Full Text for The First Complete Printed English Bible (Text)

QTnurnr~itt IDqrnlngirttlllnutqly Continuing LEHRE UND VVEHRE MAGAZIN FUER EV.-LuTH. HOMILETIK THEOLOGICAL QUARTERLY-THEOLOGICAL MONTHLY Vol. VI October, 1935 No. 10 CONTENTS P age The First Complete Printed English Bible. J. T. M ueller ••• 721 Deutschheidnische Stroemungen. w. Oesch • • .•.••••••••• , 732 Leadership-Training in Our Church. P. E. Kretzrnann ••••••• 739 Der Schriftgrund fuer die Lehre von der satisfactio vicaria. P. E. Kretzrnann • . • • • • • . • • • • •• 746 Reformationsfestpredigt ueber Ps. 116, 10. Thee. Laetsch •••• 749 Sermon Study on 1 Pet. 2, 1-10. Theo. Laetsch •••••••••• 754 Dispositionen ueber die altkirchliche Evangelienreihe.... 765 Miscellanea. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 773 Theological Observer. - Kirchlich-Zeitgeschichtliches. . . .. 778 Book Review. - Literatur. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 793 Ein P rediger mu!' for Ooverdale's Bible is Tyndale's New Testament and his translated portions from the Old Testament, so far as these were available to Ooverdale, together with his own translation of hitherto untranslated Old Testament books. To prove this, we shall quote Heb. 1, 1. 2 from Ooverdale's Bible of 1535: God in tyme past dyuersly and many wayes, spalce unto ye fathers by prophets, but in these last dayes he hath spoken unto us by his sonne, whom he hath made heyre of all thinges, by whom also he made the worlde. UAbgeschriebenl" our old teacher in German would have said, had Tyndale and Ooverdale been his students in Prima. Nevertheless, as Frederic G. Kenyon, in his £ne study Our Bible and the Ancient :Manuscripts (p. 219), points out, "his [Ooverdale's] Bible has two important claims on our interest. It was not expressly authorized, but it was undertaken at the wish of [Thomas] Oromwell and dedicated to Henry VIII, so that it is the £rst English Bible which circulated in England without let or hindmnce from the higher powers. It is also the first complete English printed Bible, since Tyndale had not been able to £nish the whole of the Old Testament." Of Ooverdale this eminent scholar says (p. 218): "Ooverdale had known Tyndale abroad and is said to have assisted him in his translation of the Pentateuch; but he was no Greek or Hebrew scholar, and his version, which was printed abroad in 1535 and ap- peared in England in that year or the next, professed only to be translated from the Dutch [i. e., German] and Latin. Ooverdale, a moderate, tolerant, earnest man, claimed no originality and ex- pressly looked forward to the Bible being more faithfully presented both 'by the ministration of other that begun it afore' [TyndaleJ and by the future scholars who should follow him." That is true. Ooverdale expressly describes his Bible as "a special translation, not as a checker, reprover, or despiser of other men's translations; but lowly and faithfully following his interpreters, and that under conviction." (Of. W. J. Heaton, The Bible of the Refor- mation.) In his dedication of the book to the king, Ooverdale states that he had £ve sundry interpreters, and these were perhaps: Luther'!,! German translation; the Swiss-German translation published at 724 The First Complete Printed English Bible. Zurich, 1525-1529; the Latin of Pagninus; the Vulgate; and the books of the Bible 80 far translated by Tyndale, the Pentateuch and perhaps the Book of Jonah and those from Joshua to Ohronicles. However, while it is true that Ooverdale made diligent use of the work of his predecessors in English, German, and Latin, he deserves credit as an original translator of a large portion of the Old Testament, and that of those difficult books of the Old Testa- ment which have always defied the skill of translators: the Prophets, the Psalms, Job, Proverbs, etc. In fact, three-fourths of the Old Testament was translated by him without any aid whatever from English translators, and Ooverdale's translation still lives to-day III the Authorized Version of 1611. Actually, Ooverdale's original and unchanged translation, in part, is still being used by thousands of English Ohristians to-day; for the Psalms, as translated by him, were retained and reprinted in the Book of Common Prayer, revised in 1662, since they "were smoother and more amenable to musical treatment" than those of the Authorized Version. (Of. John Brown, The History of the English Bible, p. 56.) The author just referred to also writes (p. 56): "In the Author- ized Version, too, many of the renderings most valued for their beauty and tenderness are his; such as: 'My heart and flesh faileth, but God is the Strength of my heart and my Portion forever'; 'Enter not into judgment with Thy servant, for in Thy sight shall no man living be justified'; 'Oast me not away from Thy presence and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me'; 'For Thy loving-kindness is better than life; my lips shall praise Thee'; 'Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Thy hands. They shall perish, but Thou shalt endure; yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; and as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed. But Thou art the same, and Thy years shall have no