Chapter 14 . England ’ s Reforms
While Luther was opening a closed Bible to the people of Germany , Tyndale was impelled by the Spirit of God to do the same for England . Wycliffe ' s Bible had been translated from the Latin text , which contained many errors . It had never been printed , and the cost of manuscript copies was so great that few but wealthy men or nobles could procure it ; and , furthermore , being strictly proscribed by the church , it had had a comparatively narrow circulation . In 1516 , a year before the appearance of Luther ' s theses , Erasmus had published his Greek and Latin version of the New Testament . Now for the first time the word of God was printed in the original tongue . In this work many errors of former versions were corrected , and the sense was more clearly rendered . It led many among the educated classes to a better knowledge of the truth , and gave a new impetus to the work of reform . But the common people were still , to a great extent , debarred from God ' s word . Tyndale was to complete the work of Wycliffe in giving the Bible to his countrymen .
A diligent student and an earnest seeker for truth , he had received the gospel from the Greek Testament of Erasmus . He fearlessly preached his convictions , urging that all doctrines be tested by the Scriptures . To the papist claim that the church had given the Bible , and the church alone could explain it , Tyndale responded : " Do you know who taught the eagles to find their prey ? Well , that same God teaches His hungry children to find their Father in His word . Far from having given us the Scriptures , it is you who have hidden them from us ; it is you who burn those who teach them , and if you could , you would burn the Scriptures themselves ." -D ' Aubigne , History of the Reformation of the Sixteenth Century , b . 18 , ch . 4 .
Tyndale ' s preaching excited great interest ; many accepted the truth . But the priests were on the alert , and no sooner had he left the field than they by their threats and misrepresentations endeavoured to destroy his work . Too often they succeeded . " What is to be done ?" he exclaimed . " 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 ." -- Ibid ., b . 18 , ch . 4 .
A new purpose now took possession of his mind . " 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 ." The doctors and teachers of the church disagreed among themselves . Only by the Bible could men arrive at the truth . " One holdeth this doctor , another that . . . . 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 God ' s word ." -- Ibid ., b . 18 , ch . 4 .
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