either in good sort or in bad This though it be unjust in them yet is just in God upon the Jews for depraving Christs miracles as done by I know not what superstition of the word Shemhamphoresh Alsted Lexic Theolog. Evangelium hodie vocant Aven-gelaion volumen vanitatis And for his Oracles they have scornfully rejected the Gospel as a volume of vanity stumbling at that passage especially where it is said that neither did his brethren beleeve in him Blunts voyage into the Levant 115. John 7.5 not knowing faith to be the gift of grace onely But their Ancestours which yet were no Christians beare us witnesse that Jesus Christ was famous for his wisdome and wonders was slaine by the people Joseph lib. 18. cap 14. Contra Appion lib. 1. non ita proculab initio Dan. 5.25 Mene mene techel upharsin They were the Samaritan characters therefore the Babylonians could not read them nor could the Iewes understand them though they knew the characters because they understood not the Chaldee tongue as Daniel did Weemse rose againe the third day c. All this and more Josephus the Jew who also testifieth that the bookes of the Old Testament were the very word of God Which is further also confirmed by the Samaritane Bible the Copy whereof was brought by one Petrus de Valle from Damascus Anno Domini 1626. wherein though written in a different character from the Hebrew yet for the matter they as much agree as the Jewes and Samaritanes did utterly disagree 3. Heathens also not a few have sealed to the truth of the Scriptures by their testimonies and confirmed them to be divine Porphyry in his fourth book against Christians beareth this record of Moses that hee had written the history of the Jews truly Numenius the Pythagorist recites Moses his history almost word for word testifying of him that he was a great Divine Law-giver and Prophet Diodorus Siculus affirmeth that Moses gave a Law to the people of Israel which he had received of JAH for so saith he do they call the God whom they worship Geogr. lib. 15. And Strabo writeth that Moses having rebuked the Egyptians for their vanities and superstitions withdrew himself from among them that he might serve God In Vandalicis lib. 2. Calunmiae hae binae olim in Tingitana visendae Selden de Diis Syr. proleg cap 2. Procopius tells of two marble pillars in Numidia wherein are engraven these words in the Phenician tongue We be those that fled from the robber Joshuah the sonne of Nun. The mighty deeds of Hercules are held to be fained out of the doings of Sampson and the vow of Agamemnon out of Jephtaes vow Orpheus his forfeiting his wife whom he had fetcht from hell by unseasonable looking back upon her out of the history of Lots wife Virg 4. Georg. who turn'd her but and she was turn'd Nisus robbed of his golden haire Metamorph. l. 8. Janus Oenotrius is Noah lapetus lapheta and lupuer Hammon that gelded his father Saturne is Ham that discovered his fathers nakednesse c Ex Henochi historia originem sumpsit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ethnicorum and betrayed by Scylla out of Sampson and Dalilah It was the devill doubtlesse that found out these fictions in an apish imitation of the sacred history and for a cunning elusion of divine truths Who was it else that set Herodatus aworke to write that Sethon King of Egypt and Priest of Vulcan being invaded by Senachâ—râ—â— King of Assyria with a formidable army and seeking help of his god was admonished in a dreame to encounter his adversary though with unequall forces and to expect helpe from heaven Sethon did accordingly and the night before the armies should meet an innumerable company of Mice and Rats were sent into the â—amp of the Assyrians which so â—nawed asâ—under their quivers bucklers bridles and other harnesse that they were forced to flye with the â—osse of many of their bast souldiers the King himselfe being shortly after slaine at home Herodotus addes further that even in his time there was yet to be seene in Vulcans temple in Egypt the picture of Senacherib holding a Mouse in his hand with this inscription 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Herod lib. 2. Learne by me to feare God This was a meere sleight of Sathan that loud lyar shamelesly seeking by the Egyptian priests to elevate the truth and authority of the holy Scriptures and to transferre upon himselfe the glory of so great a worke of God But Demetrius Phalareus disciple to Theophrastus told Ptolomy Philadelph King of Egypt that the Bible of the Hebrewes was the onely booke that was divine indeed who therefore at his great charge caused it to be translated into Greeke by the seventy Seniours Which when the King had read and marvelled that of so many things and so worthy of remembrance there was little or no mention made by the Historians and Poets of Greece Demetrius Phalereus answered him as both Josephus and Eusebius report it out of Aristaeas Ioseph Antiq. lib. 12. cap. 2. Husâ—b praep-Evang lib. 8. c. 1 a Chamberlaine of King Ptolomies that it was a divine Law given of God which ought not to be touched but with cleane hands And that if any prophane persons had presumed to meddle with it he was sure to smart for daring to defile those holy matters with the glosse of their owne inventions Moreover he told the King that Theopompus a Scholler of Aristotles Aristaeas in in calce libelli de 72. legis Hebr. interpretibus p. 512. for attempting to disguise the Scriptures of the Jewes with Greek eloquence was stricken with amazednesse for above thirty dayes together And that Theodates a Tragoedian having intermingled some Scripture-matters with his Tragedies suddenly lost his sight which was afterward restored again to him upon his prayers when he once dame to a sight of his sin Thus for Humane Testimonies of the Authority and Divinity of the Scripture we have heard sufficient both from friends and foes heretikes Jewes and Gentiles But wee have better testimonies than these those are Divine which are of two sorts 1. Outward 2. Inward That without us first is the Scripture testifying of it selfe and we know its testimony is true because it is the word of that God that can as soone dye as lye Hence heare we so often in Moses I am the Lord in the Prophets Thus saith the Lord in the Gospels Jesus said in the Epistles 1 Cor. 11. I have received of the Lord that which I delivered unto you c. And the truth is the best proofe of Scripture is to bee fetcht out of it selfe whence it is also called Light Psal 119.105 because it discovers it selfe and the Testimony of the Lord because it beares witnesse to it selfe And this it doth not authoritativè onely by an unartificiall argument as above-said but ratiocinativè by sound reasons whether we looke to the Pen-men of the
maugre their malice runnes as the Apostle speaketh and is glorified This these wicked Popelings see and are grieved Psal 112.10 they gnash with their teeth and melt away yea they gnaw their tongues for paine and torment of their sores Rev. 16.9 10. they blaspheme the Name that is Invidiâ Siculi non invenere tyranni Majus tormentum the Word of God which hath power over these plagues and repent not to give him the glory Sed in hoc ulcere non ero unguis it shall suffice to have pointed at it Section 2. SEcondly is it the very Word of God that we reade in the Bible and is Hee the undoubted Authour thereof this then informes and advertiseth us of the surpassing dignity and supereminent excellency of that thrice-sacred Booke above all humane writings whatsoever That which David said of Goliahs sword may be fitly applyed to the sword of the Spirit 1 Sam. 21.9 there is none to that And as of the river Pison in Paradise that compasseth the land of Havilah it is recorded that there is gold and with an emphasie Gen. 2.11 12. the gold of that land is good There is also Bdellium and the Onyx stone The other three rivers have nothing said of them in comparison of this first though they doubtlesse had their severall commendations So stands the case betweene this and all other Bookes though suo genere never so praise-worthy Prov. 31. Many daughters so Authours have done vertuously but this excells them all There was not such a man as Job Iob 1. nor can there bee such a Booke as this in all the earth Hence it is called the Bible that is the Booke by an excellency as the onely Booke Auferantur de medio chartae nostrae procedat in mediuÌ„ codex Dei In Psal 57. Ego odi meos libvos saepè opto eâ—s in crire c. Luther in Genes 1 4. Evangesâ—i libri sunt Apostolici an iquâ—â—ilque Prophetarum oracula quae nos manifestò â—â—siruunt c. suscipiamus igitâ— ex sermonibus divinitùs inspiratis quaestionum solutionem Chemnit ex Theodoâ—et And the Word is that which should bee ever sounding in our eares and the Scriptures as being to all other writings as Josephs sheaâ—e was to his brethrens or as the Sunne to the lesser Starres Hence that of Saint Austin Away with our writings that roome may be made for the Booke of God And that of Luther I heartily hate mine owne bookes and could wish them out of the world because I feare they keepe men from spending so much time in reading Gods Booke the only fountain of al true wisdom And that of Constantine the Great wherewith he opened the Councell of Nice Yee have the New Testament and the Old which plainly instruct us what to judge in divine matters Out of these therefore let us fetch answers to al questions that shall be moved amongst us as the High-priest did of old at the Oracle for they have God for their authour and are the platforme of that wisedome that is in God himselfe 1 Cor. 2.6 7. Excellent things are in Scripture-phrase said to be things of God as tall trees high mountains famous cities I have wrastled with my sister with wrastlings of God Gen. 30 â— said Rachel that is with great wrastlings and have prevailed How much more may the Bible bee said to be of God which sets forth its precious and peerlesse worth sith he uttered some of it with his own mouth and so might say as Joseph did once to his brethren Behold you see that mine owne mouth speakes and wrote other some with his owne finger as the Decalogue Deut. 5.22 and so might say as Paul to Philemon I Paul have written it with mine owne hand vers 19. That one short Epistle to Philemon sith we are fallen into the mention of it though about so low and abject an object so poore and petty a matter as the receiving againe of a