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    "label": "Velvet Bible",
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    "title": "Velvet Bible",
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{
    "seq": 9,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "photo",
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    "ocrText": "TO THE MOST HIGH AND MIGHTY PRINCE\nJAMES,\nBY THE GRACE OF GOD,\nas\nYIOH\nKING OF GREAT BRITAIN, FRANCE, AND IRELAND,\nDEFENDER OF THE FAITH, &c.\naword\nTHE TRANSLATORS OF THE BIBLE WISH GRACE, MERCY, AND PEACE,\nTHROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD.\nG\nREAT and manifold were the blessings, most dread Sovereign, which Almighty God, the\nWHN\nFather of all mercies, bestowed upon us the people of England, when first he sent Your\nMajesty's Royal Person to rule and reign over us. For whereas it was the expectation of many,\nwho wished not well unto our Sion, that upon the setting of that bright Occidental Star, Queen\nElizabeth, of most happy memory, some thick and palpable clouds of darkness would so have over-\nshadowed this Land, that men should have been in doubt which way they were to walk and that\nLICENSE.\nit should hardly be known, who was to direct the unsettled State; the appearance of Your Majesty,\nas of the Sun in his strength, instantly dispelled those supposed and surmised mists, and gave unto\nIn terms of Her Majesty's Letters Patent to her Printers for Scotland, and of the Instruc-\nall that were well affected exceeding cause of comfort especially when we beheld the Government\ntions issued by Her Majesty in Council dated Eleventh July, Eighteen Hundred and\nestablished in Your Highness, and Your hopeful Seed, by an undoubted Title: andthis also accom-\nThirty-nine, I hereby License and Authorize WILLIAM NELSON, Bookseller in Edin-\npanied with peace and tranquillity at home and abroad.\nburgh, to Print within the premises situated Hope Park, Edinburgh, at present occupied\nBut among all our joys, there was no one that more filled our hearts, than the blessed continu<\nby Thomas Nelson and Sons, and to Publish, as by the Authority of Her Majesty, an Edition\nance of the preaching of God's sacred Word among us; which is that inestimable treasure, which\nexcelleth all the riches of the earth because the fruit thereof extendeth itself, not only to the time\nof the Holy Bible, in Pearl type, Decimo Octave size, consisting of Ten Thousand Copies,\nspent in this transitory world, but directeth and disposeth men unto that eternal happiness which\nas proposed in his Declaration, dated the Seventeenth day of April, Eighteen Hundred and\nis above in Heaven.\nFifty-five years; the terms and conditions of the said Instructions being always, and in\nThen not to suffer this to fall to the ground, but rather to take it up, and to continue it in that\nall points, fully complied with, and observed by, the said William Nelson.\nstate, wherein the famous Predecessor of Your Highness did leave it: nay, to go forward with the\nJ. MONCREIFF.\nconfidence and resolution of a Man in maintaining the truth of Christ, and propagating it far and\nLondon, 2d May, 1855.\nnear, is that which hath SO bound and firmly knit the hearts of all Your Majesty's loyal and reli-\ngious people unto You, that Your very name is precious among them their eye doth behold You\nwith comfort, and they bless You in their hearts, as that sanctified Person, who, under God, is the\nimmediate Author of their true happiness. And this their contentment doth not diminish or de-\ncay, but every day increaseth and taketh strength, when they observe, that the zeal of Your Majesty\ntoward the house of God doth not slack or go backward, but is more and more kindled, manifesting\nitself abroad in the farthest parts of Christendom, by writing in defence of the Truth, (which hath\ngiven such a blow unto that man of sin, as will not be healed,) and every day at home, by religious\nand learned discourse, by frequenting the house of God, by hearing the Word preached, by cherish-\ning the Teachers thereof, by caring for the Church, as a most tender and loving nursing Father.\nThere are infinite arguments of this right Christian and religious affection in Your Majesty; but\nnone is more forcible to declare it to others than the vehement and perpetuated desire of the accoun-\nplishing and publishing of this work, which now with all humility we present unto Your Majesty\nFor when Your Highness had once out of deep judgment apprehended how convenient it was, that\nout of the Original Sacred Tongues, together with comparing of the labours, both in our own, and\nother foreign Languages, of many worthy men who went before us, there should be one more exact\nTranslation of the Holy Scriptures into the English Tongue; Your Majesty did never desist to urge\nand to excite those to whom it was commended, that the work might be hastened, and that the\nbusiness might be expedited in so decent a manner, as a matter of such importance might justly\nrequire.\nAnd now at last, by the mercy of God, and the continuance of our labours, it being brought unto\nsuch a conclusion as that we have great hopes that the Church of England shall reap good fruit"
}