the same advice for a youth in the world who had been his pupil. After urging him to avoid "meddling in any point of faith otherwise than as the Church shall instruct and teach," he adds, "more particularly in writings you shall learn this lesson, if you would sometimes take in your hand the New Testament and read it with a due reverence;" and again: "in reading the Gospels, I would you had at hand Chrysostom and Jerome, by whom you might surely be brought to a perfect understanding of the text."1 Moreover, the testimony of Sir Thomas More that translations were allowed by the Church, and that these, men considered rightly or wrongly, had been made prior to the time of Wycliffe, is confirmed by Archdeacon John Standish in Queen Mary's reign. When the question of the advisability of a vernacular translation was then seriously debated, he says: "To the intent that none should have occasion to misconstrue the true meaning thereof, it is to be thought that, if all men were good and Catholic, then were it lawful, yea, and very profitable also, that the Scripture should be in English, as long as the translations were true and faithful. And that is the cause that the clergy did agree (as it is in the Constitution Provincial) that the Bibles that were translated into English before Wycliffe's days might be suffered; so that only such as had them in handling were allowed by the ordinary and approved as proper to read them, and so that their reading should be only for the setting forth of God's glory." Sir Thomas More, in his Apology, points out that although, in his opinion, it would be a good thing to have a proper English translation, still it was obviously not 1 Ibid. An Exhortation to young men, written 1529. He insists much on the obligation of following the teaching of the Church. 2 John Standish, A discourse wherein is debated whether it be expedient that the Scripture should be in English for all men to read that wyll (1555). A. iij. necessary for the salvation of man's soul. "If the having of the Scripture in English," he writes, "be a thing so requisite of precise necessity, that the people's souls must needs perish unless they have it translated into their own tongue, then the greater part of them must indeed perish, unless the preacher further provide that all people shall be able to read it when they have it. For of the whole people, far more than four-tenths could never read English yet, and many are now too old to begin to go to school. Many, indeed, have thought it a good and profitable thing to have the Scripture well and truly translated into English, and although many equally wise and learned and also very virtuous folk have been and are of a very different mind; yet, for my own part, I have been and am still of the same opinion as I expressed in my Dyalogue, if the people were amended, and the time meet for it.” The truth is, that there was then no such clamour for the translated Bible as it has suited the purposes of some writers to represent. In view of all that is known about the circumstances of those times, it does not appear at all likely that the popular mind would be really stirred by any desire for Bible reading. The late Mr. Brewer may be allowed to speak with authority on this matter when he writes: "Nor, indeed, is it possible that Tyndale's writings and translations could at this early period have produced any such impressions as is generally surmised, or have fallen into the hands of many readers. His works were printed abroad; their circulation was strictly forbidden, the price of them was beyond the means of the poorer classes, even supposing that the knowledge of letters at that time was more generally diffused than it was for centuries afterwards. To imagine that ploughmen and shepherds in the country read the New Testament in English by stealth, or that smiths and carpenters in towns pored over its pages in the corners of their masters' English Works, p. 850. workshops, is to mistake the character and acquirements of the age.' "So far from England then being a Bible-thirsty land,'" says a well-informed writer, "there was no anxiety whatever for an English version at that time, excepting among a small minority of the people,' "' and these desired it not for the thing in itself so much as a means of bringing about the changes in doctrine and practice which they desired. "Who is there among us," says one preacher of the period, "that will have a Bible, but he must be compelled thereto." And the single fact that the same edition of the Bible was often reissued with new titles, &c., is sufficient proof that there was no such general demand for Bibles as is pretended by Foxe when he writes: "It was wonderful to see with what joy this book of God was received, not only among the learneder sort, and those that were noted for lovers of the Reformation, but generally all England over among all the vulgar common people." For," says the writer above quoted, "if the people all England over were so anxious to possess the new translation, what need was there of so many penal enactments to force it into circulation, and of royal proclamations threatening with the king's displeasure those who neglected to purchase copies.” 66 There can be little doubt that the condemnation of the first printed English Testament, and the destruction, by order of the ecclesiastical authority, of all copies which Tyndale had sent over to England for sale, have tended, more than anything else, to confirm in their opinion those who held that the Church in pre-Reformation England would not tolerate the vernacular Scriptures at all. It is of interest, therefore, and importance, if we would determine the real attitude of churchmen in the sixteenth century to J. S. Brewer, Henry VIII., vol. ii., p. 468. the English Bible, to understand the grounds of this condemnation. As the question was keenly debated at the time, there is little need to seek for information beyond the pages of Sir Thomas More's works. The history of Tyndale's translation is not of such importance in this respect, as a knowledge of the chief points objected against it. Some brief account of this history, however, is almost necessary if we would fully understand the character and purpose of the translation. William Tyndale was born about the year 1484, and was in turn at Oxford and Cambridge Universities, and professed among the Friars Observant at Greenwich. In 1524 he passed over to Hamburg, and then, about the middle of the year, to Wittenberg, where he attached himself to Luther. Under the direction at least, of the German reformer, and very possibly also with his actual assistance, he commenced his translation of the New Testament. The royal almoner, Edward Lee, afterwards Archbishop of York, being on a journey to Spain, wrote on December 2, 1525, from Bordeaux, warning Henry VIII. of the preparation of this book. "I am certainly informed," he says, "that an Englishman, your subject, at the solicitation and instance of Luther, with whom he is, hath translated the New Testament into English; and within a few days intendeth to return with the same imprinted into England. I need not to advertise your Grace what infection and danger may ensue hereby if it be not withstanded. This is the way to fill your realm with Lutherans. For all Luther's perverse opinions be grounded upon bare words of Scripture not well taken nor understood, which your Grace hath opened (i.e. pointed out) in sundry places of your royal book." 1 Luther's direct influence may be detected on almost every page of the printed edition issued by Tyndale, and there can be no doubt that it was prepared with Luther's Ellis, Historical Letters, 31d Series, ii. p. 71. version of 1522 as a guide. From the general introduction of this German Bible, nearly half, or some sixty lines, are transferred by Tyndale almost bodily to his prologue, whilst he adopted and printed over against the same chapters, and verses, placing them in the same position in the inner margins, some 190 of the German reformer's marginal references. Besides this, the marginal notes on the outer margin of the English Testament are all Luther's glosses, translated from the German. In view of this, it can hardly be a matter of surprise that Tyndale's Testament was very commonly known at the time as "Luther's Testament in English." In this work of translation or adaptation, Tyndale was assisted by another ex-friar, named Joye, with whom, however, he subsequently quarrelled, and about whom he then spoke in abusive and violent terms. At first it was intended to print the edition at Cologne, but being disturbed by the authorities there, Tyndale fled to Worms, and at once commenced printing at the press of Peter Schoeffer, the octavo volume which is known as the first edition of Tyndale's New Testament. Although the author is supposed to have been a good Greek scholar, there is evidence to show that the copy he used for the work of translation was the Latin version of Erasmus, printed by Fisher in 1519, with some alterations taken from the edition of 1522, and some other corrections from the Vulgate. John Cochlæus, who had a full and personal knowledge of all the Lutheran movements at the time, writing in 1533, says: "Eight years previously, two apostates from England, knowing the German language, came to Wittenberg, and translated Luther's New Testament into English. They then came to Cologne, as to a city nearer to England, with a more established trade, and more adapted for the despatch of merchandise. Here. they secretly agreed with printers to print at first three thousand copies, and printers and publishers pushed on |