to
of %
of
Bertram A* Davis from
the books of the late Lionel Davis, K.C
HANDBOUND AT THE
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS
THE
LIFE AND OPINIONS
OF
JOHN DE WYCLIFFE, D.D.
ILLUSTRATED PRINCIPALLY FROM HIS
Bnpufcltefietr
A PRELIMINARY VIEW OF THE PAPAL SYSTEM, AND OF THE STATE OF THE PROTESTANT DOCTRINE IN EUROPE,
COMMENCEMENT OF THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY.
BY
ROBERT VAUGHAN. VOL. II.
SECOND EDITION,
MUCH IMPROVED.
Quod si deficiant vires, audacia certe
Laus erit; in magnis et voluisse sat est."
PROPEKTIUS.
LONDON : HOLDSWORTH AND BALL,
18, ST. PAUL'S CHURCH-YARD.
MDCCCXXXI.
11531
LONDON :
R. CLAY, PRINTER, BREAD-STREET-HILL, CHEAPSIDE.
CONTENTS.
THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE.
CHAPTER I.
PACE
Origin and Effects of the Papal Schism.— Wycliffe's tract " On the " Schism of the Popes," and other references to that event. — - His work " On the Truth and Meaning of Scripture." — His sickness at Oxford, and recovery. — Importance attached by him to Preaching — his laborious attention to it — reasons of his particular reverence for that exercise. — Methods of Preaching. — Character of Wycliffe's Manuscript Discourses. — Extracts, illustrating his manner of Exposing the Errors and Disorders of the Ecclesiastical System— of incul cating the Sufficiency of Scripture — the Right of Private Judgment — the Doctrines peculiar to the Gospel — and the various obligations, and the means conducing, to Religious Devotedness 1
CHAPTER II.
History of attempts toward a Translation of the Scriptures into the Language of this Country before the age of Wycliffe — by the Anglo- Saxon Clergy — by the Anglo-Norman. — Wycliffe's purpose, as embracing a Translation of the whole Volume, and its General Circu lation, strictly a Novelty. — This affirmed by Knighton. — Some circumstances favourable to this enterprise. — Extracts exhibiting the Reformer's manner of defending this effort. — The insurrection of the Commons 37
CHAPTER III.
Transubstantiation— opposed by Berengarius— and by the Vaudois and Albigenses — not recognised by the Anglo-Saxon Church — defended by Lanfranc, and espoused by the Anglo-Norman Clergy. — Wycliffe's Opposition to it. — Severe Penalties to be inflicted on all who should favour his Opinions concerning it. — His Appeal to the Civil Power for protection. — His feeling under these Persecutions. — Analysis of his " Wicket."— Proceedings of Courtney, and the Synod at the Grey VOL. ir. b
IV CONTENTS.
Friars. — Wycliffe favoured by the University. — State of parties in the nation unfriendly to the efforts of the Reformers. — Inquisitorial Statute obtained by the Clergy. — Notice of Robert Rigge, Dr. Here ford, Reppington, Ashton, and others 52
CHAPTER IV.
Persecution. — Wycliffe's devotional allusion to the evils of his time. — Summary of his Complaint addressed to the King and Parliament. — Effect of that Appeal. — The Reformer is forsaken by Lancaster. — His purposes unaltered by that event. — His vigorous perception of the bearings of the Controversy respecting the Eucharist, and his confi dence of ultimate success. — He appears before the Convocation at Oxford. — Substance of his Confession. — Perplexity of his Judges. — He retires to Lutterwortl). — His Letter to the Pontiff 91
CHAPTER V.
State of the Reformed Doctrine on the Continent during the age of Wycliffe. — Causes of the protection frequently afforded to its Dis ciples by the Secular Power. — Probable motives of the Duke of Lancaster in patronizing Wycliffe. — The Reformer is favoured by the Duke of Gloucester — the Queen Mother — Anne of Bohemia. — Farther notice of Wycliffe's more distinguished followers. — Geoffrey Chaucer. Influence of Poetry on the Reformation of the Church. — Notice of St. Amour — of the Roman De la Rose — and of Robert Longland . . . 124
CHAPTER VI.
Number of Wycliffe's Disciples. — The Lollards consisted of two classes. — Notice of John of Northampton. — Prospects of the Reformers under Richard the Second.— Testimony of Knighton respecting the Number and the Character of Wycliffe's followers.— Analysis of the Plowman's Tale. — Theological opinions of the Disciples of Wycliffe. Character of his " Poor Priests." — Analysis of the tract, " Why Poor Priests have no Benefices."— Notice of William Thorp 150
CHAPTER VII.
Notice of Wycliffe's Writings subsequent to his exclusion from Oxford — His Trialogus — on Obedience to Prelates — on the Deceits of Satan and of his Priests — on the Duty of Lords — of Servants and Lords — of Good Preaching Priests — on the Four Deceits of Antichrist — on the Prayers of Good Men — of Clerks Possessioners. — Rise of the Crusade against the Avignon Pope, and its Failure, — Wycliffe renews his contest with the Mendicants. — His Treatise on the Sentence of the Curse Expounded. — On Prelates and other subjects. — His Senti ments on War. — Extracts from his Sermons. — His Sickness and Death . . . 174
CONTENTS. V
CHAPTER VIII.
The Opinions of Wycliffe.
Design of the Chapter. — The Doctrine of Wycliffe respecting the Pope's Temporal Power. — The Secular Exemptions of the Clergy. — The General Authority of the Magistrate. — The limits of that Autho rity.— The Obligations of the Magistrate with respect to the Church. —The Customs of Patronage. — Tithes and Ecclesiastical Endow ments. — The Principles of the Reformer's theory derived in part from the existing system. — His Reverence for the Priestly Office. — His judgment of the Contemporary Priesthood. — A Summary of his Doctrine relative to the Civil Establishment of Christianity and Clerical Revenue. — His Opinions relating to Simony. — The Spiritual Power of the Pope. — The Hierarchy. — The Religious Orders. — The Nature of a Christian Church.— The Power of the Keys. — Purgatory and Masses for the Dead.— The Invocation of Saints.— The Worship of Images. — Confession.— The Doctrine of Indulgences. — The Celi bacy of the Clergy. — The Sacraments. — Transubstantiation. — Public Worship. — Sufficiency of the Scriptures, and the Right of Private Judgment. — A Summary of his Theological Doctrine 226
CHAPTER IX.
Observations on the Character of Wycliffe, and on the Connexion of his Doctrine with the Reformation of the Sixteenth Century.
Wycliffe's claim to Originality. — His Learning, and Intellectual Cha racter. — His Patriotism and love of Mankind. — His Piety. — Luther and Wycliffe compjareji. — The bones of Wycliffe burnt. — State of the Reformed Doctrine in England, from the decease of Wycliffe to the age of Luther. — Accession of the House of Lancaster. — Character of the Persecutions sanctioned by Henry the Fourth. — The Doctrine of Wycliffe survives them. — The Martyrdom of Lord Cobham — Conclusion 329
CHAPTER X. On the Writings of John Wycliffe, D.D 379
SECTION I.
His printed Works . . „ 380
VI CONTENTS.
SECTION II.
Wycliffe's Manuscripts extant in England and Ireland. This series contains nearly forty MSS. preserved in the Library of Trinity Col lege, Dublin, the existence of which has been hitherto unknown to the Reformer's Biographers 385
SECTION III.
His Pieces in the Imperial Library of Vienna 393
SECTION IV.
Titles of his Pieces known only by their names 393
SECTION V.
Works which have been improperly attributed to Wyclifte .... 395
NOTES 397
APPENDIX . . 424
THE
LIFE OF WYCLIFFE
CHAPTER I.
ORIGIN AND EFFECTS OF THE PAPAL SCHISM. \VYCLIFFE*S TRACT t( ON
" THE SCHISM OF THE POPES," AND OTHER REFERENCES TO THAT EVENT.
HIS WORK " ON THE TRUTH AND MEANING OF SCRIPTURE." HIS
SICKNESS AT OXFORD, AND RECOVERY. IMPORTANCE ATTACHED BY HIM
TO PREACHING ; HIS LABORIOUS ATTENTION TO IT ; REASONS OF HIS
PARTICULAR REVERENCE FOR THAT EXERCISE. METHODS OF PREACHING.
CHARACTER OF WYCLIFFE's MANUSCRIPT DISCOURSES. EXTRACTS,
ILLUSTRATING HIS MANNER OF EXPOSING THE ERRORS AND DISORDERS OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL SYSTEM OF INCULCATING THE SUFFICIENCY OF SCRIP TURE THE RIGHT OF PRIVATE JUDGMENT THE DOCTRINES PECULIAR TO
THE GOSPEL — AND THE VARIOUS OBLIGATIONS, AND THE MEANS CON
DUCING, TO RELIGIOUS DEVOTEDNESS.
schism.
THE residence of the pontiffs during seventy CHAP. years at Avignon, was described by the Italians ' as a second Babylonish captivity. That capti- vity, if such it may be called, had indeed a ten-
J J
dency to moderate the papal claims ; but it was far from being the most serious feature of that disgrace which accompanied the representatives of St. Peter on returning to the ancient seat of their authority. On the death of Gregory the eleventh, in 1378, the cardinals assembled to elect his successor ; but the Roman populace, aware that three-fourths of the conclave were French men, and indignant that the vacant honour had VOL. IT. B
2 THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE.
chJAP-been so frequently conferred on ecclesiastics of
that nation, gathered tumultuously around the
place of meeting, and uttered the most alarming menaces with a view to secure the suffrage of the electors in favour of an Italian. The car dinals trembled for their safety, and immediately pronounced Bartholomew de Pregnano, a Neapo litan, and then archbishop of Bari, as the object of their choice. The new pontiff assumed the name of Urban the sixth ; but his conduct soon became such as to exasperate his enemies and alienate his friends. From this cause, or from national partialities, some of the leading cardinals retired from Rome to Anagni ; and at Fondi, a city of Naples, they chose their brother of Ge neva to be the successor of Gregory, and he was immediately proclaimed as Clement the seventh. To justify this bold measure, it was pleaded that the election of Urban was the result of intimida tion, and accordingly invalid. France, and her allies, including Spain, Sicily, and Cyprus, ac knowledged the authority of Clement ; while England, and the rest of Europe, adhered to that of Urban.1 " And which of these two," observes Mosheim, " is to be considered as the true and " lawful pope, is to this day matter of doubt, nor " will the records and writings alleged by the " contending parties enable us to adjust that point " with any certainty."2
("But whatever were the merits of this con troversy, its effects were by no means doubtful. Through the next half century, the church had two or three different heads at the same time ;
i Mosheim, iii. 326, 327. 2 Ibid.
THE LTFE OF WYCLTFFE.
each of the contending popes forming plots, and CHAP.
thundering out anathemas against their competi- - '- —
tors. " The distress and calamity of these times"
is said to have been " beyond all power of de-
" scription ; for not to insist on the perpetual con-
" tentions and wars between the factions of the
" several popes, by which multitudes lost their
" fortunes and lives, all sense of religion was ex-
" tinguished in most places, and profligacy arose
" to a most scandalous excess. The clergy, while
" they vehemently contended which of the reigning
" popes was the true successor of Christ, were so >
(( excessively corrupt as to be no longer studious
" to keep up even the appearance of religion or
" decency; and in consequence of all this, many
" plain, well-meaning people, who concluded that
" no one could possibly partake of eternal life
" unless united with the vicar of Christ, were
" overwhelmed with doubt, and were plunged into
" the deepest distress of mind."3 And thus, also,
it was, that multitudes were prepared to doubt
whether the supremacy claimed by the pontiffs,
since it could become involved in such fearful un
certainty, could really be an article of faith or
discipline so momentous as had been commonly
supposed. Wycliffe, whose escape from the ven
geance of the clergy, must be attributed in a great
degree to the distractions occasioned by this event,
was fully aware of the aid which it might be made
to confer on his efforts as a reformec-J
The controversy had no sooner commenced,
than he published a tract intitled, — " On the c
of the
3 Mosheim, iii. 328. B 2
4 THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE.
CHAP. « Schism of the Popes,"4 in which he adverts to — ' — - this dispute as having divided the hierarchy against itself, and as presenting a powerful in ducement to attempt the destruction of those laws and customs, which had served so greatly to corrupt the Christian priesthood, and to afflict the whole Christian community. The endow ments of the church, whether claimed by the pontiffs, or by the national clergy, he names as a principal cause of the degeneracy of both ; and the property entrusted to the stewardship of churchmen, he affirms to be capable, generally, of a more just, and of a far less dangerous appli cation. To effect this new appropriation of the wealth, which it is said had been frequently ill acquired, and as frequently worse employed, the appeal made is not to the passions of the few or the many, but to the sacred responsibilities of the sovereigns and rulers of Christendom. And that this exhortation might not be in vain, he renews his attack upon those superstitions from which the undue influence of the clergy had derived its being and continuance. Instead of conceding that the power of the clergy, or of the pope, over the disembodied spirit, must ever regulate its destiny, he contends, that when cor rectly exercised, it is merely ministerial ; and that inasmuch as the decisions of these men were frequently opposed to moral propriety, and to the known will of God, they were frequently to be viewed as the mere assumptions of human weak ness or passion, from which no evil should be
4 MS. Trinity College, Dublin, class C. lab. 3, No. 12, p. 193—208.
THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE. 5
apprehended. His advice, therefore, is, " Trust CHAP.
" we in the help of Christ on this point, for he ! —
" hath begun already to help us graciously, in " that he hath clove the head of Antichrist, and ,, " made the two parts fight against each other. " For it is not doubtful, that the sin of the popes, " which hath been so long continued, hath " brought in this division." Should the rival pontiffs continue to lance their anathemas against each other, or should either prevail, a serious wound is believed to be inflicted, and it is urged accordingly, that " emperors, and kings, should " help in this cause, to maintain God's law, to " recover the heritage of the church, and to de- " stroy the foul sins of clerks, saving their per- " sons. Thus should peace be established, and " simony destroyed." As to the infallibility of the popes, he remarks, that there is nothing in the suffrage of princes or cardinals to impart any such attribute to erring man. On this point, he observes, " the children of the fiend should learn " their logic, and their philosophy well, lest they " prove heretical by a false understanding of the " law of Christ." Except the person elected to an ecclesiastical office shall possess the virtues which bespeak him a servant of Christ, the most vaunted forms of investing him with that dignity are declared to be vain. Among heresies, he affirms, that " there is no greater, than for a man to " believe that he is absolved from his sin, if he " give money, or because a priest layeth his " hand on the head, and saith I absolve thee. " For thou must be sorrowful in thy heart," he adds, " or else God absolveth thee not," In the
G THE LIFE OF WYCLTFFE.
CHAP, same treatise, the necessity of confession to a " priest is denied no less distinctly than the re ceived doctrine on the power of the keys. And having thus wrested the weapons from the hands of churchmen, which had been wielded with so much success against human liberty, he calls upon the secular authorities to attempt the long-needed reformation of the ecclesiastical body, both in its head and its members, other re. NOr was it in this production only that these bold
fereilces to . .
ti.at event, sentiments were uttered. In his writings from this period to his death, the lust of dominion, the avarice, and the cruelty, discovered by these rival pontiffs, in prosecuting their different claims, are all placed in fearless contrast with the maxims and spirit of Christ and his apostles. " Simon Magus," he observes, " never laboured more in the work of *' simony, than do these priests. And so God " would no longer suffer the fiend to reign in only " one such priest, but for the sin which they had " done, made division among two, so that men, in " Christ's name, may the more easily overcome " them both." Evil, it is remarked, is weakened by diffusion, no less than good ; " and this now 11 moveth poor priests to speak heartily in this " matter, for when God will bless the church, but " men are slothful, and will not labour, their sloth " is to be rebuked for many reasons."5 In his parochial discourses, delivered to his flock at Lutterworth, the schism of the papacy is fre quently adverted to, and always in a manner tending to deliver men from the fear of the priest,
5 MS. Of the Church and her Governance. Bib. Reg. xviii. b. ix.
THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE. 7
and, at the same time, to impress them with CHAP. the fear of God.6 — L_
It was at this period that the reformer com- Notice of
his work
pleted a work, " On the Truth and Meaning of"0nthe
Truth and
Scripture," the most extended, if not the most Meaning Of
Scripture."
systematically arranged, of all his productions. A copy of this treatise was in the possession of our venerable martyrologist, and appears to have been considered the only one extant. That at present in the Bodleian library was formerly the property of Dr. Allen, a great admirer of Wycliffe, and a diligent collector of his manuscripts. It is without a title page, and a few leaves from the commencement are lost: the remaining portion of the volume, extending to more than six hun dred pages, is in good preservation. Besides this copy, the only one hitherto mentioned in the printed catalogues of the reformer's writings, there is another in the library at Trinity College, Dublin. This is complete, and in an excellent state. The work itself has required this parti cular notice, not only from its extent, but from its character, as embodying almost every sentiment peculiar to the mind of our reformer. The su preme authority of holy writ ; the unalienable right of private judgment; all the branches of clerical power ; the sacraments of the church ; together with almost every article of moral obli-
6 Thus in one of his homilies (on " Peter ; but spoileth them, and slayeth
Rom. xiii.) it is affirmed of the " them, and leadeth them many wrong
pontiff, " that he is not on Christ's " ways." The same contrast is pur-
' side, who put his soul for his sheep, sued in the homily on John, Ep. i. e. ii.
' but on the side of antichrist, who and much more at length in the treatise
' putteth many souls for his pride. " On the Seven Deadly Sins." — MS.
' This man feedeth not the sheep of Bihl. Bodl. ' Christ, as Christ thrice commanded
8 THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE.
CHAP, gation, may be found largely discussed in this
! — volume. The author of the Acts and Monuments
intended giving it to the world ; and we may regret that his purpose was not accomplished. Were this the only work preserved from the pen of Wycliffe, it would alone be sufficient, to merit for its author the first place among the intrepid advocates of truth and piety in the annals of this country.7 His 8^.^ But the labour of producing such compositions,
at Oxford. . l. 7 i ^
and the excitements inseparable from the restless hostilities of his enemies, so shook his frame, at this period, as to threaten his speedy dissolution, —and, in truth, to lay the foundation of the malady which a few years later was the occasion of his death. Such also was the force of religious prejudice in the fourteenth century, that his old antagonists, the mendicants, conceived it next to impossible, that an heresiarch so notorious, should find himself near a future world without the most serious apprehensions of approaching vengeance. But while thus conscious of their own rectitude, and certain that the dogmas of the reformer had arisen from the suggestions of the great enemy, some advantages to their cause were anticipated, could the dying culprit be induced to utter any recantation of his published opinions. Wycliffe was in Oxford when this sickness arrested his activity, and confined him to his chamber. From the four orders of friars, four doctors, who were also called regents, were gravely deputed to wait
7 MS. Bibl. Bodl. Rotulse in Archi. Sensu et Veritate Scripturte, is the A. 3021, 3'2. MS. Trinity College, title given to the work by Fox, Dublin, class C. tab. 1. No. 24 De i. 683.
THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE. 9
on their expiring enemy ; and to these the same CHAP.
number of civil officers, called senators of the city, ! —
and aldermen of the wards, were added. When this embassy entered the apartment of the rector of Lutterworth, he was seen stretched on his bed. Some kind wishes were first expressed as to his better health, and the blessing of a speedy re covery. It was presently suggested, that he must be aware of the many wrongs which the whole mendicant brotherhood had sustained from his attacks, especially in his sermons, and in certain of his writings ; and as death was now, apparently, about to remove him, it was sincerely hoped, that he would not conceal his penitence, but distinctly revoke whatever he had said tending to the in jury of those holy fraternities. The sick man remained silent, and motionless, until this address was concluded. He then beckoned his servants to raise him in his bed ; and fixing his eyes on the persons assembled, summoned all his remain ing strength, as he exclaimed aloud, " I shall not " die but live, and shall again declare the evil deeds " of the friars!" The doctors, and their attend ants, retreated in mortification and dismay, and they lived to feel the truth of the reformer's predic tion ; nor will it be easy to imagine another scene, more characteristic of the parties composing it, or of the times with which it is connected.8
While the writings of Wycliffe were thus per- "•* «n«.
