Dr. Daniell's "Bible in English:" John Rogers & "Matthew's Bible, 1537"

Here at we resume Prof. Daniell’s discussion.

Daniell, David. The Bible in English: Its History and Influence. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2003. http://www.amazon.com/The-Bible-English-History-Influence/dp/0300099304/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1385668294&sr=8-1&keywords=david+daniell+english+bible

Tyndale, the Protestant Bible translator, was strangled and burned as a "heretic" on 6 OCT 1536. After his arrest in spring, 1535, no one really knows what happened to Tyndale’s manuscripts of translational work on Joshua to 2 Chronicles. Somehow, they survived the raid of Imperialists under Pierre Dufief’s command, a well-known, well-remunerated and energetic “heresy hunter.” Dufief had a major catch with Tyndale.  "Heresy in England will stop" or so thought the Anglo-Italian senior priests.  John Rogers, in Antwerp at the time, close associate of Tyndale and Coverdale, is the proposed theory: he had Tyndale's OT records and documents. It was Rogers who made sure the English Bible was finished and printed as the “Thomas Matthew’s Bible of 1537.” To complicate matters, Coverdale’s 1535 Bible was off the presses too; furthermore, Tyndale's books and NTs still dominated the market and "demand was high."  That cannot be eclipsed by this inquiry. But, what was the relationship between the two Bibles, Coverdale's of 1535 and the Thomas Matthew Bible of 1537? More as that emerges.

JOHN ROGERS, 191-193.  (For more on his life, see: http://reformationanglicanism.blogspot.com/2013/12/wiki-john-rogers-collaborator-in.html)

He took his BA in 1526 from Pembroke College, Cambridge. May it be remembered that “new winds” had been blowing at Cambridge for some time and that the English Reformation was powered by university men (and God). Things were bad in England; he left and is found in Antwerp in 1536 as the Chaplain to English merchants. Prof. Daniell says he had been moving in “Reforming circles” in 1536-1537 (191). He was definitely a friend of Tyndale and was with him. In Antwerp, he married a Flemish woman. He stayed for several years in Antwerp, but, at some point had gone to Wittenberg where he “matriculated on 25 NOV 1540” (191). As a Wittenberg graduate, he learned Greek, but he also evinced knowledge of Hebrew and Aramaic. In time, those skills would be employed in the furtherance of the Thomas Matthew’s Bible of 1537, a rework of Coverdale’s more Latinized portion of the Bible...the unfinished sections from Tyndale.

He, evidently, inferably, and obviously, developed close contacts with the "Lutheran heretics" including Philip Melancthon and Bruder Martin himself. As a result, Rogers becomes a Lutheran superintendent, that is, he was one of four superintendents between 1544 and 1548. He was located in Meldorf, Germany and was highly respected.

But, Edward VI ascended (or descended according to some) to the English throne. In August 1548, Rogers returned to the homeland. He’s back in London in the “house of a Reforming merchant and publisher Edward Whitchurch” (192). Rogers translated books by Melancthon, including his Weighing of the interim, a review of a recent edict by Charles V on 15 May 1548 ordering all Continental Protestants conform to Romanism (yeah, right). Ridley, the senior clerk in London, “admired Rogers” and “appointed him lecturer in divinity in St. Paul’s Cathedral” (192).

Then came Mary the First with her accession on May 1553. Pity poor Rogers and other Catholic (=Reformed, not Roman) Churchmen. On 27 JAN 1554, Rogers was sent amidst thieves and others to the Newgate Prison. His trial, one year later, was on 22 JAN 1555 before the charming Stephen Gardiner (senior clerk of Winchester) and a council of Anglo-Italian Inquisitors. On 29 JAN 1555, he was condemned. On 4 FEB 1555, he was publicly degraded of his official ordinational status and then burned at Smithfield. He was offered an opportunity to recant—he declined. He was Mary’s very first English, Protestant, and Lutheran martyr.

THOMAS MATTHEW’S BIBLE OF 1537, 193-195

Let it be noted. Tyndale’s and Coverdale’s works were already circulating in England. Demand was high despite the Inquisitors. The Thomas Matthew’s Bible of 1537 represents a major, major advance for England. Let's expand on that HUGE ADVANCE.

