The Geneva Bible
Chapter 8
"God's great mercy also appeareth in that He hath
given His people His Word and covenant"
(Geneva translators' marginal note, Psalm
93:5)
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The Geneva Bible was produced during the darkest
hours of the Reformation. The translators assembled in Geneva,
Switzerland, because of the cruel reign of Bloody Mary and the fierce
persecution of the Christians. Hundreds of men, women, boys and girls were
burned during her tenure as queen, forcing thousands of English Christians to
flee for their lives to the mainland of Europe. The Geneva Bible was truly
the Bible of the martyrs.
Lawrence Saunders was pastoring a church in London
in 1554 at the time of the ascention of Bloody Mary to the throne of
England. Despite the queen's staunch Catholicism and her determination to
enslave England once again to popery, Saunders continued to preach boldly
against the popish heresies.
He was arrested on October 15, 1554 on charge of
treason as he was entering his church. He was brought before Bishop
Bonner, Bloody Mary's inquisitor, and threatened with excommunication and
condemnation as a heretic. Saunders, rather than begging for his life and
pleading for mercy, stated boldly, "My lord, you seek my blood, and you shall
have it; I pray God that you may be so baptized with it, that you may ever after
loathe blood sucking, and become a better man."
The bishop was so enraged that he exclaied, "Carry
away this frenzied fool to prison."
He was kept in rigorous confinement for several
months. He was then examined and condemned, and carried to Coventry to
be...
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burnt.
On February 8, 1555, he was led to the place of
execution. The officer appointed to see the execution done offered him
pardon if he would recant. Saunders answered, "The blessed gospel of
Christ is what I hold. That do I believe, that have I taught, and that
will I never revoke."
He then moved slowly toward the stake and knelt in
prayer. He embraced the stake and frequently said, "Welcome, thou cross of
Christ. Welcome, everlasting life."
Fire was then put to the wood. Soon he was
overwhelmed by the dreadful flames, and sweetly slept in the Lord
Jesus.
Those gathered at Geneva to preserve their own
lives and produce an English Bible wrote in their marginal notes next to Daniel
3:19,
"The more that tyrants rage, and the more
witty they show themselves in inventing strange and cruel punishments, the more
is God glorified by His servants to whom He giveth patience and constancy to
abide the cruelty of their punishment: for either He delivereth them from death,
or else for thislife giveth them a better."
John Hooper was moved by a fervent love of the
Holy Scriptures, and an insatiable desire to know and understand them. In
his sermons, he corrected sin, and sharply inveighed against the iniquity of the
world, and the corrupt abuses of the Roman Catholic
Church.
The people in great flocks and companies daily
came to hear his voice, and the church would be so full that none could enter
farther than the doors thereof.
In his doctrine, he was earnest, in tongue
eloquent, in Scriptures perfect, in pains indefatigable, in his life
exemplary.
Inevitably he was arrested and brought before the
bloodthirsty Bishop Bonner, where he was summarily condemned to
death.
Gloucester being fixed upon as the place of his
martyrdom, he rejoiced very much, giving thanks to God that he might
be...
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permitted to confirm with his death the truth
which he had preached.
At eight o'clock on February 9, 1535, he was led
forth to his execution in the presence of many thousands of people who had
assembled. He would sometimes lift up his eyes to heaven and look very
cheerfullly on those whom he knew in the crowd. He was never known to look
with so cheerful and ruddy a countenance as he did at that
time.
When he came to the place appointed where he
should die, he smilingly beheld the stake and preparation made for him. He
went up to the stake, then, lifting his eyes and hands to heaven, he prayed in
silence.
The reeds were cast up, and he received two
bundles, placingone under each arm, and showed with his hand how the others
should be bestowed, and pointed to the place where any were wanting. "Hey,
fellas, you missed a spot over there. There is a bare spot over
here. Put some of that wood and straw over on this
side."
