Page:John Wycliff, last of the schoolmen and first of the English reformers.djvu/411

 will go to the Pope. But God has laid his constraint upon me to the contrary, and has taught me to obey God rather than man. And I suppose of our Pope that he will not be Antichrist, and oppose Christ in his working, to the contrary of Christ's will; for if he summon against reason, by himself or any of his servants, and follow up his unskilful summoning, he is an open Antichrist. And merciful intention did not save Peter from being called Satan by Christ; so blind intention and wicked advice do not excuse the Pope here; but if he require of true priests that they should travel more than is possible for them, he is not relieved from the charge of being Antichrist. For our faith teaches us that our blessed God suffers us not to be tempted beyond our ability. Why should man require such service?

"Wherefore we pray to God for our Pope Urban VI., that his former good disposition may not be quenched by his enemies. And Christ, that may not lie, says that a man's enemies are specially those of his own household."

It was his last word to Rome. For all we know, it may have been the last word of controversy or argument which he wrote in his lifetime. The date of the citation is not ascertained, but this letter to the Pope was apparently one of the latest occurrences in Wyclifs life of which we possess any record. He lived till the close of 1384, and then, as was right and fitting, in his own church at Lutterworth, on the feast of the Holy Innocents, at the elevation of the host, in the very act of reasonable and reverent worship, the light went out. He lay