IT is an old Opinion , and the concurring and unanimous judgment almost of all Philosophers , whereby they uphold , that every Science addeth so much of a sublime Nature to Man himself , according to the Capacity and Worth of every Person , a● many times enables them to Translate themselves beyond the Limits of Humanity , even to the Celestial Seats of the Blessed . From hence have proceeded those various and innumerable Encomiums of the Sciences , whereby every one hath endeavour'd , in accurate , as well as long Orations , to prefer , and as it were to extol beyond the Heavens themselves , those Arts and Mysteries , wherein , with continual Labour , he hath exercised the strength and vigour of his Ingenuity or Invention . But I , perswaded by reasons of another nature , do verily believe , that there is nothing more pernicious , nothing more destructive to the well-being of Men , or to the Salvation of our Souls , than the Arts and Sciences themselves . And therefore quite contrary to what has been hitherto practized , my Opinion is , That these Arts and Sciences are so far from being to be extoll'd with such high applauses and Panegyricks , that they are rather for the most part to be disprais'd and vilifi'd : And that indeed there is none which does not merit just cause of Reproof and Censure ; nor any one which of it self deserves any praise or commendation , unless what it may borrow from the Ingenuity and Virtue of the first possessor . However , I would have you take this Opinion of mine in that modest Construction , which may imagine , that I neither go about to reprehend those who are of a contrary judgment ; or that I intend to arrogate any thing singly singular to my ●elf , above others : Therefore I shall entreat you to suspend your Censure of me , differing in this one thing from all others ; so long as you find me laying an auspicious Foundation of proof , not upon Vulgar Arguments drawn from the Superficies and out-side of things , but upon the most firm reasons deduc'd from the most hidden bowels of secret Knowledge ; and this not in the sharp stile of Demosthenes or Chrysippus , which may not so well beseem a Professor of Christianity , but would rather shew me to be a vain pursuer of flattery and ostentation , while I endeavour to varnish my Speech with the Fucus's of Eloquence . For to speak Properly , not Rhetorically , to intend the truth of the Matter , not the ornament of Language , is the du●● of one Professing Sacred Literature . For the seat of Truth is not in the Tongue , but in the Heart . Neither is it of importance , what Language we use in the Relation of Truth , seeing that falshood only wants Eloquence , and the trappings of Words , whereby to insinuate into the minds of Men ; but the language of Truth , as Euripides writeth , is plain and simple ; not seeking the graces of Art , or painted Flourishes . Therefore if this great Work of ours , undertaken without any Flowers of Eloquence ( which in the series of our Discourse we have not so much slighted as condemned ) do prove offensive to your more delicate ears ; we entreat you to bear it with the same patience , as once one of the Roman Emperours made use of , when he stood still with his whole Army to hear the tittle-tattle of an impertinent Woman : and with the same humour that King Archelaus was wont to hear Persons that were Hoarse , and of an unpleasant Utterance ; that thereby afterwards he might take the more delight in the pleasing sounds of Eloquent Rhetoricians , and Tuneful Voices . Remember that saying of Theophrastus , That the most Illiterate were able to speak in the presence of the most Elegant Persons , while they spake nothing but Truth and Reason . And now that I may no longer keep ye in suspence , through what Tracts and By-ways I have as it were hinted out this Opinion of mine , it is time that I declare unto ye . But first I must admonish ye , That all Sciences are as well evil as good , and that they bring us no other advantage to excel as Deities , more than what the Serpent promis'd of old , when he said , Ye shall be as Gods , knowing good and evil . Let him therefore glory in this Serpent , who boasts himself in knowledge ; which we read the Heresie of the Ophites not a little unbeseemingly to have done , who Worship'd a Serpent among the rest of their Superstitions , as being the Creature that first introduc'd the knowledge of Virtue into Paradise . To this agrees that Platonick Fable which feigns , That one Theutus being offended