HISTORY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH - [ CHAPTER 1 ] - { PT. 9 }


 { PT.  9 } - It should be borne in mind that French was the language of the educated and was the official language of the English law courts and the Parliament till after 1360. The French or Latin versions then current were, therefore, amply sufficient for those who were likely to derive any advantage from the study of the Bible, while at the same time the metrical paraphrases of the important books of the Old Testament and of the Gospels and Acts of the English prose translation of the Psalms, went far to meet the wants of the masses. From the clear evidence of writers like Sir Thomas More, Lord chancellor of England and one of the best informed men of his time, of Cranmer, the first Protestant Archbishop of Canterbury, and of Foxe the author of the so-called Martyrology, it can be established beyond the shadow of a doubt that prior of the Reformation there existed an Eglish Catholic version of the Scriptures, which was approved for use by the ecclesiastical authorities. [ 7 ] It is true, indeed, that the bishops of England made extraordinary efforts to prevent the circulation of the versions madeby Tyndale and Coverdale, but considering the glosses, the corruptions, and the mistranslations with which these abound no fair-minded person could expect them to have acted otherwise. Their action by hostility to the reading of the Scriptures but by their opposition to heretical doctrines, which it was sought to disseminate among people by means of dishonest versions of the Scriptures. The English bishops were not content merely with prohibiting the use of these works. 

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