fundamentall poyntes of our religion yet that they cannot free vs from error in every question that may bee mooued of it not to speake of the faint proofes that sometime they vsed euen in great mysteries of our religion vvherein notvvithstanding touching the matter it selfe their iudgement is sounde and Catholicke To the next section page 11. After that by hiding burning the Scriptures by threatning and murdering of men for reading of them they cannot attaine to the causing of such a night of ignorance wherin they might doe all thinges without controulment there remayned one onely engine which Satan with all his Angels hauing framed and hammered vpon his lying forge hath furnished them of This engine is the defacing dis-authorizing of the Scriptures as it were the taking from them their girdle or garter of honour by a false surmise of corruption of them in the languages wherein they were firste written Which abominable practise being attempted in th' old testament by Lindanus whom some term Blindasinus is nowe assayed in the new by the Iesuites who of others for their deadly hatred of the trueth are not called vnfitly Iebusites First therfore or euer we come to their particular arguments whereby they would as it were couer the head and maiestie of th'authentical copies in the Greek to bring them to subiection vnto th' olde translation we think it not amisse to set downe the generall doctrine that no one oracle or sentence of God can fall away Whereby it will be euident that the holy Scriptures both in the old new testament written in their original tongues cannot either by additioÌ„ detraction or exchange be corrupted Wherevnto the coÌ„sideration of th'autor of them ministreth a substantiall proofe For seing they are of Psal 111. â— God all whose workes remaine for euer it followeth that al the holy scriptures being not only his handiework but as it were the chiefe and master worke of all other must haue a continuall endurance And if there be not the least and vilest creature in the world which eyther hath not heretofore or shall not hereafter by the mightie hand of God vpholding all thinges be continued how much lesse is it to be estemed that any sentence of God wherin a greater glory commeth to him and greater fruite to his people then of many of those creaturs which for these two ends he doth so carefully continue should perish and fall away Secondly they all are written generally for our instruction more particularlie for admonition and warning for comfort and consolation c vnles we will say that God may be deceiued in his purpose and end wherefore he ordeyned them it must needes be that it must continue whatsoeuer hath bene written in that respect For if it or any part thereof fal awaye the same cannot according to th'ordinance of god either informe vs against ignorance or warne vs against danger or comfort vs against afflictions or finallye doe any other dutie vnto vs which we haue need of they were prepared for Thirdly if th' authority of th'autheÌ„tical copies in Hebrew Chalde Greek fal there is no high court of appeale where coÌ„trouersie rising vpon the diuersitie of translations or otherwise may be ended so that the exhortation of hauing re course vnto the law to the prophets Esai â— and of our Sauiour Christ asking Luke 10 Hieron epist ad Maâ—cel epist ad Suniam Fretel ad Damasum praefâ—in 4. Euang praef in paenitent Ambros de Spirit sanct lib. â— cap. 6 August de doctr christiana 2. lib. cap 11 lib. 11. contra Faust Manich. opist 59 how it is written and how readest thou are now either of none effect or not sufficient whilest these disgracers and disgraders of the Scripture haue taught men to say that the coppies are corrupted and the sense changed Nay not onely our estate is worse then theirs vnder the law and in our sauiour Christs time but worse theÌ„ theirs which liued some hundred yeres after Christ when th' ancient fathers exhorted in such cases that men should make sute vnto th' originall Scriptures to haue an end of their controuersies Yea their owne Gratian out of Augustine falsly alledged for Ierome sendeth vs in deciding of differences not to th' olde translator but to th'originals of the Hebrew in th' olde and of the Greek in the new testament They vse quarrelously to surmise against vs that we abbridge the priuiledges of the Churches of our dayes because vve accord them not to be so ample in euery point as they vvere vvhen the Apostles liued But vvo vnto the Churches of our dayes if the Scriptures be as the Papistes would beare vs in hand corrupted if the Charters and recordes whereby we hold the inheritance of the kingdom of heauen are rased or otherwise falsifyed if we haue not wherewith to conuey our selues to be children vnto the heauenly father and Priests vnto God in Iesus Christ further then from the hand of such a Scribe and Notarie as both might erre and hath erred diuersly Hieron in 6. c. Es August de ciuit dei lib. 15. c. 13 These euidences were safely surely kept when one onely nation of the