"iniquity" of his persecuting advisers was also "full;" and, on the page of history, we see ineffaceable characters of the vengeance that had long lingered. Gardiner, and other myrmidons of the "old learning," encountered various humiliations. "The proud were "scattered in the imagination of their hearts." Norfolk, their ducal head, was doomed to die: he escaped only on account of the death, six hours before the destined tragedy, of the Monarch whose last act was an assent to his fate. Surrey, his son, had actually bled. And the Sovereign to whom daily incense had been offered by all, was summoned to a Tribunal which tyrants cannot escape,-to stand in THE SEARCHING, INFINITE LIGHT from which renewed spirits might shrink. Mr. Anderson introduces the reign of the Sixth EDWARD, "the Josiah of his day," as, "however brief, distinguished as having no parallel in British history, with regard to the printing and publication of the sacred Scriptures in the language of the people." The multiplying editions it is no longer needful to specify. Correcting Archbishop Newcome, the Annalist says,— We need not remind the reader that, instead of seven years and a half, Edward did not reign quite six and a half; but how stand the facts under this brief period? Why, that so far from only six editions of the New Testament, there were nearly thirty more; instead of eleven editions of the Bible entire, there were at least fourteen; and all these within the space of less than six years and a half....... (Vol. ii., p. 237.) The author regards this period, moreover, as "unrivalled, even by any subsequent reign, for non-interference with the Scriptures." Liberty prevailed in printing any translation; Cranmer, at the head of the Regency, generously forbearing to press his own correction of Tyndale. Not fewer than thirty-one printers were engaged on the Scriptures; and the early translator was extensively preferred. On this work Providence smiled; but, in other respects, the reign cannot be pronounced bloodless, the tears of the youthful Monarch, however, indicating his deep feeling. Whatever failed, the Bible prospered. Mr. Anderson will not, indeed, allow us to interpret the "clear shining after the rains" into a patronage of the Bible by Government as such. "Legislation," says he, was once proposed, but it must be abandoned and although there was no Act of Parliamentno Act of Convocation-no imperative injunctions-no new translation-no new false title-pages, similar to the profane mockery of Henry's days, there was, so far as one individual youth was concerned, something of far different and better effect, and more congenial with God's own glorious purpose and design,-Edward's own visible and marked veneration for the sacred record itself." The royal youth died, amid a nation's regrets, before finishing his sixteenth year.* 66 66 MARY was proclaimed amid the acclamations of the multitude. Mr. Anderson's " argument" thus precedes the Section: "A reign discovering the actual state of the nation as such; but one, however painful in its details, which, so far from retarding the progress of divine truth, only deepened the impression of its value; and as it became the occasion, so it afforded the opportunity for the sacred Scriptures being given afresh to England, more carefully In the entire history of publication, it may be safely asserted, there is no parallel to the account in the last few pages. Some appearance of tautology may be forgiven; arising, as it does, from the delightful fact, that editions of Scripture were multiplied beyond precedent. revised, the exiles from the kingdom proving, once more, its greatest benefactors." Except the special case of the amiable Lady Jane Grey and her consort, the effusion of blood commenced more than a year and a half after Mary assumed the sceptre ;-her entire reign being only for five years and four months. ROME WAS TO BE CONSULTED; as if, in the dreadful prescription of blood, that city must rival its guilty prototype,-of which incarnate Truth had said, "It cannot be that a Prophet perish out of Jerusalem." But hundreds of exiles, including persons of title and many literati, went from our shores in the interim, bearing with them the volume which they esteemed above all price. Norfolk, Gardiner, and Tunstal, were of course set at liberty the second of these became Lord Chancellor. Now, preaching, printing, and Bible-reading, were to be restrained. The best of the men who remained in England-the Bradfords, the Latimers, the Hoopers, the Ridleys, the Cranmers-were committed to the Tower. Yet no fires were kindled during sixteen months following. The exiles found refuge and kindness in Friesland and Guelderland, and at Strasburg, Zurich, Geneva, Frankfort, &c. Peter Martyr and others treated the strangers with generous hospitality. These were confessors: those who remained in England were to be martyrs. Men and women, of whatever charac ter, office, or condition, even the lame and the blind, and from the child to the aged man, all who had any conscientious opinions not in harmony with the "old learning," all were appointed unto death. From the 4th of February, 1555, to within only seven days of the Queen's exit, on the 17th of November, 1558,.... the number burnt to ashes, and who died by starvation, slow torture, and noisome confinement in prison, can never be given with accuracy by any human pen........ The different calculations, however, 6 which have been made by Foxe and Burnet, by Strype and Speed, as well as an account by Cecil Lord Burghley, have been carefully collated: and we have thus made out a distinct list of 318 individuals. Of these, 288 were consumed in the flames, eight or ten were positively famished, and twenty more pined and expired in their dungeons..........But the number of deaths, without doubt, must have been greater, especially from impri(Vol. ii., pp. 262, 263.) sonment. 