William Tyndale: Lesson 6 - Shipwreck & Smuggled Bibles

Introduction:

Last time we left William Tyndale, he was on a ship escaping from the authorities who had raided the printshop where William was having his English Bibles printed.

Though William managed to escape on a ship, a storm rose up and threatened the ship.

What will happen to the ship?

What will happen to William?

This storm ended up being a very fierce storm.

The wind blew hard.

The waves were huge.

The waves beat hard on the ship so that it rocked back and forth.

Soon, the ship started creaking.

Before anyone knew it, the ship started taking on water.

Then, there were loud noises of the wood of the ship breaking apart.

Before anyone knew it, the storm had gotten the best of the ship and it had torn apart.

William Tyndale managed to escape the shipwreck and survive.

However, William lost something very important and special.

What is it that you think William may have lost?

Remember, when he escaped from Cologne,Germany he took with him the translation work he had completed on the New Testament.

William had also begun translation work and completed Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy in English.

Unfortunately, William’s translation work on the first five books of the Old Testament and all his other goods were lost in the shipwreck.

Can you imagine how disappointed William was?

Have you ever been disappointed by losing something that you had worked on? (example: sandcastle? craft? legos?)

William had devoted so much time to learn Hebrew and translate the first 5 books of the Old Testament.

How could he recover from such disappointment and continue the work?

Once William was able to safely get to land, he had to determine where he would go and what he would do.

Amazingly, William was still committed to translating the Bible into English.

Therefore, William needed to find another place and printer to continue the work that he believed the Lord called him to.

But, where would William go this time?

William determined that it would be best to go to Worms, Germany.

There, he would find a printer who would be willing to print the Bible into English for him, Peter Schoeffer.

With Peter Schoeffer’s help, the printed copies of the Bible in English begin arriving in England.

Can you imagine?

Finally, everyday people are reading the Bible in English!

People could read the Bible while they worked.

People could read the Bible in their homes.

Anyone from any walk of life could read the Bible in English!

However, we need to remember that it’s still against the law to own, let alone, read the Bible in English!

It was not too long after the Bible in English came to England that the religious authorities began finding copies of the Bible in English; Uh Oh!

In fact, Bishop Cuthbert Tunstall devised a plan to stop the advance of the Bible in English.

Remember, Cuthbert Tunstall was the Bishop William initially met with to try to get permission to translate and print the Bible into English.

Did Tunstall allow William to translate and print the Bible in English?

No!

So, Bishop Tunstall thought that if he were to pay for all of the copies of the English Bible that were entering into England, then he could stop people from getting the Bible!

Bishop Tunstall decided that, once he was able to buy all the Bibles, he would have them burned!

Is that the way that we should treat God’s Word?

No!

God’s Word should be treated as a special, cherished treasure!

So, Bishop Tunstall began spending money to get English translations of the Bible that William Tyndale was having printed and smuggled into England.

Can you imagine how devastating this would be?

William Tyndale wants the people to have God’s Word.

But enemies are paying money to buy up any copy that comes in so that they can burn them.

How will William Tyndale overcome this obstacle?

How will the people get God’s Word in English if it’s being bought up by enemies?

Conclusion: We’ll come back in three weeks and consider what happens to William Tyndale’s efforts to get God’s word in English to England.