❧ AN EXPOSITION OF A PARTE OF S. Iohannes Gospel made in sondrie readinges in the English Congregation by Bartho. Traheron, and now published against the wicked entreprises of new sterte vp Arrians in Englande.
¶ Imprinted. Anno. 1557.
✚ TO MY MOST DERE SISTER ELISABETH P.
THINCKE not to much, good sister, what you haue had, but considre what you haue, remembre not what you haue ben some tymes in the worldes eies, but what you be now in goddes eyes. Lamente not that you lost, but ioie in that you haue founde. Whan you were high, you were surely low, now that you ar low, you ar surely high. Let this sincke in to your minde, that if wordlye thinges had not ben taken from you, you shuld shortely haue bē taken from them, and perchaunce if they had not ben so drouned, they wold haue drouned you, before death had remoued you from them. If no aduersite had assailed you, you had ben a ded sea, and the patiēce, & other singular vertues, which now shine in you, had ben quenched, ether in your selfe vtterly, or touchynge [Page] the knowlege of anie other, vnfrutefully. And therefore Seneca truly saide, that, that person is verye miserable, who neuer felt anie miserie. The world ment to impouerishe you, but God hath enryched you. The world wold depresse you, but God hath aduaūced you. The world thought to ouerwhelme you with heauines, but God hath filled you with tru ioies. The world labored to staine you with infamie, but God hath made your name both cleare, and pure, and also to sende forth a pleasant odor amonge his saītes. You haue not thā lost somuch, as you haue founde. Only beware for the tyme to cūme, for more remaineth to be laied vpon you for a farther trial. Yea, I know that Circe the sorceresse hath al readie, & wil more here after allure you with hir enchaunted cuppe. But let not the swetenes of the cuppes lippes, and the pleasantnes of the poison begile you. Rather chose to drinke the lordes cuppe, which though it haue a bitter tast in the first draught, yet in the ende purging corrupte, and noisome humors, it maketh a pure, and cleane bodie. You know that as goddes goodnes hath made you [Page] my natural sister, so his wrath hath giuen to vs both, and to the rest of our brethern, and sistern an vnnatural stepmother. How vnmercifully, and cruelly she hath delt with vs, and how sharpely she hath whipt vs, you can remembre, and if she beginne now to smile vpon you, she meaneth the more mischeife. Take hede good sister, a stepmother, wil euer be a stepmother. Giue yourselfe ernestly to readinge of the holie scriptures.
Holde fast the doctryne that our holye brother, and eldest saue one, religiously mainteined, whom our stepdame laboreth to deface, I trust in vaine. Flie aswel al idolatrical, as al Anabaptistical straūge opinions. To which ende I haue dedicated this my litle trauaile vnto you, as to my derest sister, & whom I most desire to be preserued pure, and spotles in euerye parte. I am not ignorāt that the better you shalbe, & sincerer in treu religiō, the more you shal anger our stepdames testie harte, and the les fauor you shal finde in your iust requestes. But I haue more regarde to the welth of your soule, thā to the welth of your bodye. And therefore I haue sent you this preseruatiue [Page] which our stepdame, if she were, as she can pretende, shuld take in good parte. But so that she maye liue in hir babilonical whoredome, and droncken lustes, and swille in the wine of Aegyptes errors, I perceaue she passeth not much, how other thinges goe, Lift you vp your mindes eyes, and beholde the glorious face of the lorde Iesus, while our stepmothers eyes ar daseld with the glisteringe vaine glorie of the world, & toteth al daye in the deceaueable painted face of a monstruous man, triple in head, and double in herte. O that she might be made better, but see that you in the meane while be nor made worsse by hyr. Let the frute of my worste parte, that is with you, see the frute of my better parte. Commende me to him, whom lawes permitte you to love, to whō god graū te in heauen, that he seketh in erth. The lorde Iesus guide you euer with his holie spirite, my entierly biloued.
THE FIRST READING.
I HAVE chosen this parte of the holie scripture, wherein to trauail with you at this time bicause thorough goddes great wrath against sinne, and the most despiteful malice of Satan against the truth, the olde hainous heresie of the vngodlie Arrians, is renued in our coūtree, and as it were raised vp againe from hel. These cankerd old Arrians, that you maie undrestāde their heresie, spake blasphemously of the godhead of our Lorde Iesus. For the first autor of it Arrius vttered erroniously, & vngodly in the scoles of Alexandria, in Aegypte, that there was a time, whā goddes sonne was not. By which wordes he ment, that he was not of the same beinge, and substāce that the father is of, nor of the fame aeternitie and so not the natural sonne of God, and verie God in dede, but an excellent creature of God, whereby God made al thinges, [Page] as by ā instrumēt, as he him selfe opened in farther declaration of his mīde.
For he graūted that the Lorde Iesus was the first, and cheifest creature, & the beginninge of al other creatures, and gaue him also the name of God. Howbeit he thought not that he had his Godhed by nature, but by borowinge.
For trial of this matter the most noble and godlie Emperor Constātine the great, called a general concile at Nice, of thre hundred, and eightene bishoppes, of whom manie for singular lerninge and eloquence, manie for great holines of life, were compted worthie of euerlastinge remēbrance. In this famous cōcile it was cōcluded out of the holie scriptures, that goddes sonne is of the same aeternitee, of the same substance, essence, & beinge, that God the father is, goddes natural sonne, and coaequal with the father, as it appeareth in the Crede, communely called the Nicene Crede. Whereunto the hole assemble agreed, and subscribed, sauinge these fiue, Eusebius bishoppe of Nicomedia, Theognis bishoppe of Nice, Maris bishoppe of Calchedon, Theognis [Page] bishoppe of Marmarike, and Secundus bishoppe of Ptolemais. Which fiue bishoppes for their vngodlines, by the emperors commaundement, were banished out of their coūtrees. But sone after their exile, Eusebius, and Theognis repented that thei had don so vnaduisedly, and sent a boke of repentance to the godlie bishoppes, wherin they vsed these wordes. We haue agreed to the faith, and after we had made inquisition of the meaninge of this worde cō substantial, we were throughly quieted. And in dede we claue not to the haeresie, yea we subscribed to the faith, but we subscribed not to the excommunication. Not that we reproue the faith, but we beleued not that he, that is to saie, Arrius, was such one, as he was accused to be. But if the holie councile be so persuaded, we repugne not, but consente to your decrees, and confirme our consente with this our present writinge, not that we can not beare our banishment, but to auoide the suspition of haeresie.
Out of these wordes Socrates the storie writer gesseth, that these two subscribed to the faith agreed vpon in the concile of Nice, but wolde not alowe the depositiō of Arrius.
This matter beinge thus wisely and godly estably shed, begāne to be trobled againe, by this occasion. Constatine the emperor had a sister called Constantia, in to whose fauor a certaine preist crepte so far, that she cōpted him as one of hir awne. This preist, whose name the storie writer vttereth not, as worthie perpetual obliuiō, by thaduise of Eusebius declared to Constantia, that the cō cile had don Arrius wronge, and that he thought not as the rumor went. The ladie durst not tel the Emperor that his affirmation, and yet she beleued hir preist. It happened sone after that she fel sicke, and the Emperor hir brother cam to visite hir, at which time she singularly commended hir preist vnto him. Who immediately vpon hir cōmendation receaued him in to his fauor, and familiaritie. The preist hauinge gotten boldnes, and libertee of talke, renued vnto him, Arrius his matter, affirminge that he agreed [Page] with the concile. The emperor aūswered that if Arrius wold consent to the cō cile, he wolde receaue him to fauor, and sende him againe to Alexandria, to be restored to his former place. And there vpō he sent Lettres to Arrius to repare spedely vnto him. Whan Arrius was cō me, and presented before the Emperor, he demaūded of him, whether he consented to the faith of the Nicene concile.
Arrius aunswered that he did consente there vnto. The Emperor bad hī put his faith in writīge, he did so, & this was the cōfessiō of hī & of Euzoius that was htā there with hī. We beleue in one god, the father almightie, and in the Lorde Iesus Christ his sonne begotten of him before al worldes god the worde, by whō al thinges were made, both thinges in heauen, and thinges in erth. The Emperor forthwith wrote to Athanasius bisshop off Alexandria to receaue Arrius, and to restore him to his roome. And bicause Athanasius refused so to do, he was deposed. Than beganne Arrius to sow againe his enuenimed seedes.
The Emperor enformed of his nawhgtie behauior, sent for him againe vnto [Page] Cōstantinople, and asked him once more, whether he cōsented to the determination of the Nicene concile. He aunswered yea, with out anie staggeringe the Emperor meruailinge at the matter, required of him, to confirme his confession with an othe. And he toke his othe incontinētly, vsinge therein fond craft, and subtiltie. For he had written his awne doctrine in a paper, and caried the same vndre his arme hole, and so sware that his sentence was, as he had there written, meaninge the paper vndre his arme hole. Here vpon rhe Emperor commended him to the bishoppe of Constantinople, to be receaued to the communion of catholike Christian mē. Alexander the bishoppe knowinge the malitious wilines of Arrius, staied at the matter. Eusebius a stoute man, ceased not to threatē the good bishoppe, that if he wold not willingly admitte Arrius to the communion, he shuld be compelled thereunto by force.
The bishoppe perceauinge that he was not able to resiste the violence of Eusebius hauinge the Emperor also on his side, fel to praier, and continued therein [Page] al night liynge prostrate before the lordes table. In the morninge Eusebius accompanied with a bande of men, went to Arrius his lodginge, and willed him to folow him to the temple.
Euerie mannes minde was occupied with expectation of the ende, knowinge the fiercenes of Eusebius, and the cō stantie, and godlines of Alexander. Arrius by the waye as he was goinge to church in the middest of that route, for mannes necessitie desired to goe a side to a priuie, where his guttes barst out, and he died an horrible vile, stinckinge, and shameful death. And so the good bishoppe was by miracle deliuered from great feare, and burthen of conscience, and proud Eusebius disapointed of his purpose.
Howbeit afterwarde by the meanes of that nawghtie preist, and Constantius Constantine the Emperors sonne, whose fauor the preist got by deliuering to him the testamēt that the ēperor left in his hādes, the haeresie of vile Arrius was so reuiued, & maīteined, that it cold not be quēched, but with great trauail of lerned mē, & blode of manie Martyrs. [Page] For heretikes if thei once preuaile, ar most cruel persequutors, as in old time the tru Christians felt, in the furious rage of the haeretical Arrianes, and we now fele vndre the most bloodie haeretical Idolatres. Neuertheles the goodnes of God was such, that for the confusion, and ovthrowīge of this most horrible haeresie, he raised vp most excellent wittes, and mē of most singular lerninge, and vertue, so that in processe of time, after great trauail, after terrible tormentes, & most cruel kindes of death, which the godlie suffred, this haeresie was vtterly ouerthrowen, and beaten doune to hel.
But now as good mē reporte, sondrie phrantike spirites labour to blow life in to it, and to cal it againe in to the worlde, out of Satās darcke dongeon. And if al be tru that I haue hearde, thei haue patched two, or three peeces of their awne to that ilfauored bodie, and haue made it a fowler mōster than it was before.
But howsoeuer thei haue handled their monstruous babie, it shalbe good for vs, to know the truth of this matter, and to haue readie a perfecte rule, to iudge all maner of doctrines. Whan we haue a [Page] true rule out of goddes worde, it shalbe easie to auoide al false inuentions. For what so agreeth not to that rule is to be refused, and cast awaie. Therefore we ought first to labor to know what hte scripture teacheth, and to cleaue there to, whatsoeuer, ether lerned wittes can subtilly deuise, or phrantike braines fanatically, and rauingely dreame out, & powre forth at auenture, in their traūces. If we bringe al thinges to this touchstone, we shal neuer be deceaued by anie new broched doctrine. But bicause the matter of al other is most high, & most excedinge our capacitee, we ought wit al h feare, reuerence, sobrenes, and modestie to approch vnto it, & in no wise to entre in to a place, of such maiestie, brightnes, & glorie with foule fete, and to touch so holie thinges, with vncleane handes. Comme therefore my brethern with al humilite, and reuerent behauior to the gospell of, S. Iohan. For it is euidently true that none of the diuine writers haue handled this our present matter, so largely, so plaī ly, & so strongely against al cauillations. And therefore I haue purposely takē in hande, to treate some parte of his most [Page] diuine worcke amōg you that, we maye al certaīly know what we ought to thinke of the lorde Iesus in this behalfe, and that we maie be surely armed agaīst the hissinges of the venimous serpētes clouē toūge. For in dede it is a communs opiniō amōge the olde ecclesiastical writers, that. S. Iohā wrote this treatise purposely against such haeretikes, as in his time denied the diuinitie of Christ, namely Carpocrates, Cerinthus, and the Hebionites, verie poore mē in vndrestanding according to their name, which taught that the Lord Iesus was a man only, & not God. Certainly the purpose, and cheife marke of the hole worcke is, to teach that Iesus our Lorde was not a mā only, but also God, and so the true Messias, and verie Saueor of the worlde.
The gospel after, S. Iohan) Euangeliō signifieth good tidinges. And in the holie writers it signifieth a publike, solē ne, and opē preachinge of Christ, who by his death hath purged our sinnes, and beinge rissen from the deed, raigneth in the hertes of his chosen, and renueth thē vnto godlines thorough his spirite mortifiynge from time to time their fleshlie [Page] lustes, and abolishinge more and more the remnaūtes of their natural corruption. And this in dede is verie good tidinges. For here by we ar deliuered from the feare of death and damnation, and from the bondage of sinne, & Satā, breifely hereby we ar remoued frō darcknes to light, from despeare, to good hope from death to life, from hel to heauen. Now bicause the office of proclaminge, and publishinge this most ioiful tidīges, was committed to the ministers of the new testamēt, the name of Euāgelistes is most proprely attributed to them, & specially to those that discribe the natiuitee, cōuersation, death, & resurrection of the lorde Iesus, wherein this blisfulnes resteth, that we so much aduance.
Some writers affirme that as manie promisses of felicitie, and saluation as therebe, so manie gospels there be, and that therefore the prophetes ar also euangelistes, whan they speake of the redemption, that goddes annointed shuld accō plish. I thincke it not good to striue aboute wordes, and I denie not that the hebrue word, Bassar, which signifieth to euangelize, & to preach good tidinges [Page] is applied in some place to mē of the old time. Howbeit I beleue rather, that Euāgelion is an opē publishinge of saluatiō al readie perfirmed, & accōplished, than of the same promised. And therefore they speake more distinctly, & proprely that giue the name of Euāgelistes to thapostles, & writers of the historie of the lorde Iesus, & finally to the ministers of the new testamēt. And to giue place rather to this iudgemēt, the wordes of our saueor in the 16. of Luke moue me, where he saieth that the law, and the prophetes were vnto Iohā the Baptiste, & that from that time the kingdō of god was euāgelized. The kingdō of god was in dede taught before, and the gospel preached in some wise, but it was not so opēly, so largely, so plainly, so far & wide published, and proclaimed.
But herein as I said I wil contēd with no man, nor binde the worde to this propre significatiō only. For I am not ignorāt what a wrāglinge wit maie gather out of the fourth cha. to the Hebr. After S. Iohan). The historie of the gospel sheweth that the Lorde Iesus out of [Page] the nombre of his disciples chose twelue principal, whom he called Apostles, bicause they shuld be sent as his special Embassadors in to al the world to publish, and preach the glad tidinges of free saluation. And amonge these twelue there were three yet more special, & singular furnished with most excellēt giftes, and therefore admitted to certaine thinges, where thother were excluded.
Of these three Iohan was one, of whō it is writtē singularly and specially, that he was the lordes biloued. To whom also the Lorde gaue this meruailous name, that he was called the son of thondre. And surely who so weigheth this present worcke, shal thinke that he rather thondreth from heauen, than speaketh mannes wordes.
Numenius an heathen Philosopher, whan he had red the beginninge of this gospel, barst out in to these wordes:
I praie God, I die, if this barbarous fellow haue not comprehended in few wordes, al that our Plato prosequuteth in so manie worckes.
He called him barbarous bicause he was an hebreu, and in his writinge leaueth traces of his mothers toūge, & foloweth not curiously the finenes, & proprietes of the greke maner of speakinge, but he graūted vnto him asmuch knowlege, as the most famous Philosopher, & father of al lerned wittes Plato had, and more shortenes in writīge, which is more cōmendable in a writer of graue matters. Writers of histories shew manie wō derful thinges of this Iohā, as that he was put in to boilinge oile, & cā out againe vnhurte &c. But it shalbe sufficiēt for vs to know, and cōsidre that he was one of the most excellent, singular, & special apostles, & therefore a mete witnes of the Lorde Iesus.
In the beginninge) Kinge Dauid inspired from aboue teacheth in the third psal. that to saue pertaineth to Iehoua. The prophete Esaie moued by the same spirite in the .45. cha. hath these wordes: Israel is saued ī Iehoua, whith a perpetual saluatiō In which cha. also God speakinge of himselfe, saith thus: A iust God and one that saueth there is none beside me. And in the prophete Hosea, he [Page] beareth in the same, saiynge, thou shalt know no god besides me, & there is no saueor besides me. And in Hieremie he pronoūceth hī accursed, that shal trust in mā, & make fleeshe his arme, which wordes cōstraine vs to seke saluatiō no where saue in God. But we al seke saluation at the handes of the lorde Iesus, we al acknowlege him to be the saueor of the world. We must thā of necessitee know him to be god, onles we wil forge, and mainteine a faith not agreynge to goddes worde. And that vndoutedly goddes Messias, whō the father aeternally appointed to be the saueor of the world, is God, the holie scripture beareth witnes most plainly, that we shuld be certaine that we swarue not from god, whā we seke saluatiō in him. For the kinglie prophete Dauid in the .45. psal. where with a notable songe he celebrateth the praises of Messias, saieth thus: Thy throne o God is for euer. In which wordes he giueth him not only the name of God, but also confesseth his throne to be euer lastinge. Now nomānes throne is established for euer sauinge goddes only.
Esaie in the .9. cha. calleth him el gibbor [Page] a stronge god, and in the same cha. he teacheth that there is no measure, nor ende of his kingdom. The prophete Hieremie to take awaie al cauillations, teacheth expresly that he is Iehouah, which name is neuer giuē nor can be giuē, saue to the true God only, the autor and foū raine of al beinge. For these be his wordes: Beholde the daies comme saieth Iehoua, and I wil raise vp to Dauid a iust blosom, and a kinge shal raigne, & do wisely, & shal exequute iudgemēt, and righteousnes in the erth. In his daies Iehuda shalbe saued, and Israel shal dwel safely & this is his name which thei shal cal him, Iehoua our righteousnes. And this confirmeth the prophete Hosea, where god speaketh thus: But I will haue pitie on the house of Iuda, and wil saue thē in Iehoua their God.
