AN EXILE, YET IN HIS FATHER'S LAND
“The Scriptures have a might and magnificence all their own;
How comforting are its promises, how precious are its precepts
How wise and kind and pure and good its influence on the soul!
How strong its hold upon the heart, its power within the mind”
—TUPPER.
“Stars are poor books, and oftentimes do miss;
This book of stars lights to eternal bliss.”
“To recollect a promise of the Bible, this is substance! Nothing will do but the Bible. If I read authors and hear different opinions, I cannot say, This is truth! ‘I cannot grasp it as substance; but the BIBLE
GIVES ME SOMETHING TO HOLD."—RICHARD CECIL.
HELPED BY LUTHER—FINDING A COMPANION—A BOLD VENTURE-DRIVEN AWAY—BURNING THE BIBLE DOES NOT DESTROY IT.
HAMBURG, as a center of commercial activity, afforded a singularly good hiding-place for Tyndale, and it was also a most suitable port from whence he could send the Bible when printed into England. It is indeed, doubtful as to what his movements were; he may have remained for a year in Hamburg, or, as some have supposed, Tyndale may have left it upon a visit elsewhere. Monmouth says that after Tyndale left England, "within a year he sent for his ten pounds to me from Hamburg, and thither I sent it to him." Foxe supplements this information by the statement that, "on his first departing out of the realm, Tyndale took his journey into the further parts of Germany, as into Saxony, where he had conference with Luther and other learned men." And Tyndale's great enemy, Sir Thomas More, said that "Tyndale, as soon as he got him hence from England, got him to Luther straight;" and adds "that at the time of his translation of the New Testament, Tyndale was with Luther at Wittemberg , and the confederacy between him and Luther was well known." It seems, therefore, probable that almost immediately after his landing at Hamburg, Tyndale made his way to Wittemberg. His admiration of Luther would be a quite sufficient inducement to lead him to take this step, and perhaps also his sense of loneliness and desolation influenced him. Upon the exile himself the effect of the visit must have been most beneficial. Demaus says: " For Tyndale thus to come into contact with the strong, joyous faith of Luther, to hear his lion voice echoing through the crowded University Church of Wittemberg, or to listen to his wonderful table-talk as he sipped his beer in friendly social intercourse, would be to have his whole soul inspired with courage, bravely to do whatever duty God had called him to, and to learn to repose with implicit confidence in the protection of the Divine Master whom he served.”
Here, in Wittemberg, Tyndale, it would seem, obtained a companion, one William Roye, who, however, proved to be a fickle, irrepressible bore, a man who must have inflicted acute torture upon his companion. But his help was a necessity if the Bible were to be speedily translated, and Tyndale had no choice whatever; it must be either Roye or no translation; and Tyndale suppressed all personal feeling in the matter. Roye's part in the translation was, of course, quite mechanical and subordinate, but in the laborious physical work of transcribing Roye was helpful to Tyndale.
“Imagination," says Dr. Stoughton of the afterlife of the two at Cologne, "can picture the two men, influenced by far different motives, at work in the far-famed city on the banks of the Rhine, in some poor-looking house in an obscure street, while a priest or a pilgrim passed under the windows on their way to the shrine of the Three Kings, little dreaming of the kind of employment going on there, and of the consequences to which it would lead.”
In the spring of is 1525 Tyndale went to Hamburg, as we have seen, in order to obtain the money that had been sent to him from London. From Hamburg, Tyndale, accompanied by Roye, went to Cologne, and now the New Testament which had been translated was put into the press. Tyndale was prepared to venture upon an edition of six thousand copies, but the printers were only willing to undertake half that number. The book was to be an octavo, and for a time the enterprise prospered and all went well. But a busybody, one John Cochlæus, who was at that time in Cologne, by some means or another obtained a hint as to the possible peril. He relates the incident with intense self-complacency, as if it were something to boast of. He says:—
“Having become intimate and familiar with the Cologne printers, lie (Cochlæus)sometimes heard them confidently boast, when in their cups, that, whether the King and Cardinal of England would or not, all England would in a short time be Lutheran. He heard, also, that there were two Englishmen lurking there, skilful in languages, and fluent, whom, however, he never could see or converse with. Calling, therefore, certain printers into his lodging, after they were heated with wine, one of them, in more private discourse, discovered to him the secret by which England was to be drawn over to the side of Luther, namely, that three thousand copies of the Lutheran New Testament, translated into the English language, were in-the press, and already were advanced as far as the letter K, in ordine quarternionem; that the expenses were wholly supplied by English merchants, who were secretly to convey the work, when printed, and to disperse it widely through all England, before the King or the Cardinal could discover or prohibit it.
