been completed in the initial period of Elizabeth's reign, when her policy as yet seemed undecided, and the reform party indulged the confident expectation that the English Church, shattered to its foundations by Mary, would be reconstructed in accordance with their views. Under this exhilarating idea, the translators, in the dedication of their work to that "most vertuous and noble ladie," thus exhorted her to exercise her powers as civil ruler, for the suppression of error and establishment of truth:

"Now as he that goeth about to lay a foundation surely, first taketh away such impediments as might justly either hurt, let, or deform the work; so is it necessary that your Grace's zeal appear herein, that neither the crafty persuasion of man, neither worldly policy or natural fear, dissuade you to root out, cut down, and destroy those weeds and impediments which do not only deface your building, but utterly endeavor—yea, and threaten the ruin thereof. For when the noble Josias enterprised the like kind of work, among other notable and many things, he destroyed not only with utter confusion the idols and their appurtenances, but also burnt (in sign of detestation) the idolatrous priests' bones upon their altars, and put to death the false prophets and sorcerers, to perform the words of the law of God: and therefore God gave him good success, and blessed him wonderfully, so long as he made God's word his line and rule to follow, and enterprised nothing before he had enquired at the mouth of the Lord.

"And if these zealous beginnings seem dangerous, and to breed disquietness in your dominions, yet by the story of King Asa it is manifest that the quietness and peace of kingdoms standeth in the utter abolishing of idolatry, and in advancing of true religion; for in his days Judah lived in rest and quietness for the space of five and thirty years, till at length he began to be cold in the zeal of the Lord, feared the power of man, imprisoned the Prophet of God, and oppressed the people; then the Lord sent him wars, and at length took him away by death.

"Moreover, the marvellous diligence and zeal of Jehoshaphat, Josiah, and Hezekiah, are, by the singular providence of God, left as an example to all godly rulers to reform their countries, and to establish the word of God with all speed, lest the wrath of God fall upon them for the neglecting thereof. For these excellent kings did not only embrace the word promptly and joyfully, but also procured earnestly, and commanded the same to be

taught, preached, and maintained through all their countries and dominions -binding them and all their subjects, both great and small, with solemn protestations and covenants before God, to obey the word, and walk after the ways of the Lord. Yea, and in the days of King Asa, it was enacted that whosoever would not seek the Lord God of Israel, should be slain, whether he were small or great, man or woman."

The shrewd Princess was quite ready to acknowledge the principle thus laid down, but not the application of it intended by its expositors. If conjecture is right in regard to the names of the translators, some of the very men who penned this dangerous counsel, and made God's charter of human rights the medium for communicating it to the royal mind, were soon made to drink deeply of the cup which they had mixed for others. Yet even the humiliations so steadfastly endured, and the blood so freely shed by Puritans in this and the succeeding reigns in behalf of religious liberty, could not eradicate from their veins this early taint. Not till they had breathed the free air of the western wilderness two hundred years, did they fully learn the lesson, that Christianity can live and flourish unprotected by the State.

Thus the English Bible went forth once more in increased energy, still restricted in its action by human infirmity, but bearing within itself the power gradually to overcome and subdue all that could hinder the perfect fulfillment of its mission.

CHAPTER XVIII

THE BISHOPS' BIBLE.

IN 1561, the third year of Elizabeth's reign, John Bodleigh, with whom we have already become acquainted in the account of the Genevan Bible, obtained from the Queen's government a patent for the exclusive right to print that version during the seven years next ensuing. In 1566, having a thoroughly revised edition ready for the press, and wishing to print it in England, he applied to Cecil, the Queen's Secretary, for an extension of this license. Before giving him a reply, Cecil consulted with Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Grindal, Bishop of London. Their answer contains three striking points. First, a recognition from these dignitaries of the great merit of the Genevan Bible, on which account they recommended the extension of Bodleigh's privilege to twelve years longer; secondly, the announcement of their design to set forth a special translation for use in churches; thirdly, the condition proposed to be annexed to Bodleigh's patent, viz., a promise, "in writing under his hand, that no impression of the Genevan Bible should pass without their direction, consent, and advice."

To elucidate the bearings of this reply requires a brief

view of the policy now established in the Elizabethan church; a policy which continued to govern it with extended claims and increasing force, till in the hands of Charles I., the overstrung bow broke with its own tension, and State-Church and Church-State fell in common ruin.

At the accession of Elizabeth, there were tokens that the spirit of Christian liberality and union had very consid erably increased among English Protestants. Their common sufferings during the preceding bloody reign, and the fraternal sympathy and hospitality which they had received from the Reformed churches abroad, had at once exalted in their regard the essential grounds of faith in which they agreed, and lowered their estimate of the external forms in which they differed. In anticipation of the reorganization of the English Church, a general disposition was manifested to lay less stress on an exact outward uniformity, and to leave the details of habits and ceremonies to individual conscience and discretion. The letters of the returned exiles to their Presbyterian brethren on the continent, not only breathe this spirit of conciliation, but show a decided leaning towards the simpler and more democratic form of church government which prevailed in the Swiss churches, as being more closely conformed to the New Testament model, and better adapted to the edification of the people.*

But in this they had reckoned without their host. Elizabeth had no intention of being a whit less a monarch than her father. She valued the Reformation, not so much for the truth it propagated, as for the foundation it offered for her own supremacy. She did not wish the

* Burnet, vol. II.

Pope of Rome to rule in her dominions, because she wished to be herself Pope, sole ruler over the actions and the consciences of her subjects. In the preceding reign she had conformed to the dominant faith, probably without much violence to her principles; and her tastes were at least fully in harmony with its aristocratical constitution. and its pompous ritual. But under no circumstances could she have become the devotee of any religion. Her clear masculine intellect, cold heart, and iron will, moved but at the bidding of one passion, and that the least religious of all passions, the love of power. Religion was to her simply the right hand of that power. As such, it was to be cherished; but, as such also, to be held in strict subjection, and to be employed in whatever service would promote her grand design. She was quick to see that only a despotism in the Church could form a sure basis for despotism in the State. Men accustomed in the management of their religious affairs to freedom of opinion and action, would soon begin to enquire whether they were not competent to exercise the same freedom, in regard to all things which concerned their interest and happiness. Popular elections in the church were dangerous precedents to be admitted into an absolute monarchy, such as she sought to establish; while the habit of unquestioning subjection to authority in matters of conscience, was the surest guarantee of docility to the civil power. Under a government which united in one person the highest ecclesiastical and the highest civil authority, this result was inevitable. So, accordingly, she willed it to be.

The state of the nation at her accession gave free scope to her ambitious plans. Ignorant of their own rights and their own strength, never yet having felt the invigorating