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An Homilee against Idlenesse.
FOrasmuche as man, beyng not borne to ease & rest, but to labour & trauell, is by cor∣ruption of nature through synne, so farre degenerated & growen out of kynde, that he taketh idlenesse to be no euyl at all, but rather a com∣mendable thyng, seemely for those that be weal∣thy, & therefore is greedyly imbraced of most part of men, as agreeable to their sensuall affection, & all labour and trauayle is diligently auoyded, as a thyng paynful & repugnaunt to the pleasure of the flesh: It is necessarie to be declared vnto you, that by the ordinance of God, which he hath set in the nature of man, euery one ought in his lawful vocation and callyng, to geue hymselfe to labour: And that idlenes, beyng repugnaunt to the same ordinaunce, is a greeuous sinne, & also for the great inconueniences & mischeefes which spryng thereof, an intollerable euill: to thintent that when ye vnderstande the same, ye may dili∣gently flee from it, & on the other part earnestlye applye your selues, euery man in his vocation, to honest labour and busynes, which as it is enioy∣ned vnto man by Gods appoyntment, so it wan∣teth not his manyfold bleslynges & sundry bene∣fites. Almyghtie God, after that he had created mā, put him into paradice, that he might dresse &