The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-01-05

as the trcubler of Israel. Though he was q
Romish priest, yet the church authorities did
not look with favor upon either his teachings or
his methods. He was too good a Protestant to
suit them; but he was not a man to
be suppressed. He was the stuff of which
martyrs were made. He had found Gods
truth, and he was bound to proclaim it in Parlia-
ment and out of Parliament: whether he stood
before the Pope's ENJOYS in Bruges or in Oxford,
in st. Paals or in Lambeth.
Wycllf hated the friars so intensely that it
is said a5 one time, when he was supposed to be
dying, he was aroused by the presence of some
mendicants, who came to urge him to recant;
and, liking his eyes upon them, he let fly at
them this sharp answer: II shall not die but
live, and shall again declare the evil deeds of the
friars@ he did live, and kept his promise most
Much ought to be said in these days-doubtless
much will be said-about Wyclifs place
IN history, and about the prominent part
he played in resisting the arrogant
and monstrous claims of the papacy. Much
more would be said on these points if all his
works were easy of access, and it is to be sin
cerely hoped that English-speaking Protestant
Christendom will not permit the quincentenary
Of Wyelifs death to pass without making ample
provision for the translation and publication OF
all his writings. Wyclif's Bible was his great
est work, even as it is his most enduring monu-
menG.
Professor Burrows is doubtless correct when
he says that ITO Wyclif we owe, more than to
any one person that can be mentioned, our En-
glish language, our English Bible, and our re-
formed religion" Perhaps Wyclif might point
with pride to all his books, as did the Roman
Cornelia to her sons, but of his Bible he
might well say, this is my book of books, this is
my Jewel of Jewels. Wyclif knew and felt
that what his country most needed was that
divine light which shines in the sacred page. He
loved liberty, both civil and religious, and he
knew that a free and open Bible is Hberty's
palladium. Let the Bible be scattered through
ont tho havnac of Enrlon1 aaA 4han TUuc1if
could see, with as clear an eye as Millions, "A
noble and p~uissant nation rousing herself like
a strong man after sleep. and shaking her in
vincible locks" Hence it was that he labored
with all his might to give the Bible
TO the people and to make it s'more
trewe OPEN to them in English than it
was to others in Latin. How well he succeeded
is known to all the world. It was a stupendous
work for that age, and it is only right that we
should commemorate it: that we and our chill
and tell it to the ge: .tions following, for
Wyclifs Bible is our L-ole, and not only so
but Wyclif himself is our Wyclif. 1t is to the
Bible that England and America owe their chief
est glory, and their truest greatness. Its doc
trlnes are woven into our Constitutions; they
are knit into our character; they are the
charter Of our liberties. 1t was the
Bible that made the Puritans. 1t was
the Bible that landed the Mayiower
and that brought to these shores our Pilgrim
fathers. 1t is the Bible that speaks to us with
so divine a voice that myriads regard it as the
one divine book, and in their hours of deepest
sorrow they go to it for comfort. Its enemies
have sought to destroy it, but the fires they
kindled for that purpose have only served to
spread abroad its blessed light. A Voltaire, and
q Paine, and an ~Ingersoll may shoot at it their
poisoned arrows, but no arrow can reach the sun,
and no amount of cheap ridicule or of profane wit
can destroy eternal truth. This is the book that
tells US of God and of His Christ. of sin and sal
walton, of eternal life and eternal death, of life's
duties and how we may perform them, and of
heavens glories and of how We may reach them.
This is the Book which, while it warns the IN
godly to fee from the wrath to come, yet in
throwing its bright beams far across the valley
of the shadow of death, it lights up for US the
blooming fields of immortality. This was Wiclif's
Bible. 1t is our Bible. 1t is Gods Bible.