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jr®iiiw  a^g  xf^TfCT.ii3?]Fii,in)j.©. 


JOHN  DE  WYCLIFFE,   D.D. 


A 

WITH   SOME   ACCOUNT   OK   THE   WYCLIFFE   MSS.    IX   OXFORD,    CAMUlllDGE,    THE   BlUTISH 
MUSEUM,    LAMBETH    PALACE,    AND   TIUNITY    COLLEGE,  DUBLIN. 

By  ROBERT  VAUGHAN,  D.D. 


FLEET  STREET  AND  HANOVER  STREET. 


LONDON  :    MUCCCLIII. 


V 


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PREFACE. 


Nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  has  passed  since  the 
publication  of  my  work  intitled  the  '  Life  and  Opinions 
'  of  John  de  Wycliffe.'  Those  volumes,  I  may  venture  to 
say,  were  the  result  of  much  research  and  labour.  But 
they  were  the  production  of  a  young  man,  unknown  to 
the  world  of  letters,  and  without  patronage  from  any  of 
the  gifted  minds  then  flourishing  in  that  world.  The 
public  were  so  ^  /  pleased  with  what  I  had  done,  that 
my  publishtxS  deemed  it  prudent  to  issue  a  second  edition. 
The  work,  however,  has  long  been  out  of  print  ;  and  in 
looking  back  over  the  two  thousand  miles  and  more, 
which  I  travelled  in  those  old  stage-coach  days,  to  acquaint 
myself  with  the  contents  of  manuscripts,  not  a  few  of 
which  had  been  all  but  utterly  neglected  since  the  time 
of  the  Wars  of  the  Roses,  I  have  often  felt  disposed  to 
return  to  this  subject.  The  materials  thus  brought  to- 
gether, and  properly  my  own,  were  valuable,  and  are 
still  so — and  have  sufficed  to  secure  for  the  work  in 
which  they  were  published,  the  place  assigned  to  it  by 
some  of  our  first  continental  scholars,  as  the  most  satis- 


ii  Preface, 

factory  book  upon  its  subject.  But  it  will  occasion  no 
surprise  if  I  say,  that  what  I  did  with  those  materials 
many  years  ago,  is  not  what  I  have  since  felt  might  be 
done  with  thejn.  My  wish  in  giving  my  thoughts  again 
to  this  theme  has  been,  to  bring  to  it  the  fruit  of  further 
research,  and  by  re-casting  and  re-writing  the  whole,  to 
make  a  more  adequate  use  of  the  material  at  my  dis- 
posal, and  to  present  the  general  subject  in  a  form  likely 
to  make  the  character  of  Wycliffe,  as  it  appears  in  these 
pages,  better  known  among  my  countrymen. 

This,  good  reader,  I  have  done — or,  at  least,  have 
aimed  to  do.  I  have  returned  to  an  old  subject,  as  to  a 
scene  of  my  youth,  and  have  endeavoured  to  renew  some 
fellowships  of  thought  there  that  were  very  pleasant  to 
me  in  times  long  past. 

The  only  publication  in  our  language  that  could  with 
any  propriety  be  described  as  a  life  of  Wycliffe,  prior 
to  the  appearance  of  my  former  work,  was  the  volume 
published  by  Mr.  Lewis,  which  appeared  early  in  the 
last  century.  Mr.  Lewis  printed  some  valuable  docu- 
ments, and  extracts  from  documents,  relating  to  certain 
points  in  the  history  of  the  Reformer,  and  for  these  any 
successor  in  the  same  path  must  have  felt  deeply  indebted 
to  him.  But  his  acquaintance  with  the  writings  of  Wyc- 
liffe was  very  limited.  Of  the  date  of  the  Wycliffe 
manuscripts,  even  of  those  from  which  he  quotes,  he  was 
generally  ignorant.  From  these  causes,  his  account  is 
not  only  meagre,  but  confused,  and  adapted,  in  many 


Preface.  iii 

respects,  to  convey  a  false  and  mischievous  impression. 
The  Opinions  of  Wycliffe  have  a  history.  His  mind  did 
not  become  at  once  all  that  it  became  ultimately.  But 
Mr.  Lewis  often  cites  him  as  giving  utterance  at  a  com- 
paratively early  period  of  his  career,  to  opinions  which 
he  did  not  avow  until  long  afterwards.  The  enemies  of 
the  Reformer  have  not  been  slow  in  making  their  own 
uses  of  such  oversights.  On  the  authority  of  Mr.  Lewis, 
they  have  represented  Wycliffe  as  saying  and  unsaying, 
according  to  the  exigencies  of  his  career  ;  while  in 
truth — as  the  ensuing  pages  will  I  think  demonstrate — 
nothing  could  be  more  foreign  from  his  character,  or 
more  unlike  the  facts  of  his  history.  My  predecessor  did 
good  service  up  to  a  certain  point :  I  frankly  confess  my 
obligations  to  him  ;  but  no  man  of  intelligence  can  have 
read  his  volume,  without  feeling  that  something  very 
different  is  needed  on  the  subject  to  which  it  relates. 

Mr.  Le  Bas's  well -written  narrative,  intitled  'The 
'  Life  of  Wiclif,'  appeared  subsequently  to  my  former 
work,  and  owes  nearly  all  its  value,  so  far  as  material 
from  manuscripts  is  concerned,  to  my  own  pages — a  debt^ 
I  should  add,  which  the  author  has  very  frankly  acknow- 
ledged. 

It  will  be  seen,  that  in  the  extracts  from  the  English 
writings  of  the  Reformer,  the  old  orthography  has  been 
discarded,  but  the  reader  may  be  assured  that  the  sub- 
stance of  the  author's  language,  both  as  to  words  and 
idioms,  has  been  faithfully  retained. 


iv  Pre/ace. 

It  should  be  added,  that  care  has  been  taken,  that  the 
Index,  as  well  as  the  general  plan  of  the  work,  should 
be  such  as  to  facilitate  reference  to  the  more  important 
matters  included  in  the  volume. 

Unhappily,  there  is  but  too  much  reason  for  directing 
the  attention  of  the  men  of  our  time  to  a  topic  of  this 
nature.  The  corruptions  unmasked  and  denounced  so 
boldly  by  Wycliffe,  are  still  rooted  in  the  social  state  of 
Europe,  and  still  find  lodgment  among  ourselves.  Our 
great  Proto-Reformer  attributes  no  mischief  —  social, 
moral,  or  religious — to  the  errors  of  Romanism,  that  we 
do  not  see  presenting  itself  at  this  hour  over  the  half  of 
Europe  as  the  fruit  natural  to  those  errors.  All  honour! 
— say  I,  to  the  man,  who,  amidst  the  turbulence  and 
tyranny  of  the  fourteenth  century,  could  school  students 
in  Oxford  after  this  wise. — '  Christ  wished  his  law  to  be 
'  observed  willingly,  freely,  that  in  such  obedience  men 
'  might  find  happiness.  Hence  he  appointed  no  civil 
'  PUNISHMENT  to  be  inflicted  on  the  transgressors  of  his 
'  commandments,  but  left  the  persons  neglecting  them  to  the 
'  suffering  which  shall  come  after  the  day  of  doom.' — (Tria- 
logus.  Lib.  III.  c.  3.) 

ROBERT  VAUGHAN. 

College — Moss-  side, 
near  Manchester, 
March  30,  1853. 


CONTENTS, 


CHAPTER  I. 


WYCLIFFE    AND    THE    WYCLIFFES. 


.  page       1 


CHAPTER  II. 

WYCLIFFE  IN  OXFORD page     26 


CHAPTER  III. 


WYCLIFFE    AS    MASTER    OF    BALLIOL.    . 


page     42 


CHAPTER  IV. 

WYCLIFFE    AND    THE    RELIGIOUS    ORDERS.     .  .  .  page      64 


y 


CHAPTER  V. 

WYCLIFFE    ON    THE    POWER    OF    CHURCH    AND    STATE.       .  page   94 


/ 


CHAPTER  YL 


'  WYCLIFFE    AND    ENGLISH    EOMANISM. 


page  119 


J 


CHAPTER  YIL 


WYCLIFFE    AS    PROFESSOR    OF   DIVINITY. 


page  138 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

WYCLIFFE    AS    A    DIPLOMATIST. 


.  page  166 


J 


CHAPTER  IX. 


WYCLIFFE   AS   A    CONFESSOR. 


page  180 


CHAPTER  X. 
/ 

WYCLIFFE   AND    THE    ENGLISH   BIBLE. 

CHAPTER  XL 

WYCLIFFE    AS    A    PARISH    PRIEST. 


.  page  323 


/ 


.  page  362 


y 


CHAPTER  XII. 


WYCLIFFE   AS    AN   AUTHOR. 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

WYCLIFFE   AND    HIS    SUCCESSORS. 


.  page  403 


.  page  470 


ENGEAVINGS. 

In  the  interior  of  WycliflFe  Church  the  artist  has  dispensed  with  the  modern 
deal  pewing  by  which  it  is  disfigured.  The  exterior  presents  the  edifice  as  it 
is,  the  interior,  as  it  was.  The  interior  of  Lutterworth  Church  also,  gives 
the  view  of  the  building  as  it  was  in  the  time  of  WycliflFe.  Since  then,  the 
screen  has  been  removed  to  a  neighbouring  Church,  and  the  pulpit  has  been 
placed  before  the  middle  of  the  chancel.  This  change  took  place  when  it 
was  determined  further  to  impair  the  beauty  of  the  structure  by  the  erection 
of  galleries.  I  should  add,  that  at  Lutterworth  the  spire  does  not  now  appear 
on  the  tower ;  but  it  so  stood  in  the  time  of  WycliflFe,  and  a  model  of  it  has 
been  preserved  in  the  church  since  the  time  of  the  thunderstorm  by  which 
it  was  destroyed.  The  present  bridge  also,  crossing  the  river,  has  been 
erected  within  the  memory  of  persons  still  living.  The  bridges  over  such 
rivers  in  the  fourteenth  century  were  mostly  rude  wooden  structures.  The 
houses  built  of  late  years  near  the  river  are  not,  of  course,  introduced.  The 
other  Engravings  give  the  objects  as  they  at  present  appear. 


#  * 


DIRECTIONS    TO    THE    BINDER. 


Portrait,  opposite  the  Title-page. 

View  of  Wycliffe,  opposite  page  1 . 

Exterior  of  Wycliffe  Church,  opposite  page  11. 

MoRTHAM  Tower,  opposite  page  13. 

Meeting  of  the  Greta  and  the  Tees,  opposite  page  15. 

Exterior  of  Lutterworth  Church,  opposite  page  375. 

Interior  of  the  same^  opposite  page  382. 

Lutterworth  and  the  River  Swift,  opposite  page  520. 


2  Wyclifie  and  the  Wycliffes.  [chap.  i. 

the  world  must  be  that  of  the  floating  clouds,  the  graceful 
woods,  or  of  the  unseen  elements  around  him  ;  and  the 
only  sounds,  such  as  come  from  those  elements,  from  the 
birds  that  people  them,  or  from  the  swell  and  fall  of 
distant  waters.  The  hills  about  him  lift  themselves  up 
as  if  to  wall  out  the  pomps  and  strifes  of  the  world ; 
while  the  woods  and  verdure  with  which  they  are  clothed 
on  every  side,  and  the  overshadowed  glens  through  which 
the  Greta  sends  her  shouting  flood,  or  through  which  the 
Tees  floats  on,  here  over  its  shallow  bed  of  rock  or 
pebbles,  there  in  a  noble  breadth  and  fulness,  all  are  of  a 
nature  to  dispose  the  new-comer  to  be  still  and  thought- 
ful— to  dream  as  the  poet  dreams. 

On  the 'banks  of  the  Tees,  at  a  point  eleven  miles 
northward  from  the  good  town  of  Richmond,  and  five 
miles  distance  below  the  point  where  that  river  glides 
along  beneath  the  walls  of  Bernard  Castle,  there  is 
a  rocky  wood-crowned  height  which  commands  a  view 
of  the  Tees,  and  of  much  beside,  that  may  well  incline 
the  meditative  traveller  to  halt  for  a  while.  You  there 
see  the  river  floating  into  view  from  the  right,  round 
a  high  projecting  meadow  land,  something  more  than 
a  mile  distant.  Passing  that  point,  its  current  turns 
in  an  opposite  direction,  and  is  seen  on  this  side  the 
descending  cape  around  which  it  has  passed,  as  if  in- 
tent on  making  its  way  through  some  new  channel  to 
the  source  from  which  it  came.  But  the  high  grounds 
on  either  side  do  their  office  like  sentinels,  pointing  the 


A.  D.  1324.]  The  Parish  of  Wycliffe.  3 

stream  to  its  course  :  and  it  bounds  along  obediently  in 
curves  of  the  richest  beauty,  until  you  see  its  full,  dark 
flood,  rolling  far  beneath  you,  your  gaze  upon  it,  from 
your  high  wall  of  rock  and  wood,  being  like  a  glance 
from  the  loftiest  ship-mast  down  into  the  deep  sea.     On 
the  opposite  side  of  the  river,  the  grounds  are  mostly 
pasture  lands,  but  broken  up  into  a  succession  of  undu- 
lating elevations,  thickly  wooded,  and  with  intersections 
of  rock  near  the  water.     To  the  left  of  the  high-ground 
on  which  you  stand,  the  river  is  shut  in  by  a  continuance 
of  the  steep  and  woody  eminence  beneath  you,  which 
terminates  at  about  a  furlong  distance  in  another  projec- 
ting point  of  rock,  out  of  which  a  mansion,  of  moderate 
dimensions  and  irregular  form,  seems  to  grow  castle-ways : 
while  the  rock  on  which  the  structure  rests,  descends 
with  one  surface  towards  the  river,  with  the  other  into  a 
deep  ravine  crossed  by  a  bridge,  over  which  you  pass  to 
reach  the  side  entrance  in  the  direction  now  facing  you. 
In  the  midst  of  a  space  of  bright  greensward,  some  way 
below  that  rock-lifted  dwelling,  and  almost  on  a  level 
with  the  river,  whose  waters  play  upon  its  verdant  edges 
as  they  pass,  is  a  small  church.     It  has  no  pretension  to 
beauty.      It  is  an  elongated  building,  without  spire  or 
tower,  with  a  flat  lead-covered  roof,  and  with  rows  of 
antique  gothic  windows,  and  porch  on  either  side.     But 
it  is  covered  in  part  with  ivy,  and  with  the  adjuncts  of 
its  place  is  a  pleasant  thing  to  look  upon. 
The  scene  before  you,  good  reader,  forms  the  centre 

B  2 


4  Wyclifie  and  the  Wycliffes.  [chap.  i. 

of  the   small  parish  of  "Wycliffe — the  meaning  of  that 
word  being  simply  the  '  Wye-clifFe/  the  *  "Water- cliffe/  or 
the  *  Clift  near  the  water  : '  and  the  description  given  in 
that  word,  as  pointing  to  the  towering  clift  on  which  you 
stand,  and  to  the  waters  which  force  their  way  so  swiftly 
at  its  base,  is  most  truthful.     That  small   church  upon 
the  greensward  is  "Wycliffe  church.     That  house  which 
seems  to  spring  out  of  the  rock  at  the  summit  of  the 
meadow  ascending  steeply  from  the  church,  is  a  continu- 
ance of  the  mansion  of  the  "Wycliffe  family.     To  that 
family  pertained  the  lordship  of  the  manor  of  "Wycliffe, 
and  the  patronage  of  the  rectory,  from  the  age  of  William 
the  Norman  down  to  very  recent  times.     Raby  Castle, 
only  a  short  distance  at  one  point  of  an  angle,  and  Bernard 
Castle,  about  the  same  distance  at  another  point,  suggest 
to  us  something  of  the  manner  in  which  this  district  was 
castle-kept  in  the  bygone  days  of  turbulence  and  oppres- 
sion.   The  modern  mansion,  in  the  outward  face  of  it,  is 
nearly  all  modern  ;  and  in  the  aspect  which  is  intended 
to  be  its  best  it  is  common-place  enough.     The  "Wycliffes 
ceased  in  1606  to  be  inheritors  of  this  property  and  lord- 
ship.    The  name  of  Tunstall  then  came  by  marriage  into 
the  place  of  "Wycliffe  ;  and  in  our  own  time,  the  name  of 
Tunstall  has  given  place  to  that  of  Constable. 

That  our  reformer  "Wycliffe  drew  his  first  breath  in  the 
house  which  stood  in  the  early  years  of  the  fourteenth 
century  on  the  brow  of  that  meadow  slope,  overlooking 
the  river  Tees,  is,  with  us,  a  point  believed  and  settled. 


A.D.  1324.]         Birth-place  of  the  Reformer.  5 

Our  most  respectable  antiquary,  John  Leland,  writing 
about  a  hundred  and  fifty   years  after  the  decease  of 
Wycliffe,  when  making  mention,   in   his  notes   on  the 
places  of  this  district,  of  the  parish  of  Wycliffe,  adds 
these  words,   'unde  Wigclif  hereticus  originem  duxit/^ 
It   must  not  be  concealed,   however,    that   our  learned 
friend  writes  elsewhere  after  this  wise.     *  They  say  that 
'  John  Wiclif,  hereticus,  was  born  at  Spreswel,  a  poor 
*  village,  a  good  mile  from  Richmont.'  ^     And  our  learned 
modern,  Dr.  Whitaker,  has  given  more  heed  than  is  due 
to  this  last  saying.^     Leland,  in  hope  of  acquiting  him- 
self like  a  good  workman  in  his  topographical  labours, 
travelled  much,  and  at  a  time  when  travelling  had  but 
little  of  our  own  speed  or  convenience  to  commend  it. 
But  he  took  much  upon  hearsay — could  not  help  so  do- 
ing :  and  among  his  hearsays  is  this  saying  about  Spres- 
wel.    An  authority,  which  with  us  is  decisive  on  this 
subject,  assures  us,  that  'there  neither  is  now,  nor  was 
there  ever,  sl  place  of  that   name  in  Richmondshire.' ^ 


*  Collectanea,  Tom.  I.  part  II.  p.  329. 

^  Itinerary,  v.  9.  ^  History  of  Richmondshire,  I  197. 

*  The  Rev.  James  Raine,  M.A.,  Librarian  to  the  Dean  and  Chapter 
Library,  Durham ;  a  gentleman  too  well  known  among  such  as  have 
given  any  attention  to  our  Northern  antiquities,  to  need  commendation 
from  us.  The  first  sentence  in  Lewis,  states  that,  'Wiclif  was  born  in 
the  parish  of  Wiclif; '  but  at  the  foot  of  the  page  he  cites  the  above 
statement  from  Leland  about  Spreswel,  not  being  aware,  it  would  seem, 
that  if  Spreswel  was  'a  poor  village,  a  good  mile  from  Richmont,' 
it  must  have  been  at  least  ten  miles  from  '  Wiclif.' 


6  Wydiffe  and  the  Wyclifies.  [chap.  i. 

Leland,  whose  acquaintance  with  Richmondshire  was  so 
defective,  that  he  places  the  rise  of  the  Tees  in  a  field  near 
Caldwel,  some  fifty  miles  from  its  real  source,  could  not 
have  spoken  with  the  confidence  of  our  correspondent 
on  this  subject.  But  Dr.  Whitaker  should  have  been 
better  informed. 

We  should  mention  in  this  place,  that  in  the  time  of 
Charles  the  first  a  clerk  in  a  parish  adjoining  the  parish 
of  Wycliffe,  Birkbeck  by  name,  wrote  a  work  intitled 

*  The  Protestant  Evidence,'  a  book  of  learning  and 
ability  ;  and  he  there  gives  the  tradition  of  the  district 
concerning  Wyclifi*e,  as  being  the  birth-place  of  the  re- 
former, as  a  tradition  which  no  man  questioned.  To  the 
same  efi^ect  is  the  suffrage  of  Dr.  Zouch,  rector  of  Wycliffe 
at  the  close  of  the  last  century.  Dr.  Zouch,  the  biogra- 
pher of  Sir  Philip  Sidney,  thus  writes  on  the  back  of  the 
picture  from  which  our  engraving  of  the  portrait  of  the 
Reformer  is  taken.      '  Thomas   Zouch,   A.M.,    formerly 

*  Fellow  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  and  Rector  of 
'  Wycliff,  gives  this  original  picture  of  the  great  John 
'  Wycliffe,  a  native  of  this  parish,  to  his  successors,  the 
'  rectors  of  Wycliffe,  who  are  requested  to  preserve  it,  as 
'  a  heir- loom  in  the  rectory  house.'  This  endorsing  gives 
us  the  faith  of  Dr.  Zouch  on  this  article. 

We  have  also  ourselves  learnt,  that  less  than  forty 
years  since,  there  was  an  old  man  living  in  the  parish  of 
Wycliffe,  who,  though  in  humble  condition,  claimed  to 
be  a  descendant  of  the  Wycliffe  family.     He  was  tall,  of 


A.D.  1324.]  Bhih  place  of  the  Reforrtier.  7 

pood  presence,  and  those  who  knew  him  often  spoke  of 
the  strong  resemblance  between  his  features  and  those 
given  in  the  portrait  of  the  great  Reformer.  The  Tunstalls 
so  far  acknowledged  the  claims  of  this  person,  as  to  assign 
him  a  small  pension.  He  carried  himself  high,  though 
poor  ;  never  put  his  hand  to  common  labour.  His  turn 
was  towards  mechanics.  He  was  the  great  regulator  of 
time  to  the  neighbourhood.  He  laid  a  sort  of  claim  to  the 
supervision  of  all  clocks  and  watches,  which  he  adjusted, 
repaired,  and  kept  to  the  hour,  by  means  of  two  watches 
of  his  own,  which  he  always  wore  about  with  him,  one  in 
each  pocket  of  his  waistcoat,  for  the  purpose.  In  this 
capacity  he  made  his  periodical  calls  upon  his  friends, 
had  his  gossip,  took  his  refreshment,  and  then,  with  some 
stateliness  of  manner,  bowed  them  good-day. 

In  brief,  the  name  of  Wycliffe  is  assuredly  a  local  name 
—John  de  "WycliiFe — John  0/ Wycliffe :  and  this  is  the  only 
locality  in  England  from  which  it  could  have  been  derived. 
Nor  is  there  the  slightest  reason  to  suppose  that  there  was 
a  second  family  in  the  very  small  parish  of  Wycliffe  in 
circumstances  to  send  a  son  to  Oxford,  and  to  sustain 
him  there  for  a  series  of  years  at  his  own  charges,  as 
was  manifestly  the  case  with  the  Wycliffe  who  has  his 
place  at  the  head  of  the  succession  among  us  distinguished 
as  protesters  against  Rome. 

It  is  true,  in  the  very  slender  information  we  possess 
concerning  the  pedigree  of  the  Wycliffes  of  Wycliffe,  in 
the  fourteenth  century,  we  find  no  mention  of  a  John  de 


8  Wydiffe  and  the  Wycliffes.  [chap.  i. 

WyclifFe,  except  in  the  person,  who,  during  the  life-time 
of  the  reformer,  was  at  the  head  of  that  family,  and  who 
appointed  Robert  de  Wycliffe  to  the  rectory,  in  1362 ; 
and  William  de  WyclifFe  to  it  in  the  year  following.^  Not 
less  barren  of  information  in  this  respect  is  the  subse- 
quent history  of  the  family.  Often  does  it  happen  that 
no  one  dreams  of  putting  upon  record  what  every  one 
is  supposed  to  know.  What  is  notorious  to  ourselves, 
must,  of  course,  be  notorious  to  all  time  to  come.  Be- 
side which,  strange  as  it  may  seem,  that  house  upon  the 
rock  there,  the  birth-place  of  the  greatest  of  our  reform- 
ers, has  been,  from  that  age  to  our  own,  an  asylum  of 
Romanism.  Wycliifes,  Tunstals,  Constables,  all  have 
gone  one  way.^  Hence,  to  this  day,  the  parish  of  Wycliffe, 
Avith  its  population  of  something  less  than  two  hundred 
souls,  is  about  equally  divided  between  the  two  religions. 
The  changes  of  the  last  three  hundred  years  seem  to 
have  swept  by  this  little  enclosure  almost  without  touch- 
ing it. 

It  was  on  the  morning  of  the  sabbath  that  we  obtained 
our  first  view  of  this  secluded  spot  from  the  clift  that 
rises  above  its  waters.  The  sun  shed  its  full  splendour 
on  the  woods,  to  which  the  autumn  had  given  its  many 
colours  ;  and  on  the  green  earth,  which,  near  the  church, 
shone  out  as  if  overlaid  with  yellow  gold.  The  bell 
gave  forth  its  note  to  call  the  devout  to  worship  ;  but 

^  Whitaker's  Richmondshire,  1.197.  *  Appendix  A  and  C. 


A.D.  1324.]   Wycliffe  probably  disowned  by  the  Wycliffes.   9 


while  one  half  of  the  village  population  bent  their  steps 
towards  the  parish  church,  we  saw  the  other  half,  with 
their  mass-books  in  their  hands,  on  their  way  to  the 
Romanist  chapel  perpetuated  in  the  house  which  stands 
on  the  site  of  the  ancient  mansion  of  the  Wycliffes.  In  a 
family  holding  thus  steadily  to  the  faith  of  the  middle 
age,  there  would  be  no  disposition  to  cherish  the  memory 
of  relationship  to  a  heretic  so  notorious  as  John  de 
Wycliffe.  The  reaction  in  every  thing  social  and  religious, 
which  came  on  immediately  after  the  death  of  Wycliffe, 
and  which  continued  for  more  than  a  century,  placed  a 
sea  of  troubles  between  the  age  of  our  Reformer  and  the 
age  of  Luther.  Much  that  would  otherwise  have  been 
preserved  was  thus  lost.  Had  the  great  reformation 
succeeded  at  once,  in  place  of  being  delayed  to  some 
hundred  and  fifty  years  later,  the  tendency  would  have 
been  to  hoard  up  whatever  men  knew  about  Wycliffe, 
and  not  to  allow  such  knowledge  to  drop,  vestige  after 
vestige,  into  forgetfulness.  His  own  family,  as  we  have 
seen,  were  in  this  reaction.  In  feudal  times,  men  of 
such  position  deprecated  few  things  so  much  as  to  see 
the  stain  of  treason  on  their  escutcheon ;  and  so,  with 
many,  if  there  might  be  a  deeper  stain  than  that,  it 
would  be  the  stain  of  heresy.  Wycliffe  himself,  in  his 
later  life  so  wrote  concerning  this  feeling,  as  to  warrant 
the  inference  that  he  wrote,  not  only  of  what  he  had 
seen,  but  of  that  which  had  been  an  experience  of  his 
own.     It   is  to  the  effect   following,  that  he  learnt  to 


10  Wycliffe  and  the  Wycliffes.  [chap.  i. 

wield  our  then  half-formed  mother  tongue  on  such  themes. 

*  There  are  three  faults  happening  many  times  to  wedded 
^  men  and  women.     The  first  is,  that  they  sorrow  over 

*  their  children  if  they  are  naked  or  poor,  but  they  reckon 
'  it  as  nothing  that  their  souls  are  unclothed  with  virtues. 

*  With  much  travail  and  cost,  also,  they  get  great  riches, 
'  and  estates,  and  benefices,  for  their  children,  and  often 
'  to  their  great  damnation ;  but  they  incline  not  to  get 
'  for  their  children  the  goods  of  grace,  and  of  a  virtuous 
'  life.  Nor  will  they  suffer  them  to  retain  such  goods,  as 
'  freely  prof  erred  to  them  of  Grod  ;  but  hinder  it,  as  much 
'  as  they  may,  saying,  if  a  child  yield  himself  to  meekness 

*  and  poverty,  and  flee  covetousness  and   pride,  from  a 

*  dread  of  sin,  and  to  please  God,  that  he  shall  never  be- 
'  come  a  man,  never  cost  them  a  penny  ;  and  they  curse 
'  him  because  he  liveth  well,  and  will  teach  other  men  the 
'  will  of  God,  to  save  their  souls.  For  they  say,  that  by  so 
'  doing  he  getteth  many  enemies  to  his  elders,  that  he  slan- 

*  dereth  all  their  noble  kindred,  who  were  ever  held  true  men 
'  and  worshipful  I '  ^  We  may  here  venture  to  say,  that 
we  have  read  much  in  the  manuscripts  preserved  from 
the  pen  of  Wycliffe  ;  and  that  from  the  freedom  with 
which  he  gives  expression,  almost  perpetually,  to  per- 
sonal feeling,  we  have  often  felt  the  total  absence  of  any 
reference  to  his  own  family  relationship,  as  suggesting  that 


*  MS.  On  Wedded  Men  and  Wives.    Corpus  Christi  College,  Cam- 
bridge. 


prut).: 


:       Oil     il 

,;iiai 

j'j 

t 

Ui' 

,.>  v,.i'; 

■  y    i'.T 

.orn  :    i 

..   ,      - 

at  -v^hicli 

h.G    T'S'"' 

as  a  y< 

.  the 

rmeK    'As  in 

the  aase 

end  b\ 

A.^.,,  >v-"<-;^ 


■./    ."~^^ 


Northam  Tower. 


A.D.  1324.")     Means  of  Education  in  the  14^/i  Century.       13 

The  next  manor  to  that  of  the  Wycliffes,  was  the 
manor  of  the  Rokebys  —the  region  to  which  the  genius 
of  poetry  has  given  such  chivalrous  celebrity  in  our  time.^ 
That  domain  of  modern  romance  is  bounded  by  the 
Grreta  and  the  Tees,  the  rivers  verging  towards  each 
other,  as  from  the  points  of  an  angle,  until  they  meet  at 
the  foot  of  the  slope  on  which  stands  the  famous  Mortham 
Tower,  and  where  the  two  streams  become  one,  amidst 
scenery  that  would  seem  to  have  put  on  its  best  bravery 
to  do  honour  to  their  nuptials. 

In  that  tower,  as  in  the  Wycliff  church,  we  see  one  of 
those  home-objects  that  were  familar  to  the  eye  of  young 
Wycliffe,  and  which  amidst  the  labours  and  cares  of  his 
after-life,  no  doubt,  had  often  come  back  to  the  eye  of 
his  imagination,  bringing  with  them  some  touching 
memories.  We  can  readily  believe  too,  that  the  spot 
where  the  waters  of  the  Grreta  floated  on,  now  rushing 
between,  and  now  bounding  over  their  rocky  way,  and 
joined  themselves  to  the  broader  and  more  tranquil  cur- 
rent of  the  Tees — like  the  meeting  of  youth  and  age — 
was  a  favorite  spot  to  young  Wycliffe,  and  to  all  like  him 


^  Sir  Walter  Scott's  Rokeby.  On  our  visit  to  Rokeby,  we  learnt 
that  Sir  Walter,  during  his  stay  there  was  an  early  riser;  that  he  went 
early  and  alone  in  search  of  the  peasantry  of  the  neighbourhood  ;  and 
that  partly  by  his  gratuities,  and  still  more  by  his  colloquial  good 
nature,  he  contrived  to  extract  from  peasantry  and  others  the  entire 
budget  of  such  traditionary  tales  as  the  superstition  of  the  district  had 
contributed  to  originate  or  preserve. 


14  Wycliffe  and  the  Wyclifies.  [chap.  i. 

thereabouts.  There,  as  we  fancy,  he  might  be  seen  in  those 
remote  days,  clambering  from  rock  to  rock,  between  the 
gushing  torrents,  that,  seated  as  in  their  midst,  he  might 
watch  them  thus  nearly,  as  with  their  life-like  force  they 
fling  themselves  along,  and  almost  seem  to  be  of  them 
as  he  listened  thus  closely  to  their  many-noted  chorus. 
The  romance  of  this  district  as  given  by  Sir  Walter,  was 
not  its  romance  as  in  the  mind  of  "Wycliffe  ;  but  to  him, 
we  may  be  sure,  more  than  to  us  moderns,  such  scenes  were 
allied  with  stories  of  strange  deeds  and  strange  sights,  the 
natural  being  mixed  up  largely  with  the  supernatural. 

Contiguous  to  Rokeby,  in  the  opposite  direction,  the 
direction  yet  further  from  Wycliffe,  is  Egglestone  Abbey, 
which,  in  the  fourteenth  century,  was  in  its  prosperity, 
and  a  foundation  of  the  sort  in  which  youth  commonly 
received  education,  especially  such  as  were  looking  to 
the  vows  of  priesthood.  Such  places  of  instruction  were 
to  be  found  at  no  great  distance  from  each  other  over 
the  whole  land,  especially  over  the  northern  countries  ; 
those  countries  being  so  far  removed  from  the  universi- 
ties of  Oxford  and  Cambridge.  Edward  the  first  brings 
it  as  a  heavy  charge  against  the  Scots,  that  they  had 
extended  their  violence  to  a  religious  house  of  this  de- 
scription, in  one  of  the  northern  districts,  where  as  many 
as  two  hundred  '  young  clerks'  were  receiving  their  edu- 
cation. From  diligent  research  on  this  subject,  it  appears, 
that  during  the  interval  from  the  conquest  to  the  time 
of  king  John,  more  than  five  hundred  religious  houses  had 


Jvmction  of  the  Greta  and  the  Tees. 


I 


A.D.  1324.]       Rohehy — Mementos  of  Boyhood.  15 

made  their  appearance  in  England  ;  and  it  is  well  known 
that  to  these  houses  schools  were  generally  annexed.^ 
The  time  had  come,  moreover,  even  before  the  age-  of 
Wycliffe,  in  which  education  ceased  to  be  confined  to 
religious  houses,  or  to  clerical  persons. 

Matthew  Paris  relates,  that  beside  the  conventual 
school  in  the  Abbey  of  St.  Alban's,  in  which  every 
branch  of  knowledge  then  cultivated  was  taught,  there 
was  another  in  the  town,  under  one  Matthew,  a  physician, 
and  Garinus,  his  kinsman  :  and  the  praise  bestowed  on 
this  secular  or  laic  school,  by  our  monkish  author,  implies 
that  there  were  many  such  in  England  in  his  time.  In- 
deed, we  have  evidence,  that  so  early  as  1 1 38,  schools  of 
this  nature,  distinct  from  monastic  establishments,  had 
made  their  way  from  large  towns  into  villages.  But  no 
man  could  become  a  schoolmaster  without  a  license  from 
a  clerk,  and  the  exactions  made  from  such  persons  by 
the  clergy,  whether  from  jealousy  or  avarice,  were  such 
as  to  provoke  heavy  censure,  sometimes  from  the  civil 
power,  and  sometimes  from  church  councils.^ 

The  juvenile  studies  of  young  Wycliffe  may  have  de- 
volved on  some  domestic  priest ;  or,  it  may  be,  that  the 
walls  yet  standing  at  Egglestone  Abbey,  are  the  walls 


^  Tanner.    Notitia  Monastica.    Preface. 
2   Matthew   Paris,    Vit.   Abbot,    p.    62.      Brompton   Chron.    1348. 
Hovedon,   589.     Tanner,    Notitia  Monastica,  Pref.  Henry's  Hist,  of 
England,  VI.  162—169.    Dupin.  Eccles.  Hist.  Cent.  XIII.  p.  92. 


16 


Wyclifie  and  the  Wyclifies. 


[chap.  I. 


which  once  gave  back  the  sound  of  his  voice,  and  that 
in  the  hill-side  road  from  Egglestone  to  Wy cliff e,  we 
see  the  space  over  which  the  future  Reformer  exercised 
himself  as  a  daily*  pedestrian,  during  the  *  satchel  ' 
period  of  his  history.  If  so,  the  loneliness  and  beauty 
of  that  road,  if  felt  only  slightly  or  passively  by  the  boy, 
would  be  often  revisited  in  imagination  by  the  man,  as 
the  dreams  of  the  morning  of  life,  in  his  case  as  in  the 
case  of  all,  gave  place  to  its  strange  realities.  The 
grass-grown  floor  of  the  roofless  abbey  is  now  turned  to 
very  mean  uses.  When  there,  we  saw  swine  taking  their 
meal  from  a  trough,  which  rested  on  a  blue  slab-stone, 
presenting,  in  half- worn  relief,  one  of  the  abbots  of  Eggle- 
stone, with  features,  costume,  crosier — all  exposed  to 
such  indignity.  So  cometh  change  over  all  things 
human  1 

In  those  days,  Oxford,  or  '  Oxenforde '  as  it  was  often 
called,  received  its  pupils  at  a  very  tender  age.  Boys 
rather  than  men,  appeared  to  have  formed  the  majority  of 
the  students.  But  such  as  came  from  places  so  remote 
as  the  north-riding  of  Yorkshire,  would  be,  in  general, 
of  a  more  advanced  age.  The  slowness,  the  labour,  the 
cost,  and,  we  may  add,  the  peril  of  travel,  in  the  age  of 
Wycliff*e,  were  such  as  to  render  it  in  the  greatest  degree 
improbable  that  he  would  leave  his  native  place  earlier 
than  in  his  sixteenth  year.  We  have  become  what  we 
are  as  to  the  power  of  locomotion,  by  very  slow  degrees. 
The  author  of  *  Waverly,'  when  writing  of  only  '  sixty 


A.  D.  1340.]     Travelling  in  the  Fourteenth  Century.  17 

years  since/  describes  the  '  Fly-coach '  as  aiming  at  some- 
thing wonderful,  when  promising  to  convey  its  passen- 
gers from  Edingbro'  to  London,  '  God  willing,  in  three 
weeks/  But  if  we  go  back  another  century,  we  may  see 
William  and  Mary  three  months  on  the  English  throne, 
before  the  news  of  the  abdication  of  James  the  Second 
has  found  its  way  to  the  Orkneys.  In  the  fourteenth 
century,  many  days  would  pass  before  the  death  of  a 
monarch  would  become  known  much  beyond  the  place  of 
the  event ;  and  many  weeks  would  elapse,  before  the  news 
would  spread  itself  to  the  distant  parts  of  the  kingdom. 
Some  months,  we  are  told,  intervened,  after  the  massacre 
of  the  Jews  in  London,  in  the  time  of  Richard  the  First, 
before  that  deed  became  known  in  York  or  Norwich. 

In  that  age,  the  mode  of  travelling  for  men,  was  on 
horseback.  Carriages  were  used  only  by  ladies  of  high 
rank,  or  by  the  sick  ;  and  few  were  the  roads  on  which 
wheels  could  be  used  at  all,  especially  in  winter.  The 
carriage  of  goods — even  of  coals  from  Newcastle,  and  of 
potteries  from  Staffordshire—  was  almost  entirely  by  the 
pack-horse ;  and  traffickers  in  this  fashion,  for  their  better 
safety  and  better  cheer,  often  travelled,  after  the  oriental 
manner,  in  large  companies  ;  the  scattered  inns,  or  the 
hospitable  monasteries,  serving  as  caravanseras.  Our 
many  inns  in  old  villages  and  small  towns,  with  the  sign 
of  the  pack-horse  upon  them,  remind  us,  in  a  measure, 
even  at  this  day,  of  that  by-gone  custom.  The  reader 
will  remember  that  the  figures  he  has  seen  in  engravings 


18  Wycliffe  and  the  Wy cliff es.  [chap.  i. 

of  the  famous  '  Pilgrimage  to  Canterbury/  are  all  eques- 
trian ;  and  the  horse  was  deemed  strong  of  foot,  that 
would  perform  the  journey  from  London  to  the  shrine  of 
Thomas  A'Becket  in  two  days.^  The  mother  of  Richard 
the  Second,  indeed,  accomplished  a  journey  from  Canter- 
bury to  London  in  one  day  ;  but  she  was  a  queen 
dowager,  and  fled  as  for  her  life,  that  she  might  escape 
the  hands  of  the  insurgents  under  Wat  Tyler.  Even  in 
such  circumstances,  the  achievement  was  talked  about  as 
being  almost  a  miracle.  In  1381,  a  king's  herald,  with 
every  advantage  of  safe  conduct  and  equipment,  was  not 
expected  to  perform  the  journey  from  London  to  Berwick 
in  less  than  forty  days.  At  that  time  it  was  the  fate  of 
many  a  good  palfrey  to  be  smothered  in  the  bog,  drowned 
in  the  ford,  or  to  sink  and  expire  in  the  midst  of  the 
slough,  leaving  his  rider  to  make  his  way  a- foot,  as  he 


^  '  The  roads  throughout  the  country  in  the  fourteenth  century, 
'  appear  to  have  been  kept  in  some  sort  of  order  by  the  respective 
'  townships  ;  and  for  the  support  of  the  fev?  bridges  then  in  existence, 
'  a  duty  called  pontage  was  levied,  which  fell  heaviest  upon  the  Agri- 

*  culturists  and  the  Merchants,  as  most  of  the  clergy  and  their  peasants 

*  were  exempt  from  pontage  and  other  tolls  of  a  like  description.  It 
'  does  not  appear,  however,  that  any  compulsory  labour,  like  the 
'  French  corvee,  was  in  force  in  England  for  the  repair  of  the  roads 

*  and   bridges.     When  the  great  north  road  into  London,  which  in 

*  this  century  passed  through  Gray's  Inn  Lane,  was  found  to  be  nearly 
'  impassable  from  ruts  and  mud,  the  citizens  of  London  were  autho- 
'  rized  to  levy  a  toll  upon  the  traffic  along  it,  to  pay  the  expense  of 

*  restoring  the  highway;  and  such  appears  to  have  been  the  system 
'  generally  adopted  in  other  parts  of  the  kingdom.' — Hudson  Turner's 
Domestic  Architecture  in  England,  c.  III. 


A.  D.  1,S40.]     State  of  Roads — appearance  of  Towns.  19 

best  might,  to  the  nearest  town,  to  purchase  or  hire 
another  quadruped  for  his  journey. 

The  public  thoroughfares,  both  to  London  and  Paris, 
were  without  pavement,  and  more  like  the  bye-lanes  of 
an  obscure  village,  than  the  high-ways  to  a  great  capital. 
Every  sort  of  filth  and  oiFal  was  thrown  into  the  street ; 
and  the  right  to  turn  swine  into  any  thoroughfare  during 
the  greater  part  of  the  day,  to  assist  the  ravenous  birds 
in  consuming  what  they  might  find  there,  was  asserted 
with  much  stoutness  and  obstinacy  by  civil,  and  even 
by  ecclesiastical  corporations.  Even  so  late  as  the  reign 
of  Henry  the  Eighth,  the  streets  of  our  metropolis  are 
described  as  being  many  of  them  '  very  foul,  and  full  of 
'  pits  and  sloughs,  very  perilous,  as  well  for  the  king's 
'  subjects  on  horseback,  as  on  foot.' 

The  structure  of  the  houses  too,  each  story  projecting 
over  its  lower  one,  until  the  upper  chamber  almost  touched 
the  upper  one  of  its  opposite  neighbour,  gave  to  nearly 
all  the  avenues  of  the  metropolis  an  appearance,  which, 
in  our  eyes,  would  resemble  tunnels  rather  than  streets, 
leaving  but  a  narrow  and  irregular  line  of  opening  at  the 
top  for  the  admission  of  either  light  or  air  from  above. 
Through  such  narrow  inlets  neither  moon  nor  stars  could 
send  much  of  their  illumination  ;  and  the  only  artificial 
light  supplied  at  the  public  cost,  consisted  of  a  huge 
dim  lamp  fixed  above  the  tower  of  Bow  church  !  If  so 
it  was  in  London,  even  so  late  as  the  time  of  Henry 
the   Eighth,  we   can   imagine   how    it   fared   with    the 


lij . 


20  Wydifie  and  the  Wydiffes.  [chap.  i. 

townspeople  through  the  provinces,  nearly  two  centuries 
earlier. 

Beside  the  hindrances,  and  something  more,  from  bad 
roads,  there  were  the  dangers,  common  to  nearly  the  whole 
country,  from  ferocious  animals,  and  from  marauding  men. 
Wolves,  wild  boars,  and  bulls  as  little  tamed  as  they, 
often  fronted  the  solitary  traveller,  and  scared  him  from 
his  path.  Even  such  as  travelled  in  companies  were  not 
secure  against  obstruction  and  danger  from  these  causes. 
Outlaws  and  vagabonds,  whose  numbers  the  rudeness 
and  oppression  of  the  times  always  tended  to  replenish, 
infested  the  public  roads,  plundered  the  way-farers, 
sometimes  putting  them  to  death,  at  others  detaining 
them  prisoners,  either  to  sell  them  as  bondsmen,  or  to 
convey  them  to  their  forest  or  mountain-fastnesses,  until 
ransomed  at  a  great  price.  It  was  not  always  from  a 
fondness  for  mere  equipage,  accordingly,  that  opulent 
ecclesiastics  w^ere  careful,  when  they  went  abroad,  to  go 
attended  by  a  strong  military  retinue. 

The  forests  abounding  in  England  in  the  thirteenth 
and  fourteenth  centuries  contributed  much  to  foster  and 
perpetuate  this  inconvenience  and  danger  of  travel.  In 
1250,  the  forests  and  woods,  directly  or  indirectly  under 
the  controul  of  the  crown,  amounted  to  more  than 
seventy.  Beyond  these  were  the  many  woodlands,  some 
of  them  of  large  extent,  belonging  to  private  persons. 
Every  county  in  England  included  one  or  more  of  these 
woods  or  forests.    They  abounded  in  game,  which  in  those 


A.  D.  1340.]  Royal  Forests — Robbers.  21 

times  gave  them  a  large  portion  of  their  value  in  the 
eyes  of  their  owners.     At  the  close  of  the  reign  of  Henry 
the  Third  there  were  wild  cattle  in  the  wood  of  Osterly, 
in  Middlesex,  the  owner  then,  as  in  later  times,  being  a 
London   citizen.      Roads  passing  through  these   woods 
were  infested,  as  we  have  said,  by  bands  of  lawless  men, 
runaway  villains,  and  persons  of  a  like  description,  who 
lived  by  plunder.     About  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth 
century,  the  Abbots  of  St.  Alban's  retained  certain  armed 
men  to  protect  the  road  between  that  town  and  the  me- 
tropolis, which  lay  for  the  most  part  through  woods.  The 
great  high-roads  of  the  kingdom,  as  they  followed  mostly 
the   direction   of  the   old   Roman  ways,  the  Athelinge 
or   Watling  street,  and  others,   passed   of  necessity   in 
many  places  through  the  midst  of  these  forests,  as  did 
the  high-ways  which   connected  one  market-town  with 
another.     It  was  not,  however,  until  the  year  J  285  that 
stringent  measures  were  adopted  to  protect  travellers  and 
traffic  against  the  insecurity  arising  from  this  cause.     It 
was  then  enacted  by  statute,  that  the  highways  leading 
from  one  market-town  to  another  should  be  widened,  so 
that  there  might  be  no  bushes,  trees,  or  dikes  within  two 
hundred  feet  on   each  side  of  the  road,  all  proprietors 
neglecting  this  injunction,  being  held  responsible  for  the 
felonies   that   might  be  facilitated  by  such  negligence. 
Matthew  Paris  relates  the  punishment  inflicted,  in  the 
early  part  of  this  century,  on  certain  retainers  of  the 
court  of  Henry  the  Third  for  robbing  traders  on  their  way 


22  Wycliffe  and  the  Wycliffes.  [chap.  i. 

to  the  great  fair  at  Winchester.  Hampshire,  indeed,  was 
notorious  for  its  bands  of  free-booters.  The  legate  Pun- 
dulf,  in  the  reign  of  John,  complained  to  the  bishop  of 
Winchester,  '  that  no  one  could  travel  through  the 
'  neighbourhood  of  Winchester,  without  being  captured  or 
^  robbed  ;  and  that  even  robbery  was  not  sufficient,  but 
'  that  people  were  slain.'  The  wooded  pass  of  Alton,  on 
the  borders  of  Surrey  and  Hampshire,  was  a  favourite 
ambush  for  outlaws,  who  there  awaited  the  merchants, 
and  their  trains  of  sumpter-horses,  travelling  to  or  from 
Winchester.  Even  in  the  fourteenth  century,  the  warders 
of  the  great  fair  of  St.  Giles's,  held  in  that  city,  paid  five 
mounted  sergeants-at-arms  to  keep  the  pass  of  Alton 
during  the  continuance  of  the  fair,  *  according  to  custom.' 
As  will  be  supposed,  the  plunderers  who  infested  roads, 
frequently  assailed  houses,  and  houses,  accordingly,  when 
at  all  of  the  better  class,  were  constructed  as  much  with 
a  view  to  defence  as  to  comfort.  While  danger  came  in 
some  quarters  from  the  forest,  in  others  it  came  from  the 
fen  and  the  morass.  The  monks  of  Ely  and  Croyland  did 
something  towards  abating  this  grievance  in  what  were 
called  the  fen  countries,  by  encouraging  drainage  and 
tillage  ;  but  the  evil  was  too  gigantic  to  admit  of  being 
more  than  slightly  diminished  by  their  influence.^ 

From  all  these  causes,  meetings  between  the  members 
of  families  separated  from  each  other,  were  very  rare. 


A.D.  1340.]      Letter  writing  and  News-vending.  23 

The  absence  of  such  happy  gatherings,  moreover,  was 
made  the  more  painful  by  the  difficulties  of  written  com- 
munication. Few  among  the  middle  classes,  or  even 
among  those  high  above  them,  could  write  ;  and  the  use 
of  another  hand  for  such  a  purpose,  was  fatal  to  nearly 
all  that  gives  nature  and  charm  to  letters  The  half 
would  be  sure  to  be  untold,  and  commonly  the  half-untold 
would  be  that  which  lay  nearest  the  heart  of  the  writer. 

Even  those  who  possessed  the  clerkly  accomplishment 
of  being  able  to  write,  found  themselves  dependant  on 
such  persons  as  trafficked  at  fairs,  or  such  as  did  religious 
pilgrimage,  for  the  conveyance  of  any  expression  of  care 
and  affection  in  that  form  from  one  loving  heart  to 
another.  Heavy  sums  were  often  paid  for  the  conveyance 
of  letters  even  to  short  distances.  The  following  letter 
by  Mrs.  Paston,  written  a  century  subsequent  to  the  age 
of  Wycliffe,  presents  a  touching  picture  of  the  severance 
and  loneliness  to  which  hearts  closely  bound  to  each 
other  were  often  subject  in  those  olden  times.  ^  Right 
'  well  beloved  brother.  I  commend  me  to  you,  letting 
'  you  wete  that  I  am  in  welfare.  I  marvel  sore  that  ye 
'  never  sent  writing  to  me  since  ye  departed :  I  heard 
'  never  since  that  time  word  out  of  Norfolk.  Ye  might  at 
'  Bartholomew  fair  have  had  messengers  enough  to  Lon- 
'  don,  and  if  ye  had  sentto  Wykes,  he  should  have  conveyed 
*  it  to  me.  I  heard  yesterday  that  a  worsted  man  of  Nor- 
'  folk,  that  sold  worsted  at  Winchester,  said  that  my  Lord 
'  of  Norfolk  and  my  Lady,  were  on  pilgrimage  to  our 


24  WycUffe  and  the  Wycliffes.  [chap.  i. 

*  Lady,  on  foot,  and  so  they  went  to  Caister  :  and  that  at 

*  Norwich,  one  should  have  had  large  language  with  you, 

*  and  called  you  traitor,  and  picked  many  quarrels  with 
'  you  :  send  me  word  thereof.     I  pray  you  send  me  word 

*  if  any  of  our  friends  be  dead,  for  I  fear  there  is  a  great 
'  death  in  Norwich,  and  in  the  other  towns  in  Norfolk,  for 
'  I  assure  you  that  it  is  a  most  universal  death  that  ever 
'  I  wist  in  England,  for  by  my  troth  I  cannot  hear  by  pil- 

*  grims  that  pass  the  country,  nor  none  other  man  that 

*  rideth  or  goeth  about,  that  any  borough  town  in  England 

*  is  free  from  sickness/  ^  Thus,  the  great  agencies  and 
news-vendings  of  those  days,  were  performed  by  the 
people  who  went  to  'Bartholomew  Fair : ' — by  the  'worsted 
man '  who  sold  worsted  at  Winchester  : — by  the  '  pil- 
grims that  pass  the  country  ;'  and,  in  short,  by  any  '  man 
that  rideth  or  goeth  about/  What  is  more,  if  the  care- 
worn and  sorrow-stricken  always  felt  the  tidings  so  con- 
veyed to  have  been  long  in  coming,  the  common  news  so 
brought  was  often  little  trustworthy  when  it  did  come. 
Nearly  everything  depended  upon  hearsay,  and  the  tidings 
which  filled  a  whole  district  with  joy  or  sadness  in  one 
week,  might  prove  many  weeks  later  to  have  been  mere 
rumour,  without  truth  in  particle  or  semblance. 

These  facts,    affecting  so  intimately   all  social  inter- 
course, are  so  far  touched  upon  in  this  place,  because 


1  Paston  Letters.  Merry  weather's  Lights  and  Shadows  of  the  Olden 
Times,  56,  57. 


A.  D.  1340.]  Social  Communication  and  Social  Progress.    25 

they  assist  us  to  judge  of  the  difficulty  that  must  in  such 
times  have  been  in  the  way  of  reform  and  progress  of 
any  description.  Great  changes  must  come  from  joint 
action,  and  we  here  see  the  impediments  which  lay  in  the 
path  of  the  communication  necessary  to  such  action.  The 
marvel  is  not  that  the  labours  of  Wycliife  failed  to  issue 
in  such  a  reformation  as  took  place  in  some  of  the  states 
of  Europe  nearly  two  centuries  later ;  but  rather  that  in 
spite  of  such  disadvantages  in  respect  to  means  of  inter- 
course, to  say  nothing  of  the  absence  of  printing,  his 
solitary  energy  was  found  capable  of  achieving  so  much. 
How  Wycliffe  accomplished  the  formidable  journey 
from  his  quiet  home  to  Oxford  we  do  not  know.  His 
journal  of  that  achievement,  if  our  young  scholar  kept 
one,  would  be  pleasant  reading.  But  in  the  absence  of 
such  assistance,  the  facts  stated  are  important  as  suggest- 
ing much  in  respect  to  the  social  condition  of  the  people 
of  this  country,  in  the  age  assigned  by  providence  to  the 
labours  of  our  reformer  ;  and  as  warranting  the  conclu- 
sion that  Wycliife  must  have  been  verging  towards  man- 
hood, when  about  to  remove  to  so  great  a  distance  from 
all  domestic  oversight.  It  should  be  stated,  moreover,  that 
we  have  not  the  smallest  reason  to  suppose  that  Wycliffe 
ever  visited  the  place  of  his  birth  after  once  leaving  it ; 
while,  on  the  other  hand,  we  have  sufficient  evidence  in 
his  writings,  of  his  having  remained  in  that  locality  long 
enough  to  have  adopted  some  of  its  peculiarities  of  dialect 
so  thoroughly,  as  never  to  have  unlearnt  them. 


CHAPTER  II. 


WYCLIFFE   IN   OXFORD. 


UEEN^S  College,  Oxford,  was  founded  in  1340, 
and  among  the  names  of  those  who  entered 
it  in  that  year  we  find  the  name  of  John  de 
Wycliffe.  The  testimony  of  history  to  this 
name  as  being  that  of  our  reformer  is  unquestioned  and 
decisive.  This  college  owed  its  origin  in  part  to  the  muni- 
ficence of  Phillippa,  queen  of  Edward  the  third  ;  but  still 
more  to  the  generosity  of  Sir  Robert  Eglesfield,  one  of 
her  majesty's  chaplains.  This  clergyman  was  a  native  of 
Cumberland,  and  the  college  instituted  under  his  influ- 
ence, was  designed  chiefly  for  the  benefit  of  students 
from  the  northern  counties.  We  are  not  prepared  to 
say  that  it  was  this  fact  that  determined  our  young 
*  freshman '  in  the  choice  made  of  his  place  of  study. 
But  it  should  be  remembered  that  the  '  nations,'  as  they 
were  called  in  that  age, — that  is,  the  students,  who,   as 


A. D.  1340.]        Wycliffe  e7iters  Queens  College.  27 

in  Paris  or  Oxford,  were  bound  to  each  other  by  the  ties 
of  a  native  language,  or  of  a  native  territory  or  province, 
did  congregate  very  much  together,  formed  themselves 
into  distinct  organizations,  and  that  these  organizations 
often  acted  with  so  much  spirit,  in  relation  to  matters 
regarded  as  affecting  their  common  interests,  as  to  be 
brought  very  frequently  into  harsh  collisions, — collisions 
sometimes  between  nation  and  nation,  and  sometimes 
between  one  or  more  of  the  nations  and  the  authorities 
above  them.  We  should  not  be  surprized  if  it  could  be 
made  to  appear,  that  all  the  men  who  entered  Queen's  in 
1340,  were  from  our  northern  counties.  Nor  is  it  by  any 
means  improbable  that  the  relation  of  Wycliffe  to  Balliol, 
sometime  later,  resulted  in  part  from  the  fact  that  Balliol 
College,  founded  not  more  than  seventy  years  before, 
owed  its  origin  to  a  family  living  in  near  neighbourhood 
to  his  birth-place — viz.,  to  the  Balliols  of  Bernard  Castle.^ 
However  this  may  have  been,  we  may  be  quite  sure 

1  Wood's  Hist.  Oxen.  Ruber's  English  Universities,  I.  193.  Each 
separate  College  in  Oxford  and  Cambridge,  says  Huber,  has  its 
history  ;  of  which,  however,  the  over-wisdom  of  modern  times  has 
scarcely  left  us  any  trace.  Among  the  stories  preserved,  was  one 
concerning  a  scholar  of  Queen's  College,  Oxford  ;  who,  being  attacked 
during  a  solitary  walk  by  a  wild  boar,  thrust  his  Aristotle  down  the 
animal's  throat,  and  returned  home  in  triumph  with  the  animal's 
head.  For  this  reason  the  boar's-head  played  a  prominent  part  in 
the  Christinas  festivals  of  this  college. — Ibid.  It  would  have  been 
well  if  Aristotle  had  never  been  applied  to  a  less  useful  purpose. 
The  festivities  in  honor  of  this  achievement  lasted  until  Anthony 
Wood's  time — what  the  usage  of  Queen's  has  been  in  times  more 
recent,  we  know  not. 


28  Wycliffe  in  Oxford.  [chap.  h. 

that  the  building  which  received  the  students  of  Queen's 
College  in  1340,  was  something  very  different  from  the 
edifice  which  bears  that  name  in  modern  Oxford.  The 
lofty  gateway,  and  the  spacious  quadrangle  of  Queen's 
which  now  attract  the  attention  of  the  visitor,  as  he 
ascends  the  high  street  of  that  beautiful  city,  entered  not 
into  the  dreams  of  the  men  who  were  the  first  to  prose- 
cute their  studies  on  that  foundation.  In  nearly  all 
respects,  the  Oxford  of  1340  bore  small  resemblance  to 
the  Oxford  which  we  have  seen — scarcely  more  than  the 
London  of  that  time  may  be  supposed  to  have  borne  to 
the  London  that  now  is.  In  respect  to  mere  space,  in- 
deed, the  difference  between  ancient  and  modern  Oxford 
may  not  be  considerable.  For  so  early  as  the  time 
of  the  Conqueror,  Oxford  included  more  than  seven 
hundred  houses,,  which  gave  it  a  high  place  in  third  class 
towns,  if  not  with  towns  of  the  second  class.  It  is  said, 
that  subsequently  to  the  Conquest,  much  the  greater  part 
of  these  houses  were  unoccupied.  Our  own  interpretation 
of  this  statement  would  be,  that  the  houses  so  reported 
were  those  occupied  by  students,  as  distinct  from  those 
occupied  by  the  townspeople  ;  and  that  this  vacancy  was 
restricted  to  the  interval  of  Terms.  For  here  two  things 
are  certain, — first,  that  it  was  a  peculiarity  in  the  history 
of  the  University  of  Oxford,  as  distinguished  from  the 
University  of  Paris,  that,  as  a  rule,  its  students  were 
lodged  and  boarded  in  edifices  separated  to  that  purpose, 
instead  of  being  dispersed  in  the  houses  of  the  towns- 


A.  D.  1340.]     Oxford  in  the  Fourteenth  Century.  29 

people  ;  and  second,  that  during  more  than  two  centuries 
after  the  Conquest,  the  buildings  so  appropriated  con- 
tinued to  be — with  very  little,  if  any,  exception — build- 
ings rented  for  such  uses.  This  was  the  case  even  with 
Colleges,  still  more  with  the  Inns  and  Halls,  which 
preceded  them,  and  which,  except  as  being  subject  to  the 
presidency  of  a  licensed,  or  otherwise  authorized  teacher, 
were  simply  so  many  self-sustained  and  voluntary  schools. 
But  if  the  Oxford  of  the  middle-age  may  bear  some 
comparison  with  the  Oxford  of  later  times  as  to  the 
quantity  of  its  buildings,  the  comparison  must  not  be 
extended  to  the  quality  of  them.  During  the  space  from 
the  consolidation  of  the  Universities — if  we  may  so 
speak — in  the  thirteenth  century,  to  the  times  of  the 
Reformation,  complaints  as  to  the  poverty  of  those 
establishments,  as  compared  with  the  foundations  of  the 
religious  orders,  are  frequent  and  doleful :  and  the  pre- 
sumption is,  that  could  we  look  at  Oxford  as  it  presented 
itself  to  the  sight  of  young  WyclifFe,  when  he  first  entered 
it,  we  should  see  not  a  little  in  some  of  its  aspects  to  shock 
our  refinement,  and  to  rob  our  retrospect  in  that  field  of 
the  imagination  of  not  a  little  of  its  poetry.  The  spot  was 
valued  as  the  seat  of  a  University,  partly  from  its  central 
position  in  relation  to  the  kingdom  at  large  ;  partly  from 
its  security,  by  means  of  water  in  one  direction,  and  by 
means  of  its  strong  fortifications,  which  frowned  defiance 
towards  a  flat  and  open  country,  upon  the  other ;  partly, 
too,  from  its  not  being  so  near  the  seat  of  any  episcopal 


30  Wycliffe  in  Oxford.  [chap.  h. 

influence,  as  to  be  curbed  and  injured  by  it,  in  the  man- 
ner experienced  in  nearly  all  the  Cathedral  and  Conven- 
tual schools — and,  above  all,  from  the  historical  fame 
which  had  given  to  the  place  so  many  associations  agree- 
able to  the  scholar  and  the  man  of  taste. 

Strong,  assuredly,  was  the  sympathy  arising  in  those 
dark  ages  from  such  associations — deep  the  passion 
awakened  by  them,  in  favour  of  a  life  of  study.  Youth 
and  manhood,  in  the  case  of  thousands,  submitted  under 
such  impulses  to  privations  which  our  own  indulgent 
habits  may  well  preclude  us  from  suspecting,  almost  from 
believing.  The  expression, '  poor  scholar,'  was  among  the 
most  familiar  phrases  of  that  time.  Nearly  all  the 
learned  foundations  of  that  age,  had  more  or  less  of  an 
express  reference  to  the  persons  so  described.  Chaucer 
has  given  us  the  man  who  was  present  to  his  imagina- 
tion, as  the  representative  of  the  class  comprehended 
under  that  description. 

He  is  a  person  famed  for  his  logic,  but  he  finds  his 
logic  a  somewhat  sorry  thing  to  live  upon,  in  the  vulgar 
sense  of  living.  The  horse  he  rides  is  as  lean  as  '  is  a 
rake,"  and  he  is  himself  the  image  of  that  leanness.  His 
cheek  is  hollow,  and  his  coat  is  thread-bare.  Still  he 
covets  not  any  worldly  office.  His  bedroom  is  his  study  ; 
and  his  pleasure  in  having  over  '  his  bed's-head,'  some 
'  twenty  books  clothed  in  black  or  red,'  is  greater  than 
he  would  find  in  rich  costumes,  in  pompous  ceremonials, 
or   in  festive   meetings.     He  is  a  philosopher,  he   does 


A.  D.  1340.]     Oxford  Clerkes  in  the  Age  of  Wycliffe.  31 

daily  worship  to  Aristotle ;  but  his  philosophy  is  not  of 
a  sort  to  bring  gold  to  his  coffers.  Whatever  of  good 
coin  falls  to  his  lot,  goes  in  books  ;  and  heartily  does  he 
pray  for  the  souls  of  those  who  help  him  in  that  man- 
ner. You  hear  him  speak  but  as  there  is  need  to  speak, 
and  then  he  so  does  with  due  form  and  reverence.  His 
words  are  few,  soon  uttered,  full  of  meaning,  breathing 
virtue.  His  only  thought  of  life  is,  as  of  a  space  in 
which  a  man  should  be  ever  learning,  or  ever  teaching.^ 

It  is  not  said  by  our  great  poet  of  manners,  that  all 
Oxford  scholars  were  strictly  of  this  mood.  He  has  himself 
given  us  sketches  of  professed  students  of  another  tempera- 
ment. His  '  parish  clerk '  named  Absolon,  may  be  taken 
as  one  sample  of  a  different  class.  This  gay  gentleman 
curled  his  hair,  and  so  dressed  it,  that  it  shone  like  gold, 
and  floated  abroad  like  an  open  fan.  His  surplice  was 
white  as  the  blossom  of  the  hawthorn  ;  and  his  kirtle, 
of  rich  Watchet  cloth,  was  set  thickly  and  gaily  with 
points.  His  hose  were  of  a  brilliant  red.  His  shoes  had  a 
likeness  to  the  windows  of  St.  Paul's  imprinted  on  them. 

A  merry  child  he  was,  so  God  me  save, 
Well  could  he  letten  blood,  and  clip,  and  shave, 
And  make  a  charter  of  land,  and  a  quittance. 
In  twenty  manner  could  he  trip  and  dance, 
(After  the  school  of  Oxenforde  through) 
And  with  his  legges  casten  to  and  fro  ; 
And  playen  songs  on  a  small  ribble,^ 
Hereto  he  sung  sometimes  a  loud  quinible, 
And  as  well  could  he  play  on  a  gittern. 

^  Chaucer's  *  Clerk  of  Oxenford.'  "  Musical  Instrument. 


32  Wy cliff e  in  Oxford.  [chap.  u. 

In  every  tavern  kept  by  a  ^  gay  tapster/  and  in  every 
'brew-house'  of  the  town,  this  piece  of  clerical  buffoonery 
had  his  acquaintance.  But  on  special  occasions  he  was 
more  than  usually  vain  and  sensuous  in  his  tendencies. 

This  Absolon  that  jolly  was  and  gay, 
Go'th  with  a  censer  on  the  holiday, 
Censing  the  wives  of  the  parish  fast, 
And  many  a  loveing  look  he  on  them  caste. 

Did  Oxford  bless  the  towns  of  England  with  many 
products  of  this  description  in  the  fourteenth  century  ? 
That  it  did  something  considerable  in  this  way  we  may 
be  sure — our  poet  would  not  have  been  at  the  pains  to 
sketch  this  portrait,  if  his  readers  had  not  been  likely  to 
see  it  as  true  to  nature  when  presented  to  them.  Never- 
theless, our  'clerk  of  Oxenford '  was,  a  type  of  a  large 
section  among  the  youths  of  '  the  school'  there,  who 
studied  to  much  better  purpose  than  this  '  parish  clerk 
named  Absolon."  Then,  as  now,  Oxford  was  a  place  for 
companionships  of  all  sorts. 

But,  as  we  have  said,  Oxford,  during  a  great  part  of 
the  middle  ages,  was  the  place  of  many  schools  for  boys, 
rather  than  of  many  colleges  for  men.  Wood  speaks  of 
these  schools,  as  '  nurseries  for  grammarians,'  where  the 
young  were  put  under  discipline,  until  capable  of  ascend- 
ing to  '  higher  arts,'  and  informs  us,  that  Oxford,  at  one 
time,    included  nearly  four   hundred   such    seminaries.^ 

1  Annals,  105—107. 


A.  D.  1340.]      Number  of  Students  in  Oxford. 


33 


This  may  be  a  startling  number,  but  not  more  startling 
than  that  given  as  the  number  of  the  students  resident 
m  Oxford  in  the  thirteenth,  and  in  the  beginning  of  the 
fourteenth  centuries.  Richard  of  Armagh,  in  a  sermon 
preached  before  the  Pope  at  Avignon,  in  1387,  says, 
'  Although  there  were  in  the  Studium  of  Oxford,  even 
'  in  my  time,  thirty  thousand  students,  there  are  not 
'  now  six  thousai^.'  Thomas  Gascon,  also,  once  Chan- 
cellor of  Oxford,  who  died  in  1457,  has  stated  in  one  of 
his  papers,  edited  by  Hearne,  ^  Thirty  thousand  scholars 
'  existed  in  Oxford  before  the  great  plague,  as  I  saw  in 
'  the  rolls  of  the  old  Chancellors,  when  I  myself  was 
'  Chancellor  there.'  ^  Other  authorities  there  are,  which 
vary  the  numbers  from  fifteen  thousand^  to  six,  five,  and 
even  so  low  as  three  thousand.  The  time  '  before  the 
great  plague,'  was  the  time  preceding  the  year  1348  : 
and  thus  the  testimonies  of  Richard  of  Armagh,  and  of 
the  Ex-chancellor  agree,  both  as  to  time,  and  as  to 
the  higher  number.  If  the  students,  taking  in  the 
youngest  and  the  oldest,  together  with  all  resident  mem- 
bers of  the  university,  and  even  all  immediate  attendants 
on  such  parties,  amounted  to  thirty  thousand,  even  in 
that  view,  the  fact  of  so  many  persons  being  brought 
together  in  such  an  age,  into  one  place,  purely  because  it 
was  a  place  of  learning,  is  a  fact  of  no  little  significance.^ 
Whatever  be  the  difiiculties  which  the  general  state  of 


*  Fox,  Acts  and  Mon.  I.  532,  543. 


2  Ruber's  Engl.  Univer.i.  66—68. 

D 


34  Wycliffe  in  Oxford.  [chap.  n. 

society  in  those  ages,  may  seem  to  place  in  the  way  of 
our  giving  credence  to  such  a  fact,  the  authorities  rela- 
ting to  it  are  certainly  such  as  may  not  be  readily  s^ 
aside.  It  is  agreed,  on  all  hands,  however,  that  during 
the  active  period  in  the  life  of  Wycliife,  the  number  of 
students  resident  in  Oxford  did  not  rise  to  a  third  of  the 
higher  number  stated. 

"We  have  said  that,  in  the  Universities  of  the  middle 
age,  there  were  separate  organizations  among  the  students, 
according  to  their  respective  countries,  or  the  divisions 
of  countries.  In  the  history  of  the  University  of  Paris, 
and  sometimes  in  the  histories  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge, 
these  organizations  are  designated  by  the  term  ^  nations. 
But  in  Oxford,  the  organized  nations  were  restricted  to 
the  Souther7imen  and  the  Northernmen.  The  Scotch 
generally  coalesced  with  the  Northerns,  the  Welsh  and 
Irish  with  the  Southerns.  It  was  the  recognized  privi- 
lege of  these  two  divisions,  that  each  should  choose  its 
own  proctor,  from  its  own  body.  To  each  division,  its 
proctor  was  as  a  sort  of  tribune,  through  whom  the  nation 
expressed  its  opinion,  and  pleaded  its  own  cause,  whether 
as  opposed  to  its  rival  nation,  or  to  the  powers  to  which 
both  owed  obedience.  In  the  scenes  of  disorder  and 
violence  which  arose  between  these  bodies,  the  Welsh 
had  their  full  share,  but  the  Irish,  as  to  the  manner 
born,  were  among  the  most  conspicuous  actors  on  such 
occasions.  The  times  in  which  these  jealousies  and  feuds 
commonly  broke  forth,  were  the  times   of  the  church- 


A.  D.  1340.]  Northerns  and  Southerns.  35 

festivals  ;  and  grave  were  often  the  mischiefs  that  ensued. 
During  the  whole  of  the  fourteenth  century,  but  especially 
during  the  first  half  of  it,  the  nations  are  continually 
mentioned  as  taking  part  in  riotous  exploits,  under  the 
names  of  Northernmen  and  Southernmen.^ 

But  it  is  a  fact,  and  one  to  which  it  behoves  us,  from 
the  nature  of  our  subject,  to  give  close  attention,  that 
there  were  other  causes,  much  more  rational  than  those 
fostered  merely  by  local  prejudice,  or  usage,  at  the  root 
of  such  outbursts.     The   following  extract  will   supply 
an  instance  of  what  might  happen  in  the  history  of  a 
company  of  Oxford  students  a  century  earlier  than  the 
age  of  Wycliffe.     In  writing  of  the  year  1 238,   Matthew 
Paris,  and  Thomas  de  Wyke,  say,2  '  About  this  time  the 
'  lord  Legate  Otho,  (who  had  been  sent  to  England  to 
remedy  multifarious   abuses   in   the  ithurch,)   came  to 
Oxford  also,  where  he  was  received  with  all  becoming 
honors.     He  took  up  his  abode  in  the  Abbey  of  Osney. 
The  elders  of  the  University,  however,  sent  him  a  goodly 
present  of  welcome,  of  meats,  and  various  drinks,  for  his 
dinner ;  and  after  the  hour  of  the  meal,  repaired  to  his 
abode,  to  greet  him,  and  do  him  honor.     Then  so  it  was, 
that  a  certain  Italian,  a  door-keeper  of  the  Legate,  with 
less  perchance  of  courtesy  towards  visitors  than  was  be- 
coming, called  out  to  them  with  loud  voice,  after  Romish 
fashion,   and  keeping  the  door  ajar,  "  What  seek  ye  ? '' 

^  Ruber's  English  Universities,  I.  7S.  etseq.       -  Ibid  1.90—92.  Gale.  43. 

D  2 


36 


Wycliffe  in  Oxford. 


[chap.  II. 


Whereupon  they  answered,  "  the  lord  Legate,  that  we 
may  greet  him."'"  And  they  thought  within  themselves, 
assuredly,  that  honor  would  be  requited  by  honor.  But 
when  the  door-keeper,  with  violent  and  unseemly  words, 
refused  them  entrance,  they  pressed  their  force  into  the 
house,  regardless  of  the  clubs  and  fists  of  the  Romans, 
who  sought  to  keep  them  back.  Now  it  came  to  pass 
also,  that  during  this  tumult,  a  certain  poor  Irish  clerk 
went  to  the  door  of  the  kitchen,  and  begged  earnestly, 
for  God's  sake,  as  a  hungry  and  needy  man,  that  they 
would  give  him  a  portion  of  the  good  things.  The 
master-cook,  however,  (the  Legate's  own  brother,  it  is 
said,  who  filled  this  office  for  the  fear  of  poison,)  drove 
him  back  with  hard  words,  and  at  last,  in  great  wrath, 
flung  hot  broth  out  of  a  pot  into  his  face  !  "  Fie,  for 
shame,"  cries  a^cholar  from  Welshland,  who  witnessed 
the  affront,  "  shall  we  bear  this  ?  "  And  then  bending 
a  bow  which  he  held  in  his  hand,  (for  during  the  tur- 
moil, some  had  laid  hands  upon  such  weapons  as  they 
found  within  reach,)  he  shot  the  cook,  whom  the  scholars 
in  derision,  named  Nebuzaradan,  the  Prince  of  Cooks, 
with  a  bolt  through  tTie  body,  so  that  he  fell  dead  to 
the  earth.  Then  was  raised  a  loud  cry  :  and  the  Legate 
himself,  in  great  fear,  disguised  in  the  garment  of  a 
canonist,  fled  into  the  tower  of  the  church,  and  shut  to 
the  gates.  And  there  remained  he  hidden  until  night ; 
only  when  the  tumult  was  quite  laid,  he  came  forth, 
mounted    a   horse,    and   hastened   through    bye-ways, 


A.D.  1340.] 


Riot  in  Oxford  in  1238. 


37 


'  and  not  without  danger,  led  by  trusty  guides,  to  the 
'  spot  where  the  king  held  his  court,  and  there  sought 
'  protection.  The  enraged  scholars,  however,  stayed  not 
'  for  a  great  length  of  time  seeking  the  Legate,  with 
'  loud  cries,  in  all  the  corners  of  the  house,  saying, 
'  Where  is  the  usurer,  the  simonist,  the  plunderer  of  our 
'  goods,  who  thirsts  after  our  gold  and  silver,  who  leads 
'  the  king  astray,  and,  upsetting  the  kingdom,  enriches 
'  strangers  with  our  spoils.' 

Our  readers  will  observe  the  parts  in  this  little  drama 
which  fell  to  the  lot  of  the  Hibernian  and  the  Welshman. 
Very  characteristic —  are  they  not  ?  Furthermore,  in  the 
language  of  the  students,  as  they  rush  through  the  apart- 
ments of  the  Abbey  in  search  of  the  legate,  we  no  doubt 
have  the  utterance  of  the  popular  opinion  in  relation  to 
such  personages  and  their  doings — as  men  who  would  be 
sure  to  lead  kings  '  astray,'  and  to  enrich  Italian  knaves 
with  '  spoils  '  taken  from  honest  Englishmen. 

In  explanation  of  this  proceeding,  it  should  be  re- 
membered, that  at  that  time,  about  twice  seven  years 
had  passed  since  the  barons  had  wrung  the  Great  Charter 
from  the  hands  of  King  John.  Fifty  years  later,  more- 
over, the  descendants  of  those  same  barons,  with  Simon 
de  Montfort,  Earl  of  Leicester,  at  their  head,  gave  to 
England  its  first  House  of  Commons.  It  was  in  Oxford 
that  this  nobleman  assembled  the  parliament  of  1258, 
which  drew  up  articles  to  be  submitted  to  the  King,  the 
rejection  of  which  by  the  monarch  led  to  a  civil  war. 


38  Wydiffe  in  Oxford.  [chap.  ii. 

Two  years  later,  a  large  body  of  the  students,  who  had 
taken  part  with  the  barons,  migrated  to  Northampton, 
and  defended  that  place  against  the  king  with  so  much 
science  and  stoutness,  that  it  was  with  difficulty  that 
Henry  the  Third,  on  taking  the  town,  was  dissuaded 
from  his  purpose  of  putting  them  all  to  death. 

From  the  commencement  of  this  struggle,  the  whole 
country  was  divided  into  two  parties — the  party  of  the 
king,  and  the  party  of  the  barons.  Nor  is  it  too  much  to 
say,  that  our  much  later  divisions  as  a  people  into  Par- 
liamentarian and  Royalist,  Whig  and  Tory,  Liberal  and 
Conservative,  may  be  traced  up  to  the  conflict  in  which  the 
nation  was  then  engaged.  The  crown,  especially  in  the 
time  of  John,  and  of  Henry  the  Third,  naturally  found 
its  most  powerful  ally,  and,  as^^  often,  its  subtle  master,  in 
the  papacy ;  while  its  soldiers  were,  as  to  far  the  greater 
part,  mercenaries, — and  the  men  most  at  its  bidding  in 
other  departments,  both  in  Church  and  State,  were 
rapacious  foreigners.  With  the  barons'  party,  on  the 
other  hand,  were  all  the  towns,  and  nearly  the  whole 
Saxon  population,  especially  the  '  northern  men.' 

With  party  feeling  thus  rife  everywhere,  it  is  easy  to 
imagine  the  ardour  with  which  the  young  spirits  at 
Oxford  would  commit  themselves  to  the  one  side  or  the 
other.  The  king,  in  the  eyes  of  the  popular  party, 
represented  the  power  which  menaced  the  freedom  of 
their  persons  and  property  ;  while  the  aim  of  the  Pope, 
and  of  his  sordid  emissaries,  was  to  leave  them  as  little 


A. D.  1340.]     The  King's  Party  and  Barons  Party.        89 

liberty  in  things  spiritual,  as  the  crown  was  disposed  to 
leave  to  them  in  things  temporal.  Simon  de  Montfort, 
on  the  contrary,  was  lauded  as  hero,  saint,  and  martyr, — 
as  the  man  who  had  shown  more  bravery  than  his  fellows 
in  behalf  both  of  the  civil  and  religious  immunities  of  the 
English  people.  In  those  times,  as  in  later  times,  the 
virtues  may  not  have  been  all  on  one  side ;  but  to  the 
champions  of  popular  principle  in  the  thirteenth  and 
fourteenth  centuries  we  are  indebted  for  the  progress  of 
our  free  constitution,  hardly  less  than  to  our  patriots 
and  puritans  in  the  days  of  the  Stuarts.  The  germ  of  all 
the  securities  insisted  on  by  our  Cokes  and  Hampdens, 
our  Russells  and  Sidneys,  had  been  so  thoroughly  sown  in 
the  national  thinking,  and  in  the  national  heart,  even 
in  that  remote  time,  that  the  striving  of  the  popular 
leaders  in  the  Long  Parliament — as  their  history  abun- 
dantly shows, — was  not  so  much  for  new  theories,  as  for 
the  free  exposition  and  the  faithful  administration  of 
old  laws.  We  shall  find  evidence  enough  as  we  proceed, 
of  the  fervent  sympathy  of  Wycliffe  with  the  principles 
and  feelings  of  this  great  national  party. 

Wycliife,  as  we  have  seen,  entered  Queen's  College  in 
1340.  He  entered  that  College  as  a  Commoner  ;  but 
removed  after  a  short  interval  to  Merton,  where  he  was 
first  Probationer,  and  afterwards  Fellow.^     This  College 


*  The  records  of  Merton  show  him  to  have  performed  the  duties  of 
Seneschal  in  January  of  the  year  1356.     Compositus  Ric.  Billingham, 


40  Wydiffe  in  Oxford.  [chap.  ii. 

was  founded  in  1264,  by  "Walter  de  Merton,  Chancellor 
of  England,  under  Henry  the  Third.  It  was  located  in  a 
house  which  had  been  the  property  of  the  Abbey  of 
Reading.  The  documents  relating  to  this  foundation, 
drawn  up  by  the  Chancellor  himself,  show  him  to  have 
been  a  man  of  judgment,  fully  alive  to  the  wants  of  the 
time.  The  establishment  was  enlarged  both  in  1270  and 
1274,  and  in  the  latter  year  it  seems  that  certain  scholars 
who  had  been  pursuing  their  studies  under  the  patronage 
of  the  Chancellor  at  Maiden  in  Surrey,  removed  to  Oxford. 
The  yearly  income  of  the  Fellows  was  fifty  shillings,  and 
the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  was  empowered  to  choose 
one  from  their  number  to  fill  the  office  of  Warden.  Mer- 
ton rose  suddenly  into  great  celebrity.  It  took  precedence 
of  all  the  other  Colleges,  with  the  exception  of  University 
College,  in  respect  to  date ;  became,  from  its  success,  a 
model  to  all  that  followed,  and  it  long  retained  its  pre- 
eminence. Before  the  time  of  Wycliffe's  admission  to 
this  College,  a  considerable  number  of  its  men  ha<d 
become  eminent  in  their  day  in  natural  science  ;  and  from 
among  its  clerical  students,  one  had  risen  to  be  preceptor 
to  Edward  the  Third,  and  three  to  be  Primates  of  the 
English  Church.  It  was  in  Merton,  also,  that.  Occham, 
the  great  school-man,  designated  the  venerable  inceptor, 
began  his   career ;  and  it  was  here  that'  Bradwardine, 


bursarii,  30,  Edw.  Ill,,  rot.  in  thesuarario  Coll.  Merton.     WyclifFe's 
Bible,  Oxford.    Pref.  VII. 


A.  D.  1840.]        Wycliffe  as  Fellow  of  Merton.  41 

named  the  profound,  delivered  lectures  on  Theology.  The 
fame  of  Occham  was  European  in  his  own  life-time,  and 
that  of  Bradwardine  ha*s  survived  in  his  admirable 
writings  to  our  own  day.^  The  position,  accordingly, 
attained  by  Wycliffe,  while  still  a  young  man,  as  Fellow 
of  Merton,  may  be  taken  as  evidence  of  the  manner  in 
which  he  spent  his  earlier  years  at  Oxford.  No  status 
in  the  University,  we  presume,  could  have  given  better 
evidence  of  industry,  or  of  sound  learning — according 
to  the  estimate  of  learning  in  those  times. 


^  Huber  I.  190,  191.  The  chief  work  of  Bradwardine  is  intitled 
De  Causa  Dei,  ^c. — and  shows  how  the  doctrines  since  known  by  the 
name  of  Calvinism,  were  expounded  and  vindicated  in  the  middle  ages. 
The  reader  may  obtain  a  sufficient  knowledge  of  the  work  from  the 
account  given  of  it  in  Milner's  Church  History. 


CHAPTER  III. 

WYCLIFFE    AS    MASTER   OF    BALLIOL   AND   WARDEN   OF 
CANTERBURY    HALL. 


F  WyclifFe  in  Oxford,  we  are  left  to  judge,  for 
the  most  part,  from  what  we  learn  gradually- 
concerning  him  as  Wycliffe  the  Reformer.  In 
this  stage  of  his  history  the  first  point  de- 
manding our  attention  relates  to  the  authorship  of  a 
Tract  attributed  to  Wycliffe,  intitled  ^  the  Last  Age  of 
the  Church.' 

In  a  volume  of  manuscripts  in  the  Library  of  Trinity 
College,  Dublin,  there  is  a  Tract  under  the  above  title. 
The  volume  containing  it  was  presented,  with  many 
other  manuscripts,  once  the  property  of  Archbishop 
Ussher,  to  Trinity  College  Library  by  Charles  II.  Before 
I  had  access  to  that  volume,  now  some  five-and-twenty 
years  since,  I  was  aware  that  the  following  entry  had 
been  made  on  the  upper  margin  of  the  first  page,  '  Anno 


A.  D.  1356.]     Tract  on  '  The  Last  Age  of  the  Church.'        43 

1 368,  Wicklif's  workes  to  the  Duk  of  Lancaster/  Great 
was  my  curiosity  to  learn  what  the  subsequent  pages  of  a 
volume  so  described  would  be  found  to  contain.  For  on 
this  point,  no  man  had  hitherto  furnished  the  public 
with  the  slightest  information.  Mr.  Lewis  had  mentioned 
this  superscription  as  being  on  the  volume,  but  contented 
himself  with  the  briefest  possible  account  of  orne  of  the 
pieces  included  in  it.  When  the  volume  came  under  my 
inspection,  I  was  assured  by  one  learned  authority,  that 
this  heading  was  in  the  hand  of  Archbishop  Ussher ;  by 
another,  it  has  been  since  said  to  be  in  the  hand  of  Sir 
Robert  Cotton.  But,  whoever  wrote  the  superscription, 
I  was  truly  sorry  to  find  that  the  contents  of  the  volume 
were  not  such  as  to  lend  any  sanction  to  the  statement 
that  these  treatises  had  been  dedicated  to  the  Duke  of 
Lancaster  ;  nor  in  fact  anything  to  warrant  the  prefixing 
of  the  date — Anno,  1368,  to  the  collection  of  writings 
of  which  it  consists.  There  is,  indeed,  an  almost  illegible 
entry  of  this  date  by  another  hand  on  this  first  page : 
but  it  is  certain  that  in  following  this  authority,  the 
person  who  made  the  subsequent  entry  had  committed 
himself  to  a  treacherous  guide.  We  speak  thus  posi- 
tively, because  we  shall  give  proof,  in  its  place,  that  several 
of  the  pieces  included  in  this  collection  supply  internal 
evidence  of  having  been  written  subsequently  to  1368. 

But  with  regard  to  the  tract  in  this  volume,  intitled — 
'  The  Last  Age  of  the  Church,'  it  is  beyond  doubt,  that 
this  must  have  been  written  so  early  as  1356,  the  year 


44  Wycliffe  as  Master  of  Balliol.         [chap.  hi. 

*  thirteen  hundred  and  six-and-fifty/  being  mentioned 
by  the  author  as  the  year  in  which  he  is  writing.  If  it 
be  from  the  pen  of  WycliiFe,  it  must,  accordingly,  have 
been  written  by  him  when  comparatively  a  young  man — 
somewhere  about  thirty  years  of  age.  Inasmuch  as  it 
had  been  attributed  to  Wycliffe,  without  any  doubt,  by 
the  most  trustworthy  authorities  who  had  gone  before  me 
in  these  inquiries,  and  inasmuch  as  the  early  date  of  the 
document  gave  it  a  place  and  an  interest  of  its  own,  as 
compared  with  all  the  known  writings  of  the  reformer,  I 
must  own  that  I  was  by  no  means  disposed  to  be  scepti- 
cal on  the  point  of  its  supposed  authorship.  But  as  the 
result  of  farther  investigation,  I  feel  bound  to  say  that 
I  have  now  strong  doubt  on  this  point. 

The  internal  evidence  from  the  tract,  is,  in  my  judg- 
ment, much  more  against,  than  in  favour  of,  the  opinion 
of  its  being  written  by  Wycliffe,  Its  complaints  against 
the  ecclesiastical  abuses,  and  the  general  corruptness  of 
the  times,  are  such  as  might  have  proceeded  from  many 
a  recluse  or  visionary  in  that  age,  without  exposing  him 
to  much  inconvenience.  On  the  other  hand,  the  style 
has  nothing  of  the  freedom  or  the  fervour  observable  in 
the  accredited  writings  of  the  reformer.  There  is  noth- 
ing in  the  tame,  obscure,  and  mystic  utterances  of  this 
tract,  to  suggest  that  the  writer  would  ere  long  become  a 
leading  spirit  of  the  age.  The  attempt,  running  through 
it,  to  make  the  letters  of  the  Hebrew  language  propheti- 
cally significant  of  the  history  of  the  world  during  the 


A.  D.  1356.]     Tract  on  '  The  Last  Age  of  the  Church!         45 


times  of  the  Old  Testament ;  and  to  make  the  letters  of 
the  Roman  alphabet  significant,  in  the  same  manner,  of 
the  history  of  the  church  since  the  coming  of  Christ, 
betrays  a  weakness  of  judgment  little  to  be  expected  in 
a  man  whose  acuteness  and  mental  power  were  so  freely 
acknowledged  by  his  contemporaries — even  by  those 
most  hostile  to  him.  Certainly,  his  writings  which  are 
best  known  and  best  authenticated,  present  nothing  like 
it.  It  is  true,  we  find  this  treatise  bound  up  with  many 
others,  all  of  which  are  supposed  to  be  productions  of 
Wycliffe  :  and  there  is  evidence  from  history  in  relation 
to  some  of  these  pieces,  and  internal  evidence  in  the 
case  of  others,  which  place  their  authorship  beyond 
doubt.  But  we  would  not  vouch  for  the  authorship  of 
every  piece  in  this  collection.  It  should  be  remembered, 
that  in  the  middle  age,  manuscripts  and  tracts,  unlike 
printed  publications  among  ourselves,  very  rarely  gave 
either  the  name  of  the  author,  or  the  date  of  the  author- 
ship ;  and  that  we  now  often  find  them  bound  together 
very  much  as  we  bind  pamphlets,  sometimes  by  sorting 
them  according  to  authorship  or  subjects,  sometimes 
by  doing  tTiis  only  partially,  and  sometimes  by  putting 
them  into  volumes  simply  for  convenience,  without 
sorting  them  at  all,  except  as  to  size.  The  fact,  accor- 
dingly, that  the  piece  intitled,  '  the  Last  Age  of  the 
Church,'  is  found  in  a  volume  including  treatises  which 
are  certainly  by  Wycliffe,  is  by  no  means  decisive  evi- 
dence in  respect  to  its  authorship.     We  may  add,  that 


46  Wycliffe  as  Master  of  Balliol.         [chap.  m. 


while  the  references  to  Bede  and  Bernard  may  have  pro- 
ceeded naturally  enough  from  WycliiFe,  we  feel  that  we 
pass  to  more  doubtful  ground  when  we  find  the  author 
placing  faith  in  such  a  visionary  as  the  Abbot  Joachim, 
and  thus  taking  his  religious  light  from  the  Beguin 
enthusiasts  of  the  continent.  For  it  is  a  remarkable 
fact,  that  the  writings  of  Wycliffe  never  give  us  any 
reason  to  suppose  that  he  was  acquainted  in  any  degree 
with  th6  history  of  the  Waldenses,  the  Albigenses,  or  with 
any  of  the  continental  sects.  He  does  not  appear  to  have 
been  aware  that  these  had  preceded  him  in  delivering  a 
protest  in  some  respects  like  his  own,  against  the  ecclesi- 
astical corruption  of  the  times. 

Our  criticism  on  this  little  treatise,  has  been  the  more 
necessary,  inasmuch  as  it  has  been  recently  printed,  and 
with  an  array  of  learned  notes,  greatly  over-stepping  the 
narrow  margin  of  the  text.  If  we  give  a  passage  from 
it,  rendered  somewhat  more  readable  by  correcting  the 
obsolete  spelling,  we  shall  perhaps  best  shew  that  our 
doubts  have  not  come  upon  us  without  reason.  The 
burden  of  the  author  is,  that  the  corruptness  of  priests 
and  people  is  about  to  bring  upon  them  signal  retribu- 
tions. '  Alas  !  for  sorrow,  great  priests  sitting  in  dark- 
'  ness,  and  in  shadow  of  death,  naught  heeding  him  that 
'  openly  crieth.  All  this  I  will  give  thee,  if  thou  avaunce 
^  me.  They  make  reservations,  the  which  be  called  dymes, 
'■  first-fruits,  or  pensions,  after  the  opinion  of  them  that 
'  treat  this  matter.     For  no  more  should  fat  benefices  be 


I 


A.  D.  1356.]     Tract  on  '  The  Last  Age  of  the  Church.'        47 


reserved,  than  small,  if  no  privy  cause  of  simony  were 
tretide,  (in  treaty,  arranged  for,)  the  which,  I  say 
naught  at  this  time.  But  Joachim,  in  his  book  of  the 
Seeds  of  the  Prophets,  and  of  the  sayings  of  Popes,  and 
of  the  .charges  of  Prophets,  treating  this  matter,  and 
speaking  of  the  rent  of  dymes,  saith  thus  : — four  tribu- 
lations David  the  prophet  hath  before  said, — the  seventy 
and  nine  chapter — to  enter  into  the  church  of  God  ; 
and  Bernard  accordeth  therewith,  upon  Canticles,  the 
three  and  thirty  sermon,  that  be  a  nightly  dread,  an 
arrow  flying  in  day,  chaiFare,  (pestilence)  walking  in 
darkness,  and  midday  devilry — that  is  to  say  Antichrist. 
Nightly  dread  was,  when  all  that  slowen  (destroyed) 
saints  deemed  himself  do  service  to  God,  and  this  was 
the  first  tribulation  that  entered  the  church  of  God. 
The  arrow  flying  in  day  was  deceit  of  heretics,  and  that 
was  the  second  tribulation  that  entered  the  church  of 
Christ.  That  is  put  off  by  wisdom  of  saints,  as  the 
first  was  cast  out  by  stedfastness  of  martyrs.  Chaflare 
(pestilence)  walking  in  darkness  is  the  privy  heresy  of 
Simonists,  by  reason  of  which  the  third  tribulation  shall 
enter  into  Christ's  church,  the  which  tribulation  or 
anguish  shall  enter  the  church  of  Christ  in  the  time  of 
the  hundredth  year  of  '  x '  letter,  whose  end  we  be,  as 
I  will  prove,  and  this  mischief  shall  be  so  heavy  that 
Avell  shall  be  to  that  man  of  holy  church  that  then  shall 
not  be  alive.  And  that  I  prove  thus,  by  Joachim  in 
his   book   of  the   Seeds  of  Prophets.     Men  of  Hebrew 


48  Wycliffe  as  Master  of  Balliol.         [chap.  m. 

'  tongue  have  xxii.  letters,  and  beginning  from  the  first 

*  of  Hebrew  letters,  and  giving  to  every  letter  a  hundred 
'  years,  the  Old  Testament  was  ended  when  the  number 

*  given  to  the  letters  was  fulfilled.  So  from  the  be- 
'  ginning  of  Hebrew  letters  unto  Christ,  in  the  which 

*  the  Old  Testament  was  ended,  were  two  and  twenty 
'  hundred  of  years,  this  also  (he)  showeth  openly  by 
'  description  of  time,  of  Eusebius,  Bede,  and  Haymound, 
'  most  approved  of  authors  or  talkers.  So  Christian  men 
'  have  xxi.  letters,  and  beginning  from  the  first  of  Latin 
'  letters,  and  giving  to  each  a  hundred,  the  New  Testa- 

*  ment  was  ended  where  the  number  of  these  assigned 
'  letters  was  fulfilled  ;  and  this  is  as  sure  as  in  the  begin- 
'  ning  God  made  heaven  and  earth,  for  the  Old  Testa- 

*  ment  is  figure  of  the  New.  But  after  Joachim  and 
'  Bede,  from  the  beginning  of  Latin  letters  to  the  coming 
'  of  Christ  were  seven  hundred  years,  so  that  Christ 
'  came  in  the  hundred  of  '  h '  letter  ;  Christ  went  to 
'  heaven,  and  after  that,  under  the  '  k '  letter,  Christ 
^  delivered  his  church  from  nightly  dread,  the  which  was 

*  the  first  dread  that  God's  church  was  in.  After  that 
'■  under  'm'  letter,  Christ  delivered  his  church  from  the 
'  arrow  flying  in  day, — that  was  the  second  tribulation 
'  of  the  church,  and  that  was  demynge  by  Joachim  and 

*  others,  that  under  'm'  letter  showed  the  multitude  of 
'  heretics  contrarying  the  birth  of  Christ,  his  passion, 
'  and  his  ascension,  in  that  that  '  m '  letter  most  figured 
'  Christ.     Every  letter  may  be  sounded  with  open  mouth 


A.D.I 361.]     Rector  of  Fylingham — Master  of  Balliol.      49 

'  save  '  m '  letter  only,  the  which  may  not  be  sounded 
*  but  with  close  mouth.  So  Christ  might  not  come  out 
'  of  the  maiden's  womb/  &;c.  .  .  . 

Looking  at  this  treatise  with  less  prepossession,  and, 
as  I  hope,  with  a  more  ripened  judgment  than  I  was 
capable  of  bringing  to  it  on  first  reading  it,  I  find  it 
exceedingly  difiicult  to  believe  that  its  author  was,  at 
the  time  of  writing  it,  a  man  who  had  risen  to  be  a 
Fellow  of  Merton,  the  most  learned  College  in  Oxford, 
and  a  man  who  was  soon  to  become  distinguished  as 
the  first  and  the  most  potent  of  English  reformers.  It 
certainly  contains  some  pious  sentiments,  and  solemn  de- 
nunciations of  ecclesiastical  corruption,  not  unworthy  of 
WyclifFe,  but  the  fanciful  imbecilities  which  make  up  its 
substance,  when  viewed  impartially,  force  upon  me  the 
conclusion  that  to  attribute  such  a  production  to  the 
Reformer  is  to  do  him  great  injustice.^ 

Five  years  subsequent  to  the  date  of  this  treatise — 
that  is,  in  May  1361, — we  find  John  de  WycliiFe,  ^  priest,' 
presented  by  the  Master  and  Scholars  of  Balliol  Hall  to 
the  church  of  Fylingham,  in  the  archdeaconry  of  Stow  ; 
and  before  the  close  of  that  year,  we  find  that  John  de 
Wycliffe  had  become  Warden,  or  Master,  of  Balliol.  The 
clerks  and  scholars  of  that  '  Hall,'  as  it  was  then  called, 
had  sent  a  memorial  to  the  pope,  praying  that  the  living 
of  Abbodesle,  recently  given  to  the  College,  might  be  ap- 

*  Appendix,  Note  B. 


50  Wyclifie  as  Master  of  Balliol.        [chap.  m. 

propriated  more  efficiently  to  their  benefit :  the  pope  com- 
plied with  this  request,  and  the  papal  bull  was  presented 
to  the  bishop  of  the  diocese,  in  behalf  of  the  scholars,  by 
John  de  WycliiFe,  as  Master.  We  have  seen  that  Balliol 
owed  its  origin  to  northern  patronage — to  the  Balliols  of 
Bernard  Castle.  The  privilege  of  electing  the  Master 
was  lodged  in  the  College,  and  as  the  men  of  Balliol 
would,  no  doubt,  be  mostly  'northern'  men,  we  can 
easily  believe  that  northern  affinities,  even  through  that 
channel,  had  something  to  do  with  this  promotion.^ 

The  next  point  in  the  history  of  Oxford  which  brings 
the  name  of  Wycliffe  before  us,  is  connected  with  the 
origin  and  early  history  of  Canterbury  HalL  In  1361, 
Simon  Islep,  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  founded  the 
Hall  which  bore  that  name  ;  and  made  provision  therein 
for  a  Warden  and  eleven  scholars.  The  Warden,  and 
three  of  the  scholars,  were  to  be  monks  of  Christchurch, 
Canterbury  ;  the  remaining  eight  were  to  be  secular 
priests.  The  scholars  were  to  give  themselves  to  the 
study,  among  other  things,  of  logic,  and  of  the  civil  and 


^  Magister  Job.  Wycliffe  presbyter  presenta.  per  Magist.  et  Scholares 
Aule  de  Balliol  Oxon.  ad  Eccle.  de  Fylingliam,  vac.  per  Mort.  Job. 
Reyner,  11  d.  May,  1361.  in  Arcbi  Stow.     Reg.  Gynwell,  fol.  123. 

Coll.  MS.  of  R.  R.  Wbite,  Bisbop  of  Peterborougb.  Memorand. 
Quod  nuper  defuncto — rectore  ecclesias  parocbialis  de  Abbodesle, 
Linco,  dioc,  in  Arcbidiacon.  Hunt,  venit  Magister  Job.  de  Wyclif 
tunc  Custos  seu  Magister  Aule  de  Balliol,  Oxon.  et  exbibuit  Venera. 
Patri  Domino  Jobanni  Lincol.  Episcopo  literas  Apostolicas,  &c.  Beg. 
Gynwell,  MS.  folio  367.  368.     Lewis,  4,  5. 


A.  D.  1365.]  Origin  of  Canterbury  Hall.  51 

canon  law..  For  their  maintenance  the  primate  settled 
on  them  the  parsonage  of  Pageham,  and  the  manor  of 
Wodeford,  in  the  county  of  Northampton.  This  done, 
he  purchased  some  old  houses,  which  had  been  damaged 
by  a  late  storm,  and  fitted  them  up  for  the  reception  of 
these  studious  persons.  The  wardenship  fell  to  a  monk 
named  Wodehall ;  a  man,  it  would  seem,  of  the  sort  who 
seldom  fail  to  give  evidence  enough  of  their  incapacity 
to  govern  others,  by  their  manifest  inability  to  govern 
themselves.  To  abate  the  cost  of  taking  his  degree, 
Wodehall  claimed,  though  a  monk,  to  be  received  as  a 
secular  student.  His  own  Abbot  protested  against  this 
manner  of  proceeding,  as  did  some  of  the  authorities  of 
the  University.  But  by  the  help  of  intrigue,  with  a  free 
admixture  of  the  kind  of  impudence  which  in  this  world 
sometimes  serves  the  turn  of  its  possessor,  he  succeeded, 
amidst  a  good  deal  of  noise  and  opposition,  in  obtaining 
his  object.  These  preliminaries  did  not  promise  well  for 
the  future  of  Canterbury  Hall.  We  are  not  surprised, 
therefore,  to  find  the  Archbishop  repenting,  not  more 
than  four  years  later,  of  his  attempt  to  subject  a  majority 
of  secular  clerks,  to  a  minority  of  monks,  who,  having 
the  Warden  of  their  number,  would  be  sure  to  possess  a 
preponderance  of  power,  especially  under  such  a  Warden 
as  Wodehall.  In  the  year  1365,  accordingly,  we  find 
the  Archbishop  so  far  revoking  his  former  plans,  that 
Wodehall  and  the  three  monks  were  expelled,  and  the 
place  of  the  three  monks  was  supplied  by  three  secular 

E  2 


52         Wycliffe  as  Warden  of  Oanterhury  Hall.     [chap.  m. 

scholars,  and  that  of  Wodehall,  as  Warden,  by  John  de 
WyclifFe. 

Was  the  John  de  Wycliffe  so  appointed  the  reformer  ? 
Until  very  recently  there  has  been  no  question  on  this 
point  ?  But  a  question  is  now  raised  upon  it.  We  have 
seen  that  the  name  of  Wycliffe  is  a  local  one.  We  have 
seen  also,  that  the  only  locality  from  which  it  could  have 
been  derived  is  a  parish  so  small  that  even  now  its  popu- 
lation does  not  number  two  hundred  souls.  We  have 
seen,  moreover,  that  there  does  not  appear  to  have  been 
any  second  family  in  the  place  in  the  fourteenth  century 
in  circumstances  to  have  given  a  learned  education  to  its 
sons.  Nevertheless,  it  is  beyond  doubt,  that,  during  the 
life-time  of  the  reformer,  there  were  several  clergymen 
who  bore  the  name  of  Wycliffe.  There  was  a  Robert  de 
Wycliffe,  who  was  presented  to  the  rectory  of  Wycliffe  in 
1362,  by  Katherine,  relict  of  Roger  Wycliffe  :  and  a 
William  de  Wycliffe,  presented  to  the  same  rectory,  by 
John  de  Wycliffe,  in  the  year  following.^  There  was  also, 
a  Robert  de  Wycliff*e  appointed  to  a  chantry  in  Cleve- 
land, in  the  diocese  of  York,  about  1868.^  This  may 
have  been  the  person  who  relinquished  the  rectory  of 
Wycliffe  in  1363.  It  is  certain  also,  that  in  1361,  the 
year  in  which  John   de  Wycliffe  the  reformer  became 


^  Whitaker's  Richmondshire,  I.  197. 
=  Graves's  History  of  Cleveland  Castle,  p.p.  138—147.  Carlisle,  1808. 
Gentleman's  Mag.  1841.  Vol.  II.  p.  122. 


A.  D.  1365.]  The  Two  WycUffes.  53 

Master  of  Balliol,  a  John  de  WyclifFe  was  collated  by 
Archbishop  Islep  to  the  vicarage  of  Mayfield,  the  chief 
residence  of  the  primate  at  that  time,  and  until  his 
decease.  That  this  John  de  WycliiFe,  the  vicar  of  May- 
field,  was  not  the  reformer  is  certain,  from  the  fact,  that 
the  Mayfield  WyclifFe  continued  vicar  of  Mayfield  until 
1380,  when  he  exchanged  that  living  for  Horsted  Kaynes, 
in  the  same  county,  where  he  died,  as  rector  of  that 
parish,  and  prebend  of  Chichester,  in  1383.  At  that 
time  WycliiFe  the  reformer  was  resident  in  Lutterworth, 
giving  himself  laboriously  to  preaching  and  author- 
ship.^ 

But  the  fact  that  there  assuredly  was  at  this  time  a 
second  John  de  WyclifFe,  who  was  not  only  a  clergyman, 
but  a  person  so  far  in  favour  with  Islep,  the  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury,  as  to  have  been  appointed  by  him  vicar 
of  the  parish  in  which  the  primate  himself  was  chiefly 
resident, — has  given  rise  to  the  question — is  it  not  pro- 
bable that  in  this  John  de  WyclifFe  of  Mayfield,  and  not 
in  John  de  WyclifFe  the  reformer,  we  find  the  person  who 
was  selected  to  be  Warden  of  Canterbury  Hall,  in  place 
of  the  monk  Wodehall  ?  Certainly,  this  question  is  not 
an  unreasonable  one  ;  and  great  advantage  has  been  sup- 
posed to  lie  on  the  side  of  settling  it  in  the  affirmative. 
For  if  this  be  the  fact,  then,  we  are  told,  the  insinuations 
of  such  men  as  Anthony  Wood,  and  Bishop  Fell,  who 

^  Appendix,  Note  C. 


54        Wycliffe  as  Warden  of  Canterbury  Hall.     [chap.  m. 

ascribe  the  anti-papal  zeal  of  WycliiFe  to  the  circumstance 
that  the  court  of  Rome  decided  against  him  in  the 
matter  of  his  wardenship,  falls  to  the  ground,  and  leaves 
the  fame  of  the  reformer  in  this  respect  unsullied. 

But  for  our  own  part,  we  must  say,  we  are  by  no 
means  careful  to  vindicate  the  fame  of  Wycliffe  against 
such  imbecile  attacks.  The  man  who  could  be  influenced, 
in  the  manner  supposed,  by  the  incident  mentioned,  must 
have  been  a  man  doomed  to  be  the  creature  of  circum- 
stances, and  as  the  circumstances  adapted  to  affect  his 
course  would  be  various  and  contradictory,  so  would  his 
history  have  been.  The  chapter  of  accidents  is  never  in 
one  stay :  and  so  must  it  be  with  the  purposes  of  the  man 
who  has  no  power  but  to  do  as  accidents  may  determine. 
He  will,  according  to  the  adage,  be  everything  by  turns  and 
nothing  long.  Heads  of  the  Anthony  Wood  and  Bishop 
Fell  make,  in  which  an  anile  bigotry  leaves  little  or  no 
place  for  the  exercise  of  common  sense,  may  not  under- 
stand this — but  if  there  be  any  such  thing  as  a  relation 
of  adequacy  between  cause  and  effect,  we  think  we  may 
safely  leave  our  readers  to  say,  whether  such  a  result  as 
we  have  before  us  in  the  life  of  Wycliffe,  could  have  pro- 
ceeded, in  anything  beyond  a  very  trivial  degree,  from 
such  a  cause. 

It  will  appear,  moreover,  as  we  proceed,  that  while 
this  question  was  under  judgment  in  the  papal  court, 
Wycliffe  committed  himself  in  relation  to  some  great 
principles,  in  a  manner  so  notorious,  as  to  demonstrate 


1 


A.  D.  1365.]       Dispute  about  the  Wardenship.  55 

how  little  the  fate  of  his  wardenship  was  likely  to  influ- 
ence his  public  course. 

Archbishop  Islep,  in  founding  the  Hall,  had  provided 
that  it  should  be  competent  to  himself,  or  his  successors, 
to  remove  the  Warden  at  any  time,  and  purely  at  their 
own  pleasure.  But  Islep  died  the  year  after  investing 
John  de  Wycliffe  with  that  office.  Langham,  his  successor 
in  the  see  of  Canterbury,  had  been  a  monk,  and  Abbot 
of  Westminster.  The  new  primate  listened  to  the  tale  of 
the  expelled  monks  ;  and  on  the  pretence  that  the  recent 
change  had  been  brought  about  by  improper  means,  or 
when  the  late  Archbishop  was  incapable  of  discharging  a 
legal  trust, — Wycliffe,  and  the  three  secular  scholars  in- 
troduced with  him,  were  expelled,  and  Wodehall  and  the 
three  monks  were  reinstated.  Upon  this,  Wycliffe  and 
the  expelled  scholars  appealed  from  the  decision  of  their 
metropolitan,  so  clearly  in  violation  of  the  will  of  his 
predecessor,  to  the  judgment  of  the  pope.  But  the  influ- 
ence and  bribes  of  the  monastic  litigants  prevailed.  After 
a  dispute  of  something  more  than  four  years  duration, 
judgment  was  given  in  their  favour.  That  a  man  already 
alive,  as  Wycliffe  was,  to  the  corruptness  of  the  existing 
ecclesiastical  system,  should  have  accepted  this  result  as 
new  evidence  on  that  point,  may  be  readily  admitted ; 
but  it  is  not  easy  to  suppose  anything  beyond  this  as  the 
effect  of  such  an  event  on  the  mind  of  such  a  man.  Nor 
could  Wycliffe  himself,  we  think,  have  expected  the  issue 
to  be   much   otherwise.     On  the  one   side   were  three 


56        Wycliffe  as  Warden  of  Canterbury  Hall.     [chap.  hi. 

secular  scholars,  young  men,  and  probably  very  poor, 
with  a  Warden,  perhaps,  all  but  as  poor  as  themselves, 
and  little  inclined,  we  may  suppose,  to  expend  money  in 
such  a  cause,  even  if  such  expenditure  had  been  within  his 
power,  when,  whatever  might  be  the  clear  equity  of  the 
case,  the  result,  from  other  circumstances,  was  so  doubt- 
ful. For  on  the  other  side  was  the  energy  of  Wodehall 
and  his  monks,  who  would  spare  no  appeal  to  the  fanati- 
cism of  their  brother  monks — a  body  most  zealous  on  all 
occasions  to  secure  a  good  footing  in  the  University ;  and 
in  addition  to  all  such  influence  in  their  favour,  was  the 
whole  weight  of  the  position  filled  by  Langham,  not  only 
as  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  but  as  being  ex-officio 
trustee  for  the  foundation  in  question.  As  the  prospect 
of  success  in  these  circumstances,  especially  with  Rome 
as  the  court  of  appeal,  must  at  best  have  been  very 
slender,  the  feeling  of  disappointment  at  the  issue,  if 
experienced  at  all,  could  not,  we  think,  have  been  any- 
thing very  considerable.  It  should  be  remembered  too, 
that  the  honours  of  a  wardenship  were  no  new  thing  in 
the  experience  of  Wycliffe.  In  1370,  the  date  of  this 
papal  verdict,  nine  years  had  passed  since  the  reformer 
had  become  Master  of  Balliol.  We  know  not  how  it 
came  to  pass  that  his  possession  of  the  latter  office  was 
of  such  short  duration.  We  know  however,  that  when 
he  exchanged  the  living  of  Fylingham  in  1368,  for  that  of 
Ludgershall,  a  benefice  of  less  value,  but  nearer  Oxford, 
he  did  so,  not  as  Master  of  Balliol,  but  simply  as  John 


A.  D.  1368.]     Exchange  of  Fylingliam  for  Liidgershall.       57 


de  WycliiFe,  '  priest/  ^  Whether  he  resigned  the  Master- 
ship of  Balliol  in  favour  of  the  Wardenship  of  Canterbury- 
Hall,  or  from  some  other  cause,  does  not  appear.  But 
the  fact  of  his  resignation  from  some  cause,  during  this 
interval,  is  beyond  a  doubt.     The  following  extract  from 


^  Johannes  de  Wyclif,  presbiter  presentatus  per  fratrem  Johannem  de 
Pavely  priorem  Hospitalis  Johannis  Jerusalem  in  Anglia  ad  ecclesiam 
de  Lotegareshall  Line.  dioc.  Archidiacon  Bucks  per  resignat.  domini 
Johannis  Wythornevvyk,  ex  causa  permutationis  de  ipsa  cum  ecclesia 
parochiali  de  Fylingham,  dicte  dioc.  admissus,  Nov.  12,  1368.  Lewis, 
I.  17.  The  entry  in  the  Register  shows  that  the  design  of  this  change 
was,  that  he  might  be  nearer  Oxford,  and  that  by  not  being  obliged  to 
reside  he  might  be  more  at  liberty  to  give  himself  to  his  labours  in  the 
University.  The  words  are  *  Idibus  Aprilis  Anno  dni.  millesimo  cccmo 
Ixviii  apud  parcum  Stowe  concessa  fuit  licentia  magistro  Johannis  de 
Wyclefe,  rectori  ecclesire  de  Filyngham,  quod  posset  se  absentare  ab 
ecclesia  sua  insistendo  literarum  studio  in  Universitate  Oxon.  per  bien- 
nium.'  Reg.  Bokyngham,  Memoranda,  fol.  Ivi.  Wycliffe's  Bible,  Ox- 
ford.    Pref.  Vin. 

No  one  has  given  any  account  of  this  place  called  Ludgershall,  some- 
times Lutgarshall,  or  Lurgesshall,  in  connexion  with  the  life  of  WyclifFe. 
It  was  once  a  place  of  some  importance,  and  is  supposed  to  have  been 
the  residence  of  some  of  the  Anglo-saxon  kings.  In  1141,  the  castle 
of  Ludgershall  gave  shelter  to  the  empress  Matilda,  in  her  flight  from 
Winchester  towards  the  stronger  fortress  at  Devizes.  No  mention 
being  made  of  the  castle  of  Ludgershall  after  the  reign  of  Henry  III., 
it  is  supposed  to  have  been  one  of  the  many  places  of  the  sort  that 
were  dismantled  about  that  time,  to  humble  the  power  of  the  barons. 
Some  vestiges  of  the  building  might  be  traced  not  long  since  in  a  farm 
yard.  But  the  dismantling  of  the  castle  was  not  the  fall  of  the  town. 
Ludgershall  continued  to  be  a  borough  by  prescription,  and  sent  repre- 
sentatives to  all  the  Parliaments  of  Edward  I,  to  three  of  Edward  II, 
to  three  of  Edward  III,  and  also  in  the  ninth  year  of  Richard  II.  In 
later  times,  it  has  kept  its  place  in  the  list  of  our  rotten  boroughs,  being 
reserved  for  the  ^memorable  '  Schedule  A,'  which  some  of  us  have 
lived  to  see. 


58        Wycliffe  as  Warden  of  Canterbury  Hall.     [chap.  m. 

the  papal  bull  presented  by  him  to  the  Bishop  of  Lincoln 
in  1361,  will  show  that  even  to  be  Master  of  Balliol  was 
not  in  those  days,  to  preside  over  a  very  opulent  frater- 
nity. The  bull  states,  that  *  Pope  Clement  had  been 
'  petitioned  by  the  clerks  and  scholars  of  Balliol  Hall, 


There  was  formerly  an  alien  hospital  or  priory  in  Ludgershall,  subor- 
dinate to  the  priory  of  Santingfield  in  Picardy.  It  was  confiscated 
with  the  other  alien  priories  in  the  kingdom  by  Henry  VI,  and  given 
to  Trinity  College,  Cambridge-  Two-thirds  of  the  tithes  of  the  parish 
were  given  in  1190  to  the  priory  and  convent  of  Bermondsey — in  1291 
it  was  valued  at  £6.  13s.  4d.  per  annum,  under  Henry  VIII.  at 
J^17.  6s.  8d.  Its  chief  recommendation  manifestly  was  that  it  was  not 
more  than  sixteen  miles  from  Oxford,  and  that  the  rector  could  be  in- 
ducted without  the  necessity  of  constant  residence. 

The  manor  of  Ludgershall,  and  the  advowson  of  the  living,  came  to 
the  Rev.  Claudius  Martyn,  the  father  of  the  present  incumbent,  by 
purchase  in  1784.  The  town  has  dwindled  from  what  it  once  was  to 
almost  nothing.  Though  very  recentl}^,  not  only  free-holders,  but  copy- 
holders, and  even  lease-holders  of  any  amount  for  three  years,  were 
allowed  by  their  votes  to  send  two  members  to  parliament  to  watch 
over  the  interests  of  Ludgershall,  the  number  of  '  enlightened  and  inde- 
pendent electors'  did  not  exceed  seventy,  which  was  about  the  number 
of  the  houses.  The  last  census  gives  the  population  as  little  more  than 
five  hundred.  The  fairs,  the  markets,  everything  that  gave  the  place 
importance  as  a  borough,  have  ceased.  The  streets  are  straggling, 
penury-looking,  neither  paved  nor  lighted.  The  embattled  tower  of  the 
church,  and  its  strong  buttressed  sides,  are  probably  as  old  as  the  time 
of  Wycliffe,  but  within  there  is  nothing  beside  the  walls  to  aid  the 
imagination  in  travelling  so  far  back.  On  our  visit  to  Ludgershall,  we 
were  not  so  fortunate  as  to  see  the  rector — that  gentleman  may  be 
aware  that  he  is  officially  a  successor  to  our  great  reformer;  but,  we 
may  venture  to  say,  that  at  the  time  of  our  enquiries,  he  must  have 
been  the  only  person  in  the  place  that  such  intelligence  had  reached. 
So  do  places  fossillate  even  in  this  busy  England  of  ours.  See  Lyson's 
Magna  Britannia,  Buckinghamshire,  597,  598.  Lewis's  Topographical 
Dictionary,  Art.  Ludgershall.    Buckinghamshire  Directory. 


A.  D.  1361.]     College  Endowments  in  Past  Times.  ^,       59 

*  who  had  presented  to  his  Holiness,  that  by  the  devout 
'  bounty  and  alms  of  their  founders,  there  were  many 
'  students  and  clerks  in  the  said  Hall,  and  each  of  them 

'  had  anciently  received  only pence  a  week,  and 

'  when  they  took  their  degree  of  Master  of  Arts,  they  were 
'  obliged  immediately  to  leave  the  said  Hall,  so  that  they 
'  could  not,  by  reason  of  their  poverty,  make  any  progress 
'  in  other  studies,  but  sometimes  were  forced,  for  the  sake 
'  of  a  livelihood,  to  follow  some  mechanic  employment : 
'  that  Sir  William  de  Felton,  having  compassion  on  them, 
'  desired  to  augment  the  number  of  the  said  scholars,  and 
'  to  ordain  that  they  should  have  in  common,  books  of 
'  diverse  faculties,  and  that  every  one  of  them  should 
'  receive  sufficient  clothing,  and  twelve-pence  per  week,  and 
'  that  they  might  freely  remain  in  the  said  Hall,  whether 
'  they  took  their  Master's  degree  or  Doctor's  degree  or  not, 
'  until  they  should  obtain  a  competent  ecclesiastical  bene- 
'  fice/i  Thus  the  highest  point  to  which  the  hopes  of  the 
'  students  and  clerks '  of  Balliol  might  aspire,  as  regarded 
the  worldly  and  self-indulgent,  was,  that  they  might 
possess  '  sufficient  clothing,'  and  '  twelve-pence  per  week/ 
In  respect  to  endowment,  accordingly,  beside  the  ad- 
vantage of  being  founded  by  a  living  primate  of  all 
England,  we  can  suppose  Canterbury  Hall  to  have  ex- 
hibited prospects  little,  if  at  all,  inferior  to  those  of 
Balliol.     But  it  is  possible  that  Wycliffe  may  have  relin- 

*  Lewis.  Chap.  I.  p.  4. 


60        ffycliffe  as  Warden  of  Canterbury  Hall.     [chap.  m. 

quished  the  mastership  of  Balliol  from  other  causes,  some 
time  during  the  four  years  which  intervene  between  his 
election  to  that  office  in  1361,  and  our  first  intimation 
relating  to  his  connexion  with  Canterbury  Hall  in  1865. 
It  is  at  least  as  easy  to  understand  how  he  should  have 
resigned  the  mastership  of  Balliol  to  become  master  of 
Canterbury  Hall,  in  1365,  as  it  is  to  understand  how  he 
should  have  resigned  the  former  office,  and  have  become 
nothing  more  than  John  de  Wycliffe — '  priest,'  in  1368  ; 
and  the  greater  difficulty  here  is  assuredly  a  fact,  what- 
ever may  be  said  of  the  less.  ^ 

It  is  proper  also  to  observe,  that  had  the  John  de 
Wycliffe  chosen  to  the  wardenship  of  Canterbury  Hall, 
been  the  person  of  that  name  who  was  vicar  of  Mayfield, 
it  is  reasonable  to  suppose,  that,  according  to  the  usage 
of  the  time  in  such  cases,  he  would  have  been  described 
as  '  vicar  of  Mayfield,'  in  the  instrument  appointing  him 
to  the  new  dignity.  Had  he  once  ceased,  moreover,  to 
be  vicar  of  Mayfield,  as  we  must  suppose  he  would,  on  the 
acceptance  of  a  wardenship,  it  is  exceedingly  improbable 
that  we  should  ever  have  heard  of  him  again  in  connexion 
with  Mayfield.  But  he  remains  in  possession — apparently 
in  undisturbed  possession,  of  that  living,  until  1380 — a 
fact  which  with  us  is  decisive  that  the  John  de  Wycliffe 


^  The  records  of  Balliol  show  that  in  1366  John  Hugate  was  master  ; 
Carta,  No.  28  in  pyxide  S.  Laurentii  in  Judaismo  in  thesaurar.  Coll. 
Balliol.     Wycliffe's  Bible,  Oxford.    Preface  VII, 


A.D.  1365.]     Wycliffe  of  May  field  not  the  Warden.  61 

of  Mayfield,  was  not  the  John  de  Wycliffe  of  Canterbury 
Hall.  Nor  must  we  fail  to  mention,  that  the  language 
in  which  the  archbishop  describes  the  man  of  his  choice, 
as  master  of  Canterbury  Hall,  accords  well  with  the 
character  of  a  man  of  high  academic  standing,  such  as 
WycliiFe  the  reformer  had  certainly  by  this  time  become. 
Mention  is  made  of  him,  as  a  person  in  whose  '  fidelity, 
'circumspection,  and  industry,'  the  primate  had  great 
confidence,  as  one  on  whom  he  had  fixed  his  attention,  in 
disposing  of  this  trust,  on  account  of  the  '  honesty  of  his 
'  life,  his  laudable  conversation,  and  knowledge  of  letters.' 
Such  a  description,  however,  would  accord  but  indiffe- 
rently with  what  we  know  concerning  the  Wycliffe  of 
Mayfield,  who,  though  favoured  with  high  patronage, 
finished  his  course  apparently,  as  the  common-place  men 
of  all  time  have  done,  leaving  no  trace  of  power  behind 
him.  From  the  quiet  obscurity  in  which  this  person 
lived  to  the  end  of  his  days,  the  presumption  would  seem 
to  be,  that  he  was  a  man  little  apt  to  give  the  world 
much  disturbance,  for  good  or  evil,  and  that  his  tastes 
did  not  lie  at  all  in  an  academic  direction  ;  certainly  not 
sufficiently  so  to  have  led  the  archbishop  to  appoint  him 
to  such  a  trust,  and  in  such  terms. 

We  have  thought  it  right  to  say  thus  much  upon  the 
question  that  has  been  raised  on  this  point,  notwithstand- 
ing we  have  evidence  in  reserve,  which,  if  taken  alone, 
would  be  sufficient  to  place  the  identity  of  Wycliffe  the 
reformer  with  the  Wycliffe  of  Canterbury  Hall,  beyond 


62       Wycliffe  as  Warden  of  Canterbury  Hall.     [chap.  m. 

all  doubt.  William  Wodford  or  Wydforde,  who  wrote 
largely  against  Wycliffe  soon  after  his  decease,^  speaks 
distinctly  of  the  Wycliffe  whom  he  assails  as  having  been 
master  of  Canterbury  Hall,  and  of  his  mortification  on 
being  deprived  of  that  office  by  the  Archbishop  and  the 
Pope,  as  the  corrupt  source  of  all  his  zeal  against  the 
existing  order  of  things.  ^ 

If  it  should  be  objected  that  the  Wycliffe  of  Balliol  had 
so  far  committed  himself  as  a  reformer,  before  1365,  as  not 
to  allow  of  our  supposing  that  the  primate  could  have 
spoken  of  him  in  such  terms  of  commendation,  our  answer 
must  be,  that  at  that  time,  Wycliffe  of  Balliol  was  not 
more  than  some  forty  years  of  age,  and  that  we  have  no 
proof  of  his  having  taken  any  ground  as  a  reformer  prior 
to  the  date  of  that  document,  inconsistent  with  his  being 
so  described  in  it.  We  have  shown,  in  a  former  publication 
on  this  subject,  and  purpose  to  show  still  more  clearly  in 
the  present,  that  the  almost  entire  inattention  to  the 
dates  of  the  different  writings  of  our  reformer,  on  the  part 


^  Brown,  Fasciculus  Rerura,  Tom.  I.  p.p.  190 — 295. 
^  Septuaginta  duo  questiones  de  sacramento  Eucharisiicp,  (MS.  Harl, 
31,  fol.  31.)     '  Et  hsec  contra  religiosos  insaniagenerata  est  ex  corrup- 

*  cione.  Nam  priusquam  per  religiosos  possessionatos  et  praelatos  ex- 
^  pulsus  fuerat  de  aula  monachorum  Cantuariae,  nichil  contra  posses- 

*  sionatos  attemptavit,  quod  esset  alicujus  ponderis  ;  et  priusquam  per 
'  religiosos  mendicantes  reprovatus  fuit  publice  de  lieresibus  in  sacra- 

*  mento  altaris,  nichil  contra  eos  attemptavit,  sed  posterius  multipliciter 
'  eos  difFamavit ;  ita  quod  doctrinae  suae  malae  et  infestse  contra  religio- 
'  SOS  et  possessionatos  et  mendicantes  generatas  fuerunt  ex  putrefac- 
'  tionibus  et  melancoliis.'     WyclifFe's  Bible,  Oxford.     Pref.  VII. 


A.  D.  1365.]     Wy  cliff e  of  May  field  not  the  Warden.  63 

of  his  biographers,  has  been  the  cause  of  great  confusion 
in  the  accounts  given  of  his  history,  and  that  his  memory 
has  suffered  not  a  little  from  this  circumstance. 

Still,  the  question  returns,  who  was  this  new  personage 
in  our  history,  this  John  de  Wycliife  of  Mayfield  ?  Was 
he  of  the  same  family  with  Wycliife  the  reformer  ?  This 
we  cannot  suppose.  Brothers  do  not  bear  the  same 
christian  name.  Was  he  of  any  second  family  then 
resident  in  the  parish  of  Wycliffe  ?  This  is  scarcely  pos- 
sible. The  parish  that  does  not  at  this  day  contain  two 
hundred  souls,  and  those  mostly  poor  persons,  must,  we 
think,  have  possessed  feWer  people  then,  and  have  been 
much  poorer  then  than  now.  May.  we  then  suppose  that 
this  Wycliffe  was  of  some  family,  which,  having  derived 
its  name  from  the  parish  of  Wycliffe,  had  become  located 
elsewhere  ;  and  having  grown  into  comparative  respecta- 
bility, soon  afterwards  became  extinct  ?  This  may  be 
taken,  we  think,  as  the  most  probable  solution.' 

On  the  evidence  adduced,  then,  we  still  hold  to  the  re- 
ceived opinion,  that  the  Wycliffe  of  Canterbury  Hall  was 
Wycliffe  the  reformer.  From  this  point  in  his  history, 
moreover,  we  enter  beyond  doubt  on  that  portion  of  his 
career,  in  which  he  becomes  more  and  more  conspicuous 
as  the  advanced  spirit  of  his  times,  on  nearly  all  questions 
touching  the  necessity  of  a  reform  in  the  church — in  her 
head  and  members,  in  her  discipline  and  doctrine. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


WYCLIFFE    AND    THE    RELIGIOUS    ORDERS. 


YCLIFFE  began  his  labours  as  a  reformer,  by 
an  attack  on  the  Religious  Orders,  especially 
on  the  Friars,  who  were,  according  to  the  vow 
of  their  profession,  mendicant  Orders.  Against 
the  fraternities  known  under  those  names,  did  WyclifFe 
point  both  his  logic  and  his  rhetoric,  with  that  degree 
of  iteration  and  intensity,  commonly  to  be  seen  in  the 
men  who  have  a  marked  vocation  in  the  world — a  genuine 
work  to  do. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  should  be  admitted  that  neither 
monks  nor  mendicants  had  come  without  an  errand. 
These  also  had  their  work  to  do,  and  the  work  done  by 
them,  for  a  season,  must  be  pronounced  to  have  been  in  the 
main  a  good  work.  During  a  succession  of  centuries,  their 
influence  as  the  friends  of  science,  literature,  art,  and  re- 
ligion, was  such,  that  we  scarcely  know  where  any  one 


A.  D.  I3f)0.]  Monachism  and  Science.  65 

of  these  great  elements  of  human  progress  would  have 
been  safe  without  such  aid.  In  respect  to  science 
especially,  their  genius  and  labour  entitled  them  to  high 
praise,  inasmuch  as  to  become  distinguished  in  such 
matters,  was  not  to  rise  above  the  vulgar  without 
hazard.  The  reproach  of  necromancy,  and  the  proba- 
bility of  being  exposed  to  the  fate  of  the  confessor  and 
the  martyr,  was  ever  in  the  view  of  the  gifted  men  who 
gave  themselves  to  such  pursuits.  There  is,  as  we  shall 
see,  in  the  history  of  these  orders,  a  dark  side ;  but,  on 
the  whole,  the  man  who  challenged  such  combatants, 
needed  to  be  thoroughly  master  of  his  case,  and  even  then 
we  may  well  wish  him  a  good  deliverance. 

Those  earnest  spirits  which  braved  the  dangers  always 
about  the  path  of  the  man  suspected  of  magic,  rather  than 
conceal  their  passion  for  science,  have  imparted  a  deep  in- 
terest, in  the  view  of  thoughtful  men,  to  the  whole  field 
of  medieval  history.  In  the  accounts  given  by  our  popu- 
lar historians  of  the  great  St.  Dunstan,  we  may  have  met 
with  more  to  excite  our  merriment,  than  to  dispose  us  to 
wise  reflection.  But  the  man  who  stands  out,  as  this 
man  does,  from  the  dark  ground  of  his  times,  must  have 
been  a  man  of  some  force  and  brilliancy.  It  is  true,  in 
the  hands  of  his  biographers  his  story  becomes  mythic, 
and  mythic  just  in  the  form  to  be  expected  in  such  an 
age.  But  it  is  not  hard  to  separate  between  the  fact  and 
the  fiction.  It  is  clear  enough  that  this  Anglo-Saxon 
monk  greatly  excelled   the  men  of  his  day,  as  a  me- 


66  Wycliffe  and  the  Religious  Orders,     [chap.  tv. 

chanic,  as  an  artist,  and  as  a  musician.  With  regard  also 
to  accomplisliments  more  immediately  clerical,  we  have 
reason  to  think  that  he  was  not  behind  the  most  advanced 
in  his  time  ;  but  the  skill  with  which  he  wrought  in  gold, 
and  silver,  and  brass,  and  iron  ;  and  the  mechanical  as 
well  as  the  chemical  genius  which  he  evinced,  confounded 
the  ignorance,  not  only  of  the  multitude,  but  of  courtiers 
and  princes.  By  many,  however,  the  praise  of  all  this 
was  given,  not  to  the  monk,  but  to  the  demon  to  whom 
he  had  manifestly  sold  himself.  Indeed,  the  actual  voice 
of  this  demon  once  came,  at  his  bidding,  upon  the  ears  of 
the  sages  of  his  day ;  but  it  was  as  that  of  a  syren,  or 
of  an  angel  of  light,  in  the  sounds  of  a  harp — probably 
an  Eolian  harp — which,  fixed  in  a  certain  position,  gave 
forth  sweet  music,  without  the  touch  of  man.  History 
shows  that  this  wonder-worker  was  powerful  enough  to 
keep  his  enemies  at  bay  ;  but  to  say,  '  he  hath  a  devil,' 
was  to  do  even  so  powerful  a  personage  grave  mischief, 
and  at  little  cost  either  of  wit  or  wisdom.^ 

Girald,  who  in  the  first  year  of  the  twelfth  century 
became  Archbishop  of  York,  was  a  man  studious  in  some 
forbidden  directions  ;  and  in  setting  forth  his  wisdom, 
could  give  to  it  all  the  advantage  of  a  ready  wit,  and  a 
flowing  eloquence.  But  his  discursive  tastes,  and  the 
natural  freedom  of  the  man,  caused  much  scandal  through 
those  regions  where  dulness  is  supposed  to  be  the  most 

'  Turner's  Anglo-Saxons,  II.  385— 400. 


A.  D.  1860.]      Dunstan — Girald — Michael  Scot  67 

fitting  ally  of  piety,  and  ignorance  is  accounted  the  most 
natural  safeguard  to  devotion. 

The  good  Archbishop  made  considerable  benefactions 
to  the  church,  but  it  availed  him  not.  It  was  found  at 
his  decease  that  he  had  been  wont  to  read  many 
strange  books  :  and  if  he  was  not  denied  christian  burial, 
it  was  by  no  means  for  the  want  of  effort  on  the  part  of 
the  amiable  and  wise  of  his  generation  to  fasten  that 
stigma  upon  his  memory. 

In  the  following  century  the  perilous  imputation  of 
being  addicted  to  magic  was  cast  on  the  famous  Michael 
Scot.  Brother  Michael  was  a  great  linguist.  He  excelled 
in  mathematics,  in  astrology,  in  chemistry,  in  medicine, 
and  in  philosophy  generally.  He  no  doubt  flattered 
himself  that  he  could  prognosticate  from  the  stars  ; 
thought,  moreover,  that  he  might  some  day  succeed  in 
transmuting  •  metals  into  gold  ;  and  persuaded  himself 
that  his  drugs  could  be  made  to  derive  a  potency  from 
aids  which  we  should  ourselves  be  tempted  to  describe 
as  very  weak  and  very  superstitious.  But  as  the  result 
of  his  labours,  did  we  believe  all  that  has  been  written 
of  him,  we  should  picture  him  to  our  imagination  as 
rarely  found  beyond  his  enchanted  circle,  where,  wand 
in  hand,  he  spends  his  days  and  nights  much  less  in 
conversing  with  the  mortals  of  this  world,  than  with 
spiritual  wickednesses  from  the  world  beneath.  Michael, 
after  figuring  in  many  a  rude  northern  ballad,  has  found 
due  place  and  fame  in  the  Lay  of  the  Last  Minstrel. 

F  2 


68  Wycliffe  and  the  Religious  Orders,     [chap.  iv. 

But  of  all  the  names  in  our  history  that  might  be 
placed  in  this  series,  that  of  Roger  Bacon  is  the  most 
memorable.  Bacon  died  some  thirty  years  before  Wycliffe 
was  born.  If  the  one  was  the  great  precursor  of  the 
Protestantism  of  a  later  age,  the  other  was  no  less  the 
precursor  of  its  philosophy.  Bacon  studied  in  Paris, 
lectured  in  Oxford,  and  became  a  Franciscan  that  he 
might  the  better  give  himself  to  labour  as  a  scholar  and 
as  a  man  of  science.  He  was  learned  in  many  tongues, 
great  as  a  mathematician,  prolific  in  physical  experi- 
ments. In  optics,  he  greatly  astonished  his  contempo- 
raries. Strange  things  did  he,  with  his  concave  glasses, 
and  with  his  convex  glasses.  The  mystery  of  the  Camera 
Obscura,  the  power  of  the  telescope  and  of  the  microscope, 
the  use  of  spectacles,  the  composition  of  gunpowder, — all 
were  familiar  to  him.  He  was,  moreover,  profound  in 
chronology,  in  logic,  in  metaphysics,  and  in  theology. 
But  in  natural  science  we  know  only  imperfectly  what 
he  did  ;  still  less  what  he  was  capable  of  doing.  In  his 
paper  on  Old  Age,  addressed  from  his  prison  to  the 
pontiff,  Nicholas  the  fourth,  he  says, — ^  being  hindered, 
'  partly  by  the  accusations,  partly  by  the  intolerance, 
'  and  partly  by  the  talk  of  the  vulgar,  I  was  not  willing 

*  to  make  experiment  of  all  things  : '  but  with  a  dignity 
becoming  a  true  philosopher,  he  adds, — 'we  must  remem- 
'  ber  that  there  are  many  books  accounted  magical, 
'  whose  only  fault  is,   that  they  reveal  the  majesty  of 

*  wisdom.'     Among  the   things  which  he   did   not,    but 


A.  D.  1360.]  Roger  Bacon.  69 

which  he  intimates  might  be  done,  he  mentions  the  con- 
struction of  an  engine  that  should  be  made  to  sail  faster 
under  the  guidance  of  one  man,  than  others  sail  by  the 
help  of  many.  Does  this  point  to  the  steam-ship,  or  to 
some  other  propelling  power  yet  to  become  known  to  us  ? 
Again,  he  writes, — '  it  is  possible  to  give  to  the  motion 
'  of  a  carriage  an  incalculable  swiftness,  and  that  with- 
'  out  the  aid  of  any  living  creature.'  Was  there  in  bro- 
ther Roger's  imagination  the  dim  shadow  of  something 
quite  as  novel  as  a  modern  railway,  or  of  something  even 
more  wonderful  than  that  ?  That  he  had  mastered  the 
theory  of  the  diving-bell  is  beyond  doubt ;  and  it  is  cer- 
tain that  he  had  the  notion  of  its  being  possible  so  to 
accommodate  our  species  with  wings,  as  to  enable  them  to 
fly  like  birds  in  the  air.  That  a  man  whose  actual  doings 
were  so  wonderful,  and  whose  thoughts  as  to  what  it  was 
possible  to  do  were  so  much  more  wonderful,  should  be 
accounted  by  the  dullards  of  his  time  as  full  of  diabolism, 
so  as  even  to  render  his  own  denunciations  against  the 
vice  of  necromancy  unavailing,  was  all  but  inevitable. 
The  wise  few  who  had  liberally  aided  him,  and  who,  to 
the  last,  would  have  befriended  him,  were  overpowered 
by  the  fanatical  many.  He  saw  his  writings  put  under 
an  interdict  by  his  own  order ;  was  silenced  as  a  teacher ; 
and  suifered  ten  years  imprisonment  after  the  sixty- 
fourth  year  of  his  age!  For  a  short  ^pace  before  his 
decease  he  obtained  his  liberty  again,  and  he  continued 
to  wage  the  battle  of  existence  with  a  strong  hand,  until 


70  Wycliffe  and  the  Religious  Orders,     [chap.  iv. 

his  eightieth  year.     It  would  have  been  pleasant  to  look 
on  a  necromancer  of  this  order.^ 

What  happened  in  such  cases  in  England  happened 
everywhere.  As  independent  thinking  on  theology  rarely 
failed  to  bring  with  it  the  charge  of  heresy,  so  the  in- 
vestigation of  science,  conducted  in  that  spirit,  exposed 
the  student  to  the  charge  of  magic.  We  have  seen  that 
the  dignity  of  Archbishop  did  not  suffice  to  protect  a 
man  disposed  towards  such  tastes,  against  such  penalties. 
But  we  have  to  add,  that  even  the  possession  of  the  chair 
of  St.  Peter  was  not  found  to  be  safe-guard  enough  against 
the  consequences  of  supposed  delinquency  in  this  form. 
Gerbert,  afterwards  Pope  Silvester,  in  his  passion  for 
science,  and  in  the  eminence  of  his  knowledge  and  skill, 
was  scarcely  inferior  to  Roger  Bacon,  especially  when  we 
bear  in  mind  that  he  flourished  some  two  centuries 
earlier.  But  many  and  foul  were  the  calumnies  heaped 
upon  him — as  the  penalty  of  being  so  much  in  advance 
of  his  age.  One  of  his  greatest  sins  was,  that  he  had 
even  dared  to  take  up  his  sojourn  among  the  Moors  of 
Spain,  that  he  might  acquaint  himself  with  their  learning 
and  philosophy,  as  though  anything  but  evil  could  pos- 
sibly come  from  the  '  godless '  universities  of  that  infidel 
country.  Even  our  own  William  of  Malmesbury  describes 
him  as  having  learnt  among  that  people  '  how  to  call  up 
spirits  from  hell.'^    It  is  true  this  doomed  pontiff,  having 

^  Opus  Majus,  edited  by  Jebb.  passim.       ^  Gest.  Reg.  lib.  II.  c.  x. 


A.  D.  13C0.]  Martyrs  to  Science.  71 

more  to  do,  it  would  seem,  with  '  spirits  from  hell '  than 
with  such  as  come  from  a  less  exceptional  fellowship, 
was  not  sent  to  the  stake,  nor  imprisoned,  nor  dethroned : 
but  from  all  that  befel  Silvester,  we  might  have  conjec- 
tured pretty  safely,  had  history  been  silent,  as  to  the 
probable  fate  of  such  offenders  when  found  in  a  humbler 
condition.^ 

Padua,  alone,  a  little  before  the  birth  of  Wycliffe,  had 
given  two  men  of  science  to  the  flames  under  the  charge 
of  necromancy. — Villa  Nova,  a  physician,  eighty  years  of 
age ;  and  Peter  d'Apono,  a  mere  youth,  but  a  youth  who 
had  given  signs  of  extraordinary  capacity. 

In  consistency  with  all  these  proceedings,  the  invention 
of  printing,  as  is  well  known,  was  denounced  as  a  device 
of  the  Evil  One.  The  books  were  produced  in  such 
numbers,  so  cheaply,  and  so  completely  the  transcripts  of 
each  other — even  to  a  repetition  of  the  mistakes  !  What 
could  bespeak  the  agency  of  the  powers  of  darkness  if 
these  things  did  not  ? 

We  do  honour  to  the  men  who  became  martyrs  for 
religion,  and  we  do  well ; — let  us  do  honour  also  to  the 
martyrs  for  science,  for  that  too  is  well. 

But  if  the  real  or  the  pretended  mysteries  of  science 
often  exposed  its  professors  to  such  inconvenient  conse- 


^  Baronius  would  fain  have  excluded  Sylvester  from  the  list  of  the 
popes,  but  it  was  not  possible.  Biovius,  a  Franciscan  who  wrote  a  life 
of  Sylvester  in  the  early  part  of  the  seventeenth  century,  is  more 
liberal.    Turner's  History  of  England,  IV.  234,  235, 


72  Wydiffe  and  the  Religious  Orders,    [chap.  iv. 

quences,  the  more  practical  application  of  scientific  dis- 
coveries was  applauded  even  by  monks  and  by  the 
multitude.  In  such  connexions  the  inspiration  appears 
to  have  been  regarded  as  coming  from  above ;  in  the  other 
as  from  beneath ;  but  in  both,  the  strange  was  identified 
with  the  marvellous — the  supernatural.  This  better  in- 
spiration gave  to  the  middle  age  its  architecture,  its 
sculpture,  its  painting,  its  decorations.  It  was  seen  that 
the  science  of  the  time  knew  how  to  clear  the  forest,  to 
drain  the  morass,  and  to  convert  the  wilderness  into  the 
home  of  fertility  and  beauty.  The  rule  of  St.  Benedict 
required  that  his  monks  should  give  a  large  space  of 
time  to  the  labours  of  the  field.  Even  the  Abbot  could 
glory  in  giving  himself,  upon  occasions,  to  the  use  of  the 
scythe  or  the  reaping-hook,  side  by  side  with  his  brother 
monks.  The  church  and  abbey  lands,  in  consequence  of 
this  greater  intelligence  of  their  owners,  were  everywhere 
the  best  cultivated.  The  grape  of  England,  especially  in 
Gloucestershire,  was  much  richer  and  more  matured  than 
it  has  ever  been  since.  The  gusto  with  which  our  fore- 
fathers drank  of  the  wine  which  it  yielded,  warrants  us 
in  believing  that  it  possessed  no  mean  substance  and 
spirit.  The  difiiculties  and  cost  of  importing  such  com- 
modities would  be  favourable  to  this  studious  culture  of 
our  native  produce.  Wine,  indeed,  may  be  deemed  a 
luxury,  but  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  useful  went 
along  with  the  luxurious  in  the  history  of  the  religious 
orders.     It  is  recorded  of  Michael,  the  famous  Abbot  of 


A.  D.  1360.]      The  Good  Deeds  of  Monachism,  73 

Glastonbury, — the  man  who  could  make  ploughs,  and 
work  hard  at  them  when  he  had  made  them. — that  to 
accommodate  the  people  dependant  on  the  monastery,  he 
built  nearly  a  hundred  houses.  In  this  manner,  the  place 
of  a  convent,  at  one  time  wholly  unpeopled,  grew  up  to 
be  the  place  of  a  town.  The  abbey  at  Evesham,  stood 
upon  a  spot  which  before  its  erection  had  been  a  deserted 
forest :  and  the  neighbourhood  of  the  no  less  famous 
abbey  of  Croyland,  was  once  a  region  of  impassable 
streams  and  marshes.  In  those  districts  monastic  science 
changed  the  whole  face  of  nature.  Matthew  Paris  relates 
minutely  how  the  abbey  of  St.  Alban's  became,  through 
the  fostering  care  of  those  who  presided  over  it,  the 
nucleus  of  the  town  which  bears  its  name.  There  is 
scarcely  a  spot  through  England  bearing  an  ecclesiastical 
designation,  from  whose  history  facts  of  this  nature  might 
not  be  gleaned. 

Nor  is  it  to  be  denied  that  the  monastic  establishments 
served  everywhere  as  centres  of  hospitality  to  the  way- 
farer and  the  needy.  The  sound  of  the  convent-bell 
often  came  to  the  ear  of  the  fainting  traveller,  through 
the  openings  of  the  forest,  or  across  the  desolate  moor, 
as  the  promise  of  shelter,  refreshment,  and  rest.  Hospi- 
tality was  the  boast  of  those  religious  brotherhoods. 
Nothing  was  more  dreaded  by  them  than  the  reproach 
of  being  wanting  in  that  virtue.  Many  a  valuable  be- 
quest came  to  them  in  the  faith  that  it  would  be  applied, 
at  least,  in  good  part,  to  such  uses.     It  is  beyond  doubt. 


74  Wycliffe  and  the  Religious  Orders,     [chap.  iv. 

however,  that  in  times  of  dearth,  sacrifices  of  a  magnani- 
mous description  were  frequently  made  by  these  frater- 
nities, to  meet  the  wants  of  the  starving  outcasts  who 
flocked  to  the  gates,  and  looked  up  to  them  for  bread 
and  shelter.  They  have  been  known  in  such  times  to 
sell  their  plate,  to  part  with  some  of  their  most  valued 
treasures,  and  even  to  mortgage  their  lands,  that  the  poor 
might  not  be  sent  away  unfed.  While  in  times  of  inva- 
sion, and  of  civil  disturbance,  the  church  and  the  abbey 
presented  almost  the  only  sanctuary,  and  the  priest  or 
the  monk  were  the  only  parties  left  to  mediate  between 
the  strong  and  the  weak. 

But  concerning  the  religion  which  obtained  among 
these  communities,  little  good  can  be  said.  Piety  like 
that  of  the  venerable  Bede,  might  exist  as  the  rare  ex- 
ception, but  only,  as  we  fear,  in  that  degree.  Though  all 
convents  were  founded  ostensibly  on  a  religious  basis, 
they  became,  for  the  most  part,  so  occupied,  after  a  time, 
in  efforts  to  accumulate,  to  preserve,  and  economize  their 
temporalities,  as  to  exhibit  so  many  experiments  in  the 
way  of  a  materialized  communism,  rather  than  so  many 
brotherhoods  rising  above  the  cares  or  pleasures  of  this 
sublunary  state,  that  they  might  give  themselves  to 
exercises  tending  to  prepare  them  for  a  world  of  much 
higher  intelligence  and  spirituality.  The  good  supplies  of 
fish,  of  game,  or  of  similar  commodities  that  might  find 
their  way  to  the  abbey  larder ;  the  safety  of  the  corn-field, 
the  promise  of  the  barley-crop,  the  prospect  of  the  vin- 


A.  D.  I3f)0.]  Monachism  and  Religion.  75 


tage — not  to  mention  grosser  and  some  forbidden  sensu- 
alities— these  were  the  pleasant  things  which  had  too 
constant  a  place  in  the  visions  of  the  portly  abbot,  no 
less  than  in  the  eyes  of  his  leaner  and  younger  brother, 
who  looked  from  his  novitiate,  as  through  a  vista,  to  the 
time  when  a  larger  share  in  the  enjoyment  of  such  mate- 
rial pleasures  would  be  ceded  to  him.  Each  monastery 
was  a  little  kingdom ;  its  president  was  its  sovereign  ; 
and  all  subject  to  him  were  broken  up  into  little  parties, 
according  to  their  estimate  of  the  personal  rule  to  which 
they  happened  to  be  subject.  Very  bitter,  too,  were  the 
feuds  which  sometimes  grew  up  from  this  source,  relat- 
ing too  commonly  to  details  little  in  harmony  with 
those  vows  against  the  love  of  carnal  things  which  the 
disputants  had  taken  upon  them.  You  listen  to  the 
storm,  and  if  you  enquire  the  cause,  you  probably  learn 
that  it  is  about  the  conduct  of  the  new  abbot  in  dimin- 
ishing the  number  of  dishes  allowed  by  his  predecessor  ; 
or  because  he  has  his  own  way  of  dispensing  the  bounty 
of  the  establishment ;  or  because  he  rules  with  a  severity 
which  abridges  the  personal  liberty  of  the  brotherhood, 
or  with  a  laxity  which  allows  everything  to  run  to  waste 
and  disorder.  Prayer-hours  of  course  come,  and  reading 
hours  also,  but  it  is  not  always  on  themes  so  much  above 
the  worldly  that  the  thoughts  of  the  monk  go  forth  the 
most  freely,  or  that  his  language  becomes  the  most  expres- 
sive of  earnestness  and  passion.  Matins,  and  vespers,  and 
masses,  all  are  performed  with  a  military  exactness,  it 


76  Wy cliff e  and  the  Religious  Orders,     [chap.  iv. 

may  be,  as  to  time  and  mode,  but  all  leave  the  mind  as 
little  under  the  influence  of  anything  distinctively 
christian,  as  it  would  have  been,  had  the  religion  of  the 
land  been  a  deteriorated  paganism  from  old  Greece  or 
old  Rome.  Do  you  doubt  the  truth  of  this  representation, 
good  reader  ?  Look  through  the  history  lately  given  us 
from  the  past,  concerning  the  brave  abbot  of  Bury  St. 
Edmunds,  and  of  his  subordinates — a  person  so  highly 
belauded  by  our  somewhat  whimsical  friend,  Thomas 
Carlyle, — and  it  will  be  seen  how  possible  it  was  for  men 
to  persuade  themselves  in  those  times  that  the  beginning 
and  the  end  of  all  virtue  might  consist  in  swearing  fealty 
to  a  patron  saint,  as  to  another  Mars  or  Apollo  ;  and  in 
doing  battle,  as  occasion  may  require,  for  all  lands,  here- 
ditaments, and  privileges,  said  to  pertain  of  right  to  the 
chosen  saint  or  divinity.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say,  that 
the  mythology  of  Greece  and  Rome  was  not  by  any  means 
more  polytheistic,  than  was  the  baptized  paganism  which 
prevailed  to  so  large  an  extent  in  Europe,  under  the 
name  of  Christianity,  in  the  middle  age. 

On  no  subject  is  there  greater  need  of  enlightenment 
among  a  large  portion  of  our  countrymen  at  this  day, 
than  about  the  potency  of  voluntaryism,  taken  alone,  to 
give  us  a  pure  religion.  It  is  not  only  a  fact  that  nearly 
all  the  corruptions  of  Christianity  as  seen  in  its  later 
history,  existed  in  a  more  or  less  developed  state  before 
the  age  of  Constantine,  when  its  means  of  support  were 
of  necessity  voluntary — but  even  in  the  later  years  of 


A.D.  1360.]     Voluntaryism  in  the  Middle  Age.  77 

that  emperor,  and  during  centuries  afterwards,  the  ut- 
most that  was  done  by  the  state  was  so  to  recognize 
Christianity  as  to  leave  all  men  free,  princes  and  people 
alike — to  support  or  endow  the  gospel  from  their  own 
private  resources,  to  any  extent  they  pleased.  The  celi- 
bacy of  the  clergy,  so  far  as  it  was  really  the  usage  of 
the  church,  would  of  course  enable  the  priesthood  to 
sustain  themselves,  when  necessary,  on  very  limited 
means.  But  this  very  usage,  while  it  narrowed  the 
wants  of  the  clergy  as  men,  stimulated  their  cupidity 
and  ambition  as  priests.  Their  order  came  to  be  to  them  as 
their  family :  their  church  took  the  place  of  their  country : 
and  man  was  before  them  as  made  for  the  priest,  not  the 
priest  as  made  for  man.  Had  the  clergy  in  those  early 
times  been  allowed  to  rest  their  claims  for  support  on 
enactments  of  state,  in  the  manner  familiar  to  us,  it  is 
probable  their  pretensions  as  priests  would  never  have 
been  carried  so  high,  and  that  their  power  over  the 
human  conscience  would  not  have  become  so  formidable. 
But  being  left  dependant  on  the  mere  feeling  of  their  vo- 
taries for  the  means  of  sustaining  the  splendour  of  their 
hierarchy,  and  even  for  the  supply  of  their  necessities,  they 
became  skilful  in  an  extraordinary  degree  in  obtaining 
contributions  from  that  source.  Many  a  weak  conscience 
while  living,  and  many  a  profligate  or  flagitious  ofiender 
when  dying,  was  readily  induced  to  heap  wealth  upon 
the  men  regarded  as  having  the  keys  of  the  world  to 
come  at  their  disposal ! 


