No preacher was available to deliver the sermon at London’s St. Magnus the Martyr Church on Sunday January 29, 1569. Whether the scheduled preacher was ill, or a no-show remains unclear. Miles Coverdale (1488-1569) had been honorably retired from the church for health reasons. Church leaders came to Miles early that morning with the urgent request for him to deliver the sermon. This eighty-one-year-old retired preacher had to be carried into the pulpit and could barely speak above a whisper. Yet when he began preaching, he came alive. He spoke on the importance of the Bible in shaping a believer for a lifetime of faithful living. His biographer called it “the best sermon of his life.” He finished the sermon and promptly died. What a way for a preacher to go!
Miles Coverdale is a forgotten leader of the Protestant Reformation. He was a monk in the Catholic tradition before he read Martin Luther’s writings and became a passionate reformer. He was motivated by a single overwhelming passion of providing English people with a Bible they could read and understand in their own language. Previously, the only Bible in print was in Latin, considered by some to be the sacred language of Scripture. Miles persevered and published the entire English Bible in 1535. Not that it was easy. He was nearly executed twice, exiled on three occasions and imprisoned countless times.
We take our English Bibles for granted. So many translations from which to choose. Thank God for Miles Coverdale. His prayer blesses and humbles me: