that is fyrste, and the laste, which was deed and is alive.

9 I knowe thy workes and tribulacion and poverte, but thou art ryche: And I knowe the blaspemy of them whiche call them selves lewes, and are not: but are the congregació of sathan.

10 Feare none of thoo thynges which thou shalt soffre. Beholde, the devyll shall caste of you into preson, to tempte you, and ye shall have tribulacion .x. dayes. Be faythfull vnto the deeth and I will geve thee a crown of lyfe.

II Let him that hath ears heare, what the sprete sayth to the congregacions: He that overcometh shall not be hurte of the seconde deeth.

8 congregacion of Smyrna: Church of the Smyrnians Gt. G. T. (Smyrnæorum B. 1559) (Smyrnæ Ecclesiæ B. 1556) (1)

the: om. Gt. G. T. (2)

9 call them selves Gt.: say they are G. T. (se dicunt... esse B.) (3)

congregacion: Synagogue Gt. G. T. (synagoga B.) (4) 10 the devyll: it shall come to passe, that the d. Gt. G. T. (futurum est ut...B.) (5)

-

of: some of (so Great Bible) Gt. G. T. (6)

to...you that ye may be tryed Gt. G. T. (ut exploremini B. 1559 ut tentemini B. 1556) (7)

II ears: an eare Gt. G. T. (aurem B.) (10) - congregacions: Churches Gt. G. T. (ecclesiis B.) (11)

In this passage again Tomson's text agrees with that of the Bible'. The Testament differs from it twice (3, 8), and in both cases the Bible agrees with Beza. The remaining nine changes are all, as far as the Latin can express them, in accordance with Beza, and one is evidently due to him (5).

1 An important example of his disagreement is given below, p. 228, n. I.

It is of more importance to place in a clear light the real origin of the changes in the English Genevan New Testament, because very many of them have passed from that into our own Bible, and it has been forgotten to whom the renderings are due. Thus Archbp Trench quotes five passages to shew the very good and careful scholarship 'brought to bear upon this [the Genevan] revision,' in which it is the first to seize the exact meaning...which 'all the preceding versions had missed.' They are all derived from Beza. In one case the English translator has adopted his alternative rendering; in the four others he simply takes Beza's translation:

Luke xi. 17 one housse shall (doth Great Bible) fall upon another (Tindale G.B.).

domus super domum cadit (Erasmus).

domus adversus se partita cadit (Beza 1556, 1559).

a house deuided against it self (an house G. T.) falleth (Gt).

Acts xxiii. 27 cam I...and rescued him, and perceaved that he was a Romayne (Tind. G.B.).

superveniens...exemi, cognito quod Romanus esset
(Beza 1556, 1559).

I came...& rescued him, perceauing that he was a
Romaine (Gt).

Acts xxvii. 9 because also that we (they G.B.) had overlonge fasted (Tind. G.B.).

quod jam etiam jejunium [tempus designat Lucas ex more Judaici populi] præteriisset (Beza).

because also ye tyme of (om. the time of G. T.) the Fast was now passed (Gt).

James i. 13 God tempteth not (cannot tempt G.B.) unto

evil (Tind. G.B.).

Deus tentari malis non potest (Beza).

God cannot be tempted with euyl (Gt)2.

On the Authorized Version, p.

113 n.

This rendering (as we have seen,

p. 197) is found in the Great Bible after the first edition.

Mark xiv. 72 [he] began to weep (Tind. G.B.).

animum adiiciens flevit (Beza 1556, 1559 not.).
waying that with himselfe, he wept (Gt).

The credit of recognizing the right turning remains, but the Genevan translator can have no claim to original sagacity on this evidence.

To place the relation of the Genevan translator to Beza in a still clearer light it will be worth while, though it is an ungracious task, to quote an equal number of cases where under the same influence the Genevan version first goes wrong.

Matt. i. II Iosias begate Iacim And Iacim begate Iechonias. Luke ii. 22 When the tyme of Maries purification...was

come.

Luke iii. 36 (Sala) which was the sonne of Arphaxad... Rev. xi. I Then was geven me a rede, lyke vn to a rodde, and the Angel stode by, saing...

Hebr. x. 38 But if any withdraw him selfe.
Mark xvi. 2 When the sunne was yet rysing.

Of these, which include four arbitrary corrections of the text, the second and fourth and fifth have been incorporated in our present version: the first was abandoned by Beza in his third edition: the sixth is suggested in a note1 and has modified the received rendering.

