It's October 6, the day on which I say a prayer for the soul of William Tyndale, an Englishman whose short life has made my life a joyful and happy one. For it was he who, in 1526, make the first English translation of the New Testament. He had decided that the Bible should be read by everyone. Until then the marvelous words of that great book were in Latin, a mystery to the average person, and priests jealously guarded them and their meanings.
Forbidden by the bishops to print this translation in Henry VIII's Catholic England, Tyndale fled to Europe. But he persisted with his dream that all his countrymen should be permitted to read God's words, and eventually hundreds of copies of his translation were smuggled into England. Even after King Henry broke with Rome, he still proclaimed Tyndale a heretic, and demanded that he return to England for punishment.
And the priests didn't forgive the man who had torn the veil of mystery from God's words. They hounded and hunted him until he was captured in Belgium. There he was tried for heresy and condemned to death.
On October 6, 1536, he was strangled, then burned at the stake.
That's why, whenever I open my Bible, I think of the man who gave his life so that people like you and me could find solace and God's love in its pages. And why, on the anniversary of his death, I say a small prayer of thanks for his strength and conviction to perform a spiritual service that has changed infinite lives now and in the ages to come.
(Walter Harter in Daily Guideposts, 6 October 1988)
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