SECTION VII.

TYNDALE'S PROGRESS IN THE OLD TESTAMENT-PRACTICE OF PRELATESSTATE OF ENGLAND-WOLSEY'S FINAL RUIN, SICKNESS, DEATH-PERSECUTION GOES ON-KING AND PRELATES DENOUNCE THE SCRIPTURESLATIMER'S BOLD REMONSTRANCE-NEW TESTAMENTS BURNT-ANOTHER, THE SIXTH EDITION-VIGOROUS IMPORTATION-DEATH OF 8. FYSHE.

We have come to a more noted period in our Translator's eventful life. From the variety and importance of his publications which had now appeared in print, it is evident that the past and the present had been years of great and incessant activity on his part; nor were his opponents less active. The bench of Bishops, now headed by the civil power, were firmly leagued together, and arrayed against him. Considering all that Tyndale already knew, it is quite apparent from his writings, that he had, long before this time, been prepared in spirit for martyrdom. Resolved to tell the whole truth, and, as far as he knew, nothing but the truth, his path lay right before him. When pressed out of measure, he might and did seek for quiet and safety, that he might pursue his work; but he was of one mind--and no peril, no prospect of danger, could turn him. Depending on the sword of the Spirit for success, and feeling, as he had translated, that "the wrath of the God of heaven appeareth against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who withhold the truth in unrighteousness," he must have resolved to suppress nothing, or sooner "die upon his shield," a better than that of the ancient warrior, because the shield of faith.

Tyndale's translations of the five books of Moses were soon in circulation through his native country. His treatise entitled "The Practice of Prelates," was also this year in England; and his "Answer to the Dialogue of Sir Thomas More," will follow. After disposing of Wolsey and the prelates in general, he had taken up the production of Wolsey's successor in office. Two Lords Chancellor against one poor expatriated Exile, might seem to be fearful odds, but time will show who gained the victory.

That portion of the Sacred Volume now sent into England, has frequently been referred to by previous authors, as being

VOL. I.

"the first edition of Tyndale's Pentateuch;" but that this is incorrect, will at once appear from the following collation.

Genesis, in black letter, 76 leaves, with this colophon at the end,-" Emprented at Marlborow, in the land of Hesse, by me, Hans Luft, the yere of our Lorde, M.D.XXX., the xvii dayes of Januarii." Exodus, in roman letter, 76 leaves; Leviticus, roman letter, 52 leaves; Numbers, in black letter, 67 leaves; Deuteronomy, in roman letter, 63 leaves. There is a separate title and a prologue to each book; at the end of Genesis, Exodus, and Deuteronomy, and at the beginning of Numbers, are tables expounding certain words. There are a few notes in the margins, and throughout the whole, ten wooden cuts. There is no colophon or date, except that already given, attached to Genesis. From all this, but especially from inspection, it is evident that these five books were printed at separate presses; Genesis for certain, and probably Numbers, at Marburg. Deuteronomy, and for aught we know, Exodus and Leviticus, at Hamburgh. That they were circulated at first, separately, in England, is evident, because they were thus distinctly denounced; first, Genesis and Deuteronomy, and then the whole five books, but still distinctly noted. At the same time, when the whole were finished, Tyndale meant them to be bound together, as he then printed a general preface, which may have led to the popular description of "the Pentateuch, first edition."

The rarity of these five books, entire, is almost equal to that of the first octavo New Testament of 1525. Only one perfect copy is known to exist, which once belonged to Mr. Wilkinson, and is now in the library of the Right Hon. Thomas Grenville. The next best copy, as it has been completed, in the finest fac-simile, from the preceding, once belonged to Mr. Tutet. It was purchased at the sale of his books, by the late Mr. Heber, and from his collection by Mr. Grenville; who only seems to have parted with it, on obtaining his present unique perfect book. We know not what the perfect copy cost, but this second was advertised for sale in 1836, by Thorpe of London, at fifty guineas. Little did Tyndale imagine that, at the distance of more than three centuries, the labour of his hands would be so highly estimated.

