parliament, 1543; at the same time it was enacted that all notes | parcels to able bishops and other learned men, to peruse and collate each the book or books allotted them .. and they to add some short marginal notes for the illustration or correction of the text." William Whidingham. and marginal commentaries in other copies should be obliterated, and that "no woman (unless she be a noble or gentle woman), no artificers, apprentices, journeymen, servingmen, under the degree of yeomen husbandmen or labourers "should read or use any part of the Bible under pain of fines and imprisonment.' In 1546 Coverdale's Bible was included in the proscription, the Great Bible being the only translation not interdicted. During Edward VI.'s reign there was a brief respite, but with the accession of Mary the persecutions of the English Bible and its friends were renewed. Cranmer suffered martyrdom at the stake, as John Rogers had done before him. Other prominent reformers, amongst them Coverdale, sought refuge in Geneva, the town of Calvin and Beza, where they employed their enforced leisure in planning and carrying out a new revision of the Bible. The first fruits of these labours was a New Testament issued in June 1557, with an introduction by Calvin, probably the work of William Whittingham. The volume, in a convenient quarto size, printed in clear Roman type, and provided with marginal annotations, gained immediate popularity in England, where a Bible suited for household demands had long been needed. It was the first Bible which had the text divided into “ verses and sections according to the best editions in other languages.”3 The Genevan Bible. Whittingham's enterprise was, however, soon superseded by an issue of the whole Bible, which appeared in 1560, the so-called Genevan Bible, popularly also known as the Breeches Bible, from its rendering of Gen. iii. 7, "They sewed fig leaves together and made themselves breeches." This edition was mainly due to the combined efforts of William Whittingham, Anthony Gilby and Thomas Sampson, and the expenses towards printing and publication were borne by members of the congregation at Geneva. It represented in the Old Testament a thorough and independent revision of the text of the Great Bible with the help of the Hebrew original, the Latin versions of Leo Judä (1543), Pagninus (1528), Sebastian Münster (1534-1535), and the French versions of Olivetan. The New Testament consisted of Tyndale's latest text revised to a great extent in accordance with Beza's translation and commentary. The changes introduced by the Genevan translators were, as a rule, a great improvement, and the version received a ready welcome and immediate popularity, not only on account of its intrinsic merits, but because of its handy size, usually that of a small quarto, and of its being printed, like Whittingham's New Testament, in a readable Roman type instead of black letter. Like this earlier publication, it had the division of the chapters into verses, and a marginal commentary which proved a great attraction to the Puritans. The popularity of the Genevan Bible was so great that between 1560 and 1644 at least 140 editions of it were published, and this in spite of its not being allowed for use in the churches. In 1576 the New Testament of the Genevan Bible was again revised by Lawrence Tomson and provided with a new commentary mainly translated from Beza. It soon became popular and even replaced the Genevan New Testament in later editions of this Bible. The rules upon which they proceeded were these: I. To follow the common English translation used in the churches, and not to recede from it, but where it varieth manifestly from the Hebrew or Greek original. 2. To use sections and divisions in the text as Pagnine in his translation useth, and for the verity of the Hebrew to follow the said Pagnine and Münster specially, and generally others learned in the tongues. 3. To make no bitter notes upon any text, or yet to set down any determination in places 4. To note such chapters and places as contain of controversy. matters of genealogies, or other such places not edifying, with some strike or note, that the reader may eschew them in his public reading. 5. That all such words as sound in the old translation to any offence of lightness or obscenity be expressed with more convenient terms and phrases." The work was pushed forward with energy, and on the 5th of October 1568 the volume was ready for publication. It was a magnificent folio, generally known as the Bishops' Bible, since not less than eight of these dignitaries took part in the revision. But the detached and piecemeal way in which the revision had been carried out naturally caused certain inequalities in the execution of the work. The different parts of the Bible vary considerably in merit, the alterations in the New Testament, for instance, showing freshness and vigour, whereas most of the changes introduced in the Old Testament have been condemned as "arbitrary and at variance with the exact sense of the Hebrew text " (Westcott, op. cil. p. 237). Several editions of the Bishops' Bible were afterwards published, but it is doubtful whether the ecclesiastical authorities in spite of repeated enactments (Cardwell, Synodalia, pp. 115, 123, 210, 292) ever succeeded in entirely enforcing its public use in the churches. After 1569 the