5. It is not known that any of the correspondence connected with this work, or any minute of the meet- ings for conference, is still extant. Nothing is more
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strikinp; than the silence with which the version that was to be the inheritance of the English people for at least two centuries and a half was ushered into the world. Here and there we get glimpses of scholars coming from their country livings to their old college liauuts to work diligently at the task assigned them (Peck. Desiderata Ciiriosa, ii, 87). AVe see the meet- ings of translators, one man reading the chapter which he lias been at work on, while the others listen, with the original, or Latin, or German, or Italian, or Span- ish versions in tlieir hands (Selden, Table Talk). We may represent to ourselves the ditterences of opinion, settled by the casting vote of the "odd man," or by the strong overbearing temper of a man like Bancroft, the minority comforting themselves witli the thought that it was no new thing for the truth to be outvoted (Gell, Eamy tmoanh Amendment of last English transl. of Bible, p. r)'il). Dogmatic interests -were in some cases allowed to bias the translation ; and the Calvin- ism of one party, the prelatic views of another, were both represented at the expense of accuracy (Gell, 1. c). The following passages are those commonly referred to in support of this charge : (1.) The render- ing "such as should be saved," in Acts ii, 47. (2.) The insertion of the words "an}' man" in Heb. x, 38 ("the just shall live by fliith, but if any mnn draw back," etc.), to avoid an inference unfavorable to the doctrine of Final Perseverance. (3.) The use of " bish- opric," in Acts i, 20, of "oversight," in 1 Pet. v, 2, of "bishop," in 1 Tim. iii, 1, etc., and "overseers," in Acts XX, 28, in order to avoid the identitication of bishops and elders. (4.) The chapter-heading of Psa. cxlix in Kill (since altered), "The prophet exhorteth to praise God for that power which he hath given the Church to bind the consciences of men." Blunt {Du- ties of a Pansh Priest, lect. ii) appears, in tJiis ques- tion, on the side of the prosecution. Trench {On the A . V. ffthe N. T. chap, x) on that of the defence. The charge of an undue bias against Pon:e in 1 Cor. xi, 27; Gal. V, C ; Ileb. xiii, 4, is one on Mhicli an acquittal niaj' be pronounced with little or no hesitation.
6. For tliree years the work went on, the separate companies comparing notes as directed. When the work drew towards its completion, it was necessary to place it under the care of a select few. Two from each of the three groups were accordinglj' selected, and the six met in London to superinted the publica- tion. Xow, for the first time, we find any more defi- nite remuneration than the shadowy promise held out in the king's letter of a share in the 1000 marks which deans and chapters would not contribute. The matter had now reached its business stage, and the Companj' of Stationers thought it expedient to give the six edi- tors thirty jiounds each, in weekly payments, for their nine montlis" labor. The final correction, and the task of writing the arguments of the several books, was given to Bilson, l)ishop of Winchester, and Dr. Miles Smith, the latter of whom also wrote the Dedication and the Pref;ice. Of these two documents, the first is unfortunately familiar enough to us, and is chiefly con- spicuous for its servile adulation. .James I is "that sanctified person," "enriched with singular and ex- traordinary graces," that had ajipeared "as the sun in his strength." To him they appeal against the judg- ment of those whom thej' describe, in somewhat peev- ish accents, as " popish persons or self-conceited breth- ren." The Preface to the Reader is more interesting, as throwing light upon the princijiles on wliich the translators acted. The}' "never tliought that they should need to make a new translation, nor j'et to make of a bad one a good one." "Tlieir endeavor was to make a good one better, or, out of many good ones, one principal good one." They claim credit for steering a middle course between the Puritans who "left tlic old ecclesiastical words," and tlie obscurity of the Papists "retaining foreign words of purpose to darken the sense." They vindicate the practice, ia
which they indulge verj' freely, of translating one word in the original by several English words, partly on the intelligible ground that it is not always possible to find one word that will express all the meanings of the Greek or Hebrew, partlj' on the somewhat childish plea that it would be unfair to choose some words for the high honor of being the channels of God's truth, and to pass over others as unworthy.
7. The version thus published did not all at once supersede those already in possession. Tlie fact that five editions were published in three j-ears shows that there was a good demand. But the Bishops' Bible probably remained in many churches (Andrews takes his texts from it in preaching before the king as late as 1(!21), and the popularity' of the Geneva version is shown by not less than thirteen reprints, in whole or in part, between 1611 and 1617. It is not easy to as- certain the impression which the A. V. made at the time of its appearance. Probably, as in most like cases, it was far less for good or evil than friends or foes expected. The Puritans, and the religious por- tion of the middle classes generally, missed the notes of the Geneva book (Fuller, Church History, x, 50, 51). The Romanists spoke, as usual, of the unsettling ertect of these frequent changes, and of the marginal read- ings as leaving men in doubt what was the truth of Scripture. Whitaker's answer, hy anticipation, to this charge is worth quoting: "No inconvenience will fol- low if interpret<itions or versions of Scripture, when they have become obsolete or ceased to be intelligible, may be afterwards changed or corrected" {Dissert, on Script, p. 232, Parker Soc. ed.). The wiser divines of the English Church had not then learned to raise the cry of finalit}'. One frantic cry was heard from Hugh Broughton, the rejected (If orAs, p. 6G1), who "would rather be torn in pieces bj' wild horses than impose such a version on the poor churches of England." Selden, a ie.\\ years later, gives a calmer and more favoi-able judgment. It is "the best of all transla- tions as giving the true sense of the original." This, however, is qualified by the remark that "no book in the world is translated as the Bible is, word for word, with no regard to the difierence of idioms. 1 his is well enough so long as scholars have to do with it, but when it comes among the common people, Lord! what gear do they make of it!" {Table Talk). The feeling of wliich this was the expression led, even in the midst of tlie agitations of the Commonwealth, to proposals for another revision, which, after being l)rought forward in the (irand Committee of Religion in the House of Commons in January, l(i56, was re- ferred to a sulj-committce, acting under Whitelocke, with power to consult divines and report. Conferen- ces were accordingly held frequently at Whitelocke's house, at which wo find, mingled with less illustrious names, those of Walton and Cudworth. Nothing, however, came of it (Whitelocke, Memorials, p. 6G4 ; Collier, Ch. Hist, ii, 9). No report Avas ever made; and with the Restoration the tide of conservative feel- ing, in this as in other things, checked all plans of further alteration. ISIanv had ceased to care for the Bible at all. Those who did care were content Avith the Bible as it was. Only here and there was a voice raised, like R. Cell's {ut sup.'), declaring that it had defects, that it bore in some things the stamp of the dogmatism of a party (p. 321).