CAPI. IIII.
[unspec A]¶ Tobias thynckynge to dye geueth a goodly exhortacyon and monycion to his sonne.
SO when Tobias thought hys prayer to be herde / that he myght dye / he called vn¦to hym his sonne Tobias and sayde vnto him: My sōne, heare the wordes of my mouth and lay them in thyne herte as a foundacion When God taketh awaye my soule, burye thou my bodye and holde thy mother in ho∣nour al the dayes of her lyfe. For thou ough¦test to remēbre, what and howe great parels she suffered for the in her wombe. And when she also hathe fulfylled the tyme of her lyfe / bury her beside me. Haue god in thy thought all the dayes of thy lyfe, and beware / least at any tyme thou consente vnto synne, and lest thou let slyppe the cōmaundementes of the Lorde our God.
Geue almes of thy goodes, and turne ne∣uer [unspec B] thy face from the poore: & so shal it come to passe, that y• face of the Lorde shall not be turned awaye from the. Be mercyfull after thy power. If thou hast much, geue plentu∣ously: yf thou hast lytle / do thy diligēce, glad¦ly to geue of that litle. For so gatherest y• thy selfe a good rewarde in the day of necessyte. For mercy delyuereth from all synne & from death, & suffreth not the soule to come in dar∣kenes. A great cōfort is mercy before the hie God / vnto all them that shewe it.
My sonne / kepe the well from all whor∣dome, [unspec C] and (be syde thy wyfe) se that no faute be knowne of y•. Let neuer pryde haue rule in thy mynde nor in thy worde / for in pryde beganne all destruccyon.
Whosoeuer worketh any thinge for the / immediatly geue him his hire, and loke that thy hired seruaūtes wages remayne not by the ouer night. Loke that thou neuer do vn∣to another man / the thynge that thou wol∣dest not another man shulde do vnto y•. Eate thy bred with the hongrye & poore / & couer the naked with thy clothes. Set thy bredde and wyne vpon the burial of the righteous▪