A17727:39
Three propositions or speeches, which that excellent man M. John Calvin, one of the…Three propositions or speeches, which that excellent man M. Iohn Caluin, one of the…
Three propositions or speeches, which that excellent man M. John Calvin, one of the pastors of the Church of God in Geneva had there To which also is added, an exposition upon that part of the catechism, which is appointed for the three and fortieth Sunday in number. Translated into English, by T.VV.Three propositions or speeches, which that excellent man M. Iohn Caluin, one of the pastors of the Church of God in Geneua had there To which also is added, an exposition vpon that parte of the catechisme, which is appointed for the three and fortieth Sunday in number. Translated into Englishe, by T.VV.
London: printed by Thomas Dawson for George Bishop, 1580
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Saint John ⟨image 35⟩cometh here too repeat the same Sentence, not only because it is his custom to repeat one & the self same thing after two sorts,1 but also by reason of mens ingratitude and unthankfulness. For albeit that it said unto them, that God made all things by his word, yet they do not at the first, conceive, understand, or believe the same. We see that Gods Creatures touch us not to the quick, and that we are so dull and so blockish in our understanding, that we are not able too comprehend these things, even in such plain and simple sort, as they are propounded and set out unto us. Wherefore S. John, that he might the better express the same unto us, addeth, without it nothing was made, 2of that which was made. As if he should say, Surely we are accursed if we do not receive this eternal word of God, seeing that by it it is that we have been created, yea that all the world hath been made, the heaven, the stars, and the earth, which bringeth forth for us our food and nourishment: to be short, that all good things have ⟨p. 19⟩been given us by the means of this word. So then seeing we perceive that our life proceedeth from thence, we must wholly keep our selves fast thereto, and cast from us all that, that men will set before us to the contrary. This is here a double exposition, in respect of the placing of the words, not that they are changed, but because we have diversly disposed and placed them. Our sort read it thus:3 That by that word all things were made, and that without it nothing was made, and end there their sentence: afterwards they add, All that which was made, was life in it: But this declaration is not aptly set. It is true that the sense which they give is indeed almost all one: for they have in a manner the same exposition that we have: but the manner of speech is very strange: for it is not said of the creatures that they are life, but that is attributed unto God, as Saint Paul saith in his Epistle to the Romans, 4that the Spirit is life, by reason of the freedom that hath been bestowed upon us by Jesus Christ.