John Wyclif was probably the first person to translate the whole Bible into the English tongue. He was born about 1320, when the language of England was in process of formation. He commenced by translating the Revelation in 1356, and with help finished the entire Bible by 1382. He certainly lived up to his saying, "Christian men ought to travail night and day about holy writ". In his day the Greek originals of the New Testament Scriptures were almost forgotten in Europe, for the Latin Vulgate version had dominated the continent for a thousand years. In translating from the Vulgate, Wyclif never once used the expression "for ever" or "for ever and ever", and though he used "everlasting" he never used "eternal". Had the Authorized Version followed immediately after Wyclif, we should never have received the word "eternal" either, nor would the mass of false theology have been built upon it.
Cecil J. Blay
