the bible Great and manifold were the blessings, most dread Sovereign, whichAlmighty God, the Father of all mercies, bestowed upon us the people ofEngland, when first he sent Your Majesty's Royal Person to rule andreign over us. For whereas it was the expectation of many, who wishednot well unto our Sion, that, upon the setting of that brightOccindental Star, Queen Elizabeth, of most happy memory, some thick andpalpable clouds of darkness would so have overshadowed this land, thatmen should have been in doubt which way they were to walk, and that itshould hardly be known who was to direct the unsettled State; theappearance of Your Majesty, as of the Sun in his strength, instantlydispelled those supposed and surmised mists, and gave unto all thatwere well affected exceeding cause of comfort; especially when webeheld the Government established in Your Highness, and Your hopefulSeed, by an undoubted Title; and this also accompanied with peace andtranquillity at home and abroad.But among all of our joys, there was no one that more filled our heartsthan the blessed continuance of the preaching of God's sacred Wordamong us, which is that inestimable treasure which excelleth all theriches of the earth; because the fruit thereof extendeth itself, notonly to the time spent in this transitory world, but directeth anddisposeth men unto that eternal happiness which is above in heaven.Then not to suffer this fall to the ground, but rather to take it up,and to continue it in that state wherein the famous Predecessor of YourHighness did leave it; nay, to go forward with the confidence andresolution of a man, in maintaining the truth of Christ, andpropagating it far and near is that which hath so bound and firmly knitthe hearts of all Your Majesty's loyal and religious people unto You,that Your very name is precious among them: their eye doth behold Youwith comfort, and they bless You in their hearts, as that sanctifiedPerson, who, under God, is the immediate author of their truehappiness. And this their contentment doth not diminish or decay, butevery day increaseth and taketh strength, when they observe that thezeal of Your Majesty toward the house of God doth not slack or gobackward, but is more and more kindled, manifesting itself abroad inthe farthest parts of Christendom, by writing in defence of the truth,(which hath given such a blow unto that Man of Sin as will not behealed,) and every day at home, by religious and learned discourse, byfrequenting the house of God, by hearing the Word preached, bycherishing the teachers thereof, by caring for the Church, as a mosttender and loving nursing father.There are infinite arguments of this right Christian and religiousaffection in Your Majesty; but none is more forcible to declare it toothers than the vehement and perpetuated desire of accomplishing andpublishing of this work, which now, with all humility, we present untoYour Majesty. For when Your Highness had once, out of deep judgement,apprehended how convenient it was, that, out of the Original sacredTongues, together with comparing of the labours, both in our own andother foreign languages, of many worthy men who went before us, thereshould be one more exact translation of the Holy Scriptures into theEnglish tongue; Your Majesty did never desist to urge and to excitethose to whom it was commended, that the Work might be hastened, andthat the business might be expedited in so decent a manner, as a matterof such importance might justly require.And now at last, by the mercy of God, and the continuance of ourlabours, it being brought unto such a conclusion, as that we have greathopes that the Church of England shall reap good fruit thereby, we holdit our duty to offer it to Your Majesty, not only as to our King andSovereign, but as to the principal mover and author of the Work; humblycraving of your most Sacred Majesty, that, since things of this qualityhave ever been subject to the censures of ill-meaning and discontentedpersons, it may receive approbation and patronage from so learned andjudicious a Prince as Your Highness is; whose allowance and acceptanceof our labours shall more honour and encourage us, than all thecalumniations and hard interpretations of other men shall dismay us. Sothat if, on the one side, we shall be traduced by Popish persons athome or abroad, who therefore will malign us, because we are poorinstruments to make God's holy truth to be yet more and more known untothe people, whom they desire still to keep in ignorance and darkness;or if, on the other side, we shall be maligned by self-conceitedbrethren, who run their own ways, and give liking unto nothing but whatis framed by themselves, and hammered on their anvil, we may restsecure, supported within by the truth and innocency of a goodconscience, having walked the ways of simplicity and integrity, asbefore the Lord, and sustained without by the powerful protection ofYour Majesty's grace and