O - Baptist Bible Tribune

THE
NOBLEST MONUMENT
OF ENGLISH PROSE
By Harold Rawlings
Chapter Seven of his book, Trial by Fire
The King James Version turns 400 this year
When news reached James VI of Scotland
in 1603 that his cousin, Queen
Elizabeth, had died, as heir to the
English throne, he quickly began his
journey from Edinburgh to London
for the coronation ceremony. Along the way immense
throngs lined the roads and cheered
the new king. “Church bells rang;
mayors gave him the keys to their
cities, and an ever increasing number
of courtiers attached themselves
to his train. There was staghunting
forays in parks, banquets,
and other entertainments.” 1 No
longer would he be known as James
VI of Scotland, but James I, King of
England and Scotland.
But all was not rosy in merry
old England. Before arriving in London,
James would be made aware of
numerous issues he would soon encounter
as the new sovereign. The
most urgent of these appeals was
a thorny problem in the Church of
England, which would linger long
into the seventeenth century and beyond. While en
route to London, the King was met by some of the leading
bishops and theologians in the Church of England
with Puritan sympathies. These Puritans were English
ecclesiastical leaders who hoped to purify the church
of unscriptural beliefs and corrupt practices, especially
those left over from the days of Roman Catholic domination.
The delegation was led by John Reynolds (or
Rainolds), President of Corpus Christi College, Oxford,
who was distinguished as “the most learned man in England.”
2
The Puritans presented to the King the “Millenary
Petition,” the name of which implies that it was signed
by a thousand men (it actually had only 753 signatures),
mostly ministers of the Church of England. 3 The Petition
made no mention of a new Bible version, yet it was the
beginning of the events that led to it. Addressing some
of the Puritans’ long-standing grievances, it was hoped
that this petition might relieve them from their “common
burden of human rites and
ceremonies.” 4 It asked for reforms in
the English Church, for the correction
of abuses that had grown under
Elizabeth’s increasing preference for
ritual and ceremony.
Some of the practices objected
to included: the lack of discipline
in the church, the sign of the cross
in baptism, questions addressed to
infants in baptism, confirmation,
the use of the cap and surplice, the
reading in church of anything but
the Canonical Scriptures, the use
of the terms “priest” and “absolution,”
bowing at the name of Jesus,
Sabbath-breaking and the keeping
of other holy days, long church services,
and “other practices considered
high church or popish.” 5 Queen Elizabeth had objected
to such a conference, but when it was proposed to
King James, he delighted in the opportunity afforded him
of showing off his learning to the bishops and Puritans,
appointing January 14, 1604, for a conference to be held
at Hampton Court. 6 Puritan hopes were buoyed by the
King’s willingness to consider their complaints, but those
hopes were quickly dashed as the conference unfolded.
Conference at Hampton Court
Prior to the conference, Richard Bancroft, future Archbishop
of Canterbury and the most outspoken critic of
Puritanism, persuaded the King that if Puritans had
8 | Baptist Bible Tribune | March 2011