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
the Hebrevv and Syriack vvords vsed the vvord that vvas proper vnto the tongue he vvrote in And therefore you impudently face dovvne the trueth vvhen you say that Parasceue is as solemne a word for the sabaoth euen as Sabaoth is for the Iewes seuenth day Neither is there more cause to leaue it vn-translated when we are not able vvith like shortnes of our speach to attaine the full signification then to leaue it vnturned when the shortnes of our speach affordeth a sentence in a smaller compasse of wordes then doth th' originall And if this be a sufficient reason to hold the translators hand because there are three wordes in Mat. 1. 19. the translation of Parasceue aboue that which is in the Greeke why haue you translated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 put to open shame Naye howe commeth it to passe that without all warrant of the Greeke or circumstance of the place beyond the mark of the vulgar translation which you propounde vnto your selues and that in text Act. 8. letters you translate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they took order for buriall We knowe therefore that your Dirigie groates and Trentall money will make you lauish and rauill in your translation as much as your seruile minde maketh you dumb mute in other places where you might better speake In the rest also your comparisons are foolish For if we haue retained certē words in their originall because our speach fitteth them not so well it followeth not therefore that you might doe that where it is at hand and readie to serue the Greeke or Hebrew word Or if we haue sometimes not vsed the benefite and wealth of our tongue doth it follow therefore that you may so doe And if we seeking to translate all the Greek wordes haue left some vntranslated because the English phrase either did not afford it vnto vs or els stood at that time far from vs doth it followe that you should retain those words in a strange tongue which our tongue doth afford you the translation of which we haue found out vnto your hand and which hath confirmation by the common vse and practise of our nation for manie yeares together Breifly whereas our people by the grace of God in knowledge of the worde through the meanes of a lightsome plaine translation haue bene deliuered out of Egypt in steed that you should haue added light where it is wanting and plained that which is rough you haue endeuoured by your clouddy and hacked speaches to bring in againe all confusion and ignorance of God and of his trueth And if your daintie stomack could not brooke the feast of the sweete bread yet was there no cause for you to accuse it of falshood seing sweete bread vnleauened bread with vs are all one The translation also printed at Geneua hath vnleauened bread But nothing tasteth you but Azymes and that because the people cannot chaw these crusts of yours or bones rather which of purpose you set before them that they may departe hungrie from your table Your interpretation of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is false without all manner of proofes framed out of your cruell and vnmercifull iudgement of throwing all into hell which die without baptisme as if they were not planted in the house of God before they be baptized where the true vse of baptisme is towards those which we vnderstand either by their own confession or by the couenant to be already planted in the house of God As for the meaning of th' Apostle it is euident that he would haue none drawne to the ministery of the worde which is lately come to the profession of the Gospell therefore your fantasie of a neophyte that hath bene an olde scholler in the schoole of Christ for so you must meane implieth a manifest contradiction and is all one as if you should say he is a new olde plant or a new olde scholler For in those that were not gathered from heathenish religion to the fellowship of the Gospell before the yeares of discretion the same daie that they became true schollers they became true plants and contrariwise Wherefore to be a young scholler is the same thing in effect as to be a yong plant where Neophyte to a bare Englishman is nothing at all no more then depositum exinanited exhaust the foolerie and beastlines whereof is euident to all men seing our speach is able to yeeld the iust valuation of them And if our shewing the glad tidings be not significatiue to our nation much lesse is your Euangelizing which scarce one amongst a hundreth doth vnderstand And if you had learned that the doctrine of Christ vnder the Gospell is not set forth sufficientlye by the Greeke word without a Trope of synecdoche or as they call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you might easilie haue knowen that the same Trope being vnderstood in our glade tidings would haue reached the Greek word and whatsoeuer is signified by it sufficientlye For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was a Greeke worde before the Gospell came into the world and is vsed of Greek authors to signifie all manner of good newes and nothing els And therefore the word can properly signify no more now then it did then But th' Euangelist chose that word especially to note that where men are desirous to knowe good tidings they should bestowe both their eares to vnderstand this doctrine which is only worthie of that name And if our translation liked you not as you haue translated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gospell so you might haue translated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Gospell and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gospelling with more vnderstanding of our people and with as full attainment of the signification of the words vnlesse you will confesse that you haue fayled in turning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Gospell Lastly if so much of the signification is lost vnlesse it be turned Euangelize how commeth it that you Math. 11. 