Iewes and the same sometymes a few excepted vnfaithfull bare the keyes of the Lords librarie now when there be many nations that haue keyes vnto th'ark or counter wherein they are kept it is altogether vncredible that there should be such packing or such defect as th' aduersarie doth wickedly suppose Againe if the Lord haue kept vnto vs the booke of Leuiticus in it the ceremonies which ar abolished wherof there is now no practise for that they haue a necessary and profitable vse in the Church of God how much more is it to be esteemed that his prouideÌ„ce hath watched ouer other bookes of the Scripture which more properly belong vnto our times Laste of all passing by other reasons which might further be alledged let vs heare the Scripture it selfe witnessing of it own authority durablenes to al ages Thus therfore Moses writeth of it the secret hidden things remaine Deu. 29. 29 to the Lord our God but the things that are reueiled are to vs and our children for euer Psa 119. 152 Dauid also professeth that he knew long before that the Lord had founded his testimonies for euermore But our Sauiour Mat 24. 35 Mar. 13. 32 Math. 5. 18 Christs testimony is of all other most euident that heauen and earth shall passe but that his word can not passe and yet more vehemently that not one iote or small letter prick or stop of his law can passe vntill all be fulfilled Now as for the common obiection of diuerse bookes meÌ„tioned in th' old Testament where of we find none so intituled in the canon thereof it is easily answered That either they were ciuill and commonwelth stories whether the reader is referred if it like him to read the stories
much more the translation that hath bene more the translation that hath bene dravven from it It vvould require a booke by it selfe to set forth the iudgment of th' fathers directly fighting against the horrible blasphemy of the Iesuites vvhich olde fathers send men for resolution of all doubtes vnto th' originall of the Greek for the new the Hebrew for th' olde Testament Ierome speaking hereof concludeth that the water of the fountaine is to be beleued to flow more Hieron aduersus Heluidium Hieron ad Liâ—tum pure then that of the riuer or streame And againe as the truth of the bookes of the old testmeÌ„t are to be examined by the Hebrew so the bookes of the new Testament require the triall of the Greeke vvhich sentence Gratian citeth as it were out of Augustine Distinct 9 ad veter Ambrose speaketh in a certaine place of the new testament affirmeth Lib. 2. cap. 6 de spirit sanct Augustine de ciuitate Dei lib. 15 cap. 13 August in Psal 38 that th' authoritie of the Greek bookes is to be preferred Augustine saith that we ought rather to beleue that tongue from which it is by interpreters deriued into another And againe the former tongue expoundeth the later it is made certain and plain in one that was doubtful in another And if it be saide that th' originall vvas then a virgin vvhich is sithence defiled and deflovvred vvhat reasons can the Iesuites alledge vvhy the Hebrevv the Greeke vvhich kept their integritie 400. years together after Christ amiddest as bitter enemies as euer they had as troublesome and tempesteous times as euer vvere sithence should after in time of lesse danger greater quiet loose not their beautie only but their chastitie also And vve maruell that the Iesuites are not afraide to suffer this blot to fall vpon their popish gouernment vvhich braggeth it selfe to be the piller of trueth yet hath had no better care to preserue the truth But th' abominable stinch of this blasphemous opinion vvill better appeare by the Iesuites reasones vvhereby they haue raked stirred vp this dung of theirs The first reason vvhereby they bring vp an euill report of th' undefiled virginity of the Greeke originall is that through multitude of hereticks rising out of Grece it hath as it vvere loste her maidenhead But they remember not that as many cloudes of haeresie rose from thence by occasion of vvorldly vvisdome humane sciences vvherinto they excelling leaned rather then to the simplicity of the vvord so there rose from that same corner of the vvorld great lights of Catholick doctrine vvhereby those mistie cloudes vvere scattered Neither was the diligence of the heretickes greater to deface them then vvas the care of the Catholicks to keepe them vndefaced And seing they conuinced their heresies out of the Scriptures forsomuch as error is not confuted but by truth it follovveth that if the falsifying of Copies by heretikes were proued yet the same could be but in part not so much as in the narrow compas of Grece much lesse in the vvide circuite of the vvorld vvhere the Greek copies vvere spred asvvell as in Greece And notvvithstanding that there haue bene for many 100. years vveightie controuersies betvveen the Greeke Church and the true diuers also betvvene you and it yet neither doe vve accuse them nor you are able to shevv one place of the new testament vvhich they haue attempted to corrupt for their aduantage