The Democratic press. (Eaton, Preble County, Ohio) 1860-1865, 1861-06-20
Uncle Williams Lectures.
LECTURE V.

! renaisns Hhe oHtlinezn
the history Of the translation ant
diffusion of the Scriptures in Eng
lish, is one from which we ma.
learn the goodness of God, in raising
up good and holy men,to place tn
Bible before US in our own language
An attempt was made in the TIL
century to translate q portion o
the Scriptures in poem. But it i
to the venerable Bede l wish to cal
your serious attention, as the frs
good minister of Christ, who trans
lated the Gospel by John, in tn
eighth century. Bede lived in tn,
north of England. I have seer
the place where he lived, and thc
old chair in which he died. Severa
other learned men followed the OK
ample set them by Bede in the
glorious work of translating small
portions of the Psalms, the Book
Of Proverbs, and some parts of tho
Gospels. Alfred the Great-a good
King-translated the Ten Com
mandments, together with some
passages from the twenty-first
twenty-second, and twenty-thirt
chapters of Exodus. lie had these
tran8lations prefxed to some goo(
laws he published among his sub
jects, because he was anxious to dc
them good, and to save them from
"Folly, sin, and shame"
A copy of each of the carl.
translations is kept in the Bodleial
Libraryinthe University Of Oxford
in England, and also in the British
Museum in London. l have seel
them all, and they are very curious
If ever any of you, dear young
friends, should visit England, anc
1 have no doubt that some of yol
will, I would strongly advise yol
to visit both Oxford and London
The former is the greatest place il
the world for profound learning,
and the latter is the greatest city
in the world.
1t is my duty to tell you, that
the first translations were not made
so much for the benefit of the
people, as for the use of the priests,
who were not, in general, learned
men. ..
The first translation into English
which embraced the whole of the
Scriptures, was made by a good
and great man, whose name was
WIcLIF. John Wiclif was born in
Yorkshire, in the year 1924. lie
was one of the original students at
Queens College, Oxford. From
Queens College he removed to
Merton College, where he distin-
guished himself as q Christian and
a scholar. His first production was
a treatise written bearing this title
-"The last Age of the Chirche." !"
Just notice how words were spelled
in our language in the thirteenth
century. He concludes his tract
thus -" Whance we weren synful
and children of wraththe, Goddis
some cam out Of heuene, and
preying his fadir for his enemyes,
&c." You will see from the above
words, that the English language
has improved like other things,
and is now much more refined than
it was in the days of John Wiclif.
The life of Wiclif is a deeply inter
esting work, and if any of you, OF
your parents, have it, be sure to
read itwith care. Wiclif translated
the New Testament from the Latin
Vulgate, very ancient Latin yer.
sion of the..Scriptures, and the only
one which the Catholic Churcl
admits to be authentic. Tho Ol6
Testament was translated from the
Latin as we'll as the New.
Another learned man, William
Tyndale, was born about the year
1477, in Gloucestershire, studied
at Oxford, and translated tho New
Testament into English. He went
from England to Germany, where