his awne giftes in vs. And so he calleth faith whereby we ar iustified one grace euerlastinge life another grace verie truly godly to the cōfusion of the commune idols souldiars Other expouninge grace for grace grace vpō grace reach that out of this fulnes of his sonne god gaue to our fathers vndre the old testamēt the spirite of feare whereby as childrē vndre a scolemaster thei were kepte in restrained that thei shuld not straie abrode after fleshlie lustes but be led forth framed to some godlines And in the new testamēt he giueth the spirite of fredō whereby with more frācke free hertes with more ioiful courage by the motiō of the spirite we do the thīges that please god Not that our fathers were al together voide of this free spirite but bicause of their childlie age thei were more kepte vndre by feare the spirite was not so richely largely giuē to thē as to vs I meane vniuersally touchinge goddes ordinarie dispēsation For to some special persons the spirite was as largely giuē and more largely thā it is now The exposition of other is that God loueth fauoreth vs bicause of the loue fauor that he beareth to his sonne as S. Paule writeth that he hath made vs acceptable in the biloued For by nature we ar the childrē of wrath the loue fauor that we finde ī goddes sight is for that that of his awne goodnes he hath made vs the membres of his most derely biloued sonne so loueth vs as a parte of his sonnes bodie Other thincke that the meaninge of these wordes is that God powreth al his graces in to the lord Iesus by him cōueieth the same vnto vs as by a conducte pipe I leaue to your choise which of these expostions you wil folow The law The nature of mē is cōmunely ether to giue to litle or to much reuerēce to Goddes ministers And to despice them while thei liue and whan thei be ded to make them more thā saintes In the time of the lordes cōuersation vpō erth the Iues had Moses in such reuerēce and estimation that thei made him verie litle lesse than a God In Moseis person thei gloried Moseis person thei bosted and extolled aboue the starres Thei had this also that thei so pust vp them selues in their knowlege of Goddes wil and in their holie perfecte worckes wrought accordinge to the rule of the law as that thei excelled al other mē were halfe goddes vpō erth and more mete to be placed in paradise amonge the heauēlie spirites thē to walke in this vale of miserie amonge sinful men Wherefore Io. Baptist to plante Christ Iesus in the hertes of thē to whō he was sent to be a teacher and the better to aduance his glorie laboureth to pulle those two great hindraūces out of their hertes namely their preposterous gloryinge in the persone of Goddes minister and their vaine confidēce in their awne holines and righteousnes And first he setteth vp the lord Iesus far aboue Moses makinge a comparison betwene the office of Moses and the lordes office For he assigneth to Moses that he ministred and gaue the law to the people he assigneth to the lord Iesus that he hath brought grace truth Now there is ā excedīge greate differēce betwene these two offices For th one is the ministration of death and condemnation thother of life iustificatiō The law in dede prescribeth vnto vs true holines certainly sheweth vs what we ought to do and to leaue vndon in euerie pointe but while thereby ether it represseth restraineth mēnes raginge lustes or cōuinceth al men proueth that thei do not the thinges thei ought to do nor eschue the thinges thei ought to eschue as S. Paule lernedly and truly writeth it encreaseth sinne worcketh wrath killeth and condēneth vs. It encreaseth sinne bicause the more our lustes ar restrained the more ragingly thei burst out It worcketh wrath bicause that whan our lustes ar bridled we ar angrie with God for puttinge that snaffel in to our mouthes so to our other vices we adde disobediēce stubburnnes murmuringe against God It killeth and condēneth bicause it pronounceth al mē accursed that kepe not the thinges prescribed taught in it to the vttermost title where as we perfirme not one iote perfetly as we shuld But here we must know that the law of hir selfe of hir awne nature hath not these effectes but by accidēt that is by the meanes of our vicious nawghtie corrupte nature For the law is good holie iust worcketh not cōdēnation of hir awne nature but bicause our sinful nature can abide no good thinge therefore of necessitee it must be condēned by that that is good whā the same is laied vnto it The propre cause is not in the summe beames that they make a carion to stincke the more but in the nature of the carion For thei shine upon other bodies without such effecte If our nature were good the law shuld be most liuelie and cōfortable vnto it Now bicause it is corrupte poisoned the law worcketh not the thinges