YOur soule knoweth full well how often you haue beheld my Letters for the affaires of a man of esteem Rabbi Abraham Ruben an Ebrew , a special Lawier in Iewes Lerning : whom we must regard , as hee loveth our nation , and affordeth honorable speches of our Queen , more then any one of milions : & also seketh the honour of our nation , and estimation for the lerning of our people in singular hartiness . Notwithstanding vntill this very day I heard no word from you , but that which others spake vpon heresay : whereon no hold is to bee taken , that you would giue me allowance sufficient to awnsweare the Iewe. And now because I haue been long a pilgrome without awnsweare now these two yeares dayes : & could haue made a greate volume before this , & left myne own busines to be imployed for the vse of the Church , I thought good to demaund of you before the Eyes of this soonne what you purpose for awnswear to the people of the King of Thogarma· And I will stay yet a little tine while , watching what you wil speake in the end . Although he wrote unto my basenes , I am not of authority to aunswer , because his writing went upon matters of your trade . And all the while you hold your peace , none may meddle with this busines . Therefore I am in great expectation that you will not hold your peace : but take the matter in hand : or will say , that you find none in the Kingdome which be men of understanding , and of settled affection for this worke : & will search for them from some other place where they may be found . For hee is not a speaker of light matter : & his spech is not of ēmpty & vayne sound : but he mindeth things of chief regard : his hart uttereth good matter : he desireth in his workes the kingdome of heaven : & his pen is the tongue of an amiable writer .

Your eyes have ben the beholders of sundry former letters , & you have marked them . Yet you may here also consider the effect of his wordes : that you may perceive whether great blame were in yee for delay hitherto as though yee had bē weak of judgmēt , & you wil weigh my words whether they give advertisement of right . In the beginning he speaketh highly of God his blessing upō us , in the corners of the earth : how he createth the fruct of lippes to heavens peace , a far off : & from the corners of the earth he hath heard of songes of honour in true justice . Should not we all for this joyn to him with as good spech in the prophets allegories & say of God. Hee hath geven in the wildernes Ceder , The Tabernacles Sittah tree , & mirtle , & oile wood , & set in the desert , the Pitys & the Box also : that wee may see and understand , and marke , and perceave that the hand of the Eternall hath done this for us . It was our duty to have uttered with sage cariage : that the mercies of God upon us pass all spech : and it hath not bene done under the heaven as Gods cōpassiones were shewed upon the people of Britanie : yf God had gevē us an heart to consider his doings . The Rock of my heart knoweth that since I receaved the litle booke of the humane Rabbin I have ben ready to take the matter in hand : as in hand it must nedes be taken . And yf I wēt to the couch of my bed , yf I geve slepe to my eyes , or slumbering to my liddes without thinking upō an awnswear unto the Iew for the praises of our God , let my hand forget to rule a pen , & let my toungue cleave to the ruff . But it was not for me to speak , as with the realmes consēt , much or little , without publique auctority : nor to prevēt you in your owne office . Furthermore , the party hath writ ten most honorable praises concerning the Prince amōge nations , our soveraigne Lady : & he would make her the glory of all the earth . There hath ben none , there is none , there wil be none hereafter , a prayser of her highnes , such as he shewed himselfe . And although my pen found her all this prayse , with the children of the East , yet I am not fit to awnswer for the maiestie of the Q. because I am of no place among you , notwithstanding the manie & great preferments the Queen had to give : & sent me word from the LL. by S. Iul. C. that I should chose honorable preferments . Notwithstanding yf it be the Queenes pleasure to appoynt me for this charge : then wil I goe about hartely , to set forth the honour of her highnes , as the golden head of her kingdome : & I wil not suffre the sonnes of the East to be amazed : that there is no Patron to this cause among all sturdy hartes of Britanie .