. . "'cuts with
forming their part on the mind of his countrymen, respect to
,,.,..., preaching.
it was not merely his divinity lectures, but the whole of his pulpit instructions, which were stu diously directed to the same object. It is known
8 Lewis, c. iv. 82. Bale, 469, &c.
10 THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE.
CHAP, that in the fourteenth century, the exercises of . public worship consisted of little beside that spe
cies of mechanical occupation which an apostle describes as " bodily exercise," and as " profiting little." These, however, and that domestic ministration of the sacraments, to which the most feeble or depraved among the clergy were deemed fully competent, were generally considered as securing to the worshipper whatever it was the design of Christianity to bestow. As the conse quence of questioning this theory, and at length of wholly denying the efficacy of such services, except as accompanied by appropriate perception and feeling on the part of the persons engaged in them, was the importance attached by our re former to the office of preaching. No language can be more forcible, than that in which the sacred writers speak of the preaching of the cross, as the divinely appointed means of bringing the nations to the obedience of the gospel ; and in proportion as men have imbibed the spirit of primitive piety, in any subsequent age, has been the prominence assigned to this department of ministerial duty. Among the means which had induced our Saxon ancestors to renounce their ancient idolatry, preaching held a conspicuous place;9 but from that period to the age of Wycliffe, it fell into comparative disuse in the practice of the English clergy. Grossteste deplored this fact, and with a view to supply the deficiency, became a zealous patron of the preaching friars. He lived,
9 This was the service to which Saxons, Oswald, the sovereign, acted
Aidan, the apostle of Northumbria, as his interpreter. By the Scottish
devoted his life. (Bede, c. v.) In missionaries, in general, the same im-
his first attempt to address the pagan portance was attached to this function.
THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE. 11
however, to regret that remedy, as being even CHAP. worse than the disease.10 Yet so powerful were — — - — the effects of preaching, even in the hands of the mendicants, that had not their rapid success pro duced so speedy a corruption of their institute, the parochial clergy, by limiting their official ser vices to the prescribed repetitions from the mass book, must have lost the whole of their influence over the mind of the people.11 Wycliffe saw this state of things, but while he complained of the indolence and the vices of the secular clergy, as leading to the prevalent neglect of this exercise, his boldest censures were reserved for the frater nities, in whose labours he could discern nothing but the abuses of the function, which they had as sumed as their peculiar province. The itinerant character of their ministry could hardly have dis pleased him, as he often defended the same prac tice in his followers. It was their substituting " fables — chronicles of the world — and stories from the battle of Troy" — in the place of the gospel ; and the religious delusions imposed by them on the rich and the poor, to raise themselves into distinction, and to gratify their avarice and sensuality, which filled him with so restless an abhorrence of " these new orders." Instead, how ever, of imbibing a disgust of preaching, from seeing it thus perverted, the reformer appears to have judged only the more favourably of its power as the means of reformation, if rightly applied. Possessed himself of such learning as had aided the mendicants in acquiring their reputation, he was also a proficient in that power of oral com-
10 Paris, 873. " Sec Prelim. View, c.iii. sect. i.
12 THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE.
CHAP, munication which was their special faculty. In — Wycliffe, the severity of the cloister was asso ciated with the learning of the college, and with that power of interesting the understanding and affections of ordinary minds, which is rarely found in such combinations. In secret, he mourned over the degraded state of his country, and over that immense expenditure of wealth in favour of the clergy, which served only to perpetuate their secular character, and to strengthen every cord of the national thraldom ; and to contribute some thing toward the recovery of his native land from this state of gloomy bondage, was the object to which the acquirements, and the energies, of his generous nature were readily devoted.
\\re know not the number of sermons composed
•••
Wycliffe, but that copies of nearly three hun- dred should have escaped the effort which was so long made to effect the destruction of what ever his pen had produced, is sufficient to as sure us, that his labours as a preacher were abundant.12 His zeal was not of that spurious kind which assails the vast only, or which expatiates on the great and the future, at the cost of every nearer and more humble department of duty. Accord ingly, to appreciate the character of the English reformer, it is necessary to view him, not only as advocating the claims of his sovereign before the delegates of the pontiff; as solving the questions which perplexed the English parliament; or as
12 The copy which 1 have princi- the close of the fourteenth century, pally consulted, is that of the British and in others later, are still extant Museum. — Bib. Reg. xviii. b. ix. Se- in the Museum, and in the libraries veral copies, more or less perfect, and of Oxford, Cambridge, and Dub- written, in some instances, before lin.
rious atten-
THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE. 13
challenging the most intellectual of the age to CHAP. discussions on the truth of his acknowledged doc- ' trine. To all this he added the diligent perform ance of those less imposing duties which devolve on the parish priest. It was no novelty to see the venerable Wycliffe in a village pulpit, surrounded by his rustic auditory ; or in the lowest hovel of the poor, fulfilling his office at the bedside of the sick and the dying, whether freeman or slave. It was over a sphere thus extended, that his genius and benevolence were diffused. Previous to this period, he had required his disciples to unite with the devotions of the sabbath, a regular attention to the wants of the afflicted and the poor. The pub lic exercises of that day being devoutly performed, the Christian man is enjoined " to visit those who " are sick, or who are in trouble, especially those " whom God hath made needy by age, or by other " sickness, as the feeble, the blind, and the lame, " who are in poverty. These thou shalt relieve " with thy goods, after thy power, and after their " need, for thus biddeth the gospel.13" It is but just to suppose, that the preacher, who, under such circumstances, was forward to inculcate these and similar offices of domestic charity, was himself accustomed to conform to them. But his favourite doctrine, which defined true charity as " beginning at the love of man's spirit," was so far extended, as to induce him to believe, that " men " who love not the souls, love little the bodies "of their neighbours;" and hence the work of Christian instruction is described, as " the best
13 MS. Exposition of the Decalogue, Cotton. Titus, D. xix. 122.
14 THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE.
CHAP, "service that man may do for his brother."11 . . ". Priests who are found " in taverns, and hunting, " and playing at their tables," instead of " learn - " ing God's law, and preaching," are accordingly denounced as " foulest traitors," since among the duties of their office, " most of all is the preaching " of the gospel ; for this Christ enjoined on his " disciples more than any other ; by this he con- " quered the world out of the fiend's hand ; and " whosoever he be that can but bring priests to " act thus, hath authority from God, and merit in " his deed."15
wyciiffe's As the impression made by WyclifFe, and his reTvduf of followers, on the mind of their contemporaries, may
in f:
h")g' be attributed, in a great degree, to their peculiar sentiments on the relative importance of preach ing, it will not perhaps be uninteresting to the reader, to notice the statements and reasonings of the reformer, on this point, more at length. " I. The highest service that men may attain to " on earth," is said to be, to " preach the word " of God. This service falls peculiarly to priests, " and therefore God more straightly demands it " of them. Hereby should they produce children " to God, and that is the end for which God has " wedded the church. Lovely it might be, to have " a son that were lord of this world, but fairer " much it were to have a son in God, who, as a " member of holy church, shall ascend to heaven! " And for this cause, Jesus Christ left other works, " and occupied himself mostly in preaching; and " thus did his apostles, and for this God loved
11 Homily on Philippians, c. iii. 15 Epistola ad Simplices Sacerdotes.
THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE. 15
"them. II. Also, he does best, who best keeps CHAP.
" the commandments of God. Now the first '
" commandment of the second table bids us ho-
" nour our elders, as our father and mother. But
" this honour should be first given to holy church,
" for she is the mother we should most love, and
" for her, as our faith teaches, Christ died. The
" church, however, is honoured most by the
" preaching of God's word, and hence this is the
" best service that priests may render unto God.
" Thus a woman said to Christ, that the womb
" which bare him, and the breasts which he had
" sucked, should be blessed of God ; but Christ
" said, rather should that man be blessed, who
" should hear the words of God, and keep them.
" And this should preachers do more than other
" men, and this word should they keep more than
" any other treasure. Idleness in this office is
" to the church its greatest injury, producing
" most the children of the fiend, and sending
" them to his court. III. Also, that service is the
" best, which has the worst opposed to it. But
" the opposite of preaching, is of all things the
61 worst ; and therefore preaching, if it be well
" done, is the best of all. And accordingly,
tf Jesus Christ, when he ascended into heaven,
" commanded it especially to all his apostles, to
" preach the gospel freely to every man. So also,
" when Christ spoke last with Peter, he bade him
" thrice, as he loved him, to feed his sheep ; and
" this would not a wise shepherd have done, had
" he not himself loved it well. In this stands the
"office of the spiritual shepherd. As the bishop
" of the temple hindered Christ, so is he hindered
16 THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE.
CHAP. " by the hindering of this deed. Therefore Christ
L__ " told them, that at the day of doom, Sodom and
" Gomorrah should better fare than they. And " thus, if our bishops preach not in their own " persons, and hinder true priests from preaching, " they are in the sin of the bishops who killed " the Lord Jesus Christ."16
So far then was the reformer from confiding in the sacraments of the church, as certainly con nected with a participation in the mercies of redemption. Man he considers, as a being en dowed with reason and with passions, and he attempts the discipline of his affections, only by bringing the light of divine truth to bear upon his understanding. This, in the language of the church of Rome, was to ensnare the unwary, by an artful appeal to the vanity and self-confidence of the human mind. But if there be truth in religion, or nature, intellectual culture- is the only medium through which the moral improvement of man should be contemplated. The faculties of his being, and the known will of the Deity, announce him as accountable ; and the theory which serves at all to weaken the feeling of this accountableness, must be of murderous tendency. There is another motive, however, from which objection to the office of preaching has sometimes arisen. To have imitated the zeal of Wycliffe, on this point, would have required a different faculty from what was necessary to go through the usual routine of parish duty. The class of men, who were satisfied with their ability for such performances, and still more the inmates of con-
'• MS. Contra Fratres Bibl. Bodl. Archi. A. 83, p. 19, 20.
THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE. 17
vents, would affect to be astonished at the weak- CHAP.
ness, or the novelty, of the reformer's opinions,
respecting a function, which the care of the church had rendered almost superfluous, which had ever been but too much allied to ostentation, and pregnant with no small danger to the peace and unity of the Christian commonwealth. It is thus he reasons with such objectors : " When " true men teach, that by the law of God, and " wit, and reason, each priest is bound to do his " utmost to preach the gospel of Christ, the fiend " beguileth hypocrites to excuse him from this " service by teaching a feigned contemplative " life ; — and urging, that since that is the best, " and they may not do both, they are needed, " from their love of God, to leave the preaching " of the gospel to live in contemplation. But see " now the hypocrisy and falsehood of this. Our " faith teaches us, that since Christ was God, " and might not err, he taught and did the best " life for priests ; yet Christ preached the gospel, " and charged all his apostles and disciples to go " and preach the gospel to all men. The best life " then for priests, in this world, is to teach and " preach the gospel. God also teacheth in the " old law, that the office of a priest is to shew to " the people their sins. But as each priest is a " prophet by his order, according to St. Gregory " on the Gospels, it is then the office of each to " preach and to proclaim the sins of the people; " and in this manner shall each priest be an angel " of God, as holy writ affirms. Also Christ, and " John the Baptist, left the desert, and preached " the gospel to their death. To do this, therefore,
VOL. II. C
18 THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFF,.
CH^AP. « is £}ie greatest charity, or else they were out of
-- "charity, or at least imperfect in it; and that
" may hardly be, since the one was God ; and
" since no man, after Christ, hath been holier
" than the Baptist."
" Also, the holy prophet, Jeremiah, hallowed in " his mother's womb, might not be excused from " preaching by his love of contemplation, but was '•' charged of God to proclaim the sins of the ' ' people, and to suffer hard pain for doing so ; and " so were all the prophets of God. Ah ! Lord, " since Christ and John, and all the prophets, " were compelled by charity to come out of the " desert to preach to the people, and to leave " their solitary prayers, how dare these pretend- " ing heretics say it is better to be still, and to " pray over their own feigned ordinances, than to "preach the gospel of Christ? Lord! what " cursed spirit of falsehood moveth priests to close " themselves within stone walls for all their life, " since Christ commanded all his apostles and " priests to go into all the world, and to preach " the gospel? Certainly they are open fools, and " do plainly against the gospel ; and if they " continue in this error, are accursed of God, as " perilous deceivers, and heretics. For in the " best part of the pope's law, it is said, that each " man who cometh to the priesthood, taketh on " him the office of a beadle, or a crier, to go " before doomsday, and to cry to the people their 44 sins, and the vengeance of God ; and since men " are holden heretics who do against the pope's " law, are not those priests heretics, who refuse " to preach the gospel of Christ, and compel other
THE LIFE OF WYCLTFFE. 19
" true men to leave the preaching of it? All laws CHAP.
11 opposed to this service, are opposed to God's '. —
" law, and reason and charity, and for the main- " tenance of pride and covetousness in Antichrist's " worldly clerks."17
To those who allege from the gospel, that Magdalene chose the better part, in preferring a contemplative to an active life, it is replied, that the quotation might have some pertinence, if priests were women, and if no command opposed to a life of solitude and uselessness could be found in scripture. The result, indeed, of the reasonings commonly adopted on this subject, is said to be, " that Christ, when in this world, chose " the life least suited to it, and that he has obliged " all his priests to forsake the better and take "the worse. It is thus," he adds, "these de- " ceivers put error on Jesus Christ. * * * Prayer," it is cautiously affirmed, "is good, but not so " good as preaching ; and, accordingly, in preach- " ing, and also in praying, in the giving of sacra- " ments, the learning of the law of God, and the " rendering of a good example by purity of life, " in these should stand the life of 'a priest."18 Such were the opinions of Wycliffe with respect to preaching, as compared with the other duties of the Christian minister, and from his adherence to these arose much of his efficiency as a re former. Opinions so true, so practical, and so plainly stated, could not have been reiterated in vain ; and we find them creating the class of
17 MS. Of a Feigned Contemplative 18 MS. Contra Fratres, Bibl. Bodl.
Life, &c. Trinity College, Dublin, Arch A. 83. class C. tab. 3. No. 12.
c 2
20 THE LIFE OF WTCLIFFE.
CHAP. merij called by the rector of Lutterworth, "poor
" priests ;" — persons, whose itinerant preaching,
we shall presently see, was laboriously directed to discredit the superstitions, and to advance the piety of their countrymen.
Methods of While such was the place assigned by the re former to the office of preaching, it may be proper to remark, that to the commencement of the thir teenth century, two methods of performing this service had prevailed. These were technically called, "declaring," and "postulating." According to the former, the preacher commenced, by an nouncing the subject on which he meant to dis course, and proceeded to deliver, what in modern language would be considered an oration, or an essay, rather than a sermon. To postulate, was to commence with reading a portion of scripture, and then taking its parts, in the order of the writer, to offer such remarks upon them, as were fitted to explain their meaning, and secure their application. To the latter method, which is the same with what is still called lecturing, or expo sition, another was added about this period, and one by which the ancient practice of declaring was ere long nearly abolished, and the far better cus tom of postulating was rendered much less fre quent. The sacred text had been recently divided into its present order of chapters; and the Iog4c to which the schoolmen were so devoted, sug gested the selecting of some brief portion of scripture as the basis of a sermon, and also that the matters introduced to illustrate the doctrine or duty to be discussed, should be divided and sub divided, in the manner still so generally adopted
THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE.
21
by preachers.19 The sacred writings were too CHAP. highly valued by Wycliffe, to be dispensed with - as the obvious foundation of the instructions de livered by him from the pulpit. This motive, also, which led him to avoid the practice of declaring, appears to have rendered him doubtful concerning the utility of the new scholastic mode of teaching, and to have determined his general preference of the expository method.
His compositions for the pulpit, therefore, which character have descended to us, are nearly all of the class described as " postils." They are also the produc tion of different periods, through the interval from 1376, when the writer became rector of Lutter- worth, to the close of 1384. In some instances, they consist of little more than a few brief notes, appended to a vernacular translation of the lesson for the day, in others they approach nearer to the length of a modern sermon. But, when filling seve ral closely-written folio pages, we know not how far to regard them as exhibiting any thing beyond the spirit or the general manner of the reformer's efforts as a preacher. That he wholly restricted
19 Wood i. 58, 59. Knighton, col. 2430. The former writer has intro duced friar Bacon, as bitterly la menting the prevalence of the scho lastic methods of preaching, and as accounting for its adoption in a way not very honourable to the contempo rary clergy. " The greatest part of our prelates," he observes, " having but little knowledge in divinity, and having been little used to preaching in their youth, when they become bishops, and are sometimes obliged to preach, are under a necessity of begging and borrowing the sermons
of certain novices, whohave invented a new way of preaching, by endless divisions and quibblings, in whicli there is neither sublimity of style, nor depth of wisdom, but much childish trifling and folly, unsuitable to the dignity of the pulpit. May God," he exclaims, " banish this conceited and artificial way of preaching out of his church, for it will never do any good, nor elevate the hearts of the hearers to any thing that is good or excellent." — Henry's Hist. viii. 182—185.
22 THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE.
CHAP. himself, in any case, to what he had written, is '. — improbable, from his known facility of extem poraneous communication, and from the fact that these preparations for the pulpit, sometimes re semble the mere specifications of topics, rather than any regular discussion of them. Nor is it certain, indeed, that their publication was the act of the reformer, or at all anticipated by him. They contain nothing opposed to the supposition of their having been collected and published after his de cease ; and the character of Purvey, his curate at that period, renders it certain that a careful effort would be made to preserve every such document. But through whatever medium the copies of these discourses have been transmitted, we may safely conclude that what they contain was delivered to the people of Lutterworth by their rector ; and there is scarcely a peculiarity of opinion adopted by Wycliffe, the nature, or the progress of which, might not be illustrated from these voluminous re mains. It should also be stated, that these com positions are strictly of a popular character. References to abstruse or speculative questions frequently arise, either from the import of the text, or from the reasonings suggested by it ; but these are almost invariably dismissed, that " things more " profiting" might become the matter of attention. Through the whole, the multiplied corruptions of the hierarchy are vigorously assailed, as forming the great barrier to all religious improvement. The social obligations of men are also frequently discussed, and traced with a cautious firmness to the authority of the scriptures ; while the doctrines of the gospel are uniformly exhibited, as declaring
THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE. 23
the guilt, and the spiritual infirmities of men, to be CHL\P. such as to render the atonement of Christ their - — only way of pardon, and the grace of the divine Spirit their only hope of purity. A few extracts will farther assist the reader in judging of the man ner in which the reformer discharged the duties of the humble but important office of village preacher.
It is thus he addressed his parishioners, on the ™*™°** ;<*
treating the
obligation of priests, to extend their services as Jgfjjj*^
preachers to the village and the hamlet, and to the F«u»t.
the most scattered portions of the community,
*' The gospel telleth us the duty which falls to all
" the disciples of Christ, and also telleth us how
" priests, both high and low, should occupy them-
" selves in the church of God, and in serving him.
" And first, Jesus himself did indeed the lessons
" which he taught. The gospel relates how Jesus
" went about in the places of the country, both
" great and small, as in cities and castles, or
" small towns, and this to teach us to profit gene-
" rally unto men, and not to forbear to preach
" to a people because they are few, and our name
" may not, in consequence, be great. For we
" should labour for God, and from him hope for
" our reward. There is no doubt, that Christ
" went into small uplandish towns, as to Beth-
" phage, and Cana in Galilee ; for Christ went to
" all those places where he wished to do good.
" And he laboured not thus for gain, for he was
" not smitten with pride or with covetousness."'20
In a subsequent discourse, he remarks, that " it
" was ever the manner of Jesus to speak the
*> Homilies, Bib. Reg. xviii. b. ix. 134.