A comparison of the two groups of passages will shew at once the strength and the weakness of Beza, and so of the revisions which were moulded after him. In the interpretation of the text he was singularly clear-sighted: in the criticism of the text he was more rash than his contemporaries in proportion as his self-reliance was greater. But though it is a far more grievous matter to corrupt the text than to misinterpret it, the cases in which Beza has corrected the renderings of former translators

1 One still more surprising change has been adopted in A.V. though it is not in 1557, ἀποθανόντος for ἀπο

@avbyтes in Rom. vii. 6 (He being dead in whom we were holden, T.).

are incomparably more numerous than those in which he has introduced false readings; and on the whole his version is far superior to those which had been made before, and so consequently the Genevan revisions which follow it1.

The notes of the Genevan Version contributed so greatly to its influence that some examples of them may be added which will be sufficient to shew the general character and scope of the commentary.

'Thogh we prouoke God iustly to angre, yet he wil neuer reiect his.

'God repeteth this point because the whole keping of 'the Lawe standeth in the true vse of the Sabbath, w is to cease from our workes. & to obey the wil of Ged.

'For finding nothing in mã that că deserue mercie, he 'wil frely saue his.

'Hereby it appeareth that Naomi by dwellig amōg 'idolaters was waxen colde in ye true zeale of God, w 'rather hathe respect to the ease of ye body than to y comfort of ye soule.

'Herein he shewed yt he lacked zeale: for she oght to 'haue dyed bothe by the couenant, and by the Lawe of 'God but he gaue place to foolish pitie, & wolde also 'seme after a sorte to satisfie the Lawe.

'Tabór is a moūtaine Westwarde frō Ierusalē, & 'Hermón Eastwarde: so the Prophet signifieth yt all 'partes & places of the worlde shal obey Gods power for 'the deliuerance of his Church.

'He speaketh this for two causes: ye one, because 'he yt was a mortal creature, and therefore had more nede 'to glorifie God then the Angels, did it not: and the other, 'because ye more nere yt man approcheth to God, the more 'doeth he knowe his owne sinne, & corruption.

1 The books of the Bible are thus arranged:

"The Names and order of all the 'Books of the Old and New Testa'ment...' ['Genesis... Malachi.

'The Books called Apocrypha. I

'Esdr. 2 Esdr.-1 Macc. 2 Macc.

'The Books of the New Testa'ment. Matthew...The Epistle of 'Paul to the Romans...Titus, Phile'mon. To the Ebrewes. James... 'Jude. Revelation.'

'If the sunne, moone, and starres can not but giue 'light according to mine ordinance, so long as this worlde 'lasteth, so shal my Church neuer faile, nether shal anie 'thing hinder it and as sure as I wil haue a people, so 'certeine is it, that I wil leaue them my worde for euer to 'gouerne them with.

'He deuided the law of nature corrupt into vngodlines, '& vnrighteousnes. Vngodlines conteineth the false wor'shiping of God: vnrighteousnes, breache of loue towarde 'man.

'As the onelie wil & purpose of God is the chief cause 'of election & reprobacion, so his fre mercie in Christ 'is an inferior cause of saluacion, & the hardening of the 'heart, an inferior cause of damnacion.

'Open that we greueth you, yt a remedie may be 'founde: and this is cōmanded bothe for him yt com'plaineth, & for hi that heareth yt the one shulde shew his 'grief to the other.

'The soules of the Saintes are vnder the altar which 'is Christ, meanīg that they are in his safe custodie in the 'heauens.

'Locustes are false teachers, heretikes, and worldlie 'suttil Prelates, with Monkes, Freres, Cardinals, Patriarkes, 'Archebishops, Bishops, Doctors, Baschelers & masters 'which forsake Christ to mainteine false doctrine'.'

$7. THE BISHOPS' BIBLE.

The correspondence on the subject of the Bishops' Bible which has been already quoted explains the general design of the revisers". It was their object to remove from the Great Bible all errors which seemed to impair the sense, and at the same time to produce a popular and not a literary version. In both respects-in the alteration of the renderings and in the alteration of the

1 In the New Testament the notes in the Bible (1560) differ from those in the Testament of 1557 (e.g. Matt. xxviii. 15; Mark i. 1; Rom, xvi. 7),

but chiefly by additions made in the Bible.

2 See pp. 96 ff.