MARKING THE COURSE OF THE WORLD; OR, LEARNING WHOM NOT TO TRUST
"In haste the fancied bliss to gain,
In the wrong path they go,
Unmindful that it surely leads
To everlasting woe.
Thus for the world's delusive charms
They barter joys sublime,
And forfeit an immortal crown
For the frail wreaths of time.”
“A man may be in as just possession of truth as of a city, and yet be forced to surrender."—RELIGIO MEDICO.
“There's a strange mixture of wisdom and folly, of grace and impatience, of the sublime and the ridiculous, in most of the best en."—DAVID DAVIES.
NO ROOM FOR A BIBLE IN THE BISHOP'S PALACE—THE MERCHANT'S HOUSE A HOME—MONMOUTH'S GRACIOUS CHARACTER—AN EXILE FOR CONSCIENCE' SAKE.
TYNDALE came to London (probably about 1523) provided with a letter of introduction to Sir Harry Guildford, the Controller of the Royal Household, and a great favorite with the King. This, Tyndale trusted, would also secure for him a favorable reception from Tunstal, the Bishop of London, who was a friend of Erasmus and a patron of the new learning.
At the time of Tyndale's arrival in the metropolis, London was deeply agitated about Wolsey's tyranny; for the Cardinal had demanded from Parliament a subsidy that amounted to a tax of four shillings in the pound upon all property in England. When this was refused, as an utter impossibility, Wolsey dismissed the Parliament. This summary proceeding excited great indignation against the Cardinal, whose extravagance, pride, and tyranny were in every mouth. Moreover, the books of Luther were secretly in circulation among the people, and probably Tyndale saw at least some of them. He was himself unconscious of the steps by which he was being led to where alone he could effectually accomplish his life-work of translating the Scriptures. Now Tyndale presented his letter of introduction to Sir Harry Guildford, and freely stated his purpose of rendering the Scriptures into English. As a proof of his ability to perform this task, Tyndale submitted a translation of Isocrates. "I should be pleased to become chaplain to the Bishop of London; will you beg him to accept this trifle? Isocrates ought to be an excellent recommendation to a scholar; will you please to add yours?”
“Sir Harry Guildford," says Tyndale, " willed me to write an epistle to my lord, and go to him myself; which I also did, and delivered my epistle to a servant of his own, one William Hebilthwayte, a man of mine own acquaintance.... But God (which knoweth what is within hypocrites) saw that I was beguiled, and that that counsel was not the next way to my purpose. And therefore he gat me no favor in my lord's sight, whereupon my lord answered me, his house was full, and advised me to seek in London, where he said I could not lack a service. And so in London I abode almost a year, and marked the course of the world, and heard our graters (I would say preachers) how they boasted themselves and their high authority; and beheld the pomps of our prelates, and how busy they were, as they yet are, to set peace and unity in the world, and saw things whereof I defer to speak at this time, and understood at the last not only that there was no room in my lord of London's palace to translate the New Testament, but also that there was no place to do it in all England, as experience doth now openly declare.”
Thus were Tyndale's hopes of patronage from the Bishop of London utterly disappointed. But God had not deserted him, and He had already provided a benefactor for His servant. Humphrey Monmouth, a wealthy merchant of London, who resided in Barking (which was at that time considered to be the extreme east end of London), happened to be in St. Dunstan's in the West when Tyndale preached there. Moved by one of those inexplicable impulses which are really the influence of God's Spirit, Monmouth invited Tyndale to his house, and there he remained for six months. His host thus speaks of the guest whose character he thus had ample opportunity of studying: "He lived like a good priest, as me thought. He studied most part of the day and of the night at his book, and he would eat but sodden meat by his good will, nor drink but small single beer. I never saw him wear linen about him in the space he was with me. I did promise him ten pounds sterling to pray for my father and mother, their souls, and all Christian souls; I did pay it to him when he made his exchange at Hamboro'. Afterward he got of some other men ten pounds sterling more, the which he left with me.”
Sir Thomas More, although a bitter enemy to Tyndale, confessed that "before he went over the sea, he was well known for a man of right good living, studious, and well learned in Scripture, and looked and preached holily.”
Of Sir Humphrey Monmouth, Latimer relates an anecdote that cannot, though familiar, be well omitted here. When preaching before King Edward, Latimer said that a friend of his "knew in London a great rich merchant, which merchant had a very poor neighbor; yet, for all his poverty, he loved him very well, and lent him money at his need, and let him to come to his table whensoever he would. It was even at that time when Doctor Colet was in trouble, and should have been burnt, if God had not turned the King's heart to the contrary. Now the rich man began to be a Scripture man; he began to smell the Gospel: the poor man was a papist still. It chanced on a time, when the rich man talked of the Gospel, sitting at his table, where he reproved popery and such kind of things, the poor man, being then present, took a great displeasure against the rich man; insomuch that he would come no more to his house, he would borrow no money of him, as he was wont to do before-times; yea, and conceived such hatred and malice against him, that he went and accused him before the Bishops. Now, the rich man, not knowing any such displeasure, offered many times to talk with him, and to set him at quiet; but it would not be: the poor man had such a stomach, that he would not vouchsafe to speak with him; if he met the rich man in the street, he would go out of his way. One time it happened that he met him so in a narrow street, that he could not avoid but come near him; yet for all that, this poor man had such a stomach against the rich man, I say, that he was minded to go forward, and not to speak with him. The rich man perceiving that, catcheth him by the hand, and asked him, saying, 'Neighbor, what is come into your heart, to take such displeasure with me? What have I done against you? Tell me, and I will be ready at all times to make you amends.' Finally, he spake so gently, so charitably, so lovingly and friendly, that it wrought so in the poor man's heart, that by-and-by he fell down upon his knees and asked him forgiveness. The rich man forgave him, and so took him again to his favor; and they loved as well as ever they did afore. Many one would have said, Set him in the stocks; let him have bread of affliction and water of tribulation.' But this man did not so. And here you see an ensample of the practice of God's words in such sort, that the poor man, bearing great hatred and malice against the rich man, was brought, through the lenity and meekness of the rich man, from his error and wickedness to the knowledge of God's Word. I would you would consider this ensample well, and follow it.”
This tender-hearted man was also a great patron of men of letters, and probably it was at his table that Tyndale was advised by some unknown friend to go abroad. Upon the Continent he might reasonably hope to complete his translation, and to print it without molestation., Without knowing that he thereby doomed himself to exile which would only terminate in his martyrdom, and yet not shrinking from the ordeal, Tyndale left England in the month of May 1524, and sailed thence to Hamburg. No one observed with interest the austere, nervous man as he gazed for the last time upon his native land, but his voyage was of far more importance to England, and to the world, than any event of the period. Europe watched with mingled feelings Luther's heroic stand, and the German Reformer was never at any time of his life without many friends who stood steadily beside him in his time of peril. With the exception of Monmouth, who only with much difficulty saved himself from death, Tyndale had no sympathy or helper at all; but, without complaining of this isolation, he went forward with true national persistence in the path of duty. He himself and his work were of such a character that they could not be adequately appreciated then, but long after Wolsey and his hat (to which the nobility bowed, and before which candles were burned) are forgotten, the work of Tyndale will be appreciated, and will exert a powerful influence in the lives of millions through the eternity that is yet to come.