LANDMARK BAPTIST COLLEGE

THE WORD BECAME WYCLIFFE'S MIDDLE ENGLISH

A PROJECT SUBMITTED TO

DR. PHIL STRINGER

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF

THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE COURSE

BI-301

INSPIRATION OF SCRIPTURE II

BY

EDWARD G. RICE

9511 W. WANETA LAKE ROAD

HAMMONDSPORT NY 14840

HAINES CITY, FLORIDA

DECEMBER 2007

THE WORD BECAME WYCLIFFE'S MIDDLE ENGLISH

John Wycliffe's English translation of the Scriptures was the commencement of God's presence in the English world and now it should have a place in you living room.

THE WORD BECAME WYCLIFFE'S MIDDLE ENGLISH

John Wycliffe's English translation of the Scriptures was the commencement of God's presence in the English world and it should now have a place on your book shelf. Wycliffe (1324-1384) was historically the first to translate the Holy Scriptures into the English language. Thus he is called 'The Father of the English Bible'. In this day anyone with a computer could read Wycliffe's English Bible. Few have. Christians should. Weigh the value of such an experience with the knowledge of the cost in effort and persecution that Wycliffe paid. “ And alle men that wolen lyue feithfuli in Crist Jhesu, schulen suffre persecucioun.” (2Tim 3:12 Wycliffe Bible) Weigh the greater blessing he provided to dying saints who never before got to read of David's journey through the valley of the shadow of death. “ For whi thouy Y schal go in the myddis of schadewe of deeth; Y schal not drede yuels, for thou art with me. Thi yerde and thi staf; tho han coumfortid me.” (Psalm 22:4 Wycliffe Bible) Weigh the great blow to Satan, the opposer of God, that this broken Middle English Bible delivered. “ Be ye sobre, and wake ye, for youre aduersarie, the deuel, as a rorynge lioun goith aboute, sechinge whom he schal deuoure.” (1Pet 5:8 Wycliffe Bible) The book most hated by the Roman Catholic Church and most loved by the 14^th century saints of the Church that Jesus built, is this first English translation of the Holy Bible. In English, it also shows the condition of the Latin Vulgate in the 14^th century, even emphasizing it's accuracies over today's Unitarian/Roman Catholic/Modernist Critical Greek text, and it shows the Latin Vulgate corruptions from the continual tampering of the Roman Catholic scribes. It is easily available for examination in your study from the web site: http://wesley.nnu.edu/biblical_studies/wycliffe. Knowing the impact of Wycliffe's Bible on saints and Satan it is a valuable heritage.

The Cost of Translating

Those influenced by the Wycliffe Bible in English soon took up the cause of preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ and were tagged by their opponents as "Bible men." Wycliffe's Bible, by reason of its clarity, beauty, and strength, influenced both the English language and the English people. This influence is aptly described in an article on the antique Bible web site, GreatSite.com:

“Wycliffe aimed to do away with the existing hierarchy and replace it with the "poor priests" who lived in poverty, were bound by no vows, had received no formal consecration, and preached the Gospel to the people. These itinerant preachers spread the teachings of Wycliffe. Two by two they went, barefoot, wearing long dark-red robes and carrying a staff in the hand, the latter having symbolic reference to their pastoral calling, and passed from place to place preaching the sovereignty of God. The bull of Gregory XI impressed upon them the name of Lollards, intended as an opprobrious epithet, but it became a name of honour. Even in Wycliffe's time the "Lollards" had reached wide circles in England and preached "God's law, without which no one could be justified.¹"

It is always interesting to see what The Catholic Encyclopedia says about the martyrs that it hated, tortured and killed. Of Wycliffe, they confound the search by using a derivative name spelling, but their bias history says of him:

