I mean the Arguments by which the People were stirred up to rebel were transcribed from Popish Writers particularly from Mariana and Parsons out of whom he may see in some Books then published whole leaves together translated And therefore 5. The Divisions among the Vulgar are very rarely in comparison owing to themselves they are not to be imputed to the different Senses which they themselves in their private reading put upon the Bible but for the most part to the different Senses they receive of it from their Teachers For the truth of which I appeal to History and to the common Observation of Mankind If the Representer be not satisfied with this I desire him to answer but this one Question Whence came it to pass that so many of the Vulgar in England France Germany the Netherlands c. divided themselves from the Church of Rome before they had the Bible in a Language they understood That Division could not proceed from their reading of the Bible which was made before they had ever read it I cannot imagine what Answer he can give but that they followed their Leaders Wickliff Luther Zuinglius c. who first dividing from the Church of Rome drew the People after them The Division therefore took its Rise from the Learned and from them descended to the Ignorant The Trent Fathers therefore were miserably mistaken in denying the Bible to the Laity only they should have decreed in the first place that no Clergy-man should be suffer'd to read it that there might be like People like Priest And this the more prudent Bishops at Bononia were aware of when they advised Julius III not to permit any Mortal to read more of the Gospel than that little which is contained in the Mass (e) Consil de Rom. Eccles stabiliend apud Vergerium Tom. 1. I need say no more to expose the Falshood of this Assertion That the Divisions among Christians proceed solely or chiefly from permitting the Bible among the Vulgar But 2. If this were true yet it would not be a sufficient Reason for denying the reading of the Bible to the Vulgar For if it were so now it would have been so heretofore it would have been so in the early Ages of the Christian Church when there were as many Sects and Heresies as there are now It would have been so in the Time of the Apostles for in almost every Church planted by them Divisions presently sprang up It would have been so in the Jewish Church for they had their Sects as well as the Christians yea it would have been so from the very beginning when the Scripture was first publish'd But when the Bible was first written had this been a sufficient Reason would God have caused it to be written in the Vulgar Language of that People to whom it was given and laid his Command upon all without distinction to apply themselves to the study of it And in the succeeding Ages of the Jewish Church yea after the Babylonian Captivity tho some new Sects then sprang up among them so far was it from being thought a Reason why they should not read the Law that by the Laws of that Nation every Man was obliged to write a Copy of the Law for himself with his own hand And if the Case had been alter'd in the days of our Saviour would he not have told us Would he never have reproved the prying Multitude as the Representer is pleased to complement the People for reading the Law and the Prophets Nay would he have put them upon the reading of them as he plainly does as oft as in his Discourses to the People he quotes them for the proof of what he says And had his Apostles after him thought this a fit Expedient either for the Prevention or Cure of Divisions when they wrote their Epistles to those Churches in which Divisions were already sown as the Churches of Corinth and Colosse would they have addressed them to all without exception and exhorted all that the Word of God dwell in them richly And when in succeeding Ages the Church was miserably rent with Schisms do any of the Fathers prescribe this Remedy Nay tho St. Jerome St. Austin St. Chrysostom c. sadly complain of the abuse of Scripture by Hereticks yet do they not exhort all sorts of Persons to read it In a word The Church of Rome it self did not think this a fit Expedient till it was so changed from what it was in the beginning that if St. Peter and St. Paul should have been raised again from the Dead they would not have owned it for that Church which they at first planted I have I think said more than enough to the first Mischief II. The second which he gives as the main Reason Mischief II. why the Holy Scripture is not allow'd to the Vulgar of his Church without exception is this That if this be allow'd there will be as many different Bibles among them as there are Heads (f) Chap. 8. p. 54. that is The words of the Bible will be understood by them in as many different senses as there are Men For he thus explains himself Tho the Book of the Scriptures does certainly contain the Word of God yet to every Christian that reads it 't is the Sense and Meaning and not the Letter is more properly the Word of God. Now do You but reflect in how many different Senses the Letter of the Bible is understood and so many different Bibles will you find multiply'd by your Followers And tell me upon examination whether this be much fewer than Heads g P. 54. So wonderfully pleased is he with this Conceit that he presently falls into a fit of Raillery Don't you think there would be a pretty variety of Bibles there would be this Man's Bible and that Man's Bible such an one's Bible and such an one's Bible infinite number of Bibles But I fear I shall quickly spoil his mirth I shall not insist upon it That every difference in sense makes not a difference of Bibles as long as there is an agreement in all things material in those Points which by all the differing Parties are acknowledged sufficient to Salvation I need not beg this because they themselves are forc'd to assert it in their own defence For they acknowledg that the Vulgar Latin Translation of the Bible differs in many places from the Original That before Pope Clement's Edition there were many various Readings That the Bibles set forth by Sixtus and Clement are different each from other in many Places and yet they say they are not to be reckoned different Bibles because they do not differ in any thing material to the Faith. This being premised I return to his Argument which in short is this If the Holy Scriptures should be generally allow'd to the Vulgar without exception they will every one understand them in a different sense h Ibid. Therefore they ought not to be thus allow'd Now in that
he says generally and without exception He supposes That if they be allow'd to the Vulgar not generally but with an Exception they to whom they are so allow'd will not make them so many different Bibles From whence it plainly follows That if they should be allow'd to all without exception yet many of that all will understand them in the same sense which overthrows his universal Conclusion viz. That there will be as many different Bibles as Heads But I pass this Nor shall I stay to shew First That the Antecedent is notoriously untrue Secondly That if it were true yet the same Mischief will follow if the Vulgar be taught the Bible by their Pastors as he says they are in the Church of Rome because they may put as many different Interpretations upon their words as upon the words of the Bible But shall content my self to return these three things in answer to the Argument which will sufficiently expose its absurdity First That it is of equal force against the reading of the Bible by the Learned yea of much greater The Reason is plain because the Learned are those especially who expound the Bible to different Senses The most zealous Papist if he please to follow the Representer's Direction shall find this as evident as Demonstration Let him first ask twenty Lay-men what is the meaning of such a Text and write down each Man's sense at length as he delivers it in one Column Then let him consult twenty of the most learned Popish Commentators upon the same Text and write down what each of them says in another then let him compare all the Lay-men senses together and observe all the