CM
THE ENGLISH BIBLE.
THE ENGLISH BIBLE:
,-LV EXTERNAL AND CRITICAL HISTORY OF THE
VARIOUS ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS
OF SCRIPTURE,
WITH REMARKS ON THE NEED OF
REVISING THE ENGLISH NEW TESTAMENT.
JOHN EADIE, D.D., LL.D.,
PROFESSOR OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE AND EXEGESIS,
UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. II.
Ifcmbon:
MACMILLAN AND GO.
1876.
All rights reserved.
65
-4 ^
VJ J
CONTENTS.
GENEVAN VERSION.
CHAPTER XXXII.
Marian Refugees Geneva Whittingham His New Testament Genevan
Bible Those Employed in the Revision Dedication to Queen Elizabeth
To the Christian Reader Causes of its Popularity Breeches
Bible, ........ Page 3
CHAPTER XXXIII.
The Genevan a Revision of Tyndale collated with Great Bible Collation
showing this, and also Influence of Beza A decided Advance on the
Great Bible Excerpts Changes to the better in the Apocrypha, . 1(>
CHAPTER XXXIV.
Terms with Latin Signification Felicitous Renderings Antique Words and
Senses Old Spelling Unwarrantable Supplementary Clauses Marginal
Notes Calvinism of Notes Excellence of Version, . . 23
CHAPTER XXXV.
Bodley s Patent for printing Genevan Bible Not printed in England during
Parker s Life-time Tomson s Revision Great Popularity Vitality
Esme Stuart and Cobham, ......
VOL. IT. a
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
Genevan Bible in Scotland " Common Band" of Protestant Nobles Scottish
Scholars who might have taken part in Biblical Revision Publication of
Genevan Version and First General Assembly of the Kirk First Edition
printed in Scotland Measures for increasing its Circulation English of
the South intelligible to Scottish Population Overture for Revision of
Genevan Version, ....... 39
CHAPTER XXXVII.
Genevan the favourite Volume in Scottish Families Laud s Dislike to it
Attacks upon it by Howson and Martin Priest Hamilton and his
Attack no
THE BISHOPS BIBLE.
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
Early Part of Elizabeth s Reign beset with Difficulties Agnes Prest and Joan
Waste Elizabeth s R,egard for the Scriptures Her Eagerness for Uni
formity Different Bibles in Circulation Parker and the Proposal for
another Revision His Coadjutors The Various Translators Bible
Finished and Presented to the Queen Parker on Affectionate Terms with
Fellow- Workers, . . . . . . . 59
CHAPTER XXXIX.
Description of First Edition of Bishops Bible Parker s Preface No Royal
Confirmation Rebellion of Northern Earls Critical Remarks by Law
rence New Testament Revised Collation of Three Versions in Ezekiel
and Matthew Notes Burleigh s Portrait Price, . . 76
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XL.
Specimens of Literal Translations Supplements More Stately than Precise
Want of Uniformity The Great Bible superseded Three Versions in
Circulation Martin s Attack and Fulke s Defence, . . 95
RHEIMS AND DOUAI VERSION.
CHAPTER XLI.
This Version taken from the Vulgate Account of the Vulgate The Church of
Rome Its Reluctance to give Vernacular Versions to the People
Catholic Refugees in Reign of Elizabeth Seminary at Douai New
Testament Translated at Rheims Martin and Allen Preface to New
Testament Motives for Translating Method of Translation Close
Adherence to Latin Text -Answers of Fulke and Cart\vright Reasons for
Translating from Vulgate Polemical Notes Translated with the Greek
Text before them Latinized English Good Renderings Use of the
Genevan and the Bishops Uniformity Rheims New Testament appealed
to by Mary, Queen of Scots, on the Evening before her Execution, . 107
CHAPTER XLII.
Old Testament published at Douai Described Preface sets forth Impedi
ments Gives Reasons for Translating from Latin Text For Strictness in
Translating some Words Obscure Renderings, especially in Psalter
Idiomatic Renderings Romish Notes Controversy between Fulke and
Martin Whitgift and Cartwright Table of Protestant Errors Second
Edition Changes in subsequent Versions Challoner and Lingard
Theological Nomenclature, . . . . . .137
v iii CONTENTS.
AUTHORIZED VERSION.
CHAPTER XLIII.
King James Strange Incidents of Infantine Years His Character presents a
species of Dualism Belief in Kingly Supremacy Early Knowledge of
Scripture Fondness for Theological Discussion Intolerance Changes of
Opinion Flatteries heaped upon him The Millenary .Petition Hampton
Court Conference Dr. Ileynolds The King and the Genevan Notes
New Translation agreed to Bancroft s Correspondence with regard to it
Profusion and Poverty of the King The Board of Revisers Short Notices
Rules laid down for the Revision Revision not Translation Their own
Arguments for Revision Their Commendation of Scripture Study Com
pletion of the Work Published Dedication to the King The Clause,
"Appointed to be read in Churches" Galloway, the Pioyal Chaplain
Fuller s Eulogy of the New Bible, . . . . .159
CHAPTER XLIV.
Constant Use of Hebrew and Greek Originals Hebrew Text Greek Text
Stephens and Beza Marginal Notes No Historical Notes Help from
various Translations Other Helps Selden s Glimpse into their Method of
Procedure Alternative Renderings in Margin Influence of Bishops
Of Earlier Versions Care in Choice of Words Excellence of English
Style Hebrew Phrases Ingenious Turns of Diction The English
specially Saxon Terms occurring only once License taken in Trans
lating the Apocrypha Simplicity, Clearness, and Harmony Univer
sality of Adaptation The English of the Beginning of the Seventeenth
Century, ...... 208
CHAPTER XLV.
Different Fate of Words in Margin and in Text Words and Phrases in Con
tents of Chapters which have wholly or nearly passed away Obsolete
Words in Text Words changed in Meaning Archaisms Words which
CONTENTS.
IX
have only their Latin Meaning Peculiar Phrases and Syntax Varying
Forms Old Use of " His " Variations in Spelling Various Pecu
liarities, .... 242
CHAPTER XLVL
Hostility to their Version anticipated by Translators Charges of Broughton,
Gell, and Ward "Witchcraft" "God Save the King" Ecclesiastical
Predilection Doctrinal Influence Anti-Popish Leanings How far Beza
was followed, . 2G4
CHAPTER XLVII.
Supplemental Words Italics Supplements often unnecessary Sometimes
unwarranted Headings of Chapters made by Command Some Particu
lars regarding, ....... 280
CHAPTER XLVIII.
The Barkers and the Printing of Authorized Version Bibliography First
Editions brought into Correspondence with the Bishops and the Genevan
Specimens of Inaccuracy in Early Issues Various Editions Edition of
Buck and Daniel Kilburne on the Errors in Editions of Hill and Field
Field s Pearl Bible Assembly s Annotations Lightfoot on the Apocrypha
Editions of Blayney and Others American Revised Edition Punctua
tion and Paragraph Marks, ...... 288
CHAPTER XLIX.
Scotland never had any Indigenous Translation Content to receive its Bible
from Abroad and especially from England Authorized Version gradually
made its way in Scotland Editions Printed in that Country Anderson s
Patent Numerous and Gross Blunders in Widow Anderson s Bibles And
in those of her Successors James Watson s Bibles Row s Proposals for
Revision Bible Monopoly in Scotland The "Sweet Singers" and their
Rejection of Authorized Version Superstitious L"se of the Bible
Misquotations Number of Chapters, Verses, Words, and Letters in
Bible Wonderful and Suggestive History of English Bible. . 311
CON TEN Iti.
KEVISION OF NEW TESTAMENT.
CHAPTER L.
The Bible at once Divine and Human Hostility to Settlement of the Text
Labours of Origen, Jerome, and Robert Stephens Walton and Owen
Bengel, Mill, and Bentley Various Scholars on the Desirableness of
Revision of Authorized Version The Long Parliament and Bill for
Revision Changes in the Original Text call for Revision of the Version
Nature of a True Revision Futility of Objections Xo Ground for
Alarm Strange Specimens of Revision by Scarlett and Heinfetter
Other Examples of Revision Works on Revision Tischendorf and
Tregelles. ........ 337
CHAPTER LI.
Defects of Authorized Version Ambiguities Inexact Renderings Claiises
Liable to be Misunderstood Misleading Punctuation Difficult Idioms
and Technical Words. 365
CHAPTER LII.
Want of Uniformity Variation so far Allowable Terms Characteristic
of a Divine Revelation of Love to a Sinful World Variations which
are Unnecessary Capricious Prejudicial Motives Inducing " Parable,"
" Love" " Straightway " in Mark Connection weakened by Variation
Example in St. Paul s Address at Athens-^-His Repeated Use of the Same
Term not brought out Other Examples of Variation. . . 383
CHAPTER LIU.
One English Term represents several Greek Words Distinctions thereby
Effaced Several Examples Crown, People, Godhead, True, Temple,
Life John xxi, 15-17 New Light Clusters of Instances Child,
Beasts, Die and Dead, World, Will, Weep, Servant, Judge, Wash,
Remission, Repent, Hell Devil and Demon Miracle, Sign, Wonder
Anacolouthon and Paronomasia. 416
CONTESTS.
CHAPTER LIY.
The Greek Article Inconsistencies of Translators in dealing with Before
the Name Christ Some Point or Specialty lost by its Omission
Wrongly Inserted Overpressed. .... 437
CHAPTER LV.
The Greek Tenses Aorist misrendered by Perfect Perfect by Present
Perfect and Pluperfect Epistle to Hebrews characterized by use of
Perfect Imperfect not correctly Rendered Mark and the Use of the
Present Greek Verbs corresponding to "become" and "be" con
founded. ........ 443
CHAPTER LVI.
Prepositions Misrendering of tv oid tk IK and TTO v-n-ip and iript iiri and
Trio s The conjunctions oVcos and tva. .... 458
CHAPTER LVII.
Proper Names Most Familiar Forms employed Jehovah Proper Names
variously spelled Official Names Chaldee Names. . . 466
CHAPTER LVIIL
Topography and Productions of Palestine The Land illustrates the Book
Terms belonging to Botany and Zoology misrendered Specific Topo
graphical Terms Measures, Weights, and Coins Qualifications of a
Translator Hallam and Newman on the English of the Authorized
Version Brief Account of the Revision at present in progress. . 472
INDEX, ......... 485
ERRATA.
Page 39, line 9 from top, for " Bible," read " Bibles."
171, headline, for " Millenary Position," read " Millenary Petition.
,, 328, line 8 from top, for " part of fat things," read " feast of fat things."
,, 342, line G from bottom, /or " exposition," read " exposure."
THE ENGLISH BIBLE
THE GENEVAN VERSION.
VOL. II.
" BEZA also, in his Epistle to the prince off condy aiid nobles of France
hathe these wordes. Seinge then all theis controuersies muste be discussed
by Goddes worde, I suppose that this thinge ought chiefly to be prouided for,
that seinge all canot haue the knowledge to vnderstand the worde off God
in theis peculiar languages, the Hebrue and the greek (whiche were to be
wished) that there shulde be some true and apte translation of the olde and
newe testamete made the whiche diuers haue already labored to bringe to
passe, but yet no man hathe hitherto sufficiently performed it. For the
olde translation (whose so euer it is) although it ought not to be con
demned, yet is it founde bothe obscure vnperfect and superfluous and also
false in many places, to speake nothinge off an infinite variete off the copies.
The whiche texte therfore many lerned and godly men haue laboured to
amende, but not with like successe. And yet howe necessary a thinge this
is, who so euer shall reade those moste lerned wryters off the gretiaus, and
shall compare their interpretations (whiche are manie times farr from the
purpos) with the Hebrue veritie, he shall coufesse it with great sorowe.
" And the same euill was not onely hurtef ull aniouge the latten writers,
but also the ignorance off the greeke tonge wherwith many off them were
troubled, whiles they did depend off the common translation, they oftimes
seeke a knott in a rushe (according to the olde prouerbe) and fell into moste
fowle errors.
" Here might I touche a thinge parhapp worthe the hearinge yff hope
were off redresse, whiche is, that yff the lerned were but one halff so earneste,
zelous, and carefull, to se that the holy Scriptures in this Eealme might be
faithfully translated and trulye corrected, as they are many tymes abowte
matters nothinge so necessarie : I woulde not dowte to saie that they
shulde do vnto god an excellent peece off seruice,
" For the moste parte off oure Englishe Bibles are so ill translated (as the
lerned report) and so falsely printed (as the simple maie find) that suche
had nede to be verie well acquainted with scripture, as in many places
shulde get owte the true meaninge and sence."
Troubles begun at Frankfort,
CHAPTER XXXII.
A S the storm did not burst for some time after the accession
of Mary Tudor, a crowd of persons, to the number of
eight hundred, who saw the clouds gathering, made their
immediate escape to the Continent, and found refuge at Emb-
den, Wesel, Strasburg, Worms, Berne, Basle, Zurich, and
Frankfort. Bishop Gardyner s character and antecedents were
well known ; and he told Renard, the Spanish Ambassador,
with quiet complacency, that " a few messages asking some of
them to visit him at his house had given them wings." Among
the refugees were saintly and learned men five bishops, five
deans, fifty eminent divines, and also several persons of high
social distinction six knights, three ladies of title one of them
the Duchess of Norfolk, the queen s cousin. Many foreigners
who had come to England in Edward s reign also fled away.
Among them was the uncle of the King of Poland, the well
known John a Lasco, who obtained liberty from the Queen
to leave the country. Under Edward VI he had the pastoral
charge of a congregation of foreigners that met in the church
of the Austin Friars. Many states and free cities assisted
the exiles, for the spirit of brother-love, rising above terri
torial barriers, was fresh, and unwearied in its manifestations. 1
Nationality was forgotten, and the sufferings of the poor
strangers were pitied, and relieved with unstinted hand.
They enjoyed rest and peaceful worship for a brief season ; but
what were significantly called the " Troubles " soon sprang up
1 Grafton, the printer of the Great his " Chronicle," and Foxe was at
Bible, was among the exiles, and he Basle, engaged on his "Acts and
employed his leisure in composing Monuments."
4. THE ENGLISH BIBLE. CHAP.
at Frankfort. The question of clerical vestments and of church
service vexed them some of them being of freer opinions,
and others more conservative ; some being disposed to compro
mise, and others to hold fast by the Prayer Book of Edward
VI. Knox was not hostile to read prayers in themselves, for
he helped to compose a " Book of Common Order " ; x but Cox,
who had been tutor to the late king, was intolerant of all
modification. The controversy might surely have been allowed
to sleep among persons who were living by sufferance and
charity in a foreign land, and certainly it was not one that
necessitated an immediate solution in their circumstances.
The thought of so many brethren being burned at home might
have saddened them into mutual forbearance, and gratitude
for their own escape might have absorbed many minor predi
lections. But both parties grew more decided and passionate,
and at length "the contention was so sharp between them
that they parted asunder one from the other," and the non-
conforming section removed to Geneva.
This fair city, at the outlet of Lake Leman, girt with the
mighty mountains, was regarded as the citadel of Protestantism,
and it held in it the fate of Europe. Keligion was therefore a
matter of life and death to its inhabitants, who having fre
quently and gallantly defended themselves against surrounding
enemies, felt that in fighting for Geneva they were upholding
the liberties of humanity ; for they knew that the triumph of
the Duke of Savoy would entail civil and ecclesiastical ruin,
and yoke all southern lands to ultramontane despotism. Their
theology, whatever may now be said of it, exercised a mighty
influence in England, had an ennobling ascendancy in Scotland,
and has been carried across the ocean to strengthen and sane-
1 Carefully reprinted at Edin- prayer following, or such like " ;
burgh by Blackwood & Sous, 1868, " either in the words following, or
under the editorship of the Rev. W. like in effect"; "the action thus
Sprott and the Eev. Thomas Leish- ended, the people sing the 103rd
man, M.A. One characteristic dif- Psalm, or some other of thanksgiv-
ference between it and the English ing." See also Lorimer s " John
Book is, that the former allows vari- Knox and the Church of England,
utions "using after sermon this London, 1875.
xxxii.] WHITTINGHAM. 5
tify another great republic. A collection was made in England,
through the bishops, for the city of Geneva in 1582, and in
1603 the Archbishop of Canterbury issued, with the royal sanc
tion, a proclamation to gather another gift.
But the "gospellers" were not idle in their picturesque
retreat, and a revision of the New Testament was soon taken
in hand. Such a work was in harmony with the literary and
Biblical enterprises of that city of refuge under the shadow of
the Alps ; and Calvin, Beza, and their colleagues, shed a new
lustre on its history. Olivetan, a relative of Calvin, had
already translated and published a French Bible, and in the
execution of the work Calvin had rendered him considerable
assistance. An edition of the New Testament, which, how
ever, is not a portion of the Genevan Bible proper, was
published in 1557, on the 10th of June one of the most
terrible months in England, for between the 18th and 22nd
days of that month twenty-seven martyrs yielded up their
lives.
The editor of this New Testament was William Whit-
tingham. 1 William Whittingham was born in 1524, in the
parish of Lanchester, near Durham. He became a com
moner of Brasenose, Oxford, about 1540, and five years after
wards a fellow of All Souls. According to Wood, he was, on
account of his scholarship, chosen one of the senior students of
Christ Church, Henry wishing to fill it with the most promis
ing young men, as had also been the desire of Wolsey. Whit
tingham had returned home from twelve years foreign travel
and sojourn a few weeks before King Edward s death. But
he again left his native land, and, with many others, arrived in
Frankfort on the 27th of June, 1554. Having gone to Geneva
toward the end of 1555, he married Catherine, the sister of John
Calvin. Whittingham came back to England on the accession
of Elizabeth, and was promoted in 1563 to the deanery of
Durham, which he held for sixteen years. He had been for a
period chief engineer and chaplain in the defence of Havre de
Grace, the general in command being the Earl of Warwick
1 Whittingham distinctly identi- of the Troubles begun at Frankfort,
fies himself as the editor. Discourse p. cxciii, Petheram, London, 1846.
C THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
brother to the Earl of Leicester through whose influence he so
speedily obtained promotion, 1 though he had not been episco-
pally ordained. He dealt roughly with some of the monuments
in his cathedral ; but his wife showed what blood was in her,
when she took " the blessed banner of St. Cuthbert," which
had once waved victorious on Flodden Edge, and " despitefully
burned it in her fire, to the open contempt and disgrace of all
sacred relics." 2
The New Testament so speedily revised, and published
anonymously, is the work of one man, for in the explanatory
address to the reader, he speaks uniformly in the first
person singular. His words are : " To these therfore which
are of the flocke of Christ which knowe their Father s wil r
and are affectioned to the trueth, I rendre a reason of nry
doing in few lines. First, as touching the perusing of the
text, it was diligently reuised by the moste approued
Greke examples, and conference of translations in other
tonges as the learned may easily iudge, both by the faithful
rendering of the sentence, and also by the proprietie of the
wordes, and perspicuite of the phrase. Forthermore that the
Reader might be by all meanes profited, I haue deuided the
text into verses and sections, according to the best editions in
other langages, and also, as to this day the ancient Greke copies
mencion, it was wont to be vsed. And because the Hebrewe and
Greke phrases, which are strange to rendre in other tongues, and
also short, shulde not be to harde, I haue sometyme interpreted
them without any whit diminishing the grace of the sense, as.
our langage doth vse them, and sometime haue put to that worde,
which lacking made the sentence obscure, but haue set it in
such letters as may easily be discerned from the common text.
As concerning the Annotations, wherunto these letters a, b, c,
<fcc., leade vs, I haue endeuored so to proffit all therby, that
both the learned and others might be holpen : for to my knol-
1 See a short Life of Whittingham 2 Whittingham contributed several
in Lorimer s " John Knox and the Psalms to the collection that went
Church of England," taken from the by the name of Sternhold and Hoj -
papers of Anthony a Wood, Appen- kins.
dix, p. 303.
xxxn.] GENEVAN NEW TESTAMENT. 7
lage I haue omitted nothing vnexpoundcd, \vherby he that is
any thing exercised in the Scriptures of God, might iustely
complayn of hardenes : and also in respect of them that haue
more profited in the same, I haue explicat all such places by
the best learned interpreters, as ether were falsely expounded
by some, or els absurdely applyed by others : so that by this
meanes both they which haue not abilitie to by the Com
mentaries vpon the New Testament, and they also which
haue not opportunitie and leasure to reade them be cause of
their prolixitie may vse this book in steade therof ; and some
tyme wher the place is not greatly harde, I haue noted
with this mark ", that which may serve to the edification of
the Reader : adding also such commone places, as may cause
him better to take hede to the doctrine. Moreouer, the diverse
readings according to diuerse Greke copies, which stand but in
one worde, may be known by this note ", and if the bookes do
alter in the sentence then it is noted with this starre * as
the cotations are. Last of all remayne the arguments aswel
they which conteyne the summe of euery chapter as the other
which are placed before the bookes and epistles : wherof the
commoditie is so great, that they may serue in stede of a Com-
mentarie to the Reader." There was also prefixed a stirring
and eloquent Epistle, declaring that " Christ is the end of the
lawe," by John Calvin.
Many erroneous statements have been made about this New
Testament, such as, that it was edited or prepared by a com
pany of the exiles the theory of Lewis, Newcome, and of
Todd who is in utter uncertainty on the matter, and like many
others, does not distinguish the New Testament of 1557 from
that published along with the Old Testament in 15GO. Some
even have held that this New Testament was the first edition
of that reprinted in the Genevan Bible three years afterwards.
Lewis and Newcome in their respective histories, D Oyly and
Mant in their preface, C. Rogers, 1 Dean Hook, 2 and others,
1 Collation of the principal English a collation, but merely the printing
translations of the sacred Scriptures, of some verses of the older transla-
p. 40, by Charles Eogers, Dundee, tions in parallel columns.
1847. This book is in no true sense " Lives of the Archbishops of
8 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
have fallen into this error. But this New Testament is quite
distinct from that of 15 GO is, in fact, a different version. 1
The Genevan exiles regarded the New Testament of their
Bible as their own completed and standard work, and never
reprinted Whittingham s earlier publication. In fact, the New
Testament was published before the translation of the Bible
was commenced, being finished at press on the 10th of June,
1557. The Bible was begun by January of the following year,
and it occupied the exiles "for the space of two years and
more, day and night."
The New Testament was in small octavo or duode
cimo
" The Newe Testament of our Lord Jesus Christ, conferred
diligently with the Greke and best approved translations. With
the arguments as well before the Chapters, as for euery Boke and
Epistle, also diuersities of readings, and moste profitable anno
tations of all harde places : wherunto is added a copious Table .
At Geneva, printed by Conrad Badius, M.D.LVII;" the same words
forming the colophon, with the addition, "this x day of June."
There is a peculiar engraving on the title-page, represent
ing Time, with wings, scythe, and hour glass, helping Truth
out of the grave, with this motto on its two sides " God
by Tyme restoreth Truth and maketh her victorious." The
greater portion of the marginal notes of this New Testament
were transferred to that of 1560. Thus, in the first nine
chapters of Matthew, out of one hundred and thirty -four
notes, there are only twenty not taken from this earlier
New Testament. For the first time the chapters of the New
Testament were divided into verses, with the number prefixed
to each ; and indeed they had been already marked on the
margin of Stephen s Greek Testament of 1551, his fourth
edition, printed at Geneva. 2 Supplemented words were
(, anterbury, vol. IV, new series, p. tion of 1560 differs in twenty-nine
320. It is a thankless task to cor- places from that of 1557.
rect inaccuracies, but if any one will l A separate New Testament, pub-
only collate a single chapter, such as lished in 1560, is a reprint of that iu
the third chapter of Matthew, he the Bible of the same date,
will see that in it alone the transla- 2 Robert Stephens introduced the
xxxii.] GENEVAN BIBLE. 9
printed in italics, or in letters that might be easily distin
guished from the common text, in imitation of Minister s
Old Testament of 1534. There were also clear pointed mar
ginal notes that in those days were greedily welcomed,
especially such of them as were charged with theology.
This New Testament had been brought over to England
before the death of Queen Mary; for we find that when John
Living, who had been a priest at Auburn, and was under
hiding in London, was informed against, brought before
Bonner s chancellor, and carried to the jailor s house in Pater
noster Row, he complained of being robbed there of "my purse,
my girdle, my psalter, and a New Testament of Geneva."
The Genevan exiles, having resolved to revise the English
Bible, braced themselves for their work, and took hold of the
best helps in their power. Their revision shows their method
of procedure, and what versions, Latin, German, and French,
they chiefly followed. A goodly number of scholars has some
times been named as engaged in the enterprise Le Long, Wood, 1
Todd, Newcome, Townley, 2 and Boothroyd, 3 mention John
Bodleigh, Miles Coverdale, Thomas Cole, Anthony Gilby,
Christopher Goodman, John Knox, John Pullain, Thomas
Sampson, and William Whittingham. But all those nine
could not have given themselves to the labour, or continued at
it till it was concluded. Coverdale was at Geneva only for a
brief period after the version had been commenced ; for on the
12th November, 1559, he was preaching in his turn at Paul s
Cross, and Cole, Pullain, and Bodleigh came home during the
same year. Knox went to Geneva in 1554, and left it in
November for Frankfort. He returned to Geneva in 1555,
numbering of the verses in his edition 2nd ed., Cambridge, 1874. Eabbi
of 1551, as one means of facilitating Nathan had set an example in his
the preparation of a concordance Hebrew Bible. The verses in the
which he had planned, and Henry Latin translation of Pagninus are, in
Stephens had printed verse numbers the New Testament, short para-
in his Psalterium Quincuplex, 1509. graphs.
Versus was the Latin form of the 1 Athenae, 2nd ed., p. 194.
Greek "stichoi," there being,according 2 Biblical Literature, vol. II, p.
to Dr. Scrivener, about five stichoi to 286.
two verses. Plain Introduction, p. 65, 3 Introduction, p. 21.
10 THE EX G HSU BIBLE. [CHAP.
and in the winter of that year came over to Scotland. Going
back once more to Geneva for a brief period, he bade a final
farewell to it in January, 1559. 1 Goodman, accompanied by
Knox s wife and children, arrived in Edinburgh on the 20th
September, 1559. The accession of Elizabeth in November,
1558, left it open for the exiles to come home, after they heard
the good news, in the following month. When intelligence
came that the persecutor had died in their own phrase, that
" the Lord had showed mercy unto England by the removal of
Queen Mary by death e, and placing the queen s majesty that
now is, in the seate," the work of revision was not nearly-
finished, but Whittingham, Gilby, and Sampson remained to
carry it through. Thus Wood says, " Whittingham with one
or two more did tarry at Geneva a year and a half after Queen
Elizabeth came to the crown, being resolved to go through with
the work." 2 The author of the " History of the Troubles " 3
records that "the congregation (after that they had rendred
their humble thankes to the magistrates for their great goodnes
towards them) prepared themselues to depart sauinge certeine
whiche remained behinde the reste, to witt, to finishe the bible,
and the psalmes bothe in meeter and prose, whiche were
already begon, at the charges off suche as were off most
habilitie in that congregation. And with what successe those
workes were finished (especially the Bible) I must leaue it to
the ludgementes off the godly lerned, who shulde bestludge off
the same." But it would seem from the language of their
preface that others beyond those three gave assistance and
counsel. The writer just quoted proceeds, " There is nothinge
more requisite to attaine the right and absolute knowledge oft"
the doctrine of saluation, wherby to resist all herisie and
falshod, then to haue the texte off the Scriptures faithfully and
truly translated, the consideration wheroff moued them with
1 John Knox had two sons born " Annals, vol. I, p. 151.
to him during his residence in 3 Whittingham was very probably
Geneva. At the baptism of the first, the author. Goodman was first Pro-
Whittingham was godfather; and at testant Professor of Divinity at St.
the baptism of the second, Bishop Andrews.
Miles Coverdale was godfather.
xxxii.] ITS REVISERS. \\
one assent to requeste 2 off their brethern, to witt, Caluin and
Beza, efsonnes to peruse the same notwithstandinge their
former trauells."
Gilby on his return became rector of Ashby-de-la-Zouch,
the gift of the Earl of Huntington. He wrote a Commen
tary on Micah and some others of the Minor Prophets.
Sampson, who is said by Wood to have been the means
of converting Bradford the martyr, was offered the see of
Norwich which he declined ; and in 15G1 he became Dean
of Christ s Church, Oxford, but was removed in 15G4, on
account of his refusing to wear the vestments. In September,
1570, he was collated to the prebend of St. Pancras in St.
Paul s the stall of Ridley and Rogers in former days.
Sampson was noted as a very able man. In a recommenda
tion to the queen on his behalf it is said " that it is doubtful
whether he is a greater linguist, or a more complete scholar
and profound divine." Native scholars were also engaged
on the actual work, for they seized the " great opportunity
and occasion which God presented unto us in this church by
reason of so many godly and learned men, and such diversities
of translations in divers tongues." They were urged by many
" who put them on this work by their earnest desire and
exhortation," and they were told " not to spare any charge for
the furtherance of such a benefit and favour of God towards his
church." The Bible was finished and published in April, 15GO,
with the following title :
" The Bible and Holy Scriptures conteyned in the Olde
and Newe Testament, translated according to the Ebrue and
Greeke, and conferred with the best translations in divers
language. With most profitable annotations upon all the
hard places, and other things of great import, as may
appear in the epistle to the reader. At Geneva, printed by
Rouland Hall, MDLX. 1 The Newe Testament of our Lord
Jesus Christ conferred diligently with the Greke and best
approved translations in divers languages, &c."
1 The printer was himself a re- press, among others, in 1560 the
fngee from England, and after his Scottish Confession of Faith,
return many books issued from his
12 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP-
The woodcut in botli titles is the passage of the Hebrews
through the Red Sea the motto above and below being
Exodus xiii, 13, divided, and that on the sides similarly
halved is Ps. xxxiv, 19. There are several "pictures" and
maps interspersed through the volume. The Apocrypha has
few marginal notes.
The Bible was dedicated to Queen Elizabeth in simple and
vigorous language, without adulation or the cant of loyalty, and
it thus addresses her Majesty : " The eyes of all that fear God
in all places behold your countries, as an example to all that
believe, and the prayers of all the godly at all times are directed
to God for the preservation of your majesty. For, considering
God s wonderful mercies towards you at all seasons, who hath
pulled you out of the mouth of lions, and how that from your
youth you have been brought up in the Holy Scriptures, the
hope of all men is so increased that they cannot but look that
God should bring to pass some wonderful work by your grace
to the universal comfort of his Church. This Lord of Lords
and King of Kings who hath ever defended his, strengthen,
comfort, and preserve your majesty, that you may be able to
build up the ruins of God s house to His glory, the discharge of
your conscience, and to the comfort of all them that love the
coming of Christ Jesus our Lord. . . ." Yet these men,
exiles themselves suffering from Popish persecution, tell the
queen to unsheath the sword against the Papists, and " utterly
to abolish idolatry ; to root out, cut down, these weeds and
impediments. ... in imitation of the noble Josias who
destroyed not only their idols and appurtenances, but also
burnt the priests bones upon their altars, and put to death the
false prophets and sorcerers . . . yea, and in the days of
King Asa, it was enacted that whosoever would not seek the
Lord God of Israel should be slain, whether he were small or
great, man or woman." Then followed an epistle : " To our
beloved in the Lord, the brethren of England, Scotland, and
Ireland. Now, for as much as this thing (progress in a holy
life) is chiefly attained by the knowledge and practising of the
Word of God (which is the light to our paths, the key of the
kingdom of heaven, our comfort in affliction, our shield and
xxxu.] CAREFUL AND SCHOLARLY WORK. i:>
sword against Satan, the school of all wisdom, the glass
wherein we behold God s face, the testimony of his favour and
the only food and nourishment of our souls), we thought we
could bestow our labours and study in nothing which could be
more acceptable to God, and comfortable to his Church, than in
the translating of the Scriptures into our native tongue ; the
which thing, albeit that others heretofore have endeavoured to
achieve ; yet, considering the infancy of those times, and im
perfect knowledge of the tongues, in respect of this ripe age
and clear light which God hath now revealed, the translations
required greatly to be perused and reformed."
"To the Christian Reader," they describe their work: "Now
as we haue chiefly obserued the sense, & laboured always to
restore it to all integritie: so haue we most reuerently kept the
proprietie of the words, considering that the Apostle who spake
& wrote to the Gentiles in the Greeke tongue, rather constrained
them to the liuely phrase of the Ebrewe, then enterprised farre
by mollifying their language to speake as the Gentiles did. And
for this & other causes we haue in many places reserued the
Ebrew phrases, notwithstanding that they may seeme some
what hard in their eares that are not well practised, & also
delight in the sweet sounding phrases of the Holy Scriptures.
Yet lest either the simple should be discouraged, or the
malicious haue any occasion of iust cauillation, seeing some
translations reade after one sort, & some after another, whereas
all may serue to good purpose & edification, we haue in the
margent noted that diuersitie of speech or reading which may
also seeme agreeable to the minde of the Holy Ghost, &:
proper for our language with this marke ||. Againe, whereas
the Ebrewe speech seemed hardly to agree with ours, we haue
noted it in the margent after this sort J, vsing that which was
more intelligible. And albeit that many of the Ebrew names
be altered from the old text, & restored to the true writing &:
first originall, whereof they haue their signification yet in the
vsuall names, little is changed for feare of troubling the simple
readers. Moreouer, whereas the necessitie of the sentence
required any thing to be added (for such is the grace & proprietk
of the Ebrewe & Greeke tongues that it cannot but either 03-
14 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
circumlocution or by adding the verbe or some word, be vnder-
stood of them that are not well practised therein) wee haue
put it in the text with another kinde of letter, that it may
easily bee discerned from the common letter. As touching the
diuision of the verses, we haue folowed the Ebrew examples
which haue so euen from the beginning distinguished them.
Which thing as it is most profitable for memorie, so doth it
agree with the best translations, & is most easie to finde out
both by the best Concordances, & also by the quotations which
we haue diligently herein perused & set forth by this *.
Besides this, the principall matters are noted and distinguished
by this marke IT. Yea, & the arguments both for the booke &
for the chapters with the number of the verse are added, that
by all means the reader might be holpen. For the which cause
also we haue set ouer the head of every page some notable
worde or sentence which may greatly further as well for
memorie as for the chiefe point of the page. And considering
how hard a thing it is to understand the Holy Scriptures, &
what errors, sects, & heresies grow dayly for lacke of the true
knowledge thereof, & how many are discouraged (as they
portend) because they cannot attaine to the true & simple
meaning of the same, we haue also indeuoured both by the
diligent reading of the best commentaries, & also by the con
ference with the godly & learned brethren, to gather briefe
annotations vpon all the hard places, as well for the vnderstand-
ing of such words as are obscure, & for the declaration of the
text, as for the application of the same, as may most appertaine
to God s glory, & the edification of his Church. Finally, that
nothing might lacke which might be bought by labours, for the
increase of knowledge & furtherance of God s glory, there are
adioyned two most profitable tables, the one seruing for the
interpretation of the Ebrewe names : & the other containing all
the chiefe & principal matters of the whole Bible : so that
nothing (as we trust) that any could iustly desire is omitted."
Many things about this edition gave it immediate, wide, and
lasting popularity. It was printed in Roman characters, with
division into chapters and verses, as in the previous New
Testament. It was not a heavy, unhandy folio like the editions
xxxii.] BREECHES BIBLE. J5
of Coverdale, Rogers, or the Great Bible ; but a moderate and
manageable quarto. Its marginal notes were a kind of
running comment vigorous and lucid, dogmatic and prac
tical, presenting such aspects of truth and duty as were
then all but universally prized, and such political lessons
as the History of England so naturally shaped and sug
gested. It became at once the people s Book in England and
Scotland, and it held its place not only during the time of the
Bishops Bible, but even against the present Authorized Version
for at least thirty years. It was the first Bible ever printed
in Scotland (1576-79), and it was the cherished volume in all
Covenanting and Puritan households. And it was entitled to
this pre-eminence as a learned and cautious revision.
The Genevan version is often called the "Breeches Bible," from
its rendering of Gen. iii, 7 " They sewed fig leaves together,
and made themselves breeches." The translation " breeches "
is not, however, peculiar to the Genevan, for it is the transla
tion of "perizomata" in both the Wycliffite versions. The term
occurs afterwards in the " Golden Legende " that is, portions
of the historical books of Scripture, translated and printed by
Caxton, 1503 "And thenne they toke fygge levys, & sewed
them togyder for to cover their membres in the manner of
breches." *
1 Mr. Blunt says, " Sonte editions in tall and unwieldy folio, printed
of the Geneva Bible are called the by Basket, Oxford, 1717. The error
Vinegar Bible, from a misprint of occurs in the running title at Luke
vinegar for vineyard." But the so- xxii, " parable of the vinegar,"
called Vinegar Bible is only an instead of "parable of the vine-
edition of the Authorized Version, yard."
CHAPTER XXXIII.
Genevan New Testament of 1557 is a revision of
Tyndale s version collated with the Great Bible. The
work was carefully done, but without due leisure. The
influence of Beza is perceptible, his Latin version having been
published in 1556. It usually follows Tyndale in the basis of
the version or in form and phrase, and Tyndale is also the
foundation of the New Testament of the Great Bible. It often
agrees with him against the Great Bible. Thus, in the first
chapter of Galatians :
GALATIANS I.
Verse.
10. " Preach I now man s doctrine or God s?" after Tyndale the
Great Bible having, " Do I now persuade men or God?"-
" speak nnto men," ed. 1539. The Genevan, after Tyndale,
omits the " hitherto " of the Great Bible.
19. The Great Bible has, " Other of the apostles saw I none " ; the
Genevan, following Tyndale, has " no nother of the apostles
sawe I."
21. The Great Bible has, "They glorified God in me," the correct
rendering; but the Genevan "for me" is based on Tyndale s
" on my behalfe."
In the same chapter the Genevan follows the Great Bible in
the following places as against Tyndale :
4. " according to the will of God" ; Tvndale, " thorow the will of
O J *
God."
9. " as we sayde before " ; Tyndale, " as I saidde before."
12. "but by the revelation of Jesus Christe"; Tyndale, "but
received it bv."
COLLATION. 17
Though the translation follows Tyndale generally as against
the Great Bible, it sometimes differs from both, and is often
led by Beza. Thus again, Galatians, chap, i :
Verse
2. " unto the churches in Galatia" 1 ; "congregations" being the
rendering in Tyndale and in the Great Bible.
13. "the Church of God," 2 Tyndale and the Great Bible having
" congregation," as in verse 2. The word " church," which
has given rise to so much dispute about its meaning, rights,
and powers, was thus brought in by the puritan revisers, and
was naturally preserved both in the Bishops and in the
Authorized Version.
" extremely " 3 ; Tyndale and Great Bible, " beyond measure."
14. " traditions received of my father" 4 Tyndale and Great Bible,
" traditions of the elders."
16. "to reveal his Son to me" 5 ; Tyndale and the Great Bible,
" for to declare his Son by me."
20. No initial particle in Tyndale and the Great Bible the "now"
of the Genevan (1560) perhaps representing autem, Beza.
22. " They heard only some say that he " 6 ; Tyndale and the Great
Bible, " they heard only that he."
The same chapter in the Bible of 1560 has other changes,
making it yet a better and a more literal translation many of
the changes being suggested by Beza.
Verse
1. " which hath raysed him from the dead " 7 ; Tyndale, the Great
Bible, and Genevan, 1557, " raysed hym from death."
4. " which gave him selfe for oure sinnes, that he might deliver
us" 8 ; Tyndale and Genevan of 1557 having, "to deliver
us."
6. "so soon . . . from him that had called you," Genevan, 1560;
" forsaking him that had called you," Genevan, 1557.
9. " let him be accursed " 9 ; Tyndale, " hold him accursed."
1 Beza, Ecclesiis. 6 Beza, Sed sohim audierant qui
2 Beza, ecclesiam Dei. dicerent.
3 Beza, summe. 7 Beza, ex mortuis.
4 Beza, patribus meis acceperam. 8 Beza, ut eximeret nos.
6 But Beza has, " in me." 9 Beza, anathema sit.
VOL. II. B
18 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
GALATIANS I Continued.
Verse
11. " not after man " ] ; Tyndale, Great Bible, and the Genevan of
1557, " not after the manner of man."
16. "I communicated not " 2 ; Tyndale, Great Bible, and Genevan,
1557, " I commened not of the matter."
1 7. " turned againe vnto Damascus " 3 ; Tyndale, Great Bible, and
Genevan, 1557, "Came agayne to Damascus," an improve
ment on Beza, though not a correct translation.
In verses 6 and 15 the pluperfect is wrongly used in both Genevan
versions, " had called you," " had separated me " ; Tyndale and the
Great Bible being more literal.
Tyndale, as we have seen, is very careless about the connect
ing particles, and usually omits them as yap in verse 10,
8e in verse 11, yap in verse 12, 3e in verses 19 and 20 ; the
Great Bible follows Tyndale in all these places but verse 12 ;
the Genevan of 1557 does not translate the small words in
verses 11 and 20, but that of 1560 translates the particles in
all these instances, and its translations are preserved in the
Authorized Version. This rendering of the particles is a
characteristic improvement on Tyndale.
The Genevan Old Testament is a decided advance on the
Great Bible, as two excerpts, one from the historical books and
the other from the prophets, may show. Though the version is
brought nearer to the Hebrew, it does not suffer in its
English style. Sampson was reputed to be a good Hebrew
scholar, and guidance was found in Pagninus, Miinster, and
Leo Judse. 4
1 Beza, secundum hominem. be the real name. Leo Judse dying
2 Beza, non contuli. before the work was concluded, it
3 Beza, ac denuo reversus sum was finished by Bibliander (Buch-
Damascum. mann), Cholin, and Gualter, and
4 The reference is to the Latin published in folio at Zurich in 1543,
version of Leo Judce, which is some- Pellicanus being editor. Frosch-
times called the Tigurine Bible over s arms, the tree and the frogs
Tigurum being a Latin name of a punning use of his own name
Zurich ; Turicum is said, however, to adorn the title-page.
xxxin.]
COLL A TIONCONTIN UED.
19
GREAT BIBLE.
NUMBERS XX.
GENEVAN.
Verse
1. And the children of Israeli came
with the whole multitude 1 vnto
the deserte of Sin, in the fyrst
moneth, & the people abode at
Cades ; and there dyed Mir lam,
& was buryed there. 2
2. But there was no water for the
multitude, 4 & they gathered 5
themselves together againste
Moyses & Aaron. 6
3. And the people chode with Moyses
and spake, saying : woulde God
that we hadde perished, when our
brethren dyed 9 before the Lord.
4. Why have ye broughte the con
gregation of the Lorde into this
wyldernesse : that bothe we &
oure cattell should dye in it ? n
5. Wherefore have ye made us to go
out of Egypt, to bring us into
this ungracious 13 place, which is
no place of seede, nor of fygges,
nor vines, nor of pomegranates,
neither is there any water to
drynke.
Then the children of Israel
came with the whole congrega
tion 3 to the desert of Ziii in the
first moneth, & the people abode
at Kadesh, where Miriam dyed
& was buryed there.
But there was no water for the
congregation, 7 & they assembled
themselves against Moses and
& against Aaron. 8
And the people chode with Moses
& spake saying. Woulde God
we had perished when our breth
ren dyed 10 before y e Lord.
Why have ye broght the congrega-
cion of the Lord unto this wil
derness that both we & our cattel
shulde dye there ? 12
Wherefore now have ye made us to
come up 14 from Egypt, to bring
us into this miserable place >
which is no place of sede, nor
figs, nor vines, nor pomgranates ?
neither is there anie water to
drinke.
3 C umuni versa multitudine, Miin-
ster.
" Ibi," repeated in Pagninus and
in Coverdale, after Luther and the
" daselbst " of the Zurich.
3 Omnis congregatio, Pagninus.
"The children of Israel even the
whole congregation," of the Author
ized being according to the Hebrew.
Universus scilicet ccetus, Leo Judoe.
4 Multitudini, Miinster.
5 Preserved in the Bishops and
Authorized.
6 Second "against" of the Hebrew
not repeated in Coverdale and the
ZUrich Bible.
7 Congregationi, Paguinus.
8 Contra . . . contra; ad versus . . .
adversus, Paguinus, Leo Judoe, & ac
cording to the Hebrew.
9 The same verb is repeated in
Tyndale (Matthew), Paguinus, and
Leo Judoe, after the Hebrew ; so in
Luther and the Zurich version, and
in Coverdale.
10 In morte fratrum nostrorum,
Miinster.
11 In eo, Miinster.
12 Ibi, Pagninus.
13 Tyndale (Matthew).
14 Fecistis ascendere, Vulgate; ef-
fecistis ut ascenderemus, Leo Judse.
20
THE ENGLISH BIBLE.
[CHAP.
GREAT BIBLE.
GENEVAN.
NUMBERS XX Continued.
Verse
6. And Moyses and Aaron went
from the congregation unto the
doore of the tabernacle of wyt-
nesse? & fell upon theyr faces
[& they 2 cryed unto the Lorde
& saide : O Lorde God, heare
the crye of this people, & open
them thy tresure, even a foun-
tayne of ly ving water that they
maye bee satysfied, & that theyr
murmurying maye ceassej &
the glory of the Lorde appeared
upon them.
7. And the Lord spake unto Moyses,
saying,
8. Take the rodde, and gather thou
& thy brother Aaron the con
gregation together, & speake
unto the rocke before theyr
eyes & it shall give forthe hys
water. And thou shalt brynge
them water out of the rocke, to
give the company 4 drinke &
theyr beastes 5 also.
9. And Moyses took the rodde from 7
before the Lorde, as he com
manded hym.
10. And Moyses &" Aaron gathered the
congregation together before the
rocke : & Moyses 9 sayde unto
Then Moses and Aaron went from
the assemblie unto the dore of
the Tabernacle of the congrega
tion 3 & f el upon their faces : &
the glorie of the Lord appeared
unto them.
And the Lord spake unto Moses
saying
Take the rod, & gather thou &
thy brother Aaron the congrega
tion together, & speake ye unto
the rocke before their eies, & it
shall give forthe his water, &
thou shalt bring them water
out of the rocke : so thou shalt
give 6 the congregation & their
beastes drinke.
Then Moses toke the rod from
before the Lord, as he had
commanded him. 8
And Moses & Aaron gathered y e
congregacion together before the
rocke & Moses sayd unto them
1 Septuagint, fiapTvpiov- Vulgate,
foederis; similaiiy Minister, Luther,
and the Zurich, taking the word
from a root similar to the true one.
2 An interpolation from the Vul
gate.
3 Ecclesise, Pagninus, and accord
ing to the Hebrew.
4 Tyndale (Matthew
5 Tyndale (Matthew).
6 Ut potum pra;stes ccetui, et ju-
mentis eorum, Miinster.
7 Authorized goes back to Tyndale,
" from before the Lord."
8 Sicut praeceperat, Vulgate ; jus-
serat, Munster.
9 A supplemented nominative to
the singular verb, "he said, Tyndale.
XXXIII.]
COLL A TION CONTINUED.
21
GREAT BIBLE. GENEVAN.
NUMBERS XX Continued.
Verse
them: heare ye rebsllyons, must 1 Heare now, ye rebels : shal 3
vfefette* you water out of the we bring you water out of this
roche. rock.
11. And Moyses lift up hys hande, & Then Moses lift up his hand &
with hys rodde he smote the
rocke two times,* & the water
came out aboundantlye, & the
multitude 5 drauke & theyr
beastes also.
with his rod he smote the rock
twice, & the water came out
abundantly : so the s congrega-
ciou & their beastes dranke.
MALACHI III.
For marck 7 the daye commeth that
shall burne as an oven : & all
the proude, yea, & all such as do
wyckednesse, shal be strawe 8 &
the daye that is for to come, 9
shall burne theym up (saieth
the Lorde of hostes, so that 10 it
shall leave them nether rote
nor braunche.
For beholde 1] the day cometh that
shal burne as an oven, & all the
proude yea & all that do wick
edly, shall be stubble, 12 & the day
that cometh n shal burne them
up saith the Lord of hostes &
shall leave them neither roote
nor brauche.
2. But unto you that feare my name But unto you that feare my name
shall that Sonne of ryghteous-
nesse aryse, and health shal be
under hys wynges : ye shal go
forth & multifile 14 as the fat
calves. 15
shal the Sunne of righteousness
arise, & health shal be under his
wings, and ye shal go forthe, &
growe \ 6 up as fat calves.
1 Must, Tyndale (Matthew).
2 Fette, fetch, kept in the Author
ized Version.
3 Coverdale, "Werden wir . . . brin-
gen, Zurich and Luther.
4 Duabus vicibus, Pagninus.
5 Multitude, Miinster.
6 Ita ut, Vulgate.
7 Coverdale.
8 Strouw, Ziirich.
9 Dies venturus, Pagniuus.
10 Coverdale, Adeo ut, Leo JudaB.
11 Ecce enim, Pagninus; quoniam
ecce, Mtinster.
12 Stipula, Pagninus and Vulgate.
13 Dies veniens, Vulgate.
14 Multiplicabimini, Pagninus.
15 Mastkalber, Luther.
16 Pinguescetis. But the meaning
is, " shall leap in wanton joy. The
verb describes the prancing of horses
in Hab. i, 8.
"And," in last clause, omitted in
Luther and the Zurich, and after
them by Coverdale.
22
THE ENGLISH BIBLE.
GREAT BIBLE.
GENEVAN.
MALACHI III Continued.
Verse
3. Ye shal tread e downe the ungodly,
for they shalbe lyke the asshes ]
under the soles of youre fete in
the day* that I shal make, sayeth
the Lorde of hoostes.
4. Remembre the lawe of Moses my
servaunt whych I commytted 5
uuto him iii Horeb for all Israel
wyth the statutes & ordinaunces. 6
5. Behold I wyll send you Elias the
prophet : before the commynge
of the daye of thegreate 9 & fear-
full Lorde.
6. He shal turne the hertes of the
fathers to theyr 11 children and
the hertes of the chyldren to
their fathers, that I come not 12 &
smyte the earth with cursinge.
And ye shal treade downe the
wicked, for they shal be dust 3
under the soles of youre fete
in the day that I shal 4 do this
saith the Lord of hostes.
Eemember the lawe of Moses my
servant, which I commanded 7
unto him in Horeb for all Israel
with the statutes and judge
ments?
Beholde I will send you Eliah the
prophet before the comming of
the great and f careful 10 day of
the Lord.
And 13 he shal turne the heart of
the fathers to the children, &
the hearte of the children to
their fathers, lest u I come &
smite the earth with cursing.
Several changes to the better were made in the Apocrypha.
The earlier translations rested on the Latin text, but in the
Genevan the Greek was rendered, as may be seen in the three
first chapters of Tobit, where the third person of the narrative
is changed into the first. The Prayer of Manasses, admitted
by Rogers and kept in the Great Bible, is excluded. The
Genevan translators of these books had a favourite guide in
Beza.
1 Ciuis, Vulgate.
2 Tages den ich machen will,
Luther.
3 Pulvis, Munster.
4 Die quo ego agam, Leo Judse.
5 Befohlen, Ziirich and Coverdale.
6 Briich und recht, Zurich.
7 Demandavi, Miinster.
8 Prsecepta et judicia, Vulgate ;
statuta et judicia, Paguinus.
9 Coverdale after the Zurich.
10 Vulgate, Luther, and the Latin
versions.
11 Coverdale.
12 Dass ich nicht komme, Luther.
13 Et, Vulgate and Latin Versions,
" and " omitted in Coverdale after
Zurich.
14 Ne forte veniam, Vulgate, Pag-
ninus and Munster.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
rpHOUGH the English style of the Genevan version is so
terse and idiomatic, there are occasionally terms with a
Latin signification.
Thus, Psalm Ixxvi, 4, "more bright and puissant than " ;
cxxxvi, 23, "our base estate"; "base" in the simple sense
of low; cxli, 7, "when thou art beneficial unto me" doest
good unto me.
Mark v, 12, "and incontinently Jesus gave them leave"
immediately or straightway ; viii, 31, " the son of man . . .
shulde be reproved of the elders" reproved in the Latin
sense, i.e. rejected ; xii, 42, " two mites which make a quad-
rin" a farthing or a fourth part; xv, 26, "the title of his
cause was written " the process of law against him, the legal
meaning of " cause " being still preserved.
Acts xx, 24, " But I passe not at all ; " in our version,
"none of these things move me"; xxv, 18, "they brought no
crime of such things as I supposed " " crime " for " accusa
tion " ; crimen in its legal meaning yet seen in the verb to
criminate.
Rom. xiv, 16, "cause not your commoditie to be evil spoken"
your well-doing, your beneficence to others.
2 Cor. iv, 9, " he hath sparsed abroad " the compound dis
persed being now used instead of the simple verb.
1 Thess. iv, 15, "prevent," the earlier versions having "shall
not come ere."
James v, 17, "subject to like passions."
1 John iii, 14, "translated from death unto life."
The Genevan introduced "pastour," in Eph. iv, 11, and in
24 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
some sections of Jeremiah, instead of "shepherds," the Latin
term not occurring in the older versions, and perhaps sug
gested by the " pasteur " of the French translation. To the
Genevan we are indebted for " synagogues," Ps. Ixxiv, 8,
where the term signifies the building ; " houses of God "
being the phrase in the Great Bible. In Luke xii, 29,
Tyndale, after the Vulgate and Luther, had given the more
literal rendering of the verb, "neither clyme up on hye,"
and it is kept in Coverdale and the Great Bible ; and is
vindicated also by Meyer ; but the Genevan version gave the
better sense, that of 1557 having "neither let your myndes
wander about these speculations," and that of 1560 having
"neither stand in doute," after Beza. The Genevan version
gave the correct rendering in Acts xxvii, 9, " because also the
feast was now passed," with an instructive note on the Hebrew
Kalendar the earlier versions having " because also that we
had overlong fasted"; and in the same chapter, 13, "loosed
nearer and sailed by Candie " ; the Vulgate had regarded
"Asson" as a proper name, and it was followed by Luther;
while Erasmus took it as the accusative of direction. The
Genevan often preserves the article, as in the series of clauses
James ii, 14-24. There is also a very literal rendering, Acts x,
15, "the things that God hath purified, pollute thou not."
The Genevan gave our Authorized Version many felicitous
renderings in separate terms, and in the position of words.
It brought in " sacrilege," Rom. ii, 22 ; and was followed
by the Rheims, but not by the first edition of the Bishops .
Whitgift made what he reckoned a good point out of this
Genevan translation. In his letter to the queen, written
probably when he was Bishop of Worcester, when he is up
holding the inviolable nature of church lands, and showing
the sin and danger of laymen setting profane hands on them,
he affirms " that there is such a sin as sacrilege, for if there
were not it would not have had a name in Holy Writ, especially
in the New Testament."
There are many old Saxon forms and words in the Genevan
translation, as " hurly-burly " in the marginal note, Acts
xxii, 23.
xxxiv. OLDER WORDS. 25
There are such strong modes of the preterite as " stale " for
stole, 2 Kings xi, 2; "swomme," Acts xxvii, 42; "wanne," past
of win, 1 Maccabees i, 20 ; " holpe " for helped, xviii, 27 he
holpe them much; "tabernacle which the Lord pight" pitched,
Heb. viii, 2 ; "stroke himself with stones," Mark v, 5; and such
terms as "giltieship came on all men," Rom. v, 18, in 1557, but
in 1560, "the faute came on all men."
Many antique words and senses are used, as "garde," for
girdle, Exod. xxviii. 8 ; " backe," for bat, Lev. xi, 19 ; "profit,"
in the sense of thrive "the child Samuel profited and grewe,"
1 Sam. ii, 2G ; "frailes of raisins," a basket, 2 Sam. xxv, 18;
" disdain," in the sense of to be angry with ; " want," in the
sense of is wanting " if he be lost and want," 1 Kings xx, 39 ;
"plant" "with the plant of my feet," 2 Kings xix, 24;
" trade," meaning path, or what is trodden ; " train up a child
in the trade of his way," Prov. xxii, 6; 1 "chapmen," for
merchants, Isaiah xxiii, 8, " whose chapmen are the noblest of
the world"; "clout," Ezek. xvi, 4, "swadled in cloutes," used
in the Great Bible, and adopted by the Bishops ; "term," in
the sense of end, Ezek. xxii, 4; "Avoide, Satan, be gone,"
Matt, iv, 10 ; " scrippe," for bag or wallet, Matt, x, 10 ;
" ought," as the past of owe, Matt, xvii, 28 " which ought
him an hundred pence " ; to "disease," to trouble, Mark v, 35;
" cratche " " and laid him in a cratche," Luke ii, 7, manger^
rack, or crib, used often in old English (la saint creche, holy
manger); the word occurs also in Wycliffe 2 ; "creeple," for
cripple, Acts iii, 2 ; " fardels " " trussed up our fardels," Acts
xxi, 15 "made up our baggage," the verb occurring also in
the note to Acts ix, 14, " make up thy bed," or " truss up thy
couche " ; " grieces," for steps gressus, a grise or step, Acts
xxi, 35 ; " pill "2 Cor. xii, 17, " did I pill you ? "plunder
you ; " endeavoured myself with that which is before," Philip,
iii, 13; "fulfil," fill to the full "My God shall fulfil all
1 Foxe, vol. viii, p. 12, speaks of in the gap and trade of more prefer-
Cranmer s " behaviour and trade of nients."
life toward God and toward the 2 Other examples may be found in
world," and the phrase occurs in a useful little volume " English
Shakespear s Henry VIIT, " stands Eetracecl," &c., Cambridge, 1865.
26 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
your necessities," Philip, iv, 19; "to fulfil their sins always,"
1 Thess. ii, 16 fill up their sins to the full measure; " enforced,"
in the sense of endeavoured " enforced the more to see your
faces," 1 Thess. ii, 7 ; similarly in the Bishops , Horn, xv, 20,
" I enforced myself " ; " improve," in the sense of reprove or
convince "improve, rebuke, exhort," 2 Tim. iv, 2; "harber-
ous," for hospitable, Titus i, 8.
There are also many old spellings, as brast, for burst ; fet,
for fetch ; grenne, for gin ; glain, for glean ; roume, for room ;
charet, for chariot; carkess, for carcase; sowre, for sour; banket,
for banquet; kowe, for cow; moe, for more; somer, for summer;
perfite, for perfect ; renowme, for renown ; slouthful, for sloth
ful ; gheste, for guest ; then, for than ; physition ; but it did
not take "surgione" in Exodus xv, 26 from Coverdale and
Matthew. We have yere, yeere, yeer, and year ; eie and eye ;
anie and any ; thei and they ; twise and twice ; mise and mice.
The genitive formed by - s does not seem to be used at all.
The word is simply spelled as " brothers eye." Yet there are
some terms of modern aspect. Ezra vi, 1, " librarie " ; Job ix,
33, " umpire," the word still found in the margin of the Author
ized Version; 2 Chron. xiv, "regency" "Asa deposed Maachah
his mother from her regencie " (margin). The prayer " learn
me true understanding and knowledge," Psalm cxix, 66, in the
Great Bible, becomes in the Genevan "teach me," also in Psalm
xxv, 8. Such forms as moe, fet, and charet are found in the
Authorized Version of 1611. The Genevan version sometimes
does more than translate it occasionally ventures to interpret,
as in James i, 17, "shadowing by turning"; ii, 6, "oppress you
by tyrannie " ; 16, warm yourselves, fill your bellies "; v, 11,
" what end the Lord made."
Though the Genevan version be so decided an improvement
on the Great Bible, it has not wholly escaped some of the faults
of that edition for, like it, it brings in unwarrantable and
supplementary clauses, not into the text indeed, but into the
"margent," and prints them in italics, especially in the Acts of
the Apostles. These supplements in the margin are preceded
by this mark || : Acts x, 6, || he shall speake words unto thee
whereby thou shalt be saved and all thine house taken from
XXXIY.] MARGINAL NOTES. 27
xi, 14 ; xi, 17, "who was I that I could let God ?" || Not to
give them the Holy Ghost ; xiv, 7, " and there was preaching
the gospel," j| insomuch that all the people were moved at the
doctrine ; so both Paul and Barnabas remained at Lystra ; 10,
" said with a loud voice," || I say to thee in the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ. These additions are suggested by Beza, in
his notes, and by his references to some Greek codices and to
the Complutensian Polyglott. One is taken directly from
the text of the Great Bible, xiv, 18, "scarce refrained they
the people that they had not sacrificed unto them," ||
but that they should go every man home, and while they
tarried and taught, c., again suggested by Beza s note
referring to four MSS. and Bede ; 19, " which when they had
persuaded the people," || and disputing boldly persuaded the
people to forsake them, for, said they, they say nothing true,
but lie in all things suggested also by Beza s note, the
reading being found in some minuscules, xv, 29, "and from
fornication," || and whatsoever ye would not that men should
do unto you, do not to others Beza s reference being to the
Complutensian and his own MS. D. 34, " Silas thought good
to abide there still," || and only Judas went from the Great
Bible and the Vulgate, and commended by Beza. But the
whole 34th verse is suspicious, and the argument against its
genuineness preponderates. 37, "And Barnabas," || would take
John after the better Greek reading; 35, "and when it was
day, the governors," || the governors assembled together in the
market, and remembering the earthquake that was, they feared
and sent found in Beza s note after MS. D. ; xix, disputing daily
in the school of one Tyrannus," || from five o clock unto ten
referred to by Beza ; xxx, 23, " bonds and afflictions abide
me," || in Jerusalem Beza s Latin vei sion after D. But the
Genevan translators follow their guide into positive error
error coined in support of coveted harmony with the other
gospels when they put into their text, Mark xvi, 2, " when
the sunne was yet rising," and give in their margin "not risen,"
Beza having a lengthy note on the subject, and intimating that
" not " may have been dropped by accident.
The famous "marginal notes" are very numerous, and no
28 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
little time and pains must have been spent in the composition of
them, for many of them are original, while others are selected
from Calvin and Beza. We believe, with George Joye, that a
translation of Scripture is better without them, and, with Tyn-
dale, that a " bare text," without commentary, is sufficient to
make men " wise unto salvation " ; and the text is all that God
gave for this blessed purpose. But if notes are admissible,
many of the Genevan notes are to be praised for their fitness
and honesty. They have been often depreciated and condemned
on account of their theology. That theology was, however,
the favourite creed of the time, and a mere fraction of the
notes is decidedly Calvinistic. The notes on Acts are chiefly
historical, geographical, and inferential, as suggested by the
narrative. Such notes might be expected especially in the
margin of the Epistle to the Romans ; but while there are over
two hundred and fifty notes, not more than ten of them are
unmistakable Calvinistic utterances.
The longer notes on the sixth chapter of Romans are
as follows, there being nothing very distinctive about them :
Verse
2. He dyeth to sinne in whome the strength of sirme is broken by
the vertue of Christ, and so now liveth to God.
3. Which is, that growing together with him, we might receiue
vertue to kill sinne, and raise vp our new man.
5. The Greke worde meaneth, that we growe vp together with
Christ, as we se naosse, yvie, misteltowe, or suche like growe
vp by a tre, and are nourished with the juice thereof.
If we by his vertue dye to sinne.
6. The flesh wherein sinne sticketh fast.
7. Because that being dead we can not sinne.
11. We may gather that we are dead to sinne, when sinne beginneth
to dye in us : which is by the participation of Christ s death,
by whome also being quickened we Hue to God, that is to
righteousness.
12. The minde first ministreth euil motiues whereby man s will is
enticed : thence burst forthe the lustes, by them the bodie
is prouoked, and the bodie by his actions doeth solicite the
minde : therefore we commandeth at the least that we rule
our bodies.
xxxiv.] CALVINISM. 29
Verse
16. Shewing that none can be just which doeth not obey God.
18. It is a most vile thing for him that is deliuered from the
slauerie of sinne to returne again to the same.
19. Leaning to speake to heavenlie things, according to your
capacitie, I vse these similitudes of seruitude and fredome,
that ye might the better vnderstand.
23. Sinne is compared to a tyrant which reigneth by force, who
giueth death as an allowance to them that were preferred
by the Lawe.
But the following note has a snpralapsarian flavour about
it, Rom. ix, 19 :
" As the onelie wil and purpose of God is the chief cause of
election and reprobacion : so his fre mercie in Christ is an
inferior cause of saluacion and the hardening of the heart, an
inferior cause of damnacion." And even this note is given nearly
word for word in the Bishops with a change indicative
of yet higher doctrine for it says, " and the withdrawing of
his mercy is the cause of damnation."
But their Calvinism now and then shows itself in a cowardly
version, as in the note to the last clause of 1 Cor. ix, 27 " lest
I myself should be reproved." "Reproved" might be allowed,
for it then often meant rejected, but the note explains it as
"reproved of men." Their theology bribed them to shrink
from the plain meaning of final rejection. The Bishops keeps
the note, even though it gives the strong rendering, "lest I
mee self shoulde be a cast away." Sometimes in textual
difficulties the knot is cut, when it could not be loosed, as at
Acts vii, 1C the note is, " It is probable that some writer
through negligence put in Abraham in this place instead of
Jacob, who bought this field, or by Abraham he meaneth the
posterity of Abraham." The word Apocrypha stands alone on
the top of the right hand page in the Apocryphal books, which
are not thought worthy of being honoured by any distinctive
headings. 1 The page in Mark that contains the story of the
1 Other notes will be referred to in the account of the Hampton Court
Conference.
30 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
daughter of Herodias has for its heading, " The inconvenience
of dancing."
Referring to the Genevan version, and to "show the
animus of the men," Card well selects the note to Rev.
ix, 3, but he does not quote it fairly or fully. It says,
"Locusts are false teachers, heretics, and worldly subtle
prelates, with monks, friars, cardinals, &c."; but he leaves
out the words "false teachers" in the first clause, and sup
presses the conclusion, "which forsake Christ to maintain
false doctrine." 1 AMiat is remarkable, and not to be over
looked, these notes were so highly prized by the revisers,
whose labours were meant to produce a rival Bible, that they
adopted many of them into the margin of their new Bishops
Bible. Thus, in the Epistle to the Galatians, the marginal
notes in the Bishops , with the exception of two alternative
renderings, are every one of them taken from the Genevan;
and the rendering in the Genevan text of the clause " which
things are an allegory " becomes the note in the Bishops .
The Anglo-Genevan Bible is much more correct than any of
its predecessors, and ranks in value next to that in common
use. It was also the great intermediate step between it and
Tyndale s ; both were made in exile ; and, indeed, Coverdale s
of 1535, and Matthew s of 1537 were likewise produced abroad.
It was the self-imposed work of noble-hearted Englishmen,
and they could not have spent their enforced leisure to better
purpose. Their good scholarship and idiomatic English are
alike apparent in many felicitous renderings which yet survive.
Beza was their oracle, and he well merited the honour, for he
was a masterly Hellenist, of great accomplishments and of
refined tastes. His exegetical insight was clear and profound,
unless when it was dimmed by the oblique lights of his
theology. The English style of this version, made before the
birth of Shakespeare, is clear, crisp, and vigorous the honest
and hearty speech of men who felt that their mother tongue
needed not to be helped with elaborate combinations, nor
studded with foreign terms, for its power lay in its simplicity,
and its grandeur in its more familiar idioms. Beza s first
1 Documentary Annals, vol. II, p. 12.
xxxiv.] THEIR GREEK TEXT. 31
Greek New Testament did not appear till 1565 ; but they had
Stephens famous folio of 1550, and his fourth edition, pub
lished in the city of their adoption in 1551, and distinguished
by the division of verses. These editions of Stephen were
based upon the fourth edition of Erasmus (1527), which
differs from his third chiefly in ninety changes or emendations
introduced into the Apocalypse from the Complutensian
Polyglott. The Genevan translators had, in this way, as good
a text as could be supplied to them at the time. Various
editions of the Hebrew Bible have been already referred to. 1
1 See vol. I, p. 209.
CHAPTER XXXV.
cost of the first edition had been defrayed by the
English congregation at Geneva, among whom was John
Bodleigh, or Bodley, father of Sir Thomas Bodley, who founded
the great library at Oxford that bears his name. John
Bodley, on his return to England, received from the Queen a
patent giving him the sole right, " and his assigns, for seven
years, to print, or cause to be imprinted, the English Bible,
with annotations, faithfully translated and finished in this
present year of our Lord God, a thousand five hundred and
threescore, and dedicated to us." All other printers were for
bidden to print the volume; and any offender was to forfeit "to
our use forty shillings of lawful money of England for every
such Bible at any time so printed." This license was granted
even though Cawood & Jugge had been already appointed her
majesty s printers, and though she had issued an injunction
that no one should print any book without license by herself or
six of her Privy Council, and the Company of Stationers are
enjoined to be obedient. 1 Under Bodley s care a folio edition
printed at Geneva was published, with date 10th April, 1561,
but without a printer s name. A New Testament having no
printer s name was also published in 1560.
Time went on, and Bodley, wishing to publish another
impression, applied for the extension of his patent. Application
was made to Sir William Cecil, but as the Bishops Bible was
in hand, he consulted Archbishop Parker and Grindal, Bishop
1 A license was necessary for the New Testament without license, and
sale of a book. At this time Har- he was fined eight shillings. Her-
rison printed two editions of the bert s Ames, vol. II, p. 883.
BOD LEY S PA TENT. 33
of London. Parker in a cautious spirit wrote to Secretary Cecil
praising the version ; himself and the Bishop of London also
wrote on 9th March, 1565, wishing that Bodley might have
twelve years longer term "on consideration of the charges sus
tained by him and his associates in the first impression," admitting
that it might "do much good to have diversity of translations;"
ending, however, by declaring that, though the license might so
pass well enough, the Secretary had been warned that " no im
pression should pass but \yy their direction, consent, and advice."
Such conditions, if annexed to the grant, would have seriously
impeded the liberty of the press, and they had not been
insisted on with reference to other Bibles in former years.
The proposal thus miscarried, and Bodley s patent is heard
of no more. It has been held by some that the patent was
renewed at the solicitation of the primate against the opinion of
the queen and Cecil. But there is no proof on the point. On
the other hand, if Bodley got the patent he certainly did not
use it ; for no Genevan Bible was printed from this time till
after Parker s death. Neal 1 states that the request was refused
on account of the prefaces and notes.
Three other impressions in 1568, 1569, 1570, 2 had been
printed in Geneva ; but after the last of these, no other editions
issued from this foreign press. As the Bishops Bible had the
favour of those in high place, though Cranmer had shown
no such partiality to his own edition, the Genevan Bible was not
printed in England for fifteen years after its first publication,
or in fact, during Archbishop Parker s lifetime. When com
mending to the royal notice his own revision in 1568, he urges
the queen s recognition of it, " not only as many churches
want their books, as that in certain places be publicly used
some translations which have not been laboured in this realm,"
the allusion being to imported Genevan Bibles. But after his
death complaints of the scarcity of those Bibles, and of tar
diness in the publication of them began to be heard. "If
that Bible were such as no enemy could justly find fault with
them, many men marvel, that such a work being so profitable,
1 History of the Puritans, p. 110, vol. I, London, 1837.
2 Printed by John Crespin.
VOL. II. C
34. THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
should find so small favour as not to be printed again." l But in
1 575 the Genevan Bible was first printed in England, in quarto
and octavo. During the same year also, two editions of the
New Testament of 1557 had been already printed, all three
books by Vautroullier for Christopher Barkar. 2
In 1576 the Genevan New Testament was edited by
Laurence Tomson, under-secretary to Sir Francis Walsing-
ham. The title was
" The New Testament of our Lord Jesus Christ, trans
lated out of Greek by Theodore Beza. Whereunto are
adjoined briefe summaries of doctrine upon the Evangelists
and Acts of the Apostles, together with the method of
the Epistles of the Apostles, by the said Theodore Beza.
And also short expositions on the phrases and hard places
taken out of large annotations of the foresaid author, and
Joach. Camerarius, by P. Loseler Villerius. 3 Englished by
L. Tomson. Together with the annotations of Fr. Junius upon
the Revelation of St. John. London. Imprinted by Christopher
Barkar dwelling in Powles Churchyeard, at the sign of the
Tygres head."
There is a dedication to Walsingham and Hastings, with a
vignette containing the crest of the former, a tiger s head; 4
and there is also a translation into English of Beza s ad
dress to Louis of Bourbon, Prince of Conde. There are not
many variations in the text, but the marginal notes are
different, certainly not so pithy and compact as those of the
original Genevan, yet sometimes so numerous as to form a
continuous comment, as in the Apocalypse. Tomson s revision
has one peculiarity which sometimes apppears in the Author
ized Version, that of translating the article in connection
1 History of the Troubles at Frank- Villers. The title-page is vague and
fort, p. cxcv. misleading.
2 Barker s royal patent included 4 In a short time after this the prin-
the printing of all Bibles and Testa- ter changed his name to Barker, or
ments whatsoever in the English about the period that he bought from
language of any translation, with Sir Thomas Wilkes a patent for
notes or without notes. printing Bibles. The tiger s head, the
3 Loseler Villerius is the Latinized armorial bearing of Walsingham his
name of M. L Oyseleur, seigneur de patron, was set over his shop.
xxxv.] TOMSON S REVISION. 35
with some proper names or epithets by the demonstrative
pronoun "that." Thus, in the first chapter of St. John s
Gospel, 1, "In the beginning was that word, and that
word was with God, and that word was God"; 4, "and
that life " ; 5, " that light " ; 8, twice the Authorized Version
follows the same practice ; 9, " that true light " ; 14,
" that word became flesh " ; 20, " I am not that Christ,"
followed by the Bishops ; 21, " art thou that prophet ? "
repeated in the Bishops and in the Authorized; 25, "that
Christ," also in the Bishops , " nor that prophet," similarly
in the Authorized ; 29, " behold that Lamb of God " ;
32, "I beheld that Spirit"; 33, "that Spirit"; 34, "that
sonne of God " ; 36, " that Lamb of God " ; 41, " that Messias ";
45, " Jesus that sonne of Joseph " ; 49, " that sonne of God,
that king of Israel " ; 51, " upon that sonne of man." This
New Testament was very often reprinted with the Genevan
Bible, and it appears in the Scottish edition printed by Andrew
Hart, Edinburgh, 1610.
During 1583, the first year of Wliitgift s primacy, the dedica
tion to Elizabeth prefixed to twelve editions, seven of them
published in London, was withdrawn in the twenty-fifth
year of her reign ; but the withdrawal, whatever might be
its motive, did not hinder the sale. The original and catholic
title of the epistle : " To our beloved in the Lord, the brethren
of England, Scotland, and Ireland," found in ten editions, or
down to 1582, was changed first into, " To the diligent
and Christian reader," and then curtailed into, " To the
Christian reader " ; but such disparaging alterations did not
mar the great popularity of the volume. It came at length
to enjoy such a pre-eminence as to be read in churches,
and to be used in pulpits ; preachers took their texts from it,
and quoted it in their discourses. It grew to be in greater
demand than the Bishops or Cranmer s. Ninety editions of
it were published in the reign of Elizabeth, as against forty
of all the other versions. Of Bibles as distinct from New
Testaments there were twenty-five editions of Cranmer s and
the Bishops ; but sixty of the Genevan. Yet Whitgift says in
1587: "Divers, as well parish churches as chapels of ease,
36 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
are not sufficiently furnished with Bibles, but some have
either none at all or such as be torn and defaced, and yet not
of the translation authorized by the Synod of Bishops."
The influence of Archbishop Grindal on his translation to-
the primacy has been sometimes supposed, as by Cardwell, 1
to have suddenly promoted the sale and use of Genevan Bibles ;
but the primate was long under the royal frown, and lived in
privacy. Nor does Cardwell give any proof; for all that he
says is, that though it had not been reprinted for several
years previously, five different editions made their appearance
within two years after Grindal s removal from York to Canter
bury. He does not attempt to point out any actual connection
of cause and effect. Parker, indeed, must have been indifferent,,
if not hostile, to a translation made in Geneva. He was
so profoundly jealous of the returned exiles, and thought
their theories so dangerous to Church and State, that he
did all in his power to repress the free ventilation of their
opinions. Such discussions might have been safe and healthy ;
for convictions repressed in utterance gather strength till
they culminate in a perilous explosion. The primate s views
were so well known that nobody ventured to print the Genevan
Bible in his latter years. Not that he formally inhibited the
publication of it; but his power, especially as bearing on the press,,
was felt to be a force not to be tampered with. Grindal had
puritanical proclivities, and suffered for his refusal to obey in
all things the self-willed daughter of Henry VIII " supreme
governor of the Church of England." But he did not show
any undue partiality for the Genevan version. One of the
questions issued by him to the ordinaries was whether each
church had a copy of the English Bible in the largest volume ;.
and he bequeathed to the church of his native parish of St.
Bees his " fairest Bible of the translation appointed to be read
in the church." Grindal s successor, Whitgift, who drew up the
nine Lambeth articles, could have no objection to the Calvinistic
marginal notes of the Genevan version. Another reason for its
great popularity may be assigned with some plausibility. The
queen did not love " prophesying," or even "preaching"; " it was
1 Documentary Annals, vol. II, p. 12.
xxxv.] POPULARITY OF THE GENEVAN VERSION. 37
good," she said, to have " few preachers three or four might
.suffice for a county, and that the reading of the homilies to
the people was sufficient." So that in London only about half
the churches had preaching ministers. The people were, there
fore, obliged to read the Bible for themselves; the notes of
the Genevan version became doubly precious to them, and the
circulation was in this way quickened and increased. The
Bishops Bible was not issued beyond 160G, five years before
the date of the publication of the Authorized Version, though
its New Testament was printed in 1608, 1614, 1615, 1617, 1618.
But the Genevan Bible continued to be printed after 1611.
Nay, in that very year it was issued in folio by Barker him
self, the king s printer. Besides four editions of the New Tes
tament, the Bible was reprinted in quarto in 1613 both at
London and Edinburgh, again at London in 1614 ; with two
editions in 1615, and a last issue in folio in 1616 ; it appeared
in quarto, Amsterdam, in 1633, in folio 1640, with two more
editions in 1644. In 1649 the Authorized Version was printed in
quarto with the Genevan notes, 1 as if to promote the circulation.
An edition of this nature was published in 1679 in folio, and
as late as 1708 2 and 1715 ; but the one of 1679 and the other
two tell a falsehood on their title-page, " which notes have
never been before set forth with this new translation." 3
Thus the Genevan version continued to be used by many
preachers and authors, even after the Authorized Translation
was issued in 1611. It commended itself to many who, from
education, position, and circumstances, might have cherished
prejudices against it. Not only men of position and learning,
but others of a wholly different stamp, were fond of it. Arch
bishop Abbot, when Master of University College, Oxford, and
Vice-Chancellor, published in 1600 "An Exposition upon the
1 London, printed by the Com- 1679 had not sold, and in 1708 it was
pany of Stationers, with the title simply reissued.
placed in the usual heart-shaped 3 In 1578 was published a folio
oval. edition with a double version of the
2 These Bibles of 1679 and 1708 Psalms, the Genevan in Roman char-
are the same book with only the acter, and the earlier version of the
alteration of date. The edition in prayer book in black letter.
38 THE ENGLISH BIBLE.
Book of Jonah," a series of lectures delivered in St. Mary s
Church, and he uses throughout the Genevan version, and not the
Bishops . Dr. Walter Balcan quail, Dean of Rochester, in a sermon
preached before the king, and published by his majesty s com
mand, in 1632, uses the Genevan Bible. The " ever memor
able " John Hales, of Eton, often quotes the same version. Dr.
Skinner, in succession bishop of Bristol, Oxford, and Worcester,
does the same in two sermons published by royal command in
1634. Dr. Gervase Babington, a pupil of Whitgift, and bishop
in turn of Llandaff, Exeter, and Worcester, one of the members
of the Hampton Court conference, uses the Genevan version in
his sermons preached at court and in his theological works. Dr.
Richard Montagu, Bishop of Norwich, and a great favourite
of King James, often quotes from the same version in his " Acts
and Monuments of the Church," 1642. The same practice
is usually followed by Bishop Overall, one of King James
translators, in his " Convocation Book," which when first
printed in 1689 carried the license of Sancroft, Archbishop of
Canterbury. Dillingham, another of King James translators,
continued to quote the Genevan after 1611.
It may be noted in passing that a vernacular Bible, such as
the Genevan, was ever identified with Protestantism. Esme
Stuart, Duke of Lennox, one of the " vilest men that had ever
been "exalted" in Scotland, hypocritically professed, when an
exile in Paris in 1583, to be turning a Huguenot, and he asked
Cobham, as a proof of his sincerity, "to bestow a Bible on him."
And the feeling was similar in France the French Bible was
also associated with Protestantism. When the Huguenot town
of Orange was taken by Catholic troops, ladies of good birth
were given up to the soldiery, and then left in the streets-
without clothing, or their naked bodies were pasted over with
leaves torn from " their Genevan Bibles."
CHAPTER XXXVI.
Genevan Bible soon after its publication came into
general use in Scotland. Knox follows Tyndale s version
in some of his earliest works, but after 1560 he adopts
the Genevan, and so do the other divines and polemics, as
Bruce, Rollock, and Ferguson the last giving the words a
Scottish form and spelling, as "quhilk" for which, "gif for
if, " behauld " for behold, " tiends " for tithes. Chapman and
Millar were established as printers in Edinburgh about 1507
in the reign of James IV, but there w ere then no English Bible
to put to press. Lekprevik was specially appointed king s
printer, and was licensed to print Bibles in 1564, and the
Genevan Bible in 1568; but he never printed a copy of the
Scriptures. The people, however, were well supplied by im
portation from England and from the Continent. Tyndale s
translation was never printed in Scotland, though it was ex
tensively used. Lewis indeed says that a quarto edition of
Tyndale was "very probably" printed in Scotland in 1536 ; x but
the peculiar spelling of the edition to which he apparently
refers seems to have led him to the baseless conjecture. 2 Some
writers apparently translated for themselves, as Chaucer had
done, and he is in this respect followed by Lyndsay in the
" Complaynt of Scotland," 1548, and by Balnavis, one of the
Lords of Session, in his " Confession of Faith," compiled the
tame year and printed in 1584.
The leading reformers or Protestant nobles in Scotland
held a meeting at Stirling in March, 1557, the year of
the publication of the first Genevan Testament, and agreed
1 History, p. 85, 2nd edition. a See vol. I, page 234.
40 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
to send a letter to Knox, who was then in Geneva.
Another consultation was held in Edinburgh, and a " common
band was made" on the 3rd of December, 1557 its central
point being " with all diligence continually to apply our
whole power, substance, and our very lives to maintain,
set forward, and establish the most blessed Word of God."
They agreed also on two heads of policy, (1) " That the English
Book of Common Prayer should be read publicly in the parish
kirks on Sundays and other festivals, with the lessons of the
New and Old Testament ; and if the curates of the parishes be
qualified, to cause them to read the same, and if they be not,
or if they refuse, that the most qualified in the parish use and
read them. (2) That doctrine, preaching, and interpretation of
Scriptures be had and used privately in quiet houses, without
great conventions of the people thereto, till afterward God shall
move the prince to grant public preaching by faithful and true
ministers." The Primate of St. Andrews longed for vengeance
against these evangelical agitators, and summoned before him
Argyle s preacher, who, secure in Inverary, and surrounded by
Highland claymores and targets, laughed him to scorn. So
foiled, he then fell upon a frail old man of eighty-two years of
age, who read and preached his Bible, and sentenced him on
the 20th April, 1558, to the fire. This doom pronounced
on Walter Mill so stirred the city of St. Andrews that not a
man would sell or lend a rope to bind him, or a tar-barrel to
burn him. His martyrdom made such an impression against his
prosecutors that he was the last victim of the Popish period.
The nation was roused, images were torn away, and the great
idol of St. Giles was first drowned in the Nor Loch and then
burned.
The reformers, well aware where their great strength lay, pre
sented a petition to the Regent in 1558, and asked especially
for these things (1) " That as they were already allowed by
law to read the Scriptures in their common tongue, it should
also be made lawful to them to convene publicly or privately
to our common prayers in our vulgar tongue. (2) That it should
be lawful, if in their meetings any hard place of Scripture
should be read, that any qualified persons in knowledge, being
xxxvi.] SCOTTISH REFORMERS AND SCHOLARS, 41
present, should interpret and open up the said hard places, to
God s glory and the profit of the auditory. (3) That the holy
sacrament of baptism should be used in the vulgar tongue,
and the god-fathers and church then assembled should be
instructed in their duties. (4) That the holy sacrament of the
Lord s Supper should likewise be ministered in the vulgar
tongue, and in both kinds." The Regent-Dowager was French,
and she at length replied in broken English, "Me will remem
ber," she exclaimed, " what is protested, and me will put good
order after this to all things that now be in controversy." 1
Such an answer from a daughter of the House of Guise was
only a pretext. 2
It seems surprising at first sight that no Scottish scholars or
divines of that time or the period succeeding it set themselves
to the work of Biblical revision or translation. There were
men at that epoch quite qualified for the work. Knox was not
without erudition, but his high vocation was one of public
activity and national enterprise. His keen spirit was kept in a
state of perpetual anxiety and excitement, for he believed his
struggle to be with " spiritual wickedness in high places," and
he was denied the privacy and leisure, without which the higher
regions of scholarship cannot be reached. Andrew Melville
was declared on leaving college to be the " best Grecian of any
young master in the land," and at the age of twenty-one he
was appointed regent in a foreign seminary. He was wont to
travel with a Hebrew Bible "slung from his belt"; he studied
Syriac at Geneva; and rose to be the learned reformer and
principal of two native universities. It is matter of regret that
he should have spent his varied and masculine powers in com
posing Latin verses 3 to rival those of Buchanan and Beza.
George Buchanan translated the Psalms into Latin, and spent
1 Lorimer s Scottish Reformation, James V at St. Andrews in June,
pp. 204, &c. Walter Mill had been 1538.
arrested and condemued in 1538, but 3 His Carmen Mosis and his
escaped to Germany, where he re- Stephaniskion are well known, and
mained twenty years. of the second of these poems Scaliger
2 She was the widow of the Duke said nos talia non possumus.
of Lougueville, and was married to
42 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
many years abroad lingering on the heights of Parnassus rather
than on the hill of God. There were others, like Ales, Rollock,
Gillespie, and Cameron, who delighted in Biblical study, but
did not engage in the production of a vernacular Bible. In
apology, however, it may be said that the pastorate in Scotland
is an office of constant labour and travel, and that there are
no rich benefices, prebendal stalls, or colleges with wealthy
clusters of fellowships ; and that in other days ministers had
often to seek places of concealment, " rocks, dens, and caves,"
which were more in request than library or study ; and that
edicts and proclamations concerned them more than Greek or
Hebrew ; for the hand that might have turned over with busy
care the pages of a lexicon or grammar had sometimes to apply
itself to pike and musket.
During the reign of James V, and the minority of his
daughter, there was a close connection between Scotland and
France ; and many Scotchmen, both Catholic and Protestant,
studied at foreign universities. The Swiss States came also
into friendly intercourse with Caledonian divines and re
formers, and the name and fame of Calvin and his compeers
were as great in Scotland as in his own country. The French
tongue was familiarly spoken at the Scottish court, and was also
well known by the better classes through the country. There
fore a Bible prepared and published at Geneva was sure to find
a ready welcome, especially north of the Tweed, and the re-
publication of it formed an epoch in Scottish ecclesiastical
history. 1
The Genevan version was originally published in the very
year in which there met at Edinburgh the first Protestant
General Assembly of the Kirk in 1560. As it was the first
1 The conversations which John quiet ; aumrie, cupboard ; braw,
Kuox had with. Queen Mary at fine ; bein, well-to-do (bien) ; gou,
Holyrood, and which are told by taste ; ashet, meat-dish ; jigot, leg
him in his history in broad Scotch, of mutton ; grozets, gooseberries ;
must have been conducted in French, caraffe, a crystal water-jug ; fashions,
Indeed many French terms are still troublesome ; ghean, a wild cherry;
preserved in the common speech of and haggis (hachisj.
Scotland, as dour, obstinate ; douce,
xxxvi.] AEBUTHNOT AND BASSANDYNE. 43
Bible issued in Scotland, the interesting story of the printing
of it in the " antient kingdom " may be allowed to occupy a
few pages. In March, 1575, Alexander Arbuthnot, merchant
burgess of Edinburgh, and Thomas Bassandyne, printer, pre
sented a petition to the General Assembly, containing a pro
posal to print the English Bible. The Assembly at once
assented to the request, and " anent this godly proposition it is
agreed betwixt this present Assembly and the said Alexander
and Thomas, that every Bible which they shall receive advance
ment for shall be sold in albes (sheets) for 4 13s. 4 pennies
Scottis, 1 keeping the volume and character of the said proofs
delivered to the clerk of the Assembly." Application was
ordered to be made " to the Lord Regent s 2 grace " that the
necessary ratification for printing be given, and that a reason
able " gratitude " be appointed to such " as should be employed
for correcting of the said Bible, at the cost of the said Alex
ander and Thomas " ; " the Kirk promesing to deliver the
authentick copy, which they shall follow, to them, betwixt and
the last day of April." Cautioners were found and solemnly
pledged on behalf of the printers that the work should be "per
fected betwixt and the last day of March, 1576." The " perfer-
vidum ingenium" soon displayed itself, bishops, superintendents/ 5
commissioners are "taken bound" at once to "do utter and
exact diligence to raise the necessary funds at the hands of the
lords, barons, and gentlemen of every parish " ; and it is en
joined, " that every person that is provided of old, as well as of
new, be compelled to buy a Bible to their parish kirk, and to
1 The old Scottish currency was was only a matter of " temporary
only the twelfth in value of sterling expedience" to fill up vacant parishes,
money, a pound Scots being only They could not act of their sole
one shilling and eightpence, or authority in admitting ministers ;
twelve pounds Scots equal to one and if they fell into sin, they were
pound sterling. liable to the same sentences as their
2 James Douglas, Earl of Morton, brethren. They were admitted them-
was elected Eegent, 24th November, selves as other ministers were, their
1572, on the death of the Earl of jurisdiction was wholly regulated by
Mar. the synods, and they were responsible
3 The superintendents are distin- to the General Assembly for all parts
guished from bishops, as their office of their conduct.
44 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
advance therefor the price foresaid, and the said prices to be
collected and inbrought by the said bishops, superintendents,
and visitors within each bounds and shire, within their juris
diction, betwixt and the last day of June." At the next
Assembly, in August, 1575, the work of printing and correcting
was spoken of, the printers statement being, "Anent the
supplication given in to the General Assembly by Alexander
Arbuthnot, making mention that whereas it is not unknown to
your wisdoms, what great work and charge I have enterprised,
concerning the imprinting of the Bible, for accomplishing
whereof your wisdoms understood that the office of a corrector,
his diligence and attendance therein, is most necessary : and
therefore I humbly desire your wisdoms to request my Lord
Abbot of Dunfermline to licentiate Mr. George Young, his
servant, whom I think most fit to attend upon the said work
of correctorie, to concur and assist me during the time of my
travell, to the effect that the notable work begun and enter-
prised may be consummat and perfected in all points. The
charges and expenses of his travels I shall reasonably deburse
conforme to your wisdoms discretion, so that the work may
pass forward and be decent, as the honesty of the same re-
-quires." Letters of privilege or a license from the Privy
Council were obtained June 30, authorizing Arbuthnot and
Bassandyne "to prent or cause be imprentit, set furth and
sauld within this realm, or outwith the samen, Bibles in the
vulgar Inglis toung, in haill or in partes, with ane calendar for
ten years, and discharging all his hienes lieges, that nane of
them tak upon hand, to prent or cause be imprentit in ony
carrecture or letter, translation or volume quhatsumever, sell
or cause be sauld, brocht hame, or distribute to ony person or
persones (except with consent of the said, &c.), providing they
sell every bibill according to the prices appointed " (viz.,
4, 13s. 4d.) Bassandyne 1 had died before the publication; and
Arbuthnot, whose name alone appears on the title-page of the
Old Testament, got power to print during his lifetime ordinary
books, but special license to print and sell Bibles " in the
1 His name alone stands on the title-page of the New Testament
which was finished in 1576.
xxxvi.] PRINTED IN EDINBURGH. 45
vulgar Inglis, Scottes, and Latine tounges." Thus the publica
tion of this folio Bible was wholly an enterprise of the Church;
for though the Regent Morton who issued the license, advanced
some money to the printers, that money was only the sums
collected in the various parishes according to the agreement
" allowed and authorized by the Regent s grace."
The New Testament was ready in 1576, and the whole Bible
in 1579 :
" The Bible & Holy Scriptures conteined in the Olde &
Newe Testament, translated according to the Ebru & Greeke,
& conferred with the beste translations in divers languages.
O O
With moste profitable annotations upon all the hard places of
the Holy Scriptures & other things of great importance, mete
for the godly reader. Printed in Edinburgh, Be Alexander
Arbuthnot, Printer to the Kingis Majestic, dwelling at ye Kirk
of Field, 1579. Cum gratia & privilegio regise majestatis."
The title-page has the royal arms of Scotland in the centre.
The Bible was dedicated to the "Richt Excellent, Richt heich
& michtie Prince James the Saxt, King of Scottis . . . &c. ; "
" From Edinburgh at our General Assemblie, the tent day of
Julie, 1579." The Dedication, which was approved by the
Assembly, speaks with honest plainness to the king who was
then about fourteen years of age, and there is a ring of glad
ness in the words addressed to him : " Certainlie we have great
occasion baith to glorifie the gudenes of God toward this
countrie, & also heichlie to extol your heines most godlie
purpose & enterprise. O quhat difference may be seen between
thir dayes of light when almaist in every private house the
buike of God s law is red & understand in our vulgarie lan
guage, & that age of darknes when skarcelie in ane haill citie
(without the clostres of monks & freires) culd the buke of God
anes be founde, & that in ane strange tongue of Latin not gud,
but mixed with barbaritie, used & red be fewe & almaist
understand or exponit be nane ; & quhen the false namit clergie
of this realme, abusing the gentle nature of your hienes maist
noble gudshir l of worthie memorie, made it an capital crime to
be punished with the fyre to have or read the New Testament
1 Grandfather-
46 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
in the vulgar language; & to make them to all men more
odious, as if it had been the detestable name of a pernicious
sect, they were called New Testamenters." The impression now
published was intended chiefly " to the end, that in every
paroch kirk there suld be at least ane thereof kepit, to be
called the common buke of the kirke, as a maist meet orna
ment for sik a place, & a perpetual register of the Word of
God, the fountaine of all true doctrine, to be made patent to all
the people of everie congregation as the only richt rule to
direct & govern them in matters of religion, as also to confirm
thame in the trueth receavit, & to reform and redress corrup
tions whensoever they may crepe in." Due honour is also
given to the learned and laborious translators.
Matters were not done by halves ; for an Act of Parlia
ment was passed enacting that every householder worth
300 merks of yearly rent, and every yeoman or burgess
worth 500 stock, was to have a Bible and Psalm Book
in the vulgar language, under the penalty of ten pounds.
This enactment was no dead letter, for " searchers " were ap
pointed to visit all dwellings, and report as to their want or pos
session of a Bible. In 1580 " the magistrates and town council
of Edinburgh issued a proclamation commanding all the house
holders to have Bibles," under the pains contained in the Act
of Parliament, and advertising them that the Bibles are to be
"sauld in the merchant buith of Andrew Williamson, on the
north syde of this burgh, besyde the Meill Mercatt." On the
llth of November, 1580, "Alexander Clerk, of Balbery, provost,
&c., ordanis the haill neighbours of this burgh to be callit in
before the bailies by their quarters for not keeping of the said
Act to be adjugeit in the unlaw therein contenit, & for
eschewing of all fraude, ordanis sic as sail bring their bybills
& psalm buiks to hafe their names writtin & subscryvit be the
clerk : & therefter the buiks deliverit to them." On the 16th
of November, there was an order to pursue all persons "that
lias incurrit the payne of the Act for not having ane bybill or
psalme buik." The printer had been slow in delivering copies,
and the patience of the General Assembly was exhausted, so
that, in July, 1580, they "propone to his majesty & council
xxxvi.] SOME ACCOUNT OF IT. ^j
that order be taken with Alexander Arbuthnot that the
Bibles may be dely vevit according to his receipt of money from
every paroch, & to that effect that he &; his severties (sureties)
may be commandit be letters of horning for delyverance
thereof, & na suspensioun to be grantit without the samyn be
dely verit. " l
The Bible thus published in Scotland with all this array of
civil and ecclesiastical prerogative, is the Genevan edition of
1561 ; the second folio edition being " the authentic copy" sup
plied by the General Assembly. The Scottish printer had not
sufficient Greek types, 2 and under Kev. xii, 18, he notes, " These
Greke characters chi, xi, st [that is, x r] signifie 6G6." Wod-
row, the well known historian, vaguely and doubtfully says of
this Bible : " I believe the Genevan translation was what they
kept nearest to." But it was not an approximation at all it
was an exact reprint of the second edition, with all the notes
and facsimiles of the cuts and maps, and the French terms
attached to them, as Aquilon, midi, orient, Occident. In the
first edition of 1560 the supplementary words were printed in
italics, but in the second edition they were put within brackets.
This plan is followed in the Edinburgh reprint, but the printer
had not apparently procured a sufficient number of bracket
marks in time, for none are used in the Gospels ; they appeal-
first in the Acts of the Apostles. The proper names are
furnished with accents, after Pagninus, as Heuah, laakob,
1 "Letters of homing "are, in Scot- - In 1524, when Wyukyu de
tish law, a formal charge signed with AVorde printed a small book by
the " Signet," and delivered to a Wakefield, on the study of Arabic
debtor, commanding him to pay and Hebrew, he was obliged to
within a limited period ; and if, at omit the third part, as he had ex-
the expiry of such a term, he has not hausted his Hebrew types. Hebrew
paid, an officer goes to the market types were not used in Scotland till
cross of the burgh, and after three about 1599. Lekprevik the printer,
peals of a "horn " or trumpet, pro- in a book published by him in 1563,
claims him a rebel, and then he may says of certain Greek words, "I had
be put in prison not formally for no characters to express them," and
debt, but for disloyalty. The process, therefore he employed some " scol-
changed by 1 and 2 Victoria, c. 114, lers" to write them with a pen on
is not wholly obsolete. the sheets.
48 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
Izhak, Habel, Kain, as in the first edition. The calendar and
chronological notes were prepared and subscribed by Robert
Pont, one of the ministers of the West Kirk, who was also one
of the Lords of Session. One serious misprint of the "copy" was
corrected " Blessed are the place makers " for " peace makers,"
Matt, v, 3. There was also another error of the press in the
contents of Luke xxi, " Christ condemneth the poor widow,"
for " commendeth."
The publication of the Genevan version at Edinburgh without
any change in orthography, or any assimilation of its style to
Scottish usage, shows that at this period, as at earlier times,
the English of the south was quite intelligible to all the
educated population of Scotland ; and the fact is the more
remarkable from the contrast between the text of the Bible
and the distinctly Scottish dialect and spelling of the dedica
tion to the young king. When the Earl of Murray appeared
before Queen Elizabeth, in 1565, he spoke in Scottish, which
her majesty interpreted to the French ambassador. No other
edition of the Bible was published in Scotland for the next
thirty years, or till 1610. In 1589 John Gibson purchased
from Gilbert Masterton a patent which had been held by
Archdeacon Young, of St. Andrews, giving liberty for printing
within the realm, or causing to be printed within or without
the realm, "the Bible in our own vulgar tongue, with the
Psalm book, the double and single Catechise, with the Prog
nostications." l This patentee had " ane new psalme buik " " on
his awin grit charges, and be his privat mean and devyse,"
printed at Middleburgh, in Flanders; and he received "free and
only license and liberty to bring hame and sell the said im
pression at convenient prices, for seven years." Bibles from
abroad were by enactment at this time freely imported into
1 The name given to the tongue of this first Edinburgh reprint a Bible
the Island was English, and the in the Scotch language, a proof that
First Book of Discipline, 1560, says, he had never inspected it. Edwards
under the Nynte Heade, "We think in his "Libraries/ p. 438, complains
it a thing most expedient and neces- of Dibdin s carelessness, and quotes a
sariethat everyechurche have a Bibill similar censure by Mr. Panizzi, lately
in Englische." Yet even Dibdin calls of the British Museum.
xxxvi.] PROPOSED REVISION. 49
Scotland, and were not to "pay the ordinary customs charge."
These foreign editions were prized as being of good print and
paper. In 1601, through Andro Hart and his partners, an
edition was printed at Dort ; and Hart printed in folio another
Bible at Edinburgh in 1610 the Genevan version of the
Old Testament, and Laurence Tomson s edition of the New.
The edition of Hart was highly prized ; and other and subse
quent editions, to command a ready sale, inserted in their title-
page, "Conform to the edition printed by Andro Hart." Two
handsome folios, printed at Amsterdam in 1640 and in 1644,
make this assertion "According to the copy printed in Edin
burgh by Mr. Andrew Hart, in 1610."
There had even been at one time some sort of overture made
for a revision of the Genevan version. The records of the General
Assembly which met at Burntisland, in May, 1601, contain the
following minute : " It being meinit be sundrie of the breth
ren, that thair was sundrie errors that meritit to be correctit
in the vulgar translation of the Bible, the Assemblie hes con-
cludit as follows : first, anent the translatione of the Bible, that
every ane of the brethrene quha hes best knawledge in the
languages, employ their travells in sundrie pairts of the vulgar
translatioune of the Bible that neides to be mendit, and to
conferre the same together at the nixt Assemblie." But the
proposal never took effect.
VOL. II. 1)
CHAPTER XXXVII.
Genevan version printed in England, or imported from
the Continent, was the favourite volume in Scottish
families, and kept its place for many years after the publica
tion of the Authorized Version. Its very name endeared it to
them, for the divines of Geneva ranked next to the " Twelve,"
in the loyal and loving esteem of Scottish Protestants. Knox
had ministered in that city, Calvin and Beza had taught and
preached in it. It was only natural that, as late as 1629,
Zacharie Boyd should use the Genevan version in his "Last
Battle of the Soul." Even those who were willing to conform
to Episcopacy at the king s bidding, and to vindicate his
high-handed procedure, were not disposed to accept his Bible ;
for its long use had hallowed the Genevan version to them.
The diocesan synod of St. Andrews enacted, in 1611, the
very year of our Authorized Version, "Forasmeikle as it was
thought expedient that there be in every kirk ane commoune
Bible, it was concludit that every brother sail urge his
parochiners to buy ane of the Bybles laitlie printed be Andro
Hart ; and the brother failying either to cause buy ane of the
Bybles as said is, or ellis to gif in his exact diligens, sail pay
at the next synod, 6 lib money," i. e., 10s. shillings sterling.
This decision is the more remarkable, as at this very period
Episcopacy was established, and the spiritual supremacy of
the king was acknowledged; yet the older translation was
formally preferred, when it must have been known that
another was on the eve of publication, under royal patronage,
for the sister community in England.
Sir James Sempill, of Beltrees, in a book dedicated to the
VITALITY OF THE VERSION. 51
king, significantly called " Sacrilege Sacredly Handled," meant
"for the Churches of North Britaine, 1619," uses the Genevan
version. Dr. Guild, chaplain to Charles I, in his earliest works,
published at London and Aberdeen, 1615, quotes from the
Genevan version. Bishop Lindsay, of Brechin, inserts into the
title-page of his "True Narration," published in 1621, as its
motto, Prov. xxiv, 31, in the Genevan translation; and this
narration is an apology for the Assembly which met at Perth,
in 1618, and enacted the notorious "five articles," contain
ing many characteristic elements of the Episcopalian ritual.
Bishop Cowper, of Galloway, whose collected works were
printed in London, 1629, uses the Genevan version. James
Baillie, A.M., preached at Westminster a sermon on " Spiritual
Marriage," and dedicated it to no less than nine Scottish peers,
and seven other courtiers, and he uses the Genevan version. So
does Struthers, a minister of Edinburgh, and one noted for his
servility, in treatises published by him in 1628. Wischart, of
Restalrig, in his " Exposition of the Lord s Prayer," follows the
same practice ; as also does Bishop Abernethy, of Caithness, in
his "Physike for the Soule," London, 1638. 1 It is scarcely
to be wondered at that the Alexander Henderson who pre
sided at the General Assembly which met at Glasgow in 1638,
and, by a sweeping act, declared Episcopacy overthrown in
Scotland, should have used the Genevan version. So late as
1640, an edition of the Genevan Prose Psalms was printed at
Edinburgh.
The vitality of the Genevan Bible was wonderful. It had
commended itself to general acceptance, for it had been made
by earnest and scholarly men, driven by persecution out of
England ; made in a city revered as the home and metropolis
of the popular theology; and it was also a better translation
than any of its rivals. It did not die under episcopal frown,
nor was its circulation promoted to any extent by episcopal
patronage. The people loved it for itself and its history. It
was a contemporary of the Great Bible for nine years, and
outlived it; and of the Bishops for nigh forty years, and
1 Memorial from the Bible Societies of Scotland, by Principal Lee, p. 90.
&c. Edinburgh, 1824.
.52 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
outlived it too for more than a quarter of a century. The
Great Bible was not issued beyond 1569, nor the Bishops
after 1G06 ; but the Genevan survived all these changes.
Sometime in the reign of Charles I, the Genevan version,
of which about one hundred and sixty editions had been
published, sank gradually into disuse throughout the whole
country. The king s printer issued impressions only of the
Authorized Version which was now deservedly growing into
favour, and Genevan Bibles had to be imported. Archbishop
Laud, who had from his youth a great dislike of this version, and
had shown it strongly when president of St. John College, for
bad the importation of copies. This prohibition was one of the
special charges brought against him on the trial which ended
in his execution. His reply was that by the importation of
books it was feared that " printing would be carried out of the
kingdom, for those books were better print, better bound,
better paper, and for all the charges of bringing sold better
cheap." l Though King James had scornfully depreciated the
Genevan notes at the Hampton Court Conference, the people
relished them greatly, and, according to Fuller, when the version
was disappearing, they complained that they "could not see
into the sense of Scripture for lack of the spectacles of those
Genevan annotations." The Genevan Bible having done its
work at length passed away, making room for another version
in so many respects its superior.
The Genevan version was attacked about the year 1611 by a
Dr. Howson in a sermon preached at St. Mary s, Oxford, his
charge being that it contained misinterpretations leading to
the denial of the Divinity and Messiahship of Jesus Christ,
and thus favouring Arianism and Judaism. The accusation
is utterly groundless, and must have been the result of strange
misconception and prejudice. Dr. Abbot suspended the preacher
for the publication of such a libel. During the trial a letter
from Thomas Bodley " in defence and praise " of the translators
was read "from St. Marie s pulpit." This most popular of the
1 The phrase occurs in the Author- after the Bishops , the Genevan, the
ized Version, 2 Esdras xvi, 21, Great Bible, and Coverdale.
u victuals shall be good cheape,"
xxxvir.] GREGORY MARTIN S ATTACK. 53
older versions was assaulted by Gregory Martin, in his " Dis-
coverie of the Manifold Corruptions of the Holy Scriptures
by heretickes of our daies, especially the English sectaries,
in their English Bibles, used and authorized since the time
of the Schism." 1 He affirmed that it was professedly trans
lated from Beza, and thus gave the lie to its title-page,
which has "translated according to the Ebrue and Greke."
His own admission that in many places they dare not fol
low Beza is a proof that his charge cannot be sustained,
for it is, as Fulke calls it, "an impudent slander." He
asserts of the English heretics that Beza is their "chief trans
lator and a captain among them, whom they profess to follow
in the title of their New Testament, anno 1580, and by the
very name of their Geneva Bibles." 2 The accusation is base
less, for the English refugees revised Tyndale and the Great
Bible with all the helps in their power, and all the assistance
which they could procure by consultation and correspondence.
Again, this Bible is accused by Martin of concealing the
truth when it says only " The Epistle to the Hebrews," omitting
the name of Paul ; but the prefatory note gives the reason, the
want of uniform evidence, both of Greek writers and Latin,
that Paul was the writer ; and they are bold and learned enough
to say that if it be Paul s, " it is not like " " yea, seeing the
Spirit of God is the author thereof, it diminisheth nothing of
the autorite, although we know not with what penne he wrote
it." The opinion of Geddes is similar to that of Martin, and he
adds " that it was accompanied with notes by Beza, and hence
obtained his name." But who ever heard of the Genevan
being called Beza s Bible ? though certainly Gregory Martin
again and again stigmatizes the English Protestants by the
name of Bezites. 3 The opinion of Father Simon 4 need scarcely
1 Rhemes, 1582. printed twice, and many times
" The allusion is to Tomson s afterwards.
revision of 1576, the title-page 3 Prospectus. Mason Good s Me-
of which somewhat strangely an- moirs of Dr. Geddes, p. 125, London,
nounces that it is " translated 1803.
out of Greeke by Theod. Beza." 4 Critical Enquiries (English trana-
In 1580, Tomson s version was lation), p. 231, London, 1684.
54 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAT.
be noticed, that the Genevan is the French Bible printed at
Geneva, " the which was made English." The influence of Oli-
vetan s version is now and then apparent, but it is not specially
frequent or prominent.
Lastly, a peculiar criticism on the Genevan translation came
from a very unexpected quarter, the author being John Hamil
ton, a relation or close friend of him of Bothwellhaugh, who, after
being formally pardoned by the Begent Murray on the field of
Langside, killed him within a brief period by a cowardly shot
from a window in Linlithgow, the house being owned by one
Hamilton, the Archbishop of St. Andrews, 1 and the musket
borrowed from another, the Abbot of Arbroath. Mary Stewart,
the royal sister of the murdered man, conferred a pension on
the assassin. 2 Hamilton was a secular priest, and from his per
petual wanderings, intrigues, and conspiracies, he got the name
of the " Skirmisher." He was one of the familiars of the Duke
of Alva in his deeds of treachery and blood. He had been em
ployed in the murder of Coligny ; and Philip II for some time
thought of him as one quite fitted in temperament and expe
rience to " look after " the Prince of Orange ; but his character
was so notorious that his presence would have aroused sus
picions. As the cure of St. Cosme in Paris, he was a pro
minent member of the League, and was heart and hand., too,
in the sudden and illegal arrest of the president and jurist
Barnabe Brisson, and his two fellow-judges Larcher and Tardif ;
in their execution, in the Petit Chatelet, two hours after their
seizure ; and in the exposure, after the tragedy, of their dead
bodies in the Place de Greve. He became rector of the Uni
versity of Paris in 1584, and published several treatises in
defence of " halie kirk," in which are found some superstitions
of the lowest and most ludicrous kind about the arts and wiles
and common disguises of the Evil One. Bothwellhaugh, three
years after, was willing to undertake the assassination of the
1! John Hamilton, archbishop, sup- Stirling, April, 1571. "Assassina-
posed to have planned the assassina- tion," as Mr. Froude says, "was au
tion of Darnley and of the Eegent accomplishment in the family."
Murray, was seized at the capture of 2 Labanoff, vol. Ill, p. 341.
Dumbarton Castle, and hanged at
xxxvii.] PRIEST HAMILTON S ATTACK. 55
Prince of Orange,, and he suggested two persons for the purpose.
If there be no mistake about the name, the Skirmisher, when
he felt the cause of Mary to be failing, sunk so low at length,
that he sent from Brussels to the Eegent Morton, " offering to
do service either there with the Duke of Alva or with the
Queen of Scots." l He had managed for some years the secret
correspondence between Mary Stewart and Alva. A little
volume of his compositions was published at Louvain in 1600,
and a copy is in the Advocate s Library in Edinburgh. 2 Among
them are some remarkably beautiful prayers, and some hymns
above mediocrity. In the same volume, the work of one of
the most daring of " bloody and deceitful men," is a series of
remarks on the Genevan version, suggested by its popularity
in his Protestant fatherland. His censure is headed, "Cor
ruption of twenty-three passages of the Scriptures be the
ministers adulterous translations thereof in their Scottis Bible,
and the causes why they have corruptit ye same." The places
objected to are either in translations or notes connected with
Popish dogma or ritual; the notes "obscuring or denying
Christ s pretious bodie and bluid ; maintaining heresie agains
prayers for the daid and purgatorie; denying tradition, and
affirming that Christ teacheth by his verie voce al thing-is
necessaires for treu religion." The critic has special objection
to the Genevan note on Luke i, 28 and 42, for it defames the
immaculat mother of God " whom they blaspheme as a sinner
lyk uther wemen, and denies that the halie virgin e Marie was
blissit in hir self, and be the halines of hir a win godlie lyf."
Notes against virginity, the sacrament of marriage, and the
power of the priesthood, are also keenly reprobated, as also
the rendering of "elders" for priests in James v, 14, "secret"
for sacrament in Ephesians v, 32. Zechariah ix, 11, 12 is
selected for strong censure, because neither in translation nor
1 Fronde s History, vol. IX, p. 577, Verteu, and Effects of the Sacra-
fee, ments: togidder with certain Prayers
2 " A Facile Treatise, conteuand, of Devotion, &c., dedicat to his Sove-
rirst, ane infalible rule to discern rain Prince King James the Saxt.
Treu from False Religion : nixt, a Louvain, 1600."
Declaration of the Nature, Number,
56 THE ENGLISH BIBLE.
notes is the old idea of Jerome and Cyril brought out, that the
pit or lake is the lirtibus patrum, or, as Hamilton puts it, "it is
meant to hyd the deliuerance of the patriarchies and uthers, just
men in the auld law, out of the lymbe of the fathers, callit in
the Euangile Abraham s bosume, be Christ s descension into
hel." The same objection is made to Acts ii, 27. Exodus v, 1
is selected for blame, because the translation " offer a sacrifice "
has not been adopted "for God chienie requires sacrifice of his
treu worschipers." The note on Isaiah xix, 19. in reference to
the altar of the Lord in the land of Egypt, is condemned as
hiding the "external sacrifice of the Messe, whilk thay cal
ane idole." Acts xiii, 23 is said to be corrupted "be their fals
marginal note " referring to popular election of ministers ; as
also the note to Malachi i, 11, where incense is explained by
spiritual service. The " Skirmisher" x chose an unfamiliar beat
when he laid aside cord, dagger, and disguise, and resorted to
criticism, for it is utterly irrelevant ; and he should have shown
not the Protestant prepossessions, but the unscholarly failures
of the Genevan versionists. He concludes his diatribe with a
fierce warning : " Therefore, I beseek you, dissaivet people, to
burn your corrupt Scots Bible in the fire, that your sauls be
not tormentit with the intolerable pains of the fires of hell.