Command was now given that the fire should be
kindled. He began to pray with a loud voice, "Lord Jesus, receive my
spirit! Lord Jesus have mercy on me!" These were the last words he
was heard to utter. But when he was black in the mouth, and his tongue
swollen that he could not speak, yet his lips went till they were shrunk to the
gums, and he knocked his breast with his hands until one of his arms fell off,
and then knocked still with the other, while the fat, water and blood dropped
out at his fingers' ends, until his strength was gone, and his hand clave fast
in knocking to the iron upon his breast.
Then immediately bowing forwards, he yielded up
his spirit.
Thus he was three quarters of an hour or more in
the fire; even as a lamb, patiently bearing the extremity thereof, neither
moving forwards, backwards, or to any side: but having his nether parts burned,
and his bowels fallen out, he died as quietly as a child in his bed; and he now
reigns as a blessed martyr in the joys of heaven, prepared for the faithful in
Christ before the foundation of...
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the world.
And the translators of the Geneva Bible wrote:
"The godly are not afflicted by chance, but by the will of
God."
Dr. Rowland Taylor was summoned before the Bishop
of Winchester and sentenced to be burnt. When the sentence was read, he
joyfully gave thanks to God.
He enjoyed supper in his cell with his wife, his
old friend and faithful servant John Hull, and his son Thomas. After tea,
he gave God thanks for His grace, that had so called him and given him strength
to abide by His holy Word.
To heap further degradation and insult upon this
gracious, elder saint of God, his gray hair was chopped off in some places,
shaved in others, and left in a state of disarray. His own clothes were
taken from him and he was compelled to dress in rags. A sack was pulled
over his head and drawn tightly around his neck. He was placed atop a
horse and led away to die.
When Dr. Taylor arrived at the place where he
should suffer, the sack was removed from his head, and the assembled throng
stood aghast at the obviously cruel and inhuman treatment of this beloved,
seasoned saint, and the pitiable spectacle he had become.
Dr. Taylor, seeing a great multitude, asked, "What
place is this? And what meaneth it that so much people are gathered
thither?"
It was answered, "It is Aldham Common, the place
where you must suffer, and the people are come to look upon
you."
The he said,"Thanked be God. I am even at
home." He cried out to the crowd, "Good people, I have taught you nothing
but God's holy Word, and those lessons that I have taken out of God's Blessed
Book, the Holy Bible, and I am come hither this date to seal it with my
blood."
When he had prayed, he went to the stake and
kissed it, stood with his back upright against the stake, folded his hands
together, lifted his eyes toward heaven and continually prayed. Then they
bound him with chains and kindled the fire.
Dr. Taylor, holding up both his hands, called upon
God and said, "Merciful Father of heaven, for Jesus Christ my
Saviour's...
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sake, receive my soul into Thy
hands!"
He stood still without either crying or moving,
with his hands folded together, till a soldier with a halberd struck him on the
head till his brains fell out, and the corpse fell down into the
fire.
And the Geneva Bible translators said, "Nothing
can come unto us but by the will of the Lord."
William Wolsey and Rober Pygot were street
preachers, caught in possession a Tyndale Bible. On October 9, 1555, they
were brought to the place of execution and bound to the stake with a
chain. Richard Collinson, a priest, said unto Wolsey, "You are quite out
of the Catholic faith, and deny baptism, and do err in the holy Scripture.
Declare in what place of the Scripture you do err and find
fault."
Wolsey replied,
"I take the eternal and everlasting God to
witness that I do err in no part or point of God's Book, the holy Bible,
but hold and believe in the same to be most firm and sound doctrine, in all
points worthy for my salvation, and for all other Christians to the end of the
world."
Wolsey and Pygot had been condemned to die by a
slow burning. There were two ways Christians were burned at the stake in
those days. One method was a fast burning, where dry straw, hay and wood
were piled up high around the Christian bound to the stake, sometimes completely
covering the body and head of the sufferer. When the fire was lit, the
flames quickly raged and almost instantly concumed the body of the martyr,
limiting his temporal suffering to a few agonizing
minutes.
The slow burning was reserved for those who were
especially hated by the Church and the inquisitors, or those who were used as
testimony to the Church's intolerance of insubordination or resistance, passive
or otherise, that the others might take notice and learn from their
plight.
