Defense of the Translations of the Scriptures into the English Tongue, Treatise · Chapter 7

Defense of the Translations of the Scriptures into the English Tongue · Treatise · Chapter 7

p. 196CHAP. VII.

Hereticall translation against PVRGATORIE, LIMBVS PATRVM, CHRISTS DESCENDING INTO HEL.

Martin.

HAVING now discouered their corrupt translations1 for defacing of the Churches name, and abolishing of Priest and Priesthood: let vsus come to another point of very great importance also, and which by the wonted consequence or sequele of errour, includeth in it many erroneous branches. Their principall malice then being bent against Purgatorie, that is, against a place were Christian soules be purged by suffering of temporall paines after this life, for surer maintenaunce of their erroncous deniall hereof, they take away and denie all third places, saying that there was neuer from the beginning of the worlde any other place for soules after this life, but onelyonly two: to witte, heauen for the blessed: and hell for the damned. And so it foloweth by their hereticall doctrine, that the Patriarches, Prophetes, and other good holy men of the old Testament, went not after their deaths, to the place called Abrahams bosome, or Limbus patrum. But p. 197immediatly to heauen: & so againe by their erroneous doctrin… it foloweth, that the fathers of the old Testament were in heauen, before our sauiour Christe had suffered death for their redemption: and also by their erroneous doctrine it foloweth, that our sauiour Christ was not the first man that ascended and entred into heauen: and moreouer by their hereticall doctrine it foloweth, that our sauiour Christe des…ended not into any such third place, to deliuer the fathers of the olde Testament out of their prison, and to bring them triumphantly with him into heauen, because by their erroneous doctrine they were neuer there … and so that article of the Apostles Creede concerning our sauiour Christ his descending into hell, must either be put out by the Caluinists, as Beza did in his Confession of his faith printed An. 1564. or it hath some other meaning, to wit, either the lying of his bodie in the graue, or (as Caluine and the purer CaluinistsCaluins Institutions li. 2. c. 16. Sect. 10. and in his Catechisme. his schollers will hauehave it) the suffering of hell paines & distresses vponupon the Crosse. Loe the consequence and coherence of these errours and heresies.

Fulke.

WE may be bolde to say with S. Augustine,1 We beleeue according to the auctoritie of God▪ that the kingdome of heauen is the first place appointed for Gods elect, and that hell is the seconde place, where all the reprobrate & such is be not of the faith of Christe, shall suffer eternall punishment. Tertium penitus ignoramus, imo nec esse in scripturis sanctis inuenimus. The thirde place we are vtterly ignorant of, yea and that it is not, wee finde in the holy Scriptures. But hereof it followeth, say you, that the godly of the olde Testament, went not after their deathes to Abrahams bosome, or Limbus patrum, but immediately to heauen. Of Limbus patrum. which is a border of the Popes hel, I graūt it followeth▪ p. 198but of Abrahams bosome it followeth none otherwise, than if I should say, Gregorie Martin went into Chepeside, Ergo, he went not to London. That the fathers of the old Testament were in Heauen, before our Sauiour Christ had suffered death for their redemption, it is no incōuenience: for his death was as effectuall to redeeme them that liued before he suffered actually, as them that liue since, because in Gods sight, hee is the Lambe that was slaine from the beginning of the world. And the fathers that were iustified by faith in his bloud, receyued the same crowne and rewarde of rightuousnesse, that we do beyng iustified by the same meanes. And yet our Sauiour Christe was the first man, that in his whole manhood ascended and entred into heauen, into the fulnesse and perfection of glory which is prepared for all Gods elect, to be enioyed after the generall resurrection. That our Sauiour Christe descended into no prison after his death, we verily beleeue, and yet we do also constantly beleeue the article of our Creede, that he descended into hel, by suffering in soule the paynes due to Gods iustice, for the sinnes of all whome hee redeemed, and by vanquishing the Deuill, and all the power of hel, in working the redemption of all the children of God. If Beza in his confession had cleane left out that article, whiche is vntrue, hee had bene no more to bee blamed than the auctors of the Nicene Creede, and many other Creedes in which it is not expressed, because it is partly conteyned vnderunder the article of his sufferings, partly it is in parte of the effect and vertue of his death and redemption.

MART. 2. These nowe being the hereticall doctrines which they meane to auouch and defende what soèuer come of it: first, they are at a point not to care a rushe for all the auncient holy Doctours, that write with full consent to the contrarieBeza in 1. Pet. 3. 19 Caluins Institur. li. 2. c. 16. Sect. 9.1 Pet 3:19 (as themselues confesse, calling it their common errour) secondly, they translate the holy Scriptures in fauour thereof most corruptly and wilfully, as in Bezaes false translation (who is p. 199Caluines successor in Geneua) it is notorious, for he in his newe Testament of the yeare 1556. printed by Robertus Stephanus in folio, with Annotations, maketh our Sauiour Christ say thus to his father, Non derelinques cadauer meū in sepulchro, Thou shalt not leaue my carcasse in the graue, Act. 2. For that which the Hebrue, and the Greeke, and the Latine,Hiero. in Ps. verso ex Hebraeo. and S. Hierome according to the Hebrue, say: Non derelinques animam meam in inferno, as plainly as we say in English, Thou shalt not leaue my soule in hell. Thus the Prophetforeign. Dauid spake it in the Hebrue▪ Psal. 15. Thus the Septuaginta vttered it in Greeke, thus the Apostle S. Peter alleageth it, thus the holy Euangelist S. Luke in the Acts of the Apostles, cap. 2. recordeth it, and for this, S. Augustine calleth him an infidel that denyeth it: yet all this would not suffise to make Beza translate it so, because of certaine errours (**See his Annot. in 2. Act. as he heretically termeth them) which he would full gladly auoide hereby, namely the Catholike true doctrine of limbus patrum, and Purgatorie. What neede we say more? he translateth animam, a Carcase: (so calling our Sauiour Christes bodie, irreuerently, and wickedly) he translateth infernum, graue.

FVLK. 2. That many of the Christian fathers helde this error, that the godly of the old Testament were not in heauen before Christes death, it is no cause why we should be afraid to confesse the truth, reuealed to vsus out of the holy Scriptures, to the glorie of God. And if the wrong or ambiguous translation of one Hebrue word Sheol, deceiued them, that were for the most parte ignorauntforeign of the Hebrue tongue, what reason were it that we shoulde not in translation reforme that errour? But as for Bezaes first translation of the Greeke worde foreign deade bodie, and foreign graue, I hauehave aunswered at large, Cap. 1. sect. 31. where also it is shewed howe vainely you take hold of the English worde carcase, to charge Beza with vnreuerent calling of our Sauiour Christes bodie, when it was deade, because he calleth it in Latine Cadauer.

MART. 3. Neede we take any great labour to proue this p. 200to be a foule corruption, or that it is done purposely, whē he confesseth that he thus translateth because else it woulde serue the Papistes? Which is as much to say, as, the word of God if it be truly and sincerely translated, maketh in deede for them. For the first part, we will not stand vponupon it, partly because it is of it selfe most absurd, and they are ashamed of it: partly because it shall susfise to confute Beza, that two other as famous heretikes as he, Castalio and Flaccus Illyricus write against him in this point, and confute him: partly also, because we speake not here vniuersally of all hereticall translations, but of the English corruptions specially, & therfore we may only note here, how gladly they also would say somwhat else for, soule, euen in the text, if they durst for shame: for in the margent of that English trāslation,Bib. an. 1579. they say, or life, or person: thereby aduertising the Reader, that he may reade thus, if it please him, Thou shalt not leaue my life in the graue, or, Thou shalt not leaue my person. As though either mans soule or life were in the graue, or, anima, might be translated person, which the selfe same Englishe Bible doeth not, no not in those places where it is euidentAct. 7. v. 14.Acts 7:14 that it signifieth the whole person. For though this worde soule, by a figure, is sometime taken for the whole man, yet euen there they doe not, nor must not translate it otherwise than soule: beause our tongue beareth that figure as well as Latine, Greeke, or Hebrue: but here, where it can not signifie the whole person, it is wicked to translate it so.

FVLK. 3. If you take more labour than you are wel able to beare, yet shall you proue it no hereticall corruption. As Castaleo, and Illyricus, the one an heretike, the other a schismatike, hauehave inueyed against Beza, so hath he sufficiently confuted them. But to our English translation, where in the margent, they say, life, or person, when in the text they say soule: what doeth this offende you? They render the vsuall English word for the Greke word, but they admonish the reader, that the word soule in this place signifieth not the soule separated from the bodie▪ but either the life, or the whole person. Because that although the bodie onelyonly be layed in the graue▪ yet p. 201according to vulgar speache and sense, the whole man is sayed to be buried, and his life seemeth to be inclosed in the graue, according to which popular and humane conceyt, the Prophet in that Psalme speaketh, as appeareth in the later parte of that verse, which is all one in sense with the former. Neither wilt thou giuegive thy holy one to see corruption: where corruption which is proper onelyonly to the bodie is there spoken generally of the whole man. If this expositiō please you not, yet you hauehave no cause to finde fault with the translation, which in that place is according to the cōmon and ordinarie signification of the Greeke worde foreign, soule. Which as it is somtime takenAct. 2.Acts 2 for the whole person, as you note, Act. 7. 14. So is it here, as the later parte of the verse doth most plainly declare.

MART. 4. But as for the worde graue, that they put boldly in the text, to signifie that howsoeuer you interprete, soule, or whatsoeuer you put for it, it is not meant according to S. Augustine and the faith of the whole Catholike Church, that his soule descended into Hell, whiles his bodie was in the graue: but that his soule also, was in the graue, howsoeuer that is to be vnderstoode. So making it a certaine and resolute conclusion, that the holy Scripture in this place speaketh not of Christs being in Hell, but in the graue: and that according to his soule, or life, or person, or (as Beza will hauehave it) His carcase or bodie: and so his soule in Hell, as the holy Scripture speaketh, shall be, his bodie in the graue, as Beza plainly speaketh, & the Bezites couertly insinuate: & white shall be blacke,See Vigors sermons pag. 110. 115. & dei…ceps. and chaulke shall be cheese, and eueryevery thing shall be any thing that they will hauehave it. And all this their euident false translation, must be to our miserable deceiued poore soules, the holy Scripture and Gods word.

FVLK. 4. The Greeke word foreign wel beareth to be translated in some places a graue, & here the later part of the verse, speaketh of corruption, which can not be vnderstoode to be but in the graue, & so doth S. Peter vnderstand it, saying▪ that Dauid the Patriarch died and was buried, and his sepulchre remayneth with vsus vntounto this p. 202day: and S. Paule vponupon the same verse of the Psalme saith, he saw corruption. Both the Apostles therfore interpreting this verse of the resurrection of Christ, we thinke it in deede a resolute conclusion, that the Scripture in this place, speaketh not of Christs being in hell, which we acknowledge in the article of our Creede, but of his buriall and resurrection. Your trifling of white and blacke, chaulke and cheese, may seeme pleasaunt Rhetorike to grosse eares, whom you seeke to fill with such vanities. But the wiser sort, that are acquainted with figuratiue speaches, wil thinke it nothing straunge, if words be not alwaies taken in their vsual & proper signification. That the Hebrue worde Nephesh, which the Prophet in thatforeign verse of the Psalme vseth, is taken diuerse times in the Scripture for a deade bodie, I hauehave before proued more plainly, than euer you shall be able to deny: where you may, if you be disposed to sport your selfe, vse your figuratiue comparison of white & blacke, chaulke & cheese, but you shall sooner of white make blacke, of chaulke cheese, than you can possibly auoide the cleare light of those textes, which was seene euen of your owne vulgar Latine interpretours.

MART. 5. Where we can not but maruell, why they are affraide to translate the words plainly in this place, of his soule being in Hell: Whereas in the Creede they admit the words, and interprete them, that by suffering Hell paines vponupon the Crosse, so he descended into Hell, and no otherwise. Why did they not here also keepe the words for the credit of their translation, and afterwarde (if they woulde needes) giuegive them that glose for maintenaunce of their heresie? This mysterie we know not, and woulde gladly learne it of the Puritane Caluinistes, whose Englishe translation perhaps this is. For, the grosser Caluinistes (being not so pure and precise in following Caluine as the Puritans be, that hauehave well deserued that name aboue their fellowes) they in their other Englishe Bibles hauehave in this placeBib. an. 1562. and 1577. discharged them selues of false translation, saying plainely. Thou shalt not leaue my soule in Hell. But **See Lind. dubit. pag. 19.in what sense p. 203they say so, it is very hard to gesse: and perhaps them selues canVVhitak. pag. 165. M. Hues B. of S. Asaph in VValles. not tell yet what to make of it, as appeareth by M. Whitakers answer to F. Campion. And he is nowe called a Bishop among them, and proceeded Doctor in Oxford, that could not obtaine his grace to proceede Doctor in Cambridge, because he preached Christes descending into hell, and the Puritans in their second admonition to the Parliament, pag. 43. cry out against the politike Caluinists, for that in the Creede of the Apostles (made in English meeter, and song openly in their Churches, in these wordes: His spirite did after this descend, into the lower partes, to them that long in darkenesse were, the true light of their hartes,) they fauour his descending into Hell very much, and so consequently may thereby build Limbus Patrum, and Purgatorie. And the Puritans in their second replie against M. Whitgifts defense, pag. 7. reprehend one of their chiefest Caluinisticall martyrs, for affirming (as they terme it) a grosse descending of our Sauiour Christ into Hell. Thus the Puritans confesse plainly their hereticall doctrine, against Christes descending into Hell.