This was the only cause why our Catholic bishops forbade the
reading of the English Bible, that the corruptions thereof
should not infect their sauls to eternal perdition." 2 It may be
added that Hamilton returned to Scotland, and after finding
" lurking holes " for some time, he was, in 1G09, seized, and
sent up to the Tower in London, where he died.
1 Bannatyne, Knox s secretary, 2 Burton s History of Scotland,
notes in his "Memorials," p. 51, "In vol. V, p. 267; vol. VI, p. 271.
the meantime there came from Flan- Life of John Hamilton, a secular
ders a little pink, and in it two gen- priest, by Dalrymple, Lord Hailee.
tlemen, with Mr. John Hamilton, Annals of Scotland, vol. Ill, p. 447-
called the Skirmisher, fra Duke Edinburgh, 1819.
d Alva."
THE BISHOPS BIBLE.
" LORD, Thy word abideth,
And our footsteps guideth ;
"Who its truth believeth
Light and joy receiveth.
" When our foes are near us,
Then thy word doth cheer us,
Word of consolation,
Message of salvation.
" When the storms are o er us,
And dark clouds before us,
Then its light directeth,
And our way protecteth.
" Who can tell the pleasure,
Who recount the treasure,
By Thy word imparted
To the simple-hearted ?
" Word of mercy, giving
Succour to the living ;
Word of life, supplying
Comfort to the dying !
" Oh that we, discerning
Its most holy learning,
Lord, may love and fear Thee,
Evermore be near Thee ! "
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
QUEEN MARY died on the 17th of November, 1558, and
was succeeded by her sister Elizabeth. The earlier part
of Elizabeth s reign was beset with many difficulties. Old
things were passing away, and it required delicate handling to
settle the new order amidst doubts and distractions, deepened
by political complications between Spain and France. The
population was divided at the same time into hostile forces ;
excesses of conservatism arrayed in self-defence on the one
hand, and excesses of innovation battling to realize themselves
on the other. The re-organization of the Church had been
wondrously helped by the unusual number of vacancies on the
episcopal bench. Only five of Edward s bishops, English and
Irish, had survived the dark and disastrous reign of his sister ;
and Cardinal Pole, who died on the same day with his royal
mistress arid kinswoman, had left several sees unfilled, so
that at the opening of Elizabeth s first parliament only ten
spiritual peers were present. There were a dozen dioceses
without mitred heads, and according to De Feria, the Spanish
ambassador, the Queen set over them ministros de Lucifer.
Canterbury was filled by the consecration, at Lambeth, on the
17th December, of Matthew Parker, who had been one of
Queen Anne Boleyn s chaplains and Dean of Lincoln, and he
quietly succeeded Cardinal Pole, as if nothing had happened
out of the usual course. His opinions on ecclesiastical matters
suited Elizabeth and Cecil, and though he was a married dig
nitary, he had been so colourless a reformer that he easily
escaped under the reign of Mary. When he was Master of
Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, he enacted that all students
60 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
taking the benefit of " Billingford s hutch " should offer prayer
for the benefit of Billingford s soul ; and he provided that the
Duchess of Norfolk should be similarly remembered. He
became, in course of time, as bitter against the "prophesy ings" 1
as his royal mistress. He was a calm and erudite man of
moderate opinions, and he regulated with no little skill the
affairs of the church of which he was the ecclesiastical head ;
his motto being, " I take some heed not to extend my sleeve
beyond mine arm." The choice of Parker was not only what
is called a safe one, but it was also one of necessity; for
among the able men around the throne, Jewel had in a moment
of weakness abjured, Sandys had espoused the cause of Lady
Jane Grey, Grindal was deficient in tact and firmness in the
management of men and measures, Nowell was disliked by
the queen, Lever, her favourite preacher, was a pronounced
puritan, and Cox had been identified with the "Troubles"
at Frankfort. 2
The English Bible had slipped out of public view in the
time of Mary, and though in her reign no edition of it was
printed, many copies must have been secreted, for spies were
prowling about, and the open possession and study of it in
volved individuals and households in immediate suspicion and
jeopardy. 3 The people were forbidden to read in their mother
tongue the book which opened up salvation to them, and re
vealed those promises and hopes on which they rested their
eternal well-being. Such things they might hear from the lips
of a priest, but they were not to read for themselves the words
of Evangelists or Apostles. They might listen to the sermon,
but they durst not gaze upon the text. They might kneel
before the crucifix, but were on no account to pause and pray
over the story of the Gospels, and be in this way brought into
living sympathy with Him that died for them. Sir Thomas
More had admitted that "four-tenths of the people could
never read English," yet though many persons had no educa-
1 Yet Lord Bacon highly eulogizes 2 See page 4.
the prophesyings, and describes their 3 Thus a Bible of 1550 has on the
nature and benefit. Works, vol. fly-leaf, " Found in the hay-loft at
VII, p. 86, ed. B. Montague. Canterbury, October 10th, 1718."
xxxviii.] AGNES PREST AND JOAN WASTE. (jl
tion at all, not a few of the uneducated class were well in
structed in the truths of Scripture. It is told of Sir Walter
Raleigh s mother, that in the perilous reign of Mary she
went to visit a poor woman, named Agnes Prest, lying in
Exeter jail, and soon to be martyred at Southernhay, and
that the prisoner spoke to her so touchingly and ably against
transubstantiation that she was confounded, saying, in her
own record of the interview, " I was not able to answer her
I who can read, and she cannot." According to report, also
though the woman was "of such simplicity, and without learn
ing, you could declare no place of Scripture but she could tell
you the chapter." 1 Want of common schooling kept this
woman from reading Scripture ; but Foxe 2 tells of another
woman who, in the midst of poverty and darkness, felt the
light, life, and riches of the divine Word. Joan Waste had
been born blind, but had learned to support herself by knit
ting " hosen and sleeves," and occasionally helping her father
to "twine ropes." Having gathered a little money, and bought
a Bible, she got some friends to read it to her, and at various
times she gave a penny to others to induce them to gratify
her. Her great knowledge of Scripture became at length so
notorious that she was " convented " before the bishop, and
on being examined at length, she was condemned, and burned
at Derby in 1556, being about twenty-two years of age.
But on the elevation of Elizabeth to the throne, the book
which had been under ban for five years and four months
started again into prominence. As the Princess Elizabeth, and
when she was a virtual prisoner at Woodstock, in danger of
her life, she was a pious student of the blessed book. Her
own peculiar words, inscribed by herself on a MS. copy of the
Epistles used by her are given thus : " August. I walke many
times into the pleasant fieldes of the Holy Scriptures, where I
plucke up the goodliesome herbes of sentences by pruning :
eate them by reading : chawe them by musing : and laie them
up at length in the hie seate of memorie by gathering them
together : that so having tasted theire sweeteness I may the
1 Life of Sir Walter Ealeigh, by Edward Edwards, vol. I, p. 19.
London, 1868. 2 Foxe, vol. VIII, p. 247.
(52 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
lesse perceave the bitterness of this miserable life." In the
sixteenth year of her reign we find, too, she was in possession
of " Gone Gospell booke covered with tissue, and garnished on
th onside with the crucifix, and the queene s badges of silver
guilt, poiz with wodde, leaves, and all, cxii. oz." x
At length, when her sister had died, and she was leaving
the Tower, on the day before her coronation, she looked up to
heaven, and offered the following thanksgiving : " Oh Lord,
Almighty and Everlasting God, I give thee most humble
thanks that thou hast been so merciful unto me as to spare me
to behold this joyful day ; and I acknowledge that thou hast
dealt wonderfully and mercifully with me. As thou didst
with thy servant Daniel the prophet, whom thou deliveredst
out of the den, from the cruelty of the raging lions, even so
was I overwhelmed, and only by Thee delivered. To Thee,
therefore, only be thanks, honour, and praise for ever. Amen."
According to traditional story, when, after offering this
prayer, she went through London in procession, and was pass
ing the " Little Conduit in Cheape," a pageant was prepared
to salute her, for " Time " was placed there, and " Truth, the
daughter of Time," holding in her hand the verbum veritatis
an English Bible which she delivered to the Queen. Her
Majesty received the gift with royal graciousness and kissed it.
Then " thanking the city for their goodly gift," and pressing it
to her bosom, she said that she would "diligently read therein."
A person in the crowd, as if suddenly recollecting who it was
that first gave the English Bible to the nation, lustily cried
out, " Remember old King Harry the Eighth ! " and " a gleam
of light passed over Elizabeth s face " at the mention of her
father s name in this connection. Lord Bacon also records
that hints were given to her to release certain prisoners,
as the four Evangelists and the Apostle Paul, long shut up,
and that she " answered very gravely, that it was best first to
inquire of themselves whether they would be released or no."
In a short time, however, she issued a proclamation containing
these injunctions : " To provide, within three months after
this visitation, at the charges of the parish, one book of the
1 Archoeologia, vol. XIII, p. 221.
XXXVIIL] QUEEN ELIZABETH. 33
whole Bible of the largest volume in English, and within
one twelve months the paraphrases of Erasmus, also in Eng
lish; and the same to be set up in some convenient place
within the said church, where the parishioners may most con
veniently resort and read the same. All persons under the
degree of A.M. shall buy for their own use the New Testament
in Latin and English, with paraphrases, within three months.
Inquiry was to be made whether any parsons, vicars, or
curates, did discourage any person from reading any part of
the Bible, either in Latin or English."
She took the Great Seal from Heath, but retained him in
her Privy Council, along with twelve others who had served
her sister, and to them she added eight new members, her
Lord Keeper being Sir Nicholas Bacon. Her sister s bishops
had resolved not to crown her; but Oglethorpe, of Carlisle,
broke the compact, and went through the ceremony of corona
tion and anointing, other bishops being also present, to one of
whom Bonner had lent his episcopal robes.
Though no direct encouragement might thus be drawn by
non-catholics from the queen s demeanour, the more intelligent
and enterprising of her subjects hoped for an open and uncon
trolled circulation of the Scriptures, and they were not dis
appointed. Elizabeth s conduct, however, must have greatly
perplexed many observers, for in religion she was, and continued
to be, somewhat of an enigma ; and what her relation to the
English Bible might ultimately be was vailed in uncertainty.
There were omens both of promise and of discouragement. On
Wotton s refusal, the chair of Canterbury was said, at the time,
to have been offered to Feckenham, Abbot of Westminster, who
had been chaplain to Bishop Bonner. Mass was sung by the
queen s desire, not only at the funeral of her sister and that of
Cardinal Pole, but Convocation was opened with high mass,
in 1559, and it was said in the churches from November, 1558,
to June, 1559. Negotiations for an alliance between her and
Rome were in progress, but they were frowned upon by Pope
Paul IV, who formally excommunicated her in April, 1570.
She attended mass herself, but forbade the elevation of the
host. She would not admit a papal nuncio, for she detested
64 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
the Romish domination, though she had little or no sympathy
with the theology of Protestantism. In the royal chapel a
crucifix stood for a considerable period on the altar, with lights
burning before it. 1 Jewel denounced " the idol," and Parkhurst
sent to Bullinger the good news of its demolition. Her father
had taken the title of Supreme Head of the Church, but she
was content with that of Supreme Governor. In 1560 she
assured De Quadra that she was as good a catholic as he was,
and that she had been compelled to do as she did ; and yet, dur
ing the course of the same year, she resolved to take Scotland
under her protection, as "a Christian realm in the profession
of Christ s true religion." She talked to Mendoza of reconsider
ing her ecclesiastical position ; but she still held on her way,
and took no penitent step toward reconciliation with the Holy
Father. While she was coquetting with Spain and France, she
enjoined on Randolph to certify to the Lords of the Congrega
tion north of the Tweed, that, in her view, " no basis of amity
between nations is so sure as that grounded on unity and
consent in religion," though she had been greatly displeased
with the Scottish Confession on its first publication in 1560.
Professing at one time a desire to settle the succession to the
crown of England in favour of the Queen of Scots, she made
it a condition that Mary must accept the Reformation, and yet
the ritual which she admired herself was more than semi-
catholic, while she was using every effort to bind her own
clergy to celibacy. 2 Her eagerness for uniformity led to its
enforcement in London, and to the exclusion, in consequence,
of thirty-seven of its ministers. Other recusants were cruelly
punished, and men like Penry, Thacker, Greenwood, and Bar
row were executed. When Catholic Europe combined against
1 Jewel was so displeased that he thanking the primate, turned round
said, "As Christ was (in Mary s time) to his wife the wife of the first peer
thrown out by his enemies, so he is of the realm and said, " And you
now kept out by his friends." madam I may not call you, and
2 The story was current at the mistress I am ashamed to call you
time that, after being sumptuously but yet do I thank you." Har-
entertained by Archbishop Parker, riugton, Nugse Antiquse, vol. ii, p.
the queen, at her departure, after 16.
xxxvni.] HER REGARD FOR SCRIPTURE. 65
her she rose to the occasion, as when the Armada filled the
Channel in 1588; but when Protestants stood sadly in need of
men and money, she sternly refused them. She treated her
clergy with queenly scorn, silenced one bishop, and threatened to
unfrock another. She haughtily interrupted Dean Nowell s
discourse in St. Paul s, for she disliked his iconoclasm, and she
detested the pulpit from her inability to control its utterances.
But in spite of her Laodicean position toward the church of
Cranmer which had been founded under her father, and under
him had experienced many oscillations, she never imitated Henry
in his treatment of the English Bible. The various versions in
use were neither impeded nor patronized by her. She thought
that the nation might flourish with few sermons and fewer
presses; but she never attempted to limit the supply of Bibles ;
nay, she commanded by proclamation the reading of the Gos
pel, the Epistle for the day, and the Ten Commandments in the
vulgar tongue. Though she kept several of the sees long vacant,
and appropriated the revenues, she never meddled with the
circulation and reading of the Divine volume in any diocese.
The Court of High Commission and the Star Chamber were
crowded with ecclesiastical causes, but the printers and pub
lishers of the Scriptures were in no way molested. Imperious
enactments were issued, mulcting those who would not attend
church; but no such commands were twined round the English
Bible. She often interfered with debates in Parliament, and
used uncourteous language in her rebukes; and her royal
assent was refused in one year to no less than forty-eight
bills which had passed both houses ; but she kept aloof from
the Bibles in circulation, and, in her own words, spoken on
another point, she would not consent that they should be
either " abled or disabled."
Grafton reprinted a tract, first published on the accession of
Edward in 1547, "A Godly Invective in the defence of the
gospel against such as murmur and do what they can that the
Bible should not have free passage ; very necessary to be read
of every faithful Christian. By Philip Gerrard, yeoman of King
Edward s Chamber." Such a publication must have stirred up
not a few to covet copies of the English Scriptures, and to be
VOL. II. E
66 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
thankful for them if already they possessed them. The queen s
proclamation had restored the Great Bible to its. rank of the
authorized version. Tyndale s, Coverdale s, the Great Bible,
and the Genevan were also in circulation, and if we reason
from the number of impressions, Tyndale and the Genevan
were by far the most popular. The Cranmer folio was first
published in her majesty s reign in 1562, by Harrison; a
quarto edition, printed by Cawood, having come out during
the previous year. Jugge had also sent abroad two editions
of the New Testament. " A very fine and pompous " edition
of the Great Bible was also printed by Hamillon, at Rouen,
in 1566, "at the cost and charges of Richard Carmarden, of the
Customs." Grafton, who had been engaged in printing the
Scriptures for nigh thirty years, issued an edition in one
volume octavo the first of that handy size. l These editions
supplied the nation for six or seven years, so that there was
little lack of choice ; but the Great Bible and the Genevan were
brought into direct competition.
These translations differed on many minor points, but they
contained the same disclosure of essential truths ; and they had
all a close genetic relationship, the one arising out of the other,
the version of Tyndale being the primal source, especially recog
nizable after several revisions. Bishop Hooper, writing in 1554,
from his prison, an " Appellatio ad Parliamentum," asserts the
desirableness of a revision, and that he had discussed and urged
the matter with pious and learned brethren, affirming, however,
his ability to prove that the English Bible is nearer the Hebrew
than the translation usually ascribed to Jerome. 2 It was
natural in such circumstances that there should be a desire for
another version, which from its superiority might supersede all
rivals. Parker had at the same time a passion for uniformity,
and insisted on it without reserve or modification, being, as
Fuller calls him, " a Parker indeed, careful to keep the fences."
1 The greater portion of this edi- that not a single copy is known to
tion, to the extent of 7,000 copies, is be in existence,
said to have been sent over to Ire- 2 Later "Writings, p. 393, Parker
land, and such was the good or bad Soc. ed.
usage that these books met with,
xxxvin.] ARCHBISHOP PARKER. 67
He did not like men that were not, to use his own epithet,
" disciplinable " men. But it was both right and natural in
him to try and publish a Bible which might be accepted as
the one Bible of the English people. The bishops and clergy
could not but feel, if they were at all interested in critical study,
that the Great Bible needed revision, and they could scarcely
be expected to acquiesce in the Genevan version, though it
had been made by Englishmen ; for in its origin they had no
hand, and over its renderings and notes they had possessed no
control. It was also becoming identified more and more with
the freer and bolder party in the Church, who were not only
Calvinists in theology, but were struggling against rigid and
universal conformity. In fact, the Genevan was greatly the
better translation of the two in use, and Cranmer s must have
suffered from the contrast.
The originator of the proposal for another revision or trans
lation is not mentioned probably there had been various
suggestions growing in number and importunity. Matthew
Parker, seventieth Archbishop of Canterbury, was himself an
excellent scholar, far in advance of his episcopal compeers and
fond of Biblical studies. Born at Norwich in 1504, he was
educated at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, of which he
was elected a fellow, and then master in 1543; becoming vice-
chancellor two years afterwards. He had declined a place in
Wolsey s new college at Oxford, and was made Dean of Lincoln
in 1552. He spent many academical years of earnest study, so
that he possessed no small portion of patristic and antiquarian
learning, as may foe seen in many of his works. The primate
must have been well aware of the inferiority of the Great
Bible, for it had been a work of haste, though it was the result
of two revisions by one editor. Sandys, Bishop of Worcester,
was also fully alive to the importance of the measure, and quite
competent to advise upon it. In a letter to the Archbishop he
declares, "Your grace should much benefit the Church in hasten
ing forward the Bible which you have in hand : those that we
have be not only false printed, but also give great offence to
many by reason of the depravity in reading." But neither
the queen, nor Convocation, nor Parliament uttered a voice in
68 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
the matter. The Queen had so little to do with the enterprise
that the Archbishop was in some hesitation about writing her
as to the completion of the Bible ; and having composed a
letter to her, he sent it to Cecil, and asked him to use his
"opportunity of delivery." About 1563, the primate set
about the new enterprise. Strype describes his method of
procedure : l
"Among the noble designs of this archbishop must be reckoned
his resolution to have the Holy Bible set forth, well translated
into the vulgar tongue for private use as well as for the use of
churches ; and to perform that which his predecessor, Arch
bishop Cranmer, endeavoured so much to bring to pass, but
could not (the bishops in his days being most of them utterly
averse to any such thing), that is, that the bishops should join
together and take their parts and portions in reviewing,
amending, and setting forth the English translation of those
holy books. This our present archbishop s thoughts ran much
upon. And he had about this time distributed the Bible,
divided into parts, to divers learned fellow-bishops, and to
some other divines that were about him, who cheerfully
undertook the work. As for the Bible commonly used, it was
not only very ill printed, but the translation in many places
bad, and such as gave offence ; and the translator had followed
Munster, who was very negligent, and mistook sometimes the
Hebrew, as Bishop Sandys observed. The archbishop took
upon him the labour to contrive and set the whole work
a-going in a proper method, by sorting out the whole Bible into
parcels to able bishops and other learned men to peruse, and
collate each the book or books allotted them. Sending withal
his instructions for the method they should observe ; and they
to add some short marginal notes for the illustration or cor
rection of the text. And all these portions of the Bible being
finished and sent back to the archbishop, he was to add the
last hand to them, and so to take care for printing and pub
lishing the whole." 2
1 Strype s Life of Parker, p. 208, London, 1711.
2 Life of Parker, p. 207.
xxxvin.] HIS COADJUTORS. (59
The coadjutors of the archbishop were not all equally
competent, for Guest (Gheast), the Bishop of Rochester, con
fesses to some very peculiar convictions, which, if acted on,
would have marred the integrity of the version. In reference
to the Psalms, he says : l " I have not altered the translation,
but where it gave occasion of an error. As at the first
Psalrn at the beginning I turn the prseter-perfect tense into
the present tense, because the sense is too harsh in the prseter-
perfect tense. Where in the New Testament one piece of a
Psalm is reported, I translate it in the Psalms according to the
translation thereof in the New Testament, for the avoiding of
the offence that may rise to the people upon divers translations."
Sandys, in another letter, Feb. 6th, writes more precisely: "Ac
cording to your grace s letter of instruction, I have perused the
book you sent me, and with good diligence ; having also in
conference with some other, considered of the same in such
sort, I trust, as your grace will not mislike of. ... I have
sent it up with my clerk, whose hand I used in writing
forth the corrections and marginal notes. When it shall
please your grace to set over the book to be reviewed by some
one of your chaplains, my clerk shall attend a day or two, to
make it plain unto him how my notes are to be placed. In
mine opinion your grace shall do well to make the whole Bible
to be diligently surveyed by some well learned before it be
put to print, and also to have skilful and diligent correctors at
the printing of it, ... which thing will require a time.
Sed sat cito si sat bene." Bishop Cox, of Ely, who had no
love for the men that made the Genevan version, expresses
his deep interest in the project in a letter of May 3, 1566 :
" I trust your grace is well forward with the Bible by this
time. I perceive the greatest burden will lie upon your neck,
touching care and travail. I would wish that such usual
words as we English people be acquainted with might still
remain in their form and sound, so far forth as the Hebrew
will well bear ; ink-horn terms to be avoided. The translation
of the verbs in the Psalms to be used uniformly in one tense."
1 Life of Parker, p. 208.
70 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
The meaning of this last clause is not easily comprehended.
Bishop Parkhurst, of Norwich, pledged himself " to travel
therein with such diligence and expedition as he might."
Davis, Bishop of St. David s, promised " to finish his part with
as much speed as he could, bestowing upon the performance
of the same all such time as he could spare." l On the 26th
November, Parker also intimated the design to Cecil
in the following terms : " I have distributed the Bible
to divers men. I am desirous, if you could spare so
much leisure either in morning or evening, we had one
Epistle of St. Paul, St. Peter, or St. James perused by you,
that ye may be one of the builders of this good work in
Christ s Church." Another letter of the primate to Cecil, of
date October 5th, 1568, encloses the short rules which the
archbishop had laid down for the revisers or, as he phrases it,
"Observations respected of the translators." " First, to follow
the common English translation used in the churches, and not
to recede from it, but where it varieth manifestly from the
Hebrew or Greek original." " Item To use sections and
divisions in the text as Pagnine in his translation useth, and
for the verity of the Hebrew to follow the said Pagnine and
Miinster specially, and generally others learned in the tongues."
" Item To make no bitter notes upon any text, or yet to set
down any determination in places of controversy." " Item
To note such chapters and places as contain matter of
genealogies, or other such places not edifying with some strike
or note, that the reader may eschew them in his public
reading." " Item That all such words as sound in the old
translation, to any offence of lightness or obscenity, be ex
pressed with more convenient terms and phrases." Of the
primate s coadjutors many were bishops, and this circum
stance first gave its familiar name to the revision the
Bishops Bible.
The actual workers cannot now be definitely named. The
following is the list of the revisers of the several books inclosed
o
1 Strype s Life of Parker, p. 208.
2 Correspondence of Matthew Parker, D.D., p. 336, Parker Soc. ed.
xxxviii.] THE VARIOUS TRANSLATORS. 71
in a letter to Cecil, of 5th October, 1568, and still remaining
with it in the State Paper office :
The sum of the Scripture . N
The Tables of Christ s line . . . . /
The Argument of the Scriptures . x M. Cant. [Archbishop
The first Preface into the whole Bible Parker.]
The Preface into the Psalter
The Preface into the New Testament
-p , > M. Cant. [Archbishop Parker.]
i, 1, 2.)
Leviticus 1 Cantuarise. [Andrew Pierson, prebend of Canter-
Numerus j bury T\
Deuteronomium \ W. Exon. [Bishop Alley.]
Josuse . . \
Judicum . ( -n TIT I-T->- i T^ -i
>R. Meneven. Bishop Davies.
Ruth
Regum,
Regum, 3, 4. ")
n v 10 r Ed. Wigorn. [Bishop Sandys.]
Parahpomenon, 1, 2. J J
Job . . "i Cantuarise. [Andrew Pierson, prebend of Canter-
Proverbia f bury 1]
Ecclesiastes ) Cantabrigia?. [Andrew Perne, Master of Peter-
Cantica . J House, and Dean of Ely.]
Ecclesiasticus \
Susanna . ( T T . r
VJ. JNorwic. Bishop Parkhurst.
Baruc ... I
Maccabeorum
Esdras . . \
}-~W. Cicestren. [Bishop Barlow.]
Tobias . . |
Sapientia .
Esaias . . . ~\
Hieremias . . > R. Winton. [Bishop Home.]
Lamentationes 3
> J. Lich. and Covent. [Bishop Bentham.]
Daniel J
Propheta? ) -TIT
f Ed. London. [Bishop Grindal.
minores J
72 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
Matthseus )
Marcus J Cant
Johannes } Ed> Peterb C Bish P Scambler -]
Acta Apostolorum ") .
A i -r /- Jti. Eliensis. Bishop Cox.]
Ad Romanos . . J
1 Epistola Corin. } D. Westmon. [Dr. Gabriel Goodman.]
2 Epistola Corin. -,
Ad Galatas .
Ad Ephesios .
Ad Phillippenses
Ad Collossenses .
i T mi , }- M. Cant. [Archbishop Parker.]
Ad Timotheum .
Ad Tituin . .
Ad Philemon .
Ad Hebrseos .
Epistolse Canonize ) XT T n rT >. -, -& 1V , -,
I N. Lincoln. [Bishop Bullmgham.]
Apocalipsis j
But these names do not agree with the initials put at the end
of some of the books, this notation being a suggestion of the
archbishop, that the several revisers " might be the more
diligent as answerable for their doings." But Lawrence, if
he was a formal reviser, has no place marked by his initials,
and the same initials stand at the end of Job and at the
end of Proverbs. Still, as the archbishop suggested, "the
letters of their names be partly affixed to their books."
Some of the revisers may be made out by their initials as
follows :
The Pentateuch has W. E. (William Exoniensis), William
Alley, Bishop of Exeter.
The next portion, up to the second book of Samuel, has R.
M. (Ricardus Menevensis), Richard Davis, Bishop of St.
Davids.
The third part, as far as second book of Chronicles, has E.
W. (Edwin Wigornensis), Edwin Sandys.
The fourth portion, ending with Job, has A. P. C., Andrew
Peerson, Prebendary of Canterbury.
XXXVIIT.] THE VERSION FINISHED. 73
The Psalms have T. B., probably Thomas Becon. This
portion was first sent to Guest, Bishop of Rochester.
The Book of Proverbs is signed again A. P. C., supposed to
be Andrew Peerson, Prebendary of Canterbury, the translator
of the fourth portion.
The seventh portion, containing Ecclesiastes and Canticles,
has A. P. E., Andrew Perne, Prebendary of Ely.
The eighth portion, ending with Lamentations, has R. W.,
Robert Home, Bishop of Winchester.
The ninth part, Ezekiel and Daniel, has T. C. L., Thomas
Cole, Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry.
The tenth part, or minor prophets, has E. L., Edmund Grin-
dal, Bishop of London.
The Apocrypha, or eleventh portion, has J. N., John Park-
hurst, Bishop of Norwich.
The Gospels and Acts have R. E., Richard Cox, Bishop of
Ely.
The Epistle to the Romans has R. E., which, according
to Strype, should be E. R., Edmund Guest, Bishop of
Rochester.
The First Epistle to the Corinthians has G. G., Gabriel Good
man, Dean of Westminster.
The remaining books of the New Testament have no ap
pended initials. 1
After a period of preparation extending to about four years,
the archbishop, on 5th October, tells Cecil that the Bible is
finished, and that he had thought of offering in person to the
queen s highness "the first fruits of our labours in the re
cognizing the Bible," but, as his health would not allow him to
" adventure," he asked the Secretary to present a copy to the
queen, "bound as ye see." In a letter to her majesty of the
same date his grace says "Pleaseth it your highness to
accept in good part the endeavour and diligence of some of us
your chaplains, my brethren the bishops, with other certain
learned men, in this new edition of the Bible. I trust by com
parison of divers translations put forth in your realm, will
1 Parker Correspondence, Parker Soc. ed., p. 334.
74 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
appear as well the workmanship of the printer, as the circum
spection of all such as have travailed in the recognition.
Among divers observations which have been regarded in
this recognition, one was, not to make it vary much from
that translation which was commonly used by public order,
except where either the verity of the Hebrew and Greek
moved alteration, or where the text was, by some negligence,
mutilated from the original. So that I trust your loving sub
jects shall see good cause in your majesty s days to thank God
and to rejoice, to see this high treasure of His holy word so set
out as may be proved (so far forth as man s mortal knowledge
can attain to, or as far forth as God hath hitherto revealed) to
be faithfully handled in the vulgar tongue; beseeching your
highness that it may have your gracious favour, licence, and
protection, to be communicated abroad, as well for that in
many churches they want their books, and have long time
looked for this, as for that in certain places be publicly used
some translations which have not been laboured in your realm,
having inspersed diverse prejudicial notes, which might have
been also well spared. I have been bold in the furniture
with few words to express the incomparable value of this
treasure."
The Bible so disparaged is the Genevan version and its
famous notes ; and the queen is earnestly appealed to that
she might authorize the revision. In the same letter to Cecil,
already referred to, the primate speaks on some technical
points and matters of business :
"It may be that in so long a work things have scaped,
which may be lawful to every man, cum bona venia, to amend
when they find them; non omnia possumus omnes. The
printer hath honestly done his diligence; if your honour
would obtain of the Queen s Highness that this edition
might be licensed and only commended in public reading in
churches, to draw to one uniformity, it were no great cost
to the most parishes, and a relief to him for his great
charges sustained. 1 The psalters might remain in quires, as
1 In a "note" he adds, " The printer hath bestowed his thickest paper
on the New Testament, because it shall be most occupied."
xxxviri.] PARKER EDITOR AND JUGGE PRINTER. 75
they be much multiplied, but where of their own accord
they would use this translation. Sir, I pray your honour
be a mean that Jugge only may have the preferment of
this edition ; for if any other should lurch him to steal from
him these copies, he were a great loser in this first thing.
And, sir, without doubt he hath well deserved to be pre
ferred ; a man would not think that he had devoured so
much pain as he hath sustained."
It is pleasant to note that Parker was to his death on
affectionate terms with his fellow-workers, and that he re
membered some of them in his will. He bequeathed to
Edmund Grindal, Archbishop of York, a gold ring with a
round sapphire ; to Edwin Sandys, Bishop of London, his
staff of Indian cane, with silver gilt at the end; to Robert
Home, Bishop of Winchester, a gold ring with a turquoise ;
to Richard Cox, Bishop of Ely, his staff of Indian cane, with a
horologe on the top ; to Nicholas Bullingham, Bishop of
Worcester, his white horse, called Hackengton, with the saddle,
and bridle, and a new footcloth of velvet ; to Andrew Pearson,
B.D., a silver cup with a cover gilt, given to him by the queen
on the feast of the circumcision. 1
1 Coopers Athense Cantabrigieu- January, 1561-2, proposed a new
ses, vol. I, p. 332. In the same translation of the Bible, and re-
volume it is stated that Bishop Cox, peated the proposal in another
in writing to Cecil on the 10th of letterof 3rd May, 1564. Do., p. 440.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
Bible was published in folio with the simple title :
" The Holie Bible, containing the Old Testament and the
New: The New Testament of our Saviour Jesus Christ. 1568.
Richard Jugge. Cum Privilegio Regiee Majestatis."
Jugge presents his " mark " the pelican feeding her young
with her own blood, with a Latin couplet explaining the symbol.
The archbishop s own copy is in the Library of Corpus Christi
College, Cambridge. On the title-page, in an oval, is a half-
length portrait of the queen, with the ball and sceptre in her
hand; above her the arms of France and England quartered
within the garter, and over them the helmet and crest. On the
one side is the symbol of Ireland, and on the other that of Wales,
while Charity and Faith are delineated on the margin of the
picture. At the bottom of the page, on a scroll guarded by the
lion and dragon, are the words, "Non me pudet Evangelii
Christi. Virtus enim Dei est ad salutem omni credenti. Rom. i."
At the beginning of Joshua is an engraving, in an oval, of
the Earl of Leicester in armour, and his coat of arms is in the
initial A of the word " AFTER." On the front of the Psalms is
a plate of Lord Burleigh, holding in his left hand an open
Hebrew book; and the initial D (David) of the Preface has in
it his coat of arms, and also the B of the word " Blessed " in
the first psalm. Parker s preface is in Roman, and Cranmer s
prologue is in Gothic letters, the initial letter C of his name
containing his coat of arms. There is also at Leviticus xviii
-a double table of degrees of " kinred, affinitie, or aliaunce
which let matrimonise." The archbishop s paternal arms are
found impaled with those of Christ Church Canterbury, in a
THE ARCHBISHOP S PREFACE. 77
large initial T at the genealogical table in the Old Testament
and at the preface to the New. There are many engravings.
Otherwise the volume is marked by a severe simplicity, and
there is no dedication. 1 Parker s preface inculcates the duty
and privilege of reading the Scriptures, which are meant for
all. The need of the present revision is also dwelt on. " And
for that the copies thereof be so wasted, that very many
churches do want their convenient Bybles, it was thought
good to some well-disposed men, to recognize 2 the same Byble
againe into this fourme as it is no we come out, with some
further diligence in the printing, and with more light added,
partly in the translation, and partly in the order of the text ;
not as condemning the former translation, whiche was folowed
mostly of any other translation, excepting the original! text,
from whiche as litle variaunce was made as was thought meete
to such as take paynes therin : desiring thee, good reader, if
ought be escaped, eyther by such as had the expending of the
bookes, or by the oversight of the printer, to correct the same
in the spirite of Charitie, calling to remembrance what diver-
sitie hath been scene in men s judgementes in the translation
of these bookes before these dayes, though all directed their
labours to the glory of God, to the edification of the Church, to
the comfort of their Christian brethren, and always as God dyd
further open unto them, so ever more desirous they were to
refourme their former humane oversightes, rather then in a
stubborne wylfuhiesse to resist the gyft of the holy Ghost, who
from tyme to tyme is resident as that heavenly teacher and
leader into all truth, by whose direction the Church is ruled
and governed." The misinterpretations of some Catholic
writers are exposed, especially one which, in Rom. vi, 13,
changed " sanctification " into " satisfaction." The saying of
St. Augustine is quoted, " that divers translations many times
have made the harder and darker sentences the more open and
plain ;" and Fisher, "once Bishop of Rochester," is also adduced
as affirming that "many things have been more diligently
1 Jewel wrote to Bullinger, "The which I certainly am not displeased."
queen will not endure the title of 2 It was the usual term then for
Head of the Church of England, at " revise."
78 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
discussed, and more clearly understanded by the writers of
these latter days than in old times they were."
The division of verses adopted in the Genevan version is
followed ; and, after its example too, some care was taken of
the spelling of proper names. But there is really no proof of
Offer s 1 statement, that the New Testament of the Bishops
Bible is taken from a revision of Cheke s New Testament,
published by Jugge in 1561. The Testament referred to by
him is apparently an edition of Tyndale. 2
One cannot surmise why the Queen should not have publicly
acknowledged the appeal made to her by the Primate why she
should not have acted as her father had done to three transla
tions, and given the version special recognition and sanction.
Not even Parker s name graces the title-page, as Cranmer s
had done in his Bible of 1540. Perhaps she had some regard
for the Bible so often printed in her father s and brother s
time, and for the memory of the primate who had at length
died at the stake. At all events, no royal confirmation was
given to the volume, and no license was issued, like that to
John Bodleigh for the Genevan version. An edition of Cran
mer s Bible was printed the same year as the first edition of
the Bishops , and it bore upon it as usual, " according to the
translation appointed to be read in churches"; but Parker s
Bible never carried such a mandate during his lifetime. In
the royal patents for printing the Bible, no version was singled
out for preference, even though such patents were sanctioned
by Archbishop Whitgift. Not till 1577 was an edition
printed " set forth by authoritie " that is, not royal, only
episcopal authority ; but, as if to offer a counterpoise, a copy
of the Genevan of the same year was presented to the "throned
vestal," and the covers were embroidered by her own hand.
But Convocation naturally made special enactments in favour
of the Bishops version. In the " Constitutions and Canons " of
1571, it was ordered "that every archbishop and bishop should
have at his house a copy of the Holy Bible of the largest volume,
as lately printed in London, and that it should be placed in the
1 Offor MSS., II, British Museum, in his own collection, pp. 185-187.
2 Lea "Wilson s Catalogue of Bibles Cotton s Editions, &c., p. 32.
xxxix.] CRITICAL REMARKS BY LAWRENCE. 79
hall or large dining room, that it might be useful to their ser
vants or to strangers" the order applying also to each cathedral,
and " so far as could be conveniently done, to all the churches."
The English service was still very unwelcome to many of
the conservative clergy and nobility, who regarded it as the
life of the religious revolution by which so many intolerable
changes were wrought round about them. The rebellion of
the northern Earls in 15G9 had, according to their proclamation,
for its object "to restore all ancient customs and liberties to
God and this noble realm." The insurgents, filled with this
spirit, entered Durham Cathedral with the old banner of the
Pilgrimage borne before them, blazoned with the cross, the
streamers, and the five wounds, and at once destroyed "the
English Bibles," l copies, in all probability, of the Great Bible.
In the Old Testament the Great Bible was chiefly followed ;
many chapters exhibit few important variations, and numerous
better renderings introduced by the Genevan version are ig
nored, though not a few emendations are at the same time
adopted from it. Canon Westcott says, " It is possible that I
may have been unfortunate in the parts which I have exam
ined (of the Old Testament), for what I saw did not encourage
me to compare very much of the Bishops text with the other
versions." 2 Editions of the Aversion appeared in 1569, 1570,
and 1571.
Strype has preserved some critical remarks on twenty-nine
places of the New Testament of the Bishops Bible, by Law
rence " a man, in those days, of great fame for his knowledge
of the Greek," and probably one of the revisers of the Bishops
version, or suggesters of the second edition. 3 Lawrence was
probably the head-master of Shrewsbury School, and the in
structor in Greek of Lady Cecil, who became a wonderful pro
ficient in that language. The criticisms are certainly made on
eome places in the New Testament of the first edition of the
Bishops Bible, for it alone of all the versions contains several
of the clauses on which critical comments are given, though
the majority of them are found also in the Great Bible, on
1 Froude s History, vol. IX, p. 315. 3 Life of Parker. Appendix, No.
2 History, p. 247, 2nd ed. Ixxxv, p. 139.
80 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
which the Bishops was principally based. In some instances
the rendering of the Great Bible is simply restored. The
verses selected for emendation are, with one exception, taken
from the Synoptical Gospels, and his corrections were accepted
in the revised edition of the Bishops , published in 1572 ; pro
bably, therefore, the work of Lawrence was done with a view
to this edition, and was intended to present a brief specimen
of the necessity and nature of a good revision.
Lawrence s first section is headed "Wordes not aptlye trans
lated in the New Testament." His proposed emendations are
Matt, xvii, 27, instead of "of the children," B. 1, "their
children," G. B., " of their own children," adopted in the B. 2
and A. ; 2 but the best Greek reading will not warrant it. 27,
instead of " cast an angle," G. B., B 1, " cast an hook," adopted
in B 2. and A. xxi, 33, instead of " made a vineyard," B. 1 and
G. B., " planted a vineyard," " amended " in the Genevan,
adopted in B. 2 and A. 38, instead of " let us enjoy it," B 1,
G. B., " let us take possession or seizyn," adopted virtually in
B. 2 and A. ; " keep," however, would be more literal, xxii, 7,
instead of " sente foorth his men of war," B. 1, G. B., " sent
forth his armies," adopted in B. 2 and A. xxv, 20, instead of
"five talents more," B. 1, G. B., "five talents besides," B. 2 and
A. xxvi, 38, instead of " is heavy," B. 1, G. B., " is exceedinge
heavie," adopted in B. 2 and A, as the adjective is a strong
compound ; the Genevan having " very heavie." 42, instead
of " he went awaie once again," B. 1, G. B., " he went away
the second time," noting that " this is amended in the Genevan
Bible," adopted in B. 2 and A. xxvii, 14, instead of " harm
less," B. 1, G. B., "careless"; "this is not considered in the
Genevan Bible " ; adopted in B. 2 and A. as " secure you,"
make you secure that is, free from care, if judicial investiga
tion should take place.
Mark i, 24, " let us alone," the clause not being in B. 1 and
G. B., adopted in B. 2 and A. ; but the Greek reading that would
warrant such a translation can scarcely be sustained. 45,
instead of " to tell many things," B. 1, G. B. " openly to declare,"
2 B. 1, Bishops first edition ; B. 2, Bishops revised edition of 1572 ; G. B.,
Great Bible ; A., Authorized.
xxxix.] LA W&JSNCE S CRITICISMS ON BISHOPS BIBLE. 81
virtually B. 2 and A. ; but it is " not considered in the Genevan
Bible." x, 19, instead of " thou shalte not kyll," B. 1, " kyll
not," G. B., " doe not kyll," B. 2 and A., Beza being correct in
those places, but the Genevan wrong; and the "Vulgate" being
right in this verse, but wrong in rendering the same language
in Luke xviii, 20. xii, 15, instead of "seeing," B. 1, "having
understood their dissimulation," G. B., " he knowinge theire
7 3 O
hypocrisie," B. 2, but not A.
In Luke i, 3, 4, the translation of the Great Bible is really
better than that which Lawrence suggests, and which is found
in the Bishops , and virtually in the Authorized, " having per
fect understanding of all things from the beginning," the Great
Bible having "as soon as I had searched out diligently all
things "- the correct rendering being " having traced the
course of all things accurately from the first " ; Lawrence is
right in the last clause, " whereof thou hast been taught by
mouth," adopted in the B. 2, but refused in A. vi, 44, in
stead of " nor of bushes," B. 1, G. B., " nor of a bramble-bush,"
B. 2 and A. All those corrections suggested by Lawrence have
been adopted in the Bishops , and, with one exception, are
found also in the Authorized.
Lawrence s second section is headed " Worcles and pieces of
sentences omytted." Some of the instances imply a different
Greek reading, and in others the omission is the fault of
the translator. He notices " yet " omitted in Matt, xv, 16,
B. 1 and G. B., amended in the Genevan, found in B. 2 and A.
xxii, 13, "take him up" "take" omitted in B. 1, not in G. B.,
but inserted in B. 2 and A. xxvi, 13, " whole," in the phrase
" whole world," omitted in G. B., B 1 having " al the world,"
but given in B. 2 and A.
Mark xv, 3, " but he answered nothing," B. 1, G. B. ; the
omission also in Beza, and therefore in the Genevan ; but in
serted in B. 2 and A. after the margin of Stephens. The clause,
however, has no authority, being taken from Matt, xxvii, 12,
or Luke xxiii, 9.
Luke viii, 23, " of wind," in G. B.,not B. 1; inserted in B. 2 and A.
In x, 22, Lawrence commends the insertion of " and turning
to his disciples he said," G. B., not B. 1, but the clause was not
VOL. II. F
82 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
adopted by B. 2 ; the Genevan admitted it, though it is not in
the text of Beza ; but Stephens had adopted it. It had been
rejected by Erasmus ; Tyndale and Coverdale also omit it ; and
it is placed in the margin of the Authorized Version, with a
note, xxii, 12, "great" is omitted, B. 1, the clause ought to be
" a great upper chamber," the reading of Stephens and Beza,
and the Genevan accepted in B. 2 and A. " A great parlour
paved " is the rendering of Tyndale and Coverdale, and of the
Great Bible of 1539 and 1540; the Genevan having "a great
hie chamber trimmed." The last example is xxiv, 27, "he
interpreted to them in all the Scriptures which were written
of him/ B. 1, G. B., the rendering being liable to misinterpreta
tion, and the sense being he "interpreted to them in all the
Scriptures those things which were written of him," "well
amended in the Genevan translation " ; accepted by B. 2, but
more compact in A. " he expounded unto them in all the
Scriptures the things concerning himself."
Lawrence s third head is "Wordes superfluous," and his
examples are, Mark xiii, 16, "Let hym that is in the fielde
not turne backe againe unto the thinges whiche he lefte
behinde him," B. 1, G. B., the proper rendering being briefer,
" let him not turne backe," adopted by B. 2 and A. Luke xii,
24, "feathered fowles," B. 1, G. B. within brackets. Law
rence asks " what needethe feathered ? " the epithet perhaps
suggested by the "volucribus" of Erasmus; omitted in B. 2
and A.
The fourth section refers to " Sentences changed and error
in doctrine." Luke ix, 45, "it was hidde from them, that they
understoode it not," B. 1, G. B., should be " it was hidde from
them that they should not understand it," rightly adopted in
B. 2, but vailed in A., and it had been refused by the Genevan,
though it quadrated with Genevan theology. Colos. ii, 13,
"dead to synne, and to the uncircumcision of your flesh," B. 1,
G. B. having " through . . . through " ; it should be " dead in
synne " ; the necessary change was adopted in the subsequent
versions.
The last section is " Modes and tenses changed, and places
not well considered by Theodoras Beza and Erasmus, as I
xxxi x.] ERRORS IN THE GREAT BIBLE. 83
thynke." Matt, xxi, 3, "say ye," B. 1, G. B., should be "ye
shall say," Beza having "dicite," but Ipen-e is never of the
imperative mood and Beza has "dicetis" in other places; the
correction is adopted by B. 2 and A. Luke xvii, 8, for " eate
thou and drynke thou," B. 1, G. B., "thou shalt eate and
drynke," "for the sense it maketh no great matter, but in
grammar it is an evident error." The future is in Coverdale s
own version, but the imperative " eat thou " was put into the
Great Bible after Tyndale, and it was taken also by the Gene
van. This correction is followed by a long grammatical argu
ment against Erasmus and Beza, who, misled by the form of
the verbs, took them for first aorist imperatives. B. 2 and A.
rightly adopt the future, though Beza had edito tu et bibito.
These remarks are not all of primary importance, but they
indicate scholarship, and have influenced our present Bibles.
The modest critic adds: "It is more lyke that I should be
deceived than either Erasmus or Beza. I wolde gladlye they
were defended that I might see rnyhe own error. I take them
to be decey ved, because I see reason and aucthoritie for me, and
as yet none for them, but because they saye so, and yet brynge
no proofe for them." Had Lawrence extended his remarks
to the Great Bible, he might have corrected many blunders ;
for in the Great Bible sometimes the translation does not
bring out the full meaning of the original, sometimes it
goes beyond it, and occasionally it is erroneous : as Luke
ii, 13, "a multitude of heavenly soudyers"; xvi, 8, the word
lord is spelled " Lord " with an initial capital, as if it re
ferred to Jesus, and the clause were his eulogy of dishonesty;
and " in their nation " of the same verse is a misrendering, as
is xix, 23, "with vauntage"; John i, 1, "and God was the
Word"; 3, "all things were made by it"; Acts viii, 23, "full
of bitter gall"; 26, "which is in the desert"; xxvii, 9, "because
also that they had overlong fasted"; 13, "loosed into Asson,"
making the adverb a proper name ; Bom. ix, 5, " which is God
in all things to be praised"; xii, 11, "apply yourselves to the
time." Many of those instances occur also in the earlier ver
sions. 1
1 See vol. I, pp. 142, 381, &c.
84 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
The special edition of 1572 was revised in the New Tes
tament, and in many places corrected and improved. It is
printed on thick paper, and is a heavy and handsome folio.
Of titles, portraits, and maps, it has only thirty engravings, and
the initial letter of Jeremiah has in it a coat of arms. But it
was disfigured by several peculiar ornaments, or ornamental
initial letters, taken from Ovid s "Metamorphoses," such as Leda
and the Swan at the Epistle to the Hebrews, with many others
of a similar incongruous character. It has a double copy of the
Psalms one column in the page preserves the version of the
Great Bible in black letter, and the other, or parallel column,
the new version in Roman letter. The nature of the revision
in the New Testament may be seen in the following collation
of the Epistle to the Galatians. The revision is careful, and
shows a decided desire and effort towards an exacter and
more literal version. The New Testament of Tyndale is
imbedded in the Great Bible, and shows itself in the first
edition of the Bishops ; but the revised edition of the
Bishops , in its independent course, occasionally differs from
it. Expletive words are placed in brackets; and honest
scholarship is everywhere apparent.
FIRST EDITION, 1568. EEVISED EDITIOX, 1372.
CHAPTER I.
Verse
1 raised him up from death ; Great from the dead ; Genevan.
Bible, Tyndale.
9 than that ye have received. [that ye have].
10 If I should yet please men ; If I yet pleased men.
Genevan.
11 was not after men ; Genevan. is not after men.
13 howe that ; Genevan, Tyndale. [how] that.
15 called me. called [me].
17 neither returned ; Tyudale. went I up.
which were apostles. which [were].
18 I returned to Jerusalem. I went up.
23 in time past ; Genevan, Great Bible, in times past.
Tyndale.
xxxjx.] COLLATION OF FIRST AND SECOND EDITIONS.
85
FIRST EDITION, 1568. EEVISED EDITION, 1572.
CHAPTER II.
Verse
2 I went up also ; Great Bible. I went up ; Genevan.
which were the chiefe ; Genevan. which were esteemed the chief.
6 in time passed ; Genevan, Great in times past.
Bible, Tyndale.
9 then James ; Great Bible, Tyndale. [then] James.
12 which were. [which were].
14 why causest thou ? Great Bible, why compellest thou ?
Tyndale.
16 and we have believed ; Great Bible, we have believed.
21 comme of the law ; Great Bible, [come].
Tyndale.
CHAPTER III.
1 described before the eyes ; Great was before described before the
Bible, Tyndale. eyes.
19 till the seed came ; Great Bible. should come.
CHAPTER IV.
12 be ye as I [am]. for I [am] as ye are.
25 which is nowe [called] Jerusalem. which [is] now [called].
30 shall not be heir ; Great Bible, shall in no wise be heyre.
Tyndale.
CHAPTER V.
8 not the perfection of hym that called this persuasion cometh not of him
you.
9 a little leaven doth leaven.
14 which is this ; Genevan, Great
Bible.
20 zeal.
21 that they.
24 they truly that are ; Great Bible.
25 let us walk ; Great Bible, Tyndale.
that called you.
leaveueth.
[which is this].
emulations ; Genevan,
that [even] Christes.
that [are] have.
let us also walk in the Spirit ;
Genevan.
CHAPTER VI.
1 be taken in any fault ; Great Bible, be prevented in any fault.
considering thyself, lest.
3 in his own faiisie.
8 into his flesh.
13 rejoice in your flesh ; Genevan,
Great Bible, Tyndale.
14 should rejoice, but in ; Great Bible,
Genevan, Tyndale.
considering thee selfe, lest.
in his own fantasy.
in his fleashe; Great Bible ; Tyndale.
glory in your flesh.
should glory, but in the cross.
8G
THE ENGLISH BIBLE.
[CHAP.
The Historical Books of the Old Testament are not much
changed, the revision is slight and superficial, and the words
and phrases of the Great Bible are so continuously employed as
almost to take independent character from the version. Thus
in the first twenty verses of Genesis xxxvii, there are some
twelve changes, none of any great importance, but nearly all
of them bringing the English into closer uniformity with the
Hebrew. The revisers were enjoined to follow Pagninus and
Munster,* though the last was depreciated unjustly by Sandys,
and they obeyed the injunction.
GREAT BIBLE.
Verse
2 an euyll sayiuge of them.
7 and youres stode.
8 be our kynge in dede.
10 come to fall on the gronude before
thee.
1 1 hated him. 5
1 2 kepe their fathers shepe. 7
14 he went to.
19 this dreamer. 10
20 a wycked beast.
BISHOPS .
their evil report. 1
and behold* your sheaves.
a king indeed on us* (over us, 1 572).
indeed come to bow to thee.*
envied 6 him, Genevan.
his fathers cattel; 8 and so in verses
14 and 16.
came to. 9
this notable dreamer ; marginal
note Hebrew, maister of
dreames.
some naughtie beast e. 11
1 Malam famam eorum, Pagninus,
Munster, Leo Judte.
2 Et ecce, Pagniuus.
3 Super nos, Paguinus, Munster,
Leo Judas.
4 Und dich anbeten, Luther.
5 Virtually Leo Judas.
6 Invidebant, Vulgate.
7 Coverdale ("their fathers" of the
Great Bible being correct) ; oves,
Munster.
8 Grex, Leo Judse ; pecudes,
Pagninus.
9 Veuit, Paguinus.
10 Somuiator ille, Pagniuus.
31 Bestia mala, Munster.
* It is one of the signs of those published in 1527 a Hebrew
changing times that Sebastian Dictionary, to which he prefixed
Minister, whose Latin translation an elaborate dedication to Fisher,,
is so cordially recommended by Bishop of Eochester, whom King
Archbishop Parker to his coadjutors, Henry VIII beheaded in 1535.
xxxix.]
COLLATION OF THREE VERSIONS.
Or take the Great Bible, the Genevan, and the Bishops :
GREAT BIBLE.
1 The hand of the
Lord came 1 vpon me, and
caried me out in the
sprete of the Lorde, and
let me 2 downe in a playne
field that, lay fall of
bones. 3
2 And he led me
rounde about by them,
and beholde 7 the botiess
EZEKIEL XXXVII.
GENEVAN.
The hand of the Lord
was 4 vpon me, and caried
me out in the Spirit of
the Lord, and set me
downe in the middess of
a fielde which was ful of
bones.
And he led me round
about by them, and be
holde there were very
that lay vpon the fielde manie in the open 10 field,
were very many, and and, lo, they were verie
maruelous 9 drye also. drye.
3 Then 12 sayde he vnto And 16 he said vnto me,
me: Thou sonneof man:
thinkest u thou that these
bones may Hue again, 13 I
answered, Lord God,
thou knowest.
4 And he sayd vnto
me: Propheciethou vpon 19
these bones : and speake
vnto them. Ye drye
bones, heare the worde of
the Lorde.
Sonne of man, can these
bones liue ? And 17 I
answered, Lord God,
thou knowest.
Again he said vnto me,
Prophecie vpon " these
bones, and say vnto them,
ye drye bones, hear the
worde of the Lorde.
BISHOPS .
The hande of the
Lorde was vpon me, and
caried nie out in the
spirite of the Lorde, and
set me downe in the
midst of as plaine Jielde
that was full of bones.
And he led me rounde
about by them, and be
holde, there were very
many in the open fielde,
and lo u (they were) very
drye.
Then 18 saide he vnto
me : Thou sonne of man,
thinkest thou these
bones may liue againe :
I answered, Lorde
God, thou knowest.
And he said vnto me,
Prophecie thou vpon
these bones, and speake
vnto them : Ye drye
bones, heare the worde
of the Lorde. 2l
1 Kam, Luther, Ziirich.
2 Liess, Zurich.
3 Das lag vollergebeins,
Ziirich.
4 Fuit, Pagninus.
s In medio, Vulgate.
6 In medio planiciei,
Minister.
7 Sehe, Luther.
8 Des gebeynes, Ziirich.
9 Vast diirr, Zurich.
10 In superficie agri,
Pagninus.
11 Ecce, Pagninus,
Minister. This inter
jection is expressed in
the Hebrew twice.
12 Do, rendered then by
Coverdale.
13 Du, Luther.
14 Putasne, Vulgate.
15 Wieder, Ziirich.
16 Et, Vulgate and
Latin versions.
17 Et, Munster, Pag
ninus.
18 Turn, Leo Judte
the verse corresponds
with the Great Bible.
1!) liber, Ziirich, Cov
erdale.
20 Super, Pagninus and
Miinster, after the Heb
rew.
21 After the Great
Bible.
THE ENGLISH BIBLE.
[CHAP.
EZEK1EL XXXVII CONTINUED.
GREAT BIBLE.
5 Thus sayth the Lord
God vnto these bones,
Behold 1 will put breath
into you, that 1 ye may
lyue:
6 I will geue you sin-
owes, 4 and make fleshe to
growevponyou,5 andcouer
you ouer with skynne ;
and so geue you breath,
that 6 ye may lyue, and
knowe that I am the Lord
God.
7. So 10 1 prophecied, as
lie commanded 11 me, and as
I was prophecying ther
came a noyse and a great
mocion so that the bones
came euerye one to an
other. 12
8 Now when I had
loked, behold 19 they had
sinowes, and fleshe grewe
vpon theym : and aboue 20
they were couered with
skynne, but there was no
breath in theym.
GENEVAN.
Thus saith the Lord
God vnto these bones,
Beholde / wil cause 2
breath to entre into you
and ye shal Hue.
And I wil lay sinewes
vpon 7 you, and make flesh
growe vpon you, and
couer you with skin, and
put breath in you, that
ye may liue, and ye shal 8
knowe that I am the
Lord.
So I prophecied as I
was 13 commanded: and as
I prophecied, there was a
noise 14 and beholde there
was 15 a shaking and the
bones came 16 together,
bone to his bone. 17
And when I behelde,
lo, the sinewes, and the
fleshe grewe vpon them,
and aboue the skin couered
them, but there was no
breath in them.
BISHOPS .
Thus saith the Lorde
God vnto these bones :
Beholde, I wyll cause
breath to enter into you
that ye may lyue. 3
I wyll geue you si
nowes, and make fleshe
growe vpon you, and
couer you ouer with
skinne, and so geue you
breath, that ye may liue,
and knowe that I am
the Lorde. 9
So I prophecied as J
was 18 commanded: and
as I was prophecying
there was a noyse, and
also a great motion so
that the bones came
neare together, bone to
his bone.
Now when I had loked,
behold they had sinowes,
and fleshe grewe vpon
them, and above they
were couered with skin,
but there was no breath
in them. 21
1 Das, Luther, Zurich,
Coverdale.
2 Introire facio Pag-
ninus ; the Hebrew verb
being in the Hiphil con
jugation.
3 After the Great Bible
and the Genevan.
4 Nervos, Vulgate.
5 Increscere faciam car-
nes, Vulgate.
6 Das, Luther and Zu
rich.
7 Super vos, Vulgate,
Miinster.
8 Und sollt erfahren,
Luther.
9 After the Great
Bible.
10 Do, Zurich.
11 Sicutprseceperatmihi,
Vulgate.
12 Zu dem andern, Zil-
rich.
13 Jussus fui, Pagninus,
M iinster,
14 Sonus, Leo Judse.
15 Et ecce strepitus,
Miinster ; et ecce com-
motio, Pagninus.
16 Accesserunt.
17 Os scilicet ad os
suum, Miinster.
18 After the Genevan.
19 Ecce, Pagninus.
20 Desuper, do.
21 After the Great
Bible.
xxxix.] COLLATION CONTINUED OLD TESTAMENT.
89
EZEKIEL XXXVII CONTINUED.
GREAT BIBLE.
9 Then sayd hee vnto
mee, Thou sonne of man,
prophesye thus towarde i
the wynde : prophesye
and speake to the wynde :
Thus saith the Lord God,
Come (0 thou ayre) from
the foure wyudes, and
blowe vpon these slayne
that they may be restored
to lyfe. 2
10 So I prophecied as
he had commaunded me:
then 6 came the breth
vnto theym, and they
receaued lyfe, and stode
op vpon their fete, a mar-
udous great 7 sorte.
GENEVAN.
Then said he vnto me,
Prophecie vnto the winde :
prophecie, sonne of man,
and say to the winde,
Thus saith the Lord God, 3
Come from the foure
windes, O breath, and
breathe vpon these slaine,
that 4 they may liue.
So I pgophecied as he
had commanded me : and
the breath came into them,
and they liued, and stode
op vpon their fete, an
exccding 8 great armie.
BISHOPS .
Then said he vnto me :
Thou sonne of man, pro
phecie thou towarde the
winde, prophecie and
speake to the winde,
thus saith the Lord God :
Come, thou ayre, 5 from
the foure windes, and
blowe vpon these slaine
that they may lyue.
So I prophecied as he
had commaunded me :
then came the breath
into them ; and they re
ceaued lyfe, and stoode
vp vpon their feete, a
marueilous great armie. 9
The Apocrypha is scarcely revised at all, and neglecting the
Genevan, it reverts mainly to the Great Bible which is usually
followed, and which rests on the Latin text. The prayer of
Manasses is restored to the place which it occupied between the
story of Bel and the Dragon and the First Book of Maccabees.
GREAT BIBLE.
1. In those dayes came
John ye Baptist, preach
ing 10 in the wilderness of
Jewrie, saying, 11
MATTHEW III.
GENEVAN.
A HcZ 12 in those dayes John
the Baptiste came and
2)reached 13 in the wilder
ness of Judea.
BISHOPS .
In those dayes came 14
John the Baptist preach
ing in the wyldernesse
of Jurie.
1 Gegen, Ziirich, Cover-
dale.
2 Reviviscant, Vulgate;
wieder lebendig, Luther,
Coverdale.
3 Order as in the Vul
gate.
4 Das, Luther ; ut,
Minister and Leo Judas.
5 Lufft, Luther, and
Coverdale.
6 Do, Ziirich.
7 Traffentliche grosse
Menge, Ziirich.
8 Exercitus grandis
valde valde Pagninus ;
an attempt to reproduce
the Hebrew duplication
of the adverb.
9 After the Great
Bible.
10 Predicans, Vulgate.
11 Dicens, Vulgate and
Erasmus.
12 Autem, Vulgate,
Beza.
13 Tyndale, Coverdale;
und predigte, Luther
and the Zurich.
14 All the versions mis-
render the present
" came " instead of
" cometh."
90
THE ENGLISH BIBLE.
[CHAP.
MATTHEW III CONTINUED.
GREAT BIBLE.
2 Repent of the life 1
that is past, for the king-
dome of Heaven is at
hand.
3 For this is he of
whom 4 the prophet Esaie
spake, which saith, 5 The
voice of a cryer 6 in the
wilderness, prepare ye
the waye of the Lorde :
and make his patlies
straight.
4 This 11 John had his
raiment of cammels
hetire. And a girdell of
a skinne about hys loynes.
His meate was locustes
and wilde hony.
GENEVAN.
And said, Repent? for
the kingdome of heaven
is at hand.
For 7 this is he of whome
it is spoken 8 by the Pro
phet Esaias, saying, 9 The
voyce of him that cryeth
in the wilderness, Prepare
ye the way of the Lord :
make his paths straight.
And 12 this John had his
garment of camels heere,
and a girdle of a skin
about hys loynes : his
meat was also 13 locustes
and wilde home.
BISHOPS .
And saying, Eepent
ye, 3 for the kingdome of
heaven is at hand.
For this is he that was
spoken of by the prophete
Esaias, saying, the voyce
of one crying in the wyl-
dernesse, Prepare ye the
way of the Lorde, make
ye his patlies straight. 10
This John had his ray-
ment of camels heare,
and a letherne girdle 1 *
about his loines, 15 his
meate was locustes and
wild honey.
5 Then went out to Then went out to him Then went out to him
him Jerusalem and all Jerusalem and allJudea, 17 Hierusalem, and all
Jewrie, and all the region and all the region rouude Jurie, and al the region
rounde about Jordan. 1(J about Jordan. rounde about Jordane.
6 And were baptized And they were baptized And were baptised of
of him in Jordane, con- of him in Jordan, confess- him in Jordane, con
fessing their shines. 18 ing their sinnes. fessing their sinnes.
7 But 19 when he saw
many of the Pharises and
Saduces come to his bap-
No w when he sawe many
of the Pharises and of the
Sadduces come to his bap-
But when he sawe
many of the Pharisees
and Saducees comme to
1 Vitse prioris, Erasmus.
2 Resipiscite, Beza.
3 The pronoun " ye "
not in the two previous
versions, but inserted
in the Authorized Ver
sion.
4 De quo dixit, Eras
mus.
5 Qui ait, Erasmus.
6 Tyndale, Coverdale.
7 Nam, Beza.
8 De quo dictum, Beza,
Leo Judse.
Dicentem, Vulgate.
10 Repeated verbatim in
the Authorized Version
the variation from the
previous versions being
an improvement.
11 Ipse vero, Erasmus.
12 Ipse vero, Beza.
is Alimentum autem
ejus, Beza.
14 Luther and Zurich;
kept in the Authorized
Version.
15 All these versions
omit the connecting par
ticle " and " (Si).
16 Tyndale throughout.
17 Tota Judaea, Beza.
18 Tyndale.
19 Autem, Vulgate; als
nun, Luther and Zu
rich.
xxxix.] COLLATION CONTINUED NEW TESTAMENT.
91
MATTHEW III CONTINUED.
GREAT BIBLE.
tisme, hee said unto them.
O generacion of vipers,
who hath taught 1 you to
flee from the vengeance
to come.
8 Bring forthe there
fore the fruites that be
long to repentance.
9 And be 7 not of such
minde that ye would say
within your selves : we
have Abraham to our
father. For I say unto
you that God is able to
bring 3 to passe, that of
these stones there shall 9
rise up children unto
Abraham.
10 Even 13 now is the axe
also put unto the roote
of the trees: so that 14 every
tre which bringeth not
forth good fruit, is hewen
downe and cast into the
fyre.
11 I baptize you with
water unto repentance :
GENEVAN*.
tisme, he said unto them,
generations 2 of vipers,
who hathe foreivarned 3
you to flee from the angre
to come.
Bring forthe therefore
fruites worthy amend
ment 4 of life. 5
And 10 thinke not to say
ivith 11 your selves, We
have Abraham to our
father : for I say unto
you that God is able of
these stones to raise up
children unto Abraham.
And now also 15 is the
axe put to the roote of the
trees: therefore 15 everie tre
which bringeth not forthe
goodfruite is hewen downe
and cast into the fyre.
Indeede 17 1 baptize you
with water to amendment
BISHOPS .
his baptisme, he said
unto them, generation
of vipers, who hath
warned you to flee from
the anger to comrue.
Bring foorth therefore
fruites meete 6 for repent
ance.
And be not of such
minde, that ye would
say within your selves,
We have Abraham to
(our) 12 father; For I say
unto you, that God is
able of these stones to
rayse up children unto
Abraham.
Even now is the axe
also put into the roote
of the trees: Wherefore,
every tree which bring
eth not foorth good
fruite is hewen downe
and cast into the fire.
I baptize you in 18 water
unto repentance : but he
1 Werhateuchgewiesen,
Luther.
2 Plural in both German
versions.
3 Prsemonstravit, Beza.
4 Dignum iis qui resi-
pueriiit, Beza.
5 This rendering sug
gested the marginal note
in the Authorized Version,
answerable to amend
ment of life."
6 Qui deceant poeni-
tentiam, Erasmus.
7 Virtually after Lu
ther ; ne sitis hac mente,
Erasmus, kept in the
Bishops .
s Quod possit Deus fa-
cere, Erasmus.
9 Ut filii surgant, Eras
mus.
10 Ne putetis, Beza.
11 Apud, Beza, kept in
the Authorized Version.
12 "Our" is really car
ried by the idiom,
though printed in italics
in the Authorized Ver
sion.
13 Jam vero, Eras
mus.
14 Darumb, Zurich.
15 Correct rendering
of the Greek, and pre
served in the Authorized
Version.
16 Igitur, Beza.
17 Quidem, Beza.
18 Tyndale; but he does
not preserve uniformity
in the last clauses.
02
THE ENGLISH BIBLE.
[CHAP.
MATTHEW III CONTINUED.
GREAT BIBLE.
but hee that shalU come
after mee, is mightier
than I, whose shooes I
am not worthye to beare.
Hee shall baptize you
with the holye ghost and
with 2 fyre.
12 Whose fan is in his
hande, and he will purge
hys floore, and gather^
his e wheate into the barne,
but will burne the chaffe
wyth unquencheable fire.
GENEVAN.
of life, but he that cometh 3
after me is mightier then
T, whose shoes I am not
worthie to beare : he will
baptize you with the holie
Gost and with fyre.
Which hathe his fanne
in his hand, and wil make
cleane his floore,! and
gather his wheat into his
garner, but wil burn up 8
the chaffe with unquenche-
able fire.
BISHOPS .
that cometh after me is
mightier then I, whose
shoes I am not woorthy
to beare, he shall bap
tize you with the holye
ghost and tvlth 4 fyre.
Whose fanne is in
his hand, and he w r il
throuijhly 9 purge his
floore, and gather his
wheate into (his) garner:
but wil burne up the
chaffe with unquenche-
able fire.
In the 8th chapter of Romans, the Bishops has, in verse
3, " through the flesh," the Great Bible and the Genevan hav
ing "because of the flesh," but it gives us "joint-heirs" and
" earnest expectation " ; while the Great Bible interpolates a
verb in verse 3, "that performed God"; and the Genevan inserts
" to death " in 32. But the Genevan gives us " more than con
querors," the other two having only " overcome " ; and the
Genevan also brought in " the redemption of our body." To
the Bishops we owe the expressive and familiar phrases in
Ephesians ii, 14, "middle wall"; 19, "fellow-citizens"; and iii,
8, " less than the least."
Though the Bishops was thus professedly a revision of the
Great Bible, the marginal notes in the New Testament are often
from the Genevan, though Parker, in his letter to the queen,
1 Venturas est, Eras
mus, Vulgate.
2 " Mit " repeated in
Luther, Zurich, Cover-
dale, Tyndale.
3 Qui venit, Beza.
4 Authorized Version
prints second " with "
in italics, but it should
be omitted.
s Sammeln, Luther.
6 Triticum suum, Eras
mus.
7 Aream suam, Eras
mus, Beza.
8 Exuret, Erasmus, Beza.
9 Perpurgabit, Beza.
The second " his "
bracketed, though the
clause with the article
distinctly bears it, but
it is omitted in the
Authorized Version.
xxxix.] NOTES OF BISHOPS BIBLE. 93
had disparaged them as " prejudicial, and that might have
well been spared." Could they be inserted without his know
ledge ? Was not he the last or editorial reviser ? l Yet in the
Epistle to the Philippians, all the annotations but one are from
the Genevan ; and of more than fifty notes on 1 Corinthians
there are only seven not reprinted from the same version.
The original marginal notes, which are unevenly distributed, are
not nearly so numerous as those of the Genevan version. They
are often trite inferences, as at Genesis i, 7, " It is the power
of God that holdeth up the clouds " ; 14, " These lights were
not made to serve astronomers phantasies"; ii, 19, "Man
showed himself lord of the beasts by giving them names."
Sometimes the notes are doctrinal, as Gen. i, 26, " One God
and three persons"; Deut. vii, 12, "This covenant is grounded
on his free grace ; therefore in recompensing their obedience
he hath respect unto his mercy, and not to their merits."
Other notes, beginning with " that is," turn attention to the
statement of the text. Some are hortatory and practical, as
Luke xvi, 31, "We must seek for truth in God s Word, and
not of the dead," and state in a clause what the contents of
the paragraph are. Some, beginning with " or," or " some
read," give alternative renderings ; others are explanatory,
as Luke i, 73, " the oath which he sware," which is " that
he would give himself to us." Many are historical and
geographical, and occasionally the original term is explained
or handled, as twice in Rom. viii, and in both verses, 15
and 18, the rendering and sense of the Genevan are directly
opposed ; Luke iv, 29, " Top of the hill (Greek readeth brow
of the hill )." Lastly, some notes are explanatory of words
in the text, as in Isaiah, " Burden that is prophecy " ; in
Ephesians, "mystery is that secret hidden purpose of salva-
ation"; Acts xxviii, 11, "Castor and Pollux these the
Paynims feigned to be Jupiter s chyldren, gods of the sea."
Archaic terms occur : Gen. xxxii, 25, " He smote him upon
the hucklebone of his thigh." Isaiah Ixvi, 3, "He that
killeth a sheep for me knetcheth a dog (margin, that is,
cutteth off a dogge s necke)," Coverdale having "choketh a
1 See page 29 for other examples.
94- THE ENGLISH BIBLE.
dog." They describe "concision" in the margin, Philip, iii, 2,
as "they who craked thereof," "dogges" of v. 2 being explained
as they that "bark against the true doctrine." The Ballet
of Ballets of Solomon is accompanied by a Messianic
exegesis, and so are the Prophets.
Burleigh s portrait stands, as we have said, at the beginning
of the Psalter, and the story goes that, in rebuking the Earl
of Essex for some of his turbulent schemes, he pointed him
directly and solemnly to Psalm Iv, 23, 24, " The bloodthirstie
and deceiptfull men shall not live out halfe their dayes."
The Bible of 1575 the year of Archbishop Parker s death
bears on the separate issues of the same edition the names of
various publishers as Kele, "VVally, Judson, Norton, Harrison ;
and to these names, given by Anderson, may be added Coldock.
Two of these men had already borne a part in the joint-
publication of Matthew s Bible of 1551. Mr. Anderson, who
had a more than healthy detestation of monopolists, appears
rather glad to suspect that Jugge was really unable to bear
more than a share in this large enterprise. 1
We learn incidentally the price of this Bible from an old
account book of St. John s College, Cambridge, which has the
following entry: "1571, For a new Bible in English, the last
translation, 27s. Sd" 2
1 Annals, vol. II, p. 333 ; Cotton, p. 39. 2 Cotton, Editions, p. 33.
CHAPTER XL.
Bishops version has co-existing in it two peculiarities
directly opposed to each other. It strives often to give
the translation with a quaint literality, and yet it does not
scruple to interject numerous explanatory words and clauses.
The following are a few specimens of the literal transla
tions :
"Young child/ in the second chapter of Matthew; ix, 38,
"that he will thrust forth labourers"; xi, 11, "he that is lesse
in the kingdom"; xv, 26, 27, "little dogges"; xxi, 19, "one
fygge tree " ; xxv, 41, " the everlasting fire."
Mark vii, 27, " cast it vnto the little dogges " ; xv, 21,
"coming out of the field"; 40, "James the Little"; xvi, 2,
"when the sun was risen."
Luke ii, 15, "the men, the shepherds," though it renders a
similar phrase again and again, " men and brethren," without
printing "and" as a supplement; xv, 12, "the portion of the
substance " ; 20, " and al to kissed him " an effort to express
the full meaning of the compound verb ; 23, "that fatted calf"
an attempt to express the force of the repeated article";
30, "for his pleasure" expressing the dativus commodi.
Johnxiv, 2, "In my father s house are many dwelling places."
Acts v, 41, "departed from the face of the counsel"; xiii, 34,
" the holy thynges of David which are faythful."
Rom. ii, 6, " keep the ordinances of the law " ; v, 4, " Patience
proofe, proofe hope"; vi, 12, "should thereunto obey by the
lustes of it " ; xii, 2, " be changed in your shape " ; xiv, 1, " not
to doubtfulnesse of disputations " ; xvi, 7, " Salute Andronicus
and Junia my cousins " a translation too definite, as in the
96 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAF.
Authorized Version, Luke i, 36, after the Genevan, the Great
Bible, and Tyndale.
1 Cor. iv, 5, " who wyl lighten the hidden thinges of dark-
nesse " ; 7, " For who separateth thee ? " xiii, 3, " though I geue
my body that I shoulde be burned " ; xii, 7, " a pricke to the
fleshe."
Gal. vi, 1, " Yf a man be preuented in any fault."
Eph. iv, 9, " the lower parts " ; 11, " and he gave some apos
tles"; 12, "into the work, into the edifying"; 13, "measure of
the age of the fulness " ; 14, " to the laying waite to deceive " ;
22, 24, " to lay down," " to put on holinesse of trueth."
1 Thess. iii, 10, "repayre the wantings of your faith";
iv, 15, 17, "we whiche liue, whiche remayne."
1 Tim. iii, 6, " not a young scoller."
Titus ii, 11, "healthful to al men."
Heb. i, 1, " in the prophetes ... in the Sonne " ; 3, " the
brightnesse of the glory " ; 14, " sent foorth into ministerie for
their sakes " ; ii, 4, " with signes and wonders also, and with
diuers powers"; 16, "for he in no place taketh on him the
angels"; iii, 14, " beginning of the substance " ; v, 2, " those that
erre out of the way " ; 14, " have their wits exercised " ; vii, 12,
" if the priesthood be translated, there is made a translation of
the law " ; 23, " because they were forbidden by death to en
dure " ; viii, 2, " a minister of holy things " ; 11, " from the litel
of them to the great of them " ; ix, 1, " the fyrst (couenant) then
had veryly justifying ordinances"; 10, " justifyinges of the
fleshe " ; 28, " the seconde time shalbe seene without sinne of
them whiche wayte for him"; x, 19, "libertie to enter into
holy (places) " ; 38, " if he withdraw himself " ; xi, 8, " receive
the inheritance"; 13, "and saluted."
James i, 11, "For the sunne hath rysen with heat, and
the grasse hath wy thered, and his floure hath fallen away," &c.
14, " every good giving " ; iii, 4, " whithersoever the lust of the
governor wyl."
But they allow their scholarship to slip when they permit
" Salamine " in Acts xiii, 5 ; " Philippos " in xvi, 8, 12 ; " Mile-
1 In Buth i, 17, "depart " is used iu death depart thee and me " ; so in the
the old active sense " If ought but earlier editions of the Prayer Book.
XL.] INTERPOLATIONS. 97
turn"; in xx, 17, "Asson"; in xx, 14, "Candie," according to
the margin, or " Greta, which was an high hill of Candie," in
xxiii, 7; "and Puteolus," in xxviii, 13.
But, face to face with these renderings which exhibit an
aim and effort to be faithfully literal, there are other modes
of bringing out the sense, by supplied terms filling out
the clause, and now and then explaining it the trans
lator wrapping quietly into his work a hint for the in
terpreter. While the interpolations from the Vulgate found
in the Great Bible are often abandoned, some are allowed to
remain. There are also interspersed many brief exegetical
clauses which are no necessary part of a genuine translation,
and are out of all harmony with the earnest attempt at a
closer literality. Some of them are mere supplements, which
do not materially injure the rendering, as
Genesis xiv, 15, " his seruantes were parted (in companies)
agaynst them " ; xxvii, 14, " and (Jacob) went."
1 Kings i, 23, " Beholde (here cometh) Nathan the Prophet " ;.
viii, 43, (therefore) heare thou in heauen thy dwellyng place " ;
xviii, 19, "the prophets of the (idolles) groaues."
2 Kings iv, 3, "borowe vessels for thee (of them that are)
without."
Job xxxii, 6, " and sayde (consydering that) I am
yong."
Isaiah i, 5, " (for) ye are euer falling away " ; 6, " there is
nothing sounde in it (but) woundes " ; x, 10, " (As who say) I
am able to winne the kingdomes"; xxxvii, 15, "Hezekia
prayed vnto the Lord (on this manner)."
Matthew, iv, 25, " and from (the regions that laye) beyond
Jordane " ; xiii, 48, "which when it was full (the fishers) drew
to land " ; xvi, 5, 7, " they had forgotten to take bread (with
them) " ; xxvi, 71, " another (wenche) sawe him."
Mark x, 7, " (And sayde) For this cause shall a man " ; xiii,
32, " save the father (only)."
John xix, 31, " because it was the preparing (of the Sab-
both)."
1 Cor. v, 10, " (I did not meane) not at all with the fornica-
tours of this world."
VOL. II. G
98 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
Hebrews xi, 19, " (similitude of the resurrection) " ; xii, 4,
" Ye have not resisted vnto (the sheddyng of) blood."
1 Peter i, 7, " might be found (to be unto you)."
But there are other supplements which are decidedly wrong,
and which weaken the sense either by paraphrasing it or
by adding clauses which have no authority :
Exodus xv, 9, "I wil folow (on them), I will ouertake
(them)."
Deut. i, 46, " that ye remayned (before) " ; xix, 18, " put away
(the crye of) innocent bloud."
Judges vii, 5, " and (so doo) them that kneele downe " ; xvii,
8, " where he could finde (conuenient place)."
1 Sam. ii, 32, " thou shalt see thine enimie in the habitation
(of the Lorde), and in al the wealthe whiche (God) shall give
Israeli."
2 Sam. ix, 11, " Mephiboseth may eate (as the king sayde)
vpon my table."
Isaiah i, 7, " the destruction of enemies (in the time of
warre) " ; 31, " the very strong one (of your idols) shal be as
towe " ; ii, 21, " when he aryseth to destroy (the wicked ones
of) the earth " ; viii, 19, "If they say vnto you, Aske counsell
at soothsayers, wytches, charmers, and conjurors (thene make
them this answer) " ; ix, 2, " as men that diuide the spoyel (after
the victorie) " ; xxviii, 6, " turne away the battayle to the gate
(of the enemies)"; xl, 1, "Comfort my people (0 yee prophetes)";
xliv, 7, " what shall come to passe (in tyme long to come) " ;
xlix, 12, "the land of Sinis (which is in the south) " ; liv, 15,
" loe who so gathereth together (against thee, doth it) without
me "; Ixv, 18, "(But the Lord sayth), Be glad."
Mark xiv, 62, " the right hand of the power (of God)."
Luke i, 56, " and (after warde) returned to her owne house " ;
xvi, 21, " to be refreshed with the crummes which fel from the
rich man s borde (and no man gave vnto him)."
John xviii, 13, " (and Annas sent Christe bounde vnto Caia-
phas the High Priest)."
Acts ix, 22, " by conferring (one scripture with another)."
Romans iv, 16, " by faith (in the inheritance given) " ; v, 18,
" (sinne came on all ... good came) " ; xi, 4, " bowed the
XL.] THE AIM TO BE ACCURATE. 90
knee to (the image of) Baal " ; xii, 17, " Providing afore hande
thinges honest (not onely before God, but also) in the sight
of men " ; xvi, 27, " to (the same) God."
1 Cor. x, 30, " For if I by (God s) benefite may be partaker
(of the gyftes of God)."
Eph. ii, 5, "by (whose) grace ye are saved."
Hebrews, ii, 9, " wee see (that it was) Jesus " ; v, 5, " to-day
1 have begotten thee (gaue it him)"; xiii, 3, "in the body
(subject to adversitie)."
1 Peter ii, 2, " that ye may growe thereby (vnto salvation)."
Eevelation ix, 11, "Apollyon (that is to say destroyer)."
This Bible is, however, to be commended for its occasional
notice of the article, and of the conjunctions and small con
necting words so often overlooked. But it often turns an
adjectival epithet into the predicate of a distinct clause as
2 Cor. v, 18, "things which are seen " ; viii, 4, "things that are
offered to idols " ; and if it did not introduce such forms, it
kept them. Nor does it mark very correctly the important dis
tinction of tenses rendering the aorist often as a perfect, and
sometimes as a pluperfect, as in Eph. i, 4, " had chosen us."
It aims at giving full force to compound terms, as Eph. vi,
12, "against worldly governors 1 of the darknesse of this
world " ; but it occasionally fails in its effort, as when it
renders a compound verb, Rom. xv, 20, " so have I enforced
myself," 2 for " I have made it a point of honour." It is,
.as a whole, more stately than precise ; periods that might
appear bald are rounded off, it loves " mouthfilling " words and
sentences, and does not pare them down, if they have been
employed in earlier versions 2 Cor. ix, 5, " prepare your pre-
promised beneficence, that it might be ready as a beneficence
and not as an extortion." 2 Pet. ii, 16, "the dumbe beast and
used to the yoke."
The Episcopal revisers and their colleagues had, in general,
the same Hebrew and Greek text as was possessed by the
Oenevan revisers. They refer to their text now and then by
the phrase in the margin, " Some read," or " Beza readeth it,"
100 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
or " The Greek readeth." But the process of revision em
ployed in the preparation of this Elizabethan Bible led to-
n virtual want of uniformity in the various parts of it.
There had been little consultation among the revisers, and
there was not that final supervision of their work which
had been suggested by Bishop Sandys. This individuality
occasionally crops out some portions being more lenient
toward the old versions, and others more incisive in their
changes. What would be true as a critical estimate of
one book would not be true to the same extent of another
book. The work was done in isolation, and, in such a case,
the labour needed to bring it all into harmony would have
been tantamount to another revision. It is only by earnest
deliberation, the constant exchange of critical opinion, and
the survey of a term or an idiom on all sides, that a good
and popular version can be formed. A new rendering must
be filtered through many brains before it can be finally adopted.
The earliest translators were virtually individual workers, and
their versions bear the stamp of personal toil. The Genevan
was the first version that sprang from collegiate labour, and it
had naturally on this account, no small superiority. But the
Bishops, and the other scholars associated with them, seem to
have wrought independently, and without any critical or
literary fellowship. Archbishop Parker, who was so absorbed
in civil and ecclesiastical business of all kinds, put the last
hand to the work ; but it could not be well done in so brief
a time, and without earnest and prolonged co-operation.
The Bishops Bible tried to classify the Books of Scripture,
but upon no sound basis "some legal, some historical, some
sapiential, some prophetical" a distinction which could not be
applied without violence to the New Testament; for why
should the Gospels be termed legal and not historical ? Ac
cording to one of the rules which Parker repeated to Cecil, an
attempt was also made to point out, "with some stroke or
note," such places "as may not be edifying," that they may
" be excluded in public reading," as Gen. x and xi, 10-30 ;
xxxviii, 1-11, Levit. xii-xxiv, 1st Chron. i-ix, and Neh. viii and
x. Words that "sound to any offence of lightness or obscenity"
XL.] THE GREAT BIBLE SUPERSEDED. 101
were to be changed, and more convenient terms substituted, as
in 1 Samuel vi, 4, of the Great Bible, and in 1 Corinthians vi, 9,
of the Genevan Bible; but other expressions that might have
been removed were retained, as in 1 Samuel xxv, 22, 34, &c.,
and these are yet found in the Authorized Version.
In a convocation held under Grindal, in 1575, it was carried
that bishops were to take care that all incumbents and curates
such as are not Masters of Arts, should possess the New Testa
ment in Latin and in English, and read a chapter every day.
But such edicts do not seem to have commanded prompt or
general obedience; and in 1587 Whitgift issued some new
regulations, " for divers churches were not sufficiently furnished
with Bibles some having none at all, or such as be torn and
defaced, and yet not of the translation authorized by the synod
of bishops." To expedite obedience two editions were printed,
" a bigger and less, both of which are now extant and ready."
This was a deliberate attempt to sacrifice the Genevan version
to the cause of uniformity, and to secure the greater circulation
of the Bishops Bible ; but the stratagem did not succeed,
for in the years 1587-89 we find that only two editions of
the Bishops were published, as against seven at least of the
Genevan.
Cranmer s or the Great Bible was now superseded, and no
edition of it was printed after 1569, but in that year there were
three issues in quarto by Cawood. No edition of the Bishops was
issued after 1606, so that it survived Whitgift only two years.
Whitgift often quotes the Genevan version in his Eeplies to his
tough antagonist Cartwright, and he always mentions it in a
tone of bare civility. Cartwright used it as giving edge to his
arguments, and Whitgift was obliged to put it to another use.
He usually calls it "the Bible printed at Geneva," 1 or "the
Geneva Bible," but he is silent as to its merits, and as to the
character of its translators; whereas Cartwright styles them
"those learned and godly men." Whitgift could not vilify
the renderings he was too scholarly a man to indulge in such
hostile criticism ; but he longed and laboured that the
Bishops Bible should be universally used, and, indeed, if
1 Works, vol. I, pp. 203, 294, &c.
102 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP,
his "Injunctions" had been obeyed, there would soon have
been no copies left in the printer s hands. The Genevan was
not, however, so easily thrust aside. From 15 GO, the year of
its first publication, to the end of Elizabeth s reign there were
published about ninety editions of it, but under thirty of the
Bishops . The Genevan had thus three times the circulation
of the Bishops ; nay, in the year 1599, there appear to have
been seven editions of it, some of them, however, printed
abroad. The Bishops Bible, which never had any great popu
larity, was not printed after 1606, as we have said, though
its New Testament was published several times ; l but the
Genevan kept its ground till about the year 1644. After 1590
the demand for the Bishops seems to have greatly slackened,
for from that year to the end of the century only three
editions were published ; but about thirty of the Genevan, a
third of them being only New Testaments. From the acces
sion of James to 1611 there was apparently published only
one edition of the Bishops , but thirty of the Genevan. 2
Thus, for a time, three different versions were in circulation
a fact that would have delighted Coverdale, but it must have
been somewhat embarrassing to plain people of ordinary educa
tion and intellect. If any one appealed to Scripture, it might be
asked whether the appeal was to the Great Bible, the Genevan,
or the Bishops . It appears, however, that this embarrassment
created a desire for unity. In the library of the House of Lords
there is the sketch of " an Act for reducing diversities of Bibles
now extant in the English tongue to one settled Vulgar trans
lated from the original." The preamble declares " that great
errors arise, and papistry and atheism increase, from the variety
of translations of the Bible, while many desire an authorized
translation." The proposal was that the Lords Spiritual, or any
six of them, may assemble, treat, and deal touching the accom
plishment of the work, and call for the assistance of students of
either university, &c. The undated paper is believed to refer
to a period after 1568. 3 Gregory Martin did not overlook this
1 See page 36. Testament between 1560 and 1570.
2 There had also been published 3 Westcott s History of the English-
four editions of Tyndale s New Bible, p. x, 2nd edition.
XL.] SEVERAL VERSIONS IN CIRCULATION. 103
plurality of versions : " We must learn," he says, in his own
style and spirit, "what English translation is read in their
church (which were hard to know, it changeth so oft) before
we may be held to accuse them of false translation, how
shall we be sure that they will stand to any of their trans
lations ? 1 From the first read in their church they flee to
that which is now read, and from that again to the later Genevan
Bibles, neither read in their churches nor of greater authority
among them, and we doubt not but that they will as fast
flee from this to the former again." But Fulke defends with
ability and learning the three versions in use the Great Bible,
the Genevan, and the Bishops . His words are a noble vindi
cation of the fidelity of all the translators : " We never go from
that text and ancient reading which all the fathers used and
expounded ; but we translate that most usual text which was
first printed out of the most ancient copies that could be found;
or if any be since found, or if the ancient fathers did read
otherwise than the usual copies, or any word that is in any
way material in annotation, commentaries, readings, and ser
mons, we spare not, and declare it as occasion serveth. We
never flee from the Hebrewe and Greeke in anie place, much
less in places of controversie ; but we alwaies hold, as near as
we can, that which the Greeke and Hebrewe signifieth. But
if, in places of controversie, we take witnesse of the Greeke, or
Vulgar Latine, where the Hebrew or the Greeke may be
thought ambiguous, I trust no wise man will count this a
flight from the Hebrew and Greeke, which we alwaies translate
aright, whether it agree with the 70, or Vulgar Latin, or no." 2
" Happy, and thrice happy, hath our English nation bene, since
God hath given learned translators to expresse in our mother
tongue the heavenly mysteries of his Holy Word, delivered to
his Church in the Hebrew and Greeke languages ; who although
they have, in some matters of no importance unto salvation, as
men bene deceived; yet have they faithfully delivered the
whole substance of the heavenly doctrine conteyned in the
1 Discoverie of the Manifold 2 Defence of Sincere and True
Corruptions, p. 9-11, Ehemes, Translations, &c., pp. 99, 100, Parker
1582. Society Edition.
104 THE ENGLISH BIBLE.
Holy Scriptures, without any hereticale translations or wilfull
corruptions." 1 When in 1570, twelve years before Gregory
Martin wrote, the Queen had been formally excommunicated,
the result was that the nation, enlightened and braced by the
free circulation of the English Scriptures, began to realize more
fully its final severance from popish thraldom, and to cling to
Elizabeth more closely as the guardian of its liberties, so that
the day of her accession was from that period observed as
a popular festival, and joyously hailed as "the birth-day of
the Gospel."
1 Defence of Sincere and True Translations, &c., p. 591, Parker Society
Edition.
THE RHEIMS AND DOIJAI
VERSION.
" THAT the Scriptures be not to be set forth in the vulgar tongue to be
read of all sorts of people, every part of them, without any limitation of
time, place, and persons, they seern to be moved with these considerations :
first, that it is not necessary ; next, that it is not convenient ; thirdly, that
it is not profitable ; fourthly, that it is dangerous and hurtful ; and lastly,
although it were accorded the common people to have liberty to read the
Bible in their own tongue, yet that the translations of late years made by
those that have divided themselves from the Catholic Church be not to be
allowed, as worthily suspected not to be sound and assured."
HARDING, 1563.
CHAPTER XLI.
version which is now to be considered was immediately
and professedly taken from the Vulgate that is, the revision
and translation of Jerome. We do not, however, like the Rhem-
ists, hold the Vulgate in so high esteem as to put it in the place
of the Greek original. Its fidelity and literary merits are
not beyond impeachment, though occasionally its readings in
the New Testament are confirmed by Greek MSS. of high
authority: like the expressions, "Spirit of Jesus," Acts xvi, 7;
"the Lord Christ," 1 Pet. iii, 15. WyclifFe s old and literal
translation of it was rough, for the Latin of the Vulgate is
rough also in its archaic forms, and its numerous and unusual
compounds ; in its peculiar words and constructions ; its large
class of verbs, verbal forms, and nouns made out of adjectives
in its frequent employment of the genitive of abstract nouns
in room of a qualificative epithet, and of prepositions to mark a
relation that might have been expressed by a case ; in its use
both of a gerund l and of quod with the indicative or subjunctive
for an infinitive ; and in the approximation of its pronouns to
the Greek article. Its style was mixed through its circulation in
North Africa. The classic order and position of the words are
often violated, so that possessive pronouns became of necessary
frequency; the distinction between the perfect and imperfect,
especially of the substantive verb, is lost sight of ; quia 2 ap-
1 Matt, xx, 19, "ad illudendum, et - As "audistis quia dictum est ; -
flagellandum et crucifigendum " ; "that it was said" again and again
though John xix, 16, reads " tradidit in Matt, v, and in vii, 23, xxii, 16,
eis ilium ut crucifigeretur." and Luke i, 58.
108
THE ENGLISH BIBLE.
[CHAP.
pears, not in the sense of " because/ but of " that " ; and ac,
atque, et are used without discrimination. l Older forms which
1 There are also such paronomasia
-as " Neque rrnbent neque nubentur "
(Cod. Pal., " nubunt ") Matt, xxii, 30 ;
" Non venit ministrari, sed mini-
strare," compared with Mark x, 45 ;
Gen. ii, 23, " Hsec vocabitur Virago,
quouiam de viro sumpta est." There
are such imitations of the Greek as
Luke xiii, 33, " Non capit prophetam
perire extra Jerusalem" (Codex Pal-
inus,"nonestpossibile");Matt.vi,26,
" Nonne vos magis pluris estis illis ? "
xxiv, 22, "Non fieret salva omuis
caro" Campbell tartly remarking
on this last rendering "that Arias
found nothing to alter in it, in order
to bring it down to his own level."
Other solecisms may be adduced :
Gen. xxi, 26, "Non audivi prseter
hodie"; Gen. xlii, 13, "Alius non
est super," for " superest" ; Ps.
Ixvii, 20, " Benedictus Domimis die
quotidie" ; Ps. cxxv, 1, " In conver-
tendo Domiuus captivitatem Sion
facti sumus sicut consolati " ; Luke
vii, 37, " Lamentavimus vobis" ; xxi,
38, " Omnis populus manicabat ad
eum"; John xv, 2, "Ut fructum plus
afferat." Besides, there are peculiar
foi nis of spelling, and of case, num
ber, conjugation, and syntax. There
are many nouns ending in -mentum,
like inquinamentum, operimeutum ;
in -amen, like cogitamen, spiramen ;
in -arium, like atramentarium ; in
-ulum, like habitaculum, pinnaculum ;
in -entia, like concupiscentia, suf-
ferentia ; in -itas, like religiositas,
supervacuitas ; in -or, like dulcor,
placor ; in -udo, like grossitudo,
pnenitudo ; in -ula, like auricula,
casula ; adjectives in -bilis, like
concupiscibilis, inexstiiiguibilis ; in
-bundus, as fumigabundus, formula-
bundus ; in -atus,- like linguatus,
pudoratus. There are also verbs like
plagiare, tribulare; compounds like
animaequus, concaptivus ; phrases
like "a longe," "de semel"; nouns
which are Greek terms expressed in
Roman letters, as brabium, grabatus.
Terms occur also with an unusual
signification: argumentum, a mark
or sketch ; coenapura, the preparation
(for a series of conjectures as to the
origin and incoming of this phrase,
see Ronsch, p. 367) ; conditio,
creation ; conversatio, manner of
life; diffidentia, unbelief; honestas,
riches ; opinio, rumour; prsevaricatio,
transgression ; resolutio, death ;
sacramentum, mystery ; substantia,
goods; fidelis, believing; impossibilis,
impotent ; incredibilis, unbelieving;
advocare, to console ; deprecari, to
ask earnestly; honestare, to make
rich (honorarium); Archbishop Par
ker speaks of " honesting a Mr.
Dr.Clark with a room in the Arches"
(Correspondence, p. 411, Parker Soc.
ed.) These terms are but a brief
specimen, but may serve io show the
peculiar Latin of the Vulgate; and,
living in the language of the people,
such peculiarities abound also in the
old Latin version, the Itala. The
critical remarks of Lord Macaulay on
the kind of Latin used in the Church
service in contrast with the English
of the Liturgy, bear on the point
before us, and are worth quotation.
" The English Liturgy indeed gains
by being compared even with those
fine ancient liturgies from which it
XLI.] THE TEXT OF THE VULGATE. 109
had passed out of classical use reappear in the Vulgate through
the tenacity of the popular speech. 1
But though we cannot hold such exaggerated views of the
merits of the Vulgate as did the Rhemists, to whom it was "true
and authentical scripture," nor accept the Tridentine edict
which so unduly exalted it, yet we cannot but regard it as of
great value, even with the conflicting variations between the
Sixtine and Clementine editions. The text of the Vulgate
was discussed at the Council of Trent in 1546, but it was at
length declared to be " authentic." - A revision of it was
carried out by a board, of which Cardinal Caraffa was presi
dent, but Pope Sixtus arbitrarily altered the text, and
then " in the plenitude of apostolic power " authorized it for
the churches. On its publication in 1590, it was found
to be very imperfect, and a second company, under the
presidency of Cardinal Colonna, undertook another revision,
which was published in 1592, in the reign of Pope Clement
VIII, and it too has many blunders. The discrepancies be
tween those editions, both formally sanctioned by papal
is to a great extent taken. The therefore, is Latin in the last stage
essential qualities of devotional of decay. The English of our
eloquence, conciseness, majestic services is English in all the vigour
simplicity, pathetic earnestness of and suppleness of early youth. To
supplication, sobered by a profound the great Latin writers, to Terence
reverence, are common between the and Lucretius, to Cicero and Ctesar,
translations and the originals. But to Tacitus and Quintilian, the noblest
in the subordinate graces of diction compositions of Ambrose and Gre-
the originals must be allowed to be gory would have seemed to be, not
far inferior to the translations. And merely bad writing, but senseless
the reason is obvious. The technical gibberish." History of England, vol.
phraseology of Christianity did not III, p. 475.
become a part of the Latin language 1 Itala und Vulgata, das Sprach-
till that language had passed the age idiom der Urchristlichen Itala nnd
of maturity and was sinking into der Katholischen Vulgata, unter
barbarism. But the technical phrase- Beriicksichtigung der Eomischer
ologv of Christianity was found in Volkssprache. VonHermauuKonsch,
the Anglosaxon and in the Norman 2nd ed., Marburg, 1875. Kaulen,
French, long before the union of Geschichte der Vulgata, p. 131.
those two dialects had produced a 2 See Geschichte der Vulgata.
third dialect superior to either. The von Leander van Ess, Tubingen
Latin of the Roman Catholic services, 1824.
HO THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
authority, are very numerous, as may be seen in James s
Bellum Papale, 1C00. 1
Yet, in spite of such points in its history, the Vulgate
has many claims for the place which it so long held, and
for the good which it so often effected. It was, in the
absence of the original, the only accessible Bible in mediaeval
Western Europe "a light shining," though with vailed
lustre, " in a dark place." It did its appointed work, and
brought peace and strength to many hearts, opening up to
them a glimpse of the glorified One above and beyond the
crucifix, creating a fulness of trust that felt no need of
saintly mediation, nursing a loyalty to Him so intense and
absorbing that it looked down upon the keys of St. Peter
as a paltry symbol, while it sustained a confidence in Him
that hard dogma could not deaden, and an adoration of
Him which a complicated and inflexible ritual could not pet
rify. The religious community, whose book it was, kept the
Roman empire from falling into barbarism at its dissolution.
In spite of its growing superstition and tyranny, the Western
Church scattered round it man} 7 blessings. Music, painting,
and architecture were fostered by it ; the figured windows in
the churches were the poor man s Bible, where he saw in vivid
group and colouring the power and pity of the Son of Mary. 2
Its compact organization gave it a great power, which it often
wielded for the good of society in days of ignorance and war.
It broke the bonds of the serf, opened an as3dum for the exile
and outcast, restrained the fury of the oppressor, and softened
the haughty rigour of the nobility. Grandees quailed before
its ministers invested with a superhuman authority which they
were afraid to resist, and were unable to define, for its mastery
stretched into the invisible world. The abbey was often a
rebuke to the castle, and was an almshouse for the poor, an
hospital for the sick, an inn for the traveller, and a retreat for
the weary and forlorn in heart. Its farms presented the best
1 Reprinted under the editorial sistiug of forty plates, printed from
care of J. E. Cox, M.A., London, wooden blocks, and depicting scenes
1840. and persons from Scripture, served a
2 The " Biblia pauperum," con- similar purpose.
XLI.] THE CHURCH OF ROME.
specimens of tillage, and its blooming orchards were a reproof
to all who loitered in the " vineyard of the sluggard." In the
midst of many drawbacks, inconsistencies, and errors, the Latin
Church may glory in pointing to the heroic and self-denying
toils and sufferings of its missionaries and martyrs, whose
romantic lives are grander than fiction, and who met their
death, not merely with saintly calmness, but prophetic exulta
tion. Those noble souls were baptized with the Holy Spirit ;
the true unction filled them with a seraphic devoutness, which
did not depend on a gorgeous service with its music, incense,
and images. The mystics who had felt the power of the
unseen, and were rapt into hidden communing with God,
did not rest on a sacerdotal ministry. The Houses, especially
of the Benedictine class, so magnificent in architecture, often
and honestly strove in earlier times to realize the ideal of their
founder. In them was conserved whatever of science or art
was known ; and in them was copied, for circulation, the Latin
Bible which preserved for centuries the knowledge of the
Gospel, and gave their first inspiration to the Reformers.
The old saying was " claustrum sine armario, castrum sine
armentario." The Scriptorium was often filled with busy and
tasteful copyists. Ordericus Vitalis tells of a monk who, though
he had been a habitual transgressor of monastic rules, yet had
copied a handsome volume of Scripture, and that, when after
death he stood before the divine tribunal in the crisis of his
destiny, the accusing spirits and the good angels made a
bargain that every letter in the transcribed Bible should stand
in merit against every sin adduced, the result being that by the
credit of a single letter the trembling culprit escaped " the
mercy of the Judge being extended toward him."
On the other hand the popish system became at length
exclusive, claimed of divine right a paramount jurisdiction
over all kingdoms, interfered with their policy by diplo
macy, menace, and anathema, in order to bind them as
vassals to the Papal chair. The primates in England and
in other countries became statesmen and were rewarded by
preferments for their work as politicians ; the mitre proudly
reared itself above coronets, and the dispensation of human
112 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP,
law left little room for the ministry of the Gospel. Where-
ever the Papacy had the power, it punished as heresy all
variation of opinion, and repressed free thought, honest
inquiry, and mental development. In short, it obscured the
way of salvation by its ecclesiastical apparatus, the priest
standing before Christ received confession, granted absolu
tion, or carried on a scandalous traffic in indulgences ;.
penance took the visible place of " godly sorrow," and the
mass with its pretentious miracle of transubstantiation
superseded an ordinance sublime in its simplicity, for its
grand purpose is told in nine English monosyllables "Ye
do show the Lord s death till He come." The word of
God was virtually proscribed, and the reading of it put
under a ban, in order to keep the people passive under the
tutelage of the priesthood. Cardinal Ximenes, who had spent
at least 25,000 and many years of anxiety on the produc
tion of the Complutensian Polyglott and its various texts,
shuddered at the desecration involved in giving the con
quered and proselytized Moors the Bible in their own lan
guage, as Archbishop Talavera had suggested " for it would
be casting pearls before swine." l
The Romish Church has ever been reluctant to give vernac
ular Scriptures to the people. The Council of Toulouse in 1229
made a stern prohibition, and the Council of Trent followed
the same course in 1564. This act was confirmed by Pope
Clement VIII in 159G, by Benedict XIV in 1757, by Pius
VII in 1816, by Leo XII in 1824, and by Gregory XVI
in 1844, whose encyclical brief told his "venerable
brethren" to seize out of the hands of the faithful "Bibles
translated into the vulgar tongue." Nor has Pius IX
been behind his predecessors in this antibiblical crusade.
But Pius VI wrote in 1778 to Martini a commendation
of his Italian version, and the letter, translated into English,
is found in many modern editions. Copies of the Scriptures
are now common among Catholics.
Some of the reasons for refusing the Bible to the laity are
amusing, and others are advanced with perverse ingenuity,
1 Life of Xiinenes, English Translation, p. 72.
XLI. ] ROMISH A VERSION TO VEEN A CULAR BIBLES.
One of the divines of Douai, Dr. Kellison, in his answer to
SutclifFe, argues that as the inscription on the cross was written
in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, " therefore the church would
have God s word not to be written commonly in any other
tongue than in one of those three sanctified tongues." l
After saying that, on the question of the circulation of the
Bible, Popery and Protestantism are antagonistic, "and we
glory in avowing it," Cardinal Wiseman 2 asserts that the
Catholics " do not give the Bible indiscriminately to all,
because God himself has not so given it " ; that the " reading "
of it is not a term of salvation, while " hearing is " ; that
" paper and ink are not the badges of His apostles calling,
but the keys of the kingdom"; that the church has no
instinct toward Bible reading; and that where "universal
license to read the Scriptures prevails, church government
declines " " We do not encourage the people to read them,
we do not spread them to the utmost among them. Certainly
not." There was an especial and instinctive horror of an open
English Bible both in the days of Wycliffe and Tyndale, as if
the hierarchy had forecast what the result might come to be.
For a time at the beginning of the reign of Elizabeth,
Catholics attended the English service ; but the Inquisition and
the Pope on being consulted strongly denounced all such com
promise. Several Catholics had left England on the accession
of Elizabeth, and had naturally found a refuge in the Popish
countries of the Continent. The English Bible in use could
not be appreciated or used by them, for it was tainted in
its very origin. But as it was in extensive circulation, they
were afraid of it, and thought to check its influence by a
rival version guarded by stringent dogmatic notes. The
English refugees at Geneva had made a popular translation,
why might not Popish exiles do a similar work for their own
party still residing in the land from which they had fled ?
It was not indeed deemed necessary that Catholics should
have or read a Bible in their mother tongue ; and the history
of the English Bible showed that the Romish powers
1 Ehemes, 1608. Cotton s Ehemes and Do way, p. 5.
2 Catholic Doctrine, pp. 20, 21.
VOL. II. H
114, THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
steadily discountenanced all such versions, and sometimes put
to death both translators and possessors as guilty of treason
against the Pope and the authority of the church. But it was
somehow felt that Popish religionists should be put upon a level
with their Protestant countrymen, and that they should have
prepared for them a Bible in English or at least in such
English as would show that it belonged to a Latin community.
In referring to the publication of this New Testament
King James translators were tempted to say in their
preface : " Now the Church of Rome would seeme at the
length to bear a motherly affection towards her children, and
to allow them the Scriptures in their mother tongue : but
indeed it is a gift, not deseruing to be called a gift, an
vnprofitable gift : they must first get a Licence in writing
before they may vse them, and to get that, they must approue
themselues to their Confessor. . . . Yea, so vnwilling
they are to communicate the Scriptures to the peoples
vnderstanding in any sort, that they are not ashamed to
confesse, that wee forced them to translate it into English
against their wills. This seemeth to argue a bad cause, or a
bad conscience, or both. Sure we are, that it is not he that
hath good gold, that is afraid to bring it to the touch
stone, but he that hath the counterfeit; neither is it the
true man that shunneth the light, but the malefactour, least
his deedes should be reproued : neither is it the plaine dealing
merchant that is vnwilling to haue the waights, or the mete-
yard brought in place, but he that vseth deceit. But we will
let them alone for this fault, and returne to translation."
A number of English Catholics had settled at Douai in
Flanders in 1568, and established a "Seminarie" for the
training of priests who were to win England back to the
Catholic faith. Many agents trained in the seminary did
visit England at various times, some with the resolution
of assassinating the queen ; and several of these enthusiasts,
nurtured by the Pope and Philip IT of Spain, were dis
covered, as were Campian and his colleagues, Sherwin and
Briant, who, on the 1st December, 1581, paid the penalty
of their life not as Papists but as traitors. The queen,
XLI.] MARTIN AND ALLEN.
quite aware of these plots to murder her, said once, in
addressing her Parliament, " I know no creature that
breathes whose life standeth hourly in more peril than mine
own." After a Huguenot riot the magistrates ordered the
departure of the Catholic refugees, and the college was
broken up by De Requescens, the representative of Spain,
but the Duke of Guise gave it a residence at Rheims in
France. The Seminary returned to Douai in 1593, and it found
a final resting place in England at Old Hall Green, in the
parish of Standon, and county of Hertford. At Rheims the
work of translating was carried on, and accordingly the New
Testament was published at that place in 1582. One of the
translators, Gregory Martin, had been one of the original
.scholars of St. John s College, Oxford, and M.A. in 1564.
After concealing his change of opinion for some time he passed
over to Douai in" 1570, and after a short sojourn at Rome
he became a divinity reader in the English seminary of
Rheims. He died 1584. He is declared by Wood to have been
" an excellent linguist," exactly read and versed in the Holy
Scriptures, and went beyond others of his time in humane
literature." He was the principal translator of the entire
Bible; and his death is said to have been hastened by his
incessant toil. William Allen, another of the company,
had been a canon of York and principal of St. Mary s
Hall, Oxford, in the reign of Queen Mary ; but going
at her death to Louvain, he was made a doctor of divinity, a
canon of Cambray, and afterwards of Rheims, where, by his
energy and enthusiasm, he was the chief means of establish
ing the Popish seminary for English students. Under
Pope Sixtus V he was consecrated Archbishop of Mechlin
and raised to the rank of cardinal. Had the Spanish
Armada conquered, he, as " Cardinal of England," was to
have been Archbishop of Canterbury and Legate; and he
had composed and printed in Flanders a pastoral address
to be carried over by the Duke of Parma and circulated
as soon as he effected a landing. l His extreme outbursts
of prejudice went far beyond truth, as when he says of the
1 Dewes, Parliaments of Queeii Elizabeth, p. 328.
116 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
queen, " She is a caitiff under God s and Holy Church s
curse, given up to a reprobate mind, therefore her open enor
mities and her secret sins must be great and not numerable."
Nicholas Sanders, another notorious Catholic of that period,
was so unveracious as to assert that the prayers offered ta
the Virgin in the Catholic Church are in the English Prayer
Book presented to Queen Elizabeth. Bishop Andrewes says of
him, " His forehead was surely flint and his tongue a razor." J
Another of the band was Richard Bristow, M.A., Christ s
Church, Oxford, afterwards Fellow of Exeter College, who,
going in 1569 to Louvain, abjured Protestantism. He became
reader of divinity at Douai, and afterwards at Rheims, where
he prepared the notes of the New Testament. Thomas
Worthington studied at Oxford, but joined his party at Douai,
and then was sent to Rheims, where he became president
of the college. He is said to have prepared the annotations
and tables for the Old Testament.
The New Testament was published at Kheims in 1582, with
the following long title :
" The New Testament of Jesus Christ, translated faithfully
into English, out of the authentical Latin, according to the
best corrected copies of the same, diligently conferred with the
Greeke and other editions in diuers languages : With
argvments of bookes and chapters, annotations, and other
necessarie helpes, for the better vnderstanding of the text,
and specially for the discouerie of the corruptions of diuers
late translations, and for cleering the controuersies in religion,
of these daies : IN THE ENGLISH COLLEGE OF RHEMES.
"Psal. 118. Da mihi intellectum, et scrutabor legem tuam r
et custodiam illam in toto corde meo. That is, Giue me vnder
standing, and I wil searche thy law and wil keepe it with my
whole hart.
" S. Aug., tract. 2 in Epist. Joan. Omnia quae in Scripturis
sanctis, ad instructionem et salutem nostram, intente oportet
audire ; maxime memoriae commendanda sunt, quae aduersus
hereticos valent plurimum: quorum insidiae, infirmiores quosque
et negligentiores circumuenire non cessant.
1 Tortura Torti, p. 143.
XLI.] THE RUE I MS NEW TESTAMENT. H7
" That is,
" All things that are readde in holy Scriptures we must heare
with great attention, to our instruction and saluation, but
those things specially must be commended to memorie, which
make most against Heretikes : whose deceites cease not to
circumuent and beguile al the weaker sort and the more
negligent persons.
"Printed at Rhemes, by John Fogny. 1582. Cvm privi-
legio."
The Preface is long and elaborate, its general spirit
being that of defence and explanation; admitting that
what they have done is after all a superfluous labour,
there being no real necessity for it, and its only occasion
being " the present time, state, and condition of our country."
They are at a loss to assign a specific reason for a work which
Scripture forbids, and yet does not forbid ; allows, and still
disallows ; and their statements are given with such a nicety
of distinctions and such balancings, that only subtile minds can
apprehend them ; for their church neither prohibits, nor com
mands, nor yet treats the matter as one of forbearance. As
they acted on such ambiguous views, their English Bible
is scarcely intelligible to common people, so many ecclesi
astical terms are preserved unchanged or are slightly altered.
The version is completely papalized, for they purposed to
add a new bulwark to their Zion, and make the interposi
tion of the priesthood still necessary to the full understanding
of the. Word of God. The Latinized English of the version
would have delighted the heart of Bishop Gardyner. Appeals
. are made to the fathers on these points, and there are eloquent
descriptions of the abuses of profane and promiscuous Scrip
ture reading. Other translations are also tersely censured.