that it wold and shuld but the thinges that such a nature wil only suffre to be wrought Grace and truth We haue now the office of Moses letre vs on thother side cōsidre the office of the lord Iesus But first lett vs vndrestande the wordes By grace some vndrestande that that maketh vs amiable and acceptable and getteth vs fauor before God mē By truth thei vndrestande true sincere perfecte sounde and sure righteousnes Other by grace in this place vndrestande forgiuenes of sinnes and by truth the fulfillinge of al the figures and shadowes of Moseis law In which so euer signification you shal take the wordes the sense shal be good and godlie For the lorde Iesus maketh vs amiable and acceptable in Goddes sight apparellinge vs with his awne swete smellinge garmētes that is with his awne holines and he renueth our mindes vnto true sound and fast abidinge righteousnes he also hath optained for vs remissiō of our sinnes hath perfirmed al that was shadowed in Moseis law For he hath washed sanctified and purged vs with his awne blood He hath suffred death in our stede and offred him selfe a slaine sacrifice vpon the crosse to be a perpetual satisfaction for the sinnes of al Goddes chosen to appease for euer Goddes wrath kinled against sinne And here we ar clearely taught that the law cold not bringe these thinges to passe Wherefore al thei that haue assigned righteousnes and acceptation in Goddes sight to the dedes of the law or haue sought anie holines anie forgiuenes of sinnes anie sparcke of grace life other waies than by the lord Iesus only alone haue miserably begiled them selues to their perpetual confusion and perdition Let vs my brethern be no more deluded but resorte to the true foūtaine of al heauēlie graces draw from
But as it were in an image we maie beholde in the coale God the worde vnited to mannes nature yet that he hath not cast awai that he was before but hath rather trāsformed the nature which he receaued to his glorie operation For as fier fixed in the woodde percinge in to it cōprehēdeth the wood though the wood cease not to be wood stil yet the fier sendeth his force in to it cōueieth it selfe in to it and is now thought to be one with it so vndrestāde of Christ For God beinge incomprehēsibly vnited to mānes nature hath in that kepte the same that he was he remaineth stille that he was but yet beinge once vnited he is compted as it were one with mānes nature makinge that that pertained to it his awne giuinge it the operation of his nature Hitherto Cyrille He vseth also in this matter the similitude of mannes bodie and soule ioign'd together which in dede expresseth it of al other most proprely For the soule is not turned in to the bodie nor the bodie in to the soule but ech retaineth his propre nature maketh one mā AND the word In that he saieh the worde became flesh not man he sheweth how far Goddes sonne hūbled and abased him selfe For the scripture calleth man flesh whan it wil signifie the pouertie vilenes and miserie of man As whan it is saide al flesh is grasse and he remembred that they were but flesh my spirite shal not euer striue in man for he is flesh But whā the Euangelist saieth the worde became flesh we maie not imagine that Goddes sonne ioigned to his diuine nature flesh only and not mannes soule as Appollinaris thought in his traūce that flesh and the Godhead made one person in Christ without mannes soule For he imagined that the diuinitee was in stede of a soule But so it shuld folow that the lorde Iesus was not a verie mā For flesh is not a man For the soule is the formal parte of a mā namely that whereby a man is a mā with out which a mā can not be And that the lord had a mānes soule beside his diuinitee he him selfe testifieth whā he saieth my soule is heauie vnto the death Nether cā Apollinaris aide him selfe with this place For whā the scripture calleth mē flesh it meaneth not that thei ar without soules For thā thei were no mē in dede Here we must know also from whens Goddes sonne became flesh For we maie not thīcke that he brought his flesh from heauē or made it in the aire For the holie scripture teacheth that he shulde cōme of the sede of Abrahā Dauid shuld be the fruite of his loines For such plaine wordes it vseth to assure vs of the truth of so necessarie a matter vtterly to stoppe the mouthes of dotinge mē And in the writers of the new testamēt it is most plainly sette forth vnto vs that he receaued flesh out of the substāce of the virgin Marie For. S. Mattheu hath these wordes to gar en aute gennethen that which is engendred in hir S. Paule genomenon ekgynaicos made of a womā the Angel in S. Luke ho karpos the frute of thy wombe The frute of a tree is of the same substāce that the tree is of That which only passeth thorough a thinge is not the frute of that thinge