for Lazarus was there comforted Thirdly there is a great Chaos whiche signifieth an infinite distance betwene Abraham and the riche glutton which vtterly ouerthroweth that dreame of Limbus which signifying a border or edge supposeth that place to be harde adioyning to the place of torments Last of all if the Article of our fayth had bene of Limbus Patrum or of Abrahams bosome we shoulde haue bene taught to saye he descended into Limbo patrum or he descended into Abrahams bosome which all Christian eares abhorre to heare The worde Sheol vsed in the olde Testament for a common receptacle of all the dead signifieth properly a place to receiue their bodies and not their soules and therefore most commonly in our translations is called the graue MART. 7. As when Iacob sayth Descendam ad filium meum lugens in infernum I will goe downe to my sonne into Hell mourning they translate I wil go downe into the graue vnto my sonne mourning as though Iacob thought that his sonne Ioseph had bene buried in a graue whereas Iacob thought and sayd immediatly before as appeareth in the holy Scripture that a wild beast had deucured him and so could not be presumed to be in any graue or as though if Ioseph had bene in a graue Iacob would haue gone downe to him into the same graue For so the wordes must needes import if they take graue properly but if they take graue unproperly for the state of deade men after this life why doe they call it graue and not Hell as the word is in Hebrew Greeke and Latine No doubt they doe it to make the ignorant Reader beleeue that the Patriarch Iacob spake of his bodie onely to descend into the graue to Iosephes bodye for as concerning Iacobs soule that was by their opinion to ascend immediatly after his death to heauen and not to descend into the graue But if Iacob were to ascend forthwith in soule how could he say as they translate I will goe downe into the graue vnto my sonne As if according to their opinion he should say My sonnes bodie is deuoured of a beast and his soule is gone vp into heauen well I will goe downe to him into the graue FVLK 7. A proper quidditie you haue found out of Iacob supposing his sonne to be deuoured of wilde beastes yet sayth I wil goe downe vnto him mourning which you thinke can not be into the graue because he did not thinke he was buried But you must remember it is the common manner of speech when men saye in mourning they will goe to their friendes departed they meane they will dye although their friendes perhaps were drowned in the sea or their bodies burned or perhaps lye in desolate places vnburied So Iacobs descending to the graue signifieth no more but death by which he knewe he shoulde be ioyned to his sonne in soule though he were not in bodie The name of graue is vsed because it is vsuall that dead men are buried though it be not vniuersall And that the graue is taken commonly for death it appeareth by that phrase so often vsed in the Scriptures He slept with his fathers and was buried which being spoken indifferently of good men and euill can not be vnderstood of one place of their soules but of death which is common to all and is proper to the bodie not vnto the soule for the soules of the departed sleepe not The like is to be sayde of the phrase vsed in Gen. of Ismael as well as of the godly Patriarkes he was laid vp to his people And lest you should please your selfe too much in your childish conceit of Iosephes being deuoured whereof yet his father was not certaine You shall heare howe Isydorus Clarius translateth the same place in his Bible censured by the Deputies of Trent Councell Descendam ad filium meum lugens in sepulchrum I will goe downe to my sonne mourning into the graue This is one of the places which he thought meere to be corrected according to the Hebrew and in other places where he is content to vse the old word Infernus he signifieth in his notes that he meaneth thereby Sepulchrum the graue And in deede this word Infernus signifieth generally any place beneath as the Greeke worde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Greeke translators vsed for Sheol the Hebrue worde signifieth a place that is darke and obscure where nothing can be seene such as the graue or pitte is in which the dead are layde which therefore of Iob is called the land of darkenesse and the shadow of death MART. 8. Gentle Reader that thou mayst the better conceiue these absurdities and the more detest their guilefull corruptions vnderstand as we began to tell thee before that in the old Testament because there was yet no ascending into heauen the way of the holies as the Apostle in his epistle to the Hebrues speaketh being not yet made open because our sauiour Christ was to dedicate and begin the enteraunce in his owne person and by his passiō to open heauen therfore we say in the old Testament the common phrase of the holy Scripture is euen of the best men as well as of others that dying they went downe ad inferos or ad infernū to signifie that such was the state of the old Testament before our sauiour Christs Resurrection and Ascension that euery man went downe and not vp descended and not ascended by descending I meane not to the graue which receiued their bodies only but ad inferos that is to hel a common receptacle or place for their soules also departed as wel of those soules that were to be in reste as those that were to be in paines and torments All the soules both good and bad that then died went downeward and therefore the place of both sortes was called in all the tongues by a worde answereable to this worde hel to signifie a lower place beneath not onely of torments but also of rest FVLK 8. Where you reason that there was no ascēding into heauen because the way of the holies was not yet made open when the firste tabernacle was standing you abuse the Reader and the Scripture For the Apostles meaning is in that verse to shewe that to the great benefite of Christians that firste tabernacle is fallen because that nowe we haue more familiar accesse vnto God by Iesus Christ. For whereas the High Priest onely but once in the yeare and then not without bloud entred into the second moste holye Tabernacle because the way of the Holyes that is vnto the Holyest or sancta sanctorum was not then opened nowe our Sauiour Christ hauing once entred into the holiest place by his owne bloud and founde eternall redemption we haue by him without any ceremonies sacrifices or mediation of any mortall Priest free accesse vnto the throne of grace euen into the holye place by the newe and liuing waye which he hath
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
ouer hell or ouer the graue that is ouer death and so the Prophet should say death twise and Hell not at all FVLK 16. S. Hierom whom you quote in the margent to proue that all the Catholike Doctors vnderstoode this text of Osee of Christes descending into hell and thereby reproue our translation which for hell sayeth graue after he hath repeated the wordes of the Apostle 1. Cor. 15. vpon this text thus he concludeth Itaque quod ille in resurrectionem interpretatus est Domini noâ— aliter interpretari nec possumus nec audemus Therefore that which the Apostle hath interpreted of our Lordes resurrection we neither can nor dare interprete otherwise You see therefore by Hieromes iudgement that in this text which is proper of Christes resurrection it is more proper to vse the word of graue than of hell How vainly the same Hierome interpreteth the last wordes of this chapter of spoiling the treasure of euerie vessell that is desireable of Christs deliuering out of hel the most precious vessells of the Saincts c. I am not ignoraunt but we speake of translation of the 14. verse which being vnderstoode of Christes resurrection it argueth that the graue is spoken of rather than hell As for the repetition of one thing twise for vehemencie and certainties sake is no inconuenient thing but commonly vsed in the Scriptures MART. 17. Why my Maisters you that are so wonderful precise translatoures admit that our sauiour Christ descended not into Hel beneath as you say yet I thinke you will grant that he triumphed ouer Hell and was conquerer of the same Why then did it not please you to suffer the Prophet to say so at the least rather than that he had conquest only of death and the graue You abuse your ignorant reader very impudently your owne selues verie damnably not onely in this but in that you make graue and death all one and so where the holy Scripture often ioyneth togither death and Hell as things different and distinct you make them speake but one thing twise idly and superfluously FVLK 17. For our faith of Christs triumphing ouer hell I haue spoken alreadie sufficiently but of the Prophetes meaning beside the wordes them selues the Apostle is best expounder who referreth it to the resurrection and his victorie ouer death which he hath gayned not for him selfe alone but for all his elect Where you say we make graue and death all one it is false We knowe they differ but that one may â—e signified by the other without any idle or superfluous repetition in one verse I referre me to a whole hundred of examples that may be brought out of the Psalmes the Prophetes and the