24 THE LIFE OF WVCLIFFE.
CHAP. « Words of God, wherever he knew that they
" would be profitable to others who heard them ;
" and hence Christ often preached, now at meat, " and now at supper, and indeed at whatever time " it was convenient for others to hear him."21 It is accordingly regretted, that the " craft of the " fiend" had given that form to the jurisdiction of the prelates, which greatly prevented good men in their attempts to imitate those retired efforts in the cause of humanity and religion, which appear so lovely in the history of the Saviour. While Hebrew priests admitted the Master to their syna gogues, the successors of the apostles are said to exclude his servants from their churches.22
In an exposition of the epistle read on the third Sunday after advent, he thus proceeds ;— " Let a man so guess of us, as of the ministers of " God, and as dispensers of his services. And if " each man should be found true in this matter, " priests, both high and low, should be found " more true. But most foul is the failure and " the sin of priests in this respect. As if ashamed " to appear as the servants of Christ, the pope " and his bishops show the life of emperors, and " of the lordly in the world, and not the living of " Christ. But since Christ hated such things, " they give us no room to guess them to be the " ministers of Christ. And so they fail in the " first lesson which Paul teacheth in this scrip- " ture. Lord ! what good doth the idle talk of the " pope, who must be called of men most blessed " father, and bishops most reverend men, while " their life is discordant from that of Christ? In
21 Horn. Bib. Reg.p.lGO.
THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE. 25
" so taking of these names, they show that they " are on the fiend's side, and children of the father " of falsehood. After St. Gregory, the pope may " say, that he is the servant of the servants of " God, but his life reverseth his name ; for he " faileth to follow Christ, and is not the dispenser " of the services which God hath bidden, but de- " parteth from this service to that lordship which " emperors have bestowed. And thus, all the " services of the church, which Christ hath ap- " pointed to his priests, are turned aside, so that " if men will take heed to that service which " Christ hath thus limited, it is all turned upside " down, and hypocrites are become rulers."23 But it would have been of small service to have shown that the ruling clergy were little worthy of the regard which their titles claimed for them, unless some protection could be afforded from the usual consequences of clerical displeasure. To this point the remaining portion of the sermon distinctly relates. The apostle is noticed as affirming, " that in his case it was a small thing "to be judged of man's judgment ;". and from this it is observed, " that men should not suppose " themselves injured by the blind judgment of " men, since God will judge all things, whether " to good or evil. Paul therefore taketh little " heed to the judgment that man judge th, for " he knew well, from the scriptures, that if God " judgeth thus, then man's judgment must stand, " and not else. Thus there are two days of " judgment, the day of the Lord, and man's " day. The day of the Lord is the day of doom,
« ibid.
26 THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE.
CHAP. " when he shall judge all manner of men; the — - — " day of man is now present, when man judgeth, " and by the law of man. Now every present " judgment must be reversed, if it ought reverseth " reason. But at the day of doom, all shall stand " according to the judgment of God. That is the " day of the Lord, because then all shall be as he " will, and nothing shall reverse his judgment; " and St. Paul therefore saith, ' Judge nothing " before the time, until the time of the Lord come, " the which shall light the hidden things of dark- " ness, and shall make known the counsels of the " heart.' — And this moveth many men to think " day and night upon the law of God, for that " leadeth to a knowledge of what is God's will, " and without a knowledge of this should man do " nothing, and this also moveth men to forsake " the judgment of man. To St. Paul, the truth " of holy writ, which is the will of the first Judge, " was enough until doomsday. Stewards of the " church, therefore, should not judge merely ac- *' cording to their own will, but always accord- " ing to the law of God, and in things of which " they are certain. But the laws arid judgments " which Antichrist has brought in, and added " to the law of God, mar too much the church of " Christ. For with the stewards of the church, " the laws of Antichrist are the rules by which " they make officers therein ; and to deceive the " laity, Antichrist challengeth to be, in such things, " fully God's fellow ; for he affirms that, if he " judgeth thus, his will should be taken for reason, " whereas this is the highest point that falleth " to the godhead. Popes, and kings, therefore,
THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE. 27
" should seek a reason above their own will, for CHAP. "such blasphemy often bringeth to men mnrp " than the pride of Lucifer. He said he would " ascend, and be like the Most High, but he chal- 11 lenged not to be the fellow of God, even with "him, or passing him! May God bring down " this pride, and help, that his word may reverse " that of the fiend! Well indeed, 1 know, that " when it is at the highest, this smoke shall dis- " appear."24 The advice of the preacher in con clusion is, that his hearers should study the will of God, and thus learn to cherish an inde pendence of the judgments pronounced upon them by "popes or prelates," inasmuch as such decisions "stretch not to doomsday" — the pe riod, when the will of God shall be felt as su preme, and unalterable.
One more extract must be sufficient, to illus trate the manner in which the reformer was accus tomed to notice the disorders of the hierarchy from the pulpit. " Freedom," it is remarked, "is " much coveted, as men know by nature, but " much more should Christian men 'covet the " better freedom of Christ. It is known, however, " that Antichrist hath enthralled the church more " than it was under the old law, though then " the service was not to be borne. New laws are " now made by Antichrist, and such as are not " founded on the laws of the Saviour. More " ceremonies too are now brought in than were " in the old law, and more do they tarry men " in coming to heaven, than did the traditions of " the Scribes and Pharisees. One cord of this
2« Houi. Bib. Reg.
THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE.
CHAP. " thraldom, is the lordship claimed by Antichrist,
. " as being full lord both of spirituals and tem-
' porals. Thus he turneth Christian men aside " from serving Christ in Christian freedom ; so " much so, that they might well say as the poet " saith in his fable the frogs said to the har- " row — ' Cursed be so many masters.' For in " this day, Christian men are oppressed, now with " popes, and now with bishops, now with cardi- " nals under popes, and now with prelates under "• bishops, and now their head is assailed with 61 censures, — in short, buffeted are they as men " would serve a football. But certainly, if the " Baptist were not worthy to loose the latchet of " the shoe of Christ, Antichrist hath no power " thus to impede the freedom which Christ hath " bought. Christ gave this freedom to men, that " they might come to the bliss of Heaven with " less difficulty ; but Antichrist burdens them, that " they may give him money. Foul, therefore, is " this doing, with respect both to God and his *' law. Ever also do these hypocrites dread lest " God's law should be shown, and they should " thus be convicted of their falsehood. For God " and his law are most powerful; and for a time, " only, may these deceivers hold men in the " thraldom of Satan."23 Extracts But while these and similar evils were fre-
illustrating
thetheoio. quently noticed in the sermons of the reformer,
trine and the and always in this intrepid temper, the flock corn- devotional . _ -_. „
feeling of his mitted to his care, as rector of Lutterworth, was far from being unaccustomed to the sound of themes more devotional in their character, and less con-
25 Horn. Bib. Reg.
THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE. 29
nected with the passions too commonly excited by CHAP.
controversy. The following is the substance of a-
sermon delivered by him on a Christmas day, and
upon the passage in Isaiah, beginning with the
words, " Unto us a child is born." " On this
" day we may affirm that a Child is born to us,
" since Jesus, according to our belief, was this
" day born. Both in figure, and in letter, God
" spake of old to this intent, that to us a Child
" should be born, in whom we should have joy.
" From this speech of Isaiah, three short lessons
" are to be delivered, that men may rejoice in the
" after-services of this Child. First, we hold it
" as a part of our faith, that as our first parents
" had sinned, there must be atonement made for
" it, according to the righteousness of God. For
" as God is merciful, so he is full of righteousness.
" But except he keep his righteousness in this
" point, how may he judge all the world? There
" is no sin done but what is against God, but this
" sin was done directly against the Lord Al-
" mighty, and Allrightful. The greater also the
" Lord is, against whom any sin is done, the
" greater always is the sin, — just as to do against
" the king's bidding is deemed the greatest of
" offences. But the sin which is done against
" God's bidding is greater without measure. God
" then, according to our belief, bid Adam that he
" should not eat of the apple. Yet he broke
" God's command ; nor was he to be excused
" therein by his own weakness, by Eve, nor by
" the serpent ; and hence, according to the righ-
" teousness of God, this sin must always be pu-
" nished. It is to speak lightly, to say that God
30 THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE.
CHAP. " might of his mere power forgive this sin, without
'- — <( the atonement which was made for it, since the
" justice of God would not suffer this, but re- " quires that every trespass be punished either in " earth or in hell. God may not accept a person, " to forgive him his sin without an atonement, " else he must give free licence to sin, both in " angels and men, and then sin were no sin, and " our God were no God !
" Such is the first lesson we take as a part of our " faith ; the second is, that the person who may " make atonement for the sin of our first father, " must needs be God and man. For as man's nature " trespassed, so must man's nature render atone- " ment. An angel therefore would attempt in vain " to make atonement for man, for he has not the " power to do it, nor was his the nature that here " sinned. But since all men form one person, if 4< any member of this person maketh atonement, " the whole person maketh it. But we may see " that if God made a man of nought, or strictly " anew, after the manner of Adam, yet he were " bound to God, to the extent of his power for " himself, having nothing wherewith to make " atonement for his own, or for Adam's sin. " Since then, atonement must be made for the " sin of Adam, as we have shown, the person " to make the atonement must be God and man, " for then the worthiness of this person's deeds " were even with the unworthiness of the sin." From this necessity of an atonement for sin, and of the incarnation that it might be made, the conclusion is said to follow, that the Child born must needs be God and man. The doctrine of
THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE. 31
the discourse is then made to assume a practical CHAP.
bearing. " And we suppose," observes the - —
preacher, " that this Child is only born to the " men who follow him in his manner of life, for " he was born against others. The men who are 4' unjust and proud, and who rebel against God, " may read their judgment in the person of Christ. " By him, they must needs be condemned, and " most certainly if they continue wicked toward " his Spirit to their death. And if we covet sin- " cerely that this Child may prove to be born to " us ; have we joy of him, and follow we him in " these three virtues, in righteousness, and meek- " ness, and in patience for our God. For whoever " shall be against Christ and his Spirit in these " unto his death, must needs be condemned of " this Child, as others must needs be saved. And " thus the joy professed in this Child, who was " all meekness, and full of virtues, should make " men to be children in malice, and then they " would well keep this festival. To those who " would indulge in strife, I would say that the " Child who is born is also Prince of peace, and " loveth peace, and contemneth men contrary " to peace. Reflect we then how Christ came " in the fulness of time, when he should; and " how he came in meekness, teaching us this at u his birth; and how he came in patience, con- " tinuing even from his birth unto his death ; and " follow we him in these things, for the joy that " we here have in him, and because this joy " in the patience of Christ bringeth to joy that " ever shall last."26
'-'« Houi. Bib. Reg.
32 THE LIFE OF WYCLTFFE.
CHAP. The doctrines of scripture with regard to the
! — person of Christ, and his sufferings considered as
the price of our redemption, are of frequent occur rence in these discourses. It was in the following manner that the reformer generally spoke on the latter subject. " Men mark the passion of Christ, " and print it on their heart, somewhat to follow " it. It was the most voluntary passion that ever " was suffered, and the most painful. It was " most voluntary, and so most meritorious. Hence, " when Christ went to Jerusalem, he foretold " the form of his passion to his disciples, and he " who before concealed himself to come to the " city, came now to his suffering in a way to " shew his free will. Hence also he saith at the " supper, ' With desire have I coveted to eat of " this passover with you.' The desire of his god- '• head, and the desire of his manhood, moved him " to eat thereof, and afterwards to suffer. But " all this was significant, and in figure of his last " supper which he eateth in heaven with the men " whom he hath chosen. And since Christ suf- l< fered thus cheerfully for the sins of his brethren, " they should suffer gratefully for their own sins, " and should purpose to forsake them. This, in- " deed, is the cause why God would have the " passion of Christ rehearsed — the profit of the " brethren of Christ, and not his own. But the " pain of Christ's passion, passed all other pain, " for he was the most tender of men, and in " middle age ; and God, by miracle, allowed his " mind to suffer, for else, by his joy, he might " not have known sorrow. In Christ's passion, " indeed, were all things, which could make
THE LIFE OF WVCLTFFE.
33
tf his pain great, and so make it the more men- CHAP.
" torious. The place was solemn, and the day
" also, and the hour, the most so known to Jews, " or heathen men ; and the ingratitude, and con- " tempt were most ; for men who should most " have loved Christ, ordained the foulest death, " in return for his deepest kindness ! We should " also believe, that Christ suffered not, in any " manner, but for some certain reason ; for he " is both God and man, who made all things in " their number, and so would frame his passion " to answer to the greatness of man's sin. Fol- " low we then after Christ in his blessed passion, " and keep we ourselves from sin hereafter, and " gather we a devout mind from him."27 The reader will remember, that these devotional in structions were prepared for the usual auditory of a parish church in the fourteenth century.
The following passages were intended by the Docw
grace.
preacher, to explain the only sense in which he could admit that men might be said to " deserve" the felicities of heaven. " We should know that " faith is a gift of God, and that it may not be " given to men except it be graciously. Thus, " indeed, all the good which men have is of God, " and accordingly when God rewardeth a good " work of man, he crowneth his own gift. This " then is also of grace, even as all things are of " grace that men have according to the will of " God. God's goodness is the first cause why " he confers any good on man ; and so it may not " be that God doeth good to men, but if he do it " freely, by his own grace ; and with this under-
27 Horn. Bib. Reg. p.Gl. VOL. II. 1)
34 THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE.
CHAP. " stood, we shall grant that men deserve of God." - But the doctrine of short-sighted men " as was " Pelagius, and others, who conceive that nothing " may be, unless it be of itself, as are mere sub- " stances, is to be scorned, and left to idiots." It is then remarked, in connexion with the story of the centurion, whose faith had elicited the above observation, " Learn we of this knight, to be " meek in heart, and in word, and in deed ; for " he granted first, that he was under man's power, " and yet by power of man he might do many " things ; much more should we know that we " are under God's power, and that we may do " nothing but by the power of God; and woe shall " hereafter be to us, if we abuse this power. " This root of meekness, therefore, should pro- " duce in us all other virtues." It is evident that, in the mind of the reformer, the doctrine of these passages, dangerous as its tendencies are sometimes said to be, was connected with a feeling of the most sincere devotion. foiationsTf It *s tnus ne endeavours to strengthen the mind religion. of fae christian worshipper, while suffering under the adversities of life, and especially from the contempt of men. " As men who are in a fever " desire not that which were best for them, so " men in sin covet not that which is best for " them in this world. The world said that the " apostles were fools, and forsaken of God ; and " so it would say to-day of all who live like " them ; for worldly joy, and earthly possessions " alone pleaseth them, while of heavenly things, " and of a right following after Christ, they savour " not. And this their choice, in the present
THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE. 35
" world, is a manifest proof against them, that, in CHAP.
ie soul, they are not holy, but turned aside to the — '
" things of the world. For as the palate of a (i sick man, distempered from good meat, moveth " him to covet things contrary to his health, so it " is with the soul of man when it savoureth not " of the law of God. And as the want of na- " tural appetite is a deadly sign to man, so a " wanting of spiritual relish for God's word is a " sign of his second death." Yet men are said to judge of their participation in the favour of God, by the success of their worldly enterprises. But to expose this error, it is observed, " we should " leave these sensible signs, and take the example " of holy men, as of Christ, and his apostles; how " they had not their bliss on earth, but that here " Christ ordained them pain, and the hatred of " the world, even much suffering to the men " whom he most loved, — and this, to teach us " how to follow him." It is therefore said to follow, that in this world the marks of patient suffering should much rather be taken as those which bespeak the love of God.28
The connexion between this independence of Connection
r between
terrestrial evils, and the faith of the gospel, isfaithand
devotion.
thus pointed out. " If thou hast a full belief of " Christ, how he lived here on the earth, and " how he overcame the world, thou also over- " comest it, as a kind son. For if thou takest " heed how Christ despised the world, and fol- u lowest him here, as thou shouldst by the faith " of the Father, thou must needs overcome it. " And here it is manifest what many men are in
28 Horn. Bib. Reg. p. 78. D 2
3G THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE.
CHAP. " this world. They are not born of God, nor do
' — " they believe in Christ. For if this belief were
" in them, they should follow Christ in the man- " ner of his life, but they are not of faith, as will " be known in the day of doom. What man " should fully believe that the day of doom will " be anon, and that God shall then judge men, " after what they have been in his cause, and not " prepare himself to follow Christ for this bless- " ing thereof? Either the belief of such men " sleepeth, or they want a right belief; since " men who love this world, and rest in the lusts " thereof, live as if God had never spoken as in " his word, or would fail to judge them for their " doing. To all Christian men, therefore, the " faith of Christ's life is needful, and hence we " should know the gospel, for this telleth the be lief of Christ."29
29 Horn. Bib. Reg p. 70. It may be had been presented to the public, nor
due to myself to state, that previous to have they been at all quoted, so as to
the publication of the present work, no assist the reader in forming any judg-
intormation, at all satisfactory, as to inent respecting them. Note to the
the general character of these homilies second edition.
THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE. 37
CHAPTER II.
HISTORY OF ATTEMPTS TOWARD A TRANSLATION OF THE SCRIPTURES INTO
THE LANGUAGE OF THIS COUNTRY BEFORE THE AGE OF WYCLIFFE BY
THE ANGLO-SAXON CLERGY — BY THE ANGLO-NORMAN. WYCLIFFE*S
PURPOSE, AS EMBRACING A TRANSLATION OF THE WHOLE VOLUME, AND
ITS GENERAL CIRCULATION, STRICTLY A NOVELTY. THIS AFFIRMED BY
KNIGHTON. SOME CIRCUMSTANCES FAVOURABLE TO THIS ENTERPRISE.
EXTRACTS EXHIBITING THE REFORMER'S MANNER OF DEFENDING THIS EFFORT. THE INSURRECTION OF THE COMMONS.
THAT the gospel was known to the people of CHAP.
this island, before the close of the first century, ?1_
is the general testimony of historians. l Three centuries, also, intervened, before that connexion between the subject provinces of Britain and the capital of the empire, which had led to this diffu sion of Christianity, was dissolved. We have no authority, however, for supposing, that any por tion of the sacred writings was possessed by our Celtic ancestors, during that period, in the verna cular tongue. With the few, indeed, who could read, the Latin, though introduced by their con querors, was the principal object of attention ; * and the importance of obtaining the scriptures in their own dialect, which this circumstance served greatly to diminish, was probably overlooked. Subsequently, the religion of the Britons must
1 Usher, Stillingfleet, Collier. from the prevalence of the Latin lan-
3 Tacitus, Vita Agric. c.xxi. Giklas, guage, Britain might have been called Hist. The last writer observes, that a Konutn rather than a British island.
38 THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE.
CHAP, have suffered much from their protracted war — with the Saxons ; and after the arrival of Augus tine, nearly a century was occupied in bringing the disciples of Odin to their partial acknowledg ment of the God of the Christians.
