A little bit of history ...

One of the buildings at college used to be a hotel called the White Horse Inn - it's the bit that now houses Moore Books and the student mail room. This part of college is often frequented by students who want to buy good books, check their mail and play table tennis.

But, if we wind back the clock a few hundred years to the 1500s, we see that another White Horse Inn (WHI) was visited often by students. It was here during the reformation that students of Cambridge University others met regularly to study the New Testament (in Greek mind you!) and discuss theology. These students probably didn't know it at the time but they each went on to be used by God to do mighty things that have contributed to who we are as evangelical Christians today.

William Tyndale was one of those who met regularly to read the Greek New Testament. Along with Miles Coverdale, Tyndale was instrumental in producing the Bible in the "language of the people" and making copies available to the common person. Tyndale "perceived that it was not possible to establish the lay people in any truth, except the Scriptures were so plainly laid before their eyes in their mother tongue, that they might see the meaning of the text". Tyndale, like many of those who stood for truth in this era, was imprisoned and died a martyr in 1536. However even in his imprisonment and death God was using him. It is said that "such was the power of his doctrine, and the sincerity of his life, that during the time of his imprisonment ... he converted, it is said, his keeper, the keeper's daughter, and others of his household."

Though we don't actually read our Greek New Testaments in the old WHI, pray that God would use those who walk its halls to do mighty things for Him. Pray that they would be used to bring the good news of Jesus to those who don't yet have the Bible in their own language and that they will be used to encourage others to keep looking to Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of their faith. Pray that what was said of Tyndale would be said of us, that the power of what we say and the sincerity of our lives would point others to Jesus and cause them to trust in Him.

The stories of many of the men who met at the original WHI can be found in Foxe's Book of Martyrs or Five English Reformers by J. C. Ryle. I'd recommend reading both those books to learn more of those to whom we, as 21st century evangelicals, owe so, so much.

Quotes have been taken from Foxe's Book of Martyrs.