fugitive bondslave yet with what admirable pithinesse and powerfulnesse of speech is it set forth Plena lacertorum roboris epistola Scultet observat singulis ferè verbis singula argumenta saith one Not a word but hath its waight not a syllable but hath its substance Those Epistles written as is pretended by Paul to Seneca they have his name indeed but not the least dram or drop of his spirit they savour not of his Apostolicall majesty and gravity which shineth even in this the least of all his Epistles Paulum quatiescunque lego videor mihi n n verba audire sed tonitrna In brevitate verborum est luxuries rerum Origen As often as I reade Saint Paul saith Hierom me thinkes I heare not words but thunders In fewnesse of words he hath all fulnesse of matter saith Origen and sets a grace and a glosse upon meane matters in his manner of handling them How much more when he treats of Predestination or any such profound mystery as in that lofty and lively Epistle to the Romanes which Melancthon was wont to call the confession of our Churches and thought it time well spent to goe over it a matter of ten severall times in his ordinary Lectures The truth is it is such as never could any man think speake or write sufficiently of its worth and excellency M. Perkins adviseth in reading the Scriptures first to beginne with the Gospel of Saint John and this Epistle to the Romanes after with the Prophet Esay because these three bookes bee as the keyes to open the right understanding of the rest Saint Jerome doubts not to affirme of that prophecie of Esay Quicquid est sanctarum scripturarum quicquid potest humana lingua proferre aut sensus concipere in eâ— volumine continetur that whatsoever other peece there is of holy Scripture whatsoever mans minde can conceive or tongue expresse is contained in this one booke Esay himselfe calls it a great Booke wherein but little was written chap. 8.1 We may safely call it a little book wherin great things are written even those mirabilia of the Law Hos 8.12 and magnalia of the Testimony or Gospel for so that Prophet in the same chapter divides the holy Scriptures into the Law and Testimony Esay 8.20 as into its integrall parts To the Law saith he and to the Testimony Now the Gospel is often called the Testimony by Saint John especially because it testifies of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whose very name Jesus is a short Gospel the very summe and substance of all the good newes in the world The nativity preaching persecution apprehension death resurrection ascension of our Saviour yea and latter comming to judgement is lively set forth by this one Prophet Esay whence hee was called by a Father the Evangelicall Prophet The Babe of Bethlehem is wrapt up as it were in the swathing-bands of both Testaments Christ is both the subject and object
men better means or more incouragements hereunto then now Good books at home good Sermons at Church good society every where and conference I can tell you hath incredible profit But here 's the misery of it some men are so shy and shame-fac't others so stiff and stout minded that they 'l rather continue ignorant then reveale their ignorance and seeke information Men will at no hand be beholden this way one to another But as in Alcibiades his army all would bee leaders Scholiast in Thucydid none learners so is it here Most men love to beare fruit to themselves with Ephraim that emptie Vine Hosea 10.11 and chuse rather to remaine needy then discover their poverty As for good bookes another speciall help never did any Age abound with them more then this nor any Country then ours Those English fugitives that have written on the Popes side have in shew of wit and learning gone beyond not only all former but all other of this age See Cade of the Church Preface so that Bellarmine takes most out of them in the points whereof they have written as Sanders Allen Stapleton c. These went out from us because they were not of us But for those that are and have written on the holy Scriptures how many hundreds are there extant in our our owne language of whom it may be as truly said as he did once of Calvins institutions Praeter Aposlolicas post Christi tempora Chartas Huic pâ—perere libro saecula nulla parem Paul Melissus Buxtor fij iberiada omnis miratur mirabitur semper quoad stabit hic mundus eruditio Dieslius de ratione stud I heol that since the Apostles times scarce any book can equall it or as another of Buxtorfes Tiberius all learning doth and shall admire it while the world stands This is certaine that what shewes of uncertainty and difference soever may appeare in holy writ either in numbering of yeares or circumstance of History or in any point of doctrine they are so fully and apparently reconciled by those that have laboured therein that there can bee no just colour of exception But for reall contradictions never dreame there are any such to bee found in the word of truth In every part and parcell wherof there appeares such an admirable sutablnesse concent and harmony of all things though written at sundry times in sundry places by severall persons and on severall occasions and arguments as plainely speakes it to bee the Word of God The bookes of Scripture are not like the bookes of our Astrologers that reforme one anothers calculations and controle one anothers prognostications but as they shoote all at one marke so they agree all in one truth There are above two hundred places of the old Testament cited in the New so that almost in every needfull point the harmony is exprest The Psalmes are cited fiftie three times Genesis fourtie two times Esay 46. times c. This shewes the wonderfull agreement betwixt the books of both Testaments Especially since the testimonies of the old Testament cited in the New are cited not only by way of Accommodation but because they are the proper meaning of the places so that they all agree as if they were but one writing yea one sentence yea one word yea as if uttered by one mouth so doe they sound all one thing Luke 1.70 Hinc Basilius ScripturaÌ„ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 appellat This should exceedingly knit our hearts to the holy Scriptures as the most delightfull Musicke far surpassing that which Pythagoras dream't to bee in the ayre among the spheres and teach us when wee meete with doubts and objections or seeming contradictions to condemne our owne ignorance and to rest assured of this that there is an infallibilitie in the promises and a truth in the Scriptures though we doe not yet see so much Section 6. LAstly are the holy Scriptures of God Then can they not possibly bee abolished or brought to nought If this counsell bee of God said that grave Counsellour Gamaliel Acts 5.32 yee cannot overthrow it least haply yee bee found even to fight against God There have beene a generation of men shall I say or monsters rather that have attempted to take armes against Heaven thinking utterly to have razed and rooted out Gods Name and Book from under Heaven but all in vaine Manasseth and Amon to draw the people to Idolatry had suppressed the booke of the Law but in the dayes of Iosiah it was found again even in the ruines and rubbish of the Temple Ieremy 36.32 Iehoiachim cut in peeces and burnt Ieremies prophecies but the Lord himselfe set forth a second edition hereof with an addition Antiochus Epiphanes alias Epimanes that little Antichrist commanded that all the holy writings should be burnt 1 Machab. 1.59 Yet shortly after there were copies found that had beene rescued from the fire doubtlesse by good people as young Joas was by Iehoiadah from his bloudy Grandmother And within a while the Scriptures being by the seventy Seniours Aristaeas at the request of Ptolomy King of Egypt translated into Greeke were published a great part of the world over Since that Dioclesian the Emperour commanded by proclamation the holy Scriptures to bee burnt where ever they were found throughout the Roman Empire Euseb lib. 8. c. 3. And what bonefires of Bibles the Papists have made in this kingdom who knowes not Before all this Apocryphall Esdras tells us and many of the Ancient Fathers beleeved him that when the Temple was burnt by the Babylonians in Ieremies time all the holy Copies also were then burnt and that they were restored againe by himselfe who being a perfect scribe could perfectly remember and renew them But this narration of his is altogether unlikely to bee true For. 1. There 's no mention of any such thing in the Canonicall Scripture as neither in Iosephus Philo or Athanasius in synopsi de libris Mosis who would not have passed it over 2. Who can reasonably imagine that those good figges Ezechiel Daniel and the rest of the Religious captives at Babylon or that Ieremy Gedaliah Ebedmelech and other holy men at home could have been without the books of the Law for seventie yeares together It s sure that Daniel had the Bible and therehence collected the number of the yeares of the captivity to bee now expired Chap. 9.2 and verse 13. he saith as it is not was written in Moses 3. Besides Ezra himselfe chapter 6.18 testifies that the captives that returned to Ierusalem had the law and read in it This was the Lords owne doing and is justly marvellous in our eyes Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth may the Scripture now say Psa 129.1 3. Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth yet have they not prevailed against mee The plowers plowed upon my backe c. The righteous Lord hath cut asunder the traces of the wicked The
