signifie to take order for a funerall So likewise Luc. 10. Paeniterent they had done penaunce But to answere for our owne doings Io 5. v. 36. where Christe saith I haue a greater witnesse than Iohns witnesse why may not the article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be referred rather to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is of necessitie to be vnderstood than to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the other place 1. Iohn 2. v. 2. the worde sinnes muste needes be vnderstoode in the pronoune adiectiue ours In the thirde texte where you accuse the translators of hereticall purpose the sense is all one whether you adde the article or no. For when the Apostle sayeth by Christe we haue boldnesse and entrance with confidence by faith howe can you vnderstand confidence by workes and whether there be confidence by workes or no there can none be proued by this place Where Beza vnderstandeth an article Rom. 8. whom our English translation doth follow it is only to make that plaine which otherwise is necessarily to be vnderstoode For there is no differeÌ„ce betwene these sayings The law of the spirit of life in Christ Iesus this The lawe of the spirit of life which is in Christ Iesus hath deliuered me from the lawe of sinne and death The article or relatiue therefore declareth no more but that the lawe of the spirit of life is in Christ Iesus which deliuereth vs. For both the text sayth in Christ Iesus and it can not be in any other to deliuer vs. For he sayeth not The lawe of the spirite of life in vs but in Christe Iesus and the nexte verse following doeth manifestly confirme the same as euerie man may see that will consider it Likewise Iames the seconde wilt thou knowe O thou vaine man that faith without workes is deade If you say the faith which is without good workes is deade is not that the meaning of the Apostle Where he addeth immediatly that Abraham was iustified by such a faith as was fruitefull of good workes And when he bringeth example of Deuils faith is it not manifest he speaketh of suche a faith as is vtterly voyde of all good workes Where you say that Beza putteth the article into the text and translateth it accordingly you do most shamefully belye him For to the original text he addeth none of his owne collection but in his translation onely where he iudgeth that according to the sense of the place it must of necessitie be vnderstood which if it be a fault in articles it must be so in other wordes also for like cause added Then answere to your owne translations where beside those that I haue noted before which seeme to proceede of some Popish purpose you haue added to your Latine authenticall texte As in these examples Mat. 8. Quid nobiâ— tibi what is betweene vs Cap. 9. Confidâ— haue a good hart Cap. 22. Malâ— pâ—rdet he wil bring to naught Marc. 2. Post dios after some dayes Accumberet he satte at meate Luc. 17. Ab illo more than he Io. 12. Discumbentibus them that satte at the table Non quia de egenis pertinebat ad eum not because he cared for the poore Act. 9. Ecce ego Domine Loe here I am Lorde cap. 10. gustare to take somewhat cap. 17. colentibus that serued God Nobiliores eorum qui sunt Thessalonicae more noble than they that are at Thessalonica Rom. 1. Vocatis sanctis called to be Saincts c. MART. 4. But you will say in the place to the Corinthians there is a Greeke article therfore there you do well to expresse it I aunswere first the article may then be expressed in translation when there can be but one sense of the same secondly that not onely it may but it must be expressed when we can not otherwise giue the sense of the place as Mat. 1 6. Ex ea quae fuit Vriae Where you see the vulgar interpreter omitteth it not but knoweth the force and signification thereof very well Mary in the place of S. Paul which we now speake of where the sense is doubtfull and the Latine expresseth the Greeke sufficiently otherwise he leaueth it also doubtful and indifferent not abridging it as you doe saying the grace of God which is with me nor as Caluin gratia quae mihi aderat nor as Illyricus gratia quae mihi adest Which two later are more absurd thaÌ„ yours because they omit neglect altogither the force of the preposition cum which you expresse saying with me But because you say which is with me you meane heretically as they doe to take away the Apostles cooperation and labouring togither with the grace of God by his free will which is by the article and the preposition most euidently signified FVLK 4. You take vpoÌ„ you to prescribe rules of traÌ„slatioÌ„ as though you were Prince of the Critici or Aeropâ—gitae But al reasonable men will coÌ„fesse that the article is so ofteÌ„ to be expressed as it may maketh any thing to the sense and vnderstanding of the place But as for your rule that it is not to be expressed in traÌ„slatioÌ„ when there may be more senses than one of the same is so good a rule that by the same reason and by equitie thereof when so euer any worde commeth in the text that may haue more senses than one we must skippe it ouer and not translate it at all and so wee shal leaue out fiue hundred wordes in the new Testament A better rule I take it to be in all such cases to examine what is most agreeable to the common phrase of the tongue and the scope of the text in hand according to which I say the verbe substantiue is both more vsuall and also more probable to be vnderstoode in this text 1. Cor. 15. than the participle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 MART. 5. And here I appeale to all that haue skill in Greeke speaches and Phrases whether the Apostles wordes in Greeke sounde not thus I laboured more aboundantly than all they yet not I but the grace of God that laboured with mee Vnderstanding not the participle of Sum but of the verbe going before as in the like case when our Sauiour saith It is not you that speake but the holy Ghost that speaketh in you If he had spoken short thus but the holy Ghost in you you perhaps would translate as you doe here the holy Ghost WHICH IS IN YOV But you see the verbe going before is rather repeated Not you speake but the holy Ghost THAT SPEAKETH IN YOV Euen so Not I laboured but the grace of God labouring with me or WHICH LABOVRED WITH ME. So praieth the wise man Sap. 9 10. Sende wisedome out of thy holy heauens that she may be with me and labour with me as your selues translate Bib. 1577. FVLK 5. And I likewise appeale not onely to all that haue skill in Greeke speaches and phrases but to al
into the middest of the earth which is rather a place without the sensible worlde than any dungeon within the earth MART. 35. Thus then presupposing as we must that Ionas speaketh in the person of our Sauiour Christ the principall sense is not of the whales belly but of that hell whether our Sauiour Christ descended and from whence he deliuered the fathers of the old Testament him selfe ascending into heauen as their King and generall capitaine before them and opening the way of heauen vnto them as is signified in an other Prophet and was the first that entred heauen FVLK 35. That which Ionas spake was first true of his owne person and then of Christ as Ionas was in this a resemblaunce of him But by this similitude of Christ remaining so many daies and nightes in the harte of the earth as Ionas did in the whales bellie it is manifest that he speaketh of his bodie remaining in the graue not of his soule tarying in hell Wherfore the descending of Christ into Limbus patrum hath no manner of hold eyther of the saying of Christ in the Gospell Math. 12. or of Ionas in his praier Ion. 2. MART. 36. Against all which truthes and euery point thereof these translatours are so watchefull and warie that where the Apostle saith Christ began and dedicated vnto vs the way into heauen they say in their English translations with full consent nothing else bus He prepared Why are they falsâ—â— here than their Maisters Caluin Beza Illyricus who reade Dedicauit Is there nothing in the Greeke word but bare preparation where be these etymologistes now that can straine and wring other wordes to the vttermost aduantage of their heresie and here are content for the like aduantage to dissemble the force of this word which by all vse and propertie signifieth to make new to begin a thing to be the first author to dedicate as S. Augustine might haue taught them and their Lexicons and the Scriptures in many places This translation no doubt is not done sincerely and indifferently of them but for their owne deceitfull purpose as is all the rest When Sainct Paule speaketh of preparation onely they knowe right well that he vseth the vsuall word to prepare as He hath prepared them a city and wheresoeuer is signified preparation onely let them bring vs one example where it is expressed by the other Greeke word which now we speake of FVLK 36. I grauÌ„t the translations had bene more proper and agreable to the Greeke worde to haue said which he hath dedicated or by dedication prepared But here is no fraude against any trueth or errour of yours For the Apostle speaketh not of the way by which we ascend immediatly to heauen but of the way by which we haue free accesse to God through faith without the vailes and ceremonies of the law as it is manifest by his exhortation And whereas you said before that Christ ascending into heaueÌ„ to those whom he had brought out of hell you must tell vs then where they remained all those fortie dayes that were betwene his resurrection and ascention except you will make two ascensions of Christ into heauen one in soule alone the other in bodie soule which hath not bene heard of in the church before For that his soule was first receyued into heauen or Paradise immediatly after his death it proueth not an ascension seeing the same was common to him with other saincts Againe seing the mysterie of our redeÌ„ptioÌ„ is diuided into the death resurrectioÌ„ of Christ and that by his death wee are deliuered from sinnes by his resurrection wee are iustified if you will not allowe his death to haue purchased equall redemption to the fathers of the old Testament and vs but measure the vertue therof by the instance of time in which it was actually performed you must stay your prisoners from entring into the kingdome of heauen at least vntill his resurrectioÌ„ For none can enter into the kingdome of heauen but iustified persons Seing therefore that iustification dependeth vpon his resurrection you must eyther graunt that it was communicated to the fathers in their time before his incarnation or else you must stay them from entring into heauen before they were iustified by his resurrection The place of Micha 2 that you quote is nothing to the purpose of Christes ascending For there the Prophete threateneth the Israelites with the violence of their enimies the Chaldees whome God him selfe would prosper against them to haue the