History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century Volume V Part 29

CHAPTER XI.

Tyndale at Hamburg--First two Gospels--Embarra.s.sment--Tyndale at Wittemberg--At Cologne--The New Testament at Press--Sudden Interruption--Cochlus at Cologne--Rupert's Ma.n.u.scripts--Discovery of Cochlus--His Inquiries--His Alarm--Rincke and the Senate's Prohibition--Consternation and Decision of Tyndale--Cochlus writes to England--Tyndale ascends the Rhine--Prints two Editions at Worms--Tyndale's Prayer.

[Sidenote: TYNDALE AT HAMBURG.]

The ship which carried Tyndale and his MSS. cast anchor at Hamburg, where, since the year 1521, the Gospel had counted numerous friends.

Encouraged by the presence of his brethren, the Oxford fellow had taken a quiet lodging in one of the narrow winding streets of that old city, and had immediately resumed his task. A secretary, whom he terms his "faithful companion,"[523] aided him in collating texts; but it was not long before this brother, whose name is unknown to us, thinking himself called to preach Christ in places where He had as yet never been proclaimed, left Tyndale. A former friar-observant of the Franciscan order at Greenwich, having abandoned the cloister, and being at this time without resources, offered his services to the h.e.l.lenist. William Roye was one of those men (and they are always pretty numerous) whom impatience of the yoke alienates from Rome without their being attracted by the Spirit of G.o.d to Christ. Acute, insinuating, crafty, and yet of pleasing manners, he charmed all those who had mere casual relations with him. Tyndale banished to the distant sh.o.r.es of the Elbe, surrounded by strange customs, and hearing only a foreign tongue, often thought of England, and was impatient that his country should enjoy the result of his labours: he accepted Roye's aid. The Gospels of Matthew and Mark, translated and printed at Hamburg, became, it would seem, the first fruits to England of his great task.

[523] Tyndale's Doctr. Treatises, p. 37.

But Tyndale was soon overwhelmed by annoyances. Roye, who was pretty manageable while he had no money, had become intractable now that his purse was less empty.[524] What was to be done? The reformer having spent the ten pounds he had brought from England, could not satisfy the demands of his a.s.sistant, pay his own debts, and remove to another city. He became still more sparing and economical. The Wartburg, in which Luther had translated the New Testament, was a palace in comparison with the lodging in which the reformer of wealthy England endured hunger and cold, while toiling day and night to give the Gospel to the English Christians.

[524] Anderson's Annals of the Bible, i, 49.

About the end of 1524, Tyndale sent the two Gospels to Monmouth; and a merchant named John Collenbeke, having brought him the ten pounds he had left in the hands of his old patron, he prepared to depart immediately.

[Sidenote: TYNDALE AT COLOGNE.]

Where should he go? Not to England; he must complete his task before all things. Could he be in Luther's neighbourhood and not desire to see him? He needed not the Saxon reformer either to find the truth, which he had already known at Oxford, or to undertake the translation of the Scriptures, which he had already begun in the vale of the Severn. But did not all evangelical foreigners flock to Wittemberg? To remove all doubt as to the interview of the reformers, it would be desirable perhaps to find some trace at Wittemberg[525] either in the university registers or in the writings of the Saxon reformers. Yet several contemporaneous testimonies seem to give a sufficient degree of probability to this conference. Foxe tells us: "He had an interview with Luther and other learned men of that country."[526] This must have been in the spring of 1525.

[525] I requested a German divine to investigate this matter, but his researches were unsuccessful.

[526] Mr. Anderson, in his excellent work (Annals of the English Bible, vol. i. p. 47) disputes the interview between these two reformers, but his arguments do not convince me. We can understand how Luther, at that time busily engaged in his dispute with Carlstadt, does not mention Tyndale's visit in his letters. But, besides Foxe, there are other contemporaneous authorities in favour of this fact.

Cochlaeus, a German well informed on all the movements of the reformers, and whom we shall presently see on Tyndale's traces, says of him and Roye: "Duo Angli apostatae, _qui aliquamdiu fuerant Vuitenbergae_." Two English apostates, who had been for a while at Wittemberg. (p. 123). And Sir Thomas More, having said that Tyndale had gone to see Luther, Tyndale was content to reply: "When Mr. More saith Tyndale was confederate with Luther, that is not truth." Answer to Sir Thos. More's Dialogue, p. 147 (Park. Soc.) He denied the _confederation_, but not the _visit_. If Tyndale had not seen Luther, he would have been more explicit, and would probably have said that he had never even met him.

Tyndale, desirious of drawing nearer to his native country, turned his eyes towards the Rhine. There were at Cologne some celebrated printers well known in England, and among others Quentel and the Byrckmans.