end.' We feel there is a certain majesty about these passages, entitling Ooverdale to a high place in our literature." How facile and pleasing Ooverdale's translation was and how well it has been preserved in our Authorized Version becomes ap- parent whcn we study and compare larger portions of his translation. Ooverdale translates Eccl. 12, 9-14 as follows: "The same preacher was not wise alone, but taught the people knowledge also. He gave good he de, sought out the ground, and set forth many parables. His diligence was to fynde out acceptable wordes, right Scripture, and the wordes of trueth. For the wordes of the wyse are like prickes and nales that go thorough, wherewith men are kept together, for they are given of one Shepherd onely. Therefore, beware (my sOlllle) that above these thou make thee not many and innumerable bookes The First Complete Printed English Bible. 725 nor take dyverse doctrynes in hande to weery thy body withal. Let us heare the conclucion of all thynges; feare God and kepe His com- mandements, for that toucheth all men; for God shall judge all workes and secrete thynges, whether they be good or evill." Oompare this with our present Authorized Version, and you will find that in many instances Ooverdale's translation is more simple and direct than is the one which we are using to-day. Of course, there are also queer expressions to be found in Oover- dale's version, some of which strongly remind us of the German translations which he used. Acts 11, 29 he translates: "The disciples concluded to sende an hand reachinge (eine Handreichung) unto the brethren that were in Jewry." The term "roundheads," so familiar a century later, is probably taken from Ooverdale's rendering of 2 Sam. 14,25, where he translates: "From the sale of his fote unto the toppe of his heade there was not one blemysh in him, and when his head was rounded (that was commonly every yeare, for it was too heavy for him, so that it must needs have been rounded) the heel' of his heade weyed two hundred sicles after the Kynges weight." (Of. Heaton, The BibZe of the Reformation, p. 162 f.) Ooverdale's Bible has been called the TreacZe Bible, since he rendered J er. 8,22 with "Is there no treacle at Gilead?" Yet, who would miss Oover- dale's many solemn, impressive expressions and phrasings which through the use of the Authorized Version have now become familiar to tens of thousands? As he enriched the Ohristian knowledge by his Bible version, so he has enriched also the English language and English literature. His faithful, wen-done work certainly entitles him to a high place in the abiding esteem of the English-speaking races of the world. Heaton says of Ooverdale: "Ooverdale's version shows a stronger sympathy with ecclesiastical words than Tyndale's; and it is more rhythmical at the sacrifice of literality (perhaps Luther's influence). For the prophetical writings he had no English guide, and he was swayed almost entirely in this portion by Leo J uda's Swiss-German Bible, a fact which partly accounts for the occasional obscurity of the Minor Prophets in our Authorized Version." (The Bible of the Reformation, p.155.) In his dedication Ooverdale vehemently inveighs against the Pope and his criminal withholding of the Bible from the people. But it also contains many fine passages about the high value of studying the Bible, which our present generation has every reason in the world to heed. We read: "As false doctrine is the original cause of all evil plagues and destruction, so is the true executing of the Law of God and the preaching of the same the mother of all godly prosperity. The only Word of God, I say, is the cause of all felicity; it bringeth all goodness with it; it bringeth learning; it gendereth 726 The First Complete Printed English Bible. understanding; it causeth good works; it maketh children of obedience; briefly, it teacheth all estates their office and duty. Seeing, then, that the Scripture of God teacheth us everything sufficiently, both what we ought to do and what we ought to leave undone, whom we are bound to obey and whom we should not obey, therefore, I say, it causeth all prosperity and setteth everything in frame, and where it is taught and known, it lighteneth all darknesses, comforteth all sore hearts, leaveth no poor man unhelped, suffereth nothing amiss unamended, letteth no prince be disobeyed, permitteth no heresy to be preached, but reformeth all things; and why, because it is given by inspiration of God, therefore is it ever bringing profit and fruit, by teaching, by improving, by amending and reforming all them that will receive it, to make them perfect and meet unto all good works." (The Bible of the Reformation, p.157.) Against the Pope, Ooverdale uses strong language, calling him the ''blind bishop of Rome and blind Balaam." His "hypocrites," the priests and monks, Ooverdale says, instead of obeying prince and father and mother, have taught the people to "step over father and mother's belly to enter into his painted religion." He speaks of the "Pope's pestilent picking of Peter's pence out of the kingdom" and his "deceiving with his devilish doctrines." As Tyndale, so also Ooverdale did not mince words when it became necessary to expose the