and stabble And indeed they fed them with no better as they basely glosse upon that text in Job The Oxen that is the Priests were plowing and the Asses Tu et Asinus unum estote Disci de temp ser 121. that is the People were feeding by them feeding hungerly upon thistles and huskes and fainting at the head of every street The children asked bread but no man brake it unto them Lam. 4.4 for bread they had stones for fishes scorpions Acts and Monuments fol. 1109. Thyrraeus de Daemon cap. 21. What a Devill made the to meddle with the Scriptures said Steven Gardner to Marbeck and of another they tell us that by reading the Bible he became possest with a Devill A very strange businesse Athanasius saith that evill spirits are expelled and driven away by that 68. Psal Exurgat Dominus c. But this is true of the whole book of God one part as wel as another Father Abraham sends the rich mans brethren to Moses and the Prophets for defence against the Devill and our blessed Saviour when he beat the Devill on his own dunghill as it were made the Word his only weapon chusing out of that one book of Deuteronomy and almost out of one chapter thereof as out of a preciously purling current all those stones wherewith hee prostrated the Goliah of hell Now if there be so much sufficiency in one book in one chapter what may we conceive of the whole But it will haply bee here objected If Moses his writings were so full Object 1 what needed any addition thereto of the Prophets and Apostles I answer Answer Not to perfect that which till then was defective and incompleate For the five bookes of Moses yea that one book of Genesis was sufficient to the salvation of such as then lived The Prophets were added for explanation of the Law the New Testament for clearing and applying them both Those things that were there more darkly delivered are here more plainely and plentifully set forth Hab. 2.2 so that a man may even runne and reade them Now we have a more cleare and perfect direction than they had under the Law Thence their light is compared to the light of a candle that shines in a dark place ours to the day-light 2 Pet. 1.19 2 Cor. 3.18 Now wee all with open face beholding as in a glasse the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory as by the Spirit of the Lord. But how is it then that the Scriptures are yet stil so obscure and difficult Quest yea perplex and ambiguous Sublime they are Answer but not dark in themselves sith they came from the Father of lights and are lighted up to bee our candle in this world saith S. Austin Tract 35. in Iohan. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 protreptic p. 25. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom. 3. de Laza. that we walk not in darknesse a common light that shineth to all saith Clemens Alexandrinus so that every man of himselfe by reading them may learn the things therein delivered saith Chrysostome This is to bee understood of the doctrinall foundation of Faith and Manners in setting down whereof the Scripture is most plain and easie Bellarmine himselfe is forced to say De verbo Dei lib. 1. cap. 2. Scripturis nihil notius Nothing is more manifest than the Scriptures Esay 8.1 Inclinavit Scripturas Deus ad insantium tactentium capacitatem In Psal 8. Write saith God in the roule with a mans pen that is clearely that the simplest may conceive so much as concernes him to Salvation God hath fitted the Scriptures saith Austin to the capacity of the meanest So that if our Gospell bee hid it is hid to them that perish If men understand it not the veile is not drawn over it but over their hearts 2 Cor. 3.15 which the Lord doth more and more remove dispell and disperse the darknesse of the minds of his elect by his holy Spirit The book was open in the Angels hand Rev. 10.8 It had been shut and sealed but S. John had got it open by his prayers and teares and by his more diligent search and seeking to the Angell to instruct him Gods Spirit in his servants is heroick they are whetted on by difficulty to a more diligent enquiry as Sampson bound with new ropes went out and shook himself Prov. 26.13 A Lion in the way may fright a sluggard not a Sampson or an Alexander who meeting with a hard encounter said Iam par periculum animo Alexandri This is an enterprise worthy of great Alexander It cannot be denied but that the Scripture in many places is dark and difficult and the pen-men thereof as in some things like those Angels in Jacobs vision they descend to the â—â—â—plicity of the mâ—â—â—est so in other things they transcend the sublimity of the learnedest Mare est Scriptura divina habens inse sensus profundos Ambros Ep. 44. agnus peditet elephantus natet Ep. ad Leand. The Scripture is a great Sea saith Ambrose the Lamb may wade the Elephant may swim in it saith Gregory And there is such a depth therein saith Austin that a man may dayly profit in the knowledge thereof Si eas sotas maximo otio summo studio meliore ingenio conarer addiscere Epist 3. ad Volusian though he studied nothing else all the dayes of his life yea as long as the dayes of heaven shall last without any intermission or remission of his utmost indeavour And in another place Not only saith that Father in innumerable other things am I guilty of much ignorance Multo plura nescio quam scio Epist 119. c. 21 Iob 26.14 but in the Scriptures also my profession and chiefe study there are many more things that I know not than that I know How little a thing doth man understand of God saith he in Job the greatest part of our knowledge is but the least part of our ignorance Nondum hoc scio quod nihil scio This only I know said the wisest of the Philosophers that I know nothing Another comes after him and addes neither know I yet so much as that that I know nothing Natures best secretaries cannot with all their skill give us a convincing reason of the perennity of Rivers of the ebbing and flowing of the Sea of the colours of the Rayne-bow of the heat in the stomack that consumeth all other things and yet not the parts about it Pythagoras assignes no other cause of earth-quakes Conventus mortuorum Aelian lib. 4. ridicule than the meeting together of those that are dead Pliny wonders at the Gnat so small a creature and yet making so great a buzze Nat. hist. lib. 11 cap. 9. Hee also mentions one that spent threescore and eight yeares in searching out the nature of the Bee and yet fell short of his desire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Pet. 1.9
rage of Tyrants hath overflowed it and yet they could neither drowne nor deface it condemned it hath beene to the fire yet could never be consumed by the fire rejected by the world yet lives and raignes in despight of the world Other books of what authority or excellency soever as Tully de Republica Origens Octapla are utterly lost others that are come to our hands are wofully maymed and mangled many of them Not so the holy Bible any part of the Canon The booke of Iehu and the rest that are perished were not Canonicall but as the Chronicles of England civile records of events of things in that kingdome of Israel penned they were saith Saint Austine Non tam inspiratione divina quam humana diligentia Aug. de civ Dei lib. 18. cap. 38. Non ad authoritatem religionis sed ad virtutem cognitienis Jb. not by divine inspiration but by humane diligence and thereupon he well inferres that these Volumes did not appertaine to the proving or propagating Religion but to the promoting and inlarging of good literature among the Jewes But admit that devillish attempt of Tyrants had beene effected and all the Bibles in the world abolished yet the word of God could not be destroyed because the Archetype the platforme the Originall draught of it is in the eternall God For ever O Lord Psalme 119 1 Peter 1. thy word is stablisht in heaven saith David and thy word of the Lord endureth for ever saith Peter it remaineth firme as mount Sion that can never be removed and like the faithfull witnesse in heaven it stands fast till time shall bee no more So that if all the power on earth should make warre against the very paper of the Scriptures they cannot possibly destroy it but the Word of God written will bee to bee had to the worlds end Maugre the malice of earth and hell What God hath written he hath written and it shall stand inviolable when heaven shall passe away with a great noise 1 Peter 3. and the earth with its workes shall bee burnt up Man had he never fallen from his first integrity must have lived by the same law that wee doe now His children should have met saith one at the Tree of knowledge as at an Altar or Temple Bucholc Chronol p. 40. and there have solemnely performed on the Sabbath day especially the great businesse of Religion repeating the History of their Creation worshipping and praising God their Creator propagating his word c. Saint Paul also rapt up into the heavenly Paradise ceased not to profit in the doctrine of the Law and Prophets though there hee had heard words unspeakeable 2 Cor. 12 4. Paulus in tertiu usque coelum raptus non destitit tamen proficere in dectrina legis prophetarâ—m Calv. He knew and saw that they live by no other law in Heaven then we doe And albeit some speciall duties of certaine commandements shall cease when we come to Heaven yet the substance of every one remaineth for ever For seeing the Image of God standeth in righteousnesse and holinesse which are the two branches of the morall Law it must needs tye us with an everlasting bond who were first made in that likenes and whose perfection in heaven is to bee fully and wholly renewed thereunto And this perpetuity and perennity of the morall Law was not obscurely noted by the engraving of it in stone Exod. 34.27 2 Cor. 3.7 c. CHAP. IV. FOr a second Vse of this point Are the Scriptures GODS owne word and a part of his Name Acts 9.15 and 21 13 This mainely meetes with and makes against such as seeke either to debase and oppose it or to pervert and abuse it especially since God hath magnified his word above all his name Psalme 138.2 Section I. OF the first sort besides those monstrous tyrants above mentioned that sought to extirp and extinguish it and those other Heretickes ancient and moderne Saduces Manichees Marcionites Anabaptists c. That rejected the holy Scriptures either wholly or in part the men we are most to deale withall here are our adversaries the Papists who besides those forementioned tearmes and titles of dishonour they have blasphemously bestowed upon the Booke of God Melius consultum fuisse Ecclesia si nulia unquam extuisset Scriptura Tilen Syntag p. 17. one of no meane ranke among them feares not to say that had it bin better with the Church had there never beene any Bible Others of them referre the rise and Originall of the Scriptures not to the Holy Ghost as Saint Peter doth ad fortuitas quasdam occasiones a Prophetis Apostolis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 arreptas referunt lb. but only to certaine occasionall events and accidentall occurrences befalling the Prophets and Apostles as it hapned They tell us that Saint Paul wrote his Epistles not for the common use of the Churches of all succeeding ages but only for the particular uses of those particular places whereto Pareus in 1. Cor. 1.1 and times wherein