Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1890-07-10
Wycliffe's New Testament.

!
that it would scarcely be the place in
which to expect to find rare literary
treasure. By the courtesy, however, of
MIR. Henry Willett, the fortunate pos
SCISSOR of so many objects of archeologi-
cal, literary, artistic and scientific interest
we have recently had the privilege of
inspecting one of the rarest volumes we
had ever handled, namely, MS. copy of
'The Newe Testamente," as translated
into English by John Wycliffe The
volume, from its age, possibly over 500
years, seemed almost too precious to
touch. 1t is of no great size, but is in
value 'above rubies." 1t was long an
heirloom in the family of the late Rev.
Thos Rooper, of the Wick, Hove, having
been handed down through successive
generations from Margaret Roper, the
devoted daughter of Sir Thomas More,
Henry VIII. s famous Treasurer and Lord
Chancellor, and the successor of Wolsey
The intrinsic value of this remarkable
volume is much enhanced by the national
and historical circumstances which gave
rise to its existence. In translating the Old
and New Testaments into English, the
grand and fearless old ecclesiast, John
Wycliffe, "The Morning Star of the Ref
ormation," as he has been not inaptly
styled, achieved work for England
which up to that period must be regard
ed as altogether unique, and which in its
| far-reaching results became an irresistible
and effectual means of reforming the
faith of the people. The occasion brings
forth the man. Educated under Brad
wardine at Oxford, Wycliffe specially
devoted himself to the study of philoso-
ply and theology. He drank deep at
the Biblical fountains, and was not slow
to call others to them. The abuses then
prevalent among the monks and clergy
of the Romish Church he fearlessly ex-
posed; and he took leading part in the
contests between the Mendicant Orders
and the university and between the
Crown and the papacy. He labored in
cessantly as a preacher and pastor, and
his sharp sayings about the papal tribute
and the Church excited much attention
in high quarters. His opinions spread so
among the common people that the
Church became alarmed. The naughty
Courtenay, Bishop of London, cited the
bold preacher in 1877 to appear before a
convocation at st. Paul's, where he was
attended by Lord Percy and John of
Gaunt, "time -honored Lancaster L" The
cathedral was crowded; hard words
passed between the bishop and the duke
and the meeting broke up in confusion.
But Wycliffe was not silenced Three
months afterwards Pope Gregory XI. is
sued three bulls against him, one adj
dressed to the primate, who summoned
Wycliffe to appear at Lambeth. "Men
expected he should be devoured;" but
the proceedings were stopped by order
of the Queen-mother; Wycliffe was dis
missed, and, like the apostles Peter and
John, was warned not to say such things
again. Still the brave preacher went on
zealously in his work. The country was
over-spread by his "poor priests" evan
gelists and missionaries, to propagate
the truth of the Gospel. The time was
opportune for its reception, for in the
same year, 1878, began the great schism
in the papacy. But, in spite of ill
health, Wycliffe's hardest blow to the
Romish Church was yet to be dealt, by
the completion and the publication of his
English Bible, translated from the Vul-
gate, upon which he had labored be-
tween ten and fifteen years, and in which
he was cordially assisted by disciples and
by learned friends. -Four times, we are
told, he went through the work, con-
sulting with grammarians and divines
and the last time shaping the sentences
so that they should be understood
by simple men. A recent writer in All
the Year Round, says that Wyclffes
friend, John of Gaunt, was the first to
cry out for an English Bible. "We will
not be the dregs of all, ~ the duke cried,
when some Churchman was questioning
the good of Wycliffes work, ''seeing
other nations have the law of God, which
is the law of our faith in their tongue. :"
Wycliffe's prologue puts it on the same
ground =" "Frenchmen, Beemers (Bohe-
mians), and Britons Bretons), have the
Bible translated in hire modir tonhue.
Viii shoulder not Englishmen have the
same in hire modir language, | cannot
wite."
1t is trite saying that men are most
eager after what is forbidden them; and
''all the world" was eager to peruse the
"open Bible, for copies seem to have
been multiplied with inconceivable
rapidity, seeing that each one had to be
written, as the printing press was then
undiscovered. The Romish clergy, too,
popular, by denouncing it. They would
not themselves give the people an author
lied version; but yet they found fault
with WyclifTe'sl The grand old reformer
was more than ever prosecuted. Yet
fearlessly he went on; and his public at
tack in 1881 ON "transubstantiationn
brought upon him sentence of condem-
nation from the university. The break
ing out in the same year of Wat Tyler's
insurrection intensified the alarm
which his opinions excited. A synod,
under the presidency of Courtenay, de-
clared them to be heretical, and Royal
ordinance was subsequently issued for the
arrest and Imprisonment of the Lolards,
his followers. Wycliffe himself, though
subject to continual persecution, seems
at this time to have retired to his cure at
Lutterworth, where he died in 1884 of
paralysis. Wycliffe's so-called heresies
were at the period regarded simply as
| spiritual otfenses, punishable only by
slifitual censures. The statute de Here
tico combnrendo had not then been
passed, or he would assuredly have been
burned. The statute was promulgated
some twenty years later, declaring that
all who read the Bible in English should
forfeit "land, catel, lif, and goods, from
ther heyres for ever" If, however,
Wyclife, in his lifetime, escaped burn
ing, his remains were subsequently, by
the order of the Council of Constance,
exhumed from the chancel of the Church
at Lutterworth, burned to ashes, and the
ashes thrown into the river Swift. In
! I.lo inf oil NIL l. yi,,,,