“Thus by 1380 Wyclif had set himself in open opposition to the property and government of the Church, he had attacked the pope in most unmeasured terms, he had begun to treat the Bible as the chief and almost the only test of orthodoxy, and to lay more and more stress on preaching. Yet he would have protested against an accusation of heresy. Great freedom was allowed to speculation in the schools, and there was much uncertainty about clerical property. Even the exclusive use of Scripture as a standard of faith was comprehensible at a time when the allegiance of Christendom was being claimed by two popes. It must be added that Wyclif frequently inserted qualifying or explanatory clauses in his propositions, and that, in form at least, he would declare his readiness to submit his opinions to the judgment of the Church. It seems to have been a time of much uncertainty in matters of faith, and the Lollard movement in its earlier stages is remarkable for a readiness of recantation. Wyclif's heretical position became,

however, much more pronounced when he denied the doctrine of Transubstantiation. His own position is not quite clear or consistent, but it seems to approach the Lutheran "consubstantiation", for he applied to the Blessed Eucharist his metaphysical principle that annihilation is impossible. To attack so fundamental a doctrine tended to define the position of Wyclif and his followers. Henceforth they tend to become a people apart.²”

The Roman Catholics spoke forthrightly about Wycliffe's “heretical position” but it was not Wycliffe's positions that inflamed their hatred. It was Wycliffe's English Bible translation that was their main irritant. The Black Death killed 50 million in England and Europe between 1351 and1358.³ Coming out of that there was a peasant revolt against the money mongering, financially depleted Roman Catholics by 1380. Wycliffe was very outspoken against the monetary pursuits of Catholicism but never pursued violent means against them. Instead, Wycliffe taught the power of the written word of God to deliver the peasants from their enslaving Catholic priest craft. Wycliffe declared the authority of Scripture over that of the Church. They hated this exposure, his English Bible translation, and what he was doing to their coffers. He said of the Scriptures:

"The authority of the Holy Scriptures infinitely surpasses any writing, how authentic soever it may appear, because the authority of Jesus Christ is infinitely above that of all mankind."

"The authority of the Scriptures is independent on any other authority, and is preferable to every other writing, but especially to the books of the Church of Rome.⁴"

In the 1360s Wycliffe, a pupil, a graduate, a master, a doctor, and a professor in Oxford University, said "Friars draw children from Christ’s religion into their private Order by hypocrisy, lies and stealing.⁵” In the years following his translation of the Bible, Wycliffe became more and more outspoken against Roman Catholicism. Eventually writing "It is supposed, and with much probability, that the Roman pontiff is the great Antichrist.⁶"

One must consider that those men who went through great Roman persecutions in order to provide an English Bible were of one general mind about the matter. Evangelist Bill Bradley captures well that mindset when considering those who penned their thoughts in the margins of the Geneva Bible. He says of them:

“These and other thoughts from the hearts of these great Christian men ... show us that they not only found hope for the future in the Word of God, but they also found answers for their present predicament in the sacred Scriptures. They saw in the Bible that what the church f God was experiencing, the exile, the imprisonment, the torture, the burnings, the executions, the bloodshed at the hands of the clergy and the established religion of their day, was not the temporary triumph of Satan, nor the judgment hand of God upon a rebellious and back slidden people, but the will of God, the trying and proving of God's people, allowed to happen to them by the Sovereign hand and Providence of God, and intended to strengthen their faith and resolve, and draw them into a closer, more intimate relationship with their Maker and Master.⁷”

In 1382, in Blackfriars London, amidst falling castle walls and pinnacles of an earthquake, 47 bishops and monks condemned Wycliffe for 10 heresies and 16 errors. Wycliffe called it the “Earthquake Counsel under the judgment of God.” He died two years later seeing his books banned and burned by the Roman Catholic Church. It is amazing that 150 copies of his English Bible translation, and many of his words and works survived the scathing hatred of Roman Catholicism. Wycliffe's English Bible caused such a widespread Bible belief, and his 'Bible Men' preached with such fervency from England to Bohemia, that 41 years after his death the Roman Catholic Pope had his bones exhumed and burnt with his Bibles. It makes the reading of his Middle English Bible an act of audacity reminding one of the ugly history and hatred of Roman Catholicism. You can get a copy of his hated Bible at http://wesley.nnu.edu

