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In those unprecedented and tumultuous times, certainly the main consolation of those who feared God, and loved the Scriptures, must have run in very much the same channel; and perhaps at no preceding era in this country, had they more frequently closed their mutual communications in the same expressive terms-THE LORD REIGNETH. But we who live, though at such a distance, can now see this event in greater perfection, as by far the most conspicuous proof that He did reign, as still He does. It was the solitary eminent public occurrence, which was to admit of no mutation for two centuries to come.

The kingdom itself may yet be moved, from its centre to its shores, and be greatly agitated. The civil power may change its aspect. The monarchy may be restored, only to be dealt with providentially, as the Pontiff had been. The line of succession may be broken, and the existing dynasty even be banished from the soil. Yet better days are coming, and no weapon, though employed by a future Sovereign, shall prosper against the Bible of his subjects: though among the causes of removal from his crown and kingdom, should hostility to the Sacred Volume be discovered, this is not to be buried in oblivion amongst other provocations.

BOOK IV.

GREAT BRITAIN.

From the Commonwealth to Queen Victoria.

THE COMMONWEALTH TO GEORGE III.

MDCL.-MDCCLXXX.

BRIEF SURVEY-THE REVOLUTION OF 1688-9-PRECEDING OPPOSITION TO THE SCRIPTURES BY JAMES II., AN ADHERENT OF THE OLD LEARNING-CONSEQUENCES OF THE REVOLUTION-STATE OF THE BIBLE PRESS IN ENGLAND— CANNE'S BIBLE-BASKERVILLE'S-BLAYNEY'S BIBLE-STATE OF THE BIBLE PRESS IN SCOTLAND JAMES II. EQUALLY BUSY IN OPPOSITION THERE THE NUMBER OF BIBLES NOW PASS ALL HUMAN COMPUTATION-THE RESULTS.

HIS period, extending to one hundred and thirty years, from 1650 to the twentieth year of the reign of George the Third, or 1780, involved many changes in the sovereignty of the kingdom, namely

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Glancing back for a moment at the commencement of the Stuart dynasty, though there was some expression of apparent momentary interest by James I., in reference to the Scriptures, as this was never followed up by any substantial or recorded

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proof of continued zeal, it was ominous of all that followed in the times of his son and grandsons. That King, it is notorious, in his latter years, had discovered a decided leaning towards the gentlemen of "the old learning;" and, at all events under the successive reigns of his descendants, we witness such neglect in the printing and publishing of the Sacred Volume, not to say open contempt, that if the eye has once fixed on this history throughout, one cannot help anticipating the approach of some great national crisis. What were dignified with the title of "public affairs" had frequently in this kingdom, before now, been treated as subordinate to one other. Among the elements of our national changes, it is true, any reference to the Sacred Oracles, though first given to us after such an extraordinary manner, has seldom, if ever, found a place. And yet, in reference to the Scriptures in the language of the people, a contrast is forced upon us between the house of Tudor and that of Stuart. The princes of the former, from Henry to Elizabeth, had been overruled, and to this they submitted-those of the latter were at last banished from the

soil.

Among the impelling causes of this final step, the treatment of the Divine Record may have had more to do than has hitherto been observed.

It may be inquired-What possible connexion can ever be traced between that great national change, the Revolution of 1688, and the possession of the Divine Record in the language of the people? It is true, that many instances might be adduced of the very slovenly manner in which the privileged printers had been executing their task. This, however, the long-suffering of God had endured, and will continue to do, so that it may be glanced at afterwards. But now the supreme authority of the Sacred Volume having been unblushingly impugned under the immediate sanction of the Crown, there must be a change. The very first year of the reign of James II. was marked by several noted events, indicative of direct hostility to Divine Truth, as affecting its devoted adherents at home and abroad. From the year 1670, indeed, the sentiments of this Prince had created uneasiness, agitating Parliament again and again, and his doings in Scotland from 1679 were known to all. But once crowned, in February 1685, he then pledged himself to be a

disciple and adherent of "the old learning."