Besides these two, all the other copies known to exist, are incomplete. That in the Museum at Bristol, wants the book of Genesis; that in Zion College, presented by Mr. Lewis, the book of Deuteronomy, and besides, the marginal notes are cut off, as directed by Act of Parliament in January 1543! The copy in the British Museum wants the first and last and two other leaves; the one at Cambridge is also imperfect. In the Bodleian library at Oxford, there is a beautiful copy of Genesis alone.

Tyndale's next publication was "The Practice of Prelates;" and, as far as it regards the subjects introduced, as well as the manner in which they are handled, it is, in some respects, the most remarkable of all his controversial writings. More than ever bent upon the emancipation of his country from mental bondage, he longed to see the throne established in righteousness; but he could entertain no hope of this until the power behind it, which had risen above the throne itself, was laid prostrate. "If that King of the grasshoppers," said he,

"which devoureth all that is green, were destroyed; then were the kingdom of our caterpillars at an end." In his able exposure of this noxious system, he explains it to his readers, in one place, by the following graphic parable:

"To see how our holy Father came up, mark the ensample of an Ivy tree. First, it springeth out of the earth, and then a while creepeth along by the ground, till it findeth a great tree: then it joineth itself beneath alow' unto the body of the tree, and creepeth up a little and a little, fair and softly. And at the beginning, while it is yet thin and small, that the burden is not perceived, it seemeth glorious to garnish the tree in winter, and to bear off the tempests of the weather. But in the mean season, it thrusteth roots into the bark of the tree, to hold fast withal; and ceaseth not to climb up, till it be at the top, and above all. And then, it sendeth his branches along by the branches of the tree, and overgroweth all, and waxeth great, heavy, and thick; and sucketh the moisture so sore out of the tree and his branches, that it choaketh and stifleth them. And then the foul ivy waxeth mighty in the stump of the tree, and becometh a seat and a nest for all unclean birds, and for blind owls which hawk in the dark, and dare not come at the light.

"Even so the Bishop of Rome, at the beginning, crope along upon the earth, and every man trod upon him in this world. But as soon as there came a Christian Emperor, he joined himself unto his feet, and kissed them, and crope up a little with begging,-now this privilege, now that,— -now this city, now that; to find poor people withal and the necessary ministers of God's word.—And the alms of the congregation, which was the food and patrimony of the poor and necessary preachers, that he called St. Peter's patrimony, St. Peter's rents,St. Peter's lands,-St. Peter's right; to cast a vain fear and superstitiousness into the hearts of men; that no man should dare meddle with whatsoever came once into their hands, for fear of St. Peter, though they ministered it never so evil; and that they which should think it none alms to give them any more, (because they had too much already,) should yet give St. Peter somewhat, to purchase an advocate and an intercessor of St. Peter; and that he should, at the first knock, let them in.

"And thus, with flattering and feigning, and vain superstition, under the name of St. Peter, he crept up and fastened his roots in the heart of the Emperor; and with his sword climbed up above all his fellowships, and brought them under his feet. And as he subdued them with the Emperor's sword, even so, by subtility and help of them, after that they were sworn faithful, he climbed above the Emperor and subdued him also; and made him stoop unto his feet, and kiss them another while. Yea, Coelestinus crowned the Emperor Henry the Fifth, holding the crown between his feet. And when he had put the crown on, he smote it off with his feet again, saying-that he had might to make emperors and put them down again."

Then, "he made a constitution, that no layman should meddle with their matters, nor be in their councils, or wit what they did; that the pope only should call the council, and the empire should but defend the pope, provided alway, that the council should be in one of the pope's towns, and where his power was greater than the Emperor's. Then, under a pretence of condemning some heresy, he called a General Council, where he made one a patriarch,

The converse to our aloft.

another cardinal, another legate, another primate, another archbishop, another bishop, another dean, another archdeacon, and so forth, as we now see.

