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 : " 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 , than was ever achieved by the most brilliant victories on fields of battle . The art of printing being still unknown , it was only by slow and wearisome labor that copies of the Bible could be multiplied . So great was the interest to obtain the book , that many willingly engaged in the work of transcribing it , but it was with difficulty that the copyists could supply the demand . Some of the more wealthy purchasers desired the whole Bible . Others bought only a portion . In many cases , several families united to purchase a copy . Thus Wycliffe ' s Bible soon found its way to the homes of the people .
The appeal to men ' s reason aroused them from their passive submission to papal dogmas . Wycliffe now taught the distinctive doctrines of Protestantism--salvation through faith in Christ , and the sole infallibility of the Scriptures . The preachers whom he had sent out circulated the Bible , together with the Reformer ' s writings , and with such success that the new faith was accepted by nearly one half of the people of England . The appearance of the Scriptures brought dismay to the authorities of the church . They had now to meet an agency more powerful than Wycliffe--an agency against which their weapons would avail little . There
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