5. haue translated it the Gospell is preached Heere therefore your drudgerie to th' old interpreter is againe manifest for notwithstanding you hold it ill turned vnlesse the Greek word be retayned yet because th' old translator turneth it otherwise you stick not contrarie to your iudgment to turn it as he doth so haue you no iudgement of your own and th' old translators iudgement who by turning it nowe one way and nowe another signifieth an indifferency of translation you vtterly ouerthrowe But that vvhich follovveth is more absurde that the people must be depriued of the naturall translation of the vvords through your sottish desire of keeping of Latin vvords which the vulgar vsed vvhich these lying spirits calling first the Latine text of the Scripture after by and by call it the verie words of the Scripture as if the Scripture translated into the English tongue vvere not as much the Scripture as that vvhich is translated into the Latine For your poenance you must do poenance
faith duetie to her spouse Where also it is to be noted that as th' authoritie of Gods worde is in no account with them So neither the Councill of Trent otherwhere matched with th' authoritie Vpon Act 15. of th' evangelistes nor the supreame authoritie of the Pope is so sacred amongst them but that for lucre they are boulde with both of them For in steed that they praeciselie command that none maye reade any translation whatsoeuer without the Curates testimonie of his abilitie thereunto they haue without repeale of Councill or Popes decree put their translation in mens hands with no note of discretion which we vnderstand but who will giue most You may not thinke much therefore if wee for Truths sake make light of your Trent councill when you for gaine infringe it To the three next sections pag. 3. and 4. If as hath bene shewed all ought to reade the Scriptures then all ages all sexes al degrees and callings all high and lowe rich poore wise and foolishe haue a necessarie duetie heerein of which particularities neither doe the Scriptures nor auncient writers keep silence For the Scripture declareth that wemen and children that from their infancie that Iosua â— 2. Tim. â— Psal 49 Prov. noble and ignoble riche and poore wise and foolish exercised themselues in the holy Scriptures And Theodoret Theodoret. de corrig Grae. affect lib. 5 lyketh well that the points of religion which the Church taught were not onelie knowne of Doctors and maisters but of Taylers Smythes Weauers and other artificers not of men onelie but of wemen and the same not onely learned but labouring wemen sewsters seruants and handmaides not of Citizens alone but of Countrie-folke Ditchers deluers neat-heards and gardiners disputing euen of the holie Trinitie c. And being commanded to be talked of both within the house without Deut. 6 both lying sitting and walking a man woulde thinke that therein is commanded th' exercise of it in al places both table and bench both boate barge And it is too great ignorance to make that difference of place in this matter which was not made vnder the Lawe when in all manner of places it is not onelie lawfull but commanded to talke of the Law And seing to the cleane al things are cleane the boat and boat-man the rudder Titâ—â— 1 and the rower it is too palpable a darknesse to thinke that the Worde 1. Tim. â— should bee profaned by those things which by faith prayer it sanctifieth Wherefore it is most false that the Bibles were then onelie in Monasteries Colledges Churches Bishops Priests and some deuout principal lay-mens hands For Chrysostome exhorteth al the people Epist ad Coloss hom 9 Hieron in Psal 133 In Matth. homil â— concione 3 dâ— Lâ—zarâ— secular men to get them Bibles at the least the new Testament Ierom also saieth 〈◊〉 married men Monkes sillie wemen were wont to conteÌ„d who should learn moe scriptures without booke But Chrysostome is bold and affirmeth it more fit and profitable for the lay people to read Gods worde then for Monkes Priests or any other And if priuate reading of the Bible were vrged so sore when through the trauaile of wryting it must needes cost much how much more then is it now to be pressed when through the benefite of printing it is so easilie and lightlie obtained It is false also that either they sung in an vnknowne language or without knowledge of the sense in some profitable measure which had bene liker vnto the prating pratling and parating of birdes tickling th' eares of fond men then to any Christian melodie pleasant in the eares of the wise God After like men fighting in the dark they stryke themselues instead of the enemie For they are forced to bring forth Ierome exhorting men and wemen to the reading and meditation of the Scripture tâ—â—reby to walke comelie in their seuerall callings Themselues therefore which dryue men from reading of the Scriptures are causes why neither â—irgines can meditate of chastitie nor wyues of faithfulnesse Prince how to rule nor subiect how to obey seeing these dueties are euidentlie to th' vnderstanding of the simplest laide forth in holy Scripture And if then th' inferiors taught not their superiors it was because that as they excelled their vnderlings in age dignitie so they went before them in knowledge and vnderstanding of the word But because Poperie is such a time wherein as Salomon saith the Eccl. 10. 