The National Register.
London, England, 1816-06-17 00:00:00

ANCIENT PULPIT ELOQUENCE.
No. 11.
REIGNS OF EDWARD 111. AND RICHARD

DURING the latter part of the reign of Edward the
Third, and the begiuning of that of Richard the Second,
the principal person who attained any celebrity fur his ta-
lents as a preacher, was the well ki,own JJkli Wichtfc, or
DeWiclilfe, so culled from the place of his birth, an obscure
village near the town of Richmond, in Yorkshire.
Endowed with powers of mind infinitely superior to
those of all his contemporaries, with the most undaunted
courage, and with indefatigable zeal, this wonderful man
was the first who sought to break the chains which su-
perstition, and an hypocritical policy, had imposed npon
the world. Despising all the power of his formidable
antagonists, he boldly attacle4 them at every assailable
point, and, with such extraordinary success, that the ef-
fects of his preaching were accounted little less than mi-
raculous. Raffled at all points, the Monkish writers
themselves were compelled, even in their own defence, to
express their astonishment at his talents,—to state to the
world, that in philosophy he was second to none ; and
that, in the depths of scholastic reasoning, he was with-
oat an equal. Knighton, one of their own historians,
sersures us, that, in the course of ten years, " almost every
second person in England had become a convert to his
loctrinca." _ _

John Wicliffe rose from an humble rank of life, and, '
befire he was forty years of age, had attained the high-
est distinctiow that the University of Oxford, in which
he was educated, could bestow. He had been succes-
sively elected Master of two Colleges, one of which was
under the immediate patronage of the Archbishop of
Canterbury. In his own conduct he is said to have been
distinguished by a peculiar austerity of life and manners;
which operated, in addition to his talents, in fixing his
celebrity.
After Wicliffe had openly declared himself the cham-
pion of reform, the clergy in their alarm appealed to the
See of Rome ; and, a short time prior to the death of
Edward the Third, he was cited to appear before the
Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Bishop of London, to
account for his heretical opinions; but, pmtecsed by the
Duke of Lancueter, and by others of the nubility, no cen-
sure was passed upon him, either at this, or at any time
afterwards, during his whole life ; and at length, in the
year 1384, lie died of a paralytic affection, at his rectory
of Lutterworth, in the county of Leicester.

Of the writings of Wicliffe there are few extant, ex-
cept those which he drew up against the papists, and of
which the principal was on the subject of the sacrament,
and published at Nurcnburg, in 1546, under the title of
" A Treatise on the Sacrament,- called " Wvext.isse's
Wvcarrr, which he made in Me Days of Richard II."
He translated the New Testament into English, which
has lately been re-published. Amongst the Harleian
MSS. in the British Museum, No. 1730, there is a quarto
MS. on vellum, of abont 106 pages, entitled " Wickliffe's
Postils." These consist of a collection of sermons for
every Sunday in the year: and„, although many works
have erroneously been ascribed to Wickliffe, this M.
appears to contain internal evidence of its authenticity.
In the same collection, No. '2385, are his notes on the
Pater nester or lord's prayer ;and some other discourses.
We shall insertan extract from the latter.

ON DUTY TO GOD AND OUR NEIGHBOUR.

" Thou sh.dt love th.e Lord thy Gud of idl thine heart, of all thy life,
and all thy mind, and of all thy strength sr might.; and thy neighbour
as thyself. On these two commandments hangeth all the law and
prophets."
Then, thou locoed God of all thine heart. that is to say, of all thy
understanding ; warn thou shapest all thine understanding principally
to know the eiciless might and righteousness—the endless wisdom, and
charity, and mercy of thy God ; how God is ready, and willing, and
kunnin. (able) to venter sin, and punish wicked men, that wolcn (will)
not leave their sin; and how God is merciful and konnin (able) aril
mighty to forz,,ive them that have very repentenne of their wicked sins.
And, for this understanding of shy God, thou most flex and desert tin
of all thy power and thy wit ; and keep and teach thecoinniandments
of God, and maintain righteou ',less, and good living, and charity.
Also thou locest God of My life, when thou ehspest all thy life, both in
youth and age, and in poaperisy.ald adversity, so the sisislaip of God,
in c7etinniss and holyeess, hearing praising thy Gud, for all his
grace, anti gash:was. Lid mercy, and for all diseases and tribulidion
that he sendeth to thee in this life. Also Thou loveA God of all thy
mind when thou shapest all thy amid,—totbink on the goodness of God
how he made all tliin!es if nought, not fur his own need, ne (nor) ad-
vantage, but of his own goodness. and the profit of his true creatures,
as be gesidatv,eels andgood men ; and tohave mina (uisslitate) virtu/4CA