Treating of the causes vvhy this nevv Testament is translated according
to the auncient vulgar Latin text.
THE holy Bible long since translated by vs into English, and the old
Testament lying by vs for lacke of good meanes to publish the vvhole in
such sort as a vvorke of so great charge and importance requireth: vve
haue yet through Gods goodnes at length fully finished for thee (most
Christian reader) all the NEVV TESTAMENT, vvhich is the principal, most
profitable & comfortable peece of holy vvrite: and, as vvel for all
other institution of life and doctrine, as specially for deciding the
doubtes of these daies, more propre and pregnant then the other part
not yet printed.
NOVV TO GIVE thee also intelligence in particular, most gentle Reader,
of such thinges as it behoueth thee specially to knovv concerning our
Translation: Vve translate the old vulgar Latin text, not the common
Greeke text, for these causes.
1. It is so auncient, that it vvas vsed in the Church of God aboue 1300
yeres agoe, as appeareth by the fathers of those times.
2. It is that (by the common receiued opinion and by al probabilitie)
vvhich S. Hierom aftervvard corrected according to the Greeke, by the
appointment of Damasus then Pope, as he maketh mention in his preface
before the foure Euangelistes, vnto the said Damasus: and ‘in Catalogo
in fine,’ and ‘ep. 102.’
3. Consequently it is the same vvhich S. Augustine so commendeth and
allovveth in an Epistle to S. Hierom.
4. It is that, vvhich for the most part euer since hath been vsed in
the Churches seruice, expounded in sermons, alleaged and interpreted in
the Commentaries and vvritings of the auncient fathers of the Latin
Church.
5. The holy Councel of Trent, for these and many other important
considerations, hath declared and defined this onely of al other latin
translations, to be authentical, and so onely to be vsed and taken in
publike lessons, disputations, preachings, and expositions, and that no
man presume vpon any pretence to reiect or refuse the same.
6. It is the grauest, sincerest, of greatest maiestie, least
partialitie, as being vvithout al respect of controuersies and
contentions, specially these of our time, as appeareth by those places
vvhich Erasmus and others at this day translate much more to the
aduantage of the Catholike cause.
7. It is so exact and precise according to the Greeke, both the phrase
and the word, that delicate Heretikes therfore reprehend it of rudenes.
And that it follovveth the Greeke far more exactly then the Protestants
translations, beside infinite other places, we appeale to these. Tit.
3,14. ‘Curent bonis operibus praeesse.’ ‘proissasthai.’ Engl. bib.
1577, ‘to mainteine good vvorks.’ and Hebr. 10, 20. ‘Viam nobis
initiauit,’ ‘enekainisen.’ English Bib. ‘he prepared.’ So in these
vvordes, ‘Iustificationes,’ ‘Traditiones,’ ‘Idola’ &c. In al vvhich
they come not neere the Greeke, but auoid it of purpose.
8. The Aduersaries them selues, namely Beza, preferre it before al the
rest. (Inpraefat. no. Test an. 1556.) And againe he saith, that the old
Interpreter translated very religiously. (Annot. in 1. Luc. v. 1.)
9. In the rest, there is such diuersitie and dissension, and no end of
reprehending one an other, and translating euery man according to his
fantasie, that Luther said, If the vvorld should stand any long time,
vve must receiue againe (which he thought absurd) the Decrees of
Councels, for preseruing the vnitie of faith, because of so diuers
interpretations of the Scripture. And Beza (in the place aboue
mentioned) noteth the itching ambition of his fellovv-translators, that
had much rather disagree and dissent from the best, then seeme them
selues to haue said or vvritten nothing. And Bezas translation it self,
being so esteemed in our countrie, that the Geneua English Testaments
be translated according to the same, yet sometime goeth so vvide from
the Greeke, and from the meaning of the holy Ghost, that them selues
which protest to translate it, dare not folow it. For example, Luc.