Attempts It was in the seventh century that Cedman,
toward a . .
translation an Anglo-Saxon monk, produced a composition,
of the scrip- . . . _ .
tures by the which claimed the attention of his countrymen, s"xon's. as exhibiting the first application of their lan guage to sacred poetry ; and as the first attempt to render any part of the inspired volume in the speech of our forefathers.3 This poem, which has all the marks of the antiquity assigned to it, in cludes the leading events of Old Testament his tory, as the creation of the world, the fall of angels and of man, the deluge, the departure from Egypt, the entrance upon Canaan, with 700. some subsequent occurrences. In the following century, Aldhelm, bishop of Sherborne ; and Guthlac, the celebrated anchoret, are among the authors of the Anglo-Saxon versions of the Psalter. In the same age, the venerable Bede prefers his claim to the honour of a literal trans-
3 Bede, iv. 24. — On this interesting " of the Scriptures, previous to the
subject, Mr. Lewis's volume, intitled " opening of the Fifteenth Century,"
" A History of the English Transla- and it determines every question on
tions of the Bible," is well known; also this subject to the time of Wycliffe.
a lesser work by Johnson. The latter The brief memoirs of our reformer,
production, however, though frequently published in connexion with the same
cited as an authority, and honoured work, I should have noticed in the
with a place among bishop Watson's Preface, had I not been sensible that
Theological Tracts, is strangely inac- the writer is too well acquainted with
curate. I have found no better guide these things, not to be fully aware,
than Mr. Baber, a gentleman to whose that his notices respecting the sacred
discernment the public are indebted scriptures, and his enlarged and re-
for a reprint of Wycliffe' s New Testa- vised catalogue of the Wycliffe manu-
uient. To that work a chapter is pre- scripts, impart to that portion of his
lixed, intitled, " An Historical Account publication its chief value. " of the Saxon and English Versions
THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE. 39
lation of St. John's gospel.4 A manuscript copy CHAP. of the Latin gospels, with a Saxon version inter- — lined, known by the name of the Durham book, is attributed on probable evidence to about the time of Alfred.5 The Rushworth Gloss, is a 900. Latin transcript of the same portion of the sacred volume, with a Saxon translation, introduced after the same manner, the latter being apparently the production of the tenth century.6 Among the valuable manuscripts of Benet College, Cam bridge, is a third copy of the gospels in the Saxon tongue, written a little before the con quest ; and a fourth, which belongs to the same wso. period, and appears to have been copied from the former, may be seen in the Bodleian library.7 But an ecclesiastic, who did more than all his brethren toward supplying his countrymen with the scriptures in their own language, was Elfric. This industrious scholar lived during the reign of Ethelred, and subscribes himself, at different periods, as monk, mass priest, and abbot. In his 1000. epitome of the Old and New Testament, com posed for Sigwerd, a nobleman, we are informed, that at the request of various persons, he had translated the Pentateuch, the books of Joshua and Judges, those of Esther, Job, and Judith, also the two books of Maccabees, with part of the first and second book of Kings.8 Alfred,
4 Baber. Cuthberti Vita Ven. Bedae. its former possessor, John Rushworth,
5 It is preserved in the British Esq. of Lincoln's -inn. Baber, ubi Museum, Nero, D.iv. and is described supra.
by Mr. Baber, as the finest specimen 7 Ibid.
of Saxon calligraphy and decoration 8 Turner's Hist. iii. 142. Baber.
extant. The extent of Elfric's labours is
6 This is in the Bodleian, D. xxiv. learnt, as stated above, from various No. 3964. It derived its name from incidental notices occurring in such of
40 THE LIFE OF WVCLTFFE.
CHAP, whose name is associated by the admiration of — our ancestors, with almost every thing enlight ened in their polity or religion, is noticed as having prefixed a translation of certain passages from the Mosaic writings to his code of laws ; and he is said to have made a considerable pro gress in a Saxon version of the Psalms a little previous to his death.9
By the This, however, is the extent of our information,
Norman, on this interesting question, as connected with the Anglo-Saxon period of our history. The Anglo-Norman clergy were far more competent to have supplied their flock with this efficient means of sacred knowledge ; but, in this respect, the example of their predecessors was slighted, or rather disapproved. Some fragments of scrip tural truth may have been preserved by means of certain lessons which occurred in the ritual of the period ; but the first attempt, after the conquest, to place any more complete portion of the scrip tures before the English people, appears to have been made by the author of a rhyming paraphrase on the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, in- titled " Ormulum."10 Subsequent to the date of this work, which evidently belongs to one of the
his works as have descended to us. very wise is he who speaketh by his In his Epitome of the Old and New doings ; and well proceedeth he both Testament, he has not only made his with God and with the world, who selection from the scriptures, but has furnisheth himself with good works, frequently added things to the sacred And very plain it is in holy scrip- story from other writings. A copy of ture, that holy men employed in well this work, printed with an English doing, were in this world held in translation by William L'Isle in 1623, good reputation." is in the Bodleian, and another has 9 Spelman, i. 354. Prefatio Regis been for some time in my possession. Aluredi, M. ad Leges suas. See also It is thus it begins ; " Abbot Elfrike, Baber, 62. " greeteth friendly Sigwerd, at East I0 Ibid. Bodleian. Junius, i. " Heolon. True it is I tell thec, that
THE LIFE OF WYCLTFFE. 41
earliest stages of our language, we perceive a CHAP.
similar application of mind in a collection of me- '—
trical pieces, called Salus Animse, or in English, 1200> " Sowlehele."11 In the huge volume thus de signated, the materials are not all of the same class. The object of the compiler, or transcriber, seems to have been to furnish a complete body of legendary and scriptural history in verse, or rather to collect into one view, all the religious history he could find. It professes, however, to exhibit an outline, both of the Old and New Testament, and its composition is supposed to have preceded 1300. the opening of the fourteenth century. In Benet College, Cambridge, there is another work of the same description, the offspring of the same period, and containing notices of the principal events re corded in the books of Genesis and Exodus. In that collection, there is also a copy of the Psalms in English metre, which is attributed to about the year 1 300 ; and two transcripts, of nearly the same antiquity, have been preserved — the one in the Bodleian library, the other in that of Sir Robert Cotton.12 But it is not until the middle of the following century, that we trace the re motest attempt to produce a literal translation 1350. even of detached portions of the scriptures. The effort then made was by Richard Roll, called the Hermit of Hampole. His labours, also, were re stricted to a little more than half the book of Psalms, and to these a devotional commentary was annexed. Contemporary with this recluse, were some devout men among the clergy, who
11 Warton's History of English Poetry, sect.!. MSS. Bodleian, 779, Babcr. 12 Ibid. 05.
42 THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE.
CHAP, produced translations of such passages from the
. — scriptures as were prominent in the offices of the
church ; while others ventured to complete sepa rate versions of the gospels, or the epistles. The persons thus laudably employed were certainly few in number ; but parts of St. Mark, and of St. Luke, and of several among the epistles, are in cluded in the results of their labour which have descended to us. It should be added, that these versions, which are of various merit, were generally guarded by a comment. 13 Novelty of From these details, as the sum of our informa-
Wycliffc's
design in tion on the point to which they refer, it is evi-
translating x J
the scrip, dent, first, that a literal translation, of the entire
til res.
scriptures — the laborious enterprise completed by Wycliffe about this period — was strictly a novel event in our religious history ; and, secondly, that the publication of such a work, to be the property, not of distinguished individuals, but of the people in general, was a measure far beyond any thing contemplated by his precursors in the labours of translation. The only ground of sus picion, in the least degree plausible, as to the claims of WyclifFe to the originalty asserted, is contained in a production described as " a Pro logue to the Bible," and in a manuscript of the Bodleian. The writer of the Prologue speaks of being employed in translating the whole Bible, and refers also to an existing version. But that this document has been erroneously attributed to Wycliffe, is unquestionable, as it adverts to more than one event subsequent to the decease of our
i ' Buber, 66, 67. Lewis.
THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE. 43
reformer. 14 In the Oxford manuscript, also, every CHAP.
thing depends on the date attached to it ; but '—
here an erasure has evidently been effected ; and it is hardly to be doubted, that to supply the vacancy thus produced, would be to make the work a production of the year 1408.15 The author of the Prologue, noticed above, refers to an " En- " glyshe Bible of late translated," by which he evidently intends that produced by the rector of Lutterworth. In the esteem of the reformer's opponents, to have produced our first translation of the sacred writings must have been a very doubtful honour. It is nevertheless one, of which they have been not a little concerned to deprive him.
Had their zeal in this particular been much Testimony better sustained by authority, the testimony of respecting0" Knighton must have been sufficient for ever to de- n*>tnMh. termine the question with the unprejudiced en- quirer. That historian must be allowed to have known the customs of his contemporaries, and especially the place assigned by his own order to the inspired records, quite as well as any mo dern writer. Adverting to the zeal of WyclifTe in rendering the scriptures the property of the people, he thus writes: " Christ delivered his " gospel to the clergy and doctors of the church, 61 that they might administer to the laity and to " weaker persons, according to the state of the
14 It is a carious production, and 15 Baber. Historical Account and
has been twice printed. The refe- Memoirs of Wiclif. The present state
rences to John Gerson, to a novel of the numerals referred to is as fol-
regulation in the University of Ox- lows, MCCC vin. To supply the va-
ford, and to the proceedings of the cancy would be, we may reasonably
parliament in 1395, determine its date suppose, to form the date assumed in
us subsequent to the time of Wyclifl'e. the text.
44
THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE.
CHAP II.
" times and the wants of men. But this master " John WyclifFe translated it out of Latin into En- " glish, and thus laid it more open to the laity, and " to women, who could read, than it had formerly " been to the most learned of the clergy, even to " those of them who had the best understanding. ' And in this way the gospel pearl is cast abroad, " and trodden under foot of swine, and that which " was before precious to both clergy and laity, is " rendered, as it were, the common jest of both. " The jewel of the church is turned into the sport " of the people, and what was hitherto the principal " gift of the clergy and divines, is made for ever " common to the laity."10 It was thus the canon of Leicester bewailed the translation of the Bible into the language of his country. To him, it not only appeared as a novelty in the history of offences, but as an innovation on ecclesiastical discipline, amounting to nothing short of sacrilege, and as tending to destroy even the appearances of religion. Nor can we forbear td regard his sentiments, in this respect, as those of his order in the fourteenth
10 De Eventibus Col. 2644. To the same effect is the decision of an Eng lish Council in 1408, with the arch^ bishop Arundel at its head. " The ' translation of the text of holy scrip - ' tures out of one tongue into another ' is a dangerous thing, as St. Jerome ' testifies, because it is not easy to ' make the verse in all respects the ' the same. Therefore we enact, and ' ordain, that no one henceforth do, ' by his own authority, translate any ' text of holy scripture into the Eng- ' lish tongue, or any other, by way of ' book or treatise ; nor let any such ' book or treatise now lately com- ' posed in the time of John Wyclifl'c
" aforesaid, or since, or hereafter to " to be composed, be read in whole " or in part, in public or in private, " under the pain of the greater excom- " mnnication. " Wilkins. Concilia, iii. 317. The spirit of this enactment was evidently that of the majority of the clergy in the age of Wycliffe. He describes them as affirming it to be ' heresy to speak of the holy scrip- ' tures in English." But this is said
0 be a condemnation of " the Holy ' Ghost, who first gave the scriptures in ' tongues to the apostles of Christ, as
1 it is written, to speak the word in ' all languages that were ordained of ' God under heaven." Wicket.
THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE. 45
century. The historian no doubt knew that frag- c HA p. ments, and even considerable portions of holy writ, - had been clothed in this unconsecrated dialect ; but he also knew, that, hitherto, they were merely parts of that secreted volume which had been so rendered, and that these curious documents sel dom passed into the hands of the laity, and that they were never meant to pass into those of the people. Hence, to invite the community, with out distinction, to the study of the gospel, exhort ing them to regulate their present conduct, and their hopes and fears in relation to the future, purely by its sanctions, is described as the as sumption of ground for which no precedent could be pleaded, and is justly viewed as threatening the existing fabric of ecclesiastical power with dissolution.
Previous to the conquest, and through a con siderable interval afterwards, there was little evil to be apprehended from any such employment of the Bible. The repose of ignorance was too profound to be readily broken, and the vassalage, both of the body and of the mind, had been too little disturbed to admit of being speedily re moved. But in the age of Wycliffe, the aspect of society in England retained but a faint tracing of its earlier features. The augmented population of the country, the progress of commerce, and of a representative government, and the partial revival of learning, had all contributed to im provement ; and together with the bolder en croachments of the papacy, and that spirit of complaint and resistance which these had pro duced, were pre-eminently favourable to the zeal
46
THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE.
CHQ ? °^ our ref°rmer as employed in applying the popular language to the pure records of the gos pel. His antagonists, we have seen, were by no means insensible to the probable results of the enterprise in which his energies were engaged ; and to his own discernment, they were obvious in a much greater degree. He knew that to render the contents of the Bible familiar to the people, was to introduce a light which must impart a faithful colouring to the actions of men ; and that ignorance, and irreligion, might well tremble for their sway, when thus brought into nearest con nection with their opposites. Nearly twenty years had now passed since his first dispute with the mendicants; and during this period his writ ings disclose a growing conviction as to the suffi ciency of the scriptures, and the importance of the right of private judgment. The success, also, which attended his discussions on these points, evidently prepared him for his present effort ; the effect of which, according to his enemies, was to make the matters of the gospel revelation better known to the laity, and even to females, than they had hitherto been to the most distinguished among the clergy.17
1379.
»7 Knighton, Col. 2644. Another fact, which was highly favourable to this great work of the reformer, is thus briefly and luminously stated by Mr. Baber : " Englishmen were now beginning to be more attentive to their own tongue. Before the con quest, the popular language had been invaded by the Normannic. After that event, as the Norman lords in creased in power, their tongue be came the language of polished society,
of the laws, and of the pleadings in the courts of judicature. Latin was used for the services of the church, and the general purposes of litera ture ; and the Anglo-Saxon remained chiefly confined to the commonalty. In the thirteenth century, the po pular language began in some de gree to recover its rank ; the nobles, and the higher classes of society, did not, as heretofore, disdain to resort to it as a colloquial tongue ; and ori-
THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE.
47
Some extracts, illustrative of the arguments with which the reformer opposed the clamours of his adversaries on this question, will be expected by the reader. These we might select from nearly the whole of his writings, subsequent to the year 1378. In one of his earliest vindications he thus writes ; " As it is certain that the truth of the " Christian faith becomes more evident the more " the faith itself is known, and that lord bishops " condemn in the ear of secular lords what is " faithful and true, on account of hatred to the " person who maintains it, — honest men are bound " to declare the doctrine which they hold, not " only in Latin, but in the vulgar tongue, that the " truth may be more plainly and more widely " known." The writer then refers to an English treatise which he had previously addressed to secular lords, and in which he had urged them to regulate their life " solely according to the law " of Christ." That work is now lost, but the Latin
Wycliffe's manner of defending his conduct on this point
ginal works, as well as translations from the productions of authors who had written in French, now began to appear in an English dress. But at this period, it must be allowed, our language was rough and unpolished, and those who wrote in it were authors who possessed few ideas of taste or elegance. In proportion, however, as the tyrannical power of the barons declined, and as the paths which led to honour and distinction became more open to commoners, the English tongue, in the fourteenth century, became more general, and its improvements were considerable. The accessions it had received, and ; the changes it had experienced within ' the last three centuries, were at this
period numerous and striking ; for our language, as it was now spoken by the noble and the learned, was considerably enriched by words bor rowed from the Roman and French dialects, and much altered in its pro nunciation, its form, and its termina tions. Among the lower orders of the people, however, upon whom refinement makes but slow advances, English, with respect to its great mass, preserved more of its Saxon origin and phraseology. Such was the state of the vernacular tongue at the time in which Wiclif wrote. The reformer quickly discerned the advantage which might be derived from this propitious circumstance." —Memoirs of Wiclif, 36, 3T.
48 THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE.
CHAP, composition, under the same title, is preserved,
, ! and in this the author proceeds to state that
" those heretics ought not to be heard, who ima- " gine that temporal lords should not possess " the law of God, but that it is sufficient for them " to know what may be learnt from the lips of " their priests and prelates." The error of this doctrine is thus exposed : "As the faith of the " church is contained in the scriptures, the more " these are known in an orthodox sense, the bet- " ter. And since secular men should assuredly " understand the faith, it should be taught them " in whatever language is best known to them. " Inasmuch, also, as the doctrines of our faith " are more clearly and precisely expressed in the " scriptures, than they may possibly be by priests, " — seeing, if one may venture so to speak, that " many prelates are but too ignorant of scripture, " while others conceal parts of scripture, — and as " the verbal instructions of priests have many " other defects, the conclusion is abundantly " plain, that believers should ascertain for them- " selves the matters of their faith, by having the " scriptures in a language which they fully under- " stand. Besides, it was by faith, as described " by the apostle (Heb. chap, xi.), that the saints " of old overcame kingdoms, and hastened to " their own country. Why then should not the " things of faith be disclosed to the people now, " so that they may comprehend them more "clearly? He, in consequence, who shall pre- " vent this, or murmur against it, does his utmost " to continue the people in a state of unbelief, " and condemnation. Hence, also, the laws made
THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE. 49
" by prelates are not to be received as matters of CHAP.
" faith, nor are we to confide in their public in- !
" structions, or in any of their words, but as they " are founded on holy writ ; for according to the " constant doctrine of Augustine, the scriptures " contain the whole of truth;18 and this translation " of them should therefore do at least this good, " viz. placing bishops and priests above suspicion " as to the parts of it which they profess to ex- " plain. Other means also, as prelates, the pope, " and friars, may prove defective ; and to provide " against this, Christ, and his apostles, evangelized " the greater portion of the world, by making " known the scriptures in a language which was " familiar to the people. To this end, indeed, " did the Holy Spirit endow them with the know- " ledge of all tongues. Why, therefore, should " not the living disciples of Christ do as they did, " opening the scriptures to the people so clearly " and plainly that they may verily understand " them, since, except to the unbeliever disposed " to resist the Holy Spirit, the things contained in "scripture are no fiction?" The reformer then solemnly inculcates the doctrine of individual responsibility, as extending to all the matters of faith and practice. From the certainty, also, that the answer of a prelate or a canonist will be of no avail, in the day when each man shall stand before the judgment-seat of the Redeemer, he again vin dicates his appeal to the right of private judgment, and urges on the laity the duty of a devout atten-
18 Doctrina Christiana, lib. ii. in fine " crees of bishops in the church, are
ep. ad Volasianum, cited by Lewis, " of greater authority and dignity than
o. v. Walden, the known antagonist. " is the authority of the scriptures."
of Wycliffe, affirmed, that "the de- Walden. Doc. Tri.i. lib. ii. o. 21. VOL. II. E
50
THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE.
CHAP, tion to whatever may promote their faith in the
^J__ grace of the Saviour, and obedience to his will.
From motives thus enlightened, did Wycliffe prosecute his translation of the Bible. How far he was assisted in this great work is unknown. There is a notice attached to one of his Bibles, which attributes a translation of a portion of Baruch to Nicholas Hereford. The statement is written in less durable ink than the volume itself, and in a different hand, but is probably correct. We know that copies of the whole, or of parts, of the scriptures, in the language of the people, were now multiplied with surprising rapidity.19 Among the manuscripts which have escaped
19 MS. Speculum Secularium Domi- norum. Usser. De Script. 160. c. v. Lewis, c. v. Baber's Historical Ac count, 69. When certain objections were urged against translating the scriptures into English, it was re marked that the same might be said of rendering them from the Greek into Latin, since it was certain that the Latins had not always used their ver sion without abusing it. And men there were, who did not hesitate to go the length of affirming, that evil must result from submitting the scriptures to an indiscriminate inspection in any language. It is thus that William Butler, a Franciscan, and an opponent of Wyclifle, writes on this point : " The " prelates ought not to allow that any " person should read the scriptures " translated into Latin, at pleasure ; " because, as experience proves, this " has been the occasion of many falling " into heresies and errors. It is not, " therefore, wise that any one, whenso- " ever and wheresoever he will, should " be left to the eager study of the " scriptures." — Usser. De Script. 163. Lewis, c. v. Such was the danger ap prehended from this source, that some twenty years after Wycliffe's decease,
it was made a law of the university of Oxford " that no man should learn di- " vinity, neither holy writ, except he " had done his form in art; that is, " that hath commenced in art, and hath " been regent two years after, which " would be nine years, or ten, before " he would learn holy writ! " — Eluci- darium Bibliorum, c. xiii.
