The Iron Pen #56
"...graven with an iron pen and lead..." Job
19:24
Pastor David L. Brown, Ph.D.
THE POWER OF THE BIBLE
R. A. Torrey
- It Convinces of Sin – Heb. 4:12
- It Transforms, or Regenerates – 1 Pet. 1:23
- It Produces Fruit – John 20:31; Rom. 10:17
- It Cleanses the Life – Psa. 119:9-11; John 15:3
- It Gives Peace – Psa 119:165
Our Biblical Heritage – John Wycliffe
Pastor David L. Brown, Ph.D.
Forsothe God so louede the world, that he gaf his oon bigetun sone, that ech man
that bileueth in to him perische not, but haue euerlastynge lyf.
John 3:16
(Wycliffe Bible 1382)
"To Wyclif we owe, more than to any one person who can be mentioned, our
English language, our English Bible, and our reformed religion," said Professor
Montagu Burrows in his 1881 lecture series. He is right. John de Wycliffe was born in the
early 1330’s in a small English village called Wycliffe-on-Tees in Yorkshire,
England. He has been called Morning Star of the Reformation because he believed and
preached doctrines that were advanced 100 years later by the Reformers. For John
Wycliffe,
the Bible was the sole authority for all of life, and Christ was the only way of
Salvation. He wrote, "Holy Scripture is the preeminent authority for every Christian,
and the rule of faith and of all human perfection." Concerning Salvation he wrote,
"Foras much as the Bible contains Christ, that is all that is necessary for
salvation, it is necessary for all men, not for priests alone. It alone is the supreme law
that is to rule Church, State and Christian life, without human traditions and
statutes."
To be sure, his stands for the Word of God brought him into conflict with the
ecclesiastical establishment of his day. He was charged with heresy, tried three times by
the English ecclesiastical establishment and more. But he refused to compromise his
biblical stand. He wrote:
"Those Heretics who pretend that the laity need not know God’s law but
that the knowledge which priests have had imparted to them by word of mouth is sufficient,
do not deserve to be listened to. For Holy Scriptures is the faith of the Church, and the
more widely its true meaning becomes known the better it will be. Therefore since the
laity should know the faith, it should be taught in whatever language is most easily
comprehended…Christ and His apostles taught the people in the language best known to
them."
You must understand that for the medieval Englishman the Bible was a closed book.
The Bible was only accessible to the learned or elite of society. Even then, in
pre-printing press days, Bibles were large volumes hand written in Latin. Many clergy
never saw an entire Bible and even if they did, only a few could read it. Wycliffe was
determined to change all that, because he saw they were not being taught the truth of the
Bible, that Christ alone was the head of the Church and the only way of salvation.
Therefore he translated the Latin Bible into the English language. For the first time the
English people had an opportunity of reading the Bible in their own language. In addition
Wycliffe trained lay preachers, called Lollards, to read and preach the Bible to the
people. This raised the ire of the ecclesiastical leaders who outlawed Wycliffe’s
Bible, his books and pamphlets and lay preachers. But, the preaching, teaching and reading
of the Bible by common people changed lives, despite the "law." So
ecclesiastical leaders took harsher steps to curtail the spread of the Word in the
language of the people. William Sawtry became the first Lollard martyr. Many more were to
follow. Even though John Wycliffe died at home in bed on New Years Eve 1384 A.D., the
English Catholic Church held such resentment for him and his work that they dug up his
body 44 years later, burned his bones, and scattered the ashes into the river Swift. They
wanted to do away with him and his teachings once and for all! But as church historian
Thomas Fuller put it – "This brook (Swift) has conveyed his ashes into Avon,
Avon into Severn, Severn into the narrow seas, they into the main ocean. And thus the
ashes of Wycliffe are the emblem of his doctrine, which now is dispersed all the world
over."
Point To Ponder
I find more sure marks of
authenticity in the Bible than in any profane history whatever.
--Sir Isaac Newton
God & Country
We have staked the future of American civilization upon the capacity of each and all of
us to govern ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.
--James Madison
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