_TRAPPED AT LAST; OR, DYING FOR THE TRUTH._
“He has outsoared the shadow of our night;
Envy and calumny and hate and pain
Can touch him not and torture not again;
He is secure, and now can never mourn.”
--SHELLEY.
“He is strong that can bear another man’s weakness.”
--TYNDALE.
THE QUEEN’S BIBLE--THE TRAITOR--THE TRAP--THE WEARY YEAR OF
IMPRISONMENT--THE TRIUMPH.
Two years (1533-1535) were spent by Tyndale in Antwerp, and while
engaged in the manner that Foxe described in the paragraph which we
quoted in the last chapter, he was also employed in revising his New
Testament. The Bishop of Durham says of this second edition:--
“One of the few copies of this edition which have been preserved
is of touching interest. Among the men who had suffered for aiding
in the circulation of the earlier editions of the Testament was a
merchant-adventurer of Antwerp, Mr. Harman, who seems to have applied
to Queen Anne Boleyn for redress. The Queen listened to the plea which
was urged in his favour, and by her intervention he was restored to the
freedom and privileges of which he had been deprived. Tyndale could not
fail to hear of her good offices, and he acknowledged them by a royal
gift. He was at the time engaged in superintending the printing of his
revised New Testament, and of this he caused one copy to be struck off
on vellum and beautifully illuminated. No preface or dedication or name
mars the simple integrity of this copy. Only on the gilded edges in
faded red letters runs the simple title, _Anna Regina Angliæ_. The copy
was bequeathed to the British Museum by the Rev. C. M. Cracherode in
1799.”
It was almost his last sacrifice for England, for in the year 1535
Tyndale was arrested. He had, during this last stay in Antwerp, resided
with Thomas Poyntz, an English merchant who had settled in that town.
This gave Tyndale protection against liability of arrest, so long as
he kept within the house of his patron and friend. From Poyntz, Foxe
obtained an account of Tyndale’s capture, and we subjoin it here:--
“William Tyndale, being in the town of Antwerp, had been lodged about
one whole year in the house of Thomas Poyntz, an Englishman. About
which time there came thither one out of England whose name was Henry
Philips, a comely fellow, like as he had been a gentleman, having a
servant with him; but wherefore he came, or for what purpose he was
sent thither, no man could tell.”
This man basely ingratiated himself into Tyndale’s favour, and although
Poyntz distrusted him, even he did not suspect that Philips was capable
of the baseness of betraying Tyndale to his death.
At length the time arrived when Philips’ arrangements for the capture
of Tyndale were completed, and when perhaps this Judas had received
the price of blood. It happened that Poyntz “went forth to a town
being eighteen miles from Antwerp, where he had business to do for the
space of a month or six weeks. And in the time of his absence Henry
Philips came again to Antwerp, to the house of Poyntz, and coming in
spake with his wife, asking her for Master Tyndale, and whether he
would dine there with him; saying, ‘What good meat shall we have?’ She
answered, ‘Such as the market will give.’ Then went he forth again
(as it is thought) to provide, and set the officers whom he brought
with him from Brussels in the street and about the door. Then about
noon he came again and went to Master Tyndale and desired him to lend
him forty shillings; ‘for,’ said he, ‘I lost my purse this morning,
coming over at the passage between this and Mechlin.’ So Tyndale took
him forty shillings, which was easy to be had of him, if he had it;
for in the wily subtleties of this world he was simple and inexpert.
Then said Philips, ‘Master Tyndale, you shall be my guest here this
day.’ ‘No,’ said Tyndale; ‘I go forth this day to dinner, and you
shall go with me, and be my guest, where you shall be welcome.’ So
when it was dinner-time Tyndale went forth with Philips, and at the
going forth of Poyntz’s house was a long narrow entry, so that two
could not go in afront. Master Tyndale would have put Philips before
him, but Philips would in no wise, but put Master Tyndale before, for
that he pretended to show great humility. So, Master Tyndale being
a man of no great stature, went before, and Philips, a tall comely
person, followed behind him; who had set officers on either side of
the door upon two seats, who, being there, might see who came in at
the entry; and coming through the same entry, Philips pointed with his
finger over Master Tyndale’s head down to him, that the officers who
sat at the door might see that it was he whom they should take, as the
officers that took Master Tyndale afterwards told Poyntz, and said to
Poyntz, when they had laid him in prison, that they pitied to see his
simplicity when they took him. Then they took him and brought him to
the Emperor’s attorney, or Procuror-General, where he dined. Then came
the Procuror-General to the house of Poyntz, and sent away all that was
there of Master Tyndale’s, as well his books as other things; and from
thence Tyndale was had to the castle of Filford (Vilvorde), eighteen
English miles from Antwerp, and there he remained until he was put to
death.”