victorie and to driue them into captiuitie MART. 37. But it is of more importaunce which foloweth and appartâ—yning altogither to this controuersie Hebr. 5. v 7. your trauslation is thus in the very English Bible that nowe is reade in your Churches Which in daies of his flesh offered vp prayers with strong crying vnto him that was able to saue him from death and was heard in that which he feared Is the Greeke here In that whiche he feared You know that no Grammar nor Lexicon doth allowe you this translation But eyther thus for reuerence or as one of your owne English Bibles hath it because of his reuerence FVLK 37. Your first quarrel against the truest translation of that word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 5. is that it sayeth in that which he feared whereas the Greeke is from feare or out of feare which afterwarde you confesse though distant in worde yet to be agreeable in sense The second that in the margent our traÌ„slation is against Christes descending into hell How so I pray you doe you according to your translation expound that worde of Christes descending into hell no verily But we doe expounde it of his descending into hell therefore our translation is to proue Christes descending into hell and if our exposition were not true yet euen your opinion of Christes descent were nothing hindred thereby you wil say that by our expositioÌ„ we exclude his descent after his death we do in deede in such sort as your errour teacheth altogither without the Scripture For if there had bene an historie of Christs going into hell deliuering the Patriarkes and others the faithfull from thence al the EuaÌ„gelists would not haue omitted so notable a matter and that also an article of our beleefe MART. 38. Howe is it then that in your later English Bibles you chaunged your former translation froÌ„ better to worse or who taught you so to translate it for sooth the Heretike Beza whose translation you folow for the most parte in your later Bibles though here in sense rather than in worde And who taught Beza he saith Caluin was the first that euer found out this interpretation And why surely for defense of no lesse blasphemie than this that our Sauiour IESVS Christe vpon the Crosse was horribly afraid of damnation that he was in the very sorrowes and torments of the damned and that this was his descending into
you to proue Forsooth that his aduersaries do confesse all the olde fathers to be on their side and to haue erred with them as Fulke doth of S. Ambrose Austen Tertullian Origen Chrysostom Gregorie and Bede by name with most reprochefull and contemptuous words against them This is spoken generally as though we confesse all the doctors to bee on their side in euery controuersie which we doe not acknowledge to be true in any one although many of the later sort do in some part fauour one or two errours of theirs among an hundreth But let vs examine his prooues which seeme to be verie plentifull yet of nine quotations I must needes strike out two page 306. and 279. because in them is not one syllable of my writing but all of Allens In the pages 315. 316. is nothing more contained touching this matter than I haue alreadie declared There remaineth nowe page 349. where I say touching a rule of S. Augustine which hee giueth to trie faith and doctrine of the Church onely by the scripture that if he had as diligently followed it in examining the common error of his time of prayer for the dead as he did in beating downe the schisme of the Donatistes or the heresie of the Pelagians hee woulde not so blindly haue defended that which by holy scripture he was not able to maintaine as he doeth in that booke De Cura pro mortuis agenda and else where What most reprochefull or contemptuous wordes are here against S. Augustine Seeing the holie scripture is a light shining in a darke place as S. Peter sayeth who so goeth without it must walke blindly which I say in commendation of the light of the scripture not in contempt of Augustines reason whome as I may not honour with contempt of the trueth so when he is a patrone maintainer of the truth I honour him from my heart Likewise page 78. Saint Ambrose is named but nothing acknowledged to fauour any popish errour Augustine is againe noted speaking of the amending fire whereof he hath no ground but in the common errour of his time and whereof he affirmeth sometimes that it is a matter that may bee doubted of sometimes that there is no third place at all Wherefore this place hath neither reprochful wordes nor confession of any constant opinion of Augustine inclining to your errours Then let vs passe to the next place which is page 435. where concerning this matter I haue written thus I denie that any of the auncient fathers in Christs time or scholers to his Apostles or within one or two hundreth yeares after Christ except one that had it of Montanus the heretike as he had more things beside in any one word maintained your cause for purgatorie or prayers for the dead Secondly of them that maintained prayers for the dead the most confessed they had it not out of the scriptures but of tradition of the Apostles and custome of the church therefore they are not to be compared vnto vs in better vnderstanding of the scriptures for that point which they denyed to be receiued of the scriptures Thirdly those of the auncient fathers that agreed with you in any part of your assertion for none within 400. yeares was wholly of your errour notwithstanding manie excellent gifts that they had yet maintained other errors beside that and about that diffented one from another and sometime the same man from himselfe and that is worst of all from manifest truth of the holy scriptures Therefore neither is their erronious interpretation in this matter to be receiued nor M. Allens wise iudgement of vs to bee regarded Here also I appeale to the iudgement of indifferent readers what confession I haue made of the fathers to be on their side or what reprochefull or contemptuous wordes I haue vsed against them for dissenting from vs. The next place is quoted page 247. where I say against Allen boasting of auncient testimonies for prayer for the dead I will not denie but you haue much drosse and dregges of the later sort of doctors the later the fuller of drosse But bring me any worde out of Iustinus Martyr Irenaeus Clemens Alexandrinus or any that did write within one hundreth yeares after Christ that aloweth prayer or almes for the dead I will say you are as good as your word Here except he will cauil that I acknowledge much drosse and dregs to be in the later sort of doctors I knowe not what hee findeth that hath any shadowe of his slander But the trueth must be confessed that the pure waters of life are to be founde onely in the worde of God and beside that the best and purest liquors that are to bee seene are not cleare from all dregges and drosse of humane error and frailtie In the next page Origen deliuered from the shamefull mangling of Allens allegation is shewed plainly to be an enimie of purgatorie prayer for the dead in that he affirmeth the day of a Christian mans death to be the ende of all sorrowe and the beginning of all felicitie There remaineth nowe the last place quoted page 194. where I acknowledge that Gregorie Bernard Bede vpon the text Matth. 12. are of opinion that sinnes not remitted in this world may be remitted in the world to come But how happeneth it say I that Chrysostome Ieronyme which both interpreted that place could gather no such matter although they otherwise allowed prayer for the dead The reason must needes be because the errour of purgatorie growing so much the stronger as it was neerer to the full reuelation of Antichrist Gregorie and Bede sought not the true meaning of Christ in this scripture but the confirmation of their plausible error Here is all the confessions most reprochefull contemptuous wordes that are conteined in so manie of those places as he hath quoted in which I will not tarrie to rehearse how manie vntruthes he hath vttered against mee but wish the indifferent reader to consider that if he be so bolde to slander mee concerning a booke printed in English by which he may be conuinced of euerie simple reader what dare he not aduouch of matters done and past at Rome whither none may trauell to trie out his tretcherie but he is in manifest danger neuer to returne the answere of his message From this Popish Parson whatsoeuer his name be I must passe to another gentleman namelesse in deede but not blamelesse yea much more blame worthie than the other who among so manie and so great flanders as it is wonder howe they could bee conueyed into so small a booke against our prince her lawes her councellors her iudges her officers the nobilitie the comminaltie the church the gouernors the pastors the people thereof against all states persons of the land in whome there is religion towardes God ioyned with dutie towarde their prince and countrie hath founde yet some emptie corners where he might place me in particular And
is charged by Tertullian For Marcions heresie was not so generally receiued by the Greeke Churche that all men would yeeld vnto him neither was Tertullian so souÌ„d of iudgement in the Latine Church that whatsoeuer he iudged to be a corruption in Marcion must of necessity be so taken But if adding and detracting from the Scripture be proper notes of heretikes who can purge Stephen Gardiner Gregorie Martine The one for adding vnto a the verse of the Psalme this pronowne se him selfe to proue the carnall presens citing it thus Escam se dedit timentibus eum He gaue himselfe to be meate to them that feare him whereas the words of the Prophet according to the Hebrue Greeke and Latine are no more but Escam dedit He hath giuen meat c. The other in his fond booke of schisme citing this text out of 1. Cor. 10. as many Papistes doe against the certaintie of Faith Qui stat videat ne cadat He that standeth let him take heede he fall not Whereas not only the truth of the Greeke but euen the vulgar Latin translation hath Qui se existimat stare He that thinketh or supposeth that he standeth let him take heede that he fall not But of such additions and detractions vsed by the Romishe rattes farre worse than the myse of Pontus we shall haue more occasion to speake hereafter MART. 5. Another way is to make false translations of the Scriptures for the maintenaunce of errour and heresie so did the Arians as S. Hierome noteth in 26. Esa. reade and translate Prouerb 8. Dominus creauit me in intio viarum suarum that is The Lord created mein the beginning of his waies so to make Christ the wisedom of God a mere creature S. Augustin also lib 5. cont Iulian. c. 2. noteth it as the interpretation of some Pelagian Gen. 3. Fecerunt sibi vestimenta for perizómata or campestria that is They made them selues garments Whereas the word of the Scripture is bâ—eeches or aprons proper