IX

Archbishop Cranmer on October 7th of the same CHAP year, but they were never published, and the MS. of them does not appear to have come down to our A.D. 1544 time.

dered by

VIII

But with the Litany in English the change of the Further services from Latin to the vernacular tongue ceased steps in as long as Henry lived. A committee of divines Henry continued the work of translation and adaptation, but their labours appear to have been in some way hindered by Henry, as he had contrived to hinder the Convocation in their translation of the Bible some years previously. It was not, therefore, until the accession of Edward VI. that their work was brought to light again: and the manner in which it then developed into the Book of Common Prayer must be narrated in a future chapter. It seems almost certain, from the evidence extant, that the Prayer Book was substantially arranged in the reign of Henry, and that little remained to be done when his death made it possible again to bring it forward.

of devo

reign of VIII

To sum up in a few words the amount of refor- Summary mation which took place in the devotional system of tional the Church in this reign, it may be said that three changes in points were thoroughly established. It was deter- Henry mined [1] That the Church had authority to settle her own mode of divine worship: [2] That many changes were necessary in the devotional habits and customs of the country: and [3] That it was expedient, in future, to have divine service in the vulgar tongue. The progress made in carrying out these principles was very considerable. Many superstitious usages were abolished; the Scriptures used in divine Jenkyns' Cranmer, i. 315.

1X

CHAP service were read to the people in English; the Litany was used entirely in English, almost exactly as we now use it; and the material was prepared for the formation of our Prayer Book system. Had it not been for the strong prejudices of Henry the Eighth's later years, it is most probable that the "First Prayer Book of Edward the Sixth"-that of 1549-would have been in use for some years before that young prince ascended his father's throne. In which case it would undoubtedly have gained a stronger hold upon the country than it did in the midst of the miserable religious divisions that characterized Edward the Sixth's reign.

CHAPTER X

THER

THE AUTHORIZED VERSION OF THE BIBLE

[A. D. 1535-A. D. 1542]

X

HERE has been much wild and foolish writing CHAP about the scarcity of the Bible in the ages preceding the Reformation. It has been taken for granted that Holy Scripture was almost a sealed book to clergy and laity, until it was printed in English by Tyndale and Coverdale, and that the only real source of knowledge respecting it before then was the translation made by Wickliffe.

of Holy

The facts are that the clergy and monks were Medieval daily reading large portions of the Bible, and had knowledge them stored up in their memory by constant recita- Scripture tion that they made very free use of Holy Scripture in preaching, so that even a modern Biblereader is astonished at the number of quotations and references contained in medieval sermons: that countless copies of the Bible were written out by the surprising industry of cloistered scribes that many glosses or commentaries were written which are still seen to be full of pious and wise thoughts: and that all laymen who could read were, as a rule, provided with their gospels, their psalter, or other devotional

CHAP portions of the Bible. Men did, in fact, take a vast X amount of personal trouble with respect to the production of copies of the Holy Scriptures: and accomplished by head, hands, and heart, what is now chiefly done by paid workmen and machinery. The clergy studied the Word of God, and made it known to the laity and those few among the laity who could read had abundant opportunity of reading the Bible either in Latin or in English up to the Reformation period.

:

While, therefore, full justice is done to the men of the Reformation for their zeal in disseminating a knowledge of the Bible, let us be equally just towards those of preceding ages. Fair historical research will convince any investigator who is open to conviction that God has always had a large army of faithful servants engaged in making known-some in one way, some in another-the Word which He has revealed.1

The translation of the Bible is a work in which English divines have always shown an interest that does not seem to have been so keenly felt by those of other European nations, although it was evidently felt also in the East, judging by the vernacular translations that exist there. The great libraries of England contain many memorials of this zeal and interest, and further evidence respecting it is found in our histories. Notwithstanding the vast destruction of manuscripts by the Puritans, there still exist

1 Perhaps there is some ground for reproach in the fact that the Holy Bible had been beautifully printed in Latin, abroad, eighty years before any attempt was made to print it either in Latin or English in our country. But the art of printing made rather slow advance

in England at first and printed books were largly imported from France and Germany.

2 "Yea, many an ancient MS. Bible," says Fuller, "cut in pieces to cover filthy pamphlets." Church History, ii. 246, ed. 1837.

X

English

many vernacular gospels, psalters, and complete CHAP Bibles of dates ranging from the ninth to the sixteenth century, relics that bear witness to extensive Early and labours of which devouring time and fanatic igno- Medieval rance have spared but a representative portion. Bibles The earliest of these translations known to us now is one of the Psalter by Aldhelm, Bishop of Sherborne [A.D. 656-709]. The Venerable Bede [A.D. 672-735] made a translation, the extent of which is not recorded; but on the evening of his death he was engaged in finishing the gospel of St. John by the aid of an amanuensis. King Alfred [A.D. 849-901] is said to have translated the whole Bible; and it is certain that he executed some portions of such a translation. In the British Museum there is a magnificent interlinear copy of the Gospels, called the Durham Book, which is not more recent than the time of King Alfred, and there is another of the same age in the Bodleian Library at Oxford: a Psalter of the same period is in the Chapter Library at Salisbury (in Latin and Anglo-Saxon), and a Book of the Gospels, of rather later date, in Corpus Christi Library, Cambridge. Doubtless there are many more known to those familiar with our manuscript

treasures.

transla

Although these facts have been much lost sight of Cranmer during the last three centuries by all except anti- on early quarians, they were well-known at the period of the tions Reformation, and are placed on record by Archbishop Cranmer in his preface to the "Great Bible" in the following words, with which he supports his arguments in favour of vernacular Bibles :

"If the matter should be tried by custom, we might also allege custom for the reading of the Scripture in the