more at large which the Prophets to a sufficiency of that they wrote theÌ„ for touched shortly or els they are conteyned in the bookes of the kings which are manifestly proued to haue bene written by diuers Prophets in their seuerall ages wherein they prophecied In the former kind whereof if we reape not that fruite which they did which liued in the dayes wherein the reader was set ouer vnto them yet we reape a more excellent fruit which is a certain knowledg of a more special prouidence care of the Lord for the preseruing of the Scriptures appering euidently in that all those falling away the books of the canonical Scripture doe stil remaine Hereof we haue a notable example in the books of Solomon whereof those falling away that he wrote of naturall philosophie and other by knowledge the profitablest bookes that euer were the Canon only excepted those alone which perteined to godlynes haue bene safely kept for the posteritie Which is so much more to be obserued as there being infinitely moe in the world that effect the knowledg of naturall thinges then doe godlynes haue not yet with all the care of keeping them bene able to deliuer them from this whole and perpetuall forgetfulnes wherevnto they are fallen as if they had neuer bene written Where of th' other side his holy writtings hated of the most parte carelesly regarded of a number haue notwithstanding as whole and full a remeÌ„brance as they had the first day the Lord gaue them vnto the church And seing there are now more then 1500. yeares wherein there is not onely no booke but no sentence of any booke of Canonicall Scripture fallen away what cause is there why wee should think that in the tyme which was vnder the law whole bookes fell away so thick and threefolde For as for bookes of the nevv Testament imagined of some to haue ben lost their reasons wherevpon their imagination leaneth are so faint that they are not worthie the naming Of all which matter it is euident that not onely the matter of the Scripture but also the wordes not onely the sense and meaning of them but the manner and frame of speach in them doe remaine 2. Tim. 3 For seing the Scripture remayneth vvhich wholy both for matter and words is inspired of god it must follow that the same words wherein th' old new testament were vvritten and indited by the hand of God do remaine For how great difference there is betvveen the thinges both vvordes and matter that haue passed through the Act. 9 Act. 17 1. Cor. 15 Tit. 1. 12 mouth or pen of God and those vvhich come from a mortal man may appeare by the sayings of the Poets taken vp of the holye Ghost For not vvithstanding the Poets vse the same vvordes and sense vvhich the Scripture vseth yet vvere they neither the vvordes nor the sense of God but of the Poets vntill they had passed by the golden pype of the Lords mouth Whereby it came to passe that those sayings which were before prophane are now most holy euen as the stones and timber which in the quarrey and forrest were common were after holy when they were laide in the building of the Temple If therefore words the same in letters sillables with those the holy Ghost vseth are not wordes inspired of God because they were neither written nor spoken of him his Embassadors and publike notaries how much lesse are the wordes of the olde translator diuers from them of the holy Ghost inspired of him seing they neuer passed either by pen or mouth of his And albeit th' olde translator which he is far from should alwayes giue sense for sense waight for waight yet shuld not his translation which so should be yâ— truth of god be therfore the worde of God considering that the title aggreeth only to that truth of God which hath also the frame of his words And therefore the Apostle maketh a manifest difference betweene the wholsome wordes of our Sauiour 1. Tim. 6. 3 Christ and the doctrine that is according to godlines And our Sauiour Christ in saying that thy worde is the trueth Ioh. 17. 17 doth manifestly establish a difference betweene gods worde and his trueth otherwise he should say thy trueth is the trueth or thy word is the word which were no declaratioÌ„ of his meaning but onely an vnnecessarie repetition Wherefore it is truly verefied of these men which the Prophet saieth that they haue forsaken the fountains Ierem. 2. and digged cisterns But let vs examine the pith of their reasones which haue moued them rather to draw from the riuen and leaking cask of th' old translator by the which manye thinges haue entred to th' emparing the sweet wine of the Scripture then from the staunch whole vessels of the Greek copies which preserue it from all corruption To the first reason These men are worthie to goe alwayes in their olde cloathes that make th' age of the traÌ„slation the first and principall commendation therof Wherby it shuld appear if they could haue come by the translation that Ierom amended they would haue tunned their drink out of that rather theÌ„ out of this as that whose head was hoarer And if this be a good reason why should not the translation of Symmachus Aquila and Theodotion bee preferred which are auncienter then he Yea why should not the 70. before them all be much more preferred as those that were vsed oftentymes of th' Apostles and commended highly of th' auncient fathers But as gray heares are then onely honorable when they are founde in the waye of righteousnesse so th' age of th' old translator is there only to be respected and reuerenced where both for propernesse of wordes and truth of sense he hath wisely and faithfully translated And so far we holde him worthie to be preferred before other interpreters But if antiquitie commended th' olde translation vnto you for that it was aboue 1300. yeares olde the Greek coppies being more ancient then it hauing bene vsed aboue 1500 yeares should ye wisse haue had the right hand of th' olde translator To the second reason It is false For it is not the receiued opinion Looke Ierome vpon these places and compare them with th' old translator Genes 1. 2 Esai 1 12 30. 5. 2 Gal. 1. 16 2. 5. 5 8. Eph. 1 14 4. 19. c neither is there any probabilitie of it considering that Ierome in the old and nevv Testament both translateth otherwise then th' olde interpreter and often controwleth him Hereof the testimony of Erasmus a man that had as quick a nose in Ieromes doings as whosoeuer is notable who flatly affirmeth that this translation is neither Cyprians nor Hilaries nor Ambrose nor Augustins nor Ieromes seing his reading is diuers from it and that it is Looke also afterward for other examples Eras epist N. amico ex aniâ—o dilecto Erasmâ—iâ— Scholijs â—â— epist Hieron
