The seconde Reason

AND nowe lette vs shewe forth an other reason, whiche may eftsones moue and stirre our myndes to prayer. It is apparaunt and well knowen that the principall and chiefe goodnes belongyng to man, is called & esteemed the true perfection of eternall felicitie, the which is appoynted by God vnto man, for his laste ende. But no man can be able to reache and atteyne to this ende, without such ordinarie meanes as God hath appoynted to leade vs vnto the same. And amongste many other meanes, there be two whiche yf a man once perfectlye haue obteyned, he shall not lyghtly want the rest, which be also necessarie for the obteynyng of this beatitude: and those verylye be prayer and good workes. In those two meanes, we reade in the Actes of the Apostles, that Cornelius the Centurian was moste commonly exercysed, by the which he so pleased God, that albeit he was an ethnycke and infidell, yet was it sayde vnto hym by the Angell of God:¹ Orationes tue, & eloemosine tue, ascenderunt in memoriam coram deo. Thy prayers and almes deedes haue ascended into the sight of god, and are remembred of him. Therefore he that wyll exercise himselfe in these two, that is to say, in prayer and good workes, he shall surely neuer want the rest, which be the other guydes to eternall felicitie. For God his wyll is, that we should humiliate and deiect our selues in the sight of his maiestie, vtterly confessyng, and acknowledgyng, that of our owne power and strength it is vnpossible that we should do well▪ but that a good lyfe (whiche is continued in the practise of good workes) is to be craued at his hande by continuall prayer. And that by these meanes, we may at the last ascende and come vnto this last appoynted ende for man, which is eternall felicitie with God. And therfore, forasmuch as without the benefite commyng of the vse of good workes, no man atteyneth to this appoynted last ende for man, and also that the grace of good lyfe can in no wyse be obteined without prayer, I conclude, that yf we mynde not to fall into eternall miserie, we must continuallye frequent this prayer. And nowe let no man obiect vnto me in this case, the foolyshe, pyuyshe, & beastly argument, and persuasion of the prescience of almightie God, which can not be deceaued, and yet some there be that saieth thus, God foreseeth and assuredly knoweth al that euer shall happen after, before it be eyther thought or done by man: And now vndoubtedly he knoweth that either I shal be saued in ioy & felicitie, or dampned to perpetuall tormentes & misery. But if he knowe I shalbe saued, what neede haue I to praye for that I am alredye assured of, and shall haue it without any maner of praier, euen only by theffect of the prescience of God, whiche can not be deceyued. On the other side, yf he by his foreknowledge perceaue me to be dampned, no prayers in the world are able to profit me, forasmuch as his prescience can not be disappoynted or chaunged. Ueryly, this croked dilemma, or false subtyle argument, hath seduced very many, but howe very a sophisticall fallax it is, we shall shewe and declare afterward much better, yf we do firste make profe, howe the same argument is vtterlye voyde, standeth not, nor hath any consequence, in all other thynges whiche daylye do happen and chaunce vnto vs.² As for example. He that is vexed with any greeuous sickenes, shall he admitte no phisicke to be applyed and ministred vnto hym, saying God knoweth before whether I shall recouer health or dye? If he knowethe first, t[…]n nede I no phisicke, for so without doubte I shall be healed without any maner of medicine, onely forasmuche as the knowledge of GOD can neuer be decea[…] ▪ But if he know that I shall perishe and […]ye of this sickenes, what good shall my medicine doe me, where as that can in no wyse be made voyde and frustrate, which he foreseeth? Thou mayst now se by this same very argument, all the art of Phisicke and benefite thereof destroyed: Let vs proue howe well it wyll stande in an other. The husband man wyll say, I wyl not sowe, tyll, & husbande my grounde, knoweth not GOD whether this fielde shall without my labour bryng foorth plentie of fruite yea or naye? But yf he knowe it shall so do, than needeth it not my trauayle, and paynefull husbandyng: yf otherwyse, I shal but labour in vayne. And by this argument, destroye also all maner of husbandry, and tylthe of the earth. The lyke successe and conclusion shalbe founde in all other comparisons, if they be in the same maner sorted & compared together. And therefore by these it is very apparaunt and manyfest, that the firste supposed reason is of no validitie, but vtterly false and deceytfull: For yf it myght be true, than were it by the same reason neyther needefull nor wysedome for the sicke to seke phisicke, nor the husbande man to labour to manure and tyll his grounde. Wherefore, as the husbande man may not loke for fruite of his fieldes except he tyll and sowe, neyther yet the sicke man atteyne his health except he be content to folow the aduice of his phisition: Euen so can no Christian man atchieue the fruition of perfecte felicitie, vnlesse he fyrste haue the grace of God to lyue well, and thervnto can he not at any time come, without the helpe and meane of continuall & faythfull prayer. And like as we do most commonly see for trueth, that those sicke men must needes peryshe that refuse the medicines, councell, & aduice of their phisitions, and that those fieldes be without all doubt barreyne and fruitlesse whiche want manuryng and good husbanding: Euen so maye we be well assured, that without prayer & good workes, it is not possible for vs to obteyne euerlastyng felicitie. And therefore, albeit that God hath ordeyned that eternal beatitude, as the supreme, & last ende to all good men, yet was it not his wyll that man should atteyne vnto the fame, but by such iuste meanes as he had appoynted. And therfore, first and principallye, if a man do not first begyn with a good lyfe, let him neuer loke to end with that glory which is to come, and therewith lette no man thynke to obteyne the grace to lyue wel, excepte he do by daylye and continuall prayer, craue & begge the same of God. Begyn therefore we must with prayer, from the whiche no doubt wyll folowe good lyfe, by the whiche we shall at the last be brought to the glorious blysse of heauen, euen vnto the present syght and fruition of the omnipotent maiestie of God hym selfe, the want whereof is the moste extreme losse and miserie, whiche doth moste manifestlye appeare by the vnsatiable desyre of our myndes. For we seke in euery corner a felicitie which may satisfie vs, and fulfyll our desyres, and we foolyshly thynke that it may be gotten eyther of worldely pleasures, of riches, of honours, or at the least, of them all ioyned together, wherby it foloweth, that we neuer make an end in desiring & sekyng for them, yea & for the gettyng of thē groweth the disturbaunce of al good orders, and the confusion of all thynges thorowe the worlde: And yet when we haue them, there is nothyng in them that can or is able to satisfie our mindes, forasmuche as they be with none other thyng satisfied, sauyng only the supreme felicitie and glory of God. Haue we not than greate cause, by all meanes and wayes possible, to seeke and trauaile for the beholdyng and fruition of this ioye and felicitie, whan by the want thereof we fall presently into perpetuall calamitie and miserie? But forasmuche as the only redy and assured high way to bring vs to that iourneyes ende, is good lyfe, and the only way to good lyfe is prayer, it foloweth necessarylye, that all those that are loth and vnwyllyng to want[…] and l[…]e that most happy fruition, must wyllynglye fre[…]nt and applie them selues to this aforesayde pure and continuall prayer. And this may now suffyse for the seconde reason.