KJV, preface
"TO THE MOST HIGH AND MIGHTY PRINCE JAMES, BY THE GRACE OF
GOD, KING OF GREAT BRITAIN, FRANCE, AND IRELAND, DEFENDER OF THE FAITH,
&c"
"The translators of the Bible wish Grace, Mercy, and Peace,
through Jesus Christ our Lord."
"Great and manifold were the blessings, most dread Sovereign,
which Almighty God, the Father of all mercies, bestowed upon us the people of
England, when first he sent Your Majesty's Royal Person to rule and reign over
us. For whereas it was the expectation of many, who wished not well unto our
Sion, that upon the setting of that bright Occidental Star, Queen Elizabeth of
most happy memory, some thick and palpable clouds of darkness would so have
overshadowed this Land, that men should have been in doubt, which we they were
to walk; and that it should hardly be known, who was to direct the unsettled
State. The appearance of Your Majesty, as of the Sun in its strength, instantly
dispelled those supposed and surmised mists, and gave unto all that were well
affected exceeding cause of comfort; especially when we beheld the Government
established in Your Highness, and Your hopeful Seed, by an undoubted Title, and
this also accompanied with peace and tranquillity at home and abroad.
"But among all our joys, there was no one that more filled our
hearts, than the blessed continuance of the preaching of God's sacred Word among
us; which is that inestimable treasure, which excelleth all the riches of the
earth; because the fruit thereof extendeth itself, not only to the time spent in
this transitory world, but directeth and disposeth men unto that eternal
happiness which is above in heaven.
"Then not to suffer this to fall to the ground, but rather to
take it up, and to continue it in that state, wherein the famous Predecessor of
Your Highness did leave it: nay, to go forward with the confidence and
resolution of a Man in maintaining the truth of Christ, and propagating it far
and near, is that which hath so bound and firmly knit the hearts of all Your
Majesty's loyal and religious people unto You, that your very name is precious
among them: their eye doth behold You with comfort, and they bless You in their
hearts, as that sanctified Person, who, under God, is the immediate Author of
their true happiness. And this their contentment doth not diminish or decay, but
every day increaseth and taketh strength, when they observe, that the zeal of
Your Majesty toward the house of God doth not slack or go backward, but is more
and more kindled, manifesting itself abroad in the 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 be healed,) and every day at home, by
religious and learned discourse, by frequenting the house of God, by hearing the
Word preached, by cherishing the Teachers thereof, by caring for the Church, as
a most tender and loving nursing Father.
"There are infinite arguments of this right Christian and
religious affection in Your Majesty; but none is more forcible to declare it to
others than the vehement and perpetuated desire of accomplishing and publishing
of this work, which now with all humility we present unto Your Majesty. For when
Your Highness has once out of deep judgment apprehended how convenient it was,
that out of the Original Sacred Tongues, together with comparing of the labours,
both in our own, and other foreign Languages, of many worthy men who went before
us, there should be one more exact Translation of the holy Scriptures into the
English Tongue; Your Majesty did never desist to urge and to excite those to
whom it was commended, that the work might be hastened, and that the business
might be expedited in so decent a manner, as a matter of such importance might
justly require.
"And now at last, by the mercy of God, and the continuance of
our labours, it being brought unto such a conclusion, as that we have great
hopes that the Church of England shall reap good fruit thereby; we hold it our
duty to offer it to Your Majesty, not only as to our King and Sovereign, but as
to the principal Mover and Author of the work: humbly craving of Your most
Sacred Majesty, that since things of this quality have ever been subject to the
censures of ill-meaning and discontented person, it may receive approbation and
patronage from so learned and judicious a Prince as Your Highness is, whose
allowance and acceptance of our labours shall more honour and encourage us, than
all the calumniations and hard interpretations of other men shall dismay us. So
that if, on the one side, we shall be traduced by Popish Persons at home or
abroad, who therefore will malign us, because we are poor instruments to make
God's holy Truth to be yet more and more known unto the people, whom they desire
still to keep in ignorance and darkness; or if, on the other side, we shall be
maligned by selfconceited Brethren, who run their own ways, and give liking unto
nothing, but what is framed by themselves, and hammered on their anvil; we may
rest secure, supported within by the truth and innocency of a good conscience,
having walked the ways of simplicity and integrity, as before the Lord; and
sustained without by the powerful protection of Your Majesty's grace and favour,
which will ever give countenance to honest and Christian endeavors against
bitter censures and uncharitable imputations.
"The Lord of heaven and earth bless Your Majesty with many and
happy days, that, as his heavenly hand hath enriched Your Highness with many
singular and extraordinary graces, happiness and true felicity, to the honour of
that great GOD, and the good of his Church, through Jesus Christ our Lord and
only Saviour."