FVLK. 5. By confessing in our Creede, that Christ descended into hell, you might knowe, but that you had rather be ignorant, that you might maruell still, that we purposed not in translating this place, to denye that article, as you falsely slaunder vsus: but because this place might seeme vntounto the ignorant, to confirme the errour of Christes descending into Limbus patrum, as it doth not, if it be rightly vnderstoode, it was thought good of some translatours, (that seeing this verse must hauehave the same sense in the Greeke Sermon of Peter, that it hath in the Hebrewe Psalme of Dauid, and the Greeke worde foreign, vsed by the Euangelist, in steede of the Hebrewe worde Sheol, may beare to signifie aforeign graue, as the Hebrew worde doth moste vsually,) by translating it the graue, to shewe that this verse in Greeke, maketh no more for that errour of descending into Limbus, than the same doth in Hebrewe. As for your distinction of grosse Caluinistes and Puritans, it p. 204may be packed vppe among the rest of your quarrells, and slaunders. What Maister Whitaker hath written in his aunswer, to Frier Campion, he is able to explane vntounto you him selfe, if you doe not vnderstand him. That the Bishoppe of Saint Asaph did once fauour your errour in some parte, and for that was misliked of the Vniuersitie of Cambridge, it is as true, as that afterward reforming his iudgement at Oxford, where he proceeded, he was also incorpored Doctor at Cambridge. The Englishe meeter vppon the Creede, except it be drawen to an allegorie, in my iudgement, can not be defended, which iudgement I declared openly at Paules crosse foureteene or fiueteene yeares agoe. Maister Latimers errour of Christ suffering torments in hell, after his death, is iustly reprehended, by whome soeuer it be. By all which, I knowe not what may be rightly gathered, but that we flatter not one another in errours, but if any among vsus be deceiued, of what account or credite soeuer he be, we spare not to reproue his errour, preferring Gods truth before all worldly and priuate respects of friendship, countenaunce, credite, and whatsoeuer.

MART. 6. The truth is, howsoeuer the politike Caluinists speake, or write in this point, more plausibly and couertly to the people, and more agreeably to the article of our faith, than either Caluine, or their earnest brethren, the Puritans, doe, which write and speake as fantastically and madly, as they thinke: yet neither doe they beleeue this Article of the Apostles Creede, or interpret it, as the Catholike Church, and auncient holy fathers alwayes hauehave done, neither can it stand with their newe profession so to doe, or with their English translations in other places. It can not stand with their profession: for then it would followe that the Patriarches, and other iust men of the olde Testament, were in some third place of rest, called Abrahams bosome, or Limbus Patrum, till our Sauiour Christ descended thither, and deliuered them from thence, which they deny in their doctrine, though they sing it in their meeters. Neither p. 205can it stand with their English translations: because in other places where the holy Scriptures euidently speake of such a place, calling it Hell, (because that was a common name for eueryevery place and state of soules departed, in the olde Testament, till our Sauiour Christ, by his Resurrection and Ascension, had opened heauen) there, for Hell, they translate Graue.

FVLK. 6. The truth is, howsoeuer you slaunder vsus with odious names of schisme, and diuerse interpretations, we al agree in the faith of that article, and in the true sense and meaning thereof. As also we consent against your errours of Limbus patrum, or any descending of Christ into that fantasticall place. As for Abrahams bosome, we account it no place of descent, or going downe, but of ascending, euen the same that our Sauiour Christ vponupon the crosse, called Paradise, Luc. 23. saying to the penitent theefe, this daye thou shalt be with me in Paradise, which of Saint Paule is called the thirde heauen, 2. Cor. 12. saying, that he was taken vp into the thirde heauen, whether in the bodye, or out of the bodye, he knewe not, (but he was taken vp into Paradise, and there heard wordes that could not be vttered, which it is not lawefull for a man to speake. And that Abrahams Bosome is a place farre distant from hell, that onelyonly text where it is named, Luc. 16. doth euidently declare. First the Aungels carry the soule of Lazarus into Abrahams bosome, he might as well hauehave sayde Hell, if he had meant Hell. But Aungels vse not to goe downe into Hell. Secondly, it is a place of comfort, for Lazarus was there comforted. Thirdly, there is a great Chaos, whiche signifieth an infinite distance betwene Abraham and the riche glutton, which vtterly ouerthroweth that dreame of Limbus, which signifying a border or edge, supposeth that place to be harde adioyning to the place of torments. Last of all, if the Article of our fayth had bene of Limbus Patrum, or of Abrahams bosome, we shoulde hauehave bene taught to saye, he descended into Limbo patrum, or he descended p. 206into Abrahams bosome, which all Christian eares abhorre to heare. The worde Sheol vsed in the olde Testamentforeign for a common receptacle of all the dead, signifieth properly a place to receiue their bodies, and not their soules: and therefore most commonly in our translations, is called the graue.

MART. 7. As when Iacob sayth, Descendam ad filiumGen. 37.Gen 37 meum lugens in infernum: I will goe downe to my sonne into Hell, mourning: they translate, I wil go downe into the graue vntounto my sonne, mourning: as though Iacob thought, that his sonne Ioseph had bene buried in a graue, whereas Iacob thought, and sayd immediatly before, as appeareth in the holy Scripture, that a wild beast had deucured him, and so could not be presumed to be in any graue: or as though, if Ioseph had bene in a graue, Iacob would hauehave gone downe to him into the same graue. For so the wordes must needes import, if they take graue properly: but if they take graue unproperly, for the state of deade men, after this life, why doe they call it graue, and not Hell, as the word is in Hebrew, Greeke, and Latine?foreign No doubt they doe it, to make the ignorant Reader beleeue, that the Patriarch Iacob spake of his bodie onelyonly, to descend intoforeign the graue, to Iosephes bodye: for as concerning Iacobs soule,Infernus. that was by their opinion, to ascend immediatly after his death to heauen, and not to descend into the graue. But if Iacob were to ascend forthwith in soule, how could he say, as they translate, I will goe downe into the graue, vntounto my sonne? As if according to their opinion, he should say, My sonnes bodie is deuoured of a beast, and his soule is gone vp into heauen: well, I will goe downe to him into the graue.

FVLK. 7. A proper quidditie you hauehave found out of Iacob, supposing his sonne to be deuoured of wilde beastes: yet sayth, I wil goe downe vntounto him mourning, which you thinke can not be into the graue, because he did not thinke he was buried. But you must remember, it is the common manner of speech, when men saye in mourning, they will goe to their friendes departed, they meane, they will dye, although their friendes p. 207perhaps were drowned in the sea, or their bodies burned, or perhaps lye in desolate places vnburied: So Iacobs descending to the graue, signifieth no more, but death, by which he knewe he shoulde be ioyned to his sonne in soule, though he were not in bodie. The name of graue is vsed, because it is vsuall, that dead men are buried, though it be not vniuersall. And that the graue is taken commonly for death, it appeareth by that phrase, so often vsed in the Scriptures. He slept with his fathers. and was buried, which being spoken indifferently of good men, and euill, can not be vnderstood of one place of their soules, but of death, which is common to all, and is proper to the bodie, not vntounto the soule, for the soules of the departed sleepe not. The like is to be sayde of the phrase vsed in Gen. of Ismael, as well as of the godly Patriarkes, he was laid vp to his people. And lest you should please your selfe too much in your childish conceit of Iosephes being deuoured, whereof yet his father was not certaine. You shall heare howe Isydorus Clarius translateth the same place, in his Bible censured by the Deputies of Trent Councell, Descendam ad filium meum, lugens in sepulchrum. I will goe downe to my sonne, mourning, into the graue. This is one of the places which he thought meere to be corrected, according to the Hebrew, and in other places, where he is content to vse the old word Infernus, he signifieth in his notes, that he meaneth thereby Sepulchrum, the graue. And in deede this word Infernus signifieth generally any place beneath, as the Greeke worde foreign, which the Greeke translators vsed for Sheol, the Hebrue worde, signifieth a place that is darke, and obscure, where nothing can be seene, such as the graue or pitte is in which the dead are layde, which therefore of Iob is called the land of darkenesse, and theIob 10▪Job 10 shadow of death.

MART. 8. Gentle Reader, that thou mayst the better conceiue these absurdities, and the more detest their guilefull corruptions, vnderstand (as we began to tell thee before) that p. 208in the old Testament, because there was yet no ascending into heauen, the way of the holies (as the Apostle in his epistle toHebr. 9. v. 8.Heb 9:8 the Hebrues speaketh) being not yet made open, because our sauiour Christ was to dedicate and begin the enteraunce in hisHebr. …0. v. 20. owne person, and by his passiō to open heauen: therfore (we say) in the old Testament the common phrase of the holy Scripture is, euen of the best men, as well as of others, that dying they went downe ad inferos, or ad infernū: to signifie that such was the state of the old Testament before our sauiour Christs Resurrection and Ascension, that eueryevery man went downe, and not vp: descended, and not ascended: by descending I meane not to the graue, which receiued their bodies only: but ad inferos, that is, to hel, a common receptacle or place for their soules also departed, as wel of those soules that were to be in reste, as those that were to be in paines and torments. All the soules both good and bad that then died, went downeward, and therefore the place of both sortes was called in all the tongues, by a worde answereable to this worde, hel, to signifie a lower place beneath, not onelyonly of torments, but also of rest.

FVLK. 8. Where you reason that there was no ascē ding into heauen, because the way of the holies was not yet made open, when the firste tabernacle was standing, you abuse the Reader, and the Scripture. For the Apostles meaning is, in that verse, to shewe that to the great benefite of Christians, that firste tabernacle is fallen, because that nowe we hauehave more familiar accesse vntounto God, by Iesus Christ. For whereas the High Priest onelyonly, but once in the yeare, and then not without bloud, entred into the second moste holye Tabernacle, because the way of the Holyes, that is vntounto the Holyest, or sancta sanctorum, was not then opened, nowe our Sauiour Christ hauing once entred into the holiest place, by his owne bloud, and founde eternall redemption, we hauehaveHeb. 4. v. 16.Heb 4:16 by him without any ceremonies, sacrifices, or mediation of any mortall Priest, free accesse vntounto the throneHeb. 10. v. 19.Heb 10:19 of grace, euen into the holye place, by the newe and liuing waye, which he hath prepared for vsus. But all this p. 209is to be vnderstoode of the cleare reuelation of the merciemercy of God in Christ, which was obscurely set forth vntounto the fathers of the olde Testament, and not of the effect & fruite of his passion, which was the same for their saluation, that it is for ours. Neither hauehave the soules of the faithfull, since the cōming of Christ, any other place of rest, than the fathers had before his incarnation, GodHeb. 11. v. 40.Heb 11:40 prouiding most wisely, that they without all the rest of their brethren, that shall be vntounto the worldes ende, shall not be made perfect. And whereas you saye, that all the soules of good and badde, then went downeward, you are controlled by the wise man, Eccles. 3. Where he speaketh in the person of the carnall man, doubting of that which is not comprehended by reason, but beleened by faith: who knoweth whether the spirite of man ascende vpwarde. And more plainely in the last chapter of that booke, where he exhorteth to repentaunce, shewing in the ende that though dust returne to the earth from whence it was, yet the spirite returneth to God that gaue it. It returneth to God therefore, it goeth not downe. For who woulde abide to heare this speache, the soules of the faithfull went downewarde to God, yea went into hell to God. Nay returned downeward into hel to God that gaue them. That common receptacle therefore of the dead was the receptacle of their bodies, which all first or last, returned to the earth from whence they were taken. And where you say that place was called in all tongues, by such a word, as signifieth a lower place beneath, it is true of the common receptacle of their bodies, but not of their soules. For the soule of Lazarus was not carried by the Angells into hell, but into Abrahams bosome, which was not onelyonly a place of rest, but also of ioy, and comfort, contrarie to tormentes: betwene which and hell, was an infinite distaunce. Who woulde call that a common receptacle, when there was an infinite distance, vnpassable from one to the other.

p. 210MART. 9. So wee say in our Creede, that our sauiour Christ him selfe descended into hel, according to his soule: SoEpitaph. Nepot. ca. 3. S. Hierom speaking of the state of the old Testament, saith: Si Abraham, Isaac, Iacob in inferno, quis in caelorum regno, that is, If Abraham, Isaac, and Iacob were in hell, who was in the kingdome of heauen? And againe, Ante Christum, Abraham apud inferos: post Christum, latro in Paradiso, that is, before the comming of Christ, Abraham was in hell: after his comming, the theefe was in Paradise. And least a man might obiect, that Lazarus beingLuc. 16.Luke 16 in Abrahams bosome, saw the riche glott…n a farre of in hel, and therefore bothe Abraham and Lazarus seeme to hauehave bene in heauen: the saide holy doctour resolueth it, that Abraham andSee S. August. in Psal. 85. v. 13.Ps 85:13 Lazarus also were in hell, but in a place of great rest and refreshing, and therefore verie farre off from the miserable wretched glutton that lay in tormentes.

