PREFACE TO THE READER.

and this by a certain and good counsel of the author, until the final hand has been placed upon them: which you ought not to take with an ill spirit. For histories relate of Virgil that he indeed composed his poems in the morning, but in the afternoon, as if by licking them, he finally perfected them; and no one ever held this as a fault against him, but rather he is held and celebrated as the most learned of poets. If we all judge with such equity in profane and fictional matters, such as those Virgil described, let us much more apply the same candor to those who meditate upon and bring forth divine and true matters, so that, full of grace, they may first conceive them within themselves from the seed of divine illumination; then, having conceived them, silently cherish them within; having cherished them, bring them forth joyfully from themselves at the proper time; then, having brought them forth, carefully rear and form them among themselves; and finally, cause them to come forth into the public view and for the benefit of the Church of Christ. Those longed-for ones have been born, and are now being reared by the Author, and will shortly be issued in this very form and type, so that the eighth may be conveniently inserted, and the tenth most aptly appended. You meanwhile enjoy these two books, together with the earlier ones given before, in the Lord, just as they have been communicated to you through the Lord: and gratefully proclaim this zeal of the author for spreading the truth, that he preferred to issue a half-volume than to allow you to burn with desire any longer.

But the most laborious Archbishop is now planning other works at once, which, for the sake of his supreme zeal for professing the truth and his greatest desire for instructing others, the most easy and humane Doctor will not (I hope) deny to the uses of the Christian Church. For a lamp, when lit, does not stand under a bushel, but has now been placed upon a lampstand, and it shines to all who are in the house. Fare well, Christian Reader.