Augustine, and all other godly writers do
affirm. But he that leaveth his wickedness and sins, is content to amend
his life, and then believing in Christ, seeketh salvation and everlasting
life by him, no doubt that man or woman, whosoever he or they be, shall
be saved: for they feed upon Christ, upon that meat that God the Father,
this feast-maker, hath prepared for all his guests.
You have heard now who is the maker of this feast or banquet: and again,
you have heard what meat is prepared for the guests; what a costly dish
the house-father hath ordained at the wedding of his son. But now ye
know, that where there be great dishes and delicate fare, there be
commonly prepared certain sauces, which shall give men a great lust and
appetite to their meats; as mustard, vinegar, and such like sauces. So
this feast, this costly dish, hath its sauces; but what be they? Marry,
the cross, affliction, tribulation, persecution, and all manner of
miseries: for, like as sauces make lusty the stomach to receive meat, so
affliction stirreth up in us a desire to Christ. For when we be in
quietness, we are not hungry, we care not for Christ: but when we be in
tribulation, and cast in prison, then we have a desire to him; then we
learn to call upon him; then we hunger and thirst after him; then we are
desirous to feed upon him.
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