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03 - History of the English Bible by John Brown · History of the English Bible

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Speaker 1: Chapter two of the History of the English Bible by
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Speaker 1: John Brown. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain,
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Speaker 1: read by Marianne Chapter two Wickcliffe's Manuscript Bible. With the
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Speaker 1: conquest of England by the Normans, there arose of necessity
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Speaker 1: urgent problems for the conquered land to deal with. Not
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Speaker 1: the least was the question as to what should be
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Speaker 1: the language of the future, should it be that of
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Speaker 1: the conquered or the conqueror. Before the powerful forces wielded
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Speaker 1: by king and court, and by the incoming social elements
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Speaker 1: of Norman society, the English language had to fight for
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Speaker 1: its very existence. But it fought strenuously, and its sturdy
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Speaker 1: character stood it in good stead. And so it came
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Speaker 1: to pass that while Norman French became the language of
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Speaker 1: the court, the school, and the bar, the Saxon tongue
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Speaker 1: held its place tenaciously in farmhouse and cottage, in the
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Speaker 1: transactions of the market place, and in the every day
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Speaker 1: proceedings of common life. But while this is true, it
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Speaker 1: will be seeing that but little could be done in
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Speaker 1: the way of translating into English the scriptures of the
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Speaker 1: Latin Vulgate. The Anglo Saxon version of the Four Gospels
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Speaker 1: continued to be written as late as the twelfth century.
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Speaker 1: In the British Museum there is a copy which was
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Speaker 1: evidently written towards the end of that century. There are
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Speaker 1: other copies also in existence at Oxford, Cambridge and elsewhere,
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Speaker 1: showing that the more ancient form of the English language
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Speaker 1: continued to be used long after the conquest. Still, up
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Speaker 1: to the year thirteen sixty, only one book of scripture
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Speaker 1: had been entirely rendered into English since the conquest. This
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Speaker 1: was the Psalter which about the year thirteen twenty appeared
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Speaker 1: in two forms. The first was a translation by William Deshoram,
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Speaker 1: Vicar of chart Sutton in the County of Kent. It
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Speaker 1: was followed nearly about the same time by a translation
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Speaker 1: of the Book of Psalms into the Saxon dialect of
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Speaker 1: North Yorkshire, which was accompanied by an English commentary, the
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Speaker 1: work of Richard Rohl, a chantry priest and hermit of Hampole,
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Speaker 1: near Doncaster. This man, a native of Thornton near Pickering,
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Speaker 1: was one of the mystics of his time, a deeply
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Speaker 1: spiritual soul of whom we read that he turned great
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Speaker 1: numbers to God by his exhortations, and comforted many by
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Speaker 1: his advice and writings, and by the special efficacy of
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Speaker 1: his prayers. The Psalter of his with its commentary, appears
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Speaker 1: to have been written for the benefit of Margaret kirkby
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Speaker 1: a devout recluse at Anderby, and came to be held
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Speaker 1: in high esteem by others, being widely diffused in the
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Speaker 1: century after it was written. His works exhibit the more
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Speaker 1: spiritual side of those movements which led up to the Reformation.
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Speaker 1: Beyond the versions of portions of scripture already mentioned, nothing
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Speaker 1: was done in the way of giving a complete Bible
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Speaker 1: to the English people until Wickliffe's time. Indeed, we may
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Speaker 1: say that nothing could be done until the language itself
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Speaker 1: had taken something more nearly approaching a permanent form. Up
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Speaker 1: to the time of the conquest, and since the days
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Speaker 1: of King Alfred and the learned men he had gathered
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Speaker 1: to his court, the West Saxon dialect had been gradually
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Speaker 1: winning for itself more and more of literary form. But
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Speaker 1: with a conquest that came to an end, the contest
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Speaker 1: for supremacy between French and English led to wide separations,
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Speaker 1: and there were almost as many English dialects as there
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Speaker 1: were counties. The centrifugal force always going on in language,
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Speaker 1: brought it about that in process of time the northern
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Speaker 1: counties could not understand the Southern, or the southern the northern.
