Christe and his Churche ought to be aduouched out of the scriptures and do contende in disputation that the true Churche can not be knowen but only by the holy scriptures For all other thinges saith the same aucthor may be founde among the heretikes Some affirme it to be a sinfull tradition that is obtruded without the scripture Some playnely pronounce that not to knowe the scriptures is not to knowe Christe VVherefore let men extoll out the Churche practises as hyghly as they can and let them set out their traditions and customes their decisions in synodes and counsayles with vaunting the presence of the holy ghost among them really as some doth affirme it in their writing let their groundes and their demonstrations their foundations be as stable and as strong as they blase them out Yet wyll we be bolde to say with Saint Peter Habemus nos firmiorem sermonem propheticum VVe haue for our part a more stable grounde the propheticall wordes of the scriptures and doubt not to be commended therefore of the same Saint Peter with these wordes Cui dum attenditis ceu lucerne apparenti in obscuro loco recte facitis donce dies illucescat c. VVherevnto saith he whyle ye do attende as to a light shining in a darke place ye do well vntill the day light appeare and till the bright starre do arise into our heartes I or this we know that al the propheticall scripture standeth not in any priuate interpretation of vayne names of seuerall Churches of catholique and vniuersall seas of singuler and wylfull heades whiche wyll chalenge by custome all decision to pertayne to them only who be working so muche for their vayne superioritie that they be not ashamed now to be of that number Qui dixerunt linguam nostram magnificabimus labia nostra a nobis sunt quis noster dominus est VVhiche haue sayd with our tongue wyll we preuayle we are they that ought to speake who is lorde ouer vs. And whyle they shall thus contende for their straunge claymed aucthoritie we will proceede in the reformation begun and doubt no more by the helpe of Christe his grace of the true vnitie to Christes catholique Churche and of the vprightnesse of our fayth in this prouince then the spanishe cleargie once gathered together in counsaile only by the commaundement of their king before whiche tyme the Pope was not so acknowledged in his aucthoritie which he now claymeth I say as surely dare we trust as they dyd trust of their fayth and vnitie Yea no lesse coÌ„fidence haue we to professe that which the fathers of the vniuersall counsaile at Carthage in Affrike as they wryte them selfe did professe in their epistle writteÌ„ to Pope Celestine laying before his face the foule corruption of him selfe as two other of his predicessours did the like errour in falsifiyng the canons of Nicen counsayle for his wrong chalenge of his newe claymed aucthoritie Thus wrytyng Prudentissime enim iustissimeque prouiderunt Nicena et Affricana dicreta quecunque negotia in suis locis vbi orta sunt fiâ—ienda nec vnicuiqui prouintiae gratiam sancti spiritus defuturam qua equitas a Christi sacerdotibus et prudenter videatur constantissime teneatur maxime quia vnicuique concessum est si iuditio offensus fuerit cognitorum ad concilia suae prouinciae vel etiam vniuersale prouocare That the Nicen and Affrican decrees haue most prudently and iustly prouided for all maner of matters to be ended in their teritories where they had their beginning and they trusted that not to any one prouince shoulde want the grace of the holy ghost wherby both the truth or equitie might prudently be seene of the christian prelates of Christe and might be also by them most constantly defended specially for that it is graunted to euery man if he be greeued by the iudgement of the cause once knowen to appeale to the counsayles of his owne prouince or els to the vniuersall Except there be any man which may beleue that our Lorde God would inspire the righteousnesse of examination to any one singular person and to denie the same to priestes gathered together into counsaile without number c. And there they do require the bishop of Rome to send none of his clarkes to execute such prouinciall causes lest els say they mought be brought in the vayne pride of the worlde into the Churche of Christe In this antiquitie may we in this christian catholique Church of Englande repose our selfe knowyng by our owne annales of auncient recorde that kyng Lucius whose conscience was muche touched with the miracles whiche the seruauntes of Christe wrought in diuers nations thervpon beyng in great loue with the true fayth sent vnto Eleutherius then byshop of Rome requiring of hym the christian religion But Eleutherius did redyly geue ouer that care to king Lucius in his epistle for that the king as he wryteth the vicar of God in his owne kingdome and for that he had receaued the faith of Christe And for that he had also both testamentes in his realme hewylled him to drawe out of them by the grace of God and by the counsaile of his wisemen his lawes and by that lawe of God to gouerne