haue left the ferular in the olde translators hand As for the Church seruice it was so in the primitiue Church in the Latin tongue as the people by reason of the Romaine Empire vnderstood it As touching your Popish service full of Idolatrye and superstition as we care not what translation it followeth so we iudge moste corrupt the most commodious To the fift reason It might aswell haue commanded to eate accornes after corne was found out And as for this Trent conuenticle being assembled by the Pope th' arch-enemy vnto our Sauiour Christ and holden of a sorte of blinde Bishops sworne to speak no truth but that he th' enemy of truth should allowe of we esteeme it no more then the godly fathers did the councill of Ariminum Ephesinum the second especially seing that many councils before it better wiser learneder and more troubled with hereticks difficulties of traÌ„slations neuer so concluded Secondly being here ashamed of the Trent conclusion they mollify it as though they In Martins praeface before his discouery nomber 35. held it for a good translation where both the councill concludeth and the Iesuites holde it for th'authenticall Scripture which they doe neither of the Greek nor of the Hebrew Thirdly let them tell vs how they will reconcile the Trent coÌ„clusion with Pope Leo the 10. his authoritye Who approued Apolog. Erasmi aduersus Stunicam Platina in Damasâ— Erasmus translation as Damasus had Ieroms Last of al admitting it were the best translation yet that is no cause why th' originall should not be rather translated To the sixt reason Further then it hath bene corrupt by popishe Monkes which were for some yeares th' ordinary Iaylers to keepe it within the prison of their cloisters we accuse it not of partiality to popery wherevnto it could hardly be partiall when popery was not But sure we are that the Greek is lesse partiall Secondly they might translate with purpose not to hurt the truth and yet fail of the purpose as appeareth manifestly in th' example of promeriting of God not only barbarously but falsly translated As touching the sinceritie grauitie and maiestie of it compared with other translations of later yeares the matter is before the Iudg where our no is as good as your yea but if it were as you say yet your traÌ„slating it in passing by th' originall of the Greek can by no meanes bee excused but only by this that not able to clime vp into the Scriptures in the Greeke and Hebrevv tongues you vvere compelled to seaze vppon the Latine vvhich is the honestest excuse that you can make To the seuenth reason page 12. Praecisenes in translation is vvorthy to be commended but superstition is vvorthy no praise And if the Latine phrase serue the Greeke ansvvere vnto it better sometime then th' English doth that argueth no more the goodnes of the translation then it proueth th' English to be better then the Latine translation because the English phrase frameth often better vvith the Greeke then doth the Latine Of this praecisenes they bring two examples vvherein commending the old translation they condemne ours The first is for that vve translate Tit. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 14. to maintaine to good workes Your Greek stomackes be very quasie that cannot brook this translation Tell vs I pray you how vvill you translate that Demosthenes contra Timoc Buâ—â—us in commenta in Demosthenes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but to maintain your right Housoeuer you translate it vve care not seing Budaeus a man of singular skill in rijs tueri defensitare 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that tongue doth so translate it as we haue done In th' other places Heb. 10. 20. we are charged for turning he prepared Wherein whether th' old translator haue svvarued further from the Greek it vvill not be so easie to discern For the Greek vvord doth properly signifie to make newe vvhich the Latine vvorde that th' olde translator vseth doeth not expresse for initio doth not signify to make new for that doth innouo but to enter into And this defect of th' olde translator in this vvorde the Iesuites them selues do bevvraye vvhich forsaking a proper English vvord more expressing the old translators initiabit haue followed M. Bezas translation who translateth dedicabit which they turne dedicated without acknowledgment of him by vvhome they haue in that place bettered their translator The other cauill of Traditions Iustifications Idoll is plentifully ansvvered and further shal be as they fall out in the discourse of this booke But from this praecise and exact following of the Greeke how far th' olde translator is by differing from it by being contrary to it by putting to that which is not in the Greek and taking avvay that which is in it shall soone after appeare Although if it vvere so precise yet that is nothing to yours which goeth so far from it both in vvordes and sense To the eight reason If Maister Beza commend it who knew so many faultes by it hee hath thereby testifyed the softnesse and mildnes of his spirite and his louing and charitable affection couering so far as th'edifiing of the Church might beare th' olde translators vvants and defects and thereby laieth naked the proud disdainfull and quareling spirit of the trifling and caueling Iesuites childishly snatching carping where there is no cause discouering their owne shame in steade of disgracing others Howbeit it is vntrue vvhich they here alledge out of M. Beza For he doth not prefer th' olde translator vnto Erasmus but defendeth him in certain places where Erasmus without cause doth challenge him And in th' other place vpon Saint Luke his praise of him is not so full as they pretend For he sayeth that although he may seeme very religiously to haue turned these holy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bookes yet it appeareth that he knew not the signification of these wordes much lesse the force and power of them But if Master Bezas iudgement be one of the pillers that must vpholde this olde translator this it is in plaine wordes It goeth â—ften from the Greeke oft it is absurde oft Beza in Epist ad noui Testam annot quae inscribitur Serenissimae Dominae Elizabethae Reginae â—tdoth add the learned it neuer satisfied the â—gnorant is brought into many errours Which notwithstanding he speaketh not altogether in respect of th' olde translator as in regarde of either the negligence rashnes or malice of those whose handes it hath passed through But if it were the best translation by M. Bezas iudgment yet it followeth not thereof that it hath no fault or ought to be translated before the Greek It would vndoutedly be more credit for your cause to giue better weight of reason although the number were lesse To the ninth reason It were to be laboured for that there were in euerie seuerall country for th' use of the Church in it one Bible translated into the language
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
thereof and one Latine Bible generally for all the Churches in whose Schooles the Latine tongue is the common interpreter which for their euidence and manifest preheminence aboue all other translations might haue at the least the most voyces of them which are skilful in that matter to recommend them to the publike vse of euery country seuerally in their proper language or iointly of all the Schooles in the Latine tongue as is before mentioned But that any such trāslations should be seated with th' originall of the Greek or Hebrew whereby they should not haue the principall or royall Chariot whereinto the translations howe honorable so euer shoulde as subiectes not once dare to clime is in no sorte to be suffered And although these translations were for the publike vse to be onely holden and without waighty cause great consent not to be chāged or without great modesty not to be checked yet other inferior translations might for conference sake haue in priuate houses and studies their fruit not to be repented of Which if it cannot yet be obtained men are therefore for the measure of grace they haue receiued no more to be discouraged from their worthy labours of dayly clensing the corruption of translations then Saint Luke was beaten back from writing the moste holy story wherein he was preuented Luke 1. of many which vndertooke that which he only atchieued Neither is there any more danger of dissentions and endles reprehending by the diuersitie of translations now then was in the primitiue Church Wherein Augustine affirmeth that the number of Latine interpreters could not be numbered yet August lib. de doctrina Christ c. 11 was he so far from deeming that they bred diuersitie of doctrine thar he deemed them profitable especially for those which wanted th' originall tongues for asmuch as that which was obscure in one might be manifest in another Whereunto may be added that diuersitie of translations was also profitable for the learned whose diligence of seeking for the Greeke copies was thus whetted on It were a pittifull thing if th' unitie of Christians Ephes 4 which the Lord hath bound with so many bonds should be broken by a diuersitie of translation And if there may be a diuersitie of expositions vpon one place of Scripture without vnloosing the knot of vnitie of faith and doctrine it is not to be feared that the diuersitie of translations shall be able to cut in sunder the stringes wherewith Christian vnitie and concorde are tied And if any will abuse this diuersitie of translation to contention yet are the translations no more in fault therfore then many other good thinges which being ordeyned for the nurcery of vnitie are through corruption of men abused to the contrary of that which they were ordeined for As for Cochlau◠words of Luther whose enemy he was they wil not be taken of any indifferēt men We gladly receiue this testimony of our enemies the Iesuites that we are sworne to no mans iudgment howe learned and loued so euer he be vnto vs. Howbeit we make it no rule either to condemne Maister Beza where we depart from him or to iustifie th' olde translator where we cleaue vnto him but shew our iudgment only which we held at that time which vpon more light of knowledg in th' originall we are readie to reforme For with Augustine we professe our selues of that number which write in profiting and Augustine Epist 7 profit in wryting For the particular accusation of Cainan Luke 3. 