iustification to come of the only mercy of god / and it maketh vs to beleue the scriptures that shewes that we are iustified by grace throughe faythe without all workes Good workes go nat before fayth / but they folowe fayth and our iustification by the faythe maketh vs certayne that we be iustified as shal be god willing more playnly here after declared 3. Al be it that we be iustified by faythe knowe we haue our synnes forgyuen of goddes goodnes throughe faythe / yet we haue no cause why we shulde glory in our selfe For faythe is nat of vs / but it is the gyfte of god nat the worke of our power as sayth saynt Paule 2. Corin. 3. we are nat able of our sealfe to thynke any good thought / as of our selfe but all our habilite is of the lorde Also saynt Paule to the RomÌ„ 2. sayeth Yf by grace we be saued nowe it is nat of workes / for grace is then no grace but yf it be of workes nowe it is no grace ⧠⚹ ⧠4. Nat of workes leaste any man shulde boste hym sealfe Our healthe iustice is nat of any workes For yf it were of workes / then myght men boste them sealfe in theyr workes but man hath nat where in he may boste hym sealfe For what haste thou o man that thou haste nat receyued and yf thou hast receyued / why doste thou glory / as thoughe thou haddest nat receyued it Therfore he that wyl glory let hym glory in god / of whome cometh redeÌ„ption iustification / healthe / saluation and lyfe euerlastynge in blysse ⧠⧠5. But some paraueÌ„ture wyll say Yf our workes do nat iustifye vs / we wyll do no good workes / or what shulde it profite vs to do good workes yf by workes we be nat iustified To this saynte Paule here maketh answere sayenge / that we are the creatures of god made to do good workes / whiche god hath prepared that we shulde walke iÌ„ them So we may nat ceasse from doynge of good workes / althoughe good workes do nat iustifye vs. For good workes are to be done to the glorye of god / without blasphemye of god It is blasphemye to god to attribute to workes that is to be attributed and gyuen onely to god It is to be ascribed onely to god our iustification / our saluation / forgyuenes of synnes ad lyfe euerlastynge Wherefore good workes are nat to be done for this intent that they shulde iustifye vs / deserue the grace of god / take aware synnes brynge lyfe euerlastyng by reason of the worke in it selfe But good workes are to be done of christen men to shewe declare our fayth to vs and to al the worlde To declare our loue and kyndenes of our herte towardes god for hê benefites geuen to vs. To make our callynge certayne and sure so that we myght do the wyll of god / and auoyde his displeasure bothe in this worlde also in the worlde to come 1. Corin. 2. That we myght shewe our redynesse to do the wyll of god that we myght prouoke other men to glorifye god with vs. Math. 5. That we myght agree to our creacyon / profite other men in goodes gyftes gyuen vs of god for that ende And that we shulde be alwayes to the glorye of god with out faute before hym by loue Ephe. 1. For these causes diuerse other / good workes are to be done ⧠⧠⧠⧠6. Some parauenture wyl say If good workes do nat iustifye vs / take nat away synne geue euerlastynge lyfe Wherfore in the scriptures is iustificatioÌ„ / forgiuenes of synne and lyfe eternall attributed to good workes so ofte To thys I answere that scripture oftymes speaketh after the maner of men The father oftymes entyseth his soÌ„ne to do his wyl by promyse of a rewarde So the scripture speaketh after the maner of fathers or of men where as it promiseth iustification / forgeuenes of sinne / lyfe euerlastyng to them that kepe the coÌ„mandementes of god that be faythfull as Christe sayeth Math. 18. If thou wyll entre in to lyfe kepe the commauÌ„demeÌ„tes of god Here the scripture speaketh after the maner of men entisynge euery man to kepe goddes coÌ„mauÌ„demeÌ„tes / promisyng them a rewarde / if they kepe goddes coÌ„mauÌ„demeÌ„tes He meaneth nat here that the kepynge of the coÌ„mauÌ„dementes deserueth lyfe euerlastyng but rather that lyfe euerlastyng is frely geuen to theÌ„ that kepe the coÌ„mauÌ„dementes of god / and they may be sure of lyfe in ioye blysse to come that kepe the commauÌ„demeÌ„tes And they that kepe nat goddes coÌ„mauÌ„demeÌ„tes may be sure they shal haue no lyfe in the worlde to come / but shal be dampned ê‘petually in hel Furthermore where as the scriptures do apere to geue to workes forgeuenes of synnes The scriptures speaketh of suche workes that be done in fayth / which hath alway annexed forgeuenes of synnes / nat for the workê sake / but rather for the fayth that they were done in / bycause they that worke these workes were iustified before god through fayth before they dyd worke Fynally sometyme in the scripture iustificacyon is attributed to workes / because workes declareth men to them selues and to other that they haue a true and lyuely saythe by the whiche they be iustified before god And so iustification of workes is the declaracyon of a true faythe / and so is iustification takeÌ„ some tymes in the scripture as in Iames. 