IV.

BASTARD.

'Tis said, 23 Deuteron. 2, A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord, even to the tenth generation. Non ingredietur ecclesiam Domini, he shall not enter into the church. The meaning of the phrase is, he shall not marry a Jewish woman. But upon this ground, grossly mistaken, a bastard at this day in the church of Rome, without a dispensation, cannot take orders. The thing haply well enough, where 'tis so settled: but that 'tis 1 upon Io a mistake (the place having no reference to the church) appears plainly by what follows at the 3 verse; An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord, even to the tenth generation. Now you know with the Jews an Ammonite or a Moabite could never be a priest; because their priests were born so, not made.

1 But that tis, S.] H. and H. 2, omit 'that.'

1.5. The meaning of the phrase is &c.] Selden, in his De Successione in Pontificatum Ebraeorum, says that the sense which he gives here to the words is universally accepted among the Jews. Works, ii. p. 158.

1.6. But upon this ground, &c.] That the rule in the Church of Rome was based on this text is stated, conjecturally, by Pope Gregory IX. In a letter addressed to the Archbishop of Canterbury on the appointment of a bastard to the see of Worcester, Gregory declares-Nos ergo cum fratribus nostris habito super hoc diligenti tractatu, relectis canonibus, quosdam invenimus qui non legitime genitos promoveri vetant ad officium pastorale, causam forte trahentes ex lege divina per quam spurii et manzeres usque in decimam generationem in ecclesiam Dei prohibentur intrare. The matter is then debated pro and con, and the Pope concludes that although, according to a canon of the Lateran Council, the appointment is irregular, yet he has a dispensing power. Decretales Gregorii IX, lib. i. tit. 6, cap. xx. Corpus Juris Canonici, vol. 2, pp. 61, 62 (ed. 2 by Friedberg, 1881).

So, too, Boniface VIII insists on the need of a dispensation, episcopal for the lesser orders, papal for the greater. Ibid. p. 977.

Aquinas cites the text as one among the arguments against the

V.

BIBLE, SCRIPTURE.

I. 'Tis a great question how we know Scripture to be Scripture, whether by the Church, or by man's private spirit. Let me ask you how I know anything? How I know this carpet to be green? First, because somebody told me it was green: that you call the church in your way. And then after I have been told it is green, when I see that colour again, I know it to be green, my own eyes tell me it is green; that you call the private spirit.

2. The English translation of the Bible, is the best trans- 10 lation in the world, and renders the sense of the original best, taking in for the English translation the Bishops' Bible as well as king James's. The translators1 in king James's time took an excellent way. That part of the Bible was given to him who was most excellent in such a tongue (as the Apocrypha to Andrew Downs) and then they met together, and one read the translation, the rest holding in their hands some Bible, either of the learned tongues, or French, Spanish, Italian, &c. If they found any fault they spoke; if not, he read on.

1 Translators, H. 2, corrected from 'translation ']' translation,' H.

admission of bastards to orders. He concludes against their admission without a dispensation, but on general grounds, and without further reference to the text. Summa Theolog. Supplement, 3 part, quaest. 39, art. 5.

"1. 2. 'Tis a great question &c.] This question is discussed very fully in the course of the celebrated conference between Laud and the Jesuit Fisher, the first complete account of which was published in 1639. Laud handles the matter at greater length and with more unction than Selden; but for the most part substantially to the same effect. See Laud's Works, vol. ii. p. 70 ff.

1. 10. The English translation &c.] For an account of the persons employed in the translation, and of the rules which they were instructed to follow, see Wilkins, Concilia, iv. 432, and Fuller's Church History, bk. x. sec. 3, § 1, with note h in Brewer's edition.

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3. There is no book so translated as the Bible. For the purpose, if I translate a French book into English, I turn it into English phrase, not into French English. Il fait froid, I say, it is cold, not it makes cold; but the Bible is translated into English words rather than into English phrase. The Hebraisms are kept, and the phrase of that language is kept: as for example, [He uncovered her shame] which is well enough, so long as scholars have to do with it; but when it comes among the common people, lord, 10 what gear do they make of it!

ΙΟ

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4. Scrutamini scripturas. These two words have undone the world. Because Christ spake it to his disciples, therefore we must all, men, women, and children, read and interpret the Scriptures.

5. Henry the 8th made a law, that all men might read the Scriptures, except servants; but no women, except ladies and gentlewomen, who had leisure, and might ask somebody the meaning. The law was repealed in Edward the 6th days.

