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another £200, and another £300; and what! | three thousand copies of the New Testament in were it reason, think you, that we should believe English, with the design of "making all England you before them?"

It was in this house that Tyndale conceived the purpose of translating the Scriptures.

Lutheran," he was "moved with fear and wonder," and induced the authorities to interpose. He also wrote to Henry VIII. and Cardinal Wol"As long," said he, "as the clergy can keep sey, "that they might, with the greatest diligence, the Scripture down, they will so darken the right take care, lest that most pernicious article of merway with the mist of their sophistry-with argu-chandise should be conveyed into all the ports of ments of philosophy, and with wordly similitudes, England." and apparent reasons of natural wisdom, and with Mr. Anderson has shown clearly, that "the unwresting the Scriptures unto their purpose-that divided honor of translating the New Testament though thou feel in thine heart, and art sure how remains with Tyndale alone;" but on the value that all is false that they say, yet could'st thou not of the work as a version, he has not said so much solve their subtle riddles. Which thing only as we could have wished-having noticed it, inmoved me to translate the New Testament. Because deed, but slightly, and only in passing. Yet a that I had perceived, by experience, how that it is critical examination of all our English translations, impossible to establish the people in any truth, as they have been printed side by side by Mr. except the Scripture were plainly set before their Baxter, so as to trace to its sources the language eyes in their mother tongue.' of our venerable standard Bible, would be interesting and instructive; however, the theme is too large to be even touched on by us at present.

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A rumor soon spread abroad that he was tainted with heresy, and owing to secret accusations, he was summoned before the Chancellor of the diocese, The incontrovertible proof of Tyndale's eru"who threatened him grievously, reviled him, and dition, whether as a Greek or Hebrew scholar, is rated him as though he had been a dog." Having to be found in the present version of our Bible, as escaped from the hands of this man, he was soon read by millions. The circumstance of its being after in discussion with a learned divine, who, a revision, five times derived, is an advantage altowhen forced into dilemma, exclaimed, "we were gether peculiar to itself; while, notwithstanding better without God's law than the Pope's." To this fivefold revision of the Greek and Hebrew this ebullition, so characteristic of the times, Tyn- original, large portions of Tyndale's translation dale replied, "I defy the Pope and all his laws, remain untouched, or verbally as the translator and if God spare my life, ere many years, I will first gave them to his country. It is, indeed, excause a boy that driveth the plough, to know more of traordinary, that so many of Tyndale's correct and Scripture than you do." happy renderings should have been left to adorn our version, while the terms substituted in other instances still leave 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 substitution of charity for love, as Tyndale translated, of grace for favor, and church for congregation, certainly cannot be adduced as proofs of superior attainment in the original Greek."-Annals, i. p. 27.

Finding the Italian diocese of Worcester too hot for him, and fearing that he should fall into the unmerciful hands of the spirituality, he set out for the metropolis, bringing with him an introduction to Tunstal, Bishop of London, the future burner of the New Testament. It was his first and last attempt to procure a patron, for his whole life was distinguished by a love of independence, very rare in those days even among Reformers. No public character ever evinced more noble self-reliance- "Tyndale's prose has been read in Britain ever none ever trusted princes less, or Providence more. since, and that, too, every Sabbath-day;' for, He was told by the great man that his house was notwithstanding all the confessed improvements full-he had more than he could well find. Tyn-made in our translations of the Bible, large pordale abode almost a year in the city, studying the church and the world at head-quarters. "I understood," said he, "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."

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tions in almost every chapter still remain verbally the same as he first gave them to his country. In this, it is true, he was merely a translator, but then the style of his translation has stood the test of nearly ten generations. It has been their admiration all along, and it will continue to be admired while the language endures."-p. 245.