and peculiar to couer the secretparts Againe the selfe same heretikes did read falsely Rom. 5. Regnauit mors ab Adam vsque ad Moysen etiam in eos qui peccauerunt in similitudinem praeuaricationis Adae that is Death reigned from Adam to Moyses euen on them that sinned after the similitude of the preuaricatioÌ„ of Adam to maintaine their heresie against originall sinne that none were infected therewith or subiect to death damnation but by sinning actually as Adam did Thus did the old heretiks FVLK 5. As touching false and hereticall translations which is the chiefe argument of this booke I doubt not but by the grace of god to cleare our english translators from any wilfull corruptions for the maintenance of any errour or heresie such as were those of the Arrians Pelagians which Gregorie Martin as though he vttered some great peece of skill doth so diligently expresse I shall haue occasion also to shew that the Papistes them selues of our times maintaining their corrupt vulgar translation against the truth of the originall textes of Greeke and Hebrew are most guiltie of such corruption and falsification whereof although they be not the first authors yet by obstinate defending of such errors they may proue worse than they which did first commit them For the authors of that vulgar translation might be deceiued either for lacke of exact knowledge of the tongues or by some corrupt and vntrue copies which they followed or else perhaps that which they had rightly translated by fault of the writers negligence of the times might be peruerted but these men frowardly iustifying all errours of that translation howsoeuer they haue bene brought in do giue plaine testimony that they are not led with any coÌ„scieÌ„ce of Gods truth but wilfully carried with purpose of maintaining their owne errours least if they did acknowledge the errour of the Romish church in that one point they should not bee able to defende any one iote of their heresie whose chiefe colour is the credit and authoritie of that particular and false church rather than any reason or argument out of the holy Scriptures or testimonie of the most auncient Christian and Catholike church MART. 6. What these of our daies is it credible that being so wel warned by the condeÌ„nation detestation of theÌ„ they also would be as mad and as impious as those Heretikes gentle Reader be alwayes like Heretikes and howsoeuer they differ in opinions or names yet in this point they agree to abuse the Scriptures for their purpose by all meanes possibly I will but touch foure points of the fiue before mentioned because my purpose is to stay vpon the last onely and to discipher their corrupt translations But if I would stand vpon the other also were it not easie to shew the maner of their proceeding against the Scriptures to haue bene thus to deny some whole bookes and partes of bookes to call other some into question to expound the rest at their pleasure to picke quarrels to the very originall and Canonicall text â—o fester and infect the whole bodie of the Bible with cancred translations FVLK 6. It is very true that so many Heretikes as pretend the authoritie of the holy Scriptures abuse the same to their owne destruction and no Heretikes worse than the Antichristians or Papistes As partly hath bene seene already in euery one of your fiue markes more may appeare in those foure pointes which you will handle in the Preface because the argument of your whole booke is the fift so that in the ende you shal be proued no wiser with your fiue pointes than he that came forth with his fiue egges neuer a good of them all But you aske if it were not easie for you to shew if you would stand vpon them that the Protestants vse all the said siue meanes of defacing the Scripture I answer no and that shal you see when demonstratioÌ„ is made how vainly you haue laboured in the last point which howsoeuer you would haue it appeare to be a sudden writing of small trauail by interlacing a few lines here there against M. Whitaker against me some other yet it is euident both by Bristowes threatning and Campions promise that it hath bene a work of some yeares vnto you wherin beside that you are beholding much to Lindanus for diuers quarrels against Caluin and to sir Thomas More for many cauillations against W. Tyndals translation there is litle worthy of so long study and large promises as haue gone before this diligent discouerie so that if you will make the like triall in the rest you shall finde them as hard to proue as this last MART. 7. Did not Luther deny S. Iames epistle so contemne it that he called it an epistle of strawe and not worthy of an Apostolicall spirit must I proue this to M. Whitakers who would neuer haue denied it so vehemently in the superlatiue degree for
there shal be in any person a sinne to be adiudged to death he shal be deliuered to death if thou shalt hang him vpoÌ„ a tree 23. Let not his carcase tarie all night vpon that tree but in any case thou shalt burie him the same day for accursed to God is he that is hanged The word tree being twise named before who would be so madde to say that S. Paule hath added it beside the Hebrue text Likewise where you bidde vs strike out of the Hebrue Psal. 21. that which concerneth our redemption on the crosse They haue pearced my handes and my feete because in the Hebrue there is no suche thing you say most vntruely for there is nothing else in the Hebrue no not in the common readings as Iohannes Isaake a Popishe Iewe will teache you who hath confuted the cauils of Lindanus against the Hebrue texte of whom you borrowed this exam le where if you had not beene blinde with mallice you mighte haue seene that Sainct Hierome did reade without controuersie Fixâ—runt they haue pearced as also that the most auncieÌ„t copie of the Hebrue Psalmes supposed to haue pertained to Sainct Augustine of CaÌ„terburie hath Charu they haue pearced though you had bene ignoraunt what is written concerning this word in the Masoreth and what Isaac also writeth of that word as it is commonly redde that it can not signifie as you fantasie sicut leo like a lion And therefore the Chalde paraphrast turneth it As a lion they pearced my handes and my feete But of this matter more hereafter as occasion shall be giuen As for the Apostle Ephes. 4. saying that Christ gaue giftes whereas of Dauid it is sayd he receiued giftes speaketh nothing contrarie to the Hebrue but sheweth wherefore Christ hath receiued gifts namely to bestow vpon his church Except you will say that Christ gaue of his owne and receiued none and so the Apostle doth shewe the excellencie of the trueth aboue the figure Christ aboue Dauid Likewise where the Psalmist sayeth in the Hebrue Thou hast opened mine eares the Apostle doth rightly collect that Christ had a bodie which in his obedience was to be offered vnto the father Last of all you would haue fiue soules cut from 75. in Sainct Stephens Sermon because it is not in the Hebrue but you are deceiued For Sainct Stephen gathereth the whole number of them that are named in the fortie sixt chapter of Genesis Namely the two sonnes of Iuda that were deade and Iacobes foure wiues to shewe howe greate his familie was at the vttermost before he went downe into Aegypt and howe greatly God did multiplie him afterwarde What is there in any of these examples like to Qui fuit Cainan about whiche you make so muche a doe MART. 20. Must such difficulties diuersities be resolued by chopping and changing hacking and hewing the sacred text of holy Scripture Sec into what perplexities wilfull heresie and arrogancie hath driuen them To discredit the vulgar Latine translation of the Bible and the fathers expositions according to the same for that is the originall cause of this and besides that they may haue alwaies this euasion It is not so in the Hebrue it is otherwise in the Greeke and so seeme iolly fellowes and great clerkes vnto the ignorant people what do they they admit onely the Hebrue in the old Test. and the Greeke in the newe to be the true and authenticall texte of the Scripture Wherevpon this foloweth that they reiect and must needes reiect the Greeke of the old Test. called the Septuaginta as false because it differeth from the Hebrue Which being reiected therevpon it foloweth againe that wheresoeuer those places so disagreeing from the Hebrue are cited by Christ or the Euangelists and Apostles there also they must be reiected because they disagree from the Hebrue and so yet againe it foloweth that the Greeke text of the new Testament is not true because it is not according to the Hebrue veritie consequently the wordes of our Sauiour and writings of his Apostles must be reformed to say the least because they speake according to the Septuaginta and not according to the Hebrue FVLK 20. Who alloweth or who can abide chopping and changing or hacking and hewing the sacred text of holy Scriptures As for the perplexities wherevnto you faine that wilfull heresie and arrogancie hath driuen vs is of your weauing for God be praised we can wel inough with good conscience sound knowledge that may abide the iudgement of all the learned in the world defend both the Hebrew text of the olde Testament and the Greeke text of the new Not of purpose to discredit the vulgar Latine translation and the expositions of the fathers but to fetch the truth vpon which the hope of our saluation is grounded out of the first fountaines and springs rather than out of any streames that are deriued from them And this we doe agreeable to the auncient fathers iudgements For who knoweth not what fruitfull paines S. Hierom tooke in translating the Scripture out of the originall tongue neither would he be disswaded by S. Augustine who although he misliked that enterprise at the first yet afterward he highly commended the necessitie of the Greeke Hebrue tongues for Latine men to find out the certaine truth of the text in the infinite varietie of the Latine interpretations for thus he writetth De doct Christ. lib. 2. cap. 11. Contra ignota signa propria magnum remedium est linguarum cognitio Eâ— latinae c. Against vnknowen proper signes the knowledge of tongues is a great remedie And truly men of the Latine tongue whom we haue now taken in hand to instruct haue neede also of two other tongues vnto the knowledge of the diuine Scriptures namely the Hebrue the Greeke that recourse may be had vnto the former copies if the infinite varietie of the Latine interpreters shal bring any doubt although we find ofteÌ„times in the bookes Hebrue words not interpreted as Amen Alleluia Racha Osanna c. and a litle after Sed noÌ„ propter haec pauca c. But not for these few wordes which to marke and inquire of it is a very easie thing but for the diuersities as it is said of the interpreters the knowledge of those tongues is necessarie For they that haue interpreted the scriptures out of the Hebrue toÌ„gue into the Greke tong may be nuÌ„bred but the Latine interpreters by no means can be numbred For in the first times of the faith as a Greeke booke came into euery mans hand he seemed to haue some skill in both the tongues he was bold to interpret it Which thing truly hath more helped the vnderstanding than hindred if the readers be not negligeÌ„t for the looking vpon many bookes hath often times made manifest sundry obscure or darke sentences This is S. Augustines sound iudgement of the knowledge of tongues and diuersitie of interpretations for the better
