123

123.
Herfore is loue perfect with vs / [F₈] that we
shulde haue confidence in the day of Iudgement.
Howe so euer this texte sounde / this me thinketh
shulde be the meanynge: that we shulde prouoke eche other
to loue / and euer haue those ensamples of edifienge 5
before our eyes that shuld most moue vs to loue. For per-
fite loue seruith to make a man bolde / because it is the
kepinge of the commaundementes. And therfore he that is
perfecte in loue / when he seith hym selfe yet in this
worlde to be vnto his neyboure as god is vnto hym / and to 10
be lyke his heauenly father in al ensample of kyndnesse /
is bolde in the presence of god: ye though he come to
iudge sinners. When on thotherside / they that contynew euer
in their wickednes and growe not in loue / fal often. And
therfore their conscience euer accuseth them and putteth 15
them in feare / bi the reasone of the freshe memori of
thoffence / that they cannot attonce be bolde / thoughe they
haue neuer so greate promises of mercie.
Ther is no feare in loue. But perfect loue castith
out feare. For feare hath paynfulnes. He therfore that 20
feryth / is not perfect in loue.
Loue is not paynful but maketh al thinge easy and

124.
plesaunt: feare of punyshment for the trespace newly com-
mytted is payneful: Therfore wher loue is perfect ther is
no suche feare. Loue is the fullfillinge of all commaunde-
mentes. And therfore where loue is parfecte / there is no
synne. And wher the conscience doth not accuse of sinne / 5
ther is faith bold to go in to god [F₈v] and to stond
before hym / and loke hym in the face / and to coniure hym
by al his mercies / and to axe the petitions of his
desire. Lacke of loue is the breaking of the commaunde-
mentes and cause of synne. And wher the conscience accu- 10
seth of sinne / ther faith is abbashed / dismayed / asshamed
and affrayed to go in / for feare of rebuke. Loue therfore
seruith to make a man bold in the day of iudgment and in
al temptations.
Iohn speakyth not generally of al maner feare / but of 15
that only which the conscience of synne putteth a man in.
For diuerse feares ther be that accompany love and growe
as she doeth. The moare a woman loueth her childe / the
moare she careth for it and feareth lest ought shuld
chaunce it a misse. Euen so the moare we loue oure breth- 20
ren / the moare we care for them / and feare lest eny
temptation shulde trouble them. As Paule saith .2. Cor. 11.

125.
who is sycke and I am not sycke? who is offended or hurt
and myne hert burneth not? Howe cared he for Timothe /
for Titus / & for al that wer weak / and for the Corin-
thians / Galathians / and for al congregations? and howe
diligently wrote he to them in his absence? and the moare 5
we loue god / the moare diligent and circumspect ar we /
that we offende hym not. And tel me I pray the / who so
euer hast had experience / what a payne and grefe / ye and
what a freating coresey is it vnto the harte of a true
louer of god / to here the poysen generation of vipers / 10
the pestilent secte of hypocritishe pharises / wittingly
and willinglie to blaspheme and rayle on the open ond
manifest truthe of the holy gost?
If ye wil se howe bolde loue is: go to Moses .Exod.
32. and Numeri. 14. And ther behold [G₁] howe he con- 15
iureth god and among al saith: Forgiue this poeple or put
me out of the booke that thou hast writen. As who shulde
say / thei be thy people and thou commaundest me to loue
them. And for thy sake I loue them and teache them and
care for them / as a mother that had borne them and loue 20
them no lesse then my self. Wherfore if thou loue me as
thou promisest me / then saue them with me: or if not /

126.
then cast me away with them / and let me haue suche parte
as they take. And Paule said asmoche. Roma. 9. Loke vpon
worldly loue / and se what pagientes she playeth nowe and
then and how dronken a thinge it is: and be sure / where
the loue of god is perfecte / she wil not only go betwene 5
bodely death & her louer / but also betwene hym and hel.
If a man wolde take of this / that a man might be so per-
fecte in this life / that he might not be perfecter / it
wolde not folowe. For thoughe the spirite at a tyme get
the vpper hand of the fleshe / and wyneth hyr selfe so 10
to god / that she cannot tel whether she be in the body
or no: yet the fleshe wil pul her downe agene and not let
hyr contynewe / and nowe and then plucke of some of hyr
feathers / for mountynge so hie ageyne. For Moses fel
thorow vnbelefe wel ynoughe after that feruentnes. 15
We loue hym / because he louyd vs firste.
We deserue not the loue of god first / but he
deserueth our loue / & loueth vs first / to winne vs &
to make vs his frendes of his ennimies. And as sone as we
beleue his loue / we loue agayne. And so faith is mother 20
of al loue. And as gret as my faith is so greit is loue /
thoughe faith cannot be perfectly sene / but thorow the

