⧠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 He that beleueth in me beleueth not in me but in him that sent me And he that seeth me seeth him that sent me Iohan. 12. ¶ Imprinted Anno. 1557. ✚ TO MY MOST DERE SISTER ELISABETH P. THINCKE not to much good sister what you haue had but considre what you haue remembre not what you haue ben some tymes in the worldes eies but what you be now in goddes eyes Lamente not that you lost but ioie in that you haue founde Whan you were high you were surely low now that you ar low you ar surely high Let this sincke in to your minde that if wordlye thinges had not ben taken from you you shuld shortely haue bē taken from them and perchaunce if they had not ben so drouned they wold haue drouned you before death had remoued you from them If no aduersite had assailed you you had ben a ded sea and the patiēce other singular vertues which now shine in you had ben quenched ether in your selfe vtterly or touchynge the knowlege of anie other vnfrutefully And therefore Seneca truly saide that that person is verye miserable who neuer felt anie miserie The world ment to impouerishe you but God hath enryched you The world wold depresse you but God hath aduaūced you The world thought to ouerwhelme you with heauines but God hath filled you with tru ioies The world labored to staine you with infamie but God hath made your name both cleare and pure and also to sende forth a pleasant odor amonge his saītes You haue not thā lost somuch as you haue founde Only beware for the tyme to cūme for more remaineth to be laied vpon you for a farther trial Yea I know that Circe the sorceresse hath al readie wil more here after allure you with hir enchaunted cuppe But let not the swetenes of the cuppes lippes and the pleasantnes of the poison begile you Rather chose to drinke the lordes cuppe which though it haue a bitter tast in the first draught yet in the ende purging corrupte and noisome humors it maketh a pure and cleane bodie You know that as goddes goodnes hath made you my natural sister so his wrath hath giuen to vs both and to the rest of our brethern and sistern an vnnatural stepmother How vnmercifully and cruelly she hath delt with vs and how sharpely she hath whipt vs you can remembre and if she beginne now to smile vpon you she meaneth the more mischeife Take hede good sister a stepmother wil euer be a stepmother Giue yourselfe ernestly to readinge of the holie scriptures Holde fast the doctryne that our holye brother and eldest saue one religiously mainteined whom our stepdame laboreth to deface I trust in vaine Flie aswel al idolatrical as al Anabaptistical straūge opinions To which ende I haue dedicated this my litle trauaile vnto you as to my derest sister whom I most desire to be preserued pure and spotles in euerye parte I am not ignorāt that the better you shal be sincerer in treu religiō the more you shal anger our stepdames testie harte and the les fauor you shal finde in your iust requestes But I haue more regarde to the welth of your soule thā to the welth of your bodye And therefore I haue sent you this preseruatiue which our stepdame if she were as she can pretende shuld take in good parte But so that she maye liue in hir babilonical whoredome and droncken lustes and swille in the wine of Aegyptes errors I perceaue she passeth not much how other thinges goe Lift you vp your mindes eyes and beholde the glorious face of the lorde Iesus while our stepmothers eyes ar daseld with the glisteringe vaine glorie of the world toteth al daye in the deceaueable painted face of a monstruous man triple in head and double in herte O that she might be made better but see that you in the meane while be nor made worsse by hyr Let the frute of my worste parte that is with you see the frute of my better parte Commende me to him whom lawes permitte you to love to whō god graūte in heauen that he seketh in erth The lorde Iesus guide you euer with his holie spirite my entierly biloued Your Bro. Bartho Traheron THE FIRST READING I HAVE chosen this parte of the holie scripture wherein to trauail with you at this time bicause thorough goddes great wrath against sinne and the most despiteful malice of Satan against the truth the olde hainous heresie of the vngodlie Arrians is renued in our coūtree and as it were raised vp againe from hel These cankerd old Arrians that you maie undrestāde their heresie spake blasphemously of the godhead of our Lorde Iesus For the first autor of it Arrius vttered erroniously vngodly in the scoles of Alexandria in Aegypte that there was a time whā goddes sonne was not By which wordes he ment that he was not of the same beinge and substāce that the father is of nor of the fame aeternitie and so not the natural sonne of God and verie