read And if they wrote this when the malady of arrogancie in diuine matters was not so great as now it is howe much more would 2. Reg. 22. 11. 18. 19 Rom. 7. 7 9. 10 they haue wrote it in these dayes coÌ„sidering that the vse of the Scripture is to beat downe the pride and arrogancie of the minde whereas the Iesuites conclude cleane contrarie that because men are more proud nowe then heretofore the Scriptures shuld be withdrawne more now then then esteeming that pride gayneth by reading of the Scripture therein like to those whome Augustine sharply reproueth August in Psal 130 which hearing that they must be huÌ„ble will learne nothing thinking that if they learne any thing they shal be proud To the 4. next sections pag. 4. 5. and 6. The moderation of Nazianzene is necessarie but helpeth you nothing at all For it maketh a distinction first generally betweene Doctor Scholer and then of the Doctors office varying his teaching according to the difference of one Scholler from another which we confesse and not betweene Scholler and Scholler as you praetend And therefore following your sense of Nazianzene which is that the people should not meddle with the Scriptures but the Minister alone your selues are guiltie of the conspiracie of Korah which permit to some of the people the reading of the Scriptures which out of Nazianzene you pretend to bee the seuerall of Bishops and Ministers We grant it is often profitable for the common people not to be curious and so is it also for the Pastor in matters that breed quaestions rather then aedifying to God which is through faith in Christ Howbeit commending his sister for her cunning in Iâ—funeb orat de Gergoniae the Scriptures both olde and new it is manifest that by curiositie he meaneth not to draw them to carelesnesse of reading meditating of the Scriptures Augustines words as they make not for you considering that the simplicitie of faith reacheth it selfe to the beleeuing and consequently vnderstanding of the whole Scripture and euery part thereof so to fit them for your purpose haue you shamefullie gelded theÌ„ For you haue left out the pronoune this which marreth al your market Augustine hauing before out of the scriptures confuted certain which held that there should be no resurrection of the flesh concludeth with this exhortation that they should be nourished with this simplicitie of faith which hee had proued out of th' Apostles Christs words with which simplicitie both himselfe and all other was and ought to bee conteÌ„ted After he sheweth the cause of their error for that beeing little ones in knowledge they had neglected the first principles and grounds of their religion as it were the milke whereby they shoulde haue growne to the strength of partaking of sounder harder meatâ— Al which doth nothing bar them from the reading of the Scriptures in euery book chapter and almoste verse whereof there is aswell milke for babes as strong meates for those which are grown And as in the most champion and plaine grounds of the bookes of Scripture there are some mysteries as hillocks higher then the rest of their fellowes so in the greatest and steepest hill thereof there is sooting whereby with labour and trauaile with much reading and often prayer wee may come to that height of it wherein wee may see and discouer so far of the land of Canaan the kingdome of heauen as our places callings sexes and ages do require And as there is no booke in the Scripture so mysticall and deepe whereout a good teacher wil not deliuer doctrine fit aswell for the vnlearned as for the learned so is there no good scholer in the schoole of Christ which out of the hardest bookes cannot draw some thing aswel for his coÌ„firmation of that which he hath learned as for his entrance into the knowledge of that which he is yet to learne And as wheÌ„ a man hath learned Arithmetick the way is open and easie to Geometrie both which make easy staires to clime vp to Astronomie euen so the people hauing laide the grounds of Religion wel and red diligently the easier and plainer bookes of the Scripture shall haue also a plaine and a paved way euen in the deepest mysteries and profoundest bookes of the Scripture Heereof Salomon saith that al the words Prov. 8. â— of wisdome are open and easie to euery one of vnderstaÌ„ding Where because by a man of vnderstanding he meaneth euerie one that is godlie as by the foole the wicked it is manifest that he declareth that all the words of God are easie open to al Gods people Wherof Genes 18 also commeth that it is saide that Psal 25 God reueleth his secrets hid counsels to all that feare him Seeing therfore the people may aswell come to the reading of the Scriptures with the feare of God as the Ministers themselues it followeth that there can be no hardnes or difficultie of any place of Scripture which shall more withhold the sight of that which is needful for them in their place and calling then which is necessarie for the Ministers in theirs Christ saith that whosoeuer Iohn 7 17 will doe the will of God the same shall know his doctrine Seing therefore the people and vnlearned may haue as setled a purpose to doe the will of God aswell as the Pastor or learned it is euident that their labour and trauaile in reading of the Scripture shall be more frustrate for their estate then the Ministers for theirs Likewise there being a certain promise that those which abyde in the word which they haue beleeued shall knowe Ioh. 8. 