Chapter V: Part 5

At the second revision also the suggestions of the American Revisers came to the help of the Company. From time to time, as each successive portion of the first revision was completed, it had been forwarded to America. The American Revisers subjected this to a careful scrutiny, and in their turn forwarded to England their criticisms thereupon. Where they approved the changes provisionally made nothing was said; where they differed they indicated their dissent, and submitted their own suggestions. In like manner, in passages where no change had been made, they either signified their assent by silence, or expressed their judgment by independent proposals.

The first revision of the Gospel of Matthew was completed on the thirty-sixth day of meeting, May 24th, 1871; that of Mark on the fifty-third day, November 16th, 1871; that of Luke on the eighty-first day, June 22nd, 1872; and that of John on the one hundred and third day, February 19th, 1873. The first revision of the Acts and the Catholic Epistles was completed on the one hundred and fifty-second meeting, April 23rd, 1874. Before proceeding to the first revision of the remaining books it was deemed desirable to undertake the second revision of the Gospels, and this was completed on the one hundred and eighty-fourth meeting, February 25th, 1875. The first revision of the Pauline Epistles was then commenced, and was completed on the two hundred and sixty-second meeting, February 27th, 1877. The first revision of the Apocalypse was completed on the two hundred and seventy-third meeting, April 20th, 1877.

It will thus appear that the first revision engaged the Company during two hundred and forty-one meetings; that is to say, during sixty monthly sessions, or six years of labour. The attendance during this important period of the work maintained so high an average as 16·8.

It had not been originally intended that at the second revision fresh proposals should be entertained; but as it was obviously necessary to do this with regard to the American suggestions, it was felt that we ought not to preclude our own members from bringing forward any new proposal that might seem worthy of consideration, and that we ought not, for the sake of gaining time, to fetter ourselves by any rigid rule. The second revision thus became a far more serious business than had been originally contemplated, and demanded a large measure of time and toil. It was completed on December 13th, 1878, having occupied on the whole ninety-six meetings, or about two years and a half. By rule 5 the “second” revision was to be regarded as “final,” but the course of events rendered this an impossibility, and so far the rule had to be annulled.

In due course the results of the second revision were forwarded to America, and while it indicated the extent to which the English Company had been able to adopt the American suggestions--or what was equivalent to this, some third suggestion that approved itself alike to the judgment of both Companies--it also necessarily invited a reply upon those points about which there was still a difference of opinion, and this, as necessarily, involved what was to some extent a third revision. The work of a further revision had, however, been previously imposed upon the Company by a resolution of its own, in which it was agreed that the members should privately read over the version as now revised, with the view of marking any roughnesses or other blemishes in the English phraseology; and that if it should appear to them that, without doing any violence to the Greek, the English might be amended, the emendations they proposed should be forwarded to the Secretary, and by him be duly arranged and printed. To the consideration of the various suggestions so forwarded, and of those contained in the further communications from America, the Company devoted thirty-six meetings, extending from February 11th, 1879, to January 27th, 1880, with portions of one or two subsequent meetings, being finally completed on March 17th, 1880.

Although the Company had endeavoured throughout the whole course of its work to preserve, as far as the idiom of the English language permitted, uniformity in the rendering of the same Greek word, it had not been possible, when dealing with each passage separately, to keep in view all the other passages in which any particular word might be found. It was therefore felt to be desirable to reconsider the Revised Version with exclusive reference to this single point, and the pages of a Greek concordance were assigned in equal portions to different members of the Company, who each undertook to examine every passage in which the words falling to his share might occur, and to mark if in any case unnecessary variations in the English had either been introduced or retained. The passages so noted were brought before the notice of the assembled Company, and the question was in each case considered whether, without any injury to the sense, the rendering of the word under review might be harmonized with that found in other places. This work of harmonizing, together with the preparation of the preface, occupied the Company until November 11th, 1880, on which day, at five o’clock in the afternoon, after ten years and five months of labour, the revision of the New Testament was brought to its close.

On the evening of the same day, St. Martin’s day, by the kind invitation of Prebendary Humphry, the Company assembled in the Church of St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields, and there united in a special service of prayer and thanksgiving; of thanksgiving for the happy completion of their labours, for the spirit of harmony and brotherly affection that had throughout pervaded the meetings of the Company, and for the Divine goodness which had permitted so many with so little interruption to give themselves continuously to this work; of prayer that all that had been wrong in their spirit or action might be mercifully forgiven, and that He whose glory they had humbly striven to promote might graciously accept this their service, and deign to use it as an instrument for the good of man, and the honour of His holy name.

The total number of meetings of the Company has been 407, and the total number of attendances 6,426,[129] or an average attendance at each meeting of 15·8 members.