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Speaker 1: Before there could be a common English Bible, there must
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Speaker 1: be something approaching to a common English speech. A unifying
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Speaker 1: center must somehow be found, and from the nature of
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Speaker 1: the case, could only be found in Central England, which
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Speaker 1: was to touch both with North and South, and to
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Speaker 1: a considerable extent could understand both circumstances from which there
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Speaker 1: could be no appeal. Rendered it in perative therefore, that
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Speaker 1: the Bible for all must be a Bible in the
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Speaker 1: Middle England speech, the speech slowly taking a definite literary
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Speaker 1: form as the English of Chaucer and Wickcliffe. In this
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Speaker 1: way it came about that John Wickliffe was the man,
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Speaker 1: and Lutterworth near Leicester was the place, and the second
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Speaker 1: half of the fourteenth century was the time to give
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Speaker 1: to the English people the first complete Bible in the
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Speaker 1: English tongue. Born in the little village of Wickliffe, Onties,
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Speaker 1: near Richmond in Yorkshire, Wickliffe went as a student to Oxford,
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Speaker 1: where by learning and ability he obtained a fellowship at Merton,
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Speaker 1: the mastership of Balliol, and in thirteen sixty five the
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Speaker 1: wardenship of Archbishop Islip's new foundation in Canterbury Hall. The
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Speaker 1: first half of the fourteenth century was a time of
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Speaker 1: seething opinion in the church. It was the time of
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Speaker 1: the removal of the papacy to Avignon, and when in
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Speaker 1: advanced claims and exercised powers which plunged Italy and Germany
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Speaker 1: into discord. In opposition to these, John Marsiglio of Padua,
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Speaker 1: in his Defender Passus, proclaimed ideas which, as time has shown,
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Speaker 1: were to regulate the future progress of Europe. He gave
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Speaker 1: expression to conceptions of sovereignty of the people and of
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Speaker 1: the official position of the ruler, which marked the development
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Speaker 1: of European politics down to our own day. Indeed, he
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Speaker 1: defined the limits of ecclesiastical authority and asserted the dignity
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Speaker 1: of the individual believer, in advance of what has yet
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Speaker 1: been realized. Whether Wickcliffe came under this man's influence or
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Speaker 1: worked his way independently to similar conclusions, we may not
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Speaker 1: decisively determine. But in the letter of Pope Gregory the
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Speaker 1: eleventh to Archbishop Sudbury and the Bishop of London of
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Speaker 1: May thirteen seventy seven, directing proceedings against Wickliffe. He writes,
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Speaker 1: as follows, we have heard, forsooth, with much grief, by
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Speaker 1: the intimation of many credible persons, that John Wickliffe, Rector
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Speaker 1: of the Church of Lutterworth in the Diocese of Lincoln,
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Speaker 1: professor of the Sacred Page, does not fear to assert
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Speaker 1: profess them publicly proclaim certain propositions and conclusions, which, albeit
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Speaker 1: with certain change of terms, appear to breathe the perverse
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Speaker 1: opinions and the unlearned doctrine of the Marsulius of Padua
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Speaker 1: and John of Jandon of condemned memory. Before the arrival
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Speaker 1: of this bull ordering Wickcliffe's trial, Edward the third died.
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Speaker 1: The prelates could not take action thereon before the end
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Speaker 1: of thirteen seventy seven, and then Wickliffe was summoned before
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Speaker 1: the Archbishop and Courtney, Bishop of London, and the Council
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Speaker 1: did not think it was wise that the trial should proceed.
