THE SECOND BOOK 231 



made an art : a number of sermons and lectures, and 

 many prolix commentaries upon the scriptures, with 

 harmonies and concordances. But that form of writing 

 in divinity which in my judgement is of all others most 

 rich and precious, is positive divinity, collected upon 

 particular texts of scriptures in brief observations ; not 

 dilated into commonplaces, not chasing after contro 

 versies, not reduced into method of art ; a thing abound 

 ing in sermons, which will vanish, but defective in books 

 which will remain, and a thing wherein this age excel- 

 leth. For I am persuaded, and I may speak it with an 

 absit invidia verbo, and no ways in derogation of anti 

 quity, but as in a good emulation between the vine and 

 the olive, that if the choice and best of those observa 

 tions upon texts of scriptures, which have been made 

 dispersedly in sermons within this your Majesty s island 

 of Brittany by the space of these forty 

 years and more (leaving out the largeness f^tura^ 

 of exhortations and applications there- mmindoc- 

 upon) had been set down in a continuance, t . nnas posit- 

 it had been the best work in divinity which 

 had been written since the Apostles times. 



19. The matter informed by divinity is of two kinds ; 

 matter of belief and truth of opinion, and matter of ser 

 vice and adoration ; which is also judged and directed 

 by the former : the one being as the internal soul of 

 religion, and the other as the external body thereof. 

 And therefore the heathen religion was not only a wor 

 ship of idols, but the whole religion was an idol in itself ; 

 for it had no soul, that is, no certainty of belief or con 

 fession : as a man may well think, considering the chief 

 doctors of their church were the poets : and the reason 

 was, because the heathen gods were no jealous gods, but 

 were glad to be admitted into part, as they had reason. 

 Neither did they respect the pureness of heart, so they 

 mought have external honour and rites. 



20. But out of these two do result and issue four main 

 branches of divinity ; faith, manners, liturgy, and go 

 vernment. Faith containeth the doctrine of the nature 

 of God, of the attributes of God, and of the works of 



