Chrysostom made of both these islands: that "although thou didst go unto the ocean, and those British isles, although thou didst sail to the Euxine sea, although thou didst go unto the southern quarters, thou shouldst hear ALL men every where discoursing matters out of the SCRIPTURE, with another voice indeed, but not with another faith, and with a different tongue, but with an according judgment." Which is in effect the same with that which venerable Bede pronounceth of the island of Britain in his own days, that "in' the language of five nations it did search and confess one and the same knowledge of the highest truth, and of the true sublimity; to wit, of the English, the Britons, the Scots, the Picts, and the Latins;" which last, although he affirmeth "by the meditation of the Scriptures to have become common to all the rest;" yet the community of that one among the learned, did not take away the property of the other four among the vulgar, but that such as understood not the Latin, might yet in their own mother tongue have those Scriptures, wherein they might search the knowledge of the highest truth, and of the true sublimity, even as at this day in the reformed churches, the same Latin tongue is common to all the learned in the meditation and exposition of the Scriptures; and yet the common people for all that, do in their own vulgar tongues "search" the Scriptures, because in them they think to have eternal life." For as by us now, so by our forefathers then, the continual" meditation of the Scriptures was held to give * Κἂν εἰς τὸν ὠκεανὸν ἀπέλθης κἂν πρὸς τὰς Βρεταννικὰς νήσους ἐκείνας· κἂν εἰς τὸν Εὔξεινον πλεύσης πόντον κἂν πρὸς τὰ νότια ἀπέλθης μέρη πάντων ἀκούσῃ πανταχοῦ τὰ ἀπὸ τῆς γραφῆς φιλοσοφούντων, φωνῇ μὲν ἑτέρᾳ, πίστει δὲ οὐχ ̓ ἑτέρᾳ, καὶ γλώσσῃ μὲν διαφόρῳ, διανοίᾳ δὲ συμφώνῳ. Chrysost. in serm. de utilitate lectionis scripturæ, op. tom. 3. pag. 71. 1 Quinque gentium linguis unam eandemque summæ veritatis et veræ sublimitatis scientiam scrutatur et confitetur; Anglorum videlicet, Britonum, Scotorum, Pictorum, et Latinorum, quæ meditatione scripturarum cæteris omnibus est facta communis. Bed. lib. 1. histor. ecclesiast. cap. 1. m Joh. cap. 5. ver. 39. n Bonis semper moribus delectatur et consentit; et assiduis scripturarum me special vigour and vegetation to the soul, as we read in the book attributed unto St. Patrick, of the abuses of the world: and the holy documents delivered therein, were esteemed by Christians, as their chief riches; according to that of Columbanus, Sinto tibi divitiæ, divinæ dogmata legis. In which heavenly riches our ancient Scotish and Irish did thrive so well, that many worthy personages in foreign parts were content to undergo a voluntary exile from their own country, that they might more freely traffick here for so excellent a commodity. And by this means Altfrid King of Northumberland purchased the reputation of "a" man most learned in the Scriptures." Scottorum qui tum versatus incola terris, as Bede writeth of him, in his poem of the life of our countryman St. Cuthbert. So when we read in the same Bede of Furseus, and in another ancient author of Kilianus', that "from the time of their very childhood," they had a care to learn the holy Scriptures: it may easily be collected, that in those days it was not thought a thing unfit, that even children should give themselves unto the study of the Bible. Wherein how greatly some of them did profit in those ditationibus et eloquiis animam vegetat. Patric. de abusionibus sæculi, cap. 5. de Pudicitia. • Columban. in monastichis, et in epistola ad Hunaldum. P Successit Ecgfrido in regnum Altfrit, vir in scripturis doctissimus. Bed. lib. 4. hist. cap. 26. 4 Ab ipso tempore pueritiæ suæ curam non modicam lectionibus sacris, simul et monasticis exhibebat discipinis. Bed. lib. 3. hist. cap. 19. Ab infantia sacris literis et monasticis disciplinis eruditus. Johannes de Tinmouth (et ex eo Jo. Capgrar.) in vita Fursei. г A puerili ætate magnum habet studium sacras discere literas. Tom. 4. Antiqu. lect. Henr. Canis. pag. 642. tender years, may appear by that which Boniface, the first archbishop of Mentz, relateth of Livinus, who was trained up in his youth by Benignus in the singing of David's psalms, and the reading of the holy Gospels, and other divine exercises; and Jonas of Columbanus, in whose "breast' the treasures of the holy Scriptures were so laid up, that within the compass of his youthful years he set forth an elegant exposition of the book of the Psalms;" by whose industry likewise afterward, the study of God's Word was so propagated, that in the monasteries which were founded "according" to his rule" beyond the seas, not the men only, but the religious women also did carefully attend the same, that through patience and comfort of the Scriptures they might have hope. See for this, the practice of the virgin BitihildisTM lying upon her death-bed, reported by the same Jonas, or whosoever else was the author of the life of Burgundofora. As for the edition of the Scriptures used in these parts at those times; the Latin translation was so received into common use among the learned, that the principal authority was still reserved to the original fountains. Therefore doth Sedulius in the Old Testament commend unto us "the Hebrew verity," for so