In 1537, Rogers worked with Matthew Crom, a well-known Antwerp printer. The result: a thick folio, double columns, and black letters.

Rogers basically printed half the OT, namely, Job to Malachi, from Coverdale’s work along with Tyndale’s earlier work from Genesis to 2 Chronicles.

But those two names were “heretical:” Tyndale and Coverdale. A screen was needed. Camouflage.  2nd Force Recon Marine: cammie greens for the jungle with camouflage paint on the face...sneaking forward on the target.  Ergo, a new name was adopted. The Thomas Matthew’s Bible was innocuous in that sense. It didn’t raise as many hackles as the two heretics.

Two London printers underwrote and funded the new print-run in 1537, to wit: Richard Grafton and Edward Whitchurch. Both were prosperous and well-connected men and both were crypto-Reformers.

HERE ARE THE MAJOR, MAJOR ADVANCES.

Coverdale’s Bible was in the land…from overseas. Coverdale’s Bible had a dedicatory page to Henry VIII with an iconic title page by Hans Holbein, perhaps playing to the massive ego, featuring old Harry as a “powerful Reformation monarch” (194). But, this was never licensed by the Monarch and, further, it was a Continental product...and further, it was from the pens of heretics.

Cromwell (knowing that Tyndale’s and Coverdale’s work were foundational) was able to get Henry to “license” the Thomas Matthew’s Bible. HUGE! The Bible contained the statement, as “set forth with the King’s most gracious licence [sic]”.

Furthermore, Cromwell set about to getting this Bible into 9000 parishes with Royal support. HUGE ADVANCE for the English Reformation and THE MAJOR SETBACK for the Anglo-Italian senior clerks.

Cranmer knew what was going on. He sent a letter to Cromwell, to wit: favorers would “suffer snubs, many slanders, lies and reproaches” because of the marginal notes (194). But, the bigger objection from the Anglo-Italians? The governing issue? MASSIVE FEAR OF THE BIBLE IN ENGLISH, THE WHOLE BIBLE, FULL AND ENTIRE AND BEFORE THE ENTIRE NATION. THOSE FEARS DOMINATED THE ROMAN HIERARCHY UNTIL THE 1970S. That was the real issue, the Bible itself.

1537 is A MAJOR YEAR FOR THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. Erasmus, early English Reformers like Frith and Barnes, Tyndale, Coverdale and now Rogers…they laid the foundation. Now, in time, the 9000 parishes would have an English Bible.

Henry licensed the book for distribution. (What was Tom Cranmer's influence, our mystery man?)

In 1538, Cromwell encouraged senior clerks to buy for all their churches.

In 1538, Cromwell required “Justices of the Peace” to make sure that all the clerics were “preaching the Word of God” and “recommending the people to have an English Bible” (194). Imagine the impact on the sheriffs and justices in all the English shires up and down the country? Or, the bishops? Both senior clerks of Canterbury, York, and one diocese “ordered” every priest to have a Latin-English NT and to read 1 chapter per day (although that’s pretty weak in itself…more like 50 chapter per day per testament, that’s right, 100 chapters per day per clerk…get a hoppin’…).

As a result, “demand was high” (195). The presses were working.

Hence, with over a year…to a year and one half…after Tyndale’s death, the King of England had licensed an English Bible from within England with preparations for its distribution nationwide. HUGE.

Cromwell’s problem was a happy one. Demand exceeded supply. Keep those presses...a'rollin,' rollin,' rollin...Rawhide! But, ultimately, Cromwell succeeded. The Preface exhorted the people to “the study of the holy Scriptures,” now available everywhere. This was a Royal reversal--a total reversal--of the murderous Anglo-Italian policy of 150 years in England. Furthermore, the work of the “pestiferous and poisonous heretics,” Tyndale and Coverdale, would now “infect the nation” and make more “heretics.” Oh the irony!  Oh, the answer to Tyndale's prayer at the stake, "Oh LORD, open the King of England's eyes!" God turned the heart of a 2.0 Anglican King of England--a Romanist without the Pope.