Previous to the decision of the council of Trent on that subject, many sound catholics discarded the apo cryphal writings, which had become appended to the Old Testament. (Cosin, on the Canon.) Wycliffe was guided chiefly by the authority of Jerome, and retained only such books in the sacred canon as are at present received by the protestant churches. "Satis est (ecclesiam) pro sufi militia " habere 22 libros de veteri testainento " authenticos * * * Non oportet eccle- " siam militantem illis libris credere " tanquam authenticis. MS. DeVeritate " Scripturae." Yet to the close of his life he continued to cite the apocryphal books as a reputable, though not as an inspired authority. An extract from the reformer's translation of the Old Testament may be seen in the Appen dix, No. F.
THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE. 51
the destroying hand of our native inquisitors, are CHAP.
several which appear to have been completed L_
before the decease of the reformer. The effect we learn from other sources besides the invectives of Knighton. It was at no mean cost of labour, reproach, and danger ; and with a view, evidently, to the accomplishment of the most important ends, that this service was performed. The achieve ment, indeed, is one, which of itself must vest the name of Wycliffe with a peculiar halo, in the re collections of every man regarding the dissolution of the papal thraldom in this island, as the fall of ignorance, oppression, and impiety.
But while the reformer was employed in this insurrection master-effort to enlighten the piety of his country- men, an insurrection broke out among the popu lace, and one which appeared to threaten the overthrow of every established authority. The event fills a prominent place in the general history of this period, and the enemies of WyclifFe cease not to insinuate, that the violence of the insur gents arose, in no small degree, from the tendency of his projected innovations. Had the name of our reformer been wholly unconnected with this memorable occurrence, a distinct notice of its causes and character would not have been foreign from the design of the present work. The zeal of his adversaries has rendered this indispensable. The inquiry, however, would interrupt our narra tive very considerably, and I have therefore thought it proper to place the substance of what may be known on this subject, in a note at the end of the volume.20
20 See Note A, E 2
52 THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE.
CHAPTER III.
TRANSUBSTANTIATION OPPOSED EY EERFNGARIUS AND BY THE VAUDOIS
AND ALBIGENSES — NOT RECOGNISED BY THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH
DEFENDED BY LANFRANC, AND ESPOUSED BY THE ANGLO-NORMAN CLERGY.
WYCLIFFE' s OPPOSITION TO IT. SEVERE PENALTIES TO BE INFLICTED
ON ALL WHO SHOULD FAVOUR HIS OPINIONS CONCERNING IT. HIS AP PEAL TO THE CIVIL POWER FOR PROTECTION. HIS FEELING UNDER THESE
PERSECUTIONS. ANALYSIS OF HIS " WICKET." PROCEEDINGS OF
COURTNEY, AND THE SYNOD AT THE GREY FRIARS. WYCLIFFE FAVOURED
BY THE UNIVERSITY. • — STATE OF PARTIES IN THE NATION UNFRIENDLY
TO THE EFFORTS OF THE REFORMERS. INQUISITORIAL STATUTE OBTAINED
BY THE CLERGY. NOTICE OF ROBERT RIGGE, DR. HEREFORD, REPPINGTON,
ASHTON, AND OTHERS.
CHAP. IT has appeared, that until the middle of the ' ninth century, the manner in which the body and
the blood of Christ are present in the eucharist, was the subject of debate, or rather of a peaceful difference of sentiment, among persons holding the chief dignities of the hierarchy. The same may be said of a considerable interval afterwards. But from that period, and from causes which have also been explained,1 the advocates of the mysterious dogma, which in the twelfth century began to be designated transubstantiation, rapidly by increased. Its progress, however, was far from
Berenga-
«Hs. being uninterrupted ; and among its opponents the most distinguished place must be allotted to Berengarius, a gallic prelate, who about the middle of the eleventh century brought his genius
1 Prelim. View, c. i. sect. 3.
THE LIFE OF WVCL1FFE. 53
and learning, which were both greatly above the CHAP.
character of the age, to an investigation of its L
claims. His doctrine was strictly that of the primitive church, and of the existing protestant communities. The zeal and ability with which it was supported, diffused his name through Europe, and attracted the enmity or admiration of the clergy through the western nations. In the cause of his opinions, the disputant patiently submitted to the spiritual censures of the pontiff, and of a council assembled at Paris ; and the displeasure of his sovereign, which his zeal had provoked, was followed by the forfeiture of his episcopal re venues. The burden of such evils was probably lightened by remembering that his disciples in France, in Italy, in England, and particularly in the states of Germany, were numerous and in creasing. But such, it appears, was the extent of the suffering, which this advocate of truth and reason was prepared to endure in defence of his tenets. Thrice was he compelled to appear at Rome ; and as often was his doctrine formally re nounced, only to be again avowed, as the prospect of impunity returned. Toward the close of life, he retired from the agitated scenes which for more than thirty years had been familiar to him ; and the remembrance of the indecision, which had been allowed to sully his character, is said to have embittered his seclusion. But he died with the reputation of sanctity, and his followers never became extinct.2
The Vaudois and Albigenses, who had never And by the embraced the marvellous theory adverted to, were
Mosheim, ii. 558 — 569, where this subject is fully and luminously treated.
54
THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE.
III.
CHAP, invigorated in their opposition to it by the labours of Berengarius and his partisans. That the sec taries had adopted the heresy of that prelate, was often urged as their reproach ; and it is evident from certain fragments of their reasoning on this subject, which their enemies have preserved, that, had the assertion been correct, the disciple must have been frequently acknowledged as by no means unworthy of his master. From one of their adversaries, we learn, that they were accus tomed to appeal to the Apostles' Creed, and to that of Nice, and Athanasius, as including every important article of Christian doctrine ; expressing their surprise, that in these summaries of religious truth, no reference should be made to the matter of transubstantiation, though a doctrine so greatly needing the aid of external evidence to counter act, in some degree, its intrinsic, and surpassing difficulties. These perplexities, also, the same fraternities are described as exposing with a seve rity of criticism, which must often have be wildered their antagonists; urging with fluency almost every question tending to involve the sub ject in mystery, contradiction, or absurdity.3
3 See Prelim. View, c. i. sec.ii. The celebrated schoolman Alanus Magnus, thus describes the manner in which these contemporary heretics opposed this dogma of the church. " If the bread should be changed every day into the body of Christ, it would be infinitely increased. They inquire also whether the bread ceaseth to be, and if it ceaseth to be, then it is anni hilated, and so it is spoiled. Also they ask, how a body of so great a bulk can enter into the mouth of a man ? Whe ther the body of Christ be eaten,
chewed with the teeth, and conse quently divided into parts? Whe ther the bread becomes the body of Christ? because then it will really be the body of Christ— that is to say, something else than it is. Whether the bread be comes the body of Christ? because, if so, then bread will be the matter of Christ's body. Also, after tran substantiation, the accidents remain ; if so they must, be in another sub- ' ject — as for instance, in the air. But ' if it be there, then some part of the
THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE. Oi
But we are principally concerned to know the CHAP
fate of this doctrine in England. Our Saxon 1~
ancestors were in general sufficiently obedient to *" the opinions and customs of the papacy, and we may believe that the doctrine of transubstantiation churcht was not unknown, nor wholly unapproved, by their spiritual guides. We have, however, the most decisive proof, that the dogma so named, formed no part of the national creed in the tenth century. Elfric, a contemporary of St. Dunstan, and the correspondent and associate of the prin cipal ecclesiastics of that period, has adverted in one of his epistles to the elements of the eucharist in a manner which incidentally, but most dis tinctly, proscribes the doctrine of a " real pre- " sence." This letter was addressed to Wulfstan, archbishop of York, and as its translation into the vernacular language was in compliance with the request of that prelate, it must be admitted as
air must be round, and savory, and " body of Christ be in every part of white; and as this form is carried "that host? Again, if the body of through divers places, so the acci- " Christ be hid in that little form, dents change their subject. Again, " where is the head, and where the these accidents abide in the same "foot? — as a consequence his mem- part of the air, and so solidity will " bers must be undistinguishable. be in the air; because they are "Again, Christ gave his body to his solid, and consequently the air will " disciples before his passion. Now be solid. Hence it appears that " he gave it them either mortal or im- these accidents are not in the air, "mortal; yet if he gave it im- neither are they in the body of " mortal, it is certain that then it was Christ, neither can any other body "mortal, and consequently while it is be assigned in its place, in which " really mortal it was yet immortal, they shall appear to be, and there- " which is impossible." — Alanus con- fore the accidents do not merely tra Albigenses, &c. c. 1. cited in the seem to remain. Again, when the Latin from Alauns, by Dr. Allix, in form or figure in which the body his remarks on the Churches of the of Christ lieth, is divided into Albigenses, c. xvi. 14G. The above parts, the body of Christ continues are a few only of the queries with no longer in that figure which it had which the heretics were accustomed before — how, therefore, can the to perplex the faith of the orthodox.
56 THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE.
CHAP, a document of no mean authority.4 According
L to this writer, the " housel is Christ's body, not
" bodily, but spiritually. Not the body which " he suffered in, but the body of which he spake " when he blessed bread and wine, a night before " his sufferings." " The apostle," he observes, " has said of the Hebrews, that they all did eat " the same ghostly meat, and they all did drink " the same ghostly drink. And this he said, not " bodily, but ghostly, Christ being not yet born, " nor his blood shed when that the people of " Israel ate that meat, and drank of that stone. ".And the stone was not bodily, though he so " said. It was the same mystery in the old law, " and they did ghostly signify that ghostly " ' housel' of our Saviour's body which we con- " secrate now." In his homily, " appointed in " the reign of the Saxons to be spoken unto the " people at Easter," the doctrine of Elfric, and of the Anglo-Saxon clergy in relation to this ser vice, is more fully exhibited. He there repeats his allusion to the manna, and the rock of the wilderness, and speaks of the bread in the Chris tian sacrament as being the body of Christ, only as the waters of baptism may be said to be the divinity of the Holy Spirit. In describing the difference between the body Christ suffered in, and the body that is hallowed to " housel," he states that the one was born of the flesh of Mary,
4 The work from which I quote has the following title page: " A Testi- " monie of Antiquitie, showing the " aunuient fayth in the church of EH- " gland, touching the sacrament of the " body and blood of the Lord, here
publicly preached, and also received in the Saxon tyme above 600 years ago. Printed by John Day, beneath St. Martyns, Cum Privilegio Regiac Maiestatio." 1567.
THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE.
57
and that the other is gathered of many corns; and c ^f p*
that " nothing therefore is to be understood
16 therein bodily, but all is ghostly to be under- " stood." The bread which is farther described, as having bodily shape, is again contrasted with the body of Christ, which is said to be present, only in its " ghostly might." The body also in which Christ rose from the dead never dieth, but the consecrated bread is declared to be temporal, not eternal. The latter is divided into parts, and some receive a larger portion, and some a less ; but the body of Christ " after ghostly mystery" is undivided, and equally in all. This series of distinctions the writer concludes by observing, that the things appealing to the senses in the eucharist, are a pledge and figure, while Christ's body is truth itself.
The authenticity of this production is beyond suspicion, and that the printed copy is correctly given from the original is attested by archbishop Parker, by his brother of York, and by the suf fragans of both,
But though it is thus certain that the mystery of transubstantiation was not among the recog nised doctrines of the Anglo-Saxon hierarchy, its general adoption was to be among the immediate results of the conquest. By the transfer of the English sceptre to the hand of a Norman, the political influence of the pontiffs in this island was for a while materially impeded and restrained. But Lanfranc, who filled the see of Canterbury under the first William, was the most distin- A"nglo-Nor-
man clergy.
guished opponent of Berengarius ; and from that period, to the age of Wycliife, the faith of the
58 THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE.
CHAP, real presence was inculcated by the native clergy
L_ without any visible opposition.5
In attempting the overthrow of this doctrine, our reformer must have been aware of the danger and suffering to which the effort would expose him. And we must presume that evils so certain and serious would hardly have been encountered, had not the error to be assailed appeared to him as fraught with impiety and abuses of the most revolting description. Of the steps which led him so to regard it, and which determined his hostile movements relating to it, we are only partially informed. It is, however, by no means surprising, that a study of the scrip tures, which had been devoutly pursued through so loiig an interval, and which had produced a renunciation of so many established opinions, should issue in the abandonment of a doctrine, containing the grossest of the insults, which priests, in their insolence of triumph, had be stowed on the prostrate capacities of their victims. Of the spirit with which Wycliffe addressed him self to this contest, we may judge from the follow ing extract, which forms the introduction to one of his most popular pieces on the subject. " For- " asmuch as our Saviour, Jesus Christ, with the " prophets who were before him, and the apostles " who were presently with him, whom he also left " after him, and whose hearts were mollified by " the Holy Ghost — have warned us, and given us " knowledge that there are two manners of ways, " the one to life, the other to death, therefore pray
s Mosheim, ii. 560.
THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE. 59
we heartily to God, that he, of his mere mercy, CHAP. will so strengthen us with the grace and stedfast- IIL
:t ness of his Holy Spirit, as to make us strong in " spiritual living according to the gospel, that so " the world — no not the very infidels, papists, nor " apostates, may gather any occasion to speak " evil of us; that we may enter into that strait " gate as Christ our Saviour, and all that follow " him have done, not in idle living, but in diligent " labouring — yea in great sufferance of persecu- " tion, even to the death."6
It was with sentiments thus devout, and a pur pose thus matured, that Wycliffe commenced his attack on the received doctrine concerning the eucharist. The weakness and the contradictions inseparable from that tenet, would have been of themselves sufficient to justify a zealous oppo sition ; but in the view of the reformer, the sin of the officiating priest was less the result of in attention than of impiety, and such as rendered him a false guide to the community, conducting his followers into the snares of a ruinous idolatry. The doctrine promulgated by Wycliffe on this point, is of such frequent occurrence in the course of his sermons, as to render it probable that it had been broached from the pulpit, prior to its admission into his lectures at Oxford. In these, however, a laborious prominence was assigned to it in the spring of 138 1.7 Twelve conclusions were then published, in which he challenged the attention of the members of the university to his
6 MS.OstiolumWiclevi. This piece under the title of Wyclifl'e's Wicket, was printed at Norenberch, in 15 4G, ' Wood, 188. Lewis, c. vi.
60 THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE.
CHAP, exposition of this sacrament.8 In these, while
— admitting that the words of consecration conferred
a peculiar, and even a mysterious dignity on the bread and wine, it was most distinctly stated that those elements were not to be considered, " as " Christ, or as any part of him," but " as an " effectual sign of him," To the easy faith of the majority, in that age, few things in religion could occur as difficult if sanctioned by the church. With others, it was a matter of strange perplexity, that the sensible qualities which had distin guished the bread of the eucharist previous to its consecration, should continue to all human perception precisely unaltered after that mystic ceremony had been performed. To counteract this inconvenient verdict of the senses, the genius of the mendicants struck out a new path in logical science. They affirmed that an accident, or the property of an object, as its whiteness, or its roundness, may be supposed to exist, even when the object itself had ceased to be. The discern ment of Wycliffe was so deeply offended by this hardy assertion, that his writings from this period abound with allusions to it ; nor does he hesitate to denounce it as an absurdity betraying so much fraudulence of temper, as to render its abettors altogether unworthy of the public confidence. In the conclusions now published, this favourite dogma of his old antagonists was especially con demned.
It will be supposed, that a tenet which artifice had rendered so subservient to the interests of the
8 Appendix, No. II.
THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE. 61
priesthood, was not thus assailed without exciting CHAP.
the most serious opposition. It appears, also, 1_
that much the larger portion of the honours of the university was possessed at this time by the reli gious orders, notwithstanding the various attempts to reduce their influence. The chancellor, William de Berton, — whether awed by their power, or truly alarmed by the intrepidity of Wycliffe, be came a party to measures, which were speedily adopted with a view to prevent the diffusion of the new doctrine. In a convention of twelve doctors, eight of whom were either monks or mendicants, the reformer was represented as teaching, that in the sacrament of the altar, the substance of material bread and wine remained without change after the words of consecration were pronounced ; and that in the same venerable sacrament, there is the body and blood of Christ, not essentially, nor substantially, nor even bodily, but figuratively or tropically — so that Christ is not there truly, or verily in his own bodily pre sence. To pass a sentence of reprobation upon opinions, which so completely destroyed the mystery of transubstantiation, would be the ready AV determination of such an assembly. It was accordingly agreed to describe these novelties as erroneous, as opposed to the decisions of the church, and to state it as the true doctrine of the eucharist, " that by the sacramental words, duly " pronounced by the priest, the bread and wine " upon the altar are transubstantiated, or sub- " stantially converted into the true body and " blood of Christ — so that after consecration, " there is not in that venerable sacrament the
62 THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE.
CHAP. " material bread and wine which before existed,
" considered in their own substances or natures,
" but only the species of the same, under which " are contained the true body of Christ, and his <v blood, not figuratively, nor tropically, but es- " sentially, substantially, and corporally — so that " Christ is verily there in his own proper bodily " presence." To protect these dogmas from the process of investigation with which they were now threatened, it was resolved that the sentence of the greater excommunication, suspension from all scholastic exercises, and the forfeiture of per sonal liberty, should be incurred by any member of the University, who either in the schools or out of them, should inculcate the opinions pub lished by Wycliffe. The same penalties were also adjudged, to such as should be convicted of listening to any defence of " the two aforesaid " erroneous assertions."9
The meeting in which these resolutions were adopted appears to have been privately convened. The reformer was in the school of the Augus- tinians, seated in his chair as professor, and lec turing amidst his pupils on this very doctrine, when a messenger entered the apartment, who, in the name of the chancellor, and of the divines his coadjutors, pronounced the above sentence re lating to the sacrament of the altar, and such as should favour the recent heresies on that subject.
9 See Appendix, No. III. Leland, De concludes that "the opinion of tran-
Soript. Brit. 379. Sir R. Twisden re- " substantiation, that brought so many
fers to the above censures, in support " to the stake, had not more than a
of this doctrine, as " the first plenary " hundred and forty years' prescription
" determination of the church of En- " before Martin Luther."— Historical
'' gland" respecting it; and accordingly Vindication, 193, 194.
THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE. 63
Wycliffe paused, as if taken by surprise, and in CHAP.
doubt as to the best mode of resisting the hostility L_
which had so suddenly assumed this formidable shape. But a moment was sufficient to restore his confidence ; — he then rose, complained of this substitution of brute force in the place of reason, and challenged the collected strength of his op ponents to a fair refutation of his published opi nions. He had often declared it to be the duty of the magistrate to protect the life, the property, and in all such cases as the present, the personal freedom of the subject. On this maxim he was now resolved to act with a firmness not inferior to that of his adversaries. The alternative placed H;S apPeai before him, was silence or imprisonment ; and p°0wer.CIV the chancellor was therefore informed, that since it was resolved to punish the persons who should avow his doctrine with civil penalties, it was his own determination to appeal from the decision of his present judges to the protection of the civil power. They were looking to that power to crush opinion and investigation ; he would look to it for an opposite purpose.10
A considerable interval, however, was to elapse before the meeting of the next parliament, and it is probable that during that period the lectures of the reformer, as divinity professor, were devoted to topics less dangerous to his personal liberty. The prohibition of the chancellor, however, would be limited to the sphere of his particular jurisdic tion, and it is to be observed, that even within the University, it referred only to oral communication. Wycliffe's province as rector of Lutterworth, was
>° Sudbary's Register, in Wilkins, iii. 170, 1TI.
