The Antibarbarian, Treatise · Chapter 6
CHAP. VI. Proofe hereof even by the example of the Church of the old Testament.
BY what hath beene hitherto ſaid, it appeareth that in this queſtion concerning a tongue not underſtood, which is uſed in the publique ſervice, we have the Word of God, and reaſon, and the confeſſion of our Adverſaries on our ſide. Wherevnto we muſt add the example of the ancient Church, as well of the old as of the new Teſtament, which ought to ſerve us for a rule.
I. To fetch the matter from the beginning: God gave his lawe in a tongue underſtood: and the forme of prayers and bleſſings, which God preſcribed to Aaron to make before the people, was in the vulgar tongue of Gods people; as are thoſe prayers and bleſſings which are read in the 6. of Numbers, verſe 23. and following, and in the 10. Chap. ver. 35. and 36. and then of thankſgiving in the oblation of firſt-fruits, Deut. 26. ver. 3. and the forme of prayer after the payment of Tithes in the third yeare, Deut. 26. ver. 13. in a word, all the publique prayers which were made by the Prieſts or by the people, were made in a tongue underſtood by the people. And David dictated to the people Pſalmes which were ſung in the Temple upon inſtruments of Muſique in the Hebrew tongue, which was the tongue uſed in Iſrael.
II. During the captivitie of Babylon, the Hebrew tongue degenerated from it puritie. Notwithſtanding the which, the change was not ſo great, but that the Hebrew tongue, in the which Moſes and the Prophets writ, was ſtill underſtood by the Iewes. Not onelyonly for that the people were exerciſed in the reading and hearing of thoſe bookes, as well in their private houſes, as in the Synagogues eueryevery Sabboth; but alſo for that the corruption was not ſo great, but that the commō people eaſily underſtand the Hebrew, by reaſon of the proximitie and neare reſemblance betweene the Iewiſh and the Hebrew tongue. Whence alſo in the new Teſtament the Iudaique tongue is often called the Hebrew; as in 27. of Saint Matthew, verſe 33. where Golgotha, which is a word of the Iudaique tongue, is ſaid to be an Hebrew word: but the Hebrews ſay Golgoleth, that is to ſay, ſcalpe or ſcull, and in the Chap. 19. of Saint Iohn, verſe 19. it is ſaid that Gabbatha in Hebrew ſignifieth pavement, although Gabbatha bee a Syrian word. For that the Iewes after their returne from the captivitie of Babylon, underſtood the Hebrew tongue, and the Text of the bookes of the Lawe, appeares by the 8. Chapter of Nehemiah, ver. 2. where it is ſaid that Eſdras the Prieſt brought the law before the congregation of men and women, and of all them of hearing; and it is added that Eſdras read in the booke in the preſence of the men and of the women, and of as many as were capable to underſtand: and the eares of the people were attentive to the reading. This could not bee done in the Church of Rome, in the which the Deacon reades the Goſpell, and the Subdeacon reades the Epiſtle in Latine before women, peiſants, and trades-men, that underſtand them not, and conſequently cannot bee attentive therevnto.
The expoſition which the Levites added unto this Lecture, which is mentioned in the Sequell, was not to interpret the termes thereof into another tongue, but to expound the meaning and ſenſe of them, as Nicholas de Lyra acknowledgeth upon the 8. of Nehemiah. fEſdras legit in eo aperté, id eſt intelligibiliter declarando ea quae videbantur obſcura. IoſpehusEſdras read in the booke plainely, that is to ſay, intelligibly, opening and declaring the things which ſeemed obſcure.
III.gforeign cap. 12. foreign, &c. Ioſephus in his 12. and in his 16. Chapter of his booke of the Empire of reaſon, deſcribes the Martyrdome of ſeven brethren, and of their mother, by the crueltie of King Antiochus th'illuſtrious: and ſaith, that the mother exhorted her children, and eſpecially the yongeſt to die conſtantly for the law of God, and that ſhee ſpake to them in the Hebrew tongue. It is to be preſumed ſhee ſpake in Hebrew that ſhee might not bee underſtood by Antiochus, who was a Grecian: and ſeeing ſhee ſpake thus to the youngeſt and leaſt, it appeares that then amongſt the Iewes, even women and children ſpake Hebrew.
IIII. In the fourth Chapter of Saint Luke, verſe 16. and following; our Lord Ieſus being in the Synagogue of Nazareth, taketh the booke of the Prophet Eſay, and reades before the people a long paſſage of Eſay: then addeth, This day is accompliſhed this Scripture which you heare: which words doe witneſſe that the auditors and by-ſtanders well underſtood the words of that place. Is it credible, that in the Synagogues of the Iewes the Scriptures were read in a tongue not underſtood, ſeeing that in the Scriptures God ſpeakes to the people to the end to be underſtood.
V. In the 22. of the Acts verſe 2. the Apoſtle Saint Paul makes an oration to the Iewes in the Hebrew tongue, which made them the more attentive: Which he would not have done if they had not underſtood it. And this Apoſtle would not have ſpoken to a people in a tongue not underſtood: as alſo the ſequell of the Chapter, eſpecially the 22. verſe, ſheweth that the Iewes underſtood him very well.