A discouerie of the manifold corruptions of the Holy Scriptures by the heretikes of our daies specially the English sectaries, and of their foule dealing herein, by partial & false translations to the aduantage of their heresies, in their English Bibles vsed and authorised since the time of schisme. By Gregory Martin one of the readers of diuinitie in the English College of Rhemes.

CHAP. XVI. Heretical translation against the Sacrament of MATRIMONIE.

1 BVT as they are iniurious trans∣latours to the sacred Order of Priesthod, so a mā vvould thinke they should be very frendly to the Sacrament of Matrimonie. for they would seeme to make more of Matrimonie then vve doe, making it equal at the least vvith virginitie. Yet the truth is, vve make it, or rather the Church of God esteemeth

it as a holy Sacrament, they doe not: as giuing grace to the maried persons to liue together in loue, concord, and fidelitie: they acknovvledge no such thing. So that Matrimonie vvith them is highly esteemed in respect of the flesh, or (to say the best) only for a ciuil cōtract, as it is among Iewes & Pagans: but as it is peculiar to Christians, and (as S. Augustine saith) in the sanctification also and holines of a Sacrament, they make no ac∣count of it, but flatly deny it.

2 And to this purpose they translate in the epistle to the Ephesians, 5. vvhere the Apostle speaketh of Matrimonie, This is a great secrete.* 1.1 Vvhereas the Latin Church and al the Doctors thereof haue euer read, This is a great Sacrament: the Greeke Church and al the fathers thereof, This is a great mysterie. be∣cause that vvhich is in Greeke, mysterie:* 1.2 is in Latin, Sacrament: & contrarievvise, the vvordes in both tongues being equiualent. so that if one be taken in the large significa∣tion, the other also: as, Apoc. 17. I vvil shevv thee the sacramet of the vvoman.* 1.3 & I vvil shevv thee the mysterie of the vvoman. and so in sundrie places. againe if one be restrained from the larger signification, and peculiarly applied, sig∣nifie the Sacraments of the Church, the other also. As, the Sacrament of the body and bloud of Christ: or, the Mysterie of the body

and bloud of Christ:* 1.4 and the Caluinists in their Latin and Greeke Catechisme say, tvvo Sacraments, or, tvvo Mysteries.

3 This being so, vvhat is the fault of their translation in the place aforesaid? this, that they translate neither, Sacrament, nor, Mysterie. As for the vvord Sacrament, they are excused, because they translate not the Latin: but translating the Greeke, vvhy faid they not, Mysterie, vvhich is the Greeke vvord here in the Apostle? I meane, vvhy said they not of Matrimonie, This is a great Mysterie? No doubt there can be no other cause, but to auoid both those vvordes, vvhich are vsed in the Latin and Greeke Church, to signifie the Sacraments. For in the Greeke Church the Sacrament of the body and bloud it self is called but a mysterie or mysteries, vvhich yet the Protestants them selues call a true Sacrament. Therfore if they should haue called Matrimonie also by that name, it might easily haue sounded to be a Sacra∣ment also.* 1.5 But in saying it is a great secrete, they put it out of doubt, that it shal not be so taken.

4 They vvil say vnto me, Is not euery sa∣crament and mysterie, in english a secrete? yes, as Angel, is a messenger: and Apostle, one that is sent. but vvhen the holy Scrip∣ture vseth these vvordes to signifie more ex∣cellent

and diuine thinges then those of the common sort, doth it become translators to vse baser termes in steede therof, and so to disgrace the vvriting & meaning of the holy Ghost? I appeale to them selues, when they translate this vvord in other places, vvhether they say not thus, And vvithout doubt great was that MYSTERIE of godlines:* 1.6 God was shewed manifestly in the flesh &c. againe, The MYSTERIE vvhich hath beene hid since the vvorld began,* 1.7 but novv is opened to his sainctes. againe, I shevv you a MYSTE∣RIE, vve shal not al sleepe, but vve shal al be changed. and the like. Vvhere if they should trāslate, secrete, in steede of, mysterie, as the Bezites doe in one of these places, saying, I vvil shevv you a secrete thing: vvhat a disgracing and deba∣sing vvere it to those high mysteries there signified? And if it vvere so in these, is it not so in Matrimonie, vvhich the Apostle maketh such a mysterie, that it representeth no lesse matter then Christ and his Church and vvhatsoeuer is most excellent in that coniunction? Novv then, if in al other pla∣ces of high mysterie they translate it also mysterie, as it is in the Greeke, and only in Matrimonie do not so, but say rather, This is a great secrete, vsing so base a terme in so high & excellent a mysterie, must vve not needes thinke (as no doubt it is) that they doe it because of their Heretical opinion against

the Sacrament of Matrimonie, and for their base estimation thereof?

5 But they vvil yet replie againe, & aske vs, vvhat vve gaine by translating it either Sacrament, or mysterie? Doth that make it one of the Sacraments properly so called, to vvit, such a Sacrament as Baptisme is? no surely. but hovvsoeuer vve gaine other∣vvise, at least vve gaine the commendation of trew translators, vvhether it make vvith vs or against vs. for othervvise it is not the name that maketh it such a peculiar Sacra∣ment. for (as is said before) Sacrament is a general name in Scripture to other things. neither do vve therfore so translate it, as though it vvere forthvvith one of the 7 Sacraments, because of the name: but as in other places vvheresoeuer vve finde this vvord in the Latin, vve translate it, Sacra∣ment (as in the Apocalypse,* 1.8 the Sacrament of the vvoman) so finding it here, vve do here also so translate it. and as for the diuers taking of it here, and els vvhere, that vve examine other vvise, by circumstance of the text, and by the Churches and Doctors interpreta∣tion: and vve finde that here it is taken for a Sacrament in that sense as vve say, seuen Sa∣craments: not so in the other places.

6 As vvhen vve read this name Iesus in Scripture common to our Sauiour and to

other men, vve transtate it alvvaies alike, Iesus: but vvhen it isb 1.9 IESVS Christ, and vvhen some other Iesus,c 1.10 vve knovv by other circumstances. likevvise presuppose Baptisme in the Scripture vvere called a sa∣crament: yet the Protestants them selues would not, nor could thereby conclude, that it vvere one of their tvvo Sacraments. yet I trovv they vvould not auoid to trans¦late it by the vvord sacrament, if they foud it so called: euen so vve finding Matrimo∣nie so called, do so translate it, neither con∣cluding thereby that it is one of the Seuen, nor yet suppressing the name, vvhich no doubt gaue some occasion to the Church and the holy doctors to esteeme it as one of the Seuen. They cōtrarievvise, as though it vvere neuer so called, suppresse the name altogether, calling it a secrete, to put it out of al question, that it is no Sacrament: vvhich they vvould not haue done, if the Scrip∣ture had said of Baptisme or the Eucharist, This is a great Sacrament. So partial they are to their ovvne opinions.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Sacramentū hoc magnū est.
• * 1.2

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.
• * 1.3

  Sacramentū 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.
• * 1.4

  Duo Sacra∣menta. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉
• * 1.5

  Vvere it ho∣nest or lavv∣full to trans∣late, Baptis••, I vvash: or Baptismus. vvashing: or Euāgeliū. good ne∣vves? yet the vvords pro∣phanely ta∣ken, signifie no more.
• * 1.6

  1 Tim. ••.
• * 1.7

  Col. 1. v. 26. Eph. 3. v. 9. 1 Cor. 15. v. 51.
• * 1.8

  Apoc. 17.
• b 1.9

  Iude. v. 5.
• c 1.10

  Act. 7. v. 45. Colos. 4. v. 11.