Page:John Wycliff, last of the schoolmen and first of the English reformers.djvu/409

 it, the friars did; and the malignity of their hatred towards a brave enemy who was so evidently marked for early death may be judged from the persistency with which, under such circumstances, they tried to hurry forward the last stages of his prosecution.

Wyclif was unquestionably at this time disabled for travelling, and with the best intention he could not have made the long and troublesome journey to Urban's court. He therefore sent an excuse, with a formal statement of his attitude towards the Pope—writing it, of course, in Latin; and either he or one of his friends made the following English version, slightly amplified by the translator, in order that his countrymen might know why he had not obeyed the summons:

"I joyfully admit myself bound to tell to all true men the belief that I hold, and especially to the Pope; for I suppose that if my faith be rightful, and given of God, the Pope will gladly confirm it; and if my faith be error, the Pope will wisely amend it. I suppose, moreover, that the Gospel of Christ is the heart of the body of God's law; for I believe that Jesus Christ, that gave in his own person his Gospel, is very God and very man, and by this heart passes all other laws. Above this, I suppose that the Pope is most obliged to the keeping of the Gospel among all men that live here; for the Pope is highest vicar that Christ has here in earth. For the superiority of Christ's vicar is not measured by worldly superiority, but by this, that this vicar follows Christ more closely by virtuous living; for the Gospel teaches that this is the sentence of Christ.