meaning the words And vvhat his iudgement is in August lib de vera relig cap. 5◠this cause he doth other where plainly and clearely set dovvne vvhen hee saith that the Scripture is to be declared according to the proprietie of euery tongue Indeede he saith that sometime the vulgar speach is more profitable but his reason is farre different from yours For it appeareth vvhen hee praeferreth August de doctr Chr. lib. 2. c. 11. those Barbarismes it is for the better cōmodity capacity of the people to whome he spake or wrote praferring rudenes of speach onely to that purenes which either bringeth new words to offend th' eares of the reader or else maketh the sense doubtfull or obscure In vvhich respect he affirmeth that to August in Psal 138. let his speach fall th' easilyer to th' vnderstanding of his people hee had rather say ossum which is no true speach then os which is the proper and true lāguage Beside that it is more euidēt by their barbarismes in other speaches then in the texts of Scripture that they so speak sometime because they met with no better nor more choise wordes Seing therefore a good pure Latine speach is now better vnderstood then th' ould rotten and rustie wordes there is no cause why they should not now be abolished if euer they had any vse heretofore And if it please the Iesuites to confer the stile of these dayes sithence the Gospell after a long winter of ignorance began to flowre againe with the stile of those which wrote 200. yeares hence we suppose that they will accord vs that there is as greate difference as was sometime betweene the Dorickes and th' Attickes in Greece or is now betweene the courte and countrey with vs yet we think that the Iesuites will not therefore rather chuse to stamber stut with their fore-goers then to speake clearly purely with the present age sure we are that they haue done their best to the contrary Wherefore it is euident that you can bring nothing to defend your sottish speach of hell of fire for hell fire for against the spirituals of wickednes in the celestials for docible of God c. nor yet for your doubtful and dangerous speach of the sinne of the spirit for the sinne against the spirit with a number moe of the same late And yet haue you not kept the law your selues haue made for you haue translated eighteene years Luke 13. 4 where both the Greeke and olde Interpreter which you propound to follow so superstitiously haue ten and eight years If here seing your folly you amended it why haue you not corrected it in places of greater importance and hauing corrected th' olde traslatour in another place of some moment Rom. 13. 9. where for restored you haue turned comprised why haue you not performed the same in other of greater weight Not to speake of Lindanus your brother in this impietie who speaking of the truth of the matter retained by th' ould interpreter more then the truth yet notwithstanding confesseth the often slips of improprietie in speache and other babishnes of him in translating Now as by your vnlearned translation you haue greatly embased the pure mettle of the holy word so by your corrupt annotations wresting and writhing haling pulling the translation either to a diuers or contrarie sense of that which the wordes giue you haue made it no better then filthie drosse So that it may be verified of your work which Ierom sayth you make of the Gospell of Christ the gospell of Hieron in Epist ad Gal. cap. 1. man or that which is worse the gospel of the Diuell If you had giuen your people your translation alone we dout not but they should notwithstanding all your declinings frō the natiue purenes of the word haue found releefe in it against extream famine which your vnfaithfulnesse hath thrust them into Which thing you wel perceiuing durst not vpon the peril of quenching your kitchin-fire put forth your single few of translatiō without y◠Cooloquintida of your annotatiōs therby to bring certain death to all those that shoulde taste of them Wherein let th' indifferent reader compare our confidence we haue in the goodnes of our cause in either nakedly deliuering the Scripturs without any annotations at al or els with few short directiōs Rather to open the file and course of the Scriptures then to praeiudice the reader either with recommending ours or condemning th' aduersaries iudgment Let him I say compare it with the fearfull dout that the Iesuits haue of theirs which durst not commend their single translation vnto the conscience of the reader vnlesse beside the load and charge of their margent notes they had added almoste at the end of euery chapter a iag of annotations wherein they recommend their owne and condemne our doctrine therby at vnawares testifiing against themselues that the wordes of the holy Ghost speak nothing