gathered them together as the hen gathereth hyr chickens vnder hir wynges and they would not suche be not saued for God saueth no maÌ„ against his wil. Ther is theÌ„ no parcialitie no vnrightuousnes with God whose iudgemeÌ„ts be vnsearchable but neuer against iustice aboue our capacitie but neuer against equitie Who is able to discusse why some die old some yong some in midle age why some be poore some rych some gentlemen some Lordes some kinges some of a base ston and other infinite diuersities If these thinges were necessary to be knowen God wold haue opened theÌ„ in his scriptures but in that he speaketh not of theÌ„ iudgeth theÌ„ vnprofitable for vs to know Let vs beleue that God worketh al these thinges and that therfore they must nedes be right iust bicause he is y e workmaÌ„ not searching things aboue our vnderstandings but say with S. Paul O the depenes of the riches and wisdom knowledge of God how vnsearcheable are his iudgements and his waies vntraceable for who hath knowen y e mind of the Lord or who was his counceller The .xii. Chapter ¶ God is ful of compassion HE is full of all goodnes S. Iames witnessing of him y t euery good gifte is from aboue cometh down from the father of light that is father of good meÌ„ for thei are called light Vos estis lux mundi you are the light of y e world What haue we that we haue not receiued He is liberal pacient merciful wise strong constant equall faithfull magnifical aâ—â—able liberal geuing to all meÌ„ indifferently casting no man in the teeth Pacient calling vs thorowe his long suffring vnto repentaunce Merciful not dealing with vs after our sinnes nor rewardyng vs according to our wickednes Wyse for of his wysdome Dauid saith there is no number Strong for he is our buckeler our shield our strength and defence the rock of our might and castel of our health ConstaÌ„t with whom no man can proue any variablenes Equall for there is no parcialitie with God there is no Iewe nether gentile nether bound nor free nether man ne woman but all be one in Christ Iesu. Faithfull for he is a strong God and a faithfull stable in all his wordes Magnificall for the work of the Lord is great and worthy to be praysed the heauens the Sunne and the Starres the waters and great fyshes therin are the worck of thy fyngers Affable exhorting vs continually to aske knock and pray vnto hym and talkyng with vs moste familiarly first by holy Fathers hys Prophets and Patriarkes afterwarde by his only begotteÌ„ sonne Iesus Christ walking hear vppon earth to whome belongeth all power maiestie rule and honor We read of a certen ruler which called Christ good maister askynge him what he should do to obtain euerlasting lyfe whome Christ rebuked saying why callest thou me good none is good saue God only If God only be good then all goodnes is in him The xiii Chapeer ¶ God only is immortall and yet neuertheles the myndes of menne and Aungels be immortall HE is without beginning without ending How caÌ„ he haue any beginnyng of whome al things take their originall Howe can he haue anye end who is of himselfe by no other thing Heauen and earth perisheth and all y t is in them shall fade awaye as grasse and as the floure of the field but oure God lyueth eternallye who speaketh of himselfe I am Alpha Omega the beginning and y e ending which is which was and which is to come Paul affirmeth the same vnto his disciplâ— Timothe geuing al honor and rule vnto God who only hath immortalitie If only God haue immortalitie why doth Christ forbyd vs to feare men which slea the body and caÌ„not slea the soule howe is man formed after the Image similtude of God Howe can the immortalitie of the mynd be defeÌ„ded and of Angels truly mans soule is immortall and yet only God is immortal for this word onely doth not deny this priuilege to other things as to mannes soul to the Angels but God is said only to be immortall as he is said onely to be good only to forgeue sin Mans soule is immortal but clean after an other sort then God who only hath immoralitie For the scripture testifieth of mans soul that it dieth saying suffer y e dead to buay their dead that is to say let the dead in soule bury y e dead in body It is troubled with affections with passions and subiect to mutabilitie But it so dieth thorow vice that it ceaseth not to liue in his owne nature It is so mortal that it is also immortall Wherfor God is only euerlasting immortal euermore who is only immutable And if this interpretation do not content the heare an other That is immortall properlâ— which is w tout beginning without ending Al creatures haue a begynnynge of the which some neuerthelsse are called immortall because they haue no endynge as the angels mans soul but only God is properly immortall who speaketh of himselfe I am which is which was which is to come This beloÌ„geth only to God and to none of his creatures to none of the works of his fingers of which som may truly say that thei be ar to come but not that thei were because once they were not The .xiiij. Chapter ¶ God is the maker of all things wherof he made them by whome and who made the Deuil and of the begynning of sin euil IN the beginnig GOD made al things wherfore he hath no beginning that which neuer had beginning can not haue ending When I say God made all things I mean that the father the son and the holy spirite formed heauen earth angels men and all other creatures of nothing For of the son it is writteÌ„ al things were made by him and of the holy comforter by y e word of the Lord were the heauens made and al the hostes of them by y e breath of his mouth wher the latin is Spiritus Yea in the beginnyng of the boke it is writteÌ„ of them both that they be no creatures of y e son in y e beginning God created heaueÌ„ and earth that is in Christ. For he answereth y e Iewes askyng what he was I am the beginnyng which speake vnto you and in whose behalf Dauid speaketh In the beginning of the boke it is writteÌ„ of me Paule to the Hebrues repeteth the latter text and expoundeth it of Christ. And Dixit Deus fiat lux c. God said be ther light be there a firmameÌ„t God said the waters be gathered together God said be there lights in the firmament This phrase and maner of speaking is ioyned with the creation of euery thing What did God say what language did he speake Did he speake grek latin Italian freÌ„ch spanish english or hebrue Mark
two seueral persons or els the father is greater thē himself Dauid witnesseth y t the father setteth Christ on his right hād The Lord sayd vnto my Lorde syt thou on my ryght hand vntyll I make thyne ennemies thy fotestole And that he sytteth there we learne of saint Paul who exhorteth vs to seeke those thynges whiche are aboue where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God Then ether they be two persons or els the Father speaketh to hym selfe and sytteth on his owne ryght hand The father heareth and Christ prayeth he blesseth Christ geueth thankes he commaundeth and Christ obeyed he teacheth and Christ learneth For Christ recordeth thys of hymself as my father taught me so I speake These properties learne vs that they be two persones vnconfounded for so much as we can not apply or refer thē to one person The visiō which appered to Abraham in the oke groue of Mambre declareth vnto vs a manifest distintion of the godhead yet not a Trinitie of Gods For he sawe thre men and yet he called them Lord not Lordes If that vision be pondred depely it is a glasse wherin we may behold the face of the glorious trinitie The maiestie nature of God himselfe for as those thre men were thre seuerall persons and yet were named but one Lord so the father the son and the holy ghost be thre persons one God Som wil replie that Abraham spake to one of the thre when he sayd Lord whom he acknowledged to be the chief taking the other for his ministers and seruauntes This is proued to be false of that which foloweth and the Lord went his way as sone as he had left talkyng with Abraham and Abrahā returned to his place and there went two aungels to Sodom at euen and Lot sat at y e gate of the city Lot calleth these two men after they had brought him without the citie cōmaunding him not to loke backward Lorde not Lordes Wherfore he whiche departed was not chief their Lord. If he had bene chief the scripture wold not name the twain remaining Lord which in calling the twain Lord also signifieth vnto vs that there was no superiorite no preheminence no prerogatiue among thē but equalitie as in the trinitie whiche is figured by these thre men Some wyll say that Lot speaketh not to both but to one of them Why then doth the scripture say Loth sayde vnto them oh nay my Lord behold for as much as thy seruaunt hath found grace in thy syght c. These two men signifie Christ and the holy Ghost not the father for so much as they saye that the Lorde sent them to destroy that place For Christ and the holy comforter are sent but the father is neuer sent but sendeth Notwithstāding he whiche departed before they came to Sodome sending them twaine thyther representeth the father of heauē of whō Christ and the holy ghost both be sent Now let vs se good christen people how this vision doth portrey or paint the Trinitie As thre men appeared so there be three persones As these three persones are named one Lorde so the Trinitie is one Lorde one GOD As the Father is vnsent so one of these is not sent and as the father sēdeth Christ and the holy ghost into this world so here twayne be sent of one vnto Sodome and Gomor as the twain which were sent are called one Lorde so Christ and the holy ghost are but one god Protogenes neuer painted Ialisus at Rodes so excellently nor Appelles Venus nor Policletus y e image of Doriphorus as this vision doth liuely declare y e properties of the glorious Trinitie of which thorow whiche for which al thinges are But let vs serche how the scripture vseth to speake of the Trinitie Iohn saith Ther ar thre which beare recorde on earth the spirite water and bloud and these thre are one The trinitie is signified by these thre The spirit is y e father for Christ calleth him so speaking of the true worshipping God is a spirit And by y e name of bloud we may vnderstand Christ who for our sakes is become flesh and bloud By the name of water the holy ghost is ment whome our sauiour Christ calleth water saying If any man thirst let him come vnto me ◠drink He y t beleueth on me saith y e scripture out of his belly shal flow streames of water of life This spake he saith Ihō the Euāgelist of y e spirit which they that beleued on him should receiue Wherfore as a spirit is not bloud ne water no more is the father the sonne or the holy ghost but a distinct person Christ is named also a dore a rocke a vine bread a bridegrome a kyng a Phisicion and his father a husbandman If the father be Christ he is the dore the rock the vyne yea rather as a husbandman and a vine be diuerse thinges so Christ is not the father The holy comforter is called fyer which all be diuers thynges from those often times and the finger of God and the oyle of gladnes and anoynting that figuratly be spoken of the father But my thinke I hear some suttell searching and craftie witted man replie that as Christ and the vine the dore the rock be diuers names of one thynge and the holy ghost and oyl ▪ and fier and annointing that so y e father the son and the holy ghost be thre names and one thyng and that the father is called by these names as he is called afore by the name of a husbandman This were somwhat if we had euident Scripture◠that the Father is Christ or the holy Ghost as we haue that he is a husbandman And so we haue say they For Christ sayeth I and my father are one and whosoeuer seeth me seeth my father These textes plucke vp thys opinion by the rootes For in that he sayth we are he teacheth vs that he and his father be not one persone For as muche as are can not be spoken of one persone And in that he sayth one he declareth that he is of the selfsame substaūce O the depenesse and exceading power of Gods word which with two sillables are and one confoūdeth two heretikes the Arrian and Patripassion The other text declaring the father to be sene in Christ doth not proue theim one persone but rather twayn teaching vs that whiche S. Paul wryteth to his countreimen that he is the brightnesse of the fathers glory and expresse image of his substaunce When men loke in a glasse behold their own faces they vse to say that they see them selues and they and that which they see be not al one When they se the picture of Christ in a painted cloth they say thei se Christ. If we se Christ in his picture if we se our selues in a glasse much more the father is sene in Christ who is