Demaus assigns the 23rd or the 24th of May 1535 as the probable date
of Tyndale’s arrest. For more than a year the exile lingered in
confinement before he was put to death.
His friend Poyntz did not desert Tyndale in this calamity, but at
imminent risk of his own life he busied himself in fruitless efforts to
save the life of the man whom he had learned to love.
“Brother,” he says, writing to John Poyntz, a gentleman at the English
Court, “the knowledge that I have of this man causes me to write as my
conscience binds me; for the King’s Grace should have of him, at this
day, as high a treasure as of honour: one man living there is not that
has been of greater reputation.”
The efforts of Poyntz were alas useless, and he only brought himself
into peril by his advocacy on behalf of Tyndale. Poyntz was arrested,
and for four months he also was kept a prisoner. Indeed, had he not
contrived to escape, he would probably have shared the fate of his
friend.
The condemnation of Tyndale was already a foregone conclusion. The
formality of a trial was indeed observed in his case, but he himself
well knew that, with such enemies as his translation of the Scriptures
had made for him, there was but one issue to his imprisonment.
One solitary letter, written during the winter of 1535, and addressed
to the governor of the castle in which he was confined, has indeed
been preserved. We subjoin Demaus’ translation of it:--
“I believe, right worshipful, that you are not ignorant of what has
been determined concerning me (by the Council of Brabant); therefore
I entreat your Lordship, and that by the Lord Jesus, that if I am to
remain here (in Vilvorde) during the winter, you will request the
Procureur to be kind enough to send me from my goods which he has in
his possession a warmer cap, for I suffer extremely from cold in the
head, being afflicted with a perpetual catarrh, which is considerably
increased in the cell. A warmer coat also, for that which I have is
very thin: also a piece of cloth to patch my leggings: my overcoat
has been worn out; my shirts are also worn out. He has a woollen
shirt of mine, if he will be kind enough to send it. I have also
with him leggings of thicker cloth for putting on above; he also
has warmer caps for wearing at night. I wish also his permission to
have a candle in the evening, for it is wearisome to sit alone in
the dark. But, above all, I entreat and beseech your clemency to
be urgent with the Procureur that he may kindly permit me to have
my Hebrew Bible, Hebrew Grammar, and Hebrew Dictionary, that I may
spend my time with that study. And, in return, may you obtain your
dearest wish, provided always it be consistent with the salvation of
your soul. But if any other resolution has been come to concerning
me, that I must remain during the whole winter, I shall be patient,
abiding the will of God, to the glory of the Grace of my Lord Jesus
Christ, whose Spirit, I pray, may ever direct your heart. Amen.
W. TYNDALE.”
Says Foxe: “At last, after much reasoning, where no reason would
serve, although he deserved no death, he was condemned by virtue of
the Emperor’s decree, made in the Assembly at Augsburg, and, upon the
same, brought forth to the place of execution, was there tied to the
stake, and then strangled first by the hangman, and afterwards with
fire consumed in the morning, at the town of Filford, 25th of October
A.D. 1536; crying thus at the stake with a fervent zeal and loud voice,
‘Lord! open the King of England’s eyes!’”
Concerning Tyndale himself Dr. Stoughton justly remarks: “Tyndale
was eminently a great man, great in mind and heart and enterprise.
His intellectual endowments were of an order to render him a match
in controversy with no less a personage than the illustrious Sir
Thomas More. The qualities of his heart were as remarkable as those
of his head. He combined a calm and steady heroism with a childlike
simplicity. No man was ever more free from duplicity, more full of
meekness, and at the same time more elevated in soul by a manly
courage. Ever as in his great Taskmaster’s eye, he pursued his labours
in obscurity and exile, reaping no earthly benefit whatever, and
looking for no reward but the smile of his Heavenly Father.”
Nothing need be added to these generous and just sentences, except that
Tyndale’s full merit will only be known and confessed when the secrets
of all hearts are opened. He professed himself to be ready to wait for
his reward until the great day of God, and then it will be seen that
William Tyndale has not been far behind the apostles of the Lamb:--
“How our hearts burnt within us at the scene!
Whence this brave bound o’er limits fixed to man?
His God sustains him in the final hour!
His final hour brings glory to his God!
Sweet peace, and heavenly hope, and humble joy,
Divinely beam in his exalted soul;
Destruction gilds, and crowns him for the skies
With incommunicable lustre bright.”
--YOUNG.
THE END.
PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE, HANSON AND CO.
EDINBURGH AND LONDON.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Demaus’ “William Tyndale, a Biography.”
[2] Demaus.
[3] History of the Bible.
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:
Italicized or underlined text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_.
Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
Archaic or variant spelling has been retained.