FORWARD

THE YEARS SINCE McCLURE’S “TRANSLATORS REVIVED”

When Alexander McClure wrote “The Translators Revived” in 1858, he could not possibly have

foreseen the coming events which began when the 1881 translation first appeared. This version was the

joint effort of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and the revision committee was headed up by

Brooke Foss Westcott (Regius professor of Divinity at Cambridge), and Fenton John Anthony Hort

(Lecturer on New Testament at Cambridge), and had its origin in an action taken by the Convocation of

the Province of Canterbury in February 1870. There were two revision companies in England and

eventually two were formed in America.

In May of 1870, the Convocation of Canterbury laid down some basic rules which were to be observed

by the translation groups. These rules were as follows:

[1] To introduce as few alterations as possible into the text of the Authorised Version.

[2] To limit, as far as possible, the expression of such alterations to the language of the

Authorized and earlier English Versions.

[3] Each company to go twice over the portion to be revised, once provisionally, the second

time finally, and on principles of voting as hereinafter is provided.

[4] That the Text that is to be adopted be that for which the evidence is decidedly

preponderating; and that when the Text so adopted differs from that from which the Authorised

Version was made, the alteration be indicated in the margin.

[5] To make or retain no change in the Text on the second final revision by each Company,

except two thirds of those present approve of the same, but on the first revision to decide by

simple majorities.

[6] In every case of proposed alteration that may have given rise to discussion, to defer the

voting thereupon till the next meeting, whensoever the same shall be required by one third of

those present at the meeting, such intended vote to be announced in the notice for the next

meeting.

[7] To revise the headings of chapters and pages, paragraphs, italics, and punctuations.

[8] To refer, on the part of each Company, when considered desirable, to Divines, Scholars, and

Literary Men, whether at home or abroad, for their opinions.

THE RESOLUTIONS OF THE CONVOCATION OF CANTERBURY

In addition to the rules just mentioned, the Convocation also passed five resolutions that were to govern

the actions of the translation Committees. These resolutions are as follows:

[1] That it is desirable that a revision of the Authorised Version of the Holy Scriptures be

undertaken.

[2] That the revision be so conducted as to comprise both marginal renderings and such

emendations as it may be found necessary to insert in the text of the Authorised Version.

[3] That in the above resolutions we do not contemplate any new translation of the Bible, or any

alteration of the language, except where in the judgment of the most competent scholars such

change is necessary.

[4] That in such necessary changes, the style of the language employed in the existing Version

be closely followed.

[5] That it is desirable that Convocation should nominate a body of its own members to

undertake the work of revision, who shall be at liberty to invite the cooperation of any eminent

for scholarship, to whatever nation or religious body they may belong.

WHAT WAS INTENDED WAS NEVER DONE!

What the Convocation set out to do, and what was finally published have some grave differences,

which will be pointed out in the pages to follow. First of all, it should be noted that Bishop Westcott did

not conform to the desires of the Convocation, in that he insisted upon one particular Text to the

exclusion of the Texts used by the translators of the KJV. That Text, he frankly admitted, was Codex

Aleph, or Sinaiticus. The other manuscript which was highly esteemed by Westcott and Hort was Code

B, or Vaticanus. This Text (Codex Aleph) is a single Greek manuscript which was copied about 400

A.D. and is not the best available Scriptural evidence.

Read the words of Prebendary Scrivener, who was also on the Revision committee, as he writes of this

choice of manuscripts. “..entirely destitute of historical foundation..” Westcott made the assumption

that “oldest” was “best”, which, in the case of Biblical manuscripts, is simply not so! Upon making this

decision, he and Hort set aside a mountain of evidence that had come to light since the 1611 Authorized

Version, and had this material been consulted they would have found that most of the intrusions into the

Text were unwarranted, unnecessary and unscriptural!

In addition: by inserting the words “many ancient authorities omit...” or “the best manuscripts read

thus...” they automatically put themselves in the place of judge as to what actually constituted God’s

Word, and in many cases they chose an inferior reading to that which is in the Authorized Version.

What the Convocation desired, and explicity stated in both the resolutions and rules portion, was

simply set aside or excused, and insertions were made into the text which were based upon manuscript

evidence that was less reliable than the Textus Receptus.

WHAT IS GOD’S WORD?

If thought is expressed in words, then to know the mind of God we must know his Word. It has been

very popular in the 20th century to hold any version that comes along with the same veneration and

belief as the King James Bible. Words are of extreme importance, for God used the language of men to

express Himself... first in the language of the Hebrew nation, then in the Aramaic and Greek of the

New Testament. That language has been translated into almost every language on earth, and it is

remarkable that each rendering has remained as close to the original autographs as it has.

Because God only dealt with one nation in the Old Testament, the language of that people was used,

but when we come to the New Testament we find that there was a language in use that was as close to

being universal as any language had ever been, and that language is Greek.

Every time a translation is done from one language to another, something is inevitably lost. In many

cases a Greek word requires an entire sentence in English, and yet the translators of the King James

Version were adept enough to be able to find just the right word to express the fullest, richest meaning

of the Greek Text.

Surely reason would tell us that every version that has been printed cannot be God’s Word! Many of the

so-called versions are not translations at all, but merely personal interpretations, and even the plain

meaning of simple versions are obscured and mutilated to the extent that they often mean just the

opposite of the intended Word of God. As said before: language is the expression of thought, and to

know what God transmits from His mind to ours, we have to know what God’s Word really is.

Alexander McClure’s “Translators Revived” was not written to begin a KJV cult, nor was it his

intention to proclaim the KJV as a faultless production. The purpose of McClure was to show the

nature of the translation, and the character of the men who participated in the actual work of

translation. In this there can be no doubt that he succeeded, and the evidence can be weighed by all

who care to read his writings.

IS THE KJV GOD’S WORD?

Much derision and scorn is heaped upon those who hold in high esteem the work of the King James

translators. One group, made up of mostly younger men who are fairly recent graduates of Bible

Colleges or Seminaries, even use the term, “The King Jimmy Bible”, which ought to tell us something

of the lack of concern over which Bible is, indeed, the very Word of God!

As has been, and will be, pointed out, there are numbers of books which have “BIBLE” printed on the

cover, but what is inside may often be as far from the truth as the east is from the west. For that reason,

the reader is encouraged to thoroughly read the next few pages before getting into the main body of

McClure’s outstanding little treatise, for there are some things said that may cause a change of mind

when carefully weighed in the scales of TRUTH.

THE TRANSLATORS REVIVED

A BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF THE AUTHORS OF THE ENGLISH

VERSION OF THE

HOLY BIBLE

BY

Alexander W. McClure, D.D.

PREFACE

This little volume has been long in preparation. It is more than twenty years since the Author's attention

was directed to the inquiry, What were the personal qualifications for their work possessed by King

James' Translators of the Bible? He expected to satisfy himself without difficulty, but found himself

sorely disappointed. There was abundance of general testimony to their learning and piety; but nowhere

any particular account of the men themselves. Copious histories of the origin, character, and results of

their work have been drawn up with elaborate research; but of the Translators personally, little more

was told than a meagre catalogue of their names, with brief notices of such offices as a few of them

held.

The only resource was to take these names in detail, and search for any information relative to each

individual. For a long time, but little came to hand illustrative of their characters and acquirements,

except in relation to some of the more prominent men included in the royal commission. The Author

quite despaired of ever being able to identify the greater part of them, by any thing more than their bare

surnames. But devoting much of his time to searching in public libraries, he by degrees recovered from

oblivion one by one of these worthies, till only two of them, Fairclough and Sanderson, remain without

some certain testimonial of their fitness for the most responsible undertaking the in the religious

literature of the English world. In regard to some of them, who for a long time eluded his search, the

revived information at last seemed almost like a resurrection. As the result of his researches, which he

has carried, as he believes, to the utmost extent to which it can be done with the means accessible on

this side of the Atlantic, he offers to all who are interested to know in regard to the general sufficiency

and reliable-ness of the Common Version, these biographical sketches of its authors. He feels assured

that they will afford historical demonstration of a fact which much astonished him when it began to

dawn upon his convictions, --that the first half of the seventeenth century, when the Translation was

completed, was the GOLDEN AGE of biblical and oriental learning in England. Never before, nor

since, have these studies been pursued by scholars whose vernacular tongue is the English, with such

zeal, and industry, and success. This remarkable fact is such a token of God's providential care of his

word, as deserves most devout acknowledgment.

That the true character of their employment, at the precise stage where those good men took it up, may

be properly understood by such as have not given particular attention to the subject, a condensed

"Introductory Narrative" is given. In its outlines, this follows the crowded octavos of the late

Christopher Anderson. He has gleaned out the very corners of the field so carefully, as to leave little for

any who may follow him. To his work, or rather to the skillful abridgement of it, in a single octavo

volume, by Rev. Dr. Prime, all who desire more minute information on that part of the subject are

respectfully referred.

