6.11.2012 JOHN WYCLIFFE and his english precursors - lechler

the men in england who prepared the way for wycliffe were:
1. ROBERT GROSSETETE, bishop of lincoln d1253 although a part of the catholic church he ran counter to the church in every single area where the church ran counter to a true, spiritual care of souls.

2. HENRY BRACTON , the greatest lawyer of england in the middle ages, was a practical jurist, but also a learned writer upon english common law. both as a municipal judge and scientific jurist, he maintained the rights of the state in opposition to the church and sought to define as accurately as possible the limits of secular and the spiritual jusrisdictions.

3. WILLIAM OF OCCAM was a dignitary of the franciscan order who eventually became a strenuous leader of the opposition against the absolutism of the papacy.

4. RICHARD, who became ARCHBISHOP OF ARMAGH, an older contemporary of wycliffe,  opposed the medicant (begging) orders. he set forth and maintained the following propositions:
a. Jesus Christ, during His sojourn upon earth, was indeed always a poor man, but
b. he never practised begging as Hiws own spontaneous choice
c. he never taught any one to beg
d. on the contrary, Jesus taught that no man should practice voluntary begging
e. no man can either prudently or holily determine to follow a life of mendicancy
f. mendicancy forms no part of the rule of the franciscans
g. a bull of alexander IV, of 1255, is not directed against any of the above propositions
h. for the purposes of confession, the parish church is always more suitable for the parishioner than any church or chapel of the begging monks
i. for hearing confessions the parish priest is always preferable to the begging monk

5. THOMAS BRADWARDINE, d1349

his testimony while still a student at oxford..
'i was at one time, while still a student of philosophy, a vain fool, far from the true knowledge of God, and held captive in opposing error. from time to time i heard theologians treating of the questions of Grace and Free Will, and the party of pelagius appeared to me  to have the best of the argument. for i rarely heard anything said of grace in the lectures of the philosophers, except in an ambiguous sense; but every day i heard them teach that we are the masters of our own free acts and that it stands in our own power to do either good or evil, to be either virtuous of vicious , and such like. and when i heard now and then in church a passage read from the apostle which exalted grace and humbled free-will,-such, ie. as that word in romans 9, 'so then it is not in him that willeth, nor in him that runneth, but in God that showeth mercy', and other like places,- i had no liking for such teaching, for towards grace i was still unthankful. i believed also with the manicheans, that the apostle, being a man, might possibly err from the path of truth in any point of doctrine. but afterwards, and before i had become a student of theology, the truth before memntioned struck upon me like a beam of grace, and it seemed to me as if i beheld in the distance, under a transparent image of truth, the grace of God as it is prevenient (coming before, antecedent) both in time and nature to all good deeds-that is to say, the gracious will of God which precedently wills, tha, he who merits salvation shall be saved and precedently works this merit of it in him, God in truth being in all movements the primary mover. wherfore, also, i give thanks to Him who has freely given me this grace.' (very similar to what God did in me through the reading of the biography of george whitefield by arnold dallimore all the times I sought Him 'nothing happened', but when He sought me, in a miraculous flicker He saved and changed me!) note: see more on bradwardine right after #6 below.

