THE EARLY ENGLISH BIBLE.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXI, Issue 44, 1 March 1895, Page 17

THE EARLY ENGLISH BIBLE.

FALSE STATEMENT OF A SYDNEY SCHOOL MANUAL,

" |i|isipFEERE are no lies that die so hard as lies that! ■ i7jjfj§£s& navo a controversial impoitance." This sayfV ing, quoted in our last issuo, is true of the oftj^pSß^k iepeated assertion of D'Aubignk that, injjthe l&MMjt sixteenth century, the Bible was " a rare book, *|^£sjt almost unknown." Leaving almost innumerj^^^j able editions of the Latin Vulgate, in manuscript and print, out of account, Luther was not, as recently stated in Dunedin, the first to give the Bible to the Germans in their own tongue. The art of printing dates, we may say, from 1455, when the Latin Bible— the first printed book — issued from the press of Gutenberg and Fust. Before the appearance of Luther's German Bible, in 1534, nearly thirty different editions of the whole bcriptures, copies of which are still extant, were printed in the vulgar tongue in Germany. To the true student of history the false statements about the preservation and circulation of the Bible are " like the father that begot them, gross aa a mountain, open, palpable." Yet still the enemies of the Catholic Church, unabashed, repeat to willing ears their '< wicked lie." The great anti-Catholic tradition must be maintained. It vras founded on falsehood, and can only be perpetuated by lies. The opening sentence in this article, taken from a writer in the Quarterly Review, may also with truth be applied to an assertion about the early English Bible which we have discovered in a manual for circulation in the schools of Australasia. The book in qu stion, which lies before u^, was sent a few days ago by the publishers, Turner and Henderson, (Sydney, to the Most Key Dr Mqran. It is entitled, " Questions on Australian and General Geography, with other useful facts for the junior classes in schools, compiled by Miss Johnson, with corrections and additions to date by George Thornton, late headmaster, Cleveland btreet Superior Public fcchool." The publishers, in a preface to the twelfth edition, state that their work has been carefully revised. They hope that the amendments and additions introduced " will serve to maintain for it the high place in the esteem of teachers and pupils which it has hitherto kept." There is question, therefore, of a book which has been closely examined by many critics and for which the associate authors have to accept the fullest responsibility. Chapter twentyfour deals with " Palestine or the Holy Land and the Bible." One ot the questions has reference to the Early English Bible :— Q. When was the Bible first translated into English, and by whom ? A. In the year 1360, by Wickliffk. In a manual for school use we look for greatest accuracy. Now was the Bible really translated by Wickliffe ? Was it tianslated by Wickliffk in 1360 ? Was Wickliffk the first translator of the sacred Scriptures into English ? We have in our possession a copy of an " Introduction to the Study of the Bible," by Thomas Hartwell llornk, M. A. , an eminent Protestant Biblicist. Having spoken of John dv Trevisa, Vicar of Berkeley, in Gloucestershire, who " is said to have translated the Old and New Testament into the English tongue," Home goes on to speak of Wicklifie.