God in dede but an excellent creature of God whereby God made al thinges as by ā instrumēt as he him selfe opened in farther declaration of his mīde For he graūted that the Lorde Iesus was the first and cheifest creature the beginninge of al other creatures and gaue him also the name of God Howbeit he thought not that he had his Godhed by nature but by borowinge For trial of this matter the most noble and godlie Emperor Constātine the great called a general concile at Nice of thre hundred and eightene bishoppes of whom manie for singular lerninge and eloquence manie for great holines of life were compted worthie of euerlastinge remēbrance In this famous cōcile it was cōcluded out of the holie scriptures that goddes sonne is of the same aeternitee of the same substance essence beinge that God the father is goddes natural sonne and coaequal with the father as it appeareth in the Crede communely called the Nicene Crede Whereunto the hole assemble agreed and subscribed sauinge these fiue Eusebius bishoppe of Nicomedia Theognis bishoppe of Nice Maris bishoppe of Calchedon Theognis bishoppe of Marmarike and Secundus bishoppe of Ptolemais Which fiue bishoppes for their vngodlines by the emperors commaundement were banished out of their coūtrees But sone after their exile Eusebius and Theognis repented that thei had don so vnaduisedly and sent a boke of repentance to the godlie bishoppes wherin they vsed these wordes We haue agreed to the faith and after we had made inquisition of the meaninge of this worde cōsubstantial we were throughly quieted And in dede we claue not to the haeresie yea we subscribed to the faith but we subscribed not to the excommunication Not that we reproue the faith but we
In his daies Iehuda shal be saued and Israel shal dwel safely this is his name which thei shal cal him Iehoua our righteousnes And this confirmeth the prophete Hosea where god speaketh thus But I will haue pitie on the house of Iuda and wil saue thē in Iehoua their God In the new testamēt this matter is taught most clearely For these be S. Paules wordes in the .9 to the Ro. whose be the fathers and of whom is Christ after the flesch who is ouer al god blessed for euer And in the .2 to the Philip Let the same minde be in you which was also in Christ Iesu who beinge in the forme of god thought it not robberie to be equal with god and yet emptied him selfe takinge the forme of a seruant c. Thus S Paule teacheth that he is not god by vsurpation but by nature and that he was and euer is shal be in the forme and state of god verie god as whan he saieth that he toke the forme of a seruant he meaneth that he entred in to the state of a seruant and became a verie seruant Some wranglīge spirites wrest this place verie boldly vngodly For thei saie that S. Paule reacheth no more but that the lorde Iesus was humble and contente with his state and aspired not farther ne went aboute to climme vp vniustly to an aequalitee with god But if that were the meaninge whan S. Paule saieth that beinge in the forme of God he thought not to make himselfe equal to god by robberie he shuld signifie that beinge in that state that he was in he might haue so dō haue preuailed Or els what great matter had it bē that he abstained frō that which ōce to haue gō aboute or to haue thought vpon had ben more than mere madnes Wherefore it is euidēt that this theire deuise is the verie rauinge of sicke braines beside that they shamelesly wringe these wordes out of their natural sense he thought it no robberie to be aequal with God make them signifie whether thei wil or no he mēt no robberie or he wēt aboute no robberie thinkinge to make him selfe aequal to god in such a sense as thei neuer knew before nether wil abide ōles they be haled cleane out of iointe S. Paules meaninge is this that the lorde Iesus beīge verie god yet couered his glorious maiestie with the shape state of a seruāt hūbled him selfe vnto the death of the crosse to do vs good which exēple he setteth before vs to folow not to be ashamed to abase our selues to the welth of other For we cā neuer cast doūne our selues so much as he did if we cōsidre his glorie diuine estate what a thīge it is for him that is verie god to becōme not only a mā but also a seruāt and not that only but more ouer to be appointed to a most vile shameful death Now the higher he was the more liuelier his exēple is to moue vs to make vs ashamed of our disdainfulnes And therefore S. Paule speaketh of his godhead which he had hath naturally that we maie know that his hūblinge camme not by force but of his awne good wil. Where I haue turned this worde alla which signifieth but in to these wordes yet I haue marcked that S. Paule so vseth the word alla in manie places One shal suffice for this