6. final precursor influencing wycliffe was the langland poem, 'THE VISION OF PIERS PLOWMAN'
professer henry morley reviews it thus..'so ends the vision, with no victory attained, a world at war, and a renewed cry for the grace of god; a new yearning to find Christ, and bring with Him the day when wrongs and hatred are no more. the 14th century yielded no more fervent expression of the purest Christian labour to bring man to god. langland lays fast hold of all the words of Christ, and reads them into the divine law of love and duty. the ideal of a christian life shines through his poem, while it paints with homely force the evils against which it is directed . on points of theology he never disputes, but an ill life for him is an ill life, whether in pope or peasant. he is a church reformer in the truest sense, seeking to strengthen the hands of the clergy by amendment of the lives and characters of those who are untrue to their holy calling...this extraordinary manifestation of the religion, of the language, of the social and political notions, of the english character, of the condition of the passions and feelings of moral and provincial england, commences , and with chaucer and wycliffe completed the revelation of this transition period, the reign of edward III. throughout its institutions, language, religious sntiment, teutonism is now holding its first initiatory struggle with latin christianity (in the form of the roman catholic church). in chaucer is heard a voice from the court, from the castle, from the city, from universal england, in wy is heard a voice from the university, from the seat of theology and scholastic philosophy, from the centre and stronghold of the hierarchy-a voice of revolt and defiance, taken up and echoed in the pulpit throughout the land against the sacerdotal domination. in the vison of piers plowman is heard a voice from the wild malvern hills, the voice, it should seem, of an humble parson, a secular priest. he has passed some years in london, but his home, his heart, is among the poor rural population of central mercian england...the visonary is no disciple, no precursor of wy in his broader religious vies. the loller of peirs plowman is no lollard-he applies the name as a term of reproach for a lazy, indolent vagrant. the poet is no dreamy speculative theologian- he acquiesces, seemingly with unquestioning faith in the creed and in the usages of the church. it is in his intense, absorbing moral feeling that he is beyond his age. with him outward observances are but hollow show, mockeries, hypocrisies, without the inward power of religion. it is not so much in his keen, cutting satire on all matters of the church, as his solemn installation of Reason and Conscience as the guides of the self-directed soul, that he is breaking the yoke of sacerdotal domination. in his constant appeal to the plainest, simplest scriptural truths, as in themselves the whole of religion, he is a stern reformer. the sad, serious satirist, in his contemplation of the wold around him, the wealth of the world and the woe, sees no hope but in a new order of thins, in which, if the hierarchy shall subsist, it shall subsist in a form, with powers, in a spirit totally opposite to that which now rules mankind...the poet who could address such opinions, though wrapt up in prudent allegory, to the popular ear, to the ear of the peasantry of england; the people who could listen with delight to such strain, were far advanced toward a revolt from latin christianity. truth, true religion was not to be found with, it was not known by pope, cardinals, bishops, clergy, monks, friars. it was to be sought by man himself, by the individual man, by the poorest man, under the sole guidance of reason, conscience and the grace of God , vouchsafed directly, not through any intermediate human being or even sacrament, to the self-directing soul. if it yet respected all existing doctrines, it respected them not as resting on traditional of sacerdotal authority. there is a manifest appeal throughout, and unconscious installation of scripture alone, as the ultimate judge. the test of everything is a moral and prely religious one-its agreement with holiness and charity.'

BRADWARDINE continued...his theological views are exhibited in a systematic form in 'of  the cause of God', for the author has the consciousness of appearing like an advocate in defence of God's honour, in standing forward to oppose pelagianism, and to exalt the agency of God's free and unmerited grace in the conversion and salvation of man. he by no means conceals from himself that in so doing he is swimming against the current of prevailing opinion, for it is his own remark that 'the doctrine is held by many either that the free will of man is of itself sufficient for the obtaining od salvation; or if the confess the need of grace, that still grace may be merited by the power of the free will, so that grace no longer appears to be something undeserved by men, but something meritoriously acquired.

he remained within the roman catholic church and had no desire to place himself in antagonism to the church.

the only other influence before wy were the waldensians of italy...he was unaware of them though. s shhus and luther stand on wycliffe'

the following, taken from the preface of the 'latin harmony of the gospels' which prior clement of lanthony, in monmouthshire wrote in the second half of the twelfth century and this preface is believed to have been written by john wycliffe:

the author of the preface takes as his text the saying of Christ, 'blessed are they who hear the Word of God and keep it'; and he draws from it in particular the conclusion that 'christians ought to travail day and night upon the text of Holy Writ, especially upon the gospel in their mother tongue'. 'and yet', he remarks, 'men will not suffer it that the laity should know the gospel, and read it in their common life in humility and love.' hereupon he continues as follows;- 'vut covetous clerks of this world replay and say that laymen may soon err and therefore they should not dispute of christian faith. alas! alas! what cruelty is this, to rob a whole realm of bodily food because a few fools may be gluttons and do harm to themselves and others by their food taken immoderately. as easily may a proud worldly priest err against the gospel written in latin, as a simple layman err against the gospel written in english....what reason is this, if a child fail in his lesson at the first day, to suffer never children to come to lessons for this default? who would ever become a scholar by this process? what antichrist is this who, to the shame of christian men, dares to hinder the laity form learning this holy lesson which is so hard (strongly) commanded by God? each man is bound to do so, that he be saved, but each layman who shall be saved is a real priest made of God and each man is bound to be a very priest.

but worldly clerks cry, that holy Writ in english will set christians in debate and subjects to rebel against their sovereigns; and therefore it shall not be suffered among laymen. alas! how may they more openly slander God, the author of peace, and His holy law, fully teaching meekness, patience, and charity?...thus the false jews, namely, high priests, scribes and pharisees, cried on Christ that He made dissension among the people. o Jesus Christ! Thou that didst die to confirm Thy law and for ransom of Christian souls, stop these blasphemies of antichrist and worldly clerks and make Thy holy gospel known and kept of Thy simple brethren and increase them in faith, hope and charity and meekness and patience, to suffer death joyfully for Thee and Thy law. Amen, Jesu, for Thy mercy!'

