A16577:26
A fruitful treatise and full of heavenly consolation against the fear of death Whereunto…A frutefull treatise and ful of heauenly consolation against the feare of death Wherunto…
A fruitful treatise and full of heavenly consolation against the fear of death Whereunto are annexed certain sweet meditations of the kingdom of Christ, of life everlasting, and of the blessed state & felicity of the same. Gathered by that holy martyr of God, John Bradford.A frutefull treatise and ful of heauenly consolation against the feare of death Wherunto are annexed certeine sweet meditations of the kingdom of Christ, of life euerlasting, and of the blessed state & felicitie of the same. Gathered by that holy marter of God, Iohn Bradford.
London : Perused corrected & augmented according to the original, & imprinted in Fletestrete near to saint Dunstons Churche by William Powell, ca. 1564London : Perused corrected & augmented according to the originall, & imprinted in Fletestrete neere to saint Dunstons Churche by William Powell, ca. 1564
¶ A treatise against the fear of death.¶ A treatise agaynst the feare of death.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
But now, where thou standest ⟨image 18⟩in doubt of pardon of thy sins 1and thereby art afraid of damnation, my deer brother, I would have thee answer me one question: that is, whether thou desirest pardon or no: whether thou doest repent or no: whether thou doest unfeignedly purpose, if thou shouldest live, to amend thy life or no. If thou doest even before god so purpose, & desirest his mercy, then hearken (my good brother) what the lord saith unto thee: I am he, I am he, that for my 2own sake will do away thine offences. If thy sins be as 3read as scarlet, they shall be made as white as show, for I have no pleasure in the death of a sinner. As surely as I live, I will not 4thy death, but rather that thou shouldest live and be converted. I have ⟨image 18⟩so loved the world that I would not spare my dearly beloved Son, the Image of my substance, 5and brightness of my glory, by whom all things were given: but gave him for thee, not only to be man, but also to take thy nature, and to purge it from mortality, sin, and all corruption, and to adorn and endue it with immortality & eternal glory, not only in his own person, but also in thee, and for thee: where of now by faith I would have thee certain, as in very deed, thou shalt at length feel and fully enjoy for ever. This my Son I 6have given to the death, & that a must shameful death even of the cross for thee, to destroy death, to satisfy my justice for thy sins: therefore believe, and according ⟨image 19⟩to thy faith so be it unto thee. Hearken what my Son himself sayeth unto thee: Come unto me all