Did he really banish snakes from Ireland? Before you dismiss this myth, remember that truth is often embedded in old stories. A literalistic reading of myths like this often miss the meaning of the story. It can be rightly said that Patrick’s preaching of Christ defeated the darkness of paganism in Ireland and displaced the old gods.

Celtic Paganism

What’s this about snakes? Druids were associated with serpents. You can see this imagery still on runes carved into pagan ruins. Such images were common in Celtic paganism. They were polytheistic, and observed spiritual and supernatural realities in the sun, moon, trees, and rocks. Groves of trees, ancient ruins, stone circles, and tops of hills were described as “thin” places where the veil separating the physical and spiritual world would be lifted.

Tacitus records some details about the Celtic peoples’ paganism and human sacrifices in his reporting on Roman wars in his Annals of Imperial Rome.

“On the shore stood the opposing army with its dense array of armed warriors, while between the ranks dashed women, in black attire like the Furies, with hair dishevelled, waving brands. All around, the Druids, lifting up their hands to heaven, and pouring forth dreadful imprecations, scared our soldiers by the unfamiliar sight, so that, as if their limbs were paralysed, they stood motionless, and exposed to wounds. Then urged by their general’s appeals and mutual encouragements not to quail before a troop of frenzied women, they bore the standards onwards, smote down all resistance, and wrapped the foe in the flames of his own brands. A force was next set over the conquered, and their groves, devoted to inhuman superstitions, were destroyed. They deemed it indeed a duty to cover their altars with the blood of captives and to consult their deities through human entrails.”

From Scotland to Ireland

Contrary to popular belief, Patrick was not Irish, though he is called the “apostle to Ireland.” He was born in Scotland, in Alcluyd, which is modern-day Dumbarton, c. 390. I highly recommend that you read Patrick’s Confession for a first hand account of his life and ministry. Some excerpts are below:

I, Patrick, a sinner, a most simple countryman, the least of all the faithful and most contemptible to many, had for father the deacon Calpurnius, son of the late Potitus, a priest, of the settlement of Bannavem Taburniae; he had a small villa nearby where I was taken captive. I was at that time about sixteen years of age. I did not, indeed, know the true God; and I was taken into captivity in Ireland with many thousands of people, according to our deserts, for quite drawn away from God, we did not keep his precepts, nor were we obedient to our priests who used to remind us of our salvation. And the Lord brought down on us the fury of his being and scattered us among many nations, even to the ends of the earth, where I, in my smallness, am now to be found among foreigners.

And there the Lord opened my mind to an awareness of my unbelief, in order that, even so late, I might remember my transgressions and turn with all my heart to the Lord my God, who had regard for my insignificance and pitied my youth and ignorance. And he watched over me before I knew him, and before I learned sense or even distinguished between good and evil, and he protected me, and consoled me as a father would his son. After I reached Ireland I used to pasture the flock each day and I used to pray many times a day. More and more did the love of God, and my fear of him and faith increase, and my spirit was moved so that in a day [I said] from one up to a hundred prayers, and in the night a like number; besides I used to stay out in the forests and on the mountain and I would wake up before daylight to pray in the snow, in icy coldness, in rain, and I used to feel neither ill nor any slothfulness, because, as I now see, the Spirit was burning in me at that time.

Therefore, indeed, I cannot keep silent, nor would it be proper, so many favours and graces has the Lord deigned to bestow on me in the land of my captivity. For after chastisement from God, and recognizing him, our way to repay him is to exalt him and confess his wonders before every nation under heaven.

After escaping slavery in Ireland, he returned to his homeland, was reunited with his family, and trained for ministry. He then returned to Ireland to bring the gospel to those who had previously enslaved him.

Letter to Coroticus

Patrick’s second surviving work is his Letter to Coroticus. This letter is a rebuke of the villainous king Coroticus whose soldiers had massacred some of his church members and taken others away into slavery. Patrick wrote to pronounce excommunication on those soldiers, as well as to call for the release of his church members. We do not know the outcome of this story.

Confronting Paganism at Slane Hill

A pagan festival was held at Tara, and during this festival, no fires would be kindled elsewhere, until the High King Laoghaire of Ireland lit a flame on this pagan hill. One writer from the 600s recounted: “The custom was that whoever lit a fire before the king on that one night of the year – Easter’s Eve – would be put to death.” Patrick saw this as an opportunity to confront paganism, and on Saturday evening before Easter Sunday, he lit an offending bonfire on Slane Hill which was easily visible to those at Tora from ten miles away. The king sent his soldiers to seize Patrick, and after an interview and hearing of Christ, he granted him permission to preach in that area.