Prouerbes where wordes of the same like or neere significatioÌ„ are twise togither repeated to note the same matter which none but a blasphemous dogge will say to be done idly or superfluously MART. 18. But will you know that you should not confound them but that Mors Infernus which are the wordes of the holy Scripture in all tongues are distinct heare what S. Hierome sayth or if you will not heare because you are of them which haue stopped their eares let the indifferent Christian Reader harken to this holy Doctor and great interpreter of the holy Scriptures according to his singular knowledge in all the learned tongues Vpon the foresaid place of the Prophet after he had spoken of our Sauiour Christes descending into hell and ouercomming of death he addeth Betwene death and hell this is the difference that death is that whereby the soule is separated from the body Hell is the place where soules are included either in rest or else in paines according to the qualitie of their deserts And that death is one thing and Hell is another the Psalmist also declareth saying THERE IS not in death that is mindfull of thee but in Hell who shall confesse to thee And in another place Let death come vpon them and let them goe downe into Hell aliue Thus farre S. Hierom. FVLK 18. He that by the graue vnderstandeth a place to receiue the bodies of the dead and figuratiuely death doth no more confound the wordes of death and the graue then he that by a cup vnderstandeth a vessell to receiue drinke properly and figuratiuely that drinke which is contayned in such a vessell Therefore that you cite out of Hierome maketh nothing against vs for hee him selfe although deceyued by the Septuagintes or rather by the ambiguitie of the worde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which they vse in the signification of the Hebrue worde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet by Infernus vnderstandeth them that be In inferno and the dead as wee doe by the worde graue oftentimes As for his opinion of the godly soules in happie hell before Christes death or his interpretation of any other parte of Scripture wee professe not to followe in our translations but as neere as wee can the true significatioÌ„ of the words of holy Scripture with such sence if any thing be doubtfull as the proper circumstances of euery place will lead vs vnto that wee may attayne to the meaning of the holy Ghost MART. 19. By which differences of death and Hell whereof wee must often aduertise the Reader are meant two things death and the going downe of the soule into some receptacle of Hell in that state of the olde Testament at what time the holy Scriptures vsed this phrase so often Now these impudent translators in all these places translate it graue of purpose to confound it and death togither and to make it but one thing which S. Hierom sheweth to be different in the very same sense that we haue declared FVLK 19. The difference of Mors Infernus which Hierome maketh can not alwaies stand as I haue shewed of the hoare heades of Iacob Ioab and Shemei which none but madde men will say to haue descended into a receptacle of soules beside other places of Scripture where Sheol must of necessity signifie a place for the bodie And euen those places of the Psalmes that S. Hierom calleth to witnesse do make against his error For where Dauid sayth Psal. 6. In hell who shall confesse vnto thee How can it be true of the soules of the faithfull being in that holy hell Abrahams bosome Did not Abraham confesse vnto God acknowledge his mercie Did not Lazarus the same did not all the holy soules departed confesse God in Abrahams bosome Were all those blessed soules so vnthankefull that being carried into that place of rest and comfort none of them would coÌ„fesse Gods benefits It is plaine therefore to the confusion of your error that Sheol in that place of Dauid must nedes signifie the graue in which no man doth confesse praise or giue thanks vnto God of whom in death there is no remembraunce Therefore he desireth life and restoring of health that he may praise God in his Church or congregation Likewise in the Psal. 54.
where he prophesieth vnto the wicked a sodaine death such as befell to Chore Dathan Abiram which went downe quicke into the graue Not into hell whether come no bodies of men liuing but the soules of men that are dead MART. 20. But alas is it the very nature of the Hebrew Greeke or Latine that forceth theÌ„ so much to English it graue rather than hel we appeale to all Hebricians Grecians Latinists in the world first if a man would aske what is Hebrew or Greeke or Latine for Hell whether they would not answer these three words as the very proper words to signifie it euen as panis signifieth bread secondly if a man would aske what is Hebrew or Greeke or Latine for a graue whether they would answer these words and not three other which they know are as proper words for graue as lac is for milke FVLK 20. The very nature of the Hebrew worde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is most properly to signifie a graue or receptacle of dead bodies as all that be learned in that tongue doe knowe About the Greeke and Latine termes is not our question and therefore you deale deceitfully to handle them all three togither Although neither 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor Infernus are so proper for hel but that they may be taken also sometimes for the graue and so perhaps were meant by the Greeke and Latine translators in diuerse places You speake therefore as one voyd of all shame to say they are as proper for hell as panis for breade Where you aske what is Hebrew Greeke or Latine for hell you must vnderstand that if you speake of a proper word for those inuisible places wherein the soules departed are either in ioy or torments I answer there is no proper word for those places either in Hebrew Greeke or Latine For that which of all these tongues is translated heauen is the proper word for the sensible skye in which are the Sunne Moone and Starres and by a figure is transferred to signifie the place of Gods glorie in which he reigneth with the blessed spirits of Angels and men aboue this sensible world Paradise and Abrahams bosome who is so childish not to acknowledge them to be borrowed wordes and not proper So fo◠〈…〉 of the reprobate soules in the Hebrue tongue Tâ—pheâ—â— or Gehinnom which properly are the names of an abhominable place of Idolatry are vsed Sheol somtimes figuratiuely may signifie the same In Greeke Latin Gâ—henna is vsed for the same which is borrowed of the Hebrue Sometimes also the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greeke is taken for the place of the damned and the kingdome of darkenesse The Latine word Infernus is any lowe place Wherefore I can not maruaile sufficiently at your impudencie which affirme these three words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Infernus to be as proper for our English worde hell as Panis is for bread That there be other wordes beside these in all the three tongues to signifie a graue I maruaile to what purpose you tell vs except you would haue ignorant folke suppose that there cannot be two Hebrue Greeke or Latine wordes for one thing MART. 21. Yea note and consider diligently what wee will say Let them shewe me out of all the Bible one place where it is certaine and agreed among all that it must needes signifie graue let them shewe me in any one such place that the holy Scripture vseth any of those former three wordes for graue As when Abraham bought a place of burial whether he bought Infernum or when it is said the kings of Israel were buried in the monuments or sepulchers of their fathers whether it say in infernis patrum suorum So that not onely Diuines by this obseruation but Grammarians also and children may easily see that the proper and naturall signification of the said wordes is in English Hel and not graue FVLK 21. We note wel your foolish subtiltie that will haue vs to shewe you one place where it is oertaine and agreed among al that sheol muste needes signifie graue I am perswaded that you and such as you are that haue sold your selues to Antichrist to maintaine his heresies with all impudencie will agree to nothing that shall be brought though it be neuer so plaine and certaine that it must needes so signifie I haue already shewed you three places where the hoare head is sayd to goe down into sheol that is into the graue For whether shold the hoare head goe but into the graue Nothing can be more plaine to him that will agree to truth that sheol in all such places is taken for the graue But to omit those places because I haue spoken of them all readie what say you to that place Numb 16 where the earth opened her mouth swallowed vp the rebelles with their tents and all there substaunce of cattaile and what soeuer they had where the text sayeth They went downe and all that they had aliue sheolah into the pitte or graue God made a great graue or hole in the earth to receiue them all Where no man will saie that evther the bodies of these men or their substaunce of Tentes cattaile and stuffe went into hell as it is sure their soules wente into torment And if authoritie do way more with you than good reason heare what S. Augustine writeth vpon the same texte and how he taketh your inferos or infernum which in the Hebrue is sheol Quest. super Num. lib. 4. c. 29. Et descenderunt ipsi omnia quaecunque sunt eis viuentes ad inferos Notandum secundum locum terreniâ—m dictos esse inferos hoc est c. And they themselues descended and all that they had aliue vnto Inferas the lower partes It is to be noted that Inferi are spoken of an earthly place that is in the lowe partes of the earth For diuersly and vnder manifold vnderstaÌ„ding euen as the sense of things which are in hand requireth the name of Inferi is put in the Scriptures especially it is wont to be taken for the dead But for asmuch as it is saide that those descended aliue ad inferos by the very narration it appeareth sufficiently what was done it is manifest as I said that the lower partes of the earth are termed by this word inferi in comparison of this vpper part of the earth in which we liue Like as in comparison of the higher heauen where the dwelling of the holy Aungels is the Scripture saith that the sinful Angels being thrust downe into the darknesse of this ayre are reserued as it were in prisons of a lower part or hel to be punished S. Augustine here doth not only vnderstand this place of the graue or receptacle of bodies but also sheweth that the Latin word inferi or infernus doth not alwaies signifie hel as you made it of late as proper for hel as Panis for bread But bicause you shal
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
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall not giue honour to God where it is certaine that by that worde is meant the graue seeing the soules of the righteous that were in Abrahams bosome did praise God and moreouer he maketh it plaine that he speaketh of the deade bodies when he sayth their spirite is taken out of their bowels MART. 32. And for the Latine worde it is the like case for all the worlde and if a man will aske but his childe that commeth from the Grammar what is Infernus he will say Hell and not graue what is Latine for graue He will aunswere Sepulchrum or monumentum But neuer Infernus vnlesse one of these Caluinisticall translatours taught him so to deceiue his father FVLK 32. I hope they that be wise will beleeue S. Augustine rather than you that the worde Inferi which is the same that Infernus hath diuerse and manifolde vnderstandings in the Scripture as I haue declared before sect 21. But with the Latine word Infornus we haue litle to doe which translate not out of Latine but out of Hebrue or Greeke MART. 33. Nowe then to drawe to a conclusion of this their corruption also in their Englishe translation whereas the Hebrue and Greeke and Latine wordes doe most properly and vsually signifie Hell and both Greeke and Latine interpreters precisely in euerie place vse for the Hebrue worde that one Greeke worde and that one Latine worde which by all custome of speaking writing signifie Hell it had bene the part of sincere and true meaning translatours to haue translated it also in English alwayes by the word Hell and afterward to haue disputed of the meaning thereof whether and when it is to be taken for Hell or graue or lake or death or any such thing As i◠one place they haue done it very exactly indifferently namely when Ionas sayth c. 2. v. 2. out of the Whales belly Out of the belly of hell cryed I and thou heardest my voice So all translate it and well whatsoeuer it signifie in this place They thinke that Hell here signifieth nothing else but the Whales belly and the affliction of Ionas and so the worde may signifie by a Metaphoricall speech as when we say in English It is a hell to liue thus and therefore no doubt they did here translate it so to insinuate that in other places it might as well signifie graue as here the Whales belly FVLK 33. Your conclusion is as good as your premisses because the Greeke and Latine Interpretors had before vs translated amisse which gaue occasion to diuerse errours therefore we also knowing the true signification of the worde muste haue followed them in wrong and doubtfull translation and afterward debated the meaning of the seuerall places But in the margent you tell vs that such Catholikes as haue translated the word Sheol for a graue haue also done amisse Pardon vs M. Martin we take you for no such learned Hebritian that you should controll Pagninus Isidorus Clarius and all other Hebritians of this time vpon suche slender sleeuelesse reasons as you haue brought hetherto And you shewe an intollerable proude stomake that being a man so litle seene in the Hebrue tongue as you shewe your selfe to be you should condemne such graue and learned persons of your owne side of rashnesse or ignorance For you make them in the case of chaunce medley that haue translated sheol a graue Thinke you the deputies of the Councell of Trent had no more discretion in perusing Isidorus Clarius correctiō of the Bible than to suffer him to chaunge life safetie into chance medly and manslaughter you may in time to come if you apply your studie proue learned in that language wherin as yet you are but a smatterer not worthy to be heard against so many so learned so famous professors of the Hebrew tongue Iewes and Christians Protestants and Papistes authors of Grammars Dictionaries and translations But in the second of Ionas it pleaseth you well that our Geneua Bible translateth this word Hell out of the bellie of hell c. but you like not that they shoulde interprete it a metaphoricall Hell or the extremitie of affliction whereinto the Prophet was brought where you make it no doubt what they would insinuate you shew your selfe more bold to affirme than ready or able to proue MART. 34. But then they shoulde haue translated it also hell in other places as they did in this and afterward haue interpreted it graue in their commentaries and not presumptuously to straiten and limite the word of the holy Ghost to their priuate sense and interpretation and to preiudice the auncient learned holy fathers which looke farremore deepely and spiritually into this prophecie than to Ionas or the Whale our Sauiour himselfe also applying it to his owne person and to his being in the hart of the earth three dayes and three nights And therefore S. Hierome sayth This belly of Hell according to the storie is the Whales bellye but it may much better be referred to the persō of Christ which vnder the name of Dauid singeth in the Psalme Thou shalt not leaue my soule in Hell Who was in Hel aliue and free among the dead And that which our Sauiour saith The Sonne of man shall be in the harte of the earth he doth interprete of his soule in hell For as the hart is in the middes of the body so is Hel said to be in the middes of the earth FVLK 34. They haue in other places trāslated it according to the proprietie of the word if in this place they had done so likewise I see not what faulte they had committed Certaine it is that the whales belly did rather resemble a graue wherein Ionas seemed to be buried than hell the receptacle of separated soules It is the office of a translator not so much to regarde what other haue written vpon the place he translateth be they auncient be they godly be they learned as what sense the interpretation of the wordes will beste beare Without preiudice therefore of any mans credite the truth in this case must be sought out That you report out of Hierom vpon this place sheweth that both the Hebrue word sheol and the Latin infernus are not proper peculiar for hel as in other places you tell vs. That S. Hierom interpreteth the saying of Christ Math. 12. v. 40. of his being in the harte of the earth to be meant of his being in hel which is said to be in the middest of the earth it is confuted by the wordes of our Sauiour Christ who sayeth that he shall be there three dayes and three nightes that is all the time of his death which is true of his bodie in the graue but not of his soule in hell for both he sayde he would be that day in Paradise and you your selues holde that he made no tariaunce in hell Beside that it is a phantasticall opinion to limit hell