favour, which will ever give countenance tohonest and Christian endeavours against bitter censures anduncharitable imputations.The Lord of heaven and earth bless Your Majesty with many and happydays, that, as his heavenly hand hath enriched Your Highness with manysingular and extraordinary graces, so You may be the wonder of theworld in this latter age for happiness and true felicity, to the honourof that great God, and the good of his Church, through Jesus Christ ourLord and only Saviour. THE TRANSLATORS TO THE READER Preface to the King James Version of 1611 THE BEST THINGS HAVE BEEN CULMINATEDZeal to promote the common good, whether it be by devising anythingourselves, or revising that which hath been laboured by others,deserveth certainly much respect and esteem, but yet findeth but coldentertainment in the world. It is welcomed with suspicion instead oflove, and with emulation instead of thanks: and if there be any holeleft for cavil to enter, (and cavil, if it do not find a hole, willmake one) it is sure to be misconstrued, and in danger to be condemned.This will easily be granted by as many as know story, or have anyexperience. For, was there ever any-projected, that savoured any way ofnewness or renewing, but the same endured many a storm of gainsaying,or opposition? A man would think that Civility, wholesome Laws,learning and eloquence, Synods, and Church-maintenance, (that we speakof no more things of this kind) should be as safe as a Sanctuary, andout of shot, as they say, that no man would lift up the heel, no, nordog move his tongue against the motioners of them. For by the first, weare distinguished from brute beasts lead with sensuality; By thesecond, we are bridled and restrained from outrageous behaviour, andfrom doing of injuries, whether by fraud or by violence; By the third,we are enabled to inform and reform others, by the light and feelingthat we have attained unto ourselves; Briefly, by the fourth beingbrought together to a parley face to face, we sooner compose ourdifferences than by writings which are endless; And lastly, that theChurch be sufficiently provided for, is so agreeable to good reason andconscience, that those mothers are holden to be less cruel, that killtheir children as soon as they are born, than those nursing fathers andmothers (wheresoever they be) that withdraw from them who hang upontheir breasts (and upon whose breasts again themselves do hang toreceive the Spiritual and sincere milk of the word) livelihood andsupport fit for their estates. Thus it is apparent, that these thingswhich we speak of, are of most necessary use, and therefore, that none,either without absurdity can speak against them, or without note ofwickedness can spurn against them.Yet for all that, the learned know that certain worthy men [Anacharsiswith others] have been brought to untimely death for none other fault,but for seeking to reduce their Countrymen to god order and discipline;and that in some Commonwealths [e.g. Locri] it was made a capitalcrime, once to motion the making of a new Law for the abrogating of anold, though the same were most pernicious; And that certain [Cato theelder], which would be counted pillars of the State, and patterns ofVirtue and Prudence, could not be brought for a long time to give wayto good Letters and refined speech, but bare themselves as averse fromthem, as from rocks or boxes of poison; And fourthly, that he was nobabe, but a great clerk [Gregory the Divine], that gave forth (and inwriting to remain to posterity) in passion peradventure, but yet hegave forth, that he had not seen any profit to come by any Synod, ormeeting of the Clergy, but rather the contrary; And lastly, againstChurch-maintenance and allowance, in such sort, as the Ambassadors andmessengers of the great King of Kings should be furnished, it is notunknown what a fiction or fable (so it is esteemed, and for no betterby the reporter himself [Nauclerus], though superstitious) was devised;Namely, that at such a time as the professors and teachers ofChristianity in the Church of Rome, then a true Church, were liberallyendowed, a voice forsooth was heard from heaven, saying: Now is poisonpoured down into the Church, etc. Thus not only as oft as we speak, asone saith, but also as oft as we do anything of note or consequence, wesubject ourselves to everyone's censure, and happy is he that is leasttossed upon tongues; for utterly to escape the snatch of them it isimpossible. If any man conceit, that this is the lot and portion of themeaner sort only, and that Princes are privileged by their high estate,he is deceived. "As the sword devoureth as well one as the other," asit is in Samuel [2 Sam 11:25], nay as the great Commander charged hissoldiers in a certain battle, to strike at no part of the enemy, but atthe face; And as the King of Syria commanded his chief Captains to"fight neither with small nor great, save only against the King ofIsrael:"