HUGH BROUGHTON, 1549-1612, one of the most learned theologians of the English Church in the seventeenth century, was especially celebrated for his proficiency in Hebrew and Greek, both of which he wrote and spoke familiarly.

Broughton's works were chiefly of a Biblical character: A Consent of the Scriptures, being a chronological harmony; A Treatise on Melchisedeck; On Christ's Descent into Hell; Translations and Expositions of Daniel, Jeremiah, Job, Apocalypse, etc. He translated the Prophetical Writings into Greek, and the Apocalypse into Hebrew.

RICHARD FIELD, D. D., 1561-1616, a divine of the English Church, in great reputation for his learning and piety, wrote an important theological work, Of the Church.

JOHN RAINOLDS, 1549-1607, is worthy of note, as it was by his advice and influence that King James ordered the present version of the Scriptures to be made.

Rainolds was Master of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and was, in his day, the greatest Hebraist in England. He was appointed one of the chief translators, but died before entering upon the work. His publications are chiefly in Latin. The following are some of those in English: The Sum of the Conference between John Rainolds and John Hart, touching the Head and Faith of the Church; The Overthrow of Stage Plays, by the Way of a Controversy betwixt D. Gager and J. Rainolds; Defence of the Judgment of the Reformed Churches on Divorce; Judgment concerning Episcopacy, etc.

MILES SMITH,

1624, a Bishop in the English Church, was also one of the chief translators of King James's Version of the Bible. The Preface, which appears in the English editions of the Bible, was by him.

GEORGE ABBOT, D. D., 1562-1633, Archbishop of Canterbury, a man of great erudition, was another of those employed by King James in the translation of the Bible. Besides his work as a translator, he published an Exposition on Jonah, which is highly esteemed, a Brief Description of the Whole World, On Bowing at the Name of Jesus, The Visibility and Succession of the True Church, and several other works in English, besides a learned theological treatise in Latin. He was a strong opponent of Laud.

THOMAS BILSON, D. D., 1536-1616, an English Bishop of great scholarship, was likewise one of those employed by King James in making our present English Version of the Bible. Dr. Bilson and Dr. Miles Smith were the two translators to whom was assigned the care of giving the translation its final revision and putting the last hand to it. Bilson published several works, mostly controversial: The Perpetual Government of Christ's Church; The True Difference between Christian Subjection and Unchristian Rebellion; Survey of Christ's Sufferings for Man's Redemption.

JOHN BOYS, 1560-1643, a man of great learning, who assisted Sir Henry Saville in his edition of Chrysostom, was likewise one of the translators appointed by King James to make our English Version of the Bible. He translated the Apocrypha.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE ENGLISH BIBLE, AND OTHER PUBLIC STANDARDS OF FAITH AND WORSHIP.

No literary works in any language exert so great an influence on the speech, the thoughts, and the doings of men as those written documents which contain the popular, authorized expression of their religious belief and forms of worship.

The Vedas in the Sanskrit and the Koran in the Arabic are the most important literary treasures in their respective languages. So in English, the Version of the Scriptures, the symbols of Faith, and the forms of Public Worship, which have been received and used for many generations by a large majority of English-speaking people, must, as mere literary treasures, be regarded as second to none which the language contains. In the present chapter, therefore, a brief account will be given, 1. Of The English Bible, 2. Of The English Prayer-Book, 3. Of The Shorter Catechism, 4. Of English Hymnody.

I. THE ENGLISH BIBLE.

Various English Versions of the Scriptures have been made, beginning with that of Wyckliffe, 1382, and ending with that made in 1611, and commonly known as King James's, or the Authorized Version. Some account of these several Versions will now be given.

1. Wyckliffe's Version.

The first Version of the entire Bible in English was that made by Wyckliffe and his disciples. It was completed about the year 1382.

Revision. In 1388, a few years after Wyckliffe's death, the work was revised and amended by one of his ablest and most trusted followers, Richard Purvey.

How Circulated. - As the art of printing had not yet been invented, Wyckliffe's Version was dependent upon manuscript copies for its circulation. Notwithstanding this inconvenience, the work was circulated extensively, and exerted a powerful influence.

Its Character. Wyckliffe's Version was made from the Vulgate, not from the Greek and Hebrew. It is in plain and homely phraseology, and is a fine specimen of the prose English of the fourteenth century.

When Printed. - Wyckliffe's New Testament was first printed in 1731; the whole work was not printed until 1850.

Movements after Wyckliffe.- After the completion of Wyckliffe's Version, an interval of a century and a half occurred before any further attempts were made in this direction. Early in the sixteenth century, in connection with the general religious reformation, the subject of an English version of the Scriptures was revived, and the work was carried on without interruption for three-fourths of a century. This movement began in the reign of Henry VIII., and continued all through the reigns of Edward VI., Mary, and Elizabeth, and finally culminated in the reign of James I. The originator of this movement, and the man who did singly more towards its accomplishment than any other one man, was William Tyndale.

2. Tyndale's Version.

William Tyndale, 1480-1536, translated the New Testament, and the Pentateuch and the Historical Books of the Old Testament. His New Testament first appeared in 1525.

Importance of Tyndale's Version. The Version made by Tyndale was used to a large extent by all the subsequent Protestant translators; it is really the basis of our present version. There is in our present version more of Tyndale than of all the other translators put together.