78  Wy cliff e  and  the  Religious  Orders,     [chap,  i v. 

In  the  reign  of  our  Edward  III.  it  was  found,  that,  in 
these  circumstances,  full  half  the  land  of  England  had 
passed  into  the  hands  of  ecclesiastical  persons  ;  and  the 
intervention  of  our  statute  law  was  found  necessary — not 
to  supplement  a  voluntaryism  which  had  proved  too 
feeble  to  sustain  the  outward  things  of  religion,  but  to 
put  a  check  on  this  morbid  action  of  a  great  principle, 
and  to  prevent  our  land  from  becoming,  as  it  promised 
to  be  ere  long,  the  sole  possession  of  an  overgrown  priest- 
caste.  Of  all  the  forms  of  Christianity,  Romanism  is 
that  which  can  best  dispense  with  state  aid,  inasmuch 
as  it  can  avail  itself,  with  an  unscrupulousness  not 
known  elsewhere,  of  all  the  means  wherewith  to  turn 
the  weaknesses  of  human  nature  to  its  own  account. 
The  extinction  of  state  churches,  accordingly,  would  not 
be  the  extinction  of  Romanism, — it  might  only  be  the 
removal  of  a  hindrance  to  its  development  in  forms  still 
more  corrupt.  For  the  true  origin  of  this  form  of  reli- 
gion we  must  look  much  lower  than  to  the  doings  of 
legislators— it  has  its  root  in  tendencies  common  to  hu- 
manity. Voluntaryism  may  be  made  to  work  most  health- 
fully in  connexion  with  intelligence  and  rectitude,  but 
no  principle  is  more  dangerous  as  used  by  the  designing 
to  acquire  a  mastery  over  the  ignorant. 

It  was  quite  natural  that  the  wealth  accumulated,  in 
the  manner  now  stated,  by  the  monastic  orders,  should 
contribute  powerfully  towards  producing  the  corrupt 
state  of  things  so  observable  in  the  later  history  of  these 


A.  D.  1360.]  Monks  and  Mendicants.  79 

fraternities.  Another  cause,  however,  tending  not  less 
strongly  towards  the  same  result,  is  before  us  in  the 
ambitious  meddling  of  the  court  of  Rome,  which  prompted 
it  to  take  the  monastic  establishments,  by  little  and  little, 
under  its  immediate  superintendance,  granting  them  ex- 
emption from  all  episcopal  oversight  in  their  respective 
localities.  The  monks  became,  by  this  stroke  of  policy, 
the  sworn  adherents  of  the  papacy,  in  a  degree  unknown 
among  the  secular  clergy.  Being  free  from  all  fear  of 
visitation,  or  rebuke,  except  from  a  power  so  remote,  and 
so  easy  to  bribe  when  it  might  not  be  deceived,  the  evils 
to  be  expected  followed.  The  '  lazy '  monk,  the  '  fat ' 
monk,  were  words  which  became  familiar  to  men's 
ears,  because  the  appearances  which  corroborated  them 
were  familiar  to  their  sight.  The  papacy,  accordingly, 
was  doomed  to  see  the  most  submissive  of  its  children 
decline  in  reputation  as  they  grew  in  subserviency  ;  and 
learnt,  after  a  while,  to  repent  in  secret,  of  a  course  of 
proceeding,  in  which  the  immediate  gain  was  found  to 
be  greatly  outweighed  by  the  ultimate  loss. 

It  was  this  posture  of  affairs  in  the  monasteries  which 
prepared  the  way  for  the  appearance  of  the  several  orders 
of  Friars.  The  monks  began  by  affecting  a  greater  sepa- 
rateness  from  the  world,  and  a  more  undivided  consecra- 
tion of  themselves  to  religious  duties,  than  was  seen  in 
the  secular  clergy,  or  than  was  practicable  in  their  cir- 
cumstances. But  as  the  monks  had  claimed  to  be,  in  this 
sense,  a  more  ^  religious '  order  than  the  clergy  ;  so  the 


80  Wycliffe  and  the  Religious  Orders,      [chap.  iv. 

friars,  in  their  turn,  claimed  to  be  received  as  being  more 
'  religious '  than  the  monks.  The  great  protest  of  the 
friars,  as  against  the  monks,  was  twofold — partly  against 
their  vast  wealth,  as  having  so  sensualized  them  as  to 
have  made  them  the  dishonour  of  Christendom ;  and 
partly  against  their  habits  of  seclusion,  which  left  the 
world  beyond  the  walls  of  the  convent  to  perish  in  its 
ignorance  and  vice.  For  a  season  this  protest  was  borne 
sincerely.  The  friars  became,  in  a  very  conspicuous  form, 
the  religious  voluntaries  of  the  time.  They  were  as  often 
called  ^  mendicants '  as  '  friars,'  and  this  because  of  the 
principle  in  their  discipline  which  required  that  the 
voluntary  offerings  of  the  people,  in  return  for  their  re- 
ligious services,  should  be  their  only  means  of  support. 
They  pointed  to  what  the  rich  abbey-lands  had  done  for 
the  monks,  and  declared  against  the  holding  of  such 
possessions  on  the  part  of  men  professing  to  have  given 
themselves  to  a  religious  life.  They  complained  of  those 
opulent  communities  as  shutting  themselves  up  in  clois- 
ters, while  the  people  around  them  were  in  a  state  of 
heathen  darkness,  and  declared  for  the  function  of  an 
itinerant  ministry,  which  should  convey  instruction  to 
the  people,  not  only  from  church  to  church,  but  from 
house  to  house,  and  into  the  open  air.  Nor  did  they  fail 
to  expatiate  on  the  ignorance  which  so  largely  charac- 
terized the  inmates  of  the  monastery,  opposing  to  it  their 
own  wiser  and  loftier  purpose,  which  required  that  the 
utmost  available  learning  and  culture  should  be  brought 


A.  D.  1300. J  The  Friars — their  Origin.  81 

to  the  aid  of  religion  by  means  of  authorship,  by  seizing 
on  positions  of  influence  in  the  universities,  as  well  as  by 
preaching. 

It  was  felt  very  widely,  that  the  ground  which  these 
men  professed  to  take,  was  ground  which  wise  men  might 
have  resolved  to  occupy ;  that  the  work  to  which  they 
promised  to  give  themselves,  was  work  needing  to  be  done. 
There  were  four  distinct  orders  of  .friars,  but  the  orders 
of  St.  Dominic  and  of  St.  Francis  were  the  most  power- 
ful ;  and  of  these  it  is  the  latter  that. are  much  the  most 
conspicuous  in  English  history. 

In  our  country,  these  orders  have  long  ceased  to  have 
any  visible  existence.  But  in  the  south  of  Europe,  espe- 
cially in  Italy,  the  Dominican,  with  his  loose  white 
robe,  and  dark  broad  hat,  still  sometimes  arrests  your 
attention  in  the  public  ways ;  while  the  Franciscan,  with 
his  brown  garb,  his  cord  about  his  waist,  his  feet  bare, 
and  his  tonsured  head  uncovered,  meets  you  in  every 
street,  on  every  high-road,  and  even  in  the  most  thinly- 
peopled  districts.  In  that  land,  this  order  is  now  very 
much  what  it  was  in  England  in  the  time  of  Wycliffe. 
True  to  their  vocation  as  '  preaching  friars,'  in  Italy  they 
are  almost  the  only  preachers,  the  duties  of  the  secular 
clergy  being  restricted,  for  the  most  part,  to  the  services 
of  the  mass  and  the  confessional. 

We  have  said  thus  much  about  the  religious  orders, 
because,  as  we  have  stated,  the  circumstance  which  first 
called  forth  Wycliffe  in  the  spirit  of  a  reformer,  was  his 


82  Wycliffe  and  the  Religious  Orders     [chap.  iv. 


controversy  with  the  mendicants.  By  this  time,  something 
more  than  a  century  had  passed  since  the  first  brother- 
hood of  this  description  made  their  apj^earance  in  Ox- 
ford ;  and  during  this  interval,  the  '  new  orders,'  as  they 
were  called,  lost  much  of  their  popularity,  and  not  unde- 
servedly. The  famous  Robert  Grosstete,  Bishop  of  Lincoln, 
who  had  been  their  warm  patron  for  a  time,  saw  reason 
before  his  decease,  to  denounce  them  in  the  strongest  terms. 
Fitzralph,  who  in  1333  was  Chancellor  of  Oxford,  and  in 
1347  became  Archbishop  of  Armagh,  spoke  of  them  in 
similar  terms,  in  a  discourse  preached  before  Pope  Inno- 
cent and  his  court,  at  Avignon,  in  1357.^  One  of  the 
charges  commonly  urged  against  the  mendicants,  had 
respect  to  the  artifice  with  which  they  contrived  to  accu- 
mulate large  wealth,  evading,  if  not  violating,  the  laws 
of  their  founder  on  that  point.  They  were  vehemently 
accused  of  making  a  merchandize  of  their  powers  of  abso- 
lution, their  '  pardons '  being  dispensed  in  the  most  sor- 
did manner,  and  the  people  withdrawn  from  the  over- 
sight of  the  clergy,  to  the  great  detriment  of  religion, 
and  of  public  morals.  In  the  Universities,  loud  com- 
plaints were  raised  against  them.  Some  of  th'eir  men  of 
learning  and  genius — and  they  had  many  such — had  risen 
to  positions  of  influence  in  Paris  and  Oxford  ;  and  the 
subalterns  of  the  order  had  shown  themselves  so  intent 
on  making  proselytes    among  the    students,    who    were 

^  Foxe,  Acts  and  Monuments,  I.  532.  et  seq. 


A.  D.  1860.]  The  Friars — their  History.  83 

commonly  sent  at  a  very  tender  age  to  those  seminaries, 
that,  as  we  have  seen,  parents,  in  great  numbers,  resolved 
not  to  allow  their  sons  to  be  exposed  to  such  influences. 

From  a  very  early  period  in  their  history,  the  friars 
succeeded  in  applying  large  sums  of  money  in  the  erec- 
tion and  adornment  of  their  convents  and  churches. 
Their  order  might  not  possess  lands  ;  but  it  was  ruled, 
that  their  buildings,  whether  as  dwelling-places  or  as 
places  of  worship,  might  be  anything  they  pleased.  Hence 
the  gorgeous  splendour  of  many  of  the  Franciscan  churches. 
In  1299,  the  Franciscans  attempted  to  bribe  the  Pope 
by  no  less  a  sum  than  fifty  thousand  ducats  in  gold,  to 
permit  a  violation  of  the  rule  of  Francis,  so  far  as  to 
allow  of  their  holding  property  in  land.  The  Pope,  it  is 
said,  sent  for  the  money  from  the  banker  to  whom  it  had 
been  entrusted  ;  and  having  directed  that  it  should  be 
appropriated  to  his  own  uses,  his  holiness  quietly  informed 
the  astonished  suitors,  that  the  monies  they  had  accu- 
mulated were,  in  his  eyes,  the  proof  of  their  delinquency ; 
and  admonished  them  to  be  more  observant  of  the  will 
of  their  founder  in  future  than  they  had  been  in  time 
past.i 

Like  the  Hebrew  race  among  ourselves,  they  became 
the  richer  in  moveables,  as  the  consequence  of  being  pre- 
cluded from  possessing  the  immoveable.  Of  the  manner 
in  which  they  acquitted  themselves  as  vendors  of  the 

^  Matthew  of  Westminster,  ad.  ann.  1299. 

G  2 


84  WycUfie  and  ike  Religious  Orders,     [chap.  iv. 

spiritual  commodities  regarded  as  being  at  their  disposal, 
Armachanus  says,  '  I  have  in  my  diocese  of  Armagh, 

*  about  two  thousand  persons,  who  stand  condemned  by 

*  the  censures  of  the  church,  pronounced  every  year 
'  against  murderers,  thieves,  and  such-like  malefactors, 

*  of  all  which  number,  scarcely  fourteen  have  applied  to 
'  me  or  my  clergy  for  absolution.     Yet  they  all  receive 

*  the  sacraments  as  others  do,  because  they  are  absolved, 
'  or  pretend  to  be  absolved,  by  friars.'  ^  Grosstete  had 
strongly  censured  the  itinerant  '  pardoners,'  on  this 
ground,  long  before,  and  their  usage  in  tliis  particular 
had  only  become  more  settled  by  long  practice. 

In  the  University  of  Paris,  the  complaints  urged  against 
these  fraternities,  were  as  loud  and  general  as  in  Oxford, 
and  on  the  same  grounds.  By  the  defenders  of  the  Uni- 
versities, it  was  maintained,  that  friars,  as  belonging  to  a 
religious  order,  were  ineligible  as  such  to  any  official 
position  in  such  establishments— the  design  of  the  Univer- 
sities being,  not  conventual,  but  secular,  for  the  educa- 
tion of  laymen  and  of  the  secular  clergy ;  and  that  to 
concede  a  footing  to  the  mendicants  in  such  places,  would 
be  to  admit  the  disorder  into  the  seats  of  learning,  which 
had  made  its  way  into  the  church,  where  these  men,  in 
virtue  of  privilege  from  the  pope,  and  contrary  to  the 
spirit  and  letter  of  their  institute,  presumed  to  preach 


^  See  the  extended  discourse  of  Armachanus  on  this  subject  in  Fox, 
Acts  and  Mon  :  I.  536—541. 


A.  D.  1360.]     The  Friars — their  Encroachments.  85 

without  waiting  for  any  licence  from  a  Bishop,  and  to 
receive  confessions,  and  to  assume  in  all  things  a  spiritual 
oversight  of  the  people,  in  contempt  of  the  authority 
vested  by  the  ancient  law  of  the  church  in  its  vicars  and 
curates.  But  to  the  learned  men  who  reasoned  after  this 
manner,  others  were  opposed  who  were  no  less  learned — 
among  whom  was  the  great  Thomas  Aquinas,  and  Alber- 
tus  Magnus :  and  under  such  leadership  the  friars  con- 
tinued to  hold  the  ground  they  had  taken,  though  not 
without  some  fluctuations  and  reverses. 

But  the  harm  done  by  these  troublesome  people  at 
Oxford,  was  small,  compared  with  what  came  from  the 
malpractices  of  the  more  ignorant  and  corrupt  among 
them,  in  their  dealings  with  the  common  people.  Chau- 
cer's portrait  of  the  'pardoner,'  should  be  remembered 
in  this  connexion.  It  gives  with  distinctness  and  force 
the  points  which  called  forth  the  indignant  rebuke  of 
such  men  as  Grosstete,  Fitzralph,  and  WycliiFe.  This 
itinerant  vendor  of  spiritual  merchandize — this  Tetzel 
of  the  fourteenth  century — on  coming  into  an  upland  town 
or  village,  sets  forth  his  credentials  in  the  shape  of  bulls 
from  the  pope,  and  other  sealed  instruments.  These  are 
lauded  as  giving  him  authority  to  proceed  with  his  '  holy 
work,'  unimpeded  by  '  priest  or  clerk,'  or  by  officials  of 
any  kind.  In  his  preaching,  the  constant  theme  of  the 
friar  is  the  evil  of  covetousness.  On  this  subject  he  gives 
forth  his  memoriter  oration,  in  tones  of  high  authority, 
having  been  careful  to  garnish  it  well  with  old  stories. 


86 


Wyclifie  and  the  Religious  Orders,     [chap.  iv. 


such  as  '  lewed  (lay)  people  love/  His  aim  in  such  dis- 
coursing, is  not  to  reform  the  sinner,  but  to  get  money 
himself,  by  showing  the  harm  that  is  likely  to  come  from 
it,  in  this  world  and  the  next,  to  those  who  hold  it. 
Money,  or  money's  worth,  he  must  have,  and  that  from 
the  poorest,  not  excepting  the  most  needy  widow,  or  the 
starving  children,  that  may  be  wronged  by  it.  Beside 
the  wallet  in  which  the  mendicant  deposits  the  wool,  the 
cheese,  or  the  wheat,  contributed  to  the  convent,  was 
another,  filled  with  articles  of  marvellous  efiicacy.  From 
amidst  rags  and  relics  of  all  sorts,  he  takes  the  bone  of 
a  sheep,  once  a  'jewes  sheep,'  and  lifting  it  up  before 
the  gaping  crowd,  he  assures  them,  on  his  faith,  that  the 
waters  of  a  well  in  which  that  bone  shall  be  washed,  will 
anon  be  of  such  virtue,  that  there  is  no  disease  of  cattle, 
'  of  cow,  or  calf,  or  sheep,  or  ox,'  that  will  not  straight- 
way be  removed,  by  drinking  from  what  has  been  so 
hallowed.  Furthermore,  if  the  owner  of  cattle  will  only 
be  careful  to  drink  himself  of  the  water  of  that  holy  well 
before  cockcrowing,  then  he  may  be  sure  '  his  beasts  and 
his  store  will  multiply.'  And  should  he  be  disturbed  by 
jealousy,  should  he  have  never  such  knowledge  of  his 
wife's  unfaithfulness,  let  him  only  mix  his  pottage  with 
water  from  that  well,  '  and  never  shall  he  more  his  wife 
mistrust.'  Let  him  sow  his  oats  or  wheat,  and  as  he  gives 
*  pence  or  groats,'  so  shall  his  produce  be.  Should  there 
be  in  the  church  one  who  bears  no  good-will  to  traffickers 
of  this  order,  care  is  taken  to  point  him  out,  all  but  by 


A.  D.  1360. J       Ghaucei^'s  Forirait  of  a  Friar.  87 

name,  and  to  cast  venom  upon  him,  where  there  can  be 
no  '  debate/  Satirists  were  hard  to  deal  with  ;  fools  and 
the  flagitious  were  more  available.  Offenders,  too  well 
known  to  the  parish  priest  to  be  readily  absolved  from 
the  guilt  of  their  ill-doing,  fared  more  lightly  at  the 
hands  of  those  intruders.  Men  or  women  who  had  done 
such  deeds  that  for  shame  they  dared  not  go  for  confession 
to  their  own  clerk,  were  invited  to  come  to  one  more  con- 
siderate of  human  infirmity — and  of  the  man  obeying, 
the  miscreant  says, 

'  And  I  assoil  him  by  the  authority, 
Which  that  by  bull  granted  was  to  me  ?  ' 

This  picture  may  help  to  prevent  the  reader  from  being 
surprised  at  the  severity  of  the  tone  in  which  Wycliffe 
denounces  this  sort  of  men — insisting,  as  he  did,  in  the 
root-and-branch  fashion,  on  the  extinction  of  such  orders, 
as  a  measure  strictly  necessary,  if  the  people  were  to  be 
protected  against  such  fraudulence. 

Wood  says  that  Wyclifie  began  his  controversy  with 
the  mendicants  in  1360.  But  the  historian  does  not  give 
his  authority  for  this  statement.  It  is  not  improbable, 
however,  that  the  antiquary  had  some  ground  for  this  con- 
clusion, and  that  it  would  have  been  stated,  had  the  fact 
itself  appeared  to  him  of  sufficient  importance  to  require 
that  he  should  produce  it.  We  have  no  direct  evi- 
dence, however,  in  the  extant  writings  of  Wycliffe,  to 
show  that  he  committed  himself  to  this  discussion  at  that 


88  Wycliffe  and  the  Religious  Orders,     [chap.  iv. 

precise  time.  His  treatise  intitled  'Objections  to  Friars' 
which  has  been  printed,  contains  decisive  evidence  of 
having  been  written  many  years  later.  But  from  what 
we  know  of  the  controversy  as  conducted  by  others,  and 
from  all  that  we  find  bearing  upon  it  in  the  later  works 
of  the  reformer,  it  is  not  difficult  to  judge  with  sufficient 
accuracy  of  the  manner  in  which  he  acquitted  himself  in 
relation  to  it  at  this  earlier  period.  The  treatise  men- 
tioned above,  gives  his  views  on  this  topic  precisely  as 
they  are  given,  in  more  or  less  detached  portions, 
throughout  his  writings,  and  no  doubt  in  substance,  and 
very  much  in  expression,  as  they  were  given  by  him  from 
the  first.  The  following  extract  presents  the  first  section 
or  chapter  of  this  treatise,  and  may  be  taken  as  sugges- 
tive of  the  general  nature  of  the  remaining  sections, 
which  are  fifty  in  number. 

'  First,  friars  say  that  their  religion,  founded  of  sinful 

*  men,  is  more  perfect  than  that  religion  or  order  which 

*  Christ  himself  made,  that  is  both   God  and  man.     For 

*  they  say,  that  each  bishop  and  priest  may  lawfully 
^  leave  their  first  dignity,  and  after  be  a  friar  ;  but  when 

*  he  is  once  a  friar,  he  may  in  no  manner  leave  that,  and 

*  live  as  a  bishop,  or  a  priest,  by  the  form  of  the  gospel. 
'  But  this  heresy  says  that  Christ  lacked  wit,  might,  or 
'  charity,  to  teach  apostles  and  his  disciples  the  best 
'  religion.  But  what  man  may  suffer  this  foul  heresy 
'  to  be  put   on  Jesus  Christ  ?     Christian  men  say,  that 

*  the  religion  and  order  that  Christ  made  for  his  disciples 


A.  D.  1360.]     Wycliffes  Argument  against  the  Friars.     89 

and  priests  is  most  perfect,  most  easy,  and  most  siker 
[true].  Most  perfect  for  this  reason,  for  the  patron  or 
founder  thereof  is  most  perfect,  for  he  is  very  God  and 
very  man,  that  of  most  wit,  and  most  charity,  gave  this 
religion  to  his  dear  worth  friends.  Also  the  rule  thereof 
is  most  perfect,  since  the  gospel  in  his  (its)  freedom,  with- 
out error  of  man,  is  rule  of  this  religion.  Also  knights  of 
this  religion  be  most  holy,  and  most  perfect.  For  Jesus 
Christ  and  his  apostles  be  chief  knights  thereof,  and 
after  them  holy  martyrs  and  confessors.  It  is  most  easy 
and  light  ;  for  Christ  himself  says  that  "  his  yoke  is 
soft,  and  his  charge  is  light,"  since  it  stands  all  in  love 
and  freedom  of  heart,  and  bids  nothing  but  reasonable 
things,  and  profitable  for  the  keeper  thereof.  It  is  most 
siker  [true]  ;  for  it  is  confirmed  of  God,  and  not  of 
sinful  men,  and  no  man  may  destroy  it,  or  dispense 
there  against ;  but  if  the  Pope,  or  any  man,  shall  be 
saved,  he  must  confirmed  be  thereby,  and  else  he  shall 
be  damned.  But  men  say,  that  other  new  orders  and 
rules  be  nought  worth  but  if  they  be  confirmed  of  the 
Pope  and  other  sinful  men  — and  then  they  be  not  worth 
but  if  they  be  confirmed  of  the  devil,  and  in  case  the 
Pope  shall  be  damned,  for  then  he  is  a  devil,  as  the 
gospel  says  of  Judas  ;  and  thus  men  say,  that  Christ's 
religion,  in  his  (its)  own  cleanness  and  freedom,  is  more 
perfect  than  any  sinful  man's  religion,  by  as  much  as 
Christ  is  more  perfect  than  is  any  sinful  man.  And  if 
new  religions  say,  that  they  keep  all  that   Christ's  reli- 


90  Wycliffe  and  the  Religious  Orders,     [chap.  iv. 

'  gion  bids,  they  spare  the  soth,  [truth],  for  they  lack  the 
'  freedom  and  measure  of  Christ's  religion,  and  be  bound 
'  to  errors  of  sinful  man,  and  thereby  be  letted  [hindered 
'  or  prevented]  to  profit  to  Christian  men's  souls,  and  not 
'  suffered  to  teach  freely  God's  law,  nor  keep  it  in  them- 
'  selves.  For  by  the  first  and  most  [greatest]  command- 
'  ment  of  God,  they  be  holden  to  love  God  of  all  their  heart, 
'  and  all  their  life,  of  all  their  mind,  and  all  their  strength, 
'  and  their  neighbours  as  themselves ;  but  who  may  do 
'  more  than  this  ? — then  may  no  man  keep  more  than 
'  Christ's  religion  bids.  And  so  if  this  new  religion  of 
'  friars  be  more  perfect  than  Christ's  religion,  then,  if 
'  friars  keep  well  this  religion,  they  be  more  perfect  than 
'  Christ's  apostles,  and  else  they  be  apostles  ;  and  if  men 
^  be  apostles,  they  leave  the  better  order,  and  take 
'  another  less  perfect.  And  the  order  of  Christ  in  his 
'  (its)  cleanness  and  freedom  is  most  perfect,  and  so  it 
'  seems  that  all  these  friars  be  apostates.' 

It  will  be  seen  that  this  reasoning  embodies  the  great 
Protestant  principle  concerning  the  sufficiency  of  holy 
scripture,  and,  carried  out,  must  be  fatal  to  everything 
ecclesiastical  that  has  no  better  foundation  than  tradi- 
tion. The  man  who  maintained  that  the  orders  instituted 
by  St.  Dominic  or  St.  Francis  were  more  truly  '  religious ' 
than  the  ministry  of  the  church  as  instituted  by  Christ, 
or  than  the  Christian  life  generally,  as  set  forth  in  the 
teaching  and  example  of  Christ,  was  a  man,  in  the  view 
of  Wycliffe,  who  charged  our  blessed  Lord  as  wanting  '  in 


A.  D.  I860.]     Wy cliff es  Argument  against  the  Friars.     91 

wit,  might,  or  charity,'  and  to  do  this  was  not  to  amend 
the  religion  of  Christ,  but  to  desert  it,  and  so  to  become 
'  apostates/  He  proceeds,  in  subsequent  chapters,  to  cen- 
sure the  friars  as  claiming  the  largest  licence  for  them- 
selves as  preachers,  but  as  subjecting  all  other  men, 
however  pious  or  gifted,  to  severe  restrictions  in  this 
respect ;  denouncing  them  as  apostate  and  accursed, 
should  they  dare  to  give  themselves  to  such  labours 
without  a  special  sanction, — and  sending  them  to 
prisons  with  criminals  and  outlaws.  But,  for  his  own 
part,  he  would  not  retaliate  on  these  men — he  would  fain 
'  destroy  their  errors  and  save  their  persons,'  and  in  this 
manner  would  aim  '  to  bring  them  to  that  living  that 
Christ  ordained  priests  to  live  in/  Concerning  the  hin- 
drance thus  given  to  the  '  liberty  of  prophesying,'  he  fur- 
ther writes — '  Since  Grod's  law  saith,  that  he  is  out  of 
'  charity  that  helps  not  his  brother  with  bodily  alms,  if 
'  he  may  be  in  need ;  much  more  is  he  out  of  charity 
'  that  helps  not  his  brother's  soul  with  teaching  of  Grod^s 
'  law  when  he  sees  him  run  to  hell  by  ignorance.  And 
'  thus  to  magnify  and  maintain  their  rotten  sects,  they 
'  force  a  man  by  hypocrisy,  false  teaching,  and  strong 
'  pains,  to  break  God's  commandments  and  falsify  charity. 
'  Out  on  this  false  heresy,  and  tyranny  of  Antichrist, 
'  that  men  be  needed  strongly  to  keep  his  laws  more,  and 
'  obey  more  to  them,  than  to  Christ^s  commandments, 
'  ever  rightful ! '  He  complains  heavily  of  the  base  arts 
used  by  the  friars  to  seduce  the  young  into  their  fellow- 


92  Wydiffe  and  the  Religious  Orders,     [chap.  iv. 

ship  ;  of  the  impossible  things  to  which  they  bind  the 
neophyte  on  his  becoming  such  ;  of  the  unalterableness  of 
their  vows,  in  the  case  of  men  who  find  that  they  have 
not,  from  God  or  nature,  the  power  to  be  obedient  to 
them  ;  and  of  their  making  it  a  great  virtue  that  they 
trust  to  '  begging '  for  their  subsistence,  while  the  denun- 
ciation of  such  mendicancy  in  the  writings  both  of  the 
Old  and  New  Testaments,  and  in  a  multitude  of  fathers 
and  ecclesiastical  writers,  are  so  manifold  and  notorious. 
He  further  describes  them  as  enriching  themselves, 
through  this  custom,  at  the  cost  of  robbing  the  poor ;  as 
converting  the  priestly  functions  which  they  had  assumed, 
on  the  ground  of  '  privilege '  granted  them  to  that  efi'ect 
by  the  court  of  Rome,  to  the  most  sordid  uses  ;  and  as 
being,  in  short,  a  main-spring  of  discord  and  disorder 
throughout  the  ecclesiastical  system,  the  flatterers  of  men 
in  power,  whenever  their  selfish  ends  might  be  served  by 
such  a  policy  ;  and  the  great  corrupters  of  the  morals 
of  the  people,  as  the  natural  consequence  of  their  prac- 
tice in  vending  pardons  among  them  for  all  sorts  of 
oifences,  as  men  court  purchasers  for  articles  of  a  common 
merchandize. 

It  will  be  seen  from  what  has  preceded,  that  in  all  this 
Wycliff'e  did  not,  strictly  speaking,  break  new  ground. 
Learned  men  in  Paris,  and  Grrosstete  and  Armachanus 
in  England,  had  expressed  themselves,  on  many  of  these 
points,  to  much  the  same  effect.  Nevertheless,  the  con- 
troversy as  carried  on  by  Wycliffe  possesses  a  special 


A.  D.  1360.]     Wycliffes  Argument  against  the  Friars.     93 

interest,  partly  as  having  been  sustained  without  inter- 
mission for  more  than  twenty  years ;  and  still  more,  as 
based,  in  his  hands,  on  a  more  constant  and  weighty — 
we  may  say  a  more  Protestant  reference,  to  the  authority 
of  Scripture ;  and  as  having  contributed  much  towards 
eliciting  and  developing  those  great  principles  and  truths 
which  have  since  become  familiar  to  all  Reformed  and 
Protestant  churches.  In  its  breadth  and  spirit,  as  giving 
utterance,  not  in  the  terms  familiar  to  us,  but  in  sub- 
stance and  effect,  to  the  two  cardinal  doctrines — the 
Supremacy  and  Sufficiency  of  Scripture,  and  the  Right  of 
Private  Judgment,  it  was  characteristic  of  the  man,  and 
its  results  have  their  place  among  the  most  memorable 
facts  in  modern  history. 


CHAPTER  V. 


WYCLIFFE    ON    THE    POWERS    OF   CHURCH    AND    STATE. 


N  taking  such  ground  towards  the  Religious 
Orders,  it  became  the  reformer  to  hiy  his  ac- 
count with  being  no  favourite  at  the  papal 
court,  or  with  the  more  zealous  partizans  of 
that  power  in  this  country.  Hitherto,  he  could  not  be 
charged  with  having  avowed  any  heretical  doctrine.  But 
the  vigour  of  his  attack  on  the  forces  which  the  Papacy 
had  taken  under  its  special  protection,  and  which,  in 
return,  were  so  much  devoted  to  its  interests,  took  the 
natural  consequences  along  with  it.  His  next  controversy 
had  reference  more  directly  to  the  pretensions  of  the 
popes,  and  shows  the  light  in  which  he  had  come  to  look 
generally  upon  the  hierarchy  of  those  times,  and  upon  its 
relation  to  the  civil  power. 

The  partition  of  power  between  the  magistrate  and  the 
priest  is  an  old  matter  of  debate, — old  as  the  origin  of 


A.  D.  1365.]     Religion  demands  organization  and  law.       95 

society,  and  it  will  last,  no  doubt,  as  long  as  society  shall 
last.  In  the  history  of  the  Christian  Church,  controversy 
on  this  topic  has  been  very  conspicuous.  During  three 
centuries  Christianity  sustained  itself,  not  only  without 
aid  from  the  magistrate,  but  so  as  to  become  strong  in 
the  face  of  every  sort  of  hostility  from  that  quarter. 
During  that  interval,  many  of  the  churches  in  the  differ- 
ent provinces  of  the  Roman  Empire,  became  strong  as 
separate  and  independent  organizations,  and  the  ministers 
of  those  churches,  having  been  a  distinct  order  from  the 
beginning,  became  well-known  as  such.  Religion  is  per- 
sonal— in  the  sense  of  the  mystic  it  is  wholly  of  that 
nature.  But  it  is  not  hazardous  to  say,  that,  rightly 
viewed,  it  is  not  so  much  personal  as  relative.  It  has 
relatio7i  both  to  the  nature  of  Grod,  and  to  the  nature  of 
man.  From  these  sources  it  must  deduce  its  doctrines. 
In  this  manner  it  has  to  do  with  truth  which  is  not  con- 
fined to  self,  but  which  is  universal,  and  of  universal 
interest.  These  doctrines,  moreover,  show  what  the  in- 
dividual should  be,  and  what  he  should  do,  in  relation  to 
God  as  thus  known,  and  to  man  as  thus  known.  In  this 
manner  religion  has  to  do  with  laws  no  less  than  with 
doctrines,  and  with  laws  which  are  not  confined  to  the 
individual,  but  are  of  universal  obligation.  It  is  not  in  the 
nature  of  religion,  accordingly,  that  it  should  terminate 
in  the  personal.  It  has  a  relativeness  to  all  being — the 
created  and  the  Uncreated.  The  secular,  in  the  history 
of  man,  must  be  based  on  the  religious,  and  the  religious 


96     Wy cliff e  on  the  Powers  of  Church  and  State,    [chap.  v. 

will  be  inclusive  of  the  secular.  The  difficulty  of  sepa- 
rating between  these,  comes  from  the  manner  in  which 
they  imply  or  include  each  other  from  their  very  nature. 
Religion  comes  from  relativeness,  and  it  has  to  do  with 
all  relativeness.  Of  the  Christian  religion  this  is  mani- 
festly true.  Hence  its  development  in  the  form  of  social 
life  is  inevitable.  It  tends  to  nourish  sympathy,  to 
necessitate  organization,  and  organization  supposes  law, 
the  administration  of  law,  and  the  forms  and  authorities 
of  an  outward  nature  necessary  to  such  ends.  It  is  true, 
the  laws  of  the  early  Christians  were  without  any  sanc- 
tion from  magistracy  ; — but  they  were  not  the  less  laws, 
nor  in  reality  the  less  potent  on  that  account.  Even  in 
civil  governments,  more  is  done  by  appeals  to  moral 
motive,  than  by  means  of  coercion.  The  latter  appliance 
is  always  at  hand,  but  it  is  as  a  last  resort  in  extreme 
cases.  The  ends  of  religion  being  purely  moral,  its 
motives  must  be  of  that  nature  ;  but  its  moral  sanctions 
come  with  no  mean  weight  on  the  mind  of  its  votaries. 
Under  such  influences  the  early  churches  became  so 
many  spiritual  commonwealths,  well  organized,  and 
possessing  their  well-appointed  officers,  long  before  the 
civil  power  professed  to  take  them  under  its  patronage. 

The  sort  of  alliance  between  the  church  and  the  state 
which  took  place  under  Constantine,  did  not  greatly 
affect  these  antecedent  arrangements.  The  assemblies  of 
the  Christians  remained  much  as  they  had  been,  and 
those  who  ministered  in  such  assemblies  continued  to  do 


A.  D.  1805.]        Rise  of  Ecclesiastical  Power.  97 

so  as  heretofore,  only  in  some  cases  with  higher  titles, 
and  in  greater  pomp.  While  the  civil  power  was  regarded 
as  hostile  to  the  church,  its  members,  in  obedience  to  the 
injunction  of  the  apostles,  adjusted  their  differences 
about  secular  things,  for  the  most  part,  among  them- 
selves, their  brethren  being  required  to  arbitrate  in 
such  matters.^  Such  a  custom,  once  established,  could 
not  be  easily  disturbed ;  and  Constantine  and  his  suc- 
cessors aimed  to  regulate,  rather  than  to  abolish  it. 
Hence,  during  the  decline  of  the  Empire,  it  was  found 
that  while  all  the  other  elements  of  the  social  system  were 
sinking  into  decay,  the  church  was  not  only  governed  by 
laws  of  her  own,  but  possessed  a  life  of  her  own,  and, 
amidst  the  general  weakness,  seemed  to  grow  strong. 
Such  was  the  effect  of  the  voluntary  action,  and  of  the 
exercises  in  the  way  of  self-government,  in  which  the 
church  had  been  so  long  nurtured.  From  these  causes, 
the  churches  of  the  East  and  West  came  into  connection 
with  the  state  in  a  condition  which  fitted  them  for  avail- 
ing themselves  of  its  patronage,  without  sharing  more 
than  partially  in  its  weakness. 

It  was  a  circumstance  highly  favourable  to  the  power  of 
the  clergy,  that  while  a  distinct  order,  they  never  became 
a  caste.  No  man  became  a  priest  by  hereditary  right. 
On  the  contrary,  that  office  was  accessible  to  all,  even  to 
the  lowest ;  and  the  popular  suffrage  had  much  to  do, 

1  Ep.  1  Cor.  c.  VI. 


98     Wycliffe  on  the  Powers  of  Church  and  State,    [chap.  v. 

either  directly  or  indirectly,  with  choosing  the  men  who 
should  be  raised  to  that  trust.  In  the  early  ages,  the 
suffrage  of  the  people  in  such  cases  took  precedence  of  the 
suffrage  of  the  clergy.  Even  when  we  come  far  into  the 
middle  age,  we  find  the  Abbots  elected  by  the  monks, 
the  Bishops  elected  by  the  inferior  clergy,  and  the  Popes 
themselves  dependant  on  the  suffrages  of  the  priesthood  in 
their  own  city.  In  the  end,  the  people,  as  the  source  of 
authority,  were  gradually  thrust  aside  by  the  inferior 
clergy  ;  and  the  inferior  clergy,  in  their  turn,  were 
precluded,  by  a  sort  of  compromise  between  the  higher 
clergy  and  the  civil  power. 

It  was  natural  when  power  was  made  to  emanate  in  this 
manner  from  the  privileged,  to  the  exclusion  of  the  unpri- 
vileged— from  the  authorities,  to  the  exclusion  of  those 
subject  to  authority,  that  the  course  taken  should  be  one 
dangerous  to  individual  and  general  liberty.  The  pretence 
to  infallibility,  and  the  use  of  coercion  in  support  of  it, 
were  the  results  to  be  expected  from  such  a  change.  But 
the  law  of  force  in  the  hands  of  the  magistrate  had 
respect  to  actions  only,  while  in  the  hands  of  a  priesthood 
it  had  respect  to  opinion.  In  '  nch  a  warfare,  however, 
it  was  not  possible  that  the  church  should  prevail  more 
than  partially.  While  professing  to  ignore  the  reason  of 
her  children,  shew  as  ever  making  large  appeals  to  it. 
No  human  government  in  that  age  was  carried  on  by 
means  of  so  much  discussion,  and  such  a  constant  show- 
ing  of  reasons   for  what  was  done.      It  was  clear  the 


A.  D.  13'*5.]     Progress  of  Ecclesiastical  Power.  99 

church  had  [taken  ground  she  could  retain  only  in  part  ; 
and  the  effect  of  her  antagonism  to  freedom  of  opinion, 
though  bad  enough,  was  by  no  means  so  bad  as  her 
dogma  of  infallibility,  and  her  maxims  of  persecution, 
seemed  to  foreshadow. 

It  was  only  by  laying  claim  to  separateness  and 
independei^ce,  as  being  a  purely  spiritual  power,  that  the 
hierarchy  could  at  all  keep  its  footing  in  the  face  of  the 
barbarian  nations  which  over-ran  the  Roman  Empire.  But 
to  draw  the  line  between  the  spiritual  and  the  secular  in 
the  feudal  times  that  folloAved  was  by  no  means  easy. 
Inasmuch  as  the  church  was  the  divinely-appointed 
interpreter  of  the  difference  between  truth  and  error,  and 
between  right  and  wrong,  there  was  no  question  within 
the  range  of  human  duty  on  which  the  head  of  the  church 
might  not  claim  to  be  the  only  authority  competent  to 
an  unerring  judgment.  Hence  the  decretals  of  the  pontiffs 
were  opposed,  without  hesitancy,  to  the  edicts  of  kings  ; 
and  the  maxims  of  the  canon  law,  or  the  judgment  of 
councils,  to  the  decisions  of  the  highest  lay  authority. 
On  such  grounds,  it  was  demanded,  that  clergymen  who 
became  offenders  against  the  laws  of  society,  should  not 
be  amenable  to  the  civil  authority,  in  the  manner  of 
other  criminals,  but  that  they  should  be  tried  by  ecclesi- 
astical judges  ;  that  the  crown  should  abstain  from  apy 
meddling  with  the  property  of  the  church,  the  same  being 
sacred,  and  wholly  beyond  the  province  of  the  magistrate, 
except  to  protect  it  from  injury ;  that  in  the  election  of 

H  2 


100   Wyclifie  on  the  Powers  of  Church  and  State,   [chap.  v. 

prelates,  the  collation  to  benefices,  and  the  government  of 
the  universities,  deference  should  be  shown,  according  to 
usage,  to  the  successor  of  St.  Peter,  as  the  centre  of 
ecclesiastical  unity  ;  and  in  case  of  obstinate  disobedience 
to  the  will  of  the  representative  of  the  prince  of  the 
Apostles,  the  pontifi"  could  declare  crowns  a  forfeiture  ; 
could  absolve  subjects  from  their  oaths  of  allegiance  ;  and 
to  enforce  such  decisions,  could  lay  provinces  and  nations 
under  an  interdict ; — a  sentence  which  left  all  conditions 
of  people  without  the  consolations  of  religion,  by  causing 
the  churches  to  be  closed,  and  the  functions  of  the  priest- 
hood to  be  suspended. 

The  history  of  the  middle  age,  furnishes  evidence  more 
than  enough,  of  the  success  with  which  the  popes  could 
thus  arm  the  superstitions  of  the  people  against  the  will 
of  their  rulers.  Salvation  came  only  through  the  sacra- 
ments of  the  church ;  those  sacraments  could  not  be  admin- 
istered by  lay  hands ;  and,  in  consequence,  not  only  the 
multitude,  but  persons  of  sensitive  religious  feeling  in  all 
ranks,  soon  manifested  an  eagerness,  in  those  seasons  of 
interdict,  to  obtain  the  services  of  the  priesthood  at  almost 
any  cost.  In  this  manner,  a  power  claiming  to  be 
accounted  as  simply  spiritual,  could  meddle  with  all 
things  temporal.  It  is  not  to  be  supposed,  that  in  these 
struggles  between  the  ecclesiastical  and  the  civil  authori- 
ties, justice  was  always  found  on  one  side.  But  the  evil 
was,  that  while  society  might  see  the  papal  interference 
put  forth  on  the  side  of  justice  to-day,  it  possessed  no 


A.  D.  1365.]     Innocent  the  Third  and  King  John,         101 

security  against  seeing  it  appealed  to,  with  no  less  suc- 
cess, in  favour  of  the  grossest  injustice  to-morrow. 

In  England,  the  pretensions  of  the  papacy  may  be  said 
to  have  reached  their  climax  under  the  pontificate  of  Inno- 
cent III.,  when  John,  to  shield  himself  against  the  merited 
disaffection  of  his  subjects,  consented  to  hold  his  crown 
as  a  fief  of  the  see  of  Rome,  and  to  pay  to  that  see  the 
annual  sum  of  one  thousand  marks,  in  acknowledgment 
of  his  dependance.  '  He  swore  that  he  would  be  faithful 
'  to  God,  to  the  blessed  Peter,  to  the  Roman  church,  to 
'  Pope  Innocent,  and  to  Innocent's  rightful  successors  ; 

*  that  he  would  not  by  word,  or  deed,  or  assent,  abet 
'  their  enemies  to  the  loss  of  life,  or  limb,  or  liberty ;  that 
'  he  would  keep  their  counsel,  and  never  reveal  it  to  their 
'  injury  ;  and  that  he  would  aid  them  to  the  best  of  his 

*  power,  to  preserve  and  defend  against  all  men,  the 
'  patrimony  of  St.  Peter,  and  especially  the  two  kingdoms 
'of  England  and  Ireland.'  This  is  the  account  of  the 
royal  oath,  on  this  memorable  occasion,  given  by  an 
author  always  sufficiently  disposed  to  vindicate  the  acts 
of  the  Roman  priesthood,  or  to  present  them  in  softened 
colours  when  of  a  nature  not  to  admit  of  justification. ^ 
In  return  for  this  homage,  the  monarch  was  assured  that 
all  the  means  of  protection  which  the  spiritual  arms,  and 
the  general  influence  of  the  papacy  could  supply,  would 
be  laid  under  contribution,  as  occasion  should  demand, 

^  Lingard's  Hist.  III.  40. 


102  Wydiffe  on  the  Powers  of  Church  and  State,   [chap.  v. 

to  uphold  him  in  all  his  rights  and  possessions.  This 
was  in  the  year  1213. 

In  the  following  year,  the  English  barons,  in  defiance 
of  every  sort  of  prohibition  from  the  pontiff,  extorted 
Magna  Charta  from  the  King  at  Runnymede.  The  next 
year.  Innocent,  in  compliance  with  the  wishes  of  John  and 
his  council,  annulled  the  charter — partly,  as  he  declared, 
because  it  had  been  extorted  by  violence,  partly  because 
the  king  had  taken  upon  him  the  vows  of  a  crusader,  and 
should  have  been  secured  against  such  encroachments  on 
that  ground  ;  and  lastly,  because  England  had  become 

*  the  fief  of  the  holy  see  :  and  they  could  not  be  ignorant 
'  that  if  the  king  had  the  will,  he  had  not  at  least  the 
'  power,  to  give  away  the  rights  of  the  crown,  without  the 

*  consent  of  his  feudal  superior.'  But  the  Barons  were 
not  to  be  either  flattered  or  menaced  into  a  surrender  of 
the  liberties  they  had  gained.  Innocent  excommunicated 
them  by  name,  and  laid  the  city  of  London  under  an 
interdict.  But  it  availed  nothing.  The  Pope,  it  was 
argued,  had  acted  under  false  suggestions,  and  in  the 
whole  proceeding  had  meddled  with  affairs  beyond  his 
province.  '  He  had  no  right  to  interfere  in  temporal  con- 
'  cerns ;  the  control  of  ecclesiastical   matters   only  had 

*  been  entrusted  by  Christ  to  St.  Peter,  and  St.  Peter's 

*  successors.'  ^ 

John  died  two  years  later.      From   such   a   tone   of 

*  Lingard,  III.  78.  ei  seq. 


A.  D.  1365.]     Demand  of  the  King- John  Tribute.  103 

resistance,  we  might  have  expected  that  nothing  more 
would  have  been  heard  of  the  English  kings  as  being 
vassals  to  the  see  of  Rome ;  and  that  nothing  would  be 
further  from  the  thoughts  of  John's  successors,  than  the 
payment  of  the  promised  thousand  marks  a  year.  But 
such  was  not  the  fact.  To  soothe  the  resentment  of  the 
Popes,  or  to  secure  assistances  of  various  kinds  from  them, 
the  payment  was  sometimes  made  ;  but  it  was  with  little 
regularity,  and  long  intermissions.  Edward  the  Third, 
on  ceasing  to  be  a  minor,  discontinued  the  odious  tribute ; 
but  in  1865,  thirty -three  years  later,  it  was  demanded 
anew  by  Pope  Urban,  who  insisted  that  the  arrears  for 
that  number  of  years  should  be  paid ;  and  in  default  of 
such  payment,  Edward  waf-  required  to  appear  in  the 
presence  of  the  pontiff,  to  answer  for  such  neglect,  as 
to  his  feudal  lord.^ 

In  this  instance,  as  in  many  more,  the  infallible  head 
of  an  infallible  church  did  a  very  foolish  thing.  Just  a 
century  and  a  half  had  now  passed,  since  John  made  his 
first  payment  of  this  thousand  marks.  England  had  not 
been  stationary  during  that  interval.     The  recent  victo- 


1  Rot.  Pari.  I.  220.  Cotton's  Abridgment,  102.  Barnes  (Hist. 
Edward  III.  B.  iii.  c.  12.)  has  questioned  whether  this  tribute  was 
paid  by  any  sovereign  after  John.  It  appears,  however,  from  certain 
notices  in  Rymer,  that  payments  were  made  at  intervals,  until  the  close 
of  the  minority  of  Edward  III:  Tom.  II.  5.  Edw.  I.  Dec.  18. 
6  Edw.  I.  Feb.  13.  16  Edw.  I.  Ap.  28.  29  Edw.  I.  March  18.  Tom. 
IV.  4  Edw.  III.  April  28. 


104  Wycliffe  on  the  Powers  of  Church  and  State,   [chap.  v. 

ries  of  Cressy  and  Poictiers  had  greatly  raised  the  mili- 
tary fame  of  our  ancestors ;  and  the  peace  of  Bretigni 
had  secured  to  Edward  all  that  could  be  reasonably  ex- 
pected, as  the  fruit  of  his  incursions  upon  France.  It 
was  a  full  century,  moreover,  since  the  country  had  seen 
its  first  duly  constituted  parliament,  consisting,  not  only 
of  the  prelates  and  barons,  but  including  representatives 
from  the  counties,  cities,  and  boroughs.  Many  times 
had  the  Great  Charter  been  confirmed  anew,  in  obedience 
to  the  call  of  a  people  jealous  of  the  liberties  which  that 
document  secured  to  them ;  and  through  each  succeeding 
reign,  the  suffrages  of  the  commons  became  more  and 
more  necessary  to  everything  done  in  parliament,  and 
especially  to  all  measures  relating  to  taxation.  During 
the  reign  of  Edward  the  Third,  which  extended  to  fifty 
years,  more  than  seventy  parliaments  were  convened — 
the  house  of  commons  being  assembled  by  a  new  election 
in  each  instance.  More  than  once,  too,  it  was  enacted, 
that  at  least  one  such  assembly  should  be  convened  every 
year. 

When  the  pontiff  revived  his  claim  to  this  tribute,  the 
king  at  once  submitted  the  question  to  the  decision  of 
parliament.  The  prelates,  in  answer  to  the  communica- 
tion of  the  chancellor  on  the  subject,  solicited  a  day  for 
private  deliberation  ;  but  assembling  on  the  morrow,  the 
lords,  spiritual  and  temporal,  and  the  representatives  of  the 
commons,  were  unanimous  in  stating,  that  neither  king 
John,  nor  any  other  sovereign,  had  power  to  subject  the 


A,  D.  1866.]     The  Tribute  repudiated  by  Parliament     105 

■ — • 

realm  of  England  to  a  foreign  authority  after  this  man- 
ner, without  consent  of  parliament ;  that  this  consent 
had  not  been  obtained  ;  and  that,  passing  over  other 
grounds  of  exception,  the  whole  transaction  on  the  part 
of  the  monarch,  was  in  violation  of  the  oath  which  he 
had  taken  on  receiving  the  crown.  By  the  temporal 
nobility,  and  the  popular  representatives,  it  was  further 
declared,  that  should  the  pontiif  commence  his  threatened 
process  against  the  king  of  England,  the  strength  and 
resources  of  the  nation  should  be  placed  at  the  disposal 
of  the  sovereign  for  the  defence  of  his  crown  and  dignity.^ 
Had  Urban  been  wise  in  his  estimate  of  circumstances, 
he  would  have  seen  this  result  as  probable.  But  his 
wisdom  came  too  late  for  his  advantage.  His  successors 
were  careful  not  to  be  imitators  of  his  temerity,  and  the 
claim  died  gradually  out  of  men's  thoughts. 

But  if  the  pontiff  himself  submitted  to  this  decision 
with  a  prudent  silence,  some  of  his  more  zealous  adhe- 
rents were  by  no  means  disposed  to  look  on  his  case  as 
desperate.  An  anonymous  monk  published  a  tract  in 
defence  of  the  claim  so  strongly  repudiated  by  the  par- 
liament, and  challenged  Wycliife  by  name,  to  answer  the 
argument  which  he  set  forth  in  its  favour.  We  have 
seen,  that,  a  little  before  this  time,  the  reformer  had  sig- 
nalized himself  by  his  controversy  with  the  mendicants. 
This  controversy,  it  would  seem,  he  had  conducted  in 

1  Rot.  Pari.  II.  289,290. 


106   Wydiffe  on  the  Powers  of  Church  and  State,   [chap.  v. 

• . — 

such  a  manner,  that  no  man  could  be  in  doubt  as  to  the 
view  he  would  take  of  such  a  dispute  as  had  now  arisen 
between  the  English  parliament  and  the  see  of  Rome. 
WyclifFe  was  now  about  forty  years  of  age,  and  though 
he  had  not  hitherto  fallen  under  censure,  as  broaching 
heresies,  or  errors,  of  which  cognizance  could  be  legally 
taken  by  church  or  state,  he  had  become  distinguished 
among  the  men  of  his  time,  who,  in  any  quarrel  of  this 
nature,  would  be  sure  to  contend  for  the  independence 
and  supremacy  of  the  civil  power.  Wycliffe  speaks  of 
himself,  moreover,  at  this  time,  as  being,  not  only  '  a 
clerk  under  a  king,'  and  as  one,  who,  on  that  account, 
should  be  prepared  to  vindicate  the  authority  proper  to 
the  sovereign  ;  but  as  a  clerk  '  standing  on  a  particular 
footing '  in  relation  to  the  crown, — language  which  is 
understood  as  denoting  that  he  had  received  the  honorary 
distinction  of  royal  chaplain.  As  such,  he  professes  him- 
self willing  to  become  a  respondent  on  the  question  at 
issue,  '  and  to  defend  and  maintain,  that  the  sovereign 
'  may  justly  rule  in  this  kingdom  of  England,  though 
^  denying  tribute  to  the  Roman  Pontiff.'  ^ 

Before  proceeding  to  discuss  the  question  of  this  tri- 
bute, there  are  two  preliminary  points  nearly  related  to 
it,  on  which  the  monk  expresses  his  opinion,  and  to 
which  the  reformer  briefly  replies.  One  of  these  ques- 
tions has  respect  to  the  authority  of  the  magistrate,  with 

^  Appendix  F. 


A.  D.  1366.]  Defence  of  the  Grown.  107 

regard  to  the  temporal  possessions  of  the  churchmen  ; 
the  other  to  his  authority  in  reference  to  the  persons  of 
such  men.  Our  disputatious  monk  is  described  by  Wyc- 
liffe  as  affirming,  that  the  state  may  not,  under  any  cir- 
cumstance, deprive  ecclesiastics  of  their  lands  or  revenues; 
'  the  goods  of  the  church,'  being  placed  beyond  the  power 
of  '  secular  lords,'  both  by  the  gospel,  and  by  all  law 
that  can  be  binding  on  the  human  conscience.  Wycliffe 
does  not  deny  that  in  some  cases  churchmen  may  have 
been  deprived  of  their  temporalities  unjustly  ;  but  he 
contends  that  in  all  cases  where  such  '  goods '  are  clearly 
misapplied,  it  belongs  to  the  king,  of  whom  all  lands 
must  be  holden,  to  see  that  they  are  rightly  administered. 
Our  kings,  he  says,  have  dealt  with  such  possessions  in 
this  manner  before ;  it  may  become  them  to  deal  with 
them  in  such  manner  again.  For  the  persons  of  eccle- 
siastics, the  monk  demands  the  same  independence  of  all 
state  authority,  insisting  that  '  in  no  case  can  it  be  law- 
'  ful  that  an  ecclesiastic  should  be  made  to  appear  before 
'  a  secular  judge.'  Wycliffe,  on  the  contrary,  maintains, 
that  in  all  civil  cases,  the  civil  courts  should  be  supreme 
alike  over  clergy  and  laity.  That  priests  should  be  guilty 
of  theft,  homicide,  treason,  and  not  be  accountable  to  the 
magistrate  for  such  offences,  was  a  notion  little  to  the 
mind  of  the  reformer,  as  a  man  or  a  patriot.  The  goods 
of  the  church  were,  in  a  large  sense,  the  goods  of  the 
state ;  and  the  persons  of  ecclesiastics  were,  in  all  civil 
matters,  the  subjects  of  the  state.     '  But  our  doctor  and 


108   Wycliffe  on  the  Powers  of  Church  and  State,    [chap.  v. 

'  his  brethren/  says  WycliiFe,  '  demand  of  me,  with  exces- 

*  sive  urgency,  and  no  small  heat  and  arrogance,  that  I 
'  should  answer  his  arguments  in  the  form  in  which  he 
'■  has  put  them,  being  especially  observant  of  the  form 
'  and  matter  of  the  statement  made  by  him  in  favour 

*  of  the  Pope,  and  against  the  right  of  our  lord  the  king. 
'  Every  dominion,  he  says,  presented  on  condition,  comes 
'  to  an  end,  on  the  failure  of  that  condition.  Our  Lord,  the 

*  Pope,  then,  presented  our  king  with  the  kingdom  of 

*  England,  on  condition  that  England  should  pay  so  much 
'  annually  to  the  Roman  See  :  now  this  condition,  in  pro- 
'  cess  of  time,  has  not  been  fulfilled,  and  the  king,  in 

*  consequence,  has  lost  long  ago  all  rightful  dominion  in 
'  England.'  The  reformer  expresses  himself  as  greatly 
surprised  that  the  men  who  manifestly  care  so  little 
about  his  judgment  in  this  case,  or  about  any  judgment 
contrary  to  their  own,  should  betray  so  much  anxiety  to 
force  him  into  a  public  avowal  of  his  opinion  concerning 
it.  '  Three  causes,  however,'  he  writes,  ^  have  been  men- 
'  tioned  to  me  as  disposing  my  opponent  to  this  course — 

*  first,  that  being  aspersed  on  this  account  before  the 

*  Roman  See,  I  might  be  deprived  of  my  ecclesiastical 
'  benefices,  and  be  subjected  to  heavy  censures  ;  second, 

*  that,  as  the  consequence,  the  favour  of  the  papal  court 

*  might  be  extended  to  himself  and  his  brethren  ;  and 
'  thirdly,  that  our  Lord  the  Pope,  being  allowed  to  rule 
'  in  this  kingdom  with  less  restriction,  more  imperiously 
'  and  more  voluptuously,  free  from  all  brotherly  restraint. 


A.  D.  1360.]  Defence  of  the  Crown.  109 

'  — civil  dominion,  and  great  wealth,  may  be  accumulated 
'  by  Abbots,  to  the  great  detriment  of  the  revenue  of  the 
'  kingdom.  But  as  a  lowly  and  obedient  son  of  the 
'  Roman  church,  I  protest  that  I  desire  to  assert  nothing 
'  that  may  appear  unjust  towards  the  said  Church,  or 
*  that  may  reasonably  offend  pious  ears.' 

These  last  words  are  important,  as  showing  that  up  to 
this  time  the  purpose  of  Wycliffe  did  not  extend  beyond 
a  reasonable  purification  of  the  existing  system; — a  sepa- 
ration from  the  church  of  Rome,  and  antagonism  to  it 
in  our  later  Protestant  sense,  was  not  in  his  thoughts. 
He  was  a  liberal  Romanist,  intent  on  curbing  the  arro- 
gance of  the  great  ecclesiastics  of  his  time,  and  zealous 
for  the  correction  of  abuses  generally  ;  but  he  was  still 
'  a  lowly  and  obedient  son  of  the  Roman  Church.' 
Already,  indeed,  the  doctrines  avowed  by  him  were  such 
as  could  not  be  acted  upon  fully  without  placing  him  at 
issue  with  the  maxims  on  which  the  existing  hierarchy 
had  been  founded.  But  as  in  the  case  of  Luther,  our 
reformer  was  to  become  aware  of  the  breadth  and  force 
of  his  earlier  principles,  only  by  slow  degrees. 

In  proceeding  to  meet  the  argument  of  his  opponent, 
concerning  the  tribute  as  before  stated,  Wycliffe  chose 
to  avail  himself  of  the  reasonings  of  men  whose  high 
station  might  suffice  to  protect  him  against  the  probable 
consequences  of  giving  utterance  to  so  much  freedom  of 
thought  on  his  own  responsibility.  How  the  reformer  be- 
came acquainted  with  the  debate  which  took  place  in  the 


110   Wycliffe  on  the  Powers  of  Church  and  State,   [chap.  v. 

upper  house  of  Parliament  wlien  the  question  was  sub- 
mitted by  the  king,  we  know  not.  He  has,  however, 
transmitted  to  us  a  summary  of  the  speeches  made  on 
that  occasion.  The  document  supplying  this  information 
is  interesting,  as  indicating  the  character  of  the  debates 
which  took  place  in  the  House  of  Lords,  on  a  field-day  in 
the  fourteenth  century,  as  well  as  on  account  of  the 
direct  evidence  which  it  furnishes  as  to  the  intelligence 
and  independence  with  which  ecclesiastical  questions 
were  canvassed  in  that  assembly.  '  I  ask  my  reverend 
'  doctor,'  says  Wycliffe,  '  to  refute,  if  he  can,  what  I  have 

*  heard  has  been  delivered  on  this  subject  in  a  certain 

*  council  of  secular  lords.' 

The  first  lord,  who  is  described  as  more  bold  in  arms 
than  in  speech,  maintains,  that  the  means  necessary  to 
institute  and  uphold  civil  dominion  are  coercive — that  the 
Pope,  if  he  be  possessed  of  the  proper  means  wherewith 
to  conquer  this  country,  taking  it  by  the  sword  from 
those  who  of  old  became  possessed  of  it  by  the  sword, 
he  is  at  full  liberty  to  resort  to  these  weapons,  and  should 
he  so  do,  England  will  no  doubt  be  found  prepared,  in 
defence  of  her  right,  to  do  the  same.  The  second  lord 
argues,  that  the  Pope  is  forbidden  by  the  gospel  to  be 
concerned  in  matters  of  temporal  dominion ;  that,  as  a 
purely  spiritual  person,  it  is  foreign  to  his  office  that  he 
should  exact  secular  tribute  after  the  manner  of  a  feudal 
prince,  '  for  the  Pope  ought  to  be  the  chief  follower  of 
'  Christ,  but  Christ  himself  was   unwilling  to   become 


A.  D.  1366.]  Defence  of  the  Crown.  1 J 1 

*  a  ruler  in  civil  matters,  and  in  consequence  the  Pope 
'  should  not  so  be.  For  in  Matt.  viii.  when  the  covetous 
'  man  having  worldly  greatness  in  his  thoughts,  promised 
'  to  follow  Christ,  he  replied  to  the  thoughts  of  that  man, 
'  saying,  "  Foxes  have  holes,   and  the  birds  of  the  air 

*  have  nests,  but  the  Son  of  man  has  no  where  to  recline 
'  his  head,'' — as  if  he  had  said,  "  Do  not  think  that  I 
'  will  teach  you  to  work  miraculous  cures  that  you  may 

*  acquire  a  civil  dominion  by  the  gains  you  thus  realize, 
'  while  neither  myself  nor  my  disciples  desire  such  things 
'  in  this  world.''  While,  therefore,  it  behoves  us  to  re- 
'  quire  that  the  pope  should  be  observant  of  his  religious 
'  obligations  after  this  pattern,  it  is  clear  that  we  are 
'  bound  to  resist  him  in  this   exaction  of  a  condition 

*  which  cannot  be  proper  to  him,  as  being  purely  civil.' 

The  third  lord  argues  that  the  payment  of  tribute  is 
always  on  the  ground  of  service  supposed  to  be  received. 
The  question,  accordingly,  is,  what  service  has  England 
received  from  the  person  who  bears  the  title  of  '  the  ser- 
vant of  the  servants  of  God.'  The  speaker  insists  that 
harm,  and  not  good,  has  come  to  England  through  its 
relation  to  the  papacy  ;  that  the  pontiff  and  his  agents 
have  seized  largely  upon  its  wealth,  which  has  often 
passed,  along  with  a  betrayal  of  its  secrets,  into  the 
hands  of  its  enemies  : — '  Sufficient  experience  truly  have 

*  we  had  as  to  the  failure  of  pope  or  cardinals  to  serve 
'  us  either  in  body  or  soul.'  This  speaker  touches  on  the 
absurdity  of  supposing  two  headships  in  civil  affairs  over 


112   Wyclifie  on  the  Powers  of  Church  and  State,    [chap.  v. 

the  same  state  ,  and  deems  it  a  much  easier  thing  to  shew 
that  the  pope  has  forfeited  his  right  to  ecclesiastical 
supremacy,  than  to  make  it  appear  that  the  king  has 
forfeited  his  right  to  his  civil  sovereignty. 

The  next  speaker  mentioned,  is  disposed  to  think  that 
John  could  never  have  been  a  party  to  a  compact  so 
mean,  foolish,  and  dishonest  as  that  which  is  imputed  to 
him.  He  may  have  paid  a  thousand  marks  for  the  removal 
of  the  interdict,  under  which  the  kingdom  then  lay,  but 
he  could  not  have  expected  it  to  be  a  perpetual  tribute. 
But  admitting  the  case  to  be  as  stated  by  the  adherents  of 
the  pope,  it  follows,  that  he  obtained  the  good  kingdom 
of  England^  in  return  for  certain  spiritual  services,  and  in 
this  view  the  transaction  becomes  grossly  simonaical,  con- 
sisting in  the  discharge  of  a  spiritual  office  purely  for 
the  sake  of  the  temporalities  to  be  obtained  in  return. 
On  this  ground,  accordingly,  if  on  no  other,  reason  and 
piety  must  suggest  that  the  claim  put  forth  should  be 
resisted.  *  It  savours  not,'  he  adds,  '  of  the  religion  of 
'  Christ,  for  a  pope  to  say,  I  will  absolve  thee,  on  condition 

*  that  I  receive  annually  so  much  money  !  I  hold  it  to 
'  be  lawful  to  break  a  dishonest  treaty  made  with  one  who, 

*  by  such  conduct,  has  broken  his  faith  with  Christ.'     If 
John  sinned,  John  should  bear  the  penalty,  not  the  poor 
commonalty  of  England,  who  were  no  parties  to  his  deeds. 
In  short,  to  admit  this  claim  of  the  pope,  would  be  to  - 
admit   the  right  of  the  pontiff  to  transfer  this   whole 


A.  D.  13(56.] 


Defence  of  the  Grown, 


113 


country  from  the  hands  of  the  king  to  other  hands  purely 
at  his  pleasure. 

The  lord  described  as  the  sixth  speaker  reasons  thus  : 
It  appears  to  me  that,  as  the  third  lord  hath  said,  this 
action  of  the  pope  may  be  retorted  on  his  own  head  ;  for 
if  the  pope  did  really  present  our  king  with  the  kingdom 
of  England,  as  he  in  so  many  words  pretends,  and  in  so 
doing  did  not  give  away  that  which  was  not  his  own  to 
give,  he  must  then  have  been  the  true  holder  of  this 
kingdom ;  and  inasmuch  as  it  is  not  lawful  for  any  man 
to  alienate  the  goods  of  the  church  without  a  reasonable 
equivalent  for  them,  it  is  clear  to  me  that  it  was  not  in 
the  power  of  the  pope  to  alienate  this  fertile  kingdom  of 
England  for  so  small  a  yearly  payment. '    For  if  he  might 
so  do,  then  he  might  alienate  the  lands  of  the  church  to 
any  extent,  and  for  returns  never  so  inadequate,  a  course 
of  proceeding  that  would  soon  be  felt  somewhat  incon- 
venient.'     The  speaker  is  content  to  leave  the  pontiff 
on  either  horn  of  this  dilemma.      England  did  become  a 
fief  of  the  papacy,  or  it  did  not  ; — if  it  did  not,  then  all 
pretension  to  a  tribute  is  fraudulent  ;  if  it  did,  then  such 
an  alienation  of  the  goods  of  the  church  is  a  delinquency 
which  the  church  should  be  prepared  to   visit  with  her 
heaviest  censure.      This  speaker  further  says,  that  Jesus 
Christ  is  the  chief  proprietor  of  all  things  in  this  world  ; 
that  he  will  fail  in  nothing  in  respect  to  those  Avho  hold 
their  property  from  him,  and  in  obedience  to  his  will ; 
while  the  pope  is  not  only  liable  to  sin,  but  even  to  mor- 


114   Wycliffe  on  tlie  Powers  of  Church  and  State,   [chap.  v. 


tal  sin,  and  in  such  case  '  according  to  divines,  loses  all 
right  to  dominion  of  any  kind/ 

The  last  speaker  reiterated  the  argument,  that  it  was 
not  in  the  power  of  the  king  and  the  few  corrupt  nobles 
who  acted  with  him,  to  place  the  kingdom  in  such  a 
relation  to  the  papacy  ;  that  to  the  validity  of  such  a 
transaction  the  consent  of  the  kingdom  was  indispensable  ; 
and  that  inasmuch  as  that  consent  was  not  obtained,  the 
pretension  of  the  pope  is  manifestly  without  foundation.  ^ 

It  is  with  no  small  interest  that  we  listen  to  these  high- 
minded  nobles,  as  they  thus  oppose  the  language  of  an 
enlightened  patriotism,  to  the  encroachments  of  a  sacer- 
dotal avarice  and  ambition.  Wycliffe  directs  the  atten- 
tion of  the  writer  who  had  assailed  him,  to  '  the  principles 
thus  laid  down  by  the  sagacity  of  these  lords,'  as  furnish- 
ing a  sufficient  answer  both  to  the  matter  and  form  of 
his  argument.  But  though  the  proper  effect  of  this 
reasoning  upon  his  opponent  would  certainly  be  an 
acknowledgment  of  his  error,  and  also  of  the  justice  of 
the  course  taken  by  the  king,  the  reformer  intimates  that 
he  has  no  expectation  of  seeing  anything  of  that  nature 
result  from  it.  When  all  exaction  shall  have  come  to  an 
end  ; — then,  and  not  till  then,  may  such  men  be  expected 


*  Rot.  Pari.  II.  289,  290.  Cotton's  Abridgment,  102,  103.  Collier's 
Eccles.  Hist.,  I.  560.  For  similar  instances  of  resistance  to  papal 
encroachment  at  an  earlier  date,  see  Matthew  of  Westminster,  Ann. 
1244.     Walsingham  Hypodrigma  Neustr.  Ann.  1245. 


A.  D.  1366.]    Parliament — the  Friars — Oxford.  115 

to   look  on  such  questions  in  a  reasonable   and  honest 
temper.^ 

The  parliament  which  taught  the  court  of  Rome  to 
relinquish  the  fond  imagination  of  exercising  the  authority 
of  a  feudal  superior  over  the  king  of  England,  took  the 
controversy  between  the  mendicants  and  the  universities 
under  review.  The  charges  preferred  against  the  friars 
had  respect ,  as  heretofore,  to  their  zeal  in  making 
proselytes  among  the  young  ;  and  to  the  readiness  al- 
ways evinced  by  them  to  favour  the  encroachments  of 
the  see  of  Rome,  to  the  great  detriment  of  the  universi- 
ties and  of  the  nation.  The  disputes  of  this  nature  which 
had  grown  up  in  the  universities,  had  led  to  much  disorder 
and  scandal,  and  both  parties  were  admonished  by  the 
parliament  to  conduct  themselves  towards  each  other 
with  greater  moderation  and  courtesy.  But  the  two  houses 
did  not  content  themselves  with  mere  advice.  It  was 
enacted  that  no  student  under  the  age  of  eighteen  should 
be  received  into  any  mendicant  order  ;  that  all  disputes 
in  time  to  come,  between  the  mendicants  and  the  univer- 
sities, should  be  decided  in  the  court  of  the  king,  without 
further  appeal ;  and  that  no  bull  from  the  pope,  tending  in 
any  way  to  the  injury  of  the  universities,  should  be  here- 
after received.  Thus,  even  in  catholic  times,  the  licence 
assumed  by  the  pontiffs,  to  meddle  with  the  course  of  our 
affairs,  by  sending  their  rescripts  to  be  proclaimed  among 

^  See  this  document  in  the  Appendix  F. 

I  2 


116   Wycliffe  on  the  Powers  of  Church  and  State,  [chap.  v. 

us  at  their  pleasure,  was  deemed  inconsistent  with  our 
proper  liberties  and  independence  as  a  people,  and  checked 
accordingly  by  force  of  law. 

We  do  not  learn  by  any  direct  evidence,  that  Wyclifie 
was  a  party  immediately  engaged  in  calling  the  attention 
of  the  parliament  of  1366,  to  these  alleged  delinquencies 
of  the  friars.  But  it  should  be  remembered,  that  by  this 
time  the  reformer  had  become  more  conspicuous  than 
any  other  man  in  Oxford  as  the  antagonist  of  these  reli- 
gionists ;  and  further,  that  he  had  the  means  of  knowing 
very  intimately,  as  we  have  seen  in  his  report  of  the  dis- 
cussion on  the  question  of  the  tribute-money,  all  that  took 
place  in  the  parliament  of  that  year.  These  facts  sug- 
gest, that  had  we  been  among  the  parties  having  business 
with  that  assembly,  among  those  passing  to  and  fro 
about  its  place  of  meeting,  we  should  probably  have  seen 
John  de  Wycliffe,  the  sharp  and  resolute  disputant  from 
Oxford — the  man  to  become  known  in  his  time  as  the 
great  precursor  of  a  reformation  in  religion  that  should 
extend  to  the  one-half  of  Christendom,  and  which  would 
exert  a  powerful  indirect  influence  over  the  other  half. 

It  is  important,  also,  to  bear  in  mind  at  this  point, 
that  during  these  proceedings,  the  suit  of  Wycliffe,  in 
relation  to  his  wardenship,  was  still  pending  in  the  court 
of  the  Pontiff.  This  fact  was  not  allowed  to  deter  him 
from  the  loyal  and  patriotic  course  taken  by  him,  on  the 
matter  of  the  tribute  claimed  by  the  Pope ;  nor  can  we 
suppose  that  it  was  allowed  at  all  to  affect  his  conduct 


A. D.  LSCB."]      The  Wardenship — Peters-pence.  117 


as  a  man  zealous  for  the  independence  of  the  universi- 
ties, and  no  less  zealous  in  his  opposition  to  the  mendi- 
cants as  the  most  dangerous  enemies  to  that  indepen- 
dence. We  repeat,  therefore,  that  the  issue  of  that  suit 
may  have  added  somewhat  to  the  zeal  of  Wycliffe  as  a 
reformer  ;  but  his  feeling  in  that  direction — the  feeling, 
which  at  length  made  him  all  that  he  is  in  history,  had  be- 
come strong,  and  had  been  freely  expressed,  long  before.  ^ 
The  parliament  itself  participated  so  far  in  this  feeling, 
as  to  resolve,  not  only  to  repudiate  the  king  John  tribute, 
but  to  put  an  end  to  the  much  older  and  more  harmless 
contribution  called  Peter's-pence — a  payment  said  to  have 
been  originally  made  by  every  householder,  with  chattels 
of  a  certain  value,  towards  the  relief  of  the  English  pil- 
grims in  Rome.  It  originated  in  Anglo-Saxon  times,  and 
was  soon  reduced  to  a  fixed  sum,  which  remained  the 
same  amidst  the  subsequent  changes  in  the  value  of 
money,  and  in  the  number  and  wealth  of  the  population. 
It  did  not  exceed  some  ^200  a  year.^ 

This  chapter  does  not  set  forth  all  the  enlightened 
thought  to  which  Wycliife  attained,  concerning  the  dis- 
tinct provinces  of  state-power  and  church-power.     But 


^  Anthony  Wood  grows  vehement  in  asserting  that  the  zeal  of  Wyc- 
liffe,  as  a  Reformer,  owed  its  origin  to  the  loss  of  his  wardenship  and 
'  nothing  else  ; '  and  even  Foxe  (Acts  and  Mon.  I.  557.)  and  Mosheim 
(Hist.  III.  332.)  are  among  the  writers  who  have  not  dealt  with  this 
insinuation  as  they  ought. 

*  Rot.  Pari.  I.  220.     Lingard,  Hist.  III.  196. 


118   Wydiffe  on  the  Powers  of  Church  and  State,    [chap.  v. 

the  germs  of  his  ultimate  opinions  on  these  vexed  ques- 
tions, are  very  perceptible  in  the  facts  and  reasonings 
which  have  now  been  submitted  to  the  reader.  In  all 
civil  matters,  the  civil  power,  in  the  view  of  the  reformer, 
was  entitled  to  be  supreme.  Territorial  rights,  and  the 
rights  of  property  in  every  form,  began  and  ended  there. 
No  plea  of  religion,  no  appeal  to  the  decretals  or  canons 
of  the  church,  could  be  admitted,  as  affecting  the  per- 
sons or  properties  of  men,  in  any  way  contrary  to  the 
will  and  power  of  the  crown.  Pontiffs  and  councils 
might  deliver  their  spiritual  admonitions  on  purely 
spiritual  subjects,  but  the  crown  of  England  owed  no 
civil  allegiance  to  the  papacy  ;  and  as  it  was  with  the 
crown  of  England  in  this  respect,  so  was  it  with  its  peo- 
ple. So  far  the  mind  of  Wycliffe  had  advanced  in  1866,  in 
the  forty-second  year  of  his  age.  Princes  and  peoples  were 
not  to  be  slaves  to  the  priestly  authority,  in  any  of  the  re- 
lations or  affairs  of  this  world ;  and  as  to  the  world  to 
come,  they  were  not  to  suppose  that  their  interests  there 
were  placed  by  any  means  so  fully  in  the  hands  of  the 
priesthood,  as  priests  were  disposed  to  assume.  Where 
so  much  light  had  come,  more  would  follow. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


WYCLIFFE    AND    ENGLISH    ROMANISM. 


N  the  last  chapter,  we  have  seen  something  of 
the  comparatively  free  spirit  which  animated 
our  English  Romanism,  in  the  fourteenth 
century.  But  we  must  look  further  in  this 
direction,  if  we  would  place  ourselves  in  the  actual  cir- 
cumstances of  our  first  reformer.  The  sickly  ultra- 
montane doctrines  avowed  by  not  a  few  among  us  at 
this  day,  found  small  favour  in  the  eyes  of  our  sagacious 
and  stout-hearted  fathers  more  than  four  centuries  since. 
To  judge  of  the  course  of  WyclifFe  with  intelligence,  it 
behoves  us  to  look  to  those  tendencies  of  his  age  which 
were  in  his  favour,  no  less  than  to  those  the  strength  of 
which  was  against  him. 

Edward  the  Third  was  proclaimed  king  when  scarcely 
fourteen  years  of  age.  His  father  had  exposed  himself 
to  the  disaflfection  of  his  subjects,  by  his  weakness,  and 


120  Wycliffe  and  English  Romanism.      [chap.  vi. 

his  vices,  and  still  more,  perhaps,  by  the  national  mis- 
fortunes which  had  resulted  from  them.  He  was  deposed 
and  murdered.  But,  whoever  might  have  been  to  blame 
in  those  proceedings,  it  was  felt  that  the  young  king 
was  not  open  to  censure  on  account  of  them.  Edward 
soon  gave  signs  of  possessing  military  genius,  and  a 
capacity  for  government — qualities,  which  in  the  long 
disordered  state  of  the  kingdom,  were  of  eminent  value 
in  the  sovereign.  But  during  the  former  half  of  his  long 
reign,  he  found  his  schemes  of  conquest — which  were 
his  great  schemes — productive  of  little  else  than  mortifi- 
cation and  embarrassment.  No  real  advantage  followed 
from  his  hostilities  with  Scotland :  and  his  attempts  to 
seize  the  crown  of  France,  which  diverted  his  attention 
so  greatly  from  the  real  interests  of  his  own  people,  ex- 
posed him,  for  a  considerable  interval,  to  much  care  and 
disaster  abroad,  and  to  murmurings  from  a  neglected 
and  impoverished  people  at  home.  It  is  true,  in  1346, 
some  twenty  years  after  the  king^s  accession,  the  states 
of  Europe  were  astonished  by  the  reports  which  reached 
them  concerning  the  battle  of  Cressy.  A  victory  which 
the  skill  of  a  few  leaders,  and  the  space  of  a  single  hour, 
sufficed  to  determine,  greatly  increased  the  military 
ardour  of  the  English  court,  and  of  the  nation  at  large  ; 
and  produced  an  impression  on  the  relations  of  Christen- 
dom, the  effects  of  which  were  perceptible  for  cen- 
turies. Edward's  ill-supported  claim  to  the  crown  of 
France,  had  called  forth  the  haughty  resentment  of  that 


A. D.  1866.]     French   Wars — the  English  Constitution.    121 

formidable  kingdom,  and  the  disasters  of  his  earlier 
campaigns  in  the  hostile  territory,  had  wounded  his  own 
pride,  and  that  of  his  subjects.  But  the  battle  of  Cressy, 
and  the  victory  at  Poictiers  which  took  place  ten  years 
later,  placed  the  chivalry  of  France  at  the  feet  of  Eng- 
land. The  king  of  Scotland  was  a  prisoner  in  the  Tower 
of  London,  and  the  sovereign  of  France  was  now  placed 
at  the  head  of  the  illustrious  captives  in  the  train  of 
Edward  the  Third.  Thoughtful  men  might  have  foreseen 
that  France,  thus  humbled,  would  be  sure  to  harbour 
purposes  of  revenge,  for  many  a  generation  to  come ; 
and  that  England  would  be  so  much  intent  on  sustaining 
its  pretensions  in  a  foreign  land,  as  to  be  comparatively 
unmindful  of  interests  more  properly  its  own  : — but  our 
ancestors  appear  to  have  lost  sight  of  the  probable  mis- 
chiefs of  this  policy,  in  the  splendour  of  its  results  as 
immediately  before  them. 

Much  evil  followed  from  this  cause,  to  England  itself, 
and  still  more  to  some  of  the  fairest  provinces  of  France  ; 
but  the  evil,  so  far  as  we  were  ourselves  concerned,  was 
not  without  its  admixture  of  good.  By  this  custom  of 
bearing  arms  together,  our  Norman  and  Saxon  popula- 
tions became  more  amalgamated,  and  less  disposed  to 
remember  the  cruel  feuds  which  had  done  so  much  to 
keep  them  apart  from  the  times  of  the  Conquest.  The 
sinews  of  war,  moreover,  could  not  be  obtained  in  the 
age  of  Edward  the  Third,  except  in  the  form  of  supplies, 
voted  by  the  Commons  in  parliament.     The  never-failing 


122  Wycliffe  and  English  Romanism.      [chap.  vi. 

exigencies  of  the  king  made  it  necessary  that  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  people  should  be  constantly  assembled, 
not  only  year  by  year,  but  sometimes  more  frequently  ; 
thus  sinking  more  and  more  deeply  into  the  public  mind, 
the  maxim  of  Magna  Charter — that  the  English  nation 
should  not  be  taxed  without  its  consent  ;  and  supplying 
abundant  precedent  for  the  wholesome  rule,  which,  in 
our  parliamentary  history,  has  made  a  redress  of  the 
grievances  of  the  subject,  to  take  precedence  of  the  grant 
of  subsidies  to  the  crown.  In  this  instance,  as  in  many 
more  in  our  history,  the  necessities  of  the  crown  minis- 
tered largely  to  the  liberties  of  the  people. 

Another  eifect,  and  one,  perhaps,  fully  as  important, 
grew  out  of  this  hostility  between  the  two  nations.  At 
the  opening  of  the  present  century,  Philip  the  Fair,  of 
France,  in  consequence  of  some  passionate  disagreements 
with  the  see  of  Rome,  removed  the  court  of  the  Pontiffs 
from  Rome  to  Avignon  ;  and  fixing  the  seat  of  the  Pope 
in  France,  he  succeeded  in  securing  the  ofiice  itself  to  a 
Frenchman.  This  exile  of  the  Popes  from  Rome  lasted 
seventy  years,  and  in  the  language  of  the  Italians,  was 
the  Babylonish  captivity  of  the  papacy.  Clement  V ; 
John  XXII. ;  Benedict  XII.;  Clement  VI. ;  Innocent  VII.  ; 
Urban  V.  ;  and  Gregory  IX. — all  succeeded  each  other 
during  this  interval,  and  all  were  Frenchmen.  The  Car- 
dinals, moreover,  as  might  be  expected,  were  also  mostly 
of  that  nation.  Thus  the  papacy  was  virtually  in  the 
hands  of  France,  while  France  had  come  to  be  regarded 


A. D.  1866.]     The  Popes  at  Avignon — its  effect.  123 

as  the  natural  enemy  of  England.  The  disaffections  so 
deeply  seated  in  the  nation  towards  the  French  court, 
b6came,  in  this  manner,  inseparable  from  a  jealousy 
of  the  court  of  the  PontiiF :  the  assumption  every  where 
being,  that  the  policy  of  the  court  of  Avignon  must 
always  be  favourable  to  that  of  the  court  in  Paris.  The 
wealth,  moreover,  which  the  agents  of  the  papacy  drew 
in  so  many  ways  from  England,  was  regarded  as  pass- 
ing, for  the  greater  part,  into  the  hands  of  aliens,  who 
were  at  war  with  it ;  while  the  secrets  of  the  state,  with 
which  these  foreigners  resident  among  us  could  not 
fail  to  become  more  or  less  acquainted,  were  said  to  be 
often  betrayed  by  them  to  the  enemy,  to  the  great  harm 
of  the  king  and  kingdom.  Complaints  to  this  effect 
came  up,  as  we  have  seen,  in  the  debate  upon  the  tribute  ; 
and  they  were  common  everywhere  during  the  latter 
half  of  this  reign.  We  scarcely  need  say  that  this  posture 
of  affairs,  and  this  feeling  so  natural  to  it,  were  eminently 
favourable  to  those  who  were  zealous  on  the  side  of  eccle- 
siastical reformation.  Independently  of  which,  these 
Avignon  Popes  are  described  by  Mosheim  as  men,  who,  by 
a  succession  of  mean  and  selfish  contrivances,  '  having  no 
'  other  end  than  the  mere  acquisition  of  riches,  excited  a 
'  general  hatred  against  the  Roman  see,  and  thereby 
'  greatly  weakened  the  Papal  empire,  which  had  been 
'  visibly  on  the  decline  from  the  time  of  Boniface.'  ^ 


*  Eccles.  Hist.  III.  316—318. 


124  Wydiffe  and  English  Romanism.       [chap.  vi. 

But  it  is  proper  we  should  speak  somewhat  more  de- 
finitely concerning  these  alleged  encroachments  and 
exactions  of  the  Popes.  The  feeling  thus  called  forth 
was  the  result  of  facts,  and  the  facts  were  on  the  surface 
of  history.  We  have  seen  both  the  nature  and  the  end  of 
the  tribute,  or  census,  imposed  on  king  John,  and  also  of 
the  older  and  somewhat  reasonable  annual  payment  called 
Peter's-pence.  Another,  and  a  much  larger  source  of 
income  of  the  papacy,  consisted  in  the  payment  of  first- 
fruits.  The  small  voluntary  presents  made  by  the  priest 
to  the  Bishop  who  officiated  at  his  ordination,  or  by  the 
Bishop  to  the  metropolitan  to  whom  he  was  indebted 
for  consecration,  grew  by  slow  degrees  to  be  regarded  as 
a  right ;  and  in  the  thirteenth  century  this  claim  was 
estimated  at  the  value  of  the  first  year's  income  from 
the  benefice.  In  England,  however,  this  usage  obtained 
only  partially,  and  always  by  means  of  a  '  provision '  for 
the  purpose,  from  the  Pope.  The  power  on  the  part  of 
the  prelates,  to  make  such  exactions  from  the  inferior 
clergy,  could  not  fail  of  being  unpopular  from  its  own 
nature,  and  still  more  on  account  of  the  source  from 
which  it  was  derived.  In  the  language  of  the  time,  it 
was  a  coalition  between  the  Pope  and  the  prelates,  to 
defraud  both  the  patrons,  and  the  more  needy  clergy,  of 
their  due.  It  was  tantamount  to  the  power  to  levy  a 
fine  on  the  renewal  of  a  lease  ;  the  only  difference  being, 
that,  in  this  case,  the  true  lessor  was  thrust  aside,  to 
make  room  for  a  false  one.     It  will  not  be  deemed  sur- 


A.D.I 366.]       Encroachments  of  the  Papacy.  125 

prising  that  the  Popes  should  sometimes  have  shown 
reluctance  in  ceding  this  privilege  to  others  ;  nor  that, 
at  the  same  time,  they  should  have  been  by  no  means 
slow  in  exercising  it  themselves.  Clement  V.,  one  of  the 
Avignon  Popes,  reserved  to  himself,  on  one  occasion, 
the  first-fruits  of  all  the  benefices  in  England  that  should 
become  vacant  during  the  next  two  years ;  and  John 
XXII.,  one  of  his  successors,  did  the  same,  for  the  space 
of  three  years. 

But  by  the  '  provisions '  of  the  papacy,  we  are  to  under- 
stand instruments  which  went  much  beyond  this  point. 
By  such  documents,  the  Popes  appointed  their  creatures  to 
benefices,  according  to  their  pleasure,  without  consulting 
either  the  king  or  the  patron.  This  bolder  encroachment 
on  the  rights  of  property,  called  forth,  as  we  may  sup- 
pose, still  louder  complaint.  The  Pope  generally  pleaded 
the  exigencies  of  his  exchequer,  and  always  insisted  that, 
upon  the  whole,  he  had  been  very  discreet  in  the  exercise 
of  this  part  of  the  function  belonging  to  him  as  the 
chief  pastor.  He  found  less  resistance,  moreover,  in 
these  proceedings,  on  the  part  of  the  crown,  than  might 
have  been  expected,  from  the  fact  that  our  kings,  in  those 
irregular  times,  were  often  themselves  offenders  in  the 
same  manner,  providing  for  those  dependant  on  them,  in 
this  way,  by  putting  the  rights  of  inferior  patrons  in  abey- 
ance at  their  pleasure. 

But  the  abbacies,  bishoprics,  and  archbishoprics  were 
the  prizes  of  the  hierarchy,  and  in  relation  to  them  came 


126  Wycliffe  and  English  Romanism.      [chap.  vi. 

the  great  struggle  between  the  popes  and  the  sovereigns  of 
Christendom.  The  king  claimed  to  be  the  holder  of  the 
large  temporalities  attached  to  these  offices  ;  and  if  the 
time  came  in  which  the  pope  insisted  on  the  right  to 
nominate  to  the  spiritual  function,  the  king  never  ceased 
to  insist  on  his  right  to  withhold  the  temporalities  when- 
ever the  appointment  should  not  be  acceptable  to  him. 
For  many  centuries  the  popes  were  content  with  claiming 
a  power  to  this  effect  in  relation  to  archbishops  only, 
leaving  the  confirmation  of  the  elections  made  to  ordi- 
nary bishoprics  with  the  metropolitan.  But  a  bishop 
might  always  appeal  from  his  archbishop  to  the  pope  ; 
these  appeals  it  was  the  interest  of  the  papacy  to  encou- 
rage ;  and,  after  a  while,  the  meddling  of  the  pontiffs 
with  the  affairs  of  nearly  all  bishoprics,  ended  in  their 
claiming  the  right  of  issuing  their  '  provisions  '  in  refer- 
ence to  any  see  as  it  became  vacant.  The  right  of  elec- 
tion, indeed,  pertained,  in  such  cases,  to  the  chapters ; 
but  there  was  as  much  unwillingness  in  the  king  as  in 
the  pope  to  cede  to  those  bodies  more  than  the  semblance 
of  such  power  :  and  the  quarrel  between  these  two  autho- 
rities, was  about  the  division  of  a  spoil  that  did  not 
belong  of  right  to  either.  Still,  the  people  were  easier  to 
be  reconciled  to  such  undue  exercises  of  power  on  the 
part  of  their  kings,  than  on  the  part  of  a  foreign  court. 
In  the  reign  of  Edward  I.  while  that  monarch  was 
absent  as  a  crusader,  the  pope  appointed  an  ecclesiastic, 
on  his  sole  authority,  to  the  vacant  see  of  Canterbury. 


A.  D.  1366.]       Resistance  to  Papal  Encroachment.         127 

The  new  archbishop  was  admitted,  but  not  without  a 
solemn  protest  in  favour  of  the  rights  of  the  crown. 
Some  five-and-twenty  years  later,  in  filling  the  see  of 
Worcester,  a  more  direct  attempt  was  made  to  ignore  the 
authority  of  the  king  in  respect  to  the  temporalities. 
But  the  prelate  elect  was  subjected  to  a  heavy  fine,  as 
the  penalty  of  having  acted  on  the  authority  of  such  a 
document ;  was  obliged  to  renounce  all  the  parts  of  the 
bull  deemed  inconsistent  with  loyalty  ;  and  from  that 
time  to  the  age  of  the  reformation,  every  bishop  received 
the  temporalities  of  his  see,  in  the  prescribed  terms,  from 
the  hands  of  the  king.^ 

To  carry  on  so  extensive  a  traffic  in  ecclesiastical 
property,  it  became  necessary  that  the  pope  should  locate 
his  officers  through  the  whole  kingdom.  These  persons 
were  the  medium  of  communication  between  the  pontifi*, 
and  all  parties  appealing  to  his  authority,  or  accounted 
as  being  in  any  way  subject  to  it.  As  we  have  intimated. 


^  About  ten  years  before  the  birth  of  WyclifFe,  Walter  Reynolds 
was  called  to  the  primacy  of  the  English  church.  On  returning  from 
Rome,  where  his  opulence  is  said  to  have  been  very  serviceable  to  him, 
he  declared  himself  empowered  by  the  pontiff  to  exercise  the  whole 
right  of  the  bishops  suffragan  to  the  see  of  Canterbury,  at  plea- 
sure, for  three  years,  with  special  permission  to  select  one  preferment 
from  each  Cathedral  church.  He  was  also  authorized  to  remove  the 
guilt  of  all  offences  committed  within  the  last  hundred  days,  if  dulj' 
confessed  ;  to  restore  one  hundred  disorderly  persons  to  communion  ; 
and  to  absolve  two  hundred  men  from  the  sin  of  having  laid  violent 
hands  on  the  person  of  a  clergyman.  He  was  further  declared  to  be 
competent,  in  the  name  of  the  pope,  to  qualify  a  hundred  youths  of 


128  JVy cliff e  and  English  Romanism.      [chap.  vi. 

to  their  great  office,  as  collectors  of  money,  the  papal 
officers  had  the  reputation  of  frequently  adding  that  of 
the  spy.  It  is  not  surprising,  accordingly,  that  they 
should  have  been  regarded  with  much  jealousy  and  dis- 
affection, both  by  the  king  and  the  people.  Often  they 
were  put  under  arrest,  and  very  rudely  dealt  with.  Their 
persons  were  searched,  if  suspected  of  bearing  about  with 
them  illegal  documents  ;  and  not  unfrequently  they  were 
made  to  swear  anew,  that  they  would  not  cause  the 
money  of  England  to  pass  out  of  it  without  consent  of 
the  king  ;  that  they  would  not  publish  any  bulls  or 
letters  from  the  pope  without  the  sanction  of  the  civil 
power  ;  and  that  they  would  not  betray  the  counsel  of  the 
king  to  his  enemies.  If  convicted  of  such  offences,  accord- 
ing to  the  loose  forms  of  evidence  in  those  times,  they 
were,  without  scruple,  thrown  into  prison,  or  banished 
the  kingdom.  The  pontiff,  of  course,  complained  of  these 
proceedings  as  disorderly,  undutiful,  and  a  manifest  in- 


uncanonical  age  for  holding  benefices,  and  forty  clergyman  for  hold- 
ing more  than  one  benefice  with  cure  of  souls.  If  a  primate  of  the 
English  church  could  play  the  rascal  in  this  fashion,  what  may  we  not 
expect  in  a  multitude  of  subordinates?  Wilkins'  Concilia,  II.  483,  484". 
Lingard,  III.  198 — 203.  Symnwell,  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  paid  a  con- 
siderable sum  to  the  pope  as  the  price  of  being  exempt  from  the  juris- 
diction of  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  of  being  made  responsible 
for  his  proceedings  immediately  and  exclusively  to  the  pontiff.  But 
the  then  archbishop  of  Canterbury  was  Islep,  Wycliffe's  patron,  who 
soon  made  it  manifest  that  such  disorders  were  not  to  be  tolerated  under 
his  primacy.     Collier's  Eccles.  Hist.  I.  553. 


A.  D.  1366.]     The  Papacy  and  the  Parliament.  129 

fringement  on  his  right  as  the  supreme  pastor  ;  but  the 
state  persisted  in  imposing  such  restraints  and  penalties, 
as  being  strictly  necessary  to  preserve  the  rights  of  the 
supreme  magistrate.^ 

Statute  after  statute  was  passed  during  the  greater 
part  of  the  fourteenth  century  on  subjects  of  this  nature. 
In  1307,  Testa,  an  Italian,  who  acted  as  chief  functionary 
for  the  pope  in  this  country,  was  cited  to  appear  before 
the  parliament,  and  being  loudly  censured  for  his  rapacity 
in  the  service  of  his  master,  was  commanded  by  the 
two  houses  to  surrender  all  the  monies  at  that  time  in 
his  possession,  to  be  placed  at  the  king's  use.     Similar 


1  Rymer,  III.  187.  VI.  109.    When  John  XXII.  sent  two  bishops 
to  negotiate  a  reconciliation  between  Edward  II,  and  his  consort  Isa- 
bella, though  they  previously  informed  the  king  that  they  had  not 
brought  with  them  any  letters  or  documents  that  could  be  used  to  the 
damage  of  his  interests  or  those  of  his  subjects,  the  constable  of  Dover 
received  orders  to  address  the  prelates  on  their  landing,  in  the  follow- 
ing significant  terms.     '  My  lords,  it  is  my  duty  to  charge  every  stran- 
ger, who  enters  this  land,  to  inform  our  lord,  the  king,  of  the  cause 
of  his  coming  ;  but  this  is  unnecessary  as  I  am  assured  you  have  al- 
ready so  done.     It  is,  however,  my  duty  also  to  forbid  you,  in  the 
name  of  our  lord  the  king,  to  bring  with  you  anything,  or  to  do  any- 
thing, that  may  be  prejudicial  to  the  king,  his  land,  or  any  of  his  sub- 
jects, under  the  penalties  which  thereto  belong ;  or  to  receive,  or 
execute  hereafter  any  order  that  may  arrive,  and  prove  to  be  preju- 
dicial to  him,  his  land,  or  his  subjects,  under  the  same  penalties.' 
Rymer,  IV.  208.    So  little  did  our  Romanist  ancestors  hesitate  to  put 
the  check  of  law,  and  of  grave  penalties,  on  the  tendencies  of  Rome  to- 
wards encroachment  and  aggression  by  means  of  bulls,  rescripts,  &c. 
— and  so  systematic  were  their  efforts  to  protect  the  king,  the  land, 
and  themselves  against  all  prejudice  and  wrong  from  that  quarter. 
Further  evidence  on  this  point  is  given  by  Lingard,  III.  205  et  seq. 


1.30  Wycliffe  and  English  Romanism.       [chap.  vi. 

measures  were  adopted  towards  tlie  subordinate  agents, 
and  though  the  king  was  by  no  means  sincere  in  the  part 
he  took  in  these  proceedings,  the  provisions  made  by  the 
parliament  against  abuses  of  this  nature  were  generally 
enforced.^  Edward  I.  left  these  questions  in  this  state. 
Thus  they  continued,  in  substance,  through  the  troubled 
reign  of  his  successor.  But  by  Edward  III.  stronger 
prohibitions  of  this  description  were  issued, — enforced 
by  heavier  penalties.  In  1343,  it  was  enacted  that  all 
persons  who  should  bring  any  ecclesiastical  document 
into  this  kingdom,  opposed  to  the  rights  of  the  king  or  of 
his  subjects,  or  who  should  assist  in  giving  publicity  to 
such  documents,  or  in  causing  the  same  to  be  acted  upon, 
should  be  made  to  answer  in  the  kings'  courts,  and  be 
liable  to  the  penalty  of  forfeiture.  The  year  following, 
the  penalties  for  such  offences  were  made  still  more 
weighty  :  the  delinquent  might  be  proclaimed  an  outlaw, 
be  made  to  abjure  the  realm,  or  be  imprisoned  at  the 
king's  will.  In  1351,  a  law  was  published  which  provided 
that  all  livings  to  which  presentations  were  not  duly 
made  by  the  patrons,  should  lapse  for  that  occasion  to 
the  crown,  and  not  be  filled,  as  had  often  hitherto  been 
done,  by  a  nomination  from  the  pope.  Nor  was  it  allowed 
in  case  ol  disputes  about  presentations,  to  pass  by  the 
king's  court,  by  appeal  to  the  papal  court.  The  man  who 
sought  his  remedy  by  such  a  course,  might  be  sentenced 

r — — ~~ 

1  Rot.  Pari.  1.219,  et  seq. 


A.  D.  1871.]     Churchmen  not  to  hold  State-Offices.  131 

to  lose  ail  his  goods,  be  outlawed,  or  doomed  to  per- 
petual imprisonment.  In  1364,  another  enactment  to 
this  eiFect,  but  one  still  more  stringent,  proclaimed  more 
fully  than  ever  the  determination  of  our  Romanist 
ancestors  to  preclude  the  pontiff  from  meddling  with  the 
temporalities  of  the  English  church  ;  declaring  all  papal 
bulls  which  infringed  on  the  rights  of  the  crown,  or  on  the 
civil  independence  of  the  people,  to  be  without  authority.^ 
In  1371,  a  reform  of  another  kind  was  attempted.  On 
the  conversion  of  the  Western  nations,  after  the  fall  of 
the  Roman  Empire,  the  clergy,  as  being  almost  the  only 
educated  persons  who  survived  that  memorable  revolu- 
tion, were  not  unfrequently  raised  to  the  principal  offices 
of  state,  and  thus  became,  in  effect,  the  civil,  as  much  as 
the  ecclesiastical  rulers,  of  those  times.  On  their  assist- 
ance, princes  were  almost  necessarily  dependant  in  con- 
ducting all  negotiations  in  which  a  due  attention  to  form 
was  indispensable,  and  which  were  to  be  committed  to 
writing.  England  had  fallen  under  clerical  influence 
in  this  manner  as  largely  as  most  nations,  and  from 
similar  causes.  In  the  year  mentioned,  the  offices  of 
Lord  Chancellor,  and  Lord  Treasurer,  and  those  of  Keeper 
and  Clerk  of  the  Privy  Seal,  were  filled  by  clergymen. 
The  Master  of  the  Rolls,  the  Master  in  Chancery,  and 
the  Chancellor  and  Chamberlain  of  the  Exchequer,  were 


'  Rot.  Pari.  II.  252,  284,  285.    Stat,  at  large.   25  Edw.  III.  Stat.   6. 
27  Edw.  III.  Stat.  1.    38  Edw.  Stat.  2. 

K  2 


132  Wycliffe  and  English  Romanism.       [chap.  vi. 

dignitaries,  or  beneficed  persons  of  the  same  order.  One 
priest  was  Treasurer  for  Ireland,  another  for  the  Marshes 
of  Calais  ;  and  while  the  Parson  of  Oundle  is  employed 
as  Surveyor  of  the  King's  Buildings,  the  Parson  of  Har- 
wich has  the  charge  of  the  Royal  Wardrobe.  It  is  known 
also,  that  secular  occupations  still  more  inconsistent  with 
the  duties  of  the  clergyman  were  often  devolved  on  such 
men.  No  charge  was  made  in  this  instance  against  the 
persons  holding  the  above  offices  as  being  incompetent,  or 
as  being  in  any  way  open  to  more  exception  than  other 
men  of  their  order  would  be  as  filling  such  positions. 
The  change  demanded  was  on  the  ground  of  a  new 
principle — a  general  rule  which  should  affect  the  relation 
of  statesmen  and  churchmen  in  all  time  to  come.  It 
was,  that  all  secular  offices  should  be  henceforth  assigned 
only  to  secular  men,  and  that  the  care  of  churchmen 
should  be  restricted  to  the  spiritual  duties  of  their  pro- 
fession. In  former  times  there  might  have  been  sufficient 
reason  for  the  elevation  of  ecclesiastics  to  such  responsi- 
bilities ;  but  at  present  it  could  hardly  be  pretended  that 
laymen  were  not  to  be  found  who  should  be  fully  as  com- 
petent as  ecclesiastics  to  the  discharge  of  such  duties.  This 
measure  is  attributed  by  historians  to  John  of  Gaunt,  Duke 
of  Lancaster,  a  younger  son  of  Edward  III.  and  the  most 
wealthy  subject  of  the  crown.  It  received  the  sanction 
of  the  parliament,  and  was  interpreted  at  the  time  as  a 
new  evidence  of  the  growing  determination  of  the  laity 
in  England  to  place  a  much  stronger  curb  than  heretofore 


A.  D.  1371.]     Churchmen  not  to  hold  State-Offices.  133 

on  the  pretensions  of  the  priesthood.  One  of  Wycliffe's 
disciples,  citing  on  this  subject  the  very  words  of  his 
master,  writes, — '  Neither  prelates  nor  doctors,    priests 

*  nor  deacons,  should  hold  secular  offices, — that  is,  of 
^  Chancery,  Treasury,  Privy  Seal,  and  other  such  secular 

*  offices  in  the  Exchequer.     Neither  be  Stewards  of  lands, 

*  nor  Stewards  of  the  Hall,  nor  Clerks  of  the  Kitchen,  nor 
'  Clerks  of  Account,  neither  be  occupied  in  any  secular 
'  office  in   lords'   courts,  more   especially   while  secular 

*  men  are  sufficient  to  do  such  offices.^  In  support  of 
this  doctrine,  appeal  is  made  to  St.  Gregory,  Chrysostom, 
Jerome,  and  other  ecclesiastical  authorities  ;  also  to  the 
advice  of  Paul  to  the  Corinthians,  and  to  the  teaching  of 
the  Saviour  on  many  occasions,  both  to  his  disciples  and 
others.  In  one  of  his  unpublished  manuscripts,  Wycliffe 
expresses  himself  thus, — *  Prelates,  and  great  religious 
'  possessioners,  are  so  occupied  in  heart  about  worldly 

*  lordships,  and  with  pleas  of  business,  that  no  habit  of 
'  praying,  of  thoughtfulness  on  heavenly  things,  or  the 
'  sins  of  their  own  heart,  or  on  those  of  other  men,  may 
'  be   kept   among  them :    neither   may    they   be   found 

*  studying  and  preaching  the  Gospel,  nor  visiting  and 
'  comforting  the  poor.'  And  the  consequence  of  calling 
churchmen  to  fill  the  office  of '  rich  clerks  of  the  Chan- 

*  eery,  of  the  Common's  Bench,  and  King's  Bench,  and  the 

*  Exchequer,  and  as  Justices  and  Sheriffs,   and  Stewards 

^  Ecclesiae  Regimen.  Cotton.  MSS.  Titus.  D.  1.  British  Museum. 


134  Wycliffe  and  English  Romanism.      [chap.  vi. 

and  Bailiffs,'  is  said  to  be,  that  they  not  only  become 
themselves  worldly,  but  become  thereby  disqualified  to 
reprove  the  worldliness  of  other  men.^  These  opinions 
were  propagated  with  so  much  success,  that  in  a  popular 
tract  intitled,  '  Why  poor  priests  have  no  benefices,'  the 
reformer  mentions  the  practice  of  the  lay  patrons  in 
compelling  the  more  needy  clergy  to  fill  '  vain  offices  in 
their  courts,'  as  a  practice  so  repugnant  to  the  feeling  of 
conscientious  priests,  that  they  often  prefer  to  remain  un- 
beneficed, rather  than  be  beneficed  on  such  conditions. 
So  little  did  patrons  feel  their  responsibility,  that  upon 
a  vacancy,  their  eye  was  commonly  turned  towards  some 
shrewd  '  collector  of  Pope's-pence,'  or  to  some  '  Kitchen 
'  Clerk,  or  one  wise  in  building  castles,  or  in  worldly 
'  business/  In  this  expression  there  seems  to  be  a  refer- 
ence to  the  famous  William  of  Wykeham,  a  prelate 
whose  skill  in  architecture  and  finance  had  commended 
him  to  the  favour  of  the  king,  and  whose  removal  from 
the  office  of  Chancellor  was  one  of  the  changes  sought  by 
the  novel  measure  which  the  parliament  had  sanctioned. 
Bishop  Latimer  complains,  in  terms  singularly  resembling 
those  of  Wycliffe,  concerning  this  same  evil.  '  It  is,'  he 
says,  *  a  thing  to  be  lamented,  that  the  prelates,  and 
'  other   spiritual   persons,    will   not    attend   upon   their 


^  '  For  Three  Skills  Lords  should  constrain  Clerks  to  live  in  meek- 
ness, &c.'  C.C.C.  Cambridge.  Trin.  Coll.  Dub.  Class  c.  Tab.  III.  No. 
12.  pp.  184.— 193. 


A.  D.  1371.]     Churchmen  not  to  hold  State-Offices.  135 

'  offices— some  would  rather  be  clerks  of  the  kitchen,  or 
^  take  other  offices  upon  them  beside  that  which  they 
'  have  already.  But  with  what  conscience  these  same  do 
'■  so  I  cannot  tell/  ^  Evils  of  this  nature,  when  they  have 
once  become  rooted,  do  not  give  way  except  as  society 
itself  advances. 

When  the  parliament  presented  the  bill  which  they  had 
passed  on  this  matter  to  the  king,  Edward  replied  that 
he  should   act  in  relation  to  it  with  the  advice  of  his 


^  Sermons,  Folio,  p.  171.  It  is  in  the  following  terms,  that  Wycliffe 
expresses  himself,  in  one  of  his  earlier  pieces,  intitled  *  A  Short  Rule 
of  Life,'  concerning  the  obligations  of  priesthood.  *  If  thou  art  a 
'  priest,  live  thou  a  holy  life.     Pass  other  men  in  holy  prayer,  holy  de- 

*  sire,  and  holy  speaking :  in  counselling  and  teaching  the  truth.    Ever 

*  keep  the  commandments  of  God,  and  let  his  Gospel,  and  his  praises 

*  be  ever  in  thy  mouth.     Ever  despise  sin,  that  men  may  be  drawn 

*  therefrom,  and  that  thy  deeds  may  be  so  far  rightful,  that  no  man 
'  shall  blame  them  with  reason.    Let  thy  open  life  be  thus  a  true  book, 

*  in  which  the  soldier  and  the  layman  may  learn  how  to  serve  God, 

*  and  keep  his  commandments.     For  the  example  of  good  life,  if  it  be 

*  open,  and  continued,  striketh  lewd  men  more  than  open  preaching 

*  with  the  word  alone.     Have  meat,  and  drink,  and  clothing,  but  the 

*  remnant  give  to  the  poor,  to  those  who  have  freely  laboured,  but  who 
'  now  may  not  labour  from  feebleness  or  sickness  ;  and  thus  thou  shalt 

*  be  a  true  priest,  both  to  God  and  man.'  This  extract  is  in  a  volume 
of  extracts,  from  the  writings  of  WycliflPe  in  the  Bodleian,  made  by  Dr. 
Thomas  James — the  substance  of  it,  in  much  the  same  terms,  I  have 
found  in  the  Comment  by  Wycliffe  on  the  Decalogue,  Cotton  MSS. 
Titus,  D.  British  Museum.  Foxe  cites  the  Chronicles  of  Caxton,  as 
reporting  that  much  of  the  severity  of  these  proceedings  against  the 
ruling  clergy,  and  against  the  papal  court,  was  attributed  to  the  in- 
fluence of  Wycliffe. — Acts  and  Mon.  I.  ubi  supra.  The  above  extract 
may  betaken  as  indicating  the  motives  that  might  prompt  the  reformer 
to  such  uses  of  his  influence. 


136  Wycliffe  and  English  Romanism.      [chap.  vi. 

council.  But  a  few  weeks  later  William  of  Wykeham 
resigned  the  office  of  Chancellor,  and  the  bishop  of  Exeter 
ceased  to  be  Lord  Treasurer.  And  if  the  parliament  had 
learnt  so  to  judge  concerning  the  line  that  should  separate 
between  the  holders  of  secular  and  spiritual  offices,  it  is 
natural  to  conclude  that  the  people  generally  had  become 
desirous  of  seeing  the  cares  of  the  clergy  restricted,  after 
this  manner,  to  their  proper  clerical  duties.  No  doubt, 
by  the  more  worldly-minded  among  the  priesthood,  the 
teachings  of  Wycliffe  on  this  topic  would  be  viewed  as  a 
ceaseless  scattering  of  sparks  upon  a  material  ever  pre- 
pared to  ignite  under  their  influence.  In  this  respect,  as 
in  others,  the  reformer  spoke  to  the  times,  and  he  did  so 
with  a  directness,  emphasis,  and  perseverance  that  could 
not  fail  of  effect  in  the  right  direction. 

It  was,  it  will  be  remembered,  in  1371  that  the 
parliament  was  convened  in  which  this  effort  was  made 
to  restrict  secular  offices  to  the  hands  of  laymen.  In  the 
year  preceding,  the  papal  court  had  given  its  decision  on 
Wycliffe's  suit  respecting  Canterbury  Hall.  The  decision, 
as  we  have  intimated,  was  in  favour  of  the  course  taken 
by  Archbishop  Langham,  confirming  Wodehall  and  the 
monks,  and  excluding  Wycliffe  and  the  secular  scholars.  In 
1372,  a  confirmation  of  this  verdict  was  obtained  from  the 
crown.  By  what  means  this  last  point  was  accomplished 
is  beyond  our  knowledge.  It  is  remarkable  that  the  name 
of  Wycliffe  does  not  occur  in  the  document  which  bears 
the  royal  signature.     We  know  that  the  bribe  presented 


A.  D.  1372.]    End  of  the  Suit  about  Canterbury  Hall.       137 

and  accepted  on  this  occasion  amounted  to  two  hundred 
marks,  about  a  thousand  pounds  of  our  present  money.^ 
Edward  the  Third  was  now  sinking  under  the  infirmities 
of  age,  and  under  the  weight  of  the  many  cares  which  his 
attempts  to  possess  himself  of  the  crown  of  France  had 
brought  upon  him.  The  royal  ofiicers  were  not  in  a  con- 
dition to  be  insensible  to  the  value  of  money,  and  what 
the  old  king  did  in  this  matter,  he  did,  we  may  suppose, 
with  little  scrutiny.  Where  the  inducement  to  secure  his 
signature  was  so  weighty,  artifice,  if  necessary  to  that  end, 
would  not  be  wanting.  It  is  not  improbable  that  Wycliffe 
had  by  this  time  become  weary  of  the  whole  business, 
and  did  not  care  to  oppose  proceedings  of  any  kind  in 
relation  to  it.  Objects  of  far  greater  moment  than  the 
quiet  possession  of  a  wardenship  were  now  to  occupy  his 
thoughts.  From  this  time,  his  views  as  a  reformer  take 
a  wider  range,  and  he  gives  himself  with  a  new  ardour  to 
the  diffusion  of  them. 


^  Lewis,  chap.  I.  15 — 18. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


WYCLIFFE   AS   PROFESSOR   OF   DIVINITY. 


1 

1 

HE  biographers  of  Wycliffe  have  been  wont  to 
describe  him  as  becoming  Professor  of  Divinity 
in  Oxford,  in  1372.  This  is  in  a  sense  true, 
but  not  in  the  sense  intended.  By  a  pro- 
fessor, according  to  modern  usage,  we  understand  a  per- 
son specially  chosen  to  deliver  lectures,  a  person  to  whom 
that  right  is  restricted  in  his  particular  department,  and 
who  is  sustained  by  an  endowment,  or  a  fixed  stipend. 
The  fact  is,  however,  that  professors  in  this  sense  were 
unknown  in  Oxford  in  the  age  of  Wycliffe.  Indeed  it 
cannot  be  shown  that  any  actually-endowed  professor- 
ship had  existence  in  any  university  until  about  1430. 
Occasional  bounties  had  been  afforded  a  century  or  a 
century  and-a-half  earlier,  to  fix  teachers  in  the  uni- 
versities ;  but  these  instances  of  liberality  were  private 
and  temporary,  and  of  little  effect.     In  the  year  1311, 


I 


A.  D.  1372.]     Oxford  in  the  Fourteenth  Century.  139 

Clement  VII.  called  upon  Oxford,  and  other  celebrated 
universities,  to  establish  professor's  chairs  for  the  oriental 
languages — but  the  call  was  uttered  in  vain.  In  the 
fourteenth  century,  every  man  in  Oxford  who  proceeded 
to  the  degree  of  Doctor  in  Divinity — Sanctce  Theologies 
Professor — became,  in  the  language  of  that  day,  a  pro- 
fessor, and  might,  simply  in  virtue  of  his  degree,  open 
a  hall,  and  lecture  to  as  many  as  chose  to  become  his 
pupils.  In  this  sense  Wycliflfe  became  professor  of 
divinity  in  Oxford,  in  1372. 

Nothing,  however,  could  be  more  delusive  than  to  take 
the  idea  we  have  derived  from  the  Oxford  of  our  own 
time,  to  the  Oxford  of  the  fourteenth  century.  If  the 
highways  to  the  metropolis  were  then  such  quagmires  as 
we  have  seen ;  if  the  streets  within  its  walls  were  such 
dark  and  filthy  tunnels  ;  and  if  the  modes  of  aiming  to 
abate  its  perilous  darkness,  were  such  as  we  see  in  the 
attempt  to  convert  the  steeple  of  Bow  Church  into  a 
huge  lamppost  for  the  region  about  it — these  significant 
incidents  should  suffice  to  prevent  our  supposing  that  the 
approaches  to  Oxford  were  such  as  are  now  familiar  to 
its  residents  ;  or  that  its  streets  were  at  all  of  such  as- 
pect as  the  present  High  Street  of  that  famous  city.  In 
the  outline  of  the  surrounding  country,  we  may  see  what 
men  then  saw,  WycliiFe  among  the  rest ;  but  the  narrow 
street,  the  high,  beetling,  wood-and-plaster  buildings, 
almost  shutting  out  the  sky  ;  the  coarse  thatch  on  most  of 
the  roofs,  and  the   smoke  issuing  everywhere  from  doors 


140  Wycliffe  as  Professor  of  Divinity.      [chap.  vn. 

or  windows,  in  the  absence  of  chimneys  :  poles  projecting 
here  and  there  from  the  upper  windows  with  their  many- 
coloured  linens  pendant  on  them,  after  the  manner  of  St. 
Giles's,  more  than  of  St.  James's  ;  ^  the  rough  mixing  of 
the  foot- way  and  the  wheel- way  in  the  greatest  thorough- 
fares, and  the  sewer-streams  running  uncovered  through 
the  middle  of  the  street ;  the  poor  student  huckstering  at  a 
stall  in  the  market,  or,  driving  a  hard  bargain  on  a  fair 
day,  with  the  packhorse  merchant  who  sells  worsted  hose, 
and  warm  coats,  in  prospect  of  the  winter  ;  '  the  company 
*  of  varlets,'  as  Wood  calls  them,  who  pretend  to  be 
scholars,  and  are  not,  but  having  shuffled  themselves  in, 
act    much   villany   by   thieving   and   quarrelling  ;    the 


^  '  London  continued  to  be  a  town,  mainly  of  wood  and  plaster, 
almost  to  the  period  of  the  great  conflagration  in  the  seventeenth 
centm'y.'     Hudson  Turner's  Ancient  Domestic  Architecture,  Intro.  xi« 
There  is  one  very  necessary  feature  in  houses  for  which  we  look  in 
vain  among  Saxon  drawings, — a  chimney.    That  useful  invention 
appears  to  have  been  unknown  in  England,  as  indeed  it  was  in  many 
parts  of  Europe,  until  the  fifteenth  century.     Perhaps  the  strongest 
argument  in  favour  of  the  opinion,  that  there  were  no  chimneys  in 
the  ancient  Roman  houses,  is  supplied   by  the  fact  that  there  were 
none  in  Roman  houses  of  the  fourteenth  century  ;  although  this  con- 
trivance appears  to  have  been  then  known  in  at  least  one  of  the 
Italian  cities.     In  1368,  a  prince  of  Padua,  on  making  a  journey  to 
Rome,  took  with  him  masons  who  constructed  a  chimney  in  the  inn, 
at  which  he  stayed — because  in  the  city  of  Rome  they  did  not  then 
use  chimneys ;  and  all  lighted  the  fire  in  the  middle  of  the  house, 
on   the   floor.'     Ibid.   xv.     Muratori,  Antiq.    Italicse   II.    Diss.    25, 
col.  418.     It  is  strange  that  the  principle  of  the  chimney  being  once 
understood,  as  it  certainly  was,  so  early  as  the  twelfth  century,  some 
hundreds  of  years  should  have  passed  before  the  use   of  it  became 
general.     But  such  was  the  fact. 


I 


A.  D.  1372.]     Oxford  in  the  Fourteenth  Century.  141 


houses  of  more  altitude,  and  greater  breadth,  near  the 
cross-ways  and  the  market  place,  that  are  used,  some  for 
trade,  and  some  for  academic  purposes  ;  the  gatherings  of 
students,  and  discoursings  of  learned  teachers ;  the  gloomy- 
apartments  which  served  as  halls  of  learning,  and  the  rude 
benches  which  seated  men  in  their  youth,  who  in  their 
age  were  to  become  men  of  renown,  and  the  hardly  less 
rude  platform  and  chair  of  the  professor — an  Occam,  it 
may  be,  or  a  WyclifFe — from  which,  in  the  church-latin 
of  the  day,  the  preceptor  weaves  the  web  of  subtle 
speculations,  so  famous  among  schoolmen — all  these  ap- 
pearances, and  more  like  them,  must  be  placed  under 
contribution,  if  our  imagination  is  to  realize  anything 
like  a  just  and  complete  picture  of  the  Oxford  of  1872. 
It  is  true,  that  mixed  with  Anthony  Wood's  *  varlets," 
and  with  the  many  needy  scholars  then  to  be  found  in 
'  Oxenforde,'  were  the  sons  of  nobles,  and  youths  of  royal 
blood — but  in  the  order,  and  not  less  in  the  disorder,  of 
the  place,  all  were  on  a  level ;  and  could  a  modern  look 
back  on  the  whole  scene,  as  it  then  was,  we  doubt  not 
that,  should  he  be  a  man  filled  with  much  love  of  our 
modern  refinements,  he  would  there  fall  on  very  much 
which  his  tastes  would  not  dispose  him  to  class  with  the 
agreeable.  Pomp  and  brilliancy  there  may  have  been, 
upon  occasions,  even  in  those  times  ;  but  upon  the  general 
appearance  of  things  in  those  days,  such  brilliancy  must 
have  come  in  like  gleams  of  sunshine,  thrown  across  a 
landscape  upon  a  black  and  cloudy  day. 


142  Wyclijfe  as  Professor  of  Divinity.      [chap.  vii. 

If  the  fragment  of  an  ornate  robe  of  velvet  and  gold, 
preserved  in  the  vestry  of  Lutterworth  church,  be  indeed 
a  remnant  of  the  divinity  robe  of  the  great  Reformer,  it 
would  be  natural  to  associate  ideas  of  splendour  with  his 
presence  and  history.  But  we  may  be  sure,  either  that 
the  said  robe  is  apocryphal,  or  that  it  was  worn  only  upon 
occasions  of  special  ceremony.  The  students  about  a 
professor  in  that  day,  were  often  so  poor,  that  he  had  not 
only  to  teach  them  without  fees,  but  to  assist  them,  when 
men  of  promise,  from  his  own  resources.  '  Poverty,' 
say  our  German  neighbours,  '  is  the  scholar's  bride/  and 
verily,  in  the  age  under  review,  this  sort  of  matrimonial 
relationship,  must  have  been  felt  in  places  like  Oxford 
and  Paris  as  inconveniently  prevalent. 

It  would  be  interesting  could  we  enter  the  apartment 
where  Wycliffe  began  his  lecturing  as  Professor  of  Di- 
vinity, and  could  we  fix  our  gaze,  not  only  on  the 
antique  form,  and  sober  colouring,  which  the  imagination 
is  disposed  to  attribute  to  such  places,  but  also  on  the 
person  of  the  professor,  and  on  his  listening  pupils. 
What  the  reformer  really  said,  however,  in  that  place, 
and  before  that  auditory,  is  much  more  important  than 
any  acquaintance  with  such  mere  outwardness  or  visi- 
bility as  chanced  to  be  connected  with  his  teaching. 
His  Latin  treatise,  intitled  Trialogus,  to  which  both 
his  enemies  and  his  friends  appealed  most  frequently, 
after  his  decease,  as  being  the  great  depository  of  his 
opinions,   is   not   only  preserved,    but  has  been   twice 


A.  D.  1372.]  Contents  of  the  Trialogus.  143 

printed.  In  the  earlier  portions  of  this  work,  we  no 
doubt  have  the  exact  substance  of  the  discourses  ad- 
dressed by  the  author  to  his  class  in  1872,  and  some 
years  later.  In  the  last  book  of  the  Trialogus,  we  find 
opinions  concerning  the  Eucharist,  the  translation  of  the 
Scriptures  into  the  language  of  the  people,  and  on  some 
other  topics,  that  were  not  broached  by  the  reformer  so 
early  as  1372.  But  the  first  three  books  may  be  taken 
as  a  fair  sample  of  the  instruction  we  should  have  heard 
in  his  lecture-room  at  that  time,  had  we  been  among  the 
students  of  Oxford,  who,  in  that  day,  took  the  most  ad- 
vanced position  on  the  side  of  social  and  religious  advance- 
ment. By  the  help  of  this  treatise,  accordingly,  we  may 
assist  the  reader  to  take  his  place  in  the  class-room  of  our 
new  professor  of  divinity,  to  listen  to  the  words  that  fall 
from  him,  and  to  carry  home  some  of  the  best  thoughts 
in  his  note-book. 

The  name  Trialogus  is  given  to  this  work,  because  it 
consists  of  a  series  of  colloquies  between  three  speakers. 
The  names  of  the  speakers,  are — Alithia,  Pseudis,  and 
Phronesis — Truth,  Falsehood,  and  Wisdom.  The  opinions 
and  reasonings  of  Alithia,  accordingly,  are  to  be  regarded 
as  those  of  Truth  •  those  of  Pseudis,  as  being  the  con- 
trary to  Trutli ;  while  in  the  person  of  Phronesis,  Wyc- 
liffe  himself  speaks  ;  and  in  setting  forth  his  judgment 
on  the  points  at  issue,  he  generally  assigns  such  reasons 
for  his  opinions  as  tend  to  expose  the  sophistry  of  Pseudis, 
and  to  sustain  the  views  of  Alithia. 


144  Wycliffe  as  Professor  of  Divinity.       [chap.  vii. 

Many  of  the  opinions  discussed  are  not  of  a  nature  to 
interest  a  modern  reader,  and  the  debates  relating  to  such 
opinions  are  valuable  chiefly  as  they  serve  to  illustrate 
the  history  of  theological  speculations.  In  many  instances, 
also,  the  method  of  the  argumentation  is  not  more  to 
our  taste  than  the  matter  of  it.  It  was  one  of  the 
peculiarities  of  the  scholastic  process  of  reasoning,  that  in 
attempting  to  establish  any  doctrine,  full  expression  was  to 
be  given  to  every  conceivable  form  of  objection  against 
it ;  and  though  it  often  happened  from  this  cause,  that  the 
disputant  raised  the  spirit  of  the  doubter,  without  being 
well  able  to  lay  it  again,  the  practice  itself  served  to  whet 
the  faculties,  and  to  bring  them  to  their  office  with  the 
greatest  degree  of  circumspection  and  force.  Thus  in  the 
Trialogus,  the  language  of  Pseudis  gives  expression  to  the 
captious  and  sceptical  spirit  of  the  middle  age  on  the 
great  questions  relating  to  philosophy,  morals,  and  theo- 
logy ;  while  the  speeches  of  Alithia  and  Phronesis  embody 
the  sounder  views  of  those  times  on  such  subjects  ;  and 
along  with  the  opinions  generally  received,  come  those 
bolder  utterances,  which  distinguish  the  writings  of 
Wycliife,  as  those  of  a  reformer.  But  the  argument  is 
conducted,  especially  in  the  earlier  part  of  the  treatise, 
and  as  relating  to  its  more  obscure  topics,  in  the  prescribed 
scholastic  form,  the  method  of  reasoning,  and  the  techni- 
cal expressions  frequently  recurring  in  it,  being  such  as 
have  no  place  even  in  the  most  scientific  treatises  on 
philosophy  or  theology  in  our  own  age.      In  one  respect. 


A.  D.  1372.]     The  Reformer  s  Place  ws  a  Schoolman.        J  45 

indeed,  the  works  of  the  ancient  schoolmen  bear  a  strong 
resemblance  to  our  later  literature,  inasmuch  as  there  is 
very  little  in  the  speculations  of  the  modern  sceptic  which 
may  not  be  found  in  the  writings  of  those  middle-age 
churchmen.  In  some  instances  the  polemic  may  have 
secretly  sympathized  with  the  freedom  of  thought  which 
he  affected  to  condemn  ;  but,  in  general,  the  atheist,  the 
infidel,  and  the  heretic,  were  imaginary  foes,  conjured 
up  that  the  militant  ecclesiastic  might  indulge,  as  in  a 
species  of  tournament,  in  such  displays  of  his  skill  as 
should  secure  to  him  the  honours  of  a  triumph. 

That  there  should  have  been  men  during  the  middle 
age  disposed  to  bestow  a  laborious  attention  on  such  a 
system  of  dialectics,  is  not  surprizing  :  but  Wycliffe  was 
a  man  of  earnest  piety,  of  an  impassioned  temperament, 
with  a  mind  eminently  practical,  and  was  intent  through 
life  on  bringing  about  great  practical  reforms.  Neverthe- 
less, if  we  may  credit  the  testimony  of  enemies  in  his 
favour,  even  that  of  the  most  bitter  among  them,  we 
must  believe  that  no  man  of  his  age  was  more  deeply 
learned,  or  more  thoroughly  skilled  in  the  sciences  of  the 
schoolmen.  According  to  Knighton,  a  contemporary  and 
an  adversary,^ — "  as  a  theologian,  he  was  the  most  eminent 
'  in  the  day  ;  as  a  philosopher,  second  to  none  ;  and  as  a 
'  schoolman  incomparable.  He  made  it  his  great  aim,  with 
*  learned  subtlety,  and  by  the  profundity  of  his  own  genius, 

*  Henry  de   Knighton  de  Eventibus  Angliae,  col.  2644.  Leland  de 

L 


146  Wycliffe  as  Professor  of  Divinity,      [chap,  vn. 


^  to  surpass  the  genius  of  other  men/  Instances,  indeed, 
are  not  wanting,  in  which  the  speculative  and  the  practi- 
cal, the  abstract  and  the  impassioned,  have  been  united  in 
strong  proportions  in  the  same  man.  In  Pascal,  that 
purely  intellectual  concentration,  which  is  so  necessary  to 
success  in  the  exact  sciences,  was  combined  with  the 
imagination  of  the  poet,  and  with  the  aspirations  of  the 
saint.  But  opposites  of  this  nature,  meet  in  something 
like  equal  apportionments,  in  the  weak,  much  more 
frequently  than  in  the  strong — and  among  the  reformers, 
it  is  in  the  genius  of  Calvin  that  we  see,  in  this  respect, 
the  nearest  resemblance  to  the  mind  of  Wycliffe. 

The  first  and  second  books  of  the  Trialogus,  are  the 
least  extended,  and  the  least  valuable.  The  third  and 
fourth  books  embrace  morp  than  three-fourths  of  the 
whole  treatise,  and  abound  in  matter  more  or  less  interest- 
ing to  every  sincere  protest  ant. 

We  may  suppose,  then,  that  announcement  has  been 
made,  in    due   form,  and  by  the  proper  authority,  that 


Script.  Brit.  379.  '  This  is  certain  and  cannot  be  denied,  but  that  he, 
being  public  reader  of  Divinity  in  Oxford,  was,  for  the  rude  time 
wherein  he  lived,  famously  reputed  for  a  great  clerk  a  deep  school- 
man, and  no  less  expert  in  all  kind  of  philosophy  : — -the  which  doth 
not  only  appear  by  his  own  most  famous  and  learned  writings  and 
monuments,  but  also  by  the  confession  of  Walden,  his  most  cruel  and 
bitter  enemy  ;  who  in  a  certain  epistle  written  unto  Pope  Martin  the 
Fifth,  saith  that  he  was  wonderfully  astonished  at  his  most  strong 
arguments,  with  the  places  of  authority  which  he  had  gathered,  and 
with  the  veheraency  and  force  of  his  reasons.'     Foxe,  1.  .554. 


A.  D.  1372.]  Substance  of  Lectures.  147 

John  de  WycliiFe  has  taken  his  degree  as  Sanctce 
Theologies  Professor  ;  and  that  this  is  followed  by  an 
announcement  from  Dr.  WycliiFe  himself,  stating  that  it 
is  his  intention  to  lecture  on  theology.  He  mentions  the 
place  in  which  he  hopes  to  meet  such  students  as  may 
be  disposed  to  attend,  and  fixes  the  hour.  At  the  appointed 
time  you  make  your  way  to  the  street,  and  the  school,  or 
house,  which  have  been  named.  You  take  your  place 
in  the  apartment  which  serves  the  purpose  of  a  lecture- 
room.  The  persons  assembled  consist  mostly  of  young 
men,  but  you  see  some  older  heads,  long  familiar  to 
Oxford,  among  them.  At  one  end  of  the  room,  is  the 
professor's  chair,  on  a  slightly  elevated  platform  ;  and  at 
the  time  fixed  Dr.  Wyclifi*e,  accompanied  on  this  occasion 
by  some  personal  friends,  makes  his  appearance,  and, 
amidst  expressions  of  welcome,  takes  his  seat. 

The  professor  commences  by  reminding  his  auditory  of 
the  importance  of  the  subject  to  which  their  attention 
will  be  invited,  and  of  the  spirit  in  which  it  behoves  them 
to  address  themselves  to  such  inquiries.  His  first  topic, 
as  might  be  expected,  is  the  argument  for  the  being  of  a 
God.  The  professor  reasons  in  the  course  of  this  lecture 
to  demonstrate  that  the  Divine  Being  exists,  and  exists 
as  '  the  first  cause  of  all  existence.'  You  are  sufiiciently 
interested  to  continue  your  attendance  ;  and  you  listen 
from  day  to  day,  as  he  endeavours  to  show — that  the 
Divine  nature  has  of  necessity  precedence  in  being  to  all 
other  natures  ;  that  God  not  only  exists,  but  that  he  must 

L  2 


148  Wycliffe  as  Professor  of  Divinity,      [chap.  vh. 

be  *  whatever  it  is  better  to  be  than  not  to  be  ; '  and  as  he 
deduces  from  this  conclusion  the  necessary  existence  of  the 
Divine  Perfections — nothing  being  more  certain,  than 
that  it  is  better  that  the  Divine  Being  should  be  just,  wise, 
omnipotent,  and  the  like,  than  that  he  should  be  wanting 
in  such  excellence.  You  may  be  more  bewildered  than 
edified  as  he  attempts  to  show,  by  pushing  this  reasoning 
somewhat  further,  that  the  Divine  Nature  must  not  only 
be  a  unity,  but  a  trinity  in  unity  ;  and  you  may  feel  that 
you  have  ascended  to  the  thickest  cloud  of  metaphysics 
while  you  listen  to  the  discoursing  of  the  professor  about 
the  'potentia '  of  the  Divine  Nature,  as  being  God  the 
Father  ;  the  '  notitia/  or  the  power  of  self-knowledge,  as 
denoting  God  the  Son  ;  and  the  '  quietatio  ' — the  repose, 
the  calm  rest  of  the  Divine  essence,  as  God  the  Holy  Ghost. 
But  you  find  him  careful  to  explain  the  purely  metaphy- 
sical sense  in  which  the  term  person  is  used  in  this  con- 
nexion. Nevertheless,  to  the  above  properties  of  the 
Divine  Nature  the  term  person  is  applied,  and  these  three 
persons  are  described  as  co-equal  and  co-eternal.  '  These 
'  three  persons,'  you  hear  him  say,  '  are  one  first  cause,  as 
'  they  are  one  God  ;  and  not  three  causes,  as  they  are  not 
'  three  Gods.'  Touching  on  the  doctrine  of  ^  procession,' 
he  says,  it  is  in  the  sense  of  '  causation,'  and  not  in  the 
sense  of  '  divinity'  that  God  can  be  said  to  be  '  the  cause 
of  God.'  But  if  you  regard  such  speculations  as  being 
much  more  subtle  than  wise  ;  you  are  more  alive  to  what 
is  passing   when  the  '  Evangelical  Doctor,' — as  he  soon 


A.  D.  1372.]  Substance  of  Lectures.  149 

came  to  be  called — denounces  the  authority  of  tradition, 
exposes  the  folly  of  resting  upon  it,  and  reiterates,  on  the 
authority  of  St.  Augustine,  that  if  there  be  any  truth,  it 
is  in  the  Scripture,  and  that  there  is  no  truth  to  be  found 
in  the  schools,  that  may  not  '  be  found  in  more  excellence' 
in  the  Bible. 

We  have  now  reached  the  end  of  the  professor's  first 
course.  In  the  next,  your  attention  is  to  be  directed  from 
the  existence  and  the  perfections  of  the  Deity,  to  the 
manifestation  of  them  in  his  works.  The  origin  of  the 
world,  and  the  constitution  of  created  things  generally, 
are  now  to  be  the  theme  of  discourse.  The  powers  of  the 
mind,  in  their  relation  to  the  body,  and  to  the  outward 
universe,  are  now  to  be  matters  of  enquiry — including 
some  speculations  on  the  nature,  the  gradations,  and  the 
fall  of  angels,  and  concerning  the  foreknowledge  and 
pre-ordination  of  things  by  the  Almighty  in  its  relation  to 
the  ends  of  his  moral  government.  For  a  time,  however, 
you  find  the  investigations  of  this  second  course  to  be 
scarcely  less  perplexing  and  abstract  than  those  of  the 
first.  But  you  are  pleased  to  see  as  you  proceed,  that  Dr. 
Wycliffe  is  a  man  who  dares  to  think  for  himself  in 
philosophy,  no  less  than  in  theology  and  religion.  He  has 
no  faith  either  in  astrology  or  in  alchemy  :  and  by  that 
intelligent  scepticism  he  places  himself  some  centuries 
in  advance  of  his  age.  He  tells  you,  that,  in  his  judg- 
ment, the  current  delusions  on  these  subjects  had  done 
much  to  injure  the  science  of  medicine,  and  hardly  less 


J  50  Wycliffe  as  Professor  of  Divinity,      [chap.  vh. 

to  detract  from  the  certainty  and  authority  of  '  the  vener- 
able science  of  theology/  The  lecturer  treats  in  this  course 
on  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  as  a  doctrine  to  be  deduced 
from  reason  :  and  on  this  theme  the  professor  expatiates 
after  this  wise. 

'  Sober  men  entertain  no  doubt,  but  that  the  soul  of 
'  man  is  immortal  :  and  since  it  is  in  the  soul  that  we 
'  find  the  identity  of  the  man,  it  follows  that  the  man 
'  must  be  immortal.  For  this  reason  it  was,  that  apostles 
'  underwent  death  with  such  courage  and  boldness.  To 
'  them,  the  imprisonment  and  burden  of  the  flesh,  was  an 
'  irksome  restraint  and  oppression,  and  they  could  there- 
'  fore  rejoice  to  meet  death  in  a  just  cause.' 

'  But  philosophers  assign  many  reasons  whereby  to 
'  establish  this  opinion.  In  the  first  place,  we  are  taught 
'  by  Aristotle,  and  in  truth  by  common  experience,  that 
'  there  is  a  certain  energy  in  the  mind  of  man  that 
'  is  imperishable.  But  no  energy  or  operation  can  have 
'  more  prominence  than  is  in  its  subject ; — now  the  sub- 
'  ject  in  this  case  is  the  mind  or  soul,  and  that  therefore 
'  must  be  imperishable.  Aristotle  gives  weight  to  his 
'  reasoning  on  this  point,  by  adducing  in  its  favour  the 
'  intellect  of  man,  which  so  far  from  being  weakened, 
'  is  rather  invigorated  by  the  decay  of  the  body — for  there 
'  is  an  increase  of  keenness  in  the  speculative  intellect 
'  of  the  old,  even  when  every  corporeal  faculty  has  failed 
'  them.  This  perceptive  faculty  must  have  a  foundation 
V  of  some  sort  to  rest  upon,  and  a  foundation  of  a  nature 


A.  D.  1872.]  Substance  of  Lectures.  151 


not  to  require  such  an  instrument  as  the  body.  We 
therefore  place  the  human  intellect  above  all  the  animal 
faculties.  For  in  those  faculties  the  brute  surpasses 
man,  as  the  poet  saith,  who  shows  it  from  experience 
— "  the  boar  excels  us  in  hearing,  the  spider  in  touch, 
the  vulture  in  scent,  the  lynx  in  sight,  the  ape  in  the 
sense  of  tasting."  And  since  man  does  not  surpass 
animals  in  merely  animal  sense,  we  are  shut  up  to  the 
conclusion  that  his  excellence  lies  in  intellect.  But 
where  would*  be  his  advantage  if  he  must  part  even 
with  this  at  death  ?  In  such  case  would  not  God  seem 
to  cast  contempt  on  his  favoured  offspring  ?  We  con- 
clude therefore  that  man  hath  an  understanding  which 
he  takes  away  from  the  body,  as  being  of  himself,  and 
which  abides  for  ever.  Furthermore,  man  has  within  him- 
self the  natural  desire  to  live  for  ever,  and  the  wiser 
men  are,  the  more  do  they  thus  feel,  and  give  their 
testimony  to  this  truth.  Since,  then,  nature  is  not  to  be 
frustrated  in  a  purpose  of  such  moment,  it  is  manifest 
that  there  is  in  man,  according  to  nature,  a  certain 
understanding  that  exists  for  ever — so  man  is  immortal. 
'  In  respect  to  every  man  we  must  come  to  this  con- 
clusion. For  if  we  affirm  that  immortality  belongs  to 
the  nature  of  any  one  individual,  we  must  affirm  that 
it  is  inherent  in  every  individual  of  the  like  nature, 
otherwise  it  would  not  be  inherent  by  nature,  but  by 
chance.  Since  then  man  has  a  longing  to  exist  together 
with  God,  as  the  noblest  and  most  natural  limit  of  his 


152  Wycliffe  as  Professor  of  Divinity,     [chap.  vn. 

desires,  no  reason  can  be  assigned,  apart  from  his  own 
demerit,  that  should  hinder  the  accomplishment  of  such 
a  hope,  especially  when  we  remember  that  the  destru- 
tion  of  the  body  does  not  annihilate,  but  rather  gladdens 
the  soul.  Philosophers,  accordingly,  and  natural  reason, 
teach  us,  that  it  is  well  to  die  for  the  public  good,  and 
to  avoid  what  is  disgraceful  and  criminal.  But  this 
preference  could  not  be  shewn  to  be  reasonable,  except 
as  the  man  who  so  dies  can  be  said  to  possess  a  life 
after  this  life.  Of  this  sort  are  the  many  reasons, 
amounting  almost  to  demonstration,  which  have  often 
induced  the  wisest  men  to  die  for  the  good  of  others. 
In  such  a  case  they  have  not  died  in  vain,  for  then 
would  they  have  been  the  most  senseless  and  wretched 
of  men — in  common  with  many  beside  who  persevere 
in  virtue  to  the  end  of  their  days.  Another  kind  of 
reward  must,  in  the  end,  be  assigned  to  these  persons, 
by  an  all-bountiful  Deity,  who  has  determined  that 
they  should  die  in  a  course  of  virtue  ;  and  that  reward 
to  them  must  be,  not  in  this  life,  but  in  a  life  to  come. 
And  so  it  follows  that  the  soul  of  man  will  survive  the 
death  of  the  body.  And  inasmuch  as  the  Scripture  is 
full  of  testimony  to  this  truth,  it  is  most  necessary  that 
man  should  embrace  it.  It  is  just  as  binding  on  the 
Christian  that  he  should  believe  that  the  soul  will 
exist  after  this  life,  as  that  we  should  believe  that  God 
is,  and  that  he  is  the  rewarder  of  the  good.'  ^ 

^  Trialogus,  Lib.  II.  c.  viii. 


A.  D.  1372.]  Suhstance  of  Lectures.  153 

So  does  our  preceptor  reason  to  prove  the  immortality 
of  the  soul,  not  with  a  logic  that  can  be  deemed  in- 
vulnerable, but  with  a  cogency  quite  as  great  as  learned 
men  have  commonly  brought  to  the  subject.  But  this 
second  course  of  lectures  is  followed  by  a  third,  in  which 
the  professor  enters  on  the  questions  of  theology  and 
morals  as  presented  in  Scripture — where  they  come  up  as 
the  teachings  of  authority,  and  not  merely  as  questions 
of  reason.  Here  the  first  lecture  is  '  on  the  virtues,^  that 
term  being  used  to  denote,  not  merely  the  dispositionSy 
but  the  powers  of  the  mind.  But  as  we  listen,  we  feel 
that  on  this  subject  the  subtleties  of  Aristotle  come  too 
much  into  the  place  of  the  simplicity  of  St.  Paul.  The 
next  lecture  is  on  faith.  Here  the  professor  is  more  intel- 
ligible. The  term  faith,  he  observes,  is  sometimes  used 
to  denote  the  act  of  believing,  sometimes  a  believing 
habit  of  mind,  and  sometimes  the  truth  which  is  believed. 
There  is,  you  hear  him  say,  a  faith  which  is  defective,  as 
that  of  devils,  who  believe  and  tremble  ;  and  another 
kind  of  faith,  which  grows  to  completeness,  because  it 
works  by  love.  This  love  belongs  to  the  heart  of  all 
men  who  are  true  believers  ;  and  all  who  have  it  not,  are 
in  a  sense  unbelievers.  There  are  three  properties  per- 
taining to  faith.  First,  that  it  relates  wholly  to  truth 
— truth  which  the  believers  should  defend  even  to  the 
death.  Second,  it  belongs  to  faith  that  its  object  should 
be  of  such  a  nature  as  not  to  admit  of  demonstration — 
that  it  should  be  obscure  to  the  eye  of  sense,  for  we  can- 


154  Wycliffe  as  Professor  of  Divinity,      [chap.  vn. 

not  be  said  to  believe  in  that  which  we  see.  Thirdly, 
faith  is  the  foundation,  or  substance,  which  gives  the  pil- 
grim power  to  rest  in  the  objects  of  his  belief — the  sub- 
stance of  things  hoped  for,  the  evidence  of  things  not 
seen. 

Our  professor  next  extends  his  discourse  from  faith,  to 
hope,  and  charity.  Hope,  he  says,  is  distinguished  from 
faith  in  three  respects.  First,  hope  has  regard  only  to 
the  realizing  of  some  future  good,  but  faith  has  respect 
to  truth  universal,  always  existing  as  such.  Secondly, 
hope  falls  short  of  that  evidence  and  knowledge  concern- 
ing its  objects  which  belongs  to  faith,  resting  in  a 
medium  between  doubting  and  believing.  Thirdly,  hope 
has  reference  only  to  the  good  which  is  possible  to  the 
person  hoping  ;  faith,  on  the  other  hand,  has  respect  to 
things  which  may  be  advantageous  or  disadvantageous  to 
the  person  who  believes. 

But  the  virtue,  says  the  professor,  especially  necessary 
to  the  Christian  pilgrim,  is  charity.  Without  charity  no 
man  can  enter  heaven.  It  is  the  wedding-garment,  the 
want  of  which  must  bring  condemnation  in  the  last 
judgment.  True  charity  consists  in  loving  God  with  all 
the  heart,  and  soul,  and  mind — a  commandment  which, 
though  first  and  greatest,  is  but  poorly  observed  by  our 
fallen  and  unhappy  race.  The  second  command  is  like 
the  first : — That  we  love  all  the  works  of  God,  and  espe- 
cially that  we  love  our  neighbour  as  ourselves.  We  all 
profess  to  be  mindful  of  this  charity  one  towards  another, 


A.  D.  1372.]  Substance  of  Lectures.  155 


but  our  actions  say  the  contrary,  and  it  is  fitting  that 
men  should  believe  in  our  actions,  more  than  in  our  words. 
"We  may  test  our  love  to  the  law  of  God  by  three  things 
— by  our  attention  to  it,  our  observance  of  it,  and  our 
readiness  to  defend  it.     The  things  to  which  we  attend 
most,  we  love  most  ;  and  who  is  there  now-a-days  who 
does   not   think   more   of  that  which  may  '  bring   him 
money,'  than  of  that  which  may  fit  him  for  becoming 
obedient  to  God's  law  ?     But  is  this  to  be  in  charity  ?    Is 
it  not  written — "  Charity  seeketh  not  her  own  ? "     So  in 
substance  does  the  reformer  discourse  to  his  pupils  from 
the  chair — and  becoming  more  earnest  as  he  proceeds, 
he  says — '  Let  us  see  now,  whether  the  man  calling  him- 
self a  Christian  pilgrim,  is  more  anxious  about  his  own 
private  advantage,  than  about  obedience  to  the  law  of 
Christ.     When  so  judged,  it  is  plain  that  the  greater 
portion  of  mankind  are  devoid  of  charity,  and  if  a  man 
be  so  rooted  in  this  habit  of  perverseness,  by  reason  of 
his  continued  failure  in  attention  to,   and  obedience  of 
the   Divine  Law,  who   can  doubt  whether  that  man 
should  be  deemed  a  heretic  or  not.     And  as  to  the  de- 
fence of  this  law,  if  we  look  to  the  higher  orders,  who 
can  hesitate  to  say,   that  not  only  the  laity,  but  still  \ 
more  our  prelates,  show  much  greater  concern  to  pro- 
tect their  private  interests,  than  to  uphold  the  law  of  ; 
Christ.     If  this  were  not  so,  they  surely  would  destroy, 
as  far  as  they  have  power,  whatever  is  opposed  to  that 
law  ;  but  we  everywhere  see  both  prelates  and   civil 


156  Wycliffe  as  Professor  of  Divinity,      [chap.  vii. 

dignitaries  exalting  and  defending  the  laws  and  inte- 
rests of  men,  placing  them  before  the  law  of  God. 
Hence  we  see  the  civil  law  executed  with  such  scrupul- 
ousness, a  trifling  amount  of  evidence  being  sufficient 
to  bring  down  penalties  upon  anything  that  infringes  on 
the  good  of  society.  From  the  far  greater  pains  which 
men  thus  take,  to  put  merely  human  laws  into  execu- 
tion, we  see  plainly  the  great  preponderance  they  have 
in  men's  estimation,  and  how  false  is  the  assertion  of 
such  men,  when  they  pretend  that  they  love  God  with 
all  their  heart.  In  truth,  all,  or  the  greater  number, 
among  our  religious  orders  will  fall  under  this  condem- 
nation in  the  day  of  the  Son  of  Man  ;  inasmuch  as  they 
all  seek  their  own,  or  the  interests  of  their  own  order, 
neglecting  the  defence  of  the  divine  law.  Christ  wished 
his  law  to  be  observed  willingly,  freely,  that  in  such 
obedience  men  might  find  happiness.  Hence  he  ap- 
pointed no  civil  punishment  to  he  inflicted  on  transgres- 
sors of  his  commandments,  but  left  the  persons  neglecting 
them  to  a  suffering  more  severe,  that  would  come  after  the 
day  of  judgment.' 
In  such  utterances  we  find  Wyclifie  the  schoolman,  giv- 
ing place,  with  advantage,  to  Wycliife  the  reformer.  The 
lectures  which  follow,  treat  of  the  nature  of  sin,  and 
touch  on  the  distinction  commonly  made  between  venial 
and  mortal  sins.  These  terms,  says  the  professor,  are 
commonly  in  the  mouth,  not  only  of  the  people,  but  of 
the  prelates  also  ;  men  '  who  know  better  how  to  extort 


A.  D.  1872] 


Substance  of  Lectures. 


157 


money  for  sins,  than  how  to  cleanse  any  man  from 
them,  or  how  to  distinguish  between  the  mortal  and 
the  venial,  about  which  they  babble  so  much/  The 
scriptures,  he  declares,  know  nothing  of  this  distinction. 
A  sin  may  be  called  mortal,  when,  according  to  the 
judgment  of  God,  it  is  worthy  of  death  ;  and  thus  it  is 
the  sin  of  final  impenitence  only,  that  is,  the  sin  against 
the  Holy  Ghost — that  is  properly  mortal.  But  any 
other  sin,  inasmuch  as  it  is  a  sin  that  may  be  pardoned, 
may  be  called  venial.  But  as  those  actual  sins  which 
extinguish  divine  grace,  cannot  be  determined  by  our 
limited  knowledge,  and  we  are  thus  left  in  ignorance 
as  to  what  sins  committed  in  our  pilgrimage  may  be 
venial,  and  what  mortal,  we  are  bound  to  avoid  all 
sin  whatsoever,  seeing  that  we  are  aware,  in  a  general 
way,  of  its  evil  consequences,  but  know  little  of  its  real 
enormity.  The  believer  may  judge  somewhat  of  the  evil 
of  sin,  from  the  fact  that  he  owes  to  God  an  infinite 
gratitude,  and  the  greater  the  gratitude  due,  the  greater 
must  be  the  guilt  of  failure.  So  that  the  evil  of  every 
sin  is  infinite.  The  greater  the  person  against  whom  a 
sin  is  committed,  the  greater  is  the  sin  ;  and  so  sin  is 
infinite  as  God  is  infinite.  The  measure  in  which  God 
should  be  sought,  is  the  measure  in  which  sin  should 
be  avoided;  but  God  is  infinitely  worthy  to  be  sought 
unto,  therefore  sin  is  infinitely  fit  to  be  avoided,  and  an 
infinite  evil  when  committed.' 
To  the  ears  of  English  students  in  1372,  some  of  these 


158  Wy cliff e  as  Professor  of  Divinity.      [chap.  vu. 

sayings  would  be  new  and  startling.  This  distinction 
between  venial  and  mortal  sin,  was  of  high  moment  in 
the  discipline  of  Romanism.  Good  people  who  were 
duly  in  their  place  at  the  confessional,  were  not  allowed 
to  be  in  ignorance  on  that  point.  The  tax  on  absolution, 
was  great  or  small,  as  the  sin  to  be  'assoiled'  was  ac- 
counted great  or  small.  We  can  therefore  imagine  the 
wakefulness  depicted  in  the  countenances  of  those  who 
listen  to  Wycliffe,  as  he  thus  speaks.  We  see  the  signi- 
ficant glance  or  smile  which  passes  from  one  to  the  other, 
as  the  '  babble '  of  prelates  on  this  matter  is  thus  flung 
aside,  and  as  the  lash  is  applied  to  men  who  knew  how 
'  to  extort  money  for  sins,'  while  doing  little  to  reform 
the  sinner. 

In  his  next  lecture,  which  is  on  the  subject  of  ^  grace,' 
this  vein  is  indulged  still  more  freely.  From  the  great 
evil  of  sin,  he  infers,  that  God  only  can  forgive  sin  ;  and 
speaking  of  the  '  indulgences  '  so  commonly  dispensed  by 
the  church  authorities  of  the  age,  he  says,  '  It  is  plain  to 
'  me,  that  these  prelates,  in  granting  indulgences,  do  com- 
'  monly  blaspheme  the  wisdom  of  God,  pretending,  in 
'  their  avarice  and  folly,  that  they  understand  what  they 
^  really  know  not.'  His  voice  is  raised,  and  his  manner 
becomes  impassioned,  as  he  denounces  the  ^  sensual  simon- 
ists '  of  the  times,  who  '  chatter  on  the  subject  of  grace, 
•  as  though  it  were  something  to  be  bought  or  sold  like 
'  an  ox  or  an  ass,  who,  by  so  doing,  learn  to  make  a  mer- 
'  chandize  of  selling  pardons,  the  devil  having  availed 


A.D  1372.] 


Substance  of  Lectures. 


159 


'  himself  of  an  error  in  the  schools,  to  introduce,  after 
'  this  manner,  heresies  in  morals/  So  far,  he  contends, 
is  morality  from  admitting  of  such  doings,  that  it  rests  on 
a  foundation  in  the  nature  of  things,  anterior  to  mere 
will  in  marr,  or  in  his  Maker.  Its  principles  are  immuta- 
ble and  eternal.  It  is  right,  not  because  God  wills  it,  but 
God  wills  it  because  it  is  right.  It  is  not  possible  there 
should  be  a  divine  mandate  calling  upon  us  to  violate  the 
divine  laws:  but  if  there  were,  '  a  man  would  not  be  bound, 
in  such  cases,  even  to  obey  God.'  Such  is  the  professor's 
doctrine  as  to  the  foundation  of  right  and  of  moral  obli- 
gation :  though  you  often  hear  him  appeal  to  the  con- 
nexion between  virtuous  being  and  well-being,  as  furnish- 
ing a  strong  inducement  to  obedience,  an  inducement 
that  cannot  be  in  itself  wrong,  if  kept  within  its  proper 
limits,  inasmuch  as  it  comes  from  the  divine  laws,  and 
must,  therefore,  be  of  divine  appointment. 