..wycliffe had already grasped the idea, 'the Bible for the people!'

later when wycliffe was targeted in his latest years he was always in danger. he was well aware of this and stood prepared to endure still further persecution for the cause of Christ and even to end his life as a martyr. in his trialogus he says, 'we have no need to go among the heathen in order to die a martyr's death; we have only to preach persistently the law of Christ in the hearing of rich and worldly prelate (those high in the catholic church) and instantly we shall have a flourishing martyrdom, if we hold out in faith and patience'.

a portrait of the man...'it is not, however, in his intellect that wy's personality centres, but in his will and character. with him, so far as i can see, all thinking, every INTELLECTual achievement, was always a way to an end-A MEANS TO MORAL ACTION AND WORK-it never terminated in itself. and this serves to explain, apart from the fact that wy shared in many of the faults of his time, many of the weak sides of his performances as an author. there are, speaking generally, tow kinds of natures, one manifesting itself in art, the other in practical action. natures of the former class seek their satisfaction in the works which they complete-the painter in his pictures, the sculptor in the plastic forms which he produces, the musician in his harmonic creations, the poet in his poetry, and the prose writer in his prose. that every part of the work should make the wished-for impression; that the whole world make an unity complete in itself; that the form should so shape itself in harmony with the substance as to give full satisfaction to the mind and be at once lovable and fair, elevating and attractive; to these ends is directed all the effort of the artist. that is the reason why one sketch after another is made and thrown away and attempt follows upon attempt; the thinking mind, the critical eye, the improving hand, the smoothing file never rest till a perfect work stands before the artist. to these artistic natures, certainly, wy does not belong, but as certainly to the men of practical action and work. it is not beauty of form, not its harmony and the full expression of it-in a word, not the work itself as a completed performance which floats before the eye of such men; it is in action and work themselves that they seek their satisfaction-in the service of the truth, in the furthering of the good, in work for man's weal and god's glory. to this class of natures wy belonged. at no time was it his aim to give to his addresses, sermons, scientific works, popular writings, etc., an artistic shape, to polish them, to bring them to a certain perfection of form; but to join his hand with others in the fellowship of labour, to communicate to others what he knew, to serve his native country, to promote the glory of God, the kingdom of Christ, and the salvation of souls. that was what he wanted to do and to serve God therein ws his joy and satisfaction. if only what he said was understood; if his spoken word was only kindling to men's souls, whether spoken form the chair or the pulpit; if his written word was only effective, and his action was only followed by any good fruit, then it troubled him little that his style was though to be without finish or without beauty, or perhaps even wearisome; in the end he neither knew nor cared how it stood with his productions in these latter respects.

it is true that the repetitions which wy allowed himself go far beyond the permissible limit...but in compensation for these defects, wy always communicates himself as he is, his whole personality, undissembled, tue and full. as a preacher, as well as a writer, he is always the whole man. scarcely any one has stamped his own personality upon his writings in a higher degree or has carried more of morality into his action than wy. wherein, then, consists the peculiarity of his personality?

wy was not a man a feeling, but a man of intellect. luther was a genial soul. on one occasion he begs his readers to take his words, whoever mocking and biting they may be, 'as spoken form a heart which could not do otherwise than break with its great sorrow'. wy never said such a thing of himself. he is a man in whom the intellect predominates-pure, clear, sharp, penetrating. with wy it is as if one felt the sharp, fresh, cool breath of the morning air before sunrise; while in luther we feel something of the kindly warmth of the morning sun himself. it was only possible to a predominantly intellectual nature to lay so great stress as wy did upon the demonstration of the christian verities. even in the fathers of the church he puts a specially high value upon the philosophical proofs which they allege in support of the doctrines of the christian faith. manifestly it is not merely a result of education and of the scholastic tone of his age, but in no small degree the outcome of his own individuality, that the path in which he moves with so strong a preference is that of speculation and even of dialectical demonstration.

