The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-07-22
THE ENGLISH BIBLE.


From the Nineteenth Century Review.
Elizabeth died in March, 1903, and
with the accession of James the First
we arrive at length within sight of
that stately and monumental work
which was destined not merely to
eclipse but absolutely to efface its
rivals and to enter upon reign which
has endured unbroken for nowly near
ly three hundred years and in the
undiminshed lustre of which we still
live. We need waste no words in
praise of the Authorized Version of
the Bible. 1t is generally accepted as
a literary masterpiece, as the great
est and most beautiful book in the
world.
All possible pains We're taken to Sc
cure the services of the best men for
translators. Intellectual competence
and proved capacity were the only
tests. Puritan and Anglican, linguist
and theOlOgian, layman and divine,
worked harmoniously side by side. OF
the fifty-four names which We're orig
inally chosen, the lists that have come
down to us include only fOrty-seVen,
but we can see with what care and
cathollcity of mind the appointment of
revisers had been made. They were
organized in six companies. Two met
at oxford, two at Cambridge, two at
Westminster. To each company a GER
tain portion of the Bible was given to
work upon. Their basis was the Bish-
ops Bible. Other versions We're to Je
used only when they agreed with the
text" # the originals. The versions
specified wsre those of Tyndale, Mat
thew, Coverdale, the Great Bible and
the Bible of Geneva. The translators,
however, did not consider themselves
to be in any way confined to these.
They consulted every version, whether
English or foreign that was accessible
to them, and were largely indebted to
Beza, to the Rhemish Testament and
| to Tremellius.
In 1911 the Authorized Version, a
| folio volume in black-letter type, was
| published. The title page bore the
words appointed TO be read in
churches" but no evidence is forth
| coming that any such formal appoint
ment was ever made either by the
king or by parliament, by convOca-
| tion or by the priVy council. In any
| case it was quite unnecessary. Not
| by any means at once, but gradually
| ana surely this noble version took up
! its natural position. a position from
which it does not seem in any near
| danger of being dislodged. So far Is il
| from losing round that it has been
| already translated into not far short
| of two hundred languages and dialects
while something like three million cop
| les of it are poured out year by yeal
| by the English press. Truly We may
| say of it that its sound has gone forth
into all lands, and it's words unto the
ends of the world.
| 1t is natural TO the human mind tC
search for causes, and confronted with
I a phenomenon so striking as the King
| Bible we are driven almost against oul
| Wills to inquire to what happy con-
! junction of circumstances its unique
position may be ascribed.
In the first place, then, the Authir-
| lied Version was indebted for its sue
cess to the personal qualifications OF
the revisers. They were the best schol-
ars and linguists of their day, They
were also men of deep plety, They
spared no pains to make their work as
perfect as they could, They We're not
| the slaves, but the masters of the rules
which guided them. They never 1851
sight of the fact that the English Blbl(
was TO be a book not for an inner RIM
! of theologians or scholars, but for th'