JOHN WICLIF, THE GOSPEL DOCTOR.

THER Doctors at Oxford were called "the Perspicuous," "the Profound," "the Singular." Any of these titles might have been aptly bestowed upon John Wiclif. He possessed in a marked degree all three qualities. But yet his most striking characteristic was his veneration for Gospel truth. In season and out of season, he constantly insisted that the Word of God should not be made vain through the traditions of men; so his devotion to the sacred volume earned for him at Merton College the title of "the Gospel Doctor." His whole after-life abundantly justified the designation.

It was the earnest study of the Scriptures which made Wiclif a Reformer. At the time when he lived-in the fourteenth centuryRomish corruption had become intolerable in its grossness. The Papal priesthood had grown over rich through extortion, and were

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proud, vainglorious, and profligate. It was partly because their lives were in such sinful opposition to the Scriptures, that these men kept the Bible a sealed book. In place of its holy teachings they substituted such precepts and traditions as were more in harmony with their own malpractices. The dogma of Papal infallibility was then in full force. Wherever the Bible and Romish tradition dis

agreed, the Bible had to give way. Even amongst the priesthood themselves, the study of the Bible was greatly discouraged. Any one who ventured to assert its authority did so at his own deadly peril, and was also likely to be subjected to the bitterest mockery and ridicule. Such truth-seekers were called "the bullocks of Abraham and the asses of Balaam." Instead of instructing the people in Scriptural knowledge, some of the priests sought to interest their hearers in "lying miracles, legendary histories, puerile and monstrous fables, chronicles of the world, histories of the battle of Troy."

Wiclif's honest and independent study of the Scriptures helped him to a clear conception of the enormity of the abuses which at that time threatened to destroy the influence of the Church. It led him to devote his life to the dissemination of pure Gospel teaching, and to the uncompromising exposure of Papal error.

His opponents soon found that Wiclif was not to be put down either by intimidation or by ridicule. He was possessed of indomitable courage, and, for his learning, was foremost amongst the sages and doctors of his time. He first turned his attention to the Mendicant Friars, whom he justly denounced as the pests of society, as the bitter enemies of all pure religion, and as monsters of arrogance, hypocrisy, and covetousness. He fearlessly proclaimed the pardons and in dulgences which they sold to be "mere forgeries," whereby, he says, "the priesthood rob men of their money; they are nothing but a subtle merchandise of clerks, whereby they magnify their own fictitious power, and, instead of causing men to dread sin, encourage them to wallow therein like hogs." Again he says-and history testifies that he does not exaggerate "They taught sinful men to buy heaven full dear. They shut against their people the Kingdom of Heaven, and would neither go in themselves, nor suffer other men to enter." But he mad war not upon persons, but upon evil practices. He was anxious for the souls of the priests as well as for those of the people. Witness this exhortation :-"Ye curates, see these heresies and blasphemies, and many more, which follow from your wicked life and wayward teaching. Forsake them, for dread of hell, and turn to good life and' true preaching of the Gospel and ordinances of God, as Christ and His Apostles did, for reward of heavenly bliss." Wiclif's outspokenness often brought trouble upon him, and it seems almost miraculous that he escaped martyrdom. He was often protected from the violence of