All his precautions were useless: the scholastic divine had betrayed him, and the priests had sworn to stop him in his translation of the Bible. One day he fell in with a troop of monks and curates, who abused him in the grossest manner. "It's the favour of the gentry of the country that makes you so proud," said they; "but notwithstanding your patrons, there will be a talk about you before long, and in a pretty fashion too!... You shall not always live in a manor-house!" "Banish me to the obscurest corner of England," replied Tyndale; "provided you will permit me to teach children and preach the Gospel, and give me ten pounds a-year for my support.[381]... I shall be satisfied!" The priests left him, but with the intention of preparing him a very different fate.
Tyndale indulged in his pleasant dreams no longer. He saw that he was on the point of being arrested, condemned, and interrupted in his great work. He must seek a retreat where he can discharge in peace the task God has allotted him. "You cannot save me from the hands of the priests," said he to Sir John, "and God knows to what troubles you would expose yourself by keeping me in your family. Permit me to leave you." Having said this, he gathered up his papers, took his Testament, pressed the hands of his benefactors, kissed the children, and then descending the hill, bade farewell to the smiling banks of the Severn, and departed alone—alone with his faith. What shall he do? What will become of him? Where shall he go? He went forth like Abraham, one thing alone engrossing his mind:—the Scriptures shall be translated into the vulgar tongue, and he will deposit the oracles of God in the midst of his countrymen.
CHAPTER V.
Luther's works in England—Consultation of the Bishops—The Bull of Leo X published in England—Luther's books burnt—Letter of Henry VIII—He undertakes to write against Luther—Cry of Alarm—Tradition and Sacramentalism—Prudence of Sir T. More—The Book presented to the Pope—Defender of the Faith—Exultation of the King.
LUTHER'S WORKS IN ENGLAND.
Whilst a plain minister was commencing the Reformation in a tranquil valley in the west of England, powerful reinforcements were landing on the shores of Kent. The writings and actions of Luther excited a lively sensation in Great Britain. His appearance before the diet of Worms was a common subject of conversation. Ships from the harbours of the Low Countries brought his books to London,[382] and the German printers had made answer to the nuncio Aleander, who was prohibiting the Lutheran works in the empire: "Very well! we shall send them to England!" One might almost say that England was destined to be the asylum of truth. And in fact, the Theses of 1517, the Explanation of the Lord's Prayer, the books against Emser, against the papacy of Rome, against the bull of Antichrist, the Epistle to the Galatians, the Appeal to the German nobility, and above all the Babylonish Captivity of the Church—all crossed the sea, were translated, and circulated throughout the kingdom.[383] The German and English nations, having a common origin and being sufficiently alike at that time in character and civilization, the works intended for one might be read by the other with advantage. The monk in his cell, the country gentleman in his hall, the doctor in his college, the tradesman in his shop, and even the bishop in his palace, studied these extraordinary writings. The laity in particular, who had been prepared by Wickliffe and disgusted by the avarice and disorderly lives of the priests, read with enthusiasm the eloquent pages of the Saxon monk. They strengthened all hearts.
PUBLICATION OF THE PAPAL BULL.
The papacy was not inactive in presence of all these efforts. The times of Gregory VII and of Innocent III, it is true, were passed; and weakness and irresolution had succeeded to the former energy and activity of the Roman pontificate. The spiritual power had resigned the dominion of Europe to the secular powers, and it was doubtful whether faith in the papacy could be found in the papacy itself. Yet a German (Dr. Eck) by the most indefatigible exertions had extorted a bull from the profane Leo X,[384] and this bull had just reached England. The pope himself sent it to Henry, calling upon him to extirpate the Lutheran heresy.[385] The king handed it to Wolsey, and the latter transmitted it to the bishops, who, after reading the heretic's books, met together to discuss the matter.[386] There was more Romish faith in London than in the Vatican. "This false friar," exclaimed Wolsey, "attacks submission to the clergy—that fountain of all virtues." The humanist prelates were the most annoyed; the road they had taken ended in an abyss, and they shrank back in alarm. Tonstall, the friend of Erasmus, afterwards bishop of London, and who had just returned from his embassy to Germany where Luther had been painted to him in the darkest colours, was particularly violent: "This monk is a Proteus.... I mean an atheist.[387] If you allow the heresies to grow up which he is scattering with both hands, they will choke the faith and the church will perish.[388] Had we not enough of the Wickliffites—here are new legions of the same kind!... To-day Luther calls for the abolition of the mass; to-morrow he will ask for the abolition of Jesus Christ.[389] He rejects every thing, and puts nothing in its place. What? if barbarians plunder our frontiers, we punish them ... and shall we bear with heretics who plunder our altars?... No! by the mortal agony that Christ endured, I entreat you.... What am I saying? the whole church conjures you to combat against this devouring dragon.... to punish this hell-dog, to silence his sinister howlings, and to drive him shamefully back into his den."[390] Thus spoke the eloquent Tonstall; nor was Wolsey far behind him. The only attachment at all respectable in this man was that which he entertained for the church; it may perhaps be called respectable, for it was the only one that did not exclusively regard himself. On the 14th May 1521, this English pope, in imitation of the Italian pope, issued his bull against Luther.
SARCASMS OF THE PEOPLE.