The writers to whom the author of this book is most indebted for his biographical materials are Thomas

Fuller and Anthony A. Wood. The former, the wittiest and one of the most delightful of the old English

writers,--and the latter one of the most crabbed and cynical. What has been obtained from them was

gathered wherever it was sprinkled, in scattered morsels, over their numerous and bulky volumes.

Beside what was furnished from these sources, numerous fragments have been collected from a wide

range of reading, including every thing that seemed to promise any additional matter of information.

The work is, doubtless, quite imperfect, because after the lapse of more than two centuries, during

which no person appears to have thought of the thing, the means of information have been growing

more scanty, and the difficulty of recovering it has been constantly increased. Critical inquisitors may

be able to detect some inaccuracies in pages prepared under such disadvantages; but it will require no

great stretch of generosity to make due allowance for them.

The general result, to which the Author particularly solicits the attention of any who may honor these

pages with their perusal, is the ample proof afforded of the surpassing qualifications of those venerable

Translators, taken as a body, for their high and holy work. We have here presumptive evidence of the

strongest kind, that their work is deserving of entire confidence. It ought to be received as a "final

settlement" of the translation of the Scriptures for popular use,--at least, till the time when a body of

men equally qualified can be brought together to re-adjust the work, --a time which most certainly has

not yet arrived! If that time shall ever come, may there be found among their successors the vast

learning, wisdom, and piety of the old Translators happily revived!

INTRODUCTORY NARRATIVE

The translation of the Bible into any language is an event of the highest importance to those by whom

that language is spoken. But when such a translation is to be read for successive centuries, by

uncounted millions scattered over all the earth, and for whose use so many millions of copies have

already been printed, it becomes a work of the highest moral and historical interest. Thus the translation

and printing of the Bible in English forms a most important event in modern history. Far beyond any

other translation, it has been, and is, and will be, to multitudes which none can number, the living

oracle of God, giving to them, in their mother tongue, their surest and safest teaching on all that can

affect their eternal welfare.

Many attempts had been made, at various times, to put different portions of the Scriptures into the

common speech of the English people. Of these, one of the most noticeable was a translation of John's

Gospel into Anglo-Saxon, made, at the very close of his life, by the "Venerable Bede", a Northumbrian

monk, who died in his cell, in May, A.D. 735. A most interesting account of his last illness is given by

Cuthbert, his scholar and biographer. Toward evening of the day of his death, one of his disciples said,

"Beloved teacher, one sentence remains to be written." "Write it quickly, then," said the dying saint;

and summoning all his strength for this last flash of the expiring lamp, he dictated the holy words.

When told that the work was finished, he answered, "Thou sayest well. It is finished!" He then

requested to be taken up, and placed in that part of his cell where he was wont to kneel at his private

devotions; so that, as he said, he might while sitting there call upon his Father. He then sang the

doxology, -"Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost!" and as he sang the last

syllable, he drew his last breath. (See Neander, Denjwurdigkeiten, &c., III. 171-175; and Fuller, Church

History, I. 149-151.)

The admirable King Alfred, who ascended the throne two hundred years after the birth of Bede,

translated the Psalms into Anglo-Saxon. But the first complete translations which can be said to have

been published, so as to come into extensive use, was that made by Wiclif, about the year 1380. It was

not made from the "original Hebrew and Greek of the Holy Ghost;" but from the Vulgate, a Latin

version, chiefly prepared by Jerome during the latter part of the fourth century. John Wiclif was born in

Yorkshire, England, in the year 1324. He was a priest, and a professor of divinity in the University of

Oxford. His ardent piety was nursed by the Scriptures which gave it birth. He is commonly called "the

morning-star of the Protestant reformation," and was one of the brightest of those scattered lights of the

Dark Ages, who are often spoken of as "reformers before the reformation." Like Martin Luther, his

opposition to popish errors and corruptions was at first confined to a few points; but prayer, study of

the Bible, and growing grace, led him on a constant advance toward the purity of truth. He became in

doctrine what would now be called a Calvinist; and in church discipline his views agreed with those

which are now maintained by Congregationalists. After encountering many prosecutions and

persecutions, having however a powerful protector in John of Gaunt, (or Ghent, in Flanders, his native

place,) the famous old Duke of Lancaster, Wiclif peacefully closed his devout and laborious life, at his

rectory of Lutterworth, in 1384. Fourty-one years after, by order of the popish Council of Constance,

his bones were unearthed, burned to ashes, and cast into the Swift, a neighboring brook. "Thus," says

Thomas Fuller, "this brook has conveyed his ashes into Avon, Avon into Severn, Severn into the narrow

seas, they into the main ocean. And thus the ashes of Wiclif are the emblem of his doctrine, which is

now dispersed the world over." (This noble passage from a favorite author, Wordsworth has finely

versified in one of his Ecclesiastical Sonnets:

"As though these ashes, little brook, wilt bear

Into the Avon, Avon to the tide

Of Severn, Severn to the narrow seas,

Into main Ocean they, this deed accurst

An emblem yields to friends and enemies,

How the bold Teacher's doctrine, sanctified

By Truth, shall spread throughout the world dispersed."

Wiclif's translation of the Bible was made before the invention of the printing machines; and the

manuscripts, though quite numerous, were very costly. Nicholas Belward suffered from popish cruelty

in 1429, for having in his possession a copy of Wiclif's New Testament. That copy cost him four marks

and forty pence. This sum, so much greater was the value of money then than it is now, was considered

as a sufficient annual salary for a curate. The same value at the present time would pay for many

hundred copies of the Testament, well printed and bound. Such are the marvels wrought by the art of

printing, which Luther was wont to call "the last and best gift" of Providence. (Summum et postremum

donum.) It has become the "capacious reservoir of human knowledge, whose branching streams diffuse

sciences, arts, and morality, through all ages and all nations." (Darwin's Zoonomia, I. 51.) Let us hope,

with an old writer, "that the low pricing of the Bible may never occasion the low prizing of the Bible."

Limited as the circulation of the English Bible must have been in its manuscript form, it still made no

little trouble for the monkish doctors of that day. One of them, Henry de Knyghton, said, "This Master

John Wiclif hath translated the gospel out of Latin into English, which Christ had intrusted with the

clergy and doctors of the Church, that they might minister it to the laity and weaker sort, according to

the state of the times and the wants of men. So that, by this means, the gospel is made vulgar, and made

more open to the laity, and even to women who can read, than it used to be to the most learned of the

clergy and those of the best understanding! And what was before the chief gift of the clergy and doctors

of the Church, is made for ever common to the laity." If the publication of an English Bible in

manuscript caused such popish lamentations, we need not wonder that the multiplication of a similar

work in print should afterwards awaken such a fury, that Rowland Phillips, the papistical Vicar of

Croyden, in a noted sermon preached at St. Paul's Cross, London, in the year 1535, declared; "We must

root out printing, or printing will root out us!"

Manuscripts of Wiclifs complete version are still numerous. His Bibles are nearly as numerous as his

New Testaments; and there are besides many copies of separate books of the Scriptures. They are quite

remarkable for their legibility and beauty, and indicate the great care taken in making them, and in

preserving them for nearly five hundred years. The New Testament of this version was printed in the

year 1731, or three hundred and fifty years after it was finished. The whole Bible by Wiclif was never

printed till two or three years since, when it appeared at Oxford, with the Latin Vulgate, from which it

was translated, in parallel columns.

Contemporary with Wiclif, was John de Trevisa, born of an ancient family, at Crocadon in Cornwall.

He was a secular priest, and Vicar of Berkeley. He translated several large works out of Latin into

English; and chiefly the entire Bible, justifying himself by the example of the Venerable Bede, who had

done the same thing for the Gospel of John. This great, and good, and dangerous task he performed by

commission from his noble and powerful patron and protector, Lord Thomas de Berkeley. This

nobleman had the whole of the book of Revelation, in Latin and French, which latter was then

generally understood by the better educated class of Englishmen, written upon the walls and ceiling of

his chapel at Berkeley, where it was to be seen hundreds of years after. Trevisa, notwithstanding his

translation of the Bible made him obnoxious to the persecutors of his day, lived and died unmolested,

though known to be an enemy of monks and begging friars. He expired, full of honor and years, being

little less than ninety years of age, in the year 1397. (Fuller's Church History of Britain, I. 467.) Little

else is known of him, or of his translation, which did not supersede the labors of Wiclif.