6 " that met even Beautiful is the story of the faithful "Congregation now in various parts of London, and "occasionally on board ship in the Thames." There is one passage bearing on the history of the Bible. "The eventful month of June [1558] was come. On the 6th, there was issued, in the name of Philip and Mary, a proclamation against certain books. Not Bibles or Testaments by NAME, however; for it is certainly a memorable fact, that throughout the whole course of this reign, from whatever cause, there was not even one such proclamation as had been issued under Henry VIII. The present one was against books, not even named, but said to be filled with heresy, sedition, and treason.' Foxe says, they were such as were 'godly and wholesome;' but at all events, any person having or finding them, and not immediately burning them, shall, without delay, be executed according to MARTIAL law." " A proclamation charged, moreover, that "no man should either pray for, or speak to, the martyrs, or once say,—' God help them."" (!) But when the fire was kindled around seven of them, Bentham, Pastor of the "Congregation," boldly said, "Almighty God, for Christ's sake strengthen them!" With one voice "all the people followed with,- Amen! Amen!' The noise was so astounding, and the voices so numerous, that the officers did not know what to say, nor whom to accuse.' It was the sublime counterpart, that, while all died in joyful constancy, one of the seven, clasping the stake with dying embrace, cried out,-" Lord! I most humbly thank Thy Majesty that Thou hast called me from the state of death unto the light of thy heavenly word, and now unto the fellowship of Thy saints, that I may sing and say,-Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts! And, Lord, into Thy hands I commit my spirit. Lord, bless these Thy people, and save them from idolatry." It has been observed by Sir James Mackintosh, that Gardiner's diocess was bloodless. But we have seen him concerned in the death of almost every eminent martyr; and the remark of Sir James may be amply explained: Gardiner died early in the murderous career ;—and again, most blood was shed in those districts in which the word of God had been most read.-Calamities ensued ;—war, tumult, and various distress. To complete the picture of woe, endemic sickness prevailed to such an extent that harvests were unreaped, and pulpits of parish churches unserved. Amid accumulating griefs and disappointments, the Queen died of the prevailing fever. It was the "carnival of death." Mr. Anderson furnishes a most remarkable passage regarding the bench of Bishops:-"In the short space of four years, from the death of Gardiner (the next after Latimer and Ridley) in November, 1555, to that of Tunstal inclusive, in November, 1559, twenty-four had died nay, fourteen of these had expired in less than sixteen months, before and after the Queen's own decease." Among these was Reginald Pole, the last Cardinal known in England, who went to his account the day after his royal mistress. Bonner survived for years, to languish in disgrace, to die in prison, and to be "buried, under the cloud of night, among the condemned, in Southwark churchyard." The Annalist will not allow that "all things went backward," even in the days of Mary. He refers, not to the commercial treaty with Russia, or to any advantage of an earthly kind; but to the progress of Scriptural truth. Rogers and Coverdale were early seized by Government; and the former became the proto-martyr of Mary's reign. Gardiner willingly condemned him; but not on a charge of publishing the Scriptures, though he was the editor of Tyndale. Hooper was condemned the same day, but was to be sent to Gloucester: Rogers, therefore, seized the earlier crown,the fires of Smithfield being re-lighted after a cessation of nearly nine years. Coverdale was singularly extricated from danger. King Christian, of Denmark, had interceded for him; but other circumstances also favoured his It was politic for King Philip at the instant to appoint his Spanish Confessor to preach AGAINST religious persecution! Collier hints that Philip “had no mind to lie under" the "imputation" of having kindled the martyr-fires. Hence a truce ensued. The debates of a perplexed Council were renewed. The Queen wrote to Denmark, with the view of parrying a statement in which Gardiner had ascribed the persecution to Her Majesty ; and, at the crisis, Coverdale escaped. After three years he returned to England; where he peacefully died in 1569, in his eighty-first year. rescue. Of the pliant Spaniard's sermon, we have related the only happy result. The blood of saints soon flowed afresh, and by royal order too!-The year 1555 must ever remind us of LATIMER and RIDLEY; and the scene of CRANMER's suffering, in March, 1556, all England has contemplated with emotions unusually mingled. During Mary's reign, Government observed a remarkable silence with regard to the English Bible. Copies were burned, and the press was restrained; but neither the Throne, nor the Convocation, nor Cardinal Pole, denounced the sacred record. Amid these circumstances the Geneva revision of the New Testament was executed, and sent into England. This work engaged the best care of the learned exiles; versions in various languages being compared, and the original being submitted to wakeful examination. “It is the first English New Testament divided into verses, and formed an important preliminary step to the revision of the whole Bible.”