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Handout #174 |
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Cromwell and the reading of the Bible |
| Cromwell used the wide powers given him by
the king to issue orders to all the English clergy in 1538 A.D.; they
included the following. Note the way in which Protestant leaders were
already becoming alarmed at what people might read into the biblical
message!
Item, that you shall provide on this side the feast of Easter next coming, one book of the whole Bible of the largest volume, in English and the same set up in some convenient place within the said church that you have cure of... Item, that you shall discourage no man privily or openly (secretly or openly) from the reading or hearing of the said Bible, but shall expressly provoke, stir, and exhort every person to read the same, as that which is the very lively work of God, that every Christian man is bound to embrace, believe, and follow, if he look to be saved; admonishing them nevertheless, to avoid all contention and altercation therein, and to use an honest sobriety in the inquisition of the true sense of the same, an refer the explication of obscure places to men of higher judgment in Scripture. Text taken from H. Bettenson, Documents of the Christian Church, OUP 1963, 231-2. |
