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
read And if they wrote this when the malady of arrogancie in diuine matters was not so great as now it is howe much more would 2. Reg. 22. 11. 18. 19 Rom. 7. 7 9. 10 they haue wrote it in these dayes coÌ„sidering that the vse of the Scripture is to beat downe the pride and arrogancie of the minde whereas the Iesuites conclude cleane contrarie that because men are more proud nowe then heretofore the Scriptures shuld be withdrawne more now then then esteeming that pride gayneth by reading of the Scripture therein like to those whome Augustine sharply reproueth August in Psal 130 which hearing that they must be huÌ„ble will learne nothing thinking that if they learne any thing they shal be proud To the 4. next sections pag. 4. 5. and 6. The moderation of Nazianzene is necessarie but helpeth you nothing at all For it maketh a distinction first generally betweene Doctor Scholer and then of the Doctors office varying his teaching according to the difference of one Scholler from another which we confesse and not betweene Scholler and Scholler as you praetend And therefore following your sense of Nazianzene which is that the people should not meddle with the Scriptures but the Minister alone your selues are guiltie of the conspiracie of Korah which permit to some of the people the reading of the Scriptures which out of Nazianzene you pretend to bee the seuerall of Bishops and Ministers We grant it is often profitable for the common people not to be curious and so is it also for the Pastor in matters that breed quaestions rather then aedifying to God which is through faith in Christ Howbeit commending his sister for her cunning in Iâ—funeb orat de Gergoniae the Scriptures both olde and new it is manifest that by curiositie he meaneth not to draw them to carelesnesse of reading meditating of the Scriptures Augustines words as they make not for you considering that the simplicitie of faith reacheth it selfe to the beleeuing and consequently vnderstanding of the whole Scripture and euery part thereof so to fit them for your purpose haue you shamefullie gelded theÌ„ For you haue left out the pronoune this which marreth al your market Augustine hauing before out of the scriptures confuted certain which held that there should be no resurrection of the flesh concludeth with this exhortation that they should be nourished with this simplicitie of faith which hee had proued out of th' Apostles Christs words with which simplicitie both himselfe and all other was and ought to bee conteÌ„ted After he sheweth the cause of their error for that beeing little ones in knowledge they had neglected the first principles and grounds of their religion as it were the milke whereby they shoulde haue growne to the strength of partaking of sounder harder meatâ— Al which doth nothing bar them from the reading of the Scriptures in euery book chapter and almoste verse whereof there is aswell milke for babes as strong meates for those which are grown And as in the most champion and plaine grounds of the bookes of Scripture there are some mysteries as hillocks higher then the rest of their fellowes so in the greatest and steepest hill thereof there is sooting whereby with labour and trauaile with much reading and often prayer wee may come to that height of it wherein wee may see and discouer so far of the land of Canaan the kingdome of heauen as our places callings sexes and ages do require And as there is no booke in the Scripture so mysticall and deepe whereout a good teacher wil not deliuer doctrine fit aswell for the vnlearned as for the learned so is there no good scholer in the schoole of Christ which out of the hardest bookes cannot draw some thing aswel for his coÌ„firmation of that which he hath learned as for his entrance into the knowledge of that which he is yet to learne And as wheÌ„ a man hath learned Arithmetick the way is open and easie to Geometrie both which make easy staires to clime vp to Astronomie euen so the people hauing laide the grounds of Religion wel and red diligently the easier and plainer bookes of the Scripture shall haue also a plaine and a paved way euen in the deepest mysteries and profoundest bookes of the Scripture Heereof Salomon saith that al the words Prov. 8. â— of wisdome are open and easie to euery one of vnderstaÌ„ding Where because by a man of vnderstanding he meaneth euerie one that is godlie as by the foole the wicked it is manifest that he declareth that all the words of God are easie open to al Gods people Wherof Genes 18 also commeth that it is saide that Psal 25 God reueleth his secrets hid counsels to all that feare him Seeing therfore the people may aswell come to the reading of the Scriptures with the feare of God as the Ministers themselues it followeth that there can be no hardnes or difficultie of any place of Scripture which shall more withhold the sight of that which is needful for them in their place and calling then which is necessarie for the Ministers in theirs Christ saith that whosoeuer Iohn 7 17 will doe the will of God the same shall know his doctrine Seing therefore the people and vnlearned may haue as setled a purpose to doe the will of God aswell as the Pastor or learned it is euident that their labour and trauaile in reading of the Scripture shall be more frustrate for their estate then the Ministers for theirs Likewise there being a certain promise that those which abyde in the word which they haue beleeued shall knowe Ioh. 8. 