Greeke vvord so euidētly in this sense Annot. in 3 Mat. v. 2. that Beza saith he did it for his verse sake because an other vvord vvould not stand so vvel in the verse But the reader I trust seeth the vse and signification of these Greeke vvordes by the testimonie of the Greeke fathers them selues most auncient and approued 7 Thirdly that the auncient Latin Interpreter doth commonly so translate these vvordes through out the nevv Testament 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Poenitētiam agere that needeth no proofe neither vvil I stand vpon it though it be greater authoritie then they haue any to the cōtrarie because the Aduersaries knovv it and mislike it and for that and other like pointes it is belike that one of them saith it is the vvorst translation of al Discou of Sand. Rocke pag. 147. Prae fat in No. Test an 1556. vvhereas Beza his Maister saith it is the best of al. so vvel they agree in iudgement the Maister and the man 8 I come to the fourth proofe vvhich is that al the Latin Church and the glorious Doctors thereof haue alvvaies read as the vulgar Latin interpreter translateth these vvordes and expound the same of penance and doing penance To name one or tvvo for an example Ep. 108. S. Augustines place is very notable vvhich therfore I set dovvne and may be translated thus Agunt homines poenitentiam Act. 2. Men doe penance before Baptisme of their former sinnes yet so that they be also baptized Peter saying thus DOE YE PENANCE AND LET EVERY ONE BE BAPTIZED Men also doe penance if after Baptisme they do so sinne that they deserue to be excommunicated and reconciled againe as in al Churches they doe vvhich be called Sicut agunt qui Poenitētes appellantur POENITENTES For of such penance spakes S Paul 2 Cor. 12 21. saying THAT I LAMENT NOT MANY OF THEM WHICH BEFORE HAVE SINNED AND HAVE NOT DONE PENANCE FOR THEIR VNCLEANNESSE Vve haue also in the Actes Act. 8 18. that Simon Magus being baptized vvas admonished by Peter TO DOE PENANCE for his greuous sinne Vt agerat poenitentiā There is also in maner a daily Penance of the good and humble beleeuers in vvhich vve knocke our breastes saying FORGIVE VS OVR DETTES For these venial and daily offenses fastes and almes and praiers are vvatchfully vsed Quotidianā agere poenitontiam and humbling our soules vve cease not after asort to doe daily penance 9 In these vvordes of S. Augustine it is plaine that he speaketh of painful or penitential vvorkes for satisfaction of sinnes that is penance againe that there are three kindes of the same one before Baptisme an other after Baptisme for great offenses greater and longer the other daily for common and litle venial faultes vvhich the best men also cōmit in this fraile nature againe that the tvvo former are signified spoken of in the three places of Scripture by him alleaged Where vve see that he readeth altogether as the vulgar interpreter translateth and expoundeth al three places of penance for sinne so approueth that signification of the Greeke vvord Yea in saying that for venial sinnes vve knocke our breast fast giue almes and pray and so cease not Quotidianam agere poenitentiam vvhat doth he meane but daily penance and satisfaction Reade also S. Cyprian beside other places epist 52. num 6. Vvhere his citatiōs of Scripture are according to the old Latin interpreter and his exposition according of doing penance and making satisfaction for sinnes committed But I neede not procede further in alleaging either S. Cyprian or other auncient fathers for this purpose because the Aduersaries graūt it Hovvbeit in vvhat termes they graunt it and hovv malapertly they accuse al the auncient fathers at once for the same it shal not be amis here to put dovvne their vvordes 10 Vvhereas the reuerend godly and learned Father Edmund Campion had obiected in his booke the Protestants accusation of S. Cyprian for the matter of penance the good man that ansvvereth for both vniuersities saith thus to that point Vvhitak pa. 97. cont ration Edm. Camp But vvhereas Magdeburgenses Lutheran vvriters of that citie complaine that he depraued the doctrine of repentance they do not feine or forge this crime against him but vtter or disclose it Doctrinam poenitentiae For al men vnderstand that it vvas to true Neither vvas this Cyprians fault alone De poenitentia Imprudēter that he vvrote of repentance many things incommodiously and vnvvisely but al the most holy fathers almost at that time vvere in the same errour For vvhiles thy desired to restraine mens manners by seuere lavves Poenitentiae they made the greatest part of repentance to consist in certaine external discipline of life vvhich them selues prescribed In that they punished vice seuerely they were to be borne withal but that by this meanes they thought to pay the paines due for sinnes and to satisfie Gods iustice and to procure to them selues assured impunitie remission and iustice therin they derogated not a litle from Christs death attributed to much to their ovvne inuentions finally depraued repentance Thus far the Ansvverer 11 Marke hovv he accuseth the fathers in general of no lesse crime then taking avvay from Christ the merites of his Passion attributing it to their ovvne penance and discipline Vvhich if they did I maruel he should call them in this very place vvhere he beginneth to charge them vvith such a crime sanctissimos patres most holy fathers The truth is he might as vvel charge S. Paul vvith the same vvhen he saith Rom. 2. vve shal Be the heires of God and coheires vvith Christ yet so if vve suffer vvith him that vve may also be glorified vvith him S. Paul saith our suffering also vvith Christ is necessarie to saluation Maister vvhitakers saith it is a derogatiō to Christs suffering Christ fasted for vs therfore our fasting maketh nothing to saluation He praied for vs vvas scourged and died for vs therfore our praier scourging and emprisonment yea death it self for his sake make nothing to life euerlasting and if vve should thinke it doth vve derogate from Christs Passion Alas is this the diuinitie of England novv a daies to make the simple beleeue that the auncient fathers and holy men of the primitiue Church by their seuere life and voluntarie penance for their sinnes and for the loue of Christ did therin derogate from Christes merites and Passions 12 I may not stand vpon this point neither neede I. the principal matter is proued by the Aduersaries cōfession that the holy Doctors spake vvrote and thought of penance and doing penance as vve doe in the same termes both Greeke and Latin and vvith Catholikes it is alvvaies a good argument and vve desire no better proofe then this The Protestants graunt al the aūcient fathers vvere of our opinion and they say it vvas their errour For the first
A DISCOVERIE OF THE MANIFOLD CORRVPTIONS OF THE HOLY SCRIPTVRES BY THE Heretikes of our daies specially the English Sectaries and of their foule dealing herein by partial false translations to the aduantage of their heâ—â—sies in their English Bibles vsed and authorised since the time of Schisme By GREGORY MARTIN one of the readers of Diuinitie in the ENGLISH COLLEGE OF RHEMES 2 Cor. 2. Non sumus sicut plurimi adulterantes verbum Dei sed ex sinceritate sed sicut ex Deo coram Deo in Christo loquimur That is VVe are not as very many adulterating the word of God but of sinceritie as of God before God in Christ vve speake Printed at RHEMES By Iohn Fogny 1582. THE PREFACE CONTEINING FIVE SVNDRIE ABVSES OR CORRVPTIONS OF HOLY Scriptures common to al Heretikes agreing specially to these of our time vvith many other necessarie aduertisements to the reader Heretikes fiue vvaies specially abuse the Scriptures AS it hath been alvvaies the fashioÌ„ of Heretikes to preteÌ„d Scriptures for shevv of their cause so hath it been also their custom and propertie to abuse the said Scriptures many vvaies in fauour of their errours 1 Denying certaine bookes or partes of bookes 1 One vvay is to deny vvhole bookes thereof or partes of bookes vvhen they are euidently against them So did for example Ebion al S. Paules epistles Manicheus the Actes of the Apostles Alogiani S. Iohns Gospel Marcion many peeces of S. Lukes Gospel and so did both these and other heretikes in other bookes denying and allovving vvhat they list as is euident by S. Ireneus S. Epiphanius S. Augustine and al antiquitie 2 Doubting of their authoritie and calling them into questioÌ„ 2 An other vvay is to call into question at the least and make some doubt of the authoritie of certaine bookes of holy Scriptures thereby to diminish their credite so did Manicheus affirme of the vvhole nevv Testament that it vvas not vvritten by the Apostles peculiarly of S. Matthevves Gospel that it was some other maÌ„s vnder his name and therfore not of such credite but that it might in some part be refused so did MarcioÌ„ the AriaÌ„s deny the epistle to the Hebrues to be S. Paules Epiphan li. 2. haer 69 Euseb li. 4. hist c. 27. Alogiani the Apocalypse to be S. Iohns the EuaÌ„gelist Epiph. August in haer Alogianorum 3 Voluntarie expositions according to euery ones fansie or heresie 3 An other way is to expound the Scriptures after their ovvne priuate conceite and phantasie not according to the approued sense of the holy auncient fathers and Catholike Church so did Theodorus Mopsuestites Act. Synod 5. affirme of al the bookes of the Prophets and of the Psalmes that they spake not euidently of Christ but that the auncient fathers did voluntarily dravv those sayings vnto Christ vvhich vvere spoken of other matters so did al heretikes that vvould seeme to grouÌ„d their heresies vpon Scriptures to auouch them by Scriptures expounded according to their ovvne sense and imagination 4 Changing some vvordes or senteÌ„ces of the very original text Tertul. cont Marcio li. 1. in princ 4 An other vvay is to alter the very original text of the holy Scripture by adding taking away or changing it here and there for their purpose so did the Arians in sundrie places and the NestoriaÌ„s in the first epistle of S. Iohn and especially Marcion vvho was therfore called Mus Ponticus the mouse of Pontus because he had gnavven as it vvere certaine places vvith his corruptions whereof some are said to remaine in the Greeke text vntil this day Tertull. li. 5. 