his realme of Britanie and not so muche to desire the Romane and Emperours lawes in the which some default might be founde saith he but in the lawes of God nothing at all VVith which aunswere the kinges legates Eluanus and Medwinus sent as messengers by the king to the Pope returned to Britanie agayne Eluanus beyng made a byshop and Medwine alowed a publique teacher who for the eloquence and knowledge they had in the holy scriptures they repayred home agayne to kyng Lucius and by their holy preachinges Lucius and the noble men of the whole Britanie receaued their baptisme c. Thus farre in the storie Nowe therfore knowing and beleuing with Saint Paul Quod quecunque prescripta sunt ad nostram doctrinam prescripta sunt vt per pacientiam consolationem scripturarum spem habeamus VVhatsoeuer is afore writteÌ„ is written before for our instruction that we through the pacience and comfort of scirptures might haue hope the only suretie to our fayth and comscience is to sticke to the scriptures VVherevpon whyle this eternall worde of God be our rocke and anker to sticke vnto we will haue pacience with all the vayne inuentions of men who labour so highly to magnifie their tongues to exalt them selues aboue al that is God VVe wil take comfort by the holy scriptures against the maledictions of the aduersaries and doubt not to nourishe our hope continually therewith so to liue and dye in this comfortable hope and doubt not to pertayne to the elect number of Christes Churche howe farre soeuer we be excommunicated out of the sinagogue of suche who suppose them selues to be the vniuersall lordes of all the world Lordes of our fayth and consciences at pleasure Finally to
hath had such care to prescribe these bookes thus vnto vs I say not prescribe them only but to maintaine them and defende them against the malignitie of the deuill and his ministers who alway went about to destroy them and yet could these neuer be so destroyed but that he woulde haue them continue whole and perfect to this day to our singuler comfort and instruction where other bookes of mortall wise men haue perished in great numbers It is recorded that Ptolomeus Philadelphus kyng of Egypt had gathered together in one librarie at Alexandria by his great coste and diligence seuen hundred thousand bookes wherof the principall were the bookes of Moyses whiche reserued not much more then by the space of two hundred yeres were all brent and consumed in that battayle when Caesar restored Cleopatra agayne after her expulsion At Constantinople perished vnder Zenon by one common fire a hundred and twentie thousande bookes At Rome when Lucius Aurel Antonius dyd raigne his notable librarie by a lightning frō heauen was quite consumed yea it is recorded that Gregorie the first did cause a librarie of Rome cōtayning only certaine Paynims workes to be burned to thintent the scriptures of God should be more read and studied VVhat other great libraries haue there ben cōsumed but of late daies And what libraries haue of olde throughout this realme almost in euery abbey of the same ben destroyed at sundry ages besides the losse of other mens priuate studies it were to long to rehearse VVherevpon seyng almightie God by his deuine pouidence hath preserued these bookes of the scriptures safe and sounde and that in their natiue languages they were first written in the great ignoraunce that raigned in these tongues and contrary to all other casualties chaunced vpon all other bookes in mauger of all worldly wittes who would so fayne haue had them destroyed and yet he by his mightie hande would haue them extant as witnesses and interpreters of his will toward mankind we may soone see cause most reuerently to embrace these deuine testimonies of his wyll to studie them and to search them to instruct our blinde nature so sore corrupted and fallen from the knowledge in whiche first we were created Yet hauing occasion geuen somewhat to recouer our fall and to returne againe to that deuine nature wherein we were once made and at the last to be inheritours in the celestiall habitation with God almightie after the ende of our mortalitie here brought to his dust agayne These bookes I say beyng of suche estimation and aucthoritie so muche reuerenced of them who had any meane taste of them coulde neuer be put out of the way neither by the spyte of any tiraunt as that tiraunt Maximian destoyed all the holy scriptures wheresoeuer they coulde be founde and burnt them in the middes of the market neither the hatred either of any Porphirian philosopher or Rhetoritian neither by the enuie of the romanystes and of such hypocrites who from tyme to time did euer barke against them some of them not in open sort of condempnation but more cunningly vnder suttle pretences for that as they say they were so harde to vnderstande and specially for that they affirme it to be a perilous matter to translate the text of the holy scripture and therefore it can not be well translated And here we may beholde the endeuour of some mens cauillations who labour