It’s a bit of trivia, but Slane Hill is also the name of the ancient Irish melody used for our hymn Be Thou My Vision.

Life and ministry in Ireland was fraught with danger. Patrick wrote “daily I expect to be murdered or betrayed or reduced to slavery if the occasion arises. But I fear nothing, because of the promises of Heaven; for I have cast myself into the hands of Almighty God, who reigns everywhere.”

Other times he was robbed and imprisoned. “They seized me with my companions, and that day most avidly desired to kill me. But my time had not yet come. They plundered everything they found on us anyway, and fettered me in irons; and on the fourteenth day the Lord freed me from their power, and whatever they had of ours was given back to us for the sake of God on account of the indispensable friends whom we had made before.”

Patrick’s Theology

Read the following excerpts of Patrick’s Confession and you will see one who believed in salvation by grace, and one who affirmed the Nicene Creed and the doctrine of the Trinity.

On Grace

“I know for certain, that before I was humbled I was like a stone lying in deep mire, and he that is mighty came and in his mercy raised me up and, indeed, lifted me high up and placed me on top of the wall. From there I ought to shout in gratitude to the Lord for his great grace in this world and forever, that the mind of man cannot measure.”

On the Trinity

For there is no other God, nor ever was before, nor shall be hereafter, but God the Father, unbegotten and without beginning, in whom all things began, whose are all things, as we have been taught; and his son Jesus Christ, who manifestly always existed with the Father, before the beginning of time in the spirit with the Father, indescribably begotten before all things, and all things visible and invisible were made by him. He was made man, conquered death and was received into Heaven, to the Father who gave him all power over every name in Heaven and on Earth and in Hell, so that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and God, in whom we believe. And we look to his imminent coming again, the judge of the living and the dead, who will render to each according to his deeds. And he poured out his Holy Spirit on us in abundance, the gift and pledge of immortality, which makes the believers and the obedient into sons of God and co-heirs of Christ who is revealed, and we worship one God in the Trinity of holy name.

On Pagan Worship, Eternal Life, and Judgment Day

For the sun we see rises each day for us at [his] command, but it will never reign, neither will its splendor last, but all who worship it will come wretchedly to punishment.

We, on the other hand, shall not die, who believe in and worship the true sun, Christ . . . but will abide for ever just as Christ abides for ever, who reigns with God the Father Almighty and with the Holy Spirit before the beginning of time and now and forever and ever. Amen.

Love for Ireland

Patrick loved Ireland and spend the remainder of his life on that island. He prayed that he would be allowed to stay with the church in Ireland, and that he would finish well: “May it never befall me to be separated by my God from his people whom he has won in this most remote land. I pray God that he gives me perseverance, and that he will deign that I should be a faithful witness for his sake right up to the time of my passing.”

An Ireland Freed from Paganism

Patrick is believed to have died on March 17, 461. When we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, let us remember God’s work of grace to save the people of Ireland from paganism. Patrick marveled at this grace: “How is it that in Ireland, where they never had any knowledge of God but, always, until now, cherished idols and unclean things, they are lately become a people of the Lord, and are called children of God?”

On Christmas Day in 1412, Jan Hus penned a letter from exile to encourage the saints in Prague. This letter was a delight to discover earlier this year, and it is a rich meditation for Christmas. I will offer some brief background followed by the complete text below. I pray that Hus’ call from December 25, 1412 will reach through the ages to encourage your heart to rejoice in our Savior with a “mighty joy.”

If you are unfamiliar with the story of Jan Hus and how his ministry in Bohemia and subsequent martyrdom helped to prepare the way for the Protestant Reformation, I invite you to listen to this biographical lesson from earlier this year.

Jan Hus’ pastoral ministry in Prague ended abruptly with exile in October of 1412. Papal opposition to Hus and his teaching led to the threat of interdict against all of Prague which would suspend all church services in the city should he remain. To prevent this from happening, Hus left his beloved congregation and embraced self-imposed exile. He moved to Southern Bohemia where he was sheltered by barons who also objected to the corruption of the Roman Catholic Church. There Hus continued to serve the church with his writings until his betrayal and martyrdom in 1415.