31 32 the truth it caÌ„not be but that the people doing that aswell as the Minister shall for their proportion be partakers of the promise aswell as he Hitherto belongeth the plaine and most vsuall words the phrase and manner of speach most frequented the comparisons and similitudes most familiare taken out of the shops and out of the fieldes from husbandry and houswiferie from the flock and from the heard from the plowe and the mowe For notwithstanding that it had bene easy for the Lord by his learned Prophetes and Apostles and our Sauiour Christ especially to haue flien vp into the heauens and to haue gone downe to hell for comparisons to set forth his doctrine with yet we see how he cree peth as it were vpon the ground in taking that which is before mens feet to clear his doctrine with Wherfore but that thereby he would notifie vnto the sonnes of men that hee wrote the Scriptures for the capacitie vnderstanding of th'vnlearned Last of al when the whole body of the Scripture from the head to the foote therof is tearmed a light lantern they Psal 119 Prouerb 6 2 Pet. 1 2. Cor. â— must needes be the children of darknesse which breath and bluster darknesse obscuritie continually against them And therefore if it be
of the Scripture is a great munition against sinne but th' ignorance thereof is a downe-fall a deepe hell this begetteth heresies Againe It cannot now be I say it cannot be that any can obtain saluation vnlesse he be continually occupyed in reading of the Scripture There would be no end of wryting if wee shoulde laye open all that Chrysostome hath in this behalfe to proue that he herein praescribed physicke for the generall disease of all Christian people and not for a special maladie as it might be the sweating sicknesse that haunted that people whereof he had the gouernment Also for all times both in prosperitie and aduersitie euen vncessantlie And not Homil. 3 de Laz. onelie in those wherein through abundance they waxing wanton gaue themselues to dicing and carding c Wherfore your distinction of a teacher in the Schoole and Pulpit-man hath no place heere as indeede it is foolishe and hath no place otherwhere For the doctrine in schoole is and ought to be the same that is in pulpite and that in pulpite as exact absolute and necessarie as that in the schoole The difference is that in the schoole hath not annexed the goade and prick of exhortation as th' other hath For you may not imagine Chrysostomes pulpet so loose and so prophane as yours is to speake at all randome without any girdle of truth about your loines Our wemen God be praised although they are wel able to set such Doctors as you are to schoole know their places and keepe silence content to teach their children at home which if you cannot brooke in them or euer it can light of them your condemnation must first passe vppon the head of S. Paule who commandeth to be teachers Titus â— 3. of good things vnto their daughters and of Bathsheba who taught Prov. 31 the wisest child that euer was among the sonnes of Adam Christ excepted The example also of Eunice who taught Timothe from his verie infancie 2. Tim. 1. 5 3. 15 in the Scriptures is notable to teach that neither wemen muste forbeare teaching nor verye babes to learne And if alwayes learning they are alwayes ignorant in what degree of ignorance shall yours be found that neuer learne any thing at all They reade the whole Bible seeing all is inspired of God and all profitable and 2. Tim. 3 therefore the morall partes But yet praefer those that be doctrinall or as you speake dogmaticall as both the foundation of all good manners and the rule whereby they maye iudge of the example of life whether it bee good or bad worthie of praise or dispraise And it pittieth them to see the blindnesse that is yet in your eye which deemeth that to be so crooked which to all sounde iudgement is straight that is to say that the causes shoulde goe before th' effects and the rule before that which is ruled by it And as Saint Paull in the duetie of teaching Act. 26 coulde not acquite the faith and trust put in him but by teaching the people the whole counsell of God so they thinke not themselues discharged in the duetie of learning vnlesse to the vttermost of that they maye they endeuoure to learne what is the good pleasure and perfite will of God towards them Neither doubt they but Rom. 12 that they vse more reuerence true humilitie in comming to the high mysteries you speake of then you doe in turning your backes vnto them And they are well assured that they are fitter to wonder at and to advaunce th' incomprehensible breadth length height and depth of them which haue waded so farre in them as the Bowies and markes of holye Scriptures doe teach them then you which neuer wet your neb in them And if they read the harder bookes of Scripture oftner more diligently then they doe th' easier a wise Schoolemaister which taketh pleasure in his Scholer would commend them Neither hath it bene heard of that the Scholer was euer reproched for his greater diligence in his harder lesson but of such three halfpennie vshers as you bee which are loath your scholers shoulde learne too fast but heere one word and there another heere a line and there a line least in their dexteritie forwardnesse of learning your inabilitie and vntowardnesse of teaching should appeare The clasped and sealed booke to vs which come not in the strength of our owne wits or merites Apoc. 5 but in the victory of our Sauiour christ who hath vnsealed them for vs lye so far forth open as therein we are well assured to read so much as will serue for our certaine direction vnto the kingdome of heauen But in you which bring of your naturall powers and vaunt your selues of your merites It is true that the Prophet saith Esai â—â— that neither can your learned reade because all is vnto theÌ„ as a sealed letter your vnlearned being offered the reading they refuse to read it think themselues discharged because they haue no learning And wherfore I pray you should th' Epistle to the Romanes not be reade of artificers wemen to both which sorts amongst others it was first written and why should that be baulked more then others by the simpler sort which hath a speciall testimonie that both it and all other the preachings and writings of th' Apostle are tempered aswell to Rom. 1. 