almightie coÌ„forter can not be absent from their works for he is the spirite of them both and fylleth the round compasse of the world If I wold gather all the workes of â—ch person into an induction I could manifestlye proue this to the capacitie of all men but it is to long to speake of their workes I will speake of the creation of the worlde of Christes incarnatioÌ„ of his miracles and resurrectioÌ„ prouing al these to haue ben done by the workmanshippe of the thre persons For if the Trinitie did worke inseperablye in these no doubte it hath don likewise in all other First touching the creatioÌ„ of the world no man distrusteth the fathers workimg of whom that is supposed to be spoken In the beginning God created heauen and earth If thou doubt of Christ the holy comforter herken what y e prophet Dauid saith by the word of the Lord were the heaueÌ„s made and bi the word of his mouth the glorious fairenes of them Wherfore heauen earth be the workmanship of the thre persons Was Christ conceaued in the wombe of Mary by the workemanship of the holy comforter and is he not maker of the world If the thre persons work euermore without seperatioÌ„ why doth the scripture graunt certein works to one person certein to another Truly to teach vs that ther be thre persons that ther be thre distincte thre vncoÌ„founded Onely the person of the father soundeth the voice in Christes baptisme only the holy ghost appeareth lyke a doue only Christ is incarnate Notwihstanding both the flesh of Christ and y e voice of the fatheâ— and the apparitioÌ„ of the al-knowing coÌ„forter be the workemaÌ„ship of the whole Trinitie I meane not that Christ the holy ghost souÌ„ded the voice but that thei were workers of the voice â–ª the father only souÌ„ded it not Christ not the holy ghost For they be distinct and vnconfounded they be thre not all one thre persons not thre names So the holy ghost only shewed himselfe in y e shape of a doue not the father not Chriâ—â— Neuerthelesse the doue in which he apeared was the workemanshippe of al thre So neither the father ne yet the blessed comforter were incarnate but Christ only Neuertheles the flesh nature of Christ was the workemaÌ„ship of the whole Trinitie whose workes be â—nseperable This may be gathered of the wordes of the Angell to Mary Spiritus sanctus superueniet in te virtus altistimi abuÌ„brabit tibi The holy ghost saith Gabriell shall come vppon the and the power of the highest shall ouershadowe thee By the highest the father is to be vnderstaÌ„d by these wordes Virtus altistimi the ver â—ue or power of the highest the sonne For so S. Paule calleth him to the Corrinthians saying we pâ—each Christ crucified vnto the Iewes an occasion of fallinge to the Greekes folishnesse but vnto them which are called both of the Iewes and Grekes we preach Christe the power and wisdome of God The word virtus is transâ—ated in english vertue or power the greke word is Dunamis both in Paul and in the aunswer of the aungel PeradueÌ„ture some man wil denie that the father is ment by y e word Altissimus Therfore I wil fortifie his operation with an other reason Christes incarnatioÌ„ is his sending as I haue proued befor For who is sent thither wher he is already But he is euery wher touching his diuinitie Wherfore he is sent thither where he was not â—y appearing in his humanitie And it is plain that the father sent him wherfore the incarnatioÌ„ of Christ is the workmanship of the holy glorious Trinitie The scripture telleth that our sauiour Christ also by his word and commaundement did cast out many deuils but the same witnesseth y t the father and the holy ghost did worke with him lest thou shouldst thinke the works of the trinitie to be separable For of his fatheâ— he himself sayth The father that dwelleth in me is he which doth the workes And of the aldoing comforter also I cast out deuils in the scripture of God Lyke profe may be brought of all his other miracles So only Christ arose from death to life and yet the holy Trinitie raysed him For of the father it is wrytten who raysed Christ from death And of himself he testifieth saying to the Iewes asking a token Destroy this teÌ„ple and in thre dayes I shall rayse it vp again And that y e holy ghost raised him Paul is recorde and wytnes saying Wherfore if the spirit of him which raysed vp Iesu froÌ„ death dwel in you And Iohn also y e spirit quikneth For it is not to be takeÌ„ only of the quickening of our soules but of our bodies also nether is it vnlike that the holy comforter did rayse hym whome he formed in the virgins wombe Like proue might be made of all the peculier workes of the alworking comforter and of the father Wherfore their workes be no more separable then the workes of reason wil and memorie namely seing they be one God as the other thre be one soule The .xxviij. Chapter ¶ How there is but one God only the diuinitie of Christ and the aldoing comforter notwithstanding this vnitie NOw I haue almost declared al the contentes of this treatise that is what God is what persone signifieth and that there be thre persons in the glorious Trinitie For the profe of my last matter and content I wil first teache with euident scriptures that there is but one only God and theÌ„ with reasons not of phylosophy but gathered out of them for the scripture is profitable to teache to controll and to instruct Then I will proue that the same scripture graunteth al and eueri one of y e partes of the definition made of God to our sauiour Christ and that done I wyl fortifie also that al the partes of thesame definition are grauÌ„ted to the alknowing and almighty comforter The Christian congregation beleueth the father y e son and the holy gost to be one God not by nuncupation only but by vnitie of nature For if the multitude of theÌ„ that beleued were Cor vnum anima vna one heart and one soul if he which is ioyned vnto the Lord is one spirit if man wife be one flesh one body as y e Apostle witnesseth if al men be one substaunce touching ther nature if the scriptures testify that in humaine thinges many be one â–ª how much more are the father the sonne and y e holy ghost one God which differ not in nature substaunce for it is written there are thre which beare record in heauen the father the word the holy ghost these thre are one The vnitie of their nature proueth them not to be thre Gods but one God The damnable seâ—t of y e Arrians expouÌ„deth this text Hij tres vnum sunt these thre are one that thei be one in
his letters professeth him self to be y e seauaunt of Iesu Christ wherfore he is to be honored theÌ„ he is one God with the father for it is writteÌ„ Thou shalt worship the Lorde thy God and hym only shalt thou serue You cal me saith Christ Lord and maister and ye say well for so am I. And he warneth vs that we call not one another maister for one is our maister The Apostle also witnesseth y t ther is but one diuinitie one power and maiestie of Christ the father saying although ther be y t are called Gods whether in heaueÌ„ or in earth as ther be gods many Lordes many yet vnto vs is ther but vnus deus one God which is y e father of whom are all thinges we in him and vnus dominus one Lorde Iesus Chriâ—st by whom are al thinges we by him For as in that he saith that ther is but one Lord Iesus Christ the father is not denied to be Lord so these wordes vnto vs ther is but one God which is y e father denie not Christ to be God He numbreth not him emong those whiche are Gods by nuncupation but ioyneth coupleth him with the father froÌ„ whoÌ„ he is vnseperable The Prophet Baruch saith of him he is our God and there is none other able to be coÌ„pared vnto him Wherfore ether we must graunt him to be one God with the father or els make the father vnderlyng to hys sonne for none is to be compared to him That the Prophet speaketh these words of Christ the same text folowing sheweth it is he that hath found out al wisdom and hath geuen her vnto Iacob his seruaunt and to Israell his beloued Afterward did he shewe himselfe vpon earth and dwelt among men This text declareth also that Christ gouerned the congregatioÌ„ of the Israelits in that it sayth he fouÌ„d out all wisdome and gaue her vnto Iacob and Israell Read that Chapter thou shalt fynd y t he prepared y e earth at the beginning filled it with all maner of foules and beastes and that he gouerneth the same and that he wotteth al things that he is great and hath no end high vnmeasurable which things all proue him one God with the father as he testifieth of himselfe saying to his father Hec est vita eterna c. This is life euerlasting that they might know thonly tru God and whome thou hast sent Iesus Christ that is that they might knowe the and Iesus Christ to be thonly true God Neither doth only here deny the holy ghoste to be one God with them forasmuch as he is of the same esseÌ„ce that they be for he procedeth of them both nomore then y e father is excluded by the same word and the sonne where it is written The thinges of God knoweth none but the spirit of God The father and Christ are not excluded from that knowledge which is said here to apperteine only to the holy ghost So wheÌ„ soeuer they two are said to be the only true God the almightie coÌ„forter is not denied to be god also with them We read in the reuelation of S. Ihon of a name which none knewe but he only who had it written that is Christ yet both y e father knewe it who knoweth al scieÌ„ce the almightie coÌ„forter also for he searcheth al thinges yea the botome of Gods secretes Wherfore wheÌ„ Moises crieth Harken Israell the Lorde thy God is one God when all the Prophets preach that there be no more Goddes but one the diuine nature and esseÌ„ce is not denied to Christ and to the almightie comforter nomore then dominion and Lordshippe is denied to the father because Paule saith to vs is but one Lord Iesus Christ. So God is said onli to haue immortalitie and yet nether Christ is immortal who saith vnto the rebelliouse Iewes Verely verely I say vnto you if a man kepe my word he shall neuer se death For if the keping of Christes worde lead vs to immortalitie howe much more is he himselfe immortal without beginning or end Neither y e holy comforter for of him Paule writeth If the bloud of oxen and of goates and the ashes of an heyfer when it was spryncled purified the vncleane as touching the purifieng of y e fleshe how much more shal y e bloud of Christ which through the eternal spirit offered himself withoute spotte vnto God pourge your consciences from dead workes to serue the liuing God So God is said only to forgeue sinne only to be wise only to be mightie only to be good which textes and sayinges are spokeÌ„ of the gloriouse Trinitie If they were spoken of the father only as the Arrians teach then the euangelist wold haue said who can forgeue sinnes but the father only none is God saâ—e the father only Paule also sayth â–ª not vnto the father wyse only but vnto God king euerlasting immortal inuisible and wyse oniy that is to the blessed Trinitie be honoure and prayse for euer and euer For if we take him otherwise we make him a lier who grauÌ„teth power immortalitie and wisdome in diuerse and sundry places both to Christ our sauiour and to the spirite the comforter And these thinges do onlye apperteyne and belong to them thre neither are they attribute to any other Wherupon it muste nedes folowe that they be one God Nothing proueth this more plainly then the hebrue text whersoeuer the scripture cryeth vnto vs that ther is but one god Moses saith vnto y e Israelits Iehoua Elohenou Iehoua Ecadh that is the Lord our God is one God or one Lord â–ª This text can not be spoken of the father onlye for the hebrue word for God is Elohim of the plurell nuÌ„ber not of the singuler to teach vs that there be thre vnconfounded which neuerthelesse are declared to be one God and of one essence maiestie and power for so much as they are Iehoua Ecadh For Iehoua is the peculier special honorabâ—â— and most blessed name of God for which the Iewes dyd vse to reade Adonai not that it could not be expressed in their language but for a more reuerence to Gods name Moises also saith in another place vnto the it was shewed that y u mightst know that the Lord is God that ther is none but he wheras for god the english he vseth Elohim so for the Lord he vseth Iehoua Esay the Prophet doth likewise speking of one God and reiecting al other Wherfore the Trinitie is one euerlasting the only immutable inuisible and almighty God I will proue this to be true in these foure wordes power name light vertue for the father is almighty as it is written I am the Lord almighty And the sonne also is almighty for the wyseman calleth him y e almighty hand and the almighty word of God The holy comforter also is almighty forasmuch as he is
