"The LORD'S voice crieth unto the city…"

 

 

God, from the beginning,  meant His Word to communicate with His people.  God has always spoken to men in the language that the men he spoke to understood! 

 

How the English speakers were given the Scriptures is a tremendous history!  It is a history wrought with indisputible evidence of the Sovereign working of the Most High as He used the sovereigns of England, even the wicked sovereign kings and queens to bring forth the light of the Word of God to the English speakers of the world!

 

 

God provided his Word to man through imperfect men (I Peter 1:21) he also used imperfect men to preserve, protect, and safeguard His word.

 

 

 

The kingdom of England was often under the thumb of the Roman Pope and his desires to rule the peoples of the world with a rod of iron.

As a testament to the power of the wicked Popes let us remember the deposing of King John of England by Pope Innocent III:

Pope Innocent III humbled King John of England. The king had done things that displeased the pope, so the pope excommunicated him and issued a decree declaring that he was no longer the king and releasing the people of England from obeying him. The pope further ordered King Philip of France to organize an army and navy to overthrow John, which Philip began to do with great zeal, eager to conquer England for himself.

The pope also called for a general crusade against John, promising the participants remission of sins and a share of the spoils of war.

In the meantime, King John submitted to the pope, pledging complete allegiance to him in all things and resigning England and Ireland into the pope’s hands. The following is an excerpt from the oath that John signed on May 15, 1213:

“I John, by the grace of God King of England and Lord of Ireland, in order to expiate my sins, from my own free will and the advice of my barons, give to the Church of Rome, to Pope Innocent and his successors, the kingdom of England and all other prerogatives of my crown. I will hereafter hold them as the pope’s vassal. I will be faithful to God, to the Church of Rome, to the pope my master, and to his successors legitimately elected.”

The power struggle between English Kings and the Papacy would have a great impact on the English Scriptures!

 

 

To understand the miracle of the English Scriptures we must look back to the climate of the day of the men who first translated it. 

 

 

Humanly speaking, John Wycliffe was able to translate and distribute the first English Bible, not because of the king (Richard II) but because of  queen Anne (Richard’s wife) and an uncle of the king, regant for the king and powerful knight (Sir John of Gaunt).

Wycliffe would have been cut off by the Roman Catholic authorities had he not, by divine intervention, been protected by certain powerful individuals and unusual events.

One of these was JOHN OF GAUNT, the Duke of Lancaster (Uncle and Regent of Edward II when he was a 10 year old King), who protected Wycliffe for many years. John was a large man and a bold warrior. His armor, which is displayed today in the Tower of London, is 6 foot 9 inches.

Richard II married Anne of Bohemia as a result of the Great Schism in the Papacy had resulted in two rival popes. According to Eduard Perroy, Pope Urban VI actually sanctioned the marriage between Richard and Anne, in an attempt to create an alliance on his behalf, in particular so that he might be stronger against the French, and their preferred pope, Clement. Anne’s father was the most powerful King in Europe at the time ruling over about half of Europe’s population and territory.

QUEEN ANNE, the wife of Richard II (1367-1400), also assisted Wycliffe. She was daughter to the Roman emperor Charles IV and sister of Wenceslaus, king of Bohemia. Anne was only a teenager when she was brought to England to wed Richard. She brought versions of Scriptures in German, Bohemian, and Latin with her into England. She loved Wickliffe’s doctrine and sent copies of Wycliffe’s books into Bohemia by her attendants (Ivimey, I, p. 69). The godly queen died in June 1394, at the age of twenty-seven.

Further, in 1378 Pope Gregory XI died, and THE GREAT PAPAL SCHISM began, during which there were two (Gregory XII and Benedict III) and then three popes, and these were too busy hurling curses at one another to worry much about Wycliffe in England!

 

 

King Henry IV (the son of John Gaunt) would have a faithful knight and friend, Sir John Oldcastle, who would love John Wycliffe and the Wycliffe Bible!  Sir Oldcastle would so love the English Bible that he would employ scholars to produce Wycliffe Bibles for distrobution!

 

 

After the death of Henry IV John Oldcastle was roasted in chains over a fire for his love and distrobution of the Wycliffe Bible.

