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
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
speeches you doe as it were blowing in the duste raise it into your owne eies to make you blinder yet wee dare bee bolde with all the faultes of the professors of the Gospel mo manifoldlie then ought or woulde haue bene if we had walked according to the light that we haue seene to compare with such black Mores as you be which beside teeth and tongue that is to say vaunts and brags haue no white about you For what either vertue in men chastitie in wemen or obedience in children c. can there be amongst you which hauing learned no such thing in the schole of the word where they are onely taught knowe them not Your men may haue the vertues that Turks and Iewes haue your wemen and children the chastitie and obedience that is found amongst theÌ„ they may fight manfullie for their countrie they may keep their bodies from outward pollution they may do the things that their parents coÌ„mand them c yet is there heere neither true vertue nor vndefiled chastitie nor humble obedience as those which are not done for Gods cause but either in seruile feare vain-glorie filthie lucre or some such by-respect Whereupon wee reade that Seres a heathen and idolatrous Euseb dâ— praeparat Euang. ex Bardisanâ— Chaldeâ— people had through seuerity of discipline neither fornicator nor adulterer amongest them In which point with some others howe Angel-like we are in respect of you there is occasion to speak afterwarde It is a disorder if wemen do teach their husbaÌ„ds children their parents c which you saying and saying againe to be amongst vs neither doe nor can proue it But it is a greater confusion when neyther husband can teach his wife nor parent his childreÌ„ nor old the young nor Priest the people When the seer is blinde and th' Embassadour dumb finallie when the guide of the way knoweth not the way himself which how true it is in your kingdome wee leaue it to be esteemed of all indifferentlie Singing of Psalmes hymnes 1. Cor. 14. 26. Eph. 5. 19. Col. 3. 16. Beda Histor Angâ— lib. 5 cap. 12. spirituall songs the Scripture recommendeth vnto vs. Bede witnesseth also that diuerse bookes of Scripture were translated into English meetre If any man abuse this sacred and holy exercise to wantonnesse the same shall beare his condemnation But to meet with such an euill by taking away the good altogether is like vnto those vnskilfull physicians that ridde their pacients of no disease vnles they take their liues from them In the laste of these 3. sections are Scriptures and Doctors idely foolishlie alledged to prove that which no man denieth that Haeretickes abuse the Scriptures now thrise in this praeface repeated by the conclusioÌ„ that therfore either the Scriptures should not bee translated or beeing translated should not bee imparted to the common people is naked and desolate of all proofe vnlesse it be proofe that because hereticks shroud themselues in the woll of the Scriptures therefore Catholicks may not warm themselues with their fleece or that because they drawe poison from them therefore we may not suck honie at them or finally for that they climbe into the Lordes armorie to arme themselues against vs therefore we should not enter by the dore to prepare appoint our selues against them And if haeretickes impugning the trueth out of the Scriptures haue such force to banish them from the common people why should not the confutation of haereticks by the Scriptures bring them home againe to the peoples handes If euer therefore there were doting disputers these are their brethren To the two next sections pag. 8. and 9. It is an olde practise of Satan to bestir himself and to open the mouth of all his helhoundes against the godlie and learned trauels of those which haue laboured in this worke of translating the holy Bible or any part thereof Hereof Ierome complayneth Hieron ad Dom. Râ—g in Esd Nehem in paralip Erasm Epist ad Mossellaâ—um in many places of his prefaces and Epistles that he was tong-rent raild vpon miserablie The same complaint is renewed of Erasmus who was bayted by Ley in England Natalis Bede in Fraunce Stunica in Spaine and infinite other vnlearned Monks and Fryers And therefore it ought not to seeme strange if the worthie labours of Master Beza other learned men of ours and other Countreys haue also their currs to bark at them As for vs albeit we are not of that sorte of men which loue our owne as the Dolphins doe their young ones haue in admiration our workes and writings And further also confesse that our translations are not so exact in all points of perfection but that time study may better them yet how falsly they are charged by the slanderous pennes of these wrangling Iesuites appeareth at large by the learned and substantiall defence made for our English