Page:The Holy Scripture (Myles Coverdale).djvu/6

==A prologe to the reader== vnthankfulnes: but &#383;eynge yt lighte is come into the worlde, loue nomore the workes of darknes, receaue not the grace of god in vayne. Call to thy remembraunce how louynge &amp; mercifull God is vnto the, how kyndly and fatherly he helpeth the in al trouble, teacheth thyne ignoraunce, healeth the in all thy &#383;yckne&#383;&#383;e, forgeueth the in all thy &#383;ynnes, fedeth ye, geueth the drynke, helpeth ye out of pre&#383;on, nory&#383;heth the mynde(I saye) + that earne&#383;tly, and con&#383;ydre how thou ha&#383;t receaued of god all the &#383;e benefites(yee and many mo then thou can&#383;t de&#383;yre) how thou art bounde lykewi&#383;e to &#383;hewe thy &#383;elfe vnto thy neghboure as farre as thou can&#383;t, to teach him yf he be ignoraunt, to helpe him in all his trouble, to heale his &#383;ycknes, to forgeue him his offences, and that hartely, to fede him, to cheri&#383;h him, to care for him, and to &#383;e yt he wante nothyng. And on this behalfe I be&#383;eke the(thou yt ha&#383;t ye ryches of this worlde, and loue&#383;t God with thy harte) to lyfte vp thyne eyes, and &#383;e how greate a multitude of poore people renne thorow euery towne: haue pitie on thyne awne fle&#383;h, helpe them with a good harte, and do with thy councell all that euer thou can&#383;t, that this vn&#383;hamefa&#383;t beggynge maye be pat downe, that the&#383;e ydle folkes maye be &#383;et to laboure, &amp; that &#383;och as are not able to get theyr lyuynge, maye de prouyded for. At the lee&#383;t thou yt art of councill with &#383;och as are in acctoryte, geue them &#383;ome occa&#383;yon to ca&#383;t theyr heades together, and to make prouy&#383;yon for the poore. Put the in remembraunce of tho&#383;e noble cityes in other countrees, that by the auctoryte of theyr prynces haue &#383;o rychely a&#772;d well prouided for theyr poore people, to the greate &#383;hame &amp; di&#383;hone&#383;tye of vs, yf we lyke wy&#383;e receauynge ye worde of God, &#383;hewe not &#383;och lyke frutes therof. Wolde God yt tho&#383;e men(who&#383;e office is to maynteyne ye common welth) were as diligent in this cau&#383;e as they are in other. Let vs bewarre by tymes, for after vnthankfulnes there foloweth euer a pilege: the marcyful hande of God be with vs, &amp; defende vs that we be not partakers therof.

Go to now(mo&#383;t deare reader) &amp; &#383;yt the downe at the Lordes fete and reade his wordes, &amp;(as Mo&#383;es teacheth the Jewes) take them in to theyr herte, &amp; let thy talkynge &amp; communicacion be of them whan thou &#383;ytte&#383;t in thyne hou&#383;e, or goe&#383;t by ye waye, whan thou lye&#383;t downe, &amp; whan thou ry&#383;eth vp. And aboue all thynges fa&#383;&#383;hyon thy lyfe, &amp; co&#772;uer&#383;acion acordyng to the doctryne of the holy goo&#383;t therin, that thou maye&#383;t be partaker of ye good promy&#383;es of god in the Byble, &amp; be heyre of his ble&#383;&#383;ynge in Chri&#383;t. In whom yf thou put thy trust &amp; be an vnfayned reader or hearer of hys worde with thy hert, thou &#383;halt fynde &#383;wetene&#383;&#383;e theryn, a&#383;pye wo&#772;derous thynges, to thy vnder&#383;tondynge, to the auoydynge of all &#383;edicyous &#383;ectes, to the abhorrynge of thy olde &#383;ynfull lyfe, &amp; to the &#383;tably&#383;hynge of thy godly conuer&#383;acyon.

In the fir&#383;t boke of Mo&#383;es(called Gene&#383;is) thou maye&#383;t lerne to knowe the almightye power of god in creatynge all of naught, his infinite wy&#383;dome in ordryng the &#383;ame, his ryghteou&#383;nes in puny&#383;hynge ye vngodly, his loue &amp; fatherly mercy in comfortynge the righteous with his promes, &amp;c.

In the &#383;econde boke(called Exodus) we &#383;e the myghtye arme of god, in delyuerynge his people from &#383;o greate bondage out of Egypte, and what proy&#383;yon he maketh for them in the weldernes, how he reacheth them with his whol&#383;ome worde and how the Tabernacle was made and &#383;et vp.

In the thyrde boke(called Leuiticus) is declared what &#383;acrifices the pre&#383;tes &amp; Leuites v&#383;ed, and what theyr office &amp; mini&#383;tracyon was.

In the fourth boke(called Numerus) is declared how the people are nombred and mu&#383;tred, how the captaynes are cho&#383;en after ye trybes &amp;kynreds, how they were forth to ye battayll, how they pitched theyr tentes, &amp; how they brake vp.

The fyfth boke(called Deuteronemium) &#383;heweth how that Mo&#383;es now beynge olde, rehear&#383;eth the lawe of god vnto ye people, putteth them in remembraunce agayne of all the wonders &amp; benefices that god had &#383;hewed for them, and exhorteth them earne&#383;tly to loue ye Lorde theyr god, to cleue vnto him, to put there tru&#383;t in him and to herken vnto his voyce.

