for the Bible was better without it, while the omission had not the slightest effect in checking the sale. After this, and while the Queen reigned, many more editions were printed, and, of course, by her own patentee, without any dedication. As for the " EPISTLE," with its original TITLE, it passed through ten editions up to nearly the same period, or 1582, that being the last Bible in which it is found.42 In the edition of 1579, however, while the epistle itself remained, down to the period of our present version and beyond it, by some cold and narrow-minded spirit the title was altered to the following terms :-" To the diligent and Christian Reader;" and then simply "To the Christian_Reader.” Α change from the social to the personal—from a breathing of love intended to cheer three kingdoms, to the solitary reader, wherever he might be found, was certainly no improvement; but again, if there was party spirit here, let not these purchasers and readers of the Bible itself be charged with this spirit. If the olive branch was crushed, it was not them that crushed it; though neither had this any effect on the circulation. In the present day there are those who may remark, that, if there had been no monopoly, the unobjectionable and expansive title would have survived; but, at all events, even incidents such as these throw light on the times, as well as relieve the numerous readers of the Scriptures from the charge of a narrow spirit. It must now, then, be apparent that we are constrained to look for some higher cause than mere party zeal. To the human eye all this was nothing more than one man employed, under the royal sanction, to meet a desire which her Majesty had no power, perhaps no disposition, to control. It was, however, a current too strong even for Elizabeth, while her own printer must stand by, to satisfy the demand.

But since the people were so eager for the Geneva version, as the printer has proved, it may now be asked-Were they not excited by addresses from the pulpit? They might have been, and the ministry of the Word would have accounted for all that had occurred. No doubt they who feared God then spake often one to another, and met as they might; but will any man, acquainted with the times, venture to trace the growing desire of this people to the energy, or the growing energy of preaching? To the living voice of such a man as Luther, or such a chosen band as his coadjutors? No; Britain, surrounded by her own sea, is little to be associated with Germany, from first to last. From her own Wickliffe until now, she has had a case of her own to be traced out, and the direct dealing of the Almighty with this nation is yet to be more

42 For more than a century it has been said that the dedication and preface were both immediately suppressed, or that, after the first edition of 1560, they were left out in all the subsequent editions! But there was more than enough, for which her Majesty was responsible, and let not the slightest injustice be done to her memory. The statement now made may be relied on, as it has been verified by comparison with all the Bibles themselves.

carefully studied. Where, then, was there, throughout this long reign, extolled as so glorious, even one Apollos or Boanerges permitted to raise his voice across the kingdom, and excite the people to read and live! Or one Latimer in all England? As for Bernard Gilpin, the Apostle of the North and Friend of the Poor, to say nothing of his having been once on the road to martyrdom under Bonner, and often thwarted since, he had died out of the way as early as the year 1584. Even in London, where these Bibles were perpetually printing, what say the petitioners to Parliament ?

"There are in this City a great number of churches, but the one half of them, at the least, are utterly unfurnished with preaching ministers. The other half, partly by means of non-residents, which are very many, partly through the poverty of many meanly qualified, there is scarce the tenth man to be found that maketh any conscience carefully to wait upon his charge, whereby the Lord's Sabbath is often wholly neglected, and, for the most part, miserably mangled."

In one word, it is undeniable that, as far as intelligible preaching of the Truth was concerned, generally speaking, the entire country was deplorably destitute. The people at large were living under a Sovereign, who, throughout her entire reign, could never divest herself of apprehension from two sources-the liberty of preaching, and the freedom of the press-both of which were under restraint, as far as her power could extend. As for the press, one requires to look no farther than the decrees of the Star Chamber; and, with regard to preaching, though historians of the most opposite sentiments had not conceded the point, the Queen herself has not left them to inform us what were her sentiments-for as to hearing a sermon of any kind, she but seldom did so. In the course of her reign she had three primates in succession, Parker, Grindal, and Whitgift; one of whom conscientiously dared to speak out on this very subject. No language could be more respectful than that with which Grindal approached her Majesty-none required to be more argumentative-nor, in the conclusion, more solemn. After warning the Queen, by the authority of Scripture itself, he did so by her own mortality, the judg ment-seat of the Crucified-by Him who dwelleth in Heaven, who taketh away the spirit of princes, and is terrible above all the kings of the earth-at the same time tendering his resignation.

"Alas, Madam!" said he, "is the Scripture more plain in any one thing than that the Gospel of Christ should be plentifully preached, and that plenty of labourers should be sent unto the Lord's harvest, which, being great and large, standeth in need, not of a few, but many workmen. There was appointed to the building of Solomon's material temple a hundred and fifty thousand artificers and labourers, besides three thousand three hundred overseers; and shall we think that a few preachers may suffice to build and edify the spiritual temple of Christ, which is his Church ?"-" Public and continual preaching of God's

Word is the ordinary mean and instrument of the salvation of mankind. Paul calleth it the ministry of reconciliation of man unto God. By preaching of God's Word the glory of God is enlarged, faith is nourished, and charity increased. By it the ignorant is instructed, the negligent exhorted and incited, the stubborn rebuked, the weak conscience comforted, and to all those that sin of malicious wickedness the wrath of God is threatened. By it also due obedience to Christian princes and magistrates is planted in the hearts of subjects."

