Part 17

[Sidenote: The praise of the holy Scriptures.] But now what piety without truth? What truth, what saving truth, without the word of God? What word of God, whereof we may be sure, without the Scripture? The Scriptures we are commanded to search, _John_ v. 39. _Isaiah_ viii. 20. They are commended that searched and studied them, _Acts_ xvii. 11, and viii. 28, 29. They are reproved that were unskilful in them, or slow to believe them, _Matth._ xxii. 29. _Luke_ xxiv. 25. They can make us wise unto salvation, _2 Tim._ iii. 15. If we be ignorant, they will instruct us; if out of the way, they will bring us home; if out of order, they will reform us; if in heaviness, comfort us; if dull, quicken us; if cold, inflame us. [Sidenote: _St. August. Confess. lib. 8. cap. 12. St. August. De utilit. credendi, cap. 6._] _Tolle, lege; tolle, lege_; Take up and read, take up and read the Scriptures, (for unto them was the direction,) it was said unto St. _Augustine_ by a supernatural voice. _Whatsoever is in the Scriptures, believe me_, saith the same St. _Augustine_, _is high and divine; there is verily truth, and a doctrine most fit for the refreshing and renewing of men’s minds, and truly so tempered, that every one may draw from thence that which is sufficient for him, if he come to draw with a devout and pious mind, as true religion requireth_. Thus St. _Augustine_. And St. _Hierome_, [Sidenote: _St. Hieron. ad Demetriad. St. Cyrill 7 contra Julian._] _Ama Scripturas, et amabit te sapientia_, &c. Love the Scriptures, and wisdom will love thee. And St. _Cyrill_ against _Julian_, _Even boys that are bred up in the Scriptures become most religious_, &c. But what mention we three or four uses of the Scripture, whereas whatsoever is to be believed, or practised, or hoped for, is contained in them? or three or four sentences of the Fathers, since whosoever is worthy the name of a Father, from Christ’s time downward, hath likewise written not only of the riches, but also of the perfection of the Scripture? [Sidenote: _Tertul. advers. Herm. Tertul. De carn. Christ._ Οἷόν τε, _Justin_. προτρεπτ. πρὸς Ἕλλην. Ὑπερηφανίας κατηγορία, _St. Basil_. περὶ πίστεως.] _I adore the fulness of the Scripture_, saith _Tertullian_ against _Hermogenes_. And again, to _Apelles_ an heretick of the like stamp he saith, _I do not admit that which thou bringest in_ (or concludest) _of thine own_ (head or store, _de tuo_) without Scripture. So St. _Justin Martyr_ before him; _We must know by all means_ (saith he) _that it is not lawful_ (or possible) _to learn_ (any thing) _of God or of right piety, save only out of the Prophets, who teach us by divine inspiration_. So St. _Basil_ after _Tertullian_, _It is a manifest falling away from the faith, and a fault of presumption, either to reject any of those things that are written, or to bring in_ (upon the head of them, ἐπεισαγεῖν) _any of those things that are not written_. We omit to cite to the same effect St. _Cyrill_ Bishop of _Jerusalem_ in his 4. _Catech._ St. _Hierome_ against _Helvidius_, St. _Augustine_ in his third book against the letters of _Petilian_, and in very many other places of his works. Also we forbear to descend to later Fathers, because we will not weary the reader. The Scriptures then being acknowledged to be so full and so perfect, how can we excuse ourselves of negligence, if we do not study them? of curiosity, if we be not content with them? [Sidenote: Εἰρεσιώνη σῦκα φέρει, καὶ πίονας ἄρτους, καὶ μελι ἐν κοτύλῃ, καὶ ἔλαιον, &c. An olive bough wrapped about with wool, whereupon did hang figs, and bread, and honey in a pot, and oil.] Men talk much of εἰρεσιώνη, how many sweet and goodly things it had hanging on it; of the Philosopher’s stone, that it turneth copper into gold; of _Cornu-copia_, that it had all things necessary for food in it; of _Panaces_, the herb, that it was good for all diseases; of _Catholicon_ the drug, that it is instead of all purges; of _Vulcan’s_ armour, that it was an armour of proof against all thrusts and all blows, &c. Well, that which they falsely or vainly attributed to these things for bodily good, we may justly and with full measure ascribe unto the Scripture for