As none of the more recent editions of the Rheims New
Testament contain the preface, a few paragraphs from it may
be given :
"Which translation we doe not for al that publish, vpon
erroneous opinion 1 of necessitie, that the holy Scriptures
should alwaies be in our mother tongue, or 2 that they
ought, or were ordained by God, to be read indifferently of
118 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP,
al, or 3 could be easily vnderstood of euery one that readeth
or heareth them in a knowen language : or 4 that they
were not often, through mans malice or infirmitie, pernicious
and much hurtful to many : 5 or that we generally
and absolutely deemed it more conuenient in it self, and
more agreeable to Gods word and honour, or edification of
the faithful, to haue them turned into vulgar tongues,
than to be kept and studied only in the Ecclesiastical learned
languages: Not for these nor any such like causes do we
translate this sacred booke, but vpon special consideration
of the present time, state, and condition of our countrie, vnto
which, diuers things are either necessarie, or profitable and
medicinable now, that otherwise in the peace of the Church
were neither much requisite, nor perchance wholy tolerable."
"1. In this matter, to marke only the wisdom and modera-
ation of holy Church and the gouernours thereof on the one
side, and the indiscrete zeale of the popular, and their factious
leaders, on the other, is a high point of prudence. These
later, partly of simplicitie, partly of curiositie, and specially
of pride and disobedience, haue made claime in this case for
the common people, with plausible pretences many, but good
reasons none at al. The other, to whom Christ hath giuen
charge of our soules, the dispensing of Gods mysteries and
treasures (among which holy Scripture is no small store)
and the feeding his familie in season with foode fit for euery
sort, haue neither of old nor of late, euer wholy condemned
al vulgar versions of Scripture, nor haue at any time generally
forbidden the faithful to reade the same : yet they haue not by
publike authoritie prescribed, commaunded, or authentically
euer recommended any such interpretation to be indifferently
vsed of al men. . . .
"Now since Luthers reuolt also, diuers learned Catholikes
for the more speedy abolishing of a number of false and im
pious translations put forth by sundry sectes, and for the
better preseruation or reclaime of many good soules endan-
dered thereby, haue published the Bible in the several lan
guages of almost al the principal prouinces of the Latin Church:
no other bookes in the world being so pernicious as heretical
XLI.] ITS STRANGE PREFACE. HO
translations of the Scriptures, poisoning the people vnder
colour of diuine authoritie, and not many other remedies
being more soueraine against the same (if it be vsed in
order, discretion, and humilitie) then the true, faithful, and
sincere interpretation opposed therevnto.
" 2. Which causeth the holy Church not to forbid vtterly any
Catholic translation, though she allow not the publishing or
reading of any absolutely and without exception, or limitation :
knowing by her diuine and most sincere wisedom, how, where,
when, and to whome these her Maisters and Spouses giftes are
to be bestowed to the most good of the faithful : and therfore
neither generally perrnitteth that which muste needes doe
hurt to the vn worthy, nor absolutely condemneth that which
may doe much good to the worthy. Where upon, the order
which many a wise man wished for before, was taken by
the Deputies of the late famous Councel of Trent in this
behalfe, and confirmed by supreme authoritie, that the holy
Scriptures, though truly and Catholikely translated into vulgar
tonges, yet may not be indifferently readde of al men, nor
of any other then such as haue expresse licence therevnto
of their lawful Ordinaries, with good testimonie from their
Curates or Confessors, that they be humble, discrete and
deuout persons, and like to take much good, and no harme
thereby. Which prescript, though in these daies of ours it can
not be so precisely obserued, as in other times and places,
where there is more due respecte of the Churches authoritie,
rule, and discipline : yet we trust al wise and godly persons wil
vse the matter in the meanwhile, with such moderation,
meekeness, and subiection of hart, as the handling of so sacred
a booke, and sincere senses of Gods truth therein, and the
holy Canons, Councels, reason, and religion do require.
" Wherein, though for due preseruation of this diuine worke
from abuse and prophanation, and for the better bridling of
the intolerable insolencie of proud, curious, and contentius
wittes, the gouernours of the Church guided by Gods Spirit,
as euer before, so also vpon more experience of the maladie
of this time then before, haue taken more exacte order both
for the readers and translatours in these later ages, then of old,
120 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
yet we must not imagin that in the primitiue Church, either
euery one that vnderstoode the learned tonges wherein the
Scriptures were written, or other languages into which they
were translated, might without reprehension, read, reason,
dispute, turne and tosse the Scriptures : or that our forefathers
suffered euery schole-maister, scholer, or Grammarian that had
a little Greeke or Latin, straight to take in hand the holy
Testament : or that the translated Bibles into the vulgar
tonges, were in the hands of euery husband man, artificer,
prentice, boies, girles, mistresse, maide, man : that they were
sung, plaied, alleaged, of euery tinker, tauerner, rimer, min
strel : that they were for table talke, for alebenches, for boates
and barges, and for euery prophane person and companie. No,
in those better times men were neither so il, nor so curious
of them selues, so to abuse the blessed booke of Christ : neither
was there any such easy meanes before printing was inuented,
to disperse the copies into the handes of euery man, as now
there is.
" They were then in Libraries, Monasteries, Colleges,
Churches, in Bishops, Priests, and some deuout principal Lay
mens houses and handes : who vsed them with feare and reuer-
ence, and specially such partes as perteined to good life and
maners, not medling, but in pulpit and schooles (and that moder
ately to) with the hard and high mysteries and places of greater
difficultie. The poore ploughman could then, in labouring the
ground, sing the hymnes and psalmes either in knowen or
vnknowen languages, as they heard them in the holy Church,
though they could neither reade nor knowe the sense, mean
ing, and mysteries of the same. Such holy persons of both
sexes, to whom St. Hierom in diuers Epistles to them, com-
mendeth the reading and meditation of holy Scriptures, were
diligent to search al the godly histories and imitable examples
of chastitie, humilitie, obedience, clemencie, pouertie, penance,
renouncing the world : they noted specially the places that did
breede the hatred of sinne, feare of Gods iudgement, delight in
spiritual cogitations : they referred them selues in al hard
places, to the iudgement of the auncient fathers and their
maisters in religion, neuer presuming to contend, controule,
XLT.] MOTIVES FOR TRANSLATING. 121
teach or talke of their owiie sense and phantasie, in deepe
questions of diuinitie. Then the Virgins did meditate vpon
the places and examples of chastitic, modestie and demure-
nesse : the maried, on coniugal faith and continencie : the par
ents, how to bring vp their children in faith and feare of God :
the Prince, how to rule : the subiect, how to obey : the Priest,
how to teach : the people, how to learne.
" 3. Then the scholer taught not his maister, the sheepe con-
trouled not the Pastor, the young student set not the Doctor
to schoole, nor reproued their fathers of error and ignorance.
Or if any were in those better daies (as in al times of heresie
such must needes be) that had itching eares, tikling tongues
and wittes, curious and contentious disputers, hearers, and
talkers rather than doers of Gods word : such the Fathers did
euer sharply reprehend, counting them vnworthy and vnpro-
fitable readers of the holy Scripture. . . .
" We therfore hauing compassion to see our beloued
countriemen, with extreme danger of their soules, vse only
such profane translations, and erroneous mens mere phantasies,
for the pure and blessed word of truth, much also moued there
unto by the desires of many deuout persons : haue set forth,
for you (benigne readers) the new Testament to begin withal,
trusting that it may giue occasion to you, after diligent
perusing thereof, to lay away at lest such their impure ver
sions as hitherto you haue ben forced to occupie. How wel
we haue done it, we must not be iudges, but referre al to Gods
Church and our superiors in the same, to them we submit our
selues, and this, and al other our labours, to be in part or in
the whole, reformed, corrected, altered, or quite abolished :
most humbly desiring pardon if through our ignorance,
temeritie, or other humane infirmitie, we haue any where mis
taken the sense of the holy Ghost, further promising, that if
hereafter we espie any of our owne errors, or if any other, either
frende of good wil, or aduersarie for desire of reprehension, shal
open vnto vs the same : we wil not (as Protestants doe) for
defense of our estimation, or of pride and contention, by wrang
ling wordes wilfully persist in them, but be most glad to heare
of them, and in the next edition or otherwise to correct them :
] 22 TIIE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
for it is truth that we seeke for, and Gods honour : which
being had either by good intention, or by occasion, al is wel.
This we professe only, that we haue done our endeuour with
praier, much feare and trembling, lest we should dangerously
erre in so sacred, high, and diuine a work : that we haue done
it with al faith, diligence, and sinceritie : that we haue vsed no
partialitie for the disaduantage of our aduersaries, nor no more
licence then is sufferable in translating of holy Scriptures :
continually keeping our selues as neere as is possible, to our
text and to the very words and phrases which by long vse are
made venerable, though to some prophane or delicate eares they
may seeme more hard or barbarous, as the whole style of Scrip
ture doth lightly to such at the beginning : acknowledging
with St. Hierom, that in other writings it is ynough to giue in
translation, sense for sense, but that in Scriptures, lest we misse
the sense, we must keepe the very wordes. . . .
" Now, though the text thus truly translated, might suffi
ciently, in the sight of the learned and al indifferent men, both
controule the aduersaries corruptions, and proue that the holy
Scripture whereof they haue made so great vauntes, maketh
nothing for their new opinions, but wholly for the Catholike
Churches beleefe and doctrine, in al the pointes of difference
betwixt vs : yet knowing that the good and simple may
easily be seduced by some few obstinate persons of perdition
(whom we see giuen ouer into a reprobat sense, to whom the
Gospel, which in it self is the odour of life to saluation, is made
the odour of death to damnation, ouer whose eyes for sinne and
disobedience God suffereth a veile or couer to lie, whiles they
read the New Testament, euen as the Apostle saith the lewes
haue til this day, in reading of the old, that as the one sort can
not finde Christ in the Scriptures, reade they neuer so much,
so the other can not finde the Catholike Church nor her doc
trine there neither), and finding by experience this saying
of St. Augustin to be most true, If the preiudice of any
erroneous presuasion preoccupate the mind, whatsoeuer the
Scripture hath to the contrarie, men take it for a figuratiue
speach : for these causes, and somewhat to help the faithful
reader in the difficulties of diuers places, we haue also set forth
XLI.] METHOD OF TRANSLATION. 123
reasonable large Annotations, thereby to shew the studious
reader in most places perteining to the controuersies of this
time, both the heretical corruptions and false deductions, and
also the Apostolike tradition, the expositions of the holy fathers,
the decrees of the Catholike Church and most ancient Councels :
which means whosoeuer trusteth not, for the sense of the holy
Scriptures, but had rather folow his priuate iudgement or the
arrogant spirit of these Sectaries, he shal worthily through
his owne wilfulnes be deceiued : beseeching al men to looke
with diligence, sinceritie, and indifference, into the case that
concerneth no lesse then euery ones eternal salvation or
damnation. .
" In this ovr translation, because we wish it to be most
sincere, as becommeth a Catholike translation, and haue en-
deuoured so to make it : we are very precise and religious in
folowing our copie, the old vulgar approued Latin : not only in
sense, which we hope we alwaies doe, but sometimes in the
very words also and phrases, which may seeme to the vulgar
reader and to common English eares not yet acquainted there
with, rudenesse or ignorance : but to the discrete Header that
deeply weigheth and considereth the importance of sacred
words and speeches, and how easily the voluntarie Translatour
may misse the true sense of the Holy Ghost, we doubt not but
our consideration and doing therein, shal seeme reasonable and
necessarie : yea and that al sortes of Catholike Headers wil in
short time thinke that familiar, which at the first may seeme
strange, and wil esteeme it more, when they shal otherwise
be taught to vnderstand it, then if it were the common known
English.
" For example, we translate often thus, Amen, amen, I say
unto you. Which as yet seemeth strange, but after a while it
wil be as familiar, as Amen, in the end of al praiers and
Psalmes, and even as when we end with Amen, it soundeth far
better then, So beit : so in the beginning, Amen, Amen,
must needes by vse and custom sound far better, then, Verily
verily. Which in deede doth not expresse the asseueration and
assurance signified in this Hebrue word, besides that it is the
soleinne and usual word of our Sauiour to expresse a vehement
124 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
asseueration, and therefore is not changed, neither in the
Syriake nor Greeke, nor vulgar Latin Testament, but is pre-
serued and vsed of the Euangelistes and Apostles, them selues,
euen as Christ spake it propter sanctiorem authoritatem as
St. Augustin saith of this and of Allelu-ia, for the more holy
and sacred authoritie thereof. li. 2 Doct. Christ, c. 11.
And therefore do we keepe the word Allelu-ia, Apoc. 19,
as it is both in Greeke and Latin yea and in al the English
translations, though in their bookes of common praier they
translate it, Praise ye the Lord. Againe if Hosanna, Raca,
Belial, and such like be yet vntranslated in the English
Bibles, why may not we say, Corbana/ and Parasceue :
specially when they Englishing this later thus, the preparation
of the Sabboth/ put three words more into the text then
the Greeke word doth signifie. Mat. 27, 62. And others
saying thus, After the day of preparing, make a cold trans
lation and short of the sense : as if they should translate
Sabboth, the resting, for Parasceue is as solemne a word
for the Sabboth eue, as Sabboth is for the lewes seventh
day, and now among Christians much more solernner, taken
for Good-friday only. These words then we thought it far
better to keepe in the text, and to tel their signification in the
margent or in a table for that purpose, then to disgrace both
the text and them with translating them.
" Moreouer, we presume not in hard places to mollifie the
speaches or phrases, but religiously keepe them word for word,
and point for point, for fear of missing, or restraining the sense
of the holy Ghost to our phantasie, as Eph. 6, Against the
spirituals of wickedness in the celestials, and, What to me and
thee woman? and 1 Pet. 2, As infants euen now borne, reason
able, milke without guile desireye. We do so place, reasonable,
of purpose, that it may be indifferent both to infants going
before, as in our Latin text: or to milke that folio weth after, as
in other Latin copies and in the Greeke. lo. 3 we translate,
The spirit breatheth where he wil &c. leauing it indifferent
to signifie either the holy Ghost, or winde : which the Pro
testants translating, minde, take away the other sense more
common and vsual in the ancient fathers. We translate Luc. 8,
XL*.] CLOSE ADHERENCE TO THE LATIN TEXT. 125
23, They were filed, not adding of our owne, with water, to
mollifie the sentence, as the Protestants doe, and c. 22, This is
the chalice, the new Testament &c, not This chalice is the
new Testament, likewise, Mar. 13, Those daies shal be such
tribulation &c, not as the Aduersaries, in those daies, both
our text and theirs being otherwise, likewise lac. 4, G, And
giueth greater grace, leauing it indifferent to the Scripture/ or
to the holy Ghost, both going before. . .
" We adde the Greeke in the margent for diuers causes.
Sometime when the sense is hard, that the learned reader may
consider of it and see if he can helpe him selfe better then by
our translation. " Item we adde the Latin word sometime in
the margent, when either we can not fully expresse it (as Act.
8. They tooke order for Stevens funeral, and, Al take not his
word,) or when the reader might thinke, it can not be as we
translate, as, Luc. 8. A storme of winde descended in to the
lake, and they were filled/ and, lo. 5. when lesus knew that
he had now a long time/ meaning, in his infirmitie.
" This precise folowing of our Latin text, in neither adding
nor diminishing, is the cause why we say not in the title of the
Gospels in the first page, S. Matthew, S. Mar., S. John :
because it is so neither in Greeke nor Latin, though in the
toppes of the leaues folowing, where we may be bolder, we
adde, S. Matthew &c. to satisfie the reader: Much vnlike
to the Protestants our Aduersaries, which make no scruple
to leaue out the name of Paul in the title of the Epistle to
the Hebrues, though it be in euery Greeke booke which they
translate. And their most authorised English Bibles leaue
out (Catholike) in the title of S. James Epistle and the rest,
which were famously knowen in the primitiue Church by the
name of Catholicae Epistolse/ Euseb. hist. Eccl. li. 2, c. 22.
" Item we giue the Reader in the places of some importance,
another reading in the margent, specially when the Greeke is
agreeable to the same.
" We binde not our selues to the pointes of any one copie,
print, or edition of the vulgar Latin, in places of no con-
trouersie, but folovv the pointing most agreeable to the Greeke
and to the fathers commentaries.
126 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
" We translate sometime the word that is in the Latin mar-
gent, and not that in the text, when by the Greeke or the fathers
we see it is a manifest fault of the writers heretofore, that
mistooke one word for an other.
" Thus we haue endeuoured by al meanes to satisfie the
indifferent reader, and to helpe his vnderstanding euery way,
both in the text, and by Annotations : and withal to deale
most sincerely before God and man, in translating and ex
pounding the most sacred text of the holy Testament. Fare
wel good Reader, and if we profit the any whit by our poore
paines, let us for Gods sake be partakers of thy deuout praiers,
and together with humble and contrite hart cal upon our
Sauiour Christ to cease these troubles and stormes of his
derest spouse."
In this preface, so ingenuous and yet so reserved about
their motives, so nimble in its fence and so fierce in its
assault, the Rhemists laid themselves open to the castigation
of their watchful opponents who were glad of the occasion, and
at once seized upon it with unmeasured severity. Fulke
opened upon them in the following terms l :
"Whoso seeth what unnecessary charge you have put
your selves unto in printing this your Translation in so
large a volume, may easily perceive you set it not forth
for poor men s profit ; and that, by so excessive price of so
small a part of the whole Bible, you mean to discourage your
friends from waiting for all the rest.
"As for the special consideration that procured this
edition, when you do express it, we may better judge of it.
In the mean time, we can conceive none other, but that which
is the practice of many heretikes : when you could not
altogether suppress the knowledge of the holy Scriptures,
whereby your errors are discovered ; you thought it the next
way for your purpose, by your partial translation as much
as you could to obscure them, and by your heretical Anno
tations to pervert them, that the one should make them
unprofitable, the other also hurtful.
" And whereas you say, That of old they have not ever
1 Confutation, &c., Preface. London, 1589.
XLI.] CART WRIGHTS REPLY. 127
condemned all vulgar versions of the Scripture, nor generally
forbidden the faithful to read them ; Let the registers of
Bishops be searched, where it will appear that many have
been accused and condemned as Heretics, for having, reading,
or hearing the holy Scriptures in the English tongue, without
any exception taken against the truth of the translation."
A portion of Cartwright s Answer to the Preface of the
Rhemish New Testament was published at Edinburgh in
1602, and in it the Puritan leader thus delivers himself 1 :
" It is evident, that you permit it, not either in reverence
to the Holy Scriptures, or love to the people : but rather
as desperat enemies which had rather kill with it, than
that the head of your gaineful errors should be stricken off
by it. And it fareth altogether with you in this poynt
as with men which having a natural! hatred of cheese, or
of some such foode, in suche sorte as the very sight or touch
of it doth offend them : yet being effamished, are content
for the safetie of their lives even to eate it. For, abhorring
from the Scriptures in time of your peace ; when it cometh
that you and your state is plunged by such as you call hasre-
tickes, you are glad to bite or nibble upon the Scriptures, if
happelie you can get anything to serve the present neede.
" After that, by hiding and burning the Scriptures, by threat
ening and murdering of men for reading of them, they cannot
attaine to the causing of such a night of ignorance, wherein
O O O
they might doe all thinges without controulement : there
remayned one onely engine which Satan (with all his Angels)
having framed and hammered upon his lying forge, hath fur
nished them of. This engine is, the defacing and dis-authorizing
of the Scriptures, as it were the taking from them their girdle
or garter of honour, by a false surmise of corruption of them,
in the languages wherein they were first written. Which
abominable practice being attempted in th Old testament by
Lindanus 2 is now assayed in the new by the Jesuites."
1 Pp. 6 and 92. genere," Colonioe, 1558, 16mo, in
- Liudanus, Bishop of Ruremond, which he affirms the superiority of
in Holland, published a work " De the Latin Vulgate version over the
optiino Scripturas iuterpretaudi Hebrew and Greek Originals.
128 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
The Rhemists profess perfect integrity concerning their own
work, wishing it to be " most sincere as becometh a Catholic
translation." In the note at Acts xiii, 1, they say,. that they
might have rendered the clause, " as they were ministering,"
by " as they were sacrificing," or " saying masse," " but
we keepe our texte as the translators of Scripture should
doe most religiously." The rendering, 2 Peter i, 10, " labour
the more that by good works you may secure your voca
tion," is faithful to the Vulgate, and the addition has a
little support in some MSS. and versions.
As they deliberately chose the Vulgate 1 to translate from, they
give us the reasons of their preference : Its antiquity, its edi
torial revision by Jerome, its commendation by Augustine, its-
use by the Fathers, its proclaimed authenticity by the Council
of Trent, its gravity, its impartiality, the preference given to it
occasionally by Beza and the Calvinists, its superiority to all
other Latin translations, and in cases of discrepancy to the
vulgar Greek text itself, " according to the testimony of the old
scholars and divines." But critical rules and opinions are
characterized by a peculiar lubricity. Their statement is that
the Latin does usually agree with the Greek text, that any dis
agreement is often found to be coincident with some old
copy, "as may be seen in Stephens margin," and that the
adversaries sometimes accept such marginal readings ; that
when Greek copies exhibit a different text, the Vulgate is
found to agree with patristic quotations; that emendations
may be resorted to if such authority be wanting, or recourse may
be had to the Latin Fathers, and if, in this appeal, discrepancy
should be found, the blame is to be laid to the "great diversitie
and multitude " of Latin copies. So that in this easy and
incoherent way of moving from post to pillar, as often as their
position is felt to be untenable, the superiority of the Latin
translation to the Greek original is demonstrated.
This version, however, was made by men of no small erudition,
but very thorough devotees of Rome. The integrity which they
1 A certain cardinal confessed again, lest his Latinity should be
that he had gone over the Vulgate spoiled,
once, but vowed never to read it
XLI.] THE ACCURACY OF THE RHEMISTS. 129
claim for themselves they deny to others. Their opponents are
ever accused of translating for the purpose of falsifying the sacred
text, and wilfully misinterpreting it. They do not find mere
blunders in their antagonists what they impute to Protestant
scholars and critics is conscious wickedness, the making of
additions, alterations, and omissions, in avowed and profane
rebellion against the Divine truth. The Notes are purely
polemical, as if the version had been made to furnish occasion
for them. No element of charity breathes in them, no com
passion for poor non-Catholics ; heretics and Protestants are
assailed on every page, and their sins are educed from the text,
often by the most ingenious inferences, or are connected with
it by an invisible film of gossamer. Fury and indignation are
poured upon them, and they are overwhelmed with scathing
invective, and terrible menace exposure to the worst of
penalties on earth, and unutterable retributions in the world to
come. In the words of Geddes, their co-religionist, " the
translation is accompanied with virulent annotations against
the Protestant religion, and manifestly calculated to support a
system, not of genuine catholicity, but of Transalpine Popery."
The Rhemist scholars, though they paid divine honours to
the Latin text, rendered always with the Greek text before
them, as their title-page asserts, as their margin proves, and as
their frequent insertion of the definite article also indicates ;
for it is found in many places where previous translators have
neglected it, as may be seen in 1 Thess. i, 3, " the charity, the
enduring of the hope " ; Matt, iv, 5, " the pinnacle " ; xxviii, 16,
" the mount " ; Eph. ii, 3, " as also the rest " ; Rev. vii, 13,
" clothed in the white robes " ; conversely, Luke ii, 9, " an
angel of our Lord"; Matt, ii, 13, "an angel"; John iv,
27, " talked with a woman " ; and in these three places the
Authorized Version wrongly inserts the definite article ; Luke
xvi, 13, " cleave to one and contemn the other," a distinc
tion to which the mere Latin could not have helped them.
They did not, as has been often done, translate as a rule the
genitive like an adjective of quality, as in the phrase
" glorious liberty," Rom. viii, 21 ; " the glorious gospel," 2 Cor.
iv, 4; "deceitful lusts," Eph. iv, 22; "true holiness," 24;
VOL. II. I
130 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
"our vile body," "his glorious body," Philip, iii, 21; "his
mighty angels," 2 Thess. i, 7; "his dear son," Coloss. i, 13;
but they keep literally " liberty of the glory," " gospel of the
glory," " desires of error," " holiness of the truth," " body of
our humility," " body of his glory," "angels of his power,"
" Son of his love." In some of these instances, not in all, the
Authorized Version gives the literal rendering on the margin
of the first edition. While the Rheims Version is sometimes
ludicrous in consequence of the close adherence to the Vulgate,
there are very many clauses in which there are happy and
nicely adjusted renderings. True to their ecclesiastical beliefs,
they render " presbyter " by " priest," " repent " by " do pen
ance," " repented in sackcloth arid ashes " by " done penance in
haircloth and ashes," and " cup " by " chalice." By the use
of "halleluiah," " hosanna," "amen," and "Belial," they justify
" pasche," " parasceue," " Azymes " ; their further argument
being, if " proselyte " be taken why not " neophyte," if " phy
lacteries " why not " prepuce and Paraclete," if " anathema "
why not " depositum " ? How is it possible, it is asked, to
express "evangelizo " but by "evangelize " ? But their slavish
adherence to the idiom and order of the Latin text leads often
to obscurity, nay, not a few clauses are incomprehensible
if they are ambiguous and unintelligible in the Vulgate, they
characteristically remain so in the translation, for face
answereth to face. Many Latin terms are transferred, not
rendered. Their translation, as Fuller says, "needs to be
translated," for their English style is continually disfigured
by foreign words. 1 Thus
Matt, i, 17, "transmigration of Babylon "; vi, 11, "super-
substantial bread " ; xvi, 26, " what permutation " ; xxvii, 62,
" day which is after the parascetie."
Mark iii, 6, "made a consultation"; 14, "he made that
twelve should be with him " ; v, 35, " they come to the arch-
1 On the back of the title-page of account of his sufferings which he
the first edition of the New Testa- endured in virtue of a sentence pro-
ment is printed the ecclesiastical nounced upon him by the High Corn-
license, which is called "The Censure missioners Court, says, "the censure
and Approbation. Leighton, in the was to cut my ears, slit my nose, ; &c.
XLI.] LATINIZED ENGLISH.
synagogue " ; xiv, 27, " scandalized " ; xv, 46, " wrapped him in
the sindon."
Luke i, 6, " walking in all the commaundements and justifica
tions of our Lord " ; 67, " replenished with the Holy Ghost " ;
iii. 14, " be content with your stipends " ; iv, 40, " incontinent
rising"; ix, 22, "be rejected of the ancients"; 46, " there entered
a cogitation into them " ; xiv, 32, " sending a legacie " ; xii, 11,
"magistrates and potestates"; xx, 26, "they could not repre
hend his word"; xxii, 7, "the day of theAzynies came, . . . that
the pasche should be killed"; 12, "a great refectorie adorned" ;
18, "I will not drink of the generation of the vine"; 42,
" transfer this chalice from me"; xxiii, 14, "as averting the
people " ; 24, " adjudged their petition to be done."
John ii, 11, " What to me and thee woman ? " 19, " dissolve
this temple " ; iii, 20, " that his works may not be controuled "
(checked or censured) ; vii, 5, " Scenope gia was at hand " ; xix,
42, " a new monument."
Acts i, 2, " he was assumpted " ; xxi, 21, " zelatours " ; xxii, 3,
" an emulatour of the law " ; xxiii, 14, " by execration we have
vowed."
Rom. i, 11, " some spiritual grace " ; 30, " odible to God " ; ii,
20, " of science and of veritie " ; 25, " if thou be a prevaricator
of the law, thy circumcision is become prepuce " ; iii, 25, " hath
prepared a propitiation " ; viii, 18, "I think that the passions
of this time are not condigne to the glory to come " ; 39, " from
the charitie of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord"; 1 xvi, 5,
" their domestical church."
1 Cor. i, 8, " who will confirme you unto the end without
crime " ; v, 4, " with the vesture of our Lord Jesus " ; v, 7,
" purge the old leaven, that ye may be a new paste as you
are Azymes"; vii, 6, "I say this by indulgence;" 18, "let
him not procure prepuce"; vii, 19, "prepuce is nothing, but
the observation of the commaundements of God " ; x, 11,
"written to our conception " ; 13, "that you may be able to
sustein " ; 18, " they that eat the hosts " ; xi, 4, " dishonesteth
his head " ; xiv, 23, "vulgar persons or infidels."
1 It may be noted that the pro- Lord, " our Lord," just " as we say
noun is always prefixed to the term our lady." See note 1 Tim. vi.
132 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
2 Cor. iii, 18, " with face revealed " ; iv, 10, " bearing about
in our body the mortification of Jesus " ; vi, 6, " long-
animitie"; vii, 1, "from all inquination of the flesh and spirit";
viii, 19, " ordained .... fellow of our peregrination " ; x, 4,
" unto the destruction of munitions " ; xi, 8, " taking a stipend " ;
xiii, 3, " seek you an experiment of him that speaketh in me,
Christ."
Gal. i, 13, " expugned it"; v, 4, "evacuated from Christ";
3, " every man circumciding himself"; 21, " ebrieties, commessa-
tions " ; l vi, 1, " if a man be preoccupated in any fault."
Eph. i, 9, " sacrament of his will " ; ii, 2, " children of diffi
dence"; 19, "the domesticals of God"; iii, 6, " concorporate
and comparticipant " ; 11, " princes and potestates in the
celestials"; 11, " according to the prefinition of worlds" ; iv, 16,
" by all juncture of subministration " ; 30, " contristate not the
holy spirit of God " ; v, 32, " this is a great sacrament " ; vi, 12,
" against the rectours of the world, of this darkness against
the spirituals of wickednes in the celestials."
Philip, ii, 9, "every knee bow of the celestials, terrestrials,
and infernals"; iii, 10, "the societie of his passions."
Col. i, 18, " in all things holding the primacy " ; 27, " the
glory of this sacrament in the Gentiles."
1 Tim. i, 7, " doctors of the law " ; vi, 20, " keep the de-
positum."
2 Tim. i, 14, " keep the good depositum " ; ii, 4, " entangleth
himself with secular businesses " ; iv, 6, " the time of my resolu
tion 2 is at hand."
Titus i, 16, " incredulous" ; iii, 3, " serving divers desires and
voluptuousnesses . . . odible."
Philemon 6, " in the agnition of all good."
Heb. ii, 17, " repropitiate the sins"; iii, 13, "obdurate with
the fallacie of sinne"; v, 9, "being consummate"; 11, "great
1 Strype relates that Cranmer Crnnmer, vol. II, p. 207, Oxford,
sent visitors to All Souls, Oxford, 1848.
because of scandalous reports of 2 John Knox uses the same term,
" their compotations, ingurgitations, " daylie luiking for the resolution of
.... enormous and excessive this my tabernakle." "Works, VI, p.
commessations." Memorials of 418, ed. David Laing, Edin., 1864.
XLI.] CONTINUED EXAMPLES. 133
speech and inexplicable " ; ix, 1, " justifications of service " ; 2,
" proposition of loaves " ; 3, " Sancta Sanctorum " ; 28, " to ex
haust the sins of many " ; xii, 2, " sustained the cross, contemn
ing confusion " ; xiii, 7, "your prelates " ; 16, " with such hostes
God is premerited."
James i, 17, " with whom is no transmutation " ; 27, "pupilles
and widowes " ; ii, 7, " the good name that is invocated upon
you."
1 Peter i, 2, " according to the prescience of God " ; 5, " by
the vertue of God are kept" ; iii, 20, "incredulous sometime";
iv, 12, " think it not strange in the fervour which is to you for
a tentation "; 13, " but communicating with the passions of
Christ " ; v, 5, " insinuate humilitie one to another."
2 Peter i, 3, " his own proper glory and virtue " ; 7, " love of
the fraternitie " ; ii, 13, " coinquinations and spots " ; iii, 13,
" in which justice inhabiteth."
1 John iii, 1, " behold what manner of charitie the Father
hath given us " ; iv, 3, " every spirit that dissolveth Jesus is
not of God " ; 1G, " God is charitie." 1
3 John 9, "he that loveth to bear the primacy among
them."
Jude i, 4, " were long ago prescribed unto this judgment,
. . denying the only Dominator."
Rev. i, 10, "Dominical day"; ii, 14, "to cast a scandal
before"; iii, 17, "a miser and miserable"; xiv, 11, "if any
man take the character of his name " ; xxii, 14, " that wash
their stoles" ; 17, "let him take the water of life gratis."
Some phrases are not so cramped and narrow as those given, or
as that which occurs in Romans xiv, 19, "Therfore the things
that are of peace let vs pursue : and the tilings that are of
edifying one toward an other let vs keepe." And there are
some freer renderings Matt, viii, 29, 2 " What is between us ?"
1 " I did ever allow the discretion differency and equivocation of the
and tenderness of the Ehemish trans- word with impure love." Lord Bacon,
lation on this point, that finding in Pacification of the Church, Works,
the original the word dyaTny, and vol. VII, p. 81, ed. B. Montague,
never epws, do ever translate charity London, 1827.
and never love, because of the in- 2 " Quid nobis et tibi ? "
134 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CIIAF.
ix,^, 1 "have a good heart " ; xxi, 41, 2 "he will bring to naught";
Mark ii, I, 3 " after some days " ; 15, 4 " he sat at meat " ; Luke
xviii, 14, 5 " more than he " ; John xii, 2, 6 " them that sat at the
table " ; G, 7 "not because he cared for the poor " ; Acts ix, II, 8
"Loe, here I am, Lord"; x, 10, 9 "to take somewhat"; xvii, 4, 10
" that served God" ; 5, 11 "of the rascal sort."
They explain some of the words used in a stricter Latin or
Low Latin sense : as " calumniate," to use violent oppres
sion, 12 Luke iii, 14 ; "contristate," to make heavy and
sad, Eph. iv, 30 ; i, C, " grace wherein he hath gratified us,
made gracious " ; " prevarication " is transgression, as in
Rom. ii, 23; " prefmition " means a determination before, as
in Eph. iii, 11.
There are also not a few familiar Saxon phrases in the
version the English instincts of the translators were not
wholly quenched or perverted :
Matt, ix, 24, " the multitude keeping a sturre"; x, 25, "good-
man of the house " ; xiv, 9, " the king was stricken sad " ; xviii,
28, " throttled him " ; xx, 1, " work man " ; xxi, 44, " it shal al
to bruise him " ; xxv, 27, " bankers " ; xxvii, 5, "hanged himself
with an halter."
Mark v, 36, " saith to the Archsynagogue " ; 3.9, " why make
you this a doe ? the wench is not dead " ; 41, " where the
wench was lying " ; ix, 7, " this is my son most dear."
Luke i, 65, " these things were bruited over all the hill
countrie " ; ii, 3, " all want to be enrolled " ; 44, " kinsfolk
and acquaintance " ; viii, 22, " let us strike over the lake " ; 33,
" the herd . . . was stifled " ; 35, " well in his wits " ; xi,
25, " swept with a besom and trimmed " ; xiii, 34, " as the
bird doth her brood " ; xv, 8, " what woman having ten grotes
1 " Confide." 8 " Ecce ego, Domine."
2 " Male perdet." 9 " Gustare."
3 " Post dies." ]0 " Colentibus."
4 " Accumberet." " De Vulgo."
5 " Ab illo." 13 On " calumniate " in this sense
6 " Discumbentibus/ see the remarks of Cardinal Wise-
7 " Non quia de egeuis pevtinebat man, Works, vol. I, p. 86.
ad eum."
XLI.] GOOD RENDERINGS ADOPTED BY THE AUTHORIZED. 135
if she leese one grote"; xvi, 2, " bailiffe" ; 4, " bailieship " ; 9,
" when you fail" ; xviii, 2, "feared not God and -of man made
no account " ; xx, 18, " every one that falleth upon this stone
shall be quashed, and upon whom it shall fall, it shall break
him to powder."
John iv, 5, "beside the maner that Jacob gave to his sonne" ;
viii, 44, " a mankiller from the beginning."
Acts ii, 30, " sit upon his seat " ; v, 7, " not knowing what
was chaunced " ; viii, 2, " took order for Steven s funeral " ;
xvii, 18, " this wordsower."
1 Cor. viii, 1, " knowledge puffeth up," after the Genevan
of 1560 ; xiv, 35, " it is a foul thing for a woman to speak
in the church " ; xv, 54, " this mortal hath done on immor-
talitie."
2 Cor. v, 4, " overclothed " ; xii, 20, " stomakings."
Col. iii, 10, " doing on the new [man]."
1 Thes. iv, 6, " that 110 man ouergoe . . . his brother."
2 Tim. iii, 13, "erring and driving into error."
Heb. xii, 12, " stretche up the slacked handes"; 16, " for
one dish of meat sold his first-birth-rightes."
1 Peter ii, 12, "misreport of you"; iii, 3, "whose trimming."
2 Peter ii, 4, " with the ropes of Hell being drawn down into
Hell " ; iii, 8, " my dearest."
Rev. ii, 17, " a white counter."
But the Rhemist translators, though they make no mention
of previous translations, kept before them both the Genevan and
the Bishops , and have supplied not a few good renderings
which were thankfully accepted by the revisers of King
James. They have enriched the vocabulary of the Autho
rized Version. From them came " hymn " in Matt, xxvi, 30 ;
and " blessed" in 26 ; " decease " in Luke ix, 31 ; " reprobate,"
Rom. i, 28 ; " impenitent," ii, 5 ; " commendeth," v, 8 ; and
in the Epistle of James i, 5, " upbraideth not " ; 5, " nothing-
doubting," "the engrafted word"; 21, " bridleth his tongue," the
previous versions having "refraineth"; " unction," 1 John ii ; and
the word " mystery," " at his own charges," 1 Cor. ix, 7 ;
" contemptible," 2 Cor. x, 10 ; 2 Tim. iii, 6, " silly "the
Bishops having " simple " in brackets (mulierculas). They
136 THE ENGLISH BIBLE.
have given us " confess " for " knowledge," " propitia
tion," " seduce," " have confidence," " stumbling," and " under
standing " all these in the first Epistle of John, and all directly
from the Vulgate. Such Latin terms as * lucre," " superflui-
tie," " concupiscence," "tradition," "tribulation," " salute," &c.,
were in the older versions. They have also a special merit in
preserving uniformity of rendering the want of which is a
peculiar and pervading blemish in the Authorized Version.
Many examples will afterwards be adduced under the head of
Revision. When Gregory Martin remarked on the absence of
uniformity, Fulke says little more in reply than this : " For
my part I was never of counsel with any that translated the
Scriptures into English, and therefore it is possible that I
cannot sufficiently express what moved the translators so to
vary in the exposition of one and the same word." l So
closely do the Rhemists adhere to their text that, as they say
themselves, they do not in the titles to the Gospels call the
evangelists, St. Matthew, St. Mark, &c., though they do so
" on the tops of the leaves following to satisfie the reader."
Had these scholarly Englishmen not been warped by their
ecclesiastical prejudices, they would have issued a translation
of the Vulgate greatly more exact and felicitous than any of
those which their predecessors had given of the Greek text.
The Rheims New Testament was once appealed to and re
jected in very tragic circumstances. On the evening before
her execution in Fotheringay Castle, the unfortunate Queen of
Scots, laying her hand solemnly on a copy that happened to be
on her work table, took a solemn oath of innocence, when the
Earl of Kent at once interposed that the book on which she
had sworn was false, and that her oath was therefore of no
value. Her answer was prompt and decided " Does your
lordship suppose that my oath would be better, if I swore on
your translation in which I do not believe ? "
1 Defence, p. 89. Douairiere cle France," reprinted in
2 La Mort de la Beyne d Escosse, Jebb s Collection, vol. IT, p. 616.
CHAPTER XLII.
HHHE Old Testament was at length published at Douai in
1609-10.
" The Holie Bible Faithfully Translated into English out of
The Avthentical Latin. Diligently conferred with the Hebrew,
Greeke, and other Editions in diners languages. With Argv-
msnts of the Bookes, and Chapters : Annotations: Tables: and
other helpes, for better vnderstanding of the text ; for dis-
coverie of Corruptions in some latter translations : and for
clearing controuersies in Religion. By the English College
of Do way. Spiritu Sancto inspirati, locuti sunt sancti
Dei homines. 2 Pet. i. The holie men of God spake,
inspired with the Holy Ghost. Printed at Doway by
Lawrence Kellam, at the signe of the holie Lambe.
M.D.C.X." Two volumes. This Bible has neither maps nor
plates. A brief address on the last page says : " We have
already found some faults escaped, but fearing there be
more, and the whole volume being ere long to be examined
again, we pray the courteous reader to pardon all and amend
them as they occur." After the second book of Maccabees it is
stated: "The prayer of Manasses, with the second and third
books of Esdras, extant in most Latin and Vulgare Bibles, are
here placed after al the Canonical books of the old Testament :
because, they are not received into the canon of Diuine Scrip
tures by the Catholique Church." The translation had been
prepared many years previously, even before the appearance
of the New Testament, but it was not published " for lack of
good meanes," and, as is confessed, " our poor estate in banish
ment." It had also been finished before corrected editions of
138 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAT.
the Vulgate were published under Pope Sixtus V (1590) and
Pope Clement VIII (1592), and therefore it was again conferred
before publication " and conformed to the most perfect Latin
edition." The translators refer incidentally to our Authorized
Bible " as a new edition which we have not yet seen." In the
address "to the right well-beloved English reader" topics
akin to those discussed in the preface to the New Testament
are briefly referred to. The Annotations and Tables were
prepared by Dr. Thomas Worthingtoii, elected president of
the college in 1599, but he resigned office to Kellison in
1G13, and died an Oratorian in 1626. The notes are not so
numerous as those in the New Testament, with the exception
of Genesis and Psalms. A few sentences of the address pre
fixed to the Old Testament are subjoined, since, as in the case
of the preface to the Rheiins New Testament, it has fallen out
of view.
" To the right wel beloved English reader grace and glory
in lesvs Christ Everlasting. At last through Gods goodness
(most dearely beloued) we send you here the greater part of the
Old Testament, as long since you receiued the New, faithfully
translated into English. The residue is in hand to be finished :
and your desire thereof shal not now (God prospering our in
tention) be long frustrate. As for the impediments, which
hitherto haue hindered this worke they al proceeded (as many
doe know) of one general cause, our poore estate in banish
ment. Wherein expecting better meanes, greater difficulties
rather ensued. Neuertheles you wil hereby the more perceiue
our feruent good wil, euer to serue you, in that we haue
brought forth this Tome, in the hardest times, of aboue fourty
yeares, since this College was most happily begun. Wherefore
we nothing doubt, but you our dearest, for whom we haue
dedicated our Hues, wil both pardon the long delay, which we
could not preuent, and accept now this fruit of our labours,
with like good affection, as we acknowledge them due, and
offer the same vnto you. . .
" But here another question may be proposed : Why
we translate the Latin text, rather then the Hebrew, or
Greeke, which Protestants preferre as the fountaine tongs,
XLII.] PREFACE TO THE DOi AI BIBLE. 139
wherin holie Scriptures were first written ? To this we
answer that if indeed those first pure Editions were now
extant, or if such as be extant were more pure then the Latin,
we would also preferre such fountaines before the riuers, in
whatsoeuer they should be found to disagree. But the ancient
best learned Fathers and Doctours of the Church, doe much com-
plaine, and testifie to vs, that both the Hebrew and Greeke
Editions are fouly corrupted by lewes, and Heretikes, since
the Latin was truly translated out of them, whiles they were
more pure ; and that the same Latin hath been farre better
conserued from corruptions. So that the old Vulgate
Latin Edition hath been preferred and vsed for most
authentical aboue a thousand and three hundred yeares.
. . . Neither doe w T e fly vnto this old Latin text for
more aduantage : For besides that it is free from partiality,
as being most ancient of al Latin copies, and long before the
particular Controuersies of these dayes began, the Hebrew also
and the Greek when they are truly translated, yea and Eras
mus his Latin, in sundry places proue more plainly the
Catholike Roman doctrine, then this which we rely vpon.
So that Beza and his followers take also exception against
the Greeke, when Catholikes alledge it against them. Yea the
same Beza preferreth the old Latin Version before al others
and freely testifieth, that the old Interpreter translated
religiously. What then doe our countrimen, that refuse this
Latin, but depriue themselues of the best, and yet al this
while, haue set forth none, that is allowed by al Protestants
for good or sufficient ?
"How wel this is done the learned may iudge, when by mature
conference they shal haue made trial thereof. And if any thing
be mistaken, we will (as stil we promise) gladly correct it. Those
that translated it about thirty yeares since, were wel knowen
to the world, to haue been excellent in the tongs, sincere men,
and great Diuines. Only one thing we haue done tovching
the text, whereof we are especially to giue notice : That
whereas heretofore in the best Latin Editions there remained
many places differing in words, some also in sense, as in long
process of time the writers erred in their copies, now lately by
140 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
the care and diligence of the Church, those diuers readings
were maturely and iudiciously examined and conferred with
sundry the best written and printed books, and so resolued
vpon, that al which before were left in the margent, are
either restored into the text, or els omitted ; so that now none
such remain in the margent. For which cause we have againe
conferred this English translation, and conformed it to the
most perfect Latin Edition. Where yet by the way we must
giue the vulgar reader to vnderstand, that very few or none
of the former varieties touched Controuersies of this time. So
that this recognition is no way suspicious of partiality, but
is meerly done for the more secure conseruation of the true
text, and more ease and satisfaction of such, as otherwise
should haue remained more doubtful.
" Now for the strictness obserued in translating some words,
or rather the not translating of some, which is in more
danger to be disliked, we doubt not but the discrete learned
reader, deeply weighing and considering the importance of
sacred words, and how easily the translatour may misse the
sense of the Holy Ghost, wil hold that which is here done
for reasonable and necessary. We have also the example of
the Latin and Greek, where some words are not translated,
but left in Hebrew, as they were first spoken and written ;
which seeing they could not, or were not conuenient to be
translated into Latin or Greeke, how much lesse could they
or was it reason to turne them into English ? S. Augustin
also yieldeth to a reason, exemplifying in the words amen
and alleluia, for the more sacred authoritie thereof/ which
doubtless is the cause why some names of solemne feasts, sacri
fices, and other holie things are reserued in sacred tongs,
Hebrew, Greeke, or Latin. Againe for necessitie, English not
hauing a name or sufficient terrne, we either keep the word as
we find it, or only turne it to our English termination, because
it would otherwise require manie words in English to signifie
one word of another tongue. In which cases, we commonly
put the explication in the margent. Briefly our Apologie is
easie against English Protestants ; because they also reserue
some words in the original tongues, not translated into English,
XLII.] ODD TRANSLATIONS IN THE PSALTER.
as Sabbath, Ephod, Pentecost, Proselyte, and some others.
. . . It more importeth, that nothing be wittingly and
falsly translated for aduantage of doctrine in matter of faith.
Wherein as we dare boldly auouch the sinceritie of this Trans
lation, and that nothing is here either vntruly or obscurely
done of purpose, in fauour of Catholike Roman Religion, so we
can not but complaine, and challenge English Protestants for
corrupting the text, contrarie to the Hebrew and Greeke, which
they profess to translate for the more shew and maintening of
their peculiar opinions against Catholikes : As is proued in the
Discouerie of manifold corruptions. . . .
" With this then we wil conclude most deare (we speake to
you al, that vnderstand our tongue, whether you be of con
trarie opinions in faith, or of mundane feare participate with
an other Congregation, or professe with vs the same Catholike
Religion) to you al we present this worke : daily beseeching
God Almiffhtie. the Diuine Wisedom, Eternal Goodnes. to
O
create, illuminate, and replenish your spirits, with his Grace,
that you may attaine eternal Glorie, euery one in his measure,
in those many Mansions, prepared and promised by our
Sauiour in his Fathers house. Not only to those which first
received and followed his Diuine doctrine, but to all that
should afterwards belieue in him, and keep the same precepts.
" From the English College in Do way, the Octaues of Al
Saints. 1609. The God of patience and comfort give you
to be of one mind, one towards an other in lesvs Christ ; that
of one mind, with one mouth you may glorifie God. "
Latinized English in imitation of the Vulgate, pervades
this Old Testament as fully as it does the New Testament,
and there are renderings so obscure as to be nearly unin
telligible. A few examples may be given from the earlier
Psalms. The Psalter, however, had been sadly trifled with.
Originally the Latin psalter was a translation not from Hebrew
but from Greek, and that translation from Greek being cursorily
revised by Jerome, at the request of Pope Damasus, became the
Roman psalter, and a second and more thorough revision, under
taken at the request of Paula and Eustochium, and made by
the help of Origen s Hexaplar text, became the Gallican psalter.
142 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
These revisions are very different in merit from Jerome s own
direct translation of the original Hebrew, which, however, was
not allowed to find a place in the Vulgate, much in the same way
as the Psalms of the Great Bible keep their position still in the
Book of Common Prayer. Many of the extraordinary render
ings are in this way accounted for. 1 The following are speci
mens ; and to facilitate comparison on the part of those who
have not a Douai Bible at hand, the notation of chapters and
verse is given not according to it, but according to our common
version. After the ninth Psalm, the notation of Psalms differs
by one in the Douai version, but coalesces again at Psalm
cxlvii, and the title of the psalm is usually reckoned the first
verse of it.
Psalms ii, 12, "apprehend discipline "; iv, 6, "the light of
thy countenance, O Lord, is signed upon us " ; viii, 5, " thou hast
minished him a little less than angels " ; xvi, 3, " he hath made
all my willes mervelous in them" ; 11, " delectations on thy
right hand" ; xvii, 5, "perfite my passes in thy pathes " ; 14,
" their belly is filled of thy secrets " ; xviii, 45, "the children of
aliens are inueterated " ; xxiii, 5, " thou hast fatted my head
with oil, and my chalice inebriating how goodlie is it " ; 6, " in
longitude of days " ; xxxv, 1, " overthrow them that impugne
me " ; 1C, " they were dissipated and not compunct " ; xxxviii,
8, "my loins are filled with illusions"; xxxix, 12, " I have
fainted in reprehensions"; xlvii, 9, "strong gods of the earth are
exceedingly advanced" ; xl, 12, "there was no multitude in the
exchanges of them " ; Ixiv, 7, "children s arrows are made their
wounds"; Ixv, 11, " inebriate her rivers; in her dropps she shall
rejoice springing" ; 14, " which did take sweet meats together
with me " ; Ivi, 14, " from the height of the day I shall fear " ;
Ixviii, 10, "voluntarie rayne shalt thou seperate " ; 16, "amoun-
tane crudded as cheese, a fatte mountane"; 27,"Benjamin,ayoung
man in excess of mind " ; Ixxii, 16, " there shall be a firmament
in the earth, in the tops of the mountains " ; Ixxvi, 10, " the
cogitation of man shall confess to thee, and the remains of the
cogitation shall keep festival day to thee " ; Ixxxvi, 6, " our
Lord will declare in Scriptures of peoples."
1 Kaulen, Geschichte cler Vulgata, Mainz, 1868.
XLII.] IDIOMATIC RENDERINGS. 143
\
Isaiah xiii, 22, " and the Syrach owls shall answer, and mer
maids in the temples of pleasure."
There are swarms of other instances :
Numbers xx, 24, " he was incredulous to my mouth " ; 26,
" and when thou hast unvested the father of his vesture, thou
shalt revest therewith Eleazar his son."
Deut. xvi, 2, " thou shalt immolate the Phase to our Lord
thy God"; xvii, 18, "he shall copie to himselfe the Deuterono-
mie of this law " ; xxvii, 7, " thou shalt immolate pacifique
hostes " ; xxxiii, 14, " of the pomes of the fruits of the sunne
and moone."
Idiomatic and pithy renderings are, however, to be
found
Gen. ii, 22, " built the rib into a woman " ; v, 24, " Enoch
was seen no more " ; vii, 24, " the waters held on above the
earth an 150 days."
Exod. iii, 14, " I am which am."
Num. xx, 19, " we will go by the beaten way."
Judges viii, 34, " called his esquire " ; xix, 17, "saw the man
sitting with his fardels."
Job viii, 12, "or a seggie place grow without water?" ix, 17,
" in a hurle wind shal he break me " ; xii, 18, " he looseth the
belt of kings "; xv, 27, "fatnes hath covered his face, and from
his sides there hangeth tallow " ; xl, 13, " his bones are as pipes
of brass " ; xli, 15, "compact as the smith s stithie."
Psalms Ixvi, 15, " oxen with bucke goats " ; Ixvii, 4, " let the
just make merrie "; Ixviii, 11, "our Lord shall give the word
to them that evangelize with great power " power, as the
Hebrew shows, meaning host or army but the Rhemists took
it as signifying " ability to work miracles."
Isaiah liii, 5, " with the waile of his stripe we are healed."
Jerem. viii, 22, " is there noe rosen in Galaad ? "
Amos ii, 13, "behold I will screake under you as a wayne
screaketh loden with hay."
The note to Psalm xlvi, 3, is " Therefore all Catholics may
assuredly know that the whole church cannot fail, though
very many as now in England and very eminent persons,
as some noblemen and some priests, have revolted."
THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
There are some translations beyond common comprehension,
but so are the common Latin text and the Greek version
which it represents :
2 Chron. i, 13, " King Solomon came from the excelse of
Gabaon " ; xxxiii, 3, " he reedified the excelses " ; 6, " through
fire to the Valebennom."
Job ix, 13, " under whom they stoop that carry the world " ;
xxi, 33, " he hath been sweet to the gravel of Cocytus " ;
xxvi, 13, "his spirit has adorned the heavens, and his hand
being the midwife" ; xxxiv, 18, " Apostata, that calleth dukes
impious."
Psalms 1, 5, "his saints, . . . which ordaine his testa
ment above sacrifices " ; Iviii, 10, " before your thorns did
understand the old briar " ; xc, 9, " our years shall be con
sidered as a spyder. . . . because mildness is come upon
us, and we shall be chastised " ; xci, 6, " thou shalt not be
afraid of business walking in darkness, of invasion and the
midday devil " all according to the Yulgate.
Many verses in the Psalter, singly or in groups, have a com
ment after them, and at Psalm liv, 3, we read, " barbarous
highland men have betrayed the place."
A revision of the Psalms (Psalms of David translated
from the Vulgate, 1700) was made by John Caryl, secretary
at St, Germains to the queen of James II; and the volume
has the approbation of Dr. Betham, serenissimi principis
Walliae Preceptor that is, tutor to the Pretender. The
reason and nature of his work are thus given by him :
" So it is that in some places the Latine Text of the Psalms
rigorously translated word by word would yeeld a scarse in
telligible sense in the language into which it is translated : and
wher that happens, it seems reasonable that such a latitude and
liberty should be allow d as is necessary to make the sense of
the Text, as it is generally understood by the most approv d
authors, intelligible to the reader, especially in a Translation
intended only for the privat devotions of Lay persons."
The theological notes of the entire version Old and New
Testament are Romish without disguise :
Matt, xxv, " Heaven is the reward of good works."
XLIL] LIST OF TERMS. 145
2 Tim. iv, " The parable also of the men sent into the vine
yard proveth that heaven is our own right, bargained for and
wrought for, and accordingly paid unto us as our hire at the
day of judgment."
Heb. x, 21, " Adoration may be done to creatures or to God at
and before a creature," the rendering in the text being, "adored
the top of his rod."
Luke xi, " Alms extinguish sin they deliver from death " - r
xii, 21, " By goods bestowed upon the poor, he hath store of
merit, many alms-men s prayers procuring mercy for him at
the day of his death " ; xvi, 28, " If the damned had care of
their friends . . . much more have the saints and saved
persons. And if those in hell have means to express their
cogitations and desires, and be understood by Abraham, much
rather may the living pray to the saints, and be heard of them."
Rev. vi, " Saints be present at their tombs and reliques " - f
xvii, " putting heretics to death is not to shed the blood of the
saints " ; " Heresy and apostacy from the Catholic faith punish
able by death." The woman touching the hem of Christ s,
garment is held out as a warrant for the " devout touching of
holy relikes," Mark v. The note to Matt, vi, 24, explains the
" two masters " to be God and Baal, Christ and Calvin, Masse
and Communion, &c.
There is appended to the New Testament a list of fifty-five
words " not familiar to the vulgar reader," but many of them
are now in common use, as abstracted, acquisition, adulterate,
advent, allegory, calumniate, catechize, condign, evangelize^
eunuch, holocaust, gratis, invocate, issue, prescience, resuscitate,
victims. Some of the other terms have not become familiar
as, assist in a sacerdotal sense ; assumption for Christ s ascen
sion, dominical, donary, gratified meaning made gracious, hosts-
for sacrifices. There are other Latin terms in the list which
have occurred in the specimens already given, and these have
not been naturalized. To prove that St. Peter was in Rome,,
they hold that by Babylon, in his first Epistle, v, 13, is meant
the Italian capital, and they shut their eyes to the consequences
of such an interpretation. But they notify that Protestants,
und Calvinists are the forerunners of Antichrist.
VOL. II. K
146 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
How this Catholic Bible, with its version and its notes,
struck shrewd and hostile observers, may be seen in these sen
tences of Fulke s Dedication of his Defence to the Queen:
"Among the inestimable benefits, wherewith Almighty God
hath wonderfully blessed this your majesty s most honourable
and prosperous government, it is not to be numbered among
the least, that under your most gracious and Christian pro
tection the people of your highness dominions have enjoyed
the most necessary and comfortable reading of the holy scrip
tures in their mother tongue and native language. Which
exercise, although it hath of long time, by the adversaries of
him that willeth the scriptures to be searched (especially those
of our nation) been accounted little better than an heretical
practice ; and treatises have been written, pretending to shew
great inconvenience of having the holy scriptures in the vulgar
tongue ; yet now at length perceiving they cannot prevail to
bring in that darkness and ignorance of God s most sacred
word and will therein contained, whereby their blind devotion,
the daughter of ignorance, as they themselves profess, was
wont to make them rulers of the world, they also at the last
are become translators of the New Testament into English.
In which, that I speak nothing of their insincere purpose, in
leaving the pure fountain of the original verity, to follow the
crooked stream of their barbarous vulgar Latin translation,
which (beside all other manifest corruptions) is found defective
in more than an hundred places, as your majesty, according to
the excellent knowledge in both the tongues wherewith God
hath blessed you, is very well able to judge ; and to omit even
the same book of their translation, pestered with so many
annotations, both false and undutiful, by which, under colour
of the authority of holy scriptures, they seek to infect the
minds of the credulous readers with heretical and superstitious
opinions, and to alienate their hearts from yielding due
obedience to your majesty and your most Christian laws con
cerning true religion established ; and that I may pass over the
very text of their translation, obscured without any necessary
or just cause with such a multitude of so strange and unusual
terms, as to the ignorant are no less difficult to understand
XLII. ] GREGOR Y MARTIN A ND FUL KE. 1 47
than the Latin or Greek itself: yet is it not meet to be con
cealed, that they which neither truly nor precisely have trans
lated their own vulgar Latin and only authentical text, have
nevertheless been bold to set forth a several treatise, in which
most slanderously and unjustly they accuse all our English
translations of the Bible, not of small imperfections and over
sights committed through ignorance or negligence, but of no
less than most foul dealing in partial and false translations,
wilful and heretical corruptions."
On the other hand, Gregory Martin attacked the rendering
of the proper names in the English version in these terms :
" Of one thing we can by no means excuse you, but it must
savour vanity, or novelty, or both. As when you affect new
strange words, which the people are not acquainted withal,
but it is rather Hebrew to them than English. Against him
came up Nabuchadnezzar, king of Babel, 2 Par. xxxvi. 6, for
Nabuchodonosor, king of the Chaldees ; Saneherib, for
Sennacherib ; Michaiah s prophecy, for Michaea s ;
Jehoshaphat s prayer, for Josaphat s ; Uzza slain, for
Oza ; when Zerubbabel went about to build the temple, for
Zorobabel ; remember what the Lord did to Miriam/ for
Marie, Deut. xxxiv. : and in your first translation, Elisa,
for Elisseus ; Pek-ihia and Pekah, for Phaceia and
Phacee ; Uziahu, for Ozias ; Thiglath-peleser, for
Teglath-phalasar ; Ahaziahu, for Ochozias ; Peka, the
son of Remalialm, for Phacee, the son of Romelia. And
why say you not as well Shelomoh, for Salomon ; and
Coresh, for Cyrus, and so alter every word from the
known sound and pronunciation thereof? Is this to teach the
people, when you speak Hebrew rather than English ? Were
it a goodly hearing (think you) to say for Jesus, Jeshuah ;
and for Marie, his mother, Miriam ; and for Messias,
Messiach ; and John, Jachannan ; and such like mon
strous novelties ? which you might as well do, and the people
would understand you as well, as when your preachers say.
Nabucadnezer, king of Babel. "
Fulke s simple answer is, " Seeing the most of the proper
names of the Old Testament were unknown to the people before
148 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
the Scripture was read in English, it was better to utter them
according to the truth of their pronunciation in Hebrew, rather
than after the common corruption which they had received in
the Greek and Latin tongues. But as for those names which
were known unto the people out of the New Testament, as
Jesus, John, Mary, &c., it had been folly to have taught men
to sound them otherwise than after the Greek declination, in
which we find them." 1
The Rheims translators and divines attack all the English
versions. Robert Parsons, alias John Hewlett, in giving
" Reasons why Catholics refuse to go to Church," alleges that
" the Scripture is read there in false and shameless translations
conteyning manifest and wilful corruptions." Standish, a
reformer under Edward VI, and rector of Wigan, having dis
missed his wife, and gone over to Rome, published, in 1554, a
book of characteristic virulence, " A Treatise against the trans
lation of the Bible into the vulgar language." Cardinal Allen,
too, brands the English Bible as " falsely corrupted and deceit
fully translated." Gregory Martin calls it " not indeed God s
book, word, or scripture, but the devil s worde," and sums up
his charges against the Protestant versions thus : " Now then to
come to our purpose, such are the absurd translations of the
English Bibles, and altogether like unto these : namely, when
they translate congregation for church/ elder for priest/
image for idol, dissension for schism, c general for
catholic, secret for sacrament, overseer for bishop,
messenger for angel, ambassador for apostle, minister
for deacon, and such like : to what other end be these
deceitful translations, but to conceal and obscure the name of
the church and dignities thereof, mentioned in the holy scrip
tures; to dissemble the word schism (as they do also heresy
and heretic ) for fear of disgracing their schisms and heresies;
to say of matrimony, neither sacrament, which is the Latin,
nor mystery, which is the Greek, but to go as far as they can
possibly from the common usual and ecclesiastical words,
saying, * This is a great secret, in favour of their heresy, that
matrimony is no sacrament ? " 2 Matthew Kellison utters the
1 Reply, &a, pp. 588, 589. 2 Fulke, pp. 218, 219.
XLII.] WHITGIFT AND CARTWRIGIIT. 149
same language as Martin his prime reason being that the
Scripture in the English tongue is not according to the sense
of ancient interpreters, nor under the Church of Rome. The
reply is easy, and needs not to be formally given. Cart-
wright, under the patronage of the Earl of Leicester, and
of Walsingham who gave him a hundred pounds to purchase
books, and at the request of many heads of Houses in Cam
bridge, 1 began an assault on the Rheims New Testament the
year after its publication ; but Whitgift, in the plenitude
of his prerogative, interdicted him. Whitgift had always
opposed Cartwright with unsleeping hostility, and in this case
he allowed ecclesiastical politics and antipathies to suppress a
work of national benefit. The press was not free, and episcopal
supervision could put down what was not relished, and con
demn a book on account of its author s unlucky antecedents.
A portion of this Reply, from which an extract has been
already given, was published at Edinburgh in 1602. Cart-
wright died in the following year, and the full volume was
published in 1618. Fulke not only wrote a " Defence of
Translations of the Bible," 2 with overwhelming and unan
swerable criticism and argument, but also " The Text of the
New Testament of Jesus Christ, translated out of the vulgar
Latino by the Papists of the traiterous Seminarie at Rhemes," K
in which he tartly and truthfully criticises the translation,
verse by verse. Bulkeley also took part in the controversy
in an " Answer to the Rhemish preface," &c., 1588 ; and
Whitaker, who had no sympathy with Cartwright, published
against Bellarmine, in 1610, his well known "Disputation on
Holy Scripture." 2 " In 1615, Kellison ventured to publish A
Gagg for the Reformed Gospel, which was answered by Dr.
Richard Montagu, afterwards Bishop of Chichester, in his A
Gagg for the New Gospel ? No : a new Gagg for an old Goose,
who would needes undertake to stop all Protestants mouths
for ever with 276 places out of their own English Bibles.
Bernard, rector of Batcombe, in Somersetshire, and author of a
t Thesaurus Biblicus, published in 1626 Rhemes against Rome :
1 He had been Lady Margaret s - Reprinted by the Parker Society.
Professor of Divinity. 3 London, 1589-
150 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
or, the removing of " The Gag of the New Gospel," and rightly
placing it in the mouthes of the Romists by the Rhemists, in
their English translation of the Scriptures. The Rhemist
priestes, he wrote, for making any translation at all of the
Bible into the English tongue (though out of the Vulgav Latine,
though obscured by affected phrases, and distorted by their cor
rupt Annotations), yet are said to have bin beshrewed by their
own more subtile Masters and Superiors, as having thereby
layed open to the people the nakednesse and deformitie of
their Romish doctrines. And thereby have I the more willingly
produced the same against themselves ; the power and lustre
of God s Word, though clouded and disguised by their pur
posed obscurite and improprieties, yet competently shining
forth, for their conviction, by this unwilling wounding of Rome
by the out-workes of Rhemes." x
The Catholic translators, while they speak of following the
most perfect Latin edition, do not seem to have made use of
Wycliffe. But their renderings are now and then coincident
with the Genevan version, and they quote Hebrew words in the
margin of the Old Testament. On the margin of almost every
page of the translation, and in the notes, the heretics are
attacked as Protestants or bigots, and a fragment of the
following Table will show the frequency of the allusions
" A table of certaine places of the New Testament, corrvptly
translated in favour of heresies of these dayes in the English
editions: especially of the yeares 1562-77-79 and 80, by order
of the bookes, chapters, and verses of the same. Wherein
we do not charge our aduersaries for disagreeing from the
authentical Latin text (wherof much is saide in the preface)
but for corrupting the Greek it selfe, which they pretende to
translate.
"S. Matt., chap, i, 19, For a iust man, they translate a
righteous man : because this word iust importeth that a man
is iust in deede and not only so reputed. And so generally
where iust or iustice is ioyned with good workes, they say
righteous and righteousness : yet being joined with faith,
they keepe the olde termes iust and iustice.
1 Cotton s Ehemes and Doway, Oxford, 1855.
XLII.] TABLE Of PROTESTANT ERRORS. 151
" Chap, ii, 6, For rule or gouerne they translate feede
to diminishe ecclesiastical authoritie, which the Greeke word
signifieth; as also the Hebrewe, Mich, v, whence this is
cited.
" Chap, iii, 2, 8, For do penance and fruite worthie of
penance (which signify painful satisfaction for sinne), they
translate repent and repentance : or amendment of life.
"Chap, xvi, 18, For church they translate congregation,
and that so continually euery where in Tiudals Bible, printed
againe Ann. 1562, that the worde Church , is not once there to
be founde. Which the other Editions correcting in other
places, yet in this place it remayneth corrupted, reading still
upon this rocke I wil build my congregation, so loath they
are it should appeare how firmly the Church of Christ is
founded.
" Chap, xviii, 17, The same corruption in Tind. Bib., Tel
the congregation and If he wil not heare the congregation,
for Tel the Church/ and If he wil not hear the Church.
"Chap, xix, 11, Our Sauiour speaking of continencie saith :
Not al take this word which they peruert thus, Al men
can not take this word : against free- wil, and vow of chas-
titie.
" Chap, xxvi, 26, For blessed they translate gaue thanks ,
against the operation and efficacie of Christes blessing.
" S. Mark, chap, x, 52, For thy faith had made thee safe
speaking of corporal sight geuen to the blind, they translate
thy faith hath saued thee, to make it seeme that iustification
and saluation is by only faith.
" Chap, xiv, 22, For blessing, they saye geuing thanks , as
Matt, xxvi, 26.
" S. Luke, chap, i, 6, For iust and justifications they
translate, righteous and ordinances.
" i. 6, For Haile ful of grace, they translate Haile thou
that art in high fauour, and Haile thou that art freely be-
loued : though Tindal said Haile ful of grace, the Aue
Marie being not then banished as since it is.
" Chap, iii, 8, For penance, they say repentance, as before,
Mat. iii, 2, and 8.
152 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
" Chap, viii, 48, For thy faith hath made thee safe (to wit
from corporal infirmitie) they translate, thy faith hath saued
thee."
" viii, 50, For beleeue only and she shal be safe, they say
* beleeue only and she shal be saued : in fauour of the forsaid
heresie of only faith : neither marking that this safe tie per-
taineth to the bodie, nor that it is attributed to the faith of an
other, and not of the partie restored.
" Chap, xviii, 42, For thy faith hath made thee whole or
safe, they saie, as in the former places, thy faith hath saued
thee.
" Chap, xxii, 20, Beza (whom the English Protestantes herein
defend) condemneth the Greeke text (which he confesseth to
be the same in al copies) because by it the relatiue, which,
must needes be referred to the Chalice, and so proueth the real
presence of Christs bloude in the Chalice.
"S. John, chap, i, 12, For he gave them powre to be made
the sonnes of God, Beza and his folowers translate he gaue
them the dignitie (others say the prerogatiue ) to be the
sonnes of God : against free-wil.
" Chap, ix, 22 and 35, For put out of the Synagogue they
translate excommunicate : as though the Catholike Churches
excommunication of heretikes, from the societie and participa
tion of the faithful, were like to that exteriour putting out of
the Synagogue, of such as confessed Christ.
"Chap, xiii, 16, For Apostle they translate messenger :
turning an Ecclesiastical word, into the original and prophane
.signification."
The second edition of the New Testament was " set forth "
in 1600, "by the same college now returned to Doway,"
Antwerp, Daniel Yeruliet. It contains a table of heretical
corruptions, and at the end of it stands the remark " The
blessed confessor, Bishop Tunstal, noted no less than two thou
sand corruptions in Tindal s translation, in the New Testament
only. Thereby, as by these few here cited for example, the in
different reader may see, how untruly the English Bibles are
commended to the people for the pure Word of God." A third
edition appeared at the same place in 1621, and a fourth in 1633
XLII.] CHANGES IN RHEIMS AND DOUA1 VERSIONS. 153
probably at Rouen a reprint of the edition of 1 600. A second
edition of the Old Testament was published in 1635, and no
other edition of it was printed for 115 years. Later editions
were revised by Hay dock, Lingard, Ken rick, Withan, Nary,
Challoner, and others ; and the copies now in use have been
toned down and brought into considerable harmony with our
current Bibles. The greatest changes were introduced in Dr.
Challoner s edition. Nary explains his motive in his preface :
" We have no Catholick translation of the Scripture in the
English tongue, but the Doway Bible, and the Rhemish Testa
ment, which have been done now more than an hundred years
since : the language whereof is so old, the words in many places
so obsolete, the orthography so bad, and the translation so very
literal, that in a number of places it is unintelligible, and all over
so grating to the ears of such as are accustomed to speak, in a
manner, another language, that most people will not be at the
pains of reading them. Besides, they are so bulky, that they
cannot conveniently be carried about for publick devotion ;
and so scarce and dear, that the generality of people neither
have, nor can procure them for their private use. To supply
all these defects, I have endeavoured to make this New
Testament speak the English tongue now used, as near as
the many Hebraisms wherewith it abounds, and which (in
my opinion) ought never to be altered where they can be
rendered so as to be intelligible, would allow. I have taken
all the care imaginable to keep as close to the letter as the
English will permit ; and where the Latin phrase would prove
unintelligible in the English, a word, or two or more, must
be added to make the sense clear." 1 "A New Version of
the Four Gospels," "by a Catholic," was published in 1836
anonymously the author being the well-known historian Dr.
Lingard. The volume has no dedication prefixed, and is
not accompanied or commended by any approbation granted by
the ecclesiastical authorities of the translator s own church.
It is not, however, a revision of the Rheims, as it cuts deeply
into its English, and is apparently in many places taken from
the Greek, and not from the Latin Vulgate. Though his
1 Cotton, p. 299.
154 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
" History " shows that the author was a very decided Catholic,
he has in the translation given " repent," for " do penance " ;
"bondman," for "servant"; "Messiah," for "Christ"; "Good-
tidings," for " Gospel " ; " tax-gatherer," for " publican " ;
" fiends," for " devils " ; " figures," for " proverbs " ; " an
nounce/ for " preach " ; " verily," for " amen " ; " causes of
offence," for "scandals"; and "righteousness," for "justice."
About his notes Dr. Lingard warns: "It may be proper to inform
the reader, that the notes, which are appended to the text in
the following pages, are not of a controversial character. Their
object is the elucidation of obscure passages, or the explica
tion of allusions to national customs, or the statement of the
reasons which have induced the translator to differ occasionally
from preceding interpreters. Many of these he has consulted,
though he has not thought proper to load his pages with re
ferences to their works." 1 The translation was reviewed by
Cardinal Wiseman, and faintly praised ; though in the article
the whole subject of revision is discussed with great ability,
and his judgment about the Bible of his church is not ex
treme : " To call it any longer the Doway or Rhemish version
is an abuse of terms. It has been altered and modified till
scarcely any verse remains as it was originally published ; and
so far as simplicity and energy of style are concerned, the
changes are in general for the worse " the truly papal con
clusion being 2 : " The impression on the reader s mind, after
having perused this edition, must be, that Christianity never
depended, for its code or evidences, upon the compilation of
these documents [the Gospels], and that they never could have
been intended for a rule of faith." 3
The old Latin Bible or Yulgate still lives in the midst of us,
for we owe to it all our Christian terms ending in "ation,"
and nearly all the distinctive words of our theological voca
bulary as person, essence, scripture, lecture, sermon, text,
1 Cotton, Rhemes and Doway, 3 Collations of these editions may
p. 137. be seen in Archdeacon Cotton s
2 Dublin Review, April, 1837. " Rhemes and Doway, " Oxford,
Reprinted in Wiseman s Essays, vol. 1855.
1, p. 73-75, London, 1853.
XLH.] THEOLOGICAL NOMENCLATURE. 155
grace, adoption, repentance, spirit, glory, satisfaction, conver
sion, sacrament, regeneration, justification, sanctification, re
demption, privilege, election, eternity, predestination, com
munion, congregation, discipline, missionary. 1
The influence of the Latin church is also very apparent still in
the nomenclature of even Protestant Presbyterian Scotland. The
chairman of a presbytery or synod is called its " moderator "; he
who presides when a minister is chosen " moderates " in a call ;
he who executes a commission given him by a church court
" obtemperates " their decision ; the elders in a church form
its " session " ; the chairman of the board of secular manage
ment is the " preses " ; the Lord s Supper is the " sacrament,"
the previous discourse is the " Action sermon," and the bread
and wine the " elements " ; the leader of the psalmody is the
precentor"; the collection was in days not long past the
"offering"; the pastor is the minister," and in olden times
the " Instrument," his house is the " manse," he is " licensed "
to preach and becomes a " probationer " till he is " ordained "
over a charge; a bad report about him is a "fama," which, on
being proved, may lead to his "suspension" or "deposition";
presence at worship is "attendance upon ordinances"; the
decisions of a synod or assembly are its "Acts " ; a minister s
income is his " stipend " ; " purgation of scandal " is not ob
solete and there are many other familiar technical terms and
phrases.
1 For some renderings, the result 1686 ; and reprinted in Cotton s
of deplorable ecclesiastical bias, re- " Memoir of a French New Testa-
ference may be made to Bishop Kid- nient," in which the " Mass " and
der s " Eeflections on a French New " Purgatory " are found in the
Testament " printed at Bordeaux, " Sacred Text." London, 1863.
It may be mentioned that Parsons, already referred to on p. 148, wrote
under the name of Doleman a " Conference," in which he maintained, witli
considerable ingenuity, the right of the Spanish Infanta to the English
crown. A reply was made by the great Scottish jurist, Sir Thomas Craig,
in 1602.
THE AUTHORIZED VERSION.
" IF the Arian heresy was propagated and rooted by means of beautiful
vernacular hymns, so who will say that the uncommon beauty and mar
vellous English of the Protestant Bible is not one of the great strongholds
of heresy in this country 1 It lives on in the ear like a music that never
can be forgotten, like the sound of church bells, which the convert hardly
knows how long he can forego. Its felicities seem often to be almost
things rather than mere words. It is part of the national mind, and the
anchor of national seriousness. Nay, it is worshipped with a positive
idolatry; in extenuation of whose grotesque fanaticism, its intrinsic beauty
pleads availingly with the man of letters and the scholar. The memory
of the dead passes into it. The potent traditions of childhood are stereo
typed in its verses. The power of all the griefs and trials of a man is
hidden beneath its words. It is the representative of his best moments ;
and all that there has been about him of soft, and gentle, and pure, and
penitent, and good, speaks to him for ever out of his English Bible. It is
his sacred thing, which doubt never dimmed, and controversy never soiled.
It has been to him all along as the silent, but O how intelligible, voice of
his guardian angel ; and in the length and breadth of the laud there is not
a Protestant, with one spark of religiousness about him, whose spiritual
biography is not in his Saxon Bible."
F. W. FABER.
CHAPTER XLIII.
QUEEN ELIZABETH, after a reign of more than forty-four
^ years, died on the 24th of March, 1603; and on the 5th
April, James VI of Scotland left Edinburgh, and proceeded to
London, to take possession of the English crown as the great-
grandson of Margaret Tudor, and he had the good fortune to
quash the claims of several rivals without public disturbance. 1
Though he was now thirty-seven years of age, he made the
journey with all the glee of a schoolboy released for a holiday,
and scattered honours about him in indiscriminate profusion.
Utterly devoid of those graces of form and manner which
characterized his mother, wanting also the dignity and gal
lant bearing of his great kinswoman and predecessor, he
yet received a frank and harmonious welcome from his new
subjects.
Strange and romantic incidents had marked his infantine
years. Born in the Castle of Edinburgh on the 19th of June,
1 After the death of James IV at was righteous heir to the Scot-
Flodden, his widow, Margaret Tudor, tish crown, so he was " righteous
married the Earl of Angus, and by and more righteous " heir to the
this union Lady Arabella Stewart, English crown as if he had sur-
cousin of King James, was her great- mised that this last title was, or
grand-daughter. King Henry, in might be, called in question. The
his will, put aside the Scottish line, dedication prefixed to our present
the descendants of his elder sister Bible throws in an assertion ever
Margaret, and gave preference to dear to its royal patron, when it
the line of Suffolk, the descendants speaks of " the government estab-
of his younger sister Mary. James lished in your Highness, and your
said, in his parting harangue to hopeful seed, by an undoubted
his northern people, that as he title."
1(30 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
1566, he was baptized in the chapel of Stirling Castle on the
15th December of the same year. His father, Darnley, though
he was living at the time in the Fort, 1 was not present at the
service which was held by torch light, but the Protestant
Bothwell, so soon to be wedded to his mother after the Kirk-
o -Field tragedy of which he was a chief promoter, did the
honours on the occasion. His baptismal font of gold weigh
ing 330 ounces, and a present from Queen Elizabeth, was sent
shortly after by his mother to the mint, to be turned into
cash, in order to provide payment to " the bloody cut-throats "
that formed her body-guard at the time of her marriage to
that worthless and desperate ruffian by whom she was so
bewitched as for his sake to renounce the Catholic faith,
and renew the prohibition of the Mass, according to the
enactment of 1560. She was wedded in her " dule weeds " as
a widow, and the marriage was celebrated, not in the chapel,
but in the council-chamber of Holyrood, none of the lords
living in Edinburgh at the time deigning to be present at the
fatal nuptials. Political events were rushing with tremen
dous rapidity ; and Mary having, in her islet prison, signed
her abdication on the 24th of July, 1567, her son was, four
days afterwards, solemnly consecrated king at Stirling when
he was thirteen months old, his head being put for a moment
into the great Bruce s crown, and his hand made to touch the
sword and sceptre, while through his sponsors, Lord Hume and
the Earl of Morton, 2 he took the oath, " I, James, Prince and
Steward of Scotland . . . ." The mystic ceremonial being over,
the Earl of Mar carried the anointed babe back to its nursery.
Before he was two years old he was, by another representative
the Regent Murray fighting against his mother ; and her
defeat at Langside by her son, through her half-brother, sent
her a swift fugitive across the Border, to a long imprisonment
and a terrible end.
The earliest memories of James were those of a boyish
1 He was at the moment a doomed " John Knox preached on the
man, the " bond " being already occasion, though it is said that he
signed for the destruction " of sic an objected to the anointing,
young fool and proud tyran."
XLIII.] CHARACTER OF KING JAMES. 161
kinglet. On assuming the government, at the age of twelve,
he presided in royal robes at a meeting of Council at Stirling,
and spoke the words put into his mouth ; but during the dis
cussion he was specially exercised about a hole in the cloth
which covered the table. His first visit in state to Edinburgh
was typical of his subsequent career. On his arrival at the
West Port, the pageant presented before him was the decision
of the wise king, the actors being the two women with the
child, and a servant with the sword. When he drew nigh to
the " Great Kirk " " Dame Religion " asked him to enter ; and,
dismounting " at the lady s steps," he complied with the invi
tation. But when he came out, and moved down toward the
cross, he was saluted by a "jolly Bacchus," who, seated on a
barrel, drank again and again to his majesty s welcome, while
puncheons were running wine for the mob.
James was indeed made up of contrasts, and his character
presents a species of dualism. Nature had apparently intended
him to be the greatest of his race in person and mind, but from
the shock which his mother had received at the assassination of
Rizzio, " he was a spoiled child, in a deplorably literal sense,
before he was born," and the weakling was seven years old
before he could stand upright, so that often in after life it was
his wont to poise himself by leaning on the shoulders of
others. His physical weakness was very visible, and when
he engaged in the chase he had to be trussed into his saddle ;
but when " in the kirk," on Sunday, 3rd April, 1603, he delivered
his last address to his Scottish subjects, and promised to visit
them every three years, his boast was, " Ye mister not doubt,
for I have a bodie als able as anie king in Europe." In early
life he was an " old young man." The descendant of a long
line of kings Plantagenets, Tudors, and Stewarts he was
awkward in gait, and uncouth in person and manner, while
" he ate and drank, dressed and played like a boor." l His
tongue being too large for his mouth, his loquacity was a
continuous sputter. While he "wallowed in filth, moral and
physical," 2 it was his joy to regard himself as the "Lord s.
1 Despatch of M. Fontenay Fronde, History, vol. XI, p. 664.
2 Burton, History of Scotland, vol. VI, 161.
VOL. II. L
162 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
anointed." As he never washed his hands, the honour of
kissing them must have exceeded the pleasure. Boasting
of his tenacious hold of his sceptre, as if he had been a
" mortal god " on earth, he was ever tossing it to unworthy
favourites, as a bauble to play with such favourites as Esme
Stewart in Scotland, and Buckingham in England, the latter of
whom, in vulgar familiarity, used to name his sovereign " dear
Dad and Gossip." His hatreds were as unaccountable as his
likings which might vary, but his prejudices always tended to
ripen into lasting antipathies. When he suspected that people
imagined him to be facile, he sank into fits of sullenness and
obstinacy, lest, to use his own words, he should be regarded as
" led by the nose," or thought to be " ane irresolute ass."
Though timid in temperament, he could be scared into
momentary bravery. It has now been proved that the famous
Gowrie conspiracy, in 1600, was a reality, but few of the king s
contemporaries believed his account of it. His solitary adven
ture the one romance of his life was his voyage to Norway,
to bring home his Danish bride. He had told his council that
this matrimonial step was taken after asking the "Divine direc
tion for fifteen days to move his heart the meetest way," and
the General Assembly ordered a fast every Sabbath, and public
prayers for his safety during his absence in Denmark. But
while these loyal intercessions for him were going on in Edin
burgh, he wrote to a friend a letter which begins, "From the
Castle of Cronberg, where we are drinking and driving over
in the auld manner." His shrewdness was barren and un
practical, and men of far less talent easily outwitted him. His
possession of great good sense and humour, and his power of
clothing a thought in a pithy and pregnant clause equal often
to one of Bacon s, did not save him from being an oracular
simpleton. He often meant well, but his best resolves died
away in helpless and ludicrous indecision. Courtiers hood
winked him by praising his subtlety. Coke, his surly attorney-
general, was perfectly aware of the process by which the Gun
powder Plot had been detected, but, hungering for preferment,
he ascribed the discovery to the king himself, and extolled him
as "divinely illuminated by Almighty God, and like an angel of
XLIII.] ROYAL INCONSISTENCIES. 103
God." He had the best head in his Council, but his sagacity
O v
rarely served him in ordinary business, and when he tried a
Machiavellian policy, he was ever like a mole, blundering into
light. He was cunning and indiscreet by turns, his gravity
and levity being about as nearly balanced as were his hours of
hunting and study. He raised Carr to the peerage, and sent
Raleigh to the block. He wrote on theology and on tobacco.
He acted like a child in matters of moment, but was awed into
solemnity about trifles as when he formally charged the head
of the King s Bench with the crime of allowing his servant to
ride bare-headed before him. Nor was he guileless ; he corres
ponded with the pope on the one hand, and with the queen of
England on the other, and thought that he was doing a clever
piece of diplomacy in trying to ingratiate himself with two
such masters. According to the English queen, who stigma
tized him as " a double-tongued villain," he had been in the
habit of calling Lord Morton "his father," up to the time
when he contrived to have that nobleman seized, tried, and
executed. He could not bear the sight of a drawn sword,
and he was a sincere lover of peace, but his love of peace was
sometimes allowed to degenerate into pusillanimity, as when he
permitted his own son-in-law to be beaten out of his kingdom
by the Imperial troops. In his desire to please, he occasionally
allowed his subjects to fight under opposing standards. The
assassination of Henry IV of France, the Armada, and the
Gunpowder Plot, were fresh in the nation s memory, as events
but of yesterday, and the king showed some desire to guard
against such perils. But he subsided at length into a Catholic
policy, as he longed for a Spanish alliance. His common talk
was a continuous infringement of the Third Commandment,
though he often expressed penitence for his lapses; and his Book
of Sports was an attempt to induce a national violation of another
Commandment, though it was curiously enacted in the royal
wisdom, that none should share in the Sunday games but such
as had attended church. He prided himself on his profound
skill in kingcraft, which was too often but another name for
insincerity and absolutism, and yet was hailed as the " wisest
fool in Christendom." His belief in kingly supremacy was
THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
only excelled by his belief in himself, and the immorality of
his court was equalled by the imbecility of his government.
Parliament had settled the amount of taxation on a certain
import, but he had, of his own authority, and quite uncon
stitutionally, tripled the sum. When the case came to be
heard in the Court of Exchequer, and when Chief Baron
Fleming had decided in favour of the crown, James saluted
him as "a judge to his heart s content." He held that as it was
" blasphemy for divines to dispute what God might do," so it
was sedition for subjects to discuss "what a king may do in
the height of his power ; " but his senseless notions of pre
rogative daily inculcated on his family, and so fully imbibed
by them, brought in due time his son and successor to the
scaffold before Whitehall. He strove hard to get royal procla
mations identified in validity with statutes, as had been the
case for a time in the reign of Henry VIII and by virtue of a
proclamation he took the style and title of King of Great
Britain. At the instigation of Bancroft, he claimed the right
to sit in a court of law, and decide in person causes brought
before him. Indeed, during his progress through England
up to his new capital, he had sent a thief to the gallows
without trial. He was so vain as to discuss legal questions
with Lord Coke, " the incarnation of the common law of
England," and so unjust as to dismiss the brave and un
bending judge from his office of Chief Justice. When he chose
St. James s day as the day of his coronation, he honoured his
own name in that of the patron apostle ; and a portion of the
Ritual was altered, for to the words " laws which the king pro
mised to observe" was added the clause, "agreeable to the
king s prerogative." Tenacious of his own money, he was a lavish
promisor of that of others, and his generous deeds were
often sullied by subsequent acts of selfishness. It cost him
nothing to visit Tycho Brahe and grant him a license of
copyright in " his auld kingdom," or to give a prebendal stall
to Isaac Casaubon ; but he allowed old Archbishop Adamson,
both a scholar and a poet, to languish and die in penury,
cowering on the one side of the fire and his cow stationed on
the other even though he had in his depression tried to stir
XLIII.] EARLY KNOWLEDGE OF SCRIPTURE. 165
the royal sympathy by translating into Latin verse the Lamen
tations of Jeremiah. He also gave Casaubon an annual salary
of 300, for which he was expected to fetch and carry in
the king s polemical feuds. The patent conferring the salary,
which is dated 19th January, 1611, speaks of the great
scholar as coming to England, " to be used by us as we shall
see cause, for the service of the Church." In the preparation
of the reply to Cardinal Du Perron, the king supplied the
argument, and Casaubon provided the Latin. James, however,
has the credit of suggesting to Father Paul the compilation of
his " History of the Council of Trent," and of urging Ussher to
write his "Antiquities of the British Churches" ; but he seems
to have thought that such royal counsel was sufficient reward
for literary labour.
Though his household was early noted for its profligacy, and
though he himself was very far from being a pattern of sobriety
or of sanctity of speech, James was a great frequenter of ser
mons ; and though he was an " irreverent hearer," l he had
acquired a wonderful knowledge of Scripture and theology.
His precocious acquaintance with the Bible was noted in his
eighth year, and Killigrew, 2 the English Ambassador, heard
him in the presence of his "preceptor," Buchanan, and his
" master," Young, read off any chapter selected out of Latin into
French, and out of French after into English, as well as few men
could have added anything to his translation. James Melville
records in his "Diary" 3 that when he visited Stirling, in 1574,
he saw the young king, and he describes him as " the sweitest
sight in Europe that day, for strange and extraordinar gifts
of ingyne, judgment, memorie, and language;" and he thus
proceeds, "I heard him discours, walking up and doune in
the auld Lady Mar s hand of knowledge and ignorance, to
my grait mervell and estonishment." He had a special ecstacy
in theological disputations, and when, in his twenty-first year,
1 In 1596 the General Assembly 2 Burton, History of Scotland, vol.
sent a deputation to him, to warn V, p. 389.
him not to talk during sermon, and 3 P. 48, "Woodrow Society edi-
to abstain from swearing, " with tiou.
which he was blotted."
THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
he held a solemn debate at Holyrood with the Jesuit Gordon,
a cadet of the house of Huntly, he bore himself bravely
through the controversy. Grotius sang the praises of his
learned youth, and to him, in his fourteenth year, Beza
dedicated his " Icones." He was under twenty when he pro
duced his " Paraphrase upon the Revelation of St. John," and
little more than twenty when he published "Ane Fruitful
Meditatione," &c., on some verses of the twentieth chapter
of the same Book " By the maist Christian king and syncere
professour, and chief defender of the faith, James the Sixth,
King of Scottis." In 1584 he published "The Essayes of a
Prentise in the divine arte of Poesie." In his manhood, as in
his earlier years, Biblical studies had an irresistible charm
for him, and he composed commentaries and translated
Psalms. 1 Quotations from Scripture in illustration of some
argument, or to give point to some statement, were on all
occasions flowing from his tongue ; his common talk was
characterized by allusions to the Bible, in season and out
of season. He "wondrously coveted learned discussions,"
and during such discussions he delighted in pouring out his
erudition in full flood. "As he had been deprived by the
accident of birth of his true position as a theological pro
fessor, he lost no opportunity of turning his throne into a
pulpit, and his sceptre into a controversial pen." 2 "Having,"
as he confessed, " a natural and salmon -like affection to see
the place of his breeding," he came down to Edinburgh in
1617, and was inundated not only with Latin harangues,
but when he went, on his fifty-first birthday, up to the Castle
to visit the room he was born in, a boy was stationed at the
gate to salute him with an address in Hebrew. He held
disputations also at St. Andrews and Stirling, during which,
and especially after which, he played the part of a pedant
and buffoon. It was profound satisfaction to him, in the prime
1 " His translation of the Psalter," 2 Motley, Life and Death of John
as Bishop William intimates, " was of Barneveld, vol. I, p. 54, London,
stayed in the one-and-thirty Psalm," 1874.
and his coadjutor was the Earl of
Stirling.
XLIII.] FONDNESS FOR POLEMICS. 167
of life, when he stirred up such antagonists as Bellarmine and
Scioppius, and it was "bliss beyond compare " when a pamphlet
of a hundred pages which he had written in a week, brought
out from Cardinal Du Perron a reply of a thousand folio pages.
He wrote at this time a "Monitory Epistle to all Christian
Monarchs, free Princes, and States," and republished his Triplici
nodo triplex cuneus, to which Bellarmine replied with no
small craft and power. The question concerned Garnett, one of
the conspirators who suffered for his connection with the
Gunpowder Plot, and whom the Catholics were canonizing as
a martyr to the inviolability of the secrets of the confessional.
Bishop Andrewes replied to Fronto Ducaeus in his Tortura
Torti, and Casaubon also composed an Epistola which brought
upon him a Eesponsio from Andreas Eudsemon- Johannes 1
(L Heureux), second in virulence and effrontery only to Sciop
pius himself. To these polemical efforts of the king flattering
allusions are made in the Dedication prefixed to our Bibles :
" To go forward with the confidence and resolution of a man
in maintaining the truth of Christ, and propagating it far and
near, is that which hath so bound and firmly knit the hearts
of all your majesty s loyal and religious people unto you, that
your very name is precious among them : their eye doth behold
you with comfort, and they bless you in their hearts, as that
sanctified person who, under God, is the immediate author of
their true happiness. And this their contentment doth not
diminish or decay, but every day increaseth and taketh
strength, when they observe that the zeal of your majesty
toward the house of God doth not slack or go backward, but
is more and more kindled, manifesting itself abroad in the
farthest parts of Christendom, by writing in defence of the
truth (which hath given such a blow unto that man of sin as
will not be healed), and every day at home, by religious and
learned discourse, by frequenting the house of God, by hearing
the Word preached, by cherishing the teachers thereof, by car
ing for the Church, as a most tender and loving nursing father."
But his love of orthodoxy was overborne by his worship of
1 Life of Casaubon, by Mark Pattison, Eector of Lincoln College, p. 351,
London, 1875.
168 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
prerogative, as when he ordered the Calvinistic work of Pareus
on Romans to be burned by the hangman in Oxford and Lon
don, because a preacher had vindicated some notions on the
liberty of the subject out of that erudite commentary. In the
same spirit he opposed and wrote against Conrad Vorstius as
an anti-St. John, and dictated to their High Mightinesses of
Holland that, in the case of such a heretic, they should not
" bear the sword in vain." He ordered his works to be
burned, and he inscribed a treatise against him, thus : " To
the honour of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the eternall
Sonne of the eternall Father, to whom His most humble and
most obliged servant, James, by the grace of God, king of
Great Britaine, France, and Ireland, Defender of the faith,
doth dedicate and consecrate this his Declaration." His
interest in the controversies raging in the Low Countries was
so intense and personal that, in 1618, he sent Hall, Davenant,
and Balcanquhal as representatives to the Synod of Dort, and
loaded them with numerous charges as to their duties and
aims. 1 But tolerance of divergent opinion was distasteful
to him, and when his voluble logic and learning failed to
convert Bartholomew Legget from Arianism, he sent him to
be burnt at Smithfield, 18th March, 1611. And a month
later, Edward Wightman, for a combination of heresies, was
burnt in the market place of Lichfield dark spots of fire and
blood staining the year that witnessed the happy publication
of the version which the royal humour had originated and
patronized. It was a work after his own heart when, in
1623, he tried to enjoin certain topics for treatment in ser
mons, and to proscribe others, as Predestination, Election,
Reprobation, and the Universality, Efficacy, Resistibility
and Irresistibility of God s grace. To this marvellous famil
iarity with Scripture, a familiarity which grew with his
growth, and became at length as distinctive of him as his
1 Yet John Hales of Eton, " the in his theology, being induced by
ever memorable," who, as chaplain what he heard and saw at the Dutch
to Sir Dudley Carlton, ambassador Assembly, to " bid John Calvin
at the Hague, attended the Synod of good night."
Dort, came back to England changed
XLIII.] CHANGES OF OPINION. 169
circular hobble 1 or his thickly quilted hose and doublet
are we largely, if not solely, indebted for our Authorized
Version, which is dedicated "To the most high and mighty
prince, James."
The people in England had been at some loss to conjecture
what the ecclesiastical leanings of the expected sovereign might
be. The Catholics hoped to get some relaxation of the penal laws
from the son of her whom they idolized as a martyr. But he
had written a hard, unfilial letter to his mother, refusing to
accord her any present or prospective royal title, and his selfish
love for his own interests had overpowered his anxieties about
her life; for a few honeyed words and the present of some couples
of English buckhounds, sealed his desertion of her cause, while
she, in her turn, had cursed him, disinherited him, and bequeathed
her kingdom to Philip of Spain. The Puritans had naturally
some high anticipations, for in 1590 the king, "with bonnet off
and hand lifted up to heaven," had said in Edinburgh to the
General Assembly at its eighth session " that he thanked God
for being born king in such a kirk, the sincerest kirk in the
world the kirk of Geneva keepe pasche and yuile ; what have
they for them ? as for our neighbour kirk in England, it is an
evil said mass in English, wanting nothing but the liftings.
I charge you, my good ministers, doctors, elders, nobles, gentle
men, and barons, to stand to your purity and to exhort the
people to do the same, and I forsooth, so long as I bruik my
life, shall maintain the same." He had also written to Elizabeth
in favour of some of the stout Puritans who suffered under
her reign. No wonder that Archbishop Whitgift, knowing the
vacillation of the king, and though he must have read the
Basilicon Doron published in 1599 had some terror of what
he called " a Scottish mist " settling down on Canterbury. For
the king, after his great change of opinion on church government,
was, as might be expected from his temperament, visited with
occasional qualms the clouds threatened to return after the
1 When the king came to the as his custom was. Mr. Eobert
chamber in Holyrood," where persons (Bruce) casteth himself to meet him."
were waiting for him, " he walked Calderwood, History of the Church
in a circle round about the house, of Scotland, vol. VI, p. 218.
170 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
rain. When he had read Calderwood s Altare Damascenum 1
he was observed to be somewhat pensive, and on one of his
Episcopal courtiers telling him that they would answer it, he
replied tartly " What will you answer, man ? There is nothing
here but Scripture, reason, and the Fathers." There had also
been previous fluctuations. Though the Convention of Leith, in
1572, had brought in the elements of Episcopacy, the National
Covenant was subscribed by the king and his household in
1580, and the Second Book of Discipline, adopted in 1581, set
out a full Presbyterian platform. But, by a reactionary process,
Episcopacy was re-introduced " bishops, abbots, and other
prelates were authorized to sit and vote in Parliament"; and
in 1610 the bishops got from the General Assembly meeting
in Glasgow the right or power to ordain. 2 Such changes,
in some of which the king was personally prominent as usual,
could not but raise suspicious and anxious forecastings in
England.
But the flatteries heaped upon James in England would have
turned a stronger head. When at the Hampton Court Conference,
he had said of the Puritans, " I will make them conform them
selves, or I will harry them out of the land, or yet do worse," one
lord exclaimed that his majesty " spoke by the instinct of the
spirit of God." His Grace of Canterbury, swallowing the "sugared
bait," ascribed the royal words " to the special assistance of
God s spirit," and Bancroft, on his knees, gave thanks to God
for " the singular mercy of such a king, as since Christ the like,
he thought, had not been seen." When Selden was challenged
by the king for applying such phrases as " unlimited liberty "
and " confident daring " to his exposition of some parts of the
Apocalypse, the accomplished critic and scholar could, in reply
ing, bring himself to speak of the royal interpretation as " the
clearest sun among the lesser lights, and to call it a performance
most divine and kingly." One may contrast Bacon s adulation 3
1 Calderwood was banished by the the statement made in 2 Ki. xvi, 10.
king for his stout defence of Presby- 3 Works, vol. XII, p. 70, ed. Mon-
tery, and during his six years exile tague.
in Holland he composed the book 2 Grubb s Ecclesiastical History,
referred to its name being based on vol. II, p. 293.
XLIII.] THE MILLENARY POSITION. 171
with the honest and pointed words of George Buchanan in his
Dedication to his royal pupil of his "Baptistes." Yet there must
have been no small amount of learning in the man who was so
highly praised, not only by courtly churchmen like Bancroft,
Williams, and Abbot, but by Bacon and Casaubon. The king s
influence told even on Hugh Broughton, whose stiff knees were
suppled in the royal presence.
There had been handed to the monarch, on his way through
the " promised land " to London, the millenary petition a
petition signed by seven hundred and fifty clergymen of the
Church of England " groaning under a common burden of
human rites and ceremonies." These points were rather sub
ordinate in character, especially as compared with these great
principles which contending parties had fought for in Scot
land with sacred fury. James was now in no danger of
being confronted by a " beardless boy," or of being roughly
held by the sleeve, defied and scolded to his face as "God s
silly vassal " ; nor was there any chance of a sermon being
preached before him inveighing against the power or person
that would bring in the " bludie gullie " of despotism. He
ran no risk of being detained by force in any baronial mansion
as he had been in his sixteenth year at the Castle of Ruthven
when, bursting into tears at the insult, he had been saluted
with the gruff utterance of the Master of Glamis, " Better
bairns greet than bearded men." The question was not as be
tween prelacy and presbytery, or between organized societies
struggling for supremacy as for life, but between members and
office-bearers of the same established church. Therefore,
neither a council nor an assembly was convened to consider
the millenary petition, but simply a Conference. A royal pro
clamation was issued on the 24th of October, "touching a meet
ing for hearing and for the determining things pretended to
be amiss in the church." The day originally fixed was the
first of November, but as the plague was raging at the time,
there was a postponement for a few weeks. Though Parlia
ment had not met and James had not been crowned, the meet
ing was ultimately held in the Drawing-room of Hampton
Court Palace on Saturday, Monday, and Wednesday, the 14th,
172 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
16th, and 18th, of January 1604. 1 There came, as summoned, to
the conference nine bishops Whitgift, Archbishop of Canter
bury ; Bancroft, Bishop of London ; Matthew, of Durham ;
Bilson, of Winchester ; Babington, of Worcester ; Rudd, of St.
David s ; Watson, of Chichester ; Robinson, of Carlisle ; Dove,
of Peterborough : Five deans Montague, Dean of the Chapel
Royal ; Andrewes, of Westminster ; Overall, of St. Paul s ;
Barlow of Chester ; Bridges, of Salisbury ; with King, Arch
deacon of Nottingham ; Field, afterwards Dean of Gloucester.
There were also at the Conference some members of the Privy
Council and five ecclesiastical lawyers, Sir Daniel Dunne, Sir
Thomas Cornpton, Sir Richard Swale, Sir John Bennet, and
Dr. Drury ; Galloway, the king s Scottish chaplain (admitted
by courtesy) ; Reynolds, President of Corpus Christi College,
Oxford; Sparke, Prebendary of Lincoln ; Chaderton and Knew-
stubbs, two Fellows and Divines from Cambridge. The last
four, who appeared in " Turkey gowns," represented the plain
tiffs or Puritan clergy. Reynolds, 2 who had been Dean of
Lincoln, was perhaps the most learned divine of the period. He
was not chosen in any way by his own party, but he obeyed the
royal summons. His friends thought that he had not risen to
the occasion, but the king snubbed him unceremoniously, or, as
Harrington reports, " used with him upbraidings rather than
arguments, . . . bad the petitioners awaie with their
snivellings, &c." 3 Bancroft was as surly and rude to him as the
king, who could, however, sometimes be playful. Reynolds
had objected to the term "worship" in the Marriage Service,
and the king merrily replied, " I m thinking that if you
had a gudewife yoursel, Doctor, you wouldria think any
worship or reverence too much for her. Many a man
speaks of Robin Hood who never shot in his bow." These
persons were never all present on one day. The four " com
plaints " presented to the king referred to the church and
its service, to its ministers and their living and maintenance,
1 On October 21, 1603, there had 2 Sometimes, if not usually, given
been issued a royal proclamation as Remolds, occasionally as Ray-
forbidding all petitioning on religious nolds or Raiuolds.
questions. 3 Nugse Antiquse, vol. II, p. 228.
XLIII.] THE HAMPTON COURT CONFERENCE. 173
and to discipline. Heylin remarks, " The complainants, how
ever, sped no better in relation to the forms of worship, than
they had done in reference unto points of doctrine. And some
what also was observed touching some errors in the old trans
lation of the English Psalter, as also in the Gospels and
Epistles, as they stood in the liturgy. But their objections were
so stale, and so often answered, that the bishops and conform
able party went away with an easy victor}^." 1 Thus the
object for which the meeting was ostensibly summoned failed,
and another great opportunity was lost for healing and har
monizing the divisions in the English Church. The Bishop of
London lost his temper very early in the discussion, and did
not recover it again. 2 Bancroft, Barlow, and the king were
apparently quite unqualified in tact and temper to interfere
in so delicate an adjustment. But at the meeting on Monday,
when other matters had been disposed of, a new translation
of the Bible was abruptly proposed. There had been some
conversation on a portion of the Apocryphal Books, "which was
answered by the Bishops of London and Winchester, but more
pointedly by his majesty himself 3 who, finding there had
been great questioning amongst the lords at that place of
Ecclesiasticus (xlviii, 10) with which, as if it had been their
rest and upshot, they (who objected to it) began afresh; and
seeing them so to urge it, and stand upon it, called for a Bible ;
first, showed the author of that book, who he was ; then the
cause why he wrote that book ; next analysed the chapter
itselfe ; arguing and demonstrating that, whatsoever Ben Sirach
had said there of Elias, Elias had, in his own person, while
he lived, performed and accomplished : concluding, first, with
a serious checke to Dr. Remolds that it was not good to im
pose, upon a man that was dead, a sense never meant by him ;
secondly, with a pleasant apostrophe to the lords, What, trow
ye, make these men so angry with Eccksiasticus ? By my
1 History of Presbyterianism,p. 373. 3 Sum and substance of the con-
Cartwright might probably, had he ference . . . contracted by
survived, been a member of the con- William Barlow, Doctor of Divinity
ference. and Dean of Chester, London, 1604,
2 Bluut s Plain Account, p. 74. reprinted in 1625 and 1638.
174 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
soule, I think he was a bishop or else they would never use
him so ! But for the generall, it was appointed by his majesty,
that Dr. Remolds should note those chapters in the Apocrypha
Booke, where those offensive places were, and should bring
them unto the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury against Wed
nesday next." There was a good deal of by-play on the
part of the king, to whom silence was impossible in such a
scene, and he had never had so grand an opportunity. He
had a lively recollection of some Scottish scenes, and when the
Puritans hinted at district meetings for conference, the king
cried " No ; then Jack and Tom and Will and Dick shall meet
and censure me and my government. . . . Stay, I pray you,"
he said to Dr. Reynolds, " for one seven years before you ask that
of me, and if you find me pursy and fat, and my windpipe
stuffed, I may listen to you. . . . Scottish Presbytery
agreeth as well with a monarchy as God and the Devil."
According to Dr. Barlow s account, 1 Dr. Reinolds, after speak
ing upon several subjects, moved his majesty, "that there might
be a new translation of the Bible because those which were
allowed in the reigne of King Henry the eight and Edward
the sixt were corrupt and not answerable to the truth of the
originall. For example, first, Galat. iv, 25, the Greeke word
a-va-roix^ is not well translated as it now is, bordereth
neyther expressing the force of the word, nor the Apostle s
sense, nor the situation of the place. Secondly, Psal. cv, 28,
they were not obedient ; the original being, they were
not disobedient. Thirdly, Psal. cvi, 30, Then stood up
Phineas and prayed : the Hebrew hath executed judgment.
To which motion there was at the present no gainsaying, the
objections being triviall, and old, and already in print, often
answered ; only my lord of London well added, that if every
man s humor should be followed, there would be no end of
translating. Whereupon his highness wished that some especiall
paines should be taken in that behalfe for one uniform transla
tion ; professing that he could never yet see a Bible well trans-
1 Reprinted also from the Har- well, History of Conferences, p. 167,
leian Miscellany in the Phoenix, vol. 3d ed., Oxford, 1849.
I, p. 139, London, 1707,and by Card-
XLIII.] PROPOSAL OF A NEW VERSION. 175
lated in English, but the worst of all his majesty thought the
Geneva to be; and this to be done by the best learned in both the
universities, after them to be reviewed by the bishops and the
chief learned of the church ; from them to be presented to the
Privy Council ; and lastly to be ratified by his royal authority ;
and so this whole church to be bound unto it and none other.
Marry withal he gave this caveat, upon a word cast out by
my lord of London, that no marginal notes should be added,
having found in them which are annexed to the Geneva trans
lation, which he saw in a Bible given him by an English lady,
some notes very partial, untrue, seditious, and savouring too
much of dangerous and traitorous conceits, supporting his
opinion by the section of the first chapter of Exodus and the
nineteenth verse, where the marginal note alloweth disobedience
unto the king ; x and 2 Chronicles xv, 16, the note taxeth Asa for
deposing his mother only ; and not killing her."
The account given by the translators themselves in their own
preface differs in some respect from that of Dr. Barlow : " The
very historical truth is, that upon the importunate petitions of
the Puritans at his majesty s coming to this crown, the conference
at Hampton Court having been appointed for hearing their com
plaints, when by force of reason they were put from all other
grounds they had recourse at the last to this shift, that they could
not with good conscience subscribe to the communion-book, since
it maintained the Bible as it was there translated, which was, as
they said, a most corrupted translation. And although this was
judged to be but a very poor and empty shift, yet even here
upon did his majesty begin to bethink himself of the good that
might ensue by a new translation, and presently gave order for
this translation which is now presented unto thee. This much to
satisfy our scrupulous brethren." It is, however, chiefly to Dean
Barlow s report that we owe our knowledge of what was said
and done at the conference. Barlow wrote at the request of
Whitgift, and refers in the preface to the " untimely death of
him who first imposed it on me, with whom is buried the
farnousest glory of our English Church." As Reynolds com-
1 But his own revisers, undeterred Heading to Exodus ii, " the godliness
by the royal censure, prefix this of the midwives."
176 TH E ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
plained of the unfairness of Barlow s account, one is tempted
to quote the characteristic remark of Fuller on this point
" when the Israelites go down to the Philistines to whet all their
iron tools, no wonder if they set a sharp edge on their own and
a blunt one on their enemies weapons." 1 Barlow does not pro
fess a full report, for his words to the reader are " The vigour
of every objection with the sum of each answer, I guess, I miss
not." Reports had been sent abroad, he tells us, " some partial,
some untrue, some slanderous." But it will not be found in Bar
low that the king spoke strongly against the corruptions of
the church for five hours together, though Galloway s account
implies that the bishops were alarmed by his language, and
Bishop Andre wes is reported to have said that "on that day his
majesty did wonderfully play the Puritan," 2 the shrewd prelate
apparently taking it to be only a histrionic display. The king
himself wrote a vainglorious account of the conference to some
body in Scotland whom he calls " honest Blake," telling how
he " had kept such a revel with the Puritans and peppered
them soundly," adding some rather indecent expressions. In
this letter he alludes to another person whom he calls the
" Beagle." He was fond of giving nicknames, and he begins an
epistle to Lord Cranbourne with " my dear little Beagle." 3
Now, from these narratives, it is evident that defects in the
current versions were not among the things complained of, and
they had no place in the millenary petition. Nor had there
been any agitation on the subject ; no body felt aggrieved, and
there had been no consultation and arrangement among the Puri
tan members. The proposal seems to have been a momentary
thought on the part of Reynolds who spoke only for himself, if
Barlow s account is to be credited ; and if his party afterwards
acquiesced in the proposal, their consent may have been based
on the renderings in the prayer-book version of the Psalms, for
1 Church History, vol. Ill, p. 193, fereuce" may be seen in a letter of
London, 1837. Matthew Hutton, Archbishop of
2 Calderwood, History, vol. VI, p. York, and there is " an Account " by
421. Toby Matthew, Bishop of Durham
3 One brief account of some points both printed in Cardwell s Coufer-
" like to be brought up at the con- euces, p. 151, &c.
XLIII.] KING JAMES AND THE GENEVAN NOTES. 177
the discussion referred to it, and two of the instances adduced by
Reynolds are from the psalter. The deliberations about a new
revision, so suddenly introduced, seem to have occupied but a
very brief period a few minutes of the second day s confer
ence and as suddenly they closed. No one present dreamed
that this light off-handed talk would produce the book which
for more than two centuries and a half has been the cherished
treasure of all the millions speaking the English tongue.
But there are also some assertions in these statements which
cannot be accepted. The words put in the king s mouth in
reference to the Genevan translation and notes "which he
saw in a Bible given him by an English lady," are wholly
incredible. The language implies that he had been till very
recently a stranger to the Genevan version, and had only been
brought into a brief and accidental acquaintance with it since
his arrival in England. James was, indeed, one of those men
who are consistent in inconsistency, and of whom very contra
dictory things may be believed ; for the confidence with which
he pronounced the Genevan version the worst which he had ever
seen implies that he was really no stranger either to it or to other
translations. Laud, on his trial, quotes this royal disparagement
without any misgiving as to its accuracy. But if Barlow did not
misunderstand the king on a point with which, as an English
dignitary, he might not be very familiar, if James has not
been in some way mis-reported, his virtual disclaimer of all
knowledge up to a late period of the Genevan notes and ver
sion was simply a bold unblushing falsehood, a clumsy attempt
to sever himself from his earlier Scottish beliefs and usages
that he might win favour with his English churchmen. His
affectation of ignorance could scarcely impose on some of his
audience. For from his boyhood he had known no other
Bible. It had been read to him often till he must have been
very weary, and he had often been made to read it in terror of
mispronouncing any words in it. It had been set before him as
punctually as his daily meals, and it had been scourged into
him by his stern pedagogues : the texts of all the sermons
he had ever listened to were selected out of it, and the long
discourses under which he had yawned and shut his eyes were
VOL. II. M
178 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
thickly garnished with quotations taken from it. 1 It had been
printed in his own kingdom and dedicated to him in 1576-79,
the dedication solemnly warning him " to remember dili
gently how the setting forth and authorizing of this book
pertains to his charge." The divines, both Prelatic and Presby
terian, among whom he mingled and with whom he often con
tended, cited the Genevan version with great profusion. Nay,
more, he had himself published some expositions of Scripture
before he came up to England, and he uses without disguise the
Genevan version, as in his Meditation on 2 Chron. xv, 25, and
on Rev. xx, 25, 29. Even in the collected edition of his
works, edited by the Bishop of Winchester in 1616, the text
of these treatises has not been conformed to the Authorized
Version, though the royal Scotch has been turned into English.