in wy, along with the intellectual element thus decidedly expressed, there is harmoniously combined a powerful will, equally potent in independent action and energetic in opposition-a firm and tenacious, a many, yea, a heroic will. it is impossible to read wy's writings with an unprejudiced and susceptible mind, without being laid hold of by the strong manhood of mind which everywhere reveals itself. there is a force and fullness of character in his feeling and language which makes an overmastering impression, and keeps the mind enchained. wy sets forth his convictions, it is true, in a learned manner, with dialectical illustration and scholastic (medieval philosophical) argumentativeness. and yet one sees that it is by no means a one-sided intellectual interest alone which moves him. his conviction has unmistakably a moral source. he confesses openly himself that the conviction of the truth is reached much more in a moral way than by pure intellect and science.

it is certain that he arrived at his own convictions more in a moral than a merely intellectual way; and hence his utterances have equally the stamp of decisive thinking and of energetic moral earnestness. we recognise everywhere the moral pathos, the holy earnestness which wells up from the conscience and the depths of the soul. and hence the concentrated moral force which he always throws into the scale. whether he is compelled to defend himself against the imputation of petty by-ends and low-minded feeling, or whether he is speaking to the consciences of those who give their whole study  to human traditions instead of god's word, or whether he takes occasion to address moral warnings to young men, he invariably delivers his pithy words with a foulness of moral earnestness and with an arresting force. from the intensity with which he throws his whole soul into his subject springs also the warmth of feeling with which wy at one time repudiates that which he is opposing and at other times rejoices in some conquest which he has won. not rarely he manifests a moral indignation and horror in the very midst of a learned investigation, where one is not at all prepared for such an outburst of flaming feeling. at other times, in the very middle of a disputation with opponents, he breaks out into joyful thanksgiving and praise to God that he has been set free from the sophisms by which they are still held fast. the contrast between trains of scholastic reasoning and such sudden outpourings of feeling is surprising and arresting in a high degree; and this inner fire of inspiration and heart-fervour, long hidden beneath the surface and only now and then darting forth its tongues of flame, well explains and excuses many literary faults. for whence come these frequent outbursts?  and wither do they tend? in very many cases wy enters into regions of thought into which he is drawn by his heart and the innermost feeling of his soul. often in such episodical passages have i come upon the most elevating outpourings of his moral pathos-the most precious utterances of a healthy piety. if we follow him in such places, we find no reason to regret it. the reader accompanies the author with growing veneration and love; and at the close he will not only be fain to forgive him for a digression, but in spirit he warmly presses his hand with elevated feeling and a thankful heart. what seemed a literary fault proves, upon an unprejudiced and deeper view, to be a moral excellence.

the intense feeling and warmth of the man manifests itself ever and anon in the personal apostrophes (a digression in the form of address to a person not present) which he addresses to an opponent, as well as in the manner in which he very often speaks of himself in quite a personal way. on all occasions, indeed, he comes forward with entire straightforwardness and unreserved sincerity; never in any way concealing the changes of opinion through which he has, it may be, passed; openly confessing the when he has previously done homage to an error; declaring frankly what are his aims and praying that by the help and in the fear of God he may be steadfast to the end. as a preacher, in particular, wy at all times proves himself a man of perfect integrity and at every stage of his inner development reflects it faithfully as in a mirror. at all times, whatever was highest and best in the convictions at which he had arrived he truthfully published from the pulpit; and from this perfect integrity and honour it comes to pass that his sermons furnish a standard for the state of his knowledge and manner of thinking at every stage of his career.

the personality of wy includes also a rich vein of wit and humour. to these he often allows a diverting play of cheerful banter, as when, in speaking of the practice of taking money in the confessional, as though penitence could prove itself to be genuine in that way, he indulges in the word-play (in latin)...or when, in his investigations of church property, he mentions, on the basis of an old legend, that when the apostle paul was on his way to jerusalem with the money which he had collected for the church there, his road was beset with robbers, whereeas at all other times, he added, the apostle travelled in perfect safety because (in latin).even in the midst of serious discussions and in polemical pieces, he loves now and then to strike a more cheerful note. on one occasion he says:- 'fortune has no such kind intentions for me as that i should be in a position to bring forward any proof on matters of church property which could have any weight in the eyes of the doctor (a learned opponent with whom wy was at the time engaged). to every proof which i have produced, his reply  has commonly been, that it is defective both in substance and form. but verily that is not the wy to untie knots, for so might a magpie contradict all and every proof. i proposed the question whether the king of england is entitled to deprive the clergy who are his subjects of the temporalities, when the transgress. in reply, hellily leaves the question in this form unanswered and introduces quite a different subject-like the woman, who, when asked, 'how far is it to lincoln?' gave for answer-'a bag full of plums'. like hers is his answer: 'the king cannot take away from his clergy any of their temporalities, ie. he cannot strip them of their property by an exercise of arbitrary power'.