vntruths that in such matters as you may be conuinced in them by ten thousand witnesses What credit shal be giuen to you in matters that cōsist vpon your owne bare testimonie when you force not to faine of other men that wherin euery man may reproue you And as for the only pretence you speake of Caluine doth so litle esteeme it that notwithstanding the same he doubteth not to receiue the Epistle of S. Iames because it is agreable to the whole body of the canonical Scripture as if you had read his argumēt vpon that Epistle you might easily haue perceiued MART. 9. Marke gētle reader for thy soules sake thou shalt find that heresie only heresie is the cause of their denying these books so farre that against the orders Hierarchies particular patronages of Angels one of them writeth thus in the name of the rest We passe not for that Raphael of Tobie neither do we acknowledge those seuē Angels which he speaketh of al this is farre from Canonical Scriptures that the same Raphael recordeth sauoureth I wote not what superstition Against free will thus I litle care for the place of Ecclesiasticus neither will I beleeue free will though he affirme an hundred times That before men is life death And against praier for the dead intercession of Saincts thus As for the booke of the Machabees I do care lesse for it thā for the other Iudas dreame cōcerning Omas I let passe as a dreame This is their reuerence of the scriptures which haue uniuersally bin reuerenced for canonical in the church of God aboue 1100 yeres Con. Cart. 3. particularly of many fathers long before Aug. de doct Christ. l 2. c. 8. FVLK 9. The mouth that lieth killeth the soule The reader may thinke you haue small care of his soules health when by such impudēt lying you declare that you haue so smal regard of your own But what shal he mark That heresy c. You were best say that Eusebius Hierom Ruffine al the churches in their times were heretiks that only heresie was the cause of their deniall of these bookes For such reasons as moued thē moue vs some thing also their authority But how proue you that only heresie moueth vs to reiect thē Because M. Whit. against the orders Hierarchies particular patronages of Angels writeth in the name of the rest That we passe not c. Take heede least vpon your bare surmise you belie him where you say he writeth in the name of the reste as in the next sectiō following you say he writeth in the name of both the vniuersities for which I am sure he had no cōmissiō frō either of thē althogh he did write that which may well be aduouched by both the vniuersities yet I knowe his modestie is such as he will not presume to be aduocate for both the vniuersities and much lesse for the whole church except he were lawfully called therto This is a cōmon practise of you Papists to beare the world in hand that whatsoeuer is writtē by any of vs in defense of the truth is set forth in the name of al the rest as though none of vs could say more in any matter than any one of vs hath writtē or that if any one of vs chaūce to slip in any smal matter though it be but a wrong quotatiō you might open your wide sclaunderous mouths against the whole church for one mans particular offense Now touching any thing that M. Whit. hath written you shal find him sufficient to maintaine it against a strōger aduersary thā you are therfore I wil medle the lesse in his causes And for the orders patronage or protection of Angels by Gods appointment we haue sufficient testimonie in the Canonical Scriptures that we neede not the vncertain report of Tobies booke to instruct vs what to thinke of thē But as for the Hierarchies patronage of Angels that many of you Papistes haue imagined written of neither the canonical Scriptures nor yet the Apocryphal bookes now in controuersie are sufficient to giue you warrātise The like I say of freewil praier for the dead intercession of Saincts But it grieueth you that those Apocryphal scriptures which haue bin vniuersally receiued for canonicall in the church of God aboue 1100. yeares should find no more reuerēce amōg vs. Stil your mouth rūneth ouer For in the time of the Canon of the coūcel of Carthage 3. which you quote these bookes were not vniuersally reuerenced as canonical And Augustine him selfe speaking of the booke of Machabees Cont. 2. G and. Ep. c. 23. cōfesseth that the Iewes accoūt it not as the law the Prophetes the Psalmes to which our Lord giueth testimonie as to his witnesses saying It behoueth that all things should be fulfilled which are writtē in the Law in the Prophets in the Psalmes cōcerning me but it is receiued of the Church not vnprofitably if it be soberly read or heard This writeth S. Augustine whē he was pressed with the authority of that booke by the Donatists which defended that it was lawful for them to kil themselues by exāple of Razis who is by the author of that booke commēded for that fact He saith it is receiued not vnprofitably immediatly after Especially for those Machabees that suffred paciently horrible persecution for testimony of Gods religiō to encourage Christians by their example Finally he addeth a condition of the receiuing it if it be soberly read or heard These speches declare that it was not receiued without all controuersie as the authenticall word of God for then should it be receiued necessarily because it is Gods word especially how soeuer it be read or heard it is receiued of the Church not only necessarily but also profitably Beside this euen the decree of Gelasius which was neare 100. yeares after that councel of Carthage alloweth but one booke of the Maccabees Wherfore the vniuersal reuerence that is bosted of can not be iustified But M. Whitaker is charged in the margent to condemne the seruice booke which appointeth these books of Toby Ecclesiasticus to be read for holy Scripture as the other And where finde you that in the seruice booke M. Martin Can you speake nothing but vntruths If they be appointed to be read are they appointed to be read for holy Scripture and for suche Scripture as the other canonicall bookes are The seruice booke appointeth the Letanie diuerse exhortations and praiers yea homelies to be read are they therefore to be read for holy canonicall Scriptures But you aske Do they read in their Churches Apocryphall and Superstitious bookes for holy Scripture No verily But of the name Apocryphall I must distinguish which somtimes is taken for all bookes read of the Church which are not canonicall sometime for such bookes onely as are by no meanes to be suffered but are to be hid or abolished These bookes
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
Hebrue Bible into Greeke Is not their credit I say in determining and defining the signification of the Hebrue worde farre greater than yours No. Is not the authoritie of all the auncient fathers both Greeke and Latine that followed them equiualent in this case to your iudgement No say they but because we finde some ambiguitie in the Hebrue we will take the aduantage and we will determine and limit it to our purpose FVLK 45. S. Hieronym aboundantly aunswereth this cauill denying that supposed inspiration and deâ—iding the fable of their 70. celles which yet pleased Augustine greately yea calling in question whether anye more were translated by them than the fiue bookes of Moses because Aristaeus a writer in Ptolomees time and after him Iosephus make mention of no more The same cause therfore that moued S. Hierome to translate out of the Hebrewe mooueth vs whose translation if we had it sounde ande perfect might much further vs for the same purpose Althoughe for the signification of the Hebrewe wordes we require no more credite than that which al they that be learned in the Hebrewe tongue must be forced to yeelde vnto vs. And seeing your vulgare Latine departeth from the Septuagintaes interpretation euen in the bookes of Moses whiche if anie bee theirs may most rightly be accounted theirs because it is certaine they translated them although it be not certaine whether they translated the rest with what equity do you require vs to credite them which your owne vulgare translation affirmeth to haue translated amisse as I haue shewed before in the example of Canans generation An other example you haue in the 4 of Genesis Nonne si bene egeris recipies c. If thou shalt do wel shalt thou not receiue but if thou shalt doe euill straighte-way thy sinnes shall be present in the doores The greke texte hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. not if thou haste rightly offered but thou hast not rightly diuided hast thou sinned be stil. Where your translation commeth muche nearer to the Hebrue as might be shewed in verie many examples As for the auncient fathers credit of the greeke Church and the Latine that folowed them if our iudgement alone be not aequiualent vnto them yet let these auncient fathers Origene and Hierome that thought them not sufficient to be followed and therefore gathered or framed other interpretations let theyr iudgement I say ioining with ours discharge vs of this fonde and enuious accusation MART. 46. Againe we condiscend to their wilfulnes and say what if the Hebrewe be not ambiguous but so plaine and certaine to signifie one thing that it can not bee plainer As Thou shalt not leaue my soule in Hel whiche prooueth for vs that Christ in soule descended into Hell Is not the one Hebrewe worde as proper for soule as anima in Latine the other as proper and vsual for hel as infernus in Latine Heere then at the least wil you yeeld No say they not here neither for Beza telleth vs that the word which commonly and vsually signifieth soule yet for a purpose if a man wil straine it may signifie not onely bodie but also carcase and so he translateth it But Beza say we being admonished by his friendes corrected it in his later edition Yea say they he was content to change his translation but not his opinion concerning the Hebrewe worde as himselfe protesteth FVLK 46. You haue chosen a text for example wherein is least colour except it bee with the vnlearned of an hundred For whereas you aske whether Nephesh be no not as proper for soule as anima in Latin Sheol for Hel as infernus in Latine I vtterly deny both the one and the other For nephesh is properly the life and Sheol the graue or pit though it may sometimes be taken for Hel which is a consequent of the death of the vngodly as nephesh is taken for person or ones selfe or as it is sometimes for a dead carcase Yea there be that hold that it is neuer taken for the reasonable immortall soule of a man as anima is specially of Ecclesiasticall writers That Beza translated the Greeke of the newe Testament after the signification of the Hebrewe wordes althoughe it was true in sense yet in mine opinion it was not proper in wordes and therefore he himselfe hath corrected it in his latter editions as you confesse hee hathe not chaunged hys opinion concerning the Hebrewe the reason is because it is grounded vppon manifest textes of Scripture whiche hee citeth Leuit. 