So England awoke one morning in 1537 to discover that it had a translation of the Bible two of them actually, open to its use, the very thing that had been forbidden yesterday! And that, one year after Tindale hadbeen burned in loyal France for issuing an English translation! Two versions were now authorized and made available.What were they? That of Miles Coverdale, which had been issued secretly two years before, and that known as the "Matthew" Bible, though the name has no significance, issued within a year.Details are not to our purpose.Neither was an independent work, but was made largely from the Latin and the German, and much influenced by Tindale.Coverdale was a Yorkshire man like Wiclif, feminine in his mental cast as Tindale was masculine.Coverdale made his translation because he loved books; Tindale because he felt driven to it.But now the way was clear, and other editions appeared.It is natural to name one or two of the more notable ones.
There appeared what is known as the Great Bible in 1539.It was only another version made by Coverdale on the basis of the Matthew version, but corrected by more accurate knowledge.There is an interesting romance of its publication.The presses of England were not adequate for the great work planned; it was to be a marvel of typography.So the consent of King Francis was gained to have it printed in France, and Coverdale was sent as a special ambassador to oversee it.He was in dread of the Inquisition, which was in vogue at the time, and sent off his printed sheets to England as rapidly as possible.Suddenly one day the order of confiscation came from the Inquisitor-General.Only Coverdale's official position as representing the King saved his own life.As for the printed sheets on which so much depended, they seemed doomed.But in the nick of time a dealer appeared at the printing-house and purchased four great vats full of waste paper which he shipped to England--when it was found that the waste paper was those printed sheets.The presses and the printers were all loyal to England, and the edition was finally completed.The Great Bible was issued to meet a decree that each church should make available in some convenient place the largest possible copy of the whole Bible, where all the parishioners could have access to it and read it at their will.The version gets its name solely from the size of the volume.That decree dates 1538, twelve years after Tindale's books were burned, and two years after he was burned! The installation of these great books caused tremendous excitement--crowds gathered everywhere.BishopBonner caused six copies of the great volume to be located wisely throughout St.Paul's.He found it difficult to make people leave them during the sermons.He was so often interrupted by voices reading to a group, and by the discussions that ensued, that he threatened to have them taken out during the service if people would not be quiet.The Great Bible appeared in seven editions in two years, and continued in recognized power for thirty years.Much of the present English prayer-book is taken from it.
But this liberty was so sudden that the people naturally abused it.Henry became vexed because the sacred words "were disputed, rimed, sung, and jangled in every ale-house." There had grown up a series of wild ballads and ribald songs in contempt of "the old faith," while it was not really the old faith which was in dispute, but only foreign control of English faith.They had mistaken Henry's meaning.So Henry began to put restrictions on the use of the Bible.There were to be no notes or annotations in any versions, and those that existed were to be blacked out.Only the upper classes were to be allowed to possess a Bible.Finally, the year before his death, all versions were prohibited except the Great Bible, whose cost and size precluded secret use.The decree led to another great burning of Bibles in 1546-- Tindale, Coverdale, Matthew--all but the Great Bible.The leading religious reformers took flight and fled to European Protestant towns like Frankfort and Strassburg.But the Bible remained.Henry VIII.died.The Bible lived on.
Under Edward VI., the boy king, coming to the throne at nine and dying at fifteen, the regency with Crammer at its head earned its bad name.But while its members were shamelessly despoiling churches and enriching themselves they did one great service for the Bible.They cast off all restrictions on its translation and publication.The order for a Great Bible in every church was renewed, and there was to be added to it a copy of Erasmus's paraphrase of the four gospels.Nearly fifty editions of the Bible, in whole or in part, appeared in those six years.
And that was fortunate, for then came Mary --and the deluge.Of course, she again gave in the nominal allegiance of England to the Roman control.But she utterly missed the spirit of the people.They were wearywith the excesses of rabid Protestantism; but they were by no means ready to admit the principle of foreign control in religious matters.They might have been willing, many of them, that the use of the Bible should be restricted, if it were done by their own sovereign.They were not willing that another sovereign should restrict them.So the secret use of the Bible increased.Martyr fires were kindled, but by the light of them the people read their Bibles more eagerly.And this very persecution led to one of the best of the early versions of the Bible, indirectly even to the King James version.
