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VVhat the nature of man is vvithout grace.
AND that it maye briefly apeere what the nature of man is without grace, lette Iude the Apostle tel, what eyther the ignoraunce of the vnlearned, or the doctrine of the wyse can doe. But they (saith he) what thinges soeuer they knowe not, that do they blaspheme: and what soeuer thinges they knowe naturally (as brute beastes do) therin cor∣rupt they them selues. Let also
the Euangelist Luke, vnder the wordes of zacharie, tel in what a nyght mankynde doth wan∣der before the illuminacion of grace, and out of what a dark∣nesse of ignoraunce the people of God is deliuered. And thou childe (saith he) shalt be called the prophete of the hyghest, for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his wayes. To geue knowledge of saluaci∣on to his people, for the remis∣sion of theyr sinnes. Through the tender mercye of our God, whereby the daye spryng from an hyghe, hath visited vs. To geue light to them that sitte in darkenesse & in the shadowe of death, & to guide our feete into the way of peace. And this ten∣der mercy hath the lord shewed, not to the redemption of one people onely, but vnto the sal∣uacion
of all Nacions, as the Euangeliste saith: For Iesus must dye for the people, and not for the people onely, but also that he myght gather together the children of god which were dispersed. And that thing doth the voyce of the Lorde, whiche throughe the trumpe of godly∣nes soundynge throughout all the worlde, doth both call and gather together al mē. For whē he had said: I thank thee oh fa∣ther, lord of heauen and earth, because thou haste hydde these thinges frō the wise & prudent, & haste reueled thē vnto babes: Euen so O father, for so was it thy good pleasure: he added. All thinges are geuen to me of my father, & no man hath knowen the sonne but ye father, neyther hath any man knowen the fa∣ther, but the sonne, & he to whō
the sonne wyll reuele him. And thē he added: Come vnto me all ye ye labour, & are laden, and I wyl refresh you. Take my yoke vpon you, & learne of me, for I am meke and humble of harte, and ye shal finde rest vnto your soules, for my yoke is sweete & my burden is light. Iohn Bap¦tist also in the Gospel of Iohn, protesteth in ye spirit of prophe∣sie, saying: He yt came frō heauē is aboue al mē, & he doth testify that ye he hath sene & hard, and no man receiueth his witnesse, howbeit he yt receiueth his wit∣nes hath set his seale that God is true. Therfore in somuch as perteineth to ye blindnes of mā∣kind, gotten with ye long night of ignorance & pride, the creator of ye world, came into this world & the world knew him not, the lyght shyned in the darknesse,
but the darkenesse comprehen∣ded it not. He that is aboue all testified that that he had seene and hard, and no man receaued his testimonie. But because the sonne of God came not in vain into the worlde, but gaue hym selfe for all men: he dyed, not onely for the people, but also that he myght gather into one the children of God which were dispersed. And he said vnto all men: Come vnto me all ye that labour and are laden, & I shall refreshe you. And he maketh him selfe and his father know∣en to whom he wyll reuele it, reseruing vnto him selfe the li∣bertie of the election vnable to be knowen. All the chyldren of lyght, the chyldren of promesse, the sonnes of Abraham, the sonnes of God, the electe gene∣ration, the kyngly priesthood,
the true Israelites, forekno∣wen and fore ordeyned to the kingdome of god (who hath cal∣led them, not onely out of the Iewes, but also out of the gen∣tiles) do receyue the testimonie of hym that came downe from heauen, and sette theyr seales that God is true, that is to say: they declare in that thei are sa∣ued, that GOD is true, that he kepeth touch and perfourmeth that, that he promysed vnto A∣braham the father of all nati∣ons. Who when God promysed him that he should be the heyre of the worlde, doubted not by mistrust: But beinge comforted in faith, gaue glory vnto God, knowing moste certainely, that he was able to perfourme the thynge that he had promysed. And who is so enstraūged from the fayth of Abraham? who is
so farre growen out of kynde from the father of all nations, that he will say eyther that the promyse of god is not fulfilled, or els that it is fulfilled of any other then of hym that made that promise? Truely, that man shall be a lyer, but god shall be true. And euery one that recey∣ueth his testimony, sealeth this thinge, sheweth thys thynge. That he is made to see, by that light which geueth lyght, he is made obedient, he is made to vnderstande, as the Euangelist Iohn wytnesseth, sayinge. We knowe that al the worlde is set on wickednes, and we knowe that the sonne of God is come, and hath geuen vs an vnder∣standing that we myght know the true God, and shoulde be in hys true sonne.
Iude. 1.
Luke. 1.
Ioh, 11.
Math. 11.
Ioh. 3.