19. verse 27. cap. 21. verse 1. and 11. Num. 5. verse 2. and 9. verse 10. In the firste place your owne vulgare Latine translation for la nephesh turneth mortuo you shall not cut your flesh for one that is dead In the second place your vulgare Latine hathe Ne non contaminetur sacerdos in mortibus and Ad omnem mortuum non ingredietur omnino Lette not the Priest bee defiled with the deathes of his countreymen and The highe Priest shall not enter into any dead bodie at all where the Hebrue is lenephesh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the thirde place your vulgare Latine readeth polluiusque est super mortuo they shall caste out him that is polluted by touching a dead carcase where the Hebrewe is lanephesh In the first place your vulgare Latine hathe indede anima but in the same sense that it had before mortuo for the text is of him that is vncleane by touching any dead bodie which in Hebrue is nephesh How say you nowe is the Hebrewe worde as proper for soule as anima in Latine except you wil say the Latine worde anima dothe properly signifie a dead bodie hathe not Beza good reason to retaine his opinion concerning the Hebrewe worde when hee hathe the authoritie of youre owne vulgare translation You that note such iumps and shiftes in vs whether wil you leape to saue your honestie will you saye the Hebrewe texte is corrupted since your translation was drawen out of it The seauentie interpretours then will crie out againste you for they with one mouth in all these places for the Hebrewe worde nephesh render the vsuall signification 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 adding in the 21. of Leuit. v. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which either you muste translate a deade bodie or you shall call it absurdly a dead soule Woulde any man think to haue founde in you eyther suche grosse ignoraunce or shamefull negligence or intollerable malice against the trueth that Beza sending you to the places eyther you woulde not or you coulde not examine them or if you dydde examine them that you woulde notwythstanding thus malitiouslye agaynste youre owne knowledge and conscience raile against him you make vs to saye if a manne will straine the worde it may signifie not onely bodie but also carcase What saye you did Moses straine the worde to that signification You saide beefore that wee were at the iumps and turnings of
an hare beefore the houndes suche mightie hunters you are and wee suche fearefull hares before you I am not skilful in the termes of hunting but in plaine Englishe I wil speake it that if al the traiterous wolues and foxes that bee in the kennell at Rhemes woulde doe their beste to saue your credit in this section nay in this whole preface they shall neuer be able to maintaine their owne with anye indifferent reader MART. 47. Wel then doth it like you to reade thus according to Bezaes translation Thou shalt not leaue my carcasse in the graue No we are content to alter the word carcas which is not a seemely word for our sauiors bodie and yet wee are loath to say soule but if we might we would say rather life person as appeareth in the margent of our Bibles but as for the Hebrue word that signifieth Hel though the Greke Latin Bible throughout the Greke and Latin fathers in al theyr writings as occasion serueth doe so reade it and vnderstande it yet wil we neuer so translate it but for Hel we wil say graue in al such places of scripture as might infer Limbus patrum if we shoulde translate Hel. These are their shifies and turnings and windings in the olde Testament FVLK 47. I haue shewed you before that in the newe Testament we like better to translate according to the proper and vsual signification of the Greke word But the Hebrewe worde in the olde Testament may bee translated according to the circumstaunce of the place life person selfe yea or dead bodie and in some place perhaps carcase You folow vs very neare to seeke aduantage of the English worde carcase which commonly is taken in contempt therfore we would not vse it speaking of the bodie of our Sauiour Christe when it was dead But you hunt your selfe out of breath when you woulde bring the same contempt to the Latine worde Cadauer which Beza vsed For Cadauer signifieth generally a dead bodie of man or beast and by your vulgar Latine translator is vsed for the dead bodies of sacrifices of Saincts and holy men as indifferently as for carion of beastes or carcases of euill men Namely in Iob. 39. v 33. wheresoeuer the dead body is thether will the Eagle resort which similitude our Sauiour Christe applieth to him selfe Math. 24. v. 28. wheresoeuer the dead bodie is thether wil the Eagles be gathered where he compareth him selfe to the dead body and the faithfull to the Egles Now concerning the other Hebrue worde which you say signifieth hell because the Greeke and vulgar Latine interpretor do so translate it When iust occasion shal be giuen afterwarde Cap. 7. I will shew that it properly signifieth a graue pit or place for dead bodies and that in this place of the 16. Psalme it muste needes so signifie not onely the later part of the verse expressing in other wordes that which was saide in the former but also the Apostles prouing out of it the resurrection of Christe doe sufficiently declare If you haue no place therefore in the Scriptures to proue your Limbus patrum but where the holy Ghost speaketh of the death and buriall of the fathers no maruaile though you must straine the Hebrue worde which properly signifieth graue and the Greeke worde which properly signifieth a darke place and especially the Latine whiche signifieth generally a lowe place none of all the three wordes signifying hel as wee commonly vnderstande the worde hell properly and onely but by a figure where mention is made of the death of the vngodly whose rewarde is in hell These be the poore shiftes turninges and windings that you haue to wreath in those fables of Limbus patrum Purgatorie which the Church of God from the beginning of the worlde vnto the comming of Christ neuer heard of nor many hundreth yeares after Christe vntill the MoÌ„tanists or such like hethenish heretikes brought in those fantasies MART. 48. In the newe Testament wee aske them will you be tried by the auncient Latine translation which is the texte of the fathers and the whole Churche No but wee appeale to the Greeke What Greeke say wee for there bee sundrie copies and the beste of them as Beza confesseth agree with the saide auncient Latine For example in Saint Peters wordes Labour that by good workes you may make sure your vocation and election Duth this Greeke copie please you No say they wee appeale to thaâ— Greeke copie which hath not those wordes by good workes for otherwise wee shoulde graunt the merite and efficacie of good workes towarde saluation And generally to tell you at once by what Greeke we will be â—ried we like best the vulgar Greeke texte of the new Testament which is most common and in euery mans handes FVLK 48. Wee neede not appeale to the Greeke for any thing you bring out of the vulgar Latine against vs. As for that text 2. Pet. 1. Labour that by good works c. I haue answeared before in the 36. Section Wee like well the Latine or that Greeke copie which hath those wordes by good workes for we must needes vnderstand them where they are not expressed and therefore you do impudeÌ„tly beelie vs to say they do not please vs. Caluin vpon that text saith Nonnulli codices habent bonis operibus sed hoc de sensu nihil mutat quia subaudiendum est etiaÌ„ si non exprimatur Some bookes haue By good works but this chaungeth nothing of the sense for that must be vnderstoode although it be not expressed The same thing in effect saith Beza that our election and vocation must be confirmed by the effects of faith that is by the fruites of iustice c. therefore in some copies wee finde it added by good workes So farre of is it that Beza misliketh those wordes that hee citeth them to proue the perpetuall connection of Election Vocation Iustification and Sanctification This is therefore as wicked a slaunder of vs as it is an vntrue affirmation of the vulgar Latine that it is the texte of the fathers and the whole Churche whereby you shewe your selfe to be a Donatiste to acknowledge no Churche but where the Latine texte is occupied So that in Greece Syria Armenia Aethiopia and other partes of the worlde where the Latine texte is not knowen or vnderstood there Christ hath no Churche by your vnaduised assertion That we like best the most common Greeke text I am sure that we doe it by as good reason if not by better than you in so great diuersities of the Latine texte who like best of that which is most common and in euery mans handes MART. 49. Well say we if you will needes haue it so take your pleasure in choosing your text And if you will stande to it graunt vs that Peter was chiefe among the Apostles because your owne Greeke text saith The first Peter No saith Beza we will graunt you no such thing for these wordes were added