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Speaker 1: This papal prosecution, however, and still more, the great schism
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Speaker 1: in the papacy of thirteen seventy eight produced a very
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Speaker 1: powerful effect upon the mind of Wickcliffe. The sight of
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Speaker 1: two popes, each claiming to be head of the Church,
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Speaker 1: and each devoting his entire energies to the destruction of
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Speaker 1: his rival, shocked his soul and to heavy blow at
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Speaker 1: the idea of the unity of the Church, which had
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Speaker 1: exercised so powerful an influence on the imagination of the
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Speaker 1: Middle Ages. We should be quite within the truth if
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Speaker 1: we said that the great Schism of thirteen seventy eight
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Speaker 1: in the Roman Church had a direct and powerful effect
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Speaker 1: in the production of the Complete English Bible of thirteen
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Speaker 1: eighty two. For while it led Whitcliffe more energetically than
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Speaker 1: before to denounce a corrupt hierarchy and the enslavement of
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Speaker 1: the Church by an anti Christian pope, it also led
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Speaker 1: him and his followers to set about translating the Bible
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Speaker 1: into English, that all men might be supplied with the
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Speaker 1: means of judging on these questions for themselves. He held
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Speaker 1: that before all things, God's Word must be taught in
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Speaker 1: its own simplicity. He taught that Christ and his apostles
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Speaker 1: converted the world by making known the truths of Scripture
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Speaker 1: in a form familiar to them. There ought, he said,
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Speaker 1: to be a full and literal translation of the sacred Text.
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Speaker 1: For that the friars were guilt of docking and clipping
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Speaker 1: the word of God, and tattering it by their rhyme.
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Speaker 1: To move the English, there must be an English Bible,
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Speaker 1: that which is every man's guide, ought to be in
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Speaker 1: every man's hand. It is a book for all. Besides
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Speaker 1: setting forth the great seminal truths of theology, it takes
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Speaker 1: up the relations, duties, and trials of social and public life.
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Speaker 1: It is a wise word for the parent, and another
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Speaker 1: for the child. It gives directions too to master and servant.
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Speaker 1: It breeds promises of special tenderness to what must always
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Speaker 1: be a very large class, the people in trouble, the widow,
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Speaker 1: the fatherless, the suffering, the bereaved. It exhorts to those
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Speaker 1: Christian graces without which life would go on heavily, patience
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Speaker 1: and humility, condescension and self denial, disinterested love, and unwearied beneficence.
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Speaker 1: The Bible is thus a people's book, overshadowing with its
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Speaker 1: authority individuals, households, churches, and kingdoms, including in its jurisdiction
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Speaker 1: persons of every rank, age, and calling from birth to death,
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Speaker 1: telling all men what to believe, what to obey and
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Speaker 1: how to suffer. Since then the Bible was for all,
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Speaker 1: Whickcliffe resolved that as far as in him lay, all
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Speaker 1: should have it. We do not know at what precise
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Speaker 1: time he began the work of translation, but we know
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Speaker 1: that by thirteen eighty he was busy upon the New Testament,
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Speaker 1: while his friend Nicholas of Herford was engaged on the Old.
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Speaker 1: He probably knew nothing of Greek, and therefore his translation
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Speaker 1: was of necessity from the Latin Vulgate. Herford's work breaks
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Speaker 1: off abruptly in the middle of a verse Beruke, chapter three,
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Speaker 1: verse twenty. It has been conjectured because of his arrest
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Speaker 1: and trial at Canterbury, where he was excommunicated. It should
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Speaker 1: be mentioned here that in the Vulgate, Baruk follows the
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Speaker 1: Book of Jeremiah and is not relegated to the apocrypha.
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Speaker 1: The original manuscript of Hurford's translation, with his alterations and corrections,
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Speaker 1: is preserved in the Boldlian Library. Remaining books of the
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Speaker 1: Old Testament Ezekiel Daniel, the Twelve Minor Prophets, and the
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Speaker 1: two Books of the Maccabees were translated by another hand,
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Speaker 1: probably Wickcliffe himself, after he had finished the New Testament.
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Speaker 1: The work was completed by the end of the year
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Speaker 1: thirteen eighty two, two years before the death of Wickcliffe,
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Speaker 1: which took place in thirteen eighty four. It was circulated
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Speaker 1: in various forms, and to render the work more porractically useful,
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Speaker 1: tables of the lessons and of the Epistles and Gospels
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Speaker 1: for Sundays were added to many of the copies. Also,
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Speaker 1: some portions of the Bible were transcribed and issued in
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Speaker 1: separate form. The first Wycliffeyte version was no sooner completed
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Speaker 1: than its many imperfections became manifest. The desire to be
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Speaker 1: faithful in the rendering of the exact words led the
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Speaker 1: translators into Latinisms, having their source in the Vulgate version,
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Speaker 1: so that some parts can scarcely be called English at all.