differences that are between them Let him then compare all the Learned Commentators senses together and observe likewise all the Differences between them then let him compare the Differences between the Vulgar with those between the Learned and if he find not the former fewer and less material than the later I shall own that I am mistaken I add That if the Understanding some places of Scripture in a different sense makes different Bibles then St. Cyprian and St. Stephen St. Austin and St. Jerome St. Cyril and Theodoret yea all the Learned Fathers of the Primitive Church had different Bibles and therefore if this Argument signify any thing ought not to have been suffered to read the Scripture The absurdity of which will yet be more manifest because Secondly Where the Vulgar are not permitted to read the Bible there are as many different Bibles in the Representer's sense as where they are Even in the Church of Rome there are as many I may truly say many more than among the Protestants The Thomists have one Bible the Scotists another the Franciscans one the Dominicans another the Jesuits one the Jansenists another The Scotists Bible teaches that Original Sin is nothing but the Privation of Original Righteousness the Thomists Bible teaches it is more The Franciscans find in their Bible the immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin the Dominicans find no such Matter in theirs The Jansenists Bible gives to God alone the praise of Converting Grace the Jesuits Bible gives it to God and themselves too In many of their Bibles Transubstantiation is as legible as these words This is my Body in many others no such Doctrine appears Yea the very Popes themselves in spite of their Infallibility have Bibles not only different but plainly contradictory Pope Gregory's I. Bible taught him that the Emperor was his Lord Pope Gregory's VII that the Emperor was his Vassal Yea some of their Bibles have taught them to be downright Hereticks so did Pope Honorius's and John's XXIII And which is yet worse not only their Popes but their Councils too have had different Bibles as might be shew'd at large if it were needful Yea if that be true which a great Cardinal has affirmed That the Precepts of Christ may be changed by the Church and at one time be interpreted to this sense and at another time to that i Card. Cusan Epist 2. de usu Communionis ad Bohem. Then the Church of Rome may every Age or every year have a different Bible And whereas the Representer grants that the Protestants have all the same Bible in their hands tho it be different in their Heads Those of the Church of Rome have in their Hands in one Age one Bible in another Age another In this and the Age next foregoing the Books of the Maccabees have been part of the Bible in their Hands which certainly were not so in the Age of Gregory the Great k Greg. Moral Expos in Job l. 19. c. 17. I further add That their agreement about the sense of the Council of Trent is as little as about the sense of the Scripture Soto's Council of Trent and Catharinus's Council of Trent Bellarmin's Council of Trent and the Bishop of Meaux's Council of Trent are so far from being the same that they are in many things directly opposite And therefore 3. To retort the Argument How shamefully does the Representer delude the poor Vulgar in perswading them that tho they do not read the Bible yet the very same Word of God is delivered to them by their Teachers whereas when it comes to be examined it is not the Word of God but their Teachers Imaginations they are guided by To convince him of this by his own experiment Let him take all the different senses their Teachers put upon the Scripture and carry them to any Licenser of his own Church in order to be printed and published as the Word of God and Rule of Faith and see if he can find any who will set them forward with an Imprimatur What an Vnchristian Imposture is it then to let so many poor Souls go on with a secure confidence of following the Word of God when what they follow is nothing better than the Imaginations and Dreams of their Priests Let now the Representer judg to whose shame the Droll is exposed and if he please let him still go on to upbraid the Protestants with their different Bibles III. But the Representer will go farther with us For Mischief III. 't is not only thus says he in several People but even the same Person many times has the faculty of multiplying the Word of God. For how many are there to be found among the Vulgar who according to their different humours as their Interest changes according to the different Impressions they receive from Confidents especially such as have gained their good Opinion espouse different Doctrines and Perswasions and run thorough as many Sects as there are Divisions in the Nation And yet in all their windings they follow as they imagine the Scripture Don't you see how to these same Persons the Word of God is not always the same It alters according to Seasons and Times and it was one Word of God directed them the last year another this c. Now suppose all this to
find out or afterward to comprehend And if this be to make private Reason the Rule of Scripture we need not be ashamed to own it For this is no more than what our Blessed Saviour allowed to private Persons He frequently appealed to the Scriptures of the Old Testament but he left it to every man's Reason to judge whether they were for him or against him Yea did he not severely reprove the promiscuous Multitude for not judging even of themselves what was right (b) Luk. 12. 57. For to the Multitude 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v. 54. these words were directed This is no more than what the Apostles of our Lord have laid as a Duty upon private Christians St. Paul commands them to prove all things (c) 1 Thes 5. 21. and thought the common Christians of the Church of Corinth wise enough to judg what he said (d) 1 Cor. 10. 15. St. John requires them to try the Spirits whether they be of God (e) 1 Joh. 4. 1. And can they do this if they may not judg of the sense of the Scripture This is no more than what St. Chrysostom frequently exhorted the People to and sharply reproved their neglect of it Yea notwithstanding the loud cry they make against private Reason and the private Spirit the Roman Clergy themselves are forced to appeal to it For when to draw Men over from us to them they produce so many Scriptures and so many Reasons such as they are fetch'd from Scripture Do they not make every Man's Reason Judg whether these Scriptures and these Reasons are to the purpose If they say a Man must use his Reason to judg which is the true Church but having once found it he must then take the sense of Scripture upon the Church's word nothing can be said more absurd Because a Man must judg of thesense of the Scripture before he can discern which is the true Church since that can no otherwise be known than by those Characters the Scripture gives of it Besides one of their own Marks of the true Church is the Holiness of its Doctirne (f) Bell. de Notis Eccles l. 4. c. 11. A Man therefore must know what the Doctrine of a Church is before he can know it to be a true Church and how shall a Man know this but by first examining her Doctrine by Scripture A Man must therefore know the sense of Scripture before he can know the true Church But if it should be granted that when a Man once knows the true Church he must then understand the Scripture as the Church does yet tell me why he must do so Is it because he hath Reason or no Reason so to do You will not say because he hath no Reason for you your self give Reasons why he must And if it be because he hath Reason he then makes his Reason Judg of the sense of Scripture as well as the Protestant But Christian Faith he says is but one that 's granted And all Christians are directed to meet in this ONE Faith to be of ONE SPIRIT and ONE MIND to say all the same thing This is also granted Now can you imagine it possible says he for all Christians to concur in the same Belief while the Scripture being but ONE which they read their private Judgments give differing and contrary Interpretations of it and