36. looke for answer in the proper place As for that Act. 1. 14. who be furthest from the sense of the holy Ghost may be considered Vpon Act 2. verse 4 of the reasones alledged there But that neither we translating with th' olde translator wemen nor Maister Beza translaitng wiues are far from the Greeke it would easily haue bene vnderstood of all those which being not Greek borne had gotten any maner of denization in Greece For it is wel known that the Greeke word which th' Euangelist vseth signifieth both a Hieron lib 1. aduersus Iouinianū woman and a wife And if they had not learned th' use of this worde to be indifferent to both in the Greek writers yet they might haue learned it in Ierome a Latine author who telleth them expresly that the Greeke word signifieth both wemen and wiues Therfore whethersoeuer of these two translations departeth from the sense yet is it euident that neither departeth from the Greeke To the tenth reason and first to the proofe in the first section Th' originall copies of the newe Testament are by this paradoxe of the Iesuites least beholden to Gods watchful prouidence of all other writinges For in all other learning the good liquor is best preserued in the first tongue as it were the first caske wherein it was put and the water is alwaies sweeter and holsommer in the fountaine then in the streames that streame from it Wherevpon it is holden by all learned consent that it is better to reade Plato Aristotle Xenophon Euclide and Galen in Greek then in any language whereinto they haue bene turned be th' interpreter neuer so wise and faithfull And therefore in their workes the doubts which rise of their meaning are voyded by their Greeke Copies as by their highest court which taketh knowledg therof Only in th' art of all artes learning of all learninges which concerneth men so deeply as al other knowledge in cōparison is scarce as one haire to the whole head the prouidēce of God hath so slept that therein th' originall as the gold is become siluer and the olde translator which would hardly goe for good siluer is become the finest and purest golde The prophane writers some hundreth yeares before the new Testament haue bene maintained in that purenes that their translations haue alwaies remained in subiection and obedience of their first copies from whence they were drawn only in th' original of the new Testament the watchman of Israell hath so not slumbered only but slept also that that which was somtime the Ladie Dame of all is now become tributarie to th' olde translator These are the golden cōsequēces of the leaden Iesuites which hovv brutish they be let the reader iudge of that vvhich hath bene spoken in th'entrance to this question They might vvith asmuch truth haue led the Lord himselfe into captiuitie and thraldome of th' olde translator as to put doun his scepter vvhich is the new Testament in the Greeke tongue by not suffering it to be born vp in the presence of th' olde translator But th' olde translator himselfe from vvhence hath he receiued the great welth riches supposed to be in his translation from th' originall for vvhat can they els ansvver And hath they of Gods careful prouidence bene more vpon th' olde translation then vpon th' originall more vpon a mans worde then vpon his owne If therfore th' original haue bene sithence that time corrupted hovv
considering that Luk. 17. 4. you turne the same vvord vvhich you translate doe poenance be poenitent The same vvhip commeth to you for your aduent which in one and Mat. 24. 27 the same chapter and sense turne it comming aduent both We are content you keepe your Priest and your Chalice to your selues Albeit you greatlye forget your selues vvhich maks your Priest here to come of the Latine vvord vvhom othervvhere Vpon Act. 14. 22. you vvoulde faine driue from the Greek To the next section page 20. We need not trauaile much to lay forth the shame of these men vvho themselues shevv their ovvn nakednes Let their first example heere be considered and so let all men iudge vvhether a most plain sentence of the holy Ghost be shamefully obscured and not obscured onely but made senselesse For the Hebrevve phrase being rendred it is plaine that that vvhich they turn spirituals of wickednes ought to be turned spirituall vvickednes And if they had any care that the people should haue bene made vvarie against this spirituall craftines they would haue said in the heauenly places or things as the text considered in the circumstance would best beare rather then to say celestials But it shuld appeare that beside their peevish affecting of obscuritie th' ignorance of the Hebrevv phrase in the former part of this sentence and th' ignorance of the sense in the latter part droue them vpon this vvitlesse translatiō The same ignorance of the Hebrevv tongue caused them to vse some like dotage in the next exāple For if they had knovvne that it is ordinarie and vsuall for the Hebrewes to vnderstand the verbe substantiue had further learned that the verbe simple hath as the place and circumstance requireth the signification of the compound they should easilie haue vnderstood that this translation what is betwene me and thee had not passed the measure of a simple and plaine translation The next example doth likevvise bevvray their ignorance in all good lavv of translation For it is vvell knovven to children that euerie tongue hath a proper composition in such sort that he that vvill make the composition of one tongue aggree vvith the composition of another vtterly corrupteth the tongue vvhich he vvill conform And is all one as in a body vvhich is disfigured and deformed by displacing of the seuerall members thereof In Hebrevv he that saith MARA MALE and not MALE MARA is easily knovvne not to speake the tongue of Canaan Bread white in our speach woulde offend patient cares white bread in the French language would be as offensiue And if so small a change as it were the remoouing of a worde to the next house be so foule how much more is it not to be abidden that the word whose naturall place is in the beginning should be set in th' end as if it were remoued from one end of the streete to th' other And if there could be any profite in this dotage yet haue not you obserued it For where the Greeke hath Mat. 12. 20 in one verse a reed brused flax smoaking you haue in the former followed th' order of the Greek and say a reed brused but in the latter you haue left th' order of the Greek and kept the naturall order of our speach saying smoaking flax not flax smoaking And although it be no answer heere to say that they followed their olde translator seing rather they ought to haue followed the ful consent of the Greek copies if such an imitation had bene needfull yet they are easily stripped of that answere For sometimes they leaue the order of th' old interpreter and follow the Greeke as Math. 4. 4. they say as the Greek bread alone and not as the vulgar alone bread Which also they doe not in phrase only but in whole sentences as Math. 4. they forsake the vulgar which sayeth walked in darkenes and take the Greeke which sayeth sate in darkenes And in Rom. 12. in stead of that the vulgar hath not defending our selues they haue cleaued to the Greeke which is not reuenging your selues Neyther can they say that this was the slip of a pen of the writer for beside that there is no resemblance of the wordes they are shut from that in that that Ierome so readeth And other sometime they forsake the order of the Greeke and Math. 4. 6. vulgar both For where both the Greek and vulgar haue to his Angels shal he giue charge of thee they haue turned Ibid. ver ◠it he will giue his Angels charge of thee And againe where both Greeke and Latine haue into an hill high verie they as it should seeme ashamed of this their apish and sottish imitation haue translated it as we doe into a very high mountaine So it appeareth that as they are vtterly ignorant of all good order of translation so they keepe not themselues to their owne crooked rule but when and where it pleaseth them And as they make themselues ridiculous in the professiō of a superstitious obseruation of th' order of words so are they not only often ridiculous but sometime impious in the sense which their seruile obseruation of like number of words draweth them vnto Take for example one of the most comfortable places in al the scripture which by their sottish translation in sparing a worde Rom. 8. 