4. seruants ryde and the maisters goe on foot that is to say wherein commonlie the Bishop can byte but not bark the Pastor can milke but not feede the Priest can mum but cannot speak it is needfull that in such a case the waters should go against the streame the scholler should teache his maister the sheepe controule his Pastor c. Yea in the learnedst and lightsomest times that euer were and in personages of notable marke it hath sometymes come to passe that not onelie wemen Luke 2. 38 Luk. 24. 10 act 18. 26. 2. Reg 5 13 Chrysost in Coloss hom 9 August dâ— tempor serm 56. haue instructed men but euen the sheepe the shepheards the schollers their maister the seruant their Lord. And Chrysostome and Augustine will haue euery one to learne as they may teach one another Against which as also against the peoples reading of Scriptures neither Ierome nor August haue a word For Ierome in the same epistle exhorteth to the reading of the scripture onelie he reproueth them which trusting vnto the strength of their wits and to their owne studie seeke not the necessarie helpe of a teacher the principall meanes which God hath ordained to bring men to sound knowledg of the trueth And how far Ierome was from the Iesuites iudgement it appeareth otherwhere when he saith that the Scripture is tearmed the Scripture of the people because it is red vnto Hieron in psal 86 all people that all may vnderstand Lykewise he sharply reproueth such as coÌ„temned those that red the Scripture and mused of them day and night as chatters vnprofitable which is the very popishe spirit that reigneth in these daies The same answere serueth for Augustine who reprooueth not men for reading of the Scripture but onelie for that in reading them and finding difficulties which they cannot auoide they forthwith condemne the worde in steade that they should repaire to such as are able to vndoe their knots Which thing is not onelie cleare vppon the place but confirmed by other sayings Where declaring it not to be enough to heare the word in the Church only he exhorteth al in their priuate houses either August de tempor serm 55 to read or to get some to reade for them And againe that nothing abideth but that which a man hath lay de vp in the treasure of his conscience for health of his soule by reading praying or doing good workes and that we must alwayes pray and
weare swordes but such as in respect of franzie or quarrelling with their fellowes are speciallie restrained you make your proclamation that no souldier shal we are weapon but with special licence therunto Is this your skill and discretion in warfare But thus at least you prouyde that dogges hogges shoulde not come vnto them so doe you also that neither sheepe nor lambe shoulde touch them Thus th' vsurpers are kept from them but the true owners also enioy them not Heerein you bewray a contrarie spirit to that wherewith our Sauiour Christ was conducted For he oftentimes preached in the hearing of known dogs and hogs that is the Scribes and Pharisies obstinatlie set against him least for their sakes the children should be defrauded of their bread And you of the cōtrarie side defraude the children of their appointed portiō least the dogs should happely snatch at it Besides this do you think that the discretion of dogs and hogs from sheep lamb is so easie vnto you as it was vnto our Sauiour Christ and his Apostles Can you tell who deuide the hoofe and chaw the cud who are cleane who are vncleane who read in the simplicitie of heart and who with pretence Heere therefore you mutter that which Harding your companion speaketh plainelie that the common people are dogs and hogs and indeede your argument is none at all in this place vnlesse by hogs and dogs you meane all those frō whom you steale away the reading of the Scriptures As for your description of dogs hogs out of Chrysostome to be hereticks and carnall men it maketh not so much to take the Scriptures away from the common people as frō the learneder and richer sorte For heresie maketh her nest oftner in the breast of the learned and of those that reade the Scriptures in the learned tongues then in the common peoples heades And the riche are more often loaden with carnall lustes then the poorer sort so that if Chrysostome or Tertullian proue any restraint of reading of Scriptures they prooue it directly against your practise which lay the scriptures wide open to all the learned and as it was in Queene Maries dayes if we will remember to those that might dispend by yeare a certaine land that is to those from whome either you durste not holde it or of whome you hoped to haue gaine through speciall licence accorded vnto them You say trulie that no man can vnderstand the Scriptures but by the Spirite of Christ Whereof if you would haue concluded any thing for your purpose you ought to haue shewed that the Spirit of Christ is appropriated to the learned or at the least oftner accompanieth them then it doth th' vnlearned The contrarie whereof being true that God reuealeth his secrets for the most vnto the simple and vnlearned ones and that Matth. 