spiritual authority in England. But it is nor this that he is chiefly famed, but for an entirely new line of attack upon the papacy. He condemned the morals and the doctrines of the upholders of the See of Rome. He inquired into the evil lives of the friars, of whom there were many in England in his days. It was when Wycliffe was a leader in Oxford that he discussed the doctrine of transubstantiation, and preached against the celibacy of the clergy, and showed the evils attendant upon the papal practices. He appealed for his authority in his teaching to the Holy Scriptures, and he defied anyone to show him that the peculiar papal principles could be proved from their pages. Wycliffe, then, please observe, preceded Luther in his chief contention that the Bible should be the final Court of Appeal in matters referring to the religious life. He thought that no better course could be followed; no better work would be done than that of placing in the people's hands the Holy Scriptures. With this object he produced several translated versions of the Bible, and he appointed his poor friars to go through the country to make it known to even the boy who drove the plough. I expect you know something about the troubles through which they passed. You have heard of Wycliffe's persecutors. But this man had a work to do, and he did it manfully in spite of anathemas from Rome, and in spite of discouragement and opposition from home.
Now to-night I have had to pass through a long range of subjects, and I fear that it may have wearied some of you. But it was most important that an overwhelming mass of facts should have been placed before your attention, in order to convince you that the Church of England before the