who loueth me shal be loued of my father I wil loue him of the holy coÌ„forter y e fruit of y e spirit is loue Through this loue of al the thre persons Christ suffred death y t we might liue for of the father it is written God so loued y e world y t he gaue his only begotten son of Christ I liue by the faith of the sonne of God which loued me gaue himself for me The spirit also gaue him for Paul saith of Christ which through the eternal spirit offred himself without spot vnto God They haue also one counsel for Esay calleth y e holy gost the spirit of couÌ„sel strength Christ is called Angeâ—â—s magni consilij an angel of great couÌ„sel because he is the wisdom of God they are of one wil they coÌ„maund forbid one thing their calling is not diuers but one And as the father is called Lord so is the holy coÌ„forter so is Christ. We reade that the spirit of the Lorde came vpon Sampson whom he calleth also his strength saying if my hear were cut of my strength would go from me But after that his seuen lockes were cut awai the scripture saith that the Lord departed from him calling the spirit which gouerned him Lord. If thei haue one nature one kingdom one power one counsel one operation one name one vertue one life one peace one grace one coÌ„mauÌ„dement one vocation one wyll and seyng they be one light one charitie one streame and one Lord how can they be diuers Gods There is a generall vnitie of al things in them wherfore thei must nedes be one God also I trust now it be sufficiently fortified and established that ther is but one god of heauen earth who gouerneth ordreth al thinges Natural reason proclaimeth this as it were out of some highe place vnto al creatures His almighty euerlasting power proueth y e same The Poets confesse and graunt him to be alone the Philosophers coÌ„discend to theÌ„ the Sibilles magnifie and acknowledge him y e false gods of y e Pagans theÌ„selues confesse him the Prophetes of the true God euermore taught this the EuaÌ„gelistes and Apostles fortifie the same nature preacheth one God which acknowledgeth one world faith telleth vs the same for there is but one fayth of both testaments as the Apostle witnesseth and baptisme also for there is but one bath of holy baptisme whiche is ministred in y e name of the trinitie The glorious death of many thousandes of maâ—tâ—rs both of men children women virgins which by no maner of tormentes could be plucked away from this faith haue sealed it and the constant and stedfast consent agrement and conspiration of all tymes and nacions with one minde and accord hath enacted this so that the gates of hel shal not preuaile against it The .xxix. Chapter ¶ Al the partes of the difinition made of God are proued to agre vnto Christ. AS I haue spoken of al iii. persones of the blessed trinitie together so now for a more euident profe of my last content I wyll fortifie out of the stoore house of y e scriptures y t al the parts of my definitioÌ„ made of y e only king of kinges immortal almighty God do belong appertein also both vnto Christ to the alknowing most blessed coÌ„forter The first persel of my difinitioÌ„ was God is a spiritual substance That Christ is a substance no maÌ„ wil deny for he is no accident Read my .xxiiii. chap. there y u shalt find this thing proued But how caÌ„ you proue y t he is a spiritual substaunce The prophet Ieremy saith Spiritus ante facieÌ„ nostram Christus dominus that is y e spirit before vs Christ y e lord Note y t he calleth him both a spirit lord If ther be no spirit he can not be God for god is a spirit and inasmuch as he is a spirit a substaÌ„ce he is a spiritual substaunce not touching his humanitie but touching y t nature in which he is lord as the prophet declareth very wel saying y e spirit before vs Christ the lord meaning that he is Lord in that he is a spirit for y e Lord is a spirit Pure nature foloweth in the difinitioÌ„ By the word pure is ment that God is one a singuler substaunce not myxt not compost Ether Christ is suche a substaunce or els he is a creature If he be a creatur theÌ„ is he subdued to vanitie not willingly for the Apostle witnesseth Quippe vanitati creatura subiacet non volens Euery creature is subdued to vanitie Christ is not subdued to vanitie Ergo Christ is no creature That Christ is not subdued to vanitie I proue thus The ruler of this world came and founde nothing in him Ergo he is not subdued to vanitie But some Arrians wil say y t he was subdued vnto vanitie in y t he toke our natur vpoÌ„ him to restore vs when we wer forlorn for the preacher crieth of all things vnder heauen al is but vanitie al is but plain vanitie Albeit this were truly spoken yet can not S. Pauls saying be verified of Christ who saith euery creature is subdued vnto vanitie not willingly Christ toke our nature willingly restord vs willingly by his precious death passion as he himself doth testifie no man doth take my life fro me but I put it away my self wherfore he is no creature Ergo he is a pure simple single nature without al mixture or composicion Immutable Paul telleth vs that he is immutable for in his letter to his countreymen he witnesseth that the father speaketh these wordes of the .ci. Psalm vnto Christ Thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth and the heauens are the workes of thy handes they shall perishe but thou shalt endure They shal wax old as doth a garment as a vesture shalt thou chaunge them they shalbe chaunged but thou art the same that is vnchauÌ„geable thy years shal not faile Lo y e father witnesseth that Christ is immutable We read also Iesus Christus heri hodie idem est etiam in secula Iesus Christ yesterday and to day and the same continueth for euer This propertie belonging to no creature proueth him God For God only is immutable Iesus Christ is immutable Ergo Ieus Christ is God Inuisible This is another propertie whiche the scriptures geue vnto God Christ is a spirit touching one nature â–ª then if al spirites if our soules be vnuisible how muche more is Christ vnuisible the maker of spirites and soules Paul calleth hym touchynge this nature vertutem dei the vertue or power of God Wherfore he is vnuisible vnsearchable Paule in the same place calleth him the wisdome of God the wisdome of God is vnsearchable There foloweth in the definition Filling heaueÌ„ earth
who for his great learning was surnamed Magnus expouÌ„deth this text of y e holy ghost and saith that his predecessors toke it so and S. Austen is of thesame mind Philip Melancthon aloweth their interpretacion as I declared before For truly y e word spirit can not signifie wynd in that place the which when these woâ—ds were spoken was vncreat What is ment theÌ„ by these wordeâ— Borne vpon the waters Verely no blast of wynd but that he sate on the waters for as the hen sitting on her egs hatcheth her yoÌ„gones so the holy ghost hatcheth al creaturs which ther are called waters as it is written when thou lettest thy spirit go forth they are made so thou renuest y e face of thy earth He that made all things is God Heb. iij. The holy ghost made al thinges Ergo the holy ghost is god Iob also saith of him Spiritus diuinus qui fecit me the diuine spirit who made me confessing him both diuine and his maker And as when we read Opera manuuÌ„ tuarum sunt celi The heaueÌ„s are the workes of thi hand we acknowledge Christ the maker of the worlde who is Gods hand so when we read Videbo celos tuos opera digitorum tuorum â—unam stellas que tu fundasti That is I wil behold the heauens the workmaÌ„ship of thi fingers the mone the starres whiche thou hast made Let vs acknowledge also the holy ghost Gods finger to be our maker for as much as thesame works in other places are called the workes of God For as when the hand worketh the fingers worke also so the hole trinitie formed al thinges of a confused heap whose workes be vnseperable as I haue proued before Gouernour of al thinges The canticle of Moises recordeth that he gouerned the congregation of the Israelites For when they had passed ouer the sea they gaue herty thankes for their deliueraunce to al the thre persons to y e father and the sonne in these wordes Thi right hand O Lord is glorious in power thy right hand hath also dashed the enemies and to the holy ghost saiyng with y e spirit of thine anger the water gathered together as a rock For Christ is Gods right hand and by the word spirit the holy ghost is ment in that he saith Lord he signifieth the father Wherfore their deliueraunce is the workmanship of the whole trinitie which worketh al things in heauen and earth But the Prophet Esay protesteth the gouernaunce of the holy ghost more plainly saying Where is he who brought them from the water of the sea as a shepeheard doth his flok Where is he whiche led Moises by the right haÌ„d with his glorious arm Wher is he that led theÌ„ in the depe as an horse is led in the plain and he answereth The spirit of the Lord led theÌ„ as a tame beast goeth in the field The same spirit gouerneth the present congregation geuyng to one vtteraunce of wisdome to another fayth to another giftes of healyng to another power to do miracles to another prophecie to another iudgement of spirits to another diuerse tongues to an other interpretation as the Apostle witnesseth which be necessary offices in the church Who gaue Simeon an aunswer that he shuld not se death before he had sene our spokesman Iesus Christ The holy ghost Who leadeth the congregation in to al truth who teacheth vs al veritie y e holy ghost Who coÌ„maundeth to seperate Paul and Barnabas to the worke wherunto he had called them that is to preach the swete tidinges of the gospel to the gentyles The holy ghost Who forbyddeth them to preache in Asia who coÌ„maundeth Peter to aryse and get hym down and go with Cornelius seruauntes who sent those seruauntes vnto Simon the Tannars house for Peter The holy ghost Who monysheth Philp the Deacon to ioyne hym selfe to the chariot of the gelded man which was chamberlein to Candace Quene of the Ethiopians The holy ghost Do not these textes proue hym to gouerne the congregation to be myndfull of both good and euyl Do they not denie him to be a creature do they not fortify him to be y e third person in the gloriouse Trinitie and to be God Yes verelye All thynges are gouerned by God The Holy ghost gouerneth all thinges Ergo the Holy ghost is God Knowing al things foloweth the which belongeth to the alknowyng comforter for asmuch as he is the spirite of knowelege The Apostle witnesseth that man neither by the helpe of his outward senses nor through the gift of reason can atteine to the vnderstaÌ„ding of those things which are prepared for the chosen He denieth this knowdlege to the senses saying Oculus non videt neque auris audiuit the eye hath not seene and the eare hath not heard for these be the two principall powers and to all mannes reason and wisdom by these words folowing Neque in cor nethre hath entred into y e heart of man the thinges c. for the heart is the place of vnderstanding Angels also are ignoraunt of some thinges as of the last day and houre which the father knoweth only But of the holy comforter it is written the spirit searcheth al things yea the bottome of Gods secretes Paule is not content only to say this of the spirite but he addeth two argumentes prouing the same The one is a similitude that as the spirit of man knoweth the thinges of man so the spirite of God knoweth y e things of God al things be his Ergo he knoweth al things His other reasoÌ„ is that y e spiritual man through his inspiration discusseth all thinges He who knoweth all thinges is GOD The Holy ghost knoweth all thinges Ergo the Holy ghost is GOD. The next propertie in my definition beloÌ„ging to God only is to forgeue sin How proue you that the holy ghost can do this Harken what Chryste our mercy stocke saith Receyue the holy ghost whose sinnes ye remit thei are remitted vnto them Note that the holy ghost pardonth sinne No man can remit sin they do onli minister forgeuenes in the name of the father of the soÌ„ne and of the holy ghost they pray God pardoneth they employ their seruice remâ—ssion and mercy coÌ„meth from aboue as I haue declared and proued in my Chapt. that God onely forgeueth sinne Furthermore ye are washed saith S. Paule ye are sanctified ye are iustified by the name of the Lord Iesu and by the spirite of oure God Ergo the spirite forgeueth sinne The Prophet Esay telleth that one of the Seraphins with a hot coale taken from the aulter wyth tongues touched his mouth and his sin was molten away He meaneth neither charcole nor sea cole but the cole of the holy ghost who maye be well called a cole for he is fier wherfore the holy ghoste doth forgeue sinne No man can deny but that in baptisme sinnes be forgeuen The holy
frump them yea some noble and spiritual lords had rather receiue idle sodomites dum priests to their chapplains then maried preachers They thinke it vnmete y t such should be colligeners nay it is vnmete y t your chapplains should be prebendaries in cathedral colleges Deanes Archdeacons suffraganes and liue so idly as thei do and yoâ— which kepe them be gilty of their negligence do oppres and rob the people of the word of God find your seruauntes of their costes It is vnmete for the kinges chappleins and Amners to â—e absent from these colleges out of which they haue great liuinges to do no good in the countrey about It is not vnmete for maried priestes present in y e colleges and doing their duties to haue their liuings I wold the kâ—ngs maiestie wold geue his chapleine sufficieÌ„t wages and bind them to read 〈◊〉 of diuinitie euery day or thrise 〈◊〉 in his â—al it were a noble order for a kinges house to be a schole of diuinitie godly exaÌ„ple to al lordes spiritual and temporall then they should be as Esay calleth theÌ„ true nourses of religion If such as be maried were alowed their wages and comâ—s to their own houses bound by some statutes to preach on holy days in the countrey about it wer much better theÌ„ it hath ben or is yet neuerthelesse suche as be single might kepe a comeÌ„ table a comeÌ„ haull for al will not mary no more then thei do out of colleges They should not liue idly as they haue done and doâ— for Pauls rule is y t he which laboureth not ought not to eate saint Augustin in his boke entitled De opera monachoruÌ„ crieth out against idle coligeners Were not this a better reformatioÌ„ then to suppres and put down colleges O liuing God this is a strauÌ„g kind of surgery a strauÌ„g reformation to swepe thinges away to make that priuat which was commen Wel Dauid saith that God will make them like to Sisera and Iabin lyke vnto Ored Zeb whiche haue the houses of God in possessioÌ„ he wil rote out their generation euen to the pysser against y e wal I speake not this of y e vniuersities but of cathedrall colleges and other in which be sufficient liuings to mainteine maried men But to returne to our matter like silogismes mai be made of other matters as that God deliuered the childreÌ„ of Israell from the Egipticall bondage Deu. 5 The holy ghost was their deliuerer