and metaphyfical difputes, to accuftom them to bear contradiction, and to hear novelties. In the feminaries of learning at that time, fcarce any thing paffed but learned arguments on the form of things, on the increase of time, on fpace, fubftance, and identity. In difputations of this kind, he artfully intermixed, and pushed as far as he durft, new opinions in divinity, in order to found the minds of his hearers. And at length finding that he had a confiderable party in the fchools, and was liftened to with attention, he ventured to be more explicit, and by degrees to open himself at large. Dr. Wickliff began with fhewing the little regard which ought to be paid to the writings of the fathers after the tenth century. At that time, he faid, an age of darkness and error commenced; and doctrines and opinions then took their rife, among which the honeft enquirer after truth could never fatisfy himfelf.. The errors in matters of opinion which had crept into religion were the firft fubject of his enquiry; many of which he traced out from their earlieft origin, and with great accute. nefs and accuracy pointed out the progrefs they had made, as they defcended through the ages of fuperftition. He next proceeded to the ufurpations of the court of Rome, which was a fa. vourite topic with him, and on which he was very copious, and very warm. He infifted on thefe, and many other fimilar fubjets, with a ftrength of reafon far fuperior to the learning of thofe times, and with great freedom and fpirit. This vigorous attack upon the church of Rome, occafioned the clergy to raife a violent clamour against him; and the archbi bishop of Canterbury, who took the lead, determined to pro fecute him with the utmoft vigour. The church had, however, flept in its errors thro' fo many ages, in confequence of the extreme ignorance that had been long fpread over every part of Europe, that it was not prepared for an attack; herefy being now a new crime. Nevertheless, they fearched records, and examined precedents; and at length, with fome difficulty, Dr. Wickliff was deprived and filenced. It was a very fortunate circumftance for our Reformer, that there was in England, at this time, no law in force for the burning of heretics. King Edward the Third was now in the decline of life; and a gloom was fpread over the latter end of his reign, which fullied the rightness of the preceeding part of it. The inhabitants of Guienne had revolted against him, and he had been deprived by degrees of all his other conquefts in France, except Calais. He had alfo loft two of his fons, Edward, the gallant prince of Wales, and Lionel, duke of Clarence. And a violent attachment which the old king had conceived for one Alice Perrers, made him do many things unworthy of his character, and which were extremely difagreeable to the nation. Edward was indeed fo much impaired, both in body and mind, as to be incapable of the fatigues of government; and the adminiftration of public D 2 affairs affairs was in the hands of the duke of Lancaster, commonly called John of Ghent. This prince had very free notions in religion, and at the fame time very violent paffions. He was an utter enemy to the exorbitant power of the clergy, which was fufficient to excite their indignation against him. And as he was rather of an arbitrary and over-bearing temper, he was by no means popular; infomuch that the parliament had even petitioned the king to remove the duke of Lancafter from about his perfon; with which the king thought proper for a short time to comply, though he afterwards recalled him, and intrufted him. again with the management of public affairs. As the clergy hated the duke of Lancafter, their malice against him incited them to use their endeavours to encreafe his unpopularity; and fome of the principal ecclefiaftics are faid to have used very bafe means to blacken his character. This ill-treatment which the duke had received from the clergy, he retorted with equal fpirit; he conceived a thorough and fixed diflike to the whole order; and ufed all the methods in his power to make them as much defpifed by others as they were by himfelf. He had heard of the attack Dr. Wickliff had made upon the church of Rome, with great pleasure, and had waited the confequences of it with much attention; and when he found that Wickliff was likely to be the fufferer, he interpofed, refcued him out of the hands of his enemies, who were endeavouring to profecute the advantage which they had gained over him, and brought him to court, took him into his confidence, and treated him with the utmost kindnefs. Dr. Wickliff was in this manner introduced into public life; and this introduction gave him afterwards an opportunity of fignalizing himfelf ftill more in the cause of truth and liberty. The oppreffions of the court of Rome were at this time feverely felt; and heavily complained of; particularly the power which the pope