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.
[Sidenote: The speeches and reasons both of our brethren, and of
adversaries, against this work.] Many men’s mouths have been opened a good
while (and yet are not stopped) with speeches about the translation so
long in hand, or rather perusals of translations made before: and ask what
may be the reason, what the necessity, of the employment. Hath the Church
been deceived, say they, all this while? Hath her sweet bread been mingled
with leaven, her silver with dross, her wine with water, her milk with
lime? (_lacte gypsum male miscetur_, saith St. _Irenee_.) [Sidenote: _St.
Iren. lib. 3. cap. 19._] We hoped that we had been in the right way, that
we had had the Oracles of God delivered unto us, and that though all the
world had cause to be offended, and to complain, yet that we had none.
Hath the nurse holden out the breast, and nothing but wind in it? Hath
the bread been delivered by the Fathers of the Church, and the same proved
to be _lapidosus_, as _Seneca_ speaketh? What is it to handle the word of
God deceitfully, if this be not? Thus certain brethren. Also the
adversaries of _Judah_ and _Jerusalem_, [Sidenote: Neh. 4. 2, 3.] like
_Sanballat_ in _Nehemiah_, mock, as we hear, both at the work and workmen,
saying, _What do these weak Jews, &c., will they make the stones whole
again out of the heaps of dust which are burnt? although they build, yet
if a fox go up, he shall even break down their stony wall_. Was their
translation good before? Why do they now mend it? Was it not good? Why
then was it obtruded to the people? Yea, why did the Catholicks (meaning
Popish _Romanists_) always go in jeopardy for refusing to go to hear it?
Nay, if it must be translated into _English_, Catholicks are fittest to do
it. They have learning, and they know when a thing is well, they can
_manum de tabula_. We will answer them both briefly: [Sidenote: _St.
Hieron. Apolog. advers. Ruffin._] and the former, being brethren, thus
with St. _Hierome_, _Damnamus veteres? Minime, sed post priorum studia in
domo Domini quod possumus laboramus._ That is, _Do we condemn the ancient?
In no case: but after the endeavours of them that were before us, we take
the best pains we can in the house of God._ As if he said, Being provoked
by the example of the learned that lived before my time, I have thought it
my duty to assay, whether my talent in the knowledge of the tongues may be
profitable in any measure to God’s Church, lest I should seem to have
laboured in them in vain, and lest I should be thought to glory in men
(although ancient) above that which was in them. Thus St. _Hierome_ may be
thought to speak.
[Sidenote: A satisfaction to our brethren.] And to the same effect say we,
that we are so far off from condemning any of their labours that
travelled before us in this kind, either in this land, or beyond sea,
either in King _Henry’s_ time, or King _Edward’s_, (if there were any
translation, or correction of a translation, in his time,) or Queen
_Elizabeth’s_ of ever renowned memory, that we acknowledge them to have
been raised up of God for the building and furnishing of his Church, and
that they deserve to be had of us and of posterity in everlasting
remembrance. The judgment of _Aristotle_ is worthy and well known:
[Sidenote: _Arist. 2. Metaphys. cap. 1._] _If Timotheus had not been, we
had not had much sweet musick: But if Phrynis_ (_Timotheus’_ master) _had
not been, we had not had Timotheus_. Therefore blessed be they, and most
honoured be their name, that break the ice, and give the onset upon that
which helpeth forward to the saving of souls. Now what can be more
available thereto, than to deliver God’s book unto God’s people in a
tongue which they understand? Since of an hidden treasure, and of a
fountain that is sealed, there is no profit, as _Ptolemy Philadelph_ wrote
to the Rabbins or masters of the _Jews_, as witnesseth _Epiphanius_:
[Sidenote: _St. Epiphan. loco ante citato. St. August. lib. 19. De civit.
