Page:Wife of Beith (1).pdf/2



COURTEOUS Reader, what was Papal or heretical, in the former copy, is left out in this Edition: for their is nothing that c ncan [sic] offend the wiſe and jndiciousjudicious [sic] not being taken up in a literal ſenſe, but by way of allegory and mystical which thus may edify.

The whole Dialogue is nothing but that which is recorded in Scripture for our example, wherefore I appeal from the cenſorious and capricious critics, who ſtart at ſtraws and leap over blocks: and whoſe natures with the waſp is to ſuck nothing but venom out of the ſweeteſt flowers; upon the judicious and wiſe, who can regiſtrate virtue with the point of a diamond into the rock of eternal memory, and vice into oblivion ſand, and whoſe genius is with the bee to extract honey out of the bittereſt flower.

Therefore the one may read, and be edified the other read and be offended: let dogs bark what they will, the moon is ſtill the ſame. Farewell.