Francis Byrckman had warehouses in St. Paul's churchyard in London,--a circ.u.mstance that might facilitate the introduction and sale of the Testament printed on the banks of the Rhine. This providential circ.u.mstance decided Tyndale in favour of Cologne, and thither he repaired with Roye and his MSS. Arrived in the gloomy streets of the city of Agrippina, he contemplated its innumerable churches, and above all its ancient cathedral re-echoing to the voices of its canons, and was oppressed with sorrow as he beheld the priests and monks and mendicants and pilgrims who, from all parts of Europe, poured in to adore the pretended relics of the _three wise men_ and of the _eleven thousand virgins_. And then Tyndale asked himself whether it was really in this superst.i.tious city that the New Testament was to be printed in English. This was not all. The Reform movement then at work in Germany had broken out at Cologne during the feast of Whitsuntide, and the archbishop had just forbidden all evangelical worship. Yet Tyndale persevered, and submitting to the most minute precautions, not to compromise his work, he took an obscure lodging where he kept himself closely hidden.

Soon however, trusting in G.o.d, he called on the printer, presented his ma.n.u.scripts to him, ordered six thousand copies, and then, upon reflection, sank down to three thousand for fear of a seizure.[527]

The printing went on; one sheet followed another; gradually the Gospel unfolded its mysteries in the English tongue, and Tyndale could not contain himself for very joy.[528] He saw in his mind's eye the triumphs of the Scriptures over all the kingdom, and exclaimed with transport: "Whether the king wills it or not, ere long all the people of England, enlightened by the New Testament, will obey the Gospel."[529]

[527] s.e.x millia sub praelum dari. (Cochlaeus, p. 123.) That six thousand should be printed.

[528] Tanta ex ea spe laet.i.tia Lutheranos invasit. (Ibid. p. 124.) Such joy possessed the Lutherans from that hope.

[529] Cunctos Angliae populos, volente nolente rege. Ibid. 123.

But on a sudden that sun whose earliest beams he had hailed with songs of joy, was hidden by thick clouds. One day, just as the tenth sheet had been thrown off, the printer hastened to Tyndale, and informed him that the senate of Cologne forbade him to continue the work. Every thing was discovered then. No doubt Henry VIII, who has burnt Luther's books, wishes to burn the New Testament also, to destroy Tyndale's ma.n.u.scripts, and deliver him up to death. Who had betrayed him? He was lost in unavailing conjectures, and one thing only appeared certain: alas! his vessel, which was moving onwards in full sail, had struck upon a reef! The following is the explanation of this unexpected incident.

[Sidenote: COCHLaeUS AT COLOGNE.]

A man whom we have often met with in the course of this history,[530]

one of the most violent enemies of the Reformation--we mean Cochlaeus--had arrived in Cologne. The wave of popular agitation which had stirred this city during the Whitsuntide holidays, had previously swept over Frankfort during the festival of Easter; and the dean of Notre-dame, taking advantage of a moment when the gates of the city were open, had escaped a few minutes before the burghers entered his house to arrest him. On arriving at Cologne, where he hoped to live unknown under the shadow of the powerful elector, he had gone to lodge with George Lauer, a canon in the church of the Apostles.

[530] Book ix, chapter xii, etc.

By a singular destiny the two most opposite men, Tyndale and Cochlaeus, were in hiding in the same city; they could not long remain there without coming into collision.

[Sidenote: RUPERT'S Ma.n.u.sCRIPTS.]

On the right bank of the Rhine, and opposite Cologne, stood the monastery of Deutz, one of whose abbots, Rupert, who lived in the twelfth century, had said: "To be ignorant of Scripture is to be ignorant of Jesus Christ. This is _the scripture of nations_![531]

This book of G.o.d, which is not pompous in words and poor in meaning like Plato, ought to be set before every people, and to proclaim aloud to the whole world the salvation of all." One day, when Cochlaeus and his host were talking of Rupert, the canon informed the dean that the _heretic_ Osiander of Nuremberg was in treaty with the abbot of Deutz about publishing the writings of this ancient doctor. Cochlaeus guessed that Osiander was desirous of bringing forward the contemporary of Saint Bernard as a witness in defence of the Reformation. Hastening to the monastery he alarmed the abbot: "Intrust to me the ma.n.u.scripts of your celebrated predecessor," he said; "I will undertake to print them and prove that he was one of us." The monks placed them in his hands, stipulating for an early publication, from which they expected no little renown.[532] Cochlaeus immediately went to Peter Quentel and Arnold Byrckman to make the necessary arrangements. They were Tyndale's printers.

[531] Scripturae populorum. Opp. i, p. 641.

[532] c.u.m monachi quieturi non erant, nisi ederentur opera illa.

(Cochl. p. 124.) When the monks could not be quieted unless these works should be published.

There Cochlaeus made a more important discovery than that of Rupert's ma.n.u.scripts. Byrckman and Quentel having invited him one day to meet several of their colleagues at dinner, a printer, somewhat elevated by wine, declared in his cups, (to borrow the words of Cochlaeus):[533]

"Whether the king and the cardinal of York wish it or not, all England will soon be Lutheran."[534] Cochlaeus listened and grew alarmed; he made inquiry, and was informed that _two Englishmen_, learned men and skilled in the languages, were concealed at Cologne.[535] But all his efforts to discover more proved unavailing.