Antichrist and his pernicious hypocrisy. Like all the Bibles of that early date Ooverdale's Biblia was a handsome volume, well equipped with every adornment and means to make it attractive to the purchaser. After the first leaf of the text there followed a large woodcut, representing the six days' work of the creation, the chapter beginning with a large flourished letter, fourteen lines of letterpress in depth. At the end of Deuteronomy a folded map, entitled "Description of the lande of Promes, called Palestine, Oanaan, or the Holy Lande," enabled the reader to find the numerous places referred to in both the Old and the New Testament. The third part of the Bible ends with "Solomon's Ballettes," the Song of Songs; after which follows the title-page introducing the prophets, with the inscription: "All the prophetes in Englishe. Esay to Malachy." Ooverdale's Bible contained also the "Apocripha," i. e., "the bokes and treatises which, amonge the fathers of olde are not reckoned to be of like authoritie with the other bokes of the Byble. N ather are they founde in the Oanon of the Hebrue." In a wooden border, the cuts of the four corners being the four evangelists, is "the New Testament, the Gospell of St. Matthew, etc., to the Revalacion of St. John." The lower half of the page contains "a faute escaped in prynting the New Testament," and the imprint which reads as follows: "prynted in the yeare of our Lord MDXXXV., and fynished the 4th day of October." On folio forty-one is a large cut of the The First Complete Printed English Bible. 727 Tabernacle and its contents. Each of the gospeLs has a figure of the evangelist prefixed, that of St. Luke being repeated in the Acts of the Apostles and that of St. John in his first epistle and in the Revelation. To most of the epistles of the Apostle St. Paul there is a cut showing the apostle seated at a desk writing, with a sword across his left arm and a weavers' loom to the left hand. Each book of the Bible is preceded by a synopsis. Numerous quaint cuts, pertaining to men and events, some of them frequently repeated, are scattered through the Bible at appropriate places. (Of. Heaton, l. c., p. 151.) In the long prolog Ooverdale praises the fathers for their love of God's Word and their constant quotation of it in their works. But as soon as the Bible was cast aside, he says, and everyone began to write what came into his own head, then grew the darkness of men's traditions. This is the reason, Ooverdale contends, why we have so many writers who seldom make any mention of the Scrip- tures; and if they do, the reference is "so fane out of season and so wide from ye purpose that a man may well perceave how that they never saw the oryginall." Ooverdale suggests the use of many translations of the Bible, since more good is to be got by comparing them together than from the "glosses of sophistical doctors." The English Hexapla acted upon this suggestion and has Ooverdale's statement printed on its title-page. That Ooverdale's Bible enjoyed a ready sale is proved by the fact that it was reprinted in 15:36 in England by Nycolson of Southwark, though again without a royal license ; that a third printing appeared in 1537, "over-seen and corrected," and another in 1538, again by Nycolson, but this time "set forth wyth the Kynges moost gracious license." The old view that the first edition was printed by Frosch- over of Zurich has been called into question, and the honor of having printed the first entire English Bible that ever saw the light is now ascribed by many to Jacob van Meteren of Antwerp, who afterwards sold the Bible to James Nycolson of Southwark. At any rate, there is in existence an affidavit, signed by Emmanuel van Meteren (dated May 28, 1609) to the effect that he in 1550 was brought to England by his father, a furtherer of the Reformed religion, and that he caused the first Bible "at his costes, to be Englished by Mr. Myles Ooverdale, in Andwarp, the which his father, with Mr. Edward Whytchurch, printed both in Paris and London." Heaton (The Bible of the Ref- ormation, p.169) thinks that the translation was indeed executed by Ooverdale in Antwerp, but that Van Meteren had the volume printed by some other printer, most likely by Froschover of Zurich. In due time Henry VIII received a copy of the Bible and put it into the hands of his bishops to study it. They, after some time, reported to him that they found many faults in it. "Well," said the King, "but are there any heresies maintained thereby?" When they 728 The First Complete Printed English Bible. replied that they had not discovered any, the King is said to have exclaimed: "Then, in God's name, let it go abroad among our people." As early as 1536 Henry VIII, in the "first act of supremacy," urged the clergy "to give themselves to the study of Holy Scripture." Ooverdale also turned some of the psalms into verse, and they were published with musical notes, that of Psalm 137 beginning as follows: - At the ryvers of Babilon there sat we down ryght hevely; Even when we thought upon Sion, we wept together sorofully. This is perhaps the earliest attempt at a metrical version of the Psalms in the English language. The metrical versions soon became popular, and Queen Elizabeth is known to have "versed" Ps.25. Those of Bacon were published under the name of Theodore Basille. 