Proclamation Against Books
PROCLAMATION AGAINST BOOKS
About this time a book was brought into England that warned Englishmen of the Spaniards and disclosed some secret plans for the church’s recovery of abbey lands that had previously been confiscated. The book was titled A Warning for England.
On June 13, 1555, the king and queen banned all books that disagreed with Catholicism, specifically naming all books by the following authors: Martin Luther, Oecolampadius, Zwingle, John Calvin, Pomerane, John Alasco, Bullinger, Bucer, Melancthon, Bernardinus, Ochinus, Erasmus, Sarcerius, Peter Martyr, Hugh Latimer, Robert Barnes (Friar Barnes), John Bale (Friar Bale), Justus, Jonas John Hooper, Miles Coverdale, William Tyndale, Thomas Cranmer, William Turner, Theodore Basil (Thomas Beacon), John Frith, and Roy. In addition, The Book of Common Prayer in English that was used during King Edward’s reign was banned.
Anyone owning any of these books was ordered to turn them in within fifteen days, and all civil authorities were given permission to search homes and arrest anyone possessing them.
Books supporting the Catholic Church were acceptable, including the Primer in English, which taught children to pray to Mary and the saints, and Our Lady’s Psalter, which substituted Mary’s name for God’s in the psalms.
The apostles taught us that we are fully complete in Christ and need no one’s intercession for our sins. And if idolatry is making an idol to be worshipped as a god, isn’t it idolatry to worship Mary? If God hadn’t explained His will to us in plain words, telling us exactly what to believe, how to worship, and how to be saved, perhaps Catholicism’s use of mediators for reconciliation might have made sense, but God’s Word plainly tells us that salvation and justification only come through Christ. Not believing what He promised is infidelity; following any other belief is idolatry. Yet the Church of Rome refuses to accept what God has freely given and will not seek salvation through Christ but through its saints and superstitions.