John Wycliffe
JOHN WYCLIFFE
John Wycliffe, who lived during the reign of Edward III in 1371, was the public reader of divinity at the University of Oxford. In a time when few people were educated, he was well known for his scholarship in the fields of philosophy and religion.
At this time Christianity was in a sad state. Although everyone knew the name of Christ, few if any understood His doctrine. Faith, consolation, the use of the law, the works of Christ, our human weakness, the Holy Ghost, the strength of sin, the works of grace, justification by faith, and Christian liberty were never mentioned in the church.
Instead, the church was solely concerned with outward ceremony and human traditions. People spent their entire lives heaping up one ceremony after another in hopes of salvation, not knowing it was theirs for the asking. Simple, uneducated people who had no knowledge of scripture were content to know only what their pastors told them, and these pastors took care to only teach what came from Rome—most of which was for the profit of their own orders, not for the glory of Christ.
Wycliffe, seeing Christ’s Gospel defiled by the errors and inventions of these bishops and monks, decided to do whatever he could to remedy the situation and teach people the truth. He took great pains to publicly declare that his only intention was to relieve the church of its idolatry, especially that concerning the sacrament of Communion.
This, of course, aroused the anger of the country’s monks and friars, whose orders had grown wealthy through the sale of their ceremonies and from being paid for doing their duties. Soon their priests and bishops took up the outcry, followed by the archbishop, Simon Sudbury, who took away Wycliffe’s salary at Oxford and ordered him to stop preaching against the church. When even that failed, he appealed to the pope.
Nevertheless, Wycliffe continued speaking his mind to the people in his sermons. King Edward was sympathetic to his preaching, and he also had the support of others of high rank including John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster, the king’s son, and Lord Henry Percy.
The following points, taken from Wycliffe’s sermons, summarize his teachings:
The holy eucharist, after consecration, is not the actual body of Christ.
The Church of Rome is no more important than any other church, and
Peter had no more power given to him by Christ than any other apostle.
The pope has no more power than any other priest.
The Gospel is enough for any man, without the rules of men, which add nothing to the Gospel.
Neither the pope nor any other church official has the power or right to punish transgressors.
In 1377, Wycliffe was ordered to appear before his bishops and answer to their charges, since he had continued to preach on these matters after having been told to stop. He appeared before them on Thursday, February 19, 1377, accompanied by four learned friars. The Duke of Lancaster and Lord Percy became involved in a heated argument with the bishop over whether Wycliffe should be allowed to sit or must remain standing. Soon arguments gave way to threats, the whole assembly joined in taking sides, and the council had to be dissolved before it was even 9:00 a.m. Wycliffe had escaped punishment for his beliefs.
Soon King Edward III died, and his grandson, Richard II, took the throne. The Duke of Lancaster and Lord Percy gave up their government positions and retired to private life, but Wycliffe still enjoyed the support of many noblemen. In 1377, Pope Gregory sent a message to the University of Oxford, rebuking it for allowing Wycliffe’s doctrine to take root and demanding he be silenced. This encouraged the archbishop of Canterbury and other bishops, who decided to meet and agree on what should be done to punish Wycliffe.
On the day Wycliffe was to be examined, a man named Lewis Clifford, who was a member of the prince’s court but not a particularly powerful man, strode up to the bishops and sternly warned them not to pass any sentence on Wycliffe. The bishops were so taken aback by his demand that they took no action against Wycliffe that day.
Wycliffe’s sect continued to grow despite church opposition. Some authorities at Oxford attempted to silence him; others gave him whatever support they could. The church considered him a heretic and threatened his followers with excommunication. For some time Wycliffe was either banished or in hiding, but he returned to his parish of Lutterworth to die in 1384.
In 1415, the Synod of Constance declared John Wycliffe a notorious heretic who died in his heresy and ordered his bones removed from consecrated ground. In 1425, Wycliffe was disinterred, his bones burned and thrown into the river. But there is no denying truth, which will even spring up from dust and ashes. Although they burned his bones and drowned his ashes, the Word of God and the truth of John Wycliffe’s doctrine would never be destroyed.
Although King Richard allowed himself to be influenced by popes Urban and Boniface IX and published several decrees against the new Protestant doctrines, there is no record of anyone being put to death for holding them during his reign.