CHAP. III. INTERNAL HISTORY. Rev. vii. 1. Matt. xi. 27. Acts vii. 48. Acts xiv. 23. Acts xvii. 11. Rom. i. 32. Rom. vi. 23. 'Angel is a Greek word, and signifieth a mes'senger; and all the angels are called messengers 'because they are sent so oft from God to man on 'message. Even so prophets, preachers, and the 'prelates of the Church are called angels, that is to 'say, messengers, because their office is to bring 'the message of God unto the people. The good 'angels here in this book are the true bishops and 'preachers, and the evil angels are the heretics and 'false preachers which ever falsify God's word, with 'which the church of Christ shall be thus miserably 'plagued unto the end of the world, as is painted in 'these figures.' In other places Tyndale calls attention emphatically to the substance of a text, often by a single word, and again by a brief note, as : 'God is not known as a Father but through 'Christ. 'God dwelleth not in temples or churches made with hands. 'Prayer and fasting go together. 'Search the Scriptures, for by them may ye try 'all doctrine. To have pleasure in another man's sin is greater wickedness than to sin thyself. 'Eternal life is the serving of Christ. 'He is strong that can bear another man's weak- CHAP. 'ness.' Sometimes, though rarely, the gloss is simply explanatory: III. INTERNAL HISTORY. Rom.xv.2. 47. 'Love is the sign that the sins are forgiven her. Luke vii. 'This John is the same Mark that writ the Acts xii. 'Gospel of Mark. 12. 19. 'These silverlings, which we now and then call Acts xix. pence, the Jews call sicles, and are worth a ten'pence sterling. This [means] thou shalt kindle him and make Rom. xii. 'him to love. 20. Bishops and elders is all one, and an officer Tit. i. 7. 'chosen to govern the congregation in doctrine and living.' In a very few cases the gloss takes a polemical character, but still without bitterness: 'Go not from house to house as friars (frerers) do. Luke ix. 4. 'To speak with tongues or with the spirit is to 1 Cor. xiv. speak that other understandeth not, as priests say 'their service. 'A good lesson for monks and idle friars.' In one passage only I have noticed a mystical interpretation which is foreign to the general complexion of Tyndale's notes1: 1 It is right to add that I have not examined whether the glosses are suggested by any earlier commentaries. 16. I Thess. iv. II. CHAP. INTERNAL HISTORY. John ix. 4. The edition of 1535 again revised from the Greek. 'Night: when the true knowledge of Christ, how 'he only justifieth, is lost. Then can no man work 'a good work in the sight of God, how glorious 'soever his works appear.' In his Preface to the edition of 1534, Tyndale had expressed his readiness to revise his work and adopt any changes in it which might be shewn to be improvements. The edition of 1535, however enigmatic it may be in other respects, is a proof of his sincerity. The text of this exhibits a true revision and differs from that of 1534, though considerably less than the text of 1534 from that of 1525. Sometimes the changes are made to secure a closer accordance with the Greek': sometimes to gain a more vigorous or a more idiomatic 1 In 1 John I have noted sixteen variations from the text of 1534 as against thirty-two in that of 1534 from the original text. From the great inaccuracy of the edition of 1535 it is often difficult to decide what are printers' errors and what intentional changes: The changes in the Gospels and Acts are (if I may trust a very limited collation) fewer than those in the Epistles. The variations in I John are given at length in App. III. In the different Epistles the number of variations is consider able. In the Epistle to the Ephesians, neglecting undoubted misprints, I have noted only the following: i. I Jesu (Jesus); 20 the dead (death). ii. 1 you hath he quickened (hath qu. you); iii. II purposed to (p. in); iv. II and some teachers (om.); iv. 16 of himself (itself); vi. 20 messenger (a m.). Compare p. 233, n. I. 2 Matt. vi. 34 om. for. Mark xvi. 19 sate him down (for is set down). 1 Cor. xv. 10 add yet. Eph. iv. II add and some teach ers. III. HISTORY. rendering1; sometimes to preserve a just uni- CHAP. formity: sometimes to introduce a new interpret-‐ INTERNAL ation", The very minuteness of the changes is a singular testimony to the diligence with which Tyndale still laboured at his appointed work. Nothing seemed trifling to him, we may believe, if only he could better seize or convey to others the meaning of one fragment of Scripture. tion again notes. Tyndale's first Testament was without notes: This ediso too was his last. The short Prologues to the without four Evangelists are printed separately before each Gospel. The contents of the tables for the Gospels and the Acts are prefixed in detail before each chapter. The marginal references of the edition of 1534 are generally preserved. But with these exceptions the simple text of the New Testament is given without any addition except the list of books on the reverse of the title-page, and the Epistles from the Old Testament at the end". 1 Mark xvi. 11 though they heard-yet they believed it not (for when they heard-they believed it not). Rom. xii. 13 be ready to harbour (for diligently to harbour). 2 Cor. vi. 18 be my sons (for be unto me sons). 2 Eph. iv. 16 the edifying of himself (for the edifying of itself). A duplicate of the tables for the Gospels and Acts printed with another list of books on a page of a different size (36 not 38 lines) stands at the beginning of the volume. This is followed by the Prologue to the Romans, printed again in a different sized page (37 lines). But there is nothing to shew that these were III. CHAP. Thus Tyndale ended as he had begun. His last INTERNAL Testament was a final appeal to the King and to the English people. If the text could gain currency it was enough, as he had repeatedly declared1. HISTORY. The influ ence of Luther on Tyndale's own writings. Tyndale, as we have seen, both in his first translation and in his two subsequent revisions of the New Testament, dealt directly and principally with the Greek text. If he used the Vulgate or Erasmus or Luther it was with the judgment of a scholar. His complete independence in this respect is the more remarkable from the profound influence which Luther exerted upon his writings generally. The extent to which Tyndale silently incorporated free or even verbal translations of passages from Luther's works in his own has escaped the notice of his editors. To define it accurately would be a work of very great labour, but the result, as exhibiting the points of contact and divergence in the opinions of the two great reformers, would be originally intended to form part though extremely like it. More- |