The Holy Bible, From The Latin to Middle English

The Middle English of John Wycliffe could be called Medieval English as it was the English of the period of 1100-1500.⁸ Middle English is still present and popular in America because of literary works like “The Canterbury tales” by Geoffrey Chaucer, 1400 AD, and “The vision of Piers Plowman” by William Langland, 1330?-1400?⁹ This was the English used between “the Norman invasion of 1066 and the mid-to-late 15th century, when the Chancery Standard, a form of London-based English, began to become widespread. .... The language of England as spoken after this time, up to 1650, is known as Early Modern English.¹⁰”

The shaping of the polyglot English language cannot be fully appreciated without consideration of the rich history of the Celtic Europeans.

“At its height in 300 B.C. the Celtic realm extended all the way across Europe from todays countries of Romania and Hungry into Britain and Ireland and from Belgium south into Portugal and Spain. Its people introduced the use of iron technology to the lands north of the Alps – the vast territories called 'Celtica' by the ancient Greeks.¹¹”

Historian Kevin Duffy shows the effect that these Celts had on language development:

“The Romans introduced Latin to France's Celts, who shaped it into French. The Normans, assisted by French Celts, invaded and assumed control of Saxon England in 1066 A.D. Norman French, with its roots in a Romanized, Celtic land, enriched the English tongue and helped make it the worlds major language.”¹²

The English language during this period was a very dynamically expanding polyglot. It did not really solidify until it was grounded with a Biblical English of the 1611 authorized version of the English Bible. The dynamics of the early English language can be further seen in this article on its history:

“Middle English (1100-1500): In 1066 William the Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy (part of modern France), invaded and conquered England. The new conquerors (called the Normans) brought with them a kind of French, which became the language of the Royal Court, and the ruling and business classes. For a period there was a kind of linguistic class division, where the lower classes spoke English and the upper classes spoke French. In the 14th century English became dominant in Britain again, but with many French words added. This language is called Middle English. It was the language of the great poet Chaucer (c1340-1400), but it would still be difficult for native English speakers to understand today.¹³”

It is likely called Middle English because it fell between Old English (450-1100 AD) and Early Modern English (1500-1800) but as Wycliffe uses it for expressing Scripture truths it may there be called the middle of Middle English. There are always three dynamic levels of diversity in a language, an upper, middle and lower stratum. Middle English had this stratum in dialect as well. In this stratum of language the 'middle' ground is the common language of the average and is the most stable of the three. This division is described well by Dr. Ian Paisley as he establishes the preeminent language used for the 1611 King James Authorized Version of the Bible:

“Every living language is communicated in three levels of speech. First, there is the level of intelligentsia – the cleverest scientists, the clearest thinkers and most careful writers. We would call that the upper level. This level is remote in many ways from the habitual speech of common life.

“Second, there is the level of the least educated of our people. Their speech is rough, often incorrect grammatically, well flavoured with what is called 'slang'. It is uncouth and unkind, the language of the backstreet corner, the speech of the back street gutter snipes and the gutter press. We would call that the lowest level. Between the upper level of the first and the lowest level of the second there is a great gulf fixed. What is food and drink to one is poison to the other and what is poison to the one is food and drink to the other.

“There is, however, another level. It is the language of the vast majority of the populace. It is the language of the church, the school, the study, the home, the parlour, the shop, the business and the press.

“We would call that the middle level. It has little to do with the peculiarities and distintiveness of the other two levels. It is not a slave to where a man lives his life and does his business. What is important, however, is that those of the other two can both meet here.¹⁴”

Wycliffe's Bible translation was this middle of Middle English and it can be readily deciphered today, especially when examining familiar Scripture portions. “For God louede so the world, that he yaf his `oon bigetun sone, that ech man that bileueth in him perische not, but haue euerlastynge lijf. For God sente not his sone in to the world, that he iuge the world, but that the world be saued bi him.

