i ' A^ Oft '-r^ Presented to Princeton Theological Seminary By the Hev. Wendell Pfime, D.D. To be Kept Ahvays as a Separate Collection. SCO THE ANNALS THE EMLISH BIBLE. CHRISTOPHER ANDERSON. ABRIDGED AND CONTINUED BY SAMUEL IREN^US PRIME, SECRETARY OF THE AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY, NEW YORK: ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS, No. 285 BROADWAY. 1849. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1849, BY ROBERT CARTKR & BROTHERS, In the Clerk's Office for the Southern District of New York. THOMAS B. SMITH, STKREOTVPKR, ROBERT CRAIGHEAD, PRINTER, 216 WILLIAM STREET, N. Y. 112 FULTON STREET. PREFACE. In the literature of this country, although it has been so often felt and regretted, a more observable deficiency does not exist, than that of there being no history of the English Bible. It may have been imagined, that such a narrative could embrace no heart-stirring incidents, or incidents laid as the foundation of a great design, no frequent peril of life, no hair- breadth escapes, nor, especially, any of those transactions in which the vital interests of this nation have been involved. No mistake coidd have been greater, but whatever has been the cause, the defect is notoiious. The Sacred Volume, indeed, carries internal evidence of its divine origin, and that in abundance ; but still, with reference to the Bible now being- used daily, no questions can be more natural than these — When was this volume first translated from the original, and put into print ? Who was the man that labored night and day to accomplish this ? Like his Divine Master, was he betrayed unto death ? If so, who betrayed him ? What became of his betrayers ? Or, was there any one man who befriended him, in his last days, or final trial ? And since all this, and much more, did take place abroad ; in the first transmission, in the secret and singular conveyance of the heavenly treasiire to our shores, what were the distinct tokens of a superintending Providence to be observed and adored ? What were the notable circumstances connected with its earliest triumphs over the prejudice and passion of our common nature ? Or, in short, ho'w has this Sacred Volume, revised, and re-revised, after three hundred years, come down into our hands ? And yet, up to the present moment, should anj' individual apply to his Christian teacher, or any child, to his Parent, and put these and other deeply-interesting questions, no definite answer can be returned ; nor is there a single publication, which, if it lead not astray, will not leave the inquisitive reader nearly as far from satisfaction as when he beg-an. If a Translator, in whose train all others have followed, must be allowed to rank far above all mere Reformers, it is strange if, on such a subject, historians generally shoidd have slumbered or slept ; yet the histories of Halle and Foxc, of Stowe and Strype, of Burnet and Col- lier, of Turner and Lingard, or Soame, as well as the histoiy of Transla- tions by Lewis, Herbert, or Dibdin, with the Biblical literature of Townley, of Cotton, or of Home, may all be read, and they must be, when such a IV PREFACE. period is explored ; but from all these sources put together, still the reader can form no conception of what actually took place, Avith regard to the Scriptures. The incidental circumstances mentioned are not only few in number, but scarcely one of them appears in its true light or ap- propriate connection. Many, and by far the most curious and productive incidents, have remained in utter oblivion. To many, no doubt, it might seem too bold, were we at once to affirm that the English Bible is at present in the act of being perused from the rising to tlie setting sun. The assertion might appear little else than a figure of speech, or an event to be anticipated ; and yet this is no more than the half of the truth. The English Bible, at this moment, is the only version in existence on which the sun never sets. We know full well that it is actually in use on the banks of the Ottawa and St. Lawrence, as well as at Sidney, Port Philip, and Hobart Town ; but before his evening rays have left the spires of Quebec or Montreal, his morning beams have already shone for hours upon the shores of Australia and New Zealand. And if it be reading by so many of our language in Canada, while the sun is sinking on Lake Ontario ; in the eastern world, where he has risen in his glory on the banks of the Ganges, to the self- same Sacred Volume, many, who are no less our countrymen, have already turned. Yet are all these but as branches from one parent stock, under whose shade this version, corrected and recorrected, has been reading by myriads for three hundred years. The Scriptures in English manuscript, the revival of Letters, as well as the Invention of Printing, preceded, by many years, any application of that noble art to our Enghsh version. But the entire period may be, or rather ought to be, regarded as containing a series of events, 2^'>'climinary to that memorable occurrence, and, therefore, though but slightly sketched, they require to be noticed in the light of a deliberate, yet appropriate introduction. This, accordingly, has been attempted, as due to the history following. In point of time, the history of our English Scriptures, from the date of their first appearing in print, will be found to take precedence of all the Institutions, Establishments, or local interests, within our shores. No section of Christians, it will be seen, of whatever name, can possess any title to rank itself as having been essential, either to the progress or to the general prevalence of the English Scriptures, much less to their original introduction. This is an undertaking which has been uniformly conducted above their sphere of judgment. Should this general prevalence tuin out to have been almost equally independent of the civil power, from Henry the Eighth down to Charles the Second, or rather to the present hour, it will form altogether by far the most singular fact, as such, in the annals of the kingdom. It is a feature in the history of our Bible, claiming supreme attention from the existing age. PREFACE. Upon the whole, the present forms a department in past history, with which every Minister of the truth, and every parent, ought to liave been famihar long ago. As it regards instruction, as well as ground for new reflections, it will be found to occupy a course or channel peculiar to it- self. Perhaps the fifth book in our New Testament Scriptures, may in part explain its character. Men, indeed, have entitled that book " the Acts of the Apostles ;" but it is in reality a history of the way and manner in which " the Word of the Lord grew and multiplied," — the Apostles themselves, whether as individuals or as a body, being treated in perfect subordination to the grand or leading design. In some faint resemblance to this manner, so ought the history of the Divine Word, in our native tongue, to have been attempted long since ; leaving men and things, whether great characters or national events, in the subordinate places which have actually belonged to them. At the same time, such men and such events, viewed as the}'' have now been, sometimes in contrast, and at other times in connection with the progress of Divine Revelation itself, lend a peculiar zest or life to the entire narrative. This history may, and it will furnish motives to action, such as can be drawn from no other retrospect. It forms a key, if not the only one, to our highest imperative obligations ; and it may well be pondered, as the path by which Jehovah led our forefathers, in a way of his own devising, with more than " the pillar of a cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night." In this view, the historj^ though never written before, and therefore not understood, can never be out of date. It involves the commencement and continuance of a cause, which is but pursuing its course in our own day, not only to a wider extent, but with greater energy than ever before, and yet to be pursued with greater still. Edinburgh, I9th February, 1845. CONTENTS. INTRODUCTION. VAOS Brief survey of the ages which preceiled any printing of the Scriptures in the English tongue — Including the revival and triumph of classical learning and the arts, contrasted with the times of VVicklifle, with his version of the entire Sacred Volume, and its elTects — The invention of printing, its rapid progress to perfecuon, and the point to which the European nations, but more especially England and Scotland had been brought, before ever this invaluable art was applied to any version of the Sacred Scriptures in the language spoken by the people, xiii BOOK I.— ENGLAND, THE REIGN OF HENRY THE EIGHTH. SECTION I.— 1484 ?-1509-1523. From the birth of Tyndale, the original translator, to his embarkation for the Con- tinent, in pursuit of his design, 37 SECTION II.— 1524-1525. The New Testament in English preparing by Tyndale, for circulation in his na- tive land ; and in two editions from the press by the close of 1525 — State of England immediately before the reception of either edition, . . . .47 SECTION III.— 1526. Memorable introduction of the New Testament into England — The first two edi- tions— The first alarm in London, Oxford, Cambridge — The first burning of books — New Testament denounced by the King and VVolsey — Then by Tunstal and Warham — The Third Edition — Violent contention respecting it — Burning the Sacred Volume, abroad and at home — But all this fury is ineffectual, . 59 SECTION IV.— 1527. The Translator's progress — His earliest compositions — Agitation of Europe— Sack of Rome — Consequences — Persecution in England— Virulent Opposition to the New Testament — Warham and the Bishops buying it up — Fresh importations — The Fourth Edition — Scriptures singularly introduced once more, . . .77 SECTION v.— 1528. Tyndale and Fryth — England and Spain — England and Italy — Retrospect — Pres- ent persecution in England — Arrested by prevaiUng disease — Persecution in Antwerp — Nobly withstood, and the English Envoy defeated — Wolsey's pursuit after Tyndale and others — His eff'orts are all in vain, 88 SECTION VI.— 1529. Tyndale's progress in the Old Testament — Persecution in England — Thwarted once more — Tunstal at Antwerp — Wolsey's career — Tyndale's influence in the Palace — Cranmer first employed — Wolsey's fall — Lord Chancellor More — Rise Viii CONTENTS. PAGE of Crumwell— Parliament assembled— Commotion there— More, the Bishops, and the Kincr, in league against the Scriptures— Coverdale sent to Hamburgh —Another or filth edition of the New Testament, so dreaded by the authorities, 108 SECTION VII.— 1530. Tyndale's progress in the Old Testament— Practice of prelates— State of England —Wolsey's final ruin, sickness, death— Persecution goes on— King and prelates denounce the Scriptures— Latimer's bold remonstrance— New Testaments burnt • by Tunstal— .\nother, the sixth edition— Vigorous importation going forward —Death of S. Fyshe, 1-- SECTION VIII.— 1531. Konnidable 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— Critical state of England— Renewed persecution— Brother of Tyndale— Bilney—Bayficld— Many books importing— Constantyne caught —Escapes— Persecution "abroad— Powerful remonstrance from Antwerp, by Vaughan the English ambassador, with Crumwell, including the King and the Lorcf Chancellor More, 134 SECTION IX.— 1532. Tyndale's progress — Exposition in Matthew— His sentiments under persecution — 'The King not appeased — Renewed pursuit of Tyndale — Now by Sir Thomas Elyot — S°till in vain — State of England — Parliament — The Bishops fined — The King's affairs — Persecution goes on — Bainham — Latimer — More against Tyn- dale—Frvth arrives in England — In peril — In the Tower— Writing there in de- fence of the truth, and addressing the Christians in England, . . . .149 SECTION X.— 1533. One distincruisliing feature of Tyndale's course and character as compared with all his contemporaries — His answer to Sir T. More — His letter to Fryth in prison — State of England — Fry th's voice from the Tower — Strange condition of Eng- land— The King married — Cranmer's procedure — Gardiner roused — Fryth's ex- amination before the Bishops assembled — His triumph in argument — Martyrdom — England and the Continent — One effect of Fryth's death — Sir T. More writing still — One povi'erlul opponent at home — More, considered as a controversialist — His prodigious exertions — Other qualities — Finally overcome — The prospect brightening. IGO SECTION XL— 1534. Tyndale all alone after Fryth's death — Genesis, second edition — Fresh issue of the Pentateuch — Surreptitious edition of the New Testament by Joye — The cor- rected and improved edition by Tyndale — Joy's interference explained — State of England — Parliament assembled — Separation from Rome — Constructive trea- son— More and Fisher in trouble — The Pontiff's supremacy at an end — Divine truth in progress — Harman in London — Restored to favor by the Queen — Glance at the past and present — The New Testament importing in several editions, in forcible contrast with the idle dreams of the Convocation, . . . .175 SECTION XII.— 1535. Tyndale's apprehension at Antwerp — Imprisonment in the Castle of Vilvorde — Distinct information conveyed to Crumwell and Cranmer — The strenuous exer- tions of Thomas Poyntz — Risking his own life for Tyndale's sake — Tyndale's progress in prison — State of England— Key to its commotion — Henry's suprem- acy— Fisher and More fall before it — The odium ensuing — Cranmer and the Bishops — The Bishops applied to for a tran.slation of the°New Testament — A fruitless attempt— with fresh editions of Tyndale's translation, printed and im- porting this year, ............ 187 SECTION XIII.— 1536. Last year of Tyndale — State of England— Monasteries — The two Queens — Anne Bofeyn — Parliajiient — Queen Anne's treatment reviewed— Her character — The CONTENTS. IX 1 ... PAGE new or unprecedented Convocation — Latimer preaching before it — State of par- ties there — Old and new learning — Proceedings in Convocation — The first arti- cles— Crumwell's first injunctions — No Bible mentioned — Tyndale's latter days — Home and abroad now deeply implicated — The martyrdom ofTyndale — His benevolent character — His reward — The only prosperous cause, or the year which excelled all the preceding. ......... 197 SECTION XIV.— 1537. Memorable introduction of the entire Sacred Volume — Myles Coverdale — His cir- cumstances compared with Tyndale's — Coverdale's temporary success — The re- markably sudden change— Tyndale's Bible — State of England before its intro- duction— Cranmer's previous engagements — Tyndale's Bible arrived — Immedi- ately received — Must be bought and read — The King agrees — This at first seems to be incredible — Grafton the proprietor — All parties most memorably overruled — Distinction between the Bible rejected and the Bible received — Conclusion of the first year of triumph, 226 BOOK II.— ENGLAND. REIGN OP HENRY THE EIGHTH. SECTION I.— 1538. The second year of triumph — The English Bible printing in Paris — Press inter- rupted— Inquisition overiuatched — The Bible finished in London — First injunc- tions for Tyndale's Bible — New Testaments, fresh editions — Coverdale's Testa- ments— The destitute state of England — .Joy over the Scriptures — Retrospect, . 259 SECTION II.— 1539. Eventful year — Henry still a widower— Parhament and Convocation — Royal mes- sage— Mitred abbots — Dissolution of Monasteries — New articles — Bills of attainder — The six articles applied — Frustrated — Cranmer safe — Latimer im- prisoned— The tide turning — Execution of Abbots — Crumwell's policy — Mon- astic spoils — The Scriptures printing in various editions— Crumwell's remarkable energy in this department — The King swayed once more — The cause in progress — Cranmer busy in prospect of his first edition, next spring — It is distinctly sanctioned by Henry — Singular proclamation — Henry now commanding all his subjects to use the Scriptures in English, 280 SECTION III.— 1540. Political affairs — Henry's fourth marriage — Gardiner against Barnes and Garret —Parliament opened— Crumwell now Earl of Essex— The use all along made of him by Henry— Henry has taken offence— Crumwell apprehended— Parties opposed to him — First charges — Bill of attainder — Henry's fourth marriage annulled— Final charges against Crumwell— His death and character— More executions— Henry's fifth marriage— The old learning party in triumph— The large folio Bibles, in six editions— The first of Cranmer's— A different edition —The second of Cranmer's — The third preparing, to be issued next year, but with a different title— Q,uarto New Testament, ...... 302 SECTION IV.— 1541. European powers verging to hostility— The third large Bible, with Tunstal's name, by command- The iburth, in May, with Cranmer's name— Expense of these large undertakings— The memorable proprietor, Anthony Marler— The fifth great Bible, with Tunstal's name— The sixth, with Cranmer's name- Gardiner returned, to witness the progress now made during his absence, . 320 SECTION v.— 1542. The enemy on the rack— Parliament opened— The fifth Queen executed— Con- vocation met— The Bible introduced there for discussion at last— Singular X CONTENTS, PAOE display— Gardiner's grand effort in opposition— Cranmer informs the King— Progress of the trutli in England -^^ SECTION VI.— 1543. Parliament opened— The Convocation, baffled, acknowledge their inability to stay the progress of divine truth by applying now to Parliament— Parliament dis- graces Itself by malignant but vain opposition— Bonner withdrawn or sent abroad— Extraordinary arrangement of all the European powers— Henry s sixth marriage. 331 SECTION VII.— 1544. Parliament assembled— Henry's style and title— Longs to be King of France !— War with Scotland— Henry in France-Gardiner-Cranmer— Henry s con- fession of impotence in all his injunctions to his bishops— His inconsistency— New Testament of Tyndale's a foreign print, 3J5 SECTION VIII.— 1545. War with France — Undermining Cranmer — His enemies covered with shame — Henry addressing his Privy Council— His opinion of it— Addressing his Parlia- ment for the last time, ........... 338 SECTION IX.— 1546. Peace with France and Scotland — Persecution revived — Anne Askew— Her mar- tyrdom, along with three other individuals — Enmity to English books — The Supplication of the Poor Commons — The Queen in danger — Gardiner in trouble — Norfolk and his son, Surrey, arraigned — Execution of Surrey — Norfolk doomed to die, and only escapes by the death of the King himself— Henry and his courtiers — Henry, Francis, Charles,- " . 345 BOOK III.— ENGLAND. FROM EDWARD THE SIXTH TO THE COMMONWEALTH. SECTION I.— 1547-1553. Reign or Edward. — A reign, however brief, distinguished as having no parallel in British history, witli regard to the printing and publication of the Sacred Scriptures in tlie language of the people, 358 SECTION II.— 1553-1558. Reign of Q,ueen Mary. — A reign, discovering the actual state of the nation, as such ; but one, however painful in its details, which so far from retarding the progress of divine truth, only deepened the impression of its value ; and as it became the occasion, so it afforded the opportunity for the Sacred Scriptures being given afresh to England, more carefully revised — The exiles from the kingdom proving, once more, its greatest benefactors, 367 SECTION III.— 1558-1603. Reign of Elizabeth. — A reign, extending to more than forty-four years, but, how- ever powerful in every other departmi-nt, having no actual control over the choice or preference of the people of England, with regard to the Sacred Script- ures in their native tongue, and thus presenlinf the only exception to unlimited sway 38G SECTION IV.— 1603-1650. James the First to the Commonwealth.— Accession of James — Conference at Hampton Court explained — Revision of the Scriptures — Our present version — The revisors — Instructions given — Progress made — Revision of the whole — Money paid by the patentee—The present version published— No proclamation, CONTENTS. Xr PAGE no order of Privy Council, or any act of the Legislature upon record, on the subject — Did not become the version generally received throughout England, Scotland, and Ireland, till about forty years aftervs^ards— The London Polyglot Bible published by the people, for the people, 400 BOOK IV.— SCOTLAND. FROM JAMES THE FIFTH TO THE COMMONWEALTH. Introduction. — Brief notice of Scotland during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries — The opening of the sixteenth before the Sacred Scriptures in print were first imported, ............ 417 SECTION I.— 1526. Reign of James the Fifth.— State of Scotland— The first introduction of the Sacred Volume in print, that is, of the New Testament in the English language — Earliest arrivals at Edinburgh and St. Andrews, 423 SECTION II.— 1627-8. Anno 1527-28 — Consternation of the authorities in Scotland — The New Testa- ment soon followed by one living voice, that of Patrick Hamilton — His martyr- dom— Alexander Seton, the next witness, persecuted — He escapes to England — The New Testament goes on to be imported, 427 SECTION III.— 1529-34. From 1.529 to 1534 — All-important period, hitherto unnoticed — Alexander Ales — Cruelly persecuted by Hepburn, the Prior of St. Andrews — At last escapes by sea, from Dundee, first to France, and then to Germany — He writes to James v.; or the commencement of the first regular controversy in Britain respecting the Scriptures printed in the vulgar tongue — The abusive publication of Coch- Iseus professedly in reply — Answer of Ales to the calumnies of Cochteus — Ales pleads, most earnestly, tor the New Testament to he read — Cochlaeus, quite en- ratred, addresses James V. — Persecutions an-d martyrdoms, .... 433 SECTION IV.— 1535-37. From 1535 to 1537 — State of Scotland — Provincial council of the prelates — Agita- tion— Reading of the New Testament forbidden by proclamation — Progress of the cause, 448 SECTION v.— 1538-42. From 1538 to 1542 — Beaton a Cardinal, and persecution revived — The martyr- doms of 1538 — The cause of all the tumult in opposition traced to the New Testament in the native tongue — Another martyrdom — Men escaping — Death of the King, James v., 454 REIGN OF MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS.— 1543. The year 1543, a memorable one — Critical state of the Government — Remarkably sudden change — The Primate of St. Andrews, though a Cardinal, in prison — General perusal of Scriptures sanctioned — More martyrdoms by hanging, drowning, and the flames — The death of Beaton 461 QUEEN MARY, JAMES VI., TO THE COMMONWEALTH.— 1543— 1650. From 1543 to 1650— Singular history of the Scriptures in Scotland, during this entire period — Not supplied from its own native press, but by importation, for more than a hundred years— State of literature and education— The Apocrypha - -The present version of the Bible become the only one in use, . . . 468 Xli CONTENTS. BOOK v.— GREAT BRITAIN. FROM THE COMMONWEALTH TO QUEEN VICTORIA. SECTION I.— 1650-1780. PAGE The Commonwealth to George the TntRD.— The Revolution of 1688-9— Pre- ceding opposition to the Scriptures by James II.— Consequences of the Revolu- tion—State of the Bible press in England— Canne's Bible— Guy's Bibles— Baskerville's— Blayney's Bible— State of the Bible press in Scotland— .Tames II. equally busy in opposition there— The number of Bibles is now past all human computation —The results, if but too feeble in Britain, must be looked for else- where, 477 SECTION II.— NORTH AMERICA.— 1620-1780. The reign of James the Fir.st to George the Third. — The Bible first beheld by the natives in America, an English one — Copies carried away to New England by the refugees and following settlers— Extraordinary results — Williams, Ehot, Mather, Edwards, Brainerd— The English Bible is at last printed in America — The first edition in 1782 — The first Bibles in octavo, quarto, and folio, printed there in 1791, 484 III.— OR FINAL SECTION.— 1780-1844. REIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD TO QUEEN VICTORIA. The last sixtv-foiir years.— The commencement of a greater movement than ever before — The Revolutionary movement in France — Action is called for — The Sovereign Disposer of all events, as a secret mover, unobserved The first feeble movement taking its name from the Bible — The second — Its entire failure no ground for discouragement^Ten years before Divine Providence fixed on one young man — Two other men go to his aid — The Bible without either note or comment draws more attention — The destitution of it in Wales — The British and Foreign Bible Society with its auxiliaries— Their exertions up to the present day — Fall in the price of the Sacred Volume — American Bible Society — Conclusion as cheering as it was unanticipated, ...... 