Upon one other point our readers will naturally look for some information. How have the necessary expenses of this undertaking been met? These, it will readily be seen, would necessarily be large. So many persons could not come together from various parts of the kingdom--some very distant, including the extreme north of Scotland, and the extreme west of Cornwall--and remain in London for a week in every month, without a considerable expenditure of money. It was also found necessary for the satisfactory execution of the work that each portion, from time to time as provisionally completed, should be set up in type, and in this way further expenses were entailed. The question of meeting these expenses was at an early period forced upon the attention of the Company; for some members before many months had elapsed had been put to serious costs, and while all willingly gave their time and labour, as far as they might be able, without reserve to this important work, it was felt to be impossible to allow this extra burden to rest upon any, and the more so as the pressure of it must needs be very unequally distributed. An appeal to the public for help having met with no adequate response, it was resolved to dispose of the copyright of the work, in the hope thereby of obtaining sufficient means of meeting the expenses of completing it. Several offers from different sources were made to the Companies; but ultimately, for various reasons, it was deemed best to accede to that made by the University Presses of Oxford and Cambridge, whereby, in return for the copyright of the Revised Version, the Chancellors, Masters, and Scholars of the two Universities agreed to provide a sum which it was hoped would suffice for the expenses that would be incurred in the prosecution and completion of the work, and to advance a certain portion of the same from time to time. A draft deed embodying these agreements having been submitted to the Companies was after some amendments accepted on December 10th, 1872.

The agreement with the University Presses binds the two Companies to a revision of the Apocrypha, a work not contemplated in their original undertaking. The New Testament Company have made arrangements for taking a full share of this revision, and entered upon the work in April last. Until this is completed they will not be released from their responsibilities.

APPENDIX.

(A.)

_PURVEY’S PROLOGUE TO THE WYCLIFFITE BIBLE (1388?)_

CHAPTER XV.

[130] For as much as Christ saith that the gospel shall be preached in all the world, and David saith of the Apostles and their preaching, “the sound of them went out into each land, and the words of them went out into the ends of the world;” and again David saith, “The Lord shall tell in the Scriptures of peoples and of these princes that were in it;”[131] that is, in holy Church, as Jerome saith on that verse, “Holy writ is the Scripture of peoples, for it is made that all peoples should know it;” and the princes of the Church that were therein be the apostles that had authority to write holy writ; for by that same that the Apostles wrote their Scriptures by authority and confirming of the Holy Ghost, it is holy Scripture and faith of Christian men, and this dignity hath no man after them, be he never so holy, never so cunning, as Jerome witnesseth on that verse. Also Christ saith of the Jews that cried Hosanna to Him in the temple, that though they were still stones should cry; and by stones He understandeth heathen men that worshipped stones for their gods. And we Englishmen be come of heathen men, therefore we be understood by these stones that should cry holy writ; and as Jews, interpreted acknowledging[132], signify clerks that should make acknowledgment to God by repentance of sins and by voice of God’s praise, so our lewd (lay, or unlearned) men, suing (following) the corner-stone Christ, may be signified by stones that be hard and abiding in the foundation; for though covetous clerks be wood (wild, or mad), by simony, heresy, and many other sins, and despise and stop holy writ as much as they can, yet the lewd people cry after holy writ to ken it and keep it with great cost and peril of their life.

For these reasons and other, with common charity to save all men in our realm which God would have saved, a simple creature hath translated the Bible out of Latin into English. First this simple creature had much travail, with divers fellows and helpers, to gather many old Bibles, and other doctors and common glosses, and to make one Latin Bible some deal true; and then to study it anew, the text with the gloss and other doctors as he might get, and especially Lyra on the Old Testament, that helped full much in this work; the third time to counsel with old grammarians and old divines of hard words and hard sentences, how they might best be understood and translated; the fourth time to translate as clearly as he could to the sentence,[133] and to have many good fellows and cunning at the correcting of the translation. First it is to know that the best translating out of Latin into English is to translate after the sentence, and not only after the words, so that the sentence be as open, either opener, in English as in Latin, and go not far from the letter; and if the letter may not be sued (followed) in the translating, let the sentence be ever whole and open, for the words ought to serve to the intent and sentence, and else the words be superfluous or false. In translating into English many resolutions may make the sentence open, as an ablative case absolute may be resolved into these three words, with convenable (suitable) verb, _the while_, _for if_, as grammarians say, as thus: _the master reading, I stand_, may be resolved thus, _while the master readeth I stand_, or, _if the master readeth, &c._, or, _for the master, &c._; and sometime it would accord well with the sentence to be resolved into _when_ or into _afterward_, thus, _when the master read I stood_, or, _after the master read I stood_; and sometime it may well be resolved into a verb of the same tense as others be in the same clause, and into this word _et_; that is, _and_ in English, as thus, _arescentibus hominibus prae timore_; that is, _and men should wax dry for dread_. Also a participle of a present tense or preterite of active voice or passive may be resolved into a verb of the same tense and a conjunction copulative, as thus, _dicens_; that is, _saying_ may be resolved thus, _and saith_, or, _that saith_; and this will in many places make the sentence open, where to English it, after the verb, would be dark and doubtful. Also a relative, which may be resolved into his antecedent with a conjunction copulative, as thus, _which runneth_, _and he runneth_. Also when one word is once set in a clause it may be set forth as often as it is understood, or as often as reason and need ask. And this word _autem_, or _vero_, may stand for _forsooth_, or for _but_, and thus I use commonly; and sometime it may stand for _and_, as old grammarians say. Also when rightful construction is let (prevented) by relation, I resolve it openly; thus where this clause _Dominum formidabunt adversarii ejus_ should be Englished thus by the letter, _the Lord His adversaries shall dread_, I English it thus by resolution, _the adversaries of the Lord shall dread Him_; and so of other clauses that be like.