31 32 the truth it caÌ„not be but that the people doing that aswell as the Minister shall for their proportion be partakers of the promise aswell as he Hitherto belongeth the plaine and most vsuall words the phrase and manner of speach most frequented the comparisons and similitudes most familiare taken out of the shops and out of the fieldes from husbandry and houswiferie from the flock and from the heard from the plowe and the mowe For notwithstanding that it had bene easy for the Lord by his learned Prophetes and Apostles and our Sauiour Christ especially to haue flien vp into the heauens and to haue gone downe to hell for comparisons to set forth his doctrine with yet we see how he cree peth as it were vpon the ground in taking that which is before mens feet to clear his doctrine with Wherfore but that thereby he would notifie vnto the sonnes of men that hee wrote the Scriptures for the capacitie vnderstanding of th'vnlearned Last of al when the whole body of the Scripture from the head to the foote therof is tearmed a light lantern they Psal 119 Prouerb 6 2 Pet. 1 2. Cor. â— must needes be the children of darknesse which breath and bluster darknesse obscuritie continually against them And therefore if it be
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
hidden to any it is hiddeÌ„ to those whose vnderstandings the God of this worlde hath blinded that the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ should not shine vnto them This iudgement of th'easines and facilitie of the Scripture haue the auncient fathers Origen saith that they In Exoâ—uÌ„ hom 9 are shut against the negligent and open to those which knock seeke Another that Chrysost in 2. Thessal 2 hom 5 all is cleare and plaine in holie Scriptures whatsoeuer is necessary for vs is manifest Another that the Lord hath spoken by his Hieron in Psal 86 Gospell not that a few but that all shoulde vnderstand it that Plato wrote his wrytings but not to the people but to a fewe scarce three vnderstanding him Last of al Cyrill saith that the Scriptures are profitably Contra Iulian lib. 7 medium circiter lib recommended vnto vs in an easie speach that they should not goe beyond the capacity of anie Wherefore it is no Catholick but the Pelagian iudgement that the August coÌ„tra Iul. lib. 5. cap. 1 Scripture is hard and fit for a fewe learned men Your owne Pope saith that they are lyke a flood wherin the lame may wade Grâ—gor mag Epist ad Leand. in expositione Iobi and th'elephant may swimme And if all the Scripture carrie this light with it it is cleare that euerie booke doth the same Wherefore also the book of the Canticles of Salomon intreating of our spirituall coniunction with our Sauiour Christ and that in most chast and yet familiar speeches it is meete for all ages We aggree that there may be a profitable discretion of reading one book before another and of reading one twise before another once But forsomuch as the whole scripture is a letter sent froÌ„ the almightie to his creature there is no iust cause why the Greg. epist 84 booke of the Canticles c. should be plastered vp that young men children should not read that part of the letter as well as the rest And howsoeuer Ierom in that place seem to allow the Iewes deuise which they saw what time the vaile was before their eyes yet the same Ierome in another place where he speaketh of th'education of a young maide of seauen yeares olde sayeth let her learne without booke the Epist ad Gaudent Psalter and vntill she come to be mariageable let her make the treasure of her heart the bookes of Salomon the Gospels Apostles and Prophetes Vnlesse therefore you will denie that the Cantîcles are amongst the bookes of Salomon you shall be constrained to confesse that Ierome would not haue the teÌ„der ages shut out from the reading of them Ioseph 2. lib. contra Apion Heere the testimonie of Iosephus is notable who affirmeth that if any asked any of the Iewes concerning the law they were aswell able to tell him as their own names And as for your argument that the people should be no more loath to be ordered by their Pastors in the reading of the Scriptures then in th' vse of the holy SacrameÌ„ts it is absurd For the Lorde commanded the father of the householde to teach his children at Deut. 6 home and by some opening to sharpen and set an edge of the doctrine of the lawe that it might cut the deeper into their hearts yet did not he suffer that the householder shoulde minister the Sacrament in his house And your selues which graunt vnto certaine laye persons leaue to haue th' vse of the Bible doe you thinke