He therefore embarked for the Continent, and remained in Hamburgh about a year, busy at his The New Testament arrived in England in translation, being supported chiefly by the liberality January, 1526. The history of this importation of a London merchant. It has been generally of "pernicious merchandise" is full of romantic supposed that he went at once to Luther, and was incidents, and "if only the half were told, would leagued with him in this work. But this is a mis- be one of the most graphic stories" in our annals. take-he never set foot in Saxony before the pub-"No siege by sapping and mining which England lication of his New Testament. From Hamburgh has ever since achieved, could furnish a tenth part he removed to Cologne on the Rhine in 1525, of the incident, or evince half the courage by accompanied by his amanuensis, William Roye. which she was herself assailed."—Annals, i. There he committed to the press, the New Testa- p. 88.

ment, in the form of a quarto volume. But the Think of the tremendous forces that were acting printers had not proceeded far, when the work in combination against the introduction of the was interdicted. They managed, however, to se-printed Scriptures into England in the native lancure the printed sheets, and sailed with them up guage. Henry's royal honor was staked to vindithe Rhine to Worms, where they resumed their cate his proud title of Defender of the Faith, task in safety, and with renewed zeal. When which he had won in controversy against LutherCochlæus, an indefatigable defender of the "Old anism, the opprobrious designation now employed Learning," discovered, by intoxicating the printers, towards all the friends of the English Testament. that the "two apostate Englishmen, learned, skil- His chancellor, Wolsey, was next to him in power ful in languages, and fluent," were actually printing -a man of vast wealth and inordinate ambition

an intriguing aspirant to the Papal chair, and providentially interrupted by the fearful epidemic, virtually Pope of England, both from his political called by foreigners, "Sudor Anglicanus," as it influence, which enabled him to dictate to the Court attacked only the English, and seized on them of Rome, and his new office as Vicar. He had just wherever it found them. established Cardinal College in Oxford, designed to make that University the most glorious in the world; which college he amply endowed with the revenues of several small monasteries, and filled with the most talented young men he could find, in order expressly to counteract the new learning, and maintain the old faith in its integrity.

It is well known that he was unfortunate in all his high-flying schemes. His diplomacy about the Popedom, enforced by immense sums of money, utterly failed, and injured his influence; his office of Vicar-General (as well as his college and his splendid brazen statue) was assumed by the king, and became the origin of the spiritual supremacy which has ever since attached to the English crown. He also gave Henry the fatal precedent of the confiscation of small monasteries, which led the way to the seizure of them all. And moreover, many of the well-selected advocates of the "old learning" in Cardinal College became the most devoted champions of the new.

From pole to pole, from Atlas to the East,
"It seemed the genial air,
Was then at enmity with English blood;
For, but the race of England, all were safe
In foreign climes; nor did this fury taste
The foreign blood that England then contained."

In two months 40,000 were affected in London alone, of whom 4000 died. Both the king and his chancellor made their wills, and confessed daily, that they might be ready for this terrible visitant.

It is worthy of remark that Wolsey and Bishop Gardiner were the zealous agents of Henry VIII. in trying to procure the divorce from Queen Catherine; and from what we have already stated about Dispensations, it is easy to infer, that whatever stood in the way at Rome, it certainly had nothing to do with scruples about the legality of the proceeding. The Pope would have gratified Henry's wish-for a due consideration, of course-without a moment's hesitation, only that Charles V., whom he dared not offend, was the Queen's nephew.

In January, 1529, Wolsey despatched Gardiner to Rome secretly, with orders, if necessary, to threaten that England would withdraw her obedience unless the Holy See consented to be the instrument of cutting the knot that could not be untied. To this new idea of the king's suprem

Wolsey, roused by a personal satire against himself, commenced the work of persecution by instituting a secret search for books. It was found that Garret, a curate in London, had been in the habit of conveying large quantities to "a little flock" in Oxford. He and all suspected of receiving the books were cast into prison. Among these were a number of the students of Wolsey's own col-acy in spiritual matters, the cardinal was quickly lege. They were immured in a dungeon, where, getting no food but salt fish for five months, four of them died.

