closing with an earnest prayer for, and solemn charge to, the King.

"Wherefore I pray to God that your Grace may be found acceptable in His sight, and one of the members of His Church; and according to the office that He hath called your Grace unto, that you may be found a faithful minister of His gifts, and not a defender of His faith; for He will not have it defended by MAN, or man's POWER, but by His Word only, by the which He hath evermore defended it; and that by a way far above man's power or reason, as all the stories of the Bible make mention.

“Wherefore, gracious King, remember yourself. Have pity upon your soul, and think that the day is even at hand when you shall give account of your office, and of the blood that hath been shed by your sword. In the which day, that your Grace may stand stedfastly, and be not ashamed, but be clear and ready in your reckoning, and to have, as they say, your quietus est sealed with the blood of our Saviour Christ, which only serveth at that day, is my daily prayer to Him that suffered death for our sins, which also prayeth to His Father for grace for us continually. To whom be all honour and praise for ever, Amen. The Spirit of God preserve your Grace. Anno Domini 1530, 1mo. die Decembris."

Certainly no monarch was ever more pointedly addressed, or more seasonably and faithfully warned. It seems, therefore, unaccountable that Latimer should have ever been supposed to assent to such proceedings, merely because his name was mentioned as being present. The calumny, however, no doubt unwittingly, has been bound up, even with the reprint of Tyndale's New Testament, in our own day. At that moment, indeed, the Bishops might think it fortunate to have such a name appended, but had they foreseen the result, it had never been there. Meanwhile, Latimer had done what he could to damage this Royal and prelatical Bull.

To return, however, to these Bishops as a body; having in May secured their object, in so far as a Royal proclamation could go, it seems to have been with a view to greater effect, that a second grand and more public book-fire was then determined. The first had been the result of Wolsey's "secret search" in 1526; the present was the consequence of the negociation at Antwerp last year. Warham's purchase in 1527 was disposed of, or consumed, without show; but Tunstal had reserved his books till now. Tyndale by name, and his translation, had both been branded by royal authority, and the Bishop, no doubt, thought it a fortunate moment for fulfilling his purpose. "I intend, surely," said he at Antwerp, "to

destroy them all, and to burn them at Paul's Cross."

Ac

cordingly, says Halle, "this year in May, the Bishop of London" (formerly, now of Durham) "caused all his New Testaments which he had bought, with many other books, to be brought into Paul's Church Yard, in London, and there were openly burned." That Tunstal was acting for Stokesly, till his return from the Continent, and recording what was doing in the diocese till then, is evident from several documents at the close of his Register.

There was, however, a great difference between the effects of this burning, and that in the year 1526. Then the people, generally, were not aware of the value of what they saw consumed; but it was far otherwise now, and this alone is a proof that the cause of Divine Truth, which the Bishops would fain have crushed, was making decided progress. This burning "had such an hateful appearance in it, being generally called a burning of the Word of God, that people from thence concluded, there must be a visible contrariety between that book, and the doctrines of those who handled it; by which both their prejudice against the clergy, and their desire of reading the New Testament, was increased." 3

In corroboration of this statement, it is certain that neither the purchase at Antwerp, nor the burning at Paul's Cross, had any effect on the importations into this country, except the reverse of what was intended and desired by the enemy; and before long Tunstal himself was fully sensible of this. "Afterwards," says Halle, "when more New Testaments were imprinted, they came thick and threefold into England, the Bishop of London," (now of Durham,) "hearing that still there were so many, sent for Augustine Packington, and said to him-'Sir, how cometh this, that there are so many New Testaments abroad, and you promised and assured me that you had bought all?' Then, said Packington-'I promise you, I bought all that then was to be had; but I perceive they have made more since, and it will never be better, as long as they have the letters and stamps; therefore, it were best for your Lordship to buy the stamps too! and then you are sure.' The Bishop smiled at

3 Burnet.

L

him, and said—'Well, Packington, well;' and so ended the matter."

And so, perhaps, ended the device of purchasing books in order to burn them; but it will not be long before we find these enemies proceed to men themselves, and, with a bitter zeal, still more inflamed, consign them to the fire; for very soon after this, seizing and burning men instead of their productions, or the books in their possession, became the order of the day. But it is with books we have now to do, and there is no doubt that while Wolsey was descending to the devouring grave, and the Bishops, with the King at their head, were imagining a vain thing, the printing press was as busy as ever. Another edition. of Tyndale's New Testament was executed this year, and it is the more worthy of notice, that there appears to have been a positive connexion between him and it. The author is perfectly aware that the edition of 1534 has been styled the second genuine edition of Tyndale, but so many mistakes have been detected already, that one need not feel any surprise if this should prove another.

