llf 



BIBLE. 



div'nr justice in the devastation of the land, and the carrying off of its 

 .nt. but they at the same time opened a view into a distant 

 state of future felioty, the return of the bettor part of the Israelites to 

 the true Ooti, the r.-uirn of in my of themselves out of all tribe* to 

 Judwi. and their re-union 01 a people. They already aw many 

 htthn. proceeding with the Jewi towards Jerusalem, fur the observ- 

 onoe of the aune worahip ; they MW a divine kingdom, whose borders 

 were to be continually enlarging. 



" The other periud is that from tl< exile to Malachi. The prophet* 

 who lived during thi* time sustained the hope*' of Israel ; but they at 

 the Mine time directed their exhortations to the promotion of tliu true 

 worship of l!.l. and denounce I punishment against hypocritical 

 offerings, against indolence in doing good, ngainst nnrighteouolMM, and 

 man v other sins, as being the cause of preventing Qua trom fulfilling, 

 in their complete extent, lii- promises to tli the newly- 



restored Jenw.il.-r. tlu> piophct* already foresaw a 



severe judicial pir-i^lum-nt.-* to bo inflicted by ti<xl on the refractory 

 Israelites." (Seller'* ' Hermeneutica.') 



The English Dibit. N o complete translation appears to have been 

 made in the Saxon times into the language then spoken in England^ 

 By some writers Bede is said to have made such a translation, but this 

 is now generally understood to be a mistake. That he translated 

 portions of the Scriptures i-. however certain. One of the best 

 authenticated fact* in 1m life is, that he was employed in translating 

 the Gvspel of .St. John into Saxon at the time of his decease. The 

 early writers who relate this fact differ respecting the extent to which 

 he had proceeded in translating this Gospel. ' can bo pro- 



duced that the whole of the Scriptun s was, by any |xjrson, rendered 

 into Saxon. But of the more important portions Saxon version.'* still 

 exist in manuscript We shall notice three of the most remarkable 

 copies: 1. A manuscript of the I'salms in Latin, with an interlinear 

 Saxon version. This is now in the Cottonian Library at the British 

 Museum, where it u numerated Vespasian A. i. 2. A manuscript of 

 the Gospels in the same library, numerated Nero D. iv. This contains 

 the Latin text, with an interlinear Saxon version. Both these manu- 

 scripts are of singular beauty, and impress the mind with a strung feeling 

 of respect for the monks of Lindisfaru, in whose house, and probably 

 not later than the 8th century, they were executed. 3. Another 

 script of the same class is at Oxford, where it is known by the name of 

 the Rushworth Gloss, on account of its having belonged to ISuehworth 

 the historical writer. This manuscript contains the Gospels ni\. 

 Other manuscripts exist of Saxon versions of portions of the Scriptures 

 in many libraries ; and there are notices in writers on Saxon affairs of 

 several persons who, beside Bede, were employed in the translation of 

 these important writings into the vernacular tongue. At the Refor- 

 mation, when the work of translating the Scriptures met with oppo- 

 sition from the church, it w.is a point of some importance to draw tli" 

 public attention to the fact that versions into the vernacular 

 were no novelties in England. It was with this view that Parker, 

 archbishop of Canterbury, encouraged Fox, the writer of the Martyr- 

 ology, to prepare an edition of the Gospels in Saxon, which he did, and 

 published it in 1571. Another edition, the remilt of the collation of n 

 greater number of manuscript*, was published in 1638, and again in 

 1665. This was the joint work of Junius and Marshall. They gave at 

 the same time the text of Ulphilaa's version, into the language called 

 the Maso-Gothic, a kindred, perhaps the parent, 1 inguage of the Saxon. 



Devout persons teem to have employed themselves in rendering 

 portions of the Scriptures into the language spoken in this country, 

 when what we call Saxon was becoming what we now call Knglish. It 

 U thought that the whole of the Scriptures had been tr.m-1 it <1 in the 

 13th century. It is, however, certain that in the 14th century, not 

 and separate portions only were translated, but the whole of the 

 books comprehended in the Sacred Canon, and that they were put 

 together in order as they were found in the Latin originals so as to 

 form a volume answering to what we mean when we speak of tho 

 Bible. There are two persons, both of the age of King Edward III., 

 who ore said to have executed this work. The one, John de Trevisa, 

 a native of Cornwall, was educated at Oxford. He translated the 

 work of Bartholomew, ' De Pr prietatibus Reium,' and the ' Poly - 

 chronicon ' of H igden the one the mot popular book in the philoso- 

 phy of the age, the other in the history. Caxton, writing not a 

 century after the time, sap that he also translated the Holy Scriptures, 

 but this is now matter of uncertainty. But there is no doubt that 

 I translate the whole Bible, or gathered together trans- 

 lations which made an English Bible. Many copies of. this volume 

 were mado about the time when it was completed, which was about a 

 century before the introduction of printing into England. \VvclilI'.- 

 died in 1384. 



