VOLUME 3

AN ANSWERE VNTO SIR THOMAS MORES DIALOGE

LOCATION
KEY Commentary Side Textual Bibliographic Scriptural

be so subtilly cowched that no man can espye them. So blinde he counteth all other men in comparison of his great vnderstondinge . But charitablye I exhorte him in chryste to take hede for though Iudas were wilier then his felowes to get lucre / yet he proued not most wise at the last ende. Nether though Balam the false prophete had a clere sighte to bringe the curse of God vppon the chyldern of Israel for honoures sake / yet his couetousenesse did so blynd his prophesie / that he coude not se his awne ende. Let therfore M. More and hys company awake be tymes ere ever their sinne be rype lest the voyce of theyr wekednesse ascende vp and awake God out of his slepe / to loke vppon them and to bow his eares vnto their cursed blasphemies agenst the open truth / and to send hys heruestmen and mowares of vengeaunce to repe yt.

14/6–11 M. More ... espye them. Cf. CWM 8/1.176/8–13 and 8/2. 938/30–33. Tyndale usually calls More's religious polemic as unreal as Utopia, whether he is defending the heresy trials of Richard Hunne (168/21n) and Robert Forman (194/8n) or the existence of purgatory ( Matthew k1) and the validity of oral tradition ( Matthew l6v). A brief portrait of More (1477/78–1535) as author emerges from Tyndale's scattered allusions. Tyndale emphasizes the irony that the English hierarchy chose the twice-married More to write in behalf of clerical celibacy (166/30–31n). Outside of Answer, Tyndale refers to More most often in Prelates: once as the successor to Wolsey as Lord Chancellor (K2r—v), usually as the author of polemic against Luther (K2v), Tyndale's Obedience and Mammon (Prelates K2v), and Simon Fish's Supplication of Beggars (F5, K2v). In Prelates (F5, K2v) Tyndale twice calls More "the proctor of purgatory ," i.e., "advocate" (OED 5.) because of his defense of purgatory in the Supplication of Souls of 1529 (CWM 7). In Tyndale's view, More sold his pen to the Roman cause because he was blinded by covetousness ( Matthew l6v). Erasmus describes More's humanistic writings in Ep. 999, To Ulrich von Hutten, Antwerp, 23 July 1519 (Allen 4.12–23; CWE 7.15–25). More's last surviving letter to Erasmus defends his polemical writings, especially against the "heretic Tyndale, a fellow Englishman , who is nowhere and yet everywhere an exile... ." From Ep. 2831, From Thomas More, Chelsea, [June 1533] (Allen 10.259/22; More, Selected Letters 179).

14/14 Iudas. Cf. Matt. 27.3–5, Acts 1.16–18.

14/15 Balam. Cf. Num. 22–24, and 31–8; 2 Pet. 2.15–16. Since Prelates had written earlier about More (F5, and a cluster on K2r—v), there may be a covert reference to More in the citation of Judas and Balaam (K8v). Only after Dialogue Concerning Heresies attacked Tyndale, did he openly link More to these biblical examples of greed. More alludes to this passage (14/13–23) at CWM 8/1.180/7–13 and to a later passage (22/14–23/6) at CWM 8/ 1.221/21–22.

But how happeth it that M. More hathe not contended in lyke wise agaynst hys derelynge Erasmus all this longe while? Doeth not he chaunge this worde ecclesia in to congregacyon and that not selden in the new testament? peraduenture he owithe him fauoure because he made Moria in his housse. Which boke if were in englishe / then shulde euery man se / how that he then was ferre other wise minded than he nowe writeth. But verelie I thinke that as Iudas betraid not christ for any loue that he had vnto the hie prestes / scribes and phareses / but only to come by that wherfore he thirsted: euen so M. More (as there are tokens evident) wrote not these bokes for any affeccyon that he bare vnto the spiritualtie or vnto the opinions which he so barelie defendeth / but to obtayne only that which he was an hongred fore: I praie God that he eate not to hastely lest he be cho

