B I B 



B I B 



T^\AitJ!ftefi!lh. Proper names Ihould remain as they are now 

 vvrittfii in thofe places wtiere they arc moll coneftly repre- 

 fcnted. Kulcfixicfiilh. The bell known ::;eogi;\piiical terms 

 ftiould be inlcrtcd in the text ; and th.ole of tlic original in 

 the mar.rin ; e. g. Syria, niarg. Aram ; Ethiopia, marg. 

 Ciilli. Rule /J-Ticn/ffn//'. Tiie language, feiife, and pundtu- 

 ation of our prcfent verfion fhould be retained, \ir.lcfs when 

 a fiifficicnt reafon can be alTigned for deoa:ting from them. 

 Rule a^htefnsh. The critical fcnfe of paltages Ihould be con- 

 fidertd, and not the opinions of any denoinination of Chrif- 

 t'aiis whatever; fo that the trandators ihould be phiiologills, 

 and nut controverliaiills. Rule nineteenth. PaiHiges already 

 admitted into the common vcrfion, but which are alL)\\\'d co 

 be marginal glofics, or about the autheriticity of which cri- 

 tics have reafon to be doubtful, Ihould be placed in the text 

 between brackets. Rule ttuenlielh. In t!it bcft editions of 

 the Hible, the poetical parts ihould be divided into lines 

 anfwering to the metre of the original; or I'ome other 

 method (hould be ufcd to diilinguilh them from profe. 

 But if it Ihould be thought advifable to exclude the 

 poetical dillribution from our Biblef, and confine it to 

 the prolulions of the fcholar, fome proper mark of di- 

 ftinclion lor metrical paufe, as the Hebrew Reuhiang or 

 two horizontal points placed over a word, may be ad- 

 mitted into the authorized imprciTionsof the Old Teftament; 

 or, at leall, the contents prefixed may advertife the reader 

 of the padagcs generally allowt-d to afFume the tone and 

 form of poetry. Rule t-Mcntyfrfi. Of dark pafTages, which 

 exhilnt no meaning as they Hand in our prefent verfion, an 

 intelligible rendering fliriuld be made on the principles of 

 found crit'.elfm. Under this head of found criticifm, New- 

 come includes that which is conjectural, the fober ufe of 

 which he frequently recommends. But it admits of doubt, 

 whether conjecture can ever be authorized in a tranflation 

 whicli is intended for general ufe ; for if it be exercifed on 

 flight occafions, it mull be in fome degree fupertluous ; if 

 on material ones, it mull ever be indecifive. The learned 

 prelate, however, lays down the following canons for this 

 kind of criticifm. Never fuppofe that the text is corrupted, 

 vi'ithout the moil cogent and convincing reafons. Never 

 liavc rccourfc to conjeftural criticifm, until every other fource 

 has been tried and cxhaufted. Let all correftions be confill- 

 cnt with the text, and with one another. Infert no corec- 

 tlon, however plaufible or even certain, in the text, without 

 warning the reader, and diftinguilhing it by a proper note. 

 For other inllructions, more immediately defigned for the 

 editor of fuch a new verfion, we refer to the author himfelf ; 

 as well as to his appendix, for a lift of tlie various editions of 

 the Bible, together with an account of the libraries public 

 or private, in which they are to be found. Another more 

 complete fill of this kind is prefixed to bifliop Wilfon's Bi- 

 ble. See Lewis's Trandations of the Bible, Bvo. 1739. 

 Johnfon's Hillorical Account of the feveral Englilh tranda- 

 tions of the Bible, in bilhop Watfon's Colhclion of Theo- 

 logical TraAs, vol. iu. p. 60 — 100. Newcome's Hillorical 

 View of the Englilh Biblical Tranfaftions, &c. 8vo. Dublin, 

 1792. 



Bibles, Welch. There was a Welch tranflation of the 

 Bible made from the original in the time of queen Elizabeth, 

 in confcquence of a bill brou>;ht into the houfe of conmions 

 for this purpofe in 1563. The aft 5 Eliz. c. 28. recitin"-, 

 that in Wales the people were popUhly inclined, and ver)- i;j-- 

 norant, put the direftion of this wwrk into the hands of the 

 biftops of Hereford, St. David, Bangor, Landaft, and St. 

