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    - ;• • * a HEW ISED ENGLISH BIBLEa 7 **~ s ** A Enalish BtSie the Want 'V the Chunk andthe Demand of 'the Age . Com .-TSSsb ss ^^ ts ?¦ ' — - " ^ -t ^ ssse ^ r ^ sx * - ^^^ KTe ^ ard air infallible in style and diction , in spirit and in doctrine - * * & rapped . When Dr / Cumming and other pulpit authorities studious ^ endeavour to mislead them , and talk ¦ . of the translators * ivin | been raised up in the providence of God for the . special parpase jaf givin g the translation of the Bible as we now have it , ' it is right that the nation should be made acquainted with the party spiritwhieh actuated > the moTac ^ p lisned scholar ' s in Greek and ifebrew tiiat ever lived' in their work- as well as the 'table of directions' which was placed m their hands by their prerogative-loving , king James I . as the fountain of their inspiration . For this reason we reeouunend them to read the history of the various translations , which appeared during the sixteenth century and also to compare the task accomplished by the Divines of the seventeenth century ( the authors of our present edition ) with the labours of their

    pre-The attempt to popularize the Scriptures in England may be traced back as far as the Anglo-Saxon epoch * when the venerable Bede , Athelstan , Aldred , Alfric , and Alfred the Great devoted themselves to giving the people portions of the Bible in their own native tongue . Up to the year 1360 however , the Psalter was the only book the whole of which existed in an English dress . Twenty years later , the language was enriched by a complete version of the Scriptures from the hand of Wickliffe . Ibis patriarch of the Reformation translated the New Testament entirely himself ; but in the production of the Old was aided , it would seem , by Nicholas Herford and other scholars . His work , however , is only a translation from the VuWte . A century after , that is , in the year 1480 , William Tyndale was born , a man destined to prepare for his countrymen a version which should stand the test of more than three centuries , and is , in fact , the

    groundwork of the ' authorized version , ' which we at present possess . It is not our intention to depict the struggles and misfortunes of this persecuted scholar . He lived in troublous times ; took an active part in making his countrymen acquainted with the proscribed Scriptures , and was obliged to live the greater portion of his time upon the Continent , where with dithculty he supported his wife and children . He -was , however , taken by the myrmidons of Henry VIII ., and burnt at Smithfield . When being led to the stake , he prayed , it is said ; , that the eyes of the king , who was burning his subjects right and left , might be opened , and that he would allow them read their Bible in quiet . In less than one year after his death , Tyn-¦ dale ' translation was ' set forthwith the king ' s most gracious license ; so sion

    . soon had the capricious monarch ' s will become changed . Tyndale s ver is no unworthy image of the Hebrew and Greek originals . There are , however , evident traces of the help he derived from Luther ' s German translation , a work going on contemporaneously with his own , and to which he was greatly indebted , if not for direct at least for collateral aid . However , so close and sterling is that version , that it has become the basis of every . subsequent , and especially of our present ^ version . " Tyndale , ' says Dr . Beard , " was a fine scholar . He was familiar alike with the models of . ancient Greece and Rome , the simple force and grandeur of the Scriptures in the originals , and the treasures and capabilities of his native tongue . He appears also to have studied the art of composition . Accordingly he was master of style . With skill and dexterity did he handle the Saxon element had his version down in its to times

    of our language ; and , come purity our , the native resources of the English language would have been more largely developed , and our literature would have been less attenuated in its force And injured in its expressiveness and unity by Latinisms . " We cannot stay to show the analogies between the version of Tyndale and that of Luther , jso as to prove how much help he derived from his friend and contemporary ; yre pass on to other versions . From the year 1535 to 1609 no less than eight translations were put forth—Ooverdale ' s Bible ( 1535 ); Matthew ' s , that is , Tyndale ' edited by Rogers ( 15 . 37 ); Taverner ' s ( 1539 ); Cranmer ' s Great Bible ( 1340 ) ; Archbishop Parker ' s Bible ( 1568 ); the Kheims or Catholic edition of the New Testament ( 1582 ); and the Douay translation of the Old Testament ( 1609 ) . The translation of Coverdale , sometime Bishop of Exeter , was avowedly made from the introduced

