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SCOTLAND.

Entroduction.

Brief notice of Scotland during the fourteenth and fifteenth cen-

turies-The opening of the sixteenth before the Sacred Scrip-

tures in print were first imported,

BOOK IV.-SCOTLAND.

From James the Fifth to the Commonwealth.

SECTION I.-1526. REIGN OF JAMES V.

State of Scotland-The first introduction of the Sacred Volume

in print, that is, of the New Testament in the English lan-

guage-Earliest arrivals at Edinburgh and St. Andrews-Sin-

gular condition of the country, and especially of its Primate,

at the moment,

395

403

SECTION II.-1527-8.

Anno 1527-1528-Consternation of the authorities in Scotland-

The New Testament soon followed by one living voice, that of

Patrick Hamilton-His martyrdom-Alexander Seton, the

next witness, persecuted-He escapes to England-The New

Testament goes on to be imported,

SECTION III.-1529-34.

From 1529 to 1534-All-important period, hitherto unnoticed—

Alexander Ales or Aless-Cruelly persecuted by Hepburn, the

Prior of St. Andrews-At last escapes by sea, from Dundee, first to

France, and then to Germany-His epistle addressed to James

V.; or the commencement of the first regular controversy in

Britain respecting the Scriptures printed in the vulgar tongue

-The abusive publication of Cochlæus professedly in reply-

The representations of Ales confirmed by the state of the coun-

try, and the second martyrdom-Answer of Ales to the calum-

nies of Cochlæus-Ales pleads, most earnestly, for the New

Testament to be read-But especially in families-Extols

divine revelation, and as to be found in the English version

now importing-Cochlæus, quite enraged, addresses James V.

-And is rewarded-Had mendaciously averred that the writ-

ings of Ales proceeded from Melancthon-The persecutions

and martyrdoms of 1534 again confirm the statements of Ales

-Who is now standing by himself alone, in defence of the

truth, or the Scriptures in the vernacular tongue,

412

425

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SECTION IV.-1535-37.

From 1535 to 1537-The future exertions and writings of Ales,

till his death in 1565-State of Scotland-Provincial council

of the prelates-Agitation-Reading of the New Testament

forbidden by proclamation-Progress of the cause,

SECTION V.-1538-42.

.. 476

From 1538 to 1542-State of the country-Beaton a Cardinal, and

persecution revived-The martyrdoms of 1538-Dean Forret

-The cause of all the tumult in opposition traced to the New

Testament in the native tongue-Another martyrdom-Men

escaping-The cruel progress of Cardinal Beaton-Death of the

King James V.-Gloomy state of the country as to its Govern-

ment at this moment,

REIGN OF MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS.-1543.

The year 1543, a memorable one-Critical state of the Govern-

ment-Remarkably sudden change-The Primate of St. An-

drews, though a Cardinal, in prison-His clergy in mourning,

and all their churches closed, when Parliament assembled, and

by a bill and proclamation throughout Scotland, sanctioned the

general perusal of those Scriptures, which had been reading in

secret for sixteen years-Contrast with England at this mo-

ment-Extent to which the Scriptures had been possessed, and

therefore perused in Scotland-The Earl of Arran, the Gover-

nor, very soon abjures, and falls under the power of Beaton, now

enlarged-The singular existing position of all the European

sovereigns, with the Pontiff and the Turk included-More mar-

tyrdoms by hanging, drowning, and the flames-The death of

Beaton-Peculiarity in the history of the Bible in Scotland,

QUEEN MARY, JAMES VI., TO THE COMMONWEALTH.

1543-1650.

From 1543 to 1650-Singular history of the Scriptures in Scot-

land, during this entire period-Not supplied from its own na-

tive press, but by importation, for more than a hundred years

-State of literature and education-The Apocrypha.

The present version of the Bible become the only one in use, and

at a period indisputably significant of Divine superintendence

over the entire kingdom,

495

515

532

BOOK V.-GREAT BRITAIN.

From the Commonwealth to Queen Victoria.

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SECTION I.-1650-1780.

THE COMMONWEALTH TO GEORGE III.

Brief survey-Downward progress of the Stuart dynasty—Oppo-

sition at home ineffectual-League, in which even the Pontiff

and Germany concurred and assisted-The line of succession in

Britain broken-The Revolution of 1688-9-Preceding opposi-

tion to the Scriptures by James II., an adherent of the old

learning-Consequences of the Revolution-State of the Bible

press in England-Canne's Bible-Guy's Bibles-Baskerville's

-Blayney's Bible-State of the Bible press in Scotland-James

II. equally busy in opposition there-The number of Bibles is

now past all human computation-The results, if but too feeble

in Britain, must be looked for elsewhere,

SECTION II.-NORTH AMERICA.-1620-1780.