with Mankind , was the first raiser of that Devil , call'd the Sciences ; not less hurtful than profitable : as Thamus King of Aegypt wisely discourses , writing of the Inventors of Arts & Letters . Hence most Grammarians Expound and Interpret the word Damons , as much as to say Artists . But leaving these Fables to their Poets and Philosophers , suppose there were no other Inventors of Arts than Men themselves , yet were they the Sons of the worst Generation , even the Sons of Cain , of whom it is truly said , The sons of this world are wise● than the sons of light in this generation . If men be therefore the Inventors of Arts , is it not said , Every man is a Lyer , neither is there one that doth good ? But grant on the other side , that there may be some good men ; yet follows it not , that the Sciences themselves have any thing of vertue , any thing of truth in them , but what they reap and borrow from the Inventors and possessors thereof : For if they light upon any evil Person , they are hurtful ; as a perverse Grammarian , an Ostentatious Poet , a lying Historian , a flattering Rhetorician , a litigious Logician , a turbulent Sophister , a loquacions Lullist , a Lotterist Arithmetician , a lascivious Musician , a shameless Dancing-master , a boasting Geometrician , a wandring Cosmographer , a pernicious Architect , a Pirat-Navigator , a fallacious Astrologer , a wicked Magician , a perfidious Cabalist , a dreaming Naturalist , a Wonder-faigning Metaphysician , a morose Ethic , a treacherous Polititian , a tyrannical Prince , an oppressing Magistrate , a seditious People , a Schismatical Priest , a superstitious Monk , a prodigal Husband , a bargain-breaking Merchant , a pilling Customer , a sloathful Husbandman , a careless Shepherd , an envious Fisherman , a bawling Hunter , a plundering Souldier , an exacting Landlord , a murderous Physician , a poysoning Apothecary , a glutton-Cook , a deceitful Alchymist , a jugling Lawyer , a perfidious Notary , a Bribe-taking Judge , and a heretical and seducing Divine . So that there is nothing more ominous than Art and Knowledge guarded with impiety , seeing that every man becomes a ready Inventor , and learned Author of evil things . If it light upon a person that is not so evil as foolish , there is nothing more insolent or Dogmatical , having besides its own headstrong obstinacie , the authority of Learning , and the weapons of Argument to defend its own fury ; which other fools wanting , are more tame and quietly mad : As Plato saith of the Rhetorician , That the more simple and illiterate he is , the more he will take upon him to declaim ; will imitate all things , and think himself not unworthy of any undertaking . So that there is nothing more deadly , than to be as it were rationally mad . But if good and just men be the possessors of Knowledge , then Arts and Sciences may probably become useful to the publick Weal , though they render their possessors nothing more happy . For it is not , as Porphyrius and Iamblicus report , That Happiness consists in the multitude of Arts , or heaps of Words . For should that be true , they that were most loaden with Sciences , would be most happy ; and those that wanted them , would on the other side be altogether unhappy ; and hence it would come to pass , That Philosophers would be more happy than Divines . For true Beatitude consists not in the knowledge of good Things , but in good Life ; not in Understanding , but in living Understandingly . Neither is it great Learning , but Good Will , that joyns Men to God . Nor do outward Arts avail to Happiness , only as Conditional means , not the Causes of compleating our Happiness , unless assisted with a Life answerable to the nature of those good things we profess . Therefore saith Cicero in his Oration for Archias , Experience tells us , That Nature without Learning is more diligent in the pursuit of Praise and Vertue , than Learning without natural Inclination . It shall not then be needful ( as the followers of Averroes contend ) so violently to labour to season our minds with the so long , so tedious , so difficult , so unattainable learning of all sorts of Sciences , which Arist●tle confesses to be a common felicity , and easie to be attain'd to by labour and diligence ; but only to give our selves to what is more easie and common to all , the Contemplation of the most noble Object of all things , God : which common Act of Contemplation so easie to All men , is not obtain'd by Syllogism and Contemplation , but by Belief and Adoration . Where is then the great felicity of enjoying the Sciences ? where is the praise and beatitude of the wise Philosophers , that make so much noise in the School , founding with the Encomiums of those Men whose souls perhaps in the mean time are at that instant suffering the Torments of Hell ? This St. Austin saw and fear'd , while he exclaims with St. Paul , The unlearned rise , and take heaven by force : while we with all our Knowledg , are cast down into Hell . So that ▪ if we may be bold to confess the Truth , That the Tradition of all Sciences are so dangerous and inconstant , that it is far safer to be Ignorant , than to know : Adam had never been Ejected out of Paradise , had not the Serpent been his Master to teach him Good and Evil. And St. Paul would have them thrown out of the Church , that would know more than they ought . Socrates , when he had div'd into the Secrets of all sorts of Science , was then by the Oracle adjudged to be the wisest among many , when he had publickly professed , That he knew nothing . The knowledge of all Sciences is so difficult , if I may not say impossible , that the age of Man will not suffice to learn the perfection of one Art as it ought to be : Which Ecclesiastes seems to intimate , where he saith , Then I beheld the whole Work of God , that man cannot find out the work that is wrought under the Sun ; for the which man laboureth to seek it , and cannot find it : yea , and though the wise man think to know it , he cannot find it . Nothing can happen more Pestilential to Man , than Knowledge : this is that true Plague that invades all Mankind with so much confusion that subverts all Innocence ; subjecting us to so many Clouds of Sin and Error , and at length to Death . This is that that hath extinguish'd the Light of Faith , casting our Souls into profound darkness , which condemning the Truth has mounted Error to a Throne . Therefore in my Opinion , neither is Valentinian the Emperor to be disprais'd , who is reported to be such an open Enemy of Learning ; nor is Licinius to be accompted blame-worthy , who affirm'd Learning to be the Poyson and bane of the Commonwealth . But such is the large freeness , and free largeness of Truth , as can be apprehended by no contemplations of Science , by no judgment of Sence how quick soever ; by no evident proof , no Syllogistical Demonstration , no humane Discourse of Reason , but only by Faith : which he that is indued with , Aristotle in his Book of First Resolves , accompts to be in a better Condition , than he that ▪ is indued with Knowledge : which Words Philoponus Expounding , saith , is to be better disposed , as more knowing by Faith , than by Demonstration , which is done by the cause . Therefore saith Theophrastus in his Book of Supernaturals , As to so far , we may discern by the Cause , taking our beginnings from the Sences ; but after we have passed the Extreams , and first Principles , we can go no farther , either because we know not the Cause , or through the defect of our weak understanding . Plato in his Timaeus saith , That our Abilities will not reach to the Explanation of those things , but commands to believe those that deliver'd them before , though they speak without any necessity of Demonstration . For the Academick Philosophers were in high esteem , for affirming , That nothing could be Affirmed . There were also the Pyronicks , and many others , who were of the same Opinion , That nothing could be affirmed . So that Knowledge hath nothing super-excellent above Belief , especially where the Integrity of the Author directs the freewill of Believing . Hence that Pythagorical Answer of He hath said it ; And that vulgar Proverb of the Peripateticks , We are to believe every man expert in his Art . Thus we believe the Grammarian , as to the signification of Words . The Logician believes the Parts of Speech , delivered by the Grammarian . The Rhetorician takes for granted his Forms of Argument , from the Logician . The Poet borrows his Measures from the Musician . The Geometrician takes his Proportions from the Arithmetician : And upon both these , the Astrologer pins his sleeve . Supernaturalists use the Conjectures of Naturalists , and every Artist rightly trusts to the Method and Rules of another : For every Science hath certain Principles that must be believed , and can be by no means Demonstrated ; which if any one deny , those Philosophers will streight cry out , He is not ●o be Disputed withal , as a denyer