[548] Ut quam diligentissime præcaverint in omnibus Angliæ portubus, ne merx illa perniciosissima inveheretur. Cochlæus, p. 126. [549] Ad quem Doctor Eckius venit, dum in Angliam tenderet. Ibid. 109. [Sidenote: TYNDALE ARRIVES AT WORMS.] During this time Tyndale, guarding his precious bales, ascended the rapid river as quickly as he could. He passed before the antique cities and the smiling villages scattered along the banks of the Rhine amidst scenes of picturesque beauty. The mountains, glens, and rocks, the dark forests, the ruined fortresses, the gothic churches, the boats that passed and repassed each other, the birds of prey that soared over his head, as if they bore a mission from Cochlæus--nothing could turn his eyes from the treasure he was carrying with him. At last, after a voyage of five or six days, he reached Worms, where Luther, four years before, had exclaimed: "Here I stand, I can do no other; may God help me!"[550] These words of the German reformer, so well known to Tyndale, were the star that had guided him to Worms. He knew that the Gospel was preached in that ancient city. "The citizens are subject to fits of Lutheranism," said Cochlæus.[551] Tyndale arrived there, not as Luther did, surrounded by an immense crowd, but unknown, and imagining himself pursued by the myrmidons of Charles and of Henry. As he landed from the boat he cast an uneasy glance around him, and laid down his precious burden on the bank of the river. [550] See above, book vii, chapter viii. [551] Ascendentes Wormatiam ubi plebs pleno furore lutherisabat. Cochlæus, p. 126. [Sidenote: TYNDALE'S PRAYER.] He had had time to reflect on the dangers which threatened his work. As his enemies would have marked the edition, some few sheets of it having fallen into their hands, he took steps to mislead the inquisitors, and began a new edition, striking out the prologue and the notes, and substituting the more portable _octavo_ form for the original _quarto_. Peter Schæffer, the grandson of Fust, one of the inventors of printing, lent his presses for this important work. The two editions were quietly completed about the end of the year 1525.[552] [552] A copy of the _octavo_ edition exists in the Museum of the Baptist College at Bristol. If it is compared with the _quarto_ edition, a sensible progress will be found in the orthography. Thus we read in the latter: _prophettes_, _synners_, _mooste_, _sekynge_; in the octavo we find, _prophets_, _sinners_, _most_, _seking_. Annals of the Bible, i. p. 70.