He that bileueth in hym, is not demed; but he that bileueth not, is now demed, for he bileueth not in the name of the `oon bigetun sone of God.” (John 3:16-18 Wycliffe Bible) In fact, it is so familiar you can see Tyndale's wordings 100 years later, from which you see the Authorized Version wordings 100 years later again. It is so easy and interesting reading that in the remaining of this paper the Roman Catholic corruptions and then the Gnostic and Unitarian corruptions of Westcott and Hort's Critical Greek text shall be examined from Wycliffe's Middle English translation of the Holy Bible.

Wycliffe's Bible Exposes Catholic Corruptions

It is of interest that Wycliffe did not translate from the original Greek, and Hebrew Scriptures, but from the Catholic Latin Vulgate of Jerome. The very first English translation of the Bible had it's profound and Godly effect on English speaking people despite the fact that it was translated from the corrupted Roman Catholic Latin version. In his book “Annals of the English Bible”, Anderson captures this wonder well:

"It was the Latin Bible, therefore, long buried in cloisters, or covered with the dust of ages, which must now be brought forth to view. Confessedly imperfect, it was of importance first to prove that it had all along contained enough for mortal man to know, in order to his eternal salvation; and once translated into any native tongue, not only will the language touch the heart, but the people at last know what that mysterious book was, from which they had been debarred, so wickedly and so long. Although, therefore, the nation was yet an hundred and fifty years distant from the English Bible, properly so called, the present should be regarded as the first preliminary step. An all-disposing foresight, far above that of any human agent, is now distinctly visible in drawing first upon that very language which had been employed for ages as the instrument of mental bondage. It shall now be made to contribute to the emancipation of the human mind¹⁵" (Anderson, I, p. xl).

The Catholic corruptions in the Latin Vulgate were prevalent but it is amazing that the source contained so many profound truths that God loved and Catholicism hated. Dr. Gaussen puts it well in one profound sentence:

“When one thinks that the Bible has been copied during thirty centuries, as no book of man has ever been, or ever will be; that it was subjected to all the catastrophes and all the captivities of Israel; that it was transported seventy years to Babylon; that it has seen itself so often persecuted, or forgotten, or interdicted, or burnt, from the days of the Philistines to those of the Seleucidæ; -when one thinks that, since the time of Jesus Christ, it has had to traverse the first three centuries of the imperial persecutions, when

persons found in possession of the holy books were thrown to the wild beasts; next the 7th, 8th, and 9th centuries, when false hooks, false legends, and false decretals, were everywhere multiplied; the 10th century, when so few could read, even among princes; the 12th, 13th, and 14th centuries, when the use of the Scriptures in the vulgar tongue was punished with death, and when the books of the ancient fathers were mutilated, when so many ancient traditions were garbled and falsified, even to the very acts of the emperors, and to those of the councils; - then we can perceive how necessary it was that the providence of God should have always put forth its mighty power, in order that, on the one hand, the Church of thee Jews should give us, in its integrity, that Word which records its revolts, which predicts its ruin, which describes Jesus Christ; and, on the other, that the Christian Churches (the most powerful of which, and the Roman sect in particular, interdicted the people from reading the sacred books, and substituted in so many ways the traditions of the middle ages for the Word of God) should nevertheless transmit to us, in all their purity, those Scriptures, which condemn all their traditions, their images, their dead languages, their absolution; their celibacy; which say, that Rome would be the seat of a terrible apostasy, where “the Man of Sin would be seen sitting as God in the temple of God, waging war on the saints, forbidding to marry, and to use meats which Gods hand created;” which say of images, “Thou shalt not bow down to them” - of unknown tongues, “Thou shalt not use them” - of the cup, “Drink ye all of it” - of the Virgin, “Woman, what have I to do with thee?” - and of marriage, “It is honourable in all.¹⁶”

