History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century Volume V Part 54

[961] Answer to Sir Thomas More's Dialogue, p. 12, 13.

MORE. The church is the pope and his sect are followers.

TYNDALE. The pope teacheth us to trust in holy works for salvation, as penance, saints' merits, and friars' coats.[962] Now, he that hath no faith to be saved through Christ, is not of Christ's church.[963]

[962] Ibid. p. 40.

[963] Ibid. p. 39.

MORE. The Romish church from which the Lutherans came out, was before them, and therefore is the right one.

TYNDALE. In like manner you may say, the church of the Pharisees, whence Christ and his apostles came out, was before them, and was therefore the right church, and consequently Christ and his disciples are heretics.

MORE. No: the apostles came out from the church of the Pharisees because they found not Christ there; but your priests in Germany and elsewhere, have come out of our church, because they wanted wives.

TYNDALE. Wrong: ... these priests were at first attached to what you call _heresies_, and then they took wives; but yours were first attached to the _holy_ doctrine of the pope, and then they took harlots.[964]

[964] Ibid. p. 104.

MORE. Luther's books be open, if you will not believe us.

TYNDALE. Nay, ye have shut them up, and have even burnt them.[965]...

[965] Ibid. p. 189.

MORE. I marvel that you deny _purgatory_, Sir William, except it be a plain point with you to go straight to h.e.l.l.[966]

[966] Ibid. p. 214.

TYNDALE. I know no other purging but faith in the cross of Christ; while you, for a groat or a sixpence, buy some secret pills [indulgences] which you take to purge yourselves of your sins.[967]

[967] Ibid.

MORE. Faith, then, is your purgatory, you say; there is no need, therefore, of works--a most immoral doctrine!

TYNDALE. It is faith _alone_ that saves us, but not a _bare faith_.

When a horse beareth a saddle and a man thereon, we may well say that the horse only and alone beareth the saddle, but we do not mean the saddle empty, and no man thereon.[968]

[968] Ibid. p. 197.

In this manner did the catholic and the evangelical carry on the discussion. According to Tyndale, what const.i.tutes the true church is the work of the Holy Ghost within; according to More, the const.i.tution of the papacy without. The spiritual character of the Gospel is thus put in opposition to the formalist character of the Roman church. The Reformation restored to our belief the solid foundation of the word of G.o.d; for the sand it subst.i.tuted the rock. In the discussion to which we have just been listening, the advantage remained not with the catholic. Erasmus, a friend of More's, embarra.s.sed by the course the latter was taking, wrote to Tonstall: "I cannot heartily congratulate More."[969]

[969] Thomae More non admodum gratulor. Erasm. Epp. p. 1478.

Henry interrupted the celebrated knight in these contests to send him to Cambray, where a peace was negotiating between France and the empire. Wolsey would have been pleased to go himself; but his enemies suggested to the king, "that it was only that he might not expedite the matter of the divorce." Henry, therefore, despatched More, Knight, and Tonstall; but Wolsey had created so many delays that he did not arrive until after the conclusion of the _Ladies' Peace_ (August 1529). The king's vexation was extreme. Du Bellay had in vain helped him to spend a _good preparatory July_ to make him _swallow the dose_.[970] Henry was angry with Wolsey, Wolsey threw the blame on the amba.s.sador, and the amba.s.sador defended himself, he tells us, "with tooth and nail."[971]

[970] Juillet preparatoire pour lui faire avaler la medecine.

[971] Du bec et des ongles. Du Bellay to Montmorency. Le Grand, iii.

p. 328.

[Sidenote: TREATY AGAINST LUTHERAN BOOKS.]

By way of compensation, the English envoys concluded with the emperor a treaty prohibiting on both sides the printing and sale of "any Lutheran books."[972] Some of them could have wished for a good persecution, for a few burning piles, it may be. A singular opportunity occurred. In the spring of 1529, Tyndale and Fryth had left Marburg for Antwerp, and were thus in the vicinity of the English envoys. What West had been unable to effect, it was thought the two most intelligent men in Britain could not fail to accomplish. "Tyndale must be captured," said More and Tonstall.--"You do not know what sort of a country you are in," replied Hackett. "Will you believe that on the 7th of April, Harman arrested me at Antwerp for damages, caused by his imprisonment? If you can lay anything to my charge as a private individual, I said to the officer, I am ready to answer for myself; but if you arrest me as amba.s.sador, I know no judge but the emperor.

Upon which the procurator had the audacity to reply, that I was arrested _as amba.s.sador_; and the lords of Antwerp only set me at liberty on condition that I should appear again at the first summons.[973] These merchants are so proud of their franchises, that they would resist even Charles himself." This anecdote was not at all calculated to encourage More; and not caring about a pursuit, which promised to be of little use, he returned to England. But the bishop of London, who was left behind, persisted in the project, and repaired to Antwerp to put it in execution.

[972] Herbert, p. 316.

[973] Hackett to Wolsey, Brussels, 13th April, 1529. Bible Annals, vol. i. p. 199.

[Sidenote: TYNDALE'S DANGER.]

