Amount of the Bible Translated into Middle English xxxix

Wyclif here uses the word spek for bere, but Tindale, the Douay and Geneva versions, and Coverdale, as well as the Authorized Version have bear. The eighth commandment is, therefore, found in Rolle exactly as in the Authorized Version. Here is a longer illustration:

5. AMOUNT OF THE BIBLE TRANSLATED INTO MIDDLE ENGLISH.

Until the task of collating the Biblical quotations, paraphrases, and allusions in Middle English works has been completed, only tentative conclusions can be drawn relative to the actual amount of the Bible translated into Middle English. A few general statistics can be given, however, and some deductions made from the quotations brought together in the following pages. Only five books of the entire Bible are not represented in some way-Ruth, Obadiah, Zephaniah, Haggai, 3 John-while most of those in the Apocrypha were used as part of Holy Writ. Of the books in the Old Testament, Genesis is the most fully translated, several chapters being almost complete in Cursor Mundi, as reference to the table in Appendix 4 will show. Numerous passages of some length were frequently cited from Genesis by several writers, and of all Old Testament stories, that of the temptation in Eden was most often used. Although about a hundred of the Psalms are represented, and Middle English 1 Cursor Mundi 3. 958, p. 59-69.

writers probably referred to the Psalms oftener than to any other book of the Bible, no single Psalm is translated with any degree of fulness, only scattered verses from various Psalms being used. Psalms 24, 197, 118, and 119 are among those most frequently cited, 119, the longest, most of all. Of the books in the New Testament, Matthew and Luke seem to have been the favorites. The first and last chapters of Matthew, and the second and third of Luke, are not merely the oftenest quoted by a large variety of writers, but the most fully translated in several works. The Cursor Mundi, the English Metrical Homilies, and the Ormulum give numerous, and fairly long, perfect paraphrases of Gospel stories and the sayings of our Lord. It is obvious that what most impressed Middle English writers, that which they most desired to give in English to the common people unlearned in Latin, was the life and the teachings of Christ. If any decided conclusion can be drawn from the uses made of the Bible during the Middle English period, it must be this. And we would not have it otherwise.

6. WAYS OF USING THE BIBLE.

Let us consider, next, some of the ways in which the Bible was used by Middle English writers. Though works of a far more varied character are extant from the Middle English period than from the Old English, yet the evidence of such writings as have been preserved abundantly proves that religious works predominated in the Middle English period as in the earlier. Of these, the homilies, in which the most extensive use was naturally made of the Bible, are the most numerous and important, and must chiefly

concern us.

But although we consider these more fully than the other religious and hortatory writings, it should be understood that the illustrations given represent, also, the methods of Middle English writers other than homilists.

After explaining his text, the homilist usually passes to several other verses of Scripture, sometimes with a logical drift that carries conviction, and impresses his thought more thoroughly on our minds, but sometimes, with so little interpretation that there is not much more than a long series of texts held lightly together. Even in such cases, however, we cannot fail to be impressed with the comprehensive knowledge of the Bible displayed, and the skill in collocating verses gathered from so many parts of it. Often, it is true, it seems difficult at first sight to discern any real connection between some of the verses, but if we study the homily more carefully, we shall generally be obliged to admit that the writer was careful to relate them to his central thought. A good example is to be found in the curious homily for Saint James' day.1 The text is given, as often, only in Latin: Euntes ibant et flebant mittentes semina sua, venientes autem venient cum exultatione, portantes manipulos suos.2 Then, although there seems no possible connection of thought, we are informed that, through the indwelling of the Holy Ghost-note the introduction of a New Testament idea-David was enabled to discern and to mention several times in his Psalter the manner, the place, and the time of our Lord's birth, His death, resurrection, and ascension, and His second coming on the day of judgment. The homilist next remarks that because of this prophetic power,

1 Homilies 2, pp. 145-152.

2 Psalms 126. 5.

David, when he wrote the words of the text, must have had in mind the holy men who followed Christ on earth, like Saint James and other apostles, who 'hiden wepende and sewende, and shule cumen mid blisse and mowen.' Here, then, we not merely see the connecting link, but we appreciate the fact that the author desired to make his discourse appropriate to the day, this being Saint James' day. And now follows the interpretation of the text, and here, as frequently in Middle English works, the words of the Bible are made the basis of a discourse on some particular hobby of the preacher's, fanciful enough to our minds. All these apostles, he says, shed tears for their sins, and just such tears were shed by Mary Magdalene when she washed Christ's feet, and also by Peter after he had denied his Lord. Sometimes these same apostles of whom David prophesied wept because of other men's afflictions. Even Christ Himself wept thus when He saw the sorrow of Mary and Martha, and again when He grieved for Jerusalem, so soon to be destroyed. Furthermore, holy men sometimes shed tears because life seemed too long to them; thus Job must have wept when he said, 'wuo is mi soule þat ich bide here swo longe." Again, the righteous man who thinks of heaven longs for it so intently that tears fall from his eyes, even such as fell from the eyes of the holy wife weeping for her husband: 'Lauerd, drah me after þe.' All of these four kinds of tears were shed by the apostle who said: 'Lod is me pis eorolice lif, and me longeð to Criste.' These four kinds of tears are the four waters in which our Lord commanded us to wash, when He said through Isaiah, 'Wassheo giu, and wuniep Song of Solomon 1. 4.

3

1 Job 10.1.

Philippians 1, 23.

clene.' And these same four kinds were shed by Saint James, who washed in the four waters, and 'siew po on wowe þat þe shal eft on blisse mowen.' 'The seed that he sowed was true words and deeds of mercy; the blossoms that he shall hereafter mow are... lasting light and endless salvation, and eternal bliss in heaven's kingdom. Let us now follow the lord St. James' fair example, . . . and sow noble words and good deeds; and weep the four kinds of tears, and with the waters that I before spake of wash ourselves clean from our sins.'

Here, in this homily of about five pages, are brought together a text from the Psalms, five allusions to the life of Christ, and ten other quotations or allusions from various parts of the Bible. These are all clearly and logically related by being used to illustrate the several phases of the central thought that different apostles, of whom David may have had a vision, 'hiden wepende and sewende, and shule cumen mid blisse and mowen.' The connection being thus established, the author proceeds to elaborate his thoughts to some extent, but finally focuses everything on Saint James, whose day it is. From this it is but a short step to the practical application, for, as James illustrated all that David had in mind-note the artistic connection of the end with the beginning of the homily in this allusion to the Bible-so should we follow Saint James. Thus, instead of the confusion which we might have expected from the collocation of so many apparently unrelated verses of Scripture, we have a coherent, orderly, and complete whole, in which the Bible is constantly used both as the foundation on which to build, and the brick and

1 Isaiah 1. 16.