It is clear that corruptions were present in the source text, and these corruptions are not taken lightly. The amazing truth to unfold here is that Roman Catholicism was holding enough of God's Scriptures to initiate the overthrow of all they were teaching. This Bible still taught that Jesus is the only mediator, “For o God and a mediatour is of God and of men, a man Crist Jhesus,” (1Tim 2:5 Wycliffe Bible); that you should not bow to Catholic images, “ Y am youre Lord God; ye schulen not make to you an ydol, and a grauun ymage, nether ye schulen reise titlis, nether ye schulen sette a noble stoon in youre lond, that ye worschipe it; for Y am youre Lord God.” (Lev 26:1 Wycliffe Bible); that Mary did have other children, “Whether this is not a carpenter, the sone of Marie, the brother of James and of Joseph and of Judas and of Symount? whether hise sistris ben not here with vs? And thei weren sclaundrid in hym.” (Mark 6:3 Wycliffe Bible); and that you should have no pope here on earth, “And nyle ye clepe to you a fadir on erthe, for oon is your fadir, that is in heuenes.” (Matt 23:9 Wycliffe Bible). Although it was Catholic corrupted it had enough Scripture to reach people with truth in a powerful way. In his book called “The English Bible” John Eadie notes that:

"Any attempt to translate from a Greek original at that period, had it been practicable, might have led to confusion and misunderstanding; for ignorance would have branded such a book as heretical and misleading, if it was found to differ in any way from the ecclesiastical text. The common people could not have appreciated these variations, and such prejudices would have been created against the new version as the priesthood could easily foster and spread. Yet the translation of the Latin Scriptures had been a first step to something higher, an intermediate gift to the nation. The effect had been like the first touch of the Blessed Hand upon its vision—‘it saw men as trees walking;’ and when at length the second touch passed over it, it looked up, and then it ‘saw every man clearly’¹⁷" (Eadie, I, p. 101).

So the Latin Bible was translated to Middle English in 1380 giving the English speaking world their first look at Scripture in their own tongue. It had a profound effect though it was a translation of the Roman Catholic Latin Vulgate. Two major corruptions involved the substitution of 'penance' for 'repentance' and the substitution of a 'priesthood' for a 'presbyter.' The tables below amply display these two corruptions from the Latin Vulgate in Wycliffe's Bible translation:

Wycliffe's Translation and Corrupted Repentance

The sacramental system of Catholicism depends extensively on penance to the detriment of repentance. If one could repent and be saved from sin without works, as the Bible says, the whole Roman sacramental system would be in danger of collapse, ... it is, ... it needs be. This corruption of the text occurred when Jerome translated the Scripture into the Latin, or, in the vast changes made to his translation work upon his death. Penance promoted priest craft. With only two exceptions here in 31 verses penance is substituted for repentance, as a brazen corruption of the Roman Catholic Latin Vulgate, captured by Wycliffe's 14^th century translation work.

Wycliffe's Translation and Corrupted Presbyterian

The corruption of the Greek word 'presbuteros' into the Roman Catholic priest was not as prevalent, but was just as brazen a corruption.

It is interesting that the online Bible program that has a version of Jerome's 405 A.D. Latin Vulgate, as posted in 2005 has all these verses properly translated, while the Latin Vulgate that Wycliffe translated from in the 1300s included priest craft in 4 of these 7 verses. The Latin Vulgate maintained by the Roman Catholics was dynamic not static. The corruptions are purposeful and some of their excursions into error were so brazen that they were later withdrawn under the less audacious supervision. This insight into these changes would make an interesting study in itself. What is seen here is that Wycliffe caught them at their own craft of Scripture corruption, showing that the Latin Vulgate maintained at Oxford in the 1300s contained corruptions to promote Catholic priest craft. Despite their corruptions, the Latin Vulgate translated into the language of the English people was a powerful liberating force against the yoke of Roman bondage.