On  another  day,  you  hear  the  reformer  address  his 
pupils  after  this  manijer.  '  All  Christians  then  should  be 
'  the  soldiers  of  Christ.  But  it  is  plain  that  many  are 
'  chargeable  with  great  neglect  of  this  duty,  inasmuch  as 
'  the  fear  of  losing  temporal  goods,  and  worldly  friend- 
'  ships,  and  apprehensions  about  life  and  fortune,  prevent 
'  so  great  a  number  from  being  faithful  in  setting  forth 
'  the  cause  of  God,  from  standing  manfully  for  its  defence, 
'  or,  if  need  be,  from  suffering  death  in  its  behalf  From 
'  such  a  source  also  comes  that  subterfuge  of  Lucifer, 
'  argued  by  some  of  our  modern  hypocrites,  who  say,  that 


160  Wyclifie  as  Professor  of  Divinity,      [chap.  vh. 

to  suffer  martyrdom  cannot  be  a  duty  now,  as  it  was  in 
the  primitive  church,  since  in  our  time,  all  men,  or  at 
least  the  great  majority,  are  believers,  so  that  the  tyrant 
who  may  persecute  Christ  to  the  death  in  his  members, 
is  no  more,  and  this  is  the  cause  why  our  day  has  not 
its  martyrs  as  formerly.  But  in  this  pretext,  we,  no 
doubt,  see  a  device  of  Satan  to  shield  sin.  For  the  be- 
liever in  maintaining  the  law  of  Christ,  should  be  pre- 
pared, as  his  soldier,  to  endure  all  things  at  the  hands 
of  the  satraps  of  this  world  ;  declaring  boldly  to  Pope 
and  Cardinals,  to  Bishops  and  Prelates,  how  unjustly, 
according  to  the  teaching  of  the  gospel,  they  serve  God 
in  their  offices,  subjecting  those  committed  to  their  care, 
to  great  injury  and  peril,  such  as  must  bring  on  them 
a  speedy  destruction  in  one  way  or  another.  All  this 
applies  indeed  to  temporal  lords,  but  not  in  so  great  a 
degree  as  to  the  clergy ;  for  as  the  abomination  of  de- 
solation begins  with  a  perverted  clergy,  so  the  consola- 
tion begins  with  a  converted  clergy.  Hence  we  Chris- 
tians need  not  visit  pagans,  to  convert  them  by  enduring 
martyrdom  in  their  behalf;  we  have  only  to  declare 
with  constancy  the  law  of  God  before  Gcesarian  prelates, 
and  straightway  the  flower  of  martyrdom  will  he  at 
hand.' 

Wycliffe  teaches,  that  one  main  cause  of  this  corrupt 
state  of  the  church,  consists  in  its  great  wealth,  which 
began  to  exceed  all  wholesome  limitation,  from  the  time 
when  Pope  Silvester  accepted  an  imperial  endowment 


A.  D.  1372.]  Substance  of  Lectures.  161 

from  the  hands  of  Constantine.  Sylvester,  indeed,  or  who- 
ever it  was  that  accepted  of  such  aid,  may  have  sinned 
little,  if  compared  with  many  of  his  successors,  as  we 
can  suppose  him  to  have  sinned  in  great  part  through 
ignorance.  Before  that  time,  says  the  professor,  men  of 
an  apostolic  spirit  rose  to  eminence  in  the  church,  and  only 
in  the  measure  in  which  they  could  make  themselves 
useful  to  it.     *  But  now,  by  reason  of  endowments,  the 

*  least  worthy  are  often  the  most  elevated,  many  foolishly 

*  undertaking  to  serve  the  Church  for  the  sake  of  gain, 

*  beyond  their  powers  of  service  :  and  by  so  doing,  unfit 
'  themselves  for  being  useful  to  the  Church,  and  become 
'  heedless  of  the  teachings  and  commands  of  Christ  in 

*  regard  to  temporal  things,  and  the  proper  manner  of 
'  using  them/ 

It  is  in  the  following  terms  that  Wycliffe  speaks,  at 
this  stage  in  the  history  of  his  opinions,  on  the  subject 
of  saint-worship.  '  Whoever  entreats  a  saint,  should  direct 
'  his  prayer  to  Christ  as  Grod,  not  to  the  saint  specially, 

*  but  to  Christ.  Nor  doth  the  celebration,  or  festival  of  a 
'  saint,  avail  anything,  except  in  so  far  as  it  may  tend  to 

*  the  magnifying  of  Christ,  inciting  us  to  honour  him,  and 

*  increasing  our  love  to  him.  If  there  be  any  celebration 
'  in  honour  of  the  saints,  which  is  not  kept  within  these 
'  limits,  it  is  not  to  be  doubted  that  cupidity,  or  some 

*  other  evil  cause  has  given  rise  to  such  services.  Hence, 
'  not  a  few  think  it  would  be  well  for  the  Church,  if  all 
'  festivals  of  that  nature  were  abolished,  and  those  only 


162  Wy cliff e  as  Professor  of  Divinity.      [chap.  vu. 

'  retained  which  have  respect  immediately  to  Christ.  For 
'  then,  they  say,  the  memory  of  Christ  would  be  kept 
'  more  freshly  in  the  mind,  and  the  devotions  of  the  com- 
^  mon  people  would  not  be  unduly  distributed  among  the 

*  members  of  Christ.  But,  however  this  may  be,  it  is 
'  certain  that  the  service  paid  to  any  saint,  must  be  use- 

*  less,  except  as  it  incites  to  the  love  of  Christ,  and  is  of 
'  a  nature  to  secure  the  benefit  of  his  mediation.  For 
'  the  scriptures  assure  us  that  Christ  is  the  Mediator  be- 
'  tween  God  and  man.  Hence,  many  are  of  opinion,  that 
'  when  prayer  was  directed  only  to  that  middle  person  of 

*  the  Trinity,  for  spiritual  help,  the  church  was  more 
'  flourishing,  and  made  greater  advances  than  it  does 
'  now,  when  many  new  intercessors  have  been  found  out 
'  and  introduced.' 

The  men  who  hearkened  as  WyclifFe  thus  spoke,  must 
have  felt  that  cautious  as  seemed  the  language  of  the 
public  instructor,  this  doctrine,  if  generally  embraced, 
was  of  a  nature  to  give  a  new  complexion  and  a  new 
soul  to  the  religion  of  Christendom.  Saints  and  the 
Virgin,  as  objects  of  worship,  had  come  almost  every- 
where into  the  place  of  Christ  and  of  God.  Old  Greece 
or  Old  Rome  never  presented  a  more  palpable  system  of 
polytheism,  than  obtained  among  the  nations  of  Europe, 
under  the  name  of  Christianity,  while  the  Oxford  pro- 
fessor was  thus  lecturing.  It  was  not  a  small  thing  in 
that  day,  thus  to  assert  the  claims  of  the  '  One  Mediator," 
and  so  far  to  repudiate  the  pretensions  of  ^  the  many 


A.  D.  1372.]  Substance  of  Lectures.  163 

new  intercessors  that  had  been  found  out  and  introduced,' 
since  the  purer  ages  of  the  church  had  passed  away. 

WycliiFe   did   not   discourse    thus  without   being  re- 
minded of  his  danger.     Men  who  wished  him  well,  ad- 
monished him,  that  it  would  become  him,  as  the  teacher 
of  such  opinions,  to  lay  his  account  with   having   the 
'  satraps  ' — the  great  churchmen  of  the  age,  arrayed  in 
bitter  hostility  against  him.     It  might  all  be  very  true, 
that  the  doctrine  he  taught  was  the  doctrine   of  scrip- 
ture ;  but,  unhappily,  men  had  been  so  long  accustomed 
to   pay  little  regard   to   the   authority   of  that   oracle, 
that  few  were  found  who  had  the  courage  to  appeal  to  it. 
In  reply  to  such  cautions,  he  says,  '  I  have  learnt  from 
experience,  the   truth   of  what   you   say.       The   chief 
cause,  beyond  doubt,  of  the  existing  state  of  things,  is 
our  want  of  faith  in  Holy  Scripture.     We  do  not  sin- 
cerely believe  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  or  we  should 
abide  by  the  authority  of  his  word,  especially  that  of 
the  Evangelists,  as  of  infinitely  greater   weight   than 
any  other.  Inasmuch  as  it  is  the  will  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
that  our  attention  should  not  be  dispersed  over  a  large 
number  of  objects,  but  concentrated   on  one  sufficient 
source  of  instruction,  it  is  his  pleasure  that  the  books 
of  the  Old  and  New  Law  should  be  read  and  studied  ; 
and  that  men  should  not  be  taken  up  with  other  books, 
which,  true  as  they  may  be,  and  containing  even  scrip- 
ture truth,   as  they  may  by  implication,  are  not  to  be 
confided  in  without  caution   and   limitation.      Hence 

M  2 


164  Wycliffe  as  Professor  of  Divinity.       [cha.p.  vii. 

'  Augustine,  (Book  II.  de  Ordine  Rerum,)  often  enjoins 
'  it  on  his  readers,  not  to  place  any  faith  in  his  word  or 

*  writings,  except  in  so  far  as  they  have  their  foundation 

*  in  scripture,  wherein,  as  He  often  says,  are  contained 

*  all  truth,  either  directly  or  by  implication.  Of  course, 
'  we  should  judge  in  this  manner  concerning  the  writings 
'  of  other  holy  doctors,  and  much  more  concerning  the 
'  writings  of  the  Roman  church,  and  of  her  doctors  in 
'  these  later  times.     If  we  follow  this  rule,  the  scriptures 

*  will  be  held  in  becoming  reverence.  The  papal  bulls 
'  will  be  superseded,  as  they  ought  to  be.  The  venera- 
'  tion  of  men  for  the  laws  of  the  papacy,  as  well  as  for 

*  the  opinions  of  our  modern  doctors,  which,  since  the 

*  loosing  of  Satan,  they  have  been  so  free  to  promulgate, 

*  will  be  restrained  within  due  limits.  What  concern 
'  have  the  faithful  with  writings  of  this  sort,  except  as 
'  they  are  honestly  deduced  from  the  fountain  of  Scrip - 
'  ture  ?     By  pursuing  such  a  course,  it  is  not  only  in  our 

*  power  to  reduce  the  mandates  of  prelates  and  popes  to 
'  their  just  place,  but  the  errors  of  these  new  religious 
'  orders    also  might  be  corrected,  and   the   worship    of 

*  Christ  well  purified  and  elevated.' 

Such,  good  reader,  is  the  tone  of  bold  and  wholesome 
thinking,  which  found  ventilation  in  Oxford  in  1372, 
and  for  some  years  subsequent.  Young  men  who  listened 
to  such  teaching,  left  the  lecture-room,  as  we  may  sup- 
pose, in  grave  musing,  or  in  high  talk  together,  upon 
what  they  had  heard.     Many  a  night,  as  we   imagine. 


A.D.I 372.]  Effect  of  his  Lecturing,  165 

did  the  students  of  Wycliffe's  class  see  verging  into  morn- 
ing, as  they  examined  and  discussed  the  questions  which 
day  by  day  were  suggested  to  them.  Nor  did  the  talk 
end  there.  It  was  the  dinner-talk,  the  supper-talk,  the 
highway-talk — the  talk,  somehow,  to  which  every  man 
felt  himself  to  be  a  party.  We  have  loop-holes  enough 
through  which  to  look  into  those  times,  to  be  quite  sure 
that  it  was  so.  Conservative  men, — men  fixed  in  old 
habits  of  thought,  who  saw,  or  thought  they  saw  danger 
in  the  distance,  were  compelled  to  be  observant  of  what 
was  passing,  and  gave  out  their  protests  and  their 
cautions  :  while  men  of  another  order  felt  as  if  a  morn- 
ing freshness  had  come  upon  them.  These  last  were 
delighted  beyond  measure  with  the  prospect  of  seeing 
the  conventional  and  the  worn-out,  so  long  familiar  to 
them,  give  place  to  something  better  ;  and  abundant  was 
the  material  for  speech-making  in  them  which  struggled 
to  get  utterance.  Truly,  John  de  Wycliffe,  thou  art 
a  committed  man,  and  had  better  not  have  gone  so  far, 
if  thou  art  not  prepared  to  go  further.  Thou  hast 
said,  a  man  has    '  only  to  declare  with  constancy  the 

*  law  of  Christ,  before  Caesarian  prelates,  and  straight- 

*  way  the  flower  of  martyrdom  will  be  at  hand  : ' — and 
as  thou  hast  clearly  resolved  to  '  declare,'  after  that 
fashion,  we  must  suppose  that  thy  account  is  laid  with 
the  thing  *  at  hand.' 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


WYCLIFFE   AS   A   DIPLOMATIST. 


E  have  seen  that  the  Romanism  of  England 
in  the  fourteenth  century,  was  leavened  in 
no  small  degree  by  the  spirit  of  Reform.  The 
preaching  of  the  two  houses  of  parliament, 
was,  at  times,  almost  as  adverse  to  the  ambition  and  world- 
liness  of  churchmen,  as  anything  that  might  be  heard  in 
the  great  room  of  that  huge  house  of  wood,  and  plaster, 
and  thatch,  in  Oxford,  where  John  de  Wycliife  gave  his 
lectures.  In  1373,  while  the  professor  was  discoursing 
to  his  pupils  in  the  manner  we  have  shown,  the  barons 
of  England,  and  the  good  knights  and  burgesses  from  her 
counties  and  boroughs,  returned  in  great  wrath  to  their 
old  topic — the  mercenary  doings  of  the  court  of  Rome. 
The  English  parliament  had  said  to  that  court,  once  and 
again, — '  You  shall  not  send  your  *  provisors'  into  our 
'  land.     To  do    so,  and  to  defraud  English  patrons  of 


A.D.  ISTS.]     Complaints  against  the  Pa'pal  Court.  167 

*  their  right  of  presentation  by  such  means,  is  a  flagrant 
'  wrong.  The  thing  shall  not  be/  Nevertheless,  it 
seems,  the  thing  continued  to  be — and  if  we  may  credit 
the  indignant  remonstrants  who  so  spoke  in  that  year, 
both  lords  and  commons,  we  must  suppose  that  this 
abuse  had  become  greater,  in  place  of  becoming  less. 
But  what  was  to  be  done  ?  We  must  petition  the  king, 
was  the  answer.  Well — and  what  should  the  king  do  ? 
He  should  appoint  fitting  and  trusty  men  to  communicate 
with  the  said  court,  and  to  insist  that  greater  respect  be 
paid  in  that  quarter  to  our  rights  and  properties.  And 
they  so  spoke  to  the  king,  and  the  king  answered — It 
shall  be  as  you  desire. 

Commissioners  were  appointed,  consisting  of  Gilbert, 
Bishop  of  Bangor,  as  of  the  secular  clergy  ;  of  Bolton,  a 
monk  of  Dunholm,  as  of  the  religious  orders  ;  and  of 
William  de  Burton  and  John  de  Shepey,  who  might  see 
that  right  should  be  done  to  their  brotherhood  of  the 
laity.  The  papal  court,  as  we  know,  was  now  abiding  at 
Avignon.  The  pope  reigning  was  Gregory  XI.  When 
the  English  diplomatists  came  face  to  face  with  the 
Romans — or  more  properly  with  the  French — their  lan- 
guage was  : — we  claim  in  b,ehalf  of  our  sovereign  lord 
king  Edward,  and  of  his  liege  subjects  in  England, 
— '  that  the  pope  shall  abslain  from  all  '  reservations' 
'  of  benefices  in  our  English  church  ;  that  the  clergy 
'  shall  henceforth  freely  enjoy  their  election  to  their 
'  several   dignities,  and  that  in  the   case  of  electing  a 


168  Wydiffe  as  a  Diplomatist.         [chap.  vm. 

'  bishop  it  shall  be  enough  that  his  election  be  confirmed 

*  by  his  metropolitan,  as  was  the  ancient  custom.^ 

This  was  to  speak  plainly — ^leaving  no  room  for  mis- 
take. '  The  pope  must  not  think  to  reduce  the  patronage 
'  of  the  English  church  to  a  matter  of  mere  name  or  suf- 
'  ferance.  In  the  appointment  of  a  metropolitan,  some 
'  place  may  be  ceded  to  the  authority  of  his  holiness  ; 
'  but   in   the  appointment  of  ordinary  bishops,  and  of  all 

*  ecclesiastics  below  bishops,  the  authorities  of  our  nation 
^  must  be  sufficient,  and  must  not  be  disturbed  by  the 

*  coming  in  of  authority  from  your  court,  the  same  being 
'  contrary  to  justice,  and  to  '  ancient  custom  :' — we  repeat 
'  these  words  '  ancient  custom' — for  the  time  was  when 
'  such  encroachments  were  unknown  in  England  or  else- 

*  where.' 

This  blunt  English  dealing  was  met  in  a  manner  never 
wanting  to  the  corrupt  agents  of  a  corrupt  power.  It 
was  admitted  that  the  proceedings  of  the  papal  agents 
had  not  been  conducted  in  all  cases  in  the  most  orderly 
manner  possible ;  that  there  was  certainly  some  ground 
for  complaint ;  and  without  entering  on  the  difficult 
questions  involved  in  the  demands  now  made  by  the 
king  of  England,  his  majesty  might  rest  assured  that 
nothing  would  be  done  in  such  matters  which  the  good  of 
his  own  kingdom,  no  less  than  the  interest  of  the  church, 
should  not  be  found  to  warrant. 

'■  Barnes's  Ed  III.  264.  Cotton's  Abridgment,  119,  Lewis,  c.  iii. 


A.  D.  1374.]  Embassy  to  Bruges.  169 

With  words — mere  words,  of  this  sort,  the  commis- 
sioners were  obliged  to  be  content.  Not  so  the  English 
parliament.  In  the  next  year  the  reform  party  in  the 
two  houses  set  on  foot  an  enquiry  as  to  the  exact  number 
of  benefices  in  England,  which,  by  means  of  this  custom 
of  '  provisors,'  had  ceased  to  be  at  the  disposal  of  the 
patron,  and  had  passed  into  the  hands  of  foreigners. 

What  the  statistics  furnished  by  this  enquiry  amounted 
to,  we  do  not  know.  It  appears,  however,  that  a  second 
embassy  was  forthwith  appointed  to  present  a  further  and 
a  still  stronger  protest,  against  encroachments  in  this 
form.  The  first  name  in  this  second  commission  is  still 
that  of  Grilbert,  Bishop  of  Bangor.  But  the  question 
appears  to  have  arisen — how  to  give  to  this  new  commis- 
sion the  degree  of  strength  necessary  to  its  success. 

Wycliffe  had  given  evidence  of  his  learning,  patriotism, 
and  courage  in  his  disputes  with  the  religious  orders, — 
those  sworn  creatures  of  the  papacy — and  in  his  published 
argument  against  the  king  John  tribute  ;  and  just  now 
he  was  filling  all  Oxford,  and  even  England  itself,  with 
talk  and  debate  by  his  bold  protests  against  the  ambition 
and  avarice  of  the  ruling  churchmen, — protests  which 
his  prosecutors,  two  years  later,  affirmed  him  to  have 
uttered  openly  and  very  often  long  before.  The  question 
came  accordingly, — would  not  Wycliffe  be  the  man  to 
impart  the  needed  force  to  the  deputation  from  the 
court  of  England  to  the  papal  court  ?  The  answer  was. 
He  is  the  fitting  man,  and  John  de  Wycliffe  was  appointed 


170 


Wycliffe  as  a  Diplomatist. 


[chap.  VIII. 


accordingly,  and  on  being  summoned,  signified  his  readi- 
ness to  obey. 

One  could  wish  at  this  point,  that  the  papal  court 
were  not  just  now  in  its  captivity  at  Avignon.  It  would 
seem  good  rather  that  it  should  be  in  its  proper  seat, 
and  in  its  proper  freedom  at  Rome,  that  Wycliffe 
might  be  sent  thither  to  see  Romanism  in  its  natural 
centre,  and  in  its  most  natural  development.  At  all 
events  we  should  say — let  him  go  to  Avignon,  let  him 
see  what  sort  of  religiousness  it  is  which  obtains  at  the 
heart  of  the  system,  and  where  the  main  springs  of  its 
life,  such  as  it  is,  are  at  work.  But  even  this  was  not 
to  be.  The  commissioners  are  to  meet  in  the  old, 
populous,  and  wealthy  town  of  Bruges. ^ 

But  this  meeting  at  Bruges  had  its  effect  upon  the 
future.  "Wycliffe  reached  that  place  in  August  1874. 
During  the  conferences  with  the  Papal  envoys  which 
followed,  Bruges  became  the  seat  of  negotiations  between 
the  ambassadors  of  France  and  England  on  matters 
affecting  the  interests  of  the  two  nations.     The  English 


*  Rymeri  Faedera.  viii.  41.  Barnes's  Edw.  III.  866.  Foxe,  Acts 
and  Mon.  i.  560 — 562.  Grossteste,  the  famous  bishop  of  Lincoln, 
carried  some  of  his  complaints  to  the  papal  court,  but  like  most 
honest  men  returned  little  satisfied  with  what  he  saw  there.  Matt. 
Paris,  802.  *  Tired  with  the  maladministration  and  mercenariness  of 
the  Roman  See,  he  left  Rome  and  returned  into  England,  and  being 
dissatisfied  with  the  state  of  the  English  Church  at  his  arrival,  he 
designed  to  quit  his  bishopric,  and  to  retire  for  study  and  devotion.' — 
Collier,  Eccles.  Hist.  I.  458.     Not  wise— die  at  thy  vi^ork  ! 


A.  D,  1374.]         Wydiffe  and  John  of  Gaunt.  171 

ambassadors  were  the  Earl  of  Salisbury,  Sudbury,  Bishop 
of  London,  and  John  of  Gaunt,  Duke  of  Lancaster.^  Thus 
we  have  envoys  from  the  same  court,  meeting  in  the 
same  town,  in  a  foreign  land  ;  detained  there  for  a  consi- 
derable interval ;  and  these  envoys  are  Englishmen. 
These  facts  borne  in  mind,  it  will  be  seen  that  we  should 
sin  against  the  ail-but  certainty  of  the  case,  were  we  to 
be  in  doubt  as  to  the  fact  that  WycliiFe  became  known 
to  the  Duke  of  Lancaster  at  Bruges,  if  not  before. 

In  place  of  entertaining  any  distrust  on  this  point,  it  is 
easy  to  imagine  that  we  see  John  of  Gaunt  and  John 
Wycliffe  in  some  antique  apartment  of  that  ancient  town, 
where  they  are  wont  to  meet  when  the  engagements  of 
the  day  have  closed,  and  where  they  give  themselves  to 
earnest  talk  upon  those  questions  concerning  both  the 
church  and  the  state,  by  which  society  in  England  was 
then  so  much  moved.  With  such  a  picture  before  us,  it 
is  easy  to  foresee  how  it  should  have  come  to  pass  that 
two  years  afterwards,  John  of  Gaunt  is  found  ready  to 
cast  his  shield  over  Wycliffe  in  the  most  public  and 
chivalrous  manner,  when  he  saw  the  reformer  menaced 
with  the  sort  of  penalties  commonly  meted  out  to  men  of 
his  vocation. 

In  September  in  the  following  year,  we  see  something 
of  the  result  of  the  embassy  to  which  Wycliffe  was  a 
party.     Six  bulls  were  then  addressed  by  the  pope  to  the 

i  Rymer.  viii.  47  Edw.  III.  Mai  12.  49  Edw.  III.  Jan.  27,  Feb.  20. 


172  Wycliffe  as  a  Diplomatist.         [chap.  vm. 

king  of  England,  touching  the  questions  at  issue  between 
this  nation  and  the  papacy.^  In  these  instruments  it  was 
provided,  that  no  person  in  possession  of  a  benefice  in 
England  should  be  disturbed  in  such  possession  by  any 
intervention  of  authority  from  the  court  of  the  pontiff ; 
that  such  benefices  as  had  been  disposed  of  in  anticipa- 
tion of  their  vacancy  by  Urban  V.,  but  which  had  not 
yet  become  vacant,  should  be  left  to  be  filled  according  to 
presentation  by  the  patrons  of  those  benefices  ;  that  the 
titles  of  certain  clergymen  to  benefices  which  had  been 
questioned  by  the  late  pope,  should  be  confirmed  ;  and 
that  all  demand  on  the  first-fruits  of  the  livings  to  which 
the  clergymen  holding  such  titles  had  been  appointed, 
should  be  remitted  ;  and  also  that  an  assessment  should 
be  made  of  the  revenues  derived  by  certain  cardinals 
from  livings  in  England,  to  defray  the  cost  of  repairing 
the  churches,  and  other  ecclesiastical  buildings,  holden  by 
them,  and  which  had  been  allowed  to  fall  into  decay  ; — 
the  extent  of  such  assessments  to  be  determined  by  a 
jury  convened  from  the  neigbourhood  in  which  the  build- 
ings were  situate. 

By  means  of  its  officials — dark  and  prying  personages, 
who  might  be  found  spread  over  every  ecclesiastical 
district  of  the  country — the  papal  court  could  interfere  in 
the  above  manner  with  all  church  property.     The  weak 


1  Rymeri  Fsedera.  vii.  49  Edw.  iii.  3,  Sep.  1.    Cotton's  Abridgment. 
50  and  51.    Edw.  III.    Walsingham,  A.D.  1374. 


A.  D.  1376.]     Result  of  the  Embassy  to  Bruges.  173 

had  no  security  as  opposed  to  them,  and  the  strong  often 
needed  all  their  strength  to  protect  themselves  against  a 
scheme  of  plundering  so  systematic  and  so  powerful. 
We  see  from  the  above  concessions,  that  proceedings  of 
this  nature  had  become  so  shameless,  that  even  the 
papal  court,  when  the  enormity  of  its  doings  was  laid 
bare,  felt  obliged  to  admit  that  the  case  against  it  was 
such  as  could  not  be  met.  It  will  be  observed,  however, 
that  in  the  papal  documents,  the  only  admission  of  error, 
has  respect  to  certain  things  done,  not  at  all  to  the 
principle  on  which  those  things  were  said  to  have  been 
done.  The  pretence  of  the  papacy  to  authority  for  inter- 
ference with  the  rights  of  the  crown,  of  the  chapters,  and 
of  the  patrons  of  livings,  for  the  purpose  of  replenishing 
its  treasury  by  obtruding  itself  into  their  place  according 
to  occasion — that  is  not  given  up.  The  fault  of  the 
preceding  pontiff  was  not  in  acting  upon  it,  but  in  acting 
upon  it  with  an  indiscretion  little  creditable  to  his 
supposed  infallibility  :  and  the  impoverished  nation  was 
left  to  solace  itself  as  it  best  might,  from  the  implied 
assurance  that  in  future  these  schemes  of  spoliation 
would  be  carried  on  with  such  caution  and  moderation 
as  a  more  shrewd  and  calculating  policy  would  dictate. 

Grilbert,  the  Bishop  of  Bangor,  on  whom  the  chief 
responsibility  of  this  embassy  devolved,  was  translated 
immediately  after  his  return  to  the  see  of  Hereford ;  and 
in  1 389  to  that  of  St.  David's,  and  as  his  advancement  in 
both   instances  was  by  means  of  papal  pro  visors,  it  is 


174  Wycliffe  as  a  Diplomatist.         [chap.  vm. 

hardly  to  be  doubted  tbat  in  his  case  the  mission  had  been 
entrusted  to  very  improper  hands. 

It  is  manifest,  that  our  view  as  to  the  purport  of  the 
documents  thuS  obtained,  was  the  view  taken  of  them  at 
the  time,  in  this  country.  This  may  be  inferred  from  the 
fact  that  the  commissioners  were  instructed  to  prosecute 
their  negotiations  with  a  view  to  something  more  satis- 
factory. In  the  April  of  the  following  year,  the  parliament 
again  petitioned  the  king  on  this  subject ;  and  the  answer 
then  given,  was,  that  the  matters  in  dispute  were  still 
in  the  hands  of  the  commissioners  at  Bruges. 

But  the  truth  is,  the  state  of  affairs  in  England  at  this 
time,  was  not  favourable  to  any  better  result.  The  health 
of  the  aged  king  was  rapidly  declining.  His  authority 
and  influence  on  the  continent  were  almost  annihi- 
lated ;  and  at  home,  faction  brought  its  weaknesses  and 
cares.  The  papal  court  never  failed  to  make  its  own  use 
of  such  junctures.  Its  spiritual  power  has  become  strong, 
wherever  the  temporal  power  had  become  weak.  Nothing 
beyond  vague  promises  could,  in  this  instance,  be  extorted 
from  it  ;  and  those  promises,  as  usual,  were  accompanied 
by  such  conditions  as  might  furnish  a  ready  pretext  for 
resuming,  another  day,  what  had  seemed  for  the  moment 
to  have  been  abandoned.  Thus  the  pontiff  promised  that 
he  would  not  again  invade  the  rights  of  patrons  in  the 
English  church.  But  it  was  only  on  condition  that  the 
crown  should  in  future  shew  itself  duly  respectful  of  such 
rights.     Thus  the  ecclesiastical  property  of  England  was 


A.  D.  1370.]    Proceedings  of  the  ^  Good  Parliament*     175 

regarded  as  being,  at  least,  as  much  the  property  of  the 
pope  as  of  the  sovereign  ;  and  as  cases  of  questionable 
precedence  in  such  matters,  on  the  part  of  the  croAvn, 
were  sure  to  arise,  it  was  clearly  foreseen  that  it  would 
be  an  easy  thing  to  recur  to  old  practices,  whenever  the 
fitting  season  should  arrive. 

It  is  probable  that  the  nearer  insight  thus  obtained 
into  the  policy  of  the  papal  court,  gave  a  still  greater 
sharpness  to  the  strictures  of  the  reformer  on  the  spirit 
of  that  court,  and  on  the  conduct  of  all  the  parties  in 
this  country,  who  were  distinguished  as  its  supporters. 
It  may  be  too,  that  the  course  taken  by  the  Oxford  pro- 
fessor in  dealing  with  the  questions  in  debate,  had  been 
such  as  to  excite  the  suspicion  and  resentment  of  the 
agents  of  that  court,  and  to  dispose  it  to  the  course  to  which 
it  committed  itself  soon  afterwards,  as  his  prosecutor. ^ 

But,  whatever  might  be  the  feebleness  of  the  king  or 
of  the  government,  in  dealing  with  such  grievances  as 
this  embassy  was  expected  to  abolish,  the  country  was 
by  no  means  disposed  to  remain  quiet  under  the  pressure 
of  them.  In  the  parliament  of  1376,  which  obtained  the 
name  of  the  '  good  parliament,'  these  evils  were  again 


^  In  the  exchequer  account  given  in  by  Wycliffe,  he  acknowledged 
£60  received  for  his  expenses  31st.  July — charges  at  20s.  a  day,  from 
27  July,  when  he  embarked  in  London  for  Flanders,  to  14  Sept.  fol- 
lowing, on  which  day  he  returned,  £bQ — and  for  the  passage  and 
repassage  42s.  3d. ;  total  £52,  2s.  3d.  Rymeri  Faedera  vii.  p.  41.  Oxford 
Edition  of  Wycliffe's  Bible,  Pref.  p.  vii. 


176  Wycliffe  as  a  Diplomatist.         [chap.  vm. 

enforced,  and  denounced  in  the  boldest  language.  "We 
can  suppose  that  the  statistics  of  the  house  of  commons 
then  assembled  were  not  strictly  accurate,  when  it  was 
stated  in  the  petition  of  that  assembly,  that  the  kingdom, 
within  the  memory  of  the  present  generation,  had  lost 
not  less  than  two-thirds  of  its  wealth  and  population  ; 
but  it  is  instructive  to  observe  that  the  disasters,  whether 
of  war  abroad,  or  of  pestilence  and  poverty  at  home,  which 
were  regarded  as  having  changed  the  condition  of  the 
kingdom,  to  such  an  alarming  extent,  are  imputed 
mainly  to  the  mal-practices  of  popes  and  cardinals. 

In  the  preamble  to  their  petition,  the  commons  state 
that  the  taxes  paid  to  the  court  of  Rome  for  ecclesiastical 
dignities,  amounted  to  'Jive  times  more  than  is  paid  to  the 
king,  from  the  whole  produce  of  the  realm.  For  some 
one  bishopric,  or  other  dignity/  the  pope  is  said  '  to  re- 
serve to  himself,  by  way  of  translation  and  death,  three 
four,  five,  several  times :  and,  while  for  money,  the 
brokers  of  that  sinful  city,  Rome,  promote  many  caitiffs, 
being  altogether  unlearned  and  unworthy,  to  a  thou- 
sand marks  living  yearly,  the  learned  and  worthy 
can  hardly  obtain  twenty  marks,  whereby  learning  de- 
cayeth  ;  aliens  and  enemies  to  their  land,  who  never 
saw,  nor  come  to  see,  their  parishioners,  having  those 
livings,  whereby  they  despise  God's  service,  and  convey 
away  the  treasure  of  the  realm,  and  are  worse  than 
Jews  or  Saracens.'  Against  all  such  customs,  these 
sturdy  commoners  plead  '  the  law  of  the  church,'  which 


A.D.  1376.]       Protest  of  the  Good  Parliament. 


177 


requires  that  all  such  preferments  should  be  disposed  of 
in  charity,  '  without   praying   or   paying/     They  insist 
that   it   is  the  demand  of    reason,  that  establishments 
which  owe  their  origin  to  devout  and  humane  purposes, 
should  continue  to  be  subservient  to  religion  and  hospi- 
tality ;  and  they  are  not  afraid  to  say,  '  that  God  hath 
'  given  his  sheep  to  the  Pope,  to  be  pastured,  and  not  to 
'  be  shorne  or  shaven  ;  and  that  lay-patrons  perceiving 
'  the  simony  and  covetousness  of  the  Pope,  do  thereby 
'  learn  to  sell  their  benefices  to  mere  brutes,  no  otherwise 
^  than  Christ  was  sold  to  the  Jews/     By  such  means,  the 
pontifi"  is  said  to  derive  from  England  alone,  a  revenue 
exceeding   that  of  any-  prince  in   Christendom.      It  is 
said,  accordingly, — '  that  the  Pope's  collector,  and  other 
strangers,  the  king's  enemies,   and  only  leiger  spies  for 
English  dignities,  disclosing  the  secrets  of  the  realm, 
ought  to  be  discharged.'     It  is  added,  that  the  said  col- 
lector '  keepeth  a  house  in  London,  with  clerks  and  offices 
thereto  belonging^  as  if  it  were  one  of  the  king's  solemn 
courts,  transporting  yearly  to  the  Pope  twenty  thousand 
marks,  and  most  commonly  more  ;  that  cardinals,  and 
other  aliens  remaining  at  the  court  of  Rome,  whereof 
one  cardinal  is  dean  of   York,    another  of  Salisbury, 
another  of  Lincoln,  another  archdeacon   of  Canterbury, 
another  archdeacon  0/  Durham,  another  archdeacon  of 
Suffolk,  another  archdeacon  of  York,  another  prebendary 
of  Thane  and  Massingdom,  another  prebendary  of  York 
— all  these,  and  divers  others,  have  the  best  dignities  in 


178  Wycliffe  as  a  Diplomatist         [chap.  vm. 

*  England,  and  have  sent  over  to  them  yearly  twenty 
'  thousand  marks,  over  and  above  that  which  English 

*  brokers  lying  here  have  for  themselves  ;  that  the  Pope, 
'  to  ransom  Frenchmen,  the  king's  enemies,  who  defend 

*  Lombardy  for  him,  doth  also  at  his  pleasure  levy  a  suh- 

*  sidy  from  the  whole  clergy  of  England  ;  that  for  the  more 

*  gain,  the  Pope  maketh  sundry  translations   of  bishop- 

*  rics  and  other  dignities  within  the  realm  ;  and  that  the 

*  Pope's  collector  hath  this  year  taken  to  his  use,  the  first- 

*  fruits  of  all  benefices ;  that  it  would  be  good,  therefore, 
'  to  renew  all  the  statutes  against  provisors  from  Rome, 

*  since  the  Pope  reserveth  all  the  benefices  of  the  world  as 
'  his  own  proper  gift ;  and  hath,  within  this  year,  created 
^  twelve  new  cardinals,  so   that  now  there   are   thirty, 

*  whereas  there  were  wont  to  be  but  twelve  in  all,  and 

*  all  the  said  thirty  cardinals,  except  two  or  three,  are  the 

*  king's  enemies.' 

It  is  further  argued  from  these  facts,  that  the  pontiffs, 
if  left  without  check,  may,  ere  long,  proceed  to  confer 
the  offices  of  the  state  upon  their  creatures,  after  the 
manner  in  which  they  had  *  accroached '  to  themselves 
the  appointment  of  heads  to  '  all  houses  and  corporations 

*  of  religion/  As  the  only  adequate  means  of  protecting 
the  country  against  a  system  of  usurpation  and  spolia- 
tion which  must  doom  it  to  perpetual  poverty,  and  drain 
from  it  the  emolument  that  should  be  as  a  bounty  upon 
its  learning  and  piety,  it  is  urged,  not  only  that  the  pro- 
visors of  the  Popes  should  be  rigorously  opposed  in  all 


A.D.  1376.]      Reform  comes  not  hy  Diplomacy.  179 

cases,  but  that  '  no  papal  collector  or  proctor  should  re- 
'  main  in  England,  upon  pain  of  life  and  limb,  and  that  no 
'  Englishman,  on  the  like  pain,  should  become  such  collector 
(  or  proctor,  or  remain  at  the  court  of  Rome.'  ^ 

This  is  a  remarkable  document.  It  shows  with  enough 
of  clearness,  that  the  papal  court  had  become  lost  to  all 
sense  of  shame,  in  its  thirst  after  lucre ;  and  it  shows 
with  no  less  clearness,  that  our  ancestors  of  the  four- 
teenth century,  were  not  wanting  in  the  intelligence  to 
discern,  nor  in  the  courage  to  denounce  and  resist,  the 
mystery  of  iniquity  everywhere  at  work  about  them  in 
this  form. 

Wycliffe — no  marvel  that  thy  labours  in  Burges  were 
lost,  or  all  but  lost  !  There  is  a  point  in  degeneracy 
which  leaves  no  place  to  the  hope  of  amendment.  The 
strong  hand — coercion  and  necessity,  are  the  only  re- 
straints to  which  such  delinquency  ever  submits.  Eng- 
land is  thy  proper  field — the  free  spirit  there  is  to  thy 
purpose  ;  confide  in  that,  and  in  the  truth  which  under- 
lies it,  though  at  present  only  dimly  seen,  or  imperfectly 
articulated. 


'  Cotton's  Abridgment,  128.  59  Edw.    II.   Foxe's  Acts  and  Monu- 
ments, I.  561. 


N  2 


CHAPTER  IX. 


WYCLIFFE    AS   A    CONFESSOR. 


YCLIFFE  was  not  forgotten  by  his  sovereign, 
while  employed  as  one  of  the  royal  commis- 
sioners. In  November  J  875,  he  was  presented 
by  the  king  to  the  prebend  of  Aust,  in  the 
collegiate  church  of  Westbury,  in  the  diocese  of  Worces- 
ter. About  the  same  time,  the  rectory  of  Lutterworth 
in  Leicestershire  became  vacant.  Lord  Henry  de  Ferrars, 
the  patron,  was  then  a  minor,  and  it  in  consequence  de- 
volved on  the  crown  to  appoint  the  next  incumbent. 
In  this  instance,  the  patronage  of  the  king  was  again 
exercised  in  favour  of  Wycliffe.^ 


I 


^  Rot.  Pari.  48  Edw.  III.  p.  1,  m.  23.  Johan,  de  Morhouse  presbyter 
per  Dominum  Henr.  de  Ferrariis  de  Groby  ad  Eccle.  de  Lutterwortb. 
Inquisitores  dicunt,  quod  dicta  Ecclesia  incepit  vacare  ultimo  die 
Decern,  ultimo  prseteriti  (1384)  per  mortem  Joannis  Wycliff  ultimi 
rectoris  ejusdem.    Item,  dicunt,  quod  Dominus  Henricus  de  Ferrariis 


A.D.  1376."]         WycUffe  promoted  by  the  king.  181 

— ■ — — —  ■       1 ■ — ■ — — - — 

But  the  interval  whicli  had  brought  preferment  to  the 
Reformer,  was  not  so  auspicious  to  the  duke  of  Lancas- 
ter. As  we  have  seen,  the  fortunes  of  the  war  with 
France  had  changed.  With  debt  and  disaster  came 
popular  discontent.  The  king  was  suffering  from  age ; 
Edward,  the  Black  Prince,  the  heir-apparent,  not  less  so 
from  disease,  and  thus  the  cares  of  government  devolved 
mainly  on  the  duke  of  Lancaster.  At  the  same  time, 
some  of  the  questions  with  which  he  was  bound  to  con- 
cern himself,  appear  to  have  been  of  a  sort  not  to  admit 
of  being  dealt  with  in  a  way  to  conduce  to  his  popularity. 
The  parliament  of  1376,  by  its  bold  and  salutary  mea- 
sures, obtained,  as  before  stated,  the  title  of  the  '  good 
parliament.'  But  much  obscurity  rests,  nevertheless,  on 
the  history  of  that  assembly.  What  was  done,  appears 
to  have  been  done  with  unanimity.  Still,  there  were  in- 
fluential men  present  who  must  have  assented  for  some 
factious  or  temporary  purpose  to  many  things  which  they 
did  not  approve.  Courtney,  bishop  of  London,  and 
Wykeham,  bishop  of  Winchester,  were  not  men  to  sym- 


de  Groby  est  verus  patronus,  et  quod  Dominus  noster  Edwardus 
tertius  Rex,  ratione  minoris  aetatis  dicti  Domini  Henrici  de 
Ferrariis  dictum  Dominum  Johannem  WyclifF  ultimo  presenta^it  ad 
eandem.  Dictus  Johannes  Morhouse  admissus  est  8  Kal.  Febru. 
1384.  Reg.  Bokygham.  e  col.  Ep.  Kennet  M.S.  Rot.  Pari.  49  Edw. 
III.  p.  2,  m.  8.  We  may  conclude  that  WyclifFe  now  resigned  the  liv- 
ing of  Ludgershall,  as  William  Neubuld  was  rector  on  the  29  May  1376. 
Reg.  Bokyngham.  We  have  seen  that  Wycliffe  returned  from  Bruges 
in  Sept.  1374,  after  an  absence  of  six  weeks. 


182  Wycliffe  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 


pathize  with  proceedings  which  tended  greatly  to  augment 
the  power  of  the  commons  ;  and  still  less  with  the  lan- 
guage in  which  the  lower  house  denounced  the  rapacity 
of  the  papal  court,  and  all  the  grades  of  ecclesiastics  who 
did  not  go  along  with  them  in  their  own  policy  and  feel- 
ing on  that  subject.  For  the  moment,  however,  even  such 
men  went  with  the  stream. 

One  part  of  the  proceedings  of  this  parliament  con- 
sisted in  a  prosecution  of  certain  persons,  for  alleged 
mal-practices  as  servants  of  the  crown.  This  prosecu- 
tion is  remarkable,  as  having  originated  with  the  com- 
mons, and  as  being  conducted  by  them.  The  accused 
were  subjected,  in  several  instances,  to  confiscation  and 
imprisonment.  The  principal  sufferer  was  Lord  Latimer,  a 
known  friend  of  the  duke  of  Lancaster.  '  The  policy 
'  adopted,'  says  Mr.  Hallam,  '  in  employing  the  house  of 
'  commons  as  an  engine  of  attack  against  an  obnoxious 

*  ministry,  was  perfectly  novel,  and  indicates  a  sensible 
'  change  in  the  character  of  our  constitution.  In  the  reign 
'  of  Edward  II.,  parliament  had  little  share  in  resisting 

*  the  government ;  much  more  was  effected  by  the  barons, 
'  through  the  rising  of  their  feudal  tenantry.  Fifty  years 
'  of  authority   better  respected,    of  law  better  enforced, 

*  ha^  rendered  these  more  perilous,  and  of  a  more  violent 

*  appearance  than  formerly.  A  surer  resource  presented 
'  itself  in  the  increased  weight  of  the  lower  house  in  par- 

*  liament ;  and  this  indirect  aristocratical   influence  gave 

*  a  surprising  impulse  to  that  assembly,  and  particularly 


A. D.  1377.]  Trials  hy  Impeachment  183 

'  tended  to  establish,  beyond  question,  its  control  over 
*  public  abuses/  ^ 

The  most  perplexing  fact  in  the  history  of  this  parlia- 
ment, is,  that  its  measures  should  have  been  so  hostile, 
directly  or  indirectly,  to  the  duke  of  Lancaster.  The 
duke  was  still  at  Bruges.  He  embarked  for  England 
early  in  July.  Before  his  landing,  the  parliament  had 
excluded  him  from  a  place  in  the  government,  and  among 
its  last  acts  had  withdrawn  his  power  as  ambassador. 
The  prince  of  Wales  also — the  ornament  of  chivalry,  had 
breathed  his  last  on  a  bed  of  sickness.  The  king,  it 
appears,  was  far  from  being  satisfied  with  the  committee 
which  the  parliament  had  appointed  to  act  as  his  advisers. 
The  parties  removed  by  the  authority  of  that  assembly 
were  recalled,  and  the  duke  of  Lancester,  now  his  eldest 
son,  was  declared  his  principal  associate  in  the  govern- 
ment. Nor  was  this  all.  The  earl  of  March,  Peter  de 
la  Mare,  and  the  bishop  of  Winchester,  all  active  mem- 
bers of  the  late  parliament,  were  made  to  feel  the  dis- 
pleasure of  the  court.  Peter  de  la  Mare  was  imprisoned, 
and  the  temporalities  of  the  bishop  of  Winchester  were 
confiscated. 

What  we  now  call  sessions  of  parliament,  were,  in  the 
time  of  Edward  III,  the  histories  of  so  many  new  parlia- 
ments. The  ^  good  parliament '  was  dissolved  in  July 
1376,  the  parliament  which  succeeded  it  was  assembled 

*  Hallam's  Middle  Ages,  iii.  85. 


184  Wycliffe  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 

in  January  1377.  During  this  interval,  some  murmurings 
arose  among  the  people  on  account  of  the  course  that 
had  been  taken  towards  De  la  Mare  and  the  bishop  of 
Winchester.  But  it  was  soon  to  become  manifest,  that 
among  the  parties  who  had  seemed  to  concur  in  sup- 
porting measures  of  ecclesiastical  reformation  in  the  last 
parliament,  were  many  who  had  so  done,  not  as  being 
themselves,  by  any  means,  reformers,  but  to  remove  par- 
ties who  were  in  possession  of  the  confidence  of  the 
crown  from  their  position.  The  unnatural  coalition  had 
been,  for  the  moment^  successful ;  and  when  it  was  seen 
that  the  fruit  of  their  labour  had  come  to  nothing,  and 
that  chiefly  through  the  agency  of  Lancaster,  no  pains 
were  spared  to  turn  the  resentment  of  the  people  against 
him,  on  that  account.  But  in  the  judgment  of  Lancaster, 
the  reformers  had  mistaken  enemies  for  friends  in  the 
dark,  and  he  flattered  himself  that  he  could  make  it 
appear,  that  the  enemies  of  abuses  in  church  and  state 
might  find  a  more  trustworthy  coadjutor  in  himself 
and  his  friends,  than  in  such  men  as  Wykeham,  bishop 
of  Winchester,  or  Courtney,  bishop  of  London. 

The  prelate  last  named,  one  of  the  most  imperious 
churchmen  of  the  age,  had  fully  committed  himself 
against  Lancaster  in  the  late  parliament ;  and  he  now 
proceeded  to  give  proof  of  the  sincerity  with  which  he 
had  joined  in  the  loud  denunciations  of  papal  avarice 
and  corruption  on  the  part  of  the  commons,  as  then 
assembled,  by  instituting  proceedings  of  a  penal  nature 


A.D.  1377.]     Wycliffe  and  the  Convocation  of  1377.       185 

against  WycliiFe.  The  new  parliament  assembled,  as  stated, 
in  January  1377 ;  the  two  houses  of  convocation  were 
convened  on  the  third  of  February,  in  St.  Paul's,  and  one 
of  its  first  matters  of  business  was,  to  receive  accusations 
against  John  de  Wycliffe,  as  a  person  holding  and  publish- 
ing many  erroneous  and  heretical  doctrines.  The  nine- 
teenth day  of  the  month  was  fixed  for  hearing  his  defence. 
Wycliffe  was  now  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties  as 
professor  at  Oxford.  We  may  see  him  in  imagina- 
tion, as  this  summons  from  the  '  Caesarian  prelates,' 
assembled  in  all  the  state  of  Convocation,  reaches  him. 
Such  a  proceeding,  from  such  a  quarter,  does  not  take 
him  by  surprise.  It  is  the  kind  of  trial  he  has  foretold, 
as  the  natural  result  of  the  course  to  which  he  has 
committed  himself  He  confers  with  the  wise  and  trusty 
on  the  subject.  His  resolve  is  to  obey  the  summons. 
He  will  learn  what  it  is  that  has  so  much  displeased  the 
great  personages  thus  in  movement  against  him.  He 
will  deal  with  their  accusations  in  the  place  and  at  the 
time  appointed — as  he  best  may.  But  the  factions  of  the 
hour  are  busy.  The  clergy,  especially,  are  doing  their 
best  to  possess  the  popular  mind  with  prejudices  against 
the  Duke  of  Lancaster.  He  is,  according  to  the  rumour 
thus  set  agoing,  the  chief  stay  of  an  obnoxious  court  and 
ministry,  a  most  formidable  enemy  to  the  just  authority 
of  parliament,  and  so  jealous  of  the  citizens  of  London  as 
to  be  meditating  the  suppression  of  their  mayoralty,  and 
a  serious  abridgment  of  their  liberties  in  other  respects. 


186  Wycliffe  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 

The  falsehood  of  this  talk,  and  the  special  hollowness 
of  it  as  proceeding  from  such  men,  are  manifest  enough : 
but  at  the  time,  its  policy  was  not  so  readily  detected. 

The  Duke  of  Lancaster  was  not  left  in  ignorance  of 
these  proceedings  in  relation  to  Wycliffe.  Communica- 
tions, it  appears,  took  place  between  him  and  the  Reformer. 
On  his  arrival  in  London,  Wycliffe  is  encouraged,  both 
by  the  duke,  and  by  lord  Percy,  earl  marshal,  to  meet 
his  enemies  without  dismay.  These  noblemen,  indeed, 
promise  to  accompany  him  in  person.  On  the  morning 
of  the  nineteenth  of  February  1377,  you  see  the  priests, 
the,  dignitaries,  and  the  prelates,  who  are  to  constitute 
the  two  houses  of  this  clerical  parliament,  streaming 
along  the  narrow  passes  that  lead  to  St.  Paul's.  What  is 
afoot  is  somewhat  noised  abroad ;  and  you  see  the 
dependants  of  these  great  ones,  and  others  of  the  popu- 
lace of  London,  crowding  into  the  sacred  building.  The 
edifice  itself  is  large — larger  than  the  structure  which 
now  lifts  its  head  so  high  on  the  same  site,  and  is  in  the 
old,  massive  style  of  Norman  architecture.  The  space 
open  around  it  also  is  large,  if  we  bear  in  mind  that  it 
stands  in  the  midst  of  a  city  within  whose  contracted 
walls  ingenuity  in  the  way  of  package  has  been  tasked 
to  the  uttermost.  Soon  after  the  prelates  have  taken 
their  seats,  a  noise  is  heard  at  the  entrance.  It  ap- 
proaches nearer,  until,  amidst  much  disorder  and  hubbub, 
a  way  is  opened  through  the  crowd  immediately  in  front 
of  the  assembled  clergy — and  the  man  John  de  Wycliffe, 


A.D.  1377.]  Wycliffe  in  St.  Paul's.  187 


of  whom  enough  had  been  heard,  but  whom  few  there  pre- 
sent had  seen,  stands  in  their  midst,  and  with  a  presence  of 
his  own  which  bids  fair  to  be  a  match  for  any  presence. 
There  you  can  imagine  him — a  man  rising  somewhere 
above  the  middle  stature.  His  right  hand  is  raised  in  the 
clutch  of  his  tall  white  staff.  His  clothing  consists  of  a 
dark  simple  robe,  belted  about  the  waist,  and  dropping  in 
folds  from  the  shoulders  to  the  waist,  and  from  the  waist 
to  the  feet :  while  above  that  grey  and  flowing  beard,  you 
see  a  set  of  features  which  speak  throughout  of  nobleness, 
and  which  a  man  might  do  well  to  travel  far  even  to  look 
upon.  Behind  him  you  see  his  servant,  bearing  books  and 
papers,  especially  the  book  above  all  books, — ammunition 
for  the  battle,  if  there  is  to  be  a  field-day.  On  his  one 
hand  is  John  of  Gaunt,  eldest  son  of  the  king,  on  the  other, 
lord  Percy,  earl  marshal  of  England.  These  were  bold 
men  all.  But  Courtney,  the  presiding  bishop,  was  also  a 
bold  man.  He  rose  in  high  displeasure,  and  was  the  first 
to  speak,  when,  according  to  our  authority,  the  following 
altercation  ensued. 

Bishop  Courtney/.  Lord  Percy,  if  I  had  known  what 
masteries  you  would  have  kept  in  the  church,  I  would 
have  stopped  you  out  from  coming  hither.    . 

Duke  of  Lancaster.  He  shall  keep  such  masteries 
though  you  say  nay. 

Lord  Percy.  Wycliffe,  sit  down,  for  you  have  many 
things  to  answer  to,  and  you  need  to  repose  yourself  on  a 
soft  seat. 


188  Wycliffe  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 

Bishop  Courtney.  It  is  unreasonable  that  one  cited 
before  his  ordinary,  should  sit  down  during  his  answer. 
He  must  and  shall  stand. 

Duke  of  Lancaster.  Lord  Percy's  motion  for  Wycliffe  is 
but  reasonable.  And  as  for  you,  my  lord  bishop,  who 
are  grown  so  proud  and  arrogant,  T  will  bring  down  the 
pride,  not  of  you  alone,  but  of  all  the  prelacy  in  England, 

Bishop  Courtney.     Do  your  worst,   sir. 

Duke  of  Lancaster.  Thou  bearest  thyself  so  brag  upon 
thy  parents,!  which  shall  not  be  able  to  keep  thee  :  they 
shall  have  enough  to  do  to  help  themselves. 

Bishop  Courtney.  My  confidence  is  not  in  my  parents, 
nor  in  any  man  else,  but  only  in  God,  in  whom  I  trust, 
by  whose  assistance  I  will  be  bold  to  speak  the  truth. 

Duke  of  Lancaster.  Rather  than  I  will  take  these 
words  at  his  hands,  I  will  pluck  the  bishop  by  the  hair 
out  of  the  church.2 

This  last  expression  as  the  words  indicate,  was  not 
addressed  to  the  bishop.  It  was  said  in  an  undertone  to 
Lord  Percy,  but  sufficiently  loud  to  be   heard  by   the 


*  His  father  was  the  powerful  Hugh  Courtney,  Earl  of  Devonshire, 
a  family  which  boasted  of  its  descent  from  Charlemagne. 

^  Ex.  Hist.  Monachi.  D.  Albani  ex  accommodato  D.  Math. 
Archiepis.  Cant  Foxe's  Acts  and  Mon.  i.  558.  Fuller's  Church  Hist. 
B.  iv.  art.  xiv.  Foxe's  authority  seems  to  warrant  the  inference  that 
much  more  than  the  above  was  said,  but  all  to  the  same  effect;  and 
that  in  this  tongue-fight  the  bishop  had  the  best  of  it — *  Erubuit  Dux 
quod  non  potuit  prsevalere  litigia.' 


A.D.  1377.]  Wydifie  in  St  Paul's.  189 

people  near,  who,  for  the  most  part,  took  side  with  the 
bishop,  and  such  was  the  scene  of  excitement  and  con- 
fusion that  followed,  that  the  nieeting  dissolved,  and 
Wycliffe,  who  had  been  a  silent  witness  to  this  '  pretty 
quarrel,'  retired  under  the  protection  of  his  powerful 
friends. 

We  have  no  reason  to  suppose  that  the  Reformer  would 
have  found  any  meeting  really  expressive  of  the  popular 
feeling  in  London  other  than  highly  favourable  to  his 
person  and  his  objects,  inasmuch  as  the  historian  monk, 
Walsingham,  who  deplores  what  he  records,  assures  us 
that  even  at  this  time  the  Londoners  were  nearly  all 
Lollards.^     But  it  is  manifest  that  the  city  authorities 


^  The  following  narrative,  the  date  of  which  is  only  a  little  subse- 
quent to  that  of  the  narrative  in  the  text,  may  suffice  to  indicate  that 
Walsingham  was  not  far  wrong  in  his  estimate  of  the  spirit  of  the 
Metropolis  : — "  The  Londoners  at  this  time,  trusting  somewhat  boldly 
to  the  mayor's  authority,  who  for  that  year  was  John  of  Northampton, 
took  upon  them  the  office  of  the  bishops,  in  punishing  the  vices  (belong- 
ing to  the  civil  laws)  of  such  persons  as  they  had  found  and  appre- 
hended as  guilty  of  fornication  or  adultery.  First,  they  put  the  women 
in  the  prison,  which  amongst  them  was  named  Dokum ;  and  lastly, 
bringing  them  into  the  market-place,  where  every  man  might  behold 
them,  and  cutting  off  their  golden  locks  from  their  heads,  they  caused 
them  to  be  carried  about  the  streets,  with  bagpipes  and  trumpets 
blown  before  them,  to  the  intent  they  should  be  the  better  known,  and 
their  company  avoided — according  to  the  manner  of  certain  thieves 
that  were  named  appellatores  (accusers  or  impeachers  of  others  that 
were  guiltless)  which  were  so  served.  And  with  other  such  like  oppro- 
brious and  reproachful  contumelies  did  they  serve  the  men  also  that 
were  taken  with  them.  Here  the  story  (history)  recordeth,  how  the 
said  Londoners  were  encouraged  hereunto   by  John    Wyclifie,  and 


190  Wyclifie  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 

had  became  distrustful  of  the  duke,  and  disaiFected 
towards  him,  and  that  this  feeling  had  descended  to 
many  among  the  lowest  of  the  citizens.  On  the  evening 
of  this  same  day,  the  palace  of  the  Savoy,  where  the  duke 
resided,  was  assailed  by  a  band  of  riotors,  and  the  arms 
of  the  duke  were  reversed  as  those  of  a  traitor.  The 
house  of  Lord  Percy  was  also  attacked,  and  a  clergyman 
said  to  have  been  mistaken  for  the  owner  of  the  mansion, 
was  killed  by  the  mob.  In  these  proceedings  the  mayor 
and  alderman  appear  to  have  been  in  some  degree 
implicated.  They  are  said  to  have  been  removed  by  the 
influence  of  the  duke,  that  their  places  might  be  supplied 
by  persons  deemed  more  worthy  of  confidence. 

But  the  nature  and  the  issue  of  the  meeting  at  St. 
Paul's,  were  not  such  as  we  could  ourselves  have  desired 
We  could  have  wished  that  the  duke  and  his  noble  friend 
had  been  content,  notwithstanding  that  haughty  open- 
ing speech  of  the  bishop — which  was  the  cause  of  the 


others  that  followed  his  doctrine,  to  perpetrate  this  act,  in  reproach  of 
the  prelates.  For  they  said  that  they  did  so  much  abhor  to  see  the 
great  negligence  of  those  to  whom  that  charge  belonged  ;  and  that 
they  did  as  much  detest  their  greediness  of  money,  being  choked  with 
bribes,  and  winking  at  the  penalties  due  to  such  persons  by  the  laws 
appointed,  suffered  such  persons  favourably  to  continue  in  their 
wickedness."  H<ec  ex  Chron.  D.  Alhani.  Foxe,  Acts  and  Mon.  I. 
584 — 585.  Our  Puritan  Commonwealth  has  hardly  a  picture  that  may 
be  said  to  be  a  match  for  the  above.  Prynne  might  have  found  his 
nearest  possible  approach  to  paradise  under  such  a  mayoralty. 
Collier  I.  581. 


A.D.  1377.]      Accession  of  Richard  the  Second.  191 

dissension — with  simply  claiming  to  be  present  during 
the  trial ;  and  that  they  had  shown  self-government 
enough  to  have  abstained  from  direct  interference  in  be- 
half of  the  Reformer,  except  as  some  injustice  or  harsh- 
ness on  the  part  of  his  judges  might  have  seemed  to  de- 
mand it.  We  might  then  have  listened  to  the  recital  of 
the  *  erroneous  or  heretical '  opinions  ascribed  to  Wyc- 
liife,  and  have  been  witnesses  to  the  manner  in  which 
he  was  prepared  to  defend  himself.  We  could  have 
spared  the  debate  between  Courtney  and  the  noblemen, 
graphic  and  suggestive  as  it  is,  for  something  more  ex- 
tended of  the  same  kind  as  between  Courtney  and  the 
Reformer. 

But,  it  will  not  be  supposed  that  the  proceedings  against 
Wycliffe  could  be  stayed  at  this  point.  It  will  be  re- 
membered, that  the  meeting  at  St.  PauFs,  was  on  the 
nineteenth  of  February,  1377  :  On  the  twenty-first  of  June, 
in  the  same  year,  Edward  III.  expired.  On  the  afternoon 
of  the  following  day,  Richard,  the  son  of  the  Black 
Prince,  a  youth  who  had  not  attained  the  twelfth  year  of 
his  age,  made  his  public  entry  into  London.  The  reign 
of  the  late  king  had  been  unusually  extended,  and  was 
such,  in  many  respects,  as  should  not  have  been  reviewed 
by  his  subjects  without  interest  and  gratitude.  But  his 
breath  had  scarcely  departed,  when,  as  commonly  hap- 
pens in  such  cases,  he  seemed  to  be  at  once  and  wholly 
forgotten.  The  funeral  solemnities  of  the  deceased  king 
attracted  little  attraction,  compared  with  the  pageantries 


193  Wy cliff e  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 

which  marked  the  entrance  of  his  youthful  successor  into 
the  capital,  the  day  after  his  decease,  and  which  gave 
an  unprecedented  splendour  to  the  ceremony  of  his  coro- 
nation three  weeks  later.^ 

That  ceremony  took  place  on  the  sixteenth  of  July, 
and  the  first  parliament  under  the  new  king  did  not 
assemble  until  the  thirteenth  of  October.  As  it  included 
nearly  the  whole  of  the  members  composing  the  '  good 
parliament,'  it  has  been  presumed  that  the  influence 
of  the  duke  of  Lancaster  was  rapidly  declining.  But 
affairs  may  have  taken  such  a  course  from  his  disgust, 
as  readily  as  from  his  weakness.  It  is  certain  that  the 
early  proceedings  of  that  assembly  were  stormy,  and  such 
as  seemed  to  bode  evil  for  the  future.  By  the  commons, 
it  was  required  that  a  council  of  twelve  peers  should  be 
appointed  to  confer  with  them  on  the  business  before 
their  house,  and  that  '  my  lord  of  Spain ' — a  title  fre- 
quently given  to  John  of  Gaunt — should  be  of  the  num- 
ber, and  act  as  president.  The  young  king — of  course, 
by  the  advice  of  others — had  given  his  sanction  to  this 
proposal.  But  the  duke  rose,  adverted  to  the  rumours 
which  had  been  so  assiduously  circulated  touching  his 
loyalty,  and  attributing  those  rumours  mainly  to  certain 
members  of  the  lower  house,  he  remarked  that  the  com- 
mons could  have  no  claim  on  him  for  advice.     While  sen- 


^  Rymer.  ii.  159.     Walsingham.  195  et.  seq. 


A.  D.1377.]  Lancaster  and  Richard's  First  Parliament  193 

sible  to  his  demerit,  he  could  not  forget  that  he  was  the 
son  of  a  king,  and  one  of  the  first  subjects  of  the  crown  ; 
nor  would  he  agree  to  take  any  further  part  in  the  affairs 
of  the  nation,  until  the  imputations  cast  upon  his  loyalty 
should  be  removed.  His  ancestors,  of  either  side,  had 
never  numbered  a  traitor  among  them,  nor  was  he  dis- 
posed to  be  the  first  to  bring  a  stain  upon  their  memory. 
But  while  he  felt  himself  thus  strongly  bound  to  show 
himself  a  good  subject,  and  while  it  was  known  that  he 
had  more  to  lose  by  treason  than  any  second  person  in  the 
realm,  he  challenged  his  accusers  to  come  forth,  pledging 
himself  to  meet  even  the  poorest  knight  in  single  com- 
bat, or  in  any  other  form,  subject  to  the  sanction  of  his 
peers.  We  may  imagine  the  ferment  produced  by  this 
language.  The  lords  and  prelates  instantly  rose,  sur- 
rounded the  person  of  the  duke,  and  repeated  their  assu- 
rances, that  no  living  man  could  regard  the  calumnies  of 
which  he  had  spoken  as  being  at  all  other  than  calum- 
nies. The  commons,  when  it  came  to  their  turn  to  speak, 
appealed  to  their  conduct  in  inviting  the  duke  to  become 
their  principal  adviser,  as  their  best  defence ;  and  Lan- 
caster at  length  consented  to  bury  the  past,  on  condition 
of  obtaining  a  severe  enactment  against  the  authors  of 
such  talk  or  insinuations  in  the  time  to  come.^ 
This  matter  of  difference  being  adjusted,  the  parlia- 


1  Rot.  Pari.  III.  386.     Walsingham,  198.  Rymer.  VII.  162. 


194  Wy cliff e  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 

ment  returned  with  more  determination  than  ever  to  its 
former  labour,  with  a  view  to  place  some  effectual  check 
on  the  tendency  of  the  papal  court  to  drain  the  land 
of  its  treasures,  under  religious  pretences.  The  minority 
of  the  king,  and  the  rising  power  of  the  house  of 
commons,  were  circumstances  eminently  favourable  to 
the  prosecution  of  such  a  policy.  As  a  remedy  against 
the  evils  which  had  hitherto  resisted  every  influence 
opposed  to  them,  it  was  urged  that  the  procuring  of  a 
benefice  by  papal  provision,  should  be  punished  with 
outlawry  ;  and  that  the  same  penalty  should  be  incurred 
by  the  man  who  should  farm  any  of  the  livings  in  the 
English  church  that  had  been  conferred  upon  foreigners. 
It  was  also  urged  that  the  Pope  should  be  prevented 
making  reservations  to  elective  ofiices  in  the  church  in 
future,  '  the  same  being  done  against  his  treaty  taken  with 
'  Edward  the  third  ;  and  that  all  aliens,  as  well  religious 
'  as  others,  do,  by  candlemass  next,  avoid  the  realm  ;  and 
'  that  during  the  war,  all  their  lands  and  goods  should 
*  be  applied  thereto.'  ^  The  war  adverted  to,  it  should 
be  remembered,  was  a  French  war,  and  most  of  the  foreign 
ecclesiastics  who  had  '  accroached  '  to  themselves  the 
treasures  of  the  country,  in  the  shape  of  revenues  from 
English  livings  and  English  dignities,  were  Frenchmen. 
These  sagacious  commoners  were  not  disposed  to  look 
tamely  on,  while  the  wealth  of  England  passed,  in  this 

^  Cotton's  Abridgment,  160,  161. 


A.  D.  1377.]   Question  in  Parliament —  Wycliffe's  Reply.  195 

manner,  into  hands  through  which  it  served  indirectly, 
if  not  directly,  to  replenish  the  treasury  of  France.  The 
above  language,  set  forth  as  the  grave  resolution  of  par- 
liament, seems  to  bespeak  something  like  a  desperateness 
of  feeling  on  this  subject.  Moreover,  from  a  document  still 
existing,  we  learn  that  a  question  to  the  following  pur- 
port came  up,  as  a  point  of  discussion  in  that  assembly. 

*  Whether  the  kingdom  of  England  may  lawfully,  in 
^  case  of  necessity,  detain  and  keep  back  the  treasure  of 
'  the  kingdom,  for  its  own  defence,  that  it  be  not  carried 
'  away  to  foreign  and  strange  nations,  the  Pope  himself  de- 
'  manding  and  requiring  the  same,  under  pain  of  censure, 
^  and  by  virtue  of  obedience  ? ' 

No  scholar  of  that  time  needed  to  be  apprized  that  the 

bearings  of  this  question  w^ere  large  and  manifold.     It  is 

said  to  have  been  submitted  to  the  judgment  of  WyclifFe 

in  the  name  of  the  king.     In  his  answer  to  this  question, 

the  Reformer  states,  that  he  attaches  little  importance  to 

the  decisions  of  the  canon   or  civil  law  in  relation  to 

such  points,  or  even  to  the  law  of  England.     He  deems 

it  enough  that  he  can  show  the  affirmative  '  of  this  doubt,' 

by  an  appeal  to  'the  principles  of  the  law  of  Christ.' 

His  first  reasonings,  however,  are  designed  to  show,  that 

the  power  of  self-preservation,  which  is  conferred  even 

on  inanimate  bodies,   in  a  greater  degree  on  the   brute 

creation,  and  on  the  individuals  of  the  human  species, 

must  be  supposed  to  have  been  conferred  on  the  English 

nation  as  such,  '  which  ought  to  be  one  body,  the  clergy 

o  2 


196  Wycliffe  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 

'  and  the  commonalty  being  alike  members  thereof ; 
^  and  so  much  tlie  more  apparently,  by  how  much  the 
'  same  body  is  more  precious  unto  God,  as  being  adorned 

*  with  virtue  and  knowledge/  It  is  thence  concluded, 
that   *  as  there  is  no  power  given  of  God  to  any  creature, 

*  for  any  end,  that  may  not  be  lawfully  used  to  that  end, 

*  it  follows  that  our  kingdom  may  justly  detain  its  trea- 

*  sure  for  the  defence  of  itself,  in  every  case  where 
'  necessity  shall  appear  to  require  it/  In  attempting 
the  further  solution  of  this  problem,  he  describes 
every  contribution  made  to  the  papacy,  as  being,  if 
rightly  viewed,  strictly  of  the  nature  of  alms :  and 
alms,  it  is  contended,  are  properly  bestowed  on  the 
recipient,  only  as  he  is  known  to  be  really  needy,  and 
can  be  justly  expected  from  the  donor,  only  as  it  shall  be 
alike  certain  that  he  is  in  possession  of  means  beyond 
what  is  required  by  his  own  necessities.  But  the  wealth 
of  the  papal  court,  it  is  argued,  is  known  to  be  far  be- 
yond its  legitimate  wants  ;  while  the  impoverished  con- 
dition of  this  country,  compared  with  the  demands  made 
upon  its  resources,  has  filled  the  mind  of  the  wisest  with 
alarm,  and  is  calling  forth  loud  complaints  from  all 
quarters. 

By  such  steps,  the  Reformer  endeavoured  to  conduct 
his  countrymen  to  the  conclusion,  that  on  the  grounds 
both  of  patriotism  and  religion,  it  became  them  to  resist 
this  mercenary  policy  of  the  papal  court.  This  syste- 
matic seizure  of  temporal   emoluments,  under  the  pre- 


I 


A.  D.  1377.]  Question  in  Parliament — Wycliffe's  Reply.  197 


tence  of  spiritual  jurisdiction,  presented  to  the  mind  of 
Wycliffe  such  a  combination  of  avarice  aggravated  by- 
hypocrisy,  that  he  had  no  words  in  which  adequately  to 
denounce  it.  It  is  thus  that  the  somewhat  testy  and  stub- 
born document  under  consideration  concludes.  '  Christ, 
^  the  head  of  the  Church,  whom  all  Christian  priests 
'  ought  to  follow,  lived  by  the  alms  of  devout  women. 

*  (Luke  vii.)  He  hungered  and  thirsted ;  he  was  a  stranger, 

*  and  many  other  miseries  he  sustained,  not  only  in 
'  his  members,  but  also  in  his  own  body,  as  the  Apostle 
^  witnesseth.  He  was  made  poor  for  our  sakes,  that 
'  through  his  poverty  we  might  be  rich.     (2  Cor.  viii.) 

*  Whereas,  accordingly,  in  the  first  endowing  of  the 
'  church,  whatsoever  he  were  of  the  clergy  that  had  any 
'  temporal  possessions,  he  had  the  same  by  form  of  a 
'  perpetual  alms,  as  both  writings  and  chronicles  do 
'  witness. 

^  Wherefore,  St.  Bernard,   declaring  in  his  second  book 

*  to  Eugenius,  that  he  could  not  challenge  any  secular 
'  dominion  by  right  of  succession,  as  being  the  vicar  of 

*  St.  Peter,  writeth  thus  : — That  if  St.  John  should  speak 

*  unto  the  Pope  himself,  as  St.  Bernard  doth  unto  Eu- 
^  genius,  were  it  to  be  thought  that  he  would  take  it 
*''  patiently  ?  But  let  it  be  so,  that  you  do  challenge 
'  it  unto  you  by  some  other  ways  or  means  ;  but  truly 
'  by  any  right  or  title  apostolical,  you  cannot  so  do,  for 
'  how  could  he  give  unto  you  that  which  he  had  not  him- 
'  self  ?     That  which  he  had  he  gave  you,  that  is  to  say, 


198  Wycliffe  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 

care  over  the  church  ;  but  did  he  give  you  any  lordship 
or  rule?  Hark,  what  he  saith — "Not  bearing  rule 
as  lords  over  the  clergy,  but  behaving  yourselves  as 
examples  to  the  flock."  And  because  thou  shalt  not 
think  it  to  be  spoken  only  in  humility,  and  not  in 
verity,  mark  the  word  of  the  Lord  himself  in  the  gos- 
pel, "  The  kings  of  the  people  do  rule  over  them,  but 
you  shall  not  do  so/'  Here,  lordship  and  dominion  is 
forbidden  to  the  Apostles,  and  darest  thou  then  usurp 
the  same  ?  If  thou  wilt  be  a  lord,  thou  shalt  lose  thine 
apostleship ;  or  if  thou  wilt  be  an  apostle,  thou  shalt 
lose  thy  lordship  ;  for  truly  thou  shalt  depart  from  the 
one  of  them.  If  thou  wilt  have  both,  thou  shalt  lose 
both,  or  else,  think  thyself  to  be  of  that  number,  of 
whom  God  doth  so  greatly  complain,  saying,  "  They 
have  reigned,  but  not  through  me ;  they  have  become 
princes,  and  T  have  not  known  it/'  Now,  if  it  doth 
suffice  thee  to  rule  with  the  Lord,  thou  hast  thy  glory. 
But  if  we  will  keep  that  which  is  forbidden  us,  let  us 
hear  what  he  saith  ;  "  He  that  is  the  greatest  amongst 
you,  shall  be  made  as  the  least ;  and  he  which  is  the 
highest,  shall  be  as  the  minister  ; ''  and  for  example,  he 
set  a  child  in  the  midst  of  them.  So  this,  then,  is  the 
true  form  and  institution  of  the  Apostles'  trade  ;  lord- 
ship and  rule  is  forbidden,  ministration  and  service 
commanded.'  ^ 

»  MS.  Job.  Seldeni.  B.    10.    Foxe,  Acts  and  Monuments,   I.  584. 


i 


A.  D.  1G77.]      Resistance  to  Church  Authority,  199 

Thus  did  the  Reformer  strike  away,  as  from  its  lowest 
root,  all  pretension  to  secular  dominion  on  the  part  of 
the  Christian  priesthood  as  such.  In  the  view  of 
Wycliffe,  the  revenues  of  the  clergy  should  consist  purely 
of  the  free-will  offerings  of  the  people.  In  any  attempt 
to  extort  wealth  by  force,  they  would  forego  their  true 
character  as  ministers  of  Christ.  To  solve  the  question 
propounded,  it  is  enough  to  look  at  the  New  Testament. 
According  to  that  authority,  as  well  as  from  the  nature 
of  the  case?  the  parliament  of  England  is  competent  to 
determine  for  itself  that  the  treasure  of  the  kingdom 
shall  not  pass  into  the  hands  of  its  enemies,  under  cover 
of  the  spiritual  pretences  set  forth  after  its  manner  by 
the  papal  court.  Does  our  author  mean  all  this  ?  Is  not 
this  to  discard  the  received  doctrine  on  church  authority, 
and  to  substitute  the  right  of  private  judgment  in  its 
place, — at  least  in  so  far  as  all  questions  of  this  nature 
were  concerned  ?  It  is, — and  we  have  seen  that  the  men 
sent  to  parliament  by  the  counties  and  the  towns  of 
England  in  those  days,  were,  for  the  most  part,  men  who 


From  the  manner  in  which  this  document  is  printed  in  Foxe,  it  is 
difficult  to  determine  where  the  Reformer  concludes,  and  where  the 
Marty rologist  begins.  On  examining  the  MS.  I  found  it  to  be  as 
above  given — and,  accordingly,  more  important,  as  well  as  more  ex- 
tended, than  it  had  appeared  to  be.  Mr.  Lewis  (Life  of  Wiclif,  p. 
.55,)  says  this  question  arose  out  of  a  renewed  attempt  on  the  part  of 
the  pope  to  collect  the  tribute  called  *  Peter's  pence,'  but  Foxe,  the 
authority  cited,  says  nothing  of  the  sort.  Peter's  pence  had  been 
abolished  along  with  the  king  John  tribute. 


200  Wycliffe  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 

were  not  slow  to  act  upon  such  counsel.  They  stand 
out  by  their  bold  and  free  spirit,  in  edifying  contrast  to 
that  abject  ultramontane  school  of  papists  among  our- 
selves, who  have  descended  so  low  as  to  make  a  virtue  of 
their  servility,  and  to  glory  in  their  shame  ! 

Our  narrative  now  brings  us  to  the  year  1378.  Seven- 
teen years  have  intervened  since  the  rise  of  Wycliffe's 
dispute  with  the  mendicants ;  ten  years  have  passed 
since  his  name  became  known  to  the  papal  court  by  his 
appeal  in  defence  of  the  Wardenship  of  Canterbury 
Hall ;  and  about  the  same  space  since  his  spirited 
defence  of  the  English  parliament  in  repudiating  the 
tribute  paid  to  the  Roman  See  by  king  John.  The 
selection  of  the  Reformer  as  one  of  the  commissioners 
deputed  to  meet  the  papal  envoys  at  Bruges  was  in 
1874  ;  and  the  discussions  originated  by  that  embassy 
extended  to  1376.  We  have  suiFicient  evidence  that  by 
the  close  of  this  interval,  the  name  of  Wycliffe  had 
become  very  familiar  and  obnoxious  at  the  papal  court ; 
for  about  six  months  later,  that  is  in  June  1377,  we  find 
the  pontiff  and  his  advisers  giving  themselves  to  the 
gravest  measures  with  a  view  to  the  suppression  of 
Wycliffe's  doctrine,  and  the  control  of  his  proceedings  by 
authority.  Five  separate  instruments,  or  bulls,  were 
then  issued,  three  addressed  to  the  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury and  the  Bishop  of  London,  one  to  the  king,  and 
one  to  the  university  of  Oxford.  In  all  these  documents, 
vehement    complaint   is   made   about   the   diffusion   of 


A.  D.  1878.]     Further  Proceedings  against  Wycliffe.       201 

erroneous  and  heretical  doctrines  in  this  country,  and 
that  chiefly  through  the  labours  of  John  WyclifFe.  In 
the  first  of  the  letters  addressed  to  the  two  prelates,  the 
pontiff  deplores  that  England,  once  so  famous  for  its 
men  of  learning,  and  its  defenders  of  '  the  orthodox 
faith,^  should  have  become  so  negligent  of  sacred  things, 
that  the  secret  and  open  proceedings  of  the  enemies  of 
that  faith  now  became  notorious  at  the  papal  court, 
before  any  tendency  towards  a  correction  of  them  had 
been  manifested  in  England.  By  the  report  of  persons 
truly  worthy  of  credit,  it  had  become  known  that  John 
Wycliffe,  Professor  of  Divinity,  more  properly  '  a  master 
in  error,'  had  proceeded  *  to  a  degree  of  madness,  so 
detestable,  as  not  to  fear  to  assert,  dogmatize,  and 
publicly  to  teach,  propositions  the  most  false  and 
erroneous,  contrary  to  the  faith,  and  tending  to  weaken 
and  subvert  the  whole  church.'  It  is  enjoined,  accord- 
ingly, that  steps  be  taken  to  ascertain  that  the  proposi- 
tions transmitted  as  those  taught  by  John  Wycliffe,  have 
been  really  taught  by  him  ;  and  if  so,  that  the  usual 
means  be  employed  '  to  commit  him  to  "prison,  and  to 
retain  him  in  '  sure  custody,'  until  such  answer  as  he  may 
be  made  to  return  to  the  charge  of  such  teaching,  shall 
have  been  obtained,  and  judgment  given  thereupon  by 
the  holy  see.  In  the  second  letter,  the  same  parties  are 
instructed,  that  should  they  fail  in  their  attempt  to 
apprehend  the  said  John  Wycliffe,  or  to  retain  him  as  a 
prisoner,  they   should   afiix  a  citation   in  such   public 


202  Wycliffe  as  a  Confessor,  [cuap.  ix. 

places  as  might  bring  it  to  his  knowledge,  requiring 
him  to  appear  in  person  before  the  pope,  within  three 
months  from  the  date  of  such  instrument.  The  prelates 
are  further  required,  in  the  third  epistle  of  the  pontiff, 
to  use  all  vigilance,  that  the  king,  the  prince  of  Wales, 
the  nobility,  and  the  councillors  of  the  sovereign  gene- 
rally, may  not  be  defiled  by  the  errors  so  widely  propo- 
gated  ;  but  that  they  may  rather  learn  to  regard  all 
such  opinions  as  hostile  to  the  foundations  of  the  civil 
power,  no  less  than  to  the  purity  of  the  Christian  faith, 
and  be  induced  to  afford  their  speedy  and  effectual 
assistance  to  suppress  them. 

The  bull  addressed  to  the  king,  differs  from  that  sent 
to  the  bishops,  only  as  apprizing  the  monarch  of  the 
instructions  which  had  been  sent  to  those  dignitaries, 
and  as  requiring  him,  in  consistency  with  his  known 
reverence  for  the  will  of  the  apostolic  see,  to  grant  the 
said  prelates  his  countenance  and  assistance  in  discharg- 
ing the  duties  imposed  on  them. 

In  the  official  document  borne  by  a  special  messenger 
to  the  chancellor  of  the  University  of  Oxford,  the  signs 
of  religious  declension  in  England  are  again  deplored, 
and  the  opinions  of  Wycliffe  are  again  described  as  being 
alike  adverse  to  the  authority  of  the  church,  and  to  the 
foundations  of  civil  government.  On  these  grounds, 
that  learned  body  is  called  upon,  in  virtue  of  the 
obedience  due  to  the  apostolic  letters,  and  on  pain  of 
losing  all  graces,  indulgences,  and  privileges  granted  to 


A.  D.  1878.]     Further  Proceedings  against  Wycliffe.       203 

their  university  by  the  holy  see, — to  prevent  the  teach- 
ing of  any  such  conclusions  as  had  been  attributed  to 
John  Wycliffe,  and  to  cause  the  person  of  that  offender, 
and  of  all  others  embracing  his  errors,  to  be  delivered 
up  in  safe  custody  to  the  prelates  before  named.  The 
prelates,  also,  addressed  a  joint  letter  to  the  chancellor  to 
the  same  purpose,  in  the  name  of  the  pontiff,  requiring 
that  Wycliffe  should  be  made  to  appear  in  the  church  of 
St.  Paul's,  London,  there  to  answer  in  relation  to  the 
errors  imputed  to  him.  But  it  is  to  be  observed  that 
the  date  of  the  papal  letters  was,  as  we  have  said,  in 
June  1377,  while  the  date  of  this  last  letter  is  as  late 
as  the  fifteenth  of  the  following  January.^ 

This  apparent  tardiness  of  procedure  admits  of  expla- 
nation. When  the  papal  letters  were  signed,  Edward 
III.  was  still  living.  Ten  days  later  the  crown  had 
passed  to  Richard  11.^  Then  came  the  excitements  of 
the  new  reign ;  the  renewed  protests  of  parliament 
against  the  ambition  and  avarice  of  the  papal  court ; 
and  the  part  taken  by  Wycliffe  in  support  of  that  protest, 
in  the  argument  published  by  him  as  an  answer  to  the 
question  which  had  been  submitted  to  him  by  the  two 
houses.  All  these  circumstances  were  unfavourable  to 
immediate  action  in  accordance  with  the  papal  rescripts. 
But  when  six  months  had  contributed  to  bring  public 
affairs  into  more  of  their  ordinary  temper,  it  was  thought 

'  Appendix,  G.  2  j^^e  11—21. 


204  Wycliffe  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 

the  time  had  come  for  such  action  ;  and  now  the  letter 
of  the  primate  and  of  the  bishop  of  London  is  sent  to 
Oxford.  Still  there  are  impediments.  The  functionaries 
of  the  University,  in  place  of  submitting  at  once  to  the 
mandate  of  the  pope,  demanded  time ;  and  to  the 
amazement  of  Walsingham,  one  of  our  great  lights 
among  the  annalists  of  those  times,  the  said  functionaries 
showed  signs  of  a  disposition  to  repudiate  the  authority 
which  his  holiness  had  taken  upon  him  in  relation  to 
the  ancient  seat  of  learning  entrusted  to  their  oversight. 
We  have  reason  to  suppose  that  this  hesitancy  arose  in 
part  from  the  fact  that  the  men  in  Oxford  who  sympa- 
thized with  Wycliffe,  were,  as  the  papal  letters  sup- 
posed, considerable  in  respect  to  numbers  and  influence  : 
and  in  part  from  the  jealousy  with  which  the  papal, 
and  indeed  episcopal  interference  of  any  kind,  was 
regarded  by  the  Universities  in  those  ages.  The  decision 
at  length  was,  that  the  rescript  should  be  received  ;  but  it 
was  suspiciously  done,  and  we  have  no  reason  to  think 
that  any  hostile  measure  towards  the  Reformer  was  medi- 
tated by  the  authorities  at  this  juncture. 

But  in  the  month  of  April  1378,  a  synod  was  convened 
in  Lambeth,  before  which  Wycliffe  was  summoned  to 
appear,  and  he  was  obedient  to  the  summons.  The 
Duke  of  Lancaster  no  longer  ruled  in  the  cabinet ;  but 
the  doctrines  of  the  Reformer  had  made  a  powerful  im- 
pression both  on  the  court  and  the  populace,  and  events 
demonstrated  the  necessity  of  caution  on  the  part  of  his 


A.  D.  1378.]  Synod  at  Lambeth.  205 

enemies.  The  people,  alarmed  for  the  safety  of  the 
accused,  surrounded  the  place  of  meeting,  and  forced 
their  way,  along  with  many  of  the  more  wealthy  citizens, 
into  the  chapel  where  the  papal  commissioners  were  assem- 
bled, proclaiming  before  them  their  attachment  to  the 
person  and  opinions  of  the  Reformer.  The  dismay  created 
by  this  tumult  was  augmented,  when  Sir  Lewis  Clifford 
entered  the  court,  and  in  the  name  of  the  queen-mother 
forbade  the  bishops  proceeding  to  any  definite  sentence 
in  regard  to  the  doctrine  or  the  conduct  of  Wycliffe. 
Whereupon,  says  the  historian  last  cited,  the  delegates, 
though  vested  with  all  the  authority  of  the  apostolic  see, 
^  shaken  as  a  reed  with  the  wind,  became  soft  as  oil  in 
'  their  speech,  to  the  open  forfeiture  of  their  own  dignity, 
'  and  the  injury  of  the  whole  church.  With  such  fear 
'  were  they  struck,  that  you  would  think  them  a  man 
*  who  hears  not,  or  one  in  whose  mouth  are  no  reproofs.'^ 
But  before  matters  had  come  to  the  pass  which  filled 
our  monkish  friend  with  so  much  amazement  and  indig- 
nation, something  had  been  done.  In  pursuance  of  the 
instructions  contained  in  the  pope's  letters,  a  paper 
containing  the  errors  or  heresies  said  to  have  been 
promulgated  by  Wycliffe  had  been  furnished  to  him  ;  and 
in  obedience  to  the  same  instructions,  the  Reformer  had 


^  Walsingham.  Hist.  Aug.  205.  Walsingham  relates  that  a  tumult 
of  this  sort  arose  some  four  years  later  on  the  trial  of  Ashton  the 
Lollard. 


206  Wyclifie  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 

prepared  a  paper  which  was  presented  as  his  answer  to 
the  charges  contained  in  that  document.  On  this  answer, 
moreover,  the  synod,  sometime  in  the  course  of  its  pro- 
ceedings, delivered  a  sort  of  verdict.  But  it  was  a  verdict 
which  for  the  present  did  not  take  with  it  any  pain  or 
penalty.  It  consisted  simply  of  a  prohibition, — requir- 
ing that  the  '  conclusions'  which  had  come  under  review 
should  not  be  again  published,  either  from  the  pulpit,  or 
in  the  schools.  The  inference  from  this  language,  of 
course  is,  that  by  this  time,  such  doctrines  as  are  con- 
tained in  these  conclusions  had  been  taught  with  much 
freedom  by  the  Reformer,  not  only  in  the  lectures  deli- 
vered by  him  as  a  professor,  but  in  his  discourses  as  a 
preacher. 

The  paper  presented  by  WyclifFe  to  this  synod,  has 
been  much  misrepresented  by  his  enemies,  and  much 
misunderstood  by  his  friends.  By  his  enemies,  his  ex- 
planations have  been  described  as  subtle,  evasive,  and 
timid.  His  friends,  deceived  apparently  by  the  confi- 
dence with  which  such  assertions  have  been  made,  do 
not  appear  to  have  bestowed  upon  the  statements  of  this 
remarkable  document  the  patient  attention  necessary  to 
a  just  estimate  of  its  significance.  They  have  judged  of 
it  too  much  from  the  parts  censured  by  men  adverse  to 
the  memory  of  the  Reformer.  They  have  not  compared 
those  parts  with  the  whole,  so  as  to  judge  of  the  whole 
from  the  whole.  Nor  have  they  made  a  sufficient  allow- 
ance for  the  difference   in  the  mode  of  treating  such 


A.  D.  1378.]     Wycliffe's  Eccplanations  at  Lambeth.  207 

questions  which  is  familiar  to  ourselves,  and  the  mode 
familiar  to  the  learned  among  our  ancestors  some  five 
centuries  since.  As  the  contents  of  this  paper  have 
been  regarded  as  presenting  the  most  vulnerable  point 
in  the  history  of  the  Reformer,  vfe  shall  give  the 
material  portions  of  it  without  abridgment,  and  shall 
add  to  them  such  observations  as  may  serve,  with  fair- 
ness, to  bring  out  its  general  and  real  meaning.  It  is 
manifest  enough,  that  the  men  to  whose  judgment  it  was 
submitted,  were  very  far  from  accounting  it  harmless  ; 
and  we  may  be  sure,  that  their  glances  at  each  other  as 
it  was  read  in  their  hearing,  were  by  no  means  of  the 
sort  we  should  describe  as  bespeaking  pleasure  or  con- 
tentment. Some  of  the  opinions  expressed  had  no  doubt 
been  often  promulgated  by  men  of  large  and  free  thought, 
without  bringing  any  serious  penalty  upon  them  ;  but 
others  are  of  such  a  complexion,  that  the  man  giving 
them  utterance  must  have  felt  the  dangers  before  him 
to  be  of  the  gravest  description. 

The  introduction  to  this  paper,  with  its  first  '  conclu- 
sion '  and  explanation,  read  as  follows  : — 

First  of  all,  I  publicly  protest,  as  I  have  often  done  at  other 
times,  that  I  will  and  purpose  from  the  bottom  of  my  heart,  by  the 
grace  of  God,  to  be  a  sincere  Christian  ;  and  as  long  as  I  have 
breath,  to  profess  and  defend  the  law  of  Christ  so  far  as  I  am  able. 
And  if,  through  ignorance,  or  any  other  cause,  I  shall  fail  therein,  I 
ask  pardon  of  God,  and  do  now  from  henceforth  revoke  and  retract 
it,  humbly  submitting  myself  to  the" correction  of  Holy  Mother 
Church.     And  as  for  the  opinion  of  children  and  weak  people  con- 


208  Wycliffe  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 

cerning  the  faith  which  I  have  taught  in  the  schools  and  elsewhere, 
and  which  by  those  who  are  more  than  children  has  been  conveyed 
beyond  the  sea,  even  to  the  court  of  Rome — that  Christians  may  not 
be  scandalized  on  my  account,  I  am  willing  to  set  down  my  sense 
in  writing,  since  I  am  prosecuted  for  the  same.  Which  opinions  I 
am  willing  to  defend  even  unto  death,  as  I  believe  all  Christians' 
ought  to  do,  and  especially  the  Pope  of  Rome,  and  the  rest  of  the 
priests  of  the  church.  I  understand  the  conclusions  according  to 
the  sense  of  Scripture  and  the  holy  doctors,  and  the  manner  of 
speaking  used  by  them  ;  which  sense  I  am  ready  to  explain,  and  if 
it  be  proved  that  the  conclusions  are  contrary  to  the  faith,  I  am 
willing  very  readily  to  retract  them. 

I.  The  first  conclusion  is,  that  all  mankind,  since  Chrisfs  coming, 
have  not  power,  simply  or  absolutely,  to  ordain  that  Peter  and  all  his 
successors  should  rule  over  the  world  politically  for  ever.  And  this  is 
plain,  as  it  is  not  in  the  power  of  man  to  hinder  the  coming  of  Christ 
to  the  last  judgment,  which  we  are  bound  to  believe  according  to 
that  article  of  the  creed.  From  thence  he  shall  come  to  judge  the  living 
and  the  dead.  For  after  that,  according  to  the  faith  delivered  in 
Scripture,  all  human  polity  will  be  at  an  end.  But  I  understand 
that  political  dominion,  or  civil  secular  government,  does  pertain  to 
the  laity,  who  are  actually  living,  whilst  they  are  absent  from  the 
Lord  ;  for  of  such  a  political  dominion  do  the  philosophers  speak. 
And  although  it  be  styled  periodical,  (limited)  and  sometimes  per- 
petual (or  for  ever)  ;  yet  because  in  the  Holy  Scripture,  in  the  use 
of  the  church,  and  in  the  writings  of  the  philosophers,  perpetuum  is 
plainly  used  commonly  in  the  same  sense  as  eternal,  I  afterwards 
suppose  that  term  to  be  used  or  taken  in  that  more  common  signi- 
fication, for  thus  the  church  sings.  Glory  he  to  God  the  Father,  and 
to  his  only  Son,  with  the  Holy  Spirit  the  Comforter,  both  now  and 
for  ever  \in  perpetuum.']  And  then  the  conclusion  immediately  fol- 
lows on  the  principles  of  faith  ;  since  it  is  not  in  the  power  of  men 
to  appoint  the  pilgrimage  of  the  Church  to  be  without  end. 


A.D.  1378.]     Wycliffes  Explanations  at  Lambeth.  209 

Now  we  can  imagine  the  official  personages  who  sit  in 
conclave  on  these  professed  explanations  concerning 
alleged  '  heresies  and  errors/  as  being  not  a  little  be- 
wildered by  what  their  functionary  clerk  has  read  to 
them.  They  feel  that  it  would  require  a  shrewdness 
other  than  they  have  brought  to  the  business  before 
them,  to  detect  the  heretical  or  the»erroneous  in  such  a 
statement.  '  It  means  nothing/  they  say.  Nay,  gentle- 
men, it  does  mean  something.  It  gives  you  the  literal 
sense  of  the  words  '  for  ever,'  and  it  gives  you  a  reason 
why  your  popedom  cannot  be  in  that  sense  for  ever. 
Bear  with  this  Oxford  schoolman  a  little.  He  has  his 
own  notion  as  to  the  best  way  of  telling  his  story,  and 
will  probably  become  more  explicit  before  he  has  done. 
The  next  conclusion  is  read,  and  it  reads  thus  : — 

II.  God  cannot  give  civil  dominion  to  any  man  for  himself  and  his 
heirs  for  ever ;  in  perpetuum.  By  civil  dominion,!  mean  that  I 
meant  above  by  'political  dominion,  and  by  perpetual,  or  for  ever,  the 
same  as  I  did  before,  as  the  scripture  understands  the  perpetual  or 
everlasting  habitations  in  the  state  of  blessedness.  I  said,  therefore, 
first,  that  God,  of  his  ordinary  power,  cannot  give  man  civil  dominion 
ever.  I  said,  secondly,  that  it  seems  probable  that  God,  of  his 
absolute  power,  cannot  give  man  such  a  dominion,  in  perpetuum, 
for  ever  ;  because  he  cannot,  as  it  seems,  always  imprison  his  spouse 
on  the  way,  nor  always  defer  the  ultimate  completion  of  her 
happiness. 

Still,  our  ecclesiastical  friends  are  in  the  dark.  They 
read  once  and  again,  but  the  light  does  not  come.    '  Does 


210  Wycliffe  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 


'  he/  says  that  portly  gentleman  in  prelatic  vesture,  'does 
'  he  mean  to  say  no  more  than  that  no  political  dominion 
'  in  the  world  can  last  for  ever,  seeing  that  the  world  itself 
'  will  not  last  for  ever ;  and  that  the  chnrch  on  earth 
'  cannot  exist  for  ever,  seeing  it  is  some  day  to  be- 
'  come  a  church  in  heaven/  Even  so  ;  he  means  to  say, 
that  neither  civil  dominion,  nor  the  church  militant,  can 
be  in  the  literal  sense  everlasting,  because  God  has  pur- 
posed otherwise.  This,  it  must  be  confessed,  is  not  to 
say  anything  very  profound,  nor  anything  that  may  be 
described  as  dangerous  ;  but  if  borne  with  it  may  per- 
haps lead  the  way  to  something  much  more  weighty. 
Look  to  the  next  conclusion  : — 

III.  Charters  of  human  invention  concerning  civil  inheritance  for 
ever,  are  impossille.  This  is  an  incident  truth.  For  we  ought  not 
to  reckon  as  catholic  all  the  charters  that  are  held  by  an  unjust 
occupier.  But  if  this  be  confirmed  by  the  faith  of  the  church, 
there  would  be  an  opportunity  given  for  charity,  and  a  liberty  to 
trust  in  temporalities,  and  to  petition  for  them  ;  for  as  every  truth 
is  necessary,  so  every  falsehood  is  possible  on  supposition,  as  is  plain 
by  the  testimony  of  scripture,  and  of  the  holy  doctors,  who  speak 
of  the  necessity  of  things  future. 

And  now  the  little  patience  left  to  the  amiable  persons 
filling  the  seat  of  judgment,  fails  them  entirely.  '  The 
'  meanings  before,'  says  our  prelatic  friend,  '  were  trivial, 
'  but  here  there  is  no  meaning.'  The  words,  it  must  be 
owned,  are  obscure  ;  but  they  would  not  be  so,  possibly, 
if  taken  along  with  facts— facts  which  to  you,  at  least, 


A.D.  1378.]     Wycliffes  Explanations  at  Lamheth.  21 1 

ought  not  to  be  unknown.  But  if  the  first  three  in  this 
series  of  '  conclusions  '  have  proved  so  barren  of  material 
for  your  purpose,  suppose,  gentlemen,  you  pass  at  once 
to  the  last  three,  and  see  what  may  be  found  there.  The 
last  three  read  thus  : — 


XVI.  It  is  lawful  for  kings,  incases  limited  bylaw,  to  takeaway 
the  temporalities  from  churchmen  who  habitually  abuse  them. 

This  is  plain  from  hence,  that  temporal  lords  ought  to  depend 
more  on  spiritual  alms,  which  bring  forth  greater  plenty  of  fruit, 
than  on  alms  for  the  necessities  of  tlie  body  :  that  it  may  happen  to 
be  a  work  of  spiritual  alms  to  correct  such  clergymen  as  damage 
themselves,  soul  and  body,  by  withholding  from  them  the  tempor- 
alities. The  case  the  law  puts  is  this, — when  the  spiritual  head  or 
president  fails  in  punishing  them,  or  that  the  faith  of  the  clerk  is 
to  be  corrected,  as  appears  XVI.  p.  7.     Filiis,  40  di. 

XVII.  If  the  pope,  or  temporal  lords,  or  any  others,  shaE  have  en- 
dowed the  church  with  temporalities,  it  is  lawful  for  them  to  take  them, 
away  in  certain  cases,  viz.,  when  the  doing  so  is  by  way  of  medicine  to 
cure  or  prevent  sins,  and  that  notwithstanding  excommunication,  or  any 
other  church  censure,  since  these  donations  were  not  giv€7i  but  with  a, 
condition  implied.  This  is  plain  from  hence,  that  nothing  ought  to 
hinder  a  man  from  doing  the  principal  works  of  charity  necessarily, 
and  that  in  every  human  action  the  condition  of  the  divine  good 
pleasure  is  necessarily  to  be  understood,  as  in  the  civil  law.  Collationis 
Decorandi,  c.  in  fine  Collationis  10.  We  added  to  this  seventeenth 
article,  God  forbid  that,  by  these  words,  occasion  should  be  given  to 
the  temporal  lords  to  take  away  the  goods  of  fortune  to  the  detriment 
of  the  church. 

XVIII.  An  ecclesiastic,  ever,  the  pope  of  Rome  himself,  may,  on  some 
accounts,  be  corrected  by  their  subjects,  and  for  the  benefit  of  the  church 

p  2 


212 


Wycliffe  as  a  Confessor. 


[chap.  IX. 


be  impleaded  hy  both  clergy  and  laity.  This  is  plain  from  hence,  that 
the  pope  himself  is  capable  of  sinning,  except  the  sin  against  the 
Holy  Ghost,  as  is  supposed,  saving  the  sanctity,  humility,  and 
reverence  due  to  so  worthy  a  father.  And  since  he  is  our  peccable 
brother,  or  liable  to  sin  as  well  as  we,  he  is  subject  to  the  law  of 
brotherly  reproof ;  and  when,  therefore,  it  is  plain  that  the  whole 
college  of  cardinals  is  remiss  in  correcting  him  for  the  neces- 
sary welfare  of  the  church,  it  is  evident  that  the  rest  of  the  body, 
which,  as  it  may  chance,  may  chiefly  be  made  up  of  the  laity,  may 
medicinally  reprove  him  and  implead  him,  and  reduce  him  to  live  a 
better  life.  This  possible  case  is  handled,  Diss.  40,  ^i  papa  fuerit  a 
fide  devius.  For  as  so  great  a  lapse  ought  not  to  be  supposed  in  the 
lord  pope  without  manifest  evidence  ;  so  it  ought  not  to  be  presumed 
possible  that  where  he  does  so  fall,  he  should  be  guilty  of  so  great 
obstinacy  as  not  humbly  to  accept  a  cure  from  his  superior  with 
respect  to  God.  Wherefore  many  chronicles  attest  the  facts  of  that 
conclusion.  God  forbid  that  truth  should  be  condemned  by  the 
church  of  Christ,  because  it  sounds  ill  in  the  ears  of  sinners  and 
ignorant  persons  ;  for  then  the  whole  faith  of  the  scripture  would 
be  liable  to  be  condemned. 


Monk  and  mendicant,  bishop  and  subordinate,  look 
strangely  and  variously  at  each  other,  as  sentence  after 
sentence  of  these  statements  are  read.  You  hear  no  more 
about  obscure  meanings,  or  little  meanings.  The  meaning 
here  is  manifest  enough,  and  sweeping  enough.  '  Is  it  so 
then,'  saith  a  hard-featured  dignitary  on  the  left  of  the 
chair,  '  is  it  so,  that  we,  the  clergy,  the  divinely-appointed 
'  teachers  of  the  laity,  are  henceforth  to  be  subject — sub- 
'  ject  as  to  property  and  character,  to  the  judgment  of  the 
'  laity  ?  Is  it  so,  that  temporal  lords  are  to  determine  when 


i 
i 


A.D.  1378.]     Wycliffes  Explanations  at  Lambeth.  213 

'  we  do  rightly  use,  and  when  we  do  abuse,  our  temporali- 
'  ties  ;  and  is  it  to  pertain  to  them  to  say  when  we  do  hold 
'  our  revenues  with  a  just  title,  and  when  we  should  be 
'  deprived  of  them  ?  Nay  more — is  it  for  the  laity  to  say 
'  when  our  power  of  '  binding  and  loosing,' — when  our 
'■  benedictions  or  our  censures,  as  Grod's  ministers,  are  to 
'  be  accounted  as  from  God,  or  as  only  from  man  ? 
'  Above  all,  is  this  defiance  of  the  weapons  of  the  church 
'■  to  be  carried  so  far — is  this  putting  of  those  who  should 
'  be  ruled  in  the  place  of  those  who  should  rule,  to  be- 
'  come  so  monstrous,  that  even  the  sovereign  pontiff  is  to 
'  be  impleaded,  and  forced  by  an  authority  made  up,  it 
*  may  be,  '  chiefly  of  the  laity,'  to  what  such  men  may 
'  choose  to  call  'a  better  life/ '  Yes,  gentle  sir,  it  has 
come  to  that.  Wycliffe  means  all  that.  In  so  far  as  his 
opinions  and  his  wishes  may  prevail  on  such  questions, 
he  would  have  the  temporal  power,  be  lord  over  all  tem- 
poralities ;  and  to  that  regime  would  he  gladly  subject 
your  whole  order,  from  the  pope  downwards.  Yes — and 
concerning  the  life  which  your  order  should  live,  no  less 
than  concerning  the  temporalities  that  should  be  at  your 
disposal,  he  would  have  the  lay  judgment,  in  his  sup- 
posed case,  be  the  ultimate  judgment — requiring  the  laity 
to  become  reformers  of  the  clergy,  where  the  clergy  fail 
to  become  the  reformers  of  themselves.  He  would,  more- 
over, have  men  little  heedful  of  your  blessing  or  cursing, 
except  as  they  can  themselves  see  that  you  bless  only 
where  God  has  blessed,  and  that  you  curse  only  where 


214  Wycliffe  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 

God  has  cursed.  If  you  doubt  this,  go  back  to  the  re- 
mainder of  the  conclusions  before  you,  and  you  will  find 
that  from  the  vii.  to  the  xv.  they  all  treat  on  this  sub- 
ject, and  treat  of  it  in  this  temper.  Read  I  Read  ! 

That  hard-featured  man  to  the  left  of  the  chairman — 
evidently  a  man  of  some  status  in  church  affairs — is 
again  upon  his  legs ;  and  with  a  warmth  of  utterance 
by  no  means  abated,  he  thus  speaks, — '  Oh  !  evil  times, 
'  when   errors  so  fatal   to  all  authority,   are  published 

*  abroad — published  not  only  in  the  hearing  of  the  com- 
'  mon  people,  but  from  the  chair  of  a  professor  of  divinity 
'  in  our  venerated  University  of  Oxford.  Let  it  be  once 
'  thought  by  the  people,  that  our  binding  and  loosing  is 
'  as  devoid  of  all  real  power  as  this  depraved  paper  sets 
'  forth,  and,  its  value  being  wholly  gone,  most  surely 
'  the  use  of  it,  in  any  form,  will  naturally  die  away. 
'  If  our  benediction  or  our  anathema  does  not  in  any 
'  case  make  a  man  other  than  the  man  has  already  made 
'  himself  by  his  own  acts,  is  not  this  to  say  that  our 
'  whole  scheme  of  absolution  and  excommunication  does 

*  nothing,  and  is  nothing  ? '  Truly,  reverend  sir,  the 
case  is  as  you  understand  it,  bad  as  that  may  seem. 
The  man  impleaded  before  you  as  a  heretic  and  a  false 
teacher,  means  by  what  he  has  said  in  that  paper,  and 
by  what  he  is  saying  elsewhere,  to  do  his  best  towards 
taking  the  souls  of  men  out  of  your  hands.  He  has 
within  him  a  loathing — a  loathing  that  will  ere  long  be- 
come deeper,  of  the  bad  uses  to  which  you  are  constantly 


A.D,  1878.]     H^y cliff es  Explanations  at  Lambeth.  215 

applying  that  pretended  authority  of  yours  over  the  in- 
visible world.  He  pays  little  heed  to  your  canon-law  ; 
he  would  have  men  put  their  natural  conscience  in  the 
place  of  it — to  fear  God  and  to  do  his  will,  and  to  fear 
displeasure  from  a  priest  only  when  their  consciences 
shall  tell  them  that  it  is  an  echo  of  the  displeasure  of 
God.  If  you  think  that  you  do  send  men  to  perdition, 
as  often  as  for  your  own  trivial  or  selfish  reasons  you 
aifect  so  to  do,  then  in  the  view  of  the  man  you  have 
arraigned  as  a  culprit,  you  are  all  *  children  of  the  fiend,' 
having  lost  the  compassions  proper  to  men.  If  you  do 
not  think  that  your  curse  does  really  entail  such  horrible 
things,  then  are  you,  in  his  view,  '  pharisees  and  hypo- 
crites,' because  you  affect  so  to  believe,  while  you  do  not 
so  believe.  You  may  gather  thus  much  from  what  he  has 
now  committed  to  writing  and  placed  in  your  hands, 
and  the  time  is  at  hand  in  which  he  will  speak  thus 
with  an  explicitness  not  to  be  mistaken. 

All  honor,  say  we,  to  the  heart,  which,  in  the  face  of 
such  perils,  levelled  a  blow  so  potent  against  that  most 
terrible  of  all  thraldoms — the  thraldom  of  the  soul. 
And  shame,  say  we,  to  those  blind  and  ungrateful  protes- 
tants,  who  have  failed  to  give  to  this  extraordinary  man 
the  praise  due  to  this  rare  honesty  and  bravery  ! 

But,  whatever  may  have  been  the  judgment  of  the 
pope's  commissioners  at  Lambeth,  in  respect  to  the  con- 
clusions and  explanations  thus  laid  before  them,  they 
were  prohibited  by  the  pontiff  from  acting  upon  it,  and 


216  Wycliffe  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 

even  from  publishing  it  until  the  result  of  the  investi- 
gation should  have  been  transmitted  to  the  papal  court, 
and  judgment  pronounced  upon  it  there.  This  escape  of 
the  Reformer  from  the  power  of  his  enemies,  though  pro- 
bably for  a  season  only,  was  interpreted  by  himself  and 
his  disciples  as  a  triumph  ;  and  the  circumstance  appears 
to  have  provoked  the  attack  of  an  anonymous  divine, 
described  by  the  Reformer  as  a  *  motley  Theologian,'  who 
would  seem  to  have  given  himself  with  much  zeal  to  a 
vindication  of  the  infallibility  of  the  pontiff.  The  pope 
he  affirmed  to  be  incapable  of  mortal  sin  ;  insisting  that 
whatsoever  his  holiness  should  ordain,  must  be  true  and 
just.  In  reply,  Wycliffe  observes,  that  if  this  doctrine 
were  admitted,  the  pope  might  remove  any  book  from 
the  canon  of  Holy  Writ,  and  introduce  any  novelty  into 
its  place  ;  might  alter  the  entire  Bible,  and  convert  even 
the  scriptures  into  heresy,  establishing  as  Catholic  truth 
tenets  the  most  contrary  to  that  truth.  On  Wycliffe's 
principle,  the  pope  might  err,  even  to  that  extent ;  and 
according  to  the  principle  of  his  antagonist,  should  his 
holiness  so  do,  even  in  that  case  his  authority  must  not 
be  disputed. 

The  Reformer  then  adverts  to  the  attempts  made  by 
the  pontiff  to  arm  the  authority  of  the  hierarchy,  of  the 
court,  and  of  the  university  against  him,  as  "the  penalty 
of  his  presuming  to  question  this  dogma  .  concerning  the 
infallibility  of  the  pope,  and  some  others  not  less  ad- 
verse to  the  interests  of  truth  and  piety.  He  makes  men- 


A.D.  1378.]         An  Assailant  and  a  Reply.  217 

tion,  moreover,  of  the  fact,  that  the  papal  delegates  who 
sat  in  judgment  on  his  conclusions  at  Lambeth,  were  then 
waiting  to  learn  the  decision  of  the  papal  court  concern- 
ing them ;  and  he  states  for  their  information,  that 
according  to  the  report  which  has  reached  him,  the  doc- 
trine he  has  avowed  in  relation  to  the  liability  of  the 
pope  to  fall,  like  other  men,  into  error  and  sin  ;  and  in 
relation  to  the  authority  of  temporal  lords  over  all  the 
goods  of  the  church — had  been  pronounced  as  in  a  high 
degree  heretical.  Passing  from  his  doctrine  on  these 
points,  to  his  avowed  opinions  concerning  the  supposed 
power  of  absolution  ;  and  presuming  that  in  respect  to 
this  topic,  the  conclusion  would  be,  that  the  pope,  and  the 
clergy  generally,  do  really  bind  and  loose,  whenever  they 
affect  so  to  do,  his  indignation  waxes  strong. 

The  man  who  should  thus  proclaim  himself  as  equal 
with  God,  he  describes  as  a  heretic  and  a  blasphemer — as 
a  delinquent  whom  Christians  ought  not  in  any  way  to 
acknowledge,  assuredly  not  as  their  spiritual  leader,  since 
to  follow  such  guidance  must  be  to  pass  blindfold  to 
destruction.  Secular  lords  are  urged,  accordingly,  to 
resist  the  arrogant  claims  of  the  pope  ;  and  to  do  so,  not 
merely  in  respect  to  the  heresy  which  the  pontiff  had 
endeavoured  to  impose  on  them  by  declaring  them  in- 
competent to  withdraw  their  alms  from  a  delinquent 
church  ;  nor  merely  because  that  same  authority  had 
pronounced  it  heretical  to  affirm  that  any  distribution 
of  the  goods  of  the  church  by  the  court  of  Rome,  must 


218 


Wycliffe  as  a  Confessor. 


[chip.    IX. 


be  dependent  on  confirmation  by  the  civil  power — but 
still  more,  because  it  had  been  the  great  work  of  the  See 
of  Rome,  to  deprive  them  of  the  liberty  assigned  them 
by  the  law  of  Christ,  and  to  subject  them  to  an  Egyptian 
bondage  in  its  stead.  No  fear  of  suffering,  therefore,  no 
thirst  of  gain,  no  love  of  distinction,  should  prevent  the 
soldiers  of  Christ,  as  well  laymen  as  clergy,  from  appear- 
ing in  defence  of  the  law  of  God,  even  unto  death. 
Should  the  lord  pope  himself,  or  an  angel  from  heaven, 
lay  claim  to  the  certain  and  absolute  power  of  absolving, 
which  belongs  only  to  God,  every  man  in  the  great  Chris- 
tian commonwealth  should  strive  to  the  utmost  for  *  the 
saving  of  the  faith,'  and  the  destruction  of  such  error. 
The  substance  of  the  Reformer's  reasoning  in  this  treatise, 
on  the  natural  bearings  of  such  power  wherever  assumed, 
is  as  follows — 

'  Let  it  once  be  admitted,  that  the  pope,  or  one  repre- 
senting  him,  does  indeed  bind  or  loose  whenever  he 
affects  to  do  so,  and  how  shall  the  world  stand  ?  When 
the  pontiff  pretends  to  bind  all  who  oppose  him  in  his 
acquisition  of  temporal  things,  either  movable  or  im- 
movable, with  the  pains  of  actual  damnation,  if  such 
persons  assuredly  are  so  bound, — it  must  follow,  as 
among  the  easiest  of  things,  for  the  pope  to  wrest  unto 
himself  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world,  and  to  subject 
or  destroy  every  ordinance  of  Christ.  And  since,  for  a 
less  fault  than  this  usurpation  of  a  divine  power,  Abi- 
athar  was  deposed  by  Solomon,  Peter  was  reproved  to 


A.D.  1878.]  An  Assailant  and  a  Reply.  219 

the  face  by  Paul — nay,  and  many  popes  have  been  de- 
posed by  emperors  and  kings,  what  should  be  allowed 
to  prevent  the  faithful  from  uttering  their  complaints 
against  this  greater  injury  done  to  their  God  ?  For  on 
the  ground  of  this  impious  doctrine,  it  would  be  easy 
for  the  pope  to  invert  all  the  arrangements  of  the  world  ; 
seizing,  in  connection  with  the  clergy,  on  the  wives,  the 
daughters,  and  all  the  possessions  of  the  laity,  without 
opposition  ;  inasmuch  as  it  is  their  saying,  that  even 
kings  may  not  deprive  a  churchman  of  aught,  neither 
complain  of  his  conduct,  let  him  do  what  he  may, 
— while  obedience  must  be  instantly  rendered  to  what- 
ever the  pope  may  decree  ! ' 

It  must  be  remembered,  that  the  '  conclusions,'  propo- 
sitions, or  articles  of  impeachment  as  we  may  call  them, 
upon  which  WyclifFe  was  required  to  give  explanation 
and  answer  at  Lambeth,  consisted  of  so  many  sentences 
culled  from  his  writings  or  discourses  by  his  enemies,  and 
transmitted  by  them  as  matters  of  accusation  against  him 
to  the  papal  court.  The  paper  given  to  the  papal  delegates, 
presents,  as  we  have  seen,  Wycliffe's  explanations  of  the 
sense  in  which  he  either  holds  or  rejects  the  opinions  at- 
tributed to  him.  His  aim  in  the  above  reply  to  his 
'  motley  '  assailant,  is  to  vindicate  his  doctrine,  as  he 
had  himself  stated  it  before  the  delegates.  Having  now 
learnt  that  the  most  material  of  his  opinions  had  been 
condemned  by  the  papal  court  as  being  in  a  special  degree 
false  and  pernicious,  he  sees  clearly,  that  in  obedience  to 


220  Wycliffe  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 

earnest  injunctions  and  exhortations  from  the  pope  and 
his  court,  a  more  severe  prosecution  is  likely  to  be  very 
speedily  instituted  against  him.  With  this  prospect  be- 
fore him,  he  appears  to  have  sent  forth  a  copy  of  the 
'  conclusions '  charged  upon  him,  with  his  answers  at- 
tached to  them.i  In  this  second  paper,  however,  while 
the  substance  of  the  answers  presented  to  the  delegates  is 
retained,  there  are  some  variations,  both  in  the  way  of 
omission  and  enlargement,  and  its  language,  as  opposed 
to  the  pretensions  of  the  pontiff  and  his  instruments, 
is  somewhat  bolder.  In  short,  this  second  paper  appears 
to  have  been  published,  that  the  grounds  in  which  the 
Reformer  rested  his  opinions,  and  the  merits  of  the  prose- 
cution which  he  regarded  as  awaiting  him,  might  be  as 
widely  known  as  possible.  Concerning  the  pontiff,  he 
does  not  hesitate  to  express  himself  in  this  paper  as 
follows.  '  Let  him  not  be  ashamed  to  perform  the  minis- 
'  try  of  the  church,  since  he  is,  or  at  least  ought  to  be, 
'  the  servant  of  the  servants  of  God.     But  a  prohibition 

*  of  reading  the  sacred  scriptures,  and  a  vanity  of  secular 
'  dominion,  and  a  lusting  after  worldly  appearances, 
'  would  seem  to  partake  too  much  of  a  disposition  to- 
'  wards  the  blasphemous  advancement  of  Antichrist,  es- 
'  pecially  while  the  truths  of  a  scriptural  faith  are  reputed 

*  tares,  and  said  to  be  opposed  to  Christian  truth,  by  cer- 
^  tain  leaders  who  arrogate  that  we  must  abide  by  their 

^  Appendix  H. 


A.D.  1378.]      Second  Paper  of  Explanations.  221 

'  decision  respecting  every  article  of  faith,  notwith- 
'  standing  they  themselves  are  clearly  ignorant  of  the 
'  faith  of  the  scriptures.  But  by  such  means  there  follows 
'  a  crowding  to  the  court  (of  Rome)  to  purchase  a  con- 
'  demnation  of  the  sacred  Scriptures  themselves  as  here- 
'  tical,  and  thence  come  dispensations  contrary  to  the 
'  articles  of  the  Christian  faith/  The  closing  paragraph 
of  this  paper  reads  thus  : 

*  These  conclusions  have  I  delivered,  as  a  grain  of  faith, 
'  separated  from  the  chaff  by  which  the  ungrateful  tares 
'  are  set  on  fire.  These,  opposed  to  the  scriptures  of 
'  truth,  like  the  crimson  blossom  of  foul  revenge,  provide 
'  sustenance  for  Antichrist.  Of  this  the  infallible  sign 
*  is,  that  there  reigns  in  the  clergy  a  Luciferian  enmity 
'  and  pride,  consisting  in  the  lust  of  domination,  the 
'  wife  of  which  is  covetousness  of  earthly  things,  breed- 
'  ing  together  the  children  of  the  fiend,  the  children  of 
'  evangelical  poverty  being  no  more.  A  judgment  of  the 
'  fruit  thus  produced,  may  be  formed  also  from  the  fact, 
'  that  many,  even  of  the  children  of  poverty,  are  so  de- 
'  generate,  that  either  by  what  they  say,  or  by  their 
'  silence,  they  take  the  part  of  Lucifer,  not  being  able 
'  to  stand  forth  in  the  cause  of  evangelical  poverty ;  or 
'  not  daring,  in  consequence  of  the  seed  of  the  Man  of 
'  Sin  sown  in  their  hearts,  or  from  a  low  fear  of  forfeiting 
'  their  temporalities.' 

The  statements,  however,  which  he  now  published,  he 
avows  himself  ready  to  defend  '  even  to  the  death,  if  by 


222 


Wyclifie  as  a  Confessor. 


[chap.  IX. 


'  such   means   he   might   reform   the    manners    of    the 
*  church.'^ 

We  can  suppose  that  WycliiFe  would  often  be  made 
sensible  that  with  every  feeling  of  being  engaged  in  a 
honest  and  good  cause  to  sustain  him,  it  is  in  the  nature 
of  such  conflicts  as  had  now  become  familiar  to  him,  to 
make  a  large  demand  on  the  strength  both  of  mind  and 
body.  Judging  from  his  portrait  as  transmitted  to  us  by 
Sir  Antonio  More,  it  is  manifest  that  Luther  had  greatly 


1  Dr.  Lingard  (Hist.  Eng.  III.  257  et  seq.)  wishes  it  to  be  believed 
that  this  second  paper  of  explanations  was,  in  fact,  the  first,  and  that 
the  paper  given  to  the  papal  delegates  was  a  statement  greatly  softened 
by  the  Reformer  through  fear.  This  representation,  however,  is  made, 
not  merely  without  evidence,  but  against  evidence.  If  the  Reformer 
had  given  publicity  to  this  second  paper  prior  to  his  appearance  at 
Lambeth,  what  could  have  been  more  easy  than  to  have  convicted 
him  of  having  so  done  by  producing  the  document  itself?  Was 
Wycliffe  a  man  to  have  denied  what  he  must  have  seen  it  would  be 
utterly  vain  to  deny.  We  may  add,  also,  that  as  regards  the  strength 
of  the  opinions  avowed,  the  two  papers  are  in  substance  the  same. 
What  we  regard  as  the  second  is  quite  as  much  open  to  the  charge  of 
evasion  as  the  first,  and  what  we  regard  as  the  first  is  quite  as  much 
open  to  the  charge  of  '  error  and  heresy'  as  the  second.  Any  man 
of  intelligence  and  candour,  on  reading  the  paper  handed  to  the 
delegates — if  at  all  acquainted  with  the  state  of  religious  opinion  in 
the  fourteenth  century — must  feel  that  the  charge  of  a  want  of 
courage  must  be  one  of  the  last  that  could  be  applicable  to  its  author. 
Dr.  Lingard  was  a  learned  and  able  man  ;  but  a  tissue  of  more  thorough 
special  pleading  was  never  woven  together  than  is  presented  through- 
out his  history,  wherever  the  supposed  credit  of  his  church,  or 
rather  of  his  order,  is  concerned.  His  work  will  live,  but  it  will  be 
purely  from  its  giving  the  Romanist  side  of  English  history,  with  as 
much  of  learning  and  skill  as  the  thorough  advocate  may  be  expected 
to  bring  to  it. 


A.D.  1879.]     Wy cliff e  in  sickness — Friars'  Visit  223 


the  advantage  of  him  in  respect  to  physical  organization. 
In  the  countenance  of  the  Englishman,  there  are  indica- 
tions of  a  greater  degree  of  penetration  and  acuteness, 
and  of  a  finer  sensibility,  than  we  discern  in  the 
physiognomy  of  the  Grerman.  But  in  the  latter,  there  is 
a  massiveness  of  form,  a  robustness,  a  leonine  force, 
which  are  his  own,  not  only  as  compared  with  Wycliife, 
but  as  compared  with  nearly  all  his  compeers  in  the 
work  to  which  his  might  was  devoted.  We  have  reason 
to  think  that  the  events  of  1377  and  1378,  together  with 
the  severe  labour  to  which  Wycliffe  gave  himself — as  we 
shall  show  in  another  place — in  the  time  immediately 
subsequent,  laid  the  foundation  of  the  malady,  which  at 
no  very  distant  day  was  to  bring  all  his  care  and^  toil  to 
an  end.  We  learn  that  the  sickness  which  befel  the 
Reformer  at  this  period,  was  such  as  to  leave  little  pros- 
pect of  his  recovery.  Such,  too,  it  appears,  was  the  force 
of  religious  prepossessions  in  the  fourteenth  century, 
that  some  of  his  old  antagonists,  the  mendicants,  could 
not  avoid  supposing  that  a  heretic  so  notorious  must 
needs  be  most  miserable  in  the  near  approach  of  death. 
Possibly  he  might  be  disposed  in  such  a  crisis — limb  of 
Satan  as  he  had  been — to  repeilt  him  of  his  evil  deeds, 
or  to  recant  some  of  his  errors,  and  thus  to  make  some 
reparation  for  the  mischiefs  he  had  perpetrated.  Wycliffe 
was  in  Oxford  when  this  sickness  arrested  him  and  con- 
fined him  to  his  bed.  Then  it  was,  that  four  doctors, 
who   were  called  regents,  representing  the  four  orders  of 


224  Wycliffe  as  a  Confessor.  chap.  ix. 

friars,  were  deputed  to  wait  on  their  expiring  enemy. 
With  these  most  religious  persons,  the  same  number  of 
civil  officers,  called  senators  of  the  city  and  aldermen  of 
the  wards,  were  associated.  When  these  persons  entered 
the  apartment  of  the  sick  man,  his  head  was  reclining  on 
his  pillow.  Some  expressions  of  sympathy  were  dropped, 
and  something  was  said  about  hope  that  he  might 
recover.  But  it  was  presently  intimated  that,  at  such  a 
season,  it  was  presumed  that  he  could  not  but  be  alive  to 
the  many  wrongs  which  the  whole  mendicant  brother- 
hood had  experienced  at  his  hands  ;  and  as  it  was  now 
probable  that  death  was  about  to  put  an  end  to  his 
course,  it  wa-s  only  charitable  to  conclude  that  he  would 
be  willing  to  confess  himself  penitent,  and  that,  with 
a  due  Christian  humility,  he  would  be  prepared  to 
revoke  whatever  he  had  said  to  the  injury  of  fraternities 
so  eminent  in  learning,  sanctity,  and  usefulness.  Wycliife 
remained  motionless  and  silent  until  this  address  was 
concluded.  He  then  beckoned  to  his  servant  to  raise  him 
in  his  bed.  This  done,  he  fixed  his  eyes  on  the  said 
doctors  and  aldermen,  and  with  all  his  remaining  strength 
exclaimed,  '  /  shall  not  die,  hut  live,  and  again  declare  the 
evil  deeds  of  the  Friars.'  '  The  divines  and  the  civilians, 
having  looked  strangely  at  each  other,  retreated,  as  we 
can  imagine,  in  no  little  disappointment  and  dismay. 
Such,  in  substance,  is  the  story  which  tradition  has 
handed  down  to  us.  The  picture  it  presents  is  eminently 
characteristic   of  the  parties  composing  it,   and  of  the 


A.D.  1379.]    Discussion  concerning  Transuhstantiation.     225 

times  with  which  it  is  connected.  The  words  which 
sufficed  to  confound  and  repel  so  much  learning,  and  so 
much  civic  dignity,  were  not  words  to  be  soon  forgotten 
in  the  talk  and  memories  of  Oxford.^ 

The  persecutions  to  which  the  Reformer  found  himself 
exposed,  as  the  consequence  of  extending  his  speculations 
so  far,  did  not  prevent  his  extending  them  further.  His 
opinions  had  trenched  already  on  some  of  the  most  ac- 
credited and  the  most  profitable  doctrines  of  the  church — 
as  in  reference  to  confession,  excommunication,  and  abso- 
lution. Soon  after  1378,  he  took  new  ground  in  relation 
to  the  doctrine  of  the  Eucharist,  rejecting  the  then 
orthodox  dogma  of  Transuhstantiation. 

Until  about  the  middle  of  the  ninth  century,  the  man- 
ner in  which  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ  may  be  sup- 
posed to  be  present  in  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  kSupper, 
was  the  subject  of  a  comparatively  peaceful  difference  of 
opinion  among  persons  holding  the  highest  offices  in  the 
church.  But  in  the  twelfth  century,  the  advocates  of 
the  astounding  dogma  which  then  began  to '  be  known 
by  the  name  of  Transuhstantiation,  grew  to  be  both 
numerous  and  powerful.  The  progress  of  this  doctrine, 
however,  was  far  from  being  uninterrupted.  Among  its 
opponents  in  that  age,  the  most  conspicuous  place  must  be 
assigned  to  Berengarius,  a  Gallic  prelate,  whose  learning 


^  Baleus  De  Script.  Brit.  369.     Lewis,  c.  IV.  82. 


226  Wycliffe  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 

and  genius  were  mucli  above  the  level  of  his  times.  His 
doctrine  was  in  substance  that  of  the  primitive  church, 
and  of  the  more  enlightened  among  protestant  commu- 
nities in  our  own  day.  The  zeal  and  ability  with  which 
he  maintained  it,  affected  the  church  of  the  west  in  all 
its  branches.  A  large  and  influential  portion  of  the 
clergy  became  his  determined  opponents,  but  his  avowed 
disciples  were  many  and  considerable.  Judgment  against 
his  opinions  was  given  by  the  papacy,  and  by  a  council 
assembled  at  Paris.  The  king  of  France  sympathized 
with  these  proceedings,  and  deprived  the  offending  pre- 
late of  his  episcopal  revenues.  Thrice  was  he  compelled 
to  appear  in  Rome ;  and  as  often  was  his  doctrine  for- 
mally renounced,  only  to  be  avowed  anew  as  the  prospect 
of  impunity  returned.  Towards  the  close  of  life  he  re- 
tired from  the  stormy  scenes,  which,  for  more  than  thirty 
years,  had  been  familiar  to  him  ;  and  the  remembrance  of 
the  indecision  which  had  cast  its  shade  upon  his  history, 
is  said  to  have  embittered  his  seclusion.  But  he  died 
with  the  reputation  of  a  man  of  piety,  and  his  doctrine 
never  ceased  to  find  disciples. 

By  the  Vaudois  and  the  Albigenses  the  scriptural 
doctrine  on  this  subject  appears  to  have  been  maintained, 
without  interruption,  from  the  early  ages  of  the  church. 
In  the  middle  age,  they  were  often  charged  with  holding 
the  heresy  of  Berengarius.  But  their  faith  in  the  Eucha- 
rist, though  greatly  strengthened  by  the  labours  of  that 
prelate,  was  not  derived  from  him.     It  is  not  surprising, 


I 


A.D.I 370."J  Transtihstantiation — Berengarius — Vaudois.  227 

however,  that  this  should  have  been  asserted,  so  striking 
is  the  similarity  of  the  reasoning  opposed  to  the  tenet  of 
Transubstantiation  in  the  two  cases.  From  the  frag- 
ments of  their  writings  which  remain,  it  is  manifest  that 
if  the  sectaries  of  the  valleys  of  Piedmont  were  the  dis- 
ciples of  that  master,  they  were  disciples  not  unworthy 
of  him.  From  one  of  their  adversaries  we  learn,  that 
they  were  accustomed  to  appeal  to  the  Apostles'  Creed, 
and  to  the  Nicene  and  Athanasian  Creeds,  as  containing 
every  essential  article  of  Christian  doctrine,  expressing 
their  surprise  that  in  those  symbols  of  religious  truth,  no 
reference  should  be  made  to  Transubstantiation — if  that 
be  indeed  a  truth.  They  are  described  also,  as  ex- 
posing the  inherent  and  insuperable  difficulties  of  the 
tenet,  with  a  severity  of  criticism  which  must  greatly 
have  bewildered  their  antagonists  ;  urging,  with  readiness 
and  skill,  almost  every  question  tending  to  involve  the 
topic  in  contradiction  or  absurdity.  ^ 

But  we  are  especially  concerned  to  know  the  history 
of  this  doctrine  in  England.  Our  Saxon  ancestors  were 
sufficiently  obedient  in  most  things  to  the  opinions  and 
customs  which  came  to  them  recommended  by  the  autho- 
rity of  Rome.  Some  of  their  spiritual  guides  spoke, 
beyond  doubt,  in  strong  language,  concerning  the  sup- 
posed presence  of  Christ  in  the  Eucharist.  But  their 
language  in  this  connexion  is  not  more  open  to  exception, 

*  Mosheim,  Cent,  x,  xi.  Allix's  Churches  of  the  Albigenses. 

q2 


228  Wy cliff e  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 

than  are  the  expressions  to  be  found  in  a  number  of 
Protestant  hymns  at  this  day.  We  have,  moreover,  the 
most  decisive  proof  that  the  dogma  intended  by  the  term 
Transubstantiation,  was  no  part  of  the  national  creed  in 
the  tenth  century.  The  term  itself  was  then  unknown. 
The  new  word  did  not  come  until  the  new  conception 
had  made  it  necessary  that  it  should  come.  Elfric,  a 
contemporary  of  St.  Dunstan,  and  an  ecclesiastic  of  much 
celebrity  in  his  time,  has  spoken  in  some  of  his  epistles 
concerning  the  elements  of  the  Eucharist  in  a  manner 
which,  incidentally,  but  most  distinctly,  repudiates  the 
idea  which  subsequently  became  the  received  doctrine  of 
the  church.  This  letter  was  addressed  to  Wulfstan,  Arch- 
bishop of  York  ;  and  as  its  translation  into  the  vernacu- 
lar language  was  in  compliance  with  the  request  of  that 
prelate,  it  must  be  admitted  as  a  document  of  no  mean 
authority.  According  to  this  writer,  the  '  housel  (host) 
'  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  the  bread  and  wine,  a  night  be- 
'  fore  his  sufferings.  The  Apostle,'  he  observes,  *  has  said 
'  of  the  Hebrews,  that  they  all  did  eat  of  the  same  ghostly 
'  meat,  and  they  all  did  drink  of  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  (a  stone)  bodily,  though  he  so  said. 
'  It  was  the  same  mystery  in  the  old  law,  and  they  did 


A.  D.  1379.]     Anglo-Saxon  View  of  the  Eucharist.         229 

'  ghostly  signify  that  Gospel  housel  of  our  Saviour's  body 
*  which  we  consecrate  now/ 

In  a  homily  by  this  same  Elfric,  '  appointed  in  the  reign 
of  the  Saxons,  to  be  spoken  unto  the  people  at  Easter/ 
the  doctrine  of  the  writer,  and  of  the  Anglo-saxon  clergy 
generally  on  this  subject,  is  still  more  explicitly  presented.^ 
Our  good  abbot  there  repeats  his  allusion  to  the  manna 
and  the  rock  in  the  wilderness ;  and  speaks  of  the  bread 
in  the  Christian  sacrament,  as  being  no  more  the  body  of 
Christ,  than  the  waters  of  baptism  may  be  said  to  be  the 
Holy  Spirit.  In  describing  the  difference  between  the 
body  in  which  Christ  suffered,  and  the  body  which  is 
hallowed  in  the  bread,  he  says,  the  one  was  born  of 
Mary,  while  the  other  is  formed  from  a  gathering  to- 
gether of  many  corns,  and  that  '  nothing,  therefore,  is  to 
'  be  understood  therein  bodily,  but  all  is  to  be  understood 
'  ghostly.'  The  bread,  described  as  having  a  bodily  shape, 
is  again  contrasted  with  the  body  of  Christ,  which  is  said 
to  be  present  only  in  the  sense  of  a  '  ghostly  might.'  The 
body,  moreover,  in  which  Christ  rose  from  the  dead,  never 
dieth,  but  the  consecrated  bread,  that  is  temporal,  not 
eternal.     The  latter  is  divided  into  parts,  and  some  re- 


^  The  printed  copy  bears  the  following  title  : — *  A  Testinionie  of 
Antiquitie,  showing  the  ancient  fay  the  in  the  Church  of  England 
touching  the  sacrament  of  the  body  and  blood  of  the  Lord,  here 
publicly  preached,  and  also  received  in  the  Saxon  tyme,  above  six 
hundred  years  ago.  Printed  by  John  Day;  beneath  St.  Martyn's. 
Cum  privilegio  Regia?  Maiestatis,  1537.' 


230  Wy cliff e  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 

ceive  a  larger  portion,  and  some  a  less  ;  but  the  body  of 
Christ  '  after  a  ghostly  mystery/  is  undivided  and  equally 
in  all.  This  series  of  distinctions  the  writer  brings  to  a 
close,  by  observing,  that  the  signs  appealing  to  the  senses 
in  the  Eucharist,  are  a  pledge  and  figure  of  truth,  while 
the  body  of  Christ  is  truth  itself.  This  document  suggests 
that  the  tendencies  in  favour  of  such  views  of  the  Eucha- 
rist as  were  afterwards  denoted  by  the  term  Transub- 
stantiation,  were  considerable,  even  in  those  early  times  ; 
but  it  at  the  same  time  shows  the  general  and  steady 
effort  then  made,  under  the  highest  authority,  to  preclude 
such  conceptions,  as  savouring  of  superstitious  novelty. 

By  the  Conquest,  the  political  influence  of  the  pontiffs 
in  this  island,  was,  for  a  while,  materially  impeded.  But 
Lanfranc,  who  filled  the  see  of  Canterbury  under  the 
Conqueror,  was  the  most  distinguished  opponent  of 
Berengarius  :  and  from  that  time  to  the  age  of  Wyclifie, 
the  doctrine  of  the  Eucharist,  as  expounded  by  Lanfranc, 
came  to  be  the  received  doctrine  of  the  Anglian  church. 
It  should  be  added,  that  the  persecution  of  Wycliffe,  on 
the  ground  of  alleged  heresy  concerning  the  Eucharist, 
dates  from  1381,  and  extends  over  that  year  and  the  fol- 
lowing. About  three  years  had  then  intervened,  since 
the  appearance  of  the  Reformer  before  the  Convocation 
in  St.  Paul's,  and  before  the  Papal  Commissioners  in 
Lambeth.  Before  the  close  of  those  three  years,  his 
opinions  opposed  to  the  doctrine  of  Transubstantiation  had 
been  freely  published,  not  only  in  his  lectures  in  Oxford, 


A.D.  1379.J      Discussions  on  Transuhstantiation.  231 

but  to  the  people  generally  from  the  press  and  the  pulpit. 
'  Many/  he  writes,  '  are  the  errors  into  which  we  have 
'  fallen,  with  regard  to  the  nature  of  this  outward  sacra- 
'  ment.  Some  for  example  say,  that  it  is  a  quality  with- 
'  out  a  substance.^  Others  say  that  it  is  a  nonentity, 
'  since  it  is  an  aggregate  of  many  qualities,  which  are 
'  not  all  of  one  genus.  Against  these  opinions  I  have 
*  many  a  time  inveighed,  both  in  the  language  of  the  schools, 
'  and  of  the  common  people.  For  of  all  the  heresies  that 
'  have  ever  sprung  up  in  the  church,  I  think  there  is  not 
'  one  more  artfully  introduced  by  hypocrites,  or  one  im- 
'  posing  such  manifold  fraud  upon  the  people.  It  repu- 
'  diates  the  Scriptures  ;  it  wrongs  the  people ;  it  causes 
'  them  to  commit  idolatry.'  ^  The  material  of  the  fourth 
book  of  the  Trialogus,  in  which  the  Reformer  so  speaks, 
must  have  been  thrown  into  the  shape  in  which  it  has 
come  down  to  us  in  the  latter  part  of  1382,  or  in  1383. 
We  are  safe,  however,  in  regarding  the  chapters  of  this 
treatise  which  relate  to  the  Eucharist,  as  giving  us  the 
substance  of  his  lectures  upon  it  as  professor.  Assisted 
thus,  we  can  again  take  our  place  among  the  pupils  of 
the  Reformer,  and  listen  to  his  discoursings.  It  is  suf- 
ficiently clear,  that  subsequently  to  1378,  the  Reformer 
began  to  be  sceptical  concerning  the  doctrine  of  Transuh- 
stantiation, and  that  in  1381  he  had  formally  and  pub- 


^  I  use  these  words  instead  of  the  old  logical  terms,  *  accident  with- 
out a  subject.'  ^  Trialogus.  B.  iv.  c.  2. 


232  Wycliffe  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 

licly  renounced  that  doctrine.  But  at  the  same  time, 
the  scholastic  subtleties,  and  the  scholastic  forms  of  ex- 
pression, which  had  grown  up  along  with  the  controversy 
relating  to  this  tenet,  have  left  considerable  obscurity  on 
some  of  his  statements — obscurities  which  his  enemies 
have  not  failed  to  interpret  so  as  to  convey  a  false  im- 
pression to  the  mind  of  the  uninitiated.  It  is  a  material 
fact,  however,  in  relation  to  this  entire  chapter  in  the 
life  of  Wyclifte,  that  there  is  nothing  in  the  language 
used  by  him  in  the  confessions  made  from  time  to  time 
in  the  presence  of  his  prosecutors,  which  will  not  be 
found  upon  enquiry  to  have  been  the  language  generally 
used  by  him  on  the  same  subjects.  There  is  no  seeming 
want  of  consistency  or  relationship  in  his  statements  on 
such  special  occasions,  that  cannot  be  shown  to  belong  to 
his  statements  in  relation  to  the  same  topics  on  all  occa- 
sions. Such  defect,  or  such  obscurity,  may  have  resulted 
from  the  want  of  greater  light,  and  of  a  more  complete 
emancipation  from  the  forms  of  the  schools ;  but  we 
have  yet  to  learn  that  it  resulted  in  any  case  from  the 
want  of  greater  integrity,  or  of  greater  courage. 

Return  to  your  place,  then,  honest  reader,  in  the 
lecture-room  of  the  Reformer.  Secure  for  yourself  the 
position  from  which  you  may  look  on  the  crowd  of  young, 
but  earnest  thinkers,  gathered  there  in  the  sessions  of 
1879  and  1380.  Some  are  there  now,  as  always,  who  are 
not  admirers  of  the  doctrine  taught — men  more  disposed 
to  catch  the  professor  in  his  words,  than  to  profit  by  his 


A.D.  1379.]       Discussions  on  Tratisuhstantiation.  233 

wisdom  J  men  whose  timid  and  selfish  instincts  always 
tell  them  to  reverence  the  past ;  and  that,  for  them,  the 
safer  and  the  more  convenient  course  must  be  never 
to  hazard  any  movement  which  has  not  been  so  often 
made  as  to  have  obtained  good  conventional  settlement. 
But  all  are  not  of  that  make — the  majority  are  not. 
By  some  means,  those  young  men  before  you,  roughly 
accommodated  as  they  seem  to  be  in  most  respects,  have 
learnt  to  think,  that,  along  with  the  many  things  of  the 
past  which  it  would  be  well  to  learn,  there  are  things 
which  it  would  be  well  to  unlearn — much  there  to 
approve,  much  also  that  needs,  greatly  needs  to  be 
amended.  You  gather  thus  much  from  those  signs  of 
interest  and  intentness,  which  you  see  coming  up  over 
those  features,  whenever  some  new,  bold,  and  it  may 
be  rather  heterodox  conception  is  well  put  from  the 
chair.  We  can  imagine,  for  example,  the  interest  with 
which  a  passage  like  the  following  would  be  listened  to. 
'  As  the  words  of  scripture  tell  us,  that  this  sacrament 
'  is  the  body  of  Christ,  not  that  it  will  be,  or  that  it  is 
'  sacramentally  a  figure  of  the  body  of  Christ  ;  so,  accord- 
'  ingly,  we  must  admit  without  reserve,  on  this  authority, 
'  that  the  bread,  which  is  the  sacrament,  is  truly  the 
'  body  of  Christ.  But  the  simplest  layman  will  see  that 
'  it  follows,  that  inasmuch  as  this  bread  is  the  body  of 
'  Christ,  it  is  therefore  bread,  and  remains  bread — being 
'  at  once  both  bread  and  the  body  of  Christ. 

'  Again — the  point  may  be  illustrated  by  examples  of 


234  Wydiffe  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 

the  most  palpable  description.  It  is  not  necessary, 
on  the  contrary  it  is  repugnant  to  fact,  that  a  man 
when  once  raised  to  the  dignity  of  lordship  or  prelacy, 
should  cease  to  be  the  same  man.  The  man,  as  to  his 
substance,  continues  in  all  respects  the  same,  though 
in  a  certain  sense  elevated.  So  we  are  required  to 
believe  that  this  bread  becomes,  by  virtue  of  the  sacra- 
mental words,  and  the  consecration  of  the  priest,  truly 
the  body  of  Christ,  and  that  the  bread  no  more  ceases 
to  be  bread,  than  that  the  man  ceases  to  be  the  same 
man,  in  the  case  above  supposed.  The  nature  of  bread 
is  not  destroyed  by  what  is  so  done,  it  is  only  elevated 
so  as  to  become  a  substance  more  honored.  Do  we 
believe  that  John  the  Baptist  when  made  by  the  word  of 
Christ  to  be  Elias,  ceased  to  be  John — or  ceased  to  be 
anything  that  he  was  in  substance  before  ?  In  the 
same  manner,  the  bread,  while  becoming  through  the 
virtue  of  Christ's  words  the  body  of  Christ,  does  not 
cease  to  be  bread.  For  when  it  has  come  to  be  sacra- 
mentally  the  body  of  Christ,  it  is  still  bread  substan- 
tially. For  thus  Christ  saith,  '  this  is  my  body,'  and 
these  words  must  be  taken  as  the  words  about  the 
Baptist. — And  if  you  will  receive  it,  this  is  Elias.  Christ 
does  not,  to  avoid  equivocation,  contradict  the  Baptist 
when  he  declares  '  I  am  not  Elias.'  The  one  means  to 
say  that  he  was  Elias  figuratively,  the  other  that  he 
was  not  Elias  personally.  And  so  in  the  case  of  those 
who  admit  that  this  sacrament  is  not  naturally  the  body 


A.D.  1380.]      Discitssions  on  Transuhstantiation.  235 

I  '  of  Christ,  but  insist  that  it  is  figuratively  Christ's  body, 
*  there  is  in  reality  no  contradiction,  but  simply  the  use 
'  of  the  same  words  in  two  senses.'  ^ 

Entry  is  here  made  by  the  note-takers  of  two  things  : 
— first,  that  the  substance  called  bread  before  the  words  of 
consecration,  remains  bread  after  consecration  : — second, 
that  while  the  bread  thus  remains  bread,  it  becomes  in 
some  sense,  as  bread,  the  body  of  Christ.  The  bread  is 
not  transubstantiated,  for  then  it  would  cease  to  be  the 
substance  called  bread  :  nor  is  it  reduced  to  a  congeries 
of  qualities  without  a  suhstans  of  any  kind  to  sustain 
them,  for  then  the  bread  would  be  annihilated, — become 
^  nothing.'  The  words  '  this  is  my  body,'  says  the  lec- 
turer emphatically,  have  their  meaning  ;  but  he  adds 
— and  with  a  significance  of  manner  that  would  be 
readily  understood, — it  is  not  the  idiot-meaning  which 
some  men  would  attach  to  them.  The  bread  upon  the 
altar  is  to  the  last  truly  bread  ;  and  in  a  sense  as  truly 
the  body  of  Christ : — the  sense  in  which  it  is  bread  being 
the  natural  sense,  the  sense  in  which  it  is  the  body  of 
Christ  being  the  figurative  sense, — as  when  our  Lord 
said  to  John, — '  This  is  Elias.'  But  let  us  hear  our  pro- 
fessor further. 

'  Now  there  are  three  modes  of  predication  concerning 
'  this  sacrament, — the  formal,  the  essential,  and  the  figu- 
'  rative.     Let  us  here  attend  to  the  last.     It  is  according 

^  Trialogus.  B.  iv.  c.  3. 


236  Wycliffe  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 

'  to  this  mode  that  Christ,  as  I  have  before  said,  calls 
'  John  the  Baptist  Elias.  The  Apostle  says  of  Christ  (2 
'  Cor.  X.)  when  deducing  a  moral  from  the  old  law,  that 
'  Christ  was  that  rock.  And  in  Genesis  xii.  the  scripture 
^  asserts  that  seven  ears  of  corn,  and  seven  fat  kine,  are 
'  the  seven  years  of  fertility.  And,  as  St.  Augustine 
'  observes,  the  scripture  does  not  say, — are  the  signs  of 
'  those  years,  but   that  they  are  the  years  themselves. 

*  And  you  will  meet  with  such  forms  of  expression  con- 
'  stantly  in  scripture.  In  such  expressions,  what  is  said, 
'  without  doubt,  is  said  figuratively. — After  such  manner 
'  the  sacramental  bread  is  especially  the  body  of  the 
'  Lord,  since  Christ  himself  hath  authoritatively  declared 
'  it  so  to  be.'  ^  Of  the  manner  in  which  men  ignore  all 
the  evidence  of  the  senses,  and  all  the  perceptions  of  the 
mind,  by  attempting  to  fix  a  literal  meaning  on  such 
metaphorical  expressions,  our  professor  thus  speaks,  '  It 
'  is  not  reasonable  to  suppose  that  God  can  have  designed 

*  to  put  confusion  on  that  intelligence  which  he  has 
'  himself  implanted  in  our  nature.  Of  all  the  external 
'  senses  that  God  has  bestowed  on  man,  touch  and  taste 
'  are  the  least  liable  to  err  in  the  judgment  they  give. 

*  But  this  heresy  would  overturn  the  evidence  of  these 
'  senses,  and  without  cause  :  surely  the  sacrament  which 
'  does  that  must  be  a  sacrament  of  Antichrist.  With 
'  regard  to  the  evidence  of  touch,  the  certainty  of  experi- 

^  Trialogus.  B.  iv.  c.  6. 


A.D.  1380.]       Discussions  on  Transubstantiation.  237 

'  merit,  which  the  heretic  will  not  deny,  shows  us  that 
^  this  consecrated  bread  when  newly  baked,  differs  in  its 
'  manner  of  breaking,  in  the  degree  of  brittleness,  and 
'  the  sort  of  sound  produced  in  breaking  it,  from  bread 
'  that  is  stale,  and  which  is  of  greater  toughness  in  damp 
'  weather.  Now  qualities  of  this  sort, — hardness,  soft- 
'  ness,  brittleness,  toughness,  cannot  exist  per  se.  Nor 
'  can  they  be  the  substances  of  other  qualities.  It  re- 
'  mains,  therefore,  that  there  must  be  some  substance,  as 
'  bread,  or  something  by  which  they  are  made  to  be  sub- 
^  stances.  For  since  this  sacrament  is  always  the  same, 
^  while  these  qualities  so  change,  the  philosopher  must 
'  see  that  there  is  of  necessity  a  substance  of  some  kind 
'  existing  as  the  seat  of  these  qualities,  which  substance 
'  undergoes  those  respective  changes.  In  the  sacrament 
'  of  the  cross  the  same  applies  to  the  sense  of  taste  ;  since 
'  it  may  happen  that  the  wine,  though  retaining  at  first 
'  its  taste  and  sweetness,  might,  by  remaining  in  the 
'  vessel  a  day,  lose  its  taste,  and  become  sour.  Now, 
'  according  to  the  verdict  of  sense  and  reason,  we  must 
'  suppose  a  substance  of  some  sort  whose  qualities  are 
'  thus  changed.  For  we  cannot  predicate  qualities  of 
'  this  sort  concerning  mere  length,  breadth,  or  thickness. 
'  But  I  have  argued  at  length  on  this  point  elsewhere, 
'  and  have  opposed  the  testimony  of  Augustine  in  many 
'  places  to  this  error.  I  proceed  therefore  to  point  out 
'  the  great  perplexity  consequent  on  the  delusion  to 
'  which  our  internal  faculties  must  be  subject.     For  let 


238  Wyclifie  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 

*  tlie  knowledge  obtained  by  our  external  senses  deceive 
'  us,  and  the  internal  senses  will  of  necessity  fall  under 

*  the  same  delusion.  No  heretic  of  this  sort  will  affirm, 
'  in  the  terms  of  the  schools,  that  he  is  acquainted  with 
'  the  quiddity,  the  diiferentia — the  real  essence  of  sensible 
'  substances.  On  the  contrary,  he  will  admit,  as  all 
'  philosophers  admit,  that  of  such  sensible  existences  he 
'  knows  nothing.  So  that  if  bread  consecrated  and  un- 
'  consecrated  be  mixed  together,  the  heretic  cannot  tell 
'  the  difference  between  the  natural  bread,  and  his  sup- 
'  posed  quality  without  a  substance,  any  more  than  we  can 
'  any  of  us  distinguish  in  such  case  between  the  bread 
'  which  has  been  consecrated,  and  that  which  has  not. 

*  Mice,  however,  have  here  an  innate  knowledge  of  the 
'  fact.  They  know  that  the  substance  of  the  bread  is 
^  retained  as  at  the  first.  But  these  unbelievers  have  not 
'  even  such  knowledge.  They  never  know  what  bread  or 
'■  what  wine  has  been  consecrated,  except  as  they  see  it 
'  consecrated.     But  what,  I  ask,  can  be  supposed  to  have 

*  moved   the   Lord   Jesus  Christ  thus   to  confound  and 

*  destroy  all  power  of  natural  discernment  in  the  senses 
'  and  minds  of  the  worshippers  ?  ^ 

Surely  a  very  natural  question.  Some  of  our  young 
listeners  evidently  see  its  force.  They  show  signs  of 
being  amused  also,  as  they  see  the  instincts  of  that  most 
humble  and  necessitous  of  quadrupeds,  the  church-mouse, 

'  Trialogus.  B.  iv.  c.  4. 


A.D.  1880.]       Discussions  on  Transuhstantiation.  239 

made  to  convict  great  churchmen  of  being  devoid  alike  of 
sense  and  reason.  But  one  listener,  a  man  with  an  older 
head  than  most  about  him,  Pseudis  by  name,  is  disposed 
to  attempt  the  humorous  on  the  other  side,  and  is  com- 
placent enough  to  think  that  he  can  confound  this  Evan- 
gelical Doctor,  as  he  is  now  called,  upon  his  own  show- 
ing. '  The  follies,'  says  this  gentlemen,  '  to  which  you 
'  have  given  utterance  have  sent  me  into  a  long  nap,  but 
'  I  must  now  awake  and  confute  them.  In  the  first  place, 
'  I  have  an  expository  syllogism  to  state,  from  which  you 
'  can  have  no  escape.  This  bread  you  say  becomes  corrupt 
'  or  is  eaten  by  a  mouse.  This  same  bread,  you  further 
'  say,  is  the  body  of  Christ.  It  follows,  therefore,  that  the 
'  body  of  Christ  does  become  thus  corrupt,  and  is  thus 
'  eaten, — and  so  you  are  involved  in  inconsistency.' 