[533] Audivit eos aliquando inter pocula fiducialiter jact.i.tare.

(Ibid. p. 125.) He heard them one day confidently a.s.sert in their cups.

[534] Velint nolint rex et cardinalis Angliae, totam Angliam brevi fore Lutheranam. Ibid.

[535] Duos ibi lat.i.tare Anglos eruditos, linguarumque peritos. Ibid.

[Sidenote: THE SECRET BETRAYED.]

There was no more repose for the dean of Frankfort; his imagination fermented, his mind became alarmed. "What," said he, "shall England, that faithful servant of the popedom, be perverted like Germany? Shall the English, the most religious people of Christendom,[536] and whose king once enn.o.bled himself by writing against Luther,--shall they be invaded by heresy?... Shall the mighty cardinal-legate of York be compelled to flee from his palace, as I was from Frankfort?" Cochlaeus continued his search; he paid frequent visits to the printers, spoke to them in a friendly tone, flattered them, invited them to visit him at the canon's; but as yet he dared not hazard the important question; it was sufficient for the moment to have won the good graces of the depositaries of the secret. He soon took a new step; he was careful not to question them before one another; but he procured a private interview with one of them,[537] and supplied him plentifully with Rhine wine:--he himself is our informant.[538] Artful questions embarra.s.sed the unwary printer, and at last the secret was disclosed.

"The New Testament," Cochlaeus learnt, "is translated into English; three thousand copies are in the press; fourscore pages in quarto are ready; the expense is fully supplied by English merchants, who are secretly to convey the work when printed, and to disperse it widely through all England, before the king or the cardinal can discover or prohibit it.[539]... Thus will Britain be converted to the opinions of Luther."[540]

[536] In gente illa religiosissima vereque Christiana. Ibid. p. 131.

[537] Unus eorum in secretiori colloquio revelavit illi arcanum.

(Cochlaeus. p. 131.) One of them in a private conference revealed the secret to him.

[538] Rem omnem ut acceperat _vini beneficio_. Ibid.

[539] Opus excussum clam invecturi per totam Angliam latenter dispergere vellent. Ibid.

[540] Ad Lutheri partes trahenda est Anglia. Ibid.

The surprise of Cochlaeus equalled his alarm;[541] he dissembled; he wished to learn, however, where the two Englishmen lay concealed; but all his exertions proved ineffectual, and he returned to his lodgings filled with emotion. The danger was very great. A stranger and an exile, what can he do to oppose this impious undertaking? Where shall he find a friend to England, prepared to show his zeal in warding off the threatened blow?... He was bewildered.

[541] Metu et admiratione affectus. Ibid.

A flash of light suddenly dispelled the darkness. A person of some consequence at Cologne, Herman Rincke, a patrician and imperial councillor, had been sent on important business by the Emperor Maximilian to Henry VII, and from that time he had always shown a great attachment to England. Cochlaeus determined to reveal the fatal secret to him; but, being still alarmed by the scenes at Frankfort, he was afraid to conspire openly against the Reformation. He had left an aged mother and a little niece at home, and was unwilling to do any thing which might compromise them. He therefore crept stealthily towards Rincke's house (as he tells us himself),[542] slipped in secretly, and unfolded the whole matter to him. Rincke could not believe that the New Testament in English was printing at Cologne; however, he sent a confidential person to make inquiries, who reported to him that Cochlaeus's information was correct, and that he had found in the printing office a large supply of paper intended for the edition.[543] The patrician immediately proceeded to the senate, and spoke of Wolsey, of Henry VIII, and of the preservation of the Romish church in England; and that body which, under the influence of the archbishop, had long since forgotten the rights of liberty, forbade the printer to continue the work. Thus then there were to be no New Testaments for England! A practised hand had warded off the blow aimed at Roman-catholicism; Tyndale would perhaps be thrown into prison, and Cochlaeus enjoy a complete triumph.

[542] Abiit igitur clam ad H. Rincke. Ibid.

[543] Ingentem papyri copiam ibi existere. Ibid.

[Sidenote: TYNDALE RESCUES HIS WORK.]

Tyndale was at first confounded. Were so many years of toil lost, then, for ever? His trial seemed beyond his strength.[544] "They are ravening wolves," he exclaimed, "they preach to others, Steal not, and yet they have robbed the soul of man of the bread of life, and fed her with the shales [sh.e.l.ls?] and cods of the hope in their merits and confidence in their good works."[545] Yet Tyndale did not long remain cast down; for his faith was of that kind which would remove mountains. Is it not the word of G.o.d that is imperilled? If he does not abandon himself, G.o.d will not abandon him. He must antic.i.p.ate the senate of Cologne. Daring and prompt in all his movements, Tyndale bade Roye follow him, hastened to the printing office, collected the sheets, jumped into a boat, and rapidly ascended the river, carrying with him the hope of England.[546]