…onest frame of lyfe. / Knoledge desier fear & loue of God. / Christe… benefites to vs. / Godlessnesse. / Superstition & hip… crisie. / Charitie. / The name of brethrē. / The law of nature. / Measure another … thy selfe. / Degrees of chariti. / Uices to be rooted out y• vertues maye be planted in theyr place. / The blysse of the god lye.

Master. I se now (my deare sonne) howe diligently and hedefullye thou hast applyed thy mynde, to those thinges that I haue taughte y• howe godlye and vpryghte a iudgemente thou haste of gods true seruice: and of the duites of neighbours one to another. Thys remayneth that from hensforth thou so frame thy life, that this hea uenly and godli knowledge decai not in the, nor lie soulelesse and dead, as it were in a tombe of the flesh. But rather see that thou whollye gyue thy self continually & earnestly to these godlie studies. So shalt thou liue, not onlye in this present life, but also in the life to come▪ whiche is much better and blesseder, than thys life present. For Godlines (as Paul saieth) hathe a promise, not in thys lyfe onlye, but in the other. It is conuenient therfore, that we earnestlye follow godlines, which plainly openeth the way to heauen, if we wyll seke to attain therunto. And the principal poīt of godlines is (as thou hast declared euen now veri well) to know God only: to couet him only as the chefe felicity: to feare him as oure Lord: to loue and reuerence him as our father: with his sonne oure sauyoure Iesus Christe.

Thys is he y• hath be gotten and regenerat vs. This is he which at the beginninge, gaue vs life and soule: whiche mainteineth: which blesseth vs with life of euerlasting cōtinuāce. To thys godlynesse is directlye cōtrary godlessnesse. As for supersticion and hipocrisye they counterfet in dede, and resemble it, wher as neuerthelesse they are most farre different from all true godlinesse: & therfore we ought to auoide theym, as a pestylence, as the venime, & most contagious enemyes of our soul and saluaciō. The next poynt of godlines, is to loue eche man, as oure brother, For if God did at the beginning create vs al: if he doth fede and gouerne vs: finally if he be the cause and author of our dwelling in this wide frame of the world: the name of brother must nedes most fitly agree with vs: & with so muche streyghter bonde, shall we be bound together, as we approche nearer to Christ, which is oure brother, y• fyrst begottē & eldest: whō he y• knoweth not, he y• hath no hold of, is vnrightous in dede, & hath no place amonge the people of God. For Christ is the roote and foundation of al ryght and iustice: & he hathe poured into our hartes certaine naturall lessōs, as: Do that (sayeth he) to another, that thou woldest haue done vn to thi self. Beware therfore, thou do nothing, to ani mā, that thou thy self wouldest not willinglye suffer. Measure all wayes another by thine own minde, & as thou select in thy selfe.

If it greue the to suffer iniurye: if thou thincke it wronge that another man doth to the: iudge likewise the same in the per son of thy neyghboure that thou fealest in thy selfe: and thou shalte perceiue, that y• dost no lesse wrongfullye in hurtyng another, thā other do in hurtīg the. Heare if we would stedfastlye fasten our fote: heareunto if we would earnestlye trauaill: we shuld attaine to y• very hiest top of innocencye. For the firste degre therof is to offēd …omā: The next to helpe as much as in vs lieth, al mē: at least to wil & wish wel to al. The third (which is acoūted the cheif and perfectest) is to do good euen to our enemies y• wrong vs. Let vs therefore know our selues: plucke out the faultes that are in vs, & in their place plāt vertues: like vnto the husbandemen that fyrst vse to shrubbe and roote out y• thornes, brābles and wedes, oute of their ley land and vnloked to: & then eche wher therin scatter and throw in to the wō …e of the earth good & frutfull sedes, to bryng forth good fruite in their dew season. Likewyse let vs do. For first let vs laboure to rote out froward & corrupt lustes: & afterward plant holy and fit condiciōs for Christian harts. Which, if they be watered, and fatted with the dew of goddes worde, and nourished wyth warmth of the holye ghost, they shall brynge forth dout lesse the most plentifull fruit of immortalitye and blessed lyfe: whych God hathe by Christ prepared▪ for his chosen, before the foundacyons of the world were layde.

To whome▪ bee all honoure and glorye. Amē.