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he says, "And as for the Catechisme of Germany "by me translated into English":" but in the extract given above, Gardiner appears to have suspected that Cranmer employed the services of another. This suspicion is confirmed, if not fully established, by the evidence of Dr. Rowland Taylor, who was chaplain to Cranmer, and lived for some time in his house. This venerable saint and martyr was brought before Gardiner and other commissioners in the third year of queen Mary, when, according to one of his own letters, which is preserved by Fox', the following dialogue took place.

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Taylor. I do beleeve that the religion set "foorth in king Edward's dayes, was according "to the veyne of the holy scripture.

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"Then mayster secretary Bourne sayde, Whyche "of the religions meane ye of in king Edward's dayes? There was a religion set forth in a Ca"techism by my lord of Canterbury. Do you 66 meane that you will stick to that?

"I answered, My lorde of Canterbury made a "Catechism to be translated into English, which "booke was not of his oune making: yet he set "it foorth in his owne name, and truely that booke "for the time did much good."

Upon the whole, it seems evident that Cranmer was not himself the translator, though the work may have been "overseen and corrected" by him: and we may conclude with Strype, that it was

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by the archbishop himself, or his special order, "turned into English: and, to fix an authority to "the same, he caused it to be published in his "own name, and owned it for his own book." The person employed by him to translate it was probably one of his chaplains. It might have been Rowland Taylor himself. Another was John Ponet or Poinet, who was well skilled in the Greek, Latin, and German languages. Another was Thomas Becon, who was also known as an author ".

The Latin Catechism, as appears from the preceding extracts, was itself a translation from the German and of this German original no copy has as yet been discovered: but there are good reasons for thinking, that it was one of the numerous Catechisms which appeared in Germany about this period, and which were framed upon the model of Luther's shorter Catechism. Luther published this in 1529: and George Marquess of Brandenburg put forth in 1533 a book of ecclesiastical regulations, for the use of his own territories and of Nuremberg, which, from the account given of it by Seckendorf', might be thought to have contained the very Catechism which is now under consideration. Strype says that "Justus Jonas

Memorials of Cranmer, p. 396. See also Ecclesiastical Memorials, vol. II. p. 32.

See Strype, Memorials of Cranmer, p. 420, &c.

• Some German words may be seen in page 30. and 154. of the present edition.

t Historia Lutheranismi, vol. II. p. 71-2.

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(he, I suppose, that dwelt with the archbishop) "was the translator of it into Latin":" and we are to understand from this expression of doubt, that Strype did not feel certain which Justus Jonas was intended; for there were two persons of that name, father and son: but in another place he says expressly that it was Justus Jonas junior. There are however some grounds for concluding that Strype was mistaken in this conjecture, and that the translator of the Catechism was Justus Jonas senior, who was a man of considerable celebrity in his day. He was the intimate friend of Luther, and attended the diet at Augsburgh in 1530, in company with Melancthon, Agricola, and G. Spalatinus. He was born in 1493, and died in 1555, seven years after the publication of the Ca-. techism. It is known that he employed himself in translating works from the German into Latin, or from Latin into German: and among others he translated into Latin an Exposition of the Ten Commandments in 1552, which had been written by Luther in German. He was also himself the author of a short catechetical work about the same period; and some persons have said, that Luther's shorter Catechism, which appeared at first in German, was translated into Latin by Justus Jonas 2. u Memorials of Cranmer, p. 396. y A detailed account of his life is given by Daniel Gerdesius in Introductio in Historiam Evangelii Sæculo XVI. passim per Europam renovati, Groningæ 1744. pag. 247. and by Melchior Adam in his Vita Germanorum Theologorum, &c. Haidelbergæ 1628, p. 258.

x Ib.

p. 160. '

2 See Walchius, Bibliotheca Theologica, vol. I. p. 453, &c.

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All this makes it more probable that he was the translator of the Catechism now before us; and it is ascribed to him, without any expression of doubt, by Langemack in his History of Catechisms. Justus Jonas his son did not hold so conspicuous a station among the reformers; but it is known that he was in England in the year 1548, when many of his countrymen were driven from their homes, for refusing to comply with the religious ordinances known by the name of the Interim; and which Charles the Fifth was determined to enforce by the most rigorous measures. Some of these German refugees found an asylum in England; and Strype mentions "four pious and learned persons, who, bringing along with them letters of re"commendation from Melancthon, were courteously received and freely entertained by our "hospitable archbishop'." These were Gualter, a Scotchman by birth, Dryander, Eusebius Menius, and Justus Jonas. The latter is stated to have been a lawyer; and so was his father, as were many of the divines of that day; but Strype had probably no other reason for ascribing this Catechism to the son, than the fact of his being in England at the time when Cranmer translated it into English and it is most probable, that when he came to England in 1548, he brought with him the Catechism, which had been translated into Latin by his father a few years before. When Gardiner said in the passage quoted above, that

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* Part II. p. 493.

y Memorials of Cranmer, p. 404.

it was "taught in the citie of Noremberge, where "Hosiander is cheif preacher," he may perhaps have known, or at least suspected, that Cranmer was induced to publish the work in English by his friendship for Osiander, whose niece he had married, and with whom he kept up a familiar intercourse by letters. Justus Jonas junior was put to death for his religious opinions in 1567a.

In the account hitherto given, the Catechism has been considered to have been published in 1548, though Strype assigns it to the year 1547. Herbert, in his edition of Ames, supposes that there were two editions, one without date, and the other in 1548; but there is reason to think that it was not published till the latter year. There are at least three copies of the Catechism in Oxford, and a fourth has been collated for this edition. Two of them have the same title-page, of which a fac-simile is given in the present volume: the other two have evidently lost the titlepage, but they cannot properly be described as without date. Three of these copies would be pronounced by any person conversant in such matters to be decidedly of the same edition;

* Memorials of Cranmer, p. 15.

a Melchior Adam, Vit. Germanorum Theologorum, p. 413. b Ib. p. 159.

Two are in the Bodleian, (Tanner 54, and Crynes 874,) and the third is in the library which was left by Dr. Allestree for the use of the Regius Professor of Divinity. The fourth has been obligingly furnished by Mr. Cochran of London.

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