Wyclifle's version of the Scripture* U deeply interesting, on account 

 of the circumstances under which it was produced, and its connection 

 with a favourite English name. It is of some importance in Biblieal 

 literature, as showing what Latin version was in his time regarded as 

 liiirliMt authority in England, and also in what light certain 

 questions in theology were viewed by that early Reformer. It is also 

 curious ax a monument of the state of tho language in tin- unddl- of 

 the 14th century. It wa repnblished in l>5o, nmlcr tin- . 

 cere of the Kfv. .Ionia), ; i,,.l,n<k .Mad.l.-n. The New 



Testament from this version wan publislid by .lohn Li-win, a clergy- 



BIBI.K us 



man of Margate, in 1731, reprinted under the care of Mr. Baber of the 

 British Museum, in 1810 ; and in 1850, again printed from a c- 

 porary '' iy in the mouast. Middlesex. 



Kroiu the time of Wycliffe tho autAOril i Eighth chur. 



whatever tln-y could to disoountenanos 



tures in the ordinary langua. .vas regard c 



measure which was likely to prodn . and as n 



could nover be executed witi. nt degree m 



time was, however, approaching when an opposition whi 

 si.-tible would be made to the church in this point. 



to the resistance win lesiastical autho- 



rities of the time that wo are to attril- 

 though the art of printing was introduced int 

 1474, \ 



To William Tyndal we owe a tran-latioii of a lai. 

 Scriptures into the Knglish ; in antiquity to \V ; , 



Tyndal was acquainted with I. -,- advice and assistance he is 



reported to have had in his translation. He lived 

 before 1526 he had completed an 1 . Testa- 



ment, (if thi- he printed in that year two >i 

 quarto at Cologne, another in .u Antwerp. I' 



of either of these editions are not known. The few imp 

 which exist of this, the' Editio lYinocp..' of ; 

 mi-lit, and very few they are, are treasured as the choicest 

 T.Midal proceeded in his work of translation, and n 

 vigorously in superintending success ament 



through the press. They were bought up and burnt in K 

 this only supplied him with tho means of printing other > 

 such corrections and improvements as were suggested to him. He is 

 said to have also printed a translation of the Pentateuch, and it 

 tain that he did translate those five books of Moses, and also 

 other U>oks of the Old Testament. II. did >, ;iit to 



the press any complete trans. liptures. i 



was put to a cruel death at Kilford. near Antwerp, wh' 

 first appeared in 152tl. A reprint of this was issued at 

 Massachusetts, U. S., in 1837, with the variations of ' 

 i lew's, Cranmer's, the Gem-van, and the Bishop's bibles. 



Another person who at that early period engaged in the work was 

 Miles Coverdale, a friend of Tyndal. He produced a conip 

 Bible, composed of Tyndal'* translations, as far as they w . 

 own. This was the first edition of the Bible in English, i 

 followed by several other publications of the English Bible in the 

 interval between 1535 and 1611, when the present authoi 

 was first published. Of these we shall give a catalogue of th. 

 remarkable, observing generally, that of each of these th. i 

 several distinct re-impressions, and of some of them many. 



1. Corerdak's Bible. This was printed at Xiirich, it i believed, in 

 1535, and dedicated by ( "v> id .1. to Henry VIII. It was favourably 



1 by the court. In the next year, Cromwell, the king"* 

 general and vice-gerent in ecclesiastical matters, enjoined that a copy 

 of this translation should be laid in the choir of every parish church in 

 England, for every one to read at his pleasure. A reprint of n 

 published in 1838, and again in 1847, with a memoir of Coverdale. 



2. Alnttlidi',1 Hilile. This also was printed abroad, but at the ex- 

 pense of two English printers, Grafton and Whitchurch : the date is 

 1537. The name of Thomas Matthew, whose edition it was said to 

 be, is feigned. The real editor was John Rogers, the first person 

 burned for heresy in the reign of Mary. The text : Tyndal 

 and Coverdale slightly altered. 



3. T/if Great liibtt, or Cranmer'i. The Bibles hitherto pm 

 had been but the work of private persons. Cranmer, who was 

 time archbishop of Canterbury, had, from the time when Coverdale's 

 Bible appeared, been anxious to engage tho bishops in tin- ('reparation 



1 .nglish Bible, which should go to tho people under their express 

 authority. He found them not very eager to engage in the design. 

 It is supposed that Coverdale had much to do in tho preparation of 

 this edition. The text is, in the main, the same with his. The ] 

 was written by Cranmer. It was finished at 1 1 

 Whitehurch in April, 1539. 



4. Tarcrner't IHUe. This also appeared in 1539. The editor was 

 Richard Taverner. The text is formed on that of Matthew's Bible. 



There were eleven impressions of the English Bible in the reign of 

 Edward VI., but they are considered as only reimpreesions of one or 

 other of the editions above mentioned. 



5. The dtneca Bible. During the reign of Mary, some of the divines 

 who had been the most forward in promoting the Reformation took 

 refuge at Geneva. Among these was Coverdalo, who seems to have 

 regarded the diffusing of the Holy Scriptures in the Knglish tongue as 

 his peciiluir proviinv in the la' -i He and some other 

 of the Protestant exiles, especially Gilhy and \Vhittin_di:ini. set 

 selves to prepare another edition, to be accoin]um- i w -ith noten. Tin y 

 were CM -eeing it through the press when the death of 



and the accession of Kii/aU-th opened a way for their return. 



hind to fn 'k. which appeared in I.">"i7. Thb, 



of the Scotch Presbyterians. Not fewer than liii\ impression 



are known, and there . .more. Both in Inotel 



