Chris’ Considerations

Eye catching title! This is the first of a few quotes on the Bible taken from Church of England reformers. Today’s is from Edwin Sandys born in Lancashire in 1519. He was appointed Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge during the reign of Edward IV (1553-1558). Sandys was thrown in the Tower of London at the start of the reign of staunch Roman Catholic Mary I. However, he eventually escaped to Europe and was even mentioned in Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, (1563):

That night Dr. Sands was guided to an honest farmer’s near the sea, where he tarried two days and two nights in a chamber without company. After that he removed to one James Mower’s, a shipmaster, who dwelt at Milton-Shore, where he waited for a wind to Flanders. While he was there, James Mower brought to him forty or fifty mariners, to whom he gave an exhortation; they liked him so well that they promised to die rather than he should be apprehended.

Upon his return under the Protestant Elizabeth I, Sandys was made Bishop of Worcester (1559-1570) and then Bishop of London (1570-1576) before becoming Archbishop of York from 1576 until his death in 1588. He was also known for helping to translate the Bishops’ Bible. This is what this Church of England Bishop thought of the Bible, I gather taken from one of his sermons:

The foundation of our religion is the written word, the scriptures of God, the undoubted records of the Holy Ghost. We require no credit to be given to any part or parcel of our doctrine, further than the same may be clearly and manifestly proved by the plain words of the law of God, which remaineth in writing to be seen, read, and examined of all men. This we do first, because we know that God has caused his whole law to be written; secondly, because we see that it hath been the practice of all the defenders of the truth since the beginning to rely their faith only upon the scripture and written word; thirdly, because it is evident and plain that we cannot receive any other foundation of heavenly truth without the overthrow of Christian faith….

Taken from Thomas R. Jones, An exposition of the Thirty Nine Articles, by The Reformers, (Hamilton, Adams and Co, 1849), p. 42

 Some details from Wikipedia.