In the new testamēt this matter is taught most clearely. For these be. S. Paules wordes in the .9, to the Ro. whose be the fathers, and of whom is Christ after the flesch, who is ouer al god blessed for euer. And in the .2. to the Philip Let the same minde be in you, which was also in Christ Iesu, who beinge in [Page] the forme of god thought it not robberie to be equal with god, and yet emptied him selfe, takinge the forme of a seruant &c. Thus S Paule teacheth that he is not god by vsurpation, but by nature, and that he was, and euer is, & shalbe in the forme and state of god, & verie god, as whan he saieth that he toke the forme of a seruant, he meaneth that he entred in to the state of a seruant, and became a verie seruant. Some wranglīge spirites wrest this place verie boldly, & vngodly. For thei saie that S. Paule reacheth no more, but that the lorde Iesus was humble, and contente with his state, and aspired not farther, ne went aboute to climme vp vniustly to an aequalitee with god. But if that were the meaninge, whan. S. Paule saieth, that beinge in the forme of God, he thought not to make himselfe equal to god by robberie, he shuld signifie that beinge in that state that he was in, he might haue so dō, & haue preuailed. Or els what great matter had it bē, that he abstained frō that, which ōce to haue gō aboute, or to haue thought vpon, had ben more than mere madnes.
Wherefore it is euidēt that this theire deuise, is the verie rauinge of sicke braines, beside that they shamelesly wringe these wordes out of their natural sense, he thought it no robberie to be aequal with God, & make them signifie, whether thei wil or no, he mēt no robberie, or he wēt aboute no robberie thinkinge to make him selfe aequal to god, in such a sense, as thei neuer knew before, nether wil abide, ōles they be haled cleane out of iointe. S. Paules meaninge is this, that the lorde Iesus beīge verie god yet couered his glorious maiestie with the shape & state of a seruāt, & hūbled him selfe vnto the death of the crosse, to do vs good, which exēple he setteth before vs, to folow, & not to be ashamed to abase our selues to the welth of other. For we cā neuer cast doūne our selues so much, as he did, if we cōsidre his glorie & diuine estate, & what a thīge it is, for him, that is verie god, to becō me not only a mā, but also a seruāt, and not that only but more ouer to be appointed to a most vile, & shameful death. Now the higher he was, the more liuelier his exēple is to moue vs, & to [Page] make vs ashamed of our disdainfulnes. And therefore, S. Paule speaketh of his godhead, which he had & hath naturally, that we maie know, that his hūblinge camme not by force, but of his awne good wil. Where I haue turned this worde (alla) which signifieth but, in to these wordes, & yet, I haue marcked that. S. Paule so vseth the word (alla) in manie places. One shal suffice, for this time, in the .6. to the Cor. he speaketh thus. For though you haue innumerable leaders in christ, alla, but not manie fathers, that is to saie, yet not manie fathers. To returne to our purpose. S. Paule in the .14. to the Ro. applieth this sentēce of Esaie: Euerie knee shal bow vnto me &c. to the lorde Iesus, with these wordes: we must al be presēted before the iudgemēt seate of Christ. For it is writtē as truly as I liue saieth the lorde, euerie knee shal bow vnto me &c. But it is euidēt that those wordes ar spoken of Iehoua, in the prophete, & so must the lorde Iesus be Iehoua. For thes be the wordes of that prophetie in the 45. cha. Am not I Iehoua, & there is no god besides me, a iust God, & one that saueth [Page] there is none besides me. Loke vnto me, and be saued al ye endes of the erth; for I am god, and there is no more, I haue sworne by my selfe, the word is gon out of my mouth in righteousnes, that euerie knee shal bow doune vnto me &c. Againe. S. Paule in the ninth to the Ro. teacheth that the lord Iesus is the stomblinge blocke, and the stone where at the lues shulde fal, which thinge the prophete Esaie speaketh of Iehouah.
For thus he writeth: you shal sanctifie Iehoua the lorde of hostes. And he shalbe a sanctuarie, and a stone to stomble at, & a rocke to sal at, to bothe the houses of Israel a snare, and a trappe to the in dweller of Ierusalem. And manie shal stomble in them, or amonge thē, shall sal, and be brused, & snared, and takē.
Now cōpare Esaie, and Paule together, and you shal see, that the lorde Iesus is Iehoua, as S. Paule colde vndrestande the scriptures, who was sure that he had goddes spirite.
The Angel also in. S. Luke saieth, that Iohan Baptiste shuld turne manie of the childrē of Israel to the lorde their god, and that he shulde goe before him in the spirite, & power of Elias. But the lord [Page] Iesus him selfe teacheth, that Iohans office was to goe before his face, alleginge the texte of the prophete Malaki, after this sorte in the .11. of Matheu: beholde I sende myne Angel before thy face, which shal prepare thy waie before the. So must the lorde Iesus be the Lorde god of the Israelites.
But this matter is no where taught with greater clearnes, light, & grace, thā in this gospel of S. Io. For in the first parte of his first cha. speakīge of the true Messias, namely of the lord Iesus our vndoubted saueor, that our faith might safely rest in him, and that we might know it to be cōsonant to the truth of goddes word, & that we make not flesh our arme whā we putte our trust in hī, he saieth, that he was euer goddes worde vtue, & wisedō, & that he was with god & that he was verie god, & that al thinges were made bi hī &c. here indede our wittes ar dafeld, & amased, here arise manie thoughtes. For here two be spokē of god I saie, & goddes worde, & the worde is said to be god, & to be with god. It semeth thā to mānes hastie reasō, that there be two goddes. But the truth is, that there is but one god.
Wherefore some haue bē so boide, or rather so mad, as to denie the godhead of the lorde Iesus, & to bringe him in to the ordre of creatures, & to faine him a made God, lest there shuld be two natural goddes. For they cā abide no more of god, thā they cā cōprehēde with their litle wittes.
But we must cōsidre that god is best knowē, yea only knowē to him selfe, & we must thinke him to be such, as he hī selfe hath opened vnto vs, that he is, & not such as we cā imagine him, or cōprehēde him. Now he hath taught vs that there is one god, the father, the sonne, & the holie gost. That the father is god, the sonne is god, the holie gost is god, & yet not three goddes, but one god. Three distinctions, three proprietes, & as the good fathers speake, three persones to be in the godhead, he him selfe hath taught vs, by his special instrumē tes sent by him in to the world, to teach the assured truth. And it foloweth not in dede herevpon, that there be three goddes. For these three haue one substāce, (if it be lawful to vse that terme in this matter,) one essence, one beinge. [Page] I graūte it shuld folow, that there were three goddes, if they were three sondrie diuided substances. But now the substāce and essence is one, and they differ not therein, they differ only in proprietes, and persons. This is the proprietee of the father, that he is the foū taine & head springe of al, & begetteth his sonne. This is the propriete of the sonne, that he shineth from the father, issueth and springeth out of him, and is begottē of him. This is the proprietee of the holie gost, that he procedeth from the father, and the sonne. If anie mā wil aske how this trinitee, can bein ā vnitee, & ā vnitee in a trinitee, the same declareth, that he wil not be satisfied, vntil he haue ētred in to the secretes of god and know al that is in god, and be as wise as god, and comprehēd that, that is infinite, and vnmeasurable within the smal compasse of his franticke head, and so in dede shew him selfe to raue, and to be more mete, to be placed in bedleem, than in the companie of Christiane mē. Whan god hath once clarely and certaī ly saied it, it is our parte to thincke it to be, as he hath saide it to be. For [Page] surely it maie be, & it is, whan he hath plaīly saide it, though our reason cā nev reach it. And that god hath said this with cleare wordes, it shal most euidētly appeare out of. S. Ioannes doctrine, whā it shalbe weighed. For I doubte not but that we al acknowlege, that what so. S. Io. saieth, god saieth. And whā we know that god hath certaīly said it, we wil beleue it, though it seme neuer so much repugnant to reason. For we refuse not al that is repugnāt to reason, but whā the same is repugnant to goddes worde.
And to saie the truth this matter is not so much repugnāt to reason, as it is aboue the reach of reason.
In the beginninge was the word
The word was in the beginninge. By the worde the euangeliste meaneth, the secōde person in the holie trinitee, namely our lorde Iesus Christ touchinge his diuine nature, as it appeareth afterwarde, whā he saieth, & the word became flesh. Here we must cōsidre why goddes sonne is called a worde. Aunciāt writers cōsidre a worde two waies. For thei teach that there is an outwarde worde, & ā inwarde worde. The outward word [Page] is that soūdeth, & passeth awaie. The inwarde worde is the cōceipte of the herte, which remaineth stil in the herte, whā the soūd is past. So thei saie that god hath an outwarde worde, which is sounded, pronounced & writtē in bokes, & that he hath an inwarde worde, which remaineth with in him selfe where of the outwarde worde is an image, effecte, & frute. This inwarde worde euer remaininge in him is called his sonne, as the cōceipte of the herte maie be called the engēdred frute of the herte, and the hertes childe.
Thei thincke also that he is called the worde of god, bicause that as a worde is the image of mannes minde, & representeth it vnto vs, so the Lorde Iesus is goddes image, and most liuely representeth vnto vs his power, his godhed, and his wisedom.
For what so euer is in the father shineth in the sonne. Some other thincke that the worde here is taken for a thinge, after the hebrue maner of speakinge.
For the hebrues vse (DABAR) which signifieth a word for a thinge.
Whan Esaie the prophete asked kinge Ezechias, what the Embassadors of Babilon had seē in his house, he aunswered thus: They saw al that was in myn house, lo haiah dabar, there was not a worde, that is to saie anie one thinge, that I shewed not vnto them in my treasures. The prophete replieth: Beholde the daies comme, that what so euer is in thy house shalbe takē awaye, & what so euer thy fathers haue laied vp in stoare vnto this daie, shalbe caried to Babilon lo ijvather dabar, there shal not a worde remaine saieth the lorde, that is to saie, there shal not one thinge be left behinde. The angel also in. S. Luke whan the Virgine Marie meruailed how she shuld conceaue a childe without mannes helpe, said vnto hir, no worde shalbe impossible vnto god, that is, no thinge shalbe impossible for him to do. So than after this understandinge S. Iohānes meaninge is, that in the beginninge there was a diuine, & heauēlie thinge with god.
The greke vocable, logos, which S. Iohan. vseth, hath sondrie significatiōs, and amonge other beside cōmunicatiō, [Page] and talke, it signifieth reason, and wisdō which singificacion agreeth ryght wel. For Salomon calleth that thing wisdōe that was with God beefore the foundacion of the world was laied, and that was Amō before him, that is to saie, as the Hebreues expoune the worde, a director. For by that wisdome God made all thinges, and doeth all thinges, as it is there expressed, by me kinges raigne, & Princes enacte righteousnes &c.
Surely in my minde S. Iohn hath respect to the first cha. of Genesis, and openeth the same vnto vs. For Moses saith not simply, that God made all thynges of noughte, but that he spake, and made thinges, that is to saie, that he made all thinges by his worde. By the worde than I vnderstande Goddes vertue, and power, wherby he hath opened, and as it were set abrode himselfe in makynge all thinges, & in preseruing & maintaining thē in their state, & finally in repairing, restoring, and renuing them being decaied thorough sinne. For as a worde vttereth, and bringeth forth that, that is in the hearte, so by this woorde, this power, [Page] & vertue of god, is vttered brought forth, and sette abrode, that laie hydden in god before. So that I thinke that he is called goddes worde, both bicause he is gods wysdome, and gods image, represē tyng all that is in the father, and also because he is the secrete vertue, and power of God, wherby god vttereth, shewethe oute, and sendeth foorth that is in hym, namely hys might, and wisedome in making all thinges, his goodnes in preseruing them, and his mercy indeclaring to mortal men his wil, and pleasure, and in recouering and sauing them being lost. only let vs beware, that we take not this vocable (word, grosly for a word sounded, pronounced, or writtē, but for an essencial person subsisting, and abiding in God, and than whether we vnderstande the worde to be gods image, and brightnes, gods vertue and power, or goddes wisdome, we shall not doe amysse. For the holy scripture giueth al these things to the seconde person in the most sacred trinite. In the beginning) that is before the world was made for so we learne in Salomon. Iehoua possessed me in the beginning [Page] of his waye, before his workes Meaz. from than, that is to saye eternallly. And than he goeth forth, meolam, frō euer I was stablyshed, from the head, before the beginninges of the earth. Bee in the homoth in not depes, that is whā the depts were not, I was conceaued, be ein maienoth, in not foūtaines, that is whā the fountaines were not yet laden wyth twaters. Before the foūdaciō of mountaines was layed, before the hilles I was conceaued. Yet he had not made the erth and the outward partes of it, & the head that is the beginning of the dust of the world. Whan he prepared the heauens, I was there. &c. hitherto we haue rehersed the holy gostes wordes out of Salo. prouerbes. And I thynke more sondrye wordes can not bee deuised to expresse that gods wisdome, euen the Lorde Iesus, touching his diuine nature, was with God before any creature had his beyng. And in dede sith the Lord Iesus, in that he is gods sonne is gods wisdō, thei blaspheme God, that imagine anye tyme whan he was not: For so they imagine a tyme whan GOD was wythoute wysedome. We haue another place of the [Page] scripture, that teacheth vs thus to vnderstande, in the beginning. For in the .17. cha. of this gospell, the Lorde hymselfe saieth: glorifie me father at thi self, with the glory, which I had before the world was with thee. he that had glorie before the worlde was made, was, and had a beinge beefore the worlde was made. For that, that is nothing, cannot haue glory while it is nothing. WAS) It is euidente that S. Iohns intente is in this chap. to shewe what goddes sonne is touchinge his substance, essence and being. And if he had been a creature, here had been a place of necessite, to shewe that he was made. But he saith not that he was made yea he saieth that he was alreadye, and had his beeing before any creature was made. And so he is exempted out of the nomber of creatures.
And these two woordes in the beginning, and was, confounde two heretikes, Cerinthus, and Arius. Whan Cerinthus shall swinishly grunte that the Lorde Iesus was a pure mā, and had his begīning of Ioseph, and Mary, we maye stopp hys mouth with this worde in the begynning. [Page] For he that was in the beginninge was not to be begone in the tyme of Ioseph, and Mary. Whan Arrius shal blasphemously iangle, and peuishlye bable, that he is a creature, we shall putte hys rude talke to silence, wyth thys woorde, was. For he that was alreadye in the beginning, before any thing was made, & had his beeing beefore the creation of thinges, was neuer made. And this vocable (the worde) bindeth both these heretikes together in a bondle and throweth them down to hell. For eyther to saye that Goddes worde was not eternallye, or that Goddes worde is a creature, is to say that God was some tyme withoute his wisdome, and power, or to saye that God had no wisedome, vntyll he hadde made it. For it is manifeste out of Salomon, that Goddes worde is his wisdome For there it is taughte, that all thynges were made by hys wisedome, and here we are taughte, that all thynges were made by his worde. So his wisedome, & his worde muste be all one. And than cā not his worde be a creature. For GOD was neuer, nor neuer shalbe without his [Page] wisdome. But the Arrians make an argument wherby they thynk to ouerthrow all. That say they, that begetteth is beefore that, that is begottē, but the father begetteth, ergo he is before the sonne, that is begotten. To thys first I answere that they, which will shewe thynges vncreate, by thinges create, shal sometimes shewe themselues very fooles. Secondly I answere that the argumente is not alwayes true, in thinges create. For lyght springeth out of the sunne, and therfore we mai say, that the sūne begetteth light and heate issueth out of fier, and yet the sunne is not before his lighte, nor fyer before heate. But assone as the sunne is lyght is also, and assone as fier is, heate is The sunne goeth before hys lyghte, fier before heate in order, nor in tyme. And so we may say, that the father is before hys sonne, god is before his wysedome in order, not in tyme. In order, beecause wisdome springeth from the father, not in time, because the father is neuer without his wisedome. But yet thei blasphemously demaūde, whether the father be gatt the sonne, whan he was, or whā he was not, thinking whatsoeuer shall bee [Page] answered, to shewe an absurdyte. Wher indede the demaund is most absurd, and peuishe. For we wyll demaunde of them agayne, whether fier begette heate beefore heate is in it, or after. If they saye before, than they graunte that fier is some tyme without heate, which is impossible For it is no fier that hath no heate. If thei say after, than we will saye as they saye, that the begettyng of heate is superfluous, syth heate was there before. Againe we myght aske them, whether god whā he was became god, or became god beefore he was. But we delight not in such vaine questions, wherewyth idle wittes sporte their follies. But briefely to them we say, that it is no absurdite to affirme that the father begetteth his sonne already being, bicause the sonne is euer in him & springeth euer frō him, no more than it is an absurdite to say, that mās mynde begetteth reasō, bicause reason is in it & sprīgeth frō it. And yet mās mīd is no soner, thā reasō is. But these great clerks cā imagine none other begettīg, but mās grosse begettīg of childrē. And so absurdites folow not our doctrīe, but their dremīgs. For our doctrīe of gods sōne, & of [Page] begetting, is farre from the grosse imaginacion of mans, or beastes fleshlye begetting. There is nothyng in oure doctryne but heauenly, and spirituall. And these menne are altogether drowned in fleshe, and speake nothing but fleshe, & fleshly thinges.
I wyll rehearse another argumente of theirs, that the simple, and vnlearned be not perchance combred, and amased with their sophistications. Otherwise I think all their reasons rather to be buryed in perpetual silence and darkenes, and to be in dede so many blasphemies, as they bee reasons. For they aske whether God begattē his sonne withoute consideracyon or consideringe and willinge. If neyther considering, nor wylling, than saye they he suffred somewhat, that he would not If considering, and willing, than his consideracion, and will wente before his generacion.
But as before we may discouer their extreme folly with another demaunde. For we may aske whether God be good and mercifull of hys owne wil, or agaīst his will. For if he be good, and mercifull [Page] of his own will, and wil goeth before all thinges, that are chosen by wil, thā there was a time or space, whan God was not yet good, and mercifull, but consulted, & toke deliberatiō aboute those thynges. Item we may demaunde of them, whether the father be God of his will, or against his will. If of his will, than after these mens high wittes, his wil went before his essence, and beeing. If agaynste his will, who constrayned him▪ who seeth not nowe the outragious madnes, and extrēe fransie of these wilde spirits For in dede in naturall thynges no will goeth beefore, whiche will hath place only in those thinges that bee withoute the substaunce of him, that taketh deliberaciō. But here we wil make an end of this lecture. Let these words of the Euangelist my brethren which we now haue treated sinke depelye into your heartes, which weighe downe so greate heresies and teache vs so excellent, and so diuine thinges, as the angels can not attaine vnto. Let vs consider how great goodnesse of God this is, that he hath vouchsafed to open vnto vs the moste reuerende temple [Page] of his diuine maiestie, and lette vs prayse hys holy name therfore, and bee thankefull.