〈◊〉 which the vulgar Latine and Erasmus translate Agite poenitentiam Repent or Doe penance This interpretation sayth he I refuse for many causes but for this especially that many ignorant persons haue taken hereby an occasion of the false opinions of SATISFACTION wherewith the Church is troubled at this day Loe of purpose against satisfaction he will not translate the Greeke worde as it ought to be and as it is proued to signifie both in this booke and in the annotations vpon the newe Testament A litle after speaking of the same worde he sayth why I haue changed the name poenitentia I haue tolde a litle before protesting that he will neuer vse those wordes but resipiscere and resipiscentia that is amendment of life because of their heresie that repentance is nothing else but a meere amendment of former life without recompense or satisfaction or penance for the sinnes before committed See chap. 13. FVLK 49. Of purpose against the heresie of satisfaction Beza will not translate the Greeke worde as the vulgar Latine translator dothe but yet as the Greeke worde ought to be translated Erasmus finding the vulgar Latine vnsufficient hath added Vitae prioris that is repent yee of your former life Neither dothe Beza finde faulte with the English worde repent but with the Latine Agite paenitentiam when you translate it do penaunce meaning thereby paine or satisfaction for sinnes passed to be a necessarie parte of true repentance which is not conteyned in the Greeke worde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth changing of the mind that is not onely a sorrow for the sinne past but also a purpose of amendment which is beste expressed by the Latine worde Resipiscere which is alwaies taken in the good parte as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is in the Scripture where as the Latine wordes paenitere and Paenitentia are vsed in Latine of sorrowe or repentance that is too late As paenitere and paenitentia may be saide of Iudas grief of minde which caused him to hang him selfe but not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or resipiscere and resipisscentia and therefore the Holye Ghoste speakinge of his sorrowe vseth an other worde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And this is the cause why Beza refused the worde Paenitentia hauing a Latine worde that more properlye doeth expresse the Greeke worde as wee might lawefullye doe in Englishe if wee had an other Englishe worde proper to that repentaunce whiche is alwayes ioyned with faith and purpose of amendmente for wante whereof wee are constrayned to vse the wordes repente and repentaunce whiche maye bee taken in good parte or in euill For wee saye repentaunce too late and Iudas repented too late but there is no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that can bee called too late But where you saye that resipiscere and resipiscentia is nothing but amendement of life and that repentaunce in our heresie is nothing else but a meere amendment of former life you speake vntruly for those words do signifie not only amendment of life but also sorrow for the sinnes past although without recompēce or satisfactiō which you call penance for the sinnes before cōmitted for we know no recompence or satisfactiō made to God for our sinnes but the death of Christ who is the propitiation for our sinnes 1. Iohn 1. Neither hath your blasphemous satisfaction any grounde in the Greeke worde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but onely a foolish colour by the Latine translation Agite poenitentiam which it is like your Latine interpreter did neuer dreame of and therefore he vseth the worde Resipiscere 2. Tim. 2. Of them to whom God should giue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 repentaunce to the acknowledging of the truth Et resipiscant and so they may repent or as you translate it recouer themselues from the snare of the Diuell Seyng therefore repentance is the gifte of God it is no recompence or satisfaction made by vs to God to answere his iustice but an earnest and true griefe of minde for our transgression of Gods lawe and offending against his maiestie with a certaine purpose and determination of amendment so neere as God shall giue vs grace Hetherto therefore we haue no demonstration of any wilfull corruption but a declaration of the cause that moued Beza to vse a more exact translation and such as commeth nearer to the originall worde than that which the vulgar translation hath vsed vpon which occasion of a great blasphemie hath bene taken and is yet mainteyned MART. 50. Againe concerning the worde Iustifications which in the Scripture very often signifie the commaundements he saith thus The Greeke interpreters of the Bible meaning the Septuaginta applieth this worde to signifie the whole Lawe of God and therefore commonly it is wont to be translated worde for worde Iustificationes which interpretation therefore only I reiected that I might take away this occasion also of cauilling against iustification by faith and so for iustificationes he putteth constituta Tullies worde forsooth as he saith Can you haue a more playne tèstimonie of his heretic all purpose FVLK 50. Concerning the Greeke worde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Beza translateth Constitutionibus constitutions and you confesse that in Scripture it doth very often signifie the commaundements He sayth first that as the whole Lawe of God is diuided into three partes Morall Ceremoniall and Iudiciall so the Hebrewes haue three seuerall words to expresse the seueral precepts of those lawes For the Hebrew word which signifieth the Ceremoniall precepts the Greekes vse to translate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So the sense is that Zacharie and Elisabeth were iust walking in all the Morall commaundements and obseruing the holy rites and ceremonies as much as concerned them but the thirde worde which signifieth Iudgements S. Luke doth not adde because the exercise of Iudiciall cases did not belong vnto them being priuate persons After this he saith that the Greeke Interpreters of the Bible transferred this worde vnto the whole lawe of God and especially to the holy ceremonies so verily exceedingly commending the law that it is a certaine rule of all iustice And therefore men are wont commonly in respect of the worde to turne it Iustifications And this worde in this place Beza in deede confesseth that he refused to vse for auoyding of cauillations against iustification by fayth seeing he hath none other worde neither woulde he for offence seeke any newe worde to expresse iustification by faith whereas the worde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this text Luc. 1. verse 6. signifieth not that by which they were made iust but the commaundements or precepts of God by walking in which they were declared to be iust For by the workes of the lawe such as Saint Luke here speaketh of no fleshe shall be iustified before God Therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this place must haue an other sense than iustifications namely commaundements as you saye it
permitte such consistories of Elders for onely discipline and gouernment as be in some other Churches yet doe they not only permit but also mainteyne and reuerence such Elders being signified by the Greeke worde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as are necessarie for the gouernment of the Church in doctrine Sacraments and discipline to the saluation of Gods people The dayly sacrifice mentioned in Daniell was the Morning and Euening sacrifice of the old Lawe wherevnto your blasphemous sacrifice of the Masse hath no resemblaunce You may not therefore looke to recouer the credite of Massing Priestes by that sacrifice which being once instituted by God was at length taken away by the onely sacrifice of Christes death Against which all the Apologies in the worlde shall neuer be able to defende your Massing Priesthood As for the chapter of Allens Apologie wherevnto you refer vs conteyneth certaine quotations a few sentences of the auncient writers which haue bene answered an huÌ„dreth times to iustifie massing Priests but all in vaine for neuer shall he proue that any one from the Eldest which he nameth vnto Beda which is the yongest was such a Massing Prieste in all pointes as those traytours are which by the Queenes lawes and edict are proscribed and prohibited I meane not for their manners but for their Masse and all opinions incident therevnto CHAP. VII Hereticall translation against PVRGATORIE LIMBVS PATRVM CHRISTS DESCENDING INTO HEL Martin HAVING now discouered their corrupt translations for defacing of the Churches name and abolishing of Priest and Priesthood let vs come to another point of very great importance also and which by the wonted consequence or sequele of errour includeth in it many erroneous branches Their principall malice then being bent against Purgatorie that is against a place were Christian soules be purged by suffering of temporall paines after this life for surer maintenaunce of their erroncous deniall hereof they take away and denie all third places saying that there was neuer from the beginning of the worlde any other place for soules after this life but onely two to witte heauen for the blessed and hell for the damned And so it foloweth by their hereticall doctrine that the Patriarches Prophetes and other good holy men of the old Testament went not after their deaths to the place called Abrahams bosome or Limbus patrum But immediatly to heauen so againe by their erroneous doctrinâ— it foloweth that the fathers of the old Testament were in heauen before our sauiour Christe had suffered death for their redemption and also by their erroneous doctrine it foloweth that our sauiour Christ was not the first man that ascended and entred into heauen and moreouer by their hereticall doctrine it foloweth that our sauiour Christe desâ—ended not into any such third place to deliuer the fathers of the olde Testament out of their prison and to bring them triumphantly with him into heauen because by their erroneous doctrine they were neuer there â— and so that article of the Apostles Creede concerning our sauiour Christ his descending into hell must either be put out by the Caluinists as Beza did in his Confession of his faith printed An. 1564. or it hath some other meaning