ROGERS AS A BIBLICAL SCHOLAR, 196-197

Rogers kept the heretic Tyndale’s 1534 NT whole and entire. Rogers retained Tyndale’s Pentateuch, but omitted 4 marginal notes on the senior priest in Rome.  Rogers made revisions to sections done by Coverdale, although the Psalter would be retained and used in Anglican Books of Common Prayer (until the 1960s, although it’s still used in Collegiate and Cathedral Choirs to this day). Rogers expanded the marginal notes. There were 2000 marginal notes. As a graduate of Wittenberg, as a friend and collaborator with Tyndale, Luther and Melancthon, knowledgeable in Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, French and Latin, he brought considerable skills to the work.

He is an obscure figure in the English Reformation. The Tractaholics hate talking about the Reformation. The moderns have amnesia. The current Canterbury prefers babbeling (a Montanist) rather than recovering the old theology.

Yet, Rogers—along with Cromwell, Cranmer and others—was a key player.

He died at the stake on 4 FEB 1555, the first martyr...a martyr for God, His Word, His doctrines and reformed worship and piety. 

Rome remains quiet these days.

And now, we have a Nigerian Anglican Churchman reading here; this is our heritage Mr. Johnson-Uche; however, the English and American liberals have trashed the heritage, yet many of us still stand for these old paths...as you are doing in Nigeria; keep this nation in your prayers from Nigeria. We stand with you in your fidelity to the "Word Incarnate and Word written." Phoohey on the liberals! Phoohey on the Anglo-Italians or Tractarians too, the whole lot of them.

We insist on the "whole Bible," the grand ocean, not "droplets" and "tid-bits," but the whole thing. In Advent 2, may we read, learn, mark and inwardly digest the whole thing.

(Wiki) John Rogers: Collaborator in English Bible Translation & First Protestant Martry

From Wiki.

Mary's first martyr, the arch-heretic of the Reformation, John Rogers. His wife and 11 children attended the burning at the stake.

John Rogers (c. 1500 – 4 February 1555) was a clergyman, Bible translator and commentator, and the first English Protestant martyr under Mary I of England.

Contents

1 Biography of John Rogers 1.1 Early life
1.2 Antwerp and the Matthew Bible
1.3 Imprisonment and martyrdom

Biography of John Roger

Early life

Rogers was born in Deritend, an area of Birmingham then within the parish of Aston. His father was also called John Rogers and was a lorimer – a maker of bits and spurs – whose family came from Aston; his mother was Margaret Wyatt, the daughter of a tanner with family in Erdington and Sutton Coldfield.[3]

Rogers was educated at the Guild School of St John the Baptist in Deritend,[4] and at Pembroke Hall, Cambridge University, where he graduated B.A. in 1526.[5] Between 1532 and 1534 he was rector of Holy Trinity the Less in the City of London.[6]

Antwerp and the Matthew Bible

In 1534, Rogers went to Antwerp as chaplain to the English merchants of the Company of the Merchant Adventurers.

Here he met William Tyndale, under whose influence he abandoned the Roman Catholic faith, and married Antwerp native Adriana de Weyden (b. 1522, anglicised to Adrana Pratt in 1552) in 1537. After Tyndale's death, Rogers pushed on with his predecessor's English version of the Old Testament, which he used as far as 2 Chronicles, employing Myles Coverdale's translation (1535) for the remainder and for the Apocrypha. Although it is claimed that Rogers was the first person to ever print a complete English Bible that was translated directly from the original Greek & Hebrew, there was also a reliance upon a Latin translation of the Hebrew Bible by Sebastian Münster and published in 1534/5.

Tyndale's New Testament had been published in 1526. The complete Bible was put out under the pseudonym of Thomas Matthew in 1537; it was printed in Paris and Antwerp by Adriana's uncle, Sir Jacobus van Meteren. Richard Grafton published the sheets and got leave to sell the edition (1500 copies) in England. At the insistence of Archbishop Cranmer, the "King's most gracious license" was granted to this translation. Previously in the same year, the 1537 reprint of the Myles Coverdale's translation had been granted such a lic.

