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04 - History of the English Bible by John Brown · History of the English Bible

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Speaker 1: Chapter three of the History of the English Bible by
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Speaker 1: John Brown. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
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Speaker 1: Read by Marianne Chapter three Tyndale's printed translation in English
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Speaker 1: Bible Translation. The next great name after John Wickliffe's is
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Speaker 1: that of William Tyndale. And when we are told that
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Speaker 1: the later version entirely supplanted the earlier, the question arises,
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Speaker 1: why was this? We have seen that through more than
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Speaker 1: a hundred years, Wickcliff's translation rendered noble service to English Christianity,
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Speaker 1: Why then was it superseded? The answer to this question
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Speaker 1: lies on the surface. For one thing. Through those hundred years,
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Speaker 1: the language had been undergoing a process of serious change,
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Speaker 1: as may be seen at once when Wickcliff's version and
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Speaker 1: Tyndale's are placed side by side. It had come about
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Speaker 1: that the earlier could only with difficulty be understood by
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Speaker 1: the men of the later generation. Then, too, Wickliff's version
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Speaker 1: had been translated not from the original Greek in which
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Speaker 1: the New Testament was first written, but from the Latin Vulgate.
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Speaker 1: In other words, it was merely a translation from a translation.
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Speaker 1: Wickcliffe had no alternative, for, even had he had the
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Speaker 1: necessary Greek learning, which he had not, There were no
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Speaker 1: Greek manuscripts of the New Testament to be had in
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Speaker 1: England at the time. For centuries, the only available text
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Speaker 1: of the Scriptures for Europe was the recension made by
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Speaker 1: Jerome of the New Testament, largely taken from Old Latin,
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Speaker 1: and of the Old Testament from the Greek Septuagant, the
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Speaker 1: one completed in eighty three eighty five and the other
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Speaker 1: in eighty four o five. Gradually this gained ground through
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Speaker 1: the growing influence of the Church of Rome and came
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Speaker 1: to be called the Vulgate or Common Translation. But while
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Speaker 1: this was practically the only available book from which Wickcliffe
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Speaker 1: could derive his translation, within seventy years of his death,
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Speaker 1: the situation was greatly changed. In fourteen fifty three, the
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Speaker 1: Greek city of Constantinople was besieged and taken by the Turks.
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Speaker 1: It is difficult for us at this distance of time
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Speaker 1: to realize the terror with which this calamity struck the
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Speaker 1: heart of Europe. It seemed like the death knell of Christendom.
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Speaker 1: Yet to the Christian Scriptures it worked unexpected gain, for
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Speaker 1: it brought to Italy the literary wealth of Greece. Greek
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Speaker 1: exiles fleeing from Constantinople, brought their Greek manuscripts and learning
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Speaker 1: with them. Nicholas the Fifth, thoroughly penetrated with the spirit
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Speaker 1: of the new learning, seized the opportunity thus presented. He
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Speaker 1: eagerly gathered manuscripts and employed numerous transcribers and translators within
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Speaker 1: the Vatican, so that when he died in fourteen fifty five,
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Speaker 1: he left behind him a library of five thousand volumes, which,
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Speaker 1: before the days of printing, was reckoned. A vast collection.
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Speaker 1: Twenty six years later, that which was the glory of
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Speaker 1: that great Vatican library, the Codex Vaticanus of the fourth century,
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Speaker 1: the oldest villain manuscript of the scriptures in existence, was added. Thus,
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Speaker 1: manuscripts to work from, some of them very ancient, were
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Speaker 1: available for translation as never before then too. The very
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Speaker 1: year after the fall of Constantinople, the printing press, with
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Speaker 1: all its possibilities, came into existence. That year it passed
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Speaker 1: beyond block books to movable types, the earliest specimen of
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Speaker 1: printing in this way known being an indulgence of Nicholas
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Speaker 1: the Fifth, bearing date November fifteenth, fourteen fifty four. The
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Speaker 1: next step in the process of consequence to us now
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Speaker 1: was the use of manuscripts and printing press for the
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Speaker 1: production of the New Testament in Greek. This was the
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Speaker 1: work of Erasmus of Rotterdam, and was produced in fifteen
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Speaker 1: sixteen at Basel in connection with Froben, the celebrated printer
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Speaker 1: in that city, a second edition being issued a year
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Speaker 1: or two later. The text of this first printed Greek
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Speaker 1: Testament is of no great critical value as a text,
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Speaker 1: but it brought to light the important fact that the Vulgate,
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Speaker 1: the Bible of the Church, was not only a translation
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Speaker 1: of translation, but that in places it was an erroneous document.