FVLK. 9. We say in our Creede, that Christ descended into hell, which being an article of our faith, must hauehave relation to suche benefite, as we receiue by his descending, namely, that thereby we are deliuered from the paines of hell. But that he should descend into Limbus patrum, to fetche out the fathers, which before you sayd were in prison, nowe you say in rest, we neither say it in our Creede, neither doth it pertaine vntounto vsus. But Hierome is cited as a fauourer of your opinion, who, I confesse in some parte held as you doe, but not altogither. For thus he writeth in Epitaph. Nepos. After he hath giuen thanks to Christ for our redemption by his death. Quid ante miserius homine, qui aeternae mortis terrore prostratus viuendi sensum ad hoc tantum acceperat vt periret, &c. What was more miserable than man before, which being cast downe with terrour of eternall death, receiued sense of liuing for this ende only, that he might perishe. For death raigned from Adam vntounto Moises, yea vponupon those which hauehave not sinned after the similitude of the transgression of Adam. If Abraham, Isaak, and Iacob in hell, who in the kingdome of heauen? If thy friendes p. 211were vnderunder the punishment. If Adam and they which sinned not, were held guiltie by other mens sinnes, what is to be thought of them which said in their harte there is no God &c. And if Lazarus be seene in the bosome of Abraham and in a place of rest, what like hath hell and the kingdome of Heauen? Before Christe Abraham in hell, after Christ the theese in Paradise. In these wordes Hierome after his Rhetoricall manner, amplifying the benefite of our redemption by Christ, doth rather touch this errour, than plainely expresse it. For first hee maketh all men miserable before Christe, and cast downe with terror of eternall death, which is true, if yee consider them without Christ, in which state are all men since Christe, but of all men that liued before the time of Christes death, and yet embraced their redemption by him, it is not true. As also that there are some which hauehave not sinned. But that al this is to be vnderstood, specially of the death of their bodies, and allegorically of their soules, he addeth immediately, Et id…rco in resurrectione eius multa dor…ntium corpora, &c. And therefore at his resurrection, many bodies of them that slept arose, & were seene in the heauenly Ierusalem. See you not how he turneth all into an Allegorie, to set foorth the vertue of Christes redemption? who brought all his elect by his death, from hell, and the power of darkenesse, into the kingdome of heauen. Furthermore you bidde vsus see Augustine in Ps 85. v 13. Where in the beginning he professeth his ignoraunce in discussing the question of the nethermost hell. First supposing this world in which we liue, to be Infernum superius, and the place whether the dead goe Infernum inferius, from which God hath deliuered vsus, sending thether his sonne, who to this Infernum orNascendo. lower place came by his birth, to that by his death: heMoriendo. addeth an other opinion. Fortassis enim apud ipsos inferos est aliqua pars inferior &c. Peraduenture euen in hell it selfe there is some parte lower, in which the vngodly, which hauehave much sinned are deliuered. For whether p. 212Abraham had bene now in certaine places in hell we can not sufficiently define. And afterward whē he hath spokē of the diuerse places of Lazarus, and the rich glutton, he concludeth as vncertainly as he began. Ergo inter ista fortasse duo inferna, quorum in vno, &c. Therefore peraduenture betweene these two hels, in one of which the soules of the righteous rested, the soules of the wicked are tormented, one attending prayeth in the person of Christ, &c. Here you may see, what an article of beliefe this was with S. Augustine, when he hath nothing to define, but onelyonly bringeth his coniecturall opinions and peraduentures. Also how he taketh Infernum for any lower place, in so much that he calleth this worlde, Infernum. Wherefore much more may Infernum signifie the graue, and be so sometimes translated.

MART. 10. His wordes be these in effect: If a man wil say vntounto me, that Lazarus was seene in Abrahams bosome, and a place of refreshing euen before Christs comming: true it is, but what is that in comparison? Quid simile infernus & regna caelorum? What hath hell and heauen like? As if he should say, Abraham in deede and Lazarus (and consequently many other) were in place of rest, but yet in hel, till Christ came, and in such rest, as hath no comparison with the ioies of heauen. And S. Augustine disputing this matter sometime, & doubtingEpist. 99. ad Euod. & de Gen. ad lit. li. 12. c. 33. whether Abrahams bosome be called hel in the Scripture, and whether the name of hell be taken at any time in the good parte (for of Christes descending into hel, and of a third place where the Patriarches remained vntil Christs cōming, not heauen, but called Abrahams bosome: he doubted not, but was most assured) the same holy doctour in an other place, as being better resolued, doubted not vponupon these wordes of the Psalme. Thou hast deliueredIn Psal. 85 v. 13.Ps 85:13 my soule from the lower hell, to make this one good sense of this place, that the lower hel is it, wherin the damned are tormented▪ the higher hell is that, wherein the soules of the iust rested, calling both places by the name of hell.

FVLK. 10. I hauehave set downe his very words in deed, which being well weighed, make nothing so clearly for p. 213your phātasied Limbus, as you wold hauehave mē weene. You say Augustine doubteth whether Abrahams bosome, in the Scripture be called hell, Ep. 99. & de gen. ad lit. lib. 12. ca. 33. But there he doth vtterly denie it, & in Ps. 85. as by his wordes cited before appeareth, he doubteth. So that where he flatly denieth, with you he doubteth, & where he doubteth, with you he is better resolued. Wherefore this matter of Abrahā, & the faithful being in hell, is no article of faith, except you will say that S. Augustine was not resolued in the articles of our faith, who touching the thirde place, whatsoeuer at diuerse times he speaketh doubtingly in his Hypognosticon, he affirmeth resolutely, that he findeth in the scriptures, that there is none.

MART. 11. And surely of his maruelous humilitie and wisedome, he would hauehave bene much more resolute herein, if he had heard the opinion of S. Hierom, whom he often consulted in such questions, and of other fathers, who in this point speake most plainely, that Abrahams bosome or the place where theLoco citato. Patriarkes rested, was some part of hell. Tertullian, (Li. 4. aduers. Marcion.) Saith, I knowe that the bosome of Abraham was no heauēly place, but only the higher hel, or, the higher part of hell. Of which speach of the fathers, rose afterwarde that other name, Limbus patrum, that is the very brimme or vppermost and outmost parte of hell, where the fathers of the olde Testament rested. Thus we see that the Patriarches themselues were as then in hell, though they were there in a place of rest: in so much that S. Hierom saith againe, Ante Resurrectionem Christi notus in Iudaea Deus, & ipsi qui nouerant eum, tamen ad inferos trahebantur. that is, Before the Resurrection of Christ, God was knowne in Iurie, and they themselues that knewe him, yet were drawen vntounto hell. S. Chrysostome vponupon that place of Esay,Hom. quod Christus sit Deus to. 5. I will breake the brasen gates, and bruse the yron barres in pieces, and will open the treasures darkened, &c. So he calleth hell, saith he, for although it were hell, yet itforeign. helde the holy soules, and pretious vessels, Abraham,Infernus. Isaac, and Iacob. Marke that he saith, though it were hell, p. 214yet there were the iust men at that time, till our sauiour Christ came to deliuer them from thence.

FVLK. 11. As wise & humble as he was, he was not readie to yeeld to eueryevery opinion of Hierom, as his Epistles writtē to Hierom do declare. Neither was Hierome sore solute in this matter, whereof he speaketh vnderunder a cloude▪ and in an Allegorie, as it is playne, where he saith the bodies that were raised at the resurrection of Christ, were seene in the heauenly Ierusalem, whereas it is certaine they were seene only in the earthly Ierusalem actually. But he meaneth, the effect of Christes redemption, was acknowledged either in the Catholike Churche, which is Ierusalem aboue in one sence, or else that they shal be seene in the new Ierusalem & blessed felicitie of the godly at the worldes end: whereof a testimonie was giuen in that sight of their appearing and particuler resurrection knowen at Ierusalem on earth. But you cite an other place out of Tertullian lib. 4. aduersus Marcionē, and in the margent you say, Loco citato, but I wote not where. And these be Tertullians wordes, if you be an honest man. I knowe that the bosome of Abraham was no heauenly place, but onelyonly the higher hell, or the higher parte of hell. I see you will bee as bolde with the auncient doctours workes, as you are with my poore writinges, whome you make to saye euen what you liste. In the last Section before you sayde S. Augustine Epistol. 99. & de gen. ad lit. Lib. 12. Cap. 33. Doubted whether Abrahams bosome were called hell. Quod si nusquam &c. If it bee neuer reade in the holy Scriptures (scilicet that hell is taken in the good parte) verily that bosome of Abraham that is the habitation of a certaine secrete reste, is not to bee beleeued, to be any parte of hell. And againe by reason of the infinit Chaos, Satis vt opinor appareat, It may appeare as I thinke sufficiently, that the bosome of that so greate felicitie, is not a certaine parte, and as it were a member of hell. In the other place he speaketh to the same effect, & vponupon p. 215the same ground, that he neuer findeth in the Scriptures hell, taken in good parte, and cap. 34. where he proueth that paradise is heauen, he sayth: Quanto magis ergo. How much more then, may that bosome of Abraham, after this life be called paradise? This sayth Augustine, and much more to this purpose, wherein I thought to hauehave forborne you, but that you come vponupon vsus still with newe forgeries. Tertullian in the booke by you quoted, pag. 274 of Frob. printed 1550 thus writeth. Sed Marcion aliorsum cogit, &c. But Marcion driueth it another way, so forsooth, that he determineth both the rewardes of the Creator, either of torment, or of refreshing, to be layd vp for them in hel, which hauehave obeyed the law and the Prophets. But of Christ, and his God, he defineth an heauenly bosome, and heauen. We will answer and euen by this selfe same Scripture, conuincing his blindnesse, which against hel discerneth this Abrahams bosom, to the poore man. For one thing is hell, (as I thinke) and Abrahams bosome, an other thing. For a great depth he saith, is betwene those regions, and that doth let the passage to and fro. But neither should the riche man hauehave lifted vp his eyes, and that truely from a farre of, but into higher places, and that of an exceeding height, by that infinite distance of height and depth. Whereof it appeareth to eueryevery wise man, that hath euer heard of the Elysian fieldes, that there is some locall determination, which is called Abrahams bosome, to receiue the soules of his sonnes, euen of the Gentiles, he being the father of many nations, to be accounted of Abrahams familie, and of the same faith, by which Abraham beleeued God, vnderunder no yoke of the lawe, nor in the signe of circumcision. That region therefore I call the bosome of Abraham, and if not heauenly, yet higher than hel, which shall giuegive rest in the meane season, to the soules of the iust, vntill the consummation of thinges doe finish the resurrection of all, with the fulnesse of reward. This is as much as I can find in Tertullian, touching Abrahams bosome, which is p. 216cleane contrarie to that you affirme him to speake. For by this saying it is manifest, that your opinion is Marcions heresie. Secondly, that Abrahams bosome is not hell, but higher by an infinite distance, although not in full perfection of heauenly glorie. Thirdly, that it is not Limbus patrum, but the receptacle of all the iust soules, to the ende of the worlde. Tertullians authoritie therefore doth you small pleasure, and lesse honestie, vnlesse you did cite him more truely. But I am vnwise to looke for plaine dealing, and sinceritie, at your handes. Well, your Limbus patrum, the very brimme, or vppermost, or outmost part of hell, wherein all the Patriarches should rest, we hauehave now found from whence it came, euen from your olde acquaintance, the Mouse of Pontus, Marcion the abhominable Heretike. The other saying of Hierome, but that the opinion of the fathers in hell, had by that time taken some strength, might be vnderstood of the mortalitie, wherevnto they were subiect, and neuer shoulde hauehave bene raysed, but by the resurrection of Christ, as it seemeth by that which he opposeth of all nations, since the passion and resurrection of Christ, acknowledged to speake like Philosophers, of the immortalitie of the soule, and reioycing in the resurrection of the dead, as the fathers mourned at their death. Chrysostoms place is more apparant for your errour, although he also may be vnderstood to speake allegorically of the effect of Christs death and resurrection, by which all the Patriarches were deliuered from death, and hell was spoyled: not that they were in prison there, but that the iustice of God had condemned them thether, if Christes death had not redeemed them: but I will not stande to cleare Chrysostome of this errour, which it is sufficient for me to hauehave foūd that Marcion the old Heretike, was the firste author thereof, by Tertullians confession, howsoeuer it came to passe, that many good men afterward deceiued by the words foreign & Infernus, did hold it.

MART. 12. Therefore did Iacob say, I wil goe downeGen. 4….Gen 4 p. 217to my sonne vntounto Hell. And againe he sayth: If any misfortune happen to (Beniamin) by the way, you shal bring my gray head with sorrow vntounto Hell, which is repeated againe twise in the Chapter 44. by which phrase the holy Scripture will signifie, not only death, but also the descending at that time of all sortes of soules into hell, both good and badde. And therefore it is spoken of all sortes in the holye scripture, both of3. Reg. 2.1 Kgs 2 good and of bad. For all went then into hell, but some into a place there, of rest, others into other places there, of torments. And therefore S. Hierom sayth, speaking of hell, according to the olde Testament, Hell is a place wherein soules are included:In cap. 13. Osee. Aug. in Psal. 85. v. 13.Ps 85:13 either in rest, or in paines, according to the qualitie of their deserts.

