This was the teaching of Martin Luther; and many of those who read
had no means of knowing wherein he went too far, wherein he did
injustice to the leaven of righteousness still at work in the midst
of so much corruption, or to the holy lives of hundreds and
thousands of those he unsparingly condemned, who deplored the
corruption which prevailed only less earnestly than he did himself.
It was small wonder, then, that those in authority in this and
other lands sought by every means in their power to put down the
circulation of books which might have such mischievous results. And
as one of Martin Luther's main arguments was that if men only read
and studied the Scriptures for themselves in their own mother
tongue, whatever that tongue might be, they would have power to
judge for themselves how far the practice of the church differed
from apostolic precept and from the teachings of Christ, it was
thought equally advisable to keep out of the hands of the people
the translated Scriptures, which might produce such heterodox
changes in their minds; and all efforts were made in many quarters
to stamp out the spreading flames of heresy in the land.

Above all things, it was hoped that the leaven of these new and
dangerous opinions would not penetrate to the twin seats of
learning, the sister universities of Oxford and Cambridge.

Cardinal Wolsey had of late years been busy and enthusiastic over
his munificent gift of a new and larger college to Oxford than any
it had possessed before. To be sure, he did not find all the funds
for it out of his private purse. He swept away the small priory of
St. Frideswyde, finding homes for the prior and few monks, and
confiscating the revenues to his scheme; and other small religious