Manx Bible History (3)

**List: Manx Ministry the Bible ( Yn Vible ) Manx... "II.--VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS LANGUAGE.    It is currently reported that a Manks version of the entire Scriptures was executed as early as the commencement of the seventeenth century, yet not the smallest vestige of the MS. is now to be met with; and, what is still more singular, no portion of it appears to have been in existence even during the last century.   The translator is said to have been Dr. John Philips, bishop of Sodor and Man.   He was born in North Wales, and before his elevation to the bishopric was rector of Hawarden, in Flintshire.   His familiarity with his native language greatly facilitated his acquisition of the Manks dialect, and he devoted himself during the space of twenty-nine years to the translation of the Bible and of the Common Prayer Book into Manks.   He was assisted by Sir Hugh Cavoll, vicar of Kirk- Michael, and others; but he died in 1633, leaving his translations completed, but not printed, and no portion of them appears to have been committed to the press after his decease.   The present version of the Manks Bible was produced by the Christian zeal of two other bishops of Sodor and Man.   It was commenced in the gaol of Castle Rushen, by the excellent Bishop Wilson, in concert with Dr. Walker, one of his vicars, when unjustly imprisoned by the governor of the island.   This was in the year 1722.   The Gospel of St. Matthew was translated by Dr. Walker, and printed, under the direction and at the expense of the bishop, in London, in 1748.   The other Gospels and the Acts were left in a state of readiness for the press by this venerable bishop, who died in 1755, at the advanced age of ninety-three, after having held the bishopric of the island for fifty-eight years. Dr. Mark Hildesley, his successor, entered with the utmost ardour and anxiety on the prosecution of the translation.   "My whole heart," said Dr. Hildesley, in a letter to a correspondent, "is set on the Manks translation."   He was however deterred, by his imperfect acquaintance with the language, from taking any part in the work beyond that of general supervision.   After untiring application to the study of Manks, he at length qualified himself to conduct the services of the Church in that language; yet, notwithstanding his praiseworthy efforts, he never obtained a higher reputation than that of being "a very pretty Manks:" on one occasion he himself observed that "he would give five hundred pounds were he enough master of Manks as to be able to translate."   It is not certain whether Dr. Walker completed the translation of the New Testament, or whether Bishop Hildesley availed himself of the service of some other Manks scholar.   The version was published in 1767 in London, chiefly by the aid of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.   About the time of the completion at press of the New Testament, the bishop made arrangements for the translation of the Old Testament, dividing it for this purpose into twenty-four parts, which he distributed among as many different individuals. The twenty-four persons thus selected as translators were nearly all residents in the island, and, with one exception, they all held clerical appointments.   After passing through their hands, the work was committed for final revision to Dr. Moore and Dr. Kelly: the latter was then only eighteen years of age, but he had displayed such proficiency in the critical knowledge of Manks, which was his native language, as to justify his engaging in this important undertaking: he transcribed the whole version, from Genesis to Revelation, for the press, and in conjunction with Dr. Moore corrected and revised the proof sheets.   Dr. Moore was aided by the advice of Bishop Lowth and Dr. Kennicott, both of whom took a deep interest in this version.   The feelings with which Dr. Moore regarded his work may be inferred from his last will and testament, where he blesses God "for all the comforts of his existence, but above all that he had a capital hand and concern in the Manks Scriptures."   He died in 1783, but not till he had witnessed the completion at press of the entire version.   The first part of the Old Testament was printed in 1770, at Whitehaven; the preservation of the second part was entirely due to the intrepidity of Dr. Moore and Dr. Kelly.   They were proceeding to Whitehaven for the purpose of superintending the press, taking with them the second portion of the MS.: a storm arose, in which they were shipwrecked, and almost every article on board was lost except the MS., which they pre- served by holding it above the water during the space of five hours.    In 1772, the Old Testament, to the great joy of Bishop Hildesley, was completed and published. This good bishop had frequently said, "I wish but to see the sacred volume finished, and should then be happy, die when I may."   On the last sheets of the work being placed in his hands, he very emphatically sang "Nunc Domine, dimittis" in the presence of his congratulating family.   This happened on Saturday, November 28th, 1772.   On the following day he preached with more than usual fervour on the uncertainty of life, and resumed the same subject in his family circle in so affecting a manner as to draw tears from all present.   Thus in "something like prophetic strain" did he prepare the minds of others for his approaching end, for on the very next day he was suddenly attacked by apoplexy, which deprived him in a moment of his intellectual faculties: he lingered but a week, and then entered into rest.    The second edition of the Manks Scriptures was published by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge in 1775: in this edition the entire Bible was in quarto, and separate copies of the New Testament were printed in octavo.   Other editions have since been issued by the same Society.   In 1810, a stereotyped edition of 2000 copies of the New Testament, in 12mo., was published by the British and Foreign Bible Society.   The Bishop of Sodor and Man having, through his clergy, ascertained the want of the Scriptures in the several parishes of the island, applied for 1326 Testaments, which were promptly supplied by the Society, at reduced prices, for the accommodation of the poor. An additional supply of 250 copies was struck off from the same plates in 1815, and another edition of 5000 copies of the entire Bible was printed by the Society in 1819.   Since then no farther editions of the Manks Scriptures have appeared, and it is probable that the edition of 1819 is the last that will ever be published.   English Bibles are now in general demand in the island, and, with the increased cultivation of the English language, are daily getting more and more into use; indeed so far back as the year 1825, the Bishop of Sodor and Man informed the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, that there was no longer any necessity for impressions of the Bible in the Manks language, and that the islanders were eager to be supplied with English copies.    The Manks translation of the Old Testament has been esteemed nearer the Hebrew than is the English authorised version, and is frequently of a paraphrastical character.   A remarkable variation between the English and Manks Bible occurs in 1 Kings xvii. 3--6: instead of "ravens[,]" the reading is "Cummaltee Oreb," inhabitants of Oreb."--The Bible of Every Land. (1860, Second Edition)   Samuel Bagster   [Info only: oreb in Hebrew.] MANKS.   [LONDON.]--1860   S. Bagster   [Info only: "1819" John 1:1-14 unknown.] "III.--RESULTS OF THE DISSEMINATION OF THIS VERSION.    At the period of the first publication of the Manks Scriptures, the English language was com- paratively little cultivated in the island, and the English Bible was unintelligible to the mass of the inhabitants.   The benefit of the Manks version to the generation for whom it was executed can therefore only be estimated by taking into account their inability to read the Scriptures in any other language.   A poor Manks woman, on hearing her son read to her for the first time a chapter of the new version, cried out, in great exultation, "We have sat in darkness (dorraghys) until now."   And when the first books of the Manks New Testament were brought into circulation (in 1763), Dr. Hildesley wrote:--"The vast eagerness and joy with which the first specimen has been received and sought after have amply convinced me of the utility of the undertaking, had I had no previous persuasion in my own mind of the real benefit it must needs be to the souls of the far greater part of the people of my charge."   That the Manks version is even now valued by those to whom the lan- guage is vernacular is evident from the fact, that in the year 1848, 300 copies were dispatched to the island by the British and Foreign Bible Society, and a farther supply in the Society's year of Jubilee; yet there is every probability that the prediction of a recent writer will be literally fulfilled, and that in the course of another generation, "the Manks tongue, regarded with dislike by the utilitarian philosophy of the nineteenth century, will be a venerable relic of past times, interesting only to the philologist and antiquary.""--The Bible of Every Land. (1860, Second Edition)   Samuel Bagster   [Info only]

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