14 the capacitie of the foolish vnlearned as of the wise and vnderstanding men If there be nothing in that Epistle for th' ign oranter sort to learne then hath Saint Paule made a desperate debt which now being dead he is neuer able to pay As for Saint Peters wordes they make no more against the peoples reading of his Epistles then against any other part of the Scripture the whole whereof he affirmeth to be peruerted of vnlearned and vnstable men In which kind if you iudge all th' vnlearneder sort of your people to be you fome out your owne shame and manifestlie verefie the prouerbe such Doctor such Scholer For our people we cannot hold them for vnlearned which haue learned Christ nor vnstable which by faith are founded and rooted so stedfastlie that al the winde and weather waues and floods that can beat against theÌ„ are not able to remoue them from the trueth which they haue learned in the Scripture We acknowledge with Augustine their wonderfull depth which would afray no man from reading of them if you had faithfullie reported Augustines wordes Who affirmeth Confess li. 12. c. 14. that the ouermost of them smyleth vpon the little ones and a little after addeth let vs come therefore together to the words of thy booke meaning Gods In th' other place quoted by you hee sheweth that if a man of the sharpest wit and greatest diligence from his childehood should giue himself to the study of them continuing in them vntill crooked age as if he should liue the yeares of Methusalah yet he might alwayes profite
meaning the words And vvhat his iudgement is in August lib de vera relig cap. 5◠this cause he doth other where plainly and clearely set dovvne vvhen hee saith that the Scripture is to be declared according to the proprietie of euery tongue Indeede he saith that sometime the vulgar speach is more profitable but his reason is farre different from yours For it appeareth vvhen hee praeferreth August de doctr Chr. lib. 2. c. 11. those Barbarismes it is for the better cōmodity capacity of the people to whome he spake or wrote praferring rudenes of speach onely to that purenes which either bringeth new words to offend th' eares of the reader or else maketh the sense doubtfull or obscure In vvhich respect he affirmeth that to August in Psal 138. let his speach fall th' easilyer to th' vnderstanding of his people hee had rather say ossum which is no true speach then os which is the proper and true lāguage Beside that it is more euidēt by their barbarismes in other speaches then in the texts of Scripture that they so speak sometime because they met with no better nor more choise wordes Seing therefore a good pure Latine speach is now better vnderstood then th' ould rotten and rustie wordes there is no cause why they should not now be abolished if euer they had any vse heretofore And if it please the Iesuites to confer the stile of these dayes sithence the Gospell after a long winter of ignorance began to flowre againe with the stile of those which wrote 200. yeares hence we suppose that they will accord vs that there is as greate difference as was sometime betweene the Dorickes and th' Attickes in Greece or is now betweene the courte and countrey with vs yet we think that the Iesuites will not therefore rather chuse to stamber stut with their fore-goers then to speake clearly purely with the present age sure we are that they haue done their best to the contrary Wherefore it is euident that you can bring nothing to defend your sottish speach of hell of fire for hell fire for against the spirituals of wickednes in the celestials for docible of God c. nor yet for your doubtful and dangerous speach of the sinne of the spirit for the sinne against the spirit with a number moe of the same late And yet haue you not kept the law your selues haue made for you haue translated eighteene years Luke 13. 4 where both the Greeke and olde Interpreter which you propound to follow so superstitiously haue ten and eight years If here seing your folly you amended it why haue you not corrected it in places of greater importance and hauing corrected th' olde traslatour in another place of some moment Rom. 13. 9. where for restored you haue turned comprised why haue you not performed the same in other of greater weight Not to speake of Lindanus your brother in this impietie who speaking of the truth of the matter retained by th' ould interpreter more then the truth yet notwithstanding confesseth the often slips of improprietie in speache and other babishnes of him in translating Now as by your vnlearned translation you haue greatly embased the pure mettle of the holy word so by your corrupt annotations wresting and writhing haling pulling the translation either to a diuers or contrarie sense of that which the wordes giue you haue made it no better then filthie drosse So that it may be verified of your work which Ierom sayth you make of the Gospell of Christ the gospell of Hieron in Epist ad Gal. cap. 1. man or that which is worse the gospel of the Diuell If you had giuen your people