B E Z 



B E Z 



liament. From the hiftory of Englifh trnnflations, during 

 the reign of Henry VIII. \vc learn, tliat the friends to the 

 reformation condu£led themfelves with zeal and prudcuee in 

 the preat work of introducing and improving Englifh tranf- 

 Litions of the Bible ; that they encountered many dllHculties 

 from the dangerous inconftancy of a dtfpotic prince, and 

 from the inveterate prejudices of a ftrong Romifh party ; 

 and that the Englifh fcripturcs were fought after and read 

 with avidity by the bulk cf the people. 



Upon the acccffion of Edward VI. the fevere (Int. 34. 5c 

 25 Henry VIII. c. I. was repealed, and a royal injunftion 

 was publifhed, that not only the whole Englifli Bible (hould 

 be placed in churches, but alfo the paraphrafe of Erafmus in 

 Engh(h to tl'.e end of the four Evangelifts, It was like- 

 wife ordered by this injunction, that every parfoii, vicar, 

 curate, &c. under the degree of a bachelor of divinity, (hould 

 poflefs the NewTellanient, both in Lnlin and Englifh, with 

 the paraphrafe of Erafmus upon it ; and that the bifhops, 

 &c. in their vifitations and fynods fhoidd examine them, how 

 they had profited in the ftudy of the Holy Scriptures. It 

 was alfo appointed, that the epiille and gofpel of the mafs 

 ftiould be read in Englifli ; and that on every Sunday and 

 hohday, one chapter of the New Teflament in Englifh fliould 

 be plainly and diftinftly read at matin<!, and one chapter of the 

 Old Teflament at even-fong. But in the year 1549, when the 

 book of common prayer. Sec. was finifhed, what nearly re- 

 fembles our prefcnt cullom was enjoined, that after reading the 

 Pfalras in order at morning and evening prayer, two leffons, 

 the firft from the 01dTefl:ament,and the fecond from the New - 

 Teflament, fliould be read diftinftly with a loud voice. Dur- 

 ing the courfe of this reign, that is, in lefs than 7 years and 6 

 months, eleven inipreflions of t!ie whole Engliih Bible were 

 publlfhedjand fix of the Englifh Nev,' Teflament ; beiides aij 

 Englifh tranflation of the whole New Teilament, paraphralvd 

 by Erafmus. The Bibles were reprinted, according to the pre- 

 ceding editions, whether Tindat's, Coverdale'f, Matthewe's, 

 Crar.mer's, or Taverner's; that is, with a different text, and 

 different notes. But it is doubted by the writer of the pre- 

 face to king James's tranflation, whether there were any 

 tranflation, or correClion of a tranflation, in the courfe of this 

 reign. 



In 1562, the " Great Bible," viz. that of Coverdale's 

 tranflation, that had been printed in the time of Henry VIII. 

 and alio in the time of king Edward, was reviewed by archr 

 liifliop Parker, and reprinted for the ui'e of the church ; r.nd ' 

 this was to ferve till that projt(fted by his grace was. ready 

 for publication. -See Bificp's Bible. 



BiDLE, Gensia. Many of the principal reformers having 

 been driven to Geneva Curing the perfections of queen 

 Mary's reign, they puUifhed, in 1557, an Englifh New Tefla- 

 ment, prl;;tcd by Conrad Badius ; the firlt in our language 

 which contaitied the dillinftions of verfcs by numerical 

 figures, after the manner of the Greek Teflament, which 

 had been publiflied by Robert Stephens in 155 1. R. Ste- 

 phen"!, indeed, pubhihed his figures in the m.argin ; whereas 

 tlie Geneva editors prefixed theirs to the beginning of minute 

 fr.bdivifious with breaks, after our prefent manntr. When 

 !];;een Ehzabeth pafTcd througli London from the Tov.er to 

 her coronation, a pageant was erected in Chcapiide, repre- 

 fenting Time coming out of a cave, and leading a perfon 

 clothed in white filk, who rcprefented Truth, his daughter. 