either in the proceeding of the holy Ghost or in your sole primate and vniuersal Bishop or othervvise This securitie from incorruption of the Greeke Copies is greatly strenghtned by comparison of the Lords safe conduct giuen to th' originall Hebrevv for the space of about a 1000. yeares before the firste comming of our Sauiour Christ For hovvsoeuer that is also charged to be empaired and embased eyther throgh malice or negligence of those that were put in trust vvith the keeping thereof yet the contrarie thereof is manifest For men must consider who put them in trust not man which looketh only vpon the present estate and face of men but God himselfe which looketh into the secretest Rom. 3 kidneyes of the heart to discerne not onely such as they were at the time wherein he committed his oracles vnto them but also what they should be a thousand yeares after Whereupon it will be easie to vnderstand that if the Lord had espied any such vnfaithfulnesse in them of keeping those euidences whereupon the happy good estate not of them onely but of the great posteritie of the Church depended and whereby they should haue both certaine vndoubted entrance and season of their inheritance and finally whereby they might confer the promises made vnto the Fathers vnder the Lawe with the full and exact accomplishment of them in the Gospel he would haue made other choise of the Wardens of his bookes then they were And seeing the Law went Esai 2 Iohn 4 out of Sion into all the world it went forth pure vndefiled which otherwise had not beene the Lawe of God but either of man or man God together But what trust the Iewes discharged herein may appeare manifestlie in our Sauiour Christs time of all other the most corrupt yet was there no such corruption of the text broght Math. 5. 23 in by either Pharisies Sadduces or any other the sworne enemies of the trueth For seeing our Sauiour taking them vp hotelie and sharpely for corrupt interpretations which was petilarimie in regard of their famous robberies that should change the text of the scripture it is euident that if there had bene any such church-robberie of raising the recordes hee would haue made a scourge of Scorpions to haue laide vpon their skinnes for such insufferable treacherie Yea when of the contrarie part he exhorteth the people to searche the Scriptures such as they were then he alloweth them for the Iohn 5. same which the Prophetes had by diuine inspiration left vnto the Church And this latter reason Origen vseth to Hicron in cap. 6. Esa maintaine the perpetuall virginity of the Hebrew Text. As for their trifling In the preface nomber 44. reasons brought against in their discouerie of want and surplusage they are scarse worth the naming They alledg Psalme 22. which they suppose to differ from the Euangelists words in Greek whereas the Massorites doe witnes that the moste corrected copies haue They pearsed my hands feete word for word with the Greeke And your owne Genebrard Genebrard in Psal 21. will not haue the Iewes charged with any falsification in this place They further alledge Psal 68. where there is no manner of difference of sense for the Hebrewe hauing Christ receaued gifts for men doth in those words declare manifestly that he gaue them vnto men For otherwise they could not haue bene to the vse of men vnlesse Christ had giuen Howbeit in the very next vers there is added that God
more at large which the Prophets to a sufficiency of that they wrote theÌ„ for touched shortly or els they are conteyned in the bookes of the kings which are manifestly proued to haue bene written by diuers Prophets in their seuerall ages wherein they prophecied In the former kind whereof if we reape not that fruite which they did which liued in the dayes wherein the reader was set ouer vnto them yet we reape a more excellent fruit which is a certain knowledg of a more special prouidence care of the Lord for the preseruing of the Scriptures appering euidently in that all those falling away the books of the canonical Scripture doe stil remaine Hereof we haue a notable example in the books of Solomon whereof those falling away that he wrote of naturall philosophie and other by knowledge the profitablest bookes that euer were the Canon only excepted those alone which perteined to godlynes haue bene safely kept for the posteritie Which is so much more to be obserued as there being infinitely moe in the world that effect the knowledg of naturall thinges then doe godlynes haue not yet with all the care of keeping them bene able to deliuer them from this whole and perpetuall forgetfulnes wherevnto they are fallen as if they had neuer bene written Where of th' other side his holy writtings hated of the most parte carelesly regarded of a number haue notwithstanding as whole and full a remeÌ„brance as they had the first day the Lord gaue them vnto the church And seing there are now more then 1500. yeares wherein there is not onely no booke but no sentence of any booke of Canonicall Scripture fallen away what cause