your translation alone we dout not but they should notwithstanding all your declinings frō the natiue purenes of the word haue found releefe in it against extream famine which your vnfaithfulnesse hath thrust them into Which thing you wel perceiuing durst not vpon the peril of quenching your kitchin-fire put forth your single few of translatiō without y◠Cooloquintida of your annotatiōs therby to bring certain death to all those that shoulde taste of them Wherein let th' indifferent reader compare our confidence we haue in the goodnes of our cause in either nakedly deliuering the Scripturs without any annotations at al or els with few short directiōs Rather to open the file and course of the Scriptures then to praeiudice the reader either with recommending ours or condemning th' aduersaries iudgment Let him I say compare it with the fearfull dout that the Iesuits haue of theirs which durst not commend their single translation vnto the conscience of the reader vnlesse beside the load and charge of their margent notes they had added almoste at the end of euery chapter a iag of annotations wherein they recommend their owne and condemne our doctrine therby at vnawares testifiing against themselues that the wordes of the holy Ghost speak nothing for them vnles they be twitched aside with the wrinch wrest of their annotatiōs We hauing found Christ in the Scripturs cannot be to seek in the true Church you that hold not the head it is no maruel if you haue not layd hold of a filthy deade caryon in steade of the liuely body of Christ which is his Church We which follow the light of the scripture in all questions that can be moued of religion and not in those onely which you idely rouingly alledge out of August haue promise of resolution 2. Tim. 3 ◠Petr. 1 in all our doubts But you which blasphemously make the Scripturs to giue no more light to the decision of diuers poyntes in religion thē a hair-cloth do miserably run your selues others to the condemnation wherevnto you are ordained In which way although you vvould drag Augustine vvith all your might and maine yet vvill not he keepe you company not onely for that he hath nothing for you in the place vvhich you alledge but that he hath the cleane contrary vnto you vvho affirmeth that in the Scriptures we are to seeke the Church by them to August d◠vnit eccles cap. 3. discusse our controuersies after he saith that all should be remoued whatsoeuer is alledged of either side against other sauing that which commeth out of the canonicall Ibi. cap. 16. Scriptures And againe we desire not to be beleeued because wee are in the Church of Christ or that Optatus or Ambrose or innumerable Bishops of our profession haue cōmended it vnto vs. Howbeit as through the vvhole booke it shall appeare hovv small consent of the auncient Church you haue in the principal demandes hanging betvveene you and vs so it shal appeare a little after that there is a more certaine rule of th' understanding of the Scriptures then you assigne and that although the former iudgement of the Church of Christ sithence th' Apostles time is able to keepe vs from falling dangerouslie in the principal and
places where th' authors alledged ar not eye witnesses but hang al of the report of th' olde translator And if in Gods law the witnes of one man is not sufficient to take away a mans life much lesse may one mans witnes take away the life and authoritie of Gods word which without that witnes should vndoutedly be so taken And if we should weigh th' olde translator with such weightes we might with far more right dash out a great part of your translator in th' olde Testament Euen so much as he differeth and dissenteth Ire lib. 3 cap. 25 Tertul. apolog c. 18. 19 Hâ—l psal 2 August de â—iuit Dei lib. 15. c. â—â— in from the 70. interpreters For there is a great consent of th' old fathers that the interpretation of the 70. interpreters in greek was written by the same spirit wherewith the Prophets wrote in Hebrew Secondly it is to be obserued that in proouing the Greeke copies in three places to be corrupted by the Greeke heretikes they alledg for two of those places Latine writers and Latine translators such as were vsed in the Latin Church so that if the testimonies proue any thing of the corruption of th' originall it proueth it more against the Latine then against the Greeke Church For notwithstanding that Marcion were Greek born yet was not his heresie begoten in Greece but in Rome after that his father being a Bishop had for his lewd behauiour cast him out of the Church in his natiue countrie And seeing Rome taketh vpon her to be the piller of truth and the Lords librarie whatsoeuer can be proued of the corruption of th' originall shall by their owne doctrine returne to the further discredite of the Latine then of the Greeke Church Now touching the first example of Marcions corruption you doe belie Tertullian and that in two sortes For first Tertullian saieth not that the truth is as it is in the vulgar For Tertullian himselfe readeth otherwise then the vulgar after this sort The first man Tertuâ— aâ— resurrectionâ— carnâ—s of th' earth earthy that is slimie which is Adam The second man is from heauen that is the word of God which is Christ leauing out heauenly which the vulgare hath Cyprian de zelo liâ—or aduersus ludaeos a. libi and you striue for And so his scholler Cyprian readeth Secondly you falsifye him for that he doth not say as you suppose of him that the Greek text which is now is Marcions corruption For so should he haue accused himselfe aswell as Marcion considering that himself also departeth from that which is in the vulgar Indeed Marcion had corrupted the place by leauing out man in the second place therby to help his haeresie of th' untruth of Christs manhood It may also be gathered that Tertullian liked not the word Lord but esteemed it a corruption