Wycliffe and the Pure Words of God

The holiness of the Word of God was understood better by John Wycliffe than it was by Brook Foss Westcott (1825-1903) and Fenton John Anthony Hort (1828-1892) These two eliminated words that did not 'ring true' to their ear and their ear did not believe in infallibility of Scripture, nor in the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Wycliffe knew not to add nor subtract from the words of God, for his translation read: De 4:2 “Ye schulen not adde to the word which Y speke to you, nether ye schulen take awei `fro it; kepe ye the comaundementis of youre Lord God, which Y comaunde to you.” and De 12:32 “Do thou to the Lord this thing oneli which Y comaunde to thee, nethir adde thou ony thing, nether abate.” Wycliffe knew the power of the Scripture, even when translating from Latin he records the purity of the words of Psalm 11(12):7 “The spechis of the Lord ben chast spechis; siluer examynyd bi fier, preued fro erthe, purgid seuen fold. 8 Thou, Lord, schalt kepe vs; and thou `schalt kepe vs fro this generacioun with outen ende.” John Wycliffe knew that God had magnified his truth above all things: Wycliffe Ps 137:2 Y schal worschipe to thin hooli temple, and Y schal knouleche to thi name. On thi merci and thi treuthe; for thou hast magnefied thin hooli name aboue al thing.

Below is a table of the 20 omissions of Westcott and Hort, the omissions that show up in the NIV and ASV, and any other modernist bible translated from their 'critical Greek text.' Included in the table are the verses from the Authorized Version and the Wycliffe Middle English translation of the Bible. Wycliffe, who translated Proverbs 30 in his Bible included the verse: “Ech word of God is a scheld set a fiere, to alle that hopen in hym. 6 Adde thou not ony thing to the wordis of hym, and thou be repreued, and be foundun a liere.” ( Wycliffe Pr 30:5)

and was careful to capture 'ech word of God' in all his translation work. Would that the modernist were so careful to note their slanderous work and Wycliffe's careful translation of 20 verses in the table below:

These verses speak for themselves when Westcott and Hort, Nestle and Aland, Lockman²⁷ and Metzger²⁸ scratch them from their Bibles but John Wycliffe of the 1300s assures of their presence in his Middle English Bible translation. Attention is given to 1John 5:7 called the 'Johanne Comma.' It is errantly taught that Erasmus added this without cause, but John Wycliffe knew it's place in the Holy Scriptures 200 years earlier. John Wycliffe knew also that Matt 24:35 said “heuene and erthe schulen passe, but my wordis schulen not passe.” and he knew the Judge that gave these words from Joh 12:48 “He that dispisith me, and takith not my wordis, hath hym that schal iuge hym; thilke word that Y haue spokun, schal deme hym in the last dai.” This 'trinity proof text' was first translated into the English language by John Wycliffe in the 1300s. How unfortunate and asinine that it is eliminated from all the modernist English translations.

The Wycliffe English Bible as translated from the Latin Vulgate in 1380 contained 19 of these 20 verse omissions brazenly torn from the modernist Bibles translated from the Westcott and Hort Critical Greek text. The Nestle-Aland Greek apparatus indicated that some copies of the Latin Vulgate supported 11 of the 20 rip-torn omissions. But 10 of these 11 were indeed found in The Wycliffe English Bible, translated from the 14^th century Latin Vulgate. The only omission that Wycliffe indicated from the his Oxford version of the Vulgate of the 1300s was for the phrase “through His blood” from Colossians 1:14, and that verse is supported by some later copies of the Latin Vulgate itself, four Greek manuscripts , five Lectionaries, Syriac, Armenian and Slavonic versions, and Early (so called) Church Fathers Gregory of Nyssa; Victoinus of Rome and Sassiodrus. All in all a very good showing of the work of John Wycliffe refuting the bias textual criticism of modernist Westcott and Hort, Nestle and Aland, Lockman and Metzger, and their slanderous omissions of these 20 verses.

