na lesing may procede, na mair than myrknes may cum fra the cleir schenand sonne.” But how gradually and artfully are the people led away from the scriptures in what follows! “The secund thing that suld moue us to belief the word of God, and to knaw quhilk is the worde of God, quhilk are the haly bukis quharin the word of God is contenit, and quhat is the trew sense of the same bukis, is ye consent and authoritie of our mother the haly kirk, fra the apostils tyme hitherto, and specially quhen it is {422} lawfully gadderit be the haly spirit in ane general counsel, quhairof sainct Augustine sais thus:――‘I wald nocht gif credence to the euangel, except that the universal kirk warnis me sa to do.’ And tharfor lair thir twa lessonis. The ane is, quhatsaeuir the haly spirit reuelis and schawis to us, other in the bukis of haly scripture, _or in ye determinatiouns and definitiouns of general counsellis_, lawfully gadderit for the corroboracion and maintenans of our faith, we suld beleif ye same to be _trew word of God_, and thairto gyf ferme credence as to the verite that is infallible. The second lesson, ye that ar simple and unleirnit men and wemen suld expressly belief al the artickils of your Crede, as for all uthir hie misteries and matteris of the scripture ye aucht to belief generally as the kirk of God beleiffis. And this faith is sufficient to yow, for the perfectioun of that faith quhilk ye ar bund to haif.” Fol. xiiii. b. xv. a. A specimen of the same kind occurs on the question, How is the true sense of the scripture to be discerned? where, after being gravely taught the usefulness of collating one place with another, and attending to the connexion of the passage, the people are told that this belongs to such as have the gift called _interpretatio sermonum_, and are then devoutly set down at the feet of the doctors of the church, and taught implicitly to receive the decisions of councils. “Quharfor, he that will nocht heir, resaif, and obey ye diffinitionis and determinationis of lauchful general counsellis concerning materis of our faith, he is nocht to be accountit a trew christin man, according to the wordis of our salviour,――‘Gif he will nocht heir the kirk, lat him be to the as ane infidele, unchristinit, and ane publican.’ Thus ye haif quha is ane herityk, and how he brekis the first command.” Fol. xviii. b. xix. b.