For water is not the frute of the cōducte pipe nor ale the frute of the spickette or of the kinderkinne Against this most manifest truth wherein the pith of our saluatiō lieth the franctike Anabaptistes brīge two prīcipal reasons I wot not whether more ignorātly or more vngodly For first thei saie that if the lorde receaued our flesh he receaued vncleane flesh But iudge you whether al the scriptures be they neuer so plaine must giue place to this their simple imagination or whether their simple imagination shuld giue place to so manie plaine scriptures But first I aske them whether God cold not make cleane our vncleane flesh or wold not If thei saie he colde nor they limitte his power ouer much If thei saie he wolde not we wil hisse them out For if God of his goodnes wolde make his sonne to die for vs he wolde of his goodnes make his flesh cleane for vs. Secondly laske them why God wold haue his sonne to be borne of a virgine not to be begottē betwene mā and womā after the commune course of the worlde Doeth not that teache vs that he mēt to make his sonnes flesh pure holie Yea doeth not the angel so signifie in Luke whan he saieth the holie gost shal comme vpō the the power of the highest shal ouersshadow the for which cause the holie thinge to gennomenō that is engēdred shal be called Goddes sonne But this their reason hath no weight bicause it is ōly forged in mānes braine Thother is takē out of the scripture For S. Paule to the Cor. writeth thus The first man was of the erth erthlie The secōde mā is the lorde from heauē In which place S. Paules purpose is not to speake of the substāce of our bodies or of the substance of the lordes bodie but of the qualities as the wordes folowinge declare hoios of what qualitee the erthlie was of that qualitie ar the erthlie of what qualitee the heauēlie is of that qualitee ar the heauēlie This thā is the sense The first mā was of the erth erthlie that is subiecte to sinne corrupte affectiōs which bringe death The secōde heauēlie that is ful of heauēlie qualities which thorough the power of Goddes spirite draw with them life immortalitte As we bare the image of the erthlie that is were sinful and therefore compassed with death so shal we beare the image of the heauenlie that is our spirites shal be renued to tru holines our bodies to immortalitee Wherefore whā he saieth the seconde mā is the lorde from heauē he meaneth not that he brought his bodie from heauen but that he is heauenly as he expouneth himselfe that is endued with heauēlie qualities Now to procede in our former purpose it shal be good to seke out the causes why Goddes sonne became flesh or as Sainct Paule speaketh why God was manifested in flesh And no man can shew vs thē more certainly than S. Paule hath don to the Hebru For there he teacheth vs that the cheife and principal cause was that by death he might destroie him that had deathes power that is Satan For Satan had power ov vs to punish vs with death bicause we were sinners And sinne cold not be purged but in the flesh of Goddes sonne If he had remained God only purgation and satisfactiō for sinne cold not haue bē made by him For the Godhead cold not suffre nor shew obedience But sith thorough disobedience sinne came in to the world it must be putte awaye thorough obedience which required mannes nature Howbeit if he had
Abraham was I am Was before me The old latine trāslatiō out of the greke had factus est was made before me which caused much superfluous talke amōge mē vaine tormētinge of wittes how the lord cold be said to be made before Iohā For his mānes nature was not made before Io. And his diuine nature was neuer made The ambiguitee doubtful significatiō of the word deceaued both the interpreter them For genesthai signifieth to be made also to be And in the later significatiō it is vsed in this verie chap. egene to anthropos c. there was a mā sent For we cā not saie there was a mā made sent Was before In matters of religion we haue great regarde what mē before vs haue thought Wherein this is our faute that we extende not our sight far inough For we loke to them in dede that were befote vs but we loke not to him that was before them that were before vs yea that was before al. S. Cyprian reprouinge this shortnes of our sight saieth that we ought not to loke what mē before vs thought good to do but what he did that is before al. It shal be good therefore for vs to know what religion the lorde Iesus taught commended who was before our holie bisshoppes 15. hūdred yeres For he was my first The worde for rendreth a cause why a thinge is don Io Bap. thā sheweth a reason why he saide that the lord Iesus was before him bicause saieth he he was my first that is to saie my prince my head my autor my maker And that in dede proueth sufficiētly that