5 False and heretical translation 5 An other way is to make false translations of the Scriptures for the maintenance of errour and heresie so did the Arians as S. Hierom noteth in 26. Esa read and translate Prouerb 8. Dominus creauit me in initio viarum suarum that is The Lord created me in the beginning of his vvaies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 possedit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so to make Christ the vvisedom of God a more creature S. Augustin also li. 5. Cont. Iulian. c. 2. noteth it as the interpretation of some Pelagian Gen. 3. Fecerunt sibi vesti menta for perizómata or campestria that is They made them selues garments whereas the vvord of the Scripture is breeches or aprons proper peculiar to couer the secrete partes Againe the self same Heretikes did reade falsely Ro. 5. Aug. ep 89. lib. 1. de pec mer. ca 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Regnauit mors ab Adam vsque ad Moysen etiaÌ„ in eos qui peccaueruÌ„t in similitudineÌ„ praeuaricationis Adae that is Death reigned from Adam to Moyses euen on them that sinned after the similitude of the preuarication of Adam to maintaine their heresie against original sinne that none vvere infected therewith or subiect to death damnatioÌ„ but by sinning actually as Adam did Thus did the old Heretikes 6 what these of our daies is it credible that being so vvel vvarned by the condemnation and detestation of them they also vvould be as mad and as impious as those Heretikes gentle Reader be alvvaies like Heretikes and hovvsoeuer they differ in opinions or names yet in this point they agree to abuse the Scriptures for their purpose by al meanes possibly I vvil but touche foure points of the fiue before mentioned because my purpose is to stay vpon the last only and to discipher their corrupt translations That the Protestants and Caluinistes vse the foresaid fiue meanes of defacing the Scriptures But if I vvould stand vpon the other also vvere it not easy to shevv the maner of their proceding against the Scriptures to haue been thus to deny some vvhole bookes and parts of bookes to call other some into question to expound the rest at their pleasure to picke quarels to the very original and Canonical text to fester and infect the vvhole body of the Bible vvith cankred translations 7 Did not Luther deny S. Iames epistle and so contemne it that he called it an epistle of stravv not vvorthie of an Apostolical spirit must I proue this to M. Vvhitakers vvho vvould neuer haue * Cont. rat Edm. Camp pag. 11. denied it so vehemently in the superlatiue degree for shame if he had not thought it more shame to graunt it I neede not goe far for the matter Aske M. Fulke Retent pag. 32. dist of the Rocke p. 307. Luther in nouo Test Germa in Pref. Iacob and he vvil flatly confesse it vvas so Aske Caluin in arg ep Iacobi aske Flaccus Illyricus in argum ep Iacobi and you shal perceiue it is very true I vvil not send you to the Catholike Germans and others both of his ovvne time and after that vvrote against him in the question of iustification among vvhom not one omitteth this being a thing so famous and infamous to the confusion of
vvho in a sermon openly protested that he had found in the nevv Testament only no lesse then two thousand If vve knovv it not or vvil not beleeue it * Lind. dub pag. 98. strangers in their Latin vvritings testifie it to the vvorld The authors inteÌ„t in this booke 26 But I omit these as vnknovven to our countrie or to this age and vvil deale principally vvith the English translations of our time vvhich are in euery mans handes vvithin our countrie the corruptions vvhereof as they are partly touched here and there in the Annotations vpon the late nevv English Testament Catholikely translated printed at Rhemes so by occasion thereof I vvil by Gods help to the better coÌ„moditie of the reader and euidence of the thing lay them closer together and more largely display them not counting the number because it vvere hard but esteeming the vveight importance of so many as I thought good to note specially in the nevv Testament Vvhere I haue to aduertise the Reader of certaine special things vvhich he must obserue Certaine aduertisemeÌ„ts to the Reader 27 First that in this booke he may not looke for the proofe or explication deciding of controuersies Vvhich is done in the Annotations vpon the new Testament but only the refuting or controuling of their false translations concerning the said controuersies vvhich is the peculiar argumeâ—â— of this treatise 28 Secondly that vve refute sometime one of their translations sometime an other and euery one as their falshod giueth occasion Neither is it a good defense for the falshod of one that it is truely translated in an other the reader being deceiued by any one because commonly he readeth but one Yea one of them is a coÌ„demnation of the other 29 Thirdly that we speake indifferently against Protestants Caluinistes Bezites and Puritans vvithout any curious distinction of them being al among them selues brethren and pew fellowes and sometime the one sort of them sometime the other more or lesse corrupting the holy Scriptures 30 Fourthly that we giue but a tast of their corruptions not seing so far nor marking also narrowly and skilfully as them selues knovv their ovvne subtelties and meanings vvho vvil smile at the places vvhich we haue not espied 31 Fifthly that the very vse and affectation of certaine termes and auoiding other some though it be no demonstration against them but that they may seeme to defend it for true traÌ„slation yet was it necessarie to be noted because it is hath been alvvaies a token of heretical meaning 32 Sixtly that in explicating these things vve haue endeuoured to auoid as much as vvas possible the tediousnes of Greeke Hebrue vvordes vvhich are only for the learned in these tongues and vvhich made some litle doubt vvhether this matter vvhich of necessitie must be examined by them vvere to be vvritten in English or no. but being persuaded by those vvho them selues haue no skill in the said toÌ„gues that euery reader might reape commoditie thereby to the vnderstanding detesting of such false and Heretical translations it vvas thought good to make it vulgar and common to al our decre countrie men as the nevv Testament it self is coÌ„mon vvhereof this Discouerie is as it vvere an handmaid attending therevpon for the larger explication and proofe of corruptions there breefely touched and for supplie of other some not there mentioned 33 Seuenthly that al the English corruptions here noted and refuted are either in al or some of their English bibles printed in these yeres 1562. 1577.1579 And if the corruption be in one Bible not in an other commonly the said Bible or bibles are noted in the margent if not yet sure it is that it is in one of them and so the reader shal finde it if he finde it not alvvaies in his ovvne Bible And in this case the reader must be very vvise and circuÌ„spect that he thinke not by and by vve charge them falsly because they can shevv him some later edition that hath it not so as vve say for it is their common and knovven fashion not onely in their translations of the Bible but in their other bookes and vvritinges to alter and change adde and put out in their later editioÌ„s according as either them selues are ashamed of the former or their scholers that print them againe dissent and disagree from their Maisters So hath Luthers Caluins and Bezas vvritinges and translations been changed both by them selues and their scholers in many places so that Catholike men when they coÌ„fute that which they finde euident faultes in this or that edition feare nothing more then that the reader hath some other edition where they are corrected for very shame and so may conceiue that there is no such thing but that they are accused vvrongfully for example Call to minde the late pretended conference in the tower Touching S. Iames epistle where that matter vvas denied and faced out for Luthers credite by some one booke or edition of his vvhich them selues and al the vvorld knoweth was most truely laid to his charge 34 Eightly in citing Beza I meane alvvaies vnles I note othervvise his Latin translation of the nevv Testament vvith his annotations adioyned therevnto printed in the yere 1556. Vve charge them not with forsaking the old approued Latin text though it be an il signe to their euident confusion 35 Lastly and principally is to be noted that we wil not charge them vvith falsifying that vvhich in deede is the true and authentical Scripture I meane the vulgar Latin Bible vvhich so many yeres hath been of so great authoritie in the Church of God and with al the auncient fathers of the Latin Church as is declared in the preface of the Nevv Testament though it is much to be noted that as Luther only in fauour of his heresies did vvilfully forsake it so the rest folowed and do folovv him at this day for no other cause in the vvorld but that it is against them therfore they inueigh against it Kemnitius Caluin and against the holy Councel of Trent for confirming the authoritie thereof both in their special treatises thereof and in al their vvritinges vvhere they can take any occasion 36 And concerning their vvilful and heretical auoiding thereof in their nevv translations vvhat greater argumeÌ„t can there be then this that Luther vvho before alvvaies had readde vvith the Gath. Church and vvith al antiquitie these vvordes of S. Paul 1 Cor. 9. Mulicrem sororem 2 Pet. 1. Haue not vve povver to leade about A WOMAN A SISTER as also the rest of the Apostles and in S. Peter these vvordes Labour that BY GOOD WORKES you may make sure your vocation and election sodenly after he had coÌ„trarie to his profession taken a vvife as he called her and preached that al other votaries might do the same and that faith only iustified good vvorkes vvere not necessarie to saluation sodenly I say after he fell to these heresies