In the slow burning, a greener substance was used
as fuel for the fire. Greener, wetter wood, hay and grass were cast about
the...
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Christian chained to the stake. In may
cases, several hours would pass and the fire would rise no higher than the feet
and legs of the condemned, burning their flesh off to the bones, but leaving the
rest of their bodies untouched by the flames.
Such was the fate of these two dear preachers,
Wolsey and Pygot. After standing in the flames, their clothing burned
away, the flesh of their feet and ankles consumed to the bare bones, but the
fires of death rising no higher due to the green wood stacked around them, their
tormentors decided to expedite their departure from this life. "Bring the
forbidden books. Bring their dreaded Bibles that we have
confiscated. We shall burn these heretics with their own
Bibles."
A great sheet was brought by two servants, filled
with the Tyndale Bibles that had been stolen away from the Christians. The
executioners began tearing the pages out of the Bibles and feeding the flames of
death with the Word of life.
"Oh," said Wolsey, "give me one of them."
Pygot desired another, both of them clutching the Bibles close to their breast,
singing the Hundred and Sixth Psalm: "Praise ye the LORD. O give thanks
unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever...", and so
received the fire most thankfully. Wolsey called the day of his execution
his "glad day."
The exiles in Geneva printed in the margin of
their Bible, "The church must continually be tried and purged, and ought to look
for one persecution after another, for God hath appointed the time, therefore we
must obey. This is told us to move us to patience, knowing that all things
are done by God's providence."
Robert Smith suffered at Uxbridge on August 8,
1555. He had instructed the large gathering of friends and loved ones who
had come to see his final moments on this earht that, as a show of God's grace
in the midst of death, he would send them a signal that all was well in the
fire.
When nigh half burnt, and all black with fire,
clustered together as in a lump like a black coal, he suddenly rose upright
before the people, lifting up the stumps of his arms, and clapping the
same...
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together, declaring a rejoicing heart; and then
bending down again, and hanging over the fire, slept in the Lord, and ended his
mortal life.
The Geneva Bible translators said, "It standeth
not in the counsel of men to bring things to pass, but in the Providence of God,
who ruleth the kings by a secret bridle, that they cannot do what they lust
themselves."
Robert Samuel was chained upright to a great post,
and had to support the entire weight of h is body on tip toe. He was given
only two or three mouthfuls of bread and three spoonfuls of water each
day. At last, when he was brought forth to be burned, he declared what
strange things had happened to him during his imprisonment. One clad all
in white seemed to stand before him, which administered comfort by these words,
"Samuel, Samuel, be of good cheer. For after this day thou shalt never be
either hungry or thirsty," which came to pass accordingly, for soon after he was
burned.
It was reported by some who were present at
Samuel's sufferings and saaw him burn on August 31, 1555, that his body did
shine as bright and white as new tried silver in the eyes of all that stood
by.
"Though He visit the righteous by affliction,
hunger, imprisonment and such like, yet His Fatherly love and pity never faileth
them, yea rather to His these are signs of His love."
Hugh Latimer, born in 1485, was bishop of
Worcester, England, during the reign of Henry VIII. He refused to condemn
Martin Luther's ewritings and strongly supported the Protestant cause. He
was imprisoned for a total of seven years, after which Bloody Mary condemned him
to be burned at the stake.
On October 16, 1555, Bishops Ridley and Latimer
were brought to the stake. Mr. Latimer, with a wondrous cheerful look
embraced and kissed Dr. Ridley, and comforted him, saying, "Be of good heart,
brother. For God will either assuage the fury of the flame, or else
strengthen us to abide it."
A Dr. Smith stood and gave a sermon, calling
Ridley and...
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Latimer "heretics, who die out of the
Church." He ended with an exhortation to them to recant, and come home
again to the Church, and save their lives and souls, which else were
condemned.
Dr. Ridley said to Mr. Latimer, "Will you begin to answer the
sermon, or shall I?" "Begin you first, I pray you," said Latimer. "I
will," said Dr. Ridley. But they were not suffered to
speak.
