of St. John's, and Hebrew Profeffor in that College. Fellow of Peter-Houfe, and Hebrew Profeffor therein.

8thly, Mr. Bing,

To these were allotted the Books from the First of the Chronicles, with the rest of the Hiftory, and the Hagiographa, viz. Job, Pfalms, Proverbs, Canticles, Ecclefiaftes.

3dly, For Oxford were chofen Seven, viz. 1, Dr. John Harding, Prefident of Magdalen College. 2dly, Dr. John Reynolds, Prefident of Corpus Chrifti College; dyed foon after his ingaging in this Work: He was born at Pinhoe in Devonshire, bred in Oxford where he was King's Profeffor; his Brother William and himself happened to divide in their Perfuafion; John was a zealous Papift, and William as heartily engaged in the Reformation. Afterwards the two Brothers entring into a clofe Difpute, argued with that Strength, that they turned each other. This Dr. Reynolds, notwithstanding his appearing for the Diffenters at the Hampton-Court Conference, conformed himfelf to the Church Ceremonies. 3dly, Dr. Thomas Holland, Rector of Exeter College, and the King's Profeffor of Divinity. 4thly, Dr. Richard Kilby, Rector of Lincoln College, and Hebrew Profeffor. 5thly, Mr. Miles Smith, after Doctor in Divinity, and Bishop of Gloucefter. He wrote the Preface to the Tranflation, and was one of the Revifers of the whole Work, when finifhed. 6tbly, Dr. Richard Brett, Rector of Quainton in Buckinghamfhire. 7thly, Mr. Fairclowe.

Thefe had for their Tafk the four great Prophets, with the Lamentations, and the twelve leffer Prophets.

4thly, For the Prayer of Manaffes, and the rest of the Apochrypha, Seven were appointed at Cambridge. f, Dr. Duport, Prebendary of Ely, and Mafter of Jefus College. 2dly, Dr. Brainthwaite, first Fellow of Emanuel, then Master of Gonvil and Caius College. 3dly, Dr. Radcliff, Fellow of Trinity. 4thly, Mr. Ward of Emanuel, after Doctor in Divinity, Mafter of Sidney College, and Margaret Profeflor. 5thly, Mr. Downs, Fellow of St. John's, and Greek Profeflor. 6thly, Mr. Boyfe Fellow of St. John's, Prebendary of Ely, and Parfon of Boxworth in Cambridgeshire. 7thly, Mr. Ward, Fellow of King's College, after Doctor in Divinity, Prebendary of Chichester, and Rector of Bishop-Waltham in Hampshire.

5thly, For the New Teftament, there were the Four Gofpels, Aas, and Revelations, aligned to Eight at Oxford, viz. 1ft, Dr. Thomas Ravis, Dean of Christ Church, afterwards Bifhop of London. 2dly, Dr. George Abbot, Mafter of Univerfity College, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury. 3dly, Dr. Eedes. 4thly, Mr. Thompson. 5thly, Mr. Savil. 6thly, Dr. Peryn. 7thly, Dr. Ravens. 8thly, Mr. Harmer.

6thly, The Epiftles of St. Paul, and the Canonical Epiftles, were affigned to Seven at Westminster, viz. ft, Dr. William Barlow, of Trinity Hall in Cambridge, Dean of Cheffer, after Bifhop of Lincoln. 2dly, Dr. Hutchenfon. 3dly, Dr. Spenfer. 4thly, Mr. Fenton. 5thly, Mr. Rabbet. 6thly, Mr. Sanderfon. 7thly, Mr. Dakins.

That these might proceed to the beft Advantage in their Method. and Management; the King recommended the following Rules to be by them moft carefully obferved:

ift,

ft, The Ordinary Bible read in the Church, commonly called the Bi Shops Bible, to be followed, and as little altered as the Original would permit.

2dly, The Names of the Prophets and Infpired Writers, with the other Names in the Text, to be kept as near as may be, as they stand at prefent by cuftomary Ufe.

3dly, The old Ecclefiaftical Words to be kept, viz. the Word Church, not to be tranflated Congregation, &c.

4thly, When a Word hath divers Significations, that to be kept, which hath been most commonly used by the most of the Ancient Fathers, being agreeable to the Propriety of the Place, and the Analogy of Faith.

5thly, The Divifion of the Chapters not to be altered, or as little as may be, if Neceflity fo require.

6thly, No Marginal Notes at all to be affixed, but only for the Expla nation of the Hebrew or Greek Words, which cannot, without fome Circumlocution, fo briefly and fitly be expreffed in the Text.

7thly, Such Notations of Places to be marginally fet down, as fhall ferve for the fit Reference of one Scripture to another.

8thly, Every particular Man of each Company, to take the Chapter or Chapters affigned for the whole Company, and having translated or amended them feverally by himself, all the Divifion was to meet together, examine their refpective Performances, and agree for their Parts what fhall ftand.

9thly, As any one Company hath finifhed a Book in this Manner, they fhall fend it to the reft to be further considered.

