Protestantism in England From the Times of Henry VIII - James Aitken Wylie

A desire had now been awakened in the nation
at large for the Word of God, and that desire could
be gratified not otherwise than by having the
Scriptures in its own tongue. The learned men of
England had been these nine years in possession of
Erasmus' Greek and Latin New Testament, and in
it they had access to the fountain-heads of Divine
knowledge, but the common people must receive
the Gospel at second hand, through preachers like
Latimer. This was a method of communication
slow and unsatisfactory; something more direct,
full, and rapid could alone satisfy the popular
desire. That wish was about to be gratified. The
fullness of the time for the Bible being given to
England in her own tongue, and through England
to the world in all the tongues of earth, had now
come. He who brings forth the sun from the
chambers Of the sky at his appointed hour, now
gave commandment that this greater light should
come forth from the darkness in which it had been
so long hidden. William Tyndale, the man chosen
of God for this labor, had, as we have seen,
finished his task. The precious treasure he had put
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