Several miles outside of London, England there is a centuries old estate largely intact to this day. It is a farm with a large two-story stucco-like, castle-resembling structure. Among the rooms upstairs is one furnished as it appeared several hundred years ago. I was privileged to visit that room in 1985. It was here that William Tyndale did much of the translation work of the Bible into English. The significance of this is readily apparent to most students of history, and particularly of the Bible. Please continue to read!
In the early 16th century, it was illegal for all but clergy to have access to the Bible, and none existed in the English language. That was just the way Catholicism and the powers of England wanted it. William Tyndale, a highly educated linguistic scholar lamented the English people being deprived of God’s Word. Accordingly, he spent much time in seclusion at Little Sodbury the home of nobleman John Walsh, translating the Bible into English. He was well aware that this could get him burned at the stake, but in his determination said to an opposing priest, "If God spare my life, ere many years pass, I will cause a boy that driveth the plough shall know more of the Scriptures than thou dost.”
Tyndale spent most of his years in hiding to accomplish his work. His first New Testament of six thousand copies was printed in Germany. Later he worked on the Old Testament. Much of his work constituted the Geneva Bible, largely preferred by Baptists for the next two centuries. Indeed, much of the King James Version of the scriptures that finally came about in the early 17th century is the translation work of William Tyndale. As expected, his work brought the wrath of King Henry VIII upon him. He was finally located and imprisoned. After over a year in prison, he was burned at the stake near Oxford University. His last words were: “Lord, open the king of England’s eyes.”
To possess reliable copies of God’s Word; to possess freedom in a democratic republic form of government are both tremendous blessings for which the giving of thanks should never end. The world pays no attention, but those who know give thanks to God for William Tyndale, and for the legacy of Little Sodbury. Both he and it speak of worship, and service around the Word as prime directives of life which pale any importance of a din, noisy, fleeting, impoverishing, destroying, and material world. Blessed indeed are those who leave a legacy of love for the eternal Word, and its advancement in the lives of others.
FOR THOUGHT: Do you know that the Church of England is merely Catholic, but severed from Rome by King Henry VIII? Do you humbly breathe a prayer of thanks for men such as Tyndale, Wycliff and others who paid with their life for sharing God’s Word in English?