to wit either the lying of his bodie in the graue or as Caluine and the purer Caluinists his schollers will haue it the suffering of hell paines distresses vpon the Crosse. Loe the consequence and coherence of these errours and heresies Fulke WE may be bolde to say with S. Augustine We beleeue according to the auctoritie of God that the kingdome of heauen is the first place appointed for Gods elect and that hell is the seconde place where all the reprobrate such is be not of the faith of Christe shall suffer eternall punishment Tertium penitus ignoramus imo nec esse in scripturis sanctis inuenimus The thirde place we are vtterly ignorant of yea and that it is not wee finde in the holy Scriptures But hereof it followeth say you that the godly of the olde Testament went not after their deathes to Abrahams bosome or Limbus patrum but immediately to heauen Of Limbus patrum which is a border of the Popes hel I grauÌ„t it followeth but of Abrahams bosome it followeth none otherwise than if I should say Gregorie Martin went into Chepeside Ergo he went not to London That the fathers of the old Testament were in Heauen before our Sauiour Christ had suffered death for their redemption it is no incoÌ„uenience for his death was as effectuall to redeeme them that liued before he suffered actually as them that liue since because in Gods sight hee is the Lambe that was slaine from the beginning of the world And the fathers that were iustified by faith in his bloud receyued the same crowne and rewarde of rightuousnesse that we do beyng iustified by the same meanes And yet our Sauiour Christe was the first man that in his whole manhood ascended and entred into heauen into the fulnesse and perfection of glory which is prepared for all Gods elect to be enioyed after the generall resurrection That our Sauiour Christe descended into no prison after his death we verily beleeue and yet we do also constantly beleeue the article of our Creede that he descended into hel by suffering in soule the paynes due to Gods iustice for the sinnes of all whome hee redeemed and by vanquishing the Deuill and all the power of hel in working the redemption of all the children of God If Beza in his confession had cleane left out that article whiche is vntrue hee had bene no more to bee blamed than the auctors of the Nicene Creede and many other Creedes in which it is not expressed because it is partly conteyned vnder the article of his sufferings partly it is in parte of the effect and vertue of his death and redemption MART. 2. These nowe being the hereticall doctrines which they meane to auouch and defende what soèuer come of it first they are at a point not to care a rushe for all the auncient holy Doctours that write with full consent to the contrarie as themselues confesse calling it their common errour secondly they translate the holy Scriptures in fauour thereof most corruptly and wilfully as in Bezaes false translation who is Caluines successor in Geneua it is notorious for he in his newe Testament of the yeare 1556. printed by Robertus Stephanus in folio with Annotations maketh our Sauiour Christ say thus to his father Non derelinques cadauer meuÌ„ in sepulchro Thou shalt not leaue my carcasse in the graue Act. 2. For that which the Hebrue and the Greeke and the Latine and S. Hierome according to the Hebrue say Non derelinques animam meam in inferno as plainly as we say in English Thou shalt not leaue my soule in hell Thus the Prophet Dauid spake it in the Hebrue Psal. 15. Thus the Septuaginta vttered it in Greeke thus the Apostle S. Peter
prepared for vs. But all this is to be vnderstoode of the cleare reuelation of the mercie of God in Christ which was obscurely set forth vnto the fathers of the olde Testament and not of the effect fruite of his passion which was the same for their saluation that it is for ours Neither haue the soules of the faithfull since the coÌ„ming of Christ any other place of rest than the fathers had before his incarnation God prouiding most wisely that they without all the rest of their brethren that shall be vnto the worldes ende shall not be made perfect And whereas you saye that all the soules of good and badde then went downeward you are controlled by the wise man Eccles. 3. Where he speaketh in the person of the carnall man doubting of that which is not comprehended by reason but beleened by faith who knoweth whether the spirite of man ascende vpwarde And more plainely in the last chapter of that booke where he exhorteth to repentaunce shewing in the ende that though dust returne to the earth from whence it was yet the spirite returneth to God that gaue it It returneth to God therefore it goeth not downe For who woulde abide to heare this speache the soules of the faithfull went downewarde to God yea went into hell to God Nay returned downeward into hel to God that gaue them That common receptacle therefore of the dead was the receptacle of their bodies which all first or last returned to the earth from whence they were taken And where you say that place was called in all tongues by such a word as signifieth a lower place beneath it is true of the common receptacle of their bodies but not of their soules For the soule of Lazarus was not carried by the Angells into hell but into Abrahams bosome which was not onely a place of rest but also of ioy and comfort contrarie to tormentes betwene which and hell was an infinite distaunce Who woulde call that a common receptacle when there was an infinite distance vnpassable from one to the other MART. 9. So wee say in our Creede that our sauiour Christ him selfe descended into hel according to his soule So S. Hierom speaking of the state of the old Testament saith Si Abraham Isaac Iacob in inferno quis in caelorum regno that is If Abraham Isaac and Iacob were in hell who was in the kingdome of heauen And againe Ante Christum Abraham apud inferos post Christum latro in Paradiso that is before the comming of Christ Abraham was in hell after his comming the theefe was in Paradise And least a man might obiect that Lazarus being in Abrahams bosome saw the riche glottâ—n a farre of in hel and therefore bothe Abraham and Lazarus seeme to haue bene in heauen the saide holy doctour resolueth it that Abraham and Lazarus also were in hell but in a place of great rest and refreshing and therefore verie farre off from the miserable wretched glutton that lay in tormentes FVLK 9. We say in our Creede that Christ descended into hell which being an article of our faith must haue relation to suche benefite as we receiue by his descending namely that thereby we are deliuered from the paines of hell But that he should descend into Limbus patrum to fetche out the fathers which before you sayd were in prison nowe you say in rest we neither say it in our Creede neither doth it pertaine vnto vs. But Hierome is cited as a fauourer of your opinion who I confesse in some parte held as you doe but not altogither For thus he writeth in Epitaph Nepos After he hath giuen thanks to Christ for our redemption by his death Quid ante miserius homine qui aeternae mortis terrore prostratus viuendi sensum ad hoc tantum acceperat vt periret c. What was more miserable than man before which being cast downe with terrour of eternall death receiued sense of liuing for this ende only that he might perishe For death raigned from Adam vnto Moises yea vpon those which haue not sinned after the similitude of the transgression of Adam If Abraham Isaak and Iacob in hell who in the kingdome of heauen If thy friendes were vnder the punishment If Adam and they which sinned not were held guiltie by other mens sinnes what is to be thought of them which said in their harte there is no God c. And if Lazarus be seene in the bosome of Abraham and in a place of rest what like hath hell and the kingdome of Heauen Before Christe Abraham in hell after Christ the theese in Paradise In these wordes Hierome after his Rhetoricall manner amplifying the benefite of our redemption by Christ doth rather touch this errour than plainely expresse it For first hee maketh all men miserable before Christe and cast downe with terror of eternall death which is true if yee consider them without Christ in which state are all men since Christe but of all men that liued before the time of Christes death and yet embraced their redemption by him it is not true As also that there are some which haue not sinned But that al this is to be vnderstood specially of the death of their bodies and allegorically of their soules he addeth immediately Et idâ—â—rco in resurrectione eius multa dorâ—â—ntium corpora c. And therefore at his resurrection many bodies of them that slept arose were seene in the heauenly Ierusalem See you not how he turneth all into an Allegorie to set foorth the vertue of Christes redemption who brought all his elect by his death from hell and the power of darkenesse into the kingdome of heauen Furthermore you bidde vs see Augustine in Ps 85. v 13. Where in the beginning he professeth his ignoraunce in discussing the question of the nethermost hell First supposing this world in which we liue to be Infernum superius and the place whether the dead goe Infernum inferius from which God hath deliuered vs sending thether his sonne who to this Infernum or lower place came by his birth to that by his death he addeth an other opinion Fortassis enim apud ipsos inferos est aliqua pars inferior c. Peraduenture euen in hell it selfe there is some parte lower in which the vngodly which haue much sinned are deliuered For whether Abraham had bene now in certaine places in hell we can not sufficiently define And afterward wheÌ„ he hath spokeÌ„ of the diuerse places of Lazarus and the rich glutton he concludeth as vncertainly as he began Ergo inter ista fortasse duo inferna quorum in vno c. Therefore peraduenture betweene these two hels in one of which the soules of the righteous rested the soules of the wicked are tormented one attending prayeth in the person of Christ c. Here you may see what an article of beliefe this was with S. Augustine when he hath nothing to define but onely bringeth his