Other pieces in the same volume " Meditation on the Lord s
Prayer" "a Paterne for a king s inauguration" (1617), follow the
present translation. Some of his prelates might have told
him that the obnoxious note attached to Exodus i, 19, of which
he complained, was to be found in their own Bishops Bible 2 in
a briefer form " it was better to obey God than man," and
that the note to 2 Chron. xv, 16, occurs also in several editions
of the same version. He might have been further informed
that the note to Romans xiii, and especially to Titus iii, 1,
in the disparaged translation might satisfy even a Stewart in
its inculcation of obedience and loyalty, and in its investiture
of the civil magistrate with the sword of persecution, for it
declares that as his " office is to maintain God s glorie in His
church, he ought to cut off all such rotten and infectuous
members from the bodie." Besides, in the three passages put
forward by Dr. Reynolds as arguments for a revision, the
Genevan version is correct. Whatever might be the ex
tent of the king s knowledge of the Genevan Bible, he had
1 The person of the prince was at being meant to appal the heart of
length deemed too sacred for the the royal pupil,
unsparing application of the birch, 2 There is no note in the editions
and a substitute was procured to of 1568, 1572, 1575, or 1578, but the
bear the penalties the writhing and Genevan note occurs in the editions
howling of the "whipping boy" of 1573, 1585, and 1602.
XLIII.] A NEW TRANSLATION AGREED TO. 170
a genuine horror of some of its notes. In the account of
the conference given by Galloway, his Scottish chaplain, to
the Presbytery of Edinburgh an account revised by the king
himself he says " Sundry, as they favoured, gave out copies
of things here concluded, whereupon myself took occasion,
as I was an ear and eye witness, to set them down, and pre
sented them to his majesty, who with his own hand mended
some things, and eked other things which I had omitted :
which corrected copy with his own hand I have, and of it
have sent you herein the just transumpt word by word."
Then we find the following as the second of the articles, " On
the heads which his majesty would have reformed at this time."
" . . . That a translation be made of the whole Bible, as
consonant as can be to the original Hebrew and Greek ; and
this to be set out and printed without any marginal notes, and
only to be used in all churches of England in time of divine
service. London, this 10th Februar, 1604."
Few of the clergy assembled had any reputation as Biblical
scholars, and the majority of the bishops present at the meeting
were not even employed as translators. Such a "comitial con
ference " was neither qualified nor prepared to entertain and dis
cuss the momentous question ; but debate was needless, for the
king assented to the proposal of Reynolds, and thus was
originated the present version. The clergy had no desire for a
new translation, or indeed for any changes. But the king had
a morbid liking for such subjects, and he at once took up the
project as far as his nature could earnestly occupy itself with
a single pursuit. Biblical lore and theological subjects had, as
we have said, a special interest for him, and it may be affirmed
that his Biblical erudition, and his irrepressible desire to show
it on all possible occasions, saved the proposal of Reynolds
from falling into the same tomb as did all the other topics of
conference. Bancroft spoke truly, when he afterwards said,
" I am persuaded his royal mind rejoiceth more in the good
hope which he hath for the happy success of that work, than of
his peace concluded with Spain."
Some months had passed after the conference ; Parliament
and Convocation had met, and nothing more was said of the
180 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
new translation. But the project of a new translation had not
been allowed to drop.
The king could have little personal knowledge of English
scholars ; but a careful selection of them was made by some
unknown, but very competent authority. In the preface, Ban
croft is virtually connected with the nomination, for it is said
of him, " to whom not only we, but our whole church was
much bound. He knew by his wisdom, that it is a preposter
ous order to teach first, and to learn after ; yea, that to learn
and practice together is neither commendable for the work
man, nor safe for the work. Therefore, such were thought
upon as could modestly say with St. Hierome, but we have
learned the Hebrew tongue in part, and in the Latin we
have been exercised almost from our very cradle. " The names
of the persons chosen were presented for the royal approbation,
and by the 30th of June, Bancroft wrote to the translators at
Cambridge, that it was the king s pleasure that they should with
all possible speed meet together in their university, and begin
the work. On the 22nd of July, the king wrote to Bancroft,
then representing the See of Canterbury, vacant by the death
of Whitgift, announcing that he had appointed certain learned
men, to the number of four-and-fifty, for the translating
of the Bible, and requiring him to take measures whereby
he might be able to recompense the translators by church
preferment. " Furthermore, we require you to move all our
bishops to inform themselves of all such learned men within
their several dioceses, as having special skill in the Hebrew
and Greek tongues, have taken pains in their private studies
of the Scriptures, for the clearing of any obscurities either
in the Hebrew or in the Greek, or touching any difficulties or
mistaking in the former English translation, which we have
now commanded to be thoroughly viewed and amended ; and
thereupon, to write unto them, earnestly charging them, and
signifying our pleasure therein, that they send such their
observations either to Mr. Lively our Hebrew reader in
Oxford, or to Dr. Andrewes, Dean of Westminster, to be im
parted to the rest of their several companies ; that so our
said intended translation may have the help and furtherance
XLIII. ] CORRESPONDENCE ABO UT IT. 181
of all our principal learned men within this our kingdom."
Bancroft wrote again to the Bishop of Norwich as follows :
" There are many, as your lordship perceiveth, who are to be
employed in this translation of the Bible, and sundry of them
must of necessity have their charges borne ; which his
majesty was very ready, of his most princely disposition^
to have borne, but some of my lords, as things now go, did
hold it inconvenient. Whereupon it was left to me, to move
all my brethren, the bishops, and likewise every several dean
and chapter, to contribute to this work. According, therefore,
to my duty, I heartily pray your lordship, not only to think
yourself what is meet for you to give for this purpose, but
likewise, to acquaint your dean and chapter, not only with
the said clause in his majesty s letter, but likewise with the
meaning of it, that they may agree on such a sum as they
mean to contribute. I do not think that a thousand marks
will finish the work to be employed as aforesaid. Whereof
your lordship, with your dean and chapter, having due con
sideration, I must require you, in his majesty s name, according
to his good pleasure, in that behalf, that as soon as possibly
you can send me word what shall be expected from you,
and your said dean and chapter. For I am to acquaint
his majesty with every man s liberality towards this
most godly work. From Fulham, this 31st of July, 1604."
Bancroft makes another explanation, " After my hearty com
mendations unto your lordship, I have received letters from
his most excellent majesty, the tenor whereof folio we th.
Right trusty and well beloved, we greet you well. Whereas
we have appointed certain learned men, to the number of four-
and-fifty, for the translating of the Bible, and that in this
number divers of them have either no ecclesiastical preferment
at all, or else so very small, as the same is far unmeet for men
of their deserts, and yet, we of ourself in any convenient time
cannot well remedy it: therefore we do hereby require you,
that presently you write, in our name, as well to the Arch
bishop of York, as to the rest of the bishops of the province
of Canterbury, signifying unto them that we do will, and
straitly charge every one of them, as also the other bishops
182 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CIIAF.
of the province of York, as they tender our good favour towards
them, that (all excuses set apart) when any prebend or par
sonage being rated in our book of taxations, the prebend to
twenty pounds at least, and the parsonage to the like sum
and upwards, shall next upon any occasion happen to be void,
and to be either of their patronage, or of the patronage and
gift of any person what ever, they do make stay thereof,
and admit none unto it, until certifying us of the avoidance
of it, and of the name of the patron, if it be not of their own
gift, that we may commend for the same some such of the
learned men, as we shall think fit to be preferred unto it; not
doubting of the bishops readiness to satisfy us herein, or that
any of the laity, when we shall in time move them to so good
and religious an act, will be unwilling to give us the like due
contentment and satisfaction ; we ourselves having taken the
same order for such prebends and benefices as shall be void in
our gift. " And he naively adds "Your Lordship may see how
careful his majesty is for the providing of livings for these
learned men. I doubt not, therefore, but your Lordship will
have a due regard of his majesty s request herein, as it is fit
and meet ; and that you will take such order, both with your
Chancellor, Register, and such of your Lordship s officers who
shall have intelligence of the premises, as also with the Dean
and Chapter of your Cathedral Church, whom his majesty
likewise requireth to be put in mind of his pleasure herein ;
not forgetting the latter part of his majesty s letter, touching
the informing yourself of the fittest linguists, &c. I could
wish your Lordship would, for my discharge, return me in
some few lines the time of the receipt of these letters, that I
may discharge that duty which his majesty, by these his
letters, hath laid upon me. And so I bid your Lordship right
heartily farewell. From Fulham this xxxi day of July, 1G04
R. LONDON." The royal words about remuneration are very kind
and considerate, still they were but words. The disbursements
were not made from the royal purse for it was empty, and Cecil
had already complained that the monarch s household expenses
were double those of his predecessors, 100,000 instead of
50,000. James had been always warring with poverty in
XLIII.] ROYAL PROFUSION AND POVERTY. 183
Scotland, and he at once leapt into extraordinary prodigality
in England. 1 The proposed plan of ecclesiastical preferments
cost nothing to his majesty, who sank so low as to sell
ninety-three baronetcies for 1000 each, and to grant several
peerages for a handsome price. Printers and publishers were
aware of the royal impecuniosity, and were very cautious in
dealing with the royal " bookmaker." Lydiat, in a letter
of 22nd August, 1611, tells Ussher, that Norton swore to him
that he would not print the king s Latin book against Vorstius,
" unless he might have the money " unless he had the payment
before the treatise went to press. When a library was to be
furnished for Prince Henry, Bancroft sent out a begging cir
cular asking books or money from the bishops, and the " abler
sort of double^beneficed men," and "the richer sort of commis
saries," it being also dictated that some should give twenty
marks, some 10, and the least twenty nobles. But the plan
proposed for remunerating the translators, though it menaced
the king s personal inspection of the contributors, did not
succeed ; neither bishop nor dean replied, so far as is known.
The sum, according to Bancroft s calculation, was not large,
only a thousand marks or about 700, so that the proportion
from each diocese was really little.
Cecil, Earl of Salisbury, chancellor of the University of
Cambridge, wrote also a sensible letter to the vice-chancellor
and heads, asking that any poor scholar from the country be
entertained " in any college they make choice of, free of charge
for their entrance, their chambers, or their commons." But
very few people had any great interest in the work. They
were quite satisfied with the two current versions, as was also
1 Soon after his accession to the income by .81,000 a year. He in-
throne of England, a proclamation vented the order of baronet, and sold
was issued, forbidding his northern many baronetcies. Of the ninety
subjects to come as suitors for pay- lay peers in the House of Lords at
ment of " auld debts due to them by his death, nearly a half were the
the king, . . . which is of all result of pecuniary bargaining. He
kinds of importunity most unpleas- held firmly by the wardship of heirs
ing to his majesty." In 1610, his and heiresses, and made money by
debts were half a million, and his this old feudal right,
ordinary expenditure exceeded his
184 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
amply shown in the slow reception of the one which was now
in preparation. Indeed, the next Convocation, ignoring the
purpose of a new Bible, or doubting if it would be carried
out, ordered in its eighty -first article that every parish unfur
nished with a Bible of the largest volume, 1 should at once
provide the same. Still, according to the chancellor s sugges
tion, the translators assembled at the Universities had enter
tainment free of charge, " eating their commons " 2 at the college
table, 2 and at the final revision the six or twelve revisers re
ceived each, according to one statement, thirty shillings a week
from the Company of Stationers, "though before they had
nothing but the self-rewarding ingenious industry." King
James s version never cost King James a farthing. Robert
Barker had indeed, as royal printer, a salary from the
king of 6, 13s. 4d. ; but he had also, in consideration of 300
paid to the crown, a grant of the manor of Upton, near Wind
sor, for twenty-two years, for the small rent of 20, to be
doubled two years afterward. 3 The argument, therefore, is not
based on fact, that the crown may grant the sole printing of
the English translation, because it was made at the king s
charge. Yet Lord Mansfield said, against all proof, "The English
translation the king bought, therefore it has been concluded to
be his property. His whole right rests on the foundation of
property in the copy, by the common law." 4
Some mystery yet hangs over the number of translators
appointed, as the king mentions fifty-four, while only forty-
seven took part in the work. In the interval there were
some changes. Mr. Lively having died in 1605, his place
was filled by Dr. Spalding ; Dr. Richard Eades died in 1604 ;
1 Amplissimi voluminis. similar to those sent to Cambridge,
2 John Bois or Boyes, whose notes though they do not seem to have
of the proceedings have unfortun- been preserved.
ately fallen out of existence, at least 3 The salary of the Chief Justice
out of view, "ate his commons" of the King s Bench was then
first at one college table, and then at 224, 19s. 6d. a year,
another. Walker s Life of Bois, 4 Lee s Memorial, p. 216. Black-
Harleian MSS. Communications stone s Commentaries, vol. II, p. 410,
must have been sent to Oxford London, 1809.
XLIII.] THE BOARD OF REVISERS. 185
Dr. Aglionby, appointed in his room, died in February, 1610, and
Mr. Dakins died in February, 1607. The proposer, Dr. Reynolds,
died in May, 1607, and Dr. Thomas Ravis, bishop of London,
died in 1609, and there may have been some resignations and
substitutions. Dr. Leonard Hutton was appointed for Dr.
Ravens, whose place had been vacated. The preparations
seem to have been completed by the end of 1604 ; but the
work was not formally taken in hand by all the companies till
about 1607. The translators themselves intimate that their
work occupied them "about two years and three quarters."
They were divided into six companies, two of which met at
Westminster, two at Oxford, and two at Cambridge. 1
" The following is an account of the places and persons agreed
upon for the Hebrew Scriptures, with the particular books by
them undertaken : Pentateuch on ; the story from Joshua to
the first book of Chronicles, exclusive, to the company at West
minster, consisting of Mr. Dean of Westminster, Mr. Dean of
Paul s, Mr. Dr. Saravia, Mr. Dr. Clark, Mr. Dr. Leifield, Mr. Dr.
Teigh, Mr. Buiieigh, Mr. King, Mr. Thompson, Mr. Bead well.
From the first of the Chronicles with the rest of the story
and the Hagiography; videlicet, Job, Psalms, Proverbs,
Canticles, Ecclesiastes, to the company at Cambridge, con
sisting of Mr. Lively, Mr. Richardson, Mr. Chatterton, Mr.
Dillingham, Mr. Harrison, Mr. Andrewes, Mr. Spalding, Mr.
Binge. The four or greater prophets, with the Lamentations,
and the twelve lesser prophets, to the company at Oxford,
consisting of Dr. Harding, Dr. Reynolds, Dr. Holland, Dr.
Kilbye, Mr. Smith, Mr. Brett, Mr. Fairclough. The prayer of
Manasse, and the rest of the Apocrypha, to the company at
Cambridge, consisting of Dr. Duport, Dr. Bran th wait, Dr.
Radcliffe, Mr. Ward, Mr. Downes, Mr. Boyes, Mr. Ward.
" The places and persons agreed upon for the Greek, with
the particular books by them undertaken : The four Gospels,
Acts of Apostles, Apocalypse, to the company at Oxford, con
sisting of Mr. Dean of Christ Church, Mr. Dean of Winchester,
Mr. Dean of Worcester, Mr. Dean of Windsor, Mr. Savile, Dr,
Perne, Dr. Ravens, Mr. Harmer. The epistles of St. Paul, to
1 Cardwell s Documentary Annals, vol. II, p. 106.
THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
the company at Westminster, consisting of Dean of Chester,
Dr. Hutchison, Dr. Spencer, Mr. Fenton, Mr. Rabbett, Mr.
Sanderson, Mr. Dakins." 1
Many of the men employed in this noble enterprise were
famous for their ability and learning. Andrewes, " a right
Godly man," was "a prodigious student," "a, great gulph
of learning," and might have been " interpreter general
at Babel." " The world wanted learning to know how learned
this man was." 2 His Manual of Private Direction was composed
in Greek. He sent Beadwell to Leyden, to study Arabic, and
promised to defray the expense of printing his Thesaurus
Arabicus. Casaubon writes to Heinsius, " I am attracted to the
man by his profound learning," " one of a few whose society
enables me to bear my separation from De Thou." Andrewes
was in great favour with the king at this time, on account of
his "Tortura Torti " his clever and telling reply to Bellarmine,
published in 1609, when he was bishop of Chichester.
Overall is styled by Camden, "a prodigious learned man,"
possessed, as Fuller says, " of a strong brain to improve his
great reading," "a man learned all round," and Casaubon
who had enjoyed his hospitality, styles him vir longe doctis-
simus. 3 Hadrian Saravia, prebendary of Canterbury, born at
Hedin in Artois, his father being a Spaniard, and his mother a
Belgian, was a D.D. of Leyden, and was educated, according to
Wood, in all kinds of literature, especially "in several languages,"
and was noted for his Hebrew learning. Tighe or Teigh was
an "excellent textuary and profound linguist." King suc
ceeded Spalding as Kegius Professor of Hebrew at Cambridge.
Thompson, born in Holland, of English parents, and, by
report, a most admirable philologer, though desultory in his
studies, belonged to Clare Hall, Cambridge. " Dutch Thom
son," as he was familiarly called at Cambridge, supplied
suggestions to his friend Casaubon for an edition of Suetonius
and Polybius, 4 and was a familiar correspondent of Scaliger
1 The list was taken by Cardwell 2 Pattison s Life of Casaubon, p.
from Burnet s History, vol. II, 330.
Append., p. 366, who copied it from 3 Ibid, p. 391.
the papers of Bishop Eavis. 4 Ibid, p. 333.
XLIII.] THEIR SCHOLARSHIP. 187
and other scholars, who set a high value on his critical sug
gestions. Beadwell, or Bedwell, was the great Arabic scholar
of his time, the friend of Erpenius and tutor of Pococke.
His MSS. of a prepared Arabic Lexicon were used in the
preparation of Castell s Lexicon Heptaglotton. Edward Lively
was " one of the best linguists in the world," and, according
to Dr. Pusey, was, next to Pococke, " the greatest of Hebraists."
Richardson, Professor of Divinity, was " a most excellent lin
guist." Chaderton, or Chatterton, "grave, godly, learned, familiar
with the Greek and Hebrew tongues, and the numerous writings
of the Rabbis," was one of the four Puritan divines that took
part in the Hampton Court Conference. He was the first head
of Emmanuel College, and lived to a very great age. Dilling-
ham was called " the great Grecian." Harrison had " exquisite
skill in Hebrew and Greek idioms," and was one of the chief
examiners in the University. Spalding was reckoned worthy
to succeed Lively as Regius Professor of Hebrew at Cam
bridge, and Byng was a successor of Spalding in the Hebrew
chair. Harding was Regius Professor of Hebrew. Reynolds
was president of Corpus Christi College, and in Bishop Hall s
words, " his memory and reading were near to a miracle, for
he was himself a well furnished library, full of all faculties, all
studies, and all learning," and though, according to Wood, he
was the pillar of Puritanism, yet he calls him " the very trea
sury of erudition, as being most prodigiously seen in all kinds
of learning, most excellent in all tongues." Holland, King s
Professor of Divinity, and Rector of his College, is declared to
be " a most learned divine." Kilbye, who preached his funeral
sermon, said of him that he had " a wonderful knowledge of all
the learned languages," and was mighty in the Scriptures, while,
according to Wood, he was " another Apollos, a most learned
divine." Kilbye himself was Professor of Hebrew, and Rector
of his College, and left a commentary on Exodus, chiefly drawn
from rabbinical sources. He also continued, though he did
not publish, Jean Mercier s commentaries on Genesis. He was
ever absorbed in Hebrew study, and Casaubon saw at his
lodging the Lexicon Arabicum of Raphelengius, the only other
copy in the country being that in possession of the Bishop of
188 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
Ely. Izaak Walton, in his life of Sanderson, tells the following
story of Kilbye : " I must here stop my reader, and tell him
that this Dr. Kilby was a man of so great learning and wisdom,
and so excellent a critic in the Hebrew tongue, that he was
made professor of it in this University ; and was also so per
fect a Grecian, that he was by King James appointed to be one
of the translators of the Bible ; and that this doctor and Mr.
Sanderson had frequent discourses, and loved as father and
son. The doctor was to ride a journey into Derbyshire, and
took Mr. Sanderson to bear him company ; and they, resting
on a Sunday with the doctor s friend, and going together to
that parish church where they then were, found the young-
preacher to have no more discretion, than to waste a great part
of the hour allotted for his sermon in exceptions against the
late translation of several words (not expecting such a hearer as
Dr. Kilby), and showed three reasons why a particular word
should have been otherwise translated. When evening prayer
was ended, the preacher was invited to the doctor s friend s
house, where, after some other conference, the doctor told him,
he might have preached more useful doctrine, and not have
filled his auditors ears with needless exceptions against the late
translation; and for that word for which he offered to that
poor congregation three reasons why it ought to have been
translated as he said, he and others had considered all of them,
and found thirteen more considerable reasons why it was
translated as now printed ; and told him, If his friend (then
attending him) should prove guilty of such indiscretion, he
should forfeit his favor. To which Mr. Sanderson said, He
hoped he should not. And the preacher was so ingenuous as
to say, he would not justify himself. And so I return to
Oxford." Miles Smith, one of the translators, then one of the
supervisors, final examiner and editor along with Bilson, and
author of the preface, was an uncommon scholar, and "had
Hebrew at his finger ends," and was " well versed in patristic
writings and rabbinical glosses." Richard Brett was " skilled
and versed to a criticism in the Latin, Greek, Chaldee, Arabic,
and Ethiopic tongues." Thomas Kavis, the president of his
company had a high reputation, for he was Dean of Christ
XLIII.] ARCHBISHOP ABBOT. 189
Church, and vice-chancellor of the University. George Abbot
is described by Wood as " a learned man, having his learn
ing all of the old stamp." Abbot enjoyed at this time
the full lustre of the royal countenance, for he had written
a defence of the truth of the Gowrie conspiracy. George
Sprott, a notary at Eyemouth, had been executed for his
connection with it; and Abbot, who had been present at
the trial and execution, published an account of them,
with the notes of Sir William Hart, the presiding judge.
In concert with the Earl of Dunbar, he had gratified the
heart s desire of the king, by helping to set up the luckless
Stewart Episcopacy in Scotland, so that when Canterbury
became vacant, he was promoted over the head of Andrewes
and made Archbishop. Giles Tomson " took a great deal of
pains of translating." John Aglionby, appointed in room of
Richard Eades, was "accomplished in learning, and an exact
linguist." John Harmer was a " most noted Latinist, Grecian,
and divine." William Barlow, a member of the Hampton
Court Conference, and its historian, is said to have been " a
thorough bred scholar." John Spencer, the intimate friend
of Hooker, succeeded Reynolds as president of Corpus Christi
College. Roger Fenton s eulogist, Bishop Felton, says of him,
" Never a more learned man hath Pembroke Hall, with but one
exception," probably Bishop Andrewes. William Dakins was
Greek lecturer at Cambridge, and "had great skill in the
original languages." Of the company to which was intrusted
the Apocrypha, John Duport was four times elected vice-
chancellor of his University, and left a " well earned reputa
tion." William Branthwait was master of Gonville and Caius
College. Jeremiah Redcliffe was made a doctor of divinity,
both at Cambridge and Oxford. Samuel Ward, Master of
Sidney Sussex College, and Lady Margaret s Professor of
Divinity, was "skilled in tongues, though slow of speech,"
and was a valued correspondent of Archbishop Ussher, on
points of Oriental and Biblical criticism. Andrew Downes,
one of the revising committee, Professor of Greek at Cam
bridge, is highly praised by Selden, and is described as " one
composed of Greek and industry." Casaubon and he cor-
190 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
responded in Greek, and his letters in point of style are not
inferior to those of the great foreign scholar. 1 John Bois,
prebendary of Ely, was a favourite pupil of Professor Downes,
and "a precocious Greek and Hebrew scholar." After the
Apocrypha was finished, he joined, at their own earnest request,
the Cambridge compan}^ which had their assigned section
from Chronicles to Canticles, and he was one of the delegates
engaged in the final supervision ; Sir Henry Savile calls him
" most ingenious and most learned," and, according to another
eulogist, he was " second to none in solid attainments in the
o *
Greek tongue." Thomas Bilson, who, along with Miles Smith,
had final charge of the translation, and prepared the summary
of contents at the head of each chapter, was Bishop of Win
chester, and was "well skilled in languages." Henry Savile
was Warden of Merton College, Oxford, Provost of Eton, and
editor of the works of Chrysostom. Of Michael Rabbet
little is known, save that he was Rector of St. Vedast,
Foster Lane, London. Burleigh, Clarke, Leifield, Sanderson,
Tighe, King, Roger Andrewes are in similar obscurity. 2 The
list of revisers was a good one, but men like Gataker and
Selden had no place in it.
The king had intimated, at the outset, that his revisers might
be compensated by ecclesiastical preferments, and during the
work, or soon after 1611, the following preferments were made :
Andrewes, Dean of Westminster, became Bishop of Chichester
in 1605, of Ely 1609, and of Winchester in 1619 ; Overall,
Dean of St. Paul s, became Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry
in 1614, and of Norwich in 1618 ; Saravia, Canon of West
minster, became Prebendary of Gloucester and Canterbury ;
Roger Andrewes, Fellow of Pembroke Hall, became Preben
dary of Chichester ; Byng, Fellow of St. Peter s College, be
came in 1606 Sub-Dean of York, and in 1618 Archdeacon of
Norwich ; Miles Smith, Canon of Hereford, became Bishop of
Gloucester in 1612; Ravis, Dean of Christ Church, was in 1605
1 The letters of Downes are pre- &c. Boterodami, Fritsch and Bb hn,
served in the British Museum, 1709.
Burney MSS. 364, and five of 2 The names vary much in spell-
Casaubon s are in his Epistolae, ing.
XLIII. ] THE R ULES LAID DO WN. 191
presented to the Bishoprick of Gloucester, and in 1607 to that
of London ; Abbot, Dean of Winchester, became Bishop of Leich-
field and Coventry in 1600, and of London in 1610, and was
preferred to the Chair of Canterbury in 1611 ; Giles Tomson
became in 1611 Bishop of Gloucester, but died the next year ;
Barlow, 1 Dean of Chester, became Bishop of Kochester in 1605,
and of Lincoln in 1608 ; Spencer received a prebendal stall in
St. Paul s, London, in 1612; Fenton, Minister of St. Stephen s
Walbrook received the prebend of Pancras in St. Paul s ;
Duport became, in 1609, Prebendary of Ely ; Samuel Ward
received several preferments ; John Bois became Prebendary of
Ely, in 1615 ; Henry Savile was knighted.
The following were the directions given for the revision : 1.
" The ordinary Bible read in the church, commonly called the
Bishops Bible, to be followed and as little altered as the truth of
the original will permit." 2. " The names of the prophets and
the holy writers, with the other names of the text, to be retained
as nigh as may be accordingly as they were vulgarly used." 3.
" The old ecclesiastical words to be kept viz., the word church
not to be translated congregation, 2 &c." 4. " When a word
hath divers significations, that to be kept which hath been
most commonly used by the most of the ancient fathers, being
agreeable to the propriety of the place and the analogy of the
faith." 5. " The division of the chapters to be altered either
not at all or as little as may be if necessity so require." 6. " No
marginal notes at all to be afiixed, but only for the explana
tion of the Hebrew or Greek words which cannot without some
circumlocution so briefly and fitly be expressed in the text."
7. " Such quotations of places to be marginally set down as
shall serve for the fit reference of one scripture to another."
8. " Every particular man of each company to take the same
chapter or chapters, and having translated or am ended them
severally by himself where he thinketh good, all to meet to
gether, confer what they have done, and agree for their parts
what shall stand." 9. " As any one company hath dispatched
1 According to Le Neve s Fasti, 2 This rule is referred to in their
Barlow became Dean of Chester in Preface.
June, 1602.
192 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
any one book in this manner, they shall send it to the rest to
be considered of seriously and judiciously ; for his majesty is
very careful in this point." 10. " If any company, upon the
review of the book so sent, doubt or differ upon any place, to
send them word thereof, note the place, and withal send the
reasons ; to which if they consent not, the difference to
be compounded at the general meeting, which is to be of the
chief persons of each company at the end of the work." 11.
" When any place of special obscurity is doubted of, letters to
be directed by authority to send to any learned man in the
land for his judgment of such a place." 12. "Letters to be
sent from every bishop to the rest of his clergy, admonishing
them of this translation in hand, and to move and charge as
many as being skilful in the tongues, and having taken pains
in that kind, to send his particular observations to the com
pany either at Westminster, Cambridge, or Oxford." 13. " The
directors in each company to be the Deans of Westminster and
Chester for that place and the king s professors in the Hebrew
or Greek in either University." 14. " These translations to be
used when they agree better with the text than the Bishops
Bible : Tindale s, Matthew s, Coverdale s, Whitechurch s,
Geneva."
The following was a kind of byelaw: "Besides the said
directors before mentioned, three or four of the most ancient
and grave divines in either of the Universities, not em
ployed in translating, to be assigned by the Vice-Chancellor,
upon conference with the rest of the heads, to be over
seers of the translations as well Hebrew as Greek, for the
better observation of the fourth rule above specified." This
last precept seems to have originated in some doubts which
had apparently risen at Cambridge about the meaning or
application of the third and fourth rules, when an appeal was
made to Bancroft, who replied to the Vice-Chancellor in these
terms : "To be suer, if he had not signified so much unto them
already, it was his Majestie s pleasure, that, besides the learned
persons imployed with them for the Hebrews and Greeke,
there should be three or four of the most eminent and grave
divines of their university, assigned by the Vice-Chancellour
XLIIT.] REVISERS, NOT TRANSLATORS. 193
upon conference with the rest of the heads, to be overseers of
the translations, as well Hebrew as Greek, for the better obser
vation of the rules appointed by his Highness, and especially
concerning the third and fourth rule : and that when they had
agreed uppon the persons for this purpose, he prayed them to
send him word thereof." x
These scholars are usually called Translators, and they
appropriate the name to themselves in their Dedication to
King James. But it is to be borne in mind that the first
rule set before them shows that in the stricter sense they
were simply revisers of the Bishops Bible, itself a revision
of the Great Bible, and it again a revision of Matthew s
Bible that is, of Tyndale and Coverdale. In one of the
letters already quoted, the king briefly alludes to the work
as concerned with " the former English translation, which we
have now commanded to be thoroughly viewed and amended."
Their work is also described by themselves " as a translation so
long in hand, or rather perusal of translations made before."
Wee might justly feare hard censure, if generally we should
make verball and unnecessary changings" that is, specially
upon the Bishops version. "... But it is high time to shew
in briefe what wee proposed to our selues, and what course we
held in this perusall and suruay of the Bible. Truly (good
Christian reader) we never thought from the beginning, that we
should neede to make a new translation, nor yet to make of a
bad one a good one .... but to make a good one better, or
out of many good ones, one principall good one, not justly
to be excepted against ; that hath bene our endeavour, that
our marke." And Gell s words are, 2 "Yet is not all the
blame to be laid upon the translators, but part of it is to
be shared with them also who set them at work, who by
reasons of state limited them (as some of them have much com
plained) lest they might be thought, not to set forth a new
1 In the "Brief Account" prefixed died in 1609, and Burnet was not
to Bagster s Hexapla it is said that born till 1643.
Burnet received the rules from Dr. 2 Essay toward the amendment of
Kavis, one of the translators. This the late English translation of the
could scarcely be, for Bishop Eavis Bible; Preface, p. 29. London, 1659.
VOL. II. N
194 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
translation, but rather a new Bible." Nay more, in justifying
the value and necessity of their labours, they vindicate at
the same time the principle of revision. " Many men s mouths
have bene open a good while (and yet are not stopped),
. . . and aske what may be the reason, what the
necessitie of the employment. Hath the church bene de-
ceiued, say they, all this while ? Hath her sweet bread bene
mingled with leauen, her silver with drosse, her wine with
water, her milke with lime ? Was their translation good before ?
Why do they now mend it ? Was it not good ? Why then
was it obtruded to the people ? Wee are so farre off from con
demning any of their la,bours that traueiled before us in this
kinde, either in this land or beyond sea, either in King
Henrie s time, or King Edward s (if there were any translation
or correction of a translation in his time), or Queen Elizabeth s
of ever-renowned memorie, that we acknowledge them to haue
beene raised vp of God, for the building and furnishing of His
church, and that they deserue to be had of vs and of posteritie
in euerlasting remembrance. Therefore blessed be they, and
most honoured be their name, that breake the yce, and giue the
onset vpon that which helpeth forward the sauing of soules.
Now, what can bee more auaileable thereto, then to deliuer Gods
book vnto Gods people in a tongue which they vnderstand ?"
And they apologize for their own careful revision and re-re
vision : " Nothing is begun and perfited at the same time, and
the later thoughts are thought to be the wiser: so, if we building
vpon their foundation that went before vs, and being holpen
by their labours, doe endauour to make that better which they
left so good ; no man, we are sure, hath cause to mislike vs ;
they, we perswade our selues, if they were aliue, would thanke
vs. . . . For by this meanes it commeth to passe, that whatso
ever is sound alreadie (and all is sound for substance, in one or
other of our editions, and the worst of ours farre better then
their authentike vulgar) the same will shine as gold more
brightly, being rubbed and polished; also, if any thing be halt
ing, or superfluous, or not so agreeable to the originall, the
same may bee corrected, and the trueth set in place.
Yet before we end, we must answer a third cauill and obiection
XLIII.] ARGUMENTS IN FA VOUR OF REVISION. 195
of theirs against vs, for altering and amending our Translations
so oft ; whereein truely they deale hardly, and strangely with
vs. For to whom euer it was imputed for a fault (by such as
were wise) to goe ouer that which hee had done, and to amend
it wher hee saw cause? Saint Augustine was not afraide
to exhort S. Hierome to a Palinodia or recantation ; the
same S. Augustine was not ashamed to retractate, we might
say reuoke, many things that had passed him, and doth
euen glory that he seeth his infirmities. If we will be
sonnes of the Trueth, we must consider what it speaketh, and
trample vpon our owne credit, yea and vpon other mens too, if
either be any way an hinderance to it. This to the cause :
then to the persons we say, that of all men they ought to bee
most silent in this case. 1 For what varieties haue they, and
what alterations haue they made, not onely of their Seruice
bookes, Portesses and Breuiaries, but also of their Latine
Translation ? The Seruice book supposed to be made by S.
Ambrose (Officium Ambrosianuni) was a great while in speciall
vse and request : but Pope Hadrian calling a Councill with
the ayde of Charles the Emperour, abolished it, yea, burnt it,
and commanded the Seruice-booke of Saint Gregorie vniuersally
to be used. Well Offici/u,m Gregorianum gets by this menes
to be in credit, but doeth continue without change or altering ?
No, the very Romane Seruice was of two fashions, the New
fashion, and the Old (the one vsed in one Church, the other in
another), as is to bee seene in Pamelius, a Romanist, his Pre
face, before Micrologus. The same Pamelius reporteth out of
Radulphus de Riuo, that about the yeere of our Lord, 1277,
Pope Nicolas the third remoued out of the Churches of Rome.
the more ancient bookes (of Seruice) and brought into vse the
Missals of the Friers Minorites, and commaunded them to bee
obserued there; insomuch that about an hundred yeeres
after, when the aboue named Radulphus happened to be at
Rome, he found all the bookes to be new (of the new stampe).
Neither was there this chopping and changing in the more
ancient times onely, but also of late : Pius Quintus himselfe
confesseth, that euery Bishopricke almost had a peculiar kind
1 The Catholics are referred to.
19G THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
of seruice, most vnlike to that which others had : which moued
him to abolish all other Breuiaries, though neuer so ancient,
and priuiledged and published by Bishops in their Diocesses,
and to establish and ratifie that onely which was of his owne
setting foorth, in the yeere 1568. Now, when the father of
their Church, who gladly would heale the soare of the daughter
of his people softly and sleightly, and make the best of it,
findeth so great fault with them for their oddes and iarring ;
we hope the children haue no great cause to vaunt of their
vniformitie. But the difference that appeareth betweene our
Translations, and our often correcting of them, is the thing
that wee are specially charged with ; let us see therefore
whether they themselues bee without fault this way (if it
be to be counted a fault to correct), and whether they bee
fit men to throw stones at us." " Neither did we run ouer the
worke with that posting haste that the Septuagint did, if that be
true which is reported of them, that they finished it in 72 dayes ;
the worke hath not bene hudled vp in 72 dayes, but hath cost
the workemen, as light as it seemeth, the paines of twise seuen
times seuentie two dayes and more : matters of such weight
and consequence are to bee speeded with maturitie : for in a
businesse of moment a man feareth not the blame of con-
uenient slacknesse." Those words, somewhat rhetorically used,
are perhaps not to be taken with numerical exactness, at least
John Bois is said to have " spent four years in this service."
They thus set a high value on translations of Scripture, and
could not forget that Tyndale, Rogers, and Cranmer had been
martyrs. Not only did they hold the earlier translators in
grateful veneration, but they reckoned a translation of the
Bible to be a work of necessity, and of lasting spiritual benefit.
In utter contrast to the cold and niggardly views of the
Rhemish versionists, who grudged, hesitated, and trembled to
give an English Bible to their own people, they exult in the
open unsealing and free dispersion of the inspired records :
"But how shall men meditate in that which they cannot
vnderstand ? How shall they vnderstand that which is kept
close in an vnknowen tongue ? as it is written, Except I know
the power of the voyce, / shall be to him that speaketh, a Bar-
XLIII.] TRANSLATION OF SCRIPTURE JUSTIFIED. 197
barian, and he that speaketh, shalbe a Barbarian to me. The
Apostle excepteth no tongue ; not Hebrewe the ancientest, not
Greeke the most copious, not Latine the finest. Nature taught
a naturall man to confesse, that all .of vs in those tongues
which wee doe not vnderstand, are plainely deafe ; wee may
turne the deafe eare vnto them. The Scythian counted the
Athenian, whom he did not vnderstand, barbarous: so the
Romane did the Syrian, and the lew, (euen S. Hierome him
self calleth the Hebrew tongue barbarous, belike because it
was strange to so many) so the Emperour of Constantinople
calleth the Latine tongue, barbarous, though Pope Nicolas do
storme at it : so the leives, long before Christ, called all other
nations, Logmazim, which is little better than barbarous.
Therefore, as one complaineth, that alwayes in the Senate of
Rome, there was one or other that called for an interpreter :
so lest the Church be driuen to the like exigent, it is neces
sary to haue translations in a readinesse. Translation it is
that openeth the window, to let in the light ; that breaketh
the shell, that we may eat the kernel ; that putteth aside the
curtaine, that we may look into the most Holy place; that
remooueth the couer of the well, by which meanes the flockes
of Laban were watered. Indeede without translation into the
vulgar tongue, the vnlearned are but like children at lacobs
well (which was deepe) without a bucket, or some thing to
draw with : or as that person mentioned by Esay, to whom
when a sealed booke was deliuered, with this motion, Reade
this, I pray thee, hee was faine to make this answere, / cannot,
for it is sealed.
" While God would be knowen onely in Jacob, 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 and the same people, which spake all of them the
language of Canaan, that is, Hebrewe, one and the same
origiriall in Hebrew was sufficient. But when the fulnesse of
time draw 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 leiv
onely, but also of the Greeke, yea, of all them that were scat-
198 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
tered abroad; then loe, it pleased the Lord to stirre vp the
spirit of a Greeke Prince (Greeke for descent and language),
euen of Ptoleme Pliiladelpli, 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 John Baptist did
among the lewes 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 Greek, 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 that 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
than by making a new, in that new world and greene age of
the Church, to expose themselues to many exceptions and
cavillations, as though they made a translation to serue their
owne turne, and therefore bearing witnesse to themselues, their
witnesse not to be regarded."
" 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
XLIIT.] COMMENDATION OF SCRIPTURE STUDY. 199
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 Trans
lations were too many to be all good, for they were infinite
(Latini Interpretes nullo modo numerari possunt, saith S.
Augustine). Againe, they were not out of the Hebrew foun
tain e (wee speake of the Latine Translations of the Old Testa
ment) but out of the Greeke streame, therefore the Greeke
being not altogether cleare, the Latine deriued from it must
needs be muddie. This moued S. Hierome, a most learned
father, and the best linguist, without controuersie, of his age,
or of any that went before him, to vndertake the translating
of the Old Testament, out of the very fountaines themselues ;
which hee performed with that euidence of great learning,
iudgement, industrie and faithfulnes, that he hath for euer
bound the Church vnto him, in a debt of speciall remembrance
and thankefulnesse."
These learned and good men knew the superlative value of
the book on which they had been so long working, and they
felt that their earnest labour was hallowed that the altar
sanctified the gift. They quote several of the Fathers in com
mendation of the pious and prayerful study of Scripture, and
proceed to eulogize it in these significant and old-fashioned
terms :
" The Scriptures then being acknowledged to bee so full and
so perfect, how can wee excuse our selues of negligence, if wee
doe not studie them, of curiositie, if we be not content with
them ? Men talke much of ei/oco-iwvrj, how many sweete and
goodly things it had hanging on it ; of the Philosophers stone,
that it turneth copper into gold ; of Cornu-copia, that it had
all things necessary for foode in it ; of Panaces the herbe, that
it was good for all diseases ; of Catholicon the drugge, that it
is in stead of all purges ; of Vulcans armour, that it was an
armour of proofe against all thrusts, and all blowes, &c. Well,
that which they falsly or vainely attributed to these things for
bodily good, wee may iustly and with full measure ascribe
vnto the Scripture, for spirituall. It is not onely an armour,
but also a whole armorie of weapons, both offensine and defen-
200 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
siue ; whereby we may saue our selues and put the enemie to
flight. It is not an herbe, but a tree, or rather a whole para
dise of trees of life, which bring foorth fruit euery moneth, and
the fruit thereof is for meate, and the leaues for medicine. It
is not a pot of Manna, or a cruse of oyle, which were for
memorie onely, or for a meales meate or two, but as it were a
showre of heauenly bread sufficient for a whole host, be it
neuer so great ; and as it were a whole cellar full of oyle
vessels ; whereby all our necessities may be prouided for, and
our debts discharged. In a word, it is a Panary of holesome
foode, against fenowed traditions; a Physions-shop (Saint
Basill calleth it) of preseruatives against poisoned heresies ;
a Pandect of profitable lawes, against rebellious spirits; a
treasurie of most costly iewels, against beggarly rudiments ;
Finally a fountaine of most pure water springing vp vnto
euerlasting life. And what maruaile ? The originall thereof
being from heauen, not from earth ; the authour being God,
not man; the enditer, the holy spirit, not the wit of the
Apostles or Prophets; the Pen-men such as were sanctified
from the wombe, and endewed with a principal! portion of
Gods spirit; the matter, veritie, pietie, puritie, vprightness;
the forme, Gods word, Gods testimonie, Gods oracles, the word
of trueth, the word of salvation, &c. ; the effects, light of vnder-
standing, stablenesse of perswasion, repentance from dead
workes, newnesse of life, holinesse, peace, ioy in the Holy
Ghost ; lastly, the end and reward of the studie thereof, fellow
ship with the Saints, participation of the heauenly nature,
fruition of an inheritance immortall, vndefiled, and that neuer
shall fade away: Happie is the man that delighteth in the
Scripture, and thrise happie that meditateth in it day and
night."
They set to their work with a will and in the true spirit.
Their piety and modesty are incidentally referred to :
" And in what sort did these assemble ? In the trust of their
owne knowledge, or of their sharpenesse of wit, or deepenesse of
iudgment, as it were in an arme of flesh ? At no hand. They
trusted in him that hath the key of Dauid opening and no
man shutting ; they prayed to the Lord, the Father of our
XLIII.] COMPLETION OF THE WORK. 201
Lord, to the effect that S. Augustine did; O, let thy Scriptures
be my pure delight, let me not be deceiued in them, neither let
me deceiue by them. In this confidence, and with this deuo-
tion did they assemble together ; not too many, lest one should
trouble another ; and yet many, lest many things haply
might escape them."
When the task was completed at Oxford, Cambridge, and
Westminster, three copies were sent to London and revised
again by two from each company or place, 1 and this supervision
occupied nine months. Thus the pages were considei-ed by
all the companies in succession, and Dr. Myles Smith and Dr.
Bilson, " who carried prelature in his very aspect," and whose
name does not appear among the revisers, superintended the
work at press. But the account given by Samuel Ward, one of
the revisers, in name of the English delegates (Theologi Angli)
to the Synod of Dort in November, 1618, differs from that
given in the previous paragraphs. It reduces the rules for the
translators to seven, and says that twelve persons were selected
for the final review. 2 On the other hand, it is recorded that
Downes and Bois went up to London, and there met their
" four fellow-labourers." 3
This last revision required pecuniary expenditure, but it was
not defrayed by the king, or from the funds of the church.
Each of the revisers received thirty shillings a week, not,
as Lewis reports, thirty pounds, which Barker seems to have
paid. One authority says that the wages were paid by the
Stationers Company; but another writer on this subject, in
1651, asserts openly, "and forasmuch as propriety rightly con-
siderd is a legal relation of any one to a temporal good, I con
ceive the sole printing of the Bible and Testament, with power of
restraint in others, to be of right the property of one Matthew
Barker, citizen and stationer of London, in regard that his
father paid for the amended or corrected translation of the
Bible 3,500 by reason whereof the translated copy did
1 Twelve persons in the one case 3 Life of John Bois, by Dr. A. Wal-
and six in the other, ker, Harleian MSS., printed in Peck,
2 Acta Synodi Nat. Dordrecht., p. Desiderata Curiosa. See also Scriv-
27, 28. ener^s Introduction, p. xiv.
202 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
of right belong to himself and his assigns." l According to the
same author, Matthew Barker paid 600 for a reversionary
patent in 1635.
After so long a period of anxious labour, carried out in the
spirit of true scholarship and genuine piety, the new Bible
was issued in 1611, under the title :
" The Holy Bible, Conteyning the Old Testament and the
New. Newly Translated out of the Originall tongues: and
with the former Translations, diligently compared and revised
by his Majesty s Speciall Comman dement. Appointed to be read
in Churches. Imprinted at London by Robert Barker, Printer
to the King s Most Excellent Majesty. Anno Dom. 1611."
It was published in handsome folio, and in that year there
were two issues one with a beautiful frontispiece, engraved on
copper, by C. Boel, of Richmont. Which of the two issues is
the earlier, it is difficult to say, especially after what Mr. Fry 2
of Bristol, Mr. Lenox 3 of New York, and Dr. Scrivener, 4 have
written on both sides of the question. We are, however, still
inclined to the more common opinion that the issue with
Boel s engraving is the earlier of the two. The titles and
sheets of the several editions were often craftily mixed up to
deceive buyers into the belief that they were purchasing an
early issue.
The volume was disfigured by a dedication of fulsome
magniloquence to the king, " the sun in his strength," " that
sanctified person, enriched with many singular and extraor
dinary graces," " the wonder of the world in this latter age."
It concludes with a fling at the Puritans : "Or if, on the other
side, we shall be maligned by self-conceited brethren, who run
1 Quoted by Mr. Anderson in his 2 A Description of the Great Bible,
Annals, vol. II, p. 384, and by Mr. &c., and of the Authorized Version,
Potts, M.A., and tutor in Cam- &c., by Francis Fry, F.S.A., London,
bridge, in his evidence before a select 1865.
committee of the House of Com- 3 Early Editions of King James s
mons, 1860, from a brief treatise Bible in folio, New York, 1861.
" concerning the regulating of print- 4 Introduction to the Cambridge
ing humbly submitted to the Parlia- Paragraph Bible, 1873.
ment of England by William Ball,
Esq., London, 1651."
XLIII.] DEDICATION TO THE KING. 203
their own ways, and give liking unto nothing but what is
framed by themselves, and hammered on their anvil, we may
rest secure, supported within by the truth and innocency of a
good conscience, having walked the ways of simplicity and
integrity, as before the Lord, and sustained without by the
powerful protection of Your Majesty s grace and favour, which
will ever give countenance to honest and Christian endeavours
against bitter censures and uncharitable imputations." The
Preface, which, though it is composed in the elaborate style
of the age, and gemmed with so many patristic quotations,
is yet in many points of great excellence alike in tone and
aim, in candour and criticism ; in the points discussed, the
arguments maintained, and the anticipations cherished as to
the result both in church and land by the divine blessing.
It is, however, as eulogistic of the king as is the Dedication ;
" This, and more to this purpose. His Maiestie that now
reigneth (and long, and long may he reigne, and his offspring
for euer, Himselfe and children, and childrens children
ahuayes) knew full well, according to the singular wisedome
giuen vnto him by God, and the rare learning and experience
that he hath attained vnto ; namely that whosoeuer attempteth
any thing for the publike (specially if it pertaine to Religion,
and to the opening and clearing of the word of God) the same
setteth himselfe vpon a stage to be glouted vpon by euery euil
eye, yea, he casteth himselfe headlong vpon pikes, to be gored
by euery sharpe tongue. For he that medleth with mens
Religion in any part, medleth with their custome, nay, with
their freehold ; and though they finde no content in that
which they haue, yet they cannot abide to heare of altering.
Notwithstanding his Royall heart was not daunted or dis
couraged for this or that colour, but stood resolute, as a statue
immoueable, and an anuile not easie to be beaten into plates,
as one sayth ; he knew who had chosen him to be a Souldier,
or rather a Captaine, and being assured that the course which
he intended made much for the glory of God, & the building
vp of his Church, he would not suffer it to be broken off for
whatsoeuer speaches or practises." A kind word is also said
in defence of public burdens, and the sentences must have
>04 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
highly pleased his majesty, who, with great need of his sub
jects money, and an intense craving after it, imagined that
he had an inherent claim upon it. "Dauid was a worthy
Prince, and no man to be compared to him for his first deedes,
and yet for as worthy an acte as euer he did (euen for bring
ing backe the Arke of God in solemnitie) he was scorned and
scoffed at by his owne wife. Solomon was greater than Dauid,
/
though not in vertue, yet in power: and by his power and
wisdome he built a Temple to the Lord, such a one as was the
glory of the land of Israel, and the wonder of the whole world.
But was that his magnificence liked of by all ? We doubt of
it. Otherwise, why doe they lay it in his sonnes dish, and
call vnto him for easing of the burden, Make, say they, the
grieuous seruitude of thy father, and his sore yoke, lighter.
Belike he had charged them with some leuies, and troubled
them with some cariages ; Hereupon they raise vp a tragedie,
and wish in their heart the Temple had neuer bene built.
So hard a thing it is to please all, euen when we please God
best, and do seeke to approue our selues to euery ones con
science."
The clause on the title-page, "Appointed to be read in
churches," has, so far as is known, no authority, no edict of
Convocation, no Act of Parliament, no decision of the Privy
Council, no royal proclamation. At the same time, the new
edition had virtual authority by the order of succession, by the
law of entail and lineage ; for it was made as a national book,
by royal order, on purpose to displace the Bishops Bible, and
it had succeeded the Great Bible which had been formally
authorized by the crown. The clause under review, it is said,
has been sometimes understood as if it were connected with
the previous words " by his majesty s special command." But
its omission in some editions, especially of the New Testament,
means nothing. When the two Testaments were bound up
together, it was enough that it was printed on the first and
general title-page which covered the whole volume, and it was
engraven on the copper-plate title of the first edition. Yet the
first folio in Roman character omits it, but that was in 1616.
The first edition was meant to set the model for all subsequent
XLIII.] GALLOWAY THE ROYAL CHAPLAIN. 9Q5
issues. The " churches " are only those in connection with the
Established Church of England, " this whole church to be
bound into it and none other," according to the minute of
Conference. The Dedication, also, expressly declares, "we
have great hopes that the Church of England shall reap great
good thereby." * None but members of that church had any
hand in the work. Yet the first letter of Genesis in the Bible has
in it the rose and thistle. In the Preface Puritans are twice
referred to in a somewhat scornful spirit, and also in the Dedi
cation ; while Archbishop Bancroft is called " the chief overseer
under his majesty, to whom, not only we, but also our whole
church was much bound." 2 The Puritan party that suggested
the translation were not Nonconformists. Nor were they in
sympathy with Scotch Presbyterians. Reynolds wrote in
defence of the Liturgy, and Sparke in favour of conformity.
His own party disowned Reynolds and his colleagues, as being
" not of their nomination or choosing, or of one judgment "
with them. 3 The millenary petitioners disclaimed all con
nection with the Presbyterian and "popular party in the
church, and with all separatists who sought the dissolution of
the state ecclesiastical."
But it has been surmised that the Scottish Church was in
some way represented by Galloway. Galloway had been a
minister in Perth, many years before the time of the Conference,
and had been one of the royal chaplains from 1589 to 1607. He
had been obliged to fly for safety to England in 1584, because he
had so resolutely preached against Lennox and Arran ; and he
had been "decourted" in 1601 "at the instance of the Queen."
He wrote, as told in a previous page, an account of the meetings,
which, after the king had revised it, he sent as "a just transumpt"
down to the Presbytery of Edinburgh. But he was reckoned, in
the phrase of the period, "a fallen star"; and in no sense did he
1 And so Dr. Scrivener says that 2 Bancroft died on the 2nd of
the "five clergymen who revised November, 1610.
some of the Epistles, in or about 3 Neale s History of the Puritans,
1858, benefited the English Church vol. I, p. 463.
by revising its Authorized Version."
Criticism, p. 545, 2nd Edition, 1874.
206 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
represent the Church of Scotland ; for he was employed as one of
the royal tools in attempts to subvert its distinctive constitu
tion ; and these papers sent down to Edinburgh from Hampton
Court were a portion of the process. His career, as a courtier,
was so successful that his son was raised to the peerage by
the title of Lord Dunkeld. l When the Edinburgh ministers
were arbitrarily banished from the city, for refusing to accept,
on all points, the king s account of the Gowrie conspiracy,
Galloway preached vigorously in the royal defence, and applied
to the sovereign without reserve the words and imagery in
which the psalmist describes his great deliverances. Eight
ministers were, indeed, summoned up from Scotland in 1606,
but the points to be discussed by or before them were the royal
prerogative and power to summon and dismiss ecclesiastical
assemblies. The Scottish party would not listen to the voice
of the charmer, though the voice was lordly and learned ; the
discourses of four episcopalian dignitaries produced no effect
upon them, and so far from being employed in the work of
translation, they were not only forbidden to attend church
courts any more, but were severely punished. Andrew Mel
ville, Principal of the University of St. Andrews, after being
deprived of his academic office, was sent to the Tower 2 by a
court which had no jurisdiction over him, and he obtained his
liberty by exiling himself at the age of sixty-six. The others
were bound to fix their dwellings in various places, many miles
distant from the scenes of their usual pastoral labours. Mel
ville had been so imprudent as to write a smart Latin epigram
on the decorations of the altar in the royal chapel, and on being
challenged for it he flared into high words with Bancroft, and
twitted him with writing a book against the succession of
1 This son became first " Master the French service." Douglas s
of Bequests and conjunct Secretary Peerage of Scotland, vol. I, p. 483.
of State, along with the Eai l of 2 Adversity creates strange fellow-
Stirling, and was elevated to the ships. Melville met Hamilton " the
peerage in 1645. The third son Skirmisher " (page 54) in the Tower,
joined the army of Claverhouse, and as a fellow-prisoner, got into friendly
being outlawed after Killiecrankie, intercourse with him, and attended
retired to the court of St. Germains, him with great kindness in his last
and the fourth son was an officer in moments.
XLIII.] FULLER S EULOGY OF THE NEW BIBLE. 207
James to the English crown. Producing the book from
his pocket, and getting into closer than logical proximity to the
enraged prelate, he shook him "freely and roundly by his
popish rags." l
The welcome which many in England gave to the new
translation is gratefully expressed by Fuller : " And now,
after long expectation and great desire, came forth the new
translation of the Bible (most beautifully printed), by a select
and competent number of divines appointed for that purpose ;
not being too many lest one should trouble another, aud yet
many lest any things might haply escape them ; who, neither
coveting praise for expedition, nor fearing reproach for slack
ness (seeing, in a business of moment, none deserve blame for
convenient slowness), had expended almost three years in the
work, not only examining the channels by the fountain, trans
lations with the original, which was absolutely necessary ; but
also comparing channels with channels, which was abundantly
useful, in the Spanish, Italian, French, and Dutch languages.
So that their industry, skilfulness, piety, and discretion have
therein bound the Church unto them in a debt of special
remembrance and thankfulness. These, with Jacob, rolled
away the stone from the mouth of the well of life, Gen. xxix,
1 ; so that even Rachels, weak women, may freely come, both
to drink themselves, and water the flocks of their families at
the same." 2
1 Melville s Diary, p. 679. James s such a quantity of gunpowder, his
Scottish countrymen were far from sudden reply was, "To blow you
being popular at this time, and their beggarly Scotch back to your barren
unpopularity was increased by the hills." So unpopular were Scotch-
case of Calvin or of the postnati, men in 1612, that three thousand
the question being, "What were the of them passed homeward, through
civil rights in England of persons Ware, in ten days. Nichol s Pro-
born in Scotland since 1603 ? "Were gresses, vol. II, p. 649.
they aliens or not ? When Guy 2 Church History of Britain, vol.
Fawkes, on his trial, was asked by a III, p. 245.
Scottish peer why he had stored up
The name given in the Preface as " Efnard " should be " Eiuard," the
abridger of the French Psalter, Ussher s Letter to "Ward, Works, vol.
XV, p. 291.
CHAPTER XLIV.
"DUT while the Bishops Bible was to be " as little altered "
as possible, the revision was made by the constant use and
comparison of the Hebrew and Greek originals. Their own
words are ; " If you aske what they had before them, truely it
was the Hebrewe text of the Olde Testament, the Greeke of the
New. These are the two golden pipes or rather conduits
where through the oliue branches emptie themselues into the
golde. Saint Augustine calleth them precedent or originall
tongues: Saint Hierome fountaines. The same Saint Hierome
affirmeth, and Gratian hath not spared to put it into his Decree,
That as the credit of the olde bookes (he meaneth of the Old
Testament) is to be tryed by the Hebrewe volumes, so of the
New by the Greeke tongue (he meaneth by the originall
Greeke.) If trueth be to be tried by these tongues, then
whence should a translation be made, but out of them? These
tongues therefore, the Scripture wee say in these tongues, wee
set before vs to translate, being the tongues wherein God was
pleased to speake to His church by His prophets and apostles."
These translators had not, of course, the so-called Textus Re-
ceptus either of the Old or of the New Testaments the former
being the edition of Van der Hooght, 1 and the second that of
the Elzevirs. 2 But of Hebrew Bibles they had a choice, as
is shown in a statement on page 209. They had access also
to the Complutensian Polyglott 3 and to the Antwerp Poly-
1 Amsterdam, 1705. of which 600 copies were printed,
" Leyden, 1624. was delayed in publication by the
3 The Old Testament is contained death of its patron on the 8th
in vol. I-IV. The entire book, November, 1517, and Pope Leo
HEBREW TEXT OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. 209
glott. 1 They had thus more than one edition which they could
use, and they made some collations.
The Hebrew text of the Old Testament is far from being in
a perfect state, and there are but scanty means of amending it.
No Hebrew manuscripts are of very ancient date, few going
beyond the twelfth century, and it is perilous to attempt to
introduce alterations either from the Septuagint, the Samaritan
Pentateuch, or the Targurns. But the Masoretic notes bearing
chiefly on the text are also grammatical, lexical, euphemistic,
and exegetical, and they are abundant. Elias Levita reck
oned them at 848, while Capell found no less than 1171.
What is technically called the Keri and the Chetib refer to the
spelling and pronunciation, but such various readings were
not always regarded by the translators, who were quite cap
ricious in their treatment. Thus the Masora gives fifteen
instances where lo should be written so as to signify " to him "
and not to signify " not." 2 Thus in Isaiah ix, 3, in the clause
"thou hast not increased the joy," which contradicts the rest of
the verse, " they joy before Thee," the translators put the note
" to him " into the margin though it should have been in the
text. In Exodus xxi, 8, " not " should be " to himself " as
the Masora intimates, and this is accepted into the text with
out any remark. Words omitted altogether in the Hebrew
text are supplied by the Masorets, and these supplements are
accepted by the royal revisers usually, but not always, without
any reference. On the other hand, spurious words are also
marked, and the translators made their choice of text or
margin, but not always with judicious preference. 3 The ex
traordinary marks over words and letters have been often ne
glected. Thus in Judges xviii, 30, the n in the proper name
Ma?iasseh is so marked, the hanging form of the n denoting
did not license it till March 22ud, lation of Arias Montanus, which is
1520. a revision of that of Pagninus.
1 The Antwerp Polyglott was pub- 2 i 1 ? to him ; xh not.
lished in 1569-72, and in addition to 3 The same remark may be made
the text found in the Complutensian to some extent about some of the
it has a Chaldee paraphrase, the writers in the Speaker s Comnien-
Syriac version and the Latin trans- tary.
VOL. II. O
210 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
that the name should be Moses, the common reading having
been devised to conceal the fact that this idolatrous priest
was the son of Gershom and grandson of Moses. 1 There are
eighteen corrections of the scribes (Tikkun Sopherim) some
times conjectural and sometimes based on exegetical opinions.
Gen. xviii, 22, might be " and Jehovah stood yet before
Abraham." The reading which has been altered may be in many
cases the original reading. Habakkuk i, 12, might read as
Ewald prefers "Art Thou not from everlasting." . . .
" Thou diest not." Geiger usually adopts these readings.
Three readings of no moment are formally marked, Ezra
x, 40, at the word " Machnadebai " the margin has or
" Mabnadebai according to some copies." Psalms cii, 3, " my
days are consumed like smoke," " or as some read into
smoke." Cant, v, 4, " for him," " or as some read, in me."
But there are at least sixty-seven notes referring to various
readings of the Hebrew, generally pointed out on the margin
by " or." In about half of them the Keri is given while the
Chetib is kept in the text, but also in many cases the pro
cess is reversed. As these readings have generally the same
initial mark as the alternative renderings, they are often not
distinguished by the common reader. 2 They ignored, of course,
the Masoretic notes at the end of each book such notes as
tell the number of the verses and letters in it, point out the
middle verse, and mark the larger and shorter sections, with
other similar minutiae. The revisers of the Old Testament
were excellent Hebrew scholars, six of them then or after
wards held the chair of Hebrew at Oxford and Cambridge
Lively had held it for thirty years ; Bedwell was of unrivalled
fame as an Arabic scholar. Many parts of the Old Testa
ment, especially in the Historical Books and the Psalms, are
admirably done. 3
1 ntf 3 Q. found in Dr. Davidson s Hebrew
2 The list is given in Dr. Scrive- text of the Old Testament (London,
ner s Introduction to the Cambridge 1855), and many sound scholarly
Paragraph Bible, p. 25. suggestions are contained in several
3 Many acute and excellent re- parts of his volume " On a Fresh
marks on the Hebrew text will be Eevision of the English Old Testa-
XLIV.] GREEK TEXT OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 211
They used their own judgment in selecting a Greek text of
the New Testament. That which they generally used was the
best within their reach at the time, and it is substantially that
of Beza, 1589, it being taken from Stephens s folio of 1550,
with some variations; while both Stephens and Beza were
based on the fourth edition of Erasmus. The common statement
is that in about eighty-one places they agree with Beza against
Stephens; in about twenty-one places they agree with Stephens
against Beza; while in twenty-nine places they follow neither,
but are guided by Erasmus, the Vulgate, or the Complutensian
Polyglott. 1 In places in the New Testament where they
could not decide they gave an alternative in the margin, Beza
being followed in the text, and Stephens put in the margin, or
vice versa. Thus Matt, xxi, 7, " set him thereon," B, 2 instead of
" he sat thereon," St. ; xxiii, 13, 14, in the order of the verses,
B. ; Mark ix, 16, "with them," St. ; margin, " or, among your
selves," after the rendering of the Yulgate and Beza, who adds
that this is the reading of his oldest MS. ; 3 ix, 40, " he that is
not against us," B., " you," St. ; Luke ii, 38, " Jerusalem," St.,
margin, " or, Israel," after Beza s note ; John xviii, 15, where
the margin, without any explanation, abruptly reads, " And
Annas sent Christ bound unto Caiaphas, the high priest,"
taken from the Bishops Bible, and though not inserted by
Beza into his last text, yet is justified by him ; Rom. vii, 6,
" that being dead wherein," B., margin, " or, being dead to
ment, London, 1873." See Delitzsch, Authorized Version agrees with
Studies on the Complutensian Poly- Beza of 1589 against Stephens of
glott, Bagster and Sons, London, 1550 in about ninety places, with
and the Delitzsch-Tregelles Hand- Stephens against Beza in about
schriftl. Funde. Leipzig, 1861-63. forty places, and that in about from
1 The list with some variations is thirty to forty places it differs from
given by Canon Westcott in the both. There are cases in which it
article " New Testament " in Smith s is impossible to decide the Greek
Dictionary of the Bible, vol. II, reading from the English version.
p. 254 ; by Dr. Scrivener, in the Schaff, Eevision of the English Ver-
introduction to the Cambridge Bible, sioii, p. xxv, New York, 1873.
appendix E ; also by Profes- 2 B. is Beza ; St. is Stephens,
sor Abbot of Harvard University. 3 kv vfj.iv.
This last list would show that the
212 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
that," St.; viii, 11, "by his spirit," B., margin, "or, on account of
his spirit," St. ; 1 Peter i, -i, " for you," B., margin, " for us," St. ;
2 Peter i, 3, "to glory," B., margin, " or, by," St.; Kom. v, 17,
by one man s offence," St., margin, "or, by one offence," B s
Latin; Gal. iv, 17, "they would exclude you," St., margin, " or,
us," B. In Heb. x, 2, the interrogative form is from Stephens,
" for then would they not have ceased to be offered ? " margin,
" or, they would have ceased to be offered," B. In Matt, ii, 11,
x, 10, 2 Peter i, 1, they forsake both Beza and Stephens ; in
John xviii, 1, Acts xxviii, 29, they prefer the reading of the
Vulgate, and from it also is taken the alternative rendering of
the margin in Matt, xxiv, 31, " or, with a trumpet, and a great
voice."
But different readings in the New Testament are also for
mally inserted in the margin. There are thirty-five such
textual notes, and the following are a sample of them : Matt, i,
11, margin, "Some read, Josias begat Jakim, and Jakim begat
Jechonias," a marginal reading of Stephens, but of no authority
first accepted by Beza, and then rejected by him in his third
edition. Matt, xxvi, 26, " Jesus took bread and blessed it " ;
margin, " Many Greek copies have, Gave thanks." Their text
follows Stephens and Beza, and the note is based on Beza, who
says that " gave thanks " is read in some old codices, and that
both words are used in Mark, viii, C, 7, in reference to the same
meal, adding some further thoughts on, or rather against, tran-
substantiation. But the reading is baseless, being introduced
from the usage of Luke and Paul. Luke x, 22, at the begin
ning of the verse the margin says, " Many ancient copies add
these words, And turning to his disciples, he said." In omit
ting this clause from their text, they deserted Stephens and
followed Beza. The reading has, however, some manuscript
authority, and some of the oldest versions, and is accepted by
Tischendorf in his seventh edition, and even in his eighth,
though the Sinaitic MS. omits it. It is omitted by Tregelles,
and bracketed by Alford. Luke xvii, 36, " Two men shall be
in the field, the one shall be taken and the other left " ; margin,
" This verse is wanting in most of the Greek copies," yet it is
kept in the text after Beza, who says that it is in the Syriac, the
XLIV.] STEPHENS AND BEZA. 213
Complutensian, and some old codices. Erasmus and Stephens
both omitted it ; it has some support in versions, but MSS. are
against it. Acts xxv, 6, " more than ten days " ; margin, " Or
as some copies read, No more than eight or ten days," the
reading of the Vulgate, Sj^riac, and Coptic versions, and now
accepted on great diplomatic authority. Ephesians vi, 9 }
" knowing that your master is also in heaven"; margin, " Some
read, Both your and their master," and this is now the
accepted reading, supported by preponderant evidence. Here,
again, they follow Beza, and he admits the various reading in his
own Latin version. 1 James ii, 18, " Show me thy faith without
thy works " ; margin, " Some copies read, By thy works," but
these copies are of little weight. Beza rejected the reading
" by thy works" as very frigid and jejune ; but Stephens keeps
it, and notes the other in the margin. 1 Peter ii, 21, "because
Christ also suffered for us"; margin, "Some read, for you," Beza
affirming that the reading "you " is rashly corrupted " to bring
the clause into correspondence with the person of the previous
verse." Stephens puts the reading in his margin. But there
is every authority for " suffered for you," " leaving you." No
uncial MS. reads " for us," " leaving us " ; though two read with
the Vulgate " suffered for us," " leaving you." 2 Peter ii, 2,
" their pernicious ways " ; margin, "or lascivious ways, as some
copies read " Stephens and Beza are followed Beza quoting
the Vulgate, the Complutensian, and six MSS. The reading pre
ferred by our translators has no manuscript authority. 2 Peter
ii, 11, "railing accusation against them"; margin, "Some read,
against themselves," a various reading of no value in the
margin of Stephens, and condemned by Beza. 2 2 Peter ii, 18,
"those that are clean escaped " ; margin, " Or, for a little, or a
while," as some read. The reading rests on high authority.
Stephen notes it in his margin. Beza prefers paululum, but
his note has a polemical tinge. 2 John 8, " that we lose not
those things which we have wrought, but that we receive " ;
margin, " Some copies read, which ye have gained, but that ye
receive, &c." Stephens notices the reading in his margin
1 Et illorum et vester dominus.
2 The Vulgate having adversum se, and Erasmus adversus sese.
THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
which is that of the Vulgate, and there are variations. Finally,
the last clause of 1 John ii, 23, is thus printed, " [but] he that
acknowledged the Son hath the Father also." The italics are
not employed, as usually, to mark a supplement, but to show
that the words were regarded as suspicious. Why they should
have chosen such a method of indication in this place only, it
is impossible to conjecture. Stephens excluded the clause, but
has a reference to it in the margin. Beza, however, admits it
without hesitation, nay, vindicates his restoration of it from
MSS., the Vulgate, and the style of the Apostle, which is very
often marked by such antitheses. The clause rests on un
doubted authority. Beza was followed in some doubtful cases,
but here he is followed timidly, and no marginal comment is
added. They imitate the Bishops and the Great Bible in their
mode of printing it, while Tyndale and Coverdale omit it
altogether. 1
They were wisely forbidden to append theological notes, but
they vindicate in their preface the necessity and benefit of
marginal renderings. " Some, peraduenture, would haue no
varietie of sences to be set in the margine, lest the authoritie
of the Scriptures for deciding of controuersies by that show of
vncertaintie, should somewhat be shaken. But we hold their
judgmet not to be so sound in this point. For though what-
soeuer things are necessary, are manifest, as S. Chrysostome
saith, and S. Augustine. In those things that are plainely set
downe in the Scriptures all such matters are found that con
cern faith, hope, and charitie. Yet for all that it cannot be
dissembled, that partly to exercise and whet our wits, partly
to weane the curious from loathing of them for their euery-
where-plainenesse, partly also to stirre vp our deuotion to
craue the assistance of Gods spirit by prayer, and lastly that
1 The margin of the New Testa- own possession, and some of which
ment of Eobert Stephens, 1550, is have not as yet been identified,
not of great value. He did not His text usually differs from the
print all the various readings which majority of the readings in the
his son Henry had gathered, nor margin, and in nineteen places it
did he fully collate all the sixteen disagrees with them all.
MSS., affirmed by him to be in his
XLIV.] MARGINAL NOTES. 215
we might be forward to seek ayd of our brethren by conference,
and never to scorn those that be not in all respects so complete
as they should bee, being to seeke in many things our selues, it
hath pleased God in his diuine prouidence, heere and there to
scatter wordes and sentences of that difficultie and doubtful-
nesse, not in doctrinal points that concerne saluation, (for in
such it hath been vouched that the Scriptures are plaine) but in
matters of lesse moment." In this spirit, in addition to textual
notes, they appended 6,687 marginal notes to the Old Testa
ment two-thirds of these expressing the more literal meaning
of the Hebrew or Chaldee, having "Heb." or "Chald." prefixed,
and of the remainder 2,156 contain alternative renderings,
proper names are explained in 63, 240 contain an attempt to
harmonize the text especially as to the spelling of proper
names, 108 of these naturally belonging to the Books of
Chronicles. 1 In the New Testament they placed 765 of these
35 state various readings, 582 are alternative renderings, 112
give more literal translations, and, quite in contrast to the
Genevan, only 35 present explanations.
Many of the Notes, especially in the Old Testament, ex
plain symbolic names like those in Hosea i, ii ; and sometimes
the Hebrew geographical name is put in the margin, when
another term has been put into the text, as Gush, Ethiopia
Aram, Mesopotamia ; Ararat, Armenia. When a Hebrew or a
foreign term is kept in the text, it is occasionally explained
in the margin : as Jasher, " of the upright," 2 Samuel i, 18 ;
mammon, "riches," Luke xvi, 11; but they attach no note to
Raca in Matt, v, 22. And, conversely, the original term " tera-
phim " is carried to the margin, " images " remaining in the
text, Gen. xxxi, 19 ; " the giant " is reserved for the text,
" Rapha " relegated to the margin, 2 Sam. xxi, 16 ; " Praise ye
the Lord " is in the text, and " Hallelujah " in the margin,
Psalm cvi, 1, but no note is given to the same clause just before
the conclusion of the previous Psalm. They were in great
1 1 Chron. i, 6, Eiphath in the cording to Dr. Scrivener, there are
text is Diphath in the margin ; 7, 1,016 marginal notes in the Apo-
Dodauim, Rodanim ; 17, Meshech, crypha.
Mash ; 30, Had ad, Hadar. Ac-
216
THE ENGLISH BIBLE.
[CHAP.
doubt as to the meaning of two names in Isaiah Ixv, 11, and
they put the Hebrew terms " Gad," " Meni," in the margin ;
and they felt a similar bewilderment at Ezekiel xliii, 15. A
more literal rendering than that of the text is frequently set in
the margin : Gen. xxxi, 2, " as yesterday and the day before " ;
1 Kings i, 25, " let king Adonijah live " ; Psalms ii, 6,
"anointed" "upon Zion the hill of my holiness." There are
also alternative renderings, as if giving the reader his choice :
Gen. vii, 11, "windows," margin, "flood-gates"; i, 6, " firma
ment," margin, "expansion"; Gen. xxxi, 54, "offered sacri
fices," margin, " killed beasts " ; Exodus xii, 6, " in the even
ing," margin, " between the two evenings " ; Psalms xviii,
26, "thou wilt show thy self froward," margin, "wrestle."
Geographical annotations are sometimes found : 2 Kings xxiii,
13, " mount of Corruption," margin, " that is, the mount of
Olives " ; 2 Chron. ix, 26, " the river," margin, " that is,
Euphrates " ; Acts xxvii, 7, " Crete," margin, " or, Candy."
There are a few general notes interspersed l : Gen. vi, 5, margin,
" the Hebrew word signifieth not only the imagination, but
also the purposes and desires"; Exodus xxix, 13, on "caul," 2
the margin is, "It seemeth by anatomy and the Hebrew
doctors to be the midriff"; 2 Samuel xxiv, 1, "he made
David to number," margin, "Satan"; Job x, 17, "thy wit
nesses," margin, " that is, thy plagues " ; xii, 13, " with him,"
margin, " that is, with God " ; xxvii, 3, " spirit of God,"
margin, "that is, the breath which God gave"; Psalms xxiv, 6,
" Jacob," margin, " or, O God of Jacob." In John xviii, verse
24 is made a note to verse 13; Acts xvii, 19, "Areopagus,"
margin, " or, Mars hill. It was the highest court in Athens " ;
1 Cor. xi, 10, "power," margin, "that is, a covering or sign
1 These examples, inserted by the
revisers themselves, belong to the
first edition. The notes were vastly
multiplied in subsequent issues,
and without authority.
2 It may be added that in Hosea
xiii, 8, the caul of the heart is men
tioned, that is, the membrane en
closing the heart. The name is also
given in Isaiah iii to some species of
network that formed a portion of
female head-dress. But in the
Hebrew text of Exodus, Isaiah, and
Hosea three different words are
employed.
XLIV.] NO HISTORICAL NOTES. 217
that she is under the power of her husband." There is also a
note of some length to Acts xiii, 34, and to Mark vii, 3. Ex
planations of weights and of measures, and of terms denoting
distances are also given. But there are no historical notes, for
they are virtually an interpretation based on some scheme of
chronology. The Bibles in common currency and use have
many of these historical notes, but the translators themselves
did not append them, They are therefore in no way respon
sible for the notes at Judges iii, 31 ; iv, 2 ; xi, 29 ; xii, 8, 11,
13; xiii, 1 ; xv, 20 ; 1 Sam. iv, 18; 2 Kings i, 17; viii, 17;
1 Chron. i, 50 ; Daniel i, 21 ; ix, 24 ; Hosea xiii, 10. Nor are
they responsible for the reference to Josephus in Genesis xxii, 1,
and 2 Kings xiv, 8 ; or for that to Ussher, 2 Kings xv, 30 ; or
for the prefatory note to the Book of Job ; nor that on Psalm
Ix, 8 ; or Hosea ix, 3 ; or for that at the beginning of 2 Kings
xv, in which the word "monarchy" occurs in the sense of
" sole reign." All those are later interpolations, and have
been brought in from time to time without recognized autho
rity ; 269 of such notes first appeared in the edition of Dr.
Paris, 1762 ; and Dr. Blayney added 66 additional annotations.
A large group of these notes may be seen at the end of Daniel
ix, the one note of the first edition being omitted altogether.
The chronology of Archbishop Ussher has also been inserted, and
is now found in the most of Bibles, though it has not a satisfac
tory basis. It is startling to find that the epoch of the creation,
the deluge, and the call of Abram is given without any mis
giving, while Job is assigned to about 1520 B.C., and 1,000
years B.C. runs through the first twenty-four chapters of
Proverbs, and then 300 years are suddenly deducted, and
it becomes "about B.C. 700." There are no distinct chrono
logical data given in the earlier chapters of Genesis. For
it is said x, 15, " Canaan begat Sidon his firstborn, and
Heth," but the next clause adds the names of tribes be
gotten by him, " the Jebusite and the Amorite," &c., a
mode of expression that makes a very large and indefinite
demand on time. The date assigned to the earthquake, B.C.
787, is certainly not correct, nor can 862, prefixed to Jonah
be the true year.
218 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
It would be a great exaggeration to say that the marginal ren
derings are better than those of the text, but not a few of them
certainly are preferable, as those attached to Gen. xxi, 33;
Deut. xxi, 23 ; Josh, xx, 7 ; Psalm ii, G ; xxix, 2 ; Prov. iv, 23 ;
Ezek. xxix, 10 ; Matt, ii, 6, 11 ; v, 21 ; xxii, 20 ; xxiii, 18 ;
Mark vii, 3 ; x, 52; John i, 12 ; xiv, 18 ; Acts xiii, 36 ; xvii,
23 ; xix, 38, 39 ; xxv, 20 ; xxvii, 40 ; Romans iii, 25 ; vii, 7 ;
Galatiaus iv, 25 ; Ephesians i, 19 ; vi, 24 ; 1 Thess. i, 4 ; 2
Thess. i, 7; Titus, ii, 11 ; Hebrews ii, 16 ; vi, 7, 17 ; vii, 3, 28 ;
2 Peter iii, 12 : 3 John 14; Rev. iii, 14, &c., &c. Yet no one
will fully adopt the statement of Gell, " that the translators
have placed some different significations in the margent, but
these mostwhat the better, because where truth is tried by
most voyces it is commonly outvoted." l
The fourteenth rule given to the translators exhorted them,
in cases of doubt and difficulty, to consult Tyndale, Matthew,
Coverdale, Whitchurch, Geneva. The order is peculiar, in that
it places Matthew before Coverdale, and calls the Great Bible
by the name of one of its printers Whitchurch. 2 The refer
ence to Matthew was superfluous, as his Bible is simply made
up of Tyndale and Coverdale. This rule the translators did
not specially regard, for they knew that these versions were a
series of revisions, and therefore they revised the Bishops by
the help of its contemporary, the Genevan. In fact, they
clung as closely to it as to the Bishops , though they often differ
with advantage from both. In the historical books they keep
near the Bishops . The royal condemnation of the Genevan
did not affect them, but they gave it its just place in their
estimation, and, especially in the prophetic books, adopt it as
often as they adopt the Bishops . Professor Moulton s exact
calculation is that, in one hundred and eighty-two words of
six verses, Isaiah liv, 11-17, eighty remain unchanged from
the previous versions, sixty are from the Genevan, and only
twelve are from the Bishops . 3 In the familiar fifty-third
chapter of Isaiah, Canon Westcott has counted that of the
1 Essay toward the Amendment of 2 Whitchurch had married the
the last English Translation, pre- widow of Cranmer.
face p. 24, London, 1659. 3 Bible Educator, vol. IV, p. 380.
XLIV.] HELP FROM VARIOUS TRANSLATIONS. 219
variations seven-eighths are due to the Genevan. 1 Arid they
made use of another version, not mentioned to them at all
the Rheims. 2 The Genevan represented an extreme section
of Protestant English refugees, and the Rheims a party of
extreme Popish exiles ; but they profited by the consultation
of both versions. Many happy turns were borrowed from the
one, and from the other they enriched their vocabulary, though
they avoided the theological notes of the first, and did not
accept the swarm of Latinized terms that disfigure the second.
Instances of the happy use of the Genevan and the Rheims
are to be found everywhere.
They had also other helps, as they record in their Preface :
" Neither did wee thinke much to consult the translators and
commentators Chaldee, Hebrewe, Syrian, Greeke, or Latine,
no, nor the Spanish, French, Italian, or Dutch; neither did we
disdaine to reuise that which we had done, and to bring back
to the anuill that which we had hammered : but hauing and
vsing as great helpes as were needfull, and fearing nor eproch
for slownesse, nor coueting praise for expedition, wee haue at
the length, through the good hand of the Lord vpon us,
brought the worke to that passe that you see." These more
modern versions were probably a Spanish translation, De
Regna, 1569, and a revision of it by Cyprian De Valera, 3
Amsterdam, 1602; a French translation by Olivetan, 1535, and
by the Company of Pastors, Geneva, in 1587-88; an Italian
translation by Diodati, Geneva, 1607. Of course, they had
Luther s Bible ; and if Dutch is to be distinguished from
German, then a Dutch translation had been published in 1560
based on Luther s version. They had also Pagninus, the edi
tion of Arias Montanus, and Miinster. They were very familiar
with the translation of the Old Testament by Tremellius,
Frankfort, 1575-76-79; and its second edition, under the care
of Junius, his son-in-law, Geneva, 1590. The Targum of
Onkelos had been printed several times before 1611, and also
1 History of the English Bible, powder Plot had been discovered on
p. 274. the 5th of November, 1605.
2 King James at that time de- 3 See some account of De Valera
tested the Papists, and the Gun- in Thomsons Fasti, vol. II, p. 353.
220
THE ENGLISH BIBLE.
[CHAP.
that of Jonathan Ben Uzziel. The Peshito also had been
published, as was also the Latin version of Castalio, 1551.
One glimpse into their method of procedure is given by
Selden : " The English translation of the Bible is the best trans
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 translators 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 Apo
crypha to Andrew Downes ; 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."
The alternative renderings which they place in the margin
show what helps they had been consulting for the text. Thus
in Isaiah xl, apart from the more literal renderings of Hebrew
idioms, the following marginal notes may be taken as an ex
ample : 1, " her warfare is accomplished," Genevan, 1 but the
alternative rendering, " appointed time," 2 is from Tremellius ;
4, "and the rough [places] made plaine," B., G. B. 3 mar
ginal rendering, " a plain place " ; 4 9, " O Zion, that bringest
good tidings ! O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings !"
B. and Genevan being virtually the same, after Pagninus,
Mlinster, and Leo Judse ; but the marginal rendering, " O
thou that tellest good tidings to Zion," is from Tremel
lius, 5 the Septuagint adopting the former, and the Vul
gate the latter. 6 10, " The Lord God will come with strong
hand," " with power," G. and B. ; 7 but the dissimilar margin,
"against the strong," is again from Tremellius. 8 "His work
before him " similar in G. and B., after Pagninus, Munster,
and Leo Judse ; 9 while the margin, " or recompense for his
1 "Militia completa" Pagninus
and Munster.
2 " Tempus praefinitum."
3 B. is Bishops ; G.B., the Gt. Bible.
4 " In planitiem" Pagninus and
Munster.
5 " O quae evangelizas Zijoiii."
6 " Qui evangelizas Zijoni."
7 " Cum f orti," Pagninus.
8 " Contra robustum."
9 " Opus ejus ante ipsum."
XLIV.] CONNECTIONS OF AUTHORIZED WITH BISHOPS . 221
work," is virtually after Castalio. 1 11, " those that are with
young," virtually after G. and B; 2 but the marginal reading
is correct, "that give suck," and is from the French ver
sion of 1588. 3 14, "and who instructed him" G. ; margin,
" Hebrew, made him understand," literal, after Coverdale and
the Zurich German. 4 22, " It is he that sitteth " ; margin, " or
him that sitteth." 5 31, " shall renew their strength," Tremel-
lius, after Leo Judse; margin, "or, change," Vulgate. 6 The
Hebrew verb means to exchange strength, or get new strength.
The royal revisers were somewhat independent in their
appropriation and in their rejection of the renderings found in
the preceding versions.
The Bishops was the translation which was immediately
revised by royal order, and it therefore had its own influence
in moulding the Authorized Version. But it was changed in
many ways, though now and then both its text and margin
are retained, as in 2 Cor. viii, 22 ; or sometimes the text of the
Bishops becomes the margin of the Authorized, as in 2 Thess.
iii, 14; Ephes. iv, 1; and the margin of the Bishops the text
of the Authorized, as in Gal. vi, 12 ; 2 Pet. i, 20. The revisers
often followed the earlier versions in places where change
would have been profitable, but sometimes they have intro
duced alterations to the worse. A few examples may be given :
Mark xii, 44, "they did cast in of their abundance," 7 from the
Rheims and the Vulgate, superseding the better reading,
" superfluity," of the Bishops , and all the preceding versions.
The older translations are rightly forsaken in Mark vi, 29,
in the rendering "corpse"; "body" being the earlier rendering,
the Genevan having " or carcase " in the margin.
On the other hand, the Authorized follows the older ver
sions in wrongly rendering "but" in 1 Thess. ii, 18, "but 8
1 " Prsemium suumque." 6 " Novas vires recipiunt," Leo
2 " Fcetas/ Vulgate, Minister, Judas; "mutabunt" being the verb
Pagninus, and Leo Judse. in the Vulgate, followed by Pag-
3 " Celles qui allaitent," Luther niuus, Minister ; " mutant vires " iii
having " die Schaff mutter." Tremellius.
4 " Das er in versteudig mache." 7 Quod abundabat illis.
5 " Eum qui insidet," Tremellius. 8 KCU.
222 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
Satan hindered us " ; the contrast is not expressed by the con
junction, but lies in the context, the particle simply adding
another fact in sequence, as in Hebrew narration.
Acts i, 4, the translation "being assembled together with
them " is better than " and gaddered them together " the ren
dering of all the older versions but the Rheims, which, after
Wycliffe, has " and eating with them " found in our margin.
In Heb. iv, 1, the older versions have " let us fear, therefore,
lest any of us forsaking the promise of entering," but the
Authorized Version boldly alters, and gives " a promise being
left us of entering." In a more important place it forsakes the
older versions, and mistranslates the original "the promises
. . . . having seen them afar off and embraced them."
The proper rendering is " saluted them," for the privation of
the fathers was that they could not embrace them. Wycliffe
has " greetynge " ; so Tyndale, Coverdale, the Great Bible, the
Bishops , and the Rheims ; but the Genevan versions have, the
one "received them thankfully" (1560), and the other "with
thanks" (1557). Our translators have also so rendered the
verb in Acts xx, 1, thus in some way identifying salute and.
embrace.
The Authorized Version also follows the older versions, in
shrinking from the full and literal sense of the first clause of
2 Pet. iii, 12, when it renders "hasting unto the coming of the
day of God," the insertion of " unto " being unwarranted.
Believers are exhorted to speed the coming of the day of God.
The true translation " hasting the coming " is relegated to
the margin, as if it had been felt to be too adventurous to
put it into the text. "... that it may please thee ... to
hasten thy kingdom " (Burial Service).
In a similar way, and apparently from a similar motive, the
true sense is departed from in Acts iii, 19, "Repent ye there
fore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out
when the times of refreshing shall come." Without doubt the
conjunction 1 signifies "in order that." Two ends are spoken of
as the twin result of their conversion first, " that your sins
may be blotted out"; and secondly, "that seasons of refreshing
XLIV.] ITS CONNECTION WITH THE EARLIER VERSIONS. 223
may come " ; these seasons, connected with the second advent
or mission of Jesus, at the restitution of all things. The
second advent is thus conditioned in its period by the
state of the world and the church; but our translators, not
being able to entertain the notion, render the conjunction by
" when " ; and to show that they felt some necessity laid upon
them, this is the only place where it is so translated. The
older versions have the same misrendering ; the Genevan of
1557 has "since," but the note in the margin of the Bishops
hints at the true reference.
It forsakes its predecessor in rendering Heb. ii, 16, "he
took not on him the nature of angels," the true rendering
being put into the margin, and the false translation probably
suggested by the marginal note of the Bishops . The verse is
not an assertion of the incarnation, but an inferential argu
ment for it.
Matt, xiv, 8, " And she being before instructed of her
mother," does not give the sense with its peculiar point ; it is
rather, " and she being put forward (set on) by her mother."
Our version is based upon the Vulgate, 1 and it may be traced
through the Bishops , the Genevan, the Great Bible, Matthew,
and Coverdale, up to Tyndale, who has " beinge informed of
her mother before."
It follows Tyndale, the Great Bible, the Genevan, and the
Bishops , and misrenders Acts ii, 6, "now when this was noised
abroad " (" about " in the older versions), putting the better
translation into the margin, "when this voice was made."
Coverdale and the Rheims have "voice." The noun never
signifies report or rumour, and refers to the " sound " of v. 2,
and means when that sound had taken place.
In the injunction, "abstain from all appearance of evil,"
1 Thess. v, 22, " appearance " is properly what presents itself
to the eye form or figure, as in Luke iii, 22 ; ix, 29 ; John
v, 37; and in 2 Cor. v, 7. But the word does not mean
semblance without reality, though the sense suggested by the
English translation, which copies the Genevan rendering, is,
avoid what bears the aspect of evil, though it be not really
1 Praemonita a matre.
224 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
evil ; or, as Tyndale has it, " all suspicious things." 1 The con
trast is not between what is really good, and is to be held fast,
and what is evil only in appearance.
Mark vi, 20, " Herodias would have killed him, but she
could not, for Herod observed him " (Bishops and Genevan)
rather " preserved " shielded him from her malignity,
The older versions are followed in giving a rendering to
Luke xxiii, 15, which takes away all sense from the passage,
" No, nor yet Herod ; for I sent you to him, and lo, nothing
worthy of death is done unto him " ; for the rendering should
be not " unto him," but " by him." Pilate had said, " I find no
fault in him," and he adds that Herod had come to a similar
conclusion nothing had been done by him that could entail
capital punishment.
" Cumber," now all but obsolete, may be supposed to have
the same meaning as " encumber " in Luke xiii, 7, " why cum-
bereth it the ground ? " Such a translation, however, does not
represent the verb of the original, but is probably due to the
occupat of the Vulgate, Wycliffe having " wherto occupieth it
the erthe ? " and the Rheims, " whereto also doth it occupy the
ground." " Cumber " was introduced by Tyndale, and Cover-
dale has " why hyndreth it the ground ? " 2 But these trans
lations amount only to this " Why does it take up so much
of the soil ?" the Genevan advancing a step, and giving " why
keepeth it also the ground barren ? " The sense has its point
in the " also," and the verb means to destroy the ground, for
the tree was pernicious as well as fruitless. It is quite a
different verb that is rendered " cumbered " in Luke x, 40,
" Martha was cumbered with much service."
" Blindness " instead of " hardness " is wrong in Rom. xi, 25 ;
Ephes. iv, 18, after the Vulgate, 3 but it is rightly rendered
" hardness " in Mark iii, 5 the rendering also of the Genevan.
Gal. vi, 11 is misrendered in the Authorized Version, follow
ing Tyndale, the Great Bible, and the Genevan, " ye see how
large a letter I have written." The true and literal translation
is, " ye see with how large letters I have written," the allusion
1 The Vulgate reads " ab omni 2 " Impedit " in the old Latin,
mala specie." 3 Coecitas.
XLIV.J CHOICE OF WORDS. 225
being to the large characters which, from age, infirmity, or
want of experience in writing Greek, his own hand had traced
on the parchment.
It rightly forsakes the earlier versions in John i, 3, 4, by
rendering "him" instead of "it," and has thus followed the
Rheims, and Wycliffe, who reads, " alle thingis weren maad bi
hym."
In 2 Thess. ii, 2, the clause " as that the day of Christ is at
hand " does not present the true meaning, which is " as that
the day of the Lord is present." The participle denotes " pres
ent," and it is so rendered rightly in Rom. viii 38 ; 1 Cor.
iii, 22; vii, 26; Gal. i, 4; Heb. ix, 9. The belief that the day
of the Lord had come upon them was spreading in the Thessa-
lonian Church, and many, in consequence of the delusion, had
become unsettled, and had ceased to work. All the older ver
sions have " at hand," and Wycliffe has " be nigh."
The rendering of James v, 16, "the effectual fervent prayer
of a righteous man availeth much," is so far tautological, since
to be effectual and to be of much avail are not very different.
The translation gives a double sense to the participle, and the
more literal rendering is, " the prayer of a righteous man avail
eth much, as it worketh." Tyndale has, and he has been
followed in the main, " the prayer of a righteous man availeth
much, if it be fervent." The Great Bible has "the fervent
prayer of a righteous man availeth much " ; the Rheims, after
Wycliffe, " the continual prayer of a just man." The participle
is middle, and means, as it works, or puts out its power.
The revisers were aware that words used in such a volume
as theirs would win for themselves a lasting place in the
language, and they therefore used great caution; their own
defence being, " We might also be charged (by scoffers) with
some vnequall dealing towards a great number of good English
words ... if wee should say, as it were, vnto certaine
words, Stand vp higher, have a place in the Bible alwayes,
and to others, of like qualitie, Get ye hence, be banished
for euer." And the English tongue is worthy of this loving
guardianship. Other languages in Europe French, Italian,
and German, have little prevalence beyond the limits
VOL. II. P
22G THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
of the old territories; but England lias been a "mother of
nations " her little island is but a point in comparison with
her immense colonial empire, her language has been conveyed
to all quarters of the globe, and there are also many millions
speaking her tongue that owe her no allegiance.
The translation as a whole is excellent, and has elicited
many encomiums from all classes of critics and scholars. There
are some renderings equivocal, and some wrong; and a chief
blemish is the want of uniformity in rendering the same terms
a liberty which was taken on purpose, for it is vindicated
in the Preface.
Grimm affirms of English that "in wealth, wisdom, and
strict economy none of the living languages can vie with it." l
King James s scholarly revisers were conscious of possess
ing such an instrument, and their English style is above all
praise. They did not give us the English of their own day, but
their great merit consisted in so fully retaining the simple
and racy idioms of the earlier versions. English was in its
first vigour when Tyndale consecrated it in his New Testa
ment, and its consecration has preserved it in immortal
youth. The language of common life became hallowed and
dignified by the service to which it had been yoked. The
Authorized Version has in it the traces of its origin, and its
genealogy may be reckoned. For while it has the fulness of
the Bishops without its frequent literalisms or its repeated
supplements, it has the graceful vigour of the Genevan, the
quiet grandeur of the Great Bible, the clearness of Tyndale,
the harmonies of Coverdale, and the stately theological
vocabulary of the Rheims. It has thus a complex unity
in its structure all the earlier versions ranging over eighty
years having bequeathed to it contributions the individuality
of which has not been in all cases toned down. Some clauses
tell their origin by their lucid distinctness and others by
their rhythm, some are more precise and others more easy.
While some of the older terms are excluded, others are at the
1 "We may quote another and surely it is a sleepy language." Tern-
different opinion : "Did not you hear pest, Shakespeare,
us speak ? I do ; and
XLIV.] WORDS REFUSED AXD WORDS ADMITTED. 227
same time introduced. The " cratch " l of the Genevan went out,
but "settle" 2 came in. The revisers dropped the "pill" 3
of Tyndale, and, ignoring the Bishops , they preserve the " de
mand " 4 of the Great Bible in its French sense. Setting aside
" strike " and " knock " of the older revisions, they introduce
the picturesque rendering "tabering" 5 "on their breast." Let
ting go the expression " fardels " 6 of the Genevan, and not con
tent with the " burdens " of the Bishops and the Great Bible,
they put in its room " carriages," a term quite obsolete now in
their meaning of it, and they were so fond of it, that they
have used it five times in the text and twice in the margin.
They did not admit " disease " 7 as a verb, though it was iu
Biblical use, but they have "bettered " 8 in reference to malady;
passing over the more familiar "platter" they give us "charger," 9
a word in this sense long unused. Like the tree which sucks
kindlier nurture from a soil enriched by its own fallen leaves,
our Bible is the outgrowth of many years and many minds,
the aim ever being to give to the English people, not a mere
literary luxury, but a book which all ranks and classes should
easily understand and enjoy. 10
For the version must ever be admired for its simple dignity
and quaint terseness, its archaic tinge, its rhythmic cadences
and idiomatic felicities. It is homely but not vulgar, and
musical without the aid of tawdry expletives. Having kept
its place for more than two centuries and a half, it has
1 Luke ii, 7, 12. fardels," in modern phrase, made up
- Ezekiel xliii, 14, 17 ; xlv, 19. our packs or personal baggage.
It is still a provincial or liornely 7 Mark v, 35, " why diseasest thou
term. the Master?" both in the Bishops
3 2 Cor. xii, 17, preserved in the and Genevan, after Tyndale.
Bishops , " did I pill you ? " but in 8 Mark v, 26.
the Authorized, " did I make a 9 Matt, xiv, 8.
gain ? " 10 King James, though lie had
4 Matt, ii, 4. Latin and Latinized Scotch at easy
5 Nahum ii, 7, "tabling," in the first and ever-flowing command, yet had
edition sometimes spelt "tabouring," the good judgment and good taste
allied in origin to tabret. Gen. xxxi, to say, iu the " Basilicou Doron," to
27. his son, "Be plain and smooth iu
6 Acts xxi, 15, " trussed up our your own language."
228 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
" waxed old," but it has not " decayed." Obsolete words
do occur in it, but the version, so far from being dry and dead,
is fresh and living as the rod of Aaron, which on being laid
up before the ark " budded and bloomed blossoms and yielded
almonds." Though it may vary with the themes of the original,
it never loses its identity. So quiet and clear in narrative, so
direct and urgent in precept, so fervid and spiritual in the
psalter, so impressive and magnificent in the prophets, it
bears upon it the imagery of the Hebrew lyrics without being
overborne by it, and gives earnest and impressive utterance
to apostolical argument and appeal.
The spirit of all the sacred writers lives in the English
translation. The immediate and fervid utterances of the
Semitic temperament filled with the divine life clothe them
selves as with a native fitness in our English tongue, and
have for all time ennobled and sanctified it. The Bible, the
creation of Hebrew genius, has proved itself adapted to
universal circulation. Originating in the east, reflecting
its hues and lighted up with its splendours, it has yet
in the west found a welcome and a home, and has become
without effort or awkwardness the natural vehicle of song
and supplication to myriads of the children of Japhet.
The syllables of the Lord s prayer drop gently from the lips
of a child ; and they fill the mouth of an " aged disciple."
Many who are strangers to the spiritual power of the
English Bible bow to its literary beauties. The charm and
tenderness of the parables are not lost by difference of lan
guage the evangelists speak as touchingly in English as in
Greek.
Exception has indeed been taken to the translation of the
Old Testament on account of some literal renderings of
Hebrew clauses and epithets, as if they were " abhorrent "
from the English idiom. But not a few Hebrew phrases
are now deeply imbedded in our language, and from famil
iarity with them no one feels that they are foreign, such
as " God of peace," " God of all grace," " Father of lights,"
" Sun of righteousness," " Son of peace," " man of sin," " robe of
righteousness," " song of songs," " ways of pleasantness/ " oil
XLIV.] INGENIOUS TURNS OF DICTION. 229
of gladness," " trees of Jehovah/ " man of sorrows," " Son of
man," " the Ark of thy strength," " Rock of Ages," a favourite
phrase of a favourite hymn, is a literal translation in the
margin of Isaiah xxvi, 4, the text having a far feebler render
ing, " everlasting strength." But while they so often preserve
or imitate some Hebrew idioms, they have no small merit in
rendering others into terse and felicitous English. Especially
in the frequent instances of an infinitive construct in com
bination with its own finite verb, they have shown in
genious versatility. This combination indicated certainty in
reference to a past act : Gen. xxvi, 28, " we saw certainly that
the Lord was \vith thee " ; Exod. iii, 7, " I have surely seen " ;
1 Sam. ii, 30, " I said indeed."
The idiom is also intensive, arid they render it in various
ways :
Gen. ii, 1G, " thou mayest freely eat"; iii, 4, "ye shall not
surely die " ; and similarly xviii, 18, xx, 7, and xxviii, 22 ;
xxxi, 30, " thou wouldest needs be gone, because thou sore
longest."
Exod. iv, 14, "he can speak weW."
Josh, xxiii, 13, "know for a certainty."
2 Sam. xvii, 16, " but speedily pass over"; xx, 18, "they
were wont to speak."
1 Chron. iv, 10, "0 that thou wouldest bless me indeed."
Esther iv, 14, " if thou altogether holdest thy peace."
Job vi, 2, " O that my grief were thoroughly weighed."
Isaiah xxiv, 20, " the earth shall reel to and fro."
Jeremiah xxiii, 17, " they say still " ; 32, " they shall not
profit at all"; 39, "I will utterly forget you"; xxv, 30,
" he shall mightily roar " ; xxxi, 20, " I do earnestly re
member."
Ezek. i, 3, " the word of the Lord came expressly."
Clauses coupled, as they usually are, by the simple conjunc
tion would be bald in English, and therefore a particle sup
plying a subordinate or logical connection is often employed.
Gen. xv, 2, " what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless."
Exod. v, 18, "no straw given you, yet shall ye deliver"; xvii,
2, " give us water that we may drink."
230 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
Num. iv, 15, "they shall not touch the holy things lest
they die."
Josh, iii, 13, " when ye see the ark of the covenant ....
then ye shall remove."
Ruth i, 11, "are there yet sons in my womb that may be
your husbands?" iii, 13, "if he will not do the part of a
kinsman, then I will."
Prov. xxv, 25, " as cold water . . . so is good news."
Similar idioms they also render as happily : Gen. viii, 5,
" the waters decreased continually " ; 7, " which went forth
to and fro" ; xii, 9, "going on still" ; Jerem. xli, 6, "weeping
all along"; 2 Sam. iii, 16, "went with her along weeping";
v, 10, "David went on and grew great"; i Chron. xi, 9,
" David waxed greater and greater." The idiom made by son
or daughter or lord they often do not give literally, as sons of
sheep, sons of lightning, sons of the bow, lord of a woman, for
such literal translation would have seemed as a foreign idiom.
The repetition of a noun is well rendered : as two-two by "two
and two"; day-day, by "every day"; six wings six wings, by
" each one had six wings " ; Deut. xxv, 13, "thou shalt not have
in thy bag a stone and a stone" "divers measures" oc
curring also in Prov. xx, 23 ; Psalms xii, 2, " an heart and an
heart " is rendered " a double heart." In such cases the literal
rendering is put in the margin "perfect peace," "peace, peace,"
Isaiah xxvi, 3. The phrase literally " good in the eyes of"
is rendered "as it pleaseth," " as it liketh," " what he thought
good," " as it seemeth good," " if he think good."
In the New Testament they show similar devices. The
verb which is commonly rendered " seek " they vary by the
translation, "go about to," John vii, 19, 20, Acts xxi, 31, and
by "were about to " in xxvii, 30. One particle x is rendered as
the context suggests, " and," or "but," or "now," or "so," or
" moreover," or " even " in Philip, ii, 8, or it is omitted
altogether. They also vary another particle, 2 though not
always correctly, "and," "even, "also," "but," "then," "so,"
" yet," "when," " therefore," " if." To have kept the Greek
participle uniformly in English would have made the ver-
XLIV.] THE ENGLISH SPECIALLY SAXON. 231
sion intolerably heavy it is therefore often resolved into a
finite verb, a resolution which takes place in nearly every
verse in the second chapter of Matthew. This method
is not so accurate when participle and verb mark a con
temporaneous act. We have in Matt, ix, 2, " Jesus seeing
their faith said," though it is differently rendered in Luke
v, 20, " when he saw their faith." In Matt, xii, 15, the better
rendering: would be, "but Jesus knowing it withdrew" the
O J
knowledge being that of his own divine omniscience ; and
similarly in Matt, xvi, 8. Their ordinary method is reversed
in Luke xxii, 15, the more literal rendering being kept in
the text, "with desire I have desired," and the usual form
transferred to the margin, " I ; have heartily desired " ; and
similarly Acts vii, 84, " I have seen, I have seen," Jer.
xxiii, 25.
Their own style, as seen in their learned and very ela
borate preface, was somewhat pedantic and cumbrous, and
wanted the lithe and easy turns of an earlier age, but they
did not employ it. Not that in their version they altogether
" Against Apollo s lute decreed,
And gave it for Pan s oaten reed.
But the English of their Bible is especially Saxon. Saxon
prevails in most of the verses ; but Latin occasionally,
though rarely, predominates in others, as in Isaiah 1, I, 1
Jer. xxxi, 25, 2 in Luke vi, 49, as in each of its last three
clauses is a Latin term, 3 and in 2 Cor. ix, 13, there are
five Latin terms. 4 In the familiar twenty-third psalm
five verses have each a non-English word and the fifth
verse has no loss than five Latin terms. On the other
hand " now " occurs three times in Acts xxvii, 9 the first
instance might have been easily dispensed with ; the pro
noun " she " occurs five times in Luke viii, 47 ; " shall " is
used four times in Matt, xiii, 14; and "should" four times
1 Divorcement, creditors, iniqui- - Satiate, replenish,
ties, transgressions ; usurer stand- 3 Vehement, immediately, ruin,
ing for creditor in the Bishops and 4 Experiment, ministration, glory,
the Great Bible professed, subjection.
232 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
in Matt, xiii, 15; the strange collocation "this, that this"
occurs in Matt. xxvi. 13 ; " that that " is found in Num. vi, 21,
Dan. xi, 3G, Zech. xi, 9, John xxi, 23, in the two latter places
taken from the Bishops . 1 The unusual connection, "when
they had this done," meets us in Luke v, 6. The proportion
of Saxon to Latin words in it is over ninety per cent,
while in Shakespeare it is about eighty-five, in Swift eighty-
nine, in Johnson only about seventy-five, and in Gibbon about
seventy per cent. The Lord s Prayer as given in St. Matthew
consists of sixty-five words exclusive of the transferred Amen.
Of these words fifty-nine are Saxon as against six Latin ones.
Nay, the first five and thirty words are all Saxon in suc
cession. 2 But while the preponderance of Saxon terms is so
great, they did not scruple to press Latin terms into their ser
vice when they were deemed necessary to compactness and
strength. They have "succour" as well as "help," "misery"
as well as " wretchedness " which occurs only once, " inter
cession " as well as " pleading " which occurs only twice.
They use both "act" and "deed," "similitude" and "likeness,"
"power" and "might," "justice" and "righteousness,"
"marriage" and "wedding," "transgression" and "sin,"
" desert " and " wilderness," " testimony " and " witness,"
" tabernacle " and " tent," " equity " and "righteousness," "re
mission " and " forgiveness." In the same way are found
"kingly" and "royal," "death" and "mortal," "flesh" and
"carnal," "gentile" and "heathen," "charity" and "love,"
" distil " and " drop," " sanctify " and " hallow," " conceal " and
"hide," "timely" and "early," "chief" and "head," "obscurity"
and "darkness," "sufficient "and "enough," "labour" and "\vork,"
1 In three sentences of the Pil- This book, which is fortunately still
grim s Progress "but" occurs six in existence, is the Bible, and I
times. Milton ridicules Bishop Hall venture to affirm without fear of
for writing "Teach each." contradiction that those old-fashioned
2 Gifford notes, " There was a people who have studied it well are
book much read by our ancestors, as competent judges of the meaning
from which, as being the pure well- of our ancient writers as most of the
head of English prose, they derived devourers of black literature from
a number of phrases which have Theobald to Stevens. " Gifford s
sorely puzzled their descendants. Massinger, p. 58, London, 1853.
XLIV.] TERMS OCCUBING ONLY ONCE. 233
" castle " and " hold." They were fastidious, however, in their
admission of Latin terms. Many words much in use now and
occurring only once in Shakespeare are not found in Scripture
at all as abrupt, ambiguous, artless, improbable, improper,
impure, and inconvenient. But by a happy instinct of selec
tion they admitted such terms as "ambassador" and "opera
tion," though Swift objects to them along with "preliminaries,"
" speculation," &c.; and they have taken " temperance," which
Elyot in 1534 regarded as modern, "destruction" though Fulke
branded it, "austere" though in 1G01 Holland thought it
necessary to explain it ; and " element," though Shakespeare
plays with it as a word "overworn." But they did not admit
a word so common now as " character " l though it occurs so
often in Shakespeare ; and they refused " adore," " elevation,"
" accommodate," the last term being ridiculed by Shakespeare
and Ben Jonson ; and though they employed the Latin " com
passion," they did not take " sympathy," though the word in
its Greek form occurred twice in their text, but the term
meant sometimes at that period " equality of station." " Learn"
does not occur in an active sense, though it is found several
times in the Bishops and the Prayer Book version of the
Psalms, and was in common use. 2 Many terms occur only
once, not simply technical words, but such as the following
from a foreign source: Abjects, addicted, advisement, advo
cate, agony, aided, allege, allegory, arouse, amiable, amerce,
ancestors, assist, argument, averse, benefactor, benevolence,
bravery, bray, brawling, celestial, chapel, chafed, chant, clem
ency, cogitation, commodious, contribution, comparable, con
descend, congratulate, concert, decease (as an intransitive and
as a neuter verb), delectable, decently, depend, descry, debase,
1 Wotton says, " Now here then lator than they has transferred a
will lie the whole businesse, to set participle in Matt, ii, 7, and also
down beforehand certain Signatures changed it into anoun, his rendering
of Hopef ulnesse, or Characters as I being, " Enquired exactly of them
will rather call them, because that the time of the phenomenon of the
word hath gotten already some en- star." Bowes Translation, Dundee,
tertainment among us." 1870.
2 But a more adventurous trans-
234 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
demonstration, discipline, disclose, displayed, disfigure, dis
patch, disgrace, enable, endure, empire, endow, ensue, entire,
environ, erect, eternity (once in text, three times in margin),
exchanger (banker), exercise, as a noun, forfeit, frankly
(gratuitously, Luke vii, 42), ignominy, illuminate, imperious,
implead, importunity, incredible, infallible, intelligence, laud,
magnifical, magnificence, million, modesty, monument, misused,
mutual, news, object (verb), oration, pernicious, potentate,
protection, pursue, putrifying, quantity, rare, rase, reasonable
(rational), recall, recount, redound, reformation, renounced, re-
pliest, resemble (as an active verb), renounce, repeateth, rifled,
rites (but twice also in the margin), schism, servitors, senses,
severity, strain, temporal, terrestrial, tranquillity, transferred,
treatise, unction, vent, vouch, voyage. They ventured on
" purteuance " but once, Exodus xii, 9, though the word is
found in Tyndale and Coverdale; 1 they admit "expia
tion " " echo," and " compose " only once into the margin,
and the common theological term "type" is also excluded
from the text, and found only in the margin. On the other
hand many Saxon terms used in Shakespeare and not occur
ring in Scripture have become obsolete, 2 and many of his Latin
terms not accepted by our translators have passed out of cur
rency. The following words in the Version, mostly native, are
found only once : Ado, aloof, badness, bestead, bestir, betake, blaze
1 The phrase " saddle me the ass " " tuition " for defence, " fracted "
is sometimes supposed to be a com- for broken ; " lot," " period," and
mon idiom with an expletive word, "monster as verbs ; "testi-
but " me " is in this case the literal mouied/ concent " for harmony,
rendering of the pronoun in the "affront " to meet with, " acture "
Hebrew text " for me." for action, &c. In Cockeram s
2 Such as " faith d," " scaling " English Dictionarie, or interpreter of
for weighing, " able " as a verb, hard English words, ifcc. (London,
"entertain," to take into service, 1632), it is said that "abate," which
" cheer : face, " brief " letter, occurs four times in the Version, is
" dern " lonely, " yclad," " yclept," a word now out of use, and only
" bate, ; "birthdom." Similarly such used of some ancient writers.
Latin words as "sense "for sensual Neither the Bible nor Milton in his
passion, " absolute " for perfect, poetry uses a word now so familiar
" fine " for end, " mure " for wall, as " commence."
XLIV.] THE APOCRYPHA. 235
belch (and once in the margin), belief, bide, boisterous, boiled,
bloom, border (as a verb), bought (as a noun in the margin),
cabins, chapmen, dandled, deemed, flash, forecast, gaddest, gulf,
huge, outlived, outran, outlandish, outwent, pate, pathway,
pilled, rests (as a noun, margin " rebatement "), right early,
right well, road, shapen, swerve, unspoken, untoward, well
nigh. 1
Reference was made in the previous course of the narrative
to the Latin paper handed in by the English divines to the
Synod of Dort, giving an account of the process of revision
which had produced a version " so very accurate." The royal
rules prescribed 2 to the revisers are here reduced to seven,
and four of these seven are upon matters not alluded to in the
original fourteen, while the first, second, and fourth coincide
with the first, sixth, and seventh of the earlier canons. Pro
bably those new rules had sprung from the necessities of the
work, or had been naturally suggested as the work advanced.