2. Luce. 16. where Christe sayeth to the Phariseis You are they whiche iustify your selues before men / god knoweth your hertes 7. We be the creatures of god ordinated to do good workê Here in these wordes two thyngê we be taught Fyrste is that we be the creatures of god his workemanshyp made of him Of the whiche we may fully persuade to vs the loue of god / for no man hateth his owne worke but loueth it and wyll nat suffer it to peryshe / and if we be the worke of god as we be iÌ„ dede We may nat be proude agaynst our maker or be displeased with hym sayeng why haste thou made me after this fashyon or that fashyoÌ„ it is nat mete that the pot shuld say to the potter / why hast thou made me to this vse or that fylthy vse / and another that deserueth no better then I to be had in honour glory / of this thynge there is none other cause to be geueÌ„ but the wyl of the potter / and it is conuenient that euery pot shulde be content with the wyl of the potter / and nat that he shulde murmure agaynste the potter that hathe prefarred another before hym sythe the pote is in nothers det / and both pottes haue that that they haue only of the wyll of the potter The seconde thyng is that we shulde learne to knowe for what ende we were created of god / that is to say / nat that we shulde be ydle
to syt on his ryghte hande aboue all heauenly powers In Christ was shewed the excellent power of god / aboue all thynges / whiche power god wyl shewe to them that beleueth 2. He sheweth here the glory of Christ to be aboue all the powers / domynyons / or potestates in heauen that we shulde put our truste in Christ / whiche wyll exalte to that place where he is al them that beleue in him and thynketh to come there where Christ is on the right hande of the father onely by Chryste / and nat by theyr owne merytes or deseruinges and to put men in a suretye of that thynge Christe hym selfe was exalted from deathe to lyfe eternal 3. The power and the glory of Christ is shewed in that he sytteth on the ryght hande of the father in heauen aboue all powers rule / dominyon / potestates / and vertues / and aboue all names that is in this world or in the worlde to come / and all thynges are subiected to him and vnder his domynion and power / and he is the heade of the congregatyon whiche is his body Christ is the heade / in whome consisteth the perfeccyon of the hole bodye and he that maketh in the bodye all thynges parfyte 4. This place reproueth the Bysshoppe of Rome and all his decrees that maketh hym heade of the Churche of Chryste / for the hed of the churche of Christ is nat the bysshop of Rome / but Christe whiche maketh all thynges vnparfyte parfite / princes Kinges in their kingdomes worldely / be as heades of theyr subiectes vnder Christ to se euery one be in right order / to goddes wyll and pleasure / and that euery man in euery state and degree do his duty after his calling / for to the Kinges / Princes / and other superior power / it becoÌ„meth euery man to be obedyent / and from their power can no man exempte any of these subiectes by any profession of man / wherfore byshops of Rome exemptyng religyouse men from due obedience to their kinges and Prynces haue done against goddes lawe and saynt Paules doctrine Ro. 13. 1. Pe. 2. Hebre. 13. whiche places commaundeth all subiectes to be obedient vnto the hye powers / for they that resyste powers / they resyst the ordinance of God and these that resyste the ordynaunce of God they take to them selfe Iudgemente and dampnacyon Ro. 13. ¶ The seconde Chapyter to the Ephesyans ANd quickened you also when ye were deade throughe trespacê and synnes / in the whiche in time past ye walked accordynge to the course of this worlde / and after the Prynce that ruleth in the ayre / namely / after the spiryte whiche nowe worketh in the chyldren of vnbeleue amonge whome we also had our conuersacyon in tyme paste in the lustes of our fleshe and of the mynde and more naturally the childrenne of wrath euen aswell as other The Apostell compareth the state of these Ephesyans that they were in nowe when he wrote this Epistle to them / with the state condicion of lyfe that they were in before Chryst had called them to fayth by his word preached amonge them / that by the remembraunce of it / they might be prouoked with more gladnesse and harty loue to prayse and laude God / and gyue hym harty thankes that it hathe pleased hym to call them from darknes to lyghte from ignoraunce to knowledge / from syn to iustyce from deathe to lyfe / he saythe whan you knewe