he began to reade and translate the former Scriptures accordingly thus Haue not vve povver to leade about a SISTER A WIFE as the rest of the Apostles and Labour that you may make sure your vocation and election leauing out the other vvordes by good vvorkes And so doe both the Caluinists abrode and our English Protestants at home reade and translate at this day because they hold the self same heresies 37 So doe they in infinite places alter the old text vvhich pleased them vvell before they vvere Heretickes and they doe it vvith brasen faces and plaine protestation hauing no shame nor remorse at al in fleeing from that which all antiquitie with one consent allovved and embraced vntil their vnhappie daies Vvhich though it be an euident cōdemnation of their nouelties in the sight of any reasonable man that hath any grace yet as I began to admonish thee gentle Reader vve vvil not charge them for altering the auncient approued Latin translation because they pretend to folovv the Hebrue and Greeke and our purpose is not here to proue that they should not folovv the Hebrue and Greeke that now is before the auncient approued Latin text which is done breifely already in the preface to the nevv Testament Vve charge them not vvith forsaking the Greeke copies that agree vvith the aunciēt approued Latin text though this be a signe of their incredible partialitie 38 Neither vvil vve burden them for not folovving the vulgar Latin text vvhen the same agreeth with most auncient Greeke copies vvhich notvvithstāding is great partialitie in them must needes be of an heretical vvilful humor that amōg the Greeke copies them selues they reiect that vvhich most agreeth vvith the vulgar Latin text in places of controuersies Yet vvil vve not I say neither in this case lay falshod and corruption to their charge because they pretend to translate the common Greeke text of the nevv Testament that is one certaine copie but here at the least let them shevv their fidelitie that they be true and exacte translatours for here onely shal they be examined and called to account Vve charge them for forsaking false translating their ovvne Hebrue and Greeke text 39 And if they folovv sincerely their Greeke and Hebrue text vvhich they professe to folovv and which they esteeme the only authentical text so far vve accuse them not of heretical corruption but if it shal be euidētly proued that they shrinke from the same also and translate an other thing and that vvilfully and of ful intention to countenance their false religion and wicked opinions making the Scriptures to speake as they list then vve trust the indifferēt reader for his ovvne soules sake vvil easily see and conclude that they haue no feare of God no reuerence of the Scriptures no conscience to deceiue their readers He vvil perceiue that the Scriptures make against them vvhich they so peruert and corrupt for their purpose that neither the Hebrue nor Greeke text is for them vvhich they dare not translate truely and sincerely that their cause is naught which needeth such foul shiftes that they must needes knovv al this and therfore doe vvilfully against their conscience consequently are obstinate Heretikes 40 And the more to vnderstand their miserie vvretchednes before vve enter to examine their trāslations marke gather of al that vvhich I haue said in this preface their manifold flightes iumpes from one shift to an other hovv Catholike writers haue pursued and chased them folovved them and driuen them euen to this extreme refuge and seely couert of false translation vvhere also they must of necessitie yeld or deuise some nevv euasion which vve can not yet imagin The diuers shiftes and flightes that the Protestants are driuen vnto by the Catholikes as it vvere the iumpes and turnings of an hare before the boundes 41 First we are vvont to make this offer as we thinke most reasonable and indifferent that forasmuch as the Scriptures are diuersely expounded of vs and of them they neither be tied to our interpretation nor vve to theirs but to put it to the arbitrement and iudgement of the auncient fathers of general Councels of vniuersal custom of times and places in the Catholike Church No say they vve wil be our ovvne iudges and interpreters or folow Luther if we be Lutherans Caluin if we be Caluinistes and so forth 42 This being of it self a shameles shift vnles it be better coloured the next is to say that the Scriptures are easie and plaine sufficient of them selues to determine euery matter and therfore they wil be tried by the Scriptures only we are cōtent because they wil needes haue it so and vve alleage vnto them the bookes of Toble Ecclesiasticus Machabees No say they we admit none of these for Scripture Vvhy so are they not approued Canonical by the same authoritie of the Church of auncient Councels and fathers that the other bookes are No matter say they Luther admitteth them not Caluin doth not allovv them 43 Vvel let vs goe forvvard in their ovvne daunce You allow at the least the Ievves Canonical bookes of the old Testament that is al that are extant in the Hebrue Bible and al of the new Testament vvithout exception Yea that we doe In these bookes then wil you be tried by the vulgar auncient Latin Bible only vsed in al the vvest Church aboue a thousand yeres No. Vvil you be tried by the Greeke Bible of the Septuaginta interpreters so renovvmed and authorised in our Sauiours ovvne speaches in the Euangelistes and Apostles writings in the whole Greeke Church euermore No. How then wil you be tried They ansvver Only by the Hebrue Bible that now is and as novv it is pointed with vovvels Vvil you so and do you thinke that only the true authentical Hebrue which the holy Ghost did first put into the pennes of those sacred writers Vve do thinke it say they and esteeme it the only authentical and true Scripture of the old Testament 44 Vve aske them againe what say you then to that place of the psalme 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where in the Hebrue it is thus As a lion my handes and my feete for that which in truth should be thus They digged or pearced my handes and my feete being an euident prophecie of Christs nailing to the Crosse There in deede say they we folow not the Hebrue but the Greeke text Sometime then you folow the Greeke and not the Hebrue only And what if the same Greeke text make for the Catholikes as in these places for example I haue inclined my hart to keepe thy iustifications for revvard and Redeeme thy sinnes vvith almes might we not obtaine here the like fauour at your hands for the Greeke text specially when the Hebrue doth not disagree No say they nor in no other place vvhere the Greeke is neuer so plaine if the Hebrue word at the least may be any otherwise
interpreted and draw on to an other signification 45 Vve replie againe and say vnto them vvhy Is not the credite of those Septuaginta interpreters vvho them selues vvere Ievves and best learned in their owne tongue and as S. Augustine often and other auncient fathers say vvere inspired vvith the holy Ghost in translating the Hebrue bible into Greeke Is not their credite I say in determining and defining the signification of the Hebrue vvord far greater then yours No. Is not the authoritie of al the auncient fathers both Greeke and Latin that folovved them equiualent in this case to your iudgement No say they but because vve finde some ambiguitie in the Hebrue we wil take the aduantage and we wil determine and limite it to our purpose 46 A gaine vve condescend to their vvilfulnes and say vvhat if the Hebrue be not ambiguous but so plaine certaine to signifie onething Psal 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it can not be plainer As Thou shalt not leaue my soule in Hel vvhich proueth for vs that Christ in soule descended into Hel. Is not the one Hebrue vvord as proper for soule as anima in Latin the other as proper and vsual for Hel as Infeunus in Latin Here then at the least vvil you yeld No say they not here neither for Beza telleth vs that the Hebrue vvord vvhich commonly and vsually signifieth soule yet for a purpose of a man vvil straine it may signifie not only body but also carcas and so he translate that But Beza say vve being admonished by his frendes corrected it in his later edition Yea say they he was content to change his translation but not his opinion concerning the Hebrue word as himself protesteth 47 Vvel then doth it like you to reade thus according to Bezas translation Thou shalt not leaue my carcas in the graue No we are content to alter the word carcas which is not a seemely word for our Sauiours body and yet we are loth to say soule but if we might we vvould say rather life person as appeareth in the margent of our Bibles but as for the Hebrue word that signifieth Hel though the Greeke and Latin Bible through out the Greeke and Latin fathers in al their writinges as occasion serueth do so reade it and vnderstand it yet wil we neuer so translate it but for Hel we vvil say graue in al such places of Scripture as might inferre Limbus patrum if we should translate Hel. These are their shiftes and turninges and windinges in the old Testament 48 In the new Testament we aske them wil you be tried by the auncient Latin translation which is the text of the fathers and the whole Church No but we appeale to the Greeke Vvhat Greeke say we for there be sundrie copies and the best of them as Beza confesseth agree with the said auncient Latin for example in S. Peters wordes 2 Pet. ca. 1. Labour that by good vvorkes you may make sure your vocation and election doth this Greeke copie please you No say they we appeale to that Greeke copie which hath not those wordes by good workes for othervvise we should graunt the merite and efficacie of good workes tovvard saluation and generally to tel you at once by what Greeke we wil be tried we like best the vulgar Greeke text of the new Testament which is most common and in euery mans handes 49 Vvel say we if you wil needes haue it so take your pleasure in