Great Bible ceased, however, to be reprinted. But in the homes the Genevan version still maintained its supremacy. One thing is certain, that the book of Psalms of the new revision had fairly soon to give way before the wellknown and smooth rendering of the Great Bible. In the second edition of the Bishops' Bible, 1572, the two texts were actually printed side by side; in all later editions except one (1585) the older Psalter alone remained. and Doual From the time of Tyndale onwards the translation of the Scriptures into English had been more or less an outcome of the great reformatory movements within the church. It was not until Queen Elizabeth's reign that members The Reims of the Romanist party found it expedient to translate the Version. Bible into the vernacular " for the more speedy abolishing of a number of false and impious translations put forth by sundry sectes, and for the better preseruation or reclaime of many good soules endangered thereby" (Preface to the Rhemish Version). According to the title-page the New Testament was "translated faithfvlly into English ovt of the authentical Latin, according to the best corrected copies of the same, diligently conferred vvith the Grecke and other editions in diuers languages. . ... In the English College of Rhemes, 1582." The Old Testament had been "long since" completed, but for lacke of good meanes (Preface to the New Testament), its appearance was delayed till 1609-1610, when it was published at Douai. The complete work, known as the Rhemes and Douay Version, was reprinted in Rouen in 1635, and after a considerable time revised by Dr Challoner (1749-1750). The translation is really anonymous, but there seems to be little doubt that it was carried out by some of the Romanist refugees connected with the Seminary at Douai and the English college at Reims, the chief amongst them being Gregory Martin, William Allen, Richard Bristow and J. Reynolds. Like the Wycliffite Versions it is merely a secondary rendering from the Latin Vulgate, and it suffered from many of the defects which characterized these versions, extreme literalness, often stilted, ambiguous renderings, at times unintelligible except by a reference to the Latin original, as in Luke xxii. 18, "I will not drink of the generation of the vine," or Phil. ii. 7, "But he exinanited himself." As further examples of this rendering we print the same passages from St Matthew: (Matthew iii. 1-4.) And in those dayes cometh Iohn the Baptist preaching in the desert of levvrie, saying. Doe penance: for the Kingdom of heauen is at hand. For this is he that vvas spoken of by Esay the Prophet, saying, A voyce of one crying in the desert, prepare ye the way of our Lord, make straight his pathes. And the sayd Iohn had his garment of camels heare, & a girdle of a skinne about his loynes: and his meate was locustes & vvilde honie. (Matthew vi. 9-13.) Ovr Father which art in heauen, sanctified be thy name. Let thy Kingdom come. Thy wil be done, as in heauen, in earth also. Giue vs to day our supersubstantial bread. And forgiue vs our dettes, as we also forgiue our detters. And leade vs not into tentation. But deliuer vs from evil. Amen. The strongly Latinized vocabulary of this version was not without its influence on the next great venture in English translations of the Bible, the Authorized Version.1 The English Bible, which is now recognized as the Authorized Version wherever the English language is spoken, is The Version, revision of the Bishops' Bible, begun in 1604, and published Authorized in 1611. It arose incidentally out of a Conference between the High Church and the Low Church parties 1611. convened by James I. at Hampton Court Palace in January 1604, for the purpose of determining" things pretended to be amiss in the church," and was originally proposed by Dr Reynolds, president of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, the leader and spokesman of the Low Church party, and subsequently on the committee which revised the translation of the Prophets. No real opposition was offered to the proposal, and the king cleverly sketched out on the moment a plan to be adopted. He "wished that some special pains should be taken in that behalf for one uniform translation-professing that he could never yet see a Bible well translated in English-and this to be done by the best learned in both the Universities; after them to be reviewed by the bishops and the chief learned of the Church; from them to be presented to the privy council; and lastly to be ratified by his royal authority; and so this whole church to be bound unto it and none other."2 He also particularly desired that no notes should be added by way of comment in the margin, since some of those in the Genevan Bible appeared to him " very partial, untrue, seditious and savouring too much of dangerous and traiterous conceits." The appointment of the revisers was a work of much responsibility and labour, and five months elapsed before they were selected and their respective portions assigned to them; but the list of those who began the work, and who, with some few changes in consequence of deaths, brought it to a happy conclusion, shows how large an amount of scholarship was enlisted. It includes Dr Andrewes, afterwards bishop of Winchester, who was familiar with Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac, Greek, Latin and at least ten other languages, while his knowledge of patristic literature was unrivalled; Dr Overall, regius professor of theology and afterwards bishop of Norwich; Bedwell, the greatest Arabic scholar of Europe; Sir Henry Savile, the most learned layman of his time; and, to say nothing of others well known to later generations, nine who were then or afterwards professors of Hebrew or of Greek at Oxford or Cambridge. It is observable also that they were chosen without reference to party, at least as many of the Puritan clergy as of the opposite party being placed on the committees. The following list is drawn up in such a way as to show the academical or other position which each of them occupied, and the particular part of the work on which they were engaged. 