ordre þat may be. And first Y knewe hym not; I wiste in soule þat he was born, but Y koude not wiþ bodily eye knowe him fro anoþer man. And þis falliþ comounly; but, for to shewe hym in Israel, þerefore Y baptise þus in water. And Joon bare witnesse, and seide þat he sey a spirit come doun as a culver from hevene and lefte oþer and dwelte on him. But God, þat sente me to waishe wiþ water, he tauȝt me and seide þus, On whom þou seest þe spirit come down and dwellinge upon him, þat is he þat baptiseþ men in þe Holy Goost. And Y sey and bere witnesse þat þis is Goddis kyndely sone.
We shal wite þat þis dowfe was a verre foule as oþer ben; and so it was not þe þridde persone in Trinite taken in oonhede of þis persone, as Goddis Sone toke his manhede; but for mekenesse of þe dowfe, and moo good propirtees þat she haþ, she bitokeneþ þe þridde persone; and þis persone is seid of hir, for Joon seiþ, The Spirit cam doun and dwelte long upon Crist;—and þis Spirit was þis dowfe. And so it semeþ þat þis dowfe was God; and so, al if þe two persones may be moved in creatures, neþeles þe Trinite may not be moved in his kynde. But it semeþ þat we may graunte þat þis dowfe was þe Holy Goost, as we granten þat þis persone was comynge doun in þis dowfe. And þus, as God seiþ in his lawe þat sevene oxen ben sevene ȝeer, and þat þe sacrid breed is verrely Goddis bodi, so it semeþ þat he seiþ, þat þis dowfe is þe Holy Goost. But clerkes witen þat þer ben two manere of seyngis, þat ben personel seynge, and habitudinel seynge. Þis dowfe myȝte not be God in his kynde, but bi sum habitude it signefieþ God, and þus bi autorite of God it is God. And if þou sey þat ech þinge bi þis shulde be God, as ech Goddis creature signefieþ his maker, as smoke kyndely signefieþ fier, and þus semeþ Poul to speke, whan he seiþ þat Crist shal be al þingis in al þingis to men þat undirstonden him; for after þe day of dome al þis worlde shal be a boke, and in ech part þerof shal be God writun, as God shal be in his kynde in ech part of þe world; and þus siþ God is bitokened first and moost in ech þinge, whi may men not graunten þat God is ech þinge? —in þis men mut undirstonde dyversite in wordis, and to what entent þes wordis ben undirstonden. And þus bi autorite of þe