33 34. they haue turned into deadly poyson and bitter wormwood For vnto this question who shall accuse against the elect of God They haue added for answer God which iustifieth as if god shuld accuse his elect And to another question who is he that shall condemn They ad for answer Christ Iesus that died c. Cleane contrarie to the meaning and phrase of th' Apostle also contrarie to their meaning but yet their words can beare no other sense where th' Apostle keeping the Hebrew phrase left out the verbe substantiue which being alwaies in that phrase vnderstood of it selfe is not so in our tongue vnlesse it be expressed Now that we se their peruerse imitation of wordes is not religious but superstitious and sometime impious sometime obserued and sometime not at their pleasure it wil be also easie to see in diuers examples that they riot and play the wantons in their translation Albeit it hath alreadie bene performed and that in three or foure of those examples which they haue alledged to testifie their great frugalitie in translating yet there are others whereby the same is conuinced 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prohibebat As Math. 3. 14. where the Greek hath he vtterly forbade him and the vulgar forbad him they leauing both the Greek and the vulgar translate staied him and in the same chapter verse they translate praesented and yet 8. chap. 16. offered th' olde translator hauing obtulerunt in both places Mark Rom. 12. 9. 49. they translate victimae Hebr. 5. 1. they translate sacrifices and Hebr. 13. 16. they turn hostes the word with full consent
of the Greeke copies being one and the same in all Ordinarilie they translate prepuce and prepuced yet Act. 7. 51. they say vncircumcised Mark 10. 42. they translate ouerrule Dominâ—ntur them contrarie to the meaning of our Sauiour contrarie to Saint Luke which vseth the verb simple as of the same value as the compound and contrarie to their own vulgar who vseth an indifferent word which hath not so great excesse of rule adioyned with it thereby to help the Lordship of their clergy To stand vpon the rest of their examples whereby they glory in their owne shame would be so small profite of the reader especially coÌ„sidering that the places of anie importance are other-where debated some of them being ridiculous as a word done hell of fire c. yet can we not passe ouer one open impudent willfull and sausie corruption which they haue vsed throughout their whole translation which alwaies in stead of the Lord haue set and that text-wise our Lord contrarie to the faith both of all the Greeke examples and the vulgar translation hauing therefore taken from and put to you haue all the curses standing at your doores which are threatned against falsifyers of the publick recordes of the church whether they be considered as they are in deed or as they are in your opinion For notwithstanding you haue laide vp the vulgar translation in the holy ark of the Lord hurling out from thence th' originall as it were the two tables written by the finger of God when such dealing may serue your turne yet bear you so little reuerence vnto it as that in a matter of small importance which can neither hinder vs nor help you you haue put out and put in at your pleasure And although the former fault may happily be imputed to your ouersight yet the latter of adding vvherein you fall so often and continually can argue nothing els but a challenge of maistership and Rabbinisme in the Church of Christ and of a chaire aduanced so high as that the chaire of our Sauiour may scarce seeme to be a foot-stoole vnto it And if you could shew but one such boldnes of ours through-out the translation of the vvhole body of the Bible vve vvould couer our faces and our ansvver should be in silence We see easily vvhat a small gale of vvind hath driuen you vpon these sands Only for that vve according to the most accustomable phrase of the Scripture do so speake you haue chosen to Heb. 7. 14. speake othervvise then the Scripture rather then you vvould speak as vve doe Ywisse you see it othervvise in vs vvhich bank not your phrase of speaking vvheresoeuer the texte of Scripture doth offer it vs. You haue made the vvall of your separation from vs high othervvise and you might haue made it higher with much lesse apparance of your contempt of the worde Sauing that the Lorde would thus discouer you to a hatefull abhomination of your malapertnes in handling his worde Beside that as you haue deuided your tongues from the tongue of the holy Ghost so you haue deuided it from your owne harts For neyther in deed nor by your own doctrine can you say our God or our Lord which stand in a continuall mammering whether he be louingly affected towards you or no. You haue presumed further herein then durst your good maisters and betters For the whole vniuersitie of Louaene translating the Bible into French as you doe the new Testament into English kept themselues Le Seigneur herein praecisely to the old translator turning the Lord and not our Lord. Where if the weight of authoritie be asked after the vniuersitie of Louane is of better mark then the vniuersitie of Rhemes the Doctors and Diuines of Louane then the Nouices and Questionists of Rhemes the whole vniuersitie of Louane of greater credite then one small Colledge of the vniuersitie of Rhemes And if to all these we had for answer only returned in such and such places we translate thus and thus not as the Iesuites doe as they say that they translate not as the Protestants doe we feare not but al indifferent iudgment wil be constrained to giue the praeheminence of a true and plaine translation vnto vs especially in respect of theirs As euen in the next example where the Greeke word is different eyther to the holy Ghost or to the wind forasmuch as it is most euident by vndoubted arguments that the wind is to be vnderstood we holde it for a grace of our translation which hath appropriated the speach to the meaning of the Scripture And therfore we may iustly condemne their translation which where one thing is intended and marked out of the Scripture vseth that worde which is common to both significations Albeit we know neither generall speach of the whole land nor particular language of any seuerall shire where the word spirit doth signifie wind So that if it were a vertue for your translation so to hault of both sides that the certaine meaning coulde not bee knowne yet haue you not here attayned vnto it To the next section page 21. That the Greeke neuer fauoreth you it shall euidently appeare that there is no corruption vsed of Maister Beza in either of these verses let the reader looke in their seuerall places To the rest we answer nothing as we doe not vnto the next section nor the next to it For first it is knowne to all the world that in both th' Epistles to the Hebrewes Saint Iames we acknowledg the holyest and highest authoritie that can be Secondly it shall appeare in the place that we keepe the boundes of modestie in abstaining to name the writter of the Epistle to the Hebrewes whose name the holie Ghost hath concealed Thirdly not sticking to name Saint Iames Epistle in our best translations Generall it is well knowen that both that title is not giuen of the holy Ghost but of the scholiast which tooke it of Eusebius and is not giuen for a mark of further degree of holynes aboue other Epistles but only to note the difference of th' other Epistles writteÌ„ with greater restraint of person or place Where these latter Epistles of Saint Iames Peter Iohn and Iude were directed to the Iewes scattered in diuers countries prouinces whither they had bene carried captiue and therefore are called generall Beside that it were good for you not to be bould with Eusebius in the title of Catholike Euseb lib. 4. histor eccles c. 22. 23. vnlesse you will matche Saint Iames most holy Epistle with the Epistles of Denys Bishop of Corinth which Eusebius calleth Catholike as he doth Sainte Iameses Eusebius therfore was not a fit Euseb 2. lib. hist eccles â— 23. author for this especially if you had remembred his rash iudgement of Saint Iameses Epistle To the three next sections vve ansvvere nothing In the last let hardly the reader iudge how they help his vnderstanding euerie way which make plaine places rough darken that which is lightsom by disorder of sentences by vnwonted phrase by wordes fetched from far countries which their owne countrie doeth affoard them off And finallie by doubtfull speache inclyning as well to that which is not the meaning of the Scripture as to that which is And the way which is so plaine and lightsome that they can neuer make rough nor dark by their translation they doe by their annotations vtterly peruert And therefore we comfort our selues with this saying of th' Apostle that you shal proceede no further 2. Tim. 5. 9. for asmuch as your madnes shall be knowne to all men FINIS
