The seconde tome or volume of the Paraphrase of Erasmus vpon the Newe Testament conteynyng the epistles of S. Paul, and other the Apostles : wherunto is added a paraphrase vpon the reuelacion of S. John.

The argument vpon the Epistle of the Apostle Saynt Paule vnto the Ephesians by. D. Erasmus of Roterodame.

EPhesus was sometyme the chiefe citie of the lesse Asia, a ci∣tie supersticiously geuen to the wurshipping of deuilles, and especially of Diana, for whiche cause it is called in the actes of the Apostles, the wurshipper of Diana, not of Diana the huntour, vnto whome the Poetes attribute bowe and a∣rowes, but Diana with many pappes, whome the Greci∣ans call Polymaston, and saye, she is the nource of all maner of beastes, after Hieromes reporting. For the temple of Diana at Ephesus, was in the greatest estimacion of al the world, so much that the Ethnike wri∣tours make special mencion of it, almost in al their writinges. These men geue their whole studies vnto curiouse artes and sciences: as we may gather where we reade, that at the preaching of the Apostles, they brought in theyr bookes of enchauntmente, and burned them in the fyer, and whan they had coumpted the price, they founde it to be fiftie thousand siluerlinges, as it is purported in the .xix. Cap. of the Actes. And therfore to thentent he might withdrawe them from those great errours, he taried still among them three yeares, trauaylling all that while, to the vttermost of hys power, to bring the thyng to passe, that myght be to the profitabe forwarding of theyr saluacion, albeit many of them made great resistence agaynste him, as he specifyeth hymselfe in an other place. And there he was cast to beastes: lyke as he maketh mencion, in his secounde Epistle to the Corinthians. And whan he departed from thence, he commaun∣ded Timothee to remaine there still amonge them. And like as that Citie was full of Curiouse menne, and suche as were geuen to magicall artes, euen so had it many great learned men in it. By reason wherof, Paule, as he tempereth himselfe according to the maners and natures of all men, maketh often menci∣on of deuils and spirites, whan he sheweth the difference of good men and bad. Besides these, he openeth certaine darke hard sentences. For there is none of his Epistles, that hath so darke and hidde sentences in it, as this to the Ephesians. So as it shoulde seme, that this Epistle was the chiefest occasion, why Petre wrote after this sorte. Euen as our derely beloued brother Paule, accordyng to the wisedome geuen vnto hym, wrote to you, yea, almoste in euery Epistle, speaking of suche thynges: among whiche, many thynges are harde to be vn∣derstanden, which they that are vnlearned, and vnstable, peruert, as they do o∣ther scriptures to theyr owne destruccion. Therfore because these men aboade constauntly in the fayth, he exhorteth them to continue and goe still forwarde, vntill they were become perfite: putting them in remembraunce, what manier of people they were, whan they were addict vnto naughtines, & did seruice vn∣to wieked spirites: and what they are become now, that they are engraffed vn∣to Christe: and teacheth them withall, that althoughe the grace of the Gospell was promised vnto the Iewes, yet that by the eternall decree of God, it was rightfully enlarged vnto the Gentiles also: and that he was a minyster orday∣ned of God, to that same office. And forasmuche as he wrote thys Epistle, be∣ing in prison, he exhorteth them, not to cast downe theyr hartes for his afflicci∣ons, but rather thinke, that they haue so much the more cause to reioyce. These

thinges he treateth of in the first and seconde Chapters. In the other three, he prescribeth the fourme of godly conuersacion vnto them, shewing what is to be folowed, and what is to bee auoyded: the duetyes of the husbandes to the wyues, and of the wyues vnto the husbandes: the offices of parentes to their children, and of the children to theyr parentes: the dueties of maisters to their seruauntes, and of seruauntes to their maisters. This Epistle was written from the citie of Rome by Tichicus the Diacone, whome he speaketh of in the end of the Epistle, calling him a faithful minister. Ambrose sayeth furthermore, that he wrote it in prieson, whan he was caried from Hierusalem to Rome, and liued vnder suertie without the tentes, in the tenement that he had taken for hyre.

The ende of the Argument.