490 INTRODUCTION. BRIEF SURVEY OF THE AGES WHICH PRECEDED ANY PRINTING OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THE ENGLISH TONGUE INCLUDING THE REVIVAL AND TRIUMPH OF CLASSICAL LEARNING AND THE ARTS, CONTRASTED WITH THE TIMES OF "WICKLIFFE, WITH HIS VERSION OF THE ENTIRE SACRED VOLUME, AND ITS EFFECTS THE INVENTION OF PRINTING, ITS RAPID PROGRESS TO PERFECTION, AND THE POINT TO WHICH THE EUROPEAN NATIONS, BUT MORE ESPECIALLY ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND, HAD BEEN BROUGHT, BEFORE EVER THIS INVALUABLE ART WAS APPLIED TO ANY VERSION OF THE SACRED SCRIPTURES IN THE LANGUAGE SPOKEN BY THE PEOPLE. The darkest hour in the night of Europe, is an era respecting which historians are not even yet agreed. It has been regarded by many as being in the tenth century. One or two other writers consider the seventh or eighth century to be the lowest in point of depression, or the nadir of the human mind ; and they suppose that its movement in advance began with Charlemagne, while England can never forget her own Alfred the Great. A few mod- erns, too fastidious, or by no means so affected by the gloom and barbarity of the middle ages, profess to be tender of allowance as to the extent of this darkness, and would fondly persuade us to adopt a more cheerful retrospect. But speaking, generally, with reference to the people at large, the entire period, from the fifth or sixth to the fourteenth century, presents, at the best, but a tedious and dreary interval in the history of the human mind. Individual scholars, indeed, like stars which shed their light on the surround- ing gloom, there ever were ; and wherever there existed any marked regard for Sacred Writ, in the vernacular tongue, there the life-spark of Christianity was preserved. The Albigenses, the Waldenses, and other parties, might be adduced in proof ; the per- secution and dispersion of whom, had considerable influence in diffusinof the liffht which its enemies labored to extino'uish. It was not, however, till after a long and profound sleep through- out the dreams and visions of the middle ages, that the human mind was at last" effectually roused to action ; and in none of the countries throughout Europe more decidedly than in Italy and England. But still, for some great moral purpose, worthy of infinite wisdom, and to be afterwards disclosed, that mind, throughout all these western kingdoms, was first to be permitted to discover what was the utmost vigor of its native strength. First came the age of the chisel, and the painter's pencil, and the pen, not to say of the music of the human voice. Those stu- Xiv INTRODUCTION. pendous fabrics, which began to be erected from the tenth to the twelfth centuries, in which the massive duhiess of the Lombards was giving way to the influence of the Saracens of Spain, still stand out in proof, that many hands were already busy, under the guid- ance of some presiding ingenious mind. Literature and the fine arts, more especially classical learning, painting, and sculpture, were then to enjoy that triumph, the spoils of which now adorn the Avails of every palace, as well as the cabinets and libraries, the gal- leries and public rooms, of every city in Europe. This triumph, too, must take place in Italy, or in the very seat of that extraor- dinary power which had ruled for ages, with unmeasured sway, over all the west ; for, throughout the long preceding night, it could never be said that Rome herself had been either asleep or inactive. THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY. In England, at the commencement of this century, poor King John was actually promising to make his kingdom tributary to the Pontiff, with a proffer of not less than a thousand merks, or a sum equal to £20,000 now, over and above the old tribute : and although the Barons soon after waested Magna Charta from him, to show how low the kingdom had sunk, we find the Pontiff, at this same John's request^ annulling the proceedings. The great charters, it is true, were confirmed by his successor, Henry IIL ; but the power of Rome was growing every day during his fifty-six years' reign. It was then that the Pontiff w^as exclaiming — " Truly, England is our garden of delight ! It is an unexhausted well ! and where so much abounds, much may be acquired." No wonder that he thus exulted, when his income from England was three times as much as that of the King on the throne." But, above all, in proof of the Pontiff's power towards the west, this was the era of that detestable persecution of the Albigenses, pursued with such hideous cruelty. The execrable measure, in which plunder was the grand object, was counselled, planned, and commanded by Rome. Now, if we seek for any relieving contrast throughout the entire century, it is to Italy itself that we must turn our eye. Even in the neighboring Republic of Florence, it is true, amidst the sur- rounding gloom, Dante had begun to sing, in his own style, about paradise, and the infernal regions, not forgetting to intermingle certain severe allusions with his poem ; and, besides this, there was his treatise " Monarchia," distinctly hostile to the claims of Rome : but for the bolder contrast to tlie sentiments of all Europe, we must look to Venice. It is admitted that in the commencement of this century the Venetians had chosen to apply to Rome for an indulgence, but this was merely to facilitate a treaty with the Cahphs of Egypt. Eager to retain their commerce with the East Indies, they wished to open a communication between the Nile and INTRODUCTION. XV the Red Sea ; and had they succeeded, perhaps the trade might never have passed from their hands. Still, this application be- trayed no disposition to bow allegiance. On the contrary, this ancient Republic had reigned, for more than two centuries, as Lords-paramount of the Adriatic : and although that gulf washed the shores of various States, those of the Roman CImrch among the number, not one of them dared to navigate it, or even fish in its waters, without a license from Venice, for which they paid a heavy tribute. When one sovereign Pontiff presumed to inquire, by what right they pretended to domineer there, the brief reply given was — " That sea is ours." But the sea would not suffice any longer as the bounds of their sovereignty ; and, therefore, about the middle of this century, they began to acquire land. Arvi in Romagna was taken under their special profection, much in the same style as the provinces of India have since been taken under that of Britain. It was little more than seven years after this when the Pontiff", Martin IV., having, in his customary style, given the sovereignty of Naples to Charles of Anjou, and proclaimed a crusade against the lawful heir, chose also to excommunicate the Venetians because they would not unite in the outrage. For three long years, no priests officiated, no prayers were offijred in their churches, and without yielding, they allowed the Pontiff" to die ! His successor, Honorius IV., at last succeeded, and removed the interdict. The century closed at Venice by a marked alteration in this singular Government, or the exchange of the Republican form for that hereditary aud severe Ari=itocracy, which became the diplo- matic model of its day. But it is unnecessary to pursue the subject farther. We have come to the commencement of another century, and our assertion thus far is proved. The Pontiff" and his fellows, had been all along more potent at a distance, than at home under their native sky ; and the one great lesson afforded by the Italian Republics, and especially Venice, was this, that the power of Rome, when at its height, was resistible. This too becomes still more worthy of notice, inasmuch as the freedom enjoyed in these com- mercial states was not that which we now understand by the term — far from it. In numerous instances, the lives, the property, and even the honor of the citizens were not secured; but in ages when the reason of mankind had been subdued, and their rulers were reduced to vassals, these lesser communities, under an Italian sky, had proved what reason and the power of resistance could do. Two hundred years before Henry the Eighth was born, Venice had shown that Rome's loudest thunder might fall innocuous to the ground. Immovable and unshaken, and though uniting some of the most odious practices of despotism with the name of liberty, yet bent upon securing certain rights, and prosperity to commerce, a mere handful of people in the adjoining sea had continued to testify to the millions of Europe, that the power they so much dreaded might be braved with impunity. Thus terminated the thirteenth century, but we are still more Xvi INTRODUCTION. than two himdred years distant from the period when the Sacred Scriptures were first printed in the vernacular tongue ; and yet both centuries may now be viewed with considerable advantage as an approach or gradual introduciion to that important event. THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY. In the course of tlie fourteenth century, whether we look to Germany, to Italy, or our own country, the events are equally interestilig, and full of promise. Within the first of these, the in- fluence of that singular confederation, called the " Hanse Towns," had begun to be felt. The league, by this time, included more than sixty cities. These had commerce for their common object or bond of union ; but they were the germs of future freedom, and ultimately contributed, in no inferior degree, to the protection of individual rights. Thus early was Divine Providence in oper- ation with a view to a better day. At the same time nothing can be more natural than that Italy should claim the precedence of all other nations, whether as to the science of government, or the revival of learning. The learning and refinement of Italy, about to assume that position in history which the wisdom of Greece had done in the days of old, must enjoy her long reign of a hundred and fifty years without any superior. Now that the human mind is waking up, let the Italian - imagine that all knowledge consisted in know- ing and imitating the ancient masters," and let " the highest glory be attached to classical learning ;" let the " chief works of antiquity be rendered intelligible," and the men of Italy " collect, collate, and explain them." In short, as Greece is coming to the assist- ance of Rome, and " the great masters" inust first rise to show the extent of their powers ; since the former, at the commencement of the Christian era, had stood in a peculiar relation to the sur- rounding nations — so, let Italy now stand in the same relation to Europe. Distinguished for classical learning, and first in the arts, if not the sciences, she claims to be the well-spring of all the less civilized nations in the west. Minute criticism may here be dispensed with, nor does any admirer of the Sacred Volume need to object to the fullest concession. Let Dante and Petrarch for the moment, and Boccaccio and Poggio Bracciolini lead the way. In all this, however, it must now be granted in return, there was literally nothing of Divine light, properly so called — no rev- erent, distinct approach to the Sacred Volume ; and this becomes the more observable, as the only country in Europe to which we can look for this, was that which, of all others, was held in great- est contempt by Italy ; to say nothing of its being at once the most distant from Rome, if not also the most oppressed by that power. This was no other than our native land. Bracciolini, the last of these Italian scholars, had actually visited it, and viewed this country with chagrin, if not disdain, w4ien compared with the INTRODUCTION. XVII enthusiastic love of classical literature which polished and adorned his country. Yes, so far as the revival of learning was concerned, it is worthy of particular notice tliat, in England, it was associated, even from this early period, with a special leaning towards the Oracles of God, and tliat on the part of several eminent men, all alike well known, not only at home, but as distant as Italy. Of these, hi proof, we cannot omit to notice four — Robert Grossteste, Richard Aungerville, Richard Fitzralph, and, above all, our own Wick- LIFFE. John Wickliffe, a native of Yorkshire, was born m the year 1324, and, in 1360, at the age of thirty-six, first came into public view, where he conspicuously remained to the day of his death, or the 31st of December, 1384. For his life and opinions we refer to other sources, and must here confine our attention to that work which will ever give the chief distinction to his name. Before the commencement of such a design, the position of Wickliffe should be contemplated. To say nothing of the Ma- hometan and Pagan worlds, two other communities had extended their influence over the nations. Alike opposed to the right of pri- vate judgment, and the rising freedom of the human mind, and now equally sunk into a state of unutterable depravity, both had fixed a malignant eye on that very book which Wickliffe had de- termined to give to his country. These two, it is well known, were the Eastern and Western, or the Greek and Latin Churches. Both had not only, and long since, utterly neglected and contemned the Sacred Writings, but both had interdicted their translation into any vernacular tongue. That it was not only unlawful, but in- jurious, for the people at large to read the Scriptures, had, indeed, for ages, been regarded as an axiom, by all these nations. Nor was this idea left to pass current merely as a received opinion. Not to mention other proofs, more than an hundred and fifty years before Wickliffe had finished his determined purpose, or in the year 1229, at the Council of Toulouse, when forty-five canons were passed and issued for the extinction of heresy and the re- establishment oi peace, what were two of those canons ? One in- volved the first court of inquisition, and another the first canon, which forbade the Scriptures to the laity, or the translation of any portion of them into the vulgar tongue. The latter was ex- pressed in very pointed terms. " We also forbid the laity to possess any of the books of the Old or New Testament, except, perhaps, the Psalter or Breviary for the Divine Offices, or the Hours of the Blessed Virgin, which some, out of devotion, wish to have ; but having any of these books translated into the vulgar tongue, we strictly forbid.''' In the face of all this, and far more than can now be explamed. ]nust Wickliffe commence his heartfelt task ; and so he did, with his eyes open to the prejudices of a world. His translation, which was finished in the year 1380, is supposed to have occupied him, amidst various interruptions, for many years. Some have imag- 2 XVIII INTRODUCTION. ined that this great work employed the translator for ten years only, but Mr. Baber, with far greater probability, has said, "From an early period of his life he had devoted his various learning, and all the powerful energies of his mind, to effect this, and, at length, by intense aj)plication on his own part, and with some assistance from a few of the most learned of his followers, he had the glory to complete a book, which, alone, would have been sufii- cient (or at least ought) to have procured him the veneration of his own age, and the commendations of posterity." In accounting for such a movement as this, it has been but too connnon to inquire after something similar which had happened in the earth, and loosely supposing some connection between them, as cause and effect, thus leave the extraordinary event, without the slightest reference to the finger of God. Any inlluential con- nection, however, between the Waldenses or Vaudois and Wick- liffe has never been clearly proved, and probably never will. At all events, before he could be stimulated by their example, he seems to have taken his ground, as it is only in his latest composi- tions that a few slight references to them are to be found, as to a people with whose sufferings he sympathized. He was on the Continent, at Bruges, it is true, from 1374 to 1376, but he had connnenced, and must have been far advanced in his undertaking, long before then. In short, as far as the term can be applied to any human being, the claims of Wickliffe to originality, have novv^ come to be better understood, and every Christian will recognize the " secret mover ;" while, in reference to the times following, when tracing the history or influence of Divine Truth throughout Europe, the habit of ascending no higher than Germany is past, or passing away. Down to the period of about two years before Wickliffe had completed his translation, the only ideas or incidents which had any powerful influence upon mankind generally, were such as stood connected with the Pontiff, and his peculiar system of rule or government ; but, in reference to this subject, by the year 1378, among the European nations, there had sprung up a marked dif- ference of opinion. One question engrossed them all, and it was nothing less than this— TFAo was Pontiff ? In the year 1305, through the influence of France, the Court of Rome had been translated into that kingdom, and there it remained for seventy- four years, to the great damage of Rome as a city, but without any rent or division in the system. Edward the Third had ex- pired on the 2l3t of June, 1377, after a reign of above half a cen- tury, and about that very moment Gregory XI. had ordered Wick- hffe to be seized and imprisoned, till faither orders. Early in the following year, although our translator of the Scriptures had not only stood high in favor with the late King, but stiil did so with many in Parliament, and was powerfully protected by John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, he was summoned by the Bishops to answer for liimself at St. Paul's. Thus did this body of men first come out, appearing as a distinct interest in the kingdom, and thus INTRODUCTION. XIX tliey will remain for above five generations to come ; proving ever and anon, upon all occasions of alarm, that they were the deter- mined opponents of Divine Truth. As a body, they will oppose its being conveyed to the people, and at every successive step of progress. Their malice at this time, however, was overruled, as it will so often and conspicuously be, a century and a half later ; but, in the meaLnvhile, nothing must prevent Wickliife from fm- ishing his translation.* The year 1378 was in truth an important one as it regarded our translator's design. On the 27th of March the reigning Pon- tiff had died ; an event which not only put an end to the bulls against Wickliffe, but gave rise to what was called " the great scldsm ;" so that soon after there were two Pontiffs — one beyond the mountains, as the Italians said, and one at Rome — consigning each other to perdition. Of this state of things Wickliffe did not fa'il to avail himself " He saw the head of the body cloven in twain, and the two parts made to fight with each other ;" and hj? immediately sent forth two tracts, one upon " the schism" itself, and the other upon "the truth of Scripture." Every city and state became agitated, and as the question soon divided the nations throughout, it so happened that England and Scotland were of opposite opinions : the former holding fast by Urban VI. of Rome, who had been first chosen ; the latter followed Clement VII. of Avignon. England and France indeed became the most ardeni supporters of the opposite parties, while such was the extent to Avhich the controversy had gone, that some men of the University of Paris had begun to think of a plurality of Pontiffs, and the ap- pointment of one to every kingdom. The idea of one power exer- cising authority over all nations had seemed to them untenable, if not injurious. Soon after this, in the year 1379, Wickliffe, as divinity professor, had gone to fulfil his accustomed annual duty at Oxford, but there he was seized with an alarming illness. The friars, imagining that his course 'was now near an end, contrived to visit him. Four of their ablest men had been selected, or a friar from each of the mendicant orders, and they were admitted to a patient hearing. After reminding him of the great injury he had done to their order — for Wickhffe was a determined enemy to all idleness and all extortion — they exhorted him, as one near to death, that he would now, as a true penitent, bewail and revoke, in their presence, what- ever he had said to their disparagement. As soon as they had done, Wickliffe, calling for his servant, desired to be raised up on his pillow ; when, collecting all his strength, with a severe and expressive countenance, and in a tone of voice not to be misunder- stood, he exclaimed, '■'■ I shall not die, but live, to declare the evil deeds of the friars.^'' Confused, if not confounded, little expecting * The assembly at St. Paul's having broken up in riot and confusion, there was a second attempt to execute their purpose in a Synod at Lambeth in June, but the Bishops were deterred from coming to any definite sentence by a message from the Queen-Mother by Sir Lewis Clifford. XX INTRODUCTION. such a reply, they immediately left him ; and Wicldiffe recovered, to finish in"the year following his translation of the entue Bible. Extraordinary, however, as the character of Wicldiffe was,— a man confessedly far above all his contemporaries, it may still be inquired, whether he was quahfied for the task of translating the Sacred Volume? The Scriptures had been originally given in Hebrew and Greek; but so far from the nations of the West fur- nishing men sufficiently acquainted with either, England at least had sunk into greater ignorance even since the days of Grossteste ; nay, an hundred and iifty years later, when Tyndale had trans- lated from the original tongues, some of the priests of the day were trying to persuade the people that Greek and Hebrew were lan- guages newly invented. Here, it is true, was Wickliff'e, an able and acute, a zealous and determined man, and withal an excellent Latin scholar, but of Greek or Hebrew he knew nothing. Nor was it at all necessary that he should possess such erudition, since a translation from either Greek or Hebrew would not have har- monized loith tlie first., or the j) resent, intention of Divine Provi- dence. A reason there was, and one worthy of infinite wisdom, why not only the English translation, but most of the first Euro- pean versions must be made from the Latin. These nations, including our own, had nothing in common Avith the Greek com- nnmity, but for ages they had been overrun by the Latin. This language, long since dead, even in Italy, had been the refuge and stronghold of their oppressor, from generation to generation ; and upon looking back, no spectacle presented to the eye is so remark- able, as that of so many different nations, equally spell-bound by the same expedient. There was a Latin service, and there was a Latin Bible, professedly received, but the possession of even this had been forbidden to the people at large ; very much in the same spirit as the Shasters of India are forbidden by the Brahmins to be looked upon, or even heard, by the people. It was the Latin Bible, therefore, long buried in cloisters, or covered with the dust of ages, which must now be brought forth to view. Confessedly imperfect, it was of importance first to prove that it had all along contained enough for mortal man to know, in order to his eternal salvation ; and once translated into any native tongue, not only will the language touch the heart, but the people at last know what that mysterious book was, from which they, had been de- barred so wickedly and so long. Although, therefore, th« nation was yet an hundred and fifty years distant from the English Bible, properly so called, the present should be regarded as the first pre- liminary step. An all-disposing foresight, far above that of any human agent, is now distinctly visible in drawing first upon that very language which had been employed for ages as the instru- ment of mental bondage. It shall now be made to contribute to the emancipation of the human mind. Latin, it is true, had been the conventional language of the priests and students of different countries ; but still, so long as this language remained untouched by a translation of the Scriptures into any vernacular tongue, it is INTRODUCTION. XXI a historical canon that no nation was ever greatly moved. This holds true of our own country, in tlie age of manuscript, but it will become far more enijjhatically so, even seventy years after the invention of printing, when the Scriptures, once translated from the original tongues, come to be printed in the language then spoken, and spoken still. At such a period as this the translation of WicklifFe could only be diifused, of course, by the laborious process of transcription ; but transcribed it was diligently, both entire and in parts, and as eagerly read. There were those who, at every hazard, sought wisdom from the Book of God, and their number could not be few. A contemporary writer has affirmed that " a man could not meet two people on the road, but one of them was a disciple of Wick- liflfe." This was the testimony of an enemy, and not improbably the language of hatred and fear combined, uttered with a wish to damage the cause ; it was the testimony of an ecclesiastic, a Canon of Leicester, in reference to an era hailed by the people ; and although the Word of Truth had not " free course," there can be no question that it was glorified in the reception given to it by many. " The soldiers," he says, " with the clukes and earls, were the chief adherents of this sect — they were their most strenuous promoters and boldest combatants — their most powerful defenders and their invincible protectors." A very remarkable admission, as it accounts for the great progress made, in spite of opposition. All this and much more is uttered in the tone of lamentation ; and what was the occasion, as expressed by the Canon himself? " This Master John Y/ickliffe," says he, " hath translated the Gos- pel out of Latin into English, which Christ had intrusted with the clergy and doctors of the Church, that they might minister it to the laity and weaker sort, according to the state of the times and the wants of men. So that by this means the Gospel is made vulgar, and laid more open to the laity, and even to iconien wlio can read, than it used to be to the most learned of the clergy and those of the best understanding ! And what was before the chief gift of the clergy and doctors of the Church, is made forever com- mon to the laity !" It was in the same spirit that another contemporary writer urged that "the prelates ought not to suffer that every one at his pleasure should read the Scripture, translated even into Latin; because, as is plain from experience, this has been many ways the occasion of falling into heresies and errors. It is not, therefore, politic that any one, wheresoever and whensoever he will, should give himself to the frequent study of the Scriptures." These men specially referred to a period which lasted for about twenty years, or from 1380 to 1400, and it was one, though but too short, which distinguished this country from every other in Euro»pe. However travisient, or but like an handful of corn for all England, in any sketch of the times it should never pass un- noticed. While the nations generally were discussing the respective Xxii INTRODUCTION. claims of two rival Pontiffs, amidst all the confusion of the times, and although there were many adversaries, for the last twenty- years of the fourteenth century in England, no authoritative stop must be put to the perusal of "the Divine record. The Bishops, it is true, with the Primate of Canterbury at their head, may rage and remonstrate, may write to Rome and receive rephes, but in vain. The entire Sacred Volume had been translated, the people were transcribing and readuig, and the translator had frequently expressed himself in the boldest terms. "The authority of the Holy Scriptures," said he, "infinitely surpasses any writing, how authentic soever it may appear, because the authority of Jesus Christ is infinitely above that of all mankind." — "The authority of the Scriptures is independent on any other authority, and is pref- erable to every other writing, but especially to the books of the Church of Rome." — "I am certain, indeed, from the Scriptures, that neither Antichrist, nor all his disciples, nay, nor all fiends, may really impugn any part of that volume as it regards tlie ex- cellence of its doctrine. But in all these things it appears to me that tlie believing man should use this rule — If he soundly under- stands the Sacred Scripture, let him bless God; if he be deficient in such perception, let him labor for soundness of mind. Let him also dwell as a grammarian upon the letter, but be fully aware of imposing a sense upon Scripture which he doubts the tfoly Spirit does not demand." Many other passages, in terms as strong, might be quoted from his writings : and " among his latest acts," says Vaughan, " was a defence in Parliament of the translation of the Scriptures into English. These he declared to be the property of the people, and one which no party should be allowed to wrest from them." Now that the cause of such a man, as well as that he himself should have been so befriended, was one of the distinguishing feat- ures of the present period. The Duke of Lancaster continued to be his shield for years ; and although, when Wickliffe, in addition to grievances felt, went on to Christian doctrines, the Duke faltered in his support, yet nearly six years after the translator was in his grave, the same voice was heard in favor of the translation. In the thirteenth of Richard II., or 139(J, a bill was proposed to be brought into the House of Lords for suppressing it, when Lancaster, in boldly opposing this, told them, "That he would maintain our liaving this law in oiu- own tongue, whoever they should be thst brought in the bill ;" and once introduced, it was immediately thrown out. But Lancaster was not the only friend: to his brother, the Duke of Gloucester, Wickliffe dedicated at least one of his pieces ; and on one important occasion, when the former gave way, the Queen-Mother, or widow of the Black Prince, put a stop to perse- cution. Lord Percy, Earl-Marshal, was also friendly ; but perhaps, above all, much was owing to the reigning Queen, and that for ten years after Wicklifi'e's death. Ann "of Luxemburg, the sister of the Emperor Weuceslaus, and of the King of Bohemia, as consort of Richard II., had arrived in this country in December, 13S1 ; an INTRODUCTION, XXIU event of great importance in connection with Wickliffe's exertions. If lie had so far enlightened England, his writings were also to electrify Bohemia, so that Ann had "come to the kingdom for such a time as this." This lady, already acquainted with three languages, Bohemian, German, and Latui, soon acquired that of this country, and for years was distinguished for her diligent perusal of tlie Scriptures in English. This nuich was testified of'iier by a very notable witness — the Lord Chancellor Arundel, then Archbishop of York, when he came to preach at her interment. " Although she was a stranger," he said, -'yet she constantly studied the four gospels in English ; and in the study of these, and reading of godly books, she was more diligent than the prelates, though their office and business require this of them." The gospels in English, he added, the Queen had sent to himself to peruse, and he had replied that they were '■'•good and trueP Queen Ann's course of reading was even well known to Wickliffe, before he expired in 1384, so that she must have served as a powerful example to others, for at least ten years. The translator had thus early inquired, whether "to hereticate" her on account of her practice, "would not be Luci- ferian folly." The ttueen, says Rapin, was a great favorer of Wickliffe's doc- trine, and had she lived longer would have saved his followers ; but the illustrious foreigner once interred, and thus so remarkably eulogized, a different scene immediately opened to view. After his Queen's death, Richard II., the grandchild of Edward III., had gone to Ireland, there to prolong the misgovernment of that country; and only four months had elapsed, when this very man, Arundel, who afterwards was the main instrument in de- throning the King, and one of the bitterest enemies of Divine Truth in the next century, was in great alarm. In deep hypoc- risy, at Westminster, he might choose to twit the prelates with their ignorance of Scripture, in comparison Vvatli a Queen who had to acquire the language, and thus please the ear of his Majesty, as well as seem to lament his loss ; but he had no intention that the people should take the hint, or advance, and show him, as well as liis brethren, the way. The remarkable though transient period, however, to which we now refer, was as distinguished for boldness of sentiment, as for the protection providentially afforded to those who were searching the Scriptures for themselves. On the 29th of January, 1395, a Parhament was held at West- minster, and the time had come to speak out. The sentiments were not those of a feeble band, whispered in secret. They were expressed in the shape of a remonstrance, and presented to the House of Commons. They were posted at St. Paul's, and also at Westminster. This, let it be observed, was above a hundred and twenty years before Luther's voice was heard ; and, taken all in all, the argument throughout may be compared to an arrow, shot from a bow as strong as the intrepid German afterwards ever bent. Richard, still in Ireland, was preparing to take the field again, Xxiv INTRODUCTION. when Arundel, our preacher at Westminster in August last, had reached him in May, and accompanied by Braybrook, the Bishop of London. Six or seven years before this, the disciples of Wick- liffe had been congregating in different places, and actually ap- pointing ministers among themselves to perform Divine service, after th^eir own sentiments: while his "poor priests," as they were styled, had been travelling and preaching, barefooted, through the country ; but this pointed and posted remonstrance had filled Arundel, Braybrook, and their brethren, with dread. They en- treated the King, in name of the clergy, to return, intimating that the least delay might occasion irreparable damage. The followers of Wickhffe, they said, had made instance to set on foot a refor- mation— they had many friends in the kingdom, nay, in the Par- liament itself, and the clergy were afraid they would proceed to action. Richard listened, immediately left the management of his war to the Earl of March, and returned. He took certain meas- ures, it is true, to check the rising tide of sentiment, but still the Scriptures were 7iot suppressed, nor was there one drop of blood shed for Avhat "they called heresy," till the commencement of the next century, under Henry the Fourth. Under a monarch so weak and ill-advised as Richard H., a man who minded only trifles, and thought of nothing save his own pleasures, that the close of the fourteenth century should have been thus distinguished must appear strange, but it is not unac- countable. This was only the commencement of a series of strik- ing proofs, that, in first conveying to the people of this country the Word of Life, Divine Providence would dispense with what has been called "royal sanction." Certain individuals near the throne, and more enlightened, had been permitted to act, and Richard must have allowed his Queen to have had considerable influence, and so gratify her wishes ; but, independently of these parties, the King himself, bent upon increasing the royal prerogative, was no friend to any control from abroad. For a hundred years past, under the three first Edwards, the power of the Crown, and the influence of the Commons, as a branch of the legislature, had been increasing by slow degrees, and, more especially, three memorable statutes had been passed, viz., those of Mortmain, Provisors, and Pra?munire. Now, these, even under this present monarch, had been not merely recognized, but the power of the last two generally strengthened. Some parties having ventured abroad, to solicit their repeal, Richard, by a proclamation, ordered their return to England, on pain of death and forfeiture of estate. Nor could these statutes ever be repealed. Why they lay inoperative or dormant for an hundred and thirty years will be afterwards ex- plained ; but there they were, as powerful instruments, to be wielded another day, by Henry the Eighth, upon the fall of Cardinal Wolsey. As for Richard H., he drove on, till the power which he sought rather to reduce than promote, at last, and through Arundel, artfully secured his deposition, in September, 1399. At the conclusion, therefore, of the fourteenth century, we con- INTRODUCTION. XXV cede to Petrarch, or Boccaccio and his fellows, all that is demanded as to the revival of learning in Italy ; nor has England any occa- sion to be ashamed of the contrast or distinction between the two countries. The pursuits of both were but in their infancy. Li the former, " imagining that all knowledge was to be found in the ancient Masters," they were beginning to seek after Mount Par- nassus and their old Romans ; but in the latter they were in search of Mount Zion and the fishermen of Galilee. The Italian had be- come eager after the wisdom of Greece, and the nervous oratory of his forefathers ; the Englishman, after the wisdom of God, and the course pursued by the first planters of Christianity. If anv of our countrymen Avere looking to Greece at all, it might be only to such as had proved to " be the first-fruits of Achaia unto God," and if to Rome, it was only to those in the imperial city, once so be- loved, " whose faith was spoken of throughout the whole world." The manuscripts of Wickliffe's version complete, are numerous still ; and perhaps not much less so than those of the New Testa- ment separately, not to mention different pieces, or entire books of the translation. In examining some of these, whether in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, in the British Museum, or in private collections, we have been struck with their legibility and beauty. They have all, indiscriminately, been called Wickliffe's version, but variations of expression are to be found in a few ; and it is not so generally known that we possess two distinct versions, one under Wickliffe's own eye, and another a recension of the entire sacred text. It is certainly a singular circumstance that this translation of Wickliffe has never been printed ! The New Testament, it is true, was published by Mr. Lewis, in the year 1731, or three hundred and fifty years after it was finished, and once more by Mr. Baber, in 1810 ; but the Bible entire, now four hundred and sixty-four years old, has never yet been published. By the time that Tyndale was born, indeed, it would not have been intelligible to the people at large ; moreover, it was from the Latin Vulgate, and the period had arrived when the translation must be drawn from the original tongues. But still, even as a most interesting literary production, one could never have imagined that above twenty sovereigns would have sat on the throne of England since the invention of printing, before such a work had issued from the press. By Fabricius, a foreigner, as well as others, this has been often referred to as a national disgrace, but happily, the reproach, at last, is in the course of being wiped away. Both these versions to which we have al- luded are now printed in parallel columns, at the Oxford University press. Thus then, whatever darkness reigned, or enmity was shown in this country, throughout the whole of the next century, these precious volumes were preserved, and the surviving copies remain, like so many veritable torch-bearers for the time being. They may. and indeed must have shone often in secret, or at the mid- XXvi INTRODUCTION. night hour, and certainly not without effects, to be disclosed another day. THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. Althouq-h, strictly speaking-, only a century of preparation, still the Jif/eenth must ever be esteemed more important than any that had preceded it, and, in one point of view, more influential than any that has followed since. When it is observed than an art, then first applied, though nearly four hundred years old, is only now rising to greater power in this country every day, and is ev- idently destined to be employed by all nations, no wonder that it shoukl be so regarded. This requires to be considered half and half, as there was a ma- terial difference between the first and the second. During the^/\s-^, we see the continuance of the great Western schism, the union of the Eastern and Western Cluirches before they w^ere shaken to the ground, closing with the noted licentious jubilee, under Nicholas v., at Rome in 1450. During the second, we are engrossed by other allfiirs. The fall of the Greek Empire, the rapid progress of literature in Italy, and the invention of printing in Germany. All these were so many preparatives for the emancipation of the human mind, or that war of opinion by which the sixteenth century was to be so distinguished.* But to return, and commence with the great schism. It con- tinued without interruption for fifty-one years, from 1378 to 1429, though the consequences were deeply felt by the Pontiff" for twenty years longer. This could not fail to operate powerfully on the wdiole of Europe. It was the first "shaking" of the nations, before the coming of Him, to whom all natioiis should turn. This noted schism has been called ffreat, to distinguish it from all those which had preceded. t It at last suggested the necessity for a General Council, so tliat, during the first half of the fifteenth century, Councils became the order of the day. The first, held at Pisa in 1409, tried to heal the breach by deposing both Pontiffs, (Gregory XII. and Benedict XIII.,) and choosing a third, or Alexander V., in which decision England acquiesced, but Scotland still dissent- ed. Alexander, a feeble character, was succeeded in 1410, or next year, by Balthasar Cossa, or John XXIIL, a man as distinguished for violence of temper as licentiousness of morals. Three years after, he smnmoned a Council to meet at Rome, but so far from this city being attractive at that time, only a few attended to the * The discovery of America by Columbus in 1492, and of the passafje to India by Vasco de Gama in 14!)7, only fix the eye with deeper interest on the century to come. f Far from being the first, if the reader chooses to consult the best orignal author- ities, he will be able to count between the year 452 and 1429, not fewer tiian twenty- eight instances, in which there were two, and sometimes three or more Pontiffs at the s:ime time ; and as these conflicts were frequently decided, not by equity, but by the influential powerof the siiccessful candidate, hence all attempts to prove what is called an uninterrupted succession become utterly vain. That any man should now waste a moment on such an attempt, is humbling to human nature. INTRODUCTION. XXVU call. The consequence was, that, although his Council sat from the close of 1412 to the lltli of June following, no other business was accomplished save some condemnation of the writings of Wickliffe. In the year following a far more imposing Council was held at Constance, where the man who had sat in judgment upon Wicklilfe must be himself condemned, though not on that account. John was deposed, however, and Gregory XII., who had stood out for five years, or ever since his deposition at Pisa, abdicated ; but Peter de Luna, Benedict XIII., still held fast by his claim ; and, whoever withdrew from him, Scotland would not. Thus it curiously happened that, for two years and four months, from July 1415, the only Pontiff in existence was a deposed one, and the only kingdom or province that adhered to him in the end, was Scotland ! It was during this strange period that the merits of Wickliffe v.-ere , afresh discussed and condemned, not by an individual Pontiff, but a General Council ; and to such an execrable length did they pro- ceed, that though our translator had now been in his grave full thirty years, they ordered his bones to be dug up, (if tiiey could be distinguished), and burut to ashes. Their spite was not, in- deed, immediately gratified, for what reason does not appear; but so mean is the malice of the wicked, that, thirteen years after- wards, Martin V., whom this Council was about to elect, sent peremptory orders to have the sentence strictly fulfilled. Thus, nearly forty-four years after his dissolution, they attempted it, burning certain bones presumed to be Wickliffe's and throwing the ashes into the Swift, an adjoining brook, which runs into the Severn. The bones of the illustrious dead having been solemnly de- nounced, the Council then proceeded to the living, or the well- known disciple of Vv^ickliffe, John Huss : and on the 6th of July, 1415, they condemned him to be burnt, as they also did his fellow- countryman, Jerome of Prague, in May 1416. These men of vio- lence and blood, having thus covered themselves \\'\i\\ never-dying infamy, were very eager to have rendered their sittings periodical, and the Council a permanent branch of their church constitution: but at last having elected Otiio Colonna as Pontiff, on the lltli of November 1417, he took the name of Martin V., and the Council broke up in April 1418. This man, iiowever, still had a rival in Benedict, till November 1424; nay, in Clement VIII., chosen as his successor, who did not resign till July 1429. Martin dying in 1431, before the close of the year another General Council had assembled at Basil, which did not dissolve for twelve years. To any Pontiff, these were sea- sous of anxiety, and by no means in favor of any claim to infalli- bility, but this Council assumed a tone hitherto unknown. Not only asserting the supremacy of a Council, but divesting the Pontiff of several highly-valued and acknowledged rights; they prohibited him from creating new cardinals, and suppressed a large portion of his revenue, arising from the first year's income on all benefices. XXViii INTRODUCTION. Eugenius IV., the successor of Martin, at length feehng this assem- bly so irksome and untoward, tried to hold another Council, first at Ferrara in 1438, and then at Florence in the following year ; so that as there had been Pontiff against Pontiff'for many years, and each of them choosing his own cardinals ; the world was now kept awake by Council against Council, denouncing each other, and each of them choosing its own Pontiff! The Council of Basil, deposing Eugenius, chose for their head the retired Duke of Savoy, who assumed the title of Felix V. A moment such as had not occurred for nearly seventy years, or since 1378 — a moment favorable to the sovereignty of the Pontiff, now at last arrived. It was the accession of Nicholas Y., in March 1447, as the successor of Eugenius. Even after this, indeed, a rival still remained ; but the Emperor interposed, and in April 1449, securing the retirement and renunciation of Felix to all claims, the pontifical authority at one rose to a height which it had not en- . joyed for many years. The jubilee of 14.50, a scene of riot and licentiousness, to which people from all parts of Europe came, seemed not only to prove that Rome was an attractive point of union still, but that the Pontiff might lift up his head once more, and say, " I am secure, and shall see no sorrow." Assailed, for above seventy years, from without and from within — from without by the influence of Wickliffe and Huss, and from within by men of the Pontiff's own order — still there seemed to be little or noth- ing lost. General councils had wrangled for many years, though, as such, they had now failed and there will be no General Coun- cil now, till long after a very different scene has opened on the world. But still, though they had failed, it was only in one sense. The principles then and there broached could not die. The principles maintained, especially at Basil, continued to operate throughout the rest of this century, and in a way so obnoxious to Rome, as to agitate every successive Pontiff. They were these principles, and more especially the tenet, that the authority of a General Council was superior to that of the Pontiff, which suggested to the Sover- eign of France, Charles VII., what was styled " the pragmatic sanction" in 1438, while Germany had adopted it in 1439 ; both Sovereigns having made it the law of their respective kingdoms. Germany, indeed, had bowed allegiance before the jubilee, but France would not. This "sanction," like the statutes of provisors and praemunire in England, was meant to operate powerfully in preventing the wealth of France from flowing into Italy : a mode of resistance to pontifical authority, to which that power was ever most tenderly alive. The King of France might occa- sionally waver, as did Louis XL, when Eneas Sylvias, or Pius II., Avept for joy ; but then the Parliament of Paris must now also be acknowledged, and they firmly resisted. One Pontiff after an- other might denounce the measure, as they did also the English statutes, but still there was no change throughout this century. No change, till one obscure individual was raised up in this coun- INTRODUCTION. XXIX try, and another in Germany, who, under God, were to accomplish a work, to which neither Kings nor General Councils were equal or disposed. Ancient prejudices, and certain long-fixed associations of the mind, were shaken to the root, by the events at which we have already glanced : but for the entrance of new ideas, and the nota- ble reception of Divine Truth itself, Providence was preparing at the same time, or throughout the entire century. The triumph of Classical Lear7iing. In the first years of the fifteenth century, individual natives of Greece were finding their way iuto Italy, nay, from about the year 1395, their language was taught in Florence and Venice, in Milan and Genoa, by Emanuel Chrysoloras. The Pontiff chosen in 1409, Alexander V., was a Grecian by birth. The whole lives of Italian Scholars, we are told, were now devoted to the recovery of ancient works and the revival of philology ; while the discovery of an unknown manuscript was regarded, says Tiraboschi, " al- most as the conquest of a kingdom." But " that ardor which ani- mated Italy in the first part of the fifteenth century, was by no means common to the rest of Europe. Neither England, nor France, nor Germany, seemed aware of the approaching change." So says Mr. Hallam, in perfect harmony with Sismondi. Learn- ing, indeed, such as it was, had even begun to decline at Oxford, but the eastern empire was now hastening to its end, and in 1453, came the fall of Constantinople. Long, therefore, before the close of the century, the roads to Italy will be crowded with many a traveller, and among the number v.^e shall find that Englishmen, though the most distant, were not the last to hasten after classical attainments. Native Italians, we are perfectly aware, have been jealous of our ascribing too much to the event just hinted, but there can be no question that, in its consequences, it proved the first powerful summons to Europe to awake. On the sacking of Constantinople, we know of five vessels at least, that were loaded with the learned men of Greece, who escaped into Italy. Of course they brought their most valued treasure, or their books, with them: and thus by one and another, as well as the eager Italian himselfy a stock of manuscript was accumulated on Italian ground, whicl was just about to be honored with a reception, very different, iii deed, from that of being slowly increased by the pen of the copy- ist ! Italy thus became the point of attraction to all Europe. But how singular that the scholars of the west, as with common consent, should hasten to this one country for that learning, over the effects of which, the chief authority there, though so pleased at first, was afterwards to bewail, nay, to mourn for ages, or to the present hour ! While, however, Italian scholars were thus busy, and leaving the Pontiff to fight his own battles, they were but httle aware of what was preparing for them elsewhere. They were in fact XXX INTRODUCTION. more ii^norant of tliis, than the western scholar had been of their thirst for learning- ; and was there no indication here, of but one guiding, one all-gracious power? The Invention of Printing. An obscure German had been revolving in his mind the first principles of an art, applicable to any language on the face of the earth, which was to prove the most important discovery in the annals of mankind. At the moment when they were storming Constantinople in the east, he was thus busy ; spending all his substance, in plying his new art Avith vigor upon a book, and upon snch a book ! Neither Kings, nor Pontilfs, nor Councils had been, or were to be, consnlted here ; nor was he encouraged to proceed by one smile from his own Emperor, or from any princely patron. Mentz, in the Duchy of Hesse (Mayence or Mainz), on the left bank of the Rhine, and four hundred miles from Vienna, may be regarded as the mother city of printing ; and although three individuals shared the honor of perfecting the art on the same spot, if not under the same roof, the invention itself is due to only one man. Henne Geensfleisch, commonly. called .Tohn Gutenberg, {AngUce, Goodliill,) the individual referred to, was born in Mentz, not iStrasburg, as sometimes stated, about the year 1400; but, in 1424, he had taken up his abode in the latter city as a merchant. About ten years after this, or in 1435, we have positive evidence that his invention, then a profound secret, engrossed his thoughts : and here, in conjunction with one Andrew Dritzehen and two other citizens, all bound to secrecy, Gutenberg had made some experiments in printing with metal types before the year 1439. By this time Dritzehen was dead ; and in six or seven years more, the money embarked being exhausted, not one fragment survives in proof of what they had attempted. Gutenberg, returning to his native city in 144.5-6, he found it absolutely necessary to disclose his progress. More money was demanded, if ever he was to suc- ceed ; and having once opened his mind fully to^a citizen, a gold- smith of Mentz, John Fust, he engaged to co-operate by affording the needful advances. At last, therefore, between the years 1450 and 1455, for it has no date, their first great work was finished. This was no otlier than the Bible itself l—^-Ae Lai in Bible. Alto- gether unknown to the rest of the world, this was what had been doing at Mentz, in the West, when Constantinople, in the Ecu^t, was storming, and the Italian "brief men," or copyists, were so very busy with their pens. This Latin Bible, of 641 leaves, formed ihe first important specimen of printing with metal types. The very first homage was to be paid to that Sacred Volume, which had been sacrilegiously buried, nay, interdicted so long ; as if it had been, with pointing finger, to mark at once the greatest honor ever to be bestowed on the art, and infinitely the "highest purpose to which it was ever to be appHed. Nor "was this all. INTRODUCTION. XXXI Had it been a single page, or even an entire sheet which was tlien produced, there might have been less occasion to have noticed it ; i)ut there was sometliing in the whole character of the alFair which, if not unprecedented, rendered it singular in the usual current of human events. This Bible formed two volumes in folio, which have been "justly praised for the strength and beauty of the paper, the exactness of the register, the lustre of the ink." It was a work of 1282 pages, finely executed— a most laborious process, involving not only a considerable period of time, but no small amount of mental, manual, and mechanical labor ; and yet, now that it had been finished, and now oifered for sale, not a single human being, save the artists themselves, knew hoiv it had been accomplished ! The profound secret remained with them- selves, while the entire process was probably still confined to the bosom of only two or three ! Of this splendid work, in two volumes, at least 18 copies are known to exist, four on vellum, and fourteen on paper. Of the former, two are in this country, one of wdiich is in the Grenviile collection ; the other two are in the Royal Libraries of Paris and Berlin. Of the fourteen paper copies there are ten in Britain: three in public libraries at Oxford, London, and Edinburgh, and seven in the private collections of different noblemen and gentle- men. The vellum copy has been sold as low as £250, though in 1827, as high as £504 sterling. Even the paper Sussex copy lately brought £190. Thus, as if it had been to mark the noblest purpose to which the art would ever be applied, the first Book printed with moveable metal types, and so beautifully, was the Bible. Like almost all original inventors, Gutenberg made nothing by the discovery, at which he had labored for at least twenty years, from 1435 to 1455. The expenses had been very great ; and, in the course of business, after the Bible was finished, the inventor was in debt to the goldsmith, who, though opulent, now exhibited a character certainly not to be admired. He insisted on Guten- berg paying up his debt ; and, having him in his power, actually instituted a suit against him, when, in the course of law, the whole printing apparatus fell into Fust's possession, on the 6th of November 1455. According to Trithemius, one of the best au- thorities, poor Gutenberg had spent his whole estate in this diffi- cult discovery ; but still, not discouraged, he contrived. to print till 1465, though on a humbler scale. Having been appointed by Adolphus the Elector of Mentz one of his gentlemen, [inter auli- cos,) with an annual pension, he was less dependent on an art which to him had been a source of trouble, if not of vexation. He died in the city of his birth in February 1468. Fust had, from 1456, pursued his advantage, and with great vigor, having adopted as his acting partner Peter Schoeffer, [aii- glice, Shepherd,) a young man of genius, already trained to the business, to whom he afterwards gave his daughter in marriage. The types employed hitherto had been made of brass, cut by the XXXU INTRODUCTION. hand. An advance to the present mode of producing- types by letter-founding was still wanted, and the art of cutting steel punclies and casting matrices has been ascribed to Schoeffer.