*  It  has  been  a  false  sleep,  methinks,'  says  Wycliffe,  '  in 
'  which  you  have  indulged,  with  but  too  much  of  the 
'  sophist  and  the  fox  in  it.  Think  of  what  has  been  said 
'  before,  concerning  the  Trinity  and  the  Incarnation,  and 
'  you  will  blush  in  the  midst  of  your  subtleties.  The 
'  argument  you  call  an  expository  syllogism  I  do  not  hold 
'  to  be  such.  It  is  a  deceptive  paralogism.  For  if  it 
'  follows  in  relation  to  the  Trinity,  that  it  is  not  the  same 
'  essence  which  is  the  Father  and  the  Son,  much  more  is 
'  such  distinction  admissible  in  the  case  to  which  you  have 
'  brought  your  obscure  reasoning.  So  in  the  Incarnation, 
'  it  does  not  follow  because  the  same  person  is  both  human 
'  and  divine,  that  therefore  the  humanity  in  this  person  is 


240  Wycliffe  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 

*  the  divinity.    So,  in  like  manner,  though  a  human  species 

*  may  include  Peter,  and  the  same  species  may  include 
'  Paul,  it  does  not  therefore  follow  that  Peter  is  Paul,  but 

*  simply  that  Peter  and  Paul  are  of  the  same  species.  And 
'  so  you  can  only  prove,  by  means  of  your  proposition, 
'  that  if  this  bread  be  eaten  by  a  mouse,  and  if  this  bread 
'  be  in  your  sense  the  body  of  Christ,  then  the  body  of 
'  Christ  is  so  eaten.'  '  All  depends,  Pseudis,  as  you  should 
readily  see,  on  what  you  mean  by  the  phrase — the  body 
of  Christ.  If  by  speaking  of  the  bread  thus,  you  mean 
to  say  that  it  has  been  transubstantiated  into  the  '  body, 
soul,  and  divinity'  of  the  Saviour,  then,  indeed,  the 
scandalous  inference  follows,  that  the  church-mouse  eats 
your  God  !  But  no  such  scandalous  inference  follows,  if 
it  be,  as  Wycliffe  maintains,  that  the  bread  remains  bread, 
that  it  is  in  a  sacramental  and  figurative  sense  only  that 
it  is  the  body  of  Christ,  as  John  was  Elias,  and  as  the 
'  rock  in  the  wilderness  was  Christ.' 

While  some  attempt,  in  this  manner,  to  confound  the 
professor,  others  put  their  questions  before  him  in  a 
different  mood, — seeking  light  with  an  honest  purpose. 
Thus  an  auditor  whom  the  reformer  has  introduced  to  us 
under  the  name  of  Alithia,  requests  that  something  more 
may  be  said  '  from  reason  and  scripture,  to  shew  that  there 
'  is  no  identification  of  the  bread  with  the  body  of  Christ, 
'  and   no   impanation/      The   professor   himself    by    no 

^  Trialogus.  B.  iv.  c.  8. 


A.D.  1380.]     Discussions  on  Transuhstantiation.  241 

means  satisfied  with  those  writings  in  which  an  attempt 
is  made  '  to  prove  the  existence  of  a  quality  without  a 
substance,  simply  because  the  Church  teaches  that  doc- 
trine '  ?     Wycliffe  answers  after  this  manner. 

'  As  to  identification,  we  must  in  the  first  place  agree 
'  on  what  you  mean  by  the  term.  It  signifies  an  act  of 
'  God,  by  which  natures  that  are  distinct  in  species  or 
'■  number,  are  said  to  become  one  and  the  same, — as  though, 
'  for  example,  he  should  make  the  person  of  Peter  to  be 
'  one  with  the  person  of  Paul.  I  have  remembrance  of 
'■  having  adduced  many  reasons  to  shew  the  impossibility 
'  of  such  identity.  For  according  to  this  visionary  theory, 
'  every  quantative  part  of  a  permanent  quantity,  as  of 
'  time,  could  be   identified   with  every  other,  which  is 

*  manifestly  impossible.  Supposing  it  to  represent  a  line  a 

*  foot  in  length,  then,  according  to  such  reasoning,  every 
'  part  of  that  line,  even  the  smallest,  would  be  a  foot  in 
'  length,  which  is  clearly  a  contradiction.  The  reason- 
'  ing  thus  applicable  to  time  and  space,  is  no  less  applic- 
'■  able  to  everything  else  that  can  be  named.  For  if  A 
'  be  identical  with  B,  then  both  remains, — neither  is 
'  annihilated.  And  if  both  remain,  then  they  difier,  in 
'  number  and  otherwise,  as  much  as  before,  and  so  are 

*  not  the  same  in  the  same  sense.  For  it  is  plain  from 
'  the  mere  force  of  language,  that  if  both  of  them  remain, 
'  the  pronoun  '  them'  as  being  in  the  plural,  points  to 
'  them  as  numerically  distinct.  In  like  manner,  suppos- 
^  ing  both  to  be  identical  in  the  sense  affirmed,  then  all 


24:2  Wycliffe  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 

'  their  diiFerences  would  become  identical.  Every  remain- 
'  ing  difference  is  repugnant  to  identification  in  such  a 
'  sense.  Thus  we  should  be  required  to  accept  of  a  thing 
'  of  one  species,  as  being  identical  with  a  thing  of  another 
'  species,  which  would  be  to  accept  what  is  a  contradic- 
'  tion  in  terms.'  ^  Thus  not  only  is  there  no  transubstan- 
tiation,  there  is  no  identification,  the  bread  remains  to 
the  last  naturally  bread,  and  it  is  at  the  same  time 
sacramentally  and  in  figure  the  body  of  Christ.  Both 
ideas  are  truthful,  because  each  has  its  object,  which  is 
and  must  be  distinct.  As  to  the  doctrine  of  ^  impanation,' 
says  the   professor,    '  I   oppose  that  by    saying   that  in 

*  such   case,  the   body  of  Christ,  and   so    Christ   made 

*  glorious  in  the  body,  would  undergo  all  the  transmuta- 
^  tions  which  bread  can  undergo.  In  such  case,  a  mouse 
'  might  eat  the  body  of  Christ,  and  that  very  body  would 

*  putrefy,  and  change  into  worms.  Wherefore  it  is  clear 
'■  that  the  expression  '  this  is  my  body' — with  others  like 
'  it, — as  when  Christ  is  spoken  of  as  a  lamb,  a  kid,  a  ser- 

*  pent, — should  be  understood  as  predicated  figuratively.'  ^ 

We  marvel,  as  we  listen  to  this  language,  bearing  in 
mind  that  it  is  uttered  in  one  of  the  schools  of  Oxford 
in  the  fourteenth  century.  We  feel  assured  that  the 
man  who  directs  the  edge  of  his  logic  and  rhetoric  thus 
resolutely  against  this  favourite  dogma,  must  be  a  man 
contemplating  wide  change  in  the  opinions  and  affairs  of 

*  Trialogus.  B.  iv.  c.  7.  2  n^j^j 


A.D.  1380.]      Discussions  on  Transubstantiation.  243 

the  church.     If  you  require  to  know  what  it  is  he  ex- 
pects to  gain  by  proceeding  thus,  he  will  tell  you  that 
his  force  is  directed  against  this  dogma,  not  simply  for 
its   own  sake,  but  because  it  is,  in  his  sight,  the  great 
key-stone  to  a   whole  fabric  of  imposture, — the  climax 
in  the  assumptions  of  priestly  insolence,  casting  its  last 
endurable  insult,  not  only  upon  the  mind,  but  upon  the 
very  senses   of  its   victims.     It   is,  he   says,  '  as   if  the 
Devil  had  been  scheming  to  this  effect,  saying — If  I  can, 
by  my  vicar  Antichrist,  so  far  seduce  the  believers  in 
the  church,  as  to  bring  them  to  deny  that  this  sacra- 
ment is  bread,  and  to  believe  in  it  as  a  contemptible 
quality  without  a  substance,  /  may  after  that,  and  in 
the  same  manner,  lead   them  to  believe  whatever  I  may 
wish,  inasmuch  as  the  opposite  of  such  a  doctrine  is 
plainly  taught,  both  by  the  language  of  scripture,  and 
by  the  very   senses   of  mankind.     Doubtless,    after   a 
while,  these  simple-hearted  believers  may  be  brought 
to  say,  that  however  a  prelate  may  live,  be  he  effemin- 
ate, a  homicide,  a  simonist,  or  stained  with  any  other 
vice,  this  must  never  be  believed  concerning  him,  by  a 
people  who  would  be  accounted  duly  obedient.     But, 
by  the  grace  of  Christ,  I  will  keep  clear  of  the  heresy 
which   teaches  that  if  the  Pope  and  Cardinals  assert  a 
certain  thing  to  he  the  sense  of  scripture,  therefore  so  it  is, 
— for  that  were  to  set  them  up  above  the  A  postles.'  ^ 


^  Trialogus.  B.  iv.  c.  6 — 9. 

R  2 


244  Wydiffe  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 

Such  then  were  the  discoursings  of  this  subject,  with 
which   the   ears  of  the  men  of  Oxford  who  frequented 
the  schools  of  WycliiFe  in  1379  and  1880  were  familiar. 
Such  of  his  auditors  as   were   scandalized   by   his   free 
thought  and   free  utterance,  no  doubt,  went  abroad  to 
denounce   such   licence,    and   to   say   much    about   the 
mischiefs  to  church  and   state   that   must  follow   from 
such  contempt  of  authorities.     Such,  on  the  other  hand, 
as  crowded  about  the  professor  in  eager  search  after  truth, 
and  with  their  questions  of  honest  difficulty  to  propose, 
were   ready  in  all  circles  to  defend  his  teaching,  and 
to   pronounce   his   praise.     Certainly,    if  affairs   are   to 
take  their  present   course, — if  discussion   in   Oxford   is 
to  be  thus  free,  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  the  era 
of  momentous  changes  has  come.     Not  content  with  the 
announcement  of  such  opinions  on  the  Eucharist,  both 
from  his  chair  as  professor,  and  from  the  pulpit, — in  the 
spring   of   1381   Wycliife   issued  a   paper   in  which   he 
challenged  the  members  of  the   university   to   a  public 
discussion  on  this  subject.     This  paper  consists  of  twelve 
propositions,  nearly   all    of  which   are   included   in  the 
passages  we  have  given  from  the  substance  of  his  lectures 
as  preserved  in  his  Trialogus.     In  these  propositions,  he 
thus   publicly  declares  : — *  That  the  bread  we  see  con- 
*  secrated   upon  the  altar,  is  not  Christ,  nor   any   part 
'  of  him,  but  simply   an    effectual   sign  of  him  : — that 
'  formerly  the  faith  of  the  Roman  church  was,  as  in  the 
'  confession  of  Berengarius,  that  the  bread  and  wine  in 


A.D.  1381.]      A  Challenge  and  a  Counter -blast  245 


'  the  eucharist  do  remain  after  consecration  : — and  that 
'  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation,  identification,  or 
'  impanation,  have  no  foundation  in  scripture.'  In  the 
eighth  proposition  there  is  some  obscurity  of  expression, 
the  bread  and  wine  being  spoken  of  as  in  some  sense 
changed,  not  however  in  any  such  sense  as  to  pre- 
clude their  remaining  as  bread  and  wine  after  conse- 
cration, and  their  being  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ 
in  figure  only. 

But  the  discussion  thus  challenged  did  not  take  place. 
The  authorities  of  the  University  had  become  alarmed. 
It  was  deemed  expedient  by  the  Chancellor,  William  de 
Berton,  that  measures  should  be  taken  to  check  the  dif- 
fusion of  such  doctrines.  The  Chancellor  assembled 
twelve  doctors,  to  deliberate  as  to  what  should  be  done  : 
and  we  see  something  of  the  preponderating  influence 
of  the  Religious  Orders  in  the  afiairs  of  the  University 
at  this  juncture,  in  the  fact,  that  of  the  twelve  divines 
so  convened,  eight  were  from  among  those  orders.  With 
the  unanimous  consent  of  these  learned  persons,  a  decree 
was  passed  which  declared  the  doctrine  of  Wycliffe  on 
the  sacrament  of  the  altar  to  be  erroneous,  and  repug- 
nant to  the  determinations  of  the  church.  These  deter- 
minations of  the  church  are  said  to  be,  '  That  by  the 

*  sacramental  words,  duly  pronounced  on  the  part  of  the 

*  priest,  the  bread  and  the  wine  upon  the  altar  are  tran- 

^  Appendix  I. 


246  Wycliffe  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 

'  substantiated,  that  is,  substantially  converted  into  the 

*  very  body  and  blood  of  Christ  ;  so  that  after  consecra- 
'  tion,  there  do  not  remain  in  that  venerable  sacrament 
'  the  material  bread  and  wine  which  were  there  before, 

*  according  to  their  own  substances  or  natures,  but  only  the 

*  species  of  the  same,  under  which  species  the  very  body 
'  of  Christ  and  his  blood  are  really  contained,  not  merely 
'  figuratively  or  tropically,  but  essentially,  substantially, 
'  and  corporeally — so  that  Christ  is  there  verily  in  his 
'  own  proper  bodily  presence/  Nor  was  it  enough  that 
these  authorities  should  give  this  elaborate  enunciation 
to  the  doctrine  of  the  church  on  this  point.  It  is  further 
declared,  that  if  any  person,  of  whatever  degree,  state, 
or  condition,  shall  in  future  publicly  teach,  either  in 
the    schools  or  out  of  them,  '  that  in  the  sacrament  of 

*  the  altar,  the  substance  of  material  bread  and  wine  do 
'  remain  the  same  after  consecration  ;  or  that  in  that 
'  venerable  sacrament,  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ  are 
'  not  essentially  or  substantially,  nor  even  bodily,  but 
'  figuratively  or   tropically,    so  that  Christ  is  not  there 

*  truly  and  verily  in  his  own  proper  bodily  person,'  every 
person  so  offending  shall  be  suspended  from  all  scholastic 
exercises,  shall  be  subjected  to  the  greater  excommuni- 
cation, and  imprisoned — the  same  penalties  being  in- 
curred by  those  who  hear  such  teachers,  as  by  those  who 
so  teach. 

This  decree  was  no  sooner  passed  than  published.  "Wyc- 
liffe, we  are  told,  was  in  his  chair,  discoursing  to  his 


A.D.  1381.]  Wycliffe  and  the  Chancellor,  247 

pupils  on  this  very  subject,  when  the  University  officers 
entered  his  school,  to  give  formal  proclamation  to  this 
order.  If  we  may  credit  the  report  of  an  enemy,  the 
Reformer  betrayed  some  confusion  as  he  listened  to  this 
formal  and  decisive  condemnation  of  his  doctrine.  But 
if  there  was  confusion  at  all,  it  is  admitted  that  it  was 
slight,  and  for  a  moment  only  ;  for  no  sooner  had  the 
reading  ended,  than  the  Reformer,  addressing  himself  to 
the  Chancellor,  and  to  his  coadjutors  in  this  proceeding, 
complained  of  the  attempt  thus  made  to  suppress  by 
authority,  opinions  which  they  knew  that  no  one  of 
them,  nor  all  of  them  together,  could  oppose  with  any 
show  of  reason.  At  once  Wycliffe  apprized  them  of  the 
course  he  meant  to  take  in  this  new  posture  of  affairs.  He 
should  appeal  to  Cesar.  His  doctrine,  often  promulgated, 
concerning  the  province  of  the  civil  power,  warranted 
his  so  doing.  To  that  power  it  pertained  to  protect  the 
person,  and  the  personal  rights,  of  every  faithful  subject, 
and  to  that  he  would  now  look  for  protection  against  the 
personal  wrongs  with  which  he  was  menaced.^ 

We  are  left  to  imagine  the  scene  which  followed,  as 
the  Chancellor,  the  doctors,  and  the  officers  retired,  leav- 
ing the  professor  alone  with  his  scholars.  We  have  words 
from  him  which  we  can  readily  believe  to  have  been  in 
substance  the  words  uttered  by  him  in  this  grave  crisis 
of  his  history,     *  I  should  be  worse  than  an  infidel,'  says 


^  Sudbury  Register,  in  Wilkins'Concil.  Brit.  iii.  170,  171.  Appendix  J. 


248  Wyclifie  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 

our  confessor,  '  were  I  not  to  defend  unto  the  death,  the 
^  law  of  Christ :  and  certain  I  am,  that  it  is  not  in  the 
'  power   of  the  heretics   and  disciples  of  Antichrist,  to 

*  impugn  this  evangelical  doctrine.     On  the  contrary,  I 

*  trust,  through  our  Lord's  mercy,  to  be  superabundantly 
'  rewarded,  after  this  short  and  miserable  life,  for  this 
'  lawful  contention  which  I  wage.  I  know  from  the 
'  Grospel,  that  Antichrist,   with  all  his  devices,  can  only 

*  kill  the  body,  but  Christ,   in  whose  cause  I  contend, 

*  can  cast  both  soul  and  body  into  hell-fire.  Sure  I  am, 
'  that   he  will  not  suffer  his  servants  to  want  what  is 

*  needful  for  them,  since  he  freely  exposed  himself  to  a 

*  dreadful  death  for  them,  and  has  ordained  that  all  his 
'  most  beloved  disciples  should  pass  through  severe  suf- 

*  fering  with  a  view  to  their  good.'  ^  The  ties  between 
teachers  and  taught  in  the  middle  ages,  were  commonly 
generous  and  affectionate,  in  a  degree  not  common  among 
ourselves.  In  those  times,  the  dependance  of  students 
on  the  services  of  the  oral  instructor  was  great ;  their 
dependance  on  books  was  from  necessity  comparatively 
small.  With  us  that  state  of  things  has  been  reversed. 
"We  are  quite  safe,  therefore,  in  supposing,  that  the  feel- 
ing between  Wycliffe  and  the  scholars  who  crowded  his 
school,  was  of  a  very  earnest  sort.  Beyond  doubt,  it  is 
to  their  joint  zeal  that  we  must  attribute  the  jealousy 
and  alarm  which  had  brought  on  this  persecution — for 

^  Trialogus.  B.  iv.  c.  5. 


A.D.  1381.]        Wycliffe  pvhlishes  his  Wychett.  249 

the  language  of  the  decree  is,  that  there  is  to  be  no  more 
such  teaching,  and  no  more  such  hearing — nothing  of  the 
sort  in  the  schools,  nothing  of  the  sort  elsewhere.  Wyc- 
liffe, we  may  be  sure,  has  his  counsels  to  give  them  in 
such  a  moment ;  and  they,  we  may  be  sure,  have  their 
hot  outbursts  of  youthful  indignation.  For  the  present, 
however,  their  policy  lies  on  the  side  of  submission. 

Of  course,  the  authority  of  the  Chancellor  was  restricted 
to  the  University.     The  Reformer  was  still  free  to  give 
publicity  to  his  opinions  as  an  author,  and  as  Rector  of 
Lutterworth.     These  proceedings  against  him  in  Oxford 
belong,  as  we  have  seen,  to  the  spring  of  1381  ;  the  next 
parliament,  though  summoned  in  the  following  July,  did 
not  assemble  until  the  autumn.     During  this  interval, 
Wycliffe  issued  his  tractate  intitled  the  '  Wyckett,^  which 
treats  specially  of  his  doctrine  concerning  the  Eucharist. 
Of  this  publication  we  need  not  speak  largely,  inasmuch 
as  it  consists  of  an  exposition  of  that  subject,  distinguish- 
able from  what  had  been  set  forth  by  the  Reformer  in 
respect  to  it  in  his  lectures  at  Oxford,  merely  as  being 
less  technical,  and  more  adapted  to  popular  apprehension. 
Wycliffe  complains  in  the  introduction  to  this  treatise, 
of  the  measure  that  had  been  recently  dealt  out  to  him 
by  certain  '  clerks  of  the  law,'  whom  he  further  describes 
as  of  the  order  that  '  have  ever  been   against  God  the 

*  Lord,  both  in  the  old  law,  and  in  the  new  ;  slaying  the 

*  prophets  who  spoke  to  them  the  words  of  God.     Yea, 
^  they  spared  not  the  Son  of  God,  when  the  temporal 


250  Wycliffe  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 

*  judge  would  have  delivered  him.  And  so  forth  of  the 
'  Apostles  and  martyrs,  who  have  spoken  truly  of  the 

*  word  of  God.'  It  is  this  temper  that  has  prompted  them 
to  enact  '  the  law  which  they  have  made  on  the  sacred 

*  host ; '  and  even  to  denounce  it  as  '  heresy  to  speak  of  the 
'  Holy  Scriptures  in  English.'  Concerning  the  Eucharist, 
he  demands  of  these  men,  '  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  ? '  Of  men  who  would  thus  exalt 
themselves  above  their  Maker,  '  Paul  speaks  when  writing 

*  of  the  man  of  sin,  that  advanceth  himself  as  he  were 

*  God.  Were  this  doctrine  true,  it  would  then  follow, 
'  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  groweth  in  the  field  by  nature,  shall  another 

*  time  be  God — and  still  we  ought  to  believe  that  God  is 
^  without  beginning  or  ending  ! '  The  work  closes  with 
the    following   paragraph  : — '  Therefore,   let    every   man 

*  wisely,  with  much  prayer  and  great  study,  and  also 
'  with  charity,  read  the  words  of  God  in  the  Holy  Scrip- 
^  tures.  But  many  are  like  the  mother  of  Zebedee's 
'  children,  to  whom  Christ  said,  '  Thou  wottest  not  what 
'  thou  askest.'     You   know  not  what  you  ask  or  what 

*  you  do.  For  if  ye  did,  ye  would  not  blaspheme  God 
'  as  you  do,  setting  up  an  alien  god  instead  of  the  living 
'  God.  Christ  saith,  '  I  am  a  very  (true)  vine.'  Where- 
'  fore  do  ye  not  worship  the  vine  for  God,  as  ye  do  the 


A.D.  1881.]  The  Wyckett  251 

bread  ?  Wherein  was  Christ  a  very  (true)  vine  ?  Or, 
wherein  was  the  bread  Christ's  body  ?  It  was  in  figu- 
rative speech,  which  is  hidden  to  the  understanding  of 
sinners.  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  for  its  sub- 
stance 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  be- 
lieve 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  so  meant  they 
were  deceived,  for  they  understood  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  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  into  rising  again,  to  bliss  for 
all  that  shall  be  saved  by  him.  But  just  as  they  accused 
him  falsely  about  the  temple  at  Jerusalem,  so,  now-a- 
days,  they  accuse  falsely  against  Christ,  and  say  that  he 
spake  of  the  bread  which  he  brake  among  the  Apostles. 
For  in  that  Christ  said  this  figuratively,  they  are  de- 
ceived, taking  it  fleshly  (literally,)  turning  it  to  the 
material  bread,  as  the  Jews  did  in  the  matter  of  the 


252  Wy cliff e  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 

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  straight  and  narrow  way  which  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 
truth  and  holiness,  in  the  dread  of  God,  that  we  may 
find  by  him  a  way  of  bliss  everlasting.  So  be  it*  The 
authorities  which  prohibited  the  utterance  of  such  trutli 
in  Oxford,  could  not  prevent  this  wider  utterance  of  it 
by  authorship ;  and  in  such  terms  did  Wycliffe*  appeal 
from  the  judgment  of  the  learned  few  in  the  University, 
to  the  common  sense  of  the  people  everywhere. 

The  summer  in  which  Wycliffe  published  his  Wyckett 
is  memorable  as  the  time  of  the  insurrection  under  Wat 
Tyler — properly  Walter  the  Tiler,  the  word  tiler  being 
the  name  given  in  those  times  to  the  bricklayer.  The 
causes  of  that  outbreak  lie  deep  in  the  conditions  of 
society  in  that  age,  and  should  be  glanced  at  in  their 
bearing  on  the  purpose  of  our  narrative.  Soon  after 
the  accession  of  Richard  to  the  throne,  it  was  demanded 
by  the  Commons,  and  as  the  condition  of  a  grant  to  the 
government,  that  the  Council  of  Twelve  which  had  been 


A.D.  1381.]        Insurrection  of  the  Commons.  253 

appointed  by  his  first  parliament  should  be  removed,  the 
king  bein^  now  of  '  good  discretion/  and  capable  of  dis- 
pensing with  their  services.  Commissioners  were  at  the 
same  time  appointed  to  investigate  the  expenses  of  the 
royal  household.  After  a  few  months,  another  parliament 
was  convened,  in  which  it  was  declared  that  the  king 
was  '  enormously  in  debt ; '  and  the  Commons,  in  ac- 
cepting the  offer  of  the  Crown  to  examine  the  public 
accounts — an  offer  which  introduced  a  wholesome  novelty 
into  our  parliamentary  history — found  the  exchequer  in 
arrears  to  the  amount  of  dC^l 60,000.  This  state  of  things 
was  pronounced  *most  outrageous  and  insupportable.' 
The  debate  which  ensued  ended  in  the  adoption  of  a 
poll-tax — a  mode  of  contribution  on  the  person,  and  on 
each  according  to  his  condition.  Even  this  levy — pro- 
bably from  the  ignorance  of  statistics  common  to  the 
period — failed  to  meet  even  a  moiety  of  the  expense 
which  had  been  recently  incurred  by  an  expedition  into 
Brittany.  The  tax,  accordingly,  was  renewed,  on  a  much 
heavier  scale,  but  whether  from  fault  in  the  collectors  or 
in  the  government,  the  returns  now  made  fell  below,  in 
place  of  greatly  exceeding,  the  former  amount.  The 
measure  now  resorted  to  was  a  desperate  one,  and  was 
the  main  cause  of  the  insurrection  which  followed.^ 

Four  men  proffered  their  services  to  ascertain  the  cor- 
rectness of  the  payments  made  for  Kent,   Norfolk,  and 


254 


Wycliffe  as  a  Confessor. 


[chap.    IX. 


tlieir  neighbourhood.  The  offer  was  accepted.  These 
men  were  stimulated  in  their  proceedings  by  the  prospect 
of  a  large  reward,  and  by  the  confidence  that  their  ser- 
vices to  the  exchequer  would  be  allowed  by  the  govern- 
ment to  cover  almost  any  multitude  of  sins.  By  the  last 
act  of  parliament  in  relation  to  this  tax,  it  fell  on  each 
person  from  the  age  of  fifteen,  and  we  may  imagine  the 
many  lesser  insults  that  were  offered  to  the  irritated 
feeling  of  the  people  by  these  collectors,  when  we  say  that 
it  was  not  uncommon  when  disputes  arose  as  to  the  real 
age  of  parties,  for  them  to  insist  on  a  settlement  of  such 
questions  by  proceedings  which  outraged  every  feeling  of 
modesty.  Many  submitted  to  the  imposition  as  their 
only  means  of  escape  from  such  insolence.  But  our 
ancestors  of  the  fourteenth  century  were  not  a  people 
to  be  long  quiescent  under  such  treatment. 

The  men  of  Kent  were  the  first  to  confer  upon  the 
duty  of  resistance.  But  no  man  appeared  in  whom  they 
could  confide  as  a  leader.  A  baker  of  Fobbing  in  Essex, 
more  courageous,  or  less  sensible  to  danger  than  his 
neighbours,  was  the  first  to  show  signs  of  open  revolt. 
The  populace  applauded  his  patriotism,  and  the  flame 
once  ignited,  spread  with  rapidity  through  that  county, 
and  through  many  of  the  towns  and  villages  of  Kent.^ 
Belknape,  Chief  Justice  of  the  Common  Pleas,  was  dis- 
patched to  restore  tranquillity  among  the  Essex  men,  by 


^  Knighton.     De  Eventibus,  2632,  2633. 


AD.  1381.]        Insurrection  of  the  Commons.  255 

inflicting  signal  punishment  on  the  leading  insurgents. 
But  as  the  Grand  Jury  began  to  find  indictments,  the 
multitude  rushed  into  their  apartment,  cut  off  their 
heads,  and  compelled  the  judge  to  swear  that  he  would 
desist  from  all  such  proceedings.  Two  attempts  of  the 
same  description  were  made  in  Kent,  but  the  result  in 
both  instances  was  to  augment,  rather  than  to  subdue  the 
disaffection.  It  was  in  the  month  of  May  that  the  men 
of  Essex  assembled,  to  the  amount  of  five  thousand, 
armed  with  every  kind  of  weapon.  To  these,  additions 
were  daily  made,  and  at  the  head  of  this  growing  multi- 
tude was  an  obscure  individual  known  in  the  records  of 
the  time  under  the  feigned  name  of  Jack  Straw.  In 
Kent,  accident  threw  a  man  of  the  same  humble  origin 
into  similar  prominence.  One  of  the  collectors  of  the 
obnoxious  tax  entered  the  house  of  a  tradesman  in  the 
town  of  Dartford.  The  collector  demanded  payment  for 
a  young  female  who  stood  in  the  apartment  before  him  ; 
the  mother  asserted  that  she  was  not  of  age  to  be  liable 
to  the  tax  ;  the  dispute  grew  warm,  and  the  man  pro- 
ceeded to  take  indecent  liberties  with  the  person  of  the 
daughter.  The  indignation  and  terror  of  the  woman 
were  vented  in  loud  cries,  which  soon  brought  her 
neighbours  about  her.  News  of  the  insult  offered  to 
his  wife  and  child  reached  Walter  the  Tiler  at  his  work, 
who  ran  through  the  town,  with  his  tool  in  his  hand, 
and  placing  himself  before  the  rufiian,  demanded  as  a 
father,   and  an  Englishman,  on  what  authority  he  had 


256  Wycliffe  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 

dared  so  to  conduct  himself.  The  knave  became  abusive, 
and  levelled  a  blow  at  Walter.  The  Tiler  avoidted  the 
weapon  of  his  adversary,  and  with  a  single  stroke  of  his 
lathing-hammer — still  in  his  hand — he  laid  the  agent  of 
a  base  government  dead  at  his  feet.  A  new  scene  now 
opened  to  the  Tiler  of  Dartford.  His  safety  thenceforth 
must  lie  in  concealment,  or  in  the  sympathy  of  the 
people.  To  such  a  man  it  was  natural  that  he  should 
confide  unduly  to  the  latter  means  of  protection.  Multi- 
tudes gathered  around  him,  expressed  aloud  their  admi- 
ration of  his  conduct,  and  vowed  to  defend  him.  Within 
a  few  weeks  Walter  appeared  in  the  vicinity  of  London  at 
the  head  of  armed  men,  and  their  followers,  said  to  num- 
ber together  not  less  than  a  hundred  thousand  persons. 
So  far,  the  great  men  who  were  regarded  as  having 
given  evil  counsel  to  the  king,  whether  churchmen  or 
laymen,  appear  to  have  been  the  exclusive  objects  of 
resentment.  To  the  day  on  which  the  insurgents  halted 
at  Blackheath,  the  oath  exacted  of  all  who  joined  them, 
was  that  of  fidelity  to  Richard  and  the  Commons  ;  and 
also  that  no  king  should  be  acknowledged  by  the  name 
of  John — an  exception  which  is  supposed  to  have  had 
reference  to  the  Duke  of  Lancaster.^  Richard  sent  a 
messenger  to  inquire  the  cause  of  this  tumult.  The 
answer  returned  was  that  they  sought  an  audience  of  the 


1  Knighton,  2633,   2634.     Walsingham,  258.     Rot.    Pari.    III.   99. 
Stowe,  284. 


A. D.  1381.]         Insurrection  of  the  Commons.  257 

king.  Some  of  the  royal  councillors  advised  the  sovereign 
to  grant  this  request,  but  Sudbury,  Archbishop  of  Can- 
terbury, who  was  also  treasurer  of  the  realm,  gave 
other  advice,  and  spoke  most  scornfully  of  the  persons 
from  whom  this  request  had  proceeded.  Unfortunately 
for  the  primate,  both  his  advice  and  his  contemptuous 
expressions  reached  the  ears  of  the  malcontents,  and 
were  not  forgotten.^  The  magistrates  of  London  would 
have  closed  the  city  gates  against  Walter  and  the  host  of 
his  adherents  ;  but  the  populace  within  shared  in  the 
discontent  of  the  multitude  without,  and  the  insurgents 
were  allowed  to  pass  London-bridge,  and  to  flow  un- 
checked into  the  capital.  The  king,  with  some  members 
of  his  court,  and  about  two  hundred  knights,  fled  for 
safety  to  the  Tower.  The  city  was  in  the  hands  of  the 
new  comers,  but  during  some  days  no  violence  was  per- 
petrated. They  paid  for  all  their  provisions,  -and  pro- 
fessed themselves  willing  to  return  to  their  homes  so 
soon  as  the  traitors  of  the  land  shoidd  be  secured  and 
punished.  But  discipline  in  such  circumstances  is  com- 
monly of  short  duration.  It  was  felt  that  no  time  was 
to  be  lost,  and  Richard,  accordingly,  agreed  to  confer 
with  the  leaders  at  Mile-End,  where  he  granted  them  a 
kind  of  charter,  declared  all  those  assembled  free,  and 
abolished  servitude  and  villanage. 

But   while   the   main    body   of  the   disaffected   were 

^  Walsingham,  259. 


258  Wy cliff e  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 

engaged  in  this  conference,  a  rabble  which  lingered  near 
the  Tower,  forced  an  entrance,  and  overpowering  the 
knights,  they  laid  hands  on  Sudbury,  archbishop  and 
lord  treasurer  ;  on  Legg,  the  commissioner  of  the  poll- 
tax,  and  some  others,  and  having  denounced  them  as 
traitors,  cut  off  their  heads  and  bore  them  in  triumph 
on  lances  through  the  streets.  From  that  unhappy  day 
everything  recorded  of  the  insurgents  is  marked  by 
violence  and  the  wildest  disorder.  Intoxicated  with 
apparent  success,  or  feeling  that  they  had  sinned  too 
far  against  the  government  ever  to  be  forgiven,  they 
gave  themselves  up  during  the  ensuing  week  to  pillage, 
drunkenness,  and  murder.  Three  times  the  government 
assented  to  their  demands,  and  still  the  tumult  was  not 
allayed.  Richard  again  condescended  to  meet  them,  and 
the  place  of  meeting  now  was  Smithfield.  "Walter  was 
still  at  the  head  of  the  multitude,  and  by  this  time  had 
probably  yielded  in  some  degree  to  the  growing  spirit 
of  insubordination.  By  the  attendants  of  Richard  the 
conduct  of  the  insurgents  was  interpreted  as  disrespectful 
towards  the  sovereign,  and  when  the  king  hesitated  to  pro- 
nounce the  abolition  of  the  forest  and  game  laws,  "Walter 
drew  so  nigh  to  the  royal  person  as  to  excite  suspicion  of 
some  evil  design.  Walworth,  the  Mayor  of  London, 
seized  his  spear,  and  in  a  moment  it  was  planted  in 
the  neck  of  the  rebel ;  and  from  the  indignation  of 
another  attendant  he  received  a  second  wound,  in  the 
side.     He  rose  convulsively  from  the  ground  more  than 


A.D.  1J381.]       Tlw  Iiisitrrection  suppressed.  259 

once,  but  in  a  few  minutes  was  no  more.  His  followers 
grasped  their  weapons  to  avenge  his  death ;  but  the  king, 
in  the  confidence  of  youth,  and  aware  probably  that 
even  now  the  disaffection  had  little  or  no  reference  to 
himself,  flew  among  them  and  exclaimed — '  Why,  my 
'  liege  men,  this  clamour,  will  you  kill  your  king  ?  Heed 
'  not  the  death  of  a  traitor,  I  will  be  your  leader  ;  come, 
'  follow  me  to  the  fields,  and  what  you  ask  you  shall 
'  have.'  Charmed  with  the  spirit  and  confidence  of  the 
young  monarch,  they  obeyed  his  summons ;  but  while 
engaged  in  this  parley,  they  were  alarmed  by  the  approach 
of  an  armed  force  under  the  command  of  Sir  Robert 
Knowles.  The  panic  was  suddenly  diffused,  and  the 
followers  of  Walter  fled  in  every  direction,  to  be  no 
more  brought  together.  Richard  humanely  forbade 
pursuit.  But  the  concessions  made  were  all  rescinded, 
and  some  hundreds  of  the  offenders  perished,  in  the 
various  counties,  by  the  hands  of  the  executioner.^ 

It  is  easy  to  imagine  the  use  that  would  be  made  of 
these  disturbances  by  the  enemies  of  Wycliffe.  They 
would  be  pointed  at  with  an  air  of  triumph,  as  exhibit- 
ing the  fruit  to  be  expected  from  such  revolutionary 
doctrines  as  had  been  made  familiar  to  the  ear  of  the 
people  by  his  teaching  for  some  years  past.  What  more 
natural,  than  that  disobedience  to  the  church,  should  end 


»  Walsingham,    259—265.      Knighton,  2634—2637.      Rymer.  VII. 
316,  317.     Rot.  Pari.  III.  103,  111.     Wilkins,  HI.  153. 

s2 


260  Wycliffe  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 

in  this  manner,  in  rebellion  against  the  state  ; — that  con- 
tempt of  the  priest,  should  be  followed  by  contempt  of 
the  magistrate. 

There  is  no  evidence,  however,  that  the  doctrines  of 
"WyclifFe  contributed  in  the  slightest  degree  to  these 
occurrences.  By  this  time  his  opinions  had  produced  a 
powerful  impression  on  the  learned,  on  men  of  rank, 
and  on  the  more  thoughtful  of  the  middle  classes,  but 
we  have  no  reason  to  suppose  that  their  influence 
extended  more  than  very  partially  to  that  lowest  class  of 
the  people  of  whom  the  insurgents  of  1381  exclusively 
consisted.  Froissart,  who  is  very  full  in  his  description 
of  this  insurrection,  is  so  humane  as  to  assure  us  that  it 
all  came  from  Hhe  too  great  comfort  of  the  common- 
alty ;'  and  Walsingham,  who  finds  the  source  of  the  whole 
mischief  in  the  depravity  of  the  people,  states,  that 
according  to  the  confession  of  one  of  their  leaders,  their 
object  in  their  meditated  destruction  of  the  hierarchy, 
was  to  make  way  for  the  Mendicants  as  the  only  ministers 
of  religion.  The  commons,  in  their  address  to  the  king, 
laid  bare  the  true  causes  of  what  had  happened,  and  of 
the  outbreaks  of  a  similar  description  to  which  nearly  all 
the  states  of  Europe  were  at  that  time  liable.  '  Unless 
'  the  administration  of  the  kingdom  be  speedily  reformed,' 
say  the  commons,  '  it  must  be  wholly  lost.  For  there 
'  are  such  defects  in  the  said  administration,  as  well 
'  about  the  king's  person  and  household,  as  in  his  courts 
*  of  justice,  and  by  grievous  oppressions  in  the  country, 


I 


A.D.  1881.]  Causes  of  the  Insurrection.  261 

'  through  maintainers  of  suits,  who  are  as  it  were  kings 

*  in  the  country,  that  right  and  law  are  come  to  nothing, 
'  and  the  poor  commons  are  from  time  to  time  pillaged 
'  and  ruined,  partly  by  the  king's  purveyors  of  the 
'  household,  and  others  who  pay  nothing  for  what  they 
'  take,  partly  by  the  subsidies  and  tillages  raised  upon 
'  them,  and  besides  by  the  oppressive  behaviour  of  the 
'  king's  servants,  and  other  lords,  and.  especially  by  the 

*  aforesaid  maintainers  of  suits,  they  are  reduced  to 
'  greater  poverty  and  discomfort  than  ever  they  were 
'  before.  And  moreover,  though  great  sums  have  been 
'  continually  granted  by,  and  levied  upon  them,  for  the 

*  defence  of  the  kingdom,  yet  they  are  not  the  better 
'  defended  against  their  enemies,  but  every  year  are 
'  plundered  and  wasted  by  sea  and  land,  without  any 
'  relief : — and  to  speak  the  real  truth,  these  injuries  lately 

*  done  to  the  poorer  commons,  more  than  they  ever  suffered 

*  before,  caused  them  to  rise,  and  to  commit  the  mischief 
'  done  in  the  late  riot,  and  there  is  still  cause  to  fear 
'  greater  evils,  if  sufficient  remedy  be  not  timely  provided 
'  against  the  outrages  and  oppressions  aforesaid.'  ^ 

In  short,  this  pressure  of  taxation,  and  this  wasteful- 

^  Hallam's  Middle  Ages,  III.  93.  Dr.  Lingard,  making  mention  of 
the  labours  of  one  John  Ball,  an  itinerant  priest  and  preacher  among 
the  insurgents,  states  that  he  was  the  precursor,  not,  as  some  have 
said,  the  disciple  of  Wycliffe ;  and  then  adds — '  When,  however, 
'  Wycliffe  began  to  dogmatize,  he  adopted  the  doctrines  of  the  new 

*  teacher,  and  ingrafted  them  on  his  own.'    The  malevolence  of  such 
an  insinuation  is  so  absurd  as  to  become  amusing. 


262  Wycliffe  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 

ness  or  incapacity  of  courts  and  governments,  had  been 
the  cause,  as  we  have  intimated,  of  similar  disturbances 
in  most  of  the  countries  of  Europe  during  this  century. 
Some  thirty  years  before  the  English  insurrection,   the 
disbanded  mercenaries  of  France  had  filled  the  provinces 
of  that  kingdom  with  their  depredations,  and  unawed 
by  the  terrors  of  the  church,  had  compelled  the  pontiff 
himself  to  purchase  his  personal  safety  in  Avignon   at 
a  cost   of  forty   thousand   crowns.     These  banditti  were 
known  by  the   name  of  the  '  companies,'  and  were  no 
sooner  conducted  by  the  celebrated  Du  Guesclin  to  the 
war  against  Peter  of  Castile,  than  the  French  peasantry 
took  upon  them  to  play  the  anarchist,  and  their  insur- 
gency was  distinguished  from  that  of  our  own  country  in 
1381,  only  as  being  more  extended,  of  longer  continuance, 
and  as  marked  by  greater  atrocities.  Just  before  the  risings 
under  Jack  Straw  and  Wat  Tyler,  the  French  peasantry 
had  again  taken  arms  against  their  rulers,  joining  the 
populace  of  Paris  in  their  complaints  against  the  govern- 
ment ;  and  this  course  of  things  in  France,  together  with 
the  memorable  rebellion  of  the  Flemings,  did  much,  as  we 
are  assured  by  Froissart,  to  diffuse  a  spirit  of  insubordi- 
nation almost  every  where.    Indeed  nothing  can  be  more 
clear  than  that   these   appearances   belong   to   a   great 
transition  which  then  began  to  take  place  in  the  con- 
dition  of    European   society.     The  feudal    system    was 
everywhere  falling  to  pieces,  some  kind  of  representative 
system,  or   a   more   thorough  monarchical   system   was 


A.D.  1381.]  Courtney  becomes  Primate.  263 

everywhere  coming  into  its  place.  Change,  for  the 
better  or  the  worse,  was  the  great  fact  of  the  age, 
and  irregularity  and  disturbance  were  more  or  less 
inseparable  from  it.  Religion,  indeed,  contributed  some- 
thing to  the  general  excitement  and  confusion,  but  it 
was  religion  in  the  lowest  form  of  ignorance  and  fanat- 
icism, not  at  all  in  the  intellectual  and  thoughtful  form 
inculcated  by  Wycliffe.  The  Reformer  always  felt  his 
dependance  on  the  civil  power,  as  his  only  means  of  pro- 
tection against  the  displeasure  of  the  ruling  clergy,  much 
too  sensibly,  to  allow  of  his  becoming  the  patron  of  revolt 
against  the  authority  of  the  magistrate. 

We  have  seen  that  Sudbury,  the  archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, was  beheaded  in  the  Tower  in  June  1381.  In 
the  October  following,  Courtney,  bishop  of  London,  was 
advanced  to  the  primacy.  But  it  was  not  until  a  few 
days  before  the  meeting  of  the  new  parliament,  early  in 
May  of  the  next  year,  that  the  new  archbishop  obtained 
the  pall  from  Rome,  and  regarded  his  investment 
with  office  as  complete.  So  papistical  were  the  sympa- 
thies of  this  primate,  that  until  the  authority  of  the 
crown  as  exercised  in  his  appointment  should  be  con- 
firmed, in  the  manner  intimated,  by  the  pope,  he  declined 
the  discharge  of  any  archiepiscopal  function,  and  would 
not  allow  the  cross  to  be  borne  before  him.  The  zeal 
with  which  Courtney  had  committed  himself  against  the 
opinions  of  Wycliffe  before  the  convocation  in  St.  Paul's, 
some  years  since,  had  lost  nothing  by  time.     On  the  con- 


^64  Wycliffe  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 

trary,  his  possession  of  greater  power,  only  served  to 
give  greater  determination  to  his  purpose  to  resist  and 
suppress  all  such  forms  of  innovation  to  the  utmost 
extent  possible.  Two  days  before  the  meeting  of  parlia- 
ment, the  primate  convened  a  synod  to  deliberate  con- 
cerning the  measures  to  be  taken  with  regard  to  certain 
strange  and  dangerous  opinions,  said  to  be  widely  dif- 
fused, '  as  well  among  the  nobilty,  as  the  commons  of  the 
'  realm  of  England/  We  scarcely  need  say  that  doctrines 
which  had  commended  themselves,  not  only  to  the  sturdy 
commoners  of  England,  but  to  many  among  the  '  nobility,' 
could  not  have  been  doctrines  of  the  Wat  Tyler  descrip- 
tion. But  on  the  seventeenth  of  May  1382,  an  assembly  was 
convened,  consisting  of  eight  prelates,  of  fourteen  doctors 
of  the  civil  and  canon  law,  six  bachelors  of  divinity, 
fifteen  mendicants,  and  four  monks, — in  all  nearly  fifty 
men  of  learned  or  ofiicial  status.  The  place  of  meeting 
was  a  building  belonging  to  one  of  the  orders  of  friars, 
in  the  metropolis.  The  policy  of  the  archbishop  appears 
to  have  been,  to  secure  a  strong  condemnation  of  the 
tenets  of  the  Reformers,  and  then  to  commence  an 
unsparing  prosecution  of  such  as  should  hesitate  to 
renounce  them.  It  happened,  however,  that  as  the  synod 
was  about  to  enter  on  its  business,  the  city  was  shaken 
by  an  earthquake.  The  incident  so  far  aifected  the 
courage  of  some  of  the  parties  assembled,  that  they 
ventured  to  intimate  a  doubt  whether  the  course  they 
were  about  to  take  might  not  be  displeasing  to  heaven. 


A.D.  1382.]    Proceedings  against  the  Wycliffites.  265 

But  the  archbishop,  who  presided,  rallied  their  courage 
with  a  promptitude  which  bespoke  him  a  man  possessing 
some  fitness  for  authority  ; — what  had  alarmed  them  was 
a  token  for  good,  and  not  for  evil ;  the  dispersion  of 
noxious  vapours  which  followed  such  convulsions,  should 
be  interpreted  as  fore-shadowing  the  purity  that  would  be 
secured  to  the  church,  when,  as  the  result  of  their  pre- 
sent conflict,  everything  pestilential  should  be  extruded 
from  her  communion.^ 

Three  days  were  spent  in  what  is  described  as  '  good 
deliberation/  We  should  be  pleased,  could  we  give  the 
reader  some  of  the  more  racy  incidents  included  in  this 
three  days  labour.  Edifying,  no  doubt,  it  would  be,  could 
we  be  lookers-on  and  listeners,  and  give  a  full  report  of 
the  good  and  bad,  the  sense  and  nonsense  perpetrated  by 
these  fifty  ecclesiastical  judges  through  that  space  of  time. 
But  this  is  denied  us.  We  know,  however,  something  of 
what  took  place,  by  means  of  what  is  before  us  as 
the  result.  We  know,  for  example,  that  they  had  discus- 
sions about  the  Eucharist ;  that  they  found  the  doctrine 
widely  taught  on  that  subject, — taught,  no  doubt,  emi- 
nently by  John  Wycliffe  in  Oxford, — to  be,  that  the  sub- 
stance of  the  bread  and  wine  are  not  changed  in  the 
sacrament  of  the  altar.  Of  course,  with  all  the  wonder 
and  indignation  befitting  the  occasion,  such  teaching  is 


'  Wilkins'  Concilia,  III   157.     Foxe's  Acts  and  Mon.  I.  569,  566- 
570.     Knighton  2650. 


266  Wyclifie  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 

pronounced  heretical.  Equally  clear  does  it  become,  that 
these  new  teachers  have  not  scrupled  to  declare  that  any 
priest  or  bishop  falling  into  deadly  sin,  does  thereby 
forfeit  his  power  as  priest  or  bishop,  all  his  official  acts, 
while  in  such  a  state,  being  invalid,  and  without  effect. 
It  is  seen  at  once,  that  the  effect  of  such  a  tenet  on  the 
priestly  pretensions  of  the  age  would  be  most  disastrous. 
Such  loss  of  official  status,  would  be  the  loss  at  once 
of  their  special  power,  and  of  the  gains  naturally  allied 
with  it.  Most  seemly  therefore  was  it,  that  this  also 
should  be  condemned  as  heresy.  It  is  further  shown, 
that  there  are  men  who  presume  to  teach  that  confession 
to  a  priest,  in  the  manner  required  by  the  church,  is  not 
a  doctrine  of  the  scripture,  nor  necessary  to  the  salvation 
of  the  penitent.  One  glance  suffices  to  discern  whither 
this  tends.  The  necessity  for  confession  gone,  absolution 
is  gone,  priestly  power  itself  is  gone.  Such  notion  is 
carried  by  acclamation  as  heresy — one  of  the  foulest  of 
heresies.  Some  there  were  who  declared  that  there  were 
not  wanting  those  who  pronounced  the  endowment  of  the 
Christian  priesthood  to  be  contrary  to  the  divine  law  ; 
and  others  who  insisted,  that  depraved  men  who  had 
risen  to  the  pontificate,  were  men  whose  authority  might 
have  emanated  from  the  civil  power,  but  could  not  have 
been  derived  from  the  Gospel.  These  opinions,  also, 
were  branded  as  heresy  :  the  only  regret  probably  being, 
that  the  culprits  publishing  such  opinions  could  not  be 
consigned,  there  and  then,  to  the  doom  which  the  church 


A.  D.  1382.]    Proceedings  against  the  Wycliffites.  267 

had  adjudged  as  the  just  punishment  of  such  horrible 
delinquency. 

In  the  propositions  judged  as  erroneous  we  find  the 
following  ; — That  a  prelate  excommunicating  any  man, 
without  knowing  him  to  have  been  excommunicated  by 
God,  is  thereby  himself  excommunicated,  and  himself 
convicted  of  heresy ; — that  to  prohibit  appeals  in  civil 
cases,  from  the  courts  of  the  clergy  to  the  court  of  the 
king,  is  manifest  treason  ; — that  all  priests  and  deacons 
have  full  right  to  preach  the  Gospel,  without  waiting  for 
any  licence  from  popes  or  prelates  ; — that  to  shrink  from 
the  use  of  this  liberty,  because  of  the  censure  of  the  clergy, 
is  to  be  a  traitor  to  God  ; — that  temporal  lords  may  de- 
prive an  unworthy  priesthood  of  their  worldly  possessions  ; 
—  that  tithes  are  merely  alms,  to  be  rendered  to  the  clergy 
only  as  they  are  devout  men,  and  according  to  the  discre- 
tion of  the  contributors  ;  —and  finally,  that  the  institution 
of  the  religious  orders  had  been  an  error  and  a  sin,  tend- 
ing in  many  ways  to  evil.^ 

Many  of  the  opinions  thus  branded  as  heresy  and  error, 
were  frankly  avowed  by  WycliiFe  and  others.  Some  of 
them,  however,  are  disfigured  by  the  prejudices  of  the 
synod,  and  would  not  have  been  acknowledged  by  those 
to  whom  they  were  imputed  in  the  bald  form  in  which 
they  are  here  presented.  The  high  authority  by  which 
sentence  had  been  thus  passed  upon  the  whole  of  them,  is 

»  Wilkins'  Concilia,  III.  157,  et  seq.    Foxe  I.  568,  569.  Appendix  K. 


268 


Wycliffe  as  a  Confessor. 


[chap.  IX. 


often  appealed  to  subsequently,  in  vindication  of  the  mea- 
sures adopted  to  suppress  them.  A  letter  was  addressed 
to  the  bishop  of  London,  in  which  Courtney,  as  Metro- 
politan of  all  England  and  Legate  of  the  Apostolic  See, 
laments  that,  in  contempt  of  the  canons  which  had  wisely 
restricted  the  office  of  preaching  to  such  as  had  obtained 
licence  from  the  holy  see,  or  from  a  bishop,  many  were 
found  in  divers  places  preaching  doctrines  subversive  of 
the  whole  church,  '  infecting  many  well-meaning  Chris- 
*  tians,  and  causing  them  to  wander  grievously  from  the 
'  catholic  communion,  beyond  which  there  is  no  salvation." 
To  put  an  end  to  these  disorders,  the  injunction  is,  that 
the  prelates  do  all  exercise  special  care  not  to  admit  any 
suspected  persons  to  the  liberty  of  preaching — that  no 
man  should  listen  to  those  holding  the  above  pernicious 
tenets,  nor  lean  towards  them,  either  publicly  or  privately, 
but  rather  shun  them,  as  serpents  that  diffuse  pestilence 
and  poison,  on  pain  of  the  greater  excommunication.^ 

That  this  crusade  against  heresy  might  take  with  it  the 
greater  publicity,  a  special  religious  procession  was  ar- 
ranged to  pass  through  the  streets  of  London  at  the 
approaching  Whitsuntide.  When  the  appointed  day  came, 
the  attention  of  the  populace  was  attracted  by  numbers  of 
the  clergy  and  laity,  moving  barefooted  towards  St.  Paul's. 
There  a  Carmelite  friar  ascended  the  pulpit,  and  admon- 
ished the  multitude  of  their  duty  towards  the  church  and 


1  Foxe  I.  569—571. 


A.  D.  1^82.]      Hereford,  Reppingdon,  and  Ashton.  269 

her  enemies,  at  a  crisis  so  foreboding.  Letters  similar  to 
that  addressed  to  the  bishop  of  London,  and  which  no 
doubt  called  forth  this  edifying  spectacle,  were  addressed 
to  all  bishops  ; — to  the  bishop  of  Lincoln,  Wy cliff e's  dio- 
cesan, among  the  rest.  By  that  prelate,  official  communi- 
cations were  made  to  the  abbots,  the  priors,  the  rectors, 
the  vicars,  and  even  to  the  parochial  chaplains,  through- 
out the  deanery  of  Goodlaxton,  to  which  the  church  of 
Lutterworth  pertained.^  We  think  we  see  the  Reformer 
in  that  old  rectory-house  which  is  now  no  more,  when 
this  monition  from  his  diocesan  reaches  him  ;  and  we  think 
we  can  conjecture  without  much  danger  of  mistake  as  to 
the  musing  over  it  which  takes  place,  and  as  to  the  kind 
of  discourse  which  proceeded  from  that  old  pulpit  still 
existing  in  Lutterworth  church,  on  the  following  Sunday. 
The  first  use  made  of  the  decision  agreed  upon  at  the 
synod  in  the  Grey  Friars,  was  to  summon  Nicholas 
Hereford  and  Philip  Reppingdon,  doctors  of  divinity, 
and  John  Ashton,  master  of  arts,  to  make  their  appear- 
ance before  the  same  parties,  as  assembled  again  in  the 
same  place  on  the  twentieth  of  June.  Hereford  and 
Reppingdon  were  distinguished  men  in  Oxford  ; — Ashton 
was  a  popular  preacher,  well  known  in  many  parts  of 
England.  ^      The   intention  in  this   proceeding,  was   to 


^  Knighton,  2652. 
"  Master  John  Ashton  appears  to  have  been  known  over  half  the 
kingdom  as  an  itinerant  preacher.     Even  from  his  enemies  we  learn, 


270  Wycliffe  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 

exact  from  these  suspected  persons  an  explicit  disapproval 
of  the  series  of  articles  which  the  synod  had  condemned 
as  being  either  heretical  or  erroneous  ;  or  in  case  of 
failure  in  this  respect,  to  subject  them  to  such  sever- 
ities of  discipline,  as  might  suffice  to  deter  others  from 
the  thought  of  following  such  examples.  We  regard 
the  popular  notion  which  says,  that  opinion  is  not  to  be 
suppressed  by  force,  and  that  persecution  must  always  be 
in  the  end  impolitic,  as  not  without  its  measure  of  whole- 
some influence.  But  these  maxims  are  by  no  means  so 
largely  true  as  is  commonly  supposed.  Persecution  has 
often  been  successful.     It  cannot  prevent  the  destined 


that  he  was  a  man  of  scholarship,  and  of  popular  talent,  capable  of 
awakening  a  deep  interest  in  the  people  whenever  he  addressed  them 
His  discourses,  for  the  most  part,  were  such  as  Wycliffe  himself  might, 
have  delivered.  But  he  was  evidently  a  man  of  much  independent 
thought  and  action,  and  often  broached  novelties  that  were  properly 
his  own.  Knighton,  his  contemporary,  describes  him  as  appearing  in 
coarse  attire,  walking  from  county  to  county,  with  his  staff  in  his  hand, 
in  great  affectation  of  simplicity.  But  the  same  authority  bears  testi- 
mony to  the  zeal  with  which  he  sought  access  to  pulpits,  to  families, 
and  to  all  gatherings  of  the  people,  to  propagate  his  doctrines.  This 
writer  has  preserved  the  outlines  of  two  discourses  delivered  by  this 
pedestrian  instructor,  one  at  Leicester,  the  other  at  Gloucester.  In 
these  sermons  we  find  the  doctrine  of  Wycliffe  concerning  the  supre- 
macy of  the  crown  over  all  church  matters  and  churchmen  ;  the  delu- 
sion and  abuse  of  church  censures  ;  the  evil  influences  of  rich  eccle- 
siastical endowments;  the  unscriptural  origin  of  heirarchial  distinctions 
among  the  clergy  ;  the  errors  and  absurdities  involved  in  the  doctrine 
of  transubstantiation  ;  and  a  special  exposure  of  the  malevolent  passions 
which  had  always  originated  and  characterized  the  crusades— those 
bitter  fruits  of  the  dispensing  power  assumed  by  a  corrupt  priesthood. 
Knighton  De  Eventibus,  2660. 


A.  D.  1882.]       Persecution  may  suppress  Truth, 


271 


progress  of  the  race,  but  it  has  done  much  to  extrude 
right  thinking  from  all  effective  place  among  particular 
peoples.  It  has  been  thus  in  Italy,  Portugal,  Spain,  and 
elsewhere,  even  in  recent  times,  and  it  will  be  thus  again 
in  like  circumstances.  The  countries  named  have  all  had 
their  protestants,  but  where  is  now  their  protestantism  ? 
Many  may  think  justly,  and  be  sincere  in  their  convic- 
tions, who  are  not  prepared  to  become  martyrs  in  the 
cause  of  their  opinions.  Opinions  are  found  to  be  socially 
strong,  only  as  they  marshal  intelligence  and  numbers, 
and  so  become,  in  their  turn,  a  physical  force  opposed  to 
such  force. 

In  the  proceedings  designed  to  suppress  the  doctrine 
of  Wycliffe,  which  date  especially  from  this  time,  there 
is  much  to  require  that  such  facts  as  we  have  adverted 
to  should  be  borne  in  mind.  As  the  storm  darkened, 
some  of  the  most  intelligent  and  earnest  of  the  disciples 
of  the  Reformer,  felt  that  they  were  in  reality  few  and 
feeble,  in  comparison  with  the  odds  arrayed  against  them, 
and  from  this  cause,  appear  at  times  to  have  looked  upon 
resistance  as  hopeless,  and  to  have  bowed  in  a  measure 
to  the  storm.  But  even  among  this  class  of  sufferers, 
there  were  those  who  endured  far  more  than  certain 
parties, — who  sometimes  scoff  at  them  for  not  enduring 
more  still, — would  ever  be  found  submitting  to,  for  any 
interest  not  purely  selfish.  The  men  are  few,  who  are 
of  such  a  make  as  to  be  capable  of  martyrdom ;  and, 
unhappily,  the  men  are  not  few,  who  would  seem  to  be 


272  Wycliffe  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 

incapable  of  becoming  confessors,  or  sufferers  for  truth, 
as  truth,  even  in  the  smallest  degree. 

In  the  examinations  to  which  Hereford  and  Repping- 
don  were  subjected,  they  gave  answers  concerning  the 
Eucharist,  and  other  doctrines,  which  ceded  so  much,  that 
their  judges  might,  with  some  reason,  have  been  expected 
to  profess  themselves  satisfied.  But  when  the  utmost 
concession  the  accused  were  prepared  to  make  had  been 
made,  still  there  was  a  demand  for  something  more. 
After  much  scrutiny,  the  answers  given  were  formally 
pronounced,  by  all  present,  as  '  insufficient,  heretical,  in- 
sincere, subtle,  erroneous,  and  perverse'  Eight  days 
were  left  to  the  delinquents,  for  a  due  consideration  of 
the  course  they  had  taken  in  refusing  to  answer  fur- 
ther ;  and  they  were  admonished,  that  should  they  not 
be  prepared  by  that  time  to  reply  to  the  questions  put 
to  them,  without  any  use  of  logical,  technical,  or  doubt- 
ful terms,  they  would  be  adjudged  as  convicted  of  all  the 
errors  not  so  repudiated. 

The  examination  of  Ashton  was  conducted  separately, 
and  his  course  of  proceeding  Avas  still  less  acceptable  to 
the  synod.  When  required  to  answer  certain  questions  in 
relation  to  the  Eucharist,  he  would  only  reply,  that  his 
faith  on  that  subject  was  the  faith  of  the  church — mean- 
ing, probably,  the  faith  of  the  church  in  her  purer  times. 
To  some  of  the  questions  he  answered,  that  they  were 
beyond  his  understanding,  to  others  he  spoke  obscurely. 
It  was  soon  perceived  that  his  observations  tended  to 


A.D.  1382.]     John  Ashton — evil  in  the  distance.  273 

convey  impressions  in  favour  of  his  doctrine  to  the 
mind  of  the  people  who  were  listening,  and  he  was  en- 
joined to  deliver  himself  in  Latin.  But  in  place  of  con- 
forming to  this  instruction,  he  spoke  the  more  vehemently 
in  the  mother-tongue,  and,  as  the  record  states,  with  dis- 
courtesy toward  the  primate  and  his  coadjutors.  In  the 
end,  accordingly,  his  answers  were  declared  to  be  '  insuf- 
ficient, contemptuous,  and  heretical.' 

These  signs  of  resistance  may  have  suggested  to  the 
archbishop  the  importance  of  endeavouring  to  bring 
more  of  the  civil  power  into  his  course  of  proceeding. 
It  was  but  too  manifest  that  the  time  had  come  in  which 
little  was  to  be  expected  from  the  censures  of  the  church, 
except  as  sustained  by  the  authority  and  penalties  of  the 
state.  Richard  was  now  sixteen  years  of  age.  The 
commons,  as  we  have  seen,  were  discontented,  full  of 
complaints,  and  the  government  found  it  exceedingly  diffi- 
cult to  obtain  the  necessary  supplies  from  that  quarter. 
Courtney,  beside  his  authority  as  primate,  possessed 
great  influence  through  his  family,  the  Courtney's  of 
Devonshire  ;  and  at  a  juncture  when  the  commons  were 
found  to  be  a  little  manageable,  the  question  appears  to 
have  forced  itself  on  the  ministers  of  the  crown — whether 
it  did  not  behove  them  to  conciliate  the  clergy,  and  to 
avail  themselves  of  assistance  from  that  source.  The 
clergy  were  not  slow  in^  seizing  the  occasion,  hoping 
thereby  to  recover  the  ascendancy  which  for  some  years 
past  had  been  departing  from  them.  The  late  insurrection, 


274  Wydiffe  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 

"which  had  been  suppressed  without  removing  from  the 
people  a  single  grievance  of  which  they  had  complained, 
seemed  to  have  occurred  for  scarcely  any  other  pur- 
pose than  to  supply  plausible  excuses  for  resisting,  and 
putting  down,  all  free  thought,  in  matters  of  church  or 
state. 

It  is  at  this  moment,  accordingly,  that  the  clergy  unite 
in  presenting  to  the  king  and  the  court,  a  series  of  com- 
plaints against  the  principles  and  proceedings  of  the  dis- 
ciples of  Wycliffe,  to  whom  they  now  give  the  name  of 
Lollards — a  name  which  had  long  been  borne  by  some  re- 
ligious sects  upon  the  continent,  to  whom,  as  the  fashion 
is  in  such  cases,  almost  everything  flagitious  or  contemp- 
tible had  been  attributed.  The  parties  in  England  now  so 
designated,  are  described  as  teaching — that  since  the  time 
of  Silvester,  there  has  not  been  any  true  pope,  and  that  the 
existing  pope  Urban  VI.  is  the  last  to  whom  that  name 
should  be  given  :  that  the  power  of  granting  indulgences, 
and  of  binding  and  loosing,  as  claimed  by  ecclesiastics,  is 
without  authority,  and  that  all  who  confide  in  it  are  de- 
ceived; that  confession  to  a  priest  is  a  worthless  observance ; 
that  the  bishop  of  Rome  has  no  legislative  power  in  the 
church  ;  that  the  invocation  of  saints  is  contrary  to  Holy 
Scripture  ;  that  the  worship  of  images  or  pictures  is  idola- 
try, and  that  the  miracles  attributed  to  them  are  frauds ; 
that  the  clergy  are  bound  to  reside  on  their  benefices,  and 
not  to  farm  them  out  to  others  ;  and  finally,  that  the  pomp 
of  the  higher  orders  of  the  clergy  should  be  done  away, 


A.D.  1382.]     Proceedings  against  the  '  Poor  Priests.'        275 

so  that  their  doctrine  concerning  the  vanity  of  the  w'orld 
might  be  inculcated  by  example. 

It  will  be  seen,  that  as  far  as  ecclesiastical  usage  is 
concerned,  these  reformers  of  the  fourteenth  century  left 
little  to  be  attempted,  for  the  first  time,  by  any  of  the  gene- 
rations that  have  come  after  them.  Among  the  doctrines 
above  enumerated,  there  are  one  or  two  which,  as  we 
think,  were  never  taught  by  Wycliffe ;  but,  as  a  whole, 
they  no  doubt  give  the  substance  of  the  teaching,  common 
to  that  class  of  preachers  to  the  people,  frequently 
mentioned  by  the  Reformer  in  the  later  years  of  his  life, 
under  the  title  of  '  poor  priests  ! '  This  complaint  of  the 
clergy  against  these  teachers,  now  obtained  the  sanction 
of  the  king  and  of  the  lords  to  whom  it  was  presented  ; 
and  though,  as  thus  approved,  it  was  no  act  of  parlia- 
ment, and  could  take  with  it  no  higher  authority  than 
that  of  a  royal  proclamation,  it  was  hoped  that  it  might 
be  made  to  carry  the  force  of  law.  It  is  an  instructive 
document,  in  several  respects,  and  we  give  it  therefore 
entire.  '  Forasmuch  as  it  is  openly  known  that  there  are 
'  divers  evil  persons  within  the  realm,  going  from  country 
'  to  country,  and  from  town  to  town,  in  certain  habits, 
'  under  dissimulation  of  great  lowliness,  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 

T  2 


276  Wycliffe  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  tx. 

the  great  blemishing  of  the  Christian  faith,  and  destruc- 
tion of  all  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  is  more  plainly  found  and  sufficiently 
proved  before  the  reverend  father  in  God,  the  archbishop 
of  Canterbury,  and  the  bishops  and  other  prelates,  mas- 
ters of  divinity  and  doctors  of  canon  and  of  civil  law, 
and  a  great  part  of  the  clergy  of  this  realm,  especially 
assembled  for  this  cause),  which  persons  do  also  preach 
divers  matters  of  slander,  to  engender  discords  and 
disunion  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  monitions,  nor  for  the  censures  of 
holy  church,  hut  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  error 
by  strong  hand,  and  by  great  routs  : — it  is  therefore  or- 
dained and  assented  in  this  present  parliament,  that  the 
king's  commission  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  ih^iY  fautors,  maintainers,  and  abettors,  and  to 


A.D.  1382.]    Proceedings  against  the  '  Poor  Priests.'        277 

'  hold  them  in  arrest  and  strong  prison,  till  they  shall 
'  purify  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. '  ^ 

It  is  evident  that  this  document  had  been  drawn  up 
with  the  expectation  that  it  might  become  an  act  of  par- 
liament. But  on  further  thought,  it  was  not  deemed  expe- 
dient to  submit  it  to  the  two  houses  ;  and  what  the  com- 
mons had  to  say  on  the  subsequent  attempt  to  give  it  the 
force  of  law  without  their  consent,  will  appear  presently. 
In  the  meanwhile,  we  may  observe,  there  is,  even  in  this 
dry  law-paper,  something  of  the  pictorial.  These  'poor 
priests' — these  sturdy,  free-spoken,  and  popular  metho- 
dists  of  the  fourteenth  century,  are  here  travelling  before 
us,  from  country  to  country,  from  town  to  town,  and 
village  to  village,  bare-footed,  staff  in  hand,  the  visible 
personation  of  the  toilsome,  the  generous,  the  noble- 
hearted.  In  churches  or  churchyards,  in  markets  or  fairs, 
before  gentle  or  simple,  pious  or  profligate — wherever 
men  or  women  are  gathered  together,  or  may  be  gathered, 
there  the  itinerant  instructor  of  this  school  finds  his 
preaching-place,  and  discourses  boldly  on  the  difference 
between  the  religion  of  the  Bible,  with  its  appeals  to 
every  man's  reason  and  consciousness,  and  the  supersti- 


1  Pari.  Hist.  I.  177.     Fox.  I.  575,  576. 


278  Wycliffe  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 

tions  of  the  priests,  which  have  nothing  to  sustain  them 
save  that  hollow  mockery  called  the  authority  of  the 
church.  Prelates  and  abbots,  mendicants  and  monks, 
rectors  and  curates  become  wrathful — but  the  people  are 
not  wrathful.  Almost  to  a  man  they  attest  that  the 
stranger  is  in  the  right,  and  that  harm  shall  not  be  done 
to  him.  Knighton  mentions  a  number  of  persons  of  some 
figure  who  openly  favoured  the  new  preachers,  such  as  Sir 
Thomas  Latimer,  Sir  John  Trussell,  Sir  Lodowich  Clifford, 
Sir  John  Peche,  Sir  Richard  Story,  and  Sir  John  Hilton. 
It  was  the  manner  of  these  distinguished  persons,  as  our 
historian  informs  us,  when  a  preacher  of  the  Wycliffe 
order  came  into  their  neighbourhood,  to  give  notice  to 
all  the  neighbourhood  of  time  and  place,  and  to  draw  a 
vast  audience  together.  Even  beyond  this  did  they  pro- 
ceed, for  you  might  see  them  standing  round  the  pulpit 
of  the  preacher,  armed,  and  prepared  to  defend  him  from 
assault  with  their  good  swords  if  there  should  be  need. 
Knighton,  who  complains  of  this  mode  of  proceeding  as 
being  rather  Mohammedan  than  Christian  in  its  spirit, 
is  nevertheless  obliged  to  give  these  Lollard  or  Puritan 
Knights  the  credit  of  being  governed  by  a  zeal  for 
God,  though  not  according  to  knowledge.* 

The  local  official,  not  daring  to  go  further,  serves  his 
writ  upon  the  disorderly  stranger,  requiring  him  to  appear 
before  his  ordinary — but  the  stranger  is  speedily  else- 

*  De  Eventibus,  2660,  2661. 


i 


A.  D.  1382.]  fVycliffes  '  Poor  Priests.'  279 

where,  and  at  his  wonted  labour.  Proud  churchmen 
thunder  their  anathema  against  him  ;  to  him  it  is  an 
empty  sound.  The  soul  under  that  coarse  garb,  and 
which  plays  from  beneath  that  weatherworn  countenance, 
is  an  emancipated  soul — not  so  much  the  image  of  the 
age  in  which  we  find  it,  as  the  prophecy  of  an  age  to 
come — to  come  only,  after  a  long,  a  dark,  and  a  troubled 
interval  shall  have  passed  away  ! 

But  primate  Courtney  knew  full  well,  that  neither  the 
provinces  nor  the  metropolis  had  been  so  fertile  of  the 
kind  of  doctrine  which  he  was  disposed  to  brand  as 
heresy  and  error,  as  the  university  of  Oxford.  Wycliffe 
had  now  withdrawn  for  a  season  from  his  accustomed 
walks  in  that  old  city,  and  was  giving  himself  to  many 
labours  at  Lutterworth,  preaching  on  the  Sunday,  visiting 
his  flock,  revising  some  of  the  more  learned  of  his  papers, 
and  issuing  tracts  and  treatises  in  English  in  support  of 
his  opinions,  with  amazing  rapidity.  In  the  mean  while, 
the  seed  sown  by  him  in  Oxford  continues  to  vegetate. 
Not  only  have  the  young  been  powerfully  affected  by  his 
teaching,  but  many  of  the  most  influential  persons  resi- 
dent there  are  forward  in  protesting  against  the  course 
that  has  been  pursued  towards  him,  and  make  no  scruple 
in  declaring  themselves  as  being  more  or  less  of  his 
opinion.  Along  with  the  above  pseudo- statute,  accord- 
ingly, which  applied  to  the  whole  country,  Courtney 
obtained  a  writ  from  the  king,  addressed  specially  to 
Oxford,  which  empowered  and  required  the  proper  autho- 


280  Wycliffe  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 

rities  to  make  immediate  and  full  search  for  all  per- 
sons suspected  of  being  approvers  of  the  conclusions  con- 
demned by  the  synod  at  the  Grey  Friars,  and  promulgated 
by  John  Wycliife,  Nicholas  Hereford,  Philip  Reppingdon, 
and  John  Ashton,  and  to  expel  all  such  persons  from  the 
university,  except  they  recant  their  errors,  in  seven  days. 
Diligent  search  is  also  to  be  made  for  all  books  written  by 
the  above-named  persons,  or  their  adherents,  that  the  same 
may  be  delivered  up  to  the  archbishop  ;  and  the  mayor 
of  Oxford,  and  the  sheriff  of  the  county,  with  all  officers 
under  them,  are  commanded  to  render  such  assistance 
as  may  be  required  to  give  effect  to  this  instrument. 

The  proceedings  of  the  Archbishop  were  carefully  ob- 
served in  Oxford,  and  the  excitement  in  anticipation 
of  the  coming  storm  appears  to  have  been  great.  Rep- 
pingdon lectured  as  a  professor  of  divinity  in  Oxford,  and 
a  little  prior  to  his  appearance  before  the  synod  in 
London,  he  had  declared  himself  willing  to  undertake  a 
public  defence  of  the  opinions  of  Wycliffe— excepting 
indeed  his  doctrine  on  the  Eucharist,  which  the  professor 
was  disposed  to  leave  in  abeyance,  until  the  clergy  them- 
selves should  be  capable  of  dealing  with  it  after  a  more 
enlightened  manner.  Nevertheless,  in  the  face  of  this 
fact,  and  of  the  fact  that  the  professor  had  returned  to 
Oxford  from  the  recent  meeting  of  the  synod  under 
ecclesiastical  censure,  Reppingdon  is  invited  to  preach  a 
university  sermon  at  St.  Fridiswide's,  on  the  festival  of 
Corpus   Christi.       But   some   of   the   guardians  of  the 


A.D.  1382.]  Proceedings  in  Oxford.  281 

orthodoxy  of  the  times,  write  to  the  archbishop,  and 
urge,  that  to  prevent  the  preacher  from  making  a  mis- 
chievous use  of  his  liberty,  upon  an  occasion  when  so 
large  a  portion  of  the  university  would  be  present,  it 
would  be  well  if  the  conclusions  from  the  writings  of 
"Wycliffe,  which  the  synod  had  condemned  as  heretical  or 
erroneous,  were  published  in  Oxford,  in  due  form,  before 
that  day.  Courtney  immediately  deputes  Dr.  Stokes  to 
act  as  his  commissioner,  and  requires  him  to  see  that  the 
said  conclusions  be  published  in  the  university  on  the 
very  day  on  which  Reppingdon  is  expected  to  preach. 
The  primate  further  writes  to  the  chancellor  of  the  uni- 
versity. Dr.  Rigge,  requiring  him  to  give  his  sanction  to 
Dr.  Stokes  as  so  commissioned,  by  being  present  at  his 
next  lecture ;  and  also  by  being  present  in  the  divinity 
schools  when  the  beadle  should  publicly  read  the  judg- 
ment of  the  synod  concerning  the  aforesaid  conclusions. 
The  chancellor  on  receiving  this  document  shows  great 
indignation.  The  archbishop,  he  insists,  had  no  autho- 
rity to  proceed  against  heresy  within  the  limits  of  the  uni- 
versity, and  that  Dr.  Stokes  had  shown  himself  an  enemy 
to  its  just  independence  by  the  course  which  he  had  taken 
in  becoming  a  party  to  these  episcopal  interferences. 

The  first  step  of  the  chancellor  is  to  assemble  a  con- 
vocation of  the  heads  of  colleges,  and  of  Masters  of  Arts, 
and  to  submit  the  matter  to  the  judgment  of  that  body. 
In  the  course  of  the  proceedings  the  chancellor  declared, 
that  so  far  was  he  from  being  prepared  to  assist  Dr. 


282    ^  Wydiffe  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 

Stokes  in  the  manner  required,  that  he  should  resist  his 
pretended  authority  by  every  means  within  his  power  ; 
and  that  so  resolved  was  he  to  acquit  himself  faithfully 
on  this  question,  and  to  prevent  the  contemplated  pub- 
lication of  the  conclusions  which  the  prelates  had  cen- 
sured, that  he  should  call  upon  the  mayor,  the  town 
militia,  and  a  hundred  armed  men,  to  act  with  him  for 
the  protection  of  the  university,  against  this  manifest 
attempt  to  suppress  its  rights  and  liberties. 

These  were  large  words — nor  were  they  merely  words. 
On  the  appointed  day  the  chancellor  made  his  appearance 
in  St.  Fridiswide's  church,  attended  by  the  mayor,  the 
proctors,  and  a  very  imposing  array  of  persons,  both  from 
the  university  and  the  town.  It  was  a  Corpus  Christi 
day  to  be  remembered.  The  preacher,  in  place  of 
dwelling  on  the  doctrine  of  the  Eucharist,— the  topic 
generally  expected  on  the  occasion  -took  up  the  opinions 
of  Wycliffe,  in  succession,  and  would  seem  to  have  said 
many  strong  and  startling  things  in  support  of  them. 
Concerning  the  hierarchy,  and  the  clergy  generally,  he 
spoke  in  terms  little  favourable — as  may  be  inferred 
from  the  fact  of  his  maintaining,  that  the  man  who 
should  give  prelate  or  pope  precedence  of  the  civil 
magistrate,  either  in  affairs  of  state,  or  in  the  prayers 
of  the  church,  sinned  therein  against  the  authority  of 
scripture,  and  against  a  principle  necessary  to  all  good 
government. 

Of  the  manner  in  which  this  doctrine  was  received  by 


A.D.  1382.]  Reppingdons  Sermon.  283 

a  large  portion  of  the  congregation  in  St.  Fridiswide's  on 
that  day,  we  may  judge  from  what  we  see,  when  the 
chancellor,    attended   by   his   hundred    men,    privately 
armed,  presents  himself  to  the  preacher,  for  the  purpose 
of  expressing  their  sense  of  obligation  to  him  for  his 
services.    Dr.  Stokes,  in  the  meantime,  is  careful  to  avoid 
appearance  in  public,  and  writes  to  the  archbishop,  that 
in  the  present  state  of  feeling  in  Oxford,  so  far  was  he 
from   possessing  the   power   necessary   to    execute    his 
grace's  instructions,  that  to  himself  and  some  others,  life 
would  not  be  long  secure  there,  if  new  means  of  protec- 
tion were  not  speedily  brought  to  them.  The  primate  sum- 
moned Dr.  Stokes  to  London,  that  he  might  give  a  fuller 
account  of  this  strange  and  unexpected  posture  of  things. 
But   the  chancellor,  his  friend  Master  Brightwell,  and 
the  two    proctors — William   Dash   and  John   Huntman 
by  name — also  presented  themselves  to  the  archbishop, 
that  the   version  of  matters  furnished   by   Dr.    Stokes, 
might  not  pass  without  proper  explanation  or  correction. 
But  the  judge  in  thrs  case  was  much  more  disposed  to  re- 
ceive   impressions    from    Dr.    Stokes,     than    from    his 
opponents — and  in  conclusion,  he  declared  that  he  found 
the    Chancellor,    Brightwell,    and   the   Proctors,    to   be 
persons  manifestly  tainted  with  the  errors  and  heresies  of 
John  Wycliffe. 

Courtney  appears  to  have  judged  rightly  concerning  his 
present  position.  If  the  new  opinions  were  not  to  become 
speedily  ascendant  through  the  length  and  breadth  of 


284  Wycliffe  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 

the  land,  this  powerful  party  in  favour  of  them  in  Oxford 
must  be  vanquished.  But  could  this  be  regarded  as 
possible  ?  The  primate  could  appeal  to  the  king's  writ, 
having  reference  specially  to  Oxford  ;  and  he  could  appeal 
to  the  late  statute — for  such  it  was  in  form  and  pretence 
at  least — having  reference  to  the  whole  kingdom,  as  war- 
ranting such  an  exercise  of  firmness  on  his  part  as  the 
exigency  seemed  to  demand.  He  believed  that  there  are 
occasions  on  which  force,  if  directed  with  sagacity  and 
energy,  may  suppress  opinion,  and  he  did  not  err  in 
the  main  in  regarding  the  present  occasion  as  one  of  that 
description. 

On  the  next  meeting  of  the  synod,  accordingly^  the 
chancellor  of  Oxford  was  made  to  feel  that  further 
resistance  in  present  circumstances  would  be  useless — 
worse  than  useless.  The  primate  and  the  king  con- 
joined, made  up  too  formidable  an  antagonism.  The 
chancellor  made  a  confession  with  which  his  judges 
professed  to  be  satisfied.  But  on  being  required  to  publish 
the  Wycliffe  conclusions  in  Oxford,  and  to  make  diligent 
search  for  all  persons  suspected  of  holding  them,  that 
they  might  be  obliged  to  recant,  or  be  expelled  the 
university,  he  declared  that  it  would  be  at  the  hazard 
of  his  life  to  attempt  obedience  to  such  instructions. 
He  did,  however,  give  some  sort  of  publication  to  the 
obnoxious  conclusions,  and  in  the  name  of  the  arch- 
bishop ;  which  was  followed,  we  are  told,  by  such  mani- 
festations of  resentment  on  the  part  of  the  secular  stu- 


A.D.  1882."]     Wyclifies  vieto  of  Courttieys  Proceedings.     285 

dents  towards  the  religious  orders,  as  obliged  the  latter 
to  consult  their  safety  by  concealment  or  flight. 

We  learn  also,  that  even  now,  the  chancellor,  and 
many  who  shared  in  his  sympathies,  gave  sign  enough 
that  their  outward  submission  had  left  them  with  unal- 
tered impressions.  It  was  this  feeling,  which  seemed  to 
spurn  authority  when  once  removed  from  its  presence, 
that  gave  so  much  employment  to  the  synod — for  beside 
assembling  in  May,  to  pass  sentence  on  the  WyclifFe 
doctrines,  it  was  convened  four  times  in  the  month  of 
June,  and  twice  in  July,  and  after  all  it  was  obliged  to 
delegate  its  work,  as  still  in  great  part  unfinished,  to  the 
convocation  which  should  assemble  in  Oxford,  the  seat  of 
the  poison,  in  the  following  November. 

During  these  proceedings  Wycliffe  was  diligently  em- 
ployed in  Lutterworth.  But  he  was  not  inobservant  of 
what  was  thus  passing.  In  more  than  one  of  his  sermons, 
he  refers  to  the  proceedings  of  the  Grey-friars  synod,  as 
to  passing  events,  and  expresses  his  sympathy  with  the 
men  who  were  suffering  as  its  victims.  In  one  of  these 
discourses  he  denounces  the  persecuting  policy  of  the 
'great  bishop  of  England,' — primate  Courtney,  and  of 
the  'pharisees,'  meaning  the  monks  and  mendicants, 
who  were  his  chief  coadjutors ;  especially  as  it  had 
been  evinced  in  their  manner  of  procuring  the  king's 
writ  against  Oxford,  and  the  pretended  statute  against 
heresy.  The  preacher  discourses  on  the  entombment  of 
Christ,  and  from  the  uselessness  of  the  seal  which  the 


286  Wy cliff e  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 

soldiers  had  placed  on  the  door  of  the  sepulchre,  occasion 
is  taken  to  speak  of  the  futility  of  human  devices  when 
resorted  to  for  the  purpose  of  burying  Christ's  truth  from 
the  sight  of  men.  *  Thus/  he  observes,  'do  our  high-priests, 
'  and  our  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  will  mark  with 
'  a  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  shew  thy  truth  unto  thy  flock  !  Well 
'  I  know  that  knights  have  taken  gold  in  this  matter,  to 
'  help  that  thy  law  may  be  thus  hid,  and  thine  ordi- 
'  nances  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.'  ^ 

The  question  naturally  arises — how  was  it  that  the 
prosecutions  of  this  juncture,  which  fell  with  so  much 
force  upon  the  friends  of  Wyclifl'e,  were  not  extended  to 
himself  ?  This  may  be  explained  in  part  by  the  fact 
that  these  proceedings  had  respect  chiefly  to  the  state 
of  things  in  Oxford,  and  some  twelve  months  before 
they  were  instituted  Wycliffe  had  retired  from  the 
university,  and  become  resident  at  Lutterworth.    Silenced 

^  MS.  Horn.  Bib.  Reg.  British  Museum. 


A.D.  1382.]     Wycliffes  view  of  Courtney's  Proceedings.     287 

as  a  professor,  he  ceased  to  be  any  more  a  resident  in 
Oxford,  and  gave  himself  to  his  duties  as  a  parish  priest, 
and  to  increased  labour  as  an  author.  But  there  was 
another  circumstance  which  probably  contributed  much 
more  to  prevent  the  synod — at  least  for  the  present — 
from  including  the  Reformer  among  its  selected  victims. 
Courtney  had  experienced  something  of  the  inconvenience 
of  having  John  of  Graunt  as  an  antagonist.  The  scene 
in  St.  Paul's  was  of  a  sort  not  soon  to  be  forgotten.  It 
is  clear  that  up  to  this  time,  the  Reformer  had  reason 
to  think  that  he  might  confide,  in  any  case  of  exigency, 
in  the  good  offices  of  the  Duke  of  Lancaster.  Courtney, 
accordingly,  appears  to  have  been  willing  to  accept  the 
Reformer's  comparatively  peaceful  retirement  to  his  rectory 
as  a  sufficient  reason  for  not  doing  more  just  now  than 
place  his  name  in  the  list  of  persons  'notoriously  suspected 
of  heresy.' 

But  Wycliffe  spoke  truly,  when  he  proclaimed  to  his 
flock,  from  that  old  pulpit  at  Lutterworth — '  the  perilous 
times  are  come  ! '  Nearly  sixty  winters  had  now  passed 
over  the  brow  of  the  Reformer.  Sickness  appears  to 
have  done  something  towards  impairing  his  strength  ; 
mental  labour  had  done  more,  but  care,  sorrow, — the 
kind  of  sorrow  which  consists  in  sympathy  with  the  in- 
jured and  the  down-trodden,  through  which  the  gene- 
rous do  ever  work  out  their  deliverances  for  humanity 
— that  had  done  most  of  all,  towards  restricting  his 
course  to  a  narrower  space  than  it  might  otherwise   have 


288  Wycliffe  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 

filled.  But  while  the  seeds  of  a  comparatively  early 
death  were  in  this  manner  but  too  surely  sown,  we  have 
evidence  enough  that  the  spirit  of  the  Reformer  was  in 
no  respect  broken  by  the  antagonisms  of  this  crisis.  He 
had  said  nothing  which  he  was  not  prepared  to  say 
again.  Nor  was  he  at  all  disposed  to  purchase  a  selfish 
quiet  by  a  timid  silence.  His  conduct  at  this  time  is 
sufiiciently  intelligible,  and  through  it,  we  think  we  hear 
him  say — '  You  great  ones  of  the  priesthood,  in  synod 
assembled,  so  busy  in  putting  well-meaning  souls  to 
the  torture  by  your  summonings  and  questionings, 
think  not  that  I  have  failed  to  be  mindful  of  the 
things  ye  do.  Neither  think  ye  because  you  have  pass- 
ed me  by  for  a  while,  in  this  quiet  and  obscure  town  of 
Lutterworth,  leaving  me  without  taste  of  your  moles- 
tation, that  for  that  cause  naught  will  be  said  or  done 
by  me  in  behalf  of  God's  proscribed  truth,  and  of  the 
injured  men  who  love  it.  It  will  not  be  so.  I  see  you 
doing  as  your  order  hath  ever  been  only  too  much 
disposed  to  do — using  your  ill-gotten  and  false  power  to 
put  down  the  worthy.  More  than  a  year  since,  I  told 
your  coadjutor,  William  de  Berton,  then  chancellor  of 
Oxford,  that  he  might  have  power  to  silence  me  in  my 
own  hall,  but  that  he  had  not  power  to  prevent  my 
appealing  to  a  much  higher  authority  than  his, — the 
authority  of  the  king  and  parliament.  What  was  done, 
and  what  was  said  on  that  memorable  day,  is  still 
present  with  me.     Well  I  know,  that  it  will  oifend  you 


A.D.  1382.]     Wycliffe's  Complaint  to  the  King,  <&c.  289 

*  deeply  should  I  do  as  I  then  said  I  would  do.  Your 
'  powers  for  evil  will  then,  no  doubt,  be  directed  against 

*  me,  more  than  against  the  pious  and  honourable  men 

*  whom  you  have  of  late  been  summoning,  cursing,  and 
'  menacing  so  notoriously.  But  it  shall  be  done  ; — done 
'  because  I  have  said  it ;  done  because  it  is  a  right  thing 
'  to  do.' 

The  parliament  to  which  the  document  produced  in 
these  circumstances  was  addressed,  was  summoned  for 
the  fifteenth  of  October,  and  met  on  the  nineteenth  of 
November  in  1382  :  and  the  paper  supposes  the  two 
houses  to  be  sitting.  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 
several  articles  especially  embraced  in  this  appeal, 
would  become  matters  of  discussion.  Concerning  these 
articles  the  author  afiirms,  that  they  are  such  as  may 
be  *  proved  by  authority  and  reason  ; '  and  his  object  in 
inviting  the  attention  of  the  king  and  the  parliament 
to  them  is  said  to  be,  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/ 

The  articles  to  which  allusion  is  thus  made  are  four  in 
number.     The  first  relates  to  the  vows  taken  upon  them 


290  Wy cliff e  as  a-  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 

by  the  religious  orders,  and  declares  them  to  be  an  in- 
vention of  men,  not  only  without  authority  from  scripture, 
but  in  shameless  contravention  of  that  authority.  The 
second  article  asserts  that  '  secular  lords  may  lawfully, 
'  and  meritoriously,  in  many  cases,  take  away  temporal 
'  goods  from  churchmen.'  In  the  third  section  it  is 
maintained,  that  even  tithes,  and  offerings  of  every  sort, 
should  be  withhold  en  '  from  prelates,  or  other  priests, 
whoever  they  be'  upon  their  being  known  to  have 
fallen  into  '  great  sins,'  such  as  '  pride,  simony,  man- 
slaying,  gluttony,  drunkenness,  or  lechery.'  In  the  last 
article,  the  Reformer  sets  forth  his  doctrine  on  the  Eucha- 
rist, and  prays  that  '  what  is  plainly  taught  by  Christ 
'  and  his  apostles  in  the  Gospels  and  Epistles,'  on  that 
subject  '  might  be  also  openly  taught  in  the  churches.' 

We  have  seen,  that  in  the  synod  which  had  been  so 
much  engaged  during  the  last  twelvemonths  in  institut- 
ing proceedings  against  parties  suspected  of  heresy,  the 
majority,  exclusive  of  the  eight  prelates,  were  either 
friars  or  monks.  This  fact  is  sufficient  to  explain  the 
return  of  the  Reformer  to  his  old  controversy  with  that 
section  of  opponents.  His  aim  is  to  show,  that  the 
men  who  had  been  allowed  to  act  as  lords  and  judges 
in  the  church,  are  men  who  in  the  particular  profession 
made  by  them,  have  exposed  themselves,  if  right  were 
done,  to  heavy  censure.  Both  mendicants  and  monks 
he  denounces,  as  wedded  to  an  institute  which  he  des- 
cribes   as    of    merely    '  private,' — that   is,    of   a   purely 


A.D.  1.382.]     Wycliffes  Complaint  to  the  King,  dhc.  291 


human  origin,  and  as  putting  disparagement  on  Christ, 
by  saying,  in  effect,  that  the  '  rule^  given  by  him  to  his 
church,  is  one  of  less  wisdom  and  sanctity,  than  that 
which  has  been  devised  for  her  benefit  by  St.  Francis 
or  St.  Benedict.  But  too  frequently,  it  is  alleged,  the 
insincerity  of  this  pretence  becomes  manifest, — for  what 
friar  or  monk  hesitates  to  cast  off  his  garb,  and  to 
relinquish  the  holiest  of  institutes,  when  he  happens 
to  come  within  the  attraction  of  a  mitre  ? 

In  this  section  of  his  '  complaint,'  the  Reformer  ex- 
presses himself  in  the  following  terms  with  respect  to 
the  authority  of  scripture,  and  the  right  of  every  man 
to  judge  for  himself  concerning  the  meaning  of  scripture. 
Inasmuch  as  one  patron,  or  one  founder  is  more  perfect, 
more  mighty,  more  witty,  (skilful,)  and  more  holy, 
and  in  more  charity,  than  is  another  patron  or  founder ; 
in  so  much  is  the  first  patron's  rule  better  and  more 
perfect,  than  is  the  second  patron's  rule.  But  Jesus 
Christ,  the  patron  of  the  Christian  Religion  as  given 
to  the  apostles,  surpasseth,  without  measure,  in  might, 
wit,  and  good  will,  or  charity,  the  perfection  of  every 
patron  of  any  private  sect,  and  therefore  his  rule  is 
more  perfect.  Also  that  Christ's  clean  religion,  with- 
out patching  of  sinful  men's  errors,  is  most  perfect  of  all, 
is  shown  thus.  For  otherwise  Christ  might  have  given 
a  rule,  the  most  perfect  for  this  life,  and  would  not 
— and  then  he  was  envious,  as  Austin  proveth  in  other 
matters  ;  or  else   Christ  would  have  ordained   such  a 


U  2 


292  Wycliffe  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 

rule,  and  might  not,  and  then  he  was  unmighty.  But 
to  affirm  that  of  Christ  is  heresy.  Or  else  Christ 
might  and  could — and  would  not — and  then  he  was 
unwitty.  And  that  also  is  heresy  that  no  man  should 
suffer  to  hear.  It  follows,  therefore,  that  Christ  both 
might,  and  could,  and  would  ordain  such  a  rule,  the 
most  perfect  to  be  kept  for  this  life :  and  so  Christ  of 
his  endless  wisdom  and  charity  hath  ordained  such  a 
rule.  And  so  on  each  side,  men  be  needed,  upon  pain 
of  heresy  and  blasphemy,  and  of  damning  in  hell, 
to  believe  and  acknowledge  that  the  religion  of  Jesus 
Christ  given  to  the  apostles,  and  kept  of  them  in  its  own 
freedom,  without  patching  of  sinful  men's  errors,  is  the 
most  perfect  of  all.  *  *  *  This  rule  was  kept  by 
Jesus  Christ  and  his  apostles,  and  their  best  followers, 
for  four  hundred  years  after  his  ascension,  in  which 
time  holy  church  increased  and  profited  most,  for 
then  almost  all  men  disposed  themselves  to  martyrdom, 
after  the  example  of  Christ ;  and  therefore  it  were  not 
only  meritorious,  or  wholesome — but  most  wholesome 
for  the  church,  that  men  live  so  in  all  things.' 
Of  course,  it  would  be  said,  in  answer  to  this  argu- 
ment, that  the  church,  by  her  formal  and  often  repeated 
decisions,  had  assigned  to  the  religious  orders  the  place 
filled  by  them  in  her  system,  and  that  it  was  not  to  be 
borne  that  individuals  should  presume  to  plead  their 
personal  judgment,  in  opposition  to  what  had  been  so 
determined.     The  reply  of  Wycliffe  and  of  his  disciples 


A.D.  1382.]     Wydiffe's  Complaint  to  the  King,  <&c.  293 

to  this  objection  was,  in  substance. — '  We  are  not  care- 
*  ful  to  explain  how  it  has  come  to  pass,  but  manifest  it 
'  is,  that  the  church  has  erred  in  this  matter  ;  and  we 
'  claim,  accordingly,  to  be  exempt  from  its  authority  in 
'  this  respect,  and  to  be  left  to  the  guidance  of  reason 
^  and  scripture.  Surely,  while  it  is  permitted  to  others 
'  to  choose  mere  men  as  their  patrons,  it  might  be  per- 
'  mitted  to  us  to  choose  Him  as  our  patron  who  is  very 
'  God  and  very  man.'  But  church  authority,  so  dealt 
with  in  this  case,  was,  in  fact,  an  authority  not  likely 
to  be  admitted  in  any  case.  The  opponents  of  the  Re- 
former were  fully  alive  to  this  issue,  and  shaped  their 
measures  accordingly. 

The  second  of  the  articles  contained  in  this  paper,  is 
opposed  to  the  clerical  dogma  which  denied  all  right  of 
jurisdiction  in  the  magistrate,  in  relation  either  to  the 
persons  or  the  property  of  ecclesiastics.  Wycliffe,  as  we 
have  seen,  had  protested  and  reasoned,  long  since  and 
often,  against  this  arrogant  pretension.  Certain  friars, 
on  some  recent  and  public  occasion,  had  broached  this 
doctrine  in  its  most  unmitigated  form ;  and  in  now 
returning  to  it,  the  Reformer  carries  the  principle 
assumed  to  its  legitimate  results,  and  in  so  doing 
demonstrates,  that,  in  such  case,  the  only  power  really 
existing  would  be,  the  power  of  the  clergy ;  the  existence 
of  civil  government  being  of  necessity  an  existence  purely 
by  sufierance  from  that  higher  power.  Granting  what  is 
thus  demanded,  should  '  an  Abbot  and  all  his  convent 


294  Wycliffe  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 

'  be  open  traitors,  conspiring  unto  the  death  of  the  king 
'  and  queen,  and  of  other  lords,  and  enforce  them  (equip 
'  themselves)  to  destroy  all  the  realm,  there  may  not  be 
'  taken  from  them  a  half-penny  or  farthing  worth,  since 

*  all  these  be  temporal  goods.  Also,  though  other  clerks 
^  send  to  our  enemies  all  the  rents  they  have  in  our 
'  land,  and  whatever  they  may  steal  from  the  king's 
'  liege  men,  yet  our  king  may  not  punish  them  to  a 
'  farthing  or  a  farthing's  worth.  Also  by  the  ground 
'  (argument)  of  friars,  though  monks  or  friars,  or  other 
'  clerks,  whatever  they  may  be,  should  slay  lord's  ten- 

*  ants,  the  king's  liege  men,  and  defile  lord's  wives,  yea 
'  the  queen  (that  God  forbid)  or  the  empress — yet  the 
'  king  may  not  punish  them  to  the  loss  of  one  farthing. 
'  Also  it  followeth  plainly,  that  men  called  men  of  holy 
'  church,  may  dwell  in  this  land  at  their  liking,  and  do 
'  what  kind  of  sin  or  treason  they  like,  and,  nevertheless, 
'  the  king  may  not  punish  them,  not  in  temporal  goods, 
'  nor  in  their  body — since  if  he  may  not  punish  them  in 
'  the  less,  he  may  not  in  the  more.  Also,  should  they 
'  make  one  of  themselves  king,  no  secular  lord  may 
'  hinder  him  to  conquer  all  the  secular  lordships  in  this 
'  earth  :  and  so  they  may  slay  all  lords  and  ladies,  and 
^  their  blood  and  affinity,  with  any  pain  in  this  life,  or 
'  in  body,  or  in  substance.  Ye  lords,  see,  and  understand, 
'  with  what  punishing  they  deserve  to  be  chastised,  who 
'  thus  unwarily  and  wrongfully  have  damned  you  for 
'  heretics,  forasmuch  as  ye  do  execution  and  righteous- 


A.D.  1382.]     WycUffes  Complaint  to  the  King,  <&;c.  295 


*  ness,  acccording  to  God's  law  and  man's,  and  especially 
'  of  the  king's  regalia.  For  the  chief  lordship  of  all  tem- 
'  poralities  in  the  land,  both  of  secular  men  and  religious, 
'  pertains  to  the  king  of  his  general  governing  :  for  else 
'  he  were  not  king  of  England,  but  of  a  little  part  thereof/ 

So  does  the  Reformer  assert  the  supremacy  of  the  civil 
power  over  all  territory  and  temporality,  and  over  all 
persons  in  civil  causes,  within  this  realm  of  England  : 
— adding,  with  much  potency,  that  magistracy  is,  what- 
ever some  men  may  teach  to  the  contrary,  '  God's  ordi- 
nance,' and  that  Paul,  '  putting  all  men  in  subjection  to 
kings,  out-taketh  never  a  one.' 

The  aim  of  our  Reformer  was  threefold, — to  show  that 
the  clergy  may  not  be  independent  of  the  civil  power  in 
the  manner  assumed  by  them ;  to  maintain  that  the  laity 
are  not  given  over  into  the  hands  of  the  clergy,  in  the 
manner  supposed  in  the  received  theory  of  the  church  ; 
and  to  protest  against  the  undue  authority  of  the  higher 
clergy  in  relation  to  the  lower,  as  consistent  enough  with 
the  structure  of  the  existing  hierarchy,  but  contrary 
both  to  the  maxims  and  spirit  of  the  gospel.  He  would 
restrict  all  coercive  power  to  the  authority  of  the  magis- 
trate, and  would  have  all  men  subject  alike  to  that  autho- 
rity— the  strong  and  the  weak,  priest  and  layman. 

The  third  article,  which  maintains,  as  we  have  said, 
that  a  vicious  clergy  forfeits  by  its  vices,  all  claim  to 
clerical  temporalities,  is  made  to  rest,  partly  on  the 
authority   of  Scripture,    and  partly  on  the  papal   laws 


296 


Wycliffe  as  a  Confessor. 


[chap.   IX. 


themselves.  On  this  ground  the  sons  of  Eli  were 
degraded  from  the  service  of  the  temple.  On  this  ground, 
also,  the  priesthood  of  Jerusalem  was  to  be  sustained, 
while  the  priests  of  Jeroboam  were  to  be  disowned. 
Among  later  authorities,  speaking  to  this  effect,  mention 
is  made  of  Jerome,  Augustine,  Gregory  the  great,  St. 
Bernard,  and  Grossteste.  Paul  is  described  as  requiring 
Timothy,  though  a  bishop,  to  be  content  with  food  and 
rayment  ;  and  St.  Bernard  is  cited  as  saying  *what- 
'  soever  thou  takest  to  thee  of  tithes  and  offerings,  beside 
'  simple  livelihood,  and  straight-clothing,  is  not  thine,  it 
'  is  theft,  ravine,  and  sacrilege.^  Wherefore,  says  the 
Reformer,  'it   followeth  plainly,   that   not   only  simple 

*  priests  and  curates,  but  also  sovereign  curates,  as  bishops, 
'  should  not  by  constraining  ask  their  subjects  for  more 

*  than  livelihood  and  clothing.  Also,  Christ  and  his 
'  apostles  lived  a  most  poor  life,  as  is  known  by  all  the 
'  process  of  the  Gospel,  challenging  nothing  by  exactions 

*  nor  constraining,  but  lived  simply  and  scarcely  enough, 
'  on  alms  freely  and  voluntarily  given.     Wherefore  they 

*  that  pretend  to  be  principal  followers  of  Christ's  steps, 

*  should  walk  as  Christ  did,  and  so  lead  a  poor  life, 
'  taking  of  things  freely  given,  as  much  as  need  is,  for  this 
'  ghostly  office,  and  no  more. 

^ycliffe  does  not  scruple  to  say,  that  *  curates  be  more 

*  accursed  in  withdrawing  teaching  of  the  gospel  and 
'  God's  commandments,  by  word  and  example,  than  be 
'  parishioners  in  withdrawing  tythes  and  offerings,  even 


A.D.  1382.]     Wycliffes  Complaint  to  the  King,  Sc.  297 

'  though  curates  do  well  their  office/    This  was  a  bold 
statement,  but  not  more  bold  than  true  ;  and  well  adapted 
to  act  as  a  check  on  the  churchmen  who  were  constantly 
dooming  souls  to  perdition  for  the  most  trivial  causes,  and 
from  the  meanest  and  most  sordid  motives.     This  section 
concludes  thus,  '  Ah  !   Lord  God,  is  it  reason  to  con- 
strain the  poor  people  to  find  a  worldly  priest,  some- 
times unable  both  in  life  and  knowledge,  in  pomps  and 
pride,  covetousness  and  envy,  gluttony,    drunkenness, 
and  lechery,  in  simony  and  heresy,  with  fat  horse  and 
jolly  and  gay  saddles,  and  bridles  ringing  by  the  way, 
and  himself  in  costly  clothes  and  furs,  and  to  suffer 
their  wives  and  children,  and  their  poor  neighbours  to 
perish  for  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  t'heir 
own  free  will,  to  men  able  to  conduct  the  worship  of  God 
to  the  profit  and  fairness  of  holy  church  fighting  on  earth 
— wherein  can  it  be  lawful  and  needful  that  a  worldly 
priest  should  destroy  this  holy  and  approved  custom, 
constraining  men  to  leave  this  freedom,  turning  tythes 
and  offerings  unto  wicked  uses,  or  to  uses  not  so  good  as 
before  time  ? '  We  can  imagine  Wycliffe,  with  his  barely- 
covered    feet,   his   pilgrim-staff,    and    time-worn    garb, 
pacing  the  roadways    about   Oxford,   or  in   the   quiet 
neighbourhood  of  Lutterworth,  and  as  being  passed  there 
by  the  gaily  mounted  and  gaily  attired  ecclesiastic  so 
graphically  sketched  in  the  preceding  extract,  and  we  can 


298  Wycliffe  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 

suppose  the  humane  heart  of  the  apostolic  man  to  be 
moved  by  the  question — how  many  of  the  poor  have 
been  wickedly  impoverished  to  furnish  that  sensuous  and 
vain  creature  with  his  many  trappings  and  indulgences  ? 
Paul  and  Peter — we  think  we  hear  him  mutter  as  he 
passes — would  count  it  strange  that  such  a  thing  as  that 
should  call  himself  a  follower  of  them — of  them  in  gear 
like  that,  and  in  such  sumptuous  living  in  much  beside,  as 
that  gay  and  lusty  presence  gives  token  of  to  all  beholders. 
The  pomp  of  magistracy  WycliiFe  could  understand,  but 
such  appearances  in  the  ministers  of  religion,  never  came 
within  his  notions  of  the  seemly. 

The  fourth  article  in  this  paper,  touches,  as  we  have 
intimated,  on  the  doctrine  of  the  Reformer  concerning 
the  Eucharist ;  but  it  adds  nothing  to  the  information  on 
that  subject  which  we  have  presented  elsewhere. 

In  these  days  of  printing,  postage,  and  swift  communi- 
cation, we  are  at  a  loss  to  conceive  how  a  paper  of  this 
description  could  be  made  to  find  its  way  to  the  members 
of  the  English  parliament,  so  as  to  serve  its  intended  pur- 
pose. We  know,  however,  that  in  those  times,  as  truly,  if 
not  as  largely,  as  in  our  own,  authors  did  find  readers. 
The  ambition  of  authorship  was  as  fervent  then  as  now. 
The  means  of  multiplying  copies,  and  of  circulating  them 
when  multiplied,  existed.  Transcription  was  then  in  the 
place  of  printing  ;  and  transcribers  were  an  active,  intelli- 
gent class,  not  less  numerous,  in  proportion  to  the  popula- 
tion, than  printers  are  among  ourselves.     Speedy  trans- 


A.D.  1882.]      Effect  of  WycUffes  'Complaint'  299 

cription,  and  speedy  transmission,  were  no  doubt  very- 
difficult  in  those  times  ;  but  men  learn  to  surmount  diffi- 
culties in  proportion  as  it  becomes  a  necessity  of  their 
condition  that  they  should  surmount  them.  We  know 
that  by  this  means,  and  others,  the  attention  of  the  com- 
mons was  called,  and  with  some  effect,  to  the  recent 
proceedings  of  the  clergy. 

The  statute  we  have  mentioned  as  obtained  surrepti- 
tiously, for  the  punishment  of  alleged  heresy,  though  it 
had  not  received  the  consent  of  the  commons,  had  been 
formally  enrolled.  The  commons  became  aware  of  this 
fact,  and  petitioned  the  king  in  the  following  terms  upon 
it.  '  Forasmuch  as  that  statute  was  made  without  our 
^  consents,  and  never  authorised  by  us  ;  and  as  it  never 
'  was  our  meaning  to  bind  ourselves,  or  our  successors,  to 
'  the  prelates,  any  more  than  our  ancestors  have  done 
'  before  us,  we  pray  that  the  aforesaid  statute  may  be  re- 
'  pealed.'  We  are  told  that  this  was  done  accordingly. 
But  through  the  management  of  the  prelates  this  act  of 
repeal  was  suppressed  ;  the  enactment  remained  on  the 
statute-  book  as  if  valid  ;  and  prosecutions  founded  upon 
it  were  carried  on  through  subsequent  years.  The  times 
had  become  much  more  irregular  and  unsettled  than  for 
some  while  past,  they  were  about  to  become  more  so  still, 
and  in  intrigues  of  this  nature,  the  powerful  often  suc- 
ceeded, in  the  face  of  all  right  and  all  law.^ 

1  See  pp.  275—277.     Pari.  Hist.   I.   176,   177.     Foxe,  I.  575,  57G. 
Gibson's  Code.     Cotton's  Abridgment,  285. 


800  Wycliffe  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 

Coupled  with  this  rising  influence  of  the  clergy,  was  a 
change  in  the  disposition  of  the  duke  of  Lancaster.  It  is 
stated  that  Dr.  Hereford,  Dr.  Reppingdon,  and  others  who 
had  been  prosecuted  by  Courtney,  appealed  for  protection 
to  the  duke  ;  and  that  the  substance  of  his  answer,  after 
listening  to  the  statement  and  defence  of  their  doctrine 
was,  that  he  found  the  new  opinions  much  more  fraught 
with  danger  than  he  had  supposed,  and  that,  in  his  judg- 
ment, it  became  the  accused  parties  to  submit  to  the 
authorities  of  the  church  on  such  questions.^ 

The  fact  is,  the  duke  had  become  intent  on  conducting 
an  expedition  into  Portugal,  and  he  was  at  this  time  im- 
portuning the  parliament  to  vote  the  sum  of  £60,000  for 
that  purpose.  The  expedition,  he  insisted,  was  as  much 
for  the  honour  and  safety  of  England,  as  for  his  own  ad- 
vantage, and  he  pledged  himself  to  repay  the  sum  in 
three  years,  *  either  in  money,  or  by  some  acceptable  ser- 
vice.' This  project  so  absorbed  his  attention,  as  to  indis- 
pose him  to  entangle  himself  with  disputes  of  this  nature 
at  such  a  juncture.  The  majority  in  the  upper  house, 
moreover,  were  unfavourable  to  his  proposal,  and  anything 
in  his  conduct  that  should  tend  to  exasperate  the  prelates 
would  assuredly  be  fatal  to  it.  It  was  not  as  a  religious 
man,  but  as  a  liberal  politician,  that  he  had  taken  part  in 
such  discussions,  and  with  a  change  in  the  relations  of 
political  parties,  came  a  change  in  his  course  of  proceeding. 

'  Wood.  Antiq.  Oxon.  193. 


A.D.  1382.]     Change  in  the  Policy  of  Lancaster.  301 

With  some  management,  both  the  lords  and  commons 
were  brought  to  concur  in  the  duke'fe  proposal.^ 

The  influence  of  the  duke  having  thus  failed  them,  the 
reformers  had  to  lay  their  account  with  the  loss  of  influ- 
ence of  that  kind  elsewhere.  Devoid  of  patronage  from 
men  of  rank,  Wyclifie  must  have  appeared,  to  not  a  few 
of  his  opponents,  as  standing  almost  alone — and  as  all  but 
defenceless.  In  their  eyes,  he  was,  no  doubt,  as  a  foe  de- 
livered by  circumstances  into  their  hands.  His  recent 
provocation  in  addressing  his  '  Complaint'  to  the  king  and 
parliament,  was  fresh  in  their  memory  ;  and  had  put  an 
end  to  all  thought  as  to  his  being  disposed  to  remain  quiet, 
if  only  allowed  to  be  quiet.  As  he  had  been  hitherto,  so 
he  was  still,  a  man  of  convictions — a  man  who  must  have 
his  beliefs,  and  believing,  must  therefore  speak.  He  had 
never  been  so  ardent —  as  we  shall  show  in  its  proper 
place — as  about  this  time,  in  giving  a  popular  form  to  his 


*  Pari.  Hist.  I.  175,  176.  So  pleased  were  the  clergy  with  this 
altered  policy  of  the  duke,  that  the  soldiers  in  his  expedition  were 
blessed  with  the  full  measure  of  indulgence  and  absolution  that  had 
been  showered  on  the  followers  of  bishop  Spencer  in  the  Flemish 
Crusade  against  the  anti-pope.  The  terms  of  the  absolution  provided 
on  the  former  occasion  were  as  follows  : — *  By  apostolic  authority  com- 
'  mitted  to  me  for  this  purpose,   I  absolve  thee,  A.  B.,  from  all  thy 

*  sins  confessed,  and  for  which   thou  art  contrite ;  and  from  all  those 

*  which  thou  wouldest  confess,  provided  they  occurred  to  thy  memory. 

*  And  together  with  the  f nil  remission  of  thy  sins  I  grant  thee  the  assu- 
'  ranee  of  the  reward  of  just  persons  in  the  life  to  come.  I  give  thee,  more- 
'  over,  all  the  privileges  of  those  who  undertake  an  expedition  to  the 
'  Holy  Land,  and  the  benefit  of  the  prayers  of  the  universal  church, 
'  either  met  in  synods,  or  elsewhere.'  Walsingham.  295.  Collier,  I.  581. 


302  Wycliffe  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 

opinions,  and  in   diiFusing  them  by  means  of  tracts  and 
treatises  in  the  language  of  the  people. 

"We  have  seen  that  the  proceedings  about  to  be  insti- 
tuted against  the  Reformer  by  the  convocation  assembled 
in  St.  Paul's  in  1877,  were  frustrated  by  the  bold  inter- 
vention of  the  Duke  of  Lancaster  and  Lord  Percy.     It 
will  be  remembered  also,  that  the  measures  taken  by  the 
papal  commissioners  at  Lambeth,  about  twelve  months 
later,  were  in  the  main,  abortive, — partly  from  the  fact 
that  the  censures  then  pronounced  on  the  doctrine  of  the 
Reformer,  were  to  be  of  no  effect  until  confirmed  by  the 
pontiff';   and  partly  from  the  fact  that  at  that  juncture, 
the  assistance  of  the  civil  power,  necessary  to  the  enforce- 
ment of  those  censures,  could  not  be  obtained.    The  chief 
effect  of  the  meeting  at  Lambeth  was,  that  in  1 381  it  fur- 
nished William  de  Berton,  then  chancellor  of  Oxford,  with 
a  pretext  for  imposing  silence  on  Wycliffe  as  a  public 
teacher  in  the  university.     The  synod  of  1 382  confined 
its  attention,  in  the  first  instance,  as  before  stated,  to  the 
opinions  that  should  be  condemned  by  its  authority  as 
erroneous  or  heretical  :   and  that  done,  its  next  step  was 
to  cleanse  the  university  of  Oxford  from  the  defilement  of 
such  doctrines.     It  was  well  known  that  the  measures 
taken  for  this  last  purpose  had  been  acted  upon  with 
only  a  partial  measure  of  success  ;  and  that  this  episcopal 
meddling  with  the  affairs  of  the  university  was  anything 
but  acceptable  to  the  civilians,  and  many  beside,  resident 
there.        Such,  however,  was  the  apparent  measure  of 


A.D.  1382.]  State  of  Parties.  303 

success  with  which  this  course  had  been  pursued,  that 
the  time,  it  seems,  was  thought  to  have  arrived,  in  which 
something  might  be  done  with  the  arch-heretic  John 
de  Wycliffe  himself. 

The  accounts  which  have  reached  us  in  relation  to 
what  was  done  with  this  view,  are  in  many  respects  ob- 
scure and  contradictory.  It  is  pretty  manifest,  however, 
that  the  archbishop  and  his  coadjutors  felt,  even  now, 
that  it  became  them  to  proceed  with  some  caution  and 
moderation.  If  the  duke  of  Lancaster  had  withdrawn 
from  these  controversies,  the  house  of  commons  had  not  so 
done.  The  temper  in  which  the  commons  had  protested, 
even  in  the  last  parliament,  against  the  attempt  made  to 
smuggle  a  persecuting  law  into  the  statute-book  without 
their  consents  ;  and  the  necessity  felt  by  those  who  had 
been  the  authors  of  that  fraud,  to  bow  before  that  pro- 
test, and  to  cancel  the  false  enrolment,  was  a  fact  of 
significance  enough  to  suggest  that  extreme  measures 
might  be  found  to  call  forth  a  resistance  that  would  be 
somewhat  inconvenient.  There  is  no  reason  to  suppose 
that  the  duke  of  Lancaster,  or  other  influential  men,  had 
ceased  to  respect  the  doctrine  of  the  reformers  in  so  far 
as  it  tended  to  check  the  encroachments  of  an  ambitious 
priesthood  on  the  just  independence  of  the  laity  and  of 
the  civil  power.^     Whatever  tended  to  curb  the  arrogance 


'■  The  determination  of  the  English  parliament  to  oppose  its  strong 
hand  to  the  avarice  and  meddling  of  the  papal  court,  had  never  been 


304 


Wyclifie  as  a  Confessor, 


[chap.    IX. 


and  avarice  of  the  higher  clergy,  continued,  beyond  doubt, 
to  be  regarded  by  such  men,  as  tending  to  the  public  good. 
So  also  in  the  commons — the  opinions  of  the  men  sent  to 
parliament  from  year  to  year  by  the  commonalty,  were 
still,  for  the  most  part,  strongly  in  favour  of  the  new  doc- 
trines, within  the  limits  stated.  But  the  strictly  theolo- 
gical dogmas  of  the  church,  involved  many  questions  in 
relation  to  which  these  secular  lords  and  sturdy  commoners 
did  not  much  concern  themselves.     On  all  these  grounds 


greater  than  was  manifested  during  the  subsequent  years  of  this 
reign.  It  was  during  this  interval  that  the  memorable  statute  of 
prcemunire  was  published  in  its  ultimate  and  severest  form  ;  and  in 
consonance  with  the  spirit  of  that  statute,  Richard  exacted  an  oath 
from  the  principal  agent  of  the  papal  court  in  this  country  to  the 
following  effect  :—*  I  will  not  do,  permit,  or  cause  to  be  done,  any- 

*  thing  detrimental  to  the  royal  prerogative,  or  the  laws  of  this  king- 
'  dom  ;  I  will  not  execute  any  papal  bull  or  mandate,  or  suffer  such  to 

*  be  executed,  as  may  be  prejudicial  to  the  king,  the  rights  of  the 
'  crown,  or  the  constitution  of  the  realm ;  I  will  not  receive  or  publish 

*  any  of  the  pope's  letters,  except  such  as  I  shall  deliver,   as  soon  as 

*  possible,  to  the  king's  council;  I  will  not  remit  or  export  any  money 

*  or  plate  out  of  the  kingdom,   without  special  licence  of  the  king  or 

*  his  council,  nor  introduce  any  new  usages,  without  permission  from 
'  the  king ;  and,  lastly,  I  will  keep  inviolably  all  the  king's  laws — 
'  this  I  swear,  &c.'  Rot.  12.  Ric.  II.  In  1390,  an  attempt  was  made  by 
the  pontiff  to  raise  a  subsidy  of  one  tenth  for  his  benefit  from  the  re- 
venues of  the  English  clergy,  and  Courtney  had  given  his  sanction 
to  this  proceeding ;  but  the  king,  in  a  letter  to  the  archbishop,  com- 
manded him  to  abstain  from  all  participation  in  this  proposal,  and  not 
to  pay  to  the  pope's  agents,  but  to  return  to  the  contributors,  whatever 
may  have  been  raised  in  pursuance  of  it.  Ibid.  13  Ric.  II.  In  this 
year  also,  the  famous  statute  of  Provisors,  prohibiting  the  papal 
nominations  to  vacant  benefices,  was  re-enacted  with  still  heavier 
penalties.     Its  language  is  : — '  If  any  man  shall   bring  within  this 


A.  D.  1882.]     Fu7'iher  proceedings  against  Wycliffe.  305 

it  appears  to  have  been  concluded,  that  the  safer  course  to 
pursue  towards  Wycliffe  would  be,  to  restrict  proceedings 
against  him,  at  least  for  the  present,  to  his  doctrine  on 
the  Eucharist.  This,  surely,  was  a  point  on  which  the 
laity  might  be  expected  to  defer  to  the  judgment  of  the 
clergy. 

For  this  purpose,  the  usual  ecclesiastical  machinery  is 
put  in  motion.  The  summons,  as  we  suppose,  is  duly 
issued,  and  as  duly  presented  by  the  proper  functionary 


*  realm,  or  send  into  it,  or  anywhere  within  the  king's    dominions, 

*  any  summons,  sentence,  or  excommunication  against  any  person, 
'of  whatsoever  condition,  on  the  ground  of  his  assent  or  measures, 
*■  with  a  view  to  the  execution  of  the  said  Statute  of  Provisors,  he 

*  shall  be  taken,  arrested,  and  put  in  prison,  and  shall  forfeit  all  his 
'  lands  and  tenements,  goods  and  chattels,  for  ever,  and  incur  the 

*  pain  of  life  and  member.  And  should  any  prelate  give  execution  to 
'  any  such  summons,  sentence,  or  excommunication,  his  temporalities 
'  shall  be  seized,  and  shall  revert  to  the  hands  of  the  king,  until  due 

*  correction  and  redress  shall  have  been  made.'  Stat.  13  Ric.  II.  It 
is  true,  the  English  bishops  were  much  displeased  with  this  rigorous 
mode  of  proceeding  in  relation  to  themselves,  as  well  as  to  the  papacy, 
and  protested  against  it  in  their  place  in  parliament,  but  without  much 
effect.  Cotton's  Abridgment,  332.  The  cause  of  this  sympathy  be- 
tween the  bishops  and  the  popes  is  found,  in  part,  in  the  fact,  that  the 
illicit  gains  thus  realized  were  often  divided  between  them.  Thus 
archbishop  Courtney,  one  of  these  protesters,  received  licence  from 
Urban  VI.,  to  appoint  public  notaries,  in  the  name  of  the  pontiff,  to 
confer  the  degree  of  doctor  on  his  own  authority,  to  authorize  twelve 
clergymen  to  hold  pluralities,  to  collate  to  all  benefices  said  to  be  at 
the  disposal  of  the  papal  court,  and  to  dispose  of  one  prebendal  stall 
in  every  cathedral  within  the  province  of  Canterbury.  Collier,  Eccles. 
Hist.  I.  600.  Such  was  the  'share  of  profits'  policy,  which  linked 
these  parties  together — but  the  laity  saw  very  clearly  into  the  nature 
of  this  compact. 


306  Wycliffe  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 

at  the  old  rectory  in  Lutterworth.^  WycliiFe  does  not 
read  it  without  emotion.  His  Sunday  services  do  not  pass 
by  without  a  reference  to  it — and  there  is  no  little  talk 
about  it  at  the  fire-sides  of  his  flock.  Among  the  honest 
and  simple-minded  townsfolk  about  him  there  is,  we 
may  be  sure,  no  lack  of  sympathy  :  many,  in  such 
words  as  strong  feeling  is  not  slow  to  suggest,  commend 
their  pastor  to  Him  who  is  believed  to  be  everywhere,  and 
ever  ready  to  protect  his  own.  But  in  the  midst  of  so 
much  kindly  feeling  in  the  place  of  his  labours  as  a 
parish  priest,  Wycliffe  prepares  himself  for  the  different 
scene  awaiting  him  in  Oxford. 

It  is  not  the  first  time  that  Wycliffe  has  filled  his 
saddle  with  his  face  directed  for  successive  days  towards 
Oxford.  He  so  did  as  a  youth,  when  he  cast  his  parting 
glance  on  the  old  family  mansion  at  Wycliffe,  on  the  dell 
and  stream  beneath,  and  on  its  surrounding  woodlands — 
when  the  last  music  of  the  waters  of  the  Tees,  gave  place, 
as  we  can  fancy,  to  the  swift-recurring  foot-sounds  of  the 


'  Early  in  this  year,  Courtney  wrote  to  the  bishop  of  Lincoln, 
Wycliffe's  diocesan,  apprising  him  of  the  proceedings  about  to  be  insti- 
tuted against  the  followers  of  the  pestilent  person  within  his  jurisdic- 
tion ;  and  while  urging  that  prelate  to  vigilance  and  zeal,  that  the 
church  might  be  protected  against  further  mischief  from  that  quarter, 
he  takes  occasion  to  commend  the  bishop  for  the  exemplary  manner 
in  which  he  had  hitherto  acquitted  himself  in  this  respect.  The 
document  shows  that  whatever  the  bishop  of  Lincoln  might  legally 
and  prudently  do,  to  check  or  annoy  the  rector  of  Lutterworth,  he  had 
not  been  slow  to  do.  The  letter  is  in  Wilkins's  Concilia,  III.  168. 


A.D.  1882.]  Wycliffe  again  in  Oxford.  307 

faithful  animal  that  obeyed  his  guidance.  Change  has 
come  since  then.  His  eye  has  fallen  for  the  first  time 
on  the  towers,  and  walls,  and  gates  of  '  Oxenforde. '  He 
has  become  familiar  for  many  long  years  with  its  streets, 
and  halls,  and  dwelling-places,  and  people.  He  has  been 
often  greeted  there  by  the  bold  and  generous  as  a  man 
doing  some  service  in  the  cause  of  that  ancient  seat  of 
learning,  and  of  his  generation.  And  there,  too,  he  has 
been  often  scrowled  upon,  and  pointed  at,  as  one  who,  if 
he  should  find  his  deserts,  would  end  his  days,  as  all 
heretics  should  end  them,  amidst  the  faggots.  In  this 
same  Oxford,  he  has  been  summoned  more  than  once,  as 
he  is  now  summoned  in  Lutterworth,  to  make  his  appear- 
ance before  the  great  churchmen  of  the  time,  as  his  public 
prosecutors  and  judges.  So  had  he  been  called  from  Ox- 
ford to  London,  and  you  may  imagine  him  in  those 
vexatious  journeys,  as  he  seeks  refreshment  for  the  horse 
he  rides,  and  for  himself,  in  such  old  towns  as  Great 
Marlow,  Beaconsfield,  Highwycombe,  or  Brentford  ;  or  as 
he  makes  his  way  across  that  great  table-land  called 
Hounslow  Heath,  notorious  then,  as  long  after,  for  the 
land-pirates  who  appeared  to  find  convenient  sea-room  in 
that  ocean  of  open  surface.  The  journey  of  our  tra- 
veller from  Lutterworth  to  Oxford,  will  be,  for  the  most 
part,  among  roads  little  frequented,  and  he  will  have  to 
accept  gratefully,  like  other  wayfarers,  the  rude  accommo- 
dation for  '  man  and  beast '  that  may  be  found   in  such 

X  2 


808 


Wycliffe  as  a  Gorifessor. 


[chap.  IX. 


halting-places  as  Daventry  or  Towcester,  Buckingham  or 
Woodstock. 

The  array  of  authority  and  learning  to  be  met  at  Ox- 
ford on  such  an  occasion,  was  not  a  little  formidable.  In 
thiis  instance,  besides  the  primate,  and  the  bishops  of 
Lincoln,  Norwich,  Worcester,  Salisbury,  and  Hereford, 
there  are  many  doctors  in  divinity  and  in  law,  among 
whom,  the  majority  are  of  the  religious  orders  ;  and  in 
addition  to  the  numbers  assembled  officially,  there  is  a 
large  gathering  of  persons  whose  presence  is  not  official. 
The  occasion  is  of  a  sort  to  be  watched  with  interest, 
either  from  hostility  to  the  accused  or  from  sympathy 
with  him,  by  the  authorities  of  the  place  generally,  by 
the  clergy  generally,  and  by  townsmen  hardly  less  than 
by  gownsmen — and  history  relates  that  the  crowd  of 
that  day  was  made  up  of  contributions  from  all  these 
classes.  Wycliffe  has  not  failed  to  see  that  the  issues 
of  this  ordeal  may  be  of  grave  import,  as  concerning 
himself,  and  much  beside.  There  are  learned  divines, 
and  subtle  schoolmen,  among  his  judges,  ready  to  prompt 
and  sustain  each  other  by  every  available  expedient  :  and 
he  appears  to  have  determined  to  furnish  the  wits  of  these 
censors  with  the  history  and  analysis  of  this  question, 
in  such  form  and  measure,  as  it  would  not  be  alto- 
gether an  easy  thing  to  deal  with.  He  there  stands, 
prepared  so  to  speak  that  plain  men,  if  well  disposed, 
may  discern  his  meaning ;  but  prepared  also,  so  to  speak, 
that  the  learned  and  logical  authorities  which  seem  to 


A.D.  1382.]  Wycliffe  before  the  Convocation  in  Oxford.     309 

have  him  in  their  power,  may  be  made  to  feel  that  the 
questions,  as  to  what  the  doctrine  of  the  Eucharist 
really  is,  and  as  to  what  the  teaching  of  the  church 
concerning  it  has  really  been,  are  by  no  means  so  easy 
of  settlement  as  servile  thinkers  may  be  ready  to  con- 
clude. The  hope  of  converting  his  judges  by  taking  such 
a  course,  had  not,  as  we  must  suppose,  any  place  in  his 
thoughts ;  but  to  embarrass  their  proceedings,  as  far  as 
possible,  by  such  means,  was  fairly  open  to  him. 

The  preacher  at  the  opening  of  the  Convocation  was 
the  Chancellor,  Dr.  Rigge  ;  and  its  first  business,  after 
voting  a  subsidy  to  the  crown,  was  to  make  inquiry 
concerning  the  errors  and  heresies  noised  abroad  as 
being  so  rife  in  that  ancient  seat  of  learning.  Repping- 
don,  it  appears,  was  obliged  to  repeat  a  recantation  which 
had  been  before  extorted  from  him ;  and  measures  were 
taken  to  secure  a  similar  renunciation  of  the  Wycliffe 
*  conclusions,'  as  condemned  by  the  late  synod,  from  all 
the  graduates.  1 

Knighton,  in  his  account  of  this  convention,  proceeds 
to  say  :  '  Likewise  there  was  present  John  Wycliffe,  to 
'  make  answer  on  a  charge  of  heresy,  as  on  a  previous 
'  occasion,  about  the  doctrines  or  propositions  aforesaid. 
'  These  opinions  he  utterly  repudiated  ; — protested  that 
'  he  had  not  held,  and  would  not  hold  such  doctrines ; 
'  and  supporting  his  assertions,  had  recourse  again  to  his 

1  Wood:  Antiq.  Univers.  Oxon.  192,  193. 


310  Wycliffe  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 

*  mother  tongue,  a  subterfuge  of  wliich  he  had  before 
'  availed  himself/  '  It  is  true  that  Wycliffe  had  recourse 
to  his  mother  tongue  on  this  occasion,  as  well  as  to  the 
Latin  tongue  ;  and  happily  for  his  reputation,  the 
statement  made  by  him  in  each  language,  in  explanation 
and  defence  of  his  doctrine,  has  come  down  to  us,  and 
will  enable  us  to  judge  for  ourselves  concerning  the  grave 
charge  of  having  repudiated  opinions  in  the  hour  of  dan- 
ger, which  he  had  avowed  in  other  circumstances. 

It  is  evident,  that  Wycliffe,  as  now  put  on  his  defence, 
did  complain  that  his  doctrine  had  been  grossly  mis- 
represented, and  that  he  had  often  been  described  as 
holding  opinions  the  most  repugnant  to  his  thoughts — 
such,  for  example,  as  '  that  God  ought  to  obey  the  devil.' 
Concerning  opinions  of  this  nature,  he  might  well  say 
that  they  were  such  as  he  '  had  not  held,  and  would  not 
hold.'  Both  the  papers  above  mentioned,  the  English 
and  the  Latin,  will  be  found  in  the  appendix  ;  and  the 
language  of  both,  if  carefully  examined,  will  be  found  to 
be,  not  a  recantation,  but  a  most  faithful  iteration  of  the 
doctrine  which  the  Reformer  had  taught  for  years  past, 
for  a  while  as  professor  in  Oxford,  and  subsequently  as 
a  preacher  and  an  author.^ 


^  Similiter  afFuit  Johannes  Wy  cliff  ad  respondendum  super  heretica 
pravitate  ut  prius  de  prsedictes  conclusionibus  sive  opinionibus.  Qui 
eisomnino  renunscians  nee  eas  tenuisse  nee  tenere  se  velle  protestans 
ad  maternalis  virgae  documentum,  quod  ei  antea  pro  refugio  praesto 
fuerat  advolabit  iterum,  sub  forma  quae  sequitur.  Historiae  Anglicanae 
Scriptores,  2649.  ^  Appendix  K. 


A. D.  1382.]   Wy cliff e  before  the  Convocation  in  Oxford.     311 

In  the  spring  of  the  preceding  year,  the  doctrine  of 
Wycliffe  as  then  published  in  Oxford,  was,  that  in  the 
venerable  sacrament  of  the  altar,  the  body  and  blood  of 
Christ  are  present,  '  not  essentially ^  nor  substantially ,  nor 
^  bodily  J  hut  figuratively,  or  tropically,  so  that  Christ  is  not 
'  there  truly  or  verily  in  his  own  bodily  presence.'  In 
opposition  to  this  statement,  the  doctrine  of  the  Church 
was  then  defined  by  his  judges  in  the  following  terms  : — 

*  That  by  the  sacramental  words,  duly  pronounced  by 
'  the  priest,  the  bread  and  wine  upon  the  altar  are 
'  transubstantiated,  or  substantially  converted  into  the  true 

*  body  and  blood  of  Christ,  so  that  after  consecration, 
'  there  is  not  in  that  venerable  sacrament  the  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  blood,  not  figuratively  or  tropically,  but  essentially, 

*  substantially,   and  corporally,  so   that  Christ  is  verily 

*  there  in  his  own  proper  bodily  presence.' 

Now  in  the  Latin  confession  preserved  to  us,  and  in 
the  English  confession  given  by  Knighton,  both  of  which 
appear  to  have  been  presented  at  the  same  time,  the 
Reformer  denies  the  doctrine  thus  elaborately  stated,  and 
asserts  the  doctrine  thus  elaborately  condemned,  in  terms 
the  most  explicit.  That  there  is  a  sense  in  which  the 
bread  is  the  body  of  Christ,  he  asserts  now,  as  he  had 
ever  done,  and  on  this  point  his  language  is  sometimes 
obscure  ;  but  '  I  dare  not  say,'  he  writes,  '  that  the  bread 


312  Wycliffe  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 

'  becomes  tlie  body  of  Christ  essentially,  substantially,  cor- 
'  porally,  or  identically.'  This,  it  will  be  seen,  is  what 
he  was  required  to  say,  but  this  he  dares  not  say,  this  he 
does  not  say,  this  he  cannot  be  brought  to  say.  In  what- 
ever sense  Christ  may  be  said  to  be  present  in  the  sacra- 
ment in  question,  it  is  not  in  any  such  sense  that  the  wine 
ceases  to  be  properly  wine,  the  bread  properly  bread.  No 
such  process  takes  place  as  the  word  transubstantiation 
had  been  introduced  and  used  to  denote.  The  natural 
substances  in  both  cases  do  remain,  and  they  are  Christ's 
blood,  and  Christ's  body,  sacramentally  and  symbolically, 
and  in  no  higher  sense.     '  If  some  idiot  should  demand 

*  how  the  bread  may  be  the  body  of  Christ,  and  still  re- 
'  main  the  same,  according  to  its  own  substance  and 
^  nature ;    let   him  bear  in  mind,'    says   the   Reformer, 

*  his  faith  in  the  Incarnation,  and  say  how  two  different 
'  natures  may  be  united,  and  still  both  may  not  be  the 

*  same  nature.'^    So  that  as  humanity  did  not  cease  to  be 


^  The  following  passages  may  be  taken  as  evidence  of  the  manner  in 
which  the  Reformer  expressed  himself  generally  on  this  subject,  and 
on  occasions  much  less  critical  and  formal  than  that  which  presented 
itself  at  Oxford.  The  extracts  are  from  homilies  delivered  to  his  con- 
gregation from  the  pulpit  at  Lutterworth  : — '  Christ  saith,  and  saints 

*  after,  it  is  verily  Christ's  own  body  in  the  form  of  bread,  as  Christian 
'  men  believe,  and  neither  an  accident  without  a  subject,  nor  naught,  as 

*  heretics  say.'  On  Ephes.  iv.     '  Would  God  that  men  took  heed  to 
'  the  speech  of  Paul  in  this  place,  both  to  hold  virtues  and  to  flee 

*  heresies,  for  both  are  needful  to  men.    Then  men  should  hear  God's 
'word  gladly,  and  despise  fables,  and  err  not  in  the  sacred  host,  but 

*  grant  that  it  is  both  things,  both  bread  and  God's  body.'     On  1  Thess. 


A.D.  1382.]  Wy cliff e  before  the  Convocation  in  Oxford.     313 

humanity,  when  assumed  by  the  divinity,  the  bread  and 
wine  do  not  cease  to  be  possessed  of  their  own  nature, 
when  used  to  sacramental  purposes.  In  short,  his  exact 
words  are,  '  we  see  the  venerable  sacrament  of  the  altar 
'  to  be  naturally  bread  and  wine,  but  sacramentally  the 
'  body  and  blood  of  Christ ;  while  our  adversaries  adore 
'  this  sacrament,  not  as  being  at  all  bread  and  wine,  but 
'  as  the  body  and  the  blood  of  Christ.'  The  authority  of 
scripture,  and  of  distinguished  ecclesiastical  writers,  is 
largely  appealed  to  in  support  of  these  views. 

In  the  English  confession,  the  statement  of  the  Re- 
former is  to  the  same  effect.  The  bread  is  in  a  sense, 
^  God's  body,'  but  in  no  such  sense  that  it  ever  ceases  to 


iv.  Soon  the  words,  'that  rock  was  Christ,'  he  exclaims — 'Would 
'  God  that  heretics  in  the  matter  of  the  sacred  host,  understood  these 

*  subtle  words  to  the  intent  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  then  should  they  not 

*  fear  to  grant  that  this  bread  is  God's  body.'  In  his  work  '  Against 
the  Blasphemies  of  the  Friars,*  (Bibl.  Bodl.  Archi.  A.  83,)  a  manu- 
script extending  to  about  forty  pages,  and  written  after  this  time,  he 
asserts,  with  equal  plainness,  that  the  bread  continues  after  consecra- 
tion, and  that  the  bread  so  continuing,  is  God's  body  in  the  form  of 
bread— 'Since  bodily  eating  was  bidden  of  Christ,  and  this  bodily 
'  eating  might  not  be  unless  there  were  bread,  then  the  bread  lasts  after 

*  the  sacreding.'  '  The  white  thing  and  round,  that  the  priest  conse- 
'  crates,  like  to  the  unconsecrated   host,  and  which  is   broken  and 

*  eaten,  is  verily  God's  body  in  the  form  of  bread.'  We  might  multiply 
passages  to  this  effect  from  many  sources,  so  as  to  fill  many  pages. 
Our  object  in  citing  these  expressions  is  not  to  indicate  our  strict 
approval  of  them,  but  simply  to  show  the  identity  of  the  Reformer's 
language  on  this  subject  on  all  occasions — whether  writing  treatises, 
preaching  at  Lutterworth,  or  delivering  his  confession  before  the  con- 
vocation at  Oxford. 


314  Wy cliff e  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 

be  bread — '  it  is  both  together/  In  this  paper,  as  in  the 
preceding,  he  cannot  refrain  from  denouncing  anew  the 
absurdity  of  the  men,  who,  as  the  consequence  of  deny- 
ing that  the  bread  remains  bread,  are  shut  up  to  the 
necessity  of  believing  in  the  existence  of  a  quality  with- 
out a  substance,  and  of  declaring  that  which  seems  to 
be  bread  in  the  sacrament,  to  be  in  no  sense  the  body  of 
Christ.  '  Great  diversity  is  between  us  who  believe  that 
'  this  sacrament  is  in  its  nature  true  bread,  and  sacra- 
*  mentally  God's  body  ;  and  heretics  who  believe  and 
'  teach  that  this  sacrament  may  in  no  wise  be  God's 
'  body/  It  signifies  nothing  to  admonish  the  Reformer, 
that  upon  this  showing,  the  Church  has  erred  for  many 
hundred  winters,  and  saints  have  died  in  error  ;  his  re- 
ply is,  that  the  loosing  of  Satan,  as  foretold  by  John, 
has  filled  the  world  with  lies  on  this  subject ;  and  that 
the  earthquake  which  so  terrified  the  Courtney  synod  in 
London,  was  the  voice  of  God  speaking  in  protest  against 
the  upholding  of  such  falsehoods.  ^ 


^  Knighton  tells  us,  (De  Event.  Angliae,  2654,)  that  Dr.  Rigge  was 
succeeded  immediately  by  Dr.  William  de  Berton,  as  chancellor — the 
person  who  signalized  himself  as  chancellor  in  1381,  by  publicly  con- 
demning the  doctrine  of  WyclifFe  on  the  Eucharist,  and  enjoining 
silence  upon  the  reformer  on  that  topic — and  that  on  being  re-elected 
Berton  issued  a  mandate  prohibiting  the  students  from  listening  to  any 
one  who  should  teach  either  of  the  following  conclusions  : — 'That  in 

*  the  sacrament  of  the  altar  the  substance  of  material  bread  and  wme  does 

*  rejally  remain  after  consecration ; '  or,  *  That  in  that  venerable  sacra- 

*  ment  there  is  not  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ  equally,  nor  substan- 

*  tially,  nor  even  corporally,  so  that  Christ  is  not  truly  there  in  his  own 


A.  D.  1882.]  Wycliffe  before  the  Convocation  in  Oxford.     315 


Our  readers,  we  think,  will  feel  that  this  is  not  exactly 
the  language  to  admit  of  being  construed  as  a  recantation, 
or  as  betraying  any  thing  like  a  feeling  of  pusillanimity. 
Not  only  does  the  confessor  reiterate  the  strongest  things 
he  had  ever  said  in  exposition  of  his  doctrine,  but  he  does 
this  in  a  manner  that  may  be  described  as  almost  gratu- 
itously offensive  to  his  opponents,  and  to  none  more  so 
than  to  the  men  who  were  before  him  as  his  judges.  In 
so  expressing  himself,  he  must,  we  conceive,  have  laid 
his  account  with  having,  in  all  probability,  some  expe- 
rience of  the  '  strong  prison,'  and  other  penalties,  where- 
with, if  Churchmen  may  so  order  it,  all  such  doctrines 
were  now  to  be  suppressed. 

How  it  came  to  pass  that  the  Reformer  was  allowed 
to  return  quietly  to  his  rectory,  is  one  of  those  points  in 
his  career  on  which  we  wish  for  further  evidence  than 
the  lights  of  that  age  have  supplied  to   our  own.     It  is 


'proper  corporal  presence  *  This  is  the  doctrine  Berton  had  condemned 
in  1381,  and  this,  it  will  be  seen,  is  the  doctrine  distinctly  professed  by 
Wycliffe  in  the  schools  of  that  year,  and  now  before  the  convocation  in 
the  year  following.  The  penalty  annexed  to  this  mandate,  was  the  sen- 
tence of  the  greater  excommunication ;  the  intention  being,  it  is  said, 
that  men  holding  such  views  might  be  silenced  by  the  want  of  an 
auditory,  if  from  no  other  cause.  Curious  enough,  Wood,  who  de- 
scribes WyclifTe's  confession  as  a  recantation,  is  the  writer  who  in- 
forms us  that  it  '  was  encountered  by  no  less  than  six  several  antag- 
onists immediately  after  its  publication,*  as  being  most  heretical ! 
These  polemics  were  John  Tyssington,  Thomas  Winterton,  John 
Welleys,  Ughtred  Bolton,  Simon  Southry,  and  this  same  William  dc 
Berton.    All,  except  Berton,  were  either  monks  or  friars. 


316  Wycliffe  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 

manifest  that  it  was  not  deemed  expedient  to  pursue  any- 
other  course  towards  him.  In  adopting  extreme  measures, 
the  prelates  and  their  assistants  had  to  bear  in  mind,  as 
we  have  shown,  that  the  approval,  even  of  the  nobles, 
was  not  to  be  greatly  relied  upon,  inasmuch  as  during 
their  whole  life  it  had  been  no  small  part  of  their  parlia- 
mentary duty  to  protest  against  clerical  encroachment, 
and  to  do  what  might  be  done  towards  counteracting  it : 
while  no  man  in  England  had  done  so  much  as  John  de 
Wycliffe,  to  encourage  them  in  this  policy,  and  to  bring 
the  opinion  and  sympathy  of  the  community  to  their 
side.  But  if  there  was  room  to  fear  that  even  the  lords 
would  not  be  found  to  sanction  severe  proceedings  in  such 
cases,  much  more  room  was  there  to  apprehend  that  the 
commons  would  openly  denounce  them,  and  that  the 
people  generally  would  do  so  still  more  loudly.^     Such  a 


1  The  following  is  the  language  of  the  famous  statute  of  Prcemunire, 
as  adopted  by  the  two  houses,  and  approved  by  the  king,  a  few  years 
later  ; — 'Whereupon,  our  said  Lord,  the  King,  by  the  assent  aforesaid, 

*  and  at  the  request  of  the  said  commons,  hath  ordained,  that  if  any 
'  man  shall  purchase  or  pursue,  or  cause  to  be  purchased  or  pursued, 
'  in  the  court  of  Rome  or  elsewhere,  any  such  Translations,  Processes, 
'  or  Sentences  of  Excommunication — bulls,  instruments,  or  any  other 

*  things  whatsoever,  which  touch  the  king,  as  against  him,  his  crown, 

*  and  his  royalty,  or  his  realm,  as  is  aforesaid  ;  and  they  who  bring 

*  such  things  within  the  realm,  or  receive  them,  or  make  any  notifica- 
'  tion  of  them,  or  any  other  execution  of  them  whatsoever,  within  the 
'  said  realm,     or  without, — that   they,    their   Notaries,    Procurators, 

*  Maintainers,  Abettors,  Fautors,  and  Counsellors,  shall  be  put  out 
'  of  the  king's  protection,  and  their  lands  and  tenements,  goods  and 
'  chattels,  be  forfeited  to  our  Lord  the   King ;    and  that  they  be  at- 


A.D.  1882.]  Wycliffe*s  view  of  his  Times.  317 


relation  of  parties,  and  such  a  state  of  opinion  and  feel- 
ing on  religious  subjects  in  the  middle  age,  must  be  ad- 
mitted to  have  been  somewhat  peculiar — but  it  is  clear 
that  it  existed.  How  it  came  to  exist  we  have  in  part 
explained  ;  and,  as  we  shall  see,  it  was  ere  long  to  give 
place  to  a  state  of  things  much  less  favourable  to  free- 
dom of  thought,  and  much  more  of  the  kind  that  obtained 
elsewhere  in  those  times. 

The  age  of  Chaucer  and  WyclifFe  was  as  the  morning 
light  in  our  history  ;  the  streaks  of  day  which  then 
crossed  the  horizon,  and  threw  their  beautiful  influences 
over  the  world  beneath,  were  for  a  season  over-clouded  : 
but  they  were  as  heralds,  nevertheless,  proclaiming  the 
sure  rising  of  the  sun.  Such  was  the  often-repeated 
prophecy  of  Wycliffe  concerning  the  times  in  which  he 
lived  :  and  we  are  quite  safe  in  believing  that  it  was  the 
force  of  circumstances,  and  not  inclination,  which  disposed 
the  powers  arrayed  against  him  to  treat  him  with  such  a 
show  of  forbearance.     To  cover  the  virtual  defeat  which 


'  tached  by  their  bodies,  if  they  may  be  found,  and  brought  before  the 
'  king  and  his  council,  there  to  answer  to  the  cases  aforesaid,  or  that 
*  process  be  made  against  them  hy  Preemunire  facias,  in  manner  as  it  is 
'  ordained  in  other  Statutes  of  Provisors.'  Ric.  II.  cap.  5.  Precautions 
thus  stringent  suggest  that  the  abuse  to  which  they  were  opposed  must 
have  been  great  and  inveterate,  and  that  the  indignation  against  it 
must  have  become  both  very  general  and  very  powreful.  Martin  V. 
declared,  that  the  effect  of  this  statute  was  such,  that  his  nuncios  were 
'  more  coarsely  used  in  this  Christian  country  than  in  the  lands  of  the 
'  Turk  or  the  Saracen.'  Collier's  Eccles.  Hist.  I.  596. 


318  Wycliffe  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 

such  a  policy  might  seem  to  betray,  it  was  pretended 
that  the  Reformer  had  so  far  explained,  or  so  far  re- 
canted his  obnoxious  opinions,  as  to  have  entitled  him- 
self to  such  clemency  ;  and  from  that  time  to  our  own, 
his  enemies  have  not  ceased  to  repeat  this  calumny.  The 
contents  of  this  chapter  will,  I  trust,  enable  the  reader 
to  determine  for  himself  how  this  question  really  stands. 
When  the  Reformer  appeared  before  the  convocation  in 
St.  Paul's,  the  dispute  between  Courtney  and  Lancaster 
altogether  frustrated  the  intended  proceedings.  When 
he  stood  in  the  presence  of  the  papal  commissioners  at 
Lambeth,  he  gave  answer  to  the  '  conclusions'  urged 
against  him  in  some  instances  obscurely,  but  in  respect 
to  some  five-sixths  of  the  whole  series,  and  those  the 
conclusions  which  set  forth  the  most  obnoxious  of  his 
opinions,  his  replies  were  direct,  explicit,  and  such  as 
not  only  expressed  his  adherence  to  the  errors  and 
heresies  imputed  to  him,  but  presented  reasons  in  support 
of  them.  When  opposed  subsequently,  on  the  matter  of 
the  Eucharist,  by  the  authorities  of  Oxford,  he  reiterates 
his  doctrine,  he  withdraws  from  the  University  rather 
than  abstain  from  the  teaching  of  it,  and  he  gives  him- 
self with  more  earnestness  than  ever  to  the  labour  of 
diffusing  the  proscribed  tenets  from  the  pulpit,  and  in 
publications  addressed  to  all  classes  of  the  community, 
from  the  king  and  the  parliament,  to  the  humblest  of  the 
people.  And  now,  when  put  to  the  question  by  a 
gathering  of  prelates,  of  the  religious  orders,  and  others. 


A.D.  1382.]     Wycliffe  as  a  Confessor  Vindicated.  319 

in  Oxford,  touching  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation, 
we  not  only  hear  him  persisting  in  the  rejection  of  that 
dogma,  in  the  very  terms  he  had  used  in  respect  to  it 
elsewhere — but  we  find  him  so  doing,  in  a  tone  which 
might  be  more  justly  censured  on  account  of  the  scorn 
and  defiance  which  it  seems  to  breathe,  than  as  betraying 
the  influence  of  fear.^ 

It  is  recorded  of  Dr.  Nicholas  Hereford,  the  well- 
knoAvn  disciple  of  Wycliffe,  that  at  a  late  period  of  life 
he  was  summoned  to  appear  before  the  pope,  that  he 
might  answer  there  concerning  the  dangerous  opinions 
still  attributed  to  him  ;  that  he  obeyed  this  summons, 
that  the  concessions  he  was  prepared  to  make,  material 
as  they  seemed  to  be,  were  not  deemed  satisfactory,  and 
that  he  was  in  consequence  cast  into  prison,  but  that 
the  logic  of  the  dungeon  wrought  no  further  change  in 
him,  and  that  he  would  probably  have  perished  in  his 
cell,  had  not  an  insurrection  among  the  subjects  of  the 
pope,  which  threw  open  all  the  prisons  in  the  domain  of 
his  holiness,  given  the  prisoner  a  chance  of  escape  of 
which  he  was  not  slow  to  avail  himself.  2'- 

We  have  a  document  from  the  pen  of  Wycliffe  which 
shows  that  the  policy  acted  upon  with  this  measure  of 


'  Concerning  the  fact  of  WyclifFe's  presence  before  the  Convocation 
in  Oxford  in  1382,  about  which  some  doubt  has  been  raised,  See 
Appendix  L. 

2  Knighton,  2675. 


320  Wycliffe  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 

success  in  the  case  of  the  disciple,  had  been  attempted 
before  in  the  case  of  the  master.  The  return  of  Wycliffe, 
after  his  last  appearance  at  Oxford,  to  the  free  discharge 
of  his  duties  as  rector  of  Lutterworth,  and  to  the  labours 
as  an  author  which  occupied  him  there,  appears  to  have 
been  viewed  with  no  little  dissatisfaction  at  the  papal 
court.  It  was  felt,  that  could  he  be  once  brought  before 
that  court,  the  authorities  there  would  not  fail  to  com- 
mand the  means  that  should  bring  his  powers  of  mischief 
to  an  end.  The  Reformer,  it  seems,  had  a  valid  reason 
for  disregarding  the  citation,  in  the  impaired  state  of  his 
health  at  the  time  of  its  reaching  him  ;  and  that  reason 
being  in  itself  sufficient,  he  rests  upon  it.  But  in  his 
reply,  he  takes  occasion,  in  a  tone  of  keen,  though  sub- 
dued, sarcasm,  to  convey  some  wholesome  lessons  to  the 
ears  of  his  holiness.  His  letter  is  given  in  the  appendix  : 
it  is  in  substance  as  follows  : 

'  I  am  ready  cheerfully  to  tell  to  all  true  men  the  faith 
'  which  I  hold,  and  especially  to  the  Pope. 

*  For  I  suppose  that  if  my  faith  be  rightful,  and  given 

*  of  God,  the  Pope  will  gladly  conserve  it ;  and  that  if 
'  my  faith  be  error,  the  Pope  is  especially  the  person 
'  wisely  to  amend  it. 

'  Beyond  this,  I  suppose  the  Gospel  of  Christ  to  be  a 

*  part  of  the  body  of  God's  law  ;  and  as  Jesus  Christ  who 

*  gave  this  gospel  in  his  own  person  to  mankind,  is  very 
'  God  and  very  man,  this  law,  on  this  ground,  must 
'  surpass  all  other  laws  ;  and  of  all  men  living  on  earth 


A.D.  imo.]  WycUffes  Letter  to  Urban.  321 

the  pope  is  the  man  most  obliged  to  the  keeping  of  this 
gospel. 

'  For  the  pope  is  called  the  highest  vicar  that  Christ 
hath  here  on  earth,  and  the  highness  of  a  vicar  of  Christ 
is  not  to  be  measured  by  worldly  highness,  but  in  this, 
that  he  is  the  highest  vicar  who  followeth  Christ  more 
than  other  men  in  virtuous  living — for  thus  the  Gospel 
teacheth.  This,  as  I  believe,  is  the  doctrine  of  Christ 
and  of  the  gospel,  who  during  the  time  he  walked  here 
was  one  of  the  humblest  of  men,  both  in  spirit  and 
possessions,  for  he  said  he  had  not  where  to  rest  his 
head. 

'  And  beyond  this,  I  believe  that  no  man  should  follow 
the  pope,  no  nor  any  saint  that  is  now  in  heaven, 
except  inasmuch  as  he  shall  follow  Christ — for  James 
and  John  erred,  and  Peter  and  Paul  sinned. 