At the beginning I purposed, with God’s help, to make the sentence as true and open in English as it is in Latin, or more true and more open than it is in Latin; and I pray for charity and for common profit of Christian souls, that if any wise man find any default of the truth of translation, let him set in the true sentence and open of holy writ, but look that he examine truly his Latin Bible; for no doubt he shall find full many Bibles in Latin full false, if he look many, namely, new;[134] and the common Latin Bibles have more need to be corrected, as many as I have seen in my life than the English Bible late translated. And where the Hebrew, by witness of Jerome, of Lyra, and other expositors discordeth from our Latin Bibles, I have set in the margin, by manner of a gloss, what the Hebrew hath, and how it is understood in some place; and I did this most in the Psalter, that of all our books discordeth most from the Hebrew; for the church readeth not the Psalter by the last translation of Jerome, out of Hebrew into Latin, but another translation by other men, that had much less cunning and holiness than Jerome had; and in full few books the church readeth the translation of Jerome, as it may be proved by the proper originals of Jerome which he glossed. And where I have translated as openly or openlier in English as in Latin, let wise men deme (judge) that know well both languages, and know well the sentence of holy Scripture. And whether I have done thus or not, no doubt they that ken well the sentence of holy writ and English together, and will travail with God’s grace thereabout, may make the Bible as true and as open, yea, and openlier, in English as in Latin. And no doubt to a simple man, with God’s grace and great travail, men might expound much openlier and shortlier the Bible in English, than the old great doctors have expounded it in Latin, and much sharplier and groundlier than many late postillators, or expositors have done. But God of His great mercy, give us grace to live well, and to see the truth in convenable manner, and acceptable to God and His people, and to spell out our time, be it short, be it long, at God’s ordinance.

But some that seem wise and holy say thus, If men now were as holy as Jerome was, they might translate out of Latin into English, as he did out of Hebrew and out of Greek into Latin, and else they should not translate now, so they think, for default of holiness and cunning. Though this replication seem colourable, it hath no good ground, neither reason, neither charity; for why, (because) this replication is more against Saint Jerome and against the first LXX. translators, and against holy church, than against simple men that translate now into English; for Saint Jerome was not so holy as the Apostles and Evangelists, whose books he translated into Latin, neither he had so high gifts of the Holy Ghost as they had; and much more the LXX. translators were not so holy as Moses and the Prophets, and specially David; neither they had so great gifts of God as Moses and the Prophets had. Furthermore, holy church approveth not only the true translation of mean Christian men, but also of open heretics, that did away mysteries of Jesus Christ by guileful translation, as Jerome witnesseth in one prologue on Job, and in the prologue of Daniel. Much more late the Church of England approve the true and whole translation of simple men, that would, for no good on earth, by their witting and power, put away the least truth, yea, the least letter or tittle of holy writ that beareth substance or charge. And dispute they not (let them not dispute) of the holiness of men now living in this deadly life; for they know not thereon, and it is reserved only to God’s doom. If they know any notable default by the translators or their helps, let them blame the default by charity and mercy, and let them never damn a thing that may be done lawfully by God’s law, as wearing a good cloth for a time, or riding on a horse for a great journey, when they wit not wherefore it is done; for such things may be done of simple men with as great charity and virtue as some that hold themselves great and wise, can ride in a gilt saddle, or use cushions and beds and cloths of gold and of silk, with other vanities of the world. God grant pity, mercy, and charity, and love of common profit, and put away such foolish dooms (judgment) that be against reason and charity. Yet worldly clerks ask greatly (grandly) what spirit maketh idiots (laymen) hardy to translate now the Bible into English, since the four great doctors durst never do this. This replication is so lewd (unlearned), that it needeth none answer but stillness or courteous scorn; for these great doctors were none English men, neither they were conversant among English men, neither they knew the language of English, but they ceased never till they had holy writ in the mother tongue of their own people. For Jerome, that was a Latin man of birth, translated the Bible, both out of Hebrew and out of Greek into Latin, and expounded full much thereto; and Austin and many more Latins expounded the Bible, for many parts, in Latin, to Latin men among which they dwelt, and Latin was a common language to their people about Rome, and beyond and on this half (side), as English is common to our people, and yet (still) this day the common people in Italy speaketh Latin corrupt, as true men say that have been in Italy; and the number of translators out of Greek into Latin passeth man’s knowing, as Austin witnesseth in the ij. book of _Christian Teaching_,[135] and saith thus: “The translators out of Hebrew into Greek may be numbered, but Latin translators, or they that translated into Latin, may not be numbered in any manner.” For in the first times of faith, each man, as a Greek book came to him, and he seemed to himself to have some cunning of Greek and Latin, was hardy (bold) to translate, and this thing helped more than letted (hindered) understanding, if readers be not negligent, for why (because) the beholding of many books hath showed off or declared some darker sentences. This saith Austin here. Therefore Grosted (Grosseteste) saith that it was God’s will that diverse men translate, and that diverse translations be in the church, where one said darkly, one other more said openly.

