Battle of the Bibles - Present Truth

On March 27, 1555, at the tender age of nineteen, he was led to the stake and
kneeling down on "a wet brown faggot" he took comfort by reading aloud the fifty-first
Psalm.
And now we see an example of the almost unbelievable hatred which the
Romanists harboured against the Protestant Bible and those who trusted in it. Coming to
verse seventeen, William read; "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a
contrite heart, 0 God, thou wilt not despise ".
"Thou liest, heretic! Thou readest false!" came the rejoinder, 'for the words are an
humble spirit! The translation saith 'a contrite heart"' replied William. "Yes," said his
tormentor, "the translation is false; you translate books as you please yourselves, like
heretics" (Source - "Foxe's Book of Martyrs", p 235).
According to Foxe's account, William Hunter claimed there was no great
difference between the words "humble" and "contrite", which all reasonable persons
could go along with. But Bonner's bullies were not reasonable people and here we have
a striking insight into the way in which Rome translates and then interprets Scripture to
suit the occasion.
The Scriptures of the Received Text do not employ the word "humble" which was
exactly what Rome's threats of torture were all about - humbling a man by forcing him to
obey man. Whereas the word "contrite" not only encompasses "humbleness" but has the
added spiritual connotation of "being broken-hearted for sin" (Collins). In the
circumstances, what must have appeared to young William as puerile semantics and
hair splitting, can be seen in retrospect as Rome's deadly serious abuse of Scripture.
Here is an example of the superiority of the Received Text in transmitting God's Word to
man.
And so, with this manifestation of hatred towards God's Word and those who
treasured it, a young "contrite heart" went to his terrible death with a vision of popish
bigotry and hatred seared upon his mind, only to be erased by the consuming flames.
Mercifully, Queen Mary had a short life and even shorter reign, dying on
November 17, 1558, at the age of forty-two. Although her reign lasted only five years, it
was long enough for her to have justly earned the title of "Bloody Mary".
From the martyrdom of Vicar Rogers until just two days prior to her decease
when five victims of her misplaced zeal were burned at Canterbury, it is estimated by
Lord Burleigh that no fewer than two hundred and eighty-eight persons were burned at
the stake. Innumerable others perished by imprisonment, torture, sickness and
starvation. (Close, "Defeat of the Spanish Armada", p 23).
Providentially, Mary had no children to Philip, thereby denying him the
satisfaction of turning England into a Spanish dependency; a providential happening
which is probably responsible for the fact that this book is written in English - or even
written at all!
Chapter Five
The Reformation Prospers
Within a few hours of Bloody Mary's passing the papal legate, Cardinal Pole,
breathed his last. As the news of the dual deaths spread around England, a majority of
the people saw it as a double cause for rejoicing. Church steeples peeled out the joy of
the citizens and evening bonfires lit up the sky, while parties of excited citizens danced,
ate and made merry in the streets. At once it was apparent that the recently enforced
Catholicism had fooled no one. The spontaneous jubilation was an expression of relief
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