Dr. Barnes having, in a sermon, ridiculed the cardinal's golden shoes, golden cushions, and red gloves, was called upon to "abjure or burn." After painful suspense, he was persuaded to abjure, and Wolsey had triumphant revenge. In St. Paul's, on Sabbath-day, he sat enthroned in state, and clothed in purple, surrounded by thirty abbots, mitred priors, and bishops, while Fisher preached against the "heretics," and then baskets full of books were thrown into a fire kindled without. Barnes and his fellow-abjurers were obliged to carry fagots round the fire three times before they cast them in, and the whole ended by proclaiming an Indulgence to the spectators.

sacrificed on the pretext that he had obtained bulls from Rome without the royal license. He had raised himself by talents, judgment, and policy from humble rank to the highest degree of wealth, power, and dignity ever enjoyed by an English subject. In an age of pewter, his tables were covered with gold and silver plate-the highest nobility were his household servants, waiting upon him in white robes, as in the king's palace. His master cook was arrayed in damask satin, with a gold chain about his neck. There were one hundred individuals daily in attendance on the person of this successor of the apostles. In his "poor house of Westminster," as he was accustomed to style his gorgeous palace, "there was of all sorts of arras, velvets, carpets, &c. &c., enough to have set up many a substantial tradesman, besides completely a nobleman's palace! He had ruled England, and powerfully influenced the politics of Europe for twenty years, during which he had been courted and caressed by the kings of the civilized world.

Thus the work of exterminating the Scriptures went on; but it was not confined to England. In obedience to Wolsey's instructions, the English ambassador not only visited Antwerp, Barrow, Zealand, and other places for this purpose, but he made "privy inquisitions" after books at Ghent But in one day all this glory vanished! The and Bruges, Louvaine, &c. He made some "good king frowned, and the honors which were so thick fires" of the New Testaments; but in an attempt upon him withered in a moment. "I have been to punish the printer of them at Antwerp, he to see the Lord Cardinal," said the French amreceived an effectual check from the free govern-bassador, Bellay, on that very day-" and he has ment of that place, which presented a happy contrast to the slavery of England. It was this ambassador, Hacket, who first suggested the idea of buying up the New Testament in order to burn it. So greatly were the bishops alarmed at the prospect of its circulation, that Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury, spent £664 thus, on part of Tyndale's first edition, and called on the bishops to contribute their share of the money, which they did, and thanked him cordially for this "glorious and blessed deed."

In 1528, persecution raged fiercely against the readers and venders of the Scriptures, till it was

shown me his case with the most deplorable rhetoric I ever saw; for both his heart and his spirit entirely failed him. I can say nothing more striking than his face, which has lost half its proper size." Upon his departure to the country by water, a thousand boats were on the river, crowded with people, expecting the pleasure of seeing him going to the Tower. "He died not merely in obscurity, but in disgrace; and though the charge of high treason hung over him unrefuted, with his last breath he enforced persecution." Yet on this point he should be judged in the light of the age in which he lived. He was not as bad as his

ANDERSON'S ANNALS OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE.

Reform

was, from first to last, the work of the people,
carried on in the face of royal persecution. The
best thing that Henry, or any of his successors,
-to let it alone. How well it was doing its work
ever did, even for the BIBLE, was to cease to hinder
in 1530, is shown in a letter from the aged Bishop
of Norwich.