hee wrote that he was so transported with pangs of zeale and eagernesse in most of his disputes that there was no great reckoning to be made of his assertions Relation of West Religion by Sir Edw. Sands an eare witnesse yea that he was dangerous to reade as savouring of heresie in some places and better perhaps hee had never written Oh tongues worthy to be pulled out of their heads with hot burning pincers cut into gobbets and driven downe their throates those open Sepulchers wherein they thus shamelesly seeke to entombe the name and Word of God! It hath beene seriously consulted among them saith mine Author to have censured by some meanes and reformed Saint Pauls Epistles Jdem Ibid. whom they teach in the Pulpit not to have beene secure of his preaching but by conference with Saint Peter nor that he durst publish his Epistles till Saint Peter had allowed them prodigious blasphemy but what better can we expect from those that hold and teach that the Apostles were men as others are Piggbius lib. 1. Hier. Eccles c. 8. pag. 8. and therefore might erre lye and forget as others deceiving and being deceaved As for Saint Paul Annal. Tom. 1. Anno Christi 51. Num. 39. Baronius stickes not to withstand him as stoutly as ever Paul did Peter and dares defend it that Peter was not to be blamed but Paul a great deale too busie rather As Iohannes Mollinus also was with the Pope and Cardinals when disputing before them out of Saint Paul concerning Originall sin Fox Martyrol fol. 855. Iustification by faith free-will c. when they could not refell his doctrine they sent him away with this answer that it was truth which he affirmed but not meete for this time for that it could not be taught or published without the detriment of the Apostolike Sea Wherefore he should hence-forth abstaine from the Epistles of Saint Paul as delivering
Quod tamen Chananaeus suerit c. plures habet assertores textum multò faventiorem D. Prid. Lect. p. 95. who perhaps was Melchisedech Noah Enoch and the rest of the Anti-diluvian Patriarchs up to Adam Scarce was there any age that afforded not some or other holy man of God extraordinarily inspired enabled to deliver the doctrine of divine truth from the immediate mouth of God Although there were intermissions other-whiles as the history sheweth and the Church complaineth Psal 74.9 In diverse manners Three severall wayes as is well observed God revealed his will to mankinde 1. By the light of nature imprinting in man certaine principles common notions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or small sparkes and spinthers of divine light 2. By the bookes of the Creatures whereby he blew up those sparkes and kindled them into a flame Hence Tertullian Praemisit Deus Naturam magistram submâ—ssurus prophetiam quò faciliùs credas prophetiae d scipulus Naturae God first set us to schoole to dame nature that being entred there we might more readily understand better beleeve the Scriptures For when by mans fall the two former failed and proved insufficient God revealed himself lastly by his Word but after a diverse maner as the text here hath it Sometimes mouth to mouth as to Adam and those Ancients sometimes by the ministery of others whether Angels or men and to these either in dreames or visions representing to their senses or otherwise imprinting upon their mindes and so imparting to the world whatsoever he would have understood and uttered Num. 12.6 Job 33.15 16. sometimes lastly by his son Jesus Christ in humane shape of old but in these last dayes in a true humane nature revealing unto us all and all at once and no more by peeces and parcels Hence these times 1 Cor. 10.11 wherein Christ and the Apostles lived are called here the last dayes and elsewhere the ends of the world though so many ages afore the worlds end because there shall be no more alteration in Religion nor any more additions made to that which Christ hath taught by himselfe and his Apostles Rev. 21.14 who are therefore also said to be the foundations of the new Jerusalem Eph. 2.20 and of the whole Scriptures as now whereupon the houshold of God is built Jesus Christ himselfe being the chiefe corner-stone God spake unto the Fathers God spake to us c. Note hence that It is God that speaketh in the holy Scriptures of both old and now Testament Doct. It is the very minde of God that is there set forth unto us Prov. 1.23 the expresse patterne and platforme of that truth that is originally in God the fountaine of all truth It is the very voice of the Almighty comming as it were out of his secret seat out of his unapproachable light and disclosing to his creatures his ineffable essence his unsearchable counsell All Scripture is divinely inspired 2 Tim. 3.16 saith Saint Paul And holy men spake it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Pet. 1.21 as they were acted and carried thereunto by the holy Ghost saith Saint Peter Luc. 1.70 God spake by the mouth of his holy Prophets which have been since the world beganne saith Zachary in his Canticle And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wee speake saith that great Apostle for himselfe and his fellowes not in the words which mans wisdome teacheth 1 Cor. 2.13 but which the holy Ghost teacheth whose not onely matter as vers 12. but words they are also that wee utter These are the very sentences yea notions that were written as I may so say of old in the minde of God and are now clothed with his owne very termes and expressions though by some of his servants he hath uttered himselfe more loftily by some in a lower language according to the severall abilities of the speakers and capacitie of the hearers But it was God that did dictate unto them both matter and words 2 Cor. 13.3 it was Christ that spake in them How prove you that may some say Saint Augustine answers Confess l. 6. c. 5. Piscatoribus credimus non Dialecticis Ambros Fidei Christianae mysteria meliùs credendo intelliguntur quam intelligendo creduntur Ruperius Abbas Tic ciensis Credo non probo I beleeve it I need not prove it That the Scripture is Gods owne word is a principle of faith and therefore cannot be demonstrated à priori as they call it We beleeve and know saith Peter Principles of faith are apprehended by faith and this faith howsoever it bringeth with it certainty yet doth it not clearnesse whether you looke upon the matter which are things not seene Heb. 11. or the manner it being through a glasse darkly 1 Cor. 13. And here the Schools lay down two remarkable propositions the one Tho. Aquin. 1. pâ—t q. 1. art 8. that Divinity is not argumentative to prove her principles but onely to prove her conclusions The other that against one which absolutely denyes her principles and namely the Scriptures one cannot proceed probando but solvendo that is not by proving the truth thereof but by dissolving the reasons brought to the contrary But for arguments à posteriori as they call it there is and may be enough and enough said to settle weake consciences and to silence all such wicked Atheists and adversaries as whose mouths the devill hath borrowed at any time to call the matter into question The venerable Antiquity matchlesse majestie lively efficacy beautifull harmony incorrigible purity invincible perennity and continuance of the Scriptures notwithstanding the injury and iniquity of times and tyrants who have sought to suppresse them doe all plainly evince them to be the undoubted word of God Besides the confirmation by miracles confession of Martyrs destruction of oppugners fulfilling of prophecies consent of Churches yea assent of enemies As 1. of heretikes who in oppugning of Scripture doe yet alledge Scripture so fighting against God with his owne forces Irenaeus l. 3. adv haer c. 11. Tertull. lib. de praescrip adv haer cap. 15. as Jehu did against Jehoram his master with his owne sword as David did against Goliah the Gittite but with unlike successe to their owne utter destruction 2 Pet. 3.16 2. Of Jewes Aug in Psal 56 p. 384. Gods Library-keepers as Austin calleth them for to them were committed the lively Oracles the bookes of the Old Testament which they studiously read and curiously kept by a singular providence of God for our behoofe and benefit As for the New Testament those Jewes of Italy complain they can never see it That Italian translation which they had is now called in and taken from them by those of the Inquisition alledging that they will have no dispute in matter of Religion either way Sands his Relation of west Religion Much like to an Edict set up at Dole by the Jesuites forbidding any talke of God
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke 1.70 which have beene since the world beganne In other cases I grant that antiquissimum quódque est verissimum adulterinum quod posterius truth is more ancient than falshood that classicke Authours are to be preferred before moderne and that of Aristotle holds true of humane witnesses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rhet. l. 1. Vinum quò magis tran funditur evanesi it magis tandemque fit vappa Degor Whear The ancientest are most to be credited as lesse corrupted For as wine the oftner it is poured from vessell to vessell the more it loseth of its spirits and sparkinesse and as a picture that is taken at the lively image loseth somewhat of its nature that which is taken at the patterne somewhat more and so from one to another they vary in the end so far from the originall that there is scarce left any resemblance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nihil mihi antiquiùs i. potius This may be true in humane testimonies and transactions But for the severall parts and peeces of holy Scripture may we not aske of them as the Prophet in another case Who is their Father 1 Sam 10.12 Malach. 