127.
workes of loue [G₁v] and in the fyre of temptation
If a man saye / I loue god / and hateth his brother:
he is a lier. For how can he y^t loueth not his brother
whome he seeth / loue God whom he seeth not? And this
commaundement haue we of hym: that he which loueth God / 5
loue his brother also.
To loue a mans neyboure in god is a sure rule to
knowe that we loue god: & not to loue hym / is a sure
token that we loue not God: & to hate our neybour is to
hate god. For to loue god is to do his commaundementes 10
as Christe saith Iohn .15. Ye ar mi louers if ye do those
thinges which I haue commaundyd you: & the commaundement
is to loue our neyboures: then he that loueth not his ney-
bour / loueth not god. And likewise to hate the com-
maundement / is to hate god that commaunded it: & the com- 15
maundement is to loue our neyboures: he then that hateth
his brother whom god biddeth hym loue / hateth God.
The fyft Chaptre.
AL that beleue that Iesus is Christe are borne of god.
And all y^t loue hym which begat / loue hym that is begoten 20
of hym. In this we know that we loue the sonnes of God /
when we loue God and kepe his commaunde[G₂]mentes. For this

128.
is the loue of God that we kepe his commaundementes.
This is a sure conclusion that we be born of God
thorowe faithe. And that faith makyth vs Gods sonnes / in
that we beleue that Iesus is Christe: as the first chapi-
tre of Iohn also testifieth / he gaue them powre to be 5
the sonnes of God / in that they beleued in his name.
What it is to beleue that Iesus is Christe / maye be
vnderstond by that which is aboue rehersed. It is a ferre
other thinge then as the deuel beleued it agaynst his wil
and to his great payne / or as they beleue it which to 10
fulfil theyr synne / envye the glorie of Christe and per-
secute his Gospel / forbiddinge to preach it or to reade
in it. To beleue that Iesus is Christe / is to beleue in
Christe: that is / to beleue ernestly / and to put al thy
trust therin / and to lay the price of thy soule thervpon: 15
that the sonne of Maria whom thaungell commaunded to be
called Iesus because he shuld saue his people from theyr
synnes / is that Christe / that Messias / and that annoynted
which God promysed the fathers shuld come and blesse all
nations and annoynte them with thoyle of his spirite / and 20
with mercie and grace / and to delyuer them from deeth of
theyr soules / which is the consentynge to synne / and to

129.
make them a liue with consentynge vnto the lawe of God /
and in certifienge them that they be the Sonnes of God:
And to put the hole trust in all that he suffred in his
fleshe for thy sake and in al promises of mercie that are
in him and that thow be full persuaded that there is no 5
nother name vnder heuen giuen vnto men to be saued [G₂v]
from sinne by / or to purchese forgiuenese of the lest synne that euer was committed.
A nother conclusion is this: who so euer loueth God /
loueth al that beleue in God. For all that loue hym that 10
begetteth / loue them that ar begotten of hym: and al that
beleue in god are begotten of God thorow that belefe / and
made his sonnes: then all that loue God / loue al that
beleue in god.
A nother conclusion is this: when we loue god & his 15
lawe / then we loue the sonnes of god. Which is this wise
proved: The loue of God is to kepe the lawe of god / by
the texte before & after: the lawe of god is to loue oure
neyboures and therfore if we loue god in keping his lawes
we must nedes loue the sonnes of god. 20
But Iohn shuld seme to be a very negligent disputer to
many men in that he here certifieth vs of the loue of our

130.
neyboures by the loue of god / when aboue he certifieth
vs that we loue god because we loue our neiboures. He
semeth to do as I herde once a great clerke in oxforde
stande half an houre in a pulpit to proue that christe was
a true prophet by the testimonie of Iohn baptiste & a 5
nother halfe houre to proue Iohn the baptist a true prophet
bi thauctorite of christe / as we sai clawe me / clawe the:
& as euery thefe might lightly proue hym selfe a true man /
in beringe recorde to a nother as false as he & takinge
recorde of the same agayne. Which kynde of disputing schole 10
men cal petitio principij / the prouynge of .ij. certayne
thinges / etche by the other / & is no prouing at al / as
our holy father proueth thauctorite of scripture by his
decrees (for the scripture is not autenctike but as his
decrees admitte it) & to make his decrees shine & appere 15
gloriouse / & [G₃] to optayne auctorite / he allegeth the
scripture after his iugling maner / to make fooles starke-
mad.
But it is not so here / for both the demonstrations
ar certayne / bothe the proffe of the loue of god & his 20
lawe by the loue of my neiboure / & the profe of the loue
of my neyboure by the loue of god & his lawe. For when