They were brought to the stake, chained about the middle, and a bag
of gunpowder was tied around each of their necks. The fire was lit, and
Mr. Latimer said, "Be of good cheer, Mr Ridley. We shall this day light
such a candle in England, as I trust never shall be put out."
Mr. latimer bathed his hands a little in the fire, and soon died,
apparently with very little or no pain. Dr. Ridley, by the ill making of
the fire, was burned away at his lower parts, while his upper body, shirt and
all, was untouched by the flames. Finally he was able to lean into the
fire, and when the fire touched the gunpowder, he was seen to stir no
more.
"We desire not to be exempted from God's rod, but that He would so
moderate His hand, that we might be able to bear it." "This is the true
trial, to priase God in adversity."
Switzerland was a rare safe haven for Christians, who were being
persecuted not only in England, but all across the continent of
Europe.
In 1554 Miles Coverdale, Theodore Beza, John Knox and John Fox,
author of Fox's Book of Martyrs, headed the committee that produced the
Geneva Bible. The refugee church in Geneva financed the production and
publication. Only one hundred and fifty copies were produced in the first
printing due to the scarcity of resources available to God's people living in
exile in a strange land. However, the people were so energized and so
excited about the Bible being made available to them in their language that for
the next eighty-four years the Geneva Bible would always be on a press
somewhere. Over one hundred editions of the Geneva Bible would eventually
be published.
The Geneva Bible was the sixth major English translation
of...
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the Bible, and took six years to complete. The first Geneva
Bible containing both Old and New Testaments was completed in 1560. The
Geneva New Testament was first printed in 1557.
The number six is proven in Scripture to be the number of fallen
man. It is also one short of the number seven, God's number of completion
and perfection. At the risk of getting too far ahead of myself, this shows
us that God was not finished with the English Bible yet. The Geneva Bible
was not the finished product. It was the sixth, one short of the seventh,
the King James Bible, the Book that, numerically and in so many other ways, is
the Bible that bears the mark of completion and perfection.
The Geneva Bible was the first Bible produced by a committee.
The earlier English Bibles were the work by and large of one man in each
particular case. The Wycliffe Bible was predominantly the work of John
Wycliffe. William Tyndale singlehandedly produced the Tyndale New
Testament. The Coverdale Bible was a revision of Tyndale's work by one
man, Miles Coverdale. John Rogers combined the work of tyndale and
Coverdale and published the Matthews Bible. The Great Bible, produced by
Miles Coverdale, was Tyndale's text without tyndale's notes. The Geneva
Bible represents the first combined effort of a committee of godly men,
determined to give the people a Bible they could love and call their
own.
The Geneva Bible also has the distinction of being the first
English Bible to use numbers in the text to divide the verses. Verses were
added first to a Greek Bible text by Robert Stephanus in 1551. Stephanus,
a Frenchman, was being pursued for his life for his role in the production and
distribution of the true, faithful Biblical text. On a three hundred mile
horseback ride across the European countryside, Robert Stephanus placed numbers
beside every verse in the margins of the Bible text. His versification
system has remained unchanged to this day. The verse numbers in the King
James Bible and most other versions in English and other languages are Robert
Stephanus' work. Stephanus' New Testament Greek text is a part of the
family of manuscripts known as "Texus
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Receptus," the Received text, the underlying text of the King James
Bible.
The Geneva Bible translators incorporated Stephanus' verse numbers
in their Bible text to facilitate the use of the extensive study notes they
placed in the margins of their Bible. The notes were placed there to aid
in Bible study and to assist the exiled believers in proper Biblical
interpretation and in "rightly dividing the word of truth."
The Geneva Bible was designed to be a "self-help" study Bible, in
case the Christians remained in exile indefinitely. No one knew if the
Christians would ever return to their homeland, their churches, or their
pastors' preaching, guidance and leadership again. No one knew if they
would ever be in an organized preaching service again. The Christians
might just find themselves in exile, on their own to fend for themselves,
spiritually and otherwise, for the rest of their lives. Therefore, the
translators set out to produce what they called "a Bible school in a single
volume."
The Geneva Bible was the first Bible to use italics in the
text. Italics were added to show the reader where the translators had
introduced words that were not present in the original language
texts.
