seniors, the second congregation, and the third love. He also charges him with changing commonly the term grace into favour, confession into knowledging, penace into repentance, and a contrite heart into a troubled heart. The Bishop of London had, indeed, in a sermon, declared, that he had found in it no less than 2000 errors, or mistranslations; and Sir Thomas More discovered (as he affirmed) above 1000 texts by tale, falsely translated. In 1530, a royal proclamation was issued, by the advice of the prelates and clerks, and of the universities, for totally suppressing the translation of the scripture, corrupted by William Tindal. The proclamation set forth, that it was not necessary to have the Scriptures in the English tongue, and in the hands of the common people; that the distribution of them, as to allowing or denying it, depended on the discretion of their superiors; and that, considering the malignity of the time, an English translation of the Bible would rather occasion the continuance, or increase of errors, than any benefit to their souls. However, the proclamation announced the king's intention, if the present translation were abandoned, at a proper season, to provide that the Holy Scriptures should be by great, learned, and catholic persons, translated into the English tongue, if it should then seem convenient. In the mean time, Tindal was busily employed in translating from the Hebrew into the English the five books of Moses, in which he was assisted by Miles Coverdale. But his papers being lost by shipwreck in his voyage to Hamburgh, where he designed to print it, a delay occurred, and it was not put to press till the year 1530. It is a small 8vo. printed at different presses, and with different types. In the preface he complained, that there was not so much as one i in his New Testament, if it wanted a tittle over its head, but it had been noted, and numbered to the ignorant people for an heresy, who were made to believe, that there were many thousand heresies in it, and that it was so faulty as to be incapable of amendment or correction. In this year he published an answer to Sir Thomas More's dialogue, containing his reasons for the changes which he had introduced into his translation. The three former editions of Tindal's English New Testament being all sold off, the Dutch booksellers printed a fourth in this year, in a smaller volume and letter. In 1531, Tindal published an English version of the prophet Jonah, with a prologue, full of invective against the church of Rome. Strype supposes that before his death he finished all the Bible but the Apocrypha, which was translated by Rogers; but it seems more probable that he translated only the historical parts. In 1534, was published a fourth Dutch edition, or the fifth in all, of Tindal's New Testament, in 12mo. In this same year, Tindal printed his own edition of the New Testament in English, which he had diligently revised and corrected; to which is prefixed a prologue; and at the end are the pistils of the Old Testament, closing with the following advertisement, "Imprinted at Antwerp, by Marten Emperour, anno M. D. xxxiv." Another edition was published this year, in 16mo. and printed in a German letter. Hall says, in his Chronicle, printed during the reign of Henry VIII. by Richard Grafton, the benefactor and

friend of Tindal; "William Tindal translated the New Testament, and first put it into print; and he likewise translated the five books of Moses, Joshua, Judicum, Ruth, the books of Kings, and books of Paralipomenon, Nehemiah, and the first of Esdras, and the prophet Jonas; and no more of the Holy Scriptures." Upon his return to Antwerp, in 1531, King Henry VIII. and his council, contrived means to have him seized and imprisoned. After long confinement he was condemned to death by the emperor's decree in an assembly at Augsburgh; and in 1536, he was strangled at Villefort, near Brussels, the place of his imprisonment, after which his body was reduced to ashes. He expired, praying repeatedly and earnestly, "Lord, open the King of England's eyes." Several editions of his Testament were printed in the year of his death. Tindal had little or no skill in the Hebrew, and therefore he probably translated the Old Testament from the Latin. The knowledge of languages was in its infancy; nor was our English tongue arrived at that degree of improvement, which it has since attained; it is not, therefore, surprising, that there should be many faults in this translation which need amendment. This, indeed, was a task, not for a single person, but requiring the concurrence of many, in circumstances much more favourable for the execution of it than those of an exile. Nevertheless, although this translation is far from being perfect, few first translations, says Dr. Geddes, will be found preferable to it. It is astonishing, says this writer, how little obsolete the language of it is, even at this day; and in point of perspicuity, and noble simplicity, propriety of idiom, and purity of style, no English version has yet surpassed it.

