enteen folios of St. Thomas Aquinas, the angelical
doctor of the thirteenth century, and the profound disputations of his
great rival, Duns Scotus the subtle, for which they were revered in their
own age, had not gained them the contempt of all posterity. From such
learning the lucid reasoning of the reformers delivered the halls of
instruction. The school divinity of the middle ages passed away before the
presence of that which these men learned from the Bible, as did in a later
age the Aristotelian philosophy before that which Bacon drew from nature.

18. Towards the latter part of the fourteenth century, Wickliffe furnished
the first entire translation of the Bible into English. In like manner did
the Germans, a hundred and fifty years after, receive it in their tongue
from the hands of Luther; who says, that at twenty years of age, he himself
had not seen it in any language. Wickliffe's English style is elegant for
the age in which he lived, yet very different from what is elegant now.
This first English translation of the Bible, being made about a hundred
years before the introduction of printing into England, could not have been
very extensively circulated. A large specimen of it may be seen in Dr.
Johnson's History of the English Language. Wickliffe died in 1384. The art
of printing was invented about 1440, and first introduced into England, in
1468; but the first printed edition of the Bible in English, was executed
in Germany. It was completed, October 5th, 1535.

19. "Martin Luther, about the year 1517, first introduced metrical psalmody
into the service of the church, which not only kept alive the enthusiasm of
the reformers, but formed a rallying point for his followers. This practice
spread in all directions; and it was not long ere six thousand persons were
heard singing together at St. Paul's Cross in London. Luther was a poet and
musician; but the same talent existed not in his followers. Thirty years
afterwards, Sternhold versified fifty-one of the Psalms; and in 1562, with
the help of Hopkins, he completed the Psalter. These poetical effusions
were chiefly sung to German melodies, which the good taste of Luther
supplied: but the Puritans, in a subsequent age, nearly destroyed these
germs of melody, assigning as a reason, that music should be so simplified
as to suit all persons, and that all may join."--_Dr. Gardiner's Music of
Nature_, p. 283.

20. "The schools and colleges of England in the fifteenth