The Eclectic Magazine of Foreign Literature, Science, and Art, Vol. 12

Download or read book The Eclectic Magazine of Foreign Literature, Science, and Art, Vol. 12 written by W. H. Bidwell and published by Forgotten Books. This book was released on 2016-10-30 with total page 816 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from The Eclectic Magazine of Foreign Literature, Science, and Art, Vol. 12: July to December, 1870 But the nation as a whole was not yet prepared for such a revolution, be cause to them the Bible was an unknown book. Wycliffe determined to remedy this evil by giving them the Bible in their own language. He began his work at Oxford in 1356, by translating the book of Revelation, to which he added a brief Commentary. Several copies of it are extant in manuscript, and exhibit remarkable variations both in text and commentary, as if there had been a series of thorough revisions.* It was followed after an interval by a version of the Gospels, with an exposition, made up chie y of extracts from the exegetical writings of the Fathers. In 1375 Wycliffe was presented to the living of Lutterworth, in Leicestershire. There, in the old parish church of St. Mary, which still stands, he preached with faithfulness and power the funda mental doctrines of Christianity. A single sentence from one of his sermons will show his views regarding both Church and State at that period All truth is contained in Scripture. We should admit of no conclusion not ap proved there. There is no court besides the court of heaven. Though there were an hundred Popes, and though all the friars in the world were turned into Cardinals, yet we could learn more from the Bible than from that vast multitude. In his quiet parish he labored incessantly at the translation of the Scriptures. He completed the New Testament in 1380. The version was not perfect. It was made from the Latin Vulgate yet it set forth substantially the fundamental doc trines of Revelation. The printing-press was then unknown. Every copy had to be written by hand. Wycliffe appears to have employed a number of scribes, but they were not able to supply the grow ing demand. Foxe tells us that some of the yeomen were so anxious to obtain the Word of God, that they often gave a load of bay for a few chapters of St. James or St. Paul. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."