1 See J. G. Carleton, The Part of Rheims in the Making of the English Bible (Oxford, 1902). Barlow, Sum and Substance of the Conference... in Cardwell's History of Conferences, pp. 187 f. Compiled chiefly from the list found in Cardwell's Synodalia (ed. 1844), ii. 145-146, a reprint from Burnet's Doc. Annals, ii. 106 ff., who himself took his list from a copy belonging originally to Bishop Ravis." The list is correct for the year 1604; cf. Westcott, op. cit. pp. 112 f. Dr Lancelot Andrewes, dean of Westminster. Mr William Bedwell, St John's Coll., Camb. Mr John Richardson, afterwards master of Trin. Coll (Dr John Harding, pres. of Magd. Coll. Dr John Reynolds, pres. of Corpus Christi Coll. Dr Thomas Holland, afterwards rector of Ex. Coll. Dr Richard Brett, fellow of Lincoln Coll. Dr William Hutchinson, archdeacon of St Albans. Dr Roger Fenton, fellow of Pemb. Hall, Camb. Mr Thomas Sanderson, Balliol Coll, Oxford, D.D., 1605. When this large body of scholars were set down to their task, an elaborate set of rules was drawn up for their guidance, which contained a scheme of revision as well as general directions for the execution of their work. This is one of the very few records that remain of their undertaking. "(1) The ordinary Bible read in the Church, commonly called 'the Bishops' Bible, to be followed, and as little altered as the truth of the original will permit. (2) The names of the prophets and the holy writers, with the other names of the text to be retained as nigh as may be, accordingly as they were vulgarly used. (3) The old ecclesiastical words to be kept, viz. the word Church not to be translated Congregation, &c. (4) When a word hath divers significations, that to be kept which hath been most commonly used by the most of the ancient fathers, being agreeable to the propriety of the place and the analogy of the 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 circum locution, 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 reference 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 thinketh good, all to meet together, confer what they have done, and agree for their parts what shall stand. (9) As any one company Eath 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, doubt or differ upon any place, to send them word thereof, note the place, and withal send the 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 the land for his judgment of such a place. (12) Letters to be sect of, letters to be directed by authority to send to any learned man in from every bishop to the rest of his clergy, admonishing them of his Quoted from G. Burnet's Hist. of Reformation, ii. p. 368 (1861). translation in hand, and to move and charge as many as being skilful | in the tongues and having taken pains in that kind, to send his particular observations to the company either at Westminster, Cambridge or Oxford. (13) The directors in each company to the deans of Westminster and Chester for that place; and the king's professors in the Hebrew or Greek in either university. (14) These translations to be used when they agree better with the text than the Bishops' Bible; viz. Tyndale's, Matthew's, Coverdale's, Whitchurch's, Geneva. (15) Besides the said directors before mentioned, three or four of the most ancient and grave divines in either of the universities, not employed in translating, to be assigned by the vicechancellor upon conference with [the] rest of the heads to be overseers of the translations, as well Hebrew as Greek, for the better observation of the fourth rule above specified." 1894), bishop of Bath and Wells; Archdeacon H. J. Rose (d. 1873); William Selwyn (1806-1875), canon of Ely and Lady Margaret professor at Cambridge; Dr John Jebb (1805-1886), canon of Hereford; and Dr William Kay (1820-1886). (B) Invited.