John Wycliffe

John Wycliffe

John Wycliffe, the “Morning Star of the Reformation,” was born around 1330, over a hundred years before Martin Luther. He was a man who was very popular in his time – and very hated at the same time.

John Wycliffe has a relatively unknown childhood. His father was a gentleman of some means, but apparently not much distinction. John was a stellar student and, after being accepted to Oxford University, quickly rose to pastor a prominent parish in the area and achieve his Doctorate of Divinity at the young age of about 40.

John had little shame in attacking the established Roman Catholic Church for perceived injustices. He chafed that the church owned so much property in England and in Europe, but required its priests to give away all worldly possessions.

When Pope Urban demanded that England send a large tribute to Rome, Wycliffe was appointed to a commission of scholars to determine whether such a demand was lawful. Pope Urban and King Edward III were out of favor with each other at the time, so a reply to the negative was “encouraged.” Wycliffe was instrumental in drafting the following reply to the Pope:
Already a third and more of England is in the hands of the Pope. There cannot be two temporal sovereigns in one country; either Edward is King or Urban is king. We make our choice. We accept Edward of England and refute Urban of Rome.

Wycliffe’s writing and teaching began after this to more publicly question the authority of Rome over the Church. Pope Urban’s successor, Pope Gregory IX, found great fault with Wycliffe for teaching that the state had the authority to secularize church property, for questioning indulgences, for arguing against prayers to the saints, for disputing transubstantiation, for teaching and writing in English instead of the normally practiced Latin, and for placing the authority of Scripture over and above the authority of the church. He noted that the Gospel was given freely, and thus condemned the money-grubbing practice of the established church.

He was unique and ahead of his time in preaching that the Bible was a living and authoritative book. He was convinced that the people should have the Word in their own tongue, stating “Englishmen learn Christ’s law best in English. Moses heard God’s Law in his own tongue; so did Christ’s apostles.” With that mindset, Wycliffe began the undertaking of translating the Latin Vulgate into English. He had some help from likeminded scholars, but he was the driving force in producing the first-ever copy of the Scriptures in English.

He was threatened with excommunication and trial as a heretic. Pope Gregory IX sent a “bull” (an authoritative Papal letter) to the University of Oxford, castigating them for putting up with Wycliffe, a copy of which has been transcribed in Foxe’s Book of Martyrs:
It has been intimated to us by many persons that one John Wickliff…hath gone to such a pitch of detestable folly, that he feareth not to teach, and publicly preach, or rather to vomit out of the filthy dungeon of his breast, certain erroneous and false propositions and conclusions, savoring even of heretical [de]pravity… Wherefore, being unwilling to connive at so deadly a pest, we strictly charge that by our authority you seize of cause to be seize the said John, and send him under trusty keeping to our vererable brethren the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London.”

Fortunately for John, the Papacy had been severely weakened by internal strife about this time – even to the point of having two Popes reigning simultaneously! – and he had the popular support of the people and the English Parliament so the edict was never enforced.

John continued to preach, teach, and translate until he suffered a stroke in 1384. He died three days later, on New Years’ Eve. Twenty years later, he was posthumously put on trial and condemned as a heretic. It took another 24 years beyond that for the “sentence” to be carried out. In 1428, John Wycliffe’s body was exhumed and burned at the stake. His ashes were scattered in the River Swift, near Lutterworth.

John Wycliffe was years ahead of his time in condemning the established church and in proclaiming the Bible as the ultimate authority in matters of faith – not the Roman Church. He set the stage for a more direct challenge during the Reformation, over a century after his death.

John Wycliffe quotes:
“Holy Scripture is the highest authority for every believer, the standard of faith and the foundation for reform”
“The gospel alone is sufficient to rule the lives of Christians everywhere - any additional rules made to govern men's conduct added nothing to the perfection already found in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, John Foxe
https://www.biographyonline.net/spiritual/john-wycliffe.html
http://www.vision.org/visionmedia/biography-john-wycliffe/613.aspx
http://www.azquotes.com/author/15988-John_Wycliffe