 | God's Promises |  |
Praefatio
Baleus Prolocutor[Enter Baleus Prolocutor.]
If profyght maye growe, most Christen audyence,
By knowlege of thynges whych are but transytorye
And here for a tyme, of moch more congruence
Advauntage myght sprynge by the serche of causes heavenlye,
As those matters are that the Gospell specyfye,
Without whose knowledge no man to the truthe can fall,
Nor ever atteyne to the lyfe perpetuall.
By knowlege of thynges whych are but transytorye
And here for a tyme, of moch more congruence
Advauntage myght sprynge by the serche of causes heavenlye,
As those matters are that the Gospell specyfye,
Without whose knowledge no man to the truthe can fall,
Nor ever atteyne to the lyfe perpetuall.
For he that knoweth not the lyvynge God eternall,
The father, the sonne, and also the holye Ghost,
And what Christ suffered for redempcyon of us all,
What he commaunded and taught in every coost,
And what he forbode, that man must nedes be lost
And cleane secluded from the faythfull chosen sorte
In the heavens abo[v]e, to hys most hygh dysconforte.
The father, the sonne, and also the holye Ghost,
And what Christ suffered for redempcyon of us all,
What he commaunded and taught in every coost,
And what he forbode, that man must nedes be lost
And cleane secluded from the faythfull chosen sorte
In the heavens abo[v]e, to hys most hygh dysconforte.
Yow therfor, good fryndes, I lovyngely exhorte
To waye soche matters as wyll be uttered here,
Of whome ye maye loke to have no tryfelinge sporte
In fantasyes fayned, nor soche lyke gaudysh gere;
But the thynges that shall your inwarde stomake stere
To rejoyce in God for your justyfycacyon,
And alone in Christ to hope for your salvacyon.
To waye soche matters as wyll be uttered here,
Of whome ye maye loke to have no tryfelinge sporte
In fantasyes fayned, nor soche lyke gaudysh gere;
But the thynges that shall your inwarde stomake stere
To rejoyce in God for your justyfycacyon,
And alone in Christ to hope for your salvacyon.
3
Yea, first ye shall have the eternall generacyon
Of Christ, lyke as Johan in hys first chaptre wryght;
And consequentlye of man the first creacyon
The abuse and fall through hys first oversyght;
And the rayse agayne through Gods hygh grace and myght,
By promyses first whych shall be declared all,
Then by hys owne sonne the worker pryncypall.
Of Christ, lyke as Johan in hys first chaptre wryght;
And consequentlye of man the first creacyon
The abuse and fall through hys first oversyght;
And the rayse agayne through Gods hygh grace and myght,
By promyses first whych shall be declared all,
Then by hys owne sonne the worker pryncypall.
After that Adam bywayleth here hys fall,
God wyll shewe mercye to every generacyon,
And to hys kyngedome of hys great goodnesse call
Hys elected spouse or faythfull congregacyon,
As here shall apere by open protestacyon,
Whych from Christes birthe shall to hys deathe conclude:
They come that therof wyll shewe the certytude.
God wyll shewe mercye to every generacyon,
And to hys kyngedome of hys great goodnesse call
Hys elected spouse or faythfull congregacyon,
As here shall apere by open protestacyon,
Whych from Christes birthe shall to hys deathe conclude:
They come that therof wyll shewe the certytude.
[Exit.]
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