''The Souldiers Pocket Bible'' (aka ''Cromwell's Soldiers' Pocket Bible'', ''The Soldier's Pocket Bible, Cromwell's Soldier's Bible'') was a pamphlet version of the
Protestant Bible
A Protestant Bible is a Christian Bible whose translation or revision was produced by Protestants. Such Bibles comprise 39 books of the Old Testament (according to the Hebrew Bible canon, known especially to non-Protestants as the protocanonical ...
that was carried by the soldiers of
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three K ...
's
New Model Army during the
English Civil War
The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...
.
Description
''The Souldiers Pocket Bible'' (lacking a
possessive apostrophe
The apostrophe ( or ) is a punctuation mark, and sometimes a diacritical mark, in languages that use the Latin alphabet and some other alphabets. In English, the apostrophe is used for two basic purposes:
* The marking of the omission of one o ...
in the title) was first issued in 1643 to Cromwell's army and was put in general use among his soldiers.
It has been of historical record that Cromwell's soldiers were provided with a small pocket Bible.
George Livermore, an American book collector from
Cambridgeport, Massachusetts
Cambridgeport is one of the neighborhoods of Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is bounded by Massachusetts Avenue, the Charles River, the Grand Junction Railroad, and River Street. The neighborhood contains predominantly residential homes, many of the ...
, 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. It was an
octavo
Octavo, a Latin word meaning "in eighth" or "for the eighth time", (abbreviated 8vo, 8º, or In-8) is a technical term describing the format of a book, which refers to the size of leaves produced from folding a full sheet of paper on which multip ...
booklet (5½ × 3″, 136 × 78mm). In comparison, it was about the size and thickness of an international travel
passport used in the 20th century.
''The Souldiers Pocket Bible'' had just 16 pages that contained some 150 verse quotations from the
Geneva Bible, all related to war. All but four of the verses were from the Old Testament. Verses intended to inspire the morale of Cromwell's soldiers included the following from the Geneva Bible:
:* Deuteronomy 20:4 – ''For the Lord your God goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, and to save you.''
:* Exodus 14:14 – ''The Lord shall fight for you.''
The 150 war-related verses were organized in sixteen sections. Cromwell helped select some of the verses used and supervised the editing of ''The Souldiers Pocket Bible'' by
Edmund Calamy.
[
Section headers for the verses included the following:
:''A Souldier must not doe wickedly''
:''A Souldier must be valiant for God cause''
:''A Souldier must love his enemies as they are his enemies, and hate them as they are god enemies''
:''A Souldier must consider that sometimes God people have the worst in battel as well as God enemies''.
This condensed ''Souldiers Pocket Bible'' was usually buttoned on the inside ]waistcoat
A waistcoat ( UK and Commonwealth, or ; colloquially called a weskit), or vest ( US and Canada), is a sleeveless upper-body garment. It is usually worn over a dress shirt and necktie and below a coat as a part of most men's formal wear. ...
, placed near the heart, and under the soldier's outer coat. The placement did not hinder the movements of the soldier. English Puritan
The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. ...
church leader Richard Baxter
Richard Baxter (12 November 1615 – 8 December 1691) was an English Puritan church leader, poet, hymnodist, theologian, and controversialist. Dean Stanley called him "the chief of English Protestant Schoolmen". After some false starts, he ...
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.
Purpose
Cromwell's military success was largely due to the training of his soldiers. However ''The Souldiers Pocket Bible'' was used for religious inspiration and to help influence good morals and rigid discipline.[ Before Cromwell's soldiers went into battle, they would pray and sing religious songs from the Book of Psalms.][ According to Cromwell, his soldiers never lost a battle after ''The Souldiers Pocket Bible'' was issued to them in 1643.]
Legacy
Two copies exist of the 1643 edition of ''The Souldiers Pocket Bible''. The London copy was presented by George III
George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...
to the British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
. 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. The work was reissued in 1693 under the title ''The Christian Soldier's Penny Bible.'' The British Museum has the only 1693 copy known to exist. 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
The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an Bible translations into English, English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and publis ...
of the Bible rather than the Geneva Bible text used for the 1643 edition.
In 1861 Riverside Press
Riverside Insights is a publisher of clinical and educational standardized tests in the United States; it is headquartered in Itasca, Illinois. It is also a charter member of the Association of Test Publishers.
Riverside Insights was establish ...
reprinted one hundred copies of the 1643 text in facsimile for Livermore. At the time of the American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...
, the American Tract Society
The American Tract Society (ATS) is a nonprofit, nonsectarian but evangelical organization founded on May 11, 1825, in New York City for the purpose of publishing and disseminating tracts of Christian literature. ATS traces its lineage back thro ...
printed ''The Soldier's Pocket Bible'' in large numbers to serve as a religious manual for the Northern troops. About fifty thousand copies of ''The Soldier's Pocket Bible'' were reprinted for the troops at that time.
''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.
Notes
References
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External links
A facsimile of ''The Souldiers Pocket Bible'' of 1643
''The Soldiers' Pocket Bible'' (1860 reprint)
on the Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Souldiers Pocket Bible, The
1643 books
Early printed Bibles
History of Christianity in the United Kingdom
17th-century Christian texts
Religion in the military
Biblical paraphrases