The first book ever printed with metal types was The Latin Bible, issued by Gutenberg and Fust, at

Mentz, in the Duchy of Hesse, between the years 1450 and 1455, for it bears no date. It is a folio of 641

leaves, or 1282 pages, in two volumes. Though a first attempt, it is beautifully printed on very fine

paper, and with superior ink. At least eighteen copies of this famous edition are known to be in

existence; four of them on vellum, and fourteen on paper. Twenty-five years ago, one of the vellum

copies was sold for five hundred and four pounds sterling; and one of the paper copies lately brought

one hundred and ninety pounds. Truly venerable relics! Thus the printing-press paid its first homage to

the Best of Books; the highest honor ever done to that illustrious art, and the highest purpose to which

it could ever be applied.

The first Scripture ever printed in English was a sort of paraphrase of the seven penitential Psalms, so

called, by John Fisher, the popish bishop of Rochester, who was beheaded by Henry VIII, in the year

1535. This little book was printed in 1505.

The first decided steps, however, toward giving to the English nation a Bible printed in their own

tongue, were the translations of the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, made by William Tyndale, and by

him printed at Hamburg, in the year 1524; --and a translation of the whole of the New Testament,

printed by him partly at Cologne, and partly at Worms, in 1525. After six editions of the Testament had

been issued, he published Genesis and Deuteronomy, in 1530; and next year the Pentateuch. In the year

1535 was printed the entire Bible, under the auspices of Miles Coverdale, who mostly followed

Tyndale as far as he had gone; but without any other connection with him. Of Coverdale, further

mention will be made. But in the year 1537 appeared a folio Bible, printed in some city in Germany,

with the following title,--"THE BYBLE, which is the Holy Scripture; in which are contayned the Olde

and Newe Testament, truely and purely translated into Englysh--by Thomas Matthew.--MDXXXVII."

This is substantially the basis of all the other versions of the Bible into English, including that which is

now in such extensive use. It contains Tyndales' labors as far as he had gone previous to his martyrdom

by fire about a year before its publication. That is to say, the whole of the New Testament, and of the

Old, as far as the end of the Second Book of Chronicles, or exactly two-thirds of the entire Scripture,

were Tyndale's work. The other third, comprising the remainder of the Old Testament, was made by his

friend and co-laborer, Thomas Matthew, who was no other than John Rogers, the famous martyr,

afterwards burnt in the days of "bloody Mary"; and who, at the time of his immortal publication, went

by the name of Matthew.

William Tyndale, whose vast services to the English-speaking branches of the Church of God have

never been duly appreciated, was born in the Hundred of Berkeley, and probably in the village of North

Nibley, about the year 1484. His family was ancient and respectable. His grandsire was Hugh, Baron de

Tyndale. From an early age, he was brought up at the University of Oxford. Here, during a lengthened

residence in Magdalen College, he became a proficient in all the learning of that day, and in the latter

part of his time read private lectures in divinity. He was ordained a priest in 1502; and became a

Minorite Observatine friar. His zeal in the exposition of the Scriptures excited the displeasure of the

adversaries, and "spying his time," says Foxe, "he removed from Oxford to the University of

Cambridge, where he likewise made his abode a certain space." This place he had left by 1519. In total

independence of Luther, he arose at the same time with that great translator of the Bible into German;

being equally moved with him to resist the corruptions and oppressions of a priesthood, which sought

to imprison and enslave the minds of all nations, by keeping from them "the key of knowledge".

Returning from Cambridge to his native county, he spent nearly two years in the manor- house of Little

Sodbury, as tutor to the children of Sir John Walsh. On the Sabbath he preached in the neighboring

parishes, and especially at St. Austin's Green, in Bristol. At Sir John's hospitable board, the mitred

abbots, and other ecclesiastics who swarmed in that neighborhood, were frequent guests; and Tyndale

sharply and constantly disputed their mean superstitions. At the first, Sir John and his lady Anne took

the part of the "abbots, deans, archdeacons, with diverse other doctors and great-beneficed men;" but

after reading a translation of Erasmus' "Christian Soldier's Manual", which Tyndale made for them,

they took his part. Upon this, those "doctorly prelatists" forbore Sir John's good cheer, rather than to

take with it what Fuller calls "the sour sauce" of Tyndale's conversation. A storm was now gathering

over his head. Not only the ignorant hedge- priests at their ale-houses, but the dignified clergymen in

the Bishop's councils began to brand him with the name of heretic. In 1522 he was summoned, with all

the other priests of the district, before the bishop's Chancellor. In their presence he was very roughly

handled. In his own account, he says, "When I came before the Chancellor, he threatened me

grievously, and reviled me, and rated me as though I had been a dog."

It was not long after this, that in disputing with a diving reputed to be quite learned, Tyndale utterly

confounded him with certain texts of Scripture; upon which the irritated papist exclaimed, --"It were

better for us to be without God's laws, than without the Pope's!" This was a little too much for Tyndale,

who boldly replied, "I defy the Pope, and all his laws; and if God spare my life, ere many years, I will

cause a boy that driveth the plough to know more of the Scripture than you do!". A noble boast; and

nobly redeemed at the cost of his life! He now clearly saw, that nothing could rescue the mass of the

English nation from the impostures of the high priests and low priests of Rome, unless the Scriptures

were placed in the hands of all. "Which thing only," he says, "moved me to translate the New

Testament. Because I had perceived by experience, how that it was impossible to establish that lay

people in any truth, except the Scripture were plainly laid before their eyes in the mother tongue."

When he could no longer remain at Sir John Walsh's without bringing that worthy knight, as well as

himself, into danger, Tyndale went to London, with letters introducing him, as a ripe Greek scholar, to

the patronage of that Dr. Tunstall, then bishop of London, who afterwards burned so many of Tyndale's

New Testaments. The courtly and classical bishop refused to befriend him; and he who had hoped in

that prelate's own house to translate the New Testament, was obliged to seek a harbor elsewhere. For

nearly a year, he resided in the house of Humphrey Munmouth, a wealthy citizen of London, and

afterwards an alderman, knight, and sheriff. During this time, he used to preach in the Church of St.

Dunstan's in the West. By this time, he was convinced that no where in all England would he be

permitted to put in act the glorious resolve he had formed at Little Sudbury.

In January 1524, with a heart full of love and pity for his native land, Tyndale sailed for Hamburg,

being "helped over the sea" by the generous Munmouth, who also assisted him during his fifteen

months' abode in that city. Here he so improved his time, that in May, 1525, he went to Cologne, and

began to print his New Testament in quarto form. Ten sheets had hardly been worked off, before an

alarm was raised, and the public authorities forbade the work to go on. Tyndale and his amanuensis,

William Roye, managed to save those sheets and to sail with them up the Rhine to Worms, where they

finished the edition of three thousand copies in comparative safety. A precious relic, containing the

Prologue and twenty-two chapters of Matthew, is all that is known to exist of this memorable edition,

which is in the German Gothic type. In the same year and place, there was printed another edition, in

small-octavo, of which one copy is extant in the Bristol Museum. During the subsequent ten years of

the Translators unquiet life, spent in labor and conceal- ment from foes, more than twenty editions of

this work, with repeated revisions by himself, were passed through the press. These, through the

agency of pious merchants and others, were secretly conveyed into England, and there with great

privacy sold and circulated, not without causing constant peril and frequent suffering to those into

whose hands they came. Many copies fell into the grasp of the enemy, and were destroyed; but very

many more were secretly read and pondered in castles and in cottages, and powerfully prepared the

way for the liberation of England from the yoke of Rome. This New Testament has been separately

printed in not less than fifty-six editions, as well as in fourteen editions of the Holy Bible.

Besides all these impressions of the work as Tyndale left it, it has been five times revised by able

translators, including those appointed by King James; and still forms substantially, though with very

numerous amendments, the version in common use. The changes made in these revisions, though

generally for the better, were not always so. The substitution of the word charity, where Tyndale had

used love, was not a happy change; neither was that of church, where he had employed congregation.

Still, large portions of his work remain untouched, and are read verbally as he left them, except in the

matter of spelling. The fidelity of his rendering is such as might be expected from his conscientious

care. "For I call God to record," he says, in his reply to Lord Chancellor More, "against the day we

shall appear before our Lord Jesus, to give a reckoning of our doings, that I never altered one syllable

of God's Word against my conscience; nor would this day, if all that is in the earth, whether it be

pleasure, honor, or riches, might be given me."