-Dr William Lindsay Alexander (1808-1884), congregational minister: Thomas Chenery (1826-1884), professor of Arabic at Oxford, and afterwards (1877) editor of The Times; Frederick Charles Cook (1810-1889), canon of Exeter; Professor A. B. Davidson; Dr Benjamin Davies (1814-1875), professor of oriental and classical languages at Stepney Baptist College; the Rev. A. M. Fairbairn, congregationalist; the Rev. Frederick Field (1801-1885), fellow of Trinity, Cambridge; Dr C. D. Ginsburg; the Rev. Dr Gotch of Bristol; Archdeacon Benjamin Harrison (1808-1887), Hebraist; the Rev. Stanley Leathes (1830-1900), professor of Hebrew at King's College, London; professor of divinity at Oxford, dean of Canterbury (1870); Professor Professor M'Gill; Canon Robert Payne Smith (1819-1895), regius Hayes Plumtre (1821-1891), professor of exegesis at King's College, London, afterwards dean of Wells; Canon E. Bouverie Pusey; William Wright, (1830-1889), the orientalist; W. Aldis Wright, Cambridge. Of these Canons Cook and Pusey declined to serve, and ten members died during the progress of the work. The secretary of the company was Mr W, Aldis Wright, fellow of Trinity, Cambridge. It is not possible to determine in how far all these rules were adhered to. All we know of the way this noble work was carried. J. S. Perowne, afterwards bishop of Worcester; the Rev. Edward out is contained in the Preface, where Dr Miles Smith, in 1612 bishop of Gloucester, in the name of his fellow-workers gives an account of the manner and spirit in which it was done:"Neither did we run ouer the worke with that posting haste that the Septuagint did, if that be true which is reported of them, that they finished it in 72 days. . . . The worke hath ... cost the workemen, as light as it seemeth, the paines of twise seuen times scuentie two dayes and more Truly (good Christian Reader), we neuer thought from the beginning, that we should neede to make a new Translation, nor yet to make of a bad one a good one but to make a good one better, or out of many good ones, one principall good one, not iustly to be excepted against. . . . To that purpose there were many chosen, that were greater in other mens eyes than in their owne, and that sought the truth rather than their own praise... ... Neither did wee thinke much to consult the Translators or Commentators, Chaldee, Hebrewe, Syrian, Greeke, or Latine, no mor the Spanish, French, Italian or Dutch [German]; neither did we disdaine to reuise that which we had done, and to bring back to the anuill that which we had hammered: but hauing and vsing as great helpes as were needfull, and fearing no reproch for slownesse, nor coueting praise for expedition, wee haue at the length, through the good hand of the Lord vpon vs, brought the worke to that passe that you see." From the above it appears that the actual work of revision occupied about two years and nine months, an additional nine months being required for the final preparation for press. The edition appeared at length in 1611, the full title being as follows: The Holy Bible, conteyning the Old Testament, and the New: Newly Translated out of the Originall tongues, & with the former Translations diligently compared and reuised, by his Maiesties speciall comandement. Appointed to be read in Churches. Imprinted at London by Robert Barker, Printer to the Kings most Excellent Maiestie. Anno Dom. 1611. Since that time many millions of this revised translation have been printed, and the general acceptance of it by all English-speaking people of whatever denomination is a testimony to its excellence. 2. For the New Testament: (a) Appointed by Convocation.Samuel Wilberforce, bishop of Winchester; Charles J. Ellicott, bishop of Gloucester and Bristol; and George Moberly, bishop of Salisbury; Dr Edward Bickersteth (1814-1892), prolocutor of the lower house of convocation; Henry Alford, dean of Canterbury, and Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, dean of Westminster; Joseph Williams Blakesley (1808-1885), canon of Canterbury, and (1872) dean of Lincoln. (B) Invited. The Rev. Dr Joseph Angus, president of the Stepney Baptist College; Dr David Brown; Richard Chenevix Trench, archbishop of Dublin; the Rev. Dr John Eadie (18101876), Presbyterian; the Rev. F. J. A. Hort; the Rev. W. G. Humphry (1815-1886), vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields, London; the Rev. Benjamin Hall Kennedy, canon of Ely; William Lee (1815-1883), archdeacon of Dublin, and professor of ecclesiastical history in the university; J. B. Lightfoot, afterwards bishop of Durham; Professor William Milligan; the Rev. William Fieldian Moulton (1835-1898), Wesleyan biblical scholar; Dr J. H. Newman; the Rev. Samuel Newth (1821-1898), congregationalist, professor of ecclesiastical history at, and afterwards president of, New College, London; Dr A. Roberts; the Rev. G. Vance Smith; Dr Robert Scott; the Rev. F. H. A. Scrivener (1813-1891), rector of St Gerrans, Cornwall; Charles Wordsworth, bishop of St Andrews; Dr W. H. Thompson; Dr S. P. Tregelles; Dr C. J. Vaughan; Canon Westcott. Of these. Dr Thompson and Dr Newman declined to serve. by death. Only the first vacancy was filled up. Dean Merivale was Alford, Dr Tregelles, Bishop Wilberforce and Dr Eadie were removed co-opted, and on his resignation Professor, afterwards Archdeacon, Edwin Palmer. The Rev. J. Troutbeck, minor canon of Westminster, acted as secretary. Dean Negotiations were opened with the leading scholars of the Protestant denominations in America, with the result that similar companies were formed in the United States. The work of the English revisers was regularly submitted to their consideration; their comments were carefully considered and largely adopted, and their divergences from the version ultimately agreed upon were printed in an appendix to the published work. Thus the Revised Version was the achievement of English-speaking Christendom as a whole; only the Roman Catholic Church, of the great English-speaking denominations, refused to take part in the undertaking. The Church of England, which had put forth the version of 1611, fitly initiated the work, but for its