History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century Volume V Part 21

and when the storm bursts upon us, let us boldly cast the anchor into the sea; then you may be sure the ship will remain safe on the great waters." And, in fine, if his opponents rejected any doctrine of the truth, Tyndale (says the chronicler) opening his Testament would set his finger on the verse which refuted the Romish error, and exclaim: "Look and read."[355]

[354] Ibid. Expositions, (Park. Soc.) p. 15.

[355] And lay plainly before them the open and manifest places of the Scriptures, to confute their errors and confirm his sayings. Foxe, Acts, v. p. 115.

[Sidenote: SERMONS AT ST. ADELINE'S.]

The beginnings of the English Reformation are not to be found, as we have seen, in a material ecclesiasticism, which has been decorated with the name of _English Catholicism:_ they are essentially spiritual. The Divine Word, the creator of the new life in the individual, is also the founder and reformer of the church. The reformed churches, and particularly the reformed churches of Great Britain, belong to evangelism.

The contemplation of G.o.d's works refreshed Tyndale after the discussions he had to maintain at his patron's table. He would often ramble to the top of Sodbury hill, and there repose amidst the ruins of an ancient Roman camp which crowned the summit. It was here that Queen Margaret of Anjou halted; and here too rested Edward IV, who pursued her, before the fatal battle of Tewkesbury, which caused this princess to fall into the hands of the White Rose. Amidst these ruins, monuments of the Roman invasion and of the civil dissensions of England, Tyndale meditated upon other battles, which were to restore liberty and truth to Christendom. Then rousing himself he would descend the hill, and courageously resume his task.

Behind the mansion stood a little church, overshadowed by two large yew trees, and dedicated to Saint Adeline. On Sundays Tyndale used to preach there, Sir John and Lady Walsh, with the eldest of the children, occupying the manorial pew. This humble sanctuary was filled by their household and tenantry, listening attentively to the words of their teacher, which fell from his lips like _the waters of Shiloah that go softly_. Tyndale was very lively in conversation; but he explained the Scriptures with so much unction, says the chronicler, "that his hearers thought they heard St. John himself." If he resembled John in the mildness of his language, he resembled Paul in the strength of his doctrine. "According to the pope," he said, "we must first be good after his doctrine, and compel G.o.d to be good again for our goodness. Nay, verily, G.o.d's goodness is the root of all goodness. Antichrist turneth the tree of salvation topsy-turvy:[356]

he planteth the branches, and setteth the roots upwards. We must put it straight......As the husband marrieth the wife, before he can have any lawful children by her; even so faith justifieth us to make us fruitful in good works.[357] But neither the one nor the other should remain barren. Faith is the holy candle wherewith we must bless ourselves at the last hour; without it, you will go astray in the valley of the shadow of death, though you had a thousand tapers lighted around your bed."[358]

[356] Antichrist turneth the roots of the trees upward. Tyndale, Doctrinal Treatises (Park. Soc.), p. 295.

[357] Tyndale, Parable of the Wicked Mammon. Ibid. 126.

[358] Though thou hadst a thousand holy candles about thee. Ibid. p.

48.

[Sidenote: TYNDALE THWARTED BY THE PRIESTS.]

The priests, irritated at such observations, determined to ruin Tyndale, and some of them invited Sir John and his lady to an entertainment, at which he was not present. During dinner, they so abused the young doctor and his New Testament, that his patrons retired greatly annoyed that their tutor should have made so many enemies. They told him all they had heard, and Tyndale successfully refuted his adversaries' arguments. "What!" exclaimed Lady Walsh, "there are some of these doctors worth one hundred, some two hundred, and some three hundred pounds[359] ... and were it reason, think you, Master William, that we should believe you before them?" Tyndale, opening the New Testament, replied: "No! it is not me you should believe. That is what the priests have told you; but look here, St.

Peter, St. Paul, and the Lord himself say quite the contrary."[360]

The Word of G.o.d was there, positive and supreme: the sword of the spirit cut the difficulty.

[359] Well, there was such a doctor who may dispend a hundred pounds.

Foxe. Acts, v. p. 115.

[360] Answering by the Scriptures maintained the truth. Ibid.