affumed, and which hath been before alluded to, of difpofing of almoft all church preferments, even rectories or vicarages of any value. As the Pope contrived with these to penfion his friends and favourites, who were generally foreigners, who refided abroad, and left the care of their benefices to negligent and ill-paid curates; by thefe means religion decayed; and the country was drained of money; and what ftill heightened the grievance, a body of infolent tax-gathers were fet over the people, who out of the furplus of their exactions had their own fortunes to make. Parliamentary petitions, in very warm language, had been preferred to the conclave, but to little purpose; as the pontiff lent a very negligent ear to any motion which had a tendency towards the leffening of his revenue. The duke of Lancaster was refolved, if poffible to obtain redrefs for some of thefe grievances. And in the first place, in order the more ef fectually to open the eyes of the people, he obliged all bishops to fend in lilts of the number and value of fuch preferments and and benefices in each of their diocefes, as were in the hands of foreigners; and from thefe lifts it appeared what prodigious fums were yearly conveyed out of the kingdom, in that way only. And a memorial was alfo prefented to the Parliament, fhewing, that by the death and tranflation of bishops, the Pope extorted five times the yearly revenue out of a fingle See, and by that means drew out of the kingdom twenty thousand marks a year; that the Pope's agents collected a fum equally large for the neceffities of the holy See; that in the very year in which the memorial was prefented, the Pope had laid his hands upon the first fruits of all the benefices in the kingdom; that he increased the number of the cardinals to thirty, among whom there were not above two or three well affected to England; that the Pope's avarice was worfe than the plague; that in ipite of the Statute of provifors, there were perfons every day provided with benefices by the court of Rome, and that there was no hindering it, but by banishing all thofe who fhould dare to accept of the Pope's provifions: In fhort, that it was abfolutely neceffary to put a stop to thefe proceedings, unless they were willing to fee England involved in a fatal ftate of Slavery. The next tep taken was to fend an embafly to the Pope, to treat of the liberties of the church of England; and at the head of this embaffy were the bishop of Bangor, and Dr. Wickliff. They were met at Bruges, on the part of Rome, by the bishops of Pampelone and Semigaglia, and the provoft of Valenza; and these agents, thoroughly practifed in the policy of their court, fpun out the negociation with great fubtility and dexterity: Some hiftorians fay it continued for two years. However finding themselves hard preffed by their antagonists, and confidering that it would be eafier to evade a treaty when made, than not to make one in the prefent circumftances, they refolved at laft to bring matters to a conclufion. It was accordingly agreed, that the Pope fhould no longer difpofe of any benefices belonging to the church of England. No mention however was made of bishoprics, which was thought to be a voluntary omiflion in the bishop of Bangor; and this was the rather believed, becaufe he was afterwards twice tranflated by the Pope's authority. But notwithstanding that Dr. Wickliff had failed in his endeavours to ferve his country by this treaty, (which was indeed never obferved) he made his journey however ferviceable to himfelf. He made good ufe of the opportunity which it afforded him, of diving into the real defigns of the court of Rome, not in this affair only, but in all its other negociations. He enquired into the ends which it had in view, and the means which it employed; and by repeated converfations upon thefe fubjects, with the ambaffadors, he penetrated fo far into the conftitution and policy of that corrupt court, that he began to think of it. in a much harsher manner than he had ever yet done, and to be more more convinced of its avarice, ambition, and iniquity. However ftrong his conviction had long before been of the corrup tions of its minifters and doctrines, he had never before thought fo badly of its defigns. Returning home filled with thefe fentiments, we find him in his lectures afterwards inveighing against the church of Rome with more warmth than before. The exemption of the clergy from the jurisdiction of the civil power, indulgencies, and the ufe of fanctuaries, were among the topics of his invective; and there are very few of the corrupt principles or practices of the Romish church, which have been detected by the writers of later ages, which his penetration had not difcovered at that early period and though his reafonings wanted that accuracy and ftrength which may be found in the writings of later times, yet when we confider the darkness and ignorance of the age