the vengeance of God by birth, yea, and from our conception. And we have
our fellowship with the devils under the power of darkness and rule of
Satan, while we are yet in our mothers’ wombs; and though we show not
forth the fruits of sin, yet are we full of the natural poison whereof all
sinful deeds spring, and cannot but sin outwardly, be we never so young,
if occasion be given; for our nature is to do sin, as is the nature of a
serpent to sting. And as a serpent yet young, or yet unbrought forth, is
full of poison, and cannot afterward (when the time is come, and occasion
given) but bring forth the fruits thereof; and as an adder, a toad, or a
snake, is hated of man, not for the evil that it hath done, but for the
poison that is in it and the hurt which it cannot but do; so are we hated
of God for that natural poison which is conceived and born with us before
we do any outward evil. And as the evil, which a venomous worm doeth,
maketh it not a serpent; but because it is a venomous worm, therefore doth
it evil and poisoneth; and as the fruit maketh not the tree evil, but
because it is an evil tree, therefore it bringeth forth evil fruit, when
the season of fruit is; even so do not our evil deeds make us evil; but
because that of nature we are evil, therefore we both think and do evil,
and are under vengeance under the law, convict to eternal damnation by the
law, and are contrary to the will of God in all our will, and in all
things consent to the will of the fiend.
By grace, that is to say by favour, we are plucked out of Adam, the ground
of all evil, and graffed in Christ the root of all goodness. In Christ,
God loved us, his elect and chosen, before the world began, and reserved
us unto the knowledge of his Son and of his holy gospel; and when the
gospel is preached to us, he openeth our hearts, and giveth us grace to
believe, and putteth the Spirit of Christ in us, and we know him as our
Father most merciful; and we consent to the law, and love it inwardly in
our heart, and desire to fulfil it, and sorrow because we cannot; which
will (sin we of frailty never so much) is sufficient till more strength be
given us; the blood of Christ hath made satisfaction for the rest; the
blood of Christ hath obtained all things for us of God. Christ is our
satisfaction, Redeemer, Deliverer, Saviour, from vengeance and wrath.
Observe and mark in Paul’s, Peter’s, and John’s epistles, and in the
gospel, what Christ is unto us.
By faith are we saved only in believing the promises. And though faith be
never without love and good works, yet is our saving imputed neither to
love nor unto good works, but unto faith only. For love and works are
under the law, which requireth perfection, and the ground and fountain of
the heart, and damneth all imperfectness. Now is faith under the
promises, which condemn not; but give all grace, mercy, favour, and
whatsoever is contained in the promises.
Righteousness is divers; blind reason imagines many manner of
righteousness. There is, in like manner, the justifying of ceremonies,
some imagine them their own selves, some counterfeit other, saying, in
their blind reason, Such holy persons did thus and thus, and they were
holy men, therefore if I do so likewise I shall please God; but they have
no answer of God that that pleaseth. The Jews seek righteousness in their
ceremonies; which God gave unto them, not to justify, but to describe and
paint Christ unto them; of which Jews testifieth Paul, saying how that
they have affection to God, but not after knowledge; for they go about to
stablish their own justice, and are not obedient to the justice of
righteousness that cometh of God. The cause is verily that except a man
cast away his own imagination and reason, he cannot perceive God, and
understand the virtue and power of the blood of Christ. There is the
righteousness of works, as I said before, when the heart is away and
feeleth not how the law is spiritual and cannot be fulfilled, but from the
bottom of the heart, as the just ministration of all manner of laws, and
the observing of them, and moral virtues wherein philosophers put their
felicity and blessedness--which all are nothing in the sight of God. There
is a full righteousness, when the law is fulfilled from the ground of the
heart. This had neither Peter nor Paul in this life perfectly, but sighed
after it. They were so far forth blessed in Christ, that they hungered and
thirsted after it. Paul had this thirst; he consented to the law of God,
that it ought so to be, but he found another lust in his members, contrary
to the lust and desire of his mind, and therefore cried out, saying, “Oh,
wretched man that I am; who shall deliver me from this body of death?
