Answer to Reynolds Book, Chapter 11
CHAP. 11.
Concerning the tranſlation of the Engliſh Bibles.
MAſter Martins boke of Diſcouerie is aunſwered long ſince from head to foote in euerie part:pag. 262. you hauehave the anſwere amongſt you, ſaie to it what you can with truth and learning. To bragge of your fellowes booke, which being throughlie and ſoundlie diſprooued, you cannot with all your skill maintaine, is a childiſh vanitie: to acknowledge no Replie, which you cannot but knowe, or to make light account of it, whereunto you cannot truelie reioine, is wilfulnes and partialitie. Our tranſlations and tranſlatours hauehave beene ſufficientlie cleared, for the moſt parte, of ſuch faults as were obiected: and though it is not denied, but in euerie ont of them ſome fault or other may be found, worthy reproofe and correction, yet maie it moſte truelie be affirmed, that of all our tranſlations none can be noted ſo full of imperfections and errors, as your latine vulgar tranſlation is, which you not onelie follow but commend for the beſt of all, yea preferre before the originall texte it ſelfe, againſt knowledge, reaſon, and conſcience. This whol chapter you might hauehave ſpared, handling ſuch thinges as hauehave bene ſo well handled in your iudgemente by Maſter Martin: but the occaſion ſeruing you to vtter ſome part of your humour, which ſo boileth in your ſtomache, that it would burſt the veſſel, if it breathed not forth, you could not pr…termit. Brieflie let vsus peruſe this litle, or nothing rather, that you bring.
You ſhall doe me miſchiefe enough M. R. and be ſufficientlie auenged on me,pag. 264. &c. if you can prooue all that you hauehave here propounded againſt me. Bigge words, bolde bragges, terrible threats: a man would thinke my caſe were verie miſerable, that hauehave to deale with ſo cruell and mightie an aduerſarie. I may indeed be ſorie for my chaunce, to be thus cumbred with an vnlearned and ridiculous trifler, that ſeeketh onelie by ſhewe and multitude of words to dazle the eyes of ſimple men, and ſomewhat diſgrace the truth of god. A man that hath but a drop of learning cannot be deceiued by ſuch painted & pelting ſtuffe: the vnlearned that cannot iudge, may thinke M. R. hath ſaid ſome what to purpoſe.
Firſt you ſay no wit nor learning will alowe me to tranſlate foreign an Image, or foreign a carcaſe. And what came in your head to charge me with tranſlating pſuche a carcaſe? where hauehave I ſo tranſlated it? or where is it ſo found in any of our tranſlations? For my part I neuer ſo tranſlated it, I neuer ſaw it ſo tranſlated, I neuer thought it lawful ſo to tranſlate it. Beza I graunt trāſlated it ſo in his latine tranſlation once, but afterwards vponupon better conſideration, he changed his tranſlation, as you may ſee in the latter editions. As for eidolon, it is truly & properlie tranſlated an Image, as any man will confeſſe, that knoweth the nature of the word, & as it hath beene largely prooued in ſundry diſcourſes. It was then farre from wit or learning in you Maſter Rainolds, to ſay that as well might miniſter be tranſlated a ſlaue, or homo a dogge, as eidolon an Image. For among the words, wherewith the learned Grecians commonlie expreſſe the ſame thing that we cal an Image, is eidolon, as fitt and naturall as any other. Your ſacred Images are eidola: & if eidolon ſignifie an Idole, then are they Idoles, as in trueth they are. By vſe and cuſtome of ſpeach, an Idole and Image ſomewhat differ, as euerie man knoweth. All Idoles are Images, not al Images Idoles. But the Lord hath forbidden al grauen Images no leſſe then grauen Idols to be made for worſhip ſake Wherefore your Images,All images made for worſhip ſake are verie Idoles. which you make, which you garniſh, which you erecte, which you worſhip in your vnholie Synagogues, are Idoles. The picture maketh not an Idole, but the worſhip. The pictures of Iupiter or Mars, were no Idoles, according to the receiued ſenſe of this worde, vnleſſe they were worſhiped: ſo likewiſe the Images of Saints, if they be abuſed to ſacred worſhip, in which reſpecte you cal them ſacred Images, are no better then profane, wicked, abominable Idoles. Then your argument to prooue vsus Idolaters for honoring the Queene in her Image, &c. is childiſh. This honor to the Prince is ciuil, not religious or diuine, ſuch as the honour is, wherewith you worſhip your Images of all ſortes: ſo this honour is farre from Idolatrie, your honour is meere Idolatry, and you are Idolatrous worſhippers of Idole Images. That Eccleſia ſignifieth an aſſembly, or congregation, whoe can deny? & ſo may it rightlie be tranſlated: although we in our tranſlations doe willingly vſe the common word Church, as you cannot be ignorant. So Epiſcopus we tranſlate moſt commonly a Biſhop, & Euangelium the goſpell, and to conclude, we refuſe not the vſual phraſe & manner of ſpeach, but onelyonly when the ſuperſtitious abuſe of wordes was to be auoyded. Therefore that forme of preaching which you hauehave here deuiſed of your ſelfe is fitteſt for ſuch a preacher, as your ſelfe: we vſe not ſo to preach, or ſo to ſpeake, or ſo to write: it was no doubt a wiſe conceite to occupy your ſelfe withall.