64 THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE.
CHAP, still open, and the partial silence imposed on his
!— lips, would naturally impart an additional industry
taJ. to nis Pen- His piece, intitled, The Wicket, was composed during this crisis. Before proceed ing to the discussion which it was intended to embrace, the writer feelingly adverts to the treat ment which he had recently experienced from " clerks of the law." " These," he observes, " have ever been against God the Lord, both in " the old law, and in the new ; slaying the pro- " phets which spake to them the words of God. " Yea, they spared not the Son of God, when the " temporal judge would have delivered him. And " so forth of the apostles and martyrs who have " spoken truly of the word of God." Thus, as the great foes of truth, instead of occupying the foreground in its defence, they are said to have denounced it as " heresy to speak of the holy " scriptures in English ;" and the same cause is said to have produced " the law which they have " made on the sacred host." In the latter, " the " falsest belief" is declared to be inculcated, and of those who bow to its authority, worshipping the consecrated bread, it is inquired, " Where <c find you that ever Christ, or any of his apostles " worshipped it ?" Appealing to the ancient creeds which assert the eternity and immutability of the Saviour's existence, he demands with solemnity, " may the thing made, turn again, and make him " who made it? Thou then, that art an earthly " man, by what reason mayest thou say that thou ' ' makest thy Maker ?" Leaving this difficulty to be solved by the wisdom of orthodoxy, he next inquires, whether the body understood to be made
THE LIFE OF WYCLJFFF. 65
by the priest at the altar, must be considered as CHAP. that of the Redeemer, previous or subsequent to - his resurrection. If it be said to be the spiritual body in which he ascended to the Father, that, according to the scriptures, " the heavens must " receive until the restitution of all things." If it be the body of Christ previous to his dissolution, then is it one which has yet to die, since the scriptures which speak of his incarnation, speak no less distinctly of his agony and death. From this dilemma, the reformer proceeds to object to the received interpretation of the words, " This is " my body." These he contends, are improperly regarded as being at all the words of consecration, since it is evident, from the mode of their intro duction in the gospel, that they related simply to the act of distribution. " Seek ye busily," he writes, " if ye can find two words of blessing or " giving of thanks wherewith Christ made his " body and blood of the bread and wine. For if " ye might once find out those words, then should " ye wax great masters above Christ, and then " ye might be givers of his substance, and as fa- " thers, and makers of him, he should worship you, " as it is written, ' Thou shalt worship thy father " and thy mother.' Of such as desire such wor- " ship against the law of God, speaks St. Paul, " when writing of the Man of sin, that advanceth " himself as he were God. Whether our clergy ' be guilty of this, judge ye, or they who know " most." The conclusion resulting from this doc trine, he remarks, is, "that the thing which is '' not God to-day, shall be God to-morrow — yea, " that the thing which is without spirit of life, but
VOL. IT. F
66 THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE.
CHAP. « groweth in the field by nature, shall another - — " time be God ! and still we ought to believe, " that God is without beginning and without " ending!" The men who could be insensible to these impossibilities, or perceiving them, were so impious as to pretend to believe the doctrine which involved them, are reminded of the Mosaic account of the creation, and are required to imitate that achievement of Deity, before they pretend to give existence to his attributes. " If " ye cannot make the works which he made, " how," it is demanded, " shall ye make Him who 44 made them?" To avoid the difficulty which arose from teaching that each portion of the sa cramental bread became the undivided body of Christ, it was usual to remark, that though a glass should be broken into a multitude of pieces, yet each fragment retained the power of reflecting the same countenance. But this unfortunate exercise of ingenuity is noticed by the reformer as favourable to his doctrine, and at variance with that of his opponents, since in every such frag ment, "it is not the very face, but the figure "thereof" which is perceptible, "and just so," it is observed, " the bread is the figure of Christ's " body." And as the Redeemer meant not a material cup when that term was employed by him in the agony of the garden, and in his pre vious address to the sons of Zebedee, it is affirmed to be reasonable that we attach a figurative mean ing to certain of his expressions which occur in connexion with the last supper. With the fol lowing paragraphs the work concludes. te There- " fore let every man wisely, with meek prayers,
THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE. 67
" and great study, and also with charity, read CHAP.
" the words of God, and holy scriptures. But 1—
" many of you are like the mother of Zebedee's " children, to whom Christ said, ' Thou wottest not " what thou askest.' You wot not what ye ask, " nor what ye do.' For if ye did, ye would not " blaspheme God as ye do, setting an alien god, " instead of the living God. Christ saith, 'I am " a very vine.' Wherefore worship ye not the " vine for God, as ye do the bread ? Wherein was " Christ a very vine ? or wherein was the bread " Christ's body ? It was in figurative speech, " which is hidden to the understanding of sinners. u And thus, as Christ became not a material nor " an earthly vine, nor a material vine the body of " Christ, so neither is material bread changed " from its substance to the flesh and blood of " Christ. Have you not read that when Christ " came into the temple, they asked of him what " token he would give that they might believe him, " and he answered, ' Cast down this temple, and " in three days I will raise it again,' which words " were fulfilled in his rising from the dead. But " when he said, * Undo this temple,' in that he " meant thus, they were deceived, for they under- " stood it fleshly, and thought that he had spoken " of the temple at Jerusalem, because he stood in " it. And therefore, at his passion, they accused " him full falsely, for he spake of the temple of " his blessed body, which rose again on the third " day. And just so Christ spake of his holy body, " when he said, * This is my body which shall be " given for you,' which was given to death, and " unto rising again to bliss for all that shall be
F 2
68 TFIE LfFE OF \VYCLIFFE.
CHAP. " saved by him. But just as they falsely ac- _1_ " cused him respecting the temple of Jerusalem, " so, now-a days, they accuse falsely against " Christ, and say that he spake of the bread which " he brake among his apostles. For in that " Christ said this figuratively they are deceived, " taking it fleshly, and turning it to the material " bread, as the Jews did in the matter of the " temple. And on this foul misunderstanding they " make 'the abomination of discomfort/ which is " spoken of by the prophet Daniel, as standing " in the holy place. — He that readeth, let him " understand. Now, therefore, pray we heartily " to God, that this evil time may be made short (( for the sake of the chosen men, as he hath " promised in his holy gospel, and that the large " and broad way that leadeth to perdition may " be stopped, and that the strait and narrow way " that leadeth to bliss may be made open by the " holy scriptures, that we may know what is " the will of God, to serve him with certainty " and holiness, and in fear, that we may find by " him the way of bliss everlasting." Such was the doctrine of Wycliffe, in relation to the eucha- rist. As the person who is raised to prelatical or princely dignity is still a man, so it was af firmed, the bread, exalted as it may be from the purposes to which it is applied in the sacrament of the altar is, in every property, what it pre viously was ; and the doctrine of transubstantia- tion is accordingly treated as the strange result of attaching a literal import to metaphorical expres
sions.11
11 Trialogus, lib. iv. c. iv. vii.
THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE. 69
It will be in the recollection of the reader, that CHAP.
the summer of 1381 became memorable from the L
insurrection of the commons,12 and that Wycliffe's public opposition to the tenet now adverted to commenced about the same period. On the 14th of June, in that year, the see of Canterbury be came vacant by the death of Simon Sudbury ; and in the October following, it was filled by Court ney, previously bishop of London. The transla tion of this prelate was secured by a bull of Urban the sixth, and the obligation thus con ferred on the new primate, by his ecclesiastical sovereign, increased his scrupulous submission to the pleasure of the papacy. Until the pall, which custom had rendered the badge of his present dignity, was procured from Rome, the jurisdiction of his see and its usual insignia were declined. But this ornament obtained, the archiepiscopal staff was assumed ; and the ecclesiastic, who, as bishop of the capital, had shewn the most zea lous opposition to the opinions of our reformer, avowed his determination to employ the whole of his more extended influence to complete their extirpation.13
Early in May, in the year 1382, this "pillar of Proceedings the church," as he was described by the orthodox, ° deemed himself canonically invested with the pri macy, and two days subsequent a parliament was convened at Westminster. The mandates of the archbishop were immediately issued, calling a synod to deliberate as to the decisions proper to be adopted with regard to certain strange and
12 From the proclamation in Rymer, began to lower early in the spring, vii. 311, it appears that the storm l3 Wake's State of the Church, 313.
70 THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE.
CHAP, dangerous opinions said to be widely diffused,
1_ " as well among the nobility as the commons of
" this realm of England." On the seventeenth of the same month, an assembly was accordingly convened, including eight prelates, fourteen doc tors of the civil, and of the canon law, six bachelors of divinity, fifteen mendicants, and four monks. synod at A residence of the grey friars in the metropolis
the Grey . .
Friars, May was the place of meeting ; and the policy of the
17,1382. . ' *
archbishop appears to have been, to procure a formal condemnation of the tenets of the refor mers, and then to commence an unsparing pro secution of such as should hesitate to renounce them. Nor was this mode of procedure more vigorously chosen than pursued. It happened, however, that the synod had scarcely approached the matters to be adjusted by its wisdom, when the city was shaken by an earthquake. The courage of the parties assembled was so far im paired by this event, that some ventured to ex press their doubts whether the object before them might not be displeasing to heaven, and it began to be uncertain whether the meeting would not dissolve without coming to any decision. But the ready genius of the primate who presided, conferred a different meaning on the incident, comparing the dispersion of noxious vapours, produced by such convulsions, with the purity which should be secured to the church, as the result of the present struggle to remove the pesti lent from her communion. The courage of the wavering being thus restored, twenty-four con clusions were read as those which had been preached, " generally, commonly, and publicly,
THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE. 71
" through the province of Canterbury, and CHAP.
" the realm of England." After the " good deli- IIL . " beration " of three days, it was agreed, that ten of these conclusions were heretical, and the re maining were declared to be erroneous.
The statements condemned as heretical related to the sacrament of the altar as including no change in the substance of the bread and wine — to priests and bishops as forfeiting their power, as such, by yielding to deadly sin — to auricular confession as unnecessary — to clerical endowments as unlaw ful — and to the claims of a depraved pontiff as derivable from the edicts of the emperor, but not from the gospel. In the propositions de scribed as erroneous, the accused are made to say, that a prelate excommunicating any man without knowing him to be so judged of God, is himself a heretic, and excommunicated — that to prohibit appeals from the tribunal of the clergy to that of the king, is to incur the guilt of trea son — that priests and deacons are all empowered to preach the gospel without waiting for the sanc tion of popes or prelates — that to forego this ser vice from the fear of clerical censures, must be to appear as a traitor to God in the day of doom — that temporal lords may deprive an offending clergy of their possessions — that tythes are merely alms, to be yielded to the clergy only as they are devout men, and according to the discretion of the contributors — and finally, that the institutions of the religious are in themselves sinful, and tend in many ways to the injury of piety.14
14 Wilkins, iii. 157. Lewis, c. vi. Lewis, states that the earthquake no- The Godstow chronicle, cited by Mr. ticod in the preceding page took place
THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE.
That some of these doctrines were correctly - attributed to the avowed disciples of Wycliffe, permeation, will not be disputed, but others appear to have derived a part of their complexion from the pre judice of adversaries. The pomp, however, of that authority which had condemned the whole, is frequently appealed to in vindication of the measures which were now adopted to suppress them. Courtney was fully aware, that the uni versity, which had so long been the residence of our reformer, was scarcely more fertile of heresy than the metropolis of the kingdom. A letter was accordingly addressed to the bishop of Lon don, in which, having announced himself as me tropolitan of all England, and legate of the apostolic see, the archbishop laments, that in contempt of certain canons which had wisely restricted the office of preaching, whether pub licly or privately, to such as are sanctioned by the holy see, or by their prelates, many were every where found teaching doctrines subversive of the whole church, " infecting many well-meaning " Christians, and causing them to wander grie- " vously from the catholic communion, without " which there is no salvation." The bishop is then reminded of the high authority by which the propositions referred to had been declared hereti cal and false ; and he is, in conclusion, exhorted, in common with all his brethren suffragans of Canterbury, " To admonish, and warn, that no " man do henceforth hold, preach, or defend the
about one o'clock in the forenoon of This was probably a second convul- the Wednesday previous to Whitsun- sion, for the meeting of the synod took tide, which was May 30th. (c. vi. 106.) place nearly a fortnight earlier.
THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE. 73
" foresaid heresies, and errors, or any of them." c^nAP*
To secure this object it is required, that neither
himself, nor his brethren in the prelacy, do admit any suspected persons to the liberty of preach ing — that they listen not to the abettors of the abovre pernicious tenets — that they lean not to them, either publicly or privately, but rather shun them as serpents who diffuse pestilence and poi son — and that this be done on pain of the greater excommunication, that being the sentence de nounced on all, and every one, who shall be found in these things disobedient.15
That the greater publicity might be given to this crusade against heresy, it was arranged, that during the ensuing Whitsuntide, a religious pro cession should pass through the streets of London. On the appointed day, the attention of the populace was arrested by numbers of the clergy and laity moving bare-footed towards St. Paul's. There a carmelite friar ascended the pulpit, and informed the mourning multitude of their duty with regard to the church and her enemies at this foreboding crisis. But it has appeared that the commands of the archbishop, which doubtless produced this edifying spectacle, were not only addressed to the bishop of the metropolis, but to the whole of the prelates his suffragans. A copy of the primate's letter was, accordingly, conveyed to WyclifFe's diocesan, the bishop of Lincoln ; and to secure a speedy and certain execution of its instructions, official documents were imme diately addressed by this prelate to the abbots and priors, and the different officers, even to the
11 Fox. Acts and Mnnumctilb, i. .369. kniglitou, 52(wO, 2651.
74 THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE.
CHAP, rectors, vicars, and parochial chaplains, through- — 1— out the district to which the church of Lutter- worth pertained. That church is described, as in the deanery of Goodlaxton, in the archdeaconry of Leicester. And it will be presumed, that while every clergyman in the neighbourhood of the re former was thus canonically admonished of his obligations in relation to the heresy of the times, Wycliffe himself would not fail to receive his share of the salutary warning. There were causes, however, by which the proceedings meditated against him were for a while delayed.16
Connected with these attempts to diffuse a spirit of persecution through the provinces by the agency of the prelates, were similar efforts with respect to the seats of learning. At this period one Peter Stokes, a carmelite, and a doctor of divinity, had distinguished himself, in Oxford, by the ardour with which he had opposed the new opinions. His conduct in this particular procured him the notice and the patronage of the arch bishop, who, in a letter, dated a week subsequent to the meeting at the Grey Friars, enjoins it upon the zealous mendicant to publish the decisions of that assembly through the university. In this do cument, which is nearly a transcript of that sent to the bishops, the primate adverts to the con tempt of all episcopal sanctions observable in the conduct of the new preachers ; to their doctrine as subversive of the faith in which alone there is salvation ; and to the high authority of the synod by which their novelties had been condemned ; and proceeding to inculcate, that to refuse the
16 Knighlou, 2G50. Fox. Acts aud Monuments, ubi supra. Lewis.
THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE. 75
needful aid for saving men from destruction, is CHAP.
to become chargeable with their blood, he com- L_
mands that the persons maintaining the heresies and errors specified, be holden in the strictest abhorrence, under the penalty of the great ana thema.17
Tt was of little avail, however, to dispatch such wyciinefa.
fm vouredby
instructions to the university, while its chan- theuniver. cellor, and so large a portion of its members, were the secret, if not the open adherents of the per secuted. That office, which in the preceding year had been sustained by William de Berton, was now filled by Robert Rigge, a scholar who exposed himself to much inconvenience and suf fering from his attachment to certain of the re former's opinions. In the records of this period, the name of Dr. Nicholas Hereford is also of frequent occurrence, as that of a principal follower of WyclifFe. Before the assembling of the late synod, this divine, to use the language of the primate, had been " vehemently suspected of " heresy." At this moment, however, and while the inquisitorial purposes of the archbishop were sufficiently known, Hereford is called by the chancellor to preach before the university ; and the service which thus devolved upon him was deemed the most honourable of its class through the year. A similar mark of approbation, it ap pears, was conferred, at about the same period, on Ralph Rippington, who was also doctor of divinity, and equally an admirer of Wycliffe ; and the discourses of both are described as containing a passionate eulogy on the character and the
'7 Sec Appendix, No. IV.
7G THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE.
CHAP, general doctrine of the reformer. But this exer- '— cise of the chancellor's authority was instantly reported to the archbishop, and an expostulatory letter was suddenly dispatched, advising a more dutiful employment of his influence. It required him indeed to loathe the opinions and the inter course " of these presumptuous men," and, as he would not himself be suspected of heretical pra- vity, to afford immediate aid to Peter Stokes, that the letters possessed by him might be duly pub lished, and that the reign of a sect, against which the king and the lords had promised to unite their authority, might at length be brought to its close.18
circum. The statement of the primate, as to the iriten-
stances at .
thismoment tions of the court, was not without foundation.
unfriendly •»-» • •• i • •• /» i •
totheefforts Richard was now in the sixteenth year of his age.
formers." The failure of some martial preparations, which engaged the attention of his government during the earlier period of his reign, involved his ex chequer in the most serious difficulties. And the efforts of his ministers to extricate the vessel of the state, served only to increase its perils, until an insurrection, and such as had been hitherto unknown in our history, threatened the extinction of every privileged order in the kingdom. The zeal and ingenuity of such churchmen as the present archbishop, would not be slow in sug gesting to the young monarch, that the convulsions which had recently shaken the kingdom must be expected to return ; and, that their object in some evil hour must be achieved, should the present rector of Lutterworth, and his numerous disciples be allowed to continue their appeal to
'8 Fox. Acts, &c.
THE LIFE OF WYCLTFFE. 77
the passions of the populace. Under the known CHAP. disaffection of the commons, it became, also, a — point of peculiar moment to propitiate the clergy. Their wealth might enable the government to abolish, or at least to abridge, that system of taxation, which had recently goaded the people into madness. Lancaster, too, who during the late commotions, had been employed in treating with the Scots on the border, had shared much in the resentment of the insurgents. And there were other causes which rendered him far from acceptable to the existing ministry. Thus fa vourable was the crisis to a nearer alliance be tween the mitre and the crown. Nor should it be forgotten, that the family of the ecclesiastic now raised to the primacy of the English church, possessed considerable influence with a large body of the nobility of the age.19 A few months only had passed, since the blood of the commons had been freely shed, as the price of their tran sient ascendency ; and though the king proceeded so far as to submit to his next parliament the propriety of wholly abolishing the service of vil- lanage, and the house of commons declared the late insurrection to be wholly chargeable on the government, almost the only immediate conse quence of that convulsion appears to have been, to supply the tyrannical with new facts by which to enforce the usual pleas for oppression.
19 Barne's Edward the Third, 904. first. Lewis, c. iv. 58. Gibbon has
He was fourth son of Hugh Courtney, given an extended notice of the ho-
earl of Devonshire, by Margaret, nours which centred in this family,
daughter of Humphry Bohun, earl of in the eleventh volume of his history,
Hereford and Essex, by his wife 287—300. Elizabeth, daughter of Edward the
78
THE LIFE OF WYCLTFFE.
CHAP. III.
It is at this moment, so auspicious to their cause, that the English clergy unite in preferring to the sovereign and the court, a series of com plaints against the doctrine and practices of the followers of Wycliffe. With a view also to in crease the odium so industriously bestowed upon the disciples of the reformer, they were now designated Lollards,20 — a name which had long- distinguished certain sectaries on the continent, to whom, after the custom of the times, almost every thing degrading had been imputed. The persons in England, who, from this period, were classed with those injured people, are described by the prelates, abbots, and friars, representing the hierarchy, as teaching — that since the time
20 Fox, i. 578. There are few minor points in ecclesiastical history on which a greater diversity of opinion has prevailed, than with respect to the origin of the term Lollard. The sub ject has received more attention from Mosheim than from any other writer known to me, and his statement is as follows : " As the clergy of this age " (the fourteenth century) took little " care of the sick and dying, and " deserted such as were infected with " those pestilential disorders which " were then verv frequent, some com- " passionate and pious persons at " Antwerp formed themselves into a " society for the performance of those " religious offices which the sacer- " dotal orders so shamefully neglected. " Pursuant to this agreement, they " visited and comforted the sick, " assisted the dying with their prayers " and exhortations, took care of the " interment of those who were cut off " by the plague, and on that account " forsaken by the affrighted clergy, " and committed them to the grave
" with a solemn funeral dirge. It was " with reference to this last office, that " the common people gave them the " name of Lollards. The example of " these good people had such an ex- " tensive influence, that in a little time " societies of the same sort of Lollards, " consisting both of men and women, " were formed in most parts of Ger- " many and Flanders, and were sup- " ported partly by their manual " labours, and partly by the charitable " donations of pious persons." Hist, iii. 355 — 358. But the existence of such societies reflected on the charac ter of the clergy, and impaired the resources of the mendicants ; and every art was accordingly resorted to for the purpose of rendering them odious. Such too was the success of these efforts, that the name, though so re putable in its origin, came to be descrip tive of all persons who were thought to conceal enormous vices under the appearance of sanctity. See a curious notice from Mosheim on this subject, at the end of the volume. Note B.
THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE. 79
of Silvester, there has been no true pope, and that CHAP. the last to whom that name should be given is - - — the existing pontiff, Urban the sixth ; that the power of granting indulgences, arid of binding and loosing, as claimed by ecclesiastics, is a de lusion, and that those who confide in it are in consequence accursed ; that auricular confession is a superfluous service ; that the bishop of Rome has no legislative authority in the Christian church ; that the invocation of saints is an un authorized custom ; that the worship of images or pictures is idolatry, and that the miracles attri buted to them are false ; that the clergy are bound to reside on their benefices, and not to farm them to others, and that such as fail in these duties should be degraded as wasters of the goods of the church ; and, finally, that the pomp of the higher orders of the priesthood should be in all things done away, and their doctrine as to the vanity of the world be enforced by example. Doctrines at all of this character could not have been widely disseminated, without deeply irritating the men to whose pretensions they were so ex plicitly opposed.
By their present appeal, the clergy obtained persecuting
, . n i «_• i/> • i . i
tne sanction of the king, and of certain lords, to a statute which occurs as the first in our parUa- mentary history, providing for the punishment of the variable crime designated heresy. For this reason, and as it farther discloses the energy and activity with which Wycliffe's " poor priests" were now prosecuting their plans of reform, it is here inserted without abridgemnt. " Foras- v much as it is openly known, that there are
statute sur-
n-ptmonsiy
80 THE LIFE OF WYCLTFFE.
CHAP. " divers evil persons within the realm going from
' — " county to county, and from town to town, in
" certain habits, under dissimulation of great holi- " ness, and without the licence of the ordinaries " of the places, or other sufficient authority, " preaching daily, not only in churches, and " churchyards, but also in markets, fairs, and " other open places, where a great congregation " of people is, divers sermons, containing heresies, " and notorious errors, to the great blemishing " of the Christian faith, and destruction of the " laws and estate of holy-church, to the great " peril of the souls of the people, and of all the " realm of England, (as more plainly is found, " and sufficiently proved, before the reverend " father in God, the archbishop of Canterbury, " and the bishops and other prelates, masters of " divinity, and doctors of canon and of civil law, " and a great part of the clergy of the same realm " especially assembled for this cause,) which per- " sons do also preach divers matters of slander, to " engender discord and dissension between divers " estates of the said realm, as well spiritual as " temporal, in exciting of the people to the great " peril of all the realm ; which preachers being " cited or summoned before the ordinaries of the " places, there to answer to that whereof they be " impeached, they will not obey to their summons " and commandments, nor care for their moni- " tions, nor for the censures of holy-church, but " expressly despise them ; and moreover, by " their subtle and ingenious words do draw the " people to hear their sermons, and do maintain " them in their errors, by strong hand, and by
THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE. 81
"great routs. It is therefore ordained and as- C^R
" sented in this present parliament, that the —
" king's commissions be made and directed to the
" sheriffs, and other ministers of our sovereign lord
" the king, or other sufficient persons learned, and
" according to the certifications of the prelates
" thereof, to be made in the chancery from time
" to time, to arrest all such preachers, and also
" their fautors, maintainers, and abettors, and to
" hold them in arrest and strong prison, till they
" will justify themselves according to the law and
" reason of holy-church. And the king willeth
•" and commandeth, that the chancellor make
" such commissions at all times, that he, by the
" prelates, or any of them, shall be certified, and
" thereof required, as is aforesaid."21
By this document, invalid as it was in point of law, much was done toward rendering the magistracy through the kingdom, the passive in struments of that " holy office" which the scheme was meant to establish in every diocese. Court ney felt no delicacy in describing himself, as " chief inquisitor of heretical pravity for the pro- " vince of Canterbury ;" and to him, the success of such a plan would, of course, have been singu larly grateful. That the suspected through the nation, might be placed under immediate "arrest, " and in strong prison," the force at the command of the sheriffs, was to be subject, in every place, and at every season, to the bidding of the pre lates; and no process instituted was to terminate,
21 Tbis document, and those from seen in Fox, 575 — 580. See also which the remaining facts of this Wilkins. Concilia, iii. ubi supra, and chapter are mostly derived, may be Lewis.
vor. i r. G
82 THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE.
CHAP- except as the parties accused should " justify
!_ " themselves according to the law, and the reason,
" of holy-church." And if it be remembered, that our statute book had not hitherto included the remotest provision for correcting religious opinions, the matured form in which this op pressive policy was introduced must be viewed as bespeaking no mean confidence of strength on the part of the ruling clergy.
The facts adverted to, are also widely at issue with the theory which transfers the odium of the atrocious persecutions so frequent in ancient Christendom to the temper of the magistrate, or to the maxims which had become incorporated with the policy of princes before the diffusion of the gospel. In the annals of our own country, it is plain that the laity were indebted to the clergy for their first attempt to enforce the doctrines of their religion by the terrors of the dungeon and the stake ; and it is not less certain, that the zeal which first taught them to prize the scent of blood, propelled them in the chase.
The attention of the primate, on thus obtaining the aid of the magistrate, was first directed to 1382. Oxford. The synod which had separated on the twenty-first of May, was convened again, in the chamber of the preaching friars, on the twelfth of June ; and Robert Rigge, the chan cellor of the university, and William Brightwell, a doctor of divinity, appeared at the place of meeting, to answer respecting their late conduct in favour of Hereford and Rippington ; and, also, as to their opinion concerning the " aforesaid " articles." Rigge was a zealous advocate of
THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE. 83
the university, as an establishment which should CHAP.
be less subject to the control of the ecclesias- L_
tical than of the civil power ; and hence was strongly opposed to the religious orders, who were concerned that it should be subject to the authority of the primate, as legate of the apostolic see. Our reformer had distinguished himself in the same cause. But while the chancellor cer tainly admired the character of Wycliffe, it is pro bable that his admiration did not extend to every tenet which the reformer was known to advocate. Before the synod, indeed, he declared his assent to the judgment passed on the twenty-four articles in the previous meeting ; and Brightwell, after some hesitation, was induced to follow his example. As the prospect of successful resistance began to disappear, the courage of both may have been so far subdued as to admit the partial concealment of their opinions. It is certain that a letter was now delivered by the archbishop to " his well be- " loved son in Christ, the chancellor of Oxford," requiring him to publish the proscribed articles, in the schools and churches, at the hours of lecturing and preaching ; and to give the greater efficacy to this proclamation, it was to be made in Latin, and in the vulgar tongue. In the docu ment containing these instructions, the names of John Wycliffe, Nicholas Hereford, Philip Rip- pington, John Ashton, and Lawrence Redman, occur as those of persons notoriously suspected of heresy ; and adverting to these, and such as should in any way favour their persons or their doctrine, the primate writes, " we suspend the " same suspected persons from all scholastic
G 2
84 THE LIFE OF A\rYCLIFFE.
CHAP. " exercises, until such time as they shall have
in " purified themselves before us; and we require
" that you publicly denounce the same to have " been, and to be, by us suspended ; and that you " diligently and faithfully search after all their " patrons and adherents, and cause inquiry to " be made respecting them through every hall in " the said university ; and that obtaining intelli- " gence of their names and persons, you do compel " all and each of them to abjure their errors " by ecclesiastical censures, and by any canonical " penalties whatsoever, under pain of the greater " anathema, the which we now denounce against " all and each who shall not be obedient ; * * * * " and the absolving of such, as may incur the " sentence of the instrument, we reserve wholly " to ourselves." But the chancellor had scarcely left the place of meeting when the suspicions of the primate appear to have been renewed. In a letter, dated on the same day with the above, and from the same place, he informs Robert Rigge, that he had learnt from credible information, and partly from experience, his disposition to favour " the aforesaid damnable conclusions," and his intention to molest by his authority, the persons who should oppose them in the schools of the university. In consequence of this information, the archbishop thus writes, " We admonish thee, " master Robert, chancellor as before named, " the first, second, and third time, and peremp- " torily, that thou dost not grieve, hinder, nor " molest judicially, nor extra-judicially, publicly " nor privately, nor cause to be grieved, hindered " or molested, nor procure indirectly by thyself,
THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE. 85
" or others, to be grieved, the foresaid clerks se- CHAP. " ctilar or regular, or such as favour them in the - " points determined in their scholastic acts, or in " any other condition whatsoever." The eccle siastics who had joined with the primate in his recent process against the chancellor of Oxford, were many of them members of the university. On returning to that seminary, the men who had lately sat in judgment upon the conduct of its principal officer, would be again subject to his authority, and it was deemed important to se cure them from that resentment which their fears had taught them to anticipate.
The synod which we have seen convoked on the nineteenth of May, and re-assembled on the twelfth of June, was again convened on the eigh teenth, the twentieth, and the twenty-eighth of the same month, and on the first, and twelfth, of 1332. the month ensuing. In each of these meetings, the prosecution of Hereford and his associates was continued, but with various success. The ac counts, indeed, which their enemies have trans mitted to us, are not only imperfect, but in many things contradictory and improbable ; and as these form almost our only source of information re specting the accused, their conduct at this period, and their real character, are left in a great degree uncertain. Wycliffe, who at the time of these proceedings, was residing at his rectory, would be a close observer of movements, intended to annihilate a cause which his life had been devoted to create and sustain. In one of his sermons, composed during this interval, he clearly refers to the measures in progress against Dr. Hereford,
86 THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE.
C?if P' anc^ roaster John Ashton. By the first our re- former appears to have been assisted in his trans lation of the scriptures ; and he is presumed to have been the author of some English pieces, de signed to forward the projected reformation of the church. Ashton was known through nearly half the kingdom as an itinerant preacher, and accord ing to the accounts given by his adversaries, was possessed of qualifications which gave an amazing efficiency to his labours. To the doctrines of WyclifFe he is said to have annexed certain novelties of his own. Knighton, who describes his appearing in coarse attire, and with a staff in his hand, as the affectation of simplicity, bears testimony to the assiduity with which he fre quented churches, and mingled in family circles, to effect the dissemination of his tenets. The same writer has preserved the outline of two sermons, said to have been delivered by this pedestrian teacher, the one at Leicester, the other at Gloucester. In these we recognize the opi nions of our reformer as to the authority of the sovereign in relation to the church, the delusion and abuses of spiritual censures, the pernicious influence of religious temporalities, the unscrip- tural origin of distinctions among the clergy, and the folly of transubstantiation, together with a special exposure of the malignity which had always characterized crusades — those perni cious fruits of the dispensing power assumed by the priesthood. That neither the learning of Hereford, nor the ardour of Ashton might be any longer employed in diffusing sentiments so hostile to the existing order of things, both were
THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE. 87
summoned to appear before the archbishop, who, CHAP.
to his titles as primate, was pleased to annex the '—
name of " Chief Inquisitor."22
It is while this process is pending, that Wycliffe adverts to it in one of his parochial expositions. The persecution he attributes principally to the zeal of Courtney, whom he describes, as the te great bishop of England," and as deeply in censed " because God's law is written in English, " to lewd men."23 "He pursueth a certain priest," observes the preacher, " because he writeth to " men this English, and summoneth him, and tra- " veleth him so that it is hard for him to bear it. " And thus he pursueth another priest, by the help " of pharisees, because he preacheth Christ's gos- " pel freely, and without fables. Oh ! men who " are on Christ's behalf, help ye now against Anti- " christ, for the perilous times are come which " Christ and Paul foretold!"24 We can believe that Wycliffe's auditory would not fail to sym pathize with their pastor at this foreboding mo ment ; but according to the statements of their persecutors, the efforts made by the men who were thus feelingly adverted to, in the hope of escaping from the strong hand of their oppressors, were fruitless.
It should be remembered, however, that when authority was once appealed to, with a view to suppress the doctrine of Wycliffe, it became a point of some importance that the end proposed should, at least, seem to have been obtained. Hereford and Rippington, after repeated struggles to evade
w Knighton, 2655—2660. Wilkins. * " Laymen." 2* MS. Horn. Bib. Reg.
88 THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE.
CHAP, any confession of their faith, are described as
! — at length admitting the twenty-four conclusions
censured by the synod, to be, with certain ex planations, partly heretical and partly false. They are said also to have stated, that in no instance had they publicly avowed the tenets which in those articles were imputed to them. Their confession, however, such as it was, proved so little satisfactory, that each member of the synod declared it to be, with respect to numerous articles, " heretical, subtle, erroneous, and per- " verse." But all farther explanation of their creed was steadily refused, and for a while the terrors of excommunication were braved, though its sentence, that it might operate as a warning to the infected, was pronounced with studious pomp and publicity. Ashton conducted his de fence with considerable spirit, but affirmed that he should decline answering the questions of his judges on the conclusions adduced. He was repeatedly urged to make his communications to the court in Latin, that no erroneous impression might be produced on the mind of the laity who were auditors ; but the consciousness of a bad cause, and the spirit of domination which this unauthorized injunction betrayed, roused the in dignation of the prisoner, and called forth an appeal to the people in their own tongue, which the archbishop deemed it important to check, by hastening the business of the day to its close. In the sentence delivered, the silence of the sus pected person was regarded as the proof of guilt, and he was exposed accordingly to all the conse quences of holding the censured articles.
THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE. 89
Could we always submit to the authority of CHAP.
Knighton, we should believe that Hereford and ~
Ashton delivered written confessions to the synod on the doctrine of the eucharist, and such as con tained every mystery which the priesthood had connected with it. But there is room to sus pect that these papers belong to that numerous class of productions which owe their origin to pious fraud. Were they authentic, we should not have had to search in vain for them in the Courtney register, where so large a space is devoted to these proceedings. In addition to which, Ashton is made to affirm in this document, that he had never questioned the tenet of tran- substantiation — a statement which, according to the historian who has adopted it, was contrary to fact, and one which must have contained a false hood for which no motive can be assigned. And had Hereford descended to employ the language attributed to him on the same article, the rest in the series would doubtless have been disposed of in the same manner, and his escape could hardly then have been attributed, purely to the interfe rence of the duke of Lancaster. It appears, how ever, that Rippington ultimately conformed to the requisitions of the church, and that after a time he endeavoured to place his orthodoxy beyond suspicion by persecuting his old associates. The dispute with Ashton, also, was subsequently so far accommodated as to admit of his returning to his scholastic exercises. But in 1387, Hereford was generally believed to be a disciple of Wycliffe ; and so late as the year 1392, he solicited and obtained the protection of the court against the
90
THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE.
CHAP, machinations of his enemies which had arisen - from that cause.25
25 It is from Knighton, (2657) that we learn the fact of Hereford's " es- " cape from the bitterness of death " through the influence of the duke of Lancaster. But in 1391 we find him with the clergy who sat in judgment on the celebrated Lollard, Walter Brute. Bj his indecision he ap pears to have forfeited the confidence both of the orthodox and of their op ponents, and probably his own peace of mind. The firmness of the martyr
is not the possession of every good man. Fox, i. 654. Mr. Godwin de scribes him as " the most refined and virtuous of the adherents of " Wy- cliffe." It may be that the Lollards did not possess his superior as a scholar, but in the virtues of firmness and consistency he was surpassed by many of that class. Life of Chaucer, ii. 336. Ashton is said to have died as he lived. Thorp's Examination. Wals. 328. Lewis, c. x.
THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE. 91
CHAPTER IV.
PERSECUTION. WYCLIFFE*S DEVOTIONAL ALLUSION TO THE EVILS OF HIS
TIME. SUMMARY OF HIS COMPLAINT ADDRESSED TO THE KINO AND
PARLIAMENT. EFFECT OF THAT APPEAL. THE REFORMER IS FOR SAKEN BY LANCASTER. HIS PURPOSES UNALTERED BY THAT EVENT.
HIS VIGOROUS PERCEPTION OF THE BEARINGS OF THE CONTROVERSY RE SPECTING THE EUCHARIST, AND HIS CONFIDENCE OF ULTIMATE SUCCESS.
HE APPEARS BEFORE THE CONVOCATION AT OXFORD. SUBSTANCE
OF HIS CONFESSION. PERPLEXITY OF HIS JUDGES. HE RETIRES TO
LUTTERWORTH. -HIS LETTER TO THE PONTIFF.
THE history of persecution affords abundant CHAP.
evidence of its general inefficacy, and of its tur- '—
pitude. That it should have pervaded the nations of Christendom so entirely, and through so long a period, is in every view humiliating. The civil penalties by which the religious obedience of the ancient Israelite was enforced, are sufficiently ex plained by the fact that such was the nature of the Hebrew government, that to yield to the prac tice of idolatry, was to incur the guilt of treason. But no second theocracy has been established. The power, accordingly, both of the sovereign and of the priest, may be presumed to have been ma terially affected by the departure of the Mosaic economy. The limits now assigned to the autho rity of each, is a subject requiring the most deli berate attention, whether viewed in connexion with the many questions which it involves, or in its practical importance. The consequences resulting
92 THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE.
CHAP, from opposite decisions concerning it, have ever
been fraught with a large amount of good or evil
to mankind.
Among the heathen states of antiquity, tole ration was scarcely a virtue, as the local aspect of their idolatry left the province of every existing deity undisturbed, even while new objects of worship were introduced. But the gospel was not of a character to enter into any such partner ship with human inventions. On the contrary, as being alone true, it claimed an undivided empire. By its first disciples, its pretensions in this respect were fearlessly urged ; nor were their nearer descendants concerned, either to deny or to conceal this peculiarity of their faith, though but too well apprised of the loathing which it had brought upon them from all the votaries of Gentile worship. In some instances, that contempt of the pomp and pleasure of the world which not unfrequently distinguished the professors of Chris tianity in those ages, was increased and purified by the external sufferings thus incurred. But in others, the turbulence of the passions was less subdued by the better spirit of the gospel, and the violence employed to suppress the doctrines of the cross sometimes excited a re-action of the same evil temper in their support. These inflammable materials had been for some time increasing in the church, when, under Constantine, Christianity was recognized as the religion of the empire. As the consequence of that event, these dangerous elements became so far dominant among the no minal professors of the gospel, as to leave the partisans of the ancient idolatry to deplore the
THE LIKE OF WYCLIFFE. 93
severity of weapons which they had recently CHAP.
wielded with so much freedom against its oppo- *_
nents. But when attempts to convince the un derstanding of its errors, by means of confiscations, and torture, and exile, were not only considered as rational, but when to be zealous in the appli cation of this species of logic, was to secure, moreover, the reputation of unusual sanctity, it was not the grosser forms of heathenism merely, which would feel the disastrous influence of this strange delusion. The diversities of opinion ob servable among the avowed disciples of the same Master, soon attracted the critical attention of churchmen. These differences were found to be retained with much tenacity, and the obstinacy of the weak provoked the indignation of the strong. No little artifice was, in consequence, employed, to clothe the doctrine of dissentients with almost every feature of impiety — as the best method of vindi cating the infliction of penalties upon them which had once been the award of idolatry. Nor is it to be doubted, that the guilt of transferring the maxims of persecution, from the policy of pagan Rome to that of the papal hierarchy, so as to render them the law both of its head and of its members, be longs, chiefly, to the higher orders of the clergy. Amid the declining civilization of the empire, the power of that class of men steadily increased, until their supremacy over the conscience of their victims was completed. It is, however, a stub born and a melancholy fact, that with every step of their progress persecution became more syste matic and relentless. The notion of divine right was by degrees connected with the regal office,
94 THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE.
CHAP, and while monarchs, if obedient to the will of the L church, were placed on a level with the sove reigns of Judah, ecclesiastics claimed to be the representatives of Deity, and to an extent greatly surpassing any thing to which the Jewish priest hood had aspired. The ministers of the Christian sanctuary being once acknowledged as the uner ring interpreters of the will of Heaven, to dissent from the church, whether its judgment were inter posed to enforce the claims of princes, or to determine articles of faith, was to resist the Almighty, and to fall under the double censure of the rebel and the impious. Monarchs, indeed, were sometimes slow to act on the suggestions of their pastors, as to the best mode of subduing the heresies of their people ; but such as were solici tous of repose, or concerned to hold the sceptre with a steady hand, were generally induced to become the instruments of almost any scheme, which promised to the church the reverence claimed for her supposed infallibility.