These newer regulations, affording daily guidance to the vari
ous companies, were fresh in the memory of the delegates :
while the others, issued in 1G04, containing ultimate laws or
principles, had faded somewhat out of view.
The fifth rule of the seven quoted at Dort took up the
Apocrypha "that in the translation of Tobit and Judith, as
there was great difference between the Greek and the old
Vulgate text, the Greek text should rather be followed." 3
Considerable license was taken in revising the Apocrypha, as
probably they had no belief in the inspiration of its books.
The following words and phrases occurring; in it are not found
O 1 O
in the canonical portions of Scripture : Abashed, abridge,
1 The affectation of using fine Bishop Spiridion being in the
terms in a version of Scripture is audience, at once cried out to
not confined to England, though him, " Are you better than he that
Lowth and Campbell are occasion- said bed that you are ashamed to
ally touched by it. About the use his words ? " Stanley s Eastern
period of the Nicene Council, a Church, p. 108. The incident is also
noted preacher in Cyprus, in a referred to in the translators pre-
quotation from the Gospels,eschewed face.
KpafSftoLTov and preferred cr/a^Troi s, 2 See pp. 191, 201.
"couch" to "bed. The famous 3 Sessio VII.
236 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
adore, adherent, aim, amain, anew, annoy, apparition, attempt,
augmentation, brickie, baggage, canopy, carrs, clubs, cocker (to
pamper), commentaries, conduct (meaning safe conduct), con
jecture, counterfeit, culture, defective, defray, distinguish
(once in margin, 1 Cor. iv, 7), echo, enforce, enterprise, ever-
lastingness, exquisite, voyage (Jud. ii, 19), fact, falls (as a
plural noun), favoureth, feat, fear (to terrify), forlorn, graces,
gratify, immunities, incredulity, impiety, indifferent, invincible,
jollity, justices, loyal, magi, mitigate, niggard, outroad, penalty,
pleasure (as a verb), reconcilement, resolute, shrewd (a "shrewd
turn " or clever retaliation), submissively, unright, thrive,
timorous, trace, tyrant, tender (to feel tenderness), wearing,
uneasy (in the sense of difficult), importable, ugly, and such
phrases as "well is him" (Eccles. xxv, 8, 9), "take example at,"
" get the day," " other some," " he sticks not," " not for our
turn," " make him away," " the party," that is, an individual
" the man or the woman," " curious," four times in the sense of
" inquisitive," " within the liberties," " took no good order,"
"sour behaviour," "held them battle," "laugh upon," "shall
ripe," "will fat," "pensions to all who kept the city," "at
the last gasp," &c.
The marginal notes in the Apocrypha are freer in character
than those of the Old Testament. The translators had the
Septuagint of Aldus, that in the Complutensian Polyglott, and
the Codex Vaticanus printed in Rome 1586. But as the text
was not in a satisfactory state, they were obliged to set down
no less than 154 various readings. They bracketed as
spurious Eccles. i, 7, though the Bishops had admitted it, and
also Eccles. xvii, 5, they marked in a similar way. There are
138 notes for the purpose of giving more literally or precisely
the sense of the original Greek or Latin. 1 There are in the
margin also 174 variations given of the spelling of proper
names, 167 of which belong to 1 Esdras ; and there are 505 alter
native renderings, with other 42 notes designed to impart
information. They depart from their practice in the Old
1 They had only a Latin text of 2 given l>y Dr. Scrivener, Cambridge
Esdras. The different readings, with Paragraph Bible, Introduction, p.
the authorities, are lucidly and fully xxvii, &c.
XLIV.] CLEARNESS AND HARMONY. 237
Testament by quoting authorities, not only Josephus, but
Herodotus, Pliny, Athanasius, the Latin interpreter, and
Junius the translator. For the text they refer at Tobit xiv,
5, 18, to the " Roman copie " ; also 1 Mac. ix, 9, and xii,
37, where it is called the "Roman reading."
Geddes, the Catholic critic, an admirer of Castalio, objects to
such biblical Saxon compounds as "therefore," "wherefore,"
" therein," " wherein " " wherein being the only tolerable,
decent gentleman of the family"; and Hume, expressing a
strong antipathy to the use of th as the termination of the
third person singular of verbs, also brands "wherewith" as
an old-fashioned dangling word, as " having no harmony, no
eloquence, no ornament, and not much correctness, whatever
the English may imagine," and swears " that he would not
swallow it," though Robertson and Sw T ift are so partial to it.
But these idiomatic vocables are so useful and expressive that
they cannot be dispensed with. These criticisms of the
scholar and historian betray their northern origin, for in the
self-training of such men (whose dialect in boyhood was
Scotch) to write good English, there mingled unconsciously
the desire to be more Attic in its use than those whose mother
tongue it was. 1
There are also in the English Bible many native mono
syllables ; nouns, verbs, and particles, which in their common
or idiomatic use give directness, clearness, and harmony to
the clauses, which are not only comprehended at once, but
fix themselves in the memory and linger in the ear like an
echo or the refrain of a song. 2 What is scholastic has no place
in it; it uses "great plainness of speech," and so utters itself that
all may " mark, learn, and inwardly digest." It is a stranger
to " inkhorn terms " and to classical intricacies of construction,
for in Hebrew and in New Testament Greek ideas occur in
coordinate succession and arc not ranged round or subordinated
1 Yet Hume could write in refer- " There are five lines and a half
ence to Cato and Brutus, "the in Shakespeare consisting of about 40
leisure of these noble antients were words, and of those only five are not
employed in the study of Grecian monosyllables. Macbeth, vol. VII,
eloquence." p. 15, ed. Dyce.
238 THE EXGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
to one central thought which is gradually evolved. So that a
true version preserving the form as well as the spirit of the
original could not have been made, in the style of Hooker, 1
" With many a winding bout
Of linked sweetness long drawn out."
It was guarded against the euphuism of an earlier period,
with its antitheses, alliterations, sounding epithets, and cir
cuitous politeness of diction, " drawing out the thread of
verbosity finer than the staple of argument." Nor was it
tainted with such mannerisms as were current some years
afterwards, and were beginning to appear in 1G11 ; and the
English of Evelyn, Temple, or Jeremy Taylor would have
been wholly out of place.
A special theological nomenclature had been provided for
the revisers in the previous translations. What was wanted
now was the clothing of the divine oracles in the genial and
familiar tongue elevated only by its sacred use from that of
ordinary life. Some words of a former period that were passing
away they preserved, and words only coming in and not fully
welcomed they did not admit. The marks of age upon the
version are like the hoary locks of the prophet, giving him a
reverential grandeur. As in Dry den s canon, " the court, the
college, and the town are all joined" in it. So free is it from
1 Becon has " immarcessible," mou Prayer of the time of Edward
"amplexed," " precordial." Hooker VI, and indicate at that early
has "learnedest," "virtuousest," &c., period the two great sources of
" wiselier," " easilier," and "power- the language. These still occur:
.able " for " powerful. " Ascham " Acknowledge " and " confess,"
has " inventivest," and Bacon " pray " and " beseech," " erred " and
uses similar forms. Jeremy Taylor " strayed," " vanquish " and " over-
has " funest," " claucularly," " con- come," " trust " and " confidence,"
trition" in its literal sense as applied " holiness " and " pureness," " re-
to the doom of the serpent. Hooker mission" and "forgiveness," "cre-
also couples native and foreign terms ate " and " make in us," " weighed "
" rectitude " and " straightness," and " pondered," " valour " and
"coecity" and "blindness," " sense" "price," "prepare" and "make
and " meaning." Such collocations ready."
are frequent in the Book of Com-
XLIV.] MULCASTER AND PUTTENHAM. 239
many of those usages that mark or characterize any special
literary epoch, that it has amidst all changing fashions
maintained itself as a standard for two hundred and sixty
years among all peoples using our island speech. For the
English Bible is endowed with a wondrous universality of
adaptation. To men of intellect and culture its lucid simpli
city of style brings relief, and it appears to them like the
blue sky overhead, which, while it reveals much, gives a
glimpse into much more behind it. It has been recited in
academic halls, lordly towers, and royal palaces ; and no element
of vulgarity has been felt in it, nay, the graceful popularity of its
language has been its special charm and fascination. It has been
read in barns and miserable outhouses to earnest and un
tutored rustics, and as it spoke to them in their own tongue,
they realized the presence of divinity, and listened to the
voice of God. Though its English differed from the more
familiar dialect of the olden time on this side of the Tweed, it
was carried joyously to moors and glens in Scotland, and lis
tened to as the immediate revelation of the Almighty, by
bands of worshippers crowded into some spot under the
shadow of a great hill, while the eagle sailed above them,
and the music of the waterfall was the accompaniment of
their song.
Such in general is the style of the Authorized Version, and
it remains a noble specimen of the variety, richness, elasticity,
and power of the English language, about which an Eliza
bethan bard ventured to sing
" And who in time knows whither we may vent
The treasures of our tongue ? to what strange shores
This gain of our best glory shall be sent
T enrich unknowing nations with our stores 1
What worlds in th yet unformed Occident
May come refin d with accents that are ours ? "
The beginning of the seventeenth century was propitious to the
execution of such a work. Mulcaster had said, in 1582, "I take
this present period of our English tung to be the verie height
thereof, because I find it so excellently well fined both for the
240 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
bodie and tung itself, and for the customary writing thereof, as
either foren workmanship can giue it glosse, or as home-
wrought handling can giue it grace." " The English tong
cannot prove fairer than it is at this date, if it may please
our learned sort so to esteeme it and to bestow their travell
upon such a subject." l The true dialect, according to
Puttenham, is not " in effect any speech used beyond the
river of Trent, though no man can deny but that theirs is
the purer English Saxon at this day, yet it is not so courtly
nor so current as our Southern English is ; no more is the far
Western man s speech; ye shall therefore take the usual
speech of the court, and that of London and the shires lying
about London within sixty miles, and not much above. I say
not this but in every shire of England there be gentlemen and
others that speak, but specially write, as good Southern as we
of Middlesex or Surrey do; but not the common people of
every shire, to whom the gentlemen and also their learned
clerks do for the most part condescend ; but herein we are
ruled by the English dictionaries and other books written by
learned men; and therefore it needeth none other direction in
that behalf. Albeit peradventure some small admonition be
not impertinent, for we find in our English writers many
words and speeches amendable ; and ye shall see in some many
inkhorn terms so ill affected, brought in by men of learning as
preachers and schoolmasters ; and many strange terms of other
languages, by secretaries and merchants and travellers ; and
many dark words, and not usual nor well sounding, though
they be daily spoken in court. Wherefore great heed must
be taken by our maker in this point that his choice be good."
. . . . "Of this number are scientific, conduict a
French word, but well allowed of us, and lono- since usual ; it
* * o y
sounds something more than this word (leading), for it is
applied only to the leading of a captain, and not as a little
boy should lead a blind man ; idiom, from the Greek ; sig
nificative, borrowed of the Latin and French, but to us
brought in first by some nobleman s secretary, as I think, yet
doth so well serve the turn as it could not now be spared ;
1 Elementarie, p. 189, London.
XLIV.] THE ENGLISH AGREES WITH THE COMMON SPEECH. 241
and many more like usurped Latin and French words, as
method, methodical, placation, function, assubtiling, refining,
compendious, prolix, figurative, inveigle a term borrowed of
our common lawyers ; impression, also a new term, but well
expressing the matter, and more than our English word ;
penetrate, penetrable, indignity (in the sense of unworthi-
ness), and a few more." l
By the middle of the century, in 1G62, Swift expresses the
opinion that the English language had grown corrupt since the
Restoration. Evelyn thought it necessary to explain such
technical terms in his Sylva, 1664, as homogeneous, mural,
perennial, vernal ; and others which he did not condescend
to explain as being " obvious " are lapidescent, insititious,
politure, stramental, procerity, improsperity, surbated, sub-
ductitious, &c. 2 But Fuller, a native of Northamptonshire,
mentions that the language of the common people 3 in that
county is generally the best of any shire in England. When
he was a boy he had been told by a " hand labouring
man " " that the last translation of the Bible done by those
learned men in the best English agreeth perfectly with the
common speech of our country."
1 Art of Poesy, bk. iii, 1589. ness, vacuous, salacious, miuistra-
- The following words appear in tion of faculty, &c.
a recent volume of Transatlantic 3 Worthies of England, vol. II, p.
Sermons : Acerb, avertuess, basilar, 496, London, 1840.
effulges, sapid, resurrected, inward-
The motto at the beginning of the section is from the pen of the late
F. W. Faber, and is taken from his " Essay on the Interest and Charac
teristics of the Lives of the Saints." London, 1853.
VOL. II.
CHAPTER XLV.
~D UT in the course of two centuries and a half some words have
become obsolete, some have changed their signification,
and the meaning of others has grown obscure and unfamiliar.
It is, at the same time, a remarkable peculiarity that many
terms have kept their place because they occur in the text of
the Bible, and that others have fallen out of use because they
are found only in the margin or in the contents prefixed to
each chapter. The third of the Rules delivered by the English
divines to the Synod of Dort is, "that when a Hebrew or Greek
word admits of two proper senses, one should be expressed in
the text and the other in the margin." x The following list
indicates an attempt to present in the margin a literal ren
dering of the original, and those marginal renderings are for
the most part not now in currency :
Margin.
Whetter.
Ascending of the morning.
Eunuch.
Chief of the slaughter
men.
Tentation.
Surplusage.
Twinned.
On a slice.
Faulty to die.
Thou shalt not bough it.
Dungy gods.
Text.
Instructor.
Breaking of the day.
Officer.
Captain of the guard.
Massah.
That which remaineth.
Coupled.
In a pan.
Guilty of death.
Thou shalt not go over
the boughs again.
Idols.
1 See p. 201.
Gen. iv, 22.
Gen. xxxii, 24.
Gen. xxxvii, 36.
Gen. xxxvii, 36.
Exodiis xvii, 7.
Exodus xxvi, 13.
Exodus xxvi, 24.
Levit. ii, 5.
Num. xxxv, 31.
Deut. xxiv, 20.
Deut. xxix, 17.
MARGIN AND TEXT.
243
Margin.
Doth his easement.
Till the day declined.
The pitching time of day.
And he circuited.
Forbear us.
Battle array.
Bought of a sling.
Hath a pursuit.
Minister.
To rafter.
The eyelids of the morn
ing-
Dredge.
Chanelbone (collar bone.)
Fallings.
Gladded him.
Roll thy way.
Wearied.
For the rulings.
Changers.
Iterateth.
Righten.
Sweet balls.
Spangled ornaments.
Exactress of gold.
Wringer.
From the thrum.
Through-aired.
Convent (as a verb.)
Flit gretly.
Strakes.
Endirons.
Concision or threshing.
Palmcrist.
Gallants.
Covering or coverer.
Flue net.
With one shoulder.
Him that waketl/and him
that answereth.
Observation.
Away.
Persuasible.
Text.
Covereth his feet.
Till the afternoon.
The day gro \veth to an end.
"Went in circuit.
Give us respite.
The fight.
The middle of a sling.
He is pursuing.
Servant.
To floor.
The dawning of the day.
Judges iii, 24.
Judges xix, 8.
Judges xix, 9.
1 Sam. vii, 16.
1 Sam. xi, 3.
1 Sam. xvii, 20.
1 Sam. xxv, 29.
1 Kings, xviii, 27.
2 Kings vi, 15.
2 Chron. xxxiv, 11.
Job iii, 9.
Corn.
The bone.
Flakes.
Made him glad.
Commit thy way.
Troubled.
To rule.
Them that are given
change.
Returneth to.
Relieve.
Chains.
Mufflers.
Golden city.
Extortioner.
With pining sickness.
Large (chambers.)
Appoint.
Get you far off.
Rings.
Hooks.
Decision.
Gourd.
Worthies.
Defence.
Drag.
Witli one consent.
Master and scholar.
Ordinance.
Let us alone.
Enticing.
Job xxiv, 6.
Job xxxi, 22.
Job xli, 23.
Ps. xxi, 6.
Ps. xxxvii, 5.
Ps. xxxviii, 6.
Ps. cxxxvi, 8.
to Prov. xxiv, 21.
Prov. xxvi, 11.
Isaiah i, 17.
Isaiah iii, 19.
Isaiah iii, 1 9.
Isaiah xiv, 4.
Isaiah xvi, 4.
Isaiah xxxviii, 12.
Jerem. xxii, 14.
Jerem. xlix, 19.
Jerem. xlix, 30.
Ezek. i, 18.
Ezek. xl, 43.
Joel iii, 14.
Jonah iv, 6.
Nahum ii, 5.
Nahum ii, 5.
Hab. i, 15.
Zeph. iii, 9.
Mai. ii, 12.
Mai. iii, 14.
Luke iv, 34.
1 Cor. ii, 4.
244 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
Margin. Text.
Gall ings one of another. Perverse disputings. 1 Tim. vi, 5.
Makebates. False accusers. 2 Tim. iii, 3.
Profess honest trades. Maintain good works. Titus iii, 14.
Taketh not hold of. Took not on him the ua- Heb. ii, 16.
ture.
Interposed himself. Confirmed it. Heb. vi, 17.
Way to change his mind. Place of repentance. Heb. xii, 17.
Add it to the prayers. Offer it with the prayers. Rev. viii, 3.
There are also in the margin not a few plural terms, which
have not come into use at all, but were chosen on purpose to
represent literally some plurals in the original. Holinesses,
Exodus xl, 10 ; greatnesses, 1 Chron. xvii, 19 ; equities, Prov.
i, 3 ; secrecies, Prov. ix, 17 ; frowardnesses, Prov. x, 32 ;
righteousnesses, Isaiah xxxiii, 15 ; uprightnesses, Isaiah
xxxiii, 15 ; prosperities, Jerem. xxii, 21 ; bitternesses, Lam. iii,
15 ; vengeances, Ezek. xxv, 17.
Where the translation has a slight paraphrase the margin
renders the Hebrew occasionally by terms which have slipped
out of view. "Escaper," 2 Kings ix, 15 ; " praisers," 2 Chron.
xx, 21 ; " raiser," Hosea vii, 4 ; " rangers," 1 Chron. xii, 33.
In their own preface the revisers use words and phrases
which they did not venture to put into the translation.
In the contents prefixed to the chapters are not a few words
and phrases which have wholly or nearly passed away. In
the choice of them the revisers were not in any way influenced
by a desire to give the exact equivalent of the original, as is
done so often in the margin, but they employed familiar phraseo
logy. Many of the terms and phrases which they employed
have not survived, but others are specimens of old and pithy
English. Gen. xxx, " Laban stayeth him " ; xvii, " Abraham
his name is changed " ; xix, " the incestuous original of Moab " ;
xxiv, " Abraham sweareth his servant " ; xxix, " taketh
acquaintance " ; xliii, " Jacob is hardly persuaded to send
Benjamin " ; 1, " Joseph dieth and is chested " (a word
common still in the rural parts of Scotland). Levit. xxvi,
religiousness." Deut. vii, " assuredness." Josh, ii, " the
spies, their return and relation " (that is report) ; x, " the five
XLV.] MANY MARGINAL TERMS OUT OF USE. 245
kings are mured in a cave." 1 Sam. iii, " groweth in credit " ;
xiv, " unwitting to his father " ; xxx, " by means of a. revived
Egyptian he is brought to the enemies." 2 Sam. ix, " he
maketh Ziba his farmer." 1 Kings i, " Adonijah, David s
darling usurpeth"; xii, "a suit of relaxation." 2 Kings xvi,
" diverteth the brazen altar to his own devotion." 2 Chron.
xxviii, " Judah being captivated by the Israelites." Esther v,
" Hainan builded a pair of gallows." Job i, " by calumnia
tion " ; v, " inconsideration " ; xxxii, " reproveth them for
not satisfying of Job " ; xxxviii, " God . . . convinceth
Job of imbecility " ; Psalms iv, " David prayeth for
audience " ; v, " professeth his study in prayer " ; xxxix,
" impatiency "; Ixxxvi, "by the conscience of his religion";
cxlvii, " power over the meteors." Pro. viii, " evidency " ;
vii, "a young wanton." Isaiah iii, "impudency"; ix, "im-
pcnitency " ; xiv, " insultation over Babel " ; xviii, " an access
thereby shall grow " ; xxviii, " God s discreet providence " ;
xiv, " convinceth the idols of vanity " ; liii, "excuseth the
scandal of the cross." Jerern. xxxvi, " they will Baruch to
hide himself"; xxxix, "the city ruinated, the people capti
vated"; xlix, "the restoration of Elam." Mai. i, "irreli-
giousness." Matt, i, " the misdeeming thoughts of Joseph " ;
xi, "unrepentance"; xxii, "Christ poseth the Pharisees"; Mark
x, " resolveth a rich man how he may inherit eternal life " ;
xii, " resolveth the scribe who questioned the first command
ment." Luke ii, "questioneth with the doctors"; v, likeneth
faint hearted and weak disciples to " old bottles and worn
garments " ; xxii, " dehorteth." John xix, " being overcome
with the outrage of the Jews." Acts xv, " Paul and Barnabas
fall at strife " ; vi, " appoint the office of deaconship to seven
men"; xxvii, "Paul shipping toward Rome." Rom. v, "sith
we were reconciled," but also in the text of Ezek. xxxv, 6 ; xiii
" works of darkness are out of season in the time of the
gospel." 1 Cor. xiii, " prelation of charity before faith and
hope " ; xiv, " the abuse taxed " ; xvi, " shutteth up his
epistle." 2 Cor. x, "who disgraced the weakness of his
person " (spoke in ridicule and contempt of it) ; x, " against
all adversary powers." 2 Tim. iv, " willeth him to come
246 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
speedily unto him." Titus iii, "directed by Paul concerning
. . . . he is willed also to reject obstinate heretics."
James v, " we ought ... to reduce a straying brother
to the truth." Heb. iii, " more worthy punishment " ; x, " the
law sacrifices." 1 Peter i, " salvation in Christ no news "
(novelty). 2 Peter i, "whereof he is careful to remember
them." 1 John ii, " He comforteth them against the sins of
infirmity" ; iv, " we are to try the spirits by the rule of the
Catholick faith."
There are also some obsolete terms in the text of the
Authorized Version ; some words gone wholly out of use, or
that are rarely employed, and others that now carry a different
signification. The following have almost or^wholly ceased to
be in use : Tabret, artillery in the sense of an archer s
weapons, dulcimer, sackbut, scrip, knops, ouches, bosses, taches,
leasing, pate, shine, earing ploughing, brigandine, hard to for
hard by, with a twig or chord, emerods, scrabbled, habergeon,
swaddle, wench, wimple, sherd as a simple term, "breaches"
for " creeks," " fat " for " vat," " charger " in the sense of a
"capacious dish," 1 "chambering" for "lechery," "coasts" for
" borders," " room " for " place," " hardness " for " hardship,"
" dure " for " endure," " defenced " for " fenced," " entreat " for
" treat," " minish " for " diminish." " camp " for " encamp,"
" endamage " for " damage," " gazing-stock," " taken with the
manner," in the act, a law phrase which occurs also in Shake
speare, Num. v, 13; " ray " for " array," "ware" for "aware,"
" tire " as an article of female headdress, so that " attired " is
properly used of Aaron wearing his mitre, Leviticus xvi, 4 ;
" changeable suits" in the sense of festal garments, changed or
put off when the festival is over; " estate " meaning " state "
or " company," Acts xxii, 5 ; " estates " meaning " persons high
in authority," Mark vi, 21, 2 "resemble" as an active verb,
1 But Macaulay uses it l< Many 2 Barclay, . Ship of Fools," says
of these (the royalist party) rnort- that his language was " for rude
gaged their land, pawned their people much more convenient than
jewels, and broke up their silver for estates, learned men, or elo-
chargers and christening bowls. " quent."
History of England, vol. I, p. 113.
XLV.] WOSDS CHANGED IN MEANING. 947
Luke xiii, 18; "white" in an active sense, Mark ix, 3;
"equal" as an active verb, Lam. ii, 13; convert" as a tran
sitive verb, used only once of a human agent, James v, 19, 20,
and once of the Divine law, Ps. xix, and once in an intransi
tive sense, Isaiah vi, 10; " ragged " in the sense of " rugged,"
Isai. ii, 21 ; " strike " his hand, to move over or up and down,
2 Kings v, 11; " book," libellus, a formal accusation, Job xxxi,
35 ; " ambassage " as so spelt ; "the concision," a satirical term
for the circumcision, Phil, iii, 2 ; " delicates," Jer. xli, 34 ;
" throughly," Ps. Ii, 2 ; "translate " in the sense of transfer, 2
Sam. iii, 10 ; " he thought scorn," Esther iii, 6 ; " vial," a
goblet ; " draught," a sink ; " let," to hinder, Isaiah xliii, 13,
2 Thes. ii, 7 ; " worse liking," Dan. i, 10 ; " all to " in the sense
of thoroughly, " all to brake his skull," Judges ix, 53 (a com
mon idiom in the older writers, occurring also in Milton s
Comus); "listed," Matt, xvii, 12; "lively," living, 1 Peter
ii, 5 ; " uiidersetters," props, 1 Kings vii, 30 ; " going forth "
as a noun meaning outlet, Ezek. xliv, 5; "Jehoram departed
without being desired," or regretted, 2 Chron. xxi, 20
" swelling," 2 Cor. xii, 20, used in an ethical sense ; " matter,"
material or fuel, James iii, 5 ; " noisome," not disgusting, but,
according to its origin, noxious, Ps. xci, 3 ; " injurious," in
solent, 1 Tim. i, 13; "discover" would now be uncover, Ps.
xxix, 9 ; " either " is two considered separately ; " on either
side of the river " (Rev. xxii, 2), 1 means, according to old use,
on the one and on the other side. The usa^e is common ;
O
it was no slip, and no novelty, as it is found in Lev. x, 1 ;
John xix, 18 ; "each " would now be not more correct, but only
more intelligible English; Exodus ix, 31, "boiled," podded,
perhaps allied to bell, as holperi to help ; " blains " yet survives
in chil-blains. " Matrix," in the low Latin sense of womb, is
not in currency ; nor " cleave to " in the sense of adhere, Acts
xi, 23 ; nor " tablet " meaning beads or amulets, Exodus xxxv,
22 ; nor "botch " with the sense of boil ; nor "burst" with that
of break ; nor " base " with that of mean in appearance ; nor
1 Tennyson has
On either side the river lie
Long fields of barley and of rye."
248 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
" bunch " with that of Immp (Isaiah xxx, 6), in reference to
a camel. " For to," " but and if," " sirs," " handiwork,"
" afore," " silverling," " shroud " (Ezek. xxxi, 3), shadow pro
duced by the thick foliage, " comely " with a spiritual re
ference (Ps. xxxiii, 1), " lightly" in the sense of speedily or soon
(Mark ix, 39), "be at a stay," (Levit. xiii, 5) "lewd " as meaning
lay or unlearned, are not in present employment. " Worship "
has now the thinner meaning of honour " thou shalt have
worship," Luke xiv, 10, as in Wycliffe, " worsehipe thi fader
and thi moder," Mark vii, 10 ; or John xii, 26, " if any man
serve me my fader shall worship him."
Some words and phrases, though unusual now, are easily un
derstood ; are, in short, innocent archaisms, and give an antique
tinge to the version. " Woe worth the day," Ezek. xxx, 2,
"worth" connected with the German werden; "bravery" is gay
clothing in Isaiah iii, 18, in common Scotch " braws ; " by and
bye " is not a time at some little distance, but immediately,
Mark vi, 25, Lukexxi, 9 ; "road," which occurs only once, does
not signify a path, but an inroad, a raid, 1 Sam. xxvii, 10 ;
" seared " is scorched, or cauterized, 1 Tim. iv, 7 ; " ranges
for pots," Levit. xi, 35 ; but " ranges " is ranks of soldiers,
2 Kings xi, 8, 15, at least the Hebrew word has this mean
ing ; " ranges " appears in the Great Bible in verse 8, but in
verse 17 the words are, " without the temple, that she may be
within the ranges," after Mlinster Coverdale having " wall,"
and the Rheims " precincts of the temple," Vulgate, septum
the English term "ranges" might mean in that case the limits
or boundaries of the temple. The noun is left untranslated in the
Septuagint. Shamefastness (1 Tim. ii, 9) has been corrupted
into the poor and misleading form " shamefacedness." The
phrases "set the people a- work" (2 Chron. ii, 18), "having in a
readiness " (2 Cor. x, 6) remain unaltered. " Rising " is a
swelling, Lev. xiii, 2, 19 ; " wealth" is not money, but well-
being, 1 Cor. x, 24 ; " let all Israel be generally gathered unto
thee " means universally brought together, 2 Sam. xvii, 11 ;
"purchase" is simply to acquire, 1 Tim. iii, 13; "power "is
an armed force, "all his power with him," 2 Chron. xxxii, 9;
" men of war," Luke xxiii, 11, is a phrase applied now to ships
XLV.] SOME UNCOMMON FORMS. 249
only ; "to break up a house " is now to dismantle it, so that
" he would not suffer his house to be broken up," means he
would not suffer his house to be broken into (Matt, xxiv, 43),
the thief digging through the frail clay walls ; " a great altar
to see to," Josh, xxii, 10 ; " how shall we order the child ? "
(arrange concerning him), Judg. iii, 12 margin, "what shall be
the manner of the child ?" " Summer and winter" are used as
verbs, Isaiah xviii, 6 ; " ensue" has the sense of "pursue," 1 Pet.
iii, 8, 11; " wasteness," Zeph. i, 15 ; and "ravin," Gen. xlix,
27, are now unfamiliar, as are also the following terms and
phrases: "go to," Gen. xi, 3, James iv, 13; "bar and all,"
Judges xvi, 3 ; "on a smoke," Exodus xix, 18 ; " high day,"
Gen. xxix, 7; "clean escaped," 2 Pet. ii, 18; "cast the same
in his teeth," Matt, xxvii, 44 ; withal," besides, or over and
above, Ps. cxli, 10 ; Acts xxv, 27, " made as though he
would have gone further," Luke xxiv, 28 ; " fell on sleep,"
"goodman of the house," Matt, xx, 11; "savour" as a verb,
Matt, xvi, 23 ; "I do you to wit," " wist not," " every whit,"
"not a whit," "at quiet," "a fishing," "a preparing," "an
hungered," " a thirst," " a work," " spring of the day," " much
set by," "as good as," "that time is," "for all there were so many,"
" at a venture," Heb. in his simplicity, not taking aim at any
particular mark " the more part," " many a time," " forth of,"
"before time," " cast clouts," Jer. xxvii, 11 ; "of a truth," "any
while," " this ado," " at their wits end," " make for," " to the
end that," "as touching," "as concerning," "in respect of,"
" in seething," " in building," " was budded," " was befallen,"
" at the length," " at the least," " at the last," " follow after,"
" on examination had," " that thine is," " the quick and the
dead," " now a days," " I trow not," " such like," " of a child,"
"strike hands," "on a day," "it liketh him best," "what time,"
" when as," "let it forth," " the goings out of it," Num. xxxiv,
5 ; " thy coming in," Ps. cxxi, 8 ; " against," by the time that, 1
John xii, 7; 2 Kings xvi, 11 ; or "to meet one," 1 Sam. ix. 14.
There are such combinations as "horse heeles," Gen. xlix, 17;
" horse hoofs," Judges v, 22 ; "horse bridles," Rev. xiv, 20 ; the
1 Maetzner s English Grammar, English Trans., vol. Ill, p 435,
London, 1874.
250 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
first of the two nouns being in the possessive. The phrase
"three mighties" occurs twice in 1 Chron. xi, 12, 24, the
Bishops and the Great Bible having the " three mightiest "
after Tyndale Matthew, the Genevan and Coverdale in one
of the instances have " three worthies."
Some words have only their Latin meaning a meaning
that has passed away, and some preserve two significations.
Thus in Acts xxiv, 2, " providence " is forethought, not divine
government ; "prevent " is used in its original meaning to go
before, to anticipate in Psalm xxi, 3; cxix, 148; Matt, xvii,
25 ; 1 Thess. iv, 15, the more modern sense being "to hinder,"
to go before, so as to obstruct one. John i, 15, "is preferred
before me " means has come to be before me, his office rising in
dignity far above mine ; but the word is ambiguous, as it is
used to signify " to regard one more than another " ; and this
clause is adduced by Dr. Johnson, in his Dictionary, as an
example of such a signification ; and the erroneous sense would
then be, "elevated in popular opinion above me." " Revive " is
brought to life again, 1 Kings xvii, 22 ; Rom. xiv, 9 ; "decision,"
Joel iii, 14, is cutting off; "apprehend," is to seize, Philip,
iii. 12; "instant" as an adjective has the meaning of con
tinuous earnestness, Rom. xii, 12; 2 Tim. iv, 2; and the adverb
has a similar meaning in Acts xxvi, 7, and in Luke vii, 4; but
the noun has a temporal meaning in Luke ii, 38, and as often as
it occurs in the Old Testament. "Honest" is honourable, Philip,
iv, 8; "eminent" is projecting or prominent, Ezek. xvii, 22;
"profited" is made progress, Gal. i, 14; "evidently" is visibly,
Acts x, 3. " Conversation," in all places where it occurs, with
one exception, keeps its Latin signification, and means, though
it represents two Greek words, not talk, but the general
tenor of a man s life his walk ; so that it is tautology to
speak of "walk and conversation," Gal. i, 13; Eph. iv, 22;
Philip, i, 27; 1 Pet. i, 15; but in Philip, iii, 20 it means
citizenship, or country, representing a very different Greek
substantive. Similarly we have " conversant," Josh, viii, 35
" the strangers that were conversant among them," that is,
walked in and out among them, or had familiar daily inter
course; and so in 1 Sam. xxv, 15 ; and also in the contents of
XLV.] WORDS IN THEIR LATIN SENSE. 951
Acts ii, " devoutly and charitably converse together." " Pre
sumptuously " also keeps a sense, according to its composition
in Exod. xxi, 14, "if a man come presumptuously upon his
neighbour" beforehand, and on set purpose, though the
Hebrew means cunningly. In other places the word has in it
an ethical element of audacity and wilfulness Num. xv, 30 ;
Deut. i, 43, and in many other places representing other
Hebrew terms. " Replenish," however, is to fill, not to fill
again. "Malice" is often vice, or wickedness. "Approve"
has sometimes the simple sense of prove, Acts ii, 22 ; " affect "
is to pay court to, Gal. iv, 17; "communicate" is to give to
others a share of what we have, Philip, iv, 15 ; 1 Tim. vi, 18 ;
Heb. xiii, 16, but in other places it has its more common
modern meaning of words uttered, as in Matt, v, 37 ; Eph. iv,
29. To "accept" a person is to show unjust partiality for him,
Job xxxii, 21; Gal. ii, 6; but in many instances it has the
common modern meaning. " Evil occurrent " is evil coming
against, 1 Kings v, 4 ; " to occupy " is often not to possess, but
to trade, Ezek. xxvii, 9, 16, 19, 21, 22, 27; "allege" is to
prove, and not, as now, to declare, Acts xvii, 3 ; " apparent "
is manifest, and not seeming ; God says of His special reve
lations to Moses, "With him will I speak mouth to mouth,
even apparently " the contrast being " and not in dark
speeches," Num. xii, 8 ; "charity" is love, 1 Cor. xiii; "com
fort," as its origin implies, is not simply consolation, but
strength, 2 Cor. xiii, 11. " Fervent " is not ethical, but
physical in 2 Pet. iii, 10, 12; "vagabond" is only wanderer,
Gen. iv, 12 ; "to possess" is to seize on, Num. xiii, 30; "com
prehend " is used in its original , or Latin sense, Isaiah xl, 12 ;
" vain " is empty, or worthless, Judg. ix, 4 ; " vile " is cheap,
insignificant, without any moral implication, in Philip, iii, 21 ;
" volume " is roll ; " title " (titulus) is the tablet affixed to the
cross, John xix, 19 ;" temperance " is self-restraint, and not
confined to the use of wine, Acts xxiv, 25, &c. ; " traditions "
are doctrines taught or handed over, either orally or in writing
"by word or our epistle," 2 Thess. ii, 15; "decline" is to
turn away, Exod. xxiii, 2 ; " dissolving doubts " is solving or
resolving them, Dan. v, 12; "expecting" is looking out for,
252 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
Heb. x, 13; "fame" is report, Matt, xiv, 1; "degree" is step,
2 Kings xx, 9 ; " provoke " is to call forth, to stir up, but not
to anger, 2 Cor. ix, 2 ; " disposition " is arrangement with no
reference to temperament, Acts vii, 53 ; " damnation " is simply
judgment and not eternal penalty, the word having grown into
a darker meaning since 1611, 1 Cor. xi ; 29. "Incontinent"
has a wider reference than to sexual lusts, 2 Tim. iii, 3 ; " dis
cipline " has its first meaning of instruction, Job xxxvi, 10; so
has " describe " in Josh, xviii, 4, 6 ; " curious " is wrought with
care, Exodus xxviii, 8 "the curious girdle of the ephod" but
in Acts xix, 19, it refers to magic. " Creature " is any created
thing without the modern notion of a living or organized thing,
1 Tim. iv, 4; "advisement" is deliberation, 1 Chron. xii, 19;
" declare " is to make clear, Matt, xiii, 36 ; " offend " is to be, or
prove a cause of stumbling, Matt, xviii, 6, 8, 9; "publican " a
Latin term transferred is a collector of public revenue, and he
was usually in Italy taken from the equestrian order. "Peculiar
people" is a people His own special possession, Titus ii, 14;
" singular" in Levit. xxvii, 2, is in special or individual con
nection with oneself ; " passion " is suffering, Acts, i, 3 ; " ye
bear witness that ye allow the deeds of your fathers," Luke xi,
48 ("allow," "allouer," "allaudare,") the verb meaning not to per
mit merely, but to approve similarly, though the original word
is different, in Rom. vii, 15, in Rom. xiv, 22, and in 1 Thess. ii, 4,
but it represents a different Greek verb in Acts xxiv, 15, and
"allowance" with another derivation ("allouer, "allocare,") signi
fies portion or ration in 2 Kings xxv, 30. "Affinity" in 1 Kings
iii, 1, 2 Chron. xviii, 1, Ezra ix, 14, has its strict Latin sense
" affinitas " opposed to " cognatio " relation by marriage as op
posed to relation by blood ; " mortify " is to put to death, Rom.
viii, 13 ; " tempt " is to put to trial ; " usury " is only interest,
not excessive interest in Matt, xxv, 27 ; "proper" is one s own,
1 Chron. xxix, 3; Acts i, 19; 1 Cor. vii, 7; but it also means
fair or comely, Heb. xi, 23 Moses "was a proper child " :
had the best properties befitting a child. " Very " is " true "
in Gen. xxvii, 21, John vii, 26 ; " attendance " is mental appli
cation, attention a word which, however, does not occur at all,
1 Tim. iv, 13; "nephews" (Lat. nepos) are grand -children
XLV.] PECULIAR PHRASES AND SYNTAX. 253
according to old usage in 2 Tim. v, 4, and it represents the
Hebrew phrase "sons sons" in Judges xii, 14, Job xviii, 19,
Isaiah xiv, 22 ; and " niece " is used in Wycliffe s version for
grand-daughter. " Novice " is one newly admitted to the
church, 1 Tim. iii, 6 ; " virtue " is healing power, Mark v, 30 \
" piety," 1 Tim. v, 4, is filial affection ; "pommel," 2 Chron. iv, 12
(Lat. pomum), is around apple-like ornament; "chapiter" is the
head of the column, Exodus xxxvi, 38 ; " shalt discontinue
from thine heritage," is shalt be exiled, Jerem. xvii, 4 ; "several "
is separate in Num. xxviii, 13, and 2 Kings xv, 5, "dwelt in
a several house." " Taverns " are stalls or shops, the " Tres
Tabernae" in Acts xxviii, 15 being a station on the Appian
Road, about ten miles nearer Rome than the Appii Forum.
There occur also such phrases as " even to the mercy seat-
ward," Exodus xxxvii, 9 ; "he is forehead bald," Levit. xiii, 41,
baldness of brow distinguished from baldness of head ; " was
sufficed," Ruth ii, 14, 18 the active being used as in modern
idiom in Num. xi, 22 ; Ezek. xliv. 6 ; " how the matter will fall,"
fall out or happen, Ruth iii, 18; "David avoided out of his
presence," slipped softly and suddenly away, 1 Sam. xviii, 11 ;
" three days agone and fell sick," the word " agone " occurring
only here, and itself a past participle ; " have out," thrust out,
2 Sam. xiii, 9 ; and so in 2 Kings xi, 15 ; 2 Chron. xxxv, 23 ;
"me thinketh," 2 Sam. xviii, 27; "methought" occurs in Milton,
an impersonal verb, with " me " as a species of dative. "Which"
is used both with persons and things, according to old usage.
" Which " is the old form ; " that," however, being the oldest,
as the Anglo-Saxon neuter singular relative, but coming not so
near the antecedent as " who " or " which." According to one
rule of distinction, which has many exceptions, "who" belongs to
clauses of additional predication, while "that" is used in restric
tive or explanatory clauses. 1 " Which," more definite than
" that," is often applied to a person in Shakespeare and his
contemporaries ; but Shakespeare also couples " who " with
animals (a lion who) and inanimate objects (the winds " who
take "). Ben Jonson speaks of " our relative which," as if it
1 The term helpmeet as one word is " help meet for him" ; and the pro-
wrong; the words in Scripture are an per word would be helpmate
254 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAT.
were the only one ; and we still say, interrogatively, "which of
us " ? 1 We have in 1 Kings v, 6, " any that can skill to hew
timber," the verb being obsolete, but the noun preserved ;
2 Chron. ii, 9, "wonderful great"; Nehemiah xiii, 26, "out
landish women," foreigners; Job xix, 19, "all my inward
friends," intimate or confidential ; in Hebrew, " men of my
secret " ; Dan. xi, 30, " have intelligence with " is an under
standing with; Prov. xxix, 13, "the Lord lighteneth both
their eyes," the eyes of both classes of persons ; and Eccles. iv, 3,
" better is he than both they." "Away with" has two senses
Isai. i, 13, I cannot away with, cannot get on with, or cannot
endure; but John xix, 15, "away with him," off with him to
execution ; Isai. xv, 5, " with we eping shall they go it up," an
old and familiar idiom; Prov. xxi, 20, "spend it up"; Ezek.
xxvii, 13, "traded the persons of men"; Hab. ii. 10, "thou hast
consulted shame to thy house "; Acts xxiii, 15, "or ever he come,"
before he come ; Amos vii, 17, " into captivity forth of his land" ;
Matt, vi, 34, " take no thought," thought 2 in its old meaning
of anxiety ; Matt, ix, 9, " receipt of custom," the place where
custom or toll was received, as in the margin of Mark ii, 14,
literally, tollbooth; Matt, xx, 31, "rebuked them because they
should hold their peace," that is for the cause, or in order that
1 Professor Bain, in his Compa- 2 Thus, " Hawis was put in trouble
nion to the Higher English Gram- and died with thought," Bacon;
mar, quotes Professor Milligan of Wright s Bible Word Book, p. 483.
Aberdeen, to the following effect: " Queen Catherine Parr died rather
" Our translation of St. Matthew s of thought," Somers Tracts ; Arch-
gospel has been examined, for the bishop Trench s Select Glossary, sub
usage of the several relatives, by voce. In strange ignorance of this
Professor Milligan, of Aberdeen, one old arid familiar sense of the term,
of the Committee for revising the Mr. Greg, Creed of Christendom,
English Translation of the New vol. I, p. Ixvii, 2nd edition, founds
Testament. There are 224 relative an argument against the morality of
constructions. Of these, 175 are in the Gospel, as if Christ "not only
strict accordance with the distinctive deprecated, but also denounced and
uses of who, which, and that, prohibited" all forethought in
as here taught. In 43 cases who worldly matters, and encouraged
or which is put for that ; in 6 " improvidence." The Greek term
cases that is put for who or denotes cares, dividing or distracting
which. the mind anxious trouble.
XLV.] VARYING FORMS. 255
they should hold their peace, 1 as in all the earlier versions but
the Rheims. Matt, xxvi, 66, "guilty of death," guilty, in modern
English, being connected with the crime, not with the
penalty, as in Num. xxxv, 27, " shall not be guilty of blood or
of murder " ; " likewise is likeways, or in like manner, and
not simply "also," "he also himself likewise," Heb. ii, 14,
used similarly by Chaucer and Shakespeare ; John iii, 33, " set
to his seal"; Acts xxviii, 13, "fetched a compass," tacking on
account of the adverse wind; Rom. xvi, 19, "simple" does not
mean foolish; James v, 11, "pitiful" is full of pity, not what
excites pity ; Philip, iv, 6, " careful " is full of care or anxiety ;
" faithful " is often full of faith, or believing, Eph. i, 1 ;
" painful " is laborious, Ps. Ixxiii, 16 ;" reward " is often to re
quite, either in a good or bad sense ; " rehearse " is to tell,
not necessarily to repeat ; " cunning " is skilled or expert,
Gen. xxv, 27 ; " fret" is used in a physical sense, Lev. xiii, 55 ;
" passage," 1 Sam. xiii, 23, would now be " pass " ; and " witty "
has no element of humour in it, Prov. viii. 12.
The language was not matured in the early part of the reign
of James, and as it was in a state of oscillation the trans
lators use both forms of the preterite " clad " and " clothed,"
" shone " and " shined," " awoke " and " awaked," and
they have both " stale " and " stole," " lien " and " lain,"
" strike " and " strake," but never " struck," nor " spoke," nor
"broke." They use both "got" and "gotten," "girt" and
" girded," in the same chapter, and " built " and " builded " in
consecutive verses, nay " leapt " in the text and " leaped " in
the margin of 1 Kings xviii, 26; "spilt" and "spilled,"
" wrung " and " wringed," " clave " and " cleaved," " helped "
and " holpen," "held" and "holden"; "sod" but not
" seethed " ; " digged " only, refusing " dug." The preterite
forms of " sew " from " sow," " mew " from " mow," had
already passed out of use. " Rent " is used several times as
a verb in the present and is once found in modern copies,
Jerem. iv, 30. Similar variations occur in smaller matters, as
the use of " a " and " an," as " a hand " and " an hand," " a
hairy " and " an hairy," " a hole " and " an hole," " a horse "
and "an horse," "my" and "mine," "thy" and "thine,"
9.56 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CIIAP.
even in the same verse (Num. v, 20 ; Job xv, 12), " before "
and " before that," " after " and " after that," " hence " and
"from hence," "thence" and "from thence." But the version
shows general correctness in the use of " shall " and " will,"
" lye " and " lay," " sit " and " set," " bade " and " bidden "
forms and idioms so often confounded in colloquial English.
It has four times "beeves" the regular plural of beef, instead
of the more common terms " bullocks " or " oxen." " Sith "
occurs once as a logical term in Ezek. xxxv, 6, and " since " is
also employed as an illative in Joshua ii, 12, and in 1
Cor. xv, 21, bub it is oftenest used with a temporal signi
fication. " Beside " usually keeps its original meaning " by
the side," as in 1 Sam. xix, 3 ; Ps. xxiii, 2 ; but it is also found
in the sense of more or in addition to, and it has this modern
meaning four times, in Levit. xxiii, 38, Deut. xxix, 1, Luke xvi,
26, and xxiv, 21. On the other hand " besides," while it has
its usual sense, is employed once at least in the more literal
meaning of " beside," Levit. vi, 10, " he shall put them besides
the altar," changed, however, in later editions. "Sake" or
" sakes " after the preposition " for " is very often employed
considerably over a hundred times and is preceded by a
noun or a pronoun, the form "for the sake of" being ignored.
Many of the older idioms have become obsolete or the mean
ing has been altered. Asa his heai t was perfect," 1 Kings xv, 14 ;
the noun and the pronoun so placed occur in the first edition and
in the early editions as far down at least as a Scottish one of 1766
the form now being Asa s. Many seem to have thought that
the s is a contraction of the omitted pronoun, whereas it is
simply the old Saxon genitive. " Mordecai his matters " has
been changed into " Mordecai s matters " (Esther iii, 4), and
the words in the heading of Ruth iii are also modernized,
" By Naomi her instructions, Ruth lieth at Boaz his feete."
" This monstrous syntax," as Ben Jonson calls it, suggested
the word " his " as the explanation : man s =man-his; but what
then of yours, theirs, ours, hers ? " The queen s English " could
not be " the queen his English." The pronoun " it " in a
possessive sense occurs in Shakespeare fifteen times (first folio),
and " its " ten times ; " its, found only three times in Milton s
XLV.] OLD USE OF "HIS." 257
poetry, is not found in the Authorized Version at all ; the
simple " it " is used once, " that which groweth of it own
accord," Levit. xxv, 5, "his" being employed, as it stood in
Anglo-Saxon for both masculine and neuter. But the usage
sounds strange to modern ears: Gen. i, 11, "after his kind
whose seed is in itself " ; Levit. i, G, " cut it into his
pieces " ; 15, " the priest shall bring it to the altar and
wring off his head " ; 2 Sam. vi, 17, " they brought in the
ark and set it in his place " ; Ezek. xvii, 9, " it shall
wither in all the leaves of her spring " ; 1 Cor. xiii, 5, " doth
not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own." Dryden
finds fault with Ben Jonson s use of "his" for "its." But
at length objects of which sex could not be predicated necessi
tated the introduction of " its." l Chatterton s " Rowley s
Poems " might have been pronounced a forgery at once from the
occurrence of " its " in such a phrase as " life and all its goods."
Dr. Masson has brought the same usage to bear on the
genuineness of a little poem found in the British Museum and
printed in 18G8 in the Times newspaper. In its fifty-four lines
"its" occurs four times. At an earlier period, the genitive "is"
was common. Palsgrave 2 in his French grammar, prepared
for the Princess Mary, sister of Henry VIII (London, Haukyns,
1530), says " we put is or s to a substantive when we wyll
express possessyon. " More than twenty years after the pub
lication of the Authorized Version the practice was so uncertain
that Butler, while in his English Grammar of 1G33 he formally
declines "it" with the genitive "its," uses "his" again and again
in his volume. Referring to the letter W he speaks of " his
name," . . " his face/ and " his shape." In old poems " hyt "
is found with a possessive sense. 3 But Addison lightly calls the
single letter " s " ( s) the " his " or " her " of our forefathers.
1 The " h," though preserved in &c., was reprinted in Paris, Impri-
"he," "him," "his," "her," has merie National, 1852.
passed out of the neuter " it," 3 P. xxiv, Early English Literature,
originally " hyt " or " hit," as it Poems, Early English Text Society,
is yet pronounced by Scottish and in the writings of Sir Thomas
school boys. More.
2 Palsgrave s L Esclarcissement,
VOL. II. R
258 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
Ill our modern copies the spelling is very often changed
from the first edition: "aliant" (Job xix, 15) has become
"alien"; "chaws" (Ezek. xxix, 4), ; <jaws"; " fet," "fetched"
(Acts xxviii, 13); "fift," "fifth" (Lev. xxvii, 13); " lese,"
"lose" (1 Kings xviii, 5); "moe," "more" (Deut. i, 11); "mids,"
"midst" (Luke xxiii, 45) ; "terreses," " terraces " (2 Chron. ix,
11); " bowshoot," "bowshot" (Gen. xxi, 16); "moneth,"
"month" (Exod. xvi, 1); "marish," "marsh"; " thorow,"
" through " ; " thorowout," throughout" ; " flixe " was changed
into "flux " (Acts xxviii, 8) ; " grinne," into " gin " (Job xviii, 9) ;
"counsel" is now "council" (the Sanhedrim); "broided" (1 Tim.
ii, 9) " plaited " in the margin has become " broidered " in
several modern editions ; and the n was sometimes denoted
only by a stroke, as in older English; "accompt" has been
changed into " account " ; and " renowne," into " renown " ;
"then," as a conjunction, into "than"; "plat," into "plot";
" unpossible " (Matt, xvii, 20) has become " impossible " ; but
the original form " unperfect " remains in Psalm cxxxix ;
16; "unmovable," in Acts xxvii, 41, and 1 Cor. xv, 58;
" shipwracke " has been altered in 2 Cor. xi, 25. " Hot " was
spelled "whot" (Deut. ix, 19). The form-ie is the termination
of many words now ending in y, as carie, citie ; i and u are
used for the more modern j and v; e is found often at the
end of words as sunne, moone, starres, signe, arke, farre, yere,
hee, shee, bee, rammes skinnes, and in the phrase, " doe the
dutie " ; past participles are spelt as sowen, growen ; shallbe
or shal-be is one word ; and there are such spellings as bricke
kill (Jer. xliii, 9), maner, sope, perfit, battel, enterten, unfained,
neesing, " bile," for " boil " ; theren, plow, pransings, " lancer,"
for "lancet"; "mussell," for "muzzle;" " crudle," for "curdle";
" cize," for size"; "utter," for "outer"; damesell, but not
always ; "that had bin " occurs Matt, i, 6. " Ought " is an early
way of spelling " owed " " which ought him ten thousand
talents " (Matt, xviii, 24) and the original form was pre
served in many editions; "champaign," a level country, is
" champion " in the text of Deut. xi, 30 ; but " champian " in
the margin of Ezekiel xxxvii, 2, the only places where the
word occurs. Preterite forms are given, as "dipt," "cropt";
XLV.] VARIATIONS IN SPELLING. 959
" pluckt " and " plucked " ; " stopt " and "stopped " ; " lift " and
"lifted"; "fetcht" and "fetched"; "prey," in the modern
editions, is " pray " in the early ones, as Gen. xlix, 9, 27, and
so commonly throughout. There are also such varying forms
as " burthen" and "burden"; " murthcr " and " murder"; "hun-
dreth" and "hundred" in consecutive verses, Judg. xviii, 1C, 17;
"prophane " and " profane " ; " toward " and " towards " in the
same verse, Gen. xlviii, 13, but made uniform in subsequent
editions. There are as great variations in Milton s spelling,
even in the first editions of his poems. " Be " is the old
form ; " thy sins be forgiven thee " (Matt, ix, 2) is not a
command or imprecation, but a simple statement, as in Gen.
xiii, 8, "for we be brethren " ; in Dan. iii, 19, " than it was
wont to be heat/ the old participle is still a Scotticism,
pronounced "het," as "set," which is the past participle of
"seat" (Matt, v, 1); "dedicate" in the phrase "he had dedicate,"
2 Kings xii, 18, has long since become " had dedicated."
Adjectives of this or similar ending, formed from the Latin
past participle, are used without an additional syllable, as
" situate," " thou that art situate," Ezek. xxvii, 3. " Thee "
is also archaic, as " get thee," " haste thee," " fare thee " ;
" ye," and seldom " you," as the nominative, though
" ye " is often objective in Milton. It would appear that
when Milton wrote "yee," or "thee," he occasionally meant
the form to be emphatic. 1 " Yee " has been changed into
"you" in the more modern editions: Isa. i, 16, "wash you,"
the change perhaps prompted by the following clause, " make
you clean," " you " in the first clause being regarded as
objective. The translators in their own preface use "you":
"You are risen up in your father s stead"; "as your fathers
did, so do you"; but in the translation of both places they
keep "ye" (Num. xxxii, 14; Acts vii, 51). "That" is used for
"what," " we speak that we do know" (John iii, 11); and several
times in this gospel; "thou takest that thou layedst not
down" (Luke xix, 21, 22, 2G) ; "if 1 do that I would not"
(Rom. vii, 20 ; similarly, viii, 25 ; 2 Cor. viii, 12) ; " in," as well
as " on," is found in connection with " throne " (Prov. xx, 8) ;
1 Massou s Miltou, vol. Ill, p. 187
260 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
Rev. iii, 21) ; and in connection with earth (Matt, vi, 10).
We have in 1 Kings xvii, 10, "a widow woman was gathering
of sticks"; but "gathering two sticks," in verse 12; and in
Rev. xviii, 12, "all manner vessels of ivory"; this last idiom
occurs in several other places in the first edition. 1 " Whiles "
(Matt, v, 25) is a genitive form ; in Eph. ii, 13, " sometimes" is
simply for "sometime," like " betimes," which has not a plural
sense, but means at some early period. We have also " alway,"
"always"; and the phrase "or ever," Psalm xc, 2, "or" being
another form of "ere," before, Exodus i, 19, Num xiv, 11, Dan.
vi, 24, is a reduplication, like "for because," Gen. xxii, 16.
There are also forms of expression which w r ere quite correct and
current in the days of Elizabeth and James, and common to
the contemporaries of the translators, which are now regarded
as out of rule, as Matt, v, 23, " if thou bring thy gift to the
altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught
against thee," both verbs being attached to the same conjunc
tion ; John ix, 31, " if any man be a worshipper of God, and
doeth his will"; the same form of the English verb should
have been kept in the successive clauses. Sometimes a strong
preterite is found in the one clause and an auxiliary used in the
next : Matt, xxv, 26, " reap where I sowed not, and gather
where I have not strawed, ! are not out of harmony. The
reverse, however, is awkward : " doth he not leave the ninety
and nine, and goeth and seeketh"; Acts xxvii, 21, "and not
have loosed from Crete, and to have gained this harm and
loss " ; Jeremiah xxvi, 19, " did be not fear the Lord, and
besought the Lord, and the Lord repented ? " clauses of the same
question ; Matt, xxvi, 67, " then did they spit in his face, and
buffeted him " ; Mark viii, 22, " they bring a blind man unto
him, and besought him," a mistranslation. A double nega
tive occurs in 2 Sam. xiv, 7, " shall not leave neither name nor
remainder " ; also, 1 Cor. x, 32. The old use of grammatical
numbers, according to sense and not technical canon, occurs,
Acts i, 15, "the number of names together were." On the
other hand, " an " is used before a plural, when the objects
are taken as a unity : " an eight days after these sayings "
1 See vol. I., p. 284.
XLV.] OTHER PECULIARITIES.
(Luke ix, 28). There are other peculiarities: Gen. xxvii, 15,
"goodly raiment which were with her "; Luke v, 10, "so was also
James and John." " There was taken up twelve baskets" (Luke
ix, 17); "Agrippaand Bernice was entered" (Acts xxv, 23). A
singular verb, especially the substantive verb, is often connected
with two or more nominatives, as in the concluding clause of
the Lord s Prayer " Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and
the glory." Compare Heb. ix, 4; Ezek. ii, 10; Dan. v, 11
vii, 14 ; Haggai ii, 19 ; and many other places. In such con
nections each nominative is singled out in succession, for the
sake of emphasis : " the kingdom is thine, and the glory
is thine," &c. In the clause, John xi, 57, " If any man
knew where he were," " were " was apparently not taken as
a subjunctive. "Generation" is represented by "they" in
one clause, "they seek a sign"; and by "it" in the next, "no
sign shall be given it" (Luke xi, 29) ; Jer. xviii, 15, similarly,
" My people hath forgotten me, they have burned incense " ;
Matt, xv, 8, " This people draweth nigh with their mouth."
Want of uniformity occurs also in these verses in the
use of numerals : " One and twentie yeere old " (Jer. lii,
1) ; "threescore and two yeere old" (Dan. v, 31); "thirty
change of garments " (Judges xiv, 13) ; " in the sixth
hundredth and one yeere " (Gen. viii, 13), corrected in 1629 ;
" upon the eight day " (Ezek. xliii, 27). " Then," according
to old custom, is used as a conjunction in the clause, a a fool s
wrath is heavier then them both" (Prov. xxvii, 3). The expres
sions " asked an alms " and " so great riches is come to naught,"
are correct, both nouns being really singular. The phrase,
" the which " (Luke xxi, 6 ; Acts xvii, 31 ; Colos. iii, 7 ; Heb.
vii, 19 ; James ii, 7), common in old English, has all but
passed away ; as also Philemon C, " much bold." Modern usage
would condemn the connection of " each " or "every one" with
a plural following, as in Song of Solomon iv, 2, "whereof every
one bear twins"; Matt, xviii, 35, "if ye forgive not every one
his brother their trespasses," and this was a common Eliza
bethan idiom, each having the sense of both the one or the
other in combination. The two last words are, however,
not genuine in this place, but are an exegetical supplement ;
202 1I1E ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
Philip, ii, 3, "let each esteem other better than themselves.
" Both " is used \vith more than two, as in Ezek. ix, 6, " both
maids, and little children, and women." "Whom" is not accu
rate in such phrases as Matt, xvi, 13, 15; Mark viii, 27, 29;
Luke ix, 18, 20, " Whom do men say that I am?" "whom say
ye that I am?" "whom think ye that I am?" The law of the
succession of tenses is sometimes violated, as where " might " is
used frequently for " may," Eph. iii, 19, " might " being a past
form. " What wilt thou that I should do unto thee ? The
blind man said unto him, That I might receive my sight,"
an impossible reference to a past time, and the present " may "
is therefore the appropriate auxiliary ; so also Luke viii, 9 ;
John v, 40. There is a peculiarity in Prov. vi, 19, "a false
witness that speaketh lies, and him that soweth discord
among brethren"; "him" remained in the text through many
editions, even in that of 1638, and apparently was not
changed till 1769. In Heb. ix, 11, 12, we have " Christ being
come an high priest ... he entered," with the other and
real nominative in the previous verse, "Christ." There is
also the double comparative "lesser," used three times in
the text and once in the margin, but occurring a score of
times in Shakespeare ; and the double superlative, " most
straitest sect " (Acts xxvi, 5), an idiom called by Ben Jonson
" a certain kind of Atticism " ; such double degrees occur
often in Shakespeare, " the most unkindest cut of all." There
are also double possessives, " a servant of the king s (2 Kings
xxii, 12); "a cunning man . . . of Huram my father s" (2
Chron. ii, 13) ; " a servant of the high priest s " (Matt, xxv, 51);
" hired servants of my father s " (Luke xv, 17). Other instances
have been changed, but in the first edition we have, Deut.
xxiii, 25, "the standing corn of thy neighbour s"; Lev. xxii,
10, " a sojourner of the priest s." We have also these peculiar
forms Exod. ix, 4, " the children s of Israel " ; Deut. x, 14,
"the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the Lord s thy God."
But, in fine, many of the licenses taken by Elizabethan
authors were refused by the framers of the present version, for
they wrought under the condition and necessary constraint of
translators, so that they did not and could not follow Shakes-
XLV.] A VOIDANCE OF MANY IRREGULARITIES. 263
peare in using an adverb as a verb or a noun, in employing a
noun as an adjective or as an active verb, or in setting an
adjective to do duty as an adverb or a noun. Such irregular
facilities tended to vigour, clearness, and immediateness of
expression, but they could not be adopted in all their exuber
ance into a work which was to live on untouched by changing
literary styles and fashions, and to sustain a fresh and long
protest against ephemeral crudities, affected verbal com
binations, and ponderous Latinisms in the style of English
writers.
CHAPTER XLVI.
HHHE translators were quite aware of the enmity and oppo
sition which their work was sure to meet with, and their
preface opens with distinct anticipations of the calumnies that
would be poured upon them.
"Zeale to promote the common good, whether it be by
deuising any thing our selues, or reuising that which hath bene
laboured by others, deserueth certainly much respect and
esteeme, but yet findeth but cold intertainment in the world.
It is welcommed with suspicion in stead of loue, and with
emulation in stead of thankes : and if there be any hole left
for cauill to enter, (and cauill, if it doe not finde a hole, will
make one) it is sure to bee misconstrued, and in danger to be
condemned. This will easily be granted by as many as know
story, or have any experience. For, was there euer any thing
projected, that sauoured any way of newnesse or renewing, but
the same endured many a storme of gaine-saying, or opposi
tion ? A man would thinke that Ciuilitie, holesome Lawes,
learning and eloquence, Synods, and Church-maintenance, (that
we speake of no more things of this kind) should be as safe as
a Sanctuary, and out of shot, as they say, that no man would
lift vp the heele, no, nor dogge mooue his tongue against the
motioners of them. . . . Thus not only as oft as we speake,
as one saith, but also as oft as we do any thing of note or con
sequence, we subiect our selues to euery ones censure, and
happy is he that is least tossed vpon tongues ; for vtterly to
escape the snatch of them it is impossible."
The version, as had thus been anticipated, soon encoun-
HUGH BROUGHTON. 265
tered opposition, its first antagonist being the scholarly but
impracticable Hugh Broughton. He had not been chosen
one of the revisers, though he had been all his life writing
on the nature and necessity of Biblical revision. On account
of his arrogant and perverse temper he was not a " club-
able " man. His great erudition was undoubted, though
much of it was spent on smaller matters, especially in
discussing the genealogies of Scripture. The learned Light-
foot, his biographer, calls him on the title-page of the
volume of his collected works, "the great Albionian Divine,
renowned in many nations for his skill in Salem s and
Athens tongues." His style, as admitted by Lightfoot, was
" curt, something harsh, and obscure." He wrote sharp criti
cisms on his rival Lively, and he attacked unsparingly the
Bishops Bible. To crown all, he fell upon Bancroft himself
and with poor wit brands him as " the bane of the banned
croft," and hints to him in reference to a notorious theological
dispute about a middle state, that when his soul shall ascend
to Hades, he may find Gehenna there, and that for his raving
against truth, King James, to whom the tract is dedicated,
" shall behold him from Abraham s bosom." Broughton, being
passed by, and not engaged in the work, was, according to
Walton, 1 so highly offended that he wrote with more than
usual asperity against the Authorized Version. " The late
Bible was," he intimates, " sent me to censure, which bred in
me a sadness which will grieve me while I breathe. It is so
ill done. Tell his Majesty that I had rather be rent in pieces
with wild horses than any such translation, by my consent,
should be urged on poor churches. . . . My advertisement they
regarded not " the allusion being to their translation of the
last clause of Gen. iv, 26. In reference to Luke iii, and
the phrase "the Son of God," he maintains that in fifteen
verses they have "fifteen scores of idle words for account in the
day of judgment, the relation of each name being to Christ."
He adds, " when the genealogy was attacked, I cleared our
Lord s family " ; Bancroft raved and gave the anathema,
1 Todd s Memoirs of "Walton, vol. I, p. 92; Lewis History of Transla
tions, p. 297, 3rd edition.
26G THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
"Christ judged his own cause." Broughton s other charges
are based on St. Stephen s speech, on which he dogmatizes
without throwing light upon it; on the Seventy Weeks in
Daniel ; on the translation of the names of precious stones ; l
the spelling of proper names ; and on Daniel xi, 38, " where
they leave atheism in the text, and put my translation into
the margent." He admits, however, " I blame not this that
they keep the usual style of former translations. For the
learned the Genevan might be made exact, for which pains
for whole thirty years I have been called upon, and I spent
much time, to my great loss, by wicked hindrance." 2
Such were the impressions of Broughton s erudition and
vanity that when he went to the continent it was said that
he had gone to teach the Jews Hebrew. His "coat bare the bird
of Athens " ; and as he helped Speed to compile the genealo
gies found in the earlier edition of the present Bible, the two
owls with a burning torch found at the top corners of the
first page mean that " it was Mr. Broughton that gave
the light in that work." 3 There is a sprightly caricature of
Broughton s subjects and style in Ben Johnson s Alchemist,
act iv, scene 3.
Dr. Gell, who had been chaplain to Archbishop Abbot, pub
lished, in 1659, an attack "a skeleton of mere criticisms"
upon the version and its framers. Some of his accusations are
very trivial, and many of his statements are drawn out into
prolix allegorical sermons. He objects to their inversion of
the order of words, to their undue use of supplemental terms,
and to their translation as being moulded to suit their own
opinions, while they put the better and truer rendering in the
margin. Especially does he censure their Bible as obscuring
1 Bancroft, in writing to Cowell, touching Translating the Bible,"
Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge, says 1595.
in a postscript that he had sent for 2 Works, p. 661, &c., London, 1662.
the translators " a copy of a learned 3 The genealogies and the descrip-
epistle of Mr. Broughton s, though tion of the Holy Land, in the first
it was of old date." There is no doubt edition, were compiled by royal au-
that this work was his "Epistle thority, as was told by the delegates
to the learned nobilitie of England at the Synod of Dort.
XLVI.] WARD S POPISH ATTACK. 267
on purpose the doctrine of perfection, for he regarded such a
state as attainable in the present life. 1 They predicted that
" uncharitable imputations " would be cast on them and their
1
work, and Broughton and Gell soon verified the prophecy. 2
Nor have they been the only opponents. But such baseless
objections as those brought by Bellamy and Sir James Burges, ^/ /t* -*"-
and recently renewed by Mr. Street, 3 against the version that it
was taken from the Septuagiut, have been sufficiently exposed ,.
by Brett, Whittaker, and Todd.
A portion of the arguments which Gregory Martin had used
many years before against the current Protestant versions was
taken up and repeated by Thomas Ward 4 against the present
Bible, the edition singled out being that of Bill and Barker,
1683. This book, "Errata of the Protestant Bible," seems to
have been published anonymously in the reign of James II ;
and a second edition appeared in 1688. It was reprinted
in Dublin in 1807, issued with a preface by Lingard in
1810, and with a letter by Milner in 1841. Ward calls his
work an abridgment, "suited not only to the purse of the
poorest, but to the capacity of the most ignorant." He excels
his predecessor in ferocity of epithet, accuses King James s
translators of blasphemy, most damnable corruptions, intoler
able deceit, and vile imposture, these epithets not being " the
dictates of passion, but the just resentment of a zealous mind."
Of damnable corruptions there are one hundred and twenty,
and twenty errors in addition are not regarded as the pro
duct of ill design. Many of Ward s alleged corruptions are
now found in the Catholic version itself: it has been so
1 Essay towards the amendment in." By the Rev. B. Street, vicar of
of the last English Translation, Barnsley-le-Wold. London, 1872.
London, 1659. 4 Ward was a schoolmaster who
2 Baxter refers to Gell as one of had gone over to the Church of
the sowers of religious discord in Rome in the days of James II. He
the Parliamentary army, especially then travelled in Italy, and served
in Colonel Whalley s regiment, as a soldier in the Papal Guards.
These " sectmasters fiercely cried He also published " England s Re-
down the present translation of the formation, in Hudibrastic verse."
Scripture." Ward was replied to by Grier, Ryan,
3 Restoration of Paths to Dwell and Hamilton.
2G8 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
much altered from time to time. The answer of Fulke to
Martin still suffices to refute such polemical objections, and
some of the older incorrect renderings have been changed in
our present version. One grievous complaint was the use of the
term " images," as in 1 John v, " Babes, keep yourselves from
images"; 2 Cor. vi, 1C, "how agreeth the temple of God
with images? " Eph. v, 5, "nor covetous person who is a wor
shipper of images." The Catholics, allowing idolatry to
be wrong, felt that these renderings condemned their
practice of having images in their churches, and suggested to
the people the destruction of them. But the accusation does
not apply to the Authorized Version, for the Greek word and
its compounds are rendered idol, idolater, and idolatry. Many
of the Fathers, indeed, as Jerome, could not distinguish
between the worship of images and that of idols, and prac
tically to the masses they are the same ; yet it was right
to indicate the distinction between two Greek terms. 1
The Genevan had already set the example of a correct
rendering.
Among the charges brought against the new version the most
absurd and ludicrous is, that through royal influences the trans
lation was worded so as to countenance the notion of witchcraft.
Dr. Samuel Johnson, 2 after telling of James s great skill in
witchcraft and referring to his Treatise on Demonology printed
at Edinburgh and reprinted in London soon after his accession,
adds that " as the ready way to gain King James s favour was
to flatter his speculations, the system of Demonology was
adopted by all who desired either to gain preferment or not to
lose it." These words do not contain any definite accusation
against the translators, though they have been supposed to do
so. But Bishop Huchinson in his "Historical Essay on
Witchcraft " asserts in the same spirit and more directly, after
referring to the statute against conjuration, " The translation
of the Bible being made soon after, by King James s particular
desire, hath received some phrases that favour the vulgar
notions more than the old translations did. At that unhappy
1 Such as etKwv and ei ScoAov.
- Works, vol. X, p. 76, London, 1S23.
XLVI.] CHARGE OF FAVOURING WITCHCRAFT. 269
time was brought in the gross notion of a familiar spirit . . .
these translations being introduced for the great reverence
they had to the King s judgment and the testimony he gave
them of facts from Scotland." A professed commentator also,
Rev. John Hewlet, B.D., who published an exposition of the
Bible in 1812 the notes of which were reprinted in 1816
declares without reserve that the translators introduced the
term " familiar spirit," " witch," and " wizard," to flatter the
notions of royalty.
But whatever the king s opinions were on this subject, the
terms objected to occur in the earlier versions, and were there
fore not introduced by the king s translators. Both the two
preceding versions in concurrent use had in the story of her of
Endor the phrase " familiar spirit " three times (1 Sam. xxviii,
7, 8), though they rendered the phrase "them that had
familiar spirits and the wizards " in 3, and in 9 by " sor
cerers" and "soothsayers." In the Great Bible, 1540, a "familiar
spirit" is rendered a "spirit of prophecy," and by Coverdale,
"spirit of soothsaying." Both the Genevan and the Bishops
have in Exodus xxii, 18, "thou shalt not suffer a witch to live,"
and the Bishops has the following note, " the word in Hebrew
signifieth a witch or sorcerer, or an enchaunter, or any that
by devilish means hurteth either cattle, corn, or men." The
translators, though they accepted the text, pointedly refused
this note which was after the king s own heart. "Witch" is also
the translation of the other earlier versions. Nay, in Isaiah
Ivii, 3, where the Genevan has "witches children," the Authorized
does not copy, but has used " sorceress." In both the Wyclifnte
versions Simon is called a witch, the noun being at that early
period of both genders. Belief in witchcraft was very current
in Europe before the period of James I. Many mediaeval
councils, synods, and papal Bulls had maintained the reality of
it, and there is an immense body of literature on the subject.
Wierus had written in 1583, and Reginald Scott in the follow
ing year. A statute had been passed against witchcraft in 1541
(33 Henry VIII, c. 8), and it was renewed at the accession of
Elizabeth before any law was enacted in Scotland. Witch
craft figures prominently in many dramas. At a later period
270 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
Glanville, Henry More, Sir Matthew Hale (who condemned
two women to death at Bury St. Edmunds in 1665), the
Mathers in America, Professor Sinclair of Glasgow University, 1
Sir Thomas Brown, the " Exposer of Vulgar Errors," and good
John Wesley, expressed their firm conviction of the reality
of it. The penal laws in existence at that time against it,
which had been passed (1 James I, c. 12) when Coke was
Attorney-General, and Bacon a member of Parliament, were
not repealed till 1736. 2 Chief-Justice Holt, in 1702, punished
witchcraft as an imposture. The belief in witches was also
intensely prevalent in Scotland. The General Assembly had
often taken up the matter, and the early Seceders set down
among the signs of spiritual declension the cessation of witch-
burning. The last instance in England of witch-burning
occurred in 1716, and in Scotland in 1720.
Most extraordinary statements have also been made about
the relations of the translators and their work to the king.
Two Transatlantic authors, in a joint production written in
defence of the " Bible Union " and its avowedly Baptist
version, affirm amidst much wrathful and senseless vituperation
that the translators intended to flatter James by the rendering
"God save the king" "a phrase at war with all of God s
revelations on kingly governments," and they give us the
astounding intelligence that the monarch himself was the
manager and final reviser of the Authorized Version "those
royal hands, dripping with the blood of hundreds of innocent
human beings, gave the final touches to it." 3 Such statements
1 See vol. I, p. 236. Look, " New Testament Studies by
2 See Huchiuson s Essay on Aliquis," London, 1870, it is said
Witchcraft, 1718 ; Upham s Salem that King James probably intro-
Witchcraft, Boston, 1867; the first duced the word "Easter" in Acts
chapter of Lecky s Rationalism, vol. xii, 5. But "Easter" is as old as
I, London, 1866, 3rd ed., and De la Tyndale s first edition. Another
Demonialite, par Isidore Liseux, conjecture of the same author may
Paris, 1875. be taken for what it is worth, when
3 Discussion on Revision of the he hints that it is not improbable
Holy Scripture, p. 113, 208. By that the king wrote the " flattering
James Edmunds, and T. S. Bell, dedication" to himself.
Louisville, Ky., 1856. In a small
XLVI.] CHARGED WITH ECCLESIASTICAL PREDILECTIONS.
need no reply. The phrase "God save the king" was not
coined by the translators they found it both in the Bishops
and in the Genevan ; the Great Bible and Matthew (Tyndale)
having, in 1 Sam. x, 24, " God lend the king life," and
Coverdale, " God save the new king."
Undue ecclesiastical predilections have been charged against
the revisers. Thus the rendering " tables " in Mark vii, 4,
has been branded as an attempt to hide the meaning of immer
sion as identified with washing. But the margin has " beds "
from the Rheims, and " tables " is as old as Tyndale s first
edition, and is found in subsequent versions. It has also been
alleged, and not without some reason, that in Acts xx, 28, the
rendering of the clause " over which the Holy Ghost hath made
you overseers " is a deflection from the true translation, and
conceals the identity of the " elders " with the office-bearers
usually named "bishops." It is quite true that the word
given as " overseer " is, even as applied to Christ, everywhere
rendered " bishop "; but perhaps the translation in Acts was
meant to bring out the duties or functions of the office
" bishop " being a foreign term with a technical signification.
But while it would have been better to preserve uniformity,
it must be added at the same time that our translators did not
introduce the variation, for "overseers" is in Tyndale 1526
and 1534, in Cranmer 1540, in both Genevan versions, and
in the Bishops ; " bishops " being found in Wycliffe, Coverdale,
and the Rheims. WyclifFe often renders "high priest" by
" bishop," and the note of the Rheims is " bishops or priests."
Dr. Hill is reported by Henry Jessey, in a paper on revision,
to have said in open assembly, " It was commonly reported
that Bancroft, in order that the translation should speak
prelatical language had altered it in fourteen places ; and
that Dr. Miles Smith s complaint was that he is so potent
that there is no contradicting him. " l But we have no direct
means of ascertaining whether the statement be true, only we
know that Bancroft was among the first to defend episcopacy
1 Henry Jessey was the author of the words of the New Testament,"
an English-Greek Lexicon "for all London, 1GC1.
272 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
as of absolute divine right, and he certainly had a temper
and a will that could bear down all opposition. 1 This story,
however, had so firm a hold on the popular mind that about
1657 it formed the preamble of a " bill for revising the
English translation of the Scriptures," in the following
terms :
" Whereas by the reverend, godly, and learned Dr. Hill, it
was publicly declared in his sermon before an honourable
assembly, 2 and by himself since that time published in priirt,
that when the Bible had been translated by the translators
appointed, the New Testament was looked over by some pre
lates (that he could name) to bring it to speak the prelatical
language, and he was informed by one that lived then, a great
observer of those times, fourteen places in the New Testament,
whereof he instanceth these in five or six places by them
corrupted.
" The like testimony of these prelates wronging that new
and best translation being given by some other ancient and
godly preachers also, who lived in those times.
" And some appearance hereof may yet be seen in part of
that very copy of these translators." 3
Questions of doctrines are said to have warped the judgment
of the translators. A passage often adduced in proof is Heb.
vi, 4, 5, 6, and attention is called to the misrendering " if they
shall fall away," which certainly ought to have been " and have
fallen away," for it is in a line with the previous past partici
ples. But if the mistranslation had been chosen to guard the
indefectibility of grace the artifice is an early one, for it is found
in the older versions from Tyndale downwards, with the ex
ception of the Rheims. The revisers did not introduce the
mistranslation, and they so often follow the old versions, that
all we are warranted to say is that their theology may have in
clined them to contentment with the established rendering.
1 He died Nov. 2, 1610. He be- " Speaking the truth in love," pp. 24,
came Bishop of London in 1597, and 25.
Archbishop of Canterbury in Dec., 3 State Paper Office, Domest. In-
1604. terreg., Bundle 662, f. 12.
2 Spittal Sermon, on Eph, iv, 15
XLVI.] BEZA OFTEN FOLLOWED. 273
Beza encouraged them. 1 They might have got rid of the
difficulty by saying, with Calvin and Beza, that the persons
described and characterized in the previous clauses have never
been regenerate ; or, with Alford, that " the regenerate may fall
away, but the elect never can. " ; " All elect are regenerate, but
all regenerate are not elect." Still, and at whatever hazard, they
ought to have given the right translation, which in this clause
does not declare a contingency, but a fact ranked in the same
category with enlightenment, tasting of the heavenly gift, and
participation of the Holy Ghost.
In the first clause of Matt, v, 21, " said by them of old time,"
our translators forsake the older versions and follow Beza, 2
the rendering being vindicated by him only for its fitness, as
singling out the teachers not the auditors ; though they put
" by " into the text, they give us " to " in the margin.
No little censure has been pronounced upon the rendering of
Heb. x, 38, " now the just 3 shall live by faith ; but if any man
draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him." The words
" any man " represent no corresponding Greek term in the
original, and though they are a supplement, -they were not
printed as such in the early editions, as only since 1638 are
they presented in italics. Our translators were very careless and
inconsistent about what are now called italics ; but in this
case they could not be ignorant of the bearing of their version
on the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, and they
ought to have anxiously attended to the printing. They knew
that there was no nominative expressed ; that their rendering
was based on an interpretation which to be borne out supposed
that the phrase " any man " is fairly and fully implied in the
verse; so that their supplement, as it was exegetical and liable to
be contraverted,should have been honestly and carefully marked.
But as we know their practice as to italics was in defiance of
all uniformity, we dare not say that the non-marking of the two
words was intended to serve any polemical purpose, for such
1 By his si prolabantur, the Vul- 3 The best text gives " my
gate having et prolapsi sunt. righteous one."
2 Dictum a veteribus, the Vulgate
having dictum est antiquis.
VOL. II. S
274 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
a device would have been too transparent ; and if they had any
theological bias, they were not such simpletons as to endeavour
in this way to vail it. Now we are not going to expound
the verse, but as some apology for them it may be noted that
in the quotation from the Septuagint Version of Habakkuk
ii, 4, there is a transposition of the clauses, and that scholars
who do not hold the dogma supposed to have suggested the
rendering agree with them in the supplement. Capellus,
Scholefield, and Grotius give " any one," and so does Bishop
Middleton ; while Winer and De Wette supply " a man " as a
general term abstracted from the epithet "just man." A
similar nominative would be supplied to the verb as it stands
in the first clause in the Septuagint ; but Bleek is at a loss as to
the nominative which should be taken, while Delitzsch argues
that the clauses are inverted by the Apostle to make the sub
ject no longer doubtful. Besides the original clause carries
a meaning very different from that found in the quotation, as it
reads, "Behold his soul which is lifted up is not upright in
him," or " puffed up with pride his soul is not right in him."
Owen, Lindsay, and many others consider that two classes
of persons are contrasted ; Beza explaining, "a just man is
opposed to an impious one," l as in the Septuagint. In their
difficulty the translators followed Beza, 2 but when they left the
natural and grammatical connection of the clauses, they ought
not only to have imitated Beza s honest italics, but to have
given the other rendering in the margin, "if he draw
back." Nay, it was the more incumbent on them to append
such a marginal alternative, because they have forsaken all the
older versions with the exception of the Genevan, since from
Tyndale down to the Bishops the rendering is, "and if he with
draw himself."
Theological prepossession is also ascribed to the rendering of
Acts ii, 47, " and the Lord added to the church daily such as
should be saved." This rendering of the Greek participle is
certainly unfortunate for it is present literally "of those being
saved." Had they followed their theology, they might have
1 " Fidelis opponitur impio."
2 " At si quis se subduxerit," printing quis in italics.
XLVI.] CHARGE OF ANTI-POPISH LEANINGS. 275
rendered, "the saved," as they have done in 2 Cor. ii, 15, men
being saved as soon as they believe " he that believeth hath
life," and in consequence it was held that their ultimate salva
tion was certain, or that they " should be saved." But in
their translation they simply follow the older versions and they
accept the Vulgate. 1 Wycliffe in defiance of his Latin text
renders, "them that weren maad safe." One objection to the
rendering " are saved " is that, while in form it is an English
present, in sense it is really a past, and there is also an objec
tion to the phrase, " should be saved," since it shows a close
similarity to another translation of different Greek in Acts
xxiii ; 27, " this man was taken of the Jews, and should have
been killed."
Anti-Popish leanings are also alleged to shine through in the
version. Thus, in 1 Cor. xi, 27, " wherefore whosoever shall
eat this bread and drink this cup unworthily," the translation
ought to be " or drink this cup," " or " being corrupted into
" and " to destroy a possible argument for communion in one
kind. The particle 2 stands unchallenged in Stephens and Beza,
and there is no allusion to any other reading. Codex A was
not accessible to them, but the Vulgate and the Peshito read
"and," as also Clement, and Origen in his Commentary. When
they saw that "and" occurred in 26, 28, 29, they were naturally
tempted to insert it here. They found also the older versions
divided Tyndale and Cranmer having "or," and Coverdale,
the Genevan, and the Bishops having " and." Macknight
too, who had little sympathy with their theology and no great
admiration of their learning, justifies their preference of " and,"
giving among other reasons the false one that though rj may
be the right reading, it often means " and," and ought to be so
translated in this verse, as determined by v. 29. But though they
never render this conjunction by "and," they seem, however,
to have persuaded themselves that " and " 3 was the right read
ing here ; for though they knew little of MSS., they knew some
thing of the Peshito and of Patristic quotations. They were
too shrewd not to perceive on the one hand the utter worth-
1 " Qui salvi fierent." 2 ri 3 KGU.
276 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
lessness of the Popish argument in defence of communion in
one kind, and not to feel on the other hand that the use of
and " narrows the range of the Apostle s warning, which
with " or " affixed the penalty to either act of eating or of
drinking.
Gregory Martin finds fault with the rendering, Heb. xi, 21,
" worshipped, leaning on the top of his stafF," as directed
against the adoration of creatures called "dulia." But the
version is correct, and the supplementary word conveys the
real sense, while the Rheirns translators, after the Vulgate,
have " adored the top of his rod " ; the rod is Jacob s own,
and not, as many Catholic interpreters suppose, the sceptre of
Joseph, on the top of which was some image or symbol. The
pointing of the Hebrew noun is doubtful, and it may mean
either " bed " or " rod."
The Authorized Version has been often accused, as by Mac-
knight, Campbell, and many others, of following Beza in its
translation. Such imitation was natural in the circumstances,
for Beza was a Greek scholar, with few equals or superiors in
those times. "Without controversy" (1 Tim. iii, 16) is from
Beza and Erasmus. The misrendering, " the terror of the Lord"
(2 Cor. v, 11), came from the Genevan, and it from Beza. The
wrong translation in Jude 12, " trees whose fruit withereth,"
came also from Beza, the sense being " autumn trees without
fruit." l " If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature "
(2 Cor. v, 17) is after Beza, Tyndale, and the Great Bible ; but
another rendering, that of the Genevan, is given in the margin
" let him be a new creature." Yet, while Beza was closely
consulted and frequently followed, it is also certain that his
influence was not uniformly paramount, even in cases where a
similar theological bias might be anticipated. In rendering
the clause, Matt, iii, 15, " suffer it to be so now," the revisers
refuse "let be," the equivocal version of the Genevan 1560, and
also Beza s strange translation. 2 They translate fairly in places
where he paraphrases wrongly, as Matt, vii, 23, " ye that work
iniquity," Beza having, " who sin on purpose." 3 Nor do they
1 " Frugiperdae." 3 " Qui operam datis iuiquitati."
2 " Omitte."
XLVI.] BEZA NOT ALWAYS FOLLOWED. 277
copy his annotation in Matt, v, 20, where he virtually identifies
righteousness with orthodoxy, and explains " entering into the
kingdom" by " becoming teachers in the church." They indeed
appear to follow him, and not the Vulgate, 1 in rendering " his
faith was counted for righteousness " (Rom. iv, 3), and yet they
are only keeping by the earlier Protestant versions of Tyndale,
Coverdale, Matthew, Cranmer, the Genevan, and the Bishops .
They do not accept Beza s rendering when they translate in
Acts iii, 21, " whom the heaven must receive" ; nor in ii, 27, 31,
" leave my soul in hell ; Beza s first rendering being, " my
corpse in the grave " ; 2 and though he changed it because it gave
offence, he still upheld it to be correct; the two Genevan
versions follow him, and he vindicates the rendering in a full
note. Beza is not followed in John i, 12, " dignity to be sons
of God " ; but " power " is the word selected the Genevan
having in the margin " privilege or dignity." Nor is he
followed in Acts i, 14, where he renders " with their wives," the
proper translation being, " with the women " ; nor do they take
his and the Vulgate rendering, " spirit of santification," in Rom.
i, 1, nor in Heb. ix, 15, for he has "covenant," and in the
passage he is followed once by the Genevan of 1557 and twice
by the Bishops which has " testament " in the margin.
They also forsake Beza in Gal. i, 24, " they glorified
God in me " he having, " concerning me," and Tyndale
having, "on my behalf." Nor do they take instruction
from Beza in James ii, 14, where they render " can faith
save him 1 " Beza having " can that faith save him ? " 3
They were under sore temptation to preserve the " ilia,"
but they go away so far from Beza that they even ignore
the article, which may have its contextual sense. The one
Genevan has " that faith," and the other, " the faith." In
1 Cor. xiii, 2, Beza renders the same adjective first by
" all," 4 and then by " whole," 5 and vindicates the alteration
on polemical grounds ; but the English version has rightly
given " all knowledge," and " all faith."
1 " Ad justitiam." 4 " Omnia."
2 " Cadaver meum in sepulchre." 5 " Totam."
3 " Num potest fides ilia eum servare ? "
278 THE ENGLISH BIBLK [CHAP.
Rom. ii, 7, is translated, " To them who by patient continu
ance in well-doing seek for glory, and honour, and immor
tality, eternal life." But Beza, as if afraid of the connection
of the patient continuance in "well-doing" with glory and
ultimate eternal life, separates the words and renders, " to
them who according to patient expectation seek the glory of
a good work." There are different modes of construction;
but Beza s exegesis, " that is, who seek eternal life," is wholly
unjustifiable. Rom. v, 16, "judgment was by one to condem
nation," Beza translates, "the guilt, indeed, is of one offence
to condemnation," implying a distinct doctrinal bias and a
mistranslation of the noun.
Rom. viii, 4, " That the righteousness of the law might be
fulfilled in us " ; x here the Greek term, however, is not that
rendered usually by righteousness, but a word which may mean
the whole requirement of the law. Whether he be right or
wrong, Beza did not lead them; they virtually followed Tyn-
dale, " the righteousness required by the law."
Rom. xi, 32, " That he might have mercy upon all." Beza
renders the last words, " all these," 2 his explanation being
" elect," viz., but he was not imitated.
1 Tim. ii, 4, " Who will have all men to be saved " ; Beza
translates, 3 " who will have any men to be saved."
1 Tim. ii, 6, " Gave himself a ransom for all " ; Beza render
ing 4 by the same pronoun. But the revisers of 1611 without
hesitation disavow these unfaithful versions. 1 Tim. iv, 10,
" Who is the Saviour of all men, especially of those who
believe"; Beza preserves the "all," and he could not well
attempt its alteration ; but he changes " Saviour " into " Pre
server," as if the statement referred to temporal preservation ;
and to show under what pressure he must have made the
change, this is the only place in his New Testament where
he has ventured on such a translation, which our version at
once tosses aside, and follows all the earlier English transla
tions.
1 " Ut jus illud legis compleatur 3 " Qui quosvis homines."
in nobis." 4 " Pro quibusvis."
2 " Omnes illos.
sxvi. ] FULL AND LITERAL SENSE NO T AL WA YS GI VEN. 279
If the Authorized Version, in connecting "all men" with
" appeared," steps back from the true translation in Titus
ii, 11, it is put in the margin; and there is no hesitation in
rendering Heb. ii, 9, " that he ... should taste death
for every man," the defining supplement " man " not even
printed in italics. Thus, while the revisers of 1611 were
often tempted to follow Beza, they had often the courage to
judge for themselves. At the same time some of the most
erroneous marginal renderings came from Beza : Mark i, 34,
" or, to say that they knew him " ; similarly, Luke iv, 41 ; Acts
i, 8, " or, the power of the Holy Ghost coming upon you " ;
Rom. xi, 17, " or, for them."
The revisers occasionally fall from the full and simple
meaning of the text. Sometimes they insert a diluting supple
ment. 2 Thess. iii, 5, in rendering the last clause "into the
patient waiting for Christ," after Beza s " expectationem," they
shrank from the real translation and put it into the margin,
into the patience of Christ." It was probably some felt
incongruity in the true rendering, "leadeth us in triumph"
(2 Cor. ii, 14), that prompted the inferior version, " causeth
us to triumph," after Beza.
Though the charge of theological bias cannot be fully sup
ported against the text, the margin, however, yields some
examples.
Rom. iii, 25, text, " set forth " ; margin, " foreordained " a
verb taken from the Vulgate, and occurring only once in the
version, 1 Pet. i, 20, where it should be " foreknown." Rom.
v, 12, text, "for that 1 all have sinned"; margin, "in whom all
have sinned," after Augustine and Beza a rendering which
even Calvin himself did not adopt. " In which " is used in the
Rheims, 2 but "forasmuch as" is the translation both in the
Genevan and in the Bishops .
1 </> oL 2 Vulgate, " in quo."
CHAPTER XLVII.
fTlHERE are, however, several things about the translation
which detract somewhat from its great excellence. They
can scarcely be said to be of the essence of it, but they
are very closely connected with it. The fourteen original
rules given to the Companies at Westminster, Oxford, and
Cambridge, make no rfeerence to the use of supplemental
words ; but the sixth rule presented by the English deputies
to the Synod of Dort was to this effect, " that the words
necessary to be inserted into the text, in order to complete
the sense, were to be distinguished by being printed in
another and smaller character." l In a popular translation,
such as that of the Bible, such supplemental words are
indispensable in many places. But whatever accuracy might
appear in their own copy, the printing was done in a very
careless way, being devoid of all uniformity ; and in the
anxiety to be intelligible, or in their own phrase, " to be under
stood even of the very vulgar," the supplemental words were
inserted with liberal allowances. To show how the supple
mented words have been treated, and how largely such words
have been put into italic types, it may be mentioned that in
the first edition the eleventh chapter of John has no supple
ments printed in italics; that in the revised edition of 1638 it
has fifteen words so marked ; while some modern editions have
as many as sixteen such terms. 2 In Exodus xxxii, 18, in the
midst of twenty-five words, there are now eleven italic words,
1 See page 201.
2 Turton s Text of the English Bible, passim, Cambridge, 1833.
CAPRICE IN ITALIC SUPPLEMENTS. 281
but only five in the first edition. In some New Testaments
issued at Edinburgh, of last century, there is not a single
word printed in italics from beginning to end of the volume.
In the first edition these words were printed in Roman, the text
being in black letter, but when it was printed in Roman, they
were presented in italic letter. Some supplemental words are
indispensable: Genesis xxi, 33, "Abraham planted"; xxv, 8,
" full of years " ; Exodus xxxiv, 7, " clear the guilty " ;
Numbers xv, 26, " gathered iinto his people " ; John iv, 33,
" brought him ought to eat " ; vi, 1, " the sea of Galilee, which,
is the sea of Tiberias"; xv, 18, "ye know that it hated
me before it hated you " ; 25, " this cometh to pass " ;
xix, 5, " and Pilate said unto them " the proper name
being introduced to give consecutive clearness to the nar
rative ; 1 John ii, 2, " the sins of the whole world " ; ii, 19,
" they ^uent out." The Saviour s name is inserted often in the
gospels where it is not required.
Not a few of the numerous italic words should be excluded.
In many cases the supplement is included in the original
idiom, as that of the substantive verb between a subject
and a predicate or in a simple assertion : Genesis ii, 12, " the
gold of that land is good," or Matt, v, 3, "blessed are the poor
in spirit." The supplied verb is really borne in by the original
phrase as an essential portion of it, and needs not be put in
italics. Of this kind there are numerous instances. There are
other cases where the italic words introduced for the sake of
connection may be often omitted, as the participle " saying "
when the oblique form suddenly changes into the direct : " He
spake, saying," "to curse and to swear, sayirfg." Instances
are perpetually occurring : Ps. xlv, 8, " an evil disease, say
they, cleaveth fast unto him" ; 1 Chron. xxiii, 5, "the instru
ment which I made, said David " ; Acts i, 4, " which, saith he,
ye have heard of me." The result of a previous condition,
or contingence, is omitted sometimes in the original, but
is supplied in the version ; Luke xiii, 9, " if it bear fruit,
^ueU." The emphasis is more striking without any insertion
in Exodus xxxii, 32, " yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin ;
and, if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book." There is
282 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
a host of idiomatic adjectives which contain their object in
themselves, and many verbs have a similar pregnancy as
" dry land" " bitter herbs" " cold water" " draw sword"
" draw ivater," " set in array" " tread grapes" " shut the door,"
" sitteth on eggs" " feed the flock " and there is no weighty
reason why such supplied terms should be in italics. Many
particles are found in italics " like" " as," a weakening of the
Hebrew metaphor ; "and" "when," " though," " that," having
their origin in the change of the simple and sequent Hebrew
clauses into the more intricate English syntax. Italics may
be allowed for such words, if they cannot be omitted without
detriment. There are also cases of zeugmas, as 1 Tim. iv, 3,
" forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from
meats " ; 1 Cor. xiv, 34, " they are commanded to be under" ; or
the supplement is suggested by a previous clause, "as thou
didst deal with my father, even so deal with me" 2 Chron. ii, 3 ;
Ps. ix, 18, "the expectation of the poor shall not perish," the
negative being carried from a previous clause. There are many
expletives which might be dispensed with, as " even " and
" namely." In John viii, 6, the whole clause inserted, " as
though he heard them not" is from a various reading of no
authority. Besides, many of the supplied words are directly
expository: Gen. xviii, 28, "for lack of five"; Num. xiv, 28,
" as truly as I live " ; 2 Sam. v, 8, " he shall be chief and
captain" taken from 1 Chron. xi, 6 ; 2 Kings x, 24, " he
that letteth him go " ; Psalms Iviii, 7, " his bow to shoot " ;
1 Peter v, 13, "the church that is at Babylon." The
same practice is found in some doubtful cases: Job iii, 23,
"why is light given"; 1 Chron. ix, 41, "and Ahaz" taken
from viii, 35 ; 1 Chron. xxiv, 23, " the sons of Hebron " ;
" Jeriah, the first" taken from xxiii, 19. 2 Chron. xxiv,
6, " according to the commandment " ; Job xix, 26, " and
though after my skin worms destroy this body " ; xxxv, 3, " if
I be cleansed" ; Ps. vii, 11, "God is angry with the wicked
every day " ; liv, 7, " his desire " ; Ixix, 22, " that which should
have been . . . let it become " ; 1 Cor. i, 26, " not many noble
are called"; Deut. xxxiii, 6, "let not his men be few,"
directly the opposite of what the Hebrew asserts ; Exodus,
XLVII.] SUPPLEMENTED WORDS OFTEN UNNECESSARY. 283
xii, 36, "they lent unto them such things as they required";
Nehem. xii, 31, " companies of them that gave," also in 38 and
40 ; 2 Sam. xxiii, 8, " he lift up his spear." Several instances
found in Samuel are borrowed from Chronicles. * " From "
might be omitted three times in Matt, iv, 25, and " pray
God " might be omitted in 1 Thess. v, 23, and in 2 Tim.
iv, 16; "which is" might disappear from 1 Tim. i, 1; "who
is " in Eev. i, 5 ; " with thee" in 2 Tim. iv, 13 ; Eccles. viii, 2,
" I counsel thee ; Ps. Ixx, 1, " make haste " ; Judges vii, 7, 8,
" the other people . . . the rest of Israel ; 2 Sam. i, 21, " as though
he had not been" ; 2 Sam. xv, 32, " the mount." Might not,
"if possible" suffice for "if it were possible" Matt, xxiv,
24 ; " the passover " for " the feast of the passover " ? Matt.
xxvi, 2 ; " a wine-fat " for " a place for the wine-fat," Mark
xii, 1 ; " between us " might be omitted in Eph. ii, 14 ;
" manner of" in Rev. xxii, 2. In 1 Cor. xiv, 33, the supple
ment, " the author" should go out "God is not the God of
confusion" ; nor is "fellow" very appropriate in Matt, xxvi, 61,
and in various other places it came from Tyndale. The
supplied phrase, " and looked," is wholly uncalled for in John
xx, 11. The words "that had been" are wrong in Matt, i, 6,
though they are true in themselves, and " in " is wrong in ii, 6 ;
" the Father " is a direct and doubtful exegesis in Col. i, 19.
The words " it will be " only weaken the saying in Matt, xvi,
2, 3 ; the verses, however, are doubtful. The epithet " un
known " as applied to tongues in 1 Cor. xiv, 2, 4, 13, 14, has
no right to be there, for it is an assumed explanation ; while
in the other verses it is not given, though the reference be the
same as in verse 5, 6, 18, &c., and the words "they are com
manded " are quite superfluous in the 34th verse of the same
chapter, so is " kind of" in xv, 39 ; and " w~as made " in verse
45 ; " henceforth " in Eph. iv, 14, and it was not so printed
in the first edition. 1 Cor. v, 3, reads, " for I verily as absent
in body, but present in spirit, have judged already as though
I were present concerning him that hath so done this deed " ;
but " concerning " may be omitted, as " him" is the direct
accusative or object to the verb judged, "concerning" being
1 See Scrivener s Introduction to the Cambridge Bible, p. xxxiv.
284 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
probably suggested by the marginal reading " appointed " for
judged, and as it is not printed in italic in the first edition.
The epithet " venomous " is wholly unwarranted in Acts
xxviii, 4 ; the beast was venomous, as the cry of the natives
implies, but it is not called so by the historian, nor did the
older versions use the adjective, and it is not printed in italics in
the first edition. It may have been supposed to be contained in
the Greek substantive, which is sometimes rendered "wild
beast," but most frequently simply " beast," as in the following
verse 5, and throughout the Apocalypse. Matt, xx, 23, reads,
" to sit on my right hand and my left is not mine to give, but
it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my father."
This translation virtually represents Jesus as denying his
supreme and blessed prerogative, and the italic words help
out the perversion. The idiomatic brevity of the original
must be made intelligible by some supplement, " is not mine
to give but to them for whom." In the first edition the words
are not italicized in the corresponding passage in Mark. In
Ps. xix, 3, the italic words " there is "... " where " completely
mar the meaning, the margin giving the true sense. In 2 Cor.
viii, 4, the phrase " take upon us " may be dispensed with, and
a different reading justifies the omission. The words printed
in italic in Heb. ii, 16, "him the nature of angels," are wrong
in every sense, and the margin gives the true rendering. In
Heb. vii, 19, "did" presents a wrong exegesis; "the Lord"
is not needed in James ii, 1 ; and "for us " should not be in
Heb. ix, 12.
Many supplements are thus interpretations. Num. v, 13,
"ivith the manner"; 1 John iii, 1C, "of God" ; " God" "calling
upon God" Acts vii, 59; 2 Cor. vi, 1, "with him" ; Ps. Ixxiii, 25,
"but thce" ; 1 John ii, 19, "no doubt"; Ps. xxvii, 8, " ivhen
thou saidst" ; 13, "/ had fainted" ; Ps. cix, 4, " give myself
unto" ; Ps. xxxiv, 17, "the righteous"; Ps. cxi, 10, "his com
mandments" ; Ps. cxxxix, 16, "ray members"; 1 Cor. iv,
7, "from another " ; 1 Peter i, 22, " see that ye " ; Rev. iii,
12, "/ will write upon him" ; Mark xii, 34, "any question" ;
Matt, xxii, 46, " questions " ; Luke xx, 40, " question at
all" not found in italics in the earlier edition, and rightly,
XLVII.] AND UNWARRANTED. 285
because they are distinctly contained in the Greek verb. An
opposite change has also been made in the edition of 1611.
Gal. i, 8, has in different type the words, " any other gospel ";
and in the following verse the same Greek is rendered by the
same words, but without any change of type. The words are
contained in the Greek verb, and since 1638 italics have been
properly dispensed with. Why intrude the words "because I
know " in Acts xxvi, 3 ? The literal rendering does not stand
in need of any ekeing out whatever : " I think myself happy
that I am to answer for myself this day before thee .
because thou art expert in all customs " the verbose supple
ment may have been suggested by the change of case in the
Greek.
The following are unwarranted supplements : Acts xxvii, 44,
" broken pieces of the ship " the words are an interpolation.
Gal. iii, 24, " our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ,"
" schoolmaster "not being the true rendering ; Col. i, 4, " which
ye have"; v. 16, "they be" ; iii, 4, "who is" ; Luke xviii, 16,
" unto him,"; 31, " unto him" for in both the compound verb
contains the idea conveyed in the italic words ; Matt, xxiv, 40,
reads, " then shall two be in the field," but " two men " should
have been the rendering; and with the usual inconsistenc}^ the
following verse reads, "two ivomen- shall be grinding at the
mill," the proper translation, but women should not be in
italics, as the gender of the participle suggests or demands it.
Similarly in Luke xvii, 34, " men " is implied in the gender of
the numeral and adjective, and " women " in the participle
" grinding " ; in verse 36 the same thing occurs, but the margin
declares that the verse is "wanting in most of the Greek
copies." A possessive pronoun representing the article need
not in ordinary cases be put into italics : Matt, x, 1, " he
called unto him his twelve disciples"; and "unto " need not be
put in italics, for it is in the compound middle verb ; Romans
xi, 4, " the image of Baal," the italicized words being quite
needless ; and in Psalms cxxxvii, 5, " her cunning " is an
explanation.
According to the statement of the English deputies at the
Synod of Dort, the Headings were made by command. The
286 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
last or seventh rule which they enumerated, was that " new
arguments should be prefixed to each book, and new contents
to each chapter." 1 The headings or contents of the chapters are
interesting, and their quaint language has been glanced at.
But some are manifestly wrong : 2 Sam. xxiv, " eleven thousand
fighting men," for " thirteen hundred thousand " ; 1 Cor. v,
" human offenders to be shamed," instead of " shunned." Some
of them, instead of being a brief index, are a commentary,
which is occasionally doubtful, and at other times wrong. Luke
vii, the woman that was a sinner is called Mary Magdalene,
Gen, xxxii, 24, Jacob wrestleth with " an angel," but " a man "
is the language of the text. Similarly, Gen. xviii, Abraham
entertaineth three " angels," three " men " being the phrase in
the text ; Ps. cxxvii, " Good children are his gift," but the
text has no allusion to their character ; Acts vi, " appoint the
office of deaconship to seven chosen men," but the office is not
so named in the text ; Acts vii, 44, " ceremonies to last but
for a time." The prophecies are usually expounded, as in Deut.
xviii, Christ the prophet ; Psalms ii, the kingdom of Christ ;
Isaiah ii, iv, and in many other places ; nay, " his Substitution "
occurs in Isaiah xxii, by a far-fetched exegesis. In like
manner, the church is often set forth as a distinct application
of prophecy. The headings of the Song of Solomon are a
continuous commentary, Christ and the church being prefixed
to every chapter. The edition of Matthew or Rogers had set
the example in 1537. 1 Such commentary goes far beyond
translation, and intrudes into a forbidden province. There is
also a peculiar comment on 1 Tim. ii, 15, and there is a long
note in the heading of 1 John i, whether true or false. Surely
the phrase Ps. cxii is more than the psalm warrants, "Godliness
hath the promise of this life and of the life to come." Yet those
who made these summaries must have acted under some
restraint, for in spite of temptation to expound, they give at
Num. xxiv, " He prophesieth of the star of Jacob," and they
do not uniformly spiritualize in the Song, but say once with a
hybrid application, "Christ directeth her to the shepherds
tents." There is no proof that Nimrod was " the first monarch,"
1 See vol. I, p. 329.
XLVII.] CHAPTER HEADINGS. 287
as stated in Gen. x. It is one thing that the text, 2 Kings xx,
speaks of "the shadow" returning backwards ten degrees, but
quite another thing that the summary says, " the sun goeth
ten degrees backward," though the language occurs in Isaiah
xxxviii. At Rev. xxii it is said, " nothing may be added to
the word of God nor taken therefrom," but the text speaks
only of " the book of this prophecy," that is, the Apocalypse.
One heading is of a peculiar character, Ps. cxlix, " the prophet
exhorteth to praise God for his love to the church, and for that
power which he hath given to the church to rule the con
sciences of men." But by and by it ended at the first clause,
" love to the church." One edition of 1649 with Genevan notes
makes the last clause " power . . . for the conversion of sinners."
Blayney changed the heading into " that power which he hath
given to his saints," and it is found sometimes more briefly " the
prophet exhorteth to praise God."
So vague was the information on some of these points, that in
the Committee of the House of Commons, appointed to examine
into the Queen s printer s patent, and which sat in I860, it was
asked of one person examined before it, " If the Authorized
Version in Scotland was the same as that in England ? " The
Chairman put the question, " Was it not in the year 1G80
that the italics were first introduced ? " Answer : " I do not
know." " Do you know with what object they were intro
duced ? " A well-known publisher could not tell the year in
which the Authorized Version was first published. Another
witness, " a prophet and a prophet s son," used these words,
" The Conference at Hampton Court, usually called the Savoy
Conference," and apparently no one corrected him.
CHAPTER XL VIII.
HHHE printing of the Bible seems up till 1576 to have been
open to any who could obtain a royal license. Wilkes,
Queen Elizabeth s ambassador to France, Holland, and Germany,
enjoyed for some time the privilege of being " her Majesty s
printer of the English language." This patent was sold in
part to John Jugge, the son of the printer of the Bishops
Bible, amidst the protests of 175 members of the Stationers
Company, and of 185 dealers in books. Another patent, more
extensive, was sold by Wilkes in 1579 to Christopher Barker for
a "great sum." In 1589 Christopher Barker obtained a direct
patent for himself and his son Robert who outlived him forty-
six years, and died an imprisoned debtor. This patent em
braced " all Bibles and Testaments whatever in the English
tongue, with notes or without notes, printed before then or
afterwards to be printed by our command." Robert Barker
obtained in 1612 a patent for his eldest son Christopher, to be
held after his father s death ; but this son dying in 1C17, the
patent, to last for thirty years, was transferred to the second
son Robert. The Barkers then assigned their right to
Bonham Norton and John Bill; and in 1G35 Robert Barker
paid 600 for the patent already enjoyed by his two elder
sons, to be held in reversion by his younger sons, Charles and
Matthew. The Barkers thus held the patent virtually till 1709,
a period of 130 years, when the Basketts got it and kept it for
90 years or till 1799, the last thirty years of this term being
assigned, however, to Charles Eyre and his heirs for 10,000.
Eyre took possession in 1769, and assumed William Strahan
THE PRINTING OF THE VERSION. 289
as partner, and the patent came in course of time into the
hands of the present possessors, Eyre & Spottiswoode. 1
As told on page 33, Barker had been in the service of Wal-
singham and had his patron s crest, a tiger s head, over his
shop in Paternoster Row ; and the same symbol occurs in the
initial letter of Psalm cxii, in the edition of 1611, and similarly
at Psalms xxxv, cxii, cxiii, in the edition of 1617. The Barkers
honoured Cecil, also, in a similar way, by inserting his arms in
capital letters in their Bibles, as in the initial B, of Psalm i, of
the editions of 1034 and 164-0.
But as the patent descended through these years there were
various changes in the names appearing on the title-page of
the Bible, and though only one date is given in the following-
clauses, the same names usually continued for several years.
In 1620 the printers are Robert Barker & John Bill; in 1631,
Robert Barker & the Assignees of John Bill; in 1666, John
Bill & Christopher Barker ; in 1679, John Bill, Thomas New-
comb, & Henry Hills ; in 1690, Charles Bill & the Executrix
of Thomas Newcomb ; in 1728, John Baskett & the Assigns
of Henry Hills ; in 1769, Thomas Baskett & the Assigns of
Robert Baskett; in 1806, George Eyre & Andrew Strahan.
The Universities at the same time had their own printers.
It is a gross but a natural mistake to imagine that these
patents were given to secure correct and careful printing.
They are simply a royal gift to a public servant or a favourite,
with or without a pecuniary return. They contain 110 in
junction as to correctness, and provide no penalty for inac
curacy.
The following pages are not meant to present a systematic
Bibliography; only a very few distinctive editions of the
English Bible are noticed, so that we do not stir the ques
tion as to the names that ought to be given to certain
forms and sizes of the volumes. A description of various
lists of English Bibles (Tutet, Ducarel, and Ames being in
cluded), may be found in Cotton s preface to his " Editions of
the English Bible." The long list published by Lea Wilson con
tains only the copies in his own library ; and though he got
1 Eeport of a Select Committee of the House of Commons. 1860.
VOL. II. T
90 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
into confusion about the issues of 1 Gil, he has given useful
accounts of many editions. Loftie s " Century of Bibles "
contains much interesting information; and in his Appen
dix he has printed a list of the copies of the Authorized
Version in the British Museum, in the Bodleian Library, in the
Library of Canterbury Cathedral, in that of Mr. Francis Fry
of Bristol, and in the Royal Library at Stuttgart. The large
collection of Bibles belonging to the late Mr. Euing, of
Glasgow, has been bequeathed by him to the library of the
University.
The revised copy or copies of the Bishops Bible used at
press have not been preserved. A volume in the Bod
leian Library, an edition of 1602, with corrections, has been
sometimes taken for one of them; but Canon Westcott
clearly proves the incorrectness of the opinion, from the
nature of the marks and notes. Kilburne s Tract, 1 published
in 1659, contains this curious protest, that the printing of
Bibles should "not be solely appropriated to Mr. Hill and
Mr. Field, on pretence of their purchasing the translated
copy made in anno 1611, and unduly entering it lately as their
private copy, and for their sole property in the Stationers
Register." It seems to be beyond doubt that the revisers
wrought upon a copy of the edition of 1602, a reprint of that
of 1 572, and certainly not upon a copy of the first edition of
1568, as has been sometimes conjectured.
It might be anticipated that a patentee would at a new
epoch endeavour to produce an immaculate edition, as he had
no fear of rivalry, and could command his own price. But
the result has been far otherwise. Barker looked, however, to
the sale and dispersion of the first editions, for there were two
competitors in the market. It was meant to succeed and sup
plant the Bishops , of which it was a professed revision, and
1 Kilburne s Tract has been re- Bibles; to the great scandal and cor-
printed by Mr. Loftie in his Cen- ruption of sound and true religion,
tury of Bibles, London, 1872. The Discovered by William Kilburue,
title of the Tract, a copy of which Gent. Printed at Fiusbury, anno
is in the British Museum, is " Dan- 1659.
gerous Errors in several late printed
XLVIII.] NUMEROUS MISPRINTS. 291
the change was speedily and easily effected. The two books
were brought into artistic correspondence by the employment
in King James Bible of the same head pieces, woodcuts, and
other embellishments, which had appeared in the Bishops .