1othly, If any Company, upon the Review of the Book fo fent, doubt or differ upon any Place, they were to note the Place, and fend back the Reafons for their Difagreement. If they happen to differ about the Amendments, the Difference was to be referred to a general Committee, confifting of the chief Perfons of each Company, at the End of the Work.

11thly, When any Place is found remarkably obfcure, Letters were to be directed by Authority, to any learned Perfon in the Land, for their Judgment thereupon.

12thly, Letters to be fent from every Bishop to the reft of his Clergy, admonishing them of this Tranflation in Hand; and to move and charge as many as being fkilful in the Tongues, and having taken Pains in that Kind, to fend their particular Obfervations to the Company, either at Westminster, Cambridge, or Oxford.

13thly, The Directors in each Company to be the Dean of Westminfter, and Chefter for that Place, and the King's Profeffors in Hebrew and Greek, in each University.

14thly, The Tranflations of Tyndal, Matthews, Coverdale, Whitchurch, and Geneva, to be used, when they come clofer to the Original, than the Bishops' Bible.

Laftly, Three or Four of the most eminent Divines in either of the Univerfities, though not of the Number of the Tranflators, were to be affigned by the Vice-Chancellor, to confult with other Heads of Houses, to be Overfeers of the Translations:

3

These

Thefe entred upon the Work in the Spring 1607, and profecuted it with all due Care and Deliberation; but it was about Three Years before it was finished. The untimely Death of Mr. Edward Lively (much Weight of the Work lying on his Skill in the Original Tongues) much retarded the Proceedings; however, the reft vigorously, though flowly, proceeded in this hard, heavy, and holy Talk, nothing offended with the Cenfures of impatient People, condemning their Delays (though indeed but due Deliberation) for Laziness. But after long Expectation and great Defire, came forth this new Tranflation Anno 1610, the Divines having been at great Pains in the Work, not only examining the Chanels by the Fountain, Tranflations with the Origi nal, which was abfolutely neceffary, but alio comparing Chanels with Chanels, which was abundantly useful, Italian, Spanish, French, and Dutch Languages.

The Defign, as the Preface tells us, was not to make a Tranflation altogether new, nor yet to make of a bad one a good one, but to make a good one better; or of many ones, one principal good one, not juftly to be excepted againft.

But this glorious Work did not want Detractors to defame it; the Romanifts much excepted hereat. Was their Tranflation (fay they) good before? Why do they now mend it? Was it not good? Why was it obtruded upon the People? Thefe obferve not, that whilft thus in their Paffion they feek to lafh the Proteftants, their Whip flies in the Faces of the moft learned and pious Fathers, etpecially St. Jerom, who, not content with the former Tranflations of the Septuagint, Symacus and others, did himfelf tranflate the Old Teftament out of the Hebrew. Yea, their Cavil recoils on themfelves, and their own Vulgar Translation, whereof they have fo many and different Editions. fikrus Clavius, a famous Papift, obferved and amended, as he fays, Eight Thoufand faults in the Vulgar Latin. And fince his Time, how do the Paris Editions differ from the Louvaine, and Hentenius's from them both? How infinite are the Differences of that which Pope Clement the VIIIth publifhed, from another which Sixtus Quintus, his immediate Predeceffor, fet forth? Thus we fee, to better and refine Tranflations, hath ever been accounted a commendable Practice, even in our Adverfaries.

Befides this, the Romanils take Exception, becaufe in this our new Tranflation, the various Senfes of Words are iet in the Margin. This they conceive a fhaking of the Certainty of the Scriptures, fuch Variations being as Suckers to be pruned off, because they rob the Stock of the Text of its due Credit and Reputation. But on ferious Thoughts it will appear that thefe Tranflators, affixing the Diverfity of the Meaning of Words in the Margin, deferve Commendations for their Modefty and Humility therein. For though all Things that are neceffary to Salvation are plainly fet down in the Scriptures, yet feeing there is much Difficulty and Doubtfulness (not in Doctrinal, but) in Matters of lefs Importance, Fearfulness did better belcem the Tranlators thap Confidence, entring in fuch Cats a Caution, where Words are of different Acceptations.

VOL. III.

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Some

Some of the Prefbyterians were not well pleafed with this Tranflation, fufpecting it would abate the Repute of that of Geneva, with their Annotations made by the English Exiles, and printed with the general Liking of the People, above thirty Times over. And fome complained that they could not fee into the Senfe of the Scriptures, for the lack of thofe Geneva Annotations. But to fay nothing of the Defects and Faults of thofe Annotations, (though the beft in thofe Times which are extant in English) these Notes were fo tuned to that Tranflation alone, that they would jar with any other, and could no way be fitted to this new Edition of the Bible.

