to see what the papacy
really was. In a tract which he published, "On the Schism of the Popes,"
Wycliffe called upon the people to consider whether these two priests were
not speaking the truth in condemning each other as the antichrist. "God,"
said he, "would no longer suffer the fiend to reign in only one such
priest, but ... made division among two, so that men, in Christ's name,
may the more easily overcome them both."(118)

Wycliffe, like his Master, preached the gospel to the poor. Not content
with spreading the light in their humble homes in his own parish of
Lutterworth, he determined that it should be carried to every part of
England. To accomplish this he organized a body of preachers, simple,
devout men, who loved the truth and desired nothing so much as to extend
it. These men went everywhere, teaching in the market-places, in the
streets of the great cities, and in the country lanes. They sought out the
aged, the sick, and the poor, and opened to them the glad tidings of the
grace of God.

As a professor of theology at Oxford, Wycliffe preached the word of God in
the halls of the university. So faithfully did he present the truth to the
students under his instruction, that he received the title of "The Gospel
Doctor." But the greatest work of his life was to be the 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 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, "