3. Of the life of Miles Ooverdale comparatively little is known. At any rate, he had a very checkered career. He was born in Yorkshire, England, in 1487 (1488) and was educated at Oambridge, where he became a monk of the Augustinian order. In 1514 he was ordained priest in the Oatholic Ohurch, but he perceived the errors of the Papacy at an early period of his career; for already in 1525 he left the Augustinian order and began to preach against the errors of Romanism. Not long after this he left England, joining Tyndale in 1528 in the German city of Hamburg and working with him on the translation of the Bible. He thus learned the art from the great English master, who evidently encouraged him in his zeal. At least about this time, Ooverdale wrote to Thomas Oromwell of England that he was "set to the most sweet smell of holy letters." Afterwards Ooverdale lived either in Antwerp or Zurich (or perhaps in each of the two cities at different times), where he worked alone on the trans'- lation of the Old Testament, his complete English Bible appearing in 1535. Now he returned to England, perhaps to supervise the print- ing of his Bible by Nycolson. But already in 1538 he returned to the Oontinent to print a Bible at Paris, where the paper was cheaper and better and the workmen were known for their skill in printing and book-making. Francis I, upon request of Henry VIII, permitted the enterprise; but on December 17, 1538, the Inquisition interposed, and the impression, consisting of twenty-five hundred copies, was condemned to be burned. The avarice of the officer superintending the burning of the copies led him to sell several chests of them to a merchant for the purpose of wrapping up his wares, and so a number of copies were preserved. The English proprietors later recovered some copies which had escaped the flames and brought them to England together with the presses, the types, and the printers. This The First Complete Printed English Bible. 729 importation led to the printing of Cranmer's or the Great Bible, in 1539, in which Ooverdale compared the translation with the original Hebrew and corrected his work in many places. On July 28, 1540, Oromwell was executed, and Ooverdale went to Germany, becoming pastor of a church at Bergzabern, near Strassburg. He married the sister-in- law of Dr. Mr. Alpine, who helped to translate the first Danish Bible. When Edward VI came to the English throne, Ooverdale returned to England and became one of his chaplains, later also almoner to Queen Oatherine Parr, the last wife of Henry VIII, at whose funeral he officiated in 1548. On August 14, 1551, he was appointed Bishop of Exeter; but upon the accession of Queen Mary ("Bloody Mary") he was ejected from his see and cast into prison. After two years he was released, and now he went to Denmark and afterwards to Geneva, where he, together with others, produced the version of the English Bible commonly known as the Geneva Translation, or the Geneva Bible. Upon the accession of Queen Elizabeth, Ooverdale returned to England, but since he had become a champion of the Reformed prin- ciples with respect to church usages and ceremonies, he was not offered a bishopric in the Anglican Ohurch until in 1563. He declined the honor on account of his advanced age and personal infirmities. On what day he died cannot be determined with certainty, but the parish register of St. Bartholomew's proves that he was buried on February 19, 1568. To Coverdale we may apply the saying of O. W. Holmes: "What have we to do with time but fill it up with laborl" The arduous years of his eventful life were blessedly spent in trans- lating and furthering the Holy Scriptures. A memorial tablet is erected to Coverdale in the Ohurch of St. Magnus, of which he was rector. Heaton writes of him: "He was a faithful and painstaking man in all he put his hand to; and during the short time of his bishopric at Exeter, Vowell says that he 'most worthily did perform the office committed to him; he preached con- tinually on every holy day; he was hospitable, liberal, sober, and modest.' Coverdale knew German and Latin well, some Greek and Hebrew, and a little French. He was fairly read in theology; and though not inclined to be a martyr, was a pious, conscientious, gen- erous, and thoroughly honest and good man. As life went on, he became a stronger Puritan; and the Act of Uniformity brought down his reverend hairs with sorrow to the grave. A catalog of twenty-eight works, with which he had more or less to do, is given by Leslie Stephen." (Cf. The Bible of the Reformation, p.176.) Many of Ooverdale's works are translations, and among them is Luther's exposition of Ps.23. Commenting on v.5 of that beautiful psalm: "Thou preparest a table before me against mine enemies," he writes: "After this manner have I also, through the grace of God, behaved myself these eighteen years. I have ever sufiered mine 730 The First Complete Printed English Bible. enemies to be wroth, to threaten, to blaspheme and condemn me, to cast their heads still against me, to imagine many evil ways, and to use divers unthirsty points. I have suffered them to