University of Virginia Library

THE CONCLVSION.

See here the mightïe power of earnest faith,
And what reward the trew obedience payth
VVherfore ye Lords & Ladies I you pray,
VVhen you from hence shall go agein away,
Let not this trew and noble storie part
Out of the mind and tables of your hart.
It is no lye, it is no peynted tale,
It is no feyned iest nor fable stale.
It is a deede, a deede right trew, of one
That was Gods faithfull seruant long agone.
VVherfore ye maisters and ye mistresses,
Ye Lords and Ladies all both more and lesse,
Ye rich and poore, ye sorie and ye sad.
And you also whose harts with mirth are glad,
Behold, and looke vpon your selues ech one,
In this so fayre example heere foregone.
Such are trew glasses, shewing to our sight,
The fayre, the fowle, the crooked, and the right.
For whoso doth vnfeynedly indeuer
(As Abraham) to keepe Gods sayings euer,
And (notwithstanding all the reasons which
His mind alledgeth backward him to twich)
Doth still referre him selfe and all his deedes
To God: with much more happy yssue speeds,
Than he can wish: for come there stormes or winds,
Come greef, come death, come cares of sūdry kinds,
Let earthquake come, let heauen & skyes downe fall,
Let dark confuzion ouercouer all:
The faithfull hart so stedfastly is grownded,
As it abideth euer vnconfownded.
Contrariwise the man that trusteth too
His owne selfwit, therafter for to doe,
And standeth in his owne conceyt shall find,
The more he goes, the more he comes behind.
And euery litle puffe and sodein blast
From his right course shal quite & cleane him cast
Agein, his owne selfwilled nature will
Him ouerthrowe and all his dooings spill.
Now thou great God which makest vs to knowe
The great abuses which doo plainly showe
The wretched world to be peruerted quite,
Make all of vs to take such warning by'te,
As ech of vs may fare the better by
The liuely faith set foorth before our eye
In Abraham that holy personage,
VVhose dooings haue bin playd vpon this stage.
Lo maisters heere the happie recompence
VVhich God doth giue you for your gentle silence.