131.
.ij. thinges are so ioyned to gether that thei cannot be
separated / then the presence of the one vttereth the pre-
sence of the other / whether so euer thou first seist. As
if I se fire I am sure that some thinge doeth burne. And
if I smel burninge / I am certified of fire. Euen so the 5
loue of god is the cause why I loue my neyboure: & my loue
towarde my neyboure is theffecte of the loue of god. And
theise .ij. loues ar euer inseperable / so that whether so
euer I fele first / the same certifieth me of thother.
Iohn calleth the loue of a mans neyboure the dedes of 10
loue / after the Ebrewe speach / as to helpe at nede. For
the dede declarith what the man is within. Nether can my
loue to god & faith be sene to the worlde / saue thorow the
workes. And by the workes doeth christe commaunde vs to
iudge. So that if a man haue euel workes & continueth 15
therin / he loueth not god nor knoweth god / no thoughe he
cal him selfe master doctour / or gods vicarie. Nether
vnderstandeth he gods worde for al his hie diuinitie: but
is in al his preaching an hipocrite / a false prophet / & a
lier thoughe his preaching please the world neuer so wel. 20
Neuer the latter a man is certified that he loueth God yer
he come at the worke / by the testimonie of the sprite which

132.
is giuen him in ernest. The sprite saith Paule .Ro. 8.
testifieth vnto our spirite / that we be the sonnes of god:
and then it testifieth that we beleue in god: for thorow
faith ar we son[G₃v]nes. And then it certifieth me that I
loue God. For faithe and loue are inseperable. The 5
spirite thorow faithe certifieth my conscience that my
synnes are forgiuen / and I receaued vnder grace and made
the very sonne of god / and beloued of god. And then
naturally myne harte breaketh out in to the loue of god
agayne / and I seke howe to vtter my loue / and to do god 10
some pleasure. And because I can nether do seruice or
pleasure vnto his awne parsone / my neyboure is set before
me / to do god seruice and pleasure in him and to be to
hym as Christe is to me / because he is my brother / bought
with Christes bloude as I am. And I consent vnto that lawe / 15
and loue it yer I come at the dede / and longe after the
dede. And then when I loue my neyboure in the dede accord-
inge to this lawe / I am sure that I loue hym truly. Or
else if I examened not my loue by this lawe / I might be
disceaued. For some loue their neyboures for pleasure / 20
profete / glorie and for their doinge seruice only / as our
spiritualtie loue vs / and of that blessid loue / do their

133.
besie cure to kepe vs in darknes: which loue is a signe
that a man hateth God and his neyboure therto / and loueth
hym selfe only. But gods lawe is that I shulde absteyne
from myne nawne plesure and profet / and become my neyboures
seruaunt / and bestowe life and goodes vpon hym / after 5
thensample of Christe. Wherfore if I loue my neyboure out
of the loue of Christe and after thensample of his lawe /
I am sure that I loue hym truely.
And his commaundementes are not grevouse. For al y^tis borne of god overcometh y^e worlde: & this is y^e victory 10
[G₄] y^t ouercommeth the world / euen our faith.
To loue is not payneful: the commaundementes ar but
loue: therfore they be not grevouse / because loue maketh
the commandementes easy. The seruice that a mother doeth
vnto her childe is not greuouse / because she loueth it. 15
But if she sholde do the tenth parte vnto one that she loued
not / hir harte wold braste for impacience. Vnto a man that feleth not the loue of christe / it is as impossible to kepe
the commandementes / as for a Camel to entre thorow the eye
of a nedle. But impossible is possible & easy to / wher the 20
loue of christe is beleued. For it foloweth / al that ar
borne of god / ouercome the worlde: that is to wete / the

