John Frith (1533)

April 11th, 2025
by Jon Holaday

John Frith was a English Protestant pastor who lived to be thirty. He was well educated as he graduated from Eton College, Kings College, and later Wolsey College. It was there, he helped William Tyndale translate the New Testament into English. This effort landed him three years in prison. After his release, he translated a work by Patrick Hamilton called, "Patricks Place" which set forth the doctrine of justification by faith and the contrast between the Gospel and the law. When he returned to England, he was arrested and tried for heresy. In these days, a trial meant destroying a person before the public before their sure death! He was held in the Tower of London and wrote the Protestant views on the communion sacraments. He was offered a pardon if he would say that he believed in purgatory and transubstantiation. Johns answer, "Neither doctrine could be proven by the Holy Scriptures." He was burned at the stake. Forty years later, Johns works were published by John Foxe.