A right comfortable treatise containing fourteen points of consolation for them that labour and…A right comfortable treatise containing fourteene pointes of consolation for them that labor and…

Forasmuch then as this life is so miserable, as both the Saints of God have pronounced of it, the very heathen have accounted it, & daily experience proveth it, & yet nevertheless we, seeing God hath placed us in it, must remain therein till he call us away: great need we have of such consolation & encouragement as may be a mean to make us pass the time thereof without grudging & impatience. For of our selves we are very frail & weak, not able to resist, much less of power to overcome, as is manifest by them, who in the time of affliction have through impatience murmured against God, albeit there both have been, and are many, who being not of them selves but by other means supported, have patiently sustained many troubles and miseries.

Forasmuch then as this life is so miserable, as both the Saincts of God haue pronounced of it, the very heathen haue accounted it, & daily experience proueth it, & yet neuerthelesse we, seeing God hath placed vs in it, must remaine therein till he call vs away: great neede we haue of such consolation & encouragement as may be a meane to make vs passe the time thereof without grudging & impatiencie. For of our selues we are very fraile & weake, not able to resist, much lesse of power to ouercome, as is manifest by them, who in the time of affliction haue through impaciēcie murmured against God, albeit there both haue bene, and are many, who being not of them selues but by other meanes supported, haue patiently sustained many troubles and miseries.

Wherefore I trust that my labour shall not be thought ill bestowed, but rather profitably employed, which I have taken in translating this treatise into the English tongue, for that it tendeth chiefly to the consolation of such as are in affliction and distress. For that which the title of this book portendeth, the matter thereof sufficiently proveth, namely that it containeth consolations for them that labour and are laden, that is, that suffer ⟨image 3⟩afflictions and troubles in this life: so that they which shall diligently read and peruse the same, may be so confirmed thereby, that when they be troubled with hardness of adversity, they may not be overcome or thrown down therewith: when they be molested with grief & sorrow, they may be also delighted with spiritual joy: when they be even distressed with troubles and afflictions, they may receive courage again, being cheered with sundry consolations, & so patiently suffer according to Gods will whatsoever it shall please him to lay upon them.