“Preaching of the doctrine which is light,” says Tyndale, “hath but small effect to move the heart if the ensample of living do disagree....
“And that we worship saints for fear, lest they should be displeased and angry with us, and plague us, or hurt us (as who is not afraid of St. Lawrence? Who dare deny St. Anthony a fleece of wool, for fear of his terrible fire or lest he send the pox among our sheep?), is heathen image service, and clean against the first commandment, which is, ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy God is one God.’ Now, God in the Hebrew is called El, or Elohim in the plural number; i.e., strength or might. So that the commandment is: Hear, O Israel, He that is thy power and might; thy sword and shield is but One; that is, there is none of might to help or hurt thee, save One, which is altogether thine, and at thy commandment, if thou wilt hear His voice. And all other might in the world is borrowed of Him; and He will lend no might against thee, contrary to His promises. Keep, therefore, His commandments, and He shall keep thee; and if thou have broken them, and He have lent of His power against thee, repent and come again unto thy profession; and He will return again unto His mercy, and fetch His power home again, which He lent to vex thee, because thou forsookest Him and brakest His commandments. And fear no other creature; for false fear is the cause of all idolatry.”
The dangers thickened so rapidly around Tyndale that, in order to elude the restless vigilance of his powerful enemies, he left Antwerp for a time, and wandered from city to city in Germany, homeless and possibly lonely.
Yet he was not idle, for even during this period of wandering he issued his exposition of the Sermon on the Mount. The spirit and style of this work may be estimated from the two following extracts, the one taken from the Prologue, and the other from the exposition upon Matthew v. 13:—
“To believe in Christ’s blood for the remission of sin, and purchasing of all good promises that help to the life to come, and to love the law, and to long for the life to come, is the inward baptism of the soul, the only baptism that availeth in the sight of Christ; the only key also to bind and loose sinners; the touchstone to try all doctrines; the lantern and light that scattereth and expelleth the mist and darkness of all hypocrisy, and a preservative against all error and heresy; the mother of good works; the earnest of everlasting life, and title whereby we challenge our inheritance.”
With a terrible inner consciousness of his own lamentable condition, the exile wrote: “True preaching is a salt that stirreth up persecution, and an office that no man is meet for, save he that is seasoned himself before with poverty in spirit, softness, meekness, patience, mercifulness, pureness of heart, and hunger of righteousness, and looking for persecution also; and hath his hope, comfort, and solace in the blessing only, and in no worldly theory.”
About this time, also, a great sorrow fell upon Tyndale, for his trusted friend, John Fryth, who had ventured into England, was there apprehended and brought up for trial as a heretic. Tyndale had some surmise as to his friend’s danger before the tidings of Fryth’s arrest reached him. He had written a tender letter of counsel and warning, in which he advised his friend to be prudent, and especially to avoid controversy about the Sacrament.
“Wherefore,” said Tyndale, “cleave fast to the rock of the help of God, and commit the end of all things to Him; and if God shall call you, that you may then use the wisdom of the worldly so far as you perceive the glory of God may come thereof, refuse it not; and ever among thrust in that the Scripture may be in the mother-tongue, and learning set up in the Universities. But and if aught be required contrary to the glory of God and His Christ, then stand fast, and commit yourself to God; and be not overcome of men’s persuasions” to abjure. After professing his love for Fryth and his confidence in him, Tyndale says grandly:—
“I call God to record against the day we shall appear before our Lord Jesus, to give a reckoning of our doings, that I never altered one syllable of God’s Word against my conscience, nor would this day if all that is in the earth, whether it be pleasure, honour, or riches, might be given me.
“My soul is not faint, though my body is weary,” he says pathetically and touchingly. He concludes his letter with a sentence which exhibits his own feelings:—