1384.]

WYCLIFFE'S DEATH.

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in the Lollard party which Wycliffe founded, among these he found true sympathy and a lasting friendship. But with all this, at Lutterworth, we have only his fervent words addressed through his tracts and sermons to the public, consequently nothing of his private conversations or feelings.

As we have no particulars of Wycliffe's private life, so we have scarcely any of his death. We are told that while administering the Lord's Supper in the chapel at Lutterworth he was seized with paralysis, which “ 'deprived him at once of utterance, if not of consciousness."1 This was on the twentyninth, or, more probably, the thirtieth day of December, 1384, and in two days afterwards his devout spirit returned to God who gave it. If we would know of the excessive hatred heaped upon the head of Wycliffe, and of the debt of gratitude his friends in every age owe to his memory, we have only to read the following account of his death, written by the hand of an enemy.: "On the day of St. Thomas the martyr,.... December 29,....John Wyclif, the organ of the Devil, the enemy of the Church, the confusion of the common people, the idol of heretics, the looking-glass of hypocrites, the encourager of schism, the sower of hatred, and the maker of lies, when he designed, as it is reported, to belch out accusations and blasphemies against St. Thomas in the sermon he had prepared for that day, was suddenly struck by the judgment of God, and had all his limbs seized with palsy,... his tongue was speechless,....shewing plainly that the curse which God had thundered forth against Cain was also inflicted on him." 2 However great the dishonor and indignity intended by his enemies, these words, from the standpoint of his friends, must ever be regarded, considering their source, as a most honorable epitaph.

1 Vaughan's Tracts and Treatises of Wyckliffe, p. xciii. London, 1845. ? Lewis' Life of Dr. John Wycliffe, pp. 123, 124. Oxford, 1820.

CHAPTER III.

TYNDALE, AND HIS TRANSLATION OF THE NEW
TESTAMENT. A. D. 1525.

IN

N the time of Wycliffe, England held an enviable position among the nations of Europe. The Teutonic love of freedom here first came to the surface; but it was stifled so far as human effort could avail, and then followed a period of more than a century of intellectual darkness. In Italy and Germany there arose with the art of printing an intellectual awakening. The Greek and Latin languages were cultivated. Under Pope Nicolas V., 1447-1454, the city of Rome became more literary than religious. "He seemed determined," says Milman, "to enrich the West with all that survived of Grecian literature."1 Besides, his efforts were not confined to the classics, but embraced the writings of the Church fathers. He even went so far as to authorize the execution of a new Latin version of the Bible from the Hebrew and Greek, Pope Nicolas was not aware of the fire he was kindling, nor the distance to which its light and heat would penetrate. He did not dream of the intimate relation of the revival of learning with Vernacular versions of the Holy Scriptures and the Reformation of the sixteenth century.

Printing was introduced into England by William Caxton. about the year 1474, and its influence was soon felt. A Latin translation of Aristotle's Ethics was among the first issues from the Caxton press. It is said that Cornelius Vitelli, an educated Italian, came to Oxford in 1488, and not only taught in the University but became the instructor of William Grocyn. However this may be, Grocyn, though a reputed Greek scholar,

1 History of Latin Christianity, VIII., 123. New York, 1874.

1516.]

CHARACTER OF SIR THOMAS MORE.

89

quitted his lectureship of Divinity and went to Italy to perfect his knowledge of the Greek language, and after remaining three years returned and taught Greek in Exeter College, Oxford. He introduced a new pronunciation, and so popularized the study that it gave rise to the two factions in the University known as the Greeks and Trojans, who bore the most violent animosities towards each other. But the day has dawned, and learning is in the highest repute. The first visit of Erasmus to England was in 1497. He praises not only Grocyn, but Colet, Linacre, and More. He says that he found in England "a treasure of old books," and the highest appreciation of learning.1 In such estimation was learning held at this time that even Henry VIII. sighed for it, and was ready to turn from the pursuits of pleasure, and the labors of diplomacy, for its sake. His words were: "Ah! how I should like to be a scholar." Not only did Henry VIII. sigh for learning, and Cardinal Woolsey affect it; but there were some who really possessed it.