* The fust pubUcation of Fust and Schoeffer was a beautihil edition of the Psalms, still in Latin, finished on the 14th of Au- gust 1457, and there was a second in 1459 ; but the year 1462 arrived, and this was a marked and decisive era in the history of this extraordinary invention ; not merely for a second edition of the Latin Bible, in two volumes folio, dated 1462, and now exe- cuted according to the improved state of the art; but on account of what took place in Mentz at the same moment. A change has arrived, far from being anticipated by these the inventors of printing, and one which they, no doubt, regarded as the greatest calamity which could have befallen them. Gutenberg had been the father of printing, and Schoeffer the main improver of it, while Fust, not only by his ingenuity, but his wealth, had assisted both ; but all these men were bent upon keeping the art secret] and, left to themselves, unquestionably they would have confined the printing press to Mentz as long as they lived. Fust, and Schoeffer, kowever, especially eager to acquire wealth, had resolved to proceed in a very unhallowed course, by palming off their productions as manuscripts^ that so they might obtain a larger price for each copy. The glory of promoting or extending the art must now. therefore, be immediately and suddenly taken from them. Invention, of whatever character, like Nature itself, is but a name for an effect, whose cause is God. The ingenuity He gives to whomsoever He Avill, but He still reigns over the in- vention, and directs its future progress. At this crisis, therefore, just as if to make the reference to himself more striking, and upon our part more imperative, we have only to observe what then took place, and the consequences which immediately foUowed. Fust and Schoeffer had completed their first dated Bible, of 1462, but this very year the city of Mentz must be invaded. Like Constantinople, it was taken by storn), and by a member too of that body, who in future times so lamented over the effects of printing. This was the Archbishop, or Adolphus, already men- tioned. The consequences were immediate, and afford an im- pressive illustration of that ease with which Providence accom- plishes its mightiest operations. The mind of Europe was to be roused to action, and materials sufficient to engage all its activity, must not be wanting. But this demanded nothing more than the capture oi tioo cities, and these two, far distant from each other ! If when Constantinople fell in the east, the Greeks with their manuscripts and learning, rushed into Italy, to join the already a\vakened Italian scholars : Mentz also is taken, and the art of printing spreads over Europe, with a rapidity, which still excites astonishment. * By this mode leaden types were first produced, and then of lead with a mixture of tin or hammered iron. The invention of type metal, or one pound of regulus of antimony to five of lead, is of comparatively recent origin. INTRODUCTION. XXXllI This city, once deprived, by the sword of the conqueror, of those laws and privileges whicii belonged to it as a member of the Rhenish Commercial Confederation, all previous ties or obliga- tions between master and servant were loosened, and oaths of secrecy imposed under a former regime, were at an end. Amidst the confusion that ensued, the operative printers felt free to accept of invitations from any quarter. But whither will they bend their steps, or in what direction will the art proceed? Where will it meet with its warmest welcome, and in which capital of Europe will it be first established ? The reader may anticipate that the welcome came from Italy, but it is still more observable, that the first capital was Rome! Yes, after the capture of Mentz, Rome and its vicinity, the city of the future Index E.vpurgatorius, gave most cordial welcome. The art, while in its cradle in Italy, must be nursed under the inquisitive and much amused eye of the Pontiff himself! One might very naturally have presumed, that the enemies of light and learning, or of all innovation, would have been up in arms ; and it is certainly not the least extraordinary fact connected with the memorable invention of printing, that no alarm was ex- pressed,— neither at its discovery, nor its first application, even though the very first book was the Bible. The brief-men or copy- ists, it is true, were angry in prospect of losing their means of sub- sistence ; and in Paris they had talked of necromancy, or the black art, being the origin of all this ; but there was not a whisper of the kind in Italy. Indeed, as to an existing establishment of any kind, anywhere, no dangerous consequences were apprehended, by a single human being as far as we know ; but most certainly none by the reigning Pontiff himself, or even by the conclave with all its wonted foresight. On the contrary, the invention was hailed with joy, and its first effects were received with enthusiasm. Not one man appears to have perceived its bearing, or once dreamt of its ultimate results. No, the German invention was to be carried to its perfection on Italian ground. Residents and official persons in Rome itself, are to be its first promoters, and that under the im- mediate eye of Paul II., a man by no means friendly, either to learning, or to learned men. This curious incident is rendered much more so, by one or two others in immediate connection with it. Even while the art was yet a secret in Germany, the very first individual of whom we read as having longed for its being brought to Rome, was a Cardi- nal, Nicholas de Cusa ; the first ardent promoter of the press in that city was a Bishop, John Andreas the Bishop of Aleria and Secretary to the Vatican Library. He furnished the manuscripts for the press, prepared the editions, and added the epistles dedica- tory. It had been on the summit of a hill, twenty-eight miles east of Rome near Subiaco, and close by the villa once occupied by the Emperor Nero, that the first printing press was set up. In the monastery there, by Conrad Sweynheim and Arnold Pannartz from Germany, an edition of Lactantius' Institutions was finished 3 XXXIV INTRODUCTION. in the year 1465; but next year, they removed, by invitation, into the mansion-house of two knights in Rome itself. They were two brothers, Peter and Francis de Maximis. Here it was that, aided by the purse of Andreas, the first fount of types in the Ro- man character, so called ever since, was prepared, and all other materials being ready, they commenced with such spirit and vigor, that the Secretary of the Vatican " scarcely allowed himself time to sleep." This Pontiff, named Peter Barbo, and a Venetian by birth, had no sooner come into office, in 1464, than he immediately suppressed the College of ahhreviators and turned out all the clerks of the breves, regardless of the sums they had paid for their places. And although this body was composed of the most distinguished men of learning and genius in Rome, he chose to say they were of no use, or unlearjied ! Yet now, scarcely two years after, the same man was saimtering into the printing office, nay, it is affirmed that he visited it " frequently, and examined with admiration every branch of this new art !" Would he have done this had he fore- seen the consequences ? And what must future Pontiffs have sometimes thought or said as to his idle simplicity, or his lack of foresight? Meanwhile, so zealous were these men, that in five years only, or from 1467 to 1472, they had printed not fewer than twelve thousand four hundred and seventy-five volumes, in twenty-eigbt editions, some of them of large size, and all beautifully executed. Among these we find the Latin Bible of 1471. It was the second edition with a date^ the first printed in Rome, and however beau- tiful in execution, well known to be by no means distinguished for its accuracy ; a circumstance which ought, in conmion modesty, to have infused a forbearing or lenient temper with regard to all future //'5^ attempts. It by no means followed, however, although Rome had taken the lead, that it was also to furnish a ready market for the sale of books. On the contrary, the printers now labored under such a load of printed folio volumes, that unless relieved, they must have sunk altogether, as no doubt they suffered. Yet still, by the year 1476, twelve other works had issued from the press. Among these were the " Postils," or Notes of Nicholas de Lyra, i\\e first printed Commentarij on the Scriptures. But the Commentary brought them down ! They had better have never touched it, as it was by this huge work, in five folio volumes, they were nearly, if not entirely, ruined in business. Such, however, was the fruit of only one printing office, and in less than ten years. Uhic Han, or Gallus, had commenced printing soon after these, the first two, and at least thirteen other printers followed ; so that, before the close of the fifteenth century, the different works published in the Imperial city alone, had amounted to nearly one thousand ! Independently, however, of all this, what signified Rome, when compared with the extent to which the art had now reached. Had a single city or town waited for the concurrence or sanction of the INTRODUCTION. XXXV Pontiff? So far from it, Bamberg in Franconia, and Cologne, had preceded Rome, and in ten years only after the capture of Mentz, the art had reached to upwards of thirty cities and towns, including Venice, and Strasburg, Paris, and Antwerp ; in only ten yeai-s more ninety other places had followed the example, including Basil and Brussels, Westminster, Oxford, and London, Geneva, Leip- sic, and Vienna. Witli regard to Germany, the mother country of this invention, Koberger of Nuremberg was supposed to be the most extensive printer of the fifteenth century. Having twenty- four presses, and one hundred men, constantly at work, besides employing the presses of Switzerland and France, he printed at least twelve editions of the Latin Bible. And when we turn to the native capital of the reigning Pontiff, Venice, where printing had commenced only two years after Rome, what had ensued in the next thirty, or before 1500? Panzer has reckoned up not fewer than one hundred and ninety-eight printers in Venice alone, more than sixty of whom had commenced business before the year 1480, and altogether, b}^ the close of the century, the}^ had put forth at least two thousand nine hundred and eighty distinct publications, among which are to be found more than twenty edi- tions of the Latin Bible. As the roman letter was first used in Rome, so the italic was in Venice, where Aldus had offered a piece of gold for every typographical error which could be detected in any of his printed pages. In short, before the close of this century, a space of only thirty- eight years from the capture of Mentz. the press was busy, in at least two hundred and twenty different places, throughout Europe, and the number of printing presses was far above a thousand ! This rapidity, rendered so much tlie more astonishing from the art having risen to its perfection all at mice, producing works so beautiful that they have never been excelled, has been often re- marked, though it has never yet been fully described. To mark its swift and singular career throughout Europe with accuracy and effect, would require a volume, and, to certain readers, it would prove one of the deepest interest. HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE. BOOK L-ENGLAND REIGN OF HENRY THE EIGHTH. SECTION I. FROM THE BIRTH OF TYNDALE, THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATOR, TO HIS EMBARKATION FOR THE CONTINENT, IN PURSUIT OF HIS DESIGN. In the opening of the sixteenth century, a period so big with interest to all Europe, Lefevre in France, and Zuinglius in Switzer- land, Luther in Germany, and Tyndale in England, appear before the world, and to the eye oi man in this order; they were contem- poraries, living in their respective countries ; Lefevre being by far the oldest of the four, and Zuinglius the youngest. The Jirst impressions of these four men were altogether independent of each other. They were individually influenced by a power, though un- unseen, equally near to them all. From that moment they were already destined to the work assigned them, but not one of them had exchanged a single thought with another. " Germany," says the same author, "did not communicate the light of truth to Switzerland, nor Switzerland to France, nor France to England : all these lands received it from God, just as no one region trans- mits the hght to another, but the same orb dispenses it direct to the earth." In France, but more especially in Switzerland and Germany, there was the living voice, throughout life, of the man raised up, calling upon his countrymen to hear and obey the truth ; and so God had ordered it in England, a century and a half before, in the case of Wickliffe. But, now, his procedure is altogether different, and out of the usual course pursued in other lands. Tyndale had lifted up his voice, it is true, boldly, and with some effect, but he is withdrawn from his native land, and never to return. The island is left behind by him, and left for good. In other countries the man lives and dies at home, Lefevre, when above a hundred years old, weeps, because he had not felt and displayed the cour- age of a martyr; Zuinglius dies in battle for his country; and 38 HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE. Luther, after all his noble intrepidity, expires in his sick chamber: but Tyndale is strangled and burnt to ashes, and in a foreign land. Englishmen, and Scotsmen, and Germans, are gathered together against him ; yes, against the man who enjoyed the honor of having never had a Prince for his patron or protector all his days; men of three nations at least concur to confer upon him the crown of martyrdom, so that, among all his contemporaries, in several points of view, but especially as a translator of the Scriptures, he stands alone. That tbe eyes of his countrymen have never been turned to- wards Tyndale, as they ought to have been long ago, but more especially to that work which God did by him in the midst of our land, is one of those mysteries, which, at this moment, we do not even attempt to explain ; but it will be the object of the following pages, to trace the footsteps of our Translator, from his origin to his end ; and especially the history of that Version which he first gave to his country. One fourth part of the sixteenth century had passed away before any portion of the Sacred Scriptures, translated from the original Greek into the English language, Avas printed abroad, and first conveyed into England and Scotland. Neither the political nor literary condition of England, under the dominant sway of Cardinal Wolsey, affording the slightest in- dication of the Sacred Scriptures being about to be given to the people, but the reverse, in justice to that event it is necessary to observe also, the nature of that connection which had existed for ages between Britain and Rome, more especially since it was now as intimate and powerful as ever. Indeed, under Henry VIII., it arrived at its climax. This connection sustained a peculiarly com- plicated character. There was the Annate, or first fruits, payable by the Archbishop down to the lowest ecclesiastic, upon election to office — the Appeal to Rome — the Dispensation from it — the Indul- gence— the Legantine levy — the Mortuary — the Pardon — the Ethelwolf's pension — the Peter's pence for every chimney that smoked in England — the Pilgrimage — the Tenth — besides the sale of trinkets or holy wares from Rome ! Here were no fewer than twelve distinct sources of revenue ! These altogether were operating on the inhabitants without any exception, and with as much regularity as the rising and setting of the sun. It was a pecuniary connection of immense power, made to bear upon the general conscience, which knew no pause by day, no pause by night; falling, as it did, not merely on the living, but on the dying and the dead ! In no other country throughout Europe, without exception, was it so probable that this system, in all its oppressive and fearful integrity, would be maintained. Under an imperative Monarch, originally educated as an ecclesiastic, and who now gloried in his acquaintance with scholastic divinity ; with a Prime Minister so well known to every foreign Court, and who himself breathed with ardor after the Pontificate, England had become the right arm or HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE. 39 main-stay of this system. Nay, as if to render this still more apparent, and so fix the eye of posterity, the King npon the throne had resolved to distinguish himself as the reputed author, in support of this singular power; and he hecame at once the first and the only (Sovereign in Europe who was understood to have lifted his pen in defence and defiance. For this feat in reply, though not an answer to Luther, it is well known that Henry had obtained from Leo X. his highly prized title of " Defender of the Faith." In no part of England ^vas the power of Rome more in- tensely felt than in the diocese of AVorcester. Yet here it pleased God to raise up the man whose labors were destined to work the overthrow of that power in this island. Here William Tyndale was born about the year 1484, but the precise date of his birth and the names of his parents, have not been definitely determined. He was educated by his parents, and it is important to notice the state of learning in England, at the time when Tyndale was trained for his great work. Erasmus arrived in England from Holland, in 1497, and was dehghted to find a taste for the study of Greek and Latin among the learned, and he pursued his studies with great dili- gence and success. His zeal inspired others to such a degree, that the five years of his residence in England may be regarded as opening a new era in letters in this country. In 1516, the New Testament, in Greek and Latin, with the notes of Erasmus, had come forth, printed by Froben at Basil. It soon spread far and wide. He received the congratulations of his friends, but it raised up a host of enemies ; and one of the col- leges in Cambridge, though only one, actually forbade it to be brought Avithin its w^alls ! In Oxford no such fear had been dis- played, though even there great caution was demanded. It was, liowever, only the next year, when Fox, the Bislicp of Winchester, had determined to found his college at Oxford, that of " Corpus Christi," so that all things were, at least, working together for good. Two Professors, for Latin and Greek, were constituted, with com- petent salaries. The books in Greek were expressly specified by the Founder, and these, says Warton and others, " were the purest, and such as are most esteemed, even in the present improved state of ancient learning." With regard to Hebrew learning at this early period, to say nothing of manuscripts, in England, as well as the Continent, the art of printing had been applied to the language more than twenty years before this, in the Psalter of 1477. Then came the Penta- teuch, and other books at Bologna, in 1482 ; the Prophets, at Son- cino, in 1486 ; the Hagiographa, at Naples, in 1487 ; and in 1488, there was printed at Soncino the first, edition of the Hebrew Bible entire. In 1499, there were published not fewer than /o?/r editions of the Hebrew Bible, which almost immediately disappeared, so great was the interest awakened for Hebrew learning. By the year 1526, there had been published /oi^Veew editions of the He- 40 HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE. brew Bible, in folio, quarto, and octavo, with and without points ; and it is especially to be remembered, that Divine Providence had so overruled the whole, that not one of the Sacred Originals, whether in Hebrew or Greek, had ever been restrained by any Government, however absolute ! Indeed, at this moment, so far from such restraint being imposed in England, it was quite the reverse : as not one man of high au- thority appears to \\diWQ foreseen, that the cultivation of the original lanouao-es would inevitably lead to a translation of the Sacred Volume into the Vulgar tongue. Wolsey himself, only two years after Fox, had begun to encourage classical learning, by founding at Oxford, in 1519, not only a cTiair for Rhetoric and Latin, but one for Greeic, with ample salaries ; while his royal Master was also favorable to the progress of letters. Thus, in this very year, we know from the epistles of Erasmus, that Henry transmitted to the University a royal mandate, commanding, " that the study of the Scriptures, in the original languages, should not only be permitted, but received as a branch of the academical institution." This was the precise period in which our first and future trans- lator of the Scripture resided, both at Oxford and Cambridge. Such a combination of advantages fully explain the source of those at- tainments in learning, which he was afterwards to turn to such powerful account. Tyndale was brought up, from his earliest years, at Oxford, and as a scholar, where, after a lengthened residence, he proceeded in " degrees of the schools ;" or, as Foxe has said — " By long con- tinuance, he grew up and increased as well in the knowledge of tongues, and other liberal arts, as especially in the knowledge of the Scriptures ; insomuch, that he read privily to certain students and fellows in Magdalen College some parcel of divinitjr, instruct- ing them in the knowledge and truth of the Scriptures." His education " in gr|Lmmar, logic, and philosophy, he received," says Wood, " for the most part, in St. Mary Magdalen's Hall," immedi- ately adjoining the College at that time. At this Hall, first called Grammar Hall, from the attention paid to classical learning, and where Grocyn, as well as W. Latimer and Linacre, had lectured, the members stood, as they do now, on the same footing with those of the other Colleges ; their course of study, tuition, length of resi- dence, examination, and degrees, being precisely the same as the rest of the University. In those early days, however, these Halls, having no exhibitions nor endowments for scholarships, many of the students lived at their own charge ; and since no man has ever once been mentioned as patronizing Tyndale, throughout his whole life, the presumption is, that his expenses while at College must have been defrayed by his parents. Tyndale's zeal, how- ever, had at last exceeded the endurance of his contemporaries, and exposed him to some danger. There is no ground for sup- posing that lie was expelled; -'but," says Foxe. "spying liis time, he removed from Oxford to the University of Cambridge, where he likewise made his abode a certain space," and, it has been HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE. 41 vaguely conjectured, took a degree. At all events, his residence in that city had terminated by the year 1519. The incontrovertible proof of Tyndale's erudition, whether as a Greek or Hebrew scholar, is to be found in the j)resent version of our Bible, as read by millions. " The circumstance of its being a revision five times derived, is an advantage altogether peculiar to itself, and doubly valuable from that circumstance." While, not- withstanding this five-fold recension of the Greek and Hebrew original, large portions remain untouched, or verbally as the Translator first gave them to his country. It is, indeed, extraor- dinary that so many of Tyndale's cprrect and happy renderings should have been left to adorn our version, while the terms substi- tuted, in other instances, still leave to him the palm of scholarship. When the incorrect, not to say injurious, sense, in which certain terms had been long employed, is duly considered, the substitu- tion of charity for love, as Tyndale translated it, of grace for fa- vor, and church for congregation, certainly cannot be adduced as proofs of superior attainment in the original Greek. Returning to his native county, Tyndale was soon actively engaged, and so continued to be, from Stinchcombe-hill down to Bristol, to the close of 1522. As the place where he lived, only eight miles south from that of his birth, is well known ; nay. and the house under v>^hose roof he spent his best and zealous exer- tions, in discussing and defending the Word of God, is happily still in existence, — to all such as may take an interest in the fol- lowing history, there is not a more heart-stirring spot in all Eng- land. The Halls of our Colleges, wherever they stand, have never given birth to a design, so vitally important in its origin, so fraught with untold benefit to millions, and now so extensive in its range, as that which ripened into a fixed and invincible pur- pose, in the Dining Hall of Little Sodbury Manor House. It was in this house that Tyndale resided for about two years, as a tutor ; and adjoining to it behind, there still stands, with its two ancient yew trees before the door, the little Church of St. Adeline, where of course the family and tenants attended. Foxe has said of Tyndale, while at Antwerp, that when he "read the Scriptures, he proceeded so fruitfully, sweetly, and gently, much like unto the writing of John the Evangelist, that it was a heavenly comfort to the audience to hear him ;" and so it may have been, under some of his earliest efforts, within the walls of this diminu- tive and unpretending place of worship. At all events, let it be observed, when his voice was first heard, Luther had not yet been denounced even by Leo X. at Rome, much less by Cardinal Wol- sey in England. About the year 1520, Tyndale was tutor in the family of Sir John Walsh, whose hospitable board was often surrounded by the Abbots, Deans, Arch deacons, and divers other doctors, who were fond of discussions, in which Tyndale bore a conspicuous and de- cided part. He published a translation from Erasmus of his " Christian Soldier's Manual," which he presented to Sir John, and 42 HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE, as he did not invite the doctors to his table after reading it, they attributed the cliange to the influence of Tyndale, and treasured a grudge against him. The priests of the country, chistering together, began to storm at ale-houses and other places ; and all with one consent, against one man. Whether the existing Chancellor of the diocese of Worcester had ever feasted at Little Sodbury, does nor appear ; but it cannot be long before Tyndale will have to stand before him. Fortunately the tutor has left on record his own reflections as to