of Principles ; or else they will deliver him over to the rack of his own experience : as if one should deny Fire to be hot , let him be thrown into the Fire , and then resolve the Question . So that of Philosophers , they are forc'd to become Executioners , compelling men to believe that by force , that they cannot teach by Reason . To a Commonwealth there can be nothing more pernitious than Learning and Science , wherein if some happen to excel the rest , all things are carried by their Determination , as taking upon them to be most Knowing ; who thereupon laying hold upon the simplicity and unskilfulness of the Multitude , usurp all Authority to themselves ; which is oft the occasion of the changing Popular States into Oligarchie , which dividing into Factions , is at length easily oppress'd by single Tyranny : which never any man in the World was ever known to attain to without Knowledge , without Learning , without Literature ; only Sylla the Dictator , who an Illiterate person , invaded and obtained the Supream Government : to whose ignorance the Commonwealth was yet so far beholding , that it was the occasion that at length of his own accord he quitted his great Command . Furthermore , all Sciences are but the Opinions and Decrees of private Men ; as well those that are of use , as those that are prejudicial ; as well those that are wholsome , as those that are pestiferous ; as well the bad as the good ; being never perfect , but both doubtful , full of Error and Contention : and that this is evident , we shall make appear , by taking a survey , and making a particular inspection into every particular Science .

FOR who sees not , that the Arts of well speaking , that is to say , Grammar , Logick , Rhetorick , which are but the Porches and Wickets of Sciences , but not of Knowledge , are oft-times the Causes of more mischief then delight ? which notwithstanding have no other rule of Truth for their Establishment , than the Decrees and Statutes of their first Institutors ; which evidently appears in the Invention of Letters themselves , which are the Elements and Materials of all Arts. The first Letters were Caldaean , invented by Abraham , as Philo affirms , and were in use among the Galdaeans , Assyrians , and Phoenicians ; though others say , that Radamanth was the first that fram'd Letters among the Assyrians . After this , Moses delivered certain Characters to the Jews , though not the same which are us'd at this day ; the Author of which , Ezra is said to be , and not only so , but of all the Books of the Old Testament . Afterwards , one Linus a Calcidian is said to have brought over Letters out of Phoenicia into Greece , being the Phoenician Characters , which were there used till Cadmus the Son of Agenor made publick among them other new Letters of another sort , sixteen in Number ; to which in the time of the Trojan War Palamedes added four more ; and after him , Simonides the Melitian as many more . To the Aegyptians it is said that one Memnon first taught the use of Writing by the Portraitures of Beasts , as is seen in their Obelisks ; but as for Letters , Mercurie is said to be the first that gave them the Knowledge thereof : that Mercurie , whom Lactantius affirmeth to be the first of that Name , to whom Vulcan the Son of Nilus succeeded in the Kingdom . But the first that taught the use of Letters among the Latines , was Nicostrata , sirnam'd Carmenta . Thus we see seven sorts of Letters most famous in Antiquity , the Hebrew , Greek , Latin , Syriac , Caldean , Aegyptian , and Getic . Of which in a very Antient Manuscript Crinitus reports that he hath read these following Verses .

But other People and Barbarous Nations of latter times have invented new Letters . For Cordanus ▪ the Bishop invented Letters for the Goths ; and the Ancient Franks , who under the Leading of Marcomirus and Pharamond vanquish'd the Gauls , us'd certain Characters very little different from the Greeks : which Letters Wastaldus , writing their History in their own Language , made use of . There are also other Letters extant among the Franks , whose inventor one Doracus is said to be , far differing in Character from those of Wastaldus ; together with others , of whom Hichus the Frank was Author , who came out of Scythi● to the Mouth of the Rhyne with Marcomir . Beda also produces the Characters of certain Norman Letters , but without any certainty of their first Inventor . Many other Nations have appointed for their own use several new Characters