For history sake.
Thanks for posting these, Harley. Now I need to find time to actually read them. ;-)
"This Bible is for the government of the people, by the people and for the people." -- John Wycliffe
Amazing that most of us don't know the most famous line in Lincoln's Gettysburg Address was actually swiped from John Wycliffe.
"...the restoration of the church is the work of God, and no more depends on the hopes and opinions of men, than the resurrection of the dead, or any other miracle of that description. Here, therefore, we are not to wait for facility of action, either from the will of men, or the temper of the times, but must rush forward through the midst of despair. It is the will of our Master that his gospel be preached. Let us obey his command, and follow whithersoever he calls. What the success will be it is not ours to inquire. Our only duty is to wish for what is best, and beseech it of the Lord in prayer; to strive with all zeal, solicitude, and diligence, to bring about the desired result, and, at the same time, to submit with patience to whatever that result may be." -- John Calvin
"Christian men and women, old and young, should study well in the New Testament, for it is of full authority, and open to understanding by simple men, as to the points that are most needful to salvation. Each part of Scripture, both open and dark, teaches meekness and charity; and therefore he that keeps meekness and charity has the true understanding and perfection of all Scripture. Therefore, no simple man of wit should be afraid to study in the text of Scripture. And no cleric should be proud of the true understanding of Scripture, because understanding of Scripture without charity that keeps God's commandments, makes a man deeper damned... and pride and covetousness of clerics is the cause of [the Church's] blindness and heresy, and deprives them of the true understanding of Scripture." -- John Wycliffe (1384)
Today's pope might consider that Wycliffe was on the same journey as him and that Wycliffe surely possessed the necessary "spark" to reach communion with Christ - after all, Wycliffe was really, really sincere in his search for the transcendent.