In the mid-19th century a letter was found. It was William Tyndale’s written during the last year of his life (1535-1536) while imprisoned in Vilvroode, Belgium, for the wickedness of translating the Bible into the vernacular English. He was breaking ground after a 150-year blackout in England...policies of explicit repression against vernacular Bibles. The letter had lain hidden for nearwise 300 years. It was rediscovered in the archives of the Council of Brabant. It’s give the picture of the English scholar in his final days, to wit: warmer clothes, a light for the evening and the Hebrew Bible and tools.
“I believe, right worshipful, that you are not unaware of what may have been determined concerning me. Wherefore I beg your lordship, and that by the Lord Jesus, that if I am to remain here through the winter, you will request the commissary to have the kindness to send me, from the goods of mine which he has, a warmer cap, for I suffer greatly from cold in the head, and am afflicted by perpetual catarrh, which is much increased in this cell; a warmer coat also, for this which I have is very thin; a piece of cloth, to, to patch my leggings. My overcoat is worn out; my shirts are also worn out. He has a woolen shirt, if he will be good enough to send it. I have also with him leggings of thicker cloth to put on above; he has also warmer night-caps. And I ask to be allowed to have a lamp in the evening; it is indeed wearisome sitting alone in the dark. But most of all I beg and beseech your clemency to be urgent with the commissary, that he will kindly permit me to have the Hebrew Bible, Hebrew grammar and Hebrew dictionary, that I may pass the time in the study. In return may you obtain what you most desire, so only that it be for the salvation of your soul. But if any other decision has been taken concerning me, to be carried out before winter, I will be patient, abiding the will of God, to the glory of the grace of my Lord Jesus Christ; whose Spirit (I pray) may ever direct your heart. Amen.
W. Tindalus
Upshot: may I have warmer clothes, a light and the Hebrew tools for the Old Testament? Clearly, a towering scholar of the (English) Reformation.
Rather than burn him, being a scholar and being well-respected by his jailers, they strangled him to death before proceeding to burn him. In God's mind, it was as if it happened yesterday. Master Tyndale awaits the Final Judgment. Rev. 6.9ff.
As quoted on page 9: Bruce, F.F. The Book and the Parchments. Old Tappan, NJ: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1963.
“I believe, right worshipful, that you are not unaware of what may have been determined concerning me. Wherefore I beg your lordship, and that by the Lord Jesus, that if I am to remain here through the winter, you will request the commissary to have the kindness to send me, from the goods of mine which he has, a warmer cap, for I suffer greatly from cold in the head, and am afflicted by perpetual catarrh, which is much increased in this cell; a warmer coat also, for this which I have is very thin; a piece of cloth, to, to patch my leggings. My overcoat is worn out; my shirts are also worn out. He has a woolen shirt, if he will be good enough to send it. I have also with him leggings of thicker cloth to put on above; he has also warmer night-caps. And I ask to be allowed to have a lamp in the evening; it is indeed wearisome sitting alone in the dark. But most of all I beg and beseech your clemency to be urgent with the commissary, that he will kindly permit me to have the Hebrew Bible, Hebrew grammar and Hebrew dictionary, that I may pass the time in the study. In return may you obtain what you most desire, so only that it be for the salvation of your soul. But if any other decision has been taken concerning me, to be carried out before winter, I will be patient, abiding the will of God, to the glory of the grace of my Lord Jesus Christ; whose Spirit (I pray) may ever direct your heart. Amen.
W. Tindalus
Upshot: may I have warmer clothes, a light and the Hebrew tools for the Old Testament? Clearly, a towering scholar of the (English) Reformation.
Rather than burn him, being a scholar and being well-respected by his jailers, they strangled him to death before proceeding to burn him. In God's mind, it was as if it happened yesterday. Master Tyndale awaits the Final Judgment. Rev. 6.9ff.
As quoted on page 9: Bruce, F.F. The Book and the Parchments. Old Tappan, NJ: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1963.
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