with famine! or mortality, or other sources of supreme vengeance. Therefore, the recollection of these events is handed down in books, that if at any time similar occurrences should take place, sinners who recollect that they have by any means incurred the wrath of God, may flee to the remedy of repentance, and appease God by such means. It is on this account, therefore, (not but what there are other sufficient reasons likewise) that Moses, the lawgiver, sets before us, in his Divine History, the innocence of Abel, the envy of Cain, the simplicity of Jacob, the craftiness of Esau, the malice of the eleven sons of Israel, the goodness of the twelfth, to wit, Joseph, and the punishment of the five cities which were consumed by fire and brimstone ; in order that we may imitate the good, and avoid being followers of the wicked, and by shunning all temptations to sin, we may radically weaken it ; and this is the effect produced in us not only by Moses, but by all the authors of the Holy Volume, both in their historical and moral works, where they commend virtue, and show their detestation of vice, and so teach us at the same time to fear and to love God. Those men, then, must not be listened to, who say that books of Chronicles, and especially those published by Catholics, ought to be neglected ; since by the study of them a diligent enquirer may be able to discover by his memory, to understand by his intelligence, and to set forth, with eloquence, all that is necessary for human life, and for human safety.