The.viii. chapyter

The author shewethe why ye new testamēt of Tyndals trāslacyō was burned. & she with for a sample certaī wordꝭ euill & of euyll purpos chāgid

BUt now I pray you let me kno your mynd cōcernyng ye burnīg of ye new testamēt ī ē glish / which Tindal lately trāslated / & (as mē say) right wel / whiche makethe mē mich meruayl of ye burnīg It is q I to me gret meruayl / yt eny good cristē mā hauīg eny drop of wyt ī hys hed / wold eny thīg meruell or cōplayn of ye […]urnīg of ye boke if he knowe ye mater. which who so callith ye new testamēt calleth it by a wrōg name / except they wyl call yt Tyndals testament or Luthers testamēt. For so had tyndall after Luthers coūsayle corrupted & chaūged yt frō the good & holsō doctryne of Criste to the deuylysh heresyes of theyr own / yt it was clene a cōtrary thing. That were maruayle q your frend yt it shuld be so clene cōtraty. For to som yt red it yt semed very lyke. It ys q I neuer the lesse cōtrary / & yet ye more peryll[…]ꝰ. For like as to a trew siluer grote a fals coꝑ grote is neuer ye lesse cōtrary thogh yt be quyk syluered ouer / but so mych ye more false show mich it is coūterfeted ye more lyke to the trouth / so was ye trāslaciō so mich ye more cōtrary ī how mich it was cra[…]cely deuysed like / & so mych ye more peryllus ī how miche it was to folke vnlernyd more hard to be dyssernid why q your frēd what fautꝭ wer ther syt? To tell you all / ye q I were in a maner to reherse you all ye hole hoke / wherin ther were founden and noted wrong & fa[…]ly trāslated aboue a thousand textꝭ by tale. I wolde q he fayn here some one. He yt shuld q I study for yt / shuld study where to finde water in ye see. But I wyll shewe you for ensample two or thre suche as euery one of the thre ys more than thryes thre in one. That were q he very straunge except ye mene more ī weyght. For one cā be but one in nōber. Surely q I as weyghty be they as eny lyghtly can be. But I mene ye euery one of them is more thā thryes thre in nōber. That were q he sūwhat lyke a rydel. This rydell q I wyl sone be red. For he hath mystrāslated.iii. wordꝭ of gret weyght & euery ōe of thē is as I suppose more than thryes three tymes repeted and rehersed in ye boke. Ah yt may well be q he / but yt was not well done. But I pray you what wordꝭ be they? The tone ys q I this word prestys. The to ther / ye chyrch. The thyrd charyte. For prestis wher so euer he speketh of ye pstꝭ of Crystis chirch he neuer calleth them prestes but alway seuyours / the chyrch he calleth alway the congregacyō / and charyte he callyth all […] loue. Now do these namꝭ in our englysh tōg neyther expsse ye thyngis yt be mēt by thē / & also there appeth (ye circūstaūcꝭ well cō sidered) yt he had a mischeuoꝰ mind ī ye chaūge. For fyrst as for prestꝭ & psthed though that of old they vsed comēly to chese wel elderly mē to be prestꝭ / & therfore in ye greke tong prestys wer called presbiteri / as we myght say elder men / yet nether were all prestꝭ chosen old as apperyth by saīte Poule wrytīg to Timotheꝰ / nemo iuuenturē tuā cōtēpnat let no mā cōtēpne thy youth / nor euery elder mā is not a prest. And in our englysh tonge thys word senyor sygnyfieth nothīg at al / but is a french word vsed in englysh more than halfe in mockage / whan one wyll call a nother my lord in scorn. And if he mene to take ye laten worde senyor / ye word ī ye latē tōg neuer sygnyfyed a prest but only an elder mā. By whych name of elder mē yf he wold call ye prestꝭ ēglishly / thā shold he rather sygnify theyr age thā theyr of fyce. And yet ye name doth ī ēglish plaī ly sygnify chaldermen of ye cyties / & nothyng ye prestys of ye chyrch. And thus may we ꝑceyue yt rather than he wolde call a prest by ye name of a prest / he wold seke a new word he neyther wyst nor cared what. Now where he calleth the chyrch alway ye cōgregacyō / what resō had he therin? For euery mā well seeth ye though ye chyrch be in dede a cōgregaciō / yet is not euery cōgregaciō ye chirch bu[…] a cōgregaciō of cristē peple / whiche cōgregaciō of crysten peple hath ben in […]glōd alway called & known by the name of ye chirch. which name what good cause or colour could he find to torn in to ye name of cōgregaciō / whych