Before long the manor-house and St. Adeline's church became too narrow for Tyndale's zeal. He preached every Sunday, sometimes in a village, sometimes in a town. The inhabitants of Bristol a.s.sembled to hear him in a large meadow, called St. Austin's Green.[361] But no sooner had he preached in any place than the priests hastened thither, tore up what he had planted,[362] called him a heretic, and threatened to expel from the church every one who dared listen to him. When Tyndale returned he found the field laid waste by the enemy; and looking sadly upon it, as the husbandman who sees his corn beaten down by the hail, and his rich furrows turned into a barren waste, he exclaimed: "What is to be done? While I am sowing in one place, the enemy ravages the field I have just left. I cannot be everywhere. Oh! if Christians possessed the Holy Scriptures in their own tongue, they could of themselves withstand these sophists. Without the Bible it is impossible to establish the laity in the truth."[363]

[361] Ibid. p. 117.

[362] Whatsoever truth is taught them, these enemies of all truth quench it again. Tynd. Doctr. Tr. p. 394.

[363] impossible to establish the lay people in any truth, except the Scripture were plainly laid before their eyes in their mother-tongue.

Ibid.

[Sidenote: THE PRIESTS IN THE ALEHOUSES.]

Then a great idea sprang up in Tyndale's heart: "It was in the language of Israel," said he, "that the Psalms were sung in the temple of Jehovah; and shall not the Gospel speak the language of England among us?... Ought the church to have less light at noonday than at the dawn?... Christians must read the New Testament in their mother-tongue." Tyndale believed that this idea proceeded from G.o.d.

The new sun would lead to the discovery of a new world, and the infallible rule would make all human diversities give way to a divine unity. "One holdeth this doctor, another that," said Tyndale, "one followeth Duns Scotus, another St. Thomas, another Bonaventure, Alexander Hales, Raymond of Penaford, Lyra, Gorram, Hugh de Sancto Victore, and so many others besides.... Now, each of these authors contradicts the other. How then can we distinguish him who says right from him who says wrong?... How?... Verily, by G.o.d's word."[364]

Tyndale hesitated no longer.... While Wolsey sought to win the papal tiara, the humble tutor of Sodbury undertook to place the torch of heaven in the midst of his fellow-countrymen. The translation of the Bible shall be the work of his life.

[364] Tynd. Doct. Tr. p. 119.

The first triumph of the word was a revolution in the manor-house. In proportion as Sir John and Lady Walsh acquired a taste for the Gospel, they became disgusted with the priests. The clergy were not so often invited to Sodbury, nor did they meet with the same welcome.[365] They soon discontinued their visits, and thought of nothing but how they could drive Tyndale from the mansion and from the diocese.

[365] Neither had they the cheer and countenance when they came, as before they had. Foxe, Acts, v. p. 1.6.

Unwilling to compromise themselves in this warfare, they sent forward some of those light troops which the church has always at her disposal. Mendicant friars and poor curates, who could hardly understand their missal, and the most learned of whom made _Albertus de secretis mulierum_ their habitual study, fell upon Tyndale like a pack of hungry hounds. They trooped to the alehouses,[366] and calling for a jug of beer, took their seats, one at one table, another at another. They invited the peasantry to drink with them, and entering into conversation with them, poured forth a thousand curses upon the daring reformer: "He's a hypocrite," said one; "he's a heretic," said another. The most skilful among them would mount upon a stool, and turning the tavern into a temple, deliver, for the first time in his life, an extemporaneous discourse. They reported words that Tyndale had never uttered, and actions that he had never committed.[367]

Rushing upon the poor tutor (he himself informs us) "like unclean swine that follow their carnal l.u.s.ts,"[368] they tore his good name to very tatters, and shared the spoil among them; while the audience, excited by their calumnies and heated by the beer, departed overflowing with rage and hatred against the heretic of Sodbury.

[366] Come together to the alehouse, which is their preaching place.

Tynd. Doct. Tr. 394

[367] They add too of their own heads what I never spake. Ibid. p.

395.

[368] Ibid. Expositions, p. 10.

[Sidenote: TYNDALE CITED BEFORE THE CHANCELLOR.]