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Speaker 1: On this a recent writer has said that a shock
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Speaker 1: was thus given to the credit of the clergy in
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Speaker 1: the province of literature, equal to that which was given
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Speaker 1: to the province of science by the astronomical discoveries of
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Speaker 1: the seventeenth century. Thus, by successive stages, steps had been
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Speaker 1: taken towards the production of a better Bible, and a
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Speaker 1: Bible in greater numbers than was ever possible by mere
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Speaker 1: handwriting in the generations before. Thus the hour had come
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Speaker 1: for a new translation of the scriptures into the English
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Speaker 1: tongue of the sixteenth century. And with the hour came
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Speaker 1: also the man. That man was William Tindall. Of his
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Speaker 1: early life we know but little beyond the fact that
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Speaker 1: the evidence is in favor of Melksham Court, in the
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Speaker 1: parish of Stinchcombe in Gloucestershire, being the home of his family,
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Speaker 1: and that he was educated at Oxford, where Greek had
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Speaker 1: first begun to be publicly taught in the university by
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Speaker 1: Grossn and Lynne on their return from Italy. From fifteen
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Speaker 1: oh nine to fifteen fourteen, Erasmus was professor of Greek
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Speaker 1: at Cambridge, and it has been thought that the fame
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Speaker 1: of his lectures drew Tyndall to that university also about
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Speaker 1: the year fifteen ten. This, however, as doctor Addis Wright
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Speaker 1: has pointed out, is not now so probable, since the
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Speaker 1: discovery of an entry in the Oxford Register which seems
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Speaker 1: to indicate that Tyndale took his MAA Degree in the
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Speaker 1: university in fifteen fifteen. What we next know of him
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Speaker 1: is that in fifteen twenty one he became tutor in
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Speaker 1: the family of Sir John Walsh at the manor house
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Speaker 1: of Old Sodbury in Gloucestershire. At Sir John's table there
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Speaker 1: went forward many a brisk argument between the tutor and
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Speaker 1: diverse great beneficed men as abbots, deans, archdeacons, and other divers,
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Speaker 1: doctors and learned men. As they varied in opinion and judgment,
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Speaker 1: Tyndale would show them on the book the places by
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Speaker 1: open and manifest scripture, a process which to them proved distasteful.
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Speaker 1: And in the continuance thereof these beneficed doctors waxed weary,
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Speaker 1: and bear a secret grudge in their hearts against Master Tyndall.
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Speaker 1: On a day long remembered one of them, being sore
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Speaker 1: pressed in argument, said we were better without God's law
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Speaker 1: than the popes. Whereupon Tyndal defied the Pope in all
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Speaker 1: his works, and looking earnestly at his opponent, went on
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Speaker 1: to say, if God spare my life ere many years,
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Speaker 1: I will cause a boy that driveth the plow shall
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Speaker 1: know more of the scriptures than thou doest. It may
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Speaker 1: be that in its utterance of his Tyndale had in
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Speaker 1: mind the vivid words which Erasmus had written in the
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Speaker 1: preface to the Greek Testament of fifteen sixteen. He had
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Speaker 1: come to know. I would, said Erasmus, that all private
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Speaker 1: women should read the Gospel and Paul's epistles, And I
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Speaker 1: wish that they were translated into all languages, that they
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Speaker 1: may be read and known not only by the Scotch
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Speaker 1: and Irish, but also by the Turks and Saracens. Let
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Speaker 1: it be that many would smile, yet some would receive it.