Thus appeereth ſecondly what ſhame or modeſty was in you,pag. 270. to obiect want of both to me. For ſhew vsus M. R. if you can, anie worde in our Bibles abſurdly or falſlie tranſlated, by me maintained. The ſame worde may wel be tranſlated in diuerſe places diuerſlie: & ſo foreign Io. 3.8. is rightly tranſlated the wind, which in other places is not ſo to be tranſlated. And are not you a modeſt man, that becauſe in this one place foreign is ſo tranſlated, as the word well beareth and the ſenſe requireth, would make men beleeue that it is eueryevery where els ſo tranſlated, and that the holy ghoſt, we call the holy winde? you hauehave good cauſe to be aſhamed of this ſo ſhameles and impudent dealing. Eucharistia you will not hauehave tranſlated thanksgiuing, but Euchariſt: & by Euchariſt you meane the ſacrament of Chriſts ſupper. Now where is Euchariſtia taken thus for the ſacrament in the ſcriptures? why hauehave your ſelues tranſlated Euchariſtia, thanks giuing? 1. Tim. 4.4. Nothing to be reiected, that is receiued with thanks giuing. Will you mende your tranſlation thus, Nothing to be reiected, that is receiued with the Euchariſt? As Euchariſtia is vſed by Godly writers, both Greeke and Latine for the ſacrament, ſo we alſo vſe the word Euchariſt in the ſame manner, as you might heare in our ſermons, & may reade in our writings. And ſo we call, it the ſacrament of Baptiſme, not of waſhing, as you charge vsus: notwithſtanding that Baptiſmus in the generall ſignification of the worde, is nothing els but waſhing, and ſo is vſed in ſcripture often times, and ſo hauehave your ſelues tranſlated it. Marc. 7.4. Whether I hauehave truelie ſaid of your tranſlation, that it is of all others moſte corrupt, I am content to refer it to the iudgement of all the wiſe and Godly readers.pag. 271. &c.
Where hauehave I ſaid or allowed any thing tending to ſuch Atheiſme, as you charge vsus withall? Atheiſt I will not call you, Maſter Rainolds, but I may trulie ſay of you, as you hauehave continually giuen vndoubted proofe, that you hauehave no feare of God before your eies. Speake or write of vsus your pleaſure falſlie, fooliſhlie, boldelie: your iudgement ſhall be as deepe as anie Atheiſt, vnles you leaue your lying and railing againſt Gods truth. Other confutation or condemnation ſhal not neede, then your owne conſcience, which can tell you theſe reproches are vntrue, proceeding onlie from wilfulnes and malice. Our tranſlations fauour no ſuch Atheiſme, as you without wit or learning imagine. For doth it follow, if we tranſlate, Thou wilt not leaue my ſoule in graue, that the bleſſed ſoule of our ſauiour was mortall, and died in the graue, and that the immortalitie of the ſoule is deſtroied? doth not the ſcripture oftentimes vſe this kinde of ſpeach?Pſa. 44.25. Our ſoule, ſaith Dauid, is humbled in the duſt. Againe, The waters hauehave entred euen vntounto my ſoule. Pſa. 69.2. Pſa. 119.25.Againe, My ſoule cleaneth to the ground. Againe he ſaith,pſal. 22.21. deliuer my ſoule from the ſword. And in an other Pſalme he ſaith, O Lord thou haſt brought vp my ſoule out of the graue. Pſa. 30.3.And ſuch phraſes in the ſcriptures are vſuall, of which I truſt you will not gather that mens ſoules can be couered with duſt, drowned with water, killed with ſwordes, buried in the graue, and to conclude, that they are mortall. If you were not poſſeſſed with a ſpirite of wrangling, there needed no words in this behalfe.
What Caſtalion or Illyricus hauehave written againſt Beza or Maſter Carlile, with ſome others, againſt ſome places tranſlated in our Bibles, maketh nothing to purpoſe. I hauehave not ſaid otherwiſe, but that ſome things may be amended: whether yet ſo as theſe men hauehave auouched, I leaue to be conſidered of the learned. Howbeit you may not reaſon thus, becauſe ſome men hauehave found a fault with the tranſlations in ſome one place or other, whether with iudgement and reaſon, or fanſie, that therfore the wholl tranſlation is falſe, corrupt, wicked, no better then Mahomets Alcoran, as you hauehave here written, after your accuſtomed manner, blaſphemouſlie.
The reſt you leaue to Maſter Martine, pag. 275. &c.whoſe reaſons ſtand as yet, you ſaie, vnanſwered. Belike the anſwere you hauehave not ſeen, or not peruſed in differentlie. But M. Martin. and all his reaſons hauehave bene anſwered largelie and pithely long agoe, and nothing hath bene replied on your part. What conſcience and Religion is to be vſed in tranſlating the ſcriptures, I knowe, and am farre of from allowing ſuch libertie, as a man may take in tranſlating profane authors: neither did I euer like the daintines and curiouſnes of ſome, that refuſe the vſuall wordes of ſcripture, becauſe they are not Ciceronian. As for the names of prieſt, Altar, penance, I would it were as you ſaie, that not onelie the words were chaunged, but the things vtterlie remooued from the harts of al Chriſtians. For your prieſts are no lawful prieſts, your altar is erected to an Idoll, your penance is contrary to true repentance. The wordes Church, Chriſt, Apoſtle, are as common in our tranſlations, ſermons, and all treatiſes, as anie other. That which followeth of Atheiſt, Saducee, Libertines, Academikes, Sacramentaries, containing onelyonly matter of reproche, I am content to let it paſſe.