But the Archbishop, though he manfully discharged his conscience, might have saved himself the trouble of writing, and especially so long a letter, with his own hand that she alone might read it. In language, at once daring and presumptuous, because arraigning the appointment of God himself, the Queen had already told him, "that it was good for the Church to have few preachers; that three or four might suffice for a county; and that the reading of the Homilies to the people was sufficient!" Nor was this merely "a sudden sally," as, too much in the spirit of sycophancy, it has been represented. Firm as a rock, Elizabeth never relented. Too like her father, above all things else she could not bear to be told the truth, however confidentially, by any man. It is, indeed, very observable, that, near the throne, in both courts, there seems to have been a Micaiah, and in both instances he met with similar treatment. The first referred especially to the Word of God itself; the second to the ministry of that Word; and no unbiassed writer, when estimating the character of either monarch, is likely to forget the long imprisonment of Latimer under Henry, or the lengthened disgrace of Grindal under Elizabeth. These were two palpable facts, evincing a disposition which lasted from year to year, and which by no sophistry can be softened down. As for Grindal, after this, if not for this alone, he enjoyed the honour of never being admitted to the Privy Council, so that he never was a member; and though the Convocation entire petitioned for his restoration to freedom and favour, the Queen remained inexorable, with her primate in disgrace, and reigning, as Henry the Eighth never did, so unquestioned and so alone.

Now, all this happened just before Barker obtained his first license to print the Scriptures. In June, the Archbishop was sequestered from his office, and confined to his house, by an order from the Star Chamber; and Barker got his license in September. Grindal, therefore, could have had no influence whatever in promoting the sale, much less in creating the thirst.4 43 But, again, the patent was renewed, and verbally the same in August 1589, at the very moment when Whitgift was at the height of his power; pleasing the Queen too, in spite of some others who were in her confidence, and at her Council board. But it was, indeed, of but

43 No doubt, not aware of these circumstances, or not observing dates, the sale, or popularity of the version, has been ascribed to Grindal by Dr. Cardwell, in his DOCUMENTARY ANNALS.

In

little moment who was in disgrace at that court, or who in power. the midst of many conflicting interests and opinions, and much to do, those numerous editions of the Divine Word were printing throughout the four seasons of the year, and the demand was rising progressively to the glory of Him who so signally gave that Word, and at such a time,— the Governor among the nations.

In conclusion, and on the whole, we enter not here into the comparative merits of the Bishops' and the Geneva versions, nor should the attention at present be diverted to any such point. Both went on to be printed, and they will, therefore, come before us under the next reign. Suffice it to say, that, as translations,-as instruments in the hand of God, both were all-sufficient for His purpose; but it is of more immediate consequence, that the mind should rest on the remarkable fact, that under the reign of Elizabeth not fewer than one hundred and thirty distinct publications of the Divine Word passed through the press, mainly to meet the desires of the people; while the disposition thus to purchase and to read must have had a cause.

Unable, therefore, to point out any adequate instrumental cause upon earth, why should there now be any hesitation in all England, to refer immediately to Him" from whom all good counsels and all such desires proceed?" Considering the people as a people, far from being any disadvantage or discredit to them, that God himself should thus speak to them more directly than usual, and by his own Word, it only placed them in a higher state of responsibility. The number of its editions has shed quite a new light, and in reference to the period itself, it is questionable whether any people in Europe can now produce a parallel; but certainly there was, at that period, no similar proceeding in any nation.

The Queen upon the throne might cast indignity upon the ordinance of Heaven for saving the souls of men, or care not for it. For this the primate of all England, being of another mind, might pine for years under her frown; or, as ever after, his successor, Whitgift, might carry every thing before him. The Commons' House of Parliament itself might propose to meet for prayer, and to hear a sermon; when being rebuked by her Majesty for their presumption in not first asking counsel of her, to obtain her sanction, they gave up the intention, and never heard one. One half of the buildings called

churches in the capital might stand there, and no one faithful voice be heard within their walls, while only the tenth man of the remaining half possessed any conscience. All this, and more might be, but the Word of Jehovah must not be bound. Nor was it that the Almighty Redeemer undervalued the ministry of his own appointment. Far from any mind be such a thought. But He is a sovereign, "having no need either of his own works or of man's gifts," and for a season might suspend their operation for a higher end, even the glory and power of his Revealed Word. True religion revived in Babylon, when Jerusalem lay in ruins, as it had prospered in the wilderness, before the temple was built; and of that favoured people, as the depositaries of the truth, it was once said, "If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead," but a greater than Moses was here.

All this while, the nation was seen rising, confessedly, into far greater power, though often agitated; and if without were fightings, within were fears. The reign had been stained by the blood of persecution; and as liberty of conscience was understood by no party, instances of oppression occurred with a frequency which cannot be explained fully, till the State Paper Commission has done the same justice to Elizabeth which it has done to her father. But throughout all the tumultuous scene-the zeal for what was styled uniformity -the decrees of the Star Chamber, and the restrictions of the press, the "still small voice" was there. In other words, from year to year, and as with pointing finger, a benignant Providence stood above the nation, directing it to the Bible alone, as its only charter to the skies; or God's own divine grant, in the language of the people, to all the glories of life eternal.

When the general character and proceedings, not to say the superior acquirements or talents of her Majesty are calmly reviewed; since, officially, she never appears to have much, if at all, concerned herself with one translation more than another; perhaps one of the most melancholy circumstances of the time was this, that Elizabeth never seems to have understood or felt, that the circulation of the Sacred Scriptures, was by far the most important feature of her entire reign.

We are now, however, on the borders, not only of another