 

 

Henry V would be a great persecutor of anyone involved in any way with the English Bible.  Horrible were the persecutions of this king!  However, the Lord used him, in that he made English the offical language of the Kingdom.  This would be very inportant to the influence the English Bible not only upon the nation, but upon the world!

During the reign of Henry V (1413-22), an Act was confirmed by which the “English sheriffs were forced to take an oath to persecute the Lollards, and the justices must deliver a relapsed heretic to be burned within ten days of his accusation. … No mercy was shown under any circumstances” (Armitage, A History of the Baptists, 1890, I, pp. 323, 325).

In 1414 the legislature under Henry V joined in asking for harder measures against the Lollards. “After a suspected rising of the Lollards, a law was passed, declaring that ALL WHO READ THE SCRIPTURES IN THE MOTHER TONGUE SHOULD ‘FORFEIT LAND, CATEL, LIF, AND GOODS, FROM THEYR HEYRES [THEIR HEIRS] FOR EVER’” (Eadie, History of the English Bible, I, p. 89).

Many of the Lollards were burned alive for their faith in the 1400s. Following are a few examples. In our Advanced Bible Studies course on Church History we list about 40 that were burned in the 15th century, but there were probably many more. Much of the record is gone.

 

 

Henry the VIII becomes the king of England, and he was a very powerful and wicked man.  Under the reign of this wicked man, William Tyndale would translate the first printed New Testament in English.  Under his reign Tyndale would be martyred, at which time he would pray, “Lord open the king of England’s eyes!”

 

 

Under his reign Miles Coverdale would print the first complete English Bible named after him (the Coverdale Bible) that would contain all the work of Tyndale!

Under his reign the Matthew’s Bible would be completed by John Rogers.

Under his reign, he would order Coverdale to prduce the Great Bible (which ended up being an edition of the Matthew’s Bible).

 

 

Henry VIII (28 June 1491 – 28 January 1547) was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord of Ireland (later King of Ireland) and claimant to the Kingdom of France. Henry was the second monarch of the House of Tudor, succeeding his father, Henry VII.

Besides his six marriages, Henry VIII is known for his role in the separation of the Church of England from the Roman Catholic Church. Henry’s struggles with Rome led to the separation of the Church of England from papal authority, the Dissolution of the Monasteries, and establishing himself as the Supreme Head of the Church of England. He changed religious ceremonies and rituals and suppressed the monasteries, while remaining a believer in core Catholic theological teachings, even after his excommunication from the Roman Catholic Church. Henry oversaw the legal union of England and Wales with the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542. ~ Acts of sheer carnality not religious conviction!

Henry was an attractive and charismatic man in his prime, educated and accomplished. He was an author and a composer. He ruled with absolute power. His desire to provide England with a male heir—which stemmed partly from personal vanity and partly because he believed a daughter would be unable to consolidate the Tudor Dynasty and the fragile peace that existed following the Wars of the Roses—led to the two things that Henry is remembered for today: his wives, and the English Reformation that made England a mostly Protestant nation. In later life he became morbidly obese and his health suffered; his public image is frequently depicted as one of a lustful, egotistical, harsh and insecure king.

Henry is famously remembered for having six wives—two of whom he had beheaded—which helped to make him a cultural icon, with many books, films, plays, and television series based around him and his wives.

King Henry VIII, who sat on the throne, had been awarded the title “Defender of the Faith” by the Pope for his rigorous defense of Roman Catholic doctrine. Though Henry later broke from the Pope and founded the Church of England in 1534, he held to Catholic doctrine all his life. “Henry continued to defend the principal teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, required all people in England and Wales to adhere to the Roman creed, and was quite willing to put to death men and women who opposed his will by embracing Protestant doctrine” (Houghton, Sketches from Church History, p. 113).

 

 

Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) became King of England and Ireland on 28 January 1547 and was crowned on 20 February at the age of nine. The son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, Edward was the third monarch of the Tudor dynasty and England’s first ruler who was raised as a Protestant.

During Edward’s reign, the realm was governed by a Regency Council, because he never reached maturity. The Council was led by his uncle Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, (1547–1549), and then by John Dudley, 1st Earl of Warwick, (1550–1553), who later became Duke of Northumberland.

