God's Outlaw (1986)
93 min | Biography, Drama, History
A dramatized biography of William Tyndale, the 16th Century reformer determined to translate the Bible into English, which illegal act set him at odds with the Catholic Church, Sir Thomas More and King Henry VIII.
Director: Tony Tew
Writer: Ben Steed
Stars: Roger Rees, Bernard Archard, Keith Barron
93 min | Biography, Drama, History
A dramatized biography of William Tyndale, the 16th Century reformer determined to translate the Bible into English, which illegal act set him at odds with the Catholic Church, Sir Thomas More and King Henry VIII.
Director: Tony Tew
Writer: Ben Steed
Stars: Roger Rees, Bernard Archard, Keith Barron
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00Suddenly, Wolsey, suddenly, not subtly or insidiously, but suddenly, we have the scriptures
00:08in English everywhere! Suddenly, Wolsey, we have a rage of bishops! Suddenly, Wolsey,
00:18we hear of the world's end, and I am not told of it. Why? Is it because I am only the king?
00:29Is my majesty so light a thing? Who is William Tyndale?
00:35Some low-born priest, sir.
00:38And is this the same low-born priest of whom my ambassador to Spain warned me twelve months
00:44since?
00:45Yes.
00:46And is this the same low-born priest who, it is said, had undertaken to translate the
00:52whole of Scripture?
00:54The same.
00:56And when is my command that he be found and stopped?
00:59I have men, even now, in France and Germany and Flanders, who have not paused in their
01:07search for him without success. He moves from place to place.
01:12Oh, printing the scriptures on the back of a travelling mule, perhaps? Eh, Thomas, sir?
01:19It is not a subject for jest, sir.
01:23You tell me it is not jest. What blind, half-witted man have you commissioned to make the search?
01:32John Hackett.
01:33Oh, John Hackett! And where has John Hackett looked?
01:37Wherever Tyndale has been sighted or word of him reported. Hamburg, Cologne, Worms,
01:43Marburg, even Wittenberg.
01:45Wittenberg?
01:46Yes.
01:47He is in league with Luther?
01:48Without question.
01:49Then he is indeed a heretic. You will find him and you will burn his books. You will
01:55arrest him and bring him to me.
02:07William Tyndale, the King of England has somewhat against you for crimes committed in that realm.
02:15These do not concern us. You have been arrested and stand charged with heresy in that, first.
02:25You maintain that faith alone justifies. Second, you maintain that to believe in the forgiveness
02:34of sins and to embrace the mercy offered in the gospel is enough for salvation. Third,
02:42you aver that the traditions of men cannot bind the soul. Fourth, you affirm that neither
02:51the virgin nor the saints pray for us in their own person. And fifth, you assert that neither
02:59the virgin nor the saints should be invoked by us. How do you answer?
03:08I answer thus with a clear conscience before God and man that I have never maintained,
03:17affirmed, averred or asserted anything contrary to the plain meaning of God's holy scriptures
03:25on these alone. And these alone I stand.
03:29Would you say then that faith alone justifies and not works?
03:35The fruit that grows on the tree does not make the tree good or bad. It only makes known
03:40whether the tree is a good tree or a bad tree. And works do not make a man good or bad. They
03:48only make it plain to other men whether he who performs those works is good or bad. A
03:55man is reconciled before God by faith alone. And works have only to make this justification
04:02known before men. Such is the contention of the Apostle Paul as it is written.
04:11By grace are you saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of
04:19God, not of works, lest any man should boast.
04:27When Tyndale died, there were already two Bibles circulating in England. Each effectively
04:34contained Tyndale's translation of the New Testament, and much of his work had been used
04:39for the Old Testament. When one of them, Coverdale's version, was presented to Henry VIII, he was
04:46assured by the bishops that they could find no errors in it.
04:50Then if there be no errors in it, then in God's name we shall be saved.
04:55If there be no errors in it, then in God's name let it go abroad among the people.