It has, indeed, been often stated, that with the money received from Tunstal, Tyndale reprinted the New Testament, and Hamburg has also been mentioned as the place where one edition was printed. But whether it was executed there or elsewhere, of his having now printed an edition, though he had no time as yet to revise the version, there can be little or no doubt. Foxe, and Strype, and Tanner expressly assign this edition to Tyndale, the last stating Marburg as the place of printing. But there are corroborating circumstances as to the book itself. It is not till the close of this year, or rather the following spring, that we hear of Tyndale having a brother, and resident in London; and if the records of the Star Chamber are to be received as evidence, it is there distinctly stated, that he "sent the Testaments, and divers other books, to his brother, John Tyndale, a merchant in London." This impression, too, has been pronounced to be more correct than the Antwerp editions, at least so said the late Bishop Tomline: and when we come to John's apprehension and appearance before Sir Thomas More, as well as the importations by Richard Bayfield, little doubt will remain as to this reprint coming from the original translator, although he had not found leisure as yet to improve the translation.

About the end of this year an incident occurred, which may seem unaccountable, as out of keeping with the usual current of events; were it not that the capricious temper of the monarch admitted both of words and actions, directly at variance with each other. Mr. Fyshe, the author of "The Supplication of Beggars," we found had been in London in the summer of 1526, as well as in 1528; and, according to his wife's representation, in Foxe, "he had been absent now the space of two years and a half." His tract, as we have seen, had interested Henry, when first he saw it in 1526; and this excellent woman having gained access to the King, he engaged that her husband should "come and go safe, without peril, and that no man should do him harm," if she brought him to the royal presence. Emboldened by the King's words, she went and brought him. His Majesty conversed with him, it is said, for above three hours, and, in the end, desired him to take his wife home, for she had taken great pains for him. Fyshe had fled formerly for fear of the Cardinal, and now he replied-"He durst not so do, for fear of Sir Thomas More the Chancellor, and Stokesly the Bishop of London." The King, taking the signet from his finger, recommended him to the Lord Chancellor, charging him not to molest him. More received the signet as a sufficient safe-guard, of course, but inquired if he had any discharge for his wife? She had displeased the friars, by not allowing them to say their Gospels in Latin in her house, as they did in others, and insisted that they should say them in English. Next morning, More actually sent his man for her, but her young daughter being sick of the plague, prevented his approach, as well as any farther molestation. Within six months after this, Mr. Fyshe himself died of the same disease, and was interred in St. Dunstan's, the very same church where Tyndale had been accustomed to preach in 1523. The Chancellor, in his loose and mendacious style, represented him as recanting before he died, of which there is not the slightest evidence. His widow was afterwards married to a gentleman of the same profession as her first husband, Mr. Baynham, of whom we shall hear before long.

See Wood's Ath. by Bliss, i., p. 59-60, and Foxe's "Story of Simon Fyshe."

MDXXXI.

FORMIDABLE OPPOSITION-PURSUIT AFTER TYNDALE BY THE KING AND CRUMWELL-STILL IN VAIN-TYNDALE'S ANSWER TO SIR T. MORE-EPISTLE OF JOHN EXPOUNDED JONAH, WITH A PROLOGUE-RENEWED PERSECUTIONBROTHER OF TYNDALE-BILNEY-BAYFIELD-MANY BOOKS IMPORTING-CONSTANTYNE CAUGHT ESCAPES — PERSECUTION ABROAD POWERFUL REMONSTRANCE FROM ANTWERP WITH CRUMWELL, INCLUDING THE KING AND THE LORD CHANCELLOR.

HE principal feature of the present year was that of determined opposition to Divine truth, abroad as well as at home; for although one man had been raised up by God to lead on the faithful, unquestionably it was truth alone which occasioned all the uproar, not the opinions of men. And as to our native land especially, if we should still farther discriminate, it was through the Book of God, in our native language, that Divine truth now penetrated into the heart of this country.

Last year had witnessed the Royal denunciation of our Translator by name, as well as all that he had then published; but since then, by his "Practice of Prelates," he had advanced one step farther, in combating the darkness and superstition which covered the land. That tract had been read by men of every grade, from the palace itself, down to the hamlet; by citizens of London, and husbandmen in Essex, in Suffolk, and elsewhere. Here he had not only implored, but warned the King to beware of persecution, and faithfully gave his judicious opinion with regard to the divorce; that miserable question still in discussion throughout Europe. By this year, however, Henry had nearly got this question framed, according to his own liking; and as he was soon to bring it before Parliament, he must have felt incensed by Tyndale's reference to its proceedings, not to say that the next would lie open to a second review. Besides, Sir Thomas More had but lately come into office, and he, with the Bishops, had cordially concurred in advising persecution, having secured the royal name to sanction and enforce their measures. The safety of Tyndale, therefore, was now in far greater hazard, than it ever had been in the days of the Cardinal. Wolsey had been roused from his lair, chiefly by the Satyre of Roye, and his