).
John Lufftius, a bookseller and printer of Wuertemburg, incurred many
perils when he printed Luther's German edition of the Sacred Scriptures.
It is said that the Pope used to write Lufftius' name on paper once every
year, and cast it into the fire, uttering terrible imprecations and dire
threatenings. But the thunders of Roman pontiffs did not trouble the
worthy bookseller, who laughed at their threats, and exclaimed, "I
perspired so freely at Rome in the flame, that I must take a larger
draught, as it is necessary to extinguish that flame."
The same fatality befell Robert Stephanus, the Parisian printer. His
family name was Estienne, but, according to the fashion of the time, he
used the Latin form of the word. He edited and published a version of the
Sacred Scriptures, showing the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin texts, and adding
certain notes which were founded upon the writings of Francois Vatable,
Abbot of Bellozane, but also contained some of the scholarly reflections
of the learned bookseller. On the title-page the name of the Abbot appears
first, before that of Stephanus. But considerable hostility was raised
against him by this and other works on the part of the doctors of the
Sorbonne. He was compelled to seek safety in flight, and found a secure
resting-place in Geneva. His enemies were obliged to content themselves
with burning his effigy. This troubled Stephanus quite as little as the
Papal censures distressed Lufftius.
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