title: The New Testament of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
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WITH A MEMOIR OF HIS LIFE AND WRITINGSrriT— fP^^^i^^^^r^C^ TO WHICH ARE ANNEXED, THE ESSENTIAL VARIATIONS OF COVERDALB S, THOMAS MATTHEW S, CRANMER's, THE GENEVAN, AND THE BISHOPS' BIBLES, AS MARGINAL READINGS. BY J. P. DABNEY ANDOVER: PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY GOULD & FROM THE LONDON EDITION OF BAGSTER. NEW YORK: CORNER OF FULTON AND NASSAU STREETS. MDCCCXXXVIL /)^0 ^'a'^'^ Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1837, BY GOULD & NEWMAN, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts. PREFACE It had early entered into the plan of the present work, that it should include, in like manner as the versions succeeding Tyndale, the earlier New Testament of Wiclif ; and that thus the whole would more literally exhibit the fruits of the collec- tive labours of all the Ante-James translators. But the objec- tions that successively sprung up, soon satisfied the editor, that this was a hasty thought. Wiclif is, in the first place, profes- sedly but a translation from the Latin Vulgate, not from the Greek ; and it would not be easy therefore to say, why it should have here a place, rather than the Rhemish New Testament of 1582. Then, the remote era of the work [A. D. 1380], made in the rude and changing state of the language, renders a Glossary to most readers indispensable ; an appendage, to be sure, provided without much pains, were this the most se- rious difficulty. But the versions of the sixteenth century are knit together by a commune vinculum of structure and diction ; and this, as was just implied, does not run back for an hundred and fifty years. Less than an half-century elapsed from the time of Tyndale's version to the last of those contained in this work [The Bishops'] ; and of the generation which called for either, no small part, it is natural to think, continued long enough to welcome its immediate successor. They were, in fact, not so much new versions as revisions of one another ; and this, so true of them, is emphatically true of that of king James ; though, as to qualities not denied it, so often and strangely admired, like — if it be not rather wwlike — the bird in the fable, for borrowed plumage, and praised, as if an inde- pendent translation, for virtues not its own. The foregoing objection gives birth to yet another : — had all the variations of Wiclif been faithfully recognized, the contents of the mar- gin, as it is, of an unwished-for extent, would have doubtless IV PREFACE. been doubled. It is plain, that the work of the old English reformer, to receive either due honour or justice, should be given to the public by itself alone ; and this, alas, will long remain a desideratum. As to the other versions referred to, the Editor fondly believes, that by the scheme of comprehension pursued, the re-print of Tyndale with us, acquires a peculiar and enhanced value over the English work. To Tyndale himself, the cen- tral position is given, which is rightfully his, as the pioneer in time, as a martyr to his enterprise, and as the only truly inde- pendent translator ; while the rest take their humble places as satellites. Their essential variations being given as marginal readings, a complete Variorum edition of the Early Vernacular versions is produced ; the remarkable co-incidence of which, in their general frame-work, (as the few familiar with them well know) at once suggests and assists this mode of conden- sation. Their occasional discrepancies are all which it is worth the pains to select ; but by this simple method some half-dozen versions are in effect and to all practical purpose, embodied at the expense of no very serious enlargement of the volume, in limits or in cost. That either would ever again be re-pub- lished, is altogether unlikely ; and next to certain, if it were, that it would find a slow dispersion among antiquarians alone. But would it not be just ground both of regret and reproach, if without the slight memorial which these pages will preserve, works of such admitted excellence should pass away, and leave no trace behind ? What their successive and united labours have done towards producing an exact copy of the Original, will now at a glance be seen : and not less manifest will be the great obligations, though scarcely suspected, that are due them from the authors of that version which now reigns without rival or superior — chiefly because it reigns alone. We are apt to speak of the advantage, in some walks of au- thorship (as in that before us), to a later work, from the num- ber of models and guides in kindred enterprises that preceded ; and to find an apology for the defects of an earlier one, in PREFACE. having an unbeaten path to travel. But when we turn in the present instance to look at the results, we are well-nigh tempted to suspect that in our mother-tongue at least, the series of biblical translation has, by some chance, been inverted. It may be thought that as to Tyndale's text, the simple duty has been left to the Editor of guarding its integrity through the press. But it has not therefore been always simple, if by simple we mean clear. While the voices of antiquarians and critics unite in the highest eulogium on the version itself, it is not to be disguised, that as to its mechanical part, every page is instamped with the marks