¶ To the Right honorable and his singular good Lorde Henry Earle of Huntingdon, Baron Hastinges, Knight of the most noble or∣der of the Garter &c. Arthur Golding wissheth abundance of Gods grace, increase of ho∣nour, and longe continuance of life in health and prosperitie.

MY very good Lord, it is daylie and in maner commonly to beseene, (& I pray God that our vnthankefulnes cause vs no more to feele it) that the peruerse & through setled Papists, the professed en∣emies of God & all goodnes, linking thēselues in league with worldlinges, Epicures, Athiestes, & Neuters, bir∣des of their own broode, do euen yet after so great light of the Gospell and so manifest conuictiō of their Grosse errors, stil boldly persist in their wilfull wickednes: not only hardening their own stubborne hartes against the apparant truth, but also (as much as in thē lyeth) stealīg away the kie of knowledge frō others that would fain enter into the kingdome of heauen if they letted thē not & casting stumbling blockes in the waies of the weake & vncircumspect, of whose soules they make marchan∣dise by their deceiuable and inuenimed speeche. But cer∣tesse although long impunity haue made thē ouer bould, both to prate & to Practise, in maner what they lyst: •…et not withstanding for as much as the general bright∣nes of Christes Gospell discouereth their grosser sorte of Page  [unnumbered] •ealinges vntoo mostmen: they assaulte vs not nowe so much with open & manifest vntruthes, (whiche were ordinary weapons of their warfare whē they had the swoorde of souereintie and the law of crueltie in theyr owne hand) as with secret inuasions of sophisticall rea∣sons and crabbed questions, specially where they finde hope of victorie, by meanes of other mens simplicitie & want of learning to withstand them. And truly in that art, no folke are so cunning, as the children of darknes. For worldly wisdome hauing bent hir self to mainteine error, is a fruiteful moother of all sortes of quiddities: and the olde serpent is both slie and vnslothfull in trās∣forminge himselfe and his impes into all shapes to doo mischiefe. For asmuch therefore as there be many godly and welminded persons who hauinge not yet mounted aboue the short reache of naturall reason, doo still mea∣sure Gods misteries (howbecit with a single meaninge mind) by their slender capacitie of their small vnderstā∣dinge, dealinge in likewise as if a man that were ior∣neying by the first dawning of the day shoulde trip his foote against some stone which he woulde eschew at the comminge of the cleere and open light: whose faith is often times shaken, yea and nowe and then crased also, eyther by such as standing vpon the reputacion of their owne skil, hunt for vainglory by russhinge vnaduised∣ly into the discourse of Gods deepest misteries, whiche ought not to be spoken of without great reuerence and modesty: or by suche as being wilfully blind, diffame the things that they know not: or by such as being giuen vp Page  [unnumbered] too a hardened minde, blaspheme the knowen truthe through malicious spitefulnes: or by such as being giuen wholly to their belly & their bed, cannot abide to hecre of any thing that might make them goodmen: or else by suche as haue learned in Lucians schoole to scoffe at all thinges that like not their fantasticall folie: too the in∣tent that the godly persos might alwaies haue at hand, as well wherwith to satisfie themselues and other well disposed persōs in doubtful cases, as also to stop the slaū∣derous mouthes of the quarelinge aduersaries, or at leastwise wherwith to aunswere their captious caue∣linges in the chiefe points of our religion: I haue trans∣laied this Christen treatise of the learned writer Theo∣dore Beza, who by a certein modest questioninge & an∣swering ther vnto, doth in dialogwise briefely set forth vnto vs the true knowing of God & our selues, & the right vse and end of the same. For taking his beginning at the intent of our creation, he declareth that God must be worshipped and serued in none otherwise, than hee himselfe hath taught vs by his worde written. The au∣thoritie wherof being auouched by many profes, he set∣teth downe what the same teacheth vs to beleeue, con∣cerninge the Godhead & the three persons therof. Then shewing vs what we ought to consider chiefely in God he vnfoldeth the misterie of the vniō of the two natures in the one person of Christ, (whereby hee confuteth the heresie of the Manichees,) and layeth forth the order of our saluatiō by Christs incarnation, death, resurrection and Ascentiō. Here vpon he taketh occasion to •hew the