indeed the garners of Joseph full of corn, and all the spoil of
the Egyptians, and the very precious gifts which Queen Sheba
brought to Solomon.

These men are as ants ever preparing their meat in the summer,
and ingenious bees continually fabricating cells of honey. They
are successors of Bezaleel in devising all manner of workmanship
in silver and gold and precious stones for decorating the temple
of the Church. They are cunning embroiderers, who fashion the
breastplate and ephod of the high priest and all the various
vestments of the priests. They fashion the curtains of linen and
hair and coverings of ram's skins dyed red with which to adorn
the tabernacle of the Church militant. They are husbandmen that
sow, oxen treading out corn, sounding trumpets, shining Pleiades
and stars remaining in their courses, which cease not to fight
against Sisera. And to pay due regard to truth, without
prejudice to the judgment of any, although they lately at the
eleventh hour have entered the lord's vineyard, as the books that
are so fond of us eagerly declared in our sixth chapter, they
have added more in this brief hour to the stock of the sacred
books than all the other vine-dressers; following in the
footsteps of Paul, the last to be called but the first in
preaching, who spread the gospel of Christ more widely than all
others. Of these men, when we were raised to the episcopate we
had several of both orders, viz., the Preachers and Minors, as
personal attendants and companions at our board, men
distinguished no less in letters than in morals, who devoted
themselves with unwearied zeal to the correction, exposition,
tabulation, and compilation of various volumes. But although we
have acquired a very numerous store of ancient as well as modern