this period of his life. '•A thousand books," says he, "had they lever (rather) to be put forth against their abominable doings and doctrine, than that the /Scripture should come to light. For as long as they may keep that down, they will so darken the right way with the mist of their sophistry, and so tangle them that either rebuke or de- spise their abomiilations, with arguments of philosophy, and with worldly similitudes, and apparent reasons of natural wisdom ; and with wresting the Scriptures unto their own purpose, clean contrary unto the process, order, and meaning of the text; and so delude them in descanting upon it with alleg^ories ; and amaze them, expounding it in man// senses before the unlearned lay people, (when it hath but one simple litercd sense, whose light the owls cannot abide), that though thou feel in thine heart, and art sure, how that all is false that they say, yet couldst thou not solve their subtile riddles. " Which thin^ onlymoved me to translate the New Testament. Because T had proved by experience, how that it was impossible to establish the lay people in any truth, except the Scripture were plainhj laid before their eyes in their mother tongue, that they might see the process, order, and meaning of the text ; for else, whatsoever truth is taught them, these enemies of all truth quench it again — partly with the smoke of their bottomless pit, (whereof thou readest in Apocalypse, chap, ix.) that is with apparent reasons of sophistry, and traditions of their own making ; and partly 'in juggling with the text, expounding it in such a sense as is impos- sible to gather of the text itself." Accordingly, " not long after this," says John Foxe, " there was a sitting of the (Italian) Bishop's Chancellor appointed, and warn- ing was given to the Priests to appear, amongst whom Master Tyndale was also warned to be there. Whether he had any mis- doubt by their tbreatenings, or knowledge given liim that they would lay some things to his charge, is uncertain ; but certain this is, as he himself declared, that he doubted their privy accusations ; so that he, by the way, in going thitherward, cried in his mind heartily to God, to give him strength to stand fast in the truth of his word." Here then was Tyndale, in the year 1522, brought to answer for himself; and having already had so many discussions with dignitaries on Sodbury Hill, as well as arguments with the priests in other places, one might have supposed that something decisive HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE, 43 was on the eve of accomplishment ; but it turned out an entire faihire. "When I came before the Chancellor, he threatened me griev- ously, and reviled me, and rated me as though I had bfeeir a dog ; and laid to my charge whereof there could be none accuser brought forth, as their manner is not to bring .forth the accuser; and yet, all the Priests of the country were there the same da3^" Who was this Chancellor ? Who the Cardinal that had recently appointed him? Who was the non-resident Italian Bishop? nay, and who the reigning Pontiff himself, the fountain of all this op- pressive authority? The jPo«//^ was Adrian VI., who, to appease Wolsey, had recently made him " Legate a latere" for life ; the Bishop was Julio di Medici, the future Clement VII., and who, without even visiting England, had been made Bishop of Worcester by Leo X. The man who had lately appointed the Chancellor to the diocese was Wolsey himself, who farjned the whole district for his Italian brother ; and the Chancellor^ who had raised himself to this unenviable notoriety by so treating the man destined b}^ Di- vine Providence to overcome all above him. as far as Rome itself was concerned; was a creature of the English Cardinal, a Dr. Thomas Parker, who lived to know more of Tyndale's power and talents, than he then could comprehend. Had such men only known who was then Vv-ithin the Chancellor's grasp, with what eager joy would they have put an end to all his noble intentions ? Escaping, however, out of Parker's hands, the Tutor departed homeward, and once more entered the hospitable abode of Little Sodbury, but more than ever firmly resolved. It is some alleviation to find that every man in the country was not of the same opinion with the reigning, if not furious Chancellor. " Not far off," continues Foxe, " there dwelt a certain doctor, that had been an old chancellor before to a bishop, who had been of old familiar acquaintance with Master Tyndale, and also favored him well. To him Tyndale went and opened his mind on divers ques- tions of the Scripture, for to him he durst be bold to disclose his heart. To whom the doctor said — ' Do you not know that the Pope is very Antichrist, whom the Scripture speaketh of? But beware what you say ; for if you shall be perceived to be of that opinion, it will cost you your life ;' adding, ' I have been an officer *of his ; but I have given it up, and defy him and all his works.' " It was not long after this that Tyndale, happening to be in the company of a reputed learned divine, and in conversation having brought him to a point, from which there was no escape, he broke out with this exclamation, " We were better to be without God's laws, than the Pope's !" This was an ebullition in perfect harmo- ny with the state of the country at the moment, but it was more than the piety of Tyndale could bear. " I defy the Pope," said he, in reply, " and all his laws ; and if God spare my life, ere many years, I will cause a boy that driveth the plough, to know more of the /Scripture than you do .'" After this, as might have been anticipated, the murmuring of 44 HISTORY OF THE ENCxLISH BIBLE. the priests increased more and more. Such language must have flown over the country, as on the wings of the wind. Tyndale, they insisted, was " a heretic in sophistry, a heretic in logic, and now also a heretic in divinity." To this they added that " he bare himself hold of the gentlemen there in that country, but that, notwithstanding, he should be otherwise spoken to." It was now evident that Tyndale could no longer remain, with safety, in the county of Gloucester, or within the Italian diocese of Worcester. He has therefore been represented, by Foxe, as thus addressing his Master : " Sir, I perceive that I shall not be suffered to tarry long here in this country, neither shall you be able, though you would, to keep me out of the hands of the spir- ituality; and also what displeasure might grow thereby to you by keeping me, God knoweth ; for the which I should be right sorry." Searching about, therefore, not so much for an avenue to escape, as for some convenient place to accomplish the determined pur- pose of his heart, by translating the Scriptures, he now actually first thought of Tunstal, Bishop of London, one of the future burners of his New Testament ! From Sir .John Walsh's inti- mate knowledge of the Court, there was no difficulty in procuring the best access to him ; and so Tyndale must bid farewell forever to his interesting abode on Sodbury Hill. It was his first and last, or ordij attempt throughout life to procure a Patron, and he will, hitnself, now describe his own movements. " The Bishop of London came to my remembrance, whom Erasmus (whose tongue maketh of little gnats great elephants, and lifteth up above the stars whoever giveth him a little exhibi- tion,) praiscth exceedingly, among other, in his Annotations on the New Testament, for his great learning. Then, thought I, if I might come to this man's service I were happy." Such was his impression in Gloucestershire, when moved by the blind supersti- tion of his country " to translate the New Testament ;" and, till now, evidently unacquainted with the state of the metropolis ; for " even," says he, " even in the Bishop of London's house I in- tended to have done it !" "And so I gat me to London, and through the acquaintance of my master came to Sir Harry Gilford, the King's Grace's Comp- troller, and brought him an Oration of Isocrates, which I had translated out of Greek into English, to speak unto my Lord of London for me. This he also did, as he showed me, and willed me to write an epistle to my lord, and to go to him myself, which I also did, and delivered my epistle to a servant of his own, one William Hebilthwaytc, a man of mine old acquaintance. But God, which knoweth what is within hypocrites, saw^ that I was beguiled, and that that counsel was not the next way to my pur- pose. And therefore. He gat me no favor in my lord's sight. Whereupon my lord answered me— 'his house was full, he had more than he could well find, and advised me to seek in London, where, he said, I could not lack a service.' " Such language as this was noised abroad, and it was soon im- HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE. 45 possible for Tyndale to stay in Gloucester. He took leave of his quiet residence at Sodbury Manor House, and went up to London to make application to the Bishop of the diocese for aid in his great undertaking. Presenting him with the translation from the Greek of Isocrates, as a specimen of his ability, he received this answer, — that the Bishop had no room in his palace for him, and he must seek a service, or something to do in London. He re- mained almost a year in London finding no employment, but he was kindly entertained by Mr. Humphrie Munmouth, a man of wealth, who afterwards, as well as then, contributed generously to his support. In London Tyndale had opportunity for more closely observing many things which he had never seen before ; and, in reference to the scene around him, he says, in 1530 : — " And so in London I abode almost a year, and marked the course of the world, and heard our preachers, how they boasted themselves and their high authority ; and beheld the pomp of our Prelates, and how busy they were, as they yet are, to set peace and unity in the world ; tliough it be not possible for them that walk in darkness to continue long in peace ; (for they cannot but either stumble, or dash themselves at one thing or another, that shall clean unquiet all together;) and saw things whereof I defer to speak at this time ; and understood, at the last, not only that there was no room in my Lord of London's palace to translate the New Testament, but also, that there was no place to do it, in all England^ as experience doth now openly declare." But before that Tyndale embarked for the Continent, was there no other step already suggested, which might operate in direct hostility to such a design as that which he contemplated 1 Yes, there was, and in this very year, one of the most powerful and magnificent character. It may be regarded as the climax in the triumph of literature, or as a phalanx in opposition. The attempt too is the more worthy of notice, since it has often been loosely re- garded as the only redeeming trait in Cardinal Wolsey's charac- ter. We refer to the establishment of Cardinal College, Oxford. " He patronized letters," it has been said, " and may be classed among the benefactors of the human mind." But even in the cultivation of letters, we must observe the end in view, and a let- ter from the Bishop of Lincoln fully discloses that the design of this establishment was to resist the progress of Lutjier's senti- ments. This letter is addressed to the Cardinal himself, and dated so early as January 5, 1522, i. e. 1523. The explanation once given, he proceeds : — " I assure your Grace, the King doth consider all this in the best manner, and so doth report it unto your Grace's honor, bet- ter than I can with pen express. Saying that more good shall come of this your honorable foundation than any man can esteem ; with many good words much rejoicing in the same, as I doubt not but he will express at length unto your Grace at your coming, which I shewed him should be on Monday next. I ascertained him over this, your pleasure concerning the secret search ye would 46 HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE. this term make in divers places, naming the same to him, and that at one time. And that ye would be at the Cross, (Paul's Cross,) having the Clergy with you, and there to have a notable Clerk to preach before you a Sermon against Luther, the Luthe- rans and their defaulters, against their works and books, and against introducing their works into the kingdom : And then to have a proclamation to give notice that every person having any works of Luther or of his fantors making, by a limited day to bring them in, under pain of the greater excommunication, and that° day past, to fulminate the sentence against the contrary doers ; and that, if, after that day, any such works be known, or found with any person, the same to be convicted by abjuration ; and if they will contumaciously persist in their contumacy, then to pur- sue them hy the law (ad ignem) to the fire, as against an heretic. And that ye purpose over this, to bind the said Merchants and Stationers in recognisance, never to bring into this Realm any sucli books, scrolls or writings. Which, your godly purpose his Highness marvellously well alloweth, and doth much hold with that recognisance, for that some and most will more fear that, than excommunication." All tlie dark purposes, divulged in this memorable letter, were literally fulfilled. There was the secret search, and at one time ; there was the sermon delivered, and by Fisher, the man pointed out, and the books were burnt ; hut then, it is a most remarkable fact, that all these we shall see deferred — nay deferred for exactly three years, or till immediately after Tyndale's New Testaments had arrived in the country ! Wolsey, it is true, will have quite enough to divert him all the time, but it was just as if Providence had intended that the writings of no human being should have the precedence, but that His own Word, being so treated, should thus enjoy the distinction of exciting the general commotion of 1526. The burning of the NeiD Testatnent was to be the head and front of their offending. We have now done with Tyndale upon English ground; and, disappointed of employment, he also was done with " marking the pomp of our Prelates," or hearing the whole fraternity " boast of their high authority." But certainly when he was to be seen wandering a stranger in London, nothing in this world could have been more improbable, than that in a short time he was so to agi- tate the whole hierarchy of England, and the city which he was now about to leave forever ! HISTORY OP THE ENGLISH BIBLE. 47 SECTION II. THE NEW TESTAMENT IN ENGLISH PREPARING BY TYNDALE, FOR CIRCULATION IN HIS NATIVE LANB ; AND IN TWO EDITIONS FROM THE PRESS BY THE CLOSE OF 1525. STATE OF ENGLAND IMMEDIATELY BEFORE THEIR RECEPTION. Tyndale having now fully resolved on going abroad, sailed direct for Hamburgh, and some have said that he went directly to Luther, and completed his translation in confederacy with him ; others say that he dwelt at Wittenberg while thus engaged. Both of these assertions are very clearly disproved, and it seems quite certain that he remained, the first year of his residence abroad, at Hamburg, and had no intercourse whatever with Lutlier. That he saw and conversed w^ith Luther at some period, may be supposed, though we have not a shadov/ of proof; but that he had done either, or even set his foot in Saxony, before tJie publi- cation, of his Neil) Testament, is shown to have been impossible. The residence of Tyndale at Wittenberg, was nothing more than an assumption, serving powerfully, at the moment, the pur- pose of Sir Thomas More, his calumniator. The evidence, as yet, is distinctly in favor of Hamburgh, and as for " confederacy with Luther," that has been pointedly denied. More had affirmed that Tyndale "w^as luith Luther /« Wittenberg ;" and Tyndale replies, "that is not truth." Indeed, these words are his emphatic answer to all that his opponent had, either of malicious purpose or by mis- take, asserted in both of his sentences, already quoted. We also know the movements of Luther better than did Sir Thomas More ; and these were such during this year that it is ab- surd to suppose that Tyndale was at any time seeking his aid in his New Testament. Tyndale had now entered, with great vigor, on two of the most important years of his existence ; and if, when his productions are once discovered in England, it shall come out in evidence, that, in that time, he had translated and piinted first an edition of the gos- pel of Matthew, then another of the gospel of Mark, with two editions of the New Testament ; this will demonstrate, that neither his residence, nor his labors, have ever yet been understood. But if Tyndale, in 1524, abode in Hambvugh, had he the benefit of any assistance, or did he meet witli an amanuensis there 7 Vfith regard to the first inquiry, he himself informs us, that he "had no man to counterfeit, neither was holpen with English of any that had interpreted the same, or such like thing in the Scrip- ture before time." As for an amanuensis, and one who was also able to compare the text with him when translated ; he seems to have had first one, and then another, who remained in his service for a considerable time. The first of these we cannot name, though he was highly esteemed by our translator ; the second was William Roye, a friar observant of the Franciscan order at Greenwich. 48 HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE. With regard to the progress actually made during this year, or. how muchTyndale may, if not must, have accomplished in Ham- burgh, there lias never been any distinct information. This, how- ever, may be accounted for frgm the fact never having been before known, that previously to the publication of his New Testament ; whether in quarto, with glosses, or in octavo, without them ; Tyn- dale had printed an edition of Matthew, as well as of Mark, by themselves, although not a single copy has ever yet been identified. In the eager search for the Scriptures, with a view to their being destroyed, they may have been sometimes given up, to save a Tes- tament ; but there can be no question that we have here before us Tyndale's earliest effort for the benefit of his country. After John Foxe had printed his loose statement in his Acts and Monuments, when he came to publish Tyndale's works, in 1.573, he glances at this fact, though no attention has ever been paid to his words. In his life of Fryth, talking no more of Saxony, he has said — '-'William Tyndale first placed himself in Germany, and there did first translate the gospel of St. Matthew into English, and after, the whole New Testament," &c. His mention of Mat- thew, by itself, certainly appears to imply some distinction ; but the real state of the case v-as this — that Tyndale not only '' first translated Matthew," but printed it, and the gospel of Mark also. Both of these we shall find to be most bitterly denounced in the beginning of 1527, after having been read ; and as a publication, not only separate from the New Testament with its prologue, but as printed previously. It is worthy of notice, that Humphrie Munmouth, in a memorial to Wolsey and the Council, Vv^ho had been in possession of the earlist New Testament, distinctly confesses that he had " received a little treatise," which Tyndale had sent to him, '■'■wheii he sent for his money," in 1524. This, at least, shows that he had been busily engaged in the city where he had first landed. But if this was not the well-known tract, which was ere long to produce such eflfect, entitled, the " Supplication of Beggars," by Mr. Fish, it may have been these gospels or one of them. The fact of both gospels having been printed, and styled emphatically, "the first print," is certain ; and we simply add, that the place where they were printed, we have been led to believe, must have been Hamburgh. Were it now possible to relate, in full detail, the history of the printing of the first two editions of our New Testament in the English language, it would unquestionably form one of the most striking illustrations of the superintending providence of God over his own Word ; and only exceeded by its introduction into England and Scotland, immediately after being printed. The ac- count, however, even as far as it may be traced, cannot fail to interest all those who desire to mark the hand of the Supreme Being, in by far the greatest gift which He has ever bestowed on Britain. It has been usual to represent the first edition of Tyndale's NeAv Testament as printed at Antwerp in the year 1526, and so dismiss HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE. 49 the subject. We shall have occasion to show that, though not printed under his eye, this was the third edition ; and that the history of the first two editions, printed in 1525, by Tyndale him- self, elsewhere, has never yet been properly understood. Indeed, so defective have the statements hitherto been, that although two editions were distinctly denounced, both by the Bishop of London and the Archbishop of Canterbury, in 1526 ; no one had thought, till very lately, of either inquiring after the missing book, or even allowing the quarto edition with glosses, to have then existed. Every particular circumstance, therefore, which can be properly authenticated, respecting these first two productions of Tyndale's own hand, the source of so many subsequent editions both abroad and at home, ought to be recorded ; and more especially, since so diligent was the " secret search" after them, and so frequent the flames which consumed them, that, of the octavo impression, only one copy of the sacred text remains complete, one other imperfect, and of the quarto, nothing more than a venerable fragment. This last, however, happily includes his original prologue entire, or the very first sheets thrown off at the Cologne press. Having left the place of his abode, which we have assumed to be Hamburgh ; he arrived at Cologne on the Rhine^ in the end of April or beginning of May 1525, perhaps earlier, accompanied bj^ his amanuensis William Roye. He commenced his labors by committing to the press his New Testament, in the form of a quarto volume. Not only was the entire sacred text then trans- lated, but his prologue, extending to fourteen pages, was composed before he began to print. This appears to be evident, not merely from the language of the prologue itself, but from its commencing with sign A ij, and the letters running on regularly through the sacred text. The printers, however, had only proceeded as far as the tenth sheet, or letter K, when an alarm was raised, the authorities of the place informed, and the work interdicted. Tyndale and Roye contrived to secure the sheets printed off, and sailing up the Rhine to Worms, where much greater liberty could at this time be enjoyed, they proceeded with their undertaking. This interrup- tion, though felt to be most grievous at the moment, as Tyndale afterwards obscurely hinted, far from damping, only inflamed his zeal, and the remarkable result was, that two editions were accom- plished by him, in the same period in which very probably he had contemplated only one. This is proved by the testhnony of an opposer. Perhaps the most virulent enemy to the Word of God being- translated into any vernacular tongue, who ever breathed, was John Cochlffius. He at least rose above all his contemporaries of the sixteenth century, and with an unwearied perseverance, worthy of a better cause, he not only strove to prevent the dif- fusion of the Scriptures, and longed to strangle every attempt at their translation in the very birth, but even gloried in his enmity to all such proceedings. 4 50 HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE. According to Cochlaeus, the "two English apostates," as he styles Tyndale and Roye, first contemplated an edition of six thousand copies, but for prudential reasons, they began with three thousand. He tells us, that Pomeranus had already sent forward his letter to the saints in England, and that Luther himself had written his conciliatory letter to Henry VHI. Now this letter, we know, was dated the 1st of September 1525. He then adds, that it had been anticipated, this English New Testament in quarto, would soon follow ; but that the Lutherans, overjoyed, broke the secret before the time ; or in other words he hin^self ferreted out the secret, as will be seen by his own confession. We have only, therefore, to verify the residence and occupation of this opponent during 1525 and 1526, in order to ascertain the precise period to which his account refers. During the year 1525, Cochlteus was actually resident in Cologne, but not in 1526. While there, he was, as usual, busily engaged in writing against Melancthon, Velenus, and Luther, as well as in searching after the writings of Rupert, an Abbot, formerly in the Monastery of Deutz, imme- diately opposite to Cologne. This Abbot, who flourished four hundred years before, had written certain commentaries on the Scriptures, besides several other pieces ; and as some of his sen- timents were thought to be favorable to the cause of divine truth, its friends were eager to procure any of his works, and publish such of them, with notes, as might at once serve their cause, and prove that their doctrines were not so neio as their opponents rep- resented. One of his little pieces, " Of the Victory of the Word of God," had been already printed, with annotations by Osiander of Nuremberg, and the Lutherans were actually in treaty with, the then Abbot of Deutz, expecting from him other works of Rupert, intending to convey them for examination to Nuremberg, Cochlaeus interposed, alarmed the Abbot, and, lest the notes and prologues of his opponents should make Rupert appear in favor of their doctrine, contrived himself to gain possession of the whole. He had then to engage parties willing to publish, and though he found considerable difficulty, at last he prevailed on Peter Quentel, and Arnold Byrckman, well-known printers of the place. Now it was while thus engaged at Cologne, in 1825, that Coch- laeus discovered this first impression of the English New Testa- ment, proceeding briskly, as he says, or swiftly at the press ; yet, with such caution had both Tyndale and Roye conducted them- ■ selves, that, although Cochlsus succeeded in stopping the press, he was never able to meet either the one or the other; a strik- ing proof, by the way, of their intimate acquaintance with his character. In a letter which he wrote from Cologne to Henry VHL, he describes the manner in which he put a stop to the printing of the New Testament by Tyndale and Roye. He was engaged in printing the works of Rupert, and becoming familiar with the printers at Cologne, " he sometimes heard them confidently boast, when in their cups, that whether the King and Cardinal of Eng- HISTORY OP THE ENGLISH BIBLE. 