Lo , This answear is plain . Now I will returne to translate : how in the former the Iew talketh of our happines through the blessings of the al sufficient : & of the high & greate dignity of our Q. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ( by him ) as the sun ▪ & as terrible as a camp . After this the Iew maketh a petitiō for a matter grateful to him , thankful amōge us : a matter honorable , & nothing onerable . His soule desired to obteyne from England some teachers of justice : which might guide al Ebrewes who delite in the shelter by Christ . & flee to repose al theyr hope under the winges of the Eternal majesty . For it is to be feared lest theyr way-pathes turne to be croked , for want of a guide and directer : & come to be of no worth , and decline in theyr voyage with tottering feet , & seke not the Eternal by the right path . Oh that his petition befell him , & Oh that the Mighty wold giue him his desire . Truly gref parcheth me that the Brestcare of judgement is gone from us , that we kepe back spech of holy truth , & cōtemne his petition , & restraine the request of his tongue : & withold the Māna from his meaning . Oh that my wayes wer fit for a journey as this my soule brayeth after the streames of water , for the honour of our natiō , & for the divine glory of our endes of the earth , the possessiō of the Sone in whō so many as trust are sure of happines . How honorable is the name of Cōstantine for his diligēce & care & busi thoughtes to call nationes unto the mountaine of the Lord , the celestiall Siō , & unto the Ierusalē which cometh downe from an high : our histories shew how he wrote & sent to Spain & India , carefull for East & Weast . Yf we come of his mothers kindred , flesh of his flesh , & bone of his bone , shall not we goe after his steppes in the steppes of Christ ? Is not our soveraī Lady our motherlik Sarah , & a new Helena ? Ther must be sent a messinger to the Virgin sea of Elisa that shal be a builder of the holy city . My hope is the L. wil not despise , nor your Grace . she wil not disdayne to send unto the city of Cōstātin an Orator that can handle the Law , aD . of divinity & an Evāgelist . For the mighty Emperour the king of Thogarmah desired to know the force of our religiō & to see how the high Ierusalē is built amōg us , which is paved with all preciousnes : her stones make a foundation of Saphires : The windowes are of the Chaldy Chalcedon or Carbuncle : & the gates of Chrystall stones : & pleasant stones are in all her borders . VVhen he seeth how beautifull our city is , he will have a desire to dwel with us in peace . Your wisdome knoweth well what the wordes of the Ambassadour closly touched concerning an hope exceeding great . VVe might bring all to passe by the help of God , and our purpose should not be hindred . And yf we could turne him to our side , what goodly dwellinges had we recovered , what pleasant soyles had come again to us : as streames spred abroad : as a garden upon a river . As the Santall which God planted : as the Cedres by the waterside . VVe feele that he is a mighty King : & hath the strength of the Rhinoceros . The mountaynes of the East obey him & principall nations have ben tamed of him . And who wold linger , or faint , or be weary in affayres for so great a personage . Yf wee set one , the Almighty will furnish with strength : & will encrease might , wher litle at the first was . And yf our success be good , we should ridd our side of much harme : & his strength wold turne to be our perpetuall mighty strength . And touching this Iew , newes upon newes rūne & tidinges upon tidinges , shewed by letters that this Rabbin hath drawen many with him to heare the whistling of the flockes of Christ . Yf that be true , our duty requireth we settle them : & to confirme them , lest theyr feet stumble , and theyr steppes slide , and some of them turne unto heresies . Moreover I think that the second Epistle which perished at Strawesburge , declared more oboundantly the counsell of the hart of the Rabbin , & cryed out to find some coning doctor , to teach readily the frame of all the bible . And it were an easy matter to teach them all this : & it should be a glory for our Quene , & as longe as the Mone primeth for ever and ever . And this much for the journey unto the City of Constantina .

At the last the Ebrewes desire was to find so much favour as that he might have from vs a treatise of the written word : what consent & perfection the Bible had . The handling of this requireth also a confuting of the Thalmud geven , as Iewes say , by word of mouth from man to man. Here he made an high petition , & requested very depe matter And he knew well enough what costly studies must be joyned togeather for this compasse of lerning . At the first all the Scripture must be abridged , & the accidentes : the incorruption of the text : what tongues the Bible hath : what groūd we have for understanding the tongue of the Law : and the joyning of all bookes into one body : and how the glory of Christ & his salvation doth breath through every severall parcell . After this must come the Thalmudiques , Iewes workes : upon the Law , Prophetes , & Hagiographa . So the ground of translatiō soundly should be manifested . It is knowen & famous how the congregation of Romistes fighteth to overthrow the pureness of the Text : also they deny the Ebrew characters forme now , to be Mosaicall , and deny the vowels to be Mosaicall , & say , the eight hundreth forty eigh margent readinges , check the text as corrupt And thus before the simple folk , the