JUDGED by its impact upon humanity over the past few centuries, surely the greatest book in history is the English Bible! Many godly men paid with their lives to give us this blessed Book, yet how little we think about its history and background and the sacrifice these men made to give it to the world.
It is interesting to note that after the Dark Ages the first known attempt to translate and publish the Holy Bible for the common people in a language other than Latin was made by John Wycliffe and his followers in England about the year a.d. 1380. This translation had great influence in England and undoubtedly marked the beginning of the Reformation, and it was an inspiration to William Tyndale, who later gave to us the first printed English Bible. The impact of Wycliffe's translation must have been great for although he died a natural death, forty years later his bones were dug from the grave and burned and scattered by the authorities of the papal church as a demonstration of hatred for his work.
These handwritten Bibles must have been quite widely distributed, for about 170 of these manuscripts are still in existence today. These are an important witness to man's effort to have God's Word in his own language! It is almost impossible to secure a copy of an original Wycliffe manuscript, but the text has been printed several times and we can read it for ourselves, that is, if we can read Old English.
If we judge by the effect of his labors, I believe we can say that no greater man has lived since the days of the apostles than William Tyndale. A godly man, a deep student of the Word and a willing sacrifice to the cause of God, he was truly one of God's great men.
We cannot relate here the full story of his devotion and sacrifice, but all know that he paid with his life for the privilege of giving to the world the first printed Bible in the English language. In the eyes of the papal church he committed two great crimes:
1. He dared translate the Bible from the original tongues of Hebrew and Greek, and
2. He dared to publish it in the vulgar English language so that the common people might read God's Word in their own tongue.
For this he was condemned as a heretic and then strangled and burned at the stake in 1536.
Tyndale translated the New Testament and then produced the first printed translation about a.d. 1525. When this appeared the papal church authorities went forth in fury to destroy every copy. The rarest printed Bible in the world is a copy of the first edition of Tyndale's English translation of the New Testament. Of the estimated 18,000 copies printed between 1525 and 1528 there are only two nearly complete copies in existence today. One precious volume rests in a vault in the Baptist College in Bristol, England, and one in the library of St. Paul's in London. There is also one fragment in existence in the Gren-ville Library in the British Museum. How exciting it would be to possess just a page of this Book, but none are available. I have the nearest thing to it in a facsimile copy made in the year 1862, which is also rare, for only 177 copies were printed, and the stones were then destroyed. This copy does show how the first printed English Bible looked. (See illustration.)
Other editions of this Testament followed, and they also met with great opposition. There are, however, a few copies of the 1534 edition of Tyndale's Testament in existence today.
Tyndale also translated a large portion of the Old Testament, but he didn't live to complete his work.
The first complete Bible printed in English was the Coverdale Bible, printed in 1535. Named after Miles Coverdale, it was not a new translation from Hebrew and Greek. The Old Testament was based upon the Zurich Bible of Zwingli, the Vulgate, the German translation, and probably Tyndale's translation of the Pentateuch. The New Testament was based upon Tyndale's 1534 revision and Luther's German translation. This was printed in black letter and was of small folio size. Both the Tyndale and the Coverdale Bibles were printed on the Continent. A number of imperfect copies of the Coverdale Bible have been preserved, and portions and pages are occasionally available.
In this article we can touch only briefly on the English translations that followed. The next Bible produced was called the Matthew's Bible. It is generally accepted that this was produced by John Rogers, who was a close friend of Tyndale's and who used the name Thomas Matthew as a pseudonym to cover its origin. This Bible was of medium size and printed in black letter.
In 1539 a third Bible was printed. This Bible, also edited by Coverdale, was actually a revision of the Tyndale, Rogers, and previous Coverdale editions of the Old Testament, and the New Testament was based upon Tyndale's translation. Because of its large size and impressive form it was called The Great Bible. A second edition, prepared with the approval of King Henry and championed by Archbishop Cranmer, was published in 1540. This has been called Cranmer's Bible because of the preface written by him.
The next Bible produced, called Taver-ner's Bible, was a revision made by a learned layman named Richard Taverner. This was the first English Bible completely printed in England, and it was published in 1539, the same year as the Great Bible. All these Bibles are very rare and found in few collections.
Even at this date the struggle to give the Bible to the English people was not ended, for in 1543 Parliament proscribed all translations bearing the name Tyndale, and enacted a law that no "laboring men or women should read to themselves or to Others, publicly or privately, any part of the Bible, under pain of imprisonment." In 1546 all Bibles except the Great Bible were proscribed by Henry VIII, and hundreds of Bibles and Testaments were burned. It is surprising that any of the English Bibles printed before this date are still in existence. The future of the English Bible looked very dark at that time.
After the death of King Henry and the accession of Edward VI, the development and publication of the Bible was revived. In the years 1547 to 1553 several editions were printed and distributed. I have a copy of a Tyndale Testament dated 1553 in my collection, which I treasure. The year 1553 was a fateful year for Protestantism and the English Bible. In that year Mary Tudor came to the throne, and England came under the control of the Papacy again. A reign of terror began, and outstanding Protestant leaders, including Archbishop Cran-mer and John Rogers, were fed to the flames. The use of the Bible was prohibited and many were burned. Many of the Reformers fled to the Continent.