“Cochlæus being inwardly affected by fear and wonder, disguised his grief, under the appearance of admiration. But another day considering with himself the magnitude of the grievous danger, he cast in mind by what method he might expeditiously obstruct these very wicked attempts. He went, therefore, secretly, to Herman Rinck, a patrician of Cologne, and military knight, familiar both with the Emperor and the King of England, and a Councilor, and disclosed to him the whole affair, as, by means of the wine, he had received it. He, that he might ascertain all things more certainly, sent another person into the house where the work was printing, according to the discovery of Cochlæus, and when he had understood from him that the matter was even so, and that there was great abundance of paper there, he went to the senate, and so brought it about that the printer was interdicted from proceeding further in that work. The two English apostates, snatching away with them the quarto sheets printed, fled by ship going up the Rhine to Worms, where the people were under the full rage of Lutheranism, that there, by another printer, they might complete the work begun.”
Roye found a relief for his vexation in abusing Cochlæus, whom he calls—
“A little, praty, foolish poade,
But although his stature be small,
Yet men say he lacketh no gall,
More venomous than any toad.”
Tyndale probably felt this hindrance to his work ta far more keenly than Roy did, but he was not the man to descend to abuse. He probably closed his lips with a firmer resolve than ever to persevere in spite of all obstacles, and to thus avenge himself upon his adversaries. At Worms it would appear that Tyndale laid aside the quarto edition which had been so rudely interrupted, and that he there began to print an octavo edition of the New Testament. About the spring of 1526 the Testaments were not only ready, but they were in England, and they began at once to be circulated. They there commanded a wholesale price, of thirteen pence per copy, and were retailed at about thirty pence per volume. Of course, it must be remembered that the present value of money is fifteen times more than it was at the period under consideration.
Not only had Cochlæus warned Henry and Wolsey of the intended act of atrocity, but Lee, who was King Henry's almoner, also wrote to England to say what he had heard of Tyndale's doings. He urged the King to persecute these criminals to the utmost, and thus to preserve his kingdom from danger. Henry required but little persuasion to become a persecutor, but the Bishops were determined to make his obedience quite sure. The Bishop of St. Asaph laid the matter before Wolsey, and he called a council of prelates to advise as to what was to be done about these dreadful books. Roye thus represents the discussion in a jingling poem that he published:—
Two priests' servants, named Watkyn and Jeffraye, are supposed to be conversing about the Testaments, and they discourse thus:—
"Jef. But nowe of Standisshe accusacion
Brefly to make declaration,
Thus to the Cardinall he spake:
'Pleaseth yours honorable Grace,
Here is chaunsed a pitious case,
And to the Churche a grett lacke.
The Gospell in mire Englisshe tonge,
Of Jaye men to be red and sonde,
Is nowe kidder come to remayne.
Which many heretykes shall make,
Except yonre Grace some wage take
By yonre authorite hym to restrayne.'
Wat. But what sayde the Cardinall here at
Jef. He spake the wordes of Pilat,
Sayinge, ‘I fynde no fault therin.'
Howe be it, the bisshops assembled,
Amonge theym he examened,
What was best to determyn?
Then answered bisshop Cayphas,
That a grett parte better it was
The Gospell to be condemned;
Lest their vices manyfolde
Shulde be knowen of yonge and olds,
Their estate to be contempned.