Abrahams bosome an other thing For a great depth he saith is betwene those regions and that doth let the passage to and fro But neither should the riche man haue lifted vp his eyes and that truely from a farre of but into higher places and that of an exceeding height by that infinite distance of height and depth Whereof it appeareth to euery wise man that hath euer heard of the Elysian fieldes that there is some locall determination which is called Abrahams bosome to receiue the soules of his sonnes euen of the Gentiles he being the father of many nations to be accounted of Abrahams familie and of the same faith by which Abraham beleeued God vnder no yoke of the lawe nor in the signe of circumcision That region therefore I call the bosome of Abraham and if not heauenly yet higher than hel which shall giue rest in the meane season to the soules of the iust vntill the consummation of thinges doe finish the resurrection of all with the fulnesse of reward This is as much as I can find in Tertullian touching Abrahams bosome which is cleane contrarie to that you affirme him to speake For by this saying it is manifest that your opinion is Marcions heresie Secondly that Abrahams bosome is not hell but higher by an infinite distance although not in full perfection of heauenly glorie Thirdly that it is not Limbus patrum but the receptacle of all the iust soules to the ende of the worlde Tertullians authoritie therefore doth you small pleasure and lesse honestie vnlesse you did cite him more truely But I am vnwise to looke for plaine dealing and sinceritie at your handes Well your Limbus patrum the very brimme or vppermost or outmost part of hell wherein all the Patriarches should rest we haue now found from whence it came euen from your olde acquaintance the Mouse of Pontus Marcion the abhominable Heretike The other saying of Hierome but that the opinion of the fathers in hell had by that time taken some strength might be vnderstood of the mortalitie wherevnto they were subiect and neuer shoulde haue bene raysed but by the resurrection of Christ as it seemeth by that which he opposeth of all nations since the passion and resurrection of Christ acknowledged to speake like Philosophers of the immortalitie of the soule and reioycing in the resurrection of the dead as the fathers mourned at their death Chrysostoms place is more apparant for your errour although he also may be vnderstood to speake allegorically of the effect of Christs death and resurrection by which all the Patriarches were deliuered from death and hell was spoyled not that they were in prison there but that the iustice of God had condemned them thether if Christes death had not redeemed them but I will not stande to cleare Chrysostome of this errour which it is sufficient for me to haue fouÌ„d that Marcion the old Heretike was the firste author thereof by Tertullians confession howsoeuer it came to passe that many good men afterward deceiued by the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Infernus did hold it MART. 12. Therefore did Iacob say I wil goe downe to my sonne vnto Hell And againe he sayth If any misfortune happen to Beniamin by the way you shal bring my gray head with sorrow vnto Hell which is repeated againe twise in the Chapter 44. by which phrase the holy Scripture will signifie not only death but also the descending at that time of all sortes of soules into hell both good and badde And therefore it is spoken of all sortes in the holye scripture both of good and of bad For all went then into hell but some into a place there of rest others into other places there of torments And therefore S. Hierom sayth speaking of hell according to the olde Testament Hell is a place wherein soules are included either in rest or in paines according to the qualitie of their deserts FVLK 12. Iacob sayde he would be ioyned to his sonne by death as in the other text you bring it is more manifest than the Sunne at noone dayes For Iacob speaking of his graye head must needes meane of his bodie and therefore of the graue and not of Hell So in the 3. Reg. 2. which you quote Dauid chargeth Salomon that he suffer not the gray head of Ioab to goe downe to the graue in peace and that he shall cause the hoare heade of Shemei to goe downe to the graue with bloud which by no meanes can be vnderstoode of his soule going to hell which goeth not with bloude although it is plaine enough by the word hoare head that he meaneth his bodye in age or his olde bodye And this text Pagnine in his Dictionarie thought necessarie to be vnderstoode of the graue although he make the worde Sheol indifferent to signifie Hell and the Graue That all went to Hell some to reste and some to tormentes it was firste deuised by Marcion the Heretike But Saint Hierome is once againe cited in Oseam cap. 13. where he sayth that Hell is a place wherein soules are included c. by which you see that he speaketh not of Limbus wherein soules were included before Christ but of suche a place wherein they are nowe included taking the worde Infernus generally for any place that receiueth the soules of the departed as he sayth most plainely him selfe in the same place Quicquid igitur separat sratres infernus est appellandus Whatsoeuer doth separate brethren is to be called hell Augustine is quoted to multiply a lye and for nothing else as I haue shewed before MART. 13. And in this sense it is also often sayd in the holy Scriptures that such and such were gathered or layde â—o their fathers though they were buried in diuerse places and died no in the same state of saluation or damnation In that sense Samuel being raysed vp to speake with Saul sayd To morow thou and thy sonnes shall be with me That is dead and in hell though not in the same place or state there in this sense all such places of the holy Scripture as haue the word Inferi or Infernus correspondent both to the Greeke and Hebrew ought to be and may be most conueniently translated by the word Hel. As when it is sayd Thou hast deliuered my soule from the lower hell Psal. 85. v. 13. that is as S. Augustine expoundeth it Thou hast preserued me from mortall sinnes that would haue brought me into the lower hel which is for the damned Which place of holy Scripture and the like when they translate graue sâ—e how miserably iâ— soundeth Thou hast deliuered my soule from the lowest graue Which they would neuer say for very shame but that they are afraid to say in any place be the holy Scriptures neuer so plaine that any soule was deliuered or returned from hell lest thereof it might follow by and by that the Patriarches and our Sauiour Christ were in such a Hell
FVLK 13. That which is spoken indifferently of the elect and reprobate must needes be vnderstoode of that which is common to both that is corporall death How can it be verified of their soules that they were laid to the fathers when betwene the godly and the wicked there is an infinite distance but the earth the graue or pitte is a common receptacle of all dead bodies That Samuel which being raysed vppe spake to Saul might truely say of his soule though not of all his sonnes that he should be with him in hell for it was the spirite of Satan and not of Samuel although counterfaiting Samuel he might speake of the death of Saule and his sonnes As for that verse of the eighty and fiue Psalme whereupon you do falsely so often alleage S. Augustines resolution what absurditie hath it to translate it from the lowest graue or from the bottome of the graue whereby Dauid meaneth extreame daunger of death that he was in by the malice of his persecuting enemies Saule and his complices But we are afrayed to say in any place that any soule was deliuered and returned from hell We say that the soules of all the faithfull are deliuered from hell but of any which after death is condemned to hell we acknowledge no returne And these wordes are spoken by Dauid while he liued and praised God for his deliueraunce which might be not onely from the graue but also from hell sauing that here he speaketh of his preseruation from death MART. 14. And that this is their feare it is euident because that in al other places where it is plaine that the holy scriptures speake of the hel of the daÌ„ned from whence is no returne they translate there the verie same worde Hell and not graue As for example The way of life is on high to the prudent to auoide from Hell beneath Loe here that is translated Hell beneath which before was translated the lowest graue And againe Hell and destruction are before the Lorde howe muche more the harts of the sonnes of men But when in the holy Scriptures there is mention of deliuery of a soul from Hell then thus they translate God shal deliuer my soul from the power of the graue for he will receiue me Can you tell what they would say doeth God deliuer them from the graue or from teÌ„porall death whom he receiueth to his mercie or hath the graue any power ouer the soule Againe when they say What man liueth and shall not see death shall he deliâ—er his soule from the hand of the graue FVLK 14. I haue shewed before diuerse times that although the Hebrue word Sheol doe properly signifie a receptacle of the bodies after death yet when mention is of the wicked by consequence it may signifie hell as the day signifieth light the night darkenesse fire heate peace signifieth prosperitie and an hundreth suche like speaches But where you say that Prouerb 15. v. 24. that is translated hell beneath which before was translated the lowest graue Psalm 85. v. 13. You say vntruly for although in both places there is the worde Sheol yet in that Psalme there is Tachtyah in the Prouerbes Mattah for which if it were translated the graue that declineth or is downewarde it were no inconuenience In the other textes you trifle vpon the worde soule whereas the Hebrewe worde signifieth not the reasonable soule which is separable from the bodie but the life or the whole person of man which may rightly be said to be deliuered from the hande or power of the graue as the verse 48. doth plainely declare when in the later parte is repeated the sense of the former as it is in many places of the Psalmes MART. 15. If thâ—y take graue properly where mans bodie is buried it is not true either that euerie soule yea or euery bodie is buried in a graue But if in all such places they will say they meane nothing else but to signifie death and that to goe downe into the graue and to die is all one we aske them why they followe noâ— the wordes of the holy Scripture to signifie the same thing which call it going downe to Hell not going downe to the graue Here they must needes open the mystery of Antichrist working in their translations and say that so they shoulde make Hell a common place to all that departed in the olde Testament which they will not no noâ— in the most important places of our beleefe concerning our Sauiour Christes descending into Hell and triumphing ouer the same Yea therefore of purpose they will not onely for to defeate that parte of our Christian Creede FVLK 15. We can not alwaies take the word graue properly when the Scripture vseth it figuratiuely But if we say to goe downe to the graue and to die is all one you aske vs why we followe not the wordes of the holy Scripture I aunswere we doe for the Scripture calleth it graue and not hell Where is then your vaine clattering of the mysterie of Antichrist that we must open Because we will not acknowledge that hereticall common place inuented by Marcion the heretike we purpose to defeate the article of Christes descending into hell A monstrous sclaunder when we doe openly confesse it and his triumphing ouer hell in more triumphant manner than you determine it For if he descended into that hell onely in which were the soules of the faithfull which was a place of rest of comfort of ioy and felicitie what triumphe was it to ouercome suche an hell which if you take away the hatefull name of hell by your owne description will proue rather an heauen than an hell But we beleeue that he triumphed ouer the hell of the damned and ouer all the power of darkenesse which he subdued by the vertue of his obedience and sacrifice so that it should neuer be able to claime or holde any of his elect whome he had redeemed MART. 16. As when the Prophet first Osee. 13. and afterward the Apostle 1. Cor. 15. in the Greeke sâ—y thus Ero mors tua ô mors morsus tuus ero inferne Vbi est mors stimulus tuus vbi est inferne victoria tua O death I will be thy death I will be thy sting ô Hell Where is ô death thy sting where is ô hell thy victorie They translate in both places O graue in steede of ô Hel. What else can be their meaning hereby but to draw the Reader from the common sense of our Sauiour Christs descending into hell conquering the same and bringing out the fathers and iust men triumphantly from thence into heauen which sense hath alwaies bene the common sense of the Catholike church holy Doctors specially vpon this place of the Prophet And what a kinde of speach is this and out of all tune to make our Sauiour Christ say O graue I will be thy destruction as though he had triumphed ouer the graue not
