B I B 



B I B 



aSoiit the year 1393, is alio faid to have tranflated the -anole 

 Bible ; but if this be true, it docs not appcsr that a-y copies 

 of his tranflation are notv remaining. It h piobai;!?, that 

 Trevifa merely tranilated certain fentencts cf the Bible, that 

 occur in his writings, andfome of whicli are fnid to have been 

 painted upon the walls of the chapel in Berkley caftle. 

 Anuther Engliili tranflation has been crroneoufly afcribedto 

 Reginald Peacock, bifhop of Chicheller, A.D, 1450, in con- 

 fequence of his having tranfiated fome pafiages of fcripture, 

 cited in his works. RoUe, an hermit of Harr.pole in Yorkfhire, 

 who tranflated the Pfalms about the year 1 340, is fuppofed 

 by AVeever, in his " Funeral monuments," p. iji, to have 

 been the tranflator of the New Tellamciit, which tranflation 

 was in reality V/icklifFe's. Richard Fitz- Ralph, archbifiiop 

 of Armagh, is faid to have tranflated the Bible into Irifli. 

 He died in 1300. l)r. James, relying on a vague ritclaration 

 of fir Thomas More, in his account of the coni'itutions of 

 Arundel, alTerts, that the Bible hath been twice tranflated 

 into Englilh ; and that one of thefe tranfl;itiors is much more 

 ancient (fome hundred years) than WicklifFe's. But Lewis 

 lias (hewn this to be a miftake. (Hill. Fr.g. Tranf. p. 43.) 

 The zealots of thofe times were alarmed by thtfe Engiiih 

 traiiflations ; and in order to prevent their incrcafe, they 

 urged the necefiity of reftoring the ufe of Latm Bibles ; and 

 to this purpofe Chaucer r-^prefents the religious as collctting 

 and depofiting them in their libraries, and thus with- 

 drawing them trom ftcular priefts and curates, and thns 

 hindering them from preaching the gofpel to the peopl'*. In 

 1357, when fome fecular priells were fent from the diocefe 

 of Armagh in Ireland, to ftudy divinity at Oxford, they were 

 obliged foon to return, becaufc they were not able to pur- 

 chafe a Bible. ^neas Sylvius, afterwa-ds pope Pius II. 

 obfervtd in 1458, conceniing the Italian priefts, that they 

 did not feem to have ever fo much as read the New Tefta- 

 mcnt ; and Robert Stephens, fpeaking of the Sorbcni'ls, 

 fays, that when they are alked in what place of the New 

 Tellament any thing was written, they replied, that they had 

 read it in Jerom, or in the Dtcrpes, but what the New 

 Teftament was they did not know. . (See Hoav de Bibl. 

 Tex tib us, p. 464.) Indeed, at that time, if copies of the 

 Bible had been more frequent, the clergy were generally fo 

 ignorant as not to be able to read or underftand Lati:-. The 

 Latin Bibles were not only fcarce, but much coirupted by 

 the careleffnefs of tranfcribers, and the interference of pre- 

 fumptuous critics. In 1457, Wickliffe's followers were be- 

 come fo numerous, and copies of his Englifh tranflation of 

 the New Teftament fo common, that an EngHfh Bible was 

 fold for 20s., whereas the price of a portuile, or breviary, was 

 6 mark?. After the art of printing was introduced into 

 England, Latin, Hebrew, and Greek Bibles, and particu- 

 larly copies of the New Tcftamer.t, became much more com- 

 mon ; and accordingly a vicar of Croydon in Surry, is faid 

 to have exprefled himfelf to this purpofe, in a fermon 

 preached at Paul's crofs about this time: " We muft root 

 out printing, or printing will root out us." 



BiBLE,TVn(/a/V. For the firll printed Englifli tranflation of 

 the fcriptures we are indebted to William Tindal, who, hav. 

 ing formed a defign of tranflating the NewTcllament from the 

 original Greekinto Englifh, removed to Antwerp in Flanders, 

 for this purpofe. Here, with the aflillance of the learned 

 John Fry, or Fr\-th, burnt forherefy in Smitlitield, in 1552, 

 and a triar, called V/iUiam Roye, who fuffertd death on the 

 fame account in Portugal, he tiniihed it, and in the year 1526, 

 it was printed either at Antwerp or Hamburgh, without a 

 name, in a middle fized 8%o. vohimc, and without cither 

 calendar, concordances in the margin, or tabic at the end. 