spiritual. It is not only an armour, but also a whole armoury of weapons, both offensive and defensive; whereby we may save ourselves, and put the enemy to flight. It is not an herb, but a tree, or rather a whole paradise of trees of life, which bring forth fruit every month, and the fruit thereof is for meat, and the leaves for medicine. It is not a pot of _Manna_, or a cruse of oil, which were for memory only, or for a meal’s meat or two; but, as it were, a shower of heavenly bread sufficient for a whole host, be it never so great, and, as it were, a whole cellar full of oil vessels; whereby all our necessities may be provided for, and our debts discharged. In a word, it is a panary of wholesome food against fenowed traditions; [Sidenote: Κοινὸν ἰατρεῖον, _St. Basil in Psal. primum._] a physician’s shop (as St. _Basil_ calls it) of preservatives against poisoned heresies; a pandect of profitable laws against rebellious spirits; a treasury of most costly jewels against beggarly rudiments; finally, a fountain of most pure water springing up unto everlasting life. And what marvel? the original thereof being from heaven, not from earth; the author being God, not man; the inditer, the Holy Spirit, not the wit of the Apostles or Prophets; the penmen, such as were sanctified from the womb, and endued with a principal portion of God’s Spirit; the matter, verity, piety, purity, uprightness; the form, God’s word, God’s testimony, God’s oracles, the word of truth, the word of salvation, &c.; the effects, light of understanding, stableness of persuasion, repentance from dead works, newness of life, holiness, peace, joy in the Holy Ghost; lastly, the end and reward of the study thereof, fellowship with the saints, participation of the heavenly nature, fruition of an inheritance immortal, undefiled, and that never shall fade away. Happy is the man that delighteth in the Scripture, and thrice happy that meditateth in it day and night.

[Sidenote: Translation necessary.] But how shall men meditate in that which they cannot understand? How shall they understand that which is kept close in an unknown tongue? as it is written, [Sidenote: 1 Cor. 14. 11.] _Except I know the power of the voice, I shall be to him that speaketh a barbarian, and he that speaketh shall be a barbarian to me_. The Apostle excepteth no tongue; not _Hebrew_ the ancientest, not _Greek_ the most copious, not _Latin_ the finest. Nature taught a natural man to confess, that all of us in those tongues which we do not understand are plainly deaf; we may turn the deaf ear unto them. [Sidenote: _Clem. Alex. 1 Strom. St. Hieronym. Damaso. Michael, Theophili fil. 2 Tom. Concil. ex edit. Petri Crab._] The _Scythian_ counted the _Athenian_, whom he did not understand, barbarous: so the _Roman_ did the _Syrian_, and the _Jew_: (even St. _Hierome_ himself calleth the _Hebrew_ tongue barbarous; belike, because it was strange to so many:) so the Emperor of _Constantinople_ calleth the _Latin_ tongue barbarous, though Pope _Nicolas_ do storm at it: [Sidenote: _Cicero 5. De Finibus._] so the _Jews_ long before _Christ_ called all other nations _Lognasim_, which is little better than barbarous. Therefore as one complaineth that always in the Senate of _Rome_ there was one or other that called for an interpreter; so lest the Church be driven to the like exigent, it is necessary to have translations in a readiness. Translation it is that openeth the window, to let in the light; that breaketh the shell, that we may eat the kernel; that putteth aside the curtain, that we may look into the most holy place; that removeth the cover of the well, that we may come by the water; [Sidenote: Gen. 29. 10.] even as _Jacob_ rolled away the stone from the mouth of the well, by which means the flocks of _Laban_ were watered. Indeed without translation into the vulgar tongue, [Sidenote: John 4. 11.] the unlearned are but like children at _Jacob’s_ well (which was deep) without a bucket or something to draw with: [Sidenote: Isai. 29. 11.] or as that person mentioned by _Esay_, to whom when a sealed book was delivered with this motion, _Read this, I pray thee_; he was fain to make this answer, _I cannot, for it is sealed_.