Some of those who escaped to Geneva, Switzerland, who were Bible scholars, used the time of their exile to revise the English Bible. A New Testament was prepared and printed under the leadership of William Whittingham in 1557. This New Testament, based upon Tyndale's last revision, was the most accurate yet to appear. This Testament was the first English Bible to be divided into verses and also the first to add in italics words not in the original tongues but which were needed to complete the sense. The complete Bible was published in 1560 after Queen Elizabeth ascended the throne, and it was dedicated to her.
This Bible, known as the Geneva, became the most popular Bible among English Protestants for many years. By 1644 no less than 140 editions were printed. It is also known as the "Breeches" Bible owing to the use of the obsolete word breeches in Genesis 3:7. Many of these Bibles are still in existence today and are found in practically every Bible collection.
This "Bible of the People" aroused the church authorities and they decided to produce a version of their own to compete with it. In 1563/64 Archbishop Parker led out in a plan to revise the Great Bible. A number of bishops acted as revisers, and the new Bible they fostered became known as The Bishops' Bible. The first edition, of large folio size, was printed in 1568. While this edition is rare today, I do have a major portion of one in my collection. In 1571 it was ordered that "every archbishop and bishop should have at his house a copy of the Holy Bible of the largest volume as lately printed at London . . . in the hall . . . that it might be useful to their servants or to strangers." Some editions are also referred to as the Treacle Bible owing to a rendering in Jeremiah 8:22, "Is there not tryacle in Gilead." The 1584 edition, which I have complete, is also noted for an error found in Psalm 37:20 where it reads, "The righteous shall be punished" instead of the "unrighteous." Despite the efforts of the bishops their version did not become very popular.
The popularity and influence of the Protestant versions of the Bible finally forced the papists to feel the necessity of producing a version of their own. This translation was begun at Douai and finished at Rheims. The New Testament was published in 1582. This is called the Rheims New Testament. The Old Testament was finally published in 1609/10 at Douai and therefore has been called the Douai Version. In contrast with the demand for the many editions of the Protestant versions that were printed, it is interesting to note that the Roman Catholic New Testament was reprinted only three times, between 1582 and 1750. Copies of these editions are quite rare. My library includes copies printed in 1600 and 1633.
The attitude of the Roman Church toward giving the Bible to the people in their own language is best illustrated by a paragraph found in the preface of both of these New Testaments:
Which translation we doe not for al that publish, upon erroneous opinion of necessitie, that the holy Scriptures should alwaies be in our mother tongue, or 2 that they ought, or were ordained by God, to be read indifferently of al, or 3 could be easily understood of every one that readeth or heareth them in a knowen language: or 4 that they were not often, through mans malice or infirmitie, pernicious and much hurtful to many: 5 or that we generally and absolutely deemed it more convenient in it self, & more agreable to Gods word and honour, or edification of the faithful, to have them turned into vulgar tongues, then to be kept & studied only in the Ecclesiastical learned languages: Not for these nor any such like cause do we translate this sacred booke, but upon special consideration of the present time, state, and condition of our countrie, unto which, divers thinges are either necessarie, or profitable and medicinal now, that otherwise in the peace of the Church were neither much requisite, nor perchance wholy tolerable. (Second paragraph.)
We certainly owe no thanks to the Roman Church for our English translation of God's Word.
By the time King James I came to the throne in 1603, agitation had been started to bring out a more satisfactory English translation. Under the influence of certain bishops, King James appointed a committee of fifty-four "learned men" to produce a new English version of the Bible. Six groups were formed, each working on a certain part of the Bible. It is reported that every man reviewed the work of every other man on the committee.
The first edition of the new Bible, printed by Robert Barker, appeared in 1611. This was a large folio Bible. In the preface they included a very effusive dedication to King James, which makes interesting reading, especially the part dealing with the matter of the Roman Church opposition to giving the Bible to the English people in their own tongue. This is proof that the controversy was still alive! This preface has been left out of many of the recent editions.
Although this Bible became known as the Authorized or King James Bible, some scholars have doubted that the king deserved the credit given him. But it was the customary thing at that time to recognize the king, and it can be said that James did not oppose the new Bible. At first it met with some opposition, but within a short time it replaced all other English versions and became the great Bible of the English-speaking world.
This new version was really a revision based on the Bishops' Bible, which in turn was a slightly revised version of Tyndale's translation. It is quite amazing how much of our English Bible today is still in Tyndale's original words as he translated them. I have a portion of the first edition as well as a complete copy of the second printing of the King James Bible. There were two issues printed, and it is not certain which was printed first. One is called the "He" Bible and the other the "She" Bible owing to difference in Ruth 3:15. The "He" Bible is, however, generally accepted as the first since it is thought the error was noted and corrected in the "She" Bible.
During the last three hundred years and more this English Bible has been printed in hundreds of editions and is found in many forms, and is available to every man.
When we consider the fact that the English language has become the international language of the world, I believe we can safely claim that the greatest and most influential book in the world is the English Bible, God's Word in man's language!
