King's Business - 1953-01

The Fight for the English Bible

By Andrew K. Helmbold

This beautiful volume is a copy of the original edition of William Tyndale’s English translation of the New Testament, printed at Worms by Peter Schaeffer in 1525. The first edition of Tyndale’s work was so rigorously suppressed that only two copies, one of them quite fragmentary, remain. William Tyndale suffered martyrdom. S TIRRING sagas of men’s battles for things precious to them fill the pages of history. Any schoolboy

Norwegians and Danes — several cen­ turies earlier. These Normans became French in their speech and culture and brought that tongue with them to Eng­ land when they conquered the Saxons. So England became a land of three lan­ guages ; Latin for the priests, French for the rulers, and Saxon for the common people. Gradually these three languages amalgamated into what is called Middle English. The 13th and 14th centuries saw several portions of the Bible translated into this tongue. This is the language of Chaucer who wrote the famous Can­ terbury Tales. In his prologue to the Tales he describes a priest who was des­ tined to play an important role in the fight for the English Bible. Chaucer said of him “ That first he wroghte, and after­ ward he taughte.” Also, “ But Christes lore, and his apostles twelve, He taughte, but first he folwed it him-selve.” The man to whom Chaucer referred was John Wycliffe who lived from 1320 to 1384. He has been called “ The Morn­ ing Star of the Reformation.” To him belongs the honor of first translating the complete Bible into the English language. He saw how the pope and priests were extorting money from the poor people. He saw the injustices of the nobles. At the same time he saw that the Bible taught justice and love. In his battle against the impurities of the church he turned to writing pamphlets in the English language. He felt that every one should be able to read the Bible for himself, so he decided to place the Bible in the hands of the people by translating it into their language. He translated from the Latin Vulgate, completing the New Testament in 1380. Assisted by Nicholas Hereford and Thomas Purvey, he issued the Old Testament in 1382. Hereford’s work breaks off in the middle of the book of Baruch, probably because he was ar­ rested in the midst of his work. All this was done by hand, as printing had not yet been invented. Copies cost $150.00 or more. People gave a load of hay for the privilege of using the New Testa-

amid much pain, “ The' day before his death he grew much worse, and his feet began to swell, yet he passed the night as usual, and continued dictating to the person who acted as his amanuensis, who, observing his weakness, said, ‘There re­ mains now only one chapter, but it seems difficult for you to speak.’ To which he answered, ‘It is easy; take your pen, mend it, and write quickly.’ About nine o’clock he sent for some of his brethren, priests of the monastery, to divide among them some incense and other things of little value which he had preserved in a chest. While he was speaking, the young man, Wilberch, who wrote for him, said, ‘Master, there is but one sentence want­ ing, upon which he bade him write quick­ ly and soon after the scribe said, ‘Now it is finished,’ To which he replied, ‘Thou hast said the truth— consummatum est. Take up my head; I wish to sit opposite the place where I have been accustomed to pray, and where now sitting I may invoke my Father.’ Being thus seated, according to his desire, upon the floor of his cell, he said, ‘Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost:’ and as he pronounced the last word he expired” (Neander, Light in Dark Places, p. 162). After Bede, several other men trans­ lated parts of the Bible into the language of the people. One of these was King Alfred, who put the Ten Commandments in Saxon at the head of his laws for England. He also translated the Psalms and part of the Gospels. His wish was that all the freeborn youth of his king­ dom “ should employ themselves on noth­ ing till they can first read well the Eng­ lish Scriptures.” The year 1066 saw the end of the Old English period with the coming of Wil­ liam the Conqueror and his victory .at the battle of Hastings. William was Duke of Normandy, the section of France just across the Channel. Normandy had been possessed by the Northmen — Swedes,

can tell some of them: Joan of Arc and French freedom, Washington and Amer­ ican independence, Lincoln and the pre­ servation of the union. Yet few people know the equally thrilling story of the fight for the English Bible. To understand this story we must go back to the time of Christ. At that time Britain was occupied by the Romans who drove the natives back into the mountains of Wales, Scotland and Ire­ land. When the Goths and Vandals threatended Rome about 410 A.D., Roman soldiers were withdrawn from Britain. However, they were soon re­ placed by bands of sea rovers who came from northern Germany and Scandina­ via. These new invaders were the Anglo- Saxons, from whom England derived its name—Angle-land. They brought with them their native tongue, Saxon, which soon became the language of the coun­ try. The history of the English Bible begins with this Saxon, or Old English, language. While Christianity had been intro­ duced into Britain under the Romans, it was wiped out by the Saxons. How­ ever, through the efforts of Patrick, the Scotch monk who evangelized Ireland, and through a Roman monk named Augustine, Christianity was reintroduced into England. The first person to trans­ late a portion of the Bible into the lan­ guage of the common people was a servant in a monastery who composed portions of Genesis into poems in the Anglo-Saxon or Old English language. The important person, however, of this period is a monk known as “Ven­ erable Bede.” He is called “ The Father of English History” because he wrote The Ecclesiastical History of England which is still valuable. In 735 A.D. he completed his translation of the Gospel of John into Saxon. He finished the work

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