•TAVERNER (1539).—The boldness of the pseudo-Matthew had frightened the ecclesiastical
world from its propriety. Coverdale’s version was, however, too inaccurate to keep its ground. It
was necessary to find another editor, and the printers applied to Richard Taverner. But little is
known of his life. The fact that, though a layman, he had been chosen as one of the canons of the
Cardinal’s College at Oxford indicates a reputation for scholarship, and this is confirmed by the
character of his translation. In most respects this may be described as an expurgated edition of
Matthew’s.
•CRANMER.—In the same year as Taverner’s, and coming from the same press, appeared an
English Bible, in a more stately folio, with a preface containing the initials T.C., which implied
the archbishop’s sanction. Cranmer’s version presented, as might he expected, many points of
interest. The prologue gave a more complete ideal of what a translation ought to be than had as
yet been seen. Words not in the original were to be printed in a different type. It was reprinted
again and again, and was the Authorized Version of the English Church till 1568—the interval of
Mary’s reign excepted. From it, accordingly, were taken most, if not all the portions of Scripture
in the Prayer books of 1549 and 1552. The Psalms as a whole, the quotations from Scripture in
the Homilies, the sentences in the Communion Services, and some phrases elsewhere, still preserve
the remembrance of it.
•GENEVA.—The exiles who fled to Geneva in the reign of Mary entered on the work of translation
with more vigor than ever. The Genevan refugees-among them Whittingham, Goodman, Pullain,
Sampson and Coverdale himself—labored “for two years or more, day and night.” Their translation
of the New Testament was “diligently revised by the most approved Greek examples.” The New
Testament, translated by Whittingham, was printed in 1667 and the whole Bible in 1660. Whatever
may have been its faults, the Geneva Bible, commonly called the Breeches Bible from its rendering
of (Genesis 3:7) was unquestionably, for sixty years, the most popular of all versions. Not less
than eighty editions, some of the whole Bible, were printed between 1558 and 1611. It kept its
ground for some time even against the Authorized Version, and gave way as it were, slowly and
under protest. It was the version specially adopted by the great Puritian party through the whole
reign of Elizabeth and far into that of James. As might be expected, it was based on Tyndal’s
version. It presents, in a calendar prefixed to the Bible, something like a declaration of war against
the established order of the Church’s lessons commemorating Scripture facts and the deaths of
the great reformers, but ignoring saints’ days altogether it was the first English Bible which entirely
omitted the Apocrypha. The notes were mere characteristically Swiss, not only in their theology,
but in their politics.
•THE BISHOPS’ BIBLE.—The facts just stated will account for the wish of Archbishop Parker
to bring out another version, which might establish its claims against that of Geneva. Great
preparations were made. Eight bishops, together with some deans and professors, brought out the
fruit of their labors in a magnificent folio (1568 and 1672). It was avowedly based on Cranmer’s
but of all the English versions it had probably the least success. It did not command the respect
of scholars, and its size and cost were far from meeting the wants of the people.
•RHEIMS AND DOUAY.—The successive changes in the Protestant versions of the Scriptures
were, as might be expected, matter of triumph to the controversialists of the Latin Church. Some
saw in it an argument against any translation of Scripture into the spoken language of the people.
Others pointed derisively to the want of unity which these changes displayed. There were some,
however, who took the line which Sir T. More and Gardiner had taken under Henry VIII. They
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