Protestantism in England From the Times of Henry VIII - James Aitken Wylie

slowly to lift the mass out of vassalage, to awaken
thought, and to prepare for liberty. The bishops
would at times burn a hundred or two of copies at
St. Paul's Cross; but this policy, as might have been
expected, only re-suited in whetting the desire of
the people to possess the sacred volume. Anxious
to discover who furnished the money for printing
this endless supply of Bibles, Sir Thomas More
said one day to one George Constantine, who had
been apprehended on suspicion of heresy,
"Constantine, I would have you be plain with me in
one thing that I will ask thee, and I promise thee
that I will show thee favor in all other things of
which thou art accused. There is beyond the sea
Tyndale, Joye, and a great many of you. There be
some that help and succor them with money. I pray
thee, tell me who they be?" "My lord, I will tell
you truly," said Constantine, "it is the Bishop of
London that hath holpen us, for he hath bestowed
upon us a great deal of money upon New
Testaments to burn them, and that hath been and
yet is our only succor and comfort." "Now, by my
truth," said the chancellor, "I think even the same,
for so much I told the bishop before he went about
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