for them vnles they be twitched aside with the wrinch wrest of their annotatiōs We hauing found Christ in the Scripturs cannot be to seek in the true Church you that hold not the head it is no maruel if you haue not layd hold of a filthy deade caryon in steade of the liuely body of Christ which is his Church We which follow the light of the scripture in all questions that can be moued of religion and not in those onely which you idely rouingly alledge out of August haue promise of resolution 2. Tim. 3 ◠Petr. 1 in all our doubts But you which blasphemously make the Scripturs to giue no more light to the decision of diuers poyntes in religion thē a hair-cloth do miserably run your selues others to the condemnation wherevnto you are ordained In which way although you vvould drag Augustine vvith all your might and maine yet vvill not he keepe you company not onely for that he hath nothing for you in the place vvhich you alledge but that he hath the cleane contrary vnto you vvho affirmeth that in the Scriptures we are to seeke the Church by them to August d◠vnit eccles cap. 3. discusse our controuersies after he saith that all should be remoued whatsoeuer is alledged of either side against other sauing that which commeth out of the canonicall Ibi. cap. 16. Scriptures And againe we desire not to be beleeued because wee are in the Church of Christ or that Optatus or Ambrose or innumerable Bishops of our profession haue cōmended it vnto vs. Howbeit as through the vvhole booke it shall appeare hovv small consent of the auncient Church you haue in the principal demandes hanging betvveene you and vs so it shal appeare a little after that there is a more certaine rule of th' understanding of the Scriptures then you assigne and that although the former iudgement of the Church of Christ sithence th' Apostles time is able to keepe vs from falling dangerouslie in the principal and
faith duetie to her spouse Where also it is to be noted that as th' authoritie of Gods worde is in no account with them So neither the Councill of Trent otherwhere matched with th' authoritie Vpon Act 15. of th' evangelistes nor the supreame authoritie of the Pope is so sacred amongst them but that for lucre they are boulde with both of them For in steed that they praeciselie command that none maye reade any translation whatsoeuer without the Curates testimonie of his abilitie thereunto they haue without repeale of Councill or Popes decree put their translation in mens hands with no note of discretion which we vnderstand but who will giue most You may not thinke much therefore if wee for Truths sake make light of your Trent councill when you for gaine infringe it To the three next sections pag. 3. and 4. If as hath bene shewed all ought to reade the Scriptures then all ages all sexes al degrees and callings all high and lowe rich poore wise and foolishe haue a necessarie duetie heerein of which particularities neither doe the Scriptures nor auncient writers keep silence For the Scripture declareth that wemen and children that from their infancie that Iosua â— 2. Tim. â— Psal 49 Prov. noble and ignoble riche and poore wise and foolish exercised themselues in the holy Scriptures And Theodoret Theodoret. de corrig Grae. affect lib. 5 lyketh well that the points of religion which the Church taught were not onelie knowne of Doctors and maisters but of Taylers Smythes Weauers and other artificers not of men onelie but of wemen and the same not onely learned but labouring wemen sewsters seruants and handmaides not of Citizens alone but of Countrie-folke Ditchers deluers neat-heards and gardiners disputing euen of the holie Trinitie c. And being commanded to be talked of both within the house without Deut. 6 both lying sitting and walking a man woulde thinke that therein is commanded th' exercise of it in al places both table and bench both boate barge And it is too great ignorance to make that difference of place in this matter which was not made vnder the Lawe when in all manner of places it is not onelie lawfull but commanded to talke of the Law And seing to the cleane al things are cleane the boat and boat-man the rudder Titâ—â— 1 and the rower it is too palpable a darknesse to thinke that the Worde 1. Tim. â— should bee profaned by those things which by faith prayer it sanctifieth Wherefore it is most false that the Bibles were then onelie in Monasteries Colledges Churches Bishops Priests and some deuout principal lay-mens hands For Chrysostome exhorteth al the people Epist ad Coloss hom 9 Hieron in Psal 133 In Matth. homil â— concione 3 dâ— Lâ—zarâ— secular men to get them Bibles at the least the new Testament Ierom also saieth 〈◊〉 married men Monkes sillie wemen were wont to conteÌ„d who should learn moe scriptures without booke