Unable to be present with his congregation at Bethlehem Chapel, Hus wrote this letter to call them to a “mighty joy” in Christ on Christmas Day. These words of encouragement provide a small window into what it might have been like to sit under his preaching.

Letter to the People of Prague, December 25, 1412

My very dear brothers,
Although I am now separated from you in body, not being perhaps worthy to preach to you any longer the word of God, nevertheless the love with which I bear towards you urges me to approach and address you in a few words.

This is the day, dearly beloved, on which the angel of the Lord said to the shepherds—“Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy that shall be to all people.” And immediately, a multitude of the heavenly host were heard to cry out,—“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will toward men.”

Knowing that, dearly beloved, rejoice that today God is born a man, in order that there may be glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good-will toward men.

Rejoice that today the infinitely Mighty is born a child, that there may be glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will toward men.

Rejoice that today a Reconciler is born to reconcile man to God, that there may be glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will toward men.

Rejoice that today He is born to cleanse sinners from their sin, to deliver them from the devil’s power, to save them from eternal perdition, and to bring them to eternal joy, that there may be glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will toward men.

Rejoice with great joy that today is born unto us a King, to bestow in its fulness upon us the heavenly kingdom, a Bishop to grant His eternal benediction, a Father of the ages to come, to keep us as His children by His side for ever: yea, there is born a beloved Brother, a wise Master, a sure Leader, a just Judge, to the end that there may be glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will toward men.

Rejoice, ye wicked, that God is born as a Priest, Who hath granted to every penitent absolution from all sins, that there may be glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will toward men.

Rejoice that today the Bread of Angels—that is, God—is made the Bread of men, to revive the starving with His Body, that there may be peace among them, and on earth, peace, good-will toward men.

Rejoice that God immortal is born, that mortal man may live forever.

Rejoice that the rich Lord of the Universe lies in a manger, like a poor man, that he may make us rich.

Rejoice, dearly beloved, that what the prophets prophesied has been fulfilled, that there may be glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, good-will toward men.

Rejoice that there is born to us a Child omnipotent, and that a Son is given to us, all-wise and gracious, that there may be glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, good-will toward men.

Oh, dear friends, ought there to be but a moderate rejoicing over these things? Nay, a mighty joy!

Indeed, the angel saith: I bring you good tidings of great joy, for that there is born a Redeemer from all misery, a Savior of sinners, a Governor of His faithful ones; there is born a Comforter of the sorrowful, and there is given to us the Son of God that we may have great joy, and that there may be glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good-will toward men.

May it please God, born this day, to grant to us this goodwill, this peace, and withal this joy!

Jan Hus

Thomas Doolittle (1630-1707) is a lesser known Puritan and Nonconformist who is worthy of rediscovery, and we would do well to learn from his example of faithfulness and his love for Jesus in turbulent times.

Early Life

Born in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, Doolittle grew up and came to faith under the preaching of Richard Baxter. While working as a lawyer’s assistant, he was required to copy documents on the Lord’s Day. This brought about a crisis of conscience which resulted in him leaving his employment and ending his prospects of a legal career, but he did so in order to give the day to worship the Lord.

Education, Marriage, and Beginnings of Pastoral Ministry

Baxter encouraged him to consider pastoral ministry, and at age 17, he enrolled at Pembroke College in Cambridge where he went on to complete two theology degrees. At age 23, he got married, began his first pastorate at St. Alphage, London Wall, and began work on his second degree at Cambridge. Over the next nine years Doolittle continued in ministry, finished school, he and his wife Mary had three children, and Mary was pregnant with their fourth.

From the Pulpit to the Boarding School

A political crisis followed Oliver Cromwell’s death in 1658. Cromwell’s son Richard was unable to serve effectively as Lord Protector and went into exile, and Charles II returned to and took his father’s throne in 1660. The Clarendon Code pivoted the Church of England away from Reformed theology and congregationalism, and restored episcopacy. On August 24, 1662, the Act of Uniformity was passed by Parliament and Charles II. This stripped away religious liberty that had previously been enjoyed due to the English Civil War and Cromwell. Clergy were required to submit to the Book of Common Prayer and other dictates from Parliament and the king.

After prayerful consideration, Doolittle, along with over 2,000 pastors throughout England, refused to submit their theology and ministry to the state. Christ alone is King over the Church. This event is known as the Great Ejection. For Doolittle, this meant not only the loss of his employment, but it also put himself, his pregnant wife, and their three children out of their home which had been attached to the church.