of haste. The harassed life of its unfortunate author is made present to our thoughts ; and fancy paints, without effort, the bloodhounds of a merciless church tracking his footsteps. Broken in upon in the midst of the drudgery of the press in one city, he gathers up his frag- ments in what condition he may, and flees to another to com- plete his interrupted labours. With this in full remembrance, the orthography so curiously varying, even in the same para- graph or sentence, from itself, the confounding of distinct words through a single misplaced letter, the withholding or bestowment of capitals ad libitum^ as it were, the unsightly exchange of the leading vowels as initial letters [as o for a etc.], and the seeming disdain of rule throaghout — all find a prompt solution. The first impression on the reader however, is likely to be that of a book overrun with errors ; and of this the Publishers desire to disabuse him in advance. Yet the Editor has ventured to meddle with this deformity but in the most palpable cases ; well understanding to how many even these blemishes are precious. His apology for doing so at all is, that indubitably it is somedmes needed. But the English publisher has strangely and inexcusably enough left him to conjecture where. He undertook (in all honesty, doubtless) to give an exact fact-simile of the First edition of Tyndale. But though no immaculate specimen of typography has yet been known, and few works, since the Art began, have called with 1* VI PREFACE. such peculiar propriety for a Table of Errata, that appendage is no where found. The editors of Re-prints in foreign lands have therefore to discriminate as they can, between its negli- gences as first given to the world, and the errors superinduced, beyond doubt, in its late revival by Mr. Bagster. In the notation of Various Readings from the versions here embraced, infra lineam, regard has in the main been had only to essential differences, i. e. to differences in sense : to have extended it to particles and phrases, except when these had a bearing on the whole texture of the verse, would have been tedious to the collator, unasked for by readers, and encumber- ing to the work. The above rule was not indeed rigorously observed. Even verbal changes deserve a place, when curi- osity might be amused by the recovery of some fast-fading word, or the ceaseless current of the language illustrated by another in a novel sense. Especially was it the wish, that the relative sources of the Version in common use might be obvious to all ; and words and clauses, not of much moment perhaps but as found in this, have been pointed out, when they might be traced to either of the earlier works, in particular. Of the class of various readings, there is a considerable number, which recur so often, that, to avoid their needless repetition, it was thought best, to give them once for all in a Tabular List with the answering expressions of Tyndale. This list will be found among the last of the preliminary pages, and the examples in question will not, except in a few instances of ac- cidental insertion, be met with in the margin. There are some readers, it is not unlikely, who will need instructions towards the pmfitable use of the Notes. The citations, as all know, stand in lieu of the words following the same numbers in the text. They are extended (whenever the case would permit,) until the versions above and below again meet : where this was inconvenient, the ordinary rules of grammar and syntax, it is hoped, will make it clear how far the marginal substitute is to run, at the first glance, or on a slight comparison. The meaning may occasionally not be so clear PREFACE. VU in respect to insets, i. e. notes within notes. They occur only where two or more authorities are affixed to the same citation ; and the inset in crotchets denotes that one of these authorities varies from the others as to a word or clause of the fragment common to them. The clause or word within the crotchets — ^as an uniform rule— answers to that which directly pre- cedes it. Perhaps it will occasionally relieve uncertainty and doubt, to say, that where the inset is meant to stand for all the antecedent part of the citation, it begins, (and then only), like the principal note itself, with a capital. But in re- lation to the notes and the dilemmas they may sometimes create, there can, as a general advice be no greater conven- ience than the open page of the familiar scriptures; with whose phraseology, the marginal citations, especially if from the Genevan or Bishops, will be so apt to correspond. Crotchets in the text show the extent of the omission by the version referred to below. The reference post [i. e. after- wards] signifies that the authority before it, repeats the speci- fied expression once or oftener again in the chapter, if in an- swer to the same word in the list. Numerical reference, it will be observed, is often made to verses in advance ; for though this was the distinction of a later day, no other sure, and yet brief, designation could be thought of for examples sometimes- distant ; and it was taken for granted, that in pe- rusing this book, the common Bible would be readily at hand. The Memoir of Tyndale which follows, is, in substance, that by Mr. Ofibr, recently issued in England. But it con- tained so much that was redundant in the way of reflection and comment as to interfere with the prescribed limits