Not only was this holy man faithful in his great work, but he was fully qualified for it by his

scholarship. His sound learning is evident enough on reading his pages. Certain historians, however,

while acknowledging his proficiency in Greek literature, have represented him as having little or no

acquaintance with Hebrew, and as making his translations of the Old Testament from the Latin or else

the German. As for German, then a rude speech just taking its "form and pressure" from the genius of

Martin Luther, there is no evidence that Tyndale ever had much acquaintance with it. But of his

knowledge of Hebrew there can be no question. In his answer to Sir Thomas More's huge volume

against him, he accuses the prelates of having lost the understanding of the plain text, "and of the

Greek, Latin, and especially of the HEBREW, which is MOST of need to be known, and of all phrases,

the proper manner of speakings, and borrowed speech of the Hebrews." In these words he clearly

indicates his critical familiarity with the Hebraisms of the New Testament, which contains so many

expressions conformed rather to the idiom of the Hebrew tongue than to that of the Greek. George

Joye, once occupied as his amanuensis, who turned against him, bears unwitting testimony upon this

point. "I am not afraid," he says, "to answer Master Tyndale in this matter, for all his high learning in

HEBREW, Greek and Latin, &c." What were the other tongues Joye referred to, we learn from Herman

Buschius, a learned professor, who was acquainted with Tyndale both at Marburg and Worms. Spalatin,

the friend of Luther, says in his Diary, --"Buschius told me, that, at Worms, six thousand copies of the

New Testament had been printed in English. The work was translated by an Englishman staying there

with two others,--a man so skilled in the seven languages, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Italian, Spanish,

English, and French, that which- ever he spake, you would suppose it his native tongue."

We must draw this account of Tyndale to a close (Those who would know all they can of Tyndale are

referred to the First Volume of Anderson's Annals of the English Bible, which might have been entitled,

Tyndale and his Times.) But one curious incident must be mentioned, which took place in 1529.

Tunstall, then bishop of the wealthy see of Durham, bought up the balance of an edition of the New

Testament, which hung on Tyndale's hands at Antwerp, and burned them. The purchase was made

through one Packington, a merchant who secretly favored Tyndale. The latter rejoiced to sell off his

unsold copies, being anxious to put to press a new and corrected edition, which he was too poor to

publish till thus furnished with the means by Tunstall's simplicity. A year or two after, George

Constantine, one of Tyndale's coadjutors, fell into the hands of Sir Thomas More. That bitter persecutor

promised his prisoner a pardon, provided he would give up the name of the person who defrayed the

expense of this Bible-printing business. Constantine, being something of a wag, and aware that More

was a dear lover of a joke, accepted the offer, and amused the Chancellor by informing him that the

bishop of Durham was their greatest encourager; for, by buying up the unsold copies at a good round

sum, he had enabled them to produce a second and improved edition. Sir Thomas greatly enjoyed the

joke, and said he had told Tunstall at the time, that such would be the result of his fine speculation.

"This," as D'Israeli says, "was the first lesson which taught persecutors that is easier to burn authors

than books."

Early in 1535, Tyndale who had been constantly hunted by the emissaries of his English persecutors,

was betrayed by one Phillips, a tool of Stephen Gardiner, the cruel and crafty bishop of Winchester. He

suffered an imprisonment of more than eighteen months in the castle of Vilvorde, where he was the

means of converting the jailor, the jailor's daughter, and others of the household. All that conversed

with him in the castle bore witness to the purity of his character; and even the Emporer Charles the

Fifth's Prosecutor-General, or chief prosecuting officer, who saw him there, said that he was "homo

doctus, pius, et bonus,"--"a learned, pious, and good man." It was Friday, the sixth of October, 1536,

when this man, "of whom the world was not worthy," and who ought to be famed as the noblest and

greatest benefactor of the English race in all the world, was brought forth to die. Being fastened to the

stake, he cried out with a fervent zeal, and in a loud voice,-- "LORD OPEN THE EYES OF THE

KING OF ENGLAND!" He was then strangled, and burned to ashes. Thus departed one for whom

heaven was ready; but for whom earth, to this hour, has no monument, except the Bible he gave to so

many of her millions.

"He lived unknown

Till persecution dragged him into fame,

And chased him up to Heaven. His ashes flew--

No marble tells us whither. With his name

No bard embalms and sanctifies his song;

And history, so warm on meaner themes,

Is cold on this."

But there is a better world, where he is not forgotten. "Also now, behold, his witness is in heaven, and

his record is on high."

Old John Foxe, the martyrologist, who justly calls Tyndale "the Apostle of England," gives the

following beautiful sketch of the man--"First, he was a man very frugal, and spare of body, a great

student and earnest laborer in setting forth the Scriptures of God. He reserved or hallowed to himself,

two days in the week, which he named his pastime, Monday and Saturday. On Monday he visited all

such poor men and women as were fled out of England, by reason of persecution, unto Antwerp; and

these, once well understanding their good exercises and qualities, he did very liberally comfort and

relieve; and in like manner provided for the sick and diseased persons. On the Saturday, he walked

round the town, seeking every corner and hole, where he suspected any poor person to dwell; and

where he found any to be well occupied, and yet overburthened with children, or else were aged and

weak, these he also plentifully relieved. And thus he spent his two days of pastime, as he called it. And

truly his alms were very large, and so they might well be; for his exhibition (i.e., pension) that he had

yearly of the English merchants at Antwerp, while living there, was considerable, and that for the most

part he bestowed upon the poor. The rest of the days of the week he gave wholly to his BOOK, wherein

he most diligently travailed. When the Sunday came, then went he to some one merchant's chamber, or

other, whither came many other merchants, and unto them would he read some one parcel of Scripture;

the which proceeded so fruitfully, sweetly, and gently from him, much like to the writing of John the

Evangelist, that it was a heavenly comfort and joy to the audience, to hear him read the Scriptures;

likewise, after dinner, he spent an hour in the same manner. He was a man without any spot or blemish

of rancor or malice, full of mercy and compassion, so that no man living was able to reprove him of

any sin or crime; although his righteousness and justification depended not thereupon before God; but

only upon the blood of Christ, and his faith upon the same. In this faith he died, with constancy, at

Vilvorde, and now resteth with the glorious company of Christ's martyrs, blessedly in the Lord."

The good man's work did not die with him. During the last year of his life, nine or more editions of his

Testament issued from the press, and found their way into England "thick and threefold." But what is

strangest of all, and is unexplained to this day, at the very time when Tyndale by the procurement of

English ecclesiastics, and by the sufference of the English king, was burned at Vilvorde, a folio-edition

of his Translation was printed at London, with his name on the title page, and by Thomas Berthelet, the

king's own patent printer. This was the first copy of the Scripture ever printed on English ground.

THE TRANSLATORS REVIVED

Having thus traced the history of our Common Version, through the successive steps by which it has

come down to us in its present shape, it remains for us to inquire as to the PERSONS who put the

finishing hand to the work, and to satisfy ourselves as to their qualifications for the task. It is obvious

that this personal investigation is of the utmost importance in settling the degree of confidence to which

their labors are entitled. Unless it can be proved that they were, as a body, eminently fitted to do this

work as it ought to be done, it can have no claim to be regarded as a “finality” in the matter of

furnishing a translation of the Word of God for the English speaking populations of the globe.

It is exceedingly strange that a question of such obvious importance has been so long left almost

unnoticed. Numerous histories of the Translation itself have been drawn up with great labor; but no

man seems to have thought it worth his while to give any account of the Translators, except the most

meagre notices of a few of them, and general attestations to their reputations, in their own time, for

such scholarship and skill as their undertaking required. Even the late excellent Christopher Anderson,

in his huge volumes, replete as they are with research and information upon the minutest points relating

to this subject, allots but a page or two of his smallest type to this essential branch of it.

It is nearly twenty years since the writer of these pages began to consider the desirableness of knowing

more of those eminent divines, and he has ever since pursued a zealous search wherever he was likely

to effect any “restitution of decayed intelligence” respecting them. At first, he almost despaired of

ascertaining much more than the bare names of most of them. But by degrees he has collected

innumerable scraps of information, gathered from a great variety of sources; amply sufficient, with due

arrangement, to illustrate the subject. His object is simply to shew, that the Translators commissioned

by James Stuart were ripe and critical scholars, profoundly versed in all the learning required; and that,

in these particulars, there has never yet been a time when a better qualified company could have been

collected for the purpose.

Of the forty-seven, who acted under king James’s commission, some are almost unknown at this day,

though of high repute in their own time. A few have left us but little more than their names, worthy of

immortal remembrance, were it only for their connection with this noble monument of learning and

piety. But their being associated with so many other scholars and divines of the greatest eminence, is

proof that they were deemed to be fit companions for the brightest lights of the land. This is confirmed

by the fact that, though the king designed to employ in this work the highest and ripest talents in his

realm, there were still many men in England distinguished for their learning, like Broughton and

Bedell, who were not enrolled on the list of translators. It is but just to conclude, therefore, that even

such as are now less known to us, were then accounted to deserve a place with the best. What we many

know of the greater part of them, must lead to the highest estimate of the whole body of these good

men. The catalogue beings with one whose name is worthy of the place it fills.

