Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-03-01
ENGLISH BIBLE PRECAUTIONARY.
Bv FREDERIC J. IIASKIN.

The whole Enslsh-speaking world will
this month celebrate the tercentenary oi
the English Bible whose history is bound
I'D as much with its spiritual life as with
its material progress. The English Bible
continues to uphold its reputation OF
being the best seller among the world S
books In 1910 the American Bible Society
put out nearly two and a quarter miiiion'
copies of the Scriptures. In the ninety
four years of it's existence the same Or
ganization has printed and sold sS.oc,oo
volumes. In the early days, when the art
OF printing was a slow and painful
process a copy of the English Bible cost
SO. equivalent in purchasing power TO
$50 in United States currency. Today a
copy of the gospels may he purchased for
cents. and a complete Bible for nickel
The history of our English Bible reads
like vivid romance, at times clouded
with superstition, cruelty and blsotry.
John Wickliffe GSS4} made the hrSt
translation into the English language, a
literal rendition from the Vuigate His
work in this respect preceded and pioneer
I'd the reformation. William Tyndale was
the true father of the English national
version. founded on the original languages.
lie conceived and undertook the work
when he risked his life if proofsheet OF
il were found on him, and his work was
the basis of all subsequent ones. He pub
lished the New Testament at Wittenburg
i526 He and Coverdale commenced to
translate the Old Testament at Antwerp,
but they were discovered. 1yndaie was
captured. strangled and his body burned
at the stake near Brussels in 1886. Cover
uale finished the translation of the Old
Testament in 1850,
Matthews Bible d53O was approved
by royal authority, although he was
burned at the
Matthews Bible stake in Smith
First With Notes. m nela t IN i Srst ~
contain notes. y new edition in 1889. the
Great Bible, and another in 1910 with
Cranmers preface-Cranmer Bible
which omitted the notes, supplanted the
former. This was the version issued by
command of Henry VIII and chained to
reaGing desks in the churches. SO that
the common people might see the Scrip
lures in English. The Geneva Bible FOL
lowed in 1000, with Calvinist.c notes. l his
won great popularity. Archbishop Far
ker went back to the Great Billie and
appointed commission of bishops to re-
vase IT, This produced the Bishops Bible
lJiS) 1t also had explanatory notes and
was read IN the churches TINS Bishops
Bible represented the church party. while
the Geneva Bible retained its place among
the Puritans, and in fact, with the popu-
lar majority In 1910 the English Cath
olics also produced a representative YER
sion, translated from the Nulgate, ana
known as the Douay Bible.
In 1t4, at tie Hampton Court confer
.ence 1t was proposed to supersede the
two Protestant veIsicns-the Bishops and
the Geneva-by new one satisfactory TO
both parties. James | appointed a COM
mission OF fortyLseven learned men OF all
sects to do the work, and fixed the rules
, under which they were to act The Bish-
ops Bible was to be made the basis, and
only altered where necessary. This YER
sion was published i'm 1911, and gradually
displaced the others by virtue of it's In
tr,nsic merits. Under the commonwealth
the question of new version was raised,
but a committee of The long parliament
reported that the English version was
the best in the world and what we call
the King James Bible. or Authorized
Version. is certainly one of the very best
national Bibles. No revision of that
edition was undertaken until 1870. when
the corvocation of Canterbury began the
-sork, which, being pushed to completion
by a body of English and American
scholars. gave us what is known as the
Revised Version.