thanks be to God through Jesus Christ.” The righteousness that before God
is of value, is to believe the promises of God, after the law hath
confounded the conscience: as when the temporal law ofttimes condemneth
the thief or murderer, and bringeth him to execution, so that he seeth
nothing before him but present death, and then cometh good tidings, a
charter from the king, and delivereth him. Likewise when God’s law hath
brought the sinner into knowledge of himself, and hath confounded his
conscience and opened unto him the wrath and vengeance of God; then cometh
good tidings. The Evangelion showeth unto him the promises of God in
Christ, and how Christ hath purchased pardon for him, hath satisfied the
law for him, and appeased the wrath of God. And the poor sinner believeth,
laudeth, and thanketh God through Christ, and breaketh out into exceeding
inward joy and gladness, for that he hath escaped so great wrath, so heavy
vengeance, so fearful and so everlasting a death. And he henceforth is an
hungered and athirst after more righteousness, that he might fulfil the
law; and mourneth continually, commending his weakness unto God in the
blood of our Saviour, Christ Jesus.
Here shall ye see compendiously and plainly set out, the order and
practice of every thing before rehearsed.
The fall of Adam hath made us heirs of the vengeance and wrath of God, and
heirs of eternal damnation; and hath brought us into captivity and bondage
under the devil. And the devil is our lord, and our ruler, our head, our
governor, our prince, yea, and our god. And our will is locked and knit
faster unto the will of the devil, than could a hundred thousand chains
bind a man unto a post. Unto the devil’s will consent we with all our
hearts, with all our minds, with all our might, power, strength, will, and
lusts. With what poison, deadly and venomous hate, hateth a man his enemy!
With how great malice of mind, inwardly, do we slay and murder! With what
violence and rage, yea, and with how fervent lust, commit we advoutry,
fornication, and such like uncleanness! With what pleasure and delectation
inwardly serveth a glutton his belly! With what diligence deceive we! How
busily seek we the things of this world! Whatsoever we do, think, or
imagine, is abominable in the sight of God. And we are as it were asleep
in so deep blindness, that we can neither see nor feel what misery,
thraldom, and wretchedness we are in, till Moses come and wake us, and
publish the law. When we hear the law truly preached, how that we ought to
love and honour God with all our strength and might, from the low bottom
of the heart; and our neighbours, yea, our enemies, as ourselves,
inwardly, from the ground of the heart, and do whatsoever God biddeth, and
abstain from whatsoever God forbiddeth, with all love and meekness, with a
fervent and a burning lust from the centre of the heart, then beginneth
the conscience to rage against the law, and against God. No sea, be it
ever so great a tempest, is so unquiet. For it is not possible for a
natural man to consent to the law, that it should be good, or that God
should be righteous which maketh the law; his wit, reason, and will being
so fast glued, yea, nailed and chained unto the will of the devil. Neither
can any creature loose the bonds, save the blood of Christ.
This is the captivity and bondage whence Christ delivered us, redeemed,
and loosed us. His blood, his death, his patience in suffering rebukes and
wrongs, his prayers and fastings, his meekness and fulfilling of the
uttermost point of the law, appeased the wrath of God, brought the favour
of God to us again, obtained that God should love us first, and be our
Father, and that a merciful Father, that will consider our infirmities and
weakness, and will give us his Spirit again (which was taken away in the
fall of Adam) to rule, govern, and strength us, and to break the bonds of
Satan, wherein we were so straight bound. When Christ is thuswise
preached, and the promises rehearsed which are contained in the prophets,
in the psalms, and in divers places of the five books of Moses, then the
hearts of them which are elect and chosen, begin to wax soft and melt at
the bounteous mercy of God, and kindness shewed of Christ. For when the
Evangelion is preached, the Spirit of God entereth into them whom God hath
ordained and appointed unto eternal life, and openeth their inward eyes,
and worketh such belief in them. When the woful consciences feel and taste
how sweet a thing the bitter death of Christ is, and how merciful and
loving God is through Christ’s purchasing and merits, they begin to love
again, and to consent to the law of God, that it is good and ought so to
be, and that God is righteous which made it; and they desire to fulfil the
law, even as the sick man desireth to be whole, and are an hungered and
thirst after more righteousness and after more strength to fulfil the law
more perfectly. And in all that they do, or omit and leave undone, they
seek God’s honour and his will with meekness, ever condemning the
imperfectness of their deeds by the law.