Dei, cap. 7._] and as St. _Augustine_ saith, _A man had rather be with his
dog than with a stranger_ (whose tongue is strange unto him.) Yet for all
that, as nothing is begun and perfected at the same time, and the latter
thoughts are thought to be the wiser: so, if we building upon their
foundation that went before us, and being holpen by their labours, do
endeavour to make that better which they left so good; no man, we are
sure, hath cause to mislike us; they, we persuade ourselves, if they were
alive, would thank us. The vintage of _Abiezer_, that strake the stroke:
yet the gleaning of grapes of _Ephraim_ was not to be despised. See
_Judges_ viii. 2. [Sidenote: 2 Kin. 13. 18, 19.] _Joash_ the king of
_Israel_ did not satisfy himself till he had smitten the ground three
times; and yet he offended the Prophet for giving over then. _Aquila_, of
whom we spake before, translated the Bible as carefully and as skilfully
as he could; and yet he thought good to go over it again, and then it got
the credit with the _Jews_, to be called κατ’ ἀκρίβειαν, that is,
accurately done, as St. _Hierome_ witnesseth. [Sidenote: _St. Hieron. in
Ezech. cap. 3._] How many books of profane learning have been gone over
again and again, by the same translators, by others? Of one and the same
book of _Aristotle’s_ Ethicks there are extant not so few as six or seven
several translations. Now if this cost may be bestowed upon the gourd,
which affordeth us a little shade, and which to day flourisheth, but to
morrow is cut down; what may we bestow, nay, what ought we not to bestow,
upon the vine, the fruit whereof maketh glad the conscience of man, and
the stem whereof abideth for ever? And this is the word of God, which we
translate. [Sidenote: Jer. 23. 28.] _What is the chaff to the wheat? saith
the Lord. Tanti vitreum, quanti verum margaritum!_ (saith _Tertullian_.)
[Sidenote: _Tertull. ad Martyr. Si tanti vilissimum vitrum, quanti
preciosissimum margaritum! Hier. ad Salvin._] If a toy of glass be of that
reckoning with us, how ought we to value the true pearl! Therefore let no
man’s eye be evil, because his Majesty’s is good; neither let any be
grieved, that we have a Prince that seeketh the increase of the spiritual
wealth of _Israel_; (let _Sanballats_ and _Tobiahs_ do so, which therefore
do bear their just reproof;) but let us rather bless God from the ground
of our heart for working this religious care in him to have the
translations of the Bible maturely considered of and examined. For by this
means it cometh to pass, that whatsoever is sound already, (and all is
sound for substance in one or other of our editions, and the worst of ours
far better than their authentick vulgar) the same will shine as gold more
brightly, being rubbed and polished; also, if any thing be halting, or
superfluous, or not so agreeable to the original, the same may be
corrected, and the truth set in place. And what can the King command to be
done, that will bring him more true honour than this? And wherein could
they that have been set a work approve their duty to the King, yea, their
obedience to God, and love to his Saints, more, than by yielding their
service, and all that is within them, for the furnishing of the work? But
besides all this, they were the principal motives of it, and therefore
ought least to quarrel it. For the very historical truth is, that upon the
importunate petitions of the Puritanes at his Majesty’s coming to this
crown, the conference at _Hampton-court_ having been appointed for hearing
their complaints, when by force of reason they were put from all other
grounds, they had recourse at the last to this shift, that they could not
with good conscience subscribe to the communion book, since it maintained
the Bible as it was there translated, which was, as they said, a most
corrupted translation. And although this was judged to be but a very poor
and empty shift, yet even hereupon did his Majesty begin to bethink
himself of the good that might ensue by a new translation, and presently
after gave order for this translation which is now presented unto thee.
Thus much to satisfy our scrupulous brethren.
[Sidenote: An answer to the imputations of our adversaries.] Now to the
latter we answer, That we do not deny, nay, we affirm and avow, that the
very meanest translation of the Bible in English, set forth by men of our
profession, (for we have seen none of their’s of the whole Bible as yet)
containeth the word of God, nay, is the word of God: As the King’s speech
which he uttered in Parliament, being translated into _French_, _Dutch_,
_Italian_, and _Latin_, is still the King’s speech, though it be not
interpreted by every translator with the like grace, nor peradventure so
fitly for phrase, nor so expressly for sense, every where. For it is
confessed, that things are to take their denomination of the greater part;
[Sidenote: _Horace._] and a natural man could say, _Verum ubi multa nitent
in carmine, non ego paucis offendor maculis, &c._ A man may be counted a
virtuous man, though he have made many slips in his life, (else there were
none virtuous, for _in many things we offend all_,) [Sidenote: Jam. 3. 2.]
also a comely man and lovely, though he have some warts upon his hand;
yea, not only freckles upon his face, but also scars. No cause therefore
why the word translated should be denied to be the word, or forbidden to
be current, notwithstanding that some imperfections and blemishes may be
noted in the setting forth of it. For what ever was perfect under the sun,
where Apostles or apostolick men, that is, men endued with an
extraordinary measure of God’s Spirit, and privileged with the privilege
of infallibility, had not their hand? The Romanists therefore in refusing
to hear, and daring to burn the word translated, did no less than despite
the Spirit of grace, from whom originally it proceeded, and whose sense
and meaning, as well as man’s weakness would enable, it did express. Judge
by an example or two.