Consider,
brethren, how in that crowd which was hindering them from crying out,
even there they who cried out were made whole.
WYCLIF
CHRIST'S REAL BODY NOT IN THE EUCHARIST
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
John Wyclif, eminent as scholar, preacher, and translator, was born in
1324 in Spresswel, near Richmond, Yorkshire, England. Known as the
"Morning Star of the Reformation" he was a vigorous and argumentative
speaker, exemplifying his own definition of preaching as something which
should be "apt, apparent, full of true feeling, fearless in rebuking
sins, and so addrest to the heart as to enlighten the spirit and subdue
the will." On these lines he organized a band of Bible preachers who
worked largely among the common people.
Much of Wyclif's popularity was due to his clear and simple style. While
not a great orator, he introduced a popular method of preaching that was
widely copied. He died at Lutterworth in 1384. The Church considered him
a heretic, for he taught the right of the individual to form his own
opinions after personal study of the Scriptures. He was the first
Englishman to translate the Bible systematically into his native
Anglo-Saxon.
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