Translation of books or Bibles does not flow very smoothly or
intelligibly when rendered word-for-word from one language to another. For
instance, in translating a work from Spanish to English, one would have to
rearrange word order to make sense in English, because in the Spanish language
the noun precedes the adjective in both written and spoken language. "El
perro negro tiene dientes grande" literally says, "The dog black has teeth
big." Some adjustments are necessary in grammatical structure for
translation to be effective.
The italicized words provide a smooth grammatical transmission from
the Hebrew or Greek Biblical texts into the English Bible, in the majority of
cases completing the sense of the sentences or passages. Try reading your
Bible passing over the...
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italicized words and you will soon realize their value and
necessity.
I believe the translators fervently sought the mind of God and the
leadership of God in their choosing of any and all words added to the text for
clarity of the passage, and I also believe God led them in the choice of those
words.
The italics in the Geneva Bible and also in the King James Bible
represent the translators' honest and
integrity. By allowing these words to stand apart from the text
they are saying, "These words were not a part of the original Biblical language
texts, but were added to complete the sense in English."
If you have a copy of the New International Version or another
modern English translation bible (and we use the term "bible" loosely), you will
search the text in vain to find atalicized words. Why? Is it because
the modern translators have discovered a hidden key to work-for-word translation
that no longer necessitates adding words to the text to facilitate the smooth
flow from one language to another? Not exactly. In fact, not at
all.
The reason the NIV and the other modern English bibles contain no
italicized words to differentiate between what was found in the original
language texts and their translations is that if they practiced the same honesty
and integrity in translation as the producers of the Geneva Bible and the King
James Bible, italicizing the words they inserted to set them apart from what was
found in the original language Biblical texts, most of their bible would be in
italics! The modern English renderings of many passages of Scripture
contain words that have been inserted into the text that are found in no ancient Biblical text in any language. The fact
that these insertions and substitutions are not identified as such shows
less-than-honest motives and intentions on the part of the modern
translators.
The Geneva Bible translators used all of the previous English
translations (which, with the exception of Wycliffe's translation of the Latin
Vulgate, were the work of William Tyndale), Luther's German Bible, Erasmus' and
Stephanus' Greek Textus Receptus,
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and the French Olivetan Bible, the Bible of the Waldensians, the
anabaptists. As previously stated, I marvel at how God consistently led
men back to the ancient Bible texts of the Baptists to produce their Protestant
Bible translations.
The translators changed vi[r]tually nothing from William Tyndale's
New Testament in the New Testament of the Geneva Bible.
The Geneva Bible was the Bible of the people, the Bible of the
persecuted Christians and martyrs of the faith, the Bible of choice among
English-speaking people for over one hundred years, from itsd initial printing
in 1560, fifty years before the King James Bible, came into
being.
The marginal notes added by Miles Coverdale, John Fox, and other
men who had lived, and were living, through the nightmarish reign of Bloody
Mary, are as astounding as they are a revelation of the hearts of these
men.
"Albeit we be in never so great miseries, yet there is ever place
for prayer."
"So it is in God, either to move the hearts of the wicked to love
or to hate God's children."
"God sends good and evil, prosperity and adversity to bring men
unto Him."
God by His providence doth humble men by affliction to know
themselves."
The remedy against those wicked enemies both of true doctrine and
holiness is to be sought for by the continual meditation of the writings of the
prophets and apostles."
"The wicked cannot abide the graces of God in others, but seek by
all occasions to deface them: therefore against such assaults there is no better
remedy than to walk uprightly in the fear of God, and to have a good
conscience."
We attain and come to the promised salvation through
the...
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midst of tempest and death itself."
"God suffers His to be under the cross, lest they should embrace
wickedness, yet this cross shall not so rest upon them, that it should drive
them from hope."
"If the children of Israel were never able to give sufficient
thanks to God for their deliverance from corporal bondage, how much more are we
indebted to Him for our spiritual deliverance from the tyranny of Satan and
sin."
"When He hath sufficiently chastised His people, (for He beginneth
at His own house,) then will He burn the rods."
"This is the end of God's plagues towards His, to bring them to
Him, and to forsake all trust in others."
