John Wyclif, 1320?-1384

[Mentioned in the Message to The Mother Church for 1902, p. 16]

When he was about 15, John Wyclif went from his home in northern Yorkshire to Oxford University. Here he took his degrees and remained as a professor and preacher. Although he was regarded by the University as a man of great learning and had been named, in recognition of his ability one of the King's chaplains, it was not until he was called to formulate Edward Ill's answer to the pope's demand for tribute money that Wyclif came into national prominence. This tribute money had been promised by King John and had been paid for over 100 years. For more than 30 years it had not been sent, and Parliament now took the stand that since it had not authorized the payment, the agreement was null and void.

Wyclif as a royal chaplain probably took part in the discussion of the King's Council. He certainly heard it for in a tract, perhaps the first written report of a parliamentary debate, he sets forth the conclusions for refusing to pay the tribute. A few years later he was sent by the King to Bruges to work out with the pope's representatives the filling of ecclesiastical appointments in England.

On his return to England he began to speak as a religious reformer. At Oxford he organized and trained an order of priests who went about barefoot preaching the gospel. Insisting upon the supreme authority of the Scriptures, he drew attention to the differences between the teaching of the Bible and that of the church and its preachers. His attack on abuses of the church organization led to his being summoned on several occasions to defend what were called his heresies. And when he attacked some of the doctrines of the church, Oxford, under compulsion of the clergy, finally deprived him of his right to preach. He then retired to Lutterworth to continue his work of translating the Bible from the Latin Vulgate into English.

He insisted that, since the Scriptures contain God's law, every man must have access to them. He said: "He that keepeth meekness and charity hath the true understanding and perception of all Holy Writ, for Christ did not write His laws on tables, or on skins of animals, but in the hearts of men.... The Holy Ghost teaches us the meaning of Scripture." His translation of the Bible, the first into English, was Wyclif's supreme gift to his people.

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