6. Laymen have best interpreted the hard places of the Bible, such as Joannes Picus, Scaliger, Grotius, Salmasius, Heinsius, &c.

7. If you ask, Which, of Erasmus, Beza, or Grotius, did best upon the New Testament? 'tis an idle question, for they did all well in their way. Erasmus broke down the first brick; Beza added many things, and Grotius added much to him, in whom we have either something new, or

1. 1. For the purpose] i. e. for instance: for proof of what I say. A phrase used by Selden elsewhere. See 'Trade,' sec. I, andEudoxus yet hath otherwise placed them; as for the purpose, the spring equinox on the sixth day after the sun's entrance into Aries &c. Works, iii. 1415.

1. 11. Scrutamini] Gk. épevvâre, probably the Present Indicative, and if so the words have been doubly misinterpreted.

1. 15. Henry the 8th made a law] This was 34 & 35 Henry VIII, ch. 1.

else something heightened that was said before; and so 'twas necessary to have them all three.

8. The text serves only to guess by; we must satisfy ourselves fully out of the authors that lived about those times.

9. In interpreting the scripture, many do, as if a man should see one have ten pounds, which he reckoned by 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10; meaning four was but four units, and five five units, &c., and that he had in all but ten pounds; the other that sees him, takes not the figures together as he doth, but picks here and there, and thereupon reports, that he has five pounds in one bag, and six pounds in another bag, and nine pounds in another bag, &c. when as in truth, he hath but ten pounds in all. So we pick out a text here and there to make it serve our turn; whereas, if we took it all together, and considered what went before, and what followed after, we should find it meant no such matter.

10. Make no more allegories in scripture than needs must. The fathers were too frequent in them: they indeed, before they fully understood the literal sense, looked out for an allegory. The folly whereof you may conceive thus; here at the first sight appears to me in my window, a glass and a book, I take it for granted 'tis a glass and a book; thereupon I go about to tell you what they signify; afterwards, upon nearer view, they prove no such things; one is a box made like a book, the other is a picture made like a glass. Where's now my allegory?

ΙΟ

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II. When men meddle with the literal text, the question is, where they should stop? In this case, a man must 30 venture his discretion, and do his best to satisfy himself and others in those places where he doubts. For although

1.20. The fathers were too frequent in them] This is amply verified by the 120 closely printed pages of the Index de Allegoriis, in the second vol. of the Indices to Migne's Patrologiae Cursus Completus, p. 123 ff.

we call the Scripture the word of God (as it is) yet it was writ by a man, a mercenary man, whose copy either might be false, or he might make it false: for example, here were a thousand bibles printed in England with the text thus, [Thou shalt commit adultery] the word not left out. Might not this text be mended?

12. The scripture may have more senses besides the literal, because God understands all things at once; but a man's writing has but one true sense, which is that which 10 the author meant when he writ it.

13. When you meet with several readings of the text, take heed you admit nothing against the tenets of your church; but do as if you were going over a bridge, be sure and hold fast by the rail, and then you may dance here and there as you please; be sure you keep to what is settled, and then you may flourish upon your various lections.

14. The Apocrypha is bound with the Bibles of all churches that have been hitherto. Why should we leave it out? The church of Rome has her Apocrypha, viz. 20 Susanna, and Bel and the Dragon, which she does not

1.4. here were a thousand Bibles &c.] Mr. Barker, the printer. There is a cause begunne against him for false printing of the Bible in divers places of it, in the edition of 1631, vizt in the 20 of Exod[us] 'Thou shalt committ adultery'; and in the fifte of Deut[eronomy] ‘The Lord hath shewed us his glory, and his great asse'; and for divers other faults. High Commission Cases, pp. 296 and 304 (Camden Society). Barker was not the only sufferer. Laud's account is that—among them (i. e. the printers) their negligence was such as that there were found above a thousand faults in two editions of the Bible and Common Prayer-Book. And one, which caused this search, was that in Exod. xx. where they had shamefully printed, Thou shalt commit adultery. For this, the masters of the printing house were called into the High Commission, and censured, as they well deserved it .. .. And Hunsford, being hit in his credit, purse, and friends, by that censure for so gross an abuse of the Church and religion, labours to fasten his fangs upon me. History of the Troubles and Trial of Abp. Laud, Laud's Works, iv. 165 and 195.

This edition was known as 'the wicked Bible.'

1. 20. Susanna, and Bel and the Dragon] This is not so. Susannah