The pseudonym "Matthew" is associated with Rogers, but it seems more probable that Matthew stands for Tyndale's own name, which, back then, was dangerous to employ. Rogers had little to do with the translation; his own share in that work was probably confined to translating the prayer of Manasses (inserted here for the first time in a printed English Bible), the general task of editing the materials at his disposal, and preparing the marginal notes collected from various sources. These are often cited as the first original English language commentary on the Bible. Rogers also contributed the Song of Manasses in the Apocrypha, which he found in a French Bible printed in 1535. His work was largely used by those who prepared the Great Bible (1539–40), and from this came the Bishops' Bible (1568) and the King James Version.

Rogers matriculated at the University of Wittenberg on 25 November 1540, where he remained for three years, becoming a close friend of Philipp Melanchthon and other leading figures of the early Protestant Reformation.[7] On leaving Wittenberg he spent four and a half years as a superintendent of a Lutheran church in Meldorf, Dithmarschen, near the mouth of the River Elbe in the north of Germany.[8]

Rogers returned to England in 1548, where he published a translation of Philipp Melanchthon's Considerations of the Augsburg Interim.

In 1550 he was presented to the crown livings of St Margaret Moses and St Sepulchre in London, and in 1551 was made a prebendary of St. Paul's, where the dean and chapter soon appointed him divinity lecturer. He courageously denounced the greed shown by certain courtiers with reference to the property of the suppressed monasteries, and defended himself before the privy council. He also declined to wear the prescribed vestments, donning instead a simple round cap. On the accession of Mary he preached at Paul's Cross commending the "true doctrine taught in King Edward's days," and warning his hearers against "pestilent Popery, idolatry and superstition."

Rogers was also against radical Protestants. After Joan of Kent was imprisoned in 1548 and convicted in April 1549, John Foxe, one of the few Protestants opposed to burnings, approached Rogers to intervene to save Joan, but he refused with the comment that burning was “sufficiently mild” for a crime as grave as heresy.

Imprisonment and martyrdom

On 16 August 1553 he was summoned before the council and bidden to keep within his own house. His emoluments were taken away and his prebend was filled in October. In January 1554, Bonner, the new Bishop of London, sent him to Newgate Prison, where he lay with John Hooper, Laurence Saunders, John Bradford and others for a year. Their petitions, whether for less rigorous treatment or for opportunity of stating their case, were disregarded. In December 1554, Parliament re-enacted the penal statutes against Lollards, and on 22 January 1555, two days after they took effect, Rogers (with ten other people) came before the council at Gardiner's house in Southwark, and defended himself in the examination that took place. On 28 and 29 January he came before the commission appointed by Cardinal Pole, and was sentenced to death by Gardiner for heretically denying the Christian character of the Church of Rome and the real presence in the sacrament. He awaited and met death cheerfully, though he was even denied a meeting with his wife. He was burned at the stake on 4 February 1555 at Smithfield. Noailles, the French ambassador, speaks of the support given to Rogers by the greatest part of the people: "even his children assisted at it, comforting him in such a manner that it seemed as if he had been led to a wedding."

John Rogers, Vicar of St. Sepulchre's, and Reader of St. Paul's, London

The quotation that follows is from Foxe's Book of Martyrs, Chapter 16. However, it is included here because of its historical significance, being the vehicle by which the story of Rev. John Rogers has been most widely disseminated.

"John Rogers was educated at Cambridge, and was afterward many years chaplain to the merchant adventurers at Antwerp in Brabant. Here he met with the celebrated martyr William Tyndale, and Miles Coverdale, both voluntary exiles from their country for their aversion to popish superstition and idolatry. They were the instruments of his conversion; and he united with them in that translation of the Bible into English, entitled "The Translation of Thomas Matthew." From the Scriptures he knew that unlawful vows may be lawfully broken; hence he married, and removed to Wittenberg in Saxony, for the improvement of learning; and he there learned the Dutch language, and received the charge of a congregation, which he faithfully executed for many years. On King Edward's accession, he left Saxony to promote the work of reformation in England; and, after some time, Nicholas Ridley, then bishop of London, gave him a prebend in St. Paul's Cathedral, and the dean and chapter appointed him reader of the divinity lesson there. Here he continued until Queen Mary's succession to the throne, when the Gospel and true religion were banished, and the Antichrist of Rome, with his superstition and idolatry, introduced.

