T HE K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
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would destroy the Church unless he should be In some way prevented from carrying on this work of translating and circulating the Bible. Wycliffe was condemned, but they dared not execute him because the people were to a large extent with him. Years afterward the Council of Constance decreed that his bones should be taken from their rest ing place and burned. This was done and their ashes were scattered upon the River Swift. It has been beautifully said • that the ashes of Wycliffe, carried by the Swift into the Severn, and by the Sevtern into the bay; and by the bay into the broad ocean, were truly symbolic of the work he did in translating the Bible, which has gone over the world. Fourteen hundred and fifty A. D. is a mountain peak in history. It is the year which marks the discovery of the art of printing, and God seems to have de layed the discovery until just the time when it was most needed for the circula tion of His Word. One hundred years after Wycliffe, 1483, William Tyndale is born. Wycliffe’s Bible was, of course, in manuscript and could be reproduced only by the slow and painful process of copying. It took about ten months to make one copy of the New Testament. William Tyndale declared that the Bible should be printed and brought within the reach of everybody. As he sat at table with some priests one day the question was asked, “ Is it better that we should have the laws of the Pope or the Bible?” “ I defy the laws of the Pope,” responded Tyndale, “ and if God lets me live i will see that the boy who follows the plow shall know more sf the Scrip tures than the Pope himself.” This was the single purpose of his life. Driven from his native land he goes to Ham burg and is driven from there to Cologne and from there to Worms, where the Bible is printed, and qopies of it are carried into England, disguised in bales of cloth and many other ways. People
begin to read it, and the earthquake at Wycliffe’s trial continues its tremor un der the, throne of ecclesiasticism. The Bishop of London preaches a sermon against the book and flings it into the fire in front of St. Paul’s cross, but the- book circulates. Finally the bishop de termines to buy up all the copies of it that he may burn them. He authorizes one Pakington, a merchant, to make the purchase, and there is a big bonfire of Bibles. Still they circulate, and the bishop calls Pakington before him to know the reason. He replied, “ My lord, we failed to secure that from which they are printed.” The fact was, Pakington was friendly to Tyndale and advised him to sell his Bibles that he might have money for printing more. And so the work went on until-through the treach ery of a pretended friend Tyndale was arrested, delivered to the authorities, kept a long time in prison, tried and strangled. And just before the execu tioner strangled him he looked up to heaven and exclaimed, “ Lord, open the king of England’s eyes.” That prayer was answered. In less than four years the Bible was published with a picture for its frontispiece, de signed by the artist, Holbein, represent ing the Almighty in the clouds with two scrolls proceeding from His mouth, on one of which was written, “ The word which goeth forth from Me shall not return to Me empty,” and on the other, “ I have found Me a man after My own heart.” The king is represented as say ing, “ Thy word is a lantern unto my feet.” In another part of the picture the king is giving the Bible to Cran- mer and another bishop, saying, “ Take this and teach,-” and underneath it all are the words, “ I make a decree that in all my kingdom men shall tremble and fear before the living God.” This Bible, known as the “ Great Bible,” is chained to the pulpit of the cathedral and the people are allowed to read it.
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