9. ANGLO-GENEVESE VERSION.

(1.) New Testament.

The Newe Testament of our Lord Iesus Christ, conferred diligently with the Greke and best approued translations. With the arguments as wel before the chapters, as for euery Boke and Epistle, also diuersities of readings, and moste proffitable annotations of all harde places: whereunto is added a copious Table. At Geneva. Printed by Conrad Badius. 1557. Svo. Second Edition, Geneva, 1560. 8vo.

This translation was made by many of the principal English Reformers, who had been driven to Geneva during the sanguinary persecutions of the bigoted Queen Mary it is the first in our language which contains the distinction of verses by numerical figures, after the manner of the Greek Testament, which had been published by Robert Stephens in 1551. R. Stephens, indeed, published his figures in the margin: whereas the Geneva editors prefixed theirs to the beginning of minute subdivisions with breaks, after our present manner. When Queen Elizabeth passed through London from the Tower to her coronation, a pageant was erected in Cheapside, representing Time coming out of a cave, and leading a person clothed in white silk, who represented Truth, his daughter. Truth had the English Bible in her hand, on which was written, "Verbum veritatis." Truth addressed the queen, and presented her with the book. She kissed it, held it in her hand, laid it on her breast, greatly thanking the city for their present, and added, that she would often and diligently read it. Upon a royal visitation in 1559, the Bible, and Erasmus's paraphrase, were restored to the churches; and articles of inquiry were exhibited, whether the clergy discouraged any from reading any part of the Scriptures. "Ministers were also enjoined to read every day one chapter of the Bible at least ; and all who were admitted readers in the church were daily to read one chapter at least of the Old Testament, and another of the New, with good advisement, to the increase of their knowledge.”

(2.) The entire Bible.

The Bible: that is, the Holy Scriptures, conteined in the Olde and Newe Testament. Translated according to the Ebrewe and Greke, and conferred with the best translations in divers languages, with most profitable annotations upon all the harde places, and other thinges of great importance, as may appeare in the Epistle to the Reader. Imprinted at London by Christopher Barker. M.D.LXXVI. large 4to.1

The first edition of the Geneva Bible was printed at Geneva by Rowland Harle in 1560. Eight years after, it was printed in two volumes folio, and again at Geneva, 1570, folio; at London, in folio and quarto, in 1572, and in 1575 and 1576, in quarto. The translators were bishop Coverdale, Anthony Gilby, William Whittingham, Christopher Woodman, Thomas Sampson, and Thomas Cole; to whom some add John Knox, John Bodleigh, and John Pullain: all zealous Calvinists, both in doctrine and discipline: but the chief and the most learned of them were the three first. Professing to observe the sense, and to adhere as much as possible to the words of the original, and in many places to preserve the Hebrew phraseology, after the unremitting labour and study of more than two years, they finished their translation, and published it; with an epistle dedicatory to the queen, and another, by way of preface, to their brethren of England, Scotland, and Ireland. Besides the translation, the editors of the Geneva Bible noted in the margin the diversities of speech and reading, especially according to the Hebrew; then inserted in the text, with another kind of letter, every word that seemed to be necessary for explaining any particular sentence; in the division of the verses, they followed the Hebrew examples, and added the number to each verse; they also noted the principal matters, and the arguments, both for each book and each chapter; they set over the head of every page some remarkable word or sentence, for helping the memory; they introduced brief annotations for ascertaining the text, and explaining obscure words; they set forth with figures certain places in the books of Moses, of the Kings, and Ezekiel, which could not be made intelligible by any other description; they added maps of divers places and countries mentioned in the Old and New Testament; and they annexed two tables, one for the interpretation of Hebrew names, and the other containing all the chief

1 In Lewis's History, pp. 264-269. (8vo. edit.) there is a full description of the contents of this volume.

matters of the whole Bible. Of this translation, there were above 30 editions in folio, 4to., or 8vo., mostly printed by the queen's and king's printer, between the years 1560 and 1616. Editions of it were likewise printed at Geneva, Edinburgh, and Amsterdam. To some editions of the Geneva Bible, (as to those of 1599 and of 1611) is subjoined Beza's translation of the New Testament, Englished by L. Tompson.

10. ARCHBISHOP PARKER'S, or THE BISHOps' Bible.

The holie Bible. Imprinted at London in povvles Churchyarde, by Richard Jugge. M.D.LXVIII. folio.