In 1535 the whole Bible, translated into English, was printed in folio, and dedicated to the king by Miles Coverdale, a man greatly esteemed for his piety, knowledge of the Scriptures, and diligent preaching; on account of which qualities King Edward VI. advanced him to the see of Exeter. In his dedication and preface, he observes to this purpose, that, as to the present translation, it was neither his labour nor his desire to have this work put into his hand; but "when others were moved by the Holy Ghost to undertake the cost of it," he was the more bold to engage in the execution of it. Agreeably, therefore, to desire, he set forth this "special" translation, not in contempt of other men's translation, or by way of reproving them, but humbly and faithfully following his interpreters, and that under correction. Of these, he said, he used five different ones, who had translated the Scriptures not only into Latin, but also into Dutch. He further declared, that he had neither wrested nor altered so much as one word for the maintenance of any manner of sect, but had with a clear conscience purely and faithfully translated out of the foregoing interpreters, having only before his eyes the manifest truth of the Scriptures. But because such different translations, he saw, were apt to offend weak minds, he added, that there came more understanding and knowledge of the Scripture by these sundry translations, than by all

1 Prospectus for a New Translation of the Bible, p. 88.

the glosses of sophistical doctors; and he therefore desires, that offence might not be taken, because one translated "scribe," and another "lawyer," one "repentance," and another "penace," or "amendment." This is the first English Bible allowed by royal authority; and also the first translation of the whole Bible printed in our language. It was called a "special" translation, because it was different from the former English translations; as Lewis has shewn1 by comparing it with Tindal's. It is divided into six tomes or parts, adorned with wooden cuts, and furnished with scripture references in the margin. The last page has these words: "Prynted in the yeare of our Lorde M. D. xxxv. and fynished the fourth day of October." Of this Bible there was another edition in a large 4to, 1550, which was republished, with a new title, 1553; and these, according to Lewis, were all the editions of it. Coverdale, in this edition of the English Bible, prefixed to every book the contents of the several chapters, and not to the particular chapters, which was afterwards the case: and he likewise omitted all Tindal's prologues and notes. Soon after this Bible was finished, in 1536, Lord Cromwell, keeper of the privy seal, and the king's vicar-general and vicegerent in ecclesiastical matters, published injunctions to the clergy by the king's authority, the seventh of which was, that every parson, or proprietary of any parish church within this realm, should, before the first of August, provide a book of the whole Bible, both in Latin and in English, and lay it in the choir, for every man that would, to look and read therein; and should discourage no man from reading any part of the Bible either in Latin or English, but rather comfort, exhort, and admonish every man to read it, as the very word of God, and the spiritual food of a man's soul, &c.

In 1537, another edition of the English Bible was printed by Grafton and Whitchurch, at Hamburgh, as some think, or, as others suppose, at Malborow, or Harpurg in Hesse, or Marbeck in the duchy of Wittemberg, where Rogers was superintendant. It bore the name of Thomas Matthewe, and it was set forth with the king's most gracious licence. Mr. Wanley is of opinion, that, to the end of the book of Chronicles, this edition is Tindal's translation; and from thence to the end of the Apocrypha, Coverdale's: but Lewis thinks it probable that the prophecy of Jonah should be excepted, which Tindal finished in his life-time, and which is the same in this edition, and in Coverdale's Bible of 1535. Mr. Wanley also observed, that the whole New Testament was Tindal's. Bale says, Rogers translated the Bible into English, from Genesis to the end of Revelation, making use of the Hebrew, Greek, Latin, German, and English (i. e. Tindal's) copies. This book contained Tindal's prologue and notes; and, as Heylin says, it was no other than the translation of Tindal and Coverdale somewhat altered. The name of Matthewe is allowed to have been fictitious, for reasons of prudence; one of which was, that the memory of Tindal had become odious to many. It may 3 Hist. Ref. fol. 20.

1 Hist. Engl. Transl. 98.

2 p. 107.