The Cardinall then incontinent
Agaynst the Gospell gave judgment,
Saying to brenne he deserved.
Wherto all the bisshoppis cryed,
Answerynge, 'It cannot be delved
He is worthy so to be served.'
Jef: They sett nott by the Gospell a floe:
Diddest thou nott heare whatt villainy
They did vnto the Gospell?
Wat. Why, did they agaynst hym conspyre?
Jef. By my trothe they sett hym a lyre
Openly in London cite.
Wet. Who caused it so to be done?
Jef. In sothe the Bisshoppe of London,
With the Cardinallis authorite:
Which at Paulis crosse ernestly
Denounced it to be heresy
That, the Gospell shuld come to lyght;
Callynge them heretikes execrable
Whiche caused the Gospell venerable
To come unto laye mens syght.
He declared there in his furiousnes,
That he fownde erroures more and les
Above thre thousande in the translation.
Howe be it when all cam to pas,
I dare sage vnable he was
Of one erroure to make probation.”
Tunstal preached at St. Paul's Cross at this burning of the Testament, and yet the people read the book, which continued to be circulated in spite of the priests. Tunstal thereupon further issued an injunction in which he ordered all copies of the Testament to be surrendered to him on pain of excommunication. But although the Archbishop of Canterbury also issued a similar mandate, the books continued to be sold and to be read, although in secret. Nay more, the printers of Antwerp, encouraged by the enormous demand for Testaments that had arisen, afterward printed a large supply upon their own account, and, further, succeeded in smuggling them into England. In sublime ignorance of the law of supply and demand, the Bishops then resolved to purchase these Testaments in order to destroy them. The aged Archbishop of Canterbury expended a sum amounting to nearly ₤1000, at the present value of money, for this purpose, but Tunstal is the chief hero of the incident. Old Hall, the chronicler, relates the event, which, though it occurred later, may be most conveniently referred to here:—
“It happened that one Packington, a merchant and mercer of London, was in Antwerp, and this Packington was a man that highly favored Tyndale, but to the Bishop utterly showed himself to the contrary. The Bishop commenced of the New Testaments, and how he would gladly buy them. Packington said to the Bishop, My lord, I know the Dutchmen and strangers that have bought them of Tyndale and have them here to sell; so that if it be your lordship's pleasure to pay for them I will then assure you to have every book of them that is printed and here unsold.' The Bishop said, Do your diligence and get them; and with all my heart I will pay for them whatsoever they cost you.' Packington came to Tyndale and said, William, I know thou art a poor man, and hast a heap of New Testaments by thee for the which thou hast both endangered thy friends and beggared thyself, and I have now gotten thee a merchant, which with ready money shall dispatch thee of all that thou hast!
Who is the merchant? ‘said Tyndale.
‘The Bishop of London.'
‘Oh, that is because he will burn them,' said Tyndale. Yea, marry,' quoth Packington. I am the gladder,' said Tyndale, for these two benefits shall come thereof; I shall get the money to bring myself out of debt, and the whole world will cry out against the burning of God's Word; and the surplus of the money that shall remain to me shall make me more studious to correct the said New Testament, and so newly print the same once again, and I trust the second will much better like you than ever the first.' And so, forward went the bargain: the Bishop had the books, Packington had the thanks, and Tyndale had the money.”
On 4th May 1530, therefore, at St. Paul's Cross, in the Churchyard, these Testaments were publicly burned. Burnet says: "This burning had such a baleful appearance in it, being generally called a burning of the Word of God, that people from thence concluded there must be a visible contrariety between that book and the doctrines of those who kindled it, by which both their prejudice against the clergy and their desire of reading the New Testament were increased." Men said to one another that the book "was not only faultless, but very well translated, and was devised to be burnt because men should not be able to prove such faults as were at Paul's Cross declared to have been found in it were never found there indeed, but untruly surmised.”
Commenting in after-years upon the carping criticisms that were passed on his work, Tyndale said: "There is not so much as one i therein if it lack a tittle over his head, but they have noted it, and number it unto the ignorant people for an heresy.”