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Speaker 1: There seems to have been little or no consideration of
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Speaker 1: the idiomatic differences between the Latin and the English tongues.
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Speaker 1: Wickliff's own part was less defective in this respect than
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Speaker 1: that of Hereford, his co worker, who was more painfully
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Speaker 1: literal in his rendering than his master. The result was
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Speaker 1: that no sooner was the work completed than it was
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Speaker 1: felt it must be done over again, and the work
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Speaker 1: of revision was begun under Wickliff's own guidance, but was
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Speaker 1: not completed till thirteen eighty eight, or four years after
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Speaker 1: his death. Of Wickcliffe's Bible. Therefore there are thus an
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Speaker 1: earlier and a later version. This later revision, while directed
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Speaker 1: at the outset by Wickcliffe himself, was really the work
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Speaker 1: of a friend and disciple, John Purvey. This man was
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Speaker 1: a native of Lathbury, a village near Newport Pagnell, who,
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Speaker 1: during the closing years of Wickliff's life, came to live
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Speaker 1: with him at Lutterworth. This revision of the earlier version,
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Speaker 1: while instigated by Wickliffe, came to be Pervy's great life work,
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Speaker 1: and in his General Prolog he tells us how he
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Speaker 1: set about it. First, he said he had much travail
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Speaker 1: with divers, fellows and helpers to gather many old Bibles,
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Speaker 1: and other doctors and common glosses, and to make one
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Speaker 1: Latin Bible some deal true. In other words, he sought
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Speaker 1: to get the best form of the Latin texts to
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Speaker 1: begin with, then next to study that text anew the
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Speaker 1: text with the gloss and such other doctors as he
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Speaker 1: might get, and especially Lira on the Old Testament that
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Speaker 1: helped him full much in his work. The third thing
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Speaker 1: was to take counsel with old Grammarians and old divines
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Speaker 1: concerning hard words and hard sentences, how they might best
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Speaker 1: be understood and translated. The fourth step was to translate
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Speaker 1: as he could, according to the meaning, and to have
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Speaker 1: many good fellows and cunning at the correcting of the translation.
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Speaker 1: These are his memorable concluding words. By this manner, with
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Speaker 1: good living and great travail, men have come to true
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Speaker 1: and clear translating and true understanding of Holy writ. Seem
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Speaker 1: it never so hard at the beginning. God grant to
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Speaker 1: us all grace to know whether and keep well Holy Writ,
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Speaker 1: and suffered joyfully some pain for it at the last amen.
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Speaker 1: Of course, it need hardly be said that before the
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Speaker 1: invention of printing, both the earlier and the later versions
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Speaker 1: were accessible only in manuscript, and neither of them appeared
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Speaker 1: in print in complete form till eighteen fifty. The New
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Speaker 1: Testament in the later version was published by Lewis in
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Speaker 1: seventeen thirty one and Baber in eighteen ten, and by
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Speaker 1: Baxter in his English Hexaplaw in eighteen forty one. Of
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Speaker 1: the early version, the Song of Solomon, was given in
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Speaker 1: a commentary in eighteen twenty three. The New Testament of
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Speaker 1: the same version was published by Pickering in eighteen forty eight.
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Speaker 1: That in eighteen fifty the Oxford University Press published a
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Speaker 1: complete edition of both versions in parallel columns under the
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Speaker 1: title The Holy Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments
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Speaker 1: with the apocryphal books in the earliest English versions made
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Speaker 1: from the Latin Vulgate by John Wickliffe and his followers,
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Speaker 1: Edited by the Reverend John Forshall and Sir f Madden.