—If we follow the stream of bibliographers, we shall suppose that several scholars, at least, were employed in this revision of Tyndale; but Mr. Anderson thinks that William Whittingham, Calvin's brother-in-law, was THE REVISER.” * ELIZABETH, the last of the Tudors, ascended the throne at the age of twenty-five. Long and brilliant, we need not here remark, was her reign. According to Mr. Anderson's principle, however, the story of the Bible does not blend with that of political events. This separation he maintains, (of course, with all the advantage of reality against fable,) as steadfastly as the ancients affirmed that the Alpheus, after irrigating the beautiful realms of Arcadia and Elis, flows westward without mingling with the salt waters of the Ionian Sea. Everything was done most cautiously by the maiden-Queen. There was a royal injunction that every parish church should be provided with a large Bible; but this was buried among fifty items. Elizabeth would not hastily commit herself to any prominent measure. Meanwhile Whittingham and a few others were willingly devoting their life-bloom, at Geneva, to the preparation of their English BIBLE. "These men tell us that they thought they could bestow their labours and study in nothing more acceptable to God, and comfortable to His church;' and they add,—“ God knoweth with what fear and trembling we have been for the space of two years and more, day and night, occupied herein."" Many of the exiles gave of their substance, to defray the cost: but it is probable that the execution was achieved by the learning of Whittingham, Gilby, and Sampson; who, as we gather from Wood's Athenæ, “did tarry at Geneva a year and a half after Queen Elizabeth came to the crown, being resolved to go through with the work." (At this, and many other points, we do well to consult the list of editions at the end of Mr. Anderson's second volume.) A Dedication to the Queen is followed by an Epistle," ""To our beloved in the Lord; the brethren of England, Scotland, and Ireland." This translation, which was read in families through Great Britain for more than half a century, was ardently promoted by John Bodley, Esq., father of the founder of the Bodleian,—that founder himself pursuing his early studies in Geneva. A patent from the Queen, in favour of Bodley, introduced this Bible to public notice; and hence its free circulation, in edition after edition, for seven years to come. Before the end of 1561, the people had Tyndale and Coverdale, Cranmer and the Geneva version, all before them. After seven years, Parker's or the Bishops' Bible came into the competition. All these were "personal undertakings." Parker wished to limit Bodley to episcopal direction, but in vain: Bodley valued liberty more than a patent. It may be added to these particulars, that Ri. Grafton lived to bring out the first edition of the English Bible (Cranmer's) in one volume octavo. It was in the tenth year of Elizabeth that Parker's Bible appeared. The Archbishop had been assisted by more than fifteen learned men; the majority of whom, being of episcopal dignity, gave the title of "Bishops' Bible." Cranmer is revised; and in some particulars there is an improvement on him. But, on the whole, we see no reason to depart from the judg * Whittingham had been once chosen one of the senior students in Christ Church, formerly Cardinal College. ment expressed in a former volume of this Magazine. (August, 1846, page 797.) Mr. Anderson denies that this revision was undertaken by royal command. Parker indeed begged for its protection and "commendation,” in order to public reading in the churches; but the success of his appeal seems doubtful. The Queen must not be longer regarded as the partisan of any particular version. From Parker to Whitgift, and later still, the Geneva Bible was often quoted in public, as well as used in private.-Our author does not fail to remark on the monopolies, and patents of privilege, granted or sold by the Queen; especially as they involve the publication of the Bible, and the plea of Barker's superior printing. But still no one translation is preferred. A In contemplating this long and powerful reign, with immediate reference to the sacred volume, there are three distinct points alike worthy of notice and recollection. The first is, the number of editions on the whole, so very far beyond that which has ever been observed. second peculiarity is very manifest, or the number of impressions in what is usually styled the Geneva version, in comparison with others, or with Cranmer's and Parker's versions taken together. But the third point......cannot escape notice,-the large number of Bibles, as compared with the editions of the New Testament separately. inclusive, there had been certainly not (Vol. ii., pp. 352, 353.) The purchase was in truth most remarkable! and, let us not forget, at ten times the present cost. That there were comparatively few editions of the New Testament alone, seems to have been the selfish contrivance of the privileged printer. But the word of the Lord was not bound. Though Elizabeth discouraged preaching, and thought the reading of the Homilies quite sufficient,—and though liberty of conscience was most imperfectly estimated, the truth was hourly diffused. "As the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: so descended the "doctrines" which drop as the rain ;" so spread the "speech" which "distils as the dew,"grateful and insinuating "as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass." 66 The important section, "JAMES I. to the COMMONWEALTH," is introduced by the following syllabus :-" Accession of James-his journey to Londonhis strange progress through the country-his heedless profusion-Conference at Hampton Court explained-Revision of the Scriptures—our present Version -consequent letters—the Revisers-Instructions given-Progress made-Revision of the whole-Money paid, but not by His Majesty, nor by any Bishop, after the King's application, but by the Patentee the present Version publishedno Proclamation, no Order of Privy Council, nor any Act of the Legislature upon record, on the subject-did not become the Version generally received throughout England, Scotland, and Ireland, till about forty years afterwards -the London Polyglot Bible published by the people, for the people-the last attempt to interfere with the English Bible by a Committee of Parliament, representing England, Ireland, and Scotland-utterly in vain-that acqui |