when certain theologians of his day by their scholastic sophistry almost made sport of the bible, by first maintaining that, in any particulars, its language is impossible and offensive, ie. when taken according to the letter, or in the carnal verbal sense; and then, professing the deepest reverence for the scriptures, pretended to redeem their honour by a different translation,-wy's opinion of them was, that they come in sheep's clothing, but bite with fox's teeth, and thrust out, to boot, an otter's tail. it is just what the fox does when he makes peace with the poultry and gets into the hen-roost. he is no sooner in than he falls to work and makes good use of his teeth. when they pretend that the scriptures cannot have the apparent sense, but only the orthodox sense which they put forward, is it not, in fact, says wy, as unworthy a proceeding as to bring a false accusation against a men, though it is acknowledged immediately after that he has been lied  against, or to break a man's head, though directly afterwards a healing plaster is handed to him?

in such cases, indeed, his wit and humour easily pass over into mockery and sarcasm; and hence an objection sometimes made by his opponents that he had recourse to satire as a controversial weapon. in one place i find him defending himself against the accusation of having allowed himself to use irony against an opponent. he says , 'if He who sitteth in the heavens laughs at them (psalm 12.4), so also may all men who stand on God's side bring that school of theologians to shame with raillery, with reproaches, or with proofs, as God had given them severally the ability. elijah, too, poured out bitter mockery and scorn upon the priests of baal (I kings 18.27), and Christ Himself severely reproached the pharisees in rough and disdainful words (matthew 22). when any one, from a motive of love to his neighbour, breaks out into words of reproach and scorn, in order to defend God's honour and to preserve the church from errors, such a man, if uninfluenced by revenge and ambition, does a work worthy of praise'.

although the personality of wy comes out in his writings thus strongly, this by no means implies that he had any wish or design to put himself forward. on the contrary, he desires to place in the foreground One far higher than himself, the Lord Christ. his wish is to prepare the way for Him-as once did john the baptist-his design is to promote 's glory and Christ's cause. in face of a reproach which one of his opponents had cast at him, that he set forth unusual views from a motive of ambition or of hostile feeling, he gives this solemn assurance in a passage already mentioned:-'let God be my witness, that before everything i strive for God's glory and the good of the church, from reverence of holy scripture, and adherence to the law of Christ'. he has the consciousness, in all humility and in joyful confidence, that it is the cause of God and of the cross and gospel of Chris, for which he fights and labours. and just because it is not with his own petty honour but with the honour of god that he has to do, he does not even hesitate in making some confessions from which otherwise of concern for his own personal credit would have held him back, ie. 'i confess that in my own case i have often, from a motive of vain ambition, departed from the doctrine  of scripture both in my reasonings and my replies, while my aim was to attain the show of fame among the people, and at the same time to strip off the pretensions of ambitious sophists;. this consciousness that he was contending not for himself, but for God's honour and Christ's cause, was also the source of the joyful courage and the confident hope of final victory which filled his breast even in the menacing prospect of persecution; and, perhaps, even of an approaching death-blow to himself and his fellow-combatants. he grew holy himself with the holy aims which he pursued; his personal character was exalted by the cause which he served ; and THE CAUSE WHICH HE SERVED WAS NEVER THE TRUTH AS MERE KNOWLEDGE, BUT THE TRUTH AS A POWER UNTO GODLINESS. he has always and everywhere in view the moral kernel, 'the fruits'; not the leafage, but THE FRUIT, IS EVERYTHING IN HIS REGARD. it was from glowing zeal for the cause of God, sincere love to the souls of men, upright conscientiousness before God, and heartfelt longing for the reformation of the church of Christ, that he put forth all his energetic and indefatigable labours for the restoration of the church to her original purity and freedom, in which she had flourished in the primitive christian age.