At the same time that Henry VIII. was imprisoning the ministers of God's Word, he was giving full liberty to the Word itself. It must be confessed that in his conflict with the pope he did make use of the Bible. He interpreted it, indeed, in his own way; but still he used it and helped to circulate it. This was a fact of importance for the Reformation in England. The first Bible named after Cranmer appeared at this time (April, 1540), with a preface by the archbishop, in which he called upon 'high and low, male and female, rich and poor, master and servant, to read it and to meditate upon it in their own houses.'[327] A magnificent copy on vellum was presented to the king. In the same month appeared another Bible, printed in smaller type; in July another great Bible; in November a third in folio, authorized by Henry VIII., 'supreme head of his church.' It would seem even that there was one more edition this year. At all events, the New Testament was printed.[328] The enemies of the Bible were in power. Nevertheless the Bible was gaining the victory; and the luminary which was to enlighten the world was beginning to shed abroad its light everywhere. CHAPTER V. DISGRACE AND DEATH OF CROMWELL, EARL OF ESSEX. (1540.) Eight days after the imprisonment of Barnes and his two friends (April 12, 1540), parliament opened for the first time without abbots or priors. Cromwell was thoughtful and uneasy; he saw everywhere occasions of alarm; he felt his position insecure. The statute of the Six Articles, the conviction which possessed his mind that the doctrines of the Middle Ages were regaining an indisputable ascendency over the king, the wrath of Norfolk, and Henry's ill-will on account of the queen whom Cromwell had chosen for him--these were the dark points which threatened his future. His friends were scattered or persecuted; his enemies were gathered about the throne. Henry, however, made no sign, but secretly meditated a violent blow. He concealed the game he was playing so that others, and especially Cromwell himself, should have no perception of it. The powerful minister, therefore, appeared in parliament, assuming a confident air, as the ever-powerful organ of the supreme will of the king. Henry VIII., the man of extremes, thought proper at this time to exhibit himself as an advocate of a middle course. The country is agitated by religious dissensions, said the vicegerent, his representative; and in his speech to the House he set forth on the one hand the rooted superstition and obstinate clinging to popery, and on the other thoughtless and impertinent and culpable rashness (referring doubtless to Barnes): that the king desired a union of the two parties; that he leaned to neither side; that he would equally repress the license of heretics and that of the papists, and that he 'set the pure and sincere doctrine of Christ