had been set up in the churches were burnt, but so deep and strong was the popular feeling in favor of the Bible in the vernacular, that no vigorous effort was made to find and forfeit the copies which must have been hidden away in thousands of English homes. Not long after her accession to the throne, Mary, accompanied by her husband, Philip of Spain, passed in procession through the gayly decked streets of London. Among the emblematic designs which welcomed them was one representing her royal father, Henry VIII., giving a Bible to his young son, Edward. Perhaps it had appeared before when Edward visited the city. Times were changed now, however, and the artist was summoned before Bishop Gardiner, branded as "a villain and traitor," and bidden paint out the book and put a glove in its place. Evidently England was no country for Protestants. Cranmer and Rogers were burned. The bones of Fagius and Bucer were treated in the same way. Coverdale was imprisoned, and only escaped martyrdom by the special intervention of the king of Denmark. John Macbee, a Scotch minister living in Denmark, married to Coverdale's sister, had the ear of the sovereign, and welcomed the exile when once again he sought a shelter from persecution in his own country. The next trace we have of him is in Geneva, and it was during this period of forced absence from England that Coverdale, together with William Whittingham, who was related by marriage tc Calvin, and other exiles prepared the version of the Bible which gained and held the heart of the English people for the next half-century. The Genevan Testament appeared in 1557, A. D. 1557. and Calvin himself prefaced it with an "Introductory Epistle." In size and price it was better fitted than the Great Bible for general circulation, and Coverdale must have seen with satisfaction the addition of the marginal commentary, on which his heart had been set in his earlier work. No sooner was the Testament published than the learned exiles plunged into the more serious business of revising the whole Bible. They continued at their task "for the space of ten years and more, day and night." Before they had concluded it, Mary died, and Elizabeth ascended the English throne. Coverdale seems to have gone home, but under the care of Whittingham, with one or two more who remained awhile in Geneva, the work of revision was thoroughly completed. With a dedication "to the most virtuous and noble Queen Elizabeth, whom God hath made our Zerubbabel for the erecting of this most excellent Temple," the Genevan Bible made its appearance in 1560. In form it was a moderate quarto; for the first time the text was A. D. 1560. printed in Roman letter, and the chapters were divided into verses. For the first time also the Apocrypha was omitted. The monopoly of printing it was granted by Elizabeth to John Bodley, whose name lives still in the famous library at Oxford. Eighty editions appeared before the Authorized Version came to dispute with it the place of honor in the affections of the country. It was on August 24, 1559, that a bishop from England,1 no doubt Coverdale, requested a dismissal from the city council of Geneva, so that he might return to England. He never resumed his bishopric, but was given the living of St. Magnus' Church, near London Bridge. "Surely," said the bishop of London, in pleading that higher honors should be paid to him, "it is not well that he, qui ante nos omnes fuit in Christo should be now, in his age, without stay of living." He was very poor. During his exile he had been described as a poor pilgrim," and now he was unable to pay the queen the firstfruits of his benefice. Being not like to live a year," he pathetically appeals to his sovereign for her bounty. In 1566, he resigned his living, and soon after, at the A. D. 156Y. advanced age of eighty-one, he died. Compared with Wycliffe and Tyndale, Miles Coverdale may seem to lack in force of character and in independence. A courtier with Cromwell, 1 Stoughton, p. 201. G he became a Puritan with Calvin. He trusted-as his predecessors in the work of translation did not -to royal patronage, to the favor of statesmen, and to the inspiration of his ecclesiastical superiors. No doubt he aimed at obtaining for his work the king's most gracious license. No doubt he caught quickly the impress of the hour. But, we must remember that he made no profession of originality, and contented himself by assuring the reader that if he was fervent in prayer God would discover to him the nobler services of Tyndale, and also move others to attach themselves to the good work in which he was content to be an obscure laborer.1 His life was everywhere simple and beautiful. When he had means at his disposal, he was profuse in his hospitality. In his fair old age he loved to preach, and people loved to listen to him. They (( 'ran after Father Coverdale," we are told, and would call at his house to ask where he would preach the next Lord's Day. To him alone belongs the distinction of giving a whole Bible to the English nation. In his faith in the gospel he wavered as little as he did in his faith in the Scriptures, and when he died the English Reformation was already an accomplished fact, and the English Bible was secured forever to the English people. 1 Westcott, p. 75. |