"If," said he, "these erroneous opinions con-
tinue any time, I think they shall UNDO US ALL.
The gentlemen and the commonality be not greatly
infected, but merchants, and such that hath their
abiding not far from the sea."

prosecutors; for one count of the indictment against the authority of the pope, and that he was the him, presented to the king by the lords of parlia-author of the reformation in England, is founded ment, with Sir Thomas More at their head, was, on the grossest ignorance of history. that he had been "the impeacher and disturber of the due and direct correction of heresies." There lived in Wolsey's household a man who was said to be the son of a blacksmith, at Putney, near London. He had resided on the continent, visited Rome, had gathered wisdom from travel, and was now one of the cardinal's confidential servants. Two days before the parliament met that was to ruin his master, he said to a fellow-servant, "I intend, God willing, this afternoon, when my lord hath dined, to ride up to London, and so to the court, where I shall either make or mar, or I Now, therefore, the rulers take counsel tocome again." This was Thomas Crumwell, the abolisher of the monasteries. He advised Henry gether, and here is their determination. Having to become himself "Head of the Church," by selected upwards of a hundred "errors" out of which means he could at once rescue his "prince-" Tyndale and Fryth," they say :ly authority" from the "spirituality"-" accumulate to himself great riches," and-get married. Thus he cleverly appealed to Henry's three dominant passions, the love of power, of money, and of Ann Boleyn. The spiritual authority now transferred to the king's person, was delegated to this creature, for a season, and Crumwell became president of the convocation, as Vicar-General of England. Lodge human power over the conscience where you will, it is the abomination that maketh desolate set up in the holy place; and so Britain found to her cost during all the time of the Tudors and the Stuarts!

Who does not mourn over the weakness of our nature when he finds the illustrious author of Utopia the abettor of persecution, extorting confessions of heresy by torture, and consigning men to the stake for their conscientious opinions, adding the bitterness of a defeated controversialist to the bigotry of a prerogative lawyer! How few have had sufficient virtue to rise up from the woolsack the same men!

"All which great errors and pestilent heresies being contagious and damnable, with all the books containing the same, with the translation also of Scripture corrupted by William Tyndal, as well in the Old Testament as in the New, and all other books in English containing such errors-the King's Highness present in person-by one whole advice and assent of the prelates and clerks, as well of the universities as of all other assembled together, determined utterly to be repelled, rejected, and put away out of the hands of his people, and not to be suffered to get abroad among his subjects."

But they could not bind the word of God. They might burn the books in which it was written, and even the hearts on which it was engraved; but truth cannot be consumed in the flames-it "endures forever." When the Bishop of London, in May this year, had the New Testaments which he had bought piled up and burned Afterin St. Paul's churchyard, the people were indignant, and filled with a greater love for the Scripthick tures and hatred to the clergy than ever. wards, the New Testaments printed with the money got for those now burned, and threefold into England;" so that the bishops were informed that, if they wished to stop the supply, they must buy the stamps too!

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came

"As soon," says Burnet, "as More came into favor, he pressed the king much to put the laws against heretics in execution," as the best mode of conciliating the Court of Rome. Therefore, a proclamation was issued, the penal laws were ordered to be executed, books were seized, and reformers were cast into prison. Thus unhappily advised, Henry made heresy and treason convertible terms-a pernicious confusion of things civil and things sacred, whose effects remain to the present day. It was now ordained that no man should preach, teach, or keep a school, "contrary to the The bishop was determination of Holy Church." authorized to imprison all such offenders at his discretion; all secular officers were to aid in the execution of his sentence, and all state functionaries were sworn to "give their whole power and dili-and the spirit of a martyr :gence to put away, and make utterly cease, and destroy, all errors and heresies commonly called Lollardies." The importation of religious books was also forbidden, and among these was, first and chief, Tyndale's New Testament.

While Tyndale was diligently laboring for the salvation of his country, he was in constant apprehension of his life from her ungrateful rulers, whose spies were dogging his steps, intruding into his privacy, and worming themselves into his conour ambassador, fidence, in order to betray him. On one occasion, in a secret interview with Vaughan, whom he almost converted to his opinions, he uttered an emphatic sentence, which affectingly betrays at once the heart of an exile

"As I now am," said he, "very death were more pleasant to me than life, considering men's nature to be such as can bear no truth."

