THE KING JAMES VERSION--ITS INFLUENCE ON ENGLISH AND AMERICAN HISTORYTHE King James version of the Bible is only a book.What can a book do in history? Well, whatever the reason, books have played a large part in the movements of men, specially of modern men.
They have markedly influenced the opinion of men about the past.It is commonly said that Hume's History of England, defective as it is, has yet "by its method revolutionized the writing of history," and that is true.Nearer our own time, Carlyle's Life of Cromwell reversed the judgment of history on Cromwell, gave all readers of history a new conception of him and his times and of the movement of which he was the life.After the Restoration none were so poor as to do Cromwell reverence until Carlyle's BOOK gave him anew to the world.
There are instances squarely in our own time by which their mighty influence may be tested.They are of books of almost ephemeral value save for the student of history.As literature they will be quickly forgotten; but as FORCES they must be reckoned with.There is Uncle Tom's Cabin.It would be absurd to say that it brought the American Civil War, or freed the negroes, or saved the Union.It did none of those great things.Yet it is not at all absurd to name it among the potent powers in all three.It is not to our purpose whether it is true or not as a statement of the whole fact.Doubtless it was not true of the general and common circumstances of Southern slavery; but everything in it was possible, and even frequent enough so that it could not be questioned.It pretended no more.But its influence was simply tremendous.In book form it became available in 1852, and within three years, 1855, it was common property of English- speaking people.No other book ever produced so extraordinary an effect so quickly in the public mind.[1] It held up slavery to judgment.It crystallized the thoughts of common people.The work of those strenuous years in the '60's could not have been done without the result of that book.It made history.Come nearer our own day.We could not be long in London without feeling the concern of the better people for conditions inthe East End.A new social impulse has seized them.To be sure, it lacks much yet of success; but more has been done than most people realize.The new movement, the awakening of that social sense, traces back to the book of Gen.William Booth, In Darkest England (1890).It has helped to change the life of a large part of London.
[1] Rhodes, History of the United States, vol.i, pp.185-303.
On this side, the new concern for city conditions dates from the book of a newspaper reporter, Jacob A.Riis, How the Other Half Lives.It thrust the Other Half into such prominence that it has never been possible to forget it.Marked advance in all American cities, in legislation and life, goes straight back to it.Name one other book still in the field of social service, even so unpleasant, so terrible, so obnoxious a book as Upton Sinclair's The Jungle.It started and sustained movements which have unsettled business and political life ever since it appeared.It made some conditions vivid, unescapable.
Do not misunderstand the argument.No man can tell what will be said in the histories a century from now about these lesser books.We can never go beyond guesses as to the whole cause of any chain of events.[1] As time passes, incidental elements in the causes gradually sink out of sight and a few great forces take the whole horizon.Whatever the histories a century from now say about the relative place of such books as we have named, it is certain that they have influenced the movements mightily.The literary histories will say nothing at all about them.They are not great literature, but they were born of a passion of the times and voiced and aroused it anew.
[1] MacPhail, Essays on Puritanism, p.278.
When, therefore, it is urged that the English Bible has influenced history, it is not making an undue claim for it.When it is further urged that of all books in English literature it has been most influential, it has most made history, it has most determined great movements, the argument only claims for it the highest place among books.
And it would not be surprising if it should have such influence.It is the one great piece of English literature which is universal property.Since the day it was published it has been kept available for everybody.No otherbook has ever had its chance.English-speaking people have always been essentially religious.They have always had a profound regard for the terms, the institutions, the purposes of religion.Partly that has been maintained by the Bible; but the Bible in its turn has been maintained by it.So it has come about that English-speaking people, though they have many books, are essentially people of one Book.Wherever they are, the Bible is.Queen Victoria has it near by when the messenger from the Orient appears, and lays her hand upon it to say that this is the foundation of the prosperity of England.But the poor housewife in the cottage, with only a crust for food, stays her soul with it.The Puritan creeps into hiding with the Book, while his brother sails away to the new land with the Book.The settler may have his Shakespeare; he will surely have his Bible.As the long wagon-train creeps across the plain to seek the Western shore, there may be no other book in all the train; but the Bible will be there.Find any settlement of men who speak the English tongue, wherever they make their home, and the Bible is among them.When did any book have such a chance to influence men? It is the one undisturbed heritage of all who speak the English tongue.It binds the daughter and the mother country together, and gathers into the same bond the scattered remnants of the English-speaking race the world around.Its language is the one speech they all understand.Strange it would be if it had not a profound influence upon history!
