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REVIEW.
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Art . I . —The Life and Opinions of John de Wyclijfe , D . D ., illustrated principally from his unpublished JMSS . ; with a Preliminary View of the Papal System , and of the State of the Protestant Docti ine in Europe to the Commencement of the Fourteenth Century , By Robert Vaughan . London . Holdsworth . We entirely agree with the author of the work now before us , that in the
annals of this country there are hundreds of men whose names should not be repeated with that of Wycliffe , to the illustration of whose history a much larger portion of industry and talent has been applied . This may be ascribed partly to the remoteness and comparative obscurity of the period in which he lived , and partly to the propensity so generall y observable among men to undervalue those talents and exertions which the counsels of
Providence have not seen fit to reward with apparent and immediate success . Whatever may have been the impression produced by the labours of Wycliffe upon his personal friends and disciples , to the cursory and superficial observer it appears to have soon passed away . It was a light shining in a dark place which was speedily overwhelmed by the damps and vapours around it ; a premature and fruitless attempt to struggle against corruption and oppression ; to bring back a purer light of divine truth which the times were as yet unable to bear . For a while , the obscene birds of night , which
had so long held undisputed sway , were disturbed and affrighted by the unwonted apparition ; but they presently rallied their forces , and not only were they enabled to chase away the rising spirit , but the land was again overwhelmed apparently with more hopeless and impenetrable darkness . In reading the history of the church , after toiling through many a dreary century of ignorance , superstition , and spiritual thraldom , or tracing what might at first view appear the abortive exertions of this eminent forerunner of the Reformation , followed for awhile by an access of still heavier and deeper gloom , we are tempted to close , the page in disappointment—We had trusted it had been he who should have redeemed his brethren !
The feeling is an erroneous one , for there can be no ^ oubt that the impression thus produced did not altogether die , away ; the seed was committed to an ungrateful soil and at an apparently ungenial season ; but much of it was preserved to sprout and bear fruit in happier times , and to exert a material influence on the changes which were afterwards more successfully accomplished . Still , however , there can be no doubt that the
feeling exists , and has mainly prevented this illustrious reformer from receiving at the hands of posterity that meed of applause to which his talents , his virtues , and his labours , would otherwise have entitled him . The outline of this eminent man ' s story belongs to the history of the times , and may be found with more or less correctness jn various places . Among others , it has been pleasingly traced by , Mr , Gilpin in his " Lives of
the Reformers , " This , however , is a ^ mere ; sketch , the perusal of which can do little more than excite the reader ' s curiosity for ; more full and copious informationy a curiosity which Mr . Viaughan has laboured with a laudable and , on the whole , a successful - industry to . gratif y ^ The original 1 ' materials , 'if they may be bo called ^; far this purpose , pre-
Review.
REVIEW .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1828, page 606, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2564/page/22/
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