    Vulgate and the German ; Matthew ' s Bible was only 'JLyndales in d ? s <* uise from the Continent , and afterwards authorized through the influence of Cranmer and Cromwell . Taverner ' Bible , which appeared with a dedication to the King , is but a , revision of Matthew ' s Bible or a reprint of Tyndale ' Cranmer ' s , or the Great Bible , as it was called , was undertaken at the instigation of the King , and consists , like the others , of a revision of Tyndale ' s . To this edition Cranmer prefixed a prologue , and hence his name has been associated with it . The Geneva Bible is supposed to bo the work of persons who took refuge in Geneva during the Marian f orMJeution , although the New Testament is evidently by the same hand throughout , as appears from the prefatory address . The liheims and Douay editions were issued in consequence of the numerous translations , or rather revisions , that had been issued by the Protestants ; and William Cardinal AHeyn , of ltossal , in Lancashire , was the person entrusted with this important and delicate labour , and under his superintendence the Catholics of

    jWl and were , early in the seventeenth century , presented witn a copy ot too Scriptures in their own language . As may be supposed , these several versions were full qf party or sectarian leanings , the great object of each revision , being to substitute : a -word or reconstruct a phrase so aa to make it hew upon and support the peculiar ( tenet * of the reviser and his party . It must , however , be understood that tine authorized version is not ft translation effected by the fifty-four f accomplished scholars' alluded to by Dr . Cumming . The groat impulse given by Luther to the mind of Europe took in Protestant countries two directions . In the one it was mainly popular , working for the people \ in the other it was aristocratic , and being carried forward by royal and noble { personages * was turned to their special

    adswell the social storm . That storm was very heavy and destructive . As early as the accession of James its low threatening notes could be heard fi-om a distance . The event was regarded by Episcopacy and Presbyterianism with excitement in which the fear on that side was equalled by hope on this . Coming from a Presbyterian land , James was expected to be cold towards Episcopacy and generally fostering toward its rival . Both parties were destined to be disappointed , for neither the fear of the one nor the hope of the other was realized . " James ' s evident leaning , however , was t owards the Episcopalians , but to keep the Presbyterians in good humour . rival

    UOCErinai UlVtJralLlCO OUU 1 UC lUlbC VJJ . u « cii ! J « iwj \ j-m . uujui |/« my , vumuuicu b \ l vantage . " If Geneva , " says _ Dr . Beard , " may be considered the fountain head of the popular current , in London and the English court the ariato cratic l * ad its rise- " Never did episcopacy sit so much at her ease and look so grand and dignified as during the reign of Elizabeth . Its stately repose , however , was not to last for ever . The popular stream had acquired both volume and impetus . Geneva , though a small city , made its power felt in the nigh places of London . Questions of doctrine came up to complicate already agitated questions of discipline . The two ^ forces , the force of doctrinal diversities and the force of diversities of discipline , combined to

    a conference was held in 1604 , at Hampton Court , between these _ two parties under royal auspices , in which the idea of a new translation of the Bible was suggested . The king expressed his wish that there might be * one uniform translation , ' there being two Bibles then in use , the Bishops or Parker ' s in favour with the aristocracy , and the Geneva or the People * Bible . Fifty-four of the most learned divines were therefore appointed for the important task . Seventeen worked at Westminster , fifteen at Cambridge , and fifteen at Oxford , from which it appears that only forty-seven were actually employed . A list of instructions was also supplied them by the king . They were to follow the Bishops' Bible which was to be as little altered as the original would admit ; though if they wanted to consult other translations , Tyndale ' s , Coverdale ' s , Matthew ' s , Whitchurch ' s , and the Geneva might be used . But what shows the animus of the revision altogether is the third article of instruction , in which it is enjoined that * the old ecclesiast . ; P . al words should be kept , ' thereby perpetuating the system of priestcraft is in