51 land would or not, all England would in short time be Lutheran. He heard also that there were two Englishmen lurking there, learned, skilful in languages, and fluent, whom, however, he never could see or converse ivith. Calling, therefore, certain print- ers into his lodging, after they were heated with wine, one of them, in more private discourse, discovered to him the secret by which England was to be drawn over to the side of Luther — namely, That three thousand copies of the Lutheran New Tes- tament, translated into the English language, were in the press, and already were advanced as far as the letter K, in ordine qiiaternioneni. That the expenses were fully supplied by English merchants ; who were secretl}'^ to convey the work when printed, and to disperse it widely through all England, before the King or the Cardinal could discover or prohibit it. " Cochlseus, being inwardly affected by fear and wonder, dis- guised his grief, under the appearance of admiration. But another day, considering with himself the magnitude of the grievous danger, he cast in mind by what method he might expeditiously obstruct these very wicked attempts. He went, therefore, secretly, to Herman Rinck, a patrician of Cologne and Military Knight, familiar both with the Emperor and the King of England, and a Counsellor, and disclosed to him the whole affair, as, by means of the wine, he had received it. He, that he might ascertain all things more certainly, sent another person into the house where the work was printing, according to the discovery of Cochleeus ; and when he had understood from him that the matter was even so, and that there was great abundance of paper there, he went to the Senate, and so brought it about that the printer was interdicted from proceeding farther in that work. The two Eng- lish apostates, snatching away ivith them the quarto sheets printed^ fled by ship, going up the Rhine to Worms, where the people were under the full rage of Lutheranism, that there, by another printer, they might complete the work begun. Rinck and Coch- leeus, however, immediately advised by their letters the King, the Cardinal, and the Bishop of Rochester, that they might, with the greatest diligence, taice care lest that most pernicious article of merchandize should be conveyed into all the ports of England." Although tliis arch-enemy had never written another word, there can be no question as to the period of this vexatious interruption. He has fixed it himself, by telling us, he was then an exile at Cologne. In 1523, Cochlfeus was at Rome, in 1524 he was at Frankfort and Mentz, and, driven from both, he fled for refuge to Cologne in 1525. There he remained stationary till the beginning of 1526, when, recalled to Mentz, he went in June to the Diet of Spire, and remained till August. Returning to Mentz, he paid a transient visit to Cologne in 1527, but not as an exile. " In 1525," says Dupin, " Cochlajus, who had been obliged to quit first Frankfort and then Mentz, because of the pop- ular seditions of the cities, was at Cologne, where Eckius going into England, had an interview with him. 52 HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE. Throughout the whole of this business it Avas not Wind zeal only by which he was actuated. He had not only notoriety, but gain in view, and was mortified in obtaining neither. The only fragment of the quarto edition of Tyndale's New Testament, of 1525, that escaped the flames of popery and the tooth of time, now adorns the library of the Right Honorable Thomas Grenville. Tyndale having now taken up his residence in Worms, remained there till the year 1527, — a far more favorable place for the prose- cution of his design. The commotions of the people, which at Frankfort and Mentz had ended in triumph over the old opinions ; at Cologne, on the contrary, had been subdued, and hence it was that Cochlfeus had made that city his refuge ; for at Worms he could not then have effected what he had done at Cologne. Worms, on the contrary, Cocblseus has told us, was "under the full rage of Lulheranism," or, in the more sober style of Seckendorf, "was already wholly Lutheran." So much the better for our Trans- lator, though not a Lutheran ; for his enemy will turn out to have been only promoting, unintentionally, the very undertaking which he meant to crush. Upon his airival at Worms, we are not left to inquire whether he lost a day, as, by the event, we know full v/ell that every hour had been improved. Nor is it difficult to perceive his sagacity in his mode of procedure. His quarto Testament had been not merely interrupted, but exposed by a malignant enemy, whose very eye he had evaded ; the book had been described, and even to the highest authorities in England, as well as marked out for seizure, if possible. Changing, therefore, the size, leaving out the prologue and the g-losses, which, by the way, was a great improve- ment, an octavo edition must have been immediately commenced at press, though certainly the quarto was not consigned to oblivion. Copies of these precious books, it will appear, were read in Eng- land early in 1526 ; and thcquartoh.3.d been purchased, and "read thoroughly," in the spring of that year ; eight months before the formal denunciation of Tunstal, or nine months before that of Warham \ when both were denounced, and said to abound, not only in the diocese of London, but throughout the province of Can- terbury. Copies of one edition, if not both, had also reached Scotland in the same year ! Tyndale, with his amanuensis, had now found refuge within the noted city of Worms. It was but httle more than four years since Martin Luther, attired in his friar's frock and cowl, and seated in his vehicle, preceded by the emperor's herald on horse- back, had entered the same place; where the Saxon nobles meet- ing him and forming in procession, two thousand persons accom- panied him through the streets to his inn. It was a larger assem- blage than that which had graced the Emperor's own approach to the Diet. Then, too, and there, Cochlcens, who had occasioned our English Translator's flight from Cologne, could hold up his head, and even force himself into LiUther's presence ; now, he HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE. 53 dared not enter the place. With this memorable scene and its consequences, Tyndale must have been intimately acquainted : but when discussing- the subject on Sodbury hill, how strange must it have seemed to him, had any one added : — "And you too must, before long-, enter Worms ; not to leave it in haste as Luther had to do, but to fulfil the desire of your heart, which you will never be able to accomplish in all England !" Yet what a contrast have Ave between Luther's entrance, surrounded by his Electors and Princes, and the humble approach of Tyndale, with his bale of printed sheets ! This becomes still more striking, if we recol- lect, that four years ago, it was from this very city that Luther, hardly escaping, was carried off to his Patmos, or his castle on the heights of the Wartburg, there, in quiet repose and solitude, to translate his New Testament. Tyndale now entered to print his ; to finish also in AVorms, what he had commenced in Cologne ; and to pursue his design, even after the Testaments were off to their destination. Of the small octavo New Testament here printed, the fruitful parent of so many editions, only one perfect copy of the text re- mains, and no place of safe deposit in all England could be more appropriate than Bristol, the city where Tyndale himself used to preach. The unique fragment of the quarto was discovered only, as it were, the other day ; but the history of this precious small octavo volume we can trace for more than a hundred years — and it will be found somev.'hat curious. Above a century ago it formed one of the volumes in the Harleian Library of Lord Ox- ford, thougli liow long it had been there is not known. Mr John Murray, one of his lordship's collectors, had picked it up some- where. The Earl gave ten guineas for the book, says Mr. Ames ; twenty, says Dr. Gifford ; but both agree that he also settled £20 a-year for life on Murray, who had procured it. The Earl of Oxford died in 1741, without male issue, and his Library of printed books was sold to Mr. Thomas Osborne for c€13,000. Mr. Osborne had not been aware of the rarity and value of his book, for after describing it, he adds :— " In this book no date is left, but it appears to be Tyndale's version, and is probably one of the editions printed in Holland, before his revisal" in 1534. Ac- cordingly, he marked the price at no more than fifteen shillings ! At this price Mr. Ames bought it, when he not only congratulated himself on purchasing what he styled the Phoenix of the entire Library ; but writes, on the 30th of June, 1743, in a letter to a friend, that the annuity of twenty pounds was yet paid to Mr. Murray, he being still alive. One hundred pounds more, however, was still forthcoming, for the annuity was honorably paid, until Murray's decease in 1748 ! On the 13th of May 1760, Mr. Ames' books came to be sold by Mr. Langford, and the Testament was bought for fourteen guineas and a half, by Mr. John Whyte, the bookseller. He possessed it sixteen years to a day, having sold it on the 13th of May 1776. On the book itself, therefore, there is the following note "in manuscript. ^'N.B. — This choice book was 54 HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE. purchased at Mr. Langford's sale, 13th May 1760, by me. John Whyte ; and on the 13th day of May 1776, 1 sold it to the Rev. Dr. Gifford for 20 guineas, the price first paid for it by the late Lord Oxford." Here, then, are two separate editions of the New Testament, both finished at Worms by the close of the year 1525 ; and printed, we believe, by Peter Schoeffer, son of the associate of Guttemberg and Faust. The parties in opposition, let it be first observed, generally mark out the quarto with glosses ; while the only distinct reference of Tyndale himself, is to the octavo, without them, in his preface to the Pentateuch. The explanation is of no little importance. The prologue and glosses, as we shall see presently, excited great fear in the breast of the enemy. Thus when Sir Thomas More refers to the period of Tyndale's first efforts in translating, he will have it, that "at that time he set certain glosses in the Tnargin f an undoubted fact, though not done, as he affirms, " at Wittenberg." In these glosses, as well as the text itself, there was ample room for denunciation, if typographical errors were to be set down as so many heresies. " There is not so much," said Tyndale, " as one i therein, if it lack a tittle over his head, but they have noted it, and number it unto the ignorant people for an heresy." Tun- stal after his return from Spain, or late in 1526, had busied him- self in marking these, till he had got up to the number of 2000 ; although more than ten times that number have been found in one of our Testaments, printed above a hundred years later. Now, in this view, the precious relic lately discovered, when compared with the octavo in Bristol, affords striking proof that the quarto sheets must have been first printed. The spelling, indeed, even of the octavo, is irregular, as might be expected at that early pe- riod, but still the two editions admit of pointed comparison. Wit- ness the following words : 1. Quarto. 2. Octavo. 1. Quarto. 2. Octavo. prophettes prophets. moore more. moththes mothes. pierles pearles. synners sinners. yooke yoke. mooste most. burthen burden. streached stretched. sekynge seking. In every other case, this would be at once admitted as decisive evidence, that the octavo followed, and did not precede the quarto. That Tyndale should improve, as in the octavo, was natural ; but, although it has actually been done, to suppose he would spell as in the quarto, afterwards, is absurd. That it was this quarto on which Tunstal so foolishly expatiated, next year at St. Paul's, after having issued his inhibition, there can be little or no doubt. For although Le Long merely mistakes one year, he expressly states, that " his lordship made this reflection of no fewer than 2000 texts, on an English translation of the New Testament, printed at Cologne and Worms, 1526, 4to." Lewis, after quoting HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE. 55 this, adds, as the only reason for his scepticism, "but no such edition appears.''^ Now, however, a sufficient portion of it has appeared, nearly a century after Lewis, or above three hundred years after it was printed. This too, as already noticed, is the identical book to which Roye alludes, when treating the hypercriticism of Tunstal with ridicule ; it is from this prologue that he quotes, ahd it is the burning of this book entire, which Roye so graphically describes in his Satyre. •' It is reported," said Cochlieus at the close of his statement, "that Lord Cuthbert Tunstal, a most eloquent man, then Bishop of London, now of Durham, when he had obtained one of these copies^ publicly affirmed, in a most ample oration to the people of London, that he had detected above 2000 deprava- tions and perversions in this one work." Tunstal, after all, was not the first who took alaruL Far from it — he was not in England ; and though we must not anticipate, there is coming a liiglier denunciator of this very book, eight months before the Bishop, when he was as far distant as Madrid. Tyndale, on the contrary, alludes to the octavo edition without tiotes, and it v.^as by this that he abode. This allusion, however, let it be observed, was made in the year 1530. Now, the truth is, and it should never have passed without special observation by posterity, that it was upon this ground, that Tyndale and his de- voted friend Fryth, had then long entrenched themselves, — the Scripture without note and comment. " I assure you," said Tyn- dale, the very next year to his Majesty's ambassador, then hunt- ing for him on the Continent, — " 1 assure you, if it would stand with the King's most gracious pleasure, to grant only a hare text of the Scriptures to he put forth among his people, I shall im- mediately make faithful promise 7iever to write niore.^'' And so afterwards, in 1533, said Fryth, upon English ground, to the Lord Chancellor More. " But this hath heen offered you, is offered, and shall be offered. Grant that the Word of God, I mean the text of Scripture, may go abroad in our English tongue ; and my hrother, William Tyn- dale, and I have done, and will promise you to ivrite no more. If j^ou will not grant this condition, then will we be doing while we have breath, and shew in few words, that the Scripture doth in many, and so at the least save some." The burning zeal of no two men born in Britnin ever had less of self, and private interest in it, than theirs had. It was not for glosses, or comments, that they stood and fought so nobly, all alone. To form any mere sect they never longed, and they died without any such consequence following; an event deeply instruct- ive, and one which might be of infinite importance at the pres- ent hour, were it properly understood. It is a singular fact, that throughout these manuscripts, the term Tyndalian occurs only once, in the letter of an enemy, but it never took ; and Tyndale left the world without leaving any circle of mere partisans to hand down his name to posterity. Here, then, let it be observed, were our two first witnesses ; the 56 HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE. two men, not only first engaged in translating, but who led the van in pleading for the Scriptures " going abroad" without note or comment. And is there now no tribute imperatively due to their memory and character, for having so done ? Let the mere secta- rian, of whatever name, make of this fact what he may; Ave must not, even thus early, withhold another, which is never to be sep- arated from it. To their bold and first appeal, therefore, we simply add, as an historical axiom, of the deepest import, and one which for three hundred years, we shall have occasion to observe — that the Sacred text, tvithoiit note and comment, has proved not only the best mode of procedure for meeting the enemy ; but that which time and Providence have distinctly sanctioned, down to o'ar own day; when it has prospered to an extent, far, very far beyond the anticipations of the most sanguine. Events themselves, during that long period, will often speak, and say, or seem to say — " He that hath my word, let him speak," and dispense " my word faith- fully." There is now only one concluding remark forcibly suggested by comparison of the Epistle to the Reader in the octavo, Vvith the Prologue prefixed to the c(uarto. The former, brief in itself, and abrupt in its commencement, has all the appearance of eager despatch ; on the contrary, the opening of the quarto prologue, wears all the Iformality and precision usually adopted, when in- troducing to the reader a /?/"5^ attempt. Witness the commence- ment of the Epistle, — " Give diligence. Reader, (I exhort thee,) that thou come with a pure mind, and, as the Scripture saith, with a single eye, unto the words of health, and of eternal life : by the which if we repent and believe them, we are born anew, created afresh, and enjoy the fruits of the blood of Christ." Contrast this with the deliberate and formal language of the Prologue, so worthy of special notice now. It has never before been presented entire, and as it stands, since the day on which the sheet was thrown off at Cologne. They are not a few who will admire the modesty, the diffidence, not to say the simple beauty of the following sentences : — tyndale's first language in print to the people of GOD in ENGLAND. I have here translated, brethren and sisters, most dear and ten- derly beloved in Christ, the New Testament, for your spiritual edifying, consolation and solace : Exhorting instantly, and be- seeching those that are better seen in the tongues than' I, and that have higher gifts of grace to interpret the sense of the Scripture, and meaning of the 'Spirit, than I, to consider and ponder my labor, and that loith the spirit of meekness. And tf they per- ceive in any places that I have not attained the very sense of the tongue, or meaning of the Scripture, or have not given the rigid English word, that they put to their hands to amend it, rem'em- HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE. 57 hering that so is their duty to do. For roe have not received, the gifts of God for ourselves only., or for to hide them : but for to bestow them unto the honoring of God and Christ, and edifying of the congregation, which is the body of Christ. " The causes that moved me to translate, I thought better that others should imagine, than that I should rehearse them. More- over, I supposed it su])erfiuous ; for who is so blind to ask, why light should be shoioed to them that ivalk in darkness, where they cannot but stumble, and where to stumble, is the danger of eternal datnnation ; eitlier so despiteful that he ivould envy any man (/ speak not his brother) so necessary a thing ; or so bedlam mad as to affirm that good is the natural cause of evil, and darkness to proceed out of light, and that lying should be grounded, in truth and verity ; and not rather clean contrary, that light destroyeth darkness, and verity reproveth all manner (of) lying. " After it had pleased God to put in my mind, and also to give me grace to translate this forerehearsed (before mentioned) NeiD Testament into our English tongue, hoivsoever we have done it, I supposed it very necessary to put you in remembrance of certain points.^'' The reader, we presume, cannot but be gratified by a fac-simile of these words, in their original orthography. He will observe the letter Y, then generally used for I ; whicli first led to the discov- ery of what the fragment is; and here he may contemplate not merely the first page of text, in the first sheet of a work thrown off at press, in the year 1525, at Cologne ; but the veritable origin of all those millions of English Scriptures now reading in so many dif- ferent and distant parts of the globe — parts utterly unknown to our immortal Translator, when he sent the sheet to the press — parts then untrodden by any Englishman — parts then undiscovered ! It shows that Tyndale, with all gravity, recognized no instiga- tor under God, and ascribed to his grace alone, the entire glory of his work. Such had been his language in print, before ever Coch- Iseus had set his foot in Cologne. But now, that he had been so defamed by this enemy ; hear his emphatic disclaimer from Worms. " Beseeching the learned to consider that he had no m,an to follow as an example, neither was holpen with English of any that had interpreted the same, or siich like thing in the Scripture before time." Sir Thomas More had read this, though he did not choose, as it was not convenient, to believe it. But surely, if any individual of that age may be regarded as an agent walking independently of his fellows, it will turn out to have been our English exile — A man of manners, morals, prudence, parts, Unpatroniz'd, and therefore little known, — a man, whose character and powerful talents have been so griev- ously misrepresented, and so misunderstood, up to the present 58 HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE. hour. We only hope that the following pages may have some ef- fect in redeeming liis mempry from that state of mere pupilage, or reliance on the German Reformer, which if not true m point of fact, ought to have been corrected, at least in England, long ago ; as well as from that "confederacy with Luther," first forged by the enemy for the vilest of purposes, and then so simply received and retailed by his countrymen, from John Foxe downwards. We are now just upon the eve of returning into England, after spending two years abroad, in company with our Translator ; but before we do return — before the uproar and the consternation be- gin before the wrath of 1-526 burst out — while these precious vol- umes are only coming over that sea, which Tyndale had passed over to send ; and before either the quarto or octavo had arrived in our native land ; there is one additional event which must not be omitted even here, though it has to be explained more distinctly three months hence, at the moment of its occurrence. If there was any advantage anticipated by Tyndale, from send- ino- over the octavo without notes " now at the first time" — if it was indeed so sent — there must have ensued a second momentary disappointment. If there was any device or contrivance adopted^ then it certainly failed, completely failed ! This quarto, with glosses, had been the first born of his imagination, and we have seen that his whole heart was set upon giving the sacred text^ what was strangely styled " Us full shape.^' But the Divine Author will as distinctly say nai/ in London, as he had already done at Cologne ! For, after all, we shall find next year, that this quarto book was first held up in warning to the people. The book " with glosses and prefaces" was first condemned, — con- demned, too, by no less authority than that of Henry VIII. liim- self, with Wolsey's full concurrence, if not his advice, — and con- demned eight months before either Tunstal or Warham held up also the octavo, without notes, for destruction. Tyndale certainly intended that the book with glosses should follow " in time to come," however short. Providence caused it to precede, and, at the same time, over ruled it as a decoy for several months ! All that time, therefore, the precious little volume must have been fulfiling its commission, and passing into its hiding place in unknown directions ! Nor is the curious fact of the New Testament " wtV/t glosses and prefaces" being first condemned, and then passing into oblivion through all history, for above three hundred years, an event carry- ing no instruction or monition. Quite the reverse. .All who ven- erate Divine Revelation in its purity, will remember that this was the commencement of a new era for Britain, more important than she had ever witnessed, or in truth has witnessed since. Com- ments, therefore, or glosses, additions of man's devising, professed- ly to make the sacred language more intelligible than that of its Divine Author, or turn it to a certain meaning, were not to be treated as of small account. As matter of history they were not and have not been so treated. These glosses sunk the book into HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH JBIBLE. 