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Speaker 1: I would that the husbandman at the plow should sing
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Speaker 1: something from it, hence that the weaver at his loom
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Speaker 1: should sing something from Hence that the traveler might beguile
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Speaker 1: the weariness of his journey by narrations of this kind. Thus,
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Speaker 1: one living word spoken leads to another, and living words
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Speaker 1: to living deeds. Tyndal had come to think that there
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Speaker 1: is no security for the permanent spiritual enlightenment of a
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Speaker 1: people except their natural intelligence is guided by the revealed
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Speaker 1: truth of God, which thing says. He only move me
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Speaker 1: to translate the New Testament, because I had perceived by
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Speaker 1: experience how it was impossible to establish the lay people
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Speaker 1: in any truth, except the scriptures were plainly laid before
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Speaker 1: them in their own mother tongue, that they might see
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Speaker 1: the process, order and meaning of the text. For else,
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Speaker 1: whatsoever truth is taught them, these enemies of all truth
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Speaker 1: quench it again. It is clear that the production of
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Speaker 1: a Bible in the changed English of his time had
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Speaker 1: become something of a purpose in Tyndale's mind. But he
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Speaker 1: soon found that in Gloucestershire there was neither the necessary
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Speaker 1: quiet nor freedom, and he determined to make his way
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Speaker 1: to London and secure the help of Tonstall, the Bishop,
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Speaker 1: for he had heard Erasmus praise him exceedingly for his
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Speaker 1: great learning. But he met with but a cold reception
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Speaker 1: when he applied for a place in his lordship's service.
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Speaker 1: The Bishop had more, he said, than he could well sustain,
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Speaker 1: and he advised Tyndale to seek somewhere else in London.
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Speaker 1: So he lingered on with hope, deferred nearly a year,
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Speaker 1: but understood at last not only that there was no
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Speaker 1: room in my Lord of London's palace to translate the
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Speaker 1: New Testament, but also that there was no place to
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Speaker 1: do it in all England, as experience doth now openly declare.
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Speaker 1: This was written in a preface to the Book of Genesis,
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Speaker 1: which he issued in fifteen thirty, and describes his state
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Speaker 1: of mind. In fifteen twenty four. Resolving to leave England,
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Speaker 1: Tyndale sailed over to Hamburg, in the month of May,
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Speaker 1: and appears to have been in the same city in
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Speaker 1: the early spring of the following year, during which time
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Speaker 1: he was engaged in the work of translation. Later, in
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Speaker 1: fifteen twenty five, we find him in Cologne, where his
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Speaker 1: New Testament was being secretly printed at the press of
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Speaker 1: Peter Quintal. Three thousand copies of the first ten sheets
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Speaker 1: A through K had been printed off when the secret
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Speaker 1: oozed out through the intervention of Johann Dobnik, better known
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Speaker 1: as Cochlaeus. This man was living in exile in Cologne
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Speaker 1: and being engaged in literary labors. He became intimate with
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Speaker 1: the printers of the city and learned from them in
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Speaker 1: their cups that there was something going on of which
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Speaker 1: they knew, which would soon turn England Lutheran. The expense,
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Speaker 1: they said, was being met by English merchants who had
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Speaker 1: engaged to convey the work over into England and spread
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Speaker 1: it widely in the country. On finding out this secret,
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Speaker 1: Cochleius lost no time in revealing the plot to Hermann Rinck,
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Speaker 1: a nobleman of Cologne well known to Henry the eighth
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Speaker 1: and the Emperor Charles the fifth, and having satisfied himself
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Speaker 1: of the truth of this report, applied to the Senate
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Speaker 1: and obtained an interdict of the work. Finding that their
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Speaker 1: secret was out, Tyndale and his assistant William Roy, flew
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Speaker 1: up the Rhine with all the haste they could to
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Speaker 1: the city of Worms, carrying the three thousand copies of
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Speaker 1: the first ten sheets of the book with them. What
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Speaker 1: became of that first edition printed in quarto, whether it
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Speaker 1: was completed or not, is not quite clear. The probability
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Speaker 1: is that it was three thousand copies being printed at
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Speaker 1: Worms by Peter Schauffeur in fifteen twenty five, But before
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Speaker 1: it was completed, Tyndale changed his plan and commenced to