of Letters ; either borrowed from the Ancients , or which they did impart , change , and corrupt : Thus the Dalmatians corrupted the Grecian ; the Armenians the Caldean ; the Lombards and Goths defac'd and alter'd the Latin Characters . Many Ancient Letters are also quite lost , as of the Ancient Hetrurians , which notwithstanding formerly were in high esteem among the Romans , as Livy and Pliny witness . Of which Letters , the Characters are to be seen in many Ancient Coyns , although their signification be altogether unknown . For the Romans heretofore Conquering the greatest part of the World , took from many Nations the use of their own Letters , and violently impos'd upon them their own Forms . In the like manner the Hebrew Letters were lost in the Captivity of Babylon , and their Language was corrupted by the Caldeans . Thus the ancient Letters of the Germans , Spaniards , and other Nations , perish'd upon introducing the Roman Character ; and their Languages were also by the same means wholly corrupted . On the other side , the Letters and Language of the Romans were corrupted and chang'd by the Goths , Lombards , Franks , and other Barbarous Nations : Neither is the Latin Language now in use the same with that in times of yore . Concerning the Hebrew Language and Character , there is no small dissention among the Talmudists ; for Rabbi Jehuda saith , That Adam the first man spake the Aramaean Language . Marsurra affirms , That the Law was delivered by Moses , in the Character which is said to be the Hebrew ; but in the Sacred Idiome of Speech , which being afterwards chang'd into the Aramaean Idiome , and written in the Assyrian Character by Esdras ; a little while after retaining the Assyrian Character , reassum'd the Sacred Idiome . Others say , That the Law was not Written in other Characters at first , than those at present known ; but that sometimes it was changed upon their fallings away , and by and by restor'd upon their Repentance . Rabbi Simon the Son of Eleazer believes neither the Language nor Character to have at any time been chang'd : So little of certain concerning the Hebrew Letters is there among the Hebrews themselves . And indeed , such are the alterations hapning through the Vicissitude of times , that there are no Languages or Letters that are able to make good the Antiquity or Truth of their first Original .

YET out of these so inconstant , and in all Ages mutable Principles of Letters and Languages , Grammar first , then the other Arts of well speaking proceeded : For when it seem'd to be of little use to know Letters , unless they were joyn'd together in a certain Method and Form , and Syllables fram'd thereof , which at length might grow into Words and Sentences for the understanding of Speech ; then did certain Ingenious Men undertake to Ordain Rules of speaking ; that is to say , the Construction of government of Words and things signifi'd , imposing as it were a bridle upon Speech , that whatever was written or said according to those Rules , should be well written or said , and should be the Art of well speaking , which Art they call'd Grammar . The first Inventor whereof among the Grecians is said to be Prometheus . Crates Mallotes was the first that brought it into Rome , being sent by Attalus between the second and third Punic War ; which afterwards Palaemo Profess'd with great Ostentation , so that he gave a new Name thereto , calling Grammar the Polaemonian Art : A man so Arrogant , that he boasted That Letters had their beginning , and should dye with him ; so prov'd , that he despis'd all the most Learned men of this Age ; not forbearing to call Marcus Va●ro Hog . However , the Latin Grammar is so barren , and so much beholden to Greek Literature , that whoever understands not so much , is to be ejected out of the Number of Grammarians . Therefore all the Foundation and Reason of Grammar consists only in the use and Authority of our Ancestors , who have been pleas'd , that a thing shall be so call'd and so written , that words shall be so compounded and construed ; which being so done , they esteem well done . From whence though Grammar boast it self to be the Art of well-speaking , yet doth it falsly claim that Pre-eminence , seeing that with more advantage we learn that very thing from our Mothers and Nurses , rather than from the Grammarians . The Language and Speech of the Gracchi , ( who were most Eloquent Men ) their Mother Cornelia polish'd and adorn'd . Istria taught her Son Siles , Son of