A Tale of a Tub by Jonathan Swift
page 150 of 157 (95%)
page 150 of 157 (95%)
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{72a} The tailor.
{72b} A sacred monkey. {75} The Roman Catholics were considered by the Reformers to have added to the simple doctrines of Christianity inventions of their own, and to have laid especial stress on the adoption of them. Upon Swift's saying of the three brothers, "Now the coats their father had left them were, it is true, of very good cloth, and besides so neatly sewn that you would swear they were all of a piece, but, at the same time, very plain, with little or no ornament," W. Wotton observes: "This is the distinguishing character of the Christian religion. Christiana religio absoluta et simplex, was Ammianus Marcellinus's description of it, who was himself a heathen." But the learned Peter argues that if a doctrine cannot be found, totidem verbis, in so many words, it may be found in so many syllables, or, if that way fail, we shall make them out in a third way, of so many letters. {76} Quibusdam veteribus codicibus [some ancient MSS.].--S. {77a} There are two kinds--oral tradition and the written record,-- reference to the value attached to tradition in the Roman Church. {77b} The flame-coloured lining figures the doctrine of Purgatory; and the codicil annexed, the Apocryphal books annexed to the Bible. The dog-keeper is said to be an allusion to the Apocryphal book of Tobit. {78a} Dread hell and subdue their lusts. |
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