'  This  also  I  take  to  be  wholesome  counsel,  that  the 
pope  should  leave  his  worldly  lordships  to  worldly  lords, 
as  Christ  did,  and  that  he  speedily  see  to  it  that  all  his 
clergy  do  the  same — for  so  did  Christ,  and  so  taught 
his  disciples,  until  the  fiend  came,  who  hath  blinded 
this  world.  If  I  err  in  so  thinking,  I  will  consent 
meekly  to  be  amended,  even  by  death,  if  reason  would, 
for  that  I  hope  were  good  for  me. 

'  And  if  I  might  with  God's  will  travel  in  person  to 
the  pope,  I  would,  but  necessity  saith  the  contrary, 
and  teacheth  me  to  obey  God  rather  than  men.  And 
our  pope  will  not,  I  suppose,  show  himself  Antichrist, 


822  Wycliffe  as  a  Confessor.  [chap.  ix. 

*  by  working  to  the  contrary  of  the  will  of  Christ.  For 
'  if  by  himself,  or  by  any  of  his,  he  will  summons  against 

*  reason,  and  persist  in  it,  he  is  an  open  Antichrist. 
'  Peter  was  not  excused  because  of  his  good  intentions 
'  when  Christ  called  him  Satan ;  and  so  blind  intent 
'  and  wicked  counsel  in  this  case  will  not  excuse  the 
'  pope,  and  to  require  true  priests  to  travel  more  than 
'  they  may,  would  be  to  show  himself  Antichrist.  There- 
'  fore,  pray  we,  that  the  good  intent  of  our  Urban  VI. 

*  be  not  quenched  by  his  enemies —  for  a  man's  chief 

*  enemies,  as  Christ  saith,  are  those  of  his  own  house- 
'  hold.'i 

When  Wycliffe  says  that  if  he  could  have  travelled 
to  the  papal  court,  he  would  have  so  done,  we  can 
suppose  that  he  spoke  sincerely,  but,  at  the  same  time, 
with  some  reservation — for  he  must  have  known,  that 
to  have  taken  such  a  step  without  a  safe  conduct,  would 
have  been  to  expose  himself  to  a  crushing  tyranny  from 
which  nothing  but  a  miracle  could  have  saved  him. 

^  Foxe  I.  581,  582.  Foxe  says,  that  Urban  was  too  much  occupied 
just  now  in  his  wars  with  the  Anti-pope,  to  concern  himself  greatly 
with  Wycliffe  or  his  affairs.  Ibid.    Appendix  M. 


CHAPTER  X. 


WYCLIFFE    AND   THE   ENGLISH    BIBLE. 


i 

Wk 

m 

N  the  old  time,  revelation  came  to  man  in 
the  first  instance  in  an  oral  form  ;  and,  as 
this  fact  supposes,  it  came  to  each  man  in 
his  own  tongue.  The  successive  portions  of 
the  Old  Testament  were  delivered  to  the  Hebrew  people 
in  their  own  language — came  upon  them  in  living  words, 
from  the  lips  of  living  prophets.  So  it  was  with  all 
that  the  New  Testament  teaches.  The  oral  nreceded  the 
written,  and  the  written,  when  it  came,  came,  as  far  as 
might  be,  to  every  man,  in  the  language  of  his  own 
country  and  household. 

Strange  that  men  should  have  set  themselves  to  undo,  in 
this  respect,  what  their  Maker  had  done — done  through  so 
many  centuries,  and  by  such  diversities  of  tongues, 
bestowed  by  miracle  to  that  end.  But  the  time  did 
come,  when  the  priest  undertook,  in  this  sense,  to  hee'p 
knowledge  —reserving  it  to  himself,  as  a  concealed  trea- 

Y  2 


324  Wycliffe  and  the  English  Bible.         [chap.  x. 

sure,  in  place  of  dispensing  it  freely  to  the  people,  as  being 
theirs  of  right. 

We  are  only  too  familiar  with  the  pretexts  under 
which  this  was  attempted,  and  so  long  achieved.  '  The 
'  people  are  not  to  be  trusted.  They  will  misinterpret  and 
'  misapply  the  record  if  thus  placed  in  their  hands,  and  the 
'  effect  will  be  evil  and  not  good.'  It  would  not  seem  to 
have  occurred  to  these  men  to  ask — whether  a  priesthood, 
in  such  case,  would  be  likely  to  prove  itself  more  trust- 
worthy than  a  people.  The  great  authority  of  religion 
being  restricted,  in  this  manner,  to  their  own  keeping — is 
not  the  priesthood  in  danger,  in  such  circumstances,  of 
corrupting  the  religion  so  as  to  serve  its  own  ends  ?  The 
time  we  see  has  come  in  which  this  may  be  done,  and 
done  with  something  more  inviting  in  the  distance  than 
mere  impunity.  Not  only  is  there  temptation  in  this  direc- 
tion, it  may  be  safely  described  as  a  temptation  much 
too  potent  to  be  resisted  by  our  frail  nature.  History  is 
decisive  on  this  point.  The  withdrawment  of  the  scrip- 
tures from  the  hands  of  the  people,  was  a  withdrawment 
of  the  light,  and  the  deeds  natural  to  the  state  of  dark- 
ness which  ensued  wer«  the  result.  The  Christianity  of 
the  priesthood,  no  longer  confronted  with  the  teach- 
ings of  Scripture,  ceased  to  be  the  Christianity  of  Scrip- 
ture. This  unnatural,  vicious,  and  most  mischievous 
relation  of  things,  appears  to  have  been  constantly  present 
to  the  mind  of  Wycliife  during  the  later  years  of  his  life. 
By  degrees,  accordingly,  it  became  his  fixed  purpose  to 


A.D.  1382.]     The  Scriptures — how  best  Conserved.  325 

give  to  the  people  of  England,  to  the  largest  extent 
possible  in  the  circumstances  of  that  age,  not  merely 
fragments  of  the  Bible,  but  the  whole  Bible,  in  their 
mother-tongue.  It  was  the  authority  to  which  he  was 
himself  constantly  appealing — he  would  do  his  best  that 
the  humblest  of  the  people  might  be  empowered  to 
follow  his  example  in  that  respect. 

The  safe  keeping  of  such  a  revelation  as  we  possess, 
can  never  lie  with  a  priesthood  alone,  nor  with  the  com- 
mon people  alone.  Scholarship  has  its  work  to  do  in 
relation  to  it,  and  so  has  the  robust  and  natural  intelli- 
gence of  our  working-day  humanity.  The  best  conser- 
vation of  a  revealed  religion,  can  never  result  from  either 
of  these  influences  taken  separately — it  must  come  from 
the  two  taken  together.  If  a  people  will  be  likely  to  err 
from  tendencies  of  one  sort,  a  priesthood  will  be  quite  as 
likely  to  err  from  tendencies  of  another  sort.  The 
checks  which  each  supplies  are  for  the  good  of  each.  The 
effect  is  the  equilibrium  in  which  there  is  safety.  The 
clergy,  if  left  to  themselves,  become  arbitrary,  corrupt, 
and  degenerate  into  a  caste ;  and  the  people,  if  left 
without  spiritual  guides,  become  bewildered,  disorderly, 
and  demoralized. 

Before  the  age  of  Wycliffe,  the  knowledge  of  the  scrip- 
tures accessible  to  the  laity  was  very  limited.  The 
Christianity  of  the  Britons  retired  with  them  into  their 
mountain  fastnesses.  We  have  no  reason  to  suppose  that 
the  pastors  of  the  British  Churches  withheld  the  sacred 


326  Wycliffe  and  the  English  Bible.         [chap.  x. 

writings  from  their  flocks  with  intention,  or  on  any  such 
principle  as  was  avowed  by  the  clergy  of  a  later  age. 
But  on  the  other  hand,  the  circumstances  of  those  times 
warrant  us  in  concluding,  that  almost  the  only  know- 
ledge of  the  scriptures  possessed  by  that  people,  was  the 
knowledge  which  had  come  to  them  by  means  of  oral 
teaching.  The  Latin  language,  indeed,  had  become 
so  familiar  to  them  during  the  sway  of  the  Romans,  that 
according  to  Gildas,  their  historian,  Britain  might  have 
been  described  as  a  Roman,  rather  than  a  British  island  ; 
and  it  is  possible  that  through  the  medium  of  that  lan- 
guage, some  portions  of  the  inspired  records  became  known 
to  a  few  of  the  better  educated  and  more  wealthy.  But 
we  have  nothing  to  warrant  us  in  extending  our  conjec- 
tures further  in  this  direction.^ 

The  Saxons  became  possessors  of  this  southern  portion 
of  our  island  as  pagans  ;  and  after  the  arrival  of  Augus- 
tine and  his  monks,  nearly  a  century  passed  before  these 
rude  settlers  were  brought  to  their  very  imperfect  pro- 
fession of  Christianity.  In  the  seventh  century,  Cedman, 
an  Anglo-Saxon  monk,  wrote  sacred  poetry  in  his  native 
tongue,  and  appears  to  have  been  the  first  of  his  race 
who  did  so.     Among  his  productions  is  a  translation,  if 


^  Ussher's  Britan.  Eccles.  Antiq.  and  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Irish 
and  British.  Stillingfleet's  Antiquities  of  the  British  Churches.  Col- 
lier's Eccles.  Hist.  I.  1 — 46.  Tacitus.  Vita  Agric.  Researches  into 
the  Ecclesiastical  and  Political  State  of  Ancient  Britain  under  the 
Roman  Emperors,  by  the  Rev.  Francis  Thackeray,  M.A. 


A.D.  1382.]  Anglo-Saxon  Translations.  327 


such  it  may  be  called,  of  portions  of  the  Old  Testament, 
into  Anglo-Saxon  rhyme.  This  rhyming  version  bears 
all  the  marks  of  the  antiquity  assigned  to  it.  It  includes 
the  leading  events  of  Old  Testament  history — as  the 
creation  of  the  world,  the  fall  of  man,  the  deluge,  the 
departure  from  Egypt,  the  entrance  upon  Canaan,  and 
some  subsequent  occurrences.^ 

In  the  next  century,  Aldhelm,  bishop  of  Sherborne ; 
and  Gruthlac,  the  celebrated  anchorite,  are  among  the 
authors  who  produced  Anglo-saxon  versions  of  the 
psalms.2  In  the  same  age,  the  venerable  Bede  completed 
a  translation  of  St.  John's  Gospel.  This  was  a  literal 
rendering  of  the  sacred  narrative  into  the  spoken  language 
of  the  time,  and  was  the  first  attempt  of  its  kind  in  our 
history.^  The  Durham  Book,  attributed  on  probable 
evidence  to  about  the  age  of  Alfred,  is  a  manuscript 
copy  of  the  Latin  Gospels,  with  a  Saxon  version  inter- 
lined. In  the  Bodleian  library  is  a  manuscript  of  the 
same  portion  of  the  sacred  volume,  with  a  Saxon  trans- 
lation, introduced  after  the  same  manner,  the  transla- 
tion being  made  apparently  sometime  in  the  tenth  cen- 
tury. This  manuscript  is  known  by  the  name  of  the 
Rush  worth  Gloss.  Among  the  valuable  manuscripts  in 
Benet  college,  Cambridge,  is  a  third  copy  of  the  gospels 


^  Bede  Hist.  B.  IV.  c.20. 

^  Baleus  de  Script.  Brit.  Cent.  I.    Baber's  New  Testament,  trans- 
lated by  Dr.  Wiclif.     Historical  Account,  Iviii. 

3  Cuthberti  Vita  Ven.  Bedae. 


328  Wydiffe  and  the  English  Bible.         [chap.  x. 


in  the  Saxon  tongue,  written  a  little  before  the  conquest ; 
and  a  fourth,  which  appears  to  have  been  copied  from  the 
former,  and  to  be  of  the  same  period,  may  be  seen  in  the 
Bodleian.i  But  an  ecclesiastic  who  did  more  than  all 
his  brethren  towards  presenting  the  Scriptures  to  his 
countrymen  in  their  native  language,  was  Elfric.  This 
laborious  scholar  lived  in  the  reign  of  Ethelred,  and 
subscribes  himself  at  different  periods  as  monk,  mass- 
priest,  and  abbot.  We  learn  from  himself  that,  at  the 
request  of  various  persons,  he  had  translated  the  Penta- 
teuch, the  books  of  Joshua  and  Judges  ;  those  of  Esther, 
Job,  and  Judith,  also  the  two  books  of  the  Maccabees, 
with  a  part  of  the  first  and  second  book  of  Kings.^ 
Alfred  the  Great  prefixed  a  translation  of  certain 
passages  from  the  Mosaic  writings  to  his  code  of  laws, 
and  at  the  time  of  his  death  had  made  considerable  pro- 
gress in  a  Saxon   version  of  the  Psalms.^     Such  is  the 


^  Baber's   Historical  Account,  lix.  Ix.     Wycliffe's  Bible,  Pref.  i.  ii. 

2  Wycliffe's  Bible,  Pref.  ii.   iii.      Baber's  Historical  Account,  Ixii- 
Ixiii.     Turner's  Anglo-Saxons,  Book  X.  c.  iii. 

3  '  Alfred,  in  his  zeal  for  the  improvement  of  his  countr}',  did  not 

*  overlook  the  importance  of  the  vernacular  Scripture.     At  the  head  of 

*  his  laws,    he   set  in   Anglo-Saxon,  the  Ten  Commandments,    with 

*  such  of  the  Mosaic  injunctions  in  the  three  following  chapters  of 
'  Exodus,  as  were  most  to  his  purpose.  What  other  parts  of  the  Bible 
'  he  translated,  it  is  difficult  to  determine.  A  remarkable  passage  in 
'  his  preface  to  the  pastoral  of  Pope  Gregory,  leaves  no  room  to  doubt, 
'  that  if  the  more  necessary  portions  of  Holy  Writ  were  not  made  ac- 
'  cessible  to  his  subjects  in  their  own  tongue,  it  was  only  because  this 
'  wise  and  pious  Prince  failed  of  the  opportunity  to  accomplish  his 
'  wishes.'     Wycliffe's  Bible,  Pref.  ii. 


A.D.  1382.]     Translations  hy  the  Anglo-Normans.  329 

extent  of  our  information  on  this  interesting  question  as 
connected  with  the  Anglo-Saxon  period  of  our  history. 

The  Anglo-Norman  clergy  were  far  more  competent 
than  the  clergy  who  had  preceded  them,  to  have  given 
the  scriptures  to  the  people  in  their  own  tongue,  had 
they  been  so  disposed.  But  by  this  time,  the  ecclesias- 
tical system  had  become  more  than  ever  hostile,  both  in 
form  and  spirit,  to  all  such  views  of  the  relation  between 
the  clergy  and  the  people,  as  might  have  disposed  the 
former  to  attempt  the  elevation  of  the  latter  by  any 
such  means.  Small  fragments  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures 
would  become  familiar  to  the  people,  as  having  their 
place  in  the  ritual  of  the  period,  and  as  expounded 
to  them  on  the  comparatively  rare  occasions  when 
preaching  became  a  part  of  the  church  service.  But 
even  the  portions  of  the  sacred  text  which  thus  came 
in  their  way,  were  too  often  given  in  a  form  so  iso- 
lated, and  in  connexion  with  interpretations  so  artful 
and  untrue,  as  to  produce  injurious,  rather  than  whole- 
some impressions. 

The  first  attempt  after  the  Conquest,  to  place  any 
continuous  account  of  the  contents  of  the  Sacred  Scrip- 
tures before  the  people  of  England  in  their  own  language, 
appears  to  have  been  made  by  the  author  of  a  rhyming 
paraphrase  on  the  Gospels,  and  on  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles,  intitled  '  Ormulum.'  ^     The  next  production  of 

*  MSS.  Junius  I.    Bodleian.  *  Highly  valuable  as  it  is  in  a  philolo- 


330  Wycliffe  and  the  English  Bible.         [chap.  x. 

this  nature  known  to  us,  consists  of  a  huge  volume  of 
metrical  pieces,  under  the  title  of  Salus  Animae,  or  in 
English  '  Sowlehele/  The  object  of  the  writer  or  tran- 
scriber of  this  volume  appears  to  have  been,  to  furnish 
a  complete  body  of  legendary  and  scriptural  history 
in  verse,  or  rather  to  collect  in  one  view,  all  the  reli- 
gious history  he  could  bring  together.  But  it  professes 
to  give  an  outline  of  the  contents  both  of  the  Old  and 
New  Testaments,  and  its  composition  dates  somewhere 
towards  the  close  of  the  thirteenth  century.^  In  Benet 
College,  Cambridge,  there  is  another  work  of  the  same 
description,  produced  about  the  same  time,  and  con- 
taining notices  of  the  principal  events  recorded  in  the 
books  of  Genesis  and  Exodus.  In  the  same  library, 
there  is  also  a  manuscript  translation  of  the  Psalms 
in  English  metre,  made  about  the  year  1300 ;  and  two 
transcripts  of  this  work,  of  nearly  the  same  antiquity, 
have  been  preserved — one  in  the  Bodleian  library,  the 
other  in  that  of  Sir  Robert  Cotton.^ 

But  it  is  not  until  we  come  to  about  the  middle  of 
the  fourteenth  century — that  is,  not  until  fivQ  and  twenty 
years  after  the  birth  of  Wycliffe — that  we  trace  the 
remotest  attempt  to  produce  a  literal  translation,  even 


*  gical  point  of  view,  yet,  never  proceeding  probably  beyond  the  origi- 
'  nal  copy  of  the  author,  it  could  have  been  of  little  or  no  use  in  re- 

*  ligious  teaching.'     WyclifFe's  Bible,  Pref.  iii. 

1  MSS.  Bodleian,  779.  Wharton's  History  of  English  Poetry,  Sect.  i. 
Baber's  Historical  Account,  Ixiv.  Ixv.  ^  Ibid. 


A.  D.  1382.]     The  Oxford  edition  of  Wycliffes  Bible.       831 

of  detached  portions,  of  the  sacred  writings.  The  effort 
of  this  nature  then  made  was  by  Richard  Roll,  called  the 
Hermit  of  Hampole.  His  translations  were  restricted  to 
little  more  than  half  the  book  of  Psalms,  and  to  these 
renderings  he  annexed  a  devotional  commentary. 
Contemporary  with  this  recluse,  were  some  well-disposed 
men  among  the  clergy,  who  produced  translations  of 
such  passages  from  the  scriptures  as  were  prominent  in 
the  offices  of  the  church,  and  some  ventured  so  far 
as  to  attempt  a  complete  translation  of  an  Epistle  or 
a  Gospel.  Several  of  the  Epistles,  and  parts  of  the 
Gospels  by  Mark  and  Luke,  are  among  the  fruit  of 
this  labour  that  has  descended  to  our  time.  But  it 
should  be  added,  that  even  these  versions — which  are  of 
various  merit — are  generally  guarded  by  a  commentary.^ 
It  is  well  known  that  many  years  since  the  Rev. 
Josiah  Forshall  and  Sir  Frederick  Madden  were  en- 
gaged to  prepare  an  edition  of  WycliiFe's  Bible,  to  be 
issued  from  the  Oxford  University  press.  In  1850,  this 
long-promised  publication  made  its  appearance,  in  five 
handsome  quarto  volumes.  The  projectors  of  this  un- 
dertaking, and  those  who  have  given  themselves  with  so 
much  patient  labour  to  the  prosecution  of  it,  are  entitled 
to  the  warmest  acknowledgments  from  every  sincere 
Protestant,  from  every  scholar,  and  from  our  country  at 


832  Wydiffe  and  the  English  Bible.         [chap,  x, 

large.  If  the  research  of  the  editors  has  not  led  to  anything 
very  remarkable — one  point  perhaps  excepted — in  the 
way  of  discovery,  the  account  they  have  given  of  exist- 
ing MSS.  including  translations  of  the  whole,  or  of  parts, 
of  the  sacred  volume,  either  by  Wycliffe,  or  by  his  fol- 
lowers ;  the  care  with  which  the  MSS.  in  this  greatly 
enlarged  catalogue  have  been  examined  and  collated ; 
and  the  result  as  given  us,  not  only  in  the  text  which 
they  have  published,  but  in  the  copious  emendations 
and  readings  subjoined  to  it — are  altogether  such  as  to 
promise  that  the  publication  bearing  their  names,  will 
form  a  monument  of  our  British  literature  as  lasting  as 
the  language. 

But  it  is  with  the  Preface  and  '  Prologue'  included  in 
the  preliminary  matter  of  the  first  volume  of  this  work 
that  we  are,  in  this  place,  most  concerned.  Down  to 
the  year  1360,  say  the  editors,  '  the  Psalter  appears  to  be 

*  the  only  book  of  scripture  which  had  been  entirely 
'  rendered  into  English.  Within  less  than  twenty-five 
'  years  from  that  date,  a  prose  version  of  the  whole 
'  Bible,  including  as  well  the  apocryphal  as  the  canonical 
'  books,  had  been  completed,  and  was  in  circulation 
'  among  the  people.  For  this  invaluable  gift  England  is 
'  indebted  to  John  Wycliffe.  It  may  be  impossible  to 
'  determine  with  certainty  the  exact  share  which  his 
'  own  pen  had  in  the  translation,  but  there  can  be  no 

*  doubt  that  he  took  a  part  in  the  labour  of  produc- 
'  ing  it,  and  that  the  accomplishment  of  the  work  must 


A.D.  1382.]  Hycliffes  Translation.  333 

'  be  attributed  mainly  to  his  zeal,  encouragement,  and 
'  direction.  It  was  not>  probably,  until  his  later  years, 
'  that  WyclifFe  matured  so  extensive  a  design.  He  was 
'  led  to  the  undertaking  slowly  and  gradually  ;  and  it 
'■  was  not  completed  until  after  several  preliminary 
'  efforts.  It  is  interesting  to  mark  the  several  steps  by 
'  which  he  advanced  in  the  interpretation  and  diffusion 
<  of  the  Holy  Scriptures.  The  evidence,  indeed,  which 
'  bears  upon  the  point  is  scanty,  and  only  sufficient,  it 
'  should  be  remembered,  to  afford  to  the  conclusions 
'  which  it  suggests,  a  presumption  of  their  truth.' 

Consistency  demands  that  the  Romanist  should  with- 
hold the  Scriptures  from  the  laity.  It  is  the  authority  of 
the  church — an  authority  made  infallible  for  that  pur- 
pose— which  is  to  determine  the  meaning  of  Scripture, 
not  the  judgment  of  private  persons.  It  is  of  the  essence 
of  such  a  system  that  the  sacred  books  should  be  regarded 
as  designed  for  the  hands  of  the  priesthood,  constituting 
in  this  case  the  church,  and  that  they  should  not  be 
designed  for  the  hands  of  the  people. 

Nevertheless,  it  has  been  very  widely  felt  among 
Romanists,  that  this  withholding  of  the  Scriptures  from 
the  laity  has  a  very  ugly  appearance.  Much  artifice, 
accordingly,  and  at  times  not  a  little  effrontery,  have 
been  resorted  to,  that  the  shaft  directed  against  them  from 
this  quarter  might  be  turned  aside. 

It  has  been  pretended,  for  example,  that  there  was 
nothing  really  novel  in  the  idea  of  Wycliffe,  when  he 


334  Wycliffe  and  the  English  Bible.  [chap.  x. 

contemplated  a  translation  of  the  whole  Bible  into  English, 
that  simple  laymen  might  read  it — that  there  were  good 
catholics  who  had  done  the  same  thing  before  him.  Even 
so  ingenuous  a  man  as  Sir  Thomas  More  took  this  ground. 
He  is  bold  enough  to  declare  that  the  whole  Bible  had 
been  translated  into  English  before  the  days  of  Wycliffe, 
and  that  he  had  himself  seen  such  translations, — copies 
which  he  describes  as  fair  and  old,  and  which  had  been 
seen  by  the  bishops  of  the  diocese.^  We  do  not  think 
Sir  Thomas  More  capable  of  uttering  a  falsehood, — and 
the  positiveness  with  which  he  speaks  on  this  point  has 
disposed  more  than  one  English  scholar  in  the  seven- 
teenth century  to  think  that  there  must  be  truth  in  this 
statement.  But  the  explanation  is  easy.  The  copies 
which  Sir  Thomas  More  saw,  were  no  doubt  copies  of 
the  translation  made  by  Wycliffe  and  his  followers ; 
some  of  which,  it  is  well  known,  were  in  possession 
of  the  prelates,  and  others,  in  the  sixteenth  century. 
Had  a  translation  prior  to  their  own  been  in  existence, 
the  Wyclifiites  would  surely  have  known  it,  and  would 
as  surely  have  appealed  to  it  in  defence  of  their  own 
policy.  But  nothing  can  be  more  clear  than  that  they  re- 
garded their  proceeding  in  this  matter  as  a  novelty  ;  as  a 


^  Dyalogues.  cvii.  cxi.  cxx.  Ed.  1530.  Ussher  De  Scripturis  de  sacris 
tiernaculis,  155.  Treatise  of  the  Corruptions  of  Scripture,  by  Thomas 
James,  30.  74.  ed.  1612.  Henry  Wharton  early  corrected  Ussher's 
mistake  on  this  point.  Specimens  of  Errors  in  the  History  of  the  Reforma- 
tion.  Ed.  1693.     Wycliffe's  Bible,  Pref.  xxi. 


A.D.  1382.]     Wycliffes  Translation  Condemned. 


335 


proceeding  that  would  be  so  regarded  by  the  ruling  clergy  ; 
and  that  great  opposition  would  be  made  to  it,  as  most  con- 
trary to  catholic  usage,  and  fraught  with  great  michiefs. 
Enough,  indeed,  was  said,  in  connexion  with  the  first 
broaching  of  this  purpose,  on  the  part  of  Wycliffe  and  his 
disciples,  to  foreshadow  the  hostility  which  would  thus 
be  called  forth.  There  is  a  passage  in  Knighton,  written 
not  long  after  the  death  of  Wycliffe,  which  may  be  taken 
as  decisive,  both  as  to  the  judgment  of  the  clergy  of 
those  times,  concerning  the  duty  of  withholding  the 
Scriptures  from  the  people,  and  as  to  the  part  taken  by 
Wycliffe  in  the  effort  made  to  place  them  in  the  hands 
of  the  people  in  their  own  tongue.  *  Christ,'  says  our  in- 
dignant ecclesiastic,  '  delivered  his  gospel  to  the  clergy 

*  and  doctors  of  the  church,  that  they  might  administer 
'  to  the  laity  and  to  weaker  persons,  according  to  the 
'  states  of  the  times,  and  the  wants  of  men.  But  this 
'  master  John  Wycliffe  translated  it  out  of  Latin  into 

*  English,  and  thus  laid  it  out  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.      In   this 

*  way  the  gospel-pearl  is  cast  abroad,  and  trodden 
'  under  foot  of  swine,  and  that  which  was  before  precious 
'  both  to  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  had  hitherto  been 
'  the  choice  gift  of  the  clergy  and  of  divines,  is  made  for 


336  Wy cliff e  and  the  English  Bible.         [chap.  x. 


'  ever  common  to  the  laity/  ^  Such  is  the  testimony  of 
Knighton  to  the  opinion  and  usage  of  his  age  on  this 
point.  Nothing,  in  his  view,  could  be  further  from  the 
thoughts  of  a  good  Catholic,  than  the  idea  of  giving  the 
Sacred  Scriptures  to  the  people  in  their  own  tongue.  To 
the  same  effect  is  the  decision  of  an  English  council  in 
1408,  with  Arundel,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  at  its 
head.  ^  The  translation  of  the  text  of  Holy  Scripture 
'  out  of  one  tongue  into  another,  is  a  dangerous  thing, 
'  as  St.  Jerome  testifies,  because  it  is  not  easy  to  render 
'  the  verse  in  all  respects  faithfully.  Therefore,  we  enact 
'  and  ordain,  that  no  one  henceforth  do,  by  ,his  own 
^  authority,  translate  any  text  of  Holy  Scripture  into  the 
'  English  tongue,  or  into  any  other,  by  way  of  book  or 
'  treatise  ;  nor  let  any  book  or  treatise  now  lately  com- 
'  posed  in  the  time  of  John  Wycliife  aforesaid,  or  since,  or 
'  hereafter  to  be  composed,  be  read,  in  whole  or  in  part, 
'  in  public  or  in  private,  under  pain  of  the  greater  ex- 
'  communication.'  ^     This  extract  needs  no  comment. 

On  a  review  of  all  the  available  evidence  on  this  sub- 
ject, we  are  warranted  in  believing  that  the  idea  of  trans- 

» . 

^  Knighton.     De  Eventibus.     2644. 
2  Wilkins,    Concilia,  III.   3l7.     The    spirit  of  this  enactment  was 
evidently  that  of  the  clergy  generally  in  the  life-time  of  WyclifFe. 
Hence,  he  describes  them,  as  asserting  it  to  be  '  heresy  to  speak  of  the 

*  Holy  Scriptures  in  English.'  But  this  he  interprets  as  '  a  condemnation 

*  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  first  gave  the  Scriptures  in  tongues  to  the 
'  Apostles^f  Christ,  as  it  is  written,  that  they  might  speak  the  word 

*  in  all  languages,  that  were  ordained  of  God  under  heaven.* — Wicket- 


AD.  1.382.]     Wyclife's  Translation  a  Novelty.  337 

lating  the  Bible  into  the  English  language  originated 
with  the  mind  of  Wycliffe,  and  that  to  the  men  of  his 
time  it  was  in  two  respects  a  strictly  novel  conception — 
first,  as  it  embraced  a  literal  translation  of  the  entire 
Bible,  nothing  more,  nothing  less  ;  and  second,  as  it 
contemplated  making  this  translation  accessible  to  the 
people,  without  distinction,  and  to  the  utmost  extent 
possible.  The  object  contemplated  was  the  Bible — the 
Bible  in  its  completeness,  and  without  note  or  comment; 
and  the  Bible  to  be  in  every  mans  hands,  as  every  mans 
guide.  This  conception,  simple  as  it  may  appear  to  us, 
was  a  large,  a  sublime  conception,  for  any  man  to  rise 
to,  and  to  hold  by,  in  such  times. 

But  the  object  thus  presented  to  the  minds  of  men, 
was  not  one  to  be  realized  suddenly.  The  disciples 
of  Wycliffe,  indeed,  appear  to  have  entered  at  once  into 
his  views  in  relation  to  it,  and  the  idea  that  the  scrip- 
tures should  be  thus  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  people, 
once  pronounced,  seems  to  have  spread  with  amazing 
rapidity.  The  thought  was  no  sooner  in  motion,  than 
it  lodged  itself  in  a  multitude  of  minds,  some  regard- 
ing it  as  pregnant  with  all  good,  others  being  no  less 
alive  to  it  as  including,  in  their  view,  the  seeds  of  every 
kind  of  evil.  One  of  the  Reformer's  short  treatises,  pub- 
lished while  the  discussions  thus  called  forth  were  at 
their  height,  and  while  the  work  of  translation  was  still  in 
progress,  will  suffice  to  indicate  the  style  in  which  the  dis- 
putants on  either  side  endeavoured  to  sustain  their  cause. 


838 


Wy cliff e  and  the  English  Bible.         [chap.  x. 


The  treatise  to  which  we  refer,  bears  this  plain-spoken 

title.     'How  Antichrist  and  his  Clerks  travail  to  destroy 

Holy  Writ,  and  to  make  Christian  men  unstable  in  the 

■  faith,  and  to  set  their  ground  in  devils  of  hell.'  ^     The 

piece  begins  thus  : — 'As  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  ordained 

to  make  his  gospel  sadly  known,  and  maintained  against 

heretics,  and  men  out  of  belief,  by  the  writings  of  the 

four  Evangelists,  so  the  devil   casteth,  by  Antichrist 

and  his  worldly  false  clerks,  to  destroy  Holy  Writ,  and 

the  belief  of  Christian  men,  by   four  cursed  ways,  or 

false  reasonings.' 

These  four  ways  are — '  First,  that  the  church  is  of  more 
authority  and  more  credence  than  any  gospel.  Secondly, 
that  St.  Augustine  saith  he  would  not  believe  in  the 
gospel,  but  if  the  church  taught  him  so.  Thirdly,  that 
no  man  now  alive  knows  which  is  the  gospel,  but  if  it 
be  by  approving  of  the  Church.  And  fourthly,  if  men 
say  that  they  believe  that  this  is  the  gospel  of  Matthew, 
or  John,  they  ask — Why  believest  thou  that  this  is  the 
gospel,  since,  whosoever  believeth  this  hath  no  cause, 
except  that  the  church  confirmeth  it,  and  teacheth  it. 
*  First,  they  say  that  Nicodemus,  and  many  more,  wrote 
the  Gospel  of  Christ's  life  and  his  teaching,  and  the 
church  put  them  away,  and  approved  these  four  gospels 
of  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke  and  John.  Then  the  church 
might  as  well  have  put  out  these  four  gospels,  and  have 


1  MS.  C.  C.  C.  Cambridge. 


A.  D.  1^82.]     Wyclijfes  Defence  of  his  Translation.       S39 

*  approved  the  other,  since  it  was  in  the  free-will  and  power 
'  of  the  church  to  approve  and  condemn  which  they  would, 
'  and  to  approve  and  accept  what  they  liked,  and  therefore, 
'  men  should  believe  more  to  the  church  than  to  any  gospel.' 

WyclifFe  says  in  reply — First,  these  forecasting  heretics 
'  understand  by  the  church,  the  Pope  of  Rome  and  his 
'  cardinals,  and  the  multitudes  of  worldly  clerks,  assenting 
'  to  his  simony  and  worldly  lordships,  above  the  kings  and 
'  emperors  of  the  world.     For  else  it  were  not  to  their 

*  purpose  thus  to  magnify  the  church.  True  men,  then, 
^  say,  that  the  clergy  which  first  was,  knowing  men,  and 
'  holy  of  life,  were  stirred  by  the  Holy  Ghost  to  take  these 
'  gospels,  and  to  charge  not  Christian  people  with  more, 
'  since  these  are  enough  and  profitable  to  the  full,  and 
'  these  four  witnesses  Avere  accepted  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
^  for  many  reasons  which  we  may  not  now  tell/ 

But  the  Divine  illumination,  which  enabled  the  clergy 
in  those  times  thus  to  distinguish  between  the  genuine 
records  of  inspiration,,  and  all  spurious  writings,  is  said 
to  have  been  sadly  wanting  in  the  clergy  of  the  ages 
which  have  followed.  Speaking  of  the  contemporary 
priesthood,  Wycliffe  observes,  '  Jesus  Christ  saith  his 
'  Grospel  is  an  everlasting  testament,  but  these  would 
'  fordon    (undo — destroy)   it  with  a  foul  blast  from  the 

*  mouth  of  Antichrist.  Lord !  how  dare  Christian  men 
'  maintain  such  heretics  against  God's  teaching,  and  the 

*  peace  of  Christian  people  ?     Such  heretics  are  full  un- 

'  able  to  rule  lords  and  commons,  to  shrift  in  preaching 

z  2 


840  Wycliffe  and,  the  English  Bible.         [chap.  x. 

'  and  praying,  and  to  do  other  points  concerning  their 

*  souls'  health,   for  they  destroy  them  in  respect  to  faith 

*  and  good  life,  that  their  own  pride,  covetousness,  and 

*  lusts  may  be  borne  up,  and  draw  all  men  to  hell  that 
'  are  ruled  by  such  confessors,  false  preachers,  and  false 
'  counsellors/ 

Having  thus  dismissed  the  thought  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
as  dwelling  with  such  men,  WycliiFe  then  proceeds  to 
what  he  describes  as  the  **  Second  Wheel  ''  in  the  ma- 
chine of  this  adversary.  '  They  bear,'  he  writes,  '  upon 
'  Austin,  that  he  saith  he  would  not  believe  in  the  Gos- 
'  pel,  but  if  the  church  saith  it  is  true.  We  then  answer, 
'  that  Austin  saith  to  this  intent,  that  he  would  not  be- 

*  lieve  thereto,  unless  Christ,  head  of  holy  church,  and 
'  Apostles  of  Christ,   and,  saints  now  in  heaven,  which  are 

*  in  truth,  holy  church,  said  and  approved  the  Gospel. 
'  And  this  understanding  is  full  true,  and  according  to 

*  the  letter  of  Austin  ;  but  they  understand  it  thus,  that 
'  unless  the   cursed  multitude   of  worldly  clerks  approve 

*  this  for  the  Gospel,  Austin  would  not  believe  to  the 
'  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ.'  But  to  make  the  church  con- 
sist, after  this  manner,  of  a  degenerate  priesthood,  to  the 
exclusion  of  the  body  of  the  faithful,  and  then  to  reason 
about  church  authority  from  a  church  so  constituted,  is 
said  to  be  to  make  everything  valuable  in  the  religion  of 
Christ  depend  on  approval  from  men  who  have  shown 
themselves  its  enemies — '  but  what  heresy,'  he  exclaims, 
'  might  sooner  destroy  the  belief  of  Christian  men  ?    And 


A.D.  1382.]      Wycliffe's  Defence  of  his  Translation.        341 

'  God  forbid  that  Austin  should  be  found  in  poisonous 
'  heresy.     It  is  accursed  falsehood,  therefore,  to  slander 

*  Austin  with  this  accursed  error,  by  the  name  of  this 

*  holy  doctor  colouring  their  own  false  understanding 
'  and  heresy.     For  by   this   cursed    wheel,    Antichrist's 

*  clerks  condemn  the   faith  of  Christian  men,  and  the 

*  commandments  of  God,  and  points  of  charity,  and  bring 

*  in  their  own  wayward  laws.     Therefore  Christian  men 

*  should  stand  to  the  death  for  the  moAntenance  of  Christ's 
'  Gospel,  and  the  true  understanding  thereof  obtained  by 
'  holy  life,  and  great  study,  and  not  set  their  faith  nor 
'  trust  in  sinful  prelates,  and  their  accursed  clerks,  nor  in 

*  their  understanding  thereof 

'  See  you,'  the  Reformer  proceeds  to  say,  '  the  third 
'  wheel  of  Satan's  chair.  They  say  that  no  man  can 
^  know  what  is  the  Gospel,  but  by  the  approving  and 

*  confirming  of  the  church.     But  true  men  say  that  to 

*  their  understanding  this  is  full  of  falsehood.  For 
'  Christian  men  have  certainty  of  belief  by  the  gracious 

*  gift  of  Jesus  Christ,  that  the  truth  taught  by  Christ 
'  and  his  Apostles  is  the  Gospel,  though  all  the  clerks  of 
'  Antichrist  say  never  so  fast  the  contrary,  and  require 
'  men  to  believe  the  contrary,  on  pain  of  cursing,  prison- 
'  ing,  and  burning.  And  this  belief  is  not  founded  on 
'  the  pope  and  his  cardinals,  for  then  it  might  fail  and  be 
'  undone,  as  they  fail  and  sometimes  be  destroyed  ;  but 
'  on  Jesus  Christ,  God  and  Man,  and,  on  holy  Trinity, 
'  and  so  it  may  never  fail,  except  from  his  default  who 


342  Wycliffe  and  the  English  Bible.         [chap.  x. 

should  not  love  God  and  serve  him.  For  Almighty  God 
and  his  truths,  are  the  foundation  of  the  faith  of  Chris- 
tian men  ;  and  as  St.  Paul  saith,  other  foundation  may 
no  man  set,  besides  that  which  is  set,  that  is  Jesus  Christ. 
Therefore,  though  Antichrist  and  all  his  accursed  clerks 
be  buried  deep  in  hell  for  their  accursed  simony  and 
pride,  and  other  sins,  yet  the  Christian's  faith  faileth 
not,  and  plainly  because  they  are  not  the  ground  thereof, 
but  Jesus  Christ  is  the  ground  thereof.  For  he  is  our 
God,  and  our  best  master,  and  ready  to  teach  true  men 
all  things  profitable  and  needful  for  their  souls.' 
'  The  fourth  wheel  of  BeliaUs  cart  is  this, — If  Christian 
men  say  they  know  by  belief  that  this  is  Christ's  Gos- 
pel, these  malicious  heretics  ask — Why  they  believe 
that  this  is  Gospel  ?  But  true  men  ask  of  them  again, 
why  they  believe  that  God  is  God,  and  if  they  tell 
a  sufficient  reason,  we  can  tell  as  good  a  reason  why 
we  believe  that  this  is  Christ's  Gospel.  But  they 
say,  whatever  the  prelates  teach,  teach  openly,  and  main- 
tain stedfastly,  were  of  as  great  authority,  or  more,  than 
is  Christ's  Gospel,  and  so  they  would  destroy  Holy  "Writ 
and  Christian  faith,  and  maintain  that  whatever  they  do 
is  no  sin.  But  Christian  men  take  their  faith  of  God 
by  his  gracious  gift,  when  he  giveth  to  them  knowledge 
and  understanding  of  truths  needful  to  save  men's 
souls  by  grace,  to  assent  in  their  hearts  to  such  truths. 
And  this  men  call  faith,  and  of  this  faith  Christian  men 
are  more  certain  than  any  man  is  of   mere  worldly 


A.D.  1382.]     Wycliffe's  Defence  of  his  Translation.        343 

*  things  by  any  bodily  wit — (outward  sense.)  And,  there- 
'  fore,   Christ  reproveth  most  defect  of  belief,  both  in  the 

*  Jews  and  his  disciples,  and  therefore  Christ's  apostles 
^  prayed  most  to  have  stableness  in  the  faith,  for  it  is 
'  impossible  that  any  man  can  please  God  without  faith. 
'  And  so  Christ  prayed  principally  that  the  faith  of 
'  Peter,  and  of  the  other  disciples,  might  not  fail  for  ever. 

*  And  God's  law  telleth  how  by  faith  saints  wrought  all 
'  the  great  wonders  and  miracles  that  they  did.     And  if 

*  Antichrist  here  say  that  each  man  may  feign  that  he 
'  has  a  right  faith,  and  a  good  understanding  of  Holy 
'  Writ,  when  he  is  in  error — let  a  man  seek  in  all  things 
'  truly  the  honour  of  God,  and  live  justly  to  God  and  man, 

*  and  God  will  not  fail  to  him  in  anything  that  is  needful 
'  to  him,  neither   in  faith,  nor  in  understanding,  nor  in 

*  answer  against  his  enemies.* 

This  piece  concludes  thus  : — '  God  Almighty  streng- 
'  then  his  little  flock  against  Antichrist,  to  seek  truly 
'  the  honour  of  Christ  and  the  salvation  of  men's  souls, 
'  to  despise  the  feigned  power  of  Antichrist,  and  willingly 
'  and  joyfully  to  suffer  reproof  in  the  world  for  the  name 
'  of  Jesus  Christ  and  his  Gospel,  to  give  good  example 
'  to  others  to  follow,  and  to  conquer  the  high  bliss  of 

*  heaven  by  glorious  martyrdom  as  other  saints  did  be- 
'  fore  !  Jesus,  for  thine  endless  might,  endless  wisdom, 
'  endless  goodness  and  charity,  grant  to  us  sinful  wretches 

*  this  love  !     Amen  ! ' 

So  did  some  men  oppose  themselves  to  the  notion  of 


844  Wycliffe  and  the  English  Bible.        [chap.  x. 

seeking  truth  from  the  Scriptures  in  English,  in  place  of 
seeking  it  in  the  decisions  of  the  church  ;  and  in  this 
manner  did  Wycliffe  prepare  his  disciples  to  meet  assaults 
in  such  forms.  It  will  be  seen  from  the  preceding  extracts, 
that  the  arguments  common  to  the  disputants  in  this 
controversy  since  the  age  of  Luther,  were  in  substance 
anticipated  in  the  age  of  Wycliffe.  The  following  pas- 
sage gives  a  portion  of  this  argument,  as  relating  to 
the  better  side,  with  admirable  directness.  The  treatise 
from  which  this  extract  is  taken,  was  written  in  English 
and  in  Latin ;  the  English  appears  to  have  perished,  we 
give  a  translation  from  the  Latin. 

'  Those  heretics  are  not  to  be  heard,  who  imagine  that 
'  temporal  lords  should  not  be  allowed  to  possess  the  law 
'  of  God,  but  that  it   is  sufficient  for  them   that   they 

*  know  what  may  be  learnt  concerning  it  from  the  lips 
'  of  their  priests  and  prelates.' 

*  As  the  faith  of  the  church  is  contained  in  the  Scrip- 
'  tures,  the  more  these  are  known  in  their  true  meaning 

*  the  better ;  and  inasmuch  as  secular  men  should  as- 
'  suredly  understand  the  faith  they  profess,  that  faith 
'  should  be  taught  them  in  whatever  language  may  be 
'  best  known  to  them.     Forasmuch,  also,  as  the  doctrines 

*  of  our  faith  are  more  clearly  and  exactly  expressed  in 
'  the  Scriptures,  than  they  may  probably  be  by  priests  ; 

*  seeing,  if  I  may  so  speak,  that  many  prelates  are  but 
'  too  ignorant  of  Holy  Scripture,  while  others  conceal 
'  many  parts  of  it ;    and  as  the   verbal   instructions   of 


A.D.  1382.]     Wy cliff es  Defence  of  his  Translation,         345 

'  priests  have  many  other  defects ;  the  conclusion  is 
'  abundantly  manifest,  that  believers  should  ascertain 
'  for  themselves  what  are  the  true  matters  of  their  faith, 
'  by  having  the  Scriptures  in  a  language  which  they  fully 

*  understand.  For  the  laws  made  by  prelates  are  not  to 
'  be  received  as  matters  of  faith,  nor  are  we  to  confide  in 
'  their  public  instructions,  nor  in  any  of  their  words, 
'  but  as  they  are  founded  on  Holy  Writ, — since  according 
'  to  the  doctrine  of  Augustine,  the  Scriptures  contain 
'  the  whole  truth,  and  this  translation  of  them  into  Eng- 

*  lish  should  therefore  do  at  least  this  good — viz.,  placing 

*  bishops  and  priests  above  suspicion  as  to  the  parts  of  it 

*  which  they  profess  to  explain.  Other  means,  such  as 
'  the  friars,  prelates,  the  pope,  may  all  prove  defective ; 
'  and  to  provide  against  this,  Christ  and  his  Apostles 
'  evangelized  the  greater  portion  of  the  world,  by  mak- 

*  ing  known  the  Scriptures  to  the  people  in  their  own 

*  language.  To  this  end,  indeed,  did  the  Holy  Spirit 
'  endow  them  with  the  knowledge  of  tongues.  Why  then 
'^  should  not  the  living  disciples  of  Christ  do  in  this  res- 
'  pect  as  they  did  ?  ^ 

1  Doctrina  Christiana,  cited  by  Lewis,  LifeoffViclif,  c.  v.  Walden,  a 
well-known  antagonist  of  WyclifFe,  maintained,  in  opposition  to  this 
doctrine  of  the  Reformer,  that  *  the  decrees  of  bishops  in  the  church, 

*  are  of  greatei*  weight  and  dignity  than  the  authority  of  scripture.' 
Walden's  Doc.  Trial,  lib.  II.  c.  21.  The  last  article  in  the  eighteen 
selected  by  Woodford,  in  his  *  adversus  Jokannem  fViclefum.*  (Brown 
Fasciculus  Rerum,  1. 257 — 265.)  is  on  this  question — the  scriptures,  versus 
the  clergy,  in  which  Wycliffe  is  made  to  state  his  doctrine  as  in  the  ex- 
tracts given  above,  and  various  points  are  worked  out  in  reply.  On  all 


346  Wycliffe  and  the  English  Bible.         [chap.  x. 

On  such  grounds  did  Wycliife  commit  himself  to  his 
labours  as  a  translator  of  the  Scriptures,  and  to  the  hos- 
tilities and  perils  to  which  those  labours  would  expose 
him.  In  relation  to  this  portion  of  his  history  there  are 
three  questions  which  present  themselves  as  of  much  in- 
terest— first,  when  did  Wycliffe  resolve  on  attempting 
this  great  work  ;  secondly,  in  what  degree  did  he  live  to 
see  it  accomplished ;  and  thirdly,  had  he  coadjutors  in 
this  labour,  and  if  so,  who  were  they  ? 

With  regard  to  the  first  of  these  questions,  it  will  be 
remembered  that  in  1377  the  papal  commissioners  sum- 
moned Wycliffe  to  appear  before  them  at  Lambeth,  to 
answer  upon  a  series  of  charges  then  preferred  against 
him.  We  are  justified  in  supposing  that  the  eighteen 
'  conclusions, '  as  they  are  called,  which  were  then  pro- 
duced, embraced  all  the  main  points  of  obnoxious  opinion 
that  had  been  broached  by  the  Reformer  up  to  that  time. 


these  points  the  writer  shews  much  zeaJ,  but  no  great  discrimination. 
Wycliffe  never  maintained  that  men  should  believe  nothing,  or  do 
nothing,  for  which  a  direct  sanction  could  not  be  found  in  scripture. 
He  simply  insisted  that  no  opinion  or  usage  should  be  accounted  as 
Christian,  that  could  not  be  shewn  to  be  consistent  with  the  letter 
or  spirit  of  the  Christian  Scriptures.  But  to  such  polemics  as  Walden 
and  Woodford,  it  is  often  convenient  to  understand  him  as  saying  more 
than  this — that  is,  as  pushing  his  principle  so  far  as  to  reduce  it  to  au 
absurdity.  The  substance  of  WyclifFe's  maxim  may  be  said  to  be, 
that  the  certainties  of  revelation  were  not  to  be  disturbed  by  the 
imcertainties  of  tradition;  and  that  the  interpretation  of  the  Scriptures 
by  the  clergy,  however  helpful  that  might  be  to  the  layman,  should 
never  be  to  him  in  the  place  of  an  interpretation  of  the  Scriptures  for 
himself. 


A.D.  1382.]  Date  of  the  Translation.  347 

The  nature  of  some  of  these  charges  demonstrates,  that 
if  any  matter  of  graver  import  could  have  been  attri- 
buted to  the  accused,  the  disposition  was  not  wanting  to 
bring  it  forward,  and  to  give  it  due  prominence.  Now 
it  is  observable  that  of  two  matters,  about  which  so  much 
is  said  not  long  afterwards,  nothing  is  said  then.  No- 
thing was  then  said  as  to  his  having  broached  any  novel 
doctrine  about  the  Eucharist ;  nor  as  to  his  having 
meditated  so  grave  an  innovation  as  that  of  giving  the 
Scriptures  to  his  countrymen  in  their  own  language. 
These  omissions  are  significant.  It  is  further  observable, 
that  in  the  discussions  which  took  place  in  Oxford  in 
1381,  and  in  the  following  year,  about  the  Eucharist,  and 
which  led  to  the  retirement  of  the  Reformer  from  the 
University,  no  mention  is  made  of  any  such  intention  or 
idea  in  relation  to  the  Scriptures.  What  is  more,  in  his 
appeal  from  the  chancellor  to  the  king  and  parliament, 
published  afterwards,  in  which  he  is  occupied  with  other 
matters  of  complaint  against  the  clergy,  much  more  than 
with  a  defence  of  his  doctrine  on  the  Eucharist,  Wycliffe 
does  not  place  among  the  prominent  articles  there  enu- 
merated, the  withholding  of  the  Scriptures  in  the  mother 
tongue  from  the  laity.  We  cannot  avoid  thinking  that 
this  he  would  have  done,  had  that  conception  been  as 
matured  and  fixed  in  his  mind  then,  as  we  know  it  to 
have  been  only  a  few  months  later.  Much  stern  truth, 
such  as  the  Reformer  must  have  known  would  be  most 
unwelcome  in  many  quarters,  was  sent    forth  in   that 


348  Wy cliff e  and  the  English  Bible.         [chap.  x. 

document,  but  this  idea  of  translating  the  Bible  into 
English  was  not  there,  nor  anything  tending  specially  in 
that  direction.  Even  in  the  proceedings  instituted  by 
Courtney,  against  the  holders  of  the  doctrines  of  the 
Reformer,  so  late  as  the  spring  of  1 382,  in  the  ^wq  and 
twenty  propositions  condemned  at  that  time  by  the  synod 
in  the  Grey  Friars  Church,  as  being  either  heretical  or 
erroneous,  we  find  no  expressions  indicating  that  the 
obnoxious  teachers  were  contemplating  a  translation  of 
the  Scriptures  into  the  vernacular  language.  Hereford, 
Ashton,  Reppingdon,  and  others,  are  made  to  appear  at 
several  meetings  of  this  synod  ;  a  full  record  of  the  pro- 
ceedings has  been  preserved;  but  amidst  the  different 
investigations  prosecuted,  we  find  no  reference  to  any 
meditated  translation  of  the  scriptures  into  English,  as 
among  the  depraved  purposes  of  these  delinquents.  This 
negative  evidence  is  to  me,  not  only  forcible,  but  decisive, 
as  to  the  late — comparatively  the  very  late  period,  at 
which  the  Reformer  gave  himself  to  this  great  work.^ 


*  It  is  not  every  passage  in  which  Wycliffe  speaks  of  the  importance 
of  imparting  scriptural  knowledge  to  the  people  in  their  own  tongue, 
that  he  is  to  be  understood  as  saying  that  the  whole  Bible  should  be 
given  to  the  laity  in  that  language.  Where  he  does  speak  explicitly  on 
this  point,  it  will  be  found,  we  think,  that  such  expressions  occur  in 
compositions  of  a  late  date.  He  often  expressed  himself  strongly  in 
this  direction,  long  before  he  expressed  himself  distinctly  to  this  effect. 
The  editors  of  the  Wycliffe  Bible  have  not,  perhaps,  borne  this  distinc- 
tion sufficiently  in  mind,  in  respect  to  some  extracts  they  have  given 
from  the  real  or  supposed  writings  of  the  Reformer.     Pref.  viii— xv. 


A.D.  1882.]  Date  of  the  Translation.  349 

In  1381  WycliiFe  is  silenced  in  Oxford.  He  then 
retires  to  Lutterworth — not  to  be  inactive,  but  evidently 
to  devise  new  methods  of  prosecuting  the  work  of  refor- 
mation. One  result  we  see,  in  the  almost  incredible 
number  of  Tracts  and  Treatises  in  English,  issued  by 
him  during  the  next  three  years.  Had  he  been  suffered 
to  continue  his  lectures  among  the  students  at  Oxford, 
it  is  probable  that  this  eminently  popular  department  of 
his  labours  would  not  have  filled  by  any  means  so  large 
a  space.  The  circumstances  which  disposed  him  to 
multiply  these  appeals  to  the  people  in  their  own  lan- 
guage, appear  to  have  led  him,   and  by  a  very  natural 


The  second  tract  in  the  MS.  volume  in  the  University  Library,  Cam- 
bridge, is,  we  doubt  not,  from  the  pen  of  Wycliffe,  and  was  prefixed  to 
his  translation  of  Clement  Lanthony's  Harmony  of  the  Gospels,  either 
at  the  time  when  the  translation  was  made,  or  subsequently.  In  this 
piece  he  speaks  forcibly  on  the  subject  now  before  us.     '  Covetous 

*  clerks  of  this  world  reply  and  say,  that  laymen  be  liable  soon  to  err, 

*  and  therefore  they  should  not  dispute  of  the  Christian  faith.  Alas  ! 
'  alas !  what  cruelty  is  this,  to  take  away  all  bodily  meat  from  a 
'  whole  realm,  because  a  few  fools  are  inclined  to  be  gluttons,  and  do 
'  harm  to  themselves  and  other  men,  by  this  meat  taken  immoderately. 
'  As  readily  may  a  proud  priest  err  against  the  Gospel  written  in  Latin, 

*  as  a  simple  layman  may  err  against  the  Gospel  written  in  English. 
'  *  *  *  But  worldly  clerks  cry  that  Holy  Writ  in  English,  will  put 
'  Christian  men  at  strife,  and  subjects  in  rebellion  against  their  sove- 
'  reigns,  and  therefore  it  shall  not  be  suffered  among  laymen.  Alas !  how 

*  may  they  more  openly  slander  God,  the  author  of  peace,  and  his  holy 

*  law,  fully  teaching  meekness,  patience,  and  charity.'  MS.  Harl. 
6333,  cited  in  Wycliffe's  Bible.  Pref.  xv.  This  tract  contains  nothing 
in  itself  to  enable  us  to  determine  its  date  ;  it  may  be  taken  as  show- 
ing how  Wycliffe  had  to  fight  his  way  towards  his  ultimate  effort  as  a 
translator  of  the  Bible. 


350  Wy cliff e  and  the  English  Bible.         [chap.  x. 

process  of  thought,  to  the  determination  to  secure  a  trans- 
lation of  the  Bible  itself  into  English.  In  every  stage  of 
his  efforts,  he  had  given  evidence  enough  of  his  disre- 
gard of  Church  authority,  as  commonly  viewed  in  his 
time,  and  also  of  his  conviction  that  the  plain  teachings  of 
Scripture,  concerning  which  every  intelligent  and  well- 
disposed  man  should  be  deemed  a  competent  judge,  are, 
in  truth,  the  one  ultimate  authority  to  be  acknowledged 
in  matters  of  religion.  In  consonance  with  this  maxim 
— always  implied,  if  not  expressed,  even  in  his  earliest 
writings,  and  to  which  each  new  discussion  seemed  to 
give  greater  clearness  and  certainty — he  endeavoured,  in 
this  later  period  of  his  life,  to  give  his  countrymen  a 
fuller  expression  of  scripture  truth  in  their  own  tongue  ; 
and  with  this  more  resolute  purpose  to  make  the  people 
reformers  through  their  own  language,  came  the  purpose 
to  give  them  the  entire  Bible  in  that  language. 

Among  Wycliffe's  manuscript  sermons,  there  is  one  in 
which  he  speaks  of  '  a  great  bishop  of  England '  as  being 
deeply  incensed  '  because  Godfs  law  is  written  in  English 

*  to  lewd  men  (laymen).*  The  preacher  adds  '  He  pursueth 
^  a  certain  priest,  because  he  writeth  to  men  this  English, 

*  and  summoneth  him,  and  traveleth  him,  so  that  it  is 

*  hard  for  him  to  bear  it.  And  thus  he  pursueth  another 
'  priest,  by  the  help  of  Pharisees,  (Monks  and  Friars) 
'■  because  he  preacheth  Christ's  gospel  freely,  and  with- 
'  out  fables.  Oh  !  men  who  are  on  Christ's  behalf,  help 
'  ye  now  against  Antichrist,  for  the  perilous  times  are 


A.  D.  1382.]  Date  of  the  Translation.  351 

'  come  which  Christ  and  Paul  foretold  /  ^  Here  the 
'  great  bishop'  alluded  to,  is  evidently  Courtney,  and  the 
two  priests  mentioned  must  have  been  Hereford  and 
Ashton.  The  latter  we  have  seen  to  have  been  an  ear- 
nest disciple  of  Wycliffe,  and  zealous  and  effective  as  a 
preacher.  But  if  we  are  correct  in  this  interpretation — 
and  the  passage  does  not  seem  susceptible  of  any  other — 
it  is  clear  that  even  in  the  absence  of  any  article  to  that 
effect  in  the  charges  urged  against  Hereford  and  Ashton 
in  1382,  Wycliffe  had  the  impression  that  the  zeal  of 
Courtney  had  been  stimulated  in  the  prosecutions  of 
that  year,  from  some  knowledge,  or  suspicion,  of  an  inten- 
tion to  put  '  Oodfs  law,  written  in  English,'  in  the  hands 
of  the  laity.  It  shows  further,  that  Wycliffe  knew  Here- 
ford to  have  been  engaged  in  this  labour  at  that  time. 

On  this  first  question — the  question  as  to  when 
Wycliffe  first  became  possessed  with  the  idea  of  securing 
a  translation  of  the  Scriptures  into  English,  we  had  hoped 
to  derive  some  assistance  from  the  labours  of  the  learned 
editors  of  Wycliffe's  Bible  ;  but  to  this  point  they  have 
brought  no  new  light.  It  is  something,  however,  to  find 
that  researches  so  extended,  and  so  carefully  conducted, 
have  tended  to  confirm  our  own  view  in  this  particular, 


'  MS.  Horn.  Bib.  Reg.  British  Museum.  MS.  Magd.  Coll.  Cambr. 
Pepys,  2616.  p.  192.  C.  C.  C  Cambr.  cccxxxvi.  p.  52.  The  above  ex- 
tract is  from  the  first  of  these  manuscripts,  and  first  printed  in  the 
Life  and  Opinions  of  Wycliffe  ;  the  extract  given  in  the  Wycliffe  Bible 
is  from  the  manuscript  in  Magd.  Coll.  Cambr. 


352  Wycliffe  and  the  English  Bible.        [chap.  x. 

as  given  to  the  public  before  those  researches  were  con- 
templated. Our  impression  then  was,  that  the  thought 
had  certainly  not  been  broached  publicly  by  Wycliffe 
earlier  than  the  year  1378;  our  present  impression, 
as  the  result  of  further  examination  and  reflection  is, 
that  the  thought  did  not  become  a  purpose  earlier  than 
the  year  in  which  the  Reformer  withdrew  from  Oxford — 
the  year  1381.  We  shall  see  in  another  place,  that  many 
of  his  writings  published  after  his  retirement  from  Oxford 
contain  allusions  to  this  subject,  while  nothing  definite  on 
this  point  is  found  in  any  of  his  productions  belonging 
clearly  to  an  earlier  period.  When  once  his  intention  in 
this  matter  became  known,  his  followers  concurred  in  it 
so  warmly,  and  his  enemies  began  to  look  upon  it  with  so 
much  resentment,  that  the  idea  soon  became  notorious, 
and  would  no  doubt  have  so  become  much  sooner,  had 
the  announcement  of  it  been  sooner  made. 

On  the  second  question  —did  Wycliffe  live  to  see  this 
great  work  completed — the  evidence  before  us  may  be 
taken  as  decisive.  In  a  well-known  '  Prologue,'  prefixed 
to  some  manuscripts  of  the  English  Bible,  and  which 
some  suppose  to  have  been  written  in  1395,  but  which 
others,  on  better  evidence,  regard  as  written  in  1388,  not 
four  years  subsequent  to  the  death  of  Wycliffe,  mention 
is  distinctly  made,  of  ^  the  Bible  of  late  translated,'  and 
reasons  are  assigned  at  large,  for  subjecting  the  transla- 
tion so  made,  to  a  careful  revision. 

It  will  hardly  be  supposed  that  a  less  space  than  four 


A.D.  1382.]      How  the  Translation  was  accomplished.    353 

years  would  intervene  between  the  completing  of  the  first 
version,  and  the  elaborate  preparation  of  a  second.  It 
will  be  remembered,  moreover,  that  the  canon  against 
translating  the  ^  text  of  scripture  into  the  English  tongue,' 
which  was  adopted  by  the  synod  over  which  Archbishop 
Arundel  presided,  pointed  expressly  to  '  the  time  of  John 
Wycliffe/  as  the  time  with  which  innovation  in  this 
shape  was  especially  connected.  Comparison  of  the 
various  manuscripts  of  the  translations  made  about  this 
time,  shows,  beyond  doubt,  that  there  was  an  earlier  and 
a  later  translation,  each  with  characteristics  of  its  own. 
If  there  be  any  difficulty  here,  it  is  in  supposing  that 
the  first  of  these  versions  did  not  precede  the  second  by 
more  than  four  years,  rather  than  within  a  less  space. 
On  the  whole,  both  documents  and  tradition  may  be 
said  to  attest,  with  sufficient  clearness,  that  the  Reformer 
lived  to  see  his  wishes  in  this  respect  accomplished. 

Concerning  the  manner  in  which  this  idea  was  realized, 
we  cannot  do  better  than  avail  ourselves  of  the  state- 
ment given  by  the  editors  of  the  Wycliffe  Bible,  as  now 
printed.  Speaking  of  the  various  attempts  of  this  nature 
which  had  preceded  the  effi>rt  of  our  Reformer,  these 
gentlemen  say — 

'  By,  the  several  productions  which  have  been  noticed, 
'  and  probably  by  others  of  a  like  kind  now  lost,  the  way 

*  was  prepared  for  a  more  complete  and  correct  version 

*  of  the  Holy  Scriptures.     The  New  Testament  was  natu- 

*  rally  the  first  object.     The  text  of  the  gospels  was  ex- 

2  A 


354  Wy cliff e  and  the  English  Bible.         [chap.  x. 


tracted  from  the  commentary  upon  them  by  Wycliife, 
and  to  these  were  added  the  Epistles,  the  Acts  and  the 
Apocalypse,  all  now  translated  anew.  This  translation 
might  probably  be  the  work  of  WyclifFe  himself;  at 
least  the  similarity  of  style  between  the  Gospels  and 
the  other  parts,  favours  the  supposition.  Prologues 
were  prefixed  to  the  several  books,  agreeing  with  those 
commonly  found  in  Latin  manuscripts  of  the  fourteenth 
century.  It  seems  questionable,  whether  the  prologues 
were  translated  by  the  same  hand  as  the  text :  and  if 
they  were  added  subsequently,  it  would  account  for  the 
circumstance  of  their  being  wanting  in  several  of  the 
copies.  Short  verbal  glosses  are  frequently  introduced 
into  the  text. 
'  Probably  while  the  New  Testament  was  in  progress, 
or  within  a  short  time  of  its  completion,  the  Old  Tes- 
tament was  taken  in  hand  by  one  of  Wycliffe's  coadju- 
tors. The  original  copy  of  the  translator  is  still  extant 
in  the  Bodleian  Library.  It  is  corrected  throughout  by 
a  contemporary  hand.  A  second  copy  also  in  the 
Bodleian  Library,  and  transcribed  from  the  former  pre- 
viously to  its  correction,  has  a  note  at  the  end,  assigning 
the  translation  to  Nicholas  de  Hereford.  This  note  was 
evidently  made  not  very  long  after  the  manuscript  was 
written  ;  and  there  need  be  no  hesitation  in  giving  full 
credence  to  its  statement.  It  is  remarkable,  that  both 
these  copies  end  abruptly  in  the  book  of  Baruch,  break- 
ing off  in  the  middle  of  a  sentence.     It  may  thence  be 


A.D.  1382.]      How  the  Translation  was  accomplished.    355 


inferred,  that  the  writer  was  suddenly  stopped  in  the 
execution  of  his  work,  nor  is  it  unreasonable  to  conjec- 
ture further,  that  the  cause  of  the  interruption  was  the 
summons  which  Hereford  received  to  appear  before  the 
synod  in  1382.  Soon  after  that  event  he  left  England, 
and  was  absent  for  some  time.  The  translation  itself 
aiFords  proof,  that  it  was  completed  by  a  different  hand, 
and  not  improbably  by  Wycliffe  himself.  It  comprises, 
besides  the  canonical  books,  all  those  commonly  reckoned 
among  the  Apocryphal,  except  the  fourth  book  of 
Esdras. 

'  The  prologues,  in  the  Old  Testament  as  in  the  New, 
are,  for  the  most  part,  those  usually  found  in  the  con- 
temporary manuscripts  of  the  Vulgat^e.  The  Old  Tes- 
tament has  no  marginal  glosses,  neither  does  it  appear 
to  have  been  the  intention  of  Hereford  to  admit  glosses 
into  the  text ;  those  which  occur  in  it  previously  to 
Baruch  iii.  20,  are  the  insertions  of  a  second  hand. 
Subsequently  to  this  place  textual  glosses  are  frequent. 
The  manuscripts  of  the  Old  Testament  are  remarkably 
uniform  in  the  readings  of  the  text. 

*  The  translation  of  the  whole  Bible  being  thus  com- 
pleted, the  next  care  was  to  render  it  as  extensively 
useful  as  possible.  With  this  view,  a  table  of  the  por- 
tions of  Scripture  read  as  the  Epistles  and  Gospels  of 
the  Church  Service  on  the  Sundays,  Feasts,  and  Fasts  of 
the  yearj  was  framed.  This  table  was  inserted  in  cer- 
tain  copies   of  the   newly-translated   Bibles,    and  the 


2  A  2 


356  Wycliffe  and  the  English  Bible.         [chap.  x. 

^  passages  were  marked  in  the  text  by  letters  placed  in 
'  the  margin,  over  against  the  beginning  and  end  of  the 

*  several  portions  ;  or  sometimes  the  margin  contained  a 
'  rubric,  stating  at  length  the  service  for  whioh  the  lesson 
'  was  appointed.  To  some  copies  of  the  New  Testament 
'  such  portions  of  the  Old  were  annexed,  as  were  used  in 
'  the  Church  Service  instead  of  the  Epistles.  In  order 
'  also  to  render  those  parts  of  Scripture  in  most  frequent 

*  use  accessible  at  less  cost,  books  were  written  containing 
'  nothing  more  than  the  Gospels  and  Epistles  read  in  the 

*  service  of  the  Mass.'  ^ 

The  note  concerning  *  Nicholas  de  Hereford/  in  the 
manuscript  mentioned,  did  not  escape  the  research  of 
Mr.  Baber.  It  will  be  seen,  that  this  piece  of  informa- 
tion, together  with  the  above  suggestion,  as  to  the  pro- 
bable cause  of  the  abrupt  termination  of  the  labour  of 
the  translator,  are  matters  of  evidence  strictly  in  accor- 
dance with  the  allusion  made  by  Wycliffe  to  the  proceed- 
ings against  Hereford,  in  the  homily  before  cited. 

Of  course,  the  translation  thus  completed,  was  made 
simply  from  the  Latin  into  English.  But  made  in  so 
short  a  space  of  time,  by  different  hands,  and  in  such 
unfavourable  circumstances,  it  will  not  be  supposed  to 
have  been  faultless.  '  The  part  translated  by  Hereford,' 
it  is  said,2  '  differed  in  style  from  the  rest ;  it  was  ex- 
'  tremely   literal,    occasionally  obscure,   and   sometimes 


*  Wycliffe's  Bible,  Pref.  xx.  =  Ibid. 


A.D.  1382.]  Revised  Translation.  357 

'  incorrect ;  and  there  were  other  blemishes  thl-oughout, 
'  incident  to  a  first  essay  of  this  magnitude/  It  is  not 
surprising,  therefore,  that  a  revised  version  should  have 
been  soon  contemplated ;  and  it  is  certain  that  a  few 
years  after  the  death  of  Wycliffe — probably  not  more  than 
four  years — this  work  also  was  accomplished.  Though  it 
did  not  make  its  appearance  during  the  lifetime  of  the 
Reformer,  it  is  by  no  means  improbable  that  this  later 
version  owed  its  existence  to  his  suggestion  and  encou- 
ragement. We  are  assured  by  those  who  have  a  right  to 
speak  with  authority  on  this  subject,  that  the  two  trans- 
lations are  distinguished  from  eacTi  other  by  marks  which 
place  the  earlier  date  of  the  one,  and  the  later  date  of 
the  other,  beyond  all  reasonable  doubt. 

But  so  little  have  these  differences  been  attended  to, 
that  it  now  appears,  that  the  New  Testament  printed  by 
Mr.  Lewis  a  century  since,  and  reprinted  by  Mr.  Baber 
in  our  own  time,  does  not  give  us  the  earlier  translation 
made  by  Wycliffe,  but  the  revised  translation,  subse- 
quently set  forth  by  one  of  his  followers.  The  evidence 
to  this  effect  is  so  decisive,  that  there  is  not  likely  to  be 
any  controversy  in  relation  to  it  among  persons  entitled 
to  have  an  opinion  on  the  subject.  '  Dr.  Waterland,'  it  is 
said,  '  who  greatly  assisted  Lewis  in  obtaining  informa- 
^  tion  for  his  history  of  the  English  translations  of  the 
'  Bible,  was  at  first  induced  to  think  that  both  versions 
'  were  the  work  of  Wycliffe ;  but  afterwards  concluded 
'  that  the  later  version,  and  the  general  prologue,  were 


358  W y cliff e  and  the  English  Bible.         [chap.  x. 

'  by  John  Purvey.  Unfortunately,  having  but  little 
'  leisure  for  the  investigation,  he  was  induced  by  a  com- 
'  parison  of  the  style  and  language  of  the  versions,  to 
'  take  for  the  earlier  of  the  two  that  which  was  in  fact 
'  the  later.  Lewis  adopted  the  opinions  of  Dr.  Waterland, 
'  and  interweaving  in  his  narrative  the  information  sup- 
'  plied  to  him,  much  as  it  came  to  his  hands,  has  com- 
'  piled  an  account,  which  is  not  only  confused,  but 
'  sometimes  inconsistent  with  itself  Mr.  Baber,  when 
'  he  reprinted  Lewis's  edition  of  the  New  Testament, 
'  repeated  this  mistake.'  ^  This  mistake  is  the  less  excu- 
sable, as  Henry  Wharton  had  truly  determined  the  re- 
spective characters  and  dates  of  the  two  versions,  rightly 
assigning  the  earlier  to  Wycliffe,  and  the  later  to  the 
author  of  the  General  Prologue.^ 

But  to  whom  should  this  later  and  revised  version,  and 
this  Prologue  introducing  it,  be  attributed  ?  We  see  that 
Dr.  Waterland,  in  what  may  be  called  the  middle  stage 
of  his  investigation  on  this  point,  ascribed  both  the  Pro- 
logue and  the  later  version  to  John  Purvey, — a  clergy- 
man who  had  officiated  as  a  curate  with  Wycliffe,  at  Lut- 
terworth. The  editors  of  the  Wycliffe  Bible  adopt  this 
opinion,  and  have  reasoned  at  considerable  length  in  sup- 
port of  it.    On  some  points  the  evidence  adduced  does  not 


1  WyclifFe's  Bible,  Pref.  xxiv. 
^  Harmer's  (Henry  Wharton's)  Specimens  of  Errors  in  the  History 
of  the  Reformation.    Auctarium  Historiae  Dogmaticae,  J.  Usserii,  424, 
et  seq. 


A.D.  1382.]     Revised  Translation — John  Purvey.  359 

appear  to  us  as  decisive  or  forcible ;  but,  on  the  whole,  we 
know  not  another  man  among  the  followers  of  WycliiFe, 
who  may  be  regarded  with  so  much  probability,  as  hav- 
ing been  the  chief  agent  in  this  honorable  service.  *  The 
volumes  issued  by  the  Oxford  University  press,  give  the 
two  versions,  column  by  column  on  the  same  page,  and 
describe  the  whole  as  *  the  earliest  English  versions,  made 
'  from  the  Latin  Vulgate,  by  John  Wycliffe  and  his  fol- 
'  lowers.' 


*  Purvey  lived  with  Wycliffe  in  the  latter  years  of  his  life,  and  after 
the  death  of  the  Reformer  we  find  him  preaching  at  Bristol.  (Knigh- 
ton, 2660.)  In  1387,  a  mandate  from  the  bishop  forbids  his  preaching 
again  in  that  diocese.  Among  the  erroneous  or  heretical  books,  con- 
demned by  the  bishops  of  Worcester,  Salisbury,  and  Hereford,  in  1388 
and  1389,  we  find  those  of  Purvey.  Bale  states,  (541)  that  while  in 
prison  in  1390,  he  wrote  a  Commentary  on  the  Apocalypse,  compiled 
from  the  lectures  delivered  by  Wycliffe.  From  a  notice  of  his  writings 
in  Foxe,  under  the  year  1396,  he  must  at  that  time  have  been  an  author 
of  much  celebrity.  In  1400,  the  storm  became  so  formidable,  that  he 
was  induced  to  read  a  recantation  at  St.  Paul's  Cross.  (Wilkins'  Con- 
cilia, iii.  260.)  In  the  following  year  he  was  admitted,  on  the  presenta- 
tion of  the  Archdeacon  of  Canterbury,  to  the  vicarage  of  Westhithe,  in 
Kent,  which  he  resigned  in  1403,  (Reg.  Arundel,  278—290.)  He  is 
said  to  have  been  a  second  time  imprisoned  under  Archbishop  Chich- 
ely,  in  1421.  (Bale's  Notes  in  Fascic.  Zizaniorum  MS.  Bodleian  e 
Mus.  86.  Foxe,  Acts  and  Mon.)  There  is  evidence  that  he  was  alive 
as  late  as  1427.  Walden  speaks  of  him  as  a  follower  of  Wycliffe,  mag- 
tius  authoritate,  doctor  eximius,  and  quotes  his  book,  De  comperidiis  scrip' 
turarum,  paternarum,  doctrinarum  et  canonicum ;  and  farther  states  that 
he  himself  had  a  copy  of  this  work,  taken  from  Purvey,  when  be  was 
put  in  prison.    (Doctrinale,  Tom.  i.  619,  G37.) 

It  is  not  difficult  to  suppose,  that  such  a  man  should  have  been  the 
author  of  the  Prologue  prefixed  to  the  translation  of  the  Bible  com- 
pleted in  1388,  and  the  person  chiefly  concerned  in  the  translation 
itself.     Wycliffe's  Bible,  Pref.  xxiv.  xxv.     Lewis'  Life  of  Wiclif,  246. 


360  Wycliffe  and  the  English  Bible.         [chap.  x. 

There  are  deeds  which  stand  for  more  than  they  seem  ; 
which  include  more  than  they  articulate;  which  per- 
form more  than  they  promise.  In  ideas,  as  in  sub- 
stances, there  are  appearances  which  give  little  to  the 
eye,  but  which,  ere  long,  give  largely  to  experience.  Men 
work  for  ages  with  these  ideas — these  elements  of  things 
— without  suspecting  that  they  contain  all  that  is  in 
them.  Great  principles  are  born  slowly — advance  slowly 
and  do  their  ultimate  work,  like  the  master-forces  in 
nature,  as  much  without  hurry  as  without  noise.  The 
men  who  gave  the  English  Bible  to  our  forefathers,  lodged 
a  fact  in  our  history  pregnant  with  such  principles.  It 
was  a  fact  which  supposed  the  Sufficiency  of  Scripture, 
and  the  Right  of  Private  Judgment — fixing  the  Ultimate 
Authority  concerning  Religion,  in  the  Individual  and  the 
Bible,  not  in  the  Church  and  her  Traditions.  Of  these 
principles  the  translators  of  our  first  English  Bible  saw 
something — enough  to  stimulate  them  in  their  labours, 
and  to  sustain  them  under  the  sufferings  to  which  those 
labours  exposed  them.  But  they  no  more  saw  all  that 
was  involved  in  what  they  did,  than  our  ancestors  saw 
all  that  was  included  in  the  provisions  of  Magna  Charta. 
In  both  cases,  the  chief  actors  knew  only  in  part,  and 
therefore  prophesied  only  in  part.  But  the  more  to  their 
honor,  if  with  a  forecast  so  limited,  they  could  do  and 
dare  so  largely.  It  was  the  aim  of  Wycliffe  and  his  fol- 
lowers, in  this  memorable  achievement,  to  take  man  out 
of  the  hands  of  the  priest,  and  to  place  his  religion  in  the 


it 


A.D.  1382.]  The  Deed  and  its  Augury. 


361 


personal — in  his  personal  responsibility,  intelligence,  and 
right  feeling.  In  this  they  became  Englishmen  of  their 
own  order.  Men  like  them  had  not  gone  before  them. 
The  thought  was  born  with  them — born  never  to  die. 


CHAPTER  XL 


WYCLIFFE    AS   A   PARISH    PRIEST. 


N  1867,  Urban  the  fifth,  overcome,  it  is  said, 
by  the  entreaties  of  the  Romans,  removed 
the  papal  court  from  Avignon  to  Rome.  But 
in  1870,  the  pontiff  returned  to  Avignon, 
that  his  good  offices  might  be  the  more  effectual  in 
negotiating  a  peace  between  the  kings  of  France  and 
England.  In  that  year,  however.  Urban  died.  He  was 
succeeded  by  a  Frenchman  of  noble  birth,  who  took  the 
title  of  Gregory  the  eleventh. 

This  Gregory  is  the  Pope  who,  in  1878,  sent  his  letters 
to  Oxford,  to  the  English  prelates,  and  to  the  English 
monarch,  requiring  that  inquisition  should  be  made 
without  delay,  concerning  the  opinions  said  to  have 
been  promulgated  by  John  Wycliffe,  and  others,  at  that 
time.  Urban  was,  on  the  whole,  a  pope  of  the  better 
class.      Gregory   was   a   man   of  little  virtue.     But   he 


A.D.  1378.]  The  Papal  Schism.  363 

possessed  audacity  and  energy  in  a  high  degree.  The 
exigences  of  his  position,  however,  were  great — too 
great  to  be  surmounted  by  his  means  and  capacities. 
In  his  time,  the  enemies  of  the  papal  power  in  Italy 
were  strong  and  unscrupulous,  especially  the  Florentines. 
The  incursions  made  on  the  domains  of  the  church, 
disposed  the  new  pontiff  to  remove  the  papal  court  once 
more  to  Rome.  Some  pretext  in  favour  of  this  step 
was  found  in  the  visions  of  a  supposed  prophetess,  who 
appeared  at  Avignon,  calling  upon  the  successor  of  St. 
Peter  to  return  to  his  own  city.  Judging  from  the  event, 
the  inspiration  in  this  case  must  have  been  of  a  doubt- 
ful origin.  The  pontiff  was  obedient,  but  his  children, 
even  in  Italy,  proved  to  be  stubbornly  rebellious.  The 
pontifical  office,  from  long  absence,  had  ceased  to  be 
an  object  of  reverence.  In  1378,  Gregory  was  meditat- 
ing an  escape  from  the  mortifications  and  insults  which 
seemed  everywhere  to  await  him,  by  returning  to  Avig- 
non, when  death  put  an  end  to  the  cares  of  his  greatness. 
The  year  of  this  event,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  that 
in  which  Wycliffe  appeared  before  the  papal  commis- 
sioners at  Lambeth,  when  he  presented  his  written  ex- 
planations on  the  eighteen  '  conclusions'  said  to  have  been 
published  by  him. 

In  the  memorable  event  which  followed  upon  the 
death  of  Gregory,  we  may  see  in  part  the  cause  of  the 
delay  as  to  further  proceedings  against  Wycliffe  at  that 
time  ;  and  the  cause  also,  in  a  great  degree,  of  the  caution, 


S64i  Wy cliff e  as  a  Parish  Priest  [chap.  xi. 

and  apparent  timidity  of  the  enemies  of  the  Reformer, 
on  subsequent  occasions.  It  was  natural,  moreover,  that 
the  event  which  was  of  a  nature  to  suggest  prudence  on 
the  one  side,  should  have  served  to  stimulate  to  greater 
boldness  on  the  other. 
*  After  the  death  of  Gregory  the  eleventh,'  says  Mosheim, 
The  cardinals  being  assembled  to  provide  a  successor, 
the  Roman  people,  fearing  lest  a  Frenchman  should  be 
elected,  who  would  remove  to  Avignon,  demanded,  with 
furious  clamours  and  threats,  that  an  Italian  should  be 
placed  at  the  head  of  the  church  without  delay.  The 
terrified  cardinals  proclaimed  Bartholomew  de  Pregnano, 
who  was  a  Neapolitan  by  birth,  and  archbishop  of  Bari, 
to  be  elected  pontiff,  and  he  assumed  the  name  of  Urban 
VI.  This  new  pontiff,  by  his  coarse  manners,  his  in- 
judicious severity,  and  his  intolerable  haughtiness,  alien- 
ated the  minds  of  all  from  him,  but  especially  the 
cardinals.  These  therefore  withdrew  to  Fondi,  a  city 
in  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  and  there  created  another 
pontiff,  Robert,  count  of  Geneva,  who  took  the  title  of 
Clement  the  seventh — alleging  that  Urban  had  been 
elected  only  in  pretence,  in  order  to  quiet  the  rage  of 
the  Roman  people.  Which  of  these  was  the  legitimate 
pontiff  still  remains  uncertain,  nor  can  it  be  fully 
ascertained  from  the  records  and  documents  which  have 
been  published  in  great  abundance  by  both  parties. 
Urban  continued  at  Rome,  Clement  removed  to  Avig- 
non in  France.      The  cause  of  Clement  was  espoused 


A.D.  1378.]  The  Papal  Schism.  865 

by  France,  Spain,  Scotland,  Sicily,  and  Cyprus,  the 
other  countries  of  Europe  acknowledged  Urban  for  the 
true  vicegerent  of  Christ. 

'  Thus  the  unity  of  the  Latin  church,  as  existing 
under  one  head,  came  to  an  end  at  the  death  of  Gregory 
the  eleventh,  and  that  most  unhappy  disunion  ensued 
which  is  usually  denominated  the  great  schism  of  the 
"West.  For,  during  fifty  years,  the  Church  had  two  or 
three  heads,  and  the  contemporary  pontiffs  assailed  each 
other  with  excommunications,  maledictions^  and  plots. 
The  calamities  and  distresses  of  those  times  are  indes- 
cribable. For  besides  the  perpetual  contentions  and 
wars  between  the  pontifical  factions,  which  were  ruin- 
ous to  great  numbers,  involving  them  in  the  loss  of  life 
or  property,  nearly  all  sense  of  religion  was  in  many 
places  extinguished,  and  wickedness  daily  acquired 
greater  impunity  and  boldness  ;  the  clergy,  previously 
corrupt,  now  laid  aside  the  appearance  of  piety  and 
godliness,  while  those  who  called  themselves'  Christ's 
vicegerents  were  at  open  war  with  each  other  ;  and  the 
conscientious  people,  who  believed  no  one  would  be 
saved  without  living  in  subjection  to  Christ's  vicar, 
were  thrown  into  the  greatest  perplexity  and  anxiety 
of  mind. 

'  Yet  both  the  church  and  the  state  reaped  very 
considerable  advantages  from  these  great  calamities. 
For  the  sinews  of  the  pontifical  power  were  severed 
by   these   dissensions,    and    could   not   afterwards    be 


S66  Wycliffe  as  a  Parish  Priest.         [chap.  xi. 

'  restored  ;  and  kings  and  princes,  who  had  before  been 
'  in  a  sense  the  servants  of  the  pontiffs,  now  became 
'  their  judges  and  masters.  Moreover,  great  numbers, 
*  possessing  some  measure  of  discernment,  despised  and 
'  disregarded  their  pontiffs  who  could  fight  for  empire  ; 
'  and  committing  themselves  and  their  salvation  into  the 
'  hands  of  God,  concluded  that  the  church  and  religion 
'  might  exist  and  be  safe  without  any  visible  head/  ^ 

Now  we  may  safely  believe,  that  Wycliffe  owed  his 
escape  from  the  vengeance  of  the  clergy,  very  much  to 
the  distractions  which  this  event  brought  along  with  it ; 
— nor  was  the  Reformer  slow  in  perceiving  the  aid  which 
it  might  be  made  to  contribute  toward  his  object.  This 
complexion  of  ecclesiastical  affairs  dates,  it  must  be  borne 
in  mind,  from  1878,  and  continued,  as  above  described, 
until  long  after  the  decease  of  Wycliffe.  England  sided 
with  the  Italian  pontiff,  at  Rome — France  and  her  allies 
gave  their  suffrage  to  the  French  pontiff,  at  Avignon. 
Such  was  the  embroiled  and  enfeebled  condition  of  the 
papacy  during  the  last  six  years  in  the  life  of  our  Re- 
former. 

One  event  connected  with  the  early  stage  of  this  no- 
torious schism  is  so  characteristic  of  the  superstition 
and  fanaticism  of  the  times,  as  to  deserve  mention  in 
this  place.  The  schism  began  in  1378  ;  and  in  about 
four  years  from  that  time,  the  rival  popes  had  discharged 

^  Eccles.  Hist.  Cent.  XIV.  Part  ii.  c.  2. 


A.D.  1382.]  Spencer's  Crusade.  867 

their  spiritual  artillery  against  each  other,  and  against 
their  respective  adherents,  so  freely,  that  no  more  amu- 
nition  of  that  description  remained.  But  the  spiritual 
having  failed,  it  was  resolved  to  try  the  carnal.  Urban 
dispatched  an  instrument  to  Spencer,  bishop  of  Norwich, 
empowering  him  to  organize  a  military  crusade  against 
the  pope  at  Avignon.  That  the  means  wherewith  to 
realize  this  most  apostolic  undertaking  might  not  be 
wanting,  the  bishop  was  authorized  to  grant  to  all  who 
should  join  his  standard,  or  who  should  contribute 
money  towards  his  object,  an  indulgence  as  large  as  had 
ever  been  granted  in  furtherance  of  a  crusade  against  the 
infidels.  The  bishop  was  further  authorized  to  excom- 
municate, suspend,  or  interdict  all  persons,  of  whatsoever 
rank,  who  should  attempt  to  obstruct  the  execution  of 
his  mission.  Even  the  government  had  its  reasons  for 
giving  sanction  to  the  project — and  strange  were  the  re- 
sults. But  for  the  sinews  of  war,  the  bishop  and  his 
ecclesiastics  had  to  depend  on  the  sale  of  indulgences, 
and  on  such  voluntary  contributions  as  their  preachings 
might  suffice  to  obtain.  No  pains  were  spared,  no  scruple 
was  felt,  by  those  to  whom  the  sale  of  these  spiritual 
commodities  was  intrusted.  By  the  payment  of  certain 
stipulated  sums  of  money,  sinners  might  be  at  once  freed 
from  guilt,  and  from  all  fear  of  future  punishment.  More 
than  this,  there  was  not  a  soul  dear  to  them  on  earth, 
whose  pardon  might  not  be  thus  procured  ;  nor  one  dear 
to  them  in  purgatory,  who  might  not  be  thus  released. 


368  WycUffe  as  a  Parish  Priest.  [chap.  xi. 

Some  of  the  orators  employed  on  this  occasion,  assured 
their  wondering  auditory,  that  in  virtue  of  the  pope's 
instrument,  and  of  the  prayer  of  the  preacher,  the  angels 
would  descend  at  once  from  heaven,  enter  the  regions 
of  purgatory,  and  convey  the  soul  so  redeemed,  to  the 
bliss  of  heaven  !  ^  All  this  taking  place  in  the  name 
of  the  pope,  under  the  direction  of  a  bishop,  and  with 
the  approval  of  the  government,  so  affected  the  people, 
that  the  sale  of  these  wares  was  extraordinary,  and  the 
sums  of  money  obtained  not  less  so.  Nor  was  it  the  poor 
merely,  who  were  thus  seduced.  Many  ladies  of  rank 
were  so  ensnared  by  this  device,  as  to  be  led  to  part  with 
their  wealth  and  jewels,  almost  without  limit,  to  further 
so  good  a  cause.  More  than  thirty  papal  bulls  reached 
this  country,  urging  upon  our  prelates  the  most  zealous 
prosecution  of  this  object :  and  to  secure  the  services  of 
the  Duke  of  Lancaster,  it  was  advised  that  one  portion 
of  the  force  to  be  raised  should  be  directed  against  Spain, 
and  be  under  the  command  of  that  nobleman.  Froissart 
assures  us  that  the  treasure  collected  by  these  expedients, 
was  considered  sufficient  for  both  enterprizes  ;  *  for  happy 
'  were  they  who  could  now  die,  in  order  to  obtain  so 
*  noble  an  absolution  !  ^  But  while  indulgences  might 
give  money,  it  was  money  only,  according  to  the  same 
authority,  that  could  give  soldiers — for  ^  men  at  arms,' 
observes  our  shrewd  chronicler,  '  cannot  live  upon  par- 


A.  D.  1388.]  Speiicer's  Crusade.  369 

'  dons,  nor  do  they  pay  much  attention  to  them,  except 
'  at  the  point  of  death/ 

The  army  thus  raised  disembarked  at  Calais,  on  the 
twenty-third  of  April,  1383.  Some  weeks  were  there 
spent  in  waiting  for  Sir  William  Beauchamp,  who,  accord- 
ing to  an  arrangement  with  the  king,  should  have  made 
his  appearance  in  that  place  with  some  reinforcements. 
The  non-appearance  of  Sir  William,  however,  was  no 
mystery  to  the  bishop.  Before  embarking  at  Dover,  Spen- 
cer had  received  a  despatch  from  the  king,  countermanding 
the  expedition.  But  our  prelate-knight  was  not  to  be 
diverted  from  his  course.  He  had  concealed  the  document, 
and  had  presumed  to  act  in  violation  of  its  instructions. 
The  bishop  now  affected  great  surprise  at  this  delay,  grew 
restless,  and  proposed  that  an  excursion  should  be  made 
into  Flanders — a  country  at  that  time  subject  to  France. 
Sir  Hugh  Calverly,  the  only  man,  it  would  seem,  who 
had  engaged  in  this  enterprize  without  relinquishing  the 
guidance  of  his  common  sense,  objected  gravely  to  this 
proposal,  insisting  that  the  king's  instructions  requiring 
them  to  wait  for  Sir  William  Beauchamp,  should  not  be 
violated,  and  that  they  were  sworn  before  leaving  England 
to  restrict  their  hostilities  to  the  adherents  of  Clement, 
the  antipope,  whereas  the  earl  of  Flanders  and  his  sub- 
jects were  believed  to  be  good  Urbanists.  To  these  ex- 
ceptions Spencer  opposed  a  torrent  of  angry  and  contemp- 
tuous declamation.  The  experienced  soldier  was  pro- 
voked ;  but  having  taken  care  to  place  the  responsibility 

2  B 


370  Wycliffe  as  a  Parish  Priest.         [chap.  xi. 

of  the  movement  upon  the  right  shoulders,  professed  him- 
self willing  to  execute  the  instructions  that  should  be 
given  to  him. 

The  town  of  Gravelines  was  the  first  assailed.  It 
was  inhabited  principally  by  fishermen,  with  scarcely 
any  means  of  defence,  and  was  exposed  to  all  the  disadvan- 
tage of  a  surprise.  The  soldiers  knew  that  they  were 
expected  to  be  scrupulously  obedient  to  the  commands 
of  the  bishop ;  and  that  other  towns  might  be  terrified 
into  submission,  they  slaughtered  the  inhabitants  with 
an  atrocity  so  unsparing,  that,  according  to  Walsingham, 
not  an  infant  remained  alive.  The  earl  of  Flanders  sent 
messengers  to  complain  of  this  aggression ;  but  the 
devout  priest,  replied  with  an  oath,  that  Flanders  was 
the  ally  of  France,  and  that  to  state  thus  much  was  to 
give  a  sufficient  explanation  of  what  had  been  done. 
From  Gravelines  the  crusaders  proceeded  to  Dunkirk, 
where  several  hundred  of  the  English,  and  nearly  four 
thousand  of  the  Flemings,  are  said  to  have  perished. 
The  capture  of  that  town  was  soon  followed  by  the 
possession  of  others, — the  inhabitants  hoping  to  pro- 
tect themselves  from  the  ferocity  of  the  victors  by  the 
show  of  submission.  Spencer,  as  will  be  supposed,  was 
elated  beyond  measure  by  these  triumphs.  So  much  was 
this  the  case,  that  he  boasted  of  his  readiness  to  mea- 
sure strength  with  the  king  of  France  and  the  duke  of 
Burgundy,  who  had  joined  their  forces,  and  were  pro- 
ceeding by  slow  marches  to  strip  him  of  his  spoil.     On 


A.D.  1383.]     Wy cliff es  allusion  to  the  Crusade.  371 

their  approach,  the  acquisitions  of  the  bishop  fell  from  his 
grasp  with  a  rapidity  equal  to  that  with  which  they  had 
been  made.  It  was  through  much  hazard  that  Spencer 
reached  England,  where  the  censures  which  awaited  him 
were  such,  from  all  quarters,  as  must  have  been  any 
thing  but  agreeable  to  a  temper   so   choleric    and   so 


vam. 


1 


We  can  imagine  the  feeling  with  which  Wycliffe  would 
regard  the  zeal  of  the  clergy,  and  especially  of  the  friars, 
as  put  forth  to  raise  this  armament ;  and  the  feeling, 
moreover,  with  which  he  would  listen  to  the  news  of 
its  *  manslayings,'  and  its  disasters.  But  we  are  not 
left  to  imagination  on  this  point.  We  may  listen  to  the 
Reformer  as  he  gives  utterance  to  his  thought  and  indig- 
nation in  reference  to  these  proceedings,  in  this  same  year 
1383.  '  Christ,'  we  hear  him  say,  '  is  the  good  shepherd, 
^  for  he  puts  his  own  life  for  the  saving  of  his  sheep. 
'  But  Antichrist  is  a  wolf  of  ravening,  for  he  ever 
*  does  the  reverse,  putting  many  thousand  lives  for  his 
'  own  wretched  life.  By  forsaking  things  which  Christ 
'  has  bid  his  priests  forsake,  he  might  end  all  this  strife. 


'  Walsingham  Hist.  288—295.  Froissart  VI.  51—65.  Foxe,  Acts 
and  Mon.  1.582,583.  Knighton  2671.  Spencer  was  deprived  of  his 
temporalities  on  the  ground  of  having  concealed  and  violated  the 
royal  instructions.  Walsingham,  307.  The  bishop's  treasurer,  also  a 
clergyman,  was  put  under  arrest,  and  subjected  to  a  heavy  fine.  Nor 
did  certain  of  the  knights  engaged  in  the  campaign  escape  without 
trouble.     See  Rymer,  March  6  and  May  14,  1384. 

2  B  2 


372  Wycliffe  as  a  Parish  Priest.  [chap.  xi. 

'  Why  is  he  not  a  fiend,  stained  foul  with  homicide,  who, 
'  though  a  priest,  fights  in  such  a  cause  ?    If  man-slaying 

*  in  others  be  odious  to  God,  much  more  in  priests,  who 

*  should  be  the  vicars   of  Christ.     And   I   am   certain, 

*  that  neither  the  pope,  nor  all  the  men  of  his  council, 
^  can  produce  a  spark  of  reason  to  show  that  he  should 

*  do  so.'^ 

In  another  of  his  discourses,  addressed  to  his  flock  at 
Lutterworth,  he  makes  us  acquainted  with  the  sort  of 
arguments  that  were  used  in  favour  of  these  church-mili- 
tant doings — arguments  which  had  resounded  probably 
from  many  a  neighbouring  pulpit  within  the  last  twelve- 
months. *  Friars  now  say,  that  bishops  can  fight  best  of 
'  all  men,  and  that  it  falleth  most  properly  to  them, 
'  since  they  be  lords  of  all  this  world.  Thus  they  say  the 
'  Maccabees  fought ;  and  Christ  bade  his  disciples  sell 
'  their  coats  to  buy  them  swords — and  whereto,  if  not  to 
'  fight  ?     Thus  friars  make  a  great  array,  and  stir  up 

*  many  men  to  fight.  But  Christ  taught  not  his  apostles 
'  to  fight  with  a  sword  of  iron,  but  with  the  sword  of 
'  God's  word,  which  standeth  in  meekness  of  heart,  and 

*  in  the  prudence  of  man's  tongue.     And  as  Christ  was 

*  the  meekest  of  men,  so  he  was  most  drawn  from  the 
'  world,  and  would  not  judge  or  divide  a  heritage 
'  among  men,  and  yet  he  could  have  done  that  best.'^ 

Such  facts  are  said  to  deserve  the  attention  '  of  these 

»  MS.Codd.  Ric.  Jamesii,  Bibl.  Bodl.  ^  jbid. 


A.D.  1383.]     Treatise  on  '  the  Schism  of  the  Popes.'      873 

'  two  popes,  when  they  fight  one  with  the  other.     But  they 

*  were  occupied  many  years  before  in  blasphemy,  and  in 
'  sinning  against  Grod  and  his  church.  And  this  made 
^  them  to  sin  more,  as  an  ambling  blind  horse,  when  he 

*  beginneth  to  stumble,  continueth  in  his  stumbling  until 
'  he  casts  himself  down.'^ 

Not  content  with  frequent  references  of  this  descrip- 
tion to  the  humbled  condition  of  the  papal  power  by 
reason  of  this  dissension,  the  Reformer  wrote  a  tract 
intitled  '  The  Schism  of  the  Popes,'  in  which  he  exposes, 
more  at  large,  the  evils  of  the  ecclesiastical  system,  as  evils 
which  must  find  their  natural  issue  in  such  strifes, — in- 
sisting, with  much  force  and  earnestness,  that  to  expect 
the  tree  to  bear  better  fruit  until  it  shall  itself  be  made 
better,  must  be  vain.  The  change  necessary  to  this  end 
is  said  to  be  two-fold — the  enormous  wealth  of  the  clergy 
and  of  the  religious  orders  must  be  reduced ;  and,  further- 
more, the  power  of  the  keys,  assumed  by  the  priesthood, 
and  which  has  made  it  possible  for  them  to  accumu- 
late so  much  wealth,  must  be  exposed  as  a  fraud,  and 
come  to  an  end.  Men  must  be  taught  to  regard  the 
service  of  the  priest  as  being  in  all  cases  purely  ministe- 
rial— that  is,  as  being  valid  only  as  in  accordance  with 
the  unalterable  principles  of  morality,  and  with  the  will 
of  Grod  as  revealed  in  the  scriptures.  In  urging  his 
countrymen    to    aspire    to    this   religious   freedom,   he 

*  MS.  Codd.  Rec.  Jamesii,  Bibl.  Bodl. 


374  Wycliffe  as  Parish  Priest.  [chap.  xi. 

writes,  '  Trust  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  to  be  doubt- 

*  ed  that  the  sin  of  the  popes,  which  hath  been  so  long 
'  continued,  hath  brought  in  this  division/  Should  the 
rival  popes  continue  thus  to  strive  against  each  other, 
or  should  one  of  them  prevail,  a  serious  wound,  it  is 
maintained,  has  been  inflicted,  and  the  time  has  come 
in    which    '  emperors    and   kings   should  help   in   this 

*  cause,  to  maintain  God's  law,  to  recover  the  heritage 

*  of  the  church,  and  to  destroy  the  foul  sins  of  clerks, 
^  saving  their  persons.'  The  notion  that  the  suffrage  of 
princes  or  of  cardinals  may  raise  an  erring  mortal  to  a 
state  of  infallibility,  is  treated  as  in  every  view  absurd. 
On  this  point  '  the  children  of  the  fiend  should  better 

*  learn  their  logic  and  philosophy,  lest  they  prove  them- 

*  selves  heretical  by  a  false  interpretation  of  the  law  of 
'  Christ/  Men  ordained  as  priests  are  truly  such  but  as 
they  partake  of  a  Christian  spirit.  Without  qualifica- 
tions of  this  spiritual  nature,  no  form  of  episcopal  ap- 
pointment can  be  of  any  value.  The  necessity  of  con- 
fession to  a  priest,  moreover,  is  a  fiction  of  priesthood; 
and  among  heresies  '  there  is  no  greater,  than  for  a  man 
'  to  believe  that  he  is  absolved  from  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,  else  God  absolveth  thee  not'    So  thorough  were 


Lutterworth  Chiirch  in  1384. 


A.D.  1381.]    Sermons  preached  at  LutterwoHh.  375 

the  views  of  the  Reformer  subsequent  to  1378  on  this 
cardinal  topic.^ 

In  another  of  his  productions  the  Reformer  writes, 
'  Simon  Magus   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,  that  men  now,  in  Christ's  name,  may  the 
'  more  easily  overcome  them  both.'  Evil,  like  good,  it  is  said, 
must  be  weakened  by  diffusion,  '  and  this  now  moveth 
'  priests  to  speak  heartily  in  this  matter,  for  when  God 
'  will  bless  the  Church,  but  men  are  slothful,  and  will 
'  not  labour,  then  sloth  is  to  be  rebuked  for  many  rea- 

*  sons.'  2 

In  his  vocation  as  a  parish  priest,  Wycliffe  appears  to 
have  acquitted  himself  with  most  exemplary  fidelity  and 
diligence.  He  became  rector  of  Lutterworth  in  1376, 
and  was  wholly  resident  in  that  place  from  the  spring  of 
1381,  until  the  time  of  his  decease.  During  the  first 
four  years  after  his  appointment  to  this  living,  he  appears 
to  have  divided  the  year  between  Lutterworth  and  Oxford ; 
subsequently,  his  only  absence  from  Lutterworth  would 
seem  to  have  been,  when  summoned  to  appear  before  the 
convocation  in  Oxford,  in  the  autumn  of  1382.  The 
manuscripts  preserved  to  us  containing  his  written  pre- 


^  MS.  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  class  c.  tab.  3,  No.  12,  pp.  193—208. 
^  MS.  of  the  Church  and  her  Governance.    Bib.  Reg.  xviii.  6,  ix. 


376  Wycliffe  as  a  Parish  Priest.         [chap.  xi. 

parations  for  the  pulpit,  or  consisting  of  notes  taken  from 
his  lips  as  a  preacher,  are  very  numerous.  In  some  in- 
stances these  remains  consist  of  little  more  than  brief 
observations,  jotted  down  in  connexion  with  our  English 
translation  of  the  lesson,  or  part  of  the  lesson  for  the 
day ;  in  others  they  approach  nearer  to  the  length  of  a 
modern  sermon.  But  when  filling  several  closely  written 
pages,  we  know  not  how  far  to  regard  them  as  exhibit- 
ing any  thing  beyond  the  spirit,  or  the  general  manner 
of  the  Reformer's  efforts  as  a  preacher.  His  known 
facility  as  a  public  instructor,  and  the  fact  that  these 
fragments  often  resemble  a  mere  specification  of  topics, 
rather  than  a  regular  discussion  of  them,  preclude  us 
from  supposing  that  he  restricted  himself  in  such  services 
to  what  he  had  written.  Nor  is  it  certain  that  the  pub- 
lication of  these  papers  was  his  own  act,  or  at  all  ex- 
pected by  him.  They  contain  nothing  inconsistent  with 
the  notion  of  their  having  been  collected  and  transcribed 
after  his  decease  ;  and  the  character  of  Purvey,  his  curate, 
warrants  us  in  supposing  that  care  would  be  taken,  at 
the  time  of  his  death,  to  preserve  whatever  had  proceeded 
from  his  pen,  or  had  been  noted  down  from  his  free 
utterances  to  the  people  of  his  charge.  But  in  whatever 
manner  these  compositions  may  have  reached  us,  there  is 
no  room  to  doubt  their  authenticity.  They  contain  many 
passages,  which  not  only  express  the  opinions  of  Wycliffe, 
but  in  which  those  opinions  are  expressed  in  the  very 
terms  employed  by  him  in  some  of  the  unquestionable 


A.D.  1381.]    Sermons  preached  at  Lutterworth,  877 

productions  of  his  pen.  As  will  be  supposed,  these  dis- 
courses are  very  simple  and  popular,  both  in  their  lan- 
guage and  substance.  Abstruse  questions  are  sometimes 
touched  upon,  but  they  are  soon  dismissed,  that  attention 
may  be  given  to  ^  things  more  profiting.'  Much  pains  is 
taken  to  expose  the  delusions  practised  on  the  people  by 
the  priesthood.  Confession,  absolution,  prayer  to  saints, 
and  similar  forms  of  error,  are  laid  bare  as  such — and 
the  preacher  is  unwearied  in  his  effort  to  convince  his 
hearers,  that  they  will  be  found  to  be  religious  at  last, 
not  according  to  what  may  have  been  done  for  them  by 
priests,  but  according  as  they  shall  be  found  to  have  so 
trusted  to  the  sacrifice  of  Christ  for  the  forgiveness  of 
sin,  as  to  become  pure  in  life,  and  renewed  in  the  spirit 
of  their  mind,  through  the  influence  of  Christ's  truth, 
taking  with  it  the  grace  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

With  such  views  as  to  the  nature  of  religion,  it  was 
natural  that  Wycliffe  should  attach  great  importance  to 
the  ofiice  of  preaching.  In  the  earlier  ages  of  the  Church, 
the  maxims  and  example  of  our  Lord  and  his  apostles 
were  too  recent  to  be  forgotten,  and  preaching  long  con- 
tinued to  be  the  great  agency  by  which  Christianity  was 
sustained  and  diffused.  But  in  the  middle  age,  the  mass- 
priest  had  come  too  much  into  the  place  of  the  Christian 
teacher.  As  this  change  came  in,  popular  ignorance  be- 
came more  dark,  popular  superstition  more  gross.  The 
enlightened  Grrossteste,  bishop  of  Lincoln,  so  deplored  this 
course  of  things,  that  in  the  hope  of  doing  something  to 


878  Wyclifie  as  a  Parish  Priest.         [chap.  xi. 

counteract  it,  he  became  a  zealous  patron  of  the  friars, 
in  their  professed  capacity  of  preaching  brethren.  It  is 
true,  the  good  bishop  lived  to  reject  this  remedy  as  being 
even  worse  than  the  disease.  The  power  acquired  by  the 
new  preachers,  was  such  as  to  show  what  might  be  done 
by  a  wise  use  of  the  function  they  had  assumed  ;  but, 
unhappily,  in  place  of  aiming  to  remove  the  ignorance, 
and  to  eradicate  the  superstitions  of  the  people,  the  men- 
dicants soon  became  intent  on  making  these  weaknesses 
subserve  their  own  selfish  passions.  Wycliife  saw  these 
evils  more  clearly  than  Grossteste,  and  deplored  them 
more  deeply.  He  censured  the  parochial  clergy,  whose 
neglect  of  their  proper  duties  had  prepared  the  way  for 
the  appearance  of  these  new  orders  ;  but  his  loudest  de- 
nunciation was  reserved  for  these  orders  themselves, 
whose  practice,  as  preachers,  exhibited,  in  his  time,  little 
else  than  the  abuses  of  that  function.  The  itinerant 
nature  of  the  ministry  exercised  by  them,  could  hardly 
have  been  displeasing  to  him,  inasmuch  as  he  often  de- 
fended the  same  practice  in  his  followers.  It  was  their 
substituting  '  fables — chronicles  of  the  world — stories 
from  the  battle  of  Troy,'  and  doctrines  which  were  not 
merely  foolish,  but  fraudulent,  in  the  place  of  the  Gospel, 
that  filled  him  with  so  restless  an  abhorrence  of  these 
new-comers.     In  his  view,  they  were  the  Pharisees  of  the 

age,   great  in  outward  seeming,  while  all  beneath  was 

> 

foulness.  But  he  never  allows  his  views  concerning  the 
use  of  preaching,  to  be  affected  by  this  abuse  of  it.     He 


A.D.  1381.]      Wycliffe  and  the  Preaching  Friars.  379 

was  himself  eminent  in  the  kind  of  learning  which  had 
assisted  the  mendicants  in  acquiring  their  reputation,  and 
not  less  so  in  that  power  of  oral  teaching,  which  had  been 
especially  cultivated  by  them.  With  the  erudition  of  the 
college,  he  united  the  severity  of  the  cloister,  and  to  these 
he  added  the  simplicity  and  fervour  indispensable  to  the 
success  of  the  popular  preacher.  The  age,  it  would 
seem,  contained  little  of  religious  error  which  he  did  not 
see — and  with  which  he  was  not  prepared  to  grapple  by 
the  use  of  the  fitting  appliances.  His  zeal  was  not  of 
the  spurious  description  which  concerns  itself  with  the 
high,  to  the  neglect  of  the  humble  ;  with  speculations 
about  the  remote  and  the  future,  at  the  expense  of  duties 
imposed  by  the  immediate  and  the  present.  His  chair 
as  a  professor,  and  his  pulpit  as  a  village  preacher,  were 
significant  of  efforts  alike  congenial  to  him  ;  and  he  was 
equally  in  his  place,  whether  negotiating  with  the  papal 
envoys  at  Bruges,  lecturing  at  Oxford,  or  ministering 
the  consolations  of  religion  in  the  lowest  hovels  of  the 
poor  in  Ludgershall  or  Lutterworth. 

Among  the  earlier  writings  of  the  Reformer  is  an  Ex- 
position of  the  Decalogue,  in  which  he  enjoins  on  the 
Christian  man,  that  having  attended  with  becoming  seri- 
ousness to  the  worship  prescribed  for  the  Sunday,  he 
should  '  visit  those  who  are  sick,  or  who  are  in  trouble, 

*  especially  those  whom  God  hath  made  needy  by  age,  or 

*  by  other  sicknesses ;  as  the  feeble,  the  blind,  and  the 

*  lame,  who  are  in  poverty.     These  thou  shalt  relieve 


380  Wydiffe  as  a  Parish  Priest.  [chap.  xi. 

'  with  thy  goods,  after  thy  power,  and  after  their  need, 
^  for  thus  biddeth  the  Gospel/  It  is  fair  to  presume,  that 
the  preacher  who  urged  attention  to  such  duties  thus 
feelingly  upon  his  hearers,  was  not  himself  unmindful 
of  such  obligations.  '  True  charity,'  he  writes,  '  begin- 
neth  at  the  love  of  man's  spirit,'  and  one  of  his  maxims 
was,  that  '  men  who  love  not  the  souls,  love  little  the 
bodies  of  their  neighbours/ 

Emphatic,  too,  is  the  language  in  which  he  insists  on 
preaching,  as  among  the  first  duties  of  the  priest.  Hence 
he  denounces  the  priests  who  were  found  *  in  taverns,  and 

*  hunting,  and  playing  at  their  tables,  instead  of  learn- 
'  ing  God's  law,  and  preaching,'  as  '  foul  traitors  ; ' — and 
this  because,  '  most  of  all  is  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel, 

*  for  this  Christ  enjoined  on  his  disciples  more  than  any 
'  other ;  by  this  he  conquered  the  world  out  of  the  fiend's 

*  hand  :  and  whosoever  he  be  that  can  bring  priests 
'  to  act  thus,  hath  authority  from  God,  and  merit  in  his 
'  deed/  Inasmuch  as  the  influence  of  Wycliffe's  'poor 
priests '  resulted  from  their  zeal  and  ability  as  preachers, 
it  may  not  be  unacceptable  to  the  reader,  if  we  allow 
the  Reformer  to  give  utterance  to  his  thoughts  on  this 
subject,  with  something  of  the  fulness  wherewith  he  was 
wont  to  discourse  upon  it  to  the  men  of  his  time. 

I.  '  The  highest  service  to  which  man  may  attain  on 
'  earth,  is  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  chil- 


A.D.  1881.]  Argument  for  Preaching.  381 

*  dren  to  God,  and  this  is  the  end  for  which  God  has 

*  wedded  the  Church.  Surely  it  might  be  good  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  them.  II.  Further — he  also  does  best,  who  best  keeps 
'  the  commandments  of  God.  Now  the  first  command- 
'  ment  of  the  second  table  bids  us  honour  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  that  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.  Further — 
'  that  service  is  the  best  which  hath  the  worst  opposed  to  it. 
'  But  the  opposite  of  preaching  is  of  all  things  the 
'  worst— preaching,   therefore,  if  it  be  well  done,  is  the 


S82  WycUffe  as  a  Parish  Priest.        [chap.  xi. 

'  best  of  all.  Accordingly,  Jesus  Christ,  when  he  ascended 

*  into  heaven,  commanded  it  especially  to  all  his  apostles, 
'  to  go  and  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  a 
'  wise  shepherd  would  not  have  done,  if  he  had  not  him- 
'  self  loved  it  well.     In  this   stands  the   office  of  the 

*  spiritual  Shepherd.  As  the  bishop  of  the  temple  hin- 
'  dered  Christ,  so  is  He  hindered  now,  by  the  hindering 

*  of  this  deed.     Therefore  Christ  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 ! '  ^ 

Men  who  could  expect  more  from  the  ignorance  of 
the  people  than  from  their  knowledge,  and  who  in 
consequence  would  fain  substitute  the  altar  and  the 
priest,  for  the  pulpit  and  the  preacher,  listened  with 
alarm  to  the  utterance  of  such  opinions,  and  became 
concerned  to  discover  arguments  wherewith  to  oppose 
them.  The  sort  of  argument  put  into  requisition  for 
this  purpose,  and  the  manner  in  which  Wycliffe  disposed 
of  such  objections,  we  learn  from  the  writings  of  the 
Reformer.     '  When   true  men  teach,   that   by  the  law 


*  MS.  Contra  Fraters,  Bibl.  Bodl.    Archi.  A.  83,  pp.  89,  20. 


Lutterworth  Church  in  1384. 


A.D.  1381.] 


Argument  for  Preaching. 


383 


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  by  urging 
that  since  that  is  the  best,  and  they  may  not  do  both, 
they  are  needed,  hy  the  love  of  God,  to  leave  the  preaching 
of  the  Gospel,  that  they  may  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  practised  the  best  life  for 
priests.  But  Christ  preached  the  gospel,  and  charged  his 
apostles  and  disciples  to  go  and  preach  the  gospel  to 
all  men.  The  best  life,  then,  for  priests,  must  be  to 
teach  and  preach  the  gospel.  God  also  teacheth  in  the 
Old  Law,  that  the  office  of  a  priest  is  to  shew  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  every  priest  to  preach,  and  to  proclaim  the 
sins  of  the  people.  In  this  doing  shall  each  priest 
be  as  an  angel  of  God,  as  holy  writ  saith.  Also  Christ, 
and  John  the  Baptist,  left  the  desert  to  preach  the  Gospel, 
and  preached  it  to  their  death.  To  do  this,  therefore,  is 
the  greatest  charity,  or  else  they  were  out  of  charity, 
or  at  best  imperfect  in  it, — and  that  may  hardly  be, 
since  the  one  was  God ;  and,  after  Christ,  no  man  has 
been  holier  than  the  Baptist. 

*  The    holy    prophet    Jeremiah,    hallowed    from    his 
'  mother's   womb,   might  not  be  excused  from  preach- 


384  Wycliffe  as  a  Parish  Priest.  [chap.  xi. 

ing  by  his  love  of  contemplation,  but  was  charged 
of  God  to  proclaim  the  sins  of  the  people,  and  to 
suffer  hard  pain  for  so  doing.  So  was  it  with  all  the 
prophets.  Ah  !  Lord,  since  Christ,  and  John,  and  all 
the  prophets,  were  compelled  by  charity  to  come  out  of 
the  desert  to  preach  the  gospel,  and  for  this  to  leave 
their  solitary  prayers — how  dare  these  heretics  to  say 
that  it  is  better  to  be  still,  and  to  pray  over  their  own 
feigned  ordinances,  than  to  preach  the  gospel  of  Christ ! 
Lord,  what  accursed  spirit  of  falsehood  moveth  priests 
to  shut  themselves  within  stone  walls  all  their  life, 
while  Christ  gave  command  to  all  his  apostles  and 
priests  to  go  into  all  the  world,  and  to  preach  the 
gospel !  Surely  they  are  open  fools,  and  do  plainly 
against  the  gospel ;  and,  if  they  continue  in  this  error, 
are  accursed  of  Grod,  as  perilous  deceivers  and  heretics. 

*  For  in  the  first  part  of  the  pope's  law  it  is  said,  that 
each  man  who  cometh  to  the  priesthood,  taketh  on 
him  the  ofiice  of  a  beadle,  to  go  before  doomsday, 
and  to  cry  to  the  people  their  sins,  and  the  vengeance 
of  Grod  ;  and  since  men  are  holden  heretics  who  do 
against  the  pope's  law,  are  not  those  priests  heretics 
who  refuse  to  preach  the  gospel,  and  compel  true  men 
to  leave  the  preaching  of  it.  All  law  opposed  to  this 
service,  is  opposed  to  God's  law,  and  to  reason  and 
charity,  and  is  for  the  maintenance  of  pride  and  covet- 
ousness  in  Antichrist's  clerks.' 

*  Prayer  is  good,  '  says  the  Reformer,'  but  not  so  good 


A.D.  1881.] 


Modes  of  Preaching. 


385 


'  as  preaching :  and,  accordingly,  in  preaching,  and  also 
'  in  praying,  in  the  giving  of  sacraments,  and  the  learn- 
'  ing  of  God's  law,  and  the  rendering  of  a  good  example 

*  by  purity  of  life,iin  these  should  stand  the   life  of  a 

*  priest/  1 

Nor  was  it  enough  that  the  Reformer  should  plead 
for  preaching  in  greater  quantity, — he  claimed  that  it 
should  be  also  of  better  quality.  His  demand  was  for 
preaching  that  should  be  of  the  right  substance,  and  after 
the  best  manner.  In  his  time,  two  methods  of  preaching 
were  prevalent :  the  one  was  called  '  declaring,' — the 
other,  '  postillating.'  To  '  declare,'  was  to  deliver  an  essay 
or  oration  upon  a  topic,  rather  than  a  sermon  upon  a 
text.  To  '  postulate,'  was  to  read  a  portion  of  Scripture, 
and  then  to  explain  and  apply  its  meaning,  sometimes 
presenting  the  meaning  of  the  passage  more  generally, 
vsometimes  expounding  it  clause  by  clause.  We  scarcely 
need  say  that  Wycliffe's  preference  was  strongly  on  the 
side  of  postulating.  In  that  method  the  Scriptures  were 
the  perceptible  foundation  of  the  discourse,  and  the 
mind,  both  of  the  preacher  and  of  the  auditory,  was  kept 
in  wholesome  relation  to  it. 

To  see  the  Reformer  as  he  acquits  himself  in  the 
discharge  of  his  duties  as  a  parish-priest,  the  reader 
may  imagine  himself  in  the  old  town  of  Lutterworth,  as 


^  MS.  Of  Feigned  Contemplative  Life. 
Class  C.  tab.  3.  No.  12. 


Trinity  College,  Dublin, 


I 


2  C 


386  Wycliffe  as  a  Parish  Priest.         [chap.  xi. 

it  stretches  along  the  top  of  that  meadow  slope  above 
the  river  Swift,  in  the  fourteenth  century.  It  is  not  a 
large  place.  Its  population  does  not  exceed  that  of  a 
considerable  village.  As  you  pace  its  three  or  four 
narrow  and  irregular  streets,  you  find  its  thatched  dwell- 
ings, with  their  wood  and  plaster  walls,  in  no  very  attrac- 
tive condition.  Their  first  floor,  for  the  most  part,  is  not 
only  unboarded,  but  unpaved,  consisting  of  the  trod- 
den surface  of  the  hill-side.  Where  the  doors  are  open, 
the  interior  is  all  visible,  and  the  wood  fire,  from  the  side 
or  centre  of  the  room,  sends  its  smoke  through  door  or 
window  into  the  open  air.  It  is  so,  even  in  that  larger 
building,  the  ancient  hospital  near  the  bridge  at  the 
bottom  of  the  hill,  and  in  the  few  structures  elsewhere 
which  rise  somewhat  above  the  level  of  the  cottage  homes 
of  the  poor.  You  walk  in  those  streets  during  certain 
hours  of  the  forenoon,  at  almost  any  time  through  some 
years  preceding  the  last  month  of  1384,  and  if  tradition 
may  be  credited,  you  see  a  venerable  man,  with  a  long  robe 
and  flowing  beard,  having  rude  sandals  on  his  feet,  a  plain 
belt  about  his  waist,  and  a  tall  white  stafi*  in  his  hand, 
passing  from  street  to  street.  All  who  meet  him  give 
him  tokens  of  reverence.  He  acknowledges  such  wayside 
courtesies,  and  with  one  and  another  exchanges  a  few 
words  of  neighbourly  greeting  or  inquiry.  In  every  house 
where  he  would  enter,  he  finds  a  simple  and  honest  wel- 
come. If  sickness  or  sorrow  be  there,  he  takes  his  place 
beside  the  sufferer,  as  one  who  has  his  word  in  season  to 


A.D.  1381.]      The  Parish  Priest  at  his  Worh  387 


offer,  and  his  oil  to  pour,  in  good  Samaritan  fashion,  into 
the  throbbing  wound.  In  the  earlier  hours  of  the  morning 
on  which  you  see  him  thus  employed,  this  remarkable 
person  has  been  engaged  in  revising  and  extending  the 
later  sections  of  a  Latin  treatise,  the  substance  of  which  he 
had  delivered  as  lectures  to  a  crowded  class-room  when 
professor  in  Oxford ;  or,  perhaps,  before  leaving  the  rectory 
on  that  morning,  he  has  just  completed  the  translation  of 
a  considerable  portion  of  the  Bible  into  English  for  the 
use  of  English  people  ;  or  has  issued  an  English  tractate 
on  the  ecclesiastical  corruptions  of  the  times,  that  will  be 
speedily  transcribed  and  circulated  from  one  end  of  the 
kingdom  to  the  other.  On  the  Sunday  you  see  this  man 
in  the  pulpit  of  the  old  town  church,  with  the  faces  thus 
familiar  to  him  in  their  own  homes  gathered  as  a  flock 
about  him,  listening  with  deep  interest  to  his  bold  utter- 
ances in  defence  of  Christ's  Gospel,  of  man's  rights,  and 
against  all  tyranny — especially  the  tyranny  of  those 
*  satraps'  of  the  age,  the  ruling  churchmen,  who  would  sup- 
press the  truth  of  Christ,  to  serve  their  own  selfish  ends. 
The  bishop  of  Lincoln — bishop  of  the  diocese — is  not 
ignorant  of  what  is  thus  taking  place  from  one  Sunday 
to  another  in  Lutterworth  church.  The  district  is  vehe- 
mently suspected  of  heresy.  The  bishop  has  issued  many 
hints — some  grave  admonitions.  But  the  times  are  out 
of  joint.  It  is  not  deemed  wise  to  proceed  further.  So 
the  rector  takes  his  own  course,  and  indoctrinates  his 
flock  after  his  own  manner. 


2  c  2 


S88  Wycliffe  as  a  Parish  Priest.         [chap.  xi. 

Such  was  Wycliife,  as  the  parish  priest  in  Lutterworth  ; 
and  a  few  extracts  from  the  sermons  delivered  by  him 
there^  and  in  such  circumstances,  will  not,  we  trust,  be 
unacceptable  to  the  reader.  It  is  in  the  following  terms 
that  he  addresses  himself  to  his  parishioners  concerning 
the  duty  of  the  clergy  to  extend  their  services  as  preachers 
to  the  ignorant,  in  the  hamlets  and  less-peopled  districts 
of  the  country.  '  The  gospel  telleth  us  the  duty  which 
'  falls  to  all  the  disciples  of  Christ,  and  also  how  priests, 

*  both  high  and  low,  should  occupy  themselves  in  the 
'  church  of  God,  and  in  serving  him.  And  first,  Jesus 
'  himself  did  indeed  the  lessons  he  taught.     The  gospel 

*  relates  how  he  went  about  in  the  places  of  the  country, 
'  both  great  and  small,  in  cities  and  castles,  or  in  small 
'  towns,  and  this  that  he  might  teach  us  how  to  become 

*  profitable  to  men  generally,  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 

*  Bethphage,  and  Cana  in  Galilee — for  Christ  went  to 

*  all  those  places  where  he  wished  to  do  good.  He 
'  laboured  not  for  gain — he  was  not  smitten  with  either 
'  pride  or  covetousness.'  ^  The  preacher  laments,  accor- 
dingly, that  the  jurisdiction  of  the  prelates  had  become 
such  as  to  empower  them  to  prevent  true  priests  from 

*  MS.  Homilies,  British  Museum,  Bib.  Reg.  xviii.  6;  ix.  134. 


A.D.  1381.]  WycUffe  Preaching.  889 

giving  themselves  to  such  labours.  While  the  Jewish 
priests  suffered  Jesus  and  the  apostles  to  preach  in  their 
synagogues,  the  pretended  successors  of  the  apostles 
allow  no  such  liberty  to  the  servants  of  the  master  who 
was  so  privileged.  But,  if  the  Reformer's  '  poor  priests' 
were  often  refused  access  to  the  pulpits  of  their  brethren, 
there  were  other  ways  in  which  their  influence  might  be 
put  forth  with  good  effect.  '  It  was  ever  the  manner  of 
'  Jesus '  says  Wycliffe,  '  to  speak  the  words  of  God  where- 
'  ever  he  knew  they  might  be  profitable  to  those  who 

*  heard  them.     Hence   Christ   often   preached,    now   at 

*  meat,  now  at  supper,  and  indeed  at  whatever  time  it 

*  was  convenient  for  others  to  hear  him.'  ^ 

Wycliffe's  '  poor  priests'  did  much  by  this  sort  of  house- 
hold ministry.  Many  an  incursion  of  this  kind  we  can 
suppose  to  have  been  made,  both  by  the  Reformer,  and 
by  his  zealous  curate.  Purvey,  beyond  the  boundaries  of 
the  parish  of  Lutterworth.  . 

In  expounding  the  Epistle  read  on  the  third  Sun- 
day after  advent,  the  preacher  proceeds  thus  : — '  Let  a 
'  man  so  guess  of  us,  as  of  the  ministers  of  Christ,  and  as 
'  dispensers  of  his  services.     If  in  this  matter  each  man 

*  should  be  found  true,  priests,  both  high  and  low,  should 

*  be  found  more  true.  But  most  foul  is  the  failure  and 
'  the  sin  of  priests  in  regard  to  this  ministry.  As  if 
'  ashamed  to  appear  as  the  servants  of  Christ,  the  pope 

^  MS.  Homilies,  British  Museum,  Bib.  Reg.  xviii.  134—169. 


S90  Wycliffe  as  a  Parish  Priest         [chap.  xi. 

*  and  his  bishops  show  the  life  of  emperors,  and  of  the 

*  lordly  of  this  world,  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  scripture. 
'  Lord  !  what  good  doth  the  talk  of  the  pope,  who  must  be 

*  called  of  men  "  most  blessed  father,''  and  bishops  "  most 

*  reverend  men,"  while  their  life  is  discordant  to  that  of 

*  Christ.     In  so  taking  these  names,  they  shew  that  they 

*  are  on  the  fiend's  side,  and  children  of  the  father  of 

*  falsehood.  The  pope  may  say,  after  St.  Gregory,  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  departeth  from  this  service  to  that  lord- 

*  ship  which  emperors  have  bestowed.     And  thus  all  the 

*  services  of  the  church  which  Christ  hath  appointed 
'  to  his  priests,  are  turned  aside,  so   that  if  men  will 

*  only  take  heed  to  that  service  which  Christ  hath  thus 
'  limited,  it  will  be  seen  that  all  has  been  turned  upside 
'  down — hypocrites  have  become  rulers.'^ 

Concerning  the  authority  of  the  clergy  as  exercised 
in  pronouncing  judgment  on  the  conduct  of  real  or  sup- 
posed ecclesiastical  offenders,  the  preacher  expresses 
himself  in  this  same  discourse  in  terms  of  great  clear- 
ness and  bravery.     Paul  has  said,   that  in    his  case  it 


A.D.  1381.] 


Wydiffe  Preaching. 


391 


■was  "a  small  thing  to  be  judged  of  man's  judgment ;"  on 
which  Wycliffe  remarks, — 'Men  should  not  suppose  them- 

*  selves  injured  by  the  blind  judgment  of  men,  since  God 

*  will  judge   all  things,   whether  good    or   evil.     Paul 

*  therefore  taketh  little  heed  to  the  judgment  that  man 

*  judgeth,  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  J  and  maw's  day.  The  day  of  the  Lord  is  the 
'  day  of  doom,  when  he  shall  judge  all  manner  of  men  ; 
'  the  day  of  man  is  now  present,  when  man  judgeth,  and 

*  by  the  law  of  man.     Every  present  judgment  will  be 

*  reversed,  if  it  aught  reverseth  reason.     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  judg- 
'  ment ;  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  darkness,  and 

*  shall  make  known  the  counsels  of  the  heart ; — And 
'  this  moveth  many  men  to  think  day  and  night  v/pon  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  according  to  their  own  will  hut  always  ac- 


392  Wycliffe  as  a  Parish  Priest.         [chap.  xi. 

cording    to    the  law  of  God,    and   in  things  of  which 
they  are  certain.     But  the  laws  and  judgments  which 
Antichrist  hath  brought  in,  and  added  to  the  law  of  God, 
mar  too  much  the  church  of  Christ.     For  with  the  stew- 
ard rulers  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  affirmet^  that,  if  he 
judgeth  thus,  his  will  should  be  taken  for  reason  ;  whereas 
this  is  the  highest  point  thatfalleth  to  the  Godhead.    Popes 
and  kings,   therefore,  should  seek  a  reason  ohove  their 
own  will,  for  such  blasphemy  often  bringeth  to  men 
more  than  the  pride  of  Lucifer.     He  said,  he  would 
ascend,  and  be  like  the  Most  High,  but  he  challenged 
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,  I 
know,  that  when  it  is  at  the  highest,  this  smoke  shall 
disappear.''^     The  advice  of  the  preacher  in  conclusion, 
is,  that  his  hearers  should  study  the  will  of  God,  and 
thus  learn  to  cherish  an  independence  of  the  judgments 
pronounced  upon  them   by  "  popes   or  prelates,'"  inas- 
much as  such  verdicts  "  stretch  not  to  doomsday  ;" — the 
period,  when  the  will  of  God  shall  be  found  to  be  su- 
preme and  unalterable. 

One  more  extract  must  be  sufficient,  in  illustration  of 

'  Horn.  Bib.  Reg. 


A.D.  1381.] 


IVycliffe  Preaching. 


393 


the  manner  in  which  the  Reformer  was  accustomed  to  no- 
tice the  disorders  of  the  hierarchy  from  the  pulpit.  *  Free- 
dom' 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  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  hect- 
'  ven,  than  did  the  traditions  of  the  Scribes  and  Phari- 
'  sees.  One  cord  of  this  thraldom,  is  the  lordship  claimed 
'  by  Antichrist,  as  being  full  lord  both  of  spirituals  and 
'  temporals.  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  harrow, — '  Cursed  be  so  many  masters.' 

*  For  in  this  day.  Christian  men  are  oppressed,  now  with 

*  popes,  and  now  with  bishops ;  now  with  cardinals  under 
'  popes,  and  now  with  prelates  under  bishops ;  and  now 

*  their  head  is  assailed  with  censures, — in  short,  buf- 
'  fetted  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 


394  Wycliffe  as  a  Parish  Priest.  [chap.  xi. 

*  burdens  them,  that  may  give  him  money.     Foul,  there- 

*  fore  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."^ 

But  while  these,  and  similar  evils,  were  often  dwelt 
upon  in  the  sermons  of  the  Reformer,  and  always  in  this 
intrepid  temper,  the  flock  committed  to  his  care,  as  rec- 
tor of  Lutterworth,  was  far  from  being  unaccustomed  to 
the  sound  of  themes  more  devotional  in  their  character, 
and  less  connected  with  the  passions  too  commonly  ex- 
cited by  controversy.  We  next  select  a  passage  from  a 
sermon  preached  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  u#,  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 

1  Horn.  Bib.  Reg. 


A.D.  1881.]  WycUffe  PreacJiing.  S95 

'  merciful,  so  he  is  full  of  rigliteousness.     But  except  he 

*  keep  his  righteousness  on  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 

*  Almighty,  and  AUrightful.  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  com- 

*  mand.     Nor  was  he  to  be  excused  therein  by  his  own 

*  weakness,  by  Eve,  nor  by  the  serpent.  Hence,  accor- 
'  ding  to  the  righteousness  of  God,  this  sin  must  always 

*  be  punished.      It  is  to  speak  lightly^  to  say  that  God 

*  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,  which  requires  that  every  tres- 

*  pass  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  atonement.     An  angel,  therefore,  would 


396  Wycliffe  as  a  Parish  Priest  [chap.  xi. 

*  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  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  hound  to  God,  to  the  extent  of  his 
^  power  for  himself  having  nothing  wherewith  to  make 
'  atonement  for  his  own,  or  for  Adams  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  persons 

*  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 
said  to  follow  is,  as  stated,  that  the  child  born  must  needs 
be  God  and  man.  The  doctrine  of  the  discourse  is  then 
viewed  in  its  practical  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  unjust  and  proud, 

*  and  who  rebel  against  God,  may  read  their  judgment  in 
'  the  person  of  Christ.  By  him,  they  must  needs  be  con- 
^  demned  ;  and  most  certainly,  if  they  continue  wicked  to- 
'  ward  his  Spirit  to  their  death.  And  if  we  covet  sincerely 
'  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  meekness,    and  in  patience  for   our 


A.D.  1381.] 


IVycUffe  Preaching. 


397 


'  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,  we  would  say,  that 
'  the  Child  who  is  born  is  also  Prince  of  Peace,  and  lov- 

*  eth  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,  teach - 

*  ing  us  this  at  his  birth  ;  and  how  he  came  in  patience, 

*  suffering   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.'  ^ 

The  doctrines  of  Scripture  with  regard  to  the  person  of 
Christ,  and  to  his  sufferings  viewed  in  relation  to  our  re- 
demption, are  of  frequent  occurrence  in  these  discourses. 
It  was  in  the  following  manner  that  the  Reformer  gene- 
rally 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 


1  Horn.  Bib.  Reg. 


398  Wycliffe  as  a  Parish  Priest         [chap.  xi. 

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  godhead,  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  suffered  thus  cheerfully  for 
the  sins  of  his  brethren,  they  should  suffer  gratefully 
for  their  own  sins,  and  should  purpose  to  forsake  them. 
This,  indeed,  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  his  pain  great,  and  so  make  it  the  more  meri- 
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  contempt  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 


A.D.  1381.]  Wycliffe  Preaching.  399 

*  God  and  man,  who  made  all  things  in  their  number, 

*  and  so  would  frame  his  passion  to  answer  to  the  great- 
'  ness  of  man's  sin.     Follow  we  then  after  Christ  in  his 

*  blessed  passion,  and  keep  we  ourselves  from  sin  here- 
'  after,  and  gather  we  a  devout  mind  from  him/  ^ 

The  reader  will  bear  in  mind,  that  these  devotional 
instructions  were  prepared  for  the  usual  auditory  of  a 
parish  church  in  the  fourteenth  century.  The  following 
passages  were  intended  by  the  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  oiun  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  to  man ;  and  so  it 

*  may  not  be  that  God  doeth  good  on  men,  but  if  he  do 

*  it  freely,  by  his  own  grace  ;  and  with  this  understood, 
'  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  substances,  is  to  be  scorned,  and 

*  left  to  idiots.'     It  is  then  remarked,  in  connection  with 

^  Horn.  Bib.  Reg. 


400  Wycliffe  as  a  Parish  Priest.         [chap.  xi. 

the  story  of  the  Centurion,  whose  faith  had  elicited  the 
preceding  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  Grod ;  and  woe 
'  shall  hereafter  be  to  us,  if  we  abuse  this  power.  This 
'  root  of  meekness,  therefore,  should  produce  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  earnest  piety.  It  is  in  the  following  terms  that 
he  endeavors  to  strengthen  the  mind  of  the  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  posses- 

*  sions  alone  pleaseth  them,  while  of  heavenly  things,  and 
'  of  a  right  following  after  Christ,  they  savour  not.  And 
'  this  their  choice,  in  the  present  world,  is  a  manifest 

*  proof  against  them,  that  in  soul,  they  are  not  holy,  but 
'  turned  aside  to  things  of  the  world.  For  as  the  palate 
'  of  a  sick  man,  distempered  from   good  meat,  moveth 


A.D.  1382.]  Wycliffe  Preaching.  401 

*  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  natural  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  suifering  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  suifering  should  much  rather 
be  taken,  as  those  which  bespeak  the  love  of  God.^ 

The  connexion  between  this  independence  of  terres- 
trial evils  and  the  faith  of  the  gospel,  is  thus  pointed  out : 
If  thou  hast  a  full  belief  of  Christ,  how  he  lived  here 
on  earth,  and  how  he  overcame  the  world,  thou  also 
overcomest  it,  as  a  kind  son.  For  if  thou  takest  heed  how 
Christ  despised  the  world,  and  followest  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  this  world.  They  are  not  born  of  God,  nor  do 
they  believe  in  Christ.     For  if  this  belief  were  in  them, 

»  Horn.  Bib.  Reg.  p.   78  . 

2  D 


402  Wycliffe  as  a  Parish  Priest.         [chap.  xi. 

'  they  should  follow  Christ  in  the  manner  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  he  anon,  and  that  Grod  shall  then  judge  men, 

*  after  what  they  have  been  in  his  cause  ;  and  not  prepare 
'  himself  to  follow  Christ  for  this  blessing  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  in  his  word, 
'  or  would  fail  to  judge  them  for  their  doing.  To  all  Chris- 
'  tian  men,  therefore,  the  faith  of  Christ's  life  is  needful, 
'  and  hence  we  should  know  the  gospel,  for  this  telleth  the 
'  belief  of  Christ.'' 

It  would  be  easy  to  extend  extracts  of  this  nature  to 
a  great  length,  but  these  passages  will  suffice  to  show  the 
solicitude  of  Wycliffe  to  adapt  himself  to  his  auditory, 
when  '  postdating '  from  the  pulpit  at  Lutterworth — no 
less  than  when  lecturing  from  his  chair  in  Oxford. 


CHAPTER  XII. 


WYCLIFFE    AS    AN    AUTHOR. 


YCLIFFE  achieved  mucli  as  a  preacher,  more 
as  a  professor,  most  of  all  as  an  author.  With 
pecuniary  resources  which  appear  to  have 
been  at  all  times  inconsiderable,  and  without 
the  aid  of  the  printing-press,  he  gave  an  impulse  to  the 
mind  of  his  age.  Through  the  length  and  breadth  of 
this  country,  his  name  and  doctrines  became  familiar  to 
all  people ;  while  upon  the  Continent,  as  will  appear  in 
its  place,  his  writings  diffused  influences  which  spread 
alarm  through  cabinets  and  conclaves.  To  counteract 
the  innovations  thus  originated,  monarchs  and  church- 
men deem  it  necessary  to  combine  their  authority,  and 
to  take  their  measures  after  the  most  formidable  fashion. 
An  English  bishop  writes  to   a  foreign  correspondent, 


^  Cochleus,  Hist.  Husset.  Lib.  I,     Lewis,  179. 

2  D  2 


404  Wycliffe  as  an  Author.  [chap.  xii. 

that  the  works  issued  by  WycliiFe,  which  he  had  himself 
collected,  formed  two  large  volumes,  and  appeared  to 
him  to  contain  as  much  matter  as  the  works  of  Augus- 
tine. Our  own  Henry  Wharton,  a  man  who  has  a  right 
to  be  heard  on  this  subject,  assures  us  that  the  manu- 
script writings  of  the  Reformer  which  he  had  seen,  would 
extend,  if  all  were  printed,  to  some  four  or  five  folio 
volumes.! 

In  Bohemia,  and  in  other  countries,  many  of  the  works 
of  our  Reformer  were  largely  transcribed,  and  widely 
circulated.  Lepus,  archbishop  of  Prague,  committed 
some  two  hundred  volumes  of  works,  attributed  to 
Wycliffe,  to  the  flames — many  of  them  beautifully  writ- 
ten, and  in  ornamental  and  costly  bindings.^  In  the 
proceedings  of  the  great  Council  of  Constance,  accord- 
ingly, which  took  place  in  1415,  the  name  of  John  Huss 
is  hardly  more  prominent  than  that  of  the  Englishman, 
John  Wycliffe.  who,  as  was  well  known,  had  become,  by 
his  writings,  the  great  preceptor  of  the  Bohemian  martyr. 


*  Anthony  Harmer's  Specimens  of  Errors  in  the  History  of  the 
Reformation,  16. 

^  Brown,  Fasciculus  Rerum,  I.  291.  Among  the  works  so  destroyed 
were  many  scholastic  treatises,  and  a  copy  of  the  Trialogus.  The 
scholastic  treatises  bore  the  following  titles.  De  Ideis.  De  Materia  et 
Forma.  De  Tndividuatione  temporis.  De  Probatiombus  propositionum.  De 
Universalibus.  De  Hypotheticis.  The  remainder  mentioned  are — Dia- 
logus.  Trialogus.  De  Incarnatione  Verbi  Divini.  De  Corpoi'e  Christi.  De 
Trinitate.  De  Simonia.  De  Attributis.  De  Decalogus.  De  Dominio  Civili. 
Super  Evangeli(B  Sermones  per  Circulum  j4nni.  Hist,  et  Mon.  Johannes 
Huss.  I.  113. 


A.D.J  881.]     Increase  and  Diffusion  of  his  Writings.   405 

It  was  in  1377  that  WyclifFe  found  the  ruling  church- 
men first  openly  arrayed  against  him.  For  awhile,  the 
authorities  of  the  state  appeared  disposed  to  shield  him 
from  the  assaults  made  upon  him  by  the  authorities  of 
the  church.  But  in  1381,  the  scale  was  manifestly  turn- 
ing in  favour  of  his  persecutors.  Neither  his  friends  in 
the  University,  nor  those  among  the  influential  laity 
elsewhere,  proved  powerful  enough  to  sustain  him  in 
the  bolder  policy  which  he  then  avowed.  His  adherents 
indeed,  were  still  formidable,  sufficiently  so  to  oblige  his 
enemies  to  content  themselves  with  pursuing  a  cautious 
and  timid  course  towards  him.  But  withdrawing  from 
Oxford  under  these  circumstances,  Wycliffe  directed  the 
current  of  his  thought  and  labour  more  than  ever  towards 
the  people. 

Now  it  was,  that  the  Reformer  began  to  pour  forth  an 
almost  ceaseless  stream  of  publications,  in  the  mother- 
tongue.i  He  at  once  saw,  in  so  doing,  that  if  these  pub- 
lications were  to  be  widely  difiused  and  generally  read, 
among  the  many  popular  qualities  necessary  to  that  end, 
it  would  be  indispensible,  in  respect  to  most  of  them, 
that  they  should  possess  the  advantage  of  brevity.  Hence 


^  This  policy  filled  his  enemies  with  much  wrath,  and  the  wrath  was 
not  of  short  continuance.  *  Not  content,'  says  Polydore  Virgil  in  his 
history,  '  with  having  spread  his  heresy,  by  means  of  books  written  in 

*  Latin — from  those  books  he  published  many  more  written  in  the  lan- 
'  guage  of  his  country,  that  so  even  the  country  people  might  be  made 

*  skilful  in  his  mischievous  superstition — nor  did  he  seek  that  end  in 

*  vain.*     Hist.  Angliae.     Lib.  19. 


406 


Wycliffe  as  an  Author. 


[chap.  XII. 


a  large  proportion  of  the  writings  of  Wycliffe,  especially 
of  those  in  English,  will  be  found  to  consist  of  Tracts 
rather  than  Treatises.  Some  of  these  consist  of  a  few 
pages,  others  are  more  extended,  but  very  few  of  them, 
if  printed,  would  exceed  the  limits  of  a  very  small  book. 
We  have  sometimes  imagined  ourselves  present,  while 
the  'text-writer,'  as  he  was  called,  has  bent  over  his 
parchment,  and  multiplied  transcripts  of  these  missives, 
one  after  another,  as  a  matter  of  handicraft,  and  to 
order.  Sometimes  the  craftsman  gives  himself  to  this 
labour  purely  from  a  regard  to  the  gain  of  it — more  fre- 
quently, this  printer  of  those  times,  pursues  his  task  the 
more  pleasantly,  inasmuch  as  he  has  a  sincere  sympathy 
with  those  startling  thoughts,  and  earnest  words,  which 
are  to  be  sent  abroad  by  such  means.  We  see  the  copies 
go  forth  from  such  workshops,  and  put  in  the  way  of  find- 
ing purchasers  in  old  Paternoster  Row,  and  in  places  of 
like  significance  in  Oxford,  and  elsewhere.  The  manner 
of  vending  such  commodities  in  that  day  differed,  no 
doubt,  considerably,  from  the  methods  which  have  been 
common  in  our  modern  book-trade.  Still,  the  manner  of 
doing  such  business,  even  in  that  time,  was  manifestly 
such  as  to  give  ready  circulation  to  products  of  this  dis- 
cription,  especially  when  charged  with  thoughts  worthy 
of  being  known  and  remembered.  Even  the  old  town  of 
Lutterworth  must  have  had  its  '  text-writers,'  labouring 
in  their  function,  in  obedience  to  the  wishes  of  its  Rector. 
Without  much  and  immediate  assistance  of  this  nature, 


A. D.  1382.]        Labours  of  the  *  Text-writer'  407 

works  so  numerous  could  not  have  been  issued  with  such 
rapidity  ;  and  a  labour  so  great  as  that  of  translating  the 
Bible  could  never  have  been  accomplished.  The  '  writer' 
not  only  made  thought  permanent  and  portable  then,  as 
the  printer  does  now,  but  possessed  this  advantage,  that 
his  work  could  be  carried  on  in  any  place,  without 
depending  on  an  apparatus  so  cumbrous  and  detectable 
as  the  printing-press.  In  our.  thoughts,  we  have  often 
followed  the  copies  of  works  so  prepared,  and  so  disposed 
of,  into  the  dwelling-places  and  relationships  of  the  pur- 
chasers ; — and  pleasant  has  it  been  to  gaze  on  the  groups 
who  listen  as  these  tractates  are  read,  now  in  the  cottage 
of  the  '  plowman,'  and  now  in  the  house  of  the  borough 
or  village  artizan — here  in  the  wainscoted  apartment  of 
the  tradesman  or  merchant,  and  there  in  the  mansion  of 
the  knight  or  the  noble.  For  into  connexions  thus  wide 
did  these  small  books  find  their  way,  everywhere  calling 
forth  the  sympathies  or  the  antagonism  of  the  times. 

But  in  some  places,  and  at  certain  junctures,  it  was 
eminently  perilous  to  be  known  as  possessing  a  fragment 
of  such  a  literature.  The  most  inquisitorial  search  was 
often  made  to  seize  and  destroy  such  productions.  But 
as  the  search  for  the  forbidden  treasure  became  eager,  the 
more  cautious  were  the  methods  devised  to  elude  it.  Per- 
sons living  in  our  time,  have  had  remembrance  of  men 
who  were  present  at  the  taking  down  of  apartments  in  an 
ancient  house  in  Lutterworth,  in  which  there  were  con- 
cealed recesses,  where  many  prohibited  books,  and  a  copy 


408  Wycliffe  as  an  Author.  [chap. xii. 

of  Wycliffe's  Bible,  are  said  to  have  been  long  secreted, 
subsequently  to  the  death  of  the  Reformer.  In  most 
houses  at  all  above  the  meaner  sort,  there  were,  in  those 
times,  such  places  of  concealment :  and  often  they  were 
so  used.  From  this  cause  it  happens,  that  numerous  as 
were  the  writings  of  Wycliffe,  there  is  scarcely  a  vestige 
of  them  that  has  not  survived,  through  some  channel  or 
other,  to  our  own  time.  When  the  Reformation  came, 
and  it  ceased  to  be  dangerous  to  be  in  possession  of  such 
things,  it  was  found  that,  after  a  century  and  a  half  of 
reaction,  and  of  comparative  barbarism,  the  treasured 
fruit  of  WycliiFe's  genius  had  been  carefully  hoarded  by 
the  people,  so  that  such  men  as  Archbishop  Parker,  and 
Archbishop  Ussher,  did  not  find  it  difficult  to  enrich 
their  libraries  with  large  collections  of  this  description. 
It  now  appears,  that  there  are  at  this  time  extant,  not 
less  than  a  hundred  and  seventy  manuscripts,  presenting 
the  whole,  or  parts,  of  Wycliffe's  translation  of  the  Bible.^ 
This  has  happened,  be  it  remembered,  notwithstand- 
ing the  decree  of  our  Romish  priesthood,  aided  by  the 
civil  power,  which  made  it  a  crime,  to  be  followed  by 
heavy  penalties,  for  any  man  to  read  or  to  retain  such 
writings. 

In  this  chapter  we  shall  give  some  account  of  such  of 
the  Reformer's  productions,  as  belong  to  this  later  period 
of  his  history,  and  which  have  not  come  under  our  notice 

^  Wycliffe's  Bible,  vol.  I.     List  of  Manuscripts,  p.p.  xxxix. — Ixiv. 


A.D.  1381.]    Dates  of  the  Wycliffe  Manuscripts.  409 

in  the  preceding  chapters.  The  Author  may  here  ven- 
ture to  say,  that  when  his  own  attention  was  first  directed 
to  this  subject,  scarcely  anything  had  been  done  towards 
determining  the  dates  of  the  various  tracts  and  treatises 
attributed  to  Wycliffe.  From  many  of  the  most  impor- 
tant of  his  works,  not  an  extract  had  ever  been  made, 
and  in  cases  in  which  passages  were  cited,  they  were,  for 
the  most  part,  brief,  unattended  by  any  analysis  of  the 
pieces  from  which  they  were  taken,  or  by  any  attempt 
to  determine  when  they  were  written,  or  made  public. 
The  effect  of  this  negligence  was,  that  confusion  and 
contradiction  rested  on  the  history  of  the  Reformer  gen- 
erally, and  especially  on  some  of  the  most  material  points 
in  it.  Treatises  which  were  not  written  by  him  until 
the  last  year,  or  nearly  so,  of  his  life,  have  been  cited, 
as  if  written  and  published  by  him  long  before  the  first 
prosecution  was  instituted  against  him  ;  and  ground  has 
thus  been  furnished  for  casting  the  gravest  imputations 
on  his  memory.  With  regard  to  many  disputed  points, 
we  have  no  evidence  that  the  Reformer  had  ever  ex- 
pressed himself  prior  to  1377,  as  we  know  he  did  subse- 
quently to  1381.  It  was  not  until  after  the  year  last 
mentioned,  that  he  wrote  the  fourth  book  of  his  Tria- 
logues,  as  internal  evidence  demonstrates ;  and  a  careful 
examination  of  his  English  treatises  would  have  sufiiced 
to  show,  by  the  same  kind  of  evidence,  that  the  greater 
part  of  them  could  not  have  been  written,  until  within 
the  last  two  or  three  years  of  his  life.     It  is  by  deter- 


410  Wy cliff e  as  an  Author.  [chap.  xii. 

mining  these  points,  and  only  by  so  doing,  that  the  con- 
duct of  the  Reformer,  when  summoned  to  appear  before 
the  Papal  Commissioners  in  1377,  can  be  placed  in  its 
true  light — the  light  honorable  to  him  ;  and  that  the 
student  of  the  life  of  Wycliffe,  can  become  really  obser- 
vant of  the  process  of  self-emancipation,  through  which 
his  mind  passed,  especially  within  the  last  seven  or  eight 
years  of  his  career. 

We  have  seen  how  the  Reformer  acquitted  himself  in 
his  controversy  with  the  friars,  which  dates  from  1860, 
and  in  his  defence  of  the  crown,  and  against  the  papacy, 
on  the  question  of  the  census,  in  1365.  We  have  been 
with  him  in  the  presence  of  his  prosecutors  in  St.  Paul's, 
and  at  Lambeth,  some  twelve  years  later ;  we  have 
read  his  dispute  with  an  '  anonymous  monk  ; '  his  *  Com- 
plaint '  to  the  king  and  parliament ;  and  the  defence  of 
his  doctrine  in  the  '  Wicket,'  as  published  subsequently 
to  that  time.  We  have  listened,  also,  to  his  lectures,  as 
professor  of  divinity  in  Oxford,  until  1381  ;  and  to  his 
sermons,  year  by  year,  from  that  time,  as  Rector  of  Lut- 
terworth, and  have  been  made  acquainted  with  the  man- 
ner in  which  he  could  descant  on  such  topics  as  the  Papal 
Schism,  and  the  right  of  the  laity  to  have  possession  of 
the  Sacred  Scriptures  in  their  own  tongue.  We  are  not, 
therefore,  altogether  unacquainted  with  *  Wycliffe  as  an 
Author.'  But  there  is  much  more  to  be  known  concern- 
ing him  in  this  view,  and  that  should  be  known  to  us, 
before  we  attempt  to  estimate  the  claims  of  his  genius 


A.D.  1381.]    Treatise  on  '  The  Leaven  of  the  Pharisees.'    411 


in  this  respect.  His  English  pieces,  written  in  Lutter- 
worth between  1381  and  the  close  of  1384 — apparently 
the  most  laborious  period  of  his  life — give  us  many  of  his 
ripest  thoughts  as  a  Reformer,  expressed  with  an  earnest- 
ness of  feeling,  which  seems  to  become  only  more  intense 
as  life  is  nearing  towards  its  close.  We  repair  then,  to 
Lutterworth,  and  become  observers  there  of  the  manner 
in  which  the  Reformer,  expelled  from  Oxford,  still  labours 
to  advance  the  work  of  reformation.  In  so  doing,  how- 
ever, we  shall  be  obliged  to  restrict  our  notices  to  a  selec- 
tion from  these  works — an  analysis  and  description  of 
the  whole  would  swell  to  a  large  space.  The  dates  of 
the  manuscripts  we  shall  select,  are  determined  by  their 
references  to  events  of  the  time,  as  to  the  Papal  Schism, 
which  did  not  originate  until  1377  ;  to  the  persecution  of 
the  '  poor  priests,'  a  class  of  men  of  the  John  Ashton  des- 
cription, who  do  not  make  their  appearance  until  a  few 
years  before  the  Reformer's  death  ;  to  the  discussions  in 
relation  to  the  Eucharist,  and  the  Translation  of  the 
Scriptures  into  English,  which  do  not  become  observable 
earlier  than  1381  ;  and  to  the  Crusade  against  the  Anti- 
pope,  which  was  not  proclaimed  until  1382. 

