 Title page of The Souldiers Pocket Bible, 1643 | |
| Country | Kingdom of England |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
Publication date | 1643 |
| Media type | Pamphlet |
The Souldiers Pocket Bible (aka Cromwell's Soldiers' Pocket Bible, The Soldier's Pocket Bible, Cromwell's Soldier's Bible [1] ) was a pamphlet version of the Protestant Bible that was carried by the soldiers of Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army during the English Civil War. [2]
The Souldiers Pocket Bible (lacking a possessive apostrophe in the title) was first issued in 1643 to Cromwell's army and was put in general use among his soldiers. [3] [4] [5] It has been of historical record that Cromwell's soldiers were provided with a small pocket Bible. [6] [7] [8] George Livermore, an American book collector from Cambridgeport, Massachusetts, discovered a copy of The Souldiers Pocket Bible in 1854; he realized that the Bible which Cromwell's soldiers were known to carry was not the complete Protestant Bible of 66 books, but a condensed pamphlet version. [6] [9] It was an octavo booklet (5½ × 3″, 136 × 78mm). [10] In comparison, it was about the size and thickness of an international travel passport used in the 20th century. [10]
The Souldiers Pocket Bible had just 16 pages that contained some 150 verse quotations from the Geneva Bible, [10] [11] all related to war. [6] All but four of the verses were from the Old Testament. [12] Verses intended to inspire the morale of Cromwell's soldiers included the following from the Geneva Bible:
The 150 war-related verses were organized in sixteen sections. [10] Cromwell helped select some of the verses used [14] and supervised the editing of The Souldiers Pocket Bible by Edmund Calamy. [4] [6]
Section headers for the verses included the following:
This condensed Souldiers Pocket Bible was usually buttoned on the inside waistcoat, placed near the heart, and under the soldier's outer coat. [6] The placement did not hinder the movements of the soldier. [10] English Puritan church leader Richard Baxter relates a story that the life of one of Cromwell's soldiers was saved by his carrying a copy of The Souldiers Pocket Bible near his heart; a bullet fired at him became lodged in the pamphlet instead of his heart. [14]
Cromwell's military success was largely due to the training of his soldiers. [16] However The Souldiers Pocket Bible was used for religious inspiration and to help influence good morals and rigid discipline. [4] Before Cromwell's soldiers went into battle, they would pray and sing religious songs from the Book of Psalms. [17] According to Cromwell, his soldiers never lost a battle after The Souldiers Pocket Bible was issued to them in 1643. [17] [18]
Two copies exist of the 1643 edition of The Souldiers Pocket Bible. The London copy was presented by George III to the British Museum. [19] The only other 1643 copy known is found in the United States and was once owned by the prominent 19th-century book collector George Livermore. [6] [14] [20] The work was reissued in 1693 under the title The Christian Soldier's Penny Bible. [21] [22] The British Museum has the only 1693 copy known to exist. [6] This version is similar to The Souldiers Pocket Bible except for changes to some of the "Headers" and minor alterations in the text. The latter reflect the King James Version of the Bible rather than the Geneva Bible text used for the 1643 edition. [23]
In 1861 Riverside Press reprinted one hundred copies of the 1643 text in facsimile for Livermore. [20] [24] At the time of the American Civil War, the American Tract Society printed The Soldier's Pocket Bible in large numbers to serve as a religious manual for the Northern troops. [20] About fifty thousand copies of The Soldier's Pocket Bible were reprinted for the troops at that time. [9] [10] [22] [25] [26]
The Souldiers Pocket Bible was the first of the shortened, concise Bible versions that became popular for distribution to troops by military authorities and for use by individuals for personal guidance and inspiration. [13]
The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611, by sponsorship of King James VI and I. The books of the King James Version include the 39 books of the Old Testament, an intertestamental section containing 14 books of the Apocrypha, and the 27 books of the New Testament. Noted for its "majesty of style", the King James Version has been described as one of the most important books in English culture and a driving force in the shaping of the English-speaking world.
Oliver Cromwell was an English general and statesman who, first as a subordinate and later as Commander-in-Chief, led armies of the Parliament of England against King Charles I during the English Civil War, subsequently ruling the British Isles as Lord Protector from 1653 until his death in 1658. He acted simultaneously as head of state and head of government of the new republican commonwealth.
William Tyndale was an English scholar who became a leading figure in the Protestant Reformation in the years leading up to his execution. He is well known as a translator of the Bible into English, influenced by the works of Erasmus of Rotterdam and Martin Luther.
Myles Coverdale, first name also spelt Miles, was an English ecclesiastical reformer chiefly known as a Bible translator, preacher and, briefly, Bishop of Exeter (1551–1553). In 1535, Coverdale produced the first complete printed translation of the Bible into English. His theological development is a paradigm of the progress of the English Reformation from 1530 to 1552. By the time of his death, he had transitioned into an early Puritan, affiliated to Calvin, yet still advocating the teachings of Augustine.
Richard Cromwell was an English statesman who was the second and last Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland and son of the first Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell.
