shall work with you, and all consciences shall bear record unto you, and feel that it is so. And all doctrine that casteth a mist on these two, to shadow and hide them, I mean, the law of God and mercy of Christ, that resist, with all your power. Sacraments without signification, refuse. If they put significations to them, receive them, if you see it may help, though it be not necessary.

"Of the presence of Christ's body in the sacrament, meddle as little as you can, that there appear no division among us. Barnes will be hot against you.32 The Saxons be sore in the affirmative, whether constant or obstinate, I omit it to God. Philip Melancthon is said to be with the French King. There be in Antwerp that say, they saw him come into Paris with 150 horses, and that they spake with him. If the Frenchmen receive the Word of God, he will plant the affirmative in them.33 George Joye would have put forth a treatise of that matter, but I have stopt him as yet: what he will do, if he get money, I wot not. I believe he would make many reasons, little serving to the purpose.3 34 My mind is, that nothing be put forth till we hear how you have sped. I would have the right use preached, and the presence to be an indifferent thing, till the matter might be reasoned in peace, at leisure of both parties. If you be required, shew the phrases of the Scripture, and let them talk what they will. For as to believe that God is everywhere, hurteth no man that worshippeth him nowhere but within, in the heart, in spirit and verity; even so to believe that the body of Christ is everywhere, (though it cannot be proved,) hurteth no man that worshippeth him nowhere, save in the faith of his gospel. You perceive my mind; howbeit, if God shew you otherwise, it is free for you to do as he moveth you.

"I guessed long ago, that God would send a dazing into the head of the Spirituality, to catch themselves in their own subtilty; and I trust it is come to pass. And now, methinketh, I smell a Council to be taken, little for their profits, in time to come. But you must understand, that it is not of a pure heart, and for love of the truth, but to avenge themselves, and to eat the harlot's flesh, and to suck the marrow of her bones. 35 Wherefore, 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 world, as 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 ought 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, which haply shall say, we see no other way to bring in the truth.

"Brother Jacob, beloved of my heart, there liveth not, in whom I have so good hope and trust, and in whom mine heart rejoiceth, and my soul comforteth

32 Barnes, we shall find, was now in England, and he a Lutheran, as to the Lord's Supper. Neither Tyndale or Fryth ever were, and their works, in strict propriety, ought never to have been printed in the same volume, as Foxe did. It may be but small consolation to the publishers of the beautiful modern edition of Tyndale's and Fryth's works, by the Rev. T. Russel, that they were interrupted in their progress, intending, as they did, to print the works of some other men; but there was great propriety in stopping where they did, as Tyndale and Fryth, among the earliest writers, truly stand alone, or in a place and position peculiar to themselves. 33 This was a mistaken rumour. Melancthon never went to Paris. By the affirmative, Tyndale refers to Consubstantiation, the dogma of Luther, and it is hinted at here, evidently, in the way of regret.

34 So uniformly had Tyndale deprecated the subject of Christianity being hastily absorpt in an intemperate war of opinion respecting one of its positive institutions.

35 He foresaw, or anticipated the dissolution of the monasteries, long before the subject was mooted in Parliament by Crumwell.

herself, as in you: not the thousandth part so much for your learning, and what other gifts else you have, as that you will creep alow by the ground, and walk in those things that the conscience may feel, and not in the imaginations of the brain; in fear, and not in boldness; in open necessary things, and not to pronounce or define of hid secrets, or things that neither help nor hinder, whether they be so or no; in unity, and not in seditious opinions insomuch, that if you be sure you know; yet in things that may abide leisure, you will defer, or say, methinks the text requireth this sense or understanding; yea, and if you be sure that your part be good, and another hold the contrary, yet if it be a thing that maketh no matter, you will laugh and let it pass, and refer the thing to other men, and stick you stiffly and stubbornly, in earnest and necessary things.

"And I trust you be persuaded even so of me. For 1 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, (as Sir Thomas More had insinuated,) nor would this day, if all that is in the earth, whether it be pleasure, honour, or riches, might be given me. Moreover, I take God to record to my conscience, that I desire of God to myself in this world, no more than that (liberty?) without which I cannot keep his laws.

