the Sermons of the Scribes and Pharises malitiouslye blinde in that mysterie there remained onely that with inuocation of the name of God they should read the scripturs to th' end that by conference of them with the Sermons of our Sauiour Christ they might finde and feele the trueth of them And as this place proueth that the peoples reading of the scripture is a good help to those that beleeue not after they haue hard the preaching so th' example of the Act. 17. 11. men of Baerea declareth that it is also necessary for those that beleeue that they shoulde be able by conference of the scripture to confirme themselues in the faith whereinto they are entered whereof let the reader further looke what is both objected answered in that place And if it were a safe and a sure thing for the Iewes not yet beleeuing in our Sauiour Christ to search and reade the scriptures how can it bee dangerous for Christians that haue already beleeued him to read the scriptures which beare testimonie of him And if it be commendable that those that were novices in Christianitie plantes of a day olde should search read the scripture how much more ought the reading of the scriptures be committed vnto their trust which through the covenant of grace were froÌ„ their mothers wombe borne Christians Gal. 2. 15 Secondly it is absolutely necessary for all men to vse all those aides whereby they shoulde the more perfectly know what is the will of God Deut. 6. thereby to frame themselues to th' obedience of the same Heereof the law commandeth that euery one should not onely haue the law sounding like a trumpet in his eares but also that it shoulde be as a ring vpon his finger as a bracelet vppon his hande as a frontlet before his eies that is to say alwayes in sight For which cause he commanded further Deut. 6. 7. 8. 9 that the law should be written vpon the frontiers of the land vpon the gates of the Citie and Towne and vpon the postes of euery mans priuate house Nowe if it were then thought good to the wisdome of God that the people should in passing by reade the lawe grauen or painted vpon pillers gates dores wher they could not consider of it so grauely stayedly how much more was it his good pleasure they should read the same sitting in their houses where hauing the book before them they might more ripelie and deliberatelie conceaue the sense and receaue the fruit thereof Further th' Apostle Coloss 3. 16. commanding that the worde of Christ should dwell plentifullie or richly amongst those that are of the Church doth thereby giue commandement that they shoulde vse all lawfull meanes of familiar acquaintance with it Vnlesse therefore it be denyed which cannot bee of them that grant it sometymes expedient that the reading of the Scriptures is a lawful exercise in the word of god for the obtayning of greater wealth in the same it is manifest that it is commanded of th' Apostle If commanded then also absolutely necessary Moreouer it is commanded to trye 1. Ioh. 4. â— the Spirits whether they be of God or no But that can not bee without some further knowledge of the word then we receaue of the spirites them selues that is to saye the ministers speaking either in the spirite of error or trueth wherefore it followeth that the whole knowledge that a faithfull man ought to haue hangeth not of the mouth of the minister but ought to haue a supplie of priuate reading and meditation of the law at home Againe the King who of all other for the multitude Deut 17. 19. Iosu 1. and weight of his busines in the affayres of the common wealth might seeme to be freed from this exercise of priuate reading and to content himselfe with the sermons in the temple is commanded to reade the booke of the lawe diligently where other men that are neither so full of businesse nor haue so many whose welfare dependeth of them can not bee exempted from this exercise of pietie And if it be necessary for the King to reade in the worde that hee may rule well it is necessary that the subjects should doe the same that they may obey well And if it bee needfull for him to read that hee command not through the pride of his harte thinges that are vnlawfull there is the same necessity for them least in too greate basenes of minde they shall obeye man rather then God Last of all reading of the scriptures Iosu 8. 34 Nehe. 8. 2. Reg. 23 2. Act. 13. 15 15. 21. Col. 4. 16 publikely in the Church being not onely a laudable and approued custome of the Church vnder the lawe but commanded also in the gospell doth declare that that which was continually profitable vnto the whole Church together can not but aedifie euery one a part in his house As for their reason to proue it not necessarie for that through mans malice or infirmitie the scriptures are pernitious much hurtful to many It is very childish For by the same boult they may shut out preaching as well as reading considering that through eyther infirmitie or malice many the most part oftentimes of those that heare get a greater condemnation vnto themselues So also the Sacraments shall be banished which by many are receiued to iudgement Finally so it 1. Cor. 11 should be dangerous for the people to meddle with Christ himselfe as Luke 1. one that is set for the rysing and fall of manie And to this manifest sounding voice in the Scriptures doth th' echo of th' elder Churches answere which teache that the people should learne Orig in Levit hom 4. Chrysost iâ— Gen. homil 29. the Scriptures without booke that they should not onelie hearken vnto the reading of the Scriptures at the Church but also take the Bible when they come home and that reading of the Scriptures performeth that to the soule that meate doth to the strength of the bodie that all men ought by daylie reading the Scripture Hieron iâ— câ—p 10. Ecclesiast August in Psal 33. câ—nâ— 2. get wisdome that they should read the Scriptures for that they were written to th' end we should be comforted Wherefore it is not the Churches diuine wisdome but the Popishe Synagogues deuilishe craft to forbidde that at any time which both the Scriptures and purer Churches haue not onely permitted th' vse of to the people but streightly charged them therewith And it is not vnlike the subtile practise of the Philistimes the most deadly enemies vnto the Lords people who to keepe them alwayes in slauerie permitted no vse of weapon vnto them a fewe excepted whome they forsooth would shew grace vnto So 1. Sam. 13 the diuine wisdome of your Church is to hinder the seruantes that they should not know their maisters will to holde from the betrothed maide that she should not know her