and that the woman sayd I see Gods ascending out of the earth and An olde man is ascended or come vp and that Samuel sayd Why hast thou disquieted me that I should be raysed vp and To morow thou and thy sonnes shall be with me And the booke of Ecclesiasticus sayth that Samuel died and afterward lifted vp his voice out of the earth c. All which the holy Scripture would neuer haue thus expressed whether it were Samuel in deede oâ— not if Saul and the Iewes then had beleeued that their Prophets and Patriarches had bene in heauen about And as for the Hebrew worde they make it as euery boye among the Iewes doth well know as proper a word for Hell as panis is for bread and as vnproper for a graue though so it may be vsed by a figure of speech as Cymba Charontis is Latine for death FVLK 26. If we followed the Iewes in exposition of the Scriptures against Christ we were not so much to be pitied as to be abhorred but if we be content to learne the proprietie of Hebrew wordes of the learned Rabbinsi as Hierom was glad to doe of his Rabbin who as it appeareth by his scholler in some places was not excellently learned there is no cause why any man should pitie vs but them rather that to cloke their ignorance in the Hebrewe tongue pretende as if it were more vnlawfull to learne Hebrew of the Hebrew Rabbins than Latine of Quintilian or Priscian and Greeke of Gaza Suidas and such like That you tell vâ— of the Romishe Rabbins conuerted from Iudaiâ—me to Papistrie is not worth a straw For their argument of Saules and a witches opinion that the deade might be raysed proueth nothing in the worlde that they were in Hell And the sonne of Syrach sheweth him selfe not to be directed by the spirite of God which affirmeth Samuel did lift vp his voice after his death out of the earth contrarye to the iudgement of Catholike Doctors of the Church For that the Scripture speaketh of Samuel raysed by the witche is meant of a wicked spirite counterfetting the shape and similitude of Samuel For the soules of the faithfull and holy Prophets be not at the commaundements of witches but at rest with God where they can not be disquieted As for the authoritie of those vnknowen authors that teach boyes to say Sheol is as proper for hell as panis for bread we may esteeme it to be of as good credit as Charons boate Plutoes pallace and Cerberus three heads c. MART. 27. But what speake I of these doe no the greatest and most auncient Rabbines so to call them the Septuaginta alwayes translate the Hebrew word by the Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is properly hell doe not the Talmudistes and Chaldee paraphrases and Rabbi Salomon Iarhi handling these places of the Psalmes He will deliuer my soule from the hande of Sheol interprete it by Gehinum that is Gehenna hell and yet the Caluinists bring this place for an example that it signifieth graue Likewise vpon this place Let all sinners be turned into SHEOL the foresayde Rabbines interprete it by Gehinum Hell Insomuch that in the Prouerbs and in Iob it is ioyned with Abaddon Where Rabbi Leui according to the opinion of the Hebrewes expoundeth Sheol to be the lowest region of the world a deepe place opposite to heauen whereof it is written If I descended into Hell thou art present and so doth Rabbi Abraham expounde the same worde in chap. 2. Ionâ— FVLK 27. Although the Septuaginta doe alwayes translate Sheol by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet doe they not thereby alwayes vnderstand hel as it is manifest in all those places where the Scripture speaketh of a receptacle of dead bodies But now you will beare vs downe with Rabbins Talmudists and Chaldee paraphrases And firste you saye that all these handling that verse of the 49. Psalme He will deliuer my soule from the hand of Sheol interprete it by Gehinnom that is hell I graunt that Rabbi Ioseph vsing the libertie of a Paraphrast rather than a translator interpreteth the worde by Gehinnom that signifieth hell fire and so the sense is true For God deliuered Dauid from eternall damnation But Rabbi Dauid Chimchi expounding the same place according to the proper signification of Sheol sayeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The Prophet sayde when he sawe the destruction of the soules of the wicked in their death In the day in which my bodie shall goe downe to Sheol the graue God shall deliuer my soule from the hande of Sheol the graue that my soule shall not perishe with my bodie You see therefore that all the Rabbines be not of your side no nor Rabbi Salomon Iarchi whom you cite For vpon 37. of Genesis verse 35. where Iacob sayth he will goe downe to the graue mourning thus he writeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mourning to Sheol according to the plaine and literall sense the interpretation thereof is the grane in my mourning I will be buried and I will not be comforted all my dayes but after the Midrash or exposition not according to the letter it is hell This signe was deliuered by handes or by tradition from the mouth of his power that is from a diuine oracle if not one of my sonnes shall dye in my life time I had confidence that I should not see hell By this saying it is manifest that this Rabbine acknowledged the true and proper translation of this worde Sheol was to the graue although after figuratiue and sometimes fond expositions it was interpreted for hell Likewise you say but vntruly of this verse Psal. 9. v. 18. Let all sinners be turned to Sheol for there the Chaldee Paraphrast retaineth the worde Sheol and doth not giue any other word for it Dauid Chimchi interpreteth it according to the literall sense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let the wicked be turned into the graue which is so straung with you to be aunswerable to Sheol although as R. Salomon he sayth it may be vnderstoode of their buriall in hell That Sheol in the Prouerbs Iob is ioyned with abaddoÌ„ it hindreth it not to signify the graue where is the destru ction and consumption of the body And Prou. 15. v. 11. the Chaldee Paraphrast retaineth Sheol which Kabuenaki expoundeth thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. It is sayd of Sheol and Abaddon that Sheol is the graue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Abaddon is hell which is deeper than the graue c. And although in Iob Rabbi Leui and others expound Sheol for a secret place about the center of the earth which should seeme to be hell yet they say not that this is the proper signification of the word Sheol For in the 21. of Iob. v. 13. the Chaldee Paraphrast for Sheol interpreteth Kebureta the graue and in the 14. verse 13. beith kebureta the house of the graue and 17. v. 12. and
Hell and that otherwise he descended not Let the Reader note these newe teachers vpon this place and iudge to what wicked end this translation tendeth FVLK 38. If we haue in the later reformed an errour escaped in the former what skilleth it by whom we were admonished so to correct it But Beza you say affirmeth that Caluine was the first that euer foūd out this interpretatiō It appeareth you were neuer wel beaten for lying it is such a cōmon fault with you Beza speaking of the interpreters of this age saith that Caluin as he thinketh was the first that shewed the true naturall interpretatiō of this place He saith not the first that euer foūd it Yea cleane contrarie wise he saith Denique vt non dubium sit c. Finally that it should not be doubtfull but that some of the auncient fathers also haue interpreted this place euen so Nazianzenus Conc. de fil 2. doth plainly number 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this feare among the infirmities of Christes manhood As for that whiche you call a blasphemie is a holy and comfortable true doctrine that Christ for the redēption of our soules suffered the wrath of God in his soule as those teares and that strong crie declareth in which hee complayned according to the sense of his humanitie that he was forsaken of God MART. 39. A wonderfull thing when all antiquitie with a general and full consent hath in that place of the holy Scripture read thus that Christ was heard of his father for his reuerence according as our Sauiour him selfe also saith in the raising of Lazarus and signifieth in his long praier Io. 17 how a blasphemous and presumptuous Heretike should be so malapert thus to alter it that he was heard in that which he feared that is that he was deliuered from damnatiō and the eternal paines of hel which he was sore afraid of To the maintenance of which blasphemie Beza will seeme to force the Greeke thus First saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth not here signifie reuerence or pietie but feare and such a feare which he calleth pauorem consternationem animi that is dreadfulnesse and astonishment of minde and other like wordes to insinuate an exceeding horrour and feare in our Sauiour Christ. For confutatiō whereof we might easily bring the common vse of this Greeke worde in the holy Scriptures to signifie not euery feare but that religious feare which is in the best men ioyned with godlinesse holinesse and deuotion as when in the Actes they that buried S. Steuen are called Viri timorati deuout men such as feared God FVLK 39. How know you that al antiquitie hath so redde if we had the commentaries of many of the auncient fathers vpon this text we might perhaps proue vnto you that they reade otherwise Nazianzenus as I shewed before