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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 Catechism. 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". * Ib. p.

160.

" 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.

z 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.

though they also contain typographical variations, which it is difficult to account for upon any hypothesis: but Cranmer himself has thrown some light upon this subject by what he said upon his examination at Oxford; when being charged with having introduced an alteration into some copies of the Catechism, he answered, "I remember there "were two prynters of my sayde booked:" but this is perhaps to be understood of two printers being employed upon the same edition, rather than upon two separate editions. One of the Bodleian copiese appears undoubtedly to have issued from a different press, but it bears the date of 1548, as does one of the other copies, from which it differs in some remarkable points. There is therefore no direct evidence of the Catechism having been published in 1547; at least no such evidence has been brought to light in the research which has been made for the present edition; and it seems most probable that all the copies were printed in 1548.

Strype has committed a most extraordinary blunder, when he says, "This Catechism, towards "the latter end of king Edward's reign, was

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printed again, and had the approbation of a "convocationf:" for he here confounds Cranmer's Catechism with a totally different work, which

d Fox, Acts and Monuments, vol. II. p. 1877.

e

Crynes 874. This copy contains no list of errata at the end: but the errata, which are noticed at the end of the other copies, are corrected in this.

f Ecclesiastical Memorials, vol. II. p. 32.

was entitled, Catechismus brevis, Christianæ disciplinæ summam continens, &c., to which were added, Articuli, de quibus in ultima synodo Londinensi A. D. 1552, convenerat. Cranmer, in his examination at Oxford, was charged with having set forth a Catechism in the name of the synod of London, though many members of the synod disclaimed any knowledge of it; a fact of which Strype was well aware: and in another part of this same work he not only mentions this charge, but gives a minute account of the Catechism, which he says was certainly writ by "Alexander Noelh."

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If we compare the English and Latin Catechisms together, the translator appears to have followed his original very closely: but in some instances he introduced new matter; and the following is a description of the most important variations.

The Commandments are arranged according to the manner which is followed by the Roman Catholics; i. e. the first and second Commandments are put together, and the tenth is divided into two: but in the English Catechism a long dissertation is introduced concerning idolatry, which does not occur in the Latin. It extends from p. 16. to p. 30; and it would not be unreasonable to conjecture that this interpolation was made by

g Fox, Acts and Monuments, vol. II. p. 1440.

h Eccl. Mem. p. 368. See also Mem. of Cranmer, p. 294, where he says that "some conjecture the author to be Ponet, "the bishop of Winchester." This mistake of Strype is noticed by archbishop Laurence in his Bampton Lectures.