An exhortation to the diligent studye of scripture and An exposition in to the seventh chaptre of the pistle to the Corinthians(STC10493) are, respectively, William Royeʹs English renderings of ErasmusʹsParaclesisand Martin Lutherʹs commentary on St Paulʹs First Epistle to the Corinthians 7.¹ ErasmusʹsParaclesis, called by one critic ʹone of the great classic statements of Erasmusʹ biblical humanismʹ (Olin, edChristian Humanism and the Reformation92), appeared from the press of John Froben in February 1516 as the preface to Erasmusʹs Greek and Latin edition of the New Testament. Lutherʹs commentary on 1 Corinthians 7 first...

[^⋆2r] Lactantius Firmianus/ Christen Reader (whose eloquence sanct Hierome doth greatlie avaunce) endeveringe hym silf 10 to defende and mayntayne the christen fayth and religion/ against the craftye and vnfaithfull gentles/ did wishe and desyre with fervent affection to attayne the eloquence next vnto Tullyes/ countinge it an hygh presumption^⋆(as I thinke) yf he shuld have desyred equall. How be yt I truely/ yf that 15 wisshes could eny thinge avaylle/ at the leste while/ I exhorte and entyse all mortall men vnto the most holye and holsome studye of Christian wisdome/ and pure Philosophye/ wold hartelye desyre an...

This commentary is designed to gloss all difficult readings caused by unfamiliar syntax or punctuation, identify all biblical and secular references, and provide analogues from early English sixteenth-century Reformation tracts and, where appropriate, from some of Erasmusʹs and Lutherʹs works. All New Testament references are from David Daniellʹs modern-spelling edition of William TyndaleʹsNew Testament. Page references to Daniellʹs edition appear in parentheses after the biblical citations. Despite the existence of a recent edition of Tyndaleʹs version of the Old Testament, also edited by David Daniell, all Old Testament references in this commentary are to the King James version of...