[Sidenote: The translation of the Old Testament out of the Hebrew into Greek. _See St. August. lib. 12. contra Faust. cap. 32._] While God would be known only in _Jacob_, and have his name great in _Israel_, and in none other place; while the dew lay on _Gideon’s_ fleece only, and all the earth besides was dry; then for one and the same people, which spake all of them the language of _Canaan_, that is, _Hebrew_, one and the same original in _Hebrew_ was sufficient. But when the fulness of time drew near, that the Sun of righteousness, the Son of God, should come into the world, whom God ordained to be a reconciliation through faith in his blood, not of the _Jew_ only, but also of the _Greek_, yea, of all them that were scattered abroad; then, lo, it pleased the Lord to stir up the spirit of a _Greek_ prince, (_Greek_ for descent and language,) even of _Ptolemy Philadelph_ king of _Egypt_, to procure the translating of the book of God out of _Hebrew_ into _Greek_. This is the translation of the _Seventy_ interpreters, commonly so called, which prepared the way for our Saviour among the _Gentiles_ by written preaching, as St. _John Baptist_ did among the _Jews_ by vocal. For the _Grecians_, being desirous of learning, were not wont to suffer books of worth to lie moulding in kings’ libraries, but had many of their servants, ready scribes, to copy them out, and so they were dispersed and made common. Again the _Greek_ tongue was well known and made familiar to most inhabitants in _Asia_ by reason of the conquests that there the _Grecians_ had made, as also by the colonies which thither they had sent. For the same causes also it was well understood in many places of _Europe_, yea, and of _Africk_ too. Therefore the word of God, being set forth in _Greek_, becometh hereby like a candle set upon a candlestick, which giveth light to all that are in the house; or like a proclamation sounded forth in the market place, which most men presently take knowledge of; and therefore that language was fittest to contain the Scriptures, both for the first preachers of the Gospel to appeal unto for witness, and for the learners also of those times to make search and trial by. It is certain, that that translation was not so sound and so perfect, but that it needed in many places correction; and who had been so sufficient for this work as the Apostles or apostolick men? Yet it seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to them to take that which they found, (the same being for the greatest part true and sufficient,) rather than by making a new, in that new world and green age of the Church, to expose themselves to many exceptions and cavillations, as though they made a translation to serve their own turn; and therefore hearing witness to themselves, their witness not to be regarded. This may be supposed to be some cause, why the translation of the _Seventy_ was allowed to pass for current. Notwithstanding, though it was commended generally, yet it did not fully content the learned, no not of the _Jews_. For not long after _Christ_, _Aquila_ fell in hand with a new translation, and after him _Theodotion_, and after him _Symmachus_; yea, there was a fifth, and a sixth edition, the authors whereof were not known. These with the _Seventy_ made up the _Hexapla_, and were worthily and to great purpose compiled together by _Origen_. Howbeit the edition of the _Seventy_ went away with the credit, and therefore not only was placed in the midst by _Origen_, (for the worth and excellency thereof above the rest, as _Epiphanius_ gathereth,) [Sidenote: _Epiphan. De mensuris et ponderib. St. August. 2. De doctrin. Christian. c. 15. Novel. diatax. 146._] but also was used by the _Greek_ Fathers for the ground and foundation of their commentaries. Yea, _Epiphanius_ abovenamed doth attribute so much unto it, that he holdeth the authors thereof not only for interpreters, [Sidenote: Προφητικῆς ὥσπερ χάριτος περιλαξμψάσης αὐτους.] but also for prophets in some respect: and _Justinian_ the Emperor, injoining the _Jews_ his subjects to use especially the translation of the _Seventy_, rendereth this reason thereof, Because they were, as it were, enlightened with prophetical grace. [Sidenote: Isai. 31. 3.] Yet for all that, as the _Egyptians_ are said of the Prophet to be men and not God, and their horses flesh and not spirit: so it is evident, (and St. _Hierome_ affirmeth as much,) [Sidenote: _St. Hieron. de optimo genere interpret._] that the _Seventy_ were interpreters, they were not prophets. They did many things well, as learned men; but yet as men they stumbled and fell, one while through oversight, another while through ignorance; yea, sometimes they may be noted to add to the original, and sometimes to take from it: which made the Apostles to leave them many times, when they left the _Hebrew_, and to deliver the sense thereof according to the truth of the word, as the Spirit gave them utterance. This may suffice touching the _Greek_ translations of the Old Testament.

