Co[m]mon places of Scripture ordrely and after a co[m]pendious forme of teachyng set forth with no litle labour, to the gret profit and help of all such studentes in Gods worde as haue not had longe exercyse in the same, by the ryghte excellent clerke Eras. Sarcerius ; translated in to Englysh by Rychard Tauerner.

Of creation. CA. VII.

CReatiō is a makīg by which god did creat the spirites & al bodily nature of nought by the word to p̄serue a susteyn the same.

AS in the very beginnīg of Genesis ye rede. In y^e beginnīg created god heuē & erth, y^t is al creatures. In y^e begynnīg that is to say what time there were no creatures. Of y^e creatiō of spirites testi¦fieth the {pro}phet, saying y^u makest thyne aūgels spirites, & thy ministers ••••ābes of fyre. Furthermore the spirytes are thought to be the fyrst creatures accor¦ding to the saying of Iob, he is the be∣gynning of the wayes of god.

Now, y^t by the word al thinges were create, the begynninge of the gospel of

Iohn̄ declareth where he saith: al thin¦ges were made by it, & w^tout it nothing was made. Also in the epistle to the E∣brues, where it is said: by whō he hath also create the worldes. The prophete Dauid recorded the same, saying: by y^• word of the lord the heuēs were fixed, and by the spirite of his mouth all the vertue of thē. And anone after it folo∣weth: he sayd, & they were made, he cō¦maunded, & they were created. These sayinges also proue y^t of nought y^• crea¦tures were create by the word. And by y^t they were create of nought is exclu∣ded any mater to haue ben layd before.

The last {per}te of the diffinitiō, which is to y^• sauing & mainteinīg of their natu¦res, is {pro}ued first by the place ī the act{is} where it is said, by hī we liue, we moue & haue our being, y^t is, in y^t we lyue & pe¦rish not, it cōmeth of y^• benefite of god. Also by the {pro}phet. Oīa a te expectāt ve¦des illis escā, that is, they wayt al vpō the, that y^u mayst gyue them meat ī due season. Itē in an other place, mē & bea¦stes thou shalt saue lord. These textes and other lyke, teach y^t god kepeth and maynteyneth his creatures.

GOD the father is cause of creatiō, bicause he hath creat, & doth creat. The

word, y^t is the son, is the mean wherby and w^t whō al thing{is} were create & yet be create, Iohan witnessynge the same, all thynges were made by it. The holy ghost is the halower quyckener of the creation.

¶Creatiō (where of we here speke) of it self is not deuided in {per}tes, onles a mā accordīg to the diuersitie of creatures wil say y^e some creatiō {con}cerneth spirit{is} some humane creatures & reasonable, other some vnreasonable.

THE propre and pryncypall wor∣kes of creation, be to preserue & mayn∣teyne his creatures, whiche workes I haue afore declared.

The mean wherby god maynteyneth is y^• word, by power of which (as to y^• Ebrues it is said) god y^• father doth mo¦derate & bear vp al thīges. Right excel¦lētly & ful wel we be aduertised here of Philip Melāchthon, y^t other workmen or makers after they haue ons finished & made their worke, de{per}te & betake the same to fortune & to the ensuing chaun¦ses, but god departeth not frō the wor¦kes y^t he maketh, but {per}petually kepeth vp & maynteyneth the same, & this ke∣ping vp & mayntenaūce is called y^• ge∣neral or vniuersal sustentacion.

Cōtraries to creatiō be. To graūt w^t Symō Magus the world was creat of his aungels, but y^t he him self is y^e high power, which is god. To graūt w^t Sa¦turnin{us}. that the word & also mā was made of inferiour aungels. To graūt w^t the Sethiās, that two mē, that is to wete, Cayn & Abel, were first create of aungels, of whom afterwarde the rest of mē proceded. To graunt w^t Carpo∣crates, that there is one principal ver∣tue in thing{is} superiour, & that y^• world was creat of aūgels. The same thyng also taught Cerinthus. To graūt w^t the Ualētiniās that Bythos, that is to say depenes & silence were firste of all, of whō came seed, minde, & trouth: of whō brasted forth the word & life, of whom was creat mā & the churche. To graūt w^t Cerdō .ij. goddes, one good, an other cruel, y^• good maker of y^• vpper worlde & the cruell maker of this worlde. To graūt w^t Basilides, that the hye god na¦med Abraxaen, whom he calleth a crea¦ted mynde created the worde, of whom afterwarde {pro}ceded prouidēce, vertue & wysdome, of these were made after∣ward principates, potestates & aūgels and then were made infinite creatiōs of aungels, of which aūgels were insti¦tute

and ordeined thre .C.lxxv. heuens, and in the lowest heuens be aungelles, which made this worlde. To graūt w^t the Manichees fyue elemētes of which all thinges were gendred, and these ele¦mēt{is} they called by these names, smoke darkenes, fyre, water, & wynde, in the smoke they helde opinion that beestes of two fete were borne, out of whiche also they affyrme that mē proceded. In darknes crepynge beestes. In the fyre, the four foted beastes: in the water the swymmynge creatures: in the wynde foules that flye. To graunt with cer∣teyne philosophers anye mater afore∣sayd. To contend with the Epicuriās that god careth not for the creatures, which folish opiniō the poete Uirgill is agaynst, settyng forth most elegātly the contrary & right sentence in the .vj boke of Eneis, Principio celum ac ter∣tas campos{que} liquentes. &c. To holde that the Gentyles and Heythen persōs knowe not the effectes and workes of creacyon, that god preserueth, kepeth, fedeth, nouryssheth, and beareth vp all thynges, contrarye to the apostle where he sayth, all that myght be kno∣wen of god, the same is manyfest amō¦ges them, for god did shew it vnto thē,

so that his īuisible thīges, y^• is his euer lasting power & godhed, are vnderstād & sene by the workes euen frō the crea∣tion of the worlde.

Notes

• The defini••••¦on of creaciō
• Probations••
• Psal C. iii. a Ebre. i. b.
• Iob. xl.
• Iohn̄. i. ••.
• Ebre. i. a.
• Psal. xxx.
• Act. xvii. ••
• Psal. Ciii. d
• Psal. xxxv.
• The causes of creation.
• Iohn̄. i. a••
• Partes.
• Theffectes of creation
• Ebru. i. ••
• ☞
• Contraries and heresies.
• Saturninus
• The sethian{is}
• Carpocrates
• Ualētinians
• Cerdon.
• Basilides.
• Manichees.
• Philoso∣phers. Epicurians.
• Uergill.
• Roma. i. C.