Past & Preface

Yesterday I found comfort when I read a section of the Bible I’ve never read before.

This strikes me as odd because I’ve read the Bible cover to cover several times in the past.

Oddly enough, the first time I ever read the Bible through was before I ever became a Christian — I read it looking for loopholes so I could avoid the claim of Christ on my life.

Couldn’t find any.

In the past I have taught adult Bible classes in various church and rescue mission settings which necessitated my reading individual books of the Bible again and again to ensure that I understood what I was teaching.

Not only that, but I try to order my life and dealings with people on the Scriptures in daily living. I take the words of Scripture seriously. So seriously in fact that when Scripture makes me uncomfortable, I try to wiggle out of it.

I believe the Bible (and I’ll not quibble about the verb to use next in this sentence) — is, contains, conveys — the Word of God. I find no reason not to in either my general education or in my life experience.

So over the years I’ve read the Bible a lot.

But in all these years, I have never before read the section I read yesterday.

I refer to a section of text that is not actually Scripture, but the translators’ page dedicating their 1611 work to King James and their Preface To Readers in which they explain the techniques, policies, sources, methods, and reasons behind their translation of the Bible from Hebrew and Greek.

This preface material became so out of date that most modern printings of the King James Bible omit it and start with the first chapter of actual Scripture, the Book of Genesis.

But my work in editing the diary of Samuel Ward, one of the translators of the 1611 King James Bible — that same diary I screwed up so badly, that same diary I’ve been entangled with since last December, that same diary that’s driven me nuts with frustration and made me beat myself on the head in exasperation —

My work on the Ward diary led me into actually reading that fine-print preface to the translation yesterday.

I’d never bothered to read it before.

It surprised me.

The thing that surprised me most in the Translators’ Preface was their extreme gentleness.

Off on a tangent:

In the1600s, English Protestants lived in anxiety, constant suspicion, and threat of terrorism. The reign of Bloody Mary and the attempted invasion by the Spanish Armada remained fresh in their minds.

Shortly after King James ascended to the throne, he attended the opening of Parliament on November 5, 1605, . Right before the ceremony terrorists packed kegs of gunpowder into a cellar room under the chamber plotting to ignite the explosives to blow up the king, the royal family, and all member of Parliament.

A justice of the peace uncovered the plot before the gunpowder went off and the terrorists, led by Guy Fawkes, were discovered to be fanatical Roman Catholics

Immediately England tightened air port security, installed surveillance cameras, wiretapped e-mail and phone calls, and barred liquid and gels from being… No, excuse me, wrong terrorist plot. But you get the idea.

Englishmen felt antsy about Roman Catholics.

During much of her reign, the Virgin Queen manipulated religious factions in her realm by threatening to marry a Catholic — or not. Her appointed bishops threatened to defrock all Puritans who refuse to wear the mandated ecclesiastical gowns — a burr of contention often mentioned in Ward’s diary.

Another source of tension between the Puritans and the established church involved which Bible to use. The queen and bishops favored the Bishops’ Bible which she had translated in 1569.

The Puritans, Reformers, Presbyterians, and Separatists favored the Geneva Bible published in 1560. It was the first Bible to contain verse numbers so readers could easily locate specific Scriptures. However it also contained Calvinist marginal notes which established church officials felt inflammatory.

Feelings ran high on the matter.

On March 24, 1603, King James ascended to the throne. The very next year, he convened the Hampton Court Conference to iron out differences between religious factions in his new kingdom. One result of that conference was the commissioning of a new translation of the Bible, the Authorized Version or King James Bible.

Working in six committees, 47 scholars from the University of Cambridge, the University of Oxford, and from Westminster Abby undertook the translation.

Each scholar worked independently, without pay, then each committee reviewed, revised, harmonized, and standardized their work.

Samuel Ward served on the translation committee of the Second Cambridge Company which was comprised of the finest biblical and linguistic scholars of the day.

In January, 1609, the General Committee Of Review met at Stationer’s Hall, London, to review the complete work of the six companies. Publisher Robert Barker issued the first printing of the King James Bible as a folio edition in 1611. Each page was printed on a cotton-fiber sheet of paper measuring 16 ½ by 10 ½ inches. A bound copy cost 12 shillings.

Back on track:

The translators wrote a Preface which reflected the fears and tensions of their times. Since this Preface is not actually a part of Scripture, it is seldom found in today’s printed editions of the Bible.

I’d never read it before yesterday.

Yet it was in that preface that a sentence struck a cord in my heart as I’ve berated myself over my many mistakes in my work on the Ward diary.

When I realize how badly I’d screwed up big time and how months of my work were invalid, I took it hard. (My posting for July 27^th explains).

I have felt like such a fool, buffoon, idiot. This careless goof has colored my life since I discovered it. I like to think of myself as a careful researcher. I pride myself on accuracy, honest, and integrity.

My error hurt my pride.

I’m so great that I expected much better of me. (A friend once quipped, “Cowart, you’re an idiot. Good thing God’s standards aren’t nearly as high as yours”).

Anyhow, my error combined with all the other crap that’s been going on in my life. Thus I’ve wallowed in failure recently. I’ve felt ashamed of myself and my work. It’s been a bad time for me.

So, what did the translators’ preface have to say yesterday that makes me feel so much better?

“Things are to take their denomination of the greater part; and a naturall man could say, ‘Verùm ubi multa nitent in carmine, non ego paucis offendor maculis, &c’. A man may be counted a vertuous man, though hee have made many slips in his life, (else, there were none vertuous, for in many things we offend all) also a comely man and lovely, though hee have some warts upon his hand, yea, not onely freakles upon his face, but also skarres”.

Warts, freckles, and scars there may well be without destroying the overall person.

“…Though he may have made many slips in his life”.

In other words, there is forgiveness with the Lord Jesus.

And, after all, that’s pretty much what much of the Bible is about anyhow.