nat Chryste / you were deade by trespaces and synnes / beholde in what case they be in the knowe nat Chryste and his holy worde / by trespaces and synnes he vnderstandeth all manner of vyces and synnes / whether they be in thought wyll / acte / or in outwarde dede / when they knewe nat Chryste they were deade by synnes / nowe they knowynge Chryste do lyue / and be called from deathe to the lyfe of grace and of glorye eternal / before they walked in vyce and in synne / nowe they walke in grace and in vertue / before they walked after the maners / lustes and pleasures of this worlde / that is to saye / after the lustes of the fleshe / the lustes of the eyes / and proudnes of lyfe 1. Ioh. 2. Nowe they walke after the good wyll of god and after godes pleasure / before they folowed the prince of the ayre and was obedyente to his wyll this Prynce of the ayre is that euyll spiryte that worketh in sturdy / frowarde / and disobedyent personnes to goddes wyll and that doth nat beleue God but nowe they walke after the wyll of god the father of our Lorde Iesus Chryste lorde of heauen and earthe whose spiryte bryngeth and leadeth to all good workes of God who is he that knoweth he is called from synne / death / hel / eternall dampnacion / to iustice / lyfe / heauen / eternal ioy and blisse / wyll nat giue thankes laude and praise to him that brought hym to this ioye and felicyte Truely I thynke no man / but he wolde gyue greate thankes whan he remembreth the benefytes of his callynge / and for that cause saint Paule here compareth these two states to gether that euery one of vs may remember in what case we were in before Christe called vs to his knowledge by his worde / for as these Ephesyans were / so were we / and the same thynge he wryteth to them he writeth to vs / it agreith aswel to vs as to them / and all one thynge / as touchynge our state 2. This place sheweth that al men that came of Adam to be subiecte to synne / and for synne worthy eternall deathe / none able to delyuer them selfe from deathe and dampnacion / of the which we may learne that no man by his owne nature / myght / power / or fre wyll / can saue hym selfe from death and hell / but who someuer be saued that they be saued by the only grace of god and nat by theyr owne merytes / or by the merytes of sayntes departed 3. You see what foloweth syn / deathe / punyshment foloweth syn / as the rewarde for synne / and that these that wante the grace of god can nat but fall to synne / and go from one synne to an other / and walke after the lustes of the fleshe / and applye them selues to the wyll of the deuyll which worketh in euyl men and prouoketh to al vnhappynes vyce / syn / as these Ephesyans dyd before they were called by the worde of god to fayth to knowe Christ 4. In euyll men worketh the prynce of the ayre whiche is the deuyl that entyseth alwaye to euyll / and to do she workes of the deuyll The deuyll is called the prince of the ayre / nat bycause he hathe dominyon and power to rule the ayre at his pleasure or wyl / for that to god doth pertayne / but that he hathe power only of euyl men
pray you what necessary thing dyd Christen people wante before Popes ordeyned the Letanye to be songe and sayde in the Churches / but as for prayenge to sayntes departed / I wyll nat muche contende in this matter I wyll nat condemne them that do desyre theyr prayers / nor yet commende them I thynke it an indifferente thynge / that may be done well and omyttyd / and nat as a thyng necessaryly to be done / or that he shulde be counted as an heretyke that shulde nat pray to sayntes / or he a good christenman for that worke that shulde desyre the prayers of sayntes departed I thinke it shuld be more for the honour of god / for the true fayth to be had amonges christen men / to withstande the opynyon of Sayntes nowe had / that no prayers shulde be made to sayntes departed Then if any shulde desyre Sayntes to pray with them / and for them Yf this my mynde do agre with the scriptures take it / Yf nat refuse it I wyll nat be obstinate in this matter / I wolde be glad to lerne the veryte by the holy scriptures Whiche in al doutes is able to try out the trueth yf we wyll be delygent to searche / and leue mannes fantasyes and dreames / whiche hathe blynded vs longe that we coulde nat se the trueth But nowe let vs retourne agayne to saynt Paule ☞ Nowe therfore ye are no more gestes and strauÌ„gers / but citesyns with the sayntes and of the householde of god buylded vpon the fuÌ„dacion of the Apostles and prophetes where Iesus Christe is the heade corner stone in whom euery buyldyng coupled together groweth to an holy temple in the Lorde in whome ye are buylded also together to be an habytacion of god in the spyryte ¶ Before saynte Paule fayde they were gestes and straungers to the householde of God / nowe he sayeth they be no more straungers but of the householde of god cytesyns of sayntes made by Christe / before they were farre frome the householde of Israel / nowe they be receyued to be of the householde of Israel / that is to saye they be made felowes of sayntes that is of the Iewes whiche counte them selfes sayntes in comparyson to the Gentyles and parte takers of the heuenly inherytaunce and of euerlastyng helth by Christ buylded vpon the fundation of the Apostles prophetes / that is to say vpon Christ vpon whome the Apostles and prophetes dyd buylde and made Christe to be theyr fundacion for as Saynte Paule sayeth 1. Corin. 