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ANd againe, as he which knoweth his let∣ters well, and can spell perfectly, can not but read if he be diligent: and as hee whiche hath cleare eyes without impediment or let, * 1.1 and walketh therto in the light and open day, can not but see, if he attende and take heede: euen so who so euer hath the profession of baptisme written in his hart, can not but vn∣derstand the scripture, if he exercise him selfe therein, and compare one place to an other, and marke the maner of speach, and aske here and there the meaning of a sentence, of them that be better exercised.
For as the doctrine which we should be * 1.2 taught before we were baptized, and for lack of age is deferred vnto the yeares of discre∣tion is the key that bindeth and looseth, loc∣keth and vnlocketh the conscience of all sin∣ners: euen so that lesson, where it is vnder∣stād is onely the key that openeth all ye scrip∣ture, and euen the whole scripture in it selfe gathered together in a narrow compasse, and brought into a compendiousnes. And til thou be taught that lesson, that thine hart feele the sweetnesse of it, the Scripture is locked and shut vp from thee, and so darke that thou couldest not vnderstande it, though Peter, Paule, or Christ himselfe did expound it vn∣to thee, no more then a blinde man can see, though thou set a candle before him, or shew∣edst him the Sunne, or poyntedst with thy finger, vnto that thou wouldest haue him looke vppon.
Now we be all baptized: But alas, not * 1.3 one from the hyest to the lowest euer taught the profession or meaning thereof. And ther∣fore we remayne all blinde generally, as well our great Rabines for all their hye learning which they seeme to haue, as the lay people: yea and so much the more blind are our great clerkes, that where the lay people for a great number of them are caught naught at al, they be all wrong taught, and the doctrine of their baptisme is all corrupt vnto them, with the l••uen of false gloses, ere they come to read the scripture. So that the light which they bring with them to vnderstand the scripture with∣all, is vtter darknesse, & as contrary vnto the scripture as the deuill vnto Christ,
By reason wherof the Scripture is loc∣ked vp and become so darke vnto them, that they grope for the dore, and can finde no way in, and is become a maze vnto them, in which they wander as in a nust, or (as we say) led by Robin Goodfellow, that they can not come to the right way, no though they turne their cappes: and the brightnes thereof hath blinded their eyes with malice, so that though they beleue not the Scripture to be false, yet * 1.4 they persecute the right vnderstanding ther∣of, and can not beleeue it true in the playne sense, which it speaketh to them in. It is be∣comme a tu••nagaine lane vnto them, which they can not goe thorough, nor make iij. lines agree together. And finally the sentences of the Scripture are nothing but very riddles vnto thē, ••s the which they cast, as the blind man doth at the Crow, and expound by gesse, an hundred Doctoures an hundred wayes, and one man in xx. sermons alleadging one texte after xx. fashions, hauing no sure doc∣trine to cleaue vnto, and all for lacke of the righte knowledge of the profession of oure Baptisme.