Tyndale was at that time greatly embarra.s.sed; considerable debts, incurred with his printers, compelled him to suspend his labours. Nor was this all: the prelate who had spurned him so harshly in London, had just arrived in the very city where he lay concealed.... What would become of him?... A merchant, named Augustin Packington, a clever man, but somewhat inclined to dissimulation, happening to be at Antwerp on business, hastened to pay his respects to the bishop. The latter observed, in the course of conversation: "I should like to get hold of the books with which England is poisoned." "I can perhaps serve you in that matter," replied the merchant. "I know the Flemings, who have bought Tyndale's books; so that if your lords.h.i.+p will be pleased to pay for them, I will make you sure of them all."--"Oh, oh!"

thought the bishop, "Now, as the proverb says, I shall have G.o.d by the toe.[974] Gentle Master Packington," he added in a flattering tone, "I will pay for them whatsoever they cost you. I intend to burn them at St. Paul's cross." The bishop, having his hand already on Tyndale's Testaments, fancied himself on the point of seizing Tyndale himself.

[974] Foxe, iv, p. 670.

Packington, being one of those men who love to conciliate all parties, ran off to Tyndale, with whom he was intimate, and said:--"William, I know you are a poor man, and have a heap of New Testaments and books by you, for which you have beggared yourself; and I have now found a merchant who will buy them all, and with ready money too."--"Who is the merchant?" said Tyndale.--"The bishop of London."--"Tonstall?...

If he buys my books, it can only be to burn them."--"No doubt,"

answered Packington; "but what will he gain by it? The whole world will cry out against the priest who burns G.o.d's word, and the eyes of many will be opened. Come, make up your mind, William; the bishop shall have the books, you the money, and I the thanks."... Tyndale resisted the proposal; Packington became more pressing. "The question comes to this," he said; "shall the bishop pay for the books or shall he not? for, make up your mind ... he will have them."--"I consent,"

said the Reformer at last; "I shall pay my debts, and bring out a new and more correct edition of the Testament." The bargain was made.

[Sidenote: TYNDALE s.h.i.+PWRECKED.]

Erelong the danger thickened around Tyndale. Placards, posted at Antwerp and throughout the province, announced that the emperor, in conformity with the treaty of Cambray, was about to proceed against the Reformers and their writings. Not an officer of justice appeared in the street but Tyndale's friends trembled for his liberty. Under such circ.u.mstances, how could he print his translation of Genesis and Deuteronomy? He made up his mind about the end of August to go to Hamburg, and take his pa.s.sage in a vessel loading for that port.

Embarking with his books, his ma.n.u.scripts, and the rest of his money, he glided down the Scheldt, and soon found himself afloat on the German ocean.

But one danger followed close upon another. He had scarcely pa.s.sed the mouth of the Meuse when a tempest burst upon him, and his s.h.i.+p, like that of old which bore St. Paul, was almost swallowed up by the waves.--"Satan, envying the happy course and success of the Gospel,"

says a chronicler, "set to his might how to hinder the blessed labours of this man."[975] The seamen toiled, Tyndale prayed, all hope was lost. The reformer alone was full of courage, not doubting that G.o.d would preserve him for the accomplishment of his work. All the exertions of the crew proved useless; the vessel was dashed on the coast, and the pa.s.sengers escaped with their lives. Tyndale gazed with sorrow upon that ocean which had swallowed up his beloved books and precious ma.n.u.scripts, and deprived him of his resources.[976] What labours, what perils! banishment, poverty, thirst, insults, watchings, persecution, imprisonment, the stake!... Like Paul, he was in perils by his own countrymen, in perils among strange people, in perils in the city, in perils in the sea. Recovering his spirits, however, he went on board another s.h.i.+p, entered the Elbe, and at last reached Hamburg.

[975] Foxe, v, p. 120.

[976] Lost both his money, his copies.... Ibid.

Great joy was in store for him in that city. Coverdale, Foxe informs us, was waiting there to confer with him, and to help him in his labours.[977] It has been supposed that Coverdale went to Hamburg to invite Tyndale, in Cromwell's name, to return to England;[978] but it is merely a conjecture, and requires confirmation. As early as 1527, Coverdale had made known to Cromwell his desire to translate the Scriptures.[979] It was natural that, meeting with difficulties in this undertaking, he should desire to converse with Tyndale. The two friends lodged with a pious woman named Margaret van Emmersen, and spent some time together in the autumn of 1529, undisturbed by the sweating sickness which was making such cruel havoc all around them.

Coverdale returned to England shortly after; the two reformers had, no doubt, discovered that it was better for each of them to translate the Scriptures separately.

[977] Coverdale tarried for him and helped him. Ibid.

[978] Anderson's Annals of the Bible, i. p. 240.

[979] This is the date a.s.signed in Coverdale's Remains. (Par. Soc.) p.

490.

Before Coverdale's return, Tonstall had gone back to London, exulting at carrying with him the books he had bought so dearly. But when he reached the capital, he thought he had better defer the meditated _auto da fe_ until some striking event should give it increased importance. And besides, just at that moment, very different matters were engaging public attention on the banks of the Thames, and the liveliest emotions agitated every mind.