KNOWLEDGE.
The first beginning of wisdom, as saith the wise Solomon,
Is to fear God with all thy[68] heart and power;
And then thou must believe all his promises without any exception,
And that He will perform them both constant and sure:
And then, because He is thy only Saviour,
Thou must love Him with all thy soul and mind,
And thy neighbour as thyself, because he hath so assigned.
JUVENTUS.
To love my neighbour as myself? I cannot be so[69] kind:
I pray you tell me, what mean you?
KNOWLEDGE.
My meaning is, as Christ saith in the sixth chapter of Matthew,[70]
To do to Him as you would be done to.
JUVENTUS.
I pray God give me grace so for to do,
That unto His will I may be obedient.
GOOD COUNSEL.
Here you shall receive Christ's testament
To comfort your conscience, when need shall require,
To learn the contents thereof, see that you be diligent;
The which all Christian men ought to desire,
For it is the well or fountain most clear,
Out of the which doth spring sweet consolation
To all those that[71] thirst after eternal salvation.
KNOWLEDGE.
Therein shall you find most wholesome preservation
Both in troubles, persecutions, sickness, and adversity,
And a sure defence in the time of temptation,
Against whom the devil cannot prevail with all his army:
And, if you persever therein unfeignedly,
It will set your heart at such quietness and rest,
Which cannot[72] never be turned with storms nor tempest.
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