyser but rather the cōntrarie euen frayght with a thousande fonde opinions and blinde conceytes For I pray you what is the cause that there is such a quoile amongst vs now adayes as though there were no certaintie of the trueth but such kinde of dealing And I pray you further what is the cause that mens heades are filde so full of such fonde yea and also damnable opinions but the like For doth not our Sauiour say Ye erre not knowing the Scriptures but are intangled with the preceptes and doctrines of men Euen so is the worlde now for the Papist he is so perswaded of his Writers that he thinkes there is no other trueth but what they write and vpon them he onely buyldes his Fayth and leaues the Scripture altogether and in no case may the simplier sort therein looke or reade and we also like wyse men deale in a maner after the same sort For notwithstanding we make a great shew that we loue the Bible and onely buylde our fayth by it yet is there not one amongst ten thousande that doth geue him selfe to the reading thereof as he ought to do but rather to the contrarie euen to the readyng of the wrytinges of men although the Lorde haue geuen them no such commaundement and so delyght themselues a great deale more in them then in the worde of God which in deede shoulde be vnto them their onely ioy and pretious Pearle and so euery one is grounded vpon hym whose Bookes they are affected to reade or whose fonde conceytes by them are fed But your Phillip and Guyde must not be such a one For I pray you was Phillip the Eunuch his guyde such a one I trow not for he being demaunded a resolution by that gratious Scholler whose godly exercise was like to haue good successe began as the text sayth euen at that same Scripture where he was then readyng and preached vnto him IESVS And agayne did not the maister teacher himselfe euen our Sauiour Iesus deale in like sort with his two Schollers yes for sooth for whereas they being weake in fayth and greatly troubled in conscience at the thinges then happened and yet like good Christians conferring and talking together with a desire to knowe the trueth as all men ought to do I say our Sauiour dealt in like sort with them For S. Luke noteth that he began at Moses and at all the Prophetes and interpreted vnto them in all the Scriptures the thinges which were written of him with a great reprofe vnto them that they for their partes were so slowe and dull of hart as not to beleeue that Christe was to suffer all those thinges and so to enter into his glory seeing that al the Prophetes had of those thinges so plainely spoken And furthermore you see that euen that eloquent man Apollos who had taught diligently the thinges of the Lorde in a kinde not altogether vnprofitable yet was contented to be taught by a couple of meane persons to come to a more perfect way of teaching then before he had vsed And that was to proue and shewe mightily as he did by the Scriptures that IESVS was the CHRIST So that you see these Guydes did not sende their doubtfull Schollers to this or that mans booke to finde out Christ but they founde him out and taught him by the Scriptures Nay you see that Apollos did not teache the right way to finde him out vntyll he tooke that course to teach him by and then S. Luke telleth you that he mightily confuted all
the Law and how that at y â— very houre of his death al those were to ceasse according as Daniel long before had told In token whereof the vaile that separated the two holy places rent a sunder because then Christe passed through the vaile of his owne fleshe from the Crosse vnto the holyest of all euen vnto the very heauen it selfe Wherefore they were to be ledde forward vnto all such high poyntes of knowledge and to learne to know how that Christ entering into that holy place which was not made with handes made a more perfect reconciliation betwixt God and the people then euer coulde Aaron do in the holy places made with handes And also they were to know that Christe was a sacrificer after another maner of order then was Aaron euen one after the order of Melchizedek the which Melchizedek is described in Scripture as though he were without father and without mother and as concerning that name as though he had no beginning of dayes nor ende of lyfe but continuing a Sacrificer for euer And yet notwithstanding though some would haue him kept in obscuritie because their owne wittes are dul of conceite and not exercised in the booke of God the Scripture is playne enough concerning the person who he was and in what sence he is sayd to be without father without mother without beginning of dayes without ende of lyfe yea and geueth a straight commaundement to consider how great a man he was that so the Hebrewes and all others myght see how farre he excelled Abraham on whom the Iewes so much relyed and also how farre his Priesthood excelled the Priesthood of Aaron or