Not only did Wycliffe include the trinitarian proof text, (1John 5:7) he clearly stated Phillipians 2:9-10 “For which thing God enhaunside hym, and yaf to hym a name that is aboue al name; 10 that in the name of Jhesu ech kne be bowid, of heuenli thingis, of ertheli thingis, and of hellis;” Even as Timothy knew the Scriptures from his youth John Wycliffe knew from his youth 2Timothy 3:15-16 “15 for thou hast knowun hooli lettris fro thi youthe, whiche moun lerne thee to heelthe, bi feith that is in Crist Jhesu. 16 For al scripture inspirid of God is profitable to teche, to repreue, to chastice, to lerne in riytwisnes, that the man of God be parfit, lerud to al good werk.” And John Wycliffe knew better than Westcott and Hort the dangers of removing Scriptures from the Holy Bible for his translation closes with “ And I witnesse to ech man herynge the wordis of prophesie of this book, if ony man schal putte to these thingis, God schal putte on hym the veniauncis writun in this book. 19 And if ony man do awei of the wordis of the book of this prophesie, God schal take awei the part of hym fro the book of lijf, and fro the hooli citee, and fro these thingis that ben writun in this book. 20 He seith, that berith witnessyng of these thingis, Yhe, amen. I come soone. Amen. Come thou, Lord Jhesu. 21 The grace of oure Lord Jhesu Crist be with you alle. Amen.” (Rev 22:18-21)

Conclusion

In this brief excursion through the first English translation of the Holy Bible it is seen that every word of God is pure and precious. John Wycliffe translated from a corrupt Roman Catholic Latin Vulgate version of the Holy Scriptures but his work in middle English of the 1300s shows more care for the infallible, inerrant, inspired words of God than the leading modernist scholars who tote along after faulty textual criticism, Alexandrian Gnostic corruptions, depraved Unitarian theology, and decrepit modernist thinking. Some Roman Catholic corruptions are present in this middle English translation, but the very readable translation work of John Wycliffe is well worth the effort of securing the free copy and gleaning the truths of God in the broken awkward spellings of this archaic English Bible. It is more accurate than the modernist of English translations which spring from the modernist minds of man. A copy can be downloaded from http://wesley.nnu.edu/biblical_studies/wycliffe It is well worth the study in ones study.

NOTES

1 Antique Bible Dealers, http://www.greatsite.com/timeline-english-bible-history/john-wycliffe.html, accessed Mar 08, GREATSITE.COM is the online showroom of The Bible Museum, Inc. Since 1987, we have been the world’s largest dealer of rare & antique Bibles, ancient Biblical manuscripts, and antiquarian theology books. .

2 “The Catholic Encyclopedia” http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15722a.htm

3 Cloud, David W., “JOHN WYCLIFFE AND THE FIRST ENGLISH BIBLE” Copyright 1996, Way of Life Literature, Oak Harbor, WA p. 2

4 Cloud, Ibid p. 2

5 Cloud, Ibid p. 3

6 Cloud, Ibid, p..4

7 Bradley, Evangelist Bill, “Pruified Seven Times, The Miracle of the English Bible”, Landmark Baptist Press, Haines City FL, © 2001, pp 88

8 http://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/med/ The free online electronic Middle English Dictionary (MED) "the greatest achievement in medieval scholarship in America." Last updated 18 December 2001. © 2001, the Regents of the University of Michigan

9 http://etext.virginia.edu/collections/languages/english/mideng.browse.html

10 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_English Accessed 02/02/2008

11 Duffy, Kevin, “Who Were the Celts?”, Barnes & Nobel Books, New York, © 1996 p. XIII

12 Duffy, Ibid p. XIV

13 http://www.englishclub.com/english-language-history.htm accessed 02/19/08

14 Paisley, Ian R.K., “My Plea For The Old Sword”, 1997, Ambasador Productions Ltd., Belfast, Northern Ireland pp 49-50

15 Anderson, “Annals of the English Bible”, I, p. xl as quoted by David Cloud in www.wayoflife.org/articles/johnwycliffe.htm quoted with this preamble “Christopher Anderson, who meditated deeply upon God’s sovereignty in history, gives an interesting thought on why it was the Latin Vulgate that was first translated into the English language.”

