But to hinder and let it all
men's ears are open; yea, and a great many of this kind of ploughmen,
which are very busy, and would seem to be very good workmen. I fear me
some be rather mock-gospellers, than faithful ploughmen. I know many
myself that profess the gospel, and live nothing thereafter. I know
them, and have been conversant with some of them. I know them, and (I
speak it with a heavy heart) there is as little charity and good living
in them as in any other; according to that which Christ said in the
gospel to the great number of people that followed him, as though they
had had any earnest zeal to his doctrine, whereas indeed they had it not;
_Non quia vidistis signa, sed quia comedistis de panibus_. "Ye follow
me," saith he, "not because ye have seen the signs and miracles that I
have done; but because ye have eaten the bread, and refreshed your
bodies, therefore you follow me." So that I think many one now-a-days
professeth the gospel for the living's sake, not for the love they bear
to God's word. But they that will be true ploughmen must work faithfully
for God's sake, for the edifying of their brethren. And as diligently as
the husbandman plougheth for the sustentation of the body, so diligently
must the prelates and ministers labour for the feeding of the soul: both
the ploughs must still be going, as most necessary for man.
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