is there why wee should think that in the tyme which was vnder the law whole bookes fell away so thick and threefolde For as for bookes of the nevv Testament imagined of some to haue ben lost their reasons wherevpon their imagination leaneth are so faint that they are not worthie the naming Of all which matter it is euident that not onely the matter of the Scripture but also the wordes not onely the sense and meaning of them but the manner and frame of speach in them doe remaine 2. Tim. 3 For seing the Scripture remayneth vvhich wholy both for matter and words is inspired of god it must follow that the same words wherein th' old new testament were vvritten and indited by the hand of God do remaine For how great difference there is betvveen the thinges both vvordes and matter that haue passed through the Act. 9 Act. 17 1. Cor. 15 Tit. 1. 12 mouth or pen of God and those vvhich come from a mortal man may appeare by the sayings of the Poets taken vp of the holye Ghost For not vvithstanding the Poets vse the same vvordes and sense vvhich the Scripture vseth yet vvere they neither the vvordes nor the sense of God but of the Poets vntill they had passed by the golden pype of the Lords mouth Whereby it came to passe that those sayings which were before prophane are now most holy euen as the stones and timber which in the quarrey and forrest were common were after holy when they were laide in the building of the Temple If therefore words the same in letters sillables with those the holy Ghost vseth are not wordes inspired of God because they were neither written nor spoken of him his Embassadors and publike notaries how much lesse are the wordes of the olde translator diuers from them of the holy Ghost inspired of him seing they neuer passed either by pen or mouth of his And albeit th' olde translator which he is far from should alwayes giue sense for sense waight for waight yet shuld not his translation which so should be yâ— truth of god be therfore the worde of God considering that the title aggreeth only to that truth of God which hath also the frame of his words And therefore the Apostle maketh a manifest difference betweene the wholsome wordes of our Sauiour 1. Tim. 6. 3 Christ and the doctrine that is according to godlines And our Sauiour Christ in saying that thy worde is the trueth Ioh. 17. 17 doth manifestly establish a difference betweene gods worde and his trueth otherwise he should say thy trueth is the trueth or thy word is the word which were no declaratioÌ„ of his meaning but onely an vnnecessarie repetition Wherefore it is truly verefied of these men which the Prophet saieth that they haue forsaken the fountains Ierem. 2. and digged cisterns But let vs examine the pith of their reasones which haue moued them rather to draw from the riuen and leaking cask of th' old translator by the which manye thinges haue entred to th' emparing the sweet wine of the Scripture then from the staunch whole vessels of the Greek copies which preserue it from all corruption To the first reason These men are worthie to goe alwayes in their olde cloathes that make th' age of the traÌ„slation the first and principall commendation therof Wherby it shuld appear if they could haue come by the translation that Ierom amended they would haue tunned their drink out of that rather theÌ„ out of this as that whose head was hoarer And if this be a good reason why should not the translation of Symmachus Aquila and Theodotion bee preferred which are auncienter then he Yea why should not the 70. before them all be much more preferred as those that were vsed oftentymes of th' Apostles and commended highly of th' auncient fathers But as gray heares are then onely honorable when they are founde in the waye of righteousnesse so th' age of th' old translator is there only to be respected and reuerenced where both for propernesse of wordes and truth of sense he hath wisely and faithfully translated And so far we holde him worthie to be preferred before other interpreters But if antiquitie commended th' olde translation vnto you for that it was aboue 1300. yeares olde the Greek coppies being more ancient then it hauing bene vsed aboue 1500 yeares should ye wisse haue had the right hand of th' olde translator To the second reason It is false For it is not the receiued opinion Looke Ierome vpon these places and compare them with th' old translator Genes 1. 2 Esai 1 12 30. 5. 2 Gal. 1. 16 2. 5. 5 8. Eph. 1 14 4. 19. c neither is there any probabilitie of it considering that Ierome in the old and nevv Testament both translateth otherwise then th' olde interpreter and often controwleth him Hereof the testimony of Erasmus a man that had as quick a nose in Ieromes doings as whosoeuer is notable who flatly affirmeth that this translation is neither Cyprians nor Hilaries nor Ambrose nor Augustins nor Ieromes seing his reading is diuers from it and that it is Looke also afterward for other examples Eras epist N. amico ex aniâ—o dilecto Erasmâ—iâ— Scholijs â—â— epist Hieron