If I was to make a short list of the individuals who have made the most significant, positive impacts upon the world in the past 2000 years, I would list Jesus Christ, Joseph Smith, Christopher Columbus, and William Tyndale.

William Tyndale is the father of the King James Version of the Bible.  This year (2011) marks the 400^th anniversary of the publishing of that book.  I’m surprised that a big deal is not being made of the event.  It should be commemorated.  I only found out about this year being the 400^th anniversary by a chance remark my wife made just two days ago.

William Tyndale was born in England two years after Columbus’ discovery of America.  The Catholic Church held power over all the kings and countries of Europe.  It was against the law to own a Bible.  No sacred writings were permitted to exist in commoners’ hands in any language other than Latin.  The law was strictly enforced.  Burnings of outlawed books, and of the people who owned or read them, were frequent.  Access to the scriptures was only given to priests who had been properly schooled, and whose job it was to interpret the scriptures and teach the people.

William Tyndale obtained a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from Oxford University, also attended Cambridge, and became an ordained priest.  He mastered seven languages, and could read, write and speak fluently in them all.  He knew English, Greek, Hebrew, Latin, German, French and Spanish.  English was an emerging language, and was not deemed by authorities to be worthy of having the scriptures printed in it.  Tyndale, however, saw power in the English language, became a master in its use, and longed to make the Bible available to the common people in their own tongue.

When confronted by a learned man who told him, “We were better be without God’s law than the pope’s,” Tyndale replied, “If God spare my life, ere many years I will cause a boy that driveth the plough shall know more of the scriptures than thou dost.”  (Fire in the Bones, S. Michael Wilcox, pg. 47).

Tyndale’s offers to translate the Bible into English fell not on deaf, but on hostile, ears.  In 1524 he fled to mainland Europe where for the next decade he worked on the translation in hiding while authorities hunted for him up and down the continent.

For a thousand years the church had relied solely upon the Vulgate version of the Bible.  It was written in Latin.  Tyndale wanted his translation to be as accurate as possible, and therefore, made his New Testament translation from Greek manuscripts and his Old Testament translations from Hebrew.

The first book ever printed by moveable type was a Latin Bible printed by Johannes Gutenberg in Germany just 39 years before Tyndale’s birth (in 1455).  In Germany Tyndale made the acquaintance of Martin Luther who nailed his 95 theses to the door of the church in Wittenberg, Germany in 1517.  Martin Luther published his own translation of the New Testament in German in 1522.  Tyndale published his English version of the New Testament in 1526, and began smuggling it into England where copies were burned as fast as they could be found.  His translation was referred to as “that pestiferous and most pernicious poison.”  (Ibid, pg. 87).

Henry VIII was on the throne of England.  He was among the adversaries of William Tyndale, but soon became an adversary of the Catholic Church when the church refused to grant him a divorce so that he could marry Ann Boleyn.  Ann Boleyn was a supporter of Tyndale and his translations.  She had Henry read her Tyndale New Testament.  He was so pleased with it that he said, “This is a book for me and all kings to read.”  (Ibid, pg. 109).

Sadly, William Tyndale was apprehended and burned at the stake in Brussels, Belgium in 1536.  He had not completed his translation of the Old Testament.  He was 42 years old at his martyrdom.  Just three years later King Henry VIII had broken with the Catholic Church and ordered English Bibles to be placed in every parish church.  He turned England into a Protestant nation.

Leaving no male heir to the throne, Henry’s daughter, Mary, succeeded him.  She tried to turn England back into a Catholic country.  She was suspicious of her half-sister, Elizabeth, and had her imprisoned; but upon Mary’s death, Elizabeth became queen.

Elizabeth’s long rule became known as “the Elizabethan Age.”  She was an able ruler, never married, left no children, ruled for half a century, and firmly turned England into a Protestant country.  William Shakespeare lived and wrote during this time.  He wrote in the language and style that William Tyndale established.