" Nearly contemporary with him (John de Treviba) was the celebrated John Wickliffe, who, about the year 13«0, transl«ti*d tlie entire Bible from the Latin Vulgate. The New 'testament of WicKLittK was published in folio by Lewis in 1731, and was handsomely redited in quarto in 1810 by the Rev Henrt Hervey Baber, one of the librarians of the British Museum, who prefixed a valuable memoir of this ' Apostle of England ' as Wickliffe has sometimes been called." The Sydney manual makes the date 1360. Home makes it 1380 ! Twenty years is of some importance when there is question of two translators, according to Home, " nearly contemporary." Did Wickliffe, or Wycliffe, as he ia sometimes styled, really translate the whole Bible ? If we are to believe Sir Frederick Madden, one of the librarians of the British Museum, who, with ample means of arriving at a correct opinion, investigated the matter, with Rev Mr Forshall as collabor&teur, it must be held that the Wycliffe Version, published by Lewis in 1731, again by Baber in 1810, and to be found in Bagster's Hexapla is not Wycliffe's translation but the work of Purvey his curate. Anyhow, the supposed Wycliffe translation, containing books which many Protestants reject, was made from the Latin Vulgate, which the Council of Trent afterwards declared to be authentic. Fault is not so much found by Catholic writers with the so-called Wycliffe Vt rsion, as with the conduct of the man, who, ia the spirit of revolt, made unwarranted use of the translation. The mention of the later date, 1380, by Home, of the translation by John de Trevisa towards the end of the fourteenth cen'ury, and of the version by Purvey, the curate of Wycliffe, suggests grave reason for doubting that this " Apostle of England " was, if at all, first in the field. About one hundred and seventy MS 8 copies of the Scriptures in the English tongup, which date from this period, are preserved in the Home libraries. From autographs and other evidence we gather that they were long ago possessed and used by loyal Catholics. They show that at the very time of Wycliffe, the Bible in English was not " a rare book, almost unknown." AMS copy of the New Testament translated by Purvey, with the prologue in his own handwriting, is in the library of Trinity College, Dublin. Fortunately we havj not to rely on mere conjecture in answering the question " was Wycliffe the first translator into the vernacular of England ? " Leaving out of consideration Anglo-Danish and Anglo-Norman versions, the whole Bible was many timPK, at different periods, translated into Anglo-Saxon. The fact that a translation, according to the Protestant Archbishop Usher, was made in 1290, nearly ICO years before Wycliffe's version, completely disproves the false statement of the Sydney manual. " A systematic description of the extant Anglo-Saxon translations, accompanied by a critical collation is " according to a writer in one of the reviews " a felt want in Engl sh. biblical literature." htill, the i üblic libraries of England, readily accessible to the curious, contain a sufficient number of MSS to show that the fcriptures in the vernacular were diligently copied and read by the people Ihe question of the early biblical literature of Britain is extremely interesting. The Romans were masters of the country till the beginning of the fifth century. The Latin tongue was much spoken. The Christians used the Latin Scriptures. A Celto-British version is not extant. St Agustine of Kent came and it is on record that the Latin Bible was used by his preachers. A certain Archbishop of Canterbury was accustomed to board every foreign ship likely to have books, in order to secure for his diocese copies of the Sacred Volume. The country was split up into several kingdoms ; wars were common among the various tribes, and with great difficulty progress in religion was made. England is greatly indebted to Irish missionaries for the spread of Christianity. The Irish monks brought with them and taught the Saxons the art, in which they excelled, of copying and illuminating the Sacred Scripture. Coedhon, who lived in the 7th century, the first writer of note in the AngloSaxon tongue, versified the Sacred Scriptures. Originally a cowherd in the neighbourhood of Streanshalch (Whitby), he frequented the monastic church, and was fond of turning into verse the Scriptural lessons read by the monks. His genius and turn for poetry attracted attention. He was admitted into the monastery and received the habit of the Order. Milton, in " Paradise Lost, " is said to have imitated Coedmon. According to Sir F. Palgrave, passages of Coedmon's poem may be " literally translated into English by a canto of