In the year 1568, the Bible, proposed by Archbishop Parker three years before, was completed. This edition, according to Le Long, was undertaken by royal command and it is mentioned by Strype, to the honour of the archbishop, that he had resolution to perform what Cranmer, who was opposed by the bishops of his day, had in vain endeavoured to accomplish. In this performance, distinct portions of the Bible, at least 15 in number, were allotted to select men of learning and abilities, appointed, as Fuller says, by the queen's commission; but it still remains uncertain who, and whether one or more, revised the rest of the New Testament. Eight of the persons employed were bishops; whence the book was called the "Bishops' Bible," and the "Great English Bible." The archbishop employed other critics to compare this Bible with the original languages, and with the former translations; one of whom was Laurence, a man famous in those times for his knowledge of Greek, whose castigations the Bishops' Bible followed exactly. His grace also sent instructions concerning the method which his translators were to observe; and recommended the addition of some short marginal notes for the illustration or correction of the text. But the particulars of these instructions are not known. The archbishop, however, directed, reviewed, and finished the whole; which was printed and published, in 1568, in a large folio size, and with a beautiful English letter, on royal paper; and embellished with several cuts of the most remarkable things in the Old and New Testaments, and in the Apocrypha, with maps cut in wood, and other engravings on copper. It has numerous marginal references and notes, and many useful tables. It also has numerous insertions between brackets, and in a smaller character; which are equivalent to the Italics afterwards used by James's translators. Dr. Geddes is of opinion, (Letter to the Bishop of London, p. 33), that Italic supplements were first used by Arias Montanus, who died in 1598. The several additions from the vulgar Latin, inserted in the "Great Bible," are omitted; and verse 7. of 1 John v., which was before distinguished by its being printed in a different letter, is here printed without any distinction; and the chapters are divided into verses. In the following year, 1569, it was again published in large 8vo., for the use of private families. This Bible was reprinted in 1572, in large folio, with several corrections and amendments, and several prolegomena; this is called "Matthew Parker's Bible." With regard to this Bible, Lewis, (Hist. Engl. Transl. p. 61,) observes, that the editions of it are mostly in folio and 4to., and that he never heard but of one in 8vo. ; for which he supposes this to be the reason, that it was principally designed for the use of churches. In the convocation of the province of Canterbury, which met in April, 1571, a canon was made, enjoining the churchwardens to see that the Holy Bible be in every church, in the largest volumes, if convenient; and it was likewise ordered, that every archbishop and bishop, every dean and chief residentiary, and every archdeacon, should have one of these Bibles in their cathedrals, churches, and families. This translation was used in the churches for forty years; though the Geneva Bible was more read in private houses.

11. KING JAMES'S BIBLE, or THE AUTHORISED VERSION NOW IN USE. The last English version that remains to be noticed, is the authorised translation now in use, which is commonly called King James's Bible. He succeeded to the throne of England in 1602; and, several objections having been made to the Bishops' Bible, at the conference held at Hampton Court in 1603, the king in the following year gave orders for the undertaking of a new version, and fifty-four learned men were appointed to this important labour: but, before it was commenced, seven of the persons nominated were either dead or had declined the task; for the list, as given us by Fuller', comprises only forty-seven names. All of them, however, were pre-eminently

1 Church History, Book x. pp. 44-46.

distinguished for their piety and for their profound learning in the original languages of the sacred writings; and such of them as survived till the commencement of the work were divided into six classes. Ten were to meet at Westminster, and to translate from the Pentateuch to the end of the second book of Kings. Eight, assembled at Cambridge, were to finish the rest of the Historical Books, and the Hagiographa. At Oxford, seven were to undertake the four greater prophets, with the Lamentations of Jeremiah, and the twelve minor prophets. The four Gospels, Acts of the Apostles, and the Apocalypse, were assigned to another company of eight, also at Oxford: and the Epistles of Saint Paul, together with the remaining canonical epistles, were allotted to another company of seven, at Westminster. Lastly, another company at Cambridge were to translate the apocryphal books, including the prayer of Manasseh. To these six companies of venerable translators, the King gave the following instructions:

"1. The ordinary Bible read in the church, commonly called the Bishops' Bible, to be followed, and as little altered as the original will permit.

"2. The names of the prophets and the holy writers, with the other names in the text, to be retained as near as may be, according as they are vulgarly used.

"3. The old ecclesiastical words to be kept, as the word church not to be translated congregation.

"4. When any word hath divers significations, that to be kept which hath been most commonly used by the most eminent fathers, being agreeable to the propriety of the place and the analogy of faith.

"5. The division of the chapters to be altered either not at all, or as little as may be, if necessity so require.

"6. No marginal notes at all to be affixed, but only for the explanation of the Hebrew or Greek words, which cannot, without some circumlocution, so briefly and fitly be expressed in the text.

"7. Such quotations of places to be marginally set down, as shall serve for the fit references of one scripture to another.