carry them several ways (g) Chap. 9. P. 58. And will it be possible for all Christians to concur in the same Belief if the Scriptures be denied to the Vulgar For do not the private Judgments of the Clergy give as differing and contrary Interpretations of it and carry them as many several ways And therefore are there not as many Divisions among your selves as has been shew'd as there are among Protestants And is it not ridiculous so often to insist upon that as a sovereign Remedy of Divisions which is so ineffectual that the Disease is as prevalent where it is used as where it is not The Representer may perhaps say That their Differences are not in matters of Faith If not then neither are ours since theirs are in matters as considerable as ours are But the best on 't is if notwithstanding their Differences among themselves they are still of one Faith then the Protestants also may be of one Faith not only among themselves but with them too and therefore are no Hereticks since Protestants differ no more from them than many of them do one from another Tho therefore it be the Duty of Christians to be all of one Mind and to speak the same things and tho I see no reason to question but God hath afforded such helps in order thereunto which if they were not wanting to themselves in the use of they might attain to this Vnity Yet we have already seen that the withholding the Scripture from the Vulgar is none of those means and tho some who will be wiser than God have thought fit to make trial of it yet they have hitherto found it unsuccesful And for those means which God hath vouchsafed as little Reason have we to expect that they should by all Christians be faithfully used and applied and they thereby be brought to this perfect Unity as to expect that all Men should become sober and just and charitable and devout which God has made no less their Duty and for the effecting of which he hath vouchsafedas powerful means But now let us again try whether this long Harangue be not of equal force against the reading of the Scripture by the Learned as by the Vulgar If the different Sects in Religion proceed from the reading of the Scripture by the Vulgar how comes it that there are so many different and contrary Divisions Sects and Perswasions among you Romanists How comes it that even in those things that by the differing Parties are reckon'd Matters of Faith there hath been and at present is so great Diversity The business is you suffer every Learned Man's private Reason to be Judg of Scripture which when put to the test proves in thousands and thousands to be no better than Passion Prejudice Interest Imagination Guessing or Fancy Don't you find by experience that there 's no Proposal made but presently the Learned are divided about it as they were in almost every Question in the Council of Trent nor could the Controversies be decided by the Fathers but they were forc'd to make many of their Decrees in such general Terms for the gratifying of the contending Parties as might be interpreted to contrary Senses Don't you see again That almost every Scholar's Reason is different as their Capacity Parts Education Temper Inclinations Impressions are different That as every one has a Head of his own so he has generally a Reason or way of reasoning of his own Nay are not the Learned so inconstant even to themselves too that what is Reason to them at one time is unreasonable at another How then can you permit a thing
it As it was foretold that false Teachers should arise so every Age since hath seen that Prediction verified and for this Reason St. John exhorts Vulgar Christians as well as others to bring their Teachers Doctrines to the Trial (l) 1 Joh. 4. 1. Is it necessary that every one that is commission'd to teach should be so sincere as to deliver nothing but what he believes to be the Faith of Christ The Bishop of Minori in the Council of Trent thought otherwise he was afraid there might be many Priests who were real Infidels (m) Hist of the Counc of Trent l. 2. p. 241. And if the Representer be not satisfied with this we can produce those in this very Age who have taught that as a necessary Article of Faith which they were so far from believing necessary that they could not perswade themselves it was true But if the Priest be honest is he also infallible This the Representer must suppose or else he reasons at an absurd rate For thus he argues Was Mary Magdalen deprived of the Word of God who placed at her Saviour's Feet heard it from his own most sacred Mouth Were those People deprived of the Word of God to whom the Apostles were sent to preach for those several Years before any of the Gospel was in writing It is not writing we know that makes it the Word of God for all that Word of God that is now written was once unwritten But pray Sir tell me Is every thing taught by a Priest of the Church of Rome as certainly the Word of God as that which was taught by our Blessed Saviour and his Apostles Is every Parish Priest at length become Infallible If so what a shame is it that any Controversies are left among your selves when every Parish affords an infallible Interpreter of Scripture If not then they may teach that for the Word of God which is nothing less However all that we contend for is That the Vulgar may be suffer'd to read that Word which Mary heard for that she heard was the same that is now written and had it been then written from Christ's Mouth can any Man be so sensless as to imagine that after he had done speaking he would have forbidden her under severe Penalties to read it But let us now suppose That every Roman Teacher is both able and sincere will it hence follow that the People may not read the Scriptures Had St. Luke thought so he would never have commended the Bereans for searching the Scriptures whether those things that were spoken by St. Paul were so (n) Act. 17. 11. Had St. Paul himself thought so would he have proved what he said by Scripture for in doing so he put his Hearers upon the searching it and thereby taught all succeeding Pastors what they ought to do To which purpose the words of Origen are observable (o) In cap. 3. Epist ad Rom. If such and so great an Apostle did not suppose his Authority sufficient Warrant to his Sayings unless he made it appear that what he says is written in the Law and the Prophets how much more ought we little Ones observe this that we do not bring forth ours but the Sentences of the Holy Spirit Now I presume it will not be denied but St. Paul was as faithful and able a Teacher as any in the Church of Rome If it should yet doubtless it will be granted that our Saviour may compare with the best of them and he as we have heard before frequently sent his Hearers to the Scriptures And if we consult the Ancient Fathers especially St. Chrysostom who was as diligent a Pastor as any the Church can now boast of we shall find that notwithstanding his abundant pains in teaching he vehemently exhorted the People to read the Scriptures themselves and enforc'd his Exhortation by many powerful Arguments Omitting many others I shall reciet one Passage in his 10th Homily on the first Chapter of the Gospel of St. John Before I proued saith he to his Hearers to explain the words I will ask one favour of you which I beseech you not to deny me for it is nothing burdensom nothing hard to be done which I ask and much more profitable to you than to me What is it then which I desire That one Day in the Week at least on Saturday you take care to read that part of the Gospel which I am to explain to you that every one take it into his Hands repeat it often at Home consider the Scope of it mark what is clear and what obscure and what seems repugnant in it and weighing all things beforehand do you thus present your selves to hear This will bring no small profit both to you and to me For it will be no great labour to me to make you understand the force of the Gospel when you have before render'd it as to the words at least familiar to your selves at Home And you will be not only more quick and ready to hear and learn but also to teach others There are many here present who hear and endeavour to retain the words