"Tyndale's preaching excited great interest; many accepted the truth. But the priests were on the alert, and no sooner had he left the field than they by their threats and misrepresentations endeavored to destroy his work. Too often they succeeded. “What is to be done?” he exclaimed. “While I am sowing in one place, the enemy ravages the field I have just left. I cannot be everywhere. Oh! if Christians possessed the Holy Scriptures in their own tongue, they could of themselves withstand these sophists. Without the Bible it is impossible to establish the laity in the truth.”— Ibid., b. 18, ch. 4. GC 246.1"
"But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way."
Both passages deal with the idea of an enemy undermining the work of spreading truth. In Matthew, the enemy sows tares among the wheat, and in the EGW passage, the priests undo Tyndale's work. The core idea of opposition to the spread of truth is present in both.
"A new purpose now took possession of his mind. “It was in the language of Israel,” said he, “that the psalms were sung in the temple of Jehovah; and shall not the gospel speak the language of England among us? ... Ought the church to have less light at noonday than at the dawn? ... Christians must read the New Testament in their mother tongue.” The doctors and teachers of the church disagreed among themselves. Only by the Bible could men arrive at the truth. “One holdeth this doctor, another that.... Now each of these authors contradicts the other. How then can we distinguish him who says right from him who says wrong? ... How? ... Verily by God's word.”— Ibid., b. 18, ch. 4. GC 246.2"
"And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?"
Both passages emphasize the importance of people understanding scripture in their own language. Acts 2:8 describes people hearing the gospel in their native tongues at Pentecost, while the EGW passage quotes Tyndale's desire for the gospel to be accessible in English. Both highlight the necessity of understanding in one's own language.
"It was not long after that a learned Catholic doctor, engaging in controversy with him, exclaimed: “We were better to be without God's laws than the pope's.” Tyndale replied: “I defy the pope and all his laws; and if God spare my life, ere many years I will cause a boy that driveth the plow to know more of the Scripture than you do.”—Anderson, Annals of the English Bible, page 19. GC 246.3"
"And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition."
Both passages contrast human tradition with God's law. In Matthew, tradition is elevated above God's commandments, while in the EGW passage, the Catholic doctor prioritizes the pope's laws over God's. The underlying theme of prioritizing human authority over divine law connects the two.
"The purpose which he had begun to cherish, of giving to the people the New Testament Scriptures in their own language, was now confirmed, and he immediately applied himself to the work. Driven from his home by persecution, he went to London, and there for a time pursued his labors undisturbed. But again the violence of the papists forced him to flee. All England seemed closed against him, and he resolved to seek shelter in Germany. Here he began the printing of the English New Testament. Twice the work was stopped; but when forbidden to print in one city, he went to another. At last he made his way to Worms, where, a few years before, Luther had defended the gospel before the Diet. In that ancient city were many friends of the Reformation, and Tyndale there prosecuted his work without further hindrance. Three thousand copies of the New Testament were soon finished, and another edition followed in the same year. GC 246.4"
"Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men."
Tyndale's actions, as described by EGW, directly exemplify the principle of obeying God rather than men. He perseveres in his work of translating and distributing the Bible despite opposition and persecution, mirroring the apostles' defiance in Acts 5:29.