The Black Death engulfed England in the summer of this year brining the kingdom to its knees. It is reported that about 40% of the population died during the plague. Corpses of the dead lay piling up in fields and graveyard with no one to bury them. The sudden and exponential death toll placed a severe burden on the economy. 

At Oxford, the plague touched Wycliffe’s life in an extremely personal way. All around him scholars, townsfolk and faculty members were dying. He watched day after day as the living approached an angry God with trembling and fear, offering penance, going on pilgrimages, inflicting self-harm in an attempt to appease him. Wycliffe saw death on eevery hand. He knew the answers the church offered and saw the effects of those answers on those who survived the plague. Restless and dissatisfied he turned to Scripture for better answers.

Wycliffe discovered hope and assurance in Christ through his study of the Scriptures. He understood as never before that only Christ can offer hope for the present and the future.