History of the English Bible Translation and Its Value
History of the Translation of the Bible into English, and Testimony Respecting the Value of our Common Translation.
THE venerable Bede seems to have been the first person who attempted the translation of the Scriptures into Anglo-Saxon. He translated the Psalter, and afterward the gospel of John. This was in A. D. 734. In the latter part of the next century, Alfred the Great ordered the whole Bible to be translated into Anglo-Saxon, and himself undertook to translate the book of Psalms, but he died in A. D. 900, before it was completed. Little or nothing was done during the next four hundred years, till the time of Wycliffe, who, in 1380, completed the whole Bible. In the fifteenth century printing was invented, and immediately employed for multiplying copies of the Scriptures. In 1526, William Tyndal (a Welshman) printed his first New Testament at Antwerp, and was soon after burned for heresy in Flanders. He expired praying, “Lord, open the King of England’s eyes!” Henry VIII. was long averse to having the Scriptures in English; but as soon as Cranmer could get permission, he divided the New Testament into nine parts, and sent it to as many learned divines for a new translation, who all performed their parts except Tonstall, bishop of London, who sent word to the archbishop he would have no hand in it. The work was, however, finished; and after much difficulty, printed and published. In 1539, Lord Cromwell procured from Henry VIII. license for the people to read the word of God! and the permission was most joyfully received. The first Bible thus tolerated was called Coverdale’s, because he superintended the publication. During the next reign, that of Edward VI., Bibles were placed in all the churches; but were again displaced at the accession of the cruel Queen Mary, and every person endangered his life who was found reading it. Great numbers of the clergy and other friends to the Reformation now fled to Geneva, where the edition called the Geneva Bible was printed, in 1560. Eight years afterward, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, was printed the bishops’ Bible; so called as being prepared and published under the care of Archbishop Parker, with the aid of seven other bishops. At the Hampton Court Conference, in 1603, Dr. Rainolds suggested the propriety of a new translation, which being approved by the king, fifty-four learned divines, of Westminster and the two English Universities, were appointed to the task, though forty-seven only appear to have engaged in it. The divines of Westminster translated the historical books of the Old Testament, from Genesis to Chronicles, and also of the apostolical epistles; those at Cambridge took the rest of the Old Testament to the end of Ecclesiastes, and the Apocrypha; and the divines of Oxford, the prophets, the gospels, the Acts, and the Apocalypse. Among the Westminster divines were Drs. (afterward Bishops) Andrews and Overall (the former said to be acquainted with fifteen languages and a most excellent divine; the other, unquestionably a man of learning), and Regius, Professor of Divinity at Cambridge; Dr. Seravia, who had been Professor of Divinity at Leyden, and, after coming to England, Prebend of Westminster (he was the bosom friend of the immortal Hooker, who actually died in his arms); and Mr. Bedwell, a great Arabic scholar. The University lists included the professors of Greek and Hebrew, Archbishop Abbot, and Dr. Rainolds, with whom the work originated, and other divines, of eminent learning, and great respectability. When the work was gone through, three copies were sent to Stationer’s Hall, London, and revised by two divines from each University, and two from Westminster. The whole was again reviewed by Bilson, bishop of Winchester, and Dr. Myles Smith; these prefixed arguments to the several books, and the latter wrote the preface to the whole. In 1611, the work was published, dedicated to the king, and ordered to be read in churches. Messrs. Thomas and Orme, from whom many of these particulars are taken, give it the following character: “Like every thing human, it is no doubt imperfect; but as a translation of the Bible, it has few rivals and no superior. It is in general faithful, simple, and perspicuous. It has seized the spirit, and copied the manner, of the divine originals; it seldom descends to meanness or vulgarity, but often rises to elegance and sublimity; it is level to the understanding of the cottager, and fit to meet the eye of the critic, the poet, and the philosopher. Its phraseology is now familiar to us from our infancy; it has had the most extensive influence on the style of religious works of every description, and has contributed much to fix the standard of the English language itself. No work has ever been more generally read, or more universally admired; and such is its complete possession of the public mind that no translation differing materially from it can ever become popular.” Selden, a very learned lay member of the Westminster Assembly of Divines, in his “Table Talk,” says, “The English translation of the Bible is the best translation in the world; taking for the English translation the bishops’ Bible as well as King James’s.” Bishop Walton, author of the Polyglot Bible, says, “The last English translation, made by diverse learned men at the command of King James, may justly contend with any now extant, in any language of Europe.” L. Capellus, a Professor of Divinity and the oriental languages at Saumur, and author of the “Critica Sacra,” bears witness to our translation as “both true and agreeable, as well to the original words as to the analogy of faith.” Dr. Durell, a celebrated Hebrew critic, was of opinion that “the chief excellency of the version now in use consists in its being a closer translation than any that had preceded; in using the properest language for popular use.” Dr. Gray says, “The present translation is, indeed, highly excellent, being in its doctrines uncorrupt, and in its general construction faithful to the original.” Dr. Doddridge observes, “On a diligent comparison of our translation with the original we find that of the New Testament, and I might also add that of the Old, in the main, faithful, and judicious.” Dr. John Taylor, author of the Hebrew concordance, though an Arian in sentiment, assures his readers: “You may rest fully satisfied, that, as our translation is in itself by far the most excellent book in our language, so it is a pure and plentiful fountain of divine knowledge, giving a true, clear, and full account of the divine dispensations and of the gospel of our salvation, insomuch that whoever studies the English Bible is sure of gaining that knowledge and faith, which if duly applied to the heart and conversation, will infallibly guide him to eternal life.” Dr. Geddes, a Socinian Catholic priest, though the author of a new translation and commentary, bears this testimony to our authorized Protestant version: “If accuracy, fidelity, and the strictest attention to the letter of the text, be supposed to constitute the qualities of an excellent version, this, of all versions, must in general be accounted the most excellent.” Dr. Middleton, late bishop of Calcutta and author of a celebrated work on the Greek Article, thus commends the same version: “Its general fidelity has never been questioned; its style is incomparably superior to anything that might be expected from the finical and perverted taste of our own age. It is simple; it is harmonious; it is energetic; and, which is of no small importance, use has made it familiar, and time has rendered it sacred.” The Rev. Professor Stuart, of the Theological Seminary of Andover, Massachusetts, gives the following decided testimony: “Out of some eight hundred thousand various readings, about seven hundred and ninety-nine thousand are of just about as much importance to the sense of the Hebrew Scriptures, as the question in English orthography is, whether the word honour shall be spelled with the u or without it. Of the remainder, some change the sense of particular passages or expressions, or omit particular words and phrases or insert them; but not one doctrine of religion is changed; not one precept is taken away; not one important fact is altered by the whole of the various readings collectively taken. There is no ground, then, to fear for the safety of the Scriptures, on account of any legitimate criticism to which the text may be subjected.” —Introduction to Cottage Bible.