£rincipally from Olivetan's French Bible (1535). like the second edition of Coverdale's Bible, the new version bears to be 'set forth with the kingcs most gracyous 13'ceee,' and Cromwell, instigated by Cranmer, further obtained Henry's peruussiou that ' the same may be sold and read of every person, without danger ot any act, proclamation, or ordi- nance heretofore granted to the contrary.' Hence it came about that ' by Craniner's petition, by Crumwell's influeuce, and by Henry's authority, without any formal ecclesiastical decision, tlie book was given to the English people, whicli is the foundation of the text of our present Bible. I'rora Matthew's Bible— itself a combination of the labours of Tyiidale and Coverdale — all later revisions have been successively formed' (West- cott, Uistory'', p. 73). Its author did nut, however, escape in the troublous times that followed on Mary's accession. Through the agency of Bonner he was imprisoned at Newgate, and on Feb. 4th, 1555, was burned at the stake, setting a second seal to the fourfold seal of martyrdom by which the history of our English Bible has been hallowed.
V. Closely allied to Matthew's Bible is a versiou bearing tlie name of Richard Taverner, which was published in 1539, and bore to be ' newly recognized with great diligence after most faythful exemplars.' But the changes introduced are not as a rule of any great importance, though in the NT there are occasional forcible renderings. In Mt 21. '22, for example. Dr. Moulton finds in all about 40 variations from Tindale, of which one- third are retained in the AV (History, p. 135). So far as we know, Taverner's Bible was only once reprinted, in 1549 (Cotton's Editions of tlis liiUc-, J). 21).
VI. \\ e have seen already what a steady friend of Bible-translation Cromwell had proved himself. He was to render it yet another notable service. Not wliolly satisfied with any version that had appeared, he applied to Coverdale early in 1538 to undertake a wholly new revision, using Matthew's Bible as his basis ; * and as it was determined that the printing should be done in Paris, Coverdale, accompanied by one Giaflon, at once repaired thither. Before, however, the work was com- pleted, the ln(|ui.sition stepped in, and it was with great dilliculty that the sheets were saved, and the presses sent over to England. There the work was soon finished, and in Ai)ril 153U the Great Bible, as being the Bible ' in the largest volume,' was issued from the press. It possessed a title- page of elaborate design, in which Henry was represented as handing 'the Word of God' to Cranmer and other clergy on his right hand, and to Cromwell and various lay-peers on his left ; while the contents are described as ' truly trans- lated after the veryte of the Hebruo and tireku textes, by ye dylygent studye of dyuerse excellent learned men expert in the forsayde tonges.' There can be no doubt, however, that the work was principally Coverdale's, and that in his revision of Matthew's text he made large use of .Miinsler'a Hebrew-Latin version in the OT, and of the \'\i\-
* * I am always willing and readv,' Oovcrtlale had written In the Dedication to his llible, *(0 ao my best as well in on? translation as in another.'
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VERSIONS, ENGLISH
VERSIONS, ENGLISH
gate and Erasmus in the NT. From the Vulgate more e»i)ecially he introducetl a numher of various readings, bit 'certain godly annotations' which he promised in the Prologue to explain ' the dark places of the text' never a|)peared. In I54U a new edition was calk'd for, containing a long Preface by Archbishop Cranmer, which has led to its being known as Cranmer's Bible. Five other editions followed rapidly within the next eighteen months.* FVom their size and cost these were principally used as Church Bibles, and it must have been a pleasing sight to see in Old St. Paul's or in the aisle of some country cliurch the little group round the Gre.at Bible, from which some one more educated than the rest read aloud.
vii. The people, however, were soon to have a Bible of their own, and for this we must turn again to the Continent. The accession of Mary had given a new turn to the ever-varying fortunes of our Bible's history. Cranmer had followed Rogers to the stake, and the public, though appar- ently not the private, use ot the Scriptures was strictly forbidden. Foreseeing what was coming, a number of the leading Reformers had taken refuge at Geneva, the city of Calvin and Beza, and there, as they themselves tell us, ' we thought we could bestow our labours and study in nothing which could be more acceptable to God, and comfortable to His Cliurch, than in the translating of the Scriptures into our native tongue.' The immediate result was the publication in 1557 of a translation of the NT alone by one of their number, William Whittingham, who, in his Address to the Reader, describes his work as specially intended for ' simple lambs.' And it was doubtless the thought of the same class of readers that led to the numerous ' annotations of all hard places,' and to the adop- tion for the first time in an English translation of the convenient but often misleading division into verses, t
This Testament was, however, soon cast into the shade by the publication in 1560 of a translation of the whole Bible, due in the main to the com- bined labours of William Whittingham, Thomas Sampson, and Anthony Gilby. In size this Gen- evan Bible is a moderate quarto, and it is often familiarly known as the Breeclies Bible from its rendering of Gn 3' ('They sewed fig-tree leaves together, and made themselves breeches '). The cost of its production was met by ' such as were of most ability' in the congregation at Geneva.