choosing your text and if you wil stand to it graunt vs that Peter was cheefe among the Apostles because your ovvne Greeke text saith The first Peter No saith Beza Mat. 10. we vvil graunt you no such thing for these wordes were added to the Greeke text by one that fauoured Peters primacie Is it so then you wil not stand to this Greeke text neither Not in this place saith Beza 50 Let vs see an other place You must graunt vs say we by this Greeke text that Christs very bloud which was shed for vs is really in the chalice because S. Luke saith so in the Greeke text No saith Beza those Greeke wordes came out of the margent into the text therfore I trāslate not according to them but according to that which I thinke the truer Greeke text although I finde it in no copies in the world and this his doing * See chap. 1. nu 37. chap. 17. nu 11. is mainteined iustified by our English Protestants in their writinges of late 51 Vvel yet say we there are places in the same Greeke text as plaine for vs as these novv cited where you can not say it came out of the margent or 2 Thess 2. it was added falsely to the text As Stand and hold fast the traditions c. by this text we require that you graunt vs traditions deliuered by word of mouth as wel as the vvritten word that is the Scriptures No say they we knovv the Greeke word signifieth tradition as plaine as possibly but here and in the like places we rather translate it ordinances instructions and what els soeuer Nay Sirs say vve you can not so ansvver the matter for in other places you translate it duely and truely tradition and vvhy more in one place then in an other They are ashamed to tel vvhy but they must tel and shame both them selues and the Diuel if euer they thinke it good to ansvver this treatise as also why they changed congregation which vvas alvvaies in their first translation into Church in their later translations did not change likevvise ordinances into traditions Elders into Priests 52 The cause is that the name of Church was at the first odious vnto them because of the Catholike Church which stoode against them but afterward this name grevve into more fauour vvith them because of their English Church so at length called and termed but their hatred of Priests and traditions continueth still as it first began and therfore their translation also remaineth as before suppressing the names both of the one and of the other But of al these their dealings they shal be told in their seueral chapters and places 53 To conclude as I began concerning their shiftes and iumpes and vvindinges and turninges euery way from one thing to an other til they are driuen to the extreme refuge of palpable corruptions and false translations consider vvith me in this one case only of traditions as may be likevvise considered in al other controuersies that the auncient fathers councels antiquitie vniuersalitie custom of the vvhole Church allovv traditions the canonical Scriptures haue them the Latin text hath them the Greeke text hath them only their translations haue them not Likevvise in the old Testament the approued latin text hath such and such speaches that make for vs the renovvmed Greeke text hath it the Hebrue text hath it only their translations haue it not These are the translations vvhich vve cal heretical and vvilful and vvhich
thee as an Heathen and as a publicane they say Congregation Againe vvho vvould thinke they vvould haue altered the vvord Church in the epistle to the Ephesians Eph. 5. their English translation for many yeres redde thus Ye husbands loue your vviues as Christ loued the congregation and clensed it to make it vnto him self a glorious cōgregation vvithout spot or vvrinkle And This is a great secrete but I speake of Christ and of the congregation And to Timothee The house of God vvhich is the congregation of the liuing God 1 Tim. 3. the pillar and ground of truth Here is no vvord of Church vvhich in Latin and Greeke is Ecclesia Dei viui columna firmamentum veritatis Likevvise to the Ephesians againe He hath made him head of the congregation Eph. 1. vvhich is his body And to the Hebrues they are al bold to translate Heb. 12. v. 23 The congregation of the first-borne vvhere the Apostle nameth heauenly Hierusalem the citie of the liuing God c. 3 So that by this translation there is no more Church militant and triumphant but congregation and he is not head of the Church but of the congregation and this congregation at the time of the making of this trāslation vvas in a fevv nevv brethren of England for vvhose sake the name Church vvas left out of the English Bible to commend the name of congregation aboue the name of churche vvhereas S. Augustine telleth them In ps 81 in ioitio 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the Ievves Synagogue vvas a congregation the Church a conuocation and that a congregation is of beasts also a conuocation of reasonable creatures onely and that the Ievves congregation is sometime called the Church but the Apostles neuer called the Church Congregation do you see then vvhat a goodly change they haue made for Church to say cōgregation so making them selues a very Synagogue that by the propertie of the Greeke vvord vvhich yet as S. Augustine telleth them most truely signifieth rather a conuocation 4 If they appeale here to their later translations vve must obtaine of them to condemne the former and to confesse this vvas a grosse fault committed therein and that the Catholike Church of our contrie did not il to forbid and burne suche bookes vvhich vvere so translated by Tyndal and the like as being not in deede Gods booke vvord or Scripture but the Diuels vvord Yea they must confesse that the leauing out of this vvord Church altogether vvas of an heretical spirit against the Catholike Romane Church because then they had no Caluinistical church in any like forme of religion and gouernement to theirs novv Neither vvil it serue them to say after their maner And if a man should translate Ecclesiam congregation this is no more absurditie then in steede of a Greeke vvord Confut. of M. Houlet so 35. to vse a Latin of the same signification This vve trovv vvil not suffise them in the iudgement of the simplest indifferent Reader 5 But my Maisters if you vvould confesse the former faults and corruptions neuer so plainely is that ynough to iustifie your corrupt dealing in the holy Scriptures Is it not an horrible fault so vvilfully to falsifie and corrupt the vvord of God vvritten by the inspiration of the holy Ghost May you abuse the people for certaine yeres vvith false translations and aftervvard say Lo vve haue amended it in our later translations See his nevv Test in Latin of the yere 1556 printed by Robert Steuen in fol. Act. 2. v. 27. Then might the Heretike Beza be excused for translating in steede of Christs soul in hel his carcas in the graue and because some freende told him of that corruption and he corrected it in the later editions he should neuerthelesse in your iudgemet be counted a right honest man No be ye sure the discrete Reader can not be so abused but the vvil easily see that there is a great difference in mending some ouersightes vvhich may escape the best men in your grosse false translations vvho at the first falsfie of a prepensed malice and aftervvards alter it for very shame Hovvbeit to say the truth in the cheefest and principal place that concerneth the Churches perpetuitie and stabilitie you haue not yet altered the former translation but it remaineth as before and is at this day readde in your churches thus Vpon this rocke 1 vvil build my congregation Mat. 16. v. 18. Bib. 1577. Can it be vvithout some heretical subreltie that in this place specially and I thinke only you change not the vvord congregation into Church Giue vs a reason discharge your credite 6 Vvhat shal I say of Beza vvhom the English bibles also folovv translating actiuely that Greeke vvord vvhich in common vse by S. Chrysostoms and the Greeke Doctors exposition is a plaine passiue to signifie as in his Annotations is cleere that Christ may be vvithout his Church that is a head vvithout a body The vvordes be these in the heretical translation Eph. 1. v. 21.23 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He gaue him to be the head ouer al thinges to the Church vvhich Church is his body the fulnes of him that filleth all in all S. Chrysostom saith Beza he might haue said al the Greeke Latin auncient fathers taketh it passiuely in this sense that Christ is filled al in al because all faithful men as members and the vvhole Church as the body concurre to the fulnes and accomplishmēt of Christ the head But this saith he seemeth vnto me a forced interpretation Vvhy so beza 7 Marke his Doctors vvhom he opposeth to the fathers both Greeke and Latin Because Xenophon saith he in such a place and Plato in such a place vse the said Greeke word actiuely Iomit this miserable match vnvvorthie names of Xenophon Plato in trial of S. Paules wordes against al the glorious Doctors this is his common custom I aske him rather of these his owne doctors hovv they vse the Greeke vvord in other places of their vvorkes hovv vse they it most cōmonly yea how do al other Greeke vvriters either profane or sacred vse it Vvhat say the Greeke readers of al vniuersities Surely not only they but their scholers for the most part can not be ignorant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the vse of this vvord and the like is passiue though sometime it may also signifie actiuely but that is so rare in comparison of the other that no man lightly vvil vse it and I am vvel assured it vvould be counted a fault and some lacke of skill if one novv in his vvritinges that vvould expresse this in Greeke God filleth al thinges vvith his blessing should say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and The vvine filleth the cuppe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aske them that haue skill and controule me Contrarievvise if one vvould say passiuely Al thinges are filled vvith Gods blessing The cuppe is filled vvith vvine Such a prophecie