59 the shades ; just as those notes, sometimes styled contemptuously the Geneva spectacles, afterwards operated on that otherwise val- uable translation. Never, then, let it pass unobserved, how soon, and how clearly, Tyndale and Fryth saw through this ; how soon our Translator put the King- of England upon the alternative of receiving, or not receiving, the sacred text alone ; or how decidedly, and upon Eng- lish ground, Fryth repeated the bold appeal, to the Lord Chancel- lor, Sir Thomas More. The warfare was at once reduced to a single point. Receive^ or not receive, the Sacred Volume, without note or comment • so that we have now to witness the man who, by way of eminence, fought on one side, and the men who, by way of eminence, or we might say the nation, who fought against him. This important fact not only affords us a notable commencement to our history, but it will connect itself, very pow- erfully, with the close of this work, or the larger movements of the present day. SECTION III MEMORABLE INTRODUCTION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT INTO ENGLAND — THE TWO FIRST EDITIONS THE FIRST ALARM IN LONDON, OXFORD, CAMBRIDGE THE FIRST BURNING OF BOOKS NEW TESTAMENT DENOUNCED BY THE KING AND WOLSEY THEN BY TUNSTAL AND WARHAM THE THIRD EDITION VIOLENT CONTENTION RESPECTING IT BURNING IT ABROAD AND AT HOME BUT IN VAIN. That interesting period when the Word of God, printed in our native tongue, was first found in England, had now arrived. It was in January 1.526. On the banks of the Rhine, Tyndale had finished his New Testaments at the press, but how was it possible for them ever to be conveyed into our contry ? Had not Rincke and Cochlaeus warned the Cardinal himself, the King, and the Bishop of Rochester, that they might "with the greatest diligence take care" lest one of them should come into any port in all England ? They certainly had, and in good time, so that it is no fault of theirs, if all opposing parties were not now on the alert. Yet here are the dreaded books, and upon English ground, and not only in the metropolis, but in both universities, to say nething, at this moment, of the country at large ! It is natural, however, first to inquire whether there were any circumstances, at the moment, favorable to their introduction. Of all other men, the two most able and most likely to have pre- vented their arrival, or immediately suppressed them, were Wolsey and Tunstal, the Bishop of London. But the former was now completely engrossed by affairs of state policy, both abroad and at home — abroad he was urging, nay, rousing the French Cabinet to renewed war with the Emperor ; at home, he was concluding 60 HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE. peace with Scotland, and also busily engaged in reforming his master's household, or framing what were called " the Statutes of Eltham." The Bishop of London was not in the' country, having been happily removed out of the way eight months before ; he was still ambassador in Spain, and not to return till August or Sep- tember ; so that his name never should have been associated, as it has generally been, with the first reception of Tyndale's New Testament. More than tliis, the winter was peculiarly unhealthy, and such was the alarm created by great mortality, that the courts had been adjourned — the authorities were out of the way — the King was keeping his Christmas at Eltham, in private, with a few friends, " for in the King's house," says Halle, " this was called the still Christmas" — and Wolsey, after carousing at Rich- mond for a few days, had to attend His Majesty on business at Eltham, from the 8th to the 22d of January. Such a conjunction of circumstances but seldom occurred, and, without straining a point, they may surely be regarded as provi- dential ; for they afforded certain opportunities, which, we shall tiad, had been most busily improved. From wliat particular port on the Continent the first copies were sent, and to what port in England they came, may remain for- ever a secret. The probability is, that some came from Antwerp, while others were sent from Worms down the Rhine through Holland, and so from dilferent places. Be this as it may, we know for certain of two gentlemen, who engaged in very early, if not the first, active measures as to the importation itself; namely, Simon Fysh, of Gray's Inn, London, and George Herman, a citizen of Antwerp, and merchant in the English house there; while dar- ing this month of January 1526, we shall find that not a few of tlie most learned young men in England were eagerly perusing Tyndale's first productions. It was on the 2d of February, that an insignificant incident gave birth to the first great alarm. It well deserves, therefore, to be noticed. Simon Fysh, already mentioned, a native of Kent, after receiving his education at Oxford, had taken up his residence as a lawyer in Gray's Inn, London. A play, or tragedy, as Foxe calls it, composed by a Mr. Roo or Row, of the same Inn, in one part of which Wolsey tliought himself deeply impugned, was about to be acted in private ; and this part, after others through fear had declined, Fysh undertook to perform. He did so once, but never could a second time, for " the same night that this tragedy was played," Fysh was compelled to leave his own house, and finally escape to the Continent. How often did the Cardinal, with all his sagacity, put forth his hand to his own downfall ? Though, confessedly, a deep politician, he was far from under- standing the policy of non-interference. This attempt at appre- hension must have occurred before the end of 1523, if it be correct, as Foxe affirms, that " the next year following" lie composed the tract entitled " the Supplication of Beggars." Mr. Fysh is stated to have been with Tyndale abroad, and if so, " the little treatise" HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE. 61 which Munmouth depones that Tyndale " sent to him from Ham- burgh in 1524, when he sent for his money," may have been this pubUcation, if it was not the Gospel of Matthew. But, whether the one or the other, the "Supphcation" must have been in exist- ence in 1525, from what we know of its history. In the shape of a "Supphcation," addressed "to the King our Sovereign Lord," it convejed the most wholesome and astounding advice to Henry VHI., and the parties interested were so very fortunate as to reach his ear through one of his confidential ser- vants or footmen, whom Foxe calls Edmund Moddis. This man had read the book himself, and told his Majesty, that "if lie would pardon him, and such men as he would bring to his grace, he should see such a book as was marvel to hear of" The King fixed a time, and thus two merchants, George Eliot, and George Robinson, v/ere favored with a private audience. His Majesty, whose curiosity had been excited by the representation of his con- fidential servant, patiently listened to every line, as it was read to him by Eliot. This powerful tract^ for it was nothing more, written in a popu- lar style, contained an unmeasured attack on the whole fraternity of Monks and Friars, Pardoners and Sumners," into whose hands an immense proportion of the nation's wealth had already passed. Their growing power, already impairing and threatening to de- stroy that of the Crown itself, was denounced in the strongest terms. " This is the great scab," said Fysh, " why they will not let the New Testament go abroad in your mother tongue^ lest men should espy that they, by their cloaked hypocrisy, do translate, thus fast, your kingdom into their hands." At the close of its being read, and after a long pause, the King is reported to have said, " if a man should pull down an old stone wall, and begin at the lower part, the upper part thereof might chance to fall on his head ;" then taking the book, he put it in his desk, commanding the men on their allegiance, that they should not disclose to any one that he had seen it. Copies of this tract' must have been possessed by not a few, when the King's own servant knew its contents so thoroughly. This, however, woidd not suffice, and so it had been determined that the people at large should read it for themselves ; and, also, that no doubt should remain, whether the King had seen it. John Foxe. therefore, thus describes it — " A Libel or Book entitled the Supplication of Beggars, thrown and scattered at the proces- sion in Westminster, on Candlemas day, before King Henry the Eighth, for him to read and peruse." This was on Friday the 2d of February 1526. Many copies might be thus disposed of, but, by another account, they had been scattered about the streets by night. The moment of alarm had now come. This very trivial inci- dent had excited the greatest fear and dread ! Wolsey imme- diately went to his Majesty, complaining of " divers seditious persons having scattered abroad books containing manifest eriorsj 62 HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE. desiring his grace to beware of them ;" but what must have been his mortification, when the King, putting his hand into his bosom, and taking out one of these very books, deUvered it into his hands ! At this period Henry was not a httle gratified by any information which he could procure, independently of his dom- ineering Prime Minister. Wolse}^, once roused, became fully awake to the importance of his intentions in the year 1523. Engrossed as he had been with political affairs, some of these intentions had remained unfulfilled. But now there was to be " the secret search, ^^ and in divers places at one time, and a sermon to be preached, by Fisher, the very man whom Henry had then named. It was resolved to strike terror into the heart of the enemy, and give one vital stab to all that was now run down under the nick-name of Lutheranism ; for divine truth had been slowly gaining its way, and was now to spread, as it had done independently of Luther. The fact is, that the crusade, under which our country long groaned and bled, was about to begin ; and as the authorities of the day were now going to treat the people of God after the primitive fashion, when they first put them in bear-skins, and then baited them, a word of terror was wanting. Lollard, had been the term for above a hundred years, as it especially was under Longland, in 1521 ; but Lutheranism was now a far more eflfectual, because opprobi'ious, epithet ; involving all those who either read the Scriptures, or ap- pealed to them as authority. Before, however, we can rightly understand the course of events, the evidence afforded by original manuscripts, by Foxe and Strype, Bishop Tanner and Anthony Wood, as well as two or three other authorities, must be carefully compared. After this, when we look at London, Oxford, and Cambridge, as well as the country at large, a scene, full of the deepest interest, opens to view. Not a day was now to be lost. London, though far from its present size, was large enough even then to be favorable to secrecy ; but London, Cambridge, and Oxford, must all be searched at one time, and Cardinal College, too, must not be over- looked. Wolsey could not have been with the King sooner than next day, Saturday the 3d. The simultaneous orders for both Universities must have been the same day, as the Sergeants-at- Arms had arrived at both by Monday or Tuesday. In London they commenced immediately. Among the very Jirst places where the " secret search" began, was a narrow lane in Cheapside, nearly opposite to Bow Church. In a church there, " All Hallows in Honey Lane," Robert Forman, S. T. P., was Rector, and Mr. Thomas Garret, Curate. Strong suspicions rested on the latter, as being at once a receiver and distributor of books. Foxe relates that Garret brought to Oxford sundry books in Latin, and Tyndale's first translation of the New Testament in English which he sold to divers scholars in Oxford. " After he had been there a while, and despatdied those books, news came that he HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE. 63 was searched for through all London, to be apprehended and taken as a heretic, and to be imprisoned for selling those heretical books, as they termed them." Not finding him in London, " they had determined forthwith to apprehend and imprison him, and to burn all and every his foresaid books, and him too, if they could, so burning hot was their zeal." By the time, however, that the Sergeant-at-Arms had arrived, Cole of Magdalen College, who was afterwards cross-bearer to the Cardinal, but an acquaint- ance of Garret's, gave him warning. So in the morning of " Wednesday before Shrovetide," on the 7th of February, he left Oxford, but returning again, he changed his dress as far as he could, and disappeared on Friday night. But, seized with fear, he returned to Oxford on Friday evening. That night he was appre- hended, but escaped again, and was finally taken at Hinksey, about two miles distant ; when he, and all besides, who were sus- pected as receivers of books, w^ere very soon in safe keeping ! Many others, whose names are recorded, were compelled to liy for safetjr. Garret, and Dalaber, w^ho was a Student, and devoted to Garret, as convicted heretics, were made to carry a faggot, in open pro- cession, from St Mary's to Cardinal College ; the former, as Master of Arts, having his red hood on his shoulders. These young men, besides others not named, followed in procession, all of whom were obliged, in passing, to cast a hook into the large fire which had been kindled to receive them. Garret and Dalaber were then incarcerated at Osney Isle, till further orders from London, when the former was called up to appear before Tunstal, as we shall see towards the close of the year. As for the other young men, along with Clarke, they ^vere all immured in a deep cell, under Cardinal College, the common repository of their salt fish, a noisome dungeon, where the air and food together proved but too fatal. Betts. no suspected books being, at least, detected in his chamber, through entreaty and surety, got out of prison, and, as soon as he could, went to Cam- bridge. Taverner, though deeply implicated, as having concealed Clarke's books under the floor, being skilful in music, was excused by Wolsey ; but the rest remained in this most miserable abode ; where, eating nothing but salt fish from the beginning of March to the middle of August, four of them died ! After this, but in consequence only of a letter from Wolsey, the rest were all released, on condition of not moving above ten miles from Oxford. How many thus continued as prisoners at large does not appear ; but John Fryth being so far at liberty, and now aware of the treatment of Garret and Dalaber, " escaped by flight over the sea to Tyndale." He left Oxford for the Continent, therefore, in August or September 1526. Garret first departed from Oxford on Wednesday, the 7th of February. This date must be observed in connection with what took place at Cambridge. The books distributed were a mighty grievance to Wolsey, and 64 HISTORY OP THE ENGLISH BIBLE. they were now gone into coiners, they knew not where ; but of all that had been circulated or sold, there were none to be compared with Tyndale's New Testament. This was the Word of Life, and felt to be so. We have already seen it, in the grasp of Dalaber, to have been their sheet anchor in the raging storm. It is there fore well worthy of remembrance, tbat one of Tyndale's earliest blows, dashed to the ground the insidious design of the lofty Car- dinal. It vras an attack upon the lion in his own den ; while as to the young men, npw branded as heretics, whether caught or escaped, Tyndalc had given them, not a book of new learning merely, but the volume of Divine Mercy — it was not the owl of Athens, but Mount, Zion's dove. If Oxford had been thrown into a ferment during these eaii}'^ days in February, the connnotion at Cambridge, was, if possible, still greater. The publication of the Greek Testament by Erasmus, in 1516, was one of the most important events in the progress of letters ; but Caml^ridge seems to have been inferior to Oxford in their cul- tivation. Even the Priests, in their confessions of young scholars, had cautioned them against the acquisition of Greek and Hebrew, on account of the consequences they dreaded. Standish, after- wards Bishop of St. Asaph, was one great promoter of this hostility ; and, upon one occasion, on his knees before the King and Q,ueen, is said to have conjured them, by everything sacred, to go on as their ancestors had done, and put down Erasmus. When, there- fore, his Testament appeared, at Cambridge it was absolutely proscribed by some of the doctors of the day, and one College, as already hinted, forbade it to be brought within the walls ! Yet the book they had thus contemned, was the very same by which God intended to promote his own designs, and in Cambridge itself Not long, therefore, after the publication of this Testament, which contained the Latin and Greek in parallel columns, the heart of one student was smitten with it ; and this, in the hand of God, was sufficient to produce a great moral change. An L.L.D., and Fellow of Trinity Hall, he had already excelled in the study of the Civil and Canon Law, to which he had intended to devote his future life ; but falling into great distress of mind, he applied to the Priests. They appointed him fastings and watch- ing, with the purchase of pardons and masses. " But at the last," says he, " I heard speak of Jesus, even then when the New Testament was first set forth by Erasmus. Which, when I understood to be eloquently done by him, being allured rather for the Latin than for the Word of God — for, at that time, I knew not what it meant — I bought it even by the Providence of God, as I do now well understand and perceive. And at the first reading, as I well remember, I chanced upon this sentence of St. Paul, (O most sweet and comfortable sentence to my soul !) in liis first Epistle to Timothy, and first chapter — ' It is a true saying, and worthy of all men to be embraced, that Christ Jesus came HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE. 65 into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the chief and princi- pal.' This one sentence, through God's instruction and inward teaching, which I did not then perceive, did so exhilarate my heart, being before w^ounded with the guilt of my sins, and being almost in despair, that immediately I felt a marvellous comfort and quietness, insomuch that my bruised bones leapt for joy. — " After this the Scripture began to be more pleasant to me than the lioney, or the honey-comb. Wherein I learned that all my travels, all my fasting and watching, all the redemption of masses and pardons, being done without truth in Christ, who alone saveth his people from their sins ; these, I say, I learned to be nothing else, but even, as Augustine saith, a hasty and swift running out of the right way ; or else much like to the vesture made of fig- leaves, wherewith Adam and Eve went about in vain to cover themselves ; and could never before obtain quietness and rest, till they l^elieved on the promise of God, that ' Christ the seed of the woman should tread upon the Serpenfs head.' Neither could I be relieved cr eased of the sharp stings and biting of my sins, be- fore I was taught of God that lesson which Christ speaketh of in the third chapter of John — ' Even as Moses exalted the serpent in the desert, so shall the Son of Man be exalted, that all which be- lieve on him, should not perish, but have life everlasting.' " As soon as I began to taste and savor of this heavenly lesson, which no man can teach, but onlv God, which revealed the same unto Peter, I desired the Lord to increase my faith ; and, at last, I desired nothing more, than that I, being so comforted by him, might be strengthened by his Holy Spirit and grace from above, that I might teach the wicked his ways, which are mercy and truth, and that the wicked might be converted unto him by me, who sometime was also wicked." This was no other than Thomas Bilney, the future Martyr of 1531. His preaching was followed by great and powerful effects, for among others, Hugh Latimer and Robert Barnes owed their conversion to him. So early, therefore, as 1523, before Tyndale went abroad, Cambridge lay under strong suspicion of heresy ; and yet it is curious enough, that in that year, when certain Bishops moved, that there might be a visitation appointed to go down, for trying who were " the fautors of heresy" there, the Cardinal for- bade it ! "Upon what grounds," says Burnet, '• I cannot imagine." It seems to have been, either because he then meditated a reform of the Church, after his own fancy, as already disclosed in the letter of Longland, and of wliich his own sovereign authority as Legate, should ap}x>ar to be the only fountain ; or if not, to show at the moment his authority over the clergy. His mind, we know, was then engrossed with affairs of State, abroad, as well as at home. At all events, the overruling hand of God is manifest, in preventing all interference for at least three years, or from January 1.523, to February 1526. The order for Oxford we have stated to be the third of this 5 68 HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE. month ', that for Cambridge must have been at the same moment * but in this case, previous information through Dr. Tyrell, had suggested the necessity for two individuals being sent. One Gib- son, the Sergeant-at-Arms, a creature of Wolsey's hated by the Aldermen and Common Council of London, was therefore accom- panied by Dr. Capon, one of the Cardinal's chaplains. They had arrived on Monday, as upon Tuesday, the sergeant "suddenly arrested Dr. Barnes openly in the Convocation-house, to make all others afraid ;" and by Wednesday evening, (on the morning of which Garret first escaped from Oxford), Dr. Barnes stood before Wolsey. Robert Barnes, born near Linn in Norfolk, after proceeding through the schools at Cambridge, had entered the Monastery of Augustine Friars there, in the year 1514. Having then gone to Louvaine, where he studied, and passed as Doctor of Theology ; after his return he was made Prior and Master of his Monastery, in 1523. In conjunction with another Louvaine scholar, Mr. Thomas Parnel, whom he had brought over with him, he became, says Strype and others, " the great restorer of good learning at Cambridge." He had introduced the study of the classics, and was reading Terence, Plautus, and Cicero ; but being brought to the knowledge of the truth througii Bilney, he proceeded to read openly with his scholars, the Epistles of Paul. Sometime before this, Latimer had been also enlightened through Binley's preach- ing, and was proclaiming the truth with great decision and effect AVhether Latimer was actually in expectation of the New Testa- ment of Tyndale, does not appear, but the fact is, that he was now powerfully preparing the way for it ; as he frequently and particularly dwelt on the great abuse of iockins' up the Scriptures in an unknown tongue. Prior Buckingham, his opponent, in- veighed against him, and insisted, that if that heresy prevailed, we should soon see an end of everything useful! This man, Latimer put to silence by that singular vein of humor for which he was distinguished ; while Venetus, a foreigner, with whom he reasoned in a strain full of gravity, was obliged to leave the Uni- versity. Latimer's opponents finding argument fail, resorted to authority ; and West, the Bishop of Ely, after hearing him, and even professing to be charmed, ultimately prohibited him from preaching in any of the churches belonging to the University, or within his diocese ! The Monastery of Dr. Barnes, however, was happily exempt from episcopal jurisdiction, an exemption indeed, peculiar to almost all the Monasteries, so that the Prior boldly li- censed him to preach there. The place was unable to contain" the crowds that assembled, and Dr. Barnes having been requested by the parish to preach at St. Edward's Church hard by, resolved to comply. This was a memorable evening on account of the ef- fects. It was in fact a crisis, though never sufficiently marked as such. It was " Christmas eve, and on a Sunday," says Foxe, or as Barnes himself explains, — " in the year of our Lord 1525, the 24th of Decembei-." Latimer was also officiating at the Monastery HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE. 67 that evening ; while the present, says Foxe, was " the^r*^ sermon that ever Barnes preached ol' this truth." Understanding now the way of truth more perfectly, and alive to the state of things around him, lie had resolved to be openly explicit. By two chaplains, Urs. Robert Ridley and Walter Preston, fellows of King's College, and kinsmen of Tunstal, Bishop of London, he was immediately ac- cused of heresy. This they did in the Regent-House, before the Vice-Chancellor Edmimd Nateres, and these two men, assisted by three others, viz. Tyrell, Watson, and Fooke, having gathered up certain articles against him, desired him to recant. The Univer- sity, as a body, immediately took up the matter, and disputed their authority. His adversaries, however, within two or three days, having secured another meeting before tlie Vice-Chancellor ; by fraud and intimidation, they -' so entreated and cozened him," that Barnes agreed to yield to their authority and their promised clem- ency. They then enjoined him to read his revocation in St. Ed- ward's Church next Sunday. Barnes consulted with eight or ten of his learned friends, among whom were Stafford and Bilney, and then declined ; but he had already ensnared himself in these pri- vate interviews, and his accusers, aware of this, desisted, only to wait their favorable moment. The learned of at least seven dif- ferent colleges now flocked together in open day to sermons, whether at the Augustine Monastery or St. Mary's. Disputations were held during the whole of January, at a house called Germany^ by way of derision, to the day that Dr. Barnes stood before Wolsey. It was not, however, to apprehend Barnes alone, that the Ser- geant-at-Arms had arrived at Cambridge. He had been charged to make secret search for books^ and instantly seize the whole, as well as apprehend all who possessed them. Not fewer than thirty were suspected, and spies had given them precise information as to every one of their rooms ! But Dr. Forman of Queen's College had happily, at the first moment, informed all the parties of the -privy search, and " God be praised," says Foxe, the books " were conveyed away by the time that the Sergeant-at-Arms, the Vice- Chancellor, and the Proctors were at every man's chamber." The business of Gibson was therefore soon accomplished, and Dr. Barnes being his only prey, he was immediately carried to London, We return, therefore, to Wolsey's gallery at Westminster, on Wednesday evening, Gardiner, his Secretary, and Fox, being the only parties present with Barnes. The Cardinal soon discovered, that he was not unacquainted with what Dr. Barnes had been delivering at Cambridge, telling that his noted sermon in Decem- ber, was ■'•' fitter to be preached on a stage than in a pulpit." Cer- tainly it was very different doctrine from that with which almost every pulpit was filled ; and as for the rest, the fact is, that, whether well advised or not, Barnes, unable to repress his indig- nation at the gross abuses of the times, had opened up before the people Wolsey^s extravagance. To him belongs the distinction of having led the way in boldly and pubhcly exposing the gor- 68 HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE. geoiis and tyrannical bearing of the lofty Cardinal. This accounts for the severity with which he was now treated, for both Bilney and Latimer were permitted to go on for some time longer. Wolsey, however, read the articles with patience, till he came to one personal to himself; for the men at Cambridge, in drawing them up, knew how to touch him at the quick. '• What, Master Doctor," exclaimed the Cardinal, " had you not a sufficient scope in the Scriptures to teach the people, that my golden shoes, my pole axes, iny pillars, my golden cushions, my crosses, did so offend you, that you must make us ridiculum caput before the people? We were jollily that day laughed to scorn. Verily, it was a ser- mon fitter to be preached on a stage than in a pulpit, for at the last you said — I wear a pair of red gloves, I should say bloody gloves, quoth you, that I should not be cold in the midst of my ceremonies." Whether this charge was correct does not appear, but Barnes, as yet unmoved, replied, " I spake nothing but the truth out of the old Doctors." In the end, he delivered to the Cardinal six sheets in manuscript, to confirm and corroborate all that he had spoken. Wolsey smiling, said, " We perceive that you mean to stand to your articles, and to show your learning." " Yea," said Barnes, " Uiat I do intend, by God's grace, with your lordship's favor." Wolsey inquired if he did not know that he was there for heresy, and whether he could bring six or ten doctors of divinity to swear for him 7 Barnes offered twenty honest men, as learned as himself, if not superior — but these would not suffice. ''They must be of your years according to law," said Wolsey. " That," replied Barnes, " is impossible." " Then," said the Car- dinal, "7/0?