LANCELOT ANDREWS

He was born at London, in 1565. He was trained chiefly at Merchant Taylor's school, in his native city,

till he was appointed to one of the first Greek Scholarships of Pembroke Hall, in the University of

Cambridge. Once a year, at Easter, he used to pass a month with his parents. During this vacation, he

would find a master, from whom he learned some language to which he was before a stranger. In this

way after a few years, he acquired most of the modern languages of Europe. At the University, he gave

himself chiefly to the Oriental tongues and to divinity. When he became candidate for a fellowship,

there was but one vacancy; and he had a powerful competitor in Dr. Dove, who was afterwards Bishop

of Peterborough. After long and severe examination, the matter was decided in favor of Andrews. But

Dove, though vanquished, proved himself in this trail so fine a scholar, that the College, unwilling to

lose him, appointed him as a sort of supernumerary Fellow. Andrews also received a complimentary

appointment as Fellow of Jesus College, in the University of Oxford. In his own college, he was made

a catechist; that is to say, a lecturer in divinity.

His conspicuous talents soon gained him powerful patrons. Henry, Earl of Huntingdon, took him into

the North of England; where he was the means of converting many papists by his preaching and

disputations. He was also warmly befriended by Sir Francis Walsingham, Secretary of State to Queen

Elizabeth. He was made parson of Alton, in Hampshire; and then Vicar of St. Giles, in London. He was

afterwards made Prebendary and Canon Residentiary of St. Paul's, and also of the Collegiate Church of

Southwark. He lectured on divinity at St. Paul's three times each week. On the death of Dr. Fulke, in

1589, Dr. Andrews, though so young, was chosen Master of Pembroke Hall, where he had received his

education. While at the head of this College, he was one of its principal benefactors. It was rather poor

at that time, but by his efforts its endowments were much increased; and at his death, many years later,

he bequeathed to it, besides some plate, three hundred folio volumes, and a thousand pounds to found

two fellowships.

He gave up his Mastership to become chaplain in ordinary to Queen Elizabeth, who delighted in his

preaching, and made him Prebendary of Westminster, and afterwards Dean of that famous church. In

the matter of Church dignities and preferments, he was highly favored. It was while he held the office

of Dean of Westminster, that Dr. Andrews was made director, or president, of the first company of

Translators, composed of ten members, who held their meetings at Westminster. The portion assigned

to them was the five books of Moses, and the historical books to the end of the Second Book of Kings.

Perhaps no part of the work is better executed than this.

With King James, Dr. Andrews stood in still higher favor than he had done with Elizabeth. The "royal

pedant" had published a "Defence of the Rights of Kings," in opposition to the arrogant claims of the

Popes. He was answered most bitterly by the celebrated Cardinal Bellarmine. The King set Dr.

Andrews to refute the Cardinal; which he did in a learned and spirited quarto, highly commended by

Casaubon. To that quarto, the Cardinal made no reply. For this service, the King rewarded his

champion, by making him Bishop of Chichester; to which office Dr. Andrews was consecrated,

November 3d, 1605. This was soon after his appointment to be one of the Translators of the Bible. He

accepted the bishopric with great humility, having already refused that dignity more than once. The

motto graven on his episcopal seal was the solemn exclamation,--"And who is sufficient for these

things!" At this time he was also made Lord Almoner to the King, a place of great trust, in which he

proved himself faithful and uncorrupt. In September, 1609, he was transferred to the bishopric of Ely;

and was called to his Majesty's privy council. In February 1618, he was translated to the bishopric of

Winchester; which if less dignified that the archiepiscopal see of Canterbury, was then much more

richly endowed; so that it used to be said,--"Canterbury is the higher rack, but Winchester is the better

manger." At the time of this last preferment Dr. Andrews was appointed Dean of the King's chapel; and

these stations he retained till his death.

In the high offices Bishop Andrews filled, he conducted himself with great ability and integrity. The

crack-brained King, who scarce knew now to restrain his profaneness and levity under the most serious

circumstances, was overawed by the gravity of this prelate, and desisted from mirth and frivolity in his

presence. And yet the good bishop knew how to be facetious on occasion. Edmund Waller, the poet,

tells of being once at court, and overhearing a conversation held by the king with Bishop Andrews, and

Bishop Neile, of Durham. The monarch, who was always a jealous stickler for his prerogatives, and

something more, was in those days trying to raise a revenue without parliamentary authority. In these

measures, so clearly unconstitutional, he was opposed by Bishop Andrews with dignity and decision.

Waller says, the king asked this brace of bishops, --"My lords, cannot I take my subject's money when I

want it, without all this formality in parliament?" The Bishop of Durham, one of the meanest of

sycophants to his prince, and a harsh and haughty oppressor of his puritan clergy, made ready answer,--

"God forbid, Sir, but you should; you are the breath of our nostrils!" Upon this the king looked at the

Bishop of Winchester,--"Well, my lord, what say you?" Dr. Andrews replied evasively,--"Sir, I have no

skill to judge of parliamentary matters." But the king persisted,--"No put offs, my lord! answer me

presently." "Then, Sir," said the shrewd Bishop, "I think it lawful for you to take my brother Neile's

money, for he offers it." Even the petulant king was hugely pleased with this piece of pleasantry, which

gave great amusement to his cringing courtiers.

"For the benefit of the afflicted," as the advertisements have it, we give a little incident which may

afford a useful hint to some that need it. While Dr. Andrews was one of the divines at Cambridge, he

was applied to by a worthy alderman of that drowsy city, who was beset by the sorry habit of sleeping

under the afternoon sermon; and who, to his great mortification, had been publicly rebuked by the

minister of the parish. As snuff had not then came into vogue, Dr. Andrews did not advise, as some

matter-of-fact persons have done in such cases, to titillate the "sneezer" with a rousing pinch. He seems

to have been of the opinion of the famous Dr. Romaine, who once told his full-fed congregation in

London, that it was hard work to preach to two pounds of beef and a pot of porter. So Dr. Andrews

advised his civic friend to help his wakefulness by dining very sparingly. The advice was followed; but

without avail. Again the rotund dignitary slumbered and slept in his pew; and again was he roused by

the harsh rebukes of the irritated preacher. With tears in those too sleepy eyes of his, the mortified

alderman repaired to Dr. Andrews, begging for further counsel. The considerate divine, pitying his

infirmity, recommended to him to dine as usual, and then to take his nap before repairing to his pew.

This plan was adopted; and to the next discourse, which was a violent invective prepared for the very

purpose of castigating the alderman's somnolent habit, he listened with unwinking eyes and his

uncommon vigilance gave quite a ridiculous air to the whole business. The unhappy parson was nearly

as much vexed at his huge-waisted parishioner's unwonted wakefulness, as before at his unseemly

dozing.

Bishop Andrews continued in high esteem with Charles I.; and that most culpable of monarchs, whose

only redeeming quality was the strength and tenderness of his domestic affections, in his dying advice

to his children, advised them to study the writings of three divines, of whom our Translator was one.

Lancelot Andrews died at Winchester House, in Southwark, London, September 25th, 1626, aged sixtyone

years. He was buried in the Church of St. Saviour, where a fair monument marks the spot. Having

never married, he bequeathed his property to benevolent uses. John Milton, then but a youth, wrote a

glowing Latin elegy on his death.

As a preacher, Bishop Andrews was right famous in his day. He was called "star of preachers." Thomas

Fuller says that he was "an inimitable preacher in his way; and such plagiarists as have stolen his

sermons could never steal his preaching, and could make nothing of that, whereof he made all things as

he desired." Pious and pleasant Bishop Felton, his contemporary and colleague, endeavored in vain in

his sermons to assimilate to his style, and therefore said merrily of himself,--"I had almost marred my

own natural trot by endeavoring to imitate his artificial amble." Let this be a warning to all who would

fain play the monkey, and especially to such as would ape the eccentricities of genius. Nor is it

desirable that Bishop Andrews' style should be imitated even successfully; for it abounds in quips,

quirks, and puns, according to the false taste of his time. Few writers are "so happy as to treat on

matters which must always interest, and to do it in a manner which shall for ever please." To build up a

solid literary reputation, taste and judgement in composition are as necessary as learning and strength

of thought. The once admired folios of Bishop Andrews have long been doomed to the dusty dignity of

the lower shelf in the library.

Many hours he spent there each day in private and family devotions; and there were some who used to

desire that "they might end their days in Bishop Andrew's Chapel." He was one in whom was proved

the truth of Luther's saying, that "to have prayed well, is to have studied well." His manual for his

private devotions, prepared by himself, is wholly in the Greek language. It has been translated and

printed. This praying prelate also abounded in alms-giving; usually sending his benefactions in private,

as from a friend who chose to remain unknown. He was exceedingly liberal in his gifts to poor and

deserving scholars. His own instructors he held in the highest reverence. His old schoolmaster

Mulcaster always sat at the upper end of the episcopal table; and when the venerable pedagogue was

dead, his portrait was placed over the bishop's study door. These were just tokens of respect;

"For if the scholar to such height did reach,

Then what was he who did that scholar teach?"