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Speaker 1: print an octavo edition of his New Testament, the quarto
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Speaker 1: edition being completed. After the printing of this of that
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Speaker 1: first quarto edition, a precious fragment was discovered in eighteen
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Speaker 1: thirty four, containing the prologue and the Gospel of Matthew
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Speaker 1: as far as the twenty second chapter. It is now
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Speaker 1: in the Grenville Library of the British US Museum, number
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Speaker 1: twelve thousand, one hundred and seventy nine and consists of
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Speaker 1: twenty one leaves going to the end of sheet h
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Speaker 1: and ending with the words friend, how camest thou in
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Speaker 1: hither and Matthew Chapter twenty two, verse twelve. It has
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Speaker 1: been photolithographed with an introduction by mister Arbor, of the
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Speaker 1: Octavo edition printed at Worms by Peter Schauffeur fifteen twenty
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Speaker 1: five to six. Only two copies are known to be
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Speaker 1: in existence. One of these is preserved in the library
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Speaker 1: of the Baptist College at Bristol. It wants the title
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Speaker 1: page and prologue, probably about eight leaves, the others in
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Speaker 1: Saint Paul's Cathedral library, wanting probably seventy eight leaves. There
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Speaker 1: is a lithograph reproduction in the Ryelands Library, one of
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Speaker 1: six copies printed on vellum made for the Bristol copy
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Speaker 1: by Francis Frye in eighteen sixty two. The Cathedral copy,
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Speaker 1: lent by the Dean and chapter for the purpose was
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Speaker 1: shown in the Caxton Exhibition of eighteen seventy seven. The
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Speaker 1: Testaments reached England some time in the spring of fifteen
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Speaker 1: twenty six, and everything possible was done to prevent the
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Speaker 1: entrance of the forbidden books and to destroy those which
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Speaker 1: did come in. Many copies were bought up for large
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Speaker 1: sums of money, but this was futile work in the
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Speaker 1: way of destruction, for the money thus obtained only set
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Speaker 1: more printers at work, and we find that as many
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Speaker 1: as three pirated editions were issued by Antwerp printers in
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Speaker 1: fifteen twenty six and the two following years. This English
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Speaker 1: New Testament was the great event of the time. It
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Speaker 1: found its way into England in cornships and bales of merchandise,
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Speaker 1: and was mysteriously carried into the country far and near.
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Speaker 1: One of the most active agents in their distribution was
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Speaker 1: Simon Fish, author of the Supplicacian for the Beggars, then
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Speaker 1: living near the White Friars. The Bishop of Saint asp
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Speaker 1: seems to have been first to call Cardinal Wolsey's attention
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Speaker 1: to the contrabrand trade, thus being carried on. The Cardinal, however,
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Speaker 1: was disposed to make light of the matter, but the
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Speaker 1: Bishop of London was urgent that steps should be taken
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Speaker 1: to arrest the movement, and orders were given that the
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Speaker 1: book should be burnt wherever found, to make the condemnation
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Speaker 1: the more impressive. It was further ordained that there should
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Speaker 1: be a public burning in Saint Paul's Cathedral to follow
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Speaker 1: a sermon by the Bishop of Rochester of Paul's Cross
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Speaker 1: on the fourth of May fifteen thirty. Accordingly, a procession
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Speaker 1: was formed from the fleet prison to the cathedral. The
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Speaker 1: warden of the fleet was there, and the night Marshal
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Speaker 1: and the tipstaffs and all the company they could make
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Speaker 1: with bills and glides. In the midst of these officials
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Speaker 1: there marched six men in penitential dress, bearing faggots and
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Speaker 1: lighted tapers. The cathedral was already crowded when they arrived,
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Speaker 1: and Cardinal Wolsey is, supported on each side by bishops, priors, abbots,
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Speaker 1: chaplains and spiritual doctors, sat enthroned in the nave on
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Speaker 1: a raised platform. Opposite the platform, over the north door
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Speaker 1: was the far famed Roode of Northern and at the
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Speaker 1: foot of the rood, inside the rail, a fire was burning,
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Speaker 1: and round the fire were several baskets filled with the Testaments.
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Speaker 1: The signal being given, the night Marshal led the six
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Speaker 1: prisoners three times round the blazing pile. They casting in
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Speaker 1: more fagots as they passed. Then the testaments were heaped
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Speaker 1: on the top of the fagots and went up in flames.