translation vnto th' unlearned and trifling quarrels against the same And if it appeare to th' indiffereÌ„t reader that our translation which no dout for pure loue they beare to their cuntry countrymen they iudge the worst of all others is free from those corruptions wherewith the Iesuites haue slaÌ„dered it the good reader may easily know what to iudge of our translations in other Languages Latine French Italian c. And herein let all men marke their equitie and by their fidelitie in their iudgment of Maister Caluins and Bezas translations affirmed by them to be as new and delicate as Castalions or worse then it esteeme what trust they deserue in other their accusations for either they haue neuer red them or els partly their ignorance partlye their furious malice against them hath so bewitched theÌ„ that they can put no difference betwene a swelling and swaged speach betweene an honest homelye stile that which is pricked and pranked vp by choise exquisite words sought rather to tickle th' ears of daintie fooles then for the fit deliuerie of the sense the holye Ghost inteÌ„deth Finally betwene that which goeth vpon a plaine sandall fit to goe far for the publishing of the gospell then that which is mounted vpon moyles and pantofles meet to keepe it at home amongste a-fewe whom that courtlynes and curiositie of speach dooth delite And if they will purge themselues from a manifest and impudent slander herein let them note the places wherin Caluin Beza departing from Castalion haue either rioted as he doeth or in licenciousnes of speach haue gone beyond him Now where they charge vs to disauthorize or to make doubtfull diuers whole bookes of Canonicall Scriptures allowed by th' uniuersall Church of God a thousand yeres vpwardes their limitation Cyprian de Symb. Apost Euseb hist. eccles lib. 6 cap. 25. Hieron in prolog Galeat cap. 7. in praefat in lib. leuing vnto vs the most ancient fathers and Councels which liued the best and first fiue hundred years after Christ reiecting the
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
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
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
weare swordes but such as in respect of franzie or quarrelling with their fellowes are speciallie restrained you make your proclamation that no souldier shal we are weapon but with special licence therunto Is this your skill and discretion in warfare But thus at least you prouyde that dogges hogges shoulde not come vnto them so doe you also that neither sheepe nor lambe shoulde touch them Thus th' vsurpers are kept from them but the true owners also enioy them not Heerein you bewray a contrarie spirit to that wherewith our Sauiour Christ was conducted For he oftentimes preached in the hearing of known dogs and hogs that is the Scribes and Pharisies obstinatlie set against him least for their sakes the children should be defrauded of their bread And you of the cōtrarie side defraude the children of their appointed portiō least the dogs should happely snatch at it Besides this do you think that the discretion of dogs and hogs from sheep lamb is so easie vnto you as it was vnto our Sauiour Christ and his Apostles Can you tell who deuide the hoofe and chaw the cud who are cleane who are vncleane who read in the simplicitie of heart and who with pretence Heere therefore you mutter that which Harding your companion speaketh plainelie that the common people are dogs and hogs and indeede your argument is none at all in this place vnlesse by hogs and dogs you meane all those frō whom you steale away the reading of the Scriptures As for your description of dogs hogs out of Chrysostome to be hereticks and carnall men it maketh not so much to take the Scriptures away from the common people as frō the learneder and richer sorte For heresie maketh her nest oftner in the breast of the learned and of those that reade the Scriptures in the learned tongues then in the common peoples heades And the riche are more often loaden with carnall lustes then the poorer sort so that if Chrysostome or Tertullian proue any restraint of reading of Scriptures they prooue it directly against your practise which lay the scriptures wide open to all the learned and as it was in Queene Maries dayes if we will remember to those that might dispend by yeare a certaine land that is to those from whome either you durste not holde it or of whome you hoped to haue gaine through speciall licence accorded vnto them You say trulie that no man can vnderstand the Scriptures but by the Spirite of Christ Whereof if you would haue concluded any thing for your purpose you ought to haue shewed that the Spirit of Christ is appropriated to the learned or at the least oftner accompanieth them then it doth th' vnlearned The contrarie whereof being true that God reuealeth his secrets for the most vnto the simple and vnlearned ones and that Matth. 