1584 The Conference of John Rainolds

Printed: London

Small Quarto

The Summe of the Conference betweene Iohn Rainoldes and Iohn Hart: Touching the Head and Faith of the Church. Wherein by the way are handled sundrie pointes, of the sufficicience and right expounding of the Scriptures, the ministerie of the Church, the function of Priesthood, the sacrifice of the Masse, with other controuersies of religion: but chiefly and purposely the poynt of Church-gouernement,. Penned by Iohn Rainoldes,. persued by Iohn Hart, and (after things supplied, and altered, as he thought good) allowed for the faithfull report of that which past in conference betweene them. Whereunto is annexed a Treatise intitled, Six Conclvsions touching the Holy Scripture and the Church, Written by John Raidoldes, remembered for his role in the Authorized Version of the Bible (King James Bible), a project of which he was initiator.

John Rainolds (or Reynolds) (1549 – 1607) was an English academic and churchman, of Puritan views. The chief events of his career were his share in the Hampton Court Conference, where he was the most prominent representative of the Puritan party and received a good deal of favour from the King. At some point during the course of Rainolds' pleaded before the king, Rainolds made a request that "one only translation of the Bible be declared authentical, and read in the church". Whether Rainolds was asking for a new translation or simply for a direction to authorize only one of the existing English translations, most took Rainolds' words as a request for the former. James readily agreed to a new translation, this ultimately led to the Most Famous Literary Work in History, The King James Bible.

Provenance:

Owned by the Famous Edward Sach Sitwell. The Sitwell Family Collection was featured in the August 2021 issue of Fine Books & Collections.