It was first an object with Crumwell to have
him inveigled into England, in the hope of getting
In his Utopia, More had spoken against capital him to abjure in view of the fagots; but finding,
punishment, and inculcated perfect toleration-from Vaughan's reports, that this was a vain hope,
"because," said Crumwell, "if he were
now, as Lord Chancellor of England, he wrote thus he instructed the latter not to try to bring him
""The prelates ought over,
heretics:"
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concerning
temporally to destroy those ravenous wolves!" present, by all likelihood he would shortly do as
They were to be visited with "grievous punish- much as in him were, to infect and corrupt the
ments," and the "sparkle" was to be "well
quenched."

The notion common among Catholics, that
Henry VIII. became a Protestant when he cast off

so trouble the realm of England! What gave him whole realm." Strange that this poor exile should all this power? Truth! He had ably exposed the Practice of Prelates, and triumphantly an

swered the controversial writings of the Lord | lion and a half of our money, with £400,000 of Chancellor, and all lovers of freedom were on his side.

Yet was he a loyal man and a true patriot, full of yearning affection for his native land, which he was never to see again. Vaughan thus describes the effect on him of some false assurances of Henry's pity and goodness::

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"I perceived the man to be exceedingly altered, and to take the same very near to his heart, in such wise that water stood in his eyes; and he said, 'What gracious words are these! I assure you,' said he, if it would stand with the king's most gracious pleasure to grant only a bare text of the Scripture to be put forth among the people, like as is put forth among the subjects of the emperor in these parts, and of other Christian princes, I shall immediately make promise never to write more, but most humbly submit myself at the feet of his royal majesty, offering my body to suffer whatever pain or torture, yea what death his grace will, so that this be obtained. And till that time I will abide the asperity of all chances, and endure my life in as much pain as it is able to bear and

suffer."

Influenced, no doubt, by this noble spirit, Vaughan remonstrated against the cruel policy of the English court with much earnestness.

"Let his majesty," said he," be further assured that he can, with no policy, nor with no threatenings of tortures and punishments, take away the opinions of his people, till his grace shall fatherly and lovingly reform the clergy of his realm. For there springeth the opinion-from thence riseth the grudge of his people."

But neither Henry nor his vicar thought of any thing but their own power and profit. Truly has Mr. Anderson observed, that "in the persons of her rulers at this period, no nation upon earth had surpassed Britain in her opposition to divine truth." (i., 314.)

Queen Anne was favorable to Tyndale and his cause. In 1534 he presented her with a copy of the New Testament, beautifully printed on vellum, with illuminations, bound in blue morocco, and the name, Anna Regina Angliæ, in large red letters outside on the margins, but without any dedication or compliment; for Tyndale, an honest and a true man, knew too well what was due to the sacred volume and its Divine Author, to flatter any mortal within its covers. At this time the Scriptures came freely into England, and were eagerly read by many without any molestation from the authorities.

At length, in 1535, the translator was betrayed by two hired spies from England, and cast into a prison at Vilvorde, where he labored on till the day of his martyrdom, which he endured with a calm heroism; his last words, uttered from the flames with fervent zeal and a loud voice, beingLord, open the eyes of the King of England!" -a prayer which, alas, seems to have been never answered. Thus died William Tyndale.

Cranmer made a fruitless attempt to get the bishops to prepare a new translation, and even sent them their several parts. "I marvel," said Stokesly of London, "what my Lord of Canterbury meaneth, that he thus abuseth the people, in giving them liberty to read the Scriptures, which doth nothing else but infect them with heresy. I have bestowed never an hour on my portion, and never will!"