alleageth it thus the holy Euangelist S. Luke in the Acts of the Apostles cap. 2. recordeth it and for this S. Augustine calleth him an infidel that denyeth it yet all this would not suffise to make Beza translate it so because of certaine errours as he heretically termeth them which he would full gladly auoide hereby namely the Catholike true doctrine of limbus patrum and Purgatorie What neede we say more he translateth animam a Carcase so calling our Sauiour Christes bodie irreuerently and wickedly he translateth infernum graue FVLK 2. That many of the Christian fathers helde this error that the godly of the old Testament were not in heauen before Christes death it is no cause why we should be afraid to confesse the truth reuealed to vs out of the holy Scriptures to the glorie of God And if the wrong or ambiguous translation of one Hebrue word Sheol deceiued them that were for the most parte ignoraunt of the Hebrue tongue what reason were it that we shoulde not in translation reforme that errour But as for Bezaes first translation of the Greeke worde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 deade bodie and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 graue I haue aunswered at large Cap. 1. sect 31. where also it is shewed howe vainely you take hold of the English worde carcase to charge Beza with vnreuerent calling of our Sauiour Christes bodie when it was deade because he calleth it in Latine Cadauer MART. 3. Neede we take any great labour to proue this to be a foule corruption or that it is done purposely whē he confesseth that he thus translateth because else it woulde serue the Papistes Which is as much to say as the word of God if it be truly and sincerely translated maketh in deede for them For the first part we will not stand vpon it partly because it is of it selfe most absurd and they are ashamed of it partly because it shall susfise to confute Beza that two other as famous heretikes as he Castalio and Flaccus Illyricus write against him in this point and confute him partly also because we speake not here vniuersally of all hereticall translations but of the English corruptions specially therfore we may only note here how gladly they also would say somwhat else for soule euen in the text if they durst for shame for in the margent of that English trāslation they say or life or person thereby aduertising the Reader that he may reade thus if it please him Thou shalt not leaue my life in the graue or Thou shalt not leaue my person As though either mans soule or life were in the graue or anima might be translated person which the selfe same Englishe Bible doeth not no not in those places where it is euident that it signifieth the whole person For though this worde soule by a figure is sometime taken for the whole man yet euen there they doe not nor must not translate it otherwise than soule beause our tongue beareth that figure as well as Latine Greeke or Hebrue but here where it can not signifie the whole person it is wicked to translate it so FVLK 3. If you take more labour than you are wel able to beare yet shall you proue it no hereticall corruption As Castaleo and Illyricus the one an heretike the other a schismatike haue inueyed against Beza so hath he sufficiently confuted them But to our English translation where in the margent they say life or person when in the text they say soule what doeth this offende you They render the vsuall English word for the Greke word but they admonish the reader that the word soule in this place signifieth not the soule separated from the bodie but either the life or the whole person Because that although the bodie onely be layed in the graue yet according to vulgar speache and sense the whole man is sayed to be buried and his life seemeth to be inclosed in the graue according to which popular and humane conceyt the Prophet in that Psalme speaketh as appeareth in the later parte of that verse which is all one in sense with the former Neither wilt thou giue thy holy one to see corruption where corruption which is proper onely to the bodie is there spoken generally of the whole man If this expositiō please you not yet you haue no cause to finde fault with the translation which in that place is according to the cōmon and ordinarie signification of the Greeke worde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 soule Which as it is somtime taken for the whole person as you note Act. 7. 14. So is it here as the later parte of the verse doth most plainly declare MART. 4. But as for the worde graue that they put boldly in the text to signifie that howsoeuer you interprete soule or whatsoeuer you put for it it is not meant according to S. Augustine and the faith of the whole Catholike Church that his soule descended into Hell whiles his bodie was in the graue but that his soule also was in the graue howsoeuer that is to be vnderstoode So making it a certaine and resolute conclusion that the holy Scripture in this place speaketh not of Christs being in Hell but in the graue and that according to his soule or life or person or as Beza will haue it His carcase or bodie and so his soule in Hell as the holy Scripture speaketh shall be his bodie in the graue as Beza plainly speaketh the Bezites couertly insinuate white shall be blacke and chaulke shall be cheese and euery thing shall be any thing that they will haue it And all this their euident false translation must be to our miserable deceiued poore soules the holy Scripture and Gods word FVLK 4. The Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wel beareth to be translated in some places a graue here the later part of the verse speaketh of corruption which can not be vnderstoode to be but in the graue so doth S. Peter vnderstand it saying that Dauid the Patriarch died and was buried and his sepulchre remayneth with vs vnto this day and S. Paule vpon the same verse of the Psalme saith he saw corruption Both the Apostles therfore interpreting this verse of the resurrection of Christ we thinke it in deede a resolute conclusion that the Scripture in this place speaketh not of Christs being in hell which we acknowledge in the article of our Creede but of his buriall and resurrection Your trifling of white and blacke chaulke and cheese may seeme pleasaunt Rhetorike to grosse eares whom you seeke to fill with such vanities But the wiser sort that are acquainted with figuratiue speaches wil thinke it nothing straunge if words be not alwaies taken in their vsual proper signification That the Hebrue worde Nephesh which the Prophet in that verse of the Psalme vseth is taken diuerse times in the Scripture for a deade bodie I haue before proued more plainly than euer you shall
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
15. the graue In both which places Rabbi Abraham Peritsol ioyneth Sheol and Keber togither both signifying the graue and in the later verse he maketh Iob to say to his friends 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The barres of lies with which you comfort me into the middest of the pit of the graue shall go downe with me when I dye By all which testimonies it is manifest that Sheol is not the proper for hel the receptacle of soules but for graue the common dwelling house of mens bodies But you will presse vs yet further with the authoritie of Rabbi Abraham vpon Ionas 2. In deede in Abraham Aben Ezra I reade as you say but this is onely his opinion of the figuratiue sense of that place for vpon Hosee cap. 13. v. 14. he expoundeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thus I haue bene a redeemer of thy fathers nowe I will be a destruction of death which is to thee And so doe R. Shelomo Iarchi and Rabbi Dauid Chimchi yea so doth Saint Paule more worth than all the Rabbins that euer were expound it MART. 28. This being the opinion and interpretation of the Hebrues See the skill or the honestie of Beza saying that Sheol with the Hebrues signifieth nothing but graue Whereas in deede to speake skilfully vprightly and not contentiously it may signifie graue sometime secondarily but Hell principally and properly as is manifest for that there is no other worde so often vsed and so familiar in the Scriptures to signifie Hell as this and for that the Septuaginta doe alwaies interprete it by the Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 FVLK 28. The opinion of the Hebrues being as I haue rehearsed out of their owne wordes see the skill or honestie of Martin which dare open his mouth against Beza in this matter and tell vs that Sheol may secundarily signifie a graue whereas it doth first and principally so signifie howe soeuer the Septuaginta doe interprete it