2.10 Esay 9.6 Have they not all one Father even the Father of eternity to whom a thousand yeares by reason of the vastnesse of his being are but as yesterday Psal 40.4 when it is past Were they not all dictated and indited by the same Spirit and are therefore of equall antiquity and authority Come they not all from so authenticall an Authour as is the Authour and finisher of our faith the Alpha and Omega the first and the last I speake not here of Apocryphall books which were neither penned by the Prophets or Apostles Omnes literae quibus Christus prophetatus est apud Iudaeos sunt August in Psal 56. nor written in Hebrew and kept among the Jewes neither yet have they in them the print of the Spirit which the spirituall man discerneth but containe some things frivolous and some things false not dissonant onely but repugnant to the holy Scriptures Reade them fruitfully we may for morall instruction and for the better understanding of the story of the Church but reade wee must with judgement and choice and where wee finde them contradicting the Scriptures we must kill the Egyptian and save the Israelite But for the holy Prophets take that of our Saviour Math 10 41. Hee that receives a Prophet in the name of a Prophet shall receive a Prophets reward We cannot now receive them into our houses into our hearts we may and must as the Church of God hath ever done before us Who the pen-men were of those bookes that are called by the Hebrewes Nebim Resâ—onim the former Prophets that is Joshua Judges Samuel Kings and Chronicles and of those other among the Hagiographa 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whose Authors are not expressed there needs no great enquiry When Letters come from the King saith Gregory Regiis epistolis acceptis quo calamo scriptae sint ridiculum est quaerere Greg. it were an odde thing to bee much inquisitive with what penne they were written It is not altogether improbable that Ezra that perfect Scribe either himselfe or with the helpe of other his holy colleagues did by the immediate motion and inspiration of the holy Ghost compile those bookes of Joshua Judges Samuel Kings and Chronicles out of diverse ancient and honourable Records charily kept by the Church as written by the Prophets of those severall ages Davids acts are expresly said to have beene set downe by Gad and Nathan and that he or they digested and disposed them in that order that now of a long time the Church hath had and read them For it is not likely that Samuel himselfe when hee should relate the words of Saul seeking to him for advice about the Asses that he I say should preface thus He that is now-adayes called a Prophet was anciently called a Seer No Scultet Annal. Epist dedic but they sound rather in any mans eares like the words of another that reports things done long before As for the later Prophets as they call them Isay Jeremy and the rest Calvin tells us and he gathers it out of Habac. 2. and Esay 8. that after the Prophets had preached to the people their manner was to set down a briefe summe of their Sermon and to fasten it to the doores of the Temple that all men might know and take more notice of the Prophecie Calvin in Isai praefat Which when it had hung there for a certaine number of dayes as long as was thought fit the Priests office was to take it downe and lay it up safe in the Treasury that it might there remain for a perpetuall monument And hence hee conceives the bookes of the Prophets to have beene made up and notes it for a singular providence of God Iunius in orat de Test Vet. that the Priests which yet were often ill-minded men and profest enemies to the Prophets should bee used as Gods instruments to conserve and convey the prophecies entire as wee have them to posterity Now for the writings of the Apostles Nulli ne ipsis quidem Prophetis tam ampliter contigit insallibilitatis privilegium ac Apostolis quippe cum hisâ—e perpetuum illud fuerit illis verò saepiùs intervallatum fâ—rè non extra ipsos prophetandi paroxysmos durans Tayler Bâ—oâ—ius contra Maximum ex Gatakeâ—o besides that priviledge of Infallibility wherewith they were endued even above the Prophets as some are of opinion no wise man doubteth saith Scultetus but that the Disciples of our Saviour recorded and registred his daily Oracles and miracles in their day-books and private annalls out of which afterwards the Evangelicall history was extracted composed and compiled Saint Luke is reputed the first of the foure that wrote the Gospel what others attempted onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke 1.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hee effected Luke 1.1 The Fathers held many of them that he received his Gospel from Saint Paul but himselfe tells us he had it from those that were eye-witnesses which Paul was none Saint Ambrose rightly preferres him for setting downe things more distinctly and orderly than the rest according to his promise to his most excellent Theophilus Chap. 1 vers 3. And as he doth it orderly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cohaerenter Bez. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and coherently as the word signifies so originally and from the very first verse or from a high as himselfe speakes For he begins his history not at the workes of our Saviour as Saint Marke nor at his birth onely as Saint Mathew but at his conception Yea at the conception and parentage of his forerunner Saint John indeed soareth higher even to our Saviours Divinity and is therefore called the Divine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hieron in Ezech 1.10 Greg Mag. Hom. 4. in
〈◊〉 proprie nomen dignitatis tertius à rege Mercer Cant. Psal 219.24 Prov. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Melchior Adam de vit Ger. Theol. such as might well become the greatest States on earth to study and strive after The King himselfe might bee held in these rafters David made Gods statutes the men of his counsell Salomon bids establish thy thoughts by this counsell and calleth his Proverbes Master-sentences such as should rule and sway in the whole course of our lives George Prince of Anhalt carried ever carefully about him Salomon and Siracides as his Vade mecum Andronicus the old Emperour of Constantinople being in a deepe distresse betooke himselfe for counsell and comfort to the Psalmes of David which S. Basil fitly calls a common store-house of divine doctrines horreum ex quo hauriatur a treasury of heavenly comforts such as no good can match no evill over-match Theodosius the second is reported to have written out the bookes of the New Testament with his owne hand and out of it hee read every day praying with his wife and sisters and singing of Psalmes Deut. 17.19 The King of Israel was not onely commanded to reade but to write out the Law yea the Jewes say that if Printing had then beene found out as it was say some long since among the Chinois yet was the King bound to write out two copies thereof with his owne hand Weemse his Exercit. pag. 118. one to be kept in the treasury and another to carry about him continually as a companion fit for a king The Persians have a custome at this day to present a rich Alchoran which is their Bible to the Princes Turk hist to whom they send Embassadours Charles the fifth when hee was baptized at Gaunt in Flanders had seven princely gifts bestowed upon him at the Font. His father gave him the Dutchy of Lutzenburg Bucholcerus ex Zenocaro another a silver head-peece another a golden sword c. the Abbats gave him a faire Bible with this inscription Scrutamini Scripturas Search the Scriptures Bishop Latimer among others of his make that gratified King Henry the eighth with a New-yeares gift according to the custome when some sent gold some silver some a purse-full of money some one thing some another he presented a New Testament with a napkin having this posie about it Acts and Mon. fol. 1594. Fornicatores adulteros judicabit Dominus Whoremongers and adulterers God will judge The Scriptures hee knew would deale plainly with him and tell him that which others durst not Sphinx philos Alphonsus King of Spaine and Naples was wont to bewaile the case of Kings for this that they hearing with other mens eares could seldome heare truth and therefore he held himselfe happy in his Muti Magistri his bookes his Bible especially which he is reported to have read over fourteene times in course together with Lyra's and other mens notes upon the Text. Averrâ—â—s the Philosopher so madly admires his master Aristotle that he affirmes there is no errour at all to be found in him Alsted Chronol p. 460. that his tenors were the chiefe truth and his judgement the utmost bound and extent of humane understanding that Aristotle was the rule and sample that dame Nature invented whereby to set forth mans utmost perfection Yet Aristotle denyes Gods particular providence teacheth the worlds eternity permits women to make abort other whiles to cast out their misshapen babes Iohnstonus de Naturae constantia p. 117. to keepe those lascivious pictures of the gods that had beene confirmed by custome c. Cyprian was wont to call to Paulus Concordiensis his Notary for Tertullians works with a Da magistrum Reach mee hither my master Strinxit calamum adversus Orthodoxos Alsted Chronol pag. 432. Yet Tertullian was a man and had his errours toward his later time he fell into Montanus his heresie and wrote sharply against the better side Good therefore is the counsell of our Saviour Math. 23.10 2 Cor. 8.5 Call no man master upon earth for one is your master even Christ. Give your selves up to God as the Macedonians did and unto his unerring Apostles and Prophets by the will of God Justifie his Word with the Publicans Luke 7.29 Sanctifie it by sanctifying all by the Word and Prayer as the Apostle speakes of meates and marriage 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Tim. 4.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Esay 6 5.9 Nehem. 8.5 Luke 4.16 Glorifie it as they did Act. 13.48 or as some copies reade receive it with joy and admiration for then there is a blessing in it Set your selves to shew your high esteeme of it when it is read as the people stood up in Nehemiah and our Saviour for our example at Nazareth yea as Eglon that Heathen though a fat unweildy man yet for reverence sake he stood up to heare the Lords message and this he had learned belike Iudges 3.20 Numb 23.18 from the custome and practice of Gods people Sect. 3. THirdly are the Scriptures of God this may further inform us of their purity and power Every word of God is pure saith Salomon Prov. 30.5 Psal 12.6 yea purer than silver seven times tried in a fornace saith David And the Gospel is the power of God to salvation Roman 1.16 Iam. 1.21 saith Paul such as is able to save your soules saith James maugre the malice of all the powers of darknesse Yea the Word of God saith our Authour is lively and powerfull and it shall well appeare too for it is sharper than any two-edged sword Heb. 4.12 13. piercing even to the dividing asunder of soule and spirit and that cuts very neare of the joynts and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart which mans law meddles not with further than they are some way discovered as in a Gentleman of Normandy put to death by the Parliament of Paris for an intent he had to kill king Francis the second French hist which hee had revealed to his Confessour Otherwise thought 's free from the censure of earthly Courts and Consistories But this pure and powerfull Word of God searcheth the heart risseth the reines those seats of lust and most abstruse remote parts in all the body yea it rippeth up soule-secrets Ioh. 4.29 it tells a man all that ever he did as she said of our Saviour it ferrets corruption out of its lurking-holes 2 King 5.26 and tels false Gehezi of his Olive-yards and other purchases which hee had only meditated It searcheth Ierusalem with lights it descends into the Iowest holes of the heart and discryes it to bee as Adonibezeks table was a palace of pride a dungeon of darknesse Iudg. 1.7 a dunghill of uncleannesse a world of contemplative wickednesse a very pesthouse of all sorts of paltrement In this sea there is not only that Leviathan some familiar Devill that plaies Rex but creeping