¶ The second readyng.
ANd the word was wyth God. Before the worlde was made, there was nether time, nor place. And therfore the worde beeing a thyng subsistinge in the beginninge beefore any thing was made, could be no where but with god, and in god. For than ther was nothing but God. And so he must nedes be of the same substance that god is of. For if he were not of the same substance and yet was in the beginning, that is to say euer a thing subsistinge with God, than the proprietes of God shoulde be takē away. The proprietes of God ar to be infinite, and to be omnipotent. But if they were two sondrie diuided substances, neyther of them shoulde be infinite, nor omnipotent. For where the one wer [Page] the other shold not be, nor where the power of the one, the power of the other. Their substance than of necessite, muste be one, and the same, and yet these words shewe manifestly a difference in the godhead. For it were a great absurdite to sal the worde was with god, if there wer no maner of difference betwene god, and the word. For who can say of one thing hauing no maner of difference, that that thing hath a thyng wyth it. Who canne saye without absurdite in suche a ringe there is a diamonde, and in the diamōde or with the diamonde, there is a diamōd speaking of one only diamond. Thus we may say, in such a ring there is a diamōd and in the diamonde a point, a rase, or a vertue to take awaye the power of the adamāt stone for there is some differēce betwene the point, the rase, & the vertue, & the diamonde it selfe. So thā whā we say a thing is with a thing, there is a differēce betwene the thing with which it is, and the thing that is with it. These words therfore forceably ouerthrowe another heresie, namely of Sabellius, who affirmed, that there was no distinction of persons in the Godhead.
And that these woordes the father, the sonne, and the holy gost were only sondrie titles, and names geuen to one persō as one and the selfe same man may some times be called tall, some times fayre, and some times valiant &c. So he mingled and consounded altogether, teachynge that god the father was sometimes called the father, sometimes the sonne, and sōe times the holy gost.
But we holde leaning to the euidente trueth of Gods worde, these three distīctions, these three sondrie persons, vnmingled, and vnconfounded, so that the father is not the sonne, nor the sonne the holy gost, or the father. As in the sunne that shineth ouer vs, we see three things vnconfounded, and vnmingled. For we consider the sunne by it selfe, the lighte by it selfe, and the heate by it selfe. The light is not the sonne, nor the heate the light, but they be three distinct thinges. I say nor this as though the material sūn could sufficiently expresse the thinges of the godhead. For no creature can expres that mystery. Yea no corporal thyng can expresse a spirituall, and mindly thynge. [Page] But I speake it to shewe you some waye, for the stayeng of vnquiet heades, that sondrie thynges maye be in one vnconfounded, and vnmingled, that is euerye one abiding still in his propre nature.
Now that these three distinctions be in the godhead I wyll brieflye shewe you out of gods worde. And firste I wyll beginne wyth the holy goste. In the .14. of thys gospell the Lorde himselfe sayeth: I wyll entreate the father, and he shall geue you another comforter. This word another, noteth a difference betwene the sonne, and the holy gost. For it can not be sayd of one, and the same hauige no difference that he is another besydes hym selfe. Agayne speakyng of the holy gost in the .16. cha. he shall receaue, sayeth the Lorde Iesus, of myne, and shal shew forth vnto you.
These wordes also declare a plain difference betwene the sonne and the holye gost. For he coulde not haue sayed, he shall take of myne, if there had not been a difference betwene hym that taketh, and him from whom he taketh.
Nowe a difference both betwene the [Page] sonne and the holy gost, & also betwene the father & the holy gost, may be easely and plaīly gathered out of these words: whan the comforter shall come, whom I wil sende vnto you from the father, the spirite of trueth, which procedeth from the father, he shal witnes of me. For ther is a difference betwene him that sendeth and him that is sent, & there is a differēce betwene him that procedeth, & him frō whom he procedeth. And that there is a differēce betwene the father, and the sōne these wordes of the Lorde Iesus teach vs sufficiently, I & the father HEN ESMEN are one. For the plural nōbre noteth two. If there had been no distinctiō betwene the father, & the sōne, he sholde haue said I & the fatheram one, & not ar one. These wordes also that we haue in hande, the worde was with God, proue the same ineuitably, as I haue said.
Here I must warne you of another error, that whā you heare that the worde is with god, & springeth out of god the father, ye imagine not that he departeth and is diuided frō the father, & is a substance a part. For our former example of [Page] the sunne maye teache you that, that is not of necessite. For lighte is with the sunne, & issueth out of the sunne, & yet departeth not, ne is diuided frō the sūne And though no example could shadow the matter vnto vs, yet the trueth is, that goddes sonne is so with god, and so begotten of God, and so springeth from God, that he abydeth still in God. For Goddes nature admytteth no diuision.
And the word was God. As the sentence beefore sheweth a difference betwene God the father, and the sonne in their persons, so thys teacheth an vnitie in substance.
For sith there is but one God, the sonne beeyng God, as S. Iohn clearely techeth, that we myghte bee sure of the sonnes diuinite, he must nedes be of the same substance, that the father is of. Els ether there should be sondri gods, or the sōne shoulde not be naturally God. But the wordes that goe beefore, and these wordes, and the words that folow which assigne to the sonne the makyng of all thinges, proue that he is naturally God. [Page] For what is eternall and without beginning, but god? what was wyth god beefore the world was made, that was not god? how coulde Iohn speakynge of the nature of a thing, that was in the beginning, affirme it to be god, onles it were god? For what substance could there be before any thing was made, that was nether gods substance, nor a creature. For what so is not a creature, and yet hath a being, is surely god. And whereby were all thynges made but by god? For Esaie teacheth that god vsed no minister in makyng the worlde, whan he saieth I alone extended the heauens by my selfe. But he made all thinges by hys sonne, therefore his sonne muste be hymselfe, that is to saye of the same substance, essence, and being. And that there can not be two gods, we haue alreadi proued by gods propretes, and all the scripture cō stantly affirmeth the same. But it is most vehemently taughte in these wordes of Esaie: is there a God besyde me? Before me there was no god framed, nor shalbe after me. The sonne than beyng naturally god, must nedes be of the sāe substāce [Page] and essence that the father is of and so though the father be naturally God, the sonne naturally God &c. yet there bee not three Goddes, but one God, because the substance of those three is one. These wordes also, the worde was God, choke another heresie in my opinion more subtile than the heresie of Arrius. For Paulus Samosatenus and his scolars graūte that the worde was euer with God, but by the worde they vnderstand not a substance, a subsisting essence but only gods purpose which he had eternally to make the world, and to make him a sonne out of the virgin Mary, that shoulde bee a most excellent man, and the saueoure of the worlde. But how can a hare purpose to doe thinges bee called God, whan it hath no subsisting and abiding nature? Forther these wretches see not that by their strange and worse than Platonical imagination, thei make trees, and stones and wormes equall to Goddes sonne in eternite. For they were euer in gods purpose. And yet I thinke they wil sticke to call them gods.
But though thys sentence of S. Iohn [Page] be sufficient to holde their noses to the grinde stone, yet take that with you also that is written in the .17. chap. of this worke, glorifie me father with the glori which I had before the worlde was with thee.
What glorie coulde an onely purpose without substāce haue before the world was with God? Yea how could he be, before the world, if he were in Gods purpose only? For so was the worlde euer with God. How could he reioyce before him whan nothing was yet made, as Salomon teacheth, if he were than but in hys purpose? Nether could this be truly sayed, before Abrahā was, I am, if he wer in the beginning, but onely in Goddes purpose, for so was Abrahā euer in gods purpose.
For God beginneth not newe counsels, and purposes. But his purposes are eternal, & altogether, & he nedeth not time to deuise & purpose one thing after another, which is mans weaknesse. For he seeth all that he wil dooe at once with one sight, whiche if we coulde doe [Page] we would not take one counsell after another. But oure weaknesse compelleth vs so to doe, whiche is farre from God, and therefore all his purposes be in him together, & at once. But sith his sonne was in him before Abraham, it muste nedes be, that he was otherwise in him, than in purpose.
And in dede he that is euer in substāce and beeinge, maye well be saied to bee before him, that was onely euer in purpose, and not in substance, and verie beeing. Thus thys heresye also laieth flatte vpon the grounde with out life, or breathing.
This was in the beginninge with GOD.) The Grekes haue a prouerbe that the thing that is faire, and goodly maye bee repeted once or twise. Saincte Iohn repeteth the verye thinge, that he spake before. And thys he dooeth not superfluouslie, but vpon greate purpose For he will depelie printe in to vs, that GODDES woorde is eternall, withoute beginninge, and no creature.
As if he would say thinke not that this fell from me inconsideratly whan I saied the worde was in the beginninge, and saied not, that it was made. For, that you may be assured for euer of my meaning and of the trueth of the matter, I saye to you againe, that the worde was in the beginning, and had his beyng before any thing was made. That the word I say was eternallye with God, and is no creature. For it was euer with God, and had euer his beeing. This is the diligence of our holy writers, that whan a thing is of great weight, and importance thei will beate it in twise, that it maye sticke the faster.
Althinges) he hath shewed vs the substance, essence and being of the lorde Iesus, nowe he teacheth vs to know hī by his workes. For he sayth that al thinges ware made by him And if all things wer made by him thā he must nedes be god. For God himself saieth in the .44. of Esay, I am Iehoua the maker of al thinges, I only extende the heauens and stretche forth the earth by my self. But the Prophete Dauid saieth that the heauēs wer [Page] made, and stablished by Goddes worde and this place testifieth, that all thynges were made by it, so Goddes worde must nedes be God, forasmuche as God made al thinges alone by himselfe, and yet by his worde.
Here we must beware of sondrye corrupters of the scripture. For some peuishly, and dronkenlye affirme, that. S. Iohn speaketh of God the father, when he saith that al thinges were made by him, beecause the Greke pronowne is indifferent to be interpreted by it or by hī, the word (logos) being the masculine gēder. But how werishe a thing were this, & howe farre beside the purpose, if going about to teache what we shold thinke of gods sonne and of his nature he should write thus: Goddes sōne was in the beginning with God, and was God, he was in the beginning with God and all thinges were made by him, that is to saye by God the father, what were this to his purpose, which is to shewe vs what Goddes sōne is, if he should tell vs that God the father made al thinges? But. S. Paule shal make these dreamers to blushe, and defeate thē [Page] of there miserable shifte, to the sighte of very childrē. For to the colossiās, he writeth thus: geuinge thankes to the father, who hath made vs mete to be partakers of the lott of the sainctes in lighte, who hath deliuered vs oute of the power of darknes, and remoued vs into the kingdome of his beloued sonne, by whō we haue redempcion thorowe his blood, remission of sinnes, which is the image of the inuisible God, the first begotten of euery creature. For in hym or by him wer all thinges made, thinges in heauen and thinges in earth. Therfore, saieth saincte Paule, he is the first begotten of all creatures, because all thinges were made by him.
These wordes can not bee wrested, but that they shall teache that all things were made by the diuine nature of the Lorde Iesus, and so they shall serue to shewe plainly. S. Iohns meaning, beside that the threed of his purpose leadeth vs there vnto.
The Arrians as falsly, but more subtillye saie, that God made all thinges yb [Page] the woorde in dede, but that he made thē by it, as by an instrumente, and minister. But they see not, that so they blaspheme both God the father, and his sonne. If God coulde not make the worlde but by an instrumente, and minister, his power is pinched, and cutte shorte. And if the worde were but an instrumente onely, and minister of anothers will, the glory therof is greatly diminished. We say therfore that God the father made the world by his word working equally together with him.
The good fathers haue laboured to teache vs this matter by similitudes, as heate, say they, worketh together wyth the fier, and odour with a flower. Howbeit they confesse that no similitude taken out of thinges create, canne sufficientlie expresse the thinge. But thoughe no earthly thing canne expresse the matter, of the thinge we are sure, namelye that the father worketh together equallie with the sonne, and the sonne equallye with the father, and that GOD vsed no mynyster in makynge of the [Page] world. For our Lorde sayeth, my father hetherto worketh and I worke, & whatsoeuer he dooeth, that dooeth the sonne like wise.
And that God vsed no instrument, or minister in making thinges, he himselfe teacheth in Esaye, as I haue shewed you, by these words (any Ieuadi, I alone extende the heauens &c. and MEITTI, of my selfe, or by my selfe. Thus whan we say God made all thinges, we exclud not the sonne, and whan we say al thīgs wer made by the sonne, we exclude not the father, and the holy gost, but meane that they wroughte, and euer worke equally together.
And where the Arrians bid vs marke that whan the scriptures speake of the sonne in making, and working, thei vse this worde by whom, and not of whom, we answere that the scriptures speaking of the fathers woorkinge, vse also this worde by whom. God is faythfull saieth S. Paul, by whom you are called to the felowship of his sōne. 1. Cor. 1. And to the. Ro. for, of him and by him, and into hym are all thinges. Rom. 11. Hebru. 2. To the. He. also: it besemed him [Page] for whom are all thinges, and by whom are al thinges. &c. And (of whom) is also applyed to the sonne, as in the .4. to the Ephe. That we maye growe into hī which is the head, of whom the hole body beeing coupled, and ioyned &c. But some will say, that. S. Paul speaketh not there of making of creatures, but of making of his congregacion. I answer that it is no lesse worke of Gods omnipotency to make a spirituall man, and a good man, than to make a man, yea. S. Augustine saieth that it is a greater thīg. And if the Lord Iesus be the aurthor of, goodnes in man, that is to say of that, that is best in man, than is he able inough to be the authour of that, that is lower and requireth les power to be made. So I conclude that he is the maker, and worker of thinges, not as an instrumente, but as an author of whom, and by whom thynges procede. And than I propone this argumente to oure newe Arrians, that, that maketh things, is of another nature, thā the thinges that bee made. But Goddes sonne made al things, so is he of another nature than the thinges, which he made. [Page] [...] [Page] [...] [Page] And if he be of another nature, thā made thinges be of, he is God. For whatsoeuer is not mad, nor of the nature of thīgs made, is God. For there be no more in the worlde nor without the worlde, but god and thinges made. And whatsoeuer is not made, and yet is, is God.
And with oute it nothing was made that was made.) Thus the sentence must holy goe together. For they that knytte the last part to the nexte sentence thus: that was made in it was life, they are faine to vse a newe figure of speche, and in dede to corrupte the scripture, saying that in it was life, is asmuche to say, as it liueth in it. But to liue in Goddes worde and to be life in Gods worde, will not so easely be made alone. And as for the repeticion of the same woordes, it is no rare thing in Hebrewe writers.
To our purpose, whan. S. Iohn saieth that nothing was made withoute it, he saieth the very same thing that he saied, whan he said, that al thinges were made by it, and yet he doeth nothinge vainly but thys repeticion in other woordes, is very necessarie, and verye profitable for [Page] vs, and geueth vs a stronge weapon againste al cauillacions. For in commun speche thys worde (all) comprehendeth not alwaies euery thing particularlye.
Whan Saincte Luke saith, they were al filled with anger in the sinagoge of Nazareth, he meaneth not euerye one none except. For some loued, and fauoured hī in that companye. Saincte Iohn than hath done diligentlye, and wiselye, and happelye for vs, that he was not contente, onelye to saye all thynges were made by it, namelye the woorde, but with a repiticion to vtter the matter againe with suche woordes, as leaue no maner of coloure to wranglers. Nether woulde he vse the worde (OVDEN) whiche signifieth nothinge, but speake more straightlye in my opinion, saying OVDEHEN, neither one thynge as if he woulde say, not so muche as any one thing, thoughe it be neuer so litle. The like diligence and wisdome was in. S. Paule speakinge of the same matter For he thought it not inough to saye all thīgs wer made by the lord, but cōmeth [Page] afterwarde exquisitely, and almost scrupulously to diuisiōs, and patticulary tees saying, whether they be thynges in erth, or thinges in heauen, and so forth. Now than heare my reason: If nothinge were made without him, than he himself was not made, onles you wyll raue, and saye that he is nothynge or that he made hī selfe, sith he is some thyng. But he that made all thinges, cannot be nothīg, neyther coulde he make himselfe before he was. And he that is already, is not to be made. It is playne than that he was neuer made. And if he wer neuer made, but did make all thynges, than is he certaynlye God.
But let the Arrians goe a whyle, and lette vs consider another thinge in these wordes. If al thinges were made by hym than all thinges are in hys power. Wherof than shoulde we be afraide, while we maītaine his cause, and labor to serue hī? For no tiranne, no creature in the world can hurte vs, nor once moue agaynst vs otherwyse than pleaseth hym. For they are all his, he made thē, and therfore they are al vnder hys power. Let vs than cast [Page] awaye al feare, and be of good courage, rage the worlde neuer so muche. For all thynges muste stoupe to hym, and fall downe flatte before hym, that made them, who hath loued vs, and made vs hys brethren, and bought vs to be gods peculiar people wyth the price of his most holy blood. To hym therfore geue all honor, glory, and prayse. Amen.
❧The thirde readynge.
SAinct Iohn as it were with Aegels winges mounting farre aboue the earth, and farre aboue the heauēs to, & admitted into the most secrete closette of the diuine maiestie, sē deth forth from thence such lightninges and thonderinges, as beate downe, confounde, consume, and vtterly wast away all the forces, imaginations, and deuises, of mās carnal witte, and yet lightē, make cleare, and comfort the vnderstandynge [Page] of the Godly being reformed by Gods sprite. For first he soundeth from heauē that God hath a worde, signifyinge the diuine nature of the lord Iesus. And here forthwith Arrius setteth vp his hornes, and because he cannot frame his witte according to the worde, he goeth about to frame the worde according to his witte, as the men of Lesbos had squires & rules of leade, and whan they coulde not make their hard stones agree to their squiers, they woulde stretche oute their squiers, and make them agree to the stones. I graunt, saieth Arrius that God hath a worde, that is of moste excellente nature but this worde God made, and there was a time whan the worde was not. Agaīst this deuise of mans peuishe head. S. Iohn thondreth and lightneth, declaring that the worde was in the beginning. Now of a beginning ther is no beginning, for that were not a beginning indede, that had a beginning. But lest any shold say that a beginninge sōetimes signifieth order, and not excluding of time, as whā Moses saith in the beginning God made heauen, and earth &c. there lieth another [Page] thonderbolte in the worde, was, for thereby is signified that the worde had his being in the beginning, and was neuer made.
