1959. Some English History. The Southern Presbyterian Journal. XVIII (17), 9–10. Aug 26.
Some English History
By Gordon H. Clark
Recently four short articles were published in this Journal relating
to the progress of the Gospel in France before the Reformation. Now there will be
a few articles on England.
How the Gospel first came to Britain is shrouded in the mists
of tradition. There is some evidence that it came from the East at an extremely
early date. However, from the year 600 on, the chinch of Rome tried to control ecclesiastical
affairs in Britain.
The history of the Papacy is to a large extent a series of political
intrigues, of embroilments between popes and emperors, of encroachments on national
liberties, of assassinations, sieges, and battles for the purpose of establishing
a spiritual despotism over the hearts and consciences of men.
For example, the pope Gregory VII excommunicated Henry IV, emperor
of Germany, released his subjects from their oath of allegiance, and forced him
to stand in the snow as a penitent before restoring the Empire to him on stringent
terms. In the time of Innocent III, King John of England resigned title to England
and Ireland in favor of the Pope, acknowledged himself a vassal of Rome, and paid
a fine of one thousand marks. In the presence of the chief barons John took the
crown from his head, kneeled before the papal legate, Pandulf, and gave him the
crown. Pandulf kept the crown five humiliating days before restoring it to the now
subjugated vassal.
The first definite attempt to reform religion in England was
made during the reign of Edward III, about 1350. Darkness covered the nation and
gross darkness the people. The name of Christ lingered on, but the spirit of power
of his religion were extinct. Outward formality took the place of spiritual devotion.
Hypocrisy and superstition became the substitutes for holiness and faith. The regulation
of vestures and ceremonies, the abstaining from meats, pilgrimages and self-inflicted
penances superseded judgment, mercy, and faith. Human nature, eluding the barriers
appointed by heaven, lapsed into the' creed and conduct of the Pharisees and Sadducees
of old.
This and worse was the state of religion when John Wickliffe,
the morning star of the Reformation, arose to shed abroad the light of obscured
truth. He was a lecturer on theology at Oxford. Being convinced of some items of
Scriptural truth, he published his opinions, and as they differed from those of
the Romish religion, Pope Gregory XI condemned some of his tenets, commanded the
Archbishop of Canter- bury to force Wickliffe to recant, and in case he refused,
to summon him to Rome.
The Archbishop was unable to follow the Pope's instructions because
Wickliffe had won the ear of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. After an insurrection
by the people against the Duke had been quieted, with some damage to the Duke's
palace, the Archbishop heard Wickliffe explain his views, but in view of the Duke's
attitude, the Archbishop did not dare to use further force.
The position of Rome was weakened at this time by the fact that
two men claimed to be Pope, and each excommunicated the other. The division in the
Papacy lasted for thirty nine years, and it caused even the common people to stop
and consider the papal claims. In such a situation Wickliffe could receive a better
hearing.
Wickliffe translated the Bible into English, wrote several treatises
that angered the priests, and called the people from their ignorance and immorality,
their saints and images, to the pure Word of God. In this Wickliffe was rather successful.
Despite some civil disturbances, and notwithstanding the at- tempts of the Archbishop
to silence him, Wickliffe spread his Biblical teachings.
The Vice Chancellor of Oxford threatened Wickliffe with excommunication
and imprisonment, and finally forced him out of Oxford. But Wickliffe escaped actual
persecution and died peacefully on Dec. 31, 1384.
After his death the next Archbishop of Canterbury condemned his
doctrines, and in 1413 Pope John XXIII ordered his treatises to be burnt. The principal
and most offensive of Wickliffe's doctrines were the following:
The substance of material bread and the substance of material
wine remain in the sacrament of the altar
— Christ Himself is not Himself identically and really in His proper corporeal presence
in the sacrament; a priest or bishop in mortal sin cannot ordain nor consecrate
nor baptize; it cannot be proved from the Gospel that Christ instituted the mass;
the Church of Rome is the synagogue of Satan; it is lawful for a priest or a deacon
to preach the Word of God without the authority of the Rome court; the election
of the Pope by the cardinals is an invention of the devil.
After these articles were condemned, Wickliffe was declared to
be, or better to have been, an obstinate heretic; his bones were dug up and burned;
and his ashes scattered on the river Swift.
Wickliffe left a number of disciples, called Lollards. About
the year 1413 the clergy persuaded the King that the Lollards were plotting an insurrection
under the leadership of Sir John Oldcastle, or as he was also called, Lord Cobham.
This intelligent gentleman had read the works of Wickliffe and had been persuaded
of their truth. He circulated the doctrines and supported Lollard preachers. Henry,
at the instigation of the priests, organized a persecution on the ground of conspiracy
against the throne. A rumor was spread that Lord Cobham had collected 20,000 men
at St. Giles-in-the-Fields. The King went there at midnight and found some eighty
persons assembled for worship. Some of these were taken prisoners, some were slaughtered
on the spot. Lord Cobham was caught and thrown into the Tower. He managed to escape.
But some of his followers, under severe tortures, confessed to conspiracy and accused
Cobham of being the ringleader.
Four years later Sir John Oldcastle was caught again. He was
suspended to a gallows by chains and was roasted to death by a slow fire.
Not satisfied with his death, the priests persuaded the Parliament
to forbid the reading of the Scriptures in English upon pain of death and confiscation
of property. If any relapsed after being pardoned, they should be both hanged and
burned. These enactments were enforced; some Lollards were burned to death, some
escaped from the country, and others abjured rather than suffer the cruel tortures
that the Papists had devised.
The situation grew worse. Six men and women were burned to death
at Coventry for teaching their children the Apostles Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and
the Ten Commandments. The bishops, steeped in ignorance, so ignorant that they often
could not preach any kind of sermon, rarely visited their dioceses, except to riot
at high festivals; the abbots and monks were notorious for their profligacy; and
the inferior clergy were despised and hated for their vices and crimes. A thoroughgoing
reformation was needed. The invention of printing, about 1450, helped to revive
learning and so emphasized the ignorance of the clergy. Soon the doctrines of Luther
began to mingle with the remnants of the Lollard preaching. About this time a new
translation of the New Testament by Tyndal began to be circulated. The New Testament
enraged the Papists as they saw the effects that the pure Gospel produced. Soon
Henry VIII would come into conflict with Rome, and though it was because of a very
different reason, he produced the conditions in which the Reformation could progress.
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