same bookes which we doe argueth a giltie conscience constreyned to confesse the truth which they condemn A strange impudencie therfore vvhich neither Salomon prafat in Iarem praefat in Dan. ad Domni Rogat in Esram Nehemiam ad Laetam Epiphan lib. dâ—mens ponder Concil Laodic can 59. able to answere our manifest reasons nor to bring any of theirs nor yet to match in any sort our authorities not withstanding blare out their tongues crying and barking still that we disauthorize the Canonicall Scripture Their quarrell againste Master Beza is answered in the proper place That against the tenth article of the Creede in meeter is vtterly vnworthy of any answer for the meeter alwayes requiring a paraphrasis or som compas of words the poet could not more fitly haue expounded the forgiuenes of sinnes then by noting our saluation by faith alone according as th' Apostle of the remission of sinnes out of the Psalme concludeth the iustification by faith without workes Th' other corruption of Christs soule descending into hell after his death argueth no contradiction amongest our selues but a smal remnant of th' infection of Poperie in that author which is so malitious and stubborne a leprosie as for the approued tryall of their clensing froÌ„ it they haue commonly neede to be shut vp from pulpit and pen some resonable time and as they say in the French prouerb The monks Cowle is not easely put of in many yeares what consent of iudgment there is amongst vs in that behalf the later editions which haue left that Creede cleane out may somwhat declare To the foure next sections pag. 9. 10. 11. What compassion haue you had of your country men which haue kept back the wheat of Gods word from them so many yeares and ages vvherevvith they should haue bene fed to aeternall life And your compassions novv vvhat are they but as Salomon saieth of the Prov. 12. 10. compassions of the wicked moste cruell Wherefore it is certaine that as the curses of Gods people haue hitherto pearsed your soules and runne them thorovv for engrossing into your hands the graine of life so novv they vvill be as sore and sharp against you for selling them such mustie mildred blasted and by all meanes corrupted graine Neither is your impietie lesse now in poysoning them then it was before in staruing them Wherefore you partly perswade vs that you haue done this worke in feare and trembling seeing in so open corruptions and so manifolde and manifest wrestings it was harde for you not to see eft-sones hell opened before your eyes As for your childish translation of numbering word for word and as it were syllable for syllable rather then to giue sense for sense and to translate rather by weight of sense then by tale of words although also it shal appeare that you haue kept your selfe to neither yet haue you no defence in Ierome for it For although by the wordes you alleadge maye well be gathered out of him a straighter Iawe in turning the Scriptures then in turning other writters yet hauing shewed in the same Epistle that his vse in translating Hieron ad Pammach de optima gener inter prâ—tâ—ndi was not to nuÌ„ber but to weigh wordes that he followed the wordes so farre as they were not strange from the custome of speach that he translated not wordes but sentences he addeth that it is no maruell if this were done in translating prophane and ecclesiasticall writers seing that the seuenty interpreters th'Euangelistes and Apostles had done the same not yeelding worde for worde And after in the same Epistle he saith that the care of th'Evangelists was not to hunt after wordes and syllables but to set downe the minde or sense of the doctrines And therefore sheweth by diuers examples where they in wordes neither aggree with the 70. interpreters nor yet with the Hebrew Amongst other th' example that he citeth out of Saint Marke is notable where our Sauiour Christs words being onely Tabitha Cumi i. Rise mayde th'Euangeliste translating it to make the sense more full interlaceth I say to thee And if the Iesuites tarie to heare where Ierome himself vseth this libertie in translating the Scriptures we send Ad Pammach Marcellinum them to another Epistle of his where they shall find him defeÌ„ding himselfe in his liberty of traÌ„slating Naschqu Bar which being worde for worde kisse the sonne he translated adore the sonne least Nolens traÌ„sferre putidè sensum magis sequutus suÌ„ as hee saith if hee had turned otherwise he should haue turned it euill fauoredlie Which we write rather to shew how farre Ieromes iudgement in translating differed from these apish Iesuites then that wee esteeme that th' other translation which hee shunned was so hard orrough as hee iudged it And therefore it was elegantly saide of the Emperour I hate alike as departing aequally from the meane both Antiquitaries Suetonius in Octauio Augusto and affectors of nouelties The firste place recited out of Augustine maketh nothing to the purpose For as the stile of the Scripture as it were the garments and habite thereof is neither new fangled nor exquisitly laboured by perswasible wordes of mans wisedome so is it not foule sluttish but it is arrayed from top to toe as an honest and chaste matrone avoyding aswell barbarousnes and rusticalnes of th' one side as curiositie and affectation of th' other In th' other place there is no such thing founde as they talke of albeit that also should make as little to the purpose as th' other And if the olde writters speaking and writing vnto their people did speake and write barbarouslie that they might bee the better vnderstoode of them what is that to make it a rule in translating If Ierome in correcting th' olde translation so tempered his penne that amending it where it changed the sense of the text he left the rest to remaine as they were It followeth not because hee suffered them to stand that therefore he alowed of them throughout considering that a man vvill not vse that boldnesse in correcting another mans vvorke vvhich he vvould doe in his ovvn nor put out euery phrase and euery maner of speach vvhich he himself could better Besides that it is a harder matter then you ar euer able to performe to shevve that this olde translation vvherein these venerable barbarismes solecismes are found is the same that Ierome corrected In none of th' other places alleadged out of Augustine is there any thing to maintaine this babishnes of translation but rather contrariwise when he affirmeth that some bind themselues too much vnto the wordes vvhich translations hee holdeth for insufficient Also that vvhen the phrases are not translated according to the custome of the auncient Latinists although nothing be taken away from the vnderstanding yet they offend those which are delighted with the things when a certaine purenes is kept in the signes of the thinges
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
ad Pâ—mmach libro 1. aduersus louinian much lesse that which he corrected seing there be found in this which he condemneth not onlye as touching the wordes but also as touching the meaning And in another place he saith that Ierome manifestly condemneth the former translation vvhich wee yet for the most part doe vse Ierome although without cause scurgeth the old interpreter for translating 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sobrietie which sayth he should haue bene translated chastitie And this hee doeth in tvvo or three places Now a man would not think that Ierome was so vn-aduised as to haue giuen his aduersarie this aduaÌ„tage that he might reply against him that it was his own translation or that which he corrected and therfore that he was driuen to a hard shift which could not defend his cause but by denyal of him self But that this translation is not Ieromes Prâ—fat ad coâ—â—er â—â—ter â—estaâ—eÌ„â— let the reader looke the discourse that Munster hath made hereof Howbeit if this were granted them which they were neuer able to proue what haue they gained thereby for it followeth not that if either it were truly translated or faithfully corrected by Ierome that therefore it is now true and voyd of corruption The fountaine of the Scriptures is so walled by the prouidence of God so close sealed and couered that by no either negligence or malice of men there can any such thing fall into it to troble the cleare sweete water thereof but as for the writinges of men they haue no such priuiledge neither are they laid vp in any arke of the durable wood of Cittim but that they may be and are corrupted as the daily experience doth declare Whereof it is good to heare Ieromes own testimony I doe not think that the Lordes wordes are to be corrected but I goe about Hieron ad MarcellaÌ„ tom 2. epist vlt. to correct the falsenes of the Latin bookes which is plainly proued by the diuersitie of them and to bring them to th' originall of the Greek from the which they do not denye but that they were translated who if they mislike the water of the most pure fountaine they may drink of the myrie puddles And in the same place where they haue alledged if we must beleeue the Latin copies let them Hieron ad Damasum in â—raf in quatuor Evangel tom 3 tell vs which For there be in a manner as many diuers coppies as bookes But if they think that the truth is to be sought out of the greater parte why doe we not returne to the originall in Greek and correct those thinges which either haue bene vnskilfully translated or of ignorant presumptuous persons foolishly amended or of negligeÌ„t wryters added or changed Now if the Latin translations before Ieromes time were in 300. yeares so manifoldly corrupted how much more may we think that Ieromes translation hath in 1300. yeares bene impared and imbased especially wheÌ„ as in diuers of these hundreth yeares there hath raigned such blindnes and barbarousnes as neuer the like and when as it was coppied out for the Monachâ— indoctiâ—r more vnlearned theÌ„ a Monke Hieron in prafat in 4. Euang. Ludouicus Viues lib. â— de caus corrupt â—rtiuÌ„ moste parte by vnclarkly Monkes whose vnlearnednes is come into prouerb Of this corruption of books the reader may further see both in Ierom others of later times Wherefore it is euideÌ„t that either this traÌ„slation is not Ieromes or els it is corrupted and changed and that more materially then themselues are able to alledg of the Greek coppies Wherfore if you flie from the Greeke for that there is some alteratioÌ„ from th' original there is no cause why you should runne to this translation so diuers and repugnant to Ieromes vnles it be for that which Ierome sayeth that you had rather drink of the myrie puddels of the Latine translations then of the pure fountaine of the Greeke coppies To the thirde reason Th' antecedent being vn-true the consequence of Augustines commendation of it can haue no truth And if it were the same translation that Augustine commendeth yet Augustines praise is such of it as doeth not free it from faults nor lifteth it vp as you doe into the place of Canonicall Scripture For speaking of his translation of the Gospels only he affirmeth that it was August epist 10 August Epist 8. 