William Tyndale's Bible in England (1526)

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Cousin Lane ,
London,

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William Tyndale

Site History

In the spring 1526 the English New Testaments by William Tyndale were given to Hanseatic merchants to bring to England. They hid them in their merchandise and sailed from Antwerp.

 

They anchored and lowered boats to take their goods to the shore at Steelyard. They were expecting agents of the Bishop of London, King Henry or Cardinal Wolsey to arrest them, but they were involved in national problems and had no time for the moment to search out the Testaments. They hid them in the warehouses at Steelyard.

 

Who would distribute this precious cargo? A curate at All Hallows, Honey Lane; Thomas Garrett. He preached that anyone could preach the Word of God and that you were justified by faith not works. This alone would have got him in deep trouble with the bishops, but he agreed also to hide the Testaments.

 

He sold the books to laymen and priests; he must have had others helping him. He sold the books to students in Oxford; a very dangerous place. He was found out and going to be arrested but a friend arranged his escape by changing his name. After 36 hours his conscience got the better of him and he returned to Oxford. Within a few hours Cardinal Wolsey’s agents arrested him. He and around 24 of the brightest students in the nation were put in prison for no more than reading and distributing the New Testament. They were given only salted fish to eat. They became weaker and weaker and some became sick. After six months they were released, but four died (the first of many martyrs under Henry VIII. Some survived and became bishops, some were martyred later on.)

 

Twelve years later Garret and a great man called Robert Barnes and William Jerome were warned about their preaching. They were all told by the king to recant at an Easter service. Barnes recanted and then preached the doctrine of salvation by grace. They were put in the Tower and burned at the same stake in Smithfield. Garret was not the only person to die for distributing English New Testaments.

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