and what I say upon them who would receive no great benefit tho I should spend a whole Year in preaching upon them Why Because by the bye and only for a little time here they apply their minds to them c. I grant It was Preaching Teaching and Instructing by word of Mouth was the means appointed by Christ for planting his Gospel But what then doth it follow that when the Gospel was written it might not be read by the Vulgar No more doubtless than that it might not be read by the Learned for that was the Means used for planting it among both Nor can we well imagine how it could at first be otherwise planted because it was then to be confirm'd by Miracles And suppose it were true that the Apostles who were thus commanded to preach had never any Command to write Is not this as good a Reason why the Priests may not read the Gospel as why the People may not In the words following the Representer sums up his Argument viz. Since then the Papists are taught and instructed in the Word of God the very same way that Christ himself taught all those that followed him since they are instructed in it the same way the Apostles themselves observed and commanded by submitting to and obeying those that are over them Why do you say they are deprived of the Word of God I answer For these Reasons 1. Because that which they have of the Word of God is but very little in comparison of what they are deprived of 2. Because much of that little if taken with those glosses and understood in that sense which they put upon it is not the Word of God. 3. Because much of that little which in popular Discourse is delivered to them as the Word of God is nothing less This the Representer must be forc'd to grant unless he
God caused it at first to be written in a Language understood by the Vulgar 2. He caused it to be directed and addressed to them 3. He commanded them to acquaint themselves with it 1. God caused the holy Scriptures to be at first written in a Language understood by the Vulgar That the Books of Moses and the Prophets were written in the common Language of the Jews is generally granted by the Romanists themselves Monsieur Mallet indeed has been so hardy as to say That it is most probable that the Books of the Law were not composed by Moses in the Vulgar Language of the Jews But the Arguments by which he attempts to prove it are not only ridiculous and in themselves false but in case they were true would be so far from establishing what he asserts that they would quite destroy it He that hath a Mind to see them exposed let him consult Monsieur Arnaud's another learned Romanist Confutation of his Book (b) De la Lecture de l' Ecriture Sainte contre les Parodoxes extravagans impies de Mons Mallet Out of which I shall at present transcribe but one Passage I shall say a Word only says he of Moses 's last Song because it is a demonstrative Proof that there is nothing in the World more manifestly false than that which Monsieur Mallet says is probable for there is nothing in all the Books of Moses that is more nobly written and in a more lofty Stile than this Song which he commanded the Jews to write and to learn by Heart and to sing often that it might serve as a Testimony against themselves if they should forsake the Worship of God. He therefore certainly supposed that they would understand it since his Intention was that in singing it they should be touched and affected with it (c) Je diray Seulement un mot de son dernier Cantique parce que c'est une preuve demonstrative pour faire voir que Mr. Mall appelle probable la chose du monde la plus visiblement fausse c. l. 1. c. 4. p. 55. As for the Books of the New Testament there is no question save of two only the Gospel of St. Matthew and the Epistle to the Hebrews but that they were all written in Greek which was then the most Vulgar Language in the World there being no other Tongue at that time understood by so many People And whereas it is objected that the Latin was the Vulgar Tongue of the Romans to whom notwithstanding St. Paul wrote in Greek The answer is easy That the Greek Tongue was at that time more generally underderstood and used at Rome it self It was more known to the Strangers there and particularly to the Jews whom the Apostle had in his Epistle a special regard to who were well acquainted with the Greek but for the most part ignorant of the Latin Tongue d Grot. Annot in Evang. S. Marci Epist ad Heb. And for the Romans themselves scarce any could be found no not among their Women who did not understand it In such common use was it that as Mr. Arnaud observes they taught it even their Parrots e De la Lect. c. l. 2. c. 13. If St. Matthew's Gospel was written at first in Hebrew as many of the Ancients affirm by Hebrew they meant that which was then the Vulgar Language of the Jews who dwelt at Jerusalem for whose sake his Gospel was primarily written This is asserted by such great Authorities in the Church of Rome as one would think no Romanist should reject particularly by Estius and Bellarmin I shall recite Bellarmin's Words and for brevity sake refer the Reader to Estius f Est Proleg in Comment in Epist ad Hebraeos super hac quaestione Qua lingua scripta sit Epist ad Hebraeos It is very probable says the Cardinal that the Gospel of St. Matthew and the Epistle to the Hebrews were written in the Syriac Tongue for Albertus Widmestadius and Guido Fabritius have proved it by the most convincing Arguments Neither do the ancient Writers Irenaeus Origen Eusebius Athanasius Epiphanius Jerom who say these Books especially the Gospel of St. Matthew were written in Hebrew contradict these for they speak of that Hebrew which was the Vulgar Tongue in the time of the Apostles even as in the Gospel it self we frequently read that a thing was so call'd in the Hebrew when it is manifest that was so call'd in the Syriac For instance He went forth into a place call'd the place of a Scull which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha whereas Golgotha is not a proper Hebrew but a Syriac word g Bell. de Verbo Dei l. 2. c. 4. Add to this That Eusebius says expresly that St. Matthew writ his Gospel in his Country Language and the reason he gives for it necessarily required that he should do so h Euseb Hist Ecclesiast l. 3. For the Epistle to the Hebrews it matters not whether it was originally written in Greek or Syriac because both these Languages were then generally understood by the Hebrews Tho Estius has produc'd such Arguments as will not easily be answered to prove that it was at first written in Greek To conclude this Argument Since God caused the Scriptures to be at first written in a Language the Vulgar were acquainted with who can be so sensless as to imagine that is was not his pleasure that the vulgar should read them 2. God at first addressed the Holy Scriptures to the Vulgar as well as to others I have written to him saith God the great Things of my Law i Hos 8. 12. Who was he to whom he had written them The Verse foregoing told us it was Ephraim who is there put for the whole Body of the Israelites The first Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians is directed to all that in every Place call upon the Name of the Lord Jesus The second to the Church of God which is at Corinth with all the Saints which are in all Acaia For the rest of the Epistles I refer the Reader to the Discourse quoted in the Margin (k) The Lay-Christian's Obligation to read the Holy Scriptures Now can any Man who has not quite lost his Understanding suppose that God would not have these Epistles read by those Persons to whom they were written There are those Persons I know who pretend to think so who tell us That though St. Paul directed his Epistles to all Christians in general yet his intention was that the Pastors of the Church only should read them But can any thing be said more absurdly Are not those Epistles he designed for the Pastors directed to them alone as his Epistles to Timothy and Titus Why then should he direct his other Epistles to all the Saints but that it was his intention that they all should be made acquainted with them When his Epistle to the Philippians is directed to ALL the Saints at
