The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1884-12-09 00:00:00

THE MORNING sTAR OF THE REFOR-

M ATION.

Thla WWI tb• subj-ct of so es Natant 1-cture
hi rend in tho B• 113 Vo-•raom in sion.isy eve •iug
by the Rev. G.rdou J. If Lle•-llyn, i•lcumbeut of
Christ Church, Yeovil. "Th. Morin. g Stet of the
Ref .wmatioe," tho lectornr rat , appg Kna.
land to lb. year of our Lipi 13i4, ohm thn village n'
Wictift, distant about sin mu.. from Itichnion in
Yorkishire, became renowned f all tim- 44 h hirth•
plasm of John Wiolif, Wickliffe r 1, WyeilL., I
so may way. is the name of the rnat itsforaser
14. Ho wr sprung, 111. sel•I, of the .4,1 felony
sagas msoredly in Its origin-- rho, from lb, OM Of
the ciotiquest, had been I isle of the m mu, aod to .trao.
of the rectory. Of Ism chitlh .01, of the i. limonite
which sfectaid hi. youthful mind, sod the circuw.
at•nose which . ••• • hie. t • hi, thought'. we
.I,thsppily know nothing th•t relishle. or plessint
• wonld It hews Iron to try,. the growth of nor Impr. I
1p ode* an intellect, to mark h nit it struggled
' ...ward to the light thr ,ugh the cle-p lark el .0 14 of
•r:or and delusion' to me the plant bloom el•h increa-
sing rigour until it developed into • ooble tree,
beneath whom lar-spre•ding foliage the whole loud
raj ice I. But he moat host en) .y. ian *do a i.e of
• considerable comps.. t fit him for the Uoiveretty
c wee npon which he eat-red in his 17th ymr so •
atoient .1 Queen's College, Octopi. Prom thence,
sitar • vary abort probation, he remn• d to M•rton
. College. when the means awl Prom of kno aledge
were mum aboadent. At what time Wyclif Menne •
" Lollard," or whence he derived thn spark of fire
which In hie ardent eon! bolt+ into so yigorou• • fl sme,
is at the best anoirtate. The own*" L •Ilay " had
been given In the bo• C ointrim I, 1,. persecrPei
?remission end other onthosiseto, froin thoir proctios
of •Inging hymns, lolleo or tattoo, to one of th 4 ..11
Goymus dialects, signifying to slug,.. a in their when
she lolls her b•tr. There seems • probetpliiy that he
bed etteine•lsome knowledge of the Inns orof-sesl
by the Vandole,s primitive people d well mg In the valley.
of the Cottisin Alps, web s held DI. faith 'sight by the
early Christ's') Chorch, to spite of the tyr sno y of the
priest* of R 'me, an) thu., lu the high pine II —in the
leatemees of the mountaim —0 I .oak, as lio lid of
old, when the prophets revealed His will I Sot. nit],
, men. Wiceliff a !le an I W.V.% tee mind •••ixsi
I greediirulpon the ne• Pelt . to his notice by
tb• an studios.,
stri they excite o pa d him tr.
' sus k rseteerothe. into ivory hr mei of knowl.elgo with
, the greeter terrors.. Ho eed the widn field'
of philosophy and natural Wenn- he p ,n. tuite I tho
shetroseet oyster'ea of acitolsetic remaroh. tir ()tell
and the moos law, the laws and customs .1 Kiirlairl
suppled his sedulous leve•tit Mies. But while devot-
hog himself to soots studies WI ,lif did sot oeglect the
entitle diatribes of Arietotle, much of whom abetrasest
writings he eammitt •ri to mesenty. He mod. himself
families with the works 1 the krimitty• Isthers, with
these of the theologians of hie own can. r 41.1 rt. This
knowledge wee, homiest. subservient to litther and
holier end.. and fornithed him with the weapons
whi it would stand him in good stead in his contest
s,th toe 90,miea or troth. The Bible wee the obj-ct,
f hie °melee' rematch. though tip. R.rniah Church
dim:ionised its study. The tithe. of *oh •liist.c
Philosophy were hell In higher tapas thou the
Epistles. of St. Peril. Pater bombsrd's font hooks
were more highiy esteems' than the parables pi Jean,.
It ma now in thie elate of public I,pinton that
Wyclif metated to cambium the study of the stria-