Sabellius than, and the patripassians, steppe foorth, and they sai that the word was in the beginning in dede, and had euer his being. For there is no maner of difference, or distinction betwene God the father, and the worde. But. S. Iohn cō sumeth these heretikes with the lightnīg of this sentence, and the worde was with God Paulus Samosatenus thinketh to perce the heauens, and is lifted vp aboue the cloudes with the winges of pride, & saieth that the worde signifieth goddes purpose only to doe thinges without ani subsistīg & abidīg nature. But. S Iohn with this shotte driueth him down vnto hel, whan he saieth the worde was god. For a bare purpose hauing no substance cānot be god, ne said to be god. Thā our most diuine euangelist, that al the world may lerne the diuinite of the word by his works, saith, that al things wer made by the word. Here the Arriās swete, vexe, & torment thē selues, wrigling in and [Page] out, and at the last they breake forth into open blasphemye, and saye that God made the worlde by the worde, as by an instrument.
But. S. Iohn vttering the same sentēce againe with other wordes, namely with these, and without it was made nothing, stoppeth their breath. For if God made the worlde by an instrument, and wythout the worde nothing was made, than the instrument was not made without it if the instrument wer any thing. And so he was not made without himselfe. But he could not helpe to make himselfe before he was. And he that is already, hath no nede to be made. But S. Iohn leaueth them not so, but still hurleth fierie flashes against their faces. For with greate grace and power he saieth, in it was lyfe. From whom procedeth life, but frō the true God onely, of whom it is notablye and sīgularly saied, with the is the veine of life. And againe, in him we liue, moue and haue our beeing.
We may than well make these reasōs if Gods sonne being naturallye life, geueth life to all thinges by participacyon [Page] of him selfe, he is another thā the thīges that liue by his presence. And he that is another thing naturally than a creature, how is not he God? Againe if the sonne be a creature, how quickneth he al thīgs and how doeth. S. Paule assigne that to God as properly, & peculiarly pertainīg vnto him, whan he saieth to Timothe, I charge the in the sight of God, who quikneth all thinges. If the sōne be a creature and geueth life to all thinges, then a creature geueth life to it selfe. And so there shall no principall, and peculiar thing be in God aboue a creature. A creature also shall haue no nede of God for life, sith it geueth it selfe life. But a creature euer hath nede of the creator, so the sonne is not a creature, sith he is life by himselfe. Nothing is partaker of it selfe, all thīges be partakers of the sonne as of their life, so is the sonne no creature.
Now let vs returne to our texte. In it was life saieth. S. Ihon. For not onely all thinges were made by Goddes woorde of nothing, but also all thinges are preserued in their state by Goddes woorde that thei turne not to nothinge againe. [Page] For vndoubtedly al thinges shuld decaie & turne againe to their first nothinge, if goddes sonne did not inspire in to thē life, vigor & force of cōtinuance. And this parte of goddes worcke, where by al thinges cōtinue in their state, is no lesse to be wōdred at, than the makinge of thinges. For where as al thinges made, & hauinge a beginnīge tēde to an ende, by arte, & conninge, he hath giuē thē a certaine immortalitee, & perpetual continuāce. For he hath putte in to thinges such life, vigor, & force of engēdringe, that by successiō thinges that seme to be of a verie shorte cōtinuāce, haue cōtinued manie thousande yeres, and shal cōtinue to the ende, that he hath appointed. In the contemplation of this power of goddes sonne, it is more cōuenient, and more profitable for vs to tarie longe, & to be fixed, than in the contēplation of his diuine substance, essence & beinge, which thorough the excedinge brightnes of it daseleth our weake eyes, & is indede vnto our measured wittes incō prehēsible, and therefore rather to be hūbly worshipped, thā curiously sought out. And the life was the light of mē)
This sentēce is sōdrie wife expoūned. For some thincke that the meaninge is, [Page] that the life which goddes sonne giueth to creatures shulde be a light to men to shew thē goddes sonne. Some take the worde, life, for goddes sonne himselfe, as if. S. Iohā shulde saie, that goddes sonne who is verie life, is the light of mē. Some other gather this sentēce, that the life that goddes sonne giueth to mē, is adorned with vnderstādinge & reason, & aduaūced thereunto where by they excelle al other erthlie creatures. And these two later expositiōs though thei varie some what in expressinge the matter, yet cōme to this ēde, that goddes sōne is the autor of vndrestādinge, & reason in mē. Which is a soūde, & a true sense, & maie be most certainly gathered out of the wordes folowīge, namely these, that was the true light, that lighteneth euerie mā &c. This much thā maie easely be drawē out of this sētēce, that goddes sōne beīge the autor of vndrestādinge, is verie god. For the prophete Esaie in the 28. cha. speakīge of the housbād mānes tillīge of the groūde, & of his cōnīge in threthīge, for he thresheth not out his wheate, cumīe, & fetches with one īstrumēt, in the ēde vseth these wordes: euē this proceded frō Iehoua tsebaoth.
And if none other but Iehoua Tsebaoth were author of that cōninge and discretion than he that is autor of all vnderstanding, and reason must nedes be Iehoua Tsebaoth. And that Gods word that is to say Gods wisdome, is the autor and fountaine of vnderstanding, we are also taught in Salomō, in these wordes, with me is counsel ANI BINA, I am vnderstādīg &c. that is I am the head sprīg of counsel, and vnderstanding.
And the light shineth in darknes) gods sonne geueth great and ample profes of his diuinite, and sendeth forth the glorious shining beames of his heauēly maiestie, but they light vpon blinde eyes, mē see them not thoughe they be neuer so cleare, and so bright. Here. S. Iohn calleth mans vnderstandinge not onelye darke, but very darknes, as though there were no maner of light in it. But how can that be so? Shall we saye that there is no maner of light in mans witte, and vnderstā ding, wherby so mani most wittie thīgs haue ben inuented? What can bee more wittie than the bokes that heathen men haue left vs of logike phisicke, arithmetike, [Page] geometrie, astronomie and of the nature of all thinges? What can be more wittely deuised, than they haue founde out of the fountayne, head spring, & first causes of vertues, of the diuision, and description of them? Was Plato voide of al light of vnderstanding, whan he sayed that God made the worlde because he is good. Was Aristotle drowned ī darknes whan he said that forasmuche as the superioure orbes & ouer bodies doe moue there muste nedes be a first mouer? Was Cicero starke blinde whan he saied that seing no one familie can continew with out otder and prouidence, muche more the hole worlde must be gouerned maintained, and continued by the prouidence of some heauenly minde? What shall we saye of that heathen Philosopher, that laboureth to proue Gods prouidence by this argument. If God, saieth he, gouerne not the world by his prouidence, it is ether because he can not, or because he wil not. If you saye he can not, you abbrige his power. If you say he wil not, you abbrige his goodnes.
To this question than I answere that man [Page] hath so much licht of vnderstādinge, as is sufficiēt to make him voide of al excuse, but not so much as cā directe him to a profitable knowlege of God. He knoweth in dede by the light of nature beside the knowlege that he hath of other natural thinges, that there is a god, but thā that God he forgeth'after his pleasure, & dreameth him to be not such as he is in dede, but such as it liketh him to frame him.
And so setteth vp his awne imaginatiō, his awne dreams, his awne puppette in the stede of God. So that whā we cōme to this questiō, who is the true God of what sorte he is, & wilbe towardes vs, wherein cōsisteth the tru knowlege, & seruice of him, mānes vnderstandinge as S. Iohā here truly writeth, is mere darcknes. And S. Paule agreeth hereunto, writinge to the Cor. Psychicos anthropos, that is a mā endued with a natural soule only, & not renued withe goddes spirite, comprehēdeth not the thinges, that pertaine to goddes spirite. And therefore he praieth that God wil giue the Ephesiās the spirite of wisedom, & reuelatiō, & lightined eyes of the mīde, that thei maie know what the hope of their [Page] callinge is, & the riches of his glorious inhaeritaūce in the Saintes, & what is the excedinge greatnes of his power towarde vs, that beleue. Now if thei colde haue attained to those thinges by natures force, it had bē superfluous to haue praied for thē. It is most tru thā that we ar verie darcknes, and haue blinde eyes of vnderstādinge, vntil they be lightned, not touchinge euerie knowlege of thinges, nor evie knowlege of God, but touchinge the right, tru, & profitable knowlege of God. And yet this is also true that we haue more good vndrestādinge of God, thā we haue good wil to obeie, & serue him, as God. And if our vndrestādinge be darcknes in effecte, as it is indede, & yet is more thā our wil to serue him, how far are we frō God, & godlines? Let this cōsideratiō teache vs humilitee, & stirre vp in vs a cōtinual desire of Goddes merciful assistaūce & aide.
And the darcknes cōprehēded it not. The darcknes of mānes mīde & vnderstā dīge was so thicke & grosse, that though the beames of Goddes sōne shined euerie where, & filled the worlde with light, yet that was fruttles.
For men seeing saw not. As Moses teacheth in these wordes, thy eyes haue seē great signes, and wonders, and god hath not geuen thee an heart to vnderstand, nor eares to heare, nor eyes to see. Our seing then onles God geue new eyes to se is no seeing. This is a plaine testimony that man neuer attaineth to the righte knowledge of God by nature. For being darknes, he beateth of the light, and the light shineth vpon the outside, and perceth not in. Here we muste seke howe this darknes, this blindnes of iudgement is in man, whether he were firste made darke and blind in heart, or whether darknes, and blindnes came afterwarde vpon him. For if he were first made blind, thā there is no faute in him, if he see not the great light, that God sendeth forth. For he was not made to see it. What faute is there in the moale that she seeth not the sunne beames, or in stones that they see not the starres, sith they were so made as they shoulde not see. The holy scripture teacheth that the firste man Adam was made after the image of God, that is furnished with most excellent giftes knowledge, [Page] vnderstanding, and all maner of vertues. He was not than made blinde. But afterwarde through the enuye, and malice of Sathan, and his owne fault, he neglected Gods commaundemente, and so lost those goodly qualitees, and became blinde, and begatte blinde childrē namely such as he was himselfe. This is diligently to be noted, that the faute mal remaine where it is in dede, and not in God, who is the autor of good thīges ō lye, and not of any thinge that is euill, although he dispose in dede, and order all the thinges that man hath infected and made euill. For nothing cōmeth to passe without him. But he appointeth and ordreth where and whan euerye man shall vtter that euil that is in him: that is in hī I say, not by Gods workinge, but by hys owne procuring. For God is not the autor of an adulterous, theuishe or murtherous minde, and yet no man shall put in practise the leacherie that boileth within him, nor the thefte, and murder that lurketh in his heart as often, and wher & whan he will, but only where and whan God will. And therefore. S. Augustyne [Page] saieth that nothīge is dō in the world, that commeth not out of the inner courte of the soueraine Emperor. For this cause we graūte not that God willeth euil thinges to be don, lest he shulde be thought the autor of euil thīges, which is impossible, nether graūte we that he willeth euil thīges not to be dō, or that he nilleth thē to be don, lest he shuld be thought impotēt, & not able to ordre mēnes euils to his glorie, which is false. But this matter we wil leaue to another occasiō, & giue God thāckes for that he hath now permitted vs to speake, who graūte vnto vs al both to acknowlege the darckenes that we haue madly pulled vp on our selues, & also to perceaue the same insome part lightned againe by the beames of his sonnes diuine spirite.
Amē.
The Fourth READINGE. ¶ THERE was a mā sēt of God &c.)
IT is manifestly true, that plaine traces, & euidēt signes of the diuinite & Goddes wisedom the shew thē selues euerie where. For if we lifte vp our yes, & beholde the mouīges, the due courses, & cōstāt ordre of the starres, we shalbe cōstrained to cōfesse, that there must nedes be ā heauēlie mīde, that gaue thē those mouīges, that appoīted to thē those limited courses, & certaine ordre. For where thīges goe by chaūce, there no ordre, no du certaītie is kepte. Againe if we cast doune our eyes, & loke vpō thī ges in the erth, & cōsidre how creatures are preserued, & cōtinued in ther certaīe kīdes, we shalbe led to God as it were by the hāde. For we see that mē begette not horses, nor horses mē, lions begette not wolues, nor wolues beares, birdes brīge not forth fishes, nor fishes conies.
But if thinges went by chance withoute the gouernment of a minde endued with strength and wisdome, these thinges, & many moe monsters should be seen daily and howrely. What nede we to straye farre? we may remaine within our selues and almost touche God. For we see that euery thinge in vs is made to a certaine ende, and vse. The mouth besides other vses, is made to receaue meate, and beecause hard thinges are sometymes to bee taken, the teeth are ready to breake and to grinde them, whan the meate is wel grounde and fitte to passe, there is a condure pipe to conueie it to the stomake, where because the meate must bee more sodden, the liuer is sette vnder as a fier, to geue it heate. Whan the meate is well concocte in the stomake, and turned into a iuce it is sent thens into certaine gutts whiche are small because it shal not passe away to hastely, and from thēce the best and swetest part is drawē vp by innumerable litle veines and deriued to the liuer and there thorough more heate turned into blood. And the warrishe part of that blood is seuered, and sent to the kidneys [Page] & thēce strained out, & conueied to the blader beneth. The hotest part, & fōe of it, which we cal cholere or gal is receued into a litle blader fastened for that purpose to the liuer. The dregges, & earthiest part cōmōly called melāchol. is thrust into the milt. The blood that remaineth is sente oute by a great veine called the gate veine, to the hearte wher it is made hoter, and finer. Whan that is done, ther be arteries to receaue the finest, and purest part of the blood called the vital spirites, whiche bee twise as thicke as the veines, because of the thinnes of the matter that they muste kepe, and there bee veines also to cōuei the rest of the blood into all partes of the body, that no parte be left without norishmēt, and sustināce The remnaunte of the meate whyche is grosse and vnprofitable, hath conueniēte places, where to be receaued, and issues also to be voided out of the body. And because the ill sauour, and sente of those thinges woulde hurte the noble partes that bee aboue, as it were a skinne called the midriffe parteth them a sonder, and kepeth of suche noisances.
Now where thīges be appoīted to certaine ēdes, & vses, chaūce hath no place, but there must nedes be a mīde to appoīte the same. For they cold not be so appoīted by chaūce, yea chaūce wolde oftē sette our mouthes ī our fore heades, & our teeth in our fingers ēdes. Chaūce wold oftē hange our stomakes at our elbowes, & sett our heeles vpō the toppe of our heades, & our eyes in our knees. Chaūce wold iomble al to gether without ordre, without al cōsideratiō of ēde our vse. We nede not thā to goe far for a witnes of the diuinitee. Howbeit though there shine in our selues a thousāde lampes to shew vs God, & a thousāde thousād ī al his other worckes, yet our blindnes is such that we are not thereby rightly directed to God.
Therefore it pleased the goodnes of the almightie, to adde to his worckes the testimonie of his worde, to guide vs more certainly, & familiarly to a iust knowlege of him. This his worde he deliuered to our first graūdfathers, & afterward in more ample wise to Moses, & [Page] the Prophetes, vntil the appoīted time was comme that he wold most largely, & fully reuele him selfe by the in carnatiō of his sonne. To this most glorious, most excellēt, most opē, & most cleare reuelatiō, our Euangelist hasteth, & therefore passeth ouer the patriarches, Moses, and the Prophetes, and beginneth with the testimonie of Iohan Baptiste, the first, and most excellēt preacher of Goddes sonne beinge now clothed with mānes nature.
THERE WAS A MAN &c.)
In Iohan Baptiste al thinges were wonderful, diuine, & aboue mannes nature. His begettinge, his conuersation, his zeale, & manifolde vertues shewed a singular power, & miraculous worckinge of Goddes spirite.
This is he whom the Prophete Esaie painteth forth, & calleth the voice of a crier in the wildernes.
This is he of whom God saieth, beholde I send myn Angel before my face &c.
And agayne, beholde I sende you Elyas the Prophet before that great and terrible day of the Lord cōe. This is he who moued all Iurie with the excellencie of his vertues, and drue men vnto him in to the wildernes, as it had ben with chaīs This is he whose life did so shine, and sēd forth such glistering beames thoroughe oute all the lande, that manye thoughte him to be the promised Messias as we haue in. S. Luke. Whiche is a plaine profe that he was more than wonderfull, who could attaine to suche estimacion among the people. For they were taught out of the Prophetes, that Messias shold be such one, as neuer was before, nor shoulde be afterward. There coulde not than be alleaged a testimonie of greater grauite and auctorite among men then the testimonie of Iohn Baptist. The Euangeliste putteth an emphasis and force in this word, sent, wherby to signifie that gods prouidence did shine in euerye parte of Iohns life & also to geue vs to vnderstād that he was furnished with heauenly auctorite & had the letters of his commission from gods maiestie to be a witnesse [Page] of the diuinitye of his sonne, that hys testimonie myght be vnto vs of no lesse waight, & auctoritie, than if an aū gel had spokē from heauē. But needeth goddes sonne the testimonie of a mā or aūgel, the beames of whose diuinitie shine thorowe out al the worlde, dothe not he him selfe saie, I receiue not the witnes of mē. Knowe ye therfore that Iohā was appointed to be a witnes of the Lorde Iesus, not for his sake, but for oures, not that he needed suche a witnes, but that we needed soche a witnes to helpe our weakenes. And so ye shal not so muche meruel at the thinge as straunge, & vnsittinge, as ye shal haue in reuerēt admiratiō the goodnes of god who wolde so descēd to ayde our infirmitie. A MAN) the hebrues haue two wordes to signifie, a mā Adam & ish, Adam signifieth a mā subiect to mortalitie, miserie, & calamitie, ish signifiethe a mā of reputation. The prophet Dauid comprehēdeth bothe in one verse in the psal. 49. Heare this al ye people &c. bothe childrē of adam & childrē of ish, that is to saie, hye & lowe. [Page] The greeke worde, whiche the Euāgeliste vseth, is, anthropos, & as Plato teacheth, it is made of vp lokinge for the state of māns bodie is vpright, & his face is aduaūced to heauē, he is not bēte downe warde to the grounde after the maner of other beastes, whiche thīg the grekes noted by the name of a mā callīg him, anthropos, an vploker. Thei haue also another worde aner. In the holie scripture written in greke this worde, ā thropos, signifieth a mā compassed with misetie. For in the tēthe of the actes whā Cornelius worshipped Petre, he saide vnto him. Arise I also amāthropos a mortal mā. And againe Paule, & Barnabas, whā at Listres Iuppiters chapelaine wold haue sacrificed vnto thē, rēt their clothes, & cried saiynge: mē why do ye these thinges, we also ar anthropoi, men subiecte to the same passions and miseries that you be. See than the measure that the Euangeliste kepeth. Whā he saieth that Iohā was sent of God, he adorneth him with high autoritee, and setteth him vp on high aboue the commune sorte of men, but vsinge to gether [Page] this worde, anthropos, he tēpereth the matter with iust measure, that no man shuld thincke of Iohā more than he was.