of Marcion This is therefore novv the question vvhether Lord in that place be the true or heretical reading First therefore let them shevv vs hovv this reading doth maintayn in any sort the heresie of Marcion considering that the Greek hath vvith full consent the second man which Marcion left out vvherby the humanity of Christ is plainly established And it appeareth that the vulgar traÌ„slation hath more coulour of that heresie theÌ„ the Greek reading For he might haue easier abused the vulgare to proue that Christ broght his flesh from heaueÌ„ then he can do the Greek And as the Greek reading is further from the heresie of Marcion then the vulgar so it is in diuers respects more proper both for the generall analogie of the true doctrine of the person of Christ and for the circumstance of that particular place For first the Greek reading containeth a notable testimony of the two natures of our Sauiour Christ in th' unitie of one person which the vulgar doth not so manifestly expresse Secondly th' opposition of Adam from th' earth and of Christ the Lord from heauen is much fuller and liuelier considering that he might haue bene both from heauen and heauenly and yet haue bene but a naked creature as th' Angels Thirdly the Greeke copies did not shunne the word heauenly which Marcion is supposed to haue of purpose avoyded considering that they call Christ heauenly For in the next two verses the Greek copies with full consent apply the word heauenly vnto Christ Therfore the Greeke copies shunned not this worde heauenly in speaking of Christ but reserued it vnto a fitter place For hauing in the former verse called Christ the Lord from heauen in the verses following he might without danger call him heauenly whereas if he had not sent that title of the Lord from heauen before he might haue bene thought to haue bene called heauenly in respect of the place he came from as the first man is called earthly in regard of the earth from whence he was taken Again seing that Marcion did corruptly alledg verse 45 as plainly appeareth by Tertullian which corruption is not in the Greeke there is no liklie-hood that one of the corruptions of Marcion should continew in the Greeke more theÌ„ th' other Moreouer the Syrian Arabian paraphrasis auncienter then was Marcions reading as the Greek copies doe it is euident that either Marcion brought not in this reading of the Lord or els he brought it in long before he was borne Last of all seing the Greeke Fathers so reade a Lib. de orthod fide cap. 3 Damascene b In 〈◊〉 locuâ— Chrysostome Theophilact Oecumenius al which detested the haeresy of Marcion either this is no corruption or else these learned mens noses were stuffed which coulde neuer smell the sauour of any Marcionisine And althogh diuerse ancient and other writers accustoming themselues to the reading of the vulgare translation followed it in this point because there is no manifest repugnance in it to any article of faith yet that is no let but that this may bee as indeede it is the trueth which is found in Greek copies and not that which is in th' old translator In the second place Ierome alone is brought to discredite so many Greek copies Against whome beside the great consent of the Greeke copies Basil lib. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we oppose the Syrian Arabian Paraphrasis Chrysostom Theophilact Oecumenius Basile who thrise in one book doth so alledge it as the copies supposed to be falsified And last of al wee oppose Ierome himselfe who for once alledging it thus for his benefite against Hieron aduersus Helbidium ad Eustoch de seruand virginitate his aduersarie in that booke where the Papists themselues cannot denie but he abused diuerse testimonies of th' Apostle shamefullie alledgeth it twise as it is in the Greek copies which they condemne Let al men therefore iudge what a worthie proof this is broght from Ierome to discredit these copies which is contraried of so manie and of himselfe who after he was departed from
your owne saying which affirme that you haue forsaken the poynting of the Latine to follow The last page of their preface the poynting of the Greeke And if the Greeke hath kept the trew poynting why should it not keepe the trueth of words And if your Latine haue lost the trew pointing without the which he that readeth the Scripture is like him that rideth without a bridle why should it not rather be said to haue lost the trueth of the words and sense then the Greeke which keepeth the trueth in poynting To the next section The principall cause that hath made you take armes against the Iohn 8. 47 Greeke copies is that you are not of God and therefore cannot abide the wordes of God Thereupon it commeth that th' olde translation as it is further from the worde of God smacketh you better then the Greek copies doe And althogh you may sooner get water out of a flint then anie reliefe of your cause from the Greek copies yet if it were possible for trueth to helpe to maintaine a lye it were yet vnpossible for you to like of it therfore althogh we are assured that you had great aduantage out of the vulgar which is a great cause that maketh you stand so close vnto it and no aduantage at all out of the Greeke as partly hath and further shall appeare yet we know that you haue a further fetch in preferring the handmaide vnto her mistres which is thereby to vndermine all authoritie of the holy Scripture that it being ouer-throwen the Popes decrees might ride on horseback which cannot take breath as long as th' authoritie of the holy Scripture remaineth And if it be as you say that the Greek serueth your turne better then the vulgar you beare vs witnes at vnawares that the small estimation which we haue your vulgar in procedeth not of anie feare that we stand in lest he should hurt our cause To the next section page 18. It were doubtles vnworthie the