Exposition on the Catholic Epistles, List of authors cited – Dedication
A Catalogue of thoſe Authors, out of whom any thing is taken in the following Expoſitions.
AMbroſius.
Artopaeus.
Auguſtinus.
Anſelmus.
Athanaſius.
Aretius.
Adam Sasbout.
Alcaſar.
Ambroſ. Compſae.
Abbot.
Andreas▪
Alphonſus.
Arethas.
Abbas Ioachim.
Baſilius magnus.
Beda.
Brightman.
Beza.
Bernard.
Blaſius Viegas.
Baronius.
Bibliander.
Bullinger.
Bellarmine.
Beard.
Brocardus.
Chryſoſtomus.
Clemens Alexand.
Cicillus Alexand.
Caietan.
Caelius.
Clemens. 1.
Chitreus.
Collado.
Catharinus.
Dydimus.
Dionyſius.
Dent.
Epiphanius.
Euſebius.
Eraſmus.
Forbs.
Franciſcus Breus.
Fox.
Fulke.
Faber Stapul.
Franc. Lambert.
Gregorius Magnus.
Gloſſa Ordin.
Gloſ. Interlin.
Graeca Scholia.
Gagnaeus.
Giffard.
Gorran.
Graſſerus.
Hieronymus.
Haimo.
Herodotus.
Hugo.
Irenaeus.
Ioſephus.
Ioan. Leonard.
Illiricus.
Iunius.
Luther.
Lioy.
Lyranus.
Lorinus.
Methodius.
Marlorat.
Maſon.
Nicephorus.
Napier.
Oſiander.
Oecumenius.
Origen
Oroſius.
Petrus Aureolus.
Pareus.
Petrus Damaſcen.
Piſcator.
Petrus du Moulin.
Pirkins.
Primaſius.
Pannonius.
Proſper Aquitan.
Ribera.
Rupertus.
Richard. de Sancto Victore.
Ruffinus.
Syrus Interpres.
Strabo.
Sebaſtianus Meyer.
Sixtus Senenſis.
Scaliger.
Sabellicus.
Suarez.
Sleiden.
Surius.
Thomas Aquinas.
Tertullian.
Ticonius.
Tremelius.
Toſſanus.
Turrianus.
Vict. Zeger.
Viterbienſis.
Victor Vticenſis.
Victor Antioch.
Whitaker.
TO THE HIGH AND MIGHTY, CHARLES by the grace of God, of great Britaine, France, and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith, &c. Grace, Mercy and Peace in Chriſt Ieſus.
DRead Soueraigne, for ſo much as J hauehave now a long time deuoted my ſelfe by writing to doe ſome ſeruice to this Church, whereof the great God of Heauen hath made your Maieſty, vnderunder his Sonne Chriſt, ſupreme Head and Gouernour; J hauehave thought it my duty (now that by the Diuine aſsiſtance J hauehave finiſhed this difficult Worke, which is the firſt that J hauehave put forth ſince your Maieſties auſpicious comming to the Crowne) to preſent it to your Royall hands, as being the beſt way that J hauehave to expreſſe my vnfained hearty louelove and affection, and exceeding great ioy for the happy Inauguration of another very Dauid againe for courage, after ſuch a Solomon for wiſdome; of another Ioſuah after Moſes; after a Writer, a Fighter of the Lords battels: OnelyOnly J pray, that he who alone moderateth the warres, would likewiſe grant Ʋictories to our Ioſuah and to his Forces and Confederates, that no idolatrous Amorites may be able to ſtand before him, but now that their wickedneſſe is come to ſuch an height, they may be confounded and diſsipated. This muſt be their end, as the Fountaine of all profound wiſdome did long agoe reueale vntounto Iohn, neither can it bee long before they come to this end, as the following expoſitions vponupon Iohn I hope will make plaine to eueryevery intelligent Reader. The Reuelation, the expounding of which, is the chiefe part of this Worke, was a Booke, into the myſteries whereof your Maieſties Father of bleſſed memory delighted much to ſearch, as appeareth by that moſt worthy Monument which he hath left to all poſterities hereupon; and I doubt not, but your Maieſty being Inheritor not onelyonly of your Fathers Dominions, but alſo of his Ʋertues, is likewiſe affected with ſuch holy Studies, being indeed as a furtherance of courage and reſolution, ſo of true bleſſedneſſe, as is peculiarly by the Spirit pronounced vponupon this Booke, ſaying,Reuel. 1.3. Bleſſed is hee that readeth and they that heare the words of this Booke. The diſtractions of Kings, I grant, are great, by reaſon of their manifold moſt important affaires, yet it is the conſtitution of the King of Kings that they ſhould hauehave his Word before them,Deut. 17.18. and be reading therein all the daies of their liues, that they might learne to feare God, and not hauehave their hearts lifted vp aboue their brethren. The marke at which he would hauehave them to aime, is the feare of God and humility, amidſt ſo many and great temptations to pride and contempt; the meanes to helpe to theſe glorious ornaments is daily reading. My hope therefore is, that my ſeruice tendred in this kinde, though by the meaneſt amongſt many, will not be vnacecptable to your Royall Maieſty, but that notwithſtanding the great and diuers preſent diſtractions, there ſhall be ſome times ſpared to meditate vponupon theſe Expoſitions. That ſpeech of Chryſoſtome was notable to ſecular men,Chryſoſt. conc de Lazaro. making their continuall worldly imploiments a Superſedeas to the reading of the Scriptures. What ſayeſt thou (O man) that thou haſt no leiſure by reaſon of thy worldly buſineſſes to reade the Word of God, the more thy diſtractions are, the more need haſt thou to reade, that amidſt the toſsings of theſe tempeſtuous waues, thou mayſt enioy the perpetuall comforts and directions of the Scriptures. Theodoſius the ſecond,Theodoſ. 2. though his diſtractions could not but bee great through the amplitude of his Dominions, yet ſpared ſo much time in his priuate Cloſet to the Word of God, that hee wrote the new Teſtament ouer with his owne hand: and Alphonſus, Alphonſus.King of Spaine and Naples, is ſaid to hauehave read the Bible with the ordinary gloſſe fourteene times ouer. Which things J mention not (moſt Gracious Soueraigne) but onelyonly to adde fuell to your fire and oyle vntounto your flame: that the zeale which your Maieſty is well knowne to hauehave vntounto the Word of God and to the truth therein ſet forth, may bee yet increaſed till it commeth to be doubled, as the ſpirit of Elijah was vponupon Eliſhah. For what ſeruice is there, that wee, the Miniſters of Chriſts Goſpell can doe comparable to this of ſeeking the through Sanctification of the Lords Anointed ouer vsus, and of poliſhing the rich Diamonds of grace vponupon his Crowne, that they be more and more reſplendent and ſhining? The bent of our Prayers both publike and priuate is daily this way, and therefore let my Lord, the King, pardon the zeale of his ſeruants, if when they can get any opportunity, their exhortations bend this way alſo. We reade of Gods bleſsings vponupon the people of Iſrael vnderunder Dauid, Solomon, and Ioſiah, and generally how in the dayes of all the godly Kings and Gouernours that hauehave beene, the Graces ſhining in them hauehave beene ſo acceptable, as that the Lord hath delighted to doe good to the whole Kingdome for their ſakes. Your Maieſty is the very breath of our noſthrils and the light of our eyes, that great Tree mentioned in Daniel, vnderunder which we your Subiects, as beaſts and birds doe ſhroud our ſelues and make our neſts, being alone worth 10000. of vsus. Jt is therefore the height of our ambition in our inward deſires and outward endeuours, that your Maieſty may be vpright hearted and valiant as Dauid, wiſe as Solomon, and of ardent zeale like vntounto Ioſiah. And to this end doe we preſſe, as into the Court of Heauen by our Prayers, ſo into your Maieſties Court with Exhortations, Treatiſes, Diſcourſes, and Expoſitions, not paſsing for any toile and labour, any carping and cauilling of cenſorious Critikes, or any enmity of Sycophants, ſo that what we doe may be cordiall to him, to behold whoſe vertues increaſe with his yeeres our eyes and hearts are all fixed. The times are dangerous, and the enemies of the truth hauehave of late yeeres greatly preuailed, and ſtill they vnite their forces like Gebal, and Ammon, and Amaleck, and theſe of Tyre: but God, who is the patron of the truth, hath ſhewed that he will put an end to theſe troubles, and one day theſe incendiaries of warres ſhall hauehave a battell, wherein they ſhall fight their laſt, euen in Harmageddon. Jn the meane ſeaſon yet, were J a Daniel, though to ſpeake before ſo great a King as Nebuchadnezzar, or a Ioſeph, though to ſpeake before a King as renowmed as Pharaoh, J would not only preſent the explication of theſe darke myſteries, but giuegive counſell alſo what is to be done by your Royall Maieſtie, who by the Grace of God are the moſt potent and chiefe Defender of the truth at this day in Chriſtendome. But J am a childe in vnderſtanding, neither hauehave J the ſpirit to be able to giuegive counſell in State affaires. OnelyOnly J pray God, from whom is the ſpirit of ſuch deepe vnderſtanding, to inſpire your Maieſties noble Councellors, that they may giuegive the Counſell, and your Royall Heart, that you may accept of it, whether it tendeth to the animaduerſion againſt ſinne and all notorious ſinfull perſons, and to the diſcountenancing of them, to the embracing with louelove and fauour of the moſt godly and zealous for the truth, or to a more ſtrict proceeding for the diſabling, if not for the rooting out of thoſe whoſe cauſe is common with the enemies that threaten danger and ruine to vsus all. And touching my preſent worke, my humble ſuit vntounto your Maieſty is, that you would accept of it, at your vacant times peruſe it, and ſuffer it to paſſe vnderunder your Royall Patronage, though not for his ſake that publiſheth it, being indeed vnworthy of ſuch a fauour, yet for the ſakes of thoſe Worthies, with whom hee comes accompanied, euen almoſt all the moſt famous Inſtruments that God hath euer vſed to giuegive light to theſe obſcurities. My deſire and firſt purpoſe was to hauehave preſented together to your Maieſties view the whole new Teſtament, expounded and handled in this manner in all the paſſages that moſt need expoſition, a Worke of that ſort that I know not any yet that hath laboured in it, but as I conceiue ſuch as may be of great vſe and benefit to all that are ſtudious of the holy Scriptures, and herein by the Grace of God J hauehave proceeded ſo farre that I want not much to the perfecting thereof. But for ſo much as partly through my bodily infirmities, and partly through my many weekly anocaments in my paſtorall charge, I muſt be a long time in doing à little in this, wherein ſo many Authors muſt be peruſed; I hauehave made bold to come with this Modell that I hauehave ready till the whole ſhall be finiſhed, which if it may be acceptable, ſhall be altogether then at your Maieſties ſeruice. Jn the meane ſeaſon, crauing pardon for this my preſumption, I doe out of a true and moſt affectionate deſire, commend your Maieſtie to the Grace, Bleſsing, and Protection of the Higheſt, beſeeching him to make you as happy as any of your Progenitors in a truly Religious and fruitfull Queene, wiſe Counſellors, learned and holy Miniſters, loyall and obedient Commons, and in victorious proceedings for the defence of the diſtreſſed Goſpell, and after this life ended (to which may it long be) in the participation of an vncorruptible Crowne of glory.
Your Maieſties moſt humbly deuoted, John Mayer.