all they can to slaunder the translatours to finde fault in some wordes of the translation but them selfe will neuer set pen to the booke to set out any translation at al. They can in their constitutions prouinciall vnder payne of excommunication inhibite al other men to translate them without the ordinaries or the prouinciall counsayle agree therevnto But they wyll be well ware neuer to agree or to geue counsayle to set them out VVhiche their suttle compasse in effect tendeth but to bewray what inwardly they meane if they coulde bring it about that is vtterly to suppresse them being in this their iudgement farre vnlike the olde fathers in the primatiue Church who hath exhorted indifferently all persons aswell men as women to exercise them selues in the scriptures which by Saint Hieroms aucthoritie be the scriptures of the people Yea they be farre vnlike their olde forefathers that haue ruled in this realme who in their times and in diuers ages did their diligence to translate the whole bookes of the scriptures to the erudition of the laytie as yet at this day be to be seene diuers bookes translated into the vulgar tongue some by kynges of the realme some by bishoppes some by abbottes some by other deuout godly fathers so desirous they were of olde tyme to haue the lay sort edified in godlynes by reading in their vulgar tongue that very many bookes be yet extant though for the age of the speache and straungenesse of the charect of many of them almost worne out of knowledge In whiche bookes may be seene euidently howe it was vsed among the Saxons to haue in their Churches read the foure gospels so distributed and piked out in the body of the euangelistes bookes that to euery Sunday and festiuall day in the yere they were sorted out to the common ministers of the Churche in their common prayers to be read to their people Nowe as of the most auncient fathers the prophetes Saint Peter testifieth that these holy men of God had the impulsion of the holy ghost to speake out these deuine testimonies so it is not to be doubted but that these latter holy fathers of the englishe Church had the impulsion of the holy ghost to set out these sacred bookes in their vulgar language to the edification of the people by the helpe whereof they might the better folowe the example of the godly Christians in the begining of the Churche who not only receaued the worde withall redinesse of heart but also did searche diligently in the scriptures whether the doctrine of the Apostles were agreable to the same scriptures And these were not of the rascall sort saith the deuine storie but they were of the best and of most noble byrth among the Thessalonians Birrhenses by name Yea the prophetes them selues in their dayes writeth S. Peter were diligent searchers to inquire out this saluatiō by Christe searching when and at what article of time this grace of Christes dispensation should appeare to the world VVhat ment the fathers of the Church in their writinges but the aduauncing of these holy bookes where some do attribute no certaintie of vndoubted veritie but to the canonicall scriptures Some do affirme it to be a foolishe rashe boldnesse to beleue hym who proueth not by the scriptures that whiche he affirmeth in his worde Some do accurse all that is deliuered by tradition not founde in the legall and euangelicall scriptures Some say that our fayth must needes stagger if it be not grounded vpon the aucthoritie of the scripture Some testifieth that
So be they pronounced both reader and hearer by the holy prophete Ieremie accursed which do the worke of God fraudulently and negligently From the which he defende vs who bought vs with his most precious blood To whom with the father and the holy ghost be all honour and glorie Amen ¶ A Preface into the Byble folowyng OF all the sentences pronounced by our sauiour Christe in his whole doctrine none is more serious or more worthy to be borne in remembraunce then that which he spake openly in his Gospell saying Scrutamini scripturas quia vos putatis in ipsis vitam eternam â—abere et ille sunt quae testimonium perbibent de me Search ye the scriptures for in them ye thinke to haue eternall lyfe and those they be which beare witnes of me These wordes were first spoken vnto the Iewes by our sauiour but by hym in his doctrine ment to all for they concerne all of what nation of what tongue of what profession soeuer any man be For to all belongeth it to be called vnto eternall life so many as by the witnes of the scriptures desire to finde eternall life No man woman or chylde is excluded from this saluation and therfore to euery of them is this spokeÌ„ proportionally yet and in their degrees and ages and as the reason and congruitie of their vocation may aske For not so lyeth it in charge to the worldly artificer to searche or to any other priuate man so exquisitely to studie as it lyeth to the charge of the publike teacher to searche in the scriptures to be the more able to walke in the house of God which is the Church of the lyuyng God the pyller