Don't get me wrong; As a source of prayers and inspiration, the Middle English bible could be wonderful. AS I already noted, English-language Breviaries abounded A breviary contained all the mass readings, which included just about every unique line in the New Testament, plus all the Old Testament prayers, hymns and psalms. Medieval life was awash in the bible. Even all those stained glass windows which the English iconoclasts destroyed were covered in symbolic references to remind a reader of every verse of the bible scene they depicted (or of the lives of the saints)
But the Protestant allegation is that the Catholics attempted to keep the population from knowing the true wording of scripture, so that they could refute allegedly false doctrine from being proclaimed. Thus, an English bible would have to have grammar which was unambiguous, clear, and precise enough to stand independently of any historical or ecclesiastical scholarship. And this simply doesn't:
Sufir the lytle childes to cum to me.
That's not simply understand because it's practically foreign langauge; it's unclear whether the children coming to Jesus is a good, or something which should be simply put up with, since "sufir," as use here, means "to put up with especially as inevitable or unavoidable; to allow especially by reason of indifference." The Greek word means, "to send forth." That's a pretty horrible translation: in English, it suggests being resigned to something unstoppable, while in Greek it suggests to actively promote something. Or consider:
And delyver them beastes, that they maye sett Paul on, and brynge hym safe unto Felix the hye debyte
That the beasts may set Paul on? Fortunately, with the publication of the bible in English, a standardized grammar began to come forth. The Douay-Rheims was also very influential, inasmuch as it relied on Latin for the most difficult concepts, it brought those concepts into the English usage. Shakespeare's singular popularity also made his works a standard of grammar, so that by the 1700s, the English language was quite clear.
For bi grace ye ben sauyd bi feith, and this not of you; for it is the yifte of God, not of werkis, that no man haue glorie, for we ben the makyng of hym, maad of nouyt in Crist Jhesu, in good werkis, whiche God hath ordeyned, that we go in tho werkis.
I said I didn’t want to argue. I try to stay out of the religious debates—politics is enough heat for me. ;)