Finally, if there were in me any gift that could help at hand, and aid you, if need required, I promise you I would not be far off, and commit the end to God my soul is not faint, though my body be weary. But God hath made me evil-favoured in this world, and without grace in the sight of men, speechless and rude, dull and slow-witted: your part shall be to supply that which lacketh in me-remembering, that as lowliness of heart shall make you high with God, even so meekness of words shall make you sink into the hearts of men. Nature giveth age authority, but meekness is the glory of youth, and giveth them honour. Abundance of love maketh me exceed in babbling."

No one can for a moment mistake this lowliness on the part of Tyndale, for lack of ability; though it discovers the very high opinion which he entertained of Fryth and his talents, both as a Christian and a scholar.

"If you perceive wherein we may help, either in being still, or doing some thing, let us have word, and I will do mine uttermost. My Lord of London hath a servant, called John Tisen, with a red beard, and a black-reddish head, and was once my scholar: he was seen in Antwerp, but came not among the Englishmen. Whether he is gone an ambassador secret, I wot not.

"The mighty God of Jacob be with you, to supplant his enemies, and give you the favour of Joseph; and the wisdom and the spirit of Stephen be with your heart and with your mouth, and teach your lips what they shall say, and how to answer to all things. He is our God, if we despair in ourselves and trust in Him; and his is the glory, Amen. William Tyndale. I hope our redemption is nigh."

But whatever Tyndale might intend by his last expression to Fryth, it was not long before he heard of his being in the hands of Sir Thomas, and also in the Tower; for, however impossible it had ever been to find Tyndale's abode, it is remarkable that no circumstances could ever impede his immediate communication with England. Though Fryth had

found it difficult to procure a copy of More's reply to himself, either that, or some other copy, was soon in Tyndale's possession, when he immediately discovered all that deep interest which he had already expressed so warmly in his letter. Before this, too, he had also received the Chancellor's vaunted Confutation, so that, according to More's own concession, he could now "pry upon" them both, "narrowly, and with such eagle's eyen as he hath." By a single passage, at the outset, which will be noticed presently, he effectually damaged the fame of the knight's Confutation;" but the perilous situation of Fryth demanded haste, and Tyndale immediately did his "uttermost" for him, as he had promised. Whether he left Antwerp to superintend the press, is not certain, but it is more than probable, for it is curious enough that his pointed production was printed at Nuremberg by Nicolas Townson, and was finished by the beginning of April. It is entitled"The Supper of the Lord"—after the meaning of John, vi. and 1st Corinthians, xi.-" wherein, incidentally, Master More's letter against John Fryth is confuted."36

For fresh events we must now, therefore, look forward to the next year.

SECTION X.

ONE DISTINGUISHING FEATURE OF TYNDALE'S COURSE AND CHARACTER AS COMPARED WITH HIS CONTEMPORARIES-HIS ANSWER TO SIR T. MOREHIS LETTER TO FRYTH IN PRISON-STATE OF ENGLAND-FRYTH'S VOICE FROM THE TOWER-STRANGE CONDITION OF ENGLAND-THE KING MARRIED CRANMER'S PROCEDURE GARDINER ROUSED-FRYTH'S EXAMINATION BEFORE THE BISHOPS ASSEMBLED HIS TRIUMPH IN ARGUMENTMARTYRDOM-ENGLAND AND THE CONTINENT-ONE EFFECT OF FRYTH'S DEATH-SIR T. MORE WRITING STILL-ONE POWERFUL OPPONENT AT HOME -MORE AS A CONTROVERSIALIST-HIS PRODIGIOUS EXERTIONS OTHER QUALITIES-FINALLY OVERCOME THE PROSPECT BRIGHTENING.

BEFORE recurring to Tyndale's last publication, we are con

36 Imprinted at Nornburg, by Nicolas Twonson, 5 April, An. 1533." It was reprinted, with a preface, by Crawley, in 1551. Herbert, in reporting this, had said, that the original edition had no printer's name, but when he came to his third vol. he had found his mistake, and gives it as above.-Herbert's Ames, iii., p. 1541. In the Harleian Catalogue, vol. i., No. 2896, the editor had loosely said, "set forth by Myles Coverdale;" and Watts, in his Bibl. Brit., mistaking this for authorship, inserted the piece under Coverdale's name. In consequence of this, it has recently been placed in a list at the head of Coverdale's Works! He would not have so attacked More, nor edited it, at such a time, no, not for any consideration in the world.

