Protestantism in England From the Times of Henry VIII - James Aitken Wylie

These two were joined by a third, a young man
of blameless life and elevated soul. John Fryth, the
son of an inn-keeper at Sevenoaks, Kent, was
possessed of marvelously quick parts; and with a
diligence and a delight in learning equal to his
genius, he would have opened for himself, says
Fox, "an easy road to honors and dignities, had he
not wholly consecrated himself to the service of the
Church of Christ."[3] It was William Tyndale who
first sowed "in his heart the seed of the Gospel."[4]
These three young students were perfectly
emancipated from the yoke of the Papacy, and their
emancipation had been accomplished by the Word
of God alone. No infallible Church had interpreted
that book to them. They read their Bibles with
prayer to the Spirit, and as they read the eyes of
their understanding were opened, and the wonders
of God's law were revealed to them. They came to
see that it was faith that unlocked all the blessings
of salvation: that it was faith, and not the priest,
that united them to Christ -- Christ, whose cross,
and not the Church, was the source of forgiveness;
whose Spirit, and not the Sacrament, was the
46