 Truth had the Englifh Bible in her hand, on which was 

 written " Verbum veritatis." Truth addrcffed the queen, 

 and prefentcd her with the book. She kiffed it, held it in 

 lier hand?, laid it on her breall, greatly thanked the city for 

 their prefent, and added, that (he would often and diligently 

 uad it, l^pon a royal vifitation in 15591 the Biblfj and 



Erafmus's paraphrafe, were rcftored to churches; and articles 

 of enquiry were exhibited whether the clergy difcouraged 

 any from reading any part of the fcriptures. " Minifters 

 were alfo enjoiiied" to read every day one chapter of the 

 Bible at leait ; and all who were admitted readers in the 

 church were daily io read one chapter at leall of the Old 

 Teflament, and ar.other of the New, with good advifcmerit, 

 to the encreafe of their knowledge." 



During this year, the exiles at Geneva publifhed the book 

 of Pfalms in Englifh, with marginal notes, and with a dedi- 

 cation to the queen, dated Ecbruai-y 10. In i j6o, the whole 

 Bible i:i 4to. was printed at Geneva by Rowhnd Hare ; 

 fome of the refugees from England continuing in that city 

 for this purpofe. The tranflators were bifhop Coverdale, 

 Anthony- Gilby, William Whittingham, Chriflophcr Wood- 

 man, Thomas Sampfon, and Thomas Cole; to whom fome 

 add John Knox, John Bodleigh, and John Pullain ; all zea- 

 lous Calviiiiits, both in dodlrine and difcipline : but the chief 

 and the mofl learned of them were the three firft. Profef- 

 fing to obftrve the fenfe, and to adhere as m.uch as pofTible to 

 the words of the original, and in many places to prefcrve the 

 Hebrew phrafeology, after the labour and fludy of two years 

 andmore, day and night, they fiiiiflied tlieir tranflation, and 

 publifhed it ; with an epi'Ue dedicatory to the queen, and 

 another, by way of preface, to their brethren of England, 

 Scotland, andlreland. Befides the tranflation, the editors 

 of the Geneva Bible noted in the margin the diverfnies of 

 ipeech and reading, efpecially according to the Hebrew; 

 they infeited in the text, with another kind of letter, every 

 word that fecmed to be neceffary for explaining any particu- 

 lar fentence ; in the divifion of the verfes, they followed the 

 Hebrew examples, and a.'.ded the number to each verfe ; 

 they alfo noted the principal matters, and the arguments, 

 both for each book and e.-.ch chapter ; they fet over the head 

 of every page fon-.e remarkuble word or fentence, for helping 

 the memory ; they introduced brief annotations for afcer- 

 taniing the text, and explaining obfcure words ; they ftt 

 forth with figures certain places in the books of Mofcs, of 

 the Kings, and Ezckiel, which could not be made intelli- 

 gible by any other defcription ; they added maps of divers 

 places and countries, mei;tioned in the Old and New Tefla- 

 ment ; and thcv annexed two tables, one for the interpreta- 

 tion of Hebrew names, and the other containing all the chief 

 matters of the whole Bible. Of this tranflation, there were 

 above 30 editions in foho, 410., or 8vo., tnolliy printed by 

 the queen's and king's prii.ter, from the year 1560 to 1616. 

 Editions cf it were likewife printed at Geneva, Edinburgh, 

 and Amllerdain. To fome e(?itions cf the Geneva Bible, 

 e.g. to tliofe ^f 1599 and of 1611, is fubjoined Btza's 

 tranflation of the New Teflament, enpliihtd by L. Tomp- 

 fon. [ati RhcniiJI) Bible.) Dr. Geddes (Gen. Anfwer, 

 &c. p. 4.) gives an honourable tellim.ony to the Geneva 

 tranflation ; a:;d hefitatcs not in declaring that he thinks 

 it in general better than that of king Jjmes's tranflators. 



Bible, Bi/hcp's. In the year 1568, the Bible, propofed 

 by nrchbifhop Parker three years before, was completed. 

 Tiiis edition, according to Le Long, was undertaken by 

 royal command ; and it is mentioned by Strypc, to the ho- 

 nour of the archbifliop, that he had refoh:'\'n to perform 

 what Cranmer, as oppofed by the bifliops r' his days, had 

 in vain endeavoured to accomplifli. In t'.is performance, 

 dillindt portions of the Bible, at leall 15 in number, were 

 allotted to felcdl men of learning and abilities, appointed, as 

 Fu; :• fays, by the queen's conmiiffion ; and, accordingly, 

 at the conclufion of each part, the edition of ij68 has the 

 initial letters of each man's name to the end of the lirtl 

 epifllcto the Corinthians ; e. g. at the end of the Pentateuch, 

 2 W. E. 



