beable, with all theyr myghte or power, to hurte vs, or doe 〈◊〉〈◊〉 mischiefe: but we shall haue lyfe 〈◊〉〈◊〉. For he saith, Qui credit in me, et si mortuus fuerit, viuet, He that beleueth in me, and though he dye, yet he shall liue: that is to saye, though he departe oute of this naturall bodely lyfe: yet for all that, he shall lyue, euerlastingly with me, worlde without ende. This is now an ercedyng comforte, to all chri stian people: for they may be assured, that when they beleue in Christe, when Christe taketh theyr partes, there shalbee nothyng, neyther in heauen, nor in earth, that shalbee able to hurte them, or lette theym of theyr saluation: and so we learne by thys wonderfull myracle, which our sauior did be∣fore all the multitude, that he proued himself to be very god, and one that hath power ouer death.
But peraduenture ye wyll saye. No, it foloweth not: he raysed vppe the deade, Ergo he is very god. for we reade in the olde testamente that Elias, and Elisa, (these holye Pro∣phetes of God) 〈◊〉〈◊〉 suche workes too: they raised vp the dead as well as he: and yet for all that, they were not goodes: but synfull men as we be: though they had suche a speciall gifts of god, yet they were not goddes, nor yet toke vpon them to be goddes.
To this question, or obiection, I wyll aunswere hereaf∣ter, and if I forget it not. In the meane season, I wyll inoue an other question, which is this. What shoulde moue Johns disciples: to come and tell him the miracles which Christ our sauior dyd: thynke ye they came with a good wyll to sette out Christe, and to magnifye hys doynges: or came they with an yll wyll, with an enuious hearte, whiche they beare to∣wardes Christe? Aunswere. They came wyth an yll wyll, wyth an enuious hearte, whiche they barc agaynste Christe: as it appeareth moste 〈◊〉〈◊〉, by the circumstaunces be∣ynge well considered. For ye muste vnderstande, that John hadde verye muche 〈◊〉〈◊〉, to brynge his disciples to Christe: they thoughte that Christe and hys doynges, hys conuersa∣tion, were nothynge in comparison of John. For Johns strayghte lyfe, whiche he led in the wyldernesse, made suche a shewe and outewarde glisteryng, that oure Sauiour was