11 1. Cor. 1. not manie wise men nor many noble men are taught by this Spirit it is euident that if any should be shut from the reading and other exercises of the Scriptures the same are especially the learned and not the ruder the nobler and not the baser the richer and not the poorer sorte To the three next sections pag. 6. and 7. Marke good reader the blasphemie of these wretched caitiues that esteeme so vilelie of the holy Scriptures as if there were no better nor more honorable vse of them amongst the people then to make choise of the reading of them rather then to be much occupyed about stage-playes cardes and dice. These men no doubt could be wel content that the people shoulde rather sit downe and pill strawes then they should take anie booke of holy Scripture into their hand Pharaos prophanesse from hence forth shall not be spoken of in respect of th' vncircūcised lips of these beastly Iesuites For he which held the people from exercises of godlinesse in respect of doing some profitable work tending to the fortificatiō of the land but these are content that sports and plaies and that of the basest sort and of worst reporte as cardes dice stage-playes shall keep the people from reading of the Scriptures so that they be not much giuen vnto them And yet notwithstanding if as you praetend they engender heresies amongst the people it should appeare that they shuld be aswel occupied in th' one as in th' other both of them being readie and beaten wayes to euerlasting damnation But a lyar they say hath need of memory For if as you haue alledged Chrysostome cals carnal men dogs and hogs these delicate ones giuen so much t◠cardes dice and stage-playes beeing carnall it followeth by your discourse that Chrysostome was of this iudgement that the most seasonable tyme for the people to reade the Scriptures in was when they were dogs hogs then which what can be more vnworthelie spoken of the good Bishop But marke also good reader the brasen impudencie of the Iesuites whereby it will not be hard for thee to see how all conscience in them is euen seared away as it were with a hot-iron For Chrysostome disputeth of a necessary continuall vse of reading the Scripture by the people therefore doth not so much speak against the lets of certaine times as when they were giuen to stage-playes c. but meeteth with the ordinarie and continual impediment as the care for house wife and children For which purpose he alledgeth th'Apostle that the Scripture was written for our correction Which if the Iesuites will restraine to the correctiō of excesse in dicing and carding c. their cogging and iugling cannot bee hid from anie In the third homilie of Lazarus he doth not obiect th' excuse of pastime but declareth that for to deliuer themselues from the duetie of reading the Scripture one woulde say that he hath matters to plead another that he hath publike affaires a third that he hath his handie-craft to awaite vpon another that he hath his wife his children and familie to maintaine and take care for and generallie euerie one could say I am a man of the worlde it belongeth not to me to reade the Scripture but to those which hauing taken their farewell of the worlde dwell in the mountaines and liue a continent life To whome when he had answered that they had therefore more neede to reade the Scriptures he concludeth that both they and he that liued amongst men as it were in the midst of the seas haue alwaies need of the perpetuall and continuall solace of the Scriptures And yet reckoning vp the manifolde vses of reading of the scriptures by the people hee concludeth thus Wherefore it is necessary that wee shoulde incessantly fetche our armour at the Scripture Againe he compareth in the same places which are heere quoted the books of Scriptures to th'artificers instrument wherewith he getteth his liuing which he wil not gage and as he maketh his works with his tooles so we by the Scriptures must correct our depraued minds And a little after The reading
of the Scripture is a great munition against sinne but th' ignorance thereof is a downe-fall a deepe hell this begetteth heresies Againe It cannot now be I say it cannot be that any can obtain saluation vnlesse he be continually occupyed in reading of the Scripture There would be no end of wryting if wee shoulde laye open all that Chrysostome hath in this behalfe to proue that he herein praescribed physicke for the generall disease of all Christian people and not for a special maladie as it might be the sweating sicknesse that haunted that people whereof he had the gouernment Also for all times both in prosperitie and aduersitie euen vncessantlie And not Homil. 