BIBLE. 



sfc. David's, to whom the second allotment 

 fell : and the like of the rest. The arch- 

 bishop foresaw, directed, examined, and 

 finished the whole. This translation was 

 used in the churches for 40 years, though 

 the Geneva Bible was more read in pri- 

 vate houses, being printed above 30 times 

 in as many years. King James bore it an 

 inveterate hatred on account of the notes, 

 which, at the Hampton court conference, 

 he charged as partial, untrue, seditious, 

 &c. The Bishop's Bible, too, had its 

 faults. The king frankly owned he had 

 yet seen no good translation of the Bi- 

 ble in English ; but he thought that of 

 Geneva the worst of all. 



Rhemish. After the translation of the 

 Bible by the bishops, two other private 

 versions had been made of the New Tes- 

 tament: the first by Laurence Thomson, 

 made from Beza's Latin edition, together 

 with the notes of Beza, published in 1582, 

 in 4to., and afterwards in 1589, varying 

 very little from the Geneva Bible ; the se- 

 cond by the Papists at Rheims, in 1584, 

 called the Rhemish Bible, or Rhemish 

 translation. These, finding it impossible 

 to keep the people from having the Scrip- 

 tures in the vulgar tongue, resolved to 

 give a version of their own, as favourable 

 to their cause as might be. It was print- 

 ed on a large paper, with a fair letter and 

 margin. One complaint against it was, 

 its retaining a multitude of Hebrew and 

 Greek words untranslated, for want, as 

 the editors express it, of proper and ade- 

 quate terms in the English to render 

 them by, as the words azymes, tuuike, 

 rational, holocaust, prepuce, pasche, &?c. 

 However, many of the copies were seized 

 by the Queen's searchers, and confiscated; 

 and Thomas Cartwright was solicited by 

 Secretary Walsingham to refute it: but, 

 after a good progress made therein, 

 Archbishop Whitgit't prohibited his fur- 

 ther proceeding therein, as judging it im- 

 proper that the doctrine of the Church of 

 England should be committed to the de- 

 fence of a Puritan, and appointed Dr. 

 Fulke in his place, who refuted the Rhe- 

 mists with great spirit and learning. 

 Cartvvright's refutation was also after- 

 wards published in 16 18, under Arch- 

 bishop Abbot. About 30 years after their 

 New Testament, the Roman Catholics 

 published a translation of the Old at Do- 

 way, in 1609 and 1610, from the Vulgate, 

 with annotations ; so that the English Ro- 

 man Catholics have now the whole Bible 

 in their mother tongue; though it is to be 

 ebserved, they are forbidden to read it 

 without a license from their superiors. 



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King James's. The last English Bible 

 was that which proceeded from the Hamp- 

 ton-court conference, in 1603, where ma- 

 ny exceptions being made to the Bishop's 

 Bible, King James gave orders for a new 

 one ; not, as the preface expresses it, for 

 a translation altogether new, nor yet to 

 make of a bad one a good one ; but to 

 make a good one better, or of many good 

 ones one best. Fifty-four learned persons 

 were appointed for this office by the king, 

 as appears by his letter to the archbi- 

 shop, dated in 1604; which being three 

 years before the translation was entered 

 upon, it is probable seven of them were 

 either dead, or had declined the task, 

 since Fuller's list of the translators makes 

 but 47 ; who, being ranged under six di- 

 visions, entered on their province in 1607. 

 It was published in 1613, with a dedica- 

 tion to James, and a learned preface, and 

 is commonly called King James's Bible. 

 After this, all the other versions dropped 

 and fell into disuse, except the Epistles 

 and Gospels in the Common Prayer Book, 

 which were still continued according to 

 the Bishop's translation till the alteration of 

 the liturgy in 1661, and the Psalms and 

 Hymns, which are to this day continued 

 as in the old version. The judicious Sel- 

 den, in his Table Talk, speaking 1 of the 

 Bible, says, " The English translation of 

 the Bible is the best translation in the 

 world, and renders the sense of the ori- 

 ginal best, taking in for the English trans- 

 lation the Bishop's Bible as well as King 

 James's. The translators in King James's 

 time took an excellent way. That parfe 

 of the Bible was given to him who was 

 most excellent in such a tongue, (as the 

 Apocrypha to Andrew Downs,) and then 

 they met together, and one read the 

 translation, the rest holding in their hand? 

 some Bible, either ofthe learned tongues, 

 or French, Spanish, Italian, 8cc. If they 

 found any fault, they spoke ; if not, he 

 read on." King James's Bible is that now 

 read by authority, in all the churches in 

 Britain. 



BrnLES, IFelsh. There was a Welsh 

 translation of the Bible made from the 

 original in the time of Queen Elizabeth, 

 in consequence of a bill brought into the 

 House of Commons for this purpose iu 

 1563. It was printed in folio in 1588. 

 Another version, which is the standard 

 translation for that language, was printed 

 in 1620. It is called Parry's Bible. An 

 impression of this was printed in 1690, 

 called Bishop Loyd's Bible. These were 

 in folio. The first 8vo. impression ofthe 

 Wdfeh Bible was made m 1.630* 



