Page:Bible (Douay Rheims OT1, 1609).djvu/5

TO THE ENGLISH READER. we shal repete the summe of al, that is there more largely discussed. To this first question therfore we answer, that both iust reason, & highest authoritie of the Church, iudge it not absolutly necessarie, nor alwayes conuenient, that holie Scriptures should be in vulgar tongues. For being as they are, hard to be vnderstood, euen by the lerned, reason doth dictate to reasonable men, that they were not written, nor ordayned to be read indifferently of al men. Experiēnce also teacheth, that through ignorance, ioyned often with pride and presumption, manie reading Scriptures haue erred grosly, by misunderstanding Gods word. Which though it be most pure in it self, yet the sense being adulterated is as perilous (saith Tertullian) as the stile corrupted. S. Ambrose obserueth: that where the text is true, the Arrians interpretation hath errors. S. Augustin also teacheth, that heresies and peruerse doctrines entangling soules, and throwing them downe headlong into the depth, do not otherwise spring vp, but when good (or true) Scriptures are not wel (and truly) vnderstood, and when that which in them is not wel vnderstood, is also rashly & boldly auouched. For the same cause, S. Ierom vtterly disallowed, that al sortes of men & wemen, old & yong, presumed to read: & talke of the Scriptures: wheras no articene, no tradsman dare presume to teach anie facultie, which he hath not first lerned. Seing therfore that dangers, & hurtes happen in manie, the careful chief Pastores in Gods Church, haue alwaies moderated the reading of holie Scriptures, according to persons, times, and other circumstances; prohibiting some, and permitting some, to haue and read them, in their mother tongue. So S. Crysostom translated the Psalmes & some other partes of holie Scriptures for the Armenians, when he was there in banishment. The Slauonians and Gothes say they haue the Bible in their languages. It was translated into Italian by an Archbyshop of Genua. Into French in the time of king Charles the fift: especially because the waldensian heretikes had corruptly translated it, to