The circumstance of Mr. Rogers having preached at Paul's cross, after Queen Mary arrived at the Tower, has been already stated. He confirmed in his sermon the true doctrine taught in King Edward's time, and exhorted the people to beware of the pestilence of popery, idolatry, and superstition. For this he was called to account, but so ably defended himself that, for that time, he was dismissed. The proclamation of the queen, however, to prohibit true preaching, gave his enemies a new handle against him. Hence he was again summoned before the council, and commanded to keep to his house. He did so, though he might have escaped; and though he perceived the state of the true religion to be desperate. He knew he could not want a living in Germany; and he could not forget a wife and ten children, and to seek means to succor them. But all these things were insufficient to induce him to depart, and, when once called to answer in Christ's cause, he stoutly defended it, and hazarded his life for that purpose.

After long imprisonment in his own house, the restless Bonner, bishop of London, caused him to be committed to Newgate, there to be lodged among thieves and murderers.

After Mr. Rogers had been long and straitly imprisoned, and lodged in Newgate among thieves, often examined, and very uncharitably entreated, and at length unjustly and most cruelly condemned by Stephen Gardiner, bishop of Winchester, the fourth day of February, in the year of our Lord 1555, being Monday in the morning, he was suddenly warned by the keeper of Newgate's wife, to prepare himself for the fire; who, being then sound asleep, could scarce be awaked. At length being raised and awaked, and bid to make haste, then said he, "If it be so, I need not tie my points." And so was had down, first to bishop Bonner to be degraded: which being done, he craved of Bonner but one petition; and Bonner asked what that should be. Mr. Rogers replied that he might speak a few words with his wife before his burning, but that could not be obtained of him.

When the time came that he should be brought out of Newgate to Smithfield, the place of his execution, Mr. Woodroofe, one of the sheriffs, first came to Mr. Rogers, and asked him if he would revoke his abominable doctrine, and the evil opinion of the Sacrament of the altar. Mr. Rogers answered, "That which I have preached I will seal with my blood." Then Mr. Woodroofe said, "Thou art an heretic." "That shall be known," quoth Mr. Rogers, "at the Day of Judgment." "Well," said Mr. Woodroofe, "I will never pray for thee." "But I will pray for you," said Mr. Rogers; and so was brought the same day, the fourth of February, by the sheriffs, towards Smithfield, saying the Psalm Miserere by the way, all the people wonderfully rejoicing at his constancy; with great praises and thanks to God for the same. And there in the presence of Mr. Rochester, comptroller of the queen's household, Sir Richard Southwell, both the sheriffs, and a great number of people, he was burnt to ashes, washing his hands in the flame as he was burning. A little before his burning, his pardon was brought, if he would have recanted; but he utterly refused it. He was the first martyr of all the blessed company that suffered in Queen Mary's time that gave the first adventure upon the fire. His wife and children, being eleven in number, ten able to go, and one sucking at her breast, met him by the way, as he went towards Smithfield. This sorrowful sight of his own flesh and blood could nothing move him, but that he constantly and cheerfully took his death with wonderful patience, in the defence and quarrel of the Gospel of Christ."

Notes

1.Jump up ^ Chester 1861, p. 1
2.Jump up ^ Daniell 2004
3.Jump up ^ Hill 1907, pp. 5–6
4.Jump up ^ Hill 1907, p. 4
5.Jump up ^ "Rogers, John". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
6.Jump up ^ Chester 1861, pp. 3–5
7.Jump up ^ Daniell 2003, p. 191
8.Jump up ^ Daniell 2003, p. 191

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to John Rogers (Bible editor and martyr).

Chester, Joseph Lemuel (1861), John Rogers: the Compiler of the First Authorised English Bible, London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts, OCLC 257597540, retrieved 2009-02-14
Daniell, David (2003), The Bible in English, Yale University Press, ISBN 0-300-09930-4
Daniell, David (2004), "Rogers, John (c.1500–1555)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Online ed.), Oxford University Press, retrieved 2009-02-14
Hill, Joseph (1907), The book makers of old Birmingham; authors, printers, and book sellers, Birmingham: Printed at the Shakespeare Press for Cornish Bros., OCLC 3773421