¶ Wherfore brethrē, geue the more diligence for to make your callynge and eleccion sure by good workes. For yf ye doe suche thinges, ye shall neuer fall. Yea, and by this meanes an entringe in, shalbe ministre•• vnto you aboundantly into the euerlastinge kyngdome of our Lord and sauiour Iesus Christ. Wherfore, I wil not be negligent to put you alwayes in remembraunce of suche thinges, thoughe ye knowe them your selues, and he stablished in the present trueth. Notwithstandynge I thinke it mete (as longe as I am in this ta∣bernacle) to stere you vp by putting you in remembraunce, for asmuche as I am sure, that shortly I must put of this my tabernacle▪ euen as our Lorde Iesus Christ shewed me. I wyll euer also geue my diligence, that ye maye haue wherwith to stere vp the remem∣braunce of these thinges after my departinge.
And therfore, brethren, let it not make you to lyue in a securitie and to be careles, in that the goodnes of God, hathe (whan you deserued nothing) called you vnto the profession of the gospell, hauynge once pardoned all the synnes of your former lyfe: but endeuour your selues so muche the more, that the good∣nes of God, wherwith he hath called you, wherwith he hath chosen you, be n••t turned to your destruccion and heape of damnacion, in case beyng forgetful of his bounteous gentilues, you be tombled backe in to y• same state, from whence he raunsomed you with his owne death. But procure rather with well doinges, that God seine not to haue called and chosen you in vaine. And some parte of this mater lyeth euen in you. For yf you consyder, from whence God hathe cal∣led you, to what thinges he hath called you, and what rewardes he hathe set forthe for you, and yf you wyll preace therunto by these meanes, whiche I haue declared a lytell before, you shall neuer slyppe out of the right course of godly∣nes. For yf you preace this waye, Goddes assistinge helpe shalbe plenteouslye present with you, and shal succour, you with his riche relyefe, that at length be∣ynge conquerours of this worlde, you maye atteyne to the euerlastinge kyng∣dome of our Lorde and sauiour Iesu Christ, to possesse with him the treasures of heauen for whose sake you haue set naught by the treasures of y• earthe. The rewarde is exceadynge great, but it must be procured with exceadynge greate diligence. Wherfore I wyl neuer cease to geue you warnynge of these maters, althoughe I suppose it not necessarie, seynge you both doe and remembre, what you ought to doe: and are also confirmed nowe by longe processe of godlynes in the acquainted knowledge of the trueth a great while, whiche hauynge em∣braced, you constantlye folowe yet hitherto: notwithstandyng to thintent you maye more and more watche styll in that you haue begonne, I recken it my parte, that remembringe my lordes precepte▪ whiche commaunded me, y• beynge conuerted my selfe, I shoulde confirme my brethren, as longe as I lyue among you (beyng a straunger vpon earthe) in y• tabernacle of this sely body. I should stere vp & pricke forewarde the studye of godlynes in you, and in dede so muche the more, because I knowe, I shall shortly be stripped out of the dwellynge of this sely bodye, and chaunge this exile of the earthe for y• fraunchised free citie of heauen. For our Lorde Iesus Christ signified so vnto me, whome I serue yet hitherto as a souldier in this tabernacle. Nowe therfore I shall geue dily∣gence, that these matters maye in the meane space be so surely fixed in youre