ist / and those which Christe / and his Apostiles
did alledge. But those remayne safe and vncorrupte / the same
sense and meaninge of them is in their bible in which they were
recyted of Christe / and his Apostles (for aboute the wordes
they were not so curious) wherfore it is not lyke / that they
haue corrupted any other places at all in the holy bokes of the
scripture. Yea if a man dothe iustly beholde them / he shall see
that they haue many moo testimonies and sentences for vs / more
plaine / I saye / then our commen translation hathe / as in the
.2. Psal. kisse the sonne / where ours hathe / laie holde of
knowledg. In like maner the whole .53. of Esaie / which dothe
moste plainlie prophecie of Christ / remaynith vncorrupt. The
bokes therfore are not corrupted. Yea they coulde not haue
corrupted those bokes thoughe they wolde / but it shuld be
easyly espied: for ther be of them many moste awncient in wryten
hande / which haue bene kepte moste diligentlie of Christians.
But let vs retourne to the profyt that Augustine speaketh of.
Many mighte thinke / that those thinges which are spoken of the
olde people were vayne and fayned / and likwise those thinges
which we do tell owte of the prophettes / excepte they dyd see
the Iues themselues yet liuinge / and remayninge / with their
bokes / which do beare witnesse to the thinges that we do
speake: wherfore though the Iues be blinded in mynde / and in
harte are our enemyes / yet euen them and their bokes we haue
moste plaine witnesses of out faithe. Aske then of the prophettes
whom Christ dothe alledge / they graunte them to be true. Aske
them of the vnderstandinge of them / in yt they are ignoraunte /
because they are blinded. And amonge all other witnessinges /
that witnesse which is gyuen of a mans enemie is of greatest
weight / and makith most for him: Of suche witnesses truly the
lorde hathe prouided good stoore for his churche. For we haue
not only the bokes of the Hebrues to make for vs / but also the
verses or rydles of the Sibylles / which were of an heathen
poeple. It is not to be thought / that our elders fayned thos
verses: for Sibylles bokes were euen commune / in all mens
hands / in the tyme of Eusebius the bishoppe of Cesarea / of
Lactantius / and of Augustine. All which do vse / and alledg
them. But if they hade alledged false and counterfett verses /
the heathen men which then excelled in knowledge / and were very
many also in numbre / they wolde haue repr