[XXVII. Lectures, or Readings, upon Part of the Epistle Written to the Hebrews; London: Imprinted by H. Middleton for Lucas Harison, 1577]
The Author of This Epistle:
Now touching the author of this Epistle, who it was, it skilleth not. For if the name had been here, what had it showed but that God used the ministry of such a man? And now the name is not known, it teacheth expressly, the doctrine is of God. And for this cause to the books of holy scripture, names are sometime added, sometime not, that the doctrine of the Lord might be unto us, without respect of person.
And for my part, who wrote this Epistle, I cannot tell, nor I see no cause why I should seek it. For when the spirit of God hath left it out, can I think it the better if I should add it? I remember, Athanasius sayeth: that since the Gospel was first preached, this Epistle was ever thought to be Paul’s. But Eusebius, as boldly on the other side, saith that he dareth constantly affirm as the sense is the Apostle’s, so the phrase & penning is some other man’s, but whose God knoweth: and thus much of the author, whom we will leave as we find him, a faithful witness of Jesus Christ, even to the ends of the world, but whose name we know not.