Monday, March 16, 2020

John Wycliffe Worship!


In the Wycliffe College Song by Canon C. Venn Pilcher, Toronto, we read the following hymn authored by H.E. Winn:

Victorious Sun of Righteousness,
At whose supreme command
Thy Morning Star flamed forth
afar
O’er England’s darkened land,
We praise Thee for that man of fire
Who, called and sent by Thee,
Flashed through the night the
living light
Of truth and Liberty

We, heirs of Wycliffe’s glorious name,
Light-bearers fain would be,
Till Christ shall shine o’er palm and
pine,
O’er continent and sea.
Mid clouds and darkness forward go,
Glad heralds of the Lord--
Come gain or loss, our pride the Cross,
our boast, God’s conquering
Word.
(taken from J.C. Carrick, Wycliffe and the Lollards [New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1908])

Imagine if a Latter-day Saint were to say this of Joseph Smith—it would be cited as an example of “Joseph Smith Worship!” And yet, this is from a Protestant and one that praises John Wycliffe, “the morning star” of the Protestant Reformation!

On the charge of “Joseph Smith Worship” in light of the hymn, Praise to the Man, see: