Exposition of Galatians, Title page – Dedication
AN EXPOSITION, AND OBSERVATIONS VPONUPON SAINT PAVL TO THE GALATHIANS, TOGITHER with incident Quaeſtions debated, and Motiues remoued, by IOHN PRIME.
1. Cor. 10.15.
I ſpeake to them which hauehave vnderſtanding: Iudge yee what I ſaie.
AT OXFORD, Printed by IOSEPH BARNE and are to bee ſold in Pauls Church-yard at the ſigne of the Tygers head. Anno 1587.
TO THE MOST WORTHY, LEARNED, AND REVEREND FATHER IN GOD, IOHN PIERCE, the Lord Biſhop of Sarum.
RIGHT Reuerend, being deſirous to ſhewe ſome part of thankefulnes for your Lordſhips fauorable & vndeſerued reſpect and kindneſſe to me-ward, and with that intent looking into my papers and ſtudie notes, ſpecially into ſuch as were deliuered eueryevery other weeke at ABINGTON by OXFORD in your Lordſhips Dioceſſe, among other things of greater length, I reſolued to reuiſe and frame out this expoſition vponupon S. Paul to the Galathians, with Obſeruations, Queſtions, & Motiues: The rather for the ſhortnes of the text, beſt fitting with my leaſureleſſe occaſions, and likewiſe for the waightineſſe of many matters either naturally ariſing, or incidently taken, and accordingly diſcourſed.
Wherein to declare in what ſort I hauehave gone in & out before that people & their worſhipful neighbors repairing to them, and ioyning with them in this ſeruice for theſe many years together, albeit I hauehave much abridged, and ſomewhere enlarged and altered, yet for the moſt part theſe READINGS may be called but the REMEMBRANCES of things, that hauehave paſſed amongſt thē, and nowe are briefely ſet downe in this ſhort impresſion.
And herein plainly to confes what I think of this bookiſh humor of writing bookes: truely, in them that can write why ſhoulde they (as it is in the Poet) Periturae parcere chartae? They hauehave a gift & a talent that way, & why ſhould they hide it? For others, who may be better occupied, there is no reaſon they abuſe the Reader, & peſter the world with vnprofitable vanities.
For my ſelfe the laſt of many, and for the reſt of greateſt ability, al our books are but entrāces to the book of books, vntounto the ſacred Bible, & book of God: which were it indeed deeply imprinted in the harts of al mē, I could eaſily hauehave ſpared this ſimple labor, and could and would hauehave wiſhed euen LVTHERS wiſh, vppon the ſame verie condition that he did: That al bookes els were in a faire light fiar.
But men beeing men (God ſo ordering it) require & neede humane helps, and Maſter LVTHERS booke vponupon this very Epiſtle, is a profitable writing, and full of comfort.
Euerie man cannot readily vſe the Scripture ſtrait-way, eueryevery man cannot at the firſt bluſh tell which Scripture is fitteſt for confirmation of this or that article in faith, which faireſt for exhortation in manners, which fulleſt for refutation of errors, & therefore by preaching, by penning, by conference and by imprinting God hath prouided ſufficient aids as the times hauehave required, that men may looke and looke againe vponupon things, examine the ſpirits, compare matters and cauſes, ruminate and chue the kud, meditate the ſtate of their ſaluation, and go the waies there-unto with a cleane and a clouen foot, that is, as ISICHIVS ſaith, with a wiſe, a diſcreet & a diſtinguiſhing vnderſtāding.
To theſe ends I hauehave performed this preſent account of my dealing in your Lord-ſhips Dioceſſe, humbly crauing (may it pleaſe your Lord-ſhip ſo to accept thereof) it may be a ſlender monument and meane-pledge of greater dutie to your Lord-ſhip, and of my good will and FAREWELL to ABINGTON, & likewiſe to the Gentlemen & Iuſtices neere adioining.
The Lorde preſerue your honor to his holy will, & bleſſed pleaſure.
From the New Colledge in OXFORD, 1587. IANVAR. 30. Your L. to commaund in Chriſt, IOHN PRIME.
THE EPISTLE OF THE APOSTLE PAVL TO THE GALATHIANS.
The Argument.
PAVL had preached the goſpel ſome 14. yeares together, generally among the Gentiles, & namely to the Galathians. But by reaſon of the largenes of his commiſſion, hee was not to dwell in any one place, & therefore departed from Galatia, and betooke himſelfe into other partes of the world.
This oportunitie of the Apoſtles neceſſary departure and abſence, by the buſie inſtrumentes of Satan, who neuer ſleepeth, was ſoon eſpied, & as ſoone taken. Incontinentlie they conueied in themſelues, & being crept in, with all endeuor they labor to bewitch & inueigle the Galathians minds, & the more effectuallie to diſcredit the ſynceritie of the Gospel, faire pretenſes of Moſes name, & of the Laws prerogatiue were made, & euer, a thorough ſpecial diſgrace of Pauls perſon was moſt ſhotte at.
Wherevpon enſueth 1. a direct defence of his vocation. 2. a dew maintenance of the cauſe. 3. & a true reformation of a deceaued people, both in matters of faith & conuerſation.