10 almost faultles And in another place speaking of Ieromes translation of the olde Testament he sayth that if there were any dark places Ierome was like to be deceyued in them as other before him Beside that it is knowne that Augustine doth not alwayes follow this translation yea that hauing sene Ieromes he August lib 18. cap. 43 de ciuitaete Dei still preferred th' elder translation to Ieromes that was newer and affirmeth that the same was not his alone but the Churches iudgement of those tymes wherein Ieromes translation came abroade To the fourth reason Although your speach being vsed of the most part being faint and short to proue that it alone should now be vsed yet euen this is verie false first you are constrayned to confesse that the Greeke fathers vsed it not which argueth plainly that they had it not in that estimatioÌ„ which you haue it For then they would haue caused it to be traÌ„slated for th' use of their own churches if they had esteemed it trewer then the Greeke coppies Secondly the most ancient Latin fathers do not follow it as Tertullian Cyprian Hilary who haue scarce a footstep of it albeit it was likely in the church in their times before Ierome corrected certain places in it Ierom often dissenteth froÌ„ it often also confuteth it There remaine Ambrose Augustine who although they vse it more then the rest yet doe they often forsake it and vsed it not as you doe seruily This is yet Hierome Ambrose Augustine Looke the places before noted Gregor magn epist ad leandruÌ„ in exposit Iob cap. 5 Exposit Iobi 20. c. 24 more euident in that th' ancient fathers and euen those that vsed them most send men when there is controversie of Latine bookes to th' originals of Hebrew Greeke Yea in the very diocese of Rome long after the time of these fathers the Pope himself doth witnes that not only he but the Apostolike seat vsed both the new and olde translation in Latin Now if th' Apostolicke seate in Gregories time who made too great account of this translation vsed both and in the booke of the Psal refusing Ierome followed the old translation there is no liklihood that th' authority which this had before his tyme buried th' authority of th' other translation And as the elder expositors haue not vsed nor expounded it without controulment So the later writers wherof some haue ben pillers in your sinagogue haue bene bould manifoldly to crosse this traÌ„slation of yours For besides Bede Burgensis and Armacan of late dayes Lyra Iansenius and others
much more the translation that hath bene more the translation that hath bene dravven from it It vvould require a booke by it selfe to set forth the iudgment of th' fathers directly fighting against the horrible blasphemy of the Iesuites vvhich olde fathers send men for resolution of all doubtes vnto th' originall of the Greek for the new the Hebrew for th' olde Testament Ierome speaking hereof concludeth that the water of the fountaine is to be beleued to flow more Hieron aduersus Heluidium Hieron ad Liâ—tum pure then that of the riuer or streame And againe as the truth of the bookes of the old testmeÌ„t are to be examined by the Hebrew so the bookes of the new Testament require the triall of the Greeke vvhich sentence Gratian citeth as it were out of Augustine Distinct 9 ad veter Ambrose speaketh in a certaine place of the new testament affirmeth Lib. 2. cap. 6 de spirit sanct Augustine de ciuitate Dei lib. 15 cap. 13 August in Psal 38 that th' authoritie of the Greek bookes is to be preferred Augustine saith that we ought rather to beleue that tongue from which it is by interpreters deriued into another And againe the former tongue expoundeth the later it is made certain and plain in one that was doubtful in another And if it be saide that th' originall vvas then a virgin vvhich is sithence defiled and deflovvred vvhat reasons can the Iesuites alledge vvhy the Hebrevv the Greeke vvhich kept their integritie 400. years together after Christ amiddest as bitter enemies as euer they had as troublesome and tempesteous times as euer vvere sithence should after in time of lesse danger greater quiet loose not their beautie only but their chastitie also And vve maruell that the Iesuites are not afraide to suffer this blot to fall vpon their popish gouernment vvhich braggeth it selfe to be the piller of trueth yet hath had no better care to preserue the truth But th' abominable stinch of this blasphemous opinion vvill better appeare by the Iesuites reasones vvhereby they haue raked stirred vp this dung of theirs The first reason vvhereby they bring vp an euill report of th' undefiled virginity of the Greeke originall is that through multitude of hereticks rising out of Grece it hath as it vvere loste her maidenhead But they remember not that as many cloudes of haeresie rose from thence by occasion of vvorldly vvisdome humane sciences vvherinto they excelling leaned rather then to the simplicity of the vvord so there rose from that same corner of the vvorld great lights of Catholick doctrine vvhereby those mistie cloudes vvere scattered Neither was the diligence of the heretickes greater to deface them then vvas the care of the Catholicks to keepe them vndefaced And seing they conuinced their heresies out of the Scriptures forsomuch as error is not confuted but by truth it follovveth that if the falsifying of Copies by heretikes were proued yet the same could be but in part not so much as in the narrow compas of Grece much lesse in the vvide circuite of the vvorld vvhere the Greek copies vvere spred asvvell as in Greece And notvvithstanding that there haue bene for many 100. years vveightie controuersies betvveen the Greeke Church and the true diuers also betvvene you and it yet neither doe vve accuse them nor you are able to shevv one place of the new testament vvhich they haue attempted to corrupt for their aduantage either in the proceeding of the holy Ghost or in your sole primate and vniuersal Bishop or othervvise This securitie from incorruption of the Greeke Copies is greatly strenghtned by comparison of the Lords safe conduct giuen to th' originall Hebrevv for the space of about a 1000. yeares before the firste comming of our Sauiour Christ For hovvsoeuer that is also charged to be empaired and embased eyther throgh malice or negligence of those that were put in trust vvith the keeping thereof yet the contrarie thereof is manifest For men must consider who put them in trust not man which looketh only vpon the present estate and face of men but God himselfe which looketh into the secretest Rom. 3 kidneyes of the heart to discerne not onely such as they were at the time wherein he committed his oracles vnto them but also what they should be a thousand yeares after Whereupon it will be easie to vnderstand that if the Lord had espied any such vnfaithfulnesse in them of keeping those euidences whereupon the happy good estate not of them onely but of the great posteritie of the Church depended and whereby they should haue both certaine vndoubted entrance and season of their inheritance and finally whereby they might confer the promises made vnto the Fathers vnder the Lawe with the full and exact accomplishment of them in the Gospel he would haue made other choise of the Wardens of his bookes then they were And seeing the Law went Esai 2 Iohn 4 out of Sion into all the world it went forth pure vndefiled which otherwise had not beene the Lawe of God but either of man or man God together But what trust the Iewes discharged herein may appeare manifestlie in our Sauiour Christs time of all other the most corrupt yet was there no such corruption of the text broght Math. 5. 23 in by either Pharisies Sadduces or any other the sworne enemies of the trueth For seeing our Sauiour taking them vp hotelie and sharpely for corrupt interpretations which was petilarimie in regard of their famous robberies that should change the text of the scripture it is euident that if there had bene any such church-robberie of raising the recordes hee would haue made a scourge of Scorpions to haue laide vpon their skinnes for such insufferable treacherie Yea when of the contrarie part he exhorteth the people to searche the Scriptures such as they were then he alloweth them for the Iohn 5. same which the Prophetes had by diuine inspiration left vnto the Church And this latter reason Origen vseth to Hicron in cap. 6. Esa maintaine the perpetuall virginity of the Hebrew Text. As for their trifling In the preface nomber 44. reasons brought against in their discouerie of want and surplusage they are scarse worth the naming They alledg Psalme 22. which they suppose to differ from the Euangelists words in Greek whereas the Massorites doe witnes that the moste corrected copies haue They pearsed my hands feete word for word with the Greeke And your owne Genebrard Genebrard in Psal 21. will not haue the Iewes charged with any falsification in this place They further alledge Psal 68. where there is no manner of difference of sense for the Hebrewe hauing Christ receaued gifts for men doth in those words declare manifestly that he gaue them vnto men For otherwise they could not haue bene to the vse of men vnlesse Christ had giuen Howbeit in the very next vers there is added that God
