Who was William Tyndale?

(Here is inserted in the book a picture of William Tyndale, born about 1484, probably in Gloucestershire, martyred at Filford, near Antwerp, 6th Oct., 1536. In the year 1526 William Tyndale gave to the English-speaking people the first complete printed New Testament. He who can measure what the New Testament has been to the English-speaking peoples, can measure what they owe to William Tyndale. He may well be called "the Apostle of England." On the reverse are facsimiles of Exodus 3:1-8 from Tyndale's Pentateuch printed in 1530 and a page - 2 Cor. 10:1-11 - from Tyndale's New Testament printed in 1534. More than half of our New Testament, even in its latest form, stands as it came from Tyndale's pen. The style, the simplicity, the character and the spirit of the translation are what he made them in his devotion to his labour, and in his dependence on God. Tyndale's version was made from the original Greek, its predecessors having been made only from the Latin.)

Tyndale's Translation

William Tyndale, who gave to the English people in their own tongue the first printed Testament, was born in the year 1484, a year after the birth of Luther, and 100 years after Wycliffe's death. In the University of Oxford, his great delight was to study the Greek Testament of the learned Erasmus, which was published at Basle in 1516 and of which there are several copies extant. He soon equalled, if not outstripped, his teachers in Greek and Latin, and on his removal to Cambridge was joined by the godly Thomas Bilney and the pious and learned John Frith — both afterwards martyred for Christ and the truth's sake. When tutor and chaplain in the house of Sir John Walsh, he had frequent altercations with the ignorant priests, who were excessively annoyed at Tyndale's constant appeal to the Greek Scriptures. Many of them did not even know the alphabet of the language. The illustrious subject of our sketch not only exposed the ignorance of these men, but plainly told them that he would "cause the boy who driveth the plow to know more of the Scriptures" than his ecclesiastical guides, by translating and printing them into the vernacular tongue — the sure death-blow to Papal assumption.

Tyndale, in order that he might devote himself to his great life-work, the translation and printing of the Bible, sought the needed quietness and leisure in the house of Humphrey Monmouth, a rich London merchant, who allowed Tyndale ten pounds a year — a considerable sum in those days. For this offence Monmouth was shortly afterwards committed to the Tower, but after a short detention was liberated. On his trial, he gave the following account of Tyndale's daily life; "He conducted himself as a good priest: he studied most part of the day and night at his book: he would eat not sodden meat by good will, nor drink but small single beer. I never saw him wear linen about him in the space he was with me."

§ 2. Tyndale's.

William Tyndale's Translation of the Pentateuch and Book of Jonah (circ. 1530). The influence of this celebrated Protestant martyr has been chiefly felt in the New Testament. But his vocabulary seems also to have largely entered into the texture of Matthew's Bible, the first of the so-called Authorised Versions. Froude says of Tyndale's Bible, 'It is substantially the Bible with which we are all familiar,' which is certainly true of the New Testament. Besides the Pentateuch and the Book of Jonah, which he issued separately, Tyndale translated what were called 'Epistles,' being selections from the Old Testament, which are appended to his translation of the New Testament. He had little to work with besides the Vulgate and Luther's translation of the Pentateuch, the latter of which appeared in 1523. It is generally agreed that he must have translated from the Hebrew Text. Tyndale was burned in 1536. He is said at the stake to have exclaimed, 'The Lord open the king of England's eyes:' his prayer seems to have been answered the next year by Henry's licence being given to the publication of Matthew's Bible.

TYNDALE. This man made the translation of the scriptures the work of his life. He said he would cause "a boy that driveth the plough" to know more of scripture than the great body of the clergy then knew. In his work there was a great advance inasmuch as after study he was able to translate from both the Hebrew and the Greek. He had to carry on his work abroad, and to change his abode frequently in order to baffle those who sought his life.

England owes a debt of gratitude to William Tyndale. He had been early impressed with the thought that his work was to give to England the Bible in its mother tongue. He had said to his opposers, "I will cause a boy that drives the plough to know more of the scriptures than the pope." With this before him, he set himself to work in earnest. He had to get his translation printed abroad, anywhere he could — sometimes a part in one city and a part in another; concealing it from being seen. While thus engaged he was often in want; yet with the firm conviction that he was doing the work God would have him do, he persevered, and about 1525 his first edition of the New Testament in English was ready. It had to be smuggled into England, but it was gladly received, and eagerly read. This was rapidly followed by other editions which gradually spread all over England, enlightening men's minds as to what was the truth of God, and also as to what was not of God, though it bore the name of religion.

