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As for me I take vvitnesse of no mā.
And you also shall beare vvitnesse of me
BYCAVSE the Apostles of Christ shuld be the instrumentes of ye holy ghost and he should speake by their mouth he telleth them that the witnesse
whiche the holy ghost shall beare vnto them, shal not be of suche sorte as they shal haue it for their priuate profyte, or that they alone shoulde enioye it: but they themselues shal spread it a greate way further abrode.
Thus he ioyneth together these two thynges that fayth is by hearyng, and yet the certayntye of it is by the seale of the holy ghost. A mā should deceaue hymself to thynke that naturally a mā conceaueth fayth by only hearing. On the other parte a man ought to cast a∣way the peruerse opinion of a heape of fantastical & stubburne spirites which disdayne preaching, & yet in the means season haue their mouthes ful of reue∣lations, and doe nothyng but vomyte out heauenly Oracles. So thē, besides that, y• holy ghost must seale the grace of Christ in our heartes, the ministers must declare it vs. So oure Lorde Ie∣sus saith y• Iohn the Baptist had borne witnesse of hym and pronounced of his Apostles that they shalbe his witnesses How thē sayth he that he wil not haue ye witnesse of man? The answer is this,
Christ vseth the witnesse of Iohn the Baptist, not that he on his behalf hath any neede of his testimony: but in re∣spect of vs it is expedient for vs to haue sō cōfirmation that way. Men borrow wytnesse one of another bycause they cannot mysse such an ayde. There is a farre other maner of reason touchyng God and his sonne Christ. A man may wel say that vertue needeth not to bee ayded or stayed by any others: But what hath man in hymself wherewith he may vpholde the truth of God. And Christ hymself afterward addeth that he bringeth foorth the recorde of Iohn the Baptist bycause of them. He sygni∣fieth by these words that he loketh not so much vnto himself as to the profite and health of men, when hee styrreth preachers of his gospel and Herawlds of hys word whereby he assureth vs of his good wil which hee sheweth to bee wonderful in thys that hee tempereth and moderateth al thyngs for our pro∣fite and saluation. The sōne of god thē taketh not witnes of any mā in respect of himself, & yet he taketh it in respecte of vs.