D. Prid Lect. ex Greg. de Valentia that Idoll of Trent which they have made authenticall and where it differs saith the Iesuite in all Copies from other editions the Hebrew Chaldee c. those other are rather to be corrected out of it then it out of them The best learned Papists doe know and yeeld the Originall Greeke and Hebrew fountaines to be pure and uncorrupt affirming that though some slips of Printers or Writers may be found in letters or words yet they hurt not the sense nor derogate at all from their authority Thus Bellarmine Sixtus Senensis Veterum librorum fides de Hebruis voluminibus examinaÌ„da novorum veritas Graeci Sermonis normam desiderat Gratian ex August Ribera Acosta yea Gratian himselfe yeelds to this truth alledging a place to the same purpose out of Austin But Francis Xinnenius Cardinall of Toledo was of another judgement For in his preface before the Bible set out at Complutum in Spaine he saith that he set the Vulgar Latine betweene the Hebrew and Greeke as Christ was set betwixt two Theeves A proper comparison and well becomming so grave a Cardinall â— How well may it be said of these that so magnifie the Vulgar as that Chian servant said of his Master who sold the Wine and drank the Lees whilest they had good they sought for that which was naught But wot you what was the reason The Protestants in the Reformation began to search the Originals and charged their Adversaries thence to produce their proofes The Papists to obviate this decreed in the Counsell of Trent that the Vulgar Latine should be holden for the Originall which some of them preferre before the Hebrew and Greek that is the foule channell before the faire fountaine Gretser saith sufficit aequatio non praelatio It s enough indeed and more than enough But bad wares love dark shops Cameli lutulentaâ— aquas captant puras resugiunt c. Solinus c. 63. and Camels trouble the cleare waters with their feete when they drinke that they may not see therein their owne deformities Plutarch tells of a Painter that had illsavouredly proportioned a Hen and therefore chased away the living Hennes lest his evill workmanship should be perceived So doe these bunglers these Lucifugae Scripturarum as Tertullian calles them deale by the truth of God revealed in the Scriptures they wipe out Verbum Dei Fox Martyrâ—l fol. 1338. as the Painter in Queene Maries dayes and as they have wiped out Origens Commentary upon the sixth of Iohn as fearing it should confute their errour touching the Eucharist they think to dance naked in a nâ—t and none shall see them when their shame lyes open to all the world Jbidem as Master Philpot long since told them in open Convocation Some mens sins go before to judgement and they that are otherwise then good cannot bee hid 1 Tim. 5.24 25. Section 2. SEcondly this doctrine condemneth such of detestable wickednesse as doe not indeed openly oppose yet ordinarily abuse the good Word of God which they ought to tremble at And this either in point of judgement or matter of practise Of the former sort are such as for the confirming of errours or countenancing of enormities wrest the Scriptures to their owne destruction 2 Peter 3.16 wilfully misalledge or misinterpret them as all heretickes do and they have it from their father the Devill who came not without his Scriptum est his Bible under his arme when he set upon our Saviour In imitation of whom wee know who they are that argue thus out of Scripture The Pope is Monarch of the Christian Common-wealth Pasce oves meas id est supremum in Ecclesia dominium tibi assere Baron t'Regio more impera Bel. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometimes signifies to govern usually to â—eed but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 twice used in the Text alwaies to feed because Christ said when I am lifted up I will draw all men to me John 12.32 He may challenge supreme dominion over the Church saith Baronius rule like an Emperour saith Bellarmine because Christ bad Peter feed his sheepe He may kill and slay whom he pleaseth because it is said Acts 10. Arise Peter kill and eate * Sententia Baronij super excom Venet Concil Trid. oratione Cornelij Episcopi Bipontini sub Paulo tertio triumph over and trample upon Princes because it is said upon the Asp and Lion shalt thou tread c. That saying of our Saviour I came a light into the world Iohn 12.45 He meanes not a light by participation as the Apostles were lights of the world but by nature as God is only was detestably ascribed and applied to the Pope in the Counsell of Trent So in the Lateran Counsell thus they blasphemously bespake the Pope Thou art all and over all All power is given to thee in Heaven and earth The Pope replies Peace I leave you my peace I give unto you Hee say other of his claw-backe Canonists takes away the sinnes of the world rules from Sea to Sea is the root of David Lion of the Tribe of Iudah Saviour of the world Tu merito in terris diceris esse Deus Fran. Zabar Rev. 13.1 2. 2 Thes 2.7 God upon earth c. Is not this the beast judge you that hath a mouth like a Lion and speaketh great things and blasphemies Is not this the very same whose true name is blasphemie his pretensed name Mystery A mysterie indeed of iniquity as Saint Paul hath it and as Iosephus saith of Antipater that his life was a very mystery of malice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ioseph Adrian the sixth afore he was Pope taxed many errours and abuses in the Court of Rome so did Pius secundus which being afterward pressed to reforme now that hee was in place and had power in his hand his answer was when I was a child I spake as a child c. Sphinx Philos but being now a man I have put away childish things So when Philip King of Spaine out of a bloudy zeale suffered his eldest sonne Charles to bee murdered by the cruell Inquisition because he seemed to favour our Religion that mouth of blasphemy the Pope gave him this panegyr He spared not his owne sonne but delivered him up for us Hier Catina So in the holy Warre as they called it against the Waldenses whither the King of France sent his eldest sonne in person the Popes great army tooke one strong populous Citie and put to the sword 60000. among whom were many of their owne Catholikes For Arnoldus the Cistercian Abbot being the Popes Legate in this great Warre commanded the Captaines and Souldiers saying Caesarius Heisterbachensis Hist lib. 5. cap. 21. Caedite eos novit enim Dominus qui sunt ejus Kill them up one among another for the Lord knows who are his So Give not holy things to dogs 2 Tim. 2.19 that is the Scriptures to
books there is no end Eccles 12.12 and much study is a wearinesse to the flesh It duls the spirits wearies the body marres the eyes those Musarum perspicilli Diestius as one tearms them wasts the marrow spends the time shortens the life but brings no sound satisfactory knowledge He that loveth reading of humane Authors I meane shall not be satisfied with reading Eccles 1.8 as the Eye is not satisfied with seeing nor the Eare with hearing As those that have a flux though they take in much yet are neither fuller nor fatter Multi propter arborem screntie amitâ—unt arborem vitae And which is worse many for the tree of knowledge sake loose the tree of life as one saith Like Jsrael in Egypt they are scattered all over the Land to pick up straws to load themselves with thick clay Habac. 2.6 not minding that which mainly concerns them the knowledge of the Scriptures Discamuâ— in terris quorum scientia perseveret nobiscum in coelis Hierom. the learning of that out of the Bible here on Earth that may stick to them for ever in Heaven These seek after asses with Saul after servants with Shimei and loose themselves therewhile They drinke deepest of those Authours whereof to sip were sufficient sith we may sooner surfet than satiate our selves of such The epitomâ— of Tostatus upon Matthew containes above a thousand pages iâ— folio I speak not only of those fabulous and frivolous fancies But books of better note and use there are not a few in this scribling age which yet by their intolerable prolixity are over-tiresome and tedious to the intelligent Reader Salmeron hath his twelve volumes upon the Euangelists Sixt Senens Bibl l. 4. Occiditque legen do plurima potius quam optima scrib the gains will not pay for the pains As voluminous Tostatus trifling Turrion and Salmeron that wearieth and well nigh killeth his Reader with infinite discourses De verbis Dominae that is Of the words that the Virgin Mary spake to the Angell and to her cousin Elizabeth Ex cutab Nundini Autumn A. 1671. tenent insanabile nultos Scribendi cacoâ—thes Iuven. twelve Books distinguisht into two tomes were printed at Venice Anno Dom. 1617. Paleattus Arch-Bishop of Bonony made a great Book of the shadow of Christs body in a Sindon and it was commented upon by the Professour of Divinity there Wolphius mem lect pitty it were that he had had not written somthing of that holy relique the taile of that asse wheron our Saviour rode which they shew at Genua and adore with great humility Amidst all which masse and multitude of books wherwith the world is