Esay 30. Ergo the holy ghost is God If we ponder the circumstance diligeÌ„tly we shal find that Peter praied vnto the holy ghost when he fell into a traunce sawe heauen open in SimoÌ„ the tanners house He praieth to him y t sayeth what God hath clensed make thou not comeÌ„ For it is written there came a voyce to Peter Arise kil eat he said God forbid Lord. But the holy ghost is he who clensed for he fel sodeinly vpon the gentils to clense them he is called water a â—loud for the same skil Ergo he prayd to the holy ghost It is to be supposed that Peter praid vnto him who answereth commauÌ„deth him in that traunce to go to Cornelius but it is written that y e spirit coÌ„maundeth him Ergo he praied to y e spirit Also the spirit sent Cornelius seruauÌ„ts vnto Peter for he saith vnto him go w t theÌ„ doubt not for I haue senâ— theÌ„ Wherfore it is probable y t Cor. also praied vnto y e spirit albeit he knew him not wel for his requestes were graunted of him Moreouer the holy comforter hath a temple not of stone ne of wood but far more honorable the bodies of the 〈◊〉 and chosen for whiche Christ died as it is wrytten your bodies are the temple of the holy ghost which is in you whom ye haue of God ye are not your oâ—ne for ye ar derely bought therfore glorify God in your bodies Lo he both geueth him a temple and calleth him God and is he not to be praied vnto and honorâ—â— â–ª That the holy gost is the true God vnto whom temples are erected and builded the Actes of the Apostles declare with plain wordes Ananias quod Peter how is it that Sathan hath filled thine hert to lie vnto the holy ghost and he addeth thâ—â— hast not lyed vnto men but vnto God â—o the holy ghost is God so Ihon calleth Christ the true God Hic est verus deus vita eterna He is very God and euerlasting life And seing there is but one God the thre persons are that one God which is only to be praied vnto to be worshipped to whoÌ„ we shuld dedicate both the temple of our bodies and al temples of wood stone or other stuf and to no saintes departed to no auÌ„gels or archaungels for then we honour them which is idolatry and robery God only hath a temple The holy ghost haâ—h a temple Ergo the holy ghost is God To be honored Nothing is to be honored but God only for it is writteÌ„ Seruie ruÌ„t crâ—aâ—ure potius quaÌ„ creatori qui est deus benedictuâ— in secula They worshipped serued the creature more theÌ„ the maker which is God blessed for euermore He boâ—h monysheth vs to serue God only and reproueth such as honour creaturs Now that the holy ghost is to be serued and honored y e same Apostle witnesseth saying beware of dogges beware of euil workers beware of dissencioÌ„ for we are circumciâ—ion seruing y e spirit which is God Lo Paul confesseth hym selfe to be the seruaunt of the spirite Some doe read here spiritu deum colentes seruyng God in spirit but y e greke text discusseth that interpretacion to be false whiche is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say worshipping y e spirit which spirit is god If Paul had ment Quod spiritu deum cole bant that they in spirit serued God he wold haue sayd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as he sayd in the same place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reioysing in Christ and not trusting in flesh For that the holy ghost is to be worshipped he declareth also saying if all do prophecie and there come in one that beleueth not or one vnlearned he is rebuked of all men and is iudged of euery man and the secretes of his heart are opened he falleth downe on his face worshippeth God saying that God is in you in dede But he who spake in theÌ„ was the holy ghost of whoÌ„ prophecie cometh of whom it is written Non estis vos qui loquimini sed spiritus patris qui loquitur in vobis It is not you which speake but the spirit of my father which speaketh in you Wherfore wheÌ„ thei fal down worship him which is in them they worship the holy ghost If the swete fleshe of our sauiour Christ be to be honored as we are coÌ„maunded adorate scabellum pedum
hogs filthy couetous men to roote and treade down thy vineyard any lenger but hold vp the staffe of thyne enheritaunce Let not the preaching of thy smete son encrease the damnacion of thy people but doe thou drawe and turne them worke their ameÌ„dement who holdest in thy handes the hartes of rulers and al meÌ„ Al these enormities be the fruites of euil hartes make them O God cleane hearted that they may powre forth good fruites by the operation of thy holy spirit who preserue your grace in good health and make your gouernment prosperous to you to this Realme and to the churche of God So be it At London the .xxvi. of Iune ¶ Maister doctor Byll Images are made to put vs in mynde Of that which is dead or farre absent But God is neither as we do fynde But aye liuing and eche where present Images are cursed grauen by mans wyt In place that are set for any religion But an Image made out of holy wryt Is not forbidden in myne opinion An Image is painted here in this boke Neither with false 〈◊〉 nor maÌ„s inueÌ„tioÌ„s But out of Gods boke set out to all folke Fruitfull necessary to al true christiaÌ„s Hutchinson shope it for good men to regard With thankes his costes with prayse his paynes rewarde AN EXACT TABLE OF AL the principall matters conteined in this boke A ABsolutioÌ„ of the the minister 90 Abraham lyed not to Abymeleck Fol. 38 Abrahams vision 103 135 A clene sacrifice 33 Accidens remaine in in the sacrament 117 Against fate and destinie or the influence of the starres 61 Against Peters premacy â—â— A glasse 104 A glasse to se God in Fol. 138 Against prayinge to sainctes 145 An exhortatioÌ„ to swerers 1â— Angels are Gods repers Fol. 13 Against the corporall presence 21 All lying is forbidden 37 All thinges were made of nothing 52 A new sacrifice 34 An exhortation to kinges 55 Angels apere in diuers shapes 66 Angels ar ministring spirites 74 Anabaptistes doctrine euill 80 Anabaptistes aledge two seedes in Mary Fol. 123 Anabaptistes would be calde to geue a reconing of their faith Folio 173 Arme of God 9 Armour to fight against the deueil 118 Aâ—rius interpretation coÌ„futed 155.142.178 Aristotle 150.145 As there is a God so is there a deuil â–ª 117 A single nature not mixâ— 161 B Baptisme commaunded Fol. 1 Baptisme purifieth vs. fol. 1 Baren ground resembled to men â—â— â–ª Byshop Firmius answer to the king 40 Bishops must haue an eye to their vocatioÌ„ Folio 87 By the euerlastinge word al things wer made 110 Borne vpon the waters what it is 49 C Cause of sicknes 50 Christ became man why 120 Christ toke both soule and body 121 Christ brought not his flesh from heaueÌ„ 1â—â— Christ toke not the fede of angels 12â— Christs flesh holy 124 Christes flesh is to be worshiped 177 Christ borne of a pure virgin 124 Christ not the holy ghostes sonne 128 Christ did decke him self with our nature Folio 126 Christ why he was teÌ„ted 1â—7 Christ suffered for vs. Folio 106 Christ â–ª the begotteÌ„ son of God 103 Christ confuted his enemies with scriptures 4 Christ not in the sacrameÌ„t touching his humanitie 21 Christes body receiued from heaueÌ„ by faith Folio 23 Christes fleshe geueth life 23 Christ is the vyne touching his flesh 24 Christs priesthod hath ended the Leuites 32 Câ—â—ist loked vpon Peter â—â— Christes praier preserued Peter 87 Christes comming or sending what it is Folio 125 Christ is a substaÌ„ce 161 Christ is a spirit 161 CleaÌ„â—hes .iiii. reasons Fol. 60 CorrinthiaÌ„s punished for abusing the sacrament 29 Creatures are not punished by desteny 67 Corporally 108 D Dauid obtained vnderstanding how 31 Deuill no fleshly mocion 119 Deuils confesse Christ to be the sonne of God 119 Dial declarth y e dai 56 Diues Lazarus 58 Diagoras 59 E Eyes of God what they signifie 8 Earth cursed of God why â—â— Epiphanius 95 Euil meÌ„ receiueth not Christes body 28 F Fantasticall heads 2 Fancies what cause 3 Face of God what it signifieth 8 Fate what it is 67 Father vnbegotteÌ„ â–ª â—3 Fete of God what 10 Fear god aboue al. 21 First point of our profession 1 Finger of God 92 Figure of Christ. 110 Filleth heuen earth Folio 162 G God a pure substance Fol. 99 God a pure natur 14 Gods nature hid from our eies 12 Gods maiestie shewed Folio 3 Gods power vpholdeth y e heauens 62 Gods remission goeth before our loue 78 Gods word the keye of knowledge 52 gods sho what it is 11 Gods remission goeth before our pardo 74 God is a father 152 God is life 158 God only of hiÌ„self 62 God is a spirit 27 God is full of vnderstanding 31 God ia full of truth mercy 41 God is full of rightuousnes 43 God is ful of compassion 45 God is a floud or streme 158 God worketh al thiÌ„gs to purposes 56 God honored by swearing how 10 God is saide to be an husbandman 12 God is said to be a shoter how 12 God is saide to be angry how 15 God is said to slepe 15 God loketh vpon the earnest repentant 89 God was seene of the fathers how 18 God seeth the wicked euery where 21 God geueth vnderstanding to his 31 god is ful of mercy 41 God loueth whome he scourgeth 44 God saueth no man against his will 45 God maker of al thiÌ„gs Fol. 47 God made not the deuyll 51 Gods iudgement vnchercheable 17 Gods head 8 Gods repers 13 God robed of his 2 Good angels 115 Gospel is the spiritual sword 4 Gospel a sermon of gods mercy 5 Gospell maketh true christians idem H Hears of god 8 Hand of god 9 How god doth laugh Fol. 15 How god is said to awake to forget to remember to sit to staÌ„d to go to walke 16 How god is in all places 20 How god dwelleth w t vs. idem How god is vnto all men idem How Paule was a citezen of Rome 40 Hell hath thre significations 43 How god is said only to be immortal 46 How God is said to reste the seuenth day 71 How God is saide to repent 73 Howe we doe forgeue one another 77 How the Pope loseth and bindeth 83 How y e father is sene in Christ. 105 Holy ghost to be praid vnto 113 Holy ghost appeared like a doue 130 How Christ is a flour or a rose 132 How God is named y e somme of vnderstaÌ„ding 135 How God is fyre 〈◊〉 lyght 137 Heathen opinion confuted 144 How the father Christ and the holy spirite be one God 152 I Image of God 1 Image of the father is an Idol 13 Image of God lost 14 I am the vine this my body are diuers phrases 24 Iacobs saying to his father is no lie but a mistery 39 In hel no redeÌ„tion 42 Immortall properly Folio 47 Impossible for herd Fol. 94 K Kingdomes why they are translated 55 Kingdomes scourged why 58 L Leauen of the Phariseis 3 Letter kylleth what
are one 106 Ioh. 14. If a man loue me he wyll keepe my worde and my father also wyl loue hym and we wil come vnto him and dwell with him Folio 20 Iohn 14. Whosoeuer seeth me seeth my father 105 Ioh. 15. I am the vine and ye are the braunches 23 Iohn 15. My father is an husbandman 23 Ioh. 16. He shal iudge the world of sin 167 Iohn 17. This is life euerlastinge that they might knowe thee the only true God whoÌ„ thou haste sent Iesus Christ. 154 Ioh. 17. I pray not for them alone but for theÌ„ also which shall beleue on me thorowe their preaching that they al may be one as thou fatherr art in me c. 143 Iohn 20. Whosoeuer synnes ye remit they are remitted vnto theÌ„ and whosoeuer sinnes ye retaine they are reteyned 79 Iohn 20. Receiue the holy spirite 171 Iohn 20. And many other thinges did Iesê° which are not written these are written that ye might beleue c. and haue lyfe eternall 104 Iohn 21. SimoÌ„ Ioanna louest thou me more then these and he saide yea lord thou knowest I loue thee He sayde vnto him feade my laÌ„bes He said to hym again louest thou me Peter aunswered yea Lord thou knowest I loue thee He said vnto him feade my sheape And he asked hym the third tyme. 85.86 Actes 10. And there came a voyce to hym aryse Peter kyll and eate but Peter sayde God forbyd Lorde for I haue neuer eaten athyng that is vncleane or comen 175 Act. 10. Whyle Peter thought on his vision the spirite sayde vnto him beholde men seke thee aryse therfore get the down and go with them for I haue sent them 176 Actes 19. Paul passed thorow the vpper coastes and came to Ephesus and found certeyne disciples and sayd vnto them haue ye receyued the holy ghost and they sayde no. And he sayde wherwith were ye then baptised And they sayd with Iohns baptisme And it foloweth when they heard that they were baptised in the name of the Lord Iesu agayn and Paul layd his handes on them and â–ª thei spake with tongues and prophecied 91 Act. 22. Then the captain came vnto Paulâ— and sayd to him Tell me art y u a Romaine he saide yea And the Captaine aunswered with a great summe obteined I this fredom And Paul sayd I was free borne 40 Rom. 3. By the dedes of the law no flesh shall be iustified 121 Rom. 5. The lawe entred that syn should encrease 126 Rom. 8. We know not what to desire but the spirit maketh intercession myghtely for vs with gronyng whiche can not bee expressed with tonge 131 Rom. 8. God sent hys sonne in the likenes of sinful flesh 125 Ro. 8. Euery creatur is subdued to vanite 166 Ro. 9. Who can resist his wyl 44 1 Cori. 2. The eie hath not seene and the eare hath not heard neither haue entred in to the heart of men the thinges whiche God hath prepared for them that loue hym 170 1 Corin. 