"And as the Pope played with the Emperor, so did his branches and his members, the bishops, play in every kingdom, dukedom, and lordship; insomuch, that the very heirs of them by whom they came up, hold now their lands of them, and take them for their chief lords. And as the Emperor is sworn to the Pope; even so, every king is sworn to the Bishops and Prelates of his realm; and they are the chiefest in all Parliaments. Yea, they and their money, and they that be sworn to them, and come up by them, rule altogether.

"And thus, the Iry tree hath under his roots, throughout all christendom, in every village, holes for foxes, and nests for unclean birds, in all his branches, -and promiseth unto his disciples all the promotions of the world."

But it was when, in the same publication, he came down to what he styled" the practice of our time," and "the cause of all that we have suffered these twenty years," that Tyndale's powerful sentences were so deeply felt. Other men, before this year was done, might sing a requiem over the grave of Wolsey, but before he died, this despised and unpatronised exile had already exposed to public view his entire policy; and withal, so ably, that it is still quoted by the best of our historians. By Burnet and Strype in former times; by Turner and Tytler in our own day.

Wolsey, it is true, we shall soon see, was descending to the tomb, but what did that signify? Sir Thomas More, had just come into power. He had opened the first Parliament which had been held for years, and with what was said to be, an eloquent oration. What then must have been his surprise and regret, if not his indignation, to find the man whom he had laboured to overwhelm by his sophistry, and all the quip and merry turns in his Dialogue, reviewing this very session of Parliament, and the first bills that were passed under his administration? Exposing the proceedings as only so many strokes of policy, Tyndale showed that they had been merely clearing away the brushwood, or lopping the branches of a tree, which would grow again, while it ought to have been uprooted from the soil of England. "The root yet left behind, whence all that they have for a time weeded out, will spring again, by little and little, as before; if they, as their hope is, may stop this light of God's word that is now abroad. These few last words show the soul of our Translator. The authority of the Divine word, was, in his mind, paramount to every other consideration, and this was the cause of his now speaking out so boldly; but it certainly was no common proof of talent and of

an enlarged mind, that so early after Parliament rose, Tyndale should be able to send such a publication into England; embracing, as it did, not merely the corruption of past ages traced to its source, but the national doings of the day, down to the end of March in the present year, if not later. Glancing, too, at what he styles "the blasphemies of More in his Dialogue," he reserves himself for a full answer before long.

And "whence," said he "cometh all this mischief? Verily, it is the hand of God, to avenge the wantonness of great men, which will walk without the fear of God; following the steps of the high prelates, contrary to their profession; and to avenge also the wrongs, the blasphemies and subtle persecuting of his word."

One of the latest eulogists of Sir Thomas More is Sir James Mackintosh, and a more able and fascinating pen could not have been employed; but in his just indignation at the brutality of Henry in putting More to death, and his warm admiration of the Chancellor, he is not the first who has shot rather beyond the mark. "He was," says he, "the first Englishman who signalised himself as an orator, the first writer of a prose which is still intelligible, and probably the first layman since the beginning of authentic history, who was Chancellor of England."2

It is not improbable that Sir James had never thought of looking into the pages of More's opponent in controversy. Tyndale's prose, however, in one sense, it must never be forgotten, has been read in Britain ever since, and that too "every Sabbath day;" for notwithstanding all the confessed improvements made on our translation of the Bible, large portions in almost every chapter still remain verbally the same as he first gave them to his country. In this, it is true, he was merely a translator, but then the style of his translation has stood the test of nearly ten generations. It has been their admiration all along, and it will continue to be admired while the language endures.

But independently of his translation, the purity of his native language was maintained by Tyndale in as high a degree as by any of his contemporaries. We have already given one specimen from his present publication. And even as to his

2 Hist. of England, ii., p. 179. To such an able judge, the "oratory" may be conceded; but as for lay Chancellors there had been at least six before Sir Thomas More. The last had been Sir Thomas Beaufort, under Henry IV., but authentic history had certainly begun long before then. The clerical Lords Chancellor since, form an index to ecclesiastical power, now on the decline. The "intelligible prose" must be noticed above.