    as it had existed for a thousand years before . The efiect of this seen the words church , bishop , priest , deacon , ceremonial terms belonging to the Roman . Catholic establishment , instead of the words congregation , overseer * elder , servant , or minister , the true scriptural words , which banish altogether the idea of ecclesiastical exclusiveness . It is curious , also , to trace the instances in which the king endeavoured to wrest the translation of a word or sentence so as to confirm his high notion of prerogative . In this , however , he did not always find his forty-seven divines so compliant as he wished We have no space to enter into a critical analogy of Tyndale ' s translation , and the authorized version . Could we do so , it would not be difficult to show that the translated Bible universally read is the work . of one man , and that the revisions of subsequent scholars have only extended to verbal corrections , influenced as much by party considerations as by a desire for truth .

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    P ROGRESS OF AN AUSTRALIAN COLONY . Victoria and the Australian Gold Mines in 1857 . By W . Westgarth . With Maps . Smith , Elder , and Co . Mn . Westgakth ' s account of Victoria is practical and systematic , and brought up to the level of the day . It is a book to be bought rather than borrowed , for its interest is attributable not so much to sparkling pictures or vivacious gossip as to the solidity and methodical distribution of the matter it contains . No one is better qualified than Mr . Westgarth to write on Australian topics ; he is an old colonist ; he has been a member of the Victorian Legislature ; he has watched the expansion of the settlement through several stages ; he has minutel y , studied the natural resources and imported civilization of its towns , villages , and gold-fields ; in fact , he understands his subject , and makes excellent use of his information . The result is presented in a compact volume , not light in texture , yet far from heavy—a rational , vigorous , illustrative report upon the progress of the greatest colony in

    Australasia . It is more than sixteen years since Mr . Westgarth first visited . Melbourne—then a village with a population of four thousand souls , the habitations flimsy and scattered * but the traffic brisk , and the mind of the people bent upon getting on . ' Getting on seems at present the one purpose of civilized existence , enjovment being left to a few Alciphrons and ltasselases , and virtue—cynics might say—being counted a Greek or Roman illusion , proper for Anarcharsis or Pittacus , but in Great Britons fantastically irrelevant . But if there be a Cleobulus among us , wo resign that pedantic moralisin to him , and return to Mr . Westgarth . In 1850 the cattlo on the Australian hills numbered two millions , the sheep sixteen millions , and upon leather , beef , mutton , and wool , the colonies prospered , exporting forty million pounds of fine wool annually . But next year turned up the amber-bright ore , and one sort of wool-gathering was speedily abandoned for another . Yet this lasted only for a short time . The colony was restored to common sense , and while some groped for precious-metal , others reverted to that bella eta di

    Voro—When maidens sheared the flocks And wove the milky fleoco , And shepherds while they wove Told thorn of their love , And all the love was true they toW , O happy ago of gold 1 The country was placed under the authority of a well-appointed police ; railways were opened ; an immense commercial system was colled into existence j the gold and land manias were subdued , and it may fairly bo said that Victoria exhibited n large promise of moral and social prosperity , u imports more than fourteen milfions' worth of merchandize , and exports nearly sixteen millions ; its population grows at the rate of many thousands ^ year , amounting at present to four Hundred thousand souls . The aboriginal inhabSJf of course , have been swamped . Orig inally , they numbered scarwW twonty , five thousand ; they now stand at . two thousand five uundred ~ -ft remnant sprinkled over the inaccessible parts of Gipp * Land

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    y « . « BftA » ffltt 15 . 1857-3 VMM ,- frB A 3 » , B B , , E 87

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 15, 1857, page 787, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2205/page/19/