66 I. apprehended. His advice, therefore, is, "Trust CHAP. we in the help of Christ on this point, for he "hath begun already to help us graciously, in "that he hath clove the head of Antichrist, and "made the two parts fight against each other. "For it is not doubtful, that the sin of the popes, "which hath been so long continued, hath brought in this division." Should the rival pontiff's continue to lance their anathemas against each other, or should either prevail, a serious wound is believed to be inflicted, and it is urged accordingly, that "emperors, and kings, should 66 66 66 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 per66 sons. Thus should peace be established, and simony destroyed." As to the infallibility of the popes, he remarks, that there is nothing in the suffrage of princes or cardinals to impart any such attribute to erring man. On this point, he observes," the children of the fiend should learn "their logic, and their philosophy well, lest they 66 prove heretical by a false understanding of the "law of Christ." Except the person elected to an ecclesiastical office shall possess the virtues which bespeak him a servant of Christ, the most vaunted forms of investing him with that dignity are declared to be vain. Among heresies, he affirms, that "there is no greater, than for a man to "believe that he is absolved from his sin, if he 66 give money, or because a priest layeth his "hand on the head, and saith I absolve thee. "For thou must be sorrowful in thy heart," he adds," or else God absolveth thee not." In the CHAP. same treatise, the necessity of confession to a I. priest is denied no less distinctly than the re Other references to ceived doctrine on the power of the keys. And having thus wrested the weapons from the hands of churchmen, which had been wielded with so much success against human liberty, he calls upon the secular authorities to attempt the long-needed reformation of the ecclesiastical body, both in its head and its members. Nor was it in this production only that these bold that event. sentiments were uttered. In his writings from this period to his death, the lust of dominion, the avarice, and the cruelty, discovered by these rival pontiffs, in prosecuting their different claims, are all placed in fearless contrast with the maxims and spirit of Christ and his apostles. "Simon Magus," he observes, "never laboured more in the work of "simony, than do these priests. And so God "would no longer suffer the fiend to reign in only "one such priest, but for the sin which they had 66 done, made division among two, so that men, in "Christ's name, may the more easily overcome "them both." Evil, it is remarked, is weakened by diffusion, no less than good; "and this now "moveth poor priests to speak heartily in this "matter, for when God will bless the church, but "men are slothful, and will not labour, their sloth "is to be rebuked for many reasons." In his parochial discourses, delivered to his flock at Lutterworth, the schism of the papacy is frequently adverted to, and always in a manner tending to deliver men from the fear of the priest, 5 MS. Of the Church and her Governance. Bib. Reg. xviii. b. ix. I and, at the same time, to impress them with CHAP. the fear of God." his work Truth and Scripture." It was at this period that the reformer com- Notice of pleted a work, "On the Truth and Meaning of "On the Scripture," the most extended, if not the most Meaning of systematically arranged, of all his productions. A copy of this treatise was in the possession of our venerable martyrologist, and appears to have been considered the only one extant. That at present in the Bodleian library was formerly the property of Dr. Allen, a great admirer of Wycliffe, and a diligent collector of his manuscripts. It is without a title page, and a few leaves from the commencement are lost: the remaining portion of the volume, extending to more than six hundred pages, is in good preservation. Besides this copy, the only one hitherto mentioned in the printed catalogues of the reformer's writings, there is another in the library at Trinity College, Dublin. This is complete, and in an excellent state. The work itself has required this particular notice, not only from its extent, but from its character, as embodying almost every sentiment peculiar to the mind of our reformer. The supreme authority of holy writ; the unalienable right of private judgment; all the branches of clerical power; the sacraments of the church; together with almost every article of moral obli 6 Thus in one of his homilies (on Rom. xiii.) it is affirmed of the pontiff, "that he is not on Christ's "side, who put his soul for his sheep, "but on the side of antichrist, who "putteth many souls for his pride. This man feedeth not the sheep of "Christ, as Christ thrice commanded 66 "Peter; but spoileth them, and slayeth 1. CHAP. gation, may be found largely discussed in this volume. The author of the Acts and Monuments intended giving it to the world; and we may regret that his purpose was not accomplished. Were this the only work preserved from the pen of Wycliffe, it would alone be sufficient, to merit for its author the first place among the intrepid advocates of truth and piety in the annals of this country.' His sickness at Oxford. But the labour of producing such compositions, and the excitements inseparable from the restless hostilities of his enemies, so shook his frame, at this period, as to threaten his speedy dissolution, -and, in truth, to lay the foundation of the malady which a few years later was the occasion of his death. Such also was the force of religious prejudice in the fourteenth century, that his old antagonists, the mendicants, conceived it next to impossible, that an heresiarch so notorious, should find himself near a future world without the most serious apprehensions of approaching vengeance. But while thus conscious of their own rectitude, and certain that the dogmas of the reformer had arisen from the suggestions of the great enemy, some advantages to their cause were anticipated, could the dying culprit be induced to utter any recantation of his published opinions. Wycliffe was in Oxford when this sickness arrested his activity, and confined him to his chamber. From the four orders of friars, four doctors, who were also called regents, were gravely deputed to wait 7 MS. Bibl. Bodl. Rotulæ in Archi. A. 3021, 32. MS. Trinity College, Dublin, class C. tab. 1. No. 24 De Sensu et Veritate Scripturæ, is the title given to the work by Fox, i. 583. I. on their expiring enemy; and to these the same CHAP. number of civil officers, called senators of the city, and aldermen of the wards, were added. When this embassy entered the apartment of the rector of Lutterworth, he was seen stretched on his bed. Some kind wishes were first expressed as to his better health, and the blessing of a speedy recovery. It was presently suggested, that he must be aware of the many wrongs which the whole mendicant brotherhood had sustained from his attacks, especially in his sermons, and in certain of his writings; and as death was now, apparently, about to remove him, it was sincerely hoped, that he would not conceal his penitence, but distinctly revoke whatever he had said tending to the injury of those holy fraternities. The sick man remained silent, and motionless, until this address was concluded. He then beckoned his servants to raise him in his bed; and fixing his eyes on the persons assembled, summoned all his remaining strength, as he exclaimed aloud, "I shall not “die but live, and shall again declare the evil deeds "of the friars!" The doctors, and their attendants, retreated in mortification and dismay, and they lived to feel the truth of the reformer's prediction; nor will it be easy to imagine another scene, more characteristic of the parties composing it, or of the times with which it is connected." ments with preaching. While the writings of Wycliffe were thus per- His senti forming their part on the mind of his countrymen, respect to it was not merely his divinity lectures, but the whole of his pulpit instructions, which were studiously directed to the same object. It is known 8 Lewis, c. iv. 82. Bale, 469, &c. |