With financial support from others, he opened a new home as a boarding school. Preaching without a license would result in arrest. Persecution from the state continued with the Conventicle Act in 1664, which prohibited the gathering of five or more persons who were not part of the same household for worship.

Plague, Fire, and Persecutions

In 1665, the plague struck. Doolittle and his family survived the plague. Most clergy appointed after the Great Ejection fled their places of ministry. The crisis created a vacuum, and Thomas Vincent, one of the teachers who worked in his boarding school, went into London and preached publicly and boldly throughout the epidemic. Many Nonconformists followed his example, and the state declined to persecute them during this tumultuous season.

The following year, in 1666, London burned. Convicted of the need for faithful churches, he partnered in the construction of a meeting house to hold a new church in London, where he and Thomas Vincent pastored together. The congregation grew, and they moved to a larger meeting house. London was being rebuilt, the times of crises had passed, and persecution restarted. Midnight on a Saturday, soldiers broke down his door to arrest him for preaching, and he escaped over a wall into a neighbor’s house.

Vincent and Doolittle refused to heed a warning from the mayor of London, and continued to preach. Word spread that soldiers were coming to arrest Doolittle at the next worship service, and a friend insisted on preaching in his place. Soldiers barged into the worship service, announcing, “Stop, in the King’s Name.” At this, the preacher cried out, “In the name of the King of kings, do not disturb his worship.” The soldiers were commanded to open fire, and the preacher escaped in the commotion. The pulpit was pulled down, and the doors barred. Gathering for worship would once again return to secret meetings.

In 1672, Charles II granted an “indulgence” that allowed for Doolittle to begin public preaching once more. He relocated his family and began pastoral ministry once more, only to have this freedom rescinded. This was followed by another two moves and the confiscation of his family’s possessions.

Return to London

Persecution ended following William and Mary’s Glorious Revolution of 1688. The Act of Toleration was passed in 1689, allowing Doolittle to return to the meeting house that he and Vincent had opened in London. He pastored there until his death in 1707.

Doolittle’s career is not marked by a lengthy ministry in any one place, or by any bestselling title. Instead, his ministry career was marked by great difficulty in a turbulent period and he is little known today. You may, however, be familiar with some of his students, among whom were Matthew Henry and Edmund Calamy.

Love for Jesus

About twenty published works survive from Doolittle’s ministry. His writings are very practical and evangelistic with a focus on spiritual life, family life, and evangelism. As a starting point, I recommend Love to Christ Necessary to Escape the Curse at his Coming (1693)1 If the full text is a bit much, I recommend you read through the excerpted “Motives to Love Jesus” posted at A Puritan’s Mind.

Read this excerpt below:

This holy love therefore being the choicest, chief love — supposes Christ to be the choicest, and the chief good.

That he is a good Savior, a good Redeemer, a good Lord and Master; a good excelling, transcending all inferior . . . good; good! not only good, but best — best in himself, and best for us!

And because he must be loved with such a love, as that we are willing at his call to part with all other good for his sake — therefore he is looked upon, and loved as a universal good.

Whereas riches, honors, friends, and all things of this world are but particular good — no one thing is good for all things. Food and drink are good to satisfy your hunger and thirst — but not to clothe you. Clothes are good to cover you, but not to feed you, etc.

But the soul whose love is fixed upon Christ, sees and says:

In poverty, Christ will be my riches,

in disgrace, Christ will be my honor,

in bonds and imprisonment, Christ will be my liberty,

in pain, Christ will be my comfort,

in death, Christ will be my life,

in the loss of all things, Christ will be better to me than the enjoyment of all these things!

He who does not love Christ as an incomparable object — does not love him as he ought.

“Whom have I in Heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever!”

Doolittle knew these realities quite well. Though he had lost much for the sake of Christ, he rejoiced to love Jesus. May the same be true for us.

If you know a little about church history, you’re probably familiar with Martin Luther nailing his 95 Theses to the Castle Church door in Wittenberg on October 31, 1517. Many churches will remember this event as a catalyst for the Protestant Reformation and celebrate October 31st as Reformation Day. As Protestants, this is a day for which we should give thanks to the Lord. And as we remember this day, we do not want to forget the saints and events that led up to this moment.