In  a  manuscript  volume  in  Corpus  Christi  College, 
Cambridge,  including  a  series  of  the  most  interesting 
of  the  works  published  by  Wycliffe  in  English,  the  first 
in  order  is  a  piece  intitled  De  Hypocritarum  Impos- 
TURis.  It  consists  of  a  commentary  on  the  text, 
"  Beware  of  the  leaven  of  the  Pharisees^"  and  is  meant  to 


412  Wy cliff e  as  an  Author.  [chap.  xu. 

identify  the  mendicant  orders  witli  that  sort  of  ancient 
religionists,  as  being,  like  them,  devoid  of  all  sincerity.^ 
The  treatise  extends  to  twenty-two  pages,  and  from  its 
reference  to  the  Papal  Schism,  and  to  the  disputes  con- 
cerning the  Eucharist,  we  regard  it  as  written  at  Lutter- 
worth, when  the  Author  had  retired  from  Oxford.  A 
few  passages  will  suffice  to  indicate  the  spirit  of  this 
performance. 

'  See  now,'  says  our  Author,  '  where  these  friars  break 
'  falsely  all  the  commandments  of  God.  If  they  choose 
^  to  be  ruled  more  after  the  ordinance  of  sinful  men  and 
'  idiots,  than  after  the  clean  ordinance  of  Christ,  and  say, 
'  that  sinful  man's  ordinance  is  better  and  truer  for  man, 

*  and  more  perfect,  than  is  the  clean  ordinance  of  Christ 

*  — then  they  worship  false  gods,  and  are  heretics  and 
'  blasphemers,  and  so  they  break  the  first  commandment 
'  of  God.  If  they  dread  more,  and  punish  more,  for 
'  breaking  a  sinful  man's  traditions,  than  for  breaking 

*  the  commandments  of  God,  and  study  and  love  more 
^  their  private  rules,  than  the  commands  of  God,  then 
'  they  worship,  love,  and  dread  sinful  man,  and,  it  may 
'  be,  devils  damned,   more  than  God  Almighty — for  as 

*  Austin  saith,  a  man  maketh  that  thing  his  God,  the 

*  which  he  dreadeth  most  and  loveth  most. 

*  If  they  hinder  curates  and  poor  priests  from  teaching 


»  MS.  C.  C.  C.  Cambridge,  p.p.  1—22.     Trinity   College,  Dublin. 
Class  c.  Tab.  iii.  No.  2,  p.p.  1—17. 


A.D.  1381.]   Treatise  on  '  The  Leaven  of  the  Pharisees.*   413 

'  man  God's  law,  by  hypocrisy  and  help  of  Antichrist's 

*  laws,  for  dread  lest  their  hypocrisy  be  perceived,  and 

*  their  winning  and  worldly  pride  laid  low,  then  are  they 
^  cursed  man-slayers,  and  the  cause  of  the  damnation  of 
'  all  the  souls  that  perish  through  their  default,   in  not 

*  knowing  and  keeping  God's  commandments.  If  they 
'  preach  principally  for  worldly  muck  and  vain-glory, 
'  and  so  preach  to  be  praised  of  men,  and  not  simply  and 
'  plainly  the  gospel  of  Christ,  for  his  glory,  and  the  gain 
'  of  men's  souls,  then  are  they  corrupters  of  God's  word, 
'  as  Paul  saith.' 

It  is  in  the  following  terms  that  the  Reformer  exhorts 
the  men  of  his  time  to  Christian  fidelity. 

'  It  is  cowardice  in  Christ's  disciples,  if  they  spare  for 

*  bodily  pain  and  death,  to  tell  openly  the  truth  of  God's 
'  law.      And  therefore  telleth  Christ  afterwards  to  his 

*  disciples,  that  they  should  dread  God  and  nothing  else, 
'■  supremely.  Truly,  saith  Christ,  I  say  to  you,  my  friends, 
'  be  not  afraid  of  them  that  slay  the  body,  and  after 

*  those  things  have  no  more  which  they  shall  do.  But  I 
'  shall  shew  you  whom  you  shall  dread ;  dread  ye  him, 
'■  who,  after  he  hath  slain,  hath  power  to  send  into  hell ; 
'  and  so  I  say  to  you,  dread  him.  Here  Christ  will  that 
'  men  dread  nothing  principally,  but  God,  and  oifence  to 
'  him.  For  if  men  dread  bodily  pains  and  death,  and 
'  therefore,  cease  to  tell  openly  the  truth,  they  are,  with 

*  this,  unable  to  regain  the  bliss  of  heaven ;  and  if  they 
'  say  openly  and  stedfastly  the  truth  of  God,    nothing 


414  Wycliffe  as  an  Author.  [chap.  xh. 

*  may  harm  them,  so  that  they  keep  patience  and 
'  charity/ 

This  treatise  contains  much  more  to  the  same  effect. 
Towards  the  close,  WycliiFe  laments  the  sale  of  benefices, 
said  to  be  common  everywhere,  but  most  common  at 
Rome,  '  where  he  who  can  bring  much  gold,'  is  sure  to 
be  most  successful.  The  men  so  introduced,  are  described 
as  setting  an  example  of  '  pride,  lechery,  and  other  sins,' 
and  as  hindering  '  true  priests  from  teaching  God's  law.' 
In  common  speech,  such  men  were  spoken  of,  as  *  able 
curates,  and  great  men  of  Holy  Church  ; '  but  Wycliffe 
denounces  this  language,  as  a  sample  of  ^Antichrist's 
blasphemy.' 

In  these  later  years,  the  Reformer  had  reason  to  de- 
plore the  want  of  Christian  fidelity  in  '  secular  lords,' 
scarcely  less  than  in  the  '  satrap'  churchmen  of  the  times. 
In  the  maintenance  of  their  worldly  dignity,  the  great 
men  of  the  age  were  ready  to  labor  much,  and  to  fight 
valiantly — '  but  to  maintain  God's  law,  and  to  stand  for 
'  the  worship  to  which  they  are  bound,  upon  pain  of 
'  losing  their  lordship,  and  body  and  soul  in  hell  without 
'  end,  who  is  that  lord  that  would  truly  speak,  labour, 
'  and  suffer  meekly,  despite  of  persecution,  in  time  of 
'  need  ?  Those  lords  ought  to  quake  against  doomsday, 
'  and  against  the  time  of  their  death,  that  travail  more 
'  largely  to  maintain  their  worldly  lordship,  and  to  seek 
'  their  own  worship,  than  to  maintain  the  rightful  ordi- 
'  nance  of  Jesus  Christ  in  his  church,  and  to  nourish  and 


A.D.  1382.]   Treatise  on  *  Obedience  to  Prelates.'  41 5 

*  maintain  Christian  souls  in  good  governance  and  holy 
'  life/ 

The  next  Treatise  in  this  collection  is  intitled,  De 
Obedientia  Prelatorium.  Its  English  title  is,  '  How  men 
owe  obedience  to  prelates,'  (&c.  As  the  great  burden  of 
it  is  a  denunciation  of  the  course  pursued  by  Court- 
ney, and  his  coadjutors,  towards  the  '  poor  priests,'  and 
others,  its  date  should  not  be  fixed  earlier  than  1382. 
It  opens  with  a  complaint,  that  'prelates  slander  poor 
'  priests,  and  other  Christian  men,  saying,  that  they  will 
'  not  obey  their  sovereign,  nor  fear  the  curse,  nor  dread, 
'  nor  keep  the  law,  but  despise  all  things  that  are  against 
'  their  liking.'^ 

On  this  ground,  these  '  poor  priests  and  Christian 
men,'  are  denounced  as  '  worse  than  Jews  and  pagans  ; ' 
and  it  is  taught,  that  '  all  lords,  and  prelates,  and  mighty 

*  men,  should  destroy  them,  for  else  they  will  destroy 

*  holy  church,  and  make  each  man  to  live  as  him  liketh, 
'  that  so  they  may  the  more  destroy  Christendom.' 

It  is  in  the  following  manner  that  Wycliffe  deals  with 
this  charge. 

'  But  here  poor  priests  and  true  men  say,  they  would 
'  meekly  and  willingly  obey  God  and  holy  church,  and 
'  to  each  man  in  earth,  in  so  far  as  he  teacheth  truly 
'  God's  commandments,  and   profitable  truth    for  their 


^  MS.  C.  C.  C.  Cambridge.    Trin-  Coll.  Dublin.     Class  c  Tab.  iii. 
No.  12.  17—23. 


416  Wycliffe  as  an  Author.  [chap.  xii. 

souls.  And  no  more  oweth  any  man  to  obey  Christ, 
God  and  man,  nor  to  any  apostle.  And  if  any  worldly 
prelate  asketh  more  obedience,  he  surely  is  Antichrist, 
and  Lucifer's  master,  for  Jesus  Christ  is  the  God  of 
righteousness  and  truth,  and  of  peace  and  charity,  and 
may  not  do  against  righteousness  and  truth,  nor  against 
the  health  of  man's  soul,  nor  against  charity,  since  he 
may  not  lie,  nor  deny  himself  How  then  should  any 
sinful  prelate  charge  and  constrain  men  to  do  against 
righteousness,  and  the  health  of  their  souls,  in  good  con- 
science ?  For  Christ  saith  in  the  gospel  of  John,  that 
the  Son  may  not  do  but  that  thing  which  he  seeth  the 
Father  do  ;  and,  therefore,  Christ  commanded  all  men, 
that  they  should  not  believe  in  him,  but  as  he  did  the 
works  of  the  Father  in  heaven.  Why  then  should 
Christian  men  be  constrained  by  Antichrist's  clerks  to 
do  after  their  commandments,  when  they  do  no  works 
of  God,  but  the  works  of  the  fiend  ?  And  thus  Christ 
speaketh  to  the  Jews,  and  asketh  why  they  believe  not 
in  him,  if  he  saith  truth.  Therefore,  also,  Christ  saith  to 
the  Jews — Who  of  you  shall  reprove  me  of  evil ;  and  he 
would  that  each  man  had  done  so,  if  he  might  have 
done  so  truly.  Therefore,  in  the  time  of  his  passion, 
he  said  to  the  bishop's  servant  who  smote  him  on  the 
face,  *'  If  I  have  spoken  evil,  bear  thou  witness  of  the 
evil."  And  thus  if  prelates  are  vicars  of  Christ,  they 
ought  to  follow  him  in  this  obedience,  and  ask  no 
more  of  any  man.' 


A.D.  1381.]     Treatise  on  'Obedience  to  Prelates/  417 

Wycliffe  often  complains  that  the  prelates  should  thus 
demand  greater  reverence  and  submission  than  had  been 
claimed  by  the  apostles,  or  by  Christ  himself ;  and  this, 
while  their  life  commonly  bore  so  little  resemblance  to 
that  of  the  Redeemer.  He  bids  them  remember  that 
'  Christ,  God  and  man,  sought  man's  soul,  lost  through 
'  sin,  thirty  years,  and  more,  with  great  travail  and  wea- 
'  riness,  and  many  thousand  miles  upon  his  feet,  in  great 
'  cold,  and  storm,  and  tempest ! '  To  this  example  it  is 
contended,  his  vicars  should  be,  at  least  in  some  good 
measure,  conformed ;  and  it  is  demanded,  with  some 
warmth — '  Why  should  a  sinful  idiot  claim  more  obedi- 
'  ence  than  did  Christ  and  his  apostles  ? ' 

It  is  maintained,  further,  that  no  man  should  leave  the 
greater  duty,  in  favour  of  the  less  ;  and  that  the  duty  to 
continue  to  preach  the  gospel,  must  be  more  manifest 
than  the  obligation  to  obey  any  summoning  from  prelates, 
who,  as  all  men  knew,  would  gladly  prevent  such  preach- 
ing. This  summoning  of  prelates,  he  insists,  *  is  not 
'  grounded  in  Christ's  life,  nor  in  the  life  of  his  apostles, 
'  nor  in  reason,  but  in  Antichrist's  power ,  through  the 
'  endotuing  of  the  church  with  secular  lordship,  contrary 
'  to  Holy  Writ.  Thus,  instead  of  Christ's  meekness,  and 
'  poverty,  and  charity,  and  true  teaching  of  the  gospel, 
'  is  brought  in  the  worldly  power  of  priests,  and  simony, 
'  and  covetousness,  and  dissension  among  Christ's  people, 
'  and  bodily  tormenting  of  them  by  priests,  as  though 
'  they  were  worldly  lords  of  liege  men.'   Concerning  such 

2  E 


418  Wycliffe  as  an  Author.  [chap.  xu. 

men,  as  setting  forth  such  claims,  he  demands,  '  Where 
'  are  more  false  Antichrists,  more  poisonous  heretics,  or 
'  more  accursed  blasphemers/ 

The  maxim  expounded  in  the  next  section,  is,  *  That 
'  no  man  oweth  to  put  God's  bidding  behind,  and  the 

*  biddings  of  sinful  men  before  -/  and  inasmuch  as  Christ 
biddeth  every  man  to  discharge  his  natural  obligation 
towards  his  wife  and  children,  all  contrary  bidding, 
notwithstanding,  much  more  is  every  priest  bound  to 
the  discharge  of  his  spiritual  duties  toward  the  flock 
committed  to  him,  in  place  of  seeking  to  please  men, 
by  leaving  his  '  sheep  unkept,    among    the    wolves    of 

*  hell. '  Prelates  may  enjoin  the  contrary,  but  in  such 
case  no  prelate  is  to  be  obeyed.  It  is  in  the  following 
terms  that  Wycliffe  further  reasons  on  this  subject. 

*  By  reason,  and  by  man's  law,  if  a  man  be  summoned 
'  together  by  a  higher  judge  and  a  less,  he  shall  be  ex- 
'  cused  from  the  less  by  virtue  of  the  higher.  But  each 
'  man  is  summoned,  first  of  God,  to  worship  him  with  all 
'  his  wit  and  all  his  might.  And  by  virtue  of  this  chief 
'  dominion,  he  oweth  to  be  excused  from  the  less. 

'  Men  of  law  say,  and  reason  also,  that  it  is  worse  than 
'  all  to  take  doom  under  a  suspected  doomsman.  But 
'  these  worldly  prelates  are  suspected  doomsmen  against 
'  God^s  servants,  for  they  are  enemies  to  the  persons  of 
'  Christ's  servants,  and  also  to  the  cause  of  God.     And 

*  the  new  religious  assessors  of  these  worldly  prelates  are 
'  more  to  be  suspected  than  any  other,  for  they  put  the 


A.D.  1,381.]     Treatise  on  ^Obedience  to  Prelates*  419 

'  decrees  of  the  church,  and  of  their  founders,  before  the 
'  law  of  God.  And^  thus  charge  deficiency  and  evil  on 
^  the  Author  of  Holy  Writ,  deceiving  lords  and  ladies  in 
'  matters  of  faith  and  charity,  and  making  them  to  trust 
'■  that  it  is  alms  to  destroy  true  men,  that  stand  fast  for 

*  God's  law  and  true  living ;  and  thus  the  damnable  ig- 

*  norance  of  God's  law,  and  the  accursed  life  of  those  un- 

*  holy  prelates,  and  the  strong  maintaining  of  their  own 

*  sin  and  the  sins  of  other  men,  is  the  cause  why  poor  priests, 
'■  and  Christian  men,  have  been  suspected  of  heresy,  and 
'  counted  enemies,  both  of  God's  cause  and  of  his  servants/ 

'  But  let  prelates  study  busily  and  truly  Holy  Writ, 
'  and  live  openly  well  thereafter,  and  destroy  open  sin  of 
'  other  men  ;  and  poor  priests  and  Christian  men,  without 

*  any  summoning,  would  with  great  travail  and  cost  and 
'  willingness,  by  land  and  by  water,  meekly  come  to 
^  them  and  do  them  obedience  and  reverence,  as  they 
'  would  to  Peter  and  Paul.  Let  the  world  judge  whether 
'  these  divisions  come  from  worldly  prelates,  ignorant 

*  and  cursed  in  life,  or  from  poor  priests  and  true  men, 
'  that  fain  desire,  night  and  day,  to  know  God's  will  and 

*  worship,  and  to  do  it  before  all  things.' 

In  this  manner  the  Reformer  meets  the  charge  of  dis- 
obedience to  ecclesiastical  superiors,  as  made  against  his 
'  poor  priests.'  In  answer  to  the  further  charge  against 
them,  of  making  light  of  church  censures,  Wycliffe  thus 
writes  : — 

'  As  to  cursing,  (excommunication)  Christian  men  say 

2  E  2 


420  Wycliffe  as  an  Author.  [chap.  xii. 

truly,  that  they  dread  it  so  much,  that  they  would  not 
willingly  or  knowingly  deserve  God's  curse,  for  any 
good  in  earth  or  in  heaven,  nor  man's  curse,  in  so  far  as 
it  accordeth  with  the  rightful  curse  of  God.  But  they 
will  with  great  joy  of  soul,  rather  suffer  man's  wrongful 
curse,  than  knowingly  or  willingly  break  any  com- 
mandment of  God,  for  to  win  thereby  all  the  worship- 
ping in  the  world,  and  to  keep  their  body  in  all  good, 
never  so  long,  and  would  rather  suffer  slandering,  and 
backbiting,  and  imprisoning,  and  exile — hanging,  draw- 
ing, quartering,  and  burning,  than  to  forsake  the  truth 
of  Holy  "Writ,  and  the  life  of  Christ/ 
Then  it  is  said,  that  these  poor  priests  do  not  *  dread 
or  keep  the  law,  but  despise  all  things  that  are  against 
their  liking/  Wycliffe  answers, — '  As  to  the  law,  true 
men  say,  that  they  will  meekly  and  wilfully  dread 
God's  law,  up  to  their  knowledge  and  might,  and  each 
law  of  man's  making,  in  so  far  as  they  know  that  it 
accordeth  with  God's  law,  and  reason,  and  good  con- 
science. Christian  men  know  well  from  the  faith  of 
Scripture,  that  neither  Peter  nor  Paul,  nor  any  crea- 
ture, may  do  aught  lawfully  against  the  truth  of  Holy 
Writ,  nor  against  the  edification  of  the  holy  church — 
that  is,  against  the  good  teaching,  governing,  and  amend- 
ing of  Christian  souls.  What  power  have  these  worldly 
prelates  to  make  so  many  wicked  laws,  since  Christ 
curseth  those  who  make  wicked  laws,  and  commandeth 
that  no  man  shall  add  to  his  words,  nor  take  from 


A.D.  1383.]  Treatise  '  On  Prelates.'  421 

'  tliem,  on  pain  of  the  great  curse  of  God — that  is  to  say, 

*  let  no  man  add  a  false  interpretation,  or  a  false  gloss  to 

*  Holy  Writ — for  then,  as  Jerome  saith,  he  is  a  heretic ; 

*  and  let  no  man  draw  any  truth  away  from  God's  words, 
'  for  those  words  include  all  needful  truth,  all  truth  pro- 

*  fitable  for  man's  soul.  And  to  this  intent,  saith  Paul, 
'  in  his  epistle,  if  even  an  apostle,  or  an  angel  from 
'  heaven,  preach  other  thing,  than  that  is  taught  of  Christ 
'  and  his  apostles,  we  must  not  obey/  In  this  manner 
did  the  Reformer  assert  the  sufficiency  of  Scripture,  and 
the  right  of  private  judgment.  His  reasoning,  in  this 
connexion,  is  valid,  only  as  these  principles  are  ceded. 

In  the  collection  of  manuscripts  now  under  considera- 
tion, this  treatise  relating  to  the  obedience  claimed  by 
the  prelates,  is  followed  by  another  treating  of  the 
duties  which  are  said  to  pertain  to  the  men  raised  to 
that  office.  This  treatise  is  intitled,  De  Conversatione 
EccLESiASTicoRUM,  and  begins  with  the  words,  *  Here  it 
telleth  of  Prelates,  <&c.'  It  extends  to  forty-three  chapters, 
and  from  its  reference  to  Spencer's  crusade,  and  to  the 
wrongs  inflicted  by  it  upon  the  Flemings,  it  could  not 
have  been  written  earlier  than  the  summer  of  1883. 

In  the  first  chapter,  it  is  shown  that  our  Lord  and  his 
apostles  were  devoted  to  the  work  of  preaching,  and 
were  studious  that  their  lives  might  be  commendatory  of 
their  doctrine.  '  Christ,'  it  is  said,  '  ordained  all  his 
^  apostles  and  disciples,  both  before  his  death,  and  after 
'  his  rising  from  the  dead,  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  all 


422  Wydifie  as  an  Author.  [chap.  xii. 

'  men ;  and  since  prelates  and  priests  ordained  of  God, 
'  come  in  the  stead  of  apostles  and  disciples,  they  are  all 
'  bound  by  Jesus  Christ,  both  God  and  man,  thus  to 
'  preach  the  Gospel/  Three  things  are  said  to  be  in- 
cluded in  feeding  the  church  after  the  manner  intended 
by  our  Lord  in  his  injunction  to  Peter : — the  example  of 
a  good  life ;  the  true  preaching  of  the  Gospel ;  and  a 
willingness  to  suffer  death,  if  need  be,  so  that  men  may 
be  established  in  the  truth,  and  in  the  hope  of  bliss. 
The  case  of  Eli  and  his  sons  is  cited,  as  showing  the 
evils  which  follow,  not  only  to  families,  but  to  nations, 
from  the  example  of  an  unholy  priesthood.  "  Woe  is  me," 
said  Paul, "  if  I  preach  not  the  Gospel."  Ezekiel  speaks 
to  the  same  effect ;  and  as  Peter  was  denounced  as  Satan, 
when  opposing  himself  to  the  death  of  Christ,  so  may  it 
be  with  prelates,  if  they  interpose  to  prevent  that  salva- 
tion from  coming  to  men,  which,  through  the  death  of 
Christ,  has  been  brought  so  near  to  us.  *  Christ,'  says 
Wycliffe,  '  purged  the  temple  with  his  own  hands,  as  the 
'  Gospel  telleth,  in  token,  that  if  the  priests  were  good, 
^  the  people  would  soon  be  amended.  And  for  this 
'  reason,  true  men  say,  that  prelates  are  more  bound  to 
*  preach  truly  the  Gospel,  than  their  subjects  are  bound 
'  to  pay  them  their  tithes,  for  that  is  more  profitable  to 
'  both  parties,  and  God  chargeth  that  more.  Therefore^ 
^prelates  are  more  accursed  if  they  cease  from  their 
'  preaching,  than  the  people  are  if  they  cease  to  pay 
'  tithes  J  even  though  prelates  do  their  office  well'     Matins, 


A.D.  1383.] 


Treatise  ^  On  Prelates.' 


423 


masses,  and  chauntings  are  man's  ordinances,  but  the 
preaching  of  the  Gospel  is  of  Divine  obligation,  being 
enjoined  by  Christ,  both  before  and  after  his  passion. 
The  whole  treatise  is  in  this  spirit.  We  marvel  as  we 
read,  that  a  man  who  could  thus  write,  should  have  es- 
caped the  vengeance  of  the  parties  so  assailed. 

In  the  third  chapter  of  this  work,  the  Reformer  dis- 
courses with  much  freedom  concerning  the  equipage,  the 
gluttony,  the  drunkenness,  and  the  profanity  of  many 
among  the  prelates,  which  are  said  to  be  such,  as  to  pro- 
claim them  members  of  the  *  devil's  church,'  rather  than 
of  '  holy  church/  '  Prelates,'  he  writes,  '  rob  the  poor 
'  liege  men  of  the  king  by  false  excommunications,  put 
'  forth  under  colour  of  holy  correction,  but  giving  men 

*  leave  to  dwell  in  sin  from  year  to  year,  and  from  one 
'  seven  years  to  another — and  commonly  all  their  life 

*  long,  if  they  pay  by  year  twenty  shillings,  or  something 
'  more  or  less.'  Should  certain  bishops,  distinguished  as 
vendors  of  this  sort  of  merchandize,  live  through  some 
twenty  years,  the  result  it  is  said  must  be,  that  they  will 
amass  not  less  than  sixty  thousand  marks  by  such  means. 

*  In  this  manner,'  says  Wycliffe,   *  these  wicked  prelates 

*  sell  men's  souls  to  Satan,  for  which  souls  Christ  shed 
'  his  precious  heart's  blood  upon  the  cross.'  Should  secu- 
lar lords  attempt  to  amend  this  state  of  things,  then,  it 
is  said,  they  are  slandered,  excommunicated,  and  their 
lands  are  laid  under  an  interdict. — '  And  thus  almost 
'  all  men  are  conquered  to  the  fiend,  and  these  prelates 


424  Wydifie  as  an  Author.  [chap.  xn. 

'  shew  themselves  very  antichrists,  procurators  of  Satan, 
'  and  traitors  to  Jesus  Christ  and  his  people/ 

One  prolific  source  of  this  corruption  is  said  to  be 
the  prevalence  of  Simony.  Most  of  the  dignitaries  above 
censured,  are  said  to  enter  upon  their  office  by  such  means, 
and  the  evil  is  said  to  cleave  to  them,  *  as  a  leprosy  all 
through/  Lords  and  ladies  are  spoken  of  as  being  gene- 
rally implicated  in  this  sin, — '  but  the  simony   of  the 

*  court  of  Rome  doeth  most  harm,  for  it  is  most  common, 
'  and  done  most  under  the  colour  of  holiness,  and  robbeth 

*  most  our  land,  both  of  men  and  treasure, — for  when  a 
'  lord  hath  the  gold  for  presentation,  then  the  gold  dwell- 
'  eth  still  in  the  land  ;  but  when  the  pope  hath  the  first- 
'  fruits,  then  the  gold  goeth  out,  and  cometh  never  again/ 
Nor  is  it  the  purchase  of  benefices  with  money  alone, 
that  is  reprobated  as  simony.  '  Pardons,  if  they  are  ought 
^  worth,'  says  the  Reformer,  *  must  he  free,  and  to  take 
^  money  for  them  is  to  sell  God's  grace,  and  so  simony.' 
Masses  for  the  dead,  accordingly,  and  other  services  for 
which  money  is  taken,  are  described  as  so  much  fraudu- 
lent invention,  designed  to  aid  the  priesthood  in  spoiling 
the  people.  We  cite  a  passage  from  the  seventh  chapter 
of  this  work,  as  expressive  of  the  indignation  often  felt 
by  Wyclifie  when  this  accumulation  of  abuses  rose  after 
this  manner  before  him. 

*  Worldly  prelates  command  that  no  man  shall  preach 
'  the  gospel,  but  at  their  will  and  limitation  ;    and  for- 

*  bid  men  to  hear  the  gospel,  on  pain  of  the  great  curse. 


A.D.  1383.] 


Treatise  '  On  Prelates.' 


425 


But  Satan  in  his  own  person  never  dared  do  so  much 
despite  to  Christ  or  his  gospel,  for  he  applied  Holy  Writ 
to  Christ,  and  would  have  pursued  his  intent  thereby. 
And  since  it  is  Christ's  counsel  and  commandment  to 
priests  generally  to  preach  the  gospel,  and  this  thing 
they  must  not  do  without  leave  of  these  prelates,  who, 
in  some  cases,  may  be  fiends  of  hell,  then  it  follows, 
that  priests  may  not  do  Christ's  counsels  and  com- 
mandments without  the  leave  of  fiends  !  Ah  !  Lord 
Jesus,  are  these  sinful  fools,  and  it  may  be  fiends  of 
hell,  more  knowing  and  mighty  than  thou  ;  that  true 
men  must  not  do  thy  will  without  leave  from  such  !  Oh, 
Lord  God,  all-knowing,  and  all  full  of  charity,  how  long 
wilt  thou  suffer  these  Antichrists  to  despise  thee,  and 
thy  holy  Gospel,  and  to  let  the  health  of  Christian 
men's  souls  ?  Endless,  rightful  Lord  !  this  thou  suffer- 
est  for  sin  reigning  generally  among  the  people  ;  but, 
endless  merciful  and  good  Lord,  help  thy  poor  wretched 
priests  and  servants  to  have  love  and  reverence  to  thy 
gospel,  that  they  may  not  be  let  from  doing  thy  worship 
and  will,  through  the  false  feignings  of  Antichrist  and 
his  fiends.  Almighty  Lord  God,  merciful,  and  in  know- 
ledge endless,  since  thou  sufferedst  Peter  and  all  the 
apostles  to  have  so  great  dread  and  cowardice  in  the 
time  of  thy  passion,  that  they  all  fled  away  through 
fear  of  death,  and  for  a  poor  woman's  voice,  and 
afterwards  by  comfort  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  thou  madest 
them  so  strong  that  they  were  afraid  of  no  man,  nor  of 


426  Wyclifie  as  an  Author,  [chap.  xn. 

'  pain,  nor  of  death,  help  now  by  gifts  of  the  Son,  and 
'  Holy  Ghost,  thy  poor  servants,  who  all  their  life  have 
^  been  cowards,  and  make  them  strong  and  bold  in  thy 
'  cause,  to  maintain  the  gospel  against  Antichrist,  and 
'  against  all  the  tyrants  of  the  world  ! ''  ^ 

In  the  eleventh  chapter  Wycliffe  touches  on  the  sub- 
ject of  prayer.  'Prayer,'  he  remarks,  *  standeth  princi- 
*  pally  in  good  life,  and  of  this  prayer  speaketh  Christ, 
'  when  he  sayeth  in  the  gospel,  that  we  must  ever  pray. 
'  For  Augustine  and  other  saints  say,  that  so  long  as  a 
'  man   dwelleth  in   charity,   so   long  he  prayeth   well." 


^  The  following  passages  from  the  ninth  and  tenth  chapters  of  this 
Treatise  should  not  he  omitted. 

*  These  prelates  charge  more  their  own  cursing,  that  is  many  times 

*  false,  than  the  most  rightful  curse  of  God  Almighty.    And  hereby 

*  they  mean,   and  show  indeed,  but  falsely,  that  they  are  more  than 

*  Almighty  God  in  Trinity.     For  if  a  man  be  accursed  of  prelates, 

*  though  wrongfully,  anon  all  men  are  taught  by  them  to  flee  him  as  a 

*  Jew  or  a  Saracen.  And  if  he  dwell  forty  days  under  their  curse,  he 
'  shall  be  taken  to  prison.  But  they  who  are  cursed  of  God,  for  break- 
'  ing  his  commandments,  as  proud  men,  envious,  gluttons,  the  un- 
'  chaste,  are  not  punished  thus,  but  holden  virtuous  and  manly.  So 
'  God's  curse  is  set  at  nought,  while  the  wrongful  curse  of  man  is 

*  charged  above  the  clouds.  And  yet,  though  a  man  be  accursed  of 
'  God,  and  of  a  prelate  also,  if  he  will  give  gold  he  shall  be  assoiled 

*  (absolved)  though  he  dwell  in  his  sin,  and  so  under  God's  curse. 

*  But  see  now  the  sinfulness  of  man's  curse.    If  a  true  man  shall 
'  displease  a  worldly  prelate  by  teaching  and  maintaining  God's  law, 

*  he  shall  be  slandered  for  an  evil  man,  and  forbidden  to  teach  Christ's 
'  Gospel,  and  the  people  shall  be  charged  upon  pain  of  the  greater 

*  curse,  to  flee,  and  not  to  hear  such  a  man,  for  to  save  their  own  souls. 

*  And  this  shall  be  done  under  the  cover  of  holiness ;  for  they  will  say 
'  that  such  a  man  teacheth  heresy,  and  bring  many  false  witnesses  and 


A.D.  1383.] 


Treatise  '  On  Prelates' 


427 


Prayer  is  also  said  to  '  stand  in  holy  desire/  and  *  in 
^  word ; '  but  prayer  in  word  *  is  naught  worthy  unless  it 
'  he  done  with  devotion,  and  cleanness  and  holiness  of 
'  life.  Ah  !  Lord,  since  prelates  are  so  far  from  God's 
'  law,  that  they  will  not  preach  the  gospel  themselves, 
'  nor  suffer  other  men  to  preach  it,  how  abominable  is 
'  their  prayer  before  God  Almighty !  Lord !  since  prelates 
'  know  not  whether  their  prayer  is  acceptable  or  abomin- 
'  able,  why  do  they  magnify  it  so  much,  and  sell  it  so 
'  dear  ?  For  the  prayer  of  a  lewd  man,  (a  layman)  who 
'  shall  be  saved,  is  without  measure  better  than  the  prayer 
'  of  a  prelate  who  shall  he  damned.'  Vicious  priests,  it 
is  observed,  '  need  to  have  new  laws,  made  of  sinful  fools, 
'  to  colour  their  sin  by,  and  to  gather  greedily  their 
'  tithes,  when  they  do  not  their  office  ;  for  God's  law  help- 
'  eth  them  not  thereto,  but  condemns  their  pride,  cove- 


*  notaries  against  him  in  his  absence,  and  in  his  presence  speak  no 
'  word.    And  they  pretend,  by  means  of  this  invented  and  false  law, 

*  that  if  three  or  four  false  witnesses,  hired  by  money,  say  each  a  thing 

*  against  a  true  man,  that  then  he  shall  not  be  heard,  though  he  could 

*  prove  the  contrary  by  two  hundred  ! ' 

In  this  manner  did  the  Reformer  plead  for  natural  right,  and  Chris- 
tian liberty,  against  the  abuses  of  power  on  the  part  of  a  worldly  and 
vicious  clergy.  To  allow  that  such  methods  of  proceeding  are  just,  he 
remarks,  would  be  to  allow  the  justice  of  the  death  inflicted  on  the 
martyrs,  and  on  Christ  himself,  against  whom  it  must  have  been  easy 
to  produce  any  number  of  such  witnesses.  By  such  means,  indeed,  it 
were  easy  to  prove  *  each  king  of  Christendom  foresworn,  and  therefore 
no  king.*  But  as  the  judgment  of  Elijah  prevailed  against  the  multi- 
tude of  false  priests,  so,  he  writes,  shall  the  judgment  of  one  true  man 
prevail  against  that  of  a  host  of  prelates. 


428  Wyclifie  as  an  Author.  [chap.  xii. 

*  tousness,  and  other  sins/  He  then  comhats  the  notion 
that  such  men  are  heard,  '  not  for  their  own  holiness/  but 
in  virtue  of  holy  church,  and  replies  to  this  '  dreaming,' 
that  it  is  not  grounded  in  Holy  Writ,  for  God  saith  gene- 
rally that  such  prayer  is  abominable.  The  offering  of 
strange  fire  on  the  ancient  altar,  betokened  this  offering 
of  prayer  without  charity. 

In  the  twelfth  chapter,  Wycliffe  resumes  his  censure  of 
the  prelates  who  fine,  curse,  and  imprison  men,  for 
preaching  the  Gospel,  and  who  grant  absolutions  to  the 
most  guilty,  on  payment  of  the  required  *  rent  to  Anti- 
christ." *  Coercion,'  he  maintains,  *  belongs  to  lord's 
'  office,  as  Peter  and  Paul  telleth,'  and  all  punishing  of 
the  body,  and  loss  of  goods,  should  come  from  the  secular 
power  only. 

The  thirteenth  chapter  exposes  the  frauds  practised  in 
the  matter  of  indulgences.  Prelates  are  said  to  '  destroy 
'  foully  Christian  men,  by  their  feigned  indulgences  or 
'  pardons.'  Such  men  are  described  as  holding  out  this 
promise  of  indulgence  as  prescribed  'by  virtue  of  Christ's 

*  passion  and  martyrdom,  and  holy  merits  of  saints^  which 

*  they  did  more  than  was  needful  for  their  own  bliss.'  But 
this  doctrine,  it  is  replied,  '  Christ  taught  never  in  the 
'  Gospel,  and  never  used  it,  neither  Peter  nor  Paul.'  Some 
of  these  indulgences,  it  seems,  were  granted  in  terms 
extending  over  a  thousand  years,  and  Wycliffe  ridicules 
such  grants  by  reminding  those  who  value  them,  that  all 
men  believe  that  after  the  judgment-day  there  will  be  no 


A.D.  1383.]  Treatise  '  On  Prelates.'  429 

purgatory,  and  that  no  man  knoweth  how  soon  that  day 
may  come.  But  the  E-eformer  pushes  his  argument  on 
this  subject  to  a  length  which  his  opponents  must  have 
felt  to  be  not  a  little  inconvenient.  '  It  seemeth  that 
'  the  Pope  and  his  are  all  out  of  charity,  if  there  dwell 
'  any  soul  in  purgatory.  For  he  may,  with  full  heart, 
'  and  without  any  other  cost,  deliver  them  out  of  purga- 

*  tory.'  To  confess  the  want  of  inclination  in  this  par- 
ticular, Wycliffe  argues,  must  be  to  confess  a  diabolical 
want  of  charity;  while  to  confess  the  want  of  power,  must 
be  to  confess  the  hypocrisy  which  makes  pretension  to  such 
power.  Allusion  is  made  to  the  manner  in  which  these 
indulgences  were  dispensed  to  forward  the  crusade  in 
Flanders,  conducted  by  bishop  Spencer,  when  it  was  seen 
that  their  use  was  '  not  to  make  peace,  but  dissension 
and  wars.'  The  whole  system  of  indulgences  and  pardons, 
is  denounced  as  '  a  subtle  merchandise  of  Antichrist's 
'  clerks,  to  magnify   their  counterfeit  power,  and  to  get 

*  worldly  goods,  and  to  cause  men  not  to  dread  sin. — 
'  Marvellous  it  is  that  any  sinful  fool  dare  grant  anything 
^  on  the  merit  of  saints,  for  all  that  ever  any  saint  did, 
'  may  not  bring  a  soul  to  heaven,  without  the  grace  and 

*  might  of  Christ's  passion.'  In  that  passion,  it  is  maintain- 
ed, '  all  merits  that  are  needful '  will  be  found,  and  the 
judgment  of  God  hereafter,  will  not  be  found  to  have  been 
influenced  by  the  caprice  or  the  biddings  of  men.  Wy- 
cliffe concludes  this  instructive  chapter,  by  praying  that 
God  would  of  his  endless  mercy,  '  destroy  the  pride,  covet- 


480  Wycliffe  as  an  Author.  [chap.  xtt. 

'  ousness,  hypocrisy  and  heresy  of  this  feigned  pardoning, 

*  and  make  men  busy  to  keep  his  commandments,  and 
'  to  set  fully  their  trust  in  Jesus  Christ/ 

From  prelates  at  home,  WycliiFe  proceeds  to  touch  on 
the  pretensions  of  the  great  prelate  abroad  ; — this  he 
does  in  the  following  terms  : — 'Also  prelates  make  many 
'  bad  points  of  belief,  and  say  it  is  not  enough  to  believe 
'  in  Jesus  Christ,  and  to  be  christened,  as  Christ  saith,  in 

*  the  Gospel  of  Mark,  unless  a  man  also  believe  that  the 
'  Bishop  of  Rome  is  head  of  holy  church.     And  certainly 

*  the  Apostles  of  Jesus  Christ  never  constrained  any  man 
'  to  believe  this  concerning  himself.  And  yet  they  were 
'  certain  of  their  salvation  in  heaven.     How  then  should 

*  any  sinful  wretch,  who  knows  not  whether  he  shall  be 
'  damned  or  saved,  constrain  men  to  believe  that  he  is 
'  head   of  holy   church  ?     Certainly,  in  such  case,  they 

*  must  sometimes  constrain  men  to  believe  that  a  devil 
'  of  hell  is  head  of  holy  church,  when  the  bishop  of  Rome 
'  shall  be  a  man  damned  for  his  sins.' 

In  this  bold  manner  did  the  genius  of  our  great  Re- 
former separate  between  the  institutional  and  the  moral, 
the  political  and  the  spiritual,  in  the  religion  of  Christ, 
inculcating  that  no  reverence  should  be  shown  towards 
a  mere  office,  if  not  allied  with  the  spirit  proper  to  it— ^ 
the  irreligious  man  who  assumes  a  religious  office,  becom- 
ing only  so  much  the  more  guilty,  and  the  more  des- 
picable in  so  doing.  It  is  not  difficult  to  see  that  this 
one  principle  included  the  germ  of  all  subsequent  religious 


A.D.  1383.]  Treatise  ' On  Prelates'  431 

movement.  Heavily  does  the  Reformer  complain  of  the 
arrogance  which  insisted  that  the  people  should  not 
presume  to  judge  in  respect  to  the  life  or  doctrine  of  the 
clergy,  while  Paul  from  the  third  heavens,  and  Jesus 
Christ,  God  and  man,  challenged  such  scrutiny  from 
friends  and  foes.  But  the  design  of  this  doctrine  is  said 
to  be,  that  men  '  may  not  reprove  such  persons  for  any 
'  sin  whatsoever  which  they  may  do ; '  and  that  good 
men  may  not  presume  to  preach  the  Gospel,  except  as 
bad  men  shall  give  them  permission,  which,  according  to 
the  notion  of  Christian  liberty  maintained  by  Wycliife, 
was  to  place  the  authority  of  Satan  before  the  authority 
of  Christ. 

Nor  was  it  enough  that  this  description  of  clergymen 
should  claim  exemption  from  all  popular  censure, — they 
affected  the  same  independence  of  the  highest  authorities, 
and  in  civil  matters  no  less  than  those  of  religion. 
'  Prelates  most  destroy  obedience  to  the  law  of  God,  for 
'  they  say,  that  they  are  not  to  be  subject  to  secular  lords, 
'  to  pay  them  taxes,  or  to  help  the  commons ;  and  are  not 

*  to  be  amended  by  their  subjects  (people)  of  their  open 

*  sins,  but  only  by  the  Pope,  who  is  their  sovereign,  and 

*  he  by  no  man  on  earth,  because  he  is  the  greatest  of 

*  all.'  But  the  men  who  avow  this  doctrine  are  reminded, 
that  Christ  paid  tribute  to  a  heathen  emperor,  and  so  to  the 
religion  or  church  of  the  emperor,  when  required,  though 

*  he  had  no  secular  lordship,  nor  plenty  of  tithes,  and 


432  WycUffe  as  an  Author.  [chap.  xii. 

*  much  more,  therefore,  should  these  rich  priests,'  be  made 
to  comply  with  such  demands. 

In  the  twenty-second  chapter,  the  Reformer  resumes 
his  strictures  on  the  pretensions  of  the  bishop  of  Rome. 
*'  It  is  said  openly,"  he  observes,  '  that  there  is  nothing 
'  lawful   among   Christian   men,   without  leave   of   the 

*  bishop  of  Rome,  though  he  be  Antichrist,  full  of  simony 
'  and  heresy.  For  commonly,  of  all  priests  he  is  most 
'  contrary  to  Christ,  both  in  life  and  teaching  ;  and  he 
'  maintaineth  more  sin,  by  privileges,  excommunications, 

*  and  long  pleas  ;  and  he  is  most  proud  against  Christ's 
'  meekness,  and  most   covetous  of   worldly   goods    and 

*  lordships.'  He  is  described  as  the  head,  and  representa- 
tive of  all  the  corruptions  by  which  the  ecclesiastical 
system  is  disfigured ;  and  to  subject  the  church  to  such 
a  sovereignty,  it  is  added,  must  be  assuredly  to  subject 
her  to  the  power  of  Antichrist.^ 


^  Wycliffe  speaks  elsewhere,  of  'a  third  deceit'  of  the  enemy  on 
this  point,  as  being  to  this  effect, — *  that  good  men  shall  be  saved 

*  though  there  be  no  preaching,  for  God  saith,  they  may  not  perish  ; 

*  while  some  wicked  men  shall  never  come  to  bliss  for  any  preaching 

*  on  earth.     Here  true  men  say,  that  as  God  hath  ordained  good  men 

*  to  come  to  bliss,  so  he  hath  ordained  them  to  come  to  bliss  by  preach- 

*  ing  and  by  keeping  his  word.  So,  as  they  must  needs  come  to  bliss, 
'  they  must  needs  hear  and  keep  God's  commandments,  and  to  this 

*  end  serveth  preaching  with  them.    And   some   wicked   men   shall 

*  now  be  convinced  by  God's  grace,  and  hearing  of  his  word ;  and  who 

*  knoweth  the  measure  of  God's  mercy,  or  to  whom  the  hearing  of 

*  God's  word  shall  be  thus  profitable?  Each  man  should  hope  to 
'  come  to  heaven,  and  should  enforce  himself  to  hear  and  to  fulfil  the 
'  word  of  God.     For  since  each  man  hath  a  free  will,  and  chooseth 


A.D.  1S83.] 


Treatise  '  On  Prelates/ 


433 


The  treatise  concludes  thus — "  In  these  three  and  forty 
'  errors  and  heresies,  men  may  see  how  evil  prelates 
'  destroy   Christendom — for   of  them   and    no   other  is 

*  this   speech — and  how  they   are   the   cause   of  wars, 
'  and  of  evil  life  in  the  people,  and  of  their  damnation. 

*  God  of  his  might  and  mercy  amend  these  errors,  and 
'  others,  if  it  be  his  will ! ' 

One  of  the  most  considerable  Treatises  published  by 
the  Reformer  in  the  English  language,  and  within  little 


'  good  or  evil ; — no  man  shall  be  saved,  except  he  that  readily  heareth, 

*  and  steadily  keepeth  the  commandments  of  God.  And  no  man 
'  shall  be  damned,  except  he  that  wilfully  and  endlessly   breaketh 

*  God's  commandments.'  It  is  very  difficult  to  ascertain  the  real 
opinions  of  the  Reformer  on  topics  of  this  nature  as  set  forth  in  his 
more  scholastic  pieces.  The  preceding  observations  furnish  one  of 
the  most  explicit  expositions  of  his  views  that  we  have  met  with. 

The  fourth  '  deceit '  is,  when  it  is  said,  *  that  men  should  cease 

*  from  preaching,  and  give  themselves  wholly  to  prayers  and  contem- 
'  plation,  because  that  helpeth  Christian  men  more,  and  is  better.' 
But  in  answer,  'true  men  say,  boldly,  that  true  preaching  is  better 

*  than  prayer  by  the  mouth,  or  though  it  should  come  from  the  heart 
'  and  from  pure  devotion,  and  that  it  edifieth  more  the  people.     Christ 

*  especially  commanded  his  apostles  and  disciples  to  preach  the  Gos- 
'  pel,  and  not  to  shut  themselves  up  in  cloisters  and  churches  to  pray, 
'  as  some  men.  Hence,  Isaiah  cried,  "  Woe  is  me  that  I  was  still;  " 
'  and  Paul  says,  "Woe  is  me  if  I  speak  not  the  Gospel."  Devout 
'  prayer  in  men  of  good  life  is  good  in  certain  time  ;  but  it  is  against 

*  charity  for  priests  to  pray  ever  more,  and  at  no  time  to  preach ;  since 
'  Christ  chargeth  priests  to  preach  the  Gospel  more  than  to  say  mass 

*  and  matins.'  These  enlightened  views  concerning  the  paramount 
importance  of  preaching,  exhibit  the  mind  of  Wycliffe  as  much  in 
advance  of  his  age ;  but  he  cites  Gregory  and  Jerome  in  support  of 
these  opinions,  and  as  censuring  customs  which  deprived  society  of 
the  benefit  of  good  examples,  and  led  to  much  sin, 

2  F 


434  Wycliffe  as  an  Author.  [chap.  xh. 

more   than   a  year  of  his   decease,   is   intitled, — "The 

GREAT  SENTENCE    OF    THE    CUESE    EXPOUNDED/'  ^      It    begins 

with  the  words — First,  all  heretics  again-standing  the 
faith  of  holy  writ  he  cursed  solemnly,  four  times  in  the 
year.  &c.  The  matter  of  this  treatise  is  distributed  into 
seventy-nine  chapters,  and  extends  to  nearly  a  hundred 
quarto  pages.  The  reference  in  the  sixteenth  chapter, 
to  the  war  then  going  on  in  Flanders,  for  Hhe  love 
of  two  false  priests,  who  are  open  antichrists,'  and 
some  other  allusions  to  contemporary  events,  fix  the 
date  of  this  publication  as  certainly  not  earlier  than 
the  summer  of  1383.2  This  work  expresses  the  views 
of  the  Reformer  so  fully,  and  so  forcibly,  on  most 
of  the  questions  of  the  time,  that  we  shall  restrict 
our  attention  to  it  chiefly,  in  the  remaining  space 
allotted  to  this  chapter.  The  points  in  this  treatise, 
which  engage  the  attention  of  the  writer,  are  those 
which  came  before  the  people  from  quarter  to  quarter, 
as  this  periodical  anathema  was  pronounced  in  their 
hearing. 

The  Reformer  begins  by  defining  heresy,  on  the 
authority  of  Augustine  and  other  clerks,  as,  "  error 
maintained  against  Holy  Writ."'  But  our  worldly  pre- 
lates, he  remarks,  maintain  error  against  Holy  Writ 
"  in  the  matter  of  preaching  the  Gospel  of  Christ,  and 


1  MS.  C.  C.  C.  Cambridge. 
2  See  chapter  III.  XV.  XVI.  XIX.  XXVI. 


1 


A.D.  1383.]     Treatise  ^  On  the  Curse  Eoopounded.'  435 

*  therefore   they   are  themselves   cursed   heretics.      For 

*  when  Paul  asks  how  men  should  preach,  but  as  they 
^  are  sent,  they  understand  that  of  such  men  only  as  are 

*  sent  by  the  pope,  and  other  worldly  prelates.'  On 
this  plea,  it  is  observed,  they  not  only  silence  many 
good  men,  causing  the  servants  of  God  to  depend  for 
liberty  to  preach,  on  approval  from  '  the  children  of  the 
fiend,'  but  even  an  angel  from  heaven  must  not  dare 
deliver  the  message  of  the  Almighty  to  save  men's  soul's, 
because  some  worldly  priest  has  presumed  to  contravene 
the  commandment  of  God.  But  whatever  may  be  the 
doctrine  or  practice  of  the  rulers  of  the  church  in  this 
respect,  '  sending  by  those  worldly  prelates  is  not  enough, 
'■  without  a  sending  of  God,  as  Paul  saith.  Neverthe- 
'  less  it  is  so,  that  poor  priests  are  slandered  as  heretics^ 

*  accursed,  and  imprisonedj  without  answer,  forasmuch  as 
'  they  stand  up  for  Christ's  life  and  teaching,  and  the 
'  maintenance  of  the  king's  regalia." 

According  to  the  "  Great  Sentence,"  all  persons  are 
accursed,  who  would  *  spoil,  or  take  away  right  from 
'  holy  church,  or  defraud  holy  church  of  any  endowment.' 
On  this  point,  it  is  remarked,  that  '  Christian  men,  taught 
'  in  God's  law,  call  holy  church  the  congregation  of  just 
'  men,  for  whom  Jesus  Christ  shed  his  blood,  and  they  do 
'  not  so  call  stones,  and  timber,  and  earthly  rubbish, 
'  which  Antichrist's  clerks  magnify  more  than  God's  right- 
'  eousness,  and  the  souls  of  Christian  men.  True  teaching 
'  is  most  due  to  holy  church,  and  is  most  charged  of  God, 

2  P  2 


436  Wycliffe  as  an  Author.  [chap.  xn. 

'  and  most  profitable  to  Christian  souls.  Insomuch  there- 
'  fore  as  God's  "Word,  and  the  bliss  of  heaven  in  the  souls 
'  of  men,  are  better  than  earthly  goods,  insomuch  are 
'  those  worldly  priests  who  withdraw  the  great  debt  of 

*  holy  teaching,  worse  than  thieves,  and  more  accursedly 
'  sacrilegious  than  the  ordinary  thief,  who  breaks  into 
'  churches,  and  steals  thence  chalices,  and  vestments,  and 
'  never  so  much  gold.'  The  fault  and  just  doom  of  such 
men,  are  illustrated  by  an  allusion  to  feudal  relationships. 
They  hold  their  office  on  certain  conditions,  such  as 
Christ  and  the  apostles  set  before  them  ;  and  inasmuch 
as  they  not  only  fail  to  perform  the  duties  of  their  office, 
but  prevent  others,  who  are  able  and  willing  to  perform 
them,  from  so  doing,  they  are  pronounced  traitors  to  the 
said  lord,  and  their  office  and  their  emoluments  are  alike 
a  forfeiture. 

The  third  chapter  commences  with  the  often-repeated 
complaint,  that  the  clergy  should  so  commonly  apply  the 
revenues  of  the  church  to  the  purposes  of  luxury,  and 
neglect  the  poor.  But  the  heaviest  censure  in  this  con- 
nection is  directed  against  the  pontiff.     '  Certainly  some 

*  men  understand  that  the  cruel  manslayer  of  Rome  is 
'  not  Peter's  successor,  but  Christ's  enemy,  and  the  em- 

*  peror's  master,  and  poison  under  the  colour  of  holiness, 
'  and   that  he  maketh  most  unable  curates.'     Again — 

*  This  evil  manslayer,  poisoner,  and  burner  of  Christ's 

*  servants,  is  made  by  evil  clerks  to  be  the  ground  and 
'  root   of    all   misgovernance   in    the   church :    and  yet 


A.D.  1383.]     Treatise  *  On  the  Curse  Expounded.'  437 


'  they  make  blind  men  believe  that  he  is  head  of  holy 
'  church,  and  the  most  holy  Father,  who  may  not  sin  ! ' 
Grosstete  is  mentioned  as  having  been  of  a  diiferent 
judgment  concerning  the  papacy  in  his  day,  and  as  having 
expressed  that  judgment  to  the  pontiff  himself  with  an 
integrity  and  fearlessness  ever  to  be  admired. 

The  fourth,  fifth,  and  sixth  chapters  treat  of  the  simony, 
connected  with  admission  to  orders,  and  the  obtaining 
of  benefices,  and  the  administration  of  the  sacraments. 
The  ecclesiastical  system  is  said  to  be  so  constructed  in 
all  respects,  as  to  favor  the  enriching  of  the  priesthood, 
and  the  plunder  of  the  people.     But  while  the  exercise 
of  every  priestly  function  carries  its  tax  along  with  it, 
some  of  its  acts  impose  a  heavier  burden  than  others.     '  If 
men  foolishly  make  a  vow  to  go  to  Rome,  or  Jerusalem, 
or  Canterbury,  or   on  any  other  pilgrimage,   that  we 
deem  of  greater  might  than  the  vow  made  at  our  chris- 
tening, to  keep  God's  commandments,  to  forsake  the 
fiend  and  all  his  works.     But  though  men  break  the 
highest  commandments  of  God,  the  rudest  parish  priest 
shall  anon  absolve  him.     But  of  the  vows  made  of  our 
own  head,  though  many  times  against  God's  will,  no 
man  shall  absolve,  but  some  great   worldly  bishop,  or 
the  most   worldly  priest  of  Rome, — the  master  of  the 
Emperor,  the  fellow  of  God,  and  the  Deity  on  earth  ! ' 
On  the  sale  of  masses,  Wycliffe  writes  ; — '  Oh  Lord  ! 
how  much  is  our  king  and  our  realm  helped  by  the 
masses  and  the  prayers  of  simonists  and  heretics,  full 


488  Wycliffe  as  an  Author.  [chap.  xh. 

*  of  pride  and  envy,  and  who  so  much  hate  poor  priests 

*  for  teaching  Christ's  life  and  the  gospel/  But  the 
following  passage  shows  that  until  within  a  year  or  two 
of  his  death,  Wycliffe  believed  in  the  existence  of  an  in- 
termediate state,  and  that  the  devout  intercessions  of  the 
living  might  be  in  some  sense  beneficial  to  the  dead  who 
had  not  passed  beyond  that  state.  '  Saying  of  mass, 
^  with  cleanness  of  holy  life,  and  burning  devotion,  pleas- 

*  eth  God  Almighty,   and  is  profitable  to  christian  souls 

*  in  purgatory,  and  to  men  living  on  earth,  that  they  may 
'  withstand  temptations  to  sins.^  The  following  passage 
shews  also  that  he  still  thought  highly  of  the  function 
of  the  priest  as  exercised  in  consecrating  the  elements  of 
the  Eucharist.  '^Think  therefore,  ye  pure  priests,  how 
'  much  ye  are  beholden  to  God  who  gave  you  power  to 
'  sacred  his  own  precious  body  and  blood  of  bread  and 
'  wine,  a  power  which  he  never  granted  to  his  own  mother 
'  or    to   angels.     Therefore,    with   all   your   desire,  and 

*  reverence,  and  devotion,  do  your  office  in  this  sacra- 
'  ment  ! '  \ 

The  eighth  chapter  commences  with  passages  from  St. 
Gregory,  St.  Augustine,  St.  Bernard,  and  others,  concern- 
ing the  duties  of  the  pastoral  office.  On  these  passages 
suitable  comment  is  made ;  and  it  is  especially  remarked, 
that  the  men  who  have  filled  this  office  with  the  greatest 
success,  have  generally  been  men  on  whom  it  has  been 
forced.  It  is  said  that  no  man  should  seek  it,  inasmuch 
as  that  would  be  to  forget  the  admonition  of  Scripture 


A.D.  1383.]     Treatise  *  On  the  Curse  Expounded.'  439 

— "No  man  taketh  this  honour  upon  himself,  but  he 
that  is  called  of  God,  as  was  Aaron/^  When  bishoprics 
were  poor,  and  to  become  a  bishop  was  to  be  exposed  to 
martyrdom,  it  might  have  been  well  to  aspire  to  spiritual 
distinction  ;  but  in  these  later  times,  when  the  office  is 
connected  with  so  much  temptation  to  indulge  in  every 
sort  of  worldliness,  a  devout  man  may,  with  good  reason, 
avoid,  rather  than  seek,  such  an  elevation. 

The  following  passage  expresses  Wycliffe's  opinion 
respecting  the  middle-age  usage  well-known  by  the 
name  of  ^the  rights  of  sanctuary,'  which  consisted  in 
extending  the  privilege  of  the  Hebrew  cities  of  refuge,  to 
certain  ecclesiastical  edifices ;  and  not  merely  in  respect 
to  manslaying,  but  to  offences  of  all  descriptions.  The 
dwellers  in  such  places  are  said  to  '  challenge  franchise 

*  and  privilege,  that  wicked  men,  open  thieves,  and  man- 
'  slayers,  and  those  who  have  borrowed  their  neighbour's 
'  goods,  and  are  in  power  to  make  and  pay  restitution, 

*  shall  there  dwell  in  sanctuary ;  and  no  man  impeach 
'  them  by  process  of  law,  nor  oath  sworn  on  God's  body ; 

*  and  they  maintain  stiffly  that  the  king  must  confirm 
'  this  privilege,  and  such  nests  of  thieves  and  robbery 
'  in  his  kingdom ! '  In  rude  states  of  society,  some 
usage  of  this  nature  has  generally  obtained  ;  but  in  the 
age  of  the  Reformer,  its  abuses  had  become  greater 
than  its  uses.  Wycliffe  regarded  all  such  thrusting  of 
the  authority  of  the  priest  into  the  place  of  the  authority 
of  the  magistrate,  with  suspicion,  and  remarks  in  this 


440  Wycliffe  as  an  Author.  [chap.  xii. 

treatise,  that  a  man  has  a  better  prospect  of  justice  if  cited 
before  '  the  king  or  the  emperor/  than  if  obliged  to 
appear  before  any  tribunal  called  ^  court  Christian/  On 
this  subject,  he  expresses  himself  in  this  treatise  as 
follows : — 

'  Worldly   clerks,    and   feigned  religious,   break   and 
^  destroy    much    the    king's   peace,    and   his   kingdom. 

*  For  the  prelates  of  this  world,  and  their  priests,  more 

*  or  less,  say  fast,  and  write  in  their  law,  that  the  king 
'  hath  no  jurisdiction  nor  power  over  their  persons,  nor 
'  over  the  goods  of  holy  church.  And  yet  Christ  and 
'  his  apostles  were  most  obedient  to  kings  and  lords,  and 
'  taught  all  men  to  be  subject  to  them,  and  to  serve  them 
'  truly  and  skilfully  in  bodily  works,  and  to  dread  them 
^  and  worship  them  before  all  other  men.  The  wise  king 
'  Solomon  put  down  a  high  priest  who  was  false  to  him 
'  and  his  kingdom,  and  exiled  him,  and  ordained  a  good 
'  priest  in  his  room,  as  the  third  book  of  Kings  telleth. 

'  And  Jesus  Christ  paid  tribute  to  the  emperor,  and 

*  commanded  men  to  pay  him  tribute.     And  St.  Peter 

*  commandeth  Christian  men  to  be  subject  to  every  crea- 

*  ture  of  men,  whether  unto  the  king,  as  more  high  than 
'■  others,  or  unto  dukes,  as  sent  of  him  to  the  vengeance 
'  of  evil-doers,  and  the  praise  of  good  men.  Also  St. 
'  Paul  commandeth,  by  authority  of  God,  that  every  soul 

*  be  subject  to  the  higher  powers,  for  there  is  no  power 
'  but  of  God.     Princes  be  not  to  be  dreaded   of  good 

*  workers,  but  of  evil.     Wilt  thou  not  dread  the  power — 


A.D.  1383.]     Treatise  '  On  the  Curse  Expounded'  441 


do  good,  and  thou  slialt  have  praising  of  the  same.  For 
he  is  God's  minister  to  thee  for  good.  Surely,  if  thou 
hast  done  evil,  dread  then,  for  he  beareth  not  the  sword 
in  vain. 
*  Our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ  suffered  meekly  a  painful 
death  under  Pilate,  not  excusing  himself  from  his  juris- 
diction by  his  clergy.  And  St.  Paul  professed  himself 
ready  to  suffer  death  by  doom  of  the  Emperor's  justice,  if 
he  were  worthy  of  death,  as  Deeds  (Acts)  of  the  Apostles 
showeth.  And  Paul  appealed  to  the  heathen  emperor 
from  the  priests  of  the  Jews,  for  to  be  under  his  juris- 
diction, and  to  save  his  life.  Lord  !  who  hath  made 
our  worldly  clergy  exempt  from  the  king's  jurisdiction 
and  chastening  ;  for  since  God  giveth  kings  this  office 
over  all  misdoers, — clerks,  and  particularly  high  priests, 
should  be  most  meek  and  obedient  to  the  lords  of  this 
world,  as  were  Christ  and  his  apostles,  and  should  be  a 
mirror  before  all  men,  teaching  them  to  give  this  meek- 
ness and  obedience  to  the  king  and  his  righteous  laws. 
How  strong  thieves  and  traitors  are  they  now  to  lords 
and  kings,  in  denying  this  obedience,  and  giving  an 
example  to  all  men  in  the  land  to  become  rebels 
against  the  king  and  lords  !  For  in  this  they  teach 
ignorant  men,  and  the  commons  of  the  land,  both  in 
words  and  laws,  and  in  open  deeds,  to  be  false  and  re- 
bellious against  the  king  and  other^  lords.  And  this 
seemeth  well  by  their  new  law  of  decretals,  where  the 
proud  clerks  have  ordained  this — that  our  clergy  shall 


442 


Wycliffe  as  an  Author. 


[chap.  XII. 


pay  no  subsidy  nor  tax,  nor  keeping  of  our  king,  and 
our  realm,  without  leave  and  assent  of  the  worldly 
priest  of  Rome.  And  yet  many  times  this  proud, 
worldly  priest  is  an  enemy  of  our  land,  and  secretly 
maintaineth  our  enemies  in  war  against  us,  with  our 
own  gold.  And  thus  they  make  an  alien  priest,  and  he 
the  proudest  of  all  priests,  to  be  chief  lord  of  the  whole 
of  those  goods  which  clerks  possess  in  the  realm,  and 
which  is  the  greatest  part  thereof !  Where  then  are  there 
greater  heretics  to  God  or  holy  church,  and  particularly 
to  their  liege  lord  in  this  kingdom,  to  make  an  alien 
worldly  priest,  an  enemy  to  us,  the  chief  lord  over 
the  greater  part  of  our  country  ! 

*  And  commonly  the  new  laws  which  the  clergy  have 
made,  are  contrived  with  much  subtlety  to  bring  down 
the  power  of  lords  and  kings,  and  to  make  themselves 
lords,  and  to  have  all  in  their  power.  Certainly  it  seem- 
eth  that  these  worldly  prelates  are  more  bent  to  destroy 
the  power  of  kings  and  lords,  which  God  ordained  for 
the  government  of  his  church,  than  God  is  to  destroy 
even  the  power  of  the  fiend  : — for  God  setteth  the  fiend 
a  term,  which  he  shall  do,  and  no  more ;  but  he  still 
sufi*ereth  his  power  to  last,  for  the  profit  of  Christian 
men,  and  the  great  punishment  of  misdoers  ;  but  these 
worldly  clerks  would  never  cease,  if  left  alone,  until  they 
have  fully  destroyed  kings  and  lords,  with  their  regalia 
and  power  !  ' 

The  next  chapter  relates  to  the  excommunication  com- 


A.D.  1382.]     Treatise  '  On  the  Curse  Expounded.*  443 

monly  pronounced  against  all  perjured  persons  :  and  pre- 
lates, and  the  beneficed  clergy  generally,  are  admonished, 
that  to  this  sentence  they  are  themselves  justly  exposed,  by 
reason  of  the  many  things  in  their  conduct  which  are  con- 
trary to  the  oaths  taken  when  entering  upon  their  office. 

The  next  anathema  was  that  pronounced  on  all  persons, 
who  should  '  falsify  the  king's  charter,  or  assist  thereto.' 
But  it  is  alleged,  that  the  lands  of  the  clergy  were  granted 
by  the  king,  for  certain  specific  purposes,  and  that  cler- 
gymen commonly  apply  the  produce  of  such  lands  to 
purposes  the  opposite  of  those  specified,  and  that  in  so 
doing,  they  sin  against  the  charter,  both  of  their  earthly 
and  their  heavenly  sovereign. 

'  Also,  they  falsify  the  king's  charter  by  great  treason, 
'  when  they  make  the  proud  bishop  of  Rome,  who  is  the 
'  chief  man-slayer  upon  earth,  and  the  chief  maintainer 
'  thereof,  the  chief  worldly  lord  of  all  the  goods  which 
'  clerks  possess  in  our  realm,  and  that  is  almost  all  the 
'  realm,  or  the  most  part  thereof.     For  he  should  be  the 

*  meekest  and  the  poorest  of  priests,  and  the  most  busy 

*  in   God's  service  to  save  men's  souls,  as  were  Christ 

*  and  his   apostles,  since   he   calleth   himself  the   chief 

*  vicar  of  Christ.  Hereby  these  worldly  clerks  show 
'  themselves  traitors  to  God,  and  to  their  liege  lord  the 
'  king,  whose  law  and  regalia  they  destroy,  by  their  trea- 

*  son  in  favour  of  the  pope,  whom  they  nourish  in  the 
'  works  of  Antichrist,  that  they  may  have  their  worldly 
'  state,  and  opulence,  and  lusts  maintained  by  him.' 


444  Wycliffe  as  an  Author.  [chap.  xii. 

The  sixteenth  chapter  commences  with  these  words  : — 
All  those  who  falsify  the  pope's  bulls,  or  a  bishop's 
letter,  are  cursed  grievously  in  all  churches  four  times 
in  the  year/     Here  "Wycliffe  proceeds  to  ask  : — 

*  Lord,  why  was  not  Christ's  gospel  put  in  this  sentence 
by  our  worldly  clerks  ?  Here  it  seems  they  magnify 
the  pope's  bull  more  than  the  gospel ;  and  in  token  of 
this,  they  punish  more  the  men  who  trespass  against 
the  pope's  bulls,  than  those  who  trespass  against  Christ's 
gospel.  And  hereby  men  of  this  world  dread  more  the 
pope's  lead  (seal),  and  his  commandment,  than  the  gospel 
of  Christ  and  his  commands  ;  and  thus  wretched  men 
in  this  world  are  brought  out  of  belief,  and  hope,  and 
charity,  and  become  rotten  in  heresy  and  blasphemy, 
even  worse  than  heathen  hounds.  Also  a  penny  clerk, 
who  can  neither  read,  nor  understand  a  word  of  his 
psalter,  nor  repeat  God's  commandments,  bringeth  forth 
a  bull  of  lead,  witnessing  that  he  is  able  to  govern 
many  souls,  against  God's  doom,  and  open  experience 
of  truth ;  and  to  procure  this  false  bull,  they  incur  costs, 
and  labour,  and  oftentimes  fight,  and  give  much  gold 
out  of  our  land  to  aliens  and  enemies,  to  their  comfort 
and  our  confusion.  Also  the  proud  priest  of  Rome 
getteth  images  of  Peter  and  Paul,  and  maketh  Chris- 
tian men  believe  that  all  which  his  bulls  speak  of,  is 
done  by  authority  of  Christ ;  and  thus,  as  far  as  he 
may,  he  maketh  this  bull,  which  is  false,  to  be  Peter's, 
and   Paul's,  and  Christ's,    and  in  that  maketh  them 


A.D.  1883.]     Treatise  '  On  the  Curse  Expounded.'  445 

-' J 

'  false.  And  by  this  blasphemy  he  robbeth  Christendom 
'  of  faith,  and  good  life^  and  worldly  goods. 

*  And  if  any  poor  man  tell  the  truth  of  Holy  Writ, 
'  against  the  hypocrisy  of  Antichrist  and  his  officers, 
'  naught  else  follows,  but  to  curse  him,  to  imprison,  burn, 
'  and  slay  him  without  answer !  It  now  seemeth  that 
'  John's  prophecy  in  the  Apocalypse  is  fulfilled,  and  that 
'  no  man  shall  be  hardy  enough  to  buy  or  sell,  without 
'  the  token  of  the  cursed  beast ;  for  now  no  man  shall  do 
'  aught  in  the  street,  without  these  false  bulls  of  Anti- 

*  christ ;  not  showing  regard  to  the  worship  of  Jesus  Christ, 
'  and  to  the  Holy  Ghost  in  men's  souls,  but  all  to  these 
'  dead  bulls,  bought  and  sold  for  money,  as  men  buy  or 

*  sell  an  ox  or  beast.' 

In  the  seventeenth  chapter,  the  Reformer  says : — '  The 

*  Gospel  telleth  us,  that  at  doomsday  Jesus  Christ  shall 

*  reckon  generally  with  men,  for  works  of  mercy,  and  if 

*  they  have  not  done  them,  then,  as  Christ  biddeth,  they 

*  shall  be  damned  without  end.  But  Christ  shall  not  then 
'  speak  a  word  of  tithes.  If,  indeed,  men  grant  that 
'  tithes  are  works  of  mercy  and  alms,  as  feeding  and 
'  clothing  poor  men,  certainly  it  seemeth  that  all  this 
'  cursing  is  for  their  own  covetousness,  not  for  the  lives 
^  of  the  people,  or  any  trespass  against  God.  For  then 
'  their  curse  should  be  most  where  there  is  most  sin,  and 
'  despite  against  God.  But  this  is  not  done,  as  all  know- 
'  ing  men  see  manifestly.'  The  law,  it  is  alleged,  teaches 
that  no  man  who  is  himself   *  rightfully   cursed,'  may 


446  Wycliffe  as  an  Author.  [chap.  xu. 

^ _______ 

lawfully  curse  another.  But  the  clergy  who  fail  to  dis- 
charge the  duties  of  their  solemn  office,  are  under  the 
curse  of  the  Head  of  the  Church,  and  are  sinners,  '  a 
thousand-fold  more,''  than  are  their  people,  when  their 
great  fault  is,  that  they  pay  not  their  tithes.^ 

In  the  next  chapter,  the  Reformer  insists,  that  the 
clergy,  in  place  of  demanding  tithes  from  the  more  needy 
of  their  flock,  should  employ  their  influence  with  the 
rich  to  procure  relief  for  the  necessities  of  the  poor. 

'  Men  wonder  highly,  why  curates  are  so  charrouse 
'  (oppressive)  to  the  people  in  taking  tithes,  since  Christ 


*  The  Reformer  expands  this  grave  accusation  in  the  following 
terms  : — '  Christ  said  that  the  Son  of  Man  came  not  to  lose  men's  lives 
'  and  souls,  but  to  save  them — as  the  Gospel  of  Luke  witness.eth.  Why 

*  then,  dare  these  wayward  curates,  to  curse  so  many  men's  souls  to 
'  hell,  and  bodies  to  prison,  and  to  the  loss  of  chattels,  and  sometimes 
'  to  death,  for  a  little  muck;  while  they  are  themselves  cursed  of  God, 
'  for  simony  done  at  their  entrance  into  office,  and  for  failure  in  preach - 

*  ing,  and  in  example  of  holy  life— tithes  being  not  therefore  due  to 

*  them,  but  only  pain  in  hell !  Oftentimes  they  are  evil  tormentors, 
'  and  slay  the  soul  bought  with  Christ's  precious  blood,  which  is  better 

*  than  all  the  riches  of  this  world.  They  are  not  spiritual  fathers  to 
'  Christian  souls  who  would  damn  them  to  hell  by  their  cursing  for 

*  the  sake  of  a  little  perishing  clay !  Even  pagan  persecutors  were 
'  content  to  torment  the  body,  and  not  the  soul  for  evermore ;  but 
'  these  children  of  Satan  cast  about,  by  all  means  in  their  power,  to 

*  slay  the  soul  in  everlasting  pain  !  Certainly  these  wayward  curates 
'  of  Satan  seem  in  this  thing  worse  than  the  fiends  of  hell ;  for  in  hell 
'  they  torment  no  soul  except  for  everlasting  sin,  while  these  clerks  of 

*  Satan  curse  souls  to  hell  for  a  little  temporal  debt,  which  they  will 

*  pay  as  soon  as  they  are  able  ;  and  oftentimes  when  it  is  no  debt,  ex- 

*  ceptby  long  error,  and  theft,  and  custom,  brought  in  against  God's 

*  commandments ! ' 


A.D.  1383.]     Treatise  ^  On  the  Curse  Expounded.'  447 

*  and  his  apostles  took  no  tithes,  as  men  do  now ;  and 
'  neither  paid  them,  nor  even  spoke  of  them,  either  in  the 
'  Gospel,  or  the  Epistles,  which  are  the  perfect  law  of 
'  freedom  and  grace.  But  Christ  lived  on  the  alms  of 
'  Mary  Magdalene,  and  of  other  holy  women,  as  the 
'  Gospel  telleth  ;  and  apostles  lived,  sometimes  by  the 
'  labour  of  their  hands,  and  sometimes  took  a  poor  liveli- 
'  hood  and  clothing,  given  of  free  will  and  devotion  by 
'  the  people,  without  asking  or  constraining.     And  to 

*  this  end,  Christ  said  to  his  disciples,  that  they  should 

*  eat  and  drink  such  things  as  were  set  before  them,  and 
'  take  neither  gold  nor  silver  for  their  preaching,  or 
'  giving  of  sacraments.     And  Paul,  giving  a  general  rule 

*  for  priests,  saith  thus, — "  We,  having  food,  and  clothing 
'  to  hile  (cover)  us,  with  these  things  be  we  essayed  (con- 
'  tent),  as  Jesus  Christ.''  And  Paul  proved  that  pWesf 5, 
^  preaching  truly  the  Gospel,  should  live  hy  the  Gospel,  and 
'  said  no  more  of  tithes.     Certainly  tithes  were  due  to 

*  priests  and  deacons  in  the  old  law,  and  so  bodily  cir- 
'  cumcision  was  then  needful  to  all  men,  but  it  is  not  so 

*  now,  in  the  law  of  grace  ;  and  yet  Christ  was  circum- 
'  cised.  But  we  read  not  where  he  took  tithes  as  we 
'  do,  and  we  read  not  in  all  the  Gospel  where  he 
'  paid  tithes  to  the  high  priest,  or  bid  any  other  man 
^  do  so.  Lord,  why  should  our  worldly  priests  charge 
'  christian   people  with   tithes,  offerings,   and   customs, 

*  more  than  did  Christ  and  his  apostles,  and  more 
'  than  men  were   charged  in  the  old  law  ?     For  then, 


448  Wycliffe  as  an  Author.  [chap.  xh. 

'  all   priests,    and   deacons,    and   officers   of  the   temple 

*  were  maintained  by  tithes  and  offerings,  and  had  no 

*  other  lordship.     But  now  ^  worldly  priest,  who  is  more 

*  unable  than  others,  by  means  of  a  bull  of  Antichrist, 
'  hath  all  the  tithes  and  offerings  to  himself !  If  tithes 
^  were  true  by  God's  commandment,  then  everywhere  in 
'  Christendom  would  be  one  mode  of  tithing.  But  it  is 
'  not  so. — Would  to  God  that  all  wise  and  true  men 
'  would  inquire  whether  it  were  not  better  for  to  find 
'  good  priests  by  free  alms  of  the  people,  and  in  a  reason- 
'  able  and  poor  livelihood,  to  teach  the  gospel  in  word 
'  and  deed,  as  did  Christ  and  his  apostles,  than  thus  to 
'  pay  tithes  to  a  worldly  priest,  ignorant,  and  negligent, 
'  as  men  are  now  constrained  to  do  by  bulls  and  new  or- 

*  dinances  of  priests.' 

Wycliffe  desires  to  know  who  has  given  this  coercive 
power  to  churchmen,  seeing  that  Christ  and  his  disciples 
had  it  not,  and  adds, — '  If  the  first  ordinance  of  Christ 

*  and  his  apostles  come  again  to  Christendom,  then  shall 
'  Christian  people  be  free  to  take  their  tithes  and  offerings 
'from  wayward  priests,  and  not  maintain  them  in  sin.' 
But  it  is  at  the  same  time  said,  that  they  must  contri- 
bute *  reasonable  livelihood  to  good  priests,  and  this  were 
'  much  better  and  easier,  both  for  priests  and  commons, 
'  for  this  world  and  the  other.' 

Subsequently,  mention  is  made  of  the  council  in  Lon- 
don, at  the  time  of  the  '  earth-shaking,'  an  allusion 
which  further  shows  that  this  treatise  could  not  have  been 


A.D.  1383.]     Treatise  '  On  the  Curse  Expounded.'  449 

written  more  than  two  years  at  the  most  before  the  de- 
cease of  the  Reformer.  The  clergy  present  on  that  oc- 
casion, are  said  to  have  introduced  a  '  new  dispensation/ 
declaring  it  to  be  error  to  say,  *  that  secular  lords  may,  at 

*  their  doom,  (in  the  exercise  of  their  own  opinion  or  au- 

*  thority)   take  temporal  goods  from  the  church  which 

*  trespasseth  by  long  custom."  To  which  it  is  replied, 
'  If  this  be  error,  as  they  say  falsely,  then  the  king,  and 

*  secular  lords,  may  take  no  farthing,  or  farthing's  worth, 
'  from  a  worldly  clerk,  though  he  should  owe  him  or  his 

*  liege  men  never  so  much,  and  may  well  pay  it,  but  will 

*  not  ! '  It  is  insisted,  that  on  this  principle,  were  the 
college  of  cardinals  to  become  an  organized  banditti,  the 
authority  of  the  king  should  not  be  exercised  to  curb 
their  marauding  ;  or  should  such  men  send  money  out  of 
the  land  to  never  so  great  an  extent,  the  monarch  must 
not  suppose  that  it  pertains  to  him  to  prevent  such  im- 
poverishment of  the  realm  ;  and  were  a  body  of  monks, 
friars,  and  clerks,  to  conspire  the  poisoning  of  the  king, 
the  queen,  and  all  the  lords  of  the  realm,  '  yet  the  king, 
'  with  all  the  lords,  may  not  punish  such  offenders  with 

*  the  loss  of  one  farthing's  worth  of  their  goods  ! '  The 
same  exemption,  it  is  argued,  might  be  pleaded,  were  these 
persons  to  dishonour  the  bed  of  the  sovereign,  and  to 
conspire  to  make  one  of  themselves  '  King  of  all  the 
world.'  Priests  may  rave  in  this  senseless  fashion — but 
far  be  it  from  the  laity  to  surrender  their  patriotism  and 
their  manhood  at  such  bidding.     Let  it  be  presumed  that 

2  G 


450  Wycliffe  as  an  Author.  [chap.  xii. 

the  sovereign  may  not  touch  the  property  of  such  men  ; 
and  it  must  be  concluded  that  he  may  not  touch  their 
persons,  seeing  that  their  persons  are  held  to  be  the  most 
sacred  ;  and  thus  to  concede  this  clerical  pretension,  would 
be  at  once  to  sheathe  the  sword  of  the  magistrate,  and 
to  give  a  licence  to  crime  on  any  scale,  so  long  as  it  should 
happen  to  be  only  clerical  crime.  But  such  men  should 
know,  it  is  observed,  that  holy  church  consists  not  of  the 
clergy,  but  of  all  good  '  men  and  women  who  shall  be 
saved ; '  and  that  to  take  away  the  goods  which  worldly 
churchmen  misapply,  and  to  give  them  to  men  who  will 
apply  them  to  their  scriptural  uses,  must  be  to  do  the  good 
deeds  proper  to  the  magistrate,  as  the  vicar  of  God ;  and 
no  king  need  fear  the  censures  of  the  clergy  in  so  doing. 
But  it  was  not  enough  thus  to  prevent  the  course  of 
civil  justice — the  magistrate  was  often  censured  because 
he  could  not  be  made  to  do  unjustly.  '  Then  these 
'  worldly  clerks  curse  the  king,  and  his  justices,  and 
'  officers,  because  they  maintain  the  Gospel,  and  true 
'  preachers  thereof,  and  will  not  punish  them  according 
'  to  the  wrongful  commandment  of  Antichrist  and  his 
'  clerks  ;  thus  cursing  true  men,  and  stirring  the  king 

*  and  his  liege  men  to  persecute  Jesus  Christ  in  his 
'  members,  and  to  exile  the  Gospel  out  of  our  land.' 
In  many  instances,  however,  the  attempt  to  make  such 
use  of  the  civil  sword  was  successful,  and  kings  and 
lords  were  constrained  to  '  torment  the  body  of  a  just 

*  man,  over  whom  Satan  has  no  power,  as  though  he 


A.D.  1383.]     Treatise  '  On  the  Curse  Expounded.'  451 

'  were  a  strong  thief,  casting  him  into  a  deep  prison  ;  to 
'  make  other  men  afraid  to  stand  on  God's  part  against 
'  their  heresy/ 

Some  observations  on  legal  studies  occur  in  this  part 
of  the  Treatise.  The  study  of  the  Civil  Law  is  said  to 
be  excessive  ;  and  as  '  our  people  are  bound  by  the  king's 
statutes/  these  are  described  as  more  worthy  of  being 
taught  by  the  clergy,  and  made  familiar  to  the  people. 
The  emperor's  law,  it  is  said,  should  be  studied,  and  its 
authority  admitted,  only  in  so  far  as  '  it  is  enclosed  in 
God's  commandments  ; '  and  it  is  demanded  of  those  who 
profess  to  study  the  Civil  Law,  '  for  the  reason  they  find 
in  it/  whether  the  volume  placed  in  their  hands  by  the 
Author  of  reason,  is  not  likely  better  to  repay  their 
labour  in  that  respect.  The  pope,  says  WycliiFe,  has  for- 
bidden the  study  of  Civil  Law,  and,  for  once,  he  adds, 
'  the  pope's  intent  is  good ; '  but  he  observes  further,  that 
the  canon  law  is  more  hostile  to  the  religion  of  the 
Bible  than  the  code  of  Justinian.  The  whole  of  the 
twenty- fourth  chapter  relates  to  this  subject. 

In  the  next  chapter  is  the  following  striking  observa- 
tion on  one  of  the  most  disgraceful  usages  in  the  history 
of  religious  intolerance.  '  All  those  who  commune  with 
'  accursed  men,  are  cursed  by  our  prelates,  particularly 
'■  if  they  do  it  knowingly.  But  by  this  sentence  it  would 
'  seem  that  God  himself  is  accursed,  since  no  accursed 
'  man  may  be  in  this  life,  unless  God  shall  knowingly 
'  commune  with  him,  and  give  him  breath  and  suste- 

2  G  2 


452  Wycliffe  as  an  Author.  [chap.  xn. 

'  nance,  whether  he  be  wrongfully  cursed  or  rightfully  ; 

*  and  if  he  be  ready  to  give  such  a  man  grace  and  for- 

*  giveness  of  his  sins,  if  he  ask  it   worthily,  and  even 

*  before  he  ask  it,  this  sentence  seems  too  large,  since  our 
'  God  may  not  be  accursed/  In  this  manner  did  the  Re- 
former deal  with  a  practice  in  which  men  have  been 
taught  to  assign  religious  reasons  for  doing  violence  to 
all  the  instincts  of  our  moral  nature.  It  is  one  of  the 
strong  forms  in  which  we  read  the  demoralizing  tendency 
of  religious  bigotry.  The  Treatise  concludes  with  the 
following  earnest  utterances  : — 

*  Men  wonder  much  why  prelates  and  curates  curse  so 
fast,  since  St.  Paul  and  St.  Peter  have  commanded  men 
to  bless,  and  not  to  have  a  will  to  curse.  And  Jesus 
Christ  blessed  his  enemies,  and  heartily  prayed  for 
them,  even  while  they  nailed  him  to  the  cross.  Still 
more,  men  wonder  why  they  curse  so  fast  in  their  own 
cause,  and  for  their  own  gain,  and  not  for  injury  done 
to  Christ  and  his  majesty  ;  since  men  should  be  patient 
in  their  own  wrongs,  as  Christ  and  his  disciples  were  ; 
and  not  suffer  a  word  to  be  done  against  God's  honour 
and  majesty,  as  by  false  and  vain  swearing,  ribaldry, 
lechery,  and  other  filth.  But  most  of  all,  men  wonder 
why  clerks  curse  so  fast  for  breaking  their  own  statutes, 
privileges,  and  wayward  customs,  more  than  for  the 
open  breaking  of  God's  commandments,  since  no  man 
is  cursed  of  God  but  for  so  doing,  whatever  worldly 
wretches  may  blabber  ;  and  no  man  is  blessed  of  God, 


A.D.  1383.]     Treatise  *  On  the  Curse  Expounded.'  453 


*  and  shall  come  to  heaven,  but  if  he  keep  God's  com- 

*  mandments  :  and  particularly  in  the  hour  of  death,  let 

*  a  man  have  never  so  many  bulls  of  indulgence,  or  par- 

*  dons,  and  letters  of  fraternity,  and  thousands  of  masses 

*  from  priests,  and  monks,  and  friars,  and  it  shall  be  vain. 
'  Let  prelates  and  curates,  therefore,  leave  these  particu- 

*  lars  in  their  censuring,  for  many  of  them  are  as  false 

*  as  Satan,  and  let  them  teach  God's  commandments,  and 
'  God's  curse,  and  the  pains  of  hell,  as  inflicted  on  men 
'  if  they  amend   not  in  this  life,  and  what  bliss   man 

*  shall  have  from  keeping  of  them,  as  they  thereby  teach 
'  truly  Christ's  gospel,  in  word,  and  in  example  of  holy 
'  life,  and  the  mercy  of  God  in  the  highness  of  his  bles- 
'  sing,  and  so  help  all  to  that  end,  in  right  belief,  and 
'  hope   toward   God,  and  full  charity  toward  God  and 

*  man  !     God  grant  us  this  end.     Amen.' 

After  this  manner  does  Wyclifie  discourse  in  'The 
Great  Sentence  of  the  Curse  Expounded ' ;  and  to  the 
same  eflfect  does  he  discourse  in  many  other  pieces  writ- 
ten about  the  same  time.  But  it  is  not  compatible  with 
the  limits  we  have  prescribed  to  ourselves,  that  our 
analyses  and  extracts  should  be  extended  further.  Some 
account  of  other  treatises,  not  less  entitled  to  notice  than 
those  which  have  claimed  the  attention  of  the  reader  in 
this  chapter,  will  be  found  in  the  section  on  the  writings 
of  Wycliffe,  in  the  appendix  to  this  volume.  Enough, 
however,  has  been  cited  from  the  productions  of  the 
Reformer,  in  the  pages  of  this  work,  to  enable  the  reader 


454 


Wy cliff e  as  an  Author. 


[chap.  XII. 


to  form  his  own  judgment  concerning  Wycliffe,  as  an 
author. 

The  English  language,  as  found  in  the  writings  of 
Wycliife,  if  compared  with  almost  any  other  sample  of 
it  that  has  descended  from  his  time  to  our  own,  is  wor- 
thy of  note,  as  combining  a  strong  Saxon  element,  with 
great  copiousness ;  while  in  its  structure  it  harmonizes, 
in  a  remarkable  degree,  with  the  forms  of  the  language 
which  have  since  become  authoritative  and  settled.  An 
author  who,  no  doubt,  wrote  in  Latin,  and  probably  dis- 
coursed in  it.  as  readily  as  in  his  mother-tongue,  might 
have  been  expected  to  express  himself  in  a  diction  pre- 
senting a  large  proportion  of  terms  from  that  language. 
Especially  might  we  have  expected  this  in  his  English 
Bible,  consisting  as  it  does  throughout,  of  a  rendering 
from  the  Latin  vulgate.  But  everywhere,  the  words,  the 
idiom,  and  the  structure,  are  mainly  from  the  spoken 
Saxon,  common  among  the  people  of  that  day.  The 
popular  design  of  the  Reformer's  English  writings,  may, 
in  part,  explain  this  fact  ;  but  the  fact  could  not  have 
been  realized,  as  we  find  it,  without  intention,  nor  with- 
out considerable  study  for  the  purpose.  WycliiFe's  Bible,  as 
now  issued  from  Oxford,  with  the  valuable  glossary  ap- 
pended to  it,  will  form  a  conspicuous  landmark  in  the 
history  of  our  language, — the  language  spoken  by  the 
people  who  have  given  to  the  world  a  Shakespeare  and 
a  Milton,  an  Addison  and  a  Burke. 

It  may  seem  scarcely  reasonable  to  attempt  any  de- 


A.D.  1384.]  His  Language  and  Style.  455 

scription  of  the  style  of  an  author  who  wrote,  either  in 
a  dead  language,  or  in  one  so  little  matured  as  was  the 
language  of  England  in  the  fourteenth  century — and  who 
was,  moreover,  so  manifestly  free  from  all  thought  about 
those  artificial  qualities  in  writing,  in  which  excellence 
in  this  respect  is  made  so  largely  to  consist.  In  the  age 
of  Wycliffe,  conception  bore  upon  it,  almost  everywhere, 
the  impress  of  a  rough  naturalness — expression  still  more 
so.  But,  in  regard  to  style,  nature  often  does  with  ease, 
what  no  amount  of  effort  to  become  natural  is  found  to 
be  sufficient  to  realize.  There  is  nothing  like  earnest- 
ness of  purpose,  to  give  clearness,  terseness,  and  impres- 
siveness  to  the  language  in  which  a  man's  thoughts  and 
passions  find  their  clothing  and  outlet.  Wycliffe  was 
intent  on  being  understood — intent  also  on  imparting  the 
conviction  and  passion  of  his  own  mind  to  other  minds. 
It  is  this  which  gives  such  distinctness  and  directness  to 
his  language  as  a  popular  teacher,  and  which  often  ele- 
vates his  style  into  strains  of  high  and  prolonged  elo- 
quence. It  is  with  this  view  also,  that  he  frequently 
takes  his  illustrations  from  the  common  life,  and  the 
household  experiences  of  the  time,  mingling  much  of 
the  homely  and  graphic  force  of  Latimer,  with  streams 
of  passionate  reasoning  and  rhetoric  which  remind 
us  of  Richard  Baxter,  more  than  of  any  other  man  in  the 
history  of  our  religious  literature.  Had  he  lived  in  our 
time,  he  would  so  have  written  as  to  have  secured  a 
place   for  his  works  in  the  libraries  of  statesmen  and 


456  Wyclife  as  an  Author.  [chap.  xii. 

divines,  and  also  in  the  houses  of  the  artizan  and  the 
peasant — and  in  all  these  connexions,  his  coming,  in  our 
day,  as  in  his  own,  would  probably  have  been  the  com- 
ing, not  of  peace,  so  much  as  of  the  sword. 

It  belonged  to  the  wide  compass  of  his  genius  and 
culture,  that  he  should  be  capable  of  affecting  minds 
thus  widely  separated  from  each  other.  It  is  a  rare 
thing  to  find  the  recondite  and  the  popular,  the  abstruse 
and  the  practical,  the  schoolman  and  the  man  of  the 
world,  so  combined,  as  they  manifestly  were,  in  the  great 
English  Reformer.  As  a  schoolman,  even  his  enemies 
have  assigned  him  a  place  with  the  most  gifted  and  the 
most  successful.  On  what  this  reputation  was  founded, 
his  lectures  at  Oxford  in  part  show ;  and  his  English 
sermons,  and  tracts,  and  treatises  bring  out  the  other 
phase  of  his  power.  His  battle  was  with  error  in 
all  connexions,  and  with  depravity  in  all  grades.  To 
prove  himself  equal  to  the  breadth  of  such  a  conflict,  it 
became  him  to  task  his  every  capacity,  and  to  avail  him- 
self of  his  every  acquisition— and  he  did  so.  In  his 
Trialogus  alone,  we  see  enough  of  the  subtleties  of  the 
schoolman  ;  and  in  such  pieces  as  '  The  Great  Curse 
Expounded,'  we  discern  how  intimate  in  the  mind  of  the 
Reformer  was  the  relation  between  such  subtleties,  and 
the  most  momentous  practical  questions.  Men  may 
laugh  at  metaphysics,  and  count  them  an  idle  dream  ; 
but  it  is  from  the  brain  conversant  with  such  studies, 
that  those  ideas  go  forth,  which,  in  their  time,  prove 


(f 


A.D.  1384.]  Scholastic  and  Popular.  457 

potent  enough  to  shake  churches  and  thrones  to  their 
foundations.  Law,  morality,  and  religion,  have  their 
root,  not  in  physics,  but  in  what  lies  beyond  them. 
High  conceptions  on  these  subjects  come  from  abstract 
thought,  but  they  do  not  rest  there.  These  ideas  come 
into  the  world  as  it  is,  and  mix  themselves  there  with  all 
concrete  and  practical  matters,  insisting  on  their  right  to 
determine  what  is  just  in  the  relations  between  governing 
and  governed,  between  man  and  man,  and  between  man 
and  his  Maker.  The  forge  of  the  metaphysician  is  not  like 
that  of  Vulcan,  but  it  is  much  more  mighty  in  producing 
instruments  wherewith  to  put  down  one,  and  to  set  up 
another.  In  all  history  it  has  so  been,  and  so  it  was 
conspicuously  in  the  career  of  Wycliife.  His  studies  as 
a  schoolman  gave  him  the  habits  of  thought  which,  as 
he  passed  into  the  actual  world  about  him,  fitted  him 
for  detecting  the  evils  there  as  he  would  not  otherwise 
have  done  ;  and  for  committing  himself  to  that  skilful 
and  thorough  warfare  against  them  which  has  given  him 
his  place  in  history.  Common  men  might  feel  and 
deplore  certain  mischiefs  which  the  church  system  of 
the  times  had  brought  upon  them,  but  it  was  the  scholar, 
and  the  man  accustomed  to  abstract  speculation  only, 
who,  in  the  manner  of  WyclifFe,  could  lay  bare  the  false 
learning,  and  the  false  ethics,  on  which  the  system 
generating  those  mischiefs  had  been  founded. 

But  we  do  not  mean  to  say  that  we  regard  the  logic 
of  Wycliffe  as  at  all  times  convincing.     In  his  scholastic 


458  Wycliffe  as  an  Author.  [chap.  xn. 

reasonings,  he  sometimes  assumes  points  as  settled, 
which  a  modern  disputant  would  by  no  means  admit ; 
and  in  his  appeals  to  the  people,  he  is  often  heedless  of 
certain  discriminations  and  exceptions,  necessary  to  the 
best  presentation  of  his  case — brevity  and  directness 
being  regarded  as  qualities  essential  to  his  purpose. 
Nor  do  we  at  all  times  see,  even  when  his  premises  are 
sound,  that  the  inferences  he  would  deduce  from  them 
are  entirely  warranted.  But,  in  the  main,  his  reasoning 
is  valid — valid  often  in  substance  when  it  is  not  so  in 
form  ;  and  the  marvel  is,  that  having  made  his  way  to 
his  opinions  in  so  great  a  degree  as  the  result  of  his  own 
solitary  thoughts,  they  should  be  found  so  rarely  errone- 
ous, and  so  far  in  advance,  not  only  of  his  own  age,  but 
of  the  centuries  which  have  since  intervened. 

It  is  observable  in  Wycliife,  that  even  when  treading 
the  most  novel  ground,  there  is  rarely  anything  of  hesi- 
tancy about  his  manner.  He  speaks  as  a  man  who  is 
sure  that  he  sees  things  as  they  are,  and  who  has  a  right, 
accordingly,  to  speak  of  them  as  he  does.  Often  his 
glance  seems  to  penetrate  to  the  very  centre  of  long 
settled  abuses,  and  as  with  the  suddenness  and  the  force 
of  lightning,  brings  them  rifted  and  crumbling  to  your 
feet.  The  errors  and  evils  he  condemns,  are,  in  his  view, 
so  palpably  errors  and  evils,  that  not  to  condemn  them 
would  be  treason — treason  against  man  and  his  Maker. 
No  doubt,  there  may  appear  to  us  to  be  a  great  want  of 
discrimination,  of  charity,  and  even  of  modesty,  in  such 


A.D.  1384.]  Conviction — Emphasis.  459 

a  manner  of  proceeding.  "We  may  be  prepared  to  say,  that 
in  what  has  continued  long,  there  must  have  been  good 
as  well  as  evil ;  that  prejudice  itself,  though  ill-founded, 
may  be  sincere,  and  even  virtuous  ;  that  in  taking  away 
the  tares,  it  is  not  well  to  destroy  the  wheat  along  with 
them  ;  and  that  it  is  not  in  the  best  taste  that  a  man 
who  has  signalized  himself  by  his  antagonism  to  a  pre- 
tended infallibility,  should  thus  virtually  assume  himself 
to  be  infallible,  But  it  remains  to  be  said  on  the  other 
side,  that  old  errors  are  rarely  much  affected  by  soft 
words  ;  that  something  of  the  good  must  often  be  haz- 
arded, if  the  strength  of  evil  is  to  be  really  broken  ;  that 
your  mind  of  small  scruples,  can  never  be  a  mind  of 
gre^t  power ;  that  men  do  little  as  reformers,  who  do 
their  work  by  halves  ;  and  that  the  men  who  have  suc- 
ceeded best  in  such  efforts,  have  generally  been  men  of 
a  thorough  dogmatic  earnestness,  the  completeness  of 
their  reliance  on  the  truthfulness  of  their  own  convic- 
tions, being  the  element  of  character  necessary  to  their 
individual  energy,  and  the  effect  of  their  example  upon 
others.  In  the  career  of  such  men,  even  blindness  in 
some  things,  and  exaggeration  in  others,  have  had  their 
uses. 

The  opinions  which  were  thus  confidently  pronounced, 
have  been  largely  expressed  in  the  preceding  pages. 
According  to  the  doctrine  of  Wycliffe,  the  crown  was 
supreme  in  authority,  over  all  persons  and  possessions, 
within  this  realm  of  England — the  persons  of  church- 


460  Wycliffe  as  an  Author.  [chap.  xii. 

men  being  amendable  to  the  civil  courts,  in  common 
with  the  laity ;  and  the  property  of  churchmen  being 
subject  to  the  will  of  the  king,  as  expressed  though  the 
law  of  the  land,  in  common  with  all  other  property.^  Nor 
was  it  enough  that  he  should  thus  preclude  the  papal 
court   from   all   meddling  with    secular   things   in  this 


^  Wycliffe  is  accused  of  holding  a  doctrine,  intitled — 'Dominion 
founded  in  Grace.*  The  doctrine  so  described,  may  be  stated  in  few 
words,  and  rightly  understood,  as  it  evidently  was  by  Wycliffe,  it  is 
perfectly  harmless.  All  men,  through  the  fall,  have  forfeited  the 
divine  approval,  and  with  that,  all  right  to  the  possessions  of  this 
world,  in  common  with  all  well-founded  hope  as  to  the  possessions  of 
a  better  world  to  come.  In  the  case  of  those  who  avail  themselves  of 
the  mediation  of  Christ — this  lost  right  as  to  present  and  future  good 
is,  for  his  sake,  restored ;  but  all  other  men  hold  possession  even  of 
present  things  by  the  divine  sufferance.  Some  doctrine  to  this  effect 
has  been  commonly  held  by  orthodox  theologians.  Wycliffe  taught 
on  this  subject,  only  as  Augustine  had  taught  before  him.  But  it  re- 
mained for  the  calumniators  of  the  English  Reformer  to  push  this 
tenet  to  what  they  were  pleased  to  regard  as  its  logical  conclusion ; 
and  then  to  attribute  that  conclusion  to  him  as  his  acknowledged  doc- 
trine- If,  said  they,  the  right  to  earthly  things  belongs  thus  exclu- 
sively to  the  children  of  grace,  then  these  favoured  persons  may  con- 
sistently, on  that  grovmd,  resist  all  authority  exercised  by  men  who 
are  not  accounted  as  the  subjects  of  that  grace,  and  may  deprive  them 
of  all  their  worldly  goods.  But,  the  doctrine  of  the  Reformer — as  to 
the  authority  of  the  magistrate,  and  as  to  the  rights  of  property — is 
every  where  such  as  to  demonstrate,  that  no  such  maniac  notion  as 
this  inference  from  his  doctrine  presents,  could  ever  have  been  arrived 
at  by  him.  According  to  Dr.  Lingard,  the  dogma  thus  imputed  to 
Wycliffe,  was  a  '  favourite  maxim '  in  his  system  ;  but  the  fact  is,  that 
the  speculation,  whatever  it  may  have  included,  is  of  the  rarest  occur- 
rence in  his  writings.  We  know  of  but  two  or  three  instances  in 
which  any  reference  is  made  to  it.  Such  indications  of  a  want  of  can- 
dour and  truthfulness,  we  regret  to  say,  are  of  very  common  occur- 
rence in  the  pages  of  Dr.  Lingard. 


A.D.  1384.]  Summary  of  his  Opinions.  461 

English  land.  According  to  his  ultimate  doctrine,  the 
pretence  of  the  pontiff  to  exercise  even  spiritual  juris- 
diction over  the  church  of  England,  as  being  himself  the 
head  of  all  churches,  should  be  repudiated  as  an  insolent 
and  mischievous  usurpation.  The  whole  framework  of 
the  existing  hierarchy,  he  describes  as  a  device  of  clerical 
ambition,  the  first  step  in  its  ascending  scale,  the  dis- 
tinction between  Bishop  and  Presbyter,  being  an  innova- 
tion on  the  polity  of  the  early  church,  in  which  the 
clergy  were  all  upon  an  equality. 

Concerning  the  sacraments,  he  retained  the  ordinance 
of  baptism,  but  without  receiving  the  doctrine  of  the 
church  in  respect  to  it,  as  being  necessary  in  all  cases  to 
salvation.  In  like  manner,  he  retained  the  ordinance  of 
the  Lord's  Supper,  but  without  the  doctrine  of  transub- 
stantiation,  or  of  consubstantiation.  Confirmation  was, 
in  his  view,  a  custom  originated  by  churchmen,  to  gratify 
their  pride  ;  and  penance  was  a  usage  which  had  come 
from  the  same  quarter,  and  which  had  been  constructed 
so  as  to  minister  to  their  covetousness.  To  the  same 
effect  does  he  express  himself  concerning  the  pretended 
sacrament  of  Orders,  and  of  Extreme  Unction.  None 
of  these  services,  he  maintains,  necessarily  convey  any 
beneficial  influence,  and  all  are  disfigured  by  superstition, 
and  fraught  with  delusion.  On  baptism,  his  expressions 
are  at  times  obscure  ;  but,  according  to  his  general  lan- 
guage, the  value  of  a  sacrament  must  depend  wholly  on 
the  mind  of  the  recipient,  not  at  all  on  the  external  act 


462  Wycliffe  as  an  Author.  [chap.  xn. 

performed  by  tlie  priest ;  and,  contrary  to  the  received 
doctrine,  he  could  not  allow  that  infant  salvation  was 
dependant  on  infant  baptism.  To  the  last  also,  he  be- 
lieved in  the  existence  of  an  intermediate  state,  and  in 
the  efficacy  of  prayer  on  the  part  of  the  living  for  souls 
in  that  state — but  masses  for  the  dead,  he  describes  as  a 
piece  of  priestly  machinery,  carefully  adjusted  with  a 
view  to  gain  ;  insisting  that  the  prayer  of  a  layman, 
with  regard  to  a  departed  soul,  would  be  quite  as  effica- 
cious as  that  of  a  priest,  and  that  all  prayer,  whether 
by  priests  or  laymen,  must  be  valueless,  if  consisting  in 
a  mere  repetition  of  forms,  unaccompanied  by  faith  or 
charity. 

In  harmony  with  these  great  principles  in  relation  to 
priestly  power,  is  the  earnestness  with  which  the  Re- 
former exposes  the  utter  nullity  of  church  censures.  The 
curse  of  God,  it  is  affirmed,  is  never  brought  upon  the 
innocent  by  such  denunciations  ;  nor  is  the  condition  of 
the  guilty  in  the  slightest  degree  changed  by  them. 
The  condition  of  man  is  not  really  affected,  for  the  bet- 
ter or  the  worse,  in  this  world  or  in  the  next,  by  any- 
thing that  the  priest  may  do  in  relation  to  him.  It  is 
the  spiritual  condition  of  the  worshipper,  as  a  responsi- 
ble creature,  and  that  alone,  which  determines  his  spiri- 
tual destiny. 

So,  according  to  the  doctrine  of  "Wycliffe,  did  the  priest 
lose  his  victim,  and  man  become  free. 

With   these  most  unacceptable  doctrines  in  relation 


A.D.  1884.]  Summary  of  his  Opinions.  463 

to  the  power  of  the  priesthood,  WycliiFe  associated  others, 
not  a  whit  less  obnoxious,  concerning  its  revenues  and 
possessions.  The  wealth  of  the  clergy,  and  of  the  religious 
orders,  he  regarded  as  being,  for  the  most  part,  ill-gotten, 
and  ill-applied.  Hence  his  solicitude  that  the  civil  power 
should  be  recognized  as  having  supreme  control  over 
it.  His  interpretation  of  the  sacramental  theory,  which 
asserted  the  spiritual  condition  of  the  laity  to  be  inde- 
pendent in  all  respects  of  the  offices  of  the  clergy,  swept 
away  at  once  all  the  main  sources  of  priestly  revenue. 
Tithes,  indeed,  in  so  far  as  they  might  be  exacted  by 
law,  remained  ;  but  even  in  relation  to  them,  the  teach- 
ings of  the  Reformer  were  not  a  little  alarming.  Accord- 
ing to  the  usage  of  the  early  church,  payment,  said 
Wycliffe,  should  be  made  to  pious  and  useful  priests,  in 
sufficient  amount  to  secure  them  suitable  '  livelihood  and 
clothing.'  But  only  in  relation  to  such  priests,  could 
obligation,  even  to  that  extent,  be  said  to  exist.  Men 
withholding  reasonable  contribution  from  a  pious  priest, 
would  be  therein  blameworthy,  but  not  so  blameworthy 
as  the  priest,  who,  while  filling  that  office,  should  fail 
to  preach  the  gospel  to  the  people.  In  this  manner,  ac- 
cording to  the  theory  of  Wycliffe,  the  relation  between 
priest  and  people,  was  purely  moral,  not  at  all  political ; 
but  that  the  civil  power  might  deprive  churchmen  of  their 
revenues,  if  proved  to  be  habitually  delinquent  in  the 
use  of  them,  was  a  doctrine  reiterated  by  him  in  every 
form  of  language. 


464  Wyclifie  as  an  Author.  [chap.  xii. 

Consonant  with  all  this  are  the  doctrines  of  the  Re- 
former with  regard  to  the  sufficiency  of  Scripture ;  the 
right  of  private  judgment ;  the  duty  of  making  the 
Scriptures  accessible  to  the  laity  in  their  own  tongue  ; 
the  efficiency  of  the  atonement  made  by  Christ,  as  the 
means  of  removing  all  sin  in  the  case  of  the  man  trust- 
ing to  it ;  and  also  of  the  grace  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  in 
sanctifying  the  soul,  in  the  case  of  the  man  disposed  to 
avail  himself  of  that  influence.  So  that  while  nothing 
was  to  be  expected  from  the  services  of  the  priest,  taken 
alone  ;  everything  might  be  expected  on  the  part  of  the 
worshipper,  from  his  own  faith,  his  own  prayer,  and  his 
own  well-directed  effort. 

It  requires  an  intimate  knowledge  of  the  modes  of 
thought  prevalent  in  the  eye  of  Wycliffe,  and  a  consider- 
able eflbrt  of  imagination  in  relation  to  those  times,  to 
enable  a  man  to  discern  thoroughly,  the  intelligence 
needed  to  separate  thus  between  what  was  then  estab- 
lished, and  what  ought  to  have  come  in  its  stead  ;  and  to 
estimate  fully,  the  courage  which  the  man  needed  to 
bring  to  his  enterprize,  who  resolved  to  avow  the  doc- 
trines now  stated,  and  to  meet  the  consequences  of  so 
doing.  Thoughts  of  this  high  and  bold  complexion  had 
little  or  no  place  in  the  majority  of  minds  in  that  age  ; 
and  to  no  mind  did  they  present  themselves  with  the 
distinctness,  fulness,  and  reality,  which  characterizes  them 
as  given  forth  by  Wycliife.  To  him  it  pertained,  that 
he  should  thus  become  the  prophecy  of  a  distant  future. 


A.D.  1384.]  His  Originality,  Courage,  Patriotism.  465 

and  that  he  should  be  so  convinced  of  the  truthfulness  of 
the  opinions  which  gave  him  this  position,  as  to  be  pre- 
pared to  proclaim  them  aloud,  unawed  by  any  measure 
of  probable  or  possible  antagonism  to  be  called  forth  by 
them.  With  the  life  of  Wy cliff e  really  before  him,  every 
man  of  sense  must  feel,  that  the  charge  of  a  deficiency 
in  courage,  as  brought  against  the  great  English  Re- 
former, is  simply  ridiculous.  Profound  sincerity  only 
could  have  given  him  such  convictions ;  and  courage  of 
the  highest  order,  could  alone  have  sustained  him  in 
making  such  open  and  continuous  proclamation  of  them. 
We  should  not  omit  to  observe,  that  the  patriotism  and 
the  piety  of  Wycliffe,  evidently  contributed,  along  with 
his  intelligence  and  sincerity,  to  give  this  strength  to  his 
convictions,  and  this  firmness  to  the  course  of  action 
which  resulted  from  them.  In  his  case,  the  man  did  not 
disappear  in  the  ecclesiastic — the  patriot  was  not  lost 
in  the  priest.  In  defending  the  English  crown  against 
thePapal  crown  ;  and  in  upholding  the  just  authority  of 
the  magistrate  in  every  relation  ;  the  words  of  the  Re- 
former are  ever  those  of  the  true  Englishman,  jealous  as 
to  the  independence,  ecclesiastical  and  civil,  of  his  '  puis- 
sant nation.'  That  the  king  of  England  should  acknow- 
ledge a  superior  in  the  man  wearing  the  triple  crown  ; 
that  the  clergy  of  England  should  refuse,  on  the  ground 
of  their  relation  to  a  foreign  potentate,  to  render  more 
than  a  partial  obedience  to  their  own  ;  and  that,  on  pleas 
of  this  nature,  French  popes  and  French  cardinals  should 

2  H 


466  Wycliffe  as  an  Author.  [chap.  xii. 

be  allowed  to  appropriate  to  themselves  English  benefices, 
and  to  enrich  themselves  with  English  treasure — these 
were  all  matters  which  never  seemed  to  cross  the  mind 
of  Wycliffe,  without  provoking  his  patriotism  into  an  im- 
passioned denunciation  of  them. 

In  judging  concerning  the  piety  of  Wycliffe,  it  behoves 
us  to  view  it,  not  so  much  in  its  relation  to  the  nine- 
teenth century,  as  in  its  relation  to  the  fourteenth.    That 
he  should  have  given  us,  not  merely  the  substance  of 
evangelical  truth,  but  that  substance  in  the  exact  form 
and  phrase  in  which  it  has  been  made  familiar  to  our- 
selves, no  man  of  liberal  thinking  would  for  a  moment 
expect.     The  Trinity,  the  Incarnation,  the  Atonement, 
the  Regenerating  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit — all  the 
truths  intended  by  these  terms,  were  taught  by  him  in 
such  a  manner,  as  to  imply  his  thorough  faith  in  the 
doctrine  of  Scripture  as  to  the  evil  of  sin  ;  as  to  salvation 
being  of  grace,  and  as  to  the  necessity  of  a  renovated 
and  holy  life,  in  the  case  of  all  men  who  would  be  found 
at  last  to  be  Christians  in  reality,  and  not  such  merely 
in  name.     In  his  whole  history,  the  Reformer  is  before 
us  as  a  man  convinced  that  the  will  of  God,  revealed 
to  us  through  Christ,    is    the  great   rule — the   rule   at 
once  of  rectitude  and  goodness — to  which  the  life  of  the 
good  man  should  in  all  things  be  conformed.     It  is  the 
strength  of  this  conviction  that  gives  so  much  earnest- 
ness to  his  censures  in  regard  to  the  conduct  of   men 
who  make  light  of  the   Divine  precepts.     Man   should 


A.D.  1384.]      His  Piety,  Sickness,  and  Death.  467 

obey  God — he  is  in  the  world  for  that  end,  and  what 
may  follow  in  this  world  from  his  so  doing  is  not  to 
be  with  him  any  matter  of  calculation.  So  the  Reformer 
taught,  and  so  he  acquitted  himself  Hence  that  life  of 
storm  and  suifering  through  which  he  lived  ;  in  place  of 
that  life  of  quiet  ease,  or  selfish  pleasure,  through  which 
he  might  have  lived.  Wycliffe  was  truly  a  believing  man 
— a  man  with  whom  the  doctrines  of  the  Bible  were 
realities,  and  not  fictions.  He  was,  in  consequence,  a 
man  of  much  prayer,  of  much  converse  with  his  Maker, 
gravely  conscientious  in  his  views  of  duty,  and  concerned, 
above  everything,  to  be  found  doing  the  will  of  God  in 
his  generation,  at  whatever  hazard  by  reason  of  the 
ungodliness  so  widely  dominant  among  the  men  about 
him. 

Under  such  influences,  and  to  such  ends,  did  Wycliffe 
prosecute  his  course  to  the  close  of  the  year  1884.  He 
had  then  reached  the  sixtieth  year  of  his  age.  But  if 
life  is  to  be  measured  by  its  labours  and  its  deeds,  the 
Reformer  had  lived  a  much  longer  life  at  that  time  than 
that  number  of  years  would  indicate.  Two  years  earlier, 
his  health  was  so  infirm,  from  an  attack  of  paralysis, 
that  he  could  honestly  plead  his  weakness  alone,  as  a 
sufiicient  reason  for  his  not  attempting  a  journey  to 
Rome,  in  obedience  to  a  citation  from  the  Pontiff.  His 
labours  since  that  time,  had  been,  as  we  have  seen,  most 
earnest  and  incessant.  His  enemies  were  observant  of 
the  fact  that  his  power  to  do  mischief  would  not  proba- 

2  H  2 


468  Wydiffe  as  an  Author.  [chap.  xii. 

bly  be  of  long  continuance,  and  appear  to  have  been  more 
reconciled  on  this  account,  than  they  would  otherwise 
have  been,  to  the  adoption  of  a  timid  policy  in  relation 
to  him. 

On  the  twenty-eighth,  or,  as  some  say,  on  the  twenty- 
ninth  of  December,  while  engaged  in  the  service  of  the 
church  at  Lutterworth,  he  was  seized  with  palsy,  and  on 
the  thirty-first  of  that  month  he  expired.  It  is  within 
that  old  chancel,  which  is  still  standing,  that  this  last 
sickness  comes  upon  him.  Through  that  low  arched  door- 
way, which  still  looks  toward  the  spot  on  which  the 
rectory-house  then  stood,  we  see  him  borne ;  and,  after 
an  interval  of  two  or  three  days  and  nights,  during 
which  he  does  not  speak,  nor  even  seem  to  be  conscious, 
all  that  was  mortal  of  John  WycliiFe,  is  left  to  receive 
the  last  offices  from  the  hands  of  srfrviving  friendship 
and  affection.  Some  days  later,  his  body  is  borne  back 
to  the  interior  of  the  old  church,  and,  the  usual  cere- 
monies performed,  it  is  dropped  into  the  vault  prepared 
for  it  within  that  narrow  chancel,  on  the  floor  of  which 
he  had  so  often  stood,  the  living  teacher  of  a  humble 
flock  ;  and  at  the  same  time,  as  a  man  who  had  so  moved 
the  mind  of  his  age,  as  to  fill  great  churchmen  with  dis- 
may, not  excepting  popes  and  conclaves.^ 


1  Appendix  N.  Walsingham,  Hist.  312.  et  Hypodigma  Neustrse, 
We  have  had  to  say  the  little  that  may  be  said  in  defence  of  the 
dogmatism,  and  the  frequent  severity  of  the  language,  observable  in 
the  writings  of  Wycliffe.    The  manner  in  which  Walsingham  com- 


But  to  great  men  the  grave  is  not  oblivion, — is  not 
silence.  They  speak  from  beyond  it — act  from  beyond  it. 
It  was  so  with  our  great  Proto-Reformer. 

**  Of  the  book  that  had  been  a  sealed  up  book, 
He  tore  the  clasps,  that  the  nation, 
With  eyes  unbandaged  might  thereon  look, 
~     And  learn  to  read  salvation. 

To  the  death  'twas  thine  to  persevere. 
Though  the  tempest  around  thee  rattled, 

And  wherever  Falsehood  was  lurking,  there 
Thy  heroic  spirit  battled. 

A  light  was  struck — a  light  which  shewed — 

How  hideous  were  Error's  features, 
And  how  perverted  the  law,  bestowed 

By  heaven  to  guide  its  creatures. 

At  first  for  that  spark,  amidst  the  dark. 

The  friar  his  fear  dissembled  ; 
But  soon  at  the  fame  of  WyclifFe's  name. 

The  throne  of  St.  Peter  trembled.'* 

(A)  MoiR. 


ments  on  the  character  of  Wycliffe,  when  making  record  of  his  de- 
cease, may  suffice  to  show  that  the  Reformer  was  a  very  moderate 
man  in  this  respect,  if  compared  with  his  assailants.    *  On  the  Feast  of 

*  the  Passion  of  St.  Thomas,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury — that  organ 
'  of  the  devil — that  enemy  of  the  Church— that  author  of  confusion  to 

*  the  common  people — that  idol  of  heretics — that  image  of  hypocrites — 

*  that  restorer  of  schism — that  storehouse  of  lies — that  sink  of  flattery 

*  — John  Wycliffe,  being  struck  by  the  horrible  judgment  of  God,  was 

*  seized  with  palsy,  throughout  his  whole  body;  and  continued  to  live 
'  in  that  condition  until  Saint  Sylvester's  day,  on  which  he  breathed 
'  out  his  malicious  spirit  into  the  abodes  of  darkness,'  After  such  a 
discharge  of  bile,  we  may  hope  that  our  amiable  monk  felt  somewhat 
relieved. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


WYCLIFFE   AND   HIS   SUCCESSORS. 


HE  reign  of  Richard  the  Second  began  in  1 877, 
and  ended  in  1399.  The  sway  of  the  house 
of  Lancaster,  as  represented  by  the  three 
Henries,  extends  from  1399  to  the  middle  of 
the  next  century.  The  rival  claims  of  the  house  of 
York,  are  then  put  forth  so  far  effectually,  as  to  place 
Edward  the  Fourth,  and  Richard  the  Third,  upon 
the  throne.  In  1485,  a  disastrous  civil  war  is  brought 
to  a  close,  on  the  accession  of  Henry  the  Seventh,  who, 
by  his  marriage,  unites  the  claims  of  the  two  factions  in 
his  person.  The  reign  of  Henry  the  Seventh,  brings  us 
to  the  commencement  of  the  century  signalized  as  that 
of  the  great  Protestant  Reformation. 

Richard  the  Second  married  Anne  of  Bohemia,  who, 
in  common  with  her  attendants,  sympathized  with  the 
doctrines  of  the  Reformers,  both  in  Bohemia,  and  in  this 


A.D.  1399.] 


The  House  of  Lancaster. 


471 


country.  The  influence  of  the  queen,  should,  no  doubt, 
be  placed  among  the  causes  which  disposed  Richard  to 
look  with  distrust  on  the  adoption  of  harsh  measures 
for  the  suppression  of  the  new  opinions.  But  in  the 
eyes  of  the  ruling  churchmen,  this  hesitation  in  the  king 
was  a  crime,  and  when  the  discontent  generated  by  his 
imprudence,  and,  at  length,  by  his  evil  deeds,  seemed  to 
be  preparing  the  way  for  the  accession  of  Henry  the 
Fourth,  Arundel,  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  was 
among  the  foremost  in  using  his  authority  and  influence 
in  furtherance  of  that  change.^ 

Henry  the  Fourth  was  the  son  of  John  of  Gaunt,  and 
cousin  to  Richard  the  Second.  He  became  king  of  Eng- 
land, not  by  strict  hereditary  right,  but  by  the  success 
of  his  sword,  followed  by  an  act  of  the  English  Parlia- 
ment. The  clergy,  as  we  have  said,  made  themselves 
conspicuous  in  his  favour  ;  and  in  return,  the  new  mon- 
arch pledged  himself,  in  most  explicit  terms,  to  sustain 
the  church  in  all  her  ancient  rights  and  immunities. 


^  Fuller  notes  this  circumstance  with  his  characteristic  quaintness 
and  honesty.  *  The  clergy  were  the  first  that  led  this  dance  of  dis- 
'  loyalty.     Thomas  Arundel,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  made  a  ser- 

*  mon  on  Samuel's  words — Vir  dominabitur  populo.     He  shewed  him- 

*  self  a'Latinist  in  the  former  part,  a  Parasite  in  the  latter,  a  Traitor 

*  in  both.     He  aggravated  the  childish  weakness  of  Richard,  and  his 

*  inability  to  govern  ;  magnifying  the  parts  and  perfections  of  Henry, 

*  Duke  of  Lancaster And  thus  ambitious  clergymen  abuse 

*  the  silver  trumpets  of  the  sanctuary,  who,  reversing  them,  and  put- 

*  ting  the  wrong  end  into  their  mouths,  make  what  was  appointed  to 
'  sound  religion,  to  signify  rebellion-'    Church  Hist:  p.  153. 


472  Wycliffe  and  his  Successors.       [chap.  xm. 

The  mitre  and  tlie  crown  proved  mindful  of  this  compact. 
With  change  in  the  succession,  came  a  marked  change  of 
policy  in  relation  to  the  church  and  her  assailants.  The 
comparative  freedom  of  the  two  preceding  reigns,  as  re- 
garded the  publication  of  opinion,  was  followed  by 
severities  which  were  new  in  our  history.  The  suspected 
were  harassed,  imprisoned — burnt  alive  ! 

Henry  the  Fifth,  dissolute  as  a  prince,  became  an  or- 
derly and  self-governed  soldier,  as  a  king.  He  was  brave, 
chivalrous,  and  too  much  occupied  in  studying  the  art  of 
war,  to  concern  himself  greatly  about  anything  beside  ; 
least  of  all  about  questions  in  theology.  He  could  no 
more  understand  why  a  layman  should  not  be  obedient 
to  his  priest  in  spiritual  things,  than  he  could  understand 
why  a  soldier  should  not  be  obedient  to  his  officer  in 
military  things.  Authority  in  the  church,  was  the  same 
thing  with  him  as  authority  at  Westminster,  or  at  Agin- 
court.  He  was  prepared,  accordingly,  to  sustain  the 
coercive  policy  which  had  been  originated  by  his  father, 
and  which  had  been  so  acceptable  to  the  churchmen — his 
only  wonder  being,  that  any  man  of  sense  should  feel 
the  slightest  difficulty  about  yielding  the  submission  so 
demanded. 

Henry  the  Sixth  became  a  sovereign  while  an  infant, 
and  grew  up  under  the  regency  of  uncles.  From  educa- 
tion or  temperament,  he  failed  to  evince  the  least  sym- 
pathy with  the  military  spirit  which  his  father  had  done 
so  much  to  diffuse  among  the  English  people.     His  dis- 


i 


A.D.  1485.]    The  Homes  of  York  and  Lancaster.         473 

positions  were  all  of  the  description  which  incline  toward 
domestic  rather  than  public  life.  Thoughtful,  virtuous, 
devout,  he  had  no  taste  for  entering  the  lists  against  any 
of  the  turbulent  factions  into  the  midst  of  which  he  was 
thrown  ;  and  we  see  him  pass,  accordingly,  from  the 
hands  of  one  party  to  those  of  another,  as  the  scale  of 
fortune  oscillates  between  them. 

The  reigns  of  Edward  the  Fourth  and  of  Richard  the 
Third,  were  filled  with  plotting  or  with  rebellion  ;  and 
when  war  ceased,  on  the  accession  of  Henry  the  Seventh, 
it  was  that  monarchical  power  might  be  consolidated,  and 
that  neither  religious  opinions,  nor  any  other,  that  might 
give  sanction  to  the  least  tendency  towards  further  in- 
subordination in  church  or  state,  should  be  allowed 
utterance. 

Contemporary  with  this  action  and  reaction,  this  pro- 
gress of  the  reformed  doctrines,  and  this  resistance — this 
apparently  successful  resistance,  to  them,  in  England,  was 
a  similar  course  of  things  on  the  Continent.  The  court 
of  Rome  and  the  Emperor  opposed  themselves  to  Huss 
and  Jerome,  much  as  the  English  clergy  and  our  Lan- 
castrian princes  opposed  themselves  to  the  disciples  of 
Wycliffe.  The  principle  of  the  opposition  was  in  both 
cases  the  same,  and  in  both  cases  the  terrors  of  power 
appeared  to  have  been  wielded  to  the  desired  end.  But 
this  policy  was  not  so  wise  in  fact  as  in  seeming.  It  did 
more  to  strengthen  disaffection  than  to  eradicate  it.  It 
forced  upon  multitudes  the  conviction,  that  a  religious 


i  i 


474  Wycliffe  and  his  Successors,        [chap,  xm, 

authority  which  always  appeals  to  force,  and  never  to 
reason,  must  be  an  authority  ill-founded  j  and  it  was 
while  ecclesiastics  were  rejoicing  in  the  sound  of  the 
retreating  wave  of  the  fifteenth  century,  that  the  next 
swell  of  the  tide  came,  far  mightier  than  the  former, 
and  swept  one  half  of  their  domain  away  from  them. 

But  how  it  fared  with  those  who  had  to  give  forth 
their  witnessing  for  human  freedom  and  for  God's  truth 
through  this  dark  and  troubled  interval — is  an  interest- 
ing inquiry,  which  must  not  be  wholly  overlooked  in  a 
work  like  the  present. 

The  measures  taken  by  the  clergy,  with  the  authority 
of  the  crown,  during  the  interval  now  to  be  reviewed, 
and  the  reasons  assigned  in  support  of  them,  shew  with 
sufficient  clearness,  that  the  discussions  which  were  so 
rife  during  the  latter  half  of  the  fourteenth  century,  had 
produced  an  impression  on  the  mind  of  the  English 
people,  perceptible  almost  everywhere  during  the  century 
which  followed. 

Soon  after  the  death  of  "WyclifFe,  Richard  the  Second 
was  induced  to  issue  letters  authorising  proceedings 
against  parties  accused  of  Lollardism  in  Herefordshire, 
Northampton,  Leicester,  and  other  places.  The  delin- 
quents who  appear  to  have  given  most  trouble  to  the 
inquisitors  of  heretical  pravity  in  the  diocese  of  Here- 
ford, were  three  clergymen,  named  Stephen  Ball,  Walter 
Brute,  and  William  Swinderby.  From  the  large  entries 
made  in   the  register  of  Hereford,  it  is  manifest  that 


J 


A.D.  1384.]    The  Wycliffites , under  Richard  II.  475 

these  persons  were  all  disciples  of  Wycliffe,  and  disciples 
not  unworthy  of  their  master.  The  effort  made  to 
silence  them  as  preachers,  are  made  on  the  ground  that 
very  many  had  become  infected  with  their  doctrine. 
The  instrument  sent  to  the  Mayor  of  Northampton 
states,  that  three  persons  named,  and  especially  one 
Woodward,  a  priest,  had  become  notorious  as  the  fa- 
vourers of  heresy  and  heretics ;  and  the  records  of  the 
proceedings  at  Leicester,  give  us  the  names  of  many 
persons  in  that  town,  who  were  put  upon  their  trial  by 
the  authorities  delegated  for  that  purpose.  Of  the  men 
of  Leicester,  some  are  said  to  have  abjured  the  opinions 
attributed  to  them  ;  but  others  were  publicly  excommu- 
nicated, and  exposed  to  the  grave  penalties  consequent  on 
being  so  dealt  with.  The  defence  of  the  three  Hereford- 
shire clergymen  was  learned,  able,  and  protracted  ;  and 
though  some  of  the  doctrines  ascribed  to  them  were  dis- 
owned, so  much  was  confessed  as  would^have  cost  them 
their  lives,  had  the  prosecution  against  them  taken  place 
a  few  years  later.  The  sentence  passed  on  Swinderby  is 
in  the  following  words. — "  We  do  pronounce,  decree,  and 
^  declare  the  said  William  to  have  been,  and  to  be,  a 
*  heretic,  schismatic,  and  a  false  informer  of  the  people, 
'  and  such  as  is  to  be  avoided  by  faithful  Christians.' 
It  was  manifest  in  the  course  of  these  proceedings,  that 
the  parties  who  sympathized  with  the  preaching  of  these 
heretics,  were  not  only  the  poor,  but  included  some  of 
the  most  wealthy  and  influential  persons  ;  and  care  was 


476  Wyclifie  and  his  Successors.       [chap.  xm. 

taken  by  the  Bishop  of  Hereford  to  warn  all  classes,  in 
the  most  public  and  earnest  manner,  against  listening  to 
such  teachers  ;  against  being  seen  in  any  of  their  places 
of  resort,  or  in  any  way  showing  them  favour.^  In 
1388,  licence  was  given  to  the  Primate  to  institute  the 
closest  search  after  all  books  published  by  John  Wycliffe, 
or  his  followers  ;  the  persons  convicted  of  having  such 
books  in  their  possession  being  made  liable  to  imprison- 
ment, and  heavy  penalties.  Everywhere,  in  fact,  the 
new  thoughts  and  new  feelings,  which  so  much  pains 
had  been  taken  to  diffuse,  appear  to  have  been  seething 
strongly  in  the  public  mind. 

In  1395,  the  boldness  of  the  Reformers  rose  so  high, 
that  they  presented  a  paper  to  parliament,  in  which  all 
the  more  important  doctrines  broached  by  Wycliffe,  were 
largely  and  openly  enunciated,  and  prayer  was  made  that 
the  hierarchy  might  be  reformed  in  accordance  with  the 
principles  so  avowed.  The  substance  of  this  paper  is — 
that  the  Church  of  England,  since  she  began  to  dote  on 
temporalities,  after  the  example  of  Rome,  her  step-mother, 
has  declined  in  faith,  hope,  and  charity,  and  become  in- 
fected with  pride,  and  all  deadly  sin  ;  that  priestly  ordi- 
nation, as  commonly  performed,  is  a  human  invention, 
and  delusive,  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost  being  restricted 
to  spiritual  men,  and  never  conferred  because  a  bishop 
affects  to  confer  it ;  that  the  professed  celibacy  of  the 

*  Foxe,  Acts  and  Mon  :  I.  606—650. 


A.D.  1395.]    The  WycUffite  Petition  to  Parliament.        477 

clergy  leads  to  every  kind  of  sensuous  wickedness,  and 
that  for  this  reason,  all  monasteries  and  nunneries  should 
be  dissolved ;  that  the  doctrine  of  Transubstantiation, 
as  commonly  taught,  includes  the  essence  of  idolatry, 
and  would  be  wisely  discarded,  if  the  language  of  the 
Evangelical  Doctor,  in  his  Trialogus,  were  wisely  con- 
sidered ;  that  the  practice  of  exorcising,  and  the  customs 
relating  to  the  consecration  of  places  and  things,  savour 
more  of  necromancy,  than  of  the  gospel ;  that  the  worldly 
offices  of  churchmen  are  assumed  contrary  to  scripture, 
and  to  the  injury  of  the  church  and  state  ;  that  prayer 
for  the  dead,  if  offered  at  all,  should  have  respect  to 
the  departed  generally,  not  to  individuals ;  in  which  case 
it  might  proceed  from  charity,  and  be  acceptable  to  God, 
in  place  of  being  the  work  of  a  hireling,  and  as  such 
valueless  ;  that  auricular  confession,  and  absolution,  as 
now  practised,  lead  to  impurity,  and  subserve  priestly 
domination  ;  that  pilgrimages  to  images  and  relics  are 
idolatrous,  and  a  device  of  the  clergy  to  keep  the  people 
in  ignorance  and  delusion,  and  to  augment  their  own 
wealth  and  power  ;  and  that  all  aggressive  wars,  whether 
on  the  plea  of  conquest  or  religion,  are  contrary  to  the 
letter  and  spirit  of  the  religion  of  Christ.^ 

In  the  conclusion  of  this  paper,  reference  is  made  to 
a  larger  exposition  and  defence  of  its  principles,  which 
is  presumed  to  be  sufficiently  known  to  be  accessible  to 

1  Wilkins,  Con.  III.  221.    Walsingham,  351.     Foxe,  I.  662. 


478  Wycliffe  and  Ids  Successors.       [chap.  xm. 


any  one  who  may  desire  to  peruse  it.  The  work  adverted 
to,  seems  to  be  the  treatise  intitled,  Ecclesice  Regimen, 
several  copies  of  which  exist  in  manuscript.  This  work 
is  supposed  to  have  been  written  by  Purvey,  curate  to 
Wycliife  at  Lutterworth,  but  it  is  written  as  expressing 
the  views  known  to  be  common  to  the  Wycliffites  at 
that  time.  It  is  an  interesting  document,  and  has  been 
recently  printed. ^ 

In  conjunction  with  the  appearance  of  this  treatise, 
and  with  the  presenting  of  the  petition  of  the  Wycliffites 
to  the  commons,  were  other  circumstances,  which  bespoke 
the  prevalence  and  strength  of  the  popular  disaflPection 
against  the  clergy.  Placards  were  affixed  to  the  doors 
of  St.  PauFs,  and  of  Westminster  Abbey,  which  censured 
in  strong  terms  the  worldly  and  sensuous  lives  of  the 
clergy  ;  and  spoke  of  their  exorbitant  wealth,  which  had 
done  so  much  to  corrupt  them,  as  wealth  which  they 
could  never  have  acquired,  except  by  means  of  their 
superstitious  and  false  doctrine.  In  such  a  state  of  society, 
what  comes  thus  to  the  surface,  so  as  to  be  known  to 
remote  times,  is  little,  compared  with  what  lies  beneath, 
finding  no  utterance,  and  soon  to  be  forgotten. 


2  '  Remonstrance  against  Romish  Corruptions  in  the  Church ;  ad- 
dressed to  the  People  and  Parliament  of  England,  in  1395,  18  Ric.  II., 
now  for  the  first  time  published.  Edited  by  the  Rev.  J.  Forshall, 
F.R.S.,  cro.  8vo.  1851.'  The  only  sense  in  which  this  document  can 
be  said  to  have  been  *  addressed'  to  the  parliament,  is  that  suggested 
by  the  fact  that  the  petition  of  the  Wycliffites  appears  to  refer  to  it. 


A.D.  1895.]         The  Wycliffite  Remonstrance. 


479 


If  we  feel  disposed  to  censure  the  root  and  branch 
style  of  reform  thus  sought,  it  will  behove  us  in  fairness 
to  remember,  that  the  wealth  of  the  clergy  at  this  time, 
embraced  more  than  half  the  knight's  fees  of  England, 
that  is,  more  than  half  the  landed  property  of  the  country, 
exclusive  of  their  personal  property,  and  of  their  revenues 
from  tithes,  and  from  the  discharge  of  their  various  of- 
fices towards   the  people. ^     There  was  no  state  of  the 
realm,  accordingly,  so  powerful  as  that  constituted  by  the 
clergy.     In  point  of  wealth  merely,  and  in  respect  to  the 
influence  which  wealth  never  fails  to  take  with  it,  they 
might  have  outweighed  all  the  other  estates  put  together. 
In  this  respect,  England  was  at  that  time,  what  Spain 
has  been  in  our  own,  and  was  menaced  with  the  same 
social  and  religious  evils,  as  the  consequence.     The  clergy 
were  not  only  possessed  of  this  extraordinary  power,  they 
made  the  worst  possible  use  of  it,  by  upholding  the  gross- 
est superstitions,  and  doing  their  best  to  crush  all  free 
thought,  and  to  perpetuate  every  arbitrary  principle  in 
the  administration  of  the  church  and  the  state.     It  was 
to  put  some  check  on  this  cormorant  opulence,  that  the 
statute  of  Mortmain  was  passed.     It  was  with  this  view 
also,  that  the  statute  against  provisors  was  re-enacted, 
in  terms  more  and  more  stringent,  from  time  to  time. 
But  so  insatiable  were  the  passions  of  these  men,  that  at 


^  The  knight's  fees  were  53,215,  of  which  28,000  were  possessed  by 
the  clergy.    Turner's  Hist.  Eng.  III.  104. 


480  Wycliffe  and  his  Successors.        [chap.  xm. 

this  very  time,  Pope  Boniface  had  sent  two  ecclesiastics 
to  the  English  court,  for  the  purpose  of  endeavouring  to 
obtain  a  repeal  of  the  statute  against  pro  visors,  that  so 
the  wealth  of  the  English  church  might  be  again  laid 
open  to  spoliation  by  foreigners,  after  the  pious  usage  of 
past  days.^  The  fact  is,  that  admitting  the  occasional 
excesses  of  these  reformers,  and  the  coarseness  at  times 
of  their  invectives,  we  may  find  no  small  excuse  for  them 
in  these  respects,  in  the  colossal  and  foreboding  nature 
of  the  evil  to  which  they  opposed  themselves  ;  and  may 
well  feel,  that  we  owe  them  a  debt  of  gratitude  which 
we  shall  never  be  able  to  repay. 

But  strong,  in  some  respects,  as  the  position  of  the 
English  clergy  in  the  fourteenth  century  seemed  to  be,  it 
was  not  so  strong  as  to  secure  them  against  all  sense  of 
danger.  Supposing  them  to  have  been  persuaded  that 
the  substance  of  their  doctrines  was  true,  and  that  the 
substance  of  their  claims  was  valid,  there  was  much  in 
their  enormous  wealth,  and  in  the  worldliness,  and 
something  more  than  worldliness,  which  their  wealth  had 
contributed  to  foster,  that  could  not  fail  to  be  seen  as 
exposing  them  to  not  a  little  dangerous  criticism,  and  as 
giving  their  enemies  a  strong  vantage-ground  from  which 
to  assail  them.  It  is  manifest  that  their  leaders  so  felt, 
as  the  pasquinades  on  the  doors  of  St.  Paul's  and  West- 
minster Abbey,  and  those  free  speeches  in  the  House  of 


A.D.  1395.]  Alarm  of  the  Olergy  and  of  the  Pope,         481 

Commons  in  support  of  the  Wycliffite  petition,  called 
forth  the  sympathizing  merriment  and  talk,  not  only  of 
the  common  people,  but  of  many  among  the  most  grave 
and  sagacious  in  that  generation.  Richard  was  at  this 
time  in  Ireland,  engaged  in  subduing  certain  malcontents 
of  that  kingdom.  But  special  messengers  were  des- 
patched, urging  his  immediate  return,  to  protect  the 
church  against  the  innovators.  The  king  made  his 
appearance  speedily  in  the  metropolis,  and  having  as- 
sured the  alarmed  prelates  of  his  purpose  to  sustain  their 
cause,  he  sent  for  some  of  the  more  conspicious  patrons 
of  the  "Wycliffites,  and  strongly  censured  the  course  they 
had  taken.  Among  the  persons  to  whom  this  reprimand 
was  addressed,  were  Sir  Lewis  Clifford,  Sir  John  Latimer, 
Sir  Richard  Sturry,  and  Sir  John  Montague.^ 

The  papal  envoys,  Francis  e  Cappanago,  and  Thomas, 
Bishop  of  Novara,  in  place  of  having  to  report  to  his 
holiness  that  the  statute  against  provisors  had  been 
repealed,  had  to  make  known  to  the  papal  court  the 
signs  of  disaffection  to  the  Holy  See  among  the  English, 
which  had  thus  come  before  them.  These  communica- 
tions called  forth  letters  from  Boniface  to  the  prelates, 
and  to  the  king,  full  of  lamentations  and  displeasure. 
The  pontiff  deplores,  in  common  with  all  Christendom, 
that  heresy  should  so  far  have  infected  the  English 
people  ;  and  that  through  the  neglect  of  the  authorities, 

^  Walsingham,  ?51.    Foxe,  I.  664.  .'■■^ 

2  I 


482  Wy cliff e  and  his  Successors.       [chap,  xi it. 

in  church  and  state,  it  should  still  be  found  increasing, 
numbering  among  its  adherents  men  of  learning,  and  a 
multitude  of  the  common  people,  so  that  men  not  only 
presumed  to  preach,  and  otherwise  to  publish  doctrines 
subversive  of  all  authority,  civil  and  religious,  but  that 
even  in  the  English  Parliament  persons  could  be  found 
so  far  insensible  to  the  respect  due  to  their  position  as  to 
uphold  and  commend  such  opinions.  The  Archbishops 
and  Bishops  of  England  were,  accordingly,  admonished, 
that  this  guilty  sloth  must  come  to  an  end,  and  that 
their  utmost  effort  must  be  made  to  '  root  out  and  des- 
troy '  all  such  as  refused  to  abandon  the  snare  of  Satan- 
The  king  is  also  exhorted  to  see  that  needful  assistance 
for  this  purpose  be  given  to  the  clergy  by  all  magistrates, 
that  so  offenders  may  be  everywhere  imprisoned,  brought 
to  trial,  and  made  to  undergo  their  merited  punishment. 
But  Richard  was  not  the  man  to  give  himself  to  a  strong 
and  steady  policy  in  favour  of  the  clergy — especially  in 
the  face  of  the  difficulties  from  other  quarters  which 
such  a  policy  would  have  entailed  upon  him.  His  dispo- 
sition and  his  circumstances,  dictated  a  middle  course  ; 
but  as  regards  the  prelates,  if  they  did  no  more  towards 
the  suppression  of  heresy,  we  have  good  reason  to  believe 
that  it  was  simply  because  the  power  to  do  more  had  not 
been  ceded  to  them.^ 


*  Foxe,  I.  657,  658.  In  obedience  to  the  admonition  thus  addressed 
to  the  English  clergy,  Archbishop  Arundel  convened  a  council  in 


A.D.  1399.]  Compact  between  Henry  IV.  and  the  Clergy.  483 

The  accession  of  Henry  the  Fourth  was  favoured, 
rather  than  impeded,  by  the  Reformers.  He  was  not 
only  the  son  of  John  of  Gaunt ;  but  had  been  known  to 
express  sentiments,  as  Earl  of  Derby,  in  respect  to  the 
wealth  and  power  of  the  clergy,  in  harmony  with  those 
uttered  by  his  father  when  he  stood  forth  as  the  patron 
of  Wycliffe  in  St.  Paul^s.^  But  on  ascending  the  throne, 
Henry,  as  we  have  seen,  began  to  look  on  the  support  of 
the  clergy  as  necessary  to  the  stability  of  his  power  ;  and 
it  was  no  secret,  that  the  only  peace-offering  which  could 
ensure  him  service  from  that  quarter,  was  the  sacrifice  of 
the  Wycliffites.  He  knew  the  price — he  promised  that  it 
should  be  paid.  But  to  secure  the  good  offices  of  the 
priesthood  was  not  to  gain  every  thing.  By  placing 
himself  in  such  hands,  Henry  arrayed  against  him  all 
who  were  intent,  whether  from  political  or  religious 
reasons,  on  diminishing  that  priestly  wealth  and  priestly 
power,  which  threatened  to  absorb  all  other  wealth  and 
all  other  power.  The  existing  relations  of  things  in  this 
respect  were  most  unnatural,  and  the  chance  of  perpetu- 
ating them  depended  on  the  power  to  stay  the  progress 
of  intelligence.  To  so  great  a  hazard  did  the  policy  of 
Henry  expose  his  crown,  and  the  dynasty  he  sought  to 


London  in  the  following  year,  in  which  eighteen  articles  selected  from 
the  Trialogus  of  Wycliffe  were  condemned.  Labbe,  Concilia,  VII. 
1923.  Woodford's  Adversus  Johannem  Wiclifum,  consists  of  a  professed 
refutation  of  these  eighteen  articles.  Brown's  Fasciculus  Rerum, 
II.  190,  et  seq.  '  Hall's  Chron.  16. 

2  I  2 


484  Wycliffe  and  his  Successors.       [chap.  xm. 

establish.  It  was  both  an  error  and  a  crime,  and  the 
fruit  natural  to  it  followed.  His  own  reign  was  short 
and  troubled  ;  and  that  of  his  son  added  so  far  to  the 
evils  thus  produced,  as  to  prepare  the  way  for  a  transfer 
of  the  sceptre  to  other  hands  in  the  time  of  his  successor. 

But  this  future  concerning  his  house,  was  neither  fore- 
seen nor  suspected  by  the  king.  When  his  first  parlia- 
ment assembled,  he  sent  the  Earls  of  Northumberland 
and  Westmoreland  as  his  Commissioners  to  the  clergy 
assembled  in  convocation,  who,  in  the  name  of  the  king, 
assured  them,  their  presence  there  was  not,  as  in  preced- 
ing reigns,  to  demand  subsidies,  but  to  solicit  an  interest 
in  their  prayers,  and  to  state  that  the  clergy  would  find 
their  sovereign  prepared  to  take  all  necessary  measures  to 
sustain  the  liberties  of  the  church,  and  to  destroy,  as  far 
as  possible,  all  errors,  heresies,  and  heretics.^  In  pur- 
suance of  this  pledge,  two  years  later,  the  infamous 
statute  for  the  burning  of  heretics  was  passed.^ 

This  instrument  commences  with  reciting  the  com- 
plaints so  often  made  about  persons  who  gave  them- 
selves to  preaching  without  licence  from  the  proper 
authorities ;  who  retained  possession  of  heretical  books, 
convened  unlawful  assemblies,  and  diffused,  in  many 
ways,  the  most  pestilent  opinions.  Against  these  disor- 
ders it  is  provided,  that  no  man  shall  preach,  from  this 


1  Wilkins,  Concilia,  III.  237— 245. 
=  Stat.  2  Hen.  IV.  c.  15.     Rot.  Pari.  III.  467. 


A.D.  1401.]    Statute  for  the  Burning  of  Heretics,  485 


time  forth,  who  is  not  duly  authorized  ;  that  within  the 
next  forty  days,  all  books  containing  doctrines  at  vari- 
ance with  the  determinations  of  the  church  shall  be 
delivered  to  the  ecclesiastical  officers ;  that  all  persons 
suspected  of  offence  in  these  respects,  or  of  being  present 
at  prohibited  meetings,  or  as  in  any  way  favouring  such 
meetings,  or  the  errors  taught  in  them,  shall  be  com- 
mitted to  the  bishop's  prison,  to  be  there  dealt  with  at 
his  pleasure,  during  a  space  not  exceeding  three  months  ; 
and  if  such  persons  shall  fail  to  clear  themselves  from 
the  charges  brought  against  them,  or  shall  not  abjure 
.their  errors  if  convicted,  or  shall  relapse  into  error  after 
such  abjuration,  then  the  local  officers,  both  civil  and 
clerical,  shall  confer  together,  *  and  sentence  being  duly 

*  pronounced,  the  magistrate  shall  take  into  hand  the 

*  persons  so  offending,  and  any  of  them,  and  cause  them 

*  to  be  burned,  in  the  sight  of  all  the  people,  to  the  in- 

*  tent  that  this  kind  of  punishment  may  be  a  terror  to 

*  others,  that   the  like  wicked   doctrine,   and   heretical 

*  opinions,  and  the  authors  or  favourers  of  them,  may  not 

*  be  any  longer  maintained  within  the  realm/  The  pre- 
tence of  the  Romanist,  that  this  practice  of  burning 
heretics  belongs,  not  to  the  law  of  the  church,  but  to  the 
common  law  of  Europe,  is  not  honest.  According  to  the 
language  of  this  statute,  it  is  the  canon  law  that  deter- 
mines what  the  offences  are  which  shall  be  followed  by  ade- 
livering  of  the  offender  to  the  secular  arm  for  such  punish- 
ment, and  it  rests  with  the  clergy  to  interpret  that  law. 


486  '      Wycliffe  and  his  Successors.       [chap.  xm. 

This  atrocious  statute  was  put  into  speedy  execution. 
William  Sawtre,  a  clergyman  in  the  diocese  of  Norwich, 
had  embraced  the  doctrines  of  WycliiFe;  but  on  his  first 
examination  had  abjured  them.  Subsequently  Sawtre 
again  broached  some  of  the  prohibited  dogmas,  especially 
in  relation  to  the  Eucharist,  and  he  was  accordingly 
sentenced  by  archbishop  Arundel  to  be  delivered  to  the 
secular  power  as  a  relapsed  heretic.  The  king  issued  the 
warrant  for  his  execution :  he  died,  according  to  John 
Foxe,  *  a  true  and  faithful  martyr  ; '  and  thus  the  custom 
of  burning  for  heresy  had  beginning  in  our  history.'  It 
should  be  mentioned,  that  with  this  power  to  put  other 
men  to  death  for  alleged  errors  of  opinion,  the  clergy  ob- 
tained from  Henry  the  fourth  a  law  by  which  their  own 
order  ceased  to  be  amenable  to  the  secular  tribunals.^  We 
have  seen  with  what  earnestness,  not  only  Wycliife  and 
the  reformers,  but  our  race  of  English  kings,  had  resisted 
all  pretension  to  such  immunity  on  the  part  of  church- 
men. 

By  these  proceedings  the  king  drew  upon  himself  all 
those  disaifections  which  had  served  to  place  so  large  a 
portion  of  his  subjects,  of  every  rank,  in  a  position  of 
antagonism  to  the  ruling  churchmen,  and  to  the  papacy. 
Placards  were  posted  on  church-doors,  and  elsewhere, 
denouncing  him  as  a  perjured  tyrant  and  usurper.     Even 


:  »  Wilkins,  Concilia,  III.  459.    Foxe,  I.  671—675. 
2  Rot.  Pari.  in.  494. 


A.D.  1404.]      Court  Party  and  Reform  Party.  487 

the  death  of  his  predecessor  was  laid  to  his  charge.  Dis- 
affected barons,  and  persecuted  Wycliffites,  were  pre- 
pared to  act  in  league  against  him.  He  was  soon  obliged 
to  unsheathe  the  sword  in  defence  of  his  crown,  and  he 
never  ceased  to  find  assailants  of  his  policy  within  the 
walls  of  parliament.  In  the  fourth  year  of  his  reign,  the 
commons  petitioned  that  every  benefice  should  have  a 
perpetual  incumbent ;  that  all  persons  preferred  to  bene- 
fices should  reside  upon  them ;  that  the  priories  in  the 
hands  of  foreigners  should  be  seized  ;  that  no  Frenchman 
who  had  taken  the  vows  of  a  monk  should  remain  in  the 
kingdom  ;  that  the  clergy  and  the  religious  orders  should 
be  required  to  do  hospitality  from  their  revenues  ;  and 
that  no  youth  under  the  age  of  twenty-one  should  be  re- 
ceived into  any  of  the  four  orders  of  friars.^  When  the 
next  parliament  assembled,  an  attempt  was  made  by  the 
chancellor  to  repress  this  innovating  spirit,  by  stating 
in  behalf  of  the  king,  that  it  was  the  royal  pleasure  that 
the  church  should  be  maintained  in  all  its  liberties  and 
immunities,  as  in  the  time  of  his  predecessors, — every 
kingdom  being  like  the  human  body,  possessing  a  right 
side,  which  consists  of  the  church,  and  a  left,  which  con- 
sists of  the  temporal  powers,  the  commonalty  being  as 
the  remaining  members.^  The  king  who  could  play  the 
sycophant  to  a  priesthood  after  this  manner,  and  to  such  a 
priesthood  as  then  flourished  in  this  country,  ceased,  of 

'  Rot.  Pari.  III.  499.  ^  ibjd.  m.  522. 


488  Wydiffe  and  his  Successors.       [chap.  xiii. 

necessity,  to  be  an  object  of  affection  or  esteem  among  bis 
subjects.  The  reply  of  the  commons  to  the  language  that 
bad  been  addressed  to  them,  was  in  the  shape  of  a  petition 
praying  the  monarch  to  remove  his  confessor,  and  two 
other  persons,  from  his  household.  Henry  felt  that  his 
attempt  to  awe  the  reformers  by  high  talk  had  not  been 
successful,  and  he  not  only  assented  to  the  petition,  but 
added  that  he  was  prepared  to  displace  any  other  parties 
whose  presence  near  his  person  may  have  been  displeasing 
to  his  people.  Nothing,  he  assured  his  faithful  commons, 
was  more  an  object  of  solicitude  with  him,  than  to  reign 
as  a  good  king ;  and  he  proceeded  so  far  as  to  invite  them 
to  lay  freely  before  him  whatever  measures  should  appear 
to  them  as  likely  to  conduce  to  the  honour  of  God,  and  the 
welfare  of  the  state.  They  prayed  that  in  the  settling  of 
his  household,  the  persons  selected  should  be  persons  of 
good  reputation,  and  that  the  appointments  made  should 
be  notified  to  them  ;  and  in  the  next  session  they  pro- 
ceeded so  far  as  to  urge  that  he  should  provide  for  the 
expenses  of  his  estate  from  his  own  resources.  To  the 
first  of  these  requests  the  king  readily  assented  ;  and  even 
on  the  latter  point  he  would  be  found  to  do  as  desired 
so  soon  as  convenient.  ^  It  must  have  been  an  uneasy 
throne  which  could  be  retained  only  by  such  means. 