For our nature, & custoume is, ether to aduance men to high, or to abase, and depresse them to low. The lues extolled Iohā Baptiste to high. For some thought that he was no man, but an angel in a mānes bodie. Some toke him for the promised Messias. The Euāgelist weigheth him in a true peare of balance, nether diminishinge anie thinge that God had giuen him, nor addinge more, thā was to be founde in him.
SENT OF GOD) They ar the true, thei ar the fruteful preachers, that ar sent of God. For they bringe the thinges, that they haue lerned of God. Manie runne before they ar sent, and therefore they bringe their awne dreames, fantasies, and homeforged deuises, where with they delight the peoples eares, but in the meane while corrupte theyr hertes, stuffinge them with vanitees.
¶WHOSE NAME WAS IO.)
This name was not giuē him by chaū ce, but appoīted by Goddes special prouidēce. And it beareth in it a cōfortable, & ioiful thīge, signifiynge the acceptatiō, grace, & fauor of God.
This came to be a witnes.) He teacheth the ēde of Iohānes commīge, vocatiō, & office. He came not to gette to hī selfe great praife, & honor thorough the highnes of his knowlege, & excellētie of his vertues, nor to bringe to the people great erthlie cōmoditees, as deliuerāce from their bodilie bōdage vndre which thei groned or to enlarge their ēpire, & dominiō nor to teache thē straūge matters of philosophie, but his great, & most notable vertues serued to this ēde only, to teach & poīte forth to the people Goddes holie one, Goddes sonne, the foūtaine af al blisfulnes, the autor of al good, & profitable knowlege, & of vndrestādinge it selfe.
THAT ALMIGHT beleue)
As the ēde of al preachinge in Goddes ministers is to beare witnes of the lorde Iesus, that he is the light of mēnes [Page] mindes, Goddes sonne, & the lōge promised Messias, so the ēde of hearinge in the hearers is to beleue the same, that thereby they maie enioie the felicitee, that the lorde hath purchased for thē. To beleue is certaīly to be persuaded, & assured in minde thorough the holie gost, that by the lorde Iesus we ar purged frō our sinnes, & made the childrē of God, that by his mānes nature we ar made partakers of his diuinitee, by his mortalitee we haue obtained immortalitee, by his curse euerlastinge blessinge, by his death life, breifely that by his descēdinge in to the erth we ascēde in to heauē.
HE WAS NOT THE LIGHT)
He reproueth the error of the Iues, which toke Iohā Baptist for Christ. Mē beinge naturally liers delight in lies, kisse & embrase them most readily. The Iues were readie to beleue that, that was false of Iohā, namely that he was Messias, but thei wold not beleue that, that was true of Iohā, to witte that he was sēt before to prepare the waie of Messias, & to poīte him forth to the people as it were with his finger. And there was none [Page] other cause, but that the one was false and thother was true. A minde embrued with lies catcheth lies straite waie as pitch catcheth fier. For it is agreinge to his nature, and there is a kindred, & consanguinitee betwene them. It abhorreth truth bicause there is no likenes of nature, no felowship betwene truth, & mānes corrupte mīde.
But to beare witnes) The Euāgelist repeteth againe that Iohā Baptistes office, & highest dignitee was to be a witnes of the light, namely of Goddes sonne, and to teach the people to seke light at his handes, and there to lightē theyr candeles. And he is not to be aduanced aboue that office, and dignitee, which is as great in dede as cā be giuē to a mā.
That was the true light) Here the Euāgelist putteth a differēce betwene light, & light: Iohan was a light in dede, as the lorde saieth, he was a candel burninge & shininge. And Goddes ministers ar called the light of the world. But their light is a borowed light, a light giuen vnto them, & not [Page] naturally dwellinge in them. The cā del hath no light of it selfe, but hath light put in to it from another. This place plainly seuereth the lorde Iesus frō creatures. For it affirmeth him to be the true light, & denieth them to be the tru light. The lorde Iesus is light by nature, creatures by borowinge of another. He giueth light, creatures receaue light. They nede light, bicause thei haue none by nature. He is ful of light, & geueth light to them, that nede.
Seinge thā that there is so great difference betwene the lordes light, & mannes light, the lorde must nedes be of another nature, than a creature. For if a creature colde be tru light, it colde not be saide of the sonne only, that he is the true light. But bicause a creature is not the true light, and Goddes sonne is the true light, therefore Goddes sonne is anorher thinge than a creature.
No creature can shine, and giue light of it selue by nature, Goddes sonne shineth, and giueth light of him selfe naturally, (for he is the truelight) so he is no creature.
THAT LIGHTNETH euerie mā &c.) The lorde Iesus lighteneth two waies. One waie in giuinge commune vnderstādinge reason, & knowlege of hī selfe to al mē, so far as that thei maie pronoūce sentēce against themselues, & be cōstrained to acknowlege theyr iust dānatiō. For this much light the reprobate haue remaininge, as to know that there is a God, & to discerne good from euil, honest from dishonest, which sparckes thorough their awne nawghtines, & Satās malice thei dayly labor to choke, & quēche. Thother light is a special light, whereby Goddes sonne giueth a ful knowlege of him selfe to his chosen, to his chosen I saie only. S. Augustine thincketh that the Euangeliste speaketh here of this later illuminatinge, & lightninge. And bicause the Pelagiās toke holde thereby, & saide, that al mē were thus fully illuminated, S. Augustine saieth that it is a phrase & maner of speakinge, that proueth not, that Goddes sonne after that sorte lightneth al mē, but that thei which ar lightned, ar lightned by him. As whā we saie, [Page] this scolemaster teacheth al the childrē in the Citie, we meane not saieth he, that he teacheth in dede al the childrē, that be in the Citie, for in a Citie a great meanie goe not to scole, but we meane that he teacheth as manie as go to scole, & are there taught.
But it shal not be amisse to vndrestād by this lightninge the general lightninge, the general knowlege that al mē haue by nature. For as I saide the reprobate haue some sparckes of knowlege after the ruine of mānes nature, but thei giue thē not light to see the waie to heauen. And where the free wil mē would proue by this place, that al mē haue like light giuē vnto them, they ar cōfuted by the wordes of the Euāgelist that folow. For not withstādinge this light, that Goddes sonne giueth to al mē, the world knew him not. This general light thā shineth not to heauē, but tarieth vpō the erth, I meane it brīgeth not men to true knowlege, & faith, but commeth a great waie to shorte, & faileth a greate while before. That other light shineth so, as it sheweth perfectely [Page] and effectually to Goddes chosē the waie to heauen, here note that Goddes sonne lightneth al mē in al ages. For that proueth him vndoubtedly to be the true God.
¶ HE was in the worlde) Some vndrestande this of his incarnatiō, & conuersation vpō the erth, after he had putte on mānes nature. Some of his vertue & power, whereby he hath bē euer in the worlde, and hath euer sent forth such beames of his diuinitee, as whereby mē might haue seen him, if thei had not blinded their awn eyes.
AND the worlde was made by him) Of this bicause it hath ben largely spokē before, I wil sette forth ōly these reasons, & procede in the texte. He by whom the world was made, is a creator. A creator is another thinge thā a creature. For it is one thinge that maketh, and createth, and another that is made, and created. If it were not so, a creature shulde be aduaunced to the name of a creator. And a creator shulde be abased to the name of a creature, and God ō ly shuld not create, but a creature shuld [Page] also haue power to create. But sith this cā not be so, the lorde Iesus beīge a creator, must nedes be God, & no creature. AND the worlde knew him not)
The worlde in this place signifieth al mē. For it cā not be taken in a straiter sense in the sentēce goinge before, the world was made by him. In other places of the scriptures, the world signifieth the reprobate only. Here the worlde is cōdemned of vnthancfulnes, & vnkindnes, that it hath not embtased, but shamefully refused, and reiected his maker. It is vnnatural, it is horrible, & abominable, that mē shuld not acknowlege him, by whō thei haue euē this that thei be mē.
HE cam in to his awna) The Iues were called Goddes peculiar people, goddes awne people, bicause that though al nations ar his, yet of his only mercie, he chose thē, to whom he wold committe his holie worde, & sacramētes, & amō ge whō he wolde haue an opē face of his churche. In this place. s. Io. calleth thē not his awne, bicause thei were his chosē, but bicause thei bare the name of his people, & the title of his churche.
¶ AND his awne receaued him not)
This sentence shuld draw riuers of teares out of al eyes, that the gratious lorde who not ōly made that natiō of nothinge, but also aduāced it aboue al other natiōs with singular benifites, & blessinges, was not ōly neglected of them, whā for their sakes he humbled him selfe to the state of a mortal mā, but also most shamefully, & most despitefully reiected & as it were hurled awaie.
¶ BVT AS manie as receaued &c.)
These wordes declare what profite the cōminge of the lorde Iesus hath brought in to the worlde, what treasures God hath giuen vs by him, & by what meanes the same be applied vnto vs, & made our awne. The comminge, & incarnatiō of the lorde Iesus, hath brought this benifite in to the worlde, that as manie as receaue him by faith, whether they be lues or gentiles be made Goddes children. The greatnes of which benifite no harte can thincke, much lesse anie tonge expresse. For what a thinge is this, that beggers brattes, most miserable, poore, & wretched caitiues, [Page] yea Satans vgle lothsome, and detestable mishapen children shuld be made kinges, not ouer a few landes, but ouer all the erth, and heauen to, and garnished with angelike brightnes, and inestimable beautie. Assuredly this can neuer be thought vpō, this can neuer be wondred at inough.
¶ AS RECEAVED) They receaue him, that acknowlege him to be Goddes son, and that he became man, & in mannes nature died for the purgation and satisfaction of their sinnes, breifely to receaue here signifieth to beleue, as S. Iohan maketh the exposition him selfe in the wordes folowinge. HE GAVE them power) The idols men wringe this place to the maintenāce of free wil. For they vnderstande that choise hereby is giuen vs to be the children of God if we wil, or to refuse the same. But S. Iohan declareth forthwith in the wordes folowinge, that Goddes children are not made by the wil of the flesh, but whan they be begotten of God. Goddes begettinge maketh vs Gōddes children, and we ar not left to our choise, [Page] with a power whereby to make our selues Goddes childrē, but we ar Goddes children al readie whan he hath begottē vs. For he begetteth perfectly, he begetteth not mōsters halfe childrē or a lūpe of matter, where of childrē maie be made afterwarde. And the greke worde that S. Io. vseth, is not, dynamis, which signifieth power, but, exousia, which signifieth dignitee, & auctoritee. Here riseth a question if Goddes chosen were by predestination his childrē before the beginninge of the world, how agreeth it, that thā they ar made his childrē, whā thei beleue. For they were his children before, beinge his chosen, & predestinate. It is true that God made those his childrē that euer shulde be his childrē in his purpose thorough free electiō, before the worlde was made. But this thei fele nat, vntil God by his holie spirite kendle faith in them, and assure them of that, that they were before.
And here also I wil giue you an other thinge to note. S. Iohan saieth that as manie as beleue ar Goddes sonnes. But none ar now Goddes sonnes, that were not euer Goddes sonnes in his infallible [Page] purpose, that is, none ar Goddes sonnes, but his chosen. So thei that beleue in dede, ar Goddes chosen, & therefore can neuer perishe. For God can nether bē deceaued in his choosinge, nor is a chaūgelinge to altre the thinge that he hath once purposed. Nether hangeth he vpon mannes behauior suspendinge his determinatiō, but al his purposes ar stablished to gether sure & certaine, & thei stāde fast for euer, beinge ōce for al decreed. You wil graūte perchaū ce, that Goddes election is sure, & infallible, but yet you can not be so one persuaded, that al that beleue ar Goddes chosen. For Simō Magus beleued, and in the parable of the sower, the lorde speaketh of some, which haue faith for a time
I aūswere that those & such had neuer the faith of Goddes children. But how shal we know, wil you saie, that we haue the faith of goddes childrē, seīge there is another faith besides, which maie begile vs. I aūswere that whā we haue such faith as brīgeth forth a felīge of the swetenes of goddes mercie in Christ Ies. & an vnfained loue towardes God, we haue the faith of Goddes Children. And ar [Page] and ar sealed vp by Goddes spirite, and haue the sure, and infallible ernest of euerlastinge life.
IN HIS NAME) It is more liuelie, and more ample, and of greater maiestie, whan it is said to them that beleue in his name, than if it had ben saide to them that beleue in him. The scole men in dede putte a difference betwene credere deum, credere deo, & credere in deum. Credere deum with them, is to beleue that there is a God. Credere deo, is to beleue Goddes saiynges. Credere in deum, is to trust in God, and to loue him. And therefore S. Augustine saieth that to beleue in God, is in beleuinge to loue him, and in louinge, to trust in him. But the scripture obserueth not this distinction. For in the 14. of Exod. we haue that whan the Israhelites saw the Aegyptiās ouerthrowen by Goddes power, thei beleued BAIHOVA, ou be Mosheh abdo. i. in Iehoua, and in Moses his seruant. And againe in the .19. God saieth to Moses, I wil cōme doūne to the in a thicke cloud, that the people maye heare me speakinge [Page] with the, and beleue 'BECHA, that is, in the &c. But is neuer saide that anie beleued in the name of a mā. For name to the hebrues signifieth power, as whan S. Paule saieth, that God gaue the lorde Iesus a name aboue al names he meaneth plaīly power aboue al power. So to beleue in the name of Iesus, importeth necessarely that he is God.
WHICHE neyther of bloude) Some thincke that this is a figure called in greke, pleonasmos, wherby manye woordes are heaped together, to signify one thīg. For they saie, that these wordes, of bloudes, of the wil of the flesh, & of the wil of mā, signifie one thing, namely carnal natiuitye & generation, & so thei teache that mē beget carnall childrē onely, & God begetteth spiritual childrē. And in deede mās generation makethe vs not Goddes childrē, we muste be regēdred by God, to be his childrē. Other thincke that he numbreth vp by partes al that is excellēt in mā, & where in he maie seeme to haue some affiaunce, to atteyne to the dignitie of Goddes sonne. And that so he [Page] teacheth that by no auncitrie, no priuilege of bloude, by no holines of fore fathers, nor anie maner of strēgth or faculte in mankinde, mā atcheueth the place of Goddes sōnes. Bothe expositiō is tēde to this end, that we are not made holie by anie force of nature, but by the grace and mercie of God regeneratinge and newe begettinge vs, and that is plainely S. Iohās meaninge. The wil of mā. S. Iohā vsethe for the wil of anie mā for so the hebreus vse the word, ish, mā, for euerie mā.
BEGOTTEN) God begetteth vs, whā accordinge to his aeternal purpose & electiō, he puttethe his spirite into vs, and by his force plāteth faith in our hartes, to embrace his worde, & reneweth our mindes, & frameth thē againe vnto true holines & righteousnes.
God graūt that we maie al feele that we ar begotten of God, & that considering the high dignitie where vnto we are called, we occupie not ourselues, vnsemely in vile offices, but trauaile al the daies of oure lyfe in suche thinges, as aduaunce the glorie of our heauenlie father. Amen.
❧ The Fift READING.
VVith verie few, but the same most pithie, semelie, & apte wordes the Euāgelist hath declared vnto vs the diuine nature of the Lorde Iesus, & his power shewed forth, & sette abrode to the sight af al men, by his most wondreful worckes. For by this Godhead, & diuine nature of the Lorde Iesus, bothe al thinges were first made of nothinge, and now also al thinges ar preserued, & cōtinued in their state that they returne not to nothinge. By it al thinges liue, moue, & haue their beinge. By it mā, wherein he excelleth other liuinge creatures, is furnished with the light of reason, & vndrestandinge which though thorough mānes faute, it be now greately blemished, & darckned yet the sparckes remaininge suffice to shew so much vnto vs of goddes sōne, as maie iustly cōdēne vs of wilful ignorāce.
The beames of his glorie euer shined in dede, & yet do shine euerie where to the sight of al mē, & mā was so first made by him, as he might perfectly see thē.
But he fondly folowinge Satās aduise wold see more thā was cōueniēt, & so lost the sight that he had, or at the lest so blurred, & marred it, that where before his eyes perced in to the glorie of Goddes maiestie, & cold wel abide the brightnes there of, now thei be so blūt that thei can not entre, & so weake that thei ar streight waie daseld, and blinded with so great glisteringe light. Yet it hath pleased God to helpe this weaknes other waies thā by the sight of his wondreful worckes, but most cheifely, clearely, & perfectly by clothinge his sonne, with mānes nature, which thinge our Euāgeliste teacheth with like compēdiousnes, & shortnes of wordes saiynge, & the worde became flesh. The heathē sette forth the meruailous conninge of Vergil in cōpēdious, & shorte speakinge, whan he saide that Aeneas passed by the fildes, where Troie was. For with one worde, saie thei, he swalowed vp so [Page] manie houses, tēples, towers, huge buildinges, & walles and left not so much as the ruines, & rubbish. But if we wel cōsidre the matter, we shal se that our Euangeliste hath comprehēded more thī ges, makīge to the purpose with as few wordes. For by these few wordes, the worde became flesh, he teacheth, that Goddes natural sonne, so ioigned vnto him mānes nature, that of two natures one person was made, which thīge cold not haue ben vttered with other wordes so shortely, & so pithely to the purpose. For if he had saied, that Goddes sonne ioigned vnto him mānes nature, it had ben truly spokē in dede, but it had not so wel expressed the vnitee of person. For an husbande ioigneth vnto him a wife, & yet thei grow not in to one person, after such sorte as the soule, & the bodie make one person in a man.
For the soule is not one person, & the bodie another person, but they both make one person namely a man. But an husbāde not witstandinge his ioigninge of a wife vnto him, remaineth one person, & the wife another person, & they [Page] be two persons, not one. Therefore the worde ioigninge shuld not haue so fully expressed the matter. For this ioigninge is a special, & singular ioignī ge. For Goddes nature is so ioigned to mānes, that one persō is made of bothe, namely one Christ, as of the bodie, and the soule one mā is made. And this is verie necessarie for vs to know. For if we imagine the lordes māhod, a nature a parte, & his Godhead a nature a parte, with out such a singular cōiunction, & vnion, that of both natures one person is made, as the haeretike Nestorius did, thā the lorde Iesus cold not be a mete mediator betwē God & vs, nor make a sufficiēt satisfaction, & redemption for the sinnes of the worlde. For a mediator betwene God & mā must be partaker of both natures. And a sufficiēt redemer of al the worlde he can not be, that is a mā only. For how cā a mā satisfie the infinite iustice of God, ouercō me Satā, hel, & death, and giue life? Therefore the holie scripture teacheth, that the lorde Iesus was not, theophoros, as Nestorius dreamed, a mā in whō god [Page] was, whom Gud assisted, & with whom God was presēt, for God is also in vs, but in him the godhead was so knitte, & vnited to his māhod, as those twaine made one person. And so it is wel & truly saide that God purchased his, cōgregation with his blood, and that the lorde of glorie, that is to saie, God was crucified, not that he suffred in his diuine nature, but bycause those two natures ioigned vnspeakably together make one persō, therefore that the one nature did, and suffred, is attributed to thother, & some times to bothe together, that pertaīeth to one only. Which colde not be, if thei were two sondrie persons. As if the soule were a person alone by it selfe, & the bodie a person alone by it selfe, the soule shuld not so be saide to do, or suffre that the bodie did, ot suffred, nor the bodie, that the soule did de or suffred, nor the hole man, that one parte only did or suffred, which thinges yet we now admitte, bicause of the vnitee of the person. We must know than this vnitee of person in the lorde Iesus, [Page] God & man which the Euāgelist meruailously teacheth in these wordes.
