themſe]ves to their © onf7ſors, to be ſuch as are, if not trozen in the Dregs, yet.ſowred with the leaven of their Superſti- | tion. Yet this ſeemed coo much to Clement the Ezghth, who therefore fruſtrated the Grant of Pas the Fourth. They will : allow none to be read but the Doway Bibles, and the Remiſh Teſtaments, ( the Corruptions of which have been ſufficient- | | fy manifeſted by many Learned Men) nor will they truſt their People with theſe, without the Licenſe of their own Bis | . ſhops and: Inquiſitors. This is the liverty they boaſt of giving to any of their Religion to Read the Scriptures in Ezel:/h, What it is worth, let any Man judge. | Inthe mean time, thoſe who are not affected with the Mercy of God to us in this particular, muſt declare themſelves nei- ther to have any-yall value for God, in the mighty workings of his Providence to bring this about, nor yet for the Blood * of Holy Mr. Tindail, who died in his Teſtimony tothis Truth, That zo People ought to be deprived of jo great a Good, © nor for the Labours and Pains of thole many Servants of God,, who travelled in this great Work, and thought no La- bourin it too much, nor indeed for their own Souls, to the Salvation of which, if the Holy Scripture in our own Lane guage doth not highly contribute, we muſt lay the blame upon our ſelves
But although we have the B:ble-in a Language we underſtand, yet we may ſee reaſon to cry out as Bernard does with reference to the Sovg of Solomon Here is anexcellent Nut, but who ſtall crack it > Heavenly Bread, but who ſhall break > For thothe Papiſts and ſuch as have ill will to, the good of Souls make too great an /mprovement of the difficul- ties in Hoy Writ, in making them an Argument againſt the Peoples having themin a Language which they canunderſtand, '! ( for Avgyſtine ſaid true when he ſaid, there are Fords in them wherein Lambs may wade, as well as Depths in which E-
lephants may ſwim ) and whatothers obſerve, is as true, That things neceſſary to be believed, or done in order to Salvation, ly plain and obvious in Holy Writ : yet it is as true, that there 1s much of Holy Writ, ' of which the generality cf P-ople muſt ſay as the Eunuch, How can 1 underſtand except ſome man ſhould guide me? Ats 8.31. not to mention the ſeeming ( on= 3radi;ons that arc betwixt the Holy Penmen of' thoſe Sacred Books ) and indeed itis hard to ſay, what Eook of Scrips ture 15 ſo plain that every oxe who runneth can read it with nuderitanding > luch a valt difference there is betwixt the Ca-" | pacities ofthole who yet haye the ſame honeſt hearts. ) This hath made Wile and Learned Men not only ſee a need ot lar- ger Commentaries, but alſoof ſhorter Netes, Annotations, and Paraphraſes, &c. Nor tis this a Jate diſcovery. Ir is ups ward of three hundred years ſince Lyzra wrote his ſhort Notes upon the whole Bible. What YVatabulus and Eraſmus ( tha! all of them Papri?s) have done ſince, is ſufficiently known 3 to lay nothing of many others of that Religion. Amongſt rhe Reformed Churches, there hath been a Learned P;/cator in Germany, Junius and 1rcarellins elſewhere, who did tie ſame things : Eutall thele wrote their Notes in Latir, not in the p<cnliar Language of any Countr-y, The ai Cienret Notes we have in Emelifh were thoſe ordinarly known by the Name of the Geneve Notes, after two years labour finii'«« 1560. by thoſe good men who tiying from Queen Maries Perlecution, took Sanctuary there. A Wotk lo acceprabl» 1G. Proteſtants in the beginning of our Reformation, that their Bible with thoſe Notes annexed was ( as is obierved bv the Authors of ourlate Ergl:ſh Annotations) Printed above Thirty tires over by Queen El7zabeth's Printers and their Hey and Syceefſors. There wanted not one indeed, who Fifty years after boldly refleted on that excellent Work in the rc Publick Pulpit of our Univerſity of Oxford ; but how grateful his Refledtions were to the Umzerſty ar thit time, m7 beread in the Preface to the Engliſh Annotations : He- was in the ſame Pulpit checkt and confuted by the Do&er 7 Chair, and ſuipended by the Governours ofthe Univerſity. The Labours of Eraſzms in his Paraphraſe on the New Te: 7 ment were {o acceptable, that by pbl;ck Order they were to be in every Church expoſed to publick View, and Uſe” ar.«: (if we miſtake not ) ought to be ſo ftilt. After theſe, . were publiſhed Diodates Notes written in 1talzan, ſince tranſ]:ted. 7nto Emelifh. About the year 1640. ſome Deliberations were taken for the Compoſing and Printing other E:g/;/h Note. ( the old Geneve Notes notſo well fitting our new and more correct Tranſlation of the Bible ) Theſe were at fir't intended "to belo ſhort, that they might be printed together with our Bible in Filis or 2arto.. But thole Divines who were ir oaged in it found, this would not anſwer their end 3 17 being not polbible by fo ſhort Notes, to give People any toler:+i- light into the w hole Text ; yet they ſo concrafted rheif Works, that it was all diſpatched in one Volume «5 Which tho” it were ar firſt greedily bought up, yer we cannot ſay it gavelſo general a ſarisfattion C by reaſon of the ſhortneſs of it , as v1:s deſired and expected. So as upon the Second Eqition, it Came forth quite a new thing, making twojuſt Volumes: This was ſo acceptable to the World, thar within /zxteer: Tears it was ready for a 1hird Edition, with ſome turther En- { Iargements. Before which alſo were publiſhed the Dutch Anrzotations tranſlated into. our Language,
So that at this day ( beſides the ſhorter Geneve Notes) we have three ſorts of Annotations in our own Language 5 Thoſe of famous Diodate; the Duichk Annotations, and thoſe of our own Divines. ( originally fo wrote. ) After which 4} New Avunotations may ſeem ſuperfluous. It ſeems therefore reaſonable that we ſhould give onrReagers ſome ſhort account 'T of our undertaking. Wedare ſay nothing could be further from the Thought of our Rezercnd Brother ( now at reſt with God ) who firſt began this Work, than to reflect any diſhonour upon thoſe eminent Perſons who laboured before in Works of this nature. nor is it any thing further from our thoughts. ( They all of them did famouſly in their Gene- | ration. ) And it it ſhould appear to any of our Readers, that any of us have {cen further into any particular Texts than | _*F thoſedid who went before us, yet we hope all our Readers will underſtand there 1s little Honour due to us upon that