66

"

strained to pause for a few moments, and observe more distinctly one marked or distinguishing feature in his character. His one object in life, was to gain over his native land to the faith of the Mediator. The foundation of all his hope of success, rested on the Word of God itself. With its translation into English he began, and laboured in it to his dying day. And having once conveyed the New Testament to England, as containing truth without any mixture of error; he might, indeed, because banished from the soil, assail the love of the world or covetousness, in those who had arrogated to themselves the title of the Spirituality," in his parable of the Wicked Mammon;" he might lay down the law of Christian Obedience," but built on that faith which he had already explained; might expose the hypocritical "Practice of Prelates," who had sunk his country into immorality, licentiousness and debt; or warn the whole nation by Jonah and his prologue. These were great subjects, and worthy of his pen; but when once he found a Preacher upon English ground, in whom, and in whose doctrine, he reposed unlimited confidence, and came to explain the course which he thought that Preacher should pursue, his ideas are worthy of observation in any, or rather in every age. He himself had been "about a great work and would not come down," and so he would have Fryth to act. His weapons were to be only two,-the Law and the Gospel; subjects to which the conscience would respond; and hence his fervent anxiety that he would commend himself to every man's conscience, as in the sight of God; or only "walk in those things that the conscience might feel." He thought that matters of essential belief should first be received in England, and first settled in all cases, before those of obedience should be enforced; that the souls of men should first have in possession that rest which Christ gives, before his gentle yoke could be assumed; that men should first be disciples, and then taught all things whatsoever Christ has commanded. During his entire residence on the Continent, from this fixed judgment he had never swerved, though amidst many temptations so to do, and this it is which should procure for him, in the eye of posterity, one distinguishing eminence among all his contemporaries. There is actually not a second man to be placed by his side, except the prisoner respecting whom he is now so concerned. In consequence of pursuing a course all his own,

at no Conference, Diet, or Assembly can we ever hear of him, nor do we find any references to these, in his writings. There was in 1524, the Diet at Nuremberg, the Assembly at Ratisbon in July, and another afterwards at Spire. In 1526 the Conference at Baden against Zuingle in May, and the Diet at Spire in June. In 1527 the Conference of Bern, not to say the provincial Councils at Bruges and Paris. In 1529 the Diet in March held at Spire, then the Protestation, and then the Conference in October, at Marburg, between the Lutherans and Zuinglians. In 1530 there was the Diet of Augsburg; to deliberate on the Ausburg Confession, or the articles of Torgau, including what they called "Sacraments," and "religious ceremonies" and then the league at Smalkald. In 1531 the Assembly again at Smalkald, and afterwards at Frankfort. But at not one of these do we hear of Tyndale being present; an absence or retirement so uniform, that it could only have sprung from some fixed determination, more especially as his talents would have secured a chair for him, on any such occasions.

After

And as he frequented no public conferences or disputations, so he courted the patronage of no German circle, of no Duke or Elector, no Landgrave or Counsellor, but, to use his own expression, "kept alow by the ground." His rejection, at first, by the Lord Bishop of London, actually seems to have made an impression which never left him, and six years afterwards he refers to it, as though it had governed him ever since,- “God saw," says he "that I was beguiled, and that that Counsel was not the next way unto my purpose; and therefore he gat me no favour in my Lord's sight.1 that period he seems to have felt, as Johnson did in modern times, that a Patron would only have "encumbered him with help" or he was not willing that posterity should consider him as owing that to any earthly protector, which Providence enabled him to accomplish, without one smile of court-favour from his country. In short, Tyndale's lack of protection from princes, and assistance from learned men, taken in connexion with the course which he had so steadily pursued, form a forcible contrast to the path and circumstances of all his contem

1 He refers to Sir Henry Guilford, who had counselled him as to the best mode of approaching Tunstal; or with a translation from the Greek.