16 Gaussen, L, D.D., “THEOPNEUSTIA: THE PLENARY INSPIRATION OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES” pp 170-171

17 John Eadie, “The English Bible”, 1876 as quoted by David Cloud in www.wayoflife.org/articles/johnwycliffe.htm

18 The word forthouyte from Nobel's modernization of Wycliffe's Middle English means 'stirred by penance' Nobel, Terence P., WYCLIFFE’S NEW TESTAMENT Transla ted by JOHN WYCLIFFE and JOHN PURVEY, A modern-spelling edition of their 14th century Middle English translation, the first complete English vernacular version, with an Introduction by TERENCE P. NOBLE,(Editor and Publisher), Published by Terence P. Noble Copyright ©August 2001 by Terence P. Noble

19 The word forthenkyng, from Nobel's modernization of Wycliffe's Middle English means 'had not penance afterward'

20 The Nestle Aland Greek apparatus shows the Latin Vulgate omitting Matt 23:14 but Wycliffe's English Bible translated from the Latin Vulgate in 1380 includes this verse.

21 The Nestle Aland Greek apparatus shows Latin Vulgate copies omitting John 5:4 but Wycliffe's English Bible translated from the Latin Vulgate in 1380 includes this verse.

22 The Nestle Aland Greek apparatus shows Latin Vulgate copies omitting Acts 8:37,15:34,24:7, and 28:29 but Wycliffe's English Bible translated from the Latin Vulgate in 1380 includes these verses.

23 The Nestle Aland Greek apparatus shows Latin Vulgate copies omitting Rom 16:24 but Wycliffe's English Bible translated from the Latin Vulgate in 1380 includes this verse.

24 The Nestle Aland Greek apparatus shows Latin Vulgate copies omitting 1John 5:7, the Trinitarian Proof Text commonly called the Johanne Comma, but Wycliffe's English Bible translated from the Latin Vulgate in 1380 includes this key verse of Scripture.

25 The Nestle Aland Greek apparatus shows Latin Vulgate copies omitting the phrase “through His blood” in Col 1:14 and Wycliffe's English Bible translated from the Latin Vulgate in 1380 did indeed leave this off.

26 The Nestle Aland Greek apparatus shows Latin Vulgate copies omitting Luke 9:56 but Wycliffe's English Bible translated from the Latin Vulgate in 1380 includes this verse.

27 Lockman Foundation holds the 1960, 62, 63, 68, 71, 72 and 1973 copyright on the NASV

28 Bruce M. Metzger is an editor of the © 1993, © 1994, © 1998, Fourth Revised Edition of the United Bible Societies Greek New Testament.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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The New International Version, Copyright © 1978, by New York International Bible Society.

Greek Bible, 1550- Textus Receptus, Online Bible Foundation, 12 Birkfield Place, Carluke, Lanarkshire, Scotland, M184PZ, © 15-2006

Greek Bible, 1881 Wescott Hort Greek Text, Online Bible Foundation, 12 Birkfield Place, Carluke, Lanarkshire, Scotland, M184PZ, © 15-2006

Anderson, “Annals of the English Bible”, as quoted by David Cloud in www.wayoflife.org/articles/johnwycliffe.htm

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Bradley, Evangelist Bill, “Pruified Seven Times, The Miracle of the English Bible”, Landmark Baptist Press, Haines City FL, © 2001, pp 88

“The Catholic Encyclopedia” http://www.newadvent.org/cathen, last accessed Feb 2008

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Duffy, Kevin, “Who Were the Celts?”, Barnes & Nobel Books, New York, © 1996

Eadie, John, “The English Bible”, 1876 as quoted by David Cloud in www.wayoflife.org/articles/johnwycliffe.htm

Gaussen, L. D.D., Theopneustia: The Plenary Inspiration of The Holy Scriptures, Converted to pdf format by Robert I Bradshaw, August 2004. http://www.biblcalstudies.org.uk Accessed Dec 2007.

Noble, Terence P., “WYCLIFFE’S NEW TESTAMENT Translated by JOHN WYCLIFFE and JOHN PURVEY” , Published by Terence P. Noble Copyright ©August 2001 by Terence P. Noble from http://www.ibiblio.org/tnoble, last accessed Feb 2008

Paisley, Ian R.K., “My Plea For The Old Sword”, 1997, Ambasador Productions Ltd., Belfast, Northern Ireland