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Speaker 1: This is truly a noble work, in four volumes, royal
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Speaker 1: quarto and beautifully printed. It is the fruit of twenty
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Speaker 1: two years of labor, as many as one hundred and
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Speaker 1: seventy manuscripts being examined by the editors, and the various
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Speaker 1: readings of some sixty manuscripts being given throughout. Obsolete or
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Speaker 1: obscure words are explained in a glossary appended to the
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Speaker 1: fourth volume, from the time of Pervy's revision in thirteen
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Speaker 1: eighty eight to the time of the first printed New
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Speaker 1: Testament by William Tyndale in fifteen twenty five, or for
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Speaker 1: a period of one hundred and thirty seven years. This
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Speaker 1: translation of the scriptures, known as Whitcliffe's version, though really
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Speaker 1: a joint work by him and his followers, continue to
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Speaker 1: be copied by professional scribes or by private persons for
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Speaker 1: their own use, either holy or in portions. Many of
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Speaker 1: these have come down to us from the fourteenth and
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Speaker 1: fifteenth centuries. Forshall and Madden counted no fewer than one
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Speaker 1: hundred and sixty five copies, forty two of them giving
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Speaker 1: the earlier version, and since this enumeration was made in
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Speaker 1: eighteen fifty, several more have come to light. It was
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Speaker 1: a costly work to produce in its entirety, having to
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Speaker 1: be copied by hand, but a multiplication must have been
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Speaker 1: continuous and fairly rapid. The copies, the numbers of which
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Speaker 1: have just been given, must have been made within forty
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Speaker 1: or fifty years of the completion of the revision. Others
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Speaker 1: have at various times been discovered, but how many have
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Speaker 1: perished during the process of the centuries, it is impossible
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Speaker 1: to say. Of those that remain. Nearly half are of
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Speaker 1: small size, such as could be made the daily companions
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Speaker 1: of their owners. They were found in the high places
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Speaker 1: of the land as well as among the common people.
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Speaker 1: A folio copy of two volumes on Vellum in the
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Speaker 1: earlier version, which is preserved in the British Museum, shows
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Speaker 1: painted in the upper part of the illuminated border of
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Speaker 1: the first page, the armoral shield of Thomas of Woodstock,
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Speaker 1: Duke of Gloucester, the youngest son of Edward the third.
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Speaker 1: There is also a copy of the later version with
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Speaker 1: illuminated initials and borders, which belonged to the library of
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Speaker 1: Henry the seventh, the initial letter being a red rose,
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Speaker 1: and the ornamental border containing the royal arms and a portcullis.
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Speaker 1: Another copy was presented to Queen Elizabeth as a birthday
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Speaker 1: gift by her chaplain. It was, however, among the commons
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Speaker 1: of English, that the new translation of the Bible in
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Speaker 1: whole or in portions found readiest and most responsive welcome.
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Speaker 1: Lester is but a walk of a few miles from Lutterworth,
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Speaker 1: and the work of Bible translation in the one town
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Speaker 1: soon made itself felt in the other. Lester became copious
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Speaker 1: for its sympathy with the opinions and writings of Wickcliffe,
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Speaker 1: so much so that Archbishop Courtney came down in thirteen
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Speaker 1: eighty nine and on the second of November, celebrated High
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Speaker 1: Mass at the high altar of the monastery in full pontificals.
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Speaker 1: In the course of this celebration, in solemn wise by
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Speaker 1: ringing the bells, lighting the candles, and putting out the
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Speaker 1: same again and throwing them down to the ground, he
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Speaker 1: denounced those who favored the views of Wickliffe. The next
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Speaker 1: day being all souls day, he made inquiry from ecclesiastics
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Speaker 1: and laymen, when the names of eight persons were laid
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Speaker 1: before him, all of whom he denounced by name as
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Speaker 1: excommunicate and accursed, and ordered this excommunication to be proclaimed
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Speaker 1: in divers parish churches of Leicester. The whole town also
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Speaker 1: was placed under interdect so long as the guilty persons
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Speaker 1: were among its inhabitants, and on the seventh of November
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Speaker 1: the sheriff was ordered to arrest them under the King's writ.