3 de Laz. onelie in those wherein through abundance they waxing wanton gaue themselues to dicing and carding c Wherfore your distinction of a teacher in the Schoole and Pulpit-man hath no place heere as indeede it is foolishe and hath no place otherwhere For the doctrine in schoole is and ought to be the same that is in pulpite and that in pulpite as exact absolute and necessarie as that in the schoole The difference is that in the schoole hath not annexed the goade and prick of exhortation as th' other hath For you may not imagine Chrysostomes pulpet so loose and so prophane as yours is to speake at all randome without any girdle of truth about your loines Our wemen God be praised although they are wel able to set such Doctors as you are to schoole know their places and keepe silence content to teach their children at home which if you cannot brooke in them or euer it can light of them your condemnation must first passe vppon the head of S. Paule who commandeth to be teachers Titus â— 3. of good things vnto their daughters and of Bathsheba who taught Prov. 31 the wisest child that euer was among the sonnes of Adam Christ excepted The example also of Eunice who taught Timothe from his verie infancie 2. Tim. 1. 5 3. 15 in the Scriptures is notable to teach that neither wemen muste forbeare teaching nor verye babes to learne And if alwayes learning they are alwayes ignorant in what degree of ignorance shall yours be found that neuer learne any thing at all They reade the whole Bible seeing all is inspired of God and all profitable and 2. Tim. 3 therefore the morall partes But yet praefer those that be doctrinall or as you speake dogmaticall as both the foundation of all good manners and the rule whereby they maye iudge of the example of life whether it bee good or bad worthie of praise or dispraise And it pittieth them to see the blindnesse that is yet in your eye which deemeth that to be so crooked which to all sounde iudgement is straight that is to say that the causes shoulde goe before th' effects and the rule before that which is ruled by it And as Saint Paull in the duetie of teaching Act. 26 coulde not acquite the faith and trust put in him but by teaching the people the whole counsell of God so they thinke not themselues discharged in the duetie of learning vnlesse to the vttermost of that they maye they endeuoure to learne what is the good pleasure and perfite will of God towards them Neither doubt they but Rom. 12 that they vse more reuerence true humilitie in comming to the high mysteries you speake of then you doe in turning your backes vnto them And they are well assured that they are fitter to wonder at and to advaunce th' incomprehensible breadth length height and depth of them which haue waded so farre in them as the Bowies and markes of holye Scriptures doe teach them then you which neuer wet your neb in them And if they read the harder bookes of Scripture oftner more diligently then they doe th' easier a wise Schoolemaister which taketh pleasure in his Scholer would commend them Neither hath it bene heard of that the Scholer was euer reproched for his greater diligence in his harder lesson but of such three halfpennie vshers as you bee which are loath your scholers shoulde learne too fast but heere one word and there another heere a line and there a line least in their dexteritie forwardnesse of learning your inabilitie and vntowardnesse of teaching should appeare The clasped and sealed booke to vs which come not in the strength of our owne wits or merites Apoc. 5 but in the victory of our Sauiour christ who hath vnsealed them for vs lye so far forth open as therein we are well assured to read so much as will serue for our certaine direction vnto the kingdome of heauen But in you which bring of your naturall powers and vaunt your selues of your merites It is true that the Prophet saith Esai â—â— that neither can your learned reade because all is vnto theÌ„ as a sealed letter your vnlearned being offered the reading they refuse to read it think themselues discharged because they haue no learning And wherfore I pray you should th' Epistle to the Romanes not be reade of artificers wemen to both which sorts amongst others it was first written and why should that be baulked more then others by the simpler sort which hath a speciall testimonie that both it and all other the preachings and writings of th' Apostle are tempered aswell to Rom. 1. 