AN EVIDENT DECLARATION OUT OF THE HOLY

SCRIPTURE, THAT THE CHRISTIAN FAITH HATH

ENDURED SINCE THE BEGINNING OF THE

WORLD, AND THAT THROUGH IT ONLY

ALL VIRTUOUS MEN PLEASED

GOD, AND WERE SAVED.

CHAPTER I.

faith is elder

years.

I SUPPOSE plainly that many simple christian men will not The Christian a little wonder at this mine enterprise; they are so persuaded than 1500 and think, the christian faith did first begin under Tiberius the emperor: forasmuch as out of the gospel of Luke it is certain, that in the fifteenth year of Tiberius John the Baptist began to preach the gospel; and all histories say with one accord, that in the eighteenth year of Tiberius Jesus Christ did suffer.

Now it is true, that all the prophecies were then first fulfilled, and the true salvation performed; yea, from that time forth were all the glorious treasures of Christ so richly declared and poured out among all people, as they never were afore. Notwithstanding the same salvation in Christ Jesu was promised long afore, and so opened to the holy old fathers, that they have had no less sight of Christ Jesus in the spirit than we, and put their trust in him as well as we; though among us it be clear and open, or performed and fulfilled, that among them was somewhat darker, and therefore looked for with heart's desire, as a thing for to come. Moreover, it is not I that first bring forth this meaning concerning the antiquity or oldness of our christian faith. For the holy bishop Eusebius Cæsariensis, which lived above eleven hundred years ago, and likewise many other christian doctors, hath also taught and written the same more clearly before me. For Eusebius, in the first book De Ecclesiastica His- Eusebius.

Acts xi.

toria': saith plainly: "All they that in their estate are noted according to their generations, to reckon backward from Abraham unto the first man, though they had not the name of christian men, (for at Antioch, certain years after the ascension of Christ, was that name given to the faithful, Acts xi.) yet, as pertaining to the religion and substance, they were all Christian."

For if this word Christian be as much to say, as one that putteth his trust in Christ, and through his doctrine fastened unto faith, unto the grace and righteousness of God, doth cleave with all diligence to God's doctrine, and exerciseth himself in every thing that is virtuous; then verily those holy men, whom we speak of first, were even the same that christian men boast themselves now to be. All these are the words of the foresaid old christian doctors. that no man shall think, how that we build upon men, and upon a strange foundation, therefore will we first declare our mind out of the scripture, and allege somewhat more for the better understanding of the matter.

But to the intent

CHAPTER II.

OF THE GOODNESS OF GOD, AND WICKEDNESS OF MAN.

GOD, which hath ever been sufficient to all perfection, and needeth nothing of the creatures to his perfectness, only of his own kind and nature, which is good, that is to say, of his own grace and mercy, yea, even because he would do good, created man for himself. But before he created him, he provided first for him wonderfully, and furnished him with unoutspeakable riches of his goodness. For when he devised heaven and the creation of man, and the time was now come, which his

The first

creation of

earth.

[1 Eusebii, Eccl. Hist. Lib. I. c. iv. (P. 15. Ed. Reading.) Távras δ ̓ ἐκείνους δικαιοσύνη μεμαρτυρημένους, ἐξ αὐτοῦ τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ ἐπὶ τὸν πρῶτον ἀνιοῦσιν ἄνθρωπον, ἔργῳ Χριστιανοὺς εἰ καὶ μὴ ὀνόματι προσειπών TIS, οὐκ ἂν ἐκτὸς βάλοι τῆς ἀληθείας.]

godly wisdom and providence had ordained, he first of all appointed a wonderful lodging for man, and garnished the same yet much more wonderfully. At the beginning, when the goodly and clear light was made, the Lord prepared the instruments, which he afterward sundered one from another,

and ordained every one to some purpose. Over the deep, that is, over the water and earth, which yet was in the water, made he a firmament, and spread out the heaven above as a pavilion. Afterward out of the water he called and brought forth the earth, as much as served for the habitation of men, and appointed the water his bounds and marks, which it may not overpass. And these three things, the water, the earth, and the firmament, that is to say, the air and clearness above us unto the height of heaven, are the essential and substantial parcels of the world, and serve as an house for the habitation of men. Nevertheless, as yet all this was but rough and unfinished, and nothing garnished at all. Therefore did the wise and faithful Master put forth his The hand wider, to perform and pleasantly to garnish that won- of heaven derful work; yea, not only to garnish it, but also to make it fruitful and profitable for man, which was the guest and inhabiter for to come.

