WICLIF:  TYNDALE.—­Wiclif’s Bible was translated from the Latin Vulgate, and issued about 1378.  If it be asked why he did not go to the original sources, and thus avoid the errors of successive renderings, the answer is plain:  he was not sufficiently acquainted with Hebrew and Greek to translate from them.  Wiclif’s translation was eagerly sought, and was multiplied by the hands of skilful scribes.  Its popularity was very great, as is attested by the fact that when, in the House of Lords, in the year 1390, a bill was offered to suppress it, the measure signally failed.  The first copy of Wiclif’s Bible was not printed until the year 1731.

About a century after Wiclif, the Greek language and the study of Greek literature came into England, and were of great effect in making the forthcoming translations more accurate.

First among these new translators was William Tyndale, who was born about the year 1477.  He was educated at Oxford and Cambridge, and left England for fear of persecution.  He translated the Scriptures from the Greek, and printed the volume at Antwerp—­the first printed translation of the Scriptures in English—­in the year 1526.  This work was largely circulated in England.  It was very good for a first translation, and the language is very nearly that of King James’s Bible.  It met the fury of the Church, all the copies which could be found being burned by Tonstall, Bishop of London, at St. Paul’s Cross.  When Sir Thomas More asked how Tyndale subsisted abroad, he was pithily answered that Tyndale was supported by the Bishop of London, who sent over money to buy up his books.  To the fame of being a translator of the Scriptures, Tyndale adds that of martyrdom.  He was seized, at the instance of Henry VIII., in Antwerp, and condemned to death by the Emperor of Germany.  He was strangled in the year 1536, at Villefort, near Brussels, praying, just before his death, that the Lord would open the King of England’s eyes.

The Old Testament portion of Tyndale’s Bible is principally from the Septuagint, and has many corruptions and errors, which have been corrected by more modern translators.

MILES COVERDALE:  CRANMER’S BIBLE.—­In 1535, Miles Coverdale, a co-laborer of Tyndale, published “Biblia; The Bible, that is, the Holy Scriptures of the Olde and New Testament, faithfully and truly translated out of the Douche and Latyn into Englishe:  Zurich.”  In the next year, 1536, Coverdale issued another edition, which was dedicated to Henry VIII., who ordered a copy to be placed in every parish church in England.  This translation is in part that of Tyndale, and is based upon it.  Another edition of this appeared in 1537, and was called Matthew’s Bible, probably a pseudonym of Coverdale.  Of this, from the beginning to the end of Chronicles is Tyndale’s version.  The rest of the Old Testament is Coverdale’s translation.  The entire New Testament is Tyndale’s.  This was published by royal license.  Strange mutation!  The