now-adaies pestered who sees it not a sweet mercy and just matter of thankfulnesse that we have so much in so few the whole will of God compacted and contrived into so little a volume that we may make it our vade mecum our constant companion and counsellor Melch. Adam de vit Ger. theol as Plato did his Sophron George Prince of Anhalt his Siracides Cr nmer his new Testament which he learnâ—d by heart in his voyage to and from Rome Act. and Mon. whither he was sent by King Henry the eighth about the divorce Especially since it is of so excellent and exquisite use good for all occasions and in all things necessary so plain and perspicuous that we need seek no further so full and perfect that it is able to make not the Vulgar only as Bellarmine somewhere grants but the man of God thoroughly furnished that is the Minister himself who in Francis Junius his judgement needs no more books in his study besides the Bible but Cevallerius his Hebrew Grammar Calvins Jnstitutions and Beza's Confession And yet he is both to know and declare the whole counsell of God For if Varro the Romane upbraided the Heathen Priests and worthily that there were many things in their rites and Religions Viviâ— in Aug. de civ Dei lib 4 cap. 1. wherof they were ignorant How much more unseemly is it in a Minister of the Gospell that hath so large a direction in so little a volume not to preserve and present knowledge to the people Fourthly who seeth not a mercy in this that we have the Scriptures so well digested and distinguished by Books Chapters and Verses whereby with the helpe of Tables and Concordances especially we can easily and readily turn to any place we need or desire In the Apostles times 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all they could say for the help of the hearer was It is written or it is contained in the Scripture as 1 Pet. 2.6 without particular quoting the place where After this they had their partitions Lege Casaub Not. in Mat. 1. sections speciall portions of Scripture set out but Chapters were not heard of as now till the yeare of grace 1195. nor verses till alate devised by Robert Stevens that learned French Printer Scultet Annot. in Marc. a great ease both to the Preacher and Reader Fifthly that it comes to us so light cheap is cause of thankfullnesse which our godly Ancestours so hardly got and gladly bought at so deare a rate some of them gave five marks some more some lesse for a Booke in King Henry the eigths dayes some gave a load of hay for a few Chapters of Saint James or of Saint Paul in English Act. and Monfol 756. To see their travells charges earnest seeking burning zeale readings watchings sweet assemblies love concord c. may make us now in these our dayes of free profession blush for shame Plato for three books gave thirty thousand florens S. Hieromâ— learnt Hebrew with the hazard of his life Capnio paid a Jew that read Hebrew to him at Rome for so many houres so many crownes in gold The Booke of books the best of all Authors commeth now to us upon easiest tearms and rates so exactly translated Iohnst de Naturae constan Neand Chron pa. 144. so fairly printed as was never seen before Adde hereunto in the sixth place that God in these last dayes especially hath sent and stirâ—d up many burning and shining lamps many diligent and dexterous interpreters to lay all levell and plain afore us to break the shell that we may come at the kernell * Iudg. 7.15 to roll away the stone from the Wells mouth to remoove rubs and difficulties to clear dark and doubtfull places so that not only Jacob and his sons Schollers and Ministers but also the cattell and the sheep that is the illiterate and ignorant may drink freely of these waters of the Sanctuary as Origen allegorically expounds it Origen contra Celsum The Jewes also had their Interpreters Hence that of the Apostle 1 Cor. 1.20 Where is the wise that is the teachers of traditions Where is the Scribe that is the text-men that stuck to the litterall interpretation Where is the disputer of this world that is the teachers
fruitfull The Aegyptians used in mockery to tell the Graecians Creditur Egyptus caâ—uisse juvantibus arva Imbribus atâ— aâ—nis sicca utsse novem Ov d Vide Senec nat quaest l. 4. c. 2. that if God should forget to rain they might chance to starve for it They thought the rain was of God but not the River God therfore threatens to dry it up and so he did Tamberlane having overcome Baiazet asked him whither ever he had given God thanks for making him so great an Emperour who confessed ingenuously he never thought of it Lâ—unclav in Annal Turc To whom Tamerlane replyed that it was no wonder so ungratefull a man should be made a Spectacle of misery To live under the sound of the word is a greater favour than without it to be made Monarch of the whole world For foure benefits Plato was especially thankfull 1. That he was made a reasonable creature and not a beast 2. That hee was a man and not a woman 3. That hee was a Grecian and not a Barbarian 4. That hee was borne in the daies of Socrates and bred a Scholler under him How much more cause have wee to blesse God that wee were not borne Pagans or Papagans but brought foorth in these glorious and golden dayes of the Gospell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plutarch Demarathus of Corinth was wont to say that those Grecians lost a great part of the comfort of their lives that had not seene great Alexander sitting in Darius his Throne But Bucholcerus more truely pronounced those men unhappie that were Nati Donati borne and buried before the Reformation of Religion begun by Luther and himselfe he held most happy Mel Ad. in vit Ger theol pag. 550. that his birth fell out in Melancthons time a famous instrument of that renowned Reformation This is yet our case and long may it be Great heede is to be taken that we force not God for our Vnthankfullnesse to take his own and be gone as he did in Ezekiel where hee makes many remooves Ezek 9 10 11 and ever as hee went out some judgement came in as hee did from those seven once flourishing Churches of Asia Rev 2 3. now a habitation for Jim and Ohim as he hath not long since done from that large region of Nubia in Affrique S. Ed Sands Survey of West which had from the Apostles time as it is thought professed the Christian Faith till somewhat above an hundred yeares since it hath again forsaken it and imbraced partly Mahometisme and partly Idolatry and meerely through Famine of the Word and lacke of Ministers Lastly as he did from our fore-Fathers in Q. Maries dayes And will ye know the reason heare it from a Martyrs mouth Acts and Mon Ye all know saith M. Bradford in a letter of his written out of prison there was never more knowledge of God viz. in the dayes of King Edward and lesse godly living and true serving of God It was counted a foolish thing to serve God truly and earnest Prayer was not past upon Preaching was but pastime communion was counted too common Fasting to subdue the flesh was farre out of use Alms was almost nothing Malice Covetousnesse and uncleannesse was common every where with swearing drunkennesse and idlenesse God therfore now is come as ye have heard me preach c. God forgive me mine unthankfullnesse It is I Lord that have sinned against thee It is my Hypocrisie Ib. 1477. vain-glory security idlenesse unthankfullnesse self-love and such like which have deserved the taking away of our good King of thy Word and true Religion of thy good Ministers by exile prisonment and death Hos 14.2 Amos 4 1â— c. Thus he and thus we should take unto us words and meet the Lord if so we may prevaile that he cause not our Sunne to go down at noone and darken the Earth in the cleare day as he threatneth Amos 8.9 The very course of the Sunne may well warne us of the course and progresse of the Gospell which went first forth from the East that is Judaea to the South that is Greece and from thence passed to the West that is the Latines till now it is turned to the North which is the utmost angle of this Vniverse even to us and so it hath almost finished its course Wherfore as much as it is the pitching time of the day 1 Ioh. 2.18 2 Kings 4.27 Judg. 19.9 it is the last houre lay wee hold upon our Lord Christ as the Spouse did and although he make as if he would go further constraine we him Luke 24.29 as those Disciples did at Emaus by our importunity saying Abide with us for it is toward Evening and the day is far spent why shouldst thou be as a stranger in the Land Vespera nunc venit nobiscum Christe maneto Extingui lucem ne patiare tuam as a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night only Yet thou O Lord art in the midst of us and wee are called by thy name leave us not Jer. 14.8 9. Sect. 2. BVt secondly as we are bound to God for his Word so to the Jews Gods depositaries and dispensers of his word his treasurers and as it were the keepers of his Cabinet Act. 7. to whom first were committed these lively Oracles and by whom they were transmitted and brought safe to our hands Godw Antiq Hebr. Their Masorites have carefully reckoned and summed up not the verses onely but all the words and letters of each book of the old Testament Rom. 15.27 which as it is an argument of their industry so is it an ingagement onâ—our part sith we are partakers of their spirituall things and cannot minister unto them of our carnall yet to pitty them and pray for them Let Salomon I meane Christ have his thousand of thanks Cant. 8.12 Let those also that have kept the fruit of his Vineyard whereof wee have so freely fed have their two hundred thanke we must the sender of this sweet fruit but withall pay the Messenger that brought it Let it not be forgotten that the Law came out of Sion Esay 2.3 Psal 110.2 and the Word of the LORD from Hierusalem to all the ends of the Earth that to them pertained the Adoption and the Glory Rom. 9.4 5. the giving of the Law and the promises that of them were the Fathers Yea of them as concerning the flesh came Christ who is God blessed for ever Rom. 10.1 Amen Let our hearts desire therfore and Prayer to God for Israel be that they may be saved They before the time of our calling praid heartily for us as appears Can. 8.8 and by sundry Psalms and from them we received the word and worship of God Iohn 10.34 15.25 The Law is called their Law And for the Gospell if they had not rejected it we had never received it Act. 13.46 Rom.