11 1. Cor. 1. not manie wise men nor many noble men are taught by this Spirit it is euident that if any should be shut from the reading and other exercises of the Scriptures the same are especially the learned and not the ruder the nobler and not the baser the richer and not the poorer sorte To the three next sections pag. 6. and 7. Marke good reader the blasphemie of these wretched caitiues that esteeme so vilelie of the holy Scriptures as if there were no better nor more honorable vse of them amongst the people then to make choise of the reading of them rather then to be much occupyed about stage-playes cardes and dice. These men no doubt could be wel content that the people shoulde rather sit downe and pill strawes then they should take anie booke of holy Scripture into their hand Pharaos prophanesse from hence forth shall not be spoken of in respect of th' vncircūcised lips of these beastly Iesuites For he which held the people from exercises of godlinesse in respect of doing some profitable work tending to the fortificatiō of the land but these are content that sports and plaies and that of the basest sort and of worst reporte as cardes dice stage-playes shall keep the people from reading of the Scriptures so that they be not much giuen vnto them And yet notwithstanding if as you praetend they engender heresies amongst the people it should appeare that they shuld be aswel occupied in th' one as in th' other both of them being readie and beaten wayes to euerlasting damnation But a lyar they say hath need of memory For if as you haue alledged Chrysostome cals carnal men dogs and hogs these delicate ones giuen so much t◠cardes dice and stage-playes beeing carnall it followeth by your discourse that Chrysostome was of this iudgement that the most seasonable tyme for the people to reade the Scriptures in was when they were dogs hogs then which what can be more vnworthelie spoken of the good Bishop But marke also good reader the brasen impudencie of the Iesuites whereby it will not be hard for thee to see how all conscience in them is euen seared away as it were with a hot-iron For Chrysostome disputeth of a necessary continuall vse of reading the Scripture by the people therefore doth not so much speak against the lets of certaine times as when they were giuen to stage-playes c. but meeteth with the ordinarie and continual impediment as the care for house wife and children For which purpose he alledgeth th'Apostle that the Scripture was written for our correction Which if the Iesuites will restraine to the correctiō of excesse in dicing and carding c. their cogging and iugling cannot bee hid from anie In the third homilie of Lazarus he doth not obiect th' excuse of pastime but declareth that for to deliuer themselues from the duetie of reading the Scripture one woulde say that he hath matters to plead another that he hath publike affaires a third that he hath his handie-craft to awaite vpon another that he hath his wife his children and familie to maintaine and take care for and generallie euerie one could say I am a man of the worlde it belongeth not to me to reade the Scripture but to those which hauing taken their farewell of the worlde dwell in the mountaines and liue a continent life To whome when he had answered that they had therefore more neede to reade the Scriptures he concludeth that both they and he that liued amongst men as it were in the midst of the seas haue alwaies need of the perpetuall and continuall solace of the Scriptures And yet reckoning vp the manifolde vses of reading of the scriptures by the people hee concludeth thus Wherefore it is necessary that wee shoulde incessantly fetche our armour at the Scripture Againe he compareth in the same places which are heere quoted the books of Scriptures to th'artificers instrument wherewith he getteth his liuing which he wil not gage and as he maketh his works with his tooles so we by the Scriptures must correct our depraued minds And a little after The reading
considering that Luk. 17. 4. you turne the same vvord vvhich you translate doe poenance be poenitent The same vvhip commeth to you for your aduent which in one and Mat. 24. 27 the same chapter and sense turne it comming aduent both We are content you keepe your Priest and your Chalice to your selues Albeit you greatlye forget your selues vvhich maks your Priest here to come of the Latine vvord vvhom othervvhere Vpon Act. 14. 22. you vvoulde faine driue from the Greek To the next section page 20. We need not trauaile much to lay forth the shame of these men vvho themselues shevv their ovvn nakednes Let their first example heere be considered and so let all men iudge vvhether a most plain sentence of the holy Ghost be shamefully obscured and not obscured onely but made senselesse For the Hebrevve phrase being rendred it is plaine that that vvhich they turn spirituals of wickednes ought to be turned spirituall vvickednes And if they had any care that the people should haue bene made vvarie against this spirituall craftines they would haue said in the heauenly places or things as the text considered in the circumstance would best beare rather then to say celestials But it shuld appeare that beside their peevish affecting of obscuritie