From the 1599 Geneva Bible, Patriot's Edition

 

"'Prior to the printing of Luther's German Bible in 1534, and the Geneva Bible in English, everyday believers...never had a Bible of their own to read, study, to hide in their hearts.' The Church and kings kept all but clergy  and Latin scholars from reading Scripture; in England it even became, by royal edict, a capital crime even to read the Bible..."

 

"Fulfilling his promise, Tyndale published the first-ever mechanically printed New Testament in the English language in 1526. Six thousand first edition copies were smuggled to England and lit a fire that could not be extinguished....

 

But Tyndale was hunted, captured, and imprisoned in the Belgian town of Vilvoorde. On March 6, 1536, he was strangled and burned at the stake...."

 

"In 1553, Mary Tudor ascended the throne, soon married the Catholic King of Spain, and set about - often with violent cruelty, to stamp out the Reformation. Determined to force the English people back to Roman Catholicism, she ordered the burning of all copies of the Bible in English. She cause more than 300 reformers, pastors, and Bible translators to be burned at the stake... [thus earning the name] Bloody Mary....

 

"The competed Geneva Bible was published in 1560 and dedicated to queen Elizabeth....

 

"The Geneva Bible lost its prominence only after the King James Authorized Version of 1611 was widely promoted by he King and Bishop Laud (later Archbishop of Canterbury and persecutor of Presbyterians) who outlawed the printing of the Geneva Bible in the realm."


 

Summary Questions:

 

1. What is our daily attitude toward God and His guidelines?

 

2. What does it mean to constantly "abide" in Him, day by day and hour by hour?

 

3. Why is humility and repentance essential to our fellowship with Jesus?

 

4. How can we know and do His will hour by hour?