10. The axe.) Here Preachers are taught to dehort from doing euil for feare of Hel, and to exhort to doe good in hope of Heauen: which kind of preaching our Aduer. doe condemne.
11. In water.) Iohns Baptisme did not remit sinnes, nor was comparable to Christs Baptisme, as here it is playne, & in manie other places. Hiero. adu. Lucifer. Aug. de Bapt. cont. Donat. li. 5. c. 9. 10. 11. Yet is it an article of our Adu. that thone is no better then the other which they say not to extol Iohns, but to derogate from Christs baptisme, so farre, that they make it of no more valure or efficacie for remission of sinnes, & grace, and iustification, then was Iohns: thereby to maintaine their manifold heresies, that Baptisme taketh not away sinnes; that a mā is no cleaner nor iuster by the Sacramēt of Baptisme then before; that it is not necessarie for children vnto saluation, but it is enough to be borne of Christian parents, & such like erroneous positions wel knowen among the Caluinists.
12. Floore.) This floore is his Church militant here in earth, wherein are both good and bad (here signified by corne and chaffe) til the separation be made in the day of iudgement: contrarie to the doctrine of the Heretikes, that hold, the Church to consist only of the good.
16. Opened.) To signifie that Heauen was shut in the old law, til Christ by his Passion opened it, and so by his Ascension was the first that entered into it; contrarie to the doctrine of the Heretikes. See Hebr. 9. 8. and 11. 40.
Chap. IIII.
Christ going into the desert, to prepare himself before his Manifestation, ouercometh the Diuels tentations. 12. Beginning in Galilee, as the Prophet said he should; 18. he calleth foure Disciples; and with his preaching and miracles draweth vnto him innumerable folowers.
THEN Iesvs was led of the Spirit into the ″ desert, to be tempted of the Diuel. 2And when he had ″ fasted fourtie daies and fourtie nights, afterward he was hungrie. 3And the tempter approched and said to him: If thou be Sonne of God, commaund that these stones be made bread. 4Who answered and said: It is written, Not in bread alone doth man liue, but in euery word that proceedeth from the mouth of God.
5Then the Diuel tooke him vp into the holy citie, and set him vpon the pinnacle of the Temple, 6and said to him: If thou be the Sonne of God, cast thy self downe, for ″ it is written: That he wil giue his Angels charge of thee, & in their hands shal they hold thee vp, lest perhaps thou knock thy foote against a stone. 7Iesvs sayd to him againe: It is written, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
8Againe the Diuel tooke him vp into a very high mountaine: and he shewed him the Kingdoms of the world, and the glorie of them, 9and sayd to him: Al these wil I giue thee, if faling downe thou wilt adore me. 10Then Iesvs saith to him: Auant Satan; for it is written, The Lord thy God shalt thou adore, and ″ him onely shalt thou serue. 11Then the Diuel left him; and behold Angels came, and ministred
to him
