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The Tranflators
Heb.7.11.
and 8.7,
Sixtus 5. pre-
fat fica Biblij's,
Narianzen.as
pr imoxraps7,
Lers in Apolo~
gets
S.Aug.lib. 18,
Confelf-cap.20
S.Augufl.3. de
aan hye
S.Hieron.ad
Suniam ey
Fretel,
S.Hieronad ;
Lucnium,Difi.
g.¥t veternm.
ary fe ke? Surely, asthe Apoftlereafoneth
Bible,and bare whatfoeuer charges was neceflary for the worke? >
tothe Elebrewes , thar if the former Law and Teflament had bene Jufficient, there had beenenoneede of the
latter : {0 we may fay,thatit the old vulgarhad bene at all pomrs allowable, to fmall purpofe had
labour and charges bene vndergone,about framing ofanew. If they fy > i was ane Popes uate
opinion,and that he confulted onely himfelfe; then weare able to goe further with - Bs neo
uerre,thatmore of theit chiefe men ofall forts,euen their owne Trent-championsP lua ve 8. a> and
their owne Inquifirors, Hieronymus ab Olcafiro,and their owne Bifho Tfidorns (I arin thei ©
Cardinall Thomas 4 Vio (aietan,doc either make new Tranflations themfelues , orfo ow mew ons
of other mens making,or note the vulger Interpretor for halting 5 none of them feare ° ‘ ent tom
him,nor yet to except againft him, And call they thisan vniforme tenour of text andi igemen a
boutthetext,o many oftheir Worthies difclaiming the now receied conceit?Nay,wewill yet comme
neerer the quicke: doth not their Pariseedition difter from the Lonaine and Hentenins his from them
both,and yetall ofthem allowed by authority ? Nay , doth not Sixtus Quintus confefle , that cer
taine Catholikes(he meaneth certaine ofhis owne fide ) were in fuch an humor of tranflating the
Scriptures into Latine,that Satan taking occafion by them, though they thought of no fuch matter,
did ftriue what he could, out of fo vacertaine and manifold a vanietic of Tranflations, fo to mingle all
things,that nothing might feemeto be left certaine and firme in them, &c? Nay further, did not the
(ame Sixtus ordaine by an inviolable decree,and that with the counfell and confentof his Cardinals,
thatthe Latinz edition of the old and New Teftament, which the Council ot Trent would haue tobe
authentike,is the fame without controuerfie which he then {et foorth, being diligently correctedand
ment the eight his immediate {ucceflour,publifhed another edition of the Bible, containing in itin=
finite differences from that of Sixtus,(and many of them weightie and material) and yet this muft be
authentike by all meanes, Whatis to haue the faith of our glorious LordIzsvs Curis twith Yea
and Nay,ifthis be not? Againe,whatis {weet harmony and confent,ifthis be? Therefore ,as Demara-
tus of (Corinth aduiled a great King before he talked of the diffentions among the Grecians , to com.
pofe his domefticke broiles(for at that time his Queene and his fonneand heire were at deadly fuide
with him)(o all the while thatour aduerfaries doe make fo many and fo various editions themfelues,
and doe iarre fo much aboutthe worth and authoritie of them, they can with no fhow of equitie
challenge vs for changing and correcting, : es
But itis high time toleaue them,and to fhew in briefe what we propofed to our felues , and what
courfe we heldein this our perufalland furuay of the Bible, Truly(good Chriftian Reader) wene-
uer thought from the beginning,that we fhould need to make a new Tranflation , nor yet to make
ofabad onea good one, (for then the imputation ot Sixt#s had bin true in fome fort,that our peo-
ple had bene fed with gall of Dragons in ftead of wine,with whey in ftead of milke: ) but tomake a
good one better,or out of many good ones, one principal good one,not iuftly to be excepted againtt:
that hath bene our endeauour,that our marke. To that purpofe there were many chofen, that were
greaterin other mens eyes then in theit owne,and that fought the truth rather then theirown praife.
Againe,they came or were thought to come to the worke,not exercendi canfa(as one faith) but exer=
citati,that is,learned,not to learne: For the chiefe ouerfeer and iéweme ynder his Maieftie, to whom
not onely we,but alfo our whole Church was much bound, knew by his wifedome, which thing alfo
Naztanzen taught fo long agoe, thar it isa repofterous order to teach firft and to learne after, ca
that wermquerue aesake to learneand pra together , is neither commendable for the wotkeman
nor fafe for the worke. Therefore {uch were thought vpon, as could fay modeftly with Saint Elierome
Et Hebraum Sermonem ex parte didicimus , in Latino pene ab ipfis incunabulis exc. detriti /umus. Botl
we haue learned the Hebrew tongue in part, and inthe Latine we hane beene exercifed almof? from oureo i
cradle. S. Elierome makethno mention of the Greeke tonge, wherein yet hee did excell, becaufe hee
tranflated not the olde Teftament out of Greeke, but out of Hebrew.. And in what *didt h r e
femble? In the truft of their owne knowledge,or of theit fharpeneffe of wit, or dee onal f eh at
ment, as it were in anarme of flefh?. Atno hand. They cut t Peneie of iudge-
opening and no man fhutting ; they prayed to the Lo ,
: Aisa dids0 let uy Sapre bemy pure Suishe bomen bested inven let medion
bytbem.. In this coufidence,and with this deuotion di ;
one fhould trouble another;and yet many,left online ep ne reset oo "he Roo many » left
what they bad beforethem, truely itwasthe Aebrewp text of thet Olde Teltamene : ered. of Ke
New. Thee are the two golden pipes,or rather conduits,where-through tl li ven
tie them(elues into the golde. Saint Auon/tin ough th¢ oliue branches emp-
Hierome,fountaines. The fame cama eee Precedenbvor original tongues; Saint
his Decree, That as the credit of the olde Bookes( hergeaneth of the Old Teftament) isto bee tryed by
the
printed in the Printing-houfe of Vatican? Thus Sixtus in his Preface beforehis Bible. And yet (le. |.
ed in him that hath the key of Dauid,|”
» and Gratian hath not {pared to put itinto’
The purpofe
of the Trane
Mlarors,with
their number,
furniture,care
Re