well be admitted, that John Rogers, a learned academic, and the first who was condemned to the flames in the reign of Queen Mary, was employed by Cranmer to superintend this edition, and to furnish the few emendations and additions that were thought necessary. This must have been the general persuasion in 1555, as the condemning sentence preserved by Fox', is "against Rogers, priest, alias called Matthew." Cranmer presented a copy of this book to Lord Cromwell, desiring his intercession with the king for the royal licence, that it might be purchased and used by all. There are extant two letters from the archbishop, on the subject of Lord Cromwell's intercession, expressing warm approbation and acknowledgment. "I doubt not," says he, "but that hereby such fruit of good knowledge shall ensue, that it shall well appear hereafter what high and excellent service you have done unto God and the king; which shall so much redound to your honour, that, besides God's reward, you shall obtain perpetual memory for the same within this realm." "This deed you shall hear of at the great day, when all things shall be opened and made manifest." In the year 1558, an injunction was published by the vicar-general of the kingdom, ordaining the clergy to provide, before a certain festival, one book of the whole Bible, of the largest volume in English, and to set it up in some convenient place within their churches, where their parishioners might most commodiously resort to read it. A royal declaration was also published, which the curates were to read in their several churches, informing the people, that it had pleased the king's majesty to permit and command the Bible, being translated into their mother tongue, to be sincerely taught by them, and to be openly laid forth in every parish church. But the curates were very cold in this affair, and read the king's injunctions and declarations in such a manner, that scarcely any body could know or understand what they read. Johnson adds, that they also read the word of God confusedly; and that they bade their parishioners, notwithstanding what they read, which they were compelled to read, "to do as they did in times past, and to live as their fathers, the old fashion being the best." Fox observes", that the setting forth of this book much offended Gardiner and his fellow bishops, both for the prologues, and especially because there was a table in the book chiefly about the Lord's supper, the marriage of priests, and the mass, which was there said not to be found in Scripture. Strype, however, says, it was wonderful to see with what joy this book was received, not only among the more learned, and those who were noted lovers of the reformation, but generally all over England, among all the common people; and with what avidity God's word was read, and what resort there was to the places appointed for reading it. Every one that could, bought the book, and busily read it, or heard it read, and many elderly persons learned to read on purpose. During a vacancy in the see of Hereford, it was visited by

Acts,

&c. vol.iii. 125.

3 Lewis, p. 108.

2 Strype's Life of Crammer, p. 58.

6 Life of Cranmer, p. 64.

4 Hist. Account, &c. in Bishop Watson's Collection, vol. iii. p. 94.
5 Acts, &c. vol. ii. 516.

Cranmer, who enjoined the clergy to procure, by the 1st of August, a whole Bible in Latin and English, or at least, a New Testament in these languages; to study every day one chapter of these books, conferring the Latin and English together, from the beginning to the end; and not to discourage any layman from reading them, but encourage them to it, and to read them for the reformation of their lives and knowledge of their duty. In the course of the year 1538, a quarto edition of the New Testament, in the Vulgate Latin, and Coverdale's English, bearing the name of Hollybushe, was printed, with the king's licence, by James Nicolson. Of this another more correct edition was published in 1539, in Svo., and dedicated to Lord Cromwell. In 1538, an edition in 4to. of the New Testament, in English, with Erasmus's Latin translation, was printed, with the king's licence, by Redman. In this year it was resolved to revise Matthewe's Bible, and to print a correct edition of it. With this view Grafton went to France, where the workmen were more skilful, and the paper was both better and cheaper than in England, and obtained permission from Francis I. at the request of king Henry VIII. to print his Bible at Paris. But notwithstanding the royal licence, the inquisition interposed, and issued an order, dated December 17, 1538, summoning the French printers, their English employers, and Coverdale the corrector of the work, and prohibiting them to proceed; and the impression, consisting of 2500 copies, was seized, confiscated, and condemned to the flames. Some chests, however, of these books, escaped the fire, by the avarice of the person who was appointed to superintend the burning of them; and the English proprietors, who had fled on the first alarm, returned to Paris as soon as it subsided, and not only recovered some of these copies, but brought with them to London the presses, types, and printers, and resuming the work, finished it in the following year.

As soon as the papal power was abolished in England, and the king's supremacy settled by parliament in 1534, Cranmer was very assiduous in promoting the translation of the Holy Scriptures into the vulgar tongue; well knowing how much the progress of the reformation depended upon this measure. Accordingly, he moved in convocation, that a petition should be presented to the king for leave to procure a new translation of the Bible. This motion was vigorously opposed by Gardiner, bishop of Winchester, and his party: but Cranmer prevailed. The arguments for a new translation, urged by Cranmer, and enforced by Queen Anne Bullen, who had then great interest in the king's affections, were so much considered by him, that, notwithstanding the opposition, public and private, on the part of Gardiner and his adherents, Henry gave orders for setting about it immediately. To prevent any revocation of the order, Cranmer, whose mind was intent on introducing a free use of the English Scriptures by faithful and able translators, proceeded without delay to divide an old English translation of the New Testament into nine or ten parts, which he caused to be transcribed into paper-books, and to be distributed among the most learned bishops and others; requiring that they would per