FVLK. 12. Iacob sayde he would be ioyned to his sonne by death, as in the other text you bring, it is more manifest, than the Sunne at noone dayes. For Iacob speaking of his graye head, must needes meane of his bodie, and therefore of the graue, and not of Hell. So in the 3. Reg. 2. which you quote, Dauid chargeth Salomon, that he suffer not the gray head of Ioab, to goe downe to the graue in peace, and that he shall cause the hoare heade of Shemei to goe downe to the graue with bloud, which by no meanes can be vnderstoode of his soule going to hell, which goeth not with bloude, although it is plaine enough by the word hoare head, that he meaneth his bodye in age, or his olde bodye. And this text Pagnine, in his Dictionarie, thought necessarie to be vnderstoode of the graue, although he make the worde Sheol indifferent to signifie Hell, and the Graue. That all went to Hell, some to reste, and some to tormentes, it was firste deuised by Marcion, the Heretike. But Saint Hierome is once againe cited in Oseam cap. 13. where he sayth, that Hell is a place wherein soules are included, &c. by which you see that he speaketh not of Limbus, wherein soules were included before Christ, but of suche a place wherein they are nowe included, taking the worde Infernus, generally p. 218for any place▪ that receiueth the soules of the departed, as he sayth most plainely him selfe, in the same place: Quicquid igitur separat sratres, infernus est appellandus. Whatsoeuer doth separate brethren▪ is to be called hell. Augustine is quoted, to multiply a lye, and for nothing else, as I hauehave shewed before.

MART. 13. And in this sense it is also often sayd in the holy Scriptures, that such and such were gathered, or layde …oThe Scriptures speake of an other Hell, besides that of the damned. their fathers though they were buried in diuerse places, and died no: in the same state of saluation, or damnation: In that sense Samuel being raysed vp, to speake with Saul, sayd, To morow thou and thy sonnes shall be with me. That is, dead, and in hell, though not in the same place or state there: in this sense all such places of the holy Scripture as hauehave the word Inferi, or Infernus, correspondent both to the Greeke and Hebrew, ought to be, and may be most conueniently translated by the word, Hel. As when it is sayd, Thou hast deliuered my soule from theAb inferno infer…ori. lower hell, Psal. 85. v. 13. that is, as S. Augustine expoundeth it, Thou hast preserued me from mortall sinnes, that would hauehave brought me into the lower hel, which is for the damned. Which place of holy Scripture, and the like, when they translate graue, s…e how miserably i… soundeth: Thou hast deliuered my souleBib. 1579. from the lowest graue. Which they would neuer say for very shame, but that they are afraid to say in any place (be the holy Scriptures neuer so plaine) that any soule was deliuered or returned from hell, lest thereof it might follow by and by, that the Patriarches, and our Sauiour Christ, were in such a Hell.

FVLK. 13. That which is spoken indifferently of the elect, and reprobate, must needes be vnderstoode of that which is common to both, that is, corporall death. How can it be verified of their soules, that they were laid to the fathers, when betwene the godly, and the wicked, there is an infinite distance: but the earth, the graue, or pitte▪ is a common receptacle of all dead bodies. That Samuel, which being raysed vppe, spake to Saul▪ might truely say of his soule, though not of all his sonnes, that he should be with him in hell, for it was the spirite of p. 219Satan, and not of Samuel, although counterfaiting Samuel, he might speake of the death of Saule, and▪his sonnes. As for that verse of the eighty and fiue Psalme, whereupon you do falsely so often alleage S. Augustines resolution, what absurditie hath it, to translate it, from the lowest graue, or from the bottome of the graue: whereby Dauid meaneth extreame daunger of death, that he was in, by the malice of his persecuting enemies Saule and his complices. But we are afrayed to say in any place, that any soule was deliuered and returned from hell. We say that the soules of all▪ the faithfull, are deliuered from hell: but of any which after death is condemned to hell, we acknowledge no returne. And these wordes are spoken by Dauid while he liued, and praised God, for his deliueraunce, which might be not onelyonly from the graue, but also from hell, sauing that here he speaketh of his preseruation from death.

MART. 14. And that this is their feare, it is euident, because that in al other places where it is plaine that the holy scriptures speake of the hel of the dāned, from whence is no returne, they translate there the verie same worde Hell▪ and not graue. As for example, The way of life is on high to the prudent,Prouerb. 15. 24. to auoide from Hell beneath. Loe, here that is translated Hell beneath, which before was translated the lowest graue. And againe, Hell, and destruction are before the Lorde, howe muche more the harts of the sonnes of men? But when in the holy Scriptures there is mention of deliuery of a soulBib. 15…9. De manu inferi. from Hell, then thus they translate: God shal deliuer my soul from the power of the graue: for he will receiue me. Can you tell what they would say? doeth God deliuer them from the graue, or from tēporall death, whom he receiueth to his merciemercy? or hath the graue any power ouer the soule? Againe when they say,Psal. 89. 48.Ps 89:48 What man liueth and shall not see death? shall he deli…er his soule from the hand of the graue?

FVLK. 14. I hauehave shewed before diuerse times, that although the Hebrue word Sheol doe properly signifie a p. 220receptacle of the bodies after death, yet when mention is of the wicked, by consequence it may signifie hell, as the day signifieth light, the night darkenesse, fire heate, peace signifieth prosperitie, and an hundreth suche like speaches. But where you say that Prouerb. 15. v. 24. that is translated hell beneath, which before was translated the lowest graue, Psalm. 85. v. 13. You say vntruly, for although in both places there is the worde Sheol, yet in that Psalme there is Tachtyah, in the Prouerbes Mattah, foreignfor which if it were translated the graue, that declineth, or is downewarde, it were no inconuenience. In the other textes, you trifle vponupon the worde soule, whereas the Hebrewe worde signifieth not the reasonable soule, which is separable from the bodie, but the life, or the whole person of man, which may rightly be said, to be deliuered from the hande or power of the graue, as the verse. 48. doth plainely declare, when in the later parte is repeated, the sense of the former, as it is in many places of the Psalmes.

MART. 15. If th…y take graue properly, where mans bodie is buried: it is not true either that euerie soule, yea or eueryevery bodie is buried in a graue. But if in all such places, they will say they meane nothing else but to signifie death, and that to goe downe into the graue, and to die, is all one: we aske them why they followe no… the wordes of the holy Scripture to signifie the same thing, which call it, going downe to Hell, not going downe to the graue? Here they must needes open the mystery of Antichrist working in their translations, and say, that so they shoulde make Hell a common place to all that departed in the olde Testament, which they will not▪ no no… in the most important places of our beleefe concerning our Sauiour Christes descending into Hell, and triumphing ouer the same. Yea, therefore of purpose they will not, onelyonly for to defeate that parte of our Christian Creede.

FVLK. 15. We can not alwaies take the word graue properly, when the Scripture vseth it figuratiuely. But if we say, to goe downe to the graue, and to die is all p. 221one, you aske vsus why we followe not the wordes of the holy Scripture. I aunswere, we doe, for the Scripture calleth it graue. and not hell. Where is then your vaine clattering of the mysterie of Antichrist, that we must open? Because we will not acknowledge that hereticall common place, inuented by Marcion the heretike, we purpose to defeate the article of Christes descending into hell. A monstrous sclaunder, when we doe openly confesse it, and his triumphing ouer hell in more triumphant manner than you determine it. For if he descended into that hell onelyonly, in which were the soules of the faithfull, which was a place of rest, of comfort, of ioy, and felicitie, what triumphe was it to ouercome suche an hell, which if you take away the hatefull name of hell by your owne description, will proue rather an heauen than an hell. But we beleeue that he triumphed ouer the hell of the damned, and ouer all the power of darkenesse, which he subdued by the vertue of his obedience and sacrifice. so that it should neuer be able to claime or holde any of his elect, whome he had redeemed.

MART. 16. As when the Prophet first, Osee. 13. and afterward the Apostle, 1. Cor. 15. in the Greeke, s…y thus▪ Eroforeign mors tua ô mors, morsus tuus ero inferne. Vbi est, mors stimulus tuus? vbi est, inferne, victoria tua? O death,foreign. I will be thy death: I will be thy sting▪ ô Hell. Where is, ô death, thy sting? where is, ô hell, thy victorie? They translateBib. 1579. in both places, O graue, in steede of, ô Hel. What else can be their meaning hereby, but to draw the Reader from the common sense of our Sauiour Christs descending into hell, & conquering the same, and bringing out the fathers and iust men triumphantly from thence into heauen? which sense hath alwaies bene the common sense of the Catholike church & holy Doctors,See S. Hier. Cō ▪ mēt. in 13. Osee. specially vponupon this place of the Prophet. And what a kinde of speach is this, and out of all tune, to make our Sauiour Christ say, O graue I will be thy destruction? as though he had triumphed ouer the graue, & not ouer hell: or ouer the graue, p. 222that is, ouer death: and so the Prophet should say death twise, and Hell not at all.

FVLK. 16. S. Hierom whom you quote in the margent, to proue that all the Catholike Doctors vnderstoode this text of Osee, of Christes descending into hell, and thereby reproue our translation, which for hell sayeth graue, after he hath repeated the wordes of the Apostle 1. Cor. 15. vponupon this text, thus he concludeth. Itaque quod ille in resurrectionem interpretatus est Domini, no… aliter interpretari nec possumus nec audemus. Therefore that which the Apostle hath interpreted of our Lordes resurrection, we neither can, nor dare interprete otherwise. You see therefore by Hieromes iudgement, that in this text, which is proper of Christes resurrection, it is more proper to vse the word of graue, than of hell. How vainly the same Hierome interpreteth the last wordes of this chapter, of spoiling the treasure of euerie vessell that is desireable▪ of Christs deliuering out of hel the most precious vessells of the Saincts, &c. I am not ignoraunt, but we speake of translation of the 14. verse, which being vnderstoode of Christes resurrection, it argueth, that the graue is spoken of, rather than hell. As for the repetition of one thing twise for vehemencie, and certainties sake, is no inconuenient thing, but commonly vsed in the Scriptures.

MART. 17. Why, my Maisters, you that are so wonderful precise translatoures, admit that our sauiour Christ descended not into Hel beneath, as you say, yet I thinke you will grant that he triumphed ouer Hell, and was conquerer of the same. Why then did it not please you to suffer the Prophet to say so at the least, rather than that he had conquest only of death and the graue? You abuse your ignorant reader very impudently, & your owne selues verie damnably, not onelyonly in this, but in that you make graue, and death, all one, and so where the holy Scripture often ioyneth togither death and Hell▪ as things different and distinct: you make them speake but one thing twise, idly and superfluously.

p. 223FVLK. 17. For our faith of Christs triumphing ouer hell, I hauehave spoken alreadie sufficiently, but of the Prophetes meaning beside the wordes them selues, the Apostle is best expounder, who referreth it to the resurrection, and his victorie ouer death, which he hath gayned not for him selfe alone, but for all his elect. Where you say we make graue and death all one, it is false. We knowe they differ, but that one may …e signified by the other, without any idle or superfluous repetition in one verse. I referre me to a whole hundred of examples, that may be brought out of the Psalmes, the Prophetes, and the Prouerbes, where wordes of the same, like, or neere significatiō, are twise togither repeated, to note the same matter, which none but a blasphemous dogge, will say to be done idly, or superfluously.

MART. 18. But will you know that you should not confound them, but that Mors, & Infernus, which are the wordes of the holy Scripture in all tongues, are distinct: heare what S. Hierome sayth, or if you will not heare, because you are of them which hauehave stopped their eares, let the indifferent Christian Reader harken to this holy Doctor, and great interpreter of the holy Scriptures according to his singular knowledge in all the learned tongues. VponUpon the foresaid place of the Prophet, after he had spoken of our Sauiour Christes descending into hell, and ouercomming of death, he addeth: Betwene death andHierom in Os… cap. 13▪ hell, this is the difference, that death is that whereby the soule is separated from the body: Hell is the place where soules are included, either in rest, or else in paines, according to the qualitie of their deserts. And that death is one thing, and Hell is another: the Psalmist also declareth,Psal. 6.Ps 6 saying: THERE IS not in death, that is mindfull of thee, but in Hell who shall confesse to thee? And in another place. Let death come vponupon them, and let them goe downe into Hell aliue. Thus farre S. Hierom.

FVLK. 18. He that by the graue vnderstandeth a place to receiue the bodies of the dead, and figuratiuely death, doth no more confound the wordes of death, and p. 224the graue, then he that by a cup, vnderstandeth a vessell to receiue drinke properly, and figuratiuely, that drinke which is contayned in such a vessell. Therefore that you cite out of Hierome, maketh nothing against vsus, for hee him selfe, although deceyued by the Septuagintes, or rather by the ambiguitie of the worde foreign, which they vse, in the signification of the Hebrue worde foreign, yet by Infernus vnderstandeth them that be In inferno, and the dead, as wee doe by the worde graue oftentimes. As for his opinion of the godly soules in happie hell before Christes death, or his interpretation of any other parte of Scripture, wee professe not to followe in our translations, but as neere as wee can the true significatiō of the words of holy Scripture, with such sence (if any thing be doubtfull) as the proper circumstances of eueryevery place will lead vsus vntounto, that wee may attayne to the meaning of the holy Ghost.

MART. 19. By which differences of death and Hell, (whereof wee must often aduertise the Reader) are meant two things: death, and the going downe of the soule into some receptacle of Hell, in that state of the olde Testament, at what time the holy Scriptures vsed this phrase so often. Now, these impudent translators in all these places, translate it graue, of purposeBib. 1579. to confound it and death togither, and to make it but one thing, which S. Hierom sheweth to be different, in the very same sense that we hauehave declared.