Now Christ standeth us in double stead, and us serveth in two manner wise:
First, he is our Redeemer, Deliverer, Reconciler, Mediator, Intercessor,
Advocate, Attorney, Solicitor, our Hope, Comfort, Shield, Protection,
Defender, Strength, Health, Satisfaction, and Salvation. His blood, his
death, all that he ever did, is ours. And Christ himself, with all that he
is or can do, is ours. His blood-shedding and all that he did, doth me as
good service as though I myself had done it. And God (as great as he is)
is mine, with all that he hath, through Christ and his purchasing.
Secondarily, after that we be overcome with love and kindness, and now
seek to do the will of God, which is a christian man’s nature, then have
we Christ an example to counterfeit, as saith Christ himself in John, “I
have given you an example.” And in another evangelist he saith, “He that
will be great among you, shall be your servant and minister, as the Son of
man came to minister and not to be ministered unto.” And Paul saith,
“Counterfeit[140] Christ.” And Peter saith, “Christ died for you, and
left you an example to follow his steps.” Whatsoever therefore faith hath
received of God through Christ’s blood and deserving, that same must love
shed out every whit, and bestow it on our neighbours unto their profit,
yea, and that though they be our enemies. By faith we receive of God, and
by love we shed out again. And that must we do freely after the example of
Christ, without any other respect, save our neighbour’s wealth only, and
neither look for reward in the earth, nor yet in heaven, for our deeds.
But of pure love must we bestow ourselves, all that we have, and all that
we are able to do, even on our enemies, to bring them to God, considering
nothing but their wealth, as Christ did ours. Christ did not his deeds to
obtain heaven thereby (that had been a madness), heaven was his already,
he was heir thereof, it was his by inheritance; but did them freely for
our sakes, considering nothing but our wealth, and to bring the favour of
God to us again, and us to God. And no natural son that is his father’s
heir, doth his father’s will because he would be heir; that he is already
by birth, his father gave him that ere he was born, and is loather that he
should go without it, than he himself hath wit to be; but out of pure love
doth he that he doth. And ask him, Why he doth any thing that he doth? he
answereth, My father bade, it is my father’s will, it pleaseth my father.
Bond servants work for hire, children for love: for their father with all
he hath, is theirs already. So a Christian man doth freely all that he
doth, considereth nothing but the will of God, and his neighbour’s wealth
only. If I live chaste, I do it not to obtain heaven thereby; for then
should I do wrong to the blood of Christ; Christ’s blood has obtained me
that; Christ’s merits have made me heir thereof; he is both door and way
thitherwards: neither that I look for an higher room in heaven than they
shall have which live in wedlock, other than a whore of the stews, if she
repent; for that were the pride of Lucifer, but freely to wait on the
evangelion; and to serve my brother withal; even as one hand helpeth
another, or one member another, because one feeleth another’s grief, and
the pain of the one is the pain of the other. Whatsoever is done to the
least of us (whether it be good or bad), it is done to Christ; and
whatsoever is done to my brother, if I be a christian man, that same is
done to me. Neither doth my brother’s pain grieve me less than mine own:
neither rejoice I less at his welfare than at mine own. If it were not so,
how saith Paul? “Let him that rejoiceth, rejoice in the Lord,” that is to
say, Christ, which is Lord over all creatures. If my merits obtained me
heaven, or a higher room there, then had I wherein I might rejoice besides
the Lord.
Here see ye the nature of the law, and the nature of the evangelion. How
the law is the key that bindeth and damneth all men, and the evangelion
looseth them again. The law goeth before, and the evangelion followeth.
When a preacher preacheth the law, he bindeth all consciences; and when he
preacheth the gospel, he looseth them again. These two salves (I mean the
law and the gospel) useth God and his preacher to heal and cure sinners
withal. The law driveth out the disease and maketh it appear, and is a
sharp salve, and a fretting corosy, and killeth the dead flesh, and
looseth and draweth the sores out by the roots, and all corruption. It
pulleth from a man the trust and confidence that he hath in himself, and
in his own works, merits, deservings, and ceremonies. It killeth him,
sendeth him down to hell, and bringeth him to utter desperation, and
prepareth the way of the Lord, as it is written of John the Baptist. For
it is not possible that Christ should come to a man, as long as he
trusteth in himself, or in any worldly thing. Then cometh the evangelion,
a more gentle plaster, which suppleth and suageth the wounds of the
conscience, and bringeth health. It bringeth the Spirit of God, which
looseth the bonds of Satan, and uniteth us to God and his will, through
strong faith and fervent love, with bonds too strong for the devil, the
world, or any creature to loose them. And the poor and wretched sinner
feeleth so great mercy, love, and kindness in God, that he is sure in
himself how that it is not possible that God should forsake him, or
withdraw his mercy and love from him; and he boldly crieth out with Paul,
saying, “Who shall separate us from the love that God loveth us withal?”
