The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1902-03-20

religion. But | had talk with him
Yesterday, and he tells me that your
preaching had the effect of making the
good women of Sudbury attack and
cruelty maltreat the tax farmer.
"My preaching!" cried Ralph, taken
aback at this accusation.
"Did you not, as he says, teach them
that the poor commons should not be
oppressed with taxes for foreign wars
while so much wealth, that should be
used for the relief of the poor, is wasted
by worldly clerks on their own carnal
Pleasures
yes" cried Ralph, "but l coun-
selled no outrage. On the contrary, |
besought the people to have patience,
and told them that conscience and JUS
tice were at last awake and active in
high places, and with Gods help would
soon bring them amendment of their
wrongs. counselled them to endur-
ance and hope"
The merchant smiled and shook his
head "And they remembered part
of your preaching and forgot the other
part. But tell me, ii these poor people
should be punished for their violence,
would the guilt of that punishment
not lie on you?"
"In that case," said Ralph, sadly,
81 should have much to answer for.
| But this painful thought moves me all
the more to work for the amendment of
their wrongs"
"How?" asked the merchant,
abruptly.
"The great and powerful" answered
Ralph, edo not know how the poor
live, nor what they suffer. l live
among them and learn, and when my
knowledge is complete | trust that God
will give me strength to stir the heart
and conscience of power
"Words alone will not do it," said
the merchant, gravely. "Your Master
Wycliffe says Also" he resumed after a
pause, "that tithes should not be paid
to clerks of irreligious and Improbable
life; that it is lawful to withhold tithes
from such men. But what poor man
in these ravening times can keep lands
or goods or life, if he stand by himself?
l heard, when last was in England,
of case in Lincolnshire, where poor
man whom one of your masters priests
had persuaded to resist the extortion of
an unworthy clerk, was seized and
thrown, heavily fettered and manacled,
into strong prison underground, where
his feet and hands were gnawed by
rats"
81 know" said Ralph, with panied
expression. ''Dominus Wycliffe wept
tears of pity and righteous anger when
he heard of it, and since then has
warned us never to stir men to such
resistance till they can find protector.
He has strong hopes of moving the
great lords to take the matter in hand. "
"Therein," cried Simon, with more
energy than he had yet shown, che is
in error. Put not your trust in princes.
They but play with the simple doctor.
They but use him to serve their own
ends. Let him assail the temporal
dominion of the pope, as he hath done
in his excellent tract De Dominic, let
HIM denounce the employment of pre-
lates in secular affairs, and they tar
him on to the battle. But for restoring
the true order of Christ and his apos-
ties, by the bowels of Judas, they have
no more thought of that than this
dumb beast that bears me! Nay, nay
the poor commons must help them
selves. | see there is no help to be
hoped for from this crazy, silly dupe OF
a subtle DOCTOR"
Ralph stood aghast at this impeach-
ment of his master. ''Domiue Wy
cliffe," he said, after a pause, in which
he tried to subdue his anger, "puts no
trust in subtle disputation in this
matter. 1t is not by his own words
that he hopes to bring the great lords
to the side of truth and pure religion.
He knows full well that if a greater
Lord than they does not touch their
hearts, his reasoning is in vain"
EYES," returned Simon, in the same
bitter tone, ''but Christ sometimes
chooses humber instruments than great
clerks of Oxford, great masters of logic
and rhetoric"
Their road now lay over wild heath,
which had once been roughly cleared on
both sides, as the law directed, to the
extent of 20 PAGES, to destroy the cover
for lurking robbers. Roads were not
so safe then, We need hardly remind
the reader, as they are now; any thick
copse or cluster of hawthorn bushes
might conceal band of lawless desper-
, ADDE'S, and at this time of the year
, many such bands lay in wait for trav-
elers to Stourbridge Fair.
The prudent merchant looked SO
/ earnestly ahead that Ralph imagined
| him to be on the watch for signs OF