WICLIF: TYNDALE.--Wiclif's Bible was translated from the Latin Vulgate,
and issued about 1378. If it be asked why he did not go to the original
sources, and thus avoid the errors of successive renderings, the answer is
plain: he was not sufficiently acquainted with Hebrew and Greek to
translate from them. Wiclif's translation was eagerly sought, and was
multiplied by the hands of skilful scribes. Its popularity was very great,
as is attested by the fact that when, in the House of Lords, in the year
1390, a bill was offered to suppress it, the measure signally failed. The
first copy of Wiclif's Bible was not printed until the year 1731.
About a century after Wiclif, the Greek language and the study of Greek
literature came into England, and were of great effect in making the
forthcoming translations more accurate.
First among these new translators was William Tyndale, who was born about
the year 1477. He was educated at Oxford and Cambridge, and left England
for fear of persecution. He translated the Scriptures from the Greek, and
printed the volume at Antwerp--the first printed translation of the
Scriptures in English--in the year 1526.
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