[Sidenote: Translation out of Hebrew and Greek into Latin.] There were also within a few hundred years after _Christ_ translations many into the _Latin_ tongue: for this tongue also was very fit to convey the Law and the Gospel by, because in those times very many countries of the West, yea of the South, East, and North, spake or understood _Latin_, being made provinces to the _Romans_. But now the _Latin_ translations were too many to be all good: for they were infinite; (_Latini interpretes nullo modo numerari possunt_, saith St. _Augustine_.) [Sidenote: _St. August. de doctrin. Christ. lib. 2. cap. 11._] Again, they were not out of the _Hebrew_ fountain, (we speak of the _Latin_ translations of the Old Testament,) but out of the _Greek_ stream; therefore the _Greek_ being not altogether clear, the _Latin_ derived from it must needs be muddy. This moved St. _Hierome_, a most learned Father, and the best linguist without controversy of his age, or of any other that went before him, to undertake the translating of the Old Testament out of the very fountains themselves; which he performed with that evidence of great learning, judgment, industry, and faithfulness, that he hath for ever bound the Church unto him in a debt of special remembrance and thankfulness.

[Sidenote: The translating of the Scripture into the vulgar tongues.] Now though the Church were thus furnished with _Greek_ and _Latin_ translations, even before the faith of _Christ_ was generally embraced in the Empire: (for the learned know, [Sidenote: _St. Hieron. Marcell. Zosim._] that even in St. _Hierome’s_ time the Consul of _Rome_ and his wife were both Ethnicks, and about the same time the greatest part of the Senate also:) yet for all that the godly learned were not content to have the Scriptures in the language which themselves understood, [Sidenote: 2 Kin. 7. 9.] _Greek_ and _Latin_, (as the good lepers were not content to fare well themselves, but acquainted their neighbours with the store that God had sent, that they also might provide for themselves;) but also for the behoof and edifying of the unlearned, which hungered and thirsted after righteousness, and had souls to be saved as well as they, they provided translations into the vulgar for their countrymen, insomuch that most nations under heaven did shortly after their conversion hear _Christ_ speaking unto them in their mother tongue, not by the voice of their minister only, but also by the written word translated. If any doubt hereof, he may be satisfied by examples enough, if enough will serve the turn. [Sidenote: _St. Hieron. Præf. in 4. Evangel._] First, St. _Hierome_ saith, _Multarum gentium linguis Scriptura ante translata docet falsa esse quæ addita sunt_, &c.; that is, _The Scripture being translated before in the languages of many nations doth shew that those things that were added_ (by _Lucian_ or _Hesychius_) _are false_. [Sidenote: _St. Hieron. Sophronio._] So St. _Hierome_ in that place. The same _Hierome_ elsewhere affirmeth that he, the time was, had set forth the translation of the _Seventy_, _suæ lingæ hominibus_; that is, for his countrymen of _Dalmatia_. Which words not only _Erasmus_ doth understand to purport, that St. _Hierome_ translated the Scripture into the _Dalmatian_ tongue; [Sidenote: _Six. Sen. lib. 4. Alphon. a Castro, lib. 1. cap. 23. St. Chrysost. in Joann. cap. 1. hom. 1._] but also _Sixtus Senensis_, and _Alphonsus a Castro_, (that we speak of no more,) men not to be excepted against by them of _Rome_, do ingenuously confess as much. So St. _Chrysostome_, that lived in St. _Hierome’s_ time, giveth evidence with him: _The doctrine of St. John_ (saith he) _did not in such sort_ (as the Philosophers’ did) _vanish away: but the Syrians, Egyptians, Indians, Persians, Ethiopians, and infinite other nations, being barbarous people, translated it into their (mother) tongue, and have learned, to be (true) Philosophers_, he meaneth Christians. [Sidenote: _Theodor. 