THE PREFACE
holy Eunuch. They feele no such depth of God's science in the Scriptures, as S. Augustine did when he cried out, Mira profunditas eloquiorum tuorum, mira profunditas (Deus meus) mira profunditas! horror est intendere in eam, horror honoris, & tremor amoris; that is, O wonderful profoundnes of thy wordes; wonderful profoundnes, my God, wonderful profoundnes! It maketh a man quake to looke on it: to quake for reuerence, and to tremble for the loue thereof. They regard not that which the same Doctour affirmeth, that the depth and profunditie of wisedom, not only in the wordes of holy Scripture, but also in the matter & sense, is so wonderful, that, liue a man neuer so long, be he of neuer so high a witte, neuer so studious, neuer so fervent to attaine the knowledge thereof, yet when he endeth, he shall confesse he doth but begin. They feele not with S. Hierom, that the text hath a hard shel to be broken before we come to the kernel. They will not stay them selues in only reading the sacred Scriptures thirtene yeres together, with S. Basil & S. Gergorie Nazianzene, before they expound them, nor take the care (as they did) neuer otherwise to interpret them, then by the vniforme consent of their Forefathers and tradition Apostolike.
If our new Ministers had had this cogitation and care that these and all other wise men haue, and euer had, our countrie had neuer fallen to this miserable state in religion, and that vnder pretence, colour, and countenance of God's word: neither should vertue and good life haue bene so pitifully corrupted in time of such reading, toiling, tumbling and translating the Booke of our life and saluation: wherof the more precious the right and reuerent vse is, the more pernicious is the abuse and prophanation of the same: which euery man of experience by these few yeres proofe, and by comparing the former daies and manners to these of ours, may easily trie.
Looke whether your men be more vertuous, your women more chast, your children more obedient, your seruants more trustie, your maides more modest, your frendes more faithful, your laitie more iust in dealing, your Clergie more deuout in praying whether there be more religion, feare of God, faith and conscience in all states now, then of old, when there was not so much reading, chatting, and iangling of God's word, but much more sincere dealing, doing, and keeping the same. Look whether through this disorder, women teach not their husbands, children their parents, yong fooles their old and wise fathers, the Scholers their Maisters, the sheep their Pastour, and the People the Priest. Looke whether the most chast and sacred sentences of God's holy word, be not turned of many, into mirth, mockerie, amorous ballets & detestable letters of loue and leudnes: their delicate rimes, tunes, and translations much encreasing the same.
This fall of good life & prophaning the diuine mysteries, euery body seeth: but the great corruption & decay of faith hereby, none see but wise men, who onely know, that, were the Scriptures neuer so truely translated, yet Heretikes and ill men that follow their owne spirit and know nothing but their priuàte fantasie, and not the sense of the holy Church and Doctours, must needes abuse them to their damnation, and that the curious, simple, and sensual men which haue no tast of the things that be of the Spirit of God, may of infinite places take occasion of pernicious errours. For though the letter or text haue no errour, yet (saith S. Ambrose) the Arrian, or (as we may now speake) the Caluinian interpretation hath errors. lib. 2 ad Gratianum ca. 1. and Tertullian saith: The sense adulterated is as perilous as the style corrupted. De Præscrip. S. Hilarie also speaketh thus: Heresie riseth about the vnderstanding, not about the writing. The fault is in the sense, not in the word. lib. 2 de Trinit. in principio. And S. Augustin saith, that many hold the scriptures as they doe the Sacraments, ad speciem, & non ad salutem, to the outward shew, and not to saluation. de Baptis. cont. Donat. li. 3 ca. 19. Finally all Sect-maisters and rauening wolues, yea the Diuels them selues pretend Scriptures, alleage Scriptures, and wholy shroud them selues in Scriptures, as in the wooll & fleese of the simple sheepe. Whereby the vulgar, in these daies of general disputes, can not but be in extreme danger of errour, though their bookes were truely translated, & were truely in thēselues Gods owne word indeed.
But the case now is more lamentable: for the Protestants and such as S. Paul calleth ambulantes in astutia, walking in deceitfulnes, haue so abused the people, and many other in the world, not vnwise, that by their false translations they haue insteed of God's Law and Testament, and for Christes written will and word, giuen them their owne wicked writing and phantasies, most shamefully in all their versions, Latin, English, and other tongues, corrupting both the letter and sense by false translation, adding, detracting, altering, transposing, pointing, and al other guileful meanes: specially where it