Lord God, since at the beginning of faith so many men translated into Latin, and to great profit of Latin men, let one simple creature of God translate into English for profit of Englishmen; for if worldly clerks look well their chronicles and books they shall find that Bede translated the Bible, and expounded much in Saxon, that was English, or common language of this land, in his time; and not only Bede, but also King Alfred that founded Oxford, translated in his last days the beginning of the Psalter into Saxon, and would more if he had lived longer. Also Frenchmen, Beemers,[136] and Britons have the Bible and other books of devotion and of exposition translated in their mother language. Why should not Englishmen have the same in their mother language I cannot wit, no but (except) for falseness and negligence of clerks, or for (because) our people is not worthy to have so great grace and gift of God in pain (penalty) of their old sins. God for his mercy amend these evil causes, and make our people to have, and ken, and keep truly holy writ, to life and death.

But in translating of words equivocal, that is, that have many significations under one letter, may lightly be peril (there may easily be a danger of mistake); for Austin saith in the ij. book of _Christian Teaching_ that if equivocal words be not translated into the sense or understanding of the author it is error,[137] as in that place of the psalm, _the feet of them be swift to shed out blood_. The Greek word is equivocal to _sharp_ and _swift_, and he that translated _sharp feet_ erred, and a book that hath _sharp feet_ is false, and must be amended, as that sentence, _unkind young trees shall not give deep roots_, ought to be thus _plantings of adultery shall not give deep roots_.[138] Austin saith this there; therefore a translator hath great need to study well the sentence, both before and after, and look that such equivocal words accord with the sentence; and he hath need to live a clean life, and be full devout in prayers, and have not his wit occupied about worldly things, that the Holy Spirit, author of wisdom, and cunning, and truth, dress him in his work, and suffer him not for to err.

Also this word _ex_ signifieth sometime _of_, and sometime it signifieth _by_, as Jerome saith; and this word _enim_ signifieth commonly _forsooth_, and, as Jerome saith, it signifieth, _cause thus_, _forwhy_. And this word _secundum_ is taken for _after_, as many men say, and commonly; but it signifieth well _by_ or _up_, thus _by your word_, or _up your word_. Many such adverbs, conjunctions, and prepositions be set off one for another, and at free choice of authors sometime; and now they should be taken as it accordeth best to the sentence.

By this manner, with good living and great travail, men may come to true and clear translating and true understanding of holy writ, seem it never so hard at the beginning. God grant to us all grace to ken well and to keep well holy writ, and to suffer joyfully some pain for it at the last. Amen.

(B.)

_TYNDALE’S PROLOGUES._

I. NEW TESTAMENT[139] 1525. 4TO.

I have here translated, brethren and sisters, most dear and tenderly beloved in Christ, the New Testament, for your spiritual edifying, consolation, and solace; exhorting instantly and beseeching those that are better seen in the tongues than I, and that have better gifts of grace to interpret the sense of the Scripture and meaning of the Spirit than I, to consider and ponder my labour, and that with the spirit of meekness; and if they perceive in any places that I have not attained unto the very sense of the tongue, or meaning of the Scripture, or have not given the right English word, that they put to their hands to amend it, remembering that so is their duty to do. For we have not received the gifts of God for ourselves only, or for to hide them; but for to bestow them unto the honouring of God and Christ, and edifying of the congregation, which is the body of Christ.

The causes that moved me to translate, I thought better that others should imagine, than that I should rehearse them. Moreover I supposed it superfluous; for who is so blind as to ask why light should be showed to them that walk in darkness, where they cannot but stumble, and where to stumble is the danger of eternal damnation; other so despiteful that he would envy any man (I speak not his brother) so necessary a thing; or so bedlam mad to affirm that good is the natural cause of evil, and darkness to proceed out of light, and that lying should be grounded in truth and verity, and not rather clean contrary, that light destroyeth darkness, and verity reproveth all manner of lying.

After it had pleased GOD to put in my mind and also to give me grace to translate this fore-rehearsed New Testament into our English tongue, howsoever we have done it, I supposed it very necessary to put you in remembrance of certain points, which are, that ye well understand what these words mean: the Old Testament, the New Testament; the law, the gospel; Moses, Christ; nature, grace; working and believing; deeds and faith; lest we ascribe to the one that which belongeth to the other, and make of Christ Moses, of the gospel the law, despise grace and rob faith; and fall from meek learning into idle dispicions; brawling and scolding about words.