The figure of Neptune with his trident and horses, which
appears so often in the Bishops , stands at the beginning of
Matthew. The figure wants freshness, for the cut had not even
been touched up for its present position. But the Genevan was
a more formidable rival ; and the new Bible was also made to
correspond externally in many ways with this older and very
popular version. The title-page of the smaller editions of 1612-
1613 is a facsimile in its ornamentation of that so often found
in copies of the Genevan, the title being in the heart-shaped
oval, with the twelve tribes and the twelve apostles in the
margin. The quarto Bibles and the octavo New Testaments
had usually this plate. 1 The issue of 1616, the first folio in
Roman letter, appropriated a design already used in the
Bishops , the arms of James being substituted for those of
Elizabeth, and the dragon giving way to the unicorn. Before
the year 1640, Barker and his successors had issued fifty edi
tions, five in goodly black letter folio in 1611, -13, -17, -34, -40.
By this time also two editions had also been published in
Edinburgh, and ten at Cambridge.
But the printing itself is from the beginning marked by many
serious blunders, and those who saw the first edition through
the press did not exercise a strict and continuous supervision.
What are called the first and second issues 2 of 1611 are dis
figured by many errors. A portion of a verse is printed twice
in the one issue, Exodus xiv, 10. "Judas" stands for "Jesus" 3
in the other (Matt, xxvi, 36), with Christ spelled "Chkist,"
1 Cotton says that the latest Geneva Genevan, and as often after 1611 as
Bible he had seen was one of 1644, before it.
printed at Amsterdam. It might 2 See page 202.
have been stated on a previous occa- 3 When a copy came into my pos-
sion that Andrewes, one of the session, it had a slip with "Jesus"
translators and the director of the printed on it very neatly pasted over
Westminster Old Testament Com- " Judas."
pany, usually took his text from the
292 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
and "OE" for "OF" in the Dedication, while in the list of books
1 and 2 Chronicles are put down as 1 and 2 Corinthians.
Exodus ix, 13, reads, "Let my people go that they may serve
thee," for " serve me." The following are a sample of misprints
in what has been commonly called the first issue : Gen. x, 16,
"Emorite" for "Amorite"; Exodus xxxviii, 11, "hoops" for
" hooks " ; Lev. xiii, 5G, " the plaine be " for " the plague be " ;
xvii, 14, "ye shall not eat" for "ye shall eat"; Ezra iii, 5,
the word " offered " is repeated. Isaiah xlix, 20, " the place
is too straight" for "strait," though the first is an older form of
spelling ; Jer. xxii, 3, " deliver the spoiler " for " the spoiled " ;
1, 29, "she hath done unto her" for "she hath done, do unto
her " ; Ezek. vi, 8, " that he may have " for " ye may have " ;
xxiv, 7, "poured it" for "poured it not"; Hosea vi, 5, "shewed
them" for "hewed them"; Mai. i, 8, "if he offer" for "if ye
offer"; Matt, vi, 3, "right" for "right hand"; viii, 25, "awoke"
for "awoke him"; xvi, 25, "his" is repeated; 1 Cor. xiv, 23,
" come together into some place," but rightly given in xi, 20,
"into one place." The headline 2 Chron. xxix is printed xxxix,
and the headline Micah iv is printed " Joel " ; Gen. xvii,
heading Isaac is spelled " Izsaac." On the top of the column
containing the portion of 1 Esdras iv, Apocrypha is printed
Anocrynha. For its errors and inconsistencies the first edition
cannot, therefore, be regarded as a standard edition. There
are also capricious irregularities in the printing of the supple
mental words. The edition of 1613 is still worse, for though it
corrects some errors of the first issues, it has many of its own ;
Lev. vii, 25, " the fast of the beast " for " the fat of the beast " ;
xix, 10, " shall glean " for " shall net glean " ; xxvi, 24, " wake
contrary " for " walk contrary " ; Deut. xix, 5, " slippeth from
the helm" for "the helve"; 1 Sam. x, 16, "water" for
" matter " ; 2 Kings xxii, 3, " were " for " year " ; 2 Chron. vi,
10, " in the throne of David " for " in the room of David " ;
Neli. x, 31, " we would not leave " for " we would leave " ;
Job xxix, 3, "shined through darkness" for "walked through
darkness " ; Isaiah lix, 7, " shed bleed " for " shed innocent
blood " ; Ezek. xxiii, 7, " she delighted herself" for " she defiled
herself"; Dan. iv, 13, "a watcher holy and an one" for "a
XLVIII.] SPECIMENS OF INACCURACY. 993
watcher and an holy one " ; 1 Cor. xi, 17, " I praise you " for
" I praise you not " ; 2 Cor. ii, 8, " continue your love " for
" confirm your love." There are several clauses and verses
omitted altogether, as 1 Kings iii, 15, the clause "and offered
peace offerings " ; Hab. ii, 5, " nations, and heapeth unto him
all"; Matt, xiii, 8, "and some sixtyfold"; xvi, 11, "I spake
it not to you concerning bread, that " ; John xx, 25, " put my
finger into the prints of the nails"; and verses 13 and 14 in
Ecclesiasticus xvi are also left out. In fact, between the
edition of 1611 and that of 1G13 there are more than three
hundred variations, and such differences as the following
occur in the headings, in 1G11, 2 Sam. xxiv, eleven
thousand, but in 1618 thirteen hundred thousand ; in the
one edition, " Haggai promiseth God s assistance," but in
1613, "promiseth God, assistance." Some of the changes
look like attempted improvements, as Gen. xxvii, 44, "fury
pass away " for " turn away " ; Mark ix, 24, " help my un
belief" for "help thou mine unbelief"; John v, 3, "a great
company " for " a great multitude." In the edition of 1634,
there is an important change which has kept its ground.
Heb. xii, 1, " let us runne with patience the race set before us,"
the issues of 1611, -13, -17 having "let us runne with patience
unto the race," the Great Bible and the Bishops had " into the
battayle." One deviation occurred very early : Ruth iii, 15,
" and she went into the city," " he " being in the so-called first
issue, but "she," a mistranslation, found its way into the second,
and kept its place in both the folio and smaller edition of 1613.
" She " is preferred by Jerome, but the Hebrew verb is mas
culine. A similar variation occurs in the Song of Solomon ii,
7 ; iii, 5 ; viii, 4, " till she please " being the rendering in the
first place, but " till he please " being the rendering in the
second and third places, while the same Hebrew is found in all
the instances. In the second issue " till he please " is the
uniform rendering. The first New Testament in 12mo, black
letter, appeared in 1611, and is now in the collection of Mr.
Lenox of New York. The first quarto edition of the Bible
in Roman letter has the date of 1612, and has in it several of
the errors already specified in the issues of 1611. The names
294 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
of Bonham Norton and John Bill appear first on a quarto
edition of 1619. In an edition printed by Barker & Bill in
1631, the "not" was left out in the Seventh Commandment,
Exod. xx, 14, and it stood, "Thou shalt commit adultery." 1
The printer was fined 300 by Laud, the money being used
to purchase a fount of Greek types for the use of the
Universities. It would take a goodly volume to contain
the misprints of the various editions. There are also many
variations from the issues of 1611. Rom. xii, 2, "what
is that good, that acceptable, and perfect will of God,"
passed into the present more literal reading in 1629. In the
same way " helps in government," 1 Cor. xii, 28, became in the
same year, more correctly, " helps, governments " ; " ap
proved to death," 1 Cor. iv, 9, became " appointed to death "
as early as 1616; and the clause "hath not the Son,"
1 John v, 12, had the "of God" rightly added, according to
the original text. " Brasilia which was a Jew," Acts xxiv, 24,
became in 1629 " which was a Jewess," as in Acts xvi, 1. In
1 Tim. i, 4, " godly " was inserted before " edifying " as early
as 1633 ; and in 1 Cor. iv, 13, " world " of the early editions
was turned into " earth " in an edition of 1806.
A folio edition, London (Augustine Matthews), 1633, is a
reprint of Fulkes edition of 1589, the " Text of the New
Testament," which had the Rheims version printed in
the one column, and the Bishops in the other; but in this
edition the Authorized is substituted for the Bishops .
The Cambridge edition of 1629 was revised with some care,
and many necessary alterations were made, the editor being-
unknown. Yet out of this revision sprang an error which kept
its place, in hosts of editions, for more than a hundred years
viz., " thy" for "the " in 1 Tim. iv, 16, "take heed to thy doc
trine " for " the doctrine."
But the good example of 1629 was not followed. An
edition in 12mo, professing to be by Barker and assignes
of Bill, in 1638, abounds in errors. The following may
be noted : Gen. xxxvii, 2, " Belial " for " Bilhah " ; Num.
xxv, 18, "wives" for "wiles"; xxvi, 10, "two thousand
1 It has 1631 both on title and colophon.
XLVIII.] THE EDITION OF BUCK AND DANIEL. 295
and fifty " for " hundred and fifty " ; 2 Sam. xxiii, 20, " slew
two lions like men " for " lion like men " ; 2 Chron. xxxvi, 14,
" had polluted " for " had hallowed " ; Nehem. iv, 9, " read our
prayer" for "made our prayer"; Isa, i, 6, "purifying sores,"
for "putrefying sores"; xxix, 13, "taught by the people" for
" taught by the precept " ; xlix, 22, " their sons " for " thy
sons"; Ezek. v, 11, "any piety" for "any pity"; Luke vii, 47,
" her sins which are many are forgotten " for " forgiven " ;
xix, 29, " ten of his disciples " for " two " ; John xviii, 29,
"Pilate went not" for "went out"; 1 Cor. vii, 34, "praise
her husband" for "please"; 1 Tim. ii, 9, " shamefulness " for
" shamefacedness " ; iv, 16, " thy " for " the " doctrine. 1
The first edition avowedly printed abroad appeared in 1642
folio (Joost Broerss, Amsterdam), and it was furnished with the
Genevan notes. Another and similar edition was published
in the same place in 1683, as the maps have engraven on them
" At Amsterdam, by Nicolaus Visscher, with privilege of the
Lords the States Generall," and, as some suppose, it was printed
probably by Swartz or his widow. In 1645 were published
two editions " according to the copy printed by Roger Daniel,"
and a third issue, in 12mo, by Joachim Nosche, dwelling upon
the Sea Dijck.
In 1638 appeared the famous folio of Buck & Daniel. The
edition of 1611 was thoroughly revised by such scholars as
Ward, Goad, Boyse, and Mead, &c. This revision, said to have
been made by royal command, was much needed. Greater
consistency was secured in the printing of the italic words, and
many useful changes were introduced ; so that it was regarded
as the " authentique corrected Bible." Yet, with all the
earnest care and labour given to this issue, there began in
1 This edition is referred to by Bibles, in the Tract referred to, that
Baillie in his " Opus Historicum et though dated 1638, they were im-
Chronologicum," p. 55, Arnstelo- ported in 1656, adding " wherein
dami, 1663. Baillie says that the Mr. Kiffiu and Mr. Hills cannot be
edition was printed at Amsterdam, excused, being contrary to the seve-
and was one among many sent across ral Acts of Parliament of 20th Sept.,
from Holland, all of them abounding 1649, and 7th Jany., 1652, for regu-
in blunders. Kilburne says of these lating of printing."
296 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
it an error which lived for half a century viz., the printing
of "ye" for "we" "whom ye may appoint," Acts vi, 3.
The Independents were blamed for making the change, to favour
their own polity. But they had no power in 1638 to secure
such an alteration, for Laud was still primate, and also a visitor
of the University of Cambridge. As the error appeared also
in two Scottish editions of 1673 and 1675, a similar charge was
made against Presbyterians, that they " handled the Word of
God deceitfully." l The accusation must have been made in
ignorance of what Presbyterian administration really is, for it
has never dreamed of assigning to the laity the power of ordi
nation. Presbyterians were utterly powerless in those years ;
but the General Assembly felt hurt by the insinuation, and at
their meeting in January, 16.98, they solemnly declared that they
do not "own any other reading of that text, but whom we
may appoint/ " Mr. Loftie speaks of the misprint as being
"found in many Bibles supposed to be printed for the Puritans."
What editions are those which are so specified for the mis
print was apparently in the great majority of editions? Did
any disciple of Owen, or any intelligent Congregationalist,
ever base an argument on the misprint? It is notable, too,
that in an edition of 1649, furnished with Genevan Notes, and
therefore favoured by Puritans, the reading is correct.
This fine folio was highly coveted. Sir Matthew Hale, the
Chief Justice, in his will left Richard Baxter "forty shillings as
a token of his love." Baxter records, 2 "I purchased the largest
Cambridge Bible, and put his picture before it, as a monument
to my house. But waiting for my own death, I gave it Sir
William Ellis, who laid out about ten pounds to put it into a
more curious cover, and keep it for a monument in his honour."
A shrewd observer of manners and habits tells of a lady in
Edinburgh who had fallen into poorer circumstances, and
lived in a room " on the head of the highest stair in the Cove
nant Close," that " she never read a chapter except out of a
Cambridge Bible, printed by Daniel, and bound in embroidered
velvet." 3
1 The accuser was Mr. Gipps, Eec- 2 Baxter s "Works, vol. I, p. 337.
tor of Bury. 3 Scott, in Redgauutlet.
XLVIII.] CLAMOUR RAISED BY THE VARIATIONS. 997
A 12mo edition of 1653 is sometimes called the Quaker s
Bible, for no other apparent reason than that the publisher,
Giles Calvert, printed for many Friends. But some Friends
at a later season did contemplate an edition for themselves,
so remodelled as to be fitted "for audible and social reading."
The Pentateuch alone was published. York, 1835. An octavo
edition of 1655 (E. T. "for a Society of Stationers"), has the
honour of being correct in the two places where so many
issues blundered, having " we " in Acts vi, 3, and " the " in
1 Tim. iv, 16.
At an early period, good people became alarmed by the
number and variety of the readings, and in 1644 some
members of the Westminster Assembly complained to the
House of Commons, " that there were errors and corruptions in
diverse Bibles of an impression from beyond the seas, and they
prayed the House to suppress the circulation of them." l The
result was that foreign Bibles were not to be sold or circulated
till they had been "passed and allowed" by the Assembly
of Divines. In 1656, the "Grand Committee for Religion"
took into consideration an edition by Field, 1653, especially
an impression in 24mo of which he had sold 2,000 copies,
and they got into their possession no less than 7,900 copies.
Kilburne in his Tract stigmatizes the impressions of Henry
Hill and John Field, particularly Field s edition of 1656, as
containing 91 notorious faults, 2 Cor. xiii, 6, being omitted
altogether. 2
1 Christopher Eavius, in the pre- in the wilderness" for "mules";
face to Prima Pars Alcorani Arabico- Euth iv, 13, " corruption " for " con-
Latini, Amsterdam, 1646, states ceptioii"; Luke xxi, 28, "condem-
without hesitation that an English nation" for "redemption"; the
printer had within the last five years omission of a clause in John xi,
sent out from his press not fewer 21; "the unrighteous shall inherit
than 40,000 copies of the English the kingdom of God," in 1 Cor.
Bible, that his last edition con- vi, 9 ; " instruments of righteous-
sisted of 12,500 copies, and that in ness for sin," Eom. vi, 13 ; John v,
the same city as many as 150,000 23, "Bethsaida" for "Bethesda";
English Bibles had been printed. "their flesh" for "fish." An edition
2 Such errors are in the various by Mr. Eobinson, " a Scotch Eabbi,"
editions, as Gen. xxxvi, 24, " rulers is condemned as having 2,000 faults,
298 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
Kilburne asserts : " Moreover during the time of the late
parliament, great numbers of Bibles, in a large 12mo volume,
were imported from Holland in 1656 with this false title,
Imprinted at London by Rob. Barker, &c., anno 1638, wherein
Mr. Kiffin and Mr. Hills cannot be excused (if reports be true),
being contrary to the several Acts of Parliament of 20th
September, 1649, and 7th January, 1652, for regulating of
printing. Wherein are so many notorious Erratas, false Eng
lish, Nonsense, and Corruptions, that in reading part of Genesis
I found 80 grand faults, as chap, xxvii, 16, mouth of his neck
for smooth of his neck ; chap, xxix, 13, she for he ran to
meet him ; chap, xxx, 40, put them unto for put them
not unto Laban s cattle. And in reading Ecclesiastes,
Canticles, and the first twenty-seven chapters of Isaiah, I
found almost an hundred gross faults, which I did specifie to
the Parliament, and therefore omit them here. The very
importation of the books being an offence contrary to the said
Statutes and ought deservedly to be suppressed; which
notwithstanding are dispersed in the country as aforesaid."
And he thus concludes: "That it will graciously please his divine
Majesty of his infinite goodness, and mercy, to bless this
Common-wealth with the like dispensation of his blessed
Word in our proper Dialect, and speech as it is in the original
Idiomes, by the Zeal and Patronage of his Highness, and the
Parliament. And that for the private Emolument of any
persons (how great soever), the Scriptures may not be hereafter
carelessly and erroneously printed, whereby to save the charge
of good Correction and Printing, as may be plainly proved by
such Bibles, which have been printed in late years, or else (as
is pretended) the profit will not countervail the charge. For,
as it is credibly reported, Mr. Hills and Mr. Fields have several
times affirmed, that they are engaged to pay 500 per Annum
besides base paper and printing, Luke xxii, 34, " I tell thee. Philip,"
" loves " for " loaves," " ram " for for " Peter," predicting the denial,
"lamb," "good" for "god," "mount" In a Cambridge Bible of 1816 "sun"
for " smooth." Six thousand errors is given as "son" in the phrase "Sun
are said to be in one edition. of righteousness," Mai. iv, 2.
As late as 1792, an Oxford copy has,
XLVIII.] NUMEROUS PUBLISHERS.
to some, whose names out of respect to them I forbear to
mention, over and above 100 per Annum to Mr. Marchamont
Needham, and his wife, out of the profits of the sale of their
Bibles, deriding, insulting, and triumphing over others of the
Printing Mysterie, out of their confidence in their great Friends
and purse, as it is said, as if they were lawlesse, and free
(notwithstanding the truth of the premises and other grand
enormities often committed by them) both from offence and
punishment, to the great dishonour of the Common- wealth in
general, and daminage of many private persons in particular."
During the Commonwealth, very many editions bear on the
title-page "London Company of Stationers," and many after 1675
are dated " Oxford at the Theater." Those last copies were sold
in London by various booksellers. The colophon of one edition
has, " Printed at the Theater in Oxford, and are to be sold by
Moses Pitt, at the Angel in St. Paul s Churchyard ; John
Parker, at the Leg and Star over against the Exchange in
Cornhill; Thomas Guy, at the corner of Little Lombard Street;
and William Leake, at the Crown in Fleet Street." Many
copies were disposed of by Thomas Guy, who also imported Bibles
from the Continent, and left his fortune to build the great
Hospital that bears his name. The story about Field s Pearl
Bible, as told by Isaac Disraeli, is exaggerated, and the errors
are at once ascribed by him to the wilful perversions and
malignity of the " Sectarists." One specimen may suffice. His
words are, " It is said that Field received a present of 1,500
from the Independents to corrupt a text in Acts vi, 3, the
corruption being the easiest possible, to put a ye instead of a
ive." l But Field had nothing to do with the error, for it had
appeared fifteen years before, and is first found, as we have seen,
in the Cambridge folio of 1638, revised by divines of the
Church of England, at a time, too, when Disraeli s idol, King
Charles I, was upon the throne.
As late as the period of the Commonwealth, there was still
a hankering after notes, similar to the Genevan ones. " Divers
of the*printers and stationers of London were induced to petition
the Committee of the House of Commons for license to print
1 Curiosities of Literature, vol. Ill, p. 427, London, 1858.
^00 TH E ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
them, after some revision fitting to the present version. The
petition was granted in 1644, with an order for revision and
correction, "for which letters were directed to some of us
from the Chair of the Committee for religion, and invitations
to others to undertake and divide the task, being furnished
with whatever books were needful." About five years after,
the fruit of these labours appeared in a folio volume, known by.
the name of the "Assembly s Annotations." The second
edition, 1651, grew into two volumes; but in the preface the
authors say that the comments were really and originally
meant for marginal notes, "of the same size as the text, lest
the border should be larger than the skirt of the coat, and the
wing of the page than the main book." What was intended
for mere marginal notes grew into " an entire commentary on
the Sacred Scriptures, the like never before published in
English." These volumes are usually, but wrongly, called the
Assembly s Annotations. Several of those that were con
cerned in it were members of the Assembly; but it was
not undertaken by the direction or with the consent of the
Assembly ; nor were the " more part " of the authors ever
members of the Assembly ; nor did the Assembly revise
or sanction the work when it was finished. " How
ever," says Calamy, "it was a good work in its season,
and I shall add the names of the true authors, as far as my best
inquiry would help me to intelligence Mr. Ley, Sub-Dean of
Chester, did the Pentateuch ; Dr. Gouge had the two books of
Kings and Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther for his pro
vince ; Mr. Meric Casaubon did the Psalms ; Mr. Francis Taylor
the Proverbs ; and Dr. Reynolds, Ecclesiastes ; Mr. Swalwood,
who was recommended by Archbishop Usher, did Solomon s
Song ; the learned Gataker did Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Lamenta
tions, and is, in the opinion of many competent judges, ex
ceeded by no commentator, ancient or modern, on those books.
Ezekiel, Daniel, and the small Prophets, were in the first
edition done by Mr. Pemberton, and in the second by Bishop
Richardson. The Notes on the four Evangelists are Mr.
Ley s ; and those on St. Paul s Epistles, Dr. Featley s, which
latter are broken and imperfect, on the account of the author s
XLVIII.] LIGHTFOOT AND THE APOCRYPHA. 3Q1
dying before lie had revised or finished them. There were also
two other persons concerned in this work viz., Dr. Downame
and Mr. Reading, who might probably have the other parts of
Scripture allotted them, that are not here mentioned." l The
desire for the old Notes still remained, as may be seen in this
extract from a MS. letter, dated 1664, from the Rev. John Allen,
in London, to his friend at Rye : " I cannot yet get a Bible for
the old woman, but one printed 1661, 12s. price, and 6d. if
claspet ; but I count that too deare, and not of the edition she
desires, with Beza s Annotations ;" that is, some edition of the
Genevan, or an edition of the Authorized Version, with the
Genevan notes, like that of 1649. 2
Lightfoot in 1643 had inveighed against the Apocrypha
in a sermon preached before the House of Commons, in St.
Margaret s, Westminster, at the public fast : "The words of the
text are the last words of the Old Testament there uttered by
a prophet, here expounded by an angel there concluding the
law, and here beginning the gospel. Behold, saith Malachi,
I will send you Elijah the prophet; and he saith, the
angel shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias.
And he shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,
saith the one ; and to turn the hearts of the fathers to the
children, saith the other. Thus sweetly and nearly should
the two Testaments join together, and thus divinely would they
kiss each other, but that the wretched Apocrypha doth thrust
in between, like the two cherubins in the temple-oracle, as
with their outer wings they touch the two sides of the house,
from in the beginning, to come, Lord Jesus ; so, with their
inner, they would touch each other, the end of the law with
the beginning of the Gospel, did not this patch ery of human
invention divorce them asunder. . . . But it is a wonder, to
which I could never yet receive satisfaction, that in churches
that are reformed, they have shaken off the yoke of supersti
tion, and unpinned themselves from off the sleeve of former
customs, or doing as their ancestors have done ; yet in such a
1 Calamy s Abridgment of Baxter s 2 Notes and Queries, 2nd edition.
Life and Times, vol. I, page 86, 2nd vol. Ill, page 16.
edition, London, 1713.
302 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
thing as this, and of so great import, should do as first igno
rance, and then superstition, hath done before them. It is
true, indeed, that they have refused these books out of the
canon, but they have reserved them still in the Bible, as if God
should have cast Adam out of the state of happiness, and yet
have continued him in the place of happiness. Not to insist
upon this, which is some digression, you know the counsel of
Sarah concerning Ishmael, and in that she outstripped Abraham
in the spirit of prophecy, Cast out the bond-woman and her
son ; for the son of the bond-woman may not be heir with the
son of the free. " 1
Many members of the Church of England may have been
of Lightfoot s opinion, but the Puritans were more decided,
Tyndale had translated some portions of the Apocrypha to
serve as church lessons. Coverdale accepted it, Rogers ad
mitted it under a species of protest, the Great Bible and the
Bishops had it, and the Genevan copies usually included it.
With all its absurdities, fables, and inconsistencies, it exhibits
a great body of Jewish thought and theology, which may be
faintly traced either in idea, imagery, or diction, in a few parts
of the New Testament. It was about this time that Bibles
were printed having the canonical books only. When, in
164-5, a Book of Prayers was compiled for the navy, the
Apocrypha was ignored. At the prosecution, as early as 1 633,
before the Star Chamber, of the Recorder of Salisbury,
for breaking some painted glass in a church, Chief-Justice
Richardson threw in a word in favour of the defendant : " I
have been long acquainted with him, he sitteth by me some
times at church, he brought a Bible to church with him (I
have seen it), with the Apocrypha and Common Prayer Book
in it, not of the new cut." 5
There was a heavy folio on large paper published in 1660-59
(Field, Cambridge), of which Pepys records, in his Diary, 27th
May, 1667, " There came Richardson the bookbinder, with one
1 "Works, vol. VI, p. 130, ed. Erubhin or Miscellanies, Works, vol.
Pitman, London, 1822. Similar IV, p. 30.
remarks may be found in his 2 Campbell s Chief Justices, vol.
curious and interesting treatise, II, p. 17.
XLVIIL] VARIOUS EDITIONS. 303
of Ogilby s Bibles in quires, for me to see and buy . . . but it
is like to be so big that I shall not use it." An edition of 1G82
(Bill, Newcomb, & Hills), has errors on nearly every page errors
like the following : Gen. ix, 5, " at the hand of man," omitted ;
xxi, 26, " neither didst thou tell me," omitted ; xxx, 35, " and
all the brown among the sheep," omitted ; Deut. xxiv, 3, " if the
latter husband ate her," for " hate her " ; Esther vi, 2, " kings,"
for " keepers " ; Jerem. xiii, 27, " adversaries " for " adulteries " ;
xvi, G, " glad " for "bald"; xviii, 21, "swine," for "famine";
Ezek. xviii, 25, " the way of the Lord is equal," for " not equal."
A folio edition of becoming appearance was published in
1701, under the patronage of Archbishop Tennison ; London,
C. Bill, and the executrix of T. Newcomb. It was graced
with chronological notes and a collection of parallel pas
sages, by Dr. Lloyd, Bishop of Worcester; a table of mea
sures, weights, and coins being added by Dr. Cumberland,
Bishop of Peterborough. The margin also noted the con
nection of the passages with the Book of Common Prayer.
But this edition, like so many of its predecessors, was dis
figured by inaccurate printing by what Lewis calls " typo
graphical erratas." Lewis writes, "Two years afterwards, in
1703, the Lower House of Convocation took up the subject
and presented to the Upper House a humble representation of
several gross errors in late editions of the Holy Bible." But no
record of such transactions survives. It would seem that the
privileged presses were very careless, for their patent lifted
them above all fear of competition.
The edition of Dr. Paris, Cambridge, 17G2, though it embo
died " large corrections in the particulars," left many places
untouched where change was necessary, those changes being
introduced, not on his own judgment singly, but after an
examination by a " Select Committee," particularly the Prin
cipal of Hertford College and Professor Wheeler. Errors,
however, crept in, especially in the margin and in the italics.
This edition, which was nearly all destroyed by a fire, was far
from being immaculate, and several of its errors were repeated
in the more famous edition of Dr. Blayney.
The edition of Dr. Blayney (Oxford, Wright & Gill,
304 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
1769) has been long regarded as a standard edition. The
editor bestowed uncommon pains upon it. He collated the
original edition of 1611, that of Bishop Lloyd, 1701, and
two Cambridge editions in quarto and octavo, and discovered
and corrected many errors, " so that the text is reformed to
such a standard of purity as it is presumed is not to be met
with in any other edition hitherto extant." The punctuation
was also carefully attended to as to correctness and uniformity,
and the labours of Dr. Paris on the italic words were largely
supplemented. Alterations were made on the heads or con
tents of the chapters and the running titles of each page ; and
" the meaning of those proper names, to the etymology of which
there is allusion in the text, were supplied in the margin."
Immense pains were bestowed on the marginal references,
which had been erroneously printed in so many editions. In
some few instances Dr. Blayney confesses himself to have been
" at a loss in finding out the true reference, though the cor
ruption was manifest in the want of any the most distant
resemblance between the passages compared together." These
references were cautiously examined, particularly those of
Bishop Lloyd s Bible and of a Scotch edition, and were also
greatly augmented, the purpose being to make the collection
" useful in the light of a concordance, material as well as verbal,
always at hand." The quarto copy so prepared was first sent to
press, and first, second, and, " generally speaking," third proofs
were read, besides frequent revisions "a very_ tiresome and
tedious task, but not more than was absolutely necessary, in
order to attain the degree of accuracy that was wished." The
figures belonging to the marginal references, "where errors
were perpetually creeping in," were minutely superintended.
When the quarto sheets were printed off the forms were
lengthened out for the folio edition, but the change so disar
ranged the references and chronology that a fresh collation of
the whole with the quarto edition was gone through, and in
this process " some few trivial inaccuracies " have been dis
covered and rectified, " so that the folio edition is rendered by
this somewhat the more perfect of the two, and therefore more
fit to be recommended for a standard copy." New references
XLVIH.] BLAYNEY S EDITION. 305
to the amount of 30,495 were inserted in the margin. " The
whole was completed in a course of between three and four
years application." Honest and anxious labour was expended
on the edition, and yet it turned out to be far from immacu
late. For when it was collated for Eyre & Strahan s edition of
1806, not fewer than 116 errors were discovered in it. One of
these consists of the omission of a whole clause in Rev. xviii,
22, " at all in thee, and no craftsman of whatever craft he be
shall be found any more." Cotton says that the omission
occurs only in the quarto edition ; and Hartwell Home, in some
earlier editions of his Introduction, says that the omission arose
from the overrunning when the volume was changed from a
folio to a quarto form. But the error occurs both in the folio
and quarto ; and according to Dr. Blayney s own report the
quarto was the original form of the edition. 1 Principal Lee
justly questions the perfect accuracy of the report of the
collators for the edition of 1806 in their enumeration of only
116 errors said to be found in the copies of 1769, and he adds
that even in this edition of 1806 there are also such blunders
as " holy " for " whole," &c. In Blayney s edition these blunders
are found : Gen. xlix, 26, " thy progenitors," for " my progeni
tors " ; Deut. xi, 19, " thy earth," for " the earth " ; Judges xi,
7, "children," for " elders " ; 2 Kings xxiii, 21, " this book
of the covenant," for " the book of this covenant " ; 1 Chron.
xxix, 6, " over the kings," for " of the kings " ; John xxi, 17,
" he saith," for " he said " ; Rom. vii, 20, " now if do," for
"if I do"; 1* Cor. iv, 13, "earth," for "world"; 2 Cor.
xii, 2, " about," for " above " ; 1 John i, 4, " our joy," for
" your joy " ; and " godly " omitted in the clause, 1
Tim. i, 4. Other variations might be given, but these are
sufficient to destroy the plea of perfection. An edition of
1811 has in Isaiah Ivii, 12, " thy works, for they shall
profit thee," " not " being omitted. Eyre & Strahan s quarto
edition of 1813 was recommended to the Protestant Epis-
1 Dr. Blayney s Report,dated Hert- of the Clarendon Press. It is inserted
ford College, October 25, 1769, is in the Gentleman s Magazine for
addressed to the Rev. the Vice- November, 1769.
Chancellor and the other Delegates
VOL. II. U
306 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
, copal Church of the United States of America by its Con
vention; but it is by no means faultless, for it has, 2 Cor.
xii, 2, "about" for "above"; Eph. iv, 16, "holy body," for
"whole body." The blunder, "three is but one God,"
occurs in three editions of Eyre & Strahan, in 1812, 1820,
1822.
Erroneous printing and bad paper were still subjects of
complaint, and George I, April 2-4, 1724, issued an order to
the patentees, " that they shall employ such correctors of the
press and allow them such salaries as shall be approved from
time to time by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop
of London for the time being."
There seems to have been a scanty issue of Bibles of
smaller size, and Lemoine, a bookseller in London, published
in 1797 the following complaint: "Neither the Universities
of Oxford and Cambridge, nor the King s Printers at London,
have distinguished themselves for their typographical exertions
in publishing a pocket Bible ; an article very much wanted.
The Cambridge Bible in 2-ito is too thick; the London Bible
is upon bad paper ; and nothing can be said in favour of the
Oxford pocket Bible." The same author says elsewhere, speak
ing of editions undertaken by private individuals, " The
emulation produced, and the consequence of the exercise of the
liberal arts, has never manifested itself more of late years than
in this article of Bible printing ; while the two Universities
and the King s Printers have brought out nothing above
mediocrity. It would have reflected honour upon their
privileges and patents, had they exerted their superiority,
and not left it to individuals to excel them in their own
province." l
A quarto edition appeared in 1810 with " short notes by
several learned and pious Reformers," virtually the Genevan
notes ; hence afterwards called the " Reformers Bible."
Complaints sprang up anew in the year 1830 as to the
unsatisfactory state of the text of the English Bible, and a
committee of Dissenting ministers published resolutions on the
1 History of Printing, p. 148, London, 1797.
XLVIII.] AMERICAN REVISED EDITION. 307
subject, declaring that " extensive alterations had been intro
duced into the text of our Authorized Version " ; branding
these alterations in unmeasured terms and foreboding dismal
results. l As the question, after all, was one chiefly about
the use of the words printed in italics, Dr. Turton 2 disposed
of it in easy style, and showed fully the capricious use of
italics in the first edition of 1611. " The translators produced
a standard version, but the printers have not transmitted a
standard text." In connection with this controversy there
was published at Oxford in 1833 an exact copy of the first
edition of 1611 " page for page and letter for letter "
retaining throughout the ancient mode of spelling and
punctuation, and even the most manifest errors of the press.
A collation of the edition of 1611 with that of 1613 is added.
The report of an American committee, who prepared an
unsuccessful edition in 1856 for the American Bible Society,
avers that "in six copies compared the number of variations
in text and punctuation falls but little short of twenty-four
thousand." 3 The volume, which was carefully prepared, was
not accepted by the American public for various reasons. The
Bible Society was justly accused of going beyond its proper
province which was simply the circulation of the Scriptures.
The revision was felt to be unworthy of the name, for it touched
the text only in the smaller matters of spelling, italics, punctua
tion, and capital letters. The removal of the old theological
headings and contents of chapters, as in Psalms and the Song of
Solomon, led also to a grievous outcry, in which many men of
high standing seem to have joined. The edition, therefore,
1 Curtis, On the Existing Monopoly, accuracy will be found in the
four letters to the Bishop of London, examination of various parties before
&c., London, 1833. a committee of the House of Com-
2 Text of the English Bible, mons in 1832, 1837, 1860. Printers
Cambridge, 1833. Mr. Curtis s and publishers showed special
misrepresentations were also exposed sharpness in detecting errors in their
by Edward Cardwell, D.D., Oxford, rivals editions, offering a remarkable
1833. illustration of the saying in Prov.
3 Interesting information on the xviii, 17. For the so-called Vinegar
printing of Bibles and on the Bible see note, page 15.
question of comparative expense and
308 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
wanting distinctive character, was soon withdrawn from
circulation. a
The marginal references grew and multiplied in the course
of years. In the first edition of 1611 they amounted in the
canonical books to 8,418, increasing to 23,895 in the edition of
Hayes, Cambridge, 1677; to 33,000 in that of Scattergood,
Cambridge, 1678; in Lloyd s to 39,466; in Blayney s to
64,983; in Crutwell s to 66,955, Bath, 1785. Such
references to parallel passages became, therefore, unduly
multiplied ; especially in Canne s Bibles, which were long very
popular, and his gauge seems to have been simply the capacity
of the margin.
The punctuation has varied much in the numerous editions,
and the stopping was heavy in the earlier issues. The con
nection, if connection there be, between the second and third
verse of John i, depends on the punctuation adopted, and
similarly in Matt, xix, 28, and Titus ii, 11. The full stop at
the end of a verse sometimes interrupts the sense: Ps. Ixxxiv,
5, 6, " in whose hearts are the ways of them, who passing
through the valley of Baca make it a well " with a simple
comma after " them " " those that dwell in His house are
blessed, and those who make a pilgrimage to it." Luke xiii,
24, 25, " many will seek to enter in and shall not be able,
when once the master of the house is risen up and hath shut
to the door" when the door is shut but not till then, is
entrance impossible. Luke xxiii, 32, was printed thus, " and
there were also two other malefactors led with him." This
is the literal rendering, though there is a difference of reading.
But " other" was then a plural form, 2 as in Gen. viii, 10, Matt,
xiii, 8; "others" is never found in Shakespeare the sense being
that there were two other, or two besides him, they being
malefactors. " Other" was by and by changed into "others" with
a new punctuation. " And there were also two others, male
factors, led with him." The clause is liable still to be
misunderstood. The reading of the Bishops is, " and there
1 Report of the Committee, New hand column of the first note on
York, 1851. page 311.
- See the first line of the ri^ht
XLVIII.] PUNCTUATION.
were other two evildoers led with him." The Great Bible
cuts the knot by simply omitting the word " other," " and
there were two evildoers led with him to be slain " a version
unfaithful to the Greek. The Eheims has, " and there were
led also other two malefactors with him, to be executed." l
The Genevan has " and there were two others, which were
evildoers, led with him."
It is strange that there are no paragraph marks in the
Authorized Version beyond the twentieth chapter of Acts, as
if the printing had been hurried toward the conclusion. The
division into chapters and verses is so familiar that it cannot
be easily set aside as Bibles in all languages adopt it, and all
concordances are based upon it. That there are unfortunate
breaks in the sense in several places no one questions.
How could it be otherwise among 1,189 chapters and 31,173
verses. The matter contained in a paragraph might be
brought more closely together without the hiatus of verses,
or the verses might be marked in the margin.
It would serve no purpose to dwell on the splendid editions
of Macklin or that of Baskerville for license to print which
he is said to have paid a large sum to the University of
Cambridge, or those of Bishop Wilson, Pine, Reeves, Heptin-
stall, and Bowyer, or to enumerate many others of recent
years, superbly got up, with good paper, excellent printing, and
many magnificent illustrations. A Cambridge Bible of 1858
may be for its general correctness pronounced a very good
edition.
An edition was published in Dublin in 1714, and Dr.
Cotton, Archdeacon of Cashel, confesses, "I am ashamed to
say that this is the earliest edition of the Bible printed in
Ireland, which I have been able to discover." The first New
Testament published in America bears the imprint of Mark
Baskett, London, 1742. But it was stealthily printed in Boston,
and the issue consisted of 2,000 copies. A Bible was printed in
the same place, with the same fictitious imprint to evade the
patent, in 1752. But the Bible was first printed without
disguise in America in 1782 (4to, Philadelphia, R. Arthur,
1 " Alii duo nequam," Vulgate.
310
THE ENGLISH BIBLE.
an emigrant Scotchman.) 1 This took place 162 years after the
landing of the Pilgrim Fathers ; and, strange to say, a
Genevan Bible had been already published in 1743. The
most thorough critical examination of the text of the
Authorized, with a collation of the most famous editions, has
been made b}^ Dr. Scrivener, who is noted for his patient,
minute, and accurate research, and his long and intimate
familiarity with the subject. His Cambridge Paragraph
Bible, 1873, bears witness on every page to the truth of our
statement.
1 Thomas s History of Printing in
America, vol. I, pp. 93, 305. Arthur s
daughter carried oil the business
after her father s death in 1802, and
printed the First English Transla
tion of the Septuagint The Old
Covenant, by Charles Thomson, late
secretary to Congress, Philadelphia,
Jane Arthur, 1808.
In mediaeval times Bibles were
often gorgeously apparelled, and
adorned with gold and jewels.
Charlemagne, in 795, gave the monks
of St. Bertin the right of hunting in
his forests, that they might have
abundance of skins or leather with
which to bind their books. Strange
stories have been told of some thick
and strongly bound Bibles, and their
instrumentality in saving life as
when a musket ball struck against
one hidden in the folds of a soldier s
uniform, but was unable to pierce it
through. The Pocket Bibles of
Cromwell s soldiers were not meant
to serve such a purpose, though they
were usually buttoned between the
coat and the vest over the heart.
They consisted only of some extracts,
divided into eighteen chapters,
" which doe show the qualifications
of the inner man that is a fit souldier
to fight the Lord s battels, both be
fore the fight, in the fight, and after
the fight." London, 1643. Many
of the sections are taken from the
Genevan version, and the thin
stitched book, printed on a single
sheet folded in 16mo, bears on
it, " Imprimatur Edm. Calamy."
The only known copy in this country
is in the British Museum, and it has
been reprinted by Mr. Yry of Bris
tol. Another copy has been found
in America. See Bibliomania in the
Middle Ages, by F. Somner Merry-
weather, p. 152, London, 1849, and
also The Bible in the Middle Ages,
by Leicester Ambrose Buckingham,
London, 1853.
CHAPTER XLIX.
TN the course of the story we have seen that hostility to a
vernacular Bible was as intense in Scotland l as it was in
England. The Scottish poets, like Lyndsay, often refer to
English translators, and the enmity and terror which they
created. According to George Buchanan, the clergy gave out
that Luther had composed a book called the New Testament. 2
The priest Hamilton, whose virulent critical notes on the
Genevan we have given on pp. 55, 56, is equal to his fellows :
"Are all merchands, tailours, souters, baxters, wha cannot
learne thair awin craftes without skilful maisters, ar thir, I say,
and uther temporal men, of whatsomever vocation or degree,
sufficient doctor of thame selfis to reid and understand the hie
mysteries of the Bible ? What folie is it that wemen, wha
cannot sew, cairde, nor spin, without they lerne the same of
uther skilful wemen, suld usurp to reid and interpret the
Bible ? "
In spite of all hostility and jealous espionage, various
versions found their way into the country, like the written
1 See vol. I, p. 243. and other that were by, swearing a
2 Halle, the old English Chronicler, great oath, that if he thought the
p. 806 (ed. 1808), records under date kyngs highness would set forth the
25th year of King Henry VIII, Scripture in Englishe, and let it be
" This yere also, one Pavier, town red of the people by his authoritie,
clerk of London, hanged himself, rather than he would so long live he
which surely was a man that in no would cut his owne throte, but he
wise could abide to heere that the brake promise, for as you heard he
Gospel should be in Englishe, and I hanged himself."
myself heard him once saie to me
312 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
Bible of Wycliffe and the volumes of Tyndale, and of the
Genevan translation which it reprinted, but it never had any
indigenous translation. 1 This strange negligence is the more
unaccountable as there was no lack in Scotland of learned
men, and no scarcity of books printed at home, or brought in
from abroad a traffic conducted under royal license. Readers
were also abundant, and it is somewhat astonishing to find
that in fifty-six years (namely, from 1558 to 1614), fourteen
complete editions of the works of Sir David Lindsay were
published, including two printed at Paris, and three in Eng
land. There were three editions of Buchanan s History, in
1582, 1583, 1584; and there were thirty-one editions of
Buchanan s Psalms between 1566 and 1610, printed at Paris,
London, and Antwerp, but not one in Scotland. Of the works
of Principal Rollock who died in 1598, at least sixteen
volumes were published before 1605 ; all of which passed
rapidly through successive editions. The works of W. Guild,
J. Abernethy, A. Symson, P. Symson, and others, passed through
many editions between the year 1610 and 1633. During all
this prolific time no complete edition of the Bible was printed in
Scotland, and no edition of the New Testament, Psalms, or
Catechism. As Principal Lee also asks, " If readers were not
numerous, how is it that there were so many printers and so
many booksellers in Edinburgh in the time of Queen Mary
and James IV ? "
Scotland was a poor country, and every one knows Sydney
Smith s humorous translation of the Latin motto, first proposed
for the Edinburgh Review, " Tenui musam meditamur avena,"
" We cultivate literature upon a little oatmeal." " This was too
near the truth to be admitted," but it was the actual truth at a
bygone time, when university students were in the habit of
going about and begging their bread. An Act of Parliament of
1579, which threatens to punish various kinds of mendicants,
adds with special emphasis, "all vagabound schollers of the
Universites of Saint Andrewes, Glasgow, and Aberdene, not
licensed by the Rector or Deane of Facultie of the Universitie
to ask almes." 2 Yet Scotland, so poor was also proud, and was
1 See p. 40. 2 Dunlop s Parochial Law, p. 358.
XLIX.] SCOTLAND INDEBTED TO ENGLAND FOR BIBLES. 313
characterized in periods before the Reformation by a rugged
love of independence, and when her coveted freedom was in
any way overborne, there was ever a strenuous kicking
against the pricks. When Bruce took arms against the
English power, many of the bishops patriotically sided with
him, and the Abbot of Inchaffray officiated on the field of
Bannockburn. The Scottish Church, too, was often restive
under the Italian domination, and was again and again put
under papal ban ; but papal legates durst not advance
beyond the border, and the Pope had his fingers often jagged
by the Scottish thistle. The Reformation was a bold
popular revolt in doctrine and jurisdiction. The Kirk, which
was established in 1560, was sorely jealous of any encroach
ment on the part of the civil powers, as is seen in the following
procedure : The Assembly held at Edinburgh, 1st July, 1568,
in its third session, "ordained Thomas Bassandyne, printer, to
call in the books printed be him intitled the Fall of the Roman
Kirk, wherein the king is called supreme head of the primitive
kirk, &c. and to keep the rest unsold till he alter the aforesaid
title."
Yet all this cherished independence in church and kingdom
did not suffice to produce a native translation of the Bible.
Scotland was dependent for its Bibles on supplies from beyond
itself. It imported the earlier versions from Holland, and
especially from England. Tyndale s, the Genevan, and all
the versions used, were made by Englishmen, belonging to a
people to whom Scotland bore no good will, and it has meekly
bowed its head to borrow the Bible and its other church books
from its " auld enemie." Not only was its Bible prepared and
published under King James, but its Confession of Faith, with
the Larger and Shorter Catechisms, are also importations from
England, and were compiled there. Its Bible has thus been
supplied from the English Church, and its Confession from the
English Parliament which selected, paid, and controlled the
divines of the Westminster Assembly, and sanctioned their
work. 1 The Psalms, so commonly used in public worship, are
1 Minutes of the Westminster Mitchell and Dr. Struthers. Intro-
Assembly. Edited by Professor duction, Edinburgh, 1874.
314 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
English/ too, in origin and authorship, having been twisted
into rhyme by Francis Rouse, Provost of Eton, who sat in the
Long Parliament, was Speaker of Cromwell s Little Par
liament, and a member of the Westminster Assembly. 1 The
same tale may be told of many of the paraphrases and hymns
now used in Scotland.
The new translation gradually and slowly made its way
in Scotland, in spite of strong national and ecclesiastical anti
pathies. It had been made by the Church of England for its
own members, under an Erastian or royal appointment. Some
years afterwards Scotland found itself at war with England,
and " black prelacy " was accused of sending many sufferers to
the dungeons of the Bass, and the scaffolds of the Grassmarket.
Yet there is no record of any formal opposition made to the
version because of its English origin, and its connection with
Laud and his predecessors. The General Assembly of Aberdeen
in 1516, though it enjoined Scripture reading, does not select
any version for preference. No edict of a Southern Convoca
tion could have had any good effect in the north. Probably if the
new Bible had been sent to this side of the Solway armed with
a royal proclamation, or enforced by Episcopal canons, it would
have been refused, or at all events been regarded with pro
found suspicion. True, indeed, in the "Canons Constitutional and
Ecclesiastical," published in 1636, xvi, 1, it is enacted that there
shall be provided for every parish " a Bible of the largest
volume the Bible shall be of the translation of King James."
But this edict could have little influence, for in two years the
Canons were rejected (in June and September, 1638) by royal
proclamation, and afterwards by the General Assembly in
December of the same year. There were also bitter memories,
1 In April, 1646, the House of 1649, authorized the collection to be
Commons ordered that Rouse s the only paraphrase of the Psalms
" Psalms, and no other, shall be of David to be sung in the Kirk of
sung in all churches arid chapels Scotland, and discharging the old
within England, Wales, and Berwick paraphrase or any other to be used
upon Tweed after the 1st of next in any congregation or family after
January." The Lords concurred. 1st May, 1650.
The General Assembly, 23rd Nov.,
XLIX.] SUCCESS OF THE VERSION IN SCOTLAND. 315
like those of the fields of Flodden and Pinkie. King Henry,
through his Marshals, had destroyed the Church of Holyrood,
the Abbeys of Melrose, Jedburgh, and Kelso, and having carried
ruthless fire and sword and ruin through the southern counties,
had turned large tracts into deserts, from which man and beast
had alike disappeared. But the Bible came alone and "not
with observation," having nothing to recommend it save its own
merits, and it triumphed in the end over all these animosities
and grudges. At an era when Church and State were alike
in deep confusion, when mitre and crown had both passed
away, this English translation won for itself a lasting home
in Scottish hearts, and at length displaced a Bible endeared by
the many associations that clustered around the scene of its
origin. As Laud had greatly hampered the importation of
Genevan Bibles, their scarcity must have somewhat contri
buted to the circulation of the Authorized Version.
The success of the version was perhaps as rapid in Scotland
as in England, for the Psalms retained in the English Prayer
Book are of an older and inferior version, and it was not till
1061, as arranged at the Savoy Conference, that the Gospels and
Epistles were read out of the Authorized Translation ; the
Presbyterian nonconforming party having pressed for the
change and obtained it with reluctance. The errors of trans
lation selected in pleading for the change were taken from
the Great Bible. Rom. xii, 2, "be ye changed in your shape " ;
Philip, ii, 5, " found in his apparell as a man " ; Luke i, 36,
"that is the seventh month which was called barren," a
misprint; and Gal. iv, 25, the verse which was referred to at
the Hampton Court Conference ; and also John ii, 10, " when
men be drunk " ; 2 Cor. iv, 1, " we go not out of kind " ; Luke
xi, 17, "one house doth fall upon another"; the conclusion
being "we therefore desire instead thereof, the new translation
allowed by authority may alone be used." The concurrence of
the bishops is thus recorded, "We are wishing that all the
Epistles and Gospels be used according to the last translation." 1
The old translation had thus been receiving the assent and
consent of all taking orders, to the disparagement of King
1 Cardwell s Conferences, p. 307, 362.
316 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
James s version, and that for half a century. On the other hand,
a prominent Covenanter, in a book published in 1637, speaks
as we now do of "our own English translation." The Directory
for Public Worship, ratified by the General Assembly in 1645,
enacts, " All the Canonical Books of the Old and New Testament
shall be publicly read in the vulgar tongue out of the best
allowed translation;" the words implying that more translations
than one might be or were in common use, and that no version
was to be singled out and sanctioned by public authority.
Properly speaking, there is therefore no Authorized Version in
Scotland. The Westminster Confession (i, 8), says, "The Old
Testament in Hebrew, and the New Testament in Greek, being
immediately inspired by God, and by his singular care and
providence kept pure in all ages, are therefore authentical, as in
all controversies of religion, the church is finally to appeal
unto them." The use of the Genevan version still lingered, and
it is occasionally quoted in the Acts of the General Assembly,
as "negligently" for "deceitfully," Jer. xlviii, 10; "behave
rationally" for "play the men," 2 Sam. x, 12; "just" for
" upright," Psalm cxix, 137. It crops out also, though very
rarely, in the Westminster Confession, 1647, as in the quotation
in the Epistle to the Reader of Prov. xix, 2, "without know
ledge the mind cannot be good."
No edition of King James s translation was printed in
Scotland during his reign. The New Testament was pub
lished in 1628 (Heirs of Andro Hart), and the Calendar of
Moveable Feasts mentions, with Scottish jealousy, only Whit
sunday, Easterday, and the beginning of Lentron. New Testa
ments were printed in Edinburgh in 1642 by Evan Tyler, R.
Young, and James Bryson ; and the entire Bible in connection
with the coronation of Charles at Scone, in 1633 the first by the
heirs of Andro Hart, and the second by the "printers to the king s
most excellent majesty." Of this last edition there are two
issues, and some of the copies have plates called "Popish pictures,"
for which Laud was greatly blamed. These "pictures" are
remarkably good engravings, the originals having appeared in
Imagines Vitae, Passionis, et Mortis D. N. Jesu Christi,
printed by Boetius a Bolswert, 1623. The writer of a letter
XLIX. ] A NDEE W A NDERSON S PA TENT. 3 1 7
preserved by Lord Hailes styles them "such abominable
pictures, that impiety stares through them." 1 Scotland was
therefore indebted in the interval to England for its Bibles, and
there must have been a continuous importation, for Kirkton, at
a period before the Restoration, declares that "every family
almost had a Bible." 2
A New Testament was printed at Glasgow in 1670, and
another, very badly printed, in 1691. The worst of all the
specimens is an Edinburgh one, said, however, by some to have
been imported, and in it there is scarcely a verse without a
blunder.
On February 9th, 1671, the Lords of the Privy Council
stigmatized a New Testament, printed in black letter, by
Andro Anderson, as having many gross errors and faults in the
impression, and prohibited its circulation, or "till the same be
first amended." But this very printer, who had been so
reprimanded, obtained a gift under the Great Seal, and ratified
by Parliament, "^constituting him, his heirs, and assignees, to
be his Majesty s sole, absolute, and only printer." Anderson
and his widow after him were patentees for many years from
1671 to 1712. It was strictly forbidden to import Bibles; and
though the king s printer was " holden to serve the country "
with Bibles of his own printing, Anderson, though many
miscellaneous works issued from his press, printed only two
small editions during the first five years of his appointment.
It was the age of patents, for which money was given, or
royal debts discharged. In Scotland the patent extended to
all printing; the Act 1551, cap. 27, being entitled "printers should
print nothing without license." James Watson, in his " His
tory of Printing," says, " By this gift " to Mr. Anderson " the
art of printing got a dead stroke, for by it no man could print
1 Hailes Memorials and Letters, lines under it, the last of which
vol. II, p. 42. In the edition which styles her "daughter, mother, spouse
the writer possesses there is no print of God."
that might be called truly Popish 2 Secret and True History of the
but one, in the Common Prayer Church of Scotland, pp. 48-50. This
bound up with it, which represents history, however, is characterized by
the Virgin and Child, and has four romantic exaggerations.
318 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
anything from a Bible to a ballad without Mr. Anderson s
license." ... " Editions of Poole s Annotations and Flavel s
Works are, in the eyes of workmen, voluminous botches." ] Of
course many copies were carried north from England. Mrs.
Anderson complained to the Privy Council of several editions
brought into the country, and she winds up by asserting
that her monopoly, if duly guarded, would "hinder the ex
port of great summes of money, which are daylie taken
furth thereof, for forrayne Bibles." But the traffic had
been distinctly authorized in 1671, under this condition,
"until the king s printer shall have ready an impression
of his own." In 1676, all importation of Bibles in nonpareil
and pearl letter was prohibited, and all such copies found are
" confiscable." It is not our purpose to state at length how
stoutly Widow Anderson battled for her patent, year after
year, against all intruders, and managed to have them fined and
imprisoned. It is with her work that we are concerned. Some
of the editions issued by her husband had been good, especially
an octavo of 1676; but her printing of Scripture, at this time,
was utterly scandalous, and the other books which she printed
were equally full of errors. The patent was not confined to
Bibles, yet she aifirms of them, that they were much better
and on finer paper than could be done in England. Her Bibles
swarmed with deplorable blunders, and the gross carelessness
of the printing was fostered by the want of all competition. 2
Many of the errors are monstrous. One writer gives a few
of them in a list which fills six columns of quarto size, closely
printed, such as "righteousness" for "unrighteousness;" "he
killed," for " he is killed " ; " enticed in every thing," for
1 History of Printing, Preface, p. did not forfeit his patent. He
12, Edinburgh, 1713. was the fourth king s printer
2 After Mrs. Anderson s time, arraigned for treasonable acts. Lek-
Baskett became king s printer for previk was imprisoned for disloyalty;
both England and Scotland. Free- Evan Tyler was declared a rebel in
bairn had held the office for a time, 1650, but was reinstated at the
and though as a Jacobite he joined Restoration ; Waldegrave had also
the standard of the Earl of Mar, and been found guilty, but no sentence
issued proclamations for the Pre- was passed upon him.
tender against the Government, he
XLIX.] NUMEROUS AND GROSS BLUNDERS. 319
" enriched in every thing" ; "either " for " neither"; "would "
for "word"; "perfect" for "priest"; "we know," for "we
keep " ; " hast slain," for " wast slain." One of her Testa
ments was printed with worn-out type and a title-page having
the names of Bill and Newcomb ; and in it there are five
columns in which, the fount being exhausted, the italic a occurs
700 times. An octavo edition of 1694, sometimes said to
be spurious, but accepted by Principal Lee as genuine, is
crowded with errors, a copy of which in the British Museum
has a note-book attached to it, in which are marked such errors
as these : Matt, ii, 18, "Rame," for "Raman "; vii, 3, "brackers,"
for " brother s ; " vii, 27, " the house," for " that house " ; viii,
12, "dardness," for "darkness"; viii, 27, "obey them," for
" obey him " ; xiii, 41, " them which do do iniquity "; xxii, 15,
"when," for "went ; " xxii, 46, "and," for "ask" ; Mark ii, 18,
" the disciples of John and of John " for " of John and of the
Pharisees"; vii, 35, "his eyes," for "his ears "; Luke viii, 35, "her
right mind," for " his " ; xxiii, 47, " this man was," for " this
was"; John v, 32, " knoweth," for "I know"; vi, 49, "your
father," for "your fathers"; vii, 31, " peole," for "people";
ix, 26, " then said they to him again," repeated ; x, 3,
"leadeth them not," for "out"; Acts ii, 6, "speaking," for
"speak in"; x, 23, "longed," for "lodged;" xi, 11,
"there," for " three " ; xii, 21, " otion/ for " oration " ; xiii, 23,
"accorning," for "according"; xiv, 8, "ma," for "man";
xx, 3, " spira," for " Syria " ; xxiv, 24, " Priscilla," for " Dru-
silla" ; xxvi, 14, "beaking," for "speaking"; Rom. viii, 32,
" forgive," for " give " ; 1 Cor. ix, 1, " seen Jesus," for " not
seen " ; xiii, 4, " wanteth," for " vaunteth " ; 2 Cor. x, 14,
" preached," for " reached " ; 2 Thess. i, 9, " published," for
"punished"; 2 Tim. iv, 4, "tears," for "ears"; iv, 16, "with
stood," for " stood with " ; James v, 20, " which covereth the
sinner," for "converteth" ; 1 Peter iii. 11, "speak," for "seek."
In another edition, Mark iii, 26, has "against Satan," for
" against himself "; Luke i, 31, " bring far," for " bring forth " ;
Rom. vi, 17, " ye were not the servants of sin," for " ye were
the servants of sin " ; Rom. viii, 33, " eject " for " elect." The
misprints in spelling were hideous.
320 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CIIAP.
Mrs. Anderson has been sometimes imitated by her suc
cessors. An Edinburgh edition of 1760 has, in Heb. ii, 16,
" he took on him the nature of angels," not being omitted ;
and another of 1791 reads, "make me not to go the way of
thy commandments," and one of 1816 (Blair & Bruce) has,
Luke vi, 29, " forbid to take thy coat also," the omission of
not reversing the meaning of the precept. Baskett s patent
rights extended to Scotland, and his edition of 1742 has these
blunders : Matt, ix, 22, " thy faith hath made me whole," for
"thee"; xviii, 29, "pay they all," for " thee " ; xxvi, 50,
" wherefore at thou come," for " art " ; Mark ii, 21, " the rent is
many worse," for " made " ; John xvi, 8, " reprove the word,"
for "world"; xvi, 24, "ask and we shall receive " for " ye ";
xvii, 2, " as to many," for " to as many " ; Rom. xi, 26, " shall
the deliver come," for " deliverer " ; ii, 28, " sake," for " sakes " ;
Phil, iii, 12, " Now as though I had/ for " not as though " ;
1 Peter iv, 11, " to whom he praise," for " be " ; Job xviii, 8,
"be walketh," for "he walketh"; xx, 3, " causeth me no
answer," for " to answer"; Isaiah i, 9, "let us a small remnant,"
for " left unto us," ; iii, 9, " then soul " for " their soul " ; xii, 3,
(The Lord is become my salvation) " therefore with joy shall
he draw water," instead of "shall ye draw water "; xiii, 15,
" Every one that it found," for " is found." In a Bible of
1791 (Mark & Charles Kerr, Edinburgh) 1 Kings xxii, 38, reads,
"the dogs liked his blood," for "licked"; Psalm cxix, 35, "make
me not to know," for "make me to go." Instances of a similar
nature might be multiplied at great length : "let all tongues
be done decently," in a copy of 1816 ; and editions of 1811 and
1814 have " store against the wall," for " storm," Isaiah xxv, 4 ;
"Esther" for " Easter," Acts xii, 4; " fighting upon him," in
stead of "lighting upon him," Matt, iii, 16 ; " Anna lived with
an husband seventy years from her virginity," Luke ii, 36.
Copies printed in Edinburgh during this century are not imma
culate ; and Principal Lee points out the following : Micah vi,
16, "thereof," for "therefore"; Luke iv, 28, "hear," for
"heard " ; Gal. ii, 21, "in," for "vain " ; James i, 27, "her," for
"their" ; Isa. xl, 3, "made," for "make " ; Jer. xv, 10, "hath,"
for "have"; Matt, xvii, 27, " comest," for "cometh"; xviii, 17,
XLIX.] JAMES WATSON S BIBLES. 321
"the," for "thee"; Mark x, 52, " the," for " thee " ; Luke vii,
21, "may," for "many"; Acts viii, 22, "my," for "may".
Luke viii, 14, "they," for "that"; xx, 15, "them," for "him" ;
Phil, i, 25, "you," for "your"; 1 Peter iii, 18, "offered," for
" suffered " ; Matt, xvii, 27, " comest," for " cometh " ; Mark xi, 8 ;
" strayed," for "strawed"; 1 Cor. iv. 6, "puffed," for "puffed
up " ; Ezek. viii, 1, " fifty," for " fifth " ; Zeph. ii, 7, " cost," for
"coast"; 1 Thess. iii, 7, "four," for "your." Carelessness so
gross is intolerable.
But amidst Scottish editions of the Bible, those printed in
Edinburgh by James Watson, his smaller Bibles of 1715, 1716,
1719, and especially his folio of 1722, occupy a conspicuous and
honoured place. He, like Ruddiman the well known Latin -
ist, was tainted with Jacobitism. The inaccuracy of the
printed Bible was a subject often brought before the General
Assembly of the Kirk, and injunctions about it formed one of
the annual instructions to the Commission. But no effective
step was ever taken to remedy the grievance. A deliverance
was given by the Assembly itself in 1794, in reply to an
overture on the subject from the Synod of Glasgow and Ayr.
Friday, May 24, 1793.
" The General Assembly resumed the consideration of the
overture from the Synod of Glasgow and Ayr, respecting the
more accurate printing of common Bibles; and the Overture
being again read, a letter from the King s printer to the Moder
ator was also read, and along with it specimens of a new
edition of the common Bible were produced. The Assembly
feel it their bounden duty to pay every attention to the print
ing of the Bible; but upon considering the letter from his
Majesty s printer, and having viewed the said specimens which
were given in, they think it unnecessary to proceed any farther
in this matter at present."
The New Testaments printed for use in schools were often
nearly illegible, and the paper was so bad that it often adhered
to the types. Many editions were printed in Glasgow ; and of
these editions those from the press of Alexander Carmichacl
and Alexander Melrose & Company, 1737, and those from the
VOL. II. X
322 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
press of John Robertson and Mrs. M Lean & Company, 1748,
are fairly legible, though the supplemented words are not
printed in italic type.
But the desire for a more perfect version had been cherished
in Scotland at an early period, and in 1655 there was u
proposal for a revision, in the following significant and quaint
terms :
For y e bettering of y e Inglish translation of y e Bible (1st printed
A.D. 1612) by M r - Jn- Row, 1 tis offer d. That these five things are
to be endeavoured :
I. That evil and unmeet divisions of chapt rs , verses, and sentences
be rectify d, and made more proper, rational!, and dexterous, \v ch will
much clear ye scope.
II. That needles transpositions of words, or stories, p r tending to
Hypall or Synchyses, be waryly amended ; or noted if they cannot.
III. That all vseles additions be lop t off, y* debase the wisdom of
y e spirit ; to instance
1. All y e Apocryphall writings; being nieerly humane.
2. All popish and superstitious prints, plates, and pictures.
3. Apotheosing and canonizing of some (not oth") as Sts., S 1 Luke:
not St. Job. . . .
4. Spurious additions or subscriptions (to Epistles), words and
sentences.
IV. That all sinfull and needles detractions be supply d ; and y*
lies in 6 things viz.,
1. Let all sentences, or words detracted, be added in y e text.
1 The Rows were a family of note mar School, Perth, and afterwards
and learning. The first of them principal of King s College, Aber-
studied in Italy, and on his return deen. In 1644 appeared his Hebrew
to Scotland he adopted the prin- Grammar, Institutiones the first
ciples of the Reformation. Died book of the kind printed in Scot-
1589. Five of his sons became min- land, and it was printed in Glasgow,
isters. His third son, John Row, The Town Council of Aberdeen or-
minister of the parish of Carnock, dained their "Tliesaurer" to give the
wrote the well known History of author " for his paines four hundreth
the Kirk of Scotland. The second merks." Died about 1675. A third
son of the minister of Carnock is the generation of the name had their
author of the proposals for revision, place among the Scottish clergy, the
He was some timemasterof the Gram- youngest surviving till about 1700.
XLIX.] HOW S PROPOSALS FOR REVISION. 323
2. Epitomize y e contents and cliapt rs better at y e topps of y c leafe.
3. The parenthesis ought not to be omitted where tis.
4. Exhaust not the emphasis of a word (as Idols, thirteen wayes
exprest).
5. Nor y e superlative, left only as a positive.
6. Notifactum, not noticed at all.
V. As respecting mutation, or change, 4 things are needful,
namely
1. That nothing be changed but convinc t apparently, to be bett r .
2. Yet a change not hurting truth, piety, or y e text, may be just
and needfull.
3. Many evil changes are to be amended, as these 9 in par
ticular.
(1) When words, or sentences, are mistaken.
(2) When y e margin is lighter than y e line, as in 800 places
(and more) it is.
(3) When particles are confounded.
(4) When a word plurall is translated as singular.
(5) When the active is rendered as if a passive.
(6) When the genders are confounded : as mostly y e can tic bee.
(7) When Hebrismes are omited, in silence, or amisse.
(8) When parfcicipium paiil is rendred as if it were nyphall.
(9) When conjugatio pyel is Inglish t as if kal.
4. (On the other hand) 9 good changes are to be warily endeavour d,
viz :
(1) Put y e titles of y e true God (all ouer) litera capitali.
(2) Let majistrates correct misprinting of Bibles.
(3) Put more in Inglish (even propria nomina:} less in Heb.,
Gr., and Latin terms.
(4) That Ingl. words (not understood in Scotland) be
idiomatiz d.
(5) That all be analogical to Scripture termes, not toucht w th
our opinion, or error.
(6) Something equivocal to Keri, and Kethib, be noticed.
(7) That letters, poynts, and stopps, be distinctly notified.
(8) The paralel places ought to be well noted, in the margin.
(9) Things not amiss, may be endeavo r ed to be bettered.
324 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
The like is (as to y e N". T.) to be endeavo r ed, many words wanting
their owne native idiom and import, and sometimes y e translation
overflowes in y e Inglish ; or els is defective : and some words con
founded : (Ex : gr : Svi/a/us, power, and egowia, in 70 or near 80
places ti anslated power w ch is properly authority, etc.
All this has been essayed by divers able Hebritians : as M r H :
J : M r J" C., &c., whose notes and pains are yet conceal d in
private hands, but may come to light, and publick use, in due
time.
But no action was taken in connection with this minute and
elaborate proposal.
While there are three privileged presses in England, there
was only one patentee in Scotland, and, therefore, a complete
monopoly. The last holders of the patent, Sir David Hunter
Blair and John Bruce, Esq., latterly his niece, Mrs. Margaret
Tindal Bruce, brought an action at law against Bible Societies
in Scotland, and in 1824 succeeded in interdicting them from
bringing into Scotland any copies of the Holy Scriptures
printed in England. The case was carried by appeal to the
House of Lords, and the decision of the Court of Session was
affirmed in 1829. The result was that the British and Foreign
Bible Society might despatch Bibles to all the ends of the earth,
but they durst not send down an English Bible into Scotland,
even to their own auxiliaries. Had such a law been enforced in
earlier times, what should have been the condition of Scotland ?
It had plenty of Bibles, but it printed only one edition of the
Genevan in 1576-9, and another in 1610, both issued by persons
who did not hold the king s patent ; and it did not print the
present version for more than twenty years after its publica
tion in 1611. Scotland therefore got its Bible chiefly from
England, and the king s printer did not then prevent it. The
monopoly was at length abolished in 1839, and the presses are
free to print the Scriptures, subject to the supervision of a
Board in Edinburgh, of which the Lord Advocate is the head.
The printer must inform the Board as to the edition which
he means to put to press, and enter into a bond for 500.
Every sheet printed by him is sent for the inspection of the
Board, and not till it is passed by them or their reader is he
XLIX.] THE SWEET SINGERS. 325
allowed to issue it, the Board having power to order any
erroneous page to be cancelled. After the abolition of the mono
poly, Bibles fell at once one-half in price, and the " Reports "
show that there is a large increase of circulation. The patent
still existing in England gives the patentees power, according to
its express and comprehensive terms, over " any Bibles or New
Testaments in the English tongue, of any translation, with notes
or without notes." Were this power to be exercised to its full
extent, all popular and practical expositions of Scripture would
be suppressed. Dr. Cotton, in 1856, had an edition of the Four
Gospels printed at Oxford, but the Delegates of the University
Press put it down. In it the headings were omitted, the words
usually printed in italics were put within brackets; and pronouns
referring to the Saviour began with a capital letter. But the
book was an infringement of the patent, and the plates were
sent to America. An attempt was made in 1819 to inhibit a
Family Bible, but the measure raised such a clamour that it
was not persevered in. Pasham evaded the patent by printing
notes at the bottom of the page, a considerable space being left
between them and the text, so that in binding the book the
notes were cut off, and the volume remained in its symmetry.
If the full truth must be told of the reception in Scotland of
the version executed under King James, then it is to be added
that there was a very small party that rejected and maligned it.
This party was a little band of frenzied men and women, extremer
than the extremest of the Covenanters, so rabid and reasonless
that even Donald Cargill, the intrepid leader and martyr, who
tried to deal with them, was obliged in despair to give them
up. They were called the " Sweet Singers of Borrowstouness,"
the leader being " Muckle John Gib," * a ship captain, belong
ing to that small seaport on the Frith of Forth. 2 They carried
about in their handkerchiefs the blood of two recent martyrs ;
they scattered anathemas very profusely; and the Psalms
1 Some oiie amused the Conference here referred to in the text certainly
at Hampton Court by describing a suited that definition.
Puritan as a Protestant frayed out 2 Woodrow s History, vol. Ill, p.
of his wits, and the saying might be 348. Chambers s Domestic Annals
regarded as clever ; but the men of Scotland, vol. II, p. 414.
32G THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
which they delighted to sing were the Ixxiv, Ixxx, Ixxxiii, and
cxxxvii. They numbered twenty-six; and in 1681 they left
their ordinary occupations, betook themselves to the moors and
wilds to be free of all "snares and sins," and some of them
attempted to return to primeval habits ; but the naked truth
could neither be enjoyed under the Scottish climate, nor tolerated
by the civil magistrate. This last freak did not last more than
two or three days. When any husband, in urging his wife not
to go out with the party, caught hold of her dress, she at once
washed the place as if to remove an impurity. These poor
misguided creatures were at length apprehended by a troop
of dragoons at the Woolhill Craigs, and taken to Edinburgh
the men being lodged in the Tolbooth, and the women sent
to the House of Correction. 1 Most of the women, however,
had gone home before the capture, and those taken to Edin
burgh, on receiving a copy of the manifesto written by their
leaders, " renounced us and called us devils." When in con
finement, four of the men sent out a protest, which among
other things says, " It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us
to take out of our Bibles the Psalms in metre," quoting in
support of the act Rev. xxii, 18. " We, being pressed to the
work by the Holy Ghost, do renounce the impression and
translation of both the Old and New Testament," their objec
tion being to the Dedication, to the division of chapters and of
verses as of human invention, and to "the drawing scores betwixt
the books of the Bible." They also denounced the General
Assembly, the Confession, the Covenants, and all the allied
documents, even those that contained the excommunication of
their opponents. Especially did they protest against the
" limiting of the Lord s mind by glasses," that is, by the pulpit
sand-glasses which regulated the duration of the sermon. They
also "renounced and declined all authority throughout the
world," with the " pagan names of the months arid the days of
1 Crookshank s History of the Glasgow, 1836; "Gib s Blasphemous
Church of Scotland, vol. II, p. 93, Papers, May 1st, 1681, and Cargill s
Edinburgh, 1762 ; Woodrow s His- long, earnest, and sober letter of
tory of the Sufferings of the Church expostulation are given in Wood-
of Scotland, vol. Ill, p. 348, &c., row.
x LIX. ] S UP ESS Tl TIG US USE OF THE BIBLE. 397
the week." Their lengthened nocturnal fasts which they had
kept in frost and snow, " while our clothes were frozen on us,
and our feet frozen in our shoes," helped to create their deplor
able mania. With the women that followed them, " their spirits
were many a time burthened," and they longed to get quit of
them ; and as they were afraid of immoral suspicions, they
kept them in comparative seclusion. The Council at Edin
burgh, regarding them as crazed and harmless, set them at
liberty after a brief confinement ; the epidemic soon subsided,
and most of them returned to their " right mind."
Unaccountably backward though Scotland was to edit and
print Bibles for itself, the Scottish people have been often
accused of Bibliolatry, not merely of placing all faith in Scrip
ture, but of regarding the mere volume with superstitious
attachment. Mrs. Somerville, the celebrated writer on physical
science, records in her Autobiography that " during a thunder
storm, my mother always asked nry father to shut the window,
and though she was no longer able to see to read, she kept the
Bible on her knee for protection." The following anecdote,
referring to a period little more than twenty years ago, is
vouched for : A widow in a Scottish county town had been
left by her husband at his death a considerable amount of
property, with a mortgage on it. Her trouble was whether
she should pay the interest on the mortgage, and keep the
property entire, or sell a portion of it, and discharge at once the
encumbrance. Many weeks of thought and consultation passed,
and at length one morning she met her minister, with a
blythe countenance, and the joyous statement that now she
saw her way through the difficulty, and that her mind was at
rest. On being asked how she had come to such a happy and
peremptory decision, she told him that she had happened to
read that morning the sixtieth Psalm, and that the sixth
verse, which said, " I will divide Shechem, and mete out the
valley of Succoth," forcibly struck her, and appeared to give her
the light and direction which she so earnestly desired. She
sold at once, as if by divine warrant, a portion of her inherit
ance, and freed the remainder from all pecuniary burdens. 1
1 Personal Kecollections, p. 17, London, 1873.
:]-28 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
So popular is the English Bible, and so cheap withal, that it
is in all men s hands, and many of its sayings, "graven
with an iron pen" 011 the memory, are "familiar in their
mouths as household words." The following clauses are often
uttered, without any conscious recollection of their origin :
" escaped with the skin of his teeth," " at their wit s end,"
" the root of the matter," " the pen of a ready writer," " burden
and heat of the day," " merchant princes," " a part of fat
things," " spreading like a green bay tree," " fearfully and
wonderfully made," "the threescore and ten," "an uncertain
sound," " physician, heal thyself," " nothing new under the
sun," " his long home," " the one thing needful."
But if the English Bible be so good a translation, and so
clear and vigorous in its style, surely its verses and clauses
should always be quoted with exactness. There are, however,
many and constant forms of inaccurate quotation both in dis
courses and in prayer. This incorrectness often proceeds from
careless habit, and it may be said to be inherited, like original
sin. The changes often meant as improvements are useless
and tasteless " painting the lily." Sometimes it seems as
if the figures were felt to be too sharp, and thev are blunted
o i * */
by interpolating " as." l
Psalms xlv, 1, " My tongue is as the pen of a ready writer."
1 Tim. iv, 2, " Having their consciences seared as with a hot iron."
Heb. x, 22, Our bodies washed as with pure water."
There are many forms of misquotation, which arise from a
desire to add emphasis
Deut. xxxiii, 25, " As thy days, day is, so shall thy strength be."
Eccles. xi, 1 , " Cast thy bread upon the waters ; for thou shalt find it
again after many days."
Hab. ii, 2, " Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, So
plain that he that runneth may read.
John viii, 7, " He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a
stone, cast the first stone, at her."
Gen. xxviii, 17, " This is none other but the house of God, and this is
the gate of heaven."
1 The changed or added words are printed in italics.
XLIX.] MISQUOTATIONS. 320
1 Kings iv, 25, Micah iv, 4, " Every man under his own vine," &c.
Job xiii, 11, " Shall not his excellency make you suitably afraid 1 "
Ps. xxiii, 4, "Yea though I walk through the dark valley of the
shadow of death."
Ps. xc. 12, " So teach us to number our days that we may apply our
hearts unto true wisdom."
Eccles. i, 10, " Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy
might."
Ezek. xxxiii, 11, "I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked ;
but rather that the wicked turn," <fec.
John xvi, 8, " He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness,
and of jiidgment to come."
Acts xxiv, 25, " Go thy way for this time ; when I have a more con
venient season I will call for thee."
Bom. vii, 24, " Oh wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver me
from the body of this death? this body of sin and death."
1 Cor. xi, 26, " Ye do showforth the Lord s death till he come."
Heb. ix, 27, " And as it is appointed unto all men once to die."
Ps. Ixxv, G, " For promotion cometh neither from the east nor from
the west, nor from the north, nor from the south."
Isaiah i, G, " From the sole of the foot even unto the crown of the
head, there is no soundness in it."
Isaiah Iviii, 13, " Not doing thine own ways, nor thinking thine own
thoughts, nor finding thine own pleasure."
Hab. i, 13, " Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not
look oil iniquity but with abhorrence."
Matt, xviii, 20, " For where two or three are gathered together in my
name, there am I in the midst of them, and that to bless them."
1 Cor. ii, 9, " Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered
into the heart of man, to conceive the things," &c.
2 Cor. xiii, 14, " The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of
God, and the communion and fellowship of the Holy Ghost, rest
and abide with you all, now, henceforth, and forever.
Rev. xxii, 18, "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let
him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come.
And whosoever will, let him come and take the water of life
freely."
Isaiah xxxv, 8, " The wayfaring men, though fools, shall, need, not
err therein."
Rom. xii, 11, "Diligent in business."
330 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
Ps. Ixxxiv, 9, " Look upon us, in the face of thine anointed."
Dan. iv, 35, " None can stay his hand/rom working."
Job xv, 1C, "Which drinketh up iniquity as the thirsty ox drinketJi
up the water."
Job xx, 12, The confession in prayer is frequent : " We roll sin as a
sweet morsel under our tongue" the true words being simply,
" though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, though he hide it
under his tongue."
Ps. iv, 6, "The light of thy reconciled countenance."
Heb. xii, 29, " God out of Christ is a consuming fire," but the text is,
" our God is a consuming fire."
Ps. cxlv, 9, " His tender mercies are over all his other works."
Somebody has taken in hand the thankless and mechanical
task of counting, not only the chapters and verses, but also the
words and letters of the English Bible ; the result may be
regarded as a curiosity in its way.
Old Testament. New Testament. Total.
Books, . 39 27 GG
Chapters, . . 929 260 1,189
Verses, . . 23,214 7,959 31,173
Words, . . 592,439 181,258 773,697
Letters, . . 2,728,100 868,388 3,500,480
APOCRYPHA.
Chapters, 183. Verses, 6,081. Words, 152,185.
The middle chapter, and the least in the Bible, is Psalm cxvii.
OLD TESTAMENT.
The middle book is Proverbs.
The middle chapter is Job xxix.
The middle verse is 2 Chron. xx, and between 17th and 18th verses.
Tli3 least verse is 1 Chron. i, 1.
NEW TESTAMENT.
The middle book is 2 Thessalonians.
The middle chapter is between Romans xiii and xiv.
The middle verse is Acts xvii, 17.
The least verse is John xi, 35,
The 21st verse of the 7th chapter of Ezra has all the letters of the
alphabet. x
1 Notes and Queries, Second Series, vol. VII, p. 481.
XLIX.] CONCLUSION. 331
Such has been the varied, wonderful, and suggestive history
of the English Bible. The Divine Record, even in its earliest
O
form, was intended for universal diffusion to guard men
against Atheism, Polytheism, and Pantheism; to keep them
from forgetting God by the deification of second causes, by
the formation of local and limited divinities, or by merging
the finite in the infinite ; and at the same time to exhibit
His character as a Being near them, and not far away
above the stars, that they might be induced to trust, wor
ship, and serve him. Such teaching, as human history has
shown, was needed everywhere, and everywhere was it to be
carried. Its first language, indeed, in the older form of Phoe
nician, was employed by the earliest merchants, seafaring-
adventurers, and colonists ; but in its Biblical uses and
aspects, it became very much confined to Canaan, and was
unknown to the successive great empires around it, though
Nineveh and Babylon spoke a varying dialect of it. So that,
while Judaism was organized as a standing protest in behalf
of the Divine Personality, Spirituality, and Fatherhood, it did
not formally proclaim those truths to the world on all sides of
it. It never so awoke as to realize its position of being " in
the midst of many people as a dew from the Lord." It did not
care to spread itself; it might welcome proselytes, but it never
went in search of them. No ships left Joppa bearing prophets
and precious parchments. The Alexandrian Version at length
unlocked the Hebrew treasures to the western world Tarshish
and the Isles of the Gentiles. " In the fulness of the time " ap
peared the Son of God, who " spake as never man spake," in
words fitted to all ears and hearts, and died as never man
died died in Palestine, but died for all the world ; founding,
in his Self-offering on Calvary, a universal dispensation, with
out distinction of age, race, or country. His first followers had
learned to speak another tongue than that of their fathers,
though they used it also. 1 This second tongue had been carried
1 When the apostle addressed the heard him speak in the Hebrew
mob at Jerusalem they expected a tongue to them," just as a crowd iu
Greek oration, and they naturally Inverness some years ago would have
"kept the more silence" when "they acted, if they had expected an Eug-
;332 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
by the Grecian arms around the shores of the Mediterranean,
and over the East, and therefore the Gospels and Epistles were
written in it, for it was everywhere current. It was not,
indeed, Greek in its glory, but such was its versatility, copious
ness, and force, that it nobly bore upon it a message which it
had never carried in the Porch or the Academy. The power
of the case-endings had ceased to be felt as formerly, and pre
positions were employed to mark relations ; simple verbs often
gave place to compound forms ; thoughts, words, and syntactic
structure had a Hebrew tinge, and now and then terms were
coined to convey the new ideas essentially connected with the
New Covenant. But it was the Greek of the time, and a popular
faith was preached in a popular tongue, easily understood by all
classes. At length the Latin tongue shared in the supremacy of
the people that spoke it, and into it the inspired collection of
Lives and Letters was translated for the European and North
African churches. The Latin Bible held a lofty place for cen
turies, and the Latin Church was very unwilling that its Book,
though only a translation, should be turned into any living
dialect, and laboured to keep all knowledge locked up in the
brains and libraries of its own ministers. There had been a
Syriac and Gothic version at a bypast time, but the battle for
vernacular Scripture was fought out on this island, and, through
fire and blood, truth and freedom at length conquered. A few
faint efforts had been made at a remote epoch, and with such
efforts the names of Bede and Alfred are immortally associated.
Their successors did what they could in fragments and para
phrases. Wycliffe at length gave his nation a whole Bible,
and many accorded to the gift a grateful reception. The
branches of the fig-tree had become tender, and " were putting
forth leaves," for summer was coming, with its life and warmth.
In the meantime books and men alike were sacrificed to the
ecclesiastical Moloch. Two centuries afterwards Tyndale trans
lated the New Testament from the original Greek. His ver
sion was reprinted by Coverdale, had a place in the Great
Bible, was revised in the Genevan and the Bishops , and then
lish speech, and they too would have bespoke their attention in a Gaelic
"kept the more silence" if the orator preamble (Acts xxii, 2).
XLIX.] CONCLUSION. 333
took its present place as a portion of the Authorized Version.
The Old Testament, chiefly produced by Coverdale, has come to
us by a similar course of successive revisions. The ancestral
history of our Bible shows that spiritual despotism, in its sel
fish, short-sighted policy, defeats its cherished ends, and that
liberty and progress, connected with the open Book of God,
must at length triumph. The English Bible is consecrated by
the blood of martyrs. Wycliffe was not murdered, but in re
venge for his exemption his bones were exhumed and burned ;
Tyndale was strangled and consumed to ashes; Coverdale escaped
almost by miracle ; Rogers and Cranmer " loved not their lives
unto the death " ; the Genevan scholars were exiles, while
many of their brethren at home were perishing at Smithfield ;
the Elizabethan bishops had been in imminent peril during a
season when the "hour" was ruled by "the power of dark
ness." The divine presence was frequently and palpably
apparent in moulding circumstances, in paralyzing the arm of
opposition, and in cheering and supporting those who were
walking in the furnace. We have enjoyed this Bible for two
centuries and a half ; and its general fidelity, and the nervous
and beautiful diction in which it clothes the divine counsels,
have always commended it ; while the blessed results of its
spiritual power make themselves visible in myriads of ways,
through all the shires and cities of the land.
Having survived all perils, and having had many romantic
" crooks in its lot," it is still abroad in its might not as of old,
in heavy folios, but in handy volumes closet and pocket com
panions. It costs only a trifle, so that it is within the reach of
every one. It has found a home under the Southern Cross in
Australia and New Zealand, and in the United States it has
multiplied itself with inconceivable rapidity. The sun never
sets upon it. It has spread, and will spread with the English
name and influence round the globe. All people speaking
our tongue are united by their common Bibles, common
temples, and the blessing of a " common salvation." Our fore
fathers gave it welcome, and their descendants can never bid
it farewell, for the oracle is always fulfilling itself, " Tell ye
your children of it, and let your children tell their children,
334 THE ENGLISH BIBLE.
and their children another generation." Englishmen shall
never weary of reading the Blessed Life told in these Gospels,
and in that charming style which, rising above all provincial
peculiarities, forms one fraternal speech to all that " in every
place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs
and ours." Centuries have passed over it, but its youth abides.
Many volumes far younger than it have perished in the wreck
of years. The majority of books published among us are con
nected with it either against it, or for it, or upon it. Though
revised, it will ever preserve its identity ; as the statue is the
same though its features be brightened when the dust is blown
oft* it. It can be superseded only when the higher relations and
developments of its truths are revealed to us in another sphere,
where we "shall know even as we are known."
" Now blessed be the Lord our God,
The God of Israel,
For He alone doth wondrous works,
In glory that excel.
And blessed be His glorious name
To all eternity :
The whole earth let his glory fill.
Amen, so let it be."
REVISION OF
" Count it as a thynge not havynge his full shape, but as it were borne
afore hys tyme, even as a thynge begunne rather than fynyshed. In
tyme to come ... we will give it hys full shape." Tyndale, Epilogue
to his New Testament, 152G.
" For the which cause, according as I was desyred, I took the more upon
me to set forth this special translation, not as a checker, not as a reprover
or despiser of other men s translations ; for among many I have as yet
found none without occasion of great thanksgiving unto God
Howbeit, whereinsoever I can perceive by myself, or by the information of
other, that I have failed (as it is no wonder), I shall now, by the help of
God, overlook it better and amend it." Prologue to Coverdale s Bible.
" No offence can be justly taken for this new labom-, nothing prejudicing
any other man s judgment by this doing, nor yet hereby professing this to
be so absolute a translation as that hereafter might follow no other that
might see that which as yet was not understood." Preface to the Bishops
Bible.
" If hereafter we espie any of our owne errors, or if any other, either
friend, of good will, or adversarie, for desire of reprehension, shal open to
us the same, we will not, as Protestants doe, for defence of our estimation,
or of pride and contention, by wrangling wordes wilfully persist in them,
but be most glad to heare of them, and in the next edition, or otherwise,
to correct them." Preface to the Eheims Translation.
". . . The translating of the Scriptures; the which thing albeit that
divers heretofore have endeavoured to achieve, yet, considering the infancy
of those times, and the imperfect knowledge of the tongues, in respect of
this ripe age and clear light which God hath now revealed, the translations
required greatly to be perused and reformed. Preface to the Genevan
Bible.
" As nothing is begun and perfited at the same time, and the later
thoughts are thought to be the wiser, so, if we in building on their founda
tion that went before us, and being holpeu by their labours, do endeavour
to make that better which they left so good, no man, we are sure, hath
cause to mislike us." Preface to the Authorized Version.
CHAPTER L.
exposure of any one to suspicion and obloquy, because
lie ventures to touch the Scriptures, no matter how rever
ently and lovingly, is not an occurrence of yesterday. Nor is
this jealousy to be wondered at; for, as the Bible is the divine
charter, its words are of unsurpassed value. The sacred volume
has naturally come to be enthroned in the heart of myriads as
a book of solitary majesty. Their spiritual life has been
quickened by it ; they have felt its formative power; and in
calm and devout moments they are conscious of its secret and
searching influence as they breathe its penitential Psalms, or
ponder the wonderful discourse followed by the more wonder
ful prayer in the gospel of St. John. Indignant surprise would
therefore be excited if any one should dare to deal wickedly
with God s revelation, by adding to it or taking from it, or in
any way tampering with its holy contents. For such procedure
would really be an attempt to produce a new Bible; and no one
within the pale of the church can be guilty of the profane
temerity of erasing, changing, superseding, or improving, the
words of Apostles and Prophets.
But the Bible, while it is divine in the highest sense, is also
human in the truest sense; and its human aspects and history
are never to be overlooked in the adoration of its divine
" imbreathment." While it is from heaven in its blessed and
primary source, it is as surely of earth in its nearer form and
delivery God s thoughts in man s words. While Psalmists
and Evangelists spoke and wrote as they were " moved by the
Holy Ghost," they were no mere machines, no mere passive
recipients and outgivers, like the strings of a harp struck by a
VOL. II. Y
338 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
supernatural plectrum, according to the old and familiar figure.
They were not pens, but penmen, each expressing his thoughts
in as real accordance with his own temperament and his own
characteristic style of utterance, as if no God-given influence
had been possessed. That man speaks to man in Scripture,
is a fact which is not to be hidden away in the lustre of its
heavenly origin. Thus sang the bard, thus reasoned the apostle,
are facts co-existing in equal truth with "thus saith the Lord."
Now we can only get at the divine element by a comprehen
sion of the human terms the husk is to be pierced in order to
possess ourselves of the kernel. It is therefore of supreme
moment to know what are the words which have been chosen
to bear upon them a divine message, and to be convinced that
they have been faithfully transmitted to us. Why contend for
the inspiration of any document, or attempt to translate it,
if we have not faith, in its genuineness and integrity ? If
some essential vocables have been lost or changed, if there
are fragmentary clauses or dismal spaces out of which precious
syllables have dropped and disappeared ; if the message be not
given to us with substantial fulness and accuracy, we should
have little inducement to accept it and study it. How can we
have faith in any doctrine if there be a serious dispute as to
the words in which it was delivered ? Therefore, the settle
ment of the text takes precedence of apologetics and theology,
for it must be a Bible materially the same as when first
published, that we either defend or expound. But this primary
and indispensable labour on Scripture, in order to have it as
nearly as possible in the state in which its holy authors left it
"the words which the Holy Ghost teacheth" has, so far
from being welcomed with gratitude, been despised and scorned
with rancorous and malignant hostility. There are some
noted examples.
Origen s labours on the Septuagint were not fully appreciated
in his own day, 1 and Jerome s work on the Latin version
provoked wretched enmity and wild misrepresentation. The
cry of falsification and sacrilege was raised against him on the
part of men " who thought that ignorance was holiness biped
1 Eedepenning s Origenes, vol. II, 156, &c., Bonn, 1846.
L.] HOSTILITY TO SETTLEMENT OF THE TEXT. 339
asses who preferred an erroneous and unrevised text." 1 Even
Augustine warned him that the task was profane and perilous.
Men, " who called his work a translation," accused him of
undermining the faith, and disturbing the peace of the
church ; but the peace which is content with an imperfect
text or version of God s Word is only a stolid inertness.
When Robert Stephens published an edition of the Vulgate,
and revised it by the aid of some MSS., the doctors of the
Sorbonne bitterly protested against the innovation, and
annoyed in many ways the intelligent and conscientious
printer. On the publication of his folio text of the Greek New
Testament in 1550, the same censors prohibited the edition, 011
account of the "annotations," or various readings, which were
taken from the Complutensian Polyglott and some MSS., and
put into the margin. The editor, apprehensive of personal
danger, felt himself under the necessity of quitting Paris, and
taking refuge in Geneva. Had the doctrine of the Rhemists
and their contemporaries been current at an early period, had
there been so bitter hostility to all vernacular translations,
their own cherished Vulgate could never have existed at all.
It is a pity that Popish ignorance should be occasionally
equalled by Protestant jealousy, as blind to facts as it is deaf to
arguments. The controversy between Owen and Walton about
the original text of Scripture is well known. Owen had prepared
a small treatise on " the divine original, authority, self-evidenc
ing light, and power of the Scriptures," and it was " about to
be given out to the stationers " when the Polyglott appeared.
The various readings collected in the appendix to it appalled
him, for they seemed to loosen the foundation of the thesis
which he maintained, and therefore he published " Considera
tions on the Prolegomena and Appendix to the late Biblia
Polygiotta." Some good men, and learned men too, like the
Buxtorfs, never dreamed of the possibility of various readings,
but imagined that supernatural care had been exercised over
1 He confesses that he rendered a in a church, and its members forsook
certain term in Jonah by hedera it, until the old term cucurbita was
because he feared the grammarians, restored. Zockler s Hieronymus, p.
A great commotion had been raised 342, &c., Gotha, 1865.
310 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
the text of the sacred volume in its transmission to later times.
Owen could not deny the existence of various readings, but he
laboured to explain them away. In his grief and surprise
he trembled for the result, since the notion that a divine volume
had not been divinely protected, "bordered," in his opinion, "on
atheism " ; and Walton himself held a similar view as to a
special divine guardianship over the sacred scriptures. Yet life,
though it is a divine gift, is not protected by any supernatural
shield. Owen praised the Polygiott ; but Walton regarded the
eulogy " as a shoeing horn to draw on some disgraceful asperi
ties." 1 He could not bear to be told that his magnificent tomes,
the wonder of the age, and one of its noblest monuments, were
but steps in a road leading either to infidelity or to Rome.
Owen totally mistook the nature of textual criticism, when he
defined it as an attempt " to correct the Scriptures ... to
correct the Word of God ... to amend it at the pleasure of
men, so that men have no choice but to turn atheists or papists." 2
The mistake is a glaring one, for the aim of criticism is not
to amend the original, but simply to restore it, if possible, to its
first and genuine shape. The question was not one of specula
tion, but of fact and eyesight. Popish writers did take advantage
of the existence of various readings to show the necessity of a
personal living oracle, and a similar attempt has been recently
made in a volume named " Bible Difficulties." 3 The author
piles up difficulties in connection with text and version, which
he exaggerates and represents as insoluble, to prove the need
1 Considerator Considered, London, should turn out a man so justly ad-
1659. mired by all Europe for his vast
2 But Dr. Owen was not one of that knowledge and extraordinary accom-
wretched class that branded erudition plishments, adding that he had come
as fatal to piety, and accounted learn- "to deliver himself from such dis-
iiig " the language of the beast." Dr. grace by protesting against a pro-
Edward Pocock had been already ceeding so strangely foolish and
turned out of his prebend and pro- unjust." The hearty appeal was
fessorship by the Parliamentary successful. Twell s Life of Pocock,
Committee of Triers when Owen p. 174, London, 1816.
appeared before them, and insisted 3 Williams and Norgate, London
on the "in finite reproach" that should 1869.
certainly fall upon them if they
L.] OWEN AND WALTON. 341
of a living and infallible interpreter who possesses the " trans
mitted authority of Christ." It would be a strange spectacle
to behold his Infallible Holiness pronouncing from the chair
of St. Peter on various readings in the Greek text of which
he had no familiar knowledge, or revising translations in a
foreign language of which he did not understand one syllable.
The two popes that tried their hand on their own Vulgate
gained no credit by their interference. 1 A freethinker, many
years afterwards, in Shaftesbury s Characteristics, 2 asks as to
Scripture, " Is it the single reading or that of various readings,
the text of these manuscripts, or of those, the transcripts, copies,
titles, catalogues of this Church or of that other ? " with much
more to the same effect, and in proof and fortification a remark
able paragraph is adduced from Jeremy Taylor. Thus infidels
and papists alike deduced from the various readings the un
certainty of Scripture. But these illogical inferences were no
reason why the clear path of duty should be deserted, and they
were not to be warded off by denying the fact of collected
and visible variations. If, however, a man like Owen, a great
theologian, and the head of a University, felt such tremors
and presentiments, how many around him and beneath him
must have been tormented by similar fears and anxieties ?
Referring to the bulk of the " Variants," he says, " I have
heard the great Ussher expressing his fears." The fears
were groundless. The vehicle may rock, and the oxen may
stumble, but the ark is safe, and Uzzah does not need in
wanton and faithless temerity to put forth his hand to steady
it. Dr. Chalmers, who had no great familiarity with this class
of subjects, in describing the collision between Owen and
Walton, says, "I know not which was most revolting, the |
lordly insolence of the prelate, or the outrageous violence of
the Puritan." The antithesis is only a rhetorical exaggeration. ;
If insolence occasionally gleams out in Walton, it is not
" lordly," for he was not a bishop at the time ; some might call
Vice-Chancellor Owen s Tract a specimen of ponderous and
solemn incompetence ; but the charge of " violence " is wholly
1 See page 109. 2 Vol. Ill, p. 320, London, 1723.
342 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
inapplicable to it, for it is the outpouring of a mind over
burdened with great sorrow and perplexity.
The saintly Albert Bengel was also malignantly assailed
because he touched the text of Scripture. Certain " ministers
of God s Word " sharply reprimanded him for " his audacity,"
unprecedented, in publishing in 1738 a Greek text so different
from the received one; and a Catholic opponent in 1741 branded
him as a " Bible murderer," hinting at the same time that the
church had a temporal as well as a spiritual sword to bring to
" obedience all heretics." These and similar accusations and
threats wrung from him the prayer, " O that this may be the
last occasion of my standing in the gap to vindicate the
precious original text of the New Testament ! " l Jerome had
met his opponents in a different spirit " A lyre is played in
vain to an ass," " If they will not drink the water from the
purest source, let them drink of the muddy streams."
The publication of Mill s New Testament, with its thirty
thousand various readings, renewed in England the panic which
Walton s Polyglott had originated. Unfavourable and unjust
opinions of the work, the result of thirty years hard labour,
were freely circulated, not only by unlearned people, but, as
Bishop Marsh asserts, " not only by the clergy in general, but
even by professors in the University." Whitby s Examen is a
specimen of the current opinions, which more than insinuated
that this New Testament "exposed the Reformation to the
Papists, and religion itself to the atheists." Whitby was more
unreasonable than Owen ; but Mill was removed from the
scene before the Examen appeared ; the Master " had hidden
him in his pavilion from the strife of tongues." Bentley, in his
most masterly exposition of such folly, throws out the challenge,
" Make your thirty thousand as many more, and even put them
into the hands of a knave or a fool, and yet with a most sinistrous
and absurd choice he shall not extinguish the light of a single
chapter, nor so disguise Christianity, but that every feature of
it will still be the same." ~ Even John Selden was so far
1 Burk s Life of Bengel, English Free-thinking, by Phileleutherus,
translation, p. 237, London, 1837. Lipsiensis, Works, vol. III., p. 360,
2 Remarks upon a late Discourse of ed. Dyce, London, 1838.
L.] REVISION DESIRABLE. 343
carried away as to counsel, " when you meet with several
readings of the text, take heed you admit nothing against the
tenets of your church." 1 Samuel Clark, in his Divine Authority
of the Holy Scripture, London, 1760, maintains the divine
authority of the Hebrew vowels, points, and accents, or else
"we are left to human authority."
These occurrences are not solitary examples. As the attempt
to secure a text that might be a near approach to the auto
graphs of the sacred writers a work of all others most
momentous and indispensable, has created dismay and appre
hension, so the effort to revise a translation has excited similar
antipathy and panic. To tell the truth about the original
text has been stigmatized as the inglorious utterance of secrets
which should have been hushed up, or told in whispers to a select
and initiated circle. The effort to make a translation more faith
ful by means of a better text, and a thorough and uniform appli
cation of grammatical canons, has, even in these days, drawn forth
earnest deprecation of the work as useless, if not pernicious ;
and solemn appeals have been made by all that is patriotic and
Christian, by all that concerns the welfare of the church and the
land, to lay it aside. The perfection of Scripture has in some
way come to be associated with the English Authorized
Version, so that to touch it is to injure it, and to attempt to
amend it is little less than profanity.
Numerous scholars, critics, and commentators have expressed
their opinion as to the desirableness, if not the necessity, of a
revision : such men as Lowth, Waterland, Kennicott, White,
Blayney, Hales, and many others. Indeed the attempt to secure
a revision is no novelty. The need of it has been often felt
The era of the Commonwealth, besides being a time of political
convulsion, was a season of great religious and theological
excitement. The English Bible at such a period naturally drew
earnest attention to itself, for church and divinity overmastered
all minds, and were everywhere and always the centre of ear
nest discussion and controversy. It brought back the older period
in the church, when knots of people in the streets of Constan
tinople debated incomprehensible abstractions, and were so ab-
1 Table Talk, p. 11, Pickering, London, 1847.
344 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
sorbed that they could only carry on a disjointed conversation
on common topics ; when men talked theology over their daily
bargains; when a query about the price of a loaf brought out
the reply that " the Father is greater than the Son " ; and
when one asking for a bath was met with the response, " The
Son of God was created from nothing."
In a sermon preached before the House of Commons in
August, 1645, Dr. Lightfoot urged them "to think of a review
and survey of the translation of the Bible," that " the three
nations might come to understand the proper and genuine
study of the Scriptures, by an exact, vigorous, and lively trans
lation." l
In April, 1653, an order was made by the Long Parliament,
and a bill was brought in, for a new translation of the Bible
out of the original tongues, and it ran in these terms :
" Whereas in the original text of the Holy Scriptures
there is so great a depth, that only by degrees there is a
progress of light towards the attaining of perfection of the
knowledge in the bettering of the translation thereof; and
hence the most learned translators have found cause again and
again of revision and still rectifying and amending within a
few years of what they themselves had translated and pub
lished. And this hath been the commendable practice even of
some Papists, and of sundry of the reformed religion :
" And it being now above forty years since our new trans
lation was finished, divers of the heads of colleges and many
other learned persons (that coming later have the advantage to
stand as on the heads of the former) in their public sermons
(and in print also) have often held out to their hearers and
readers that the Hebrew or Greek may better be rendered, as
they mention, than as it is in our newest and best translation :
some of the places seeming to be very material, and crying
aloud for the rectifying of them, if the truth be as it is so
affirmed, and published by them, and here in some MSS.
presented to us :
" And forasmuch as the translation by Mr. H. Ainsworth of
1 Works, vol. I, p. xv, ed. Pitman, London, 1825.
2 The preamble is given on p. 271.
L.] PARLIAMENTARY BILL FOR REVISION 345
Moses and the Psalms, and Song of Solomon, is greatly com
mended by many of the learned as far more agreeable to the
Hebrew than ours ; and it is said that there are MSS. of his
translations of some other Scriptures both of the Old and New
Testament. And also in other parts of the Holy Scriptures,
some have translated verses and some chapters ; and we hear
that some have translated the New Testament, if not the Old
also, and would have them printed and published in our nation.
Which if it should be done on their own heads, without due
care for the supervising thereof by learned persons sound in the
fundamentals of the Christian religion, might be a precedent of
dangerous consequence, emboldening other to do the like, and
might tend at last to bring in other Scriptures or another
Gospel instead of the oracles of God and the Gospel of our Lord
Jesus Christ:
" For the reforming, rectifying, and repairing of the former
injury to the new translation, and for preventing of so great
inconveniences of such dangerous consequence, and for the
furtherance (what in us lieth) and the benefit and edification
of many, Be it enacted, that no person or persons whatsoever
within the dominions of England, Scotland, and Ireland, with
out the approbation of persons hereafter named or to be named
by authority, shall presume to print or publish any such
translation of the Bible or of the New Testament.
" And that these persons, viz. : Dr. John Owen, Dr. Ralph
Cud worth, Mr. Jenkins, Mr. William Greenhill, Mr. Samuel
Slater, Mr. William Cowper, Mr. Henry Jessey, Mr. Ralph
Venninge, and Mr. John Row, Hebrew professor in Aberdeen,
in Scotland, 1 shall be and hereby are constituted, appointed, and
authorized in and about all these particulars following to be
performed by them in the fear of the Lord, for the good of His
people, namely :
" That these or any three or more of them may search and
observe wherein that last translation appears to be wronged by
the Prelates, or printers, or others ; that in all such places, as
far as in them is, it may be rectified and amended therein, and
the evident and most material failings, that do in a special
1 Prof. Row s proposals may be seen on p. 322.
346 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
manner call for reformation (some particulars whereof to us
have been presented for consideration), and that this may be
performed with all speed before there be any further printing
of the Bible :
" And further, because it is our duty to endeavour to have
the Bible translated in all places as accurately and as perfectly
agreeing with the original Hebrew and Greek as we can attain
unto, to remove (whatever in us lieth) the stumbling-blocks
and offence of the weak, or the cavils of others when they hear
in sermons preached or printed, or in other treatises, that the
original bears it better thus and thus. Be it [enacted] that the
persons beforesaid may seriously consider the translation of
Mr. H. Ainsworth, and of any other translations, annotations,
or observations made or that may be made by any of them
selves, or of any others that they know of, or may confer withal
(who are desired to add unto them their best assistance for the
general good of all), and consider of the marginal readings in
Bibles, whether any of them should rather be in the line. And
what they, after serious looking up to the Lord for His gracious
assistance in so weighty a work, and advising together amongst
themselves, shall judge to be nearest to the text, and to the
mind of the Lord, they may give thereunto their approbation,
and this with all speed that conveniently they are able:
" And be it further enacted, that Dr. Thomas Goodwin, Dr.
Tuckney, and Mr. Joseph Caryl, are hereby appointed and
authorized to be supervisors of what is so approved, and that
what those persons shall so approve of, shall accordingly be
printed and published for the general edification and benefit of
the whole nation, to be read both privately and in the public
congregations."
The project was revived afterwards, and referred to a
sub-committee to consult with Walton, S. Clarke, Cudworth,
and " such others as they shall think fit to consider of the
translations and impressions of the Bible, and to offer their
opinions thereon to this committee." The matter was com
mitted to Lord ""Commissioner Whitelocke, who held the Great
Seal, and the committee met often at his house. " Excellent
and learned observations " were made on some mistakes in the
L.] TEXTUAL CRITICS. 347
Bible, " which yet was agreed to be the best of any translation
in the world, and pains took in it; but it became fruitless by
the Parliament s dissolution."
But now may we not have a better text after a collation of
many MSS. not known in the days of King James, and after
the labours of Griesbach, Lachmann, Tregelles, Tischendorf, and
others, the critical apparatus of Dean Alford, the collation of
Scrivener, and the New Testament of Drs. Westcott and Hort
not yet completed the labour of more than twenty years ? l
We have seen what kind of text was used by King James s
revisers, and that it has no great authority. Bentley styles
the great printer and editor " Pope Stephens," and sarcastically
remarks that " his text stands as if an apostle was his com
positor." The principles advocated by Bentley, and adopted by
Lachmann, are now virtually espoused by editors of the Greek
Testament. Tischendorf tells that " after long wavering " he
substantially adopted them. 2 His third edition (1849) and
his seventh (1859) differ in considerably more than 1,200 places,
about a half of those in the latter returning to the Textus
Receptus ; and the text of his last or eighth edition differs from
1 The British and Foreign Bible helped to fulfil its own pretension.
Society, which issues daily from To keep a verse, the genuineness
London and its foreign [depots, of which nobody familiar with the
8,500 copies of the Bible or portions principles of critical evidence will
of it, binds all its translators through- admit, is to circulate a forgery in the
out the world to take the Elzevir divine name, and is as perilous as to
edition of 1624, which was reprinted exclude a verse which has every
for them in 1852 ; allowing however sanction. A collation of Stephens,
such variations as may be found in 1550, and Elzevir, 1624, may be
the marginal renderings of the seen in Prebendary Scrivener s
English version. This noble institu- Novuru Testamentuni, Cambridge,
tion has in this way declared the 1872.
Elzevir text " authentic," and done 2 See also Tregelles in the Intro-
for it what the Council of Trent did ductory Notice to the First Part of
for the Vulgate. "What is commonly his New Testament, 1857; the clear
called the "Received Text" is and compact preface of Westcott and
chiefly that of Stephens and Beza. Hort to their edition, 1870 ; and
The unknown editor states in his Ellis s Bentleia Critica, Cambridge,
preface, 1633, that it was a "text 1862.
received by all," and the eulogy
348 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
that of the seventh in 3,350 places. This apparent instability
partly induced by his love for his own MS., was also caused
by his intense and manifest desire to find out the truth by the
careful weighing of evidence of all kinds. The theory of
Lachmann commends itself, for it finds the text in the oldest
authorities, which reach nearest apostolic times, or to the so-
called Western authorities, now N and B, the Curetonian Syriac
and the unrevised old Latin texts, with A,c,D,&c.; the Memphitic
and the Vulgate; while such Fathers as Origen, Irenreus, Tertul-
lian, Clement, and Eusebius, are not to be overlooked. The text
of Tregelles is made on hard and fast principles, applied with
rigour, so that little account is taken of any collateral influences
that may prompt and mould a sound critical judgment. Gries-
bach s text rests also on Western authorities, or what he called
the Western "Recension" or " Family," the received text having
come chiefly from the Eastern or Byzantine Family. If
certainty as to the text cannot be obtained from diplomatic
sources, the highest probability must be the guide, after the
evidence of MSS., patristic quotations and versions some of
them older than any MS., the special style of the author, the
temptations of copyists, the connection of the context, and
other minute modifying elements, have been calmly and
patiently weighed ; each sphere of proof having its own value
in proportion to its history and character. Or the source of
the variations may be discovered, and themselves gradually
traced ; or the readings may be in a state of such confusion
that to unravel the tangled mass is a work of special tact and
delicacy. Or the mass of the Cursives may be ranged against
a few Uncials ; or the versions may be in conflict with MSS .,
while the polemical influences of some Father may be very
transparent in his citations. Clauses may disappear that had
been generally accepted, peculiar alterations may startle, read
ings may be brought in which have been unknown to the
English reader, favourite texts may pass out or appear in some
different form ; but truth must be followed for its own sake and
at all hazards. Let us look at some of the changes which rest
on undoubted authority, and which are now found in the best
critical editions of the Greek text.
L.] CHANGES IN THE GREEK TEXT. 349
Few readers will quarrel with the change, Matt, vi, 1,
" Take heed that ye do not your righteousness before men,"
and of that righteousness, alms, fasting, and prayer are given
as examples ; or xvii, 4, where Peter says, " I will make here
three tabernacles," so like himself; or with the additional word
in Luke xv, 17, "I perish here with hunger"; and 22, "bring
quickly the best robe " ; or Acts xvi, 7, " the spirit of Jesus
suffered them not"; or Rom. iv, 1, "our forefather"; v, 1, "let
us have peace " ; or 2 Tim. iv, 14, "the Lord will reward him " ;
or James iv, 12, " thou, who art thou that judgest another ? "
or 1 Peter iii, 15, "sanctify the Lord Christ in your hearts";
or 1 John iii, 1, " that we should be called the sons of God,
and we are such " ; or, Rev. xix, 1, "I heard as it were a great
voice." Nor would some omissions be at all distressing, as
that of Matt, i, 25, " till she brought forth a son," " firstborn "
standing in Luke undisputed ; or v, 22, " whoso is angry with
his brother shall be in danger " " without cause," having no
authority, weakens the precept in terseness and spirit ; or the
omission of " openly " in vi, 4 ; the substitution of " wine "
for " vinegar" in xxvii, 84 ; or of " as snow " in Mark
ix, 3 ; or the omission of " implacable," Rom. i, 31 ; of the
last clause of viii, 1, " who walk not after the flesh, but
after the spirit," which is taken from verse 4 : and xiv, 9,
of " rose, and revived " ; or 1 Cor. xi, 29, of the adverb " un
worthily," "eateth and drinketh judgment to himself, as he
does not discern the Lord s body " ; or Gal. iii, 1, which should
read, " foolish Galatians, who bewitched you, before whose
eyes Jesus Christ was evidently set forth, crucified " ; or, Rev.
v, 8, "and they reign on the earth," for "they shall reign."
The reason of the following unwarranted emendations is
very apparent : Luke ii, 33, " Joseph and his mother," the
true reading being "his father and his mother," a mode of
speech that might seem to impugn the doctrine of the incarna
tion ; John vi, 11, " Jesus took the loaves, and gave thanks,
and gave to them that were set down," the intermediate clause,
" he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that
were set down," must be left out it was inserted to bring the
verse into correspondence with Mark. The better reading in
350 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
John iii, 25, is " a question between some of John s disciples
and a Jew." The shorter and more difficult reading is usually
the genuine reading.
