The Washington times., 1901-07-28
EARLY ENGLISH LITERATURE.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TINES An incom-
piete manuscript of Wiclif's English BIZ
Die Is said to have been up for sale In
London recently" and to be '.the work Of
an English scribe about 1410" Evening
Times of July 25). Wiclin (sometimes
spelled with two US and one II, the re-
puted father OF English prose- and
Morning Star of the Reformation" is.
suspect, myth He is said to have trans
| lated portions OF the Bible into English
as early as 1882 and to have died in 1884,
aged about sixty years. The quantity of
literary work ascribed to him Is prodi-
gious. Polydore vergil. in his Historic
Anglica." 1893. mentioned him. but Ii
brarian Leland. vergil's contemporary and
Englands first photographer. says he saw
few of the many Latin books of Wicliff.
and is silent about any English writings
by him. The fabrication of wicliff liter
ature seems to have begun In the reign
of Henry VIII. His New Testament,
based on the vulgate, was first published
in 1871.
The learned French Jesuit Hardouin
Qe46-172s). who declared that all the writ
inss of the so-called fathers Of the
Church were fabricated after the revival
of learning. mentioned Wiclir in g. re-
markable passage, which / translate from
the Latin:
There was no public heresy, nor any
public persecution in the Church from It's
foundation among the Gentiles and the
abolition of the synagogue up to the
time of Wicliff. who first used the forged
books under the names of Augustine and
others, as weapons against the Church.
So Augustine begat Wicliff, Wicliff begat
Luther, Luther begat Calvin. and Calvin
begat Jansen. And these are about all
the heresics Christianity has ever seen.
All the 4heresies that we read about in
these pretended ancient books are fic-
tions, gotten UP for the purpose of propa-
eating atheism under the pretext of op-
2osing heresy' Qrolegomena, D. 212).
Had Father Hardonin seen a copy Of the
alleged English Bible by Wicliff he sure
ly would have discredited its execution
as early as 1910, and would doubtless have
classed it among the vast number of mod
ern Benedfctfne forgeries which, as he
said, had "sorely vexed and torn the
Church for the three hundred years past.
monastic libraries before about 1870. And
he himself was a librarian.
And Prof. Edwin Johnson is convinced
that in England mo libraries or collections
of books are discoverable until the period
of the Tudors. say about 1910"
There are stories about Iiildas of the
sixth century and Bede OF the eighth.
OF Gildas Allibone, in his Dictionary Of
Authors, says: He is said to have -four
ished in the sixth century, but everything
concerning him. and even the existence
of such a person. Is involved in doubt
and obscurfty." May not the same be
said of the venerable Bede. who is
supposed to have died in the year 135?
The only account of his life is given at
the end of an ecclesiastical history pur-
porting to have been written by him. but
undoubtedly fabricated by monks after
the revival of learning.
Martin Luther, some time after becom-
ing an Augustinian monk. was surprised
and delighted to find Latin Bible. 1t
led him out of the Catholic Church. In
haste he translated it into German. Did
Wicliff make an English translation one
hundred and forty years before that of
Luther? Credat quiiibet.
Prof. johnson completed his chief work,
THE Rise of Christendom. about 1891.
before he saw Father Hardouin's s Ad
Censuram Scriptorum Veterum Prole-
and was surprised to find him.
self in substantial accord there~ith. He
has since made a complete translation Of
small volume, which awaits
publication. There may not be more than
twenty copies of Johnson's works in this
Rafuddin Ahmad. learned
quotes largely from the
Rise of Christendom'' In a recent article |
In the Nineteenth Century, and ascribed |
to its author great ability. impartialfty, |
and an unrivaled acquaintance with eccle- |
siastical history. w. H BURR.