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Speaker 1: Three out of the eight recanted their opinions and were absolved,
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Speaker 1: but before absolution there was to be hard penance. This
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Speaker 1: penance was that on the next Sunday they were to
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Speaker 1: go before the cross three times during the procession at
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Speaker 1: the Cathedral Church of Our Lady of Leicester. They were
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Speaker 1: to do this in their shirts, having no other apparel
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Speaker 1: upon them, holding a crucifix in one hand and a
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Speaker 1: taper of wax half a pound weight in the other.
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Speaker 1: The procession being ended, they were to stand for the
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Speaker 1: Cross during the whole time of Mass, with their tapers
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Speaker 1: and crosses in their hands. As if this were not
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Speaker 1: humiliation enough, they were further ordered to stand the following
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Speaker 1: Saturday in the full and public market in the town
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Speaker 1: of Leicester, standing in like manner in their shirts, without
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Speaker 1: any more clothes upon their bodies, holding the aforesaid crosses
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Speaker 1: in their right hands. Having submitted to all this in
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Speaker 1: the cold November days of thirteen eighty nine, Roger Dexter
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Speaker 1: and William Smith and Alice's wife, were finally absolved, as
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Speaker 1: stated in letters dated November seventeenth, in the year of
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Speaker 1: Our Lord God thirteen eighty nine. Such were the proceedings
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Speaker 1: which within a twelvemonth signalized the completion and final revision
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Speaker 1: of the Wincliffe Bible. Passing now over some nineteen years,
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Speaker 1: we come to measures more directly assailing the version of
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Speaker 1: the scriptures with which we are now concerned. Archbishop Courtney
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Speaker 1: having been succeeded by Archbishop Arundel. The latter caused certain
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Speaker 1: constitutions to be enacted in a convocation of the Province
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Speaker 1: of Canterbury held at Oxford in fourteen o eight. These
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Speaker 1: constitutions of Arundel consisted of thirteen articles, the sixth of
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Speaker 1: which reads as follows, We will and command that no
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Speaker 1: book or treatise made by John Wickliffe be from henceforth
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Speaker 1: read in schools, halls, hospitals, or other places whatsoever within
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Speaker 1: our Province of Canterbury. This article was supplemented by a seventh,
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Speaker 1: which was directly aimed at Wickli's Bible. It reads thus
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Speaker 1: item it is a dangerous thing, as witnesses blessed Saint
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Speaker 1: Jerome to translate the text of the Holy Scripture out
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Speaker 1: of the tongue into another, for in the translation the
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Speaker 1: same sense is not always easily kept, as the same
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Speaker 1: Saint Jerome confesseth that although he was inspired, yet oftentimes
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Speaker 1: in this he aired. We therefore decree and ordain that
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Speaker 1: no man hereafter, by his own authority, translate any text
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Speaker 1: of the Scripture into English or any other tongue by
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Speaker 1: way of a book, libel, or treat and that no
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Speaker 1: man read any such book libel or treatise now lately
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Speaker 1: set forth in the name of John Wickliffe or sense,
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Speaker 1: or hereafter to be set forth in part or in whole,
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Speaker 1: privily or apertly, upon pain of greater excommunication, until the
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Speaker 1: said translation be allowed by the ordinary of the place, or,
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Speaker 1: if the case so require, by the Council Provincial. For
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Speaker 1: more than a century, that is, from the time of
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Speaker 1: these constitutions of Arundel in fourteen oh eight to that
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Speaker 1: of the Reformation under Henry the Eighth in fifteen thirty four,
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Speaker 1: the English Bible given by Wickliffe and his followers remained
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Speaker 1: under interdict, to be read only in secret and with
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Speaker 1: an abiding sense of danger. Most of our knowledge of
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Speaker 1: what took place in these years, especially the latter portion
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Speaker 1: of them, that is, from fifteen oh nine to fifteen
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Speaker 1: twenty one, comes to us from an unimpeachable source, the
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Speaker 1: registers kept by the bishops themselves. Two of these stand
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Speaker 1: out prominently, namely the register of Richard fitz James, Bishop
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Speaker 1: of London, and that of John Longland, Bishop of Lincoln.