But Chrysostome is bold and affirmeth it more fit and profitable for the lay people to read Gods worde then for Monkes Priests or any other And if priuate reading of the Bible were vrged so sore when through the trauaile of wryting it must needes cost much how much more then is it now to be pressed when through the benefite of printing it is so easilie and lightlie obtained It is false also that either they sung in an vnknowne language or without knowledge of the sense in some profitable measure which had bene liker vnto the prating pratling and parating of birdes tickling th' eares of fond men then to any Christian melodie pleasant in the eares of the wise God After like men fighting in the dark they stryke themselues instead of the enemie For they are forced to bring forth Ierome exhorting men and wemen to the reading and meditation of the Scripture tâ—â—reby to walke comelie in their seuerall callings Themselues therefore which dryue men from reading of the Scriptures are causes why neither â—irgines can meditate of chastitie nor wyues of faithfulnesse Prince how to rule nor subiect how to obey seeing these dueties are euidentlie to th' vnderstanding of the simplest laide forth in holy Scripture And if then th' inferiors taught not their superiors it was because that as they excelled their vnderlings in age dignitie so they went before them in knowledge and vnderstanding of the word But because Poperie is such a time wherein as Salomon saith the Eccl. 10. 4. seruants ryde and the maisters goe on foot that is to say wherein commonlie the Bishop can byte but not bark the Pastor can milke but not feede the Priest can mum but cannot speak it is needfull that in such a case the waters should go against the streame the scholler should teache his maister the sheepe controule his Pastor c. Yea in the learnedst and lightsomest times that euer were and in personages of notable marke it hath sometymes come to passe that not onelie wemen Luke 2. 38 Luk. 24. 10 act 18. 26. 2. Reg 5 13 Chrysost in Coloss hom 9 August dâ— tempor serm 56. haue instructed men but euen the sheepe the shepheards the schollers their maister the seruant their Lord. And Chrysostome and Augustine will haue euery one to learne as they may teach one another Against which as also against the peoples reading of Scriptures neither Ierome nor August haue a word For Ierome in the same epistle exhorteth to the reading of the scripture onelie he reproueth them which trusting vnto the strength of their wits and to their owne studie seeke not the necessarie helpe of a teacher the principall meanes which God hath ordained to bring men to sound knowledg of the trueth And how far Ierome was from the Iesuites iudgement it appeareth otherwhere when he saith that the Scripture is tearmed the Scripture of the people because it is red vnto Hieron in psal 86 all people that all may vnderstand Lykewise he sharply reproueth such as coÌ„temned those that red the Scripture and mused of them day and night as chatters vnprofitable which is the very popishe spirit that reigneth in these daies The same answere serueth for Augustine who reprooueth not men for reading of the Scripture but onelie for that in reading them and finding difficulties which they cannot auoide they forthwith condemne the worde in steade that they should repaire to such as are able to vndoe their knots Which thing is not onelie cleare vppon the place but confirmed by other sayings Where declaring it not to be enough to heare the word in the Church only he exhorteth al in their priuate houses either August de tempor serm 55 to read or to get some to reade for them And againe that nothing abideth but that which a man hath lay de vp in the treasure of his conscience for health of his soule by reading praying or doing good workes and that we must alwayes pray and
hidden to any it is hiddeÌ„ to those whose vnderstandings the God of this worlde hath blinded that the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ should not shine vnto them This iudgement of th'easines and facilitie of the Scripture haue the auncient fathers Origen saith that they In Exoâ—uÌ„ hom 9 are shut against the negligent and open to those which knock seeke Another that Chrysost in 2. Thessal 2 hom 5 all is cleare and plaine in holie Scriptures whatsoeuer is necessary for vs is manifest Another that the Lord hath spoken by his Hieron in Psal 86 Gospell not that a few but that all shoulde vnderstand it that Plato wrote his wrytings but not to the people but to a fewe scarce three vnderstanding him Last of al Cyrill saith that the Scriptures are profitably Contra Iulian lib. 7 medium circiter lib recommended vnto vs in an easie speach that they should not goe beyond the capacity of anie Wherefore it is no