 Afaph, who were to infpeft the traidlation, and take care 

 that iuch a number (hould be printed as would provide every 

 'cathedral, collegiate, and parifh-church, and chapel of eafe. 



within then- refpeiSlive dioccfes, where Welch was commonly 

 fpoken, with one copy. It was printed in folio, in ij88. 

 Another verfion, which is the llandard tranflation for that 

 language, was printed in 1620. It is called Pan-y's Bible. 

 An itrpn-fTiou of this was printed in 1690, called Bidiop 

 Lloyd's Bible. Thefe were in folio. The firll ocilavo ini- 

 prefi'ion of the Welch Bible was made in 1^30. 



Bibles, Ir'tfi. The New Tellarr.ent having been tranf- 

 lated into Iridi by William Daniel, archbifiiop of Tuam, 

 Bedell, who was aJvaneed to the fe:; cf Kilmore and Ar- 

 dagh, in 1629, firll procured the Old Ted:ament to be tranf- 

 lated bv one King ; but the trai.flator being igr.orant of the 

 original langr.ages, and having done it from the Englidi, the 

 bilhop himfelf revifed and compared it with the Hebrew, 

 the Septuagint, and the Italian verfion of Diodati. He fup- 

 ported Mr. Kiig to the utmoll of his ability, whilil he was 

 engaged in this work ; and when the tranflation vi'as finiflied, 

 he would have printed it in his own houfe, and at his own 

 charge, if the troubles in Ireland had not prevented it. 

 The execution of his benevolent defign was alio impeded in 

 confcquence of the notice that was given of it to the lord 

 lieutenant and the archbilhop of Canterbury, who thought 

 it (lifgraceful for a nation to have a Bible publi.hed, which 

 had been tranflated by fuch a defpic.ible perfon as King. 

 However, tlie tranflation efcaped the hands of the rebels, 

 and it was alterwards, viz. in i6Sj, printed at the expence 

 of the Hon. Robert Boyle. 



Bibles, Gaelic. The Bible was tranflated and publidied 

 by the foci^.-ty in Scotland for promoting Chrilllan know- 

 ledge, in the Gaelic language, for the ufe of their fchools, 

 and of the people in the Highlands, at difl"crent periods, and 

 in detached poitions, as the funds of the fociety allowed. 

 In 1767, the New Teftament in Gaelic was publidied by it- 

 felf ; and in various fucccflive years, and in fcpar:iie volumes, 

 the feveral books of the Old Teftair.ent were publillicd. In 

 I 796, the firll edition of the New Tellament being exhaufted, 

 the fociety publidied another, confining of 20,000 copies. 

 And as fome of the fiift printed volumes of the Old Tefta- 

 ment have been fo much reduced in number, as to be infuf- 

 ficient to fupply the urgent demands of the Highlands in 

 general, and of the fociety's own fchool in particular, a new 

 edition of 20,000 copies has been lately undertaken (iu 

 1803), at an expence of 2284I. i6s. defrayed by volun- 

 tary fiibferiptioii. An adt of charity, higiily important and 

 laudable, as the perfons, for whofe accommodation it is de- 

 figned, amount to no lefs than 335,000 ; of whom, it is com- 

 puted, that 300,000 underlland no other language than the 

 Gaelic, or at Icaft cannot comprehend a book written, or a 

 continued difconrfe fpoken, in any other. 



Bible-Doctors, in Ecehfmjlieal Bijlory, a denomination 

 by which the fchoolmen of the twelfth and thirteenth cen- 

 turies were diftiiiguldied, who made the Scriptures the chief 

 fubjeft of their ftudics, and text of their ledtnres. However, 

 in the courfe of tlie thirteenth century, the holy Scriptures, 

 together w^th thofe who ftudied and explained them, fell 

 into great negleft and even contempt. The Bible- Doftors 

 were flighted as men of little learning or acumen ; they had 

 few fcl.olars, and were not allowed an apartment, or a fcr- 

 vant to attend them, or even a ftated time for reading 

 their ledures, in any of the famous univerfities of Europe. 

 The ilhiftrious Roger Bacon inveighed very bitterly againft 

 this abufe; and his excellent friend, Robert Grouthead, 

 bidiop (if Lincoln, wrote a pathetic letter to the regents in 

 theology in the univerfity of Oxford, on this fubjedt ; ear- 

 neftly mtieating them to lay the foundations of theological 

 learning in the ftudy of the Scriptures, and to devote the 

 morning -hours to ledures on the Old and New Tcftaments. 



But 



