Memorials of ... Myles Coverdale [by J.J. Lowndes.].

"not yet experte in the scripture, for I reproue no "preachyng without the boke as longe as they saye "the trueth.

"Yf thou be a man that hast wyfe and childrē, "first loue thy wyfe, acordynge to the ensample of the loue, wherwith Christ loued the cōgregacion, and "remembre that so doynge, thou louest euen thy "selfe: yf thou hate her, thou hatest thine awne "flesh: yf thou cherishe her and make moch of "her, thou cherisest makest moch of thyselfe : "for she is bone of thy bones, flesh of thy flesh. "And who so euer thou be that hast children, bryng

them vp in the nurtour and informacion of the "Lorde. And yf thou be ignoraunt, or art otherwyse occupied laufully that thou canst not teach "them thy selfe, then be euen as diligent to seke a good master for thy childre, as thou wast to seke "a mother to beare them: for there lieth as great

weight in the one as in ye other. Yee better it

were for the to be vnborne, then not to feare God, or to be euel brought vp. which thynge (I meane bryngynge vp well of children) yf it be diligently "loked to, it is the vpholdinge of all comon welthes: " and the negligence of the same, the very decaye of "all realmes.'

He finishes by exhorting the reader to practise himself well in the word of God, "and be not onely "an outwarde hearer, but a doer therafter."

The reader, we hope, will pardon the length of the above extracts, for the sake of having in them, a good specimen of Coverdale's writings.

MEMORIALS OF MYLES COVERDALE.

In the last page, it is stated to be "Prynted in the 66 yeare of oure LORDE M.D.XXXV. and fynished the fourth daye of October." Mr. Lewis, however, describes the copy of the Bible' which he examined, as mentioning in the preamble to the dedication, the king's dearest just wife, queen Jane, instead of queen Anne.* This is a plain inconsistency with the statement in the last page, as it is certain that the king did not marry queen Jane, till the 10th of May, 1536, consequently more than half a year after the date of finishing the Bible. But if we suppose, as Mr. Cotton is inclined to think, that the preliminary pieces of this Bible were printed in England, we can easily account for part having been published in queen Anne's time, and part in queen Jane's.'

• Sion College.

* See ante, p. 51.

'See note G.

CHAPTER V.

COVERDALE'S BIBLE.

WHETHER PUT FORTH BY THE KING'S

AUTHORITY OR NOT. ARGUMENTS FOR AND AGAINST. APPARENTLY AT ONE TIME HAD OBTAINED THE KING'S SANCTION. -WHICH AFTERWARDS WAS NEITHER CONFIRMED SPECIMEN OF THIS TRANSLATION.

NOR WITHDRAWN.

WHETHER or not this translation was issued by the king's authority and approbation, appears hitherto to have been a matter of some doubt. Mr. Lewis is of opinion that it was; and he instances, in support of this view, a passage in a little MS. book of devotions, preserved in the family of Francis Wyat, Esq., of Boxley, in Kent." This book, as the tradition of the family goes, was the present of Anne Boleyn to her maids of honour. The passage referred to is to the following effect:-" Grante us, most mercyful father, this one of the greatest gyftes that ever thowe gavest to mankynde, the knowledge of thie holy "wille and gladde tidinges of oure saluation, this greate while oppressed with the tyrannye of thy "adversary of Rome and his fautors," a kepte close

Hist. Transl. Bible, p. 97.

b" Favourers."

" vndre his Latyne Lettres, and now at length promulgate publyshed and sette at lybertie by the grace poured into the harte of thy supreme power our prince, as all Kinges hartes be in thie hande, as in "the olde Lawe dydest use lyke mercye to thie people "of Israel by thie hie Instrument the good King "Josia, whiche restored the temple decayed to his "former beawtie, abolyshed all worshippynge of Images and Ydolatrye, and sette abrode the Lawe by the space of many hundred yeres befor cleane "oute of remembraunce."

He adduces, as a further proof of the correctness of his opinion, a clause in the injunctions, issued by Lord Cromwell, in 1536, concerning matters of religion, which is as follows:

Item, That every Parson or Proprietary of any "Parish Church within this realme, shall, on this side "the Feast of St. Peter ad Vincula, next comming, pro"vide a booke of the whole Bible, both in Latine, and "also in English, and lay the same in the Quire, for "every man that will to looke and read thereon, and "shall discourage no man from the reading of any part "of the Bible, either in Latine or English; but rather

comfort, exhort, and admonish every man to read "the same as the very word of God, and the spirituall "food of man's soule, whereby they may the better "know their duties to God, to their soveraigne Lord "the King, and their Neighbour; ever gently and charitably exhorting them, that using a sober and

Fox's Acts and Monuments, vol. ii. p. 388. Collier's Ecel. Hist.

"a modest behaviour in the reading and inquisition "of the true sense of the same, they doe in no wise

stiffely or eagerly contend or strive one with another "about the same, but referre the declaration of those places that be in controversie to the judgement of "them that be better learned."

He observes upon this clause, that the translation of Coverdale must be the one here meant, as it was the only one of the whole Bible then extant in English."

The testimony of Fulke, a contemporary of Coverdale's, is also corroborative of Lewis's opinion. He says, "I my selfe, and so did many hundreds beside me, heare that reuerend father, M. Doctor Couerdale, of holy and learned memorie, in a sermon at Paules Crosse, vpon occasion of some slaunderous reportes, that then were raysed againste his transla"tion, declare his faithfull purpose in doing the same, "which after it was finished, and presented to K. "Henry the eight, of famous memorie, and by him "committed to diuerse bishops of that time to pervse, "of which (as I remember) Steuen Gardiner was one: "after they had kept it long in their handes, and "the King was diuerse times sued vnto for the pub"lication thereof, at the last being called for by the King him selfe, they redeliuered the booke: and being demaunded by the King what was their iudge"ment of the translation, they aunswered that there were many faultes therein. Well, said the King, "but are there anye heresies maintayned thereby?

d Hist. Transl. Bible,
P. 104.

e Defence of Transl. Bible, p.

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