name of a translation that should be inferiour to the vulgar Howbeit we charge not th' old translator of Popery and impute not all the corruptions in the vulgar to the translator but rather to th' enemie which sowe tares in his field albeit as hath bine said he might some-where preiudice the trueth not thinking of it As for the testimonies both here and in the former section they are discussed in their proper places To the next section We grant they are word for word at in the Greek And therefore vnlesse we shewe that Poperie leaning vpon them falleth to the ground and that it is not only staied by them but destroyed of them We will willingly confesse our selues most vnworthie eyther of the defence of so good a cause or of the places which we ocupy in the Church of God In the meane season your beggery is too impudent which take that for graunted wherin you haue bene alwaies in the face resisted And if we would trifle out the time as you doe we could for fiue or six sentences which you bring as seming to smyle vpon you alledge fiue or six hundreth which doe so apparantly frowne vpon your Poperie as at the verie sight of them it falleth downe dead If you had any generall councils or anie other auncient fathers of the west part beside Cyprian and Primasius to warrant your phrases by we dout not but you would haue made them speake which handle the matter so cunninglie that the dumbe in your cause and sometime those which are eloquent against it are notwithstanding for want of others compelled to speake for it As for the two fathers alledged let the reader looke the answer in the proper place To the next section page 19. As the Philosopher saide of his work that being set forth it should 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the hardnes and darknes thereof as it were be vn-set forth so may it be verified in a good part of the Iesuites translation that being translated it remaineth partly for the sottish superstition of keeping of words rather then sense and partly for th'unnecessarie newe fanglednesse of forraine speach as it were vn-translated So is your translation as litle Catholik as may be as that which is so proud so scornfull disdainful that none of the ruder sort can haue any acquaintance with it wheras a good translator will endeuour to deliuer to his reader the meaning of his author which he trāslateth with al light plainnes of speach possible What are the sacred words speaches for retaining whereof you are fallen into this seruitude If you had translated the Greek you might better haue pretended this For we acknowledge the pens of th'Apostles and Euangelists to haue bene sacred which we cannot acknowledge not you cannot shew in th' old translator Vnlesse your Councell of Trent comming so manie yeares after th' olde translator was able then to make that sacred which had not beene so before To the next section But let vs heare their examples The first kinde whereof is of Hebrew wordes retained in the Greeke text and by the same reason to be contayned in all translations But this argument turneth not all together so round as you thinke For it may well be that these wordes of Amen and Alleluia c. were well knowne by th'Apostles preaching to the Churches in that time Wherfore th' use of them then when they were well and generallie knowne was more iustifiable then now when they are not so 2. Cor. 1. 20 And for the word Amen first we haue th'Apostle which giueth the iust weight thereof in a Greeke worde Matt. 5. 18 whereunto our yea answereth Secondly th' old translator vseth it as an indifferent thing eyther to trāslate it into Latine or to let it remaine as he found it in the Greeke text Heere therfore the drudgerie of the Iesuites is manifest For notwithstanding they esteeme it not meete that Amen should be translated yet because the vulgar hath translated it they haue also thoght good to follow him therin Thereby tying themselues faster vnto the vulgar then the vulgar did tye himself vnto th' originall Hovvbeit in retayning of the Hebrevv vvords vvhich the originall doth vse they should for vs haue passed vvithout blame if by contrarie practise of that which they professe they had not differed as much from themselues as from vs yet deceiue themselues in that they think they may keepe Corbana aswell as we keepe Hosanna Raca Beliall For Saint Luke hath translated Corbana Gazophylacium vvhich is in our tongue a treasurie and tearmeth Luk. 21. 4 it also the place of the giftes of God Which interpretation when none of th'Apostles or Euangelists giue in the vvords vvhich we haue retained it is euident that they haue not that vvarrant of reteyning this vvhich we haue of those much lesse to keep Parasceue which they ought aswel to haue translated into English the tongue which they write in as Saint Luke forsaking
the Hebrevv and Syriack vvords vsed the vvord that vvas proper vnto the tongue he vvrote in And therefore you impudently face dovvne the trueth vvhen you say that Parasceue is as solemne a word for the sabaoth euen as Sabaoth is for the Iewes seuenth day Neither is there more cause to leaue it vn-translated when we are not able vvith like shortnes of our speach to attaine the full signification then to leaue it vnturned when the shortnes of our speach affordeth a sentence in a smaller compasse of wordes then doth th' originall And if this be a sufficient reason to hold the translators hand because there are three wordes in Mat. 1. 