As yet, however, the revival of learning is only intellectual. The single example of Dr. Thomas Linacre, whom Erasmus praises so highly, illustrates this fact. He was president of the College of Physicians, and a reputed scholar. Late in life he changed his profession to that of Divinity, yet so ignorant was he of the Scriptures, that after he was ordained as a priest he took up the New Testament, and after reading the fifth and sixth chapters of Matthew's Gospel, he threw down the book, exclaiming: "Either this is not the Gospel, or we are not Christians." 2 Another remarkable example was that of Sir Thomas More, a man of superior ability and attainments, an acknowledged wit, a safe counselor, a just judge, a friend and a defender of Greek learning, a Christian man, and yet withal an extreme papist, opposing with all his might and official power the progress of the Reformation and the circulation of the Vernacular Scriptures. The character of More, as

1 Hallam's Literature of Europe, I., 241. New York, 1874. 2 Townley's Illustrations of Biblical Literature, II., 165. London, 1821.

a papist and a persecutor, is the more difficult to understand in the light of his great sincerity and Christian simplicity, and still more when we consider his previous liberal sentiments. He was a decided friend of the New learning so long as it confined itself to the classics, though at first he openly defended the New Testament of Erasmus. He was in sympathy with the author of the Praise of Folly, and must have enjoyed his sarcastic thrusts at the Monastic orders, since Erasmus was his guest when he wrote this book. Then the liberal opinions of More are distinctly revealed in his Utopia. "In that short but extraordinary Book," says Burnet, "he gave his Mind full Scope, and considered Mankind and Religion with the Freedom that became the true Philosopher. By many Hints it is very easy to collect, what his Thoughts were of Religion, of the Constitutions, and of the Church, and of the Clergy at that time." But in all how changed. Those who have attempted to delineate the character of Sir Thomas More have been in

66

doubt whether to represent him as a foolish wise man, or a

wise foolish man."

But learning the most extensive and profound is not an end in itself, but a means to a higher end. And the end at this time was religious reformation. And it is the learned name of Erasmus which links this intellectual movement with the Holy Scriptures and the Protestant Reformation. This grand end, and his noble contribution to it, is well described by himself when he says: "A spiritual temple must be raised in desolate Christendom, the mighty in the world will contribute towards it their ivory, their marble, and their gold; I, who am poor and humble, offer the foundation stone." This foundationstone was none other than his Greek and Latin New Testament. And well might he thus designate it, since it was the Scriptures, and only the Scriptures, that could form a substan

The first edition of the Utopia contained many passages ridiculing the folly and ill-nature of the friars, which were left out of later editions. See Burnet's History of the Reformation, III., 29. 1715.

1516.] GREEK AND LATIN TESTAMENT OF ERASMUS.

91

tial foundation for the building up of the faith of a Reformed Christianity. The Greek Testament of Erasmus was collated from all the MSS. he could obtain. The text thus formed he printed together with a Latin translation. It appeared at Basle in 1516, and was the first Greek New Testament published in print.1 Transported across the channel, it was received into England with enthusiasm, and was offered for sale in the book-stalls of London, Oxford, and Cambridge. The friends of the New learning were delighted, but the hierarchy was alarmed. "The priests saw the danger," says D'Aubigne, "and by a skilful manoeuvre, instead of finding fault with the Greek Testament, attacked the translation and the translator."2 They cried out: "He has corrected the Vulgate, and puts himself in the place of St. Jerome..... Look here! this book calls upon men to repent, instead of requiring them, as the Vulgate does, to do penance." Notwithstanding this opposition, edition after edition was called for, and accordingly it was reprinted in 1519, 1522, 1527, and 1535. This Greek and Latin Testament of Erasmus was a preparatory step towards a Vernacular version of the New Testament; and this was his desire. In his preface he says: "I differ exceedingly from those who object to the Scriptures being translated into the vernacular tongues, and read by the illiterate; as if Christ had taught so obscurely, that none could understand him but a few theologians; or as if the Christian religion depended upon being kept secret. The mysteries of kings ought, perhaps, to be concealed, but the mystery of Christ strenuously urges publication..... And I wish that the Scriptures might be translated into all languages, ... (that) the husbandman might

1 The Complutensian Polyglott of Cardinal Ximenes did not appear till 1522, though the New Testament was printed in 1514, and the Old Testament in 1517. But the consent of the pope for their publication was not granted till 1520. See Hallam's Literature of Europe, I., 292. New York, 1874.

2 History of the Reformation, V., 155, Am. Tr. Soc. edition. New York, N. D.

3 Ibid, p. 155.