The National Register.
London, England, 1818-06-07 00:00:00

4414 i. •

Y~ \.
./

No. 5;.19.—V0L.

HISTORY
OF ENGLISh TRANSIAVONS OF TIM, BILLr.

Mn, EDITOII.—As it will I.cf doubt he interrti.-4 to
rany of your Readers to secs short detad of üb-
t...ttions of the English Bible, I send you 1-Jtve
t:Jeed, with the help of Ur. Gray's Key and others.

One Of the first translutienx into English, was done
by one Richard Rene, a hermit of I-I uneele in York-
2eire—he also, added a /elms upon the Psalter, and died
1.71. Johr, Vitieklefe then translated the whole •
vie: the Apocrypha ; his New Testament sett! fit:. 1
marks and 40 pence ; it appeared about 1560, but it was
r eetor printed. The Clergy did not then read Latin, any
s students from Ireland were obliged to return from
terertl &cense they could not fled a Latin Bible.
•In 1.,50, Richard 11. a was brought into the
Pmese of Lords, to prohibit the use of English BMus,
lett it was rejected upon the opposition of John Duke
o' Lane:Ater, who said, "We will not be the dregs of
ad, seeing ether tettions have the Las of Goa, which
is the Law of oar faith, written in tlitiir own language."
But in 1408 great pet•seeetioLs ensued in consequence
of an order of convocation obtained by Arehbishrip
Arundel, and supported by Popp Alexander V. for sup-
pressing all translations. In 1526, Tyndal's tranela-
tin at Antwerp, was the first time that any pert was
rioted in English. Cardinal Wolsey and the Bishop
vest:rib:A it as heretical, and Bishop Tonstal, and Sir
'Thomas \tomb:rent it at Paul's Cross ; copies however,
V, are sold at Si. 61. bit the venders were compelled to
ride with their fives to their horses tails and throw
them into the fire, end were afterwards amerced. Tyn-
da) afterwar Is twice trans'eted the Pentateech, and
received ma mesre than 14x. f;rr it—after welch he was
eteengled and burnt at Telford Castle, shout 18 miles
r.e:e • weep, et the instigation of the great reformer
VI !I. Coverdalc published another at Zurich,
ie. 1535, enl escaped; and Creamer, in the same year,
el:tallied a petition from the conveeettion to Hen. VIII.
-e-weto by the softer influence of his Queen, Ann
!!t-den, ordered a tranAiatioa to be set about.
This rapid transition began the progress which has
Lever been checked, except by Queen Mary ; for in
1537, a thlio edition called Mathews was printed at
liitinhargle in which Tyndal and Rogers had taken
Parts ; Itegere published it under the fictions manic of
Mathews, because Tyndal's nume was obnoxious ; but
a Paris telitien, in the year fbilowing, was seized by
the Inquisiton, yet some impressions were rescued entl
reprinted in London by the King's authority in Ife4e,
-itich was called the Great Bible, with a frontispiece
Dolbein. The Bishop objected to it as faulty, but
admitted that it did not contain any heresies, upon
l'hiell King Ilenry said, " Then in God's name let it
to abroad among cur people." In the Same year an
edition appeared by Taverner, and a very improved
one by Cr inmer in 1.518, which was published by
authority in 1541, and sad ut teelve shillings ; six
copies of which were placed in 'tit. Paul's Cathedral by
Eishop Bonner In 1:71'2, an Act of Parliament
condemned Tyndel's Transiarien with its notes, but
Archbishop Craanter procured the indulgence, that the
higher ranks might react it in private
During the reign of Edward VI those prohibitions
were removed, and Bishop Gardiner was committed to
the Fleet and deprived of his See, for refusing to
comply with the orders fur prey:Lig the Churches and
others with copies, Si:.
When Queen Mary ascended the throne, she :on-
&lnflect the Common Prayer heretical, and the
Gospeler's, as they were called, fled to Geneva, where,
ja1557, they completed and printed the Genevan Bible
in 1560, with Calvioictie notes. The New 'Wee-Amen!
of this copy is the which was divided into verses,
Which set the example fen it in the sabsequent editions
of the whole Bible. Daring Outien tlizabetlia pro-
cession to her corenatioa, a Pibie was presented to her,
vinich the accepted with ve reretion. ant! orders'. a
translation, and as Act was passed 135 d for its version
late the Welch language.
7, he Biehons' Dike du not appear till e 56c) lard
c stave, ends; direetien of Areltleisitop rerker, ivtd the
• aids of each translation was subj:lo4 to hsportion
was usesi in the. public service for forty years, but
t v... Geneva Bible being more adapted to the ilv.rvitiliv
op:nions, was more used in private. fa reinetly all dile
ti reeees of opiniots nlw treaslatiott was undertaken
.ete how Loitrd the Cirioner'oi:
;$ tors 4:1 sztr.4.l lie a in. if it