Catholick but the Pelagian iudgement that the August coÌ„tra Iul. lib. 5. cap. 1 Scripture is hard and fit for a fewe learned men Your owne Pope saith that they are lyke a flood wherin the lame may wade Grâ—gor mag Epist ad Leand. in expositione Iobi and th'elephant may swimme And if all the Scripture carrie this light with it it is cleare that euerie booke doth the same Wherefore also the book of the Canticles of Salomon intreating of our spirituall coniunction with our Sauiour Christ and that in most chast and yet familiar speeches it is meete for all ages We aggree that there may be a profitable discretion of reading one book before another and of reading one twise before another once But forsomuch as the whole scripture is a letter sent froÌ„ the almightie to his creature there is no iust cause why the Greg. epist 84 booke of the Canticles c. should be plastered vp that young men children should not read that part of the letter as well as the rest And howsoeuer Ierom in that place seem to allow the Iewes deuise which they saw what time the vaile was before their eyes yet the same Ierome in another place where he speaketh of th'education of a young maide of seauen yeares olde sayeth let her learne without booke the Epist ad Gaudent Psalter and vntill she come to be mariageable let her make the treasure of her heart the bookes of Salomon the Gospels Apostles and Prophetes Vnlesse therefore you will denie that the Cantîcles are amongst the bookes of Salomon you shall be constrained to confesse that Ierome would not haue the teÌ„der ages shut out from the reading of them Ioseph 2. lib. contra Apion Heere the testimonie of Iosephus is notable who affirmeth that if any asked any of the Iewes concerning the law they were aswell able to tell him as their own names And as for your argument that the people should be no more loath to be ordered by their Pastors in the reading of the Scriptures then in th' vse of the holy SacrameÌ„ts it is absurd For the Lorde commanded the father of the householde to teach his children at Deut. 6 home and by some opening to sharpen and set an edge of the doctrine of the lawe that it might cut the deeper into their hearts yet did not he suffer that the householder shoulde minister the Sacrament in his house And your selues which graunt vnto certaine laye persons leaue to haue th' vse of the Bible doe you thinke it lawfull also that you may credite theÌ„ with the administration of the Sacrament Howbeit indeede you deale with the people much a-like both in holding them from the reading of the Scriptures and in excluding them from the Sacrament of the Supper not onelie in that they receiue but once a yeare but that euen then they receiue no Sacrament of Christ but an Idole of your owne braine When therefore you haue answered the trust you professe in the Sacraments men may commit somewhat the more vnto you in the stewardship dealing out of the scriptures There is no such place of Ambrose in that booke If there were yet th' answere is easie that the Bible is called the Priests book as they are called the pillers of the 1. Tim. 3 trueth for that they were more continuallie to occupie themselues in the reading of them But that he meant not therby to shut out the people froÌ„ reading thereof it appeareth in that he saieth That he careth not much for his Ambrose serm 35 Look Ambrose vpon the psal 118. serm 7. in vers â— bellie which is earnest in the food of reading That that is the refection that maketh a fat soule Also that the reading of the Scripture is lyfe We doe not think that you doe so much enuie the people the reading of the Scriptures as that thereby you seeke your vantage that your vile filthie marchandise of Masses and Diriges Pardons and Indulgences hauing no light to shew them by might be vented abroad which would lye rotting at home vpoÌ„ your hand if men might be suffred to bring any light with theÌ„ into your pack-houses But seing you obiect enuie against your selues let vs heare how you answere it You compare your accusers heerein to the Diuell surmysing an euill and an enuious eie in God that forbad our parents the fruit of one tree You do wel if you be able to shew that God hath forbidden the people to reade the Scriptures Which because you cannot th' accusation returneth vppon your selues it being as Satanicall to forbid that which God hath bidden as to bid that which he hath forbiddeÌ„ And because it pleaseth you to compare the restraint of the Scriptures with th' inhibition of eating of the forbidden tree hearken of how contrarie a iudgement Irenaeus is vnto you in this point who alluding to this place of Genesis exhorteth all men to eate of euerie diuine Scripture You take a sure Irenaeus lib 5. ad medium circiter libriâ— way to keep the Church