he public spirit of
the rising sects was the real occasion of these increased demands for
Bibles.

During the civil wars they carried on the same open trade and
competition, besides the private ventures of the smuggled Bibles. A
large impression of these Dutch English Bibles were burnt by order of
the Assembly of Divines, for these _three errors_:--

Gen. xxxvi. 24.--This is that _ass_ that found rulers in the
wilderness--for _mule_.

Ruth iv. 13.--The Lord gave her _corruption_--for _conception_.

Luke xxi. 28.--Look up, and lift up your hands, for your _condemnation_
draweth nigh--for _redemption_.

These errata were none of the printer's; but, as a writer of the times
expresses it, "egregious blasphemies, and damnable errata" of some
sectarian, or some Bellamy editor of that day!

The printing of Bibles at length was a privilege conceded to one
William Bentley; but he was opposed by Hills and Field; and a paper war
arose, in which they mutually recriminated on each other, with equal
truth.

Field printed, in 1653, what was called the Pearl Bible; alluding, I
suppose, to that diminutive type in printing, for it could not derive
its name from its worth. It is in twenty-fours;[272] but to contract the
mighty book into this dwarfishness, all the original Hebrew text
prefixed to the Psalms, explaining the occasion and the subject of their
composition, is wholly expunged. This Pearl Bible, which may be
inspected among the great collection of our English Bibles at the
British Museum, is set off by many notable _errata_, of which these are
noticed:--

Romans vi. 13.--Neither yield ye your members as instruments of
_righteousness_ unto sin--for _unrighteousness_.

First Corinthians vi. 9.--Know ye not that the unrighteous _shall
inherit_ the kingdom of God?--for _shall not inherit_.

This _erratum_ served as the foundation of a dangerous doctrine; for
many libertines urged the text from this corrupt Bible against the
reproofs of a divine.

This Field was a great forger; and it is said that he received a present
of 1500_l._ from the _Independents_ to corrupt a text in Acts vi. 3, to
sanction the right of the people to appoint their own pastors.[273] The
corruption was the easiest possible; it was only to put a _ye_ instead
of a _we_; so that the right in Field's Bible emanated from the people,
not from the apostles. The only account I recollect of this
extraordinary state of our Bibles is a happy allusion in a l