A Century Before Wittenberg

In February of 1395, followers of John Wycliffe, known as the Lollards, presented The Twelve Conclusions to Parliament and Richard II and posted it on the doors of Westminster Abbey and St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. This document decried the moral corruption of Roman Catholicism and called for repudiation of false Roman Catholic doctrines.

The Lollards were preachers of Wycliffe’s teachings, being derisively called “lollards,” meaning mumblers. They were mocked for their preaching and reading of Scriptures. Instead of rejecting this derogatory nickname, they adopted it for themselves as they preached to the common people in English.

Unlike many of the Lollards who would suffer persecution, Wycliffe did not die in flames as a heretic but had passed away a decade earlier. Though the Roman Catholic Church sought to destroy him, he survived multiple attempts of prosecution as powerful friends and allies shielded him and interfered with trial proceedings at St. Paul’s Cathedral (1377), Lambeth Palace (1378), and the Blackfriars Council (1382). Among his supporters were Edward III, John of Gaunt, Joan of Kent, Richard II, and Anne of Bohemia. Wycliffe final years were given to completing the first full English translation of the Bible and to training preachers for the people of England. He died of a stroke on December 31, 1384.

The Twelve Conclusions has been translated from Middle English and published in English Historical Review in 1907.1 It can also be found on Harvard’s Geoffrey Chaucer Website (Chaucer moved in some of the same circles as Wycliffe and is reported to have attended one of his trials).

I encourage you to read The Twelve Conclusions below and consider the reforms and correction that Wycliffe’s followers sought to bring to the church:

We poor men, treasurers of Christ and his Apostles, denounce to the Lords and the Commons of the Parliament certain conclusions and truth for the reformation of the Holy Church of England, the which has been blind and leprous many years by the maintenance of the proud prelacy, borne up with flattering of private religion, the which is multiplied to a great charge and onerous to people here in England.

The First Conclusion: State of The Church

When the Church of England began to dote in temporality after her stepmother, the great Church of Rome, and churches were slain by appropriation to diverse places. Faith, Hope, and Charity began for to flee out of our Church. For Pride with his sorry genealogy of deadly sins challengeth it by title of heritage. This conclusion is general and proved by experience, custom, and manner, as you shall after hear.

The Second Conclusion: The Priesthood

The Second Conclusion is this: Our usual priesthood, the which began in Rome feigned of a power higher than angels, is not the priesthood the which Christ ordained to his Apostles. This conclusion is proved: for the priesthood of Rome is made with signs, rites, and bishops’ blessings, and that is of little virtue. nowhere ensampled in the Holy Scripture, for the bishops ordinals in the New Testament be little of record. And we can not see that the Holy Ghost, for any such signs, gives any gifts, for he and his noble gifts may not stand with deadly sin in no matter person. The corollary of this conclusion is that it is full uncouth to many that be wise to see bishops play with the holy ghost in making of their orders, for they give crowns in characters in stead of white harts, and that is the livery of Antichrist, brought into Holy Church to color idleness.

The Third Conclusion: Clerical Celibacy

The Third Conclusion, sorrowful to hear, is: That the law of continence annexed to priesthood, that in prejudice of women was first ordained, induces sodomy in Holy Church; but we excuse us by the Bible, for the suspect decree that says we should not name it. Reason and experience prove this conclusion. For delicious meats and drinks of men of Holy Church will have needful purgation or worse. Experience for the privy assay of such men is that they like not women. The corollary of this conclusion is that the private religions. beginners of this sin, were most worthy to be annulled but God, for his might, of privy sin send open vengeance.

The Fourth Conclusion: Transubstantiation

The Fourth Conclusion that most harms the innocent people is this: That the sacrament of bread induces all men but a few to idolatry, for they ween that Christ’s body, that never shall out of heaven, by virtue of the priest’s word should be essentially enclosed in a little bread, that they show to the people. But would God that they would believe that the Doctor Evangelicus says in his Trialogue, quod panis materialis est habitudinaliter corpus Christi. For we suppose that on this wise may every true man and woman in God’s law make the sacrament of the bread without any such miracle. The corollary of this conclusion is that if Christ’s body be endued with everlasting joy, the service of Corpus Christi made by Friar Thomas is untrue and painted full of false miracles, and that is no wonder, for Friar Thomas that same time, holding with the Pope, would have made a miracle of a hen’s egg, and we know well that every lie openly preached turns itself to villainy that ever was true and without lack.

