Great is their
business, and therefore great should be their hire. They have great
labours, and therefore they ought to have good livings, that they may
commodiously feed their flock; for the preaching of the word of God unto
the people is called meat: scripture calleth it meat; not strawberries,
that come but once a year, and tarry not long, but are soon gone: but it
is meat, it is no dainties. The people must have meat that must be
familiar and continual, and daily given unto them to feed upon. Many
make a strawberry of it, ministering it but once a year; but such do not
the office of good prelates. For Christ saith, _Quis putas est servus
prudens et fidelis_? _Qui dat cibum in tempore_. "Who think you is a
wise and faithful servant? He that giveth meat in due time." So that he
must at all times convenient preach diligently: therefore saith he, "Who
trow ye is a faithful servant?" He speaketh it as though it were a rare
thing to find such a one, and as though he should say, there be but a few
of them to find in the world. And how few of them there be throughout
this realm that give meat to their flock as they should do, the Visitors
can best tell. Too few, too few; the more is the pity, and never so few
as now.
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