time in the .6 to the Cor. he speaketh thus For though you haue innumerable leaders in christ alla but not manie fathers that is to saie yet not manie fathers To returne to our purpose S. Paule in the .14 to the Ro. applieth this sentēce of Esaie Euerie knee shal bow vnto me c. to the lorde Iesus with these wordes we must al be presēted before the iudgemēt seate of Christ For it is writtē as truly as I liue saieth the lorde euerie knee shal bow vnto me c. But it is euidēt that those wordes ar spoken of Iehoua in the prophete so must the lorde Iesus be Iehoua For thes be the wordes of that prophetie in the 45. cha Am not I Iehoua there is no god besides me a iust God one that saueth there is none besides me Loke vnto me and be saued al ye endes of the erth for I am god and there is no more I haue sworne by my selfe the word is gon out of my mouth in righteousnes that euerie knee shal bow doune vnto me c. Againe S. Paule in the ninth to the Ro. teacheth that the lord Iesus is the stomblinge blocke and the stone where at the lues shulde fal which thinge the prophete Esaie speaketh of Iehouah For thus he writeth you shal sanctifie Iehoua the lorde of hostes And he shal be a sanctuarie and a stone to stomble at a rocke to sal at to bothe the houses of Israel a snare and a trappe to the in dweller of Ierusalem And manie shal stomble in them or amonge thē shall sal and be brused snared and takē Now cōpare Esaie and Paule together and you shal see that the lorde Iesus is Iehoua as S. Paule colde vndrestande the scriptures who was sure that he had goddes spirite The Angel also in S. Luke saieth that Iohan Baptiste shuld turne manie of the childrē of Israel to the lorde their god and that he shulde goe before him in the spirite power of Elias But the lord Iesus him selfe teacheth that Iohans office was to goe before his face alleginge the texte of the prophete Malaki after this sorte in the .11 of Matheu beholde I sende myne Angel before thy face which shal prepare thy waie before the. So must the lorde Iesus be the Lorde god of the Israelites But this matter is no where taught with greater clearnes light grace thā in this gospel of S. Io. For in the first parte of his first cha speakīge of the true Messias namely of the lord Iesus our vndoubted saueor that our faith might safely rest in him and that we might know it to be cōsonant to the truth of goddes word that we make not flesh our arme whā we putte our trust in hī he saieth that he was euer goddes worde vtue wisedō that he was with god that he was verie god that al thinges were made bi hī c. here indede our wittes ar dafeld amased here arise manie thoughtes For here two be spokē of god I saie goddes worde the worde is said to be god to be with god It semeth thā to mānes hastie reasō that there be two goddes But the truth is that there is but one god Wherefore some haue bē so boide or rather so mad as to denie the godhead of the lorde Iesus to bringe him in to the ordre of creatures to faine him a made God lest there shuld be two natural goddes For they cā abide no more of god thā they cā
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
thens thorough faith sincere holines and true righteousnes and what so euer maie make vs amiable and acceptable in Goddes sight that we maie glorie in no maner of thinge saue in the lord Iesus alone our only sanctifier iustifier saueor redemptor and what so euer our nede requireth that he shulde be vnto vs. For what was impossible for the law to do in that it was weake thorow the flesh God hath perfirmed hauinge sent his sōne in the likenes of sinful flesh by sinne that is to saie by a sacrifice for sinne hath condemned sinne in the flesh This sonne of God is made vnto vs wisedome righteousnes sanctification and redēption This sonne of God hath raunsomed vs from the curse of the law This sonne of god is the ende of the law to iustifie al that beleue This sonne of God had giuen vs the spirite of adoption the spirite of Goddes childrē the spirite of fredom the spirite of alacritee good courage These thinges Io. Baptiste teacheth and so quaileth the Iueis vaine gloriynge in Moses their vaine gloriynge in their awne holines and righteousnes to the high aduancemēt of him to whom al glorie is due euen Iesus Christ our only lorde saueor No man hath seen God c. Now to confirme the thinge that he had signified touchinge Moses namely that he must sitte far beneth the lorde Iesus in this sentēce he giueth vs to vndrestāde that the verie knowlege of Goddes wil of the law that Moses had he receaued it from Goddes sonne For nether Moses nor anie other mā cold attaine to anie certaine knowlege of Goddes wil or shal euer attaine hereafter but by the reuelation of him that is in Goddes bosome So Moses whose