That is to say, What shall make me believe that God loveth me not? Shall
tribulation? anguish? persecution? Shall hunger? nakedness? Shall sword?
Nay, “I am sure that neither death nor life, neither angel, neither rule
nor power, neither present things nor things to come, neither high nor
low, neither any creature, is able to separate us from the love of God,
which is in Christ Jesu our Lord.” In all such tribulations, a christian
man perceiveth that God is his Father, and loveth him even as he loved
Christ when he shed his blood on the cross.
Finally, as before, when I was bond to the devil and his will, I wrought
all manner of evil and wickedness, not for hell’s sake, which is the
reward of sin, but because I was heir of hell by birth and bondage to the
devil, did I evil (for I could none otherwise do; to do sin was my
nature), even so now, since I am coupled to God by Christ’s blood, do I
well, not for heaven’s sake, but because I am heir of heaven by grace and
Christ’s purchasing, and have the Spirit of God, I do good freely, for so
is my nature: as a good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and an evil tree
evil fruit. By the fruits shall ye know what the tree is. A man’s deeds
declare what he is within, but make him neither good nor bad. We must
first be evil ere we do evil, as a serpent is first poisonous ere he
poison. We must be also good ere we do good, as the fire must be first hot
ere it warm any thing. Take an example: As those blind which are cured in
the evangelion could not see till Christ had given them sight, and deaf
could not hear till Christ had given them hearing, and those sick could
not do the deeds of an whole man till Christ had given them health; so can
no man do good in his soul till Christ have loosed him out of the bonds
of Satan, and have given him wherewith to do good; yea, and first have
poured into him that self good thing which he sheddeth forth afterwards on
other. Whatsoever is our own, is sin. Whatsoever is above that, is
Christ’s gift, purchase, doing, and working. He bought it of his Father
dearly with his blood, yea, with his most bitter death, and gave his life
for it. Whatsoever good thing is in us, that is given us freely, without
our deserving or merits, for Christ’s blood’s sake. That we desire to
follow the will of God it is the gift of Christ’s blood. That we now hate
the devil’s will (whereunto we were so fast locked, and could not but love
it) is also the gift of Christ’s blood; unto whom belongeth the praise and
honour of our good deeds, and not unto us.
II. “THE EPISTLE TO THE READER” ATTACHED TO THE 8vo EDITION, 1525.
Give diligence, reader, I exhort thee, that thou come with a pure mind,
and, as the Scripture saith, with a single eye, unto the words of health
and of eternal life; by the which, if we repent and believe them, we are
born anew, created afresh, and enjoy the fruits of the blood of Christ,
which blood crieth not for vengeance, as the blood of Abel, but hath
purchased life, love, favour, grace, blessing, and whatsoever is promised
in the Scriptures to them that believe and obey God, and standeth between
us and wrath, vengeance, curse, and whatsoever the Scripture threateneth
against the unbelievers and disobedient, which resist and consent not in
their hearts to the law of God that it is right, holy, just, and ought so
to be. Mark the plain and manifest places of the Scriptures, and in
doubtful places see thou add no interpretation contrary to them, but as
(Paul saith) let all be conformable and agreeing to the faith. Note the
difference of the law and of the gospel. The one asketh and requireth,
the other pardoneth and forgiveth; the one threateneth, the other
promiseth all good things to them that set their trust in Christ only. The
gospel signifieth glad tidings, and is nothing but the promises of good
things. All is not gospel that is written in the gospel-book; for if the
law were away thou couldest not know what the gospel meant, even as thou
couldest not see pardon and grace, except the law rebuked thee and
declared unto thee thy sin, misdeed, and trespass. Repent, and believe the
gospel, as Christ saith in the first of Mark. Apply alway the law to thy
deeds, whether thou find lust in thine heart to the law-ward; and so shalt
thou no doubt repent and feel in thyself a certain sorrow, pain, and grief
to thine heart, because thou canst not with full lust do the deeds of the
law. Apply the gospel, that is to say the promises, unto the deserving of
Christ, and to the mercy of God and his truth, and so shalt thou not
despair, but shall feel God as a kind and merciful father. And his Spirit
shall dwell in thee, and shall be strong in thee, and the promises shall
be given thee at the last (though not by and by, lest thou shouldest
forget thyself and be negligent), and all threatenings shall be forgiven
thee for Christ’s blood’s sake, to whom commit thyself altogether, without
respect either of thy good deeds or of thy bad.