performance most wisely invited the help of the sister churches. The delegates of the Clarendon Press in Oxford, and the syndics of the Pitt Press in Cambridge, entered into a liberal arrangement with the revisers, by which the necessary funds were provided for all their expenses. On the completion of its work the New Testament company divided itself into three committees, working at London, Westminster and Cambridge, for the purpose of revising the Apocrypha. Still the work of improving and correcting went on through the centuries, and a modern copy of the Authorized Version shows no inconsiderable departures from the standard edition of 1611. Dr Scrivener imputes some of those differences "to oversight and negligence . . . but much the greater part of them " he holds to be "deliberate changes, introduced silently and without authority by men whose very names are often unknown." (A. C. P.) More ambitious attempts at amending the new version were not lacking, but they all proved fruitless, until in February 1870 the Convocation of Canterbury appointed a committee The to consider the subject of revision. The report of this committee, presented in May, was adopted, to the effect" that Convocation should nominate a body of its own members to undertake the work of revision, who shall be at liberty to invite the co-operation of any eminent for scholarship, to whatever nation or religious body they may belong "; and shortly afterwards two companies were formed for the re- The work of the Old Testament company was different in vision of the Authorized Version of the Old and New Testaments. some important respects from that which engaged the attention These companies consisted of the following:-1. For the Old Testa- of the New Testament company. The received Hebrew text ment: (a) Appointed by Convocation.-Connop Thirlwall, bishop has undergone but little emendation, and the revisers had before of St David's (d. 1875); Alfred Ollivant (1798-1882), bishop of Llandaff; E. Harold Browne (1811-1891), bishop of Ely: Christopher hands of the translators of 1611. It was felt that there was no them substantially the same Massoretic text which was in the Wordsworth, bishop of Lincoln; and Lord Arthur Hervey (1803-sufficient justification to make any attempt at an entire re Revized 1 A reprint of this edition has been published by the Clarendon construction of the text on the authority of the versions. The Press (Oxford, 1833). Old Testament revisers were therefore spared much of the labour of deciding between different readings, which formed one of the most important duties of the New Testament company. But the advance in the study of Hebrew since the early part of the 17th century enabled them to give a more faithful translation of the received text. The value of their work is evident, especially in Job, Ecclesiastes and the prophetical books. It is the work of the New Testament committee which has attracted most attention, whether for blame or praise. The critical resources at the disposal of scholars in 1611 were very meagre, and the few early manuscripts with which they were acquainted failed to receive the attention they deserved. The results of modern critical methods could not fail to make the incompleteness of the "Received Text," and of the "Authorized Version," which was based on it, obvious. It had long been the opinion of all competent scholars that a thorough revision was necessary. A proposal in favour of this course was made in Convocation in 1856, but it was not until fourteen years later that the committee was appointed to undertake the work. The revisers' first task was to reconstruct the Greek text, as the necessary foundation of their work. In this difficult duty they were no doubt influenced by Westcott and Hort's edition of the New Testament. These two scholars were members of the committee which prepared the Revised Version, and on the question of various readings they appear to have exercised a predominating influence. The revisers were privately supplied with instalments of Westcott and Hort's text as their work required them. But it is scarcely necessary to say that the Revised Version is not the work of one or two scholars. Different schools of criticism were represented on the committee, and the most careful discussion took place before any decision was formed. Every precaution was taken to ensure that the version should represent the result of the best scholarship of the time, applied to the work before it with constant devotion and with the highest sense of responsibility. The changes in the Greek text of the Authorized Version when compared with the textus receplus are numerous, but the contrast between the English versions of 1611 and 1881 are all the more striking because of the difference in the method of translation which was adopted. The revisers aimed at the most scrupulous faithfulness. They adopted the plan-deliberately rejected by the translators of 1611-of always using the same English word for the same Greek word. "They endeavoured to enable the English reader to follow the correspondences of the original with the closest exactness, to catch the solemn repetition of words and phrases, to mark the subtleties of expression, to feel even the strangeness of unusual forms of speech." The revision of the New Testament was completed in 407 meetings, distributed over more