This worthy diocesan was much "given to hospitality," and especially to literary strangers. So bountiful

was his cheer, that it used to be said, --"My lord of Winchester keeps Christmas all the year round." He

once spent three thousand pounds in three days, though "in this we praise him not," in entertaining

King James at Farnham Castle. His society was as much sought, however, for the charm of his rich and

instructive conversation, as for his liberal housekeeping and his exalted stations.

But we are chiefly concerned to know what were his qualifications as a Translator of the Bible. He ever

bore the character of "a right godly man," and "a prodigious student." One competent judge speaks of

him as "that great gulf of learning!" It was also said, that "the world wanted learning to know how

learned this man was." And a brave old chronicler remarks, that, such was his skill in all languages,

especially the Oriental, that, had he been present at the confusion of tongues at Babel, he might have

served as Interpreter-General! In his funeral sermon by Dr. Buckeridge, Bishop of Rochester, it is said

that Dr. Andrews was conversant with fifteen languages.

JOHN OVERALL

This divine is the next on the list of three good men, of whom the marginal comment in the Popish

translation says,--"They will be abhorred in the depths of hell!" They may be abhorred there, bnt, after

a while no where else. He was born in 1559, at Hadley, and was bred in the free school at that place. He

lived through the whole of that happy period, which many, beside the old bard of Rydal Mount, regard

as the best days of old England,

"When faith and hope were in their prime,

In great Eliza's golden time."

In due season, he was entered as a scholar at St. John's College, Cambridge. He was next chosen

Fellow of Trinity College, in the same University. In 1596, he was made King's Professor of Divinity;

and at the same time took his doctor's degree, being about thirty-seven years of age. It is noted of this

eminent theologian by Bishop Hacket, that it was his custom to ground his theses in the schools on two

or three texts of Scripture, shewing what latitude of opinion or interpretation was admissible upon the

point in hand. He was celebrated for the appropriateness of his quotations from the Fathers. He was

soon after made Master of Catharine Hall very much against his will. To end a bitter contention in

regard to two rival candidates, he was elected, if election it could be called, under the Queen's absolute

mandate. When Archbishop Whitgift wished the new Master "joy of his place", the latter replied that it

was "terminus diminuens;" which is Latin for "an Irish promotion," or a "hoist down hill." But his

Grace, in the true spirit of a courtier "all of the olden time," told the dissatisfied Professor, that "if the

injuries, much more the less courtesies, of princes must be thankfully taken, as the ushers to make way

for greater favors." These appointments must be taken as full proof of Dr. Overall's superior scholarship

in that learned age, when such preferments were only won by dint of the severest application to study.

In 1601, on the recommendation of Lord Brooke, that noble friend and patron of men of learning and

genius, Dr. Overall was made Dean of St. Paul's, in London. It may be doubted whether this studious

recluse, absorbed in deep studies, shone with his brightest lustre in the pulpit. "Being appointed," says

Thomas Fuller, "to preach before the Queen, he professed to my father, who was most intimate with

him, that he had spoken Latin so long, it was troublesome to him to speak English in a continued

oration."

Soon after the throne was filled by James the First, whom that accomplished statesman, the Duke of

Sully, called "the most learned fool in Europe," the Convocation, or parliament of the clergy came

together. Dr. Overall was prolocutor, or speaker, of the lower house of Convocation. To this body he

presented a volume of canons, the only book from his pen now extant. Its object was to vindicate the

divine right of government. But though it was adopted by the Convocation, the King prevented the

publication of the book at that time, because it taught, that when, after a revolution or conquest, a new

government or dynasty was firmly established, this also, in its turn, could plead for itself a divine right,

and could claim the obedience of the people as a matter of duty toward God. This "Convocation Book,"

now so long forgotten, was printed many years after the death of "King Jamie;" and obtained some

historical and political celebrity, because it had the very effect which was apprehended by the monarch

who suppressed it. For when his grandson, James the Second, was expelled from the soil and throne of

England, many bishops and other clergymen, called "non-jurors," refused through conscientious

scruples, to swear allegiance to the new government of William and Mary. Bishop Sherlock and many

others, who at first declined the oath, professed to be converted from that error by the reading of Dr.

Overall's book. But conversions so favorable to thrift are apt to be held in suspicion. Dr. Overall was

the author of the questions and answers relating to the sacraments, which have been much admired, by

the ablest judges of such matters, and which were subjoined to the Catechism of the Church of

England, in the first year of James the First.

It was while he was Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral, that he was joined in the commission, the highest of

his honors, for translating the Bible. Though long familiarity with other languages may have made him

somewhat inapt for continuous public discourse in his mother-tongue, he was thereby the better fitted

to discern the sense of the sacred original. He was styled by Camden "a prodigious learned man;" and

is said by Fuller to have been "of a strong brain to improve his great reading."

John Overall, who "carried superintendency in his surname," was made Bishop of Litchfield and

Coventry, in 1614. Four years later he was transferred to the see of Norwich, where, in a few months,

he died, at the age of sixty years. This was in 1619. He frequently had in his mouth the words of the

Psalmist,--"When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume

away like a moth; surely every man is vanity."

In his later years, he was unhappily inclined to Arminianism. He was a correspondent of Vossius and

Grotius, and other famous scholars on the continent. He was greatly addicted to the scholastic theology,

now so much decried. Since the days of Bacon the schoolmen have been much depreciated, because

there was so little practical fruit of their studies. And yet there was something wonderful in the

keenness and subtlety of their disputes; though it is lawful to smile at the excess of logical refinement

which subdivided the stream of their genius into a ramification of rills, absorbed at last in the dry desert

of metaphysics. One of them is highly praised by Cardan, "for that only one of his arguments was

enough to puzzle all posterity; and that when he was grown old, he wept because he could not

understand his own books." We can conceive, however, that the refinement of the schoolmen as to

precise definitions, and nicer shades of thought, might be a valuable quality in some, at least, of the

company of Translators.

HADRAIN SARAVIA

This noted scholar was a Belgian by birth. His father was a Spaniard, his mother was a Belgian, and

both were Protestants. He was born in 1530, at Hedin in Artois. Of his early life no notices have

reached us. He was, for some years, a pastor both in Flanders and Holland. He was, in his principles, a

terrible high- church-man; and seems, from his zeal for the divine right of episcopacy, to have had

some trouble with his colleagues and the magistrates at Ghent, where he was one of the ministers in

1566. From that place he retired to England. He was sent by Queen Elizabeth's Council as a sort of

missionary to the islands of Guernsey and Jersey, where he was one of the first Protestant ministers;

knowing, as he says of himself, in a letter, "which were the beginnings, and by what means and

occasions the preaching of God's word was planted there." He labored there in a twofold capacity,

doing the work of an evangelist, and conducting a newly established school, called Elizabeth College.

From his island-home, he was recalled to the continent by the Belgian churches, in 1577. He was

invited to become Professor of Divinity at the University of Leyden, in 1582; and soon after was also

made preacher of the French Church in that city. In 1587 he came to England with the Earl of Leicester,

and became master of the grammar- school in Southampton, where, in the course of a few years, he

trained many distinguished pupils.

His zeal for episcopacy led him to publish several Latin treatises against Beza, Danaeus, and other

Presbyterians. He also published a treatise on papal primacy against the Jesuit Gretser. All his

publications relate to such matters, and were collected into a folio edition, in the year 1611. They are

still highly praised by the "Oxford divines," who have given occasion to Macauley to say, in his caustic

style,--"The glory of being further behind the age than any other class of the British people, is one

which that learned body acquired early, and has never lost."

In 1590, Saravia was made Doctor of Divinity at Oxford, as had been done long before at the

University of Leyden. He was made Prebendary of Gloucester, next of Canterbury, in 1695; and then of

Westminster in 1601. This last was his highest preferment. He added to it the rectorship of Great Chart,

in Kent, some eight years after. He died at Canterbury, January 15th, 1612, aged eighty-two years. Thus

his fluctuating life ended in a quiet old age, and a peaceful death.

He is said, by Anthony a-Wood, to have been "educated in all kinds of literature in his younger days,

especially in several languages." It was his fortune to find friends and patrons among the great.

