The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1835-10-09 00:00:00

MEMOIR OF MILES COVERDAI4

Miles Coverdale, the third centenary of whose English
Bible fell on the 4th of October, was born in Yorkshire
in 1487. He became a monk of the order of Augustines,
was subsequently, with his superior Dr. Barnes, con-
verted to the doctrines of the Reformation. When his
judgment was enlightened regarding,the evils of popery,
he commenced preaching against the mass, the worship
of images, and auricular confession, the favourite prac-
tices of the Church of Rome.
While on the continent in 1530, whither be had gone
to esca_pe persecution, he assisted Tindal in his translation
of the Pentateuch. When his illustrious coadjutor was
martyred in Flanders, he carried forward the good work
in which they had been jointly engaged till 1535, when
his complete translation of the Scriptures appeared. The
Work was dedicated to Henry Vtll. and by his sanction
circulated in England.
In 1551 Coverdale was created Bishop of Exeter: So
little had he profited in a pecuniary sense by his labours
that, on accepting the prelacy, a fee, peculiar to persons
in his situation, was remitted by the intervention of
Cranmer..'
During the persecution which ensued on the accession
of Queen Mary, he wondertkilly escaped Martyrdom by
the intercession of the. King of Denmark. He was only
exempted from the stake, however, on condition-of his
leaving the kingdom.
'On the accession of Queen Elizabeth he returned to'
England from his exile. Disliking the court measures
for conciliating the papists, he was passed over without
preferment. At last this illustrious man was presented
to the rectory of St. Magnus, London Bridge, at a time
when his poverty was such that his Tee had to be for-
given him, after intercession with Archbishop Parker
and Cecil. The poverty of Coverdale was a reproach to
the nation, and was regretted by Bishop Grindail, who
lamented that one who had been in Christ before them
all, was left without support. Probably on account of
partial nonconformity, he resigned his living before his
death, but continued to officiate as a minister in this
parish by permission of his superiors. He died in peace
at the age of eighty-7one, and was followed to the place of
his interment (a place near his own cure, the Church of
St. Bartholomew by the Exchange,) by a large and sor-
rowing company of the citizens of London. •
An admirable man he was. "Good cid Miles Cover-
dale," Dr. Southey justly designates him in his Book of
the' Church. 'His life was that of a saint of the primitive
ages of CM istianity—his house resembled a sanctuary of
religion—and while bishop of Exeter, his labours were '
abundant as those of a missionary among the heathen.
The crown of martyrdom was denied to this exalted
Christian; but of his coadjutors in translating the Sciip- ,
tures, two were martyred: Tindal suffered in Flanders,
and John Rogers.; teas the preto-martyr of the., Marian
persecution. The latter victim might have escaped his
persecutors and the stake; but in language worthy of the
Christian here, he declared that he would not inn away
from the captain of his salvatipn in thq utmost jeoptgdy
of the batfle.
Noble spirits such as these should be held, up to the ad-
miration of all ages. Their learning, their heroic piety,
their tortures, and their privations, are sacred to pure
religion. In forgetting these the protestant may fO,rge
the first principles of his creed, and be led to mingle his
acclimation with the heartless and no-British mob, who
would swell the triumph of a popish demagogue, and aid
in advancing the interests of a hateful superstition.