he was before him The latine translation hath quia prior me erat bicause he was before me But than it shuld haue ben accordinge to the grammatical rules of speech in the comparatiue degree not protos mou in the positiue More ouer Io. shuld so seme to proue the same by the same which we vse not to doe Of his fulnes Here we haue the foūtaine hedspringe of al the graces giftes that euer anie mā hath had heretofore were he nev so good holie or shal haue hereafter Out of this wel of liuinge waters which neuer faileth is neuer dried vp or drawē out al the saintes prophetes from the beginninge drue al the knowlege goodnes holines al the spiritual motiōs vertues excellēt qualities that euer thei had thēselues or stirred vp in other Out of the same welle floweth vnto vs shal flowe hereafter vnto the ende of the world what so euer is good and vertuous what so euer pertaineth to the attainment of true felicitee and of a blisful life For he hath not only these thinges but is ful of them For as S Paule writeth to the Col. in him dwelleth al the fulnes of the Godhead somaticos bodily that is to saie substātially not in image not in shadow but in bodie in substāce in dede We lerne thā by this sentēce of Io. Bap. that no knowlege no goodnes no holines no maner of vertue is to be sought anie where saue in the lorde Iesus And more ouer that we nede not feare left we shal want anie spiritual thīge if we resorte to him seinge that he hath the fulnes of the spirite Lastly that al mē what so euer thei be ar voide of grace and godlines by nature sith al receaue out of the fulnes of Goddes sonne We al saieth Io. Bap. nombrīge him selfe amōge the rest And if Io. Bap. receaued his holines out of the fulnes of the lord Iesus gotte it not by his natural strēghth godlie preparatiōs as the great idoles mē vainly iāgle I maie boldly pronounce that neuer anie man had or cā haue anie true vertue holines but by the gift of the lord Ies that nothīge maie be lest to anie where of to bost For if thei haue receaued out of the fulnes of another why shuld they bost as though thei had not borowed al of another but had possessed some what of thēselues Wherefore these wordes of Io. Bap. beate doune what so euer idle heades haue builded raised vp to aduāce mānes strēghth mānes merites And here we maie not passe ouer that this place also proueth the Lord Iesus to be verie god For who is the foūtaine of al knowlege goodnes holines spiritual graces in al ages in al mē but God only But as we must know hereby that he is God so we must know that he possesseth not these thinges to this ende that he maie haue no maner of want but to sende them forth to the vse of mē For he kepeth not his treasures to him selfe enuiously or niggeshly but ioieth to distribute them and to sende them abrode Nether is he a merchaunt mā to make sale of them but giueth them frely as we ar taught in Esaie O al ye that thirst cōme to the waters euen he that hath no monei comme bye for no moneie for no price wine milke To buyie for no moneie is a verie easie buyinge yea it is no buyinge but a free receauinge Sith thā the lorde Iesus possesseth the fulnes of al spititual riches possesseth the same not to himselfe only but also to our vse more ouer calleth vs frely to enioie his goodes my counsel shal be that you resorte not for aide cōforte and purchasinge of Goddes grace to Marie or Iohā to Petre or to Paule but to him who possesseth al good thinges not by borowinge but by nature not in parte but fully not to his awne vse only but to the vse of mē in this world cheifely proprely of Goddes chosen For he hath also manie good thinges which he giueth euē to the reprobate as beautie strenghth of bodie eloquēce knowlege of liberal sciēces wordlie riches c. But he hath certaine special iuels which he giueth only to his chosen namely tru faith true righteousnes holines true ioifulnes patiēce constātie in afflictions true peace quietnes of consciēce Grace for grace This sentence is sondrie wise expouned I wil first shew you S. Augustines minde These be his wordes vpon this place Thā brethern al we haue receaued out of his fulnes out of the fulnes of his mercie haue we receaued what Remissiō of sinnes that we might be iustified by faith And what more ouer Grace for grace that is to wit for this grace whereby we liue of faith we shal receaue another grace namely euerlastinge life But what els is it saue grace For if I shal saie that this is due to me I assigne some what to my selfe as to whom it is due But God crouneth the giftes of his mercie in vs. Thus ye see S. Augustines meaninge to wit that al Goddes good giftes and in the ende euerlastinge life is not a recompēse of our merites but commeth of the free liberalitee of God bicause it pleaseth him so to rewarde his former graces to croune