Archbishop Whitgift, that stern suppressor of Puritanism, held him in high esteem, and made great use

of his aid in conducting his share in the controversies of the time. In particular the arch-prelate relied

much on Dr. Saravia's "Hebrew learning" in his contest with Hugh Broughton, that stiff Puritan, whom

Lightfoot styles "the great Albionean divine, renowned in many nations for rare skill in Salem's and

Athen's tongues, and familiar acquaintance with all Rabbinical learning." Thus the Prebendary of

Westminster was accustomed to cross swords with no mean adversaries; and was, no doubt, thoroughly

furnished with the knowledge necessary for a Bible translator.

While Dr. Saravia was Prebendary of Canterbury, the famous Richard Hooker was parson of the village

of Borne, about three miles distant. Between these worthies there sprang up a friendship, cemented by

the agreement of their views and studies. Professor Keble says, that Saravia was Hooker's "confidential

adviser," while the latter was preparing his celebrated books "Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity." Old

Izaak Walton gives the following beautiful picture of their Christian intimacy;-- "These two excellent

persons began a holy friendship, increasing daily to so high and mutual affections, that their two wills

seem to be but one and the same; and their designs, both for the glory of God, and peace of the church,

still assisting and improving each other's virtues, and the desired comforts of a peaceable piety."

RICHARD CLARKE

Dr. Clarke is spoken of as a Fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge; and as a very learned clergyman

and eminent preacher. He was Vicar of Minster and Monkton in Thanet, and one of the six preachers of

the cathedral church in Canterbury. He died in 1634. Three years after his death, a folio volume of his

learned sermons was published. But alas for "folios" and learned sermons" in these days. When people

look on such a thing, they are ready to exclaim, like Robert Hall, at the sight of Dr. Gill's voluminous

Commentary,--"What a continent of mud!"

JOHN LAIFIELD

Dr. Laifield was Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and Rector of the Church of St. Clement's,

Dane's, in London. Of him it is said, "that being skilled in architecture, his judgment was much relied

on for the fabric of the tabernacle and temple." He died at his rectory in 1617. Few things are more

difficult, than the giving of architectural details in such a manner as to be intelligible to the

unprofessional reader.

ROBERT TIGHE

This name, in all the printed lists of the Translators, has been misspelled Leigh. It should be Teigh or

Tighe *. Dr. Tighe was born at Deeping, Lincolnshire; and was educated partly at Oxford, and partly at

Cambridge. He was Archdeacon of Middlesex and Vicar of the Church of All Hallows, Barking,

London. He is characterized as "an excellent textuary and profound linguist." Dr. Tighe died in 1620,

leaving to his son an estate of one thousand pounds a year; which is worth mentioning because so

rarely done by men of the clerical profession.

"therefore employed in the Translation of the Bible."

•

FRANCIS BURLEIGH

Dr. Burleigh, or Burghley, was made Vicar of Bishop's Stortford in 1590, which benefice he held at the

time of his appointment to the important service of this Bible translation.

GEOFFRY KING

Mr. King was Fellow of King's College, Cambridge. It is a fair token of his fitness to take part in this

translation-work, that he succeeded Mr. Spaulding, another of these Translators, as Regius Professor of

Hebrew in that University. Men were not appointed in those days to such duties of instruction, with the

expectation that they would qualify themselves after their induction into office. *

at Andover, all he knew of the language was that ash' rai meant blessed, and ha-ish meant the man!

Psalm 1:1

•

RICHARD THOMPSON

Mr. Thompson, at the time of his appointment, was Fellow of Clare Hall, Cambridge. According to

Wood he was "a Dutchman, born of English parents." By the Presbyterian divines, he was called "the

grand propagator of Armenians." Of the prelatic Armenians Coleridge too truly said, that "they

emptied revelation of all the doctrines that can properly be said to have been revealed". If "sin be the

greatest heresy," as that class usually affirms, a more serious error imputed to Mr. Thompson is

intemperance in his later years. As to his literary qualifications, he is described by the learned Richard

Montague as "a most admirable philologer," who was "better known in Italy, France, and Germany,

than at home."

WILLIAM BEDWELL

Mr. Bedwell was educated at St. John's College, Cambridge. He was Vicar of Tottenham High Cross,

near London. He died at his vicarage, at the age of seventy, May 5th, 1632, justly reputed to have been

"an eminent oriental scholar." * He published in quarto an edition of the epistles of St. John in Arabic,

with a Latin version, printed at the press of Raphelenguis, at Antwerp, in 1612. He also left many

Arabic manuscripts to the University of Cambridge, with numerous notes upon them, and with a font of

types for printing them. His fame for Arabic learning was so great, that when Erpenius, a most

renowned Orientalist, resided in England, in 1606, he was much indebted to Bedwell for direction in

his studies. To Bedwell, rather than to Erpenius, who commonly enjoys it, belongs the honor of being

the first who considerably promoted and revived the study of the Arabic language and literature in

Europe. He was also tutor to another Orientalist of renown, Dr. Pococke. For many years, Mr. Bedwell

was engaged in preparing an Arabic Lexicon in three volumes; and went to Holland to examine the

collections of Joseph Scaliger. But proceeding very slowly, from desire to make his work as perfect as

possible, Golius forestalled him, by the publication of a similar work.

After Bedwell's death, the voluminous manuscripts of his lexicon were loaned by the University of

Cambridge to aid in the compilation of Dr. Castell's colossal work, the Lexicon Heptaglotton. Some

modern scholars have fancied, that we have an advantage in our times over the translators of King

James's day, by reason of the greater attention which is supposed to be paid at present to what are called

the "cognate" and "Shemetic" languages, and especially the Arabic by which much light is thought to

be reflected upon Hebrew words and phrases. It is evident, however, that Mr. Bedwell and others,

among his fellow-laborers, were thoroughly conversant in this part of the broad field of sacred

criticism.

Mr. Bedwell also commenced a Persian dictionary, which is among Archbishop Laud's manuscripts,

still preserved in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. In 1615, he published his book, "A Discovery of the

Impostures of Mahomet and of the Koran." To this was annexed his "Arabian Trudgeman." Trudgeman

or truchman is the word Dragoman in its older form, and is derived from a Chaldee word meaning

interpreter. This Arabian Trudgeman is a most curious illustration of oriental etymology and history.

Dr. Bedwell had a fondness for mathematical studies. He invented a ruler for geometrical purposes, like

what we call Gunter's Scale, which went by the name of "Bedwell's Ruler."

these modern times."

Close of first group

This closes what we have to say of that first Westminster Company, of ten members, to whom was

committed the historical books, beginning with Genesis and ending with the Second Book of Kings,

once "commonly called," as its title still says, "The Fourth Book of the Kings."

The second company of King James's translators held its meetings in Cambridge. To this section of

those learned divines, was assigned from the beginning of Chronicles to the end of "The Song of

Songs, which is Solomon's." The eight men to whom this important part of the work was assigned, was

no whit behind their associates, in fitness for their great undertaking.

EDWARD LIVELY

He is commemorated as "one of the best linguists in the world." He was a student, and afterwards a

fellow, of Trinity College, Cambridge, and King's Professor of Hebrew. He was actively employed in

the preliminary arrangements for the Translation, and appears to have stood high in the confidence of

the King. Much dependence was placed on his surpassing skill in the oriental tongues. But his death,

which took place in May, 1605, disappointed all such expectations; and is said to have considerably

retarded the commencement of the work. Some say that his death was hastened by his too close

attention to the necessary preliminaries. His stipend had been but small, and after many troubles, and

the loss of his wife, the mother of a numerous family, he was well provided for by Dr. Barlow, that he

might be enabled to devote himself to the business of the great Translation. He died of a quinsy, after

four days' illness, leaving eleven orphans, "destitute of necessities for their maintenance, but only such

as God, and good friends, should provide." He was author of a Latin exposition of five of the minor

Prophets, and of a work on chronology. Dr. Pusey, of Oxford, says, that Lively, "whom Popcoke never

mentions but with great respect, was probably, next to Popcoke, the greatest of our Hebraists."

JOHN RICHARDSON

This profound divine was born at Linton, in Cambridgeshire. He was first Fellow of Emanuel College,

then Master of Peterhouse from 1608 to 1615; and next master of Trinity College. He was also King's

Professor of Divinity. He was chosen Vice-Chancellor of the University in 1617, and again in 1618. He

died in 1625, and was buried in Trinity College Chapel. He left a bequest of one hundred pounds to

Peterhouse.

He was noted as a "most excellent linguist," as every good theologian must be; for, as Coleridge says,

"language is the armory of the human mind; and at once contains the trophies of its past, and the

weapons of its future conquests."

In those days, it was the custom, at seats of learning, for the ablest men to hold public disputes, in the

Latin tongue, with a view to display their skill in the weapons of logic, and "the dialectic fence." As the

ancient knights delighted to display and exercise their skill and strength in running at tilt, and amicably

breaking spears with one another; so the great scholars used to cope with each other in the arena of

public argument, and strive for literary "masteries." Those scholastic tournaments were sure to be got

up whenever the halls of science were visited by the king, or some chief magnate of the land; and the

logical conflicts, always conducted in the Latin tongue, were attended with as much absorbing interest

as were the shows of gladiators among the Romans.