in which he lived, and the little appearances there were of any thing like real learning, even in the public fchools, we have much more reafon to be amazed at that force of genius which carried him fo far, than to wonder that he did not go far ther. The Pope himself was frequently the fubject of his invective; and on his infallibility, ufurpations, pride, avarice, and tyranny he declaimed with peculiar warmth. The epithet of Antichrift, which the Pope has had fo frequently beftowed upon him in later ages, is thought by fome to have been firft given him by Dr. Wickliff. He would frequently inveigh against the luxury and pomp of bishops; and would afk the people, when they faw their prelates riding abroad, attended with fourfcore horsemen in filver trappings, whether they perceived any resemblance between fuch fplendor, and the fimplicity of primitive bishops ? It does not certainly appear where thefe lectures were read; but most probably at Oxford, where Dr. Wickliff appears by this time to have recovered his former station, and where he had yet a confiderable party in his favour. He was nevertheless frequently at court, where he continued to be in great favour with the duke of Lancafter. It was expected by many, that fome confiderable ecclefiaftical preferment was intended for him; but no offer of this fort appears, whether he himself declined it, or that the duke thought an elevated ftation would only expose him the more to the malice of his enemies. The duke, however, took care to place him in a state of independency, by beftowing a good benefice upon him, the rectory of Lutterworth in Leicesterfhire; whither he immediately repaired, and fet himself confcientiously to discharge the duties of it. Dr. Wickliff was fcarce fettled in his parish, when his enemies, taking advantage of his retirement, commenced a fresh and vigorous profecution against him. Simon Sudbury, archbishop of Canterbury, and William Courtenay, bishop of London, were at the head of this. The primate, Sudbury, was indeed a man of great moderation for the times he lived in; and appears to have been brought into this profecution against Wickliff contrary to his inclinations; for indeed he contributed nothing towards it but the fanction of his name. But Courtenay was a fiery bigot, and full of zeal against herefy; he therefore took the management of it upon himself; and having procured proper letters from Rome, he cited Dr. Wickliff to appear before him on a fixed day, at St. Paul's in Lon don. This fummons was a very unexpected one to Dr. Wickliff, who probably imagined that in the thade of retirement and obfcurity he fhould have been fheltered from the malice of his enemies. He repaired immediately to the duke of Lancaster, to confult with him on the affair; and that prince did what he could to avert the profecution, but found himself unable to oppofe a force, which was compofed of almost the whole body of the clergy. He refolved, however, to countenance him in the moft open and honourable manner; and therefore the duke in perfon, accompanied by lord Percy, earl-marfhal of England, who appears to have been a profelyte to the opinions of Wickliff, attended him to his trial; and encouraged him to defend himself with boldness, by affuring him that he had nothing to fear, and that the prelates who were to try him, notwithstanding their high stations, were but ignorant and illiterate perfons compared to him. When they were come to St. Paul's, they found the court fitting, and a very great croud affembled, through which the earl-marfhal made ufe of his authority to gain an entrance. A very confiderable difturbance was raised in the church, by the arrival of fuch perfonages and their attendants; and the bishop of London, who was chagrined to fee Dr. Wickliff fo attended, peevishly told the earl-marthal, that if he had known before what a difturbance he would have made, he fhould have been topped at the door. The duke of Lancaster efpoufed the earl's part; and told the bishop, with fome warmth, that the earl-marfhal fhould execute his authority, whether he would or not. Lord Percy then defired Wickliff to fit down, faying, that he had need of a feat, for he had many things to fay. To this the bishop replied, "It is unreasonable "that a clergyman, cited before his ordinary, fhould fit during his anfwer: He fhall ftand." "My lord Percy is in the right, (faid the duke of Lancaster) and for you, my lord bishop, who are grown fo proud and arrogant, I will take care "to humble your pride; and not only your's, but that of all the prelates in England. Thou dependeft upon the credit "of thy relations; but far from being able to help thee, they fhall have enough to do to fupport themfelves." To this the bishop replied," place no confidence either in my relations, "or in any man elfe, but in GOD himself, in whom I ought <<"to truft, and who will give me boldness to speak the truth." Whether |