meaning the words And vvhat his iudgement is in August lib de vera relig cap. 5◠this cause he doth other where plainly and clearely set dovvne vvhen hee saith that the Scripture is to be declared according to the proprietie of euery tongue Indeede he saith that sometime the vulgar speach is more profitable but his reason is farre different from yours For it appeareth vvhen hee praeferreth August de doctr Chr. lib. 2. c. 11. those Barbarismes it is for the better cōmodity capacity of the people to whome he spake or wrote praferring rudenes of speach onely to that purenes which either bringeth new words to offend th' eares of the reader or else maketh the sense doubtfull or obscure In vvhich respect he affirmeth that to August in Psal 138. let his speach fall th' easilyer to th' vnderstanding of his people hee had rather say ossum which is no true speach then os which is the proper and true lāguage Beside that it is more euidēt by their barbarismes in other speaches then in the texts of Scripture that they so speak sometime because they met with no better nor more choise wordes Seing therefore a good pure Latine speach is now better vnderstood then th' ould rotten and rustie wordes there is no cause why they should not now be abolished if euer they had any vse heretofore And if it please the Iesuites to confer the stile of these dayes sithence the Gospell after a long winter of ignorance began to flowre againe with the stile of those which wrote 200. yeares hence we suppose that they will accord vs that there is as greate difference as was sometime betweene the Dorickes and th' Attickes in Greece or is now betweene the courte and countrey with vs yet we think that the Iesuites will not therefore rather chuse to stamber stut with their fore-goers then to speake clearly purely with the present age sure we are that they haue done their best to the contrary Wherefore it is euident that you can bring nothing to defend your sottish speach of hell of fire for hell fire for against the spirituals of wickednes in the celestials for docible of God c. nor yet for your doubtful and dangerous speach of the sinne of the spirit for the sinne against the spirit with a number moe of the same late And yet haue you not kept the law your selues haue made for you haue translated eighteene years Luke 13. 4 where both the Greeke and olde Interpreter which you propound to follow so superstitiously haue ten and eight years If here seing your folly you amended it why haue you not corrected it in places of greater importance and hauing corrected th' olde traslatour in another place of some moment Rom. 13. 9. where for restored you haue turned comprised why haue you not performed the same in other of greater weight Not to speake of Lindanus your brother in this impietie who speaking of the truth of the matter retained by th' ould interpreter more then the truth yet notwithstanding confesseth the often slips of improprietie in speache and other babishnes of him in translating Now as by your vnlearned translation you haue greatly embased the pure mettle of the holy word so by your corrupt annotations wresting and writhing haling pulling the translation either to a diuers or contrarie sense of that which the wordes giue you haue made it no better then filthie drosse So that it may be verified of your work which Ierom sayth you make of the Gospell of Christ the gospell of Hieron in Epist ad Gal. cap. 1. man or that which is worse the gospel of the Diuell If you had giuen your people your translation alone we dout not but they should notwithstanding all your declinings frō the natiue purenes of the word haue found releefe in it against extream famine which your vnfaithfulnesse hath thrust them into Which thing you wel perceiuing durst not vpon the peril of quenching your kitchin-fire put forth your single few of translatiō without y◠Cooloquintida of your annotatiōs therby to bring certain death to all those that shoulde taste of them Wherein let th' indifferent reader compare our confidence we haue in the goodnes of our cause in either nakedly deliuering the Scripturs without any annotations at al or els with few short directiōs Rather to open the file and course of the Scriptures then to praeiudice the reader either with recommending ours or condemning th' aduersaries iudgment Let him I say compare it with the fearfull dout that the Iesuits haue of theirs which durst not commend their single translation vnto the conscience of the reader vnlesse beside the load and charge of their margent notes they had added almoste at the end of euery chapter a iag of annotations wherein they recommend their owne and condemne our doctrine therby at vnawares testifiing against themselues that the wordes of the holy Ghost speak nothing for them vnles they be twitched aside with the wrinch wrest of their annotatiōs We hauing found Christ in the Scripturs cannot be to seek in the true Church you that hold not the head it is no maruel if you haue not layd hold of a filthy deade caryon in steade of the liuely body of Christ which is his Church We which follow the light of the scripture in all questions that can be moued of religion and not in those onely which you idely rouingly alledge out of August haue promise of resolution 2. Tim. 3 ◠Petr. 1 in all our doubts But you which blasphemously make the Scripturs to giue no more light to the decision of diuers poyntes in religion thē a hair-cloth do miserably run your selues others to the condemnation wherevnto you are ordained In which way although you vvould drag Augustine vvith all your might and maine yet vvill not he keepe you company not onely for that he hath nothing for you in the place vvhich you alledge but that he hath the cleane contrary vnto you vvho affirmeth that in the Scriptures we are to seeke the Church by them to August d◠vnit eccles cap. 3. discusse our controuersies after he saith that all should be remoued whatsoeuer is alledged of either side against other sauing that which commeth out of the canonicall Ibi. cap. 16. Scriptures And againe we desire not to be beleeued because wee are in the Church of Christ or that Optatus or Ambrose or innumerable Bishops of our profession haue cōmended it vnto vs. Howbeit as through the vvhole booke it shall appeare hovv small consent of the auncient Church you haue in the principal demandes hanging betvveene you and vs so it shal appeare a little after that there is a more certaine rule of th' understanding of the Scriptures then you assigne and that although the former iudgement of the Church of Christ sithence th' Apostles time is able to keepe vs from falling dangerouslie in the principal and
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