FVLK. 19. The difference of Mors & Infernus which Hierome maketh, can not alwaies stand, as I hauehave shewed of the hoare heades of Iacob, Ioab, and Shemei, which none but madde men will say, to hauehave descended into a receptacle of soules, beside other places of Scripture, where Sheol must of necessity signifie a place for the bodie. And euen those places of the Psalmes, that S. Hierom calleth to witnesse, do make against his error. For where Dauid sayth, Psal. 6. In hell who shall confesse vntounto thee? How can it be true of the soules of the faithfull being in that holy hell Abrahams bosome? Did not Abraham p. 225confesse vntounto God, & acknowledge his merciemercy? Did not Lazarus the same, did not all the holy soules departed confesse God in Abrahams bosome? Were all those blessed soules so vnthankefull, that being carried into that place of rest, and comfort, none of them would cō fesse Gods benefits? It is plaine therefore, to the confusion of your error, that Sheol in that place of Dauid must nedes signifie the graue, in which no man doth confesse, praise, or giuegive thanks vntounto God, of whom in death there is no remembraunce. Therefore he desireth life and restoring of health, that he may praise God in his Church or congregation. Likewise in the Psal. 54. where he prophesieth vntounto the wicked a sodaine death, such as befell to Chore, Dathan, & Abiram, which went downe quicke into the graue. Not into hell, whether come no bodies of men liuing, but the soules of men that are dead.

MART. 20. But alas, is it the very nature of the Hebrew,foreign Greeke, or Latine, that forceth thē so much to English it graue, rather than hel? we appeale to all Hebricians, Grecians, & Latinists in the world: first, if a man would aske, what is Hebrew,Infernus. or Greeke, or Latine for Hell: whether they would not answer, these three words, as the very proper words to signifie it, euen as panis signifieth bread: secondly, if a man would aske, what isforeign Hebrew, or Greeke, or Latine, for a graue: whether they would answer these words, and not three other which they know, are as proper words for graue, as lac, is for milke.Sepulchrum.

FVLK. 20. The very nature of the Hebrew worde foreign, is most properly to signifie a graue, or receptacle of dead bodies, as all that be learned in that tongue, doe knowe. About the Greeke and Latine termes, is not our question, and therefore you deale deceitfully, to handle them all three togither. Although neither foreign, nor Infernus are so proper for hel, but that they may be taken also sometimes for the graue, and so perhaps were meant by the Greeke and Latine translators in diuerse places. You speake therefore as one voyd of all shame, to say they are as proper for hell, as panis, for breade. Where you aske p. 216what is Hebrew, Greeke, or Latine, for hell: you must vnderstand, that if you speake of a proper word, for those inuisible places, wherein the soules departed, are either in ioy or torments, I answer, there is no proper word for those places▪ either in Hebrew, Greeke, or Latine. For that which of all these tongues is translated heauen, is the proper word for the sensible skye, in which are the Sunne, Moone, and Starres, and by a figure is transferred to signifie the place of Gods glorie, in which he reigneth with the blessed spirits of Angels, and men, aboue this sensible world. Paradise and Abrahams bosome, who is so childish, not to acknowledge them to be borrowed wordes, and not proper. So fo… ▪ … of the reprobate soules in the Hebrue tongue T…phe… or Gehinnom which properly are the names of an abhominable place of Idolatry, are vsed, & Sheol somtimes figuratiuely may signifie the same. In Greeke & Latin G…henna is vsed for the same, which is borrowed of the Hebrue. Sometimes also the word foreign in Greeke is taken for the place of the damned, and the kingdome of darkenesse. The Latine word Infernus is any lowe place. Wherefore I can not maruaile sufficiently at your impudencie, which affirme these three words foreign, and Infernus, to be as proper for our English worde hell, as Panis is for bread. That there be other wordes beside these in all the three tongues to signifie a graue, I maruaile to what purpose you tell vsus, except you would hauehave ignorant folke suppose, that there cannot be two Hebrue, Greeke, or Latine wordes for one thing.

MART. 21. Yea, note and consider diligently what wee will say. Let them shewe me out of all the Bible one place, where it is certaine and agreed among all, that it must needes signifie graue▪ let them shewe me in any one such place, that the holy Scripture vseth any of those former three wordes for graue. As when Abraham bought a place of burial, whether he bought Infernum: or when it is said the kings of Israel were buried inGen. c. 49.Gen 49 the monuments or sepulchers of their fathers, whether it say, in p. 227infernis patrum suorum. So that not onelyonly Diuines by this obseruation, but Grammarians also and children may easily see, that the proper and naturall signification of the said wordes, is in English Hel, and not graue.

FVLK. 21. We note wel your foolish subtiltie, that will hauehave vsus to shewe you one place, where it is oertaine and agreed among al, that, sheol muste needes signifie graue I am perswaded that you and such as you are, that hauehave sold your selues to Antichrist, to maintaine his heresies with all impudencie, will agree to nothing that shall be brought, though it be neuer so plaine and certaine, that it must needes so signifie. I hauehave already shewed you three places, where the hoare head is sayd to goe down into sheol, that is into the graue For whether shold the hoare head goe but into the graue? Nothing can be more plaine to him that will agree to truth, that sheol in all such places is taken for the graue. But to omit those places, because I hauehave spoken of them all readie: what say you to that place, Numb. 16? where the earth opened her mouth, & swallowed vp the rebelles with their tents, and all there substaunce of cattaile, and what soeuer they had: where the text sayeth. They went downe, and all that they had aliue sheolah into the pitte or graue. God made a great graue or hole in the earth, to receiue them all. Where no man will saie that evther the bodies of these men or their substaunce of Tentes, cattaile, and stuffe went into hell, as it is sure their soules wente into torment. And if authoritie do way more with you than good reason, heare what S. Augustine writeth vponupon the same texte▪ and how he taketh your inferos or infernum, which in the Hebrue is sheol, Quest. super Num. lib. 4. c. 29. Et descenderunt ipsi & omnia quaecunque sunt eis viuentes ad inferos. Notandum secundum locum terreni…m dictos esse inferos, hoc est, &c. And they themselues descended, and all that they had aliue vntounto Inferas, the lower partes. It is to be noted, that Inferi are spoken of an earthly place, that is in the lowe partes of the earth. For diuersly and p. 228vnderunder manifold vnderstāding euen as the sense of things which are in hand requireth, the name of Inferi is put in the Scriptures, & especially it is wont to be taken for the dead. But for asmuch as it is saide that those descended aliue ad inferos, & by the very narration it appeareth sufficiently what was done: it is manifest, as I said, that the lower partes of the earth are termed by this word inferi, in comparison of this vpper part of the earth in which we liue. Like as in comparison of the higher heauen, where the dwelling of the holy Aungels is, the Scripture saith, that the sinful Angels being thrust downe into the darknesse of this ayre, are reserued as it were in prisons of a lower part or hel, to be punished. S. Augustine here doth not only vnderstand this place of the graue or receptacle of bodies: but also sheweth that the Latin word inferi or infernus, doth not alwaies signifie hel, as you made it of late, as proper for hel, as Panis for bread. But bicause you shal not complaine of the singularitie of this exāple, although you require but one, I wil adde out of the Psalme 141. where the Prophet saith, our bones are scattered at the very brinke or mouth of sheol the graue. Howe can you vnderstand him to speake of hel? For the graue and not hell is a place for dead mens bones: as he speaketh of the faithfull, by the wicked compted as good as dead & rotten, consumed to the bones. By these and many other examples, it is manifest, that the proper signification of sheol in English, is a graue and not hell.

MART. 22. And therefore Beza doth strangely abuseAnnot. in Act. 2. 25. 27. & in 1. Cor. 15. 55.Acts 2:25Acts 2:271 Cor 15:55 his Reader, more than in one place, saying that the Hebrue word doth properly signifie graue, beyng deduced of a verbe that signifieth, to craue or aske, because it craueth alwayes newe coarses. As though the graue craued moe than Hel doth, or swallowedBib. 1579. Prouer. 1. 12. 30. 15. 16.Prov 1:12Prov 1:30Prov 1:15Prov 1:16 moe, or were more hardly satisfied and filled than Hell. for in all such places they translate graue. And in one such place they say, The graue and destructiō can neuer be ful. Prou 27. 20.Prov 27:20Whereas them selues a litle before, translate the very same wordes, Hel & destructiō: and therefore it might hauehave pleasedCap. 15. 11. p. 229them to hauehave said also, Hel and destructiō can neuer be ful, as their powfellowes do in their translation, and againe, We shalBib. 1562. 1577. Prouerb. 1. 1. Pet. 5.1 Pet 5 swalow them vp, like Hel. The Diuel (we reade) goeth about continually like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may de…ou…. Who is called in the Apocalypse, Abaddon, thatApoc. 9. 11.Rev 9:11 is, destruction. And so very aptly Hel and destruction are ioyned togither, and are truly said neuer to be filled. What madnesse and impudencie is it then for Beza to write thus: WhoBeza before alleaged. is ignorant that by the Hebrue worde, rather is signified a graue, for that it seemeth after a sorte to craue alwaies new c…rcasses?

FVLK. 22. Beza doth not abuse his reader, to tel him that sheol is deriued of a verbe that signifieth crauing, or asking: but you doe vnhonestly abuse Beza, as you doe eueryevery man, when you take in hand, to affirme that he standeth onelyonly vponupon the etymologie of sheol, to proue that it signifieth the graue.

MART. 23. And againe, cōcerning our Sauiour Christs descending into hell▪ and deliuering the fathers from thence, itAnnot. in 2. Act. v. 24.Acts 5:24 is maruel, f…i…lr Be…a, that the most parte of the auncient fathers were in this errour, whereas with the Hebrues the word SHEOL, signifieth nothing else but GRAVE. Before, he pleaded vponupon the etymologie or nature of the worde, now also he pleadeth vponupon the authoritie of the Hebrues themselues. If he were not knowen to be very impudent and obstinate, wee woulde easily mistrust his skill in the Hebrue, saying that among the Hebrues, the worde signifieth nothing else butNihil aliud. graue.

FVLK. 23. Beza sayth that the worde Sheol properly signifieth nothing but the graue, neuerthelesse hee saith, it is taken figuratiuely, for tribulation, whiche is neere to extreeme destruction, yea and sometime for the bottomlesse pitte of hell.

MART. 24. I would gladly knowe, what are those Hebrues: doth not the Hebrue text of the holy Scripture best tell vsus the vse of this word? Do not themselues translate it Hel very often? do not the Septuaginta alwaies? If any Hebrue in p. 230the world, were asked, how he would turne these wordes into Hebrue, Similes estis sepulchris dealbatis: you are like to whited graues: And, Sepulchrum eius apud vos est: His graue is among you: would any Hebrue I say translate it by this Hebrue worde which Beza saith among the Hebrues signifiethSheoli…. Sheol. nothing else but graue▪ Aske your Hebrue Readers in this case, and see what they will answere.

FVLK. 24. The best of the Hebrues, that either interpreted Scriptures, or made Dictionaries, Iewes, or Christians, do acknowledge that sheol doth properly signifie the graue. That the Septuaginta do alwaies trāslate it foreign, it proueth not that it alwaies signifieth hel, for foreign signifieth not alwaies hell, as in the place of Nūb. 16. As for the turning of Latin into Hebrue, is not our cō trouersie, but of translating Hebrue into English, sheol may signifie the graue, the hole, the pit, as F…ea, though it be not all one with the Latine worde Sepulchrum. And yet Rabbi Salomon whome you boldly cite in the 27. Section, saith plainely that the true and proper interpretationIn Gen. 37.Gen 37 of Sheol is Keber, whiche you say, is as proper for graue, as Lac is for milke.

MART. 25. What are those Hebrues then, that BezaThe Protestāt… in interpretatiō of Scriptures, folovve the late Ievves, rather than the auncient fathers, and Apostolicall church. speaketh of? forsooth certaine Iewes or later Rabbines, which, as they doe falsely interprete all the holy Scriptures agaynst our Sauiour Christ in other points of our beleefe, as against his Incarnation, Death, and Resurrection: so do they also falsely interprete the holy scriptures against his descending into Hell, which those Iewish Rabbines deny, because they looke for another Messias that shal not die at al, and consequētly shal not after his death go downe into Hel & deliuer the fathers expecting his comming as our sauiour Christ did. And therfore those Iewish Rabbines hold as the heretikes do, that the fathers of the old Testament were in heauen before our sauiour Christs Incarnation: & these Rabbines are they which also peruert the Hebrue word to the significatiō of graue, in such places of the holy scriptures as speake either of our Sauiour Christes descending into hel, or of the fathers going downe into Hell, euen in like maner p. 231as they peruert other Hebrew wordes, of the holy scripture, asEsa. 7.Isa 7 namely, alma, to signifie a young woman, not a virgin, against our Sauiours birth of the B. Virgin Marie.

FVLK. 25. Beza speaketh of the holy men of God, which did write the Scriptures, and so vse that word Sheol, as it can not be taken to signifie any thing properly, but the graue or pit. And as for the Iewish Rabbīs, what reason is there, why we should not credite them in the interpretatiou of wordes, of their owne tongue, rather than any auncient Christians ignorant of the Hebrewe tongue? And although they doe sometimes frowardly contend about the significatiō of a word or two, against the truth of the Gospell, that is no sufficient cause why they should be discredited in all words. But beside them. Beza hath also the best Hebritians that hauehave bene in this laste age, among the Christians, not onelyonly Protestants, but Papistes also, namely Pagninus, and Masius, in their Dictionaries.

