Henry was succeeded by his son Edward, a lad of ten years of age, who had been most religiously educated, and who, to show his reverence for the Sacred Book, required that it should be carried before him at his coronation. The ban on the reading of the Bible was at once removed, and a period of remarkable activity in printing and circulation of the Scriptures followed. In Edward's short reign 13 or 14 editions of the Bible were issued, and many editions of the New Testament.
The title page of the this Bible is very curious. It measures 9 by 14 inches, and is said to have been designed by Hans Holbein. Henry is the most prominent figure, and is represented as handing the Bible to the clergy with his right hand, and to Cromwell and the laity with his left. Below, on the right, Cromwell appears a second time, as delivering the volume to the laity, and on the other side Cranmer is distributing the Scriptures to his clergy. Below, a preacher is enforcing the duty of prayer on behalf of kings, while the crowd shouts, "God Save the King." This Bible is often called Cranmer's, but without just reason. The archbishop promoted its circulation, but the undertaking was Cromwell's. Fifteen months after its publication, Cromwell was disgraced and sentenced to death, and the circle under his feet, with his coat of arms, is left blank in subsequent editions.
The task of importing these precious books into England was one of great peril, and in order to escape detection by the Papal authorities they were usually enclosed in bales of merchandies and landed at a wharf in Thames street. At one time, during the scarcity of wheat in England, the Bibles were imported with the wheat, and thus the bread to feed the body and the Bread of Life to feed the soul came in the same ships and were sent together throughout the land.
The art of printing was introduced into England in 1474 by Caxton. How Caxton discovered the art is not clearly known, but it is supposed that he learned it during a visit to Paris which he is known to have made about this time. His printing press was set up at the Almonry at Westminister, under the patronage of Abbot Milling, but new art was not equally welcome to the bishops, one of whom is reported to have said:
We exhibit here a photograph of the original Title page of this Bible. The size of this page is 8 by 13 inches. Although Coverdale's is but a secondary translation, its importance to the History of the English Bible is great. We cannot too carefully bear in mind that in three-fourths of the Old Testament this was the first printed version presented to the English reader. Not only so, for the most interesting portion of Coverdale's Old Testament is the Psalter. This is still familiar to all who use the Book of Common Prayer, for it is practically Coverdale's version. The dedication of this Bible is to King Henry VIII. It is the work of Nicholson, the English printer, and the King is there compared to Moses, David and other leaders of the Jews. It also speaks of "your dearest, just, and most virtuous princess, Queen Anne." But alas! before the book was ready, the Kind had grown tired of Anne and had married Jane, so "Anne" had to be altered by the addition of a J. But, as soon was the alteration had been completed, this "much married" prince was wedded again. Several copies of this first edition of Coverdale's Bible are known to exist. Two are among the treasures of the British museum.
The interval between the death of Wycliffe and the birth of Tyndale--of whom we shall presently speak--is nearly one hundred years. During that period, there was a great revival of classical study, owing to the overthrow of the Eastern Empire, which scattered the learned men of Greece throughout the European capitals. These men brought with them invaluable Greek manuscripts, and at the very time that the walls of Constantinople were falling before the Moslem troops, a German mechanic was maturing the wonderful art of printing, which was destined to aid still more in the spread of knowledge of the ancients. The history of the invention of printing is involved in some obscurity, but it seems certain that before the year 1440 the use of movable type had been discovered by Gutenberg, of Mayence. About 1455 the first great work was printed. This was none other than the Bible itself--the Latin Bible--and within twenty years the invention had found a home in more than a hundred European cities. Our illustration represents Gutenberg and his partner Faust engaged in printing the Scriptures.
It will be observed that, valuable and interesting as were the translations of Bede and Alfred, yet it was but portions of the Scriptures that they translated, and even these had but a very limited circulation, owing in no small measure to the opposition of the priests. It was an axiom both of the Greek and Latin churches that it would be injurious to the people for them to possess the sacred writngs in their own language. The version used by the priests was the Vulgate, and very few of the clergy possessed the knowledge to enable them to read from the Greek or Hebrew manuscripts. These languages were not studied, for the priests said they were newly invented, and those who learned Greek would be heretics, and to learn Hebrew was a short road to become a Jew. But with the increasing wealth and wickedness of the monks and priests there was also a growing desire on the part of all right thinking persons for reform. The great leader of the new movement was John Wycliffe, the "Morning Star of the Reformation."
Up to the middle of the seventh century, the Scriptures, in England, existed only in the Latin tongue and could be read only by learned men. The first person to translate any part of the Bible into the language of Britain was the celebrated Northumbrian Scholar Bede, surnamed the Venerable. While still young, Bede became a teacher at the Monastery of Jarrow, where students flocked from near and far to learn of him. He was not only a teacher but an extensive writer, as the forty-five works he left at his death amply testify.
We give here a photograph of a page of Tyndale's first Testament, which is very neatly printed, and very carefully translated. We might mention that Tyndale had printed a quarto edition of 3000 copies, and also an octavo edition of 3000. Of these only one mutilated quarto had come down to us, and only two octavo copies are known to exist. After the New Testament was completed, Tyndale next turned his attention to the Old, beginning with the Pentateuch.