verses from " Paradise Lost," taking line for lino." Cokdmon died about 680, seven hundred years before Wyclifje ! The Coedmonian version is said to have been in common use when Alfred the Great was pursuing liis studies. The Oxford University Press in 1835 published from the MS. preserved in the BibllntJtequc National of Paris, a copy of the Psalms translated into Anglo-Saxon in 706 by Aldhelm, Bishop of Shctborne. This version is also in verse. It was customary in those early times to relate legend, story, and even sober history in verse. The Sacred Scriptures were in their several parts, when versified, more easily learned by the people who did not possess anything like our advantages for acquiring and retaining knowledge Venerable Bbde, who died about 785, translated the Bible. In the account of his death it is related that, shortly before the end, he was employed in the dictation, to an amanuensis, of the last words of his translation of St John's Gospel. About this time, in the Bth century, the four Gospels were translated into Anglo-Saxon by Eadfbid, of Lindisfarne. Many writers believe that King Alfred the Great translated the entire Bible, He certainly gave the Psalms in the vernacular. From the remote ages we have still extant a copy of the four Gospels by Aelfric, a monk of Bath. The MS. is in Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. This Aelfric must not be confounded with Aelfric, Archbishop of Canterbury, who translated Pentateuch, Jostje, Job, Judges, Ruth, Kings (portion), Esthek, and Machabees. In the British Museum there is a MB. of " St Cuthbert's Gospel," or the " Durham Book." The work is specially interesting because there is an interlineal Anglo-Saxon translation of the Latin Gospels. The whole book is beautifully illuminated. Macßegols Gospel, from the tenth century, is also in Latin and AngloSaxon. A quotation from Sir F. Palgrave may be appositely given. He says :—": — " A colloquial language, approaching nearly to modern English, seems to have existed concurrently with the more cultivated language, which we call AngloSaxon, at a period before the Conquest, and one of the versions of the New Testament is in this language. This version, commonly known as the Codex Hattonianus, is in the Bodleian Library, Oxford." An English translation of the Bible, " is placed," says the Protestant Home, " by Archbishop (Protestant) Usher to the year 1*290. i,f this there are three manuscript copies preserved in the Bodleian Library and in the Libraries of Christ's Church and Queen's Colleges, Oxford." We have written sufficient to show our readers that the Bible was not, as the Sydney school manual asserts, first translated by Wyclitfi] in 1360. There is abundant evidence to bear out the statement of Sir 1 iiomas More, Chancellor of England in the time of Henry VIII. , and glorious martyr for the Faith, where he says :—": — " The Holy Bible was, long before "Wycliffe's days, by virtuous and well-learned men translated into the English tongue ; and by good and godly people, with devotion and soberness, well and reverently read."

0WIN& to pressure on our space we are obliged to hold Gver to next week several interesting and important c 'ntributions.

THIS (Ash Wednesday) morning, there wa« a very large congrigation at the 7 a.m. Mass m St Joseph's Oaih"dral — when, as usual, the ashes waa distributed. During the lent as ia preceding yearp, instructions will be given after the Rostry i n Mondiy, Tuesday, and Wednesday evening. Oi Thurslay there will be Benediction of the Most Holy Sacrament, and un Friday the Stations if the Cross,

We have tc remind our readers that the celebration of Sfc Patrick's Day in Dunedin will be held on Friiay evening, March 15, taking the shape of a musical entertainmt nt. The essay on the lush language and literature which haa won the medal > ffered by the Very Rev Father Lynch will be read on the occasion Essays intended for the competition are to be sent in — signed with muttce^ and acompanied by the name of the writers in separate envelopes— to the c htur of the New Zealand Tablet, not later than Saturday, Maich 9

The Hon John Gavan Dufly, Post M later General of Victor. i, paid a visit last week to Dunedin, whor3 he was the guest of his relative, Mr John B. Callan. Mr Duffy during his stay called on the Most Rev Dr 61oran. He left on Monday for Melbourne.

The following paragraph taken from the Christchurch Press of February 22id, testifies to the superiority of Catholic education- '■ The only three Chustchurch young ladies who pasged the late Junior Civil Service examination are pjpi's of the Barbadoea Btreet Convent school. Their names are Katia J&inny, Theresa Blcßae, and Margaret Water. The former, Katie Kinny, also passed the Matri-

culation examination. This is very creditable to both pupils and teachers, and Bpeaks well as to the teaching power of the good Sistera of the Missionp, who are in charge of this school."

Among the succ ssful caudidatea at ths recent Junior Civil Service examination were three pupil* uf the Maiist Brothers at Timaru, a nd cne pupil of the Sisters ot Mercy at Greymouth. The names are respectively, Alexander F. McDonald, Felix J. M'Gowan, and Thomas C. M«ra ; and Margaret O'Connor.

