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A13863 An exposition of a parte of S. Iohannes Gospel made in sondrie readinges in the English congregation by Bartho. Traheron ; and now published against the wicked entreprises of new sterte vp Arrians in Englande. Traheron, Bartholomew, 1510?-1558? 1557 (1557) STC 24168.5; ESTC S2370 60,439 164

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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
now greately blemished darckned yet the sparckes remaininge suffice to shew so much vnto vs of goddes sōne as maie iustly cōdēne vs of wilful ignorāce The beames of his glorie euer shined in dede yet do shine euerie where to the sight of al mē mā was so first made by him as he might perfectly see thē But he fondly folowinge Satās aduise wold see more thā was cōueniēt so lost the sight that he had or at the lest so blurred marred it that where before his eyes perced in to the glorie of Goddes maiestie cold wel abide the brightnes there of now thei be so blūt that thei can not entre so weake that thei ar streight waie daseld and blinded with so great glisteringe light Yet it hath pleased God to helpe this weaknes other waies thā by the sight of his wondreful worckes but most cheifely clearely perfectly by clothinge his sonne with mānes nature which thinge our Euāgeliste teacheth with like compēdiousnes shortnes of wordes saiynge the worde became flesh The heathē sette forth the meruailous conninge of Vergil in cōpēdious shorte speakinge whan he saide that Aeneas passed by the fildes where Troie was For with one worde saie thei he swalowed vp so manie houses tēples towers huge buildinges walles and left not so much as the ruines rubbish But if we wel cōsidre the matter we shal se that our Euangeliste hath comprehēded more thīges makīge to the purpose with as few wordes For by these few wordes the worde became flesh he teacheth that Goddes natural sonne so ioigned vnto him mānes nature that of two natures one person was made which thīge cold not haue ben vttered with other wordes so shortely so pithely to the purpose For if he had saied that Goddes sonne ioigned vnto him mānes nature it had ben truly spokē in dede but it had not so wel expressed the vnitee of person For an husbande ioigneth vnto him a wife yet thei grow not in to one person after such sorte as the soule the bodie make one person in a man For the soule is not one person the bodie another person but they both make one person namely a man But an husbāde not witstandinge his ioigninge of a wife vnto him remaineth one person the wife another person they be two persons not one Therefore the worde ioigninge shuld not haue so fully expressed the matter For this ioigninge is a special singular ioignīge For Goddes nature is so ioigned to mānes that one persō is made of bothe namely one Christ as of the bodie and the soule one mā is made And this is verie necessarie for vs to know For if we imagine the lordes māhod a nature a parte his Godhead a nature a parte with out such a singular cōiunction vnion that of both natures one person is made as the haeretike Nestorius did thā the lorde Iesus cold not be a mete mediator betwē God vs nor make a sufficiēt satisfaction redemption for the sinnes of the worlde For a mediator betwene God mā must be partaker of both natures And a sufficiēt redemer of al the worlde he can not be that is a mā only For how cā a mā satisfie the infinite iustice of God ouercōme Satā hel death and giue life Therefore the holie scripture teacheth that the lorde Iesus was not theophoros as Nestorius dreamed a mā in whō god was whom Gud assisted with whom God was presēt for God is also in vs but in him the godhead was so knitte vnited to his māhod as those twaine made one person And so it is wel truly saide that God purchased his cōgregation with his blood and that the lorde of glorie that is to saie God was crucified not that he suffred in his diuine nature but bycause those two natures ioigned vnspeakably together make one persō therefore that the one nature did and suffred is attributed to thother some times to bothe together that pertaīeth to one only Which colde not be if thei were two sondrie persons As if the soule were a person alone by it selfe the bodie a person alone by it selfe the soule shuld not so be saide to do or suffre that the bodie did ot suffred nor the bodie that the soule did de or suffred nor the hole man that one parte