134.
deuel which is the ruler of the worlde: & his disciples
which haue their lust in his gouernaunce & consent to
sinne / both in body & soule / & giue themselues to folowe
their lustes without resistence: & their awne flesh which
also consenteth to sinne / do thei ouercome / with al that 5
moueth to sinne. By what victory? Verely thorow faith.
For if our soules be truly vnderset with sure hope & trust /
& continual meditations of christes loue / shewed al redy /
& of socoure / helpe & adsistence that is promised in his
name / & with the contynual memorie of their ensamples 10
which in times past haue fought thorow faith & ouercome:
then wer it impossible for the worlde with all his chiual-
rie / to ouer throw vs with eny assaut or with eny ordinance
that he coulde shoote againste vs. For if that faith &
meditation wer euer present in vs / then loue thorow that 15
faith / shulde easly overcome what so euer peril thou
couldest imagene. Reade in the bible & se what conquestes
faith hathe made / both in doinge and also soffreringe.
[G₄v] The .xi. chaptre vnto thebrews ministreth the
ensamples aboundantlie. How mightie was Dauid when he 20
came to fight / & howe ouercame he thorow faith? And how
mightier was he when he came to suffringe / as in the per-
secution of the king Saul? In so moche that when he had his

135.
most mortal enimie kinge Saul / that .xij. yeares persecuted
him against al right / in his handes to haue done what he
wold with hym / thorowe faith he twiched him not / nor
soffred any man else to do thoughe he was yet al his life
a man of warre & accustomyd to murther & shedinge of bloude. 5
For he beleued that god shuld aduenge him on his vnrigh-
teouse kynge / vpon whom it was not lawful to aduenge hym
selfe.
Who is it y^t ouercommeth y^e worlde / but he y^t beleueth
y^t Iesus is y^e sun of god? 10
If to beleue that Iesus is gods sonne be to ouercome
the worlde / then our prelates vnderstonde not what belefe
is / which affirme that the best beleffe & the wors man in
the worlde may stande to gether.
This is he y^t came by water & bloude Iesus Christe: 15
not by water onli but by water & bloude. And it is y^esprite y^t testifieth / because y^e sprite is truthe. For
ther ar .iij. y^t beare witnesse in heaven. The father the
worde & y^e holy gost. And these .iii. ar one. And ther
ar .iii. which beare recorde in earth / y^e sprite water & 20
bloude / & these .iii. ar one.
[G₅] Christe came with .iij. witnesses / water / bloude &

136.
sprite. He ordenyde the sacrament of baptyme to be his
witnesse vnto vs. And he ordenyd the sacrament of his
bloude / to be his witnes vnto vs. And he powerith his
sprite in to the hartes of his / to testifie & to make
them fele that the testimonie of those .ij. sacramentes are 5
true. And the testimonie of thiese .iij. is / as it after
foloweth / that we haue euerlastinge life in the sonne of
God. And these .iij. are one full witnese sufficient at
the most that the lawe requireth / which saith .ij. or .iij.
at the most is one full sufficient witnes. But alas we 10
are not taught to take the sacramentes for witnesses / but
for imageseruice / & toffore the worke of them to God / with
such a mynde as thold hethen offred sacrifices of bestes
vnto their Gods. So that what so euer testifieth vnto vs /
that we haue euerlastinge life in Christ / that mowthe haue 15
they stopped with a leuended maunchet of their pharisaicall
gloses.
If we receaue the witnesse of men / the witnesse of
god is greater. For this is the witnesse that God hathe
borne of his sonne. 20
If the witnesse of men / so they be .iij. is to be
receaued / moche more is the witnesse of God to be receaued.

137.
Nowe the witnesse that these .iij. water bloude / & sprite
beare / is the witnesse of god and therfore the moare to be
beleued.
He that beleueth in the sonne of God hathe witnesse
in hem selfe. And he that beleueth not God / makith [G₅v] 5
hym a lyar / because he doeth not beleue the witnesse that
God hath testified of his sonne. And this is the witnese /
that God hathe giuen vs eternall life: and this life is in
his sonne. He that hath y^e sonne / hath life. And he that
hathe not the sonne of God / hath not life. 10
The true beleuers haue the testimonie of God in their
hertes / & they glorifie God witnessinge that he is true.
They haue the kyngdome of God with in them & the temple of
God with in them / & God in that temple / and haue the
sonne of God & life thorouwe hym. And in that temple they 15
seke God / & offre for their synnes the sacrifice of
Christes bloude / & the fatte of his mercies in the fyre of
their prayers / & in the confidence of that sacrifice go
in boldly to god their father.
But the vnbeleuers blaspheme God and make hym false / 20
discribing hym after the complextion of their lieng nature.
And because they be so full stuffed with lies that they can