/. must he hurnt .'" At the close, Wolsey was about to commit him to the Tower, but Fox and Gardiner interceded, and became sureties for his appearance. During the whole night he was engaged in preparing for his defence before the Bishops, to whom Wolsey had committed him. Three of his students, Cov- erdale, Goodwin, and Field, having followed him up to Tiondon, were also occupied in writing to his dictation. On Thursday morning, after calling at York Place, (Whitehall,) for Fox and Gardiner, the Sergeant-at-Arms conveyed him down to the Chap- ter-House at Westminster. He was now in the presence of Jolm Clark, Bishop of Bath, as principal Judge, who treated him with marked severity : Henry Standish, Bishop of St. Asaph, who was sure to be an enemy and not a judge ; Ishp, the Abbot of West- minster ; the Abbot of Bury ; Dr. Jeffrey Wharton ; Dr. Allen ; and Dr. Gardiner. After this examination he subscribed his arti- cles, and was then committed to Fleet Prison, but no one to speak with him. On Saturday at three o'clock, when called to appear again, a long roll was shown to him, which he must promise to read in public, with the assurance now, that he would not add one word, more or less ! They exacted this promise before he had read a line of it, and put it to him solemnly three times ! Barnes continuing firm, was desired to retire. On being called in, they had agreed that a Notary should read it to him, and as Barnes HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE. 69 listened, he felt as though he would rather die than agree. After long disputation, threatening, and scorn, it was now five o'cloclc ; when they called upon him to know whether he would abjure or burn. Barnes was in great agony, inclining rather to the latter, when they sent him again to take counsel from Fox and Gardiner alone ; and they, " by persuasions that were mighty in the sight of reason and foolish flesh," brought him at last to yield and ab- jure ! It is easy for us now to say, tliat he ought to have stood firm, and if he had, Barnes would have led the van at least, of this division of martyrs, for the Word of God ; but neither Garret nor he were yet able to brave the horrors of the stake. With regard to Barnes, in particular, the sight on the following day was indeed most humiliating, and to his adversaries must have seemed a great triumph. On Sabbath the 4th, in his' pulpit at Cambridge, and on the next, or 11th, bearing a faggot at St. Paul's ! The church was crowded to excess, and there sat Wolsey in all his glory, smiling, no doubt, over the pointed replies of Thursday evening, while he saw Barnes and five others, Stillyard men, humbled before him. So mighty and so important was the occasion, that, according to Foxe — - " The Cardinal had a scaffold made on the top of the stairs for himself, with six-and-thirty Abbots, mitred Priors, and Bishops, and he, in his whole pomp, mitred, which Barnes had denounced, sat there enthroned ! His Chaplains and Spiritual Doctors, in gowns of damask and satin, and he himself in purple ! And there was a new pulpit erected on the top of the stairs, for Fisher^ the Bishop of Rochester, to preach against Luther and Dr. Barnes ; and great baskets full of books, standing before them within the rails, which were commanded, after the great fire was made before the Rood of Northern, (or large crucifix at the north gate of St. Paul's,) there to be burned ; and these heretics, after the sermon, to go three times round the fire, and cast in their faggots." All this was done, of course, and much more that was humili- ating, Wolsey retiring, under a canopy, in all his pomp ; and Fisher declaring to the people, how many days of pardon and for- giveness of sins they had, for being present at that Sermon ! To him, as well as Wolsey and Longland, it was a high day, and one to which they had looked forward for three years. Here, then, we have the first of a series, for it preceded Oxford by a few days, in which books were committed to the flames ; and among many others, upon this day, the 11th of February, 1526, copies of Tyndale's New Testament were no doubt for the Jirst time cast into the fire, as they were at Oxford in the same week. By tliis period we shall yet have curious and abundant evidence that they were in the country ; Garret was convicted, as we have seen, for conveying books to Cambridge as well as Oxford, and among the stores of the Stillyard inen, now accumulated in the " great bas- kets," the London stock was so far involved. Lutheranism, it is true, was the great bugbear held up this day before the people, 70 HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE but when chastising Fisher afterwards, for the sermon he had preached and printed, Tyndale himself has said : — "And mark, I pray you, what an orator he is, and how vehe- mently lie persuadeth it ! ' Martin Luther hath burned the Pope's decretals ; a manifest proof,' saith he, ' that he would have burned the Pope's Holiness also, if he had had him.' A like argument, which I suppose to be rather true, I make. Rochester and his holy brethren have burnt Christ's Testament ; an evident sign, verily, that they would have burnt Christ himself also, if they had had him." These words, by the way, may now be received as the best of all evidence, that the New Testament was there, and there con- sumed. All this, however, was evidently done by the Cardinal's supreme and express authority. At the close of all, poor Barnes, though received formally into the Roman Catholic Church again, was remitted to the Fleet, till the Lord Cardinal's pleasure should be known ; but his friends were permitted to visit him, and he there relented. As the season of conviction at Oxford and Cambridge had been the same, so also was that of relief to both parties. Perhaps the sad deaths at Oxford, in consequence of severe treatment, led to this ; since it was about the very same time that the young men at Oxford were released, on condition of not moving above ten miles distant, that Barnes was delivered from the Fleet ; that is, at the end of six months. He, however, was not permitted to go at large, even to the same extent, but was committed to be a free prisoner at Austin Friars in London ; and from evidence which will come out in 1.528, it will appear that he was here as busy as his circumstances would permit, in actually disposing of copies of Tyndale's Testament ! His enemies, therefore, were not incorrect in their suspicions, for, says Foxe, " they complained again to the Lord Cardinal, whereupon he was removed to the Austin Friars of Northampton, there to be burned.''^ By a most unworthy stratagem, however, feigning himself to have been drowned, he escaped to the Continent. His enemies searched for him seven days, but they dragged the pond in vain. The month of February had not expired, when the University formally applied to Warham of Canterbury, then their Chancellor, as he had been since 1506, to make an examination of persons suspected of heresy, and also to prepare a list of Lutheran books, which no one should have or read. The advice given, however, was not taken. Garret and the young scholars were indeed already in durance vile, but the re- quests here made were never granted. But in less than a fort- night after this letter, and little more than a month after the day of terror at St. Paul's, an opportunity was presented, which Wolsey, with the Bishops, did not fail to improve for the most im- pious of all purposes— the burning of the Sacred Scriptures, and to be burned by authority of the Kino-. Henry the VHL having written against Martin Luther's book HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE. 71 on the Babylonish Captivity, and thus procured from Rome the title of " Defender of the Faith," Luther in 1521 had published his bold and very rough reply. In September 1525, however, as already hinted, no matter by whose advice or under what impres- sion, he made an attempt at reconciliation, by addressing a letter to his Majesty. In this letter he actually confessed that at the instance of other persons he had grievously oifended, by a foolish and precipitate publication, )'^et, from the reported clemency of the King, he hoped for his forgiveness. He had been told that his Majesty was not the real author of the book edited under his name ; and, at the same time, though denouncing Wolsey as " a monster, the general odium of God and man, and the plague of his kingdom," he yet prayed for a gracious reply ! Luther plead afterwards that he had been urgently pressed by Christiern, King of Denmark, to write even this letter, but the step taken no one can defend. It was not only unworthy of his character and place, but at variance with the upright integrity of any follower of Christ. " Who knows," said Luther, " but in a happy hour I may gain the King of England T A little of human vanity, therefore, seems to have been lurking in his mind ; but at all events, he must have been quite in the dark as to the existing state of affairs in England, w^ien he could pen and print such a letter. Henry, in reply, having reproached Luther with levity and in- constancy, as well as his marriage, and the vilest heresy, repre- sented Wolsey as peculiarly dear to him, and of great value in preventing the contagion of the Lutheran heresy ; of which, it might have been added, he had lately given a flaming specimen. Luther's letter arriving five weeks after the famous burning at St. Paul's, a fine opportunity was now presented for exciting the royal indignation against the EngUsli New Testament, and cov- ering it with all the odium of Lutheranisni, the assumed cant of the day. The name of the translator /wt being" yet known, no doubt it was deemed a happy thought boldly to assert that the production was the device of Luther himself! Thev had burned New Testaments, with other books, on the lltli of February. But this advice given by Wolsey, and cor- dially sanctioned by the King, as to the burning of the quarto book, the only edition yet marked out, must have occurred immediately on the reception of Luther's letter ; and it fully prepares us for the more formal injunctions of Tunstal and Warhara, which however, did not come out till towards the end of the year. From March to October, whether the friends of truth had en- joyed a breathing time or not, as it regards the prudential impor- tation and circulation of Tyndale's precious volumes, certain events show, that, though living in perilous times, they had zeal- ously improved them. Thus, when the " Supplication of Beggars'^ was scattering about in London, at and before Candlemas, the author, Mr. Fyshe, it is presumed, was not in England, otherwise he must have run the hazard of being amongst the first victims. Return, however, he did, and to London, where he not only so- 72 HISTORY OP THE ENGLISH BIBLE. journed for a season during this summer, but was useful and act- ive in the circulation of Tyndale's New Testament. It seems as if he had come for the purpose. He may have brought over copies with him ; but, at all events, when we come to the disclosures upon oath in the spring of 1528, we shall find, that, at this very period, he was a confidential agent, importing the Testament from Mr. Harman of Antwerp, and dealing it out for sale to such as travelled through the country and sold them. After Tunstal's return, lie again fled- abroad, not returning for about two years and a half Mr. Rodolph Bradford, a Fellow of King's College, Cambridge, coming to London, by the help of Mr. Jeffrey Lome, the Usher of St. Anthony's school, and confidential agent of Mr. Foreman of Honey Lane, the colleague of Garret, " he met with certain New Testaments, translated into English b}^ Tyndale, and went to Reading with them, out of a godly zeal to disperse them." There he delivered them to a certain monk, who being apprehended, made known the names of him and others from whom he had them. Whereupon letters were sent over to Cambridge to appre- hend this Bradford, now returned, together with Dr. Smith of Trinity Hall, Simon Smith of Gonville Hall, Hugh Latymer, and Segar Nicolson, a stationer there. Bradford escaped to Ireland, but was taken and imprisoned two years. He afterwards returned to Cambridge, passed as D. D. in 1.534, and lived and died Chap- lain to Latimer when Bishop of Worcester. As the year advanced, however, the alarm continued to increase. The Pontiff himself seemed to be in jeopardy — Luther's rash let- ter Avas not forgotten— Henry was printing his Latin reply, and translating it also into English for the press, with a preface to his people — the Bishops were consulting — Tanstal had now come hom,e, and something must be done. In what particular month of this year Tunstal had arrived from Spain, does not appear. Wolsey heard in March, says Lord Herbert, that he was on his way homevv^ards, so that it must have been some time after thi^ ; and then, however annoying it certainly proved to such a man, he could not remain long in Loudon, before, he found it necessary to look into the state of his diocese ; for so widely were both editions of the Testament now circulated, that even the Archbishop of Canterbury must examaine his province. The Bishops were a's- sembled, and, according to Strype, at the instigation of Wolsey, a prohibitory instrument was adopted and published. The first generally known to have been pubhshed, was the prohibition sent out by Cuthbert Tunstal ; in which both editions of Tyndale's Testament, already dispersed i7i great number, were denounced, and Luther's sect falsely employed, as the convenient word of terror. Tunstal's orders being thus issued on Wednesday the 24th of October, a copy was sent to the Archdeacons of Middlesex, Essex and Colchester ; and eleven days afterwards, or the 3rd of November, a " Mandate," in nearly the same terms, was given HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE. 73 out by Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury, to search his entire province. Both instruments refer simply to the New Testament of Tyndale, of both editions, and in wide circulation ; no otlter book being referred to, oij prohibited at the same moment. Barnes, it must be remembered kad not yet left the country ; but he had been so far released as to be now a free prisoner at St. Au- gustine's ; and Garret, though he had endured penance sufficient at Oxford, had not been so publicly cross-examined. This might elicit some farther information. Articles having been, therefore, vamped up against him, he had been brought up from Osney prison, and about this time stood before Tunstal and his fellows. Following the sad example set him by Barnes, he at last abjured. Wolsey sent for Latimer, to appear before him at York House, where he himself examined him. Upon his first entrance, the Cardinal seemed surprised, on observing him to be so far advanced in years. Finding him also to be at once acute, learned, and ready in his replies ; surpassing in accuracy of learning, either of the Doctors, Capon and Marshall, now in Wolsey's presence ; he requested him to give some account of that sermon which he had preached before Dr. West, the Bishop. Latimer did so. " Then," said the Cardinal, " if the Bishop of Ely cannot abide such doctrine as you have here repeated, you shall have my license, and shall preach it unto his beard, let him say what he will." Accordingly, after a gentle admonition onl}^, the Cardinal discharged Latimer, actually giving him his license to preach tbrougliout England ! A most singular interposition in favor of the truth, at once raising the man above the malice of his enemies, and the interdict of any Bishop in the land ! The mildness hitherto shown to men., must have been most annoying to some of these persecutors; and it was afterwards to be visited on the head of Wolsey, when impeached, that he had been the disturber of " the due and direct correction of heresies ;" but as for zeal in the burning of hooks-, the Cardinal was certainly not one whit behind any of them. By the end of this year, therefore, many copies of the New Testament must have been consumed in the flames, for it has been altogether a mistake to confine this to one or two great occasions. On the contrary, in the very first month of next year we shall presently hear the ambassador of Henry, in the Low Countries, bringing it forward as an argument for burning others there, that//^^5 had been doing in England daily ! In the midst of all this determined, though vain fury, against the reception of the word of God into England, it is most gratify- ing to find that the friends of truth abroad had been so active. The editions of Tyndale's Testament have been hitherto divided mto two classes, styled the genuine and spurious ; meaning by the former such as he himself edited, and by the latter, such as were printed from his, by others. The latter were not so correct, but still they nobly and effectually served their purpose, enlighten- ing and consoling many an immortal spirit. 74 HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE. We have already given the history of the first and second editions printed in 1525, and issued from Wonns. We now come to the first printed at Antwci-p by Christopher of Endhoven, or the third edition. , The two nxonths formally ^^cified in Tunstal's injunction for calling in books at home, were not permitted to expire before it becomes evident that the King and Wolsey, as well as the Bishops, had entered fully into the subject. Finding that, somehow or other, copies were importing, they resolved, if possible, to cut off the supplies from abroad. Well aware that it was from the Low Countries, Brabant, that all these hated Testaments had come, no stone must be left unturned to find them out. All the energy of the English ambassador at the court of Lady Margaret must be put to the stretch, and we shall now have one striking illustration of how mucb. in earnest were all parties — King, C'aixlinal, and Bishops — to arrest the progress, and prevent the triumphs of divine truth. O how joyfully would they have consigned the last leaf to the flames! And this assuredly they would have done, but for this most annoying and hated "new invention of printing." While, however, they were burning at home, others were busy at the printing press abroad, and, therefore, the frenzy of the enemy must extend from England to Brabant. How providential was it, that, by this time, the power and the terror of Wolsey 's name were upon the wane ! Only a few years before, tlie Lady Regent of these countries. Princess Margaret^ had whispered in his ear the sweet sound of the Popedom, and her own wish to see him in the Papal Chair ; nay, and proposed to write to the Emperor, her nephew, in his favor. Now, how- ever, she had found good reason to suspect the man. High words- had passed between the parties, and also w^th Count Hoogstrate,. one of the Lady Margaret's Council, to whom application was about to be made. Wolsey, moreovei', had insulted, by the insolence of his language, Monsieur Bever, the Lord of Carnpvere and Admi- ral of Flanders, the Emperor's ambassador to England, now re- turned to the Low Countries. Added to all this, it had been a favorite project of the Cardinal to withdraw the English merchants and " the mart for goods," from Antwerp to Calais. All these things were against him ; and the "Lords of Antwerp," Avho, at one period, not long past, woidd have at once crouched before him, by the good providence of God, will now prove neither so pliant nor obsequious. Wolsey, however, fully aware of all these circumstances, had resolved that the search for hooks upon the Continent should com- mence with the highest authority ; and he must, therefore, have the King on the throne, called the " Defender of the Faith," to command the destruction of the Sacred Volume I The ink of Tunstal's injunction was scarcely dry, before Henry had signed his letters ; one addressed to Princess Margaret, and the other to the Governor of the Eng-llsh House at Antwerp. Wolsey's let- ters, also dated the 31st of October and 3d November, w^ere di- HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE. 75 rected to John Hacketty the Agent for the Crown and Enghsh Envoy at that court, and all were conveyed by the same messen- ger. At a formal audience, on Saturday the 17th of November, Hackett delivered the King's letters to the Lady Margaret, in presence of the Lords of her Council; and, on the 19th, the Prin- cess herself replied to Henry — " She cannot sufficiently praise his Majesty's virtuous intentions ! She had consulted with Hackett, and since the reception of the King's letter, she had pointedly com- manded her officers to search the country for these books, intend- ing to proceed in all rigor against those whom they found culpa- ble." Two days after this, Hackett informs Wolsey of his cordial reception at court, and that he had "delivered the King's letter to the Governor of the Merchant Adventurers, who promised that on the first da)^ at Barrow, he would show the King's highness and the Cardinal's mind and pleasure as touching these new imprinted books, and shall do his best, (and so will I,) utterly to destroy, and bring them to nought." Hackett is very warm in the cause, for if it did not succeed, he thought that " every fool would think to be a doctor !" But in negociating this business, our ambassador had no easy task assigned to him. Books were to be sought for in the large and busy city of Antwerp. As Envoy, he lived fifteen miles dis- tant, at Mechlin, where the reigning Princess held her court. In Antwerp itself, the Margrave, as representative of the Emperor, resided ; but as that city enjoyed its own laws and privileges, of which the "Lords of Antwerp" were the guardians, their author- ity was paramount to all others. Hackett eagerly desired to grat- ify the Cardinal and liis English Bishops, but then he Avas about to meddle with the citizens of " no mean city." On the 11th of December, Henry's Secretary, Mr. Brian Tuke, sent off copies of Tyndale's Testament, as an index to the others, now sought to be destroyed ; and the first letter, reporting progress, is directed to him for the King, dated the 17th, before Hackett had received the books. Tlie second, expressing great anxiety to receive them, is five days later, and addressed to Wolsey. Along with this letter, a second to Brian Tuke, was also sent by Hackett. His zeal was probably in part professional, but the authorities at home were in full earnest as to their anxiety for the destruction of the books. Copies of the Testaments had there- fore been sent, before he wrote for them, and they had arrived a few days after his letters of the 22d. In the abundance of his zeal, Hackett not only visited Antwerp, Barrow, Zealand, and other places, but made " privy inquisitions" at Ghent and Brng-es, at Brussels, Louvaine, and elseichere, after books, which was all in obedience to Wolsey's instructions ; so that he ihmk?. forty marks, which he had just received, should be allowed him for ^'■expenses extraordinary." The books, so far as detected there and at Barrow, were burned, though happily they had found out only a -part. Of all this Hackett did not fail im- mediately to inform the King's Secretaiy ; and in his second de- 76 HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE. spatch to Wolsey, dated from Mechlin the 20th of February, he alludes to the subject again — "Please your Grace to understand, that since my last writing to your Grace, I have received none of yours. I trust by this time your Grace has ample information of such execution and justice as has been done in the towns of Antwerp and Barrow, upon all such English books as we could find in these countries, similar to three such other books as your Grace sent unto me with my Lord the Bishop of London's signature." That no doubt whatever might remain as to the species of jus- tice to which Hackett refers, he speaks afterwards, in the same letter of having caused a goodjire to be made of the Testaments. Even this much, however, had been accomplished, it is evident, with no small difficulty, and it was, in the end, only by a stretch of power. Our envoy, tlierefore, felt himself under the necessity of adding — " The Margrave of Antwerp, and the Drossard of Barghys, re- quired, and pray you, if it were possible, to cause them to get out of England a translation of some particular articles of heresies con- tained in the said book, by the which notification, they may law- fully not only burn such books, but also to correct and punish the imprimurs. buyers, and sellers of them, both in body and in goods, for eise^ according to the laws of this (place,) they may not pun- ish, nor make correction upon the foresaid men, neither upon their goods, as they say." A fire was kindled by the Almighty in this year 1.526, through the instrumentaUty of his servant, which, in the highest exercise of his loving-kindness, He has never suffered to be extinguished ; light was then introduced, which He has never withdrawn ; and a voice was then heard by the people, which has sounded in the ears of their posterity to the present hour. For whatever may be said of men, as men, it is to the word of truth in the vulgar tongue that we owe everything in this highly-favored country. HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE. 77 SECTION IV. THE translator's PROGRESS HIS EARLIEST COMFOSITIOKS AGITATION OF EU- ROPE SACK OF ROME CONSEQUENCES PERSECUTION IN ENGLAND OPPOSITION TO THE NEW TESTAMENT WARHAM AND THE BISHOPS BUYING IT UP FRESH IMPORTATIONS THE FOURTH EDITION SCRIPTURES SINGULARLY INTRODUCED ONCE MORE. In returning to Tyndale, whom we left alone at Worms, after having completed his New Testaments, we do so with abundant evidence, that he had not labored in vain. Much has vaguely been ascribed to Latin works then imported from the Continent, and in consequence of even their effects, the " spirituality" of the day no doubt dreaded almost every leaf; but the history already given clearly shows, that the New Testament in the vulgar tongue was the great object of apprehension. While yet in his native land, Tyndale '' had perceived by experience how that it was impossible to stablish the lay people in any truth, except the Scriptures Avere plainly laid before their eyes in their mother tongue, that they might see the process, order, and meaning of the text :" and so now, as the Word of the Lord was enlightening tlie minds, " converting the soul, and making wise the simple," it had proved also "like a fire or a hammer," and was breaking the rocks in pieces. Very soon, through whatever medium, Tyndale was made inti- mately acquainted with the storm that raged in England, and amidst all its tumultuous howling, he liad ample encouragement to proceed with his Old Testament from the Hebrew ; but in the year 1526, he must have been also very busy in^preparing for the press, as we find that the year 1527 was distinguished by the first appearance of two publications, namely, his exposition of " the Parable of the Wicked Mammon," and his " Obedience of a Chris- tian man." Sometime, hoAvever, before the appearance of anything else in print, we may now safely assert, that Tyndale had been favored by the company, consolation, and assistance of his devoted Chris- tian friend, John Fryth, who had tied from Oxford to the Conti- nent about September 1526, and no doubt fully reported progress. With a modesty and prudence highly characteristic, our Trans- lator had put forth the New Testament ivifhout his name, and he earnestly wished to have gone on, through life, with anonymous publication : but the sight of a satirical Dialogue and Prologue, by Roye, falsely attributed to Tyndale, had fully convinced Tyn- dale that there was an imperative necessity, not only for affixing his name to what he now published, but ibr his disclaiming all connection or even intercourse with Roye, after a certain period. He says : " The cause why I have set my name before this little treatise, and have not rather done it in the New Testament, 78 HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE. i-3, that then I followed the counsel of Christ, which exhorteth men to do their good deeds secretly, and to be content with the con- science of well-doing, and that God seeth us ; and patiently to abide the reward of the last day, which Christ hath purchased for us : and now would Ifain have done likewise, but I am compelled otherwise so to do. " While I abode (at Hamburgh ?) a faithful companion, which now hath taken another voyage upon him, to preach Christ, where, I suppose, he was never yet preached — God, which put in his heart thither to go, send his Spirit with Ixira, comfort him, and bring his purpose to good effect ! — one William Roye, a man some- what crafty, when he cometh unto new acquaintance, and before he be thorough known, namely, when all is spent, came unto me and offered his heljx As long as he had no money, somewhat I could rule him ; but as soon as he had gotten him money, he be- came like himself again. Nevertheless, I suffered all things, till that was ended which I could not do alone without one, both to Avrite and to help me to compare the text together. When that was ended, I took my leave, and bade him farewell for our two lives, and, as men say, a day longer. After we were departed (separated,) he went and gat him new friends, which thing to do, he passeth all that I ever yet knew. And then, when he had stored him of money, he gat him to Argentine, (Strasburg) where he profcsseLli wonderful faculties, an