3,36. They haue put these wordes, ‘The sonne of Cainan,’ which he
wittingly and wilfully left out: and (Act. 1,14.) they say, ‘Vvith the
vvomen,’ agreably to the vulgar Latin: where he saith, ‘Cum vxoribus,’
‘vvith their vviues.’
10. It is not onely better then al other Latin translations, but then
the Greeke text it self, in those places where they disagree.
The proofe hereof is euident, because most of the auncient Heretikes
were Grecians, & therfore the Scriptures in Greeke were more corrupted
by them, as the auncient fathers often complaine. Tertullian noteth the
Greeke text which is at this day (1 Cor. 15,47) to be an old corruption
of Marcion the Heretike, and the truth to be as in our vulgar latin,
‘Secundus homo de caelo caelestis,’ ‘The second man from heauen
heauenly.’ So reade other auncient fathers, and Erasmus thinketh it
must needes be so, and Caluin him self folovveth in ‘Instit. li. 2. c.
13. parag. 2.’ Againe S. Hierom noteth that the Greeke text (1 Cor. 7,
33) which is at this day, is not the ‘Apostolical veritie’ or the true
text of the Apostle: but that which is in the vulgar Latin, ‘Qui cum
vxore est, solicitus est quae sunt mundi, quomodo placeat vxori, &
diuisus est.’ ‘He that is vvith a vvife, is careful of vvorldly things,
hovv he may please his vvife, and is deuided or distracted.’ The
Ecclesiastical historie called the Tripartite, noteth the Greeke text
that now is (1 Io. 4, 3) to be an old corruption of the auncient Greeke
copies, by the Nestorian Heretikes, & the true reading to be as in our
vulgar Latin, ‘Omnis spiritus qui soluit IESVM, Ex Deo non est.’ ‘Euery
spirit that dissolueth IESVS, is not of God:’ and Beza confesseth that
Socrates in his Ecclesiastical historie readeth so in the Greeke.
But the proofe is more preganant out of the Aduersaires them selues.
They forsake the Greeke text as corrupted, and translate according to
the vulgar Latin, namely Beza and his scholers the English translatours
of the Bible, in these places. Hebr. chap. 9. vers. 1. saying, ‘The
first couenant,’ for that vvhich is in the Greeke. ‘The first
tabernacle.’ vvhere they put, ‘couenant,’ not as of the text, but in an
other letter, as to be vnderstood, according to the vulgar Latin,
vvhich most sincerely leaueth it out altogether, saying, ‘Habuit quidem
& prius iustificationes &c.’ ‘The former also in deede had
iustifications &c.’ Againe, Ro. 11, vers. 21. They translate not
according to the Greek text, ‘Tempori seruientes,’ ‘seruing the time,’
vvhich Beza sayth must needes be a corruption: but according to the
vulgar Latin, ‘Domino seruientes,’ ‘seruing our Lord.’ Againe, Apoc.
11, vers. 2. they translate not the Greeke text, ‘Atrium quod intra
templum est,’ ‘the court vvhich is vvithin the temple:’ but cleane
contrarie, according to the vulgar Latin, vvhich Beza saith is the true
reading, ‘Atrium quod est foris templum,’ ‘the court vvhich is vvithout
the temple.’ Onely in this last place, one English Bible of the yere
1562, folovveth the errour of the Greeke. Againe, 2 Tim. 23 vers. 14.
they adde, ‘but,’ more then is in the Greeke, to make the sense more
commodious and easie, according as it is in the vulgar Latin. Againe,
Ia. 5, 12. they leaue the Greeke, and folovv the vulgar Latin, saying,
‘lest you fall into condemnation.’ “I doubt not (saith Beza) but this
is the true and sincere reading, and I suspect the corruption in the
Greeke came thus &c.” It vvere infinite to set dovvne al such places,
vvhere the Aduersaries (specially Beza) folovv the old vulgar Latin and
the Greeke copie agreable therevnto, condemning the Greeke text that
novv is, of corruption.