But  the  reforming  spirit  of  the  commons  carried  them 
still  further.     They  did  not  scruple  to  make  it  a  matter 

1  Rot.  Pari.  III.  525—549. 


A.D.  1404.]      Court  Party  and  Reform  Party.  489 

of  complaint  to  the  king  that  the  clergy  should  be 
allowed  to  luxuriate  at  home,  while  the  knights  of 
the  kingdom  impoverished  their  families,  and  imperilled 
their  lives,  to  defend  him  against  his  enemies.  The 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury  said,  in  reply,  that  the  clergy 
paid  their  tenths  more  frequently  than  the  laity  paid 
their  fifteenths  ;  that  they  sent  their  tenants  to  join 
the  royal  standard  whenever  required  so  to  do  ;  and 
that  they  were  themselves  doing  him  no  mean  service, 
by  saying  masses  and  prayers,  day  and  night,  in  his 
favour.  The  speaker,  it  is  said,  expressed  himself  sneer- 
ingly  about  the  value  which  the  primate  appeared  to 
attach  to  the  spiritual  contributions  of  his  order — where- 
upon the  prelate  threw  himself  at  the  feet  of  the  king, 
imploring  him  to  use  his  authority  for  the  protection 
of  the  Church,  declaring  himself  willing  to  encounter 
any  danger,  from  fire  or  sword,  rather  than  see  the 
church  bereft  of  the  smallest  portion  of  her  right.  But 
the  commons  were  not  to  be  diverted  from  their  course 
by  these  passionate  proceedings.  They  presented,  ere 
long,  a  statistical  paper  to  the  king,  in  which  they 
made  it  appear,  that  from  the  temporal  possessions  of 
the  prelates,  the  abbots,  and  the  priors,  there  should 
be  contributed  to  the  service  of  the  crown,  beyond 
the  force  usually  supplied  from  that  source,  no  less 
than  thirteen  earls,  fifteen  hundred  knights,  and  six 
thousand  two  hundred  esquires  !  But  the  fortunes  of 
the  king  were  in  a  somewhat  improved  condition  at  this 


490  Wycliffe  and  his  Successors.       [chap.  xm. 

juncture  :  lie  could  afford  to  show  himself  displeased  with 
these  troublesome  researches,  and  he  did  so.  Dis- 
couraged in  this  attempt  to  show  that  the  clergy  were 
not  bearing  their  proportion  of  the  public  burdens,  the 
commons  directed  their  artillery  to  another  point,  and 
prayed  that  all  ecclesiastics  might  be  placed  in  subjection, 
as  heretofore,  to  the  lay  tribunals  ;  and  when  in  1410 
another  Wycliffite  was  committed  to  the  flames,  they 
called  loudly  for  the  repeal  of  the  brutal  law  which 
had  legalized  such  cruelty.  To  the  former  demand,  the 
king  did  not  assent,  to  the  latter  he  assented  in  part.^ 

While  the  reformers  in  parliament  employed  them- 
selves after  this  manner,  the  prelates  were  assiduous 
in  their  endeavours  to  strengthen  themselves  in  the 
more  favourable  position  which  new  circumstances  had 
assigned  to  them.  In  a  convocation  of  the  clergy  in 
Oxford,  in  1408,  a  series  of  '  constitutions,'  attributed 
to  Archbishop  Arundel,  were  adopted,  which  point  dis- 
tinctly enough  to  the  source  from  which  we  have  to 
trace  the  statute  for  the  burning  of  heretics.  In  these 
articles  it  is  declared,  that  the  pontiff,  as  holding  the 
keys  of  future  life  and  death,  is  to  us,  not  in  the  place 
of  man,  but  in  the  place  of  God  ;  that  the  guilt  of  those 
persons,  accordingly,  who  question  his  decisions,  is  the 
guilt  of  spiritual  rebellion  and  sacrilege  ;  that  in  the 
persons   who   have  presumed   to   oppose   themselves   of 

»  Walsingham,  414— 421.    Rot.  Pari.  III.  623. 


A.  D.  1408.]  ArundeVs  Constitutions.  491 

late  years  in  this  country,  to  the  authority  of  the  Holy 
See,  it  is  not  difficult  to  discern  the  tail  of  the  black 
horse  in  the  Apocalypse,  notwithstanding  the  appearances 
of  great  sanctity  assumed  by  them  ;  that  to  bring  the 
heresies  and  mischiefs  which  have  been  so  long  tolerated 
in  the  land  to  an  end,  it  is  expedient  to  determine  : 
That  no  man  shall  in  future  attempt  to  preach  without 
the  license  of  his  ordinary ;  that  preaching  shall  be 
restricted  in  all  cases  to  the  simple  matters  prescribed 
in  the  instruction  provided  in  aid  of  the  ignorance  of 
priests,  and  beginning  ignorantia  sacerdotum ;  that  any 
man  offending  against  this  rule  shall  forfeit  his  tempora- 
lities, and  be  liable  to  the  penalty  awarded  in  the  recent 
statute  against  heresy  ;  that  any  church  into  which  a 
teacher  of  this  description  is  admitted  shall  be  laid 
under  an  interdict ;  that  no  schoolmaster  shall  mix 
religious  instruction  with  the  teaching  of  youth,  nor 
permit  discussion  about  the  sacraments,  nor  the  reading 
of  the  scriptures  in  English  ;  that  all  books  of  the 
kind  written  by  John  Wycliffe,  and  others  of  his  time, 
or  hereafter  to  be  written,  be  banished  from  schools, 
halls,  and  all  places  whatsoever ;  that  no  man  shall 
hereafter  translate  any  part  of  scripture  into  English, 
on  his  own  authority,  and  that  all  persons  convicted 
of  making  or  using  such  translations,  shall  be  punished 
as  favourers  of  error  and  heresy ;  that  no  man  shall  be 
allowed  to  dispute  concerning  the  decrees  of  the  church, 
whether  given   in   her    general    or    in    her    provincial 


492  Wycliffe  and  his  Successors.       [chap.  xui. 

councils,  nor  to  take  exception  to  the  customs  so 
authorized,  such  as  pilgrimage  to  shrines,  adoration  of 
images,  or  of  the  cross,  on  pain  of  being  accounted 
heretical ;  that  all  possible  means  be  used  to  root  out 
the  heresies  known  under  the  '  new  and  damnable  name 
of  Lollardy,'  as  everywhere,  so  especially  in  the  Univer- 
sity of  Oxford,  once  so  famous  for  its  orthodoxy,  but 
of  late  so  poisoned  with  false  doctrines  ;  and,  finally, 
inasmuch  as  the  crime  of  heresy  is  more  enormous  than 
treason,  since  it  is  resistance  to  the  authority  of  heaven 
as  present  in  the  church,  all  persons  suspected  of  this 
offence,  and  refusing  to  appear  before  the  proper  authori- 
ties when  cited,  shall,  though  absent,  be  adjudged  guilty.^ 
Our  devout  martyrologist  closes  his  account  of  this 
significant  document  by  observing.     '  Who  would  have 

*  thought,  by  these  laws  and  constitutions  so  substan- 

*  tially  founded,  so  circumspectly  provided,  so  diligently 
'  executed,  but  that  the  name  and  memory  of  this  per- 

*  secuted  sect  should  have  been  utterly  rooted  up,  and 

*  never  could  have  stood  !     And  yet,  such  be  the  works 

*  of  the  Lord,  passing  all  man's  admiration,  that  not- 
'  withstanding  all  this,  so  far  was  it  off  that  the  number 
'  and  courage  of  these  good  men  were  indeed  vanquished, 
'  that  they  rather  multiplied  daily,  especially  in  London, 

*  and   Lincolnshire,  Norfolk,  Herefordshire,   in   Shrews- 

*  bury,  in  Calais,  and  divers  other  quarters/  ^ 

»  Labbe,  Concilia,  VII.  1935—1948. 
"  Foxe,  Acts  and  Mon.  1.  986,  687. 


A.D.  1409.]  Persecutions — John  Badby.  493 

The  reader  who  would  form  a  just  conception  as  to  the 
nature  of  the  examinations  to  which  the  suspected  in 
such  places  were  subjected,  should  read  the  trial  of  the 
'  poor  priest '  William  Thorpe,  before  archbishop  Arun- 
del, as  given  from  his  own  narrative  by  Tyndale  and 
FoxeJ  The  examination  of  Thorpe  took  place  in  1 407, 
when  he  was  remanded  to  prison,  where  it  is  probable 
he  died.  The  alternate  browbeating  and  coaxing,  denun- 
ciation and  flattery,  to  which  the  poor  man  was  exposed, 
both  from  the  primate  of  all  England,  and  from  his  coad- 
jutors, presents  a  scene  full  of  significance. 

We  have  said  that  a  second  Lollard  was  burnt  during 
the  reign  of  Henry  the  fourth.  This  person  was  John 
Badby,  a  mechanic  in  the  diocese  of  Worcester.  Badby 
had  embraced  the  doctrine  of  WyclifFe  concerning  the  Eu- 
charist. He  maintained  that  the  material  bread  remains 
in  that  sacrament,  after  the  utterance  of  the  words  of  con- 
secration by  the  priest.  In  its  nature  it  remains  bread, 
it  is  only  in  a  sacramental  sense  that  it  can  be  said  to  be 
the  body  of  Christ.  When  examined  in  Worcester,  his 
answer  was,  that  he  could  not  believe  otherwise,  and  that 
it  would  be  in  vain  to  expect  him  to  profess  a  faith  he 
did  not  hold.  He  was  removed  to  London,  and  again 
examined  by  Archbishop  Arundel,  and  other  prelates, — 
but  with  the  same  result.  Prince  Henry  was  present  when 
this  man  was  brought  to  the  stake  in  Smithfield.     The 

*  Acts  and  Mon.  I.  693—708. 


494  Wyclife  and  his  Successors.        [chap.  xm. 

prince  urged  him  to  recant,  and  cautioned  him  against  sup- 
posing that  anything  short  of  his  so  doing  could  save  him 
from  the  death  immediately  before  him.  Badby  could  only 
repeat  to  the  prince,  what  he  had  said  to  the  prelates. 
Being  fastened  to  a  stake,  a  barrel  was  placed  so  as  to 
encircle  him,  and  the  interior  was  filled  from  above  and 
beneath  with  faggots.  As  the  fire  began  to  do  its  office 
the  sufferer  uttered  in  his  prayer,  the  words — Mercy,  Lord, 
mercy  !  The  prince  interpreted  those  words  as  expressing 
willingness  to  recant,  and  order  was  immediately  given 
that  the  fuel  should  be  removed.  But  the  sufferer  repeated 
that  his  faith  was  unchangeable,  and  that  he  must  profess 
what  he  believed.  The  prince  moved,  it  would  seem,  with 
pity  toward  him,  pledged  himself  to  make  ample  provision 
for  him  during  the  remainder  of  his  days,  if  he  would  only 
be  obedient  to  the  church.  But  it  availed  not.  The 
humble  mechanic  could  not  accept  even  of  a  prince's 
patronage,  at  the  cost  of  truth  ;  and  the  fire  being  again 
kindled,  he  expired  amidst  the  torture  inflicted  by  it. 

The  disciples  of  Wycliffe  were  thus  precluded  from  the 
hope  of  better  days,  even  though  the  sceptre  should  pass 
from  the  dishonoured  hand  which  signed  the  statute  for 
the  burning  of  heretics,  to  that  of  the  heir-apparent.  Badby 
perished  in  1409.  Henry  the  fifth  ascended  the  throne 
in  1413.  It  was  well  known  at  that  time  that  the  pa- 
trons of  the  Wycliffites  included  persons  of  rank  in  both 

'  Wilkins,  Con.  III.    Foxe,  I.  679—682.    Ex  Regist.  Arundel, 


A.D.  1413.]  Lord  Gohham.  495 

houses  of  parliament,  and  near  the  person  of  the  king. 
The  Earl  of  Salisbury,  for  example,  is  described  by  Wal- 
singham,  as  a  despiser  of  the  canons,  as  one  who  laughed 
at  the  sacraments,  and  as  a  *  fautor '  of  the  Lollards 
through  his  whole  life.' 

But  one  man  there  was  who  had  incurred  the  special 
resentment  of  the  clergy,  not  only  as  having  defended 
some  of  the  most  obnoxious  tenets  of  Lollardism  in  the 
English  parliament,  but  as  being  known  to  have  given 
his  aid  to  certain  preachers  of  that  sect.  This  man  was 
Lord  Cobham,  who,  as  Sir  John  Oldcastle,  had  been  the 
companion  of  the  king  when  prince  Henry,  and  had 
distinguished  himself  as  a  soldier.  The  preachers  now 
favoured  by  him  are  said  to  have  made  the  diocese  of 
the  bishop  of  London,  and  those  of  the  bishops  of  Ro- 
chester and  Hereford,  the  principal  scene  of  their  itiner- 
ant labours.  In  addition  to  which,  the  wealth  of  this 
offender  had  been  freely  expended  in  multiplying  copies 
of  the  writings  of  Wycliffe,  and  by  this  means  the  seeds  of 
disaffection  had  been  scattered  more  widely,  not  only  in 
England,  but  through  Bohemia,  and  other  states  of  the 
Continent.  All  this  too  had  been  done,  in  the  face  of  the 
policy  which  had  doomed  the  preachers  so  encouraged, 
and  the  writings  so  diffused,  to  become  fuel  of  the  same 
fire. 

The  English  clergy  appear  to  have  judged,  that   the 

1  Hist.  404. 


496  Wycliffe  and  his  Successors.        [chap.  xm. 

time  had  now  come  in  which  bolder  steps  should  be  taken 
to  protect  the  church  against  the  dangers  to  which  it  was 
thus  exposed. 

Accordingly,  iii  a  meeting  of  the  clergy,  over  which 
Archbishop  Arundel  presided,  it  was  determined  that  a 
prosecution  of  Lord  Cobham  should  be  immediately  com- 
menced. But  it  was  suggested  that  proceedings  in  the  case 
should  be  stayed,  until  it  should  have  been  laid  before  the 
king,  and  the  mind  of  the  sovereign  concerning  it  ascer- 
tained. A  deputation  was  in  consequence  appointed. 
Henry  expressed  his  disapprobation  of  the  opinions,  and 
of  the  conduct,  attributed  to  Lord  Cobham,  and  promised 
to  expostulate  with  him  on  the  subject,  adding  that  should 
this  milder  method  be  without  effect,  the  case  should  be 
left  to  the  wisdom  of  the  church.  The  knight  listened 
to  his  sovereign  with  respect,  and  the  following  has  des- 
cended to  us  as  the  substance  of  his  answer.- — "  I  am,  as 
'  I  have  always  been,  most  willing  to  obey  your  majesty 

*  as  the  minister  of  God,  appointed  to  bear  the  sword  of 

*  justice,  for  the  punishment  of  evil  doers,  and  the  pro- 

*  tection  of  those  who  do  well.  To  you,  therefore,  next 
'  to  my  eternal  living  Judge,  I  owe  my  whole  obedience, 

*  and  entirely  submit,  as  I  have  ever  done,  to  your  plea- 
'  sure,  my  life  and  all  my  fortune  in  this  world,  and  in  all 

*  affairs  of  it  whatever,  am  ready  to  perform  exactly  your 

*  royal  commands.     But  as  to  the  pope,  and  the  spiritual 

*  dominion  which  he  claims,  I  owe  him  no  service,  that 

*  I  know  of,  nor  will  I  pay  him  any ;  for  as  sure  as  God's 


A.D.  141.3.]  Lord  Gohham.  497 

'  word  is  true,  to  me  it  is  fully  evident,  that  he  is  the 
*  great  Antichrist,  the  son  of  perdition,  the  open  adver- 
'  sary  of  God,  and  the  Abomination  standing  in  the  holy 
'  place.1 

Henry  was  sorely  displeased  that  neither  his  conde- 
scension nor  his  reasoning  could  bring  his  faithful 
soldier  to  avow  a  return  to  orthodoxy  ;  and  abandoned 
by  the  king,  Lord  Cobham  was  left  to  contend  alone 
with  his  clerical  adversaries.  His  home  was  in  Cowley 
Castle,  about  three  miles  from  Rochester,  not  long  since 
the  residence  of  his  father-in-law.  He  was  cited  to 
appear  before  the  clergy,  but  disregarded  the  summons. 
His  prosecutors  implored  the  aid  of  the  secular  arm 
to  secure  his  apprehension,  as  *the  seditious  apostate, 
'  schismatic,  and  heretic,  the  troubler  of  the  peace,  the 
'  enemy  of  the  realm,  the  adversary  of  all  holy  church.' 

Cobham  now  made  a  second  appeal  to  the  justice 
of  the  king,  but  from  the  royal  presence  the  ecclesi- 
astical officers  were  allowed  to  conduct  him  to  the  Tower. 
After  some  days,  he  was  brought  before  the  archbishop 
of  Canterbury,  the  bishops  of  London  and  "Winchester, 
and  others,  in  the  chapter-house  of  St.  Paul's.  Arundel 
urged  submission  ;  Cobham  replied  that  his  opinions 
were  unalterable,  and  prayed  that  he  might  be  allowed 
to  read  from  a  paper  which  he  held   in   his   hand,  an 


Wake's  State  of  the  Church,  ubi supra. 

2  K 


498  Wycliffe  and  his  Successors.       [chap.  xm. 

expression  of  his  sentiments  on  the  points  concerning 
which  he  presumed  himself  to  be  suspected  of  error. 
This  paper  had  reference  chiefly  to  the  doctrine  of  the 
Eucharist,  to  the  nature  of  penance,  the  worship  of 
images,  and  the  custom  of  pilgrimage,  and  was,  with 
some  additional  explanations,  the  copy  of  a  document 
which  he  had  recently  presented  to  the  king.  On  all  the 
points  mentioned,  the  sentiment  and  the  language  of 
this  confession  were  in  substance  those  of  Wycliffe.  By 
the  prelates  it  was  described  as  being  in  some  respects 
orthodox,  in  others  as  requiring  further  explanation, 
while  there  were  some  points  not  included  in  it,  on 
which  the  opinions  of  the  accused  must  be  ascertained. 
But  Cobham  declined  giving  any  further  answer  than 
was  contained  in  the  paper  which  he  had  read — '  You 
see  me  in  your  power,  do  with  me  as  you  please,'  were 
his  words.  Arundel  was  perplexed  by  this  conduct ; 
but  presently  admonished  his  victim,  that  the  matters 
to  be  believed  by  all  Christians  had  been  placed  beyond 
controversy  by  the  authority  of  the  Church,  and  that 
on  the  following  Monday,  when  he  would  be  expected 
to  appear  again  before  them,  more  explicit  answers  must 
be  given.  Care  also  would  be  taken,  in  the  interval,  to 
make  him  acquainted  with  the  judgment  of  the  church 
on  the  questions  at  issue.  On  the  morrow,  a  paper  was 
placed  in  his  hands  which  afiirmed,  in  the  strongest 
terms,  and  in  the  name  of  the  church,  the  necessity 
of  confession  to  a  priest,  the  merit  of  pilgrimages,  the 


A.D.  1413.]  Lord  Cohham.  499 

propriety  of  the  worship  rendered  to  images  and  holy 
relics ;  also  the  supremacy  of  the  pope,  and  the  mysteries 
of  transubstantiation. 

On  the  Monday,  Cobham  appeared  before  a  formidable 
array  of  judges,  in  the  monastery  of  the  Dominicans, 
near  Ludgate.  Beside  the  prelates,  the  doctors,  and 
the  heads  of  religious  houses,  included  in  this  assembly, 
was  '  a  great  sort  more,  of  priests,  monks,  canons,  friars, 
'  parish-clerks,  bell-ringers,  and  pardoners,^  who  are 
described  as  treating  the  '  horrible  heretic  with  innu- 
merable mocks  and  scorns/  It  is  clear  also,  from  the 
record  of  the  proceedings,  that  besides  the  ecclesiastics, 
and  the  hangers-on  of  that  order,  there  was  a  large 
gathering  of  people  from  the  city.  > 

Arundel  again  expressed  himself  as  willing  to  forgive 
the  past,  on  condition  of  a  promise  of  submission  for 
the  future  ;  but  Cobham  replied  that  while  his  conscience 
accused  him  of  having  oifended  grievously  against  God, 
during  some  past  years  of  his  life,  he  knew  of  nothing 
he  had  done  against  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury  that 
might  call  for  the  exercise  of  forgiveness  towards  him 
in  that  quarter.  With  a  burst  of  feeling,  he  threw 
himself  upon  his  knees,  and  implored  the  Divine  tfiercy 
on  account  of  the  evils  of  his  past  life  ;  and  rising  from 
that  posture,  with  tears  in  his  eyes,  he  addressed  the 
people  present  in  the  following  prophetic  terms.  '  Lo  ! 
'  good  people,  lo  !  for  the  breaking  of  God's  law  and 
'  commandments,  these  men  never  cursed  me.     But  for 

2  K  2 


500  Wydiffe  and  his  Successors.       [chap.  xm. 

*  the  sake  of  their  own  law  and  traditions,  most  cruelly 
'  do  they  handle  both  me  and  other  men.  Both  they, 
'  therefore,   and  their  laws,    according  to   the  promise 

*  of  God,  shall  be  utterly  destroyed.'  The  firmness  of 
his  adversaries,  we  are  told,  was  somewhat  disconcerted 
by  this  manifestation  of  feeling  and  fearlessness, 

A  lengthened  discussion  now  took  place,  to  which 
the  archbishop,  the  doctors,  and  the  leaders  of  the 
religious  orders,  brought  all  their  learning,  their  acute- 
ness,  and  their  passions,  each  shaping  his  pressing  ques- 
tions so  as  best  to  ensnare  and  overpower  the  accused. 
On  being  required  to  answer  distinctly,  whether  the 
bread  remained  in  the  sacrament  of  the  altar,  after  the 
words  of  consecration  were  pronounced — Cobham  re- 
plied that  it  did  so  remain  ;  and  a  smile  we  are  told 
then  passed  over  the  countenance  of  his  opponents,  it 
being  concluded  that  '  the  people  would  now  see  him 
'  to  be  taken  in  a  great  heresy/  Still  pressed  with 
inquiries  on  this  subject,  and  about  church  authority, 
he  said.     'My  belief  is,  as  I  said  before,  that  all  the 

*  scriptures   of  the   sacred  book   are  true.     All  that  is 

*  grounded  upon  them,  I  believe,  thoroughly,  for  I  know 

*  it  it^  God's  pleasure  that  I  should  do  so.  But  in  your 
'  lordly  laws  and  idle  determinations  I  have  no  belief. 
'  For  ye   are   no  part  of  Christ's  holy  church,  as  your 

*  open  deeds  do  show,  but  ye  are  very  antichrists, 
'  obstinately  set  against  his  holy  law  and  will.  The 
'  laws   which   ye   have  made  are  nothing  to  his  glory, 


A.D.  1418.]  Lord  Gobham.  501 


'  but  wholly  to  your  own  vain  glory  and  covetousness/ 
We  marvel   not  that  such  language  should  have  been 
loudly  denounced  as  '  exceeding  heresy/     Thomas  Wal- 
den,  a  Carmelite,  and  a  well-known  antagonist  of  Wycliffe, 
said,  that  to   affirm   of  any  person,    and  especially  of 
superiors,  that  they  are  no  part  of  holy  church,  must 
be  presumption ;  accM'ding  to  the  maxim,  "  Judge  not, 
that  ye  be  not  judged/'      But  it  was  retorted,  /  Christ 
said   also   in   the  self-same  chapter  of  Matthew,  that 
like  as   the  evil  tree  is  known  by  its  fruits,  so  is  a 
false  prophet  by  his  works,  but  that  text  ye  left  behind 
ye/       Concerning   this,    and   other     apt   citations     of 
Scripture,    the    same    opponent    observed.  —'Ye    make 
here  no  difference  between   the  evil  judgments  which 
Christ  hath  forbidden,  and  the  good  judgments  which 
he  hath  commanded.     Rash  judgment,  and  right  judg- 
ment,   all   is   one    with  you,    such  swift  judges  ever 
are   these    learned   scholars   of  Wycliffe.'      '  Well    in- 
deed have   ye    sophistered,'  was  the  reply,  'preposter- 
ous ever  more  are  your  judgments.     For  as  the  prophet 
Isaiah   saith,   ye  judge  evil  good,    and  good  evil,  and 
therefore,    that   same    prophet    cpncludeth   that    your 
ways  are  not  Grod's  ways.     And  as  for  that  virtuous 
man   Wycliffe,   before   God   and   man,  I   here   profess 
that,  until  I  knew  him  and  his  doctrines,   that  ye  so 
lightly  disdain,   I  never  abstained  from  sin  ;  but   since 
I  have  learnt  from  him  to  fear  my  God,  I  trust  it  has 
been  otherwise  with  me.     So  much  grace  could  I  never 


502  Wydiffe  and  his  Successors.         [chap.  xm. 

*  find  in  all  your  glorious  instructions/  Here  the 
Carmelite  became  angry,  and  said,  '  It  were  not  well 
'  with  me  that  in  an  age  so  supplied  with  teachers  and 

*  examples,  I  should  find  no  grace  to  amend  my  life, 
'  until  I  heard  the  Devil  preach/  '  Precisely  thus,'  it  was 
answered,  *  did  the  Pharisees  before  you,  imputing  the 

*  doctrine  and  miracles  of  Christ  to  the  agency  of  Beel- 

*  zebub  :  this  temper  in  the  church   has  come   to   her 

*  from  the  venom  of  Judas/  The  archbishop  inquired 
what  that  venom  meant,  and  the  answer  was,  '  Your 
possessions  and  lordships/  These  things,  it  was  added, 
have  made  Rome  'the  very  nest  of  Antichrist,  out   of 

*  which  come  all  the  disciples  of  Antichrist,  of  whom 
'  prelates,  priests,  and  monks,  are  the  body,  and  these 

*  friars  the  tail.     Priests  and  deacons,  for  the  preaching 

*  of  God's  word  and  the  administering  of  sacraments, 
'  with  provision  for  the  poor,  are  indeed  grounded  on 
'  God's  law,  but  these  other  sects  have  no  manner  of 
'  support  thence,  as  far  as  I  have  read.'  It  was  now 
manifest  that  nothing  but  evil  could  result  from  pro- 
tracting this  discussion,  and  the  archbishop  hastened 
to  admonish  the  prisoner,  that  the  day  waned,  that 
great  forbearance  had  been  shown  towards  him  in  vain, 
and  that  his  only  way  of  escape  from  the  most  serious 
penalties,  would  be  in  the  required  submission  to  the 
authority  of  the  church.  The  answer  was,  '  My  mind  is 
unalterable,  do  with  me  as  you  please.' 

The  archbishop  then   rose,  the   clergy  and  the  laity 


A.D.  1413.]  Lord  Gohham.  503 

did  so,  and  stood  uncovered,  while  sentence  was  pro- 
nounced on  *  Sir  John  Oldcastle,  knight,  and  Lord  of 
*  Cobham,  as  a  most  pernicious  and  detestable  heretic/ 
By  this  sentence,  all  persons  were  prohibited  from  render- 
ing either  counsel  or  help  to  the  offender,  on  pain  of  in- 
curring the  censures  denounced  against  the  favourers  of 
heretics.  It  was  also  provided,  that  this  sentence  should 
be  published  in  the  mother  tongue,  from  the  pulpits  of 
every  diocese  throughout  the  province  of  Canterbury. 

In  this  proceeding,  the  passions  of  the  clergy  appear 
to  have  hurried  them  somewhat  beyond  their  discretion. 
Heretical  opinions  could  not  have  been  avowed  more 
decidedly,  or  more  notoriously,  than  by  Lord  Cobham. 
Nevertheless,  a  considerable  interval  passes,  and  the 
sentence  of  the  law  remains  unexecuted.  At  length, 
whether  by  connivance,  or  by  his  own  ingenuity,  the 
prisoner  escapes  from  the  Tower,  and,  embarking  under 
the  cover  of  the  night,  finds  an  asylum,  first  in  the  house 
of  a  partizan  near  St.  Alban's,  and  subsequently  in  Wales. 

The  trial  of  Lord  Cobham  took  place  in  September 
1413,  and  in  the  January  following,  came  the  alleged 
insurrection  of  the  Lollards.  Arbitrary  governments 
always  know  how  to  profit  by  a  frustrated  conspiracy. 
Accordingly,  if  a  god-send  of  this  sort  should  not  happen 
to  come  of  itself  in  the  fitting  season,  such  rulers  gene- 
rally know  how  to  provide  that  it  shall  come.  When 
the  '  poor  priest,'  William  Thorpe,  was  in  prison,  a  man 
was  allowed  to  visit  him  under  the  pretence  of  being  a 


504  Wycliffe  and  his  Successors.         [chap.  xm. 

Wycliffite  in  search  of  spiritual  guidance,  and  when  this 
miscreant  deposed  against  the  prisoner  the  things  he  had 
drawn  from  him  by  his  means,  Arundel  and  his  coad- 
jutors, not  only  admitted  this  evidence,  but  refused  to 
confront  the  accuser  with  the  man  upon  whom  he  had 
practised  this  deceit.  Men  who  could  descend  to  such 
expedients,  were  manifestly  capable  of  descending  to 
anything  in  the  scale  of  meanness  or  fraud,  and  would 
be  ready  to  employ  spies  for  the  purpose  of  getting  up 
a  conspiracy  at  any  moment,  and  to  any  extent,  that 
might  seem  to  promise  a  furtherance  of  their  policy. 

Walsingham,  the  most  bitter  enemy  of  the  Lollards, 
is  our  chief  authority  in  relation  to  this  pretended 
rebellion.  The  substance  of  his  statement  is, — that  re- 
ports were  spread  that  the  Lollards  were  engaged  in  a 
plot  to  destroy  the  king  and  his  brothers  at  Eltham ; 
that  the  king  being  apprised  of  their  object,  removed 
from  Eltham  to  Westminster ;  that  on  the  night  of  the 
seventh  of  January,  the  Lollards  were  assembling  in 
great  numbers  in  a  field  near  St.  Giles,'  and  were  about 
to  act,  at  a  given  hour,  under  their  leader  Oldcastle  ; 
that  the  king  then  ordered  his  friends  to  arms,  and  in- 
formed them  that  they  must  proceed  with  him  at  once 
to  this  reported  place  of  rendezvous  ;  that  he  was  urged 
to  wait  until  he  had  collected  a  more  adequate  force,  or 
at  least  not  to  expose  himself  to  the  possible  odds 
arrayed  against  him  before  day-break  ;  that  Henry  would 
not  listen  to  such  counsel,  because  he  had  heard  that 


A.D.  1414.]     Alleged  Insurrection  of  the  Lollards.        505 

the  Lollards  intended  to  burn  Westminster  Abbey,  St. 
Paul's,  St.  Alban's,  and  all  the  other  priories  in  London  ; 
that  the  king  therefore  went  to  St.  Giles'  in  the  middle 
of  the  night,  where  he  found  a  few  persons  only,  who,  on 
being  asked  what  they  wanted,  said,  '  The  Lord  Cobham  ; ' 
that  these  persons  were  seized  and  imprisoned ;  that 
great  surprise  was  felt  that  no  one  came  from  the  city 
to  join  them  ;  that  the  king  ordered  the  city-gates  to 
be  shut  and  guarded ;  and  that  it  was  reported,  that  if  the 
king  had  not  thus  anticipated  the  scheme  of  the  traitors, 
fifty  thousand  servants  and  apprentices  would  have  been 
concentrated  at  this  place  of  meeting. 

One   of  the   most    dispassionate  and    honest  of  our 
historians,  on  reviewing  this  narrative,  justly  says, — "  It 

*  is  a  series  of  supposition,  rumour,  private  information, 
'  apprehension,  and  anticipation.  That  the  king  was  acted 

*  upon  by  some  secret  agents   is   clear,  that   the  plots 

*  asserted  were  really  formed  there  is  no  evidence.     The 

*  possibility  is,  that  Henry's  generous  and  lofty  mind  was 
'  found  to  start  at  the  violences  which  the  bigotry  of  the 

papal  clergy  had  resolved  upon,  and  that  artful  measures 
'  were  taken  to  alarm  it  into  anger  and  cruelty,  by  charges 
'  of  treason,  rebellion,  and  meditated  assassination.'^ 

But  whatever  may  have  been  the  nature  of  the  meet- 
ing in   St.   Giles',    whether   originated  wholly   by   the 


1  Turner's  History  of  England,  II.  452,  453.  Walsingham,  431,  432. 
Wilkins,  Concil.  III.  358—360.    Foxe,  I.  765—772. 


506  Wycliffe  and  his  Successors.  [chap.  xiii. 

enemies  of  the  Lollards ;  or  consisting  of  some  harmless 
gathering,  of  which  the  clergy  became  aware,  and  which 
sufficed  as  a  ground  for  this  cry  of  treason,  and  for  these 
manifestly  false  rumours — the  effect  of  the  incident 
was  eminently  of  the  sort  desired.  Some  of  the  men 
apprehended  were  executed.  Lollardy  was  more  than 
ever  identified  with  treason,  both  in  the  public  mind 
and  in  the  law  of  the  land.  Ministers  of  state,  and 
magistrates,  were  required  to  make  oath  to  exercise 
their  authority  for  the  suppression  of  this  sect ;  and 
Lord  Cobham,  apprehended  three  years  later,  was  sen- 
tenced to  perish  at  the  stake. 

At  the  place  of  execution,  Cobham  renewed  his  exhor- 
tations to  the  people  to  follow  their  priests  only  as  their 
life  and  doctrine  should  be  conformable  to  the  word  of 
God.  The  proffered  services  of  a  confessor  he  declined, 
adding  that  his  confessions  of  sin  were  made  to  God 
only  ;  and  while  the  surrounding  clergy  warned  the 
spectators  against  praying  for  the  sufferer,  because  mani- 
festly condemned  of  heaven,  Cobham,  in  the  spirit  of 
a  better  faith,  was  heard  interceding  aloud  for  the 
salvation  of  his  persecutors.  So  perished  the  man  '  whose 
'  virtue,'  to  use  the  language  of  Horace  Walpole,  '  made 
'  him  a  reformer  ;  whose  valour  made  him  a  martyr.'  The 
sentence  passed  upon  him  was,  that  he  should  be  hung 
in  chains  as  a  traitor,  and  at  the  same  time  slowly 
consumed  to  ashes  as  a  heretic  ;  upon  which  Fuller  re- 
marks— '  As  his  body  was  hanged  and  burnt  in  an  un- 


A.D.  1417.]     Prevalence  of  Wycliffe's  Opinions.  507 

'  usual  posture  at  Tyburn,  so  his  memory  hath  ever  been 

*  in  a  strange  suspense  between  malefactor  and  martyr  ; 
'  papists  charging  him  with  treason  against  King  Henry 

*  the  fifth,  and  heading  an  army  of  more  than  ten 
'  thousand  men  ;  though  it  wanted  nine  thousand,  nine 
'  hundred  and  ninety-nine  thereof,  so  far  as  it  appears 
'  solidly  proved/^ 

But  the  churchmen  had  now  reached  their  season  of 
ascendancy.  Even  the  right  of  sanctuary,  ceded  to  the 
murderer,  was  denied,  by  an  act  of  parliament,  to  men 
charged  with  the  crime  of  reading  the  Scriptures  in 
English  ;  and  so  serious  were  the  confiscations  of  pro- 
perty that  took  place  in  London  and  elsewhere,  on  such 
pretences,  that  the  king  found  it  necessary  to  interpose, 
threatening  all  functionaries  who  should  be  convicted 
of  proceeding  vexatiously  in  such  cases  with  heavy 
penalties.  This  fact,  and  even  the  exaggerations  of 
Walsingham  concerning  the  numbers  said  to  have  been 
assembled,  or  to  have  been  prepared  to  assemble,  in  St. 
Giles's,  to  meet  Lord  Cobham,  combine  to  suggest  that 
it  must  have  been  notorious  at  this  time,  that  the  mind 
of  the  people  of  England,  especially  in  the  cities  and 
towns,  was  deeply  leavened  with  that  new  feeling  which 
the  labours  of  Wyclifi*e  had  been  the  means  of  diffusing. 

While  the  struggle  between  the  Church  and  the  re- 
formers took  this  course  in  England,  affairs  were  not  sta- 

^  Worthies  of  England,  ubi  supra. 


508  Wycliffe  and  his  Successors.       [chap.  xm. 

tionary  in  this  respect  on  the  Continent.  The  papal  schism 
had  not  yet  reached  its^close,  and  the  scandals  and  abuses 
generated  by  it,  had  increased,  rather  than  diminished.  It 
was  the  hope  of  bringing  these  disputes  to  an  end,  as  well 
as  the  wish  to  correct  some  of  the  ecclesiastical  enormities 
of  the  times,  that  led  to  the  convening  of  the  councils  of 
Pisa,  Constance,  and  Basle,  during  the  first  half  of  the 
fourteenth  century.  These  councils  were  assembled  on 
the  principle,  that  the  supreme  power  in  the  Church  does 
not  rest  with  its  sovereign  authority,  as  exercised  by  the 
pontiff ;  but  with  its  parliamentary  authority,  as  vested 
in  a  general  council.  The  first  of  these  assemblies  was 
convoked  in  1409,  the  second  in  1414,  the  third  in  1433. 
At  Pisa,  both  the  reigning  popes  were  deposed  by  the 
council,  without  any  reason  stated  for  the  proceeding  in 
relation  to  the  one  more  than  the  other ;  and  the  council 
of  Constance  deposed  John  XXIII,  in  whose  name  it  had 
been  convened. 

Our  Ultramontane  Romanists  are  greatly  perplexed, 
as  may  be  supposed,  by  these  acts  of  Transalpine  libe- 
ralism. Unhappily,  the  liberalism  of  a  popish  council, 
is  not  greatly  preferable  to  the  absolutism  of  a  popish  con- 
clave. It  was  something  that  the  council  of  Constance 
should  assert  its  authority  to  reform  the  Church,  both  in 
its  head  and  in  its  members  ;  it  would  have  been  better 
if  its  authority  had  been  wisely  exercised  to  that  end. 
But  the  proceedings  of  that  assembly  towards  John 
Huss  and  Jerome  of  Prague,  have  left  upon  it  an  im- 


A.D.  1404.]      The  Three  Councils — John  Huss.  509 

press  of  corruptness   and  bad  faith,  which  no  time  can 
efface.^ 

John  Huss  was  born  at  Hussinetz,  a  small  town  in 
Bohemia,  in  1373.  Wycliffe  was  then  at  Oxford,  and 
about  thirty  years  of  age.  Like  his  great  successor  Mar- 
tin Luther,  Huss  was  the  son  of  poor,  but  honest  parents. 
He  prosecuted  his  studies  in  the  university  of  Prague 
with  ardour  and  success  ;  became  a  priest ;  and  in  1378 
was  appointed  confessor  to  Sophia,  queen  of  Bavaria.  It 
was  not,  however,  until  1404,  that  Huss  found  himself 
famous.  At  that  time  he  had  become  distinguished  as  a 
preacher  in  the  chapel  of  Bethlehem,  in  Prague :  and  from 
the  pulpit  of  that  chapel  the  great  Hussite  movement 
may  be  said  to  have  had  its  origin.  Twenty  years  had  then 
passed  since  the  decease  of  Wycliffe.  But  the  writings  of 
our  Reformer  were  constantly  passing  from  this  country 
into  Bohemia,  where  they  were  largely  transcribed  and 
sold.  The  early  zeal  of  Huss  had  been  directed  simply  to 
the  increase  of  piety  in  the  Church.  In  reading  some  of 
the  writings  of  Wycliffe,  he  is  said  to  have  censured  them 
strongly,  and  to  have  advised  a  student,  who  was  a  col- 
lector of  them,  to  cast  them  into  the  river  that  passed 
by  the  town.  But  on  a  better  acquaintance  with  the 
works  of  our  great  countryman,  and  from  the  natural 
course   of  events,  and  of  his   own   thoughts,   he   came 


*  Labbe.  Acta  Conciliorum,  VI II. 


510  Wyclifie  and  his  Successors.       [chap.  xiu. 

to  be  of  another  mind  concerning  Wycliffe  and  his  writ- 
ings. 

The  king  of  Bohemia  had  his  reasons  for  encouraging 
the  new  learning ;  and  his  queen  not  only  sympathized 
with  his  policy,  but  extended  her  best  protection  to  John 
Huss,  as  the  representative  of  that  learning.  Prague, 
accordingly,  became  a  great  school  in  which  much  free 
criticism  was  broached  on  all  subjects,  especially  in  re- 
lation to  ecclesiastical  opinions  and  usages.  Huss  had 
by  this  time  adopted  three  leading  principles  from  the 
writings  of  Wycliffe — first,  that  the  ultimate  authority 
in  regard  to  the  Christian  religion,  is  in  the  scriptures, 
and  not  in  the  Church  ;  second,  that  priestly  ordination 
does  not  give  the  Holy  Ghost,  nor  confer  any  spiritual 
benefit,  except  in  the  case  of  a  priest  who  is  already  a 
spiritual  man ;  and  thirdly,  that  the  discipline  of  the 
Church  should  be  such  as  to  enforce  good  conduct  upon 
the  clergy,  partly  by  requiring  them  to  abstain  from  all 
secular  occupation,  and,  if  need  be,  by  depriving  them 
of  their  wealth  and  revenues. 

Huss  did  not  see  how  much  was  involved  in  these  prin- 
ciples. Here  we  have  the  sufficiency  of  scripture,  and 
the  right  of  private  judgment,  assumed  in  fact,  though 
not  in  words  ;  and  a  power  vested  somewhere,  which  is 
to  be  supreme  over  all  ecclesiastical  persons,  and  all 
ecclesiastical  property.  How  was  it  possible  that  the 
authority  of  the  Church  should  stand  at  all,  in  the  face 
of  the  authority  of  scripture  as  thus  explained  ?     And 


A.D.  1409.]  John  Euss.  511 

this  power  to  reform  the  Church,  if  vested  in  the  clergy, 
was  it  to  be  expected  that  they  would  so  use  it  in  relation 
to  themselves  ?  And  if  vested  in  the  magistrate,  could 
churchmen  be  expected  to  submit  to  such  a  master,  even 
in  matters  of  religion  ?  Huss,  like  most  men  in  his  cir- 
cumstances, prophesied  in  part.  He  saw  the  evil,  de- 
plored it,  and  called  for  a  remedy,  but  did  not  see  the 
issue  to  which  the  principle  involved  in  his  remedy  would 
lead.  Some  of  his  opponents  appear  to  have  seen  much 
farther,  in  this  respect,  than  himself.  To  proceed  thus 
far,  was  enough  to  ensure  the  reproach  of  being  a  disciple 
of  Wycliffe,  and  an  enemy  of  the  Church.  Accordingly, 
not  only  Prague,  but  Bohemia,  was  soon  divided  into  two 
great  parties — the  Hussites  and  the  Romanists. 

In  1408  the  archbishop  of  Prague  had  seized  some 
two  hundred  volumes  of  the  writings  of  Wycliffe,  chiefly 
the  property  of  members  of  the  university,  and  had  com- 
mitted them  to  the  flames.  Huss  protested  against  this 
proceeding,  as  both  unwise  and  unjust,  and  as  an  infringe- 
ment on  the  privileges  of  the  university.  Of  course, 
the  volumes  destroyed  were  few,  compared  with  those 
which  may  be  supposed  to  have  escaped  the  hands  of  the 
bishop's  officers.  In  1409,  Alexander  V.  issued  a  bull, 
in  which  the  authorities  of  Bohemia  were  required  to  use 
the  most  stringent  means  to  suppress  the  teaching  of  the 
doctrines  of  Wycliffe  in  that  kingdom.  To  which  Huss 
replied  by  saying,  '  I  appeal  from  Alexander  ill-informed, 
to  Alexander  better  informed.'     Immediately  afterwards. 


512  Wycliffe  and  his  Successors.       [chap.  xm. 

Alexander  was  succeeded  by  the  infamous  John  XXIII., 
who  issued  a  citation  requiring  Huss  to  appear  before 
him.  The  friends  of  the  Reformer  urged  that  he  should 
not  appear  in  person,  but  by  counsel ;  whereupon  the  pope 
excommunicated  Huss,  and  laid  Prague  itself  under  an 
interdict. 

At  this  point,  the  defects  of  the  Reformation  contem- 
plated by  Huss  become  manifest.  While  asserting,  in 
effect,  the  right  of  private  judgment,  he  was  by  no  means 
prepared  absolutely  to  reject  the  authority  of  the  Church  ; 
and  while  protesting  against  the  extravagances  and  abuses 
allied  with  the  practice  of  auricular  confession,  prayers 
for  the  dead,  priestly  absolution  and  ordination,  and 
much  beside,  he  did  not  renounce  the  principles  on  which 
those  usages  were  founded.  The  portion  of  our  Protestant 
truth  which  he  had  embraced,  nothing  could  induce  him 
to  surrender — but  neither  his  own  mind,  nor  the  mind 
of  his  followers,  had  become  ripe,  at  this  time,  for  an 
open  rupture  with  that  ecclesiastical  authority  through 
Christendom,  which,  if  not  vested  in  the  pope,  was  left 
to  be  largely  exercised  by  him.  Huss  now  retired  from 
Prague  for  a  season.  But  the  queen  was  known  to  hold 
him  in  high  estimation  ;  the  people  generally  were  loud 
in  his  praise  ;  and  one  man,  whose  name  history  has 
associated  pre-eminently  with  his  own,  becomes  conspic- 
uous at  this  juncture  as  his  defender — we  refer  to  Jerome 
of  Prague. 

Jerome  had  studied  at  Oxford,    and  in  Paris  had  dis- 


A.D.  1414.]        Jerome — Council  of  Constance,  513 

tinguished  himself  in  discussions  with  the  celebrated 
Gerson.  Before  his  return  to  Bohemia,  the  authorities 
of  Vienna  had  thrown  him  into  prison,  as  a  favourer  of 
the  doctrines  of  WyclifFe.  His  liberation  was  at  the 
request  of  the  University  of  Prague.  Huss  did  not  pos- 
sess either  the  genius  or  the  learning  of  Jerome ;  but 
his  power,  allied  as  it  was  with  so  much  goodness,  gave 
him  so  great  an  influence  over  the  mind  of  Jerome,  that 
the  latter  never  failed  to  look  up  to  him  as  a  disciple  to 
a  master.  It  was  natural  to  the  mind  of  Jerome  that 
he  should  be  disposed  to  go  somewhat  farther  than  Huss 
in  the  path  of  reformation,  and  he  did  so. 

The  great  council  of  Constance  consisted  of  thirty 
cardinals,  twenty  archbishops,  one  hundred  and  fifty 
bishops,  as  many  prelates,  a  great  number  of  abbots  and 
doctors,  and  eighteen  hundred  priests.  Nearly  all  the 
sovereigns  of  Europe  were  there,  either  in  person  or  by 
their  representatives  ;  and  the  company  of  strangers 
brought  to  a  somewhat  long  residence  in  the  small  town 
of  Constance,  amounted  to  1  00,000  persons.  The  object  of 
Sigismund,  king  of  the  Romans,  better  known  as  the 
Emperor  Sigismund,  in  convening  this  council,  was,  in 
part,  to  put  an  end  to  the  strifes  of  three  men,  each  of 
whom  claimed  to  be  regarded  as  the  true  and  only  suc- 
cessor of  St.  Peter ;  and  in  part  to  adopt  measures  for 
the  suppression  of  the  errors  and  heresies  of  the  times. 

Huss  was  summoned  to  appear  before  this  tribunal. 
He  consented  so  to  do,  and,  though  a  pledge  of  safe  con- 

2   L 


514  Wyclifie  and  his  Successors.       [chap.  xm. 

duct,  while  journeying  to  Constance,  while  there,  and  in 
returning  to  his  home,  was  given  to  him  by  the  Emperor, 
the  Reformer  began  his  journey  with  a  strong  presenti- 
ment as  to  its  issue.  Huss  was  soon  thrown  into  prison  ; 
Jerome,  on  making  his  appearance  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  Constance,  was  seized,  and  brought  into  the  town  in 
a  cart,  loaded  with  irons.  For  a  considerable  interval, 
the  Emperor  and  the  Council  were  engaged  in  endeavour- 
ing to  secure  the  abdication  of  John  XXIII. — an  object 
which  there  seemed  to  be  no  prospect  of  realizing,  except 
by  threatening  his  holiness  with  a  full  exposure  of  his 
monstrous  vices  and  crimes,  as  the  ground  of  his  deposi- 
tion !  And  before  proceeding  to  the  Bohemian  question, 
and  the  examination  of  Huss  and  Jerome,  it  was  deemed 
expedient  to  fix  the  brand  of  the  Council  on  Wycliffe, 
and  on  his  doctrine.  Fifty-five  articles  from  the  wri- 
tings of  the  English  heresiarch,  which  had  been  con- 
demned in  this  country,  at  Rome,  and  at  Prague,  were  now 
condemned  at  Constance  ;  and  subsequently,  no  less  than 
two  hundred  and  sixty  articles,  selected,  or  said  to  have 
been  selected,  from  the  writings  of  Wycliffe,  were  declared 
by  the  Council  to  be  erroneous  or  heretical.  It  was  fur- 
ther decreed,  that  the  works  of  our  Reformer,  without 
exception,  and  wherever  found,  should  be  seized  and 
burnt ;  and  as  a  further  expression  of  hatred  to  his 
memory,  it  was  ordered  that  his  body  should  be  taken 
from  its  grave,  and  consumed  with  fire  ! 

Huss  and  Jerome,  though  lodged  in  prisons  distant 


A.D.  1415.]  Huss  he/ore  the  Council.  515 

from  each  other,  were  not  ignorant  of  these  proceedings. 
So  had  the  council  done  to  the  master,  and  in  these  pre- 
liminaries it  was  easy  to  read  the  fate  awaiting  the  dis- 
ciples. An  attempt  was  made  to  secure  the  condemnation 
of  Huss,  even  without  allowing  him  a  hearing — but 
that  course  was  not  found  to  be  practicable.  Huss  stood 
before  the  council  on  three  occasions.  The  charges 
brought  against  him,  were  brought,  for  the  most  part, 
by  parties  whose  names  he  was  not  permitted  to  know. 
He  replied,  by  declaring  some  of  the  charges  to  be  alto- 
gether untrue ;  by  explaining  others  as  being  only  in 
part  true  ;  and  by  admitting  the  remainder,  as  expressing 
opinions  which  he  certainly  held,  but  which  he  was  pre- 
pared to  abandon,  if  their  falsehood  could  be  made  clear  to 
him  from  Holy  Scripture.  It  was  this  point — the  authority 
of  Scripture,  as  above  all  other  authority;  and  the  judg- 
ment of  the  individual,as  being  to  the  individual  conscience 
before  all  other  judgment,  that  lay  at  the  foundation  of 
the  scheme  of  Huss  as  a  reformer.  As  we  have  said — 
he  does  not  appear  to  have  seen  the  absolute  inconsis- 
tency of  professing  himself  a  Catholic,  while  avowing 
such  opinions.  But  the  opinions  themselves,  were  with 
him  convictions,  and  nothing  could  induce  him  to  sub- 
mit to  any  other  guidance.  In  taking  this  position,  he  was 
prepared  to  see  the  corruptions  of  the  ecclesiastical  sys- 
tem, as  he  would  not  otherwise  have  seen  them  ;  and  also 
to  set  at  naught  every  plea  founded  on  mere  authority, 
and  not  upon  scripture  or  reason.     In  his  view,  the  state 

2  L  2 


516  Wyclifie  and  his  Successors.       [chap.  xm. 

of  things  was  bad,  reformation  was  imperative,  and  if 
not  to  be  realized  by  otber  means,  the  wealth  and  reve- 
nues which  churchmen  were  so  little  disposed  to  apply- 
to  their  right  uses,  should  be  taken  wholly  away  from 
them.  In  these  bold  conceptions  there  were  the  seeds 
of  all  coming  change,  though  Huss  saw  it  not.  WyclifFe 
saw  much  farther.  He  saw  in  the  corrupt  usages  which 
Huss  denounced,  no  more  than  the  natural  effect  of  the 
false  dogmas  with  which  they  were  allied,  and  he  de- 
nounced both.  Huss  for  the  most  part,  spared  the  dogma, 
but  spoke  with  an  earnestness  that  could  hardly  have 
been  excceeded,  against  what  he  regarded  as  its  excess, 
its  perversion,  its  abuse.  The  same  may  be  said  of  Je- 
rome, and  on  this  ground  they  both  became  martyrs.  In 
fact,  their  crime  consisted,  not  so  much  in  novelty  of 
opinion,  as  in  their  strong  protest  against  the  ignorance, 
the  superstition,  the  worldliness,  and  the  vices  of  the 
priesthood.  Their  dream  was  of  a  reformed  Catholicism 
— the  dream  of  an  impossibility. 

The  imprisonment  of  these  injured  men  extended  over 
many  months,  that  of  Jerome  over  more  than  a  twelve- 
month. The  chains  upon  their  persons  were  fastened 
into  the  walls  of  their  cell ;  and  their  sufferings,  from 
the  foulness  of  the  atmosphere,  and  other  causes,  appear 
to  have  been  adjusted  to  the  purpose  of  subduing  their 
firmness  of  temper,  by  exhausting  their  power  of  endu- 
rance. John  Huss  never  faltered — and  perished  at  the 
stake.     Jerome  being  thus  left  alone,  and  all  who  had 


A.D.  1415.]  Jerome  and  the  Council.  517 

remained  to  strengthen  the  heart  of  his  devout  com- 
panion being  scattered,  he  shrunk  for  a  season  from 
the  terrors  arrayed  against  him,  and  consented  to  read  a 
paper  which  his  enemies  had  prepared  as  a  recantation. 
But  his  course  was  not  so  to  end.  His  courage  soon 
returned,  and  if  upon  his  first  appearance  he  had  ap- 
peared to  be  less  gifted  with  that  quality  than  Huss — he 
surpassed  him  when  he  came  fairly  to  his  trial,  not  only 
in  boldness,  but  in  his  greater  display  of  learning,  in 
the  greater  readiness  of  his  genius,  and  in  the  extra- 
ordinary beauty  and  power  of  bis  eloquence.  Contrasted 
with  the  demeanour  of  this  man,  was  that  of  the  council. 
This  council  consisted,  as  we  have  seen,  of  cardinals, 
metropolitans,  bishops, — in  a  word,  of  a  selection  from 
the  greatest  ecclesiastical  personages  in  Christendom. 
But  a  gathering  from  among  the  lowest  of  the  people, 
could  hardly  have  exhibited  more  passion,  coarseness, 
confusion,  or  uproar,  than  frequently  disgraced  the  pro- 
ceedings of  this  assembly.  Once  and  again,  the  accused 
man  had  to  stand  silent  and  motionless,  in  the  presence 
of  his  judges,  until  the  hurricane  of  their  wrath  and 
execration  had  spent  itself,  and  the  possibility  of  obtain- 
ing a  hearing  returned.  But  in  these  encounters,  even 
the  meek  John  Huss  was  more  than  a  match  for  his 
assailants — while  every  sentence  that  proceeded  from 
the  lips  of  Jerome,  in  reply  to  the  subtleties  thrown 
at  him  from  all  points,  and  on  all  topics,  seemed  like  the 
utterances  of  inspiration,  so  admirable  was  their  fitness 


518  Wycliffe  and  his  Successors.       [chap.  xm. 


and  their  power.  Since  the  martyrdom  of  Stephen,  the 
history  of  the  church  has  given  us  nothing  of  the  same 
kind  so  truly  beautiful  and  noble  as  are  the  scenes  pre- 
sented to  us,  in  the  last  days  of  Jerome  of  Prague. 

The  flames  which  consumed  Huss  and  Jerome  did 
not  put  an  end  to  heresy.  The  Bohemians  adopted  the 
cause  of  their  martyred  countrymen ;  and  in  defence  of 
it,  kept  the  forces  of  the  empire  at  bay  *for  the  next 
twenty  years.  Hatred  of  Rome  became  the  hereditary 
feeling  of  millions  of  people ;  and  the  reformation  ori- 
ginated by  Wycliffe,  and  sustained  in  this  manner  by 
his  disciples  in  Bohemia,  made  the  great  revolution 
achieved  by  Luther  possible.  The  Hussites  survived 
John  Huss  :  and  their  descendants,  known  by  the  name 
of  Moravian  brethren,  have  linked  the  times  of  Wycliffe 
and  his  successors  with  those  of  the  great  Protestant 
Reformation.  ^ 


*  Labbe,  Acta  Conciliorum,  VIII.  209,  et.  seq.  Lenfant  Hist,  du 
Cone,  de  Pise.  Hist,  et  Mon.  J.  Huss.  Theobald.  Historic  des  Hussites. 
The  following  is  the  language  of  the  'safe  conduct'  guaranteed  to 
John  Huss,  by  the  Emperor  Sigismund.     *  Sigismund,  by  the  grace  of 

*  God,  King  of  the  Romans,  &c.,  to  all  ecclesiastical  and  secular 
'  princes,  &c.,  and  to  all  our  other  subjects,  greeting.  We  recommend 
'  to  you  with  full  affection— to  all  in  general,  and  to  each  in  particular, 
'  the  honourable  master,  John  Huss,  Bachelor  in  Divinity,  and  Mas- 
'  ter  of  Arts,  the  bearer  of  these  presents,  journeying  from  Bohemia 

*  to  the  Council  of  Constance  ;  whom  we  have  taken  under  our  pro- 

*  tection  and  safe-guard,  and  under  that  of  the  Empire,  enjoining  you 
'  to  receive  him,  and  treat  him  kindly,  furnishing  him  with  all  that 
'  shall  be  necessary  to  speed  and  assure  his  journey,  as  w^ell  by  water 
'  as  by  land,  without  taking  anything  from  him  or  his,  for  arrivals  or 


A.D.  1428.]       Disinterment  of  Wycliffe's  hones.  519 

It  was  a  capital  article  in  the  offence  both  of  Huss 
and  Jerome,  that  they  refused  to  concur  in  the  judgment 
which  the  council  had  pronounced  on  Wycliffe.  Huss, 
when  required  so  to  do,  went  so  far  as  to  say,  ^  I  am 
content  that  my  soul  should  he  where  his  soul  is.* 

Wycliffe's  remains  had  been  sleeping  beneath  the  pave- 
ment of  the  quiet  chancel  of  Lutterworth  church,  more 
than  forty  years  when  the  decree  that  they  should  be  dis- 
interred was  executed.  Before  the  accession  of  the  house 
of  Lancaster,  it  might  not  have  been  an  easy  matter  to 
have  carried  such  a  decree  into  effect.  But  since  the  good 
man's  voice  was  last  heard  in  that  Church,  new  power 
had  come  into  the  hands  of  the  clergy.  The  pious  service 
to  which  they  gave  themselves  in  this  case,  may  be 
imagined.  In  that  chancel,  within  that  old  oak  screen, 
you  see  the  dignitaries — Chicheley,  now  primate  of  all 
England,  being  of  the  number,  —  to  whose  zeal  and 
fidelity  this  most  suitable  service  is  assigned,  all  crowd- 
ing towards  the  spot  where  the  object  of  their  search  is 
to   be   found.     Their   subordinates   and   attendants   are 


'  departures,  under  any  pretext  whatever :  and  calling  on  you  to  allow 

'  him  TO    PASS,    SOJOURN,    STOP,    AND    RETURN    FREELY    AND    SURELY,    pro- 

'  viding  him  even,  if  necessary,  with  good  passports,  for  the  honour 
*  and  respect  of  the  Imperial  Majesty.  Given  at  Spires,  this  18th 
'  day  of  October,  of  the  year  1414,  the  Third  of  our  Reign  in  Hungary, 
'  and  the  Fifth  of  that  of  the  Romans.'  Well  might  the  Emperor  blush 
when  Huss  reminded  him  of  the  pledge  thus  given.  All  the  attempts 
of  Romanists  to  alter  the  atrocious  features  of  this  case,  serve  only  to 
add  dishonesty  of  their  own,  to  that  of  the  men  they  would  exculpate. 


520  Wycliffe  and  his  Successors.       [chap.  xui. 

many ;  and  the  town's-people,  brought  together  by  the 
novelty  of  such  doings,  are  many.  We  think  we  hear 
the  sound  of  the  axe  and  spade  as  the  menials  do  the 
bidding  of  their  masters.  At  length  the  coffin  is  raised. 
You  see  it  borne  through  that  old  doorway  and  porch 
which  front  towards  the  river,  and  so  down  that  narrow 
road,  which  curves  its  way  from  the  high  ridge  on  which 
the  town  stands,  towards  the  point  where  the  river  is 
crossed  by  a  rude  bridge.  As  seen  from  the  opposite 
meadows,  that  moving  crowd,  streaming  down  that  hill- 
side, must  have  been  a  strange  sight, — a  motley  multi- 
tude ;  and  as  viewed  nearer,  it  must  have  had  its  signifi- 
cance for  the  thoughtful.  On  the  bridge  a  fire  is  kindled, 
and  the  flesh,  or,  at  least,  the  bones,  of  John  de  WycliiFe, 
are  slowly  consumed  to  ashes.  Doctors  look  on,  who 
have  not  found  it  so  easy  to  confute  the  heretic,  as  to 
burn  him.  But  among  the  people  who  stand  by,  are 
many  who  remember  the  presence  of  the  man  whose 
remains  are  so  dealt  with,  as  he  filled  their  parish  pulpit, 
or  as  he  gave  them  Christian  counsel  in  the  homely 
dwellings  of  their  childhood ;  and  who,  if  they  dared, 
would  say  aloud,  that  the  friend  of  their  early  years  was 
a  man  deserving  something  other  than  such  indignity. 
The  ashes  of  Wycliffe  are  thrown  into  that  river  Swift, 
which,  as  Fuller  says,  conveyed  them  into  the  Avon, 
'  Avon  into  the  Severn,  Severn  into  the  narrow  seas, 
'  they  to  the  main  ocean.     And  thus  the  ashes  of  Wycliffe 


522  Wyclifie  and  his  Successors.       [chap.  xm. 

'  take  up  some  of  the  most  material  of  his  doctrines, 

*  as  to  be  condemned,  confiscated,  put  in  durance. 
'  While  trouble  comes  from  the  mendicants  on  the  one 
'  hand,  and  from  this  Reginald  Pecock,  bishop  of  Chi- 
'  Chester  on  the  other,  the  nobles  of  the  realm,  and  their 
'  retainers,  will  be  committed  to  hot  wars  against  each 
'  other,  making  the  throne  itself  insecure,  filling  the 
'  land  with  violence  and  bloodshedding,  and  leaving 
'  your  successors  but  little  time  or  means  for  prose- 
'  cuting  their  own  peculiar  war  against  heresy.  In 
'  the  meanwhile,  the  seeds  which  you  call  heresy  will 
'  vegetate  widely,  so  that  when  the  king  comes,  a  seventh 
'  Henry,  who  is  to  put  an  end  to  civil  discord,  and  to 
'  restore  order,  he  will  not  find  that  Lollardism  is  a  thing 

*  of  the  past.  No— for  he  will  deem  it  wise  to  put  forth 
'  his  cold  strong  hand  to  suppress  it,  and  his  policy  to 
'  that  end  will  be  more  false  and  cruel  than  that  of  the 
'  worst  among  the  men  who  have  gone  before  him.  Some 
'  he  will  imprison  and  despoil,  others  he  will  burn.  In  the 
'  registry  of  every  diocese  names  by  hundreds  will  ap- 
<  pear,  as  those  of  persons  so  dealt  with,  during  this 
'  century  of  turbulence  and  darkness.  In  the  records 
^  of  the  diocese  in  which  you  now  are,  more  than  five 
'hundred such  names  will  have  entry.^  But  another 
'  Henry   will   soon  come  ;  another  strong  voice  calling 

*  for  reformation  will  soon  be  heard ;  and  when  Martin 

1  Foxe,  Acts  and  Mon.  II.  33. 


A.D.  1428.]  Wycliffeism  may  not  die.  523 


'  Luther  gives  himself  to  his  labours,  the  people  who 
'  speak  the  language  of  John  Huss  and  of  John  Wycliffe, 
'■  will  be  found  ready  to  bid  him  God-speed,  and  Germany 
'  and  England  will  be,  through  the  centuries  to  come,  as 
'  the  chiefs  in  a  great  anti-papist  confederacy — the  leaders 
'  of  the  world  of  the  future,  in  the  way  to  its  destined 
'  freedom  and  manhood/  ^ 


^  The  bridge  which  now  crosses  the  Swift,  at  Lutterworth,  has  been 
erected  within  the  memory  of  old  men  still  living  in  the  neighbour- 
hood. The  river,  too,  has  diminished  considerably  since  the  four- 
teenth century.  Within  the  last  hundred  years,  barges  have  been 
seen  upon  it,  but  nothing  of  the  kind  could  now  float  there.  Papists 
and  Protestants  have  put  their  different  constructions  on  this  change 
—but  the  follies  on  either  side  are  not  worth  repeating. 


APPENDIX. 


ON    THE  WRITINGS    OF  JOHN    DE   WYCLIFFE. 


I.  EXPOSITIO  DECALOGI.  British  Museum.  Titus  D.  XIX.  Wyc- 
lifFe  wrote  several  Expositions  of  the  Decalogue.  One  forms  part  of  a  collec- 
tion of  Treatises  under  the  title  of  '  The  Poor  Caitiff'.  Another  of  much 
greater  extent  in  Latin,  is  preserved  in  the  Bodleian  Library ;  it  bears  the 
title,  Compendium  X.  Mandatorum  editum  a  Magistro  Jo.  Wickliffe,  Doctore 
EvangeliccB  veritatis.  Dr.  James  has  made  great  use  of  this  MSS.  in  his 
*  Apology  for  John  WicklifFe.'  Its  contents  show  that  it  must  have  been  one 
of  the  earlier  productions  of  the  Reformer.  See  some  account  of  the  MSS.  in 
the  British  Museum,  in  the  'Tracts  and  Treatises'  of  Wycliffe,  by  the 
Author,  pp.  1 — 7. 

II.  DE  HYPOCRITARUM  IMPOSTURIS.  MS.  Corpus  Christi  College. 
Cambridge,  pp.  1—22.  MS.  Trinity  College,  Dublin.  Class  C.  Tab.  111. 
No.  12.  pp.  1 — 17.     See  p.  411,  et  seq.  of  this  volume. 

III.  DE  OBEDIENTIA  PRELATORUM.  MS.  Corpus  Christi  College, 
Cambridge.  Trinity  College,  Dublin.  Class  C.  Tab.  IIL  No.  12,  pp.  17—28. 
See  p.  415,  et  seq.  of  this  volume. 

IV.  DE  CONVERSATIONE  ECCLESIASTICORUM.  MS.  Corpus  Christi 
College,  Cambridge.  Trinity  College,  Dublin.  Class  C.  Tab.  111.  No.  12, 
pp.  32 — 54.     See  p.  421,  et  seq.  of  this  volume. 

V.  SPECULUM  DE  ANTICHRISTO.  The  English  title  is  *  How  Anti- 
Christ  and  his  Clerks  feren  true  priests  from  preaching  of  Christ's  Gospel.  It 
begins.  First,  they  say,  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  maketh  discension.     MS. 


526  Appendix. 

Corpus  Christi  College,  Cambridge  Trinity  College,  Dublin.  Class  C.  Tab. 
111.  No.  12. 

The  extracts  in  the  note  on  pages  432,  433,  of  this  volume,  are  from 
this  MS.  One  of  the  'four  deceits  '  said  to  be  resorted  to  for  the  purpose  of 
discouraging  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel,  is  said  to  consist  in  the  pretence 
'  that  men  should  cease  from  preaching,  and  give  themselves  to  holy  prayers 

*  and  contemplations,  because  that  helpeth  christian  men  more  and  is  better.' 
Wycliffe  replies,   *  True  men  say  boldly  that  true  preaching  is  better  than 

*  prayer  by  the  mouth,  or  though  it  should  come  from  the  heart  and  pure  de- 

*  votion,  and  that  it  edifieth  more  the  people Devout  prayer  in  men  of 

'  good  life  is  good  in  certain  time ;  but  it  is  against  charity  for  priests  to  pray 
'  evermore,  and  at  no  time  to  preach,  since  Christ  chargeth  priests  to  preach 

*  the  Gospel,  more  than  to  say  mass  and  matins.'     Ibid. 

VI.  OF  CLERKS  POSSESSIONERS.  MS.  Corpus  Christi  College,  Cam- 
bridge. Trinity  College,  Dublin.  Class  C.  Tab.  111.  No.  12.  The  design 
of  this  Treatise  is  to  expose  the  mischiefs  to  morals  and  religion,  which  had 
resulted,  in  the  view  of  Wycliffe,  from  the  excessive  opulence  of  the  clergy. 

In  the  commencement  of  this  Treatise,  St.  Augustine,  St.  Gregory^ 
and  St.  Bernard,  are  introduced  as  censuring  the  secular  lordship  of  the 
clergy.  Clerks  who  live  'a  lustful  and  worldly  life,'  declare  the  life  and  ex- 
ample of  Christ  as  not  a   sufficient  rule,   and   therein   declare   themselves 

*  strong  heretics.'  Such  men  are  traitors  to  God,  to  lords,  and  to  the  com- 
mon people.  To  God  they  show  themselves  traitors  by  deserting  his  law  ; 
to  lords  by  cursing  them,  except  they  are  prepared  to  uphold  the  pretensions 
of  churchmen  ;  and  to  the  people  by  deceiving  them,  *  teaching  them  openly, 

*  that  they  shall  have  God's  blessing,  and  bliss  in  heaven,  if  they  pay  truly 

*  their  tithes  and  offerings  to  them.'     This  is  the  purport  of  the  work. 

VII.  DE  XXXIII.  ERRORIBUS  CURATORUM.  Begins,  '  For  the  office  of 
curates  is  ordained  of  God,  <^c.'  MS.  Corpus  Christi  College,  Cambridge. 
Trinity  College,  Dublin.  Class  C.  Tab.  111.  No.  12.  In  the  Cambridge 
collection  this  piece  follows  that  on  '  Clerks  Possessioners.'  The  term  curate 
is  used  as  embracing  the  parochial  clergy  generally. 

In  this  Treatise  Wycliffe  complains  that  the  devout  and  laborious  among 
the  parochial  clergy,  were  a  class  of  men  who  were  sure  to  be  out  of  favour 
with  'bishops  and  their  officers,'  and  'with  other  curates  in  the  country.' 
He  thus  writes  on  the  ^omt  of  private  judgment  and  the  authority  of  scripture — 
the  clergy  to  whom  he  is  referring,  he  says,  are  '  Antichrists,  forbidding  men 
to  know  their  belief,  and  to  speak  of  Holy  Writ.  For  they  say  openly  that 
secular  men  should  not  intermeddle  themselves  with  the  Gospel,  to  read  it 
in  the  mother  tongue,  but  attend  to  a  holy  father's  preaching  ^  and  do  after  such 
in  all  things.  But  this  is  openly  against  God's  teaching.  For  God  com- 
mandeth  generally  to  each  layman,  that  he  should  have  God's  command- 
ments before  him,  and  teach  them  to  his  children.  And  Peter  biddeth  us 
be  ready  to  give  a  reason  for  our  faith  and  hope  to  each  man  that  asketh  it. 


Writings  of  John  de  Wyclifie.  527 

*  And  God  commands  his  priests  to  preach  the  gospel  to  each  man,  as  the 

*  reason  is,  because  all  men  should  know  it.  Lord  I  why  should  worldly  priests 
'  forbid  secular  men  to  speak  of  the  Gospel,  since  God  giveth  them  great 

*  wit  of  kind  (by  nature)  and  great  desire  to  know  God  and  love  Him. 
'Since  the  beginning  of  the  world  none  have  heard  higher  craft  of  Anti- 

*  Christ,  whereby  to  destroy  Christian  men's  belief  and  charity,  than  is  this 
'  blasphemous  heresy — that  laymen  should  not  intermeddle  with  the  Gospel!' 
In  the  thirtieth  chapter,  the  Reformer  reiterates  his  protest  against  the  coer- 
cive processes  by  which  tithes  were  exacted,  and  against  the  application  of 
them  to  maintain  the  clergy  in  luxury,  to  the  neglect  of  the  poor. 

VIII.  OF  THE  ORDER  OF  PRIESTHOOD.  MS.  Corpus  Christi  College, 
Cambridge.  Trinity  College,  Dublin.  Class  C.  Tab.  111.  No.  12.  This 
piece  treats  of  the  same  evils  with  the  preceding,  and  propounds  the 
same  remedy — that  the  clergy  should  be  brought  to  abetter  manner  of  living, 
by  reducing  their  wealth,  and  limiting  its  uses  to  the  worthy. 

IX.  OF  GOOD  PREACHING  PRIESTS.  MS.  Corpus  Christi  College, 
Cambridge.  It  begins,  ^  The  first  general  point  of  poor  priests  that  preach 
in  England  is  this,  ^c'  Its  treating  of  the  wrongs  of  the  '  poor  priests,'  is 
evidence  of  its  comparatively  late  date. 

In  a  series  of  articles,  this  Treatise  presents  a  vigorous  exposure  of  the 
abuses  of  the  times,  and  suggests  a  variety  of  means  by  which  a  better  state 
of  things  may  be  realized.  Simonj'^,  in  every  form,  should  be  heavily  pun- 
ished ;  the  men  who  do  good  should  not  heed  the  anathema  of  priests,  for  it 
often  happens  that  *  God  blesseth  where  they  curse ; '  the  exactions  made  by 
ecclesiastics  to  sustain  their  pomps  and  superstitions,  should  be  resisted  ;  and 
the  revenues  of  the  clergy  being  the  'alms  of  lords,'  and  granted  on  certain 
conditions — viz.  to  feed  certain  poor  men,  to  uphold  hospitalities,  and  to 
maintain  good  priests,  should  be  applied  to  such  uses;  It  is  further  urged, 
that  '  no  priest  or  religious  man  in  our  land  be  imprisoned  without  open  trial, 
and  true  cause  fully  known.'  The  man  who  would  refute  what  is  thus  written 
must  do  so  by  an  appeal,  not  to  tradition  of  '  sinful  wretches,'  but  to  Holy 
Writ  or  Reason. 

X.  THE  GREAT  SENTENCE  OF  THE  CURSE  EXPOUNDED.  It  begins 
with  the  words,  'All  heretics  again  standing  the  faith  of  Holy  Writ.*  SfC.  MS. 
Corpus  Christi  College,  Cambridge.     See  p.  434,  etseq.  of  this  volume. 

XI.  DE  STIPENDIIS  MINISTRORUM.  Its  English  title  is— How  men 
should  find  priests.  And  it  begins,  *  Think  ye  wisely,  ye  men  that  find 
priests,'  8fc.  But  it  is  restricted  to  one  full  quarto  page.  MS.  C.  C.  C.  Cambridge, 

XII.  DE  PRECATIONIBUS  SACRIS.  Its  English  title  is,  *  How  prayer 
of  good  men  helpeth  much,'  8fc.,  and  it  begins,  *  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  teacheth  us 
to  pray  evermore,'  8fc.  MS.  Corpus  Christi  College,  Cambridge.  Trinity  Col- 
lege, Dublin.  Class  C.  Tab.  III.  No.  12.  pp.  125—131;  and  another  copy. 
Class  C.  Tab.  1,  No.  14.  This  piece  extends  to  nine  quarto  pages,  and  ex- 
poses the   folly  of  trusting  to  the  perfunctory  prayers  of  priests,  while  ex- 


528  Appendix. 

tolling  the  efficacy  of  prayer  as  proceeding  from  the  truly  devout,  whether 
priest  or  layman. 

XIII.  DE    EPISCOPORUM     ERRORIBUS,     begins    with    the     words^ 
There  are  eight  things  by  which  simple  men  he  deceived,*  8fc.     MS.  Corpus 

Christi  College,  Cambridge.  Trin.  College,  Dublin.  Class  C.  Tab.  Ill,  No- 
12.  pp.  131—136 ;  and  another  copy.  Class  C.  Table  1,  No.  14.  The  contents 
of  this  piece  and  of  No.  X.  and  XI.  forbid  our  ascribing  them  to  an  early 
period  in  the  career  of  the  Reformer.  This  tract  deals  with  eight  forms  of 
religious  error,  common  among  the  people. 

XIV.  A  SHORT  RULE  OF  LIFE,  FOR  EACH  MAN  IN  GENERAL, 
AND  FOR  PRIESTS,  AND  LORDS,  AND  LABOURERS  IN  SPECIAL. 
It  begins,  ^  First  when  thou  risest,  or  fully  wakest,'  8fc.  MS.  Corpus  Christi 
College,  Cambridge.  It  consists,  as  the  title  will  indicate,  of  an  en- 
forcement of  social  duties  from  religious  motives.  It  is  one  amidst 
many  of  the  Reformer's  productions,  which  show  how  far  he  was  from  all 
tendency  to  sympathise  with  the  insurgent  doctrines  of  such  men  as  John 
Ball,  or  Wat  Tyler. 

XV.  THREE  THINGS  DESTROY  THE  WORLD.  This  tract  consists  of 
five  pages — its  complaint  is  against  false  Confessors,  false  Merchants ;  and 
false  Men  of  Law.     MS.  Corpus  Christi  College,  Cambridge. 

XVI.  IMPEDIMENTA  EVANGELIZANTIUM.  The  English  title  is  *  Of 
feigned  contemplative  Life.'  MS.  Corpus  Christi  College,  Cambridge. 
Trinity  College,  Dublin.    Tab.  Ill,  No.  12,  pp.  136—141.    The  piece  in  the 

*  Poor  Caitiff,'  under  this  title  is  a  shorter  and  earlier  production. 

See  pp.  383 — 385  of  this  volume.  This  is  a  stringent  argument  directed 
against  those  who  would  substitute  mass  and  matins  for  preaching.  Wyc- 
liffe  insists  that  priests  who  do  not  preach  the  gospel,  therein  show  them- 
selves so  delinquent,  that  their  prayers  must  be  valueless.  He  also  attacks 
the  custom  of  giving  so  much  prominence  to  ceremonies  and  singing  in  wor- 
ship, to  the  hindrance  and  discouragement  of  preaching.  *Ah,  Lord,' he 
exclaims,  *  if  all  the  study  and  labour  that  men  now  have  about  "  Salisbury 

*  Use,'  with  a  multitude  of  new  and  costly  books,  were  turned  into  the  making 

*  of  Bibles,  and  in  studying  and  teaching  of  them,  how  much  should  God's 
'  law  be  furthered,  and  known,  and  kept,  where  now  it  is  hindered,  unstu- 

*  died,  and  unread.' 

XVII.  THE  LORD'S  PRAYER— AVE  MARIA.  MS.  Corpus  Christi  Col- 
lege, Cambridge.     Comments  which   extend  to  a  few  pages  only. 

XVIII.  HOW  RELIGIOUS  MEN  SHOULD  KEEP  CERTAIN  ARTICLES. 
It  begins,  *  Christian  men  pray  meetly  and  devoutly,'  ^c  MS.  Corpus  Christi 
College,  Cambridge.  A  kind  of  summary  of  the  doctrine  of  WyclifFe,  in 
relation  to  faith,  polity,  and  worship,  in  forty-four  articles. 

XIX.  DE  DOMINIS  ET  SERVIS.  The  English  title  is,  *  Of  Seravnts 
and  Lords,  how  each  should  keep  his  degree.'  MS.  Corpus  Christi  College,  Cam- 
bridge.   Trin.  College,   Dublin.     Class  C.  Tab.  ill.  No.  12,  pp.  156— 167. 


Writings  of  John  de   Wyclifie.  529 

From  its  reference  to  the  *  poor  priests,'  this  was  a  comparatively  late  pro- 
duction— called  forth  probably  by  the  insurrection  under  Wat  Tyler. 

We  have  referred  in  p.  460  of  this  volume  to  the  doctrine  of  *  dominion 
as  founded  in  grace,'  as  attributed  to  Wycliffe.  The  following  passage  will 
show  how  far  the  Reformer  was  from  allowing  theological  reasons  to  inter- 
fere with  the  discharge  of  social  and  political  duties.     '  But  here  the  fiend 

*  moveth  some   men  to  say,  that  christian  men  should  not  be  servants  or 

*  vassals  to  heathen  lords,  since  they  are  false  to  God,  and  less  worthy  than 

*  christian  men.     Neither  to  christian  lords,  for  they  are  brethren  in  kind 

*  (nature),  and  Jesus  Christ  bought  men  upon  the  cross,  and  made  them  free.' 
But  this  doctrine  the  Reformer  brands  as  *  heresy  ; '  and  expounds  the  doc- 
trine of  Peter  and  Paul  on  this  subject,  in  a  manner  which  errs  rather  on  the 
side  of  servility  than  of  licence.  'Yet  some  men,'  he  says,  '  who  are  out  of 
'charity,  slander  poor  priests  with  this  error,  that  servants  and  tenants  may 
'  lawfully  withhold  rents  and  service  from  their  lords,  when  their  lords  are 

*  openly  wicked  in  their  living.     And  they  invent  and  utter  this  falsehood  to 

*  make  lords  to  hate  them,  and  not  to  maintain  the  truth  of  God's  law,  which 
'  they  teach  openly  for  the  honor  of  God,  the  profit  of  the  hearers,  and  the 

*  establishing  of  the  king's  power.'  The  enemies  of  the  Reformer  inferred 
that,  if  property  and  authority  might  be  taken  from  the  clergy  because  delin- 
quent, the  same  doctrine  should  be  extended  to  the  possessors  of  wealth  and 
office  among  the  laity.  But  a  distinction  is  drawn,  and  on  the  authority  of 
Scripture,  between  the  two  cases.  The  fathers  at  Constance,  however,  and 
some  others,  have  not  been  willing  to  be  cognizant  of  the  distinction  so  made. 

XX.  DE  DIABOLO  ET  MEMBRIS.  The  English  title  of  this  piece 
is,  '  How  Satan  and  his  priests,  and  the  feigned  religious,  casten  by  three  cursed 
heresies,  to  destroy  all  holy  living: '  and  it  begins,  *  As  Almighty  God  in  Trinity 
ordaineth  men  to  come  to  the  bliss  of  heaven,'  8fc.  MS.  Corpus  Christi  College, 
Cambridge.  Trinity  College,  Dublin.  Class.  C  Tab.  Ill,  No.  12,  pp.  177— 184. 

We  must  cite  the  following  emphatic  sentence  from  this  treatise.     '  Chris- 

*  tian  men  should  know,  that  whosoever  liveth  best  prayeth  best,  and  that 

*  the  simple  paternoster  of  a  ploughman,  who  hath  charity,  is  better  than  a 

*  thousand  masses  of  covetous  prelates,  and  vain  religious.'  In  this  publica- 
tion, Wycliffe  replies  to  the  charge  of  harshness  and  severity,  in  the  judgments 
pronounced  by  himself  and  others,  on  the  conduct  of  the  unfaithful  among 
the  clergy.  He  vindicates  this  course  by  affirming  that  the  things  said  are 
true,  and  that  the  example  of  prophets  and  apostles,  as  well  as  the  common 
law  of  honesty,  require  that  things  should  be  called  by  their  right  names. 

XXI.  FOR  THREE  SKILLS  LORDS  SHOULD  CONSTRAIN  CLERKS 
TO  LIVE  IN  MEEKNESS.  It  begins,  '  Open  teaching  of  God's  law,  old  and 
new,'  8fc.  MS.  Corpus  Christi  College,  Cambridge.  Trinity  College,  Dublin. 
Class  C.  Tab.  Ill,  No.  12,  pp.  184—193.  This  piece,  and  the  preceding, 
appear  to  belong  to  a  comparatively  late  period  in  the  life  of  the  Reformer, 
but  we  have  no  means  of  determining  their  date  with  precision. 

2  M 


530  Appendix. 

The  principle  is  here  laid  down,  that  the  errors  and  vices  of  the  clergy 
are  evils  which  '  worldly  lords  are  in  debt  to  amend,'  and  to  which  they  are 
the  more  bound,  because  of  the  great  advantage,  religious  and  social,  that 
would  result  to  clerks,  lords,  and  commons. 

XXII.  OF  WEDDED  MEN  AND  WIVES.  It  begins,  '  Our  Lord  God 
Almighty  speaketh  in  his  law  of  two  matrimonies.*  MS.  Corpus  Christi  College, 
Cambridge.    This  is  a  tract  on  domestic  duties. 

XXril.  HOW  ANTICHRIST  AND  HIS  CLERKS  TRAVAIL  TO  DESTROY 
HOLY  WRIT.  It  begins,  Js  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  ordaineth  to  make  his  gospel 
sadly  known.  MS.  Corpus  Christi  College,  Cambridge.  See  p.  338  et  seq.  of 
this  volume. 

XXIV.  DE  DOMINI S  DIVINO.  It  begins.  Since  false  glosses  make 
God's  law  dark.  MS.  Corpus  Christi  College,  Cambridge.  Trin.  College, 
Dublin.  Class  C.  Tab.  Ill,  No.  12,  pp.  183—193*  This  tract  refers  chiefly  to 
the  glosses  put  on  Holy  Writ  by  the  clergy,  to  defend  their  religious  endow- 
ments, and  to  secure  for  themselves  exemption  from  the  controul  of  the 
magistrate. 

XXV.  DE  SCHISMA  PAPiE.  It  begins,  For  this  uncouth  dissension 
that  is  betwixt  these  popes.  MS.  Trinity  College,  Dublin.  Class  C.  Tab.  Ill, 
No.  12,  pp.  199—208.     See  p.  373,  et  seq.  in  this  volume. 

XXVI.  OF  PERFECT  LIFE.  It  begins,  Christ,  not  compelling,  but  freely 
counselling  each  man  to  perfect  life.  This  is  one  of  the  short  pieces  included 
in  the  *  Poor  Caitif.'     MS.  Trinity  College,  Dublin.  Class  C.  Tab.  5,  No.  24. 

XXVII.  THE  SEVEN  DEADLY  SINS.  It  begins.  Since  belief  teaches  us 
that  every  evil  is  only  sin,  8fc.  MS.  Bodleian  Archiv.  A.  83.  There  is  a  short 
tract  with  this  title  in  Trinity  College,  Dublin.  Class  C.  Tab.  5,  No.  6,  pp. 
35—38. 

In  this  Tract  WyclifFe  cautions  men  against  being  deceived  by  the  dis- 
tinction commonly  made  between  venial  and  mortal  sins,  inasmuch  as  '  they 
know  not  deadly  sin  from  venial.'  Knowledge  of  Holy  Scripture  all  men 
should  possess — *so  each  man  here  must  need  con  divinity — some  more, 
some  less — if  they  will  be  saved.'  But  the  friars  are  said  to  be  especially 
hostile  to  this  doctrine,  and  more  skilled  in  preaching  up  Spencer's  crusade, 
that  men  may  be  slain,  than  in  preaching  the  gospel,  that  they  may  be  en- 
lightened and  saved  ;  and  then  foUow^  some  strong  denunciations  of  the 
war  spirit  which  this  crusade  had  called  up. 

XXVIII.  VITA  SACERDOTUM.  It  begins— The  peril  of  Friars  is  the  last 
of  eight.     MS.  Bodleian  Archiv.  A.  3072. 

This  piece  contains  an  allusion  to  the  council  and  the  earthquake  in  Lon- 
don in  1382.  It  consists  of  eight  quarto  pages.  In  its  commencement,  Wy  cliffe 
makes  mention  of  the  clergy  as  attempting  to  vindicate  their  claims  to  their 
endowments  by  appeals  to  the  Old  Testament.  But  the  reply  given,  as  on  simi- 
lar occasions,  is,  that  the  Levitical  priesthood  were  destitute  of  endowments  in 
the  sense  intended  ;  that  the  provision  made  in  their  case  was,  that  the)' 


I 


Writings  of  John  de  Wycliffe.  631 

should  not  be  possessed  of  landed  property,  and  that  they  should  depend  on 
the  tithes  and  offerings  made  to  them  by  the  people.     *  Either  God's  law  is 

*  false,  or  the  realm  of  England  will  be  punished  sharply  for  the  persecuting  of 

*  poor  priests  only  for  saying  that  Antichrist  should  be  ashamed  of  their 

*  manner  of  life,  and  that  the  bread  of  the  altar,  as  very  God's  body,  as  the  gospel 

*  saith,  and  as  common  faith  holds/  It  was  thus  the  Reformer  expressed  him- 
self on  those  topics  in  the  year  when  the  measures  taken  by  Courtney  against 
Hereford,  Ashton,  and  others,  were  in  process. 

XXIX.  DE  BLASPHEMIA  CONTRA  FRATRES.  The  copy  of  this  work 
in  the  Bodleian  has  the  following  title,  De  Tribus  Blasphemiis  Mona- 
CHORUM.  It  begins,  It  is  said  that  three  things  stourblier  this  realm.  MS. 
Archiv.  A.  83. 

This  treatise  gives  forth  the  same  doctrine  with  the  preceding  concerning 
the  Eucharist.  '  It  is  Christ's  body,  and  bread  also,  neither  shall  be  brought  to 
nought,  for  these  are  not  contrary.'  Scripture  and  reason  are  said  to  be  so 
clear  on  this  subject,  *  that  if  we  had  a  hundred  popes,  and  all  the  friars  were 

*  cardinals,  yet  should  we  trust  more  to  the  law  of  the  gospel  than  to  all  this 

*  multitude.' — *  Since  bodily  eating  was  bidden  of  Christ,  and  this  bodily 

*  eating  might  not  be  except  there  were  bread,  then  the  bread  lasts  after  the 

*  sacreding.'  In  the  remainder  of  the  treatise,  Wycliffe  applies  his  usual 
arguments  against  the  mendicancy  of  the  friars,  and  their  vending  of  pardons 

*  without  condition,'  and  for  money. 

XXX.  DE  ECCLESTyE  DOMINIS.  Its  English  title  is,  Of  the  Church 
of  Christ,  of  her  members,  and  of  her  governance.  It  begins,  Christ's  Church  is  his 
Spouse,  that  hath  three  parts.  MS.  British  Museum,  Bib.  Reg.  18,  B.  ix.  Tri- 
nity College,  Dublin.     Class  C.  Tab.  5,  No.  6,  pp.  38—63. 

This  treatise  censures  the  doings  of  the  crusaders  in  Flanders,  and  could 
not  have  been  written,  accordingly,  before  1383.  Its  substance  is,  that  the 
Bishop  of  Rome  owes  his  position  as  pope,  and  head  of  the  church,  to  the 
patronage  and  endowment  bestowed  upon  him  by  the  emperor  ;  that  from  the 
idleness  and  worldliness  of  the  clergy,  came  the  religious  orders — monks,  can- 
ons, and  friars,  all  of  whom  became  in  their  turn  equally  corrupt ;  that  the 
friars  are  especially  heretical  in  the  matter  of  the  Eucharist ;  that  the  pretence 
of  the  pope  and  his  clergy  to  a  power  of  binding  and  loosing,  is  a  fiction  and 
a  fraud  ;  that  the  pope  is,  beyond  doubt,  eminently  the  Antichrist ;  and  that 
the  laity  are  bound,  on  pain  of  God's  displeasure,  to  take  measures  to  reform 
the  clergy.  In  this  work  Wycliffe  divides  the  church  into  three  parts, 
the  part  in  heaven  ;  the  part  on  earth,  consisting  of  all  that  will  be  saved,  and 
no  other  ;  and  the  part  in  purgatory ;  the  latter  he  describes  as  the  '  sleeping' 
church,  consisting  of  those  who  '  sin  no  more.'  Men  are  said  to  fall  '  into 
many  errors  in  praying  for  these  saints,* — the  saints  in  '  purgatory,'  and  since 
they  are  all  dead  in  body,  'Christ's  words'  says  Wycliffe,  'may  be  taken  of 
them — follow  we  Christ,  and  let  the  dead  bury  the  dead.'  This  treatise  is  one 
of  the  three  recently  printed  by  Dr.  Todd. 

•2  M  2 


532  Appendix. 

XXXI.  POSTILS.    MS.  British  Museum,    Bib.  Reg.  xviii.    See  p.  388 
et  seq.  of  this  volume. 

XXXII.  CONTRA  MENDICITATEM  VALIDAM.  In  English,  and  begin- 
ning,— Most  worshipful  and  gentlest  Duke  of  Glocester.  It  sets  forth  the 
substance  of  a  discussion  before  the  duke,  on  questions  at  issue  between  a 
clergyman  and  a  friar.  The  former  half  of  it  is  occupied  in  giving  a  sum- 
mary of  the  debate  as  it  respected  certain  theological  opinions ;  the  latter 
presents  some  of  the  most  plausible  things  to  be  said  in  favour  of  the  begging 
practices  of  the  friars,  with  the  common  arguments  opposed  to  that  usage. 
In  the  preliminary  discussion,  Wycliife  states,  *  God  is  so  good,  that  in  each 
goodness  he  is  before,  and  in  each  evil  he  is  after  the  effect.'  This  is  one  of 
a  collection  of  MSS.  in  Trinity  College.  Dublin.  Class  C.  Tab.  Ill,  No.  12. 
In  the  *  Catalogus  Librorum  Manuscriptorum  Anglias  et  Hibernias,'  published 
in  Oxford  in  1697,  the  volume  containing  this  piece  is  thus  described,  as  '  Jo. 
Wicliffe's  Works  to  the  Duke  of  Lancaster  in  1368.'  But  this  description  is 
by  a  modern  hand,  and  the  treatise  on  which  it  is  written  is  that  numbered 
II.  in  this  series,  and  which,  from  its  reference  to  the  disputes  about  the 
Eucharist,  and  other  matters,  could  not  have  been  written  earlier  than  1381. 
There  is  no  ground  to  suppose  that  any  of  the  pieces  of  this  volume  should  be 
ascribed  to  a  period  so  early  as  1368,  except  the  piece  intitled,  De  Ultima 
JEtate  Ecclesi^,  for  an  account  of  which  see  pp.  43 — 49  of  this  volume, 
and  note  B.  We  have  no  means  of  fixing  the  date  of  this  piece  addressed 
to  the  Duke  of  Glocester.  It  should  not,  I  think,  be  placed  among  the 
earlier,  nor  with  the  latest  productions  of  the  Reformers. 

XXXIII.  DE  SATHAN^  ASTU  CONTRA  FIDEM.  This  tract  begins, 
•—The  fiend  seeketh  many  ivays  to  mar  men  in  belief.  It  consists  of  two 
pages  only,  and  is  in  the  same  volume  with  the  preceding  piece,  in  Trinity 
College,  Dublin. 

XXXIV.  IN  REGULAM  MINORITARUM.  In  English,  in  Corpus  Christi 
College,  Cambridge.  Sometimes  described  as  the  Rule  of  St.  Francis — 
The  Testament  of  St.  Francis. 

XXXV.  DETERMINATATIONES  EUCHARlSTIiE  :— Ad  rationis  Kynin- 
GHAM ; — and,  Determinationes  magistri  J.  Wickliff,  contra  Carmeli- 
TAM  Kyningham,  appear  to  be  different  descriptions  of  the  same  treatise, 
which  was  an  answer  to  a  Carmelite  friar,  concerning  a  pretended  miracle 
urged  in  support  of  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation.  Corpus  Christi  Col- 
lege, Cambridge.    Lambeth  Library,  Knighton  de  Event.  Anglise,  p.  2650. 

XXXVI.  DE  QUESTIONIBUS  VARUS  CONTRA  CLERUM.  In  English^ 
in  Lambeth  Palace  Library.  Cat.  MSS.  151.  Another  copy  in  the  same 
Library,  No.  30,  called  Questiones  xxvi.  It  begins.  Almighty  God  in  Trinity, 
Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  both  in  the  old  law  and  the  new. 

XXXVII.  DE  MODO  ORANDI.  In  English,  in  the  Bodleian  Library, 
Laud,  C.  3,  and  in  the  British  Museum,  Cotton  MSS.  Titus  D.  xix.  It  is  also 
intitled,    De    Duodecim    Impedimentis    Precationum,    or,    The    Twelve 


Writings  of  John  de  Wycliffe.  533 

Lettings  of  Prayer.  In  the  Prologue  of  the  MS.  in  the  British  Museum, 
the  twelve  hindrances  of  prayer  are  enumerated — *  sin,  doubting,  asking 
things  we  ought  not,'  &c. 

XXXVIII.  DE  ANIMA.  A  part  of  this  treatise,  under  the  title  *De  In- 
carnatione  Verbi,'  is  in  the  British  Museum,  Bib.  Reg.  7,  B.  iii. 

XXXIX.  DE  VIRTUTIBUS  ET  VITUS.  In  the  British  Museum,  is  a 
short  tract  under  this  title.  Titus  D.  xix.  It  treats  on  the  following  mat- 
ters : — '  The  seven  works  of  mercy,  bodily  and  ghostly  ;  five  bodily  sins ;  five 
sins  ghostly ;  the  cardinal  virtues  ;  septem  mortalia  peccata.'  In  Bib.  Reg. 
7,  A.  xxvi.  is  another  copy  of  this  tract,  which  varies  considerably  from  the 
former;  in  some  instances  the  chapters  are  abridged,  in  others  the  chapters 
considerably  altered, — a  liberty  very  common  with  the  transcribers  of  those 
times.  This  MS.  varies  from  the  preceding  in  another  respect,  as  it  treats  of 
the  'seven  sacraments — six  manners  of  consenting  to  sin — four  things  that 
needen  to  man.'    Baber  47. 

XL.  PAUPER  RUSTICUS;  Confessio  derelicti  pauperis;  and  the 
Poor  Caitif — different  titles  of  the  same  treatise.  It  consists  of  a  series  of 
tracts  in  English,  intended  to  present  the  elements  of  religious  instruction,  in 
a  form  adapted  to  the  humblest  of  the  people  capable  of  reading.  It  is  des- 
cribed by  its  author,  as  '  sufficient  to  lead  simple  men  and  women,  of  goodwill, 
the  right  way  to  heaven.'  There  are  copies  of  this  work  in  the  Lambeth 
Palace  Library;  in  Trinity  College,  Dublin;  and  in  the  British  Museum. 
These  collections  vary  a  little  from  each  other.  The  points  included  in  the 
Dublin  MS.  are  as  follows — Of  the  Creed  :  The  ground  of  all  goodness  is 
stedfast  faith,  8fc.  Of  the  Commandments:  A  man  asked  of  Christ,  What 
he  should  do,  8fc.  Of  the  Paternoster  :  Christ  saith,  Who  that  loveth  me 
shall  keep  my  commandments,  8fc.  Of  perfect  life  :  Christ  not  compelling 
but  freely  counselling  each  man,  8fc.  Of  temptation  :  But  he  that  is  verily 
fed  with  this  bread  and  cometh  down,  8fc.  Of  the  character  of  our  hea- 
venly heritage  :  Every  wise  man  that  claimeth  his  heritage,  8fc.  Of  ghostly 
battle  :  The  Almighty  saith  by  Holy  Job,  8fc.  Of  the  love  of  Jesus  ; 
Whoever  you  be  that  araiest  thee  to  love  God,  ^c.  Of  man's  will  :  Every 
deed  punishable,  either  reprovahle  of  man's  will,  8fc.  Of  contemplative  life  : 
Christ  loved  much  Mary  and  Martha  her  sister,  8fc.  Of  chastity  :  /  write 
this  treatise  in  jive  short  chapters,  8fc.  The  substance  of  this  work  has  been 
printed  in  the  British  Reformers,  from  the  copy  in  the  British  Museum.  See 
pp.  382—385  of  this  volume. 

XLI.  EXPOSITIO  ORATIONIS  DOMINICiE.  This  is  a  diflTerent  com- 
ment on  the  Lord's  Prayer  from  that  which  forms  part  of  the  '  Poor  Caitiff.' 
It  enters  more  into  the  subject  of  ecclesiastical  abuses.  *  In  Lambeth 
Library,  Cott.  MSS.  594,  is  a  transcript  of  the  Prologus  in  Expositionem 
Orationes  Dominicse.'  Herein  are  condemned  the  lucrative  catholic  tenets 
of  works  of  supererogation,  indulgences,  and  auricular  confession,  and  the 
Romish  hierarchy  are  reproved  for  withholding  from  the  people  the  Scrip- 
tures in  the  vernacular  tongue.    Baber  48,  Lewis,  No.  89. 


534  Appendix. 

XLII.  IN  APOCALYPSIN.  This  is  an  exposition  of  parts  of  the  Apoca- 
lypse. It  begins  thus — St.  Paul  the  Apostle  saith,  tkat  all  those  who  would  live 
meekly  in  Christ  Jesus,  8fc.     It  is  in  the  British  Museum,  Bib.  Reg.  E.  67. 

XLIII.  SERMO  IN  FESTO  ANIMARUM  ;  DE  SERMONE  DOMINI  IN 
MONTE;  and  OCTO  BEATITUDINES,  appear  to  be  different  titles  of  the 
same  work.  It  is  in  English  in  the  British  Museum,  Cott.  MSS.  Titus  D. 
xix.  It  is  in  Latin  in  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  MS.  362,  S.  C.  5,  8,  No. 
13.  The  English  discourse  begins — Friends,  St.  John  Chrysostom  on  the  homily 
upon  this  Gospel,  saith,  Sfc.  Wycliffe  was  charged  with  having  published 
seventy-four  erroneous  opinions  in  this  discourse. 

XLIV.  IN  XVII  CAPUT  JOANNIS.  Puhlevatis  oculis  in  calum  Jesus. 
This  is  a  homily  in  English,  beginning — This  Gospel  of  John  telleth  what  loves, 
8fc.     It  is  among  the  Wycliff  MSS.  in  C.  C.  College,  Cambridge. 

XLV.  DE  SURDO  ET  MUTO  APUD  MARCUM.  Iterum  exiens  definihus 
Tyri.  This  is  another  homily  in  English.  It  begins — This  Gospel  telleth  a 
miracle,  S^c.     It  is  in  Trinity  College,  Cambridge.     MS.  349,  Class  4. 

XLVI.  DE  PHARISiEO  ET  PUBLICANO.  This  is  a  detached  homily ; 
also  attributed  to  Wycliffe.  Lewis,  No.  97.  It  begins — This  Gospel  telleth  ina 
parable,  8fc. 

XLVII.  SPECULUM  PECCATORIS.  Quoniam  in  via  sumus  vit(B  labentis. 
This  tract  has  the  English  title — "  Visitation  of  Sick  men,"  and  begins  thus 
— My  dear  son  or  daughter,  it  seemeth  that  thou  ligheth  fast,  8fc.  It  is  attributed 
to  Wycliffe,  and  is  in  the  British  Museum,  Bib.  Reg.  E.  1732. 

XLVIII.  AUGUSTINUS  ARGUAM  TE  QUANDO  NESCIS.  It  begins— 
The  Holy  doctor  St.  Justin,  speaking  in  the  person  of  Christ.  It  is  in  the  collec- 
tion. Corpus  Christi  College,  Cambridge. 

XLIX.  SPECULUM  SECULARIM  DOMINORUM.  Cum  Veritas  Jide,  eo  plus 
rutilet.  '  Archbishop  Ussher  tells  us  that  a  copy  of  this  tract  is  in  manuscript 
in  the  King's  Library,  in  Latin.  By  what  his  Grace  has  transcribed  from  it, 
it  appears  that  Dr.  Wicklif  had  written  before,  "  Prospeculum  Secularum 
Dominorum,"  in  English.'     Lewis,  No.  137. 

L.  DE  BLASPHEMIA.  *  Archbishop  Ussher  quotes  this  tract  in  his  book 
"  De  Christianorum  Ecclesiarum  Successione,"  and  tells  us  that  in  it  Wicklif 
observes,  that  the  true  doctrine  of  the  sacrament  of  the  Eucharist  was  retained 
in  the  church  a  thousand  years,  "  even  till  the  loosing  of  Satan."  '  Lewis, 
No.  199. 

LI.  FIVE  BODILY  WITTS.  There  is  a  tract  under  this  title  in  Trinity 
College,  Cambridge,  B.  viii.  37.  It  begins — Thus  should  a  man  rule  his  five 
bodily  Witts. 

LII.  SEVEN  WORKS  OF  BODILY  MERCY,  AND  SEVEN  DEEDS  OF 
GHOSTLY  MERCY.  Works  with  these  titles  are  in  the  public  library  of 
Cambridge,  120,  No.  467. 

LIII.  OF  PRIDE.  It  begins — Pride  is  too  much  love  that  a  man  hath  to  him' 
self,  8fc.    Bib.  Reg.  Titus  D.  xix. 

'^1 


Writings  of  John  de  Wy cliff e.  535 

LIV.  DE  ACTIONIBUS  ANIM^.  There  is  a  Latin  Treatise  under  this 
title  in  Corpus  Christi  College,  Cambridge,  attributed  to  WyclifFe.  It  begins 
— Gi-atia  dicendariim  restat  tractatus  de  actubus. 

LV.  HERE  BEGINNETH  THE  NINE  VIRTUES,  &c.  There  is  a  tract  in 
the  British  Museum  under  this  title,  attributed  to  WyclifFe.  Bib.  Reg.  E.  1732. 
It  begins — All  manner  of  men  should  hold  God's  biddings,  8fc. 

LVI.  A  DISCOURSE  IN  OLD  ENGLISH  AGAINST  THE  VICES  OF 
THE  CLERGY,  AND  THE  USURPATIONS  OF  THE  BISHOP  OF  ROME  IN 
THE  AFFAIRS  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND,  HELD  UP  IN  THIRTY- 
SEVEN  ARTICLES.  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  Class  C.  Tab.  1.  No.  14.  This 
work  is  also  in  the  British  Museum,  Bib.  Reg.  Titus  D.,  and  is  attributed  to 
WyclifFe  by  Wanley.  It  is  throughout  expressive  of  WyclifFe's  opinions,  and 
many  passages  are  transcripts  from  his  difFerent  works.  The  editors  of  the 
WyclifFe  Bible  attribute  it  to  John  Purvey,  and  suppose  it  to  have  been 
written  some  ten  years  after  the  decease  of  the  Reformer.  It  is  the  work 
better  known  under  the  title  Ecclesi-*  Regimen,  and  which  has  been  recently 
printed.     See  p.  478  of  this  volume. 

LVTI.  OF  TEMPTATION  OF  THE  FIEND.  There  is  an  imperfect  work 
under  this  title  in  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  Class  C.  Tab.  3.  No.  12. 

LVIII.  HOW  MEN  OF  PRIVATE  RELIGION  SHOULD  LOVE  MORE 
THE  GOSPEL  OF  GOD'S  HESTS,  AND  HIS  ORDINANCE,  THAN  ANY 
NEW  LAWS,  NEW  RULES,  AND  CUSTOMS  OF  SINFUL  MEN.  This  is  a 
piece  which  immediately  follows  the  preceding  in  the  same  collection,  pp. 
152—156. 

LIX.  TRACTATUS  EVANGELII  DE  SERMONE  DOMINI  IN  MONTE, 
CUM  EXPOSITORIO  ORATIONIS  DOMINICiE.  This  is  the  title  given  to 
the  first  section  of  a  manuscript  volume  in  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  Class  C. 
Tab.  1,  No.  23.  These  expositions,  with  a  further  exposition  of  the  sixth  and 
seventh  chapter  of  Matthew,  extend,  if  my  notes  may  be  trusted  on  this 
point,  to  page  195  of  the  volume. 

TRACTATUS  DE  ANTICHRISTO,  CUM  EXPOSITORIO  IN  XXIII,  XXIV, 
XXV.  CAP.  ST.  MATTHEW.  This  work  closes  with  page  313.  TRAC- 
TATUS IN  SERMONEM  DOMINI,  QUEM  FECERAT  VALEDICENDO  DISCI- 
PULIS  SUIS,'  to  page  333.  These  three  pieces,  as  bearing  three  distinct 
titles,  have  been  not  unnaturally  described  separately,  in  the  catalogue  of 
the  Trinity  College  MSS.,  and  by  Bale,  Lewis,  and  other  writers.  It  is 
plain,  however,  from  certain  passages,  that  they  have  a  connection  with 
each  other,  though  they  appear  to  have  been  written  as  separate  treatises, 
and  to  have  been  first  known  as  such  to  the  Reformer's  disciples. 

LX.  TRACTATUS  DE  STATUS  INNOCENTl^.  This  work  is  in  the 
same  volume.  It  extends  to  about  seventeen  pages,  and  begins — *  Ut  supra- 
dicta  magis  appereant  oportet  parumper  disgredi.'  To  what  this  "  supra- 
dicta  "  refers,  does  not  appear ;  and  it  is  not  uncommon  in  the  writings  of 
WyclifFe  to  find  parts  of  treatises  thus  detached,  and  known  by  separate 


536  Appendix. 

titles — a  circumstance  which  has  added  much  to  the  difficulty  of  presenting 
a  complete  and  accurate  account  of  his  productions. 

LXI.  TRACTATUS  DE  TEMPORE.  This  work  is  detached  from  its  original 
connexion.  It  is  the  treatise  described  by  the  same  title  in  Trinity  College 
Library,  Cambridge,  and  numbers  thirty-seven  pages  in  the  Dublin  volume, 
but  not  more  than  ten  of  the  large  folio  volume  in  Cambridge. 

The  remaining  part  of  this  volume  is  occupied  with  pieces  expository  of 
different  passages  of  Scripture,  and  with  one  document  under  the  following 
title  :— 

LXII.  DE  CAPTIVO  HISPANENSI— FILIA  COMITIS  DE  DENE  INCAR- 
CERATO  INFRA  SEPTA  WESTMONAST.  It  relates  to  a  question  concern- 
ing the  rights  of  sanctuary.  I  am  not  aware  of  the  ground  on  which  it  has 
been  attributed  to  Wycliffe.  WyclifFe's  connexion  with  John  of  Gaunt  may 
have  led  to  his  giving  publicity  to  such  a  paper.  Mention  is  made  of  the 
case  to  which  it  refers  by  several  historians,  and  a  number  of  papers  relat- 
ing to  it  may  be  seen  in  Rymer's  Fsedera- 

LXIII.  DE  VERITATE  SCRIPTUR^E.  A  large  work  under  this  title  is 
preserved  in  the  Bodleian  Library,  and  in  the  Library  of  Trinity  College, 
Dublin.  I'jie  copy  in  the  Bodleian  is  imperfect  at  the  beginning,  the  first 
page  commencing  in  a  part  of  the  first  chapter-  The  copy  in  Dublin,  which 
is  perfect,  commences  with  these  words, — '  Restat  parumper  discutere  errores 
et  concordias  circa  sensus  Scripturse  hodie  plus  solito  seminatos,  tum  quia  in 
eaconsistit  salusfidelium.'  The  treatise  ends  thus, — 'Istud  itaque  dixerim 
pro  nunc  in  communi  de  heresi,  ut  sciatur  exfructu  veritatis  Scripturae  notare 
et  cavare  hereticos,  et  ut  plenius  intelligatur  tractatus  de  simonia,  quem  si 
Deus  voluerit  difFusius  pertractare.'  The  close  of  the  Bodleian  MS.  agrees 
with  that  of  the  MS.  in  Dublin,  but  the  first  page  is  without  any  initial  letter 
or  heading,  and  begins  in  the  middle  of  a  sentence. 

In  both  manuscripts,  the  chapters  are  thirty-one  in  number,  but  the  chapters 
six  and  seven  are  not  duly  marked  in  the  Bodleian  copy.  This  copy  closes  at 
the  middle  of  the  last  page,  and  the  scribe  has  indicated  the  completeness  of 
the  work  by  placing  its  title  in  the  space  below. 

The  volume  in  the  Bodleian  is  a  small  folio;  it  numbers  621  pages,  and 
each  page  consists  of  about  twenty-six  lines.  The  Dublin  copy  does  not  ex- 
ceed 244  pages,  but  the  pages  are  larger,  and  double-columned,  with  nearly 
a  thousand  words  in  each.  The  volume  in  the  Bodleian  includes  no  other 
treatise ;  in  the  Dublin  volume  the  De  Veritate  Scripturce  is  followed  by  three 
other  treatises,  bearing  the  following  titles  : —De  Simonia.  De  Apostasia. 
De  Blasphemia.  The  treatise  De  Simonia  begins  thus, — '  Post  generalem 
sermonem  de  heresi,  restat  de  ejus  partibuspertractandum.'  It  consists  of 
eight  chapters,  and  extends  to  about  forty  pages.  The  treatise  De  Apostasia 
commences, — '  Restat  ulterius  ponere  aliud  principium  pro  ambitu  heresis 
simoniacae  perscrutando,  quamvis  enim  simonia,  blasfemia,  et  apostasia  com- 
mittuntur  ad  subsistendi,  &c.     It  extends  to  nearly  twenty  pages,  and  is  di- 


Writings  of  John  de  Wycliffe.  537 

vided  into  two  chapters.  The  remaining  part  of  the  volume  is  occupied  with 
the  treatise  De  Blasphemia,  which  begins — *  Restat  succinte  de  blasfemia 
pertractandum.     Est  autem  blasfemia  insipiens  detractio  honoris  domini.' 

It  has  been  supposed,  partly  from  the  order  in  which  these  pieces  succeed 
each  other,  and  partly  from  the  references  made  in  them  from  one  to  the 
other,  that  they  were  all  portions  of  a  large  theological  work.  This  notion 
derives  some  support  also  from  the  manner  in  which  the  names  of  these 
pieces  occur  in  a  work  bearing  the  title  Summa  Theologica.  "This  title 
appears  in  a  very  ancient  manuscript  catalogue  of  WyclifFe's  writings,  which 
is  in  the  imperial  library  at  Vienna.  The  work  is  described  as  consisting  of 
twelve  chapters,  the  titles  of  which  are  as  follows  : — 1 .  De  Mandatis.  2.  De 
Statu  iNNocENTiiE.  3 — 5.  De  Domino.  6.  De  Veritate  Scripture.  7.  De 
Ecclesia.  8.  Officio  Regis.  9.  De  Postate  Pap^.  10.  De  Simonia.  11.  De 
Apostasia.  12.  De  Blasphemia." — Baber  xlvi.  Here  it  will  be  seen  that 
these  pieces  intervene  between  the  De  Veritate  Scripture,  and  the  three 
treatises  which  immediately  succeed  it  in  the  Dublin  MS.  On  what  autho- 
rity the  title  Summa  Theologica  is  given  to  the  whole  collection  we  do  not 
know.  That  title  is  possibly  of  a  later  date  than  the  works  themselves. 
Indeed  few  things  were  more  common  among  the  transcribers  of  the  four- 
teenth century,  than  to  place  a  number  of  treatises  together,  all  having  com- 
pleteness in  themselves,  and  all,  it  may  be,  published  separately,  while  cer- 
tain of  them  contain  allusions,  and  have  probably  some  relation  to  each 
other.  In  the  writings  of  WyclifFe,  references  in  one  treatise  to  the  contents 
of  another,  are  very  common,  without  being  meant  to  indicate  more  than 
that  it  was  not  necessary  to  discuss  a  topic  again  which  had  been  discussed 
elsewhere. 

It  is  important  to  remark,  that  in  the  tenth  chapter  of  the  Bodleian  copy 
of  the  De  Veritate  Scripturae,  there  is  a  reference  to  the  Vigil  of  the  Annun- 
ciation in  1378,  which  determines  the  date  of  this  production.  This  work, 
in  both  the  existing  copies,  is  exceedingly  difficult  to  read,  consisting,  as  it 
does,  in  great  part,  of  obscure  discussions,  which  have  been  rendered  still 
more  unintelligible  by  the  barbarous  and  technical  Latin  in  which  they  are 
clothed,  and  by  the  abbreviated,  and  almost  illegible  character  of  the  writ- 
ing. Dr.  James,  the  author  of  the  work  intitled — "An  Apology  for  John 
Wycliffe,"  was  the  Librarian  of  the  Bodleian,  in  the  time  of  James  I.  In 
that  work  he  has  given  passages  from  the  Veritate  Scripturae,  but  in  the 
manuscript  volume  of  extracts  from  the  writings  of  WyclifFe,  preserved  in  the 
Bodleian,  in  the  hand-writing  of  Dr.  James,  there  are  characteristic  pas- 
sages transcribed  from  the  De  Veritate  Scripturae,  extending  to  nearly  a  hun- 
dred pages.  These  passages,  and  such  parts  of  the  work  itself  as  may  be  de- 
ciphered with  an  approach  to  certainty,  warrant  the  description  which  I  have 
given  of  this  treatise  in  the  "Life  and  Opinions  of  WyclifFe." 

LXIV.  In  a  volume  in  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  are  the  following  works 
attributed  to  WyclifFe.     Class  C.    Tab.  5.    No.  8. 


538  Appendix. 

1.  Three  pieces  on  the  Creed,  the  Paternoster,  and  the  Ave  Maria, 
two  pages  each.  The  first  begins  with — It  is  sooth  that  belief  is  grounded, 
&c.  The  second — fVe  shall  believe  that  this  Paternoster,  Sfc.  The  third — Men 
greet  commonly  our  Lady,  Chd's  Mother,  8fc. 

2.  Of  the  Seven  Heresies.  It  begins — For  false  men  multiply  books  of 
the  Church,  &c.  The  seven  heresies  are  divided  into  seven  chapters.  The 
contents  of  this  piece  show  it  to  be  from  the  pen  of  Wycliffe,  the  whole  being 
directed,  after  his  manner,  against  the  friars ;  and  the  fourth  heresy,  which  is 
said  to  consist  in  saying,  '  that  the  sacred  host  is  in  no  manner  bread,  but 
either  naught,  or  an  accident  without  a  subject,*  shows  that  this  is  one  of  the 
Reformer's  later  productions.    Fol.  4 — 9. 

3.  Of  the  Decalogue.  This  begins — ^11  manner  of  men  should  hold 
God's  biddings.  The  part  of  the  Decalogue  relating  to  God  is  treated  in 
twelve  chapters  ;  that  relating  to  man  in  twenty-eight.  Fol.  9 — 27-  See  No. 
1  in  this  Series. 

4.  On  Faith,  Hope,  and  Charity.  It  begins — For  it  is  said  in  holding 
of  our  holiday.  This  is  a  work  in  six  chapters,  but  does  not  exceed  six 
pages.    Fol.  27—30. 

5.  Of  the  seven  works  of  bodily  mercy.  It  begins — If  a  man  were 
sure  that  to-morrow  he  should  come  before  a  judge.     Fol.  30 — 35. 

6.  Opera  Charitatis.  Beginning — Sith  we  should  serve  our  parishioners 
in  spiritual  alms.  Fol.  35 — 38.  This  piece,  and  the  two  preceding,  are  in 
the  Library  of  New  College,  Oxford. 

7  Septem  Peccata  Capitalia.  Beginning — Since  belief  teacheth  us  that 
every  evil  is  either  sin  or  cometh  of  sin.  This  is  the  work  of  which  an  ac- 
count is  given  from  the  copy  in  the  Bodleian  in  the  preceding  pages.  See 
pp.  66 — 71.  It  extends,  in  the  MS.  from  p.  38  to  60.  See  No.  xxvii.  in  this 
series. 

8.  De  Ecclesia  et  membris  ejus.  This  work  is  also  in  the  British  Mu- 
seum.    Fol.  63 — 75.    See  No.  xxx.  in  this  Catalogue. 

9.  De  Apqstasia  et  Dotatione  Ecclesia.  It  begins — Since  each  Christian 
man  is  holden.  It  exhibits,  as  the  title  suggests,  the  doctrine  of  Wyc- 
liffe concerning  the  evils  of  ecclesiastical  endowments.  Fol.  76 — 80.  There 
is  nothing  specific  in  this  treatise  to  determine  its  date,  but  its  tone  and  sub- 
stance show  it  to  have  been  one  of  WyclifFe's  later  performances.  Its  pur- 
pose is  to  prove  that  the  friars  are  chargeable  with  apostacy  in  forsaking  the 
order  of  Christ  for  another;  and  that  the  clergy  have  become  guilty  of  the 
same  sin  in  preferring  an  endowed  church,  to  a  church  sustained  by  the 
willing  offerings  of  the  faithful,  as  instituted  by  Christ  and  his  Apostles. 
This  is  the  second  of  the  three  treatises  printed  by  Dr.  Todd. 

10.  Tractatus  de  Pseudo  Freris.  It  begins — For  many  persons  hearing 
that  friars  be  called  Pseudo,  or  Hypocrites.  It  consists  of  arguments  against 
the  peculiarities  of  the  religious  orders.     Fol.  81 — 95. 

11.  Of   the    eight   Woes   that    God   wished  to   Friars.     Beginning — 


Writings  of  John  de  WycUfie.  539 

"  Christ  hiddeth  us  beware  with  these  false  prophets."  Thia  piece  relates  to 
the  same  subject  with  the  preceding,  but  consists  of  a  parallel  between  the 
Pharisees  and  the  mendicants.    Fol.  95 — 101. 

12.  Egressus  Jesus  de  Templo.  It  begins — This  Gospel  tellelh  much 
vnsdom  that  is  hid  to  many  men.  Homily  on  Matt.  xxiv.  Also,  in  Trinity 
College,  and  Corpus  Christi  College,  Cambridge.  This  is  a  detached  homily. 
In  the  volume  of  Homilies  in  the  British  Museum,  Bib.  Reg.  18,  B.  ix.  p.  175. 
is  the  following  passage — "All  our  west  land  is  with  one  pope  or  the  other, 
and  he  that  is  with  the  one  hateth  the  other  and  all  his.  And  yet  hypocrites 
feign  that  this  is  all  for  charity,  but  this  hypocrisy  is  worse  than  the  sin  be- 
fore." The  first  part  of  this  sentence,  it  seems,  is  in  the  Dublin  MS.,  and 
comparison  would  probably  show  that  it  is  merely  a  strayed  postil.  Fol. 
101—116. 

13.  Of  Antichrist  and  his  Meynee  (or  train,  followers).  This  begins — 
David  saith,  Lord,  set  thou  a  law-maker  upon  me.  There  is  a  tract  attributed  to 
Wycliffe  under  the  title — De  Antichrist©  et  Membris.  But  the  later  piece, 
according  to  Bale,  begins — '  Quem  admodum  Dominus  Jesus  ordinavit.'  Fol. 
116 — 124.  This  is  the  last  of  the  three  treatises  lately  printed  and  edited  by 
Dr.  Todd,  of  Dublin.  It  has  its  place  in  a  volume,  the  pieces  in  which  are 
undoubtedly  for  the  most  part,  from  the  pen  of  WycliiFe.  But  I  find  myself 
obliged  to  regard  this  piece  as  not  from  the  pen  of  the  Reformer. 

It  expresses  opinions  as  to  the  errors  and  vices  of  the  entire  heirarchy, 
with  the  pontiff  at  its  head,  which  Wycliffe  certainly  did  not  publish  until 
within  a  few  years  of  his  decease,  and  the  feeble  judgment,  and  the  puerile 
taste,  which  characterize  the  whole  manner  of  the  performance,  forbid  my 
thinking  that  Wycliffe  could  so  have  written  at  that  time.  By  the  *  meynee  * 
of  Antichrist  is  meant,  the  whole  gradation  of  churchmen,  and  the  religious, 
of  all  orders  and  of  both  sexes  ;  and  a  rhetorical  contrast  is  instituted,  in  the 
form  of  an  antithesis,  between  the  course  pursued  by  these  alleged  followers 
of  Antichrist,  and  that  pursued  by  the  true  disciples  of  Christ ;  and  this 
antithesis  is  extended,  without  interruption,  through  more  than  five  and 
twenty  pages,  until  elaboration  and  ingenuity,  such  as  they  are,  can  be 
stretched  no  farther,  and  the  straining  and  the  repetitions  become  utterly 
wearisome.  If  written  by  Wycliffe  at  all,  it  must  have  been  written  by  him 
when  nearly  fifty  years  of  age,  and  we  feel  assured  that  the  Reformer  was 
incapable,  either  then  or  at  any  time,  of  perpetrating  such  a  piece  of  literary 
folly. 

The  piece  abounds,  moreover,  in  words  that  do  not  occur  in  the  known 
writings  of  Wycliffe — as  any  one  may  ascertain  by  comparing  it  with  the 
works  of  the  Reformer  which  have  been  printed,  or  with  the  glossary  ap- 
pended to  the  Oxford  Edition  of  his  Bible. 

The  omissions  too,  in  this  treatise,  are  significant.  In  Wycliffe's  pieces 
written  after  1381,  whatever  may  be  the  main  topic  of  them,  there  are  gene- 
rally such  references  to  the  disputes  about  the  Eucharist,  or  about  enabling 


540  Appendix. 

the  people  to  read  the  Scriptures  in  English,  as  to  render  it  all  but  certain 
that  in  such  a  striving  after  the  multiplication  of  points  of  difference  between 
the  orthodox  and  their  opponents,  there  would  have  been  large  reference  to 
these  particulars,  if  Wycliffe  had  been  the  author.  But  there  is  no  reference 
of  this  kind.  In  fact,  we  feel  no  hesitation  in  saying,  that  the  work  is  evi- 
dently, like  the  *  Wycliffe's  Apology*  which  Dr.  Todd  has  before  published — 
not  a  production  by  Wycliffe,  but  a  composition  by  one  of  his  Lollard  disciples. 
Its  measure  of  agreement  with  the  opinions  of  Wycliffe,  is  sufficient  to  account 
for  the  accident  of  its  being  found  where  it  is.  It  is  strange,  that  of  five 
pieces  printed  by  Dr.  Todd,  as  from  the  pen  of  Wycliffe,  three  should  not  be 
his. 

14.  Of  Antichrist's  song  in  the  Church.  It  begins — j^Iso  prelates,  priests, 
and  friars,  put  on  simple  men,  that  they  say  that  God's  office  or  service  be  not  to  be 
sung  with  note.    Fol.  124 — 126. 

15.  Of  Prayer,  a  Treatise.  Beginning — ^Iso  Bishops  and  Friars  putten  to 
poor  men  what  they  say,  8fc.    This  piece  ends  on  the  Fol.  127. 

16.  NoTA  DE  CoNFEssioNE.  This  woi'k  extends  to  eleven  pages,  and 
begins — Two  virtues  be  in  man's  soul,  by  which  a  man  should  be  ruled.  Fol.  127 — 
138. 

17.  Christ,  forsooth,  did  all  that  he  could  to  obey  Lords.  This 
is  the  beginning  of  a  tract  without  title,  ending  on  the  same  page. 

18.  Nota  de  Sacramento  Altaris.  It  begins — Christian  men's  belief, 
taught  of  Jesus  Christ,  God  and  Man.    Fol.  138 — 145. 

19.  Chrysostom  saith,  that  Fishers  and  buystouse  men,  making  each 
DAY  NETS.  This  is  the  beginning  of  a  piece  without  title — It  consists  of  a 
dialogue  between  Christ  and  Satan.     Fol.  152 — 154. 

22.  Neither  Man  nor  Woman  may  perfectly  do  the  Seven  Works 
OF  Mercy.  Clerks  know  that  a  Man  hath  five  wits  outward.  These 
are  the  beginnings  of  pieces  without  title.  They  extend  to  little  more  than 
a  page  each.  They  appear  to  be  short  extracts  on  subjects  which  the  Re- 
former had  discussed  more  largely  in  other  works — if,  indeed,  they  are  to  be 
regarded  as  from  his  pen. 

23.  How  are  questions  and  answers  put  that  are  written  hereafter. 
The  work  which  thus  begins  is  without  title.  It  extends  over  more  than 
forty  leaves — from  page  164 — 218  of  the  volume  :  and  I  had  taken  this  note 
of  its  extent  at  the  time  of  examining  it,  but  from  some  subsequent  oversight 
I  failed  to  describe  it  correctly  in  my  former  catalogue  of  the  Wycliffe  M,S,S. 
This  is  the  piece  which  has  been  recently  published  by  the  Camden  Society, 
under  the  editorship  of  Dr.  Todd,  Librarian  of  Trinity  College,  Dublin.  It 
is  published  under  the  title  of  *  Wycliffe's  Apology.'  But  it  was  not  written 
by  Wycliffe.    See  Note  B,  of  Appendix. 

24.  The  following  are  the  beginnings  of  three  other  short  pieces,  forming 
the  conclusion  of  this  volume. — It  is  written  in  Holy  Writ,  that  there  were 
three  Patriarchs.  These  be  the  nine  points  that  the  Lord  Jesus  answered  a  holy  man. 
Of  the  deeds  of  mercy  God  will  speak  at  the  dreadful  day.     Fol.  218,  219. 


Writings  of  John  de   Wy cliff e. 


541 


LXV.  In  the  Library  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  is  a  folio  volume 
with  the  following  works  attributed  to  WycliiFe.  MS.  326.  c.  5,  8.  They 
consist  of  scholastic  treatises  on  philosophical  and  theological  topics,  and 
the  uninitiated  reader  will  be  able  to  form  a  sufficient  notion  of  their  cha- 
racter from  the  account  of  the  first  three  books  of  the  Trialogus  in  the 
present  volume. 

1.  De  ente  CoMMUNi.  In  primis  supponitur  ens  esse,  hoc  enim  non  pro- 
bari  potest  nee  ignorari  ab  aliquo.  Fol.  1 — 5.  2.  De  entePrimo.  Extenso  ente 
secundum  ejus  maximam  ampliationem,  possibile  est  venari  in  tanto  ambitu 
ens  primum.  Fol.  5 — 9.  3.  De  Purgando  Errores,  et  Veritate  in  Com- 
MUNi.  Consequens  est  purgare  errores.  Fol.  15 — 23.  4.  De  Purgando 
Errores  et  Universalibus  in  Communi.  Tractatu  continentur  dicta  de 
universalibus.  5.  De  Universalibus.  Tractatus  de  universalibus  continet 
xvi.  capitula  cujus  primum.  Fol.  23 — 27.  6.  De  tempore.  In  tractando  de 
tempore  sunt  aliqua  ex  dictis  superius  capienda.  Fol.  37— 47.  7.  De  in- 
TELLECTioNE  Dei.  Illorum  qusB  insunt  Deo  communiter  quaedam  insunt 
sibi  sol.  Fol.  47 — 53.  8.  de  scientia  Dei.  Ex  dictis  superius  satis  liquet 
quod  scientiam  quam  Deus.  Fol.  53 — 70.  9.  De  volitione  Dei.  Trac- 
tando de  volitione  Dei  quam  oportet  ex  dictis  supponere.  Foi.  70 — 91.  10. 
De  Personarum  Distinctione.  Superest  investigare  de  distinctione  et  con- 
venientia  personarum  quas  credimus  plena  fide.  Fol.  91 — 115.  11.  De 
Ydeis.  Tractando  de  Ydeis  primo  oportet  quaerere  si  sunt.  Fol.  115 — 122. 
12.  De  potentia  productiva  Dei.  Veritatum  quas  deus  non  potest  renovare. 
Fol.  122—134.  13.  De  Sermone  Domini,  in  hi.  part.  Licet  totum  Evan- 
gelium.     Fol.  134—141. 

LXVI.    DE  UNIVERSALIBUS.     Eccl.  Cathed.  Lincoln.  A.  9. 
LXVII.     DE   ENTE  UNIVERSAL!  et  ATTRIBUTIS  DIVINIS.     Trin.  Coll. 
Dub. 

LXVIII.  DE  TEMPORIS  QUIDDITATE.  In  the  library  of  the  cathedral 
church  at  Lincoln  (A.  9.)  is  a  part  of  this  treatise  under  the  title  De  Tempore. 
The  manuscripts  which  follow  are  in  the  Imperial  Library  of  Vienna :  they 
are  mentioned  in  Mr.  Baber's  Catalogue  of  the  writings  of  WycliiFe  prefixed 
to  his  edition  of  the  Reformer's  New  Testament,  and  are  copied  from 
Denis's  Catalogue  of  the  Latin  Theol.  MSS  in  the  Imperial  Library. 

LXIX.  1.  De  Minoribus  Fratribus  se  Extollentibus.  This  and  the 
piece  intitled  De  perfectione  Statuum,  are  the  same  tract.  2.  De  Sectis 
Monachorum.  It  exists  in  the  same  collection  intitled,  '  De  concordatione 
Fratrum  cum  sect&  simplici  Christi.  3.  De  quatuor  Sectis  Novellis.  This 
tract  is  also  intitled,  De  prjEvaricatione  prjEceptorum.  4.  De  fundatione 
SECTARUM.  5.  De  Solutione  Sathan^,.  6.  Responsiones  ad  xiv.  Argumenta 
Radulphi  Strodi.     7.  Litera  Parva    ad    quendam    Socium.      8.  Speculum 

MiLITANTIS   ECCLESIiE.      9.    De     OrATIONE    ET   EcCLESIiE    PuRGATIONE.        10.    De 
GRADIBUS  CLERI.       1 1 .    De  GrADUATIONIBUS.       12.      De  DUOBUS  GENERIBUS  HeRE- 

TicoRUM.    The  persons  here  denominated  heretics,  are  those  who  have  con- 


542  Appendix. 

tracted  the  guilt  of  either  simony  or  apostasy.  13.  De  quatuor  Interpreta- 
TiONiBUs.  14.  Super  Impositis  Articulis,  and  Socii  Argumentum  contra 
VERiTATEM,  are  different  titles  given  to  the  same  tract.  15.  De  Citationibus 
Frivolis  et  ALUS  Versutiis  Antichristi.  16.  De  Juramento  Arnoldi  (de 
grannario)  collectoris  Pap^e.  17.  De  sex  jugis.  A  treatise  upon  the  rela- 
tive duties.  18.  De  Exhortatione  novi  Doctoris.  This  is  conjectured  to 
be  an  exercise  performed  for  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity.  19.  De 
Ordine  Christiano.  Twelve  opinions  subversive  of  the  power  of  the  Pope 
were  extracted  from  this  book.      MSS.  Twini,   A.  218.     20.    De  Vaticina- 

TIONE.      21    DiALOGUS     INTER     VeRITATEM     ET     MeNDACIUM.      22.   EPISTOLA,     DE 

PECCATO  IN  Spiritum  Sanctum.  23.  Litera  Parva  ad  Quendam  Socium.  24. 
Epistola  ad  Archiepiscopum  Cantuar.     25.  Litera  ad  Episcopum  Lincoln. 

De    AMORE,    SIVE    de    QuINTUPLICI    QUiESTIONE.        26.    DE    EUCHARISTIA  ET  PCENI- 

tentia.  In  this  treatise  Wycliffe  opposes  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation, 
and  questions  the  use  of  auricular  confession.  27.  De  octo  qu^stionibus 
Propositis  Discipulo.  It  is  a  letter  upon  the  subject  of  tithes.  28.  De 
Triplici  Vinculo  amoris,  29.  De  origine  sectarum,  and  De  Novis  Ordinibus, 
are  the  same  tract  under  different  titles.  A  part  of  this  tract  is  in  the  Imperial 
Library  at  Vienna,  intitled,  De  Sectarum  Perfidia.  30.  SummaTheologica. 
This  title  appears  in  a  very  ancient  manuscript  catalogue  of  Wycliffe's 
writings,  which  is  in  the  Imperial  Library  at  Vienna.  The  work  here  called 
Summa  Theologica,  is  described  as  consisting  of  twelve  chapters,  the  titles 
of  which  are  as  follows  : — 1.  De  Mandatis.  2.  De  Statu  Innocenti^.  3,  4,  5. 
De  Domino.  6.  De  Veritate  Scripture.  7.  De  ecclesia.  8.  De  officio 
Regis.  9.  De  postate  Pap^e.  10.  De  Simonia.  11.  De  Apostasia.  12. 
De  Blasphemia. 

The  following  are  titles  of  extinct  works,  or  different  names  given  to 
some  of  the  preceding  treatises.  They  are  found  in  the  lists  published  by 
Bale,  Tanner  and  subsequent  writers,  with  no  other  description  than  is  here 
given  :  and  they  appear  to  have  been,  for  the  most  part,  treatises  or  tracts 
on  grammar,  philosophy,  and  a  variety  of  scholastic  questions. 

LXX.  1.  Qu^stiones  Logicales.  2.  Logica  de  Singulis.  3,  Logica  de 
aggregatis.  4.  DePropositionibus  Temporalibus.  Sequitur  jam  ultimo  de 
proposit.  5.  De  Insolubilibus.  6.  De  Exclusivis  et  Exceptivis.  Secundarie 
superius  est  promissum,  7.  De  Causalibus.  Pertractandum  venit  de  causa- 
libus.  8.  De  Comparativis.  Consequens  est  ad  dicta  superad.  9.  De  Condi- 
tionalibus.  Primo  supponitur  omnem  hypotheti.  10.  De  Disjunctivis. 
Tertio  sequitur  de  disjunctivis.  11.  De  Copulativis  et  Relativis.  Sequitur 
de  copulativis  pertract.  12.  Grammatics  Tropi.  13.  Metaphysica  Vul- 
garis. 14.  De  Universo  Reali.  15.  Metaphysica  Novella.  16.  De  Summa 
Intellectualium.  17.  De  formis  idealibus.  J 8.  De  Spiritu  Quolibet. 
19.  De  Speciebus  Hypotheticis.  20.  De  esse  intelligibili  creature.  21. 
De  Esse  suo  prolixo.  22.  De  Arte  Sophistica.  23.  De  una  Communis 
generis   Essentia.     De   Essentia   Accidentium.     25.   De   Temporis  Ampli- 


Writings  of  John  de  Wycliffe.  543 

ATiONE.  26.  De  Physica  Naturali.  27.  De  Intentione  Physica.  28.  Db 
Materiate  FORMA,  cum  materia  et  forma  sint  uni.  29.  De  Materia  Celestium. 
30.  De  Raritate  et  densitate.  Videtur  ex  tertio  sequi  quod  nihil.  31. 
De  Motu  Locali.  Sequitur  de  localibus  pertract.  32.  De  velocitate  motus 
LOCALis.    Tarn  ultimo  restat  videre  quid.    33.  De  Centro  infiniti. 

The  pieces  thus  described,  appear  to  have  been  treatises,  or,  more  proba- 
bly, short  tracts,  or  detailed  parts  of  treatises,  on  grammar,  logic,  and  philo- 
sophy, .embracing,  as  before  intimated,  such  topics  as  are  found  in  the  first 
and  second  books  of  the  Trialogus.  The  titles  which  follow  denote  works 
more  strictly  theological,  and  some  of  them,  no  doubt,  exhibited  many  of  the 
distinctive  opinions  of  the  Reformer. 

34.  DiALOGus  DE  fratribus.  35.  Johannes  a  rure  contra  fratres. 
Ego  Johannes  a  rure  Deum  verum  precor.  36.  De  charitate  fraterna. 
Primum  cum  quolibet  homine  qui.  37.  D^monum  ^stus  in  Subver- 
tenda  religione.  Ut  omnipotens  Deus  homines  disponit.  38.  De  DiiVBOLO 
MiLLENARio.  Cum  cousummati  fuerint  mille  anni.  39.  De  perverso  Anti- 
CHRisTi  DOGMATE.  Cum  puri  coucionatores  doceant  Dei  verbum.  40.  Defen- 
sio  CONTRA  iMPios.  EvangcHi  predicationem  lites  suscipere.  41.  Contra 
P.  Stokes.  42.  Responsio  ad  Argumenta  Monachi  de  Salley.  43.  Contra 
MoNACHUM  Dunelmensem.  44.  De  unitate  Christi.  45.  De  unico  salutis 
Agno.  46.  Christus  alius  non  Expectandus.  47.  De  humanitate 
Christi.  48.  De  defectione  a  Christo.  49.  De  fide  et  perfidia.  60. 
De  fide  Sacramentorum.  51.  De  fide  Evangelii.  52.  Constitutiones  Eccle- 
si^.  53.  De  censuris  EccLEsiiE.  Quantum  ad  excommunicationem 
attingit.  54.  De  sacerdotio  Levitico.  55.  De  sacerdotio  Christi.  56.  De 
statuendis  Pastoribus  per  plebem.  57.  Speculum  cleri  per  dialogum. 
Sed  adhuc  arguitur  si  clerus  sic.  58.  De  non  saginandis  sacerdotibus. 
Cavete  qui  sacerdotes  otio  sustinetis,  59.  De  ministrorum  Conjugio.  Fuit 
in  diebus  Herodis  Sacerdos.  60.  Cogendi  Sacerdotes  ad  honestatem. 
Apertam  eruditionem  in  Dei  lege.  61.  De  Ritibus  Sacramentorum.  62. 
De  quidditate  Hosti^  Consecrat^e.  63.  De  quintuplici  Evangelio. 
64.  Determinationes  qu^dam.  65.  De  Trinitate.  Superest  investigare 
de  distinctione.  66,  De  Excommunicatis  Absolvendis.  Quoniam  sub  poena 
excommunicationis.  67.  Distinctiones  Rerum  Theologicarum.  68.  De 
Fonte  Errorum.  69.  De  Falsatoribus  legis  DiviNiE.  Postquam  interpretes 
subdoli  legem.  70.  De  Immortalitate  anim^e.  71.  Ceremoniarum  Chro- 
NicoN.  72.  De  Cessatione  Legalium.  Redeundo  autem  ad  propositum  de. 
73. De  DiLECTioNE.  In  quolibet  homine  peccatore.  74.  CoNCORDANTiiE  Docto- 
rum.  75.  De  contrarietate  duorum  Dominorum.  Sicut  est  unus,  verus  et 
summus.  76.  De  lege  Divina.  Utde  legibus  loquar  Christianorum.  77.  De  ne- 
cessitate FuTURORUM.  78.  De  Operibus  Spiritualibus.  Quia  paroecianos 
spiritualibus.  79.  De  Operibus  Corporalibus.  Si  certus  esset  homo  quod  in. 
80.  De  Ordine  Christiano.  81.  De  ordinaria  Laicorum.  82.  De  ordine 
sacerdotali.      Quia  presbyterorum  ordo  instituitur.      83.    De  Purgatorio 


544  Appendix. 

PioRUM.  Dona  eis,  Domine,  requiem  semper.  84.  Positiones  Vari^.  85. 
Replicationes  et  Positiones.  86.  De  Pr^scito  ad  Beatitudinem.  87.  De 
QuATERNARio  DocTORUM.  88.  De  religiosis  Privatis.  Omnes  Christiani 
in  spiritus  fervore.  89.  de  studio  Lectionis.  Malum  est  in  eis  perse verare 
ea.  90.  De  Servitute  civili.  Cum  secundum  philosophos  sit  relativoruni. 
91.  Theologize  Placita.  92.  De  Virtute  Orandi.  Ut  sabbatizatio  nostra 
sit  Deo  acceptabilis.  93.  Contra  monachum  de  St.  Albano.  94.  De  com- 
positions HOMiNis.  Tria  movent  me  ad  tractandum.  95.  De  homine 
MiSERO.  96.  Scholia  Scripturarum.  98.  Glossy  Vulgares.  99.  Glossy 
manuales.  100.  Glossa  novella.  101.  Commentarii  Vulgaris.  Stabat 
Johannes,  et  ex  discipulis.  102.  Lectiones  in  Danielem.  103.  De  dotatione 
EcclesijE,  and  de  dotatione  C^esarea  are  the  different  titles  of  the  same 
work,  beginning, — Utrum  clerus  debuerit  dotationem.  104.  De  Antichristo 
et  membris.  Quemadmodum  Dominus  Jesus  ordinavit.  105.  Iterum  de 
Antichristo.  Nota  quod  Antichristus  4  corn.  106.  Speculum  militantis 
EccLESiiE.  Cum  identitas  mater  sit  fastidii.  107.  De  perfectione  Evan- 
gelica.  Primo  fratres  dicunt  suam  religionem.  108.  De  officio  Pastorali. 
Cum  duplex  debeat  esse  ofRcium.  109.  De  simonia  Sacerdotum.  Heu 
magni  sacerdotes  in  tenebris.  110.  Super  penitentiis  injungendis.  Pro 
eo  quod  curatorum  officium  sit.  111.  De  divite  apud  Marcum.  Cum 
egressus  esset  in  viam  salvator.  112.  De  remissione  Fraterna.  Si  autem 
peccaverit  in  te  frater.  113.  De  tribus  Sagittis.  Quisquis  mente  tenere 
cupit  quid.  1 14.  De  Ecclesia  Catholica.  Sunt  sacerdotes  qui  certis  rationibus. 
115.  De  Mandatis  Divints,  Praemissa  Sententia  de  Domino.  116.  Conci- 
ones  de  Morte.  Beati  qui  in  domino  inoriuntur.  117.  De  Peccatis  Fu- 
giendis.  Dum  fides  nos  doceat  malum  quodlibet.  118.  De  Ablatis  Resti- 
tuendis.  Quaeritur  i"°  utrum  omnium  rerum.  119.  De  Seductions  Sim- 
PLiciuM.  Septem  sunt  quibus  decipiuntur  simplices,  120.  De  ocio  et  men- 
dicitate.  a  manuum  labore  excusantur  fratres.  121.  In  Symbolum  fidei. 
Certum  est  fidem  esse  omnium  virtutum.  122.  Super  Salutations  Ange- 
lica. Solent  homines  Christiparam  salutare.  123.  Ad  Simplices  Sacerdotes. 
Videtur  meritorium  bonos  colere.  124.  Ad  quinque  quzestiones,  Quidara 
fidelis  in  Domino  quaerit.  125.  Supplementum  Trtalogi.  126.  De  trino 
Amoris  Vinculo.  127.  Contra  consilium  terr^  motus.  128.  De  Solutions 
Satan^e.  129.  De  Spiritu  Quolibet.  130,  Omnis  Plantatio.  131.  Si 
Quis  siTiT.  132.  De  Confessions  Latinorum.  133.  De  Christianorum  bap- 
tism©. 134.  De  Clavibus  regni  Dei.  135.  De  Clavium  potestate.  136.  De 
HOMINE  MisERo.     137.  Contra  cruciatum  pap^.     138.  De  legibus  et  Ve- 

NENO.       139.    COLLECTIONES  CONTRA  DoMINICANOS.       140.    RsSPONSIONES  ArGU" 

mentorum.  141.  Ad  rationes  Kyningham.  142.  Contra  Bynhamum 
Monachum.  143.  De  bullis  Papalibus.  145.  De  Veritate  et  Mendacio. 
146.  Dk  Prevarications  Preceptorum.  147.  Dialogorum  suorum.  148. 
De  vera  innocentia.  149.  De  vii.  Donis  Spiritus  Sancti.  150.  De  Ver- 
suTiis  PsEUDo  Cleri.  151.  Of  Wedlock.  152.  Of  the  Life  of  THE  Virgin 
Mary. 


APPENDIX. 


Documents  and  Notes. 


A.  page  8. 


For  the  Extract  below,  from  the  Durham  Register,  showing  the  religious  faith  of  the 
WyclifFes  in  1423,  the  Author  is  indebted  to  the  Rev.  James  Raine,  M.  A.,  of  Durham. 


Testamentum  Domini  Roherti  Wyclyf  quondam  Bectoris  de  Rudhy. 


In  Dei  nomine,  Amen — 8  Sep.  1423.  Ego  Robertus  de  Wyclyf,  Rector 
Ecclesise  Par.  de  Rudby,  Eboracensis  Dioceseos,  sanse  memoriae,  omnes  dona- 
tiones  causa  mortis  per  me  ante  datam  presentiura  factas  de  revoco  ea  ceptis 
certis  legatis  per  me  quibusdam  personis,  &c.  in  ultimo  meo  eulogio  assig- 
natis,  quae  quidem  legata  sunt  inclusa  in  quodam  rotulo  sigillo  meo  signato  : 
et  testamentum  meum  ultimum,  &c.  condo,  &c.  in  hunc  modum.  In  primis 
commendo  animam  meam  Deo  omnipotenti  Beatae  Mariae  et  omnibus  Sanctis 
corpusque  meum  depeliendum  ubi  contigerit  me  decedere  ab  hac  vita  vel  ubi 
executores  mei  disposuerint  illud  sepeliri.  Volo  tamen  quod  corpus  meum 
simpliciori  modo  quo  honeste  possit  tradatur  sepulturae.  Ac  quod  omnia  et 
singula  debita  mea  seu  debenda  ratione  ultimi  vale  mei  ipsi  Ecclesiae  integre 
persolvantur.  Item  volo  quod  viginti  librae  dentur  duobus  capellanis  cele- 
braturis  pro  animS.  me^  animabusque  patris  mei  et  matris  et  omnium  benefac- 
torum  meorum  et  pro  animabus  omnium  illorum  pro  quibus  teneor  et  sum 
oneratus  enotare.  Et  volo  quod  Johannes  de  Midelton  sit  unus  de  predictis 
capellanis,  et  quod  celebret  ut  predicitur  per  triennium  ubicunque  voluerit, 
capiens  pro  singulo  anno  centum  solidos  desumma  viginti  librarum  predicta- 
rum.  Et  volo  quod  alius  capellanus  celebret  per  annum  integrum  immediate 
post  decessum  meum  ubi  corpus  meum  fuerit  humatum  capiens  residuum 
summae  antedictae.     Item  lego  ad  reparationem  quatuor  Ecclesiarum,  videli- 

2  N 


54<6  Appendix. 

cet  Rudby,  Sancti  Rumaldi,  Kyrkebyrawynswath  et  Wyclyf  cuiFibet  illarum 

XL'.     Item  lego  cuilibet  Moniali  de  Nun  Appilton,  ii*.     Item  lego  pro 

seu  ornamentis  emendandis  infra  cancellum  Ecclesiae  de  Wyclif,  xl*.  Item 
lego  XL',  distribuendos  pauperibus  infra  parochiam  de  Wyclif.  Item  lego  ad 
reparationem  pontis  de  Rudby,  xx'.  Item  lego  cuilibet  capellanorum  stipen- 
diariorum  Rectorife  de  Rudby  celebranti  ad  capellas  infra  parochiam  de 
Rudby  VI'.  viii^.  Item  lego  cuilibet  capellano  et  cuilibet  fratri  hospitalis  de 
Kepier  vi'.  viii*.  Item  lego  cuilibet  pauperi  scolari  sedenti  ad  skephara 
infra  aulam  predicti  hospitalis  ii*.  Item  lego  Emmotse  Mylner,  Isotae  Sollay 
et  Christianas  Kendall  videlicet  cuilibet  illarum  VI^  viii^.  Item  lego  cuilibet 
ordini  Fratrum  mendicantium  videlicet  AUerton  Richemond,  et  Hertilpole 
xx».  et  Fratribus  de  Zarme  xxvi*.  viii^.  Etlego  cuilibet  servienti  meo  trans- 
eunti  ad  carucam  et  custodienti  averia  mea  ultra  salaria  sua  in*,  iv*.  Et 
residuum  vero  summas  c  librarum  de  quibus  condo  testamentum  meum  ac 
etiam  omnium  et  singulorum  bonorum  meorum  mobilium  et  mihi  de  quibus- 
cunque  personis  debitorem  do  et  lego  executoribus  meis  ut  et  ipsi  inde  provi- 
deant  faciant  et  disponant  pro  salute  animae  meae  secundum  quod  eis  videbitur 
melius  expedire.  Et  ad  hoc  testamentum  meum  bene  et  fideliter  perficien- 
dum  et  implendum  ordino  et  constituo  Christopherum  de  Boynton  Henricum 
Nersefeld  Johannem  de  Midelton  capellanum  et  Thomam  Nele  executores 
meos  et  unicunque  illorum  xls.  pro  labore  suo  assigno.  Et  super  visores 
hujus  testamenti  ordino  et  constituo  Johannem  Langton  militem  manentem 
juxta  Shirburne  in  Elvet  et  Robertum  de  Eure  Com.  Dunelm.  In  cujus  rei 
testimonium  huic  presenti  testamento  sigillum  meum  opposui.  His  testibus 
Johanne  Runhcorne  capellano  Thoma  Tange  et  Roberto  Berehalgh  notariis 
publicis  Thoma  Morpath  et  Alano  Shirebum  capellanis.  Data  apud  Kepier 
supradict,  die  et  anno  Domini  supradictis. — From  the  Register  of  T.  Langley, 
bishop  of  Durham,  fol.  115. 


B.  paffe  49. 

The  tract  intitled  'The  Last  Age  of  the  Church,'  has  been  printed  and 
edited  by  Dr.  Todd  of  Dublin,  (University  Press,  1840).  The  same  gentle- 
man has  edited  a  work  of  much  greater  extent,  intitled  in  its  first  page,  '  An 
Apology  for  the  Lollard  doctrines  attributed  to  Wickliffe  ' — and  in  the 
headings  of  the  pages  of  the  treatise  it  is  designated,  *  Wickliffe's  Apology.' 
This  last  treatise  is  one  of  a  series  printed  by  the  Camden  Society. 

It  has  appeared,  as  I  think,  in  these  pages,  that  the  *  Last  Age  of  the 
Church,'  should  never  have  been  attributed  to  WyclifFe  ;  and  I  have  demon- 
strated elsewhere,  that  the  'Lollard's  Apology,'  ought  not  to  have  been  des- 
cribed,  for  a  moment,  as   '  Wickliffe's  Apology,'  by  a  critic  of  Dr.  Todd's 


Dr.  Todd— The  two  WycUffes.  547 

pretensions.  The  reader  who  may  feel  at  all  curious  about  this  latter  point 
is  referred  to  a  paper  in  the  Eclectic  Review  of  January  1843,  where  the 
evidence  in  relation  to  it  is  given. 

It  has  been  the  pleasure  of  Dr.  Todd  to  be  very  assiduous  in  endeavouring 
to  detract  from  the  merit  of  my  humble  labours  in  this  field.  In  printing 
these  MSS.  his  object  has  been  to  show  how  necessary  it  is  that  the  writings 
of  WyclifFe  should  be  all  printed,  if  any  satisfactory  judgment  is  to  be  formed 
as  to  his  character  and  history.  It  is  singular  that  the  first  manuscript  pub- 
lished with  this  view  should  be  one  taking  with  it  such  strong  evidence  of 
being  no  WyclifFe  manuscript  at  all ;  that  the  second  should  be  manifestly 
the  production  of  another  hand  and  of  a  later  time;  and  that  the  same 
mistake  should  have  been  repeated  as  to  a  third  treatise,  in  the  case  of  one 
of  the  three  treatises  recently  published  by  the  same  editor.  So  that,  as  I 
have  elsewhere  said,  of  five  pieces  printed  by  Dr.  Todd  as  from  the  pen  of 
WyclifFe,  two  only  are  his.  I  have  no  wish  to  speak  disrespectfully  of  Dr. 
Todd  ;  but,  he  may  be  sure  of  it,  his  genius  as  a  critic  is  not  of  the  order 
strictly  necessary  to  a  successful  editing  of  the  writings  of  WyclifFe.  He  is 
at  home  in  the  minute,  but  this  subject  demands  not  only  minutiae,  but 
penetration  and  breadth. 


C.  page  53. 
Frorii  the  GentlemaifCs  Magazine,    Vol.  ii.  18J-4,  p.  14G,  147. 

**  In  compiling  a  History  of  the  Palace  of  Mayfield,  in  Sussex,  formerly 
one  of  the  numerous  residences  of  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  (and  of 
which  notice  is  taken  in  the  46th  volume  of  your  Magazine,  p.  464),  I  had 
occasion  to  consult  the  registers  of  the  See,  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining 
the  early  vicars  of  that  parish,  which  lies  within  .the  peculiar  jurisdiction  of 
the  Archbishop  ;  and  I  was  not  a  little  surprised  to  find  in  the  year  1361,  and 
on  the  12th  Cal.  August,  (21  July)  John  WicklifFe  collated  to  the  vicarage 
by  Archbishop  Islip,  the  prelate  who,  rather  more  than  four  years  after,  is 
stated  to  have  preferred  John  WicklifFe  the  Reformer  to  be  warden  of  his 
then  lately  founded  Hall  of  Canterbury  at  Oxford.  Islip's  deed  of  appoint- 
ment bears  date  at  Mayfield,  5  id.  Dec.  (9th  Dec.)  1365,  at  which  place  he 
had  been  resident,  with  little  intermission,  from  the  time  at  which  (as  before 
mentioned),  he  collated  John  WicklifFe  vicar,  in  1361  ;  and  from  the  manner 
in  which  he  speaks  of  the  person  whom  he  had  appointed  to  the  wardenship, 
as  a  man  in  whose  '  fidelity,  circumspection  and  industry  he  much  confided,' 

^  Wood's  Antiq.  Oxon.  Vol.  I.  p.  484. 

2  N  2 


548  Appendix. 

and  whom  he  called  to  that  office  on  account  of  the  honesty  of  his  life, 
his  laudable  conversation,  and  his  knowledge  of  letters,^  it  is  evident  that  he 
was  then  well  known  to  him,  and  that  the  words  are  something  more  than 
mere  form.  Upon  examining  the  documents  appointing  the  vicar  of  May- 
field,^  and  the  warden  of  Canterbury  Hall,^  I  found  the  final  syllable  of  the 
name  to  be  clyve  in  both  instances  ;  and  although  the  orthography  of  a  name 
at  this  period  of  time  is  very  uncertain,  still  as  connected  with  what  I  have 
hereafter  to  state,  it  is  worthy  of  observation,  that  such  is  the  spelling  of  the 
name  attributed  to  the  Master  of  Canterbury  Hall,  in  1361  and  1365,  whilst 
the  name  of  the^Master  of  Baliol  in  1361^  and  1368,"*  is  spelt  with  the  last 
syllable  lif  or  liffe — the  spelling  invariably  attributed  to  the  Reformer's  name 
in  all  original  evidences  concerning  him. 

