The European Union in Prophecy The EU in Prophecy I | Page 191

The European Union in Prophecy
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.
It was not long after that a learned Catholic doctor, engaging in controversy with
him, exclaimed: "We were better to be without God's laws than the pope's." Tyndale
replied: "I defy the pope and all his laws; and if God spare my life, ere many years I
will cause a boy that driveth the plow to know more of the Scripture than you do."--
Anderson, Annals of the English Bible, page 19.
The purpose which he had begun to cherish, of giving to the people the New
Testament Scriptures in their own language, was now confirmed, and he immediately
applied himself to the work. Driven from his home by persecution, he went to London,
and there for a time pursued his labors undisturbed. But again the violence of the
papists forced him to flee. All England seemed closed against him, and he resolved to
seek shelter in Germany. Here he began the printing of the English New Testament.
Twice the work was stopped; but when forbidden to print in one city, he went to
another. At last he made his way to Worms, where, a few years before, Luther had
defended the gospel before the Diet. In that ancient city were many friends of the
Reformation, and Tyndale there prosecuted his work without further hindrance.
Three thousand copies of the New Testament were soon finished, and another edition
followed in the same year.
With
great
earnestness
and
perseverance
he
continued
his
labors.
Notwithstanding the English authorities had guarded their ports with the strictest
vigilance, the word of God was in various ways secretly conveyed to London and
thence circulated throughout the country. The papists attempted to suppress the
truth, but in vain. The bishop of Durham at one time bought of a bookseller who was
a friend of Tyndale his whole stock of Bibles, for the purpose of destroying them,
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