Philippi together with the Bishops and Deacons Can any Man have the face to say That he intended it only for the Bishops and Deacons Is it not as manifest as that there are such Epistles that his Speech in them is usually addressed to the People And let a Man but seriously consider That in his Epistle to the Colossians he commands That after that Epistle had been read among them they should cause it to be read also in the Church of the Laodiceans (l) Coloss 4. 16. That he gives a most solemn Charge That his Epistle to the Thessalonians should be read to all the Holy Brethren (m) 1 Thess 5. 27. and then believe if he can that it was his meaning that the Scripture should be withheld from any the poorest and most ignorant Christian 3. Nor has God only addressed the Holy Scriptures to the Vulgar but he hath also commanded them to acquaint themselves familiarly with them The words I command thee this day saith God to all Israel Priests and People shall be in thine Heart and thou shalt teach them diligently to thy Children and talk of them when thou sittest in thine House c. (n) Deut. 6. 6 7 8. Can it be supposed that they should talk of these words when they sate in their Houses and when they walked by the way when they lay down and when they rose up that they should bind them for a Sign upon their Hands and that they should be as Frontlets between their eyes that they should write them upon the Posts of their Houses and upon their Gates that they should teach them diligently to their Children and yet should not be permitted to read them When Moses had made an end of speaking these words having said all that he had in charge from God to deliver to this People he concludes thus Set your Hearts unto all the words which I testify among you this day which ye shall command your Children to observe and do all the words of this Law for it is not a vain thing for you because it is your Life c. (o) Deut. 32. 45 46 47. Is this said like a Man that would not have them so much as read the words he had spoken to them And for the New Testament the Command is general to Christians of all States and Qualities That the Word of Christ dwell in them and not only so but that it dwell in them richly so richly that they may thereby be indowed with all Wisdom (p) Coloss 3. 16. Which St. Chrysostom thought so plain a Command to the common People to read the Scriptures that in his Sermon upon these words he thus earnestly exhorts them Hearken all ye that are Men of the VVorld and have a VVife and Children under your Government how even You he commands especially to read the Scriptures and that not simply or now and then by chance but with much diligence (q) Hom. 9. in Epist ad Coloss If St. Chrysostom's word be not thought sufficent I shall add to it a late famous Divine of the Church of Rome VVhat more clear saith he than that St. Paul thus exhorts Coloss 3. Let the VVord of Christ dwell in You. But in what You In those Saints and Faithful Brethren in Christ that were at Colosse to whom he inscribed this Epistle not as some other Epistles to Bishops Priests and Deacons Let the VVord of Christ therefore dwell in You in all Wisdom c. r Espens in Epist ad Tit. cap. 2 p. 518 519. Which the Author speaks to shew that the reading of the Scriptures ought not to be prohibited to Lay-men That this Prohibition is indeed contrary to the Will of God will yet further appear by shewing that it is very absurd and unreasonable SECT II. Let us hear what common Reason saith to use the words of a Reverend Person of our own Church in an excellent Treatise upon this Subject and that teaches us That since the Holy Scriptures were written for the use and benefit of all all should have the liberty to read them They were written for all it is plain for that which they teach is the Duty of all that which they promise is the Portion of all s Search the Scriptures p. 58. Dare any one say That the Scripture was not given as a Rule to the People That it was not designed to teach them not only what they are concerned to know and to do in the general as they are Men or as they are Christians but to instruct them also more particularly how they ought to demean themselves in their several Callings and Relations in their different States and Conditions of Life that they may walk worthy of God in this World and be made meet for the happiness of the next And what can be more absurd than that a Man should not be suffered to read those Lessons which as he hopes for Salvation he is bound to learn That he should not be permitted the perusal of those Laws which under peril of Damnation he is bound to obey That he should be forbid to see with his own Eyes what God hath promised to quicken him to his Duty and what he hath threatned to deter him from the contrary Are not the Scriptures as St. Chrysostom calls them the Weapons of our Spiritual Warfare the Storehouse of Spiritual Medicines t Hom. 9. in Epist ad Colos Are they not given for a Light to our Feet and a Lamp to our Paths u Psal 119. 105. Prov. 6. 23. And therefore to deprive the People of them what is it else but to take away the Light from a Man in darkness To deny Medicines to one that is sick Or to deprive a Souldier of those Weapons by which he should defend himself and repel his Enemies What the the Representer says in opposition to this shall be anon considered I shall add no more upon this Head than what I shall borrow from some great and learned Men of the Church of Rome The Bishop of Vence in his Dedicatory Epistle prefixed to his Translation of the New Test addresses thus to all Christians indifferently Behold it is the Testament of the Son of God your Father and your Judg which I offer to you I cannot doubt but the reading of it will be acceptable to you You will see that he hath there left you a Patrimony most divine which is his Truth and that he hath divided it in a wonderful manner For though it be but one yet he hath suited it to the condition and to the Duties of every Man to the end that all Men by practising its Precepts may live in Peace and may come to the possession of his Inheritance which is eternal Life x Voicy le Testament du Fils de Dieu vostre Pere et vostre Juge que je Vous offre Je ne puis douter que la lecture ne vous en soit agreable Vous verrez
is this That they are equally accommodated to the Learned and the Ignorant to little Children and to grown Men to the weak and to the perfect to the shallow and the more profound Wits (u) De la Lect de l'Ecriture sainte l. 2. c. 6. But the Representer asks If the Scripture be so plain and easy how comes it there is so little agreement in the understanding it How are there so many different and contrary Divisions Sects and Perswasions in this one Nation How comes it that even in the essentials of Christianity concerning the Trinity c. there has been and at present is so great diversity among those that read the Scripture I answer 1. That the agreement among Protestants is not so little as he pretends That the Reformed Churches agree in all essential Points of Faith any Man may be satisfied who will take the pains to read over the Harmony of their Confessions But 2. Let the Disagreement be more or less it proceeds not from the Obscurity of the Scriptures This is evident because the Disagreement among those that read the Scripture is as great in those things that are most plainly as in those that are more obscurely delivered Can anything be more plain than these words of Christ concerning the Cup Drink ye all of it (w) Mat. 26. 27. Or those of St. Paul in which he applys this Drinking to the Lay-Corinthians (x) 1 Cor. 11. 