14 the capacitie of the foolish vnlearned as of the wise and vnderstanding men If there be nothing in that Epistle for th' ign oranter sort to learne then hath Saint Paule made a desperate debt which now being dead he is neuer able to pay As for Saint Peters wordes they make no more against the peoples reading of his Epistles then against any other part of the Scripture the whole whereof he affirmeth to be peruerted of vnlearned and vnstable men In which kind if you iudge all th' vnlearneder sort of your people to be you fome out your owne shame and manifestlie verefie the prouerbe such Doctor such Scholer For our people we cannot hold them for vnlearned which haue learned Christ nor vnstable which by faith are founded and rooted so stedfastlie that al the winde and weather waues and floods that can beat against theÌ„ are not able to remoue them from the trueth which they haue learned in the Scripture We acknowledge with Augustine their wonderfull depth which would afray no man from reading of them if you had faithfullie reported Augustines wordes Who affirmeth Confess li. 12. c. 14. that the ouermost of them smyleth vpon the little ones and a little after addeth let vs come therefore together to the words of thy booke meaning Gods In th' other place quoted by you hee sheweth that if a man of the sharpest wit and greatest diligence from his childehood should giue himself to the study of them continuing in them vntill crooked age as if he should liue the yeares of Methusalah yet he might alwayes profite
haue left the ferular in the olde translators hand As for the Church seruice it was so in the primitiue Church in the Latin tongue as the people by reason of the Romaine Empire vnderstood it As touching your Popish service full of Idolatrye and superstition as we care not what translation it followeth so we iudge moste corrupt the most commodious To the fift reason It might aswell haue commanded to eate accornes after corne was found out And as for this Trent conuenticle being assembled by the Pope th' arch-enemy vnto our Sauiour Christ and holden of a sorte of blinde Bishops sworne to speak no truth but that he th' enemy of truth should allowe of we esteeme it no more then the godly fathers did the councill of Ariminum Ephesinum the second especially seing that many councils before it better wiser learneder and more troubled with hereticks difficulties of traÌ„slations neuer so concluded Secondly being here ashamed of the Trent conclusion they mollify it as though they In Martins praeface before his discouery nomber 35. held it for a good translation where both the councill concludeth and the Iesuites holde it for th'authenticall Scripture which they doe neither of the Greek nor of the Hebrew Thirdly let them tell vs how they will reconcile the Trent coÌ„clusion with Pope Leo the 10. his authoritye Who approued Apolog. Erasmi aduersus Stunicam Platina in Damasâ— Erasmus translation as Damasus had Ieroms Last of al admitting it were the best translation yet that is no cause why th' originall should not be rather translated To the sixt reason Further then it hath bene corrupt by popishe Monkes which were for some yeares th' ordinary Iaylers to keepe it within the prison of their cloisters we accuse it not of partiality to popery wherevnto it could hardly be partiall when popery was not But sure we are that the Greek is lesse partiall Secondly they might translate with purpose not to hurt the truth and yet fail of the purpose as appeareth manifestly in th' example of promeriting of God not only barbarously but falsly translated As touching the sinceritie grauitie and maiestie of it compared with other translations of later yeares the matter is before the Iudg where our no is as good as your yea but if it were as you say yet your traÌ„slating it in passing by th' originall of the Greek can by no meanes bee excused but only by this that not able to clime vp into the Scriptures in the Greeke and Hebrevv tongues you vvere compelled to seaze vppon the Latine vvhich is the honestest excuse that you can make To the seuenth reason page 12. Praecisenes in translation is vvorthy to be commended but superstition is vvorthy no praise And if the Latine phrase serue the Greeke ansvvere vnto it better sometime then th' English doth that argueth no more the goodnes of the translation then it proueth th' English to be better then the Latine translation because the English phrase frameth often better vvith the Greeke then doth the Latine Of this praecisenes they bring two examples vvherein commending the old translation they condemne ours The first is for that vve translate Tit. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 14. to maintaine to good workes Your Greek stomackes be very quasie that cannot brook this translation Tell vs I pray you how vvill you translate that Demosthenes contra Timoc Buâ—â—us in commenta in Demosthenes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but to maintain your right Housoeuer you translate it vve care not seing Budaeus a man of singular skill in rijs tueri defensitare 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that tongue doth so translate it as we haue done In th' other places Heb. 10. 