passinge great knowlege they bosted so much was but the lord Iesus his scolar and therefore of dutie must giue place to his master The Iues Indede had euer in their mouthes that Moses had seen God and spoken with him mouth to mouth so that god had no secrete that he had not opened vnto him But the truth is that no mortal man can attaine to a ful knowlege of Goddes infinite maiestie and see his face as it is For whan Moses desired to see Goddes glorie and maiestie aunswer was made vnto him thou cāst not see my face for man shal not see me and liue Wherefore whan the scripture sayeth that Iacob saw God face to face and that Moses talked with him mouth to mouth the meaninge is that God opened him selfe more plainly talked with them more familiarly than with other men How beyt they saw not his awne verie face that is thei attayned not to a ful knowlege of the diuinitee For as Tertullian lernedly writeth mannes minde can not comprehende the thinges that be in God For God is greater than mannes minde nether can it be thought how great he is For if God cold be comprehended by thought than he shuld be lesse than mannes minde whereby he might be conceaued He is greater also than al speech nether can he be vttered with wordes For if he cold be vttered with wordes thā he shuld be lesse then mannes speech whereby he might be compassed But what so euer shal be thought of him shal be lesse thā he what soev shal be spokē of hī shal be lesse thā that that is aboute him For if thou shalt calle hī light thou shalt name a creature of his not expresse hī If thou shalt calle hī vtue thou shalt speake of his power and not vtter him If thou shalt calle him maiestie that shalt describe his honor and not himselfe Breifely what so euer thou shalt saie of him thou shalt rather declare a thinge of his than him selfe For what canst thou worthely speake or thincke of him who is greater than al wordes al vndrestādinge sainge that one waie we maie cōprehende in minde what God is if we shal thīcke him to be that that cā not cōme in to mānes ūdrestādinge or thought what maner a thinge and how great it is For as our eye sight is dulled in be holdinge the soume nether cā abide the glisteringe brightnes of the sunne beames so our minde suffreth the like thīge in thinckinge of God and the more it is bent to considre God so much the more it is dafeld blinded with light For what can we thinke worthely of hī that is higher than al highnes deper thā al depenes lighter thā al light brighter than al brightnes stronger than al strenght fairer than al fairenes truer than al truth greater than al greatnes richer thā al riches wiser than al wisdome better than al goodnes iuster than al iustice more merciful than al mercie so that it maie be truly said that God is such a thinge as where vnto nothinge can be compared For he is aboue al that can be spoken or thought And therefore whan Moses was admitted to a singular sight of the diuine maiestie God saide vnto hī thou shalt see my hinder partes my face thou shalt not see The sight of Goddes backe was a great knowlege surely of the diuinitee but not a ful knoulege so that it might be saide that he saw Goddes verie face And yet that knowlege also which he had of God he had by the instruction reuelation of Goddes sonne For God inhabiteth light that no mā cā approche vnto Goddes sōne ōly knoweth the father he ōly giueth al the knowlege of the father that euer anie mā had or shal haue For he only is of the fathers priuie coūsel he only is admitted in to his bosome GOD The greke word theos which S. Iohan vseth is made of thee in to rūne as Plato teacheth bicause the rude old mē seinge the ouer bodies so fast to moue thought that God ranne in thē therefore called god a rūner We maie thincke that he is called a rūner bicause he is spedely presēt to helpe in al nede Other deriue the word out of deos feare bicause he is most to be feared reuerēced The latines cal God deū as it semeth of the greke word theos or deos or as some thīcke a dādo of giuīge or quod nihil illi desit bicause he wāteth nothinge But though the names that the heathē vsed whereby to signifie the supreme aeternal mīde be verie good takē out of some proprietes effectes that thei vndrestode in god yet it shal be most fruteful cōfortable for vs to know what name the godlie haue vsed goddes spirite hath vttered in the holie scripture Now the most excellēt name of god expressed by godes spirites is Iehoua which the grekes cal tetragrāmatō bicause it cōsisteth of .4 spirital lettres The hebrues haue it in such reuerēce that thei thīke it is not to be vttered with mēnes lippes therefore in stede therof thei euer read adonai And to this daie if thei heare a christiā pronoūce it thei ar astonied seare left the skie shal fal