place Let death come vpon them and let them go dovvne into Hel aliue Thus far S. Hierom. 19 By vvhich differences of death and Hel vvhereof vve must often aduertise the Reader are meant tvvo things death and the going dovvne of the soule into some receptacle of Hel in that state of the old Testament at vvhat time the holy Scriptures vsed this phrase so often Novv these impudent trāslators in al these places translate it graue Bib. 1579. of purpose to confound it and death together to make it but one thing vvhich S. Hierom shevveth to be different in the very same sense that vve haue declared 20 But alas is it the very nature of the Hebrue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Infernus Greeke or Latin that forceth them so much to English it graue rather then Hell vve appeale to all Hebricians Grecians and Latinists in the vvorld first if a man would aske vvhat is Hebrue or Greeke or Latin for Hel vvhether they vvould not ansvver these three vvordes as the very proper wordes to signifie it euen as Panis signifieth bread secondly if a man vvould aske vvhat is Hebrue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sepulchrum or Greeke or Latin for a graue vvhether they vvould ansvver these vvordes and not three other vvhich they knovv are as proper vvordes for graue as lac is for milke 21 Yea note consider diligently vvhat vve vvill say let them shevv me out of al the Bible one place vvhere it is certaine agreed among all that it must needes signifie graue let them shevv me in any one such place that the holy Scripture vseth any of those former three vvordes for graue As vvhen Abraham bought a place of burial vvhether he bought Infernum Gen. c. 49. or vvhen it is said the kings of Israel vvere buried in the monuments or sepulchres of their fathers vvhether it say in infernit patrum suorum So that not onely Diuines by this obseruation but Grammatians also and children may easily see that the proper and children may easily see that the proper and natural signification of the said vvordes is in English Hel and not graue Annot. in Act. 2 25.27 in 1 Cor. 15 55. 22 And therfore Beza doth strangely abvse his Reader more then in one place saying that the Hebrue word doth properly signifie graue being deduced of a verbe that signifieth to craue or aske because it craueth alvvaies nevv coarses as though the graue craued moe then Hel doth Bib. 1579. Prouer. 1 12.3 15.16 or vvallovved moe or vvere more hardly satisfied and filled then Hel for in al such places they translate graue And in one such place they say Prou. 27 30. The graue and destruction can neuer be full Vvhereas them selues a litle before translate the very same vvordes cap. 15 11. Hel and destruction and therfore it might haue pleased them to haue said also Hel and destruction can neuer be full Bib. 1562. 1577. Prouerb 1. 1 Pet. 5. as their pevv-follovves doe in their translation againe Vve shal svvalovv them vp like Hel. The Diuel vve reade goeth about continually like a roaring lion seeking vvhom he may deuoure Vvho is called in the Apocalypse Abaddon Apoc. 9 11. that is destruction and so very aptly Hel and destruction are ioyned together and are truely said neuer to be filled Vvhat madnesse and impudencie is it then for Beza to vvrite thus Beza before alleaged Vvho is ignorant that by the Hebrue word rather is signified agraue for that it seemeth after a sort to craue alvvaies nevv carcasses 23 And againe concerning our Sauiour Christes descending into Hel and deliuering the fathers from thence it is maruel saith Beza Annot. in 2 Act. v. 24. that the most part of the auncient fathers vvere in this errour vvhereas vvith the Hebrues the vvord SHEOL signifieth nothing els but GRAVS Before he pleaded vpon the etymologie or nature of the vvord novv also he pleadeth vpon the authoritie of the Hebrues them selues If he vvere not knovven to be very impudent and obstinate vve vvould easily mistrust his skil in the Hebrue saying that among the Hebrues the vvord signifieth nothing els but graue nihil aliud 24 I vvould gladly knovv vvhat are those Hebrues doth not the Hebrue text of the holy Scripture best tell vs the vse of this vvord Do not them selues translate it Hel very often do not the Septuaginta alvvaies If any Hebrue in the vvorld vvere asked hovv he vvould turne these vvordes into Hebrue Similes estis sepulchris de albatis you are like to vvhited graues And Sepulchrum eius apud vos est His graue is among you vvould any Hebrue I say translate it by this Hebrue vvord vvhich Beza saith among the Hebrues signifieth nothing els but graue Sheolim Sheol Aske your Hebrue Readers in this case and see vvhat they vvill ansvver 25 Vvhat are those Hebrues then The Protestants in interpretation of Scriptures folovv the late Ievves rather then the aūciēt fathers Apostolical church that Beza speaketh of forsooth certaine Ievves or later Rabbines vvhich as they do falsely interprete al the holy Scriptures against our Sauiour Christ in other pointes of our beleefe as against his Incarnatiō Death Resurrection so do they also falsely interprete the holy Scriptures against his descending into Hel vvhich those Ievvish Rabbines deny because they looke for an other Messias that shal not die at all and consequently shal not after his death go dovvne into Hel and deliuer the fathers expecting his cōming as our Sauiour Christ did and therfore those Ievvish Rabbines hold as the Heretikes doe that the fathers of the old Testament vvere in heauen before our Sauiour Christs Incarnatiō these Rabbines are they vvhich also peruert the Hebrue vvord to the signification of graue in such places of the holy Scriptures as speake either of our Sauiour Christes descending into Hel or of the fathers going dovvne into Hel euen in like maner as they peruert other Hebrue vvordes of the holy Scripture as namely alma to signifie a yong vvoman Esa 7. not a virgin against our Sauiours birth of the B. Virgin Marie 26 And if these later Rabbines be the Hebrues that Beza meaneth and vvhich these gay English trāslatours folow vve lament that they ioyne them selues vvith such cōpanions being the svvorne enemies of our Sauiour Christ Surely the Christian Hebrues in Rome and els vvhere vvhich of great Rabbines are become zealous doctors of Christianitie and therfore honour euery mysterie and article of our Christian faith concerning our Sauiour Christ they dispute as vehemently against those other Rabbines as we doe against the Heretikes and among other things they tell them that Soul said 1 Reg. 28. Raise me vp Samuël and that the vvoman said I see gods ascending out of the earth An old man is ascended or come vp and that Samuël said Vvhy hast thou disquieted me that I should
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to doe penāce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 poenitentiā egissent 2 First that the circumstance of the text doth giue it so to signifie vve read in Saint Mathevv c. 11 v. 21. If in Tyre and Sidon had been vvrought the miracles that haue been vvrought in you they had done penance in hearecloth or sackecloth and ashes long agoe And in S. Luc. c. 10. v. 13. they had done penance sitting in sackecloth and ashes I beseeche you these circunstances of sackcloth and ashes adioyned doe they signifie penance and affliction of the body or only amēdement of life as you vvould haue the vvord to signifie S. Basil saith in Ps 29. Sackcloth maketh for penance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For the fathers in old time sitting in sackcloth and ashes did penance Vnles you vvil translate S. Basil also after your fashiō vvhom you can not any vvay translate but the sense must needes be penāce doing penāce Againe S. Paul saith You vvere made sorie to penance or 2 Co. 7 9. to repentance say vvhich you vvill and The sorovv vvhich is according to God vvorketh penāce or repentance vnto saluation Is not sorovv and bitter mourning affliction partes of penance Did the incestuous man vvhom S. Paul excommunicated 1 Cor. 5. and aftervvard absolued him because of his exceding sorovv and teares 2 Cor. 2. for feare lest he might be ouervvhelmed vvith sorovv did he I say chāge his minde only or amend his life as you translate the Greeke vvord and interpret repentance did he not penance also for his fault Mat. 3. Luc. 3. Act. 26. enioyned of the Apostle vvhen S. Iohn the Baptist saith S. Paul exhorteth the like Doe fruites vvorthie of penance or as you translate meete for repentance Doe they not plainely signifie penitential vvorkes or the vvorkes of penance vvhich is the very cause vvhy Beza rather translated in those places Fructus dignos ijs qui resipuerint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Doe the fruites meete for them that amend their liues or giue vs some other good cause ô ye Bezites vvhy your maister doth so fouly falsifie his translation 3 Secondly for the signification of this Greeke vvord in al the Greeke Church and Greeke fathers euen from S. Denys the Aeropagite S. Paules scholer vvho must needes deduce it from the Scriptures and learne it of the Apostles it is most euident that they vse this vvord for that penance vvhich vvas done in the primitiue Church according to the penitētial canons vvherof al antiquitie of Councels and fathers is ful Ec. Hier. c. 3. in principio in so much that S. Denys reckening vp the three sortes of persons that vvere excluded from seeing and participating of the diuine mysteries of Christes body and bloud Paenitentes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to vvit Catechumens Poenitents and the possessed of il spirites for Poenitents he saith in the Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is such as vvere in their course of penance or had not yet done their ful penance Vvhich penance S. Augustine declareth thus Ho. 27. inter 50 ho. and ep 108. Est poenitentia grauior c. There is a more greuous and more mourneful penance vvhereby proprely they are called in the Church that are Poenitentes remoued also from partaking the sacramēt of the altar And the Greeke Ecclesiastical historie