It is true the civil authorities of England, pre vious to the age of Wycliffe, are less stained with the blood which was so freely shed for the protection of orthodoxy than were the rulers of almost every state upon the continent. But this arose simply from the circumstance, that until the former half of the fourteenth century had passed, certain encroachments in discipline formed the only matters of serious complaint. The ho nour of first attempting to render it a part of our statute law, that on all questions of heresy the magistrate should become the executioner of the will of the church, belongs to the zeal of the
THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE. 95
primate Courtney. Nor was the effort wholly CHAP.
futile, though its immediate result was trivial —
when compared with its design. The degree of success, however, which attended this claim on the secular power, served as a precedent and a motive in the series of measures which were ere long to involve both the church and the state in all the odious consequences generally attendant on a coercive warfare with religious opinion. Wycliffe marked this tendency of events, and by his benevolent genius the progress of intolerance was for a while impeded. His declining health, or the fear, perhaps, of encountering the political influence of Lancaster, proved the security of the reformer during the late prosecution of his friends. It is stated, indeed, that Hereford and Ripping- ton, when falling before the strength of their an tagonists, solicited the protection of John of Gaunt, and that the reply of that nobleman con sisted of instructions respecting the duty of sub mitting, in all such matters, to the decision of their ordinaries. That such an appeal was made, and that such was its result is perhaps true, but that it did not include the name of Wycliife, may be safely inferred from his confidence in the " noble duke," as expressed in the petition which he presented immediately afterwards to the king and the parliament.
It appears, also, from a discourse composed by J^^J the reformer, about this period, that he was not allusion to
1 ^ m the evils
ignorant of the artifice and corruption to which o his adversaries had resorted, in the hope of op posing the force of the civil government to the intended reformation of religion. Commenting
96 THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE.
CHAP, on the entombment of Christ, and on the vain
L_ effort of the priests and the soldiers to prevent
his resurrection, the preacher adverts to the measures recently adopted, both by the civil and ecclesiastical authorities, with a view to consign the gospel to oblivion. " Thus," he observes, " do our high priests, and our new religious fear " them, lest God's law, after all they have done, " should be quickened. Therefore make they " statutes stable as a rock, and they obtain grace " of knights to confirm them, and this they well " mark with the witness of lords; and all lest " the truth of God's law, hid in the sepulchre, " should break out to the knowing of the common " people. Oh ! Christ, thy law is hidden thus, " when wilt thou send thine angel to remove the " stone, and show thy truth unto thy flock ? Well " I know that knights have taken gold in this " case, to help that thy law may be thus hid, and " thine ordinances consumed. But well I know " that at the day of doom it shall be manifest, and " even before, when thou arisest against all thine " enemies I"1
While such was the policy of the leading mem bers of the hierarchy, it was obvious to Wycliffe, that nothing remained but to submit to their des potism, or to attempt a counteraction of their efforts as made to obtain the sanction of the court and the senate. Nearly sixty winters had now passed over the head of our reformer, and sick ness had made a serious inroad on his physical strength— that important auxiliary of intellectual vigour and prowess. But his furrowed brow, and
i MS. Horn. Bib. Reg.
THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE.
whitened hairs, were still allied to an energy which could ill submit to a tame surrendering of — — the fortress of equity, and truth, and godliness. Each step in the progress of the late persecutions, was seen as facilitating the meditated blow against himself. Should it be his lot to perish beneath the fangs of the rising tyranny, it was his resolve that his countrymen should not be ignorant of the opinions for which he suffered. In conformity with this determination, and with his message to the chancellor of Oxford some months previously, he presented a summary of the more important of his tenets, in the form of a petition, to the king and the parliament. The assembly to which this appeal was addressed, was summoned on the fif teenth of October, and met on the nineteenth of November,2 and in this document it is supposed 1382>
November.
to be already convened. It appears also to have been known that in this meeting of " the great " men of the realm, both seculars and men of " holy-church," the articles included in this ap peal would become the matters of discussion. The doctrine thus submitted to their judgment, is said to be " proved both by authority and " reason," and this that the " Christian religion " may be increased, maintained, and made stable, " since our Lord Jesus Christ, very God and very " man, is head and prelate of this religion, and " shed his precious heart's blood, and water out " of his side, on the cross, to make this religion "• perfect and stable, and clean without error."3
2 Fox. Acts, &c. Library. It will be remembered as
3 MS. Ad regem et parliamentum, one of the two works printed by Dr. C. C. C. Cambridge, and in the Cotton James in 1608.
VOL. II. H
98 THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE.
CHAP. The articles thus introduced are four in nuni-
IV.
'. ber. The first relates to the vows of the religious,
iffjs° declaring them to be a device of man, and of no obligation : the second asserts that " secular lords " may lawfully, and meritoriously, in many cases, " take away temporal goods given to men of the " church^" In the third it is affirmed that even tythes, and other voluntary offerings, should be withdrawn "from prelates, or other priests who- " ever they be," on their yielding to " great sins, " as pride, simony, and man-slaying, gluttony, " drunkenness, and lechery." In the last, the reformer prays that the doctrine of the eucharist, " which is plainly taught by Christ and his " apostles in the gospels, and epistles, might be " also openly taught in the churches."
Nearly half this paper is occupied in demon strating the first of these positions ; and to discern the propriety of this, it should be remembered, that the archbishop derived his most efficient aid in his present arbitrary measures, from the begging fraternities and the monks. It has ap peared that the sentence which excluded every teacher of Wycliffe's doctrine concerning the eucharist from the university, was the effect of their influence ; and in the synod which had since prosecuted his disciples, with all possible se verity, the same order of men prevailed. It be came important, therefore, in the judgment of the reformer, to shew distinctly that so far from meriting the pre-eminence conceded to them, the vows which gave to these persons their distinction were a human invention ; an invention also of comparatively recent date ; and injurious, in
THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE. 99
various ways, to religion, and to the interests of c H A p.
society. L_
In this memorable appeal, these points are fully proved. The writer especially adverts to the practice of the religious in forsaking one rule, deemed less perfect, to embrace another regarded as of higher sanctity. The rule of Christ, it is contended, must of necessity be the most com plete, and it is thence inferred that all men should be held free from any painful consequences in relinquishing any " private sect," the contrivance of " sinful men," for the rule of the gospel. This, it is justly observed, should be the more readily admitted by the parties alluded to, as they were not slow to forget their vows of poverty and seclusion, when the attractions of a mitre were allowed to descend upon them. The change, also, which followed in such cases, is described as partaking less of an increased separation from the world, than of an actual return to it. If to all this, it should be replied, that the customs of the religious are not at variance with the institute of the Saviour and his apostles, but rather parts of it ; the persons so reasoning, are called upon to name the portion of holy writ, containing the articles of discipline which have given existence to canons, and monks, and mendicants ; and to expose the failure which must be attendant on the attempt to do this, various of the regulations adopted by these communities are specified. Respecting this moiety of the work, in which that momentous doctrine, the sufficiency of scripture, is maintained in the most satisfactory terms, a correct idea may be formed from the following
H 2
100 THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE.
CHAP, extract. It is intended to exhibit the supreme ' — authority of the inspired writings, and clearly as sumes the right of private judgment. " Inasmuch " as one patron or founder is more perfect, more " mighty, more wise, more holy, and in more " charity than another, insomuch is the first " patron's rule better and more perfect than is 11 that of the second. But Jesus Christ, the " patron of the Christian religion, given to the " apostles, passeth without measure, in might, " and wisdom, and good- will, the perfection of " every patron of any private sect — his rule is " therefore more perfect. Also that Christ's pure " religion, without the addition of sinful men's " errors, is the most perfect of all, may be thus " shewn. For either Christ might give such a " rule, the most perfect to be kept in this life, " and would not ; and then he was envious — as " St. Austin proveth in other matters — or else " Christ would ordain such a rule, and might not; " and then Christ was unmighty, but to affirm " that of Christ is heresy — or else he might and " could, but would not ; and then he was unwise, " and that is a heresy no man should consent to " hear. Therefore, it is plain, that Christ both " might, and could, and would ordain a rule the " most perfect that should be kept in this life. " And so Christ, of his endless wisdom and cha- " rity, has ordained such a rule. And thus on " each side men are bound, upon pain of heresy, " and of blasphemy, and of condemnation, to " believe and acknowledge that the religion of " Jesus Christ to his apostles, and kept by them " in its own freedom, without addition from sinful
THE LIFE OF M'VCLIFFE. 101
" man's error, is the most perfect of all; and so to CHAP. " hinder no man from forsaking a private religion, - " and keeping the pure religion of Christ."
These reasonings are also enforced by the fact, that in the early ages, when neither monks nor friars were known, " the church increased and " prospered most, for then almost all men disposed " themselves to martyrdom after the example " of Christ." His conclusion therefore is, that " it " were not only meritorious to the church now, " but most meritorious, to live so in all things, " and by all things." As the consequence of these opinions with regard to the gospel, and its Author, Wycliffe claimed for himself, and others, the same liberty in adhering to the simple order said to be instituted by the Redeemer, which was conceded to such as professed to adopt some one system of man's invention in preference to others. And had the religious been disposed to tolerate this exclusive attachment to scriptural vows of spirituality or seclusion, their own authority might have been less disturbed, and of longer con tinuance. But they saw this kind of profession as reflecting on every other, regarding them as innovations of yesterday, and as opposed to the veneration due to the Redeemer, who in oppo sition to the infallibility assumed by the church, was declared to be alone above the influence of error. Hence arose the spirit of persecution, and hence the reaction which violence rarely fails to produce.
In the second of the articles contained in this paper, the reformer combats the theory of certain friars, who had maintained on some recent and
102 THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE.
CHAP, public occasion, that both the persons and the
'_ property of the clergy, and of the religious, were
strictly beyond the jurisdiction of the sovereign. The absurdity of this fashionable doctrine the reformer had often exposed, and it is again ex hibited, and principally by tracing it to its re sults. It is remarked that if to hold the opposite of this doctrine, " be error touching the health " of man's soul," then the race of English princes, and the men who have formed the successive councils of the realm, must be viewed as among the lost. And, not to dwell on the recorded opinions of such parties, as opposed to this tenet, nor on the measures which frequently arose from them, it is observed, that if they were in error in this matter, it must then follow that should " an 4< abbot and all his convent prove open traitors, " conspiring the death of the king and the queen, " and of other lords, and exert themselves to " destroy the whole realm, the king may not take " from them one halfpenny, or farthing, nor its " worth, since all these are temporal goods. Also, " though other clerks should send to our enemies " all the rents which they have in our land, and " whatever they may rob or steal of the king's " liege men, yet our king may not punish them " by one farthing, nor farthing's worth. Also, by " this doctrine of friars, though monks or friars, " or other clerks, whatever they be, should slay " lords' tenants, the king's liege men, and dis- " honour lords' wives, yea, the queen, which God " forbid, or the empress, yet the king may not " punish them by the loss of one farthing. Also, " it followeth plainly, that men called men of
THE LIFK OF WYCLIFFE. 103
"holy-church may dwell in this land at their CHAP.
" liking, and do what kind of sin, and what kind '—
" of treason they like, and the king, nevertheless, " may not punish them, neither in their temporal " goods, nor in their bodies, since if he may not " punish them in the less, he may not in the " greater. And should they make one of them- " selves king, no secular lord may hinder him in " conquering all the secular lordships of this " earth : and these men might destroy all lords " and ladies, and their blood and affinity, without " any penalty arising in this life, either in their " body or estate. Ye lords ! then see and under- " stand, with what punishing they deserve to be " punished, who thus hastily and wrongfully have " condemned you for heretics, forasmuch as you " do execution and righteousness according to " God's law and man's. For the chief lordship " of all temporalities in this land, both of secular " men and religious, pertains to the king, of his " general governing, or else he were not king of " all England, but merely of a little part thereof." This refutation of the ambitious tenet to which this part of the petition refers, is farther strength ened by the language of St. Paul, respecting magistracy, as "God's ordinance;" and it is remarked, that the apostle, who " putteth all men " in subjection to kings, out taketh never a one." From these premises, the known doctrine of our reformer concerning the power of the crown, as extending over the whole property of the clergy, and over the persons of that order in all civil affairs, is in conclusion adduced.
The third article relates to the application of
104 THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE.
CHAP. "tythes and offerings," as required "by God's
— " law, and the pope's law." In this the claims
of the most devoted among the clergy, are limited to the needful matters of food and clothing ; while the ignorant, the indolent, or the vicious, are de scribed as having forfeited all right to any part in the goods of the church. In support of this doc trine, the writer appeals to the conduct of Tobit, in withholding his offerings from the priests of Jeroboam, and rendering them to the true de scendants of Aaron, who resided at Jerusalem ; to the story of Eli and his sons ; and to the advice of Paul in his letters to Timothy. From the authorities of a subsequent date, the names of Jerome, Augustine, and of Gregory the great, are cited, together with those of Bernard and Grossteste, all as more or less favourable to the position advanced. Two things are said, in con clusion, to follow from what is thus introduced. First, that if curates do not their office in word and example as God has commanded, their people are under no obligation to pay them tythes and offerings, since the end for which such payments are made is wanting : secondly, that curates are more guilty in withholding their teaching by word and example, than their parishioners would be in refusing tythes and offerings, even though the office of the curate were well performed. It is true, that to withhold these contributions, in such a case, is frequently described as a neglect of duty ; but Wycliffe does not hesitate to affirm the latter delinquency, serious as it may be, to be far less so than the former.
The last article of this complaint, we have
THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE. 105
noticed as relating to the doctrine of the eucharist. CHAP.
The reformer claims it as a right to publish freely L—
the scripture representations of that sacrament, but he abstains from any statement of his pe culiar views respecting it, which were indeed sufficiently known, and adverts chiefly to the evils arising from " the worldly business of priests."
His manner of concluding the portion of this work which relates to tythes and offerings, is expressive of that sense of justice, humanity, and religion, which sustained the mind of the writer, while called to witness the growing strength of the enemies of reform. " Ah ! Lord God," he exclaims, " can it be reason, to constrain the poor " people to provide a worldly priest, sometimes " unable both of life and knowledge, in his pomp " and pride, covetousness and envy, gluttony, drim- " kenness, and lechery, in simony and heresy,— " with a fine horse, and gay saddles, and bridles " ringing by the way, and himself in costly clothes, " and fine furs — and to suffer their wives and " children, and poor neighbours to perish from " hunger, thirst, and cold, and other mischiefs " of the world ! Ah ! Lord Jesus Christ! since " within a few years, men paid their tythes and " offerings of their own free will, to good men, " and able to conduct the great worship of God, " to the profit and beauty of the holy church " fighting on the earth ; can it be needful or lawful " that a worldly priest should destroy this holy " and approved custom, constraining men to " forsake this freedom, and turning tythes and " offerings to wicked uses, or at least to those
106 THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE.
CHAP. " which are not so good as was the custom
1V' -before?"
imPression made on the parliament by this appeal was considerable, and to Wycliffe must have been highly gratifying. In a petition to the king, the members of the commons cited those provisions of the spurious statute obtained by the primate, which, to effect the imprisonment of the new preachers, and their abettors, until obedient to the church, had rendered every sheriff in the kingdom the tool of his diocesan, requiring him to root out the errors by the sword entrusted to him, which neither the persuasions nor the terrors of an infallible church had been sufficient to destroy. But as this pretended law " was never agreed to " nor granted by the commons, but whatsoever 66 was moved therein was without their assent," it is required " that the said statute be disan- " nulled," and it is farther declared to be " in no tl wise their meaning, that either themselves, or " such as shall succeed them, shall be farther " bound to the prelates, than were their ancestors "in former times."4
But to procure the enactment or the repeal of statutes, however formally either might be done, was but a minor part of the labour which de volved on our parliaments in those ages. No thing, indeed, was more common, than the violation of promises, and even of oaths, on the part of the sovereign, or of the government ; and to justify this bad faith, the secret, or avowed pretext generally was, that the concessions made had been improperly extorted. Hence to secure
4 Fox. Acts and Monuments, i.576. Lingard,iv. 259.
THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE. ] 07
the enforcement of laws, was commonly a work CHAP.
of much greater difficulty, than to effect their '_
apparent adoption. From this disgraceful cir cumstance, arose the custom of so frequently confirming anew the most acknowledged prin ciples of the constitution. Nor is it at all doubt ful, that to this state of things, as pervading the cabinets of Europe, the court of Rome had greatly contributed, as well by her general po licy, as by the most flagrant abuses of her dispen sing power. With the papal maxims, the present archbishop of Canterbury was thoroughly imbued, and to him we may attribute the exclusion of this act of repeal, so honourable to its authors, from the parliamentary records ; and also the subse quent conduct of the young king, by which his message to the commons, in reply to their peti tion, was virtually falsified.
In his letters, Richard had been made to threa ten the penalties of exclusion from the university, imprisonment, and confiscation, against all who should hold the doctrine of Wycliffe, or such as should in any way favour its abettors. And though the monarch subsequently declared him self pleased with the repeal of the statute on which these instructions were founded, the violent measures which it had been framed to sanction were still pursued, and with but too much suc cess. It was, as we have remarked, on the 19th of November, that the parliament and the con vocation assembled at Oxford. The clergy there convened, were informed by the primate, that the business before them was to grant a subsidy to the crown ; and to remedy certain disorders which
108 THE LIFE OF WYCL1FFE.
CHAP, had too long disgraced the university, and were
_1_ extending rapidly to the whole community, of
whose spiritual safety they were the properly constituted guardians. In this meeting the arch bishop had concentrated his whole strength, and the rector of Lutterworth was now summoned to answer before him on the articles which were regarded as containing his opinions. There were circumstances, however, which served greatly to narrow the field of discussion on this occasion. On all the more important questions of ecclesi astical polity, Wycliffe had spoken freely, in his various writings, and in his address to " the " secular lords and men of holy church" who were now met. But the resentment of the com mons, which the meditated encroachment of the prelates had excited, was not to be overlooked, and it appears to have suggested the utmost cau tion in the method of proceeding at this juncture. It was not difficult to perceive, that matters of discipline, as less important, and less protected by the supposed infallibility of the church, might form but an inefficient ground of accusation ; and as the doctrine of the eucharist was an acknow ledged article of faith, and one also of the gravest moment, the faith of the reformer with respect to that sacrament became the subject of special in- quisition. Lancaster, who appears to have been concerned, at this crisis, to avoid any renewal of hostilities with the clergy, is said to have advised his submission in all doctrinal matters to the judg ment of his order.5 But Wycliffe, though sen-
5 In the Sudbury Register, (Wil- mended lor his conduct in this in- kins, iii. 171.) the duke is highly com- stance.
THE LIFE OF WYCLIFFE. 109
sible of the aid which he had derived from the CHAP. patronage of that illustrious nobleman, had ad- _ L vanced to a point from which there was no receding, except at the cost of consistency and truth. The state of affairs, at this moment, pre sented a powerful test to the integrity and energy of his character ; and the result has