tum with the closest remuch into the eohotentic
metaphysics, and while exemlelag the logic of
Aristotle with the minutest siteetton to recognise the
supreme inspiration of the Bible. and make glib, law
of hi. Rh and the m.thoi of his thought. After
an ellogion to Wyolifts first treotete, the Wanner pro-
MOW to refer to the resotinn og.innl tpo papa.,
about the instant's t of th c-ntory, and the
rosedieteat Friers, whose i tolerable ••ppemann rates"
ea settles opposition In every .1.1.0nt and h ,noursibi•
mind. That opposition, he a ntinue I. focal a vigorous
expremion le Fitsr•lpb, Chsasslior of ths Lloiveresty
of Oxford, who atter-kid them with tumid sting
eloquence, and even donoons•d them b 'foto the p
at Avignon (A.D. 1357) Three years later ho died,
but hie ntentl• devolved upon the worthy -boulders of
John Wycillf, whose noble sympathise so I earnest
hurt had long been stirred by the egoism .n 1 •o o
them cooled tyrents. Hs sprang at one. lot' the
madam ground and heroically made • steal ag stoat
the powers of &ukases 11 sinning the battle lu 1360,
he gootieuad It for any years wilts wood. rful
ONO sad incredible enthusiasm In the strugole .bleb
ensued the mrvicui renders Iby Wyclif were au opor•
tent that Op University coold a I hut sok., ..toig-
then in • signal manner, an I in 1361 h. 11,4 ore-
-11414401 by Bohol Colleen with the living of Fslii 14ham.
• In the Disceee of Licein, mid appokto I to the poet
of warden. The living he eichangad in 1369 f.r that
of Ludgerilthil, whiuh wart nearer I. Oxford, and the
wardthehip he rethpsed in 1365. when nantioot d by
Archbishop Islip to the war 'mishits of Cants bury
Hall. On the death of Islip, Pete' Lacyhetn, Bithop
of Ely, woe promoted to the Primacy, an I the of s
sem of the monks procured fr •en the n-w arohhf.thop
Wyclfk mammary doing...a Af oureferring to Wyclire
appointment NA private chaplain to the king, Moieties
Moot to Lrodgerehall,thd Ms prof month ip • ,f ify at
Dth lectiper c .n11'1.61-111 1375 Womb( was
promoted to the Probssi of Ant tu the Clll.giate
Church of Westbury, pions e of Wnroorar, end
about the same time bib. Ramory of Luttew rth, in
Leicester, where he obtaised ciaterable repute se •
preacher. Soon afterwards he formed one of an
Rothaem dispatched by E !word 111. to Pope
, Greg ry XL to Insist in the nem* of lb. Moglieh
tartPle, that the Pontif shall deei-t from the
reservation of Ma'am. Is the to,,lie sa C ittroh, that
the clergy should hmoeforth f.eety • j ,y their election
; to Epleeopel arcades, and that It might he aufficislot
lathe arm of electing • Bishop toot his Appolotatant
should be °confirmed by hI4 Metropolitan, isocordieg to
seedrait custom. Tbe Embassy obt n 1 nt the
ehswdow of • ooncession. The lioglish Porliammit,
detennthed to peresstre Isits independent o otter, ant
emoted • law spied the asurpatioo4 of ills Pope,
deelesiegtheelectim of Bishops to he utterly ind•pup
deet of the Papal ematioe, and et the same time
Onflfth'elagsn*:iri i
o.a in thVAnVioexact
Ch.uurolcbh.Poccaund occupied by
slims. With this Informatlon the Embassy again
repaired to the Poatifical Court at Borges, and for
Iwo woorf Yvan the negvtiation was protsicted • ter-
=login In • futile &enamel:l, which neither
maids(' the public ogurf nor really limited the
soercethlueot of the Pops. It bee °flee been mid that
If You dairy, to moire • man • Promothot you should
mud Mut t't Rms. and whet Wyclif saw in the
immediate neighbourhood of the Valtbor of the Onureb
can.. I hie soul to barn with righteous tedious-
UM- Prim beautforth he wee the declared mercy of
it°s•loo- Tbo Yuri) lespirsties of hie B doemlen
=vsze.ocallreted by "kis oleos lesight into the
of the Peget *elm Ea taw vies