19. the translation of Parasceue aboue that which is in the Greeke why haue you translated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 put to open shame Naye howe commeth it to passe that without all warrant of the Greeke or circumstance of the place beyond the mark of the vulgar translation which you propounde vnto your selues and that in text Act. 8. letters you translate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they took order for buriall We knowe therefore that your Dirigie groates and Trentall money will make you lauish and rauill in your translation as much as your seruile minde maketh you dumb mute in other places where you might better speake In the rest also your comparisons are foolish For if we haue retained certē words in their originall because our speach fitteth them not so well it followeth not therefore that you might doe that where it is at hand and readie to serue the Greeke or Hebrew word Or if we haue sometimes not vsed the benefite and wealth of our tongue doth it follow therefore that you may so doe And if we seeking to translate all the Greek wordes haue left some vntranslated because the English phrase either did not afford it vnto vs or els stood at that time far from vs doth it followe that you should retain those words in a strange tongue which our tongue doth afford you the translation of which we haue found out vnto your hand and which hath confirmation by the common vse and practise of our nation for manie yeares together Breifly whereas our people by the grace of God in knowledge of the worde through the meanes of a lightsome plaine translation haue bene deliuered out of Egypt in steed that you should haue added light where it is wanting and plained that which is rough you haue endeuoured by your clouddy and hacked speaches to bring in againe all confusion and ignorance of God and of his trueth And if your daintie stomack could not brooke the feast of the sweete bread yet was there no cause for you to accuse it of falshood seing sweete bread vnleauened bread with vs are all one The translation also printed at Geneua hath vnleauened bread But nothing tasteth you but Azymes and that because the people cannot chaw these crusts of yours or bones rather which of purpose you set before them that they may departe hungrie from your table Your interpretation of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is false without all manner of proofes framed out of your cruell and vnmercifull iudgement of throwing all into hell which die without baptisme as if they were not planted in the house of God before they be baptized where the true vse of baptisme is towards those which we vnderstand either by their own confession or by the couenant to be already planted in the house of God As for the meaning of th' Apostle it is euident that he would haue none drawne to the ministery of the worde which is lately come to the profession of the Gospell therefore your fantasie of a neophyte that hath bene an olde scholler in the schoole of Christ for so you must meane implieth a manifest contradiction and is all one as if you should say he is a new olde plant or a new olde scholler For in those that were not gathered from heathenish religion to the fellowship of the Gospell before the yeares of discretion the same daie that they became true schollers they became true plants and contrariwise Wherefore to be a young scholler is the same thing in effect as to be a yong plant where Neophyte to a bare Englishman is nothing at all no more then depositum exinanited exhaust the foolerie and beastlines whereof is euident to all men seing our speach is able to yeeld the iust valuation of them And if our shewing the glad tidings be not significatiue to our nation much lesse is your Euangelizing which scarce one amongst a hundreth doth vnderstand And if you had learned that the doctrine of Christ vnder the Gospell is not set forth sufficientlye by the Greeke word without a Trope of synecdoche or as they call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you might easilie haue knowen that the same Trope being vnderstood in our glade tidings would haue reached the Greek word and whatsoeuer is signified by it sufficientlye For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was a Greeke worde before the Gospell came into the world and is vsed of Greek authors to signifie all manner of good newes and nothing els And therefore the word can properly signify no more now then it did then But th' Euangelist chose that word especially to note that where men are desirous to knowe good tidings they should bestowe both their eares to vnderstand this doctrine which is only worthie of that name And if our translation liked you not as you haue translated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gospell so you might haue translated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Gospell and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gospelling with more vnderstanding of our people and with as full attainment of the signification of the words vnlesse you will confesse that you haue fayled in turning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Gospell Lastly if so much of the signification is lost vnlesse it be turned Euangelize how commeth it that you Math. 11. 5. haue translated it the Gospell is preached Heere therefore your drudgerie to th' old interpreter is againe manifest for notwithstanding you hold it ill turned vnlesse the Greek word be retayned yet because th' old translator turneth it otherwise you stick not contrarie to your iudgment to turn it as he doth so haue you no iudgement of your own and th' old translators iudgement who by turning it nowe one way and nowe another signifieth an indifferency of translation you vtterly ouerthrowe But that vvhich follovveth is more absurde that the people must be depriued of the naturall translation of the vvords through your sottish desire of keeping of Latin vvords which the vulgar vsed vvhich these lying spirits calling first the Latine text of the Scripture after by and by call it the verie words of the Scripture as if the Scripture translated into the English tongue vvere not as much the Scripture as that vvhich is translated into the Latine For your poenance you must do poenance