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John Wycliffe: The Morningstar
Luke 24:27: “And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.”
The Deathbed Prophecy of King Edward the Confessor, 1066
Battle for the Bible – The English Bible – Wycliffe, Tyndale, Cranmer
The Road 
This is a comment I wrote on the blog Richard’s Watch (https://richards-watch.org/2022/04/19/a-post-resurrection-miracle-as-a-mystery-now-revealed-part-2-5/):
“To give us some perspective, this is the same period since the accession of George I (1714) and the appearance of John and Charles Wesley to lead a major evangelical revival, from which was born the fourth largest church denomination in England, Methodism (in Oxford, 1729).”
Richard: You are saying that the rise of Greco-Roman mathematical theories in the few centuries before Christ happened for a reason. You are also saying that the rise of George I in England and the preaching of John and Charles Wesley were also Providential: George I was tolerant of the Wesleyan revival which greatly benefited England and the rest of the world because of the British Empire. In previous centuries, certain English monarchs were very intolerant of the Gospel of Jesus Christ: e.g., in around 1507, several English adults were burned at the stake because they were teaching the Lord’s Prayer to their children in English.
Which all leads me to this: I think that John Wycliffe was one of the great heroes of the Christian faith: he translated the Bible from Latin to English. I have always wondered why Wycliffe was not burned at the stake by the Catholic Church because of his English translation.
Before I became of Christian, I read the complete works of Shakespeare. Shakespeare’s play RICHARD II and John of Gaunt and the deathbed speech of John of Gaunt have always fascinated me (“Methinks I am a prophet new inspired, And thus expiring do foretell of him. . .”).* John of Gaunt was the Regent of England: his father was King Edward III; his older brother, the Black Prince, was supposed to be king, but he was in ill health–and that is why John of Gaunt was the Regent of England–the most powerful man in England.
This past year I saw a great film about John Wycliffe. In that film, I learned that Wycliffe was good friends with John of Gaunt. Praise God! The Lord had Providentially installed John of Gaunt as the most powerful man in England so as to protect the life and work of John Wycliffe. I love it when a plan comes together.
On a personal level: my love of Shakespeare preceded my born-again experience and my later adopting the King James Bible as my favorite translation. Shakespeare and the King James Bible are both written in “that sleepy Elizabethan English” as Leonard Ravenhill would have said.
Also, without Wycliffe and others translating the Bible into English, there probably would not have been the great revival birthed by John and Charles Wesley. The Lord has to establish a foundation before we can build a house thereon: that foundation is made of rock and that Rock is Christ.
*RICHARD II, Act II, Scene 1
https://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/views/plays/play_view.php?WorkID=richard2&Act=2&Scene=1&Scope=scene
Thank you, brother Tim, for sharing your God-given insight into English Church history. I was particularly blessed by your last sentence: “The Lord has to establish a foundation before we can build a house thereon: that foundation is made of rock and that Rock is Christ.” Praise the Lord!