MART. 26. And if these later Rabbines be the Hebrewes that Beza meaneth, and which these gay English translators followe, we lament that they ioyne themselues with such companions, being the sworne enemies of our Sauiour Christ. Surely the Christian Hebrewes in Rome, and elsewhere, which of great Rabbines are become zealous Doctors of Christianiti…, and therefore honour eueryevery mysterie and article of our Christian faith, concerning our Sauiour Christ, they dispute as vehemently against those other Rabbines, as we doe against the Heretikes, and among other things, they tell them, thus Saul sayd,1. Reg. 28. Raise me vp Samuel, and that the woman sayd, I see Gods ascending out of the earth, and, An olde man is ascended or come vp, and that Samuel sayd, Why hast thou disquieted me, that I should be raysed vp? and, To morow thou and thy sonnes shall be with me. And the booke of EcclesiasticusEccl. 46. 23.Sir 46:23 sayth, that Samuel died, and afterward lifted vp his voice out of the earth, &c. All which the holy Scripture would neuer hauehave thus expressed, (whether it were Samuel in deede o… not) if Saul and the Iewes then had beleeued, that their p. 232Prophets and Patriarches had bene in heauen about. And as for the Hebrew worde, they make it (as eueryevery boye among the Iewes doth well know) as proper a word for Hell▪ as panis is for bread, and as vnproper for a graue (though so it may be vsed by a figure of speech) as Cymba Charontis is Latine for death.

FVLK. 26. If we followed the Iewes in exposition of the Scriptures against Christ, we were not so much to be pitied, as to be abhorred: but if we be content to learne the proprietie of Hebrew wordes of the learned Rabbinsi, as Hierom was glad to doe of his Rabbin, who as it appeareth by his scholler in some places, was not excellently learned, there is no cause why any man should pitie vsus, but them rather, that to cloke their ignorance in the Hebrewe tongue, pretende as if it were more vnlawfull to learne Hebrew of the Hebrew Rabbins, than Latine of Quintilian or Priscian, and Greeke of Gaza, Suidas, and such like. That you tell v… of the Romishe Rabbins conuerted from Iudai…me, to Papistrie, is not worth a straw. For their argument of Saules and a witches opinion, that the deade might be raysed, proueth nothing in the worlde, that they were in Hell. And the sonne of Syrach sheweth him selfe not to be directed by the spirite of God, which affirmeth, Samuel did lift vp his voice after his death▪ out of the earth, contrarye to the iudgement of Catholike Doctors of the Church. For that the Scripture speaketh of Samuel raysed by the witche, is meant of a wicked spirite counterfetting the shape and similitude of Samuel. For the soules of the faithfull, and holy Prophets, be not at the commaundements of witches, but at rest with God, where they can not be disquieted. As for the authoritie of those vnknowen authors, that teach boyes to say, Sheol is as proper for hell, as panis for bread, we may esteeme it to be of as good credit, as Charons boate, Plutoes pallace, and Cerberus three heads, &c.

MART. 27. But what speake I of these? doe no: the greatest p. 233and most auncient Rabbines (so to call them) the Septuaginta Geneb. lib. 3. de Trin.alwayes translate the Hebrew word, by the Greeke foreign, which is properly hell? doe not the Talmudistes, and Chaldee paraphrases, and Rabbi Salomon Iarhi, handling these places of the Psalmes, He will deliuer my soule from the hande of Sheol, interprete it by Gehinum, that is, Gehenna, hell? and yet the Caluinists bring this place for an example that it signifieth graue. Likewise vponupon this place, Let all sinners be turned into SHEOL: the foresayde Rabbines interprete it by Gehinum, Hell. Insomuch that in the Prouerbs, and in Iob, itProuerb. 15. Iob. 26.Job 26 is ioyned with Abaddon. Where Rabbi Leui according to the opinion of the Hebrewes, expoundeth Sheol, to be the lowest region of the world, a deepe place opposite to heauen, whereof it is written, If I descended into Hell, thou art present: and so doth Rabbi Abraham expounde the same worde in chap. 2. Ion….

FVLK. 27. Although the Septuaginta doe alwayes translate Sheol by the word foreign, yet doe they not thereby alwayes vnderstand hel: as it is manifest in all those places, where the Scripture speaketh of a receptacle of dead bodies. But now you will beare vsus downe with Rabbins, Talmudists and Chaldee paraphrases. And firste you saye that all these, handling that verse of the 49. Psalme. He will deliuer my soule from the hand of Sheol, interprete it by Gehinnom, that is, hell. I graunt that Rabbi Ioseph vsing the libertie of a Paraphrast, rather than a translator, interpreteth the worde by Gehinnom, that signifieth hell fire, and so the sense is true. For God deliuered Dauid from eternall damnation. But Rabbi Dauid Chimchi, expounding the same place according to the proper signification of Sheol, sayeth. foreign. &c. The Prophet sayde when he sawe the destruction of the soules of the wicked in their death: In the day in which my bodie shall goe downe to (Sheol) the graue, God shall deliuer my soule from the hande of (Sheol) the graue, that my soule shall not perishe with my bodie. You see therefore that all the Rabbines be not of your p. 234side, no nor Rabbi Salomon Iarchi, whom you cite. For vponupon 37. of Genesis, verse 35. where Iacob sayth, he will goe downe to the graue, mourning, thus he writeth, foreign. Mourning to Sheol, according to the plaine and literall sense the interpretation thereof is the grane, in my mourning I will be buried, and I will not be comforted, all my dayes: but after the Midrash, or exposition, not according to the letter, it is hell. This signe was deliuered by handes, or by tradition, from the mouth of his power, (that is from a diuine oracle) if not one of my sonnes shall dye in my life time, I had confidence, that I should not see hell. By this saying, it is manifest, that this Rabbine acknowledged the true and proper translation of this worde Sheol, was to the graue, although after figuratiue, and sometimes fond expositions, it was interpreted for hell. Likewise you say, but vntruly, of this verse, Psal. 9. v. 18. Let all sinners be turned to Sheol, for there the Chaldee Paraphrast retaineth the worde Sheol, and doth not giuegive any other word for it. Dauid Chimchi interpreteth it according to the literall sense, foreign. Let the wicked be turned into the graue, which is so straung with you to be aunswerable to Sheol, although as R. Salomon he sayth, it may be vnderstoode of their buriall in hell. That Sheol in the Prouerbs, & Iob is ioyned with abaddō, Prou. 1…. Iob. 26.Prov 1Job 26it hindreth it not to signify the graue, where is the destru ction and consumption of the body. And Prou. 15. v. 11. the Chaldee Paraphrast retaineth Sheol, which Kabuenaki expoundeth thus, foreign, &c. It is sayd of Sheol, and Abaddon, that Sheol is the graue, foreign, and Abaddon is hell, which is deeper than the graue, &c. And although in Iob Rabbi Leui, and others expound Sheol for a secret place about the center of the earth, which should seeme to beforeign hell: yet they say not that this is the proper signification of the word Sheol. For in the 21. of Iob. v. 13. the Chaldee Paraphrast for Sheol, interpreteth Kebureta, the graue, and in the 14. verse. 13. beith kebureta, the house of the graue, p. 235and 17. v. 12. and 15. the graue. In both which places Rabbi Abraham Peritsol ioyneth Sheol, and Keber togither, both signifying the graue, and in the later verse, he maketh Iob to say to his friends foreign, The barres offoreign lies with which you comfort me into the middest of the pit of the graue shall go downe with me when I dye. By all which testimonies it is manifest, that Sheol is not the proper for hel, the receptacle of soules, but for graue, the common dwelling house of mens bodies.

But you will presse vsus yet further, with the authoritie of Rabbi Abraham vponupon Ionas. 2. In deede in Abraham Aben Ezra, I reade as you say, but this is onelyonly his opinion of the figuratiue sense of that place. for vponupon Hosee cap. 13. v. 14. he expoundeth foreign thus, I hauehave bene a redeemer of thy fathers, nowe I will be a destruction of death which is to thee. And so doe R. Shelomo Iarchi, and Rabbi Dauid Chimchi: yea, so doth Saint Paule, more worth than all the Rabbins that euer were, expound it.

MART. 28. This being the opinion and interpretation of the Hebrues, See the skill or the honestie of Beza, saying that Sheol, with the Hebrues signifieth nothing but graue. Whereas in deede (to speake skilfully, vprightly, and not contentiously) it may signifie graue sometime secondarily, but Hell, principally and properly, as is manifest, for that there is no other worde so often vsed and so familiar in the Scriptures to signifie Hell, as this, and for that the Septuaginta doe alwaies interprete it by the Greeke word foreign.

FVLK. 28. The opinion of the Hebrues being as I hauehave rehearsed out of their owne wordes, see the skill or honestie of Martin, which dare open his mouth against Beza in this matter, and tell vsus that Sheol may secundarily signifie a graue, whereas it doth first and principally so signifie, howe soeuer the Septuaginta doe interprete it by foreign, which signifieth an obscure darke place vnderunder the earth, and not hell properly.

MART. 29. The which Greeke worde is so notorius and p. 236peculiar for Hell, that the Paganes vse it also for Pluto, whom they feigned to bee God of hell, and not God of graues: and and if they woulde stand with vsus in this point, wee might beate them with their owne kinde of reasoning, out of Poetes and profane writers, and out of all Lexicons. Vnlesse they will tel vsus (contrarie to their custome) that wee Christians must attende the Ecclesiasticall vse of this word in the Bible, and in Christian writers, & that in them it signifieth graue. For so Beza seemethAnnot. in Act. 2… 27.Acts 2:27 to say, that the Greeke Interpreters of the Bible translated the Hebrewe worde aforesayed by this Greeke worde, as signifiyng a darke place: whereas the Greeke Poetes vsed it for that which the Latines called Inferos, that is, Hell. Which ambiguitie (sayeth he) of the worde, made many erre, affirming Christes descending into Hell. So was LIMBVS builded, whereunto afterward Purgatory was laide.

FVLK. 29. That Pluto of the Poets is faigned to be the God of Hell, it was heere of that they imagined Hell to bee a place vnderunder the earth, which was his pallace, as earth was his kingdome: or els what becommeth of the triple diuision of all the worlde, if Iupiter hauing heauen, Neptune the Sea, Pluto should not hauehave the earth? who had his name of the riches inclosed in the earth, and was also called foreign, or foreign as in Homer Il. 15. foreign. Iupiter and I, and Pluto the thirde that ruleth ouer the dead. Whereof it is put in the Genetiue case; after such prepositions as gouerne an Accusatiue or Datiue, where foreign the house of Pluto is to bee vnderstoode. I might heere cite diuers places out of Nonius the Christian Greeke Poet, who seemeth to vse foreign & foreign for the graue, speaking of the resurrection of Christ, Ioan. 2. & of Lazarus cap. 11. But of the trāslation of the Greke word is not our questiō, but of the Hebrewe worde Sheol, which the septuaginta turning into foreign meane a place generally to receiue the dead, which somtimes is the graue of the bodies, sometimes hell of the soules.

p. 237MART. 30. I see Beza his wilinesse verie well in this pointe. For heere the man hath vttered all his harte, and the whole mysterie of his craftie meaning of this corrupte translation: that to auoyde these three things, Christes descending into Hell, Limbus patrum, and Purgatorie, he and his companions wrest the foresayd wordes of the holy Scriptures to the signification of graue, But let the indifferent Christian reader onelyonly consider Beza his owne wordes in this place, point by point.

FVLK. 30. Beza vseth no wilinesse or craft at all, for he doeth alwayes openly detest the dreames of Limbus and Purgatorie, and whatsoeuer may depende vponupon them. But let vsus see what you can gather out of his wordes.

MART. 31. First he sayeth, that the Greeke Poetes were wont to vse the Greeke worde for Hell: secondly, that they which interpreted the Bible out of Hebrewe into Greeke, vsed the verie same worde for that Hebrewe worde whereof wee hauehave nowe disputed: thirdlye, that the aunciente fathers (for of them he speaketh, as a litle before he expresseth) vnderstoode the sayed Greeke worde for Hell, andIbid. v. 24. thereby grewe to those errours (as he impudently affirmeth) of Christes descending into Hell, and of the place in Hell where the fathers rested expecting the comming of our Sauiour, &c. Whereby the Reader doeth easily see, that both the profane and also the Ecclesiasticall vse of the word is for Hell, and not for graue.

FVLK. 31. I looked for some great matter, when you beganne to consider so diligently from point to point: but I see we shall hauehave nothing, but this colde collection, that both the prophane and Ecclesiasticall vse of this worde foreign, is for hell, and not for the graue. That it is vsed for hell, no man denieth: but that it is vsed onelyonly for hell. Beza sayeth not, and I hauehave proued that it is not. As also it may be proued by diuerse other places out of the Apocriphall writings, namely Sap. 16. v. 13. where it is translated for death by your p. 238owne Latine translatour, being the same verse, that is in the songe of Anna 1. Sam. 2. where Sheol is vsed, and is repeared in that signification Tob. 13. v. 12. Likewise Sap. 2. v. 1. where the vngodly that professe the mortality of the soul say, that none was knowen to returne from foreign, the word can signifie nothing but graue. For hell it can not signifie in their speach, that beleue no hell, & say plainly that their soules shall vanishe like smoke, or light ayer. Likewise in Baruch. 2. it is taken for the graue, where he sayeth the deade which are in the foreign, shall not giuegive honour to God, where it is certaine, that by that worde is meant the graue, seeing the soules of the righteous that were in Abrahams bosome, did praise God, and moreouer, he maketh it plaine that he speaketh of the deade bodies, when he sayth their spirite is taken out of their bowels.