"8. Every particular man of each company to take the same chapter or chapters; and having translated or amended them severally by himself, where he thinks good, all to meet together, to confer what they have done, and agree for their part what shall stand.

"9. As any one company has dispatched any one book in this manner, they shall send it to the rest, to be considered of seriously and judiciously: for his majesty is very careful in this point.

"10. If any company, upon the review of the book so sent, shall doubt or differ upon any places, to send them word thereof, to note the places, and therewithall to send their reasons; to which if they consent not, the difference to be compounded at the general meeting, which is to be of the chief persons of each company, at the end of the work.

"11. When any place of special obscurity is doubted of, letters to be directed by authority, to send to any learned in the land for his judgment in such a place.

"12. Letters to be sent from every bishop to the rest of his clergy, admonishing them of this translation in hand, and to move and charge as many as, being skilful in the tongues, have taken pains in that kind, to send their particular observations to the company, either at Westminster, Cambridge, or Oxford, according as it was directed before in the king's letter to the archbishop.

"13. The directors in each company to be the Deans of Westminster and Chester for Westminster, and the King's Professors in Hebrew and Greek in the two Universities.

"14. These translations to be used, when they agree better with the text than the Bishops' Bible, viz. Tindal's, Coverdale's, Matthew's, Whitchurch's, Geneva.

["15. Besides the said directors before mentioned, three or four of the most antient and grave divines in either of the Universities, not employed in translating, to be assigned by the Vice-Chancellor, upon conference with the rest of the heads, to be overseers of the translation, as well Hebrew as Greek, for the better observation of the 4th rule above specified."]'

1 The preceding rules are given from a corrected copy in the Rev. H. J. Todd's Vindication of our authorised Translation and Translators of the Bible, pp. 9-12. London, 1819, 8vo.

According to these regulations, each book passed the scrutiny of all the translators successively. In the first instance, each individual translated every book which was allotted to his division. Secondly, the readings to be adopted were agreed upon by the whole of that company assembled together, at which meeting each translator must have been solely occupied by his own version. The book, thus finished, was sent to each of the other companies to be again examined; and at these meetings it probably was, as Selden informs us, that "one read the translation, the rest holding in their hands some Bible, either of the learned tongues, or French, Spanish, Italian, &c. If they found any fault, they spoke; if not, he read on."l Further, the translators were empowered to call to their assistance any learned men, whose studies enabled them to be serviceable, when an urgent occasion of difficulty presented itself. The translation was commenced in the spring of 1607, and the completion of it occupied almost three years. At the expiration of that time, three copies of the whole Bible, thus translated and revised, were sent to London,-one from Oxford, one from Cambridge, and a third from Westminster. Here a committee of six, two being deputed by the companies at Oxford, two by those at Cambridge, and two by those at Westminster, reviewed and polished the whole work: which was finally revised by Dr. Smith (afterwards bishop of Gloucester), who wrote the preface, and by Dr. Bilson, bishop of Winchester. This translation of the Bible was first published in folio in 1611.

After the publication of the present authorised translation, all the other versions gradually fell into disuse, with the exception of the Psalms, and the Epistles and Gospels in the Book of Common Prayer, which were still continued, the former according to the translation of Cranmer's Bible, and the latter according to that of the Bishops' Bible, until the final revision of the Liturgy, in 1661; at which time the Epistles and Gospels were taken from the present version, but the Psalms are still retained according to the translation of Cranmer's Bible.2

Upwards of two centuries have elapsed since the authorised English Version of the Holy Scriptures, now in use, was given to the British nation. During that long interval, though many passages in particular books have been elucidated by learned men, with equal felicity and ability; yet its general fidelity, perspicuity, and excellence, have deservedly given our present translation a high and distinguished place in the judgment of the Christian world, wherever the English language is known or read. Of late years, however, this admirable version-the guide and solace of the sincere Christian-has been attacked with no common virulence, and arraigned as being deficient in fidelity, perspicuity, and elegance; ambiguous and incorrect, even in matters of the highest importance. The principal antagonists of this version, in the present day, (to omit the bold and unmeasured assertions of the late Dr. Geddes, and others,) are Mr. John Bellamy 3, in the prospectus, preface, and notes of this new translation of the Bible, and Sir James Bland Burges, in his Reasons in favour of a New Translation of the Scriptures, (8vo. London, 1819,) which were designed as a defence of Mr. Bellamy against the severe strictures of the Quarterly Review. The former of these writers, in his octavo prospectus issued in 1818, affirmed that "no translation has been made from the original Hebrew since the 128th year of

1 Selden's Table-Talk, article Bible. Works, vol. iii. col. 2009.

2 About the time when King James resolved on a new translation of the Scriptures, another translation was finished by Mr. Ambrose Usher, the elder brother of archbishop Usher. It is still in manuscript, and is preserved in the library of Trinity College, Dublin. There are likewise extant in print several English translations of the Old and New Testament, and of detached parts thereof: but as these are more or less accompanied with notes, an account of them will be found in a subsequent part of this Appendix.