2. The spirite searcheth all thynges yea the bottom of gods secretes For what maÌ„ knoweth the things of a man saue the spirite of maÌ„ which is in him Euen so the thinges of god none knoweth but the spirit of God 170 1 Cor. 6. Ye are washed ye are sanctified ye are iustifieth by the name of the Lord Iesu and the spirite at our God Fol. 171 1 Cor. 6. Your bodies are the temple of the holy ghost which is in you whom ye haue of God ye are not your own for you are dearly bought Therfore glorifie God in your bodies 176 1 Corint 8. Althomgh there be that are called gods in heauen earth as ther be many gods and Lordes many yet vnto vs is there but one God which is the father of all thinges we in him and one lord Iesus Christ by whoÌ„ are all thinges and we by him 154 1 Corin. 10. One loafe one body we that bee many 52 1 Cor. 14. The secrets of his hart are opened and he falleth down on his face and worshyppeth God saiyng that God is in you in dede Fol. 177 1 Cor. 15. By a man came death and by a maÌ„ cometh the resurrectioÌ„ of the dead for as by AdaÌ„ al die so by christ al be made aliue 120 2 Cor. 3. The letter killeth the spirit geueth lyfe 4 2 Cor. 10. The weapoÌ„s of our war are not carnall thynges but the power of God to cast down strung holdes 3 Galat. 3. There is no Iew nether Gentil nether bonde ne free ne man ne woman 107 Gala. 4. In the fulnes of tyme God sent his sonne 125 Galath 4. God sent Christ. 125 Gal. 4 Borne of a woman idem Philip. 2. Beware of dogges beware of euil workers beware of discention for we are circumcision seruing the the spirite whiche is God 35 Philip. 2. He became obedient to the death of the Crosse. 128 Colo. 2. Beware lest any man come spoile you through Philosophie and deceitful vanitie 17 Col. 2. In Christ dwelleth all the fulnes of y e godhead corporally or bodely 108 2 Tessa 2. He shall syt in the temple of God and shew him selfe as God 88 1 Timo. 1. Unto God king euerlasting immortall inuisible and wise only by praise 155 1 Timo. 2. God would haue all men saued come to the knowledge of the truth 45 1 Timo. 6. He that is blessed and mighty only which only hath immortalitie 155.156 Hebr. 1. Which being the bryghtnes of his glory expresse image of his substaunce 106 Hebr. 6. It is impossible that they whiche were once lightned haue tasted of the heauenly gifte and were become partakers of y e holy ghost c. if they fall should ryse again by repentaunce crucifiyng vnto themselues again the son of God and making a mock of hym 91.92 Hebr. 13. Be not caried about with diuerse straunge learning 3 Iaco. 1. Cometh doun froÌ„ the father of light Fol. 45 1 Iohn 1. God is light and in hym is no darkenes 137 1 Iohn The seede of God remaineth in him Fol. 123 1 Iohn 5. There are thre which bear record on earth the spirit water and bloud and these thre are one 104 1 Iohn 5. There are iiâ— which beare recorde in heauen the father the worde the holy gost and these thre are one Folio 142 Apoc. 19. He had a name written that none knew but he him selfe Folio 78 FINIS The first Chapter ¶ We must learne what God is of Gods word and not of mans wisdome THe first point and chief profession of a true christen man is most stedfastly to beleue that ther be thre persones and one God as we are taught in Baptisme whiche is commaunded to be ministred in the name of the father of the sonne of the holy spirit For in y e bath of holy baptisme we are regenerate washed purified and made the children of God by the workmanship of the thre persons which formed also heaueÌ„ and
burneth with fire and brimstone whiche is the seconde death Thou mayest escape the punishement of man but thou canst not escape Gods hand who punisheth more greuously then man Whâ—ther wilt thou flie from God surely thou canst not flie from him but by flying vnto hym thou canst not escape his wrath whiche is his righteousnes but by appealyng vnto his mercie Dauid compared God to a man that draweth a bowe the farther he draweth his shaft whiche is his punishment the greater is the stroke therof There is a great altercation nowe a daies whether God be in the sacrameÌ„t or not he must nedes be ther for he is in al places But whether is he ther by his diuinitie or humanitie Christ warneth vs that in the latter age there shall aryse many false Prophetes and Pseudochristi that is false anointed which be the Byshop of Romes gresed butchers and sacrificers which shal say lo here is Christ and there is Christ. These Pseudochristes be not they of whom they speake afterward in thesame chapters many shall come in my name saying I am Christ but another sort for these shall not chalenge this to them selues but direct maÌ„ to other and of these false anointed that shal point vs to other he saith Nolite credere beleue theÌ„ not and therfore I dare not say that he is there after his humanitie least I be a false Prophet for this is spoken of his humanitie not of his diuinitie Touching his diuinitie I say vnto you good people lo here is Christ and there is Christ for it is here there in the towne in the citie in the chappel in the church and wildernes and euery wher as I haue declared The papistes say y t this place maketh not against y e presence of Christes body vpoÌ„ earth but against false Prophetes which should preach in the last age false doctrine True it is Christ speaketh here against suche But what false doctrine shal they teach Shal ther come two at one time in one age of which false prophets shal say he is christ and an other shal say no this is Christ pointing to some other There were neuer yet two in one age which both were said to be Christes of any false prophets nor the scriptures do not mencion or regester any such thing to come for the veritie saith y t many such shal come Now we neuer read that many haue reported and said here is Christ and there onles we take it to be spoken of the papistes whiche shewe Christ vâ—to vs in many places at once in euery chapell and on euery Aultar Many shall say of them selues that they are Christ but these be other doctours compare their wordes together and thou shalt fynd that I say true the one text doth not expounde the other but they be two dyuerse prophecies of two diuerse things This false doctryne then is nothynge els but to teach Christes body after his ascentioÌ„ to be vpon the earth visibly or inuisibly Pighius who calleth Gods worde a nose of ware wresteth this text to another purpose taking Christe here for his church Lo here is Christe and there is Christe saith Pighius that is heretikes shal say here is the church and there is y e church O wyse exposition shall heretikes saye that Christ is here there touchyng his members and church No verely this is no heresy for Christes church is in many places in deserts and other If Christ must be taken for his church in this text then we are compelled also to vnderstaÌ„d the church by him in the text which immediatly foloweth where he saith beleue them not Christe that is the church shall come as lightnynge we must take Christ for the same thorow out the chapter Read diligently examen the circumstaunce whych is chieflye to be regarded in the exposition of doubtful places open the scripture with the key not with the pykelocke that is expound it by tt selfe not by priuate interpretation and y u shalt fynd that Christe there is taken for Christ not for y e church as Pighius wold straine the place making of y e scriptures a nose of wax You wil ask me then whether we receiue Christes body yea truly from heauen from the right hand of the father not out of y e bread nor in y e bread For onles we eat his flesh and drink his bloud we shal not dwell in him we shall not arise at the last day we shal not haue eternall life Christes humanitie is the mean wherby we must obtein al things the way by which we must clyme vp to heaueÌ„ the ladder that Iacob sawe going vnto Mesopotamia reaching vp to heauen with aungels ascending and descending vpon it Christ teacheth this vsing not only his word and commaundemeÌ„t in raising the dead as God but also his flesh as a help and meane to the same In raysing the doughter of one of the chief of the synagoge he toke hir by the hand and raysed her When he cured one full of the leprosy he stretched out his hand and touched hym When he entred into the citie of Naim meetinge a dead man caried out the only sonne of a wydowe hauyng compassion on her he touched the bere and raised him from dead Ther be infinit places of scripture which teach vs that Christes flesh geueth lyfe deliuereth from death expelleth vice but this is notable forasmuch as this wydowe signifieth the church and her dead sonne representeth mankynd dead thorowe the sinne of Adam Christ is a vyne and we ar the brauÌ„ches as he witnesseth himselfe Ego sum vitis vera c. I am the true vyne and my father is a husbaÌ„d man vos estis palmites The brauÌ„ches cannot lyue onles they take norishment of the substaunce of the vyne and of his iuice Euen so the soul of a christen man must nedes be fed with the swete fleshe and comfortable bloud of Iesus Christe If we be braunches we be nouryshed of the vyne I wold learn whether he be the vyne after his humanitie or by his diuinitie He is not the vyne touching his diuine nature for the vyne is not equall with the husband man but at his commaundement Christ touchinge his diuinitie is the husbandman and equall with his father Marke he is the vyne therfore coÌ„cerning that nature in which he is inferior to his father which is his humanitie If then Christe be the vyne not by his diuinitie but by his humanitie and we the brauÌ„ches then we must be refreshed of the vyne that is of his humanitie This metaphore hath ben abused to many euill purposes as to proue Chryste not to be God because he is the vyne it hath ben racked also to proue that these words hoc est corpus meum This is my body is a lyke phrase a like speach as when Christ saith ego sum vitis I am the vyne They be no like phrases
but far different and diuerse for the vyne is no sacrament neither the dore nor the way be no sacramentes The bread of the which Christ said this is my body is a sacrament not a bare and naked metaphore the rocke was a sacrament the braseÌ„ serpent was a sacrameÌ„t not metaphores only When Christe sayd this is my body he ordeyned a sacrameÌ„t y t is he gaue y e name of the thing to the signe so y t notwythstanding the matter nature substaunce of the signe remaineth onlesse this substaunce remaine the bread is no Sacrament For sacramentes saith S. Augustine are so called of the similitude of those thinges to which they be sacramentes Take away the matter the substaunce and nature of bread and wyne and there remaineth no more similitude Now all the fathers that were before Gregory do confesse that the scriptures do wytnes that there must be thre similitudes in this sacrament a similitude of norishing a similitude of vnitie and a similitude of coÌ„uersion The similitude of norishing is this that as bread and wyne doe norish our body and comfort our outward maÌ„ so the body and bloud of Christ be the meat and fode of our soules and do coÌ„fort our inward man And the similitude of vnitie is this that as the loâ—â— of which we eate was made of many cornes of wheat by the liquor of water knoden in to dough and yet is but one loaf and as the wyne waâ— made of the iuyce of diuerse grapes and yet is but one cup of wyne so al they that eat Christes body and drinke his bloud being many are made one body one flesh by the liquor of charitie and loue the mistical body of our sauiour Christ which is his church not his natural body for the bread is a sacrament not only of Christes naturall body but also of the congregation and mistical body and therfore Paul saith that albeit we be many yet notwithstanding we ar Vnus panis vnum corpus one loaf and one body What a loaf are we Verely euen Triticeus panis a wheaten loaf by the similitude of vnitie which I haue declared The similitude of conuersion is this that as the bread and wyne is turned in to y e substauÌ„ce of our bodies so by the receiuing of Christes body and bloud we are turned into the nature of them we are chaunged and made bones of his bones and flesh of his flesh He that eateth my flesh saith Chrst drinketh my bloud he abideth in me and I in him that is to saye we be made one flesh and one bloud and thesame nature that my flesh and my bloud hath thesame getteth he that eateth me These similitudes must be in the bread and wine or els they be no sacramentes Now take away the substaunce matter and nature of them and what similitude remaineth ether of norishing or of vnitie or of conuersion These similitudes be in the very substaunce and inward nature of bread and wyne not in the outward shewe of accidentes whiche doe nether noryshe nether are they chaunged neither haue any similitude of any vnitie Here percase gentle reader thou wilt demaund of me seing I teache the substaunce of bread and wyne to remayne after the consecration what I doe aunswer to the doctours and fathers which oftentymes doe say that the nature and substaunce of bread and wine is altered is turned into the body bloud of our sauiour Christ as Ciprian in his treatise which he writeth De cena domini of the Lordes supper saith Panis non effigie sed natura mutatus this bread is chaungeâ— not in the outward shew but in the nature and substaunce and Ignatius saith the same and Cirill and Ambrose and Hierom and Augustin and Chrisostom whose doctrinâ—s we doe folowe and we do alowe and imbrace them Be not deceiued good people they ar nothing against this doctrine but the pillers and mainteiners therof if their wrytinges be truly vnderstand Marke the phrases compare their sayinges together one with an other and you shall find that many do fasly slaunder them and that they which boast prate most of the doctours and old fathers vnderstand