After the monks came the dignitaries. The deans and abbots, Sir John's former guests, accused Tyndale to the chancellor of the diocese,[369]

and the storm which had begun in the tavern burst forth in the episcopal palace.

[369] Tyndale, Doctr. Tr. 395.

The t.i.tular bishop of Worcester (an appanage of the Italian prelates) was Giulio de' Medici, a learned man, great politician, and crafty priest, who already governed the popedom without being pope.[370]

Wolsey, who administered the diocese for his absent colleague, had appointed Thomas Parker chancellor, a man devoted to the Roman church.

It was to him the churchmen made their complaint. A judicial inquiry had its difficulties; the king's companion-at-arms was the patron of the pretended heretic, and Sir Anthony Poyntz, Lady Walsh's brother, was sheriff of the county. The chancellor was therefore content to convoke a general conference of the clergy. Tyndale obeyed the summons, but foreseeing what awaited him, he cried heartily to G.o.d, as he pursued his way up the banks of the Severn, "to give him strength to stand fast in the truth of his word."[371]

[370] Governava il papato e havia piu zente a la sua audienzia che il papa. (He governed the popedom, and had more people at his audiences than the pope.) Relazione di Marco Foscari, 1526.

[371] Foxe, Acts. v. p. 116.

When they were a.s.sembled, the abbots and deans, and other ecclesiastics of the diocese, with haughty heads and threatening looks, crowded round the humble but unbending Tyndale. When his turn arrived, he stood forward, and the chancellor administered him a severe reprimand, to which he made a calm reply. This so exasperated the chancellor, that, giving way to his pa.s.sion, he treated Tyndale as if he had been a dog.[372] "Where are your witnesses?" demanded the latter. "Let them come forward, and I will answer them." Not one of them dared support the charge--they looked another way. The chancellor waited, one witness at least he must have, but he could not get that.[373] Annoyed at this desertion of the priests, the representative of the Medici became more equitable, and let the accusation drop. Tyndale quietly returned to Sodbury, blessing G.o.d who had saved him from the cruel hands of his adversaries,[374] and entertaining nothing but the tenderest charity towards them. "Take away my goods," he said to them one day, "take away my good name! yet so long as Christ dwelleth in my heart, so long shall I love you not a whit the less."[375] Here indeed is the Saint John to whom Tyndale has been compared.

[372] He threatened me grievously and reviled me, and rated me as though I had been a dog. Tynd. Doctr. Tr. p. 395.

[373] And laid to my charge whereof there would be none accuser brought forth. Ibid.

[374] Escaping out of their hands. Foxe, Acts, v. p. 116.

[375] Tynd. Doctr. Tr. p. 298.

[Sidenote: TYNDALE AND THE SCHOOLMAN.]

In this violent warfare, however, he could not fail to receive some heavy blows; and where could he find consolation? Fryth and Bilney were far from him. Tyndale recollected an _aged doctor_ who lived near Sodbury, and who had shown him great affection. He went to see him, and opened his heart to him.[376] The old man looked at him for a while as if he hesitated to disclose some great mystery. "Do you not know," said he, lowering his voice, "that _the pope is very Antichrist_ whom the Scripture speaketh of?... But beware what you say.... That knowledge may cost you your life."[377] This doctrine of Antichrist, which Luther was at that moment enunciating so boldly, struck Tyndale. Strengthened by it, as was the Saxon reformer, he felt fresh energy in his heart, and the aged doctor was to him what the aged friar had been to Luther.

[376] For to him he durst be bold to disclose his heart. Foxe, Acts, v. p. 117.

[377] Ibid.

When the priests saw that their plot had failed, they commissioned a celebrated divine to undertake his conversion. The reformer replied with his Greek Testament to the schoolman's arguments. The theologian was speechless: at last he exclaimed: "Well then! it were better to be without G.o.d's laws than the pope's."[378] Tyndale, who did not expect so plain and blasphemous a confession, made answer: "And I defy the pope and all his laws!" and then, as if unable to keep his secret, he added: "If G.o.d spares my life, I will take care that a plough-boy shall know more of the Scriptures than you do."[379]