3 A notice of Mr. Bellamy's work will also be found in a subsequent part of this Appendix.

Christ;" and that "in the fourth century Jerome made his Latin version from this" [the Greek] "translation; from which came the Latin Vulgate, and from the Latin Vulgate all the European translations have been made; thereby perpetuating all the errors of the first translators." These erroneous and unqualified assertions of Mr. Bellamy, as well as the assertions or implications of Sir J. B. Burges, have been answered in detail by the Rev. Messrs. Whittaker and Todd, in their works cited below1, to which the reader is referred: and, in further refutation of Mr. Bellamy's assertions, it is sufficient to refer to the account already given of our present authorised version.2 We shall conclude the present notice of their admirable version, with a few of the very numerous testimonies to its value, which have been collected by Archbishop Newcome and Mr. Todd, and shall subjoin two or three others that appear to have eluded their researches.

1. JOHN SELDEN.3-" The English translation of the Bible is the best translation in the world, and renders the sense of the original best, taking in for the English translation the Bishops' Bible as well as King James's. The translators in King James's time took an excellent way. That part 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 hands some Bible, either of the learned tongues, or French, Spanish, Italian, &c. If they found any fault, they spoke; if not, he read on. There is no book so translated as the Bible for the purpose. If I translate a French book into English, I turn it into English phrase, not into French-English. Il fait froid; I say, 't is cold, not makes cold. But the Bible is rather translated into English words than into English phrase. The Hebraisms are kept, and the phrase of that language is kept."

2. BISHOP WALTON. 4-"The last English translation, made by divers learned men at the command of King James, though it may justly contend with any now extant in any other language in Europe, was yet carped and cavilled at by diverse among ourselves; especially by one, who being passed by, and not employed in the work, as

5

1 A vindication of our authorised Translation and Translators of the Bible, and of preceding English Versions authoritatively commended to the Notice of those Translators, &c. &c. By the Rev. H. J. Todd, M. A. London, 1819, 8vo.-An Historical and Critical Enquiry into the Interpretation of the Hebrew Scriptures, with Remarks on Mr. Bellamy's New Translation. By J. W. Whittaker, M. A. London, 1819, 8vo.

2 The seventh section of Mr. Todd's Vindication of the latter translation contains an account of the forty-seven translators who were employed on it, and of the state of learning in their time. This does not admit of abridgment, but the result is highly satisfactory, and proves that those venerable men were eminently skilled in the Oriental and Greek languages, and consequently were, in every respect, fitted for the high and honourable task assigned to them by their sovereign. — That Luther's German Version was made from the original languages of the Scriptures, see p. 94. infra; and for other European translations, see the following pages of this section.

Selden

3 Selden, Works, iii. 2009. This is cited by Abp. Newcome, without addition. was the contemporary of the translators. He died in 1654, at the age of 70. 4 Dr. Bryan Walton's Considerator Considered, or a Defence of his Polyglott Bible, &c. 1659, p. 5. This is not noticed by Abp. Newcome. But a most important testimony it is. He was one of those most learned divines, who, in 1656, were publicly requested to consider of the translations and impressions of the Bible, and to offer their opinion therein to the committee for religion; Bulstrode Whitelock having the care of this affair, at whose house they met. They pretended to discover some mistakes in the last English translation; but the business came to nothing. See Lewis, &c. p. 355.; Johnson, &c. p. 99. In the above citation we have the opinion of Walton, (than whom a more competent judge neither friends nor foes of our translation can produce), three years subsequent to this meeting, upon the excellence of this version, together with his notice of an impotent attack made upon it. He has also, in the Prolegomena to his Biblia Polyglotta, 1657, placed our own in the highest rank of European translations.

This person was undoubtedly Hugh Broughton, fellow of Christ College, Cambridge, who had certainly attained great knowledge in the Hebrew and Greek tongues. But a more conceited or arrogant man hardly existed. With the Bishops' Bible he had found great fault; insisted upon the necessity of a new translation; pronounced his own sufficiency to make one exactly agreeable to the original text of the Hebrew; boasted of encouragement to this purpose from men of all ranks; and at length excited a very warrantable suspicion, that, in so important a task, he was unfit to be trusted. Thus discountenanced, he went abroad; leaving behind him this quaint character, expressive at once of his vanity and learning,