5. Therapeut._] To this may be added _Theodoret_, as next unto him both for antiquity, and for learning. His words be these, _Every country that is under the sun is full of these words_, (of the Apostles and Prophets;) _and the Hebrew tongue_ (he meaneth the Scriptures in the _Hebrew_ tongue) _is turned not only into the language of the Grecians, but also of the Romans, and Egyptians, and Persians, and Indians, and Armenians, and Scythians, and Sauromatians, and, briefly, into all the languages that any nation useth_. [Sidenote: _P. Diacon. lib. 12. Isid. in Chron. Goth. Sozom. lib. 6. cap. 57. Vasseus in Chro. Hisp. Polydor. Virg. 5. hist. Anglorum testatur idem de Aluredo nostro. Aventin. lib. 4._] So he. In like manner _Ulpilas_ is reported by _Paulus Diaconus_ and _Isidore_, and before them by _Sozomen_, to have translated the Scriptures into the _Gothick_ tongue: _John_ Bishop of _Sevil_ by _Vasseus_, to have turned them into _Arabick_ about the Year of our Lord 717: _Beda_ by _Cistertiensis_, to have turned a great part of them into _Saxon_: _Efnard_ by _Trithemius_, to have abridged the French Psalter (as _Beda_ had done the _Hebrew_) about the year 800: King _Alured_ by the said _Cistertiensis_, to have turned the Psalter into _Saxon_: _Methodius_ by _Aventinus_ (printed at _Ingolstad_) to have turned the Scriptures into _Sclavonian_: _Valdo_[146] Bishop of _Frising_ by _Beatus Rhenanus_, to have caused about that time the Gospels to be translated into _Dutch_ rhyme, yet extant in the library of _Corbinian_: _Valdus_ by divers, to have turned them himself, or to have gotten them turned, into _French_, about the Year 1160: _Charles_ the Fifth of that name, surnamed _The wise_, to have caused them to be turned into _French_ about 200 years after _Valdus’_ time; of which translation there be many copies yet extant, as witnesseth _Beroaldus_. [Sidenote: _Beroald. Thuan._] Much about that time, even in our King _Richard_ the Second’s days, _John Trevisa_ translated them into _English_, and many _English_ Bibles in written hand are yet to be seen with divers; translated, as it is very probable, in that age. So the _Syrian_ translation of the New Testament is in most learned men’s libraries, of _Widminstadius’_ setting forth; and the Psalter in _Arabick_ is with many, of _Augustinus Nebiensis’_ setting forth. So _Postel_ affirmeth, that in his travel he saw the Gospels in the _Ethiopian_ tongue: And _Ambrose Thesius_ alledgeth the Psalter of the _Indians_, which he testifieth to have been set forth by _Potken_ in _Syrian_ characters. So that to have the Scriptures in the mother tongue is not a quaint conceit lately taken up, either by the Lord _Cromwell_ in _England_, or by the Lord _Radevile_ in _Polony_, or by the Lord _Ungnadius_ in the Emperor’s dominion, but hath been thought upon, and put in practice of old, even from the first times of the conversion of any nation; no doubt, because it was esteemed most profitable to cause faith to grow in men’s hearts the sooner, and to make them to be able to say with the words of the Psalm, [Sidenote: Psal. 48. 8.] _As we have heard, so we have seen_.

[Sidenote: The unwillingness of our chief adversaries that the Scriptures should be divulged in the mother tongue, &c. Δῶρον ἄδωρον κουκ ὀνήσιμον _Sophocl._] Now the church of _Rome_ would seem at the length to bear a motherly affection toward her children, and to allow them the Scriptures in the mother tongue: but indeed it is a gift, not deserving to be called a gift, an unprofitable gift: they must first get a licence in writing before they may use them; and to get that, they must approve themselves to their Confessor, that is, to be such as are, if not frozen in the dregs, yet soured with the leaven of their superstition. Howbeit it seemed too much to _Clement_ the Eighth, that there should be any licence granted to have them in the vulgar tongue, and therefore he overruleth and frustrateth the grant of _Pius_ the Fourth. [Sidenote: See the observation (set forth by Clement’s authority) upon the 4th rule of _Pius_ the 4th’s making in the _Index lib. prohib. pag. 15. ver. 5. Tertull. de resur. carnis._] So much are they afraid of the light of the Scripture, (_Lucifugæ Scripturarum_, as _Tertullian_ speaketh,) that they will not trust the people with it, no not as it is set forth by their own sworn men, no not with the licence of their own Bishops and Inquisitors. Yea, so unwilling they are to communicate the Scriptures to the people’s understanding in any sort, that they are not ashamed to confess, that we forced them to translate it into _English_ against their wills. This seemeth to argue a bad cause, or a bad conscience, or both. Sure we are, that it is not he that hath good gold, that is afraid to bring it to the touch-stone, but he that hath the counterfeit; [Sidenote: John 3. 20.] neither is it the true man that shunneth the light, but the malefactor, lest his deeds should be reproved; neither is it the plaindealing merchant that is unwilling to have the weights, or the meteyard, brought in place, but he that useth deceit. But we will let them alone for this fault, and return to translation.