But the object of textual criticism is not to supply readings
that may not be displeasing, or that may be reckoned improve
ments. No notion of such a kind can be entertained, for its
purpose is to find out fact and truth apart from personal
preference or dissatisfaction. The evidence that carries in
readings that are liked may and does introduce others that
may stumble and perplex. No doubt it will distress some
persons to find the familiar doxology of the Lord s Prayer
omitted, though it does not occur in Luke, and the third
and fourth verses of John v left out, or Acts viii, 37, or
the last clause of 1 Cor. vi, 20, reading simply, " in your
bodies," without the addition, " and your spirit, which are
God s." For the famous passage about the three witnesses in
1 John, no one now contends. Other changes may offend
some, as if they should find only two lines in the natal
anthem, " Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth among
men of good will." But, in fact, there are various readings in
nearly every verse, though many of them scarcely affect the
translation. Variations of nouns and personal pronouns, of
position in the names of Christ, and of prepositions and
particles, are perpetually occurring. Scribes often added ex
planatory words, and words for the sake of emphasis. Clauses
are taken into Matthew from the other gospels, and parallel
passages are brought into verbal coincidence. It is not easy to
account for the interpolated insertion in some copies, Matt,
xxvii, 49, of a verse from John xix, 34, for the piercing of Christ s
side, as told in the latter gospel, took place after death, as
Origen also mentions. The following are specimens of words
added for the sake of supposed clearness : John xi, 41, " from
the place where the dead was laid" ; xvi, 16, "because I go to my
Father " ; Ephes. iii, 14, " of our Lord Jesus Christ " ; Col. i, 14,
"through his blood"; 2 Thess. ii, 4, "as God"; 1 Tim. iii, 3, "not
greedy of filthy lucre " a conformity to Titus i, 7 ; 1 Tim. vi, 5,
"from such withdraw thyself"; Heb. xii, 20, "or thrust through
with a dart." Those clauses have not the ring of the true
L.]
CHANGES IN THE GREEK TEXT.
351
metal. At the same time, many cases defy a perfect solution,
and scholars take different views. It is very hard to decide
on the true reading in John i, 18, whether it should be " the
only begotten Son," or " God only begotten " ; ] whether it
should be, Acts xx, 28, " Church of God," or, " Church of
the Lord, which he hath purchased with his own blood."
" God manifest in the flesh," 1 Tim. iii, 16, has less authority
than "who was manifest in the flesh." 3 The genuineness
of the appendix to St. Mark in the last twelve verses of that
gospel, and of the story of the woman caught in adultery in
St. John, is not freely and generally accepted.
The proper reading in Rom. iv, 19, contradicts the present
or current one only in appearance, " and being not weak in
faith, he considered not his body now dead, . . . neither yet
1 May it not be conjectured that the
Evangelist wrote simply /^ovoyev?;?,
as in v. 14, " the only begotten/ and
that one scribe, looking back to v.l,
supplied fcos, and another, glancing
only at v. 1 4, " only begotten of the
Father," naturally wrote vtds. See a
learned and vigorous paper in de
fence of #eos by Dr. Hort, of Cam
bridge, and one equally learned and
vigorous on behalf of mos by Pro
fessor Ezra Abbott, of Harvard
University, United States.
2 Though the Sinaitic Codex has
in John i, 18, #eos, and 6eov in Acts
xx, 28, Tischendorf does not admit of
these readings, and Dr. Davidson
concurs. Nor did he, nor could he,
follow it in 1 Cor. xv, 51, for it reads
" we shall all sleep, but we shall not
all be changed." He forsakes it also
in Luke i v, 44, and reads, " synagogues
of Galilee" instead of "synagogues of
Judsea," the last and the more diffi
cult reading being well supported.
Tregelles also does not venture to
accept it.
3 The readings, Oeos and 6 , may
be traced from 6 s: the first taking
up into itself the antecedent which
may have been thought too vague
or remote; and the second laying im
mediate hold on yuvcm/piov as a near
antecedent. Though the result is not
affected by the Alexandrian Codex
in the British Museum, its reading
has been inspected with every care,
but without a unanimous decision.
This leaf of the MS. is now frail, for
it has of ten been subjected to scrutiny
of all kinds. Bishop Ellicott affirms
that A reads 6 s " indisputably, after
minute personal inspection"; but Dr.
Scrivener replies in direct contradic
tion, and he possesses eyes which, in
his own words, " have something of
the power and too many of the de
fects of a microscope." The question
is whether the bar across the G
is or is not the sagitta of an g on the
opposite side of the page. Young,
Huish, and others who examined the
MS. long ago, agreed that the reading
was 0C, that is #eos, God.
352 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
the deadness of Sarah s womb"; the better sustained reading is,
" and not being weak in faith, he considered his own body now
become dead . . . and the deadness of Sarah s womb, yet he
wavered not through unbelief." The first and feebler form is,
he did not think of his age and that of Sarah, when he laid
hold of the promise; and the second and more suggestive form
is, that though he was fully alive to his own age and that of
Sarah, still he grasped the promise. The one view makes his
age a matter of indifference to him, but the other makes it
a conscious difficulty, over which he nobly triumphed. The
true reading in Matt, xix, 16, 17, is "Master, what good thing-
shall I do that I may inherit life ? And he said unto him, Why
askest thou me concerning the good thing ? One there is who
is good." The common reading stands in Mark x, 17, and in
Luke xviii, 18. An important change happens in 1 Cor. viii, 7,
which now reads " for some with conscience of the idol unto
this hour, eat it as a thing offered unto a idol." The term ren
dered "conscience" must pass out,and another meaning "custom"
is rightly put in its place " some from custom in respect to
the idol," or " some from being used until now to the idol, eat
it as a thing sacrificed to an idol." l A necessary change in
2 Cor. iv, 6, will not stumble any one, instead of " God who
commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in
our hearts," it should be, " for it is God that said light shall
shine out of darkness, who shined in our hearts." 1 John v,
13, reads, " These things have I written unto you that believe
on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye
have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the
Son of God"; the better and simpler reading being, "These
things have I written unto you, that ye may know that ye
have eternal life, to wit, unto you that believe on the name of
the Son of God." 2
But the English translation itself may be revised and brought
to be as far as possible the express image of the original Greek,
and within certain limits such a work may be successfully
for trweiSrpris. The Words of the New Testament,
2 See an excellent and popular view by Professors Milligan and Eoberts,
of the subject of various readings in Edinburgh, 1873.
i,] NATURE OF A TRUE REVISION. 353
carried out. A revision is not a new translation, such as some
men have contended for, 1 nor is it a mere modernizing of the style,
like many specimens given to the world, neither is it an attempt
to remove difficulties, or solve discrepancies, by renderings so
cautiously or cunningly moulded as to suit such a purpose. A
revision may and ought to preserve the quaintness and beauty
of the English version, and it will not attempt to sew a piece of
cloth on an old garment, forming an unseemly and incongruous
patch. To present a popular as well as a literal version is no
doubt a task of uncommon difficulty. 2 A literal version for
scholars or for private study would be a comparatively easy
work ; but one for the use of the people requires the nice com
bination of many qualities, as correctness, clearness, rhythm,
and strength for it must not be rugged on the plea of exact
ness, or graceful at the expense of fidelity. It should bear a
close relation to the original, "just as a cast from a fine statue
is better than an imitation." It must be lucid without any
paraphrastic dilution, and nervous without inversions or the
use of unfamiliar terms. It behoves to be at once true to the
original, and loyal to the English idiom, expressing the mind
and thought of the author in his own manner. The attempt to
follow in all cases the order of the Greek words would produce
a cumbrous and awkward translation, especially as emphatic
terms do not occupy the same position in Greek and English
1 The Kev. Alfred Dewes, A.M., speaking any other language than
in his " Plea for a New Translation his own, I shall treat him with no
of the Scriptures," London, 1866. respect whatever ; but if he speaks
la his opinion the Authorized Ver- in his own language, I shall set him
sion is always inaccurate, very often on my head." " I ve got him in
obscure, and so bad that it must be Italian," said the barber, " but I
superseded. We take Eom. i, 16, as don t understand him." "Nor would
a specimen of his new translation : it be well that you should," replied
" For I am not ashamed of the glad the curate : " and we would never
tidings, seeing that every one who have found fault with the captain if
has faith, a Jew especially, a Gentile he had never brought him into Spain,
also, finds in them a divine power, and turned him into a Castilian, for
which brings him to salvation." he has in this way robbed him of
2 " If," said the curate (el cwra), much of his natural excellence
surveying the library of the Cavalier (valor)." Don Quijote, cap. VI.
of La Mancha, "if I find Ariosto
VOL. II Z
354 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
clauses. In a word, the present version came to be what it is
from frequent revision. The original version of Tyndale, five
times revised, is our present New Testament. Between the
Bishops and it, only forty-three years elapsed, and during the
eighty-five years from Tyndale s first edition in 1526 to 1611,
there were several revisions. But no formal or systematic re
vision has taken place since 1611, or for more than two centuries
and a half. Some of the preceding pages show that the version
has been again and again altered in many ways, but not by
any joint process, or by any known or recognized company.
So that the revision of the Authorized Version does not cast
any discredit on it. Who would not wish a Greek text as
perfect as possible, and a version as exact as possible ? but the
perfection of the one and of the other is only to be reached by
slow degrees and earnest labour on the part of all willing and
scholarly spirits.
The very same objections brought against a revision in
1872-6 did similar service against the revision in 1608-11.
Lord Shaftesbury has produced the economic objection, that
many Bibles now in circulation would be rendered useless, and
no small amount of money lost. Such fictitious alarm might
have been raised over the Great Bible in 1540, the Bishops
in 1568, and the current version in 1611. No revision will
at once supersede present copies. Its circulation can only be
gradual, and those who possess them will still read and reve
rence them. The late Lord Panmure, at a public meeting
in Edinburgh, January 10, 1857, solemnly declared, "that the
project of a new version is fraught with the utmost danger
to the Protestant liberties of this country, if not to the Pro
testant religion itself." Surely an assertion so hastily made is
a libel on Protestantism, which is born of the light, and ought
to welcome the light in its fullest lustre. On the one hand it
is argued, that revision will not lead to any alteration in the
articles of the church, and is therefore needless. If the
errors and inaccuracies are so slight as is pleaded, then the
slighter they are they can be the more easily removed; and
why should anything inaccurate, small even as a jot or a tittle,
be suffered to remain in the English Bible? Why dishonour it
L.] FUTILITY OF OBJECTIONS TO REVISION. 355
by the perpetuation of any thing admitted on all hands to be
wrong? Ought not the Book of Life to be without spot or
blemish? or, as Symonds asked in 1789, "Is error so valuable
an inheritance that it ought not to be relinquished ? Can it be
sanctioned by the plea of a long prescription ?" On the other hand,
Dr. Gumming, the well known expounder of prophecy, warns
against revision, "as it will give the advantage to heterodox par
ties in the religious world." But does orthodoxy depend on mis
translations or an unrevised version? The late Albert Barnes of
Philadelphia, who has written voluminous expositions of the
books of the New Testament, condemns revision, and yet
practises it on every page of his Commentaries, amending the
translation or showing where it wants point and vigour. A
systematic revision is surely better than one which is spasmodic
and intermittent in character. Dr. M Caul in his " Reasons for
Holding Fast," &c., says the " changing of obsolete words would
establish a principle that words not intelligible to the general
reader must be altered"; and one may ask, Why not? His
fear that in this way our theological nomenclature and our
theology itself might be altered, haunted him like a dark
spectre. If Scripture has in it words not understood, it is
so far defective and cannot serve its purpose of a clear teacher,
and the dreaded radical revolution cannot be produced by a
cause so slight, as the substitution of a few terms so simple as
to be " known and read of all men." If the present theology
rests on the pillars of old and ambiguous words, it will not need
a Samson to shake the temple into ruin. " Wait," say some
waverers, " till there be agreement among scholars and critics,
till at least a Greek text be fixed or accepted by all." Such
a period may never come, critics will be divided in opinion
on readings and their evidence, and^scholars will admit the
necessity of alternative renderings. Yet without this unanim
ity, there may be such a general harmony as erudition warrants,
and experience may confirm. 1
1 ILL 1787 was witnessed a, strange two Protestants, one of them a
controversy on Bible translation, clergyman of the Established Church
when Dr. Geddes, a Catholic priest, of England, Dr. Vicesimus Knox.
fought a battle in favour of it against
356 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP,
One special objection against revision, that any change will
unsettle the minds of the people, refutes itself. For do not
the people hear clauses and verses often re-translated in the
pulpit ; are they not accustomed to such changes made with
reason and without it in a variety of ways? No one will
call the version perfect; but the drift of such objections is r
that if there be inaccuracies in the English Bible, it is
better that the people should not know the fact lest they
should be disturbed in mind. In the same spirit a stout
opponent of revision has written, "At all events, all the
necessary alterations in the text of the Authorized Version
may be introduced into it by men of wisdom and judg
ment, without nine-tenths of the nation being aware of it.
Would it not, therefore, be far better to do so, if it is to be
done ? " l Another bar to revision has been thrown up in
this form, that if more versions than one be in circulation, "the
right of private judgment would be destroyed, and people
would pin their faith to this or that minister." But from the
publication of Matthew s Bible in 1537, down to about 1640,
more versions than one were always in use and circulation, and
the better translation soon found its way to supi emacy. The
two versions supposed to be most in antagonism had much in
common.
Some cry in dismay at revision, " We know not what may
be forced upon us." Nothing will be forced upon anybody.
" Must we lose our present beloved Bible, which we read at our
mother s knee ? " Surely not; the Authorized Version will not be
suppressed in any sense or form J Others have objected in
scorn, " Churchmen and Dissenters will not coalesce " ; the
easy reply is, "Come and see." A Revision of the Telegu
and Tamil Scriptures has been carried out in India by
scholars of the Episcopalian and Nonconformist churches ;
and the same work is going on in the same way in Caf-
fraria, in Madagascar, and in China, all exhibiting the unity
of the Spirit as they work on His book. Revision has been
1 Vindication of the Authorized Eev. S. C. Malan, M.A., p. 346,
"Version of the English Bible, by London, 1856.
L.] REVISION NO GROUND FOR ALARM. 357
done, or is going on in Sweden, Holland, 1 and Germany, 2
and some revised versions have been published. " Ah ! but
the Bible will be so changed that we shall not be able to
recognize it ! " No such result may be anticipated.
" We must not stint,
Our necessary actions in the fear,
To cope malicious censurers.
If we stand still,
For fear our motions will be mocked or carped at,
We should take root here where we sit, or sit
State statues only."
But it is all the while to be remembered that it is difficult
to accept any great changes in words so familiar familiar as
the sunbeam, and like the sunbeam welcome every morning,
as those of the English Bible. Four times in its history has this
very obstacle been felt, and it has been always surmounted.
The new at length gained on acquaintance, and as the novelty
wore off it became as an old friend, not taken to kindly at first,
but beloved and cherished as he is better known. Again and
again the alarmists and the alarmed alike have had verified to
them the image of the hymn,
" The clouds ye so much dread,
Are big with mercy, and shall fall
In blessings on your head."
It would serve little purpose to enumerate or criticize the
many specimens of revised or new translations of the New
Testament which have appeared from time to time. Too
many of them have been of a peculiar character, and though
not without merit, they want some element that should belong
1 Het Nieuwe Testament of alle Grieksche taal in onzeNederlandsche
Boeken des nieuwen Verbonds van getrouwelijk overgezet. Te Londen,
ouzen Heer Jezus Christus, door last 1873.
van de Hoog-mog. Heeren Staten 2 Das Neue Testament unser,
Generaal der Vereenigde Nederlan- Ilerrn und Heilandes Jesu Christi,
den, en volgens het besluit van de nach Dr. Martin Luther s Ueber-
Synode Nationaal, gehouden te Dor- setzung. Revidirte Ausgabe. Ber-
drecht, in de jaren MDCXVIII en lin, 1872.
MDCXIX, uit de oorspronkelijke
358 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
to a popular and accurate version. Reference might be made to
the volumes of Purver, Scarlett, Harwood, Wakefield, Worsley,
Newcome, Whiston, M Ray, Boothroyd, Wynne, Ainslie, High-
ton, Rotherham, Blackwood, Granville Penn, Webster, the
Improved Version (Unitarian), and that of the American Bible
Union (Baptist). A few samples may suffice.
One peculiarity of Scarlett s volume is that the words of
different speakers in a chapter are marked off and printed as
in a drama :
" Hist. Then Jesus going from thence, retired to the coasts
of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a woman of Canaan coming
out of these parts, cried, saying to him,
" Canaanitish Woman. Have pity on me, O Lord, thou
son of David ; my daughter is grievously possessed by a demon :
" Hist. But he answered her not a word. And his disciples
coming, entreated him, saying,
" Disciples. Dismiss her, because she crieth after us.
" Hist. But he answering, said,
" JESUS. I am not sent, save to the lost sheep of the house
of Israel.
" Hist. Then she came and fell prostrate before him, saying,
" Canaanitish Woman. Lord, help me !
" JESUS. It is not fit to take the children s bread, and throw
it to the dogs.
" Hist. And she said,
" Canaanitish Woman. True, Lord : yet the dogs eat of the
crumbs which fall from their master s table.
"Hist. Then Jesus answering, said to her,
" JESUS. woman, thy faith is great ! be it to thee
according to thy desire.
" Hist. And her daughter was healed from that hour."
Purver gives a very long list of words " superannuated and
not fit to be used in the English Bible"; but in that list are
many vivid and current terms as fresh as when they came
from the mint.
Mr. Ray, or M Ray a man of some scholarship, and of no
small vanity and loquacity lived in Glasgow, and here is a
sample of his work :
L.] STRANGE SPECIMENS. 359
" Therefore, when he was gone out, Jesus said, Now is the
Son of man glorified, (destroying the works of the devil, ) and
God is (thereby) glorified in him. If God be glorified in him,
God will also glorify him with himself, (by making him sit at
his right hand,} and shall straightway glorify him. Little
children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me ;
and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go ye cannot (now)
come ; so I say now unto you."
Herman Heinfetter has translated the Vatican MS. as it
could be had at the time, 1 from the collations of Bartolocci, of
Birch, of Bentley through the Abbate Mico, and of the Abbate
Rulotta. But though he had had Tischendorf s edition of
1867, or the fac-simile edition of Vercellone, it would not have
been of any great moment. Some of his renderings may be
quoted :
Matt, i, 20, " Fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for
that which is conceived in her exists without blemish to her
reputation."
Eph. iii, 17, "For the inner man to dwell in the Christ by
means of the faith that exists in your hearts."
Heb. ii, 5, " For unto angels assurances, hath he not put in
subjection man s knoiuledge o/the world to come."
1 Pet. ii, 2, "As newborn babes desire the reasonably sin
cere milk of brotherly love that ye may grow thereby unto
salvation."
Griesbach s text has been translated by Nathan Hale (Bos
ton, 1836), by a layman, Edgar Taylor (London, 1840), and by
Samuel Sharpe (6th edition, London, 1870).
The text of Tischendorf s last edition has been translated,
with scholarly care and great exactness and fidelity, by Samuel
Davidson, D.D. (London, 1875).
Tischendorf s text, but taken from various editions, had
been translated by G. R Noyes, D.D., Harvard University,
1868. The English version is often good, but too often free, as
may be seen in the examples adduced by Dr. Davidson in the
Introduction to his own New Testament.
Joseph B. Rotherham has translated the text of Tregelles,
1 A nom de plume, London, 1864.
360 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
as far as it was published, and furnished his version with
marks pointing out the emphatic words (London, 1872).
Mr. Darby s anonymous translation is often excellent, though
the various readings mentioned are treated very curtly, and the
English is occasionally rough.
The Baptist translation of the American Bible Union merits
commendation in many respects, though it is more than faith
ful to antipiedobaptist opinions. It professedly makes the
Bible the book of a sect. And we have such renderings us
these: Matt, iii, 1, "John the immerser"; xxi, 25, "John s
immersion, whence was it ? from heaven or from men ? " Acts
xix, 3, " Unto what were ye immersed ? and they said, Unto
John s immersion. John indeed immersed with the immersion
of repentance " ; Rom. vi, 4, " buried with him by the immer
sion into his death." But the verb is rendered in Luke xii, 50>
" I have an immersion to undergo " ; and the meaning of the
preposition is fallen from, almost of necessity, in 1 Cor. i, 13,
" or were ye immersed in the name of Paul ? " and similarly
in Matt, xxviii, 19, " into the name " being the right transla
tion.
A person of the name of Mace published a New Testament in
1729, and Lewis gives a few of its peculiar renderings : Matt,
vi, 16, " When ye fast, don t put on a dismal air as the hypocrites
do " ; xi, 17, " if we play a merry tune you are not for dancing ;
if we act a mournful part you are not in the humour " ; xii, 34,
" tis the overflowing of the heart that the mouth dischargeth";
xx, 31, " the people reprimanded them to make them hold
their tongue, but they bawl d out the more, Have mercy on
us " ; xxii, 34, " the Pharisees hearing that he dumb-founded
the Sadducees " ; Mark x, 34, " they will treat him with
ignominy, subject him to the lash"; xiv, 65, "and the
domestics slapt him on the cheeks " ; Luke x, 37, " He
replied, the doctor who took pity on him " ; xvii, 27, " eat
ing and drinking, marriages and matches, was the busi
ness " ; John i, 23, " I arn, said he, the voice of one crying in
the wilderness, r Clear the way of the Lord " ; 1 Cor. vii, 36,
" If any man thinks it would be a reflection upon his manhood
to be a stale batchelor " ; 1 Thess. v, 5, " You inherit the
L.] OTHER STRANGE SPECIMENS. 3(jl
advantages of meridian light: we are not involved in the
obscurity of night " ; 13, "Don t form any brigues against
them"; 14, "Comfort the pusillanimous"; James ii, 3, "If
you should respectfully say to the suit of fine clothes, Sit you
there, that s for quality " ; iii, 5, 6, " The tongue is but a small
part of the body, yet how grand are its pretensions ! A spark
of fire ! what quantities of timber will it blow into a flame !
The tongue is a brand that sets the world in a combustion : it
is but one of the numerous organs of the body, yet it can
blast whole assemblies : tipp d with infernal sulphur, it sets
the whole train of life in a blaze."
" A new and corrected version of the New Testament ; or, a
minute revision, and professed translation of the original his
tories, memoirs, letters, prophecies, and other productions of the
evangelists and apostles was published since by Rodolphus
Dickenson, Boston (U.S), 1833." Specimens of the translation
are, Luke ii, " And it happened, that when Elizabeth heard
the salutation of Mary, the embryo was joyfully agitated, and
Elizabeth was pervaded by the Holy Spirit ; and she exclaimed
with a loud voice, and said, Blessed are you among women !
and blessed is your incipient offspring ! And whence is this
occurrence to me, that the mother of my Lord should visit me ?
For behold, when the voice of your salutation sounded in my
ears, the embryo was enlivened with joy." Acts i, "Moreover,
this man, indeed, caused a field to be purchased with the
recompense of his iniquity ; and falling prostrate, a violent
internal spasm ensued, and all his viscera were emitted."
xvii, "Paul, then stood in the centre of the court of Areopagus,
and remarked ; Men of Athens, I perceive that you are greatly
devoted to the worship of invisible powers." xxvi, " Festus
declared with a loud voice, Paul, you are insane ! Multiplied
research drives you to distraction." xxviii, "And the Barbarians
displayed towards us no ordinary philanthropy."
Noah Webster, the author of the Dictionary, published an
edition of the Bible, with amendments of the language that is,
" by the exclusion of all archaisms, and of words deemed below
the solemnity and dignity "of the subject, by the insertion of
euphemisms, with many verbal and grammatical alterations,"
3G2 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
so as to bring it into accordance with the lexicographer s
standard of American English. Newhaven, 1833.
Dean Alford issued a revised translation of the New
Testament which, though excellent in many points, is of un
equal merit, as the work was done in haste ; and the critical
notes on the Greek text are too vague for the scholar, and too
short for the general reader. London, 1870.
Granville Penn published a Revision in 183G, under the title
of The Book of the Covenant of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ. Many of his numerous changes are not of great
moment.
Macknight s Translation of the Epistles is loose and para
phrastic, and so is Conybeare s, in that deservedly popular
volume, Life and Epistles of St. Paul. Principal Campbell s
Translation of the Gospels is not so exact as it should be,
though he laid down good rules for a translator. One is that he
should avoid vulgarisms and affectations; yet he has himself:
Matt, v, 1, " Jesus seeing so great a confluence repaired to a
mountain " ; v, 3, " Happy the poor who repine not " an odd
neological specimen to be found so near the base of Cairn
gorm ; Luke xviii, 5, " lest she come perpetually, and plague
me"; John i, 38, "Rabbi, which signifieth Doctor"; vii, 6,
" my time is not yet come, but any time will suit you " ; xxi, 5,
" my lads, have ye any victuals ? " He refers to other two
versions, in one of which " Zacharias vented his divine enthu
siasm " is read for " he prophesied," and Jesus is called " guar
antor of the alliance" for " mediator of the covenant " ; " the
Lord of the celestial militia " stands for " Lord of hosts," and
" the joy of thy Lord " is degraded into " thy master s diver
sions."
The Religious Tract Society, not long ago, published the
Holy Bible arranged in paragraphs and sections, with emen
dations of the text. The preparation of this fine quarto was
the work of more than ten years. The emendations are printed
with brackets in the heart of the text.
Tauchnitz s " Thousandth Volume " the Authorized Version
of the New Testament, with an Introduction and some critical
notes by Tischendorf, 1869 is a literary curiosity, but its
L.] WOBKS ON REVISION.
notes are too few, and also too curt, to be of very great benefit
to the common reader.
Reference needs scarcely be made to the well known Revision
of some Books of the New Testament by " Five Clergymen."
Besides its great merits, it has done the needful work of a
pioneer.
Lastly, there appeared (London, 1875) the first volume of a
work compactly built together " The New Testament : a new
Translation, on the basis of the Authorized Version, from a
critically revised text," &c. By John Brown M Lellan, M.A.,
Vicar of Bottisham. This volume, with its symmetrical ar
rangement on every page of text, marginal and expository
remarks, the fruit of great industry, is certainly a marvel
of printing, and various forms of letter are employed. For
its purity and integrity, he prints the " Received Text," and
he puts it far above the very latest and most celebrated critical
editions of the New Testament. The volume has also a prefa
tory apparatus, a Harmony, and a body of Exegetical Notes.
Rules to guide a reviser of the English version are apt to be
frigid and mechanical. Newcome laid down fifteen canons in
the preface to his " Translation of the Minor Prophets," and
he repeated them with some variation, and at greater length,
in his " Historical View of the English Biblical Translations."
These rules are good ; but they belong to the outer and more
visible features, and take no cognizance of the minuter
lineaments that give soul and character to any translation.
The reader is referred to the following works on revision, the
product of scholarly ability, and of critical and exegetical
experience: Professor Scholefield s "Hints"; 1 Archbishop
Trench " On the Authorized Version of the New Testament ;" :
Bishop Ellicott s " Considerations on the Revision of the Eng
lish Version"; 3 Canon Lightfoot, "On a Fresh Revision of the
English New Testament." 4 In these volumes will be found
some of the examples quoted in the following pages. 5
1 Cambridge, 2nd edition, 183G. 5 For brief biographical sketches
2 London, 1858. of King James s Eevisers, see " The
3 London, 1870. Translators Eevived," &c., by A. "W.
4 London, 1871. M Clure. New York, 1853.
364 THE ENGLISH BIBLE.
The two critics referred to in the previous chapter have now
passed away, each having left his work to some extent unfinished.
The learned and laborious Constantine von Tischendorf l died in
December, 1874, and the conscientious and painstaking Samuel
Prideaux Tregelles died in April, 1875. It has been stated
that Tischendorf was greatly swayed by the Sinaitic MS.;
and to show what fascination it occasionally exerted upon him,
it may be added that he excludes the last verse of St. John s
Gospel (xxi, 25) solely because in that manuscript it appeared
to be written with fresher or darker ink. Other eyes than his
could not appreciate the difference " coloris discrimen," and
when he showed the page to Tregelles, the English scholar at
once exclaimed, " O yes, I see ; the scribe took a new dip of
ink after writing verse 24th."
1 By an imperial ukase he was, in an honour recognized by his own
186.9, elevated to the rank of a here- government,
ditary noble of the Russian empire
CHAPTER LI.
A FTER all that has been said in the previous pages in merited
praise of the Authorized Version as the work of careful
conscientious scholars, it is not perfect in all points. There
are some inaccuracies and misrenderings ; Greek idioms are
not always distinctly apprehended, and ambiguities are found.
Sometimes the version falls short of the original in terseness
and point, and occasionally a different turn is given to the
thought. The Greek article is dealt with very capriciously ;
the shades of relation marked by the genitive are not uniformly
noted, and it is rendered several times as an adjective of
quality; the time marked by aorists and imperfects is not
given in all cases even where the English idiom might allow
it ; the full meaning of the compound relative and of compound
verbs, is not in each place brought out ; tertiary predicates
sink into mere epithets ; the emphasis characterizing the
Greek now and then evaporates in the English ; pre
positions are not in all cases justly distinguished; equivocal
senses are given to conjunctions ; synonyms are not always
skilfully discriminated ; the particles have not, in every
instance, their due and delicate significance ; some terse and
brief idiomatic clauses are diluted ; the same Greek term has
several English renderings, and the same English term stands
for several Greek words. Some clauses of the earlier versions
had set a bad example, which was heedlessly copied. Italic
supplements are now unduly scattered about, many of them
"no better than dashes of water thrown into the sincere
milk of the word."
Though the English of the version be usually so lucid, there
366 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
are some ambiguities some creases in the Coan gauze which
dim its transparency. In Chap. XLIV 1 we have given a list of
peculiar words and forms found in the version, some of them
obsolete and some of them with a meaning rarely found now,
and others may be noted or again referred to in their connection.
"Of" no longer means "by"; "spoken of the apostles of our Lord,"
Jude 17, where "spoken of" might be readily taken to mean
"spoken about." When "of" really means "from" it is now
liable to be misunderstood : " the things I have heard of him,"
or " which I have heard of God," John viii, 26, 40 ; or " that I
have heard of my Father," xv, 15 ; "friends of the mammon of
unrighteousness," Luke xvi, 9, should be " out of" ; it is not
making Mammon your friend, but employing this world s wealth
in a right way, and you shall be benefited by your beneficence.
<l By " itself is equivocal, for it is sometimes connected with
the original cause, and sometimes with the instrumental cause.
It might be often rendered " through " 1 Cor. viii, 6, " Jesus
Christ, through whom are all things." " For " often signifies
" because," but it was taken as meaning " in order to "
in Rom. iv, 3. The translation, 2 Cor. v, 21, "He hath
made him to be sin for us who knew no sin," though not
liable to be misunderstood, might be easily changed in arrange
ment; but it is surely a very extreme and unwarranted
opinion, that " the verse as it stands clearly, perspicuously, and
unequivocally declares the human race to be sinless, 2 and is
a glaring perversion of the original Greek." Surely no one has
ever so taken it, or has been perplexed by it ; and such verbal
order was far from being uncommon in the days of the trans
lators, the sense being guarded by the punctuation. The
position of the words, in instances of a similar kind, might be
altered, yet who ever was bewildered by the statement, " and
all the people that heard him, and the publicans," Luke vii,
29 ; or " there shall a man meet you, bearing a pitcher of
water," xxii, 10 ; or "Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord,"
John xiv, 22 ; or " a golden cup in her hand, full of abomina-
1 P. 208. of the Church of Scotland, p. 187.
2 A Plea for a New English Ver- London, 1864.
sion of the Scriptures, by a Licentiate
LI.] SOME AMBIGUITIES. SG7
tion," Rev. xvii, 4 ? Amidst all the changes introduced by
printers, in so many editions, no one thought of altering the
phrase " strain at a gnat," Matt, xxiii, 24, which was probably
a misprint in the first edition for "strain out a gnat," or rather
"strain out the gnat" "strain out," the proper translation of
the Greek verb, being found in the Bishops , the Genevan, and
older versions. Some, however, suppose that the change was
intentional, the sense being, strain the liquor at the appearance
of a gnat in it. A solitary edition of 1754 did make the
alteration, but it had no followers.
A version ought never, if possible, to present to the ordinary
reader a doubtful sense, but an alternative rendering may go
into the margin. His question is not what means the Greek
text, but what mean those English words? 1
1 Cor. vii, 19, reads thus, "Circumcision is nothing, and un-
circumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments
of God," and the declaration has sometimes been understood as
if the meaning were, the one or the other is nothing but, or
nothing else than, or identical with, the keeping of the com
mandments of God. The clause (1 Tim. i, 17), " the only wise
God," might imply to some readers, that there were other
gods, but of them wisdom could not be predicated.
Matt, xxi, 7, seems at first sight quite plain " and brought
the ass and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they
set him thereon," that is, on the clothes spread over the back of
the colt, Mark xi, 2. But the question has been raised, did he
not use both animals in succession ?
In the first edition Mark x, 18, stands thus : " There is no
1 It will be scarcely credited, though that his discourse was designed to
it is quite true, that the^term "baud" show the power of divine grace in
in the clause, "a centurion of the band the conversion of Cornelius. For
called the Italian band," Acts x, 1, lias first, he was a soldier, and military
been misunderstood not above twenty life is not favourable to piety, and,
years ago. An English preacher, secondly, he was leader of a band or
belonging to a denomination that company of foreign musicians, en-
does not compass the education of largiug eloquently on the character
all its ministers, took the clause of opera singers, many of whom still
for his text, when he occupied a come from Italy.
Presbyterian pulpit, and announced
THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
man good, but one that is God, and it was not changed till
1G60.
Matt, v, 16, " Let your light so shine before men, that
they may see your good works, and glorify your Father
which is in heaven;" "so" is usually taken to be emphatic:
let your light shine so brightly, or in such a way, that others
may see. But the " so," or " even so," simply connects the
verse with the one before it ; " as the lamp gives light to all
that are in the house," so, or in like manner, "let your light
shine before men."
" No man," is the prevailing translation of a Greek pronoun, 1
and serves the purpose well enough in a variety of places
where there is a clear reference to human agents, as Matt, vi,
24, "no man can serve two masters"; or in ix, 16; xx, 7;
or in Luke v, 36, 37, 39. But in many clauses " no one "
would be the better rendering, and it is found very rarely,
as in Mark x, 18, " none good but one " ; John xvii, 12,
" none of them is lost." " No man " limits the reference in
John x, 29, and " man " is printed in the ordinary letters
in the first edition. The form " no one " is never used in
the Authorized Version. Especially in Luke vi, 38, " men " is
an infelicitous insertion, there being no nominative in the
original : " good measure pressed down . . . shall they
give into your bosom," for the reference is not to any human
bestowal of reward. " One " would be often a more appro
priate representative of another pronoun than " any man."
In some editions, as Fields s, 1G66, the reading of John x, 28,
is "neither shall any pluck"; and in verse 29, "none is able
to pluck."
"The birds of the air have nests," Matt, viii, 20. The
translation is riot accurate, as the Greek term means only
dwelling-places, though in the erroneous popular view a nest is
the home of the bird. 2 But the bird builds its nest and
uses it only for incubation, and never haunts it after its
"They to their grassy couch, these to
2 The mistake is a common oue. their nests
Milton, speaking of beasts and birds "Were slunk."
returning at night, says
LI.] MORE AMBIGUITIES. 369
young are fledged and flown. The nest is not to the bird as
the hole is to the fox, a place of usual retreat. " The birds of
the air have roosting places " which they frequent. In Matt,
viii, 18, 28, " the other side " is vague, and might be rendered,
" the other shore of the lake."
" Sat at meat," in Matt, ix, 10, and in other places, suggests
an erroneous posture, and might be easily given " reclined at
meat."
The "Cunaanite," in the phrase "Simon the Canaanite,"
Matt, x, 4, is incorrectly spelled, and would imply that in some
peculiar sense he belonged to Canaan. The true spelling is
Cananite ; or it might be given as Canansean, to keep it distinct
from the Old Testament form of name belonging to the abori
gines. Nor does the epithet mean that he belonged to Cana of
Galilee, though some have supposed that his marriage was the
scene of Christ s first miracle ; the Syro-chaldaic epithet has its
Greek equivalent in " Zelotes," Luke vi, 15.
Matt, xii, 10, "And behold there was a man which had his
hand withered. And they asked him, saying, Is it lawful to
heal on the sabbath days?" "him" might, to a careless reader,
seem to refer to the invalid.
" Offence," as in Matt, xvi, 23, " thou art an offence unto
me" ; in Gal. v, 11, "offence of the cross" ; and in many other
places signifies what causes to stumble. Similarly the verb
" offend " often does not mean to give offence, but to cause to
offend or to stumble, Matt, v, 29 ; Rom. xiv, 20, 21. It is
rendered correctly in 1 Cor. viii, 13.
Mark xi, 8, "and others cut down branches off the trees, and
strawed them in the way" ; in John xii, 13, "the people took
branches of palm trees." Now palms have no branches proper,
and to have thrown common branches on the road would only
have given uncertainty to the step of the animal and impeded
its progress. The meaning is, they cut the great feathery
fronds that form the tufted crown of the tree, and made a layer
of them, or littered them, on the road.
Mark xiv, 18, "one of you which eateth with me shall betray
me," might be " one of you shall betray me, he that eateth
with me"; and similarly in verse 20, "one of the twelve, he
VOL. II. 2 A
370 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
that dippeth with me in the dish." Judas was thus singled
out, as he was reclining so near Jesus that the same dish served
for both, and out of that dish He gave him the " sop."
The point and beauty of our Lord s reply, Luke ii, 49, to
his mother are lost in the present version. " How is it that ye
sought me ? wist ye not that I must be about my Father s
business ; " the idiomatic words may mean, " wist ye not that
I must be in my Father s house." Her demand was not as to
his engagements, but as to his place ; not what he had been
doing, but where he had been. The spirit of his question
is, " where is a child to be found but at home, or in his father s
house ? " The temple was the house of his Father, and he was
naturally found in it, and to it, had they fully known his
Divine Sonship, they might have come at once in search of
him. 1
In Luke iii, 23, the assertion, " and Jesus himself began to
be about thirty years of age," conveys no definite meaning,
the proper rendering being, " and Jesus was about thirty
years of age when he began "... his public ministry.
Luke iv, 20, " And he closed the book, and he gave it again
to the minister." "Minister" is liable to misinterpretation,
and conveys to many ordinary minds a wrong sense, it being
supposed to mean the president or teaching elder of the con
gregation, who, in discharge of his duty, would have read the
lesson and addressed the people, had not Jesus taken the work
into his own hand. But the minister was simply the officer
who had charge of the sacred rolls.
The phrase " as much again," Luke vi, 34, might be taken
as in common use, to mean double, the proper rendering being
"to receive again as much " ; and it is very apt to be forgotten
that in the phrase "there shall be weeping," "there" is the
local adverb in that place.
Luke ix, 32, "Peter and they that were with him were
heavy with sleep, and when they were awake they saw his
1 Esther vii, 9, ev TOIS A/xav, in Oratores Attici, ed. Dobree). See
the house of Haman ; ets ra rov examples in Phrynichus, ed. Lobeck,
d8eX<f)Ov TOV C/JLOV^ into the house of p. 110.
my brother (Lysias, vol. II, p. 356,
LI.] OTHER EXAMPLES. 371
glory"- a rather indistinct rendering, a better translation
might be " were heavy with sleep, but having kept awake
throughout, they saw his glory."
" Also " is ambiguous in Luke x, 1, " the Lord appointed
other seventy also."
In Luke xvi, 8, "the lord" might mean the Saviour, and some
have been perplexed by such a meaning, but it is merely the
master of the unjust steward "his lord." 1
Luke xviii, 12, "I give tithes of all that I possess," but
only in the perfect does the verb signify to " possess " I give
tithes of all that I acquire. Tithe was taken only of fruit or
annual increase, not of money laid up or possessed. The verb
is well rendered " provide " in Matt, x, 9, " get " in the margin
superseding the " possess " of the older versions, the Genevan
having in the margin " provide not for " ; and, better still,
" obtained " in Acts xx, 28, and it is twice rendered " pur
chased " a sense suggested by the context. Nor can it bear
the meaning of " possess " in Luke xxi, 19 ; but it is " in your
patience, or patient endurance of these things, ye shall win
your souls." The translation of the same verb is also wrong
in 1 Thess. iv, 4.
The translation of Luke xxii, 29, 30, is hazy, and might be
given with more exactness, " and I appoint unto you, as my
Father appointed unto me, a kingdom, that ye may eat and
drink at my table in my kingdom."
A peculiar and natural touch is found in the right trans
lation of Luke xxii, 50, " and a certain maid seeing him "
(Peter) as "he sat in the light," or " at the light " 2 of the fire,
as the gleam of the burning charcoal fell on his face and
features, she recognized him.
The meaning of John i, 9, depends on the punctuation, as the
participle rendered " which cometh " might agree, as a neuter
nominative, with light, or, as an accusative masculine, with
man. Similarly, in Matt, xix, 28, where our version, in the
first edition, rightly places a comma after " me," and gives
1 The word is actually spelled 1648. Printed by the Companie of
with a capital, as " Lord," in some Stationers,
editions as in a quarto, London, 2 TT/DOS TO <ws.
372 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
" in the regeneration when," that being the period, " when the
Son of Man shall sit on the throne of his glory," and
when the promised reward shall be bestowed. But the am
biguity in Acts viii, 26, will remain with any rendering of the
Greek. Is it Gaza or the way to Gaza which is desert ?
The solution can be found neither in printing nor translation.
John iv, 9, reads, "the Jews have no dealings with the
Samaritans," and yet the previous verse affirms that the dis
ciples were at the very time in process of dealing with the
Samaritans, having "gone away into the city to buy meat."
The verb signifies familiar or friendly intercourse.
John ix, 17, "what sayest thou of him that he hath opened
thine eyes ? " may be understood in two ways, but there is
only one question, and the sense is, What sayest thou of him
because, or in that, he opened thine eyes ?
John x, 14, 15, the connection between the two verses is
obliterated by the punctuation, and it should be, " I know
mine own and mine own know me, even as the Father
knoweth me and I know the Father."
In the question, " have ye any meat ? " l (John xxi, 5), the
word is used in its English sense of animal food, meaning here
" fishes "; hence the injunction at once to cast the net.
In the phrase, Acts iv, 4, " the number of the men was about
five thousand," in relation to ii, 41, there is want of clearness,
but the proper translation is " the number became, or rose to
be, five thousand."
Acts vi, 1 records, "a murmuring of the Grecians against
the Hebrews." Our translators meant Grecians to represent
Hellenists, and Greeks to represent Hellenes, as in this passage
and in ix, 29, and in xi, 20 ; and in this last place they had
Hellenists in their Greek text. But ordinary readers do not
readily appreciate the distinctions of Grecians and Greeks, and
have wondered that there should have been Gentiles in the
Church prior to the conversion either of Cornelius or of the
1 Meat among the people in Scot- actly, for it signifies whatever is
laud signifies food generally. The eaten with bread, whether fish, beef,
Scottish term " kitchen " represents mutton, fowls, or eggs, &c.
the meaning of the Greek noun ex-
LI.] BETTER RENDERINGS. 373
Ethiopian eunuch. But both the parties in this case were of
Jewish race and blood, the Hebrews being native Jews, and
the Grecians Jews born out of Palestine, the distinction of
race being Jew and Greek, and of language and birthplace,
Hebrew and Hellenist. The foreign Jews murmured that their
widows did not receive as much daily dole from the common
table as did those of the home-born Jews.
The italic supplement as object to the verb, in Acts vii, 59,
is wholly unwarranted "they stoned Stephen, calling upon
God, and saying ; " " they stoned Stephen," " invoking and
saying Lord Jesus," the Lord Jesus being the direct object
of the martyr s invocation.
Acts x, 12, "wherein were all manner of four-footed beasts,"
literally " all four-footed beasts," a popular mode of description
which need not have been corrected.
The apostle begins his address at Mar s hill with these words
Acts xvii, 22, " Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things
ye are too superstitious " it has been often remarked that such
a version carries blame in it. But the apostle simply puts aside
this charge of being a " setter forth of strange gods," by quietly
saying, " Ye men of Athens, I perceive in all things ye carry
your devoutness very far" the proof being that he had seen
an altar with an inscription " to an unknown God." In
verse 23, the noun rendered " devotions " " I beheld your
devotions," signifies not devout feeling or attitude, but objects
of adoration.
The phrase, " wicked lewdness," in Gallio s speech, Acts
xviii, 14, is misleading to modern English readers, as it
now has changed its meaning, the sense being here, "evil
misdeeds/ the idea of sensuality not being in it.
The rendering is ambiguous in Acts xxiii, 27, "this man
should have been killed," the meaning being " this man would
have been killed, or was on the point of being killed."
Acts xxvi, 28, " Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou
persuadest me to be a Christian. And Paul said, I would to
God that not only thou but also all that hear me this day, were
both almost and altogether such as I am, except these bonds."
Agrippa, filled with Jewish prejudice, had sunk into a Koman
374 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
voluptuary, and his utterance is a bitter sneer that reaches its
climax in the word " Christian," a contemptuous epithet on the
royal tongue. Paul had appealed to him, and expressed his con
viction that he was so far on his side as a man believing the
prophets, and Agrippa scornfully repels the insinuation, " With
small effort art thou persuading thyself to make me a Chris
tian ; or, with small persuasion, thou wouldest fain make me a
Christian." "I would to God," is the reply, whether with small
effort or with great, "not only thou, but also all that hear me
this day might become such as I am, except these Jbonds." The
meaning "almost," which cannot be borne out, is from the
Genevan and Beza s prop&modum. Tyndale and the Great
Bible had " somewhat thou bringest me in mind for to become
a Christian." l
There is an extraordinary rendering in Acts xxvii, 40, "When
they had taken up the rudder bands they committed themselves
unto the sea ; " after the earlier version, the Genevan being as
unintelligible, " committed the ship," the sense being, casting
loose the anchors they left them in the sea, as in the margin.
A worthy member of a Scottish church court once warned
its members not to call their deliberations a " debate," for
debate was one of the rank sins condemned by the inspired
apostle in Rom. i, 29 ; but the term there means "strife."
The archaism, 1 Cor. iv, 4, " I know nothing by myself,"
introduced by Tyndale, will be better given now by " I know
nothing against myself." The idiom is old English, as in
Webb s Travels, 2 1590, "they could find nothing by me;"
Cranmer says to Henry VIII, " I am exceedingly sorry that
such faults can be proved by the queen," that is, against her.
The marginal rendering " day," for the "judgment," in the text
of the previous verse is literal. Tyndale has " mans day " in
brackets (second edition) ; and Coverdale has it without them ;
the other versions, with the exception of the Rheims, having
1 Chrysostom conjectures that the The reading -jreiOy, found in A, is
apostle did not understand what fv accepted by some for 7ra 0eis, found
oAiyw signified, but took it to mean in K, B, and other authorities.
e oAt yov. See a long note in 2 P. 30, ed. Arber, London, 1868.
Meyer s Commentary on the phrase.
LI.] SOME EMENDATIONS. 375
" day." " Day " meant the " day of hearing and deciding a
cause " ; and " daysman " was one who, as umpire, appointed
the day of trial (Job ix, 33).
We have no word to stand for the epithet rendered "natural"
in 1 Cor. ii, 14; xv, 44; "psychic" is unintelligible, and "soul-
ish " has no meaning. 1
Gal. i, 18, " I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter." To see a
person is still a colloquial phrase, meaning to hold an interview
with him.
The phrase, "brotherly love," 1 Thess. iv, 9, is not exact,
for it may mean either, subjectively, the love felt by a
brother, or, objectively, the love which is felt toward a
brother. 2 The last is the true signification, the love that a
brother claims or is entitled to. " Brotherly " love, not
because I feel that I am his brother, but brother-love, because
I feel that he is my brother.
Philip, iv, 2, 3, " I beseech Euodia, and beseech Syntyche,
that they be of the same mind in the Lord. And I intreat
thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which laboured
with me in the gospel." This translation seems to imply
that two sets of persons are referred to first, the two women
who had disagreed, and then the others who had helped in
the Gospel ; but, as the relative shows, the connection is,
"I beseech them to be of the same mind, I entreat thee,
also, help them as being women, 3 who laboured with me in
the gospel."
The proper translation of Gal. ii, 9, is not " James,
Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars," but who were
" reputed pillars " ; similarly, James i, 2G. The phrase, " an
old disciple," applied to Mnason, of Cyprus, in Acts xxi, 16, is
inferentially true ; for the real meaning is a disciple from the
first, like his fellow-Cypriote, Barnabas, converted perhaps at
1 Psalm cxxiv, 3, " then had they <j>iXa.v6pwTTLa love of man, <iAo-
swallowed us up quick," that is, a-ofaa love of wisdom, the last part
alive ; but quick is ofteu there taken of the compound noun denoting the
as an adverb, or " speedily." object of the love.
2 QiXaSeXfa a is brother-love. 3 curiVes, " as being women
Thus, (f)i\apyvpia is love of silver, who."
376 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
Pentecost. He may have been one of those " men of Cyprus,"
who carried the Gospel to Antioch (Acts xi, 26).
" Palace," in Philip, i, 13, suggests a wrong meaning, for the
prsetorium was not the royal residence, but the barracks of
the imperial life-guards. A portion of the building was close
upon the palace. Josephus distinguishes carefully the one
building from the other. The word is rendered in the Gospels
and Acts, "judgment hall," "hall of judgment," "common
hall," and once unavoidably, " prastorium" " the hall called
prsetorium."
In 1 Tim. iv, 1-3, the clauses are so connected that the
English reader is apt to imagine that the " speaking lies " is
the work of the devils, but it is the work of those who apos
tatize and teach the nefarious dogmas they do it " in the
hypocrisy of those who speak lies " and " doctrines of
demons" are not doctrines about those, but teachings prompted
by them.
The word "atonement" occurs in Romans v, 11; but its
verb is rendered "reconcile" in the previous verse, so that
" the reconciliation " would be the clearer rendering.
Rom. iii, 25, " Whom God has set forth to be a propitiation
through faith in his blood " ; this punctuation directly connects
" in his blood " with " faith," but it may be connected with
" propitiation " a propitiation, through faith, in his blood.
Rom. xi, 21, might be misunderstood as if repentance on the
part of man might be dispensed with, and Heb. xii, 17, as if
contrition had become an impossibility for Esau.
The term "business," Rom. xii, 11, itself a misrendering, or
an archaism, 1 might seem to refer to worldly dealings or in
dustry, and is often so taken; but it refers to spiritual duties.
1 "Scrip" can scarcely be misuu- as railways, that its scriptural sense
derstood by any one who remembers has to many faded away. So that
what is said of David, 1 Sam. xvii, when an intelligent person was
40, that he put the " smooth stones asked the other day, "What scrip for
in a shepherd s bag, even in a scrip," your journey mustmean ?" hereplied
but the word has of late become so at once, " Oh, some kind of Oriental
current with another meaning, promissory note."
through joint-stock enterprises, such
LI.] CLAUSES LIABLE TO BE MISUNDERSTOOD. 377
In 1 Cor. i, 18, 21, "foolishness of preaching" might be
thought to characterize the method of announcement, and not
the thing announced the cross, which appeared " to the Greeks
foolishness."
" Dishonesty," in the phrase, " hidden things of dishonesty,"
2 Cor. iv, 2, keeps its Latin sense, and means shame, and not
secret chicanery or undetected fraudulent dealing.
2 Cor, xii, 16, might sound as if the apostle had really im
posed upon the Corinthians " with guile."
Gal. i, 19, " but other of the apostles saw I none save James
the Lord s brother," might mean, " I saw Peter, and none other
of the apostles did I see, but I saw James the Lord s brother "
the inference being that James was not an apostle ; or the
sense might be " none other of the apostles did I see except
James the Lord s brother " the inference in that case being
that James was an apostle.
The clause, "spiritual wickedness in high places," Eph. vi, 12,
has been referred by other parties than Puritans and Covenan
ters to the hierarchy and the Court, the true rendering being
" in heavenly places."
In the phrase, " the prize of the high calling," Philip, iii,
14, the epithet " high " naturally but wrongly suggests the
quality of the calling and not its origin.
The clause in Col. iii, 8, " But now you l also put off all
these," is rather ambiguous, and might be given, " But now do
ye put off all those."
The phrase, " with much contention," 1 Thess. ii, 2, is apt,
from its present use, to mislead ; but it refers here to contest
with external evils and hostilities ; " in much conflict," as in
Col. ii, 1, " striving " being the word in the older versions.
1 Thess. ii, G, reads, "when we might have been burdensome,"
but should be " when we might have used authority " stood
on our right as apostles, and demanded a sufficient mainten
ance.
In 2 Tim. iii, 7, the connection is somewhat equivocal ; but
the words " ever learning " refer to the " silly women," not to
those that lead them captive.
l " You "in 1611.
378 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAT.
"Peculiar," Titus ii, 14, is liable to be misunderstood, for it
has its Latin sense of special possession, and not the modern
sense of " singular." It came in from Tyndale, Luther having
zum eigenthum. 1
Hebrews xii, 2, " looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher
of our faith;" literally, "of the faith" the faith that is held
forth as having produced the bright bede-roll of the previous
chapter.
In Heb. xii, 23, the phrase, "general assembly," is vague,
and has, moreover, a technical meaning in Scotland. The term
means an assembly holding high festival.
The position of "also" in the clause "wherefore seeing we
also are compassed about," Heb. xii, 1, mars the sense, for the
apparent meaning is, "that the worthies celebrated in the pre
vious chapter were also surrounded by a great cloud as we
are ; " whereas the sense is, that they form the cloud of wit
nesses overlooking the course, and we are " also," as they did,
to lay aside every entanglement, and to run the race with
that perseverance of which they set us an example.
In James i, 1, 2, though there is no ambiguity, the version
might be more exact " wisheth joy " " count it all joy."
In Rev. i, 9, the statement, "I was in the isle that is called
Patmos, for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus
Christ," is ambiguous, as " for " may mean either that he was in
Patmos, having come to it for the purpose of preaching the
Gospel, or that he was in it, having been exiled to it, for
having preached the Gospel.
The real meaning of the clause " are and were created,"
Rev. iv, 11, depends upon the punctuation, and it is usually
printed, though not in 1611, as if "are" and "were" both
belonged to " created " as auxiliaries, whereas there are two dis
tinct propositions, "they were," and "they were created." The
rendering " for thy pleasure " in the same clause is worse than
ambiguous it conveys a wrong reference to the English reader,
as if the sense might be, " to yield thee pleasure " ; but the
true translation is, " on account of thy will," or " because thou
didst will it."
1 See p. 262.
LL] DOUBTFUL PUNCTUATION. 370
The sense in Rev. xiii, 8, depends also on the pointing
" written in the book of life, of the Lamb slain, from the foun
dation of the world." Many modern editions have no comma
at all, and in the edition of 1611 there is a comma after
" Lamb." The Book of Life was written from the foundation
of the world.
John vi, 33, should be "the bread of God is that" not "he."
The term "heresy" in Acts xxiv, 14, tends to suggest a wrong
meaning, as it now denotes false doctrine, or doctrine that devi
ates from some recognized standard, but the Greek noun so rend
ered means simply a party, faction, or sect. Philip, ii, 6, "thought
it not robbery to be equal with God " does not harmonize with
the context, the leading precept being, "look riot every man on
his own things, but every man also on the things of others," in
the spirit and after the example of Christ Jesus, who possessed
equality with God, but did not regard it as something to be
held tenaciously, for looking upon the things of others he
emptied himself of the " form of God," and took upon him the
form of a servant, &c. "Form of God" cannot mean the Essence
of God ; it is the manifestation of that Essence. The second
clause of the last petition in the Lord s Prayer, Matt, vi, 13,
"but deliver us from evil" is quite indefinite, for it may mean
either " from evil " or " from the evil one." The sense can be
determined only from the usage of the New Testament, as found
in such places as Matt, xiii, 19, 38 ; John xvii, 15 ; Eph. vi, 16 ;
1 John ii, 13, 14; iii, 12 ; v, 18. In the statement Acts ii, 25,
" I foresaw the Lord always before my face," the verb refers to
place and not, as it does now, to time, the true rendering being
given in the original psalm. The English reader, not pondering
the connection very closely, might be perplexed by 1 Thess.
i, 4, " knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God," and
not be able to say whether this knowledge is possessed by the
apostle and his associates or the Thessalonians themselves. Of
course the Greek is very plain on the point, " knowing (as we
do), brethren beloved of God, your election." In Acts ii, 23,
the sense is, "and by hands of lawless men," that is heathen
men, " ye." In Philip, iv, 15, " now ye Philippians know also"
sounds like an imperative, but it is only a statement. Compare
380 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
also Luke ii, 29, "now thou releasest thy servant," "thou lettest
thy servant depart." 1 In Acts v, 30, the better rendering is
" whom ye hanged on a tree and slew," the participle describing
the mode should precede the verb in translation.
At the same time, many peculiarities affecting the sense
cannot well find place in any translation, at least in any
English version. An impersonal plural is sometimes found
translated as singular passive, as in Luke xii, 20, " thy
soul shall be required of thee." The idiom, however, is
rendered as plural in vi, 38, " men " being inserted as the
nominative; but the inference is probably to higher beings.
Similarly, and more correctly, in John xv, 6, " men gather
them." It is not easy to represent the third personal pro
noun when it occupies an emphatic place in the Greek
text. The nouns rendered " respect of persons," James ii, 1,
"conversation" in 1 Pet. i, 15, "ungodly" in Jude 18, and
the adjective rendered " equal " in Philip, ii, C, are in the
plural number, and cannot well be represented in our idiom.
Neither can such a connection as that in Rev. iii, 4 ; Gal.
iii, 16, where a neuter substantive is followed by a mas
culine relative, nor the neuter adjective in the last clause
of Matthew xii, 41, 42. How shall we represent that the
two nominatives in 1 Thessalonians iii, 11, are connected as
singular optative verbs ? 2 On the other hand, sometimes the
Greek singular is so vaguely translated that it may be almost
taken in our Bible as either singular or plural. 1 Pet. iii, 18,
"the just for the unjust," that is, "a just one for unjust ones " ;
James v, 6, " ye have both condemned and killed the just," the
just one, whatever be the reference. 3 To preserve the harmony
of the image, " book " should be " roll " in Rev. v, 1 ; " goblets "
would be better than "vials" in Rev. xvi, 1.
The true rendering of Gal. iv, 24, is not " which things are an
allegory," but " which things are allegorized," the historic facts
not being explained away.
1 See Vol. I, p. 145. rise, in the land of Gaelic and glens,
~ See also 2 Thess. ii, 16. to the whispered mysterious question,
3 The phrase about the paralytic if the man had sprung from a four-
" borne of four," Mark ii, 3, has given fold maternity.
LI. ] P UNCTUA TION. 381
The translation of James iii, 3, " Behold, we put bits in the
horses mouths, that they may obey us," is scarcely precise
enough ; but it is rather (not to take up the various reading),
" if we put the bits (or bridle) of horses into their mouths in
order that they may obey us, we turn about also their whole
body." As the small bit curbs the horse, and the small
rudder turns the ship, as the small sparks set fire to the forest,
so the tongue, a tiny organ, controls the man.
James ii, 1, "my brethren, have not the faith of our Lord
Jesus Christ the Lord of glory with respect of persons." In
this translation the common mind does not readily seize the
point. But the verb is imperative : " my brethren, do not ye
have or hold the faith . . . along with respecting of persons."
The two things are so contradictory that they should not meet
in the same person.
The participle rendered " cloven," in Acts ii, 3, means parting
asunder or distributing themselves a different idea altogether.
1 Pet. i, 17, reads, " and if ye call on the Father/ which,
from the position of the Greek words, is not correct, though
found in Tyndale, the Great Bible, the Genevan of 1557 having,
"if so be that ye call him Father," and that of 1560, "if ye
call him Father," a translation adopted by Dr. Trench, but not
quite accurate, as it does not take the preposition into account.
Literally, it is, " if ye call on him as Father " if ye invoke
Him in his paternal character.
The punctuation misleads in 1 Peter i, 11, "searching what,
or what manner of time"; the clause would thus seem to mean
that the prophets searched first into the meaning of the oracle,
and then into the time of its fulfilment ; but the sense is,
" what time or what manner of time." *
The punctuation always depends ultimately on the exegesis.
What is the right division of words in Heb. xii, 22, 23 ? Which
is the last clause of the one verse and first clause of the other ?
Does "which" refer to "God" or "word," in 1 Pet. i, 23?
In 1 Pet. v, 12, does "to you" belong to "faithful" or to
" brother " ? The spelling of the word " spirit," with a
capital or without, presents distinct senses to the English
riva ?; Troov
382 THE ENGLISH BIBLE.
reader, and is certainly to him " a note and comment." It has
been questioned whether " therefore " should be at the end of
John vii, 21, or at the beginning of verse 22. Much depends
on the pointing of Luke xxiii, 43. Is John v, 39, to be read as
indicative or as imperative ; or Luke ix, 55 ; or John xii, 27,
middle clause ; or Heb. xii, 5, or xiii, 6.
The technical name " diaspora," should have been rendered
the " dispersion : " l " will he go unto the dispersion among the
Greeks or Gentiles ? " John vii, 35 ; also, James i, 1, and 1 Peter
i, 1. John xiii, 2, the true rendering of the participle is not
" supper being ended," but " during supper," or " supper having
begun," or " having been served." 2
James i, 27, " religion " is not emotion based on faith, but
religious service, as the verse indeed indicates.
Rev. x, 6, " That there should be time no longer " the clause
is somewhat dark, and is often misunderstood as referring to
the last day, or the end of time ushering in eternity. The
" time," however, is intervening time or delay, in allusion to
the cry of the martyrs in vi, 10, " How long, O Lord ? "
What sense can be made of Rev. xvii, 8, " They that dwell
on the earth shall wonder when they behold the beast that
was, and is not, and yet is " a creature of which existence
and non-existence are predicated in the same breath ? better,
" when they see the beast that he was, and is not, and shall
come, or shall be present (again)."
The plain reader is apt to be startled by the words, " But
God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin," Rom. vi, 17,
and perhaps some slight supplement might be necessary to
throw the force upon the past " were." 3
Fresh Revision of the English New
2 SetTTvov ye(or yt)vop,evov. Testament, Appendix, p. 195 ; and
3 On the meaning of 7riot <Tios, see also the critical argument in
and a defence of the common render- favour of another meaning, " bread
ing in the Lord s Prayer, see of life eternal," in M Clellan s New
Canon Lightfoot s rich and ex- Testament, vol. I, p. 632.
haustive paper in his volume On a
CHAPTER LII.
translators or revisers of 1611, in their desire to avoid
the rigid uniformity of the Rheirns version, have allowed
themselves considerable latitude in an opposite direction, and
they plead for it in their preface : " An other thing we thinke
good to admonish thee of (gentle Reader), that we haue not
tyed our selues to an vniformitie of phrasing, or to an
identitie of words, as some peraduenture would wish that we
had done, because they obserue that some learned men some
where, haue beene as exact as they could that way. l Truly,
that we might not varie from the sense of that which we
had translated before, if the word signified the same thing in
both places (for there bee some wordes that bee not of the
same sense euery where) we were especially carefull, and
made a conscience, according to our duetie. But, that we
should expresse the same notion in the same particular word ;
as for example, if we translate the Hebrew or Greeke word
once by Purpose, neuer to call it Intent; if one where
Tourneying, neuer Trau eilin y ; if one where Thinke, neuer
Suppose; if one where Paine, neuer Ache; if one where loy,
neuer Gladnesse, &c. Thus to minse the matter, wee thought
to sauour more of curiositie than wisedome, and that rather it
would breed scorne in the Atheist, than bring profite to the
godly Reader. For is the king-dome of God become words or
syllables ? why should wee be in bondage to them if we may
1 Perhaps their allusion may be to as its fifth rule, " The same terms
Hugh Broughton s Letter on Trans- must be translated the same way."
lation which Bancroft sent to them, Uniformity of rendering is also con-
aud it enacts the peremptory canon tended for by Erasmus and Beza.
384 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
be free, vse one precisely when wee may vse another no lesse
fit, as commodiously?"
Had they used this privilege within such limits as they
exemplify in the previous extract, no great fault might
be found, but they have taken continuous and extraordinary
license. For in working under this self-imposed canon,
they give various renderings without stint to the same noun,
verb, or particle, and by the reverse process they affix, in
numberless instances, the same English word to very different
Greek tercns. In this way they often efface important dis
tinctions which might have been preserved, and create new
distinctions which ought not to exist. Not that they are to
be blamed for introducing all these various renderings, for
many of them existed before, and they found not a few of
them in the Bishops which they revised, and also in the
earlier versions.
At the same time, to insist on rigid uniformity of translation
would be absurd in principle, and misleading in result, for it
must occasionally violate idiom and context. Thus the word
"part" may be the usual rendering of a Greek noun, but
when applied to a boat, it becomes, according to usage, " side,"
John xxi, 6. The substantive commonly standing as "par
takers" in the majority of places at once becomes "partners" in
Luke v, 7, according to English idiom. The term which
is rendered " word " scores of times necessarily becomes
" account " in such a phrase as Luke xvi, 2, " give an account
of thy stewardship." " Meat " well represents a Greek
substantive, but the term would be incongruous in reference
to the corrosion of metal eating into it and so it technically
passes into "rust" in Matthew vi, 19, 20, after Tyndale, the
" canker " of the Genevan not being accepted either in the
Bishops or the present version. With generic sameness
there may be specific difference. What is a living " tree " in
Luke xxiii, 31 and in Rev. xxii, 2, is " wood " (timber) in
Rev. xviii, 12, "staves" (clubs) in Matt, xxvi, 47, "stocks"
in Acts xvi, 24, and " tree " means a " stake " in Acts v, 30.
Some supernatural beings are known as angels, but the same
Greek term could not be so rendered in James ii, 25, as
LIT.] VARIATION ALLOWABLE. 385
designating the spies whom Rahab treated so kindly, and
the word is given there as " messengers." Elymas is termed
a " sorcerer " 1 Acts xiii, 8, but the same noun could not well
bear that translation in Matt, ii, 1, and it stands there as.
"wise men." The term rendered "Lord" in an address to a
higher being, Matt, viii, 25, naturally becomes " sir " in speak
ing to one supposed to be a human equal, John iv, 11,
xx, 15. A word may always retain the radical notion of
heat or fervour, but there may be subjective or objective
differences springing from the character of him who feels it,
or from the persons or things which excite it. "Zeal" 2 in
John ii, 17, and Colossians iv, 13, is "jealousy" in
2 Corinthians xi, 2; "envying" in Romans xiii, 13, "indig
nation" in Acts v, 17, the Rheims having " replenished with
zeal." A verb may admit of several modified senses or
renderings, while the same idea is underlying all of them.
It may mean to " send away," 3 as a wife by divorce, or to
leave persons, places, nets, or to suffer or permit a thing,
or to let off or forgive. A word may mean generally to
make apparent, 4 but what is made apparent may be a state
ment, or a report, or a charge in a court of law, or a man s own
self, and the English word would require some difference of
rendering in such instances. Prepositions with the primal
meaning always involved must also be modified in rendering,
as they may refer to place, or time, or have a tropical signifi
cation. Still, uniformity ought to be kept wherever it can be
kept. If the sacred writer has thought it fit to repeat the same
Greek term, why may not the English translator do the same?
In this way the characteristic differences in the various books
can be preserved, and the ordinary reader will see that each
writer has his favourite words, and familiar turns of speech.
For the four Evangelists, in telling the same story, have each
a distinctive style of thought, structure and language: the
Memorabilia of St. Matthew marked by a Hebrew tincture and
purpose, and by the grouping of parables and miracles : Mark
characterized by minute and graphic touches brought out with
3 tXTToArO) 4 (j)O.Vp6 J>
VOL. II. 2 B
386 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
rugged force : Luke exhibiting some historic research and writing
a purer and more sustained historic style : and John the Divine
glorified in his ethereal portraiture of the Word made flesh,
with grace poured into His lips, and the fulness of infinite love
in His heart. The apostle Paul has frequent participial con
nections and compound verbs, a tendency to go off at a word
and to interweave a parenthesis, and a fondness to exhibit
relations by an accumulation of prepositions. And all these
features ought to be notable and striking in any translation.
When an author writes his own thoughts, he may employ
whatever language is best fitted to convey them with clearness
and power, and for the sake of euphony he may exchange
terms of Saxon and Latin lineage. Original composition would
be bald if the same words were often repeated, and such
poverty or want of variety would be an injustice to our rich
and noble tongue. Nor in translating a classic would a
scholar be bound to give in every case, without deviation, the
same English for the same Greek term or phrase. l It is not
expected of him, though he is supposed to present a literal and
faithful version. Men of classic tastes and acquirements are
able to consult the original, and of those who are not so
qualified, a fraction only will possess or read such a book in
the vernacular. But even in such a case there are limits to
variation of rendering. What would have been said of Lord
Derby s Translation of the Iliad, if for the sake of variety he
had inserted occasionally other English forms of such frequent
epithets as " cloud-compeller," " blue-eyed," " white-armed,"
" king of men," " dark-ribbed " ? Would not one special
characteristic of the father of song have been wilfully effaced ?
The following terms, characteristic of a divine revelation of
love to a sinful world, are of perpetual occurrence both in the
Old and New Testament: "mercy" and its adjective are used
nigh 800 times ; " righteous " with its derivatives more than
1 In Ainsworth s learned Annota- Schaff, D.D., New York, 1875, and
tions on the Pentateuch some exam- Revision of the English Bible (p.191),
plesoftranslationsofthekiudreferred by John E. Beard, D.D., London,
to may be found. See also Revision 1857.
of the English Version, by Philip
LIT.] UNNECESSARY VARIATIONS. 387
500 times; "pray" and "worship" are met with at least 400
times, and "save," "saviour," "salvation" nigh 500 times.
These terms illustrate by their pervading presence the nature
of the Book to which they belong, and therefore they are
not in any way to be disguised or weakened by synonymous
changes, for the Book not only reveals deliverance from guilt,
but leads to the service of the Divine Benefactor whose mercy
is conditioned by righteousness, and to whom on His throne of
grace all have access, while every one who comes is welcomed
through the merit and mediation of the Living Intercessor.
The repetition of such words is of itself refreshing, like " rain
upon the mown grass." It is matter of regret that the noun
" faith " has no verb of its own root, but that "believe" must
be employed to the loss of the English reader who does not
readily feel the connection between the two words. In the
Authorized Version these words often meet us, " faith " being
found more than 340 times, and "belief" nigh 300 times,
the allied word " trust " showing itself also scores of times.
Neither is there any Saxon verb cognate to "righteousness," and
the Latin "justify " has been used, to the loss of the English
student of the New Testament, who fails to perceive the close
relation. Might not"righten" have sufficed ? for "justification"
is the Tightening of the guilty soul in the eye of God, and of
his law. Such Tightening is ever based on righteousness, either
that belonging to the creature himself, or, as in our case, that
wrought out by the Sinbearer, and accepted by us "the
righteousness which is of God by faith." 1 Such words are
distinctive and must be of constant iteration in the Records of
a system which holds up faith as the one grand requisite
the one living medium of blessing, since through it, as the
receptive faculty, pardon, purity, and life are brought home to
the heart which believes the Testimony, and has its personal
trust in Him whom that Testimony enshrines.
It is quite true that the sense is not affected by many minor
variations, such as the following in the one chapter of Matthew
and the corresponding passage of Mark.
1 See Girdlestoue s Synonyms of the Old Testament. London, 1871.
388
THE ENGLISH BIBLE.
[CHAP.
* MATTHEW xxiv.
Verse
14 Witness.
17 Come down.
18 Return back.
21 Tribulation.
,, Since the beginning.
23 Believe it not.
24 The very elect.
23 Told you before.
29 Shall the sun be darkened.
32 His branch.
Nigh.
34 Be fulfilled.
MARK xm.
Verse
9 Testimony.
15 Go down.
16 Turn back again.
19 Affliction.
From the beginning.
21 Believe him not.
22 Even the elect.
23 Foretold you.
24 The sun shall be darkened.
28 Her branch.
Near.
30 Be done.
Additional examples may be adduced from the Synoptical
Gospels, and in most of them the meaning is not seriously
marred.
Matt, iii, 4, " a leathern girdle " Mark i, 6, " a girdle of
skin." Matt, iii, 8, "meet for repentance" Luke iii, 8,
" worthy of repentance." Matt, iv, 6, " concerning thee "
Luke iv, 10, " over thee." Matt, iv, 19, "follow me"
Mark i, 17, "come ye after me." Matt, iv, 20, "they left
their nets " Mark i, 18, " they forsook their nets." Matt,
vi, 10, " in earth as it is in heaven " Luke xi, 2, " as in
heaven, so in earth." Matt, vii, 1, " that ye be not judged"
Luke vi, 37, " and ye shall not be judged." Matt, viii, 8,
" shouldest come " Luke vii, 6, " shouldest enter." Matt. viii r
33, " they that kept "Mark v, 14, " they that fed." Matt, ix
2, "(thy sins) be forgiven " Luke v, 20, "are forgiven." 1 Matt,
ix, 17, "runneth out" Mark, ii, 22, "spilled." Matt, ix, 6, "go"
Mark, ii, 11, "go thy way." Matt, ix, 10, "sat down with"
Mark ii, 15, " sat also together with." Matt, ix, 16, " that
which is put in to fill it up " Mark, ii, 21, " that filled it up."
Matt, ix, 20, " hem "Luke viii, 44, " border." Matt, ix, 34,
"prince" Luke xi, 15, "chief." Matt, ix, 37, "harvest . . .
plenteous" Luke x, 2, "harvest . . . great." Matt, x, 14, "when
ye depart" Luke ix, 5, " when ye go out." Matt, x, 14, " the
dust" Luke ix, 5, "the very dust." Matt, x, 18, "governors"
1 See page 259.
LII.] UNJUSTIFIABLE VARIATIONS. 389
Mark xiii, 9, "rulers." Matt, x, 21, "shall deliver up" Mark
xiii, 12, "shall betray." Matt, x, 21, " child "Mark xiii, 12,
" son." Matt, x, 22, " but he that endureth to the end shall be
saved " Mark xiii, 13, " but he that shall endure the same shall
be saved." Matt, x, 27, "preach" Luke xii, 3, "proclaim." Matt.
xi, 4, "go and shew" Luke vii, 22, "go your way and tell."
Matt, xi, 6, "receive their sight " Luke vii, 22, "see." Matt, xi,
5, " the poor have the gospel preached " Luke vii, 22, " to the
poor the gospel is preached." Matt, xi, 7, " to say unto the
multitudes " Luke vii, 24, " to speak unto the people." Matt.
xi. 12, (kingdom of heaven) "suffereth violence" Luke xvi, 1C,
every man "presseth " into it. Matt, ix, 24, " maid " Mark v.
41, "damsel." Matt, xxvi, G9, "damsel " Mark xiv,69, "maid."
Matt, xi, 19, "behold a man gluttonous " Luke vii, 34, " behold
a gluttonous man." Matt, xi, 25, "because" Luke x, 21, " (I
thank thee) that." Matt, xii, 27, "children" Luke xi, 19, "sons."
Matt, xiii, 3, "a sower went forth" Mark iv, 3, "there went
out a sower" Luke viii, 5, "a sower went out." Matt, xiii, 5.
"deepness" Mark iv, 5, " depth." Matt, xiii, 23, "an hundred
fold" Mark iv, 20, "an hundred." Matt, xiii, 32, " least of"
Mark iv, 31, "less than." Matt, xiii, 32, "the greatest among"
Mark iv, 31, " greater than." Matt, xiii, 21, " tribulation "
Mark iv, 17, "affliction." Matt, xiv, 14, "went forth and"
Mark vi, 34, "when he came out." Matt, xiv, 14, "a great
multitude " Mark vi, 34, " much people." Matt, xiv, 24,
" tossed with " Mark vi, 48, " toiling in." Matt, xiv, 35,
" country" Mark vi, 55, "region." Matt, xiv, 85, " those that
were diseased " Mark vi, 55, "those that were sick." Matt, xv,
26, " to dogs "Mark vii, 27, " unto the dogs." Matt, xv, 27,
"truth, Lord" Mark vii, 28, "yes, Lord." Matt, xv, 32,
" continue" Mark viii, 2, "have now been." Matt, xv, 32, "in
the way "Mark viii, 3, " by the way." Matt, xv, 33, "to fill "
Mark viii, 4, " satisfy." Matt, xv, 39, "took ship " Mark viii,
10, "entered into a ship." Matt, xvi, 23, "those that be of
men " Mark viii, 33, " the things that be of men." Matt, xvi,
25, "will lose" Mark viii, 35, "shall lose" Luke ix, 24, "will
lose." Matt, xvi, 28, "till they see " Mark ix, 1, "till they have
seen." Matt, xvii, 1, " bringeth up " Mark ix, 2, " leadeth."
390 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
Matt, xvii, 5, "which said" Mark ix, 7, "saying." Matt, xvii,
2, "face" Luke ix, 29, "countenance." Matt, xvii, 18,
"departed out" Mark ix, 26, "came out." Matt, xvii, 19,
" apart" Mark ix, 28, " privately." Matt, xvii, 22, " betrayed,"
Mark ix, 31, "delivered." Matt, xviii, 2, "little child" Mark
ix, 36, " child." Matt, xix, 1, " beyond "Mark x, 1, " further
side." Matt, xix, 7, "writing" Mark x, 4, "a bill." Matt, xix,
20, "kept" Mark x, 20, "observed it." Matt, xx, 22, "are ye
able ? "Mark x, 38, " can ye ? " Matt, xx, 24, " moved with
indignation" Mark x, 41, "much displeased." Matt, xx, 25,
" exercise dominion " Mark x, 42, " exercise lordship." Matt,
xx, 27, "chief "Mark x, 44, "chiefest." Matt, xx, 30, "way "
Mark x, 46, " high way." Matt, xx, 28, " minister "-
Luke xxii, 26, "doth serve." Matt, xx, 31, "rebuked" Mark
x, 48, "charged." Matt, xxi, 1, "sent" Mark xi, 1, "sendeth
forth."
Nor does it matter as to meaning in the following varia
tions, some of them quite unaccountable. One verb is twice
rendered " exalted " in Luke xviii, 14, while the verb in
contrast is in one clause "abased," and in the other clause
"hurnbleth." The same verb which is rendered "merry" in
Luke xv, 24, becomes " make merry " in verses 29 and 32.
" Beloved " in Matt, xvii, 5, and in Mark ix, 7, becomes " well-
beloved " in Mark xii, 6, " dearly beloved " in Romans xii, 19,
and simply "dear" in Eph. v, 1 ; " without excuse" in Romans
i, 20, is " inexcusable " in ii, 1 ; " willing to show the Jews a
pleasure," Acts xxiv, 27, becomes in xxv, 9, " willing to do the
Jews a pleasure." The familiar compound noun rendered "adop
tion," Rom. ix, 4, becomes "adoption of sons " in Gal. iv, 5, and
" adoption of children " in Eph. i, 5. How could such varia
tions originate ?
There may be no sensible loss as to ultimate sense in the
following cluster of changes ; a particle rendered in these
different ways, yea, rather, nay, but, yes, verily, yea doubtless,
or the same preposition rendered for the sake, for the cause,
because, wherefore, for, by reason of. 1 The same preposition
assumes two different forms in the same verse, 2 Cor. i, 11,
LII.] UNACCOUNTABLE VARIATIONS. 391
in the first clause " for us," and in the last clause, " on our
behalf"; and "what" and "how" in the same verse represent
the same interrogative pronoun, 1 Cor. vii, 1G. "Carried away
to Babylon" in Matt, i, 11, is "brought to Babylon" in
the next verse ; the "jailor " in Acts xvi, 23, is " keeper of
the prison " in 27 ; " beareth fruit " in John xv, 2, occurs
in two consecutive clauses, but "bring forth fruit" in the
third clause. The same document called a " letter " in Acts
xxiii, 25, is " epistle " in 33, the same change occurring in a
single verse in 2 Cor. vii, 8. " Truth " in the first part of the
verse in 1 Tim. ii, 7, is " verity " in the second ; " dwell " in
the first clause of John i, 39, is " abide " in the following one,
" apparel " in James ii, 2, is " raiment " in 3 ; " profession " in
1 Tim vi, 12, is "confession" in 13; the epithet "living" in
1 Peter ii, 4, is " lively " in 5, vailing the identity of Christ s
life with that of his people ; " were afraid " in Luke xxiv, 5,
is " affrighted " in 37. The same technical noun rendered
" dispersed " in John vii, 35, becomes " which are scattered
abroad " in James i, 1, and simply " scattered " in 1 Peter i, 1.
In the same verse (Matt, xxvii, 60), " tomb " occurs, and
then " sepulchre," l representing the same noun. In Luke xvi,
8, 9, 10, we have the epithet "unjust" and then "unrighteous,"
for the same Greek term. " To company " in 1 Cor. v, 9, be
comes "to keep company" in 11. But though in these examples
the meaning is not obscured, the English reader loses some
thing, for he fails to identify the terms employed by the
sacred writer. Why should not he have the same advantages
as the reader of the Greek original ? Is he not entitled to
demand it ?
Capricious love of variety is often manifest, for one term is
represented by " field," " farm," " country," " land," " piece of
ground," 2 while " field " might suit many of the places.
" Salute " and " greet " are renderings often exchanged to no
desirable purpose " salute " being the only rendering in the
Gospels ; " embraced " and " took leave " get a place in Acts,
while " greet " occurs four times in Romans xvi, as against
" salute " seventeen times. " Salute " and " greet " both occur
2 dypos.
392 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
twice in 1 Cor., and once in 2 Cor. ; " salute " and " greet "
are found in the same verse in Phil, iv, 21, also in Titus iii,
15, and in 3 John 14; "embraced" is a wrong rendering in
Heb. xi, 13; "greet" is used in all cases where the addition
is made of " an holy kiss " or a " kiss of charity," except in
Romans xvi, 16. Why should the noun rendered "goodness"
in Romans be " gentleness " in Galatians, but " kindness " in
the other parts of the New Testament ? Why should the same
word be " debtor" in Matt, xxiii, 16, but " guilty " in 18 ? Why
should " wailing " be found twice in one chapter of Matthew
(xiii), and " weeping " be the rendering of the same term in
every other place ? " Faithful " l in the first three Gospels is
also found in 2 Tim., and on to the end of the New Testament,
but it is " believing " in John xx, 27, and several times in
1 Tim. (in which it is also translated " true "), but is rendered
in other places by some part of the verb " believe." On the
other hand, while the noun which is always correctly rendered
"unbelief" has its adjective as "faithless" in the Gospels,
with one exception, but in the Epistles "unbelievers,"
" unbelieving," " belie veth not," it is also twice rendered by
"infidel " as in 2 Cor. vi, 15, and in 1 Tim. v, 8. What pos
sible end could be gained by giving the same phrase nine
times as "eternal life," or "life eternal," and eight times "ever
lasting life" or "life everlasting," the odd thing being that it
is uniformly "eternal" in Mark and in the first Epistle of
John, while the renderings regularly alternate in Luke, Acts,
and 1 Timothy, and it cannot but perplex when " everlasting-
punishment " occurs in one clause, and " life eternal " in the
next in Matt, xxv, 46. The same adverb 2 is " of a truth,"
" surely," " truly," in Matthew ; " of a truth " always in Luke ;
but "indeed" in John six times, and in 1 John "verily." Why
should one simple verb s have three translations in Matthew }
" abide," " remain," " tarry," while in the one verse in Luke
xxiv, 29, the expressed desire is "abide with us," and the result
is thus stated, " and he went in to tarry " ? In John we find
" abode," " remain," " dwell," " continue," " tarry," and " endure,"
and this diversity is continued throughout the New Testament,
LIT.] PREJUDICIAL VARIATIONS. 393
only that "dwell" is the uniform rendering in the fourth chapter
of 1 John, but in the second chapter of the same Epistle, verse
24, the verb is given in the same verse as " abide," " remain,"
" continue." Surely this favourite term of John which occurs
about as often in his writings as in all the other parts of the
New Testament should receive as far as possible a uniform ren
dering. Confusion is created by rendering the same verb 1 rightly,
by " hope " thirteen times, and wrongly by " trust " in eighteen
other places. The substantive 2 which is always " trespasses "
in the Gospels, is " offence " in the polemical section of Romans,
but " fall " in Romans xi, 11, 12, "fault " in Galatians vi, 1, and
in James v, 1G. " Trespasses " might suit the most of these
places, and there was surely no reason why the noun should
be in Col. ii, 13, " sins " in the first clause, and " trespasses " in
the last. The word translated " helper " 3 (Rom. xvi, 3) is also
rendered with no apparent necessity "work-fellow," " fellow-
worker," " fellow-helper," "fellow-labourer," " labourer together
with." These variations might be greatly abridged, and " fel
low-worker " might take their place. It is worse than mere
variation to render a verb in one verse " did service," and then
in the following verse to alter it into "be in bondage" in Gal.
iv, 8, 9. It is bewildering to find without any tangible reason
the same phrase given as " God, even the Father," 4 in Romans
xv, 6, 1 Cor. xv, 24, and 2 Cor. i, 3; " God and the Father" in
Col. iii, 17; "the God and Father" in 2 Cor. xi, 31, Eph. i, 3,
and 1 Peter i, 3 ; " of God and of the Father," Col. ii, 2 ; but
the common Greek text in the latter part of this last verse
cannot be sustained. Similar variations are found in the
older versions. One can assign no ground why the quotation
from Deut. xxxii, 35, should be presented as " Vengeance is
mine, I will repay, saith the Lord," in Rom. xii, 19, but
" vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the
Lord," in Heb. x, 30, the variation originating with Tyndale.
" Rabbi," the official Syro-Chaldaic term in English characters,
is rightly found in seven places, but it is gratuitously turned
into " Master," in some eight other places, as " Hail, master," in
1 e ATTJ ^W.
3 (rvvepyos. 4 6 6eus
394 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
Matt, xxvi, 49, where " Rabbi " should have been kept to
show that the traitor gave the Lord his full formal title in the
very act of over-kissing and selling him. " Rabboni," which
is found only twice, is given as " Lord " in Mark x, 51, but
" Rabboni " in John xx, 1C. The verb which means literally
" to speak against," l when the participle becomes a kind of
epithet, gets the translation of "gainsaying," and "gainsayer,"
the first syllable " gain " being really against, both the Wycliffite
versions having the full form, " againsaying," in Jude 11 ; but
there was no charm in giving the Saxon form " spake against "
in the first part of the verse, and the literal Latin form
" contradicting " in the second in Acts xiii, 45, while it becomes
" not answering again " in Titus ii, 9, a counsel addressed to
slaves, the margin having rightly " not gainsaying," which is
the text of the Rheims ; " again " was introduced by Tyndale,
and kept by the older versions, as if to answer again implied
opposition or refusal. " Put on " 2 would suit all the places
literal and metaphorical where we have " had on," " clothed
with," " arrayed," but in Mark xv, 17, 20, we have " clothed
him " in one verse, and " put clothes on " in the other. What
edification was there in altering " sick of the palsy " into
" taken with palsy," and in alternating these renderings of the
participle so precisely in Luke and Acts, and allowing it to
degenerate into "feeble " in Heb. xii, 12. The same participle
is rendered in the same breath, " that preach the gospel," and
" bring glad tidings of good things," Rom. x, 15, the Rheims
version being at the other and awkward extreme, " that
evangelise peace," " that evangelise good things." The epithet
" fair " applied to the babe Moses in Acts vii, 20, is " proper "
in Heb. xi, 23. These changes often happen within the limits
of the same book, the same chapter aye, as we have seen
more than once, the same verse. We can discern little motive
for them in many places, but the desire to enliven the version
by the use of terms all but synonomous. Thus "all manner
of sickness " in Matt, iv, 23, becomes " every sickness " in
ix, 35 ; "affliction " in Markiv, 17, is " tribulation " in xiii, 24 ;
" deceit " in Mark vii, 22, is " craft " in xiv, 1 ; " armour " in
LIT.] OTHER EXAMPLES. 395
2 Cor. vi, 7, is " weapons " in x, 4 ; " honesty " in 1 Tim. ii, 2,
is " gravity " in iii, 4.
Many of the examples in the previous paragraphs show
variation apparently for the wanton love of it, and might be
greatly reduced in number, though absolute uniformity might
not be everywhere obtainable, or even desirable. The common
reader has no means whatever of detecting these changes, andj
probably marks them in his mind as proofs of different read-)
ings in the original.
But though the meaning, as has been mentioned already,
may not be altered by some of these unneeded changes, yet
often they obscure the connection, In Colossians ii, 9, we
have "in him dwelleth all the fulness," and then in 11, "ye
are complete in him " ; l but the terms employed are cognate,
"ye are filled up in him" the fulness of Christ and the
fulness of Christ s. The connection is clouded by the varia
tion, and the older versions are followed ; only in this epistle
is the verb so rendered. " Hurt and damage " in Acts xxvii,
10, becomes "harm and loss "in verse 21. The sense is not
injured, but the change veils the connection between the pre
diction of the apostle and its precise fulfilment. No difference
of sense is involved in the various renderings of "kin," "kins
folk," "kinsman," but there is an unwarranted speciality to
modern readers in the translation "cousin," in Luke i, 36 and
58. " Cousin " represented in those days various relationships,
but Tyndale needed not to have varied from his own " kyns-
woman," in Lev. xviii, 12. The technical term "hinder part
of the ship " in Mark iv, 38, is rendered " stern " in Acts
xxvii, 29, and "hinder part" in verse 41, in contrast with "the
fore part," in the same verse. The clause "it was counted
unto him for righteousness" in Eomans iv, 3, is rendered
"imputed to him" in verse 22; and in the same chapter
the verb is " reckoned " three times, and " imputed " six
times. The pregnant phrase occurs also in Gal. iii, 6, and in
James ii, 23. The apostle s studied repetition of such an asser
tion of grave theological moment should have secured unifor
mity of rendering. In the matter of Eastern clothing, though
396 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
the drapery is so very simple, the translators have run riot. One
term l is represented by " long garment," " long clothing,"
"long robes," " robes," the best rendering, the only one used
in the Apocalypse, being quite sufficient. Another term 2 is
rendered " cloke," both as a general term, and a special one for
the outer robe; but there are also "robe," "vesture," "apparel,"
"raiment" ten times, about ten times "garment," and often
" clothes." A third term, 3 meaning the inner robe, or tunic,
is given most frequently as "coat," once "garment," in Jude 23,
and once "clothes," in Mark xiv, G3. A fourth term 4 is
translated by "apparel," "clothing," " raiment," " robe," while
another noun, 5 allied to the second referred to, is " raiment,"
" vesture," " apparel," and " array " in 1 Tim. ii, 9, as if it had
been suggested by " gold or pearls." Though " satisfy," Mark
viii, 4, occurs in the introduction to the miracle, and in the
record of it in verse 8 is changed into " filled," the meaning is
not lost, but the correspondence of the result to the challenge
offered by the disciples is darkened. What possible connection
could the common reader imagine between the phrases, " dost
thou commit sacrilege ? " in Romans ii, 22, and the metamor
phosed rendering, " robbers of churches," in Acts xiv, 37 ?
"Sacrilege" came in with the Genevan of 1560, and was
adopted by the Bishops and the Rheims in both places, Tyn-
dale and the Great Bible having " robbest God of his honour "
in the first quotation. " Church " was applied to heathen
temples before 1611. The noun which properly signifies
" teacher," 6 and is so rendered ten times, becomes " master " in
no less than forty-six passages in the Gospels and once in the
Epistle of James. In this last place the precept, "be not
many masters," is specially liable to be misunderstood, if it be
not borne in mind that in older English, as in present Scotch,
the teacher of a school is familiarly called its " master," as also
in the public schools of England. The epithet "Master" so
often given to Jesus tends now to mislead, as if it referred to
authority, and not to instruction. In Matt, x, 24, the true
contrast is, "a disciple (learner) is not above his teacher,"
" IfJ.a.rioi .
LII.] MOTIVES INDUCING VARIATION. 397"
"and ye call me teacher and Lord" one who imparts in
struction to whom loyal obedience is due. Another term 1
five times referring to God or the divine Saviour, is rendered
" Lord," and five times, referring to man, it is translated
" master " in Timothy, Titus, and 1 Peter ; but " master "
also stands for wholly different nouns. In John viii, 22, and
in Acts vii, 42, the negative particle in an interrogation is
from difference of idiom not translated, "Will he kill him
self?" "Have ye offered me slain beasts and sacrifices?"
but it is rendered in John iv, 29, " Is not this the Christ ? "
The variation is unnecessary and confusing; but the last
rendering as found in our present Bible, "Is not this the
Son of David ? " Matt, xii, 23, is an unauthorized deviation
from the first edition of 1611, which reads, "Is this the
Sonne of David ? " The negative particle is also found in a
Cambridge quarto of 1637, and in Buck & Daniel s edition of
1638, though it is not in Barker s folio of 1640. The better
form might be, " Can this be the Christ ? "
But it would be wrong to insist that all these swarms of
variations were simply the result of a capricious taste, for
there is little doubt that the revisers of 1611 imagined that
many of the changes which they preserved or introduced were
dictated or suggested by the idiom or the context. While
they gave " nigh," " near," " nigh at hand," as the renderings of
one particle 2 in reference both to time and place, the meaning
slips out of view when it is translated, after the Bishops and
the Great Bible, simply "from" in Acts i, 12; but probably
their reason was, that nearness was implied in the measure
ment " a sabbath day s journey," Tyndale, Coverdale, and the
Genevan having " nye to." In giving a preposition two
renderings in the same clause or question, " the baptism of
John, whence was it; from heaven, or of men?" in Matt, xxi, 25,.
they doubtless imagined that in keeping this variation, which
is as old as Tyndale, they were marking the distinction
between a divine origin, and a human commission. But as the
Evangelist himself did not mark the distinction, why should
they attempt it? The noun translated by "famine" and
2 eyyvs.
398 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
twice by " dearth " in Acts, has in the parable of the prodigal
son the rendering " hunger," suggested by its immediate per
sonal application in Luke xv, 17; the older versions and the
Rheims have "famine." The word which is given as "creation"
five times becomes " creature," where it is regarded as meaning
sentient beings, as in Rom. viii, 10, 2 Cor. v, 17, and one can
easily imagine the reason why it is rendered " building " in
Heb. ix, 11, and "ordinance" in 1 Pet. ii, 13. The personal
noun usually rendered "witness" 1 became, in some clauses,
naturally " martyr," " the blood of thy martyr " in Acts
xxii, 20, "Antipas, my faithful martyr" Rev. ii, 13, "blood
of the martyrs " xvii, 6, the word was left untranslated,
as the fires of Smithfield had naturalized it. But it is not
in the text of Tyndale, Rogers, or Cranmer, three martyred
biblical witnesses, and it came into the Bishops from the
Genevan of 1560, that of 1557 placing it in the margin.
The verb commonly represented by " deliver up " l becomes
" betrayed " when it points to the treachery of Judas, but the
revisers were not consistent in observing this distinction; Judas
could scarcely designate his own act as treachery, and so it
is said, "what will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto
you ? " 3 7 et in the next verse the words are " sought op
portunity to betray him." - The historian s description of the
act should be in the words of him who accepted the bribe to
do it. And yet, why should it be "deliver up" in Matt, xxiv,
9, and " betray " in the following verse, when the scenes of
persecution are referred to.
We can divine a reason why "change" in Heb. vii, 12,
becomes " translation " in xi, 5, and why " elements " in
Gal. iv, 3, becomes " rudiments " in Col. ii, 8, and " first
principles" in Heb. v, 12. It may be easily understood
why the same adjective was " dumb " in such a clause as
"the deaf hear" and "the dumb man spake," in Mark vii,
37, and " speechless " in reference to Zechariah, in Luke i,
22. He was, however, deaf as well as dumb, for they made
signs to him to know how he would have his son named.
The Greek word which when written in Enlish letters is
LII.] PARABLE, LOVE. 399
"myriads" is, in Jude 14 and Rev, v, 11, "ton thousand"; as a
numeral of indefinite vastness, it may be safely applied to
angels, "an -innumerable company of angels" in Heb. xii, 22;
but, with reference to believers in Jerusalem, it dwindles down
to "thousands" in Acts xxi, 20, though in an allusion to a
great crowd it is "an innumerable multitude" in Luke xii, 1.
It may be admitted that "happy" is used in Acts xxvi, 2, as
fitting the apostle s condition, but it is also applied to those
who suffer persecution in 1 Peter iii, 14, though they had
been called " blessed " in Matt, v, 10.
" Parable " is but the Anglicized form of the original Greek
term, and it occurs forty-six times : seventeen times in Mat
thew, thirteen times in Mark, and eighteen times in Luke.
It becomes "comparison" in Mark iv. 30, the rendering no
doubt suggested by the brevity of the parabolic statement,
and "proverb" in Luke iv, 23, the rendering dictated by the
pithy nature of the utterance quoted. For a similar reason
presented by the context it is translated "figure" in Hebrews
ix, 9, and xi, 19. But another word elsewhere rendered " pro
verb" is rendered "parable" in John x, G, though in the fourth
Gospel the noun truly and properly represented by " parable "
never occurs. But the mistranslation in John keeps away from
the reader the perception of this difference. Some reason, sup
posed to lie in the surrounding clauses, probably created the three
fold rendering " in due time," 1 Tim. ii, 6, "in his times," 1 Tim.
vi, 15, "in due times," 1 Tit. i, 3 ; l the two first variations are in
the Bishops . Why should the same word be rendered twenty-
eight times " charity," 2 always but twice in 1 Corinthians, and
over eighty times " love," as always in the Gospels and to the
end of Romans with one exception, xiv, 15. It is "love" as
applied to individual emotion both divine and human ; " love
of God," "love of Christ," "God of love," "love to all the
saints," but "charity" in reference to the Christian grace in an
abstract form ; 1 Thess. iii, 6, and 2 Thess. i, 3, being apparent
exceptions. As in more recent times, "charity" has passed
from its original meaning, and is used to denote either liberality
of sentiment or beneficence, the clauses "charity shall cover
1 /ccupois t Stots. 2
400 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
the multitude of sins/ 1 Peter iv, 8, and " shall hide a multi
tude of sins," James v, 20, are liable to be misunderstood, as
if almsgiving could in some sense secure divine forgiveness.
In the first instance charity is the veil which love casts over
human offences, and in the second the "sins" are those of
persons who, being converted, pass into a state of pardon and
acceptance. The term "charitably," in the adverbial form,
was suddenly introduced by Tyndale in Romans xiv, 15, and
was imitated by his successors, though his preference of "love"
to "charity" was one of Sir Thomas More s complaints against
his translation of 1526. 1 In the special chapter 1 Cor. xiii,
" charity" was introduced by the Bishops Version, all the older
New Testaments having " love." Faith, hope, and love stand
out in living connexion faith, child-like ; hope, saint -like :
but love, God-like; "he that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in
God and God in him."
The verb which means " to put " or " cause to be put to
death " : became, when used ethically, " mortify," 3 and a
wrong translation occurs in Rom. vii, 4, " ye are become
dead to the law," but as the infliction of death does not
pass out of the verb, the proper rendering is, " ye were slain,
or made dead to the law." It was contrary to the spirit
of faithful rendering to give the vague term " comfortless " in
John xiv, 18, for the same word is pointedly rendered "father
less" in James i, 27, but the last rendering was necessitated by
the following " widows." The changing of the " thief" of the
first three gospels into "robber" in John x, 1, 8, could not be
avoided, the clause being "a thief and a robber." Another and
distinct term being rendered "thief," they were obliged to intro
duce " robber," and they have rightly kept it in John xviii, 40,
and in 2 Cor. xi, 26. 4 The adjective usually rendered " com-
1 See Vol. I, p. 189. monly called his mortification; and
2 vcKpow his nearest heir, disappointed of his
:i " Mortify " is also a Scottish law expectations, may, and does some-
terra, and "mortification" is much the times, with caustic Scottish humour,
sameastheEnglish "mortmain." The style it "my mortification/
property set apart by a deceased 4 K-AeTrrrys
donor for charitable uses, is com-
MI.] HOLY GHOST SPIRIT. 401
mon" 1 in the ordinary sense, has the same rendering in Acts x, 14,
in reference to the Hebrew ritual, but the translators pass into
exegesis when they give "defiled" in Mark vii, 2, "unclean"
thrice in Romans xiv, " unholy " in Hebrews x, 29, and the
participle by " that defileth " in Rev. xxi, 27, according to the
reading of their Greek text. The third person in the Blessed
Trinity is sometimes in the New Testament termed " Holy
Ghost," and sometimes " Holy Spirit," 2 the former being the
predominant form and occurring about 90 times. But a careful
distinction is observed, as "Ghost" is never used by itself with
the article or with a possessive pronoun before it, or a genitive
of person or quality after it. It is invariably " the spirit," or
" my spirit," or " Spirit of God," or " of the Lord," or " of
Christ," or "of wisdom." But while this venerable archaic
form, coming down from the Anglo-Saxon gospels and from
WyclifTe, may be retained, it must be somewhat stumbling to
common readers to find such collocations as " the Holy Ghost
was upon him " Luke ii, 20, " it was revealed to him by the
Holy Ghost " verse 27, but " he came by the Spirit into the
temple," " Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost was led by
the Spirit into the wilderness " iv, 1, " he returned in the
power of the Spirit" verse 14; "upon whom thou shalt see the
Spirit descending, the same is he which baptizeth with the
Holy Ghost "John i, 33 ; " filled with the Holy Ghost, and began
to speak ... as the Spirit gave them utterance " Acts ii, 4
" this spake he of the Spirit, for the Holy Ghost was not yet
given" John vii, 39; "which the Holy Ghost teacheth " 1 Cor.
ii, 13; "the things of the Spirit of God" verse 14; "by the
Spirit of God " " by the Holy Ghost," both in 1 Cor. xii, 3.
The rendering in the second chapter of Matthew " young
child" as applied to Jesus, suggested by the phrase "Mary,"
or " his mother," becomes simply " child " in the first and
second chapters of Luke, and becomes " little child," " little
children," in the three Synoptical Gospels, when character or
temperament is illustrated.
The noun meaning multitude, 3 occurring fifty times in
Matthew, is rendered "the people" eight times and "mul-
1 Kotvos. " TO aytoi/
VOL. II. 2 C
402 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
titude " forty-two times ; in Mark, where it is found
thirty-eight times, "people" is the translation twenty times,
"multitude" fifteen times, and "press," a new rendering, is
given three times. St. Luke uses the term forty-one times,
and in twenty-one places it is "people," twice it is "press,"
and five times it is represented by another new rendering
"company." It has a place in John twenty times, "people"
stands for it seventeen times, "multitude" twice, and "com
pany" once. Thus the rendering "multitude," so common in
Matthew, falls off in Mark and Luke, and all but disappears in
John. It occurs in the other parts of the New Testament
twenty-six times, and is rendered eight times "multitude,"
sixteen times "people," once "company," and once simply
"number" in Acts i, 15. Among these renderings, "company"
is feeble, and "press" is inferential, taken from the context.
But another sense, that of the people as in contrast to the
higher ranks, has not been accepted. "Implacable" in Romans
i, 31, and not found in the Bishops , becomes something very
different, "trucebreakers" in 2 Timothy iii, 3; the common
reader can see no connection between these renderings; the
term in Romans, however, has no authority.
Each book has in itself similar variations. Thus, in Matthew,
the word rendered " cast into prison " in chapter v, 25, becomes
"deliver up" in x, 21, and "betray" in xxvi, 21, the right
rendering being indicated in the margin. The substantive
translated " hem " in ix, 20, and xiv, 36, is altered into " bor
der " in xxiii, 5. The noun rendered " householder " four times
xiii, 27, 52; xx, 1; xxi, 33 is "goodman of the house" in
xx, 11, and xxiv, 43 ; and there are similar variations in the
other gospels. In xx, 20, there was no need for following the
old versions, and altering the translation of the same word
in the same clause, the right rendering being, "Then came
the mother of Zebedee s sons with her sons." The Rheims
preserves the uniformity. The phrase " he is a debtor " occurs
in chapter xxiii, 16, but the same Greek words are rendered
" he is guilty " in verse 18, with " debtor or bound " in
the margin, showing that the variation was no inadvertence.
Tyndale has " offendeth " in both verses, and he is followed by
LIT.] STYLE OF ST. MARK. 403
the Genevan, which has " debtor " in the margin. Coverdale
and the Great Bible read " is giltye " in both places, the
Bishops having "he is a debtor," and the Rheims "he is
bound." What but an excessive desire of rhetorical variation
could have induced the rendering of the same verb in the same
verse by " separate " in the one clause, and " divide " in the
following one, Matt, xxv, 32; or in xviii, 33, "compassion" in the
one clause, and "pity" in the next ; or in xii, 5, "blameless," but
" guiltless " in verse 7. The word rendered " streets " in Mark
vi, 56, is "market" in vii, -i, and, more correctly, "market-place,"
in xii, 38.
A special characteristic of the style of St. Mark is obli
terated by adopting different translations, for the adverb 1
which occurs nine times in the first chapter, and is rendered
" straightway " four times, " forthwith " twice, " immediately "
twice, and " anon " once. At least uniform rendering should
have been preserved; for though the sense is not altered, a
peculiarity of the evangelist s rough and graphic diction is lost
to the English reader. The same adverb occurs often through
the gospel, " immediately " and " straightway " being the com
monest renderings ; but we have also for it " as soon as," in
v JV 36, and xi, 2, while we have " by and bye " in Luke xvii, 7,
and xxi, 9 a phrase which has changed its meaning. Many
other features of the style of this evangelist cannot be easily
reproduced in any version ; such as his accumulation of nega^-
tives, and his use of diminutives. But other peculiarities,
springing out of his vivid and sudden dashes, ought not to be
toned down in any translation. If such clauses appear bold
and jagged in English, they are equally rough in Greek. The
same noun is "broJcen meat" in chapter viii, 8, but "fragments"
in verses 19, 20.
The differences in rendering the same simple Greek term
are quite amazing. The following examples show that every
wrong method has been taken. When it is recorded, in
chapter x, 13, that "they brought young children to him,"
it only confuses the reader to find in the Lord s invitation,
" suffer the little children to come," as if two different terms
404 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
had been employed, and two juvenile classes were in some
way referred to. Our version in this variation follows the
Rheims, which deviates here from its usual accuracy, while
the Genevan and the Great Bible reverse the change, Tyndale
having simply "children," the Bishops "young children," in
both verses ; Coverdale having first " children," and then " the
children."
In Luke the "inn" in chapter ii, 7, is the " guestch amber "
in xxii, 11. Very strangely, the benediction is "blessed be ye"
in vi, 20, and " blessed are ye " in the others ; the words in
italics in our common Bibles are not in italics in the first
edition of 1611. A striking phrase is given thus "thy faith
hath saved thee" 1 in vii, 50, and xviii, 42; but the words are
altered into " thy faith hath made thee whole " in viii, 48, and
xvii, 19, limiting the result to the mere physical restoration,
while the verb may imply that the outer healing was a
sacramental symbol of inner change and blessing. "Uppermost
seats " 2 in xi, 43, is " highest seats " in xx, 46, and first "chief
room" and then "highest room" inxiv, 7, 8. In xix, 13, the lord
says to his servants, "occupy till I come," and then he is
described in verse 15 as summoning these servants that he
might know how much every man had gained by " trading."
The word " occupy " once meant to trade, and " occupation "
is still used in a similar sense, as in Acts xviii, 3; but "trade,"
" trading " should have been given in both places, to make the
sense intelligible to plain readers. 3 The Bishops and the
Rheims preserve the uniformity "occupy" "occupying." The
second Wycliffite version has " chaffare ye " " how much ech
had wonne by chaffaring." The earlier versions exhibit
variety.
In St. John the same term which is rendered "governor of
the feast " in chap, ii, 8, is turned into " ruler of the feast " in
the very next verse. The variation is in Tyndale, but
Coverdale has, in both clauses, "master of the feast," and
the Rheims, " chief steward." Nicodemus says, "we know
that thou art a teacher come from God," in iii, 2, and Jesus,
using the same term, replies to him in verse 10, " art thou
1 crecrwKe ere. 2 TrpuTOKaOfSpia. 3 See page 251.
LII.] ST. PAUL S ADDRESS AT ATHENS. 405
a master in Israel ? " the correspondence of the two state
ments being so far lost by the change of rendering. The
same verb is first " tarry " in the request of the Samaritans
in iv, 40, and then " abode " in the clause which relates
that the request had been granted. The " small fishes in
vi, 9, become simply "fishes" in 11. In vi, 27, 28, the verb
which is translated in the one verse " labour for " is in the
next verse given as " work," and the connection of Christ s
charge, with the question prompted by it, is weakened by
the want of uniformity. The Rheims, after Wycliffe, gives
" work for " in the first instance, and thus keeps the con
nection. In xvi, one verb l has three translations, " have I
spoken " in verse 1 ; " have I told you " in 4 ; and " have
said " in G. In the same chapter, verse 30, the verb is
translated first, "we are sure," and then in the same breath,
" thou knowest, " instead of " now we know that thou
knowest," 2 and there need have been no antipathy to the
characteristic repetition. The verb is first rendered " put "
in one clause, arid then "thrust " in the next, in xx, 25, as if
the impression had been that "thrust," the true meaning,
was not applicable to so small an opening as that made by a
nail. The variation began with Tyndale ; the Genevan and
the Rheims preserve at least uniformity, " put my finger, "-
"put my hand."
In the account of the institution of the " seven almoners " in
Acts vi, " ministration " occurs in verse 1, " serve " in verse 2,
and " ministry " in verse 4, for the same term, verb and noun,
when one rendering might have sufficed. 3 We have, when
the term means to wait at table, such variations as "she
ministered unto them," Mark i, 31, " hath left me to serve
alone," " cumbered with much serving," Luke x, 40. " Serve "
again is used in Luke xii, 37, xxii, 26, and throughout the
Gospel of John. The noun becomes " relief " in Acts xi, 29,
and is correct in sense, though it is an interpretation.
In Acts xvii, delicate points in the apostle s address are
lost by gratuitous change of English words. Some of the
Athenians called him a " setter forth of strange gods," and in
40G THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
his reply he takes up the same term, and says, "Him set I forth
unto you," but our version, by giving " declare I unto you,"
quite obscures the connection. The play upon^two words (18)
is thus lost by a deflected rendering, the one being given as a
" setter forth," and the other "because he preached." The trans
lators might have tried to preserve the likeness of the same verb
compounded with two different prepositions, the one present
ing the Athenian point of view, and the other that of the his
torian. Again, he says, " I found an altar with this inscription,
To the Unknown God," and adopting the strange epithet "un
known," he proceeds, "Him," or "what unknowing ye worship,
set I forth unto you." The reader misses the link through the
translation of the participle by the adverb " ignorantly." The
variation was found in the older translators, the Rheims again
excepted. The verb rendered so vividly, " turned the world
upside down," in xvii, 6, sinks into " madest an uproar " in
xxi, 38. In the same chapter, the famous spot is called first
"Areopagus " in verse 19, and " Mars hill " in verse 21, but an
explanation is given in the margin. In xxvi, 24, 25, the
directness of the apostle s reply is unfelt, because of a tasteless
variation. " Paul, thou art beside thyself," should have been
followed by, " I am not Beside myself, most noble Festus,"
or, " Paul, thou art mad," " I am not mad " the apostle takes
up the taunt, and repeats it in his retort. The variation is
found in the earlier versions, the Rheims again is to be praised
as an exception. The epithet rendered " most excellent " in
Luke i, 3, and in Acts xxiii, 26, becomes " most noble " in
xxiv, 3, as also in xxvi, 25. In xxviii, 15, a proper name is
untranslated, " Appii Forum," but in the next clause another
proper name is given as " the Three Taverns."
In Romans ii, 2, 3, "commit" and "do" represent the same
verb, the variation being found in Tyndale. In v, 2, 3, 11,
occur in succession, the words "rejoice," "glory," "joy," all
standing for the same term, 1 the second rendering alone being
the correct one, and by the change the exultant style is veiled
from the English Protestant reader, the Rheims keeping the
uniform translation. Uniformity of rendering is essential to the
LII.] CONNECTION WEAKENED BY VARIATION. 407
full appreciation of an argument ; vii, 7, " I had not known
lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet," it
being the same Greek term in both clauses, and there being a
special point in the repetition. The older versions keep " lust"
in both clauses, Tyndale, followed by the Great Bible, giving,
in the first clause, " I had not knowne what lust had meant,"
and Coverdale, " I had knowne nothinge of lust." The Bishops
follows the Genevan, " for I had not knowen lust, except the
law had said, Thou shalt not lust." The variation was brought
in by the Rheims through its love of the Latin term con
cupiscence, which had no correspondent verb in English,
" for concupiscence I knew not, unless the law did say, Thou
shalt not covet." The Authorized Version so far followed the
Rheims, and places concupiscence in the margin. The noun
might be rendered " coveting," l as " lust " has now a restricted
signification. In a quotation in x, 19, the same noun is given
as "people" in the one clause and "nation" in the other. In
xi, 22, the same preposition with the very same reference is
rendered in the one clause "on" "on them" and in the
other "toward" "toward thee." The connection between the
quotation and the prayer in xv, 12, 13, is wholly obscured by
translating the verb " trust" in the first instance and its noun
"hope" in the second. 2 It should have been "in Him shall
the Gentiles hope," " Now the God of hope." What good
purpose could be served by rendering the same noun "comfort"
in xv, 4, and "consolation" in verse 5. Tyndale introduced
the variation ; and the Rheims reverses the order, giving
" consolation" in the first clause and " comfort" in the second.