Pope hath fell , cast downe , & overthrowē the glory of the Prophetes . Against such dealinges we should set furth the honour of the volumes writtē , by the Messingers of God , our doctour , & our teacher of justice : and to combat with them which say ther is corruption or alteration in the Prophetes Text. And theyr spech doth spare a truth . For the congregation of the lerned Iewes returned from Babel , men of light , pure , aboundant , mighty , have set up markes & a wall about the Law to kepe it sincere & sound . The Iew knoweth this full well . Yet to shew our consent with him , this matter must be handled . So we shall besene not to have any mynd of agreement and fellowship with them which say , the Originall , ( Ebrew or Greke ) is corrupted . Moreover touching the New Testamēt we must nedes declare wherfore it was written in the tongue of the sonnes of Iaphet : & how God acquainted the Iewes by litle & litle to take the tongue of theyr neighboures . So Ezra recordeth certen Epistles in the tongue of Aram Gen. 10. used in Chaldea & Persia . So Daniel wrote half his book in Arams tongue . And afterwardes the Septuaginta did set over the holy volume into the tongue of Iavan . notwithstanding all this the Iewes doe greatly marveile even unto this day why the New Testament was not written in the Iewes language : ( or tongue of Chanaan . Es . 19. ) and thy have forgotten what theyr old Doctours say : in the Thalmud Ierusalemy , in Megilah fol. 71. They shall in time speake in the tongue of Iapheth in the house of Sem. This thing is a great matter : & goodly to be shewed how it is come to pass . So , to shew directly all the drift of the Scripture , this labour will require travell . For the Iewes in this argument relie upon the Misnayoth or Thalmudiques . But you & your felowes upon our S S. Doctoures . And yf you so deale with the Iew , he and his people wold despise us all . Here I will shew my poore opinion , what should be done for declaration of the wisdome of our faith , according to the expectation of the King of Turky handled in the Iewes Epistle . For I have reason to think that by the Kinges commaundement , & not of him self , he wold write as he did . Thus the case standeth . VVhen we expound the Law , we must serch carefully , the propre force of every word so well as we can : & so we must bring the best sence that we can . For every commaundement litle or great , must be weighed with the balance of the hart . For the hart hath comon judgement planted from the wisdome of the Eternall God. Now yf comon judgement cannot bear the speach : or yf it goe against comon sense , then must we seke a trope from some other place of the Law or holy scripture . For the comon judgement graven in the mind , that is the ground of all expositiones . And all natiōs agree in that . For the Angel betwixt man & God is the light wherwith he was lightned at his coming into the world . And upon this ground all our religion is settled . And we must nedes handle this fully for the Easterne natiōs . And this much for the Scriptures , how the meaning should be opened . There remayneth a laboure of longe winges , for joyning of all the bookes : from theyr begining with the creation of the world , unto the end of the last book : which is called the Revelation of S. Iohn , which sealeth up all . The joyning of the curtines in the Tabernacle was not better fastened with stringes or clasping together , then all the bookes one enter into the other . And three bookes specially are full of the brightnes of Christ , & beames of his glory : the book of Daniel , The foreworke Gospell , & the vision of S. Iohn . How denty unto the palate be theyr wordes ? how swete unto the soule be theyr speches ? They are more worth then Gold , & much Fess Ore , & sweter then hony & the dropping of the combe . For Daniel shewed how Michael stode for his people under Babel , Madaj , Macedon & the Kinges of the North , with the Kinges of Egipt . how they walked in an image ; became as chaff : were eaten up of fier . But the people of Christ was still saved , & they who feared God were more honored in Babel then ever any should have bene under the Kinges of Iudah . Also they were taught of the very day when Christ who was holy above the sonnes of David , shold consecrate himself for us . Yea all nationes knew , whē the King of glory should come into the worle . Also , Flavius Iosephus , beside his testimony that Christ arose again the third day , he confesseth that in his dayes expectation was of a King who should reigne over all the world . Also Romanes wrote in the same sort . And all this bred from the book of Gracious Daniel , whose vesiones are sweteness it self , & his expositiones are as clear as chrystall , concerning what should befall the Iewes , untill the Redeemer came into the world . Also the Grekes recorde all that Daniell prophecyed , to have fallen out . And as he himself shewed in work the force of his name , when he transposed one Letter to make Balat Esh , tzar , he hath broken out a fyre to the foe , & shewed that ther none Bel , Tash , Azzar , Bel a storer of wealth : but Bel he is a fier of sorow to his worshippers & the God of Heavē is Tash Atzar , the storer of wealth : as he calleth his name & the Chaldeās King his name how they agree with Gods present judgemēt then : that the very letters placing should be regarded : so Heathen stories record , that his prophecies be true , & the matters which he wrot of be famously knowē among them : as the fall of Babel , of Paras , of Alexanders howse , and all the warres of