MART. 32. And for the Latine worde, it is the likeInfernus, inferi. case for all the worlde: and if a man will aske but his childe that commeth from the Grammar, what is Infernus, he will say Hell, and not graue: what is Latine for graue? He will aunswere Sepulchrum, or monumentum. But neuer Infernus, vnlesse one of these Caluinisticall translatours taught him so, to deceiue his father.

FVLK. 32. I hope they that be wise will beleeue S. Augustine, rather than you, that the worde Inferi, which is the same that Infernus, hath diuerse and manifolde vnderstandings in the Scripture, as I hauehave declared before sect. 21. But with the Latine word Infornus, we hauehave litle to doe, which translate not out of Latine, but out of Hebrue or Greeke.

MART. 33. Nowe then, to drawe to a conclusion of this their corruption also in their Englishe translation: whereas the Hebrue, and Greeke, and Latine wordes doe most properly and vsually signifie Hell: and both Greeke, and Latine interpreters precisely in euerie place vse for the Hebrue worde, that one Greeke worde, and that one Latine worde, which by all custome of speaking & writing▪ signifie Hell: ccIf they obiect vntounto vsus some Catholikes, that translate it Sepulchrū, as they doe: it is a fault in them also, but so farre lesse thā in the Protestants, as chaūce medley is in respect of vvilfull murder.it had bene the part of p. 239sincere and true meaning translatours, to hauehave translated it also in English alwayes by the word Hell: and afterward to hauehave disputed of the meaning thereof, whether and when it is to be taken for Hell, or graue, or lake, or death, or any such thing. As i… one place they hauehave done it very exactly & indifferently, namely when Ionas sayth (c. 2. v. 2.) out of the Whales belly. Out of the belly of hell, cryed I, and thou heardest my voice. So all translate it, and well, whatsoeuer it signifie in this place. They thinke that Hell, here signifieth nothing else but the Whales belly, and the affliction of Ionas, and so the worde may signifie by a Metaphoricall speech, as when we say in English, It**See their marginall annot. Ionae 22. Bib. 1577. is a hell to liue thus: and therefore no doubt they did here translate it so, to insinuate that in other places it might as well signifie graue, as here the Whales belly.

FVLK. 33. Your conclusion is as good as your premisses, because the Greeke and Latine Interpretors had before vsus translated amisse, which gaue occasion to diuerse errours, therefore we also knowing the true signification of the worde, muste hauehave followed them in wrong and doubtfull translation, and afterward debated the meaning of the seuerall places. But in the margent, you tell vsus, that such Catholikes as hauehave translated the word Sheol▪ for a graue, hauehave also done amisse. Pardon vsus M. Martin, we take you for no such learned Hebritian, that you should controll Pagninus, Isidorus Clarius, and all other Hebritians of this time vponupon suche slender sleeuelesse reasons, as you hauehave brought hetherto. And you shewe an intollerable proude stomake, that being a man so litle seene in the Hebrue tongue (as you shewe your selfe to be) you should condemne such graue and learned persons of your owne side, of rashnesse, or ignorance. For you make them in the case of chaunce medley, that hauehave translated sheol a graue. Thinke you the deputies of the Councell of Trent had no more discretion in perusing Isidorus Clarius correctiō of the Bible, than to suffer him to chaunge life & safetie into chance medly and manslaughter? you may in time to come if you p. 240apply your studie, proue learned in that language wherin as yet you are but a smatterer not worthy to be heard against so many, so learned, so famous professors of the Hebrew tongue, Iewes, and Christians, Protestants, and Papistes, authors of Grammars, Dictionaries, and translations. But in the second of Ionas, it pleaseth you well, that our Geneua Bible translateth this word Hell, out of the bellie of hell, &c. but you like not that they shoulde interprete it a metaphoricall Hell, or the extremitie of affliction, whereinto the Prophet was brought: where you make it no doubt what they would insinuate, you shew your selfe more bold to affirme, than ready or able to proue.

MART. 34. But then they shoulde hauehave translated it also hell in other places, as they did in this, and afterward hauehave interpreted it graue in their commentaries, and not presumptuously to straiten and limite the word of the holy Ghost, to their priuate sense and interpretation, and to preiudice the auncient & learned holy fathers, which looke farremore deepely and spiritually**…at. 12. into this prophecie, than to Ionas, or the Whale, our Sauiour himselfe also applying it to his owne person, and to his being in the hart of the earth three dayes and three nights. And therefore S. Hierome sayth, This belly of Hell, according toComment. in 2. …o…. the storie, is the Whales bellye, but it may much better be referred to the persō of Christ, which vnderunder the name of Dauid singeth in the Psalme▪ Thou shalt not leaue myPsalm. 15. In inferno. Psalm. 87.Ps 15Ps 87 soule in Hell: Who was in Hel aliue, and free among the dead. And that which our Sauiour saith. The Sonne of man shall be in the harte of the earth, he doth interprete of his soule in hell. For as the hart is in the middes of the body, so is Hel said to be in the middes of the earth.

FVLK. 34. They hauehave in other places trāslated it according to the proprietie of the word. & if in this place they had done so likewise, I see not what faulte they had committed. Certaine it is that the whales belly, did rather resemble a graue, wherein Ionas seemed to be buried, than hell the receptacle of separated soules. It is the p. 241office of a translator not so much to regarde what other hauehave written vponupon the place he translateth, be they auncient, be they godly, be they learned, as what sense the interpretation of the wordes will beste beare. Without preiudice therefore of any mans credite, the truth in this case must be sought out.

That you report out of Hierom vponupon this place, sheweth that both the Hebrue word sheol, and the Latin infernus, are not proper & peculiar for hel, as in other places you tell vsus. That S. Hierom interpreteth the saying of Christ, Math. 12. v. 40. of his being in the harte of the earth, to be meant of his being in hel, which is said to be in the middest of the earth, it is confuted by the wordes of our Sauiour Christ, who sayeth, that he shall be there three dayes, and three nightes, that is, all the time of his death, which is true of his bodie in the graue, but not of his soule in hell: for both he sayde he would be that day in Paradise, and you your selues holde, that he made no tariaunce in hell. Beside that it is a phantasticall opinion to limit hell into the middest of the earth, which is rather a place without the sensible worlde, than any dungeon within the earth.

MART. 35. Thus then presupposing (as we must) that Ionas speaketh in the person, of our Sauiour Christ, the principall sense is not of the whales belly, but of that hell whether our Sauiour Christ descended, and from whence he deliuered the fathers of the old Testament, him selfe ascending into heauen, as their King and generall capitaine before them, and opening the way of heauen vntounto them, as is signified in an other Prophet:Mich. 2. 13.Mic 2:13 and was the first that entred heauen.

FVLK. 35. That which Ionas spake, was first true of his owne person, and then of Christ, as Ionas was in this a resemblaunce of him. But by this similitude of Christ remaining so many daies and nightes in the harte of the earth, as Ionas did in the whales bellie, it is manifest that he speaketh of his bodie remaining in the graue, not of his soule tarying in hell. Wherfore the descending of p. 242Christ into Limbus patrum, hath no manner of hold, eyther of the saying of Christ in the Gospell▪ Math. 12. or of Ionas in his praier, Ion. 2.

MART. 36. Against all which truthes and eueryevery point thereof, these translatours are so watchefull and warie, that where the Apostle saith, Christ began, and dedicated vntounto vsusHeb. 10. 20.Heb 10:20 the way into heauen, they say, in their English translations withforeign. full consent nothing else bus, He prepared. Why are they fals… Initiauit.here than their Maisters, Caluin, Beza, Illyricus, who reade, Dedicauit? Is there nothing in the Greeke word, but bare preparation? where be these etymologistes now, that can straineforeign. and wring other wordes to the vttermost aduantage of their heresie, and here are content for the like aduantage, to dissemble the force of this word, which by all vse and propertie signifieth, to make new, to begin a thing, to be the first author, to dedicate: as S. Augustine might hauehave taught them, and their Lexicons,Aug. tract. 48. in Ioan. and the Scriptures in many places. This translation (no doubt) is not done sincerely and indifferently of them, but for their owne deceitfull purpose, as is all the rest. When Sainct Paule speaketh of preparation onelyonly, they knowe right well that he vseth the vsuall word to prepare: as, He hath prepared themHeb. 11. 16.Heb 11:16 a city: and wheresoeuer is signified preparation onelyonly, let themforeign. bring vsus one example where it is expressed by the other Greeke word, which now we speake of.

FVLK. 36. I graūt the translations had bene more proper, and agreable to the Greeke worde, to hauehave said, which he hath dedicated, or by dedication prepared. But here is no fraude, against any trueth or errour of yours. For the Apostle speaketh not of the way by which we ascend immediatly to heauen, but of the way by which we hauehave free accesse to God through faith, without the vailes and ceremonies of the law, as it is manifest by his exhortation. And whereas you said before, that Christ ascending into heauē, to those whom he had brought out of hell, you must tell vsus then, where they remained all those fortie dayes that were betwene his resurrection and ascention, except you will make two ascensions of p. 243Christ into heauen, one in soule alone, the other in bodie & soule: which hath not bene heard of in the church before. For that his soule was first receyued into heauen or Paradise immediatly after his death, it proueth not an ascension: seeing the same was common to him, with other saincts. Againe, seing the mysterie of our redēptiō is diuided into the death, & resurrectiō of Christ, and that by his death wee are deliuered from sinnes, by his resurrection wee are iustified: if you will not allowe his death to hauehave purchased equall redemption to the fathers of the old Testament and vsus, but measure the vertue therof by the instance of time, in which it was actually performed: you must stay your prisoners from entring into the kingdome of heauen, at least vntill his resurrectiō. For none can enter into the kingdome of heauen, but iustified persons. Seing therefore that iustification dependeth vponupon his resurrection, you must eyther graunt, that it was communicated to the fathers in their time before his incarnation, or else you must stay them from entring into heauen before they were iustified by his resurrection. The place of Micha 2 that you quote▪ is nothing to the purpose of Christes ascending For there the Prophete threateneth the Israelites with the violence of their enimies the Chaldees, whome God him selfe would prosper against them, to hauehave the victorie, and to driue them into captiuitie.

MART. 37. But it is of more importaunce, which foloweth, and appart…yning altogither to this controuersie Hebr. 5. v 7. your trauslation is thus, in the very English Bible thatOf the yeare 1577. nowe is reade in your Churches: Which in daies of his fleshAgainst Christs descending into H…. offered vp prayers with strong crying, vntounto him that was able to saue him from death, and was heard in that which he feared. Is the Greeke here, In that whiche heforeign. feared? You know that no Grammar nor Lexicon doth allowe you this translation. But eyther thus for reuerence, or as one of your owne English Bibles hath it, because of his reuerence.

p. 244FVLK. 37. Your first quarrel against the truest translation of that word foreign Heb. 5. is that it sayeth in that which he feared, whereas the Greeke is from feare or out of feare: which afterwarde you confesse though distant in worde, yet to be agreeable in sense. The second, that in the margent, our trāslation is against Christes descending into hell. How so I pray you? doe you according to your translation expound that worde of Christes descending into hell? no verily. But we doe expounde it of his descending into hell, therefore our translation is to proue Christes descending into hell: and if our exposition were not true, yet euen your opinion of Christes descent were nothing hindred thereby: you wil say, that by our expositiō, we exclude his descent after his death: we do in deede in such sort as your errour teacheth, altogither without the Scripture. For if there had bene an historie of Christs going into hell, & deliuering the Patriarkes and others the faithfull from thence, al the Euāgelists would not hauehave omitted so notable a matter, and that also an article of our beleefe.

MART. 38. Howe is it then, that in your later English…x meru. Bibles you chaunged your former translation frō better to worse? or who taught you so to translate it? for sooth the Heretike Beza, whose translation you folow for the most parte in your later Bibles, though here, in sense rather than in worde. And who taught Beza? he saith, Caluin was the first that euer found out this interpretation. And why? surely for defense of no lesse blasphemieCalu. Catech. & Institut. li. 2. c. 16. than this, that our Sauiour IESVS Christe vponupon the Crosse was horribly afraid of damnation, that he was in the very sorrowes and torments of the damned, and that this was his descending into Hell, and that otherwise he descended not. Let the Reader note these newe teachers vponupon this place, and iudge to what wicked end this translation tendeth.