In June, Charles

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the Elector Palatine dying without issue, was succeeded by the house of Newburgh, no less ardently devoted to Rome. October, Louis the Fourteenth revoked the edict of Nantes; and in December, threatened by the Court of France, the Duke of Savoy had recalled the edict that his father had granted in favour of the Vaudois. All these were indications of some general storm, and the King of England will hasten its approach. Ere long a select junto of persons in favour of the old learning and its re-establishment, with Father Edward Petre, the King's confessor, as a privy councillor at their head, took the management of many affairs, the too evident proof of some concerted scheme being in progress.

And now when the King was down at Oxford, for the last time in 1687, he might "be presented in the name of the University with a rich BIBLE, printed there," which his Majesty, as a blind, said he would accept; and he might afterwards talk of establishing toleration by an Act of Parliament; but it is of far more importance to observe, both before and after this, how he had been acting elsewhere, both at London and in his former abode at Edinburgh.

The reader has already heard much of the Barkers, as the printers of the Bible, but long before their rights expired, Charles II. had granted a reversionary patent to Thomas Newcome and one Henry Hills. Sooner or later this last man, whose moral character seems to have been far from correct, had actually been employed in printing the Scriptures, and, according to report, shamefully incorrect.1 But no sooner was James

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upon the throne, than Hills had come into closer confidential contact. He then styled himself openly, "Printer to the King's Most Excellent Majesty, for his Household and Chapel." might serve for whatsoever was to be done in London, but there was another man sustaining the same office and title down at Edinburgh, and the question will be, how were they engaged? Was the press about to be employed in hostility to the Word of God, and by printed sanction of the King? In both capitals the

1 See "The London Printer's Lamentation, or the Press Opprest and Overprest," 1660. Or the reprint in the Harleian Miscellany.

design was the same. So early as October 1685, the servile Privy Council in Edinburgh had issued orders to every printer and bookseller, forbidding the printing or selling any books which reflected on the faith of the King. Among these, however, there was at least one bookseller of some spirit and conscience, named James Glen. He explicitly stated that he had one book which he was resolved to sell at all hazards, though it was the worst enemy the Church of Rome had ever seen; and that one book was the BIBLE. But still the progress downwards went on. The King's yacht had arrived at Leith from London in November 1686, with an altar and vestments, images and priests, to be accommodated in no other place than Holyrood. A college of Jesuits was there established—a printing press was set up, and among its fruits we need only to mention one production :

"The Catholic Scripturist, third edition, more correct, by Joseph Mumford, priest of the Society of Jesus, Holyrood House. Printed by James Watson, printer to his Most Excellent Majestie's Royal Family and Household, 1687. Permissu superiorum."

In this book the reader was told in so many words-" Scripture alone cannot be the rule of faith."2 So determined was the opposition shown to all this, that ere long blood had been shed, and cruelties inflicted; though these doings in Scotland were merely a branch of the same wild design, which was driving with unblushing vigour in London itself. Hence from the press of Hills, who had just served the office of Master of the Stationers' Company, we have more than one publication, full of monstrous and daring profanity in reference to the Sacred Scriptures. Witness the following:

"The Question of Questions, which, rightly interpreted, resolves all other questions. By James Mumford, priest of the Society of Jesus. Permissu superiorum. London, printed by Henry Hills, Printer to the King's Most Excellent Majesty, for his Household and Chapel, 1686." There was also another edition in 1688, said to be by "Optatus Ductor," but, slyly, without either place or printer's name.

2 To this man James II. had actually assigned a salary of £100 annually; nor was he the only man employed with the same title. No sooner had Watson died in 1687, than Peter Bruce or Bruschii, a German, was appointed as printer "to his Majesty's Household, Chapel and College." What salary the King assigned in London we have not ascertained.

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