have fed a while upon the courſe husks of the Alcoran, with the Arabian ſwine, we ſhall with much more eagerneſs covet after the plenty of our Fathers houſe, exhibited to us in his Word, where we ſhall finde the hidden Manna, the bread of Life, that came down from heaven.
7. Books of Palmiſtry, Phyſiognomy, judiciall Aſtrologie, Necromancy, and other ſuperſtitious and impious Arts have been permitted to come abroad, that men might ſee the vanity of thoſe Arts, the knavery and wickedneſs of the Artiſts, the fooliſhneſs of credulous people, who ſuffer themſelves to be deluded by them, and the malice of Satan the arch enemy of mankinde, whoſe delight is to abuſe, delude, and deſtroy men: why then may not the Alcoran be read, that men may ſee the vanity, impiety, and fooliſhneſs of it, by which the world hath been ſo many years cheated and abuſed?
8. They that learn Arts and Sciences, deſire the knowledg, not only of the good things, but of the evil things alſo, and the abuſes of them, to the end they may avoid them; therefore Logick ſspeaks as well as ſophiſticall and fallacious ſyllogiſmes, as of demonſtrative and topical; Ethicks treats of vices as well as of vertues; Natural Philoſophy handleth the natures, not only of uſeful and beneficial creatures, but alſo of hurtful and venomous, as of Serpents; Phyſick ſpeaks of poyſons as well as cures; Hiſtorians deſcribe both the vertuous and vicious actions of Princes; in Divinity we learn, not only what God and good Angels are, but alſo what Sathan is and his wicked Angels; in Navigation we muſt know, not only what places are Navigable, but alſo what are not; how ſhall we avoid Rocks, Quick-ſands and Shelves if we know them not? even ſo Chriſtian Religion permits not only the reading of Scripture but alſo of heretical and heatheniſh books, as is ſaid, that we may know what to embrace, what to ſhun; therefore if you would know what be the damnable errors to be avoided by Chriſtians, read the Alcoran, and you ſhall finde in it the ſinke of all, or moſt part of ancient hereſies.
9. In reading of the Alcoran, though it be, as Cato ſaid of the three Roman Embaſſadors, that were to go to Antiochus, headleſs, heartleſs, and footleſs, the one being maimed in his head,