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Speaker 1: Nor was this the only scene of the kind in
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Speaker 1: those troubled days, As Fox in vivid narrative has told us,
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Speaker 1: among those who received Tyndale's Testaments in England was Thomas Garrett,
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Speaker 1: curate of All Hallow's Cheapside. Wolsey searched for him in
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Speaker 1: all London, but found he had gone to Oxford to
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Speaker 1: make sale of the books to such as he knew
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Speaker 1: to be lovers of the Gospel. He was apprehended, but,
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Speaker 1: escaping from custody, made his way to his friend Anthony d'laber,
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Speaker 1: who has told us the story, with deep sighs and
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Speaker 1: plenty of tears. He prayed me the Laborites to help
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Speaker 1: to convey him away, and so he cast off his
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Speaker 1: hood and his gown, wherein he came to me and
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Speaker 1: desired me to give him a coat with sleeves, that
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Speaker 1: thus disguised, he might make his way to Germany. Then kneeled,
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Speaker 1: we both down together on our knees, lifting up our
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Speaker 1: hearts to God, our heavenly Father, desiring him, with plenty
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Speaker 1: of tears, so to conduct and prosper him in his journey,
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Speaker 1: that he might well escape the danger of his enemies.
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Speaker 1: And then we embraced and kissed one the other, and
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Speaker 1: so he departed. When he was gone, I straightway did
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Speaker 1: shut my chamber door, and went into my study, and
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Speaker 1: took the New Testament in my hands, kneeled down on
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Speaker 1: my knees, and with many a deep sigh and salt tear,
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Speaker 1: I did, with much deliberation, read over the tenth chapter
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Speaker 1: of Matthew's Gospel. And when I had done so, with
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Speaker 1: fervent prayer, I did commit unto God our dearly beloved
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Speaker 1: brother Garrett, and also that he would endure his tender
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Speaker 1: and lately born little flock in Oxford with heavenly strength.
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Speaker 1: But Garrett was seized and brought back to Oxford. Then
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Speaker 1: search went on, and discoveries were made of hidden books,
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Speaker 1: even in Cardinal Wolsey's own college, and it turned out
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Speaker 1: that the lately born flock was not equal to the strain.
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Speaker 1: The hidden books were collected, a great fire was publicly
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Speaker 1: kindled at Carfax, and Garrett and Dalaber and others who
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Speaker 1: in after days were to take part in the Reformation
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Speaker 1: were compelled as part of their penance, to cast the
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Speaker 1: gathered books into the fire. Such was the fate of
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Speaker 1: Tyndall's New Testaments. When first introduced into his own University
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Speaker 1: of Oxford. Meantime, while all this was going on at home,
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Speaker 1: Tyndale himself was at work a broad bent on producing
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Speaker 1: a translation of the Old Testament as well as the New.
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Speaker 1: Devoting himself to the study of Hebrew, he went in
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Speaker 1: fifteen twenty seven to Marburg in Hesse, where he published
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Speaker 1: his two most important controversial works. And what more concerns
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Speaker 1: us year is he also published the first part of
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Speaker 1: the Old Testament in English. Early in fifteen thirty he
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Speaker 1: sent forth his version of the Penttok, made direct from
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Speaker 1: the original Hebrew, with the aid of Luther's German version.
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Speaker 1: Some parts of this work were printed in black letter,
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Speaker 1: and others in Roman type, and the book is memorable
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Speaker 1: as being the first part of the Old Testament ever
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Speaker 1: printed in English. It has been said of this little
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Speaker 1: volume that it ranks second to the New Testament of
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Speaker 1: fifteen twenty five, and is no less important as a
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Speaker 1: monument of the English language and as the basis of
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Speaker 1: all subsequent English versions. The colophon at the end of
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Speaker 1: Genesis alone gives name and place of printer, and reads
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Speaker 1: thus and printed at Marlborough anglic Marburg in the land
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Speaker 1: of Hesse by me Hans Luft the year of our
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Speaker 1: Lord fifteen hundred and thirty the seventeenth day of January
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Speaker 1: in the March of Numbers, Chapter thirty two, verse eighteen,
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Speaker 1: How shall I curse whom God cursed? Not? Tindal printed
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Speaker 1: the well known comment the Pope can tell how several
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Speaker 1: copies of this version of the Penttalk are in existence,
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Speaker 1: but only one, the one in the Grenville Library imperfect condition.
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Speaker 1: There was a second edition in fifteen thirty four. In
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Speaker 1: fifteen thirty one, Tyndale printed at Antwerp his translation of
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Speaker 1: the Book of Jonah, to which he appended an interesting prolog.
