Forerunners of Reformation

John Wycliffe, John Hus could be called the forerunners or the morning stars of the Protestant Reformation, because their main interest was the reform of theology of the church, and moral reform took the second place. 

John Wycliffe: 

John Wycliffe was born between 1320 and 1330, and was famous as the first scholar and leading man of Oxford. He was popular with the poor where he was a priest in Lutterworth. Thus, the national spirit of the England prepared the way for the teaching and the work of Wycliffe. By the time he attacked the papacy in 1375, England had already resisted the pope for three quarters of a century through its kings and parliaments, even by the bishops of England.

However, his first blow at the church was a denial of the pope’s right to collect tribute from England. Because of Schism he now denounced the papacy and entire clerical organization, maintaining that there should not be any distinctions of rank among the clergy. Further, he denied the central doctrine of medieval religion, the doctrine of transubstantiation. He also attacked the veneration of saints and relics, pilgrimages to shrines, and indulgences, denied the supremacy of the pope over the scripture and the councils, emphasized personal piety, the priesthood of all believers, and stressed the importance of preaching based on scripture. He strongly advocated that the scriptures should be made available to all. Therefore, in 1382, He and his follower made the first translation of English Bible known as the Wycliffe Bible. He formed his order of ‘poor priest’, nicknamed Lollards, who went all over the England distributed portions of the Bible and his pamphlets. This increased enormously and was a great power for the spread of evangelical religion. Though they were persecuted in the fiftieth century still they continued their work until the time of the reformation.

John Hus: 

John Hus was born between 1371 and 1373. He was a very influential lecturer in the University of Prague. He was also a priest, and was appointed preacher in Prague, where he became a national spokesman in politics as well as in religion. He knew his people, and was trusted by them for the purity of his character. He had a splendid eloquence, and thus became a powerful national leader.

John Hus lived during the great schism days. Europe during this time was divided between two or three rival popes who were bitterly enmity with one another. It was the council of Constance, which brought the schism to an end or healed the schism. And it was this council that sent Hus to the stake. Hus confess himself as the disciple of Wycliffe, but doctrinally Hus was more conservation than Wycliffe. However, Hus eagerly received Wycliffe’s ideas, and began to teach. As a result, he was excommunicated by Pope John XXII in 1412. He then appealed to General Council, which met in Constance in 1414, and there He was condemned for following the teaching of Wycliffe and teaching and preaching against Roman Catholic Church. Thus, he was burned at the stake in 1415, thus he became the martyr, and his martyrdom produces the spirit of revolt against Roman Church in Europe.