18. Christ Jesus therefore intimates that he is the mediator when he says: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me. For he himself is the mediator, of whom Acts ten says: God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power; he anointed him, I say, not as other saints, but above others, according to that passage of the Psalm: God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your companions; in which anointing was accomplished the consummation of the prophecy of Daniel nine: Let the vision and prophecy be fulfilled, and let the Holy of Holies be anointed.
19. He intimates himself to be a preacher in what he adds: He has sent me to announce to the meek, according to what the Lord had promised to the children of Israel through Moses in Deuteronomy 18: I will raise up for them a prophet from the midst of their brethren, like unto you, and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all things that I shall command him. This was Christ, the Lord of all the Prophets, who says in John 15: All things whatsoever I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. And for this he was sent; whence it is said in Luke 4: To other cities also I must preach the kingdom of God, for therefore I am sent.
20. He also intimates himself to be a restorer in what he adds: To heal the contrite of heart. For he is the one of whom it is said in Acts 10: He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil; whence of him it is said in the Psalm: Who heals the contrite of heart, etc. This moreover he did through the remedy of his passion: Isaiah 53: Truly he has borne our infirmities and carried our sorrows; but he was wounded for our iniquities, he was crushed for our sins, the chastisement of our peace was upon him, etc.
21. He also intimates, fourthly, himself to be a triumpher in what he says: To preach release to the captives and opening to those shut in; and this indeed he did in the triumph of his resurrection, according to what is said in Colossians 2 concerning Christ: Despoiling principalities and powers, he led them away confidently, openly triumphing over them in himself; and then, as it is said in the Psalm, ascending on high, he led captivity captive, he gave gifts to men.
Since therefore under this fourfold condition Christ the Lord is the object of faith and the subject of the Gospel, rightly in the proposed text the material cause, or subject, is designated.
22. But since "sciences are divided according to their subject matters," and the introduction of form follows the disposition of matter: since the subject of the Gospel is this one thing under a fourfold condition and intention, it is necessary that one book look principally to only one, and to the others consequently, while the whole of evangelical Scripture treats principally of these four. Therefore it is necessary that there be four Gospels, and that each of them be fourfold.
23. From which it is gathered that this book ought to have and does have four parts. In the first, he treats of the mystery of the incarnation up to the fourth chapter; in the second, of the magisterium of preaching up to the twenty-second; in the third, of the remedy of the passion, up to the twenty-fourth; in the fourth, of the trophy of the resurrection, up to the end of the entire book. - Although he intends all these conditions for the perfection of the history, he principally looks to the priesthood of Christ and the remedy of the passion: and this was owed to the physician. - Therefore from the proposed text, according as it pertains to Christ, the material cause or subject is gathered, and the formal cause, which is the ordering of parts and chapters and the manner of proceeding in the pursuit of the Scriptures.
24. Now these two things were most excellently prefigured in that living creature which Ezekiel saw, and which he says is fourfold, and again each of those having four faces, yet principally one. Of which the first was like a man, by which we understand the nature of Christ; another like a lion, by which we understand victory; another like an ox, by which we understand the victim; another like an eagle, by which we understand doctrine. Now these living creatures, according to all the Saints, designate the four Gospels, so that they figuratively express their matter and form: because one living creature is four-formed, inasmuch as concerning one Christ under a fourfold condition there are four Gospels, and again each of those has four faces, because each is fourfold. And again, one, namely the first, is like a man, although it has four faces, because the first, namely Matthew, principally pursues the mystery of the incarnation. The second is like a lion, because the one writing second, namely Mark, pursues the trophy of the resurrection, and from the same side, because they agree most greatly. The third is like an ox, because the one writing third, namely Luke, pursues the priesthood and the remedy of the passion. But the fourth is like an eagle, which has clear eyes, because the one writing fourth, namely John, pursues the evangelical teaching of Christ, which the others could not attain, and therefore it is described above them: Ezekiel 1: The face of the eagle was above.
And thus it is clear how the truth corresponds to the figure, and those six preambles to the doctrine are also clear, namely: what kind of teacher, what kind of hearer, what is the efficient cause, what is the end, what is the matter, and what is the form, and from this a certain general understanding of the entire Book.