among Christes infirmities reckeneth this feare Primasius although he expoundeth it of reuerence yet alledgeth out of Cassiodorus that the worde is taken sometime for loue sometimes for feare Theodoretus also interpreteth this place of Christes feare according to his humane nature shewing that hee feared death which S. Paule feared not both to shewe him selfe a man and to haue experience of all our infirmities without sinne But where you say that Caluine maketh him to feare damnation and the eternall paynes of hell it is false Caluine saith plainely his feare came not of distrust but of the sense of his humane nature forbearing the iudgement of God which without vehement endeuour coulde not be ouercome Therefore was the astonishment the teares the strong crie the droppes of bloud the Angell needefull to comfort him the laste extreeme conflict in which he cried my God my God why hast thou forsaken me As for the signification of the Greeke worde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 although it be so often taken for pietie and religion yet it is also taken for feare As Actes 23. Where S Luke saith the Tribune was greatly afrayed least Paule shoulde haue bene rente in peeces betweene the Pharizees and Saducees hee vseth this worde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for beyng afrayed which was of no pietie or religious feare in him that was a Pagane but a naturall and ciuill feare least a prisoner being a Romane of whom he had charge should be violently murdered amongst them MART. 40. But we neede not goe farre for Beza will helpe vs him selfe who telleth vs in an other place the very same His wordes be these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 significat non quemuis timorem sed cum reuerentia potius quà m cum animi trepidatione coniunctum latini religionē vocant That is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth not signifie euery feare but that which is ioyned with reuerence rather than with astonishment of minde the Latines doe call it religion or religious feare If this be the true signification of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Beza him selfe confesseth why doth he not so translate it in the foresayde place to the Hebrewes Why forsaketh he the olde approued Latine translation and generall consent of all auncient Interpreters and translateth it that feare or astonishment of mind which he sayth the word doth not signifie FVLK 40. You haue great leysure thus to trifle or rather intollerable malice thus to cauill Beza in the place by you cited speaketh of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when it is taken for religion for then it is rather ioyned with reuerence than with astonishment MART. 41. And marke that in his foresayd annotation vppon Saint Luke he telleth not a peculiar signification of the Greeke worde in that place as though in some other places it might haue an other signification but he telleth generally what the very nature of the Greeke word is that is that it signifieth not euery feare but a feare ioyned with reuerence And he sayd truely and they shall hardly giue an instance where it signifieth that feare of astonishment which both he and they translate in the foresayd place of S. Paule Such a force hath heresie to leade a man euen contrary to his owne knowledge to falsifie gods holy word FVLK 41. Any reasonable man reading the note vpon the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 religious vsed by S. Luke of Symeon will vnderstand Beza to speake of the signification of that worde as it is taken in that place for he speaketh against the barbarous word Timoratus vsed by the vulgar Interpreter which signifieth if it haue any signification one made afraid rather than fearing God with loue and reuerence But where you saye we shall hardly giue an instance where the worde signifieth that feare of astonishment which they translate if you would haue taken paines to reade Bezaes annotations your selfe vpon this text in question you should haue found that he bringeth many instances out of Aristotle Sophocles Plutarch Nazianzen and S. Luke Act. 23. If you had remembred what S Marke writeth of our Sauiour Christ Mar. 14. v. 33. it
with infinite paine but because it is a sinne committed against the maiestie of the eternall God and therefore is worthy of eternall punishment For the sinne is to be measured after the excellencie of the person against whome it is committed Therefore that word which being spoken against a poore man is a light fault as to say he is a knaue the same being spoken against a Lorde is an hainous offence and deserueth the pillorie hut being spoken against a King is high treason and is worthy of death Seeing therefore the eternall maiestie of God is contemned in euery sinne that sinne doth iustly deserue eternall torments Fourthly it is true that the Apostle doth exhort vs cheerefully to abide the small and momentarie afflictions of this life in respect that they shall be rewarded with incomparable glorie But hereof it followeth not that the glorie is deserued by short and small sufferings but is giuen of the bountifull liberalitie of God to them that for his sake patiently suffer such small afflictions Therefore if it be an incouragement for a man to labour to heare that he shall be payd his hyre as much as his worke deserueth it is a much greater incouragement for him to heare that he shal receiue a thousand times more than his labour deserueth The words you adde you are neuer the nearer heauen onely beleeue are yours and none of ours for we say with the Apostle we must suffer with Christ if we will reigne with him and the patient suffering of the faithful is nothing repugnant to the iustification before God by faith onely To the last argument of the Apostles authoritie I aunswer our patient suffering worketh infinite weight of glorie not by the worthinesse merite or desert of our suffering but by the bountifull liberalitie of God who hath promised so incomparable rewarde to small tribulation suffered for his sake Wherefore all your fiue reasons notwithstanding our translation is sounde and true MART. 7. See you not a comparison betwene short and eternall light tribulation and exceding weightie glorie and yet that one also worketh the other that is causeth purchaseth and deserueth the other For like as the litle seede being not comparable to the great tree yet causeth it and bringeth it forth so our tribulations and good workes otherwise incomparable to eternall glorie by the vertue of Gods grace working in vs worketh purchaseth and causeth the sayd glorie For so they knowe verie well the Greeke worde importeth though here also they translate it most falsely prepareth Bib. an 1577. FVLK 7. We see the comparison well but we see not that worketh or causeth is all one with purchaseth and deserueth Your comparison of seede and tribulation is not like For in the seede is the formall cause of the greate tree so is not the formall cause of eternall glorie in our tribulation But as if an Emperour for one dayes valiant seruice in warre doe giue vnto his sonne one of his kingdomes we may truly say that dayes seruice wrought him this great rewarde or caused him to be aduaunced to this kingdome but we can not say truely it purchased or deserued a kingdome for then euery one that serued as well as he deserued the like rewarde so is the rewarde of eternall life whiche is the gift of God incomparably greater than our tribulatiō not by the desert of the sufferer but by liberalitie of the giuer That translation that vseth the worde of preparing is not so proper according to the worde but it differeth not muche in sense shewing howe those afflictions do worke or cause namely by preparing making vs conformable to the sufferings of Christ. MART. 8. Lastly for moste manifest euidence that these present tribulations and other good workes are meritorious and worthie of the ioyes to come though not comparable to the same you shal heare the holy Doctors say both in one passage or sentence S. Cyprian thus O what maner of day shal come my brethren when our Lord shal recoūt the MERITES of euery one and paie vs the rewarde or stipend of faith and deuotion Ep. 56. here are merites and the rewarde for the same It foloweth in the saide Doctor What glorie shall it be and how great ioie to be admitted to see God so to be honoured that thou receiue the ioy of eternall life with Christe thy Lorde God to receiue there that which neither eie hath seen nor eare hath heard nor hath ascended into the hart of man for that we shall receiue greater things than here eyther wee doe or suffer the Apostle pronounceth saying The passions of this time are not condigne or comparable to the glorie to come Here we see that the stipend or reward of the merits aforesayd are incomparably greater than the sayd merits FVLK 8. For lacke of Scriptures you flye to the Doctors to finde merits in whome neuerthelesse being Catholike and sound Doctors you shall sooner find the word Meritum than your meaning of it The place of Cyprian I maruell why you geld except it be to ioyne the reward that he speaketh of with the worde merites which he vseth either generally for workes as it is often vsed in the auncient writers or if he meane thereby deserts he speaketh but of examination onely of all mens deserts that he may giue to the wicked that they haue deserued and to the godly that which he hath promised therefore he calleth it the rewarde of their faith and deuotion His wordes are these O diesille qualis quantus aduenies fratres dilectissimi cum caeperit populum suum dominus recensere diuinae cognitionis examine singulorum meritum recognoscere mittere in gehennam nocentés persecutores nostros flammae paenalis perpetuo ardore damnare nobis verò mercedem fidei deuotionis exoluere O that day what manner a one and how great shall it come my deerest beloued brethren when the Lorde shall beginne to recount his people and by examination of his diuine knowledge consider the merites of euery one to sende into hell fire the guiltie and to condemne our persecutors with perpetuall burning of penall flame but vnto vs to pay the reward of faith and deuotion The rewarde of faith is not that which beliefe deserueth but which it looketh for according to Gods promise wherevnto it leaneth For in respect of deserte of Gods fauour he saith and bringeth diuerse textes for proofe Fidem tantum prodesse tantum nos posse quantum credimus That faith only doth profite and that so much wee can doe how much we beleeue Wherfore we see not in Cyprian the incomparable glory to be a reward of desertes MART. 9. Likewise S. Augustine The exceeding goodnesse of God hath prouided this that the labours should soone be ended but the rewardes of the MERITES should endure without ende the Apostle testi fying THE PASSIONS OF THIS TIME ARE NOT COMPARABLE c. For wee shal receiue greater blisse