25. Suppose it was Christ's Intention that the Laity should partake of the Cup as well as the Bread would not those Men who do not see it in these words in whatsoever Words he had express'd it have found out another meaning It 's plain then that it is not the obscurity of the Text from whence this diversity of Interpretation arises But. 2. To gratify the Representer I 'le plainly tell him what it is 1. In those who have different Lusts and Interests to serve 't is their different Lusts and Interests with which the Scriptures must be forced to comply 2. In those who are sincere and do not profess contrary to their Belief it is the different Prejudice or Principle they are possess'd with Tho the Scripture speaks never so plainly against the Doctrine and Worship of such a sort of Men yet if it be inconsistent with that which they have laid for the main Principle and Foundation of their Faith they can never perswade themselves that the Words are to be taken according to the most common and obvious sense but must find out some other meaning for them For instance It is a Principle with the Romanists that their Church cannot err Let therefore Scripture be never so express against the Worship of Images against Transubstantiation against Communion in one kind against the Propitiatory Sacrifice of the Mass against Prayer in an unknown Tongue yet they must of necessity conclude that it does not mean what it seems to say because if it should it unavoidably follows that their Church hath gosly err'd which according to their Principle is as impossible as that the Truth and Promise of God should fail And that it is indeed this Principle not the Obscurity of the Scripture that makes the difference in many Texts between them and us is evident enough by this consideration viz. That they cannot see that in the plainest words that is contrary to their Principle whereas in words not only obscure but most remote and impertinent they can see that which is agreeable thereto 1. They cannot see that in the plainest words that is contrary to their Principle If to worship an Image be unlawful their Church hath err'd therefore they cannot see it is forbid in the Second Commandment tho it is hard to conceive that other Words can be used more full to that purpose For be it graven Image or graven Thing or Idol that is forbidden it matters not since the Similitude or Likeness of any thing in Heaven above or in the Earth beneath c. is forbidden also 2. But see now how they can find that in the most remote and impertinent Text that is agreeable to their Principle Would you have a Scripture for the Worship of Images Bellarmine gives you Mat. 5. 34 35. Swear not by the Heaven for it is God's Throne nor by the Earth for it is his Footstool (y) De Imagin Sanctorum l. 2. c. 12. If you think this not clear enough take 2 Tim. 3. 15. Thou hast known the holy Scriptures from a Child (z) Ibid. The Scriptures are called Holy Scriptures therefore the Images of Christ and his Saints are to be worship'd Here 's a Demonstration as bright as Midnight He must be stark blind or shut his Eyes hard who can avoid its light I omit many other Instances which are ready at hand By these now mention'd it 's manifest enough that Mens Disagreement about the Sense of Scripture doth not proceed from its obscurity but from the different Principles or Prejudices they are prepossest with Better would it be for the Church of Rome were it more obscure in many Points than it is And were it but as clear for them as it is against them they would not then complain of its Obscurity or prohibit the Vulgar the reading of it II. But the Protestants are for setting up every Man's private Reason to be Judg of Scripture What to be Judg of what in Scripture ought to be received and what rejected as the Socinians do This is a very disingenuous Misrepresentation Much more remote from Truth is it That they are far worse in this than the rankest Socinian in the World (a) P. 58. The Protestant he very well knows being satisfied by his Reason concerning the divine Authority of the Scripture he firmly assents to whatsoever he finds delivered in it tho he be not able to conceive how it should be He indeed uses his Reason in judging of the sense of Scripture which he must of necessity do or else he can have no reason to believe it in a true rather than a false sense But having to the best of his understanding found out the meaning of it he makes neither common nor private Reason the Measure of what is to be received so as to admit nothing into his Faith but what he is able fully to understand Tho he meets with some things which are above his Capacity yet he does not say as Socinus speaking of Christ's Satisfaction If the very word were in Scripture not once but often yet I would not believe it but thinks he has the greatest Reason in the World to believe them because God has deliver'd them And that some things in Scripture are above his Capacity this he thinks is so far from being a discouragement that it is rather a motive to his Faith for he might be tempted to suspect the Divinity of the Scriptures if he found nothing in them above the reach of his own little Understanding either at first to
the Church of Rome doth And tho Protestants never refuse to yield assent to all such Doctrines as the Church truly Catholic hath in all Ages taught yet they can see no reason to pin their Faith upon the Church of Rome there being as vast a difference between the Church of Rome and the Church Catholick as between the Church of York and the Church of England But St. Paul Heb. 13. 17. commands all to obey and submit to those that are over them 'T is true and I grant that by those that are over them he means Ecclesiastical Superiors But does not the same St. Paul command Children to obey their Parents and Servants to obey their Masters Would he therefore have all Children and Servants to take their Faith upon trust from their Parents and Masters He also commanded every Soul to be subject to the Higher Powers and yet I am pretty confident that his meaning was not that every Christian should then believe as the Roman Emperor did But he commands to obey and submit not only as to External Government but as to Truth and Belief Then those who had Arian Bishops as a great part of the Church for some time had were bound to believe that Christ was not God and those who had Donatist Bishops were bound to believe that the Church of Rome was so far from being the Catholick Church that it was not so much as a Part of it But how does the Representer prove That the People ought absolutely to submit their Faith to those that are over them because the Apostle says v. 7. whose Faith follow And does he not say Chap. 6. 12. Be ye Followers of them who through Faith and Patience inherit the Promises Are we therefore bound to believe as every deceased Christian hath believed In both places the Apostle speaks of Christians departed this Life in the later of Christians indifferently in the former of Christian Bishops And the words should be render'd Remember them which have had the Rule over You which have spoken to You the Word of God such for instance as James Bishop of Jerusalem who had witness'd the Faith by his Death whose Faith follow And the meaning is this Imitate them in their Constancy and Perseverance in the Christian Profession and Practice notwithstanding all the Persecutions you meet with in the World. The Pillar and Ground of Truth 1 Tim. 3. 15. may relate either to Timothy himself or to that Summary of Christian Doctrine that follows But suppose it relate to the Church that particular Church was primarily meant in which Timothy was directed how to behave himself and I think no Romanist says That a Man is bound to believe as every particular Church believes The words of Christ Matth. 18. 