THE REIGN OF JAMES I. TO GEORGE III.

New movement in reference to the English Scriptures-The Bible

first beheld by the natives in America, an English one- -Copies

carried away to New England by the refugees and following

settlers-No individual ever specified as particularly zealous

in the transit of copies-Yet were they sent across the Atlan-

tic Ocean for above a hundred and sixty years !—A movement

such as never distinguished any other European version, and

now never will-The extraordinary results during this long

period-Williams, Eliot, Mather, Edwards, Brainerd, and

many thousands beside The restrictive and unnatural po-

licy of Britain-She must be overruled, as her monarchs had

been in England-In justification of its continued independence.

of all human authority, the English Bible is at last printed in

America-No consultation of the mother country-The first

edition only in 1782-The independence of America acknow-

ledged by Britain, Holland, &c.-The first Bibles in octavo,

quarto, and folio, printed there in 1791-The second in duode-

cimo not till 1797,

549

564

III. OR FINAL SECTION.-1780-1844.

REIGN OF GEORGE III. TO QUEEN VICTORIA.

The last sixty-four years.

The commencement of a greater movement than ever before-To

be understood only by first looking abroad-The Revolution-

ary times in France-The agitation extends-Neither Britain

nor her colonies remain unscathed-The sagacity of English

authors in every form of composition is exhausted, without

averting or even allaying the storm-Action is called for-But

the obstacles to united action appear to be insuperable-The

Sovereign Disposer of all events, as a secret mover, unobserved

-In secret he must be acknowledged-The first feeble move-

ment taking its name from the Bible-The second--Its entire

failure no ground for discouragement-Ten years before, Divine

Providence had fixed on one young man-Reading the English

Bible in obscurity, his mind is ripe for action-A new feeling,

or spirit of enlarged benignity is imbibed-In maturer years,

his history and exertions gradually interpret the beneficial re-

flex influence of foreign operations-Two other men go to his

aid-These efforts much impress a few powerful minds at home

-The Bible without either note or comment draws more at-

tention-The destitution of it in Wales-The British and

Foreign Bible Society with its auxiliaries-their exertions up

to the present day-The United Kingdom and her colonies

embrace above four thousand similar assistant or independent

unions-These form only an inferior division of the vast field

of action-After a distribution and sale of so many millions of

the English Scriptures, there occurs an extraordinary and un-

precedented fall in the price of the Sacred Volume-Thus

lending to the present history, its last providential movement,

or a conclusion as cheering as it was unanticipated.

Britain at the height of a responsibility not easily conceived, as

it baffles all adequate description-On the summit of her

highest privilege there is no repose, no release from far greater

exertions throughout her foreign dependancies, or the world in

general-The present history indicates a course of action, if

not the only one, which involves her future welfare and stabi-

lity-A path of duty which cannot, with impunity, be evaded,

CONCLUSIONS drawn from the preceding history,

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APPENDIX. The family of Tyndale. Fac Simile of his Prologue and first two New

Testaments. Chronological Index List of Bibles and Testaments.

THE HISTORY OF

THE ENGLISH BIBLE.

BOOK II.-ENGLAND.

Reign of Henry the Eighth.

SECTION I.

INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPH-CRUMWELL'S POLICY WITH HENRY-MATRIMONIAL ALLIANCES-NEGOCIATIONS WITH FRANCE AND SPAIN-GARDINER RECALLED-BONNER SENT TO FRANCE-THE GERMAN STATES-GARDINER, NORFOLK, AND TUNSTAL MET THE FIRST ARTICLES, IN THEIR NATURAL CONSEQUENCES-PERSECUTION RESUMED.

THE SECOND YEAR OF TRIUMPH-THE ENGLISH BIBLE PRINTING IN PARIS PRESS INTERRUPTED-INQUISITION OVERMATCHED THE BIBLE FINISHED IN LONDON-FIRST INJUNCTIONS FOR TYNDALE'S BIBLE-NEW TESTAMENTS, FRESH EDITIONS-COVERDALE'S TESTAMENTS-THE DESTITUTE STATE OF ENGLAND-JOY OVER THE SCRIPTURES-RETROSPECT.

HROUGHOUT the preceding volume, the reader found himself obliged to travel for years, contentedly, by the margin of what might be compared only to a rivulet, patiently fighting its way with the rocks and obstructions of every description which lay right before it, and seeming to forbid, by a sort of authority, all passage or progress. Still no returning season passed away, without bringing fresh tokens that all opposition was not only vain, but actually helpful; and the event of last year must have rewarded the expectation of all who had waited for it. Nor ever let the long and well-sustained conflict be forgotten. It must be measured by its consequences; for though but too