froÌ„ knowledge falsly so named whilest you wil let them know neither good nor bad not vnlike to those parents which to be sure that their children shall not surfet keepe them altogether from meate You woulde haue them wise to sobrietie Therefore belike you bannish them from th' acquaintance of the scripture the mistresse of all wisedome and sobrietie Where reade you that the Scriptures are compared to knyues in the hands of little children They are indeede compared with a sworde in the Ephes 6 hand of a souldier whereby it is easie for them to knowe that your meaning is to betray them into their spirituall enemies hands which haue taken their weapons from them And if some mad men or quarrellers in the campe abuse them to their owne and others destruction yet the law of not bearing sword in fielde will neuer be iust In stead therefore that you shuld haue generallie commanded that all souldiers should
weare swordes but such as in respect of franzie or quarrelling with their fellowes are speciallie restrained you make your proclamation that no souldier shal we are weapon but with special licence therunto Is this your skill and discretion in warfare But thus at least you prouyde that dogges hogges shoulde not come vnto them so doe you also that neither sheepe nor lambe shoulde touch them Thus th' vsurpers are kept from them but the true owners also enioy them not Heerein you bewray a contrarie spirit to that wherewith our Sauiour Christ was conducted For he oftentimes preached in the hearing of known dogs and hogs that is the Scribes and Pharisies obstinatlie set against him least for their sakes the children should be defrauded of their bread And you of the cōtrarie side defraude the children of their appointed portiō least the dogs should happely snatch at it Besides this do you think that the discretion of dogs and hogs from sheep lamb is so easie vnto you as it was vnto our Sauiour Christ and his Apostles Can you tell who deuide the hoofe and chaw the cud who are cleane who are vncleane who read in the simplicitie of heart and who with pretence Heere therefore you mutter that which Harding your companion speaketh plainelie that the common people are dogs and hogs and indeede your argument is none at all in this place vnlesse by hogs and dogs you meane all those frō whom you steale away the reading of the Scriptures As for your description of dogs hogs out of Chrysostome to be hereticks and carnall men it maketh not so much to take the Scriptures away from the common people as frō the learneder and richer sorte For heresie maketh her nest oftner in the breast of the learned and of those that reade the Scriptures in the learned tongues then in the common peoples heades And the riche are more often loaden with carnall lustes then the poorer sort so that if Chrysostome or Tertullian proue any restraint of reading of Scriptures they prooue it directly against your practise which lay the scriptures wide open to all the learned and as it was in Queene Maries dayes if we will remember to those that might dispend by yeare a certaine land that is to those from whome either you durste not holde it or of whome you hoped to haue gaine through speciall licence accorded vnto them You say trulie that no man can vnderstand the Scriptures but by the Spirite of Christ Whereof if you would haue concluded any thing for your purpose you ought to haue shewed that the Spirit of Christ is appropriated to the learned or at the least oftner accompanieth them then it doth th' vnlearned The contrarie whereof being true that God reuealeth his secrets for the most vnto the simple and vnlearned ones and that Matth. 11 1. Cor. 1. not manie wise men nor many noble men are taught by this Spirit it is euident that if any should be shut from the reading and other exercises of the Scriptures the same are especially the learned and not the ruder the nobler and not the baser the richer and not the poorer sorte To the three next sections pag. 6. and 7. Marke good reader the blasphemie of these wretched caitiues that esteeme so vilelie of the holy Scriptures as if there were no better nor more honorable vse of them amongst the people then to make choise of the reading of them rather then to be much occupyed about stage-playes cardes and dice. These men no doubt could be wel content that the people shoulde rather sit downe and pill strawes then they should take anie booke of holy Scripture into their hand Pharaos prophanesse from hence forth shall not be spoken of in respect of th' vncircūcised lips of these beastly Iesuites For he which held the people from exercises of godlinesse in respect of doing some profitable work tending to the fortificatiō of the land but these are content that sports and plaies and that of the basest