they no where use it to eighteene in the hundred But in Turkey Sands his Relation of the West Relig. though every Visier and Bassa of State is reported to keepe a Jew of his private Councell whose malice wit for they are generally found to be the most nimble and Mercuriall wits in the world and experience of Christendome Blunts voyage into the Levant p. 114. with their continuall intelligence is thought to advise most of the mischiefe which the Turke puts in execution against us Yet generally they are so hated of the Mahometans that they use to say in detestation of a thing In execrationibus dicunt Iudaeus sim si fallo Sanctius in Zach. 8.13 I would I might die a Jew then or Let mee be a Jew if I deceive thee And Biddulph tells us that in Constantinople and Thessalonica where are so many thousands of them if they but stirre out of doores at any Easter-time betweene Maunday-Thurseday at noone and Easter-eve at night the Christians among whom they dwell will stone them because at that time they derided buffeted and crucified our Saviour Thus as they use to say poore soules amongst themselves Moses Gerundinensis there is an ounce of the golden calfe in all the punishments that befall them so no doubt there is a pound of that direfull and dreadfull execration His blood be upon us and our children for the which wrath is now come upon them to the uttermost They cloathed themselves with a curse Psal 109.18 and it is come into their bowels as water and like oyle into their bones Their mouth is still full of cursing and bitternesse Rom. 3. They curse the Lord Christ in a covert abbreviature of his name calling him in relation to his death on the Crosse Iesum Iudaei corruptè improbè scribunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 adeoque sub tribus literis abbreviatis intelligunt vocabula 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 deleatur nomen ejus Si transcas Iudaeuâ— Zeloten audâ—es 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ethnice spurle quod nuper Wormatiae petulant a lole cens praetereuntibus nobis acclamabat Par. in Rom. 11.25 the woofe and the warp They curse also his servants closing their daily prayers with a Maledic Domine Nazareis calling them Gentiles nay bastard Gentiles nay divels in their salutations by craft and under a shew of courtesie Therefore also are themselves become a curse among the Gentiles as was fore-prophesied by Zachary Zach. 8.13 as who should say God make thee as a Jew The Turkes whom they call Ishmaelites will not suffer them to turne Turke unlesse they will be baptized as neither will the Papists suffer them to turne Christians unlesse they will quit all their goods to the Christians under pretence that those goods They entertaine Christians with Shedwilcom welcome divell Hei Isord Sands his Survey of West being gotten by usury are part of the divels works which in baptisme they professe to renounce This is cold comfort to men of their mettalls and a maine meanes to keepe them Jewes still stiffe in their owne religion which yet is part of their calamity For they pay to the Pope and other Princes in Italy a yeerely rent for the very heads they weare Ibid. Besides other meanes to rack and wreck them in their purses at pleasure they being used as the Friars to suck from the meanest and to be sucked by the greatest This is a pressure they grievously groane under and doe therefore call so loud for their long-lookt-for Messiah Tantis exposâ—unt ululatibus D. â—rideaux Lect. crying Let thy kingdome come quickly and in our daies Bimberah Beiamenu Lights Miscell That earthly kingdome they meane that the Disciples of our Saviour also being sowred with the leaven of the Pharisees so dreamt and doted on and wherein they will not endure that Chrstians should have any share or interest Rather then any such thing should be they would crucifie their Messias a hundred times over they say And as for those few Jewes that turne Christians in Italy they pretend that they are none of them Blunts voyage but poore Christians hired from other cities to personate their part Thus hath God to all other their plagues and punishments Mat. 13.14 Mar. 4.12 Luk. 8.4 Ioh. 22 40. Act. 28.26 Rom. 11.8 added this worst of all of a fat and hard heart according to that of the Prophet so often cited in the New Testament against them He hath given them the spirit of slumber unto this day Ezr. 10.2 But yet there is hope in Israel concerning this Act. 3.17 Ioh. 16.2 Rom. 10.2 for they have rejected the Gospell not out of meere malice but ignorantly out of a blind zeale Besides blindnesse is but in part happened to Israel Rom. 11.25 26. it is not a totall nor a finall obstinacy untill the fullnesse of the Gentiles be come in and so all Israel shall be saved This he calls a mystery because no man can conceive how it should be But yet he would not have us Gentiles ignorant of it that remembring our ingagement Ioh 4. and that salvation is of the Jewes wee may further their conversion by crying day and night Psal 14.7 O that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion c. and not hinder it as the Papists doe by their abhominable idolatries and exactions and the common protestants by their damnable oathes and blasphemies a sinne that they very Turkes punish and the Jewes assigne for the cause wherefore the Turkes have so prevailed against us And lastly as the best of us may doe by our dulnesse to this duty of pittying and praying for them and so promoting their conversion for the which neglect they have I feare an unanswerable action against us CHAP. VIII SEcondly is it God that speakes in the Scriptures and Writes to us these great things of his Law mee thinkes we should not need be exhorted 1. To reade it diligently 2. To rest upon it confidently for instruction and comfort Sect. 1. REade it first Quid est S. Script nisi quaedam Epistola omnipot Dei ad creaturam suam Greg. Ovid. for it is Gods Epistle for our sakes Written 1 Cor. 9.10 for our Admonition 1 Cor. 10.11 and Consolation Rom. 15.4 quid Epistola lecta nocebit Study it for it is Gods Statute Book Peruse it for it is our Fathers Will and Testament wherein we may find our owne names written as David did Psal 40 7. In the Volume of thy Booke it is written of mee that J should doe thy will O God and as the Church in Hosea did Hee found Jacob in Bethel Hos 12 4. and there he spake with us So what was said to Joshua Iosh 1.8 J will not leave thee nor forsake thee was said to every good soule Heb. 13.5 that shall reade in the booke of the Law as he did day and night that shall esteeme it
the ignorant Staphysus in Apolog. Ledesma de div scrip cap. 22. Our Saviour closed the booke after he had read a few verses Luke 4. therefore Divine service is not to bee said in a knowne tongue Roffensis adver Luther Acts 16. Tyrabosco Patriarch of Venice Via tutae page 164. Give us this day our daily bread therefore wee must communicate in one kind only There are seven Sacraments because Christ brake and divided to the people five loaves and two fishes Greg. de Valen de Jdolol c. 7. some Idolatry is lawfull because Saint Peter condemneth the unlawfull service of Idols 1 Peter 4.3 Jn Colloquio Ratish apud Polycar Lyser Siâ— ex Jacob 5. Marc. 6.13 Male intellecto pro paâ—toribus Ecclesia habuit unguentarios pigmentarios Bern. Confess The Bavarian Colloquutours exclude all women out of Heaven that have lived before Christs Incarnation and alledge Scripture for it Not that there is any such thing there to be found but that they factiously contend to fasten their own conceits upon God and like the Harlot in the holy History they take their dead and putrified fancies and lay them in the bosome of the Scripture as of a mother Aristotle tells us of one Antipheron Orietes that thought he saw his own shape and picture still going before him So in diverse parts of Scripture where these men walke they will easily beleeve that they see the shadow of their owne opinions wherewith they come prepossest Chemnitius de Theologia Jesuitarum p. 48. What was it else that made Thammerus disputing of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so oft used by the Apostle in the 4th to the Romans to think that because it comes of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth Reason Item quia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Varino explicatur quod sit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ideo Tham. contendit ex Rom 3.24 operibiu nostris reddi debitam mercedem Ibid. therefore the righteousnesse of faith must be such as a man may comprehend by naturall reason What else should make the Turkes to be of opinion that as Moses did allude to the comming of Christ so Christ did foretell somewhat of the appearing of Mahomet whereupon it is ordinarily receaved amongst them saith Archbishop Abbots that when Christ in Saint Iohns Gospel I said that although he depâ—rted Geograph p. 149. hee would send them a Comforter it was added in the Text. And that shall bee Mahomet but that the Christians in malice towards them have razed out those words Semblably Montanus the Hereticke gave out that that promise made by our Saviour at his Ascension Acts 1.8 Beza in locum Ye shall receave the power of the Holy Ghost comming upon you was next after the Apostles fulfil'd in him and his Philumena Some such thing Epiphanius relates of Simon Magus and others of Novatus Now what is this else but to torment a Text Caedem Scriptur facere ad mate riam suam Ter. depiasc adv haer as one calls it to slaughter the holy Scriptures to serve therewith their owne purposes as Tertullian tearmes it what is it selfe but to speake perverse or distorted things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 loquitur Lucas ut de membris a suo cerpore crudeliter avulsls pergens in eadem translatione Acts 20.30 that they may discerp or violently dragge Disciples after them as Saint Paul foretold it What is it else but afferre sensum ad Scripturas non referre as Hilary hath it to give unto the Scripture and not to receive from it the sense to impose it and not to expect it Lastly what is it else but to stretch Gods word to their sinfull purposes as shooe-makers do their greasie over-leathers with their teeth which Polydor Virgil long since observed and complained of to be the tricke of Popish Canonists Non secus ac sutores solent sordidas dentibus extendere pelles-de invent rer lib 4. c. 9. Neither can we here excuse the Iewes who to countenance their conceit of the ineffability of the name Jehovah misallege that text Exod. Galatinus Prov. 8.22 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 isti legeâ—unt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 creavit 3.15 This is my name legnolam for ever which they reade Legnalam to bee concealed Much worse the Arrians who to disprove the Deity of Christ by changing of one little letter corrupted the Text and carried it a cleane contrary way to its owne meaning The Nestorians also abused that Text Heb. 2.9 reading 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without God for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the grace of God to prove that he that suffered for us was not God And is not the like liberty or Legerdemaine rather in use among Papists As in stead of Non habent Petri haereditatem qui Petri Fidem non habent they print qui Petri Sedem non habent ex Jnd expurg Make they not over-bold in this kinde not with mens writings onely but with Gods also Harding to prove satisfaction allegeth 2 Cor 7.1 seeing then we have these promises dearely beloved let us cleanse our selves from all filthinesse of flesh and spirit making perfect our satisfaction in the feare of God Where marke that the Doctour hath chopt the word satisfaction into the Text for sanctification Answer to Iew. Apol. part 2. c. 16. fol. 117. and so quite altered the Apostles meaning So Cardinal Hosius for the same doctrine of satisfaction alledged with like honesty that Rom. 6.19 Confess Petri c. 48. de Sacram pâ—nit fol. 127. Let us yeeld our members to serve justice unto satisfaction Saint Paul saith sanctification but they are willing to mistake him that so they may seeme to make their adulterate coyne good silver Somwhat like hereunto is that Vnus è millibus Iob 33.23 which their Vulgar Version corruptly reads Vnus è similibus Lightfoots Miscel p. 62 The Septuagint also are said to have translated against their will sure it is we have but slipperie doings from them Iob 2. they help Jobs wife to scold adding there a whole verse of female passion I must now saith she goe wander and find no place to rest in And whereas Jonas 3.4 it is Yet forty dayes and Niniveh shall be destroyed the Septuagint reades Yet three dayes c. Besides that Taylor Beotius cont Morin diverse of the clearest prophesies concerning Iesus Christ they have utterly perverted which therfore the Apostles alledge out of the Hebrew verity and not out of the Septuagint if at least this bee the Septuagints Translation that is now taken for it Weemses exercitat Origen never saw it as appeares by his Hexapla for it was burnt by Diocletian as some hold in the Library of Alexandria or as others by Iulius Caesar when he burnt Serapion Section 3. BVt to speake forward a second sort of delinquents against Gods holy Word come here to be convinced of singular impiety and they are