to this undertaking, already so far expanded; and when its tone of prejudice and asperity towards Sir Thomas More and the dom- inant faith, its occasional cloudiness of style and looseness of statement, with its slender claims on the whole, as a piece of biography, all were considered, it was thought best to recast its materials anew. This acknowledgment was due both to the public and the English biographer ; as the following Vm PREFACE. account could not, in propriety, be inscribed with his name, though any other would be still less appropriate. They who have sometimes asked the sage question, — Where is the utility of a work like the present, haVe had their an- swer, we trust, in some things that have been advanced. We should not very sanguinely refer them, if still unsatisfied, to the contents of the volume itself. Let it be asked in return, (if this be not equally a problem to those concerned). What is the use of any modern translation, having the impress of research, ability and taste ? The first fruits of the biblical learn- ing of our own tongue, we " may not willingly" — and cannot creditably — " let die." But this, not — ^as some strangely con- ceive — that they may be embalmed aS curiosities, but con- verted to practical ends ; as landmarks to denote the progress of the language, as lights to illustrate the oracles of truth. That with the smile of Him, whose cause and kingdom it seeks to serve, such will be the results of- this enterprise, the editor nothing doubts : and in that persuasion, dismisses it with the cheering sense of having been the humble instrument of dif- fusing, in a new — or, rather — long-lost form, so just an im- age of " that word of God which liveth and abideth forever." J. P. D. Andover, Aug. 9, 1837. MEMOIR WILLIAM TYNDALE, ,, FIRST PRINTED THE N. TESTAMENT IN ENGLISH, 1525. WAS MAKTTRED AT VILVOORD, NEAK BRUSSELS, SEPTEMBER, ]536. iiisat(i>i33iii& s}!Sii@3sr<s3 BA®®1I Wm T'WWWA^W,' PEDIGREK OF WILLIAM TYNDALE THE MARTYR AS PRESERVED BY ONE BRANCH OF THE FAMILY. Hugh, Baron de Tya'i&le, of Langley Castle, Northumberland, escaped from the field of battle when the Yorkists were overcome by the Lancastrians ; lost bis title and estate ; he took refuge in Gloucestershire, under the assumed name of Hutchins. -Alicia, daughter and sole heiress of Hunt, of Hunt's Court at Nib- ley, in Gloucestershire. John Tyndale, otherwise called Hutchins, of Hunt's- Court at Nibley, Gloucestershire. John Tyndale, otherwise William Tyndale, otherwise Thomas Tyndale, whoso Hutchins, an eminent Hutchins, strangled and merchant of London, per- burnt at Vilvoorde, near secuted by Bishop Stokes- Brussels, September, 1535. descendant, Lydia Tyn- dale, married the celebra- ted Cluakcr, honest John Roberts, of Lower Sid- dington,aear Cirencester. MEMOIR OF WILLIAM TYNDALE, " Though I am olde, clothed in barbarous wede, Nothynge garnysshed with gaye eloquency, Yet I tell the trouth, yf ye lyst to take hede Agaynst theyr frowarde, furious frenesy Which recken it for a great heresy, And vnto laye people greuous outrage To have goddes worde in their natyfe langage." Tyndale's Compendious Olde Treatise. CHAPTER I. era in which he lived — DESCENT — BIRTH — EDUCATION — ORDINA- TION TAKES THE VOWS AT GREENWICH TRANSLATES PORTIONS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT RETURNS TO HIS NATIVE COUNTRY AS TU- TOR IN A knight's family — BECOMES AN OBJECT OF PERSECUTION — COMES TO LONDON — IS A POPULAR PREACHER. The efforts to throw off the dominion of the Romish Church, commenced long before, began to assume, early in the reign of Henry the Eighth, a definite and threatening aspect. Their success in no feeble measure, was accelerated by the in- sufferable pride and pomp of the prelates, and the bare-faced debaucheries of the monks. So indisputable was the latter, that when it was in controversy pressed home upon Sir Thom- as More, he could extricate himself from the dilemma no other- 12 mtmoh of wise, than by saying, " Our mater is not of the lyuynge but of the doctryne."* At this period it was, that Luther cast away, without any re- serves, his allegiance to the common Head of Christendom, and as one of the earliest steps in the work of Reformation, published the Bible in German. The spirit of translation spread apace. In January 1525, the aged Le Fevre printed the New Testament in French. And meanwhile, He of equally honored and endeared memory to British Christians, was pre- paring to give to the world, the Scriptures in his vernacular language — the fruits of many years of anxious and interrupted labour. The ancient family of Tyndale were settled for centuries on the banks of the Tyne,in Northumberland. The stock could boast of baronial dignity, having its seat at Langley Castle, a small but strong fortress, whose ruins time has spared : they stand pleasantly on a rising ground in Tyndale.f During the wasting wars between the houses of York and Lancaster > Hugh, the then Baron de Tyndale, whose lot had been cast with the weaker party, escaped from the field of battle and took refuge in Gloucestershire. Despoiled of his honours, possessions, and even of his name — for in his extremity he had been driven to assume that of Hutchins — the fugitive could hard- ly have thought that these disasters would lead to an alliance, destined to immortalize his ill-starred and renounced name. The concealed Baron married Alicia, daughter and sole heiress