Aripethis King of Scythia , the Greek Tongue . And it is well known , that in many Provinces where Forreign Colonies have been introduc'd , the Children have still retain'd the Dialect of their Mothers . Hence it is , that Plato and Quintilian are so careful in appointing Rules for the choice of a fit Nurse . Far be it from us therefore to acknowledge the reason of well-speaking to these Grammarians ; who professing Grammar only , and making that their only business , yet are skill'd in nothing less . Priscian could not learn this Art in the whole time of his Life . And Didymus is said to have four , some say six thousand Books upon this Subject . They report that Claudius Caesar was so given to the Greek Tongue , that he added three new Letters thereto , which he afterwards made use of when he was a Prince . Charles the Great is said to have Compil'd a Grammar for the German Tongue , giving new Names to the Months and Winds . Even to this hour how men toyl and labour Day and Night ! scribling continually of all sorts , Commentaries , Forms of Elegancy , or Phrases , Questions , Annotations , Animadversions , Observations , Castigations , Centuries , Miscellanies , Antiquities , Paradoxes , Collections , Additions , Lucubrations , Editions upon Editions . And yet not one of them all , whether Grecian or Latine hath given any accompt how the Parts of Speech are to be distinguish'd , or what order is to be observ'd in their Construction ; or whether there be only fifteen Pronouns , as Priscian believes , or whether more , as Di●medes and Focas will have it : whether a Participle put by its self , be sometimes a Participle , or whether Gerunds are Nouns or Verbs : why among the Greeks , Nouns plural of the Neuter Gender are joyn'd with a Verb of the singular Number : upon what accompt it may be lawful to pronounce in um , Latine words terminating a and us , as for Margarita , Margaritum ; for Punctus , Punctum : how it comes that the Word Jupiter makes Jovis in the Genitive Case : Why many write most Latin words with a Greek Diphthong , others not ; as Foelix , Quaestio : whether the Latin Diphthongs are only written , and not pronounced ; or whether there be a double pronunciation in one Syllable : Likewise , why in some Latine words some use the Greek y , and some the Latin i only ; as in considero : Why in some words some double the Letters , some not ; as causa , caussa ; religio , relligio : Why the word Caccabus , by position long , by reason of the double cc , is notwithstanding most commonly by the Poets made a Dactyle : Whether Aristotles word for the Soul , ought to be writ endelechia with a Delta , or entelechia with a Tau. I omit their infinitie and never-to-be-reconcil'd contentions about Accents , Orthography , Pronounciation of Letters , Figures , Etymologies , Analogies , Declinings , manner of Signification , change of Cases , variety of Tenses , Moods , Persons , Numbers ; as also about the various impediments and order of Construction . Lastly , concerning the Number and Pedigree of the Latin Letters , whether H be a Letter or not ; and many other trifles of the same Nature : so that not only as to Words and Syllables , but also in the very Elements and Foundations of Grammar it self , no reason can be given of such their continual warfare . Such a kind of Battel as this , Lucian of Samos has very elegantly describ'd , about the Consonants S and T , whether should have the Victory in the word Tbalassa , or Thalatta : Answerable to which , one Andreas Salernitanus hath with very much wit compil'd his Grammatical War . But these are poor and low things ; but more , and of greater Consequenc● , could we urge concerning their deprav'd significations of Words , with which they impose upon the greatest part of the Universe , not a little to the damage of the Publick Weal , while they interpret subjection to the Law , Servitude ; Liberty of the People , they call that when every one has Liberty to do what he pleases ; Acrisonomie or Equality of right they call that , when there is the same punishment , the same reward to all alike . In like manner they call that a quiet and peaceable Government , when all things submit to the inordinate will of the Prince ; That a happy Government , when the People wallow in ease and luxury . By such-like expositions as these , and many other , Physick and Law are corrupted : nay , the very Scriptures , and Christ himself , are compell'd to be at a kind of variance one with another , and himself with himself ; wresting those holy words not according to the meaning of the holy Ghost , nor to the Advantage of humane Salvation , but to the sense and meaning of their insignificant Compendiums and discants thereupon : whence arise most eminent mischiefs ; Error in Words , being many times the parent of Error in Matter . This mistake was grievous to Saul first King of the Jews , in the word Zobar , which signifies both a Male , and the Memory . So that when God said , I will root out the memory of Amalech , Saul thought he had sufficiently executed the Command , in destroying all the Males . The like Error befell the Greeks and Latines in the word Phos , which signifies both Light , and Man ; by which ambiguity of the word , the ancient adorers of Saturn being deceiv'd , were wont to Sacrifice a Man in their usual Ceremonies ; whereas otherwise they might have as well appeas'd their Deity by the only kindling of proper Lights and Fires : which Error was afterwards reform'd by the prudence of Hercules . Last of all , Divines and holy Friers mixing themselves among the Tribe of Grammarians , are forc'd to make use of Heresie to make good their Contests about the signification of Words , overturning the Scriptures for Grammars sake ; evil Interpreters of words well spoken : men truly vain , and truly unhappy , blinding themselves with their own Art , and flying the Light of Truth ; who while they over-diligently scrutinize into the sorce of Words , lose the sence of the Scripture , not willing to understand the word of Truth : which puts us in mind of the story of the Priest , who having many Hosts at one Elevation , for fear of committing a Grammar-absurdity , cry'd out , These are my Bodies . Whence arose that execrable Heresie of the Antidicomarianites and the Elvidians , denying the perpetual Virginity of the Blessed Virgin , but from that one word until , where it is said , Because Joseph did not know her until she had brought forth her first-born ? What strife and contention have those two Syllables from and through rais'd between the Latin and Greek Church ! The Latines asserting the Holy Ghost to proceed from the Father and from the Son ; the Greeks denying him to proceed from the Son , but from the Father through the Son . How many Tragedies has the word Nisi been the occasion of in the Council of Basil ! the Bohemians asserting the Lords Supper to be necessary in both kinds , because it is written , Vnless ye eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood , ye shall not have life in ye . Whence that Opinion of the Waldenses and others their followers concerning the Eucharist , but from the word is , which they will have Symbolically understood , which the Roman Church would have meant Essentially ? There are other pernicious Heresies of the Grammarians , but so nice , so subtile , that unless the Oxonians the most acute Divines of England , or the Sorbonists of Paris , had discovered them with their Lynx's eyes , and condemned 'um under their great Seals , it would be difficult to shun them ▪ of this nature are those subtleties , which is best said , Christ thou Preachest , Christ Preacheth ; I Believest , thou Believeth , Believing am I : also that the Word , the permanent Word , may be depriv'd of all its accidents : also that there is no name of the Third Person , and the like ; which if they be Heretical , then are Isaias and Malachy in the first place to be accompted Hereticks , who both introduce God speaking of himself in the Third Person : the first , when God speaks to Ezechiel , saying , Ego addet , not addam super dies tuos . The other is this , Et Domini Ego , ubi est timor meus ? In which place he makes God giving himself the appellation of Dominos in the plural Number . Much rather ought they to be accompted Hereticks , who are now esteem'd the chief Divines in the Roman World , amusing and clouding the whole Doctrine of the Orthodox Church , with noveltie of Pronunciation contrary to all the rules and maximes of Grammar , with far-strain'd words , new-made Vocabularies , and abstruse Sophisms ; teaching moreover , That the Doctrine of Theology cannot be truly delivered in neat and genuine Language . And a miserable thing it is to consider , what Debates , what Errors these obstinate Grammarians and proud Sophists are the occasion of , by means of their perverse and imperious Interpretations of Words ; while some out of words gather Sentences ; others , out of Sentences gather Words . Hence in Physick , in both Laws , in