worde is comē to a cōpany of cristē mē or a cō pany of turkys? Lyke wysdom was there in ye chaūge of thys word charyte ī to loue. For though charyte be alway loue / yet is not ye wote well loue allway charyte. The more pytye by my fayth q your frēd ye euer loue was syn. And yet it wold not be so mich so takē if ye world were no more suspecioꝰ than they say yt good saīt Frācꝭ […]s / which whā he saw a yong mā […]is a girle onis ī way of good cōpany / kneled downe & held vp hys handys in to heuen / hyghly thanking god yt charite was not yet gone oute of thys wreched world. He had quod In good mynde & did lyke a good mā / yt demed all thyng to ye best. So say I to quod he. But how farr be folke fallen fro ye good mynde now. Men be now a dayes waxen so full of mystrust / that sum man wold in fayth wene hys wyfe were noughte / yf he shuld but fynde her in bed wyth a pore frete. Forsothe ye be a wanton quod I. But yet in erneste how lyke you the chaunge of these wordys: Surely q he very naught. And that yt was not well nor wysely done / ther wyl I trow no good wyse man deny. but yet whyther Hychēs had in ye translacyō therof eny malycyous purpose or not / therin wyll I till I se ferther play saynt Fraū cys parte / and iudge the man no wors than the mater requyrethe. Fyrste quod I wolde ye that the boke shulde go forth and be red styll in that fassyō? Nay in goode faythe quod he that wold I not yf he vse yt so very often. with that word quod I ye hytte the nayle on the hed. For surely yf he chaū ged the comen knowen word in to the better / I wolde well alowe yt. If he chaūgid it in to as good I wold suffer yt. yf sum what in to worse so he dyd yt selde I wolde wynke at hyt. But now whā he chaūgeth the known vsuall namys of so grete thingis / in to so far the worse / and that not repeteth seldome / but so oftē & so contynually inculketh / that almost in the hole boke hys lewde chaunge he neuer chaungeth / in thys maner coulde no man deme other / but that the man ment myscheuously / scāt such a good sely soule as wolde wene all were well whan he found hys wyfe where ye sayd ryght now. yf he called charyte somtyme by the bare name of loue / I wolde not stykke therat. But now where as charyte sygnyfyethe in englysh mennys eres / not euery comē loue / but a good vertuoꝰ and well ordrede loue / he that wyll studyously flee fro that name of good loue / & all way speke of loue / & alway leue out good / I wolde surely say that he meanethe n[…]ughte. In good faythe quod he so is it not vnlykely. Tha[…] quod I when ye se more ye shall say it ys mych more th[…]n lykly. For now yt ys to be consydered that at the tyme of thys tran[…] lacyon […]ych[…]ns was wyth Luther in wyttenberge / and set certayne gl[…]sy[…] in the mergent / framed for the settyng forth of ye vngracious sect. By saynt Ioh[…] quod your frende yf that be true that Hychens were at that tyme wt Luther / it is a playne token yt he wrought sumwhat after hys counsayle / and was wyllynge to helpe hys maters forwarde here. But whyther Luthers matters be so badde as they be made for / that shall we see hereafter. Uery true quod I. But as touchyng the confederacye betwene Luther and hym / is a thyng well knowen & playnly confessed / by suche as haue ben taken and conuycted here of herysye comyng frō thense / and some of them sente hyther to sowe that sede aboute here / and to sende worde thyther fro tyme to tyme how yt sprāg. But now ye cause why he chaunged the name of charyte & of the chyrche and of presthed / is no very grete dyffyculte to perceyue. For sithe Luther and hys felowes amonge other theyre damnable heresyes haue one / that all our saluacyon standyth in fayth alone / and toward our saluacyō nothynge force of good workys / therfore yt semeth that he laboreth of purpose to mynyshe that reuerent mynd yt men bere to charyte / and therfore he chaungeth that name of holy vertuoꝰ affeccyon / in to the bare name of loue comen to the vertuouse loue that man […]erith to god / & to the lewd loue that is bytwene flekke & his make. And for bycause that Luther vtterly denyeth the very catholyque chyrche in […]ri[…]e / and sayth that the chyrch of Crist is but an vnknowen c[…]ngregacyon of sum folke