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CHAPTER IX.

PROCLAMATION OF THE KING, COMMANDING THE BIBLE TO BE SET UP IN THE CHURCHES, CARELESSLY

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PLAINTS AGAINST THE TRANSLATIONS OF THE BIBLE, WITH
A VIEW PROBABLY TO HAVE THEM CALLED IN. — ACT LIMIT-
ING THE READING OF THE BIBLE TO CERTAIN CLASSES.
THE KING JUSTIFIES THE PASSING OF THIS ACT IN THE
66 ERUDITION OF ANY CHRISTIAN MAN."
PROHIBITING SEVERAL TRANSLATIONS OF THE BIBLE, AND
OTHER WORKS OF THE REFORMERS. DECLINE OF THAT
PARTY TOWARDS THE LATTER END OF HENRY'S REIGN.

PROCLAMATION

BEFORE we proceed to follow Coverdale's movements abroad, we will shortly mention the most important matters, with regard to the promulgation of the Bible, that occurred before the accession of King Edward.

On the 6th of May, 1541, the king published a proclamation," which recited that the king had sent

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Regist. Bonner, fol. 21.—MS. Cott. Cleop. E. v. fol. 337. Strype, in his life of Cranmer, p. 84, loosely states this proclamation to be made in 1540, and Lewis and Newcome and others follow him; but we have not been able to ascertain the existence of any prior proclamation in 1540, and this present one beyond a doubt was printed in 1541. See the title of it, in the description of Grafton's books, in Dibd. Typ. Ant.

forth certain injunctions, commanding the Bible to be set up in every parish church, to the intent that every of the king's majesty's loving subjects, minding to read therein, might by occasion thereof, not only consider and perceive the great and ineffable omnipotent power, promise, justice, mercy, and goodness of Almighty God; but also learn to observe thereby God's commandments, and to obey their sovereign lord and high powers, and to exercise godly charity, and to use themselves according to their vocations in a pure and sincere Christian life, without murmur or grudging:

And then strictly enjoined, that none should read the said Bibles with loud and high voices, in time of the celebration of the holy mass, and other divine services used in the church; nor that any of his lay subjects, reading the same, should presume to take upon them any common disputation, argument, or exposition of the mysteries therein contained, but only reverently read the same for their own edification.

It further recited, moreover, that his highness had been informed that, notwithstanding his former injunctions in that behalf, there were many parish churches still without Bibles, at which his highness marvelled not a little; and then enjoined, that a Bible should be speedily procured for every parish church, under penalty of a fine of 40s. for every month after All Saints' day then next, that they should be without And by the same proclamation, the price of the Bibles, of the largest volume, was fixed at 12s. bound, and 10s. unbound.

one.

About this time, Bonner set up six of the Bibles allowed by Tonstal and Heath, in the church of St. Paul's, accompanied with the following injunctions to those that read them : —

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"That whosoever came hither to read, should prepare himself to be edified and made better thereby : "that he should join thereunto his readiness to obey "the king's injunctions made in that behalf: that he

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bring with him discretion, honest intent, charity, re"verence, and quiet behaviour: that there should be "no such number meet together as to make a multi“tude: that no exposition be made thereupon, but "what is declared in the book itself: and that it be "not read with noise in time of divine service, or that any disputation or contention be used at it."

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A writer of that period, in a little tract he addressed to his majesty, informs us how negligently the king's injunctions were performed, with regard to the setting the Bibles in the parish churches. "When your highness," says he, " gave commandment that the bishops should see that there were in every parish "church one Bible, at the least, set at liberty; so that

up

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every man might freely come to it and read therein “such things as should be for his consolation: many "would pluck it either into the quire, or else into

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C

some pew, where poor men durst not presume to

Coll. Eccl. Hist. vol. ii. p. 184.

Stry. Cranm. p. 84. Newcome classes these injunctions under the year 1540.

d Entitled

The Supplication of the poor Commons." A.D. 1546.

Fox's Acts and Monuments, quoted by Lewis, p. 143.

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there was no
"that had no Bible at all.

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small number of churches

And yet not sufficed with

"the withholding it from the poor of their own parishes, they never rested till they had a com"mandment from your highness, that no man of what degree soever he were, should read the Bible in the "time of God's service."

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Not a great while after Cromwell's death, complaint was again made to the king, of false interpretations in the Scripture, and of the marks and hands annexed to the text, and even of the preface in Cranmer's Bibles. Grafton was sent for, and first of all charged with printing Matthew's Bible; "but he

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being fearful of trouble, made excuses for himself "in all things." Then he was asked, what notes he had purposed to make to the great Bible. And he said he knew of none, for his purpose was to have engaged learned men to make them; but that when he perceived the king's majesty, and his clergy, not willing to have any, he proceeded no further. But these excuses did not prevent him from being committed to the Fleet; from whence he was let out at the end of six weeks, on entering into a bond not to print or sell any more Bibles, until the king and clergy should have agreed on a translation."

Probably alluding to this time, the author of the tract before quoted from, says: "That the poor "Commons heard say, that the bishops proffered his

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highness, that if he would please to call in the Bible again, forasmuch as it was not faithfully translated "in all parts, they would oversee it, and within seven years set it forth again; but that if they might have

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gotten in the Bible for seven years, they could have "trusted, that by that time, either the king would "have been dead, or the Bible forgotten, or they "themselves out of his highness's reach, so that he "should not have had like power over them as he "had now."

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When," continues this writer, "his majesty appointed two of the bishops (Tonstal, bishop of Durham, and Heath, bishop of Rochester,) to over"look the translation of the Bible, they said they had "done his highness's commandments therein, yea,

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they set their hands thereunto. But when they saw the world somewhat like to wring on the other "side, they denied it, and said they never meddled therewith, and caused the printer to take out their names, which were erst set before the Bible to

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certify all men, that they had diligently perused it,

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according as the king had commanded.” Nay,”

" he adds, “that it was reported that Thomas Crom

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well, late earl of Essex, was the chief doer or prin

cipal actor in authorizing the English Bible, and "not the king, but as led by him; and that therefore "it was a common reflection made on it, that the "Bible was of a traitor's setting forth, and not of the king's."

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On the 12th of March, 1542, the king "for certain causes convenient," granted to one Antony Marlar,

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