In 1540 appeared the Cranmer Bible, so called from the archbishop's prologue hut in fact only a new revised edition of the Great Bible of the previous year.
(8) The Geneva Version (1560) was made by the refugees from the Marian persecution, princi pally by William Whittingharn (1524-89), whose wife was Calvin's sister. But the Genevan Bible must not be confounded with the New Testament which appeared there in June, 1557, the fruit of the editorial labors of \Vhittingham. The Gene van Bible was begun the January following. The New Testament had for the first time the division of verses (following the Greek of Stephens, 1551), with the numbers prefixed. It had also characteristic marginal notes, and marked by italics the words supplied. ". . . It became at once the people's book in England and Scotland, and it held its place not only during the time of the Bishops' Bible, but even against the present Authorized Version for at least thirty years. It was the first Bible ever printed in Scotland (1576 79), and it was the cherished volume in all Cove nanting and Puritan households." (Eadic, The English Bible, vol. ii, p. 15.) (9) The Bishops' Bible. Ir_ the early part of Queen Elizabeth's reign the Great Bible was allowed to be read in the churches as the author ized version, btu the Genevan edition was a for midable rival, greattv excelling it in popularity. and besides in accuracy. Thus it came about that a revision was demanded, and this Archbishop Parker (1504-75) was anxious to make. He be gan it about 1563-64, having distributed the work to fifteen scholars, eight of whom were bishops, and therefore the Bible was called "The Bishops' Bible," and the book was published in 1568. It was a revision of the Great Bible, which in turn was based on "Matthew's" rescension of Tyndale. An effort was made to secure for the Bishops' Bible the royal sanction, but ineffectually. Con vocation, however, passed a decree in t571, "that every archbishop and bishop should have at his house a copy of the Holy Bible of the largest volume as lately printed in London, and that it should be placed in the hall or large dining-room, that it might be useful to their servants or to strangers." The order applied to each cathedral,
and, "so far as could be conveniently done, to all the churches." The Bishops' Bible supplanted the Great Bible, but could not the Genevan, be cause that was widespread among the people. The most important fact in its history is that it was made the basis for the recension which re sulted in the King James Version, which has been before the people as the authorized version for two and a half centuries.
(10) The King Jnmes Version. This version has so long held undisputed sway that most of its common readers can scarce think of any other as the true Bible. And all those who read edi tions issued from the presses of Great Britain are familiar with the dedication: This piece of fulsome adulation has very hap pily disappeared front most of the Bibles issued from the American press.
A recent article in the "North American Re view" sketched the beginnings of this important movement : "The authorized English version. so-called— aft bough it was never properly authorized either by king, or parliament, or convocation, but simply by usage—had its birth in the Hampton Court Conference, held in January, 1604. In that noble palace, built nearly a hundred years before by Cardinal Wolsey, on the banks of the Thames, and presented to Henry VIII, there assembled in the presence of King James, and at his invitation, Archbishop Whitgift of Canterbury, Bishop Ban croft of London, seven other bishops, and eight deans, on the part of the conservative conformists, and four leaders of the progressive Puritan party, with the learned Dr. John Reynolds of Oxford, to confer about the burning questions which agitated the then undivided Church of England. The king acted both as moderator and judge, and lost no chance to display his learning and wit during the debate. He rudely rejected every pe tition of the Puritans, using as his final argument : 'I will make them conform themselves, or else I will harry them out of the land, or else do worse.' By doing worse, he meant, 'just hang them, that is all.' This was his short method with dissenters.