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Speaker 1: A unique copy of this long lost work, which was
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Speaker 1: discovered in eighteen sixty one by Lord Arthur Hervey, is
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Speaker 1: now in the British Museum. From fifteen thirty three, if
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Speaker 1: not earlier, till his arrest in fifteen thirty five, Tindall
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Speaker 1: resided in Antwerp, where in November of fifteen thirty four
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Speaker 1: he published the first revision of his Testament in Octavo.
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Speaker 1: In this revised edition there is a prolog to the
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Speaker 1: Epistle of the Romans extending to thirty four pages, which,
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Speaker 1: though only appearing now had been written in fifteen twenty six,
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Speaker 1: after the issue of the first edition. This prologue was
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Speaker 1: also printed in a separate form, the only surviving copy
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Speaker 1: being found in the Bodleian Library. Two other revisions, also
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Speaker 1: of the Octavio edition of His Testament, were made in
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Speaker 1: fifteen thirty five and fifteen thirty six by Tyndal himself.
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Speaker 1: The first of these is entitled The New Testament Diligently
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Speaker 1: Corrected and Compared with the Greek by William Tyndale, and
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Speaker 1: finished in the year of Our Lord fifteen hundred and
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Speaker 1: thirty five. No mention is made of place or printer,
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Speaker 1: but it is thought to be from the press of
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Speaker 1: Hans van Ruimanda at Antwerp. The last revision is also
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Speaker 1: in Octavo and bears as printer's mark the two letters
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Speaker 1: g H, which the late Henry Bradshaw recognized as the
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Speaker 1: initials of the Antwerp publisher Godfrey vander Hegen. The printer
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Speaker 1: he frequently employed was Martin Emperor de Kaiser, who was
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Speaker 1: probably therefore the printer of this last revision. The years
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Speaker 1: of Tyndall's life at Antwerp were years of great literary activity.
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Speaker 1: It was here he published a revision of his translation
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Speaker 1: of the Pentatoc with a new preface, some changes being
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Speaker 1: made in the Book of Genesis. Even during his imprisonment
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Speaker 1: of sixteen months in the fortress of Vilvoorde, which commenced
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Speaker 1: on May fifteen thirty five, he was by no means idle.
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Speaker 1: In a touching letter to the governor, the Marquis of
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Speaker 1: began Zoom, in which he petitioned for warmer clothing. He
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Speaker 1: asked also for a Hebrew Bible, grammar and dictionary. It
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Speaker 1: is conjectured also that during this same imprisonment he finished
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Speaker 1: a translation of the books of the Old Testament from
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Speaker 1: Joshua to Second Chronicles inclusive. There is good reason also
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Speaker 1: for thinking that this part of his work reappeared in
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Speaker 1: Matthew's Bible of fifteen thirty seven, and it has been
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Speaker 1: said that Matthew is a pseudonym and perhaps stands for
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Speaker 1: John Rogers, Tindell's friend. So far as the original text
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Speaker 1: was concerned, he was limited to the Greek New Testament
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Speaker 1: of fifteen sixteen. The manuscript's arrestments used for that, five
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Speaker 1: in number, are still at Basel, and not one of
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Speaker 1: them is ancient. The most valuable of the five being
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Speaker 1: one written in the tenth century. That followed entirely in
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Speaker 1: the translation of the Gospels was one written as late
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Speaker 1: as the fifteenth century. But while Tyndale no more than
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Speaker 1: other men could go before his time in such matters,
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Speaker 1: to him, as doctor Rustcott has truly said, more than
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Speaker 1: to any other man, it has been allowed to give
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Speaker 1: its characteristic shape to our English Bible. To the same purport,
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Speaker 1: the compilers of the valuable Historical Catalog of the Bible
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Speaker 1: Society have noted it as remarkable to what an extent
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Speaker 1: the first printed English Testament fixed the phraseology of all
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Speaker 1: its successors. Even in the revised version of eighteen eighty one,
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Speaker 1: it has been calculated that at least eighty percent of
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Speaker 1: the words stad precisely as they stood in Tyndal's Testament
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Speaker 1: of fifteen twenty five. It has also been noted as
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Speaker 1: matter of surprise that there is so little difference between
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Speaker 1: the English of fifteen twenty five and that of the
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Speaker 1: ordinary Bibles. For in the Gospel of Mark and the
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Speaker 1: Epistle to the Hebrews, there are not more than eighty
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Speaker 1: words which are not found in the Authorized version of
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Speaker 1: sixteen eleven. That is, there are not more than four
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Speaker 1: strangers in every thousand words. Sometimes a change made from
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Speaker 1: Tyndal was a change decidedly for the worse, as in
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Speaker 1: the case of Saint John, Chapter ten, verse sixteen, where
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Speaker 1: there shall be one flock was altered to one fold,
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Speaker 1: a change which has been set right in the revised
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Speaker 1: version of eighteen eighty one. No doubt, changes which have
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Speaker 1: been improvements have been made by those who followed Tyndale,
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Speaker 1: But the plan and spirit of the work are his.