The Fifth Conclusion: Exorcisms and Hallowings

The fifth conclusion is this: that exorcisms and hallowings, made in the church, of wine, bread, and wax, water, salt, oil and incense, the stone of the altar, upon vestment, miter, cross, and pilgrim staffs be the very practice of necromancy rather than of the holy theology. This conclusion is proved thus: For by such exorcisms creatures be charged to be of higher virtue than their own kind, and we see no thing of change in no such creature that is so charmed but by false belief, the which is the principal of the Devil’s craft. The corollary of this, that is the book that charmeth holy water spread in Holy Church were all true, us thinks verily that holy water used in holy church should be the best medicine to all manner of sickness. Cuius contrarium experimur.

The Sixth Conclusion: Clerics in Secular Offices

The sixth conclusion that maintaineth much pride is: that a king and a bishop all in one person, a prelate and a justice in temporal cause, a curate and an officer in worldly service, make every realm out of good rule. This conclusion is openly showed, for temporality and spirituality be two parts of Holy Church and therefore he that hath taken him to the one should not meddle him with the other, quia nemo potest duobus dominis servire. Us thinketh that hermaphrodite or ambidexter were a good name to such men of double estate. The corollary is that for we, procurators of God, for this cause pursue to this Parliament that all manner of curates, both high and low, be fully excused of temporal office and occupy them with their cure and naught else.

The Seventh Conclusion: Prayers for the Dead

The Seventh conclusion that we mightily affirm is: that special prayers for dead men’s souls made in our church, preferring one by name more than another, this is the false ground of alms deeds, on the which all alms houses in England be wickedly grounded. This conclusion is proven by two skills. One is for prayer meritorious and of value should be a work proceeding from high charity, and perfect charity accepts no persons, quia diliges proximum tuum, etc. Wherefore us thinks that the gifts of temporal goods to priests and to alms houses is the principal cause of special prayers, the which is not far from simony. Another skill for special prayer made for men damned to everlasting pain is to God greatly displeasing, and though it be doubt, it is lightly to true Christian people that the founders of the alms houses for their venomous donation be for the most part passed the broad way. The corollary is the prayer of value s[ringing out of perfect charity should embrace in general all those that God would have saved and leave their merchandise now used for special prayers made to mendicants and possessioners and other souls’ priests, the which be a people of great charge to all the realm maintained in idleness, for it was proved in a book that the king heard that an hundred of alms houses sufficed to the realm and thereof should fall the greatest increase possible to temporal part.

The Eighth Conclusion: Pilgrimages

The eighth conclusion needful to tell the people beguiled is the pilgrimage, prayers, and offerings made to blind roods and deaf images of tree and stone be near kin to idolatry and far from alms deeds. And though this forbidden imagery be a book of errors to the lewd people, yet the image used of Trinity is most abominable. This conclusion God openly showeth, commanding to do almsdeeds to men that be needy. for they be the image of God in a more likeness than the stock of the stone, for God sayeth not Faciamus lignum ad ymaginem et similitudinem nostram aut lapidem, but faciamus hominem etc. For the high worship that clerks call latria longeth to the godhead alone and the lower worship that is called dulia longeth to man and to angel and to lower creatures. The corollary is that the service of the Rood, done twice every year in our church, is fulfilled of idolatry, for if the Rood tree, nails, and the spear, and the crown of God should be so holy worshipped, then were Judas’ lips, whoso might them get, a wonder great relic. But we pray thee, pilgrim, us to tell when thou first offerest to saints’ bones enshrined in any place, whether relieves thou the saint that is in bliss or the alms house that is so well endowed. For men be canonized, God knows how, and for to speak more in plain, true Christian men suppose that the points of that noble man that men call Saint Thomas, were no cause of martyrdom.

The Ninth Conclusion: Confession

The ninth conclusion that holdeth the people low is, that the articles of confession that is said necessary to the salvation of man, with a feigned power of absolution enhanceth priests’ pride, and giveth them opportunity of calling other than we will not say. For lords and ladies be arrested that for fear of their confessors, that they dare not say a truth, and in time of confession is the best time of wooing and of privy continuance of deadly sin. They say that they be commissaries of God to deem of every sin, to foul and cleanse whomso they like. They say that they have the keys of heaven and of hell, they may curse and bless, bind and unbind at their own will, in so much that for a bushel of wheat or twelve pence by year they will sell the bliss of heaven by charter of clause of warranty, ensealed with the common seal. This conclusion is seen in use that it needeth none other proof. Correlarium: The Pope of Rome that feigneth him high treasurer of holy church, having the worthy jewel of Christ’s passion in his keeping, with the deserts of all hallows of heaven, by which he giveth the pardon a pena et a culpa. He is a treasurer most banished out of charity, since he may deliver the prisoners that be in pain at his own will, and make himself so that he shall never come there, Here may every true Christian well see that there is much privy falseness hid in our church.