thus Sozom. li. 7. c. 16. In the Church of Rome there is a manifest and knovven place for the POENITENTS in it they stād sorovvful as it vvere mourning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 See S. Hier. in epitaph Fabiolae vvhen the sacrifice is ended being not made partakers thereof vvith vveeping and lamentation they cast them selues flat on the ground then the Bishop vveeping also vvith compassion lifteth them vp and after a certaine time enioyned absolueth thē frō their penāce This the Priests or Bishops of Rome keepe from the very beginning euen vntil our time 4 In these vvordes other in the same chapter Li. 5. c. 19. in Socrates Greeke historie likevvise whē they speake of Poenitents that confessed and lamented their sinnes that vvere enioyned penance for the same did it I vvould demaund of our English Graecians in vvhat Greeke vvordes they expresse al this Do they it not in the vvordes vvhich vve novv speake of vvhich therfore are proued most euidētly to signifie penāce doing penāce Againe vvhen the most aūcient Coūcel of Laodicea can 2. saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That the time of penāce should be giuen to offenders according to the proportion of the fault and againe can 9. That such shal not communicate til a certaine time but after they haue done penance and confessed their fault then to be receiued and againe Can. 19. After the Catechumens are gone out that praier be made of the Penitents or them that are in doing penance And vvhen the first Councel of Nice saith can 12. about shortening or prolonging the daies of penance that they must vvel examine their purpose and maner of doing penance that is vvith what alacritie of minde teares patience humilitie good vvorkes they accomplished the same and accordingly to deale more mercifully vvith them as is there expressed in the councel vvhen S. Basil Can. 1. ad Amphiloch speaketh after the same sort vvhen S. Chrysostom calleth the sackcloth and fasting of the Niniuites for certaine daies tot dierum poenitentiam so many daies penance in al these places I would gladly knovv of our English Grecians vvhether these speaches of penance and doing penance are not expressed by the said Greeke vvordes vvhich they vvil in no case so to signifie 5 Or I vvould also aske them vvhether in these places they vvil translate repentance and amendement of life vvhere there is mentioned a prescript time of satisfaction for their fault by such and such penal meanes vvhether there be any prescript times of repentance or amendement of life to continue so long and no longer if not then must it needes be translated Penance and doing penance vvhich is longer or shorter according to the fault and the maner of doing the same I may repent in a moment and amend my life at one instant and this repentance and amendement ought to continue for euer but the holy Councels and fathers speake of a thing to be done for certaine yeres or daies and to be released at the Bishops discretion this therfore is penance and not repentance only or amendemēt of life and is expressed by the foresaid Greeke wordes as also by * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an other equiualent therevnto 6 I omit that this very phrase to doe penance is vvord for word expressed thus in Greeke Litur Chrys in rubricis pag. 69. 104. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And Ausonius the Xp̄ian Poëte vvhom I may as vvel alleage once and vse it not Metanoea as they do Virgil Terence and the like very often vseth this
othervvise then al antiquitie hath done shal better appeare in their dealing about our B. Lady vvhose honour they haue sought so many vvaies to diminish deface that the defense and maintenance thereof against the Heretikes of our time is grovven to a great booke learnedly vvritten by the great Clerke and Iesuite father Canisius entitled Mariana 4 Concerning our purpose vvhat vvas euer more common and is novv more general and vsual in al Christian Countries then in the Aue Marie to say Gratia plena ful of grace in so much that in the first English Bible it hath continued so still and euery childe in our Countrie vvas taught so to say till the Aue Marie vvas banished altogether and not suffered to be said neither in Latin nor English Vvhat auncient father of the Latin Church hath not alvvaies so read and expounded Vvhat Church in al the vvest hath not euer so sung and said Onely our nevv Translators haue found a nevv kinde of speache translating thus Haile thou that art freely beloued Bib. 1579. and 1577. and Haile thou that art in high fauour Vvhy this and that or any other thing rather then Haile ful of grace S. Iohn Baptist vvas ful of the holy Ghost euen from his birth Luc. 1. v. 15. S. Steuen vvas ful of grace Act. 7. v. 8. as the Scripture recordeth of them both vvhy may not then our Lady much more be called ful of grace Ambr. li. 2 in 1 Luc. vvho as S. Ambrose saith onely obteined the grace vvhich no other vvomen deserued to be replenished vvith the author of grace 5 They vvil say the Greeke vvord doth not so signifie doth it not I make them selues vvitnesses of the contrarie and their owne translation in other places shal confute them vvhere they translate an other vvord of the self same nature and forme and in al respectes like to this Luc. 16. v. 20 ful of sores If 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be ful of sores vvhy is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ful of grace Let any Grecian of them al make me a difference in the nature and significancie of these tvvo vvordes Againe if vlcerosus as Beza translateth be ful of sores vvhy is not gratiosa as Erasmus translateth ful of grace or vvhy doth Beza maruel that Erasmus translated gratiosa vvhen him self trāslateth the like vvord vlcerosus Al vvhich adiectiues in osus you knovv signifie fulnes as periculosus aerumnosus Yet vvhat a sturre doth Beza keepe here in his Annotatiōs to make the Greeke vvord signifie freely beloued 6 But hath it in deede any such signification tell vs you that professe this great skill of the tongues 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vvhat syllable is there in this vvord that soundeth to that signification Comment in Eph. 1. S. Chrysostom and the Greeke Doctors that should best knovv the nature of this Greeke word say that it signifieth to make gratious acceptable and beloued and beautiful and amiable and so to be desired as vvhen the Psalme saith Psal 44. The king shal desire thy beautie Beza him self saith that it is vvord for vvord gratificata made grateful and yet he expoundeth it accepted before God and translateth it freely beloued because he vvill haue no singular grace or goodnes or vertue resident in our B. Lady but al by imputation acceptation vvhereof I haue spoken before S. Athan. de S. Deip. S. Athanasius a Greeke Doctor saith that she had this title 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because the Holy Ghost descended into the Virgin filling her vvith al graces and vertues and I beseeche the reader to see his vvordes vvhich are many moe concerning this fulnes of grace and al spiritual giftes S. Hierom that knevv the Greeke vvord as vvel as the Protestants Ep. 140 in expos Psal 44. readeth Gratia plena and findeth no fault vvith this interpretation but saith plainely she vvas so saluted ful of grace because she conceiued him in vvhom al fulnes of the deitie dvvelt corporally 7 Novv let the English Bezites come vvith their nevv terme freely beloued and controule these and al other auncient fathers both Greeke and Latin and teache them a nevv signification of the Greeke vvord vvhich they knevv not before Iohn Keltridge preacher of the vvord in London in his sermons vvithin the toure printed fo 14. Let Iohn Keltridge one of their great preachers in London come and tel vs that the Septuaginta and the best translations in Greeke haue no such vvordes as vve vse in the Aue Marie but that the vvord vvhich the Septuaginta vse is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Grosse ignorance singular pride in many of the nevv cleargie Vvho euer heard such a ieast that the preacher of the vvord of God in London so he is called in the title of his booke and preacher before the Iesuites and Seminaries in the tovver So he called the Priests of the Seminarie as if one vvold cal a monke a Monasterie or a nonne a nonry vvhich is next degree to the disputers there vvhose sermons be solemnely printed and dedicated to one of the Queenes Councel vvho seemeth to be such a Grecian that he confuteth the vulgar Latin translation by the signification of the Greeke vvorde and in other places of his booke alleageth the Greeke text Pag. 37. of the 2 part that this man for al this referreth vs to the Septuaginta either as authors of S. Lukes Gospel vvhich is to ridiculous or as translators thereof as though S. Luke had vvritten in Hebrue yea as though the vvhole nevv Testament had been vvritten in Hebrue for so no doubt he presupposed and that the Septuaginta had translated it into Greeke as they did the old vvho vvere dead three hundred yeres before S. Lukes Gospel and the nevv Testament vvas vvritten 8 Al this is such a pitiful ieast as vvere incredible if his printed booke did not giue testimonie Pitiful I say because the simple people count such their preachers ioly fellowes great Clerkes because they can talke of the Greeke of the Hebrue text as this man doth also concerning the Hebrue letter Tau Fol. 11. parte 2. vvhether it had in old time the forme of a crosse or no euen as vvisely and as skilfully as he did before of the Septuaginta and the Greeke vvord in S. Lukes Gospel Vvhose incredible follie and ignorance in the tongues perhaps I vvould neuer haue mentioned because I thinke the rest are sorie and ashamed of him but that he boasteth of that vvhereof he hath no skil and that the people may take him for a very paterne and example of many other like boasters and braggers among them and that vvhen they heare one talke lustely of the Hebrue and Greeke and cite the text in the said tongues they may alvvaies remember Iohn keltridge their preacher and say to them selues vvhat if this fellovv also be like Iohn keltridge 9 But to procede these