here.ii. & there.iii. no m[…] wot where hauyng the […]yght fayth / whych he calleth onely hys owne new forgede faythe / therfore […]chens in the new testament can not abyde the name of the chyrch / but turneth it into the name of congregacyon / wyllyng that yt shuld seme to englysh men / eyther that Cryste in the gospell had neuer spoken of the chirch / or ellys that the chyrche were but such a congregacyon as they myghte haue occasyon to say / that a congregacyon of some such heretyques were ye chyrch that god spake of. Now as towchīge the cause why he chaunged the name of preste into senior / ye muste vnderstād that luthere and his adherentys holde thys heresye / that all holy order ys nothyng. And yt a prest is nothyng ellys / but a man chosen among the peple to preche / and that by that choyce to that o[…]yce he is preste by and by wythoute eny more ado / and no preste agayne whan so euer the people chese a nother in hys place / and that a preestys offyce is no thynge but to preche. For as for saynge masse and herynge of confessyō and absolucyon theruppō to be geuen / all thys he sayethe that euery man woman and childe may do as well as eny preste. Now doth hychen therfore to […]et forthe thys opynyon wythall after hys masters herysye putte a waye the name of preste in hys translacyone / as thoughe prestehede were not[…]yng. where so euer the scrypture speketh of the prestys that were amonge the Iewes / there dothe he in hys […]translacyon call theym styll by the name of prestis. But where so euer ye scrypture spek[…]th of the prestys of Christis chyrche / ther[…] doth he put away the name of prest in hys translacyō / bycause he wold make hyt se[…]e that the scrypture dyd neuer speke of eny prestys dyfferent from ley men amonge chrysten peple. And he sayeth playnly in hys boke of obedyēce that presthed and all holy orders amōg crysten peple be but faynyd inuētiōs / & that prestys be nothyng but offycers chosyn to preche / & yt all ye consecration wherby they be cōsecrate is not hynge worth. And for this cause ī all his trāslacyon where so euer he speketh of thē / the name of pr[…]est whych to vs in oure own tōg hath alway sygnyfyed an en […]ynted persō and wyth holy orders cō secrated vnto god / he hath chaungede in to the name of senyor no worde of our language / but eyther vsed halfe in mockage whā we speke frēch in sporte / dieu vous garde senior / or at the […]erdest nothynge betokenynge but elder. So that yt ys […]the to se what he ment in the turnynge of these namys. In good fayth quod your frende it semeth veryly yt he ment not well. Surely quod I ye wolde well say so yf y[…] sawe all the placys whych I shall cause you to se when ye wyll / and ye shall soone iudge theym your selfe. For yt were to longe to reherse theym all now. Nor these haue I not rehersed you as for ye cheef / but for yt they cā fyrst to mynde. For ell[…]s I myght shortely reherse you many thyngys moo / as farre owte of tewne as theese be. For he chaungeth cōmenly the name of grace in to thys worde fauour / where as euery fauour ys not grace in englyshe / for in sū fa […]our is there lytle grace. Confessyone he traunslateth in to knowledgynge. Penaunce in to repentaūce. A cōtryte herte he […]haūgeth ī to a troubled hart. And many mo thingis lyke / and many […]rtys vntrewly traūslated for ye mayn tenaūce of heresye as I shall shew you same when we loke in the boke. whych thyngis we shall not now reson vppon for they be not worthy to be brought ī questyone. But I telle you thys mych onely for this cause / yt ye may pe[…]ceyue that he hath thus vsed hym selfe in hys translacyone / to thentent that he wold sett forthe luthers heresyes & hys owne therby. For fyrst he wold make ye peple beleue yt we shuld byleue nothyng but playne scrypture / in whych poynt he techeth a playne pestylent heresye. & then wold he wyth hys false trāsla[…]yō make the peple beene ferther / yt such artycles of oure fayth as he laboreth to destroy / and which be well proued by holy scripture / were in holy scrypture nothynge spoke[…] of / but yt ye prech[…]s haue all this xv.C. yere myssreported ye gospell and englyshed ye scrypture wrong / to lede ye people purposely owte of ye ryght way.