further in them Which is manifestlie against you for being bottomlesse he sheweth August epist 3. that notwithstanding no man can sound them yet that his endeuour to search is not in vaine but is ioyned with dailie profite especiallie in things necessary to saluation which he affirmeth not to be so hardlie come vnto Yea himself confesseth that euen in his verie first entrance to the christian faith hered August Confess lib. 8. cap. 12. et 7. cap. 9. Chrysost in proaem in epist ad Rom. th' Epistle to the Romanes which you woulde wrest out of the peoples hands with great frute And Chrysostome vpon this Epistle teacheth that the people did not vnderstand Saint Paules wrytings not because they wer vnlearned but because they woulde not haue his writings continually Ierom Epist 13. 4. speaketh of the hard shell of the Scripture as Augustine did of the depth to whet the diligence and industrie of men to greater and more continuall trauell to be taken in the studie of them euen also as doeth the Scripture it selfe which doth not will Matth. 24. 15. the disciples vppon the hardnesse of a place to giue ouer the reading thereof but to ad further diligence care to vnderstand it Where the Iesuites do it cleane contrarily to terrifie men from them And therefore Ierome saith they shine and are verie bright euen in the Ibid. very shell of them although the marrowe be sweeter Likewise he exhorteth all to crack the shell to th' end to eate the kernell And in the very next Epistle wryting to a Matrone he saith Therefore let the diuine Scriptures be alwayes in Hieron ad Celantiam thy hands and let them vncessantly be turned or rowled in thy mynde Beside that if al the Scripture were so shelly as you out of Ierome praetend where is the milke and honie for children that are Heb. 5. Psal 19 called as hath bene shevved to the reading of them They haue no teeth to crack the shell yet they depart not emptie nor returne not hungry from them Wherefore Augustine saith that God hath so tempered the Scriptures that by August dâ— doctâ—ri Christ lib. 2. cap. 6. manifest places he might prouyde against famine and by those which are obscurer he might cleanse the loathsomnes of our stomak in exercising our selues about them noting thereby that men would grow to disdainfulnesse of the Scripture if with th' easier Scriptures they should not ioyne the studie of the harder Finallie if before the lawfull exposition of the Scriptures whole thirteene yeares are required onlie to runne the course of reading the Scripture we suppose verelie that such an expositor will neuer be found in Poperie although he bee sought with a candle where the chief garland and crowne of diuinity is not giuen to him that hath beene most conuersant in th' olde and newe Testament but to him that can quite himself best in Duns and Dorbel in Lombard and Gratian and such other vnwholsome Nourses as these be at whose breasts the popish diuines doe sucke their first milke in Theologie And to what end should they bestow thirteene yeares before their entrance to the Ministrie and the most of their time after they are entred in the study of the Scripture if they may bring no other interpretation of any place then that which they haue receiued of their fore-fathers As for th' interpretation of euery part of the Scripture by th' Apostolicke tradition further then by tradition as appeareth afterwarde is vnderstood the written worde of th' Apostles there is no manner of mention in any writing that carrieth credite with it But of interpretation the discourse will followe after more at large To the three next sections pag. 7. and 8. We are well content that our Religion should be condemned of them that condemne the reading of the Scriptures and as if they had to doe with a hand or foot ball delyte in the taunting tearmes of tossing and tumbling of them And we waite patientlie Iudas epist vntill the Lorde come to giue iudgement of all these blasphemous speeches which wicked sinners speake against him in his worde The triall of the cause by th' outward fruites receiueth manie exceptions First of foure sorts of grounds sowne by the seed of the Gospell there is but one fruitfull the reste beeing not bettered by the preaching therof are worse then wheÌ„ they remained in their Popish ignorance or other fallings from the truth Wherfore to praeiudice the fruit that the good ground yeldeth by the barrennesse vnprofitablenesse of th' other three sortes which haue receiued the seede aswel as it is not aequal nor vpright iudgement Secondly this offensiue and apparant wickednesse euen in the hypocriticall profession of the Gospell proceedeth of the negligence of the gouernors of the Church and common-wealth which loosing the coarde of both Church and common-wealth discipline suffer wicked men to spit out the poison of their hearts which the wholesome seuerity of commanded correction woulde keepe sealed vp in them And therefore our Sauiour Christ is not afraied Matth. 24. 12. to confesse franckly that for th' abundance of iniquitie appearing in them that made profession of the Gospell the loue or zeall of manie euen of those which sometimes were forward in the same should waxe cold Nowe to lay that faulte vpon the Religion which cleaueth vnto the gouernours is likewise an vn-aequall and vn-euen iudgement When in the common-wealth and Church of Israel euerie man did what he lusted who knoweth Iudg. 17. â— not that there were heathen common-wealths wherein many vnlawfull things by law and lawfull punishments were restrained Yet we suppose the Iesuites are not so forsaken that they will thereof conclude that the heathnishe people were better then the people of Israel and that the religion of those Gentiles was better then the religion amongst the Iewes Thirdlie it ought to be remembred that although sinne reigned in Poperie yet it appeared not there beeing no light of the law of God to shewe it by for that the candle-light of knowledge was cleane put out Where in the preaching of the Gospell by the beames of trueth shyning so bright that which in Poperie was holden for no sinne is now knowne to be sinne and that which seemed vnder it a little sinne the Gospell sheweth it to be very great To iudge therefore our mote and gnat which the light of our doctrine sheweth bigger then their beame and Camell which the night of their ignorance woulde not suffer to bee seene is not to holde an euen hand and to goe with a streight foote to the iudgement which is required Further it hath bene an olde practise of the Diuell against the professors of the Gospell to charge them with disordered manners and therefore it ought to offend no man if it be now renewed by th' aduersaries of yâ— truth And although our witnes in heauen and witnes in heart might well content vs whilest by your slanderous
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
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