And first, inasmuch as man should inhabit the earth, he garnished it aforehand, and clothed it with a goodly green garment; that is, with a substance, which he decked first with flowers and all manner of herbs, which not only are pleasant to look upon and wonderfully beautified, of a pleasant taste and goodly colour, but also profitable for food and all manner of medicine. To the same also did he first Then watered he the earth

add sundry trees and plants.
with fair springs, rivers, and running waters. And the
ground made he not like on every side, but in many places
set it up pleasantly. And hereof have we the valleys,
plains, mountains, and hills; which things all have their due
operation, fruit, and pleasantness.

garnishing

and earth.

After this also began he to garnish the heaven and firmament, and set therein the sun and moon, the planets and stars; which things all are goodlier and more wonderful than men's tongue can express. As for their office, and the The office of cause why they are set in the heaven, it is to give us light, in the firmaand with their up and down going, or motion, to declare

the creatures

ment.

Fishes.

Fowls.

Beasts.

of man.

the times, years, months, and days, dividing the days and nights asunder.

Thirdly, he laid his hand likewise in the water, in the which he hath wrought no less wonders than in heaven and upon earth. For in the water, and especially in the sea, do the wonderful works of God appear in the fishes and marvels of the sea, if a man consider the nature and disposition of them. And in the air also hath he created and ordained great tokens of his goodness, power, and wisdom; even the fowls, that pleasantly, according to divers commodities, do sing unto man and refresh him.

At the last endued he the earth yet more richly, and filled it with all kind of profitable and goodly beasts, and sundered one from another pleasantly.

When the Lord now had prepared this goodly and rich The creation pleasure, then first after all these he made man, that he might be lord of all these things. Him also endued he above all other creatures, and created him after his own image. He made him of body and soul, which should have endured for ever, if he had not fallen into sin. Now hath he a frail body, and an immortal, everlasting soul: but the first man made he altogether perfect and without blemish; so that verily he was called the image of God, not without cause. The Lord also was not sufficed in garnishing the earth goodly; but first also builded upon the earth a special garden of pleasure, even a paradise; and therein he set man, his dear beloved creature. And forasmuch as he, being solitary and alone, could not conveniently dwell without a mate, he appointed him first to plant and keep the garden of pleasure, The creation and provided for him a wife, even out of the bones of his own body, that she might be the man's help. Thus would the goodness of God finish and make man perfect, to the intent that he should lack nothing, which served to a right, wholesome, and perfect life.

of woman.

Therefore was it equal, that man, which was endued with reason and high understanding, should shew thankfulness and obedience unto God for such high gifts. Yea, God himself, which is not only good, but also righteous, requireth the same of him, and that by the means of the commandment, that he might eat of all the trees of the garden of pleasure, only he should eschew the fruit of knowing good and evil. And

of the com

fulness and

of man.

this commandment was not grievous nor unreasonable: only The request it requireth obedience and love of God the Maker, unto whom mandment. only the creature, even man, should have respect, and look for all good at his hand, and not to take the form of good and evil out of himself; but only to hold that for evil and forbidden, which God inhibiteth as evil, and to count that as good and righteous, which God alloweth or forbiddeth not. For a representation, visible token, and sacrament, God shewed him a right visible and fruitful tree in the garden of pleasure, and forbad him with earnest threatening, that in what hour soever he did eat of the same tree, he should die an everlasting death. But untruly dealt man with his faithful God, The unthanktransgressed his commandment, and gave more credence to the wickedness persuasion of the woman and of the serpent, than to the true word of God: which was nothing else but even as much as to take the form of good and evil out of themselves, or elsewhere, rather than of God; and not to cleave and be obedient only unto him, as to such one as wisheth good unto every man. For man, being deceived through the woman and the serpent, did believe that God was not indifferent, and that he had withdrawn from him some of his godly wisdom. And forasmuch as the mind now was departed from God through infidelity, and looked not for all good at his hand, therefore took the hand the noisome apple, and the mouth did eat the forbidden meat. And thus thought he to help himself to God's majesty by another means rather than by God, and so to repair his necessity, which he thought he had. And so with infidelity, unfaithfulness, disobedience, and unthankfulness, he wrought' life, and died the death; that is, he offended against God, and fell into the punishment of everlasting damnation. Yea, he made himself bond unto the devil, whom he was so diligent to believe, to follow, and to serve. Contrariwise he forsook God, and so came he utterly into the bondage of the devil and darkness. And thus have we now the goodness and faithfulness of God; again, the wickedness and great unfaithfulness of man.

[1 Perhaps used in the sense of wrought for, as in John vi. 27. Wicliffe renders, "Work ye not meat that perisheth." Or possibly the right reading may be raught, the old preterite of reach: he reached, or reached after.]

[COVERDALE.]

2