Prou 3.rs. To the Reader. Epile he doth with[Inchadmirable plainenefeandfbortiees allthefe,ar 'mother, norall the otherjhew him more ski/fall workeman then thiodoth.But accoun- ting itfollie topaint apearle, Iwilt rather nowgiuefome tali andreafon of that I haste done : ar alfa remooue fomeforupies which may otberwife perhaps bee moonedageingit. Gold lyeth not vpon theface, bat in the bowelsrofthe earth , and thericher anyminerall is, the moreinduflriom pathnature beone to laie it vp in the deepeft vaines. Essenfoconfidering that the price ofthe wifedome of Godcannot bee found, to which thepure/EgoldofOphir,nor allpearles are to be compared: wee may not think! that the Lordisfoprodigal! ofit, or carelefe as tokaue it abroad for entryffranger thatpaffeth by to take it vp with 4Nidle hand; or to trample vnder his wandringfette : but that he loath difpofed it as men do their treafures which they hide and locke in their fureff coffers, and thatvnder "their eie, And Ptou.e.;. were it not fo , needleffelyfhouldwebe commanded to feeke for her as for Bl- uer, and fearch for her as for neafures: vpon which condition snely it iscone- nanted, that we'ballvnderftand thefeare of theLord, and find the know- ledge ofGod. For howfoeuer wemaynot afcribe darkeneffe andobfeurityon- to theScriptures, vnles wewillfay ,that theLord loath fpokenfomethingwhich hewould not bane vnderflood; andalfofalli fie that ofthe Apoflle , who compa- reth thewordoftheProphets(which ofallparts oftheScriptures is thedarken) to a 1 ghtfbining in a darkeplace:yet the wifedome ofGod would haue (not all but) fome places more difficult to our danke vnder sandinng not oney for the dazeling ofthe eyes ofthe worff, whoneuer care to know or comprehend any of thefe my/leries: but that the beg alfamight r . fee their owne dulneffe of conceit in heauenlythings: fo to keepe them low in their own eyes, as who cannot ermine fuchanhigh knowledgeof them/elites. 2. be,¡lirredvp to more diligent fludy, reading, hearing, meditationandprayer, that by this continua/l exercife-in the word, they mayproft, andpraceede in the knowledgeof god, and in thevnder- 'landing oftheft millcries, whichareadmirable to the ceingels themfelues. 3. makefò muchthemore bothofthe wordand therniniflerie of it : the Lordfore- few, that the things that arecage we eafily contemne, and that things lightly i¡y1a,ty come by are lightly fee by. That anypart ofthis booke is ciafeed and fealed, it Dania. is in regardofour naturedblindneffe, who cannot behold:he brightneffe of the forme ofrighteoufneffefinning in the Scriptures.. But that this natural!corruptionmight not reigns in theelec`l,for their hurt, theLordlefns hathleft tohis Church thegiftof interpretation, which is a key to open thisclofet of God: and bathfurred vp faithfullmen from time to time enduedbyhis fpirit, who in ettentiue and diligent reading of the Scripturesby thehelprof 1. Arts, as Grammer, Rhetoricke, Logicke, Philofophy , c5-c. 2. knowledge oftheproprieties of wordsand phrafes of the tongues wherein they werewritten. 3. comparing ofScriptures with thentfelues, antecedents with confegoentsg, Deus noluitta. ceriqued.vole- it.cnbi Augull.
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