The Old Testament is a book wherein is written the law of God, and the deeds of them which fulfil them, and of them also which fulfil them not.

The New Testament is a book wherein are contained the promises of God, and the deeds of them which believe them or believe them not.

Evangelion (that we call the gospel) is a Greek word, and signifies good, merry, glad, and joyful tidings, that maketh a man’s heart glad, and maketh him sing, dance, and leap for joy: as when David had killed Goliath the giant, came glad tidings unto the Jews, that their fearful and cruel enemy was slain, and they delivered out of all danger; for gladness whereof, they sung, danced, and were joyful. In like manner is the Evangelion of God (which we call gospel, and the New Testament) joyful tidings; and, as some say, a good hearing, published by the apostles throughout all the world, of Christ the right David, how that he hath fought with sin, with death, and the devil, and overcome them: whereby all men that were in bondage to sin, wounded with death, overcome of the devil, are, without their own merits or deservings, loosed, justified, restored to life and saved, brought to liberty and reconciled unto the favour of God, and set at one with him again; which tidings, as many as believe, laud, praise, and thank God; are glad, sing, and dance for joy.

This Evangelion or gospel (that is to say, such joyful tidings) is called the New Testament; because that as a man, when he shall die, appointeth his goods to be dealt and distributed after his death among them which he nameth to be his heirs; even so Christ, before his death, commanded and appointed that such Evangelion, gospel, or tidings, should be declared throughout all the world, and therewith to give unto all that believe, all his goods; that is to say, his life, wherewith he swallowed and devoured up death; his righteousness, wherewith he banished sin; his salvation, wherewith he overcame eternal damnation. Now, can the wretched man, that [knoweth himself to be wrapped] in sin, and in danger to death and hell, hear no more joyous a thing than such glad and comfortable tidings of Christ; so that he cannot but be glad and laugh from the low bottom of his heart, if he believe that the tidings are true.

To strength such faith withal, God promised this his Evangelion in the Old Testament by the prophets, as Paul saith (Rom. i.), how that he was chosen out to preach God’s Evangelion, which he before had promised by the prophets in the Scriptures, that treat of his Son which was born of the seed of David. In Gen. iii. God saith to the serpent, “I will put hatred between thee and the woman, between thy seed and her seed, that self seed shall tread thy head under foot.” Christ is this woman’s seed; he it is that hath trodden under foot the devil’s head; that is to say, sin, death, hell, and all his power. For without this seed can no man avoid sin, death, hell, and everlasting damnation.

Again (Gen. xxii.), God promised Abraham, saying, “In thy seed shall all the generations of the earth be blessed.” Christ is that seed of Abraham, saith St. Paul. (Gal. iii.) He hath blessed all the world through the gospel. For where Christ is not, there remaineth the curse that fell on Adam as soon as he had sinned, so that they are in bondage under the condemnation of sin, death, and hell. Against this curse blesseth now the gospel all the world, inasmuch as it crieth openly, saying, Whosoever believeth on the Seed of Abraham shall be blessed, that is, he shall be delivered from sin, death, and hell, and shall henceforth continue righteous, living and saved for ever, as Christ himself saith, in the eleventh of John, “He that believeth on me shall never more die.”

“The law,” saith the gospel of John in the first chapter, “was given by Moses: but grace and verity by Jesus Christ.” The law, whose minister is Moses, was given to bring us unto the knowledge of ourselves, that we might thereby feel and perceive what we are of nature. The law condemneth us and all our deeds, and is called of Paul in 2 Cor. iii. the ministration of death. For it killeth our consciences and driveth us to desperation, inasmuch as it requireth of us that which is impossible for us to do. It requireth of us the deeds of a whole man. It requireth perfect love from the low bottom and ground of the heart, as well in all things which we suffer, as in the things which we do. But, saith John, in the same place, “grace and verity is given us in Christ,” so that when the law hath passed upon us, and condemned us to death, which is its nature to do, then we have in Christ grace, that is to say, favour, promises of life, of mercy, of pardon, freely by the merits of Christ; and in Christ have we verity and truth, in that God fulfilleth all his promises to them that believe. Therefore is the gospel the ministration of life. Paul calleth it in the fore rehearsed place of 2 Cor. iii. the ministration of the Spirit and of righteousness.

In the gospel, when we believe the promises, we receive the Spirit of life, and are justified in the blood of Christ from all things whereof the law condemned us. Of Christ it is written in the fore rehearsed John i. This is He of whose abundance, or fulness, all we have received, grace for grace, or favour for favour. That is to say, for the favour that God hath to his Son Christ he giveth unto us his favour and good will, as a father to his sons. As affirmeth Paul, saying, “Which loved us in his Beloved before the creation of the world.” Christ is made Lord over all, and is called in scripture God’s mercy-stool; whosoever therefore flieth to Christ can neither hear nor receive of God any other thing save mercy.