than ten years. It was formally presented to Convocation on May 17, 1881. The revision of the Old Testament occupied 792 days, and was finished on June 20, 1884. The revised Apocrypha did not make its appearance until 1895. The text of the Revised Version is printed in paragraphs, the old division of books into chapters and verses being retained for convenience of reference. By this arrangement the capricious divisions of some books is avoided. Various editions of the New Version have been published, the most complete being the edition of the whole Bible with marginal references. These references had their origin in the work of two small subcommittees of the revisers, but they received their present form at the hands of a specially appointed committee. The marginal references given in the original edition of the Authorized Version of 1611 have been retained as far as possible. The work of the revisers was received without enthusiasm. It was too thorough for the majority of religious people. Partisans found that havoc had been played with their proof texts. Ecclesiastical conservatives were scandalized by the freedom with which the traditional text was treated. The advocates of change were discontented with the hesitating acceptance which their principles had obtained. The most vulnerable side of the revision was that on which the mass of English readers thought itself capable of forming a judgment. The general effect of so many small alterations was to spoil the familiar sonorous style of the Authorized Version. The changes were freely denounced as equally petty and vexatious; they were, moreover, too often inconsistent with the avowed principles of the revisers. The method of determining readings and renderings by vote was not favourable to the consistency and literary character of the Version. A whole literature of criticism and apology made its appearance, and the achievement of so many years of patient labour seemed destined to perish in a storm of resentments. On the whole, the Revised Version weathered the storm more successfully than might have been expected. Its considerable excellences were better realized by students than stated by apologists. The hue and cry of the critics largely died away, and was replaced by a calmer and juster appreciation. The work of the revisers has been sharply criticized from the standpoint of specialists in New Testament Greek. Dr Rutherford stated the case briefly and pointedly in the preface to his translation of the Epistle to the Romans (London, 1900). He maintains that "the Greek of the New Testament may never be understood as classical Greek is understood," and accuses the revisers of distorting the meaning "by translating in accordance with Attic idiom phrases that convey in later Greek a wholly different sense, the sense which the earlier translators in happy ignorance had recognized that the context demanded." The use of the new Version has become general. Familiarity has mitigated the harshness of the revisers' renderings; scholarship, on the whole, has confirmed their readings. The Version has been publicly read in parish churches both in London and in the country. In Canterbury cathedral and Westminster Abbey it has definitely displaced the older Version. Bishops have acquiesced and congregations approved. It is no longer possible to maintain the plausible and damaging contention that the Revised Bible is ill suited for public use. The Upper House of the Convocation of Canterbury in May 1898 appointed a committee to consider the expediency of "permitting or encouraging" the use of the Revised Version in the public services of the Church. (H. H. H.*) BIBLIOGRAPHY.-The principal works dealing with the separate versions have been referred to in the text of the article. The following authorities may also be cited: J. Eadic, The English Bible: an External and Critical History of the For the version as a whole: J. R. Dore, Old Bibles (2nd ed., 1888); various English Translations of Scripture (2 vols., 1876: the most complete account); A. Edgar, The Bibles of England (1889); H. W. Hoare, The Evolution of the English Bible (2nd ed., 1902: gives historical setting of the Versions); F. G. Kenyon, Our Bible and the Ancient in Hastings' Dict. of the Bible (extra vol.); R. Lovett, The Printed Manuscripts (1895); J. H. Lupton, article on "English Versions,” English Bible, 1525-1885 (1894); G. Milligan, The English Bio a Sketch of its History (1895); J. 1. Mombert, English Versions of the Bible (1883); F. Moulton, The History of the English Bible (2nd ed., 1884); T. H. Pattison, History of the English Bible (1894): Stoughton, Our English Bible, its Translations and Translators 1878]. For the earlier history: J. Lewis, History of English Translations of the Bible (1818); the historical accounts prefixed to Bagster's issue of The English Hexapla and of Forshall and Madden's edition of the Wycliffe Versions (Oxford, 1850). These are all to a great extent antiquated, their errors being repeated in almost all subse quent accounts of the subject. The only trustworthy authority on the Anglo-Saxon Bible is A. S. Cook's "Introduction on 04 English Translations of the Bible," in Biblical Quotations in Cid English Prose-writers. For the 14th and 15th centuries: See A. C. Paues, The Bible in the Fourteenth Century. For the early printed Bibles: H. Cotton, List of Editions of the Bible (1852), Rhemes and Doway (1855); F. Fry, The Bible by Cven dale (1867); Description of the Great Bible, 1539 (1865); Bill graphical Descriptions of the Editions of the New Testament (1878); N. Pocock, "On the Bishops' and Genevan Bible," (Billlegrapher. vols. i.