After the death of Mo&#383;es doth Jo&#383;ue brynge the people in to the lo&#772;de of promes where God doth wonderous thynges for his people by Jo&#383;ue, which di&#383;tributeth ye londe vnto them, vnto euery trybe theyr po&#383;&#383;e&#383;&#383;ion. But in theyr wealth they fotgat the goodnes of God, &#383;o that oft tymes he gaue the&#772; ouer in to the hande of theyr enemies. Neuertheles whan &#383;o euer they called faithfully vpon him, and conuerted, he delyuered them agayne, as the boke of Judges declareth.

In the bokes of the kynges, is de&#383;crybed the regiment of good and euell prynces, and how the decaye of all nacions commeth by euel kynges. For in Jeroboam thou &#383;ey&#383;t what my&#383;chefe, what ydolatrye &amp; &#383;och like abhominacyon foloweth, wha&#772; the kynge is a maynteyner of fal&#383;e doctryne, a&#773;d cau&#383;eth the people to &#383;ynne agayn&#383;t God, which fallinge awaye from gods worde, increa&#383;ed &#383;o &#383;ore amonge them, that it was the cau&#383;e of all theyr &#383;orowe and mi&#383;ery, &amp; the very occa&#383;ion why I&#383;rael fir&#383;t and then Juda, were caryed awaye into captyuite. Agayne, in Jo&#383;aphat, in Ezechias and in Jo&#383;ias thou &#383;ey&#383;t the nature of a vertuous kynge. He putteth downe the hou&#383;es of ydolatrye, &#383;eyth that his pre&#383;tes teach nothynge but ye lawe of God, co&#772;maundeth his lordes to go with them, and to &#383;e that they teach the people. In the&#383;e kynges(I &#383;aye)thou &#383;ey&#383;t the co&#772;dicyon of a true defender of ye fayth for he &#383;pareth nether co&#383;t ner laboure, to manteyne the lawes of God, to &#383;eke the welth &amp; pro&#383;perite of his people, and to rote out the wicked. And where &#383;och a prince is, thou &#383;ey&#383;t agayne, how God defendeth him and his people, though he haue neuer &#383;o many enemyes. This wente it with the&#772; in the olde tyme, and euen after ye &#383;ame maner goeth it now with vs: God be pray&#383;ed therfore, a&#772;d graunte vs of his fatherly mercy, that we be not vnthankful: le&#383;t where he now geueth vs a Jo&#383;aphat, an Ezechias, yee a very Jo&#383;ias, he &#383;ende vs a Pharao, a Jeroboam, or an Achab.

In the two fir&#383;t bokes of E&#383;dras &amp; in He&#383;ter thou &#383;ey&#383;t the delyueraunce of tha people, which though they were but fewe, yet is it vnto vs all a &#383;peciall co&#772;forte, for &#383;o moch as God is not forgetfull of his promes, but bryngeth them out of captiuite, acordynge as he had tolde them before.

In the boke of Job we lerne comforte and pacience, in that God not onely puny&#383;heth the wicked, but proueth &amp; tryeth the iu&#383;t and righteous(howbeit there is neman innocent in his &#383;ighte) by dyuer&#383;e troubles in this lyfe, declaryng therby, yt they are not his ba&#383;tardes, but his deare &#383;onnes, and that he loueth them.

In the P&#383;almes we lerne how to re&#383;orte onely vnto God in all oure troubles, to &#383;eke helpe at him, to call onely vpon him, to &#383;atle oure myndes by pacie&#772;ce, &amp; how we ought in pro&#383;perite to be thankfull vnto him,

The Prouerbes and the Preacher of Salomon teach vs wy&#383;dome, to knowe God, oure owne &#383;elues, and the worlde, and how vayne all thynges are, &#383;aue onely to cleue vnto God.

As for the doctryne of the Prophetes, what is it els, but an earne&#383;t exhortacion to e&#383;cheue &#383;ynne, + to turne vnto God + a faythfull promes of the mercy a&#772;d pardon of God, vnto all them yt turne vnto him, and a threatenyng of his wrath to the vngodly + &#383;auynge that here and there they prophecye al&#383;o manife&#383;tly of Chri&#383;t, of ye expul&#383;ion of the Jewes, and callynge of the Heythen.

Thus moch thought I to &#383;peake of ye olde Te&#383;tament, wherin almyghtie God openeth vnto vs his myghtye power, his wy&#383;dome, his louynge mercy &amp; righteou&#383;ne&#383;&#383;e the which cau&#383;e it oughte of no man to be abhored, de&#383;py&#383;ed, or lyghtly regarded, as though it were an olde &#383;cripture yt nothyng belo&#772;ged vnto vs, or yt now were to be refu&#383;ed. For it is Gods true &#383;cripture yt &amp; te&#383;imony, which the Lorde Je&#383;us commaundeth the Jewes to &#383;earch. who &#383;o euer beleued not the &#383;cripturc, beleueth not Chri&#383;t and who &#383;o refu&#383;eth it, refu&#383;eth God al&#383;o.

The New Te&#383;tament or Go&#383;pell, is a manyfe&#383;t and cleare te&#383;tymony of Chri&#383;t how God perfourmeth his ooth and promes made in the olde Te&#383;tament, how the New is declared and included in the Olde, and the Olde fulfylled and verifyed in the New.