of Hunt, Esq., of Hunt's Court, Nibley, Gloucestershire. * Confutacyon of Tyndale, Vol. II. p. 364. t Thomas Tyndale, writing to his cousin, Feburary 3, 16G3, gives this account of his family : — '' 1 have heretofore heard that the first of your familie came out of the north, in the time of the wars between the houses of York and Lancaster, at what time many of good sort (their side going down) did fly for refuge and succor where they could find it. That it was your predecessor his fortune to come into Gloces- tershire, changing his name to that of Huchins, and that afterwards he married there, and so having children, he did before his death de- clare his right name, and from whence, and upon what subject he came thither, and so taking his own name, did leave it unto his chil- dren." — Rudder's Gloucestershire, p. 757. ®[^aiiam Sgn^ale. 13 This property descended to John Tyndale alias Hytchins, his son and heir ;* who had three sons ; John who became a distin- guished merchant in London,t and William the subject of this memoir. Several branches of the family were honoured with knighthood : Sir John Tyndale attended at the coronation of Queen Ann Boleyn, as a Knight of the Bath. William Tyndale was born at Hunt's Court,! about the year 1477. At a very early age he became a very diligent student in the University of Oxford, having been instructed from a child in grammar, logic, and philosophy :§ he continued there until his proficiency in the Greek and Latin languages enabled him to read the New Testament to his fellow students in St. Mary Magdalen Hall, and to those of Magdalen College. || Oxford was at this time, the most celebrated seat of learn- ing in the world : — Erasmus, who was a student in St. Mary's, thus writes to a friend in Italy : — " Here I have met with hu- manity, politeness, learning not trite and superficial, but deep, accurate, true old Greek and Latin learning, and withal so much of it, that, but for mere curiosity, I have no occasion to visit Italy : in Grocyn I admire an universal compass of learning ; Linacre's acuteness, depth, and accuracy are not to be ex- ceeded." Here Tyndale took his degrees and laid the foun- dation of that skill in the learned languages so essential to the worthy accomplishment of the enterprise he was soon to take upon him. His name indeed illustrates the history of the sis- ter University also ; for from some cause it appears that he * MSS. and Pedigree in possession of J. Roberts, Esq., Temple. See an extract placed before p. 1 of this Memoir. — Rudder's Glouces- tershire, p. 757. t One of his descendents, Lydia, married John Roberts, of Sid- dington near Cirencester in 1646; a man of signal piety, and the head, in those parts, of the Quakers. He with his son, suffered severe persecution for his adherence to those principles ; of which an inter- esting memoir is published by the Society of Friends. X Atkin's Gloucestershire, p. 304. § Wood's *' Athenae Oxon," 11 The painting from which the portrait is engraved, is preserved in Magdalen Hall. 2 14 l^einofr of entered as a student at Cambridge, where he is said to have again taken a degree. Here he formed a lasting friendship with John Frith, his junior in years, but of eminent attain- ments, deep piety, amiable and unassuming manners, and withal a zealous reformer. Tyndale was ordained at the conventual church of the priory of St. Bartholomew in Smith- field, on the eleventh of March, 1502, by Thomas, suffragan Bishop of Pavaden, by authority of William Warham, Bishop of London, and was set apart as priest to the nunnery of Lamb- ley, in the diocese of Carlisle. He took the vows and be- came a friar in the monastery at Greenwich in 1508. The Rev. R. H. Barham of St. Paul's has happened to light upon a memorandum in Latin, of some interest in this connexion. On the title-page of the " Sermones de Herolt," a small folio, 1495, in the Cathedral library, is inscribed : — " Charitably pray for the soul of John Tyndale, who gave this book to the monastery of Greenwich of the observance of the minor brothers, on the day that brother William, his son, made his profession, in the year 1508." To this period of his life, an allusion is found in the pre- face to his " Parable of the Wicked Mammon, May, 1528 :" " A year before came one Jerome a hrother of Greenwich also, through Worms to Argentine, saying that he intended to get his living with his hands, and to live no longer idly, and of the sweat and labour of those captives which they had taught not to believe in Christ, but in cut shoes and russet coat's." For some years previous to taking the vows, Tyndale not only had read the holy oracles to his fellow students, but by presenting in an English garb sundry portions of the New Testament,* evinced his early zeal for that sort of enterprise * The English biographer has, it appears, in his hands, the original autograph of these translations, which " valuable MS." he derived "from the library of that eminent antiquary, the Rev. H. White of Lichfield Cathedral." It is in 4to., the margins ornamented with borders, and each portion accompanied with an ancient drawing in WnUnm STajntiale. 