the Kinges of the North , & the Kinges of Egipt : and all theyr mariages how they were mingled in the seede of man , and cleaveth not together till the Romanes bestript them of theyr Kingdomes by the yere that Christ came into the world , and was borne in Bethlechem Iehuda , in the reigne of Augustus . Any simple man might see the wisdome of our faith , yf a ready Doctour should teach him the Prophecy of Belat Esh Tzar . Daniel Tash Aozar , had layd up store full great : & he is , as it were a bridge from the end of the captiuity unto the dayes of Christ . And thence springes the Gospell of the fower Evangelistes , Mathew , Marc , Luke , Iohn . They are as the four beastes , in the head of whose bookes is the similitude of the Throne , of the Kingdome of David : and on the similitude of the Throne , the similitude of a man in dede . He is Christ . They have declared in few wordes the perfect knowledge of God with the Spirit of fier & judgemēts & a fierie Law was with theyr disciples . How goodly are the steppes of Christ in theyr story , how precious are his workes & wonders : his right hand wroght valiantly to subdue the old enemy , that he should not deceave the sonnes of Adam . They have gathered all the sweetenes of all the Prophetes to honour the honorable in strength , synce the coming of the sonne of man with the cloudes of heaven : and after his resurrection , he went unto the auncient of dayes , and was brought before him , and to him was geven power and honour and kingdome , and all people nations and tongues worshipped him . Those things have they writtē , and theyr true wordes be as light spred upon the mountaines . Also Iohn in the Revelation buildeth the high Ierusalem : after that Christ had destroyed the lower . And he testifieth that the covenant for all nationes made them the servantes of God in every country under Heaven . Only as in Daniel the sainctes of the most high Trinity , wer alwayes in affliction , so while the world endureth , all that desire life of the world to come , the world of recompence , shal be whittened & purified , through distress & anguish . Moreover he comprehendeth the four beastes of Daniel a new by like dealinges in one beast compoūded of the foure first : & the dealinges of this beast wil be stirring untill light and darkenes have theyr end . These thinges gracious Iohn setteth furth . Your high honour shall wonderfully advaunce the glory of the Gospell yf you afford a declaratiō of these three workes in particular concerning the brightnes of the light of Christ : whose glory covereth the heavens , and his praise filleth the Earth . And furthermore of Christ you hav an heavenly matter of spech . His barres reach through all the curtines of the holy Scriptures : Into which , breath of life is inspired , unto salvation : as he hath bene the hope of the auncient Fathers since Adam was set upon the earth : a bruser of the old serpentes head . Also he is properly Melchisedek , King of Iustice and King of peace : in whom all the families of the Earth should be blessed . And he is the unblemished Lamb , and by his blood we are redeemed : and God gave him for our sinnes : but he shall sit upō the Throne of David for ever : and he at the time prefixed was kild to make reconciliation for sin : & he confirmed the covenant for the many , that is , for all nationes , & he arise & destroyd city & temple , to make an heavēly city that Ierusalem which cometh downe from heaven . Great grace may be shewed in a true narration for all these poinctes . The joy of hart in all the readers wil be pleasant & permanent , when they goe throw Law , Prophet , & Hagiographa . No old gold can match the price ; no silver can be wayed to the valew , it cannot be peised with Ophirs Cethem , with the precious Beryll or ( Isachars ) Saphir . Doubtles a lerned man , & eloquent Oratour , one of a thousand , which could expound from the Apostles according to the brightenes of theyr wordes , how all dependeth upon the salvation of Christ : & how ther is no other name under heavē for which God gave charge to give honour for the world to come , by one booke of direction here , should be of high price , & delightfull full of comfort and esteeme . The joyes and price wold match all Iewells : & vessels of Fess Gold wold be geven for it . The gold and Chrystall wold not match it : the Ramoth and Gabish stones should not be regarded as it . And all this doth the learned Rabbin comprehend : who listned what wil be awnsweared from England , & geveth all heed of attention . The last petitiones cōteyned closly the Thalmudiques . For them a learned book should be made , to allow the right , and to damne the wronge : while the Apostles maner is shewed : how they handle Moyses 613 Lawes : and all their speches are called to those comō places : so to shew all theyr wordes , rule upon rule , rule upon rule : line upon line , line upon line , how they rule the Thalmudiques . A liuely man of good valour wold performe all this . The King of Togarmah or Turky , wished , desireth , and wold have the knowledge of our faith : the Quenes Ambassadour is the reporter : a Iew wrot it again and again : we hahe the praises of our God and of our Quene : he calleth for a guid : he hath geven us the honour asking instruction of us .

And now the eyes of all look upon you , low & high mark you , what you will awnswear for the glory of our God and Kingdome , & wisdome of our nation . All Kinges in the world will marke , how you will cary this matter : whether to glory & honour for ever , or to eternall shame & reproch .