72
The Great Controversy
translation of the Scriptures into the English language. In a work,
On the Truth and Meaning of Scripture, he expressed his intention to
translate the Bible, so that every man in England might read, in the
language in which he was born, the wonderful works of God.
But suddenly his labors were stopped. Though not yet sixty years
of age, unceasing toil, study, and the assaults of his enemies had told
upon his strength and made him prematurely old. He was attacked by a
dangerous illness. The tidings brought great joy to the friars. Now they
thought he would bitterly repent the evil he had done the church, and
they hurried to his chamber to listen to his confession. Representatives
from the four religious orders, with four civil officers, gathered about
the supposed dying man. “You have death on your lips,” they said; “be
[88]
touched by your faults, and retract in our presence all that you have
said to our injury.” The Reformer listened in silence; then he bade his
attendant raise him in his bed, and, gazing steadily upon them as they
stood waiting for his recantation, he said, in the firm, strong voice
which had so often caused them to tremble: “I shall not die, but live;
and again declare the evil deeds of the friars.”—D’Aubigne, b. 17, ch.
7. Astonished and abashed, the monks hurried from the room.
Wycliffe’s words were fulfilled. He lived to place in the hands of
his countrymen the most powerful of all weapons against Rome—to
give them the Bible, the Heaven-appointed agent to liberate, enlighten,
and evangelize the people. There were many and great obstacles to
surmount in the accomplishment of this work. Wycliffe was weighed
down with infirmities; he knew that only a few years for labor remained
for him; he saw the opposition which he must meet; but, encouraged
by the promises of God’s word, he went forward nothing daunted. In
the full vigor of his intellectual powers, rich in experience, he had
been preserved and prepared by God’s special providence for this, the
greatest of his labors. While all Christendom was filled with tumult,
the Reformer in his rectory at Lutterworth, unheeding the storm that
raged without, applied himself to his chosen task.
At last the work was completed—the first English translation of
the Bible ever made. The word of God was opened to England. The
Reformer feared not now the prison or the stake. He had placed in the
hands of the English people a light which should never be extinguished.
In giving the Bible to his countrymen, he had done more to break the
fetters of ignorance and vice, more to liberate and elevate his country,