15 which has perpetuated his name. The version in these se- lections of scriptures, scarcely varies even in unimportant words, from his first printed edition, twenty-three years pos- terior in date ! an attestation, not to be gainsaid, to his singu- lar proficiency and ripeness as a translator. That he was already, in his own apprehension at least, an obnoxious man, we may gather from the prayer interwoven in one of the drawings, referred to in the note, cherubs holding the scroll on which it is written : " Defend me, O Lord, from all them THAT HAYT ME. W. T." How long Tyndalc continued with the Greenwich community, is left in uncertainty. Returning to his native country he exchanged the life of a friar for that of tutor and chaplain in the family of Sir John Welch, a knight of Gloucestershire, whose liberal table was sure to pro- cure him the frequent visits of the neighboring prelates and clergy. Luther having now become, from his bold defiance of the Pope, the one-absorbing topic, the chaplain was some- times betrayed into dispute with his patron's guests, on the new heresy ; when, mortified at the ignorance of his authoriz- ed guides, he warmly urged the study of the New Testament. This led them, in Fuller's witty phrase, to prefer resigning Squire Welch's good cheer, rather than to have the sour sauce of Master Tyndale's company. His lady, who passed as a sensible woman, felt hurt when she saw the great men, she had been brought up to venerate, bafiled in the discussion, and asked Sir William Tyndale,* if it was likely that she could prefer his judgment to that of such wealthy prelates. He was wise enough to forbear reply to a temper already evidently rufiled. Soon after however havuig translated " Erasmus's Enchiridion," he dedicated the manuscript to Sir imitation of some ancient missal. His initials W. T. occur in many places, and on two of the ornamental pillars he has placed the date, 1502 ; the capital of one having an inscription preceding the date, — Time Trieth, 1502. * The title given at that time to all priests : which after the Refor- niation gave place by degrees to that of Reverend. 16 Mtmotv of John and his lady, which they read attentively, and to their happy conversion. But though firmly seated anew in their regard, the hostility of the beneficed clergy had been aroused, which could be quieted only by a citation to appear before the ordinary. With a deep sense of his danger, it was his fervent prayer on the way, that God would strengthen him to contend firmly, at all hazards, for the truth of his word. His persecutors had assembled strong ; but whether from the in- fluence of his protecting knight, or the secret providence of God, their courage failed, and he escaped without accusation. The ordinary however " rated him like a dog." Tyndale, soon after this, consulting an old doctor, who had been chancellor to a bishop, he privately told him, that, in his opinion, the Pope was antichrist, but advised him by no means to avow any sentiment of the kind, as it would be at the peril of his life. The caution however was; little suited to a nature like his ; for being in company with a popish divine^ he argued so conclusively in favor of a vernacular translation of the Bible, that the divine, unable to answer him, exclaim- ed, " We had better be without God's laws than the Pope's." This fired the spirit of Tyndale ; and he indignantly replied : " I defy the Pope and all his laws ; and. If God give me life, ere many years the ploughboys shall know more of the Scripr tures than you do :" a pledge which he amply redeemed. He now became so " turmoiled," that regarding his stay in Gloucestershire as likely to involve the safety of his friends as well as himself, he left that county and preached frequent' ly at Bristol, in London and other places ; it is said, to crowd- ed congregations. Continuing his connexion with the Romish church, while he sought to win souls to Christ, persecution, he knew, was only to be evaded by the avoidance of bad names and controversial questions. Even this M^as a difficult course to be followed long, and especially by a spirit so little dispo- sed, as we have just seen, to do violence to its conviction. At this period it was, ip the language of Fuller, that " he ^S/mfam STiJUtrale. 17 tendered his services to Cuthbert Tonstall, a great scholar himself and therefore probable to prove a patron to a learned man." His commendation as such, by Erasmus, had indeed led Tyndale to hope for a chaplaincy in his palace, where without molestation he might pursue his biblical labors. An introduction from Sir John Welch to Sir H. Guilford, procur- ed him through the latter, an audience of the Bishop. To him Tyndale presented an oration of Isocrates which he had translated into English, trusting for his success mainly to this evidence of his Greek sholarship ; " but though suing for himself in two tongues, both proved ineffectual ; the Bishop returning that he had more already than he could well main' tain.'''' Upon this disappointment he found an asylum in the house of Humphrey Monmouth, a worthy alderman, with whom he lived about half of the year 1523. When a few years after, Monmouth was sent to the Tower on suspicion of heresy, this service to Tyndale was the heaviest count in his indictment. His memorial to the lord legate and the privy council, witnessed by Bishop Tonstall, are with the original articles, in the Harleian collection of State Papers. Mr. OfFor says, that he did not examine these documents with- out some uneasy concern for the honour and character of Mon- mouth. A wealthy London merchant committed to such a prison, and on so heinous a charge, with all the terrors of confiscation, torture