THE MAKING OF TINDALE
In such an atmosphere the formative years of Tindale's life were spent.
So much can be said: but little more than that is known with any
certainty. Indeed the story of his youth can be put in a single
paragraph. He was a native of Gloucestershire. He was sent very young to
Oxford. There he entered Magdalen Hall, attached to Magdalen College,
the College of Wolsey and Lily. After graduation he went for a period to
Cambridge, attracted there probably by Erasmus, who had occupied the
Greek chair.
It was about the time when Erasmus gave his Greek Testament to the
world. He was fulfilling his own daring ideal, very daring in those
days. "I totally dissent", Erasmus said in his Exhortation, "from those
who are unwilling that the Sacred Scriptures, translated into the vulgar
tongue, should be read by private individuals, as if Christ had taught
such subtle doctrines that they can with difficulty be understood by a
very few theologians or as if the strength of the Christian religion lay
in men's ignorance of it. The mysteries of kings it were perhaps better
to conceal, but Christ wishes His mysteries to be published as widely as
possible. I would wish even all women to read the Gospel and the
Epistles of St. Paul. And I wish they were translated into all languages
of all people, that they might be read and known, not merely by the
Scotch and the Irish, but even by the Turks and the Saracens. I wish
that the husbandman may sing parts of them at his plough, that the
weaver may warble them at his shuttle, that the traveller may with their
narratives beguile the weariness of the way."
The very centre of the excitement it created was in Cambridge when
Tindale enrolled. Many minds hungrily devoured the work. The story of
Bilney, "Little Bilney" as he was affectionately called, (captivated by
the Greek Testament, a fervent disciple of the Gospel, intimidated by
the terrors of the persecutor, on recantation set free, and to his honor
recovering himself and courageously confessing his new faith with
martyrdom before his eyes, he gave his life as a brave man should)
indicated what happened to many others.
To no Cambridge student of the time had the book come more opportunely
and more appropriately than to the ex-Oxford student, whose classical
attainments fitted him to take from it the very fullest advantage. One
of Tindale's sayings amid these surroundings was, "he had perceived by
experience how that it was impossible to establish the lay people in any
truth unless the Scriptures were plainly laid before their eyes in the
mother tongue, that they see the process, the order, and the meaning of
the text: which things only", he says, "moved me to translate the New
Testament."
Known in both colleges as an able scholar, excelling in languages,
Tindale left Cambridge and became Chaplain-Tutor in the family of Sir
John Walsh in his native county. There he continued his studies,
preached frequently, and met on equal terms with the Society of the
shire.