17. If he hear not the Church let him be unto thee as an Heathen Man and a Publican are also impertinent because he speaks there not of Matters of Faith but of Fact and directs what course is to be taken for the ending of private Quarrels between Man and Man tho had he spoken of Matters of Faith they would not have been to the purpose because by the Church can be meant no other than that particular Church of which the offending Brother was a Member I need say no more to shew how unconcluding those Reasons are by which he would perswade us to abandon our Reason and to take the sense of Scripture upon trust from his Church CHAP. IV. I Proceed now to the fourth and last Head viz. The false Constructions as the Representer calls them which the Protestants make of this Practice of the Church of Rome or the wrong Inferences they deduce from it Which are these three 1. That the Vulgar Papists are deprived of the Word of God. 2. That they take up all their Belief upon trust 3. That the Reason why they are not permitted to read the Bible is for fear lest they should discover the Errors of their Religion Whether these are Misconstructions or no I shall leave the impartial Reader to judg after I shall have consider'd those Reasons by which he endeavours to prove that they are so SECT I. The first Protestant Inference is That the Vulgar 〈…〉 Papists are deprived of the Word of God of the Food of their Souls (i) Chap. 6 p. 43 44 4◠To prevent Cavils and Evasions I premise this The Protestant does not say that the Vulgar Papists have nothing of the Scripture allow'd them He very well knows that some shreds of it are now and then given them in Sermons and some small parcels in their Catechisms and Manuals of Devotion But what then Will it hence follow that it is false to say they are deprived of the Scripture Will not every Man say That he is deprived of his Father's Will who is allowed no more than the sight of here and there a Line transcrib'd from it Or that a Man's Inheritance is detain'd from him who has no more than a small Pension given him out of it One may a little wonder that this should be reckon'd a false Inference What! are they not depriv'd of the Word of God who are not suffer'd to read it or so much as to have it in a Language they understand No says the Representer The Vulgar of our Communion have more of this Holy Food than those of any other Perswasion whatsoever (k) P. 45. This is yet more wonderful That they should not be permitted to have it and yet that they should have more of it than those who have the whole of it in their Hands and daily read it How shall we unriddle this Why They are taught it by their Pastors Be it so Does it thence follow that they have more of it than those of other Perswasions who are taught it by their Pastors as well as they For whereas he presently suggests That the Protestants are for leaving their Pastors that they may teach themselves that 's a Calumny Tho the Protestants read the Scriptures themselves yet they do not reject their Pastors They do not think the use of the one does render the other needless now any more than it did in the first Ages of the Christian Church when they both went together and were both thought necessary But that they who are taught it by their Pastors only should have more of it than those who are both taught it by them and have the whole of it in their own possession is as true as that a part is more than the whole But the Representer will say Their Pastors teach them all that is necessary for them to know How shall the Vulgar know this We can tell them of Pastors who have concealed from their People some of the most necessary Points of the Christian Faith but I need not name them to the Representer But how are the People assur'd that what they teach them is indeed the Word of God and not their own Inventions when they are not suffered to examine
impossible for a Protestant to believe yet I doubt not but the Representer will grant that the belief of this is as easy to a Protestant as it is to a Papist And that since it is believed by Papists there is very good reason why Protestants should believe it 2. Since they allow the Vulgar the Ten Commandments in their own Tongue what probable Reason can be given why they leave out this part Thou shalt not Tho to stop their Adversaries Mouths they now put these words into the English Catechisms make to thy self any graven Image c. but this that they dare not let their Laity compare their Doctrine and their Practice with this Scripture It is I know commonly said that this is done in compliance with the weak Memories of the People But he must be of a weak understanding who is satisfied with this Reason especially considering how tedious some of their Offices of Devotion are which are composed for the use of the Laity 3. It is no Thanks to them that the Bible is not denied to the Learned because it is impossible it should be kept from them as long as it is suffer'd in any Language But it is plain they are afraid of them in that they do not allow them however learned and pious but at the Bishop's discretion to read any Versions of the Old Testament Nor do they give the Bishop leave to permit any Man how learned soever to read any Versions of the New made by those who are censured by their Church but confine them to the Vulgar Edition n Reg. 3. â— Trid. And to make as sure of them as they can they tie them up as close as they are able from giving any such Interpretation of it as may be prejudicial to their new Faith. And yet not trusting to this Security they endeavour as much as may be to conceal from them those Scriptures which are repugnant to their Doctrine Which is 4. A plain Argument That it is the Bible it self they take to be mischievous to them Why else 1. Did they blot those words out of the Margin and Index of Rob. Stephen's Bible which were the same with those in the Text For Example Abraham was justified by Faith. He that believeth in Christ shall not die for ever They that blotted these out of the Index that the Reader might not thereby be directed to find them would they not if they durst have blotted them out of the Text too 2. Why else have they purged not only out of the Ancient Fathers but many late Learned Writers of their own Church many Passages of the Scripture it self 3. Why was it commended as a most meritorious Act in John Della Cava Arch-bishop of Benevento That tho he had not openly and expresly condemn'd the Gospel yet obscurely and covertly he had because in his large Catalogue of Hereticks he had reprobated a great part of that Doctrine which is contain'd in the Gospel especially some certain Heads which were most opposite to the Church of Rome p Consil de Rom. Eccles Stab The Representer proceeds If their Religion be so contrary to Scripture as you pretend is it not more likely the Learned should make this discovery in their reading the Bible than the Vulgar if they had the like liberty c. To which I return these two Things 1. If the Learned are as free from Prejudice Pride Vain-glory Covetousness and other evil Affections which darken Mens Minds it is more likely they should make this Discovery than the Vulgar if not the Vulgar are better qualified to make it than they For tho Learning when joyn'd with a sincere love of Truth is a great advantage for the discovery of it yet when destitute of this it is as great a hinderance The Learned among the Jews in the days of our Saviour are a demonstrative Proof of this Tho Moses and all the Prophets bore Testimony to him yet the Scribes and Pharisees were not able to see it Why because they were prepossessed with the Prejudices of a Pompous Messias they sought Glory of Men they had carnal Affections and a worldly Interest to serve tho therefore all the Characters of the Messias were visible in him yet because he was not a Messias for their turn they could not discern them I say not only they did not but without first laying aside their corrupt Affections they could not And so our Saviour himself says Ye cannot hear my Word q Joh. 8. 43. And how can ye believe which receive Honour one of another r Joh. 5. 44. How wife and prudent soever they were in other Matters they were not capable of the Truths of the Gospel and therefore they were hid from them while they were revealed to Babes s Mat. 11. 25. Now how few in comparison of the Learned in the Church of Rome have not some carnal Interest to serve How few are not prepossess'd with some such false Principle that be the Scripture never so clear against them will so blind their eyes that they shall not be able to discern it Should the Church of Rome teach Murder and Adultery to be Vertues he who makes it a Fundamental Article of his Faith that she cannot err would not be able to see that they are Sins but would find out some other sense of these Commandments than the words plainly import In short this Argument the Learned Jews made use of against our Blessed Saviour Have any of the Pharisees believed on him But this People who know not the Law are curs'd t Joh. 7. 