-iv.); Prime Wendell, Fifteenth-Century Bibles (1888); John Wright, Early Bibles of America (1893). For the Authorized Version: F. H. A. Scrivener, The Authorized Edition of the English Bible (1884). See also R. Gell, Essay toward the Amendment of the Authorized Version (1659); W. Kilburne, Dangerous Errors in... Bibles (1659); R. C. Trench, On the Auton ized Version of the New Testament in connexion with some relea proposals for ils revision (2nd ed., 1859). For the Revised Version: J. B. Lightfoot, On a Fresh Revivion of the English New Testament (London, 1871; 3rd ed. 1891); Westcott, Some Lessons of the Revised Version (London, 1897); Kenty, Ely Lectures on the Revised Version (London, 1882). The Revisers | exerted a great influence in the religious life of the defully explained their principles and methods in the Preface. The nomination. American Committee of Revision issued an historical account of their work (New York, 1885) The case against the Revisers is ably stated in The Revision Revised, by Dean Burgon (London, 1883). The literary defects of the Version are elaborately exhibited by G. Washington Moon in two works: The Revisers' English (London, 1882), and Ecclesiastical English (London, 1886). See also Some Thoughts on the Textual Criticism of the New Testament, by G. Salmon, D.D. (London, 1897); Bishop Ellicott's Charge (1901). The Greek Text of the New Testament adopted by the Revisers was edited for the Clarendon Press by Archdeacon Palmer (Oxford, 1881). Parallel editions of the Bible, showing both the Authorized and Revised Versions, a large-type edition for public use, a reference edition, and (1900) a "Two Version edition, have been issued by one or both the University Presses. (A. C. P.; H. H. H.*) " BIBLE CHRISTIANS, one of the denominations now merged in the United Methodist Church (see UNITED METHODISTS), so called because its early preachers appealed solely to the Bible in confirmation of their doctrines. The denomination arose in the agricultural districts and fishing villages of north Cornwall and Devon; a district only slightly influenced by John Wesley and the original Methodist movement. The founder was William O'Bryan (afterwards Bryant), a Methodist lay preacher of Luxillian, Cornwall. Finding that the people had no evangelical preaching he began an itinerary to supply the need. The coastmen were expert smugglers and wreckers, the agriculturists were ignorant and drunken, the parish clergy were slothful, in many cases intemperate, and largely given to fox-hunting. Only in a parish or two was there any approach to religious ministry. O'Bryan commenced his labours in north Devon, and in 1815 a small society was formed at Lake Farm, Shebbear. The movement had the seeds of great vitality in it. In 1819 the first conference was held at Launceston. There were present besides O'Bryan one accepted minister-James Thorne-fourteen ministers on trial and fifteen women preachers, a class that was always conspicuous in the denomination. At that conference the work had spread from Ring's Ash in Devon to Morrah, a lonely and desolate parish in west Cornwall. In 1820-1821 Kent, Northumberland, the Scilly and Norman (i.e. Channel) Islands appeared on the list of stations. Then came a serious break. In 1829 there was a severance between the larger part of the new body and O'Bryan, who had claimed to be perpetual president, and to have all property vested in him personally. He tried to establish a separate conference, but failed, and in 1836 there was a re-union. O'Bryan left England for America, where he remained for the rest of his life, and his contingent (numbering 565 members and 4 ministers) returned to the original conference. The growth continued. In 1831 agents were sent to Canada and Prince Edward's Island, in 1850 to South Australia, in 1855 to Victoria, in 1866 to Queensland, in 1877 to New Zealand and in 1885 to China, so that the original O'Bryan tradition of fervid evangelism was amply maintained. In doctrine the Bible Christians did not differ from the other Methodists. In constitution they differed only slightly. There was an annual conference with full legislative power, and ability to hold and dispose of property, composed of an equal number of lay and ministerial representatives meeting together. The local churches were grouped into circuits governed representatively by a quarterly meeting. The quarterly or circuit meetings were in turn organized into twelve districts, eleven in England and one in China. In 1906 the statistics showed 218 ministers, 32,549 members and 652 chapels, with 47,301 scholars in Sunday-schools. These figures include nearly 1400 full and probationary members in the China mission, the first-fruits of two years' labour amongst the Miao tribe. In the various colonial Methodist unions the Bible Christians have contributed a total of 159 ministers, 14,925 members and 660 chapels. The community supported a regular ministry from the beginning. Its members have been keen evangelists, trusting largely to "revivals for their success, staunch Radicals in politics