These and other thoughts from the hearts of these great Christian
men of this era who produced the Geneva Bible show us that they not only found
hope for the futyre in the Word of God, but they also found answers for their
present predicament in the sacred Scriptures. They saw in the Bible that
what the church of God was experiencing, the exile, the imprisonment, the
torture, the burnings, the executions, the bloodshed at the hands of the clergy
and the established religion of their day, was not the temporary triumph of
Satan, nor the judgment hand of God upon a rebellious and backslllidden people,
but the will of God, the trying and proving of God's people, allowed to happen
to them by the Sovereign hand and Providence of God, and intended to
strengthen their faith and resolve, and draw them into a closer, more intimate
relationship with their Maker and Master.
The Geneva Bible accompanied the Pilgrims on the Mayflower in their
voyage to America in 1620. The very Bible that brought comfort and peace
to that great company of Christian sojourners and was carried off of the boat
and into the New World is kept on display at Harvard University to this
day.
John Smith brought a Geneva Bible to the Jamestown settlement in
Virginia in 1607. Pocahontas, long before she became a leading star in a
Disney film, was won to Jesus Christ by someone preaching the gospel to her from
a Geneva Bible.
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Through her influence and the grace of God, most of the Indian
tribe to which Pocahontas belonged was converted to Christ about this
time.
Shakespeare's plays contain thousands of quotations from the Geneva
Bible. Spenser's Fairy Queen contains hundreds of quotes from the
Geneva Bible.
It was also the Bible of John Bunyan, before, during and after his
twelve year incarceration in the Bedford jail in England. Bunyan was a
Baptist preacher, a pious man, a man well-beloved by all who knew
him.
The following account is taken directly from a transcript of the
trial on October 3, 1660, that led to his imprisonment at
Bedford:
Judge Wingate: "Mr. Bunyan, you
stand before this Court accused of persistent and willful transgression of the
Conventicle Act, which prohibits allBritish subjects from absenting themselves
from worship in the Church of England, and from conducting worship services with
no legal training, and yet without counsel. I must warn you, sir, of the
gravity of the charge, the harshness of the penalty, in the event of your
conviction, and the foolhardiness of acting as your own counsel in so serious a
matter.
"I hold in my hand the depositions of the witnesses against
you. In each case, they have testified that, to their knowledge, you
have never, in your adult life, attended services in the Church of this
parish. Each further testifies that he has observed you, on numerous
occasions, conducting religious exercises in and near Bedford."
John Bunyan: "The depositions
speak the truth. I have never attended services in the Church of England,
nor do I intend ever to do so. Secondly, it is
no secret that I preach the Word of God whenever, wherever, and to whomever He
pleases to grant me oportunity to do so.
"I have no choice but to acknowledge my awareness of the law which
I am accused of transgressing. Likewise, I have no choice but to confess
my guilt in my transgression of it. As true as these...
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things are, I must affirm that I neither regret breaking the law,
nor repent of having broken it. Further, I must warn you that I have no
intention in the future of conforming to it."
Judge Wingate: "It is obvious,
sir, that you are a victim of deranged thinking. If my ears deceive me
not, I must infer from your words that you believe the State to have no interest
in the religious life of its subjects."
John Bunyan: "The State, M'lord,
may have an interest in anything in which it wishes to have an interest.
But the State has no right whatever to interfere in
the religious life of its citizens."
Judge Wingate: "The evidence I
hold in my hand, even apart from your own admission of guilt, is sufficient to
convict you, and the Court is within its rights to have you committed to prison
for a considerably long time. I do not wish to send you to prison, Mr.
Bunyan. I am aware of the poverty of your family, and I believe you have a
little daughter who, unfortunately, was born blind. Is this not
so?"
John Bunyan: "It is,
M'lord."
Judge Wingate: "Very well. The
decision of the Court is this: In as much as the accused has confessed his
guilt, we shall follow a merciful and compassionate course of action. We
shall release him on the condition that he swear solemnly to discontinue the
convening of religious meetings, and that he affix his signature to such an oath
prior to quitting the Courtroom. That will be all, Mr. Bunyan. I
hope not to see you here again. May we hear the next case?"