and death before him ; — how strong the temptation to lend a helping hand to even a baseless calumny against a poor and then exiled friar ! It is therefore a relief to the reader to see him coming out from the ordeal unblem- ished. His account of his first acquaintance with his guest, and of his domestic habits are detailed with all simplicity, and cannot be read without amusement, though not unmingled, surely, with a better feeling. " Upon iiij years and a half past, and more, I herde the foresaid Sir William preache ij or iij sermondes, at St. Dunstones in the weste, in London, and after that I chaunced to meet with him, and with com- 2* 18 M^motv of munycation I examyned him what lyving he had, he said, none at all, but he trusted to be with my lord of London in his service, and therefore I had the better fantasy e to him. And after warde he went to my lorde and spake to him, as he tolde me, and my lorde of London answered him that he had chaplaines inoughe, and he said to him that he would have no more at that time, and so the priest came to me againe, and besought me to helpe him, and so I toke him in my house half a year, and there he lived like a good priest as me thought, he studyed moste parte of the daye and of the nyght at his booke, and he woulde eat but sodden meate by his good will» nor drinke but small single beer ; I never saw him were lynen about him in the space he was with me ; I did promyse him ten pounds sterling to praie for my father, mother, there sowles,* and all christen sowles. I did paie yt him when he made his exchang to Hamboro'. When I hard my lord of XiOndon preache at Powles Crosse that Sir William Tyndall had translated the New Testament in Englishe, and was noughtely translated, that was the first tyme that ever I sus- pected or knewe any evill by him, and shortly all the letters and treatyes that he sent me with dyuers copies of bookes that my servant did write, and the sermondes that the priest did make at St. Dunstanes, I did burne them in my howse, he that did write them did see it. I did borne them for feare of the translator more than for any yll that I knewe by them." The worthy citizen soon obtained his liberty, was knighted, and in 1535 served his shrievalty. He died in 1537, and was buried at Alhallows church, near the Tower. He was a * Light broke in gradually upon his mind, like the man who, hav- ing been born blind, suddenly received his sight, and said, " I see men as trees, walking." After he left England, he defended the real presence against Barnes, but very soon gave up tliat extraordi- nary delusion. In reply to More, he professes an historic faith in the perpetual virginity of our Lord's mother. It is interesting to trace the progress of his powerful mind in throwing off the errors which he had imbibed in his education. — See Confutation of Tyn- dale, fol. 249 and 260. KS^flliam STajntrale. 19 great ornament to the city, of good wealth, and great charity ; he contributed largely to the printing of the New Testament and other pious books against the errors of Rome. By his will, he appointed Latimer, Barnes, and two other gospellers to preach thirty sermons at his parish church, which he thought would do more good than so many masses said for the repose of his soul ; and he forbade the ordinary supersti- tions of candles and singing dirige, and ringing of bells at his funeral.* * Strype's Stow, Vol. 1. p. 375. 20 l^ilemofv of CHAPTER II. '^ Toss'd in the ship of Providence, he sailed From place to place, his courage never fail'd. The strength of his afflictions, added strength Unto his soul. Quarles. GOES INTO VOLUNTARY EXILE — CONFERS WITH LUTHER, AND PRINTS THE NEW TESTAMENT IN ENGLISH DESCRIPTION OF THE TWO EDITIONS VIOLENT OPPOSITION TO THE NEW TESTAMENT IN ENG- LAND — SEVERE PERSECUTION OF THOSE IN WHOSE POSSESSION IT WAS FOUND PUBLICLY BURNT AT PAUL's CROSS. Before the close of the year 1523, Tyndale became a vol- untary exile from his native land — and which he was never more to revisit ; — having satisfied himself that no where with-, in its limits was he likely to bring his labors to a prosperous issue. With the aid of a ten pounds' donation from the friend- ly alderman, he quitted his hospitable roof and sailed for Hamburgh ; thence he proceeded to Saxony to confer with the kindred spirits and fellow-reformers, of his age. Luther, who had just finished his German version, not only gave encouragement to the pious refugee to persevere in this twin-enterprise, but as some think, by his pecuniary as- sistance, lightened the burthen of his less able ally. The im- agination cannot forbear to paint the meeting of two such eminent men ; raised up by Providence for similar services to mankind. In some points of character, probably, they widely differed, as they certainly did in outward circum- stances. The Englishman was a poverty-stricken exile, the German was the protegee of at least one considerable, spirit- ed prince of the empire. But they resembled in the energy of soul and in other qualities, which the exigencies of the time required, and not less in the happy influence on their re-«. mmum Sr^ntrale. 