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PREFACE.

REPRINTED FROM THE INTRODUCTION TO THE ENGLISH HEXAPLA.

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S the Protestant exiles at Geneva, in the reign of Mary, had provided a version of the Scriptures for their fellow-countrymen, so the Popish exiles at Rheims, in the reign of Elizabeth, imitated their example, and produced another version for the use of their brethren in the faith. The principal persons engaged in the translation were William Allen, Gregory Martin, and Richard Bristow. The first of these was a very distinguished man among the Papists. In the reign of Mary he had been Principal of St. Mary's Hall, Oxford, and Canon of York, but on the accession of her protestant sister had fled to London, and afterwards to Douay. There he was made Doctor of Divinity, and soon afterwards was created Canon of Cambray, whence he was subsequently appointed to a Canonry at Rheims. He there established He there established a Popish seminary, and vigorously exerted himself in opposing Protestantism, for which he was rewarded with a cardinal's hat, and the archbishopric of Mechlin. The person who probably had the chief hand in the execution of the Rhemish Testament, was Gregory Martin. He was, according to Wood, "an excellent linguist, exactly read and versed in the Holy Scriptures, and went beyond others in his time in humane literature; and for this version "his name remains precious to this day among those of his own party."

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'Le Long, Biblioth. Sacra, vol. i. 428. The advertisement to the Douay Bible mentions three scholars as engaged in this work-Tres diversi ejus nationis eruditissimi Theologi. 2 Ath. Oxon.

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