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
his heate of disputation to set downe what was more aggreable to the truth then what serued best against his aduersarie so readeth as we reade Beside all this some Beza annotat in hunc locum Greeke copies read as th' old translator doth And therfore it is false which they say that it is not in the Greeke The third pretended corruption standeth only vpon Socrates testimonie who affirmeth that in the Greeke copies to be an haereticall corruption Howe so What one word is there in the Greek copies that leaneth to the Nestorian haeresie What light footing thereof can you shew If you can shew none there is no likelie-hoode of haereticall corruption considering that Nestorius voice differing far more from Saint Iohns then Iacobs did from Esaus might euen of a blinde man haue beene discerned Secondlie the Greeke reading falleth in farre better with the phrase and circumstance then that which Socrates commendeth For in the verse before Saint Iohn hath thus Euerie Spirite that confesseth Iesus Christ to be come in the fleshe is of God Wherupon hee inferreth the wordes in question that euery spirite that confesseth not Iesus Christ to be come in the fleshe is not of God Where it is euident not only that this doth aptly answere in opposition vnto the verse before but that it keepeth the frame and phrase of speach which is to amplifie and deeplier to imprint one thing in the memorie of the hearer by denyall of one proposition directly opposite vnto another As in the 6. verse of the same chap. He that knoweth God heareth vs he that is not of God heareth not vs. Againe in the 7. verse Whosoeuer loueth is of God knoweth God he that loueth not knoweth not god Likewise 1. Epist chap. 5. verse 10 verse 12 c. Thirdly it is plaine that he which saith that Christ came in the fleshe condemneth him that dissolueth Christ so that it was to no purpose to change it so Laste of all if we would examine your alone witnes in this cace by the same lawe that your companion examineth the double Copus dialog 1. pag. 154. witnesse of Socrates and Sozomene in the case of Paphnutius commendation of the ministers marriage wee might vtterlie dis-able him and throwe him from the bar Who to discredite the trueth of this storie saieth thus The thing dependeth of Socrates and Sozomene whereof th' one was a Nouatian th' other greatlie extolled Theodorus whome the fifth Synod condemned And a litle before affirmeth it to haue ben a tale of th'Arrians or of some vnchaste persons Nowe if Socrates were not as your man saieth to beare witnes in the matter of Paphnutius howe commeth it that you lift vp his credite so high as not alone to counteruaile but to praeuaile against so full a consent of the Greek copies To the next section The Iesuites in knocking their heades against the originall copies haue loste euen the common sense vnderstanding of a man For to proue that we in many places haue left the Greeke to followe the vulgare translation they haue not brought so much as one place wherein Maister Beza hath not shewed that hee followed better â—ight then that which he had of th' old translator In some places manye Greeke copies in euery place some one or other Greeke copie and that of singular note beside the Syrian paraphrast auncienter then th' old translator And if Maister Beza being but one man was able by the prouision he had made of copies to warrant his interpretation by one Greeke booke at the least it is euident that if it had beene possible for him to haue gotten all the Greeke copies in his studie he shuld haue bene able to haue performed it more plentifully Touching the first place Heb. 9. 1. It is false that eyther M. Beza or we haue followed the vulgare who traÌ„slateth that place doubtfullie For his word former may aswell aggree with the copies which reade the first Tabernacle as with the firste couenant And Maister Beza sheweth that both Photius the Greek interpreter and the Syrian Paraphrast as also the Greek copie of Cleremont reade as the copie which the vulgar followed And because both the discourse of the former chapter and the direction of the verse next going before argueth that this word former is referred to the couenant Therefore for more plainnesse we put couenant in smal letter Which was so much more needefull to be done as certaine readings ioine this word with Tabernacle And yet because wee are entred into question of this place wee will not feare to set downe what wee thinke in this case Which is that sauing ryper iudgement the consent of the Greeke copies in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may well and ought to bee retained not in proper signification but in a Trope of the part for the whole outward and ceremoniall worship of God euen as the writer of the Hebrewes doeth afterwarde vse it where he saieth that we Heb. 13. 10 haue an aultar whereof they haue no authority to eate which serue the Tabernacle that is to say which retaine the ceremoniall worship Rom. 12. 11. they say that the Greeke hath seruing the â—â—me for seruing the Lord. Wherein they doe nothing but dallie with the truth For manie Greeke and auncient copies haue seruing the Lord. So hath the Greeke Scholiast Chrysostome Theophilact Basil defi nit 6 9 and Basile And the cause of this diuersity Maister Beza noteth to haue the shorte writing by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which was taken of some for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where they shoulde haue taken it for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apoc. 11. 2. they affirm that the greek hath the Court within the Temple the Laâ—â—â—e hauing and truely the Court without the Temple We answere that that reading is found in Greek both scholiast and copie Wherfore herein we had more certaine guides then is the olde translator 2. Timoth. 2. 14. we read but as th' old interpreter But th' olde translator and we both read so without any word of that signification in the Greek onely to lay open to the reader that which the short speach of the holy Ghost might haue made harder to be vnderstood in our language And therefore this is meere dotage to bring this example to proue that we haue forsaken the Greek to follow th' olde translator And as for vs we haue put our but in a small letter to note it an addition aboue the wordes which are in Greek yet needfull to cleare the sense vnto the reader and to make plain th' Eclipse that is in the Greeke wheras the vulgar hath not deâ—t so sincerely who hath put it in the same letter with the text And besid that some of your copies make no supplye of the Eclipse which is in Greek in those copies of yours where there is in any supply it is fondly made by nisi which is not an aduersitiue answering to our but which