In the Old Testament are many promises, which are nothing else but the Evangelion or gospel, to save those that believed them from the vengeance of the law. And in the New Testament is often made mention of the law, to condemn them which believe not the promises. Moreover the law and the gospel may never be separate; for the gospel and promises serve but for troubled consciences, which are brought to desperation, and feel the pains of hell and death under the law, and are in captivity and bondage under the law. In all my deeds I must have the law before me to condemn mine imperfectness. For all that I do, be I never so perfect, is yet damnable sin, when it is compared to the law, which requireth the ground and bottom of mine heart. I must therefore have always the law in my sight, that I may be meek in the spirit, and give God all the laud and praise, ascribing to him all righteousness, and to myself all unrighteousness and sin. I must also have the promises before mine eyes, that I despair not; in which promises I see the mercy, favour, and good will of God upon me, in the blood of his Son Christ, which hath made satisfaction for mine unperfectness, and fulfilled for me that which I could not do.

Here may ye perceive that two manner of people are sore deceived. First, they which justify themselves with outward deeds, in that they abstain outwardly from that which the law forbiddeth, and do outwardly that which the law commandeth. They compare themselves to open sinners; and in respect of them justify themselves, condemning the open sinners. They set a veil on Moses’ face, and see not how the law requireth love from the bottom of the heart. If they did they would not condemn their neighbours. “Love hideth the multitude of sins,” saith St. Peter, in his first epistle. For whom I love from the deep bottom and ground of mine heart, him condemn I not, neither reckon his sins, but suffer his weakness and infirmity, as a mother the weakness of her son, until he grow up unto a perfect man.

Those also are deceived which, without all fear of God, give themselves unto all manner vices with full consent, and full delectation, having no respect to the law of God (under whose vengeance they are locked up in captivity), but say, God is merciful and Christ died for us, supposing that such dreaming and imagination is that faith which is so greatly commended in holy scripture. Nay, that is not faith, but rather a foolish blind opinion springing of their own nature, and it is not given them of the Spirit of God; true faith is (as saith the apostle Paul) the gift of God, and is given to sinners after the law hath passed upon them, and hath brought their consciences unto the brink of desperation, and sorrows of hell.

They that have this right faith, consent to the law that it is righteous, and good, and justify God which made the law, and have delectation in the law, notwithstanding that they cannot fulfil it, for their weakness; and they abhor whatsoever the law forbiddeth, though they cannot avoid it. And their great sorrow is, because they cannot fulfil the will of God in the law; and the spirit that is in them crieth to God night and day for strength and help, with tears (as saith Paul) that cannot be expressed with tongue. Of which things the belief of our popish (or of their) father, whom they so magnify for his strong faith, hath none experience at all.

The first, that is to say, a justiciary, which justifieth himself with his outward deeds, consenteth not to the inward law, neither hath delectation therein: yea, he would rather that no such law were. So he justifieth not God, but hateth him as a tyrant, neither careth he for the promises, but will with his own strength be saviour of himself; no wise glorifieth he God, though he seem outward to do.

The second, that is to say, the sensual person, as a voluptuous swine, neither feareth God in his law, neither is thankful to him for his promises and mercy, which is set forth in Christ to all them that believe.

The right christian man consenteth to the law, that it is righteous, and justifieth God in the law; for he affirmeth that God is righteous and just, which is author of the law. He believeth the promises of God, and so justifieth God, judging him true, and believing that he will fulfil his promises. With the law he condemneth himself and all his deeds, and giveth all the praise to God. He believeth the promises, and ascribeth all truth to God: thus everywhere justifieth he God, and praiseth God.

By nature, through the fall of Adam are we the children of wrath, heirs of the vengeance of God by birth, yea, and from our conception. And we have our fellowship with the devils under the power of darkness and rule of Satan, while we are yet in our mothers’ wombs; and though we show not forth the fruits of sin, yet are we full of the natural poison whereof all sinful deeds spring, and cannot but sin outwardly, be we never so young, if occasion be given; for our nature is to do sin, as is the nature of a serpent to sting. And as a serpent yet young, or yet unbrought forth, is full of poison, and cannot afterward (when the time is come, and occasion given) but bring forth the fruits thereof; and as an adder, a toad, or a snake, is hated of man, not for the evil that it hath done, but for the poison that is in it and the hurt which it cannot but do; so are we hated of God for that natural poison which is conceived and born with us before we do any outward evil. And as the evil, which a venomous worm doeth, maketh it not a serpent; but because it is a venomous worm, therefore doth it evil and poisoneth; and as the fruit maketh not the tree evil, but because it is an evil tree, therefore it bringeth forth evil fruit, when the season of fruit is; even so do not our evil deeds make us evil; but because that of nature we are evil, therefore we both think and do evil, and are under vengeance under the law, convict to eternal damnation by the law, and are contrary to the will of God in all our will, and in all things consent to the will of the fiend.