20. we are charged for turning he prepared Wherein whether th' old translator haue svvarued further from the Greek it vvill not be so easie to discern For the Greek vvord doth properly signifie to make newe vvhich the Latine vvorde that th' olde translator vseth doeth not expresse for initio doth not signify to make new for that doth innouo but to enter into And this defect of th' olde translator in this vvorde the Iesuites them selues do bevvraye vvhich forsaking a proper English vvord more expressing the old translators initiabit haue followed M. Bezas translation who translateth dedicabit which they turne dedicated without acknowledgment of him by vvhome they haue in that place bettered their translator The other cauill of Traditions Iustifications Idoll is plentifully ansvvered and further shal be as they fall out in the discourse of this booke But from this praecise and exact following of the Greeke how far th' olde translator is by differing from it by being contrary to it by putting to that which is not in the Greek and taking avvay that which is in it shall soone after appeare Although if it vvere so precise yet that is nothing to yours which goeth so far from it both in vvordes and sense To the eight reason If Maister Beza commend it who knew so many faultes by it hee hath thereby testifyed the softnesse and mildnes of his spirite and his louing and charitable affection couering so far as th'edifiing of the Church might beare th' olde translators vvants and defects and thereby laieth naked the proud disdainfull and quareling spirit of the trifling and caueling Iesuites childishly snatching carping where there is no cause discouering their owne shame in steade of disgracing others Howbeit it is vntrue vvhich they here alledge out of M. Beza For he doth not prefer th' olde translator vnto Erasmus but defendeth him in certain places where Erasmus without cause doth challenge him And in th' other place vpon Saint Luke his praise of him is not so full as they pretend For he sayeth that although he may seeme very religiously to haue turned these holy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bookes yet it appeareth that he knew not the signification of these wordes much lesse the force and power of them But if Master Bezas iudgement be one of the pillers that must vpholde this olde translator this it is in plaine wordes It goeth â—ften from the Greeke oft it is absurde oft Beza in Epist ad noui Testam annot quae inscribitur Serenissimae Dominae Elizabethae Reginae â—tdoth add the learned it neuer satisfied the â—gnorant is brought into many errours Which notwithstanding he speaketh not altogether in respect of th' olde translator as in regarde of either the negligence rashnes or malice of those whose handes it hath passed through But if it were the best translation by M. Bezas iudgment yet it followeth not thereof that it hath no fault or ought to be translated before the Greek It would vndoutedly be more credit for your cause to giue better weight of reason although the number were lesse To the ninth reason It were to be laboured for that there were in euerie seuerall country for th' use of the Church in it one Bible translated into the language
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
doth load vs with gifts So that the Hebrewe doeth not onely tell vs that Christ gaue gifts but that he gaue them as Mediatour hauing receiued them Beside that it is knowne that the Apostles in alledging testimonies doe not nomber the wordes but giue the waight of the sentence to which nombring of words when not so much as translators are alwaies as it is said bound to much lesse were th'Apostles tyed vnto it which were no translaters but expounders of the Scripturs And all reasonable men will iudge it good payment if for foure single pence he receaue a whole groate or if th' opportunity so serue eight single half-pence They proceed with the 40 Psalme where in stead of the Hebrew Thou hast pearced my eare th'Apostle hath Thou hast prepared me a bodie But they ought to haue vnderstoode that there is first a Trope of the part for the whole which th'Apostle doth elegantly expres when for the eare he setteth down the body Secondly they should knowe that there is a manifest Metaphore in the worde pearcing vsed of the Prophet which being drawn from the law prouyding that the seruant which would willingly giue himself ouer to a perpetuall and whole seruice of his maister should so be serued signifieth an inabling of the Prophet for a willing obedience to be giuen vnto the Lord. And therefore this Metaphore is elegantly expounded by th'Apostle when he saith Thou hast prepared and fitted me a body without the which our sauiour Christ could not haue beene the seruant of God to any such purpose as he was ordayned So that if as Dauid by Christ so Christ for Dauid muste bring not a legall sacrifice but his ears bored through that is a bodie obedient vnto the death men may easilie see that th'Apostle did expound and make plaine that vvhich vvas somewhat obscure in the Prophete whose sense and not whose words he alledged Further they alledge 2. Chron. 