it lawfull also that you may credite theÌ„ with the administration of the Sacrament Howbeit indeede you deale with the people much a-like both in holding them from the reading of the Scriptures and in excluding them from the Sacrament of the Supper not onelie in that they receiue but once a yeare but that euen then they receiue no Sacrament of Christ but an Idole of your owne braine When therefore you haue answered the trust you professe in the Sacraments men may commit somewhat the more vnto you in the stewardship dealing out of the scriptures There is no such place of Ambrose in that booke If there were yet th' answere is easie that the Bible is called the Priests book as they are called the pillers of the 1. Tim. 3 trueth for that they were more continuallie to occupie themselues in the reading of them But that he meant not therby to shut out the people froÌ„ reading thereof it appeareth in that he saieth That he careth not much for his Ambrose serm 35 Look Ambrose vpon the psal 118. serm 7. in vers â— bellie which is earnest in the food of reading That that is the refection that maketh a fat soule Also that the reading of the Scripture is lyfe We doe not think that you doe so much enuie the people the reading of the Scriptures as that thereby you seeke your vantage that your vile filthie marchandise of Masses and Diriges Pardons and Indulgences hauing no light to shew them by might be vented abroad which would lye rotting at home vpoÌ„ your hand if men might be suffred to bring any light with theÌ„ into your pack-houses But seing you obiect enuie against your selues let vs heare how you answere it You compare your accusers heerein to the Diuell surmysing an euill and an enuious eie in God that forbad our parents the fruit of one tree You do wel if you be able to shew that God hath forbidden the people to reade the Scriptures Which because you cannot th' accusation returneth vppon your selues it being as Satanicall to forbid that which God hath bidden as to bid that which he hath forbiddeÌ„ And because it pleaseth you to compare the restraint of the Scriptures with th' inhibition of eating of the forbidden tree hearken of how contrarie a iudgement Irenaeus is vnto you in this point who alluding to this place of Genesis exhorteth all men to eate of euerie diuine Scripture You take a sure Irenaeus lib 5. ad medium circiter libriâ— way to keep the Church froÌ„ knowledge falsly so named whilest you wil let them know neither good nor bad not vnlike to those parents which to be sure that their children shall not surfet keepe them altogether from meate You woulde haue them wise to sobrietie Therefore belike you bannish them from th' acquaintance of the scripture the mistresse of all wisedome and sobrietie Where reade you that the Scriptures are compared to knyues in the hands of little children They are indeede compared with a sworde in the Ephes 6 hand of a souldier whereby it is easie for them to knowe that your meaning is to betray them into their spirituall enemies hands which haue taken their weapons from them And if some mad men or quarrellers in the campe abuse them to their owne and others destruction yet the law of not bearing sword in fielde will neuer be iust In stead therefore that you shuld haue generallie commanded that all souldiers should
ad Pâ—mmach libro 1. aduersus louinian much lesse that which he corrected seing there be found in this which he condemneth not onlye as touching the wordes but also as touching the meaning And in another place he saith that Ierome manifestly condemneth the former translation vvhich wee yet for the most part doe vse Ierome although without cause scurgeth the old interpreter for translating 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sobrietie which sayth he should haue bene translated chastitie And this hee doeth in tvvo or three places Now a man would not think that Ierome was so vn-aduised as to haue giuen his aduersarie this aduaÌ„tage that he might reply against him that it was his own translation or that which he corrected and therfore that he was driuen to a hard shift which could not defend his cause but by denyal of him self But that this translation is not Ieromes Prâ—fat ad coâ—â—er â—â—ter â—estaâ—eÌ„â— let the reader looke the discourse that Munster hath made hereof Howbeit if this were granted them which they were neuer able to proue what haue they gained thereby for it followeth not that if either it were truly translated or faithfully corrected by Ierome that therefore it is now true and voyd of corruption The fountaine of the Scriptures is so walled by the prouidence of God so close sealed and couered that by no either negligence or malice of men there can any such thing fall into it to troble the cleare sweete water thereof but as for the writinges of men they haue no such priuiledge neither are they laid vp in any arke of the durable wood of Cittim but that they may be and are corrupted as the daily experience doth declare Whereof it is good to heare Ieromes own testimony I doe not think