The Tenth Conclusion: War, Battle, and Crusades

The tenth conclusion is that manslaughter by battle or law of righteousness for temporal cause or spiritual with out special revelation is express contrary to the New Testament, the which is a law of grace and full of mercy. This conclusion is openly proved by example of Christ’s preaching here on earth. the which most taught to love and to have mercy on his enemies. and not for to slay them. The reason is of this, that for the more party, there men fight, after the first stroke charity is broken; and who so dyeth out of charity goth the high way to hell. And over this, we know well that no clerk can find by scripture or by reason lawful punishment of death for one sin and not for another. But the law of mercy, that is the New Testament, forbade all manslaughter: in euangelio dictum est antiquis. Non occides. The corollary is: it is an holy robbing of poor people when lords purchase indulgences a pena et a culpa to them that helpeth with his host. and gathereth to slay the Christian men in far lands for good temporal, as we have seen. And knights, that run to heathenness to get them a name in slaying of men, get much maugré of the King of Peace; for the meekness and sufferance our belief was multiplied, and fighters and manslayers Jesu Christ hateth and menaceth. Qui gladio percutit, gladio peribit.

The Eleventh Conclusion: Female Vows of Continence and Abortion

The eleventh conclusion is shameful for to speak: that a vow of continence made in our church of women, the which be fickle and imperfect in kind, is cause of bringing in of most horrible sin possible to man kind. For though slaying of children ere they be christened, abortion, and destroying of kind by medicine be full sinful, yet knowing with themselves [i.e., having intercourse with] or [either] unreasonable beast or creature that beareth no life passeth in worthiness to be punished in pains of hell. The corollary is that widows and which as have taken the mantle and the ring, deliciously fed, we would they were wedded for we can not excuse them from privy sins.

The Twelfth Conclusion: Arts and Crafts

The twelfth conclusion is that the multitude of crafts not needful used in our church nourisheth much sin in waste, curiosity, and disguising. This showeth experience, and reason proveth, for nature with a few crafts sufficeth to need of man. The corollary is, since Saint Paul sayeth, we having our bodily food and clothing, we should hold ourselves satisfied, us thinketh that goldsmiths and armourers and all manner crafts not needful to men, after [according to] the Apostle, should be destroyed for the increase of virtue. For though to these crafts named were much more needful in the Old Law, the New testament hath voided these and many others.

This is our embassy, that Christ has commanded us to pursue, at this time most acceptable for many causes. And though these matters be here shortly knit they be in another book longly declared, and may another more, all in our language, the which we would were communed to all true Christian men.

We pray God of his endless goodness reform our church, all out of joint, to the perfections of the first beginning.

Amen.

The Lollards’ call to reform in 1395 was a courageous word against the corruption of Rome. Though Parliament and Richard II took no action in response to this document, Richard had been favorable toward Wycliffe, and Roman Catholic persecution against the Lollards struggled to get traction during his reign.

Things changed when Henry IV came to power, and the Roman Catholic Church brought severe persecution against the Lollards in England and elsewhere. In 1401, Henry IV called for the burning of heretics. In 1415, the Council of Constance in Germany declared Wycliffe and his followers to be heretics. This would bring about the martyrdom of Jan Hus of Bohemia, who was burned on July 6, 1415.

In 1418, Wycliffe’s body was exhumed at Lutterworth, his bones burned, and his ashes cast into the Swift.

The words of Thomas Fuller describe this event well:

They burnt his bones to ashes and cast them into Swift, a neighboring brook running hardby. Thus this brook hath conveyed his ashes into Avon, Avon into Severn, Severn into the narrow seas, they into the main ocean. And thus the ashes of Wicliffe are the emblem of his doctrine, which now is dispersed the world over.2

Rome’s efforts to stamp out dissent failed. The Waldensians, a movement about 150 years older than Wycliffe, continued to survive despite multiple military campaigns. Wycliffe’s teaching rippled through generations, and the Lollards would continue in England with their influence spreading to universities across Europe, and to the Netherlands and Bohemia. Though Jan Hus is burned in 1415, the Hussites in Bohemia would successfully defend themselves against multiple crusader armies sent by the Pope.