sort and of worst reporte as cardes dice stage-playes shall keep the people from reading of the Scriptures so that they be not much giuen vnto them And yet notwithstanding if as you praetend they engender heresies amongst the people it should appeare that they shuld be aswel occupied in th' one as in th' other both of them being readie and beaten wayes to euerlasting damnation But a lyar they say hath need of memory For if as you haue alledged Chrysostome cals carnal men dogs and hogs these delicate ones giuen so much t◠cardes dice and stage-playes beeing carnall it followeth by your discourse that Chrysostome was of this iudgement that the most seasonable tyme for the people to reade the Scriptures in was when they were dogs hogs then which what can be more vnworthelie spoken of the good Bishop But marke also good reader the brasen impudencie of the Iesuites whereby it will not be hard for thee to see how all conscience in them is euen seared away as it were with a hot-iron For Chrysostome disputeth of a necessary continuall vse of reading the Scripture by the people therefore doth not so much speak against the lets of certaine times as when they were giuen to stage-playes c. but meeteth with the ordinarie and continual impediment as the care for house wife and children For which purpose he alledgeth th'Apostle that the Scripture was written for our correction Which if the Iesuites will restraine to the correctiō of excesse in dicing and carding c. their cogging and iugling cannot bee hid from anie In the third homilie of Lazarus he doth not obiect th' excuse of pastime but declareth that for to deliuer themselues from the duetie of reading the Scripture one woulde say that he hath matters to plead another that he hath publike affaires a third that he hath his handie-craft to awaite vpon another that he hath his wife his children and familie to maintaine and take care for and generallie euerie one could say I am a man of the worlde it belongeth not to me to reade the Scripture but to those which hauing taken their farewell of the worlde dwell in the mountaines and liue a continent life To whome when he had answered that they had therefore more neede to reade the Scriptures he concludeth that both they and he that liued amongst men as it were in the midst of the seas haue alwaies need of the perpetuall and continuall solace of the Scriptures And yet reckoning vp the manifolde vses of reading of the scriptures by the people hee concludeth thus Wherefore it is necessary that wee shoulde incessantly fetche our armour at the Scripture Againe he compareth in the same places which are heere quoted the books of Scriptures to th'artificers instrument wherewith he getteth his liuing which he wil not gage and as he maketh his works with his tooles so we by the Scriptures must correct our depraued minds And a little after The reading
fundamentall poyntes of our religion yet that they cannot free vs from error in every question that may bee mooued of it not to speake of the faint proofes that sometime they vsed euen in great mysteries of our religion vvherein notvvithstanding touching the matter it selfe their iudgement is sounde and Catholicke To the next section page 11. After that by hiding burning the Scriptures by threatning and murdering of men for reading of them they cannot attaine to the causing of such a night of ignorance wherin they might doe all thinges without controulment there remayned one onely engine which Satan with all his Angels hauing framed and hammered vpon his lying forge hath furnished them of This engine is the defacing dis-authorizing of the Scriptures as it were the taking from them their girdle or garter of honour by a false surmise of corruption of them in the languages wherein they were firste written Which abominable practise being attempted in th' old testament by Lindanus whom some term Blindasinus is nowe assayed in the new by the Iesuites who of others for their deadly hatred of the trueth are not called vnfitly Iebusites First therfore or euer we come to their particular arguments whereby they would as it were couer the head and maiestie of th'authentical copies in the Greek to bring them to subiection vnto th' olde translation we think it not amisse to set downe the generall doctrine that no one oracle or sentence of God can fall away Whereby it will be euident that the holy Scriptures both in the old new testament written in their original tongues cannot either by additioÌ„ detraction or exchange be corrupted Wherevnto the coÌ„sideration of th'autor of them ministreth a substantiall proofe For seing they are of Psal 111. â— God all whose workes remaine for euer it followeth that al the holy scriptures being not only his handiework but as it were the chiefe