The Matthew Bible, also known as Matthew's Version, was first published in 1537 by John Rogers, under the pseudonym "Thomas Matthew". It combined the New Testament of William Tyndale, and as much of the Old Testament as he had been able to translate before being captured and put to death. Myles Coverdale's translations, chiefly from German and Latin sources, completed the Old Testament and Biblical apocrypha, except for the Prayer of Manasseh, which was Rogers'. It is thus a vital link in the main sequence of English Bible translations.
The Geneva Bible is one of the most historically significant translations of the Bible into English, preceding the King James Version by 51 years. It was the primary Bible of 16th-century English Protestantism and was used by William Shakespeare, Oliver Cromwell, John Knox, John Donne, and John Bunyan, author of The Pilgrim's Progress (1678). It was one of the Bibles taken to America on the Mayflower. The Geneva Bible was used by many English Dissenters, and it was still respected by Oliver Cromwell's soldiers at the time of the English Civil War, in the booklet The Souldiers Pocket Bible.
The New Model Army was a standing army formed in 1645 by the Parliamentarians during the First English Civil War, then disbanded after the Stuart Restoration in 1660. It differed from other armies employed in the 1638 to 1651 Wars of the Three Kingdoms in that members were liable for service anywhere in the country, rather than being limited to a single area or garrison. To establish a professional officer corps, the army's leaders were prohibited from having seats in either the House of Lords or House of Commons. This was to encourage their separation from the political or religious factions among the Parliamentarians.
Edmund Calamy was an English Presbyterian church leader and divine. Known as "the elder", he was the first of four generations of nonconformist ministers bearing the same name.
Mary Livermore was an American journalist, abolitionist, and advocate of women's rights.
The Ironsides were troopers in the Parliamentarian cavalry formed by English political leader Oliver Cromwell in the 17th century, during the English Civil War. The name came from "Old Ironsides", one of Cromwell's nicknames.
The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth, commonly referred to as the Jefferson Bible, is one of two religious works constructed by Thomas Jefferson. The first, The Philosophy of Jesus of Nazareth, was completed in 1804, but no copies exist today. The second, The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth, was completed in 1820 by cutting and pasting with a razor and glue numerous sections from the New Testament as extractions of the doctrine of Jesus. Jefferson's condensed composition excludes all miracles by Jesus and most mentions of the supernatural, including sections of the four gospels that contain the Resurrection and most other miracles, and passages that portray Jesus as divine.
The Westminster Assembly of Divines was a council of divines (theologians) and members of the English Parliament appointed from 1643 to 1653 to restructure the Church of England. Several Scots also attended, and the Assembly's work was adopted by the Church of Scotland. As many as 121 ministers were called to the Assembly, with nineteen others added later to replace those who did not attend or could no longer attend. It produced a new Form of Church Government, a Confession of Faith or statement of belief, two catechisms or manuals for religious instruction, and a liturgical manual, the Directory for Public Worship, for the Churches of England and Scotland. The Confession and catechisms were adopted as doctrinal standards in the Church of Scotland and other Presbyterian churches, where they remain normative. Amended versions of the Confession were also adopted in Congregational and Baptist churches in England and New England in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The Confession became influential throughout the English-speaking world, but especially in American Protestant theology.
The Cromwellian conquest of Ireland or Cromwellian war in Ireland (1649–1653) was the re-conquest of Ireland by the forces of the English Parliament, led by Oliver Cromwell, during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Cromwell invaded Ireland with the New Model Army on behalf of England's Rump Parliament in August 1649.
Psalm 83 is the 83rd psalm of the biblical Book of Psalms. In the slightly different numbering system of the Greek Septuagint version of the Bible and its Latin translation, the Vulgate, this psalm is Psalm 81.
Psalm 54 is the 54th psalm from the Book of Psalms. In the Greek Septuagint version of the bible, and in its Latin translation in the Vulgate, this psalm is Psalm 53 in a slightly different numbering system. Attributed to David, it was written for one who finds oneself betrayed by a friend.
Psalm 56 is the 56th psalm from the Book of Psalms. In the slightly different numbering system of the Greek Septuagint version of the Bible, and in the Latin Vulgate, this psalm is Psalm 55. It is attributed to King David and may be considered representative of him or anyone else hiding from an enemy.
Francis Fry (1803–1886), was an English businessman and bibliographer.
George Livermore was an American antiquarian, bibliographer, and historian, known chiefly as a book collector. He developed in his lifetime what was recognized as one of the finest private libraries in the United States and his library included many rare and one-of-a-kind bibles like some printed by Johannes Gutenberg. Livermore owned twenty-six volumes of the Massachusetts Historical Society’s Collections. He wrote newspaper articles from time to time. Harvard College awarded Livermore an honorary Master of Arts, although he dropped out of school at the age of fourteen.
Robert Ram (c.1595-1656) was an Anglican priest in the early seventeenth century. He was a younger son of Thomas Ram, Bishop of Ferns and Leighlin.