and total abstainers to a man. Both ministers and people entered with interest and sympathy into the scheme for union between themselves, the Methodist New Connexion and the United Methodist Free Church, which was successfully accomplished in 1906. See METHODISM. BIBLE SOCIETIES, associations for translating and circulating the Holy Scriptures. This object has engaged the attention of the leaders of Christendom from early times. In an extant letter, dated A.D. 331, the emperor Constantine requested Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea, to provide him with fifty copies of the Old and New Testaments for use in the principal churches in Constantinople. In 797 Charlemagne commissioned Alcuin to prepare an emended text of the Vulgate; copies of this text were multiplied, not always accurately, in the famous writingschools at Tours. The first book printed in Europe was the Latin Bible, and Copinger estimates that 124 editions of the Vulgate had been issued by the end of the 15th century. The Italian Bible was printed a dozen times before A.D. 1500, and eighteen editions of the German Bible had already been published before Luther's version appeared. The Reformation quickened men's interest in the Scriptures to an extraordinary degree, so that, notwithstanding the adverse attitude adopted by the Roman Church at and after the council of Trent, the translation and circulation of the Bible were taken in hand with fresh zeal, and continued in more systematic fashion. Thus, the Revised French Geneva Bible of 1588, which was issued in folio, quarto and octavo, and became a standard text, bears the following note on the verso of the title: "Les frais de cet ouvrage, imprimé en trois diuerses formes en mesme temps, pour la commodité et contentement de toutes sortes de personnes, ont esté liberalemêt fournis par quelques gens de bien, qui n'ont cherché gagner pour leur particulier, mais seulement de servir à Dieu et à son Eglise." The Corporation for the Promoting and Propagating of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in New England (founded in 1649) bore the expense of printing both the New Testament and the Bible as a whole (Cambridge, Mass., 1663-the earliest Bible printed in America), which John Eliot, one of the Pilgrim Fathers, translated into "the language of the Massachusetts Indians," whom he evangelized. In Arnauld's Defence (1669) of the famous Port Royal version of the New Testament in French (issued, 1667), he states that it had been printed in many forms and sizes, including very cheap editions for the poor, and goes on to describe how its circulation was promoted by les sacri indigents au bienfait de leur entreprise. Dès que leur traduction fut prête, ils envoyèrent de Paris un grand nombre de colporteurs chargés la vendre au prix de revient et même, dans certaines circonstances, à des prix réduits; et ils couvrirent la dépense par des dons volon taires " (E. Pétavel, La Bible en France, p. 152) J. Gezelius, bishop of Abo, obtained an order from the Swedish To meet the cost of publishing the Finn Bible in 1685, the editor, government for the appropriation of certain corn-tithes, still known as Bibel Tryck-Tunnan. When the Finnish Bible Society began to publish editions of the Scriptures, the tsar Alexander I. contributed 5000 roubles from his privy purse, and ordered that these cornfrom 1812. In 1701 at Frankfort-on-Main there appeared a quarto tithes should again be appropriated to this purpose for five years edition of the Ethiopic Psalter, whose editor, H. Ludolf, writes in his preface: "Quamobrem nullum gratius officium Christianae huic nationi a me praestari posse putavi, quam si Psalterium Aethiopicum, quod apud illos non aliter quam in membrana manuscriptum habetur, et caro satis venditur, typis mandari, ejusque plurima exemplaria nomine Societatis Indicae in Habessinia gratis distribui curarem." de On O'Bryan's departure, James Thorne, the first fully recognized minister, at whose father's farm the connexion started, became its leader. Although reared as an ordinary farm lad, he proved to be a man of singular devotion and spiritual genius. He laid the foundations broadly in evangelism, finance, temperance and education, founding in the latter connexion a middle-fices que s'imposaient les pieux solitaires pour faire participer les plus class school at Shebbear, at which generations of ministers' sons and numerous students for the ministry have been educated. James Thorne was five times president of the conference and fifteen times secretary. He died in 1872. In this period there was much persecution. Landowners refused sites, and in the Isle of Wight the people worshipped for many months in a quarry. The preachers were sometimes imprisoned and many times assaulted. The old Methodist body even excommunicated persons for attending" Bryanite "meetings. Partly co-operative with James Thorne and at his death independently, the Church was favoured with the influence of Frederick William Bourne. He was a minister for fifty-five years, and served the Bible Christians as editor, missionary treasurer, book steward and three times president of conference. With him will always be associated the name of Billy Bray, an illiterate but inimitable Cornish evangelist, a memoir of whom, written by Bourne, In 1719 appeared the first of numerous editions of the French |