Sanctuarium profanis occlusum, sive, de ss. bibliorum prohibitione in lingua vulgari seu vernacula tractatus

—by which it is supported, and the testimony which his Senate gave after a severe examination regarding the utility that this volume might bring to the Church, would be more than sufficient to defend it against the strike of Calumny, and to convince even the most stubborn minds to venerate and embrace the truth defended here.

In truth, however, since in the corruption of this age in which we live, there is nothing so firm that the insolence of some does not infest it, nothing so holy that they do not take it as glory to violate, nothing of such solid truth that is not contradicted: (indeed, iniquity finally ascends to the point of drawing censures against works based on the title alone, and condemning books unread; nay, it arrogates to itself a right over the thoughts of others, and, when it cannot censure the doctrine, it blasphemes the intention of the Author:) I think it appropriate to briefly explain the intent, order, and course of the whole work, to remove any excuse for the negligent, and to cut off any pretext for the envious to slander.

I say, therefore, that although many have written until now against the truth to be treated in this work, I do not wish to attack any one of them in particular, but only to defend one of the more serious practices of the Church, and one of the principal Maxims of Religion, which consists in hiding mysteries from the unworthy and keeping the profane away from the Sanctuary. I do not delight in stirring up enmity in the least; and (besides the fact that I am naturally averse to altercations and conflicts) the example of Jesus Christ, who in all his life commended nothing more than gentleness and meekness, forces me to flee from the brawls and invectives that wound Christian charity under the pretext of defending the Faith. Therefore, without any passion, I will demonstrate that Holy Scripture should not be made common or vulgar, both because of the reverence due to the word of GOD, and because of the submission we are bound to offer to the oracles of the Church, and because of the danger to the salvation of souls; I will follow no other guides in the context of the entire work than the Holy Fathers and Doctors of the Church, whose words I transfer to the vernacular, and I provide as it were a thread and binding by which all their thoughts and senses are united and gathered.