But where he saieth, the worde became flesh, he meaneth that the worde abode stil though it became flesh, that the worde I saie was not chaūged turned, & altered from his awn nature in to flesh.
For some auoidinge Nestorius haeresie, who made two persons in Christ, fled the smoke, & rāne ī to the fier. For ether thei turned the diuine nature in to mannes nature, or mānes nature in to the diuine, or so confused, and mēgled the two natures together that nether nature remained perfectly, as whan wine & water ar mēgled to gether there remaineth nether perfectte wine nor perfectte water. In our time also some Anabaptistes haue taught, that the diuine nature was turned in to flesh for a time, & became felcable, and that now the lordes flesh is turned in to his diuine nature againe, and is no more flesh. Which dreame is to to sonde. For it implieth a plaine impossibilitee. For it is as impossible for goddes nature to be altered, & chaunged, as it is impossible for it to cease to be Goddes [Page] nature. For what so euer maie be altered, and chaunged, hath an imperfection in it, & is subiecte to passiōs. But Goddes nature hath no imperfectiō, nor is subiecte to passiōs, for that were not to be God, so his nature cā not be chaū ged. We must therefore so cōfesse, & beleue the ioigninge to gether, & vnitinge of two natures in Christ, that we mēgle thē not together, nor turne thone in to the other, but that eche remaine stil in his awne propre nature. The Godhead is not the māhod, nor the mā hod, the Godhead. The Godhead is a nature by it selfe, & the māhod a nature by it selfe, & of those two natures ona Christ consisteth. This vnitinge together of two natures, Cyrille laboureth to teach weake vnderstādinges by a similitude, though similitudes in this behalfe haue some imperfection. These be his wordes: Esaie the prophete saieth, one of the Seraphins was sent vnto me, & he had a coale in his hande, which he toke from the altar, & he saide beholde I haue touched thy lippes with this, & it shal purge thine iniquitee. We saye [Page] that the fiere coale giuēth vnto vs a figure and image of the worde made mā. Which if it shal touch our lippes, that is to saie, if thorough faith we shal cōfesse it, it maketh vs pure from al sinne. But as it were in an image we maie beholde in the coale God the worde vnited to mannes nature, & yet that he hath not cast awai, that he was before, but hath rather trāsformed the nature which he receaued, to his glorie & operation.
For as fier fixed in the woodde, & percinge in to it, cōprehēdeth the wood, & though the wood cease not to be wood stil, yet the fier sendeth his force in to it, & cōueieth it selfe in to it, and is now thought to be one with it, so vndrestā de of Christ. For God beinge incomprehēsibly vnited to mānes nature, hath in that kepte the same, that he was, & he remaineth stille that he was, but yet beinge once vnited, he is compted as it were one with mānes nature, makinge that, that pertained to it his awne, & giuinge it the operation of his nature. Hitherto Cyrille. He vseth also in this [Page] matter the similitude of mannes bodie and soule ioign'd together, which in dede expresseth it of al other most proprely. For the soule is not turned in to the bodie, nor the bodie in to the soule, but ech retaineth his propre nature, & maketh one mā.
AND the word) In that he saieh the worde became flesh, & not man, he sheweth how far Goddes sonne hūbled and abased him selfe. For the scripture calleth man flesh, whan it wil signifie the pouertie, vilenes, and miserie of man. As whan it is saide al flesh is grasse, and he remembred, that they were but flesh, & my spirite shal not euer striue in man, for he is flesh. But whā the Euangelist saieth, the worde became flesh, we maie not imagine, that Goddes sonne ioigned to his diuine nature flesh only, and not mannes soule as Appollinaris thought in his traūce, that flesh, and the Godhead made one person in Christ without mannes soule.
For he imagined that the diuinitee was in stede of a soule.
But so it shuld folow, that the lorde Iesus was not a verie mā. For flesh is not a man. For the soule is the formal parte of a mā, namely that whereby a man is a mā, & with out which a mā can not be. And that the lord had a mānes soule beside his diuinitee, he him selfe testifieth, whā he saieth, my soule is heauie vnto the death. Nether cā Apollinaris aide him selfe with this place. For whā the scripture calleth mē flesh, it meaneth not that thei ar without soules. For thā thei were no mē in dede.
Here we must know also from whens Goddes sonne became flesh. For we maie not thīcke that he brought his flesh from heauē, or made it in the aire. For the holie scripture teacheth, that he shulde cōme of the sede of Abrahā, & Dauid, & shuld be the fruite of his loines. For such plaine wordes it vseth to assure vs of the truth of so necessarie a matter, & vtterly to stoppe the mouthes of dotinge mē. And in the writers of the new testamēt, it is most plainly sette forth vnto vs, that he receaued flesh out of the substāce of the virgin Marie. For. S. [Page] Mattheu hath these wordes (to gar en aute gennethen) that which is engendred in hir, &. S. Paule (genomenon ekgynaicos) made of a womā, & the Angel in S. Luke (ho karpos) the frute of thy wombe. The frute of a tree is of the same substāce, that the tree is of. That which only passeth thorough a thinge, is not the frute of that thinge. For water is not the frute of the cōducte pipe, nor ale the frute of the spickette, or of the kinderkinne. Against this most manifest truth wherein the pith of our saluatiō lieth, the franctike Anabaptistes brī ge two prīcipal reasons, I wot not whether more ignorātly, or more vngodly. For first thei saie that if the lorde receaued our flesh, he receaued vncleane flesh. But iudge you whether al the scriptures be they neuer so plaine must giue place to this their simple imagination, or whether their simple imagination shuld giue place to so manie plaine scriptures.
But first I aske them whether God cold not make cleane our vncleane flesh, or wold not. If thei saie he colde nor, they limitte his power ouer much. If thei saie [Page] he wolde not, we wil hisse them out.
For if God of his goodnes wolde make his sonne to die for vs, he wolde of his goodnes make his flesh cleane for vs.
Secondly laske them why God wold haue his sonne to be borne of a virgine, & not to be begottē betwene mā, and womā, after the commune course of the worlde. Doeth not that teache vs that he mēt to make his sonnes flesh pure & holie? Yea doeth not the angel so signifie in Luke, whan he saieth, the holie gost shal comme vpō the, & the power of the highest shal ouersshadow the, for which cause the holie thinge to gennomenō, that is engēdred, shalbe called Goddes sonne. But this their reason hath no weight, bicause it is ōly forged in mānes braine. Thother is takē out of the scripture. For S. Paule to the Cor. writeth thus: The first man was of the erth, erthlie. The secōde mā is the lorde from heauē. In which place S. Paules purpose is not to speake of the substā ce of our bodies, or of the substance of the lordes bodie, but of the qualities, as the wordes folowinge declare, hoios, of [Page] what qualitee the erthlie was, of that qualitie ar the erthlie, & of what qualitee the heauēlie is, of that qualitee ar the heauēlie. This thā is the sense. The first mā was of the erth, erthlie, that is subiecte to sinne & corrupte affectiōs, which bringe death. The secōde heauēlie, that is ful of heauēlie qualities, which thorough the power of Goddes spirite draw with them life, & immortalitte. As we bare the image of the erthlie, that is were sinful, and therefore compassed with death, so shal we beare the image of the heauenlie, that is our spirites shalbe renued to tru holines, & our bodies to immortalitee. Wherefore whā he saieth the seconde mā is the lorde from heauē, he meaneth not that he brought his bodie from heauen, but that he is heauenly, as he expouneth himselfe, that is endued with heauēlie qualities.
Now to procede in our former purpose, it shalbe good to seke out the causes why Goddes sonne became flesh, or as Sainct Paule speaketh why God was manifested in flesh.
And no man can shew vs thē more certainly than S. Paule hath don to the Hebru. For there he teacheth vs, that the cheife, and principal cause was, that by death he might destroie him that had deathes power, that is Satan. For Satan had power ov vs, to punish vs with death, bicause we were sinners. And sinne cold not be purged but in the flesh of Goddes sonne. If he had remained God only, purgation, and satisfactiō, for sinne cold not haue bē made by him.
For the Godhead cold not suffre, nor shew obedience. But sith thorough disobedience sinne came in to the world, it must be putte awaye thorough obedience, which required mannes nature.
Howbeit if he had ben man only, he could not haue ouercomme death, nether shuld his satisfaction haue ben sufficient for the sinnes of al the world, as we touched before, yea scarcely for the sinnes of one man. For the maiestie of God that is offended thorough sinne, is infinite.
And therefore he must be no lesse, that shal make satisfaction to that maiestie.
It was than of necessitee that God shuld [Page] becomme mā.
Another cause was that he might be made like to his brethern, sinne only excepte. For as S. Paule writeth it was semelie for him, for whom, & by whom al thinges ar, whā he wold bringe manie childrē to glorie, to make the high capitaine of their saluation perfecte thorough suffringes. For he that sanctifieth, & thei that be sanctifieed ar al of one. For which cause he is not ashamed to cal them brethern, saiynge, I wil shew forth thy name to my brethern and againe I wil trust in him, and againe, lo I & the childrē, whom God hath giuē me. Seinge than that the childrē were partakers of flesh, & blood, he likewise became partaker of the same &c.
A thirde cause S. Paule reherseth, & that is that he might be merciful, & pitie the miserie of his people, hauīge felt tētations him selfe, that is to saie, that we might be the better persuaded, and certified that he wold pitie vs, knowinge that he had experiēce and felinge of our miseries & griefes in himselfe.
For we cā not thincke that anie shuld pitie [Page] vs so wel, as he that feleth, or hath felt the same grife & smarte that we do.
To returne to S. Io. in thes his wordes, the worde became flesh, we haue a sī gular consolation, in that I saie Goddes sonne hath takē flesh of our flesh, & bones, of our bones. For so haue we a nigh affinitee, & familiaritee with God. And so that, that was ours, is made Goddes, and that, that was Goddes, is made ours. And we cā not doubte but that he wil do al thīges for vs, who beinge God wold familiarly be ioigned to vs in our nature. In tētations, & wrastlinges of cōscience, let vs flie hereunto, & cōsidre this great goodnes, & excedinge loue, & frēdlines, & we shal be relieued & preserued frō the baleful pit of despeare,
AND dwelt) The greke worde escenosen, is asmuch to saie, as he made his tabernacle. Whereby the Euāgelist signifieth, that he was cōuersant amonge them, as a verie mā, & that he shewed not him selfe the twincklinge of an eye, & so vanished awaie, but had his abode, & cōtinued amōge thē longe time, whereby thei might haue sure, & certaine [Page] experience of his godlie behauior, of his singular vertues, and of his wondreful worckes. Some thincke that by this worde is signified, that the lorde Iesus had no certaine dwellinge place in this world, but was faine to flitte often, and remoue. For so do thei that dwel in tentes, & tabernacles.
In vs) Chrysostome taketh (in vs) for in our flesh, and vnderstandeth, that the humanitee of Christ was a tabernacle to the diuinitee, & so frameth this argumēt against the haeretikes, that affirmed the worde to be turned in to flesh.
The word dwelt in flesh, ergo the worde was not turned in to flesh, and made flesh only. For nothinge dwelleth in it selfe. It is also true that it is taken for amonge, in manie places of the scripture. One shal suffice for this purpose Act. 4. There was not one nedie, enautois, in them, that is to saie amonge them. The worde, escenosen, he made his tente or tabernacle, fauoreth some what Chrysostomes vnderstandinge.
AND we haue seen) Now the Euāgelist brīgeth his awne experiēe, & the experiēce of thother Apostles, & disciples, which with their awne eyes saw such actes of the lorde Iesus, as proued hī to be Goddes only begottē sonne. The Latines haue a prouerbe, that one eyed witnes is worth tē eared. Of those thinges which we haue seen with our awne eyes we maye be faithful witnesses.
Thapostles bicause thei saw the thīges thē selues, which thei witnessed to the worlde ar called in the holie scripture, with a meruailous elegāt worde, autoptai, selfe seers, &, epoptai, inseers, or onbeholders.
WE haue seen) Where the Grekes haue sondrie wordes, that signifie to see, the Euāgelist vseth a special one, etheasametha, which signifieth to beholde a thinge diligētly, & leasurely. We maie see thinges glaunsingly, which sight is not so perfecte, & certaine, as whā we beholde a thinge stedfastly, & leasurely.
The Grekes haue propre wordes for both kindes of seinge. The thinges that thapostles saw, thei so saw, as they cold [Page] not be deceaued, & therefore they ar called, peplerophoremena, fully ascertained.
His glorie) The diuinitee of the lorde Iesus shined out of his wordes, & dedes at al times, & in al places. His uertuous, & innocēt life, his miracles, his resurrection, his ascension, & sendinge of the holie gost, did speake, & as it were, crie out that he was Goddes sonne. He gaue them also a tast of his diuinitee, & heauēlye maiestie, whā he was most gloriously transfigured before them in the moūt. But how do miracles proue the diuinitee of Christ, seinge that mē haue don the like, as Elias and Elizeus in the old testamēt, and thapostles in the new. You shal vndrestāde, that the lorde Iesus did miracles by his awne power, which the scripture obserueth diligētly, & teacheth plaīly, where mē do thē by a borowed power. Of the lorde worckīge miracles the scripture saieth, I saie vnto the arise, I charge the go out. Of mē, the lorde Iesus make the hole, in the name of the lorde Iesus arise, & walke. Man receaueth power to worcke miracles, [Page] God giueth power. But the scripture witnesseth that the lorde Iesus giueth also power to worcke miracles, & that in his awne name. Whereby we easely see the differēce of the lordes worckinge & of mēnes worckinge of miracles.
The glorie as of) We behelde such glorie, & magnificēce, as besemeth goddes only begottē sonne, & agreeth only to him. The worde, as, some times signifieth not the thinge to be in dede, but a likenes of it, as whā we saie, he speaketh holily, as a good mā, but he is an hypocrite. Some times it noteth the truth of a matter & a thinge truly to be don. Walke as the childrē of light saieth Paule. He biddeth thē not coūtrefaite the childrē of light, but to shew them selues the childrē of light in dede. After such sorte. S. Iohā vseth the worde, as, for he meaneth that such vertue, such power, as he had, declared him to be verely goddes natural sonne, & that such thinges, as he did, belonge to Goddes sonne only, nether can be found in anie other.
As if we shulde saie of the most noble, holie, and blessed kinge Edwarde the sixte, [Page] that he behaued himselfe, as a kinges sonne, our meaninge shuld not be, that he was not a kinges sonne, but shewed him selfe as though he had ben a kinges sonne, but our meaninge shuld be, that he shewed him selfe none other wise, than his birth required, that is none other wise, than a kinges sonne shuld do.
To our purpose, Kinges, and Princes haue their glorie, and their maiestie semelie for their state, the Lorde Iesus had glorie semelie for Goddes sonne.
¶ THE ONLY BEGOTTEN)
This word auanceth the Lorde Iesus aboue al creatures, and teacheth him to be Goddes natural son. We ar also called Goddes sonnes, but that is by adoption, by fauor, by grace, & not by natural generation. By natural generation God hath one only sonne, who of his goodnes, & mercie hath made vs partakers of that, that he is by nature.
This word, only begotten, ought wel to be weighed. For it teacheth the Lorde Iesus to be of the same substance, that the father is of, and [Page] and therefore verie God, and aequal to the father. For these thinges hange together, & folow one another. For our Euāgelist teacheth in the .5. chap. that whan the lorde Iesus saied, God was his father, he mēt, patera idion, his awne father, that is his natural father, & therefore shewed him selfe aequal to God.
For it foloweth in dede, that if God be his awne father, that is to saie, his father by natural generation, he must nedes be aequal to God his father, For in the Godhead there is nothinge greater, or smaller. He that is of Goddes substā ce must nedes be God. And he that is God must nedes be infinite, aboue al measure, & greatnes. So to be Goddes, ō ly begottē sonne, & God to be his awne father, bothe which wordes this Euā gelist hath of the lorde Iesus, ovthroweth al that maie be diuised by anie rauī ge braine against his tru, & natural godhead. Yet the Arrians lille out theyr blasphemous tounges stil, & francticly allege the scriptures for them. For first thei iangle that it is writtē in this gospel, the father is greater thā I. Wherevnto [Page] first I saye that one place of this gospel is not to be expouned agaīst the hole purpose of the boke, which is to teach that the lorde Iesus is Goddes natural sonne, & aequal to God. And sith the Euangelist hath this worde aequal plainly and expressely, thei shew themselues mad that wold make him to encoūtre agaīst himselfe. Secōdly I saie that in that place the lorde Iesus compareth not his substance, with the fathers substāce, but compareth his present hū ble state, with the glorious state, that he shulde haue after his ascēsion. And therefore al the godlie old fathers welnigh haue taught those wordes to be spoken of his mānes nature, which shuld be forth with aduaūced to immortal, & incorruptible glorie, by the power of the father.
Some greke writers in dede admitte, that the father is greater thē the sonne, not bicause he hath greater power, or that there is anie differēce in their substā ce, & essence, but in that he is the father, and begetteth the sonne, and is not begottē of the sonne, therefore he maie be saide greater. The meaninge also of [Page] those wordes, the father is greater than I, maie be this. The ende why I trauaile with you is not that you shuld staie in me, and loke no farther, but to bringe you to the father, as to the last marcke, that with me you maie see him, as he is. Whose glorie is more dere to me thā is myn awne glorie, & therefore I seke it more thā myne awne, & I thincke that I haue not accomplished myne office vntil I haue brought you to him. But our Arriās sith they be ouer the shoues, sticke not blindly to presse forwarde, & to goe ouer the bootes to. For thei rūne to this place writtē to the Cor. chap. 15. Whā al thinges shalbe made subiecte to him, thā shal the sonne also him selfe be assubiected to him, who hath assubiected al thinges to him. But what if we aū swere that, that also is spokē touchinge his mānes nature? For the same autor S. Paule in the .2. to the Philip. teacheth that touchinge his diuine nature, he thought it no robberie, to be aequal with God. Naie saie they, for than he shuld not haue saide shalbe assubiected, for that nature is al readie subiecte.