Crumwell had brought Henry in about one mil

annual revenue, from the confiscation of the monasteries and, as Catherine had recently died, the friends of the old learning thought these spoliations might be stopped, and the church greatly served if Anne could be got out of the way. Her enemies were well aware, that the eyes of the capricious tyrant had begun to wander to other objects

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and that, as the death of Catherine had removed all canonical difficulties out of the way of another marriage, he might still have an heir to the crown free from any charge of illegitimacy. There is scarcely any reason to doubt, that such thoughts suggested the plot against Queen Anne, of which Henry instantly availed himself to gratify his vile passions, and which he developed with his usual craft and callousness of feeling. A commission was appointed to make up facts"-all but her father-whose name was brutally added to save appearances-being her bitter enemies, and the natural consequence was, that she must be found guilty and executed. She was first "cruelly handled" by the council; then tried in the Tower, without a single person being allowed to plead her cause, or show the least interest in her favor. Notwithstanding the efforts to exclude the public from this mock trial, it was everywhere muttered abroad, that "the queen had cleared herself in a most noble speech."

The shriek of anguish which burst forth from the people when her head was struck off, was quickly drowned in a discharge of artillery! Whence this savage accompaniment ? Where was her royal husband?

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"The oak is still standing in Epping Forest under which the king breakfasted that morning, his hounds and his attendant train waiting around him. He listened, it has been said, from time to time, with intense anxiety. At length the sound of this artillery boomed through the wood. It was the preconcerted signal, and marked the moment of execution. Ah, ah! it is done!' said he, starting up, the business is done! Uncouple the dogs, and let us follow the sport!' On the day of the execution he put on white for mourning, as though he would have said, 'I am innocent of this deed-and the next day he was married. Could he have given more powerful testimony of the innocence of the departed, and of his own guilt? After this, few will doubt the saying of Sir James Mackintosh, Henry, perhaps, approached as nearly to the ideal standard of perfect wickedness as the infirmities of human nature would allow." "

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Such was the holy prelude to the royal pope's first council or convocation, in which Crumwell, as vicar-general, was seated above all the bishops. In this assembly there arose much discussion and confusion between the parties of the old learning and of the new, the latter being led by Crumwell and Cranmer, who was generally willing to do right when he dared, for he labored under great constitutional timidity, which had been beaten into him by his first schoolmaster. When the tumult was at its height, down came certain "articles" from the king, "to establish Christian quietness and unity among us, and to avoid contentious opinions." These articles were subscribed by Crumwell, the two archbishops, sixteen bishops, forty abbots and priors, and fifty archdeacons and proctors.

While Henry was thus asserting his headship, the word of God was spreading among the people.

From 1525 to 1530, there had been six impressions of the Scriptures in English. From that to the year of Tyndale's martyrdom, there had been seven or eight editions; and during that year nine or ten more issued from the press, all opposition proving confessedly futile. The martyr had not finished the Old Testament, when he died, but it was completed by his friend John Rogers, and published under the name of Thomas Matthews. And moreover, in 1535, there was a complete translation of the Bible published by MILES COVERDALE, employed for the purpose by persons in authority, who bore the expense. He was a competent scholar, and did his work respectably, but he followed too much the Latin version, retaining penance for repentance, &c. It was printed with the king's license, to whom there was a flattering dedication, in which Queen Anne also was mentioned with honor-an awkward circumstance; for after the printing, and before the publishing, she had been beheaded as a traitor. In some copies they altered her name with the pen into JAne.

Although the existing circumstances in high places were so favorable to this version, it was soon superseded by Tyndale's, the name of the translator being suppressed, as obnoxious to the authorities. Cranmer was much pleased with this Bible, (Matthews' so called) and used his influence earnestly, through Crumwell, to get the royal license for the printing of it-which was obtained, and which, he said, gratified him more than if he had got a thousand pounds. Thus Providence unexpectedly and wonderfully overruled all parties, the king, Crumwell, and the bishops-to adopt the work of the man whom they had so hated, denounced, and persecuted!