take wondrous great thought how they might destroy me and mine, yes, God's doc- trine. Moreover, I have been glad and merry and not greatly regarded their raging and madness, but have holden me by the staff of comfort and had recourse to the Lord's Table. That is, I have committed the cause unto God, wherein He hath so led me that I have obtained all my will and mind. And in the mean time I have done little or nothing but spoken unto Him a patemoster or Bome little psalm. This is all my harness, wherewith I have defended me hitherto, not only against my enemies, but also (through the grace of God) brought so much to pass that, when I look behind me and call to remembrance how it hath stood in the Papistry, I do even wonder that the matter is come so far. I would never have thought that the tenth part should have come to pass as it is now before our eyes. He that hath begun it shall bring it well to an end; yea, though nine hells or worlds were set on a heap together against it. Let every Ohristian man therefore learn this science; namely, that he hold him by this staff and sheep- hook and resort unto this table when heaviness or any other mis- fortune is at hand. And so shall he doubtless receive strength and comfort against everything that oppresseth him." (Of. The Bible of the Reformation, p.177.) At the Oaxton Exhibition, in 1877, a number of Ooverdale Bibles were shown. Speaking of the copy of the Earl of Leicester and of six others, placed together, Mr. H. Stevens said: "Let no Englishman or American view these without first lifting his hat"; that means to show not only the Bible, but also Ooverdale that proper respect and honor which is due him hecause of his diligent, laborious work on behalf of God's Word. Gen. 39, 2 Ooverdale translated as follows: "And the Lorde was with Joseph in so moche that he became a luckye man." We may apply these words to Ooverdale himself; in his work of translating the Bible the Lord was with him "in so moche that he became a luckye," a blessed, "man." 4. During the seventy-six years between the last issue of Tyndale's New Testament and the publication of the Authorized Version of 1611 six different versions of the English Bible were published. These versions were: Ooverdale's Bible, 1535; Matthew's Bible, 1537; Taverner's Bible, 1539; the Great Bible, 1539; the Geneva Bible, 1560; the Bishops' Bible, 1568. But these were not so many different Bible translations, but rather revisions with numerous, more or less important, corrections. The best way to prove this is to compare these various Bibles with one another. We have already given Heb. The First Complete Printed English Bible. 731 1, 1. 2 in the Tyndale translation of 1525 and in the Ooverdale trans- lation of 1535. In the ~lJI1 atthew Bible of 1537 the verses read: "God in tyme past dyuersly and many wayes, spake unto the fathers by ye Prophets, but in these last dayes he hath spoken unto us by hys sonne, whom he hath made heyre of all thinges; by whom also he made ye worlde." The Great Bible, also called the Cromwell Bible, of 1539 renders these verses as follows: "God in tyme past diuersly and many ways spake unto the fathers by Prophets: but in these last dayes he hath spoken unto us by hys awne sonne, whom he hath made heyre of all thinges, by whom also he made the worlde." In the Geneva Bible of 1560 we read: "1. At sondrie times and in diuers manners God spake in ye olde time to our fathers by the Prophetes: 2. In these last dayes he hath spoken unto us by his Sonne, whome he hathe made heir of all things, by whome also he made the worldes." In the Bishops' Bible of 1568 the verses read thus: "God, which in tyme past, at sundrie tymes and in diuers manners, spake unto the fathers in the prophetes: 2. Hath in these last dayes, spoken unto us in the sonne, whom he hath appoynted heyre of all thynges, by whom also he made the worldes." And thus we have the Authorized Version of 1611: "1. God, who at sundry times and in diuers manners spake in time past unto the Fathers by the Prophets, 2. Hath in these last dayes spoken unto us by his Sonne, whom he hath ap- pointed heire of all things, by whom also he made the worlds." And the Revised Version of 1881: "1. God, having of old time spoken unto the fathers in the prophets by divers portions and in divers manners, 2. hath at the end of these days spoken unto us in his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds." - One Bible, one sense, one translation, after all. However, com- paring the Ooverdale version of 1535 with the Revised Version of 1881, is there not in his old, plain, appealing translation something direct and rugged which the "sophistical doctors" of 1881 have taken out? So it seems to the writer. But to conclude. "Praie for us that the worde of God maie hane fre passage and be glorified." S. Paul. II. Tessa. III. And: "Let the worde of Ohrist dwell in you plenteously in all wyssdome." S. Paul. 001. III. And: "Josue 1.: 'Let not the boke of this lawe departe out of thy mouth, but exercyse thyselfe therin daye and nighte.' " May ours be the grace to heed with due reverence these three admonitions which Ooverdale so fittingly inscribed on the title- page of his first English Bible! JOHN THEODORE MUELLER.