th' ignorance of the Hebrevv phrase in the former part of this sentence and th' ignorance of the sense in the latter part droue them vpon this vvitlesse translatiō The same ignorance of the Hebrevv tongue caused them to vse some like dotage in the next exāple For if they had knovvne that it is ordinarie and vsuall for the Hebrewes to vnderstand the verbe substantiue had further learned that the verbe simple hath as the place and circumstance requireth the signification of the compound they should easilie haue vnderstood that this translation what is betwene me and thee had not passed the measure of a simple and plaine translation The next example doth likevvise bevvray their ignorance in all good lavv of translation For it is vvell knovven to children that euerie tongue hath a proper composition in such sort that he that vvill make the composition of one tongue aggree vvith the composition of another vtterly corrupteth the tongue vvhich he vvill conform And is all one as in a body vvhich is disfigured and deformed by displacing of the seuerall members thereof In Hebrevv he that saith MARA MALE and not MALE MARA is easily knovvne not to speake the tongue of Canaan Bread white in our speach woulde offend patient cares white bread in the French language would be as offensiue And if so small a change as it were the remoouing of a worde to the next house be so foule how much more is it not to be abidden that the word whose naturall place is in the beginning should be set in th' end as if it were remoued from one end of the streete to th' other And if there could be any profite in this dotage yet haue not you obserued it For where the Greeke hath Mat. 12. 20 in one verse a reed brused flax smoaking you haue in the former followed th' order of the Greek and say a reed brused but in the latter you haue left th' order of the Greek and kept the naturall order of our speach saying smoaking flax not flax smoaking And although it be no answer heere to say that they followed their olde translator seing rather they ought to haue followed the ful consent of the Greek copies if such an imitation had bene needfull yet they are easily stripped of that answere For sometimes they leaue the order of th' old interpreter and follow the Greeke as Math. 4. 4. they say as the Greek bread alone and not as the vulgar alone bread Which also they doe not in phrase only but in whole sentences as Math. 4. they forsake the vulgar which sayeth walked in darkenes and take the Greeke which sayeth sate in darkenes And in Rom. 12. in stead of that the vulgar hath not defending our selues they haue cleaued to the Greeke which is not reuenging your selues Neyther can they say that this was the slip of a pen of the writer for beside that there is no resemblance of the wordes they are shut from that in that that Ierome so readeth And other sometime they forsake the order of the Greeke and Math. 4. 6. vulgar both For where both the Greek and vulgar haue to his Angels shal he giue charge of thee they haue turned Ibid. ver ◠it he will giue his Angels charge of thee And againe where both Greeke and Latine haue into an hill high verie they as it should seeme ashamed of this their apish and sottish imitation haue translated it as we doe into a very high mountaine So it appeareth that as they are vtterly ignorant of all good order of translation so they keepe not themselues to their owne crooked rule but when and where it pleaseth them And as they make themselues ridiculous in the professiō of a superstitious obseruation of th' order of words so are they not only often ridiculous but sometime impious in the sense which their seruile obseruation of like number of words draweth them vnto Take for example one of the most comfortable places in al the scripture which by their sottish translation in sparing a worde Rom. 8. 33 34. they haue turned into deadly poyson and bitter wormwood For vnto this question who shall accuse against the elect of God They haue added for answer God which iustifieth as if god shuld accuse his elect And to another question who is he that shall condemn They ad for answer Christ Iesus that died c. Cleane contrarie to the meaning and phrase of th' Apostle also contrarie to their meaning but yet their words can beare no other sense where th' Apostle keeping the Hebrew phrase left out the verbe substantiue which being alwaies in that phrase vnderstood of it selfe is not so in our tongue vnlesse it be expressed Now that we se their peruerse imitation of wordes is not religious but superstitious and sometime impious sometime obserued and sometime not at their pleasure it wil be also easie to see in diuers examples that they riot and play the wantons in their translation Albeit it hath alreadie bene performed and that in three or foure of those examples which they haue alledged to testifie their great frugalitie in translating yet there are others whereby the same is conuinced 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prohibebat As Math. 3. 14. where the Greek hath he vtterly forbade him and the vulgar forbad him they leauing both the Greek and the vulgar translate staied him and in the same chapter verse they translate praesented and yet 8. chap. 16. offered th' olde translator hauing obtulerunt in both places Mark Rom. 12. 9. 49. they translate victimae Hebr. 5. 1. they translate sacrifices and Hebr. 13. 16. they turn hostes the word with full consent