IN 1529, one year after the public burning of his English New Testaments at Paul's Cross, Tyndale sailed from Antwerp for Hamburg, where he arrived in safety, though he had a perilous voyage, and was shipwrecked off the coast of Holland. At Hamburg he met Myles Coverdale, a scholarly man, driven from his home in Cambridge by the harsh laws against those who held the new opinions; we shall hear more of him by and by. It must have been a cheer and comfort to the other friendless exile to meet him, though the news which Coverdale had to bring from home was sad enough to daunt even a stouter heart than that of Tyndale.
It was when all things were against him that we read of David that he "encouraged himself in the Lord, his God." Tyndale had long known God as his "refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble"; he listened to the evil tidings, and then, bating not one jot of heart or hope, turned again to the task to which God had called him, and in which at this time he had a fellow laborer. "Master Coverdale tarried for him," writes Foxe, "and helped him in the translation of the whole five books of Moses, from Easter till December, in the house of a worshipful widow, Mistress Margaret Van Emmerson, a great sweating sickness being the same time in the town." It is possible that Fryth, who was at Hamburg about this time, and who had a good knowledge of Hebrew, also helped in this translation. Only the Book of Genesis was printed in Tyndale's lifetime, but the whole work was preserved, and is very interesting, as being the first attempt to translate any portion of the Old Testament into English from the language in which it was written.
That this work was in progress soon became known in England. Perhaps the translation of the first Book of the Bible may have already been seen there as early as the following year, for we find among the list of books forbidden by the bishops, at a council called by special authority of the king, "the translation also of Scripture corrupted by William Tyndale as well in the Old Testament as in the New," is mentioned. The king, in his proclamation concerning these forbidden books, says that he, as Defender of the faith, which title, you may remember, he had lately received from the pope, was " full loth to suffer such evil seed to be thrown among his people, so to take root that it might overgrow the Catholic faith " in their souls. All such English books were to be "utterly expelled, rejected, and put away out of the hands of his people, and not suffered to go abroad among his subjects."
In this great assembly, much was said on both sides concerning the question whether it might not be the king's duty himself to authorize and appoint certain men to cause the Scripture of God to be translated into the English tongue, and to be communicated to the people";—for you must not forget that Tyndale's translations were forbidden, not only because they contained errors, but more particularly on the ground of their having been done without leave from those in authority. After long discussion, it was decided that the time had not yet come for such a work.
The document is still in existence which deliberately asserts that "the having the whole Scripture in English is not necessary to Christian men; but that, without having any such Scripture, endeavoring themselves to do well, and to apply their minds to take and follow such lessons as the preacher teacheth them, and so learn by his mouth, they may as well edify spiritually in their souls, as if they had the same Scripture in English."
This proclamation further states that the king, having considered the matter," thinketh in his conscience that the divulging of the Scripture at this time in the English tongue to be committed to the people should rather be to their farther confusion and destruction than to the edification of their souls." At the same tine Henry promised to have a faithful translation made, that when his people by their " sober, quiet, meek, and temperate conduct " had so approved themselves in the matter of detesting pernicious books and abhorring heresies and new opinions, " that all fear of misusing the gift of Scripture should be taken away," he might have it in readiness to bestow upon them.
As it is mentioned in this paper that all who were present at the assembly agreed to the condemnation of the forbidden books, and also to the withholding of the Scriptures from the people until a convenient time were come, it is with strange feelings that we see the name of Latimer among them. A letter to the king, written by him at the end of the same year, makes it clear that he, at least, did not give his voice in favor of the decision of the council. In this letter he pleads for Tyndale's translation, saying that it had been "meekly offered to every man, who could and would amend it if there were any fault," and, alluding to the proclamation, assures the king that three or four who were present at the assembly would have had the Scriptures go forth in English, but were overborne by the rest. Then, laying aside all fear, he earnestly entreats the king to see to it that he " may be found a faithful minister of God's gifts, and not a defender of His faith—for He will not have it defended by man or man's power, but by His word only; by the which He hath evermore defended it, and that by a way far above man's power or reason, as all the stories of the Bible make mention." Thus, faithfully and fearlessly, did one man in England dare to write to the most absolute and unscrupulous monarch our country has ever known.
It is a matter in regret, and also a fact which may serve in some degree to explain the determination of the great churchmen to root out, if possible, every remembrance of Tyndale's works from the hearts of the people, that not only does the " Obedience of a Christian Man," the most noteworthy among them, contain unsparing, even violent, attacks upon many things taught and practiced by them, which he showed to be corrupt and contrary to the word of God, but his translations of the Old Testament, as well as the New, were disfigured by glosses, which were often not simple explanatory notes, but contained stinging words of satire.
One or two examples will serve to show how deeply he offended the priests. Over against the words “They blessed Rebekah” (Gen. 24:6060And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her, Thou art our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them. (Genesis 24:60)) he writes, “To bless a man's neighbor is to pray for him, and to wish him good—not to wag two fingers over him." Again, when Baalam asks, “How can I curse whom God hath not cursed?" Tyndale, in his gloss, assures his readers that "The Pope can tell how!”
"The servant of the Lord must not strive." Surely Tyndale had forgotten this word of Scripture when he used his marginal notes thus, as weapons to pierce those who opposed him, instead of meekly seeking to instruct them!
It is pleasant to turn from this side of Tyndale's character, and look at him in his every-day life at Antwerp. An interesting little sketch of this is given us by Foxe, who, after speaking of his diligent travail " over his work, tells us that, " when the Sunday came, then went he to some one merchant's chamber or other, whither came many other merchants; unto them would he read some one parcel of Scripture, the which proceeded so fruitfully, and sweetly, and gently from him, much like to the writing of John the evangelist, that it was a heavenly comfort and joy to the audience to hear him read the Scripture." Thus we see how that love for the very word of God, which was the passion of his life, showed itself even in his voice and manner, as he read it aloud in the land of his exile.
C. P.