John Bunyan:
"M'lord, if I may have another moment of the Court's time?"
Judge Wingate:
Yes, but you must be quick about it. We have other matters to
attend to. What is it?"
John Bunyan: I
cannot do what you ask of me, M'lord. I cannot place my signature upon any
document in which I promise henceforth not to preach. My calling to preach
the Gospel is from God, and He alone can make me discontinue what He has
appointed me to do. As I have had no word from Him to
that...
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effect, I must continue to preach, and I shall continue to
preach."
Judge Wingate: "I
warn you, sir, the Court has gone the second mile to be lenient with you, out of
concern for your family's difficult straits. Truth to tell, it would
appear that the Court's concern for your family far exceeds your own. Do
you wish to go to prison?"
John Bunyan: "No,
M'lord. Few things there are that I would wish less."
Judge Wingate:
"Very well, then, Mr. Bunyan. This Court will make one further
attempt in good faith to accommodate what appears to be strongly held
convictions on your part. In his compassion and beneficence, our
Sovereign, Charles II, has make provision for dissenting preachers to hold some
limited meetings. All that is required is that such ministers procure
licenses (author's note: Please re-read the explanation on license versus
leberty found on page 79 of this book.) authorizing them to convene these
gatherings.
"You will not find the procedure burdensome (author's note: It is
always less burdensome to comply and compromise than it is [to] take a stand.),
and even you, Mr. Bunyan, must surely grant the legitimacy of the State's
interest in ensuring that any fool with a Bible does not simply gather a group
of people together and begin to preach to them. Imagine the implications
were that to happen! (Yeah, people might even begin to get saved and get
right with God! - author) Can you comply with this condition, Mr.
Bunyan?
"Before you answer, mark you this: should you refuse, the Court
will have no altenative but to sentence you to a prison term. Think, sir,
of your poor wife. Think of your children, and particularly of your
pitiful, sightless little girl. Think of your flock, who can hear you to
their herts' content when you have secured your licenses. Think on these
things, and gie us your answer, sir!"
John Bunyan: "M'lord, I appreciate
the Court's efforts to be as you have put it - accommodating. But again, I
must refuse your terms. I must repeat that it is God who constrans me
to...
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preach, and no man or company of men may grant or deny me leave to
preach. These licenses of which you
speak, M'lord, are symbols not of a right, but of a privilege. Implied
therein is the principle that a mere man can extend or withhold them according
to his whim. I speak not of privileges, but of rights.
Privileges (licenses) granted by men
may be denied by men. Rights are granted by God, and can be legitimately
denied by no man. I must therefore, refuse to
comply."
Judge Wingate:
"Very well, Mr. Bunyan. Since you persist in your intractability,
and since you reject this Court's honest effort at compromise, you leave us no
choice but to commit you to Bedford jail for a period of six years (which
ultimately proved to cost Bunyan twelve years of his life behind
bars).
"If you manage to survive, I should think htat your experience will
correct your thinking. If you fail to survive, that will be
unfortunate. In any event, I strongly suspect that we have heard the last
we shall ever hear from Mr. John Bunyan. Now, may we hear the next
case?"
Of course, neither Judge Wingate nor the world had heard the last
of John Bunyan, for during his lengthy incarceration in the old Bedford jail,
with his Bible as constant companion and guide, Bunyan gave to the world the
epic Pilgrim's Progress, arguable the greatest literary work in the
history of the world nexty to the Bible.
Bunyan was denied pen and paper, and Pilgrim's Progress was written
with pieces of charcoal from the fire that kept his body warm on the paper wads
used as stoppers in the milk bottles from which he drank.
During the reign of Bloody Mary, the Catholic queen of England,
every copy of the Geneva New Testament found in England was confiscated and
burned along with its owner.
The Geneva Bible became known as the "Breeches Bible" because of
the translators' rendering of Genesis 3:7: "Then the eyes of them both
were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed figge tree
leaves together, and made themselves breeches." The translators of the
King James Bible rendered "aprons" instead of "breeches."