By grace, that is to say by favour, we are plucked out of Adam, the ground of all evil, and graffed in Christ the root of all goodness. In Christ, God loved us, his elect and chosen, before the world began, and reserved us unto the knowledge of his Son and of his holy gospel; and when the gospel is preached to us, he openeth our hearts, and giveth us grace to believe, and putteth the Spirit of Christ in us, and we know him as our Father most merciful; and we consent to the law, and love it inwardly in our heart, and desire to fulfil it, and sorrow because we cannot; which will (sin we of frailty never so much) is sufficient till more strength be given us; the blood of Christ hath made satisfaction for the rest; the blood of Christ hath obtained all things for us of God. Christ is our satisfaction, Redeemer, Deliverer, Saviour, from vengeance and wrath. Observe and mark in Paul’s, Peter’s, and John’s epistles, and in the gospel, what Christ is unto us.

By faith are we saved only in believing the promises. And though faith be never without love and good works, yet is our saving imputed neither to love nor unto good works, but unto faith only. For love and works are under the law, which requireth perfection, and the ground and fountain of the heart, and damneth all imperfectness. Now is faith under the promises, which condemn not; but give all grace, mercy, favour, and whatsoever is contained in the promises.

Righteousness is divers; blind reason imagines many manner of righteousness. There is, in like manner, the justifying of ceremonies, some imagine them their own selves, some counterfeit other, saying, in their blind reason, Such holy persons did thus and thus, and they were holy men, therefore if I do so likewise I shall please God; but they have no answer of God that that pleaseth. The Jews seek righteousness in their ceremonies; which God gave unto them, not to justify, but to describe and paint Christ unto them; of which Jews testifieth Paul, saying how that they have affection to God, but not after knowledge; for they go about to stablish their own justice, and are not obedient to the justice of righteousness that cometh of God. The cause is verily that except a man cast away his own imagination and reason, he cannot perceive God, and understand the virtue and power of the blood of Christ. There is the righteousness of works, as I said before, when the heart is away and feeleth not how the law is spiritual and cannot be fulfilled, but from the bottom of the heart, as the just ministration of all manner of laws, and the observing of them, and moral virtues wherein philosophers put their felicity and blessedness--which all are nothing in the sight of God. There is a full righteousness, when the law is fulfilled from the ground of the heart. This had neither Peter nor Paul in this life perfectly, but sighed after it. They were so far forth blessed in Christ, that they hungered and thirsted after it. Paul had this thirst; he consented to the law of God, that it ought so to be, but he found another lust in his members, contrary to the lust and desire of his mind, and therefore cried out, saying, “Oh, wretched man that I am; who shall deliver me from this body of death? thanks be to God through Jesus Christ.” The righteousness that before God is of value, is to believe the promises of God, after the law hath confounded the conscience: as when the temporal law ofttimes condemneth the thief or murderer, and bringeth him to execution, so that he seeth nothing before him but present death, and then cometh good tidings, a charter from the king, and delivereth him. Likewise when God’s law hath brought the sinner into knowledge of himself, and hath confounded his conscience and opened unto him the wrath and vengeance of God; then cometh good tidings. The Evangelion showeth unto him the promises of God in Christ, and how Christ hath purchased pardon for him, hath satisfied the law for him, and appeased the wrath of God. And the poor sinner believeth, laudeth, and thanketh God through Christ, and breaketh out into exceeding inward joy and gladness, for that he hath escaped so great wrath, so heavy vengeance, so fearful and so everlasting a death. And he henceforth is an hungered and athirst after more righteousness, that he might fulfil the law; and mourneth continually, commending his weakness unto God in the blood of our Saviour, Christ Jesus.

Here shall ye see compendiously and plainly set out, the order and practice of every thing before rehearsed.

The fall of Adam hath made us heirs of the vengeance and wrath of God, and heirs of eternal damnation; and hath brought us into captivity and bondage under the devil. And the devil is our lord, and our ruler, our head, our governor, our prince, yea, and our god. And our will is locked and knit faster unto the will of the devil, than could a hundred thousand chains bind a man unto a post. Unto the devil’s will consent we with all our hearts, with all our minds, with all our might, power, strength, will, and lusts. With what poison, deadly and venomous hate, hateth a man his enemy! With how great malice of mind, inwardly, do we slay and murder! With what violence and rage, yea, and with how fervent lust, commit we advoutry, fornication, and such like uncleanness! With what pleasure and delectation inwardly serveth a glutton his belly! With what diligence deceive we! How busily seek we the things of this world! Whatsoever we do, think, or imagine, is abominable in the sight of God. And we are as it were asleep in so deep blindness, that we can neither see nor feel what misery, thraldom, and wretchedness we are in, till Moses come and wake us, and publish the law. When we hear the law truly preached, how that we ought to love and honour God with all our strength and might, from the low bottom of the heart; and our neighbours, yea, our enemies, as ourselves, inwardly, from the ground of the heart, and do whatsoever God biddeth, and abstain from whatsoever God forbiddeth, with all love and meekness, with a fervent and a burning lust from the centre of the heart, then beginneth the conscience to rage against the law, and against God. No sea, be it ever so great a tempest, is so unquiet. For it is not possible for a natural man to consent to the law, that it should be good, or that God should be righteous which maketh the law; his wit, reason, and will being so fast glued, yea, nailed and chained unto the will of the devil. Neither can any creature loose the bonds, save the blood of Christ.