any other of the sonnes of Leuie For wheras they had a commaundement according to the Law to take Tythes of the people their brethren though they came out of the loynes of Abraham yet he whose kinred is not counted amongst them receiued tythes of Abraham and blessed him that had the promises And moreouer here men that die receiue tythes but there he receiued them of whom it is witnessed that he lyueth for euer And to say as the trueth is Leuie also which receiueth tythes payde tythes in Abraham for he was yet in the loynes of his father Abraham when Melchizedek met him After the order of this Melchizedek I say were the Hebrewes and all others to knowe that our Sauiour Christ was made a Sacrificer who as concerning his humane nature was without a father and as concerning his diuine nature without a mother and who also in proper signification had no beginning of dayes nor ende of lyfe but continueth a Sacrifices for euer and sitteth at the right hand of God to make continuall intercession for all those that will come vnto God by him and who also is able perfectly to saue them that do so seeing he euer liueth to make intercession for them Unto these and such lyke high poyntes of knowledge beseeming a Christian doth the Apostle vrge the Hebrewes vnto of the which two or three more I wyl note vnto you as to know how Christ had been proclaymed heyre of al thinges euen from the very day of Adam his creation and how that by him the father made the worlde and how that he being the bryghtnes of his glory and the ingraued forme of his person beareth vp all thinges by his mightie worde and how that he hath by hym selfe and his owne blood purged our sinnes from dead workes to serue the lyuing God and howe that notwithstanding he was made a litle inferiour to the Angels through the sufferyng of death yet was he crowned with glory and honour in that through death he destroyed him that had the power thereof that is to say the Deuill And is also made much more excellent then the Angelles inasmuch as he hath obteyned a more excellent name then any of them and in as much as they must all do worshyp vnto him and are but his messengers And in asmuch as it was not sayd vnto any of them Sit at my ryght hand vntill I make thine enimies thy footestoole but vnto him it was and so he doth euen at the right hand of God in the heauenly and highest places far aboue all principalitie and power and might and dominion and euery name that is named not in this worlde only but also in that that is to come and hath made all thinges subiect vnder his feete They were also to knowe howe that he was worthy of much more glory then was Moses in asmuch as he which hath buylded the house hath more honour then the house and in asmuch as he was as the sonne ouer his owne house and Moses but as a faythfull seruaunt in the house euen a seruaunt to beare witnes of those thinges which afterwardes should be done by him These and thousandes of suche lyke heauenly poyntes of knowledge were the Hebrewes to be led forwarde vnto and not only they but also you and all men in the worlde that looke to appeare with Christ in glory must set their chiefest affection on these heauenly thinges Therefore when you haue subdued your affection from delighting in the thinges of this worlde and brought it to delight only in the booke of God that so your hart may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all these heauenly poyntes of wysedome and spiritual vnderstanding then may you walke worthy of the Lord and shall please him in all thinges otherwyse it is vnpossible you shoulde neyther wyl your mortification be accepted in the sight of God no although you neuer so much pull downe your selfe for God delighteth not in fooles but in those that loue to heare his voyce and desire to know him aright in them doth he delight And therefore to conclude this speech you must know that of necessitie you are first bounde to learne Christe before you can know how to put him on and then when you haue by him founde lyght you must endeuour your selfe to walke as chyldren of the lyght for otherwyse the wrath of God wyl come vpon you as vpon all the chyldren of disobedience it hath for God is holy and therefore must we be holy or els be sure he wyll not spare our misse-deedes as he speaketh vn to Moses but euery transgression and disobedience shall be sure to finde a iust recompence of rewarde So that the more knowledge you haue in his holy worde wherein you shall vnderstande that not one iot of his iustice passeth vnperformed the more yf any sparke of grace you haue will you learne to mortifie your earthly members and also to do those workes that God requireth for as God is knowen euen so is he feared sayth the Prophet Therefore in any wise desire to be instructed in the worde of God aboue all other thinges and then no doubt but you wyll be ashamed yf any thing be done amisse yea