that the Lordes wordes are to be corrected but I goe about Hieron ad MarcellaÌ„ tom 2. epist vlt. to correct the falsenes of the Latin bookes which is plainly proued by the diuersitie of them and to bring them to th' originall of the Greek from the which they do not denye but that they were translated who if they mislike the water of the most pure fountaine they may drink of the myrie puddles And in the same place where they haue alledged if we must beleeue the Latin copies let them Hieron ad Damasum in â—raf in quatuor Evangel tom 3 tell vs which For there be in a manner as many diuers coppies as bookes But if they think that the truth is to be sought out of the greater parte why doe we not returne to the originall in Greek and correct those thinges which either haue bene vnskilfully translated or of ignorant presumptuous persons foolishly amended or of negligeÌ„t wryters added or changed Now if the Latin translations before Ieromes time were in 300. yeares so manifoldly corrupted how much more may we think that Ieromes translation hath in 1300. yeares bene impared and imbased especially wheÌ„ as in diuers of these hundreth yeares there hath raigned such blindnes and barbarousnes as neuer the like and when as it was coppied out for the Monachâ— indoctiâ—r more vnlearned theÌ„ a Monke Hieron in prafat in 4. Euang. Ludouicus Viues lib. â— de caus corrupt â—rtiuÌ„ moste parte by vnclarkly Monkes whose vnlearnednes is come into prouerb Of this corruption of books the reader may further see both in Ierom others of later times Wherefore it is euideÌ„t that either this traÌ„slation is not Ieromes or els it is corrupted and changed and that more materially then themselues are able to alledg of the Greek coppies Wherfore if you flie from the Greeke for that there is some alteratioÌ„ from th' original there is no cause why you should runne to this translation so diuers and repugnant to Ieromes vnles it be for that which Ierome sayeth that you had rather drink of the myrie puddels of the Latine translations then of the pure fountaine of the Greeke coppies To the thirde reason Th' antecedent being vn-true the consequence of Augustines commendation of it can haue no truth And if it were the same translation that Augustine commendeth yet Augustines praise is such of it as doeth not free it from faults nor lifteth it vp as you doe into the place of Canonicall Scripture For speaking of his translation of the Gospels only he affirmeth that it was August epist 10 August Epist 8. 10 almost faultles And in another place speaking of Ieromes translation of the olde Testament he sayth that if there were any dark places Ierome was like to be deceyued in them as other before him Beside that it is knowne that Augustine doth not alwayes follow this translation yea that hauing sene Ieromes he August lib 18. cap. 43 de ciuitaete Dei still preferred th' elder translation to Ieromes that was newer and affirmeth that the same was not his alone but the Churches iudgement of those tymes wherein Ieromes translation came abroade To the fourth reason Although your speach being vsed of the most part being faint and short to proue that it alone should now be vsed yet euen this is verie false first you are constrayned to confesse that the Greeke fathers vsed it not which argueth plainly that they had it not in that estimatioÌ„ which you haue it For then they would haue caused it to be traÌ„slated for th' use of their own churches if they had esteemed it trewer then the Greeke coppies Secondly the most ancient Latin fathers do not follow it as Tertullian Cyprian Hilary who haue scarce a footstep of it albeit it was likely in the church in their times before Ierome corrected certain places in it Ierom often dissenteth froÌ„ it often also confuteth it There remaine Ambrose Augustine who although they vse it more then the rest yet doe they often forsake it and vsed it not as you doe seruily This is yet Hierome Ambrose Augustine Looke the places before noted Gregor magn epist ad leandruÌ„ in exposit Iob cap. 5 Exposit Iobi 20. c. 24 more euident in that th' ancient fathers and euen those that vsed them most send men when there is controversie of Latine bookes to th' originals of Hebrew Greeke Yea in the very diocese of Rome long after the time of these fathers the Pope himself doth witnes that not only he but the Apostolike seat vsed both the new and olde translation in Latin Now if th' Apostolicke seate in Gregories time who made too great account of this translation vsed both and in the booke of the Psal refusing Ierome followed the old translation there is no liklihood that th' authority which this had before his tyme buried th' authority of th' other translation And as the elder expositors haue not vsed nor expounded it without controulment So the later writers wherof some haue ben pillers in your sinagogue haue bene bould manifoldly to crosse this traÌ„slation of yours For besides Bede Burgensis and Armacan of late dayes Lyra Iansenius and others
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