Progresse in Piety to be endeavoured. [ 1484]
PRogresse in Piety and Religion is not unfitly compared to a building,* 1.1 to a Race,* 1.2 to the Morning light,* 1.3 and to the Moon that waxeth.* 1.4 Houses are raised from the Foundation to the walls, from the walls to the roof; In a Race, Men run on to the goal; The Morning light is brighter and brighter, till the Noon day; And the Moon encreaseth more and more till it come to the Full; Habent et omnes virtutes suas conceptiones, nativitates, incunabula, &c. And all virtues have their conceptions, births, infancies and encreas: So must every good Christian have,* 1.5 he must not stand still in Religion,* 1.6 like the Sun in Gibeon,* 1.7 or go back, like that on Ahaz's dyall; but as a Bridegroom coming out of his Chamber, that rejoyceth as a strong Man to run a Race, he must go forward, make still some progresse in Piety; It is not enough that he receive a Talent, but he must employ it, and gain by it like good ground, that giveth not the bare seed∣corn back again,* 1.8 but fructifieth in abundance;* 1.9 He must encrease more and more, as S. Paul exhorted the Jews of Thessalonica, and to grow in Grace, and in the Knowledg of God, 1 Pet. 3. 18.