TODAY'S DEVOTION ON THE BIBLE
Despite the fact that Wycliffe’s translation of the Bible provided the English-speaking people of our world with their own Bible to read, a single copy of Wycliffe’s Bible could take as long as a whole year to produce. We must remember that Wycliffe’s English translation of the Bible preceded the time of the printing press. Therefore, it had to be copied by hand. In addition, it was only the wealthy who could afford the high cost of a copy of Wycliffe’s Bible.
Undeterred by how hard it was to get your hands on a copy of Wycliffe’s Bible, as well as by the high cost of a copy, English paupers would join together to give a load of hay for the use of a few favorite chapters for a single day. Sometimes they even pooled their pennies to buy a small copied passage to share among themselves. To think of the desperate measures the poor were willing to employ just to get their hands on a small passage of Scripture for a single day certainly speaks to the shame of modern-day Americans, who live their daily lives largely indifferent to the Word of God. Though it is readily available and most affordable, few people in our country today ever bother to pick it up or to peer into it.
Don Walton
|