by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth an obscure darke place vnder the earth and not hell properly MART. 29. The which Greeke worde is so notorius and peculiar for Hell that the Paganes vse it also for Pluto whom they feigned to bee God of hell and not God of graues and and if they woulde stand with vs in this point wee might beate them with their owne kinde of reasoning out of Poetes and profane writers and out of all Lexicons Vnlesse they will tel vs contrarie to their custome that wee Christians must attende the Ecclesiasticall vse of this word in the Bible and in Christian writers that in them it signifieth graue For so Beza seemeth to say that the Greeke Interpreters of the Bible translated the Hebrewe worde aforesayed by this Greeke worde as signifiyng a darke place whereas the Greeke Poetes vsed it for that which the Latines called Inferos that is Hell Which ambiguitie sayeth he of the worde made many erre affirming Christes descending into Hell So was LIMBVS builded whereunto afterward Purgatory was laide FVLK 29. That Pluto of the Poets is faigned to be the God of Hell it was heere of that they imagined Hell to bee a place vnder the earth which was his pallace as earth was his kingdome or els what becommeth of the triple diuision of all the worlde if Iupiter hauing heauen Neptune the Sea Pluto should not haue the earth who had his name of the riches inclosed in the earth and was also called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as in Homer Il. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iupiter and I and Pluto the thirde that ruleth ouer the dead Whereof it is put in the Genetiue case after such prepositions as gouerne an Accusatiue or Datiue where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the house of Pluto is to bee vnderstoode I might heere cite diuers places out of Nonius the Christian Greeke Poet who seemeth to vse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the graue speaking of the resurrection of Christ Ioan. 2. of Lazarus cap. 11. But of the trāslation of the Greke word is not our questiō but of the Hebrewe worde Sheol which the septuaginta turning into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 meane a place generally to receiue the dead which somtimes is the graue of the bodies sometimes hell of the soules MART. 30. I see Beza his wilinesse verie well in this pointe For heere the man hath vttered all his harte and the whole mysterie of his craftie meaning of this corrupte translation that to auoyde these three things Christes descending into Hell Limbus patrum and Purgatorie he and his companions wrest the foresayd wordes of the holy Scriptures to the signification of graue But let the indifferent Christian reader onely consider Beza his owne wordes in this place point by point FVLK 30. Beza vseth no wilinesse or craft at all for he doeth alwayes openly detest the dreames of Limbus and Purgatorie and whatsoeuer may depende vpon them But let vs see what you can gather out of his wordes MART. 31. First he sayeth that the Greeke Poetes were wont to vse the Greeke worde for Hell secondly that they which interpreted the Bible out of Hebrewe into Greeke vsed the verie same worde for that Hebrewe worde whereof wee haue nowe disputed thirdlye that the aunciente fathers for of them he speaketh as a litle before he expresseth vnderstoode the sayed Greeke worde for Hell and thereby grewe to those errours as he impudently affirmeth of Christes descending into Hell and of the place in Hell where the fathers rested expecting the comming of our Sauiour c. Whereby the Reader doeth easily see that both the profane and also the Ecclesiasticall vse of the word is for Hell and not for graue FVLK 31. I looked for some great matter when you beganne to consider so diligently from point to point but I see we shall haue nothing but this colde collection that both the prophane and Ecclesiasticall vse of this worde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is for hell and not for the graue That it is vsed for hell no man denieth but that it is vsed onely for hell Beza sayeth not and I haue proued that it is not As also it may be proued by diuerse other places out of the Apocriphall writings namely Sap. 16. v. 13. where it is translated for death by your owne Latine translatour being the same verse that is in the songe of Anna 1. Sam. 2. where Sheol is vsed and is repeared in that signification Tob. 13. v. 12. Likewise Sap. 2. v. 1. where the vngodly that professe the mortality of the soul say that none was knowen to returne from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word can signifie nothing but graue For hell it can not signifie in their speach that beleue no hell say plainly that their soules shall vanishe like smoke or light ayer Likewise in Baruch 2. it is taken for the graue where he sayeth the deade which are in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
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
because it apeareth by the effects that he speaketh of faith as it was a speciall gift of working of myracles of which effectes he nameth one remouing of mountaines And that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is so taken namely for the perfection of one kynde not the vniuersall comprehension of al kindes he bringeth you example Ro. 7. v. 8. and elsewhere oftentimes But if it shoulde be taken as you say all knowledge all mysteries is generally to be taken yet he telleth you this separation is but vppon an impossible supposition for iustifying faith can neuer bee separated from charitie but if it might be separated it shoulde not profite to iustifie The Angels of heauen can not preach an other gospel but if they did preach an other gospel they should be accursed A great argument I promise you against iustification by faith onely that a solitarie dead or barraine faith doth not iustifie MART. 7. And I woulde haue anye of the Bezites giue me a sufficient reason why hee translated totam fidem and not also totam scientiam vndoubtedly there is no cause but the heresie of speciall and onely faith And againe why he translateth Iaco. 2. 22. Thou seest that faith was administra a helper of his workes and expoundeth it thus Faith was an efficient cause and fruitful of good workes Wheras the Apostles wordes be plaine that faith wrought togither with his workes yea and that his fayth was by workes made perfecte This is impudent handling of Scripture to make workes the fruite onely and effecte of fayth which is your heresie FVLK 7. If you dare draw foorth your pen against Beza and demande an answere of himselfe although he hath already giuen you a sufficiēt reason to induce that the Apostle speaketh not of faith as generally as of knowledge because by an example of remouing mountaines he restraineth it to one kinde of faith As for the other question why he translateth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iam. 2. v. 22. was an helper me thinke you should make best answere your selfe who not long since by force of that word woulde needes prooue that men were helpers of God chap. 10. sect 6. Haue you so soone forgotten your own voice and is this impudent handling of the scripture to translate as you your selfe in an other case thoughe impertinently did contend the word to signifie But works you wil not haue to be the fruit only and effect of faith because the Apostle saieth that faith wrought togither with his workes and by workes his faith was made perfite as thoughe apples are not the fruite of the tree because the tree doth beare them and by them if they be good the tree is made a good tree MART. 8. Which heresie also must needes be the cause that to suppresse the excellencie of charitie which the Apostle giueth it aboue faith or any other gift whatsoeuer in these wordes And yet I shew you a more excellent way 1. Cor. 12. v. 31. he in one edition of the new Testament in the yeare 1556. translateth thus Behold moreouer also I shew you a way most diligently What cold stuffe is this howe impertinent In an other edition an 1565. he mended it thus And besides I shew you a way to excellencie In neither of both expressing the comparison of preeminence excellencie that charitie hath in the Apostles words and in all the chapter following Wherein you did well for your credite not to followe him no not your Bezites them selues but to translate after our vulgar Latine interpreter as it hath alwayes bene read vnderstoode in the Church FVLK 8. The rarenesse of the phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. as al indifferēt men wil iudge rather than any mind to suppresse the excellencie of charitie caused Beza to giue dyuerse interpretations of that place of whiche yet the latter more commendeth the excellencie of charitie than the vulgar Latin or our Eaglishe translation whiche expoundeth it as the Latine doth for if charitie be the way to excellencie it is a greater commendation thereof than to saye it is a more excellent waye than other giftes whereof he spake last as of healing of tongues of interpretations c. MART. 9. Luther was so impudent in this case that because the Apostle spake not plà inely ynough for onely faith he thrust only into the text