History.-Tyndale was born at Hunt's Court, Gloncestershire, about the year 1480. He went at an early age to the University of Oxford, where he soon showed that fondness for the Scriptures which was through life the most prominent trait in his character. From Oxford he went also to Cambridge, drawn probably by the great fame of Erasmus, After leaving the University, he was ordained, and became a friar in the monastery at Greenwich. He is next found engaged as chaplain and private tutor to Sir John Welch in Gloucestershire. While living with Sir John, disputes often arose between Tyndale and other clergymen who frequented the house, and Tyndale sometimes pressed his opponents closely on account of their want of familiarity with the Scriptures; and on one occasion he ended his argument with this memorable saying: "If God spare my life, ere many years I will cause the boy that driveth

the plough to know more of the Scriptures than you do." Tyndale evidently had carly formed the distinct design of making an Euglish translation of the Scriptures, and this design became henceforward the ruling purpose of his life.

The Work Executed Abroad. In the execution of his plan Tyndale found it necessary to go abroad. There were at that time resident, at various cities on the continent, English merchants, men of wealth and influence, who, together with those of their own class at home, were generally favorable to the doctrines of the reformation. The commercial intercourse between these merchants and their friends in England gave to Luther and his associates a chaunel of communication and influence against which Henry and his ministers strove in vain. Tyndale resolved, therefore, to go abroad to some place where even the long arm of the Government might not reach him; and there, making and printing his translation without molestation, trust to these pious merchants for its diffusion in England. Accordingly, in 1523, he left England never to return, and during the ensuing thirteen years devoted himself, day and night, to the work to which he had consecrated his life.

Progress of the Work. - The New Testament was first printed in 1525. Tyndale then proceeded with the Old Testament, and had completed the larger portion of it, when death put an end to his labors. He also made, in 1534, a careful revision of his New Testament.

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Final Result. Edition after edition of Tyndale's books found their way into England, notwithstanding all the efforts of Henry and his ministers to prevent it. The Government succeeded at length in inducing the authorities of the city of Brussels to arrest and imprison the translator, and finally to put him to death. He was burnt at the stake at Filford, near Brussels, in 1536, his dying exclamation being, "Lord, open the King of England's eyes!"

Character of the Translation. The chief characteristics of Tyndale's Version are these: 1. He translated directly from the Greek and Hebrew originals, not from the Latin Vulgate. Tyndale did not, avowedly at least, make use of Wyckliffe's Version, yet the influence of that Version is often manifest in the forms of expression used. This was probably only the unconscious influence of a work which had affected so largely the religious thought and language of the race. 2. Tyndale adopted purposely the words and idioms of the common people, avoiding what were then called "ink-horn phrases," that is, modes of expression taken from books and men of learning, and not suited to the understanding of plain, unlettered people. This feature has been to a great extent perpetuated in our common version, and is one of its lead.ng excellencies. 3. Tyndale translated what are called the "ecclesiastical words." The Catholics and some of the Reformers maintained that, in the history of the Church, through a long succession of ages, certain associations of a valuable kind were connected with these words; that they had acquired by long use a certain well-defined meaning; and that in translating the Scriptures into any modern language, these "ecclesiastical words," instead of being translated, should be transferred, with only such changes of spelling as might be necessary. Tyndale, on the contrary, held that every word, the meaning of which was known, should be literally translated. Accord ingly, for "grace" he said favor, for "penance" repentance, for "church" congrega tion, for "priests" seniors or elders, for "bishops" overseers, for "confessing" ac knowledging, for "chalice" cup, and so on.

3. Coverdale's Version.

Miles Coverdale, 1487-1568, has the distinguished honor of being the first to give his countrymen the whole printed Bible in English. Coverdale's Bible was first printed on the Continent, in 1535.

History of the Version. — There are some doubts as to the true history of Corerdale's version. The latest conjecture is the following: This version is supposed to have been made at the suggestion and under the direction of Cromwell. This statesman, after the downfall of Wolsey and More, had more than any other man in England the confidence of Henry VIII, and finally succeeded in persuading him that the translation and circulation of the Scriptures in the English tongue, provided the translation was properly made, would strengthen, instead of weakening, the King's supremacy. Henry, accordingly, who had caused Tyndale to be put to death, is found not long after actually authorizing, and aiding in, that very work for which Tyndale had laid down his life. In the anticipation of such a change of policy, Coverdale, at the suggestion, it is supposed, of Cromwell, went to the continent and there engaged privately in the work of preparing his version. The work when completed was dedicated to the King, and two years later it was reprinted in England, without the opposition, though not with the express license of the government.

Character of the Version.-Coverdale's version, though by no means equal to Tyndale's, has considerable merit. In regard to the "ecclesiastical words," he pursued a middle and a vacillating course, sometimes translating, and sometimes transferring them. The work was evidently shaped with a view to propitiate the King, and to secure for it, not only acquiescence, but the royal license. It was translated, not from the originals, but from the Dutch and the Latin.

NOTE.This last statement has been controverted. But Coverdale says, expressly, in his title-page, that the work is "translated out of the Douche and Latyne." By "Douche" (Dutch) we are to understand the High-Dutch, or German; and the latest investigation shows that he followed two German versions, Luther's, of the old text, prior to 1534, and the Zurich, of 1530. The typography, in fact, shows that Corerdale's Bible was printed at the same press as the Zurich Bible of 1530. The "Latin” texts used by Coverdale were the Vulgate, Pagnini's, and the Latin New Testament of Erasmus.

4. Matthew's Version.

The Bible known as Matthew's was the first version in English that was regularly authorized by the King. It ap peared in folio, in 1537, two years after that of Coverdale.

The Real Author. It has been pretty well ascertained that the name Thomas Matthew, affixed to this version, is a fiction. The real author was John Rogers, commonly known as the "proto-martyr."

History of the Work. - Rogers was a convert of Tyndale's, and had been associated with him in the work of translation. When Tyndale was put to death, Rogers