We have already seen the learned men of England in possession of the New Testament in Greek and Latin; but the common people-unless they had Wycliffe's translation- must receive the knowledge of the truth through preachers -such as Bilney, Latimer, and others. William Tyndale, a man chosen of God, translated the Greek into English at Antwerp, and sent thousands of his New Testaments to England, concealed in vessels coming to our ports. Sometimes they were seized and burned, but many escaped detection, and were widely circulated. The whole Bible in the English of that day, translated by Tyndale, with the assistance of Miles Coverdale, appeared in 1535, dedicated to the king, being the first edition of the scriptures published by royal authority. Probably through the influence of Cranmer, Henry ordered the free sale of the Bible, and a copy in Latin and English to be provided for every parish church in the realm, and chained to a pillar or a desk in the choir, that any man might have access to it, and read it. "I rejoice," wrote Cranmer to Cromwell, "to see this day of Reformation now risen in England, since the light of God's word doth shine over it without a cloud."

Persons of eminence, among both the clergy and the laity, ventured to espouse the cause of truth, though the martyrdoms were constantly occurring. This has always been the case. If persecution keep some at a cold selfish distance, it brings the accession of a greater number, through that instinct-in connection with the truth-which impels the human conscience to rise against injustice, and incline to the side of the oppressed. The fires were now kindled all over the country, and edict following edict, with increasing severity, kept them burning. It was death to read a page of the scriptures, death to discuss any article of the faith; death to have in one's possession any of the writings of Luther, Zwingle, or OEcolampadius, death to express a doubt respecting the efficacy of the sacraments, or the authority of the pope. In the year 1536, that good and faithful servant of the Lord, William Tyndale, was strangled and burnt at Vilvordi, near Brussels, for translating the New Testament into English and printing it in 1535.*

William Tyndale, from the valley of the Severn-who afterwards translated the Bible into English-was at this time a student at Oxford. He had the reputation of being an extremely virtuous young man of spotless character, and fond of sacred literature. He obtained the book which was then attracting so much attention, and God used it to the conversion of his soul. He began almost immediately to give public lectures on the gospel of Christ, and the way of salvation through faith in Him, but this being more than Oxford could yet bear, he left, and joined the dear evangelist Bilney at Cambridge.

John Fryth, from Sevenoaks, was distinguished among the students of King's college for the quickness of his understanding, and the integrity of his life. He was brought to the knowledge of Christ by means of Tyndale; and these three young students, completely emancipated from the yoke of Rome by the word of God alone, were amongst the earliest preachers of the doctrines of the Reformation, and ultimately were honoured of God with the crown of martyrdom. It was especially laid on the heart of Tyndale to translate the holy scriptures into the English tongue; but finding no convenience for this blessed work in England, he retired to the continent, and, settling at Antwerp, he there published a translation of the New Testament about the year 1527.

By and by the fierce and bloody Wars of the Roses began, and those in high places got other work to do than persecuting Lollards. During a period of the war when the White Rose of York was in the ascendency, a Lancastrian family under the assumed name of Hutchins, came to reside near Berkley Castle, in Gloucestershire. When the Lancastrian party was in power they resumed their original name, and a son born to them in 1484 was named William Tyndale. The accession of Henry VII. to the throne of England in 1485 put an end to the thirty years of civil war which had wasted the kingdom, and men had time to think of other things than mere brute fighting. Accordingly when young Tyndale grew up he was sent at an early age to the University of Oxford. How men were trained for priests in these days Tyndale himself records. He says, "In the Universities they have ordained that no man shall look at the Scriptures until they be trained in heathen learning eight or nine years, and armed with false principles with which he is clean shut out of the understanding of the Scriptures. And when he taketh his first degree he is sworn that he shall hold none opinions condemned by the Church." Tyndale found nothing to satisfy him in all this "perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth," but his time was not entirely spent in this vain pursuit. Here he became acquainted with the Greek and Latin New Testament, published by Erasmus, at Basle, in 1516. Erasmus had for some time been professor of Greek at Oxford, and had published a book called the Praise of Folly, exposing the evils of the monastic orders; but, timid as he was learned, he had retired to the Continent dismayed at the storm he had raised. Tyndale's acquaintance with the New Testament marked the turning-point in his career. In it he found that which could meet his conscience and satisfy his heart. It was the means of his conversion; through the living Word he was born again. Having learned the truth himself, he began to lecture in public on the book which had been means of his own salvation, that others too might know the Saviour of whom it spoke. But Oxford would have none of that, so he retired to Cambridge. Here he met Thomas Bilney, soon to become a fervent preacher of the Gospel and a martyr for Jesus Christ. For years Bilney had been seeking salvation, and as he knew of no other way he regularly went to the priests � but how shall the blind lead the blind? His confessor prescribed fasts, vigils, masses, and indulgences which cost poor Bilney a great deal of money but gave him no rest. His purse got empty and his conscience knew no peace. At last he began to doubt whether it was not for their own interests that the priests denounced the Greek Testament as the "source of all heresy." Romish doctrines were losing their hold on Bilney; he went to the house where the Testaments were secretly sold, bought one, and with fear and trembling shut himself up in his room to read � "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief." Bilney thought over the words he had read, and as he meditated, the Holy Spirit opened his eyes to the only way of salvation. "Jesus saves. Jesus Christ saves sinners. Jesus saves me," exclaimed Bilney. Now he saw that his fasts and vigils were "destroying instead of saving him," and born from above by the power of the Spirit of God, Bilney had turned from the study of law to study the New Testament and learn of Jesus.

