imputed to Wiclif that God must obey the Devil, and that every creature is God-Dominion founded on Grace, how understood and explained by Wiclif-Wic- lif's opinions as to the power of the State over Church Property-Wiclif considers Church Endowments as inconsistent with the spirit of Christianity-Tithes re- presented by him as Alms-Wiclif's services, as pre- paratory to the Reformation-Notion of the Reforma- tion, as it would probably have been effected by him- Wiclif's Poor Priests-Wiclif's tract, "Why Poor Priests have no Benefices," viz. 1. Their dread of Simony-2. Their fear of mis-spending the goods of poor men-3. That Priests are obliged to preach, whether beneficed or not-John Aston-John Purney-William Swinderby- William Thorpe-Nicolas Hereford-Philip Repingdon -Richard Fleming-Knighton's representation of Wic- lif's followers-The fanatic John Ball, not a Disciple of Wiclif-the Insurrection of the Peasantry falsely as- cribed to Wiclif and his followers-Attributed by the Commons to the oppression of the Peasantry-En- couragement afforded to Wiclif by the great-Edward III.-Johanna, Queen Dowager-John of Gaunt- Proceedings against the Wiclifites-Petition to Parliament on the part of the Lollards-Turbulence of the Lollards -King Richard II. requested to return from Ireland to the Succour of the Church-He returns accordingly, and menaces the patrons of Lollardism-Letter of Pope of Archbishop Arundel-Continued violence of the Lol- lards-Law, compelling all persons in Civil office to take an oath against Lollardism-Inquisitorial Constitution of Archbishop Chicheley-Effect of these severities- Bishop Pecock writes against the Lollards-He defends the Bishops-His "Repressor"-His "Treatise of Faith"-He censures the preaching of the Mendicants -He maintains the sufficiency of the Scriptures, and questions the prudence of relying on the infallibility of the Church-For these opinions he is forbidden the King's presence, and expelled from the House of Lords -He is convened before the Archbishop for heresy- Abjures-Is imprisoned for life in Thorney Abbey- Persecution of the Lollards renewed under Henry VII. -Martyrdom of Joanna Baughton-Martyrdom of Tylsworth-Bishop Nix-Inhumanity towards those LIFE OF WICLIF. INTRODUCTION. CHAPTER I. General View of the gradual corruption of Christianity, to the middle of the fourteenth century. IT has been truly remarked that Christianity is a jewel of inestimable and unchangeable value; but that the setting of it has always depended, more or less, upon the vicissitudes of the public taste, or feeling, or knowledge. And it is one melancholy office of ecclesiastical history to exhibit the strange varieties exhibited by human passion, and secular interest, in the enchasing and the use of this precious gem. In the first place, the wisdom of this world was speedily at work upon it; till its own unsullied brightness was partially dispersed and broken amidst the glitter of earth-born philosophy. And next came the "pride of life," to mingle the false splendours of the world with the lustre of the costly stone. And lastly, to crown the abuse, ambition seized upon it, and fixed it to her diadem: so that, from the front, where righteousness unto the Lord should alone have been written, an angry blaze was, for ages, seen to issue, more like a consuming fire, than the flame of celestial truth. B Thoughts like these may, naturally enough, rush into the mind of any one, who should expect of the Christian revelation that it would be like the word of God, when he said, Let there be light, and there was light; and that, when the command went forth, the light would, at once, be divided from the darkness. That, however, is but a shallow philosophy, which would lead us to imagine that the operations of the Deity upon the moral chaos of this world, must needs resemble those of the Spirit, which once brooded over the confusion of its material elements. The notion, however, is one which may, perhaps, be blamelessly suggested by a high and reverential estimate of God's omnipotence, and by a feeling of pious impatience for the consummation of his gracious designs and the proper corrective of it is, not to disguise the various discouraging phenomena which the case undoubtedly presents to us; but, rather, after a candid and courageous exposition of them, to recall the thoughts of the inquirer to other considerations; and so to remind him that, when we are studying the history of God's Church, we are meditating on the dealings of him, with whom a thousand years are but as a single day. With this caution upon our minds, we may venture briefly to survey the progress of those changes which have come over the Church since the time of its first planting. And this survey is now more especially needful; seeing that, of late, we have witnessed the appearance of a disposition rather to hail those changes as natural and legitimate expansions of the germ of primitive truth, than to deplore them as disfigurements and corruptions of it. Foremost among the dangers which beset Chris |