Philosophy , in Theology , infinite Arguments and Errors arise . For Grammarians demonstrate nothing , but solely lean upon Authorities , which are oft-times so various and discordant among themselves , that of necessity the most of them must be false ; insomuch that they who most confide in their Precepts , must be thought to utter least of all to the purpose . For all the Laws of Speech abide not with the Grammarians , but with the People , that by continual custom attain the use and habit of well-speaking . Now the vigor of the Latine Tongue after it ceased among the People , through the Invasion of barbarous Nations , the true substance thereof is not to be sought among the Grammarians , but among the most Authentick and Learned Authors , as Cicero , Cato , V●rro , both Plinies , Quintilian , Seneca , Suetonius , Quintus Curtius , Livie , Salust , and such-like ; in whose Writings only remain the delights of the Latine Language , and the Custom of well-Speaking ; not in the scribblements of Grammatical Letter-mongers , who by their starch'd Rules concerning declining of Verbs and Cases , Compounds and Deponents , impose more upon the Latine Tongue , and oftentimes frame to themselves stranger words than is fit for the Latine Language to own . Though it be apparent to the World , that there is no faith to be given to these Grammarians touching the truth of the Latine Tongue , yet these impertinent Scriblers arrogate to themselves to be the only Censurers of other Mens Writings , their Judges and Interpreters , and all Books and Authors to reduce into Method , and to allow or reject at their pleasures . Never was any Author of so sublime a wit whatever extant , which has scap'd their malicious slanders , or whom they have not tax'd and calumniated as they thought good . They accuse Plato of Confusion , of whose faults George Trap●zund hath put forth several Books , who as Crinitus declares , is therefore by others call'd the Parent of Truth and Verity . They seek perspicuity in Aristotle , condemn him of Obscurity , giving him the nickname of Sepi● ( or Cuttle-fish . ) Vergil they condemn for little Wit , and for being a Pla●arie , and an Usurper of other mens Works . Demosthenes displeases Tully . On the ot●●r side , Tully that great Rhetorician of the Latines , is accus'd of Bribery , reproach'd for being Fearful , superfluous in Repetitions , cold in his Joking , tedious in his Exordiums , idle in his Digressions , seldome growing Warm , slowly Swelling , yea , reprehended by those even of our Age , and by Capella tax'd for his disorderly Stile , but more by Apollinaris branded for being Flat and Insipid . Trogus condemns Livies Orations for Fictions . Plautus and Horace cannot agree . Lucilius is damn'd for the rustickness of his hobling Verse . Pliny like a Rapid Stream is said to grasp and overflow with too much Matter . Ovid is complain'd of , for too much Indulging his own Fancy . Salust is accus'd of affectation , by Assinius Pollio . Terence could do little without the assistance of Labeo and Scipio . Seneca is adjudg'd to be Lime without Sand ; whom Quintilian taxed in these words : If he had not contemn'd his Equals , had he not been Covetuous , had he not too much lov'd and admir'd his own things , if he had not injur'd weighty Matters with trivial Sentences , he then might have been esteemed more in the judgment of Learned Men , than in the Love of Children . Marcus Varro is call'd a Hog . Macrobius a most Learned man degraded , as one of an impudent and ungrateful Genius : neither is there any that ever wrote in Latine , whom Laurentius Valla the Learnedest of all the Grammarians hath spar'd in his Anger ; and yet him hath Mancinellus most cruelly butchered . Servius of old was thought to have well deserved of the Latine Tongue , yet hath Bero●ldus most furiou●ly oppos'd him ; and our later Grammarians altogether shun him as a Barbarian . Thus all the Grammarians rage one against another : but lastly , by their means it comes to pass , that the Translation of the Holy Scriptures , under pretence of Correction , hath been so often chang'd , that now it seems altogether to differ from it self : Through their devices and censures , those doubts now raigning have been rais'd concerning the Revelation , the Epistle of St. Paul to the Hebrews , the Epistle of Jude ; and many other places and Chapters of the New Testament by many call'd in question , even to an endeavour of subverting the Evangiles themselves . But now to the Poets .