The Iddh Athletic Society of Southland will hold their ninth annual gathering at Invercargill on Wcclne?day, March 20. A remarkably fine progiamme haa been drawn np for the occasion.

Jtjst as we go to press a circular letter has been handed to us which his Lordship Dr Moran has this day received from the publishers of the geography mentioned ia oar leader, As some of the quest ioDB under the heading of Palestine or the Holy Land are found to be cut of harmony with the teaching in certain schools the remaining copies of the edition are withdrawn from sale and the book will in fu'ure ba issued without this chapter. A cursory glance at the chapter on New Zealand reveals some inaccuracies whioh are scarcely txcvmble — e.g , Question: Namo the principal towns ia the South Island ? Answer : Christchurch, Dunedin, and Lyttlston. A large sale of the manual need not ba expected in Invercargill, Oamaru Timaru, Blenheim, Nelson, Wes l port, and Greymouth, if Lyttelton, however important as the port of Chriatchurch, be ranked with Chriatchuich itself and Dunedin. The associate authors must have read some work on the New Zealand goldfields in the sixties, or omitting lieefton, Kumara, and Otago, they would not have only mentioned Hokitika as a goldfield in the South Island, and, with the Thames, one of the principal goldfields of this Colony.

On Sunday evening, February 17, after Vesperp, the congregat'on of 6-t Mary's, Napier, held a meeting in the Marist Brothers' Schools (Rev Father Grogan in the chair), to devise ways and means for holding a monster picnic on St Patrick's Day. The rev chairman said the celebration of the feast of our great national Saint is a csual thing in every English speaking country in the world, particularly where there is a strong Irish element and feeling as here in Napier. But there i=, he said, a special reason for the celebration of the feast of our taMcDal Saint this year. Our new church is dedicated to Ireland's patron Saint. It is known as St Patrick's, and as this is the first time we have had the happiness of celebrating the festival of our national Saint in our beautiful new church, it is only right that we celtbrate it in a manner to be remembered. Two strong committc s, one of men and one of ladies , were appointed to make the ctccfsary arrangements, leaving the selection of the day for a future meeting.

Miss May Leahy, an accomplished musician and pupi of the Convent Schools, Dixon streo f , Wellington, was one of the successful candidates at the recent Matriculation examinations. Creditable reeul c have also been achieved by the pupils of St Patrick's College who competed at the public examinations this year.

In a lecent issue we noted with pleasure the success achieved by the boys sent up from the Christian Brothers' school, Dunedin, for the University examinations held at the end of last year. We are happy to say that we have still further successes to record to-day in as much <ts on the Hat just published by Government of the successful candidates at the Civil Service examinations held in January of the present year, appear the nnm"<? of Misters Hugh Miles and Andrew Costclioo both pupils of the Itunh.is. This goes to prjve, if proof Were needed, what we have again and agaia reDeate^l, 'hat boys who are kept by their parents suificKntly long at the school, if not devoid of ability and application, have every facility for passing with credit the University and Civil Service examinations

Excellent groceries of all kinds are offered to his customers and the public generally— at exceptionally low prices— by Mr W. E. Goode, 103 V.ctona street, Chridtchurch,

Elsewhere Mr Gtorge Barrel], undertaker, of Durham street, Cnristchurch , announces that to persons of limited means he conduct? adult funerals complete for the low price of £2 10-*, and that having had 27 years experience iv this particular bußinesa in England anl the Colony should be a sufficient guarantees that any orders entrusted to him will ba well and faithfully performed in all details. Mr Barrell's advertisement should be good news especially to persons of limited means who are suffering bereavement.

MyebS and Co., Dentists, Octagon, corner of George street The guarantee highest class work at moderate fees. Their artificial teeth give general satisfaction, and the fact of them supplying a tern, porary denture while the gums are healing does away with the inconvenience of being months without teeth, They manufacture a single artificial tooth for Ten bhillings, and sets equally moderate. The administration of nitrous oxide gas is also a great boon to those needing the extraction of a tooth. Bead — [Advt.

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