nothing but deeds of waste and bloodshed; and the fiery prelate himself, on revisiting his country, was greeted with the universal outcry of public scorn 1.

This mad adventure, and the means by which the sinews of its warfare were supplied, must have furnished Wiclif with mournful proof that his labours had, hitherto, made no deep impression upon the pact and solid mass of the national superstitions. But to him, dejection and despair seem to have been unknown. He was always prepared to work like one who felt that he was toiling for future ages. The crusade against Clement might have persuaded a less resolute spirit that all resistance to the powers of falsehood were vain and hopeless. Wielif had no ears to hear such treacherous whisperings. His spirit was powerfully moved within him at this fresh eruption of in piety; and his honest indignation was manifested by a renewal of his contest with the Mendicants for the Mendicants, as might be expected, were the busiest among the tribute-gatherers for the enterprise in question. Accordingly, it was at this period that he put forth his tract, entitled " Objections to the Freres ;" the same treatise which has been already noticed, and in which, under fifty compendious articles, he concentrates and sums up nearly all the censures which he had ever advanced against their practices and opinions. That the tract in question appeared about this time, is rendered certain, by its allusion to the sacramental controversy, to the Papal schism, and to the war in Flanders, as an expedition, the only object of which

Wiclif's "Objections to the Freres."

1 Froissart. Walsingh.

He condemns the

Crusades.

was "to make Christ's Vicar, the wealthiest in the world." In another of his works, which was also published nearly at the same period, "the Sentence of the Curse Expounded," he makes a direct attack on the infatuation of the Crusaders. He there complains that the Pope brings "the seal and banner of Christ on the cross, that is the token of peace, mercy, and charity, for to slee all Christen men, for love of twaie false priests, that ben open Anti-Christs, for to meynteyne their worldly state, to oppress Christendom, worse than Jews weren against holy writ, and life of Christ and his apostles." And he asks, indignantly, "Why wole not the proud priest of Rome grant full pardon to all men for to live in peace, and charitie, and patience, as he doth to all men to fight and slee Christen men1?" The same subject is introduced into his treatise on the seven deadly sins; and it furnishes him with an occasion of propounding certain eccentric and adventurous opinions relative to the practice of war. title of conquest he conceives to be utterly worthless and untenable, unless the conquest itself be expressly commanded by the Almighty; as in the case of the tribes of Israel, when they seized upon the land of Canaan. And, even so, in these latter days, when sin hath wrought the forfeiture of any kingdom, Christ, as the rightful Sovereign of all the earth, may, by his word, deliver that kingdom into the hands of whom he will. But then he affirms, that it is not within human competency to pronounce that any

1 Lewis, c. vii. p. 121.

U

The

Wiclif's opinions respecting

lawfulness

wars.

the of

such forfeiture hath actually been incurred, unless the assailants are certified thereof by a revelation from heaven. A very different doctrine, he allowed, was held by the supreme Pontiff, and his adherents, who have frequently given their sanction to religious wars: but it was always to be kept in mind, that St. Peter himself was liable to error; and it might, therefore, fairly be surmised, that the same infirmity had descended to his successors: and he infers, from the whole matter, that all hostilities undertaken without a special injunction from the God of battles, are, under the Christian dispensation, as indefensible, as they were under the Jewish theocracy. Wars of self-defence fare little better, in his judgment, than wars of conquest or aggression. Fiends, he tells us, have been withstood by angels, and righteous men have often overcome the wicked: but in neither instance has the cause been committed to the arbitrement of force. Sometimes the law of the land will enable us to resist our adversaries; and, at all times, men of the Gospel, by the spirit of patience and of peace, have been, and ever may be, conquerors through the suffering of death. How the quarrels of nations are to be settled upon these principles, he does not proceed to instruct us. Possibly he might be withheld by the conviction, that it would be to little purpose to enlarge further upon a doctrine, which, as he confesses, he well knew would be received with general scorn. Contemptible as it was,

1 "Such wars," says Fuller, "increased the intrado of the Pope's revenues. Some say purgatory fire heateth his kitchen: they may add, the holy war filled his pot, if not paid for all his second course."--Holy War, B. v. c. 12.

however, he avers that men, who would be martyrs for the law of God, would hold thereby: and he sarcastically adds, that the knight who derives his honors from the slaughter of his fellow-creatures, is frequently outdone by the hangman, who killeth many more, and with a better title 1.

Whatever may be the crudity of some of these positions, it is obvious that he who insisted on them, would be prepared to give no quarter to the iniquities of this Papal crusade. He accordingly returns, repeatedly, to the charge against it. A fighting priest, he describes as no better than a fiend, stained foul with homicide. The friars, indeed, may say that bishops can fight best of all men, and that the work becomes them nobly, since they are lords of the whole world. Thus, they tell us, did Maccabeus fight; and Christ bade his disciples sell their coats, and buy them swords; but whereto, if not to fight? But Christ, he replies, taught not his apostles to fight with swords of iron, but with the sword of God's word, which standeth in meekness of heart, and in prudence of tongue and the two Popes would do well to give heed to these truths, when they fight with each other, with the most blasphemous leasings, that ever issued out of hell 2.

That Wiclif was fully aware of the danger attendant on all this "free

spoken truth," seems clear from va

He conceives his life to be in dan

ger from his enemies.

rious passages of his writings, and, more especially, of

1 MS. Hom. Bib. Reg. 18. b. ix. p. 109. cited by Vaughan, vol. ii. p. 211.

2 From the MS. of Dr. James in the Bodleian, cited by Vaughan, vol. ii. p. 212, 213.

his Trialogus, which was produced after his banishment from Oxford, and in which it is plainly intimated, that a multitude of the friars, and of others who were called Christians, were then compassing his death by every variety of machination'. That he had fully counted the cost of his warfare, is further evident from the language in which he contends for the necessity of constant preparation for martyrdom. "It is a satanical excuse," he says, in the same treatise, “made by modern hypocrites, that it is not necessary now to suffer martyrdom, as it was in the primitive Church, because now all, or the greatest part of living men, are believers, and there are no tyrants who put Christians to death. This excuse is suggested by the devil: for, if the faithful would now stand firm for the law of Christ, and, as his soldiers, endure bravely any sufferings, they might tell the Pope, the cardinals, the bishops, and other prelates, how, departing from the faith of the Gospel, they minister unfitly to God, and what perilous injury they commit against his people." And he adds, "Instead of visiting pagans, to convert them by martyrdom, let us preach constantly the law of Christ to princely prelates: martyrdom will then meet us, speedily enough, if we persevere in faith and patience"." We have seen, however, that in the midst of all his dangers, there were various causes which combined to divert the malice of his adversaries, and to save them from the "deep damnation of his taking

1 Trialogus, lib. iv. c. 4. 17. 39. See Lewis, c. vii. p. 125. Turner's Hist. of Eng. pt. iv. p. 424.

2 Trialogus, cited by Turner, pt. iv. p. 424.