14/25 Erasmus. This is the first reference in Answer to Erasmus (1466/9–1536), the foremost Greek and Latin scholar in the first third of the 16c. For his life and works, see the entry by O'Donnell in Tudor England. For other works of Erasmus, Tyndale makes direct reference to the Paraclesis (1516) and the Preface to the Paraphrase of Matthew (March 1522) in Obedience (C4). For Mary's supposed personal sins, Tyndale specifically cites the Annotations on Matt. 12, Luke 2, John 2 (Obedience S4v). In explicating the Beatitudes, Tyndale follows the NT versions of Erasmus and Luther in putting "Blessed are they that mourn" before "Blessed are the meek" ( Matthew b6). Having translated the Enchiridion (1503) with the prefatory Ep. 858 (1518), Tyndale would readily recall its basic metaphor of the armor of God (1 John G7v), and its explanation in Ch. 7 of the tripartite division of flesh, soul, and spirit (Matthew p3). Tyndale's allusions to Julius II's struggle against the emperor (Obedience E6v) and to the pope's diplomatic alliances with Henry VIII (Obedience E6v; Prelates F8, G7) recall the Julius Exclusus (c1513) attributed to Erasmus (CWE 27).Tyndale perhaps echoes the Colloquies: "The Funeral" (1526) in Mammon (A8, G2), Obedience (L7), 1 John (F3v); "A Pilgrimage for Religion's Sake" (1526) from Colloquies in the Prologue to Numbers (Mombert 393/14–15; TOT 196). Tyndale refers to Erasmus in the prefaces to his New and Old Testaments. Erasmus translates Greek metanoeo, not with peniteo for "repent," but with Latin resipisco for "come to myselfe or to my ryght mynde agayne" (Wallis 10/31–32;TNT 9). Erasmus praises Cuthbert Tunstall (Mombert 5/1–6; TOT 4) in the "Capita Argumentorum "of the 1527 NT (Foxe 5.811n).

14/26 ecclesia in to congregacyon. Erasmus' Latin version of the NT left the term ecclesia as the translation of the Greek ekklesia in the great majority of cases. But in his annotations on Rom 16.5, Et domesticam ecclesiam.), 1516 NT (Reeve 2.434) and 1 Cor. 16.19, Cum domestica sua ecclesia.), 1519 NT (Reeve 2.522), Erasmus expresses a preference for congregatio, to show how the Greek ekklesia refers to the familia Christiana. He translates ekklesia as congregatio at Acts 5.11, 7.38, 11.22 and 26, 14.27, also at Rom. 16.5, 2 Cor. 1.1, Philemon 1.2, and 3 John 1.10, cf. Aldridge 117. In the Large Catechism, Luther explains why he prefers to translate ekklesia as gemeyne rather than versammlung. He approves the ancient interpretation of "church" as "communion of saints" because those gathered (versammelt) constitute a body holding in common (als gemeinsam) the gifts of Christ. He could say eine Christiche gemeine oder samlung, but prefers the former term because it indicates that those gathered hold spiritual gifts in common. He thinks the term Gemeinschaft is not apt because it connotates a social organization. Cf. Heinz Bluhm, Martin Luther Creative Translator (St. Louis: Concordia, 1965) 173f. Luther's practice may have suggested to Tyndale the making of a change, but Luther's own substitution did not give Tyndale the new term, "congregacyon," that he introduced. (JW) Tyndale translates ekklesia as "congregation" here, 1 John C2, Matthew d5v. Dialogue rejects Tyndale's translation of ekklesia as "congregation " in Bk. 1, Ch. 18 (CWM 6/1.107/23–24) and in Bk. 3, Ch. 8 (CWM 6/1.286/26–34).

14/28 Moria. Punning on the name of his host, Erasmus wrote Moriae encomium (1511) at More's home. Cf. Ep. 337 to Maarten van Dorp, Antwerp, [end of May] 1515 (Allen 2.90–114; CWE 3.111–39). More defends the philology, theology, and hermeneutics of Moriae in Ep. 15, To Martin Dorp, Bruges, 21 October <1515> (CWM 15.2–127). Besides this direct reference to Moriae, there are many indirect allusions in Tyndale's works: Philautia (Obedience B8v), scholastic terminology (Obedience C2v), the variety of religious rules ( Matthew e3), fat monks ( Matthew i3v), quick Masses ( Matthew i5), long hours in choir ( Matthew i6).

14/24–28 contended ... housse. Cf. CWM 8/1.177/10–14.

14/28–30 Which ... writeth. Cf. CWM 8/1.178/9–10.

15/1–3 wrote ... defendeth. Cf. CWM 8/1. 179/35–36.