The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-04-26
THE ENGLISH BIBLE.
The King james Version the Most
Splendid Monument of n Splendid

Age.
From the Nineteenth Century Review.
Elizabeth died in March 1903 and with
the accession of James I we arrived 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 now nearly 300
years, and in the undiminshed luster of
which we still live. We need waste no
words in praise of the Authorized Version
of the Bib,e II Is generally accepted as
a literary masterpiece, as the greatest and
most beautiful book in the world.
All possible pains we're taken 10 secure
the services Of the best men for transla
tors. Intellectual competence and prov
ed capacity were the only tests Puritan
and Anglican, linguist and theologian, lay
man and divine. worked tremendously side
by side. OF the ifty-four names which
were originally chosen, the lists that have
come down TO us include only forty-seven,
but we can see with what care and cath
olcity of mind the appointment of revs-
ers had been made. They were organized
In six companies. Two met at oxford,
two at Cambridge, two at Westminster To
each company a certain portion Of the BIZ
ble was given to work upon. Their basis
was the Bishops Bible. Other versions
were to be used only when they agreed
with the text" of the originals. The YER
sions specified were those Of Tyndale, Mat
thew, Coverdale, the Great Bible, and the
Bible of Geneva. The translators, how
ever. did not consider themselves to be in
any way confined 10 these. y They con-
suited 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, folio
volume in black-letter type was publish
ed The title page bore the words ZAP
pointed 20 be read in churches" but no ev-
idence is forthcoming that any such for
NAL appointment was ever made either by
the King or by Parliament. by convocation
or by TIE privy council. In any case II
was quite unnecessary. Not by any means
at once but gradually and surely this no
BILE version took up its natural position. a
position from which il does not at present
seem in any rear daneer of being dislodg-
ed So far is it from losing ground that 1t
has been elready translated into not far
short of 200 languages and dialects. while
some thine. like 100000 copies of it are
poure out year by year by the English
press Truly may we say of it that its
sound has gone forth into all lands, and
its words unto the ends of the world.
search for causes, and confronted with "A
| phenomenon so striking as the Kings BIZ
| bic we are driven almost against our wills
| 10 inquire to what happy conjunction OF
| circumstances its unique position may be
ascribed.
| In che first place, then, the Authorized
| Version was indebted for les success to
| the personal qualifications of the revis-
| ers They were the best scholars and lin
| Of They
of deep piety. They spared no pains to
| make their work as perfect as they could.
They were not the slaves, but the mas
| tiers of the rules which guided them. They
| never lost sight of the fact that the Eng
| fish Bible was to be a book not for an In
| ner ring of theologians or scholars, but
| for the common people. The predomi-
| nance of Saxon words in this version Is
| very remarkable. Compared with Latin
| words, they constitute about 30 per cent.
| In Shakespeare the proportion is So per
| cent, in Swift nearly 80, in Johnson rs
| In Glbbon 10. In the Lords Prayer fifty
| nine out of the sixty-tive words are
| Saxon
Secondly, James revsers had this great
advantage over their predecessors. who as
a rule worked under the ban of the au-
thorities-that they felt themselves oceu'
pied on a great national undertaking pro.
NOTED by the King himself and support
ed by the full sympathy and approval oi
church and state.
Thirdly. they had ready TO hand the ricl
| results of nearly a century of diligen
| and unintermitted labor i'm the field o
| Biblical study. Ii is beyond the power o.
man to eliminate. by any machinery which
| he can devise, the Inherent inequality o
mental endowments. The Authorized Yer
sion is accordingly not a perfectly ever
work throughout, nor would any compe
tent Judge desire to claim for the Epist.e:
| the same high level of excellence as TO
the Pentateuch or the prophetical books
But on the whole our Bible is character
ized by a wonderful unity of tone, an,
this is unquestionably due to the well
= | planned organization and rules for whicl
the King and his advisers were response
! Bile,
Above and around all this we have t,
remember the extraordinarily stmulatin.
power of the literary atmosphere which
il was their unique good fortune q
breathe. an atmosphere which went ia
: to foster in them their lofty sense o
style and their sureness of artistic touch
| The last decade of the sixteenth centur,
had witnessed an outburst OF literary gen
5 JUS, alike in poetry, in the drama and il
| prose- to which IL would indeed be diff
( cult to find a parallel. Beneath the sur
? | face of the whole Tudor period may b
Z
meutation which were the spiritual prep
0 aration for that astonishing revelation
D of creative power which characterized il
close.
Throughout the reign OF Elizabeth vas
{ invisible forces had been at work refash
2 ioning, transforming, fertirizing the mind
e | of men. For while, no doubt, the blac
e. cloud OF national peril overshadowed an
, shrouded their activity. But none the les
e their influence continued operative The in
= tellectual force of the Renaissance. III
moral and religious force of the Reforma
I ton, the social and political force OF
z newly realized and an ever-increasin
e sense OF national unity and greatness. IN
+ economic force of rapidly expandin
A wealth-sfl these WALKING powers ha,
|. been silently Thanksgiving the old Eng