Them that are learned Christianly I beseech, forasmuch as I am sure, and
my conscience beareth me record, that of a pure intent, singly and
faithfully, I have interpreted it, as far forth as God gave me the gift of
knowledge and understanding, that the rudeness of the work now at the
first time offend them not; but that they consider how that I had no man
to counterfeit, neither was helped with English of any that had
interpreted the same or such like thing in the Scripture beforetime.
Moreover, even very necessity, and cumbrance (God is record) above
strength, which I will not rehearse, lest we should seem to boast
ourselves, caused that many things are lacking which necessarily are
required. Count it as a thing not having his full shape, but as it were
born before his time, even as a thing begun rather than finished. In time
to come (if God have appointed us thereunto) we will give it his full
shape, and put out if ought be added superflously, and add to if ought be
overseen through negligence, and will enforce to bring to compendiousness
that which is now translated at the length, and to give light where it is
required, and to seek in certain places more proper English, and with a
table to expound the words which are not commonly used, and show how the
Scripture useth many words which are otherwise understood of the common
people, and to help with a declaration where one tongue taketh not
another; and will endeavour ourselves, as it were, to seethe it better,
and to make it more apt for the weak stomachs, desiring them that are
learned and able to remember their duty, and to help them thereunto, and
to bestow unto the edifying of Christ’s body, which is the congregation of
them that believe, those gifts which they have received of God for the
same purpose.
The grace that cometh of Christ be with them that love him. Amen.
III. THE PREFACE TO THE PENTATEUCH, 1530.
When I had translated the New Testament, I added an Epistle unto the
latter end, in which I desired them that were learned to amend if aught
were found amiss. But our malicious and wily hypocrites, which are so
stubborn, and hard hearted in their wicked abominations, that it is not
possible for them to amend any thing at all (as we see by daily
experience, when both their livings and doings are rebuked with the truth)
say, some of them, that it is impossible to translate the Scripture into
English; some that it is not lawful for the lay people to have it in their
mother tongue; some that it would make them all heretics; as it would no
doubt from many things which they of long time have falsely taught; and
that is the whole cause wherefore they forbid it, though they other
cloaks pretend. And some, or rather every one, say that it would make them
rise against the king, whom they themselves (unto their damnation) never
yet obeyed. And lest the temporal rulers should see their falsehood, if
the Scripture came to light, causeth them so to lie.
And as for my translation, in which they affirm unto the lay people, (as I
have heard say) to be I wot not how many thousand heresies, so that it
cannot be mended or correct, they have yet taken so great pain to examine
it, and to compare it unto that they would fain have it, and to their own
imaginations and juggling terms, and to have somewhat to rail at, and
under that cloak, to blaspheme the truth, that they might with as little
labour (as I suppose) have translated the most part of the Bible. For they
which in times past were wont to look on no more Scripture than they found
in their _Duns_, or such like devilish doctrine, have yet now so narrowly
looked on my Translation, that there is not so much as one _i_ therein, if
it lack a tittle over his head, but they have noted it, and number it unto
the ignorant people for an heresy. Finally, in this they be all
agreed,--to drive you from the knowledge of the Scripture, and that ye
shall not have the text thereof in the mother tongue; and to keep the
world still in darkness, to the intent they might sit in the consciences
of the people, through vain superstition and false doctrine; to satisfy
their filthy lusts, their proud ambition, and unsatiable covetousness; and
to exalt their own honour above king and emperor, yea, and above God
himself.