you allow of but a note of exception And therefore wee haue bettered your translator herein They say that in Iames 5. 12. we haue left the Greek and followed the Latine which is most false For there is shewed forth for warrant of that reading a most excellent Greek copie beside the Syrian paraphrast translating the Greek before the Latine did Hereby the reader may easily vnderstand that where our translations aggreed with th' olde translator it is â—ot in following him but through warrant of the Greek copies which are extant at this day And that the Thrasonicall Iesuites of th' infinite examples wherein they would make the world beleeue that we â—aue forsaken the Greeke to followe the vulgar are not able to shew so much as one poore example To the next section page 13. Least there should want anie thing wherein these enemies of God and of his word should not play their parts against th' originall Greek they haue thought good to set vpon it with a new accusation of superfluitie whereof notwithstanding they cannot bring a worde of reason beside the bare authoritie of Erasmus whose naked testimonie without proofe against the Greeke they are content to admitt which notwithstanding they vtterlye reiect when with good and substantiall reason it commeth against th' old traÌ„slator But let vs see into th' authoritie First it is confessed of the Iesuites that the Greeke copies read the supposed superfluities with full consent And doe they thinke that such a consent of Greek copies shall not be able to weigh downe th' authoritie of the vulgar translation and â—rasmus allowance of it in this place where neither vntruth of doctrine nor anie vnsutablenes to that which either goeth before or commeth after is able to bee shewed If you your selues should lay in ballance together Erasmus which here maketh for your vulgare and Valla that maketh against him we suppose that vnlesse your extreame pouertie in this case drawe you to doe otherwise you would giue the better weight to that skale wherein you lay Valla as one that dealt not so roughly with Monckery and other your pedlary as did Erasmus And as for the preheminence and authoritie that all the Greek copies haue before th' old translator those Papists excepted only which haue made themselues driuels drudges vnto him we refuse no mans weights nor no mans iudgment Beside that to disburden the Greeke of this false surmise of superfluitie we haue the Syrian paraphrast which in this poynt is not superfluous in that being long before the vulgar he beareth witnes in all these pretended superfluities vnto our Greeke copies as vnto those that are most auncient Now as for the place Math. 6. for thine is the kingdome c. If Erasmus had vnderstood that it is taken out of the booke of Chronicles written by the pen of the holy Ghost he would no doubt haue taken heed howe he had called this conclusion of the Lords praier trisles For it appeareth manifestly that this sentence was borrowed from the Prophete Dauid â— Chro. 29 11. with some abridgement of the Prophetes words which being then fit to set forth the zeale and present touche of the loue wherewith hee loued the Lorde was not so fit without an abstract for that prayer wherein our sauiour sought all shortnesse possible Secondlie that cannot be superfluous without the which we shuld not haue had a perfect form of Praier For wheÌ„ prayer standeth as well in praising of God and thanksgiuing as in petitions and requests to be made vnto him it is euident that if this conclusion had bene wanting there had wanted a forme of that prayer which standeth in praise and thanksgiuing Last of all if to giue a reason of that which goeth before be superfluous then this conclusion may be so But we suppose that it wil be a strange voice in th' eares of all the learned to affirme that a substantiall reason giuen of any thing should be iudged reasonlesse and the coupling vp of the cause with the effect in their surmised superfluitie of this place Rom. 11. 6. is charged likewise Where it is no maruel although they iudge the latter proposition superfluous seeing they are not able to beare th'enimity of the former as that which hangeth their blasphemous opinion of merit so that it can draw no breth vvhen it appeareth Which because the Apost would be sure to hang thorowlie he doubled his coard by a manifest opposition frequented oftentimes of the holy scriptures And therfore vvith the same knife they cut off this branche that they may lop as superfluous boughs a nomber of sentences in the Scriptur especially in S. Iohn And these men that account Logicall reasoning superfluous in th'Apostle how wil they bear the holy ghosts rhethorick in repeating one thing in one place by variety of words alone without any variety of sentence which is so custome-able a thing in the Proph. as the Rabbins for auoyding of tediousnes note the whole rule 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 therof in fiue letters And if they wil not giue th'Apost leaue to vse his Logicke vvithout reproach of superfluity they may vvith better reason denie the Prophets that figure of Rethorick vvhich of all other they most delighted in Last of al Erasmus testimonie heere vpon vvhome they only leane is not so full For he doth not condemne the place of superfluity but suspecteth it There follovveth Mar. 10. 29. where with other things wiues being spoken of in one verse is not vvith them repeated in the next Whereupon is concluded that in the former verse it is a superfluitie And if it vvere not for reuerence of Erasmus learning vve might vvell say it vvere a fond conclusion For vvhy may ther not be asvvell a defect in the latter verse as a superfluitie in the former and rather a defect heere then superfluitie there considering that in Luke Luk. 18. 29 there is a full agreement of all Greek copies reading as Saint Mark doth in the former verse But that this reason is neither proofe of superfluitie nor defect it is manifestly shevved by a like place For th'Apostle hauing nombred and marked out diuerse giftes offices in the Church in the two next 1. Cor. 12. 28. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 verses making rehearsall of them againe leaueth out two of which notwithstanding he might as trulie affirm that which he ascribeth to th' other as of anie of them whatsoeuer If therefore in a rehearsall the leauing out of some thinges sent before be an argument of superfluitie let them thrust out these two ordinarie offices out of the Church and together with the whole honourable traine of the greeke copies which they will be easilie intreated vnto let them also condemn their vulgare translation Nay more then that let them condemne with the greeke their owne vulgar in this verie place of Saint Marke vvhich hauing made mention of fathers in the former verse maketh no more mention of them in the verse
that the greek hath that Christ committed himselfe vnto him meaning God that iudgeth iustly it hath that he committed himselfe to him that iudgeth vniustlie For we had rather lay this fault being so grosse vpon the writer then vpon the translator And albeit the Iesuites retaine it dreaming of a sense to make this interpretation stand yet it is manifoldlie confuted and cannot be admitted without foule and grosse error Yet Rom. 12 they haue left th' old translator which saieth not defending your selues and followed the Greek with vs which is not reuenging your selues In these corruptions of the vulgar which shall be layd forth let the reader vnderstand that they are all conuinced by the general cōsent of al the Greeke copies which are knowne at this day by the Syrian Paraphrast by their own interlineal and by circumstance of the place in diuers places most euident in other some pregnant and apparant ynough to such as haue any singlenesse of eie to looke vpon them Amongst the corruptions that stand in addition let that be for example which is Luk. 2. 18. And concerning those thinges spoken by the shepheards Where beside the superfluitie there is no good sense Secondly Iohn 2. 15. he made as it were a whipp where is added as it were which beside the falsifying the storie can hardly haue any tollerable vnderstāding Againe Iohn 8. 19. if you knowe mee perhaps you might know my father Where perhaps is dāgerously added fauoring the heresy of Arrius considering that our Sauiour Christ other-where also doth praeciselie affirm that he that seeth Iohn 14. him seeth the father Hebrew 3. 14. if ye keepe the beginning of his substance firme vnto th' end where he hath added his not only to th'obscuring of th' argument of th'Apostle but to insinuate thereby an aduantage to th' Arrians that christ had a beginning of his substance And these may suffice for a tast of addition The detractions follow Math. 6. the conclusion of the Lords prayer is wholy left out Mark 9. 38. because he followed not vs left cleane out Mark 13. 14. where is left out which was spoken by the prophet Daniel Also in the same chapter neyther doe you meditate left out 1. Cor. 4. 4. to my self left out Diuers also of detractions detract from the trueth which is in controuersie Math. 17. where it is said Elias shall come there is left out first for the maintenance of theirs the Iewes idle fable of Elias comming a fewe yeares before the worldes end Rom. 11. But if it be of workes now it is not of grace otherwise c. Heb. 1. 3. by himself left out which is verie effectual to exclude all mans merites with other meanes whatsoeuer in the matter of our saluation and therefore went to the heart of their sinfull sacrifice and is prooued that it ought not to be left out by th' other member of the verse Th'alterations are infinite almoste those often of waight Math. 1. 20. born in her for begotten in her And in the same verse and other-where in sleepe for in dreame Mark 3. 29. Gyltie of aeternall sinne for aeternall iudgement Matth. 26. 30. when they had saide an hymn for whē they had sung an hymn Iohn 6. 45. shal be teach-able of God for shal be taught of God Rom. 1. 13. hatefull vnto God for haters of God Rom. 14. 5. Let him abound in his owne sense for let him be perswaded fullie in his owne minde 1. Cor. 15. 51. we shall all indeede rise againe but we shall not all be changed for we shall not all sleepe but we shall all be changed Of Hieron Minerio Alexan. which reading of the vulgar Ierome denieth that there is any warrant in the greeke copies Gal 3. 1. th' olde hath that that Christ was proscribed which is a law worde signifying a man whose substance for debt or some crime is set to publicke seale where th'Apost setteth forth that Christ was by Saint Pauls preaching and administring the Sacraments so pourtraied and painted before their eies as if he had bene crucified amongst them Gal. 4. 