The fluctuations of state policy and royal caprice gave the old learning party the ascendency in the king's councils once more; and it being expedient that Henry should retain on the continent his character for orthodoxy, he listened to the abettors of persecution. Having decided, infallibly of course, that baptism was necessary to salvation-and being informed that there were some Germans in the country who did not believe this dogma, and who had come hither to escape persecution, he resolved to seize on so good an opportunity of signalizing his zeal. A commission was appointed to execute the premises, notwithstanding part of them might be contrary to the customary course and form of law." The result was, that two men and a woman were obliged to bear fagots at St. Paul's Cross, and two others were burned at Smithfield.

ambassador in Spain, spoke of the princely and excellent gravity in which Henry discharged "the very office of supreme Head of the Church of England," declaring that the bloated and blood-stained tyrant, who knew no law human or divine but his own foul and furious will, was "the very mirror and light of all the other kings and princes of Christendom!"

At this time printing was executed much better at Paris than London; and owing to a singular conjunction of circumstances, Crumwell got a license for Grafton and Whitchurch to print the Bible there. Little could Tyndale, with all his faith, foresee that in less than twenty years his translation should be reprinted at a Parisian press, at the request of his own sovereign, and with the sanction of the persecuting French king himself! The work was, however, interrupted by the Inquisition, when not only the sheets, but the types and printers were carried to England, to the great improvement of the art there. The Bible was soon finished, and a copy of it ordered to be set up in every church in the kingdom; and the priests were forbidden to hinder the people from reading it there, on pain of deprivation. Thus did God bring to nought the counsels of the wicked, and thus mightily did the word of God prevail. And thus were fulfilled the words of Tyndale the martyr, when he said, "If God spare my life, cre many years, I will cause a boy that drives the plough to know more of the Scriptures than you do.

"It was wonderful," says Strype, "to see with what joy this book of God was received, not only among the learneder sort, but generally all England over, among all the vulgar and common people; and with what greediness God's Word was read, and what resort to places where the reading of it was! Everybody that could, bought the book, or busily read it, or got others to read it to them, if they could not themselves. Divers more elderly people learned to read on purpose; and even little boys flocked among the rest, to hear portions of the Holy Scriptures read." Mr. Anderson judiciously adds,

"The modern reader may now very naturally exclaim-'Oh, could these men in power then have only been persuaded to have let such people alone! Could they have only understood the doctrine of noninterference.' Yes, and instead of encumbering a willing people with help, or tormenting them by interposition, have stood aloof in silence, and permitted these groups or gatherings to have heard the unambiguous voice of their God, and to have gazed upon the majesty and the meaning of Divine Truth!"-Annals, &c., ii. 41.

which was advanced by Antony Marler, a citizen of London, who obtained an order to have them set up in the churches. The price was fixed by authority at £7, 10s., and for the bound copies £9. The king, however, advanced no money, but rather made some by the fines which were levied on those who neglected to have them in the churches.

Another man who had committed himself by writing against Transubstantiation, appealed to the king-when Gardiner artfully suggested that Since the edition of 1539, partly printed in he might win golden opinions on the continent, Paris, there were four others of the large Bible, and silence all insinuations as to his being a fa-printed at an expense of £30,000 of our money, vorer of "heretics," by proceeding, in this case, "solemnly and severely." Accordingly he sum moned his nobles and prelates to London. Seated on his throne, the bishops on his right, and the peers on his left, the lawyers in scarlet robes behind, the Royal Head of the Church was arrayed in white, as the emblem of spotless orthodoxy and unsullied sanctity: Several bishops in succession labored in vain to convince Lambert, the confessor, that Christ is corporeally present in the sacrament. He was burned to ashes, amidst circumstances of peculiar barbarity, exclaiming at the stake-"None but Christ! none but Christ!" Cromwell, describing this scene to the English

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In 1543, the parliament enacted a preposterous law, forbidding all women, except gentle-womenall artificers, apprentices, journeymen, yeomen, husbandmen, or laborers, to read the Bible or New Testament to themselves or any other, on pain of one month's imprisonment. But the fierce despot

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