CHAP. INTERNAL HISTORY. The Com mentary. 23 peace [be] unto (to peace [be unto you] A. V.) the breth ren, A. V. 24 grace be grace [be], A. V. The notes in the Bishops' Bible differ generally in their character from those in the Genevan. They are shorter and more epigrammatic, and deal more frequently with the interpretation than with the application of the text. Yet there are in them, as will be seen even in the following examples, many dogmatic statements which are of importance in estimating the standard theology of the age. The III. INTERNAL chief part of the commentary on a single chapter CHAP. will shew the general range of the notes: a few detached specimens will illustrate their doctrinal nature. 'Natural sorrow if it be in measure is not to 'be reprehended. 'to embalm: This was to the godly then an 2 ' outward token of incorruption, but to the ignorant 'a vain ceremony. 'Am I God? or In the place of God. HISTORY. Gen. l. 19 'That is, he would not turn that to their shame 20 'which God had disposed to their wealth. 4 'kindly. To their hearts. 'born or brought up or nourished. 21 23 'The truth of God's promise is immortal which 2+ 'men must look for patiently and not prescribe God a time. 4 'his name Everlasting. Jah, a name of God that Ps. Ixvii. 'signifieth him to be always and other things to 'be of him. 'preachers. The women that told it abroad. 'the ornament of an house divided the spoil. That 12 ' is a woman, meaning Debora. in it. In the land of promise. the people like unto calves: Calves of people. 'princes: Ambassadors. 32 31 CHAP. 33 the most highest eternal heavens: upon the hea III. INTERNAL 'vens, the heavens of eternity. HISTORY. Luke iv. 6. John xix. 30 Rom. ix. II. Phil. ii. 12. Hebr. xiii. 10. Satan betrayeth himself, shewing his bold sa'crilege, usurping the empire of the earth.' 'The mystery of man's redemption and sal'vation is perfected by the only sacrifice of Christ, the promise to the fathers fulfilled, the ceremo- ! 'nies of the law ended.' 'The will and purpose of God is the cause of 'the election and reprobation; for his mercy and 'calling through Christ are the means of salvation; and the withdrawing of his mercy is the cause of damnation.' 'Our health hangeth not on our works, and yet ' are they said to work out their health who do run ' in the race of justice. For although we be saved 'freely in Christ by faith, yet must we walk by the 'way of justice unto our health.' 'They that stick to the ceremonies of the law I cannot eat, that is cannot be partakers of our altar, 'which is thanksgiving and liberality, which two 'sacrifices or offerings are now only left to the 'Christians',' 1 The books are arranged in the following manner in the table of contents: 8. THE RHEMES AND DOWAY BIBLE. CHAP. III. INTERNAL ish Ver The Rhemish Bible, like Wycliffe's, lies pro- HISTORY. perly outside the line of English Bibles, because The Rhemit is a secondary translation based upon the Vul- sion a secondary gate. But it is nevertheless of considerable im- translation from the portance in the internal history of the authorised Vulgate. text, for it furnished a large proportion of the Latin words which King James' revisers adopted; and it is to this rather than to Coverdale's Testaments that we owe the final and most powerful action of the Vulgate upon our present Version. lators' ac this work. The Rhemish translators give a very interesting The transand ingenious defence of their method, but they count of express no obligation to the earlier English translations which still formed the groundwork of their version'. They take the current Latin Vulgate for The order of the Books of the Old Testament.' The first part:' GenesisDeuteronomy. The second part:' JoshuaJob. The third part of the Bible:' The Psalter-Malachi. The fourth part of the Bible ⚫ called Apocryphus:' 3 Esdr.— I Macb. 2 Macb. "The order of the books of the New Testament.' 'The fifth part.' The four Gospels. The Acts. St James. 1, 2 St Peter. 1 This will appear, at least in the New Testament, by a comparison of any chapter in the Rhemish Version with the earlier English translations. The coincidences with the Genevan revi Y III. CHAP. their guide, and expressly disclaim the intention of INTERNAL acting as interpreters where that is obscure. What HISTORY. they say upon each point is well worth quoting, and may serve as a commentary on Romish views of Scripture at the end of the 16th century. The choice of a ground text. 'We translate the old vulgar Latin text, not 'the common Greek text, for these causes: i 'I. It is so ancient that it was used in the Church above 1300 years ago... " 2. It is that...by all probability which St Jerome afterward corrected according to the Greek 'by the appointment of Damasus then Pope... 3. Consequently it is the same which St Au'gustine so commendeth... 4. It is that which for the most part ever 'since hath been used in the Church's Service... 5. The Holy Council of Trent, for these and 'many other important considerations, hath de'clared and defined this only of all other Latin 'translations to be authentical... '6. It is the gravest, sincerest, of greatest ma sion alone (1560) in a single Some of these words may have come independently from the Vulgate, but a comparison with Wycliffe shews that it is unlikely that all did. Cf. ii. 5, 17; iv. 14; vii. 6, &c. |