21 spective countries, of their efforts for the diffusion of the liv- ing word. At Wyttemburg, it is the opinion of Mr. Offor, that he com- pleted the translation of the New Testament, assisted by his learned friend, Frith, who with William Roy, acted also as his amanuenses. He counts " it a popular error which as- cribes the edition to the Antwerp press ; the more remarka- ble, as no similar type was used there, nor did Tyndale visit that city until the year 1530." One edition of three thou- sand for general circulation, was followed, it is supposed, by a more sightly edition in 4to. with glosses* commenced at Co- logne in 1526, and finished at Worms or Wyttemburg ; the type, cuts and ornaments of both these books being those used by the German printers on the Rhine. These circumstances are confirmed by the positive evidence of Brovius,t as to the one printed at Wittemburg in 1525 and that of Cochlseus, (an authority soon to be introduced) who broke up the printing of the second at Cologne. Tyndale himself seems to point out the order of these two editions at the close of this volume, * Such is the statement of Mr. Offor ; and with the ampler means of thorough investigation in his hands, the Editor must needs suppose the distinctions in the text well-founded. But since the present work (which is the first, the reader will please to remember, of these alleg- ed editions, viz. that of 1525) opens on the eye with the date of 1526, since the table of Various Readings of the second edition collated with the first at the close of the Memoir, assumes them to be respectively of 1526 and 1534, and since all this is confirmed by the incidental mention of the two throughout the Sketch, — it will be strange if the reader, who values or himself observes precision of language, is not thoroughly bewildered by this confusion of terms. Yet of all this the English biographer seems utterly unconscious; nor to have once thought of using any qualifying explanation, with a view to remedy his apparent looseness of description. It would be well if the por- tions of Tyndale's Testament, issued in the successive years and in different forms, might be designated as two impressions of one and the same edition; but if this may not be, — and to judge from Mr. t Preface to Tl^e Wielded Mammon, 22 i^emoir of where he says " that the rudnes of the worke, nowe at thb FYRST TYME, offende them not." In the prologue to the 4to. no such expressions are found. That after his first publication of the text, he thought it ex- pedient to re-issue it again, with a view altogether to the pro- logue and notes to be annexed, the language of Sir Thomas More's Strictures seems to favour: "But surely the worde congregacyion, wyth the circunstaunces in the text : wolde not haue serued when lie translated ytfyrste, to make the englyshe reader to take it for the chyrch, no more than idols for ymages ; But mary he hath added vnto his translacion such circum- staunces synnys^''"'* etc. We can trace the volume of Tyndale, soon after this date, as in course of circulation. Strype has recorded, from a pri- vate paper left by John Fox, that one John Pykas, when in trouble for alleged heresy, deposed, March 7, 1527, that about two years previously, he bought in Colchester, of a Lombard merchant (i. e. any merchant trading to foreign parts) the New Testament in English for four shillings : he does not say that it was printed ; but, supposing it to be one of the first im- portation of printed Testaments, when manuscript copies were selling for very considerable sums, and the sale was attended with great risk, it may account for the charge of four shillings for so small a volume. In the preface to the Wicked Mammon, published in May, 1528, Tyndale states, that the New Testament was completed two years previously ; thus confirming the account given by Cochlseus, one of the most active enemies of the Reforma- tion. In his Memoir of the Life and Writings of Luther, he thus narrates the routing of the two pious aliens, Tyndale and Frith. Roy had quitted them, and gone to Strasburg. ANNO DOMINI M.D.XXVI. "Two English heretics, who had formerly been at Wittem- burg, not only sought to convert the merchants who had se- * Bp. Kennet's MSS. in the British Museum. SWaifam ^Tsntrale. 23 cretly maintained them during exile, but even hoped that the whole of the English nation, without consulting the king's feelings, would in a short time become Lutherans, by means of Luther's New Testament, which they had translated into the English language. They had come to Cologne, that they might forward many thousand printed copies of the Testa- ment thus translated, secreted under other goods, into Eng- land. Such was their confidence in the success of this at- tempt, that at their first interview they ordered the printers to put six ^thousand copies to press ; but fearing that a great loss would be sustained if the enterprise failed, they agreed to print only three thousand, it being easy, if they sold well, to print another edition. Pomeranus had already sent letters to the saints among the English, and Luther himself had written to the king. When he supposed that the New Testament would soon appear, such was his delight, that he inflated his followers with vain expectations, and they became intoxicated with joy, and revealed the secret before due time with their useless boasting." The narrative goes on to state, that Coch- Iseus, having prepared an edition of Rupert's Commentaiy on Matthew, went to Cologne to superintend the printing of it, and happening to employ the same printers, he heard such whispers as led this divine to ply some of the workmen with drink, and while intoxicated, he drew from them their mas- ter's