ant when questions about the earth and the stars would no longer
be settled by a text from Scripture which forbade further inquiry.

With the accession of Henry VIII education received a still further
impulse. A few zealous English scholars had just returned from Italy
to Oxford, full of ardor for a new study,--that of Greek. Among them
was a young clergyman named John Colet. He saw that by means of that
language, of which the alphabet was as yet hardly known in England,
men might put themselves in direct communication with the greatest
thinkers and writers of the past.

Better still, they might acquire the power of reading the Gospels and
the writings of St. Paul in the original, and thus reach their true
meaning and feel their full influence. Colet's intimate friend and
fellow worker, the Dutch scholar Erasmus, had the same enthusiasm.
When in sore need of everything, he wrote in one of his letters, "As
soon as I get some money I shall buy Greek books, and then I may buy
some clothes." The third young man, who, with Erasmus and Colet,
devoted himself to the study of Greek and to the advancement of
learning, was Thomas More, who later became Lord Chancellor (SS145,
351).

The three looked to King Henry for encouragement in the work they had
undertaken; nor did they look in vain. Colet, who had become a doctor
of divinity and a dean of St. Paul's Cathedral, London, encountered a
furious storm of opposition on account of his devotion to the "New
Learning," as it was sneeringly called. His attempts at educational
reform met the same resistance.

But Henry liked the man's resolute spirit, and said, "Let others have
what doctors they will; this is the doctor for me." The King also
took a lively interest in Erasmus, who was appointed professor of
Greek at Cambridge, where he began his great work of preparing an
edition of the Greek Testament with a Latin translation in parallel
columns.

Up to this time the Greek Testament had existed in scattered
manuscripts only. The publication of the work in printed form gave an
additional impetus to the study of the Scriptures, helped forward the
Reformation, and in a measure laid the foundation for a revised
English translation of the Bible far superior to Wycliffe's (S254).
In the same spirit of genuine love of learning Henry founded Trinity
College, Cambridge, and at a later date confirmed and extended
Cardinal Wolsey's endowment of Christ Church College, Oxford.

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