The.xxix. chapyter

The author proueth by scrypture that god instructethe the chyrche of Chryste / in euery trouthe necessaryly requesyte for our saluacyon.

TRuly q he ye wynde yt well aboute. But yet ye made as though ye wolde haue shewed that god had in scrypture told me / that he had & euer wold tell hys chyrch the trouthe in all suche maters. And now ye brynge yt to the poynte / not y• holy scrypture tellythe me the tale but mānys reasō. And suerly as I shewed you byfore / I dare not well truste reasone in maters of fayth & of holy scrypture. I bygane quod I to proue yt you by scrypture / and ye than put me out in the bygynnyng. How be yt thys reason hath scrypture for hys foundacyon and grounde. And thogh yt sum what bilde farther theron / yet is it not reason alway to be mystrusted where fayth standyth not agaynst it / nor god sayeth not the contrary. Excepte reasō be so farr out of credēce with you that ye wyll not nowe byleue hym yf he tell you that twyse twayne make foure. I wene ye wyll fare by reson as one dyd ōs by a […]alse shrew. he sware yt he wold not for.xx.li. heere hym say hys crede. For he knew him for such a lyer that he thoght he shuld neuer bileue hys crede after / yf he hard yt onys of his mouth. How be yt quod I lett vs yet see whyther god hym self in scrypture tell you the same tale or no. God tellyth you in scrypture yt he wold be wyth his chirch to the ende of the worlde. I thynke ye dowte not therof / but those wordys he spake to the hole chyrch that than was and that euer shalbe from thappostels dayes cōtinued tyll ye ende of ye world. That ī good fayth quod he must nedys be so. Thā were thys ī good fayth ynough quod I for oure purpose / syth no mā dowte[…]h wherfore he wyll be wt his chyrch / excepte we shulde thynke yt he wolde be therwythe for nothynge. wherefore shulde he be wyth yt but to kepe yt & preserue yt wyth thassystence of hys gracyous presēte from spyrytuall myschiefe specially / and of all other specyally from infidelytie and from idolatrye? whych was the specyall thīg from whych he called hys chirch owt of the gentyllys. whych els as for morall ver[…]ews & polytycall yf they had nott lackyd the ryght cause and ende of referrynge theyre actys to god / were many of them not far vnder many of vs. Let vs go ferther. Doth he not ī ye.xiiii xv. and.xvi. chapyter of saynte Iohn̄ agayn and agayne repete / that after his goyng he wyll cum agayne to theym / And sayth he wyll not leue them orphanys as fatherles chyldern / but wyll cū to them agayn hym selfe? Let vs adde now therunto the wordys bifore rehersed / that he wylbe wyth theym tyll th[…] worldes ende / and yt aperyth playne yt he mente all thys by hys hole chyrche yt shulde be to the worldes end. whā he sayd vnto thē I call you frendꝭ / for all that I haue harde of my father I haue made knowene to you / he spake as to hys perpetuall chyrch and not to thapposteles alone / but if he sayed to them alone these wordys also I cōmaunde that ye loue eche other / so yt none shuld loue eche othere after but onely they. Now leste the thyngys that he taught theym shulde by the chyrch after be forgoten / whych was more to be dowted than of theym self that hard it / he sayd vnto theym also / These thyngys quod he haue I spoken to you abidinge here wyth you. But the […]omforter whych is the holy goste whō me father shall send ī my name / he shall tech you all thyng / and he shall put you in mynde and rememberaunce of all thyng that I shall haue sayd vnto you. So that here ye se that he shall agayn alway tech ye chirch of new / the olde lessons of Chryst. And he sayed also to theym / yt thys comforter thys holy gost y• spyryte of trouth / shulde be sente to abide wyth them for euer / whych can not be mente but of ye hole chyrche. For the holy gooste was not sente hyther into the erthe here to dwell wythe the appostels for euer / for they dwelled not so long here. Now yf the spryte of trouthe shall dwell in the chyrche for euer / how cā ye chyrche erre in perceyuynge of the trouthe / in such thyngys I mene as god wyll bynd thē to know or shalbe necessary for theym to know? For onely of such thīgꝭ mēt oure lord / whan he sayed that the holy goste shall teche theym all thynge. For as saynte Poule sayeth / the manife[…]acyon and shewynge of ye spyryte / ys to the vtilitie & profyt. This holy spyrite also was not promysed by our sauiour chryst / yt he shulde onely tell hys chyrch agayne hys wordes / but he sayd ferther / I haue quod he besydes all thys many thynges to say to you / but ye be not able to bere theym now. But whā he shall cum yt is the spyryte of trouth / he shall lede you in to all trouthe. Lo our lord sayed not that the holy goost shuld write vnto his chyrch all trouth / but that he shuld lede theym by secrete insperacyon and inclynacyon of theyr hartes in to all trouth / in whyche must nedes be conceyued bothe informacyō and ryghte byleue of euery necessary artycle / and of the ryght and trew sēse of holy scrypture / as farre as shall be requysyte to conserue the chyrche from eny dampnable errour. Now whan the holy goost shall by goddes ꝓmyse / be for thys purpose abydynge in the chyrch for euer / and Chryste hym selfe hath also sayd that he wyl not leue hys chyrch as orphanys / but wyll cum hym selfe / & be wyth yt vnto the ende of the world / and sayeth also that hys father ys in hym and he in hys father / and yt hys father and he be bothe one thynge / not bothe one persone but bothe one substaunce / and wyth the holy gooste bothe one god / than must yt nedes folow that to the worldys ende / there ys wyth the chyrch resydent the hole trynytye. whose assystence beynge to the chyrche perpetuall / how can yt at any tyme fall from trew fayth to false errous and heresyes?