When Martin Luther nailed the 95 Theses to the church door at Wittenberg, he joined this growing chorus for reform and fidelity to Scripture. Many are the voices who have sought the good of the church through history. May the “God of endless goodness” continue to reform and purify his church.

For those of you who don't know me, my name is Ben Purves, and I have decided to start a personal blog on church life and church history. This writing extends from my ministry at Occoquan Bible Church in Woodbridge, VA. This blog will be thematically focused on church life and church history for the edification of the local church, and I will be writing with my brothers and sisters at OBC in mind. Clarior e tenebris (more brightly from darkness) is a Latin motto that has been used by the Purves clan for centuries, and I have taken the liberty of using it to title this blog. It is my prayer that the writings posted here will display the light of Christ and serve the good of his church.

Writings on Church Life

I am thankful for the blessing of fellowship with my brothers and sisters at Occoquan Bible Church. It has been my joy to serve there since 2008, and the fellowship we share is a precious gift. I currently provide pastoral oversight for the Member Care and Community Groups ministries. As the Lord allows, I plan to post about local church membership and fellowship as I give thought to these areas of church life in day-to-day ministry.

Writings on Church History

In addition to this, I plan to write semi-regularly about church history. Church history bears witness to the faithfulness of Christ as he builds his church through the ages (Matt 16:18). It is the story of our family of faith and it gives us many examples of brothers and sisters who have loved and served our Lord Jesus Christ. The study of church history reveals the riches of our theological heritage and how the light of the gospel has shone in darkness through the ages. It is right that as we study history that we respond with thanksgiving for the goodness of God's providence.

I enjoy the study of church history, and I am thankful for the opportunity to teach a multi-year Sunday School series from the early church to present day. I will use this blog to post materials for further study. Last year’s class looked at early church history, and this year we just finished an overview of medieval church history, moving from Nicaea to the Fall of Constantinople. If all continues as planned, upcoming years will include the Protestant Reformation (2026), the Puritans (2027), early American church history (2028), and modern to contemporary church history (2029).

The church does well to avail herself of the wisdom and counsel of faithful brothers and sisters from the past. For example, I have written previously about the relevance of John Newton’s pastoral letters and sermons in engaging contemporary issues. His pastoral counsel is invaluable in applying of the doctrine of liberty of conscience to questions of inoculation and vaccines. In addition, his critique of the 1784 performance of Handel’s Messiah at Westminster gives us much to think about when it comes to the performance of sacred music today.

For the Good of the Church

My DMin research thesis at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary focused on pastoral ministry during the Great Plague of London (1665). In surveying the literature of that period, I came across an open letter to the “fugitive pastors”who fled London to escape the plague. The letter rebuked them for forsaking their congregations and called them to return to their pastoral duty, as those who shepherd must “love to live to the good of the church.”1 Instead of separating from the sheep in times of danger, shepherds should love to spend their lives for the good of the church. Thomas Vincent illustrates this well, and he provides a courageous example of one who preached in London throughout the plague years. As we look back at recent memories of COVID, we observed all too painfully how churches suspended the assembly of the saints and pastors neglected their calling to care for the flock. Pastors must not be hirelings who serve in pastoral ministry for their own good, but they must imitate the chief shepherd by spending their lives for the good of the church.

Love and care for the church should likewise be a defining character trait for every church member (1 Cor 12:14-26). Every part of the body is to love and edify one another so that together we become more like Christ (Eph 4:15-16). We should love to love the church. In today’s individualistic consumer approach to the church, too many are driven by self-love and give little consideration to loving the church. The bride of Christ is shamefully treated like a commodity. Voices are quick to speak poorly about Christ’s bride, and body parts are all too willing to be amputated or dis-membered in the name of self-interest. Instead, we must take to heart the love that Christ has for his church. Christ “loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Eph 5:25) and he has obtained her for himself by his precious blood (Acts 20:28; 1 Pet 1:18-19). The fellowship we share in our Lord is of inestimable worth, and this gift of grace is to be treasured. So then, let us “love to live to the good of the church.”

This blog exists to encourage the saints toward that end. May the Lord grant us grace that we might “love to live to the good of the church.”

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