FVLK. 38. If we hauehave in the later reformed an errour escaped in the former, what skilleth it, by whom we were admonished, so to correct it? But Beza you say affirmeth, that Caluine was the first that euer foūd out this p. 245interpretatiō. It appeareth you were neuer wel beaten for lying, it is such a cōmon fault with you. Beza speaking of the interpreters of this age, saith that Caluin (as he thinketh) was the first that shewed the true & naturall interpretatiō of this place. He saith not, the first that euer foūd it. Yea cleane contrarie wise he saith, Denique vt non dubium sit, &c. Finally that it should not be doubtfull, but that some of the auncient fathers also hauehave interpreted this place euen so, Nazianzenus Conc. de fil. 2. doth plainly number foreign this feare among the infirmities of Christes manhood. As for that whiche you call a blasphemie, is a holy and comfortable true doctrine, that Christ for the redēption of our soules, suffered the wrath of God in his soule, as those teares, and that strong crie declareth, in which hee complayned according to the sense of his humanitie, that he was forsaken of God.

MART. 39. A wonderfull thing: when all antiquitie with a general, and full consent hath in that place of the holy Scripture read thus, that Christ was heard (of his father) forIo. 11. 42.John 11:42 his reuerence (according as our Sauiour him selfe also saith in the raising of Lazarus, and signifieth in his long praier Io. 17:) how a blasphemous and presumptuous Heretike should be so malapert thus to alter it, that he was heard in that which he feared, that is, that he was deliuered from damnatiō and the eternal paines of hel, which he was sore afraid of. To the maintenance of which blasphemie, Beza will seeme to force the Greeke thus. First (saith he) foreign doth not here signifie reuerence orforeign. pietie, but feare, and such a feare which he calleth pauorem & consternationem animi, that is, dreadfulnesse and astonishment of minde, and other like wordes, to insinuate an exceeding horrour and feare in our Sauiour Christ. For confutatiō whereof, we might easily bring the common vse of this Greeke worde in the holy Scriptures to signifie not eueryevery feare, but that religious feare which is in the best men, ioyned with godlinesse, holinesse, and deuotion, as when in the Actes they that buried S. Steuen,Act. 8.Acts 8 are called Viri timorati, deuout men, such as feared God.foreign.

FVLK. 39. How know you, that al antiquitie hath so p. 246redde? if we had the commentaries of many of the auncient fathers vponupon this text, we might perhaps proue vntounto you, that they reade otherwise. Nazianzenus as I shewed before among Christes infirmities, reckeneth this feare. Primasius although he expoundeth it of reuerence, yet alledgeth out of Cassiodorus that the worde is taken sometime for louelove, sometimes for feare. Theodoretus also interpreteth this place of Christes feare, according to his humane nature, shewing that hee feared death, which S. Paule feared not, both to shewe him selfe a man, and to hauehave experience of all our infirmities without sinne. But where you say, that Caluine maketh him to feare damnation, and the eternall paynes of hell, it is false. Caluine saith plainely, his feare came not of distrust, but of the sense of his humane nature, forbearing the iudgement of God, which without vehement endeuour, coulde not be ouercome. Therefore was the astonishment, the teares, the strong crie, the droppes of bloud, the Angell needefull to comfort him, the laste extreeme conflict, in which he cried, my God my God why hast thou forsaken me. As for the signification of the Greeke worde foreign although it be so often taken for pietie and religion, yet it is also taken for feare. As Actes 23. Where S Luke saith the Tribune was greatly afrayed, least Paule shoulde hauehave bene rente in peeces, betweene the Pharizees and Saducees, hee vseth this worde foreign for beyng afrayed, which was of no pietie or religious feare in him, that was a Pagane, but a naturall and ciuill feare, least a prisoner being a Romane, of whom he had charge, should be violently murdered amongst them.

MART. 40. But we neede not goe farre, for Beza will helpe vsus him selfe, who telleth vsus in an other place the very same. His wordes be these: foreign significat non quemuisAnno. in Luc. 2. v. 25.Luke 2:25 timorem, sed cum reuerentia potius quàm cum animi trepidatione coniunctum latini religionē vocant. That is, foreign doth not signifie eueryevery feare, but that which p. 247is ioyned with reuerence, rather than with astonishment of minde, the Latines doe call it religion, or religious feare. If this be the true signification of foreign, as Beza him selfe confesseth, why doth he not so translate it in the foresayde place to the Hebrewes? Why forsaketh he the olde approued Latine translation, and generall consent of all auncient Interpreters, and translateth it, that feare or astonishment of mind, which he sayth the word doth not signifie?

FVLK. 40. You hauehave great leysure thus to trifle, or rather intollerable malice thus to cauill. Beza in the place by you cited, speaketh of the word foreign, when it is taken for religion, for then it is rather ioyned with reuerence, than with astonishment.

MART. 41. And marke that in his foresayd annotation vppon Saint Luke, he telleth not a peculiar signification of the Greeke worde in that place, as though in some other places it might hauehave an other signification, but he telleth generally what the very nature of the Greeke word is, that is, that it signifieth not eueryevery feare, but a feare ioyned with reuerence. And he sayd truely: and they shall hardly giuegive an instance, where it signifieth that feare of astonishment, which both he and they translate in the foresayd place of S. Paule. Such a force hath heresie to leade a man euen contrary to his owne knowledge, to falsifie gods holy word.

FVLK. 41. Any reasonable man reading the note vponupon the word foreign, religious, vsed by S. Luke of Symeon, will vnderstand Beza to speake of the signification of that worde, as it is taken in that place, for he speaketh against the barbarous word Timoratus, vsed by the vulgar Interpreter, which signifieth, if it hauehave any signification, one made afraid, rather than fearing God, with louelove and reuerence. But where you saye, we shall hardly giuegive an instance, where the worde signifieth that feare of astonishment, which they translate, if you would hauehave taken paines to reade Bezaes annotations your selfe, vponupon this text in question, you should hauehave found, that he bringeth many instances out of Aristotle, Sophocles, p. 248Plutarch, Nazianzen, and S. Luke, Act. 23. If you had remembred what S Marke writeth of our Sauiour Christ, Mar. 14. v. 33. it should not hauehave bene so straunge a matter vntounto you, to heare that our Sauiour Christ with great astonishment, and terrour of mind, was afraid of death, where he vseth the wordes foreign, and foreign: which was not for bodilye paine or bodily death. (which not onelyonly thousands of holy Martyrs hauehave ioyfully embraced, but infinite wicked persons hauehave contemned) but for the feeling of Gods wrath, which was infinitely more heauy vponupon his soule, than any torments were vponupon his bodie.

MART. 42. Yea Beza sayth further to this purpose (much more against his skill in the Greeke tongue, if he had any at all) that foreign the preposition can not beare this sense, For which, or in respect whereof, and therefore he translateth the Greeke into Latine, thus. Exauditus est ex metu, he was heard from feare: not, for feare, or, for his reuerence. And because from feare, is a hard speech, and darke, that seemeth to be the cause why our English translators say, In that which he feared, farre from Beza in word, but agreeably in sense.

FVLK. 42. When Beza hath shewed his skill in the Greeke tongue, not onelyonly in his translation, and annotations, but also in diuers Greeke Epigrams, which he hath set forth, who but one starke mad with malice, & blind with conceit of his owne slender skil, would doubt whether Beza had any skill at all in the Greeke tongue. As for that he sayth of the signification of the preposition foreign ▪ he speaketh in respect of the propertie of the Greeke tongue, for yet you bring no examples, but Hebraisms out of the Scripture, for that signification of the preposition.

MART. 43. But for this matter we send them to FlaccusFlac. Illyric. Illyricus, a Captaine Lutherane, who disputeth this very point against the Caluinistes: and teacheth them that no thing is more common, than that signification of foreign. For proofe whereof,foreign. we also referre them to these places of the holye scripture. p. 249Mat. 13. Luc. 22. and 24. Act. 12. Psal. 87. And Machab. 5.foreign. 21. where foreign with a genitiue, and foreign with an accusatiue, signifie all one, which Beza denieth. Gentle Reader, beare with these tedious grammatications, fitter to be handled in Latine, but necessary in this case also, good for them that vnderstand, & for the rest an occasion to aske of them that hauehave skill in the Greeke tongue, whether we accuse our aduersaries iustly or no, of false translating the holy Scriptures.

FVLK. 43. And we by the same authoritie, sende you to Bezaes answer, in his last edition of his annotations. And yet the Reader must know that Beza did not simply deny, that the preposition might hauehave such sense. But he sayde, Non facile mihi persuaserim, I can not easily perswade my selfe, that any example can be brought, wherein foreign is so vsed. And in all these examples that you hauehave brought, it signifieth rather prae, which is foreign, than propter, foreign, as your vulgar translator obserueth the difference, 2. Mac. 5. verse 27. translating prae superbia, and propter elationem mentis. But Beza requireth an example of foreign, taken for foreign or foreign, that may aunswer to the vulgar Latine, pro reuerentia. For who would translate in Saint Mathew, 13. foreign, pro gaudio, propter gaudium, or secundum gaudium, or foreign, pro dolore, and so of the rest, but of these, let Beza him selfe giuegive account. As for these tedious grammatications, which you confesse to hauehave bene fitter to be handled in Latine, it seemeth you vttered in English, for that of many ignorant, you might be thought to bringe some great learning out of the Hebrewe and Greeke tongues against vsus, whereas the learned, if you had written in Latine, of other nations, as well as ours, might hauehave bene witnesses of your fonde trifling, and quarrelling against our translations. As for the necessarye cause you pretende, that the vnlearned may aske them that hauehave skyll in Greeke, is very ridiculous. For neyther can they hauehave at hande alwayes such as be able to resolue them, neither if they be p. 250of your faction▪ wil they aske any indifferent mans iugement, but onelyonly such as will auouch before the ignorant, that all which you write, is good and perfect.

MART. 44. And we beseech them to giuegive vsus a good reason, why they professing to followe precisely the Greeke, doe not obserue truely the Greeke points, in such place as concerneth this present controuersie. For the place in the Apocalypse, which they alledge of our Sauiour Christes suffering from the beginning (thereby to inferre that the iust men of the olde Testament might enter heauen then, as well as after his reall and actuall death) according to the Greeke points, sayth thus, All that dwell vponupon the earth, shall worship him▪ (the beast) whose names hauehave not bene written in the booke of life of the Lambe slayne, from the beginning of the worlde. Where it is euident, that the Greeke text sayth not, the Lambe slaine from the beginning, but that the names of those Antichristian Idolaters were not written in Gods eternall booke of predestination, from the beginning, as it is also most plaine without all ambiguitie, in the 17. chapter, v. 8. If in a place of no controuersie they had not bene curious in pointes of the Greeke, they might hauehave great reason sometime to alter the same.

FVLK. 44. How faine would you obscure the light of that excellent testimonie, euen contrarye to your owne vulgar Latine translation? that you might not hauehave such a faithfull witnesse against your Limbus patrum? You require a reason, whye wee keepe not the Greeke pointes, Apoc. 13. I aunswer, we keepe those pointes, which the most auncient written copies hauehave, which the Complutensis Edi…i… hath, and which the beste Greeke printes nowe hauehave. If you would knowe a reason why we followe not them that point otherwise▪ I aunswer you, the composition of the wordes, is against that pointing. For except Saint Iohn had meant that the Lambe was slayne from the beginning of the world, he would not hauehave placed those wordes, from the beginning of the worlde, next to those wordes, the Lambe which is slayne, but next the worde written. And therefore p. 251Aretus that could not vnderstande howe the lambe was slaine from the beginning of the world is forced to imagine Hyperbaton in this text, where none needeth, the sense being good and plaine without it, as the wordes doe lye. Whose names are not written in the booke of life of the lambe, that hath bene slaine since the beginning of the worlde. And although it be true, that the names of the Antichristian Idolaters, were not written in Gods eternall booke of predestination, from the beginning, as it is said Apoc. 17. v. 8. Yet is that no reason, why this also shoulde not be true, that the lambe was slaine since the beginning of the worlde, seeing without violence you can not distract foreign, from the lambe slaine whom it doth immediatly follow.

MART. 45. But if in points of controuersie betweene vsus, they will say, diuers pointing is of no importance, they knowe the contrarie by the example of auncient heretikes, which vsed this meane also to serue their false hereticall purpose. If they say, our vulgar Latine sense pointeth it so, let them professe before God and their conscience, that they doe it of reuerence to the saide auncient latine text, or because it is indifferent, and not for any other cause, and for this one place we wil admit their answere.

FVLK. 45 We say that wrong pointing may greatly alter the sense, but good composition and placing of wordes in a sentence is a good rule to direct pointing, where it is either lacking, or falsly signed. Wee refuse …ot the testimonie of the vulgar Latine, where it agreeth with the truth of the Greeke or Hebrewe, yea before God & our consciences, we reuerence it, as a monument of some antiquitie, from which wee neither doe, nor are willing to dissent, except the same dissent from the originall text. Otherwise the truth of this assertion, that Christ was slaine from the beginning of the world, hath not only testimonie of the ancient fathers, but also may bee confirmed out of the Scripture. For by the obedience of Christ Saint Paule Rom. 5. teacheth that many p. 252are iustified, meaning all the elect of God, who except Christes death had bene effectuall to them, before he suffered actually on the crosse, must hauehave gone, not into Limb… patrum, but into hell Diabolorum, which is the place appointed for all them that are not iustified freely by the grace of God, through the redemption of Christ Iesus, whom God before hath set foorth, to be a propitiatorie in his bloud, Rom. 3. v. 24. &c. The title of this chapter threatneth a discouerie of heretical translations against Purgatorie especially: but in the whole discourse thereof, which is shamefull long one, containing 45. sections, there is not one place noted against Purgatorie, Amphora coepit institui, curren…e rota cur vrceus exit?