Edward’s reign was marked by economic problems and social unrest that, in 1549, erupted into riot and rebellion. A war with Scotland, at first successful, ended with military withdrawal from there and Boulogne-sur-Mer. The transformation of the Anglican Church into a recognizably Protestant body also occurred under Edward, who took great interest in religious matters. Although Henry VIII had severed the link between the Church of England and Rome, he never permitted the renunciation of Catholic doctrine or ceremony. It was during Edward’s reign that Protestantism was established for the first time in England with reforms that included the abolition of clerical celibacy and the Mass and the imposition of compulsory services in English. The architect of these reforms was Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, whose Book of Common Prayer has proved lasting.

Edward fell ill in January 1553, and when his sickness was discovered to be terminal, he and his Council drew up a “Devise for the Succession”, attempting to prevent the country being returned to Catholicism. Edward named his cousin Lady Jane Grey as his heir and excluded his half sisters, Mary and Elizabeth. However, this was disputed following Edward’s death and Jane was queen for only nine days before Edward’s half-sister, Mary, was proclaimed Queen. She proceeded to reverse many of Edward’s Protestant reforms, but Elizabeth’s religious settlement of 1559 would secure his Protestant legacy.

Note: Edwards reign was short-lived, but Supernaturally used by God!

Let us then now observe what ensued, as soon as Henry had “ceased from troubling,” and Gardiner, Bonner, and Tunstal were bereft of the power. Of the forty-five printers under Henry, fourteen survived when Edward came to the throne. While his father was sinking into the grave, and in less than twelve months after his death, as many as eight new men had started in business as printers, Next year, however, there were not fewer than eleven more, and in the next two, eighteen, besides six others in 1551 and 1552, or forty-three in all; raising the number of printers under this youthful monarch to not fewer than fifty-seven, in the brief space of six years! Now if it be inquired, what connexion had all this with the diffusion of the Divine Record? it was no less than this–that out of these fifty-seven printers, more than half, or not fewer than thirty-one, and these the most respectable, were engaged either in printing or publishing the Sacred Scriptures.

But the editions of the Scriptures themselves will now furnish us with another view of this memorable period. For Bibles in folio, there may have been not so much need as yet, considering the number which had been printed in 1540 and 1541; for although Henry had licensed Anthony Marler to print for five years longer, he was then over-stocked, and the sale must have flagged, as the wayward monarch only frowned on the undertaking ever after. New Testaments, however, were in great request, and the people soon discovered which translation they preferred.

Tyndale’s Bibles were published under the name of Matthew; but as for the New Testament separately, the name of William Tyndale was now inserted in the front titles of fifteen editions, if not more. At the same time it may be observed, in farther proof of the freedom of the press, and of the absence of all jealousy or interference on the part of Cranmer, that the impressions of Matthew’s Bible took precedence of his own in point of time. That of the former, by Day and Seres, was finished in August 1549, and that by Reynolde and Hill in October; but Cranmer’s, by Grafton and Whitchurch, not till December of that year. Thus, if a version ever received distinguished marks of public approbation, it was that of our first Translator. There had been certain verbal alterations in the text, whether by Cranmer, Coverdale, or Taverner–some of which were no improvements; and so it now appears the people at large had thought throughout the days of Edward the Sixth. They had said, in a manner not to be mistaken, “We decidedly prefer the version of our original Translator, as he gave it to his country.”             Annuls of the English Bible – Anderson

 

 

  Lady Jane was Protestant, and was placed in line to the throne by Edward, because he knew Lady Grey would prevent England from a return to Popery!   Lady Jane would reign only nine days before she was disposed by her cousin Mary.

 

 

 Mary I, also known historically as “Bloody Mary” would lead the nation back to Catholicism.

 

 

 Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558) was Queen regent of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death. She was the eldest daughter of Henry VIII and only surviving child of Catherine of Aragon. As the fourth crowned monarch of the Tudor dynasty, she is remembered for restoring England to Roman Catholicism after succeeding her short-lived Protestant half brother, Edward VI. In the process, she had almost 300 religious dissenters burned at the stake in the Marian Persecutions, earning her the sobriquet of “Bloody Mary”.

 

 Under Mary’s bloody reign refugee translators would flee to Geneva where the Geneva Bible would be translated.  This would become the Bible of the People for more than 100 years.