7. heir by God for heir by Christ as both the phrase of the Scripture the circumstance of the place conuinceth And often in aduantage of their Popishe doctrine as Iohn 14. for this the holye Ghost shal bring to your remembrance whatsoeuer I haue said vnto you to further the Churches vn-written verities it hath he shall suggest whatsoeuer I shal say to you For the merite of workes In stead of Ephesians the 2. God hath created vs vnto good workes it hath in good workes And Hebr. 13. in stead of with such sacrifices God is delighted It hath is promerited Luk. 10. For whatsoeuer thou spēdest more it hath whatsoeuer thou shalt supererogate Luk. 1. for looked on the lowe estate of his handmaide it hath the humilitie of his handmaide And in the same place for had freely graced it hath full of grace Collos. 2. 23. In superstition for in will worship therby to make way to th'inuentions of their own braine Ephes 5. For multiplication of sacraments in stead of a great mystery it hath sacrament And Luk. 22. 20. For this cup is the new Testament it hath this is the cup thereby to auoyd th'euidence of the figuratiue speach Heb. 5. 11. Which cannot be expounded for which is hard to be expounded therby to defend the popish opinion of the sinne against the holy Ghost Heb. 7. 25. To saue for euer for to saue wholy or throughout Heb. 9. 14. By the holy spirit for by th' eternall spirit in fauour of their wicked opinion that our Sauiour Christ is high Priest only in regard of his humanity and not in regard of his diuinitie with numbers of others the iust treatise whereof would require a whole booke Vnto the two next sections Notwithstanding these swynish Iesuites tread the pearles of the Greek copies vnder their filthie feete and that either without anie manner of reason at all or els with so small reason as will hardly iustifie them to be resonable creatures yet can they not beare that Maister Beza should with great probabilitie and likelyhood of trueth somuch as suspect the Greeke copies For they are not able to shew one only place that he hath corrected contrarie to a whole consent of the Greeke copies They may condemn without reason he may not suspect with great probabilitie thereof They may set in the text what pleaseth them contrary to th' authority of all the Greek copies he may not vtter his opinion in his scholies and annotations vpon the text They cannot beare to be charged with their praesent errour But he must beare the blame of slippes errors which haue past and now are reformed Wherefore either their hatred is so great against the Greeke copies that they cannot abide Maister Bezas modest and shamefast reprehensions of them vnles he would flatly condemn them as they doe or els their equitie is so
little that they can see a mote in his eie wheÌ„ they perceaue not the beame that is in their own And if the places were so manie wherein M. Beza pronounceth the Greek to be corrupted that they would make the reader to wonder you haue done verie foolishly which in the great store you pretend haue repeated the most places twise and that of Cainan thrise at the least in this book bewraying thereby how in great want of abilitie of accusing him iustly the will and desire to accuse was out of all measure Yet speake we not this as taking vpon vs Maister Bezas defence without all exception For we haue shewed Acts. 13. how the Greeke copies doe well aggree with the trueth so we hope that the same might be performed in other appearances Look vers 14. how Ierome reconcileth these places which the Iesuites think irrâ—conciliable in his quaesriâ—ns vpon Genesis of contradiction euen in the two most difficultest places of all other which are in the 7. of th' Acts And touching that of the 75. soules beside Iacob it accordeth well with the nomber which Moyses particularly reckoneth vp Genes 46. where beside Iacob are mentioned 75. persons Neither doth S. Steuen affirme that 75. persons came into Egypt but declareth Looke Tremalius and Iunius in their anno tat vppon Genes 46 in that number the whole family of Iacob was before he came to Egypt that when men knew that it came in so manie yeares to no greater a summe then to 75. persons reckoning also the 4. wiues of Iacob and two sonns of Iehuda that were dead they might the more clearlie see the wondrous and miraculous blessing which followed before their departure from Egypt Th' other place which seemeth likwise irrecoÌ„ciliable concerning Abrahams vers 16. buying of a peece of grouÌ„d at Sichem of the sonns of Emor is as cleare as the sun at noone dayes If this place of th' acts be compared with the places of Genesis 12. 3. 4. and 33. 19. 20. for in the former of these places it is euident that Abram had built an altar vnto the Lord in the verie selfe same place which Iacob in the latter of these chapters is said to haue bought for 100. peeces of money Now if Abraham would not bury his wife in that land wherein he was a stranger but in ground bought with his own money much lesse would he build an altar to serue the Lord with but vpon a purchase thereof made It appeareth therefore that S. Steuen might with as good right call it the place which Abram bought as that which Iacob bought both of them hauing bought the place Neyther can it seeme strange vnto anie that Iacob purchased the same againe that his grand-father had bought before if they remember that the fathers were often iniured and depriued of welles and Genes 26 other things that they had gotten especially amongst a people who in all kinde of impietie and in-iustice were now come almost to the top And that it was Saint Steuens meaning to note out Abrahams purchase rather then Iacobs it may partly appear in that he maketh no mentioÌ„ of a certain price paid for the ground which notwithstanding is twise praecisely made mention of in the purchase of Iacob And Gen. 33. 19 Ios 24. 32. if the places were of that difficultie that we were not able to cleare them yet for our parts we had rather confesse our own ignoraÌ„ce theÌ„ to charge a full coÌ„sent of Greek copies with an vntrueth And although it should be trew which Maister Beza suspecteth some-where of the Greeke copies It followeth not that the trueth or anie part of the trueth is fallen from the Greek copies considering that the corruptions suspected of him are not such but by eyther circumstance of the place or conference of other places of Scripture the repaire may be made Last of all where they assigne such contrarietie betwene the testimonies cited according to the 70. interpreteres in the new Testament and the Hebrew text in th' old that either we must be driuen in cleauing to the Hebrew of th' olde to forsake the Greeke of the new or in cleauing to the Greeke in the new forsake the Hebrew in th' old they declare themselues to be verie trifelers and to abuse their reader impudently For they know that we are able to iustify euery place cited out of the 70. by the Apostles and Euangelists to be agreeable with the Hebrew and in some diuersitie of words to haue the same sense at the least to haue no sense repugnant to that in the Hebrewe which is manifest by this that where the 70. differed in sense there they leauing the 70. whome they so desirouslie followed for support of the Gentiles acquainted therewith follow the Hebrew text And as this is manifest by experience so is it obserued Hieron pro log 15. lib. in Esai expresly of Ierome To the next section page 17. Doubt not good reader but the Iesuites are like to bruste for anger to vnderstand that we are so well praepared to proue both that the princely garments are not worn vpon the Greek originals for the space of aboue 1500. yeares wherein they haue passed from hand to hand in the horrible deserte of this wicked world and that both the bread and apparel of th' olde translator setting out some hundreth yeares after it if euer it were clad and vitailed in anie passable measure of a translation yet that nowe it is so patched and so peeced so hoary and so mouldy that any man that asketh counsell of the Lord may easily see that neyther it commeth so far as the Iesuites doe praetend neither hath foode and rayment able to feed or cloth the children heires of so great a King And where hauing no more shamefastnes in their forehead then they haue haire on their bald pates they haue taken this boldnes to say that the Greek is not so corrupt as we say although th' olde translator be lesse corrupted then the Greek vnto whom what may we answer better then that which our Sauiour Christ answered vnto the Deuill confessing him to be yÌ„son of God hold your peace Mark 1. For beside that the truth caÌ„not beare anie praise of such foule mouthed enemies as these be their praise inferior to the Deuils in-trueth is alwaies to the same end that his that is wholy tending to the destruction of the trueth The Greeke is not so corrupt as we say O impudency as if there were anie that hath cald downe the royall value of th' originall Greeke as you haue done Though in comparison we knowe it lesse sincere and corrupt then the vulgar Latine O noble commenders of the Greek copies Could you haue set them lower then in placing them vnder the vulgar You might aswel haue set the heauens vnder the earth considering that the Greek originall being borne in heauen your vulgar sprung out of the dust How doth also this aggree with