with St. Hierome doth he style it; and in the New correct oftentimes the vulgar Latin according to the truth of the Greek copies. For example he readeth as we do," There is a difference between a wife and a virgin;" and not as the Rhemists have translated it out of the Latin. He readeth, "Non vosmetipsos vindicantes, not2 avenging yourselves ": where the s Davidicis psalmorum melodiis, et sanctorum evangeliorum mellifluis lectionibus atque cæteris divinis exercitationibus. Bonifac. in vita Livini. Tantum in ejus pectore divinarum thesauri scripturarum conditi tenebantur; ut intra adolescentiæ ætatem detentus, psalmorum librum elimato sermone exponeret. Jonas in vita Columbani, cap. 2. " B. Burgundofora monasterium quod Euoriacas appellatur, &c. secundum regulam S. Columbani instituit. Id. in vita Burgundof. w Cum jam in extremis posita posceret per successiones noctium lumen coram se accendi, et sacræ lectionis præconia ante se legi, &c. Id. ibid. * Hebraicam veritatem. Sedul. in Galat. cap. 3. et Hebr. cap. 7. y 1 Cor. cap. 7. ver. 34. 2 Rom. cap. 12. ver. 19. vulgar Latin hath corruptly, "Non vosmetipsos defendentes, not defending yourselves." Where the Rhemists translate according to the Latin, "God is true:" he sheweth that in the Greek copies it is found, "Let God be true," or "let God be made true." He noteth that the Latin books have put gloryb for gloriation. Where the Rhemists have according to the Latin, "I condescended not to flesh and blood:" he saith, that "in Græco melius habet, (for so must his words be here corrected out of St. Hierome, whom he followeth) the Greek hath it better, I conferred not." Where the Rhemists say of God, according to the Latin translation, "that" of sin he damned sin in the flesh:" Sedulius affirmeth, that "verius habetur apud Græcos, it is more truly expressed in the Greek books, that for sin he damned sin in the flesh." Lastly, where the Rhemists translate after their Latin copy, "A little leaven corrupteth the whole paste:" he saith it should be "leaveneth," as we have it, and notf "corrupteth," as it is ill read in the Latin books. So where they translate by the same authority, "Instructs such an one in the spirit of lenity:" Claudius", following St. Hierome, affirmeth that it is better in the Greek, "Restore," or perfect him:" and where they make St. Peter say, "Lord', be it far from thee:" he noteth, that it is better in the Greek; "Lord, favour thyself." 66 In the Old Testament I observe that our writers do more usually follow the translation taken out of the Septuagint, than the vulgar Latin, which is now received in the Church of Rome. So, for example, where the vulgar a Rom. cap. 3. ver. 4. Gal. cap. 1. ver. 16. e Gal. cap. 5. ver. 9. b Ibid. cap. 15. ver. 17. d Rom. cap. 8. ver. 3. f Non, ut male in Latinis codicibus, corrumpit. Sedul. in Gal. cap. 5. Gal. cap. 6. ver. 1. h Instruat; sive, ut melius habetur in Græco, perficiat in spiritu lenitatis. Claud. in Gal. cap. 6. i Matt. cap. 16. ver. 22. k Absit a te Domine: vel ut melius habetur in Græco; Propitius esto tibi, Domine. Id. lib. 2. comment. in Matt. Latin hath, "The tongue of the stammerers," (or mafflers, as the Doway translation would have it englished) "shall speak readily and plainly." In the Confession of St. Patrick we find it laid down more agreeably to the Greek lection: "The" stammering tongues shall swiftly learn to speak peace." And in his epistle to Coroticus or Cereticus: " You shall dance as calves loosed out of bands:" where our common Latin hath, "You shall leap as calves of the herd." And, "The riches which he shall gather unjustly, shall be vomited out of his belly, the angel of death draweth him. He shall be mulcted with the wrath of dragons: the tongue of the serpent shall kill him." Where the vulgar Latin readeth: "The" riches, which he hath devoured, he shall vomit out, and God shall draw them forth out of his belly. He shall suck the head of asps, and the viper's tongue shall kill him." The same course is likewise observed by Sedulius in his citations. But Gildas the Briton in some books, (as Deuteronomy, Isaiah and Jeremy, for example) useth to follow the vulgar Latin translated out of the Hebrew; in others (as the books of Chronicles, Job, Proverbs, Ezekiel, and the small prophets) the elder Latin translated out of the Greek, as also long after him his countryman Nennius, in reckoning the years of the age of the world, followeth the Septuagint, and Asser allegeth the text', Esai. cap. 32. ver. 4. Lingus balborum velociter loquetur et plane. τ αἱ γλῶσσαι αἱ ψελλίζουσαι ταχὺ μαθήσονται λαλεῖν εἰρήνην. Linguæ balbutientes velociter discent loqui pacem. n • Malach. cap. 4. ver. 2. Exultabitis sicut vituli ex vinculis resoluti. Græc. σκιρτήσετε ὡς μοσχάρια ἐκ δεσμῶν ἀνειμένα. P Salietis sicut vituli de armento. 4 Job, cap. 20. ver. 15, 16. Divitiæ quas congregabit injuste, evomentur de ventre ejus, trahit illum angelus mortis. Ira draconum mulctabitur: interficiet illum lingua colubri. Græc. Πλοῦτος ἄδικος συναγόμενος ἐξεμεθήσεται, ἐξ οἰκίας αὐτοῦ ἐξελκύσει αὐτὸν ἄγγελος. θυμὸν δὲ δρακόντων θηλάσειεν, ἀνέλοι δὲ αὐτὸν γλῶσσα ὄφεως. r Divitias quas devoravit evomet, et de ventre illius extrahet eas Deus. Caput aspidum suget, et occidet eum lingua viperæ.. Nenn. Hist. Briton. cap. 1. t Genes. cap. 4. ver. 7. |