When Queen Elizabeth died in 1603, her cousin James, king of Scotland, ascended to the thrones of both England and Scotland as James I.  In 1604 he ordered 50 scholars to make a translation of the Bible.  They used many sources, and published their completed project in 1611.  It is estimated that the New Testament portion of the King James Version is 83% the words of William Tyndale.  The entire Bible is estimated to be 76% the translations of William Tyndale.

King James I was an ardent Anglican.  He was a Protestant, but was very active in his persecutions of the Puritans.  Just nine years after the publication of the King James Version, a group of Puritans boarded the Mayflower and sailed to America to escape the persecution.  They were followed by many others.

Nephi, an ancient prophet, saw in vision the voyage of Christopher Columbus.  (1 Ne. 13:12).  This vision was 2000 years before Columbus’ birth.  Nephi then beheld that the Spirit of God “wrought upon other Gentiles; and they went forth out of captivity, upon the many waters.”  (v. 13).

He “beheld that the Gentiles who had gone forth out of captivity did humble themselves before the Lord; and the power of the Lord was with them.”  (v. 16).

Nephi beheld that the mother nation was “gathered together upon the waters, and upon the land also, to battle against them.”  (v. 17).  He “beheld that the Gentiles that had gone out of captivity were delivered by the power of God out of the hands of all other nations.” (v. 19).

Nephi further beheld “that they did prosper in the land; and (he) beheld a book, and it was carried forth among them.”  (v. 20).  This book was the King James Version of the Bible, whose father was William Tyndale.

Nephi beheld that “the Gentiles who (went) forth out of captivity, (had) been lifted up by the power of God above all other nations, upon the face of the land which is choice above all other lands.”  (v. 30).

Five times in this chapter of the Book of Mormon Nephi makes reference to “the Gentiles that went forth out of captivity.”  The people of William Tyndale’s time were, indeed, in captivity.  They could not read what they wanted, nor believe as they wished to believe.  Priests had to be paid to baptize them, to hear their confessions, and to pray for them when they died.  They were burned and whipped and their Bibles were taken from them.

They took their Bibles, left England, and laid the foundations for the greatest nation the earth has ever known.  Twenty-nine years after that nation declared its independence from England, another boy was born who was destined to bring forth another book to become the companion of the Bible.  This second book would firmly establish the truth of the first.  This boy was the ploughboy of whom Tyndale prophesied 300 years earlier.

We can see the hand of God in all the events which led from the invention of the printing press, to Columbus’ discovery of America, to the Protestant Reformation, to the translation of the Bible, to Henry’s dispute with the Catholic Church, to the enthronement of King James, to the printing of his edition of the Bible, to the American colonists’ exodus from Europe, to their establishment of a nation founded on the premise of freedom of religion, to the bringing forth of the Book of Mormon, and to that ultimate objective, the Second Coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

The adversary did all in his power to prevent either the Bible or the Book of Mormon from coming forth.  The translators of both suffered martyrs’ deaths.  Both books are now firmly established and clearly teach how lives are to be lived, how happiness is to be obtained, and how each man’s salvation can only be obtained through taking advantage of the Atonement made by Jesus Christ.

How grateful we should all be for William Tyndale, Christopher Columbus, Joseph Smith, and especially, Jesus Christ, His selfless Atonement, and His guiding hand in the affairs of individuals and nations.  How foolish we are if we ignore these sacred books which have cost the blood of martyrs, and which can lead each of us to endless lives of happiness and salvation.

TIMELINE

1400

1455    First book printed—Gutenberg Bible (Latin)

1492    Columbus discovered America

1494    Birth of William Tyndale

1500

1517    Martin Luther begins his protest

1536    William Tyndale burned at stake

1539    Tyndale’s English bible allowed in every parish church

1600

1611    King James Bible is published

1620    Mayflower and Pilgrims reach America

1700

 

1776    American Declaration of Independence

1789    Constitution of the United States of America

1800

1805    Birth of Joseph Smith

1820    Joseph Smith’s First Vision

1829    Book of Mormon is published

1830    Organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

1844    Martyrdom of Joseph Smith

1900