Wil they graūt than that the lorde Iesus hath a nature, that is not now subiecte to God, but shalbe hereafter? If they wil graūt that, thā wil I saie, that what so euer is not now subiecte to God in the lorde Iesus, shal nev be subiecte to God.
For that, that is once aequal to God, shal euer be aequal to God. How than is it saide that his mānes nature shalbe assubiected, if it be al readie assubiected? I aunswere bicause we shal thā know it, which now we beleue only. For as. S. Augustine proueth in the holie scripture thinges are saide to be don, whā they beginne to be knowē of vs. As whan we saie, halowed be thy name, Goddes name of it selfe is holie, but we desire, that it maie be so knowen to vs.
For fuller vndrestandinge of that place of Sainct Paule, ye shal considre that al power is giuen to Christ, in that he is clothed with mānes nature. For God hath exalted him in the same nature, wherein he was humbled. The scripture than witnesseth, that Christ hath ful dominion, and raigneth ouer heauen, and erth.
God in dede is our gouernor, but it is in the face of Christes mānes nature.
Now Christ shal surrēdre the kingdom, that was giuen vnto him, that we maie cleaue perfectly to God. Howbeit he shal not by that meanes vtterly giue vp his kingdō, where of as the scripture teacheth there is no ende, but he shal as it were conueie it from his manhod to his godhead. For thā we shal haue an opē entree, & free accesse to the diuine maiestie, where now our weaknes wil not suffre vs to approche. Christ thā shal this waie be subiected to the father, for thā the veale shalbe taken awaie, & the office of his mediation shal some waie cease, & we shal se God face to face raignīge in his glorie without anie coueringe & meane. And where sainte Paule saieth that God maie be al in al, some thincke he speaketh so, bicause we shal haue than without anie meane manie cō modities, which god now ministreth vnto vs by creatures. For mainteināce of our life we shal than haue no nede of bread, & drincke &c. nether for aedifyinge shal we haue nede of the sacramentes [Page] of the church, nor the outwarde worde of the scripture, nor ecclesiastical offices. For God by him selue shalbe al in al.
Other teache the meanīge of those wordes to be, that the flesh shal couet no more against the spirite, but God shal possesse euerie parte of vs, and reigne in vs fully, and perfectly, which thinge in this life is only begonne. Here I wil leaue the Arrians stickinge in the mire, & wil returne to S. Iohā.
FVL of grace and veritee) Bicause that afterwarde he setteth grace, & veritee against the law, there be that thinke that his meaninge is here, that the Apostles acknowleged him to be Goddes sonne by this, that he accomplisshed al thinges that pertaine to Goddes spiritual kingdome, bringinge perfecte forgiuenes of sinnes, & perfirminge indede al that was shadowed, and figured in Moses law. Other teache that ful of grace and veritee, is as much to saie, as most amiable, and ful of true vertues.
And they verie lernedly shew how these two wordes, chen, and, aemeth, ar takē in the scripture. Chen which worde [Page] to vs soundeth grace, is taken for fauor, as whā Abraham saieth to God, im mat sathi chen, if I haue found grace in thy sight, it is asmuch to saie as, if thou fauor, & loue me. And Salomon saieth, shaeker hachen, that is grace is deceaueable, whereby he meaneth amiablenes, & what so euer winneth vs fauor in mē nes eyes. Aemeth, signifieth some times sincerite, & vnfainednes, some times large bountefulnes, & liberalitee, some times certaintie, surenes, firme, & cōstant abidinge. In the first significatiō that is for simple, sincere, & vncōtrefaite dealinge kinge Ezechias vseth it in the 36. of Esaie. Remēbre lord that I haue walked before the, be aemeth, in truth, & in a perfecte herte. In the secōde significatiō we haue it in Genesis, if it please you to shew boūtifulnes & truth towardes my master. In the third Ezechias vseth it againe. The lordes word is good, only lette there be peace, & truth in my daies. By truth he vndrestādeth a firme & assured state of the kingdō. And this much for this time. Giue god the praise.
¶ The Sixte READINGE.
THe Euāgelist hauīge breifely, & sobrely spokē of the Godhead of the lorde Iesus, as the excedinge highnes, & incomprehēsible maiestie of the matter required, made mētion forth with of Iohan Baptiste the most notable man in dede for singular holines, and so than taken also, that euer was in that nation, where yet had bē soundrie so plentiously furnished with Goddes spirite, as in al the worlde the like were neuer seē. This most excellēt man Iohan Baptiste the Euangelist brought in, as a witnes of the true light, of the foūtaine of al light, of that light, that lightneth al mē ether with general light, whereby the reprobate know there is a God, to their iust damnation, or with special light, whereby the chosen know God more fully, and perfectly to their iustification, and saluation.
This tru, and aeternal light that shineth of it selfe, and boroweth not of other, is the lord Iesus, to whom the Euangelist sheweth vs, that the wōdre of the world Io. Baptist, a verie phenix amōge mē rē dred, notable witnesse. But what his witnes was, and with what wordes vttered, he hath not heretofore tolde vs, but in the wordes that folow, repetinge his purpose left for a while, he teacheth vs fully. And the summe, and meaninge of the wordes, which he now setteth forth is this, that the lorde Iessus though he iogned vnto him mannes nature in time, yet he is aeternal before al time, without beginninge and the verie autor, maker, & prince of al mē high and low, and the true foūtaine of al goodnes, righteousnes, and holines, and of al the benefites, and graces that at anie time haue ben giuen to mē, sithens the beginninge of the world, or shalbe giuen hereafter to the ende of the world. Finally that he is of Goddes most priuie coūsel, and that al the knowlege of God that euer anie mā had, what so euer that man was, proceded, & was [Page] deriued from him. This is the summe of the testimonie of Io. Bap. and these be the wordes of the Euangelist declaringe first the maner of Io. witnessinge, which foloweth streight after.
Ioanne witnesseth) Io. was vndoubtedly by the confession of al men, euē of his aduersaries a man of rare vprightnes of life, of excedinge great grauitee, and mālie cōstantie, & so for from flatterie, & mē pleasinge, that nether honor, and courtely pleasaūt intertainemēt, nor the face of a cruel tyraunt, nor most painful emprisonmēt, nor the presence of horrible death cold moue him to forbeare to speake the truth at al times. The testimonie therefore of such a mā, ought wel to be herkēned vnto, & to haue singular force, and most certaine credite amonge vs.
Witnesseth) Io. office was not only to propoune, & sette forth to the hearinge of mē the diuinitee of Godes sonne, but also to testifie the same, & to affirme it by legitime & lawful testimonie, beinge duly called to the office of a witnes. Chrysosto, notheth that the Euangelist [Page] vseth a verbe of the present time, and thincketh that thereby he teacheth, that Io. witnes hath cōtinual force, and shuld moue vs no lesse now, thā whā it was first vttered.
And cried) This worde aunciant writters do wel note. And partly they teach that thereby an allusion is made, and a regarde had to the wordes of the prophete Esaie, the voice of one criynge in the wildernes▪ partly thei saie, that thereby is sett forth the plaine, mā lie, & bolde behauior of Io. in witnessinge the truth. For he vttered not the matter with a soft, faint, tremblinge, waueringe, darcke and doubteful voice, that few might heare it, and vnderstande it, but he cried with an assured minde, with great confidence and boldnes, with an ernest Zeale, desiringe that his voice might clearely sounde to the eares of al men. Such shuld al the witnesses of goddes truth be, no whisperers, no dreaners, no faint & darcke speakers, but criers. For this cause also it is necessarie for Goddes ministers to crie bicause mē be not only dul & slow, but for the most parte deafe to heare the truth.
This is he) Other prophetes painted forth, & spake a sore hād of one that shuld be the kinge, & saueor of Goddes people, but none cold point him forth as it were with the finger, & saie this is he, let not your mindes be caried hither and thither, muse no more, doubte no more, where he is, or who he is, by whom ye shal obteine a quiet and blisful state, for here he is, and this is verie he. In this point Iohā Baptist excelleth al other prophetes, that were before him. For our mindes ar not staied, and quieted in the name of a saueor, vntil we know certaī ly who it is.
Of whom I spake) Hereby we vndrestande that Iohan had before made manie sermons of the Lorde Iesus, and that the ende of al his preachinge was, to bringe, men to him. And this shuld be the ende of the preachinge, and teachinge of al other.
He that cōmeth after me) In these wordes he teacheth vs the aeternitee of the lorde Iesus, his diuine nature, & god head. For he saieth, he that came after me was before me.
But touchinge the humanitee of the lord Iesus, he was not before Iohā, but after him. Touchinge also the office of preachinge, Iohā was before the lord Iesus. Howbeit touchinge his diuine nature, it is truly said, that the lord Iesus was before Iohā. For Iohā was not in the beginninge with God, Goddes worde, Goddes brightnes, Goddes sonne, & verie God. Touchinge this nature the lorde him selfe saieth, before Abraham was, I am.
Was before me) The old latine trāslatiō out of the greke had, factus est, was made before me, which caused much superfluous talke amōge mē, & vaine tormētinge of wittes, how the lord cold be said to be made before Iohā. For his mānes nature was not made before Io. And his diuine nature was neuer made.
The ambiguitee, & doubtful significatiō of the word deceaued both the interpreter, & them. For, genesthai, signifieth to be made, & also to be. And in the later significatiō it is vsed in this verie chap. egene to anthropos &c. there was a mā sent. For we cā not saie [Page] there was a mā made sent.
Was before) In matters of religion we haue great regarde what mē before vs haue thought. Wherein this is our faute that we extende not our sight far inough. For we loke to them in dede that were befote vs, but we loke not to him that was before them, that were before vs, yea that was before al. S. Cyprian reprouinge this shortnes of our sight, saieth that we ought not to loke what mē before vs thought good to do, but what he did that is before al. It shalbe good therefore for vs to know what religion the lorde Iesus taught, & commended, who was before our holie bisshoppes, & 15. hūdred yeres.
For he was my first) The worde, for, rendreth a cause why a thinge is don. Io Bap. thā sheweth a reason why he saide, that the lord Iesus was before him, bicause, saieth he, he was my first, that is to saie my prince, my head, my autor, my maker. And that in dede proueth sufficiētly that he was before him. The latine translation hath, quia prior me erat, bicause he was before me. But than it [Page] shuld haue ben accordinge to the grammatical rules of speech in the comparatiue degree, & not, protos mou, in the positiue. More ouer Io. shuld so seme to proue the same by the same, which we vse not to doe.
Of his fulnes) Here we haue the foūtaine, & hedspringe of al the graces, & giftes that euer anie mā hath had heretofore, were he nev so good, & holie, or shal haue hereafter. Out of this wel of liuinge waters, which neuer faileth, is neuer dried vp or drawē out, al the saintes, & prophetes from the beginninge, drue al the knowlege, goodnes, & holines, al the spiritual motiōs, vertues, & excellēt qualities, that euer thei had thē selues, or stirred vp in other. Out of the same welle floweth vnto vs, & shal flowe hereafter vnto the ende of the world, what so euer is good, and vertuous, what so euer pertaineth to the attainment of true felicitee, and of a blisful life. For he hath not only these thinges, but is ful of them. For as S Paule writeth to the Col. in him dwelleth al the fulnes of the Godhead, somaticos, [Page] bodily, that is to saie substātially, not in image, not in shadow, but in bodie in substāce, in dede. We lerne thā by this sentēce of Io. Bap. that no knowlege no goodnes, no holines, no maner of vertue is to be sought anie where saue in the lorde Iesus. And more ouer that we nede not feare left we shal want anie spiritual thīge, if we resorte to him, seinge that he hath the fulnes of the spirite. Lastly that al mē what so euer thei be, ar voide of grace, and godlines by nature, sith al receaue out of the fulnes of Goddes sonne.
We al, saieth Io. Bap. nombrīge him selfe amōge the rest. And if Io. Bap. receaued his holines, out of the fulnes of the lord Iesus, & gotte it not by his natural strēghth, & godlie preparatiōs, as the great idoles mē vainly iāgle, I maie boldly pronounce that neuer anie man had, or cā haue anie true vertue & holines, but by the gift of the lord Ies. that nothī ge maie be lest to anie, where of to bost. For if thei haue receaued out of the fulnes of another, why shuld they bost as though thei had not borowed al of another, but had possessed some what of thē selues. [Page] Wherefore these wordes of Io. Bap. beate doune what so euer idle heades haue builded, & raised vp to aduāce mānes strēghth, & mānes merites. And here we maie not passe ouer, that this place also proueth the Lord Iesus to be verie god. For who is the foūtaine of al knowlege, goodnes, holines & spiritual graces in al ages, & in al mē, but God only?
But as we must know hereby that he is God, so we must know that he possesseth not these thinges to this ende, that he maie haue no maner of want, but to sende them forth to the vse of mē. For he kepeth not his treasures to him selfe enuiously, or niggeshly, but ioieth to distribute them, and to sende them abrode. Nether is he a merchaunt mā to make sale of them, but giueth them frely as we ar taught in Esaie: O al ye that thirst cō me to the waters, euen he that hath no monei, comme bye for no moneie, & for no price, wine, & milke. To buyie for no moneie is a verie easie buyinge, yea it is no buyinge, but a free receauinge. Sith thā the lorde Iesus possesseth the fulnes of al spititual riches, & possesseth the [Page] same not to himselfe only, but also to our vse, & more ouer calleth vs frely to enioie his goodes, my counsel shalbe that you resorte not for aide & cōforte, and purchasinge of Goddes grace to Marie or Iohā, to Petre or to Paule, but to him, who possesseth al good thinges, not by borowinge, but by nature, not in parte, but fully, not to his awne vse only, but to the vse of mē in this world, cheifely & proprely of Goddes chosen. For he hath also manie good thinges, which he giueth euē to the reprobate as beautie, & strenghth of bodie, eloquēce, & knowlege of liberal sciēces, wordlie riches &c. But he hath certaine special iuels, which he giueth only to his chosen, namely tru faith,, true righteousnes, & holines, true ioifulnes, patiēce, & constātie in afflictions, true peace, & quietnes of consciēce.
Grace for grace) This sentence is sondrie wise expouned. I wil first shew you S. Augustines minde. These be his wordes vpon this place. Thā brethern al we haue receaued out of his fulnes, out of the fulnes of his mercie haue we receaued, what? Remissiō of sinnes, that [Page] we might be iustified by faith. And what more ouer? Grace for grace, that is to wit, for this grace whereby we liue of faith we shal receaue another grace, namely euerlastinge life. But what els is it saue grace? For if I shal saie, that this is due to me, I assigne some what to my selfe, as to whom it is due. But God crouneth the giftes of his mercie in vs. Thus ye see S. Augustines meaninge, to wit, that al Goddes good giftes, and in the ende euerlastinge life, is not a recompēse of our merites, but commeth of the free liberalitee of God, bicause it pleaseth him so to rewarde his former graces, & to croune his awne giftes in vs. And so he calleth faith whereby we ar iustified one grace, & euerlastinge life another grace, verie truly & godly, to the cōfusion of the commune idols souldiars.
Other expouninge grace for grace, grace vpō grace, reach that out of this fulnes of his sonne god gaue to our fathers vndre the old testamēt the spirite of feare, whereby as childrē vndre a scolemaster thei were kepte in, & restrained, that thei shuld not straie abrode after fleshlie [Page] lustes, but be led forth, & framed to some godlines. And in the new testamēt, he giueth the spirite of fredō, whereby with more frācke, & free hertes, & with more ioiful courage by the motiō of the spirite, we do the thīges, that please god. Not that our fathers were al together voide of this free spirite, but bicause of their childlie age thei were more kepte vndre by feare, & the spirite was not so richely, & largely giuē to thē, as to vs, I meane vniuersally touchinge goddes ordinarie dispēsation. For to some special persons the spirite was as largely giuē, and more largely thā it is now.
The exposition of other is, that God loueth & fauoreth vs bicause of the loue, & fauor, that he beareth to his sonne, as S. Paule writeth, that he hath made vs acceptable in the biloued. For by nature we ar the childrē of wrath, & the loue, & fauor that we finde ī goddes sight, is for that, that of his awne goodnes he hath made vs, the membres of his most derely biloued sonne, & so loueth vs, as a parte of his sonnes bodie.
Other thincke that the meaninge of these wordes is, that God powreth al his graces in to the lord Iesus, & by him cō ueieth the same vnto vs, as by a conducte pipe. I leaue to your choise which of these expostions you wil folow.
The law) The nature of mē is cō munely ether to giue to litle, or to much reuerēce to Goddes ministers. And to despice them while thei liue, and whan thei be ded, to make them more thā saintes. In the time of the lordes cōuersation vpō erth, the Iues had Moses in such reuerēce and estimation, that thei made him verie litle lesse than a God. In Moseis person thei gloried, Moseis person thei bosted, and extolled aboue the starres. Thei had this also that thei so pust vp them selues in their knowlege of Goddes wil, and in their holie, & perfecte worckes wrought accordinge to the rule of the law, as that thei excelled al other mē, & were halfe goddes vpō erth and more mete to be placed in paradise amonge the heauēlie spirites, thē to walke in this vale of miserie amonge sinful men. Wherefore Io. Baptist to plante [Page] Christ Iesus in the hertes of thē, to whō he was sent to be a teacher, and the better to aduance his glorie, laboureth to pulle those two great hindraūces out of their hertes, namely their preposterous gloryinge in the persone of Goddes minister, and their vaine confidēce in their awne holines, and righteousnes. And first he setteth vp the lord Iesus far aboue Moses, makinge a comparison betwene the office of Moses, and the lordes office. For he assigneth to Moses, that he ministred, and gaue the law to the people he assigneth to the lord Iesus, that he hath brought grace, & truth. Now there is ā excedīge greate differēce betwene these two offices. For thone is the ministration of death, and condemnation, thother of life, & iustificatiō. The law in dede prescribeth vnto vs true holines, & certainly sheweth vs what we ought to do, and to leaue vndon in euerie pointe, but while thereby ether it represseth, & restraineth mēnes raginge lustes, or cō uinceth al men, & proueth that thei do not the thinges thei ought to do, nor eschue the thinges, thei ought to eschue, [Page] as S. Paule lernedly and truly writeth, it encreaseth sinne, worcketh wrath, killeth and condēneth vs. It encreaseth sinne, bicause the more our lustes ar restrained, the more ragingly thei burst out. It worcketh wrath, bicause that whan our lustes ar bridled, we ar angrie with God for puttinge that snaffel in to our mouthes, & so to our other vices we adde disobediēce, stubburnnes, & murmuringe against God. It killeth and condēneth bicause it pronounceth al mē accursed, that kepe not the thinges prescribed, & taught in it, to the vttermost title, where as we perfirme not one iote perfetly, as we shuld. But here we must know that the law of hir selfe, & of hir awne nature, hath not these effectes, but by accidēt, that is by the meanes of our vicious, nawghtie corrupte nature. For the law is good, holie, & iust, & worcketh not cō dēnation of hir awne nature, but bicause our sinful nature can abide no good thinge, therefore of necessitee it must be condēned by that, that is good, whā the same is laied vnto it. The propre cause [Page] is not in the summe beames, that they make a carion to stincke the more, but in the nature of the carion. For thei shine upon other bodies without such effecte. If our nature were good, the law shuld be most liuelie, and cōfortable vnto it. Now bicause it is corrupte, & poisoned, the law worcketh not the thinges that it wold, and shuld, but the thinges that such a nature wil only suffre to be wrought.