48 49. As much as to say Were he the true Messias the Learned Pharisees who study the Law would certainly know it since therefore they do not believe on him no heed is to be given to the ignorant Multitude Were therefore this Argument of force it would have justified the Vulgar Jews in rejecting of Christ But 2. Many of their Learned Men have made this Discovery How many such were the chief Instruments of the Reformation and they doubtless discover'd the Errors of their Church before they forsook it How many continually since have forsaken their Communion in spite of all worldly Motives to the contrary How many who have not left their Communion have given abundant Testimony by their Writings that they were convinced of their Errors some in one thing some in another Cardinal Cajetan and Cardinal Contarenus will be owned for as Learned Men as most of their Time and they discover'd the Error of Prayer and Service in an Unknown Tongue Erasmus in the last Age and Arnaud and his Brethren the Jansenists in this have exposed to all the World the Error I now write against The Learned Men of the Church of Rome who have rejected the Apocryphal Books from the Canon of Scripture are too many to be particularly mentioned for that they are no part of the Canon was Catholic Doctrine at Rome it self as a Learned Bishop of our own
Church has prov'd but ten Years before the Council of Trent And whosoever has read the History of that Council cannot but see that the denial of the Cup to the Laity was discovered to be an Error by many Learned Men of that Church Yea the great Article of Transubstantiation many of their most Learned Men both in the present and in foregoing Ages could never perswade themselves to believe How many more of their Errors have been discover'd and published to the World by Cassander Wicelius Erasmus Picus Mirandula and many other Learned Men who died in Communion with them I shall not stay to mention But shall only make this Inference that the Representer would never have argued at this rate had he not vainly thought that the Protestants are as little acquainted with the Writings of the Papists as the Papists generally are with those of the Protestants What follows concerning Mechanicks and Apron-strings the Anvil the Needle and the Ell I suppose he did not intend for Arguments but only for Ornaments and Imbellishments and therefore I pass them over He adds Is it probable that every Man amongst the Papists no sooner becomes Scholar but he turns Atheist No. That upon their search in the Bible they plainly see all the Errours of their Religion and yet are so bewitched as to go on boldly and jocondly to the Devil without speaking a word or moving a step to save their own Souls or their Relations u P. 53 54. I will not say that every Learned Papist sees all the Errours of their Religion It may suffice that many of them have discover'd many of their Errors have written boldly against them And for those who discover their Errors and yet profess to believe them it is not necessary they should be Atheists I hope those Gentlemen are no Atheists who for several years late past have believed with the Church of Rome and profess'd with the Church of England their Religion approves Equivocations and mental Reservation Tho I confess that very Argument is so great a Bar to my turning Papist that I cannot at present imagine that I can ever be reconciled to that Religion which allows such gross Hypocrisies I hope by this time the Representer sees how weak and ill-grounded his own Arguments are 2. But he asks What ground can there be for this Pretension at least here in England where the Bible in English or the Rhemes Testament is to be found in most Catholic Families If it be so who is to be thanked for it Not their Church-men For tho they are more indulgent to their People here in England yet it is because they dare not be otherwise since should they hold them to as strict terms here as they do where they are in full possession it might endanger their losing them Besides that it is impossible to keep the Bible here from those who have a mind to read it for if they have it not with their leave they can have it without it But yet to keep them as much as may be from it they endeavour to perswade them that it is a sin to read it without leave and many are so possessed with this Belief that they acknowledg they dare not read it nor any other Book offer'd to them by Protestants without leave first obtain'd from their Ghostly Father and were England as much in their Power as Spain and Italy are a Bible in the Vulgar Tongue would be as rarely found in any Family here as it is in those Nations tho I see no reason but they may freely allow them the Rhemes Testament because they have so transform'd it into their own likeness that one would think they need fear no danger from it But if says he the prohibition of the Bible be as you pretend in other Countries for fear of the Vulgar discovering the Errors of their Religion how comes it that they don't make this Discovery here Some may not make this Discovery because of those invincible Prejudices they are prepossess'd with Others may not make it because they do not see with their own Eyes but leave it to their Priests to see for them Yet 't is strange the Representer should ask How comes it they do not make this Discovery as if none had made it when to the great grief of their Church such vast numbers have long since made it Does he not know That one Objection against translating the Bible in in King Hen. VIII days was That if Lay-men had the Bible in their Mother Tongue it would make them all Hereticks Does he not know how far the Event has answered the Prediction that whereas before the whole Nation was generally of their Belief so many have forsaken them since that now perhaps one or two in an hundred are as many as they can challenge He says Many have quitted that Communion upon other Motives best known to themselves but never any one could I meet with left them yet by reading and following the Word of God. He has it seems met with few who have left them nor could it be expected he should meet with many for so many had left them before his time that few in comparison remain'd to leave them now And those who left their Communion in K. Hen. VIII days could not leave it upon worldly Motives because after he gave leave to print the Bible in English and encouragement to all Men to read it he not only continued a Member of the Church of Rome himself but a zealous Persecutor of those who forsook it But perhaps he meets with none who desert them now If he does not yet many others do and I presume those that forsake them now their only Motive must be to follow the Word of God. But if the reading the Scriptures is such a defeat to Popery as you give out is it likely those who have been bred up to the reading of the Bible and have made it their Study and Companion should ever embrace that Communion Not more unlikely than that those who have been bred up to the reading of the Bible should imbrace divers other Opinions and Practices that are utterly inconsistent with it which we frequently see some Men do Tho I question not but if he examine their Converts he will find but few of them such as have made the Bible their Study and Companion And for those who have been bred up to the reading it but never concern'd themselves to consider it it is not more unlikely that they should imbrace Popery tho never so plainly contrary to it than that those should who never so much as saw it I shall not pass a Censure upon their late Proselytes but I am perswaded the Representer himself will confess that some of them are such as they have no reason to boast of FINIS ERRATA PAge 4. Marg. for Mandeuent read Mandement P. 8. Marg. for Prosanes r. Profanes P. 11. l. 6. after that add it l. last for Acaia r. Achaia P. 16. Marg. l. 4. for it r. et P 19. Marg. for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 2 and 3 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 P. 30. after reading add it P. 53. l. 27. for gosly r. grosly P. 69. l. 7. for reciâ—â— r. reciâ—â— P. 80. Marg. r. contempletur