 Tiodai annexed a piflil at the clofe of it, iu which he 



" defyred th?rr. that were learned to amende if ought were 

 found amyfle." Le Long calls this " the New Teftament 

 tranflated into E:;g!i(h, from the Gentian verfion of L;ither;" 

 but for this degradi;;g appellation he ftems to have ro other 

 authority btfides a llory related by one Cochlxu"! (m Ac^is 

 Martini Lutheri ad an. IJ26, p. 132.)' "''^h a view cf depre- 

 ciating Tini!ars tranflation. Ma-iy copies of this trnnfl ilicn 

 found their way into England ; and to prevent their difpcr- 

 fion among the peoole, and the more effetlually to en'^orce 

 the prohibition pr;b!ilhed in all the dioccfes againft reading 

 them. Ton ftall, bilhopof London, purchafed all the remain- 

 ing copies of this edition, and all which he could co!lec'\ from 

 private hands, and committed them to the flames at St. Paul's 

 crofs. The firll imoreflion of Tindal's tranflation beiyig thus 

 difpofed of, feveral other numerous editiors v.cre publiflied 

 in Holland, before the year 1530, in which Tindal teems to 

 have had no intereft, hv.t which found a ready fale, and thofe 

 which were imported into England, v^-erc ordeted to be 

 burned. On one of thefe occafioiis, fir Thomai More, who 

 was then chanceilon, and vrho concurred with thj bifhop in 

 the execution of this meafure, enquired cf a perfon, who 

 flood accufed of herefy, and to whom he promifed indemnity 

 on confideration of an explicit and fati -factor^' anlVer, how 

 Tindal fubfifted abroad, and who were the perions in London , 

 tiiat abetted and fupported him ; to which inquiry the here- 

 tical convert replied, " It was the bifhop of London who 

 maintained him, by fending a fum of money to buy tip the 

 imprclhon of his Tellament." The chancellor fmrlrd, ad- 

 mitted the truth of the declaration, and fufFered the ac- 

 cufed ptrfon to efcape. The people formed a verj- unfavour- 

 able opinion of thole who ordered the word of God to be 

 buiTied, and concluded, that there muft bean obvious repug- 

 nance between the New Tellament, and the doftrines of thofe 

 who treated it vnih this ir.dign:ty. Tiicfe who were 

 fiifpecled of importing and concealing any of thefe books, 

 were adjudged by fir T. More to ride with their faces to the 

 tails of thtirhorfcs, with papers on their heads, and the New 

 Teflamcnts, and other books which they had difperfed, hung^ 

 about their cloaks, and at the flandard in Cheapfide to throw 

 them into a fire prepared for that purpofe, and to be fined at 

 the king's pleafure. 



When 'Tonilal's pu:chafe f.;rved onlj- to benefit Tindal, 

 and thofe who were employed in printing and felling fuccef- 

 five editions of his Tellament, and other meafures forreftrain- 

 ing their difperfion feeraed to have little or no effect, the pen 

 of the witty, eloquent, and learned Cr Thomas More, was cm- 

 ployed againfl the tranflator ; and tlie bifhop granted him a 

 licence, or faculty, dated March 7, 1527, to have and to read 

 the feveral books which Tindal and others pubUflied ; and at 

 his defire fir Thomas compofed a dialogue, written with much 

 humour, and defigned to expofe Tindal's tranflation, which 

 was publifhed in 1529. In this dialogue he alleges, among 

 other charges, that Tindal had miilranflated three words 01 

 great importance, viz. the words priefts, church, and charity; 

 caUing the firll feniors, the fecond congregation, and the 

 third love. He alfo charges him with changing commonly 

 the term grace into favour, confcffion into knowledging, 

 penance into repentance, and a contrite heart into a troubled 

 heart. The brihop of London had, indeed, in a fermon, de- 

 clared, that he had found in it no lefs than 2000 errors, or mif- 

 tranflations ; and fir Thomas More difcovered above icco 

 texts by tale, falfely tranflated. In 1530, a royal proclama- 

 tion was ifiued, by the advice of the prelates and clerks, and- 

 of the univerfities, for totally fupprefling the tranflation of 

 the fcripture, corrupted hy William Tindal. The proclar.ia- 

 tion fet forth, that it was not ncceflary to have the fcriptures 

 in the Engliih tongue, and in the hands of die common 

 Tt 2 jieople; 