This is the captivity and bondage whence Christ delivered us, redeemed, and loosed us. His blood, his death, his patience in suffering rebukes and wrongs, his prayers and fastings, his meekness and fulfilling of the uttermost point of the law, appeased the wrath of God, brought the favour of God to us again, obtained that God should love us first, and be our Father, and that a merciful Father, that will consider our infirmities and weakness, and will give us his Spirit again (which was taken away in the fall of Adam) to rule, govern, and strength us, and to break the bonds of Satan, wherein we were so straight bound. When Christ is thuswise preached, and the promises rehearsed which are contained in the prophets, in the psalms, and in divers places of the five books of Moses, then the hearts of them which are elect and chosen, begin to wax soft and melt at the bounteous mercy of God, and kindness shewed of Christ. For when the Evangelion is preached, the Spirit of God entereth into them whom God hath ordained and appointed unto eternal life, and openeth their inward eyes, and worketh such belief in them. When the woful consciences feel and taste how sweet a thing the bitter death of Christ is, and how merciful and loving God is through Christ’s purchasing and merits, they begin to love again, and to consent to the law of God, that it is good and ought so to be, and that God is righteous which made it; and they desire to fulfil the law, even as the sick man desireth to be whole, and are an hungered and thirst after more righteousness and after more strength to fulfil the law more perfectly. And in all that they do, or omit and leave undone, they seek God’s honour and his will with meekness, ever condemning the imperfectness of their deeds by the law.

Now Christ standeth us in double stead, and us serveth in two manner wise: First, he is our Redeemer, Deliverer, Reconciler, Mediator, Intercessor, Advocate, Attorney, Solicitor, our Hope, Comfort, Shield, Protection, Defender, Strength, Health, Satisfaction, and Salvation. His blood, his death, all that he ever did, is ours. And Christ himself, with all that he is or can do, is ours. His blood-shedding and all that he did, doth me as good service as though I myself had done it. And God (as great as he is) is mine, with all that he hath, through Christ and his purchasing.

Secondarily, after that we be overcome with love and kindness, and now seek to do the will of God, which is a christian man’s nature, then have we Christ an example to counterfeit, as saith Christ himself in John, “I have given you an example.” And in another evangelist he saith, “He that will be great among you, shall be your servant and minister, as the Son of man came to minister and not to be ministered unto.” And Paul saith, “Counterfeit[140] Christ.” And Peter saith, “Christ died for you, and left you an example to follow his steps.” Whatsoever therefore faith hath received of God through Christ’s blood and deserving, that same must love shed out every whit, and bestow it on our neighbours unto their profit, yea, and that though they be our enemies. By faith we receive of God, and by love we shed out again. And that must we do freely after the example of Christ, without any other respect, save our neighbour’s wealth only, and neither look for reward in the earth, nor yet in heaven, for our deeds. But of pure love must we bestow ourselves, all that we have, and all that we are able to do, even on our enemies, to bring them to God, considering nothing but their wealth, as Christ did ours. Christ did not his deeds to obtain heaven thereby (that had been a madness), heaven was his already, he was heir thereof, it was his by inheritance; but did them freely for our sakes, considering nothing but our wealth, and to bring the favour of God to us again, and us to God. And no natural son that is his father’s heir, doth his father’s will because he would be heir; that he is already by birth, his father gave him that ere he was born, and is loather that he should go without it, than he himself hath wit to be; but out of pure love doth he that he doth. And ask him, Why he doth any thing that he doth? he answereth, My father bade, it is my father’s will, it pleaseth my father. Bond servants work for hire, children for love: for their father with all he hath, is theirs already. So a Christian man doth freely all that he doth, considereth nothing but the will of God, and his neighbour’s wealth only. If I live chaste, I do it not to obtain heaven thereby; for then should I do wrong to the blood of Christ; Christ’s blood has obtained me that; Christ’s merits have made me heir thereof; he is both door and way thitherwards: neither that I look for an higher room in heaven than they shall have which live in wedlock, other than a whore of the stews, if she repent; for that were the pride of Lucifer, but freely to wait on the evangelion; and to serve my brother withal; even as one hand helpeth another, or one member another, because one feeleth another’s grief, and the pain of the one is the pain of the other. Whatsoever is done to the least of us (whether it be good or bad), it is done to Christ; and whatsoever is done to my brother, if I be a christian man, that same is done to me. Neither doth my brother’s pain grieve me less than mine own: neither rejoice I less at his welfare than at mine own. If it were not so, how saith Paul? “Let him that rejoiceth, rejoice in the Lord,” that is to say, Christ, which is Lord over all creatures. If my merits obtained me heaven, or a higher room there, then had I wherein I might rejoice besides the Lord.