not the old fathers So they say that Eliseus chaunged and altered the nature of Iron wheÌ„ he made it to swym aboue the water so they say that Elias chaunged the nature of fyre when thorowe his praier it fell from heauen and consumed his sacrifice of wood stones and dust The nature of fire was chaunged no man can deny it at what tyme God appeared vnto Moyses out of a bush in a flame for the bush was not coÌ„sumed He coÌ„maunded y e fier not to hurt his faithful seruaunts Sidrach Misak and Abednago preserued them harmles from the hot burning ouen There again nature was altered Elias Eliseus did not turne alter or chauÌ„ge the very substaunce inward essence or matter ether of Iron or of the fier into any other substaunce or nature but the naturall propertie of theÌ„ making the Iron which is heuy to houe aboue y e waters causing the fier which is light to descend dounward Euen so the doctours and old fathers which we alowe and folow say that the substaunce of bread wyne is chaunged that is the natural propertie of them so that where as before they were only the meat of the body now after the wordes rehearsed they are the fode of the soul also for so much as they deliuer vnto vs Christes swete flesh and comfortable bloud before it was comen bread and wine now it is holy and sanctified before it was no sacrament now it is a sacrament of the blessed body and honorable bloud of our sauiour Iesus Christ. But for a more manifest profe y t the old fathers beleued the substauÌ„ce of bread to remaine after the consecration I wyll aledge some of theÌ„ Ireneus saith that euery sacrament is made of two natures of a heauenly nature and of a terrenal or earthly nature Now take away the substaunce of bread and what earthly nature or substauÌ„ce remaineth in this holy sacrament The papistes say that the earthly nature is Christes body which he toke of the earth when he was borne of the blessed virgin Mary For she was earth and all men be earth To this I aunswer that Christes body is earth in very dede yet it is not the earthly and terrenall nature of this sacrameÌ„t which must haue thre similitudes of vnitie of nutricion and of conuersion as is declared before whiche similitudes can not be in Christes body Moreouer hear what Origen saith Panis sanctificatus vadit in ventrem The sacramentall bread entreth into the belly Wherfore entreth it thither but to norish our bodies to fede them to be y e meat of the flesh Wherfore the substaunce therof is not turned not chaunged not altered but remayneth and continueth for accidentes
offices and duties Ther be mo ministrations I wil not denay but they may be reduced all to these thre The Papistes make .vii. orders ostiaries or porters reders acolits exorcistes subdeacons deacons and priestes but nether of the names of .v. of them nor y t which is meant bi the names nor their creaâ—ioÌ„ nor their offices be expressed in the scripturs And if I wold recite the offices that they theÌ„ seâ—es assigne and their forme of creacioÌ„ I think mo would laugh at them then alow them Some of the doctours write that ther were some so called in y e church at their daies but that their offices were such as they decribe they can not shewe out of any doctour They haue kept the names and chaunged the duties and offices and haue appointed theÌ„ other duties as it is plain namely in the office of a deacon and so they do not only rack y e scriptures but also depraue and corrupt the doctors to maintein their dreames and phantasies and by the name of antiquitie and fathers they leade vs from our father in heauen The .ix. Chapter ¶ God is truth and whether it be lawfull or honest to lie for any consideration GOD is also full of truth and mercy of whom Dauid witnesseth that al his waies or pathes ar mercy and truth He destroieth al those that forge lies deliteth in such as be true for he is truth it self SalomoÌ„ amoÌ„g .vii. things which God hateth rekeneth lying twise as y t which God most abhorreth affirming also in another place that a false witnes lying lips shal not escape punishment Ther be that thinke it lawful to lie as y e marchaunt man to sell his wares with more aduauÌ„tage the Priscillianistes who held this opinion y t for a greater aduauÌ„tage lying is not forbidden to couer their couetousnes to excuse their daily lying they make thre sortes of lies Ioco sum perniciosum officiosum gesâ—ing lies pernicious officious of the which thei say two kindes to be lawful honest coÌ„mendable bringing these examples Nasica when he came to Ennius the Poets house to speak with him Ennius hauing earnest busines coÌ„maunded his maide to mete him at the dore and to say that he was not within who knowing that her maister had bidden her to say so because of his busines departed Sone after it fortuned y t Ennius came to his house and knocking at y e dore enquired for him Nasica hearing one knock and perceiuing out of a window that it was Ennius answered with a loud voice that he was not at home But Ennius knew his voyce and came in Then nasica came vnto hym and sayd you are impudent for I beleued your maid that you were not at home and wil not you beleue me my self In this exaÌ„ple be two lyes one of Ennius mayd at her maisters coÌ„mauÌ„dement the other of Nasica in the way of iest and mirth whiche both be defended to be honest But I tel you al lying is forbidden Sara also is alleged who when she had laughed denied it to thre men which came vnto Abraham and he likewyse is brought in for calling hys wyfe his sister And Iacob the patriark through the sutteltie of lying stoieaway his fathers blessing and the title of enheritaunce from his elder brother Esau at the couÌ„sel of his mother Rebecca The scripture recordeth also that God delt wel with the midwifes of Egipt made them houses because with a lie thei hindred the deuillish entent of cruell kyng Pharao and preserued the babes of the Hebrues from death How is it true theÌ„ that he destroieth all liyng lyps Ananias and Saphiâ—a his wife are slaine for lying but Raab the harlot is rewarded numbred of S. Paul among the faithfull because she by lying saued the messengers or spies of the Israelites from the pursuers of the kyng of Iericho Iehu the kyng of Israel saying he had a great sacrifice to do vnto Baal gathering his priests from al the coasts of Israel into one temple murdered them all thorow his lye is not reproued for the same wherfore all lying is not forbiddeÌ„ We read of Christ himself how he fayned that he wold go further then y e town of Emaus and the elect vessell S. Paul is not abashed to say he was a citizen of Rome and borne fre With these eâ—aÌ„ples lying is mainteined disceit and falshod alowed and named policie and prudeÌ„ce But I saye vnto you ye abuse Gods word ye rack it ye make it a nose of wax ye open it not with the ryght key but with a picklock name not subtiltie pollicie nor lying ieste or dutie all craftie schoffing all profitable lying is dampnable You bring for the defence of your leasinges Nasica Sara Abraham Iacob the midwifes of Egipt Raab Iehu Paul and Christ. As for Nasica his saying was a ieste a mery conceit and no lye Iestes mery conceites be no lies for as much as they be vttered not to harme noy or hynder any man but for myrth sake A man may affirme y t which is false and yet make no lye for to ly is to affirme an vntruth w t a mynd to hurt eÌ„damage and deceiue som man therby AbrahaÌ„ said not to Abimilech she is not my wyfe but she is my sister which was true for she was his sister by his father but not by his mother the daughter of Aran his brother and consequeÌ„tly of his father for asmoch as filij siliorum dicuntur etiam filii auorum the sonne sonnes or daughters are called also the sonnes and daughters of the grandfathers And so she was AbrahaÌ„s sister because she was his fathers daughter and she was his fathers daughter because she was his brothers daughter Wherfore he spake nothynge that was false but he kepte y t close which was true saiyng she was his sister and not coÌ„fessing her his wyfe the which thing also his sonne Isaac did afterward But this was no liyng to hyde the truth but to affirme that which is false And otherwise Sara lied in dede and her example is in that poynt to be eschued for many thinges are wrytten which are not to be folowed The story of Iacob is no lye but a mistery and the mistery proued true afterward When his father asked him who art thou son He answered I am Esau thy eldest soÌ„ne wherby nothing els is meant and signefied then that which Chrest saith ye shal se Abraham and Isaach and Icob and all the Prophetes in the kyngdome of God and your selues thrust out they shall come from the east and weste and north and south and sit in the kingdom of God and behold they be last which shalbe fyrst and they be fyrst which shal be last This thing nowe is com to passe for we are his people which wer not his people and his beloued which were not beloued S. Paule nameth this a mistery I
would not this mistery shoulde be hidden from you brethren lest ye should be wyse in youre owne conceites for asmuch as blindnes is partly happened in Israell tyl the fulnes of the Gentyles be come in Of these places it appeareth that Iacobs saying I am Esau thi eldest sonne is as much to say as the last shall be fyrst and the first last which is a true saying and no ly because it is a mistery For if we count misteries to be lyes we must couÌ„t likewise al parables and metaphores all tropes and fygures to be no lesse in which y e meaning is to be coÌ„sidered and not the proper signification of y e worde Christ is called a Lion a rocke a dore a Lambe the children of the kingdome are called good seed and the wycked tares The father of heaueÌ„ is named a husbandman Gods word a sweard a hamer a key Mannes lyfe is called a span a shadowe c. These maner of speaches be no lyes but playne demonstrations of hard matters in easy common termes We be taught by y e lion rocke and dore which we know what Christ is whom we know not and by the husbandman we learne what God y e father is By the sword the hammer the streÌ„gth of Gods work by the key howe it is to be expounded by the spanne the shadowe the shortnes of mans lyfe which be frutefull matters In seÌ„blable maner in this story we learn of Esau the blindnes of y e Iewes and of Iacob y e yonger the fulnes of y e Gentiles Now to speake of y e midwyues of Egipt and of Rahab God dyd not reward them for their lye but for their mercye because they dealte kyndly wyth his people for whych also he forgaue them their ly wherein theye sinned vndoutedly greuously For the mouth which lyeth kylleth the soule If those midwyues had ben perfect womeÌ„ they wold haue refused that office wherunto Pharao apointed them for it was to murder the infantes of the Israelites and Rahab had don better if she had not lyed but answered I know where they be but because I feare God I wil neuer shewe it They could haue lost nothing by this aunswer although thei had suffred death therfore For blessed be y e dead that dy in the Lord. By the other way they gat them houses vpoÌ„ the earth but this way they might haue purchast that house of whych it is wrytten blessed be they which dwell in thy house they shal prayse the euermore Stories make mentioÌ„ of one Firmius bishop of Tagasta who makyng this answer in such a case lost naught therby WheÌ„ the Emperour sent his officers to search after a certeine man whome he had hidden he beyng enquyred for him said he would not deny but that he had hidden him because of lying but that he would neuer betray him for which aunswere he was greuously pained but no pain could cause him to disclose where the man was The Emperour marueling at his stedfastnes deliuered him Iehu in his lying is no more to be folowed then in the sinne of IeroboaÌ„ the sonne of Nabat which made Israel sinne with the golden calfes in Bethel Dan. For it is written of him that he forced not him self to walke in y e law of the Lord God of Israell with all his heart S. Paul made no lie for he was in dead a citezin of Rome because his father was fre as at London the children of fre men be citezeÌ„s and fre Nowe as concerning our sauiour Iesus Christ God forbid that we should say he lyed in whose mouth no gyle could be found who speaketh of him self I am the way the truth His pretending to go further was no lying but a true meaning for he went further afterward when he ascended vp into the heaueÌ„ in the sight of his Apostles which thing only was meÌ„t by his pâ—etending to go further for it is a mistery No man therfore can affirme y â— Christ lyed but he that denieth him to haue ascended many false thinges are fained to signifie and teach true thinges which be no lies for they be not spoken as thinges true as thinges done but to teach vs what we should do as the narration of Lazarus and the rich man the parable of him which had two sonnes of the whiche one abode at home wyth his father the other went into far countries the parable of trees in the booke of Iudges which spake one to another the parable of the vineyard of the virgins of ten grotes of the shepe of the vnrightuous iudge of mustardsede and of the Pharisie and the Publicane If all these be lies Christ is a great and notable her who spake alwaies in parables to y e people the Prophetes are lyers yea all the scripture is ful of lies not only the scripture but all heathen wryters vse this maner of teaching as Horatius making the litle mouse to speake and Esopus geuing language to foules fishes and four foted beastes and yet no any wyse man slaundred them at any time of lying Thus it is euideÌ„t that they which mainteine lying rack the scripturs and open them not with Peters key but with a pielock and that the examples brought for lying ether be no lies but iestes as Nasica or misteries as Iacobs Christes or true sayings as Abrahams Isaac Paul or els if they be lies as Ennius mayd Sara the midwiues Raab Iehu they are earnestly to be eschued for no lie is of the truth and whatsoeuer is not of y e truth is naught seing God is truth The .x. Chapter ¶ God is ful of compassion HE is also ful of mercy letting the sunne shine vpoÌ„ good and euil sending rain to both sortes Thou most gracious Lord bringest forth grasse herbes for cattel and fode out of the earth thou geuest vs wine to make our harts glad and oyl to chere our couÌ„tenauÌ„ce bread to strengtheÌ„ y e hert thou satisfiest al meÌ„s desires w t good things specially of those that be mercifull as y e only begotten sonne maketh proclamacion in y e mountain blessed are y e merciful for they shall receiue mercy The erth is ful of thi mercies it O lord reacheth vnto y e heaueÌ„ no place is empty of thy mercies The Origenistes defend that Gods mercie perceth into hel that al men the deuils also shal at leÌ„gth be saued alledging this scripture His mercy be vpon al his workes and the mercy of God is vpon all flesh They bring also Gods righteousnes in iudgemeÌ„t which thei deny to punish sinne euerlastingly for then the punishment should be greater then y e fault which is teÌ„poral and hath an end This is a merciful heresie but God sheweth no mercie against his truth His truth saith depart froÌ„ me ye cursed into euerlasting fier which is prepared for the deuil his aungels No maÌ„ can