Grace and truth) We haue now the office of Moses, letre vs on thother side cō sidre the office of the lord Iesus. But first lett vs vndrestande the wordes. By grace some vndrestande that, that maketh vs amiable, and acceptable, and getteth vs fauor before God & mē. By truth thei vndrestande true, sincere perfecte, sounde, and sure righteousnes. Other by grace in this place vndrestande forgiuenes of sinnes, and by truth the fulfillinge of al the figures, and shadowes of Moseis law. In which so euer signification you shal take the wordes, the sense shalbe good, and godlie.
For the lorde Iesus maketh vs amiable and acceptable in Goddes sight, apparellinge vs with his awne swete smellinge garmētes, that is with his awne holines, and he renueth our mindes vnto true, sound, and fast abidinge righteousnes, he also hath optained for vs remissiō of our sinnes, & hath perfirmed al that was shadowed in Moseis law. For he hath washed, sanctified, and purged vs with his awne blood. He hath suffred death in our stede, and offred him selfe a slaine sacrifice vpon the crosse to be a perpetual satisfaction for the sinnes of al Goddes chosen, & to appease for euer Goddes wrath kinled against sinne. And here we ar clearely taught that the law cold not bringe these thinges to passe.
Wherefore al thei that haue assigned righteousnes and acceptation in Goddes sight to the dedes of the law, or haue sought anie holines, anie forgiuenes of sinnes, anie sparcke of grace & life other waies, than by the lord Iesus only, & alone, haue miserably begiled them selues to their perpetual confusion, and perdition. Let vs my brethern be no more [Page] deluded, but resorte to the true foūtaine of al heauēlie graces, & draw from thens thorough faith sincere holines, and true righteousnes, and what so euer maie make vs amiable, and acceptable in Goddes sight, that we maie glorie in no maner of thinge, saue in the lord Iesus alone, our only sanctifier, iustifier, saueor, redemptor, and what so euer our nede requireth that he shulde be vnto vs. For what was impossible for the law to do, in that it was weake thorow the flesh, God hath perfirmed hauinge sent his sō ne in the likenes of sinful flesh, & by sinne, that is to saie, by a sacrifice for sinne hath condemned sinne in the flesh.
This sonne of God is made vnto vs wisedome, righteousnes, sanctification, and redēption. This sonne of God hath raunsomed vs from the curse of the law. This sonne of god is the ende of the law, to iustifie al that beleue. This sonne of God had giuen vs the spirite of adoption, the spirite of Goddes childrē, the spirite of fredom, the spirite of alacritee, & good courage. These thinges Io. Baptiste teacheth, and so quaileth the Iueis [Page] vaine gloriynge in Moses, & their vaine gloriynge in their awne holines, and righteousnes, to the high aduancemēt of him, to whom al glorie is due, euen Iesus Christ our only lorde & saueor.
No man hath seen God &c.) Now to confirme the thinge that he had signified touchinge Moses, namely that he must sitte far beneth the lorde Iesus, in this sentēce he giueth vs to vndrestāde, that the verie knowlege of Goddes wil, & of the law, that Moses had, he receaued it from Goddes sonne. For nether Moses, nor anie other mā cold attaine to anie certaine knowlege of Goddes wil, or shal euer attaine hereafter, but by the reuelation of him, that is in Goddes bosome. So Moses whose passinge great knowlege they bosted so much, was but the lord Iesus his scolar, and therefore of dutie must giue place to his master.
The Iues Indede had euer in their mouthes, that Moses had seen God, and spoken with him mouth to mouth, so that god had no secrete, that he had not opened vnto him. But the truth is that [Page] no mortal man can attaine to a ful knowlege of Goddes infinite maiestie, and see his face as it is. For whan Moses desired to see Goddes glorie and maiestie, aunswer was made vnto him, thou cāst not see my face, for man shal not see me, and liue. Wherefore whan the scripture sayeth, that Iacob saw God face to face, and that Moses talked with him mouth to mouth, the meaninge is, that God opened him selfe more plainly, & talked with them more familiarly than with other men. How beyt they saw not his awne verie face, that is thei attayned not to a ful knowlege of the diuinitee. For as Tertullian lernedly writeth mannes minde can not comprehende the thinges, that be in God. For God is greater than mannes minde, nether can it be thought how great he is.
For if God cold be comprehended by thought than he shuld be lesse than mannes minde, whereby he might be conceaued.
He is greater also than al speech, nether can he be vttered with wordes. For if he cold be vttered with wordes; thā he shuld be lesse then mannes speech, whereby he might be compassed. But what so euer shalbe thought of him, shalbe lesse thā he, & what soev shalbe spokē of hī, shalbe lesse thā that, that is aboute him. For if thou shalt calle hī light, thou shalt name a creature of his, & not expresse hī. If thou shalt calle hī vtue, thou shalt speake of his power, and not vtter him. If thou shalt calle him maiestie, that shalt describe his honor, and not himselfe.
Breifely what so euer thou shalt saie of him, thou shalt rather declare a thinge of his, than him selfe. For what canst thou worthely speake, or thincke of him, who is greater than al wordes, & al vndrestā dinge, sainge that one waie we maie cō prehende in minde what God is, if we shal thīcke him to be that, that cā not cō me in to mānes ūdrestādinge, or thought what maner a thinge, and how great it is. For as our eye sight is dulled in be holdinge the soume, nether cā abide the glisteringe brightnes of the sunne beames, so our minde suffreth the like thīge [Page] in thinckinge of God, and the more it is bent to considre God, so much the more it is dafeld, & blinded with light. For what can we thinke worthely of hī, that is higher than al highnes, deper thā al depenes, lighter thā al light, brighter than al brightnes, stronger than al strenght, fairer than al fairenes, truer than al truth, greater than al greatnes, richer thā al riches, wiser than al wisdome, better than al goodnes, iuster than al iustice, more merciful than al mercie, so that it maie be truly said, that God is such a thinge, as where vnto nothinge can be compared. For he is aboue al that can be spoken, or thought. And therefore whan Moses was admitted to a singular sight of the diuine maiestie, God saide vnto hī, thou shalt see my hinder partes, my face thou shalt not see. The sight of Goddes backe was a great knowlege surely of the diuinitee, but not a ful knoulege, so that it might be saide, that he saw Goddes verie face. And yet that knowlege also which he had of God, he had by the instruction, & reuelation of Goddes sonne. For God inhabiteth light, that no mā cā [Page] approche vnto. Goddes sōne ōly knoweth the father, he ōly giueth al the knowlege of the father, that euer anie mā had or shal haue. For he only is of the fathers priuie coūsel, he only is admitted in to his bosome.
GOD) The greke word, theos, which S. Iohan vseth is made, of thee in, to rūne as Plato teacheth, bicause the rude old mē seinge the ouer bodies so fast to moue, thought that God ranne in thē, & therefore called god a rūner We maie thincke that he is called a rūner, bicause he is spedely presēt to helpe in al nede. Other deriue the word out of deos, feare, bicause he is most to be feared, & reuerē ced, The latines cal God deū as it semeth of the greke word, theos or deos, or as some thīcke a dādo, of giuīge, or quod nihil illi desit, bicause he wāteth nothinge. But though the names that the heathē vsed, whereby to signifie the supreme aeternal mīde, be verie good, & takē out of some proprietes, & effectes that thei vndrestode in god, yet it shalbe most fruteful & cōfortable for vs, to know what name the godlie haue vsed, & goddes spirite hath vttered in the holie scripture. [Page] Now the most excellēt name of god expressed by godes spirites is Iehoua, which the grekes cal tetragrāmatō, bicause it cō sisteth of .4. spirital lettres. The hebrues haue it in such reuerēce that thei thīke, it is not to be vttered with mēnes lippes, & therefore in stede therof thei euer read adonai. And to this daie if thei heare a christiā pronoūce it thei ar astonied, & seare left the skie shal fal, or the erth swallow thē vp. Whereī though there be ov great superstitiō, yet it appeareth ī how wōdreful reuerēce thei haue this name. Thei calle it shē hāphorash nomē appositū bicause it expouneth, & declareth the nature of god, asmuch as maie be cōprehē ded by mā. And if a mā did know it perfectly, the Cabalistes saie, that he might worcke miracles. It cōmeth of haua which signifieth to be. For god is of himselfe, & not of another, & he giueth beīge to al thīges that be. The grekes haue a meruailous apte word to expresse this which I thīke none other toūge with like elegā tie cā attaine ūto, autousios, as you wold saie, a selfe beer. And that god is of hīselfe & the autor of al beinge, and wil so be knowē, he hīself teacheth vs in the boke of Exodus. [Page] For whan Moses spake thus vnto him: Lo I shal comme to the childrē of Israel; & saie vnto thē, the God of your fathers hath senth me vnto you, if thei shal saie aske what is his name, what shal I saie, God aunswered, aeheieh asher aeheieh, I wilbe that wilbe, or I am that am. For the hebrues vse the time to cōme in stede of the present time. Which wordes Gerundēsis an hebrue thus expouneth: God is that essence, that hath not passed awaie, ne shal passe awaie, which neuer beganne, & neuer shal ende, but passeth al maner of time, who only cā saie, I am. For he is the foūtaine, & headspringe of al beinge, & life, of whom al thinges haue this that thei be. This name Iehoua was knowē euē to the heathen Italians, for thei called their high, and principal God louē. And Pytagoras semeth to haue vndrestand the mysterie of the name. For of him the heathē writte, that his most solēne, holie, & inuiolable othe was, ne ton tetractyn by the quaterniō. For he mēt this holie, & reuerēd name, which bicause it consisteth of foure lettres, is called, tetragrāmatō, as you wold [Page] saie foure lettred. And that he mēt this name, it appeareth by this also, that he vsed the worde tetractys in the masculine gendre, where after the grammatical rules of the greke tounge, he shuld haue vsed it in the feminine, if he had mēt nothinge but the nombre. If you desire to know how this secrete name cāme amōge the heathen, I thincke surely, that Noes sonne Iapheth, who was the father of those heathen, that we speake of, taught his childrē true religion, & that thei from hand to hand deliuered the some to their posteritee the heathē, which though thei daily corrupted more, and more the religion, that thei receaued frō their fathers, yet thei retained some remnaūtes & amōge other thinges this reuerēd name, as cheifely cōmēded vnto thē. Other thinke that Abrahams name, after the noble, and famous victorie, that God gaue him ouer the 5. kinges, was celebrated, & renoumed thorough out al the world, in so much that the heathen sent embassadors to him, euē out of Italie, & entred in to a ligue with him, whō he taught true religiō, & this most holie [Page] name. As for Pothagoras I beleue he lerned of the aūciāt hebrues in Iurie the misterie, & significatiō of this name. For Plinie writeth, that the old Philosophers were great trauailers ī the east partes for lernīge, & it were easie to shew that the cheifest parte of Platoes diuine lerninge, which the heathē haue in so great admiratiō, is drawē out of the foūtaines of the hebrues. That Hesiodus, & Ouide write of the creatiō of the world, is stolē most plaīly out of the first cha. of gensis. Thei stole also the histories of the holie scripture, & put thē forth in their writinges alteringe certaine thīges, & chaūginge the names, that their theft might not be espied. For hauīge red the historie of Ionas, thei mused on their matters, & sette forth in pleasāt sōges, & dities, that Arion wast cast in to the sea, & that a dolphī which had heard his melodie before, whā he was in the shippe came, & receaued hī on his backe, & caried hī to lāde. And after this sorte thei vsurped manie other thīges & hādled as thei thought good, addīge, diminishinge, alterīge, & chaūgī ge at their pleasure. But I leaue thē, and wil returne to my purpose, & shew you [Page] more of goddes names rehersed by goddes spirite in the scripture, which though thei be hebrue, yet I thinke good, that al englishe mē shuld know thē, & their significatiōs, aswel as anie other ēglish wordes. For there is great pith, great importāce & liuelines in thē. And it is a shame that ether we shuld be so nice as to disdaine, or so slowthful as to refuse the labor to lerne halfe a dousē wordes, beīge as it were great with childe with so manie cō modities, & cōfortes. The scripture hath another name of God like to Iehoua in signification, to wit, Iiah. For it is deriued frō haiah which also signifieth to be. This name is not al together straūge vnto vs. For we haue al heard halleluia soū de in tēples. Dauid vseth it notably in the 68. psal. Aduāce him that rideth vpō the heauēs beiah she mo in his name iah. Vpō the which place the hebrues teache that by the name iah godeds power is signified, whereby he made, & gaue beī ge to al thinges. God is also called adonai. For he is lorde of al thinges visible, and inuisible. Al thinges ar subiecte to him, & serue him. His power is mere, & vnmixte. [Page] No mā putteth in fote with him, he ruleth & gouerneth alone far, and wide thorough out al the erth, & heauē to. Againe God is called el of strēght, for he cā do what he wil. And he hath another name like vnto el to wit, Elohim, which signifieth his presence. For he leaueth not his creatures, & seruātes destitute, but is present with thē, & nigh at hand to helpe, succurre, preserue, & maī teine thē. Here ye shal note that the scripture speakinge of the true God euer vseth this worde in the plural nōbre, & yet ioineth the same with verbes of the singular nōbre, whereby lerned mē thinke pluralitee of persons, & vnitee of substāce to be noted in the godhead. Now you haue 5. names of God, Iehouah, iah, el, elohim, adonai, whereof Asaph vseth three together in the beginninge of the 50. psal. El, Elohim, Iehoua hath spokē. There remaineth now another name of God Shadai. For God speakinge to Abrahā in the .17. of genesis, where he maketh his couenaūt with him, saieth: I am El Shadai, which some Iues teach to signifie most strōge, some necessarie. Rabbi [Page] Moses saieth that it is compoūd of Sha who, and dai sufficiēt as you wold saie, God who is sufficiēt, bicause he wāteth no thinge, nedeth no thinge, but hath al in him selfe, and giueth to other al that thei nede. These two wordes, Iehoua & Shadai, ar notably mētioned together in the 6. of exod where God speaketh thus to Moses: I am Iehoua, & I appeared to Abrahā, to Isaac & to Iacob in El Shadai & in my name Iehoua I was not knowē to thē. Vpō this place Aben Ezra saieth that the vertue of this holie name was knowē to Moses, who wrought so wondreful thinhes in Aegypte. And that the maiestie of God was knowē to the aūciant fathers before in the name El Shadai but thei know not the power & vertue of the name Iehoua, al though they had the name in vse. For it is writtē in the 4. of gen. that in the time of Seth mē begāne to cal on the name Iehoua. But our mē haue a better expositiō of that place. For thei teach that the sense is as if god shuld saie thus: I opened my selfe to your fathers, as el Shadai, that cold fil thē with al good thinges, & therefore promised [Page] them a lande flowinge with miike, & honie. But in my name Iehoua I was not made knowē vnto thē, that is to saie, I haue not yet perfirmed that I promised. Now I wil fulfil my promisse in dede, & declare that I am not only El Shadai, but also Iehoua an aeternal essence, & beinge cō stāt, true, & like my selfe in al poītes perfirminge that I haue shewed my selfe to be. For the beinge of al thinges is in me, & I am the autor of al thinges. But now we wil returne to our texte. No man hath seē) S. Io. meanīge is nor to shew, that no mā hath seē god with bodilie eyes. For though that mēnes eyes cā not attaine to the sight of god, & whā the prophetes ar said that thei saw the lord of hostes, that was dō in image, & in some bodily shape, which it pleased god to take for a time, yet S. Io. hath another purpose namely to teache that no mā hath now, or hath had heretofore anie knowlege of god, but by the openinge of the lord Iesus, as appeareth by these wordes, he hath shewed forth. The ōly begottē) Hauinge spokē before sufficiētly of this, I forbeare to speake anie more. Only I wil giue you S. August. wittie shorte [Page] sētēce. In that he is ōly begottē, saieth he he hath no brethern, in that he is first begottē, he vouche safeth to calle al them his brethern, that ar new begottē.
In the bosome) This is a speech borowed out of the custoume of men.
For whan we wil signifie that we wil committe our secretes to anie man, we saie that we wil admitte him to our bosome. So the meaninge is that he is priuie to al goddes secretes, & therefore cā shew vs such heauēlie mysteries, as no mā els cā declare. And this expositiō S. August. foloweth. Cyrille thincketh that in the bosome, is asmuch to saie, as in the father, & of the father, & you wold saie, vsinge mānes wordes in the inwarde partes of the father. For he is not a peece cutte of, & diuided frō the substāce of the father, as it fareth in mānes begettīge, but he is so begottē, as he is stil in the father. Hath shewetht forth) Exegeisthai in greke is to make a plaine, & opē declaration of darcke thīges. And thereby we lerne to glorie in no mannes lerninge, wisedome, or knowlege, & sith Goddes sōne ōly sheweth forth diuine mysteries & al godlie wisedō, to addicte [Page] & wedde our selues to no mortal mānes doctrine. Finally we lerne that what so euer is affirmed & taught of god with out the spirite of Christ is vncertaine, & therefore to be reiected. Now thā my brethern let vs no more sette one eye vpō goddes sōne, & another vpō our selues, or vpō anie mā in erth or in heauē, liuīge halfe vndre goddes true anointed & halfe vndre mānes false anoīted, but let vs fixe both the eyes of our mīde vpō him, who beīge in goddes bosome is the ful foūtaine of al true knowlege, & al true felicitee, & let vs now at the last spedely trauaile forth frō Babylō to Ierusalē frō the kīgdū of darcknes, to the kingdome of light, frō superstitiō to soūde religiō, frō haeresie to truth, frō mē to god frō hel to, heauē, that hauinge renoūced the whores cōpanie, & cast vp hir swete venimie, we maie be receaued in to the kīges palace, & see the beautie of his ho [...] se, & be filled ful of heauēlie ioies with god the father, the sōne, & the holie go [...] to whō in the meane while see that yo [...] rēdre due thanckes, and immortal praises.
AMEN.