and master worke of all other must haue a continuall endurance And if there be not the least and vilest creature in the world which eyther hath not heretofore or shall not hereafter by the mightie hand of God vpholding all thinges be continued how much lesse is it to be estemed that any sentence of God wherin a greater glory commeth to him and greater fruite to his people then of many of those creaturs which for these two ends he doth so carefully continue should perish and fall away Secondly they all are written generally for our instruction more particularlie for admonition and warning for comfort and consolation c vnles we will say that God may be deceiued in his purpose and end wherefore he ordeyned them it must needes be that it must continue whatsoeuer hath bene written in that respect For if it or any part thereof fal awaye the same cannot according to th'ordinance of god either informe vs against ignorance or warne vs against danger or comfort vs against afflictions or finallye doe any other dutie vnto vs which we haue need of they were prepared for Thirdly if th' authority of th'autheÌ„tical copies in Hebrew Chalde Greek fal there is no high court of appeale where coÌ„trouersie rising vpon the diuersitie of translations or otherwise may be ended so that the exhortation of hauing re course vnto the law to the prophets Esai â— and of our Sauiour Christ asking Luke 10 Hieron epist ad Maâ—cel epist ad Suniam Fretel ad Damasum praefâ—in 4. Euang praef in paenitent Ambros de Spirit sanct lib. â— cap. 6 August de doctr christiana 2. lib. cap 11 lib. 11. contra Faust Manich. opist 59 how it is written and how readest thou are now either of none effect or not sufficient whilest these disgracers and disgraders of the Scripture haue taught men to say that the coppies are corrupted and the sense changed Nay not onely our estate is worse then theirs vnder the law and in our sauiour Christs time but worse theÌ„ theirs which liued some hundred yeres after Christ when th' ancient fathers exhorted in such cases that men should make sute vnto th' originall Scriptures to haue an end of their controuersies Yea their owne Gratian out of Augustine falsly alledged for Ierome sendeth vs in deciding of differences not to th' olde translator but to th'originals of the Hebrew in th' olde and of the Greek in the new testament They vse quarrelously to surmise against vs that we abbridge the priuiledges of the Churches of our dayes because vve accord them not to be so ample in euery point as they vvere vvhen the Apostles liued But vvo vnto the Churches of our dayes if the Scriptures be as the Papistes would beare vs in hand corrupted if the Charters and recordes whereby we hold the inheritance of the kingdom of heauen are rased or otherwise falsifyed if we haue not wherewith to conuey our selues to be children vnto the heauenly father and Priests vnto God in Iesus Christ further then from the hand of such a Scribe and Notarie as both might erre and hath erred diuersly Hieron in 6. c. Es August de ciuit dei lib. 15. c. 13 These euidences were safely surely kept when one onely nation of the Iewes and the same sometymes a few excepted vnfaithfull bare the keyes of the Lords librarie now when there be many nations that haue keyes vnto th'ark or counter wherein they are kept it is altogether vncredible that there should be such packing or such defect as th' aduersarie doth wickedly suppose Againe if the Lord haue kept vnto vs the booke of Leuiticus in it the ceremonies which ar abolished wherof there is now no practise for that they haue a necessary and profitable vse in the Church of God how much more is it to be esteemed that his prouideÌ„ce hath watched ouer other bookes of the Scripture which more properly belong vnto our times Laste of all passing by other reasons which might further be alledged let vs heare the Scripture it selfe witnessing of it own authority durablenes to al ages Thus therfore Moses writeth of it the secret hidden things remaine Deu. 29. 29 to the Lord our God but the things that are reueiled are to vs and our children for euer Psa 119. 152 Dauid also professeth that he knew long before that the Lord had founded his testimonies for euermore But our Sauiour Mat 24. 35 Mar. 13. 32 Math. 5. 18 Christs testimony is of all other most euident that heauen and earth shall passe but that his word can not passe and yet more vehemently that not one iote or small letter prick or stop of his law can passe vntill all be fulfilled Now as for the common obiection of diuerse bookes meÌ„tioned in th' old Testament where of we find none so intituled in the canon thereof it is easily answered That either they were ciuill and commonwelth stories whether the reader is referred if it like him to read the stories