secret. His narrative thus continues — " Here having become better acquainted with the printers, he hears them occasionally ejaculate over the glass with confidence — let the English king and cardinal be willing or not, all England shall in a short space of time become Lutherans. He heard also that two Englishmen there, learned, eloquent, and SKILLED IN LANGUAGES, made it a matter of exultation, but he never found an opportunity of seeing or speaking to them. Having invited some of the printers to his house, when they had becomed heated with wine, one of them in private conversation revealed to him the secret, how Eng- 24 l^emoir of land was to be brought to Luther's side; namely, three thousand copies of Luther's New Testament, translated into English, were printing, and that they had already advanced as far as signature K, in fours. The baronet, to satisfy himself that the information was cor- rect, sent a man to search the house where the work was car- ried on ; the printer acknowledged that it was in hand, and that a quantity of paper was purchased for it. Upon this he went to the senate, and obtained an injunction, forbidding the printer to proceed. The two English heretics taking with them the printed sheets, escaped and sailed up the Rhine to Worms, where the people were immoderately in favour of Luther, that they might there finish their undertaking. Rinck and Cochlseus admonished the king, the cardinal, and the bishop about these proceedings, that all diligence might be used to stop this pernicious merchandize from entering any of the English ports. It is reported that Lord C. Tunstall, a most learned man, at that time bishop of London but now of Durham, when he had obtained one of these copies, de- clared to a great assembly in London that he had found up- wards of two thousand errors and corruptions in that book." This is the narrative of an eye-witness of repute, given to the world in 1549, at which time its accuracy was not ques- tioned. But the slight regard given it by Lewis, led Mr. Offor to Cologne in 1830, to ascertain if possible its accuracy on the ground. His researches into the archives, which were kindly- aided by the city secretary, Mr. Vaux, and others, brought to light the identical Herman Rinck, a senator in 1526, and faith- fully answering to his portrait by Cochlseus. The printer's house, the scene of the drama, was pointed out by these gen- tlemen, who themselves saw no reason to doubt the story of Luther's biogmpher. The printers, it is curious to obsei*ve, speake of this English New Testament, as a translation from Luther ; and hence perhaps the assertion has come, which is sometimes made, that Tyndale did not translate from the Original. But Lu- theran was then the common by-word of reproach ; and it was one of the artifices of monkish zeal to give out that the here- tics, so styled, had invented two new languages which they called Hebrew and Greek* — that all who studied Hebrew be- came Jews — and that the New Testament was a modern in- vention by Luther. Every new version therefore was naturally enough called by his name, however faithfully made from the Greek. Tyndale, however, to whom the latter language was familiar from his youth, w^ould have found it quite a different affair to cope with the German. Any rumours, however, to the discredit of his, as a second-hand version, will be utterly exposed by a minute and careful comparison of the text with the Greek,t the Latin Vulgate, and Luther's German ; though who can doubt that he availed himself of all aids within his reach, in the difficulties that would arise ; of which, conference * Sir Thomas More relates a curious instance of the ignorance of a learned monk : — "A lerned prieste thorow out all ye gospels scraped oat iliaholus and wrote Jesus Cristus, bycause he thought the deny Is name was not mete to stande in so good a place." If this learned monk understood Latin, how would he, after such an alteration, read Matt. xiii. 39, or 1 John iii. b ? — Confutation, p. 126. t In his Preface to the '' Obedience of a Christian Man," Tyndale writes like one at home in the Original languages. The Greeke tongue agreeth more with the Englysshe than with the Latyne, and the properties of the Hebrue tongue agreeth a thousand tymes more with y^ Enghjsshe than with the Latyne.'' 3 26 i^emofv of with the great Hghts among his Reformed brethren, was not by a wise man to be neglected. Many pirated editions of this book were printed by the Dutchmen, particularly at Antwerp ; but gain being all that was thought of, carelessly and incorrectly enough. The most accurate was by the exile, George Joy; who however pri- vately corrupted the text, for which he afterwards apologized. This edition was printed by the widow of Christopher of End- hoven in Antwerp : her husband had died in an English pri- son for selling a pirated edition in 1531. Three years previ- ously, John Raymond, a Dutchman, severely suffered, for caus- ing 1500 of Tyndale's New Testament to be printed at Ant- werp, one third of which were conveyed into England. The price at which they were usually sold, was thirteen pence for the small editions, and half-a-crown with the glosses ; a sum more considerable than at this day it appears. The first of Tyndale's editions is a small 8vo. handsomely printed : it consists of 336 leaves, of which 333 contain the text, the epistle to the reader and the errata filling the rest. 