tormenting and desperat conscience and that a ioyful quiet mery conscience is heauen and that deuils ar euil thoughtes good aungels good thoughtes First if this doctrine be true we beleue in vaine the resurrectioÌ„ of our bodies which is grouÌ„ded of scripture nothing els so y t if you beleue scripture this is a false pretensed damnable doctrine If our bodies shal not ryse then is Christ not risen saith Paul al preachiÌ„g is vanitie but our bodies be dead through y e syn of AdaÌ„ shalbe raised through the rightuousnes of Christ Iesus By a man came death of soul body and by a man cometh resurrection of soul body Were not many christen men baptysed ouer dead mens graues in the primatiue church in token that the dead should rise againe S. Paul in his .xv. Chapter to the Corinthians the first letter doth nothing els but confute this damnable opinion of the Saduces denying the resurrection which now the Libertines begin to renew But our Saduces grauÌ„t the resurrection they say we must rise froÌ„ syn if we wil come to heaue which is a mery and ioyful conscience There be two sortes of resurrections expressed in Gods word of which it is written Lykewise as Christ was raised vp froÌ„ death by y e glory of the father Euen so we also should walke in a new life This new life is resurrection from sinne Christes raising is the other resurrection that is of the body which began in Christ the first fruits of the dead For Paul saith He that raysed vp Christ from death shal quickeÌ„ our mortal bodies in another place it shall rise a spiritual body Our Saduces because they ether wil not or can not perceaue the difference betwene these two sortes of resurrection which both are in scripture grauÌ„t in words deny in dede both heauen hel both good aungels il defending al resurrection to be from sinne to vertue froÌ„ vice to godlines froÌ„ vnclennes to sanctifitation Resurrection from sinne is but a figure of the other resurreccion For Paul saith Christ being once raised from death not from synne who neuer sinned dieth no more Likewyse imagen ye also that ye are dead coÌ„cerning sinne but are aliue to God TheÌ„ it disanulleth not resurrection of bodies but fortifieth the same forasmuche as if there be a shadow there must nedes be a body Now let vs search what the scripture teacheth vs of good aungels beleue them For a scripture geueÌ„ by inspiration of God is profitable to teache to control to amend and it is truth No maÌ„ can deny aungels to be creaturs and almighty Gods workmanship as Paul witnesseth He maketh his aungels spirites and his ministers flames of fyre How then are they inspirations Luke regestreth that at Christes birth a multitude of heauenly souldiours which wer angels song glory to God on high and peace in earth and reioysing to men Therfore they be no inspirations Did an inspiration appeare to priest Zacharie burning inceÌ„se in the temple Did an inspiration shew him that Elizabeth his wife shuld beare him a sonne Did an inspiration make him specheles No truly for the aungel telleth what he is saying I am Gabriel that standeth in the syght of God and am sent to speak vnto thee In y t he saith I stand I am sent he declareth that he is a substauÌ„ce And if Gabriel be a substance y e rest be also substaÌ„ces They reioyse ouer euery sinner y â— repenteth they behold the face of the father in heauen they assist beare vs vp in their hands thei cari Lazarus into Abrahams bosome they minister vnto Christ after his temptation they deliuered y e law vnto the Israelites thei shal come to the generall Iudgement with Christ and after the resurrectioÌ„ they shalbe made like vnto them If they be inspirations tell me how speaking singing staÌ„ding seÌ„ding ioye seing punishing handes helpe and infinite other things which the scripture geueth to Angels can be in an inspiratioÌ„ and without a substaunce Me thinke this assercion hath affinitie with the doating opinion of transubstaÌ„tiation For our Romanistes although they more stubburnely then truely and more obstinately then deuoutly defend that no bread remaineth after the consecration yet they cannot deny but that many accidents remaine as the culloure of bread the tast of bread bredth length and other the which cannot be in y e comfortable and swete flesh of Christ wherfore either the substauÌ„ce of bread remayneth or els we must sai with the papists that these things be without a substauÌ„ce the which is as if we should say there is sickenes and there is helth there is cold and heat moisture drith but ther is no such thing as a body An angel of y e Lord comforteth Agar y e Egiptian besyde the well of Seer and commauÌ„deth her to returne to her mistris Abraham promiseth his seruaunt that an Angel shall ayd and further him in his iourney Iacob when he blesseth Ephraim Manasses prayeth y t the Angel of y e Lord which had ben his succour at all times might blesse and multiplie them We read that an Angell gouerneth y e hostes of the Israelites an Angel of the Lord killeth thousaÌ„ds of the Assyrianes Angelles certifie women of Christes resurrectioÌ„ and the disciples of his glorious returne Wheafore they be no inspiratioÌ„s no mocioÌ„s cuÌ„ming from God but spiritual substauÌ„ces and ministring spirites sent to minister for their sakes which shalbe heyrâ—s of saluation Now as I haue spoken of good Angels so I thinke it no lesse nedefull somwhat to speake of euil Angels For ther be many late borne Saduces which haue perswaded theyr owne wauering myndes and allure the consciences of others to y â— to the foresaid opinion that the deuill is nothing but Nolitum or a filthy affecton of the flesh and swaruing from honesty vertue and godlines I thinke such haue either already said in their harts ther is no God or y t they may as easely be brought thervnto as Cherea was vnto Pamphila Cherea durst not ieopard in his owne apparell but fained himself to be anoteer Euen so our late Saduces Libertines will not reason these thinges stifly for disturbing y e coÌ„monwelth or rather for losing their lyues But it is to be feared that vnder the coloure of christians they say they reason in the way of disputation when they speake from y e bottom of their hearts If any man winch at my wryting he declareth y t he is a Saducie If there be a God as we most stedfastly must beleue verely ther is a deuill also if ther be a deuill there is no surer argument no stronger profe no playner euidence that ther is a God Be not al euill angels spirits Then ar they not sensual motioÌ„s but spiritual substauÌ„ces But I will leaue argumeÌ„ts call truth to
with the grosse lompe of the body And that we shuld firmly beleue stedfastly credit Ex quibus Christus est secundum carnem that he is of the fathers concerning the flesh S. Mathew S. Luke reken his kinred fetch his stock and generation from Adam Enok Noe Abraham Dauid Salomon Roboam Zorobabel c. Moreouer Christ came not only to dye fâ—r our synnes but also to be an ensample vnto vs and a perfect patern of good lyuing as shalbe declared afterward Forsomuch theÌ„ as we be partakers of flesh bloud he also Participauit eisdem toke part with vs. If he toke other flesh not made of his mother but of what matter it pleased him he toke no part with vs nether doeth his ensample belong vnto vs. He is our brother For S. Paul saith he is not ashamed to call theÌ„ brethreÌ„ saying I wil declare thy name vnto my brethren Now brethren be of one nature substauÌ„ce touching their flesh and body Therfor she that denieth Christ to haue taken his flesh of his mother is not the sister of Christ but the eldest first borne doughter of Antichrist Yet she pretended that she beleued that Christ was a true natural man but in dede she denieth his maÌ„hod for if he had any manhod or humanitie as no doubt he had he had it vndoubtedly of his mother or els he was no man If he had it not of his mother define shew froÌ„ wheÌ„ce he had it Yea they say it is vnknoweÌ„ and vndefined in the scripturs How theÌ„ can we warrant Christes humanitie against heretikes if we make it vncertain wherof he toke it and if it be vnknowen wherof it was shapen But albeit he toke fleshe of his mother yet it was holy flesh not synful flesh that he toke for so much as it was coÌ„ceiued and wrought by the ouer shadowing of y e holy ghost Al be it the seed and flesh of other be sinfull yet hers was not so but sanctified bi the holy spirite most cleane for to her it was said Benedicta tu inter mulieres Blessed art thou amongst women He is Lapis de monte excisus sine manibus comminuens c. The stone of which Daniell recordeth that was cut out of y e hil without hands which hath shal breake into pouder the goldeÌ„ siluer brasen and yron kingdâ—mes that is the .iiii. Monarchies and Empyres of the Caldies and Babilonians of the Medies and Persies of the Macedonians Grekes and of he Romains The hill out of the which this stone is taken is the tribe house of Iuda which dwelt was situate vpoÌ„ mouÌ„t Sion in Ierusalem and by the wordes without hands is ment that this stone without mans seed mans help nature came out of y e foresaid hil in that he toke his flesh on no earthly father but onelie of the substaunce of Marye his mother of whose breastes the said flesh was nourished afterward Christ was conceaued of the holy ghost not the father who touching his humanitie hath no father vpon earth as concerning his diuinitie he hath no mother in heauen Further he was borne of a Virgin for somuch as Virginitie is a far more honorable thing then wedlocke The blessed Virgin Credendo non concum bendo grauida facta est was made fruitful by faith not bi mans help by the spirite not by lechery For it was seeming that the vnspotted lambe Iesus Christ who shoulde blot oute our sinnes as the fyer melteth the waxe that he should be born without all originall sinne NotwithstaÌ„ding was borne Ex Virgine desponsata of a Virgin handfasted and maried partly y t the yong Virgin shuld not be destitute of a helper a keper a nourysher in her aduersitie and trauayle her progresse into Egipte partly also that none shuld recount wedlocke vnelean or matrimonie vn pure forsomuch as he vouchsafed to be borne therin Neither is it any dishonor any defacing to y e diuine nature that Christ who filleth all y e world filled the woÌ„be of y e blessed virgin no not if her flesh had bene sinful vnsanctified For his diuinitie is not defiled therbi no more then y e son shining vpoÌ„ carrein filthy â—akes is dishonoured or defyled through their stinking sents or rather much lesse for he made the sun For the diuinitie is said to be vndefilable not because it toucheth no thing vnclean but because it coÌ„tinueth cleane whatsoeuer it toucheth Wherfore he was not defyled with the Virgins womb but saÌ„ctified it halowed it with his presence made it most clean and chose himselfe a mother in earth because before he had a father in heaueÌ„ If ani man think because Christ was borne of the holy ghost that he is y e holy ghost sonne let him not be deceaued for it is no sure reason if any thing be born of an other to make it straight the son therof as for example We are borne of water and yet we are not the sonnes of water we are borne of the holy ghost yet we are not the sonnes of the holy ghost but the sonnes of our heauenly father Also lice heares lumbrykes are bred gendred of man â–ª yet no body calleth them the sonnes of man Likewise many ar called the sons of some and yet they cannot be said to be born of them as Eschinus is son to Mitio and yet not borne of him And y e scripture calleth them Filios Mortis the sonnes of death the sonnes Belliall the children of the deuill the children of sin perdition the soÌ„nes of wrath the soÌ„nes of hel which wer neuer born of it but made vnto ignominie and Filios dilectionis y e soÌ„nes of loue y e soÌ„nes of light of promise of strength of the kingdome not borne of it but such as shalbe felowe heyres with Christ are prepared for y e kingdom So our sauiour Christ is said to be conceaued of y e holy comforter and borne of him yet he is not his soÌ„ne but thonli soÌ„ne of God y e father vnto whom we be also sonnes but we be the sons of promise he is y e soÌ„ne begotteÌ„ we be sons through adoption Christ is the sonne of God by nature for asmuch as the scripture is that he was coÌ„ceaued of the holy ghost who being God became man We caÌ„not gather therof y t he is Christes father for touching his humane nature he was borne without a father as touching his other nature he lackeâ— a mother but rather we may reason that he is his mother for y e mother coÌ„ceaueth not the father and so he shall haue .ii. mothers the whiche is vnpossible wherfore he is the onlie sonne of God the father But why is he borne a babe a litell one not an able man as Adam was Adam was made an able man because he was made after the
