ROM Wycliffe to Tyndale we take a stride of one hundred years. It is a long step to take, and it is a most important one. During that period a great discovery had been made, which was destined to play a great part, not only in the history of the Bible, but in the spread of knowledge all over the world: I mean the invention of printing. Wycliffe's Bible, and all books up to his time and after, were in writing. Monks in their cells and learned men in their studies toiled at the work of copying out the Bible with the pen. But when Tyndale was ready to issue the New Testament in English, he had the printing press to help him to multiply copies and spread them throughout England thick as autumn leaves.

      The printing press had at least a twofold effect upon the translation and spread of the Bible. Instead of men having to work for weary months at copying the Bible with the pen, its sheets could be [95] struck off at a rapid rate. If the reader will sit down and write one page of the Bible, and mark how long it takes him, and then multiply the number of minutes which it occupies with the whole number of pages of the Bible, he will get some idea of the length of time taken to produce one copy of the Bible, without allowing any time at all for the initial letters and flourishes with which most of the Bibles were illustrated and adorned in the Middle Ages and afterwards. Let the same reader stand in a printing office and see with what rapidity the press throws off the sheets of the Bible.

      Then, too, the printing press enables the Bible to be produced at a greatly reduced cost. In John Wycliffe's time Bibles were very costly indeed. There is a great difference in the purchasing power of money now and then; but it is estimated that in the fourteenth century a copy of the English Bible, as translated by Wycliffe, was worth a sum quite equal to $200 of American money. In our days a complete Bible can be had for twenty-five cents or less. This great invention of printing has been used to the full in the production and spread of the Scriptures. Every year millions of copies of the Scriptures, in whole or in part, are circulated in over three hundred languages and dialects.

      It is almost impossible for us to understand and appreciate the effect produced upon the life of [96] England by the rapid circulation and reading of Tyndale's Bible and those which immediately followed it. It was the one great book which England read. It did not take many years to make it the Bible of the people; and it, more than any other work, made English men and women the people of the Bible. It was read in all sorts of places, under all kinds of circumstances, and by all sorts of people. It rapidly found its way to the Universities. It was read by the merchants, the workers, and the plowboys. At the seats of learning, in the churches, and in the homes of the people, the music of that Book fell upon listening ears, and produced marvelous results. It kindled a remarkable enthusiasm among the people, quickened the moral sense of the country, and deepened the religious life of the nation. "The people who sat in darkness saw a great light."

      But we must tell the story of Tyndale and his work. When William Tyndale was born, about the year 1484, John Wycliffe had been dead one hundred years and the great reformer, Martin Luther, was about one year old. The times were full of action and hope. The fifteenth century, in which he was born, and the sixteenth, in which he did his work, were centuries crowded with influences and forces which produced the great and powerful England of [97] to-day. Wycliffe and his Lollards had sown the seed of the Reformation, which took root and was to bear fruit during these centuries. It was the age of the revival of learning--of patriots, of discoveries, martyrs, saints, and heroes. It was the era of able men in many departments of life; and England saw a great outburst of enthusiasm, which quickened its social, intellectual, and religious life.

      Not the least in importance stood William Tyndale, the Gloucestershire boy. In early life he was sent to Oxford, where he won distinction while quite young. Afterwards he went to Cambridge, and came in contact with those influences which pushed him on in the great work of his life. Here he met with Erasmus the foremost Greek scholar of the day, who published the first Greek New Testament. Here, too, he became a Greek scholar, and was enabled to read and translate from the original the New Testament which he determined to publish in English.

      He does not seem to have possessed much of this world's wealth, so he sought the help and shelter of the bishop of London, Dr. Tunstall. He was anxious to carry on his work of putting the Scriptures into English under the roof of the episcopal palace, and with the patronage of the bishop. One would think that here he would be sure to find aid. But unfortunately, be failed, so he betook himself elsewhere. Though he failed with the bishop, he succeeded with a London merchant of the name of [98] Monmouth, in whose house he worked for a considerable time.

      He soon began to feel that he could not hope to be secure in London, or even in England. He saw many a man led off to prison, and some to death, for offences which would not be considered so serious as the work on which he was engaged. So in the year 1524 he left England to take up his quarters for a time at Hamburg. He never returned to England.

      Here and at Cologne he toiled on bravely, amid poverty, disgrace, and danger, ever upborne by a brave heart and a hopeful spirit. At length his work was so far forward that the sheets of his New Testament were in the hands of the printer. But now, when success seemed within reach, a new and bewildering difficulty came upon him. An unprincipled and bigoted priest made some of the printers drunk, and got from them the secret of the printing of this book. He at once urged the magistrates to order Tyndale's arrest, and also send him across to England. Hearing of this through some friends, Tyndale rushed to the printers, seized the precious sheets of his book, and fled with all speed from Cologne to Worms.

      Worms was then the stronghold of the Reformers, and was enthusiastic for Luther and his cause. Here, therefore, Tyndale found refuge. In 1526 he [99] completed his book, and had copies, ready for dispatch to England. But a new difficulty now faced him. How was he to get his book into the country? Though he had escaped from the mischief of the priests at Cologne, he knew that information had been sent to England about his work, and he was quite sure that a strict watch would be kept for it at the ports of entrance. In order to escape the vigilance of the watchers, the book was packed up in bales of cloth, in sacks of flour, and in cases of merchandise of all kinds. In spite of the care of the enemies of the Word of God, many hundreds of copies were thus introduced into England, and circulated far and wide among the people.

      While the lovers of the Book greatly rejoiced, its enemies were put into a commotion and panic. Finding it impossible to stop its entry into the country, the bishop of London hit upon the idea of buying up all the copies that could be found.

      This was done, and the bishops had them piled in heaps and burned at Paul's Cross. The books blazed. But that did not stop the good work. The bishop could no more hinder the progress of God's truth than could the Nazarenes with their puny hands destroy Jesus Christ when they thrust Him out of the synagogue. Said Tyndale: "I am glad, for these two benefits shall come thereof: I shall get money to [100] bring myself out of debt and the whole world will cry out against the burning of God's Word, and the overplus of the money that shall remain with me shall make me more anxious to correct the said New Testament, and so newly to imprint the same once again; and I trust the second will be much better than ever was the first."

      A fragment of the Gospel by Matthew is to be found in the British museum, the sole remaining relic of the original edition which was partly printed at Cologne. Of the second edition only two copies remain, so effectually did the enemies of the Word carry their plans into operation.

      The work this man did produced lasting fruit. But, alas! the worker had only ill-treatment in return. He toiled on in exile, in poverty, and sickness for a years. He worked away at translations of the Old Testament, but his career was cut short by the malice of his enemies and the treachery of false friends. Being some distance from his home one day, he was seized and hurried off to prison. Here, in a cold dungeon, he suffered much, until at last, in 1536, he was strangled at the stake and then burnt to ashes. He died with the prayer upon his lips, "Lord, open the King of England's eyes." In his last hours his thoughts were of and for his enemies. How like Him who, when dying on the cross said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." [101]

[HWGI 95-101]