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Grace Baptist Church
3616 Broadwater Avenue
Billings, Montana
406-656-8333
info@gracebaptistbillings.org
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1539-40 Great Bible Leaf
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The 1539-1540 Great Bible:
The First “Authorized”
English Bible
A leaf from the first English language
Bible fully authorized (not illegal) by
the King. These leaves are 464 years old.
Not to be confused with the
“Authorized Version”, as it
is frequently called, of 1611 by King
James… these leaves are instead
the much earlier version that was
authorized by King Henry the Eighth,
founder of the Church of England
(“Anglican Church”). Called
the “Great Bible” due to its
great size, this is England’s first
“official” printing of the
Bible. It is sometimes also referred to
as “Cranmer’s Bible”,
because the Archbishop of Canterbury,
Thomas Cranmer, wrote the Preface to the
Great Bibles starting in 1540.
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The major goal of the Protestant
Reformation was not to fracture the church
into hundreds of Protestant denominations.
The Reformer’s main goal was simply
to make the Word of God legal and available
in the common languages of the people, so
that it could be read by everyone. Both the
Roman Catholic Church and the Church of
England persecuted and killed anyone who
dared to print the Bible in any language
other than Latin… especially
English. The 1539 Great Bible put an end to
that, and unchained the scriptures for the
first time in over 1,000 years. Just three
years earlier, on October 6, 1536, William
Tyndale was executed for printing the
scriptures in English. His last words were,
“Lord, open the King of
England’s eyes!” Three years
later, his dying prayer was answered. King
Henry the Eighth funded the printing of the
Bible in the English language, the Great
Bible, the first Bible ever authorized for
public use.
Of course, King Henry the Eighth did not
do this because he had a change of heart,
or because he was such a devoted
Christian. He did it mostly out of
personal pride, and to spite the Roman
Catholic Church. King Henry wanted to
divorce his wife and marry his lover, and
the Pope refused to allow even the King
of England to do this. So, King Henry
just married his lover anyway, (later
killing two of his many wives), and
renounced the Roman Catholic Church, and
proclaimed himself the head of both the
State AND the Church (both King and
“Pope” so to speak), and
founded the Church of England, a.k.a. the
Anglican Church. As further show of
defiance, he funded the printing of the
Bible in the English language, which was
the biggest fear of the Roman Catholic
Church for ages. This is an excellent
example of God using the evil motives of
a wicked man, to bring about His good
purpose and His glory.
These leaves were printed on 100% rag
cotton linen sheet, not wood-pulp paper
like books today, so they remain in
excellent condition… even after
nearly 500 years. Each leaf is a unique
piece of ancient artwork, measuring
approximately 15 inches tall by 10 inches
wide, and carefully produced one-at-a-time
by the King’s printers, and later
bound into complete Bibles and chained to
the church pulpits. Imagine… having
a leaf from one of the earliest press-runs
of the Bible that broke the chains that
kept the Word of God imprisoned publicly in
Latin for over 1,000 years.
Photo found at http://www.greatsite.com/ancient-rare-bible-leaves/
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