The clergy of thofe days, inftead of inftilling into the minds of the laity the principles of piety, of integrity, of benevolence, and univerfal virtue, which are the effence of every rational fyftem of religion, were employed in inculcating a blind fubmiffion to the determinations of the pretended infallible church; an implicit fubjection to the clergy, and the Papal See; the obfervation of penances and pilgrimages; the worshipping of faints and images, praying for the dead, a fuperftitious reverence for ridiculous relics, the belief of the doctrines of purgatory and tranfubftantiation, and the neceffity of auricular confeffion, extreme unction, and other fimilar abfurdities. To all these may be added, maffes without number, and pardons, difpenfations, and indulgences, for any immoralities, however atrocious, if the offenders had but money enough to purchase them.

It evi

A religion of this kind muft naturally be expected to have had but little tendency to promote real piety and virtue. dently had not. The manners of the people in general, as well as of the clergy, were exceedingly licentious and wicked, at the fame time that they profeffed the higheft regard for what they called religion; which was, indeed, confiftent with the greatest immoralities. "The most abandoned amongst them (fays an ingenious writer) men who were familiar with crimes that humanity is ftartled at, would at the hazard of their lives defend the immunities of the church, a confecrated "utenfil, or a donation made to a convent."

:

It is not eafily conceivable, how men, endued with any degree of reafon, could be brought to believe that the favour of the Almighty was to be obtained by fuch ridiculous obfervances, whilft they lived in open violation of the obligations of morality. But that they did believe fo is manifeft; and we may fee evidences of it even at this day, in the deluded votaries of the Romish church for Popery is ftill, in a great degree, the fame. Many of the poorer and more ignorant Roman Catholics, in this country, who are extremely wicked and licentious in their lives, may yet be obferved to be fuperftitiously obfervant of their abfurd rites and ceremonies. There are fome among them, who appear even to think it lefs criminal to commit a robbery than to eat flesh in Lent. Popery (fays a very fenfible writer) introduceth an endless train of lenfelefs and filly, yet fhewy and fanctimonious obfervances; the parade of which plays fo perpetually on the popular imagination, as to leave neither leifure nor difpofition for minding any thing more rational or more real. So many facraments, fafts, and feftivals, however fuperfluous, abfurd, and burdenfome; fuch indefatigable faying and hearing of prayers, though in an unknown tongue; fuch continual croffings, and counting of beafts, though perfectly childish; fuch external grimaces and bowing to images, though rank idolatry; all this, and a great deal more of the fame

kind, being mixed up with infinite folemnity, doth fo intoxicate the unguarded populace, that they fancy themfelves wonderfully devout and holy, for being out of measure fuperftitious."

At the period of which we are treating, the clergy had, by means of the influence which they had obtained over the minds and confciences of men, extended their temporal power to a very great height. Priefts of every degree claimed an exemption from all civil jurifdiction whatever; fo that if a clergyman was guilty of any crime, however atrocious, of theft, perjury, blafphemy, or murder, he was not to be tried by any civil magiftrate. As for the fovereign Pontiff himself, he affumed a power not only of determining abfolutely all matters of faith and opinion, but even of depofing Princes, Kings and Emperors; and the fubjects of any Prince, against whom this reverend impoftor had fulminated the fentence of excommunication and depofition, were authorized to rebel against him, and even to kill him. An heretic (faid they) has no right to his crown; and when he is excommunicated, it is no fin for any to kill him.' (a) On this account, the princes of Europe, whatever might be their private fentiments, were extremely unwilling to incur the displeasure of the Papal See. If a prince was excommunicated, and an interdict laid upon his dominions, the clergy from that moment refrained from the exercife of their ordinary functions; extreme unction and the baptifm of infants were no more adminiftered; and the dead were carried out, and put into the earth, without prieft or prayer. Thefe things had a prodigious effect upon the fuperfti tious minds of the common people; and afforded ample fcope for the enemies of any prince, who happened to fall under fuch a cenfure, to act against him with great advan tage. The moft fpirited princes, moft fpirited princes, therefore, frequently temporized, concealed their fentiments, and fubmitted to very

(a) How often the Popes thought proper to exercife this their pretended power of depofing princes, though the fubjects of fuch princes did not always join heartily in putting in execution the denunciations of the pontifs, may appear by the following lift of kings and emperors depofed by different Popes.

Pope Zachary I. depofed Childeric king of France.Gregory VII. depofed Henry IV. Emperor. Urban II. depofed Philip king of France. Adrian IV. depofed William king of Sicily.Innocent III. depofed the emperor Philip.

Innocent IV. depofed king John of England.Urban IV. depofed Mamphred, king of Sicily.Ni cholas III. depofed Charles, king of

mean

Sicily.-Martin IV. depofed Peter of Arragon.-Boniface VIII. deprived Philip the Fair; and, on this occafion, to juftify what he had done, he published in his bull, which is now part of the 'canon law, the following decree: We declare and pronounce it, as necellary to falvation, that all mankind be fubject to the Roman pontiff."-Pope Clement V. depofed Henry V. Emperor.John XXII. deprived the Emperor Lodovick.-Gregory IX. depofed the Emperor Wencenflaus, and Paul III. deprived Henry VIII. of England. It may be prefumed, that no reafonable man will defire a greater proof of the pride, arrogance, and prefumption of the Roman pontiffs.

mean compliances, rather than draw upon themfelves the indig nation of the Pope, from which they knew very fatal confequences might enfue. In fhort, the arrogance and pride of the Popes arofe to the most infupportable height: they treated not only the ordinary laity, but even fovereign princes themselves, with the utmost infolence and contempt; at the fame time that they were many of them, in their private lives, remarkable only for their wickednefs. Thus the men who affumed to themfelves infallibility (b), who pretended to be God's vicars upon earth, to be the fovereign judges of truth, the heads of the Chriftian church, and the unerring guides of Chriftians, were frequently monsters of perfidy, of blafphemy, of luft, of pride, and of cruelty; a difgrace not only to religion, but to humanity! If fuch was the head of the church, it could not be expected that the inferior clergy fhould be remarkable for their piety or virtue: they were indeed, in general, much otherwife; very ignorant and very profligate. And as to the laity, they became, in confequence of fuch doctrines, and fuch teachers, at once wicked and superstitious.

