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he reigns; what fear, then, can we have?”
God did listen to the cries of his servants. He gave to princes and
ministers grace and courage to maintain the truth against the rulers
of the darkness of this world. Saith the Lord, “Behold, I lay in Zion
a chief corner-stone, elect, precious, and he that believeth on him
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shall not be confounded.” [1 Peter 2:6.] The Protestant Reformers had built on Christ, and the gates of hell could not prevail against
them.
Chapter 10—Later Reformers
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While Luther was opening a closed Bible to the people of Ger-
many, Tyndale was impelled by the Spirit of God to do the same for
England. He was a diligent student of the Scriptures, and fearlessly
preached his convictions of truth, urging that all doctrines be brought
to the test of God’s word. His zeal could not but excite opposition
from the papists. A learned Catholic doctor who engaged in contro-
versy with him exclaimed, “It were better for us to be without God’s
law than without 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 who driveth the plow to know more of the Scriptures than you
do.”
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
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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
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Tyndale, his whole stock of Bibles, for the purpose of destroying
them, supposing that this would greatly hinder the work. But, on
the contrary, the money thus furnished, purchased material for a
new and better edition, which, but for this, could not have been
published. When Tyndale was afterward made a prisoner, his liberty
was offered him on condition that he would reveal the names of
those who had helped him meet the expense of printing his Bibles.
He replied that the bishop of Durham had done more than any other
person; for by paying a large price for the books left on hand, he had
enabled him to go on with good courage.
Tyndale was betrayed into the hands of his enemies, and at one
time suffered imprisonment for many months. He finally witnessed
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for his faith by a martyr’s death; but the weapons which he prepared
have enabled other soldiers to do battle through all the centuries
even to our time.
In Scotland the gospel found a champion in the person of John
Knox. This true-hearted reformer feared not the face of man. The
fires of martyrdom, blazing around him, served only to quicken his
zeal to greater intensity. With the tyrant’s ax held menacingly over
his head, he stood his ground, striking sturdy blows on the right hand
and on the left, to demolish idolatry. Thus he kept to his purpose,
praying and fighting the battles of the Lord, until Scotland was free.
In England, Latimer maintained from the pulpit that the Bible
ought to be read in the language of the people. “The Author of Holy
Scripture,” said he, “is God himself, and this Scripture partakes
of the might and eternity of its Author. There is neither king nor
emperor that is not bound to obey it. Let us beware of those by-paths
of human tradition, full of stones, brambles, and uprooted trees. Let
us follow the straight road of the word. It does not concern us what
the Fathers have done, but rather what they ought to have done.”
Barnes and Frith, the faithful friends of Tyndale, arose to defend
the truth. The Ridleys and Cranmer followed. These leaders in the
English Reformation were men of learning, and most of them had
been highly esteemed for zeal or piety in the Romish communion.
Their opposition to the papacy was the result of their knowledge of
the errors of the holy see. Their acquaintance with the mysteries of
Babylon, gave greater power to their testimonies against her.
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“Do you know,” said Latimer, “who is the most diligent bishop
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in England? I see you listening and hearkening that I should name
him. I will tell you. It is the devil. He is never out of his diocese;
you shall never find him idle. Call for him when you will, he is ever
at home, he is ever at the plow. You shall never find him remiss, I
warrant you. Where the devil is resident, there away with books,
and up with candles; away with Bibles, and up with beads; away
with the light of the gospel, and up with the light of wax tapers,
yea, at noonday; down with Christ’s cross, up with the purgatory
pick-purse; away with clothing the naked, the poor, the impotent;
up with the decking of images and the gay garnishing of stones and
stocks; down with God and his most holy word; up with traditions,
human councils, and a blinded pope. Oh that our prelates would be
as diligent to sow the corn of good doctrine as Satan is to sow cockle
and darnel!”
The grand principle maintained by Tyndale, Frith, Latimer, and
the Ridleys, was the divine authority and sufficiency of the Sacred
Scriptures. They rejected the assumed authority of popes, councils,
Fathers, and kings to rule the conscience in matters of religious faith.
The Bible was their standard, and to this they brought all doctrines
and all claims.
Faith in God and his word sustained these holy men as they
yielded up their lives at the stake. “Be of good comfort,” exclaimed
Latimer to his fellow-martyr as the flames were about to silence their
voices, “we shall this day light such a candle in England as, I trust,