II. HISTORY. sketching in a short speech the king's purpose and CHAP. commands. ['He will not] admit' he said 'any EXTERNAL 'articles or doctrine not contained in Scripture, but 'approved only by continuance of time and old 'custom, and by unwritten verities as ye were 'wont to do......His majesty will give you high 'thanks if ye will act and conclude a godly and 'perfect unity, whereunto this is the only way and 'mean, if ye will determine all things by the 'Scripture, as God commandeth you in Deutero'nomy; which thing his majesty exhorteth and 'desireth you to do.' On this 'the bishops rose 'up altogether giving thanks unto the king's 'majesty......for his most godly exhortation......' There was less unanimity afterwards. The discussion turned upon the Sacraments. Cranmer wisely urged moderation and accuracy of definition. Ales, at the invitation of Crumwell, proceeded to investigate the meaning of the word. Stokesley, bishop of London, interrupted him as he was examining the opinions of the fathers, and was in turn checked by Fox of Hereford, who reminded both that 'they were commanded by 'the king that these controversies should be de'termined only by the rule and judgment of the 'Scripture.' Then specially addressing the bishops II. EXTERNAL CHAP. he continued......' The lay people do now know 'the holy Scripture better than many of us; and HISTORY. 'the Germans have made the text of the Bible 'so plain and easy by the Hebrew and Greek 'tongues that now many things may be better understood without any glosses at all than by all 'the commentaries of the doctors. And moreover 'they have so opened these controversies by their 'writings, that women and children may wonder 'at the blindness and falshood that have been 'hitherto...... Truth is the daughter of time, and 'time is the mother of truth; and whatsoever is 'besieged of truth cannot long continue; and 'upon whose side truth doth stand, that ought not 'to be thought transitory or that it will ever fall...' But Stokesley hard pressed in the argument, replied to Ales with inconsiderate warmth......' Ye 'are far deceived if ye think that there is none ' other word of God but that which every souter and cobbler doth read in his mother tongue. 'And if ye think that nothing pertaineth unto the 'Christian faith, but that only which is written in 'the Bible, then are ye plainly with the Lutherans ...... Now when the right noble lord Crumwell, 'the archbishop with the other bishops who did 'defend the pure doctrine of the Gospel, heard this, 'they smiled a little one upon another, forasmuch CHAP. II. as they saw him flee even in the very beginning EXTERNAL of the disputation unto his old rusty sophistries 'and unwritten verities......' 'Thus through the in'dustry of Crumwell the colloquies were brought 'to this end, that albeit religion could not wholly 'be reformed, yet at that time there was some ' reformation had through England''. HISTORY. 1537. In the meantime the first edition of Coverdale's The second edition of Bible was exhausted. The fall and death of Coverdale's Bible auQueen Anne, which had seemed likely to be fatal thorised to the cause of the reformers had not stayed the desire for the vernacular Scriptures which sprang from popular and not from political impulses. The feeling of the clergy and the bishops was indeed divided on the question, but even among them the king could find sufficient support to justify a decided step in directly authorising the publication of the English Bible'. 1 Foxe, Acts and Monuments, V. 378 ff. 2 According to Foxe Crumwell, as Vicegerent, issued in 1536 an injunction that by Aug. 1 every church should be provided 'with a book of the whole Bible in Latin and also in English... 'for every man that will to look Two editions of Cover 'and read therein..." (Foxe, CHAP. dale's translation 'overseen and corrected' were Prayer be fore reading the Scriptures. gracious license.' The name of Queen Jane was substituted for that of Queen Anne in the dedication without further change, and at length the English Bible was not only tacitly overlooked but distinctly allowed to circulate freely. Coverdale, through Crumwell's influence, had established a precedent, and successors were found at once to avail themselves of it. The revised edition of Coverdale differs slightly in text and arrangement from that of 1535. One significant addition is worthy of notice, 'A prayer 'to be used before reading the Bible: Because 'that when thou goest to study in Holy Scripture 'thou shouldest do it with reverence, therefore 'for thine instruction and loving admonition 'thereto, the reverend father in God Nicholas, 'Bishop of Salisbury, hath prescribed this prayer 'following, taken out of the same. "O Lord God Almighty which long ago saidst "by the mouth of James thine Apostle: If any of "you lack wisdom, let him ask it of God......Hear my petition for this thy promise sake......Have "mercy upon me and graciously hear me for "Jesus Christs sake our Lord, which liveth and CHAP. 66 reigneth with Thee, His Father and the Holy "Ghost, world without end. Amen." 'After the end of any Chapter (if thou wilt) thou mayest say these verses following. "Lead me O Lord in thy way, and let me "walk in Thy truth. Oh let mine heart delight "in fearing thy name. "Order my goings after Thy Word that no "wickedness reign in me. "Keep my steps within thy paths, lest my feet "turn into any contrary way." § 3. MATTHEW (ROGERS). Coverdale, we have seen, looked earnestly for the displacing of his own work by another. His prayers and the prayers of his readers were answered sooner than he could have hoped. Tyndale, at the time of his martyrdom, had published of the Old Testament the Pentateuch and book of Jonah, with a few detached pieces, being 'Epistles 'from the Old Testament according to the use of 'Salisbury,' including Lessons from Ecclesiasticus and Wisdom'. But he 1 This alone is sufficient to refute Anderson's supposition that Tyndale, if he had lived, would had left in manuscript, not have been guilty of printing II. EXTERNAL HISTORY. |