Tyndale, however, after six months, had to leave the house of his friend and patron and betake himself to Germany, where he hoped to prosecute his work unmolested; this was in 1523. From Hamburg he went on to Wittenberg, where it is said he met Luther, and was immensely helped by his intercourse with the great Reformer. The zeal, piety, and devotion to the Word of God so eminently characteristic of the German champion of the Word of God, were as distinctly impressed on the illustrious Englishman. Tyndale, however, seems to have regarded Luther as in some respects a master in Bible translation, as he used the Reformer's German translation, and copied even the order in which the books appeared, first the New Testament, then the earlier books, as the Pentateuch, Jonah, etc. It may here be remarked as an interesting circumstance that the very copy of the Hebrew Bible dated 1494, and from which Luther made his German translation is deposited in the royal library at Berlin.

The English New Testament is said to have been finished in Wittenberg, but printed in Worms; and then, through the agency of a merchant named Packington, the stock was sold for a good price to the Bishop of London for the express purpose on his part of being burned. Previous to the completion of the New Testament, the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, being first printed, were sent over to England to the care of Tyndale's constant friend, Monmouth, which brought that worthy man into some trouble with the authorities.

With the money thus obtained from the Bishop, aided by Monmouth's yearly donation of £10, Tyndale set about preparing a new edition of the Testament. The first entire English New Testament ever printed and published appeared in the year 1526, but nearly all were burned at St. Paul's Cross; and it was made an offence punishable by fine, imprisonment, and even death were a copy found in anyone's possession. The year following 500 were secretly disposed of in England and Scotland, being the fourth edition within a year. Tonstall (the kindly-disposed bishop, who, to inflict as little pain as possible, bought the Testaments) was astonished to find that, in spite of the most rigorous search, the Books still found their way into England. On inquiry, he found that the clever Dutch printers reprinted the Testament, expecting that they would also be bought. Eight years after (1534) a new and more perfect edition of Tyndale's New Testament appeared, in the introduction to which the translator says: "I have weeded out of it many faults which the lack of help at the beginning and oversight did sow therein."

We next find our ardent Bible translator, whom no difficulties could overcome, at Antwerp, assisted by his friend and son in the faith, John Frith, diligently translating the Old Testament from the Hebrew. But the bishops and clergy thirsted for his blood, and the priests Gabriel, Donne, and Phillips were employed to betray him, with, it is said, the connivance of Henry VIII. We are satisfied, however, that the authorities of England were mainly responsible for Tyndale's cruel death, as the priests named were well rewarded for the impious deed. Efforts were made in England, and abroad by the English merchants in Antwerp, by whom Tyndale was greatly beloved, and elsewhere to save him. The martyr was first confined in the castle of Filford, about 20 miles from Antwerp. He was taken from prison on Friday, October 6th, 1536, fastened to the stake, strangled, and his body burned to ashes. The fervent prayer of the martyred Tyndale, when bound to the stake, "Lord, open the King of England's eyes," was about to be answered shortly. The way and means manifested God's sovereign disposal of events and persons; for it is the resource and stay of faith at all times and under all circumstances "that the Lord reigneth." The memory of William Tyndale will be held in everlasting remembrance.

Coverdale's Translation.