"  If,  under  these  circumstances,  any  doubt  remained  that  the  vicar  of 
Mayfield  had,  from  the  constant  intercourse  which  had  subsisted  between 
them  for  four  years,  been  appointed  by  his  patron  to  the  wardenship  of  Can- 
terbury Hall,  upon  his  deposition  of  Wodehull  the  monk,  and  his  associates, 
it  would  entirely  have  vanished  upon  finding  further  that  Islip,  at  the  period 
of  his  decease  in  April  1366,  a  few  months  after  WicklifFe's  appointment,  was 
about  to  appropriate  towards  the  support  of  the  master  or  warden,  the  rectory 
of  the  parish  of  Mayfield,  which  he  had  not  thought  of  doing  upon  his  ap- 
pointment of  Wodehull  in  1363,  but  his  death  occurred  before  any  such 
appropriation  could  be  made.  An  earlier  trace  of  the  Reformer's  preferment 
in  the  church,  than  any  hitherto  known  of  him,  was  thus  thought  to  be  clearly 
established  ;  for,  having  identified  the  Vicar  of  Mayfield  with  the  Warden  of 
Canterbury — a  preferment  attributed  to  him  by  all  who  ever  wrote  concerning 
his  life  and  actions,^  I  had  little  idea  of  finding  that,  although  the  Vicar  of 
Mayfield  and  the  Warden  of  Canterbury  were  one,  the  Warden  of  Canterbury 
Hall  and  the  Reformer  were  two  distinct  individuals.  Such,  however,  proves 
to  have  been  the  case  ;  for,  upon  further  search  into  the  Archbishop's  records, 
it  was  found  that  in  1380,  the  Vicar  of  Mayfield  exchanged  that  preferment 
for  Horsted  Kaynes,  in  the  same  county,**  and  that  he  died  in  1383,  Rector  of 
Horsted  Kaynes,  and  Prebendary  of  Chichester;  his  Will  being  dated  12, 
and  proved  the  21st  of  November  in  that  year,"  only  the  year  previous  to 
the  decease  of  the  Rector  of  Lutterworth." 

*#*  But  the  passage  cited  in  page  62  of  this  volume,  is,  as  we  have  shown, 
decisive  as  to  the  fact  that  the  Wycliffe  of  Canterbury  Hall  was  Wycliffe  the 
Reformer.  All  the  papers  which  follow,  from  1  to  9,  relate  to  the  matter  of 
this  Wardenship. 

1  Reg.  Islip,  in  Dioc.  Cant.  fol.  287  (b). 
2  Wood's  Antiq.  Oxon.  (edit.  1674),  Vol.  I.  184.  ^  i^id.  Vol.  III.  p.  82. 

*  Reg.  Bockingharn,  in  Dioc.  Line.        ^  See  Wood,  Lewis  Gilpin,  Vaughan,  Le  Bas. 
^  Reg.  Sudbury,  fol.  134  (a).  ^  Reg.  Courtenay,  in  Dioc.  Cant. 


Papers  relating  to  the  Wardenship.  549 


No.  1. 

JSpecicdis  Licentia  Domini  Regis  Edwardii  III,  pro  appropriatione  Advoca- 
tionis Eccleside  de  Pagelhanthy  Avloe  Cantuariensi  in  Oxonia. 

Edwardus  Dei  gratia  Rex  Anglise,  Dominus  Hiberniae  et  Aquitanise,  om- 
nibus ad  quos  praesentes  hse  pervenerint,  salutem.  Sciatis  quod  de  gratia 
nostra  speciali,  et  ad  devotam  supplicationem  venerabilis  Patris  Simonis 
Cant.  Archiepiscopi  totius  Angliae  Primatis,  et  Apostolicae  sedis  Legati  pie 
desiderantis  incrementum  salubre  cleri  regni  nostri  propter  multiplicationem 
doctrinse  salutaris,  quae  jam  per  praesentem  epidemiam  noscitur  plurimum 
defecisse,  Concessimus  et  licentiam  dedimus  pro  nobis  et  haeredibus  nostris, 
quantum  in  nobis  est,  eidem  Archiepiscopo,  quod  ipse  in  Universitate  Oxon. 
quandam  Aulam  sive  Domum  Aulam  Cantuariensem  vulgariter  et  commu- 
niter  vocitandam,  in  qua  certus  erit  numerus  scolarium  tarn  religiosorum 
quam  secularium  artibus  scolasticis  insistentium  et  Deo  pro  nobis  et  salute 
Regni  nostri  specialiter  exorantium  secundum  formara  ordinationis  inde  per 
eundem  Archiepiscopum  super  hoc  faciendas,  suis  sumptibus  erigere  poterit 
et  fundare,  et  eisdem  scolaribus  in  perpetuum  assignare,  et  in  eventu  quo 
Domus  sive  Aula  sit  fundata,  et  scolares  in  ea  assignati  fuerint,  Advocationem 
Ecclesiae  de  Pageham  suae  jurisdictionis  immediatae,  quae  est  de  advocatione 
sua  propria,  et  de  jure  suo  Archiepiscopali,  et  quae  de  nobis  tenetur  in  capite, 
ut  dicitur,  eisdem  scolaribus,  et  successoribus  suis  dare  possit,  et  etiam  assig- 
nare, habendum  et  tenendum  prsefatis  scolaribus  et  successoribus  suis  de 
nobis  et  haeredibus  nostris  in  liberam  et  puram  et  perpetuam  elemosinam  in 
perpetuum ;  et  eisdem  scolaribus  quod  ipsi  tam  aulam  quam  advocationem 
praedictas  a  prsefato  Archiepiscopo  recipere,  et  Ecclesiam  illam  appropriare, 
et  eam  sic  appropriatam  in  proprios  usus  tenere  possint  sibi  et  successoribus 
suis  praedictis,  pro  nobis  et  salute  Regni  nostri  oraturi  juxta  ordinationem 
praedicti  Archiepiscopi,  de  nobis  et  haeredibus  nostris  in  liberam  et  puram 
et  perpetuam  elemosinam  in  perpetuum  sicut  praedictum  est,  Tenore  praesen- 
tium  similiter  licentiam  dedimus  specialem,  statuto  de  terris  et  tenementis 
ad  manum  mortuam  non  ponendis  edito  non  obstante,  Nolentes  quod  prae- 
dicti Archiepiscopus  vel  successores  sui  aut  praefati  scolares  sen  successores 
sui  ratione  praemissorum,  seu  statuti  praedicti,  aut  pro  eo  quod  dicta  advocatio 
de  nobis  tenetur  in  capite,  sicut  praedictum  est,  per  nos  vel  haeredes  nostros 
Justitiae  Estaetores,  Vicecomites,  aut  alios  ballivos  seu  ministros  nostros 
quoscunque  occasionentur,  molestentur  in  aliquo  seu  graventur.  Salvis 
tamen  nobis  et  haeredibus  nostris,  ac  aliis  capitalibus  Dominis  feodi  illius 
servitiis  inde  debitis  et  consuetis.  In  cujus  rei  testimonium  has  literas  nos- 
tras fieri  fecimus  patentes.  Teste-meipso  apud  Westmonasterium  xx*-  die 
Octobris  anno-regni  nostri  tricesimo  quinto. — MS.  in  Bibl.  Lam.  No.  104,  fol. 


550  Appendix. 


No.  II. 

Charta   Fundationis    Aalce  Canfuariensis,   et  Donationis   Manerii   de 
Wodeford  Lincoln.     Dioceseos  dictce  Fundationi. 

Sapientia  Dei  Patris  per  uterum  Beatse  Virginis  volens  prodire  in  publi- 
cum sicut  aetata  proficere  voluit  sic  gratise  et  sapientise  suae  munera  paulatim 
aliis  proficiendo  secundum  processum  setatis  suae  magis  ac  magis  realiter  os- 
tendebat,  ut  alii  qui  ab  ejus  plenitudine  fuerint  particulariter  sapientiam  re- 
cepturi  prius  Inuniliter  addiscerent  et  proficiendo  crescerent  in  doctrina, 
posteaque  quod  sic  didicerint  aliis  salubriter  revelarent.  Quia  igitur  per 
sapientiam  sic  non  absque  sudore  et  laboribus  adquisitam  reguntur  regna  et 
in  justitia  confoventur,  Ecclesia  militans  germinat  et  sua  difFundit  tentoria  : 
Nos  Simon  permissione  Divina  Cantuariensis  Archiepiscopus  totius  Anglise 
Primas  et  Apostolicse  sedis  Legatus,  ad  haec  sepius  revolventes  intima  cordis 
nostri,  ac  considerantes  viros  in  omni  scientia  doctos  et  expertos  in  epidinnis 
praeteritis  plurimum  defecisse,  paucissimosque  propter  defectum  exliibitionis 
ad  praesens  insistere  studio  literarum,  de  magnificae  Trinitatis  gratia,  et 
meritis  beati  Thomae  martyris  patroni  nostri  firmiter  confidentes,  de  bonis 
nobis  a  Deo  collatis  Aulam  quandam  in  Universitate  Oxon.  et  nostras  pro- 
vinciae  de  consensu  et  licentia  serenissimi  principis  Domini  Edwardi  Regis 
Angliae  illustris,  in  loco  quem  ad  hoc  nostris  sumptibus  comparavimus,  con- 
struximus  et  fundavimus,  quam  pro  duodenario  studentium  numero  duxi- 
mus  ordinandum.  In  partem  igitur  dotis  et  sustentationis  ipsius  Collegii 
octo  hospitia  conductitia  juxta  situm  loci  in  quo  habitationem  hujusmodi 
studentium  assignavimus  consistentia,  quae  gravibus  sumptibus  nostris  et  ex~ 
pensis  propterea  specialiter  adquisivimus  per  banc  Cartara  nostram  conferi- 
mus  et  donamus,  et  etiam  assignamus  :  Maneriumque  de  Wodeford  Lincoln. 
Dioceseos  ad  perdilectum  Nepotem  nostrum  Willelmum  de  Islep  spectans 
cum  omnibus  suis  pertinentiis  eidem  collegio  procuravimus  assignari.  Datura 
apud  Magbfeld  Idus  Aprilis  Anno  Domini  13G3,  et  nostras  Consecrationis  xiv. 
—MS.  in  Bibl.  Lam.  No.  104,  fol. 


Instrumentum  prcecedentis  Cartoe. 

In  Dei  nomine,  Amen.  Per  praesens  publicum  instrumentum  omnibus 
innotescat,  quod  Anno  ejusdem  Domini  1363,  secundum  computationem  Ec- 
clesiae  Anglicanae,  Indictione  secunda  Pontificis  sanctissimi  in  Christo  Patris 
et  Domini  Domini  Urbani  digna  Dei  providentia  Papae  Quinti  anno  secundo, 
mensis  Febiuarii   die  quarto,  coram  Reverendo  in  Christo  Patre  Domino 


Papers  relating  to  the  Wardenship.  551 

Simone  Dei  gratia  Cant.  Archiepiscopo,  totius  Angliae  Primate,  et  Apostolicae 
sedis  Legato,  in  Camera  sua  infra  Manerium  suum  apud  Cherryng  Cant. 
Dioceseos  personaliter  constitute,  producta  fuit,  exhibita  et  lecta  quaedam 
carta  ipsius  patris  sigillo  mei  notarii  subscripto  satis  note  consignata,  quam 
idem  Dorainus  Archiepiscopus  asseruit  se  fecisse,  et  contenta  in  eadem  rata, 
grata  et  firma  se  habere  velle  perpetuis  teraporibus  valiturum  :  Cujus  quidem 
Cartae  tenor  de  verbo  ad  verbum  sequitur  in  hsec  verba.  Sapie?itiaDei  Patris 
per  uterum  Beaioe  Virgmis  volens  prodhe,  8cc.  Consecrationis  xiv.  acta  fue- 
runt  haec  anno  indictionis  Pontificiae,  niense,  die  et  locopraedictis  prsesentibus 
venerabili  in  Christo  Patre  Domino  Willelmo  Dei  gratia  Episcopo  Roffensi, 
Magistris  Nichalao  de  Chaddesden,  Legum  Doctore  Canonico  Ecclesise  Lich- 
fieldensis,  Cancellario  dicti  Domini  Archiepiscopi,  Willelmo  Tankerville  Rec- 
tore  Ecclesiae  de  Lawfar  London.  Johanne  Barbo  Clerico  Roffensis  Dio- 
ceseos testibus  ad  praemissum  rogatis. 

Et  Ego  Ricbardus  Wodelond  de  Calceto  Clericus  Cicestrensis  Dioceseos, 
notarius  Apostolica  auctoritate  publicus,  productioni,  exhibitioni,  et  lecturae 
Cartae  praedictae  assertioni  et  ratihabitioni  dicti  Domini  Arcbiepiscopi  ac  om- 
nibus et  singulis  prout  superius  scribuntur  et  recitantur  una  cum  praefatis 
testibus  interfui,  eaque  omnia  et  singula  sic  vidi  fieri  et  audivi  veramque 
copiam  sive  transcriptum  ipsius  Cartae  superius  descriptae  aliis  negotiis  occu- 
patus  per  alium  scribi  feci,  et  hie  me  subscripsi  et  signum  meum  apposui 
praesentibus  consuetum. — MS.  in  Bibl.  Lam.  No.  104,  fol. 


No.  III. 

Willelmi  de  Islep  conjirmaiio  prcedictw  Donationis  Manerii  de  Wodeford. 

Sciant  praesentes  et  futuri  quod  Ego  Wellelmus  de  Islep  ad  instantiam 
Domini  mei  Domini  Simonis  Dei  gratis  Cant.  Archiepiscopi  totius  Angliae 
Primatis  et  Apostolicae  sedis  Legati,  dedi,  concessi,  et  hac  praesenti  carta  mea 
confirmavi  Custodi  et  Clericis  Aulae  CoUegiatae  Cant,  per  ipsum  Dominum 
meum  in  Universitate  Oxon,  noviter  fundatae,  Manerium  meum  quod  habeo 
in  Wodeford  cum  omnibus  suis  pertinentiis  in  Comitatu  Northampton,  haben- 
dum et  tenendum  praedictum  Manerium  cum  omnibus  suis  terris,  pratis  pas- 
cuis,  pasturis,  redditibus,  homagiis,  servitiis,  stagnis,  vivariis,  aquis  molendi- 
nis,  gardinis,  columbariis  cum  omnibus  aliis  suis  pertinentiis  praedictis,  Custodi 
et  Clericis  et  eorum  successoribus  in  perpetuum  tenendum  de  capitalibus 
Dominis  feodi  per  servitiainde  debita,  et  de  Jure  consueta.  In  cujus  rei  tes- 
timonium sigillum  meum  praesentibus  apposui,  his  testibus,  venerabili  in 
Christo  Patre  Domino  Willelmo  Dei  gratia  Roffensi  Episcopo,  Magistro 
Nicholao  de  Chaddesden  Legum  Doctore  Cancellario,  Domino  Johanne 
Waleys  niilite,  Dominis  Thoma  de  Wolton  seneschallo  terrarum  et  Willelmo 
Islep  cruciferario  dicti  Domini  Archiepiscopi  et  multis  aliis.     Et  ad  majorem 


552  Appendix. 

securitatem  .prsemissorum  Ego  Willelmus  de  Islep  supradictus  prsesentem 
cartam  subscriptione  et  signi  appositione  Magistri  Richardi  Wodeland  Clerici 
Notarii  auctoritate  Apostolica  public!  ad  requisitionem  meam  specialem  feci 
et  obtinui  communiri.  Datum  apud  Maghefeld  quarto  die  mensis  Junii  anno 
Domini  millesimo  ccclxiii.  et  anno   Regni  Regis  tertii  post  conquestum 

XXXVII. 

Et  Ego  Richardus  Wodeland  de  calceto  Clericus  Cicestrensis  Dioceseos 
Notarius  Apostolica  auctoritate  publicus  dationi,  et  confirmationi,  et  conces- 
sion! praedictis,  et  sigilli  apposition!  cartas  praedictse  una  cum  suprascriptis 
testibus,  loco,  die,  mense  et  anno  Domini  supradictis,  indictione  prima  Pon- 
tificis  sanctissimi  in  Christo  Patris  et  Domini  Domini  Urbani  digna  Dei  pro- 
videntia  Papae  quint!  anno  primo,  praesens  interfui  et  praefatum  Willelmum 
de  Islep  dictam  cartam  perlegere  audivi,  et  ad  rogatum  diet!  Willelmi  hie  me 
subscripsi,  et  signum  meum  apposui  praesentibus  consuetum  in  testimonium 
praemissorum — MS.  inBibl.  Lam.  No.  104.  fol. 


No.  IV. 

Instrumentum  Collationis  Johannis  de  Wyclyve  Guardianatui  Aulas  Can- 
tuariensis  in  Universitate  Oxonias. 

Simon,  &c.  Dilecto  filio  Magistro  Johanni  de  Wyclyve  salutem,  Ad  vitae  tuae 
et  conversationis  laudabilis  honestatem,  literarumque  scientiam,  quibus  per- 
sonam tuam  in  artibus  magistratum  altissimus  insignivit,  mentis  nostrae  oculos 
dirigentes,  ac  de  tuis  fidelitate,  circumspectione,  etindustria  plurimum  confi- 
dentes,  in  custodem  Aulae  nostrae  Cantuar,  per  nos  noviter  Oxoniae  fundatae 
te  praeficimus,  tibique  curam  et  administrationem  custodiae  hujusmodi  incum- 
bentes  juxta  ordinationem  nostram  in  hac  parte  committimus  per  praesentes, 
reservata  nobis  receptione  juramenti  corporalis  per  te  nobis  praestandi  debiti 
in  hac  parte.  Dat.  apud  Maghefeld  vo  idus  Decemb.  anno  Domini  mccclxv. 
et  nostrae  xvi. — Historia  et  Ant-  Oxon.  p.  184.  Ex  Registro  Islep  in  Archivis 
Lambethanis,  fol.  306. 


No.  V. 

Verba  Ordlnationis  quoad  Custodem  Aulce  Cantuar.     Domino  Archiepis- 

copo  nominandum, 

et  debet  ipse  prsefici  sicut  caeteri  monachi  ofRciarii  dictae 

Ecclesiae  per  Dominum  Archiepiscopum  praeficiendi  viz.  Prior  et  Capitulum 
eligent  de  toto  Capitulo  tres  personas  ydoneas  et  meliores  in  religione  et 
scientia  ad  dictam  Curam,  et  eos  in  scriptura  communi  Domino  Archiepis- 


Papers  relating  to  the  Wardenship. 


553 


copo  nominabunt  quorum  unum  ex  illis  sic  nominatis  quem  voluerit  Arch- 
iepiscopus  praeficiet  in  Custodem,  Curam  et  Administrationem  tarn  spiri- 
tualium  quam  temporalium  ad  ipsam  Aulam  pertinentium  sibi  plenius  cora- 
mittendo. — Eccl.  Christ.  Cant.  Reg.  K.  fol.  67. 


No.  VI. 

Nominatio  Custodis  Aulas  Cant,  noviter  fundatos  in  Universitate  Oxon. 
per  Reverendum  Patrem  Dominum  Simonem  de  Islep  Archiepiscopum 
Cantuariensem. 

Reverendo  in  Christo  Patri  ae  Domino,  Domino  Simoni  Dei  gratia  Cant. 
Archiepiscopo  totius  Angliae  Primati,  et  Apostolicse  sedis  Legato,  Vestri 
humiles  et  devoti  Prior  et  Capitulura  Ecclesiae  Christi  Cant,  obedientiam, 
reverentiam  et  honorem.  Ad  curam  et  officium  Custodis  Aulse  Cantaur.  in 
Universit.  Oxon.  per  vos  noviter  fundatae  Fratres  Henricum  de  Wodhulle 
sacrae  paginse  Doctorem,  Johannem  de  Redyngate  et  Willielmum  Rychemond 
nostros  confratres  et  commonachos  Vobis  juxta  formam  et  elFectum  Ordin- 
ationis  vestrse  factae  in  hac  parte,  Tenore  presentium  nominamus.  Sup- 
plicantes  quatinus  unem  ex  illis  tribus  sic  nominatis  quem  volueritis  in 
Custodem  dictae  Aulae  prseficere,  et  eidem  curam  et  administrationem  tam 
spiritualium  quam  temporalium  ad  ipsam  Aulam  pertinentium  committere 
dignetur  vestra  paternitas  reverenda,  quam  ad  Ecclesiae  suae  Regimen  con- 
servet  in  prosperis  Trinitas  indivisa.  Dat.  sub  sigillo  nostro  communi  in 
Domo  nostra  Capitulari  Cant,  xiii  die  Martii  anno  Domini  millesimo  000°°. 

LXII"'". 

No.  VII. 

Johannes  de  Radyngate  Monachus  Cant,  factus  est  Custos  Aulae  Cant. 
Oxon.  a  Simone  Langham  Archiepiscopo  Cant.  Anno.  1367°.  11  Cal.  Apr. 
Mandatum  tamen  revocatum  est  ab  Arch",  x  Cal.  Mali  sequentis  et  Hen- 
ricus  de  Wodhall  Monachus  Cant,  factus  Custos  directo  ad  Joannem  Wycliff 
et  caeteros  scolares  Aulae  Cant,  mandate  ut  obedirent  ei. — Regist.  Langham. 
fol.  98. 


No.  VIII. 

Mandatum  Apostolicum  ad  exequendam  senientiam  Cardinaliis  Andruyni 

contra  Wiclyffum. 

Urbanus  Episcopus  servus  servorum  Dei,  venerabili  fratri  Episcopo  Lon- 
doniensi,  et  dilectis  filiis  Abbati  Monasterii  sancti  Albani,  Lincoln.    Dio- 


554  Appendix. 

ceseos,  ac  Archidiacono  Oxon.  in  Ecclesia  Lincoln.  Salutem  et  Apostolicam 
benedictionem.  Petitio  dilectorum  filiorum  Prions  et  Capituli  Cant.  Ecclesise 
ordinis  Sancti  Benedicti  nobis  exhibita  continebat  quod  licet  Collegium  Aula 
Cant,  nuncupatum  scbolarum  Universitatis  Oxon.  Lincoln.  Dioces.  in  quo 
quidem  Collegio  nonnulli  Clerici  et  scolares  esse  consueverant,  per  unum  ex 
Monachis  dictse  Ecclesiae  qui  Custos  dicti  Collegii  esse  tres  alios  Monachos 
dictae  Ecclesise  secum  habere  debet,  prout  in  ipsius  Collegii  fundatione  extitit 
Canonice  ordinatum,  regi  debent :  Tamen  dilecti  filii  Johannes  de  WyclifF, 
Willelmus  Selbi,  Willelmus  Middleworth,  Richardus  Benger,  Clerici  Ebora- 
censis,  Saresburiensis  et  Oxon.  Dioceseos  false  asserentes  dictum  Collegium 
per  Clericos  seculares  regi  debere,  dictumque  Johannem  fore  Custodem 
Collegii  supradicti,  ac  Henricum  de  Wodehall  Monachum  dictae  Cant.  Ec- 
clesiae ac  Custodem  dicti  Collegii,  ac  nonnullos  Monachos  dictae  Ecclesiae 
cum  praefato  Henrico  in  dicto  Collegio  commorantes  de  ipso  Collegio  exclu- 
serunt,  ipsosque  Collegio  ipsis  ac  bonis  inibi  existentibus  in  quorum  pos- 
sessione  iidem  Henricus  et  alii  Monachi  existebant,  spoliarunt,  et  nonnulla 
alia  in  ipsorum  Monachorum  praejudicium  acceptarunt,  nee  non  omnia  bona 
dicti  Collegii  occuparant,  propter  quod  dilectus  filius  noster  Simon  t.  t.  sancti 
Sixti  Presbyter  Cardinalis  tunc  Archiepiscopus  Cant,  videns  et  prospiciens 
hujusmodi  bona  dicti  Collegii  per  dictum  Johannem  et  alios  Clericos  supra- 
dictos  qui  ipsius  Johannis  consortes  erant  dissipari,  fructus  parochialis  Eccle- 
siae de  Pageham  Cicestrens.  Dioc.  sub  Jurisdictione  Archiep.  Cant,  pro 
tempore  existentis,  consistentis  sequestrari  fecit,  ortaque  propterea  inter 
Johannem  de  WyclifF  et  ejus  consortes  ex  una  parte  et  dictum  Cardinalem 
super  praemissus  et  eorum  occasione  ex  altera,  materia  quaestionis.  Nos 
tamen  hujusmodi  cum  partes  ipsae  in  Romana  Curia.  sufRcienter  praesentes 
existerent,  bonae  memoriae  Andruyno  t.  t.  sancti  Marcelli  presbytero  Car- 
dinali  ad  earum  partium  instantiam  audiendam  commisimus,  et  fine  debito 
terminandam.  Et  quod  idem  Andruynus  Cardinalis  prout  ei  melius  et  uti- 
lius  pro  statu  dicti  Collegii  videretur  expedire  posset  a  dicto  Collegio  Clericos 
seculares  amovere,  vel  sieiutilius  videretur  pro  Collegio  supradicto  religiosos 
supradictos  ab  ipso  Collegio  auctoritate  praedicta  amovere,  ita  quod  unicum 
et  solum  Collegium  regularium  vel  secularium  remaneret,  cum  potestate 
etiam  in  dicta  causa  simpliciter,  et  de  piano,  ac  sine  strepitu  et  figura  judicii 
procedendo  Coram  quo  Magistris  Richardo  Bangero  procuratore  Johannis 
et  ejus  consortium  praedictorum,  ac  Alberto  de  Mediolano  per  Magistrum 
Rogerum  de  Treton,  procuratorem  dictorum  Simonis  Cardinalis,  nee  non 
Prioris  et  Capituli  praedictorum.  Qui  quidem  Prior  et  Capitulum  pro  inter- 
esse  suo  ad  causam  hujusmodi  veniebant,  substituto  donee  eum  revocaret 
prout  eum  ad  hoc  ab  ipsis  Simone  Cardinale  ac  Priore  et  Capitulo  sufficiens 
mandatum  habebat  in  Judicio  comparentibus  tandem  postquam  inter  partes 
ipsas  coram  eodem  Cardinali  ad  nonnullos  actus  in  causa  hujusmodi  pro- 
cessum  fuerat,  praefatus  Richardus  quan dam  petitionem  summariampro  parte 
sua  exhibuit  in  causa  supradicta.  Postmodum  vero  nos  eidem  Audruyno 
Card,  commisimus  ut  in  causa  hujusmodi  sola  facti  veritate  inspecta  proce- 


Pa^iers  relating  to  the  Wardenship.  555 

dere,  etiam  terminis  secundum  stilum  palatii  Apostolici  servari  consuctis  non 
servatis,  postmodum  vero  prsefatus  Rogerus  coram  eodem  Andruyno  Card, 
in  judicio  comparens  nonnullas  positiones  et  articulos  quandam  petitionem 
sumniariam  in  eorum  fine  continentes  pro  parte  sua  tradidit  in  causa  supra- 
dicta,  ac  delude  cum  generales  vacationes  in  dicta  Curia  de  mandate  nostro 
inditae  fuissent.     Nos  eidem  Andruyno  Cardinali  commisimus  ut  in  causa 
hujusmodi  procedere  et  partes  ipsas  per  suas  literas  portis  Ecclesi?e  Viter- 
biensis  affigendas  citare  posset  quociens  opus  esset,  non  obstantibus  vacatio- 
nibus  supradictis.     Idemque  Andruynus  Cardinalis  ad  ipsius  Rogeri  instan- 
tiam  praefatum  Johannem  WyclifF  et  ejus  consortes,   cum  dictus  Richardus 
procurator  in  dicta  curia  diligenter  perquisitus  reperiri  non  posset  per  suas 
certi  tenoris  literas  portis  dictse  Ecclesise  Viterbiensis  afRxasadjiroducendum 
et  ad  produci  videndum  omnia  jura  et  munimenta  quibus  partes  ipsae  vellent 
in  causa  hujusmodi  uti,  citari  fecit  ad  certum  peremptorium  terminum  com- 
petentem  in  quo  praefatus  Rogerus  coram  eodem  Andruyno  Cardinali  in  ju- 
dicio comparens  praedictorum  citatorum  non   comparentium   contumaciam 
actitavit  et  in  ejus  contumaciam  nonnullas   literas  autenticas  instrumenta 
publica  et  alia  jura  et  munimenta  quibus  pro  parte  sua  in  hujusmodi  causa 
voluit  uti  produxit,  idemque  Andruynus  Cardinalis  ad  ipsius  Rogeri  instan- 
tiam  prasdictum  Richardum  tunc  in  praedicta  Curia  repertum  ad  dicendum 
contra  eadem  producta  quidquid  vellet  per  porterium  suum  juratum  citari 
fecit  ad  certum  peremptorium  terminum  competentem  in  quo  praefatus  Ro- 
gerus coram  eodem  Andruyno  Cardinali  in  judicio  comparens  praedicti  Ri- 
cardi  non  comparentis  contumaciam   accentuavit,  praefatusque  Andruynus 
Cardinalis  ad  dicti  Rogeri  instantiam  praedictum  Ricardum  ad  concludendum 
et  concludi  videndum  in  causa  hujusmodi  vel  dicendum  causam  rationabilem 
quare  in  ea  concludi  non  deberet,  per  porterium  suum  juratum  citari  fecit  ad 
certum  terminum  peremptorium  competentem,  in  quo   Magistro   Johanne 
Cheyne  substitute  de  novo  per  dictum  Rogerum  donee  eum  revocaret,  prout 
ad  hoc  a  praefatis  Dominis  suis  sufficiens  mandatum  habebat  coram  eodem 
Andruyno  Cardinali  in  judicio,  comparente,  et  dicti  Ricardi  non  comparentis 
contumaciam  actitante,  et  in  ejus  contumaciam  in  hujusmodi  causa  concludi 
petente,  supradictus  Andruynus    Cardinalis   reputans   eundem   Richardum 
quoad  hoc,  prout  erat  merito  contumaciae  in  ejus   contumaciam  cum  dicto 
Johanne  Cheyne  in  hujusmodi  causa  concludente,  conclusit  et  habuit  pro 
concluso.      Subsequenter  vero   praefatus    Andruynus   Cardinalis  praedictos 
Johannem  de   WyclyfF  et  ejus  consortes,  cum  dictus  Richardus  procurator 
latitaret  et  diligenter  perquisitus  in  prsefata  Curia  reperiri  non  posset,  ad 
suam  in  causa  hujusmodi  diffinitivam  sententiam  audiendam  per  suas  certi  te- 
noris literas  portis  dictae  Ecclesiae  Viterbiensis  affixas  citari  fecit,  ad  competen- 
tem peremptoriam  certam  diem,  in  quo  dicto  Rogero  coram  eodem  Andruyno 
Cardinali  in  judicia  comparente,  et  dictorum  citatorum  non  comparentium 
contumaciam  accusante,  et  in  eorum  contumaciam  sententiam  ipsam  ferri 
petente,  memoratus  Andruynus  Cardinalis  reputans  eosdem  citatos  quoad 
actum  hujusmodi,  prout  erant  merito  contumaces  in  eorum  contumaciam 


556  Appendix. 

visis  et  diligenter  inspectis  omnibus  et  singulis  actibus  actitatis  habitis  et 
productis  in  causa  hujusmodi  coram  eo,  ipsisque  cum  diligentia  recensitis 
et  examinatis,  habito  super  his  consilio  cum  peritis  per  suam  diffinitivam 
sententiam  ordinavit,  pronunciavit,  decrevit  et  declaravit  solos  Monacbos 
prsedictae  Ecclesise  Cant.  Secularibus  exclusis  debere  in  dicto  CoUegio.  Aula 
[Cantuar.]  nuncupate,  perpetuo  remanere,  ac  exclusionem  et  spoliationem 
contra  praedictos  Monacbos  per  dictum  Johannem  de  Wyclyff  et  ejus  con- 
sortes  praedictos  attemptatas  fuisse,  et  esse,  temerarias,  injustas  et  de  facto 
praesumptas,  easque  in  quantum  de  facto  processerint,  revocandas  et  irri tan- 
das  fore,  et  quantum  in  eo  fuit  revocavit  et  irritavit.  Et  Henricum  ac  alios 
Monacbos  supradictos  sicut  praemittitur,  spoliatos  et  de  facto  exclusos  ad 
Collegium  nee  non  omnia  bona  mobilia  et  immobilia  supradicta  restituendos 
et  reintegrandos  fore,  ac  restituit  et  reintegravit,  nee  non  fructuum  seques- 
trationem  ad  utilitatem  dictorum  Monacborum  relaxavit.  Et  insuper  Johanni 
de  Wyclyff  et  ejus  consortibus  supradictis  supre  praemissis  perpetuum  silen- 
tium  imponendum  fore  et  imposuit  prout  in  instrumento  publico  inde  confecto 
dilecti  filii  nostri  Bernardi  duodecim  Apostolorum  Presbyteri  Cardinalis,  cui 
nos  praefato  Andruyno  Cardinal!  antequam  instrumentum  super  hujusmodi 
sententiam  confectum  sigillasset  vita  functo,  commissimus  ut  instrumentum 
sigillaret,  sigillo  munito  plenius  dicitur  contineri.  Nos  itaque  dictorum 
Prioris  et  Capituli  supplicationibus  inclinati  hujusmodi  diffinitivam  senten- 
tiam utpote  proinde  latam,  ratam  habentes  et  gratam,  eamque  autoritate 
Apostolica  confirmantes  discretioni  vestrae  per  Apostolica  scripta  mandamus, 
quatenus  vos  vel  duo  aut  unus  vestrum  per  vos  vel  alium  sen  alios  sententiam 
ipsam  execution!  debite  demandantes,  eamque  ubi  et  quando  expedere  vide- 
ritis,  auctoritate  nostra  solempniter  publicantes  Henricum  et  alios  monacbos 
praedictos  ad  dictum  Collegium,  Aula  [Cant.]  nuncupatum,  nee  non  ejus  bona 
mobilia  et  immobilia  supradicta,  amotis  exinde  dictis  Johanne  de  Wyclyff  et 
ejus  consortibus  praedictis,  auctoritate  nostra  restituatis,  et  reintegratis,  ac 
restitutes  et  reintegrates  juxta  illius  exigentiam  defendatis  Contradictores 
per  Censuram  Ecclesiasticam  appelacione  postposita  compescendo.  Dat. 
Viterbii  v.  idus  Maii  Pontificatus  nostri  anno  octavo. — MS.  in.  Bibl.  Lam. 
No,  104,  fol.    A.D.  1370. 

No.  IX. 

Regia  Pardonatio  omnium  Foris  facturarum  Aula  Cantuarien  et 
eidem  pertinentium,  et  Conjirmatia  Papalis  Sententice  Deprivationis 
Wicliffe. 

Edwardus  Dei  gratia  Rex  Angliae  et  Franciae  et  Dominus  Hiberniae; 
Omnibus  ad  qiios  praesentes  literae  pervenerint  salutem.  Sciatis  quod  cum 
nuper  et  accepimus  de  gratia  nostra  special!  et  ad  devotam  supplicationem 
Simonis  tunc  Archiepiscopi  Cant,  qui  de  Islep  cognominatus   extiterat  pie 


Papers  relating  to  the   Wardeiishij).  557 

desiderantis  incrementum  salubre  Cleri  nostri  propter  multiplicationem  doc- 
triiiae  salutaris  per  Jiteras  nostras  patentes  sub  magno  sigillo  nostro  conces- 
serimus  et  licentiam  dederimus  pro  nobis  et  hieredibus  nostris  quantum  in 
nobis  erat  eidem  Archiepiscopo  quod  ipse  in  Universitate  Oxon.  quandam 
Aulam  sive  Domum  Aulam  Cant,  vulgariter  et  communiter  vocitandam,  in 
qua  certus  foret  numerus  scolarium  tarn  Religiosorum  quam  Secularium  acti- 
bus  scolasticis  insistentium,  et  Deo  pronobis  et  salute  Regni  nostri  specialiter 
exorantium,  secundum  ordinationis  formam  inde  per  eundem  Archiepisco- 
pum  super  hoc  faciendae,  suis  sumptibus  erigere  possit  et  fundare,  et  eisdem 
scolaribus  in  perpetuum  assignare,  et  in  eventu  quo  Domus  sive  Aula  sic 
fundata  et  scolares  in  ea  assignati  forent,  advocationem  Ecclesiae  de  Pageham 
Jurisdictionis  ipsius  Archiepiscopi  immediatae,  quae  quidem  Ecclesia  de  advo- 
catione  propria  ejusdem  Archiepiscopi,  ut  de  jure  suo  Archiepiscopali  extite- 
rat,  et  quae  quidem  Advocatio   de  nobis  tenebatur  in  capite,  ut  dicebatur, 
eisdem  scolaribus  dare  posse  et  etiam  assignare  habendum  et  tenendum  prae- 
fatis  scolaribus  et  successoribus  suis  de  nobis  et  haeredibus  nostris  in  liberam 
puram  et  perpetuam  elemosinam  in  perpetuum,  et  eisdem  scolaribus  quod 
ipsi  tam  Aulam  quam  advocationem  praedictas  a  praefato  Archiepiscopo  reci- 
pere,  et  Ecclesiam  illam  appropriare,  et  earn  sic  appropriatam  in  proprios 
usus  tenere  possent  sibi  et  successoribus  suis  praedictis  pro  nobis  et  salute 
regni  nostri  oraturi  juxta  ordinationem  praedicti  Archiepiscopi  de  nobis  et 
haeredibus  nostris  in  liberam  puram  et  perpetuam  elemosinam  in  perpetuum 
sicut  praedictum  est :  Dictusque  Archiepiscopus   postmodum  juxta   dictam 
licentiam  nostram  quandam  Aulam  Collegiatam  sub  certo  scolarium  studen- 
tium  numero  in  Universitate  praedicta  vocabulo  Aulae  Cantuariensis  erexerit, 
et  fundaverit,   certosque  Monachos  Ecclesiae  Christi  Cant,  unum  videlicet 
Monachum  Custodem  Aulae  ejusdem,  caeterosque  scolares  in  eadem  una  cum 
certis  aliis  scolaribus  secularibus  in  Aula  praedicta  ordinaverit  et  constitu- 
erit,  et  eis  Aulam  illam,  nee  non  advocationem  praedictam  dederit  et  assig- 
naverit  eisdem  Custodi  et  Scolaribus  et  successoribus  suis  perpetuo  possi- 
dendas,  ipsique  Custos  et  Scolares  dictas  Aulam  et  advocationem  a  praefato 
Archiepiscopo  receperint,   ac   Ecclesiam   praedictam   sibi  et  successoribus 
suis  in  proprios  usus  una  cum  Aula  praedicta  in  perpetuum  habendam  appro- 
priaverit,  ac  deinde  prceter  licentiam  nostram  supradictam  amotis  omnino  per 
praedictum  Archiepiscopum  dictis  Custode  et  caeteris  Monachis  Scolaribus 
videlicet  regularibus   ab    Aula    praedicta,  idem   Archiepiscopus   quendam 
scolarem  Custodem  dictae  Aulae  ac  caeteros  omnes  scolares  in  eadem  scolares 
duntaxat  constituerit  eisdem  Custodi  et  Scolaribus  secularibus  duntaxat  in 
proprios  usus  perpetuo  possidendam  dederit  et  assignaverit,  ipsique  Custos 
et  Scolares  seculares  duntaxat  Aulam  et  Ecclesiam  praedictam  ex  tunc  con- 
tinuatis  temporibus  durante  vita  praefati  Archiepiscopi  possederit  tam  fructus 
dictae  Ecclesiae  quam  alia  bona  ad  Aulam  praedictam  spectantia  usibus  suis 
propriis  applicaverit,  et  demum  defuncto  dicto  Archiepiscopo  et  Reverendo 
in   Christo  Patre   Simone   t.  t.  sancti   Sixti,   Presbytero  Cardinali  tunc  in 


558  Appendix. 

Archiepiscopum   Cant,  consecrate  idem    Archiepiscopus    tunc    Cardinalis 
fructus  dictae  Ecclesise  de  Pageham  sequestrari  fecerit,  ortaque  prseterea 
inter  dictos  Custodem  et  Scholares  seculares  ex  parte  una  et  praefatum  Car- 
dinalem  super  praemisis,  et  eorum  occasione  ex  altera  materia  contradictionis, 
appellationeque  interposita,  et  habito  inde  processu,  Romana  Curia  authori- 
tate  Apostolica  videlicet  felicis  recordationis  Domini  Urbani  Papse  quinti  per 
diffinitivam  sententiam   de  facto  ordinatum  fuerit  ibidem   pronunciaverit, 
decreverit  et  declaraverit  solos  Monachos  praedictae  Cantuariensis  Ecclesiae, 
secularibus  exclusis,  debere  in  dicto  Collegio  Aula  nuncupate  perpetuo  re- 
manere,  nee  non  dictos  Monachum  Custodem  ac  alios  Monachos  Scolares 
sic  de  facto  ut  praemittitur  a  dicto  Collegio  ac  bonis  inibi  existentibus  in 
quorum   possessione   fuerant  per    amotionem    hujusmodi  et  occupationem 
dictorum  secularium  Custodis  et  Scolarium  secularium  spoliates  et  exclusos 
ad  Collegium  illud,  nee  non  ad  omnia  bona  supradicta,  et  omnia  alia  bona 
mobilia  et  immobilia  dicti  Collegii  per  eosdem  secularem  Custodem  et  Scho- 
lares seculares  post  amotionem  praedictam  occupata  restituendos  et  reinte- 
grandos  fore,  ac  jam  Dilecti  nobis  in  Christo  Prior  et  Conventus  Ecclesiae 
Christi  Cant,  antedictae  virtute  dictorum  ordinationis,  procurationis,  decreti 
et  declarationis  auctoritate  Apostolica  factorum  uti  praemittitur,  quendam, 
ut  asseriter,  Commonachum  suum  ejusdem  Ecclesiae  Christi  Custodem  dicti 
Collegii  Aulae  nuncupati,  ac  certos  alios  Commonachos  suos  dictae  Ecclesiae 
Christi  scolares  in  eodem  Collegio  ordinaverint  et  constituerint,  amotis  dictis 
secularibus   ab   eodem   penitus   et   exclusis,   contra  formam  licentice  nostrcB 
supradicta.     Nos  quanquam  dicta  advocatio  Ecclesiae  de  Pageham  per  ali- 
quem  progenitorum  nostrorum  una  cum  aliquibus  praediis  sen  tenementis  in 
dotationem,   fundationem    seu  alias   in   augmentationem   Archiepiscopatus 
Cantuariensis,  seu  Ecclesiae  Christi  Cantuar.  antedictae  data,  concessa  seu 
assignata  extiterat,  volentes  nihilominus  ob  devotionem  sinceram  quam  ad 
dictam  Ecclesiam  Ecclesiae   Christi  Cant,   et  beatum   Thomam    Martyrem 
quondam  ejusdem  Ecclesiae  Archiepiscopum,  cujus  corpus  gloriose  cathalogo 
sanctorum  ascriptum  quiescit  honorabiliter  in  eadem,  securitati  tam  dictorum 
Prioris  et  Conventus  quam  Commonacborum  suorum,  quos  ipsi   Prior  et 
Conventus  Custodem  dicti  Collegii  et  Scholares  in  eodem  jam,  ut  praemit- 
titur, ordinarunt,  et  in  futurum  ordinaverint,  provide  de  gratia  nostra  spe- 
ciali  et  pro  ducentis  marcis  quos  dicti  Prior  et  Conventus  nobis  solverunt  in 
hanaperio  nostro  perdonavimus  omnes  transgressiones  factas  nee  non  foris 
facturum  si  qua  dictae  Aulae  cum  pertinentiis  et  advocationis  praedictae  virtute 
statuti  de  terris  et  tenementis  ad  manum  mortuam  non  ponendis  editi  vel 
alias  nobis  intensa  fuerit  in  hac  parte,  dictamque  sententiam,  ordinationem, 
pronuntiationem,  decretum  et  declarationem  auctoritate  Apostolica  factam, 
ut  praedictum  est,  et  executionem  eorundem  pro  nobis  et  haeredibus  nostris, 
quantum  in  nobis  est,  acceptamus,  approbamus,  ratificamus,  et  confirmamus, 
volentes,  et  concedentes  pro  nobis  et  haeredibus  nostris,  quantum  in  nobis 
est,  quod  praedicti  Custos  et  caeteri  Scholares  Regulares  dicti  Collegii  Aulse 


Papers  relating  to  the   Wardenship.  559 

Cant,  nuncupati  Monachi  dictze  Ecclesiaj  Christi  Cant,  et  eoruni  successores 
per  praedictos  Priorem  et  Conventum  constituti,  et  per  eosdem  Priorem  et 
Conventum  et  eoriim  successores  constituendi,  sen  alias  loco  amovendorum 
substituendi,  actibus  scolasticis  juxta  ordinationem  ipsorum  Prioris  et  Con- 
ventus  et  successoruin  suorum  religiose  insistentes  Aulam  praedictam,  tene- 
mentaque  in  ipsa  contenta  cum  pertinentiis,  nee  non  Ecclesiam  praedictam, 
et  advocationem  ejusdem  in  usus  proprios  ipsorum  Custodis  et  scolarium 
Regularium  teneant  videlicet  dictam  Aulam,  et  praedicta  tenementa  cum 
pertinentiis,  quae  de  nobis  in  burgagium  tenentur,  ut  dicitur,  de  nobis  et 
haeredibus  nostris,  ac  aliis  Capitalibus  Dominis  feodi  per  servitia  inde  debita 
et  consueta,  et  dictas  Ecclesiam  et  advocationem  de  nobis  et  haeredibus 
nostris  in  liberam  puram  et  perpetuam  elemosinam  ad  orandum  specialiter 
pro  salute  animaenostraeetpro  animabusprogenitorum  nostrorum  achaeredum 
nostrorum  in  perpetuum  sine  occasione  vel  impediment©  nostro  vel  haeredum 
nostrorum,  Justitiae  Estretorum  viae  aut  aliorum  ballivorum,  seu  ministrorum 
nostrorum  vel  haeredum  nostrorum  quorumcunque  statuto  vel  forisfactura 
praedictis  aut  dictis,  dotationem,  concessionem,  seu  assignationem  advo- 
cationis praedictae  per  aliquem  progenitorum  nostrorum  in  dotationem,  fun- 
dationem,  vel  alias  in  augmentationem  Archiepiscopatus  seu  Ecclesiae  Christi 
praedictorum,  seu  dictam  fundationem  per  praefatum  Simonem  de  Islep 
quondam  Archiepiscopum  tam  pro  studentibus  sive  scolaribus  Regularibus 
quam  Secularibus  factae,  ut  praemittitur  seu  aliquo  alio  praemissorum  non 
obstantibus.  In  cujus  rei  testimonium  has  literas  nostras  fieri  fecimus 
patentes.  Teste  me  ipso  apud  Westm.  octavo  die  Aprilis  Anno  Regni  nostri 
Angliae  quadragesimo  sexto,  Regni  vero  nostri  Franciae  tricesimo  tertio. — 
MS.  in  Bib.  Lam.  No.  104,  fol.    AD.  1372. 

%*  Canterbury  Hall  was  united  with  Christ  Church,  Oxford,  in  1545. 
But  scarcely  any  mention  of  Wycliffe  is  to  be  found  in  the  archives  of  Christ 
Church,  Balliol,  or  Merton.  It  is  supposed  that  the  hatred  shown  towards 
the  memory  of  the  Reformer  by  Archbishop  Chichele,  led  to  the  destruction 
of  documents  in  which  his  name  appeared.  The  Lambeth  Library  contains 
the  preceding  papers  relating  to  the  appeal,  but  throws  no  further  light  on 
this  piece  of  history.  There  is  in  the  Balliol  papers  one  entry  which  shows 
that  one  John  Heugate  was  warden  of  Balliol,  in  1366  ;  the  vacancy  occa- 
sioned by  WyclifFe's  removal  to  Canterbury  Hall  in  1365,  being  thus  filled. 
What  is  somewhat  curious,  there  is  another  document  at  Balliol,  which 
shows  that  there  was  a  John  de  Wycliffe  who  was  master  of  that  College 
in  1340,  when  the  Reformer  could  not  have  been  more  than  sixteen  years 
of  age. 


560 


A  ppendix. 


F.  page  1 15. 

It  was  my  intention  to  have  inserted  the  document  referred  to,  in  this 
place,  but  as  the  entire  substance  is  given  in  the  text,  and  as  the  paper  has 
been  several  times  printed,  in  Lewis,  and  in  my  Life  and  Opinions  of  Wycliffe, 
I  have  thought  that  it  may  be  omitted. 


G.  page  203. 

These  documents  may  be  seen  in  Walsingham,  Fox,  Wilkins,  Lewis,  and 
in  the  Appendix  to  the  Life  and  Opinions  of  Wycliffe — their  insertion  in  this 
place  would  occupy  large  space  to  little  purpose. 


H.  page  220. 

This  paper  contains  nothing  of  value  that  is  not  given  in  the  text.  It  may 
be  seen  in  Fox,  in  Lewis,  and  in  the  Appendix  to  the  Life  and  Opinions  of 
Wycliffe. 


I.  page  245. 
Conclusiones  J.  Wicleji  de  Sacramento  Altaris. 

1.  Hostia  consecrata  quam  videmus  in  Altari  nee  est  Christus  nee  aliqua 
sui  pars,  sed  efficax  ejus  signum. 

2.  Nullus  viator  sufScit  oculo  corporali,  sed  fide  Christum  videre  in  hostia 
consecrata. 

3.  Olim  fuit  fides  Ecclesie  Romane  in  professione  Berengarii  quod  panis 
et  vinum  que  remanent  post  benedictionem  sunt  hostia  consecrata. 

4.  Eukaristia  habet  virtute  verborum  sacramentalium  tam  corpus  quam 
sanguinem  Christi  vere  et  realiter  ad  ^quemlibet  ejus  punctum. 


Sic  MS. 


Papers  relating  to  the  Eucharist  Controversy.         561 

5.  Transubstantiacio,  ydemptificacio  et  impanacio  quibus  utuntur  baptiste 
signoriim  in  materia  de  eukaristia  non  sunt  fundabiles  in  Scriptura. 

6.  Repugnat  Sanctorum  sentenciis  asserere  quod  sit  accidens  sine  subjecto 
in  hostia  veritatis. 

7.  Sacramentum  Eukaristie  est  in  natura  sua  panis  aut  vinum,  babens 
virtute  verborum  sacramentalium  verum  corpus  et  sanguinem  Christi  ad 
quemlibet  ejus  punctum. 

8.  Sacramentum  Eukaristie  est  in  figura  corpus  Christi  et  sanguis,  in  que 
transubstanciatur  panis  aut  vinum  cujus  remanet  post  consecracionem  ali- 
quitas  licet  quoad  consideracionem  fidelium  sit  sopita. 

9.  Quod  accidens  sit  sine  subjecto  non  est  fundabile,  sed  si  sic  Deus 
adnichilatur  et  peritquilibet  articulus  fidei  Christiane. 

10.  Quecunque  persona  vel  secta  est  nimis  heretica  que  pertinaciter  de- 
fenderit  quod  Sacramentum  Altaris  est  panis  per  se  existons  in  natura  infi- 
nitum abjectior  et  imperfectior  pane  equino. 

11.  Quicunque  pertinaciter  defendet  quod  dictum  Sacramentum  sit  acci- 
dens, qualitas,  quantitas  aut  earum  aggregatio  incidit  in  beresim  supra- 
dictam. 

12.  Panis  triticeus  in  quo  solum  licet  conficere,  est  in  natura  infinitum 
perfectior  pane  fabino  vel  rationis,  quorum  uterque  in  natura  est  perfectior 
accidente.— MS.  in  Hyp.  Bodl.  163, 


No.  II. 

Diffinitio  facta  per  Cancellarium  et  Doctores  Universitatis  Oxoniiy  de 
Sacramento  Altaris  contra  Opiniones  Wyclijffianas :  alias  Sententia 
Willielmi  Cancellarii  Oxon.  contra  M.  J.  Wyclyff  residentem  in 
Cathedra. 

Willielmus  de  ^Barton  Cancellarius  Universitatis  Oxon.  Omnibus  dicte 
Universitatis  filiis  ad  quos  presens  nostrum  mandatum  pervenerit,  salutem, 
et  mandatis  nostris  firmiter  obedire.  Ad  nostrum  non  sine  grandi  displicentia 
pervenit  auditum,  quod  cum  "omnium  heresium  inventores,  defensores,  seu 
fautores,  cum  eorum  ^perniciis  dogmatibus  sint  per  sacros  Canones  sententia 
majoris  Excommunicationis  damnabiliter  involuti,  et  sic  a  cunctis  Catholicis 
racionabiliter  evitandi :  Nonnulli  tamen  maligni  spiritus  repleti  concilio  in 
insaniam  mentis  producti,  molientes  tunicam  Domini  "^scilicet  Sancte  Ecclesie 
scindere  unitatem,  quasdam  bereses  olim  ab  Ecclesia  solenniter  condemnatas : 
Hiis  diebus,  proh  dolor!  innovant,  ettam  in  ista  Universitate ista quam  extra 
publice   dogmatizant ;  duo  inter  alia  sua  documenta  pestifera  asserentes, 

*  Berton.  *  omnes.  ^  pemiciosis.  ■*  similiter. 

2  o 


562  Appendix, 

primo,  in  Sacramento  Altaris  substantiam  panis  materialis  et  vini,  quae  prius 
fuerunt  ante  consecrationem,  post  eonsecrationem  realiter  remanere.  Se- 
cundo,  quod  execrabilius  est  auditu,  in  illo  venerabili  Sacramento  non  esse 
corpus  Christi  et  sanguinem  essentialiter,  nee  substantialiter,  nee  etiam  cor- 
poraliter,  sed  figurative,  seu  tropice,  sic  quod  Christus  non  est  ibi  veraciter 
in  sua  propria  ^persona  corporali.  Ex  quibus  documentis  fides  catholica 
periclitatur,  devocio  populi  minoratur,  et  hec  Universitas  mater  nostra  non 
mediocriter  difFamatur.  Nos  igitur  advertentes  quod  assertiones  hujusmodi 
per  ^tempus  se  deteriores  haberent  si  diucius  in  hac  Universitate  sic  conni- 
ventibus  oculis  tolerentur,  convocavimus  plures  sacrse  Theologiae  Doctores 
et  Juris  Canonici  Profossores  quos  periciores  credidimus,  et  premissis  asser- 
tionibus  in  eorum  presentia  patenter  expositis  ac  diligenter  discussis,  tandem 
finaliter  est  compertum,  et  eorum  ^judiciis  declaratum  ipsas  esse  ''errores 
atque  determinationibus  Ecclesise  repugnantes,  contradictoriasque  earundem 
esse  veritates  Catbolicas,  et  ex  dictis  sanctorum,  et  determinacionibus  Ec- 
clesie  manifeste  sequentes ;  videlicet  quod  per  verba  Sacramentalia  a  sacer- 
dote  rite  prolata  panis  et  vinum  in  Altari  in  verum  corpus  Christi  et  sanguinem 
transubstantiantur  seu  substantialiter  convertuntur,  sic  quod  post  consecra- 
tionem non  remanent  in  illo  venerabili  Sacramento,  panis  materialis  et  vinum 
que  prius  secundum  suas  substantias  seu  naturas,  sed  ^solum  species  eorun- 
dem,  sub  quibus  speciebus  verum  corpus  Christi  et  sanguis  realiter  conti- 
nentur,  non  solum  figurative  seu  tropice,  sed  essentialiter,  substantialiter  ac 
corporaliter,  sic  quod  Christus  est  ibi  veraciter  in  sua  propria  presencia 
corporali,  hoc  credendum,  hoc  docendum,  hoc  contra  omnes  contradicentes 
viriliter  defendendum.  Hortamur  igitur  in  Domino,  et  auctoritate  nostra 
monemus  primo,  secundo  et  tertio,  ac  districtius  inhibemus,  pro  prima 
monicione  assignando  unum  diem  ;  pro  secunda  alium  diem ;  et  pro  tertia 
monicione  Canonica  ac  peremptoria  unum  alium  diem,  ne  quis  de  cetero 
cujuscunque  gradus,  status  aut  conditionis  existat,  premissas  duas  assertiones 
erroneas  aut  earum  alteram,  in  scolis  ^vel  extra  scolas  in  hac  Universitate 
publico  teneat,  doceat  '  aut  defendat  subpena  incarcerationis,  et  suspencionis 
ab  omni  actu  scolastico,  ac  eciam  sub  pena  excommunicationis  majoris  quam 
in  omnes  et  singulos  in  hac  parte  rebelles  et  nostris  monicionibus  non  pa- 
rentes,  lapsis  ipsis  tribus  diebus  pro  monicione  canonica  assignatis,  mora, 
culpa  et  offensa  precedentibus,  et  id  fieri  merito  exigentibus  ferimus  in  his 
scriptis,  quorum  omnium  absoluciones,  et  absolvendi  potestatem,  preterquam 
in  mortis  articulo,  nobis  et  successoribus  nostris  specialiter  reservamus. 

Insuper  ut  homines  quamvis  non  propter  timorem  late  sententie  ^propter 
defectum  audiencie  atalibus  doctrines  illicitis  retrahantur,  et  eorum  opiniones 
erronee  sopiantur,  eadem  auctoritate  qua  prius  monemus  primo,  secundo,^  ter- 
tio, ac  districcius  inhibemus,  ne  quis  de  cetero  aliquem  publico  docentem,  te- 

'  presentia.  ^  partus.  ^  judicio.  *  erroneas. 

^  secundum.  "  aut.  '  seu.  ^  adde  saltern.  ^  add.  et. 


Papers  relating  to  the  Eucluirist  Controversy.         563 

nentcm  sen  defendentem  premissas  duas  assercionea  erroneas  aut  earum 
alteram  in  scolis  vel  extra  scolas  in  hac  Universitate  quovismodo  audiat  vel 
auscultet,  sed  statim  sic  docentem  tanquam  serpentem  venenum  pestiferum 
emittentem  fugiat  et  abscedat,  sub  pena  excommunicationis  majoris,  et  omnes 
et  singulos  contravenientes  non  immerito  fulmenande  et  sub  penis  aliis 
superius  annotatis. 

Nomina  ^  Doctorum  qui  present!  decreto  specialiter  afFuerunt,  et  eidem 
unanimiter  consenserunt  sunt  hec. 

Magister  Johannes  Lawndreyn  sacre  pagine  professor  et  secularis. 

Magister  Henricus  ^  Cronpe  Abbas  Monachus. 

Magister  Johannes  Chessham  de  ordine  predicatorum. 

Magister  Willielmus^  Bruscombe  de  eodem  ordine. 

Magister  Johannes  Schypton  de  ordine  Augustinorum. 

Magister  Johannes  Tyssington  de  ordine  Minorum. 

Magister  Johannes  Loveye  de  ordine  Carmelitarum. 

Magister  Johannes  *  Wellys  Monachus  de  Ramesey. 

Magister  Johannes  Wolverton  de  ordine  predicatorum. 

Magister  Kobertus  *  Rugge  S.  pagine  professor  et  secularis. 

Magister  Joannes  Moubray  Doctor  in  utroque  Jure. 

Magister  Joannes  Gascoygne  Doctor  in  Decretis. 

Convocatis  igitur  prefatis  Doctoribus^  in  eorum  domum  et  plena  delibera- 
tione  habita  de  premissis,  ex  omnium  nostrum  unanimi  concilio  et  assensu, 
presens  mandatum  emanare  decrevimus.  In  quorum  omnium  singulorum 
testimonium,  sigillum  officii^  fecimus  hiis  opponi. — Spelman.  vol.  ii.  p.  627. 
Ex.  MS.  Hyp.  Bodl.  163. 


J.  page  247. 

See  the  extract  from  the  Sudbury  Register,  relating  to  the  proceedings  in 
Oxford,  as  given  in  note  L.  p.  571. 


1   V. 


insere  autem.  ^  Gromp.  '  Brustoumbe.  "*  Welles. 

*  Rigge.  •  ut  est  dictum.  ''  ins.  uostri. 


2   o    2 


564i  Appendix. 


No.  III. 

K.  page  267,  310. 

Confessio  Magistri  Johannis  Wycclyff, 

Sepe  confessus  sum  et  adhuc  confiteof  quod  idem  corpus  Christi  in  numero, 
quod  fuit  assumptum  de  Virgine,  quod  passum  est  in  cruce,  quod  pro  sancto 
triduo  jacuitin  sepulchro,  quod  tercia  die  resurrexit,  quod  post  40  dies  ascen- 
dit  in  coelum,  et  quod  sedetperpetuo  ad  dextram  Dei  Patris  ;  ipsum,  inquam, 
idem  corpus  et  eadem  substantia  est  vere  et  realiter  panis  sacramentalis  vel 
hostia  consecrata  quam  fideles  senciunt  in  manibus  sacerdotis,  cujus  probacio 
est  quia  Christus  quimentiri  non  potest  sic  asserit.  Non  tamen  audeo  dicere 
quod  corpus  Christi  sit  essentialiter,  substantialiter,  corporaliter  vel  ydemptice 
ille  panis  sicut  corpus  Christi  extensum  est  ille  panis :  Sed  ipsum  corpus  non  est 
extense  vel  dimensionaliter  ille  panis.  Credimus  enim  quod  triplex  est  modus 
essendi  corpus  Christi  in  hostia  consecrata,  scilicet,  virtualis,  spiritualis,  et 
sacramentalis.  Virtualis  quo  benefacit  per  totum  suum  dominum,  secundum 
bona  nature  vel  gratie.  Modus  autem  essendi  spiritualis  est  quo  corpus 
Christi  est  in  Eucharistia  et  Sanctis  pergratiam.  Et  tercius  est  modus  essendi 
sacramentalis  quo  corpus  Christi  singulariter  in  hostia  consecrata,  et  sicut 
secundus  modus  perexigit  primum ;  ita  tercius  modus  secundum  perexigit 
quia  impossibile  est  prescitum  carentem  fide  secundum  justiciam  presentem 
conficere.  Qui  ergo  credit  sive  conficiat  sive  non  conficiat  manducavit,  ut 
dicit  Beatus  Augustinus  super  Joannem  Omelia  25.  Et  iste  modus  essendi 
spiritualis  est  verior  in  anima.  Est  eciam  verier  et  realior  quam  prior  modus 
essendi,  vel  secundum  membrum  secundi  modi  essendi  in  hostia  consecrata, 
cum  sit  per  se  causa  illius  modi  vel  efRciens  vel  finalis,  et  per  se  causa  est 
magis  verius  Ens  suo  causato.  Modus  autem  essendi  quo  corpus  Christi  est 
in  hostia  (Bst  modus  verus  et  realis,  cum  autorum  numerus  qui  mentiri  non 
potest  dixit,  hoc  est  corpus  meum,  et  reliquit  suis  sacerdotibus  virtutem  simi- 
liter faciendi.  Hoc  autem  totum  ex  fide  scripturae  colligitur.  Ideo  Christus 
est  specialiori  modo  in  isto  Sacramento  quam  in  aliis.  Cum  sit  simul  Veritas 
et  figura,  non  est  autem  sic  secundum  alia  sacramenta,  patet  iste  miraculosus 
modus  essendi  sacramentalis.  Cultores  autem  signorum  nesciunt  fundare  quod 
in  suo  Sacramento  est  realiter  corpus  Christi.  Sed  preter  istos  tres  modos  es- 
sendi sunt  alii  tres  modi  realiores  et  veriores  quos  corpus  Christi  appropriate 
habetin  coelo  sc.  modus  essendi  substantialiter,  corporaliter  et  dimensionaliter. 
Etgrosse  concipientesnon  intelligunt  aliummodumesendi  naturalis  substanciae 
praeter  illos.  Illi  autem  sunt  valde  indispositi  ad  consipendum  avchana  Eu- 
charistie,  et  subtilitatem  scripturae.  Ideo  dico  illis  quod  duo  modi  priores  in 
substancia  corporal!  coincidunt,  non  quod  esse  substantialiter  consequitur 


Papers  relating  to  the  Eucharist  Controversy.         565 

corpus  Christi  secundum  racionem  qua  corpus  Christi.    Modus  autem  essendi 
dimensionalis  consequitur  ad  duos  priores,  sicut  passio  ad  subjectuni.   Et  qui- 
libet  istorum  trium  modorum  erit  realior  et  causa  prior  quam  priores.     Nullo 
alio  istorum  modorum  trium  est  corpus  Christi  in  Sacramento  sed  in  coelo : 
Quia  tum  feret  corpus  Christi  septipedale  in  hostia.  Sicut  ergo  corpus  Christi  est 
in  ilia  hostia,  sic  est  substantialiter,  corporaliter  ibidem,  et  dimensionaliter,  at- 
tendendo  ad  modum  hostie  secundum  naturam  suam,  et  non  attendendo  ad 
corpus  Christi  et  ad  naturam  suam,  ut  dictum  est  superius.    Et  ita  conceditur 
quod  corpus  Christi  estsubstanciacorporalis  in  hostia  consecrata.  Sic  istotercio 
modo  in  ista  hostia  secundum  racionem  qua  est  ista  hostia,  sed  non  secundum 
racionem  qua  corpus  Christi.     Et  ita  conceditur  quod  corpus  Christi  est  quan- 
tumcunque  varie  quantificatum  ibi  cum  sit  quelibet  pars  quantitativa  illius 
hostie,  et  tum  non  quantificatur  aliqua  hujusmodi  quantitate,  et  sic  est  varie 
magnum  in  diversis  partibus  illius  hostie,  sed  non  in  se  formaliter  magnum, 
aliqua  tali  magnitudine.     Sed  multi  mussitant  super  isto  quod  sequitur  ex 
ista  sentencia  quod  corpus  Christi  non  sit  in  Eucharistia  aliter  quam  in  signo 
sic  autem  est  in  ymagine  crucifixi.     Hie  dicunt  fideles  quod  corpus  Christi 
non  est  in  celo  vel  in  humanitate  asumpta  aliter  quam  in  signo,  est  tamen 
ibi  aliter  quam  ut  in  signo.     Nam  Sacramentum  in  quantum  hujusmodi  est 
signum,  ethumanitas  estsignum,  cum  Luce  2*°  dicitur  quod  positus  est  hie  in 
ruinam  et  in  resurrectionem  multorum  et  in  signum  cui  contradicetur.    Et  se- 
cunda  pars  conclusionis  patet  ex  hoc  quod  alius  est  modus  essendi  signum 
corporis  Christi,  et  alius  modus  essendi  vere  et  realiter  virtute  verborum 
Domini  corporis  Christi.     Conceditur  tamen  quod  isti  duo  modi  inseparabili- 
ter  comitantur.     Hoc  tamen  signum  infinitum  est  prestancius  quam  signa 
corporis  Christi  in  lege  veteri,  vel  ymagines  in  lege  nova,  cum  sit  simul  Veri- 
tas et  figura.     Intelligo  autem  dicta  mea  in  ista^  materia,  secundum  logicam 
scripture,  nee  non  secundum  logicam  sanctorum  doctorum  et  decreti  Romane 
Ecclesie.      Quos    suppono    prudenter    fuisse    locutos.       Non     enira    valet 
scandalizare  totam  Romanam  Ecclesiam  quum  dicit  panem  et  vinum  esse 
po«t  consecrationem,  corpus  et  sanguinem   Jesu   Christi,  et  non  obstante 
errore    glosomium   ista    fides   mansit    continue   in    Ecclesia    eciam    apud 
laicos.       Cum    ergo  fidelis  non    optaret   comedere  corporaliter    sed  spiri- 
tualiter  corpus   Christi,   patet    quod   omnis    sciens    aptavit  ilium  modum 
spiritualem   essendi  corporis  sui   cum  hostia  que  debet    comedi   a  fideli  : 
Alium  autem  modum  essendi  cum    foret   superfluus  abstrahebat.       Unde 
infideles  murmurant  cum  illis  qui  abierunt  retrorsum  dicentes,  Durus  est 
hie  sermo,  cum  corpus  sit  corporaliter  comedendum,  vel  cum  illis  obser- 
vatoribus  legalium  legis  veteris  qui  non  putant  esse  prestanciorem  gradum 
in  signo   Eucharistie  quam   fuit   in   signis  legis  veteris,   vel  quam  est  in 
signis  humanitus  institutis.     Et  hii  fingunt  quod  accidens  potest  fieri  corpus 
Christi,  et  quod  melius  et  planius  dixisset  Christus  hoc  accidens  sine  subjecto 
significat  corpus  meum.    Utraque  autem  istarum  ex  ignorancia  graduum  in 
signis  est  infideli  deterior.    Teneamus  ergo  quod  virtute  verborum  Christ 


566  Appendix. 

panis  iste  fit  et  est  miraculose  corpus  Christi  ultra  possibilitatem  signi  ad  hoc 
humanitus  instituti.  Verumtatem  ista  unitas  vel  unio  sive  accepcio  non 
attingit  ad  unitatem  ydempticam  numeralem  vel  unionem  ypostaticam,  sed 
creditur  quod  sic  immediate  post  illam,  et  sic  accidencia  corporalia  corporis 
Christi  ut  quantitates  corporales  corporis  Christi  videntur  non  multiplicari 
comitantur  ad  corpus  Christi  in  hostia,  et  per  idem  nee  alia  accidencia  re- 
spectiva  que  fundantur  in  istis  quod  omnia  ista  accidencia  perexigunt  esse 
corporale  subjecti  sui  ubicunque  fuerint.  Ut  si  hie  sic  septipedalitas,  color, 
vel  substancia  corporalis  corporis  Christi  tunc  hie  est  quod  corpus  Christi  est 
septipedale  coloratum  et  corporaliter  glorificatum,  et  per  consequensChristus 
habet  hie  existenciam  corporalem,  quod  cum  sit  falsum  negandum  est  talia 
accidentia  secundum  conditiones  materiales  multiplicari  comitantur  ad  cor- 
pus Christi  in  hostia  consecrata.  Partes  autem  quantitative  corporis  Christi 
habent  esse  spirituale  in  hostia,  immo  habent  esse  sacramentale  ibidem,  cum 
sunt  quodammodo  quelibet  pars  quantitativa  istius  hostie,  et  multo  magis 
multiplicatur  anima  Christi  per  hostiam  secundum  quoddam  esse  spirituale 
quam  est  illud  esse  quod  habet  in  corpore  Christi  in  coelo.  Et  causa  hujus 
multiplicationis  anime  Christi  est  quod  ipsa  est  principalius  ipso  corpore  per- 
sona verbi.  Qualitates  autem  immateriales  quae  subjectantur  in  anima  Christi 
multiplicantur  cum  ipsa  per  hostiam,  ut{scientia,  justicia  et  alie  virtutes  animae 
Christi  que  non  requirunt  pre-existentiam  corporalem  Christi  ubicunque 
fuerint.  Ipse  enim  fuerunt  cum  ipso,  quia  cum  ejus  anima  in  inferno.  Sicut 
ergo  per  totam  hostiam  est  Christus  virtuosus  :  sic  est  per  illam  virtus  Christi. 
Unde  Autor  de  divinis  officiis  quod  propter  esse  spirituale  corporis  Christi  in 
hostia,  est  ibi  concomitancia  Angelorum,  quia  tamen  sophisticari  potest  ista 
oblacio  ex  detectu  potestatis  fidei,  et  verborum  presbyteri  ideo  ^meti  religiosi 
adorant  conditionaliter  banc  hostiam  et  in  corpore  Christi  quod  est  substan- 
cialiter  et  ineffabiliter  quietati.  Sed  ydioteremurmurant  querentes  quomodo 
corpus  est  ille  panis  sanctus  cum  non  ^  sint  idem  secundum  substanciam  vel 
naturam  ?  Sed  ipsos  oportet  addiscere  fidem  de  incarnacione  quomodo  due 
substancie  vel  nature  valde  differentes  sunt  idem  suppositum  et  tamen  non 
sunt  eedem,  quia  utraque  earum  est  Christus  et  tunc  possunt  a  posse  non 
ascendere  ad  cognoscendam  istam  miraculosam  unionem  servata  utraque 
natura  non  ydemptifica  verbo  Dei.  Sed  oportet  eos  cognoscere  gradus  in 
signis,  et  deposcere  infundabilem  blasphemiam  defictis  miraculisascendentis 
et  credere  virtutem  verborum  Christi,  et  tunc  possunt  cognoscere  quomodo 
ille  panis  est  ^bn.  miraculose,  vere,  realiter,  spiritualiter,  virtualiter,  et  sacra- 
mentaliter  corpus  Christi.  Sed  grossi  non  contentantur  de  istis  modis,  sed 
exigunt  quod  panis  ille  vel  saltem  per  ipsum  sit  substantialiter,  et  corpo- 
raliter corpus  Christi.  Sic  enim  volunt  zelus  blasphemorum  Christum 
comedere  sed  non  possunt.  Adducitur  autem  super  hoc  testimonium 
Hugonis  de  Sancto  Victore  libro  2<*  de  Sacramentis  parte  8.  cap.  7.     Quera- 

\  Sic  MS.  2  Ibid,  3  Ibid  pro  bene. 


Papers  relating  to  the  Eucharist  Controversy.         567 

admodum  species  illic  cernitur  res  vel  substantia  ibi  esse  non  creditur  : 
Sic  res  ibi  veraciter  et  substantialiter  presens  creditur  cujus  species  non 
cernitur.    Exeniplum  ad  ilium  Doctorem  patet,  quia  ille  subtiliter  inculcat 
catholicam   sententiam   supradictam,   vult  enim    quod   species   sencibiliter 
cernitur  ibi,  et  quod  ista  species   sit  essencialiter  panis  et  vinum   quod 
eciam  cernitur  licet  per  accidens,  ideo  sepe  vocat  ipsum  panem  et  vinum, 
que    sunt    alimenta  solita   et   principalis    substantia  alimenti  ut  patet  in 
dicto  cap.  et  cap.  sequenti.     Ibidem   autem  dicit  panem  dicit  habere  rem 
vel   substanciam   que   creditur  non   ibi   cernitur,    cum   sit  corpus    Christi. 
Sed  pro  isto  adverbio  substancialiter  notandum  quodcunque  sumitur  sim- 
pliciter   pro    modo  substancie   sic  quod  idem   sit  corpus    Christi   esse  ibi 
substantialiter,  et  esse  ibi  modo  substancie.     Et  sic  loquitur  Hugo.    Quan- 
doque  superaddit  reduplicative  racionem   corporis  in   quantum   talis  sub- 
stancia.    Et  sic  proprie  intelligo  ego  adverbia.    Unde  eodem  cap.  dicitur 
quod  corporaliter  secundum  corporis  et  sanguinis  Christi  virtutem   Chris- 
tum sumimus  in  altari.     Quod  oportet  sic  intelligi  quod  spiritualiter  su- 
mimus  carnem  Christi.    Et  iste   est  verus  modus   corporis  licet  non   sit 
modus  consequens  corpus    in    quantum   corpus.      Quia  Johannis   6.   dicit 
Christus    Caro  non  prodest  quicquam.     Cum    nee   sentencia    carnalis,   nee 
manducacio  corporalis  corporis  Domini  quicquam  prodest.     Nam  insensi- 
biliter  sumitur  quantum    ad  formam   corporis   sui,  ut   dicit   doctor  cap.  9, 
ejusdem  partis,  sed  visibiliter  quoad  substanciam  sacramenli.     Unde  talis 
equivocacio  facta  est  in  adverbiis  ad  excellenciam  Eukaristie  super  figuras 
legis  veteris  declarandam.     Nostra  autem   locucio  est  propria,  quia  aliter 
oporteret  concedere  quod   esse   substancialiter  sit  esse  accidentaliter ;  esse 
corporaliter,  sit  esse  spiritualiter;  esse  carnaliter  sit  esse  virtualiter ;  et  esse 
dimensive  sit  esse  multiplicative;  et  periret  modo  non  distinccio.    Sicut 
ergo  conceditur  quod  corpus  Christi  cernitur  vel  tenetur  in  symbolis,  vel  in 
hostia  et  sentitur,  quod  tamen  non  sic  ^  mo'  quia  non  secundum  naturam 
corporis  Christi  vel  in  quantum  ipsum  corpus.     Sic  conceditur  quod  corpus 
Christi  est  in  hostia  modo   accidentali  substancie   quia  modo  spiritual!  et 
sacramentali  presupponente  tres  alios  modos  realiores  ipsius  corporis  existere 
causative  :  Sic  autem  non  fuit  in  figuris  legis  veteris,  vel  in  figuris  legis 
nostre  humanitus  institutis.     Et  sic  possunt  distingui  modus  prior  quo  est  in 
celo,  et  modus  posterior  quo  est  in  sacramento.     Sic  autem  in  tribus  discre- 
pamus  a  sectis  signorum.     Primo  in  hoc  quod  ponimus  venerabile  sacra- 
mentum  altaris  esse  naturaliter  panem  et  vinum,  sed  sacramentaliter  corpus 
Christi  et  sanguinem ;  sed  secta  contrari  fingit  ipsum  esse  vinum  ignotum  : 
Accidens  sine  substancia  subjecta.     Et  ex  ista  radice  erroris  pullulant  nimis 
multe    varietates   erroris.     Nam  secta  nostra  adorat  sacramentum,  non  ut 
panis  aut  vini  substanciam  :  Sed  ut  corpus  Christi  et  sanguinem.     Sed  secta 
cultorum  accidencium,  ut  credo,  adorat  hoc  sacramentum  non  ut  est  accidens 

'  Sic  MS. 


568  Appendix. 

sine  subjecto,  sed  ut  est  signum  sacramentale  corporis  Christi  et  sanguinis. 
Signa  autem  cultus  sui  ostendunt  quod  adorant  crucem  et  alias  ymagines 
Ecclesie  que  habent  minorem  racionem  adoracionis  quam  hoc  venerabile 
sacramentum.  Nam  in  quacunque  substantia  creata  est  deitas  realius  et 
substancialius  quam  corpus  Christi  est  in  hostia  consecrata?  Ideo  nisi  ipsa 
fuerit  virtute  verborum  Christi  corpus  ^  sum.  non  est  racio  tante  excellencie 
adorandum.  Tercio  secta  nostra  per  equivocacionis  detectionem,  et  aliarum 
fallaciarum  tollit  argucias  adversancium,  ut  aliqua  locuntur  sancti  de  Sacra- 
mento utpanis,  et  aliqua  dicunt  de  isto  non  ut  ydemptice,  sed  sacramenta- 
liter  corpus  Christi.  Sed  secta  adversariorum  ^inculpat  difRcultates  inutiles, 
et  fingit  consequenter  miracula  de  operacionibus  accidentis.  Sunt  autem 
ex  nostra  sententia  diffinicio  summi  judicis  Domini  nostri  Jeshu  Christi  qui 
in  cena  noctis  sue  tradicionis  accepit  panem  in  manibus  suis,  benedixit  et 
fregit  et  manducare  ex  eo  generaliter  precepit,  Hoc,  inquit,  est  corpus  meum. 
Cum  autem  daretur  panis  quem  tociens  replicavit  pro  nomine  dandi  et  totum 
residuum  ^ppo.  sigt.  illi  qui  mentiri  non  potest  ipsum  esse  corpus  suum  : 
manifestum  est  ex  autoritate  et  dictis  Christi,  quod  panis  ille  fuit  sacramen- 
taliter  corpus  suum.  Adducantur  autem  septem  testes  ad  testificandum 
Ecclesie  judicis  hujus  sentenciam.  Primus  est  beatus  Ignacius  Apostolis 
contemporaneus  qui  ab  illis  et  cum  illis  *acce  a  Domino  sensum  suum,  et 
recitat  eum  Lincolniensis  super  Ecclesiastica  ierarchia  cap.  3.  Sacramentum^ 
inquit,  vel  Eukaristia  est  corpus  Christi.  Secundus  testis  Beatus  Cyprianus 
in  epistola  sua  de  corpore  Christi.  Calicem,  inquit,  accipiens  in  die  passionis 
benedixit,  dedit  discipulis  suis,  dicens,  Accipite  et  bibite  ex  hoc  omnes,  hie 
est  sanguis  testamenti  qui  pro  multis  efFundetur  in  remissionem  peccatorum  ; 
Amen  dico  vobis,  non  bibam  amodo  ex  ista  creatura  vitis  usque  in  diem  quo 
vobiscum  bibam  novum  in  regno  patris  mei.  Quam  parte,  inquit  sanctus, 
invenimus  calicem  wixtum  fuisse,  quem  ohtulet,  et  vinum  quem  sanguinem  suum 
dixit.  Tercius  testis  est  Beatus  Ambrosius  in  lib.  suo  de  sacramentis  et 
ponitur  de  consecratione  dis.  2.  cap.  Panis  est  in  Altari.  Quod  erat  panis, 
inquit,  ante  consecrationem  jam  corpus  Christi  post  consecrationem.  Quartus 
testis  est  Beatus  Augustinus  in  quodam  sermone  exponens  illud  Luce  34, 
cognoverunt  eum  in  fraccione  panis:  Non  omnis  panis,  inquit,  sed  accipiens 
benediccionem  Christi  Jit  corpus  Christi.  Et  ponitur  in  Canone  ubi  supra. 
Quintus  testis  est  Beatus  Jeromius  in  epistola  ad  Elvideam,  Nos,  inquit, 
audiamus  panem  quem  fregit  Dominus,  deditque  discipulis  suis  esse  corpus. 
Domini  Salvatoris,  ipso  dicente  ad  eos,  Accipite  et  comedite,  hoc  est  corpus 
meum.  Sextus  testis  est  Decretum  Romane  Ecclesie,  que  sub  Nicolao  2"  et 
1 14  Epist.  ^  dectavit  prudenter  secundum  rectam  logicam  que  debet  capi  a 
tota  Ecclesia,  quod  panis  et  vinum  que  in  altari  ponuntur  sunt  post  conse- 
cracionem  non  solum  sacramentum,  sed  verum  corpus  et  sanguis  Domini 
nostri  Jeshu  Christi,  ut  patet  in  can.  ubi  supra.     Septimus  testis  est  usus 

^  Sic.  MS.      ^  pro  inculcat.      ^  proprio  signavit.      ■*  Sic  MS.  pro  accepit.    ^  Ibid. 


Papers  relating  to  the  Eucharist  Controversy.         569 

Ecclesie  que  in  canone  misse  habet,  ut  hec  ohlaciofiat  nobis  corpus  et  sanguis 
Domini  nosiri  Jhesu  Christi.  Illam  autem  oblacionem  vocat  Ecclesia  terre- 
nam  substanciam,  sicut  patet  in  secreto  medie  misse  Natalis  Domini.  Ista 
autem  septem  testimonia  sic  inficiunt  glossatores,  qui  dicunt  tacite  omnia 
talia  dicta  sanctorum  debere  intelligi  per  suum  contrarium,  et  sic  negari  fina- 
liter  cum  scriptura.  Penset  itaque  lidelis  si  sanum  fuerit  bereticare  vel  in 
hoc  scandalizare  bos  testes  et  multos  similes.  Penset  2o  quid  tenderet  ad 
bonorem  corporis  Christi  vel  devocionem  populi  quod  ipsum  corpus  dignissi- 
mum  sit  unum  accidens  sine  subjecto,  quod  Augustinus  dicit  esse  non  posse, 
vel  si  est,  est  unum  vel  aliud  abjectissimum  in  natura.  Tunc  inquam  foret 
^  Aug?  meus  ut  constat  hereticus  qui  in  epistola  14  ad  Bonifacium  de  fide 
Ecclesie  ita  scribit.  Si,  inquit,  Sacramenta  quandam  similitudinem  rerum 
earum  quarum  sacramenta  sunt  non  haberent,  omnino  sacramenta  non  essent. 
Ex  hac  eciam  similitudine  plerumque  jam  ipsarum  rerum  nomina  accipiunt. 
Sicut  ergo  secundum  quendam  modum  sacramentum  corporis  Christi  corpus 
Christi  est,  et  sacramentum  sanguinis  Christi,  sanguis  Christi  est,  ita  sacramen- 
tum Jldei  fides  est.  Ubi  planum  est  quod  loquitur  de  Sacramento  ^sc^tico  quod 
fingitur  accidens  sine  subjecto.  Sed  que  rogo  similitudo  ejus  ad  corpus 
Christi?  Revera  fructus  illius  demencie  foret  blasfemare  in  Deum,  scanda- 
lizare Sanctos,  et  illudere  Ecclesie  per  mendacia  accidentis.  Ad  tantum 
quidem  Testimonium  Sanctorum  per  glossatores  subvertitur,  quod  committo 
sensui  equivoco  quodcunque  dictum  eciam  scripture  non  facit  fidem.  Pos- 
tremo  scribit  Hyllarius  ut  recitatur  inde  consecra.  di.  2.  Corpus  Christi  quod 
sumitur  de  altari  figura  est  dum  panis  et  vinum  extra  videtur :  Videas  autem  cum 
corpus  et  sanguis  Christi  in  veritate  interius  creditur.  Ecce  quam  plane  panis 
et  vinutn  sunt  hoc  sacramentum,  ut  dicit  decretum  Ego  Berengarius.  Unde 
ad  delegendum  equivocacionem  illius  materie  scribitur  ibidem  secundum 
verba  Jeronimi,  De  hac  quidem  hostia  que  in  Christi  commemoracione  mirabi- 
liter fit,  edere  licet.  Ubi  planum  est  quod  loquitur  de  esu  corporali  et  distin- 
guit  inter  has  duas  hostias  secundum  substancias  vel  naturas.  Licet  panis 
iste  sit  secundum  racionem  alia  quam  sacramentum  ipsum  corpus,  ut  ipse 
sanctus  dicit  in  Epistola  ad  ^  Elbideam,  ut  recitatur  superius.  Et  patet  quam 
spissi  cultores  signorum  sunt  in  materia  ista  heretici.  Nedum  quia  imponunt 
heresim  fidelibus  qui  elucidant  istam  fidem ;  et  accusacio  de  heresi  obligat 
ad  penam  talionis;  verum  quia  falsificant  et  sic  negant  Dominum  Jesum 
Christum.  Nam  nihil  debemus  secundum  fidem  Evangelii  Christo  credere, 
si  non  asseruit  panem  quem  cepit  in  manibus  ac  fregit,  esse  corpus  suum  : 
sicut  dicit  Augustinus  super  ^p.  QQ.  Si  ego  quicquam  dixero,  nolite  ex  hoc 
credere  ;  sed  si  Christus  dicit,  ve  qui  non  credit.  Hec  debemus  credere  aliquem 
secundum  Evangelium  si  non  istum.  Ideo  ve  generacioni  adultere  que  plus 
credit  testimonio  Innocencii  vel  Raymundi  quam  sensui  Evangelii  capto  a 

*  Sic  MS.  pro  Augustinus.  ^  Sic  MS. 

^  Helvidium.  *  Sic  MS.  pro  Psalraum. 


570  Appendix. 

Testibus  supradictis.  Idem  enim  esset  scandalizare  illos  in  isto  et  imponere 
eis  heresim  ex  perversione  sensus  scripture,  precipue  et  iterum  de  ore  per- 
verso  Apostate  accumulantis  super  Ecclesiam  Romanam  mendacia  quibus 
fingit  quod  Ecclesia  posterior  priori  contraria  correxit  fidem  quod  sacramen- 
tum  istud  sit  accidens  sine  subjecto,  et  non  verus  panis  et  vinum,  ut  dicit 
Evangelium  cum  decreto.  Nam  teste  Augustino  tale  accidens  sine  subjecto 
non  potest  sacerdos  conficere.  Et  tamen  tantum  magnificant  sacerdotes  Baal, 
mendaciter  indubie  juxta  scolam  patris  sui,  consecracionem  hujus  accidentis 
quod  reputant  missas  alias  indignas  audiri,  vel  dissensientes  suis  mendaciis 
inhabiles  alicubi  graduari ;  sed  credo  quod  finaliter  Veritas  vincet  eos. 


No.  IV. 


"  We  beleve  as  Crist  and  his  Apostolus  han  taught  us,  that  the  Sacrament 
of  the  Auter  white  and  ronde,  and  lyk  tyl  oure  bede  or  ost  unsacrede  is  ver- 
ray  Goddus  body  in  fourme  of  brede,  and  if  it  be  broken  in  thre  parties  as 
the  Kirke  uses,  or  elles  in  a  thousand,  everylk  one  of  these  parties  is  the 
same  Goddus  body,  and  ryth  so  as  the  persone  of  Crist  is  veray  God  and 
verray  man,  verray  Godhede,  and  verray  manhede  ryth  so  as  holy  Kirke 
many  hundrith  wynter  has  trowyde,  the  same  Sacrament  is  verray  Goddus 
body  and  verray  brede  :  as  it  is  forme  of  Goddus  body  and  forme  of  brede  as 
techith  Christ  and  his  Apostolus.  And  therefore  Seynt  Poule  nemeth  it 
never  but  when  he  callus  it  brede,  and  he  be  our  beleve  took  his  wit  of  God 
in  this  :  and  the  argument  of  heretykus  agayne  this  sentens,  ^  lyth  to  a  Cris- 
tene  man  to  assolve.  [And  right  as  it  is  heresie  to  belive  that  Crist  is  a 
spirit  and  no  body  ;]  so  it  is  heresie  for  to  trowe  that  ihis  Sacrament  is  God- 
dus body  and  no  brede :  for  it  is  both  togedur.  But  the  most  heresie  that 
God  sufferyde  come  tyl  his  Kyrke  is  to  trowe  that  this  Sacrament  is  an  acci- 
dent withouten  a  substance,  and  may  on  no  wyse  be  Goddus  body  :  for  Crist 
sayde  bewitnesse  of  John  that  this  brede  is  my  body.  And  if  the  say  that  be 
this  skylle  that  holy  Kyrke  hat  bene  in  heresy  many  hundred  wynter,  sothe 
it  is,  specially  sythen  the  fende  was  lousede  that  was  bewitnesse  of  angele  to 
John  Evangeliste  after  a  thousande  wynter  that  Crist  was  stenenyde  to  heven. 
But  it  is  to  suppose  that  many  seyntes  that  dyede  in  the  mene  tyme  before 
her  death  were  purede  of  this  erroure.  Owe  how  grete  diversitie  is  betwene 
us  that  trowes  that  this  Sacrament  is  verray  brede  in  his  kynde,  and  between 
heretykus  that  tell  us  that  this  is  an  accident  withouten  a  sujet.  For  before 
that  the  fende  fader  of  lesyngus  was  lowside,  was  never  thisgabbyng  contry- 
vede.    And  how  grete  diversitie  is  between  us  that  trowes  that  this  Sacra- 

'  easy. 


WycUffe  in  Oxford  in  1382.  571 

ment  that  in  his  kinde  is  veray  brede  and  sacramentally  Goddus  body,  and 
between  heretykes  that  trowes  and  telles  that  this  Sacrament  may  on  none 
wise  be  Goddus  body.  For  I  dare  surly  say  that  yf  this  were  soth  Cryst  and 
his  seynts  dyede  heretykus,  and  the  more  partye  of  holy  Kirke  belevyth  now 
heresye,  and  before  devout  men  supposen  that  this  counsayle  of  Freres  in 
London,  was  with  the  herydene.  For  they  put  an  heresie  upon  Crist  and 
seynts  in  hevyne,  wherefore  the  erth  tremblide.'  Fay  land  maynnus  voice 
answeryde  for  God  als  it  did  in  tyme  of  his  passione,  whan  he  was  dampnyde 
to  bodely  deth.  Crist  and  his  modur  that  in  gronde  had  destroyde  all  here- 
sies kep  his  Kyrke  in  right  belefe  of  this  Sacrament,  and  move  the  King  and 
his  rewme  to  ask  sharply  of  his  Clerkus  this  offis  that  alJ  his  possessioneres 
on  pain  of  lesying  all  her  temporaltes  telle  the  King  and  his  rewme  with  suf- 
ficient grownding  what  is  this  Sacrament ;  and  all  the  Orders  of  Freres  on 
payne  of  lesing  her  legians  telle  the  King  and  his  rewme  with  gode  grounding 
what  is  the  Sacrament ;  for  I  am  certaine  of  the  thridde  part  of  Clergie  that 
defendus  thise  doutes  that  is  here  said,  that  they  will  defende  it  on  paine  of 
her  lyfe." — Knighton  de  Event.  Angl.  apud  X.  Scripto  res,  coll.  2649, 
2650. 


L.  page  319. 

Before  quitting  the  subject  of  these  proceedings  in  Oxford,  in  the  No- 
vember of  1382,  it  will  be  proper  to  examine  the  grounds  of  the  doubt  that 
has  been  expressed,  as  to  WyclifFe's  having  been  present  in  person  on  that 
occasion.  This  doubt  has  arisen  from  the  circumstance,  that  his  name  does 
not  occur  in  the  archiepiscopal  register  relating  to  what  was  there  done. 
Such  an  omission,  supposing  the  facts  to  have  been  as  we  have  stated,  is  cer- 
tainly remarkable.  But  it  must  be  borne  in  mind,  that  public  records  were 
not  so  secure  against  injury,  either  in  the  way  of  insertions  or  omissions,  in 
those  times,  as  in  our  own.  We  have  seen,  that  even  the  rolls  of  parliament 
in  that  age,  were  not  safe  against  the  appearance  of  entries,  set  forth  as  sta- 
tutes of  the  realm,  which  neither  lords  nor  commons  had  sanctioned,  or  even 
heard  of,  until  apprised  of  their  existence  in  that  surreptitious  shape.  The 
pretended  statute  to  which  we  allude  had  been  procured  by  the  clergy, 
who  wished  to  be  vested  with  powers  to  crush  the  Wycliffites  by  force;  and 
there  is  reason,  to  think  that  Courtney  himself  was  a  party  to  the  fraud 
thus  attempted.    The  causes,  moreover,  which  precluded  the  prelates  and 

*  Ipse  Wycliff  in  4  libro  Trialogi  sui  ter  darapnati  capitulo  36.  praedictum  concilium 
contra  eiim  celebratum  A.  D.  1380.  Londoniis  vocat  Concilium  Terraemotus.  Gascoiffne 
Diet.  Theo.  MS. 


572  Appendix, 

their  coadjutors  from  citing  WycliflPe  to  appear  before  them  at  their  previous 
meetings,  and  which,  supposing  him  to  have  been  present  at  Oxford,  pre- 
cluded them  still  from  adopting  harsh  measures  in  relation  to  him,  may  have 
left  them  little  disposed  to  make  a  record  of  proceedings  which  could  not  be 
interpreted  otherwise  than  as  the  record  of  a  virtual  defeat.  Even  supposing 
the  record  to  have  been  faithfully  made  at  the  time,  we  can  imagine  the  feel- 
ing that  may  have  prompted  to  its  mutilation,  or  to  the  entire  substraction  of 
this  portion  of  it  afterwards. 

But  not  to  dwell  on  such  possibilities,  the  register  itself  apprizes  us  that 
it  must  not  be  taken  as  more  than  a  very  imperfect  record  of  what  was  done. 
The  convocation  assembled  on  the  18th  of  November,  and  met  from  day  to 
day  by  successive  adjournments  until  the  twenty-fourth.  On  this  last  day, 
Reppington  and  Ashton  read  a  sort  of  recantation,  and  steps  were  taken  to 
compel  the  students  to  renounce  on  oath  the  conclusions  which  the  synod 
in  London  had  condemned.  But  of  what  was  done  at  the  preceding  meet- 
ings no  information  is  given.  Among  the  various  proceedings  of  that  interval, 
of  which  we  have  no  record,  may  have  been  the  examination  of  Wycliffe.^ 
The  positive  evidence  in  favour  of  Wycliffe's  presence  before  the  convoca- 
tion is  so  strong,  as  to  oblige  us  to  attach  considerable  importance  to  this 
omission. 

I.  For  in  the  first  place,  here  are  two  papers  from  the  pen  of  Wycliffe, 
drawn  up  by  him  as  confessions  of  his  faith  on  the  Eucharist;  the  one  in 
Latin,  and,  as  might  be  expected,  learned  and  scholastic  ;  the  other  in  Eng- 
lish, and  naturally  less  extended  and  more  popular.  The  presumption — we 
may  almost  say  the  certainty  here  is,  that  these  papers  were  prepared  to  be 
presented  to  some  authority  of  the  time — but  to  what  authority?  In  the  sum- 
mer of  1381,  Wycliffe  was  prohibited  from  teaching  his  doctrine  on  this 
article  in  the  University,  and  he  then  retired  to  Lutterworth.  In  the  spring 
of  the  following  year,  proceedings  were  instituted  by  Archbishop  Courtney 
against  the  disciples  of  the  Reformer,  in  reference  to  their  general  doctrine, 
and  it  is  at  Oxford  in  the  November  of  this  year  that  the  opinions  of  the 
alleged  teachers  of  false  doctrine  are  made  the  special  matter  of  investiga- 


^  Convocatio  praelatorum  et  cleri  Cantuar.  provinciae  in  Ecclesia  conventuali  sanctae 
Fridesvvydse  Oxon.  ad  diem  18.  mensis  Novembris  facta.     Ex  reg.  Courtney  fol.  33.  seq. 

Quo  die  post  missam  et  alia  sacra,  certificatorium  domini  episc.  London,  legebatur, 
ac  RRmus  causas  convocationis  prsedictse  exponebat ;  videl.  "  quod  pro  quibusdam  hsere- 
ticis,  qui  nuper  in  regno  pullularunt,  penitus  extirpandis,  pro  delictis  et  excessibus  corri- 
gendis,  ac  injuriis  ecclesiae  sanctae  illatis  reformandis,  necnon  pro  aliquo  competenti  sub- 
sidio  concedendo,  ad  vitanda  et  repellenda  pericula,  quae  ecclesiae,  regi,  et  regno  Angliae 
notorie  imminebant,  ipsam  convocationem  ibidem  fieri  tunc  decrevit." 

Dein  post  varias  continuationes  xxiv.  die  mensis  Novembris,  dominus  Philippus  Rep- 
pyngdon,  canonicus  regularis  domus  Leycestr.  abjuravit  omnes  conclusiones  haereticas  sub 
eo,  qui  sequitur,  tenore  verborum  :  &c.  &c. — Wilkins,  Concilia  III,  172. 


Wyclifie  in  Oxford  in  1382.  573 

tion.  Knighton,  the  historian,  so  often  cited  in  these  pages,  was  a  contem- 
porary of  WyclifFe ;  his  residence  in  Leicester  was  not  many  miles  from  Lut^. 
terworth  ;  he  was  evidently  much  alive  to  everything  concerning  the  proceed- 
ings of  Wycliffe  and  his  followers,  and  he  has  in  consequence  given  us  a 
fuller  account  of  them,  than  has  descended  to  us  from  any  other  writer  of 
that  age.  Now  we  have  seen  the  clearness  with  which  this  historian  states 
that  Wycliffe  did  appear  before  the  prelates  and  divines  in  Oxford,  and  the 
account  given  of  his  conduct  there. 

ft  is  true,  this  historian  seems  to  speak  of  the  Reformer  as  having  been 
present  at  an  earlier  meeting  of  this  synod  in  London,  which  is  not  probable 
from  the  evidence  before  us.  But  which  is  most  likely— that  Knighton, 
knowing  Wycliffe  to  have  l^een  present  at  the  meeting  in  Oxford,  should  have 
supposed  him  to  have  been  present  also  at  a  preceding  meeting — or  that  he 
should  have  described  him  as  being  present  at  two  of  these  meetings,  when 
in  fact  he  was  not  present  at  either  of  them?  Knighton  may  have  inferred 
that  Wycliffe  was  present  at  the  first  meeting  of  the  synod  from  circumstances, 
and  without  sufficient  warrant;  and  he  may  have  been  open  to  some  false 
impression  as  to  the  things  that  were  said  or  done  at  Oxford ;  but  that  he 
should  have  given  an  account  so  positive  and  ample,  of  the  Reformer's  manner 
of  proceeding  before  his  prosecutors  in  1382,  while,  in  fact,  he  was  not,  in  any 
instance,  placed  in  such  a  position,  is  to  me  incredible. 

IL  In  the  next  place,  the  account  given  by  Wood,  (Antiq.  Oxon.  189.) 
is  to  the  effect  of  that  given  by  Knighton,  and  shows  that  with  him,  the  pre- 
sence of  Wycliffe  before  Courtney  and  the  bishops,  at  Oxford,  was  a  settled 
fact.^  Nor  are  we  warranted  in  supposing  that  Wood's  account  is  derived 
wholly  from  Knighton.  He  was  manifestly  acquainted  with  other  evidence, 
bearing  on  this  point,  which  contributed  to  place  it  in  his  view  beyond  all 
reasonable  doubt.  He  makes  mention,  for  example,  of  no  less  than  six  eccle- 
siastics, who  distinguished  themselves  by  writing  against  the  confession, 
beginning — Sape  confessus  sum,  8fc. — as  being  a  confession  made  by  Wyc- 
liffe ;  a  confession,  accordingly,  which  the  Reformer  must  have  made,  and 
which,  if  made  at  all,  must  have  been  made  before  the  prelates  at  Oxford, 
for  there  is  no  later  occasion  on  which  we  can  suppose  it  to  have  been  made, 
and  we  have  evidence  to  adduce  showing  that  it  could  not  have  been  made 
earlier. 


^  Wood's  language  is  as  follows : — '  Is  ergo  periculis  undique  incinctus,  neque  quo 
se  pacto  iisdem  expediret  reperiens,  doctrinara  suam  jam  secundo  retractare  coactus  est ; 
quod  Oxonise  prsestituto  die  fecit,  praesentibus  cum  Universitatis  Cancellario,  et  Doctori- 
bus  quamplurimis,  Archiepiscopo  Cantuariensi,  Episcopo  Lincolniensis  (WyclifFe's  dio- 
cesan) Nordovicensi,  Wygorniensi,  Londiniensi,  Sarishuriensi,  and  Herefordiensi;  ingenti 
Nominum  conflexu  circumdatis.  Ibi  ergo  fidei  confessionem  palam  recitavit  Wicliffius, 
^uam  in  hunc  modum  auspicatus  comparet. 

Soepe  confessus  sum  et  adhuc  confiteo  quod  idem  Corpus  Chrisii,  ^fc.  <§'<?• 


574  Appendix. 

III.  If  the  Courtney  register  does  not  contain  the  record  on  this  point  we 
might  have  expected,  there  is  a  record  bearing  upon  it  at  the  close  of  the  Sud- 
bury register  which  deserves  onr  attention,     The  document  published  by  the 
Chancellor  of  Oxford  in  1381  condemning  the  doctrine  of  Wycliffe  on  the 
Eucharist,  is  inserted  in  the  archiepiscopal  register  of  Canterbury  in  the  foUow- 
ng  year;  and  appended  to  this  entry  is  the  following  paragraph  ;  '  Ista  pre- 
dicta  condemnacio  promulgata  est  publice  in  scolis  Augustinentium  ipso 
Magistro  Joanne  sedente  in  Cathedra  et  determinatio  contrarium,  sed  con- 
fusus  est  ista  audita  condemfinacione.     Sed  tamen  dixit  quod  nee  Cancella- 
rius  nee  aliquis  de  suis   complicibus  poterat  suam  sententiam  infringere, 
se  in  hoc  ostendens  hereticum  pertinacem.     Sed  post  ad  sue  heresis  majo- 
rem  manifestationem  et  sue  pertinacie  ostentacionem,  alias  publice  a  con- 
dempnacione  Cancellarii  et  judicio  predicto  appellavit,  non  ad  Papam,  vel 
ad  ordinarium  Ecclesiasticum ;  Sed  hereticus  adherens  seculari  potestati, 
in  defensionem  sui  Erroris  et  Heresis  appellavit  ad  Regem  Ricardura,  volens 
per  hoc  se  protegere  regali  potestate,  quod  non  puniretur,  vel  emendaretur 
Ecclesiastica  potestate.    Et  post  appellationem   advenit  nobilis  dominus, 
dux  egregus  et  miles  strenuus,  sapiensque  Consiliarius,    Dux   Lancastrie, 
sacre  Ecelesia  filius  fidelis,  prohibens  Magistro  predicto  Johanni  quod  de 
cetero  non  loqueretur  de  ista  materia.     Sed  nee  ipse  contemperans  suo 
ordinario  Cancellario,  nee  tam  strenuo  domino  incepit  Confessionem  quan- 
dam  facere,  in  qua  continebatur  omnis  error  pristinus,  sed  secrecius  sub 
velamine  vario  verborum,  in  qua  discit  suum  conceptum,  et  visus  est  suam 
sententiam  probare.     Sed  velut  hereticus  pertinaxrefutavit  omnes  doctores 
de  secundo  Millinario  in  materia  de  sacramento  Altaris,'|et  dixit,  omnes  illos 
errasse  preter  Berengarium  cujusopininodamnatur  de  consecrat.  dist2  Ego 
Berengarius,  et  ipsum  et  suos  complices  ;   dixit  palam  Sathanara  et  potes- 
tatem  habere  in  Magistro  sententiarum  et  in  omnibus  qui  fidem  Catholicum 
predicaverunt.     (Wilkins.  Concilia  III.  171.) 
This  record  does  not  say  in  so  many  words,  that  Wycliffe  made  the  con- 
fession mentioned  before  the  prelates  at  Oxford  in  November  1382, — but  it 
says  several  things  that  are  material ;  First,  that  Wycliffe  did  make  a  public 
confession  of  his  doctrine  on  the  Eucharist  subsequently  to  his  being  silenced 
in  Oxford  in  1381 ;  second,  it  so  describes  the  confession  made  by  him  subse- 
quently to  that  time,  as  to  show  that  the  confession  intended,   is  that  begin- 
ning,— ScBpe  confessus  sum  8fc; — and  thirdly,  it  informs  us  that  this  confession 
was  not  made  until  after  the  duke  of  Lancaster  had  admonished  Wycliffe  to 
abstain  from  giving  further  utterance  to  such  obnoxious  opinions ;   and  the 
duke  did  not  take  this  course  even  towards  Hereford  and  {Reppington  until 
the  synod  of  the  summer  of  1382  had  met  several  times,  and  we  have  no  evi- 
dence of  his  having  so  expressed  himself  to  Wycliffe,  except  as  indicated  in 
the  above  record,  which  seems  to  say,  that  sometime  after  Wycliffe  had  pub- 
lished his  appeal  to  the  King  and  Parliament,  the  duke  came  to  Oxford,  ad- 
monished the  Reformer  there  to  the  above  effect,  and  that  the  Reformer, 


I 


Wydiffe  in  Oxford  in  1382.  575 

notwithstanding  such  counsel,  '  began  to  make '  the  confession, — Seepe  con- 
fessus  sum,  8fc.  Two  conclusions  seem  to  follow  from  this  evidence  ; — first  that 
WyclifFe  did  make  the  public  confession  attributed  to  him  on  the  doctrine  of 
the  Eucharist;  and,  second,  that  the  only  occasion  on  which  we  can  suppose 
it  to  have  been  made  was  before  the  clergy  in  Oxford  in  the  November  in 
1382.  The  confession  intended,  and  of  which  we  have  given  the  substance 
in  the  proper  place,  will  be  found  in  p.  564,  et  seq.  in  this  appendix. 

Concerning  the  record  cited  from  the  Sudbury  register,  we  may  observe, 
that  it  bears  all  the  marks  of  being  by  a  contemporary,  by  some  one  who 
was  in  Oxford  in  1381.  So  minute  is  the  account  given  by  the  writer,  that 
he  would  seem  to  have  been  a  functionary  present  at  the  scene  which  he  de- 
scribes. He  informs  us  that  when  the  chancellor  and  his  coadjutors  had 
agreed  upon  their  document,  they  sent  parties  to  give  it  due  publicity ;  that 
these  parties  found  the  Reformer  in  the  school  of  the  Augustinians,  seated  in 
his  chair,  and  lecturing  on  the  very  doctrine  in  question  to  his  students ;  and 
then  follows  a  description  of  his  appearing  as  one  taken  by  surprise,  and  as 
somewhat  confused  ;  of  his  soon  recovering  his  self-possession;,  and  a  record 
of  the  words  with  which  he  repelled  the  attack  thus  made  upon  him.  In  what 
follows  there  is  the  same  closeness  of  description.  The  duke  is  before  us  as 
urging  WyclifFe  to  desist  from  the  course  he  is  disposed  to  take  ;  and  the  Re- 
former as  declining  such  counsel  even  from  so  high  a  quarter.  Ceasing  to 
regard  the  duke  *  he  began  to  make  a  certain  confession,*  (says  the  writer)  'in 

*  which  the  whole  of  his  former  error  was  contained,  but  more  covertly, 

*  under  the  veil  of  a  change  of  words,  and  wherein  he  declared  his  notion, 

*  and  seemed  to  make  good  his  opinion  &c.'  Such  is  the  official  record  con- 
cerning proceedings  at  Oxford  in  relation  to  WyclifFe  in  1382,  which  appears 
to  have  been  deemed  sufficient  at  the  time. 

The  evidence  from  all  these  sources,  from  Knighton,  from  Wood,  and 
from  the  Archiepiscopal  register,  taken  together,  is,  with  us,  decisive  as  to 
the  appearance  of  Wycliffe  before  the  convocation  in  Oxford  at  the  time 
mentioned.  The  negative  evidence  from  the  Courtney  register  does  not 
weigh  with  us  against  so  much  positive  evidence  from  other  sources.  Sud- 
bury was  beheaded  in  June  1381,  and  the  record  given  above  must  have  been 
made  more  than  twelvemonths  later,  and  in  the  time  of  Courtney.  We  may 
add,  that  the  notion  of  Wycliffe's  being  wholly  passed  over  in  a  course  of  pro- 
ceedings which  bore  so  heavily  on  persons  suspected  of  being  his  followers, 
is  quite  as  inexplicable  as  the  notion  of  his  having  passed  such  an  ordeal  as  we 
suppose,  and  with  such  results.  In  either  view,  we  must  suppose  that  there 
were  special  reasons  for  not  dealing  with  his  case  as  with  others,  for  in 
either  view  the  master  is  spared  as  the  disciples  were  not.  WyclifFe  had 
sinned  with  much  more  effect  than  Hereford  or  Ashton,  and  would  no  doubt 
have  suffered  more,  had  not  his  enemies  seen  that  there  were  circumstances 
in  his  case  which  rendered  such  a  course  inexpedient  and  dangerous. 


576  Appendix. 

M.  page  322. 

Dr»  fViclif's  Letter  of  Excuse  to  Pope  Urban  VI, 

I  have  joyfully  to  telle  alle  trew  men  the  bileve  that  I  hold,  and  '  algatis 
to  the  Pope.  For  I  suppose,  that  if  any  faith  be  rightful  and  geven  of  God, 
the  Pope  will  gladly  conserve  it :  and  if  my  faith  be  error,  the  Pope  will 
wisely  amend  it.  I  suppose  over  this,  that  the  Gospel  of  Christ  be  part  of 
the  corps  of  God's  lawe.  For  I  believe  that  Jesu  Christ  that  gaf  in  his  own 
persoun  this  Gospel  is  very  God  and  very  mon,  and  be  this  it  passes  all  other 
lawes.  I  suppose  over  this,  that  the  Pope  be  most  oblishid  to  the  keping  of 
the  Gospel  among  all  m.en  that  liven  here.  For  the  Pope  is  highest  vicar 
that  Christ  has  here  in  erth.  For  ^  moreness  of  Christ's  vicars  is  not  measured 
by  worldly  moreness,  hot  by  this,  that  this  vicar,  ^  sues  more  Christ  by  ver- 
tuous  living:  for  thus  teches  the  Gospel.  That  this  is  the  sentence  of  Christ 
and  of  his  Gospel  I  take  as  bileve;  that  Christ  for  time  that  he  walked  here 
was  most  poore  mon  of  alle  both  in  spirit  and  in  *haveing;  for  Christ  says 
that  he  had  noht  for  to  rest  his  hede  on.  And  over  this  I  take  as  bileve,  that 
no  mon  schulde  sue  the  Pope,  ne  no  saint  that  now  is  in  hevene,  hot  in 
^alsmyche  as  he  sued  Christ:  for  James  and  John  errid,  and  Peter  and 
Powl  sinned.  Of  this  I  take  as  holesome  counseile,  that  the  Pope  leeve  his 
worldly  lordschip  to  worldly  lords,  as  Christ  gaf  him,  and  move  speedily  all 
his  Clerks  to  do  so :  for  thus  did  Christ,  and  taught  thus  his  disciplis,  till  the 
fende  had  blynded  this  world.  And  if  I  erre  in  this  sentence  I  will  mekely 
be  amendid,  hif  by  the  death,  hif  it  be  skilfnl,  for  that  I  hope  were  gode  to 
me.  And  if  I  might  traveile  in  my  own  porsoun,  I  wolde  with  God's  will  go 
to  the  Pope.  Bot  [Christ]  has  nedid  me  to  the  contrary,  and  taught  me 
more  obeishe  to  God  than  to  mon.  And  I  suppose  of  our  Pope  that  he  will 
not  be  Antichrist,  and  reverse  Christ  in  this  wirkingto  the  contrary  of  Christ's 
wilie.  For  if  he  summons  ageyns  resoun  by  him  or  any  of  his,  and  pursue 
this  unskilful  summoning,  he  is  an  open  Antichrist.  And  merciful  entent 
excusid  not  Petir  that  ne  Christ  ^  clepid  him  Sathanas  :  so  blynd  entent  and 
wicked  conscil  excuses  not  the  Pope  here,  bot  if  he  aske  of  trewe  Prestis  that 
they  traveile  more  than  they  may,  'tis  not  excused  by  resoun  of  God  that 
ne  is  in  Antichrist.  For  our  bileve  techis  us  that  our  blessid  God  suffrys  us 
not  to  be  temptyed  more  than  we  may  ;  how  schuld  a  mon  aske  such  service. 
And  therefore  pray  we  to  God  for  our  Pope  Urban  the  '^Sex  that  his  old  holy 
entent  be  not  quenchid  by  his  enemys.  And  Christ  that  may  not  lye  seis 
that  the  enemyes  of  a  man  be  especially  his  homelye  ^  meinth,  and  this  is 
^  soth  of  men  and  fendis. — Bibl.  Bod.  MS. 

*  always,  *  greatness.  ^  follows.  ^  possessions.  ^  as  much. 

^  called.  7  sixth.  »  family.  ^  truth. 


577 


N.  page  468. 

The  instrument  following,  besides  its  evidence  as  to  the  time  and  circum- 
stances of  the  Reformer's  death,  will  suffice  to  shew  that  the  plea  of  ill  health 
as  urged  in  the  preceding  letter  was  a  valid  plea.  We  here  learn  that  para- 
lysis, the  disease  of  which  WycliiFe  died,  was  a  disease  under  which  he  was 
known  to  have  been  suffering  the  last  two  years  of  his  life. 

Narratio  de  morte  Subitanea  Joannis  Wycliffe  scripta  propria  manu 
Thomae  Gascoigne,  qui  olim  Doctor  erat  sacrae  Theologise  in  Academia 
Oxoniensi. 

Jesu  Maria. 

Magister  Joannes  Wycliffe  Anglicus  per  Dominum  Thomam  Arundell 
Episcopum  Cantuariensem  fuit  post  mortem  suam,  excommunicatus  et  postea 
per  Doctorem  in  Sacra  Theologia  Oxoniae,  sci.  Magistrum  Ricardum  Flem- 
yng  Eboracensis  Dioceseos,  et  nunc  Episcopum  Lincolniensem  fuit  exhu- 
matus  et  ossa  ejus  combusta,  et  cineres  ejus  in  aqua  juxta  Lyttyrwort  project! 
fuerunt  ex  mandata  Pape  Martini  V.  Et  iste  Wycliff  fuit  paralyticus  per 
duos  annos  ante  mortem  suam,  et  anno  Domini  1384  obiit  in  die  sabbati  in  die 
Sancti  Sylvestris  in  vigilia  Circumcisionis  Domini  et  in  eodem  anno  sc :  in  die 
sanctorum  Innocentium  audiens  missam  in  Ecclesia  sua  de  Lyttyrwort 
circa  elevationem  sacramenti  Altari  decidit  percussus  magna  paralysi  et 
specialiter  in  lingua  ita  quod  nee  tunc,  nee  postea  loqui  potuit  usque  ad 
mortem  suam.  In  introitu  autem  suo  in  Ecclesiam  suam  loquebatur,  sed  sic 
ut  percussus  paralysi  in  eadem  die  loqui  non  potuit,  nee  unquam  postea  loque- 
batur. Haec  dixit  mihi  Dominus  Joannes  Horn  sacerdos  octogenarius  qui 
fuit  sacerdos  parochialis  cum  Wycliff  per  duos  annos  usque  ad  diem  mortis 
Wycliff,  et  mihi  juravit  sic  dicendo ;  sicut  respondebo  coram  Deo,  novi  ista 
fuisse  vera,  et  quia  vidi  testimonium  perhibui. 

Hoc  ille  dixit  mihi  doctori  Gascoigno  Anno  Domini  144P. 

Cotton.  Bibl.  Otho.  A.  14. 


2  p 


INDEX. 


Absolution— pnestly,  WycliflFe's  doctrine 
concerning  it,  211—215,  218,  219,374, 
391,  437,  452,  453. 
Albigenses — their  doctrine  concerning  the 

Eucharist,  226, 227. 
Ai.cHEMV — discountenanced   by  WyclifFe, 

149. 
Anglo-Saxon  Church — Did  not  receive 
the  doctrine  of  Transubstantiation,  227 — 
230. 
Armachanus— his  controversy  with   the 

Mendicants,  82—84. 
Astrology — censured    as   fallacious    by 

WyclifFe,  149. 
Avignon— Avignon  Popes,  their  character, 

122,  123. 
Bacon,  Roger,  68—70. 
Badby,  John,  a  mechanic  burnt  as  a  here- 
tic, 493,  494. 
Balliol,  College — WyclifFe  becomes  mas- 
ter of,  49,   5(».    Preceded  by  another 
John  de  WyclifFe  in  that  office,  559. 
Bible— English,  translation  of,  323 — 361 

See  '  Scripture.' 
BiRCKBECK — his  testimony  concerning  the 

birth-place  of  WyclifFe,  6. 
Bohemia — Reformation  there,  402—405, 
473,  474.      Not  extinguished  by   the 
martyrdom  of  Huss  and  Jerome,  518. 
Bradwardine— the  Profound,  41. 
Bridges — few  in  England  in  the  fourteenth 

century,  18. 
Bruges — WyclifFe    and  John  of  Gaunt 

meet  there,  170,  171. 
Chaucer — his  picture  of  the  'Clerk  of 
Oxenforde,'  of  the  '  Parish  Clerk  Abso- 
lon,'  30— 32— of  the  '  Pardoner,' 85— 87. 
Church— the  term  as  understood  by  Wy- 
clifFe, 340,  435. 

Power — its  gradual  development, 

95-102. 


Civil  Law— reference  to  it  by  WyclifFe, 

451. 
Civil  Power — its  authority  in  relation  to 
the  persons  and  property  of  the  clergy  as 
maintained  by  WyclifFe,  106—114,  ll7, 
118,  131—134,  195—199,211—214,  247, 
295,  414,  428,  431,  440,  442,  443,  449, 
450, 459,  460,  528,  530. 
Clergy — opposition  in  Parliament  to  cler- 
gymen holding  secular  offices,  131—135. 
Cobham,  Lord — proceedings  against  him, 

495 — 497,  his  trial  andexecution,  507. 
Confession  to  a  priest— declared  by  Wy- 
clifFe to  be  unnecessary,  266,  374.    See 
'Excommunication,'  'Absolution,'  'In- 
dulgences.' 
Constance  —the  Council  there,  how  con- 
stituted, 513.    John  Huss  obeys  its  sum- 
mons, but  distrusts  it,  notwithstanding 
his  'safe  conduct,'  513,  514.     Appears 
before  it,  its  disgraceful  conduct  towards 
Hiissand  Jerome  when  o a  their  trial,  517. 
Constitution — English,  King's  Party  and 
Barons  Party,  ii.  the  Middle  Age,  37, 39. 
Circumstances  which  favoured  the  devel- 
opment of  the  constitution  in  the  four- 
teenth century,  121,  122. 
Constitutions  —Archbishop     Arundel's, 

499-492. 
Councils — proceedings  in  the  Council  of 

Pisa,  Constance  and  Basle,  508. 
Courtney,  Bishop— his  altercation  with 
the  Duke  of  Lancaster  in  St.  Paul's,  187, 
188,— becomes  Primate,  ?63,  institutes 
proceedings  against  the  Wycliffites,  264. 
— Synod  at  the  Grey  Friars  and  doctrines 
condemnedthere,  264,  265, — his  proceed- 
ings against  Hereford,  Reppingdon  and 
Ashton,  269 — 273, — his  description  of  the 
itinerant  preachers,  and  measures  against 
them,  275 — 279, — his  proceedings  against 
the  Wycliffites  in  Oxford,  279—285.  • 

p  2 


580 


Index. 


Crusaders— Absolution  given  to  those 
under  Bishop  Spencer,  306,  307,  368. 

Edward  the  Third — character  of  his 
reign,  119—122. 

Egglestone  Abbey — in  the  age  of  Wyc- 
liffe,  14—16. 

Endowments,  Ecclesiastical — Wycliffe's 
doctrine  regarding  them,  197,  198,  211 — 
215,  290,  295-297,  417—419,  422,  445, 
446—448,  463,  530,  531,  538,— doctrines 
attributed  to  his  disciples  on  this  point, 
267, — doctrine  of  the  Lollards  respecting 
it,  476—479. 

Excommunication  —  how  regarded  by 
WyclifFe  and  his  disciples,  211— 215, 267, 
391,  419—423,  426,427,  445,  446,  450— 
453,463,527. 

Forests — number  in  England  in  the  thir- 
teenth and  fourteenth  centuries,  20 — 22. 

Friars — See  Religious  Orders. 

Gaunt,  John  of — at  Bruges  with  WycliflFe, 
171.  Presents  himself  with  Wycliife 
before  Courtney  in  St.  Paul's— afterca- 
tion  there,  187,  188.  Change  in  his  poli- 
cy, 301,  303.  Works  said  to  have  been 
dedicated  to  him  by  Wycliffe,  42,  532. 

GiRALD,  Archbishop  of  York — accused  of 
magic,  QQ,  67. 

Grace  —Wycliffe's  teaching  concerning  it, 
399,  400.  '  Dominion  founded  in  grace,' 
doctrine  so  designated,  ascribed  to  Wyc- 
liffe, 460,  529.  Grace  said  to  go  before 
Works,  532.^ 

Grosstete — his  censure  of  the  Mendicants, 
82—85. 

Houses  of  York  and  Lancaster,  470 — 
473.  Court  Party  and  Reform  Party  in 
those  times,  487,  489,  490. 

Huss,  John— his  early  life,  509,  510.  His 
career  as  a  Reformer,  512.  Obeys  the 
summons  of  the  Council,  but  distrusts  it, 
notwithstanding  his  safe  conduct,  514 — 
519.  Defects  of  his  theory  as  a  Reformer, 
515,  516. 

Indulgences — censured  by  WyclifFe  in 
his  lectures  at  Oxford,  158, 159  ;  see  also, 
423,  424,  428,  429,  and  'Absolution.' 

Insurrection — of  the  Commons  under 
Wat  Tyler,  252—259.  Not  the  effect 
of  Wycliffe's  teaching,  259,  260.  Its 
real  cause,  261 — 263. 

Insurrection — alleged  of  the  Wycliffites, 
504,  505. 

IsLEP,  Archbishop — patron  of  Wycliffe  and 
Founder  of  Canterbury  Hall,  50 — 63. 

Jerome  op  Prague — his  early  life,  473, 


512,  513.  Imprisoned  at  Constance,  515 
Dismayed  on  his  first  appearance  before 
the  Council,  his  courage  and  extraordi- 
nary powers  manifested  on  his  second 
appearance,  517. 

'Last  Age  of  the  Church-' — Tract  so 
intitled,  not  written  by  Wycliffe,  43—49. 

Leland,  John — his  account  of  the  birth- 
place of  Wycliffe,  bQ. 

Lingard,  Dr. — his  misrepresentation  of 
Wycliffe,  and  character  of  his  histor}', 
note,  222,  460,  529. 

Lollards — the  Londoners  said  to  be  much 
infected  with  Lollardism,  189.  Petition 
and  Remonstrance  of  the  Lollards,  476 — 
479.  Alarm  of  the  Pope  and  Clergy 
occasioned  by  their  proceedings,  481, 482. 
Alleged  insurrection  of,  504,  505. 

Ludgersh ALL— WyclifFe  holds  the  bene- 
fice of,  bQ.,  57.  Present  state  of  Lud- 
gershall,  note,  57,  58. 

Magic — danger  of  imputations  on  that  sub- 
ject in  the  middle  age,  65 — 71. 

Manuscripts — dates  of  the  WyclifFe  Man- 
uscripts, 409 — 411.  Their  number,  403 — 
409,  how  multiplied  and  circulated,  406, 
407. 

Mass,  the— how  regarded  by  Wycliffe, 
432,  433,  438,  526,  528,  529,''53l. 

Monachism.     See  Religious  Orders. 

Newsvending — how  managed  in  the  mid- 
dle age,  22  -24. 

Orders,  Religious — their  Rise,  Distinc- 
tions and  Influence,  64 — 81. 

Oxford,  in  1340—28—30,  Chaucer's  pic- 
ture of  the  Poor  Scholar,  30,  31.  Of 
Absolon,  the  Gay  Clerk,  ibid.  Number 
of  Students  in  Oxford,  in  the  fourteenth 
century,  32 — 34.  Distinction  of  Nations 
and  of  Northern  men  and  Southern  men, 
34,  35.  King's  Party  and  Baron's  Party, 
in  Oxford,  35 — 39.  Sample  of  an  Oxford 
Riot  in  the  middle  age,  35 — 37.  Wyc- 
lifFe in  his  chair  as  Professor,  139 — 165. 
Lectures  against  the  doctrine  of  Tran- 
substantiation,  431,  443.  Is  opposed  by 
the  Chancellor  and  authorities,  z45,  246. 
Withdraws  from  Oxford,  247.  Court- 
ney's proceedings  against  the  disciples 
of  WyclifFe  in  Oxford,  279—285.  Wyc- 
liffe's appearance  before  the  Convocation 
there,  306—315,  note  L.  571—575. 

Papacy—  Anti-Romanist  feeling  in  Oxford 
in  the  thirteenth  century,  35—37.  King 
John  consents  to  hold  his  kingdom  from 
the  Pontiff,  101. 


Index. 


581 


Papal  authority  resisted  by  the  English 
Barons,  102,  by  the  English  Parliament 
under  Edward  the  third,  103—114,  117 
— 137.  Further  opposition  to  papal  en- 
croachments in  Parliament,  303 — 305. 
Complaints  of  this  nature  lead  to  Wyc- 
lifFe's  appointment  as  English  Commis- 
sioner to  Bruges,  167—169,  170,  175. 
Is  there  with  John  of  Gaunt,  171. 
Comes  to  repudiate  the  doctrine  of  the 
Papal  Supremacy.  211—221,  243,  430, 
432,  436,  437,  442,  443,  444,  465,  531. 
Simoniacal  dealings  of  the  Papal  Court, 
424.  The  Papal  Schism — favourable  to 
the  plans  of  the  Reformers,  183.  Wyc- 
liffe's  letter  to  the  Pope,  320,  322,  577. 

Paris,  University  of — censures  the  con- 
duct of  the  Mendicants,  84,  85. 

Parliament,  English — its  resistances  to 
the  encroachments  of  the  Papacy,  103 — 
114,117,137,  176,  179,  194,303-305. 
WyclifFe's  complaint  to  the  king  and 
Parliament,  289.  Court  party  and  Re- 
form party  in  Parliament,  under  the 
House  of  Lancaster,  480 — 490. 

Pilgrimage — its  superstitions  exposed  by 
Wycliffe,  437. 
Poor  Priests  ' — the  men  so  described 
by  Wycliffe,  268— 273,  275-279,  415, 
how  persecuted,  428,  435. 

Prayer —  Wy differs  view  of  it  as  distin- 
guished from  Mass  praying,  426 — 428, 
and  as  compared  with  preaching,  432, 
4.33,  526-529. 

Preaching, — right  to  preach  without 
license  from  prelates  asserted,  267.  De- 
scription of  Wycliffe's  'poor  priests,'  275 
—279.  Wycliffe  as  a  preacher,  375-  380. 
His  defence  of  preaching,  381,  385,  413, 
423,  425,  432,  433,  526,  527. 

Praemunire — the  statue  so  named,  303  — 
305,  316,  317. 

Purgatory — the  doctrine  concerning  it 
retained  in  some  sense  by  Wycliffe,  429, 
438,  531. 

Religious  Liberty — as  asserted  by  Wyc- 
liffe, 156,  417—421,  435. 

Religious  Orders— see  '  Orders.' 

Riot  in  Oxford  in  1238,  35-37. 

Roads,  state  of — in  England  in  the  four- 
teenth century,  17 — 19. 

Robbers — in  England  in  the  middle  age, 
20—22. 

Rokeby— its  contiguity  to  Wycliffe,  33. 

Sacraments — Wycliffe's  doctrine  con- 
cerning them — see  Absolution,  Excom- 


munication,  Confession,  Transubstanti- 
ation,  Mass,  Prayer,  Indulgences. 

Sanctuary,  rights  of— how  regarded  by 
Wycliffe,  439. 

Sawtre,  William— a  Clergyman  burnt  at 
the  stake,  486. 

Scripture — its  authority,  as  maintained 
by  Wycliffe,  88-93,  163,  164,  220,221, 
231,  233-235,  243,250—252,290-2.93, 
412.  Reading  the  Scriptures  condemned 
by  the  Romanist  historian  Knighton, 
and  by  an  English  Synod,  under  Arch- 
bishop Arundel,  235,  236.  Translations 
of  Scripture  before  the  age  of  Wycliffe, 
and  his  translation  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments,  323 — 361.  See  further 
argument  on  the  authority  of  Scripture, 
380,385,  391-  394,  412,415,416,420, 
444,  445,  464,  526,  527, 530,  531. 

Schools— in  the  middle  age,  14,  15. 

Scholastic  Philosophy— its  method  of 
reasoning,  144,  145.  Wycliffe's  fame 
as  a  schoolman,  attested  by  Knighton, 
145,  146.  Substance  of  his  Lectures 
preserved  in  his  Trialogus,  142 — 168. 

Sins,  Venial  and  Mortal — the  distinction 
repudiated  by  Wycliffe,  156,  157,  530. 

Spencer,  Bishop — ^his  crusade,  366 — 371 
censured  by  Wycliffe,  371—375. 

Spreswel— not  the  birth-place  of  Wyc- 
liffe, 5,  6. 

Statute — Praemunire  statute  passed,  303 
— 305,  Persecuting  statute  surreptiti- 
ously obtained  by  the  clergy,  299. 
Statute  for  the  burning  of  heretics,  485, 

Text-writers— their  occupation  in  the 
middle  age,  406,  407. 

Theology — as  viewed  by  Wycliffe,  466, 
467. 

Thorpe,  William— his  excommunication 
before  Archbishop  Arundel,  493. 

Tithes — Wycliffe's  doctrine  conceniing 
them— see  *•  Endowments.' 

Tower,  Mortham — old  as  the  age  of  Wyc- 
liffe, 13. 

Tradition— how  regarded  by  Wycliffe, 
149,  164— see  'Scripture.' 

Transubstantiation — history  of  the  doc- 
trine, 225—230,  rejected  by  Wycliffe, 
ibid.  Wycliffe's  controversy  in  Ox- 
ford relating  to  it,  230—246.  Special 
ground  of  his  opposition  to  it,  243,  rea- 
soning against  it  in  his  Wyckett,  249 — 
252.  Wycliffe's  doctrine  in  regard  to 
it,  condemned  at  the  Grey  Friars,  265. 
His  confessions  in  Oxford  relating  to  it, 


582 


Index. 


309 — 315.    Rejected  bv  William  Sawtre, 
and  b}^  John  JBadby,  486,  493,  494. 

Travelling  in  the  fourteenth  century,  16 
—25. 

Trialogus — Analysis  of  that  work,  and 
extracts  from  it,  142 — 162. 

Voluntaryism — how  corrupted  by  the 
Mendicants,  76 — 78,  for  WyclifFe's  views 
on  the  maintenance  of  the  Clergy,  see 
'  Endowments.' 

Whitaker,  Dr. — his  error  concerning  the 
birth-place  of  Wycliffe,  5,  6. 

Wycliffe — parish  of,  1—9.  Successors 
to  the  Wycliffe  property,  4 — 8. 

Wycliffe,  John  de — the  Reformer,  his 
birth-place,  1 — 10.  time  of  his  birth, 
18;  scenes  of  his  boyhood,  12 — 15; 
journey  to  Oxford,  16 — 25  ;  enters 
Queen's  College  ;  removes  to  Merton, 
39 — 41 ;  supposed  dedication  of  his  works 
to  the  duke  of  Lancaster,  42,  43 ;  sup- 
posed Tractate  intitled  the  *•  Last  Age  of 
the  Church,'  43,  44  ;  reasons  for  not  re- 
garding it  as  written  by  Wycliffe,  44 — 
49 ;  Wycliffe  becomes  Master  of  Balliol, 
49,  50;  warden  of  Canterbury  Hall,  50, 
51 ;  Wodehall,  competitor  with  Wyc- 
liffe for  the  Wardenship  of  Canterbury 
Hall — controversy  relating  to  it,  51 — 63, 
116,  117,  136,  137.  Wycliffe's  dispute 
with  the  Mendicants,  81 — 93.  His  doc- 
trine on  the  powers  of  church  and  state, 
105-115,  117,  118.  Probably  present 
at  the  meeting  of  Parliament  in  1366, 
116.  Protests  against  clergymen  hold- 
ing secular  offices,  183,  184.  His  object 
as  a  Reformer  favoured  by  the  patriotic 
spirit  of  the  people  and  parliament  in 
his  time,  121 — 136.  Takes  his  degree 
as  D.D.,  138.  Begins  to  lecture  as  pro- 
fessor of  divinity,  139—142.  His  Tria- 
logus gives  the  substance  of  his  lectures, 
142,  143.  Anal^^sis  of  that  work,  and 
extracts  from  it,  143 — 165.  Knighton's 
testimony  to  his  power  as  a  schoolman, 
145.  His  reasoning  concerning  the  ex- 
istence and  perfections  of  the  Divine 
Being,  and  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity, 

148.  Rejects  the  authority  of  tradition, 

149.  His  reasoning  on  the  immortality 
of  the  soul,  150—152.     On  faith,  hope, 

'*'and  charity,  153 — 156.  His  protest 
against  religious  persecution,  156.  He 
discourses  on  the  distinction  made  be- 

•^'tween  Venial  and  Mortal  sins,  156,  157. 
Condemns  the  Indulgences  dispensed  by 
the  priesthood,  158,   159.   -Asserts  the 


foundation  of  rectitude  to  be  eternal  and 
immutable,  159.  His  expectations  of 
martyrdom,  159,  160.  Dwells  on  the 
corrupting  influence  of  ecclesiastical  en- 
dowments, 160,  161.  Condemns  Saint 
>i  worship,  161,  162.  Cautioned  of  his 
danger,  and  his  reply,  163,  164.  Is  sent 
as  commissioner  to  Bruges,  i^Q.  Is  there 
with  John  of  Gaunt,  171.  Results  of 
his  embassy,  172 — J  75.  Is  presented  to 
the  Prebend  ofAust.  John  de  Wycliffe— 
Vicar  of  May  field,  53 — 62.  not  the  War- 
den of  Canterbury  Hall.  Wycliffe  as  a 
confessor ;  summoned  to  appear  before 
the  Convocation  in  London,  185.  Ap- 
pears in  company  with  the  Duke  of  Lan- 
caster and  Earl  Percy,  187.  Altercation 
between  Courtney  and  the  Duke,  187, 
188.  Question  mooted  in  Parliament 
concerning  payment  to  the  Papal  Court, 
and  Wycliffe's  argument  in  reply,  in- 
cluding his  doctrine  on  endowments  and 
of  the  right  of  private  judgment,  195 
— 199.  Papal  Bulls  issued  to  secure  the 
arrest  of  Wycliffe,  and  the  suppression 
of  his  doctrines,  200—203.  The  Re- 
former appears  before  the  synod  at  Lam- 
beth, 204,  205.  Paper  delivered  to  the 
synod,  206.  Dispute  with  an  anony- 
mous divine,  216 — 222.  His  sickness  at 
Oxford,  223,224.  He  rejects  the  doctrine 
of  transubstantiation,  225,  230 — 245.  Is 
opposed  by  the  Chancellor  and  authori- 
ties in  Oxford,  245.  His  protest  and 
appeal  to  Caesar,  and  retirement  to  Lut- 
terworth, 247 — 249.  Publishes  his  Wyc- 
kett,  249—251.  His  doctrine  condemned 
by  the  synod  at  the  Gray  Friars,  265. 
Wycliffe's  denunciation  of  the  persecut- 
ing measures  of  Courtney,  285,  286. 
Probable  reason  of  his  not  being  included 
among  the  persecuted,  286,  287.  Pub- 
lishes his  complaint  to  the  king  and 
Parliament,  289.  Appears  before  the 
Convocation  in  Oxford,  306 — 315,  319, 
and  note  L.  in  Appendix.  His  letter  to 
the  Pope,  320—322,  577.  Translation 
of  the  Bible,  323,  &c.  His  denunciation 
of  Spenser's  Crusade,  371 — 373.  His 
tract  on  the  Schism  of  the  Popes,  373 — 
375.  His  defence  of  preaching,  380 — 
385.  His  labours  as  a  parish  priest, 
375—378,  385—389.  Extracts  from  his 
sermons,  389 — 402.  Wycliffe  as  an 
author,  403,  &c.  Number  of  his  works 
404—408.  Dates  of  his  writings,  409— 
411.     His  treatise  on  the  Leaven  of  the 


Index. 


583 


Pharisees,  411 — 414.  Obedience  to 
Prelates,  414—421.  On  Prelates,  421 
— 432.  On  the  Curse  Expounded,  434 — 
453.  His  style  and  language,  454,  455. 
Scholastic  and  Popular,  457.  His  Rea- 
soning, 457,  458.  His  thoroughness  of 
conviction,  and  emphasis,  459.  Sum- 
mary of  his  opinions,  459 — 464.  His 
Originality,  Courage,  and  Patriotism, 
464, 465.  His  Piety,  466,  467.  His  sick- 
ness and  death,  467 — 469.  Subsequent 
prevalence  of  his  opinions,  507,  508.  His 
bones  disinterred  and  burnt,  519,  533. 
John  de  Wycliffe  of  Mayfield,  52-63, 
547,  548. 


John  de  Wyclifife  of  Balliol,  precursor  to 
the  Reformer,  559. 

WvcLiFFiTES — under  Richard  the  Second, 
474 — 481.  Their  petition  to  parliament, 
477,  478.  Their  Remonstrance,  479. 
Alarm  of  the  Pope  and  clergy  occasioned 
by  their  proceedings,  481,  482.  Compact 
between  Henry  the  Fourth  and  the 
clergy  to  suppress  them — statute  for  the 
burning  of  heretics,  485. 

ZoucH,  Dr. — his  testimony  in  regard  to  the 
picture  by  Sir  Antonio  More,  and  to 
VVyclifFe  as  being  the  birth-place  of  the 
Reformer,  6. 


LEONARD  SEELEY. 

PaiNTEE, 
THAMES   DITTON. 


No.  54,  FLEET  STREET,  and  No.  2,  HANOVER  STREET, 
HANOVER  SQUARE,  JANUARY,  1852. 


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MEMOIRS  OF  THE  LIFE  AND  WRITINGS  OF 
CLAUDIUS  BUCHANAN,  D.D. 

By  HUGH  PEARSON,  D.  D. 

Dean  of  Salisbury. 

With  Portrait.    Fifth  Edition.     Foolscap  octavo.    Price  6s.  cloth. 

A  MEMOIR  OF  THE  REV.   HENRY  MARTYN,  B.D. 

By  the  Rev.  JOHN  SARGENT,  M.A. 
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FLEET    street]  SEELEYS  [hANOVER    STREET 

THE  LETTERS  OF  THE  REV.  HENRY  MARTYN,  B.D. 

Chaplain  to  the  Hon.  East  India  Company. 
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DOMESTIC  PORTRAITURE: 

Or,  the  successful  Application  of  Religious  Principle  in  the  Education  of  a  Family, 

Exemplified  in  the  Memoirs  of  Three  of  the  deceased 

Children  of  the  Rev.  LEGH  RICHMOND. 

Seventh  Edition.    Foolscap  8vo.    With  Engravings.    Price  6s.  cloth. 

LIFE,   CHARACTER,   AND  REMAINS  OF  THE 
REV.  RICHARD  CECIL,  M.A. 

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MEMORIALS   OF  TWO   SISTERS. 

^  By  the  Author  of  "  Aids  to  Developement."  &c.  &c. 

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MEMOIRS  OF  THE  LIFE  AND   CORRESPONDENCE 
OF  MRS.  HANNAH  MORE. 

Edited  by  W.  ROBERTS,  Esq. 
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A  MEMOIR  OF  THE  REY.  LEGH  RICHMOND,  M.A. 

Rector  of  Turvey,  Bedfordshire,  &c. 

By  the  Rev.  T.  S.  GRIMSHAWE,  M.A., 

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THE  LIFE  OF  THE  REY.  THOMAS  SCOTT, 

Including  a  Narrative  drawn  up  by  himself,  and  copious  Extracts 

from  his  Correspondence. 

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THE  LIFE  OF  AUGUSTUS  HERMAN  FRANKE, 

Professor  of  Divinity,  and  Founder  of  the  Orphan  House  at  Halle. 

Translated  from  the  German  of  Guericke. 

By  SAMUEL  JACKSON. 

With  a  Preface  by  the  Rev.  E.  BICKERSTETH. 

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THE  GOSPEL  OF  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT : 

ON    THE    PLAN    OF     THE    WORK    OF    COTTON    MATHER. 

By  the  Author  of  "The  Listener." 
Second  Edition.     Foolscap  octavo.    Price  5s.  cloth. 


THE  SINNER'S  JUSTIFICATION  BEFORE  GOD; 

ITS    NATURE    AND    MEANS. 

A  Scriptural  Treatise. 

By  the  Right  Rev.  C.  P.  M'lLVAINE,  D.  D.  Bishop  of  Ohio. 

16mo.     Price  Is.  6d.  cloth. 


THE  EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

A  Course  of  Lectures. 

By  Bishop  M'lLVAINE. 

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THE  BOOK  OF  PRIVATE  DEVOTIONS, 

Compiled  by  the  Rev.  EDWARD  BICKERSTETH,  Rector  of  Watton. 
Third  Edition.    Foolscap  octavo.     Price  3s.  6d.  cloth. 

CHURCH  PRAYERS; 

analyzed  and  arranged  for  use  on  Social  and  Public  Occasions. 

By  A  CLERGYMAN. 

In  18mo.   Price  2s,  cloth,  or,  2s.  6d.  roan. 

THE  CHRISTIAN  INDEED; 

Discourses  on  the  Lord's  Prayer. 

By  the  Rev.  W.  TAIT,  M.A. 

Incumbent>f  Trinity  Church,  Wakefield. 

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EDUCATION  FOR  GOD. 

A  Record  of  Real  Life. 

By  the  Author  of  "  THE  MORNING  VISIT." 

In  foolscap  octavo.    Price  3s.  6d.  cloth. 

SEARCHINGS  OF  THE  HEART. 

By  the  Author  of  "  Brief  Records  of  Meditative  Hours." 
Third  Edition.     Foolscap  octavo.    Price  2s.  6d.  cloth. 

PRACTICAL    EXPOSITIONS     OF 

THE  LAST  NINE  CHAPTERS   OF  THE  GOSPEL  OF 

ST.  JOHN. 

By  the  Rev.  D.  K.  DRUMMOND,  B.  A. 
Second  Edition.    Foolscap  octavo.    Price  6s.  cloth. 

JONAH'S  PORTRAIT  ; 

OR,    VARIOUS    VIEWS    OF    HUMAN     NATURE,     AND    OF    GOD*S    GRACIOUS    DEALINGS 
WITH    MAN    IN    A    FALLEN    STATE. 

By  the  Rev.  THOMAS  JONES,  Rector  of  Creaton. 
Tenth  Edition.     16mo.    Price  3s.  6d.  cloth. 

Also,  hy  the  same  Author, 

THE  PRODIGAL'S  PILGRIMAGE 

INTO    A    FAR  COUNTRY  AND    BACK    TO    HIS    FATHER*S    HOUSE  ;    IN    FOURTEEN  STAGES. 

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THE  FOUNTAIN  OF  LIFE ; 

OR,    THE    UNION    BETWEEN    CHRIST    AND    BELIEVERS. 

Third  Edition.    16mo.      Price  3s.  6d.  cloth. 

THE  TRUE  CHRISTIAN: 

OR    THE    WAY    TO    HAVE     ASSURANCE    OF    ETERNAL    SALVATION. 

Sixth  Edition.     16mo.      Price  3s.  6d.  cloth. 

THE  CHRISTIAN  WARRIOR 

WRESTLING    WITH    SIN,    SATAN,    THE    WORLD    AND    THE    FLESH. 

By  the  late  Rev.  ISAAC  AMBROSE. 
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A  SCRIPTURE   DIRECTORY; 

AN    ATTEMPT    TO    ASSIST    THE    UNLEARNED    READER     TO     UNDERSTAND    THE    GENERAL 
HISTORY    AND    LEADING    SUBJECTS    OF    THE    OLD    AND    NEW    TESTAMENTS. 

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SCRIPTURE     SYMBOLISM  ; 

OR,    TABERNACLE    ARCHITECTURE. 
By  the  Rev.  SAMUEL  GARRATT,  B.A. 

Minister  of  Trinity  Chapel,  Waltham  Cross. 
In  one  Volume.    Foolscap  octavo.     Price  3s.  6d.  cloth. 

By  the  same  Author. 

THE    DAWN    OF    LIFE  : 

OR,    SCRIPTURE    CONVER,SIONS. 

Second  Edition.     In  one  Volume.     Foolscap  octavo.     Price  3s.  6d.  cloth. 

COTTAGE    LECTURES  ; 

OR,    THE    pilgrim's    PROGRESS    PRACTICALLY    EXPLAINED. 

By  the  Rev.  CHARLES  OVERTON. 

Vicar  of  Cottingham. 

In  Two  Volumes.    Foolscap  octavo.     Price  3s.  6d.  each,  cloth. 

THE  CHRISTIAN   MOURNER; 

Select  Passages  from  various  Authors. 

Edited  by  Mrs.  DRUMMOND. 

With  a  Preface  by  the  Rev.  D.  K.  DRUMMOND,  B.A. 

Minister  of  Trinity  Chapel,  Edinburgh. 

In  foolscap  octavo.     Price  Ss.  cloth. 

SCRIPTURE  CHARACTERS ;  from  the  NEW  TESTAMENT. 

By  the  Rev.  W.  JOWETT,  M.  A. 
In  foolscap  octavo.     Price  4s.  6d.  cloth. 

THE  GREAT  COMMANDMENT. 

By  the  Author  of  "  The  Listener." 
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Also,  by  the  same  Author. 

SUNDAY  AFTERNOONS  AT  HOME. 

Second  Edition.     Foolscap  octavo.    Price  6s.  cloth. 

CHRIST  OUR  LAW. 

Foolscap  octavo.    Price  6s.  cloth. 

THE  TABLE  OF  THE  LORD. 

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Wuh  u  Mimnn. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  CHRISTIANITY  IN  INDIA, 

FROM    THE  COMMENCEMENT  OF  THE    CHRISTIAN     ERA. 

By  the  Rev.  JAMES  HOUGH,  M.A.  F.C.P.S. 

Perpetual  Curate  of  Ham,  late  Chaplain  of  the  Hon.  East  India  Company. 

First  Section.     In  two  Volumes.     Octavo.     Price  248.  cloth. 

Second  Section.    In  two  Volumes.    Octavo.    Price  24s.  cloth. 

THREE    YEARS    IN    ABYSSINIA. 

By  the  Right  Rev.  SAMUEL  GOBAT,  D.D. 

Bishop  of  the  Anglican  Church  at  Jerusalem. 
Second  Edition.     Crown  octavo.     Price  Ts.  6d.  cloth, 

CHAPTERS  ON  MISSIONS  IN  SOUTH  INDIA. 

By  the  late  Rev.  H.  W.  FOX,  B.A. 

Missionary  at  Masulipatam. 
In  foolscap  octavo.    Price  Ss.  6d.  cloth. 

A  NARRATE  E  OF  AN  EXPLORATORY  VISIT  TO  CHINA,' 

IN  THE  YEARS  1844,  1845,  1846. 

By  the  Rev.  GEORGE  SMITH,  M.A. 

Of  Magdalen  Hall,  Oxford. 

Second  Edition.     Octavo.    Price  14s.  cloth. 

JOURNALS  OF  THE 
REV.  MESS^^  ISENBERG  AND  KRAPF, 

Missionaries  of  the  Church  Missionary  Society. 
Detailing  their  Proceedings  in  the  Kingdom  of  Shoa,  and  Journeys  in  other  parts  of  Abyssinia 

in  the  years  1839,  to  1842. 
In  one  Volume.     Post  8vo.    Price  12s.  cloth. 

SKETCHES  OF  CHRISTIANITY  IN  NORTH  INDIA. 

By  the  Rev.  M.  WILKINSON,  Missionar3^ 
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THE  CHURCH  MISSION  AT  SIERRA  LEONE. 

By  the  Rev.  SAMUEL  ABRAHAM  WALKER,  A.M., 

Rector  of  Gallo,  Meath. 
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Blk^ltonus  liteuturL 


CERTAINTY  UI^ATTAINABLE  IN  THE  ROMAN  CHURCH. 

By  the  REV.  M.  HOBART  SEYMOUR,  M.  A. 
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Also,  hy  the  same  Author. 

A  PILGRIMAGE  TO  ROME. 

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THE  TALBOT  CASE. 

An  authoritative  and  succinct  account. 

With  a  Preface  by  the  Rev.  M.  HOBART  SEYMOUR,  M.A. 

Crown  octavo.     Price  3s.  6d. 

THE  PROGRESS  OF  BEGUILEMENT  TO  ROMANISM. 

A  Narrative  of  Facts. 
'  By  ELIZA  SMITH.     Dedicated  to  the  Rev.  W.  Havergal,  M.  A.  Canon  of  Worcester. 
In  foolscap  octavo.      Price  2s.  6d.  cloth. 

THE  EGYPTIAN  CHRONOLOGY  ANALYZED  : 

Its  theory  developed  and  practically  applied :  and  confirmed  in  its  dates  and  details  from  its 

agreement  with  the  Hieroglyphic  Monuments  and  the  Scripture  Chronology. 

By  the  Rev.  F.  NOLAN,  L.L.D.  F.R.S. 

Vicar  of  Prittlewell. 
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THE  PORTRAITURE  OF  A  CHRISTIAN  LADY. 

;  In  foolscap  octavo.   Price  4s.  6d.  cloth. 

A  NARRATIVE  OF  A  SINGULAR  ESCAPE  FROM 

A  CONVENT. 

With  a  Preface  by  the  Rev.  W.  CARUS  WILSON,  M.A. 
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THE  SCHOOL-GIRL  IN  FRANCE. 

A  Narrative  addressed  to  Christian  Parents. 
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FLEET    STREEtJ  SEELEYS  [h  AN  OVER    STREET 

THREE  DAYS  IN  THE  EAST. 
By  JOHN  McGregor,  m.  a. 

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SACRED  LAYS  AND  LYRICS. 

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POEMS  FROM  A  NOTE  BOOK. 

By  the  Rev.  C.  I.  YORKE, 

Rector  of  Shenfield,  Essex. 
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LETTERS  TO  AN  AGED  MOTHER. 

By  A  CLERGYMAN. 
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THE  FEMALE  VISITOR  TO  THE  POOR. 

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A  BOOK  FOR  THE  COTTAGE, 

OB,    THE    HISTORY    OF    MARY    AND    HER    FAMILY. 

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THE  COURSE  OF  LIFE. 

A  Sketch  for  Christian  Females. 
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DOMESTIC  SCENES. 

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THE  LIGHT  OF  LIFE. 

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MEMOIR  OF  JOHN  BRITT. 

THE    HAPPY    MUTE. 

^  By  CHARLOTTE  ELIZABETH. 

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THE    HISTORICAL    ATLAS. 

By  EDWARD   QUIN,   Esq.,  M.A., 

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CRITICAL  NOTICES 
New  Monthly  Magazine. 

"  We  have  seldom  had  the  pleasure  of  reviewing  a  more  ingenious,  elegant, 
and,  at  the  same  time,  philosophical  and  useful  work.  It  is  well  worthy  of  public 
attention  as  a  specimen  of  art,  independently  of  its  merits  as  an  original  and  emi- 
nently useful  auxiliary  to  the  study  of  the  most  important  ^branches  of  human 
knowledge." 

Christian  Observer. 

"  Mr.  Seeley  has  published  a  highly-useful  series  of  twenty-one  Maps,  with 
Historical  Illustrations  by  Mr.  Quin.  They  are  all  on  the  same  scale,  and  suc- 
cessively point  out,  from  the  Creation  to  the  year  1828,  the  progress  of  Geogra- 
phical Discovery,  the  rise  and  decay  of  Nations  and  Empires,  and  their  Political 
Changes;  so  that,  by  merely  glancing  the  eye  on  any  Map,  we  discover  the  actual 
State  of  the  World  at  its  date  ;  and,  by  comparison  with  any  other,  the  alterations 
which  have  occurred  ;  every  place  being  in  the  same  relative  spot  in  the  succes- 
sive Plates,  and  the  tints  and  colouring  being  significant,  and  connected  with  the 
accompanying  Text,  which  contains  a  well-condensed  Syllabus  of  Universal  His- 
tory. We  know  of  no  publication  which  forms  a  more  valuable  and  interesting 
Companion  for  the  Historical  and  Geographical  Student,  or  for  the  Instruction 
of  Young  Persons." 

Literary  Oazette. 

**  The  ingenious  and  beautiful  work  before  us  is  decidedly  the  best-constructed 
railway  for  the  rapid  and  easy  communication  of  extensive  and  accurate  histori- 
cal knowledge  that  we  have  met  with,  even  in  this  age  of  improved  mental  as 
well  as  material  machinery. 

*'  The  Maps  are  twenty -one  in  number ;  and  nothing  can  be  more  interesting 
and  amusing  than  to  turn  them  over,  one  after  the  other,  and  observe  the  grad- 
ual advance  of  civilization  ;  from  the  Rembrandtish  effects  of  the  first,  in  which 
Eden  is  the  only  bright  spot,  amidst  a  mass  of  deep  shadow,  to  the  Rubenslike 
diffusion  of  light  and  of  gay  colours,  by  which  the  world  in  its  present  state  is 
represented.  The  descriptions  contain  a  condensed,  but  perfectly  intelligible, 
and,  as  far  as  our  inspection  allows  us  to  judge,  correct  narrative  of  all  the  great 
contemporaneous  events  of  history.  Whoever  reads  them  attentively,  assisting 
his  comprehension,  and  insuring  his  remembrance,  by  an  examination  of  the 
accompanying  Maps,  will  acquire  a  knowledge  of  general  history  possessed  by 
few  ;  and  will  be  admirably  qualified  to  prosecute,  with  advantage,  more  minute 
inquiries  into  the  history  of  any  country  or  "epoch  which  may  havg.  pe,cu]iar 
claims  on  his  curiosity."  y"'       \\7% 

Eclectic  Review.  (      ff^         " 

*'  The  plan  of  this  work  is,  as  far  as  we  are  aware,  as  novel  as  it-w-rrt^nious. 
It  is  admirably  adapted  to  facilitate  the  study  of  history  to  young  persons.  No 
memoria  technica  can  be  equal  to  lessons  presented  in  a  form  which  can  hardly 
fail  to  impress  even  the  imagination, — for  these  Maps  have  almost  the  interest 
of  a  picture  ;  the  changes  thej^  represent  resemble  the  shifting  of  a  dramatic 
scene.  Upon  the  whole,  the  work  strongly  recommends  itself  to  both  teachers 
and  pupils.  It  is  got  up  with  great  neatness, — will  be  found  very  useful  and 
convenient  for  the  purpose  of  reference,  and  forms  an  admirable  basi^oia  M^rse 
of  historical  lectures  or  private  study." 


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