Introduction
The Authorised Version of the Bible, published in 1611, helped to shape the English language. This section of the website provides the full text of the ‘King James’ Bible, together with additional materials in a similar kind of Church English.
COMFORTABLE WORDS is the name for the part of Clay Lane dedicated to the King James or Authorized Version of the Bible, published in 1611. For more, see About the Authorized Version. However, the title comes not from the King James Bible but from an earlier source of liturgical English, the Book of Common Prayer, first published in 1549 during the English Reformation. See The Comfortable Words.
There are two main reasons for this section on Clay Lane. The first is that many of the stories in the Copy Book refer to passages in the Bible, and having my own in-house edition of it made a lot of sense. The second is that the Authorized Version makes for wonderful practice in reading aloud, and is a treasure-store of well-told tales. “Open your Bible at the Acts of the Apostles” wrote NL Clay “if you want straightforward accounts.” Sir George MacMunn (1869-1952) attributed Rudyard Kipling’s mastery of storytelling to his thorough familiarity with the Authorized Version. “It has been said that only those who have had to read the Old Testament aloud when young ever get the true cadence of the English tongue into their minds and ears, and that all writers of good prose have had this training.” The Authorized Version was from the start a Bible for public reading, and reading it aloud remains one of the most effective ways to gain a feeling for the music of a really clear account of ‘something done’.
Alongside the text of the King James Bible, I have collected various hymns, prayers and alternative translations of the Psalms. These are also suitable for memorisation and for practising elocution, and many must be ranked among the finest examples of English literature.
These materials come from across several denominations that have taken root in England over the centuries since St Augustine of Canterbury’s mission in 597. In gathering from so wide a range of sources, I believe I am applying a principle laid down by Pope St Gregory the Great, who told St Augustine to make use of any prayers and rites he found among the shepherdless English monasteries and parishes so long as they were worthy to stand alongside those of Rome. Of course, after fourteen centuries the liturgy and doctrine of the Roman Church has changed, especially in the last 150 years or so, as the English saints have not. Given the surprisingly close bond between the Anglo-Saxons and the Eastern churches in the days of Cuthbert and Bede, it seemed right to me to turn to the Russian Church as a guide. Their doctrine has not changed, nor has their liturgy, except in ways that make it more familiar to English eyes and ears; their music is very like that of a Victorian cathedral, and their authorities value traditional Church English more highly, and use it more readily, than today’s Western churches do.