The REV. Gervase Smith; A Memorial Volume. Ed. by A.O. Smith Book

General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1882 Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: I. WYCLIFFE: THE MORNING STAR OF THE REFORMATION. IT may be prudent to state at the outset that while the subject before us is vastly important, both as to our national history and the progress of religious truth, it is difficult to make it popular. There are a few word artists, who, adorning whatever they touch, can make any topic attractive. But such a gift is of rare bestowment; and the great bulk of talkers and writers, when they discuss an important but unattractive subject, must be content to ignore personal reputation, and stand upon their theme. Whoever, among us ordinary men, would dream of painting the foundations of St. Paul's Cathedral so as to make them look brilliant to a public audience ? If we began above ground, we might tell in high- sounding language of the different orders of architecture, and compare the respective ages of the Gothic as to door, and dome, and windows; and to an unprofessional ear, the jingle of scientific terms, culled from the encyclopedia, might sound grandly. But how any pencil can make the deep and uncouth foundations radiate with beauty is a mystery. And yet surely there was no part of that magnificent pile moreimportant in the judgment of Sir Christopher Wren than the basement storey on which the mighty superstructure rests. Now, what the foundation is to St. Paul's Cathedral, Wycliffe was, humanly speaking, to the glorious temple of the Reformation. It would be difficult to invest a tree root with any great attractiveness. Let us begin at the surface of the ground, and in gay colours, perhaps, we might put before you the gigantic trunk, and the wide-spre...Read More