3. No man can set an other fundacion besyde that fundacyon set whiche is Christe Iesus / and nat the Byshoppe of Rome For Christe is the heade of the Churche and of all them that beleueth / nat the byshoppe of Rome / and Christe is the corner stone that kepethe and ioyneth the buyldynges together that couples the Iewes and the Gentyles together / by his spyryte kepeth them bothe in vnite and concorde / fayth / hope / and charite / in al goodnes Saynte Paule sayenge the Gentyles beleuynge to be buylded vpon Christe the fundation of the Apostles and prophetes / reproueth al them that sayeth or thinketh the byshoppe of Rome to be the fundacion vpon whome Christe hathe buylded his Churche / for that fundacion is Christe none other Neyther the byshop of Rome nor yet no other man / creature / nor Angell But Christe is the fundacyon of all faythfull byleuers the corner stone that wyl nat be remouid with no blast of wind 3 Euery buyldynge vpon Christe dothe growe and encrease in an holy temple to the Lorde Here he sheweth the difference bytwene the buyldyng buylded vpoÌ„ christ and vpon other thynges or creatures / yf it be buylded vpon Christe / it wyll stande and encrease yf it be buylded vpon man / or vpon maÌ„nes inuentions / dreames and phantices it wyll fall and decaye at euery blaste of wynde or tempest whiche thyng dothe agre with Christes saynge Ma. 15. Euery grafte that my father of heueÌ„ hath nat grafted shal be plucked vp by the rotes Here we may lerne / pylgrimage / pardon / payntyng of Images to be honoured / nat to haue bene of god MoÌ„kes / Freers Chanons and suche lyke religion of men inueÌ„ted / nat to haue ben of god / for they decay and fall awaye / and theyr fayned religion lytle set by Also all these that go nat forwarde frome vertu to vertue and encrease dayly in vertue / nat to be buylded of god For the buyldyng of Christ encreaseth dayly and be made more and more the habitacle 1. dwellynge place of God by the holy Ghoste by whome they encrease / whiche wyll nat suffer them to be idle / vnprofitable to other / or euyl occupyed / but moueth and styrryth alwayes to do the wyll and pleasure of god / and suffreth nat his to be idle or euyll occupyed ¶ The thyrd chapiter to the Ephesyans FOR this cause I Paule am a prysoner of Iesus Christe for you hethen accordyng as you haue harde of the office of the grace of god which is gyuen me to you warde For by reuelacion was thê mistery shewed vnto me as I wrote aboue in few wordes wherby whan ye rede yt / ye may perceyue myne vnderstandynge in the mystery of Christ whiche mysterye in tymes paste was nat opened vnto the chyldren of men as it is nowe declared to hys holy Apostles and Prophetes by the spyrite namely that the hethen shulde be inheritours also And of the same body and ê‘takers of his promes in Christe by the Gospell wherof I am made a mynister accordynge to the gyfte of the grace of god whiche is gyuen me accordyng to the workyng of his power SAynt Paule here merueylously doth bryng and get to hym the fauour and the beneuolence of these Ephesyans / in that he sayeth and truely sayeth that he suffered prisonment / and was in stockes in fetters for theyr sakes for theyr helth and saluacion / that is to saye because he preached to the Ephesians and to other Gentyles the Gospell of Iesus Christe / of the whiche Gospell preached the Ephesyans and the other Gentyles receyued fayth in Christ Iesu / and so through faith came to lyfe and eternall saluation For this cause and for none other Paule was caste in prison in cheynes and in fetters at Rome by Nero the Emperour wher he was when he wrote this Epystle / and in pryson / and therfore he sayeth I Paule the prisoner of Iesus Christe bounde fast inprisone nat for myne owne sake or for my cause / but for Christe sake and for his Gospell / whiche was the helthe of the GeÌ„tyles When these Ephesyans shulde here these thynges / howe coulde it be but they muste nedes fauoure and loue Paule and embrase his doctryne whiche for Christes sake and for theyr healthe and saluacyon was in prison and suffred paynes for their cause Kynde men can nat but they muste loue