26 / 504
A
Preface to the
Reader.
a
learned
Bi/hop
in this nation long
agoe
complained,
that
they
are
(till
opening
their
mouths
ágainft
Calvin who
hope
them
to
mouthes
to
fpeak
with:
r-
'bbot:
ad
Thom
:)He
will
in
the
Judgment offome,be
fofarre
accounted
fame- bady,as
to
take
off
from them
the confident
Af-
fertion that
Salmafm,and
Blondell:4e,
were
mortalsam
primi
that rejeiled
thefe
Epift
es.
The
Centnriators
of
cMagdenburg
were efteemed
to
be
fame bodies
in their
dayes
:
and
yet
they
make
bold to call thefe Epiftles
into Queftion:
and
to
tender
fundry Arguments to
the
impairing
of
their
Credit
and
Authority.
This
then
they
Cent: a,capuo.
De
EpiJcop: Antioch:
ac primum
de
!patio.
Let-Lori
pio
&
attests
canbderandtem
relinguimae
guantam
fie
illis
Epi/lolis tribuendnm.
Non
enimdiebitamm gun;
in
leflione:arum
cuilibet
ea
in
mentem
versant
:
primnm
pod
fe,
é
is
om-
nibtu Epiflolis,
lint
fair
Copiefs, occaf
o
fcribendipreetermitritnr,nec
vet
divinare licet,gnare
po-
ti :mimead
hanc
vetillam
Ecclefiam
lirerar volnerit
mittere.
Teinde
ipbue
peregrination:
Ratio
non
parvaminjicit
feropulum confrderantibra,
vied
malts reflioreCr6revioriitinere
,Roman:
poruerit navigare,
ut
teflateer
vet
ipf
ete
Treuli Exemplum. Expende
loam
longuefit
iter,An-
ti:chiaia
ad
linos
Aegaipelagi
fe recipere
,
ibig rtE
s
jarfutn
ver/su
Sep:entric:um
afcendere
t
prarspaar civitates inlittore
/tae
ufg;
adT'roadem
perlaJlrarr
cam
tamers
Rornanam
iter
ft
defli-
mitnm verfne
sccafum.Tertio re,
ejufmodi
in
ifiar literas
infperfæfent
at
ad
eae
propemodam
obflu-
peat
let
}ör
&c.Hæc
dem
alià,
nonfomnoleato
lettori Oxidant,
non
exiflimaverimur
&r.
Thus they
at the
worlds
firft
awaking,
as
to the Confideration
of
things
of
this
kind.
To
them adds the learned Whitaker
cent:
una
:de
perfeE
fcript
:goof
:Jextâc:sa:whereafter
he
bath difputed
againit
the
credit
of
thefe
Epiftles,joyntly
and
teverally,with fundry
Argo_
ments,at length
he
Concludes,fed
de his
Epiflolie
facie
malts,&
de hoc
Ignacio
quid judicandum
f
t,fatu
ex
iu
conflarepotefl
gum
diximta.
Ifla
Papilla
non
resident
cueri
&c.
To
whom fundry
others might
be added
convincing
Salmaßtu
and
Blondellue,not
to
havebeen
Mortaliumpri-
mithat
called them
into
Qeftion.
I
have
not infifled on what
bath
been
fpokcn,as
though
I
were
wholly
of
the
mind
of
them,
who utterly
condemne
thofe Epiftles
as
falle
and
counterfeits though
I
know
no
po(iìbi-
tity
of
(landing; beforethe Arguments
levyed
again!'
tbem(notwithltandingthe
fore-menti
-
oned
Do
&ors attempt
to
that
purpofe
without
acknowledging fo much
corruption
in
them,
Additions and Detroflions
from what they
were when
firft
written
, as
will
render them
not
fo
clearly
ferviceable
to
any end
or
purpofe
,
whereunto
their
Teftimony
may be
required,
as
other unqueftionablewritings
of
their
Antiquity
are
juftly
efteemed
to
be.
That
thefe
Epi-
files
have
fallen
into
the
hands
offuch unwotthylmpoftots
as
have
filled
the
latter
ages
with
labour
and
travehto difcovertheir
deceits,
The
Dolor
himfelfe granteth:di
fen
:a.cap.2
Sell:
6:nulla
(
faith
he)
quicken
nobis
incumbir
nece
itas, ut in
until
exemplarium
&
editio
mm
varl-
etate
&
inconflantiâ,nihil nipiam
Ignatis
interpolation
ant
adfutum
affirmemru.
"-And
indeed
the foyfted
paffages
in many
places are
fo evident,yea
fhameful, that no
man
who
is
not
robotved
to
fay any
thing without
care
of
proof
or
Truth
can once appeare
in
arty
defenfative about them.
Of
this
fort
are
the
fhreds and
pieces
out
of
that
branded
coun-
terfeit
piece
of
Clemens
,
or
the
Apof'les
conflirutions
which
are
almoft
in every
Epiftle
pac-
ked
in,in
a
bungling manner,oftentimes
difturbing
the
fenfe and coherence
of
the
place
:
yea
fometimes
Guth
things
are
thence
tranfcribed,as in them,are confiderable
Arguments
of their
Corruption,
and
falfhood
;
fo
is
that period in
the
Epiftle to
the
Magneftans
taken
from
Cle-
mens.Csnffitar.lib.6
cap. 2.
'ACedVadkr
alaeiundt
b
nxyz>,ic
áyi,pii
us
d)
óuotzr
aidar.
This
eAlbed-
dadan
being mentioned next
after
Abfolom
s
dying
by the lots
of
his head,is
therefore
fuppo.
fed
to be
Sheba
the
Son
of
Bickrí
,
but
whence
that
counterfeit
Clemens
had
that
name
is
not
known. That
the
counterfeit
Clementby e/Ibeddadan
intended
Sheba
is
evident
from the
words
he affignes
unto
him
in
the
place
mentioned.
Abeddadan
laid
flux
tli
uol:keys
i,
ozóì
a,
dd
xw,varslx
ú
ÿv'te000ir.
And joynes him
with
Abfolom
in
his
Rebellion
:
futh
paffages
as
thefe they
are
fuppofed
to
have received
from that
vaine and
foolifh
imp:
loe:but
if
it
be
true
which
fome
have
obferved
that there
is
not
the
leaf'
mention
made
of
any
of
thofe
fiflitiana
ronflitstions
tnthe
three
firft
Ages
after
Chrift
,
&
that the
d1;24xn
Araovrt,v
mentioned
by
En-
tibiae
,
and
Arhunafiiu,
as
allo that
Javd
,tin
Epiphanine
,
are
quite other things
,
then
thofe
eight
books
of
confliturions
we
now
have ,
it
may rather
be
fuppofed,that that
fattish
deceiver
rather
raked up force
of
his
filch from theCorruption
of
thefe Epiflles
,
then that any
thing
ont
of
him
is
crept
into
them.
Other
inftances
might
begiven
of
fluffing
thefe
Epithet
with
the very garbidge
of
that
beaft.
Into
what
bands
alto thefe Epil}les
have
fallen
by
the
way,
in
their,journymg down
towards thefe
ends
of
the
world
,
is
evident
from
thefe
citations
made
out oftheìn,
by them
of
old,
which now
appeare
not
in
tbem.Theodoret.
Dial:
3.
adv:
Hera