In 1 Cor. iii, 17, the reader misses entirely the retaliatory
nature of the doom predicted, on account of the capricious
change in the translation of the same verb "If any man
defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy." 3 We cannot
understand why such a change should have been made in
words so solemn and pointed. As the man does to the temple,
so God does to him, the sin not only entailing the penalty, but
moulding its form. The Genevan has " destroy " in both
clauses, but our version follows the Bishops , which copies the
403 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAT.
earlier translators. Whatever rendering is adopted in the first
ought to be repeated in the second clause. Even the Rheims
fails here, " But if any man violate the temple of God, God
will destroy him." In x, 16, the theme is the utter incongruity
between fellowship in the eucharist and in the heathen feasts,
but the noun rendered in that verse " communion" of the blood
of Christ "communion" of the body of Christ, becomes in
verse 18, in its personal form, "partakers" of the altar, and
then, in verse 20, " have fellowship with"; while another word
is rightly rendered " partakers" in verses 17. 2 1. 1 In xi, 29, the
noun is wrongly rendered "damnation," 2 and then as wrongly
"condemnation" in verse 34, "judgment," the right translation,
in both cases, being given in the margin. The last word of the
clause "then shall I know, even as also I am known," xiii, 12, is
rendered more correctly in 2 Cor. vi, 9, as "unknown" and "yet
well known." We have in xv, 24-28, the wondrous revelation
of the final issue and change of the mediatorial kingdom, with
a glimpse of what may be called Christian pantheism as the
ultimate result that "God may be all in all." But in these
verses, where uniformity of rendering is so essential to a
correct understanding of the course of thought, the verb ren
dered "put down" 3 in verse 24 is translated "destroyed" in
verse 26, the same action being described in both verses, while
in verses 27, 28, another verb 4 is used no less than six times,
but the English reader is kept in ignorance of the emphatic
repetition, for it is rendered "put under" three times in
verse 27, but in verse 28 it becomes " be subdued," " be sub
ject," "put under." If the apostle selected the term and
deemed it necessary to repeat it as fitting in to his thought,
and did not introduce any variation, why should any version
court variety ? Repetition of the word cannot be worse in
English than it is in Greek written by an inspired apostle
who did not spend time in verbal elaboration or polish.
Though there was no risk of misunderstanding the matter,
yet there was no gain in rendering the same noun by
"collection" in xvi, 1, and by "gathering" in the following
LIL] ST. PAUL S REPEATED USE OF THE SAME TERM. 4Q9
verse, the reverse of Coverdale s order, the Rheims having the
Latin term in both clauses. Our version simply followed the
Bishops , the older version giving " gathering " " gather
ings."
The apostle sometimes carries through a long paragraph
some leading term which gives life and colouring to it. The
word appears and reappears, like a golden thread in a woven
tissue. It is used and used again in his glowing rapidity of
utterance, taken up again and again at every fresh turn. So
long as the train of thought is unexhausted, this characteristic
word is kept hold of, as if the repetition gave strength to the
argument which no mere pronominal reference could supply.
Thus it is in the thirteenth chapter of the first Epistle in a
marked form; the rhythm is sustained while a new note is
struck by the repetition of the noun. So it is also with the
word "wisdom," which runs through the first chapter of the
first epistle, and is ever cropping into view, and so it is often
in the second epistle, as in the beginning of the second chap
ter, where " comfort " is the predominant idea, mentioned and
mentioned again as bearing on himself under peculiar and
unwonted weaknesses and sorrows.
In 2 Cor. i, 3, 4, uniformity of rendering is well preserved
and the Pauline style is at once recognized, but the effect is
soon marred, for "comfort" becomes "consolation" in verse 5,
twice in verse 6, and once in verse 7, while the word rendered
"tribulation" in verse 4 is "trouble" in verse 8. It may be
added, that the translators followed no fixed principle in the
renderings, " affliction" and " tribulations," for " tribulation,"
occurs only in Romans and in the Apocalypse. Though
" comfort " is rightly kept four times in verse 4, " tribulation "
is wrongly changed into " trouble." another Greek word being
employed in verse 7, which is rightly rendered "sufferings."
In the beginning of the second chapter "sorrow" is upper
most; one term occurs seven times, the result of intense
emotion which does not shrink from disclosing itself by such
a monotone of utterance ; but the apostle s characteristic style
is so far hidden, for the term occurring seven times is re
presented by " heaviness," " sorry," " sorrow," " grieved,"
410 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
"caused grief," "grieved," the two last being a translation
of the same tense of the verb in two consecutive clauses.
The word rendered "heaviness" in the first verse is "sorrow"
in the third verse and all through the Epistle. In ii, 16, the
apostle exclaims, under an awful sense of responsibility, " Who
is sufficient for these things," and then, after a short digres
sion, the answer is given in iii, 5, " our sufficiency is of God,"
but the unity of thought is distorted when, in the next clause,
the cognate verb is rendered " who hath made us able minis
ters." Tyndale has " who is mete unto these things ? " ... .
" our ableness cometh from God, which hath made us able
to minister." The same rendering of the prominent terms
should be kept: "our sufficiency" "who hath made us suffi
cient as ministers." Our version has followed the Genevan
throughout.
2 Cor. i, 11, is pervaded by the idea of ministration, and
the version is so far uniform; but in verse 12, the privilege of
free and bold speech is introduced as a distinctive glory of the
apostolate in contrast with Moses and his economy, and then
the term "veil" dominates the next paragraph. "The veil on his
face," " the veil untaken away " in the reading of the Old
Testament ; " the veil upon their hearts," " the veil shall be
taken away," and then in the last verse comes the practical
application of this imagery; the point and beauty of which
are lost by a change of rendering " we all with open face,"
instead of " we all with unveiled face." After he had
spoken to the people Moses veiled his face, 1 a symbol of the
dim and transitory nature of the typical economy, but the
apostles appear ever with unveiled face. The contrast of the
apostles to the veiled prophet is obscured by the rendering
"open face." The idea reappears in the third verse of the next
chapter, but its connection with the previous illustration is
lost again by the change of rendering, for the clause should be
" if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled," &c. ; the " hid " in the
second verse is the right translation of a different term. In v,
6, there is a remarkable contrast stated in these terms, " absent
1 The meaning of Exodus xxxiv, 33, is perverted by the word " till "
printed in italics.
LII.] VARIATIONS WORSE THAN USELESS. 41 1
from the body " " present with the Lord," and in verse 8, the
terms are repeated, " present or absent," but the rendering in
the intermediate verse 6 is " at home in the body," and the
English reader may not perceive that the words " at home " are
represented by the word which is twice given as "present." A
uniform translation should have been kept throughout, even
though it would be difficult to do it. Variations are also found
in the older versions. The thought that fills the apostle s mind
in verses 9, 10, 11, of the same chapter, is that of manifestation,
" made manifest unto you " " made manifest in your con
sciences," but the same verb gets a different rendering in verse
10, and the connection is darkened. The right translation, to
be in harmony with verse 11, should be, " we must all be made
manifest 1 before the judgment seat of Christ." The verb is so
translated in the majority of instances. It is used of our Lord
and his saved ones in Col. iii, 4, and it occurs again and again
in this epistle, "open disclosure," noted and visible exhibition,
without the veil or shadow which belongs to hidden things.
In vi, 18, the point, though not the sense of the pronoun, is
lost by a needless change in the rendering of the preposition,
as if it were a possessive pronoun, " I will be a Father unto
you," and the next clause should have been " and ye shall be
sons and daughters unto me," as both clauses present the same
relationship. In viii, 10, 11, the same infinitive which is
translated " to be forward " in the first verse, is " to will " in
the second ; and the noun which is translated " readiness " in
verse 11, is rendered "a willing mind" in verse 12. These
variations occur also in the older versions with the exception of
the Kheims. In x, 13, 15, 16, the same noun in a compact
paragraph is twice rendered "rule" 2 and then "line of things."
The other versions, as may be expected, vary also; Tyndale and
the Bishops have " rule " in the three cases, the Genevan has
" line " in the last instance, " another man s line," " that is in
the things that are prepared already," and this probably
influenced King James s revisers. In xii, 2, 3, the same verb is
translated " knew " 3 and then " tell," and the process being
olSa, which means " I know." Veitch s Greek Verbs, p. 192.
412 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
immediately reversed, it is next rendered first " tell," and then
" knoweth." In the same chapter, verse 9, the Lord s
answer is " my strength is made perfect in weakness." The
apostle at once snatches up and re-echoes the Lord s last
assuring words, " most gladly therefore will I rather glory in
my weaknesses, that the strength of Christ may rest upon me,"
but the connection and correspondence are masked in the
English version, for " strength " is changed into " power," and
"weaknesses" into "infirmities." Our translators followed the
Bishops ; Tynclale, Coverdale, and the Great Bible preserve the
uniformity.
In Gal. iii, 22, 23, the same Greek term is rendered " con
cluded " in the one verse and "shut up " in the other; the change
from Latin to Saxon was gratuitous, and the literal or Latin
sense of the Greek term is not in common use. Among the
older versionists Coverdale preserves uniformity
In Phil, ii, 13, the participle rendered " that worketh " in
one clause, has, in the other clause, its verb in the infinitive
rendered " to do " the response of man s co-operation to God s
operation is in this way weakened while a different verb is
rendered " work " in the last clause of the previous verse.
In iii, 6, the preposition given as " concerning " in the first
clause becomes " touching " in the second ; and while the
noun is " gain " in verse 7, the verb is rendered " win " in
verse 8.
In 1 Thess. i, the noun rendered " mention " in the first verse
becomes " remembrance " in the second, and in iii, G. The
first rendering occurs four times, and the second three times, in
the Epistles of Paul. The same verb is rendered " came " and
then " were " in verse 5 of the first chapter, " became " in the
following verse, and " were " again in verse 7.
In 2 Thess. ii, G, 7, the neuter participle is given in the one
verse as " what withholdeth," and the masculine participle as
" he who letteth " in the next verse. " Letteth " came in with
Coverdale and the Great Bible of 1539.
In Heb. i, 1, the same term in composition is first " sundry "
and then " divers," the correct sense being " many " " in many
parts and many ways " a vivid description of the origin and
LII.] MORE EXAMPLES. 413
structure of the Old Testament. The reading of the Authorized
Version is that of the Genevan followed by the Bishops . The
last clause of iii, 11, is rendered "they shall not enter into
my rest," and the reader is perplexed by the rendering of
the same clause twice in iv, 3, 5, by these terms, " if they
shall enter into my rest," and is apt to imagine there is
some difference in the Greek. The rendering, " if they shall
enter," l is a literal translation of the Greek, which imitates
the form of the original threatening in Num, xiv, 23, 30,
repeated in Psalm xcv. The idiom, as an intense negation, is
a form of solemn Hebrew oath, and needed not to have been
followed in one place and abandoned in the other places.
Tyndale does not use the conditional form, nor Coverdale, nor
the Great Bible. In Num. xiv, 23, the Authorized Version
has "surely they shall not see," and in Psalm xcv, 11, "that
they should not enter." The Genevan introduced the literal
and unidiomatic imitation, " if they shall enter." The Bishops
followed, and the Rheims reproduced the Latin. The verb
rendered " he hath made old " in the first clause of viii, 13,
has its participle translated in the next clause " decayeth,"
dimming to the reader the connection between statement
and inference. The word which in Acts is twice rendered
" prince " is translated " captain " in ii, 10, and " author " in
xii, 2.
No mere English reader could suppose that in James ii, 2, 3,
" goodly apparel " and " gay clothing " represented the same
Greek phrase, which is also rendered " bright clothing " in
Acts x, 30, where, indeed, as it is the glittering robe of an
angel that is described, neither "gay" nor "goodly" would
have been a suitable epithet. The Authorized Version, in
these places, only followed the example of its predecessors,
the Rheims excepted.
The phrase in 1 Peter i, 7, " at the appearing of Jesus Christ "
passes into a truer version in verse 13, " at the revelation of
Jesus Christ."
In 2 Pet. ii, 1, the genitive noun which appears in the
epithet " damnable " in the first clause, 2 reappears in the
1 ei etVeAewovTcu.
4U THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
accusative in the last clause as " destruction," and again, in
verse 3 as " damnation," the idea of retaliatory penalty being
lost in the alteration. Our translators themselves seem to
have introduced the variation ; the Protestant versions have
" damnable," " damnation," and the Rheims has " perdition "
in both places. According to the text which our translators
preferred, the word again occurs in the first clause of the
second verse, and they vary the rendering by using "per
nicious," but add, in the margin, " lascivious ways, as some
copies read."
In 1 John ii, 20, the noun translated " unction " becomes
" anointing " twice in verse 27. " Unction " was taken from
the Rheims, Wycliffe has " anoyntynge " in both places. In
v, 9, the verb has one rendering and its noun another no less
than three times, so that the idiomatic connection is destroyed.
The clause might have been, " the witness of God which he hath
witnessed concerning his Son."
In Rev. i, 15, the noun used twice in the same clause has
two renderings it should be " his voice as the voice of
many waters." In iii, 17, the adjective rendered "rich"
has its verb translated " increased with goods " in the next
clause. In iv, 4, the same noun in the very same clause is
rendered " throne " and then " seats " " round about the
throne were four-and-twenty seats." The change obscures
the similarity of honour on the part of the redeemed to that
of the Redeemer, according to his own promise in Matt, xix, 28,
" when the Son of Man shall sit on the throne of his glory,
ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones." The change of "throne"
into " seats," as if the honour were too godlike, was brought
in by the Genevan, and followed by the Bishops ; Tyndale,
Coverdale, the Great Bible, and the Genevan Testament of
1557 having "seat" "seats," the Rheims having a strange
variation, the reverse of the Authorized, " and round about
the seate four-and-twentie seates, and upon the thrones four-
and-twentie seniors sitting," following their Vulgate, the
reading also of the Codex Amiatinus. Modern [editions of
the Rheims have been conformed to the Authorized, with
"ancients" also for "elders." In xiii, 13, 14, the same noun
LIT.] HOLD GAGE. 415
is rendered " wonders " and then " miracles," both being mis
translations of a term which really denotes " signs." The term
is inconsistently rendered " sign " in xv, i, " I saw another
sign in heaven," that is, an additional sign, but to any previous
sign the Authorized Version gives no clue. Two signs are in
deed spoken of in xii, 1, 3, but in both the places the translation
is " wonder," and therefore the reference in xv, 1, is really lost.
In xviii, 2, in the one clause a noun is translated " hold," and
in the next clause " cage," as if to bring it into harmony with
" bird " ; and there is an unwarranted variation in the use of
the article, " the hold," " a cage," the words being both indefinite
in the original.
CHAPTER LIII.
the other hand, one English term represents several
Greek words, and many important distinctions sink out
of view. But it is at once to be conceded, that the English
language has not such a wealth of vocables as to supply a
distinct term for every Greek noun or verb. We are therefore
forced to use the same translation for different words in the
original.
Thus three Greek substantives are represented by the one
rendering " net," meaning different shapes of the implement,
and the distinction could only be brought out by the addition
of some epithet. 1 "care," "careth," 2 1 Pet. v, 7, stands for two
Greek words; Matt, xiii, 17, "see" is the translation of two
verbs; 3 "reap" stands for two verbs in James v, 4, 4 and
"know" for two verbs in Acts xix, 15. 5 "Servant" repre
sents seven Greek nouns, which, though distinguishable in
meaning, have not each a distinct English equivalent. In
Luke xvi, 2, 3, the same verb is rendered "said," in verse 5
another verb is rendered "said"; 6 the first verb occurs twice
in verse 6, and twice in verse 7, along with that used in
verse 5. Sometimes, however, a distinction is made, and
in this case it could not be avoided, Acts xxvi, 14, " a
voice speaking unto me, saying." The same English pro
noun represents two different Greek ones in 1 John iii, 3,
"this hope in him," 7 and "as he is pure"; and it would
1 SIKTVOV, ayu.<^)t /3A^crTpoi / , era- 6 ytvwcr/cw, CTT terra//, at.
6 eiVev, AaAei.
/xvau), p.eXei. 7 avros, e/cetvos, the last pronoun
3 iSetv, /^AeTrere. of constant occurrence in the writ-
4 a/wjcravTCov, OepurdvTiav. ings of St. John.
DISTINCTIONS EFFACED. 417
be very difficult to preserve the distinction in English. Two
words are rendered " purse," l the one being a bag, Luke x,
4, the other the girdle, in the folds of which was the pouch,
Matt, x, 9. "Received" stands for two Greek verbs in the same
verse, 1 Thess. ii, 13, but the second might be rendered
"accepted." "Money" 2 represents five Greek nouns, but the
distinction could not be easily kept in all cases, silver money,
bronze money, small coin or change, money sanctioned or
current money applied to the tribute, and money in the sense
of "the useful." "Tribute" represents three nouns, but one
might be given literally as half-shekel, Matt, xvii, 24, 27, the tax
paid for the support of the temple, the piece of money found in
the mouth of the fish, being a stater, sufficing therefore for both
Peter and his Master. It is impossible to find any other than
the one word for the heathen altar in Acts xvii, 23, and for the
Jewish altar so often referred to. We have no word but " bas
ket " to represent, first, one term employed in the miracle of the
feeding of the five thousand, and, second, another term employed
in the miracle of feeding the four thousand, Matt, xiv, 20, xv, 37- 3
The first term is a smaller vessel, like that which the people in
Palestine still carry with them, and the second is a larger vessel.
Nay, the two terms are put in contrast in Matt, xvi, 9, 10, and in
Mark viii, 19, 20, in two successive clauses of the same interro
gation, and " basket " does service for both. The second was
like a "hamper" or "pannier" which meant originally "bread
basket," " panarium," and we have in the Bishops Bible, Job
xxxix, 31, " canst thou fill the basket with his skinne ? or the
fish pannier with his head?" in our version with a very different
rendering, Job xli, 7. The earlier versions do not attempt a
distinction, but the PJieims has " maundes " for the second
word, a term yet preserved in Maundy Thursday. A third
noun, rendered "basket" in 2 Cor. xi, 33, means a receptacle
formed of ropes.
"Brightness" 4 represents three Greek nouns, the first of
<OV7J. 3 KO^tVOS,
dpyvpiov,
VOL. II. 2 D
418 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
which is brightness rayed or flashed out effulgence not reflec
tion, Heb. i, 3 ; the second is the brightness which shines as of
the sun, Acts xxvi, 13; and the third is a mistranslation of a
word which denotes only appearance, 2 Thess. ii, 8.
"Crown" 1 stands for two substantives quite different in
character; the one in its English form is the diadem occurring
three times in Revelation. Thus in xix, 12, where it is the
imperial diadem "on his head are many diadems," that is,
on the head of the royal Conqueror, King of kings, and Lord
of lords. The great Red Dragon, the hieroglyph of the
Prince of Evil, has on his seven heads " seven diadems," and
the portentous organism coming out of the sea, which he in
spires, has also seven diadems, for it represents imperial Rome.
The other term, occurring eighteen times, is the crown or
chaplet, won and worn by the victor ; the crown of righteous
ness, of glory, of life ; and that of gold which the saints cast
at the feet of Him that sits on the throne.
" People " represents four terms of distinct signification, 8
not to be confounded, while it has also the general sense of
populace, or the public, and often as distinct from the rulers.
The first is often applied to the Jewish people as opposed to
the Gentiles, Matt, ii, 6 ; Luke ii, 10, 32 ; Acts xxvi, 23 ; the
second is the enfranchised people in their civil capacity, or as
a regular assembly assembled in the forum, Acts xvii, 5 ;
xix, 30 ; the third, while it has also a general meaning of people
or inhabitants, signifies often, and specially, the Gentiles, Luke
ii, 32; Matt, iv, 15; x, 5; but the noun, which is properly
"multitude," might always preserve its true signification.
" Godhead," in Romans i, 20, Acts xvii, 29, and Colossians
ii, 9, represents three Greek words that in Romans being
different from that found in Acts and Colossians. 3 The first
term, according to its origin, refers to quality, not to essence ;
it is divineness, divinitas ; proved from possession of certain
attributes such as eternity and omnipotence. But the second
term 3 according to its origin, refers to essence deltas, absolute
2 Aaos,
LIII.] SEVERAL EXAMPLES. 419
and personal. This Godhead dwells in Christ, not fractionally,
but in its fulness. This Divine Essence cannot be imaged
out in metal or in marble. Spirituality is lost in the attempt
to make it palpable to sense.
" True " represents two adjectives quite different in meaning,
and for which we have not separate English equivalents. The
one is " true " in the ordinary sense of the epithet, as in John
iii, 33 ; l viii, 17 ; Romans iii, 4 true in contrast to what is
false ; God is true, he cannot lie. But the other term is rather
" genuine " or " real," John iv, 37 all it or he professes to be
the substantial, as opposed to the shadowy, as in Hebrews viii, 2 ;
ix, 24 ; 1 Thess. i, 9, " to serve the living and true God "-
true is opposed to idols or fictitious divinities, " very God."
Archbishop Trench refers to the " very " of the Wycliffite ver
sion, but he might have referred to a more recent date,
within half a century of the present version, as the Genevan
of 1500 has in John xvii, 3, "that they might know theo
to be the onely verie God," in 1 John v, 20, " this same
is verie God and eternal life." Nay, the word is found
several times in the present version, though it does not stand
for this Greek adjective "Genesis xxvii, 21, "my very son
Esau"; Proverbs xvii, 9, " separate th very friends"; and simi
larly s in John vii, 26, and Acts ix, 22.
" Temple " represents three words, which might, however, be
distinguished in a translation. 2 The first is in Luke xi, 51.
where the word is " house " " which perished between the
altar and the house," the altar being in the open fore court,
and the house meaning the sacred edifice itself, rendered
" temple," as in all the older versions ; Wycliffe, however, has
"house." The second term signifies the building itself, the
sanctuary, or the dwelling-place of God. Thus in Matt, xxiii.
35, "between the temple that is, the sanctuary and the altar,
but the altar itself was in the temple, in its larger sense ; Mark
xv, 38, " the vail of the sanctuary," which was the partition
between the holy and the most holy place. The third word
signifies the whole cluster of buildings the precincts, house,
portico, cloisters, and rooms of all sorts all that was within
s. 2 TOV OIKOI , vaos, lepw.
420 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
the holy enclosure Matt, iv, 5, " pinnacle of the temple " ; xxi,
14, "the lame came to him in the temple"; John ii, 14, 15,
" found in the temple them that sold oxen," and " drove them
all out of the temple"; Mark xi, 27, "as he was walking in
the temple." These expressions cannot refer to the sanctuary
properly so called, into which the priests alone could enter,
so that the three terms need not be identified in any English
translation.
" Life " represents two Greek terms, 1 which have distinctive
senses ; the one is physical life as opposed to death, and some
times the divine life eternal life the life of God ; but it is
once rendered "lifetime" in Luke xvi, 25 : the other noun ren
dered " life " meaning course of life, or duration ; " this life,"
Luke viii, 14 ; " our life," 1 Peter iv, 3. It is also given as
" living " that is, means of life, Matt, xii, 44 ; Luke viii, 43 ;
xv, 12, 30, and it is translated "good" "this world s good,"
1 John iii, 17, after all the older versions, and the substantia
of the Vulgate.
It is to be regretted that some distinction was not made
between the neuter in the first clause and the masculine in the
last clause of John i, 11 " He came to his own, and his own
received him not " the first his own possessions, or home,
and the second his own people.
The touching paragraph in John xxi, 15-17, loses, in our
version, no little of its tenderness. The word in Christ s
first two questions rendered " love " is not that used in
Peter s three replies, though it is also rendered " love."
The verb used by Jesus is the one which is uniformly em
ployed to describe man s love to God, and has in it the idea
of awe and devout reverence, which its object must inspire
from His unapproachable majesty. Jesus says by this verb
"Lovest thou me ?" 2 Peter feels that the Master is near him,
that he has forgiven him the denial, that he has restored him
to his old and happy position, and that his affection for him is
therefore not only very fervent, but is the love of a human
heart to a living person, and he answers, "I love thee." 3 The
aya/ras
mi.] OTHER EXAMPLES. 421
question and response are repeated, but the third time Jesus
in gracious condescension uses Peter s own terra, and he replies
at once, " Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I
love thee." And there is another change unmarked in our
version: the charge is, "Feed my lambs, feed my sheep, feed my
sheep." But "feed" in the second charge translates a different
term from that found in the first and third charge, 1 and it
denotes more than feeding the exercise of other parts of the
shepherd s work, folding as well as feeding, protection as well
as guidance to the green pastures and still waters.
" New " represents two different adjectives, and the identity
cannot well be helped. The terms are interchanged both
being applied to " wine," " covenant," and " man." But the
one 2 has the idea of time in it thus, a "new man" is
one who has just been spiritually changed, his spiritual birth
recently past. The second has the additional element of
quality in relation to his former life, when the "old man"
reigned within him. And so with " wine," it may be new
compared with last year s vintage, or new as compared with
itself after time has mellowed it, Matt, ix, 17. So the
covenant may be new in the age of it, as Hebrews xii, 24,
or new in the character of it, compared with the worn-out dis
pensation which preceded it, 3 Hebrews ix, 15. But the adjec
tive rendered "new" in Matt, ix, 1C, is really "undressed," 4 and
might be so rendered. "Raw, or undressed" is in the margin,
after the margin of the Genevan, and a distinction might be
kept in the following clause " they put new wine into fresh
skins."
" Light " represents no less than six different terms. The
first of these 5 is rightly so translated, and it occurs very often,
as may be expected in a revelation which is a light from Him
who is light. The second term, 6 occurring three times, is also
of necessity rendered " light," though it means secondary light
of the moon, or a lamp, Matt, xxiv, 29 ; Mark xiii, 24 ; Luke
xi, 33. The third term, 7 used fourteen times, and eight times
" veos. 3 Katvos. 4 ayi/a</x>s.
422 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
rendered " candle," and six times " light," should rather be
" lamp" " the lamp of the body is the eye : if therefore thine
eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light." The
fourth term 1 is "lamp," or "torch," rendered "lights" in Acts
xx, 8, seven times "lamp," and once "torches." The fifth term 2
is properly " luminary " "light-giver," as in Philippians ii, 15,
and Rev. xxi, 11. Compare Genesis i, 14-16. The phrase
" her light " in the last passage is, as has been remarked, veiy
ambiguous. It might mean the light shed by the city, whereas
it is what the light shed upon it. Another noun, 3 translated
" light," certainly, as its form implies, means " enlightenment "
2 Cor. iv. 4, " the enlightenment of the gospel of the glory of
God " ; " the enlightenment of the glory of God," 6. In
these cases the enlightenment is not knowledge possessed by
the apostles themselves, but the effect of instruction given by
them to others.
The following monosyllabic particles simply, or in com
position, have a wide representative sweep, often vague
and miscellaneous, and often giving the sense in spite of the
variations. Thus " at" represents 11 Greek particles, " of" 13,
in" 14, "on" 9, "by" 11, "with" 13, "for" 13, "about" 5,
"after" G, "upon" 7, "from" 6, "above" 5, "over" 8,
" against " 10, " into " 6, "among " 11, " toward " 6, " through "
0, "till" 7. "Afterwards" represents 6 Greek adverbs or
conjunctions, "and" 9 Greek terms, "always" 8, "nevertheless"
5, "though" 8, "so" 10, "also" 6, "but" 12, "yet" 10,
"wherefore" 12, "while" 8, "therefore" 13, "save " 5, " because"
9. " For " represents 5 Greek conjunctions, " as " 20 Greek
terms closely allied to each other, " even " represents 6 Greek
particles, and " even as " the same number.
Some of the common verbs do service for a great variety of
Greek terms. Thus, apart from several idiomatic uses, such
as "come down," " come nigh," "come by," &c., "come" serves
for 32 different Greek terms, but in this way the sense is often
obscured ; " depart " for 21 terms, several of them compounds
of the same verb. Apart from similar idiomatic uses, such as
LIII.] CLUSTERS OF INSTANCES.
"give audience," "give heed," &c., give represents 14 Greek
verbs, six of them allied to one another, but as many having
no connection. "Make" represents 13 Greek verbs, and is over
70 times employed as auxiliary to nouns and other verbs, as
"make ashamed," "make war," "make merry," "make melody,
"make whole," "make ado," "make mad," &c. "Receive" re
presents 17 Greek verbs, and is used in other ways, "to receive
damage," "law," "seed," and as auxiliary of other verbs. "Go"
.stands for 16 Greek verbs, apart from its employment in such
phrases as "go abroad," "go astray"; "go out" representing 5
verbs, "go up" 4, and "go about" 6. "Abide" represents 10 Greek
verbs. " Speak " stands for 8 Greek verbs, apart from such
uses as in the phrases " speak out," " speak with," " speak
against," which does service for 2 verbs, " speak before " for 2,
and " speak evil " for 3. " Stand " represents 7 Greek verbs,
several of which are connected in origin, besides other forms,
such as " stand in doubt," " stand round about," &c. " Leave "
represents 9 Greek verbs, 4 of which are of common origin.
" Take " represents 21 Greek verbs, besides being found in such
phrases as " take care," " take counsel," "take thought," &c. ;
" take heed " represents 2 verbs, " take away " 1 verb with 5
compounds, " take up " represents 8, and " understand " 9.
" Show " represents 20 verbs, and is in many cases an inappro
priate rendering, the various meanings and shades of meaning be
ing wholly neglected. " Lay" stands for 8 Greek verbs, besides
being used in such phrases as " lay aside," " lay down," " lay
on," "lay even with the ground," "lay up," which represents 8
different verbs, and " lay wait." " Kill " represents G different
Greek verbs, which are also rendered by "slay." "Keep"
represents 12 Greek verbs, besides being used in such phrases
as "keep the feast," "keep back," "keep silence," "keep close,"
"keep company." "Behold" represents 12 Greek verbs, "break"
9, "call" 12, "carry" 7, "catch" 9, " change " 8, " continue "
13, besides such renderings as " continue in," and " instant in "
or "with," "command " stands for 8, "declare" 14, "deliver" 11,
" consider " 11, " bring" 13, "bring forth " 15, apart from such
renderings of other verbs as "bring again," "bring down,"
" bring low," " out," " safe," " together," " up," and " upon," &c.
424 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
" Appoint " represents 10 Greek verbs, several of which are of
common origin.
" Stranger " represents five words, having the same general
meaning, with specific shades of signification.
Of the four words rendered " punishment," the first is satis
faction as a matter of right and justice, 1 Peter ii, 14; the
second is infliction of penalty, Matt, xxv, 46; the third is
originally damages assessed upon a citizen, 2 Cor. ii, 6; and
the last is castigation, Hebrews x, 29. "Serve" stands for
four verbs, of which one signifies specially divine service; 1
"service" stands for three nouns, two of which belong to the
verb just referred to, and the other is often used with a hallowed
limitation. 2 In James i, 17, "gift" 3 represents two Greek
nouns generically the same, the Genevan has for the first
word "every good giving."
This translation of several Greek terms by the one English
term does not characterize nouns to the same extent. But
"child" represents 6 terms, "judgment" 8, "mind" 7, "destruc
tion" 4, "disease" 4, "world" 4, "offence" 4, "power" 0,
"raiment" 5, "robe" 4, "tempest" 4, "work" 5, "end" 5,
"light" 6, "lust" 4, "man" 4, apart from such phrases as "a
man," " no man," " any man," " every man," " a certain man,"
&c., "country" 5, "craft" 4, and "garment" 4. The following
represents each three Greek nouns, " dearth," " conversation,"
"damsel," "gain," "curse," "flood," "fruit," "fellow," "minis
ter," "slaughter," and "wave." Two Greek nouns are both
rendered " unbelief," the first of them uniformly and correctly,
and the second of them is three times rendered, as it ought to
be, " disobedience," but as often " unbelief." " Then," 4 in John
xi, 12, 14, represents two different Greek adverbs, the one tem
poral and the other logical. There are four words rendered
" likewise," and the meaning is well given " in like manner."
The adverb which occurs so often, is used only in this sense in
the New Testament, but as in modern English it simply means
" also," its scriptural meaning is often overlooked. In this case
4 ovv, so common in St. John,
2 Xarpeia. might be, in very many cases, distin-
3 Sdo-is, Swprj/jia. guished from rorf, in translation.
LIIL] CHILD CHILDREN. 495
a fuller form of translation might now be given, especially in
all places where "also" and "likewise" are found in the same
verse, as Heb. ii, 14, "as the children are partakers of flesh
and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same,"-
not only "also" but "likewise" in the very same way.
Of the words rendered "child," one is "babe" 1 and is four
times so rendered, once " young children," once " child " in
2 Tim. iii, 15, in reference to Timothy, and in Acts it refers to
the Hebrew babes cast into the Nile. The diminutive " little
child " 2 is often so rendered, but it is simply " children " in the
account of the two miraculous banquets, and it becomes " dam
sel" in Mark v, 41, the epithet applied to the daughter of
Jairus. A third term is rightly rendered "babe" 3 in the
Gospels, but is also rendered " child " seven times, the word
having also a figurative signification, as in Matt, xi, 25, xxi, 16.
1 Cor. iii, 1. A fourth term is uniformly rendered "little
children"; 4 and a fifth, "child," 5 "children," used more than
ninety times, is sometimes translated "son," as in Luke xv, 31,
xvi, 25, and is applied to Timothy, though it might be translated
"child" in most of the places, as in 1 Cor. iv, 14, "my beloved
children," and in verse 17, "Timotheus, who is my beloved child."
In fact, our version sometimes renders the term which ought
to be "sons" by "children," and sometimes that which ought
to be "children" by "sons," and thus obliterates an important
distinction between John and Paul, the former only using
"child" as applied to believers, and the latter "sons." The
two last words are identified in 1 Cor. xiv, 20, and the point is
lost in our version, "Be not children in understanding, howbeit
in malice be ye children," whereas the sense is "howbeit in
malice be ye babes." The Authorized Version has very pro
perly "children" in the margin of 1 Peter iii, 6, where it has
in the text " daughters," the true rendering being " Sarah, of
whom ye became children." The English translation suggests
the wrong idea, that by imitating Sarah s example they would
earn the title of Sarah s dauhters. The translation of another
3 VI^TTI
4 Tf.KVlQV. 5 TCKVOV.
426 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
term varies between "child" and "servant," it being once
" menservants," three times " son," once " young man," and
twice " maiden," " maid." The term certainly means children,
male and female, in all the ages of childhood, and as certainly
it means sometimes also "servants," our word "boy" having a
similar ambiguity. The higher sense of service also belongs to
it, as applied twice to David in Luke i, 69, and Acts iv, 25 ; to
Israel in Luke i, 54, to the predicted Messiah in Matt, xii, 18,
and to Jesus in Acts iii, 13, 26 ; and in those last places it
should be rendered "servant," 1 the reference being to the
Messianic or official character. The epithet is never used of
the apostles. " Son" might be preserved even where it is now
rendered "child," as in the Hebrew idiom "sons of the bride-
chamber," "sons of the kingdom," " Zebedee s sons," for we
have "Peter and the two sons of Zebedee," "sons of this world";
but "children of Israel" is a phrase too familiar to be easily
changed.
Two words are rendered "immortality," 2 but one is properly
"incorruptness" or "incorruptibility," in Komans ii, 7, and
2 Tim. i, 10.
"Sickness" represents three terms, which all signify indis
position or chronic debility. One is actual ailment and is
often rendered " diseases," a second is rendered " sickness,"
and a third may mean the weakness caused by sickness, as in
Luke vii, 10, and it is often rendered " infirmity." Its adjective
is an epithet applied to conscience, and could not well be
rendered " sick," 1 Cor. viii, 7, and to a brother possessed of
slender knowledge and feeble self-regulative power, verse 11.
The very unfortunate translation of "beasts" 3 in the Apoca
lypse has often been noticed. These " living " ones were com
posite or cherubic creatures stationed in the immediate presence
of God, "in the midst of the throne, and round about the
throne," Kev. iv, 6 forms of life ever in fellowship with the
absolute Life, the throned Lifegiver. The other " beasts " 4 of
the same book are symbols of dark and terrible earth-powers,
1 TTOUS. 4 6i]piov " beast," or " monster,"
2 d<t)6ap(Tio., dOavaaia. occurring over thirty-five times.
LIII.] DIE AND DEAD CONFOUNDED.
noted for rebellion and persecution, for ferocious impiety, and
for an awful and ominous downfall and penalty. The Rhemists
must have been under a strong delusion, for in their Latin
copy they had " animal ia " and " bestia," and our own revisers
had " living creatures " in the first chapter of Ezekiel. Perhaps
the translation was suggested by the form of these animal
figures the lion, ox, eagle, and man, wrought into one figure,
emblems frequent in all the oriental forms of worship.
Two adjectives are both rendered "poor." The one occurs
only once in 2 Cor. ix, 9, and means a poor man, a pauper, and
also several times in the Septuagint ; but the other term
means beggars in Luke xvi, 20, 22, while another participle
is used in John ix, 8.
"Dead" 1 represents two Greek words which vary in signifi
cation. There is the simple verb used only in the perfect, and
its commoner compound, which means "to die." The simple
verb is usually translated "dead." The compound is often
and rightly rendered by "die." The aorist cannot often be
rendered in this way, Mark v, 35, or Luke viii, 49, where
the perfect is used. But in Luke xvi, 22, and in the story
told to Christ of the luckless woman seven times widowed,
in Luke xx, the proper translation is preserved, and it
would have been better to have preserved this rendering in
John vi, 49, 58, " Your fathers ate manna in the wilderness
and died," as is done in viii, 21, "ye shall die in your sins,"
and in many other places. In Rom. vi, vii, viii, this is the proper
rendering, not "is" or "are dead," but "died": "we died to sin,"
"died to the law," 2 Cor. v, 14; "if one died for all, then all
died," Galatians ii, 19; Colossians ii, 20, "if ye died with
Christ"; rightly in 2 Cor. vi, 9, "as dying, and behold we live."
The adjective, 2 however, refers to the state, and is always ren
dered " dead."
Two words are rendered "world" without distinction; the
one is " world " always, but with varying senses as the globe,
the population upon it, especially as now conditioned by sin
a.TroOv>ja-Ku>. putting to death of Jesus ; what put
ve/fpwcrts is more than Jesus to death was ever expected to
" the dying "2 Cor. iv, 10, is the seize and martyr them.
428 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
and alienation from God. The other, meaning " age," oftenest
occurs in a temporal sense, as in the phrase, "for ever and
evermore," &c., and is also sometimes rendered " world," as in
Matt, xii, 32; Mark iv, 19 ; Luke xx, 34 ; 1 Cor. i, 20; 2 Cor.
iv, 4. It would be impossible to put "age" in many of the
places, or to give it an ethical sense. We have also the two
words in one clause in Eph. ii. 2, "according to the course of
this world." l
" Will " is at once the auxiliary in the formation of the
English future, but it also represents two different Greek
verbs, 2 so that the distinction cannot be always marked by the
English reader. Thus in Matt, xi, 27, " and he to whomsoever
the Son will reveal him " reads like a simple future, but it
is to whom the Son willeth to reveal him. In some cases, the
rendering is " would " (Acts xvii, 20). " would know," and
sometimes it is " intended " (Acts xii, 4), and " disposed "
(1 Cor. x, 27). " They that will be rich," is really "they that
would be, or desire to be, rich," 1 Tim. vii, 9. So with the
second Greek verb in Matt, v, 40, " If any man will sue thee
at the law," is not a supposed future occurrence, as the Eng
lish might imply, but, " if any man would sue thee." In
Matt, xvi, 24, " If any man willeth to come after me " his
own volition and purpose being contained in this verb. The
use of " would " might tend to remove the dubiety in Matt,
xv, 32 ; xix, 17, 21 ; xx, 14 ; Mark x, 43. 3 John viii, 44,
is no mere prediction "The lusts of your father ye will
do," but it is "ye will to do." Acts vii, 28, "Wilt thou kill
me?" is no simple future, but is "wiliest thou to kill me?"
Matt, xv, 32, " I will not send them away fasting," better,
" I would not send them." Twice the phrase occurs, " I will
1 Kooyws, cuwv. instances 110 question of Greek is
" (3ovXo/j.a.L, 0eAw. MeAAw, fol- involved." Surely the mere future
lowed by an infinitive, is often of a Greek verb does differ from
rendered as a simple future, while a finite verb connected with an in-
its more distinctive sense might be finitive following. Philology of the
in many cases preserved, as is doiie English Tongue, p. 203, Oxford,
in John iv, 47. 1871.
3 Mr. Earle says " that in these
LIII.] WEEP, SERVANT, JUDGE. 429
have mercy," Matt, xii, 7, Romans ix, 15, but with a wide
difference of meaning. In the first place it is, " I desire mercy
and not sacrifice," on the part of man ; in the second case,
the phrase is the simple future, an expression of God s sove
reign procedure.
"Weep " represents two verbs/ the one of which is of common
occurrence, and is once rendered " bewail " in Rev. xviii, 9 ;
the other 2 occurs only once, and in that shortest and most
memorable verse, "Jesus wept," John xi, 35. Such averse,
so familiar, so pregnant with assurance of His fellow-feeling,
it would be, perhaps, impossible to alter. The other verb
is applied to Mary and the Jews ; Jewish mourners wail rather
than weep, and in the midst of this demonstrative sorrow, and
in sympathy with it, His bosom heaved, His eye filled, and
Jesus shed tears. " Strong crying and tears " in Heb. v, 7,
are associated apparently in reference to the agony of
Gethsemane.
" Servant," in the parable in Matt, xxii, represents two
different words first, the class that summoned the invited
guests, human agents, verses 3, 4, 8, and 10 ; and then the
class that execute the penal sentence, and are angelic ministers.
The distinction between " servant " and " minister " is found
in Tyndale, the Great Bible, the Genevan of 1557, and the
Bishops , but was obliterated by Coverdale and by the Genevan
of 1560. The Authorized Version is without excuse, for in
Mark x, 43, 44, it has both " minister " and " servant."
The word "judge " represents three allied Greek verbs, and
puzzles the reader in 1 Cor. xi, 81, 32, " for if we would judge
ourselves, we should not be judged," " but when we are judged,
we are chastened of the Lord." 3 The verb means "discerned,"
" if we had discerned ourselves we should not be judged," and
the term is so rendered in verse 29,. " not discerning the Lord s
body." In verses 32 and 34 the words " condemned," " con
demnation," stand for two different words, the former of which 4
is properly rendered, but the latter 5 is only judgment, and the
"
3 el yap eavrous SlCKpivoftfV, OVK av f.KpLv6p.e6a.
4 K(j.Ta.KpL9o>/j.ev. 5 Kpt /za, as in verse 29.
430 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
verb is properly translated in Romans ii, 1 and 3. " Judge "
stands for two verbs, single and compound, in 1 Cor. iv, 3, 4, 5,
" It is a small thing that I should be judged of you," " He that
judge th me is the Lord," " Therefore judge nothing before the
time"; but the compound verb used in 3 and 4 does not mean
" to judge," but to inquire into 1 (compare 1 Cor. x, 27, where
it is given as " asking no question "). Its noun 2 signifies
a preliminary examination before a judge, Acts xxv, 20, like
what in Scottish law is called a " precognition." Similar mis
translations occur in 1 Cor. ii, 15, though a better translation
is given in the last clause of the previous verse "discerned."
" Wash " represents three Greek verbs, two of which may be
distinguished as they occur in John xiii, 10, rendered in our
version as in the older versions, "He that is washed needeth not
save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit" Jesus washed
the feet of his disciples, Peter objected, but cried in the end,
" not my feet only, but also my hands and my head," and the
reply of Jesus is in the words quoted. But the first verb 3
employed signifies the application of water to the whole body,
as with the dead body of Dorcas according to Jewish ritual,
Acts ix, 37, in the proverb quoted in 2 Peter ii, 22, and in Heb.
x, 23, and Rev. i, 5. It means therefore to bathe, and the
other verb 4 means to wash a part of the body, as the face,
Matt, vi, 17, the hands, Mark vii, 3, and the feet as in this
paragraph, " He who is bathed needeth not save to wash his
feet," as his feet touching the floor after he comes out of the
bath may contract impurity. The third verb 5 is usually
connected with things, such as nets, Luke v, 2, robes, Rev. vii,
14, and according to another reading in Rev. xxii, 14.
The adjective "other" represents two distinct words, and
these occur together in Gal. i, 6, 7, " so soon removed from him
that called you unto another gospel, which is not another."
The first epithet denotes distinction among individuals, and the
second difference of kind, being so soon removed to a different
gospel which, however, is not "another" or additional gospel;
vaKpivif.
Aovw.
LIII.] REMISSION PRETERMISSION. 431
and similarly in 2 Cor. xi, 4, and 1 Cor. xv, 39, 40, 41. In the
last place, the first adjective refers to things of different classes,
generically different as celestial and terrestrial, and the second
to objects of the same class, sun, moon, and stars.
" Remission" stands for two Greek nouns, the one of which
occurs only once in Romans iii, 25, l the other is six times
rendered "forgiveness" and nine times "remission." The first is
rightly rendered in the margin of Romans iii, 25, "passing-
over" it is not remission, but pretermission. The meaning is,
God set Christ forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his
blood, for a declaration of His righteousness on account of the
prsetermision in the forbearance of God of the sins that went
before. This long interval, prior to the advent of Christ, had
witnessed no adequate exhibition of God s wrath against sin,
therefore now, or " at this time," there was a very signal and
awful manifestation of it in the blood of his Son. None of
the early versions indicate the difference.
The translation in Romans xii, 2, " be not conformed ....
but be transformed," would lead the English reader to imagine
that the Greek terms so rendered are the same verb com
pounded with different prepositions. But the verbs are very
different in form altogether " fashioned .... transformed."
Two different terms 2 are both rendered "burden" in Gal. vi,
2, " bear ye one another s burdens," and verse 5, " every one
shall bear his own burden." The first is " loads " which others
in sympathy may help to carry ; the second is the individual
burden which each must carry for himself, sin, weakness,
responsibility. The earlier English versions do not attempt to
mark the distinction ; the Vulgate has onus in both cases, and
the Rheims therefore translates both substantives by "bur
den."
"Repent" represents two verbs, 3 which occur together in
2 Cor. vii, 10, " Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation
not to be repented of." Both verbs are always rendered
"repent," though there is a very important distinction between
them. The one is a term of deeper meaning and really
1 Trapecrts, a</>e<jis. pa/Wf, (ftoprtOV. 3 yueravoeco,
432 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
denotes change of mind, and in the New Testament the
profound and vital change; while the other term is more
superficial in nature, though it sometimes approaches the other
in meaning. It is rather regret, " a repentance unto salvation
not to be regretted," or remorse, as in the case of Judas, Matt,
xxvii, 3. As Bengel remarks, " the first verb is put in the
imperative, the second never."
In James i, 1-5, " bringeth forth" represents two different
verbs ; l " lust, when it hath conceived, bringeth forth sin : and
sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." The first is
rightly rendered, the image being that of the mother; but, in
the second clause, sin, when it is perfected, begetteth death,
the image is that of the father. "Wycliffe and the Rheims,
following the Latin, make a distinction by " conceived " and
" gendreth," but the distinction is not imitated by any of the
other versions.
The two verbs meaning generally "to do" and "to make"
may be often distinguished in translation ; 2 and several words
referring to speech might be kept distinct. 3 Other terms closely
allied in meaning, 4 and different verbs connected with vision. 5
might also be marked. The rendering " I know" in Acts xix,
15, represents two different Greek verbs, which may and ought
to be, distinguished. Canon Lightfoot proposes, " Jesus I
acknowledge, and Paul I know." It would be difficult to
preserve the distinction in any translation of 2 Cor. v, 16.
" Hell " represents two very different Greek nouns, Hades
and Gehenna, the first of which is rendered " grave" in 1 Cor.
xv, 35, where it is personified, and it sometimes approaches in
sense to Gehenna, as in Matt, xi, 23, and in Luke xvi, 23. But
it often means the other or spirit-world, the region of disem
bodied spirits, as in Acts ii, 27, 31, and in the Apocalypse,
when death ceases, Hades comes to an end. Could "Hades" not
now be naturalized ? Is its meaning so well known that it
might take its place in an English Bible ? Hell, with the
1 Tt/cro), aaroKVt w. 4 rrypew, <t>Aacrcrto atreo), e/XiH
2 TTOieco, Trpdcrcro). rtxw.
:i AaAew, Aeyw, erTrov. 5 ^/SAeTrw, opd(D } Gewpew, 6edo/J.ai.
Lin.] DEVIL DEMON. 433
popular conception of it, is in many places a sad mistransla
tion. The older versions did not attempt to make any dis
tinction.
"Devil" represents two terms, the one of them, the Greek form
of the word " devil," occurs at least thirty-five times, and the
other is the term " demon," the masculine form of which occurs
only five times in the Received Text, but two of the instances
are more than doubtful. The neuter form is the common one,
especially in the Gospels, where it is found over fifty times,
while in the succeeding books it occurs eight times. In Acts
xvii, 18, it is rendered "gods." The correspondent verb is
found only in the Gospels, and there thirteen times, and it is
usually rendered "possessed with," or " of the devil" or "devils,"
and in John, where it is found only twice, the rendering is
" that hath a devil." On the other hand the term "devil" has
a literal and human application, as in John vi, 70, where,
without the article, it is applied to Judas; in 1 Tim. iii, 11,
where it occurs in the plural, and is translated " slanderers " ;
and in 2 Tim. iii, 3, and Titus ii, 3, where it is rendered " false
accusers." But it has a special and emphatic use "the devil"
never in the plural and always with the article, one being
and one only having the terrible pre-eminence. The "demons"
are spirits, " unclean," " evil," but he is Satan, the Tempter,
the Enemy, the Adversary, the god of this world, the prince
of this world, who has the power of death, the Old Serpent,
the Great Dragon who deceiveth the world. Certain men are
said to have these demons, to be demonized, or to be mobbed by
them, Luke vi, 18, and the result of Christ s power was that the
unclean spirit "came out," " Come out and enter no more into
him." Possession was disease like epilepsy, for the victim was
"healed " ; and some kind of insanity, for the "right mind " was
restored. But it was something more, the intrusion of an alien
force into the nervous system, impeding sensation, so that the
patient was deaf and dumb, with perfect organs but without
power to use them, his will overlorded by an alien might, 1
which created the confusion of an apparently dual consciousness.
The rendering of the two distinct terms by the same word,
VOL. II. 2 E
434 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
obliterates a very marked distinction to the English reader.
The Wycliffite versions are not uniform, as in Matt xii, 24, both
have " fiends," but in verse 27, " If I by Belzebub cast out
devils." If Tyndale had ventured to introduce " demon," it
would long since have been naturalized; and even now the
distinction being generally understood, it might be safely intro
duced into an English version for personal and public reading.
"Miracles" stands for two terms, 1 which are occasionally
confounded, while another noun always used in the plural is
rendered " wonders." This first name is never directly given
to any of Christ s miracles in the Gospels. It is once so em
ployed along with the other terms in Acts ii, 22, to characterize
Christ s miracles ; and those done by the apostles, Heb. ii, 4 ;
also those done by the man of sin, 2 Thess. ii, 9. The English
term " miracle " is not very significant of the character of
Christ s supernatural works, for the element of wonder was the
least characteristic element in them : it was like the tolling of
the bell to summon the people to worship. The second term
denotes power, or the element of power inherent in those
miracles. It is often translated " mighty works " in the sjiiop-
tical Gospels, and in the other parts of the New Testament.
But when used as a nominative, Mark vi, 14, the sense is, " the
powers do work in him," and not " mighty works do show
forth themselves in him." But the meaning of the word is
completely lost when it is vaguely rendered " miracles " in
Mark ix, 39; Acts ii, 22; viii, 13; xix, 11, &c. "Mighty
works " should have been given in all these places. The third
term, " sign," is the highest and most suggestive of all, and
it is vaguely and variously rendered. The miracle was a
" sign," or token of divine interposition, and that is the primal
distinction. But the meaning and significance are quite lost
by its being rendered more than twenty times " miracles," once
in Luke xxiii, 8, and twelve times in John, so that one charac
teristic element of the style of the fourth Gospel is obliterated,
" sign " being John s favourite term for Christ s divine deeds,
which are never called by him in themselves works of power
or of wonder. In the places of the three Gospels where
1 repots, Si va/zt?, cnj/xetov.
LIII.] MIRACLE SIGN, WONDER. 435
the word has its ordinary meaning, it is uniformly rendered
" sign," and it should have been kept throughout. It is given
in John xx, 30, as " signs " " many other signs truly did
Jesus," and the question may be asked, What and where are
the " other signs," for they get no such name in the previous
chapters. The point of many a passage is thereby lost. The
mistranslation or variation was introduced on purpose, for
four times the rendering is " sign " when the reference is to
miracles in John; and it is also rendered "wonders" three times
in Revelation, and the rendering introduces confusion. In the
other books it is rendered capriciously, in Matthew and Mark
it is only " sign," in Luke " sign " ten times, " miracle " once, in
Acts "sign " seven times, " miracle " five times ; in the Epistles,
"sign" eight times, and "token" once in 2 Thess. iii, 17. 1
It is all but impossible to represent an anakolouthon in a
version, or any of the paronomasia, such as are met with in
Matt, xxi, 41; Luke xxi, 11; Acts viii, 30; xvii, 25; Horn, xii, 3;
1 Cor. vii, 31; xii, 2; 2 Cor. i, 13; iii, 2; v, 8; x, 12; xii, 4;
2 Thess. i, G; iii, 11; Eph. v, 15; Heb. v, 8; or such related
terms as are found in Matt, xvi, 18 ; and 1 Tim. i, 8. In a
few cases there is some imitation of the assonance of the
original. The fulness of sense usually evaporates, when a
verb governs a cognate word. Compare Luke ii, 8 ; Eph. iv, 8;
Col. ii, 19; 1 Tim. vi, 12; 1 Peter iii, 14; Rev. xvii, G. But the
connection between the symbol and the gift is not and cannot
be kept in John xx, 22, " he breathed on them, and said,
Receive ye the Holy Spirit (Breath)." Nor can a like connec-
1 It would scarcely be possible Tra/Da/cA^ros is neither " comforter
to give a distinct meaning to eowia nor " advocate" in the modern sense
and Sura/its though " authority " is of those words, and there is no single
the sense of the first, and "power English term that covers it. " Com-
of the second ; the first is often ren- forter " is also an active rendering of
dered " power," but the second never a passive form. "A time accepted,
" authority." Two allied adjectives and " the accepted time " stand
are distinguished one, crap/avos, for distinct but closely connected
which occurs only once, being reu- adjectives, 2 Cor. vi, 2. ApvLov,
dered " fleshy," 2 Cor. iii, 3, while and a/xi os used four times, and
crapKiKos is often translated " car- always of Christ, cannot be distiii-
nal," and twice " fleshly. " But guished in an English translation.
436 THE ENGLISH BIBLE.
tion be marked in 2 Cor. i, 21, " He that stablisheth us with
you in Christ (the Anointed) and anointed us is God." Every
English reader above the intellectual level of Davus must of
necessity suppose that " teach "...." teaching," Matt,
xxviii, 19,20; "kept," .... " kept," John xvii, 12; "sounds,"
.... "sounds," 1 Cor. xiv, 7; "came" .... "came "in
36 ; " made "...." made," 2 Cor. v, 21 ; " ministering,"
. . . . "minister," Heb. i, 14, represent respectively the
same Greek words repeated in those verses quoted. But it
is not so. And, on the other hand, Davus himself, if he were
only partially awake, could not but imagine that "release"
and " let go," John xix, 12, represent different Greek verbs,
and that "nigh" and "near," Matt, xxiv, 32, 33, "perfect"
and "throughly furnished," 2 Tim. iii, 17, are put down to
render different words in the original. Perhaps he might say,
as some have said, that though Jesus forbids the use of the
ejaculation, " Thou fool," Matt, v, 22, he yet employs it
himself, " O fools," Luke xxiv, 25. But the identity is only in
the English version. And he must be startled to find Jesus
saluting the traitor Judas as " friend," Matt, xxvi, 50, " friend "
being the uniform rendering of a very different Greek term.
CHAPTER LIV.
HPHE translators were guided by no fixed principle in dealing
with the Greek article. Yet it ever serves its own pur
pose in the original, and is to be rendered in all cases, save
where the English idiom forbids it. The translation of it is
impossible, indeed, in the case of abstract nouns and proper
names, such as "wisdom," Matt, xi, 19; "sin," Romans vii, 8;
"nature," 1 Cor. xi, 14; "death," xv, 21; "God," as in 1 Thess.
i, 9, though the article is there significant. As the article is
used by us only in some nominal epithets, as " the apostle,"
" the evangelist," it may be doubted whether the English ear
would bear such a literal rendering as " the weeping, the
gnashing of teeth," Matt, viii, 12. It might stand before the
first three nouns in Matt, xxiii, 23, but not so well before the
three last. So that the presence and absence of the article
cannot be well, or at least uniformly, marked in English. The
phrase "Holy Spirit," when used in an objective sense, as de
noting the Spirit in Himself, has commonly the article in Greek,
but wants it when used in a subjective sense, as referring to
His gifts or influences. There are many examples. There are
many irregularities : 1 Thess. v, 5, " ye are all the children of
light and the children of the day," and yet neither substantive
has the article ; and we have in the next clause, " we are not
of the night nor of darkness," both nouns being again without
the article. Somewhat similarly in the publican s prayer,
" Be merciful to me a sinner," Luke xviii, 13, where the article
should be translated, for the suppliant singles out himself in
his profound emotion, and he knew also that he was pointed
at, from his class and profession, as " the sinner." John iii, 10,
438 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
Art thou a teacher ?" "the teacher?" specializing his repute
and authority. In 1 Thess. v, 8, "faith, love, salvation," as being
terms familiar and definite, have no article, and, by correlation,
the preceding substantives also dispense with it, though it may
appear in an English version, as in Matt, i, 1. It is the same
when in connection with nuncupative verbs (Matt, v, 9). The
English does not need the article in some cases, as Luke xi, 7,
in bed"; Matt, xi, 29, "in heart." A singular or plural
denoting a whole race or class has the article, though it is not
needed in English, and English usage sometimes renders the
translation of it unnecessary, as " man," Matt, iv, 4. Compare
Matt, v, 13; ix, 8; John ii, 25. The indefinite as well as the
definite English article may be used in a clause where an
individual represents a class, though the article is employed
in Greek. Our translators took full license, and used both
forms, but oftenest they ignore the definite article : Matt.
xiii, 3, "a sower"; John xvi, 21, "a woman"; 1 Tim.
iii, 2, "a bishop"; Matt, xv, 11, "a man"; x, 1C, "wise as
serpents, harmless as doves"; Luke xxii, 31, "to sift you as
wheat"; Ephes. v, 24, "wives": 25, "husbands"; vi, 1, "chil
dren " ; 5, " servants " ; 9, " masters " ; 1 Cor. vii, 34, " a wife
and a virgin," where the article might have been rendered. If
it was thought that in such cases the article might be omitted
in English, the rule was not carried out, for we have in Luke
x, 7, "the labourer"; 2 Cor. xii, 14, "the children," "the
parents " ; in Galatians iv, 1, " the heir." The rendering of the
article, as in these instances, is very capricious. In Matt,
xxvii, GO, the correct translation given is "hewn out in the
rock," yet it is in Mark xv, 46, " hewn out of a rock." But
they are perpetually turning their back upon themselves.
Matt, xvii, 1 5, " he ofttimes falleth into the fire and oft into
the water " ; but they give the same translation in Mark ix, 22,
though there be no article in the original. But this process is
also reversed, for in Matt, viii, 20, we read " the foxes . . . the
birds," while in Luke ix, 58 we have the article of the original
excluded " foxes . . . birds." In Mark iv, 31, 32, the article
is given in one clause " less than all the seeds," but excluded
in the next clause " greater than all herbs." It is impossible
LIV.] THE DEFINITE ARTICLE. 530
to divine what prompted the change in two clauses so close
and so parallel. It is "the wicked one" in Matt, xiii, 19 J
" the wicked one " in 1 John ii, 13, 14 ; but " that wicked one "
in iii, 12, and in v, 18. In 1 Tim. vi, 12, the clause is rightly
rendered " the good fight," but in 2 Tim. iv, 7, it is " a good
fight," the article being suppressed. The rendering is correct,
" built his house on the sand," Matt, vii, 2G, but, with curious
oblivion, in verses 24, 25, the contrasted phrase is rendered
"on a rock." Nay, there is a change in the same verse
Matt, xii, 21), " the strong man," which is correct in the second
clause, while "a strong man" occurs in the first. In Matt,
ii, 13, the same phrase is wrongly rendered "the angel of the
Lord," but rightly rendered in verse 19, "an angel of the Lord."
Two opposite errors are found in Luke ii, 12, which should
read, " this shall be the sign, ye shall find a babe," the inser
tion and omission of the article being both wrong in the com
mon version. In John vii, 40, the rendering is right, " this is
the prophet," but wrong in i, 21, 25, " that prophet," with a
still worse marginal rendering, "a prophet," the rendering of
Tyndale ; the Great Bible has " that prophet," and is followed
by the Bishops ; but the Genevan of 15GO has correctly "the
prophet." In Col. iv, 1C, we have "this epistle" in the
first clause, and " the epistle " in the last clause. The
phrase is rightly given "the wrath" in 1 Thess. iii, 1G, but
the same phrase by itself is also rendered "wrath," as in
Rom. ii, 5 ; v, 9. The translation of the last clause of
John i, 1, is correct "and the Word was God," the Word
being marked by the article as the subject; but the rule
is ignored in rendering 1 Tim. vi, 5, " supposing that gain is
godliness," godliness being the subject. They also fall from
their steadfastness in Matt, xiii, 39, when they render "the
reapers are the angels" which would mean the whole number
of the angels; but here, as in other instances, the predicate
wants the article, and the sense is "the reapers are angels," or
belong to the angelic orders of being. They err also in
1 Tim vi, 2, in rendering "because they are faithful and
beloved partakers of the benefit," for the last clause, as the
article shows, is the subject, "for they who are partakers of the
440 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
benefit are faithful and beloved." "The house" is given, Matt,
xiii, 1, and in ix, 28, in xvii, 25, and Mark ix, 33 ; but it is
changed in Mark vii, 24, and in Matt, x, 12, where it should be
" when ye come into the house," the house selected as worthy.
While the translation is uniformly, "the desert," or the "wilder
ness," it is remarkable that they never say "the mountain,"
at least on the first mention of it in connection with Jesus,
though the mountain must have been as definite to the writer,
and the earliest circle of readers, as "the desert." Compare
Matt, v, 1, Mark iii, 13. "Boat" and "ship" in the evan
gelical narrative have usually the article. But the article is
inserted where it ought not in Luke vi, 17, " in the plain,"
which is literally "on a level place." l
Similar inconsistency is seen in the treatment of the article
which occurs before the name "Christ." As Christ was not
originally a proper name, but an official epithet of the long
promised, long expected Deliverer, the natural translation is
"the Christ" the Anointed One. The true translation is given
in Matt, xxvi, 63, where it could not well be avoided, " whether
thou be the Christ," and similarly xvi, 1G, "Peter answered and
said, Thou art the Christ," and in the high priest s question
"Art thou the Christ?" Mark xiv, 61, Luke iii, 15, and in xxiii,
35. These clauses might have shown the necessity of a similar
version in Matt, ii, 4, " Herod demanded where the Christ
should be born," or the person that under this title was the
grand object of the national hope and prayer. Compare
Matt, xxiv, 23, &c.
It may be stated more formally that, by the frequent omission
of the article in the English version, the sense loses some point
or specialty. The following are specimens, and the clauses
1 There are some idioms of usage but when the article is repeated, as
which are not very easily shown in Eii- in 1 Cor. iii, 8, it should be repre-
glish. 6 TroL/j-yj v 6 /caAos is more than sented in English. Nor is it easy to
"the good shepherd," the element of mark the difference in such phrases
goodness being specialized. When as 6 Aos 6 KOO-/XOS, and o Kuoyxos
two consecutive nouns occur, and 6 Aos, the second form being the more
the second wants the article, there emphatic,
is unity of thought (1 Thess. ii, 12),
LIV.] WRONG OMISSION OF THE ARTICLE. 441
might be rendered as given: Matt, i, 23, "behold the virgin
shall conceive," the one predicted and singled out ; iv, 5, " the
pinnacle of the temple," a portion of the building quite
familiar; "the bushel," "the candlestick," common and character
istic articles of furniture in a Jewish house the English
version being wrongly conformed to Luke viii, 16, where the
Greek has no article; viii, 12, " the outer darkness " ; 32, " the
whole herd ran violently down the steep," or precipice well-
known ; x, 23, " flee into the other or next (city) " ; xiii, 42,
" into the furnace " ; xiii, 7, " some fell on the thorns " ; xiv, 13,
" followed him from the cities " ; xviii, 3, " and become as the
little children," perhaps at the moment within view on the
shore of the lake ; xxi, 12, " seats of them that sold the doves," a
trade that all poor sacrificers took advantage of; xxiv, 32,
" learn the parable from the fig tree," the parable given in the
rest of the verse ; xxv, 32, " as the shepherd separateth the
sheep from the goats."
Mark ii, 16, "with the publicans and sinners" which are referred
to in verse 15 ; iv, 38, " he was in the hinder part of the ship
asleep on the pillow," the well-known pillow or cushion.
Luke ii, 7, " in the manger," which belonged to all such
"inns" ; vii, 5, " the synagogue," one familiar and well known;
xii, 54, " the cloud " rising out of the Levant which brings rain ;
xvii, 17, " were not the ten cleansed," the entire company.
John iv, 40, " He abode there two days," but, 43, " now after
the two days," the days just referred to; v, 35, "the burning
and shining lamp," or the lamp that burneth and shineth ; xiii,
5, " poureth water into the basin," the basin there, and ready
to be used; 26, "to whom I shall give the sop"; xviii, 3,
" Judas having received the band of men and officers," the
band ordered out for him ; xxi, 8, " and came in the boat," in
which they had been fishing all the night.
Acts i, 13, "into the upper room"; ix, 7, "hearing the
voice"; xvii, 1, "where was the synagogue of the Jews," the
synagogue serving for that region, there being none at Philippi ;
xx, 9, " there sat in the window"; verse 13, "we went before to
the ship"; xxi, 26, "until that the offering should be offered
for every one of them," the offering prescribed in connection
442 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
with the termination of a vow; xxii, 25, "as they bound him w T ith
the thongs," thongs usually employed to tie up a man who was
to be scourged ; xxiv, 23, " he commanded the centurion to
keep him," perhaps the one on duty, or by whom he had been
escorted to Csesarea.
Romans, v, 19, " the many," several times ; xvi, 23,
" Quartus the brother," signalized as such, or known as such, to
the church of Rome.
1 Corinthians v, 9, " I write you in the epistle," probably a
former one ; xiv, 16, " the Amen."
2 Cor. xii, 18, " with him (Titus) I sent the brother," one well
known at the time in Corinth.
Galatians, ii, 4, "the false brethren"; iv, 27, "than she
which hath the husband."
Ephesians vi, 9, " forbearing the threatening," which is so
notorious a characteristic of slave-masters ; vi, 21, " Tychicus
the beloved brother," and similarly Col. iv, 7.
Philippians iv, 17, " not that I seek the gift."
2 Thessalonians, i, 8, " taking vengeance on them that know
not God, and on them that obey not the Gospel of our Lord
Jesus Christ," two classes being probably pointed at, Pagans
and Jews ; but the omission of the article in the second clause
would identify them ; ii, 3, " except there come the falling
away first ; " 11, "that they should believe the lie."
1 Timothy ii, 8, " I will that the men pray," the women
being referred to in the following verse.
Hebrews ix, 11, "by the greater and more perfect taber
nacle " ; xi, 35, " not even accepting the deliverance," one so
well known in Hebrew story.
1 John ii, 22, " Who is the liar ? "
Revelation, ii, 10, "the crown of life"; vii, 13, "in the
white robes"; 14, "out of the great tribulation," the article
being repeated; xi, 11, "after the three days and a half,"
referred to in verse 9; xi, 12, "in the cloud"; xiv, 1, "the
lamb"; xix, 10, "the name written"; 20, "into the lake."
When the article is found after a preposition or before a noun,
governing a following genitive, it claims special attention.
" Heaven," " heavens," appear oftenest without the article,
LIV.] WRONG INSERTION OF THE ARTICLE. 44,3.
though it is sometimes used, the singular form being specially
found in Mark, Luke, and John, and the plural in Matthew.
But the English version inserts the definite article where
the Greek has nothing to correspond, the rendering or omission
of the article being quite irregular. Sometimes indeed the
following genitive so specifies the governing noun that it has
the force of an article as in 1 Thess. v, 2, "the day of the
Lord," both nouns without the article the best reading. On
a different ground, Col. iv, 11, " who are of the circumcision."
Gal. ii, 12, "fearing them of the circumcision," there being no
article in the original with the abstract noun. 1 Cor. v, 8,
" nor with the leaven of malice " ; but in xii, 8, it should be
"a word of wisdom," "a word of knowledge"; 2 Cor. ii, 1C,
"a savour of death"; iii, 15, "a vail lieth on their hearts";
xi, 13, "apostles of Christ," and similarly 2 Thess. ii, G. Gal.
i, 10, a "servant of Christ " ; ii, 17, "a minister of sin" ; iii, 10,
"under curse." Ephes. ii, 3, "children of wrath"; v, 23, "a
husband is head of the wife." Philip, ii, 15, "children of
God"; 1 Tim. ii, 7, " I speak truth"; Jude i, " Jude, a servant
of," but in Rev. xiii, 1, we have " the name of blasphemy,"
with " names" on the margin according to another reading ; l
xiv, 4, " first fruits unto God."
The following are literal renderings, though not employed in
the Authorized Version : Matt, xxvi, 74, " immediately a cock
crew," one of the cocks in the neighbourhood ; xxvii, 4, " have
betrayed innocent blood." Mark xii, 32, " thou hast spoken
truth." Luke iii, 14, "and soldiers asked him, saying" ; vi, 16,
" who also became a traitor." John iv, 23, " an hour cometh " :.
27, i," wondered that he talked with a woman " they knew
nothing of her character; vi, 59, "in a synagogue." Acts i, 7,
"times and seasons"; iii, 21 "heaven"; ix, 7, "hearing indeed
a voice"; xvii, 23, "to an unknown God"; xxii, 4, "unto
death " ; xxvi, 2, " accused by Jews," not by the Jews or the
whole nation. Rom. ii, 14. " Gentiles which have not the
law," not the Gentiles as a class, but some of them. 1 Cor. iii,
1 The singular is the reading of and the plural is accepted by Tre-
Beza and of Stephens, though the gelles and Tischeridorf, but refused
latter has the plural in his margin, by Alford.
444 THE ENGLISH BIBLE.
10, "I have laid a foundation"; iv, 1, " a minister of Christ."
2 Cor. vi, 1C, " the temple of a living God." Gal. iv, 32, " chil
dren of a bondwoman." Philip, iii, 5, " a Hebrew of Hebrews."
1 Thess. iv, 17, "in clouds." Kev. xxii, 5, " they have not need
of light of lamp and light of sun."
The presence or absence of the article with the term " law " is
to be carefully distinguished, but the reader of our Bible has
no clue to such distinction as is in the original.
Not only is the article omitted and inserted against rule, but
it is also sometimes overpressed when rendered as a demon
strative pronoun : Matt, xv, 12, " after they heard this saying" ;
xxvii, 15, "at that feast," "that" in italics, and similarly
Mark xv, 6. John i, 21, " Art thou that prophet?" but rightly
in vii, 40, " the prophet " ; iv, 37/ is that saying true " ; vi, 32,
" that bread " ; 69, " that Christ " ; vii, 26, " the very Christ " ;
37, "that great day"; ix, 22, "very Christ" ; xi, 51, 52, "that
Jesus should die for that nation, and not for that nation
only." Acts xix, 9, " but spake evil of that way." 1 Cor. v,
13, "put away that wicked person"; x, 4, "that rock was
Christ " ; xv, 37, " thou sowest not that body that shall be."
2 Cor. iii, 17, "now the Lord is that spirit " ; vii, 11, "in this
matter " ; v, 27, " this epistle." 2 Thess. ii, 3, " that man of
sin"; 8, "that wicked" ; iii, 14, "by this epistle." Rev. i, 3,
" the words of this prophec} 7 "." 1 John i, 2, " that eternal
life."
1 Cor. xi, 23, "that bread," "that cup," "that " not being in
italics in the first edition.
The article, however, may be sometimes translated as an
unemphatic possessive pronoun: Matt, xiv, 19, "to his dis
ciples"; xxi, 41, "let out his vineyard"; xxv, 32, "as a shepherd
divideth his sheep," but "his goats" ought to have followed.
John xiii, 14, " your Lord and master."
Rev. xx, 4, " had not received his mark."
In two verses, 2 Tim. iv, 7, 8, is exhibited the following variety
of translations : (1) Omission " I have fought a good fight " ;
(2) Overpressure " I have finished my course " ; (3) Correct
rendering " I have kept the faith " ; (4) Omission again
" A crown of righteousness."
T ]
CHAPTER LV.
1HE Greek tenses are often confounded and misrendered
in the English Version. While the aorist or indefinite
past tense should have its own proper translation, wherever
English idiom can bear it, sometimes it is rendered by the
perfect ; Matt, vii, 22, should be, " did we not prophesy ? "
at a time gone past ; in Luke xiv, 18, 19, 20, are three verbs
which might indeed be rendered as aorists, " I bought a piece
of ground," &c., but the translation may be pardoned, " I have
bought a piece of ground," c., since the transactions are
recent, and they are spoken of in immediate relation to the
present act of refusal. Matt, xiii, 24; xviii, 23, "the king
dom was likened to " ; or, in the view of the evangelist, the
likening took place at that time past to him, and past also
to an oral narrator. In the intercessory prayer in John xvii,
there are many aorists, and the meaning is apparent and
impressive, for He speaks as from a high and mysterious
future point, " I am no more in the world " ; "I glorified thee,"
the past time, in an absolute sense, filling the Saviour s soul ;
" I manifested thy name " ; " as thou didst send me "; " thou
gavest him power over all flesh," a past or eternal gift of the
Father to Him. Acts i, 1, " The former treatise I made," not
" have I made," a statement independent of the present ; 7,
"which the Father put in his own power," not "hath put,"
the reference being to the unlimited past, the eternal act or
purpose ; in xix, 2, the sense and reference of the question
are darkened in our version, " have ye received the Holy
Ghost since ye believed?" the true translation, "did ye
receive the Holy Ghost when ye believed, or on your
446 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
believing ? " and the reply is, " we did not hear whether there
be Holy Ghost," for they had been baptized unto John s
baptism. Similarly, in Matt, ii, 15, the reference being to a
historic fact asserted by Hosea. The perfect in our version
often represents the aorist to the detriment of the sense. Thus
Matt, xxvii, 46, should be, " why didst thou forsake me ? "
Again and again in Galatians as i, 13, "ye have heard "; ii, 16,
"we have believed"; iii, 4, "have ye suffered"; 13, "hath
redeemed us"; 22, "hath concluded" ; 27 " have been baptized " ;
iv, 12, "ye have not injured me"; v, 1, "hath made free";
13, " ye have been called " ; 21, " as I have also told you " ; 24,
" have crucified." In these cases the English perfect mis
translates the Greek, for the verbs in the indefinite past,
describe acts done long ago, or tell what was distinct in their
life and experience. In iii, 13, "Christ redeemed us" is the
proper rendering, "redeemed us when he died on the cross";
but the epistolary aorist in vi, 11, could not be rendered other
wise than by the perfect, " I have written."
In the epistle to the Ephesians the following places exhibit
the same mistranslation of the aorist : i, 3, " hath blessed us " ;
4, " hath chosen us " ; 6, " hath made us accepted " ; 8, " hath
abounded toward us;" 9, "hath purposed"; 11, "have
obtained an inheritance," all belonging to a previous period,
not formally connected with the present. But the perfect is
forgotten in verse 12, as if it had been an aorist, and the
rendering should be, " first have hoped in Christ." The next
paragraph, 20, 22, contains a series of aorists, " he wrought in
Christ," " set him at his own right hand " ; 22, " put all things
under him"; but in the last instance there is an unaccountable
deviation from uniformity, and the aorist is rendered by the
perfect, "hath put all things under him." In the second
chapter our version has, " hath he quickened," and in 5, " hath
quickened," " hath raised us and made us to sit." The reference
of the aorist is quite lost by such a rendering in the perfect, for
the aorist refers back to the resurrection of Christ, when all His
were included in Him, so that what is historically true of Him is
spiritually and potentially true of them. Erroneous rendering
is found in Ephes. ii, 14 it should be, " who made both
LV.]
MISRENDEBINQ OF THE AORIST.
447
one," at the period of His atoning death. Again, in iv, 7, " is
given " stands for " was given," at the Ascension; in 20 it ought
to be, " did not so learn Christ," that is, at the time of the
apostles preaching to them ; and, in harmony, the next verse
should be, "if so be that ye heard and were taught " ; in 30, "are
sealed" should be " were sealed," at the time of their conver
sion. In v, 2, the same blunder occurs, " as Christ also hath
loved us, and hath given himself for us." The Authorized
Version in this mistranslation followed the Bishops , and left
the old versions, which accurately represent the aorist. In
Hebrews x, 20, it is not, " he hath consecrated," but simply "con
secrated," that is, at the epoch of His propitiatory death. It shows
a strange carelessness to render one act of a series by the English
perfect, as in Gal. iii, 2, 4, " Received ye the Spirit " ; and to
follow it up by a perfect, "have ye suffered " ; or when the same
phrase, which is rendered in Matt, xi, 21, " the mighty works
which were done," is rendered in 23, "the mighty works which
have been done." When the aorist is employed to present a
general truth, it is impossible to give it always in idiomatic
English. John xv, G, is literally, " he was cast forth as a
branch and was withered, and they cast it into the fire and
they are burned." The Saviour looks back, as it were, from
the period of the judgment and describes historically, but as
in present view, the result of apostasy. James i, 11, presents
a figure based on common experience, and it is told as if after
the event by an onlooker ; " for the sun rose Avith the heat,
and dried up the grass, and the flower thereof fell away, and
the beauty of its appearance perished: so also shall the rich
man wither in his ways." The Bishops gives the literal ren
dering.
The perfect is often correctly rendered, as in John xx, 29 ;
Acts xxi, 28 ; and in 1 John v, 9 ; but there is no little caprice
in the varying translations.
While the aorist is sometimes and necessarily rendered by
the perfect, the Greek perfect is sometimes translated by the
English present when a present state is specially described.
It may be rendered by "is," as well as " has," in John iii, 18,
" is " or " has been condemned " ; John vii, 8, " my time is not
448 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
yet," or has not yet fully "come," "is" being used with this
verb in our version ; or 1 John iv, 12, "his love is perfected,"
or "has been perfected in us"; Heb. v, 12, "are become" or
" have become." Rom. iv, 14, " faith is " or " has been made
void." Matt, xxv, 6, " a cry is raised," the Greek perfect puts
it in a graphic form. Compare John vii, 52. Matt, viii, G,
" my servant lieth," has been laid up ; Matt, x, 30, " the hairs
of your head are numbered " ; also Rom. xiv, 23, " is con
demned," he is under a sentence pronounced upon him in the
moment of his eating, and he lies under it still. But the true
translation is not to be departed from lightly. The better
reading in Matt, vi, 12, warrants the translation, "as we have
forgiven our debtors." Luke xiii, 2, " sinners above all sin
ners," because they have suffered such things. In Mark xi, 2,
the translation ought to be, " whereon no man hath yet sat,"
past and present connected. Luke xi, 7, " the door has been
shut" for the night. The proper rendering should have
been kept in John iv, 38, " whereon ye have bestowed no
labour." How vivid in John v, 33, when the perfect is not
treated as an aorist, "ye have sent unto John, and he has
borne witness unto the truth," the proper rendering being
given in 37, but weakened by treating the initial aorist as a
perfect. John v, 45, " Moses in whom ye have hoped." Com
pare 2 Cor. i, 10 ; 1 Tim. vi, 17. John viii, 33, " We have
never been in bondage to any man" ; vii, 19, " Hath not Moses
given you the law?" and 22, "Moses hath given you circum
cision"; Heb. xi, 3, "things which are seen have not been
made of things which do appear"; 5, "before his trans
lation it hath been witnessed of him," namely, in Gen. v, 22 ;
1 Cor. vii, 10, "unto them who have been married"; 1
John iv, 9, " because God hath sent his only begotten Son " ;
2 Peter ii, G, " having turned," not turning, " unto ashes the
cities .... having made them an ensample." 2 Tim. iv, 8,
" all them who have loved his appearing," that is, loved, and
still love it ; John xi, 27, " I have believed that thou art the
Christ," from a past time to the present; xvii, 6, 10, "I have
been glorified in them," the glorification existing before the
present, and reaching down to it. It is to be noted in v, 8,
LV.] TENSES MISTRANSLATED.
that while the perfect is ignored in the latter part of the first
clause, and rendered as if it had been an aorist, " which thou
gavest me," the aorist is ignored in the next clause, and ren
dered as if a perfect, " and have known surely." Gal. ii, 20,
I have been crucified with Christ"; iii, 17, "a covenant
which hath been confirmed by God." The perfect participle
cannot well be translated as such in Heb. v, 14, the meaning
being that their organs of sense have been well exercised,
and still retain the acuteness or susceptibility resulting from
such training.
While the participle is almost necessarily rendered as a
pluperfect in John xii, 1, " who had been dead," l the pluperfect
meaning is lost in Luke xvi, 20, " a beggar who had been laid
at his gate " with the purpose of getting some crumbs. The
aorist might bear to be rendered by the pluperfect when the
occurrence is viewed as a past event, which has at the same
time a reference to another past event. Acts i, 2, the Greek
is literally " the apostles whom he chose " but English idiom
might prefer " whom he had chosen " the choice being prior
to the charge and connected with it. Philip, iii, 12, the
aorist is rendered by the pluperfect, "not as though I had
already attained," and the perfect coming after is not formally
translated. The pluperfect translation is unneeded in Matt.
xi, 1, 2, or if it is necessary in the first verse, it is not required
in the second; nor is it required in Matt, xxv, 16, 17, 18, 20,
in which places the simple past is sufficient and correct, but
the rendering is pluperfect in the Authorized Version, so that
the distinction is lost between it and the perfect in verse 24,
" he that has received the one talent " got it and still had it
unused and alone. The pluperfect occurs in Acts iv, 22, and
should have been fully translated, " on whom this miracle had
been done." Nor is it properly rendered in Luke xi, 22, where
it should be "armour wherein he had trusted." In Heb. xi, 28,
the perfect occurs in the midst of a succession of aorists, and has
its own meaning, " by faith Moses refused .... left Egypt ....
went through the Red Sea" .... but "kept the passover" is in
1 But 6 reOvrjKus is not genuine, being one of the explanatory clauses
so often thrown in by scribes.
VOL. II. 2 F
450 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAI-.
the perfect tense that is, he founded an ordinance which still
endures. The perfect participle is used of Christ s violent
death as if to assert its enduring effects, as in 1 Cor. i, 23, " we
preach Christ crucified " in the abiding character of the
Crucified ; Gal. iii, 1, where the position of the word might
help the true rendering, and sense. Compare 2 Tim. ii, 8. In
two passages resembling one another the aorist and perfect
occur and the distinction is effaced : John i, 3, which should
be " without him was not anything made which hath been
made"; Col. i, 16, which should be, " by him were all things
created ... all things have been created by him and for him."
Rev. v, 7, " came and took the book," literally " has taken and
holds it while its seals are broken." But the perfect is ever
instructive: Luke xiv, 10, "he that bade thee," should be,
" he hath bidden thee." Similarly are perfects used in Heb.
ii, 9 ; iv, 15. In fact this epistle is characterized by the use
of perfects ; and such a frequent use of them on the part of the
author would seem to indicate that they may not be at all
times employed in their distinctive significance, and they cannot
be always represented in English. Heb. vii, 6, " he paid," has
paid to Abraham, and " has blessed " him that had the promises,
acts of enduring prerogative ; 14, " has " or " is sprung out
of Judah " ; 22, " is Jesus made " or " has been made " ; ix, 13,
" sprinkling such as have become unclean." The perfect
is rendered inconsistently in vii, 13, in one clause by a pre
sent, and in the other by the simple past, and similarly in
the following verse. In xii, 27, the rendering might be,
" things that are shaken as of things that have been made."
There is no small loss to the English reader in the obliteration
of the perfect in John i, 32, where the rendering should be, "I
have beheld the Spirit descending as a dove," and in 33,
"I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God."
The perfect participle preceded by the article occurs in Acts
iv, 12, and in 14 ; but the translation varies in the one
case the rendering is " is given," in the other " was healed,"
none of them quite exact.
The imperfect tense, as its name denotes, represents an
action begun and not completed, or one purposed, desired,
LV.] THE IMPERFECT NOT CORRECTLY GIVEN. 451
menaced, but not accomplished, an action repeated from time
to time, with other shades of past relation. 1 But it cannot in
every case be distinctly given in an English translation ; and
in the Authorized Version it is rendered and misrendered
in various ways. On such points the MSS. differ often, and,
as may be expected, aorists and imperfects often present various
readings. It depends on the writer s choice which tense to
employ whether he means to describe the act as transient or
as continuing. Some verbs too usually occur in the imperfect
when an aorist would be expected. Such imperfects cannot
well be fully rendered in English, as those in 1 Cor. xiii, 11,
"when I was a child I spake as a child," that is, during all
that period ; Matt, xiii, 34, " without a parable spake he
not unto them " ; parabolic teaching being his wont from that
period onward. The imperfect might be sometimes given by
help of the auxiliary verb instead of the simple past:
Luke xiv, 7, "he marked how they were choosing out the [
chief rooms " ; xxiv, 32, " did not our heart burn within us
while he was talking by the way " ; Acts viii, 36, " as they
w^ere going on their way, they came unto a certain water " ;
Acts x, 17, "while Peter was doubting in himself"; Acts
iii, 1, " Now Peter and John were going up into the temple."
In some other cases a circumlocution might be pardoned, as
Matt, iii, 1-i, "John would have hindered him;" Luke i, 59,
the meaning is not " they called him Zacharias "which is not
fact, for they were interrupted but " they were for calling
him Zacharias " ; Luke v, G, "they inclosed a great multitude of
fishes and the net brake," rather, the " net was like to break " ;
Mark xiv, 12, "were wont to kill the passover " ; Luke iv, 42,
" would have stayed him " ; Matt, xxi, 9, " were crying
Hosanna," that is, " kept crying it," John xii, 13 ; Mark xv, 6,
the right rendering is not " at that feast he released unto them
one prisoner," but " at that feast he was wont to release one
prisoner."
When the imperfect and aorist occur together, our version
sometimes fails to distinguish them : 1 Cor. x, 4, " they did all
1 Driver s Hebrew Tenses, p. 78, Oxford, 1874 a book of remarkable _
acuteuess and clearness.
452 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
drink of the same spiritual drink" a mere historical refer
ence ; but the apostle adds, in proof and explanation, " for they
were drinking (during the journey) out of the spiritual rock
which followed them " ; Luke viii, 23, " there came down a
storm upon the lake and they were filled," rather, " were filling,
and were (or began to be) in jeopardy " ; James ii, 22,
" Seest thou how faith was working with his works, and by
his works his faith was perfected," a process presented
to the reader s eye by the first verb. The English version
of Matt, xxi, 8, might distinguish the act of the first
clause told by the aorist, "spread their garments," from the
acts of the two next clauses told by imperfects, " others were
cutting down branches from the trees and were strewing them
in the way"; John iv, 30, should be, "went out of the city,
and were coming unto him"; vii, 14, "Jesus went up ....
and was teaching."
No attempt is made in many cases to distinguish imperfects,
even in cases where the sense requires it, where English idiom
allows it to be easily done, and where the context distinctly
contradicts the aorist translation. But to make the distinction
without a paraphrase is often difficult, if not impossible, how
ever clear the sense may be. Thus, Heb. xi, 17, " by faith
Abraham, when tried, hath offered up Isaac," the perfect
marks the patriarch s settled purpose, his faith viewed the
act as over ; but the imperfect occurs in the next clause,
and means " and he that received the promises was offering
up his only begotten," when the angel of the Lord intercepted
the stroke. The imperfect is rightly rendered in Eom. ix, 23;
Acts vii, 26, though the idiom is peculiar.
No one can doubt that the Greek present should be pre
served in our English translation wherever it is possible, even
in cases where it occurs as the result of the mingling of the
oratio recta with the oratio obliquu. The present gives often a
vivid and picturesque character to the style, and is especially
natural when the narrator " testifies what he has seen."
Matt, xxi, 13, according to the better reading, " but ye
make," or "are making it," " a den of robbers " that is, doing
so at the moment. But it often fades out in the Authorized
LV.] THE PRESENT TENSE MISRENDERED. 453
Version, Matt, xxv, 8, " our lamps are gone out," with the true
rendering in the margin, " are going out." In the third
chapter of Matthew we have the common inconsistency,
giving the wrong translation in iii, 1, "In those days came
John the Baptist," and the right one of the same phrase in
verse 13, " then cometh Jesus from Galilee " ; Gal. iv, 10, "ye
are observing days"; Heb xi, 13, "confessed that they are
strangers " ; Mark viii, 23, " asked him if he seeth any thing,"
or asked him " seest thou aught ? " Luke xix, 3, " and was
seeking to see Jesus who he is, and could not," rendered in our
version, "who he was " ; yet in John i, 19, we have "sent ....
to ask him, Who art thou ? " Mark v, 14, "went out to see what
it is that has taken place," not, perhaps, good English, nor
would "are casting," in Mark xii, 41; John iv, 1, "the Pharisees
heard that Jesus is making and baptizing more disciples than
John," the form of the rumour as it passed from one person to
another ; xv, 47, " beheld where he is laid " ; John v, 13,
"wist not who it is"; 15, "told the Jews that it is Jesus
who made him whole " ; vi, 2-4, " Jesus is not there " ; 64,
" who they are that believed not," and " who he is that
shall betray." Such literalness might not be tolerated, but
the usage is frequent in the New Testament. 1 Cor. xi, 30, j
might be, not " and many sleep," but " many are falling
asleep," the divine judgment was still inflicting itself;
John i, 15, "John bears witness of him, and has cried,
saying," " bare witness " in the Authorized Version ; while
the proper rendering is given in 29, 43, 45, &c. ; Heb.
ii, 1C, "he taketh not on him the nature of angels,"
or, "for in truth it is not angels that he helpeth" ; Rev. xii, 2,
" she being in pain crieth."
The frequent use of the present tense characterizes the
Gospel of Mark, and it is also found again and again in the
Epistle to the Hebrews. There are many perfects in Heb. vii,
and quite in harmony there are not a few presents. The
present is used in the eighth chapter to portray sacerdotal
service as if it still existed, 3, " is ordained," " priests that
offer," " who are serving." In chapter ix, G, the present is
employed, but it is given in our version in the past, " the
454 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
priests went always in," and went is repeated in italics in the
next verse. The present is rendered, " which he offered " ; a
double error is carried into verse 9, " in which were offered
both gifts and sacrifices that could not make perfect." The
writer pictures "the time then present" the service, as if it
were going on priests as if in the act of entering in and
offering.
When the present indicates something to be found true in
time to come, there is no reason to give it a future rendering,
as is done in Matt, xvii, 11, " Elias truly shall first come," but,
"Elijah truly cometh, and he shall restore all things." The ren
dering is wrong in Matt, xxiv, 40, 41, "one shall be taken";
but " one is taken, one is left " ; the future is used in Luke
xvii, 34. In John xvi, 14, 15, there is confusion in the render
ing in the first verse it is right, " he shall take of the things
that are mine " ; but in the second verse it is wrong, for the
present is used, "therefore said I, that he taketh of mine, and
shall show it unto you." Similarly, John vii, 41, " Doth the
Christ come out of Galilee ? " John xv, 27, " and ye also
bear," not "shall bear witness." So in Matt, xxvii, 63, the
true rendering is the more vivid, " after three days I rise
again," or " I am raised again." John xxi, 23, " that disciple
does not die " ; and in Gal. iii, 8, " the Scripture foreseeing that
God justifies the heathen," the ethical present, a fact true,
and always true of the divine method of justification. It
might be difficult to translate the present participle as describ
ing Judas while his treachery was going on, and to distinguish
it from the aorist as applied to him in. the earlier part of the
Gospels. The present is, however, rendered in Matt, xxvi, 46,.
as " he that betrayed him " ; and in xxvii, 3, " which had be
trayed him " ; but in verses 25 and 48, " which betrayed him."
In Mark xiv, 42, the rendering is of necessity correct, " he that
betrayeth me " ; but in 44 it relapses into the past; is correct
again in Luke xxii, 21, 22 ; but stands in John xiii, 11, " who
should betray him," the past being given in xviii, 2, 5 ; but
the present again in John xxi, 20, " Lord, which is he that
betrayeth thee ? "
Our translators sometimes take the future as an imperative
LV.] BECOME BE. 455
when there is no cause for it: Matt, v, 48, "ye shall therefore
be perfect"; and sometimes for a wish, as 2 John 3, when the
true rendering is found in the margin, " Grace shall be with
you." The proper rendering in 1 Tim. vi, 8, is not imperative,
" but if, having food and raiment, we will be content
therewith," as indeed might be expected of us believers who
are laying hold of eternal life.
Some moods of the present cannot always be distinguished in
translation from those of the aorist. Thus in the Lord s Prayer,
Matt, vi, 11, the aorist imperative is used, " give us this day " ;
but in Luke xi, 3, the present imperative occurs. In 1 John
iii, 9, the words are, " ho cannot sin," or, literally, " he is not
able to sin," the infinitive present being employed, and the
sense being that he is not able to be sinning, or to persist in a
sinful course ; but the aorist infinitive might have meant that
he is not able to sin in a single instance. The aorist subjunc
tive is used in 1 John ii, 1, and the proper translation is not
" if any man sin," but " if any man have sinned."
Many peculiarities in the use of verbal words, and of the
middle voice, cannot be glanced at.
The two Greek verbs which differ, as " become," and " be,"
are often confounded in the English version. The first verb
seems to have nearly always its proper meaning, though in
every case English idiom will not bear its translation. Thus,
in Matt, viii, 26 it cannot well be said, "there became a
great calm," that is, a great calm ensued ; and yet in 24,
we have the good rendering, " there arose a great tempest " ; ]
John i, 6, might be, " there arose a man." In Matt, xv, 28, "
we cannot well say, "become it unto thee," though a change
is implied. In Matt, xiv, 15, the rendering is, " when it was
evening " ; and in 23, there is the better rendering, " when
the evening was come." In 1 Cor. iii, 18, " become " is
given in the first clause, and, for no visible reason, " be " is
given in the second. The verb is rendered " came to pass,"
or " come to pass " over forty times in Luke ; it is also
rendered " made " or " done," " fulfilled," " arose," " ariseth,"
" came," " performed," " brought to pass," " turned into," and
all these are better than the simple verb of existence so often
456 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
employed. Once it is wrongly rendered " seemeth," " seemeth
good," Matt, xi, 26 ; once the past participle is also wrongly
rendered " ended," John xiii, 2 ; once the rendering is " con
tinued," Acts xix, 10 ; once " behaved ourselves," 1 Thess. ii,
10 ; once " which was published," Acts x, 37, and once " being
assembled," Acts, xv, 25. The translation in such places was
dictated by the sense. Our translators have employed the
right rendering, so truly and happily, in so many cases,
that the wonder is that they did not make an effort to carry it
out consistently. In fact, in many clauses, if we add the syllable
" come " or " came " to their " be," we have the correct transla
tion. There are very many examples, and only a few can be
given : Matt, v, 45, " that ye may be-come the children of
your father " ; Matt, xvii, 2, " his garment be-came white as
the light " ; Mark x, 43, " whosoever will be-come great among
you," and similarly in iii, 44; Luke vi, 36, "be-come ye therefore
merciful " ; xx, 14, " that the inheritance may be-come ours " ;
John iv, 14, "shall be-come in him a well of water" ; ix, 27,
" will ye also be-come his disciples " ; Acts i, 20, " let his
habitation be-come desolate" ; Rom. xii, 16, "be-come not wise
in your own conceits " ; 1 Cor. iii, 18, " let him become a fool
that he may be-come wise " ; x, 7, " neither be-come ye
idolaters"; Galat. iv, 12, "be-come as I am"; Philip, ii, 15,
" that ye may be-come blameless " ; Heb. ii, 17, " that ye might
be-come a merciful and faithful high priest"; 1 Peter, i, 15,
" be-come ye holy," and 16 ; 2 Peter i, 4, " that by these ye
might be-come partakers of a divine nature." Other instances
might be adduced : Matt, xii, 45, " the last state of that man
becometh worse "; Luke vi, 16, "Judas Iscariot," not "which
was also the traitor," but " who became or turned out to be a
traitor"; Acts iv, 4, "and the number of the men became (or
rose to) about five thousand," the three thousand of Pentecost
being included ; Acts xv, 39, " the contention became so
sharp " ; Rom. xi, 6, " otherwise grace becomes no more grace" ;
Gal. iii, 24, " the law is become our schoolmaster unto
Christ."
The rendering " become " or " became " suits in some cases
better than "was made." John 1, 14, "the Word became
LV.] ADDITIONAL EXAMPLES. 4o7
flesh " ; viii, 33, " ye shall become free." Ephes. iii, 7,
" whereof I became a minister." This correct translation
is given in many places, as James ii, 4, "are become judges
of evil thoughts" ; 11, "thou art become a transgressor" ; but
in the intermediate verse the wrong rendering occurs, " he is "
for " becomes guilty of all." In 1 Cor. vii, 21, the rendering is,
"if thou mayest be made free"; and that of 23 should have
been in harmony, "be ye not made the servants of men";
better in both cases, " if thou mayest become free," " become
not ye the servants of men." The passive form, which rarely
occurs, is found not less than eight times in the first and
second chapters of 1st Thessalonians.
CHAPTER LVI.
HHHE technical name " preposition " tells nothing of the
nature and uses of such particles. They may not be
employed in the New Testament with all the precision of the
age of Pericles, yet their distinctive signification is ever to be
closely attended to. The phase of relation indicated by those
which have a general similarity of sense cannot be always
preserved in an English translation. 1 These meanings are often
shaded off the one into the other ; it is but a delicate line
that divides them. English prepositions have also in the same
way a variety of uses closely connected with one another.
Still a true translation of these important particles is of pri
mary moment. The Authorized Version is faithful on the
whole, but it has, as usual, startling deviations, and several
inaccuracies.
No one will maintain that the first of these 2 should be always
rendered by " in," since, with a local sense, it may be rendered
" at " as well as " in" ; " in Bethany," or " at Ephesus," " in " or
" at Jerusalem," and in a temporal sense by " at " or " on,"
"at his coming." After words implying an oath, it is rendered
"by," "by heaven," and so when it has an instrumental or
modal sense, " by what authority ? " or " with what measure."
It is translated " among," referring to a crowd or mass of
people, and " within," as in the phrase " within yourselves."
English idiom may require some of these changes, though the
radical idea always underlies them, so that the literal rendering
1 As e/c and curd irept and virep ^era and vvv tts and Trpos
with the accusative. s t v.
PREPOSITIONS. 459
might be kept in many places, as in Rom. xii, 8, "he that
giveth, let him give in simplicity, he that ruleth in diligence,
he that showeth mercy in cheerfulness." " Through " is not
the proper translation of Rom. iii, 25, but " in," " in the for
bearance of God " ; nor in Acts iv, 2, which should be, " and
preached in Jesus the resurrection of the dead," in Jesus its
proof and a living specimen of it. The utterance of Peter on
healing the lame man was, " in the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth, rise up and walk " ; and when the apostle was
arrested and brought before the Sanhedrim, the question was
put to him, " in what name did ye do this," and his answer
naturally is, "in the name of Jesus Christ." Mark xiv, 27, it
should be " offended in me," riot " because of me," the first
rendering being found in Matt, xi, G. In Luke xi, 15-20, we
have those renderings varied for no purpose " through
Beelzebub," 15, 18; "by Beelzebub," "by whom," 19; "with
the finger of God," 20. In 2 Cor. vii, 4, the rendering is
" with " in the one clause and " in " in the other. In
1 Cor. vi, 11, the first clause has "in" and the second "by."
In 2 Cor. vi, 4, four nouns are preceded by " in," and six in 5,
but in G, 7, " by " is adopted before eight substantives, and
as the Greek preposition is changed in 7, 8, and is also
rightly translated " by," the distinction is obliterated to the
English reader. Luke x, 17, should be " in thy name." John
xvii, 17, "in thy truth "; xx, 31, "in his name." Compare
also Luke xi, 19. Rom. vi, 11, " through Jesus Christ our Lord,"
and in 23 ; xv, 17, " I may glory through Jesus Christ,"
Gal. v, 10, " confidence in you through the Lord." Ephes. ii, 7,
" his kindness toward us through Jesus Christ," &c. ; iv, 32,
" for Christ s sake." In those and other places, the rendering-
is that which rightfully belongs to another preposition, which
is often employed to designate a special aspect of Christ s
mediatorial work in Him and through Him being quite
distinct, but both ideas being presented in close connection in
Ephes. i, 7. Similar remarks apply to the rendering " by " in
Rom. xiv, 14; 1 Cor. vii, 14 ; Gal. ii, 17 ; 1 Thess. iv, I. 1
1 ev should, if possible, be so rendered that the phrase may not seem to
be a simple dative.
4GO THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAT.
In the Authorized Version there are also other needless
variations. 1 Thess. iv, 7, " God called us not unto uncleanness,
but unto holiness," the last clause being "in holiness." Similarly
the proper distinction might be preserved in Matt, vi, 10 ; in
xxviii, 18, and should be "in heaven and on earth"; and also
Rev. v, 3. This preposition is also used in the succession of
clauses in 2 Peter i, 5-7, and was properly rendered by Tyndale.
The use of " to " makes the series a mere accumulation, but
" in " implies that they spring out of one another in organic
development. 1 Cor. vii, 15, "but God hath called us to peace,"
"in peace" being placed in the margin as the true representative
of the Greek. In 1 Cor. xiv, 11, the meaning is lost, "I shall
be unto him that speaketh a barbarian," the simple dative
being employed, but in the next clause, which is rendered
similarly, the preposition is used, " and he that speaketh shall
be a barbarian unto me," in my opinion or experience. The
misrendering of the prayer of the penitent robber in Luke
xxiii, 42, is more serious, the true translation being "Lord,
remember me when thou comest in thy kingdom," in the full
enjoyment of thy power and prerogative. Compare Matt,
xxvi, 31.
The various meanings of another preposition 1 literal and
tropical, instrumental, local, temporal, and ideal, are closely
connected. But there is, as has been often noted, a marked
distinction in sense or relation between it as followed by a
genitive when it means "through," and as followed by an
accusative when it means " on account of." " Through," indi
cating the instrument, is a rendering preferable in many cases
to " by," which might denote the agent, Matt, xxvi, 24, " the
things done through his body," 2 Cor. v, 10, it being the instru
ment. Compare specially 1 Thess. iv, 14, "Them also which
sleep through Jesus." Sometimes this rendering "through"
cannot well be preserved in English, as in the phrase Matt,
iv, 4, "every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God,"
where "through the mouth of God" would not be very appro
priate. In 2 Tim. ii, 2, we have the inadequate rendering
" the things that thou hast heard among many witnesses," the
1 St<i
IA-L] M1SBENDEBING OF PREPOSITIONS. 461
better rendering "by" being put into the margin; Heb. vii, 9,
presents the rendering " Levi paid tithes in," instead of
"through Abraham." The force of the preposition is lost
in 2 Peter i, 3, "that hath called us to glory and virtue,"
the proper rendering "by" being relegated to the margin
a translation, also, that suits the instrumental dative, which is
probably the correct reading. But many variations are unac
countable. Its usual sense with the accusative " because of,"
"by reason of," "for. . . . sake," as " Christ s sake," " your sake,"
is sometimes departed from. In Heb. ii, 9, the wrong-
rendering "by" is put into the margin, the text retaining
"for," that is, "on account of"; but there is so little steadiness,
that in vi, 7, the wrong "by" is kept in the text, and the right
"for" put in the margin; and the same is done in Rom. viii, 11,
"by" in the text and "because of" in the margin. In Rom.
xv, 30, the rendering is such as belongs to the preposition with
an accusative, "for the Lord Jesus Christ s sake," where it
ought to be " by the Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the
Spirit." In 1 Cor. vii, 2, where there is exegesis, "to avoid
fornication," instead of "on account of fornication" that is, its
prevalence, and the temptations to it, suggested the form of the
counsel, verse 5. John xv, 3, "now ye are clean," not
"through," but by "reason of" "the words which I have
spoken unto you." A worse departure is made in 2 Pet. iii, 12,
" the coming of the day of God wherein," and without any
marginal alternative the correct rendering being "the coming
of the day of the Lord by reason of which the heavens being
on fire shall be dissolved." The real allusion is not presented
in Rev. xii, 11, "wherein they overcame him," the translation
might be, " they overcame him because of the blood of the
lamb." The phrase " for the remission of sins," in Rom. iii, 25,
should be " on account of the pretermission of sins." In Rev.
xiii, 14, the Authorized Version has " by means of those
miracles " whereas it should be " because of the signs it was
given him to do." It is to be noted that the words "the
means of" are now printed in italics, as if to show that the
original did not warrant the translation ; but the italics are
not in the first edition of 1611 ; they appear in a Cambridge
4G2 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
edition of 1637, and in Buck and Daniel s folio of the follow
ing year.
Uniformity- of translation is kept where the particle is re
peated : in Rom. xi, 28, " for your sakes," " for the fathers
sakes." On the other hand, in Rom. xiv, 15, the rendering
"with thy meat," should be "for the sake of thy meat," and
the more so that " with thy meat " in the next clause repre
sents the simple dative.
The many shades of relation indicated by a third preposi
tion 1 need not be enumerated. Only it may be noted that,
in some cases, it must be rendered by " in," previous motion
being implied, the same tendency being found in classic Greek:
as in Matt, ii, 23 ; Mark ii, 1 ; John ix, 7 ; Mark i, 9 ; Luke
xi, 7, "my children are with me in bed"; Matt, x, 9, "money
in your purses"; Luke ix, 61; Luke vii, 50, "go in peace,"-
into peace. Compare Mark xiii, 9. But there are several
variable renderings, as when it is translated " through
out," " throughout all Syria," Matt, iv, 24 ; Mark i, 28, 39 ;
or "among," Mark iv, 7, xiii, 10; or "concerning," 2 Cor.
viii, 23; or "before," in James ii, 6. Perhaps "against" is
too strong, though the clause implies it, Mark iii, 29; or, in
Luke vii, 30, "against themselves," where the margin has
"within themselves," though "against that day" is a good
idiomatic version, 2 Tim. i, 12. There was no pressing reason
why, in Acts i, 10, 11, it should be rendered "toward"
in the one verse and "into" in the other. It occurs in the
phrase rendered " swear not, neither by Jerusalem," that is,
probably, looking toward it, or on it, and taking the oath
in that attitude. It is idiomatically rendered with its sub
stantive in Romans x, 1, " that they may be saved," that
salvation being the aim or end of his " heart s desire," the
phrase being rendered "unto salvation" in 1 Pet. i, 5. "Bap
tized into Christ" is the correct rendering in Gal. iii, 27,
Rom. vi, 3, and the rendering should have been kept when
1 ets. Hio-Tei/a) may be followed ets or 7rt, and in all these forms a
by a simple dative, or by a dative distinctive shade of relation is ex-
with ev or ri, or by a simple ac- pressed.
cusative, or by an accusative with
LVI.] OTHER INSTANCES. 4C3
what is equivalent to a person follows the verb, as in Matt,
xxviii, 19, " baptizing them into the name of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," "in the name" being
inadequate here, in Acts viii, 16, and in 1 Cor. x, 2, "were
all baptized into Moses," it being ideal, typical, and national
baptism; and, in Acts xix, 5, where the "unto," employed both
in the question and answer in verse 3, might have suggested
" into." The point of the Apostle s challenge is lost in 1 Cor.
i, 13, 15, by the same rendering. His question is, " were ye
baptized into the name of Paul ? lest any should say that I had
baptized into mine own name," "in mine own name" would
simply mean " by my own authority." This preposition should
have kept its proper significance in Luke xvi, 8, " wiser" not
"in their own generation," but "toward" or "in the interest of
their generation." 1 Pet. i, 11, "the sufferings of Christ,"-
" the sufferings to come upon Christ," though a literal trans
lation, would be awkward ; Acts vii, 53, "who received the
law," not "by," but "at" the enactment "of angels," the
preposition bearing a similar meaning in Matt, xii, 41, "at
the preaching of Jonas," and in 2 Tim. ii, 26. The translation
in John xi, 52, should be "might gather together into one."
Compare 2 Cor. xi, 3.
Of the two prepositions 1 rendered " out," or " from," the one
refers to a previous closer union, Matt, xxii, 37, and the
other is more general, Matt, xxiv, 32, "learn ye a parable from
the fag tree." Care should be taken that the translation cannot
be mistaken for that of a mere genitive.
Two prepositions 2 are often all but identical in signification.
The first is mistranslated in 2 Thess. ii, 1, where our version
reads " by," as if the verse were a species of adjuration by the
second advent, the sense being " on behalf of." It is to be
noted that this is the only place in the New Testament where
the preposition is so rendered, and there is not even a marginal
alternative. It is the reading, however, of all the older ver
sions, and was used by Wycliffe for the Latin per. Such a
rendering is possible, but out of all harmony with the construc
tion of the passage.
1 IK and cl-o. " iVe/> and TTE/OI .
464 THE ENGLISH BIBLE. [CHAP.
The second preposition has much the same sense with the
first in some cases, and it is impossible to keep them distinct
in English. To pray about a person is to pray for him, and
the idiomatic rendering is " for .... sake," for his body s
sake, for Christ s sake. " About " or " concerning " would re
present it better in many places Matt, vi, 28, " and why are
ye anxious concerning raiment," and in many other places.
Another preposition, 1 with the genitive, might be generally
rendered "by," but, in the great majority of instances, it is
rendered "of" in the Authorized Version. There is usually no
ambiguity in such an archaism, as in the phrases " baptized of
him," "hated of all men," "tempted of Satan"; but there are
cases presenting ambiguity to a plain reader Matt, xix, ]2,
"made eunuchs of men"; Luke ix, 7, 8, "and said of some." 2
But in many instances the favourite old rendering "of" need
not be disturbed. In Acts x, 22, it is rendered "among" in
the one clause, and " by " in the other. On the other hand,
"of" occurs twice in Rom. xiii, 1, representing two different
Greek prepositions " there is no power but from God ....
ordained by God."
The English " on," rather than " in," is the better represen
tative of another preposition, 3 in many places, as in Matt, iv, G,
" on their hands they shall bear thee up " ; xii, 28, " then is
the kingdom of God come upon you " ; xiii, 7, " on thorns," as
in verse 5, "upon stony places," and in 8 it ought again
to be " upon the good ground"; xiv, 8, 11, "upon a charger" ;
Matt, xxv, 31, "the Son of man shall sit upon the throne of his
glory" (as in xix, 28, "ye also shall sit upon thrones"); xxiii, 2,
" sit on Moses seat " ; Mark vi, 55, " to carry about on beds."
But there was no reason to vary the rendering of the particle
in the same connection in Acts x, 17, and xi, 11, "before the
gate " in the first instance, and " come unto the house " in the
second.
Another preposition 4 is sometimes rendered " to " as well as
1 VTTO. the accusative it is difficult to
2 See page 242, &c., and page 3G5. give it such a translation as shall
3 7rt . show its difference from ei s, or the
4 -pos is almost always used with simple dative.
LVI. PREPOSITIONS AND CONJUNCTIONS. 465
"unto," though "unto" might, if possible, be reserved for it
in such cases. But the preposition has other senses " with,"
" toward," " according to," " before, and, as edged by the con
text, it passes in result to the sense of " against," the Author
ized Version rendering "against," Mark xii, 12, the sense being-
that conveyed by the familiar phrase, " spake this parable at
them." *
1 The conjunctions OTTCO? and i va the same verse, John iii, 17, trans-
ofteii approach in meaning ; and iva lating it like an infinitive in the
sometimes, especially as prefixed to first clause, and in the second clause
a prayer, embodies purport as well by the fuller form "that ....
as purpose (Eph. iii, 16, &c.) But might"?
why vary the rendering of i va in
VOL. II. 2 G
CHAPTER LVII.
second rule given to the revisers appointed after the
Hampton Court Conference, was, " the names of the pro
phets and the holy writers, with the other names in the text, to
be retained, as near as may be, according as they are vulgarly
used."
Acting on these instructions, they were not at liberty to
transcribe into English letters all the old Hebrew names, for
several of them had been naturalized in other forms. As
many of the names of the Old Testament are repeated in
the New Testament, the remarks in this chapter must com
prise allusions to the names used in the Hebrew Scriptures.
The most familiar forms were wisely employed such as
Mary, Eve, Saul, James, John, Jude. To have reproduced
such names in full Hebrew or Greek syllables would have
been a cumbrous and pedantic literality. They employ
Cyrus for Corish, Darius for Daryavesh, Egypt for Mitzraim,
and, as Canon Lightfoot says, they used " the more familiar
Latin names " of the idol-gods for the less familiar Greek ones,
Diana for Artemis, Jupiter for Zeus, and Mercury for Hermes.
In this last case, however, there was error, for the gods of the
Latin name were different in function, character, and attributes
from those of the Greek name. At the same time, many
names had become disguised in the Greek and Latin Old
Testament, such as Abdias for Obadiah, Oza for Uzzah,
Roboam for Rehoboam, Ochosias for Ahaziah, and they usually
appear in that shape in the early translation of Coverdale.
The translators represent Jehovah by " LORD " printed in
small capitals. It is all but impossible to say what is the
THE NAME JEHOVAH. 4G7
true pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton ; but the word
Jehovah is quite familiar to all readers of the English
Bible, and its uniform use would prevent some confusion
of reference. 1 It is employed in composition with other sig
nificant terms like Jehovah -Nissi Shalom; but it occurs
only four times by itself, and in one of the instances its use
could not be avoided Exod. vi, 3, " by my name Jehovah
was I not known to them." Ps. Ixxxiii, 18, " whose name
alone is Jehovah." But Moses is commanded to tell the
people that the Name was Jehovah; and the full sense is
lost in many phrases, which should be, Jehovah the God of
Shem, Jehovah the God of Abraham. " If Jehovah be God, fol
low him" ; "Jehovah he is the God," or in the xix Psalm, "the
heavens declare the glory of Elohim, but the law of Jehovah
is perfect." The solemn collocation, Isa. xii, 2, of Jah- Jehovah,
becomes the " Lord- Jehovah" ; and in xxvi, 4. But another form,
Adonai Jehovah, is often wrongly rendered, as in Ezek. v, 11,
"Lord God." The Hebrew tongue was very rich in terms ex
pressive of religious emotion and truth. 2 While no one would
think, in the case of James, Mary, and Jesus, of going back
to the Old Testament and substituting Jacob, Miriam, and
Joshua; it would in many instances serve the purpose of
identification, to carry forward the spelling of the Old Testa
ment into the New, to suppress Elias and pres 