The rapacity, however, of the agents of the Papal See was fo great, that in fpite of the ignorance and fuperftition which prevailed, many individuals cried out against fuch fcandalous. exactions,

(b) It must ever be an unanfwera ble argument against the infallibility of the church of Rome, that feveral Popes were by their fucceffors excommunicated, their acts abrogated, and the facraments adminiftered by them, pronounced invalid.- No hefs than fix Popes were expelled by others who ufurped their feats; two were affaffinated; and the infamous Theodora, by her credit in the boly city, obtained the Popedom for the moft avowed of her gallants, who affumed the name of John the Tenth. Another of the fame name, a baftard fon of Pope Sergius, was called to govern the Chriftian world at the age of twenty-one. If fuch were the men who arrogated to themfelves titles and attributes peculiar to the deity, can we wonder at the greatest enormities among lay-men?

It

nefs, and purity, abhor. Popes in general, for a long feries of time, have granted, or rather fold pardons and indulgences to the most abominable Crimes. A little before the Reformation, the form of indulgences was fo ample, that rich men were unconcerned what fins they committed, as knowing that they could, living or dead, purchase a Pardon; for if they neglected it during their lives, it was but leaving fo much money by their wills after their deaths for maffes and indulgences, and they were affured that all would be forgiven them.

46

There is a book called, The Tax "of the Sacred Roman Chancery:" In which there is a particular account how much money was to be paid into the apoftolic, or Pope's Chamber, for almost all forts of vices. For inftance; He who had been guilty of inceft with his mother, fifter, or other relation, either in confanguinity, or affinity, is taxed at five Grofs. The abfolution of him who has deflowered a virgin, fix Grofs.* The abfolution of him who has murdered his father, mother, fifter,

Nor can the Popes, "confiftent with reafon, or any thing we know of God, be confidered as having a divine commiffion, or as being God's VICARS upon earth; fince it is notorious they have made a practice of allowing that which God does and muft needs from his nature as a Being of juftice, good-or wife, five or feven Grofs. The

3

• abfolution

It appears that the money collected in England by the Pope's agents, on various pretences, amounted to two thirds more than the produce of the royal treafury; add to this, that the difpofal of most of the benefices in England was claimed by the Pope, who generally bestowed them upon foreign ecclefiaftics, who, by virtue of the Pope's difpenfation, enjoyed the profits without ever refiding in the kingdom; and thefe benefices were farmed out to the English, who ferved the cures for very fmall falaries. Many complaints of thefe grievances had been exhibited to the court of Rome, but without effect. Some efforts were however made by the Parliament in the reign of King Edward the Third

to put a stop to these grievances, and with fome fuccefs; and the rapacity of the Pope and of the clergy, and the infolent ufe they made of their ufurped power, made the laity the more ready to attend to any arguments which might be brought either against their practices, or their opinions. Such was the ftate of religion and the church at the time of Wickliff's first apearance in the

world.

However, before we proceed in our relation of the life of this Reformer, we fhall take a general view of the principal public tranfactions of this period, which may enable us to form a jufter notion of feveral particulars which will arife in the course of this life, and fome fucceeding ones. Edward the Second, King of England, in the latter end of whofe reign Wickliff was born. was depofed by his Parliament in 1327, in confequence of his own imprudent conduct, and weak attachment to Favourites, and by the contrivances of his Queen Ifabella, and Roger Mortimer. He was fucceeded by his fon Edward the Third, who was yet a minor, being only in the fourteenth year of his age. A regency was appointed by the Parliament, for the adminiftration of government, during the minority of the young Kings but, notwithstanding this, the public affairs were entirely di rected by the Queen and Mortimer; between whom it was univerfally believed there was a criminal correfpondence. The King of Scotland, taking advantage of the minority of Edward, had fent an army into England, and ravaged its borders. The young King, on hearing the news of this irruption, had an ardent defire to fignalize himself in the defence of his kingdom; and although those who governed in his name, had no great inclination for war, yet as they did not think it prudent to put up with fuch an infult, an army was raised, and Edward put himfelf at the head of it, to oppose the encroachments of the Scots, and to revenge the affront and injury which the nation had fuftained. Whilft the young King was employed in this expedition, his unhappy father, Edward the Second, who had been continued in confinement in Kenelworth-caftle from the time of his depofition, was removed from thence to Berkley-caftle, and there barbarously and treacherously murdered. Young Edward was entirely unacquainted with the manner of his father's death, and fuppofed him to have died naturally; and as he had not been very fuccefsful in his campaign, having found himself unable to do any great injury to the Scots, though he obliged them to retire, he returned to York, and there folemnized his nuptials with Phillippa of Hainault, to whom he had been contracted by means of his mother. Shortly after Edward's marriage, a very difhonourable and difadvantageous peace was concluded with the King of Scotland, which was chiefly managed by the Queenmother Ifabella and Mortimer, who were of opinion that a war was against their interefts; and this peace was afterwards ftrengthened and confirmed by the marriage of David, Prince of Scotland,