teacheth vs this prouing that there is but vnum primum mobile one first mouer who moueth al the heauenly spheres The Manicheis make two Gods which thei cal Duo principia contraria two principles one contrary to another For they say y e one is an euill God maker of visible things the other a good God maker of inuisible thinges and they say also that both of them be vnbegotteÌ„ vncreat of them selues Then are they immortall But if they be immortal there is no god that only hath immortalitie Paul lieth who saith that God not Gods hath immortalitie And al the prophets euangelistes Apostles be liers teaching w t one assent y t God only forgeueth sin y t God only knoweth al thinges For if ther be two Gods both of theÌ„ must haue these properties If ether of theÌ„ know not all thinges then is he ignoraunt then no God If both knowe all thinges then is ther no God whiche only knoweth all thinges Both also must forgeue syn the good because he is merciful the euill because he is y e cause of al sin then is ther no God which only pardoneth synne Moreouer if both the Manicheis gods be immortal if both pardoÌ„ sinne if both know al science thei be not contrary for knowledge is not coÌ„trary to knowlege but ignorance vnmercifulnes is coÌ„trary to mercy forgeuing death to immortalitie Wherfore ther be not two coÌ„trary principles but one principle one God The christian coÌ„gregation confesseth that the father is PrincipiuÌ„ a principle or beginning for so the beloued disciple calleth him saing In principio erat verbum In the beginning was the word in the father was Christ. Thei acknoweledge Christ also to be Principium who answereth the cruel Iewes demauÌ„ding who he was saying y e beginning which spake vnto you But the father is pricipium non de principio Christ is principiuÌ„ de principio They confesse the almighty coÌ„forter also to be principium forasmuch as he with the father the sonne made all thinges and gouerneth them as I haue proued before Notwithstandinge there be noâ— thre beginnings but one beginning only as there be not thre gods but one God The papistes also bring in many gods but couertly priuely Thei teach the people to pray vnto saintes to Saint Luke for the oxe to Iob for the pox to Rocke for the pestilence to Sith for thinges lost to Christopher for coÌ„tinual health to the Quene of heauen for women with child to Clement for good beere yea they entise the people also to worship honor their images If thei be to be praied vnto for these thinges they be gods for in praying vnto theÌ„ we acknowlege them to hear vs to be almighty to be euery where to know y e thoughtes of al men to be a strong castel vnto such as slie vnto theÌ„ but these thinges belong only to God as I haue proued before Wherfore thei make them gods O crafty deuil O suttel papistes the Iewes are reproued by the voyce of the prophetes for making many gods in y t they praied vnto Baall Astaroth Moloch and the Quene of heauen for ayde soccour Why do we not aske al good thinges of him which is the author geuer of al good thinges both to his ennemies and frindes both to the heathen to the congregation Is his hand smitteÌ„ of that it can not healp Haue we perceyued at any tyme crudelitie or vnkindnes in hym Are hys eares stopped that he can not heare Or his eies so dimme that they cannot se He planted theare he made the 〈◊〉 wherfore he both heareth most easely and seeth most perfitely And because he is the â—ouÌ„taine of al mercy he grauÌ„teth our requestes most mercâ—fully He is not lyke an earthly kinge â–ª who setteth porters at his gates he is not hard to speak with for he is the gate himselfe as he telleth vs Ego sum via veritas vita I am the way the truth and life and Ego sum ostium I am the doore There is but one way onâ— doore and he that entreth in by the doore fyndeth pasture he that entreth in not by the dore he is a thiefe a robber And why For he robbeth God of the glory belonging only to him geuing it to his creatures They which sly vnto saints depart make many wayes many dores and many Gods If they are to be prayed vnto we must beleue on them For the Apostle saith Quomodo inuocabunt in queÌ„ non crediderunt How shal they cal on him pray to him on whom they beleue not If we must beleue on them then let vs be christened in their names But holy baptisme is coÌ„maunded not to be ministred in their names but In nomine in one name of the father the son â—nd the holy ghost Wherfore as they are not to be beleued vpon so are they not to be called vpon but God onli whose highnes disdeineth y e felowship of any creature Let vs therfore praye vnto him for he is the well of water of life let vs not dig vyle and broken pittes which hould no water let vs take hede of the stretes of Egipt and of the wayes of Assiria God is no wildernes to his people nor laÌ„d without light but a mercifull and a liberal God Such aâ— make flesh their arme are accursed Let vs make Christ our arme for he is the arme of God who in al things became lyke vnto his brethren that he might be a mercifull and a faithful bishoppe in thinges concerning God to pourge the peoples sinnes God only knoweth our nede scartheth aur thoughts and inteÌ„ts grauÌ„teth our desires blesseth and crowneth vs and ther be no more Gods no more hearers no more iudgers of thoughts beside him He saith by his Prophet I am the first and the last and beside me is ther no God Haue not I y e Lord done it withoute whome there is none other God the tru God and sauiour and ther is els none but I and therfore turne vnto me all ye endes of the earth so shal ye be saued For I am God and ther is els none If ther be many Gods the diuine power gouernauÌ„ce and rule is deuyded betwene them and then it is not an euerlasting power but mortall for whatsoeuer is deuyded is mortall But naturall reason denyeth God to be corruptible and his power to decaye Wherfore it protesteth y t there is but one God which ruleth all Moreouer the diuine power is a perfit power a general authoritie for God is almighty and general gouernor If ther be many Gods ech of them hath a certeine portion to rule But they which haue but portions are no Gods for the power of God is a perfit power a perfit power coÌ„preheÌ„deth all power If there be many Gods they haue seuerall dominions euery one of them lacketh so much
the finger of God wherfore thei are one God They haue also one name for the Apostles are commaunde to christen al nations in the name of the father of the sonne and of the holy ghost Note here that the scripture sayeth in y e name not in the names and to teache vs that there is one diuinitie one maiestie and one name of the thre persones the scripture telleth that Christ the holy ghost come not in diuers and sondry names but in one name Christ saith I come in my fathers name and ye receiue me not This name of y e father is Christes name also for the Lord sayth in the boke of departure to him Ego anticedo in nomine meo vocabo te nomine meo domini in coÌ„spectu tuo That is I wyl go before thee in my name and I wyll call thee by my name Lord in thi presence Thou learnest here that Christ and his father haue one name learne also that the almighty and alknowing comforter hath the selfsame name in that he cometh in the name of Christ as it is writteÌ„ that comforter the holy ghost whom the father wyl send in my name He is sent in Christes name wherfore he hath one name with hym the father This is the name of y e blessed trinitie of which it is wrytten ther is no other name vnder heauen in whiche we must be saued wherfore they haue but one diuinite I wil proue y e same of those thinges which the scripture saith of god God is light sayth Iohn in him is no darkenes Christ also is light for of IhoÌ„ the baptist it is writeÌ„ he was not y e light but to bear witnes of y e light which lighteth al men coming into the world God is light 1 Iohn 1. Christ is the true lyght Iohn 1. Ergo Christ is the true God Of the almightie comforter also it is written Signatum est super nos lumen the lyght of thy countenaunce O Lorde is sealed vpon vs but who is the light sealed who is the seale that is y e holy ghost of whom Paul writeth ye are sealed w t the holy spirit of promes whiche is the earnest of our inheritaunce Note also y t he is not another light but thesame light that the father is for he is the light of his countenaunce wherfore he is the same God and one God with the father and the sonne But some felowe wil aske me where I find the father to be lyght truly in Paul who calleth Christ the brightnes of euerlasting lyght where by euerlasting lyght the father is ment Christ also is vertue for Paul calleth hym Dei virtutem atque sapienciam the vertue wisdome oâ— God We read also that the father is vertue where it is written Videbitis filium hominis ad dexteram virtutis ye shall see Christ ye shal se the sonne of man on the right hand of the vertue or power And that the holy ghost is vertue Christ witnesseth saying Accipietis virtutem adueâ—ientem in vos spiritus sancti you shal receiue vertue or power of the holy ghost Luke also speaketh this of the holy gost Virtus exibat de eo vertue gushed out of him wherfore thei be one God The son is life who saith I am the way truth life So the father also is life as IhoÌ„ witnesseth saying that which was from the beginning which we haue heard which we haue sene with our eies whiche we haue loked vpon and our handes haue handled of the word of lyfe for the lyfe appeared and we haue sene beare witnes and shew vnto you that eternal life which was with the father Here he named our sauiour Christ the word of life and eternal life But what meaneth he bi calling him the word of life then that he is the word of the father wherfore the father also is lyfe And if so be the Apostle call Christ lyfe why is not the alknowyng comforter lyfe who is the spyrite of lyfe as it is wrytten The spirite of lyfe was in the wheles Note here reader that Christ is not another lyfe but thesame life that the father is in asmuch as he is that eternal lyfe whiche was with the father For if he be one life with the father theÌ„ must he nedes be one god with him The father also is a flud as he recordeth of himself I will flowe vpon you like a water flud of peace and like a flowyng streame And Christ caleth y e almigtie comforter a fludde saying out of his belly shal flowe riuers of water of life This spake he of the spirit Wherfor the holy ghost is a flud or streame and that a mighty and great flud washyng and clensing the heauenly citie of Hierusalem from al filth and vnclennes as Dauid winesseth there is a flud which with his riuers reioyseth the citie of God the holy dwelling of the hyghest no other stream can wash purifie clense vs but this God graunt that this flud may ouerflow the bankes of Englande God send it into the court into the kinges chamber into his heart into his counsels chamber and into the middest of the parliameÌ„t house to wash banish away all couetousnes in spiritual thinges as ferming of benefices pluralities of prebendes personages absence froÌ„ cures from colledges improperations first fruites c. and parcialitie and the gredy wolfe of ambicion pride vnmercifulnes and oppression out of the hearts of nobilitie God send it into the hearts of Byshops that they may once againe yet be preaching prelates and al priestes that they may power forth clean pure doctrine as diligently as they haue powred holy water many a day The holy spirite is the true holy water the true flud wasshing away our sinnes not the vnprofitable ceremonies of the syre of Rome Wherfor our sauiour Christ must nedes be a flud also for out of him gushe these streames of eternal life They haue also one operation thei do worke al things vnseperabli as I haue proued in y e chap. before wher I declared mans soull to be the image of God wherfore they haue one diuitie Moreouer it is writteÌ„ grace with you and peace froÌ„ God the father and our Lord Iesus Christ. Behold thou seest here that one grace commeth from the father and the sonne one peace lykewise thesame also come from the holy ghost for of peace it is writteÌ„ the fruit of the spirit is loue ioy peace long suffring Zachary calleth him y e spirit of grace God hath promised to poure vpon Hierusalem the spirit of grace and mercy Peter saith to those that were pricked in their hearts through his preaching Accipietis graciaÌ„ spiritus sancti you shall receiue the grace of the holy ghost They haue also one charitie one loue for of y e father the son it is written