and ground of trueth to the establishing of the true doctrine of the same and to the impugnyng of the false And though whatsoeuer difference there may be betwixt the preacher in office and the auditor in his vocation yet to both it is said Search ye the scriptures whereby ye may fynde eternall lyfe and gather witnesses of that saluation which is in Christe Iesus our Lorde For although the prophete of God Moyses byddeth the kyng when he is once set in the throne of his kingdome to describe before his eyes the volume of Gods lawe according to the example whiche he shoulde receaue of the priestes of the leuiticall tribe to haue it with him and to reade in it all the dayes of his life to th ende that he might learne to feare the Lorde his God and to obserue his lawes that his heart be not aduaunced in pryde ouer his brethren not to swarue eyther on the ryght hande or on the left yet the reason of this precept for that it concerneth all men may reasonably be thought to be commaunded to all men and all men may take it to be spoken to them selfe in their degree Though almightie God him selfe spake to his captayne Iosue in precise wordes Non recedat volumen legis huius ab ore tuo sed meditaberis in eo diebus ac noctibus c. Let not the volume of this booke depart from thy mouth but muse therin both dayes and nyghtes that thou mayest kepe and perfourme all thinges which be written in it that thou mayest direct well thy way and vnderstande the same yet aswell spake almightie God this precept to all his people in the directions of their wayes to himwarde as he ment it to Iosue For that he hath care of all he accepteth no mans person his wyll is that all men shoulde be saued his wyll is that all men shoulde come to the way of trueth Howe coulde this be more conueniently declared by God to man then when Christe his welbeloued sonne our most louing sauiour the way the trueth and the lyfe of vs all dyd byd vs openly Searche the scriptures assuring vs herein to finde eternall life to finde full testification of all his graces and benefites towardes vs in the treasure thereof Therefore it is most conuenient that we shoulde all suppose that Christe spake to vs all in this his precept of searching the scriptures If this celestiall doctour so aucthorised by the father of heauen and commaunded as his only sonne to be hearde of vs all biddeth vs busily to Search the scriptures of what spirite can it proceede to forbid the reading and studiyng of the scriptures If the grosse Iewes vsed to reade them as some men thinke that our sauiour Christ dyd shew by such kynd of speaking their vsage with their opinion they had therin to finde eternall lyfe and were not of Christe rebuked or disproued either for their searching or for the opinion they had howe superstitiously or superficially soeuer some of them vsed to expende the scriptures Howe muche more vnaduisedly do suche as bost them selfe to be either Christes vicars or be of his garde to lothe christen men from reading by their couert slaunderous reproches of the scriptures or in their aucthoritie by lawe or statute to contract this libertie of studiyng the worde of eternall saluation Christe calleth them not onlye to the single readyng of scriptures saith Chrisostome but sendeth them to the exquisite searching of them for in them is eternall lyfe to be founde and they be saith hym selfe the witnesse of me for they declare out his office they commende his beneuolence towardes vs they recorde his whole workes wrought for vs to our saluation Antechriste therefore he must be that vnder whatsoeuer colour woulde geue contrary precept or counsayle to that whiche Christe dyd geue vnto vs. Very litle do they resemble Christes louing spirite mouing vs to searche for our comfort that wyll discourage vs from suche searching or that woulde wishe ignoraunce and forgetfulnesse of his benefite to raigne in vs so that they might by our ignoraunce raigne the more frankly in our consciences to the daunger of our saluation VVho can take the light from vs in this miserable vale of blindnesse and meane not to haue vs stumble in the pathes of perdition to the ruine of our soules who wyll enuie vs this bread of lyfe prepared and set on the table for our eternall sustenaunce and meane not to famishe vs or in steede thereof with their corrupt traditions and doctrines of man to infect vs All the whole scripture saith the holy apostle Saint Paul inspired from God aboue is profitable to teache to reproue to refourme to instruct in righteousnesse that the man of God may be sounde and perfect instructed to euery good worke Searche therefore good reader on Gods name as Christe byddeth thee the holy scripture wherein thou mayest finde thy saluation Let not the volume of this booke by Gods owne warrant depart from thee but occupie thy selfe therein in the whole iourney of this thy worldly pilgrimage to vnderstande thy way howe to walke ryghtly before hym all the dayes of thy lyfe Remember that the prophete Dauid pronounceth hym the blessed man whiche wyll muse in