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Speaker 1: These records present a curious picture of religious life during
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Speaker 1: the days of our forefathers, as well as the fortunes
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Speaker 1: of the English Bible itself. This is especially true of
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Speaker 1: the County of buckingham in which Protestant opinions were rife
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Speaker 1: long before the Reformation. In the days referred to the
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Speaker 1: Diocese of Lincoln extended from the Umber to the Thames.
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Speaker 1: Buckinghamshire therefore was included. And John Longland, the Bishop, was
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Speaker 1: especially active in repressing the reading of the Bible in
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Speaker 1: the mother tongue. Numerous, indeed, were the indictments for possessing
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Speaker 1: and reading together the sacred Scriptures with which he dealt.
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Speaker 1: For example, we find that John Higgs was summoned because
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Speaker 1: he had in his custody a book of the Four
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Speaker 1: Evangelists in English, and did often read therein. And Richard
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Speaker 1: hun because he had in his keeping diverse English books
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Speaker 1: prohibited and damned by law, as the Apocalypse in English,
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Speaker 1: the Epistles and the Gospels in English, Wickliffe's Damnable Books,
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Speaker 1: and other books containing infinite errors in which he hath
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Speaker 1: been a long time accustomed to read, teach and study daily.
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Speaker 1: James Brewster was charged with having a certain little book
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Speaker 1: of Scripture in English, of an old writing, almost worn
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Speaker 1: for age, whose name is not there expressed Richard Collins
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Speaker 1: also for having certain English books, as the Gospel of
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Speaker 1: Saint Luke, the Epistles of Saint Paul, James and Peter
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Speaker 1: in English, a book of Solomon's in English, and a
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Speaker 1: book called the Prick of Conscience. But if it was
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Speaker 1: an ecclesiastical offense to be possessed of a Bible in
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Speaker 1: English or any part thereof, it was still a greater
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Speaker 1: offense for men to meet and read it with their neighbors.
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Speaker 1: The charges under this head are frequent. During the years
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Speaker 1: referred to, we read, for example that Derndont of Ivorcourt,
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Speaker 1: sitting at dinner with his sons and their wives, after
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Speaker 1: bidding a boy there standing to depart out of the
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Speaker 1: house that he should not hear and tell, did recite
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Speaker 1: certain places unto them out of the Gospels and the
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Speaker 1: Epistles of Saint Paul. Ten persons were accused because that
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Speaker 1: at the marriage of Durdhan's daughter, they assembled together in
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Speaker 1: a barn and heard a certain epistle of Saint Paul, read,
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Speaker 1: which reading they well liked. John Butler was compelled because
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Speaker 1: of his oath to detect his three brothers and the
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Speaker 1: mother of Richard Ashford, partly because they were reading two
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Speaker 1: hours together in a certain book of the Acts of
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Speaker 1: the Apostles in English in Ashford's home. Richard Collins also
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Speaker 1: was detected, who among them was a great reader, and
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Speaker 1: had a book of Wickliffe's Wicket, and a book of
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Speaker 1: Luke and one of Paul, and a gloss of the Apocalypse. Robert,
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Speaker 1: Pope of Amersham, did detect Bennett Ward of Beaconsfield, because
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Speaker 1: he had given him a book of the Ten Commandments,
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Speaker 1: also the Gospels of Matthew and Mark of the same
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Speaker 1: ward he learned his criss cross row and five parts
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Speaker 1: of the Eight Beatitudes. Certain other persons also were detected
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Speaker 1: for reading together in the Book of the Expositions of
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Speaker 1: the Apocalypse and communing concerning the matter of the opening
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Speaker 1: of the book with seven clasps. Manuscript bibles being scarce
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Speaker 1: and costly, some people exercised their gifts in committing large
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Speaker 1: portions of the scriptures to memory and reciting them to others.
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Speaker 1: Thomas Chase was detected because James Mordan heard him twice
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Speaker 1: recite the Epistle of Saint James and the first chapter
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Speaker 1: of Saint Luke. Agnes Ashford also was charged with teaching
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Speaker 1: this man parts of the Sermon on the Mount. Five
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Speaker 1: times he went to the aforesaid Agnes to learn this lesson.