On such an occasion, when James the First was visiting Cambridge, "an extraordinary act in divinity

was kept for His Majesty's entertainment. Dr. John Davenant, a famous man, and afterwards Bishop of

Salisbury, was "respondent." His business was to meet all comers, who might choose to assail the point

he was to defend,--namely, that kings might never be excommunicated. Well did Dr. Davenant urge the

wordy war, till our Dr. Richardson pushed him tremendously with the example of Ambrose, the famous

Bishop of Milan, who, to the admiration of the whole Christian world, excommunicated the emperor

Theodosius the Great. Here was a poser! King James, who was always very nervous on the subject of

regal prerogative, saw that his champion was staggering under that stunning fact; and, to save him,

cried out in a passion,--"Verily, this was a great piece of insolence on the part of Ambrose!" * To this,

Dr. Richardson calmly rejoined,-- "A truly royal response, and worthy of Alexander! This is cutting our

knotty arguments, instead of untying them." ** And so taking his seat, he desisted from further

discussion. The mild dignity of this remonstrance, in which independence and submission are happily

combined, presents him in such a light as to constrain us to regret that this detached incident is about all

we know of the personal character of the man. We can readily believe that he was a wise and faithful,

as well as learned, Translator of the Book of God.

dignum; hoc est non argumenta dissolvere, sed desecare.

•

LAWRENCE CHADERTON

This divine was a staunch Puritan, brave and godly, learned and laborious, full of moderation and the

old English hardihood. He was born at Chaderton in Lancashire, in the year 1537. His family was

wealthy, but bigotted in popery, in which religion he was carefully bred. Being destined to the bar, he

was sent to the Inns of Court, at London, where he spent some years in the study and practice of the

law. Here he became a pious protestant; and, forsaking the law, entered, as student, at Christ's College,

Cambridge. Oh that, in a far higher sense, all divinity-students might be trained in Christ’s own college,

and learn their science from the Great Teacher himself!

These changes took place in 1564. Mr. Chaderton applied to his father for some pecuniary aid; but the

wrathful old papist "sent him a poke, with a groat in it, to go a-begging;" and disinherited his son of a

large estate. The son had to occasion to use the begging-poke. His high character and scholarship

procured him much favor; while his mind was sustained by the promises of the Saviour, for whose sake

he had "endured the loss of all things." He took his first degree in 1567, and was then chosen one of the

Fellows of his College. He became Master of Arts in 1561; and Bachelor of Divinity in 1584. He did

not receive the degree of Doctor in Divinity till 1613, when it was pressed upon him, at the time when

Frederick, Prince Palatine of the Rhine, who married King James's daughter Elizabeth, visited

Cambridge in state. Fuller, remarking on this matter, writes,--"What is said of Mount Caucasus, 'that it

was never seen without snow on the top,' was true of this reverend father, whom none of our father's

generation knew in the University before he was gray-headed."

"He made himself familiar with the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew tongues, and was thoroughly skilled in

them. Moreover he had diligently investigated the numerous writings of the Rabbis, so far as they

seemed to promise any aid to the understanding of the Scriptures. This is evident from the annotations

in his handwriting appended to the Biblia Bombergi,* which are still preserved in the library of

Emanuel College."** His studies were such as eminently to qualify him to bear an important part in the

translating of the Bible. In 1576, he held a public dispute with Dr. Baron, Margaret Professor of

Divinity, upon the Arminian sentiments of the latter. In this debate, Dr. Chaderton appeared to the

highest advantage, as to his learning, ability and temper.

For sixteen years he was lecturer at St. Clement's Church, in Cambridge, where his preaching was

greatly blessed. In 1578, he delivered a sermon at Paul's Cross, London, which appears to have been his

only printed production. About that time, by order of Parliament, he was appointed preacher of the

Middle Temple, with a liberal salary. It was thought best, perhaps, that a flock of lawyers should have

the gospel preached to them by one who had been bred to know the sins of their calling.

In the year 1584, Sir Walter Mildmay, one of Queen Elizabeth's noted statesmen, founded Emanuel

College, at Cambridge. Sir Walter was not supposed to be a very high Churchman, and the Queen

charged him with having "erected a Puritan foundation." In reply, he told her, that he had set an acorn,

which, when it became an oak, God only knows what will become of it." And truly, it pleased God, that

it should yield plenteous crops of Puritan "hearts of oak;" and afford an abundant supply of that sound,

substantial, and yet spiritual piety, which stands in strong contrast with all superstition and formality.

Emanuel College Chapel, by order of the founder, was built in the uncanonical direction of north and

south. Nearly a hundred years after, this non-conforming building was punished by the crabbed

prelates, who had it pulled down, and rebuilt in the holy position of east and west, agreeably to the

solemn doctrine of the "orientation of churches!" Perhaps there was no better way to convert it from the

Puritanism wherewith it was infected, than thus to give it first an over turn, and then a half turn toward

popery.

It is likely, however, that the religious peculiarities which long marked this College are to be ascribed

less to the position in which the chapel was placed, than to the influence of its first Master. For this

important office, Sir Walter Mildmay made choice of Dr. Chaderton. The modesty of the latter made

him quite resolute to refuse the station, till Sir Walter plainly told him,--"If you will not be the Master, I

will not be the Founder." Upon this, Dr. Chaderton accepted the office; and filled it with zeal, and

industry, and high repute, for thirty-eight years. Through his exertions, the endowments of the

institution were greatly increased, and it became a nursing mother to many eminent and useful men.

At the Hampton Court Conference, in 1603, Dr. Chaderton was one of the four divines appointed by the

King as being "the most grave, learned, and modest of the aggrieved sort," to represent the Puritan

interest. Dr. Chaderton, however, took no part in the debates, perceiving that the Conference was

merely a royal farce, got up to give the tyrant an opportunity to avow his bitter hostility to Puritanism,

because of its incompatibility with abject submission to arbitrary power. Coleridge, who was a staunch

adherent of the Church of England, but by no means blinded on that account to the truth of history, thus

expresses his opinion as to the Hampton Court affair. "If any man, who, like myself, hath attentively

read the Church history of the reign of Elizabeth, and the Conference before, and with, her pedant

successor, can shew me any essential difference between Whitgift and Bancroft, during their rule, and

Bonner and Gardiner in the reign of Mary, I will be thankful to him in my heart, and for him in my

prayers. One difference I see,--namely, that the former, professing the New Testament to be their rule

and guide, and making the fallibility of all churches and individuals an article of faith, were more

inconsistent, and therefore, less excusable than the popish persecutors."***

It was during his mastership of Emanuel College, that Dr. Chaderton was engaged in the Bible

translation, in which good work he was well fitted and disposed to take his part. "He was a scholar, and

a ripe and good one." Having reached his three score years and ten, his knowledge was fully digested,

and his experience matured, while "his natural force was not abated," and his faculties burned with

unabated fire. Even tot he close of his long life, "his eye was not dim," and his sight required no

artificial aid.

Many years after, in 1622, having reached the great age of eighty-five, this Nestor among the divines

resigned the office he had so long sustained. Not that he was even then disqualified for its duties by

infirmity; but because of the rapid spread of Arminianism, and the fear that, if the business were left till

after his death, a divine of lax sentiments, who was then waiting his chance, would be thrust into the

place by the interference of the Court. The business was so managed, that Dr. Preston, the very

champion of the Puritans, was inducted as Dr. Chaderton's successor. The vivacious patriarch, however,

lived to survive Dr. Preston; and to see Dr. Sancroft, and after him, Dr. Holdsworth, in the same station.

This latter incumbent preached Dr. Chaderton's funeral sermon. Dr. Holdsworth used to tell him, that,

as long as he lived, he should be Master in the house, though he himself was forced to be Master of the

house. The patriarch was always consulted as to the affairs of the College.

The most protracted and useful life must come to its end. There have been various accounts of the time

of Dr. Chaderton's death, and of the place of his interment. But all mistakes are corrected by his Latin

epitaph, which has been found on a monumental stone, at the entrance of Emanuel College chapel, and

has been translated as follows:

Here

Lies the body of

Lawrence Chaderton, D. D.,

who was the first Master of this College.

He died in the year 1640,

in the one hundred and third

year of his age.

Perhaps such longevity was more common then than now. It is on record, that "ten men of

Herefordshire, a nest of Nestors, once danced the Morish before King James, their united ages

exceeding a thousand years." Their contemporary, Dr. Chaderton, was more honored by the gravity of

h