of his translation as himself witnesseth you durst not hitherto presume so farre in this question of onely faith though in other controuersies you haue done the like as is shewed in their places But I wil aske you a smaller matter which in words shew you may perhaps easily answer but in your conscience there wil remaine a gnawing worme In so many places of the Gospell where our Sauiour requireth the peoples faith when he healed them of corporall diseases only why do you so gladly translate thus Thy faith hath saued thee rather than thus thy faith hath healed thee or made thee whole is it not by ioyning these wordes togither to make it sound in English eares that faith saueth or iustifieth a man in so much that Beza noteth in the margent thus fides saluat that is faith saueth your Geneua Bibles in that place where it can not be taken for faith that iustifieth because it is not the parties faith but her fathers that Christ required there also trāslate thus Beleeue only she shall be saued Which translation though very false and impertinent for iustifying faith as you seeme to acknowledge by translating it otherwise in your other Bibles yet in deede you must needes mainteine and hold it for good whiles you alleage this place for onely faith as is euident in your writings FVLK 9. That which Luther might wel do as an interpretor or expounder it was much boldnesse for him to doe as a translator but seeing he him selfe hath redressed his owne offence wee haue lesse to say for him and you against him For our additions except suche as the necessitie of our English phrase dothe require for vnderstanding you slaunder vs to say that wee haue in any controuersies done the like The question you aske is not worthy any answere why wee translate thy faith hath saued thee c. seing wee vse all these wordes indifferently healing making safe and making whole as in S. Iames we say Can faith saue him And it is al one to say thy faith hath saued thee and thy fayth hath made thee whole But you say wee alledge this place for onely faith iustifying citing the answeres of Maister Gough M. Tomson against Feckenham I thinke you lie as in other places very commonly And yet an argument though not a plaine testimonie may be taken out of these places for only faith iustifying Seing Christ was not a phisition for the body but to teach mē that he was a Physition for the soule and as he healed the diseased in bodie onely by faith so hee cureth the sickuesse of
the soule by the same instrument of faith onely which by other places may be more directly prooued and here also in some sorte is insinuated MAR. 10. This then you see is a fallacie wheÌ„ faith only is required to the helth of the body as in many such places thogh not in all there by translation to make it sounde a iustifying faith as thogh faith only were required to the helth of the soule Wheras that faith was of Christes omnipotencie onely and power which Beza confesseth may be in the diuels themselues and is farre from the faith that iustifieth If you saye the Greeke signifieth as you translate it doth so in deede but it signifieth also very commonly to bee healed corporally as by your owne translation in these places Marc. 5. v. 28. Marc. 6. v. 36. Luc. 8. v. 36. v. 51. Where you translate I shal be whole They were healed Hee was healed She shal bee made whole And why do you here translate so because you know to be saued importeth rather an other thing to wit saluation of the soule and therefore when faith is ioyned withall you translate rather saued than healed though the place be meant of bodilie health onely to insinuate by all meanes your iustification by only faith FVLK 10. It is no fallacie from the health of the bodie to ascende higher to the health of the soule but that direct and plaine way by whiche Christe himselfe would be knowne to be sauiour of the worlde not of the bodie onely but of the bodie and soule togither And commonly his bodily cures were ioyned with forgiuenesse of sinnes whych are causes of al maladies and with health of their soules whose bodies were made safe As for iustification by faith only we meane none otherwise to insinuate it in this place than Christ him self doth by doing miracles in giuing health of the bodie to testifie that he is the onely authour of the saluation of mens soules CHAP. XIII Heretical translation against PENANCE and SATISFACTION Martin VPon the heresie of onely faith iustifying and sauing a man followeth the deniall of all penance and satisfaction for sinnes Which Beza so abhorreth Annot. in Mat. 3. v. 2 that he maketh protestation that he auoydeth these termes Poenitentia and Poenitentiam agere of purpose and that he will alwayes vse for them in translating the Greeke wordes resipiscentia and resipiscere Which he doth obserue perhaps but that sometimes he is worse than his promise translating most falsely and heretically for resipiscentia resipiscentes so that your English Bezites them selues are ashamed to translate after him Who otherwise followe his rule for the most part translating resipiscentia amendement of life and resipiscite amende your liues and the other English Bibles when they translate best say repentance and repent but none of them all once haue the wordes penance and doe penance Which in most places is the very true translation according to the verye circumstance of the text and vse of the Greeke word in the Greeke Church and the auncient Latine translation thereof and all the fathers reading thereof and their expositions of the same Which foure pointes I thinke not amisse briefly to proue that the Reader may see the vse and signification of these wordes which they of purpose will not expresse to auoyd the termes of penance and doing penance Fulke IF by penance you meane satisfaction for sinnes by any suffering of ours we abhorre your penance as an horrible blasphemy against the bloud of Christ. And for that cause Beza as hath bene shewed before vseth the worde resipiscentia rather than poenitentia because the Greeke word signifieth not onely a sorow for sinne but also a purpose of amendment of life We in English vse the worde repentance or amendment of life which worde of repentance you vse also sometimes when it pleaseth you or when you can not for shame vse your popish terme of doing penance The cause why we neuer vse that word penance is for that you meane not thereby that which the Scripture calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but a certaine punishment taken vpon men for satisfaction of their sinnes vnto God which is abhominable for all Christian eares to heare which acknowledge that the bloud of Christ onely purgeth vs from all sinne But in foure pointes you will proue if you can that we should translate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to do penance MART. 2. First that the circumstance of the text doth giue it so to signifie we reade in S. Mathew cap. 11. v. 21. If in Tyre and Sidon had bene wrought the miracles that haue bene wrought in you they had done penance in hairecloth or sackecloth and ashes long agoe And in S. Luke cap. 10. v. 13. they had done penance fitting in sackcloth and ashes I beseech you these circumstances of sackecloth and ashes adioyned doe they signifie penance and affliction of the bodye or onely amendement of life as you would haue the word to signifie S. Basil sayth in Psal. 29. Sackcloth maketh for penance For the fathers in olde time sitting in sackcloth and ashes did penance Vnlesse you will translate S. Basil also after your fashion whome you can not any way translate but the sense must needes be penance and doing penance Againe S. Paule sayth You were made sorie to penance or to repentance say which you will and The sorowe which is according to God worketh penance or repentance vnto saluation Is not sorow and bitter mourning and affliction partes of penance Did the incestuous man whome Saint Paule excommunicated and afterward absolued him because of his exceeding sorow and teares for feare lest he might be ouerwhelmed with sorow did he I say change his mind onely or amend his life as you translate the Greeke worde and interprete repentance did he not penance also for his fault enioyned of the Apostle when Saint Iohn the Baptist sayth and Saint Paule exhorteth the like Doe fruites worthy of penance or as you translate meete for repentance Doe they not plainly signifie penitentiall workes or the workes of penance which is the very cause why Beza rather translated in those places Doe the fruites meete for them that amend their liues or giue vs some other good cause Oye Bezites why your maister doth so foâ—ly falsifie his translation FVLK 2. Such is your malicious frowardnes that you will not vnderstande resipiscentia repentance or amendement of life a sorow or griefe of mind for the life past which is testified sometimes by outward signes of sackcloth and ashes fasting and humbling of mens bodies as in the texts of Math. 11. and Luc. 10. and diuerse other is expressed But shew vs that the wearing of sackcloth and ashes is a satisfaction for the life past or any part of amends to Gods iustice or else you do but trifle and waste the time But S. Basil sayth that sackcloth maketh for penance c.