Some of our Church alfo would pretend to find Errors and Mistakes in it (and no Body thinks it wholly free). Mr. Walton in the Life of Bifhop Sanderfon gives a remarkable Inftance of this: Dr. Kilby, an excellent Critick in the Hebrew Tongue, Profeffor of it in the Univerfity, a perfect Grecian, and' one of the Tranflators, going into the Country, took Mr. Sanderson to bear him Company. Being at the Church on Sunday, they found the young Preacher to have no more Difcretion, than to waste a great Part of the Time allotted for his Sermon in Exceptions against the late Tranflation of feveral Words, (not excepting fuch a Hearer as Dr. Kilby) and fhewed Three Reafons why a particular Word fhould have been otherwife tranflated. The Preacher in the Evening was invited to the Doctor's Friend's Houfe, where, after fome other Conference, the Doctor told him, he might have preached more ufeful Doctrine, and not have filled his Auditors Ears with needlets Exceptions against the late Tranflation; and for that Word, for which he offered that poor Congregation Three Reafons, why it ought to have been tranflated as he faid, he and others had confidered all of them, and found Thirteen more confiderable Reafons, why it was tranflated as now printed. And told him, if his Friend, (Mr. Sanderson) then attending him, fhould prove Guilty of fuch Indifcretion, he fhould forfeit his Favour. To which Mr. Sanderfon faid, he hoped he should

not.

At a Grand Committce for Religion, in a pretended Parliament fummoned by Oliver Cromwell Anno 1656, it was ordered that a SubCommittee fhould advife with Dr. Walton, Mr. Hughes, Mr. Gaftle, Mr. Clerk, Mr. Poulk, Dr. Cudworth, and fuch others as they thought proper, to confider of the Tranflations and Impreffions of the Bible, and to offer their Opinion therein to the Committee, and that it fhould be more particularly recommended to Bulftrede Whitlock, one of the Lords Commiffioners of the Treafury, to take Care of that Affair. The Committee met frequently at Whitlock's Houfe, where the learned Men in the Oriental Languages attended, made many Obfervations upon this Subject, and pretended to difcover fome Miftakes in the last English Tranflation, which yet they allowed was the best extant. They took a great deal of Pains in this Bufinefs, which yet came to nothing by the Diffolution of the Parliament.

After the Restoration, the King granted a Commiffion Anno 1661, to feveral Perfons to review the Liturgy, in order to have it farther accommodated to a general Satisfaction, and the Bishop of London's Lodg

ings

ings in the Savoy were appointed for the Place of Meeting, when the Prefbyterian Divines delivered in their Exceptions to the CommonPrayer, together with the additional Forms and Alterations which they defired. One of their Exceptions was, that there were many Defects obferved in the Verfion of the Scriptures, ufed in the Liturgy, that it was either obfolete in Language, or miftaken in Senfe, as they endeavoured to prove in feveral Inftances; they therefore moved that this Verfion might be ftruck out, and the new Tranflation allowed by the Authority fubftituted inftead thereof. To which the Commiffioners on the Liturgy's Part returned their Answer, wherein they were willing that all the Epiftles and Gospels, be ufed according.to the laft Franflation, but that the Pfalms be used after the former Tranflation, mentioned in the Rubrick, and printed according to it; which was done accordingly. Leave we then thefe worthy Men the Translators, now all of them gathered to their Fathers, whofe Induftry, Skilfulness, Piety, and Difcretion, hath therein bound the Church unto them, in a Debt of special Remembrance and Thankfulness. Thefe with Jacob Gen. xxix. rolled away the Stone from the Mouth of the Well of Life, fo that now even Rachel's weak Women may freely come both to drink themselves, and water the Flock of their Families at the fame. And the Church has not only permitted all Believers, without Diftinétion of Age or Sex, to read thefe Holy Books, but always exhorted them to do fo ('till thefe laft Ages) by the Mouths of its Paftors, without excluding any. It has exhorted Children to it, that according to the Example of Timothy, they might be nourished and brought up in the Knowledge of the Holy Scriptures. It has exhorted Catechumens to it, and admitted them to hear the Word of God, though it excluded them from its Myfteries, that they might conceive a Veneration and Respect for the Religion which they embraced. It has exhorted Women, Maids, and young Widows to it, that they might learn from it their feveral Duties, and by a continual Meditation on it, arrive to a greater Perfection of Spiritual Life. It has exhorted to it the Ignorant, and Men of low Degree, being perfuaded that Jefus Christ had chofen fuch, even before the Great and Wife; and that the Holy Scriptures, though they contain Myfteries and very fublime Things in them, are neverthelefs fuited to the Capacities of all Perfons, and accommodated to the Understanding of the meaneft Readers, fo that a Mechanick, a Servant, a poor Woman, and the moft ignorant of Men may profit by reading them. It has exhorted to it not only fuch as profefs to lead a Spintual Life, but thofe who live in the World, who have a Family and Employment, that they might find there a Support for their Weakness, in the midft of the Dangers to which the Occupations of this World expose them, and Affistance against the Temptations, to which they are continually liable. It has exhorted to it Sinners, and Perfons engaged in a vicious Courfe, that they might there feek a Remedy for their Spiritual Diftempers; and hearkning to the Voice of God, and being enlightened by his Word, might be fenfible of their Errors, and embrace the Means of breaking off the Chains of their wicked Customs. So that neither Age, nor Sex, nor Ingenuity, nor want of Capacity, nor a Man's Profeffion, nor the Condition he is in, have been ever looked

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