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Speaker 1: These lessons that said Agnes was bid to recite before
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Speaker 1: six bishops, who straightway enjoined and commanded her that she
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Speaker 1: should teach these lessons no more to any man, and
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Speaker 1: especially not to her children. There is a similar writ
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Speaker 1: concerning Alice Collins, the wife of Richard Collins. This Alice
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Speaker 1: was a famous woman among them, and had a good memory,
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Speaker 1: could recite much of the scriptures and other good books.
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Speaker 1: And therefore, when any conventicle of these men did meet
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Speaker 1: at Burford, commonly she was sent for to recite unto
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Speaker 1: them the declarations of the Ten Commandments and the epistles
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Speaker 1: of Peter and James. Her daughter Joan seems to have
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Speaker 1: been quite as remarkable, for that she had learned with
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Speaker 1: her father and mother, the Ten Commandments, the seven Deadly Sins,
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Speaker 1: the seven works of Mercy, the five wits bodily and ghostly,
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Speaker 1: the eight Blessings, and five chapters of Saint James's Epistle.
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Speaker 1: As we go through these records, year after year, we
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Speaker 1: find that things which are accounted as Christian excellencies now
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Speaker 1: were regarded as ecclesiastical offenses by John Longland, Bishop of Lincoln,
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Speaker 1: and the penances he enjoined were almost uniform, and all
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Speaker 1: after one condition. Some of the culprits were sent by
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Speaker 1: him as prisoners to certain abbeys, there to be kept
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Speaker 1: in perpetual penance and not suffered to pass the precincts
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Speaker 1: of the monastery. Others were ordered to stand upon the
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Speaker 1: highest step of the market cross on market days bearing
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Speaker 1: a fagot of wood upon their shoulder, and on Sunday
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Speaker 1: to stand in the church from the choir door going
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Speaker 1: out to the choir door going in, and at all
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Speaker 1: time of high Mass, to hold a fagot of wood
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Speaker 1: upon their shoulders. Also on every Friday during their life
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Speaker 1: to fast on bread and ale only, and on every
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Speaker 1: evening of Corpus Christi during their life to fast on
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Speaker 1: bread and water. As for James Mordan and others of
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Speaker 1: the abjurers, they were enjoined that for seven years they
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Speaker 1: were to visit the Church of Lincoln twice a year
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Speaker 1: from Amersham, but as a pilgrimage from Buckinghamshire to Lincoln
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Speaker 1: Cathedral was indeed a serious journey in those days, the
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Speaker 1: sentence was mitigated for some, and they were mercifully permitted
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Speaker 1: to visit the image of our Lady of Missenden for
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Speaker 1: the space of five years. Instead. Such was the struggle
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Speaker 1: for light in those far off days, and such the
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Speaker 1: hardships endured by those who went forth in search of
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Speaker 1: the truth of God. Well might John Fox bear testimony
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Speaker 1: and say that the Church of God in England hath
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Speaker 1: not lacked great multitudes who tasted and followed the sweetness
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Speaker 1: of God's Holy Word, almost as in ample manner, for
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Speaker 1: the number of well disposed hearts are now curtees. The
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Speaker 1: fervent zeal of those Christian days seemed much superior to
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Speaker 1: these our days and times, as manifestly may appear by
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Speaker 1: their sitting up all night in reading and hearing, also
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Speaker 1: by their expenses and charges in buying of books in English,
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Speaker 1: of whom some gave five marks equal to about forty
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Speaker 1: pounds in our money, some more, some less for a book.
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Speaker 1: Some gave a load of hay for a few chapters
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Speaker 1: of Saint James or of Saint Paul in English. To
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Speaker 1: see their travails, their earnest seekings, their burning zeal, their readings,
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Speaker 1: their watchings, their sweet assemblies, their love and concord, their
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Speaker 1: godly living, their faithful demeaning with the faithful, may make us, now,
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Speaker 1: in these hour days of free profession, to blush for shame.
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Speaker 1: End of Chapter two