The Revelation of Jesus Christ - The Herald

. Language such as this aroused the clergy. . . . 'If we would not have Luther's heresy
pervade the whole of England, we must hasten to throw it (Tyndale's Translation of the
New Testament) in the sea.' . . . The bishops led the attack. 'We must clear the Lord's field
of the thorns which choke it,' said the Archbishop of Canterbury to the Convocation on the
29th of November 1529; immediately after which the bishop of Bath read to his colleagues
the list of books that he desired to have condemned. There were a number of works by
Tyndale, Luther, Melancthon, Zwingli, Ecolampadius, Pomeranus, Brentius, Bucer, Jonas,
Francis Lambert, Fryth, and Fisk. The Bible in particular was set down. 'It is impossible to
translate the Scripture into English,' said one of the prelates. 'It is not lawful for the laity to
read the Bible,' said another, 'you will make us all heretics.' 'By circulating the Scriptures,'
exclaimed several, 'you will raise up the nation against the king.' Sir Thomas More laid the
bishops' petition before the king, and some time after, Henry gave orders by proclamation
that 'no one should preach, or write any book, or keep any school, without his bishop's
license; that no one should keep any heretical book in his house; that the bishops should
detain the offenders in prison at their discretion, and then proceed to the execution of the
guilty; and, finally, that the chancellor, the justices of the peace, and other magistrates,
should aid and assist the bishops.' Such was the cruel proclamation of Henry VIII, the
father (?) of the English Reformation."
The historian then recited the martyrdom of many of the noble Reformers, and summing
up he says:
"Thus died in the sixteenth century, the disciples of the Reformation sacrificed by Henry
VIII. . . . Thus were the witnesses to the truth struck down by the priests, by Sir Thomas
More, and by Henry VIII."
Henry's reign wrought very little change in the forms and doctrinal teachings of the
Roman Church; and so we read further:
"It is carefully to be observed here that this downfall of the Papal authority in England was
not productive of much benefit, either to the friends or to the cause of the Reformation. For
the same monarch, who had so resolutely withdrawn himself from the dominion of Rome,
yet superstitiously retained the greatest part of its errors along with its imperious and
persecuting spirit. He still adhered to several of the most monstrous doctrines of popery,
and frequently presented the terrors of death to those who differed from him in their
religious sentiments."