Page  [unnumbered] maner of Christs being present & absent, and thereby condemneth the errors of popishe transsubstantiation, & of the vbiquitie or euerie where being of Christs mā¦hod mainteined by Brentius and certeine others. After this he passeth forth to Christes mediation & interces∣sion, where he disproueth the heresie of Arrius, the opi∣niō of surmising three Gods, the dotages of Samosatene, & the forgeries of the Papists in praying vnto saincts. Frō thence he descendeth to the laste iudgement: and an∣swering by the way to an obiection of the foreiudgemēt that eche seuerall person receiueth at his departure out of this life, he procedeth to the generall rising again of the flesh, & to the rewards of the godly, & the punish∣ment of the wicked: whereby he taketh occasion too in∣quire of the way to eternall life, which is Christ taken holde on by fayth. There sheweth he what faith is and whence it cōmeth: and so discoursinge largely of mans corruptiō, he disproueth the Pelagians freewyll, & de∣clareth in what wise mans naturall will woorketh to∣gether with Gods preuentinge grace, and how the con∣tinuance of Gods graces insewinge, is the cause of the effectuall working of the former graces, wherby he vt∣terly ouerthro weth the merit or deseruing of mēs owne workes. Afterward hauing first shewed the maner of the spreding of originall sin into al mankind: he retur∣neth to the •emedie therof by being greffed into Christ: the maner wherof he describeth at large. and there a∣gein confuteth the heresie of Transsubstantiation, and declareth faith to be the free gift of god through christ Page  [unnumbered] by whom wee obteine wisedome, Rightuosnes, Holines, and Redemptiō, which are the fruites of beinge greffed into him: by the benefite whereof we begin also in part to vnderstand aright, to will aright, and to woorke a right, whiche is as muche as to liue after the spirite. In the layinge forth of these things, he rippeth vp the fee∣blenes of mans naturall reason, & wassheth away the excuse of his vnhablenes to fulfill Gods law bycause he cannot but sin, and disfeateth him of challendging any peece of rightuousnes to himselfe. Here vpon is brought in an exposition of the rewarding or recompencinge of good workes, together with a declaration from whēce they springe, and of the difference in punishements and rewards By occasion wherof he disproueth the fond ob∣iection of such as holde opinion that Christ hath aboli∣shed but the merites of the ceremoniall la we, and defa∣ceth the works of Papisticall preparatiō, shewing wher¦fore works be called good. And so he concludeth that all things needfull to saluation, are founde in Christ alone to whom wee cleaue by faith, so as there is no dampna∣tion for them that be greffed in Christ: and that the sam knowledge is the only knowledge of Saluatiō, and that the said faith or knowledge is the free gifie of God, put into vs by Gods mere grace, and not bred in vs by na∣ture, or purchased by our owne power or deseruinge. By •his meanes he leadeth vs to the headspringes of Gods eternall prouidence and predestination: in the discourse wherof, after he hath aunswered to all obiections, and modestly and learnedly shewed what a Christen man Page  [unnumbered] ought to think or speake in that behalf with reuerence of Gods maiestie: last of all, he setteth forth a godlye and necessary remedy, against the perlous temptation of par∣ticular predestination, for such as are desirous to know whither they be ordeined to saluation or no. And thus your L. Wisedome perceiueth that although this boke be but small in volume: yet conteineth it right profounde misteries: and great store of matter very necessary to be perfectly knowen, and to be had at the fingers endes of all men, specially which shal haue occasion to encounter with the impes of the olde serpent, namely with the ad∣ders broode of the Romish Antechrist, & with the chil∣dren of this world, who bee much more politike, wylie and forecasting in their kinde, then the childrē of light bee. Wherefore I thought it not an vnmeete peece of worke wherby to testifie some maner of remembraunce of your L▪ most honorable courtesie to wards me: accor∣ding wherunto it may please you too giue this my la∣bour leaue to passe forth vnder your fauorable accep∣tation, as a hansel• of some greater worke her after too the more benefite of my natiue coūtry, and the further commendation of your L. goodnesse who are ryght well knowen to be an earnest fauorer of Gods glory and a diligent furtherer of the wel∣fare of his church written at London the. 12. of Iune. 1572.