they should meane by it this I am sure if they do it for no purpose they doe it very folishly and forgetfully and contrarie to them selues In the Gospel of S. Marke Marc 3. v 16 in the reckening of the Apostles they adde these vvordes And the first vvas Simon Bibl. 1579. more then is in their Greeke text Vvhich addition they learned of Beza vvhose contradictions in this point are worthie noting Mat. 10. v. 2. In S. Matthew where these vvordes are he suspecteth that first vvas added by some Papist for Peters primacie here vvhere the vvord is not he auoucheth it to be the true text of the Gospel that because Matthevv readeth so there he alleaged this reason vvhy it could not be said the first Simon because there is no consequēce nor coherence of second third fourth c here he saith that is no impediment because there be many exāples of such speach namely in the said place of S. Matthevv there he saith it is not so though al Greeke copies haue it so here it must needes be so though it be only found in certaine odde Greeke copies of Erasmus vvhich Erasmus him self as Beza confesseth allovved not but thought that these vvordes vvere added in them out of S. Matthevv Vvhat these contradictions meane I knovv not and I vvould learne the reason thereof of his scholers our English translators vvho ' by their Maisters authoritie haue made the self same addition in their English translation also 8 There is also an other addition of theirs either proceding of ignorance or of the accustomed humor vvhen they translate thus Col. 1. v. 23. if ye continue stablished in the faith and be not moued avvay from the hope of the Gospel vvhich ye haue heard hovv it vvas preached to euery creature or vvhereof ye haue heard hovv that it is preached or vvhereof ye haue heard and vvhich hath been preached to euery creature c. For al these varieties they haue and none according to the Greeke text vvhich is vvord for vvord as the vulgar Latin interpreter hath most sincerely translated it Vnmoueable from the hope of the Gospel vvhich you haue heard 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vvhich is or hath been preached among al creatures c. So that the Apostles exhortation is vnto the Colossians that they continue grounded and stable in the faith and Gospel vvhich they had heard and receiued of their first Apostles Ro. 16. Ga. c. 1. 2. 2 Thess 2. Heb. 13. 1 Tim. 6. 2 Tim. 1. 2. as in the epistle to the Romanes and to the Galatians and to the Thessalonians and to the Hebrues and to Timothee and S. Iohn in his first epistle c. 2. v. 24 and S. Iude v. 3. 20 al vse the like exhortations 9 But this doth not so vvel like the Protestants vvhich * 1 Tim. 1. 6. vvith Hymenaeus Alexander and other o Heretikes haue fallen from their first faith and therfore they alter the Apostles plaine speache vvith certaine vvordes of their ovvne and they vvil not haue him say Be vnmoueable in the faith and Gospel vvhich you haue heard and receiued but vvhereof you haue heard hovv that it is preached as though he spake not of the Gospel preached to them but of a Gospel vvhich they had only heard of that vvas preached in the vvorld Certaine it is these vvordes vvhereof you haue heard hovv it vvas preached are not so in the Greeke but vvhich you haue heard vvhich hath been preached Vvhich is as much to say as that they should continue constant in the faith and Gospel vvhich them selues had receiued and vvhich vvas then preached and receiued in the vvhole vvorld So say vve to our deere countriemen Stād fast in the faith be vnmoueable from the hope of the Gospel vvhich you heard of your first Apostles CHAP. 21. vvhich vvas is preached in al the vvorld If the Protestants like not this exhortation they do according to their translation CHAP. XXI Certaine other heretical TREACHERIES and CORRVPTIONS vvorthie of obseruation 1 THEY hold this position that the Scriptures are not hard to be vnderstood that so euery one of them may presume to interprete and expound them And because S. Peter saith plainely 2 Pet. 3. Corruption concerning the easines of the scriptures that S. Paules Epistles are hard and other Scriptures also vvhich the vnlearned saith he peruert to their ovvne destruction therfore they labour tooth and naile to make this subtil difference Beza in Annot that S. Peter saith not Paules epistles are hard but some thinges in S. Paules epist are hard as though that vvere not al one and therfore they translate so that it must needes be vnderstood of the things and not of the Epistles pretending the Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vvhich yet they knovv in some copies can not be referred to the things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Test Gr. Crisp but must needes be vnderstood of the Epistles Vvherfore the Greeke copies being indifferent to both and the thing also in very deede being al one vvhether the hardnes be in the Epistles or in the matter for vvhen vve say the Scripture is hard vve meane specially the matter it is not only an Heretical but a foolish peeuish spirit that maketh them so curious and precise in their translations as here to limite and abridge the sense to the things only Beza translating 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inter quae sunt multa difficilia and not in quibus as it is in the old vulgar translation most sincere and indifferent both to epistles and things Corruption to make God the author of sinne An other fashion they haue vvhich can not procede of good meaning that is when the Greeke text is indifferent to tvvo senses and one is receiued read and expounded of the greater part of the auncient fathers and of al the Latin Church there to folovv the other sense not so generally receiued approued as in S. Iames epistle vvhere the common reading is Deus intentator malorum est God is no tempter to euil they translate God can not be tempted vvith euil vvhich is so impertinent to the Apostles speache there as nothing more But vvhy vvil they not say God is no tempter to euil as vvel as the other is it because of the Greeke vvord vvhich is a passiue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let them see their Lexicon and it vvil tel them that it is both an actiue and passiue so say other learned Grecians Gagneius interpreters of this place so saith the very circumstance of the vvordes next going before Let no man say that he is tempted of God Vvhy so Because God is not tempted vvith euil say they is this a good reasō nothing lesse how then Because God is no tempter to euil therfore let no man say that he is tempted of God 3 This reason is so coherent and so necessarie in
this place that if the Greeke vvord vvere only a passiue as it is not yet it might beseeme Beza to translate it actiuely vvho hath turned the actiue into a passiue vvithout scrupulositie as him self confesseth and is before noted against the real presence Much more in this place might he be bold to translate that actiuely vvhich is both an actiue and a passiue specially hauing such an example and so great authoritie as is al the auncient Latin Church vntil this day But vvhy vvould he not surely because he vvould fauour his and their heresie vvhich saith cleane contrarie to these vvordes of the Apostle Annot. No. Test an 1556. Mat. 6. v. 13. to vvit that God is a tempter to euil Is that possible to be proued yea it is possible and plaine Bezas vvordes be these Inducit Dominus in tentationem eos quos Satanae arbitrio permittit autin quos potius Satanam ipsum inducit vt cor eorum impleat vt loquitur Petrus Act. 5. v. 3. that is The Lord leadeth into tentation those vvhom he permitteth to Satans arbitrement or into vvhom rather he leadeth or bringeth in Satan him self to fill their hart as Peter speaketh Marke that he saith God bringeth Satan into a man to fill his hart as Peter said to Ananias Vvhy hath Satan filled thy hart to lie vnto the Holy Ghost So then by this mans opinion God brought Satan into Ananias hart to make him lie vnto the holy Ghost so ledde him into tentation being author causer of that heinous sinne 4 Is not this to say God is a tempter to euil cleane contrarie to S. Iames the Apostle or could he that is of this opinion translate the contrarie that God is no tempter to euil Is not this as much to say as that God also brought Satan into Iudas to fil his hart and so vvas author of Iudas treason euen as he vvas of Paules conuersion See Beza Annot. in Ro. c. 1. v. 24 Act 2. v. 23. Vvhit ad ra Camp pag. 139. 145. Let Beza novv and Maister Whitakers or any other Heretike of them al vvrest vvring them selues from the absurditie of this opinion as they endeuour and labour to doe excedingly because it is most blasphemous yet shal they neuer be able to cleere discharge them selues from it if they vvil allovv mainteine their foresaid exposition of Gods leading into tentation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 2. v. 23. Doth not Beza for the same purpose trāslate Gods prouidēce for Gods prescience Vvhich is so false that the English Bezites in their translation are ashamed to folovv him 5 An other exceding treacherie to deceiue the reader is this that they vse Catholike termes and speaches in such places vvhere they may make them odious Corruption in abusing Catholike vvordes and vvhere they must needes sound odiously in the peoples eares As for example this terme procession they put very maliciously falsely thus 2 Mach. 6. v. 7. Vvhen the feast of Bacchus vvas kept they vvere constrained to goe in the procession of Bacchus Let the good reader see the Greeke Lexicō Bib. 1570. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 procession if there be any thing in this vvord like to the Catholike Churches processions or vvhether it signifie so much as to goe about as their other bibles are translated Bib. 1562.1577 vvhich meant also heretically but yet durst not name procession 6 Againe He put dovvne the Priests of Baal vvhom the kings of Iuda had founded to burne incense Founded 4 Reg. 23. v. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So they translate the Hebrue being simply to giue make appoint because in the Catholike Church there are foundations of chaunterie Priests Chapples ditiges c. Neither is it sincerely and vvithout il meaning that they say here the Priests of Baal vvhom c. Because the Hebrue word signifieth al those that ministred in the temples of false gods 7 Againe Shrines 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Siluer shrines for Diana Act. 19. v. 24. Because of the shrines tabernacles made to the image of our B. Ladie the Greeke vvord signifying temples and Beza saith he can not see hovv it may signifie shrines 8 Againe Deuotions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As I passed by beheld your deuotiōs I found an altar Act. 17. v. 23. So they call the superstition of the Athenians toward their false gods because of Catholike peoples deuotiōs toward the true God his Church altars Saincts c the Greeke vvord signifying the things that are vvorshipped as 2 Thess 2. v. 4. and Sap. 15. v. 17. not the maner of vvorshipping 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 9 Againe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Ievves had agreed that if any mā did confesse that he vvas Christ he should be excommunicate Ioh. 9. v. 22. And Iesus heard that they had excōmunicated him v. 35. to make the Ievves doing against them that confessed Christ sound like to the Catholike Churches doing against Heretikes in excōmunicating them Excommunication and so to disgrace the Priests povver of excommunication vvhereas the Ievves had no such spiritual excommunication but as the Greeke must needes only signifie they did put them out of the Synagogue Aposynagogum facere and so they should haue translated the Greeke vvord including the very name of Synagogue But they as though the Church of Christ and the Synagogue of the Ievves vvere al one so translate excommunicating and putting out of the Synagogue as al one 10 I omit here as spoken before that they call an Idol the Queene of heauen because vve call our Lady by that title so to make both seeme like Also Altars that they say Bels altar thrise Images for Bels table to disgrace altars and that for idols they say images in despite of the Churches images that they say traditiō duely in the il part Traditions yea sometime when it is not in the Greeke to make traditions odious and such like Thus by similitude like sound of vvordes they beguile the poore people not only in their false expositions concerning Iudaical fastes meates obseruatiō of daies as is els where shevved but also in their translations So doth Caluins nevv Testament in frenche Mat. 23. for Nolite vocari Rabbi translate Be not called nostre maistre or Magister noster in derision and disgrace of this title and calling vvhich is peculiar to Doctors of Diuinitie in the Catholike Vniuersities beyond the seas euen as Wicleffe their grand-father did vpon the same vvordes condemne such degrees in Vniuersities But their Rabbines can tel them that Rabbi signifieth Magister and not Magister noster and S. Iohn telleth them so chap. 1. v. 38. and chap. 3. v. 2. and chap. 20. v. 16. and yet it pleaseth them to translate othervvise and to abuse Christs ovvne sacred vvordes against Catholike Doctors schooles not considering that as Christ forbadde them to be called Rabbi
maruel vnto vs that knovv not the reason of your doings vvhy you haue c Bib 1577. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 left out Alleluia nine times in the sixe last Psalmes Alleluia being in the Hebrue nine times more then in your translation specially vvhen you knovv that it is the auncient and ioyful song of the primitiue Church See the nevv English Testament Annot. Apoc. 19. 14 Againe you translate thus Many vvhich had seen the first house vvhen the foundation of this house vvas laid before their eies vvept c. Looke vvel to your Hebrue and you shal finde it according both to the Greeke the Latin thus Many vvhich had seen the first house in the foundation thereof that is yet standing vpon the foūdation not destroied and this temple before their eies vvept You imagined that it should be meant they savv Salomons temple vvhen it vvas first founded vvhich because it vvas vnpossible therfore you translated othervvise then is in the Hebrue Greeke and Latin But yet in some of your Bibles you should haue considered the matter better 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and translated accordingly 15 And surely vvhy you should translate 4 Reg. 23. v. 13. On the right hand of mount Oliuete rather then as it is in the vulgar Latin and why Ye abiect of the Gentiles Esa 45. v. 20. rather then ye that are saued of the Gentiles you belike knovv some reason vve do not neither by the Hebrue nor the Greeke 16 Howbeit in these lesser things though nothing in the Scripture is to be counted litle you might perhaps more freely haue taken your pleasure in folovving neither Hebrue nor Greeke but vvhen it cōcerneth a matter no lesse then vsurie there by your false translation to giue occasion vnto the reader to be an vsurer is no smal fault either against true religion or against good maners Bib. 1562. 1577. Deut. 23. v. 19. This you doe most euidently in your most authentical translations saying thus Thou shalt not hurt thy brother by vsurie of money nor by vsurie of corne nor by vsurie of any thing that he may be hurt vvithal What is this to say but that vsurie is not here forbidden vnles it hurt the partie that borovveth vvhich is so rooted in most mēs hartes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. that they thinke such vsurie very lavvful and daily offend mortally that vvay Vvhere almightie God in this place of holy Scripture hath not a vvord of hurting or not hurting as may be seen by the Geneua bibles but saith simply thus Thou shalt not lend to thy brother to vsurie vsurie of money vsurie of meate vsurie of any thing that is put to vsurie 17 Marke the Hebrue and the Greeke and see and be ashamed that you straine and peruert it to say for Non foenerabis fratri tuo vvhich is vvord for vvord in the Greeke and Hebrue Thou shalt not hurt thy brother by vsurie If the Hebrue vvord in the vse of holy Scripture do signifie to hurt by vsurie why do you in the very next vvordes folowing in the self same Bibles translate it thus ibid. v. 20. vnto astranger thou maist lend vpon vsurie but not vnto thy brother Vvhy said you not A stranger thou maist hurt vvith vsurie but not thy brother Is it not al one vvord and phrase here and before And if you had so translated it here also the Ievves vvould haue thanked you vvho by forcing the Hebrue vvord as you doe thinke it very good to hurt any stranger that is any Christian by any vsurie be it neuer so great 18 Vvhat shal I tel you of other faultes vvhich I vvould gladly accoūt ouersightes or ignorances such as vve also desire pardon of but al are not such though some be As Tvvo thousand Cant. Cātic. c. 8. v. 12 Bib. 1579. vvritten at length to them that keepe the fruite thereof In the Hebrue Greeke tvvo hundred Againe in the same booke c. 1. v. 4. As the fruites of Cedar in the Hebr. and Greeke tabernacles And Isa 7. v. 11. Aske a signe either in the depth or in the height aboue for in the depth of Hel. And Great vvorkes are vvrought by him Mat. 14. v. 2. for do vvorke in him as S. Paul vseth the same vvord 2 Cor. 4. v. 12. And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To make ready an horse Act. 23. v. 24. in the Greeke beastes And Bib. 1577. If a man on the Sabboth day receiue circumcision vvithout breaking of the lavv of Moyses Io. 7. v. 23. For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the end that the lavv of Moyses be not broken And The sonne of man must suffer many things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and be reproued of the elders Mar. 8. v. 31. For be reiected as in the psalme The stone vvhich the builders reiected vve say not reprouing of the said stone vvhich is Christ 1 Tim. 3. And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a yong scholer in al your trāslatiōs falsely And Simo of Chanaan or Simon the Cananite Mar. 3. vvho is called otherwise Zelótes that is Zelous as an interpretation of the Hebrue vvord Cananaeus vvhich I maruel you cōsidered not specially cōsidering that the Hebrue vvord for Zelous 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the other for a Cananite beginne with diuers letters and Heb. 2. v. 1. lest at any time vve should let them slippe for lest vve slippe or runne by and so be lost 19 And as for the first bible An. 1562. vvhich vvas done in hast and not yet corrected but is printed still a fresh Mat. 22. that saith Vvith Herods seruants as though that vvere the only sense that calleth idiotas lay men a Mat. 24. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a ship b Mar. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vvondering c Mat. 25. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are gone out Eph. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his substance and To knovv the excellent loue of the knovvledge of Christ For the loue of Christ that excelleth knovvledge And of men that turne avvay the truth Tit. 1. For that shunne the truth and turne avvay from it And Mount Sina is Agar in Arabia For Agar is Mount Sina c. 20 Let these and the like be smal negligences or ignorances such as you vvil pardon vs also if you finde the like Neither do vve greatly mislike that you leaue these vvordes a Deut. 33. Vrim and Thummim and b 4 Reg 23. Chemarim and c Ziims Iims vntranslated Ierem. 50. because it is not easy to expresse them in English and vve vvould haue liked it as vvel in certaine other vvordes vvhich you haue translated images images and stil images Hamanim Esa 17. Gillulim Ier. 50. Miphletseth 3 Ro. 15. being as hard to expresse the true signification of them as the former And vve hope you vvil the rather beare vvith the late Catholike translatiō of