only did or suffred which thinges yet we now admitte bicause of the vnitee of the person We must know than this vnitee of person in the lorde Iesus God man which the Euāgelist meruailously teacheth in these wordes But where he saieth the worde became flesh he meaneth that the worde abode stil though it became flesh that the worde I saie was not chaūged turned altered from his awn nature in to flesh For some auoidinge Nestorius haeresie who made two persons in Christ fled the smoke rāne ī to the fier For ether thei turned the diuine nature in to mannes nature or mānes nature in to the diuine or so confused and mēgled the two natures together that nether nature remained perfectly as whan wine water ar mēgled to gether there remaineth nether perfectte wine nor perfectte water In our time also some Anabaptistes haue taught that the diuine nature was turned in to flesh for a time became felcable and that now the lordes flesh is turned in to his diuine nature againe and is no more flesh Which dreame is to to sonde For it implieth a plaine impossibilitee For it is as impossible for goddes nature to be altered chaunged as it is impossible for it to cease to be Goddes nature For what so euer maie be altered and chaunged hath an imperfection in it is subiecte to passiōs But Goddes nature hath no imperfectiō nor is subiecte to passiōs for that were not to be God so his nature cā not be chaūged We must therefore so cōfesse beleue the ioigninge to gether vnitinge of two natures in Christ that we mēgle thē not together nor turne th one in to the other but that eche remaine stil in his awne propre nature The Godhead is not the māhod nor the māhod the Godhead The Godhead is a nature by it selfe the māhod a nature by it selfe of those two natures ona Christ consisteth This vnitinge together of two natures Cyrille laboureth to teach weake vnderstādinges by a similitude though similitudes in this behalfe haue some imperfection These be his wordes Esaie the prophete saieth one of the Seraphins was sent vnto me he had a coale in his hande which he toke from the altar he saide beholde I haue touched thy lippes with this it shal purge thine iniquitee We saye that the fiere coale giuēth vnto vs a figure and image of the worde made mā Which if it shal touch our lippes that is to saie if thorough faith we shal cōfesse it it maketh vs pure from al sinne
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
ben man only he could not haue ouercomme death nether shuld his satisfaction haue ben sufficient for the sinnes of al the world as we touched before yea scarcely for the sinnes of one man For the maiestie of God that is offended thorough sinne is infinite And therefore he must be no lesse that shal make satisfaction to that maiestie It was than of necessitee that God shuld becomme mā Another cause was that he might be made like to his brethern sinne only excepte For as S. Paule writeth it was semelie for him for whom by whom al thinges ar whā he wold bringe manie childrē to glorie to make the high capitaine of their saluation perfecte thorough suffringes For he that sanctifieth thei that be sanctifieed ar al of one For which cause he is not ashamed to cal them brethern saiynge I wil shew forth thy name to my brethern and againe I wil trust in him and againe lo I the childrē whom God hath giuē me Seinge than that the childrē were partakers of flesh blood he likewise became partaker of the same c. A thirde cause S. Paule reherseth that is that he might be merciful pitie the miserie of his people hauīge felt tētations him selfe that is to saie that we might be the better persuaded and certified that he wold pitie vs knowinge that he had experiēce and felinge of our miseries griefes in himselfe For we cā not thincke that anie shuld pitie vs so wel as he that feleth or hath felt the same grife smarte that we do To returne to S. Io. in thes his wordes the worde became flesh we haue a sīgular consolation in that I saie Goddes sonne hath takē flesh of our flesh bones of our bones For so haue we a nigh affinitee familiaritee with God And so that that was ours is made Goddes and that that was Goddes is made ours And we cā not doubte but that he wil do al thīges for vs who beinge God wold familiarly be ioigned to vs in our nature In tētations wrastlinges of cōscience let vs flie hereunto cōsidre this great goodnes excedinge loue frēdlines we shal be relieued preserued frō the baleful pit of despeare