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Speaker 1: To him, men are indebted more than they realize for
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Speaker 1: melodious phrases and happy terms of expressions, such as singing
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Speaker 1: and making melody in your hearts. In him we live
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Speaker 1: and move, and have our being turned to flight the
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Speaker 1: armies of the alien. In his account of the production
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Speaker 1: of the English Bible, Proud the historian is inaccurate in
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Speaker 1: his details, but he expresses the calm judgment of those
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Speaker 1: who know when he speaks as follows of the translation itself.
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Speaker 1: Though since that time it has been many times revised
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Speaker 1: and altered, we may say that it is substantially the
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Speaker 1: Bible with which we are familiar. The peculiar genius, if
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Speaker 1: such a word may be permitted, which breathes through it.
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Speaker 1: The mingled tenderness and majesty, the saxon simplicity, the perternatural grandeur, unequaled,
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Speaker 1: unapproached in attempted improvements of modern scholars, are all here
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Speaker 1: and bear the impress of the mind of one man,
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Speaker 1: William Tyndale, Lying while engaged in that great office, under
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Speaker 1: the shadow of death, the sword above his head, and
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Speaker 1: ready at any moment to fall, He worked under circumstances alone,
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Speaker 1: perhaps truly worthy of the task which was laid upon him.
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Speaker 1: His spirit, as it were, divorced from the world, moved
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Speaker 1: in a pure element than common air. While living at Antwerp,
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Speaker 1: Tyndale lodged in the house of Thomas Points, an Englishman
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Speaker 1: who kept there a house of English merchants. An informer
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Speaker 1: of the name of Phillips, having satisfied himself of Tyndale's identity,
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Speaker 1: betrayed him to the authorities at Brussels, and so he
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Speaker 1: came within the jurisdiction of the Emperor Charles the Fifth,
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Speaker 1: Arrested in the spring of fifteen thirty five and taken
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Speaker 1: to the fortress prison of Villevorde. He remained in captivity
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Speaker 1: nearly a year and a half. Then In the October
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Speaker 1: of fifteen thirty six, his case came up for judgment
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Speaker 1: at Augsburg Assembly, and there by virtue of the Emperor's decree,
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Speaker 1: he was condemned to die. On Friday, the sixth of October,
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Speaker 1: after seventeen months imprisonment, he was led to the scaffold,
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Speaker 1: where he was first strangled and then burnt. Like many
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Speaker 1: who have lived to serve their generation, for sixteen years
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Speaker 1: during which he had plied his work, he had gone
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Speaker 1: through sorrowful experiences in modest, manly way, and speaking only
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Speaker 1: in self defense, he refers to these my pains therein
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Speaker 1: taken my poverty, my exile out of my own natural country,
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Speaker 1: and bitter absence from my friends, my hunger, my thirst,
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Speaker 1: my cold, the great danger wherewith I am everywhere encompassed,
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Speaker 1: and finally, other hard and sharp fighting. I endured by
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Speaker 1: reason that I hoped with my labors to do honor
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Speaker 1: to God, true service to my Prince, and pleasure to
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Speaker 1: his commons. But now his fiadel Rosa had come to
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Speaker 1: its end, and his prayer, like that of his master,
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Speaker 1: was for those who had wronged him. His last thought
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Speaker 1: was for the fatherland he had left so long and
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Speaker 1: loved so well, Lord cried, he open the King of
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Speaker 1: England's eyes. End of Chapter three,