28. 19. Achas King of Israel for King of Iuda As if they ought to be ignorant that the place where Achas was buried was first the place where the kings of Israel that is of the twelue tribes were buried or euer it was the place of the kings of Iuda only And if they had marked it they shuld easily haue knowne both the Prophet Ieremie and Lamé 2. 2 Rom. 9. 4. 17. 10. 21. 11. 7. 16. 29. 10. 3. 1. 29. th'Apostle to containe Iuda vnder Israel and contrariwise Israel vnder Iuda And the vulgare according vnto the Hebrew in the last verse readeth in the sepulchres of the Kings of Israel And as ignorance of the story of the Scripture deceiued you here so in the next the ignorance of the tongue abuseth you For 1. Chron. 2. 18. that which you turne out of the Hebrewe hee begat Azubah his wife and Ierioth is falslie and ignorantlie translated For ETH the particle there is not a note of the accusatiue case but is a praeposition and signifieth that he begate of Azubah his wife c. as is confirmed by other places vvhere it is so taken As Gen. 44. 4 Ezech. 6. 9 for that out of 2. Reg. 24. 19. of putting brother for vncle it argueth you vtterlie vnacquainted with the Scriptures in any tongue seing the word brother is generall for all kinsmen both in the olde and new Testament Wherupon Genes 13 Matth. 12. 16. 47 Abraham is called Lots brother as your vulgar printed by Plantine 1576. himselfe readeth and so our Sauiour Christ is saide to haue brethren Whereupon it is euident howe free the Hebrew is from corruption when th'obiections against it are so friuolous as nothing can be more And as this is easy to conceiue of al that know the Church which vnto that tyme was alvvaies sealed amongst them to be the piller of truth so it shall much 1. Tim. 3 more be setled firmely in their breast if the Iewes carefull minde and indeuour of keeping the Hebrewe text fithence the time of their falling away be considered Which appeareth not onelie in that the greatest testimonies vvritten by th'Apost Euangelistes for the proof of Iesus to be the Christ doe remaine as they vvere alledged but also by the testimony of th' auncient Fathers 400. yeares after Christ Hieron in 6. cap. Es August de ciuita Dei lib. 15 c. 13 Hier. epist 74. ad Mar cel Look in his epistle of diuers readings vvhich beare vvitnesse to their innocencie heerein Your owne men are nowe as much ashamed of you in this charge of th'Ebrewe Text as Ierome vvas of some in his time charging the Hebrew as you doe Look Arias Montanus vvhich defendeth the Ievves innocencie in this behalfe Looke Lucas Francis lu eae Burg. an not at in sa era Biblia Looke also his epist ad Cardinal Sirlet Burgensis hovv he defendeth the Hebrew against the vulgar Latin where he cannot reconcile them Read Iohn Isaak a Popishe Ievve against Lindan Now let them ansvvere vvhether the Lordes care be not as great to keepe the newe Testament as to keepe the olde vvhether it be not as great to keep those vvords vvhich he spake by his sonne as it vvas to keepe those Hebr. 1. vvhich he spake by his seruants Finallie whether he keepeth not his wrytings as safelie by the Church which is his friend as hee keepeth it by the synagogue vvhich is his enemie Last of al let the good reader vnderstand that this Popish allegation is a verie haereticall practise and shamelesse shift of the deceauers of Gods people Hieron aduersus Hel. bidium Hieron For thus Ierome chargeth Helbidius that he quarrelled with the truth of the copies did most foolishly perswade himselfe that the Greeke bookes were falsified The like practise vsed the monstrous heresie of the August ad Hieron epist 19 Manichees of vvhome Augustine vvryteth thus The Manichees not able to wrest many places of the holie Scripture whereby they are moste euidentlie conuinced affirme the same to be false yet so that they attribute the same not to the Apostles which wrot them but I knowe not to what other which afterward corrupted them Which because they cannot proue neither by the most copies nor by the most auncient nor by th' authority of the former tongue from which the Latine bookes were translated they are confounded c. We may be bolde therefore to range you vnder the banner of heretickes vvhich beare their proper marke and recognisance But let vs come to the particular places supposed to be corrupted Wherein let the reader obserue first that to discredite nombers of the Greek Copies reading as we do they bring but th' authoritie of one only Doctor For although in the third place they alledge the corruption from the Tripartite storie and Socrates yet it being known that the tripartite story gathereth that which he writeth out of Socrates vnder two authors there is but one authoritie Which may also be said of the second