138.
receaue no thinge else / they looke for the kyngdome of
God in outwarde thinges & seke God in a temple of stone
where they offer their imageseruice and the fate of their
holy dedes: in confidence wherof they go in to God & trust
to haue euerlasting life. And thoughe the texte testi- 5
fieth that this life is only in the sonne / yet they will
come at no sonne nor sonne shynyng but as vncleane byrdes
hate the lighte.
These thinges haue I writen vn[G₆]to you that beleue
in the name of the sonne of God / that ye may knowe that 10
ye haue euerlastynge life / & that ye may beleue in the
sonne of God.
They that haue the faith of Christes Apostles / knowe
that they haue eternall life. For the sprite testifieth
vnto their sprites that they are the sonnes of God .Ro. 15
viij. and receaued vnder grace. Oure doctours say they
can not knowe whither they be in the state of grace: ther-
fore they haue not the faith of thapostles. And that they
knowe it not / is the cause why they rayle on it.
This is y^e confidence that we haue in hym / that if 20
we axe ought accordinge to his will / he hearyth vs. And
if we knowe that he hearith vs / what so euer we axe / we

139.
knowe that we haue the petitions that we axe of hym.
Christe saith Mat. vij. axe and it shalbe geuen you.
And Iohn in the .xvi. cha. What so euer ye axe in my name /
he shall giue it you. To axe in the name of Iesu Christe
and accordinge to his will be both one / and are no things 5
elles but to axe the thinges contayned in the promises and
testament of God to vs warde / that God wilbe oure father
and care for vs bothe in body and in soule: and if we synne of
frayltie and repent forgiue vs / and ministre all thinges
[G₆v] necessarie vnto this life / and kepe vs that we be 10
not ouercome of euell &c. Nowe if they which beleue in
Christ are bold with God that he hearith them & sure that
he graunteth their petitions / it foloweth that they whiche
are not bolde that he heareth them ner sure that he graunt-
eth their petitions / doo not beleue in Christe. They that 15
goo to deed sainctes with which they neuer speake ner wotte
wher they be / be not bolde that God will here them / ner sure
that he will graunte their petitions therfore they beleue not in
Christe. That they be nether bolde nor sure / apperethe first
by their dedes / and secondarely by their awne confession: 20
for they say what shuld God heare them or graunte them ought

140.
seinge they be vnworthy / ye and they confirme it with a
similitude of worldly wisdome / that they shulde be put
backe for their malapertnes / & fare the worse / as if a
rude felowe shulde breake vp in to the kinges priue cham-
bre / and prece vnto his awne parson without knockyng or 5
speaking to eny other officer: so that they beleue it an
augmentinge of synne / to go to God them selues in the
confidence of Christes bloude as he bad them.
If a man se his brother synne a synne not vnto deeth /
let him axe: and he shall giue hym life for them that 10
synne not vnto deathe. Ther is a synne vnto deathe / and
for it say I not that thou shuldest pray. All vnrightwis-
nes is synne. And ther is a synne not to deathe.
[G₇] What so euer synne we se in the worlde / let vs
pray and not dispeare. For God is the God of mercie. But 15
for the sinne to death which is resistinge grace & fightinge
agaynst mercie & open blaspheming of the holy gost / affirm-
inge that Christes miracles are done in Beelsabub / & his
doctrine to be of the deuell / I thinke that no Christen
man if he perceaue it / can otherwise pray / then as Paule 20
prayed for Alexandre the coppersmyth the .ij. Tim. the last:
that God wolde rewarde him accordynge vnto his workes. They

141.
that go backe agayne after they knowe the trouthe / & giue
them selues willinglye to synne / for to folowe it and per-
secute the doctrine of trouthe by profession to maynetene
falshed for theyr glorie and vauntage / are remedilesse: as
ye may se. Heb. vj. and .x. Balam so synned: the false 5
prophetes in tholde testament so synned: the Pharises so
sinned: Alexandre so synned: and nowe many so synne:
folowyng their pride and couetousnes.
We knowe that all y^t are borne of God synne not: But
he that is borne of God kepeth hym selfe / and the wicked 10
twicheth hym not.
As thou readest in the thirde chaptre / they that are
borne of God cannot synne / for the seede of God kepeth
them. They cannot cast of the yocke of Christe & consent
to contynewe in synne ner defye his doctrine / ner perse- 15
cute it / for to quenche it or to mayntene any thinge con-
trarie vnto it. But in what so euer captiuitie they be in
the fleshe / their hertes yeld not: but imagen to breake
lowse and to escape / and flye away / vnto the partie and
standart of their lorde Christe. [G₇v] And as men of 20
warre they euer kepe watche and prepare them selues vnto
warre / and put on the armure of God / the which is Gods