AND dwelt The greke worde escenosen is asmuch to saie as he made his tabernacle Whereby the Euāgelist signifieth that he was cōuersant amonge them as a verie mā that he shewed not him selfe the twincklinge of an eye so vanished awaie but had his abode cōtinued amōge thē longe time whereby thei might haue sure certaine experience of his godlie behauior of his singular vertues and of his wondreful worckes Some thincke that by this worde is signified that the lorde Iesus had no certaine dwellinge place in this world but was faine to flitte often and remoue For so do thei that dwel in tentes tabernacles In vs Chrysostome taketh in vs for in our flesh and vnderstandeth that the humanitee of Christ was a tabernacle to the diuinitee so frameth this argumēt against the haeretikes that affirmed the worde to be turned in to flesh The word dwelt in flesh ergo the worde was not turned in to flesh and made flesh only For nothinge dwelleth in it selfe It is also true that it is taken for amonge in manie places of the scripture One shal suffice for this purpose Act. 4. There was not one nedie enautois in them that is to saie amonge them The worde escenosen he made his tente or tabernacle fauoreth some what Chrysostomes vnderstandinge AND we haue seen Now the Euāgelist brīgeth his awne experiēe the experiēce of thother Apostles disciples which with their awne eyes saw such actes of the lorde Iesus as proued hī to be Goddes only begottē sonne The Latines haue a prouerbe that one eyed witnes is worth tē eared Of those thinges which we haue seen with our awne eyes we maye be faithful witnesses Thapostles bicause thei saw the thīges thē selues which thei witnessed to the worlde ar called in the holie scripture with a meruailous elegāt worde autoptai selfe seers epoptai inseers or onbeholders WE haue seen Where the Grekes haue sondrie wordes that signifie to see the Euāgelist vseth a special one etheasametha which signifieth to beholde a thinge diligētly leasurely We maie see thinges glaunsingly which sight is not so perfecte certaine as whā we beholde a thinge stedfastly leasurely The Grekes haue propre wordes for both kindes of seinge The thinges that thapostles saw thei so saw as they cold not be deceaued therefore they ar called peplerophoremena fully ascertained His glorie The diuinitee of the lorde Iesus shined out of his wordes dedes at al times in al places His uertuous innocēt life his miracles his resurrection his ascension sendinge of the holie gost did speake as it were crie out that he was Goddes sonne He gaue them also a tast of his diuinitee heauēlye maiestie whā he was most gloriously transfigured before them in the moūt But how do miracles proue the diuinitee of Christ seinge that mē haue don the like as Elias and Elizeus in the old testamēt and thapostles in the new You shal vndrestāde that the lorde Iesus did miracles by his awne power which the scripture obserueth diligētly teacheth plaīly where mē do thē by a borowed power Of the lorde worckīge miracles the scripture saieth I saie vnto the arise I charge the go out Of mē the lorde Iesus make the hole in the name of the lorde Iesus arise walke Man receaueth power to worcke miracles God giueth power But the scripture witnesseth that the lorde Iesus giueth also power to worcke miracles that in his awne name Whereby we easely see the differēce of the lordes worckinge of mēnes worckinge of miracles The glorie as of We behelde such glorie magnificēce as besemeth goddes only begottē sonne agreeth only to him The worde as some times signifieth not the thinge to be in dede but a likenes of it as whā we saie he speaketh holily as a good mā but he is an hypocrite Some times it noteth the truth of a matter a thinge truly to be don Walke as the childrē of light saieth Paule He biddeth thē not coūtrefaite the childrē of light but to shew them selues the childrē of light in dede After such sorte S. Iohā vseth the worde as for he meaneth that such vertue such power as he had declared him to be verely goddes natural sonne that such thinges as he did belonge to Goddes sonne only nether can be found in anie other As if we shulde saie of the most noble holie and blessed kinge Edwarde the sixte that he behaued himselfe as a kinges sonne our meaninge shuld not be that he was not a kinges sonne but shewed him selfe as though he had ben a kinges sonne but our meaninge shuld be that he shewed him selfe none other wise than his birth required