Iacob rolled away the ſtone from the mouth of the well, by which meanes the flockes of Laban were Gen.29.10. watered. Indeede without tranſlation into the vulgar tongue, the vnlearned are but like children at Iacobs well (which was deepe) without a bucket or ſome thing to draw with: or as that perſon Iob 4.11. mentioned by Eſau, to whom when a ſealed booke was deliuered, with this motion, Reade this, I pray thee, Eſay 29.11. hee was ſaine to make this anſwere, I cannot, for it is ſealed.
The tranſlation of the olde Teſtament of the Hebrew into Greeke.While God would be knowen onely in Iacob, and haue his Name great in Iſrael, and in none other place, while the dew lay on Gideons fleece onely, and all the earth beſides was drie; then for one See S. Auguſt. lib.12. contra Fauſt. e 32. and the ſame people, which ſpake all of them the language of Canaan, that is, Hebrewe, one and the ſame originall in Hebrew was ſufficient. But when the fulneſſe of time drew neere, that the Sunne of righteouſneſſe, the Sonne of God ſhould come into the world, whom God ordeined to be a reconciliation through faith in his blood, not of the Iew onely, but alſo of the Greeke, yea, of all them that were ſcattered abroad; then loe, it pleaſed the Lord to ſtirre vp the ſpirit of a Greeke Prince (Greeke for deſcent and language) euen of Ptolome Philadelph King of Egypt, to procure the tranſlating of the Booke of God out of Hebrew into Greeke. This is the tranſlation of the Seuentie Interpreters, commonly ſo called, which prepared the way for our Sauiour among the Gentiles by written preaching, as Saint Iohn Baptiſt did among the Iewes by vocall. For the Grecians being deſirous of learning, were not wont to ſuffer bookes of worth to lye moulding in Kings Libraries, but had many of their ſeruants, ready ſcribes, to copie them out, and ſo they were diſperſed and made common. Againe, the Greeke tongue was well knowen and made familiar to moſt inhabitants in Aſia, by reaſon of the conqueſt that there the Grecians had made, as alſo by the Colonies, which thither they had ſent. For the ſame cauſes alſo it was well vnderſtood in many places of Europe, yea, and of Affrike too. Therefore the word of God being set foorth in Greeke, becommeth hereby like a candle ſet vpon a candleſticke, which giueth light to all that are in the houſe, or like a proclamation ſounded foorth in the market place, which moſt men preſently take knowledge of; and therefore that language was fitteſt to containe the Scriptures, both for the firſt Preachers of the Goſpel to appeale vnto for witneſſe, and for the learners alſo of thoſe times to make ſearch and triall by. It is certaine, that the Tranſlation was not ſo ſound and ſo perfect, but that it needed in many places correction; and who had bene ſo ſufficient for this worke as the Apoſtles or Apoſtolike men? Yet it ſeemed good to the holy Ghoſt and to them, to take that which they found, (the ſame being for the greateſt part true and ſufficient) rather then by making a new, in that new world and greene age of the Church, to expoſe themſelues to many exceptions and cauillations, as though they made a Tranſlation to ſerue their owne turne, and therefore bearing witneſſe to themſelues, their witneſſe not to be regarded. This may be ſuppoſed to bee ſome cauſe, why the Tranſlation of the Seuentie was allowed to paſſe for currant. Notwithſtanding, though it was commended generally, yet it did not fully content the learned, no not of the Iewes. For not long after Chriſt, Aquila fell in hand with a new Tranſlation, and after him Epiphan. de menſur. & ponderibus. Theodotion, and after him Symmachus: yea, there was a fift and a ſixt edition, the Authours wherof were not knowen. Theſe with the Seuentie made vp the Hexapla, and were worthily and to great purpoſe compiled together by Origen. Howbeit the Edition of the Seuentie went away with the credit, and therefore not onely was placed in the midſt by Origen (for the worth and excellencie thereof aboue the reſt, as Epiphanius gathereth) but alſo was vſed by the Greeke fathers for the ground and foundation of their Commentaries. Yea, Epiphanius aboue named doeth attribute ſo much vnto it, that he See S. Auguſt. 2o. de doctrin. Chriſtian. c. 15o Nouell. diatax. 146. holdeth the Authours thereof not onely for Interpreters, but alſo for Prophets in ſome reſpect: and Iuſtinian the Emperour enioyning the Iewes his ſubiects to vſe ſpecially the Translation of the Seuentie, rendreth this reaſon thereof, becauſe they were as it were enlighted with propheticall grace. προφητικῆς οἵ ὥσπερ χάριτος περιλαμψάσης αὐτούς. Yet for all that, as the Egyptians are ſaid of the Prophet to bee men and not God, and their horſes fleſh and not ſpiritEſa.31.3.: ſo it is euident, (and Saint HieromeS. Hierom de optimo genere interpret. affirmeth as much) that the Seuentie were Interpreters, they were not Prophets; they did many things well, as learned men; but yet as men they ſtumbled and fell, one while through ouerſight, another while through ignorance, yea, ſometimes they may be noted to adde to the Originall, and ſometimes to take from it; which made the Apoſtles to leaue them many times, when they left the Hebrew, and to deliuer the ſence thereof according to the trueth of the word, as the ſpirit gaue them vtterance. This may ſuffice touching the Greeke Tranſlations of the old Teſtament.
Tranſlation out of Hebrew and Greeke into Latine.There were alſo within a few hundreth yeeres after Christ, tranſlations many into the Latine tongue: for this tongue alſo was very fit to conuey the Law and the Goſpel by, becauſe in thoſe times very many Countreys of the Weſt, yea of the South, Eaſt and North, ſpake or vnderſtood Latine, being made Prouinces to the Romanes. But now the Latine Tranſlations were too many to be all good, for they were infinite (Latini Interpretes nullo modo numerari poſſunt, ſaith S. Auguſtine.See S. Auguſtin. de doctr. Chriſtian. 2.cap.11.) Againe they were not out of the Hebrew fountaine (wee ſpeake of the Latine Tranſlations of the Old Teſtament) but out of the Greeke ſtreame, therefore the Greeke being not altogether cleare, the Latine deri-
