Two very learned sermons of M. Beza, together with a short sum of the…Two very lerned sermons of M. Beza, togither with a short sum of the…

and yet for all that he cannot effect or bring to pass this, that that which hath been should not be,¹ or that some one thing should be and not be, at ⟨p. 97⟩one & the self same time, or that it should at one and the self same time, be such a thing, and not such a thing. The reason is because of two contradictory speeches, one of them must of necessity be false:² but sith he is God in deed, he cannot lie, and therefore he cannot either will or do such things as are contradictory contrary one of them to another. Wherefore he shall convince GOD of lying and himself of folly, whosoever he be, that will cloak and cover Gods almighty power with this devise, by which Christs body is circumscriptible, and yet it shall in deed together be present in many places at once (which properly belongeth to that only infinite nature) whereby also this is forged & framed, to wit, that the body is finite and infinite, great and not great, yea a body and not a body.³ And this I dare avouch further: Whatsoever God would once have without exception, to be unchangeable, that cannot be changed by him, much less can it be abolished or done away: the reason is, because God cannot depart from himself, or be contrary or unlike unto himself. And I make